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Started by Anastasia, September 09, 2010, 04:04:03 PM

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Merc

Early morning texting waking me up to tell me the -new- flight's been delayed. Since it was a connecting flight through miami now, she's missing that connection and has to check there when the next flight from there will be. So instead, I'll be here on time and may have to bow out early instead once I get some updated information on what time she'll actually be getting here.
<Cidward> God willing, we'll all meet in Buttquest 2: The Quest for More Butts.

Anastasia

Yuth, I'll toss some feedback on that custom crap post in here in a little while.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Yuthirin

It's not done, just a few changes to the 3.5 Necromancer class. I had to post it because I didn't want to lose it.

I'll work on finishing it up now.
What if they're not stars at all? What if the night sky is full of titanic far-off lidless eyes, staring in all directions across eternity?

Anastasia

What book is necromancer in?
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Anastasia

Okay, as this is in progress I'm not going to mention anything that's missing and should be there, unless critical to something else. As a note of reference:

> Are you meaning for this to be Balmuria houserules compatible, general 3.5 compatible, Pathfinder compatible or...?
<Yuthirin> General

Spells per day is cleric casting minus domain slots? Okay. If they don't get domains you may want to give them an extra spell per level to compensate or something else to make up for that.

Using variant moderate progression saves for fortitude? 3.5 RAW doesn't have that, though I think there might be rules for it in Unearthed Arcana.

Okay, so Preserver's Aura is negative energy damage? Make sure to explicitly say that. I'd also remove the save for half, there's not much need for it. The damage is extremely minimal at all points. The aura could and probably should expand in range as well. You could pattern aura range increases to fill dead levels if you wish.

Ancestral Ally is not very good. Spending a bundle of turn attempts for a skeleton fodder isn't very worthwhile, doubly so since undead HD are pretty weak. You'll notice undead tend to have a lot of HD to make up for poor BAB and RAW no boost to hit points besides hit dice. I'd make it some sort of unique ancestor that's more potent than a skeleton, has more HD or something to make it worth while. I'd also make it cost 1 turn or use an alternative method to fuel it - multiple turns for more HD rapidly scales the ability out of any practical usefulness. At level ten, you'd be spending 5 of your daily turns for a 10 HD skeleton. That's a horrible deal. You'd be infinitely better off casting summon monster or summon undead.

Empowered magic isn't bad but isn't terribly great. Mainly it needs to be tightened up and better defined. What sort of spells consist of debuffs? What are you aiming for? When designing 3.5, being precise about terms and what you mean really is critical. The way the entire system is set up, ambiguity can lead to problems, both innocent and exploitative.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Necromancer_%283.5e_Class%29

Okay, I found out that you used this as the base.

At this point, let's reduce things back down to basics. You're looking for flavor along the lines of shaman/spiritualistic, with a wiseman summoning the spirits of his ancestors for guidance, power and the like? I don't think you're well served with this base. I'd look at the Spirit Shaman from Complete Divine. That's a lot of what you're aiming for. You can use that as a chassis and add ACFs to get where you want to be, make a PrC for it that fits it better, or just strip the abilities out and use it as a husk to fill in.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Yuthirin

#650
Yeah, I hadn't really gotten to Ancestral Ally yet. I was gonna strip it down and make it into a buffed up summon for a single meat-shield class undead.

Checking Spirit Shaman now.

EDIT: Wow, Spirit Shaman is MUCH better. This is great! http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Spirit_Shaman_(3.5e_Class)#Victory
What if they're not stars at all? What if the night sky is full of titanic far-off lidless eyes, staring in all directions across eternity?

Anastasia

Cleaning out my DM box, a few odds and ends from Balmuria 2 of notice. Feel free to comment if anything warrants it. Formatting is minimal.


Mythal Access [General]
Prerequisite: Possession of a Mythal Crystal.
Benefit: You can tap into the powers of the Balmurian Mythal. You can cast the following spells while within Balmuria: At will-Cure light wounds, quench, create water, haste, invisibility purge.

These notes here never had a chance to come into play. Alas.

So what AM I going to do with the Fiefdoms? I have a few things that I know are happening:

1. The Pasha is old and getting close to dying.

2. They're prosperous and enjoying some patronage from Seira due to her revitalization efforts of the Wastelands. This applies to the nobility and merchant class. The lower classes are still recovering from losses in traditional trade routes due to Seira's network. I don't want this all Malmuth level unstable, but it's a shaky time. Some social dissent is brewing.

3. Magic is making desert exploration and even expansion more feasible. It's possible there are a few settlements off the trade paths a bit.

