Avatar: The Last Airbender / Legend of Korra conversion


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Grand Lodge

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With the impeding release of Occult Adventures and the marvelous Kineticist, it's about time for a solid attempt at converting the universe to Pathfinder d20/ogl.

Yes, it is a bit early for the regular folks who still have to wait for the 29th, but I wanted to get this thread started early to drum up support and interest for the topic at hand.

Thoughts? Concerns? Ideas? Go and spread the word!

Verdant Wheel

What powers do you see in the cannon that do not have a corresponding talent?

The Exchange

Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I haven't been keeping up on every last Occult Adventures update, but if I can get Asami's electric gloves, I'm in.

Grand Lodge

Project: J-ko wrote:
I haven't been keeping up on every last Occult Adventures update, but if I can get Asami's electric gloves, I'm in.

Absolutely! I can see all the new equipment like the gloves, airships, URN police armor, Earth Empire armor, and everything else getting some sort of entry.

I keep thinking about and there might need to be a generic nonbender class that can fulfill the various nonbendy stuff we see in the show.

rainzax wrote:
What powers do you see in the cannon that do not have a corresponding talent?

I'm like the regular folks who have to wait a bit longer. So far, I just have the playtest pdf to look over to see what's needed and what isn't needed.

Right now, it's more about limiting certain choices for each element. For example, a fire bender can get lightning kinetic blast from expanded element or earthbenders getting the magma blast composite wild talent.

I could also see the class getting no weapon proficiency, a possible switch of the core stat (con) to something different for each element, and so on to fit with the source material.

If we see a power in the show, books, or in other material, it should be reviewed and compared to the talents that are available.


The capstone would need to be changed.

Dark Archive

I would have to say that Zuko is an Elemental Annihilator with maybe a level or a few in something like fighter, slayer, or ranger. The main reason I choose Elemental Annihilator is that you can two weapon wield kinetic blades with it and it gets lots of combat feats. the one level of class would be to get the proficiencies and to increase his fighting abilities a little.

Grand Lodge

brad2411 wrote:
I would have to say that Zuko is an Elemental Annihilator with maybe a level or a few in something like fighter, slayer, or ranger. The main reason I choose Elemental Annihilator is that you can two weapon wield kinetic blades with it and it gets lots of combat feats. the one level of class would be to get the proficiencies and to increase his fighting abilities a little.

I would like to include a whole host of different ideas of building the characters from different people. I would also like to include thoughts on building the type of character for basic Pathfinder and for PFS. I just wouldn't feel complete it they were not included.

For a relatively easy transition is Pabu. Simply a red panda familiar with the Mascot template added on. I'm still looking in on all the possibilities for other pets/familiars like the infamous turtle duck, various pig hybrids, rabbiroos, and so on. Most look as simple as having them count as other, established animals, but I do want to look for ways on making them standout too.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
brad2411 wrote:
I would have to say that Zuko is an Elemental Annihilator with maybe a level or a few in something like fighter, slayer, or ranger. The main reason I choose Elemental Annihilator is that you can two weapon wield kinetic blades with it and it gets lots of combat feats. the one level of class would be to get the proficiencies and to increase his fighting abilities a little.

Ranger with Favored Enemy (Humanoid(The Avatar))


Would the avatar be a Suli or a Samsaran?


Probably a Human with a unique trait or unique feat. Maybe a template. Or perhaps just some kind of Oracle's Curse baked into the class.

Grand Lodge

Milo v3 wrote:
Would the avatar be a Suli or a Samsaran?

I was thinking it (the past lives) should be tied into the Avatar class. It could simply be as easy as a spell-like ability like Augury, Speak with Dead, and so on. It could also gives something like skill bonuses. Because Avatars usually are not able to speak with all of the past lives, having the character gain an increasing access to more lives as they progress seems like the right step.

The Avatar state should also be tied into the class as well. At level 1, it could simply be a GM tool to get the player and the party out of trouble and/or plot related events. At later levels the player can start to control it, maybe a number of rounds equal to level, and give the ability to add more talents to a kinetic blast or access to more utility talents.


Add favoured enemies for each bender; remove favored enemy Human.

I would avoid alowing players to be the Avatar, purely due to the Jedi rule, and in it's current state a Kineticist can only learn to use three elements.

