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I also have players interested in exploring the Spire. Which dungeon magazine is the Spire detailed in and what level should the characters be when they explore it? We're about halfway through Demonskar Legacy, and I expect my players will leave for Occipitus pretty much immediately, so I expect they'll be at least 11th or 12th level by the time they get a chance to explore.
I personally also like not completely restricting cross-class schools, though I think that a specialist should have something like a +1 to save DC or caster level for their specialized school, and -1 for the restricted schools (to represent the additional study that went into the specialized school, at the expense of other studies). Yeah, I can see that. That would make the specialist great as his stuff, average at other stuff, and sub-par at what they neglect (but still able to give it a go). I'd say caster level rather than DC, they can always take spell focus as a feat. Personally, I would think a universalist should be able to select any spell currently in their spell book to cast as a spell-like ability, to represent the wide variety of study that goes into their profession (unless someone comes up with better special abilities). Similarly, if the spell-like abilities aren't replaced for the specialists, they should get the chance to select a spell rather than be stuck with the "cookie cutter" spells. I could go for that, too. I really dislike the cookie cutter sameness of the wizards, even if each specialist is a different flavor. A wizard's spell list says something about who they are, what adventures they've had, and where they've focused their arcane talent. Each school has its own little sub-focuses as well, no need to make each specialist focus on the same areas of their school. As an example, in another thread someone was complaining that the necromancy bonuses are too evil, and I have to agree. What about good aligned necros who use their knowledge and power to destroy the undead, or act as intermediaries between their society and the afterlife?
I agree that this is weird, but wouldn't it be simpler to just say that if a wizard levels up and gets a spell-like ability they don't know, they also learn the spell and add it to their spell book? It's not that different from the normal 'learn two new spells' levelling up. One reason I didn't want to just grant the spell-like abilities as spells known to the specialists was that I didn't want the specialists to all be cookie-cutter clones of each other. I wanted a power that let specialists excel at their specialty but still reflected each specialists unique tastes. By letting the specialists recover spells they had already cast from their specialty school throughout the day I thought would reflect each wizard's unique spell list and interests (and incidentally lets the wizard stay relevant after 15 minutes in the dungeon). I also considered simply letting a wizard choose a new spell from they know from their specialty school to turn into a spell-like ability usable a couple of times per day each time they gained a new school power. Maybe universalists could choose any spell they know to turn into a spell-like ability but can't use it as many times per day as a specialist could? The conjurer wizard's school powers etc. aren't very conjurer-ey. I mean I'm not going to go in to a rules debacle over the +2-+6 AC, but simply ask why? Why would they get that, I would have much rathered a free augment summoning feat. One that scales would have been awesome. I agree that the conjurer's specialist bonus didn't feel very "conjurer-ey," that's why I replaced it (in my suggestion earlier) with and enhancement bonus on summoned monsters' attacks and AC that scales with the conjurer's level. Conjurer's are my favorite wizard type so really want to see them have mechanical abilities that reflect their awesome flavor. I had also considered giving them an ever improving familiar (perhaps gaining elemental or outsider traits), but with the Arcane Bond ability that would meant that conjurer's who choose an item to bond with miss out on one of their specialist abilities. I also notice now in the bright light of day that I gave all the specialists the ability to apply metamagic feats they know to spells of their specialty for free a certain number of times per day. But not every wizard is going to choose metamagic feats. I may have nerfed the wizard who chooses item creation instead of metamagic. Thoughts?
One thing I dislike about the new wizard class is that they get spell-like abilities without necessarily having those spells in their spell book. This is fine for clerics, whose power flows from their god or maybe for sorcerers whose power is innate, but I dislike it for wizards who get their power from their profound understanding of magic. Here's what I've come up with for wizards in place of the abilities listed in the alpha release PDF: Specialist Bonus: As the alpha release except
and Universal: You treat all schools as your chosen school for the purposes of the Spell Recovery and Sudden Metamagic abilities (see below). Abilities by caster level: 1st -- As alpha release 2nd -- Spell Recovery (Ex): You have learned to recover some of the spell energy you have already expended to cast spells. You can recall a single first level spell from your chosen school that you have prepared and then cast. The spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast. Recalling a spell in this manner is a full round action. 3rd – Sudden Metamagic (Su): 1/day you may apply any metamagic feat you know to a spell from your chosen school without increasing the level of the spell. 6th – Spell Recovery (Ex): Your ability to recover spell energy improves. You may now recover up to three levels of spells from your chosen school. You can divide these spell levels up however you like. For example, you can choose to recover a single third level spell, a second level spell and a first level spell, or three first level spells. It takes a full round action to recover each spell. 8th -- Sudden Metamagic (Su): 2/day you may apply any metamagic feat you know to a spell from your chosen school without increasing the level of the spell. 10th – Spell Recovery (Ex): Your ability to recover spell energy improves. You may now recover up to five levels of spells from your chosen school. You can divide these spell levels up however you like. It takes a full round action to recover each spell. 12th -- Sudden Metamagic (Su): 3/day you may apply any metamagic feat you know to a spell from your chosen school without increasing the level of the spell. 14th – Spell Recovery (Ex): Your ability to recover spell energy improves. You may now recover up to seven levels of spells from your chosen school. You can divide these spell levels up however you like. It takes a full round action to recover each spell. 15th -- Sudden Metamagic (Su): 4/day you may apply any metamagic feat you know to a spell from your chosen school without increasing the level of the spell. 18th – Spell Recovery (Ex): Your ability to recover spell energy improves. You may now recover up to nine levels of spells from your chosen school. You can divide these spell levels up however you like. It takes a full round action to recover each spell. 20th – Archmage: You can permanently prepare one of your arcane spells as a spell-like ability that can be used twice per day. You do not use any components when casting the spell, although a spell that costs XP to cast still does so and a spell with a costly material component instead costs her 10 times that amount in XP. What do you guys think? Is the universalist too flexible/powerful compared to the specialists? Do the identical powers above 1st level for all schools rob the specialists of their uniqueness? Does anything seem underpowered/overpowered? Comments? Suggestions?