Hm.  A lot of low level, subtle play rather than anything obvious. Cloak and dagger shit, manipulation, small scale struggles. Lots of opportunities for jobs if the party goes that far afield.

Celestial Paladin

Celestials often make ideal paladins, able to uphold virtues past that almost any mortal. However, they approach being a paladin differently than a mortal does.

Hit Die

d10

Requirements

A celestial paladin must be an outsider with the good subtype.

1: Lose aura of good and detect evil, gain reveal evil.
3: Lose divine health, gain ?*

* This assumes that outsiders are immune to disease. This isn't said but often assumed.

Reveal Evil (Su)

A celestial paladin's light is such that evil cannot hide when close to it. Any evil creature within 10 feet of the celestial paladin glows a dusky red with flecks of black. This targets any creature within range of the paladin, even if invisible or otherwise undetected. In addition to functioning as a faerie fire spell on the target, nonevil creatures that view a creature affected by this aura can sense it's depravity It's evil is for all to see, no lies able to disguise it. A will save (DC 10 + 1/2 hit dice + cha modifier) negates this ability. The celestial paladin may suppress or active this ability as a free action.

15. Several barrels of salt: 80 GP. - Those barrels of salt one time had GP value. Ah well.

Devoted Commander [General]
Prerequisite: Smite evil 1/day, able to project a minor aura
Benefit: Your paladin and marshal levels stack to determine your smite evil and aura progression. - Don't know why I made this, since it's not useable in gestalt.

Exalted Faithfulness [Exalted]
Prerequisite: Must possess a code of conduct or a vow, such as a paladin's code, a cleric's faith, a vow of poverty or other such thing that can result in a loss of powers if violated.
Benefit: A small holy symbol forms on your head. This functions as a phylactery of faithfulness. - There is a similar feat in one of the FR books, but I never found it until long afterwards.

Random fragment of design theory.

Reasons to nerf a spell:

1. No save or way to avoid it. Some battlefield control falls into this.
2. So good that it's a no brainer.
3. Absolute defenses should be rare and not in the domain of low levels.

Reasons not to nerf a spell:

1. Breaks a certain type of game. Comprehend Languages is godlike in a game about translating old languages, but that doesn't mean it is in most other campaigns. This goes into specific house rules. There's a lot of gray areas here, err on the side of caution for now.

Sorc/Wizard

Protection From Evil: Should be reduced to a bonus to saves against enchantment, rather than blocking the entire school. Rule 3.
Magic Missile: Closer to a level 2 spell than level 1, but so iconic it gets grandfather claused in. -
Glitterdust: Remove blindness aspect. Rule 2.

http://dnd.savannahsoft.eu/feat-2259-prophet-of-the-divine.html - Was gonna give this to Balyss one day. It would have been fitting, eh?

Never really worked this out, it's still beta.
Cauldron Iron

This rare iron is forged in the Cauldron, heated by elemental fire, cooled with elemental water, shaped with elemental air and hardened with the spirit of elemental earth. Weapons and armor made of  Cauldron Iron are 25% heavier than normal iron, but have a hardness 5 points higher than the norm for steel.  In addition weapons made of Cauldron Iron retain some spark of elemental power.  When a weapon made of Cauldron Iron strikes a target vulnerable to fire, cold, electricity or acid, the weapon sparks with elemental energy, dealing an extra 1d6 points of the elemental damage the creature is weak to. If the creature is weak to more than one type of elemental damage that Cauldron Iron can affect, the wielder may choose which type manifests against that enemy for the encounter. Armor made of Cauldron Iron shields the wearer from elemental harm instead, granting energy resistance 2 to fire, cold, acid and electricity.

This rare iron alloy is forged in the Cauldron and imbued with the elemental spirits that live there. Equipment made from Cauldron Iron is heavier than normal, but it offers elemental power.

Weapons and armor made of Cauldron Iron are 25% heavier than normal iron. In addition, weapons made of Cauldron Iron have a spark of elemental power within them. They deal a point each of fire, cold, electricity and acid damage per strike. This extra damage stacks with any other elemental damage the weapon does, such as flaming or frost. Cauldron Iron counts as cold iron for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction.  Armor made of Cauldron Iron grants energy resistance 3 to fire, cold, electricity and acid.








Type of Cauldron Iron item Item cost modifier
Ammunition +60 marks
Light Armor +5,000 marks
Medium Armor +10,000 marks
Heavy Armor +15,000 marks
Weapon +3,000 marks
Shield +2,000 marks

Half idea, half template/epic spell exercise. It was originally named Syala's lovely defender of the home, but that was too magical girl-esque. Syala would be an amusing magical girl.

