For master summoners, I made it so they can only have two summon monster spells active at one time. Just to prevent them (and NPCs) from blowing all of their monsters right before a single encounter. This is more of a problem for me as a DM though because I tend to have less encounters in the adventuring day. In addition, I made it so that when the master summoner uses his ability, his monsters only get a single standard action on the first round. He can choose to use his ability as a one-round action in order to give a full set of actions to his monsters.
Summoners that use eidolons are probably fine as is. But if you wanted to nerf them I would perhaps have the limit of natural attacks for eidolons apply to all the eidolon's attacks. Very minor nerfs to be honest.
I never thought of this, but one of my player's is currently playing a necromancer and I love the concept.
I think it would take some work balancing though. At level 4 my player controls three black bear skeletons at 5hd each. Which is pretty insane on its own. I think the abilities of elementals would be even better, look at ice elementals for example.
Ice Elemental
Imagine having four of these things running around making anything they hit take a DC14 save or be staggered. DC14 isn't bad at all for level 4, and with four of them he could really hurt some creatures (particularly, animals and monsters at that level that rely on multiple attacks).
I think the first thing to do would be to make a list of what kinds of elementals should be used. For example, could I make an Aerial Servant with this? Or just the standard fire, earth, air, water? Also I think forcing the elementals to not have an intelligence score (like the mindless undead created with animate dead) would be reasonable.
I've looked over all the spells that start with A and B and you have quite a bit of work to do.
Although the spells have flavor, and there is a clear effort to create unique and interesting spells, they are wildly out of balance. Almost every spell I saw had issues and almost all of them have formatting errors. The entire document needs a solid shakedown and look over.
Thanks for taking the time to do this. Responses
1. You can move out of range of a thrown rock with a single move action if you aren't in close quarters. And a thrown rock can be deflected through other methods (monster throws it back, wind wall, etc) It needs a will save
2. It would still be better if there was some kind of way to determine how much food feeds how many people. I don't want to bust out a calculator to determine if x tribe still goes hungry or not. It would be easier to use if everything was just kept and in addition a line was added that said how many people were fed per caster level that would be good.
Guards and wards still covers an aburation ideal, protecting something. Acid rain would probably be one of the best blast spells in the game (its strictly more powerful then a intensified fireball) and would be a slap in the face to evocation.
addle- Yes, it hits them and then what? The wizard blows one level one spell and then hits you with a level five one. At low levels he'll blow a level one spell and then hit you with his level two spell. Its never worth it. Even without a will save.
Aggravated assault- I take a lesser rod of quickening and fill all my seventh level slots with quickened version of it and I give my imp familiar with UMD a wand of it. Its not balanced.
Alluring scent- Maybe, but still its a spell that might be good for one or two encounters (Maybe three?) and when it comes down to it a bard has to pick spells that she will be using every day. I could totally see this being used, just not by a bard (unless they used a scroll)
armor of thorns- 2d6 I could see using.
Attunement- I misread it. I thought that it would give a single third level spell not two. Yea its definetly overpowered because it makes wizards better then sorcs.
Blinding light- I missed the last sentence and thought blindness was permanent. So does the blindness go away when the spell ends or when they leave the spell area? Darkness can't really be compared because everything and its mother has darkvision.
Blood pet- I can't imagine making a spell thats both balanced and worth taking in this scenario. Summon monster already does everything a wizard wants it too. Maybe a swift action to sacrifice HP to add to the stats of a summoned monster spell as you cast it?
Break Slumber- I was comparing it to lesser restoration to keep a party going without needing to sleep. This spell won't be used much in battle since sleep effects are very rare, but in terms of utility everyone would have this on their spell list to never have to sleep again. (resting to recover spells yes, but never have to sleep)
Brute resolve- So you would use this when out of feeblemind, or to create your own mini army? Dominate person is already bad enough in that regard, I shouldn't have to worry about every monster I throw at the players being stolen and dragged around.
And I get trying to save space, but its not like this is going to go into print or anything, and adding every little detail such as saving throws or a more detailed description is useful, in addition to saying "This spell works like x"
I've really just started using them but as a DM I have my players use them so I can throw whatever I want at them without fear of them dying.Its useful because I don't have to worry about rolling three crits in a row or all the dice otherwise going my way.