The Occultist makes a pretty good Spirit World Guide

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Diminuendo wrote:

Add favoured enemies for each bender; remove favored enemy Human.

I would avoid alowing players to be the Avatar, purely due to the Jedi rule, and in it's current state a Kineticist can only learn to use three elements.

The Occultist makes a pretty good Spirit World Guide

Until they hit 20th level and they are literally the Avatar.

Grand Lodge

This might be a thread to your liking.

This product might be of interest: 3PP though

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Loyal Battle Monkey wrote:

With the impeding release of Occult Adventures and the marvelous Kineticist, it's about time for a solid attempt at converting the universe to Pathfinder d20/ogl.

Already been done long time ago. Do a message board search for the Element Master threads. There's even a nice free PDF attached.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Avatar state could be a quad gestalted kineticist (one for each true element) level 20 that the avatar can channel for 1 round per level.

Grand Lodge

LazarX wrote:
Loyal Battle Monkey wrote:

With the impeding release of Occult Adventures and the marvelous Kineticist, it's about time for a solid attempt at converting the universe to Pathfinder d20/ogl.

Already been done long time ago. Do a message board search for the Element Master threads. There's even a nice free PDF attached.

Doesn't really capture the feel of the universe or benders as well as the playtest kineticist has. There's also nothing about all the other goodies of Avatar either. What if I want to a Wolf-bat or a polar bear dog (no, a polar bear isn't good enough)? Stuff like that.

Kryzbyn wrote:
Avatar state could be a quad gestalted kineticist (one for each true element) level 20 that the avatar can channel for 1 round per level.

My only problem with that is Aang was already able use the state, although not under his control, before learning the other elements. I do want to account for things like that. The more I think about it, I more I would want to discourage a PC Avatar. Doesn't mean I would be completely against it.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Even if you ran an NPC as the avatar...you'll need a mechanic.


Loyal Battle Monkey wrote:

With the impeding release of Occult Adventures and the marvelous Kineticist, it's about time for a solid attempt at converting the universe to Pathfinder d20/ogl.

Yes, it is a bit early for the regular folks who still have to wait for the 29th, but I wanted to get this thread started early to drum up support and interest for the topic at hand.

Thoughts? Concerns? Ideas? Go and spread the word!

If you want to go the easy-but-not-perfect route, the Kineticist works fine.

If you want to go the more-perfect-but-not-easy route, you'll want to go back to 3.5 and create custom classes using the Tome of Battle as a starting point (but changing the maneuvers to be less broken). I did this years ago, and it worked out really well, albeit it DID require quite a bit of time to pull off.

Stances are demonstrated several times throughout the series: Double-Water-Arms stance, Octopus Stance, the "water battojutsu" stance (where a waterbender stands with one hand on their open water-gourd and their other hand hovering over, ready to use a water-whip like a swordsman quickly drawing a katana) fire whip stance, double-fire-dagger stance, etc.

The actual attacks are basically Martial Maneuvers.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Loyal Battle Monkey wrote:
Doesn't really capture the feel of the universe or benders as well as the playtest kineticist has. There's also nothing about all the other goodies of Avatar either. What if I want to a Wolf-bat or a polar bear dog (no, a polar bear isn't good enough)? Stuff like that.

Copyright issues prevented the team from doing that for obvious reasons. We kind of figured that providing the mechanics to run classes was enough for GMs who'd be creative enough to stat out creatures and characters on their own.

The Kineticist is a nice class, but it falls very short on the martial arts roots of Avatar's bending.

Dark Archive

Loyal Battle Monkey wrote:
LazarX wrote:
Loyal Battle Monkey wrote:

With the impeding release of Occult Adventures and the marvelous Kineticist, it's about time for a solid attempt at converting the universe to Pathfinder d20/ogl.

Already been done long time ago. Do a message board search for the Element Master threads. There's even a nice free PDF attached.

Doesn't really capture the feel of the universe or benders as well as the playtest kineticist has. There's also nothing about all the other goodies of Avatar either. What if I want to a Wolf-bat or a polar bear dog (no, a polar bear isn't good enough)? Stuff like that.

