Random DM nagging.

[Anastasia]

Let's start with the basic spell. This isn't quite an epic spell on its own, I'm aiming for 9th level. Dread necros get it a bit earlier thanks to being ahead of the curve there and this being 100% in their wheelhouse. Anyway, we'll work with this as a chassis for a more noteworthy epic spell.

Fearsome Dispelling
Abjuration/Necromancy [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Brd 9, Clr 9, Dread Necromancer 8, Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 30ft
Area: Cone shaped burst
Duration: Instantaneous and 1 round/level; see text
Saving Throw: Will partial; see text
Spell Resistance: No

All creatures within the area of effect are treated as being targeted with a greater dispel magic spell with a maximum dispel check of +25. Additionally, every creature that has at least one spell dispelled from them is affected as if by a fear spell. A Will save negates the fear but not the dispel.

--

That's a fairly direct and simple spell. It's greater dispel magic with a higher check modifier, the radius changed to fear's and a fear rider afterwards. Powerful but reasonably competitive with other 8th/9th level dispels.

So let's boost it up a little more.

Greater Fearsome Dispelling
Abjuration/Necromancy [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Brd 11, Clr 11, Dread Necromancer 10, Sor/Wiz 11

This spell is identical to fearsome dispelling, except as noted here. The maximum dispel check is +30. If two or more spells are dispelled from a creature, immunity to fear or mind-affecting does not protect them from this fear, though they gain a +10 bonus to the saving throw. This bonus decreases by 2 for every spell past the second that is dispelled, to a minimum of +0 if seven or more spells are dispelled on a creature.

How's that look, y'all?

[Anastasia]

Next up is Cleansing Rain. I'll copy/paste that spell into here for reference.

Cleansing Rain
Evocation [Acid, Good]
Level: Sanctified 10
Components: V, S, Sacrifice
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100ft + 10ft/level)
Area: Cylinder (80ft radius, 80ft high)
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Spell Resistance: Yes

A drenching rain falls from above, washing away filth while dissolving evil. Non-evil creatures are cleansed by the rain, any dirt and grime washed away. Evil creatures are affected by the rain as if were acid, taking 20d6 points of acid damage per round of exposure. Evil outsiders are particularly vulnerable, suffering a -4 penalty to the Reflex save.

Evil creatures slain by this spell are reduced to a puddle of clean, clear water.

Sacrifice

1d4 points of Strength drain.

Let's look at a straight conversion for Jaela's tastes for light.

Jaela's Cleaning Light
Evocation [Good, Light]
Level: Sanctified 10
Components: V, S, Sacrifice
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100ft + 10ft/level)
Area: Cylinder (80ft radius, 80ft high)
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell causes bright light to shine within the radius that devastates the wicked. Non-evil creatures are not affected by the light. Evil creatures suffer 15d6 points of damage per round of exposure. Evil outsiders are particularly vulnerable, suffering a -6 penalty to the Reflex save.

Evil creatures slain by this spell are dissolved into motes of light that fade away.

This spell is a variant of cleansing rain created by Jaela of Aurora.

Sacrifice

1d4 points of Strength drain.

---

This is mostly swapping a few things around. There's less damage thanks to it being non-typed, but the saving throw penalty increases since light has strong connotations of good and cleansing. It doesn't directly interface with your aura, admittedly.

---

Jaela's Cleansing Aura
Evocation [Good, Light]
Level: Sanctified 12
Components: V, S, Sacrifice
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 0ft
Area: 80ft radius centered on you
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell causes bright light to shine all around you, light that devastates the wicked. Non-evil creatures are not affected by the light. Evil creatures suffer 15d6 points of damage per round of exposure. Evil outsiders are particularly vulnerable, suffering a -6 penalty to the Reflex save. This spell moves with you and stays focused on you.

Evil creatures slain by this spell are dissolved into motes of light that fade away.

This spell is a variant of cleansing rain created by Jaela of Aurora.

Sacrifice

1d6 points of Strength drain.

----

The area/range are probably off, those are placeholders since I need to look up the proper notation and formatting for this sort of spell.

This is tentative. Is it worth a +2 level bump and a bump to the sacrifice cost? More or less. Changing it to a mobile spell turns it from a battlefield control sort of offensive spell to a powerful offensive weapon. Let me know what you think.

[Anastasia]

I've noticed a trend lately of people not using the nagging thread unless I tell them to, preferring to poke me on IRC. This is often fine, but allow me to encourage you to use nagging.