I've looked over all the spells that start with A and B and you have quite a bit of work to do.
Although the spells have flavor, and there is a clear effort to create unique and interesting spells, they are wildly out of balance. Almost every spell I saw had issues and almost all of them have formatting errors. The entire document needs a solid shakedown and look over.
Spells A:
Abeyance- Overpowered. Should probably allow for a will save 1/rnd.
Abundance- Create water is a zero level spell so allowing a third level to give you more water is rather pointless. Goodberries at level 1 already provide nutrition as does dream feast.
Accelerated Decay- Should probably be 1rnd/lvl.
Acid rain- Bordering overpowered. Conjuration creates, it does not transmute.
Addle- Very underpowered. I am very unlikely to know what kind of spells a wizard has prepared, and even if I guess correctly (or research) this spell becomes meaningless at higher levels. At low levels I could be casting sleep or color spray to simply take the wizard out of combat. Range is also unusual for a level 1 spell.
Aether Slide- Blink is third level and does almost the same thing. Except it doesn’t wait for you to get hit first. Also what does “hit by a spell” mean? If I target someone with a hold person who is under the effects of this spell, are they hit by it? Before they save? After? Not at all? Also this spell needs a saving throw. Screws over almost any individual creature hard if used as a debuff.
Afflict-Interesting, but I can’t see a magus wanting to use this over their standard “Shocking Grasp”
Aggravated Assault- No, no no. Overpowered as heck will break any game.
Alluring scent- A decent spell for certain situations but bards don’t prepare spells. So I can’t see them wanting to waste a spell slot on this early. (And later it stops working)
Arc lighting- needs reflex half.
Armor of thorns- probably not worth it. 1d6 is not a lot of damage.
Attunement- Mnemonic Enhancer does practically the same thing but doesn’t cost an extra spell.
Spells B:
Befoul- A terrible spell. Too much stuff on it. Could you imagine a DM having to keep track of all these effects?
Blade storm- What action to move the barrier?
Blinding light-too powerful.
Blood pet- Strictly worse then summon monster.
Bloodlust- Barbarian rage provides a MORALE bonus. Not a rage bonus. Otherwise its worthless as a debuff(You would only use it on big melee guys, and it says nothing about what order the creature must kill in, such as “Closest target” so that big bad monster just got badder and will still kill you first. You still recognize your allies even with low intelligence. Also this should count as a compulsion.)
Break slumber- Overpowered should be third level.
Bright circle- overpowered. Will automatically end encounters involving undead.
Brute resolve- Whats the point of this? To buff the barbarian for a higher caster level? Do you mean to use it to make thralls? What is the purpose of this spell?
Buried alive- the spell should give an idea of what it would take to break out. I know what kind of strength check I need to break through a wall of stone, but moving through several feet of dirt? What happens when I cast this and there is a stone floor beneath the target? Or a hazard?
It would be about as high as a monks. And looking at the lore oracle again i'm starting to see that the rest of its abilities are trash (for the most part). A better comparison is if divination wizards got sidestep secret, which would likely be much more reasonable.
@Ciran
It looks like I won't implement penalties for now.
@Blackish
That sounds brilliant. I could come up with Easy-Medium-Hard DCs pretty quick too. I'll probably be including that in my game.
Also a Paladin could get even better saves by putting a high score into charisma just like the oracle.
Ahh, but the problem is that charisma is not the paladin's primary stat. Its typically strength. So while the paladin might have about a 14 at this level, an oracle can easily have twenty (or higher) and pumping charisma is a primary objective for the oracle (unlike the paladin) So he cannot so easily pump charisma like the oracle can. I'm fine with them having higher saves now as a result, just as a wizard has more skill points.
@harald
I should have mentioned that I am allowing my players to mix around their stats and feats/whathaveyou as a result of this change. Wouldn't be fair otherwise. I can't see sorcerers/oracles getting +3 to all saves by mid-level they would need a charisma of 28 to do that. The boost they do get is significant, but no more so then the druid or cleric getting their bonus to wisdom (Except instead of being in a single stat its spread out).