Why is the stats for a polar bear not good enough? Does it need a faster speed or something. The dog in pathfinder has the same speed as a polar bear. I only ask cause you seem to want to design a lot more then you need to. A polar bear could easily be reskinned as a polar bear dog with no real changes.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Loyal Battle Monkey wrote:


My only problem with that is Aang was already able use the state, although not under his control, before learning the other elements. I do want to account for things like that. The more I think about it, I more I would want to discourage a PC Avatar. Doesn't mean I would be completely against it.

Or simply run a campaign without an Avatar. I'm sure that there are plenty of things happening in the world even if the Avatar isn't there to watch the tree fall in that forest.

There's that whole hundred year period between Roku and Aang after all, not to mention the 20 years between Aang and Korra.


LazarX wrote:
Loyal Battle Monkey wrote:


My only problem with that is Aang was already able use the state, although not under his control, before learning the other elements. I do want to account for things like that. The more I think about it, I more I would want to discourage a PC Avatar. Doesn't mean I would be completely against it.

Or simply run a campaign without an Avatar. I'm sure that there are plenty of things happening in the world even if the Avatar isn't there to watch the tree fall in that forest.

There's that whole hundred year period between Roku and Aang after all, not to mention the 20 years between Aang and Korra.

The Hundred-Year War is a great time to play because there's no Avatar, and there's the possibility of sparse few Airbender survivors... but, at the same time, there's little extra Bending styles beyond Lightningbending & Healing.

If you set the campaign somewhere between 154 AAG (After Airbender Genocide), and 170 AAG, then you have the time when Korra was a child and/or receiving training, so you have no chance of Airbenders besides Tenzin and his family, but you have derivative bending styles - Metalbending, Bloodbending, Healing, Lightningbending, Spiritbending, Energybending (although only the Avatar can do that), Combustion, etc.

Also, there should be special note about bending styles that exist that are theorized to be "hybrid" styles - styles only usable by the children of parents from 2 different cultures:

• Lavabending - only demonstrated by 2 characters, one of whom was Bolin; Bolin is half-Fire Nation and half-Earth Kingdom, and Lava is fire & earth. The fact that he's a Lavabender, and Lavabenders are "very rare" lends some credence to the idea that Lavabenders only come from Fire-Earth hybrid children.

• Sandbending - this is EXTREMELY speculative, but the notion goes like this: the chance that EVERY Air Nomad was killed during the Airbender Genocide is very low, even WITH Sozin's Comet powering up Firebenders. More than a few should have survived, or not been at the Temples at the time, and easily could have gone into hiding in a place like the Great Desert. Sandbenders have an odd affinity with Sand, which even Toph has some trouble with, and it seems that every Sand-Nomad is a Sandbender, a trait shared with Air Nomads. Given that Sand is basically Earth-and-Air combined, it's not a stretch to imagine that the surviving Air Nomads could have hidden and intermarried with the people of the Great Desert, developing into Sandbenders over the course of several generations between 1 AAG and 100 AAG (when Aang reappeared).


Kryzbyn wrote:
Even if you ran an NPC as the avatar...you'll need a mechanic.

Just going to say this; the Avatar is boring. The Avatar basically an amorphus blob that steals everything interesting and unique about the characters around them.

So my question is, why do you even need the Avatar in your game? Treat him like a god; everyone knows they are powerful and have heard of their exploits, but their stats are never revealed.


Diminuendo wrote:
Kryzbyn wrote:
Even if you ran an NPC as the avatar...you'll need a mechanic.

Just going to say this; the Avatar is boring. The Avatar basically an amorphus blob that steals everything interesting and unique about the characters around them.

So my question is, why do you even need the Avatar in your game? Treat him like a god; everyone knows they are powerful and have heard of their exploits, but their stats are never revealed.

I don't think that's really fair. The Avatar is IMMENSELY powerful, but as shown by Korra, Roku, and Aang, the Avatar is FAR from being a true God.

The Avatar at adulthood is rightly over lv20, but still within the mortal range that someone like Sozin, Ozai, Azula, Zaheer, and Yakone were legitimate threats.