Syala's Awaken Defender of the Home

Level: Drd 10
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 24 hours.
Range: Touch
Target: Animal or tree touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell functions as Awaken with the following exceptions. The creature gains an additional 4 hit dice on top of the normal benefits of Awaken. Further, it gains the Defender of the Home template.

Material Component

Rare herbs and incense worth 10,000 marks.

Creating a Defender of the Home

Defender of the Home is an acquired template that can be added to any animal or tree through the Syala's Awaken Defender of the Home spell (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

A Defender of the Home uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Size/Type

The base creature's size and type do not change beyond the changes from Syala's Awaken Defender of the Home.

Armor Class

The creature's natural armor increases by 4 points. Further, it may apply it's charisma modifier as a deflection modifier to armor class (see below).

Special Attacks

Special Qualities

Defender (Ex)

A Defender of the Home is created to protect a home, religious area of Syala or similar. This may be any area equaling 100 square feet and 25 square feet tall per caster level of Syala's Awaken Lovely Defender. Once dedicated to an area, the choice cannot be remade. The base creature gains many benefits while within the area it defends, as explained below.

Awareness (Su)

A Defender of the Home is automatically aware of any and all creatures that are within it's chosen area. It knows it's precise location, type and alignment. This sense defeats invisibility, etherealness, hiding, blur, blinking or any other effects as such. This allows it to strike invisible creatures true and ignore the miss chance from spells such as blur or blink. Further, it may strike ethereal creatures within it's chosen area as if it's natural weapons and special attacks possess the ghost touch quality. Nondetection and similar spells are ineffective against this power. Mind Blank and Darkstalker are not automatically effective, though they do give a chance of evasion; a Will save is allowed on first entering. (DC 10 + charisma modifier + 1/2 base creature's hit dice + 4 racial bonus.)  Success allows them to be undetected, failure allows the Defender of the Home to pinpoint them with Awareness.

The save DC is charisma based and includes a +4 racial bonus.

Teleportation (Su)

A Defender of the Home may use greater teleport as a swift action, but only within it's chosen area. It is not impeded by any local conditions that bar teleportation, due to it's intimate connection with the area. External conditions, such as casting dimensional anchor on the Defender of the Home, are effective.

Shield Other (Su)

As a free action, the Defender of the Home may choose to take half the damage anyone within his chosen area takes. This functions as a shield other spell, but need not be precast. The Defender of the Home must be aware of the attack to use this ability.

Devoted Defender (Ex)

The Defender of the Home is possessed with an unyielding desire to protect his chosen area. This manifests in several defensive ways, all of which only function while within the chosen area. It gains it's charisma modifier as a deflection bonus to armor class and as a bonus to saving throws, damage reduction 15/epic, mettle and evasion, fast healing 10, energy resistance(all types) 50, and spell resistance equal to it's hit dice+12.

Abilities

Increase from the base creature: Con+8, Cha+8

I may use Defender of the Home later on, we shall see.

Ice in the Veins [General]
Prerequisite: Base Will save+1
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on your  modified level check to resist being intimidated. - Think that one merchant had this.

Unrelated but in my Balmuria 2 notes for some reason.

I'm aiming within 2 HD or so of final numbers. Hopefully.

Akane: 5 HD.
Cologne: 23 HD.
Happosai: 23 HD.
Kasumi: 2 HD.
Kodachi: 10 HD.
Kuno: 8 HD.
Nabiki: 2 HD.
Ranma: 18 HD.
Ryoga: 18 HD.
Shampoo: 11 HD.
Tofu: 11 HD.
Ukyou: 10 HD.

Katchu Tenshin Amiguriken (Ex)

Ranma can strike dozens of times in a split second, overwhelming an opponent with a flurry of fists. As a standard action Ranma may unleash the Chestnut Fist on one target. It deals triple normal damage. Further, due to the strikes softening up the target, it halves any damage reduction the target possesses.

Not sure which debate this was from.

Josa's an interesting example. He's highly intelligent(22 int) coupled with a low wisdom(9) and above average charisma(15). This leads to all sorts of clashes where he has good ideas or gets something accurately, but doesn't always take action in the most advantageous manner. Sure, he has a great vocabulary and can make big speeches, but he has flaws as a leader and sometime gets himself into trouble. He should look like a fool on occasion because of his wisdom. There's nothing wrong with that; at the same time it doesn't undercut Josa's intellect. Was Seira a short bus candidate for her mistakes? Intelligence is no guarantee of perfection, let alone through the prism of another person's point of view.

For what it's worth, Josa's verbosity and general demeanor is over the top on purpose. He's a drama queen and a windbag, it's part of his charm. His 'charm', if you prefer sarcasm to it.