Imagine if this revelation was tied to another stat. Say a barbarian could pick up a rage power that allowed him to have AC and reflex saves covered by constitution instead of dexterity, would that be fair?
So everyone dumps charisma, seems to be a fact of D&D. And I was hoping to change that by implementing this new houserule.
Charisma
*Divide up your charisma modifier and add it evenly to your saves. For example, if you have a charisma of 18 you could do Fort: +1 Ref:+1 Will: +2. Or you could do Fort: +2 Ref: +1 Will: +1. You could NOT do Fort:+2 ref:+2 will: +0 or Fort: +4 Ref: +0 Will: +0
*As a free action you may add +1 to any d20 roll of any ally(Before, or after the roll is revealed). You may do this a number of times per day equal to your charisma modifier.
I'm thinking that for now it won't reduce stats if a player takes a negative(I'm hoping to use the carrot more then the stick, also that would hurt many low-level creatures)
My players seem to like this change, but there is one catch. And that is the oracle revelation Sidestep secret
sidestep secret:
Sidestep Secret (Su): Your innate understanding of the universe has granted you preternatural reflexes and the uncanny ability to step out of danger at the very last second. Add your Charisma modifier (instead of your Dexterity modifier) to your Armor Class and all Reflex saving throws. Your armor’s maximum Dexterity bonus applies to your Charisma instead of your Dexterity
With this, the oracles saves can be quite high and one of my players thinks that it would be unfair of me to make her pick a new revelation. We've compared numbers and with the changes she has higher saves then your typical paladin and your typical monk.
I assumed this ability was created by pazio, because charisma sucks by itself and giving this ability to oracles wasn't game-breaking. With this new houserule I feel the ability is overpowered.
Do you feel that the oracle should pick a new revelation or am I wrong? And what do you think of the charisma change in general?
I really like your ideas Blackish. Personally I think the biggest problem with most peoples Big bads is that they don't think carefully while playing them. The big bad should take every advantage they could get, Trying to get a suprise round, or fighting in terrain that sucks for the players or even if that means running away for now.
Rather then worry about cost, you can maybe give one or two or those as a quest reward. Perhaps they rescue some dwarves who "pimp-out" her carridge or so forth. All of this stuff is really mostly for flavor so I wouldn't make it cost too much at all.
People with similar ethics and motivations can't work together?
That sure is weird.
Nope. The only times Evil works together is because they are otherwise single-handedly powerless against a common enemy (but would betray itself as soon as the epidemic is demolished), are intellectually stupid/retarded (but would behave as its typical, greedy self if it had a brain), or are just using the idiots for their own gains (and is a double-edged sword).
The thing that makes Good triumph over Evil so commonly and easily is that Evil always bickers into skirmishes amongst itself. Should the forces of Evil be universal in their movements, Good will surely be beaten.
I don't think you are approaching this from the right angle. Part of what makes an evil campaign interesting is that you get to BE evil, and running up against encounters (regardless of the creatures) doesn't allow a player to really get their 'evil' on.
Ghouls are rather low level for level six characters, and the recommended wealth for sixth level characters is 16,000gp. As for how many encounters, that is different for every group, look at how many encounters you go through when your normal DM does his thing and compare.
okay thanks for that i had a double barrel pistol so i could fire both barrels in a row . then how would reload work? would i have to take my normal acton to reload then the next round fire?
Pretty much what Jester said. But on that note most characters focus on two ability scores, with one being their big focus and the other helping their secondary abilities, similar to 4e.
20 pt is also a bit more common I feel. So stats can be a bit higher. Concerning hits against monsters, at lvl 1 nobody hits that much, but that is to help PCs survive more, once you start lvling any full bab class that is buffed can easily get 95% for their hit chances (3/4 bab classes can too.)
For example, a cavalier at lvl 4 could quite easily get +15 to attack (Charge abil+4, bab +4, magic wpn +1, Order ability +2, Strength +4)
Against a cr 4 creature has an AC 17 on average, so the cavalier has a 95% chance to hit.