For as powerful as Korra is in the range of Bending styles she's proficient with (7 in total, to Aang's 5 and Roku's 4), KYOSHI is probably the single-most powerful Avatar in history - at least the most-powerful ever shown in action in the Avatar media (Yangchen, Roku, and Kuruk were never shown bending large landmasses, while Kyoshi did it without breaking a sweat, and the biggest thing Aang ever did was bend a large portion of a nearby sea to put out the fires caused by Ozai). Korra is arguably either the second or third most-powerful, and Wan comes very slightly after Korra, and Aang probably fourth after them, but Kyoshi is just shown and alluded to have been so much more powerful than even Korra she's verging on legite God Mode.

Still, that's ONE Avatar out of thousands who is an honest-to-god gamebreaker.

The Avatar should be somewhere between CL20 and CL30, probably close to CL25 (alternately, CL20 + 10 Mythic Tiers), but The Avatar isn't in the range of a God in the slightest, and could probably be stat'ed out fairly easily once you get the nature of the classes worked out.


Actually, thinking about it, there are a FEW possible timelines where you can put it:

1) Before Wan (19,000 BG to 10,001 BG) - There are no natural Benders; instead, humans need to receive Bending from the Lion Turtles on whose backs they live. However, as the Lion Turtle who gave Aang his Energybending alluded, humans very likely were "Chibenders", and manipulated the Chi within themselves to fight and create abilities.

2) Before Yangchen (600+ years BG) - Yangchen is the farthest-back Avatar that we know lots of details on, but there have been hundreds to thousands of Avatars in the past, and the world of Avatar was hardly unchanging before then.

A lot of fans have had fun with the idea of "what if the Red Lotus had succeeded?" and write fics concerning Red Lotus Korra, often versus Separatist Asami (obviously with a star-crossed-lovers, or enemy-lovers motif, but you get the idea).

It's possible that an Avatar centuries or millennia ago could have been evil, or at least extremely morally ambiguous, in the same way the alt-universe Red-Lotus-Korra would have been. Having the Avatar actually be the ANTAGONIST would be an interesting game, though likely more a well-intentioned-extremist than evil overlord.

3) The Hundred-Year War (1 AG to 99 AG) - Obviously the easiest. There's a long, long, LOOOONG war that has a well-established mythology, and would therefore allow for a ready-built campaign world with an existing conflict.

4) Korra's Childhood (154 AG to 170 AG) - The Red Lotus, the rise of the Separatists, etc. Like the Hundred-Year War, has a definite world and available conflicts.

5) Post Third Portal Creation (~185+ AG) - This is after the Legend of Korra show and comics by several years. Low-level Spirits once again live among Humans, and Humans could begin colonizing areas of the Spirit World through the Northern, Southern, & Republic Spirit Portals. It's also conceivable that Humans and Spirits could intermarry, and produce Human-Spirit Hybrids. Korra would be the Avatar, unless the campaign is set DECADES after the end of LOK, in which case the next Avatar would be an Earthbender.

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I would love to do a cyberpunk Avatar 1099 setting.

Where the Avatar is a bad guy and nonbenders use cybernetics to keep up with Benders.

Liberty's Edge

Human/Spirit hybrids, you say? I call dibs on the kitsune firebender equivalent.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
chbgraphicarts wrote:

Actually, thinking about it, there are a FEW possible timelines where you can put it:

1) Before Wan (19,000 BG to 10,001 BG) - There are no natural Benders; instead, humans need to receive Bending from the Lion Turtles on whose backs they live. However, as the Lion Turtle who gave Aang his Energybending alluded, humans very likely were "Chibenders", and manipulated the Chi within themselves to fight and create abilities.

What it said was that Spirit-Bending (it's proper name) preceded Element Bending. He said nothing about humans doing it, so presumably that refers to how the Lion Turtles granted (and took back) the bending ability to those hunting parties that left the Turtle cities to hunt and gather.


LazarX wrote:
chbgraphicarts wrote:

Actually, thinking about it, there are a FEW possible timelines where you can put it:

1) Before Wan (19,000 BG to 10,001 BG) - There are no natural Benders; instead, humans need to receive Bending from the Lion Turtles on whose backs they live. However, as the Lion Turtle who gave Aang his Energybending alluded, humans very likely were "Chibenders", and manipulated the Chi within themselves to fight and create abilities.

What it said was that Spirit-Bending (it's proper name) preceded Element Bending. He said nothing about humans doing it, so presumably that refers to how the Lion Turtles granted (and took back) the bending ability to those hunting parties that left the Turtle cities to hunt and gather.