Shield of the Mist [General]
Prerequisite: Must have died, visited the Well of Souls and been resurrected.
Benefit: Some of the mists of the Well of Souls linger around you. Once per day as a swift action you can manifest these mists around you. This provides you with concealment, granting you a 20% miss chance. Against incorporeal attacks this bonus rises to 50%. This lasts for one minute.

Breath of the Mist [General]
Prerequisite: Shield of Mist
Benefit: You can gather up the mists around you and exhale them in a cloud. Three times per day you may use Obscuring Mist as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to your hit dice.

Embrace of Beyond [General]
Prerequisite: Must have died, passed onto the Realms Beyond and been resurrected, must have been happy with your afterlife and not changed alignment since then.
Benefit: You have gained near unshakable faith in your course in life. You gain a +5 bonus against any spell or ability that would change your alignment or faith. If the ability does not grant a saving throw, you are allowed a will save to negate. Calculate the DC as 20 + charisma modifier if a creature or caster level if an item or unattached spell or effect.

Terror of Eternity [General]
Prerequisite: Must have died, passed onto the Realms Beyond and been resurrected, must have been unhappy with your afterlife.
Benefit: The fear of returning to your torment drives you beyond your limits. Once per day you may choose to reroll any single failed saving throw with a +3 bonus. This is a free action.

Touch of the Otherworldly [General]
Prerequisite: Must have died and been resurrected, wis 15, cha 15, must be mortal until you take this feat.
Benefit: Your nature has been changed by your death and resurrection; your body becomes partially spiritual. Your type changes to Outsider(Native).  This grants you darkvision and a few other things, check the SRD for more information.
Special: Once you take this feat, you need not meet the prerequisite of being a mortal.

Drew a blank on this spell, and I never got around to checking if this concept was already done. I bet it was.

Prismatic Shield
Abjuration
Level:
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal.
Target: You.
Duration: 1 min/level.
Saving Throw: None.
Spell Resistance: No.

This spell creates a winged disc of rainbow colored force, roughly the size of a heavy shield. It grants you a +10 shield bonus to armor class at all times. This bonus applies to incorporeal creatures and touch attacks. In addition, any creature that attacks you and misses is affected as if struck by a prismatic spray spell.

Josa's fragment of Simmer's letter. He hid it from you, none of you caught his little tell on it or pursued it.

Josa: Hasel says my vocabulary is quite good! Thanks for that. I know you have your problems and it's your choice on how you deal with it, but I think they could help you a lot. There's a noble elf under all that wind.

Lady Jane Kesper, if you were curious. At least her level spread: Knight 10/Sorcerer 4/Spellsword ?

Feats: Multiattack(1), Toughness(F1), Toughness(F2), Weapon Finesse(3), Toughness(F4), Improved Flier(6), Toughness(F6), Toughness(F8), Flyby Attack(9), Toughness(F10), Improved Multiattack(12), Toughness(F12) If you wondered why that brown dragon was so tough. Yes, I cheated.

Melthor, Forest Giant Hunting Ranger

Forest Giant 16//Ranger 16 - Lucky you didn't pick a fight with him.

What in 3.5 do you dislike and why? A logbook of postings by me, maybe to become a topic one day. Maybe.

Sudden Strike

Oh I know! Let's take Sneak Attack and make it even harder to apply! Zounds, this is a killer idea! I'm sorely considering a house rule to turn any instances of Sudden Strike into Sneak Attack instead.

Book of the Nine Swords

I disagree with the assertion that the solution to 3.x warriors it to make them mini-casters. I also loathe the flavor and the execution of many of the abilities, as well as the names.

Grithalek, Bearded Devil 6//Ice Creature 2/Adjustment for side effects 2/Wizard 2

<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Anastasia

#652
I was always curious how a high level Neveril would've looked. Work in progress.

7: Sirine 5/Martial Rogue 2//Bard 4/Sirine Paragon 3
8: Sirine 5/Martial Rogue 3//Bard 5/Sirine Paragon 3
9: Sirine 5/Martial Rogue 4//Bard 6/Sirine Paragon 3
10: Sirine 5/Martial Rogue 4/Siren 1/Bard 7/Sirine Paragon 3
11: Sirine 5/Martial Rogue 4/Siren 2/Bard 8/Sirine Paragon 3

Keep going that way indefinitely. The MR levels may not have been taken right away or at all, but I'm going with them for the moment. Bard progression + siren progression is desired, as her entire routine is to sing sing sing. Lots of options are needed. I'd need to bone up on bardic optimization to find out what I should be aiming for here. I think there are ways to have two bardic musics going at once, will need to investigate.