1. I often prefer it, so I'm not on the spot immediately. I can answer at leisure and without having to worry about forgetting about it as easily.
2. Other people can see it. This is useful for questions that may be relevant to more than yourself.
3. I often ask y'all to post in nagging. Take the hint. <_<

In short, if you have a game question, feel free to use nagging instead of prodding me on IRC. I encourage it.

[Corwin]

I think the lvl12 spell would be better if it increased the range of my aura for the duration. It's a pain to calculate the different radiuses for effects (-x for those within 20ft, -y for those within 40ft, -z for those within 80ft and so on). Also, the effect being tied to me rather than to a set point is not that much of a bonus when we're talking a 80ft radius effect and a per round duration. The range would usually cover a sizeable chunk of the battleground as is, especially if coupled with lesser spells like fog that restrict movement out of it.

[Iron Dragoon]

What feats should I take to support 2h weapons?

[Nephrite]

Carrying Voice
Evocation [Sonic]
Level: Brd 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 min/level
Saving Throw: None (harmless)
Spell Resistance: No

This spell increases the effective range of all bardic musics you use for the duration by 50 feet per caster level (maximum 500 feet).



On the one hand, allowing you to bardic music people super far away is pretty good, but on the other, it's a standard action. Thoughts?

[Anastasia]

I think the lvl12 spell would be better if it increased the range of my aura for the duration. It's a pain to calculate the different radiuses for effects (-x for those within 20ft, -y for those within 40ft, -z for those within 80ft and so on). Also, the effect being tied to me rather than to a set point is not that much of a bonus when we're talking a 80ft radius effect and a per round duration. The range would usually cover a sizeable chunk of the battleground as is, especially if coupled with lesser spells like fog that restrict movement out of it.

It's not that it covers a big hunk of the battlefield, it's that you can take it along with you. Makes it a great prep spell before you dive into battle and lets you shove it into the face of bad guys. Cleansing Rain is strong, but there's an obvious solution: Move out of the radius. Your argument isn't invalid, I just feel it misses the point that the spell's basic usage radically changes with it. Anyway, all that aside since it's quibbling over details.

How about this? Range/area's still probably borked, will fix whenever this is finished.

Jaela's Cleansing Aura
Evocation [Good, Light]
Level: Sanctified 12
Components: V, S, Sacrifice
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 0ft
Area: See text
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell inflames your aura, causing it to directly damage evil creatures within it. Evil creatures suffer 15d6 points of damage per round of exposure. The penalty your aura inflicts to saves increases to -4 and to -6 versus evil outsiders.

Evil creatures slain by this spell are dissolved into motes of light that fade away.

Sacrifice

1d4 points of Strength drain.

[Iron Dragoon]

On a second note, you mentioned there might be a feat to modify the list for Exalted Companion? As a follow up, if not, since we're into epic, is there a way to go from Unicorn to Celestial Charger or something?

[Anastasia]

What feats should I take to support 2h weapons?

Okay, I'm assuming you're going Strength heavy? It's possible to do it without strength through shenanigans (see Mirima), but I'm assuming a fairly standard build here. First of all, you need to choose a weapon. I'll list the notable ones.

Greatsword: Standard for a good reason. 2d6 and 19/20 x2 is pretty good and doesn't require exotic weapon proficiency.
Greataxe: 1d12 and x3. A bit weaker than a greatsword, but nice if you want stronger, less frequent crits. Your damage will be more variable due to 1d12 versus 2d6.
Scythe: 2d4 and x4. Even weaker per hit, but the crits are insane. If you want to chase big crits, this is a strong choice.
Falchion: 2d4 and 18/20 x2. Basically for those times when you want as many crits as possible.
Reach Weapon: These are really their own thing, as they have drawbacks and benefits. The main benefit is that it increases your reach with it, though they can hinder attacking adjacent enemies. I can go into more detail if you're interested in them.

Which of those you prefer comes down to personal preference. Additionally, there's some choices opened up by exotic weapon proficiency. This requires a feat, so make sure you really want that weapon.

Elven Courtblade: 1d10 and 18/20 x2. Also, you can use it with Weapon Finesse. This is interesting, but requires some work and effort to really bring out the most of.  They're in Races of the Wild.
Longaxe: 1d12 and x3. However, if you take -3 or more on Power Attack, you can treat it as a reach weapon for the round. Gives it some interesting utility. Complete Warrior.

Finally, there are a few in houserules that are relevant to you. Fullhammers are strong though require exotic weapon proficiency.

Greathammers are martial melee weapons. They deal 1d12 damage, x3 crit rate and grant a +2 bonus to sunder attempts. 50 gp.
Fullhammers are exotic melee weapons. They deal 2d10 damage, x4 crit rate and grant a +2 bonus to sunder attempts. A fullhammer must be wielded with two hands. 150 gp.