Spiritbending is bending the energy of Spirits, which either purifies or corrupts them - Unalaq and Korra can both do it, and it's what allowed Korra to stave off the Spirit Energy Cannon's blast. Energybending was originally called "Spiritbending" by the fandom before proper Spiritbending showed up, at which point "Energybending" became the term for turning on and off Bending to differentiate it from what Korra and Unaloq do.

Energybending or Chibending is the technique Aang used to seal Ozai and Yakone's bending (and presumably the bending of others). Amon used a faux-Energybending technique based on Bloodbending, but only Lion Turtles and the Avatar are truly capable of proper Energybending.

Although, yes, you're right that the Lion Turtle's exact words were "before the elements, we bent the energy within ourselves." "Ourselves" could refer to either the Lion Turtles alone or all creatures, including humans. The exact origin and creation myth of the Avatar world is very fuzzy, and only given in small bits here and there - like the creation myths of Asia, accordingly, it's also never made clear whether humans were created by the Spirits or whether they existed before and separate from the Spirits, and simply worship them because they're so much more powerful than Humans.

Grand Lodge

chbgraphicarts wrote:

Actually, thinking about it, there are a FEW possible timelines where you can put it:

1) Before Wan (19,000 BG to 10,001 BG) - There are no natural Benders; instead, humans need to receive Bending from the Lion Turtles on whose backs they live. However, as the Lion Turtle who gave Aang his Energybending alluded, humans very likely were "Chibenders", and manipulated the Chi within themselves to fight and create abilities.

2) Before Yangchen (600+ years BG) - Yangchen is the farthest-back Avatar that we know lots of details on, but there have been hundreds to thousands of Avatars in the past, and the world of Avatar was hardly unchanging before then.

A lot of fans have had fun with the idea of "what if the Red Lotus had succeeded?" and write fics concerning Red Lotus Korra, often versus Separatist Asami (obviously with a star-crossed-lovers, or enemy-lovers motif, but you get the idea).

It's possible that an Avatar centuries or millennia ago could have been evil, or at least extremely morally ambiguous, in the same way the alt-universe Red-Lotus-Korra would have been. Having the Avatar actually be the ANTAGONIST would be an interesting game, though likely more a well-intentioned-extremist than evil overlord.

3) The Hundred-Year War (1 AG to 99 AG) - Obviously the easiest. There's a long, long, LOOOONG war that has a well-established mythology, and would therefore allow for a ready-built campaign world with an existing conflict.

4) Korra's Childhood (154 AG to 170 AG) - The Red Lotus, the rise of the Separatists, etc. Like the Hundred-Year War, has a definite world and available conflicts.

Those are some good ones. I would add:

1) Post Wan Period: Before Wan, people are largely separated by distance, relatively few places of safety, the lion-turtles, and spirits. After Wan closing the portals, humans are free to inhabit the lands and we see the conflict that arises. There's enough room to do quite a bit here.

2) Time of Chaos in the Earth Kingdom following the death of the Earth Queen: We have all the elements at play, various different powers possibly running around, and a large number of different scenarios that are possible based on the quandaries that book 4 tries to bring up (not very well, but that's for another day).

3) Korra's childhood: I think you expand this too to post hundred years war. Why? The possible growth of the White Lotus sometime between ATLA and LoK. The White Lotus certainly just become glorious guards in LoK, but I think it could be easy to have a group of White Lotus being relatively proactive when there's no Avatar available or otherwise preoccupied.

Oh, and don't forget about that Warlord that was mentioned in book 3!

4) Post LoK: Not counting the upcoming LoK comics, there's plenty in this period too. The most interesting point is the open spirit portals. We get an entire world for a group of random explorers to do what they do best!

chbgraphicarts wrote:


5) Post Third Portal Creation (~185+ AG) - This is after the Legend of Korra show and comics by several years. Low-level Spirits once again live among Humans, and Humans could begin colonizing areas of the Spirit World through the Northern, Southern, & Republic Spirit Portals. It's also conceivable that Humans and Spirits could intermarry, and produce Human-Spirit...

There's an instance of a human and a humanoid spirit intermarrying in The Rift, the third trilogy of comics following the conclusion of ATLA. No child is produced, however, and the incident is long before ATLA.