Did you want an ability score array for a typical rogue?
15+spell level identifies an aura, 20+spell level identifies a specific spell. Take from that what you will I guess.
Of course either giving him nothing or giving him the same info as if he had studied the runes would be fine as well. Knowledge checks are very flexible, as long as your consistent (as in a harder question should be at a higher DC an easier question at a lower one) let your players use them for a variety of things.
His cmd to trip is higher then it looks. With maneuver master he can blow a ki point to roll twice for a maneuver. That ki point can also be used to add +4 ac.
His class is probably perfectly legal.
Why don't you give an example of his rules-lawyering. Sometimes (gasp!) people speak up when the DM gets a rule wrong. In other words, is he trying to twist the rules through interpretation to his benefit or is he trying to make sure the rules are followed?
Actually, there was a thread last week about how magic wands cheapened the cleric class.
Also, no one plays paladins for immunity to disease. People do play fighters for the feats.
A class ability isn't cheapened if another class has to pay the same cost to get it. Whether that cost is in gold or feats. All wands do for clerics is make it so they don't have to waste a bunch of spells after combat to heal everyone to maximum. Of course that just makes the cleric better because now they can use their spell slots for more useful spells like command. Even in the healing department the cleric is STILL better because they can heal way better during combat (which is when it really matters).
And no one will bother buying a feat for 20k because at low-levels when you're feat starved you could instead take that 20k and get +4 to your primary stat and +2 to another stat or get some other desperately needed item. At high levels when you have all the items you really need you still won't do it because by then you are no longer feat starved.
I think it's a good idea but it requires a LOT of math to correctly balance every feat, and you may have to change your scale significantly. If you do end up doing the math post it here, i'd be very interested to see it.
Ars magica, war hammer fantsy RP, Riddle of steel(I think), and Dresden files all work around rolling for your spell and obviously if you fail the roll then something bad can happen.
Generally speaking however I don't care for taking this idea to the far end of the spectrum.By far end of the spectrum I mean failure has a chance to cause insanity or ability damage or whatever.
Mainly because all those systems rely on chance and so there is no way to defend against insanity/damage. For example, lets say the wizard casts water walk so you roll on the "Will something bad happen?" table and roll two 1's. A balor comes out of the sky and eats the wizard.
Having the Balor come out and eat the wizard wasn't exciting, it's annoying. Mainly because it's sort of railroading because the player can't do anything to truly prevent it. He could choose not to cast spells, but then why is he a wizard?
On that note however, I think the system can work AWESOME if players can choose what happens. For example, in Dresden files when a wizard looses control of a spell he can do one of two things, either absorb the excess magical energy and take damage, or have the spell deal fallout where others might get hurt or it blows a hole through the building you're in causing it to begin collapsing.
TL;DR
Don't just roll on a table to see if a wizard goes insane for casting water walk, have the player's partially control the outcome if something goes bad.
Super Genius Games has worked out that a feat is worth about 5,000 gp. However, that's not "feat of choice" its more "assigned feat". IIRC the racial guide puts a bonus feat of choice about 4x the cost of an assigned feat. So if I was to do it, I'd probably charge 20,000 gp for training and misc. expenses / feat trained.
But honestly, I wouldn't ever allow it. Feats are the fighter's thing, if anyone can buy a class feature the class that has it is devalued.
Anyone can buy an amulet that makes them immune to disease or a wand to cast spells. Doesn't mean that the paladin's immunity to disease or a wizards spellcasting is devalued, just means those two classes have more money to spend on other things (since they already get it for free.)
If you compare some items from 3.5 that give feats or feats that are now items you get a cost of about 8,000gp per feat. This doesn't include metamagic feats, there are already rods for that.
In order to keep it balanced, have a each additional feat cost more. Comparing to magic items i'd probably do something like this.
1st-8000 2nd-16000 3rd-32,000 4th-50,000
No adjustment needs to be made to difficulty because the money that goes towards the feats could have gone to other items instead.
I like this idea, and I feel like a lot of other people homebrew similar systems. A few notes, half in reply to snowy, half-not.
1. I would consider adding the vital strike feat to that list since those that TWF would get a free feat on their single weapon companions.