Needs con booster for WoC.

---

Neveril, Sirine 5/Martial Rogue 2//Bard 4/Sirine Paragon 3

Size/Type: Medium Fey (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 7d6+7+7 (44 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30ft, swim 60ft
Armor Class: 25 (+4 dex, +4 deflection, +1 dodge, +6 armor)
Base Attack/CMB/CMD +5/+5/23
Attack: Shortsword+9 (1d6) or unarmed touch+9 (1d4 intelligence damage)
Full Attack: -
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Charming song, intelligence damage, spell-like abilities, bardic music
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/cold iron, amphibious, deflection, low-light vision, soothing touch, bardic knowledge, improved spell-like abilities, fey skin, trapfinding, evasion.
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +13, Will +10
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 19
Skills:  Concentration+11, Escape Artist+14, Handle Animal+14, Heal+13, Hide+14, Knowledge(Nature)+13, Listen+15, Perform(Dance)+25, Perform(Oratory)+22, Perform(Song)+22, Swim+18
Feats: Dodge(1), Song of the Heart(3), Water Devotion(6), Toughness(MR1), Skill Focus(Dance)(Book), Weapon Finesse(MR2)
Epic Feats: -
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Racial and innate powers:
Spoiler: ShowHide
Spell-like abilities: 3/day: alter self, fog cloud, improved invisibility. Caster level 7th. The save DCs are charisma based.

Charming Song (Su)

As a standard action, a sirine may sing a beautiful song. Any who hear this song, regardless of distance, must make a DC 17 will save or be afflicted as by a charm person spell. This effect lasts for 12 hours and does not grant a +5 bonus to its saving throw if the sirine has attacked or been hostile to the targets.

Intelligence Damage (Su)

The unarmed touch of a sirene deals 1d4 points of intelligence damage. This damage increases to 2d4 on a critical hit.

Deflection (Su)

The sirene gains her charisma modifier as a deflection bonus to armor class.

Soothing Touch (Su)

As a standard action, the touch of a sirene can remove any intelligence damage caused by herself or another sirene.

A sirene receives a +8 racial bonus to perform and swim checks.


Bard powers:
Spoiler: ShowHide


Neveril casts as a 6th level bard.

Spell charges: 3/4/3

0: Dancing Lights, Lullaby, Know Direction, Mage Hand, Mending, Prestidigitation.
1: Cure Light Wounds, Improvisation(SC), Inspirational Boost(SC), Remove Fear.
2: Heroism, Hold Person, Mirror Image.

Bardic Knowledge (Ex)

A bard may make a special bardic knowledge check with a bonus equal to his bard level + his Intelligence modifier to see whether he knows some relevant information about local notable people, legendary items, or noteworthy places. (If the bard has 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (history), he gains a +2 bonus on this check.)

A successful bardic knowledge check will not reveal the powers of a magic item but may give a hint as to its general function. A bard may not take 10 or take 20 on this check; this sort of knowledge is essentially random. Neveril's check is 1d20+5.

Bardic Music (Su)

Neveril performs as a 4th level bard. (Countersong, healing hymn inspire courage+2, inspire competence.)

Healing Hymn (Sp)

If you have 3 or more ranks in a Perform skill, you can use your music or poetics to create an area conducive  to healing.

To be affected, an ally must be able to see and hear you perform. The effect lasts as long as you continue perform­ing and for 5 rounds thereafter. An affected ally who casts any conjuration (healing) spell gains a +1 sacred (if you're good or neutral) or profane (if you're evil) bonus on the roll for each rank you have in the Perform skill. This ability has no effect on spells cast from wands, scrolls, or other magic items.

In addition, if you use this ability for 1 full minute before you and your allies retire for the night, everyone in the group heals naturally as if he had completed 24 hours of bed rest (thus recovering twice his character level in hitpoints). If the music is interrupted, the magic of the
song is lost.  Either use of healing hymn counts as one daily use of your bardic music ability. This is a spell-like ability.


Rogue powers:
Spoiler: ShowHide


Trapfinding

Rogues (and only rogues) can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20.

Finding a nonmagical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

Rogues (and only rogues) can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

A rogue who beats a trap's DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with her party) without disarming it.


Gear:
Spoiler: ShowHide


[Weapon]Shortsword. Readied.
[Armor]Mithral Breastplate+1

[Expendable]Healer's Kit: +2 circumstance bonus to heal checks, 10 uses left.
[Expendable]2 sunrods.
[Expendable]1 flask of holy water.
[Expendable]1 flask of acid.
[Expendable]1 electric taffy.

2906.23 marks.

<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?