Having all of these ideas somewhere for people to develop their own campaigns is part of what I would want the conversion to be.

Silver Crusade

I've actually been tooling around with the idea for a pro bending sort of game, but the rules would rely on a few magical items that would only work in tandem with each other.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
chbgraphicarts wrote:
LazarX wrote:
chbgraphicarts wrote:

Actually, thinking about it, there are a FEW possible timelines where you can put it:

1) Before Wan (19,000 BG to 10,001 BG) - There are no natural Benders; instead, humans need to receive Bending from the Lion Turtles on whose backs they live. However, as the Lion Turtle who gave Aang his Energybending alluded, humans very likely were "Chibenders", and manipulated the Chi within themselves to fight and create abilities.

What it said was that Spirit-Bending (it's proper name) preceded Element Bending. He said nothing about humans doing it, so presumably that refers to how the Lion Turtles granted (and took back) the bending ability to those hunting parties that left the Turtle cities to hunt and gather.

Spiritbending is bending the energy of Spirits, which either purifies or corrupts them - Unalaq and Korra can both do it, and it's what allowed Korra to stave off the Spirit Energy Cannon's blast. Energybending was originally called "Spiritbending" by the fandom before proper Spiritbending showed up, at which point "Energybending" became the term for turning on and off Bending to differentiate it from what Korra and Unaloq do.

Energybending or Chibending is the technique Aang used to seal Ozai and Yakone's bending (and presumably the bending of others). Amon used a faux-Energybending technique based on Bloodbending, but only Lion Turtles and the Avatar are truly capable of proper Energybending.

Although, yes, you're right that the Lion Turtle's exact words were "before the elements, we bent the energy within ourselves." "Ourselves" could refer to either the Lion Turtles alone or all creatures, including humans. The exact origin and creation myth of the Avatar world is very fuzzy, and only given in small bits here and there - like the creation myths of Asia, accordingly, it's also never made clear whether humans were created by the Spirits or whether they existed before and separate from the Spirits, and simply...

Note also that there is no testament of any Avatar prior to Aang using Spirit Bending, presumably the Lion Turtle taught Aang a technique that the Turtles had witheld from Humans in order for him to get a third option on handling Ozai. (For some reason though despite giving him this boon, the Turtle didn't bother fixing Aang's chakra connection with his energy state, which wound up being repaired by dumb luck instead.)

Scarab Sages

has no one mentioned the elemental ascetic who is very bendery. and what are the stats for a red panda familiar.

Grand Lodge

N. Jolly wrote:
I've actually been tooling around with the idea for a pro bending sort of game, but the rules would rely on a few magical items that would only work in tandem with each other.

I've been trying to do something with Pro Bending for a while now, but largely as more of a board game rather than for Pathfinder. I'll go back and look at the dueling mechanics that are out there and maybe a variant could work?

I'd imagine an easy way to do a pro bending match is to tell the rules to the player following what was given in the show and largely use nonlethal damage. I suppose giving a kind of "stamina" gauge that can fall as the match continues or a mechanic like having the players take burn each time they bend during the match to simulate the players getting tired? I'll think some more about it and post an outline or something.

Also, we do need to think of a way around magic items as ATLA is relatively low magic.

redpandamage wrote:

has no one mentioned the elemental ascetic who is very bendery. and what are the stats for a red panda familiar.

They were considered to use the stats of a Raccoon in Familiar Folio (under Approximate Familiars). The d20 site should have the stats.


LazarX wrote:
chbgraphicarts wrote:
LazarX wrote:
chbgraphicarts wrote:

Actually, thinking about it, there are a FEW possible timelines where you can put it:

1) Before Wan (19,000 BG to 10,001 BG) - There are no natural Benders; instead, humans need to receive Bending from the Lion Turtles on whose backs they live. However, as the Lion Turtle who gave Aang his Energybending alluded, humans very likely were "Chibenders", and manipulated the Chi within themselves to fight and create abilities.

What it said was that Spirit-Bending (it's proper name) preceded Element Bending. He said nothing about humans doing it, so presumably that refers to how the Lion Turtles granted (and took back) the bending ability to those hunting parties that left the Turtle cities to hunt and gather.