2. I would give this same option to all monsters and NPCs. If you do that then everyone is on the same level and you won't need to increase APL. Some monsters may not benefit from these feats and you'll have to give them a little boost (say some sort of bonus feat.)
3. This will generally be a one-time thing. Other feats have a BAB requirement preventing someone from moving up the tree too quickly. In other words power won't accelerate. Also if you give those feats to both NPCs and PCs then it doesn't really matter because everyone will be buffed.
Dresden files has an interesting solution. Each player comes up with an idea for their first adventure in their backstory, then each player "guest stars" in another player's adventure, meaning they were in it and did something to help that player out or complicate things. This makes it so that when the actual campaign starts there is some unity in the group.
Right now at a higher level my group is going through a round-robin style DMing where each player DMs a short mini adventure where their character needs the party's help. This gives us a chance to learn more about each character individually and binds characters to the party. (since they helped them out of a difficult situation.)
kind of makes me want to kite an ooze into a portable hole and use it for nefarious purposes later, would have to figure out how to get around the acid damage though.
I've been pushing for it to work with single attacks in my game too. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. Anything that adds more tactical options is a-ok in my book.
I forget the PFS scenario, but there's one that involves an NPC using lesser restoration to get over not sleeping for several days. So yes, that should work and there isn't really a reason not to, other than waste of spell slots.
In don't know about scenarios but in crimson throne one of the NPCs does that.
A paladin with the proper mercy does a really good job with this.
Could he also manifest the axiomatic aspect from the lawful side?
I think it totally fits the theme, but at the same time I wonder how useful it would be. I can't imagine that most level 10 witches would run around in melee combat, so those bonuses to strength and slams aren't going to get used a lot (if at all).
At 10th level the flight hex lasts for 10 minutes so it is probably better then the flight given by the ability.
So what you get is darkvision/low-light vision, three resistances, and +4 versus poison. For the resistances you are better off casting a spell when you need it. And the other two abilities are rather meh.
I think the ability is really flavorful and balanced, it's just that if I were a witch I wouldn't take that hex. I feel what I would gain from the hex can't compare to some of the other hexes.
It is awesome. I'm playing a paladin with a ninja-like archtype slapped on. Scent really sucks but other then that most creatures really don't have a way to truly beat it completely. Even if a creature has blindsense you still have a 50% miss chance.
Ahh. I see. I feel the mercy cleric does do that in a sense. See, instead of filling his spell slots with spells that counter debuffs, (such as remove paralysis) the cleric can instead just channel energy, freeing that spell slot for something more proactive (like hold person).
Of course the mercies don't cover all possibilities, but it does free up some spell slots.
The other spell you should take is dispel magic with a maxed out spellcraft skill to identify spells. This can be used proactively to deal with spell casters by counterspelling and after-the-fact to get rid of a huge amount of nasty debuffs.
Using wands of things like detect evil, communal can also free up spell slots for the cleric (or whatever class you go with) while preventing debuffs from happening in the first place.
The reason you want it to be option number 2 is because you could just walk right up to the spearman without taking AOOs by walking into his diagonals, this ruins the entire point of the spear!
It might be a good idea to reduce the number of creatures in the BBS, even with two characters. The boss at the end may also be too difficult. Giving her a wand of cure light wounds would likely be helpful.
As far as future stuff goes you can buy the core book for 10 bucks pdf, but if you want to try stuff out first take a look at this website, they contain all the rules you need to play including the stats of monsters and what-not.
I would trade out iron will for TWF. Your damage will increase, and being invisible prevents you from being targeted by most spells that target will. I also don't see the need for the +1 Wakizashi. You may also want to replace clustered shots, the reason being is that your great variety of shurrikens covers most DR and stuff that isn't covered (like DR/good) can be replaced by a spell from someone else in the party.
There are two problems I found: I didn't realize his extra 20' range required a move action for aiming. Not that big of a deal.
Bigger deal: can you stack the penalty for firing into melee with the cover penalty for shooting at someone directly across from the ally he is fighting?
Yes, they do stack. Thats why he needs to take those two feats which hurts his options.