All that aside, let's look at some good two handed feats.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Fighters'_Handbook_By_Dictum_Mortuum_(3.5e_Optimized_Character_Build)#Two_Handed_Weapon_Style

Do note that this campaign soft-bans shock trooper and leap attack.

Finally, feel free to look at the pulverize epic feat. It's homebrew so I'll cross post it here. It basically increases your Strength to damage by 50%.

Pulverize [Epic]
Prerequisites: Great Ability (Strength), Power Attack, base attack bonus+21, str 29
Benefit: You deal 1.5 times your Strength modifier to melee and ranged attacks. If you use a two handed weapon, you instead deal two times your Strength modifier. If you have secondary natural weapons that deal one half of your Strength modifier to damage, they now deal your full Strength modifier to damage.

[Iron Dragoon]

I was planning on Scythe, since it fits thematically, so a crit type build is what I'm looking for I guess.

As for Str, yeah, fairly standard build. There's already a bit going on in the build, so I don't really want to muddy it up too much just to squeeze every last bit out.

[Anastasia]

Okay, Iddy's interested in Lion of Talisid. First of all, it would need to be refluffed since guardinals don't exist in this cosmology. This isn't a huge deal, just bear it in mind.

You'd replace the feat requirement with this from house rules.

Angelic Champion [Exalted]
Benefit: Once per day, while performing an act of good, you may call upon your angelic patron to gain a +1 luck bonus on any one roll or check.
Special: Once you take this feat, you may not take it again, nor can you take either the Servant of the Heavens feat or the Knight of Stars feat. Your allegiance is only yours to give once.
Special: This feat replaces Favored of the Companions, as guardinals do not exist in this cosmology.

Wild shape would need to be converted to shape shift.

I tend not to allow pounce and/or hand it out extremely rarely, so lion's charge is a problem.

Rest of it's fine. It's usable but would require a lot of work and effort to do so. How much are you looking to take of it?

[Iron Dragoon]

Well, I was primarily interested in pounce and swiftness. If those are an issue, I'd probably swap back to Fighter or another PrC. I'd have to hunt around for one.

[Anastasia]

Carrying Voice
Evocation [Sonic]
Level: Brd 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 min/level
Saving Throw: None (harmless)
Spell Resistance: No

This spell increases the effective range of all bardic musics you use for the duration by 50 feet per caster level (maximum 500 feet).



On the one hand, allowing you to bardic music people super far away is pretty good, but on the other, it's a standard action. Thoughts?

It's time for D&D pedantry! When you make a personal/you spell, you don't bother with the saving throw or spell resistance. It's assumed there is none since those spells usually only target and directly effect yourself.

In the rare case one would provoke a saving throw or spell resistance, mention it in the body of the spell and consider reworking the spell altogether. It should look like this:

Carrying Voice
Evocation [Sonic]
Level: Brd 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 min/level

This spell increases the effective range of all bardic musics you use for the duration by 50ft per caster level (maximum 500ft). This is in addition to however far your voice would be heard in the prevailing conditions. A silence spell or conditions that prevent you from being heard entirely are unaffected by this spell.

Anyway, spell's fine barring a few tweaks above.

[Anastasia]

I was planning on Scythe, since it fits thematically, so a crit type build is what I'm looking for I guess.

As for Str, yeah, fairly standard build. There's already a bit going on in the build, so I don't really want to muddy it up too much just to squeeze every last bit out.

Scythe's a good choice then. Possibly fullhammer if you don't mind blowing a feat on EWP.

[Iron Dragoon]

I was planning on Scythe, since it fits thematically, so a crit type build is what I'm looking for I guess.

As for Str, yeah, fairly standard build. There's already a bit going on in the build, so I don't really want to muddy it up too much just to squeeze every last bit out.

Scythe's a good choice then. Possibly fullhammer if you don't mind blowing a feat on EWP.

Well, that handbook doesn't have much on crit builds. Any suggestions for feat layouts?

Edit:

So going through the handbook, the only feats I see that are under 2h that will work are the Power Attack stuff, Cleave stuff, Combat Brute, Driving Attack, and Pushback. Most of that stuff seems to be built off of Charging or Bull Rush. Under the Charging feat combos, everything listed has either Shock Trooper or Leap, which you have soft banned, and Pounce is soft banned, too, so I'm kind of at a loss on what to take feat wise beyond Power Attack and Cleaving, aside from the combat support stuff like Imp. Initiative and Improved Crit type stuff.

Are there any NPCs that are built for 2h? Maybe I could see what they've done.