Spiritbending is bending the energy of Spirits, which either purifies or corrupts them - Unalaq and Korra can both do it, and it's what allowed Korra to stave off the Spirit Energy Cannon's blast. Energybending was originally called "Spiritbending" by the fandom before proper Spiritbending showed up, at which point "Energybending" became the term for turning on and off Bending to differentiate it from what Korra and Unaloq do.

Energybending or Chibending is the technique Aang used to seal Ozai and Yakone's bending (and presumably the bending of others). Amon used a faux-Energybending technique based on Bloodbending, but only Lion Turtles and the Avatar are truly capable of proper Energybending.

Although, yes, you're right that the Lion Turtle's exact words were "before the elements, we bent the energy within ourselves." "Ourselves" could refer to either the Lion Turtles alone or all creatures, including humans. The exact origin and creation myth of the Avatar world is very fuzzy, and only given in small bits here and there - like the creation myths of Asia, accordingly, it's also never made clear whether humans were created by the Spirits or whether they existed before and separate

...

Bare in mind on the Nick website years ago but it has been stated that energy bending is something previous avatars have done. Just very rarely.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
The NPC wrote:
Bare in mind on the Nick website years ago but it has been stated that energy bending is something previous avatars have done. Just very rarely.

If it's not in the show, the comic book, or direct statement from the authors, it's not something I consider.

Grand Lodge

LazarX wrote:
The NPC wrote:
Bare in mind on the Nick website years ago but it has been stated that energy bending is something previous avatars have done. Just very rarely.
If it's not in the show, the comic book, or direct statement from the authors, it's not something I consider.

That's largely what I go with although some of the statements from the creators can be a bit questionable or uncertain.

Any who, my local store didn't get the rulebook for some reason like they forget to order it or something so I have to order it online. However, I did get the pdf and have been looking through it when I can. Most of the class looking functional from a quick glance, with many powers being usable in their current state or with relatively minor tweaks (i.e. Basic Hydrokinesis doesn't give Create Water). I think I want to add something like Intermediate <insert element> and Advanced <insert element again> along those same lines.

I did look at the blood bending archetype and I'll have to find a way to add a stigma ability there that really affects the character's social modifiers when people see him or her blood bend. Maybe an intimidate bonus to that as well.

Still going through the class and archetypes though! The work as just begun.

Grand Lodge

Ok, finally got a good chance to go through the Kineticist. This is the first look at what needs to changed or removed from the wild talents.

Blasts I:

Air Blast: I want to add the option to use it non-lethally but also as slashing

Electric Blast: should be a composite blast for fire

Fire Blast: physical option?

Blizzard/Steam Blast: possible change to a team work composite blast? How do people feel about that?

To be removed:

Cloud - Wind Manipulator and Weather Master do the job
Draining Infusion - not real resistances in Avatar
Flash Infusion
Unraveling Infusion
Celerity
Cold Snap
Heath Adaptation
Kinetic Form
Reverse Shift
Ride the Blast
Searing Flame
Wings of Air - I feel like I want to tie this to a feat or something to limit it to certain individuals only

To be changed:

Cold Adaptation - Fire benders only
Eruption - to Magma only
Grappling Infusion - to Earth/Water only
Ice Path - on water only
Spark of Life - There's multiple instances of using bending to make "creatures" so limiting it to say fire/water/earth/metal but also giving it a concentration duration too

"classic" Spirit World traveling: I've been thinking about how to get players to be able to travel to and from the spirit world. I'm only looking at ATLA and pre-book 3 LoK. I think that a two feat system would work.

The first feat is Spiritual Awareness that gives players the detect spirits ability (think detect good/evil). There are two ways to get it. The first is a high Wisdom score, which fits into the image of Airbenders. The second is exposure to spirits and is subject to a GM's whims.

The second feat simply allows for the possible move into the Spirit World. I'm thinking a varying DC test to actually allow it. Certain conditions (or people) add or subtract to the DC.

I think there could be another feat that gives a bonus to a player's roll to enter the spirit world (+2?). Maybe even more if they have 10 or more ranks in Knowledge (spirits). Or just a feat that gives a flat +2 and can be taken multiple times?

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Anyway here's a little Mako I made using the final rules.

Dark Archive

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Anyway here's a little Mako I made using the final rules.

I could be wrong but I do not think you qualify for plasma blast as the requirements are air blast and fire blast. You have electric blast and fire blast. Unfortunately there is no composite blast for that.

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'm firebending the rules to fit the character.

Grand Lodge

Where's his lightning bending? Or those little flame knives he liked to use? Maybe a flurry of blasts somewhere in there (representing Pro Bending)?

I'll probably make some simple builds for the various characters at some point to represent them throughout the show. I can see making Mako builds at level 1 (for Republic City Hustle and a tip of the hat to the kineticist iconic), level 7 (book 1), and maybe level 10ish (for the other three books). I not sure about too high of a level for him because he largely remained ability stagnant for just about the entire series. That same can go for a few of the other characters (i.e. Asami doesn't really change but she's also a non-bender*)

*Non-benders: I've been looking at the vigilante as a possible way to make a relatively simple non-bender class. The thing to look for is how many types of non-bender existed.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

He has lightning bending (Expanded Element into Lightning at level 7).

Grand Lodge

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
He has lightning bending (Expanded Element into Lightning at level 7).

Ah, I see it. That plasma blast just keeps drawing my attention away!

I've been working on a bender class, which is mainly small changes to keep it more inline with the universe. For example, electric blast becomes a composite blast.

The two expanded element choices are slightly expanded. As above, composite choices become available but I'm looking to add the option to take a different, non-bending choice. The reason for this was the character of Zuko who decided to master those dual blades. Th easiest way to do it would probably be something like allowing fighter feats or maybe the ranger weapon groups?

The only change I can think of (besides the capstone) is adding the basic, intermediate, and advanced bending at certain levels. The class ability simply gives the basic, iconic moves. Just think of a slightly expanded Elemential Focus.


How about the chi blockers like amon?


Zilfrel Findadur wrote:
How about the chi blockers like amon?

Chi Blockers like Ty-Lee and the special chi-blocking troops of the Separatists would use either Class Abilities or Feats to block Chi.

Amon isn't a "Chi Blocker" so much as he uses Bloodbending in a very strange way, most likely to completely close off Chakras so that Benders can't Bend anymore. Again, a Feat, but something significantly higher.

Grand Lodge

chbgraphicarts wrote:
Zilfrel Findadur wrote:
How about the chi blockers like amon?

Chi Blockers like Ty-Lee and the special chi-blocking troops of the Separatists would use either Class Abilities or Feats to block Chi.

Amon isn't a "Chi Blocker" so much as he uses Bloodbending in a very strange way, most likely to completely close off Chakras so that Benders can't Bend anymore. Again, a Feat, but something significantly higher.

Yep.

We do have Ki Block from the Ninja class as an example of how it could work, minus the whole sneak attack portion and the Ki pool (of course!). I'd lean towards it being a feat because of the training aspect behind it.

Amon's use of blood bending to block chi and prevent bending might work as a specific character ability or even a very high level blood bending ability.

Liberty's Edge

The permanent Chi Block should require either a Will Save or a Fortitude Save, whichever is better, but it would have a very high DC. A spirit or somebody strongly affiliated with them should be able to repair the damage though.

I am thinking that there should be regular classes for all of the non-bender stuff and Elemental Archetypes (the four classics, and Spirit instead of Aether)... with advanced forms of bending (Metal, Sand, Blood, Chi, etc) all being Prestige options.

I am also thinking that people who are directly associated with the "Spirit" element should have access to "spells" like Magic Missile (renamed Chi Missile), Light and Mage Hand. Chi Benders would also get these abilities, and Chi Bending could be a Prestige class for the other elements.

Quick question: If Fire benders get Lightning (and for Water, Lightning Redirection), should Earth Benders get Acid?


Seth Dresari wrote:
Quick question: If Fire benders get Lightning (and for Water, Lightning Redirection), should Earth Benders get Acid?

Acid shouldn't even be available as a Bending type. There's no precedent for it in the series, and it barely makes sense in the game itself.

Water can deal Slash, Pierce, and Bludgeon damage, along with Cold
Earth can deal slash, pierce, and bludgeon, and Fire (if a Lavabender)
Fire can deal Fire, Electricity (Lightningbender), and Force+Fire (Combustion), but no physical
Air can deal Slash, Pierce, Bludgeon, and Sonic damage

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