I like the d4 for first aid, and the idea of being able to use it multiple times per day. Perhaps, like Michael said, the DC could increase so that it isn't just free unlimited healing. I'd suggest that the DC increase each time the character receives healing from this method. The increase could be +2, +5, or even +10 depending on how difficult we want it to be to receive healing from the skill. Magical healing that restores someone to full hit points might even reset the DC back to its base. Additionally or alternatively, healer's kits might have a limited number of uses before you have to purchase another. I also like Thraxus's idea of the heal skill recovering 1d4 + skill ranks. If the new skill system is used (I still like skill points, but...) it could maybe be 1d4 + the number by which the healer beats the DC.
I like the idea of racial feats and/or prestige classes, but I'd rather not see racial traits that automatically increase with level. This allows a character to focuses on his or her racial strengths to excel at them but also lets characters who take another path remain unique. It'd be a shame if an elf who spent most of his life among humans suddenly developed distinctly elven traits even if there were no other elves around to model or inspire them or if the elf was not interested in pursuing his cultural heritage. I really like the flavor of your friend's ideas, Mike. I could definitely see taking some of those as feats -- especially the earth magic abilities and the Heart of the Dwarven Lord. Well done.
I must say that I like the idea of a Fly skill, but I appreciate the concerns others have brought up in this thread. I'm not sure I'd like to see it combined with Acrobatics, however, since the classes (Wiz, Sorc, and Druid) that need the Fly skill the most need Acrobatics the least. I think I could learn to like the Fly skill more if there were opportunities to use it at lower levels (especially since I favor skill points over the new system at this point). Maybe if their were lower level spells that granted some kind of flight ability, like a spell that let you fly but required you begin and end your movement on the ground or fall. Or maybe spells like Fly could grant an insight bonus on a caster's fly skill... Like Matthew, I'm also curious as to how the Fly skill will work with flying mounts. Will the rider need to be skilled at Fly, Ride, or both? Will a skilled rider be able to overcome a clumsy flier's lack of skill in Fly? What about brooms, carpets, and other flying "vehicles?" It's a decent start, but I think I'll need to see a bit more before I implement it in my games. Maybe some stats for a flying monster, like a griffin, with and without a rider, and maybe a rewrite of the Fly spell.
Surgery: With a healer’s kit, surgery may be attempted on a wounded creature, with an attempt taking 1 hour. The DC is 10 + the total hit points of damage the creature has taken. Success heals the creature by 1d6 hit points. Failure by 5 or more causes 1d6 points of damage. Surgery can be attempted repeatedly on a creature for cumulative effects. That's awesome. But shouldn't it be chirgury? ;)
If you're going to roll opening locks into another skill, it should be Disable Device. Roll picking pockets into Stealth. I agree. A lock is just a device and picking it is just a way of disabling its function, so it just fits. Isn't that the way it's done in D20 Modern right now? I also like the idea of rolling Sleight of Hand into Stealth. Sleight of Hand is opposed by Spot and Stealth by Perception, so it seems a natural home for the skill. If you're worried that this will make Stealth too powerful or just don't like the idea of Rangers being able to pick pockets as well as the Rogue, then maybe Sleight of Hand can be turned into a Rogue Talent. Call it "Legerdemain" or just "Sleight of Hand." Any Rogue who picks up the talent gains the ability to use their Stealth skill to pick pockets, palm objects, and hide small items on their person. Bards should probably also have a way to pick up this ability. Anyway, just my 2cp.
I have to throw my vote behind keeping skill points as well. As a player I usually pick one or two skills for my character to be really good at, then spread the rest around so that I'm moderately good at a lot of different things. This is especially true when I play Bards, Rogues, and other Jack-of-all-Trades types.
My party just went up against Gotrrod on Saturday. The dragon went second in the initiative order and got one good blast of fire off on about half the party before the warblade pulled his bow and rolled three twenties in a row. Gotrrod went from full hp to instant kill in the first round with most of the party still waiting to take their actions. Crazy Jared had hardly even begun his "epic poem" and the fight was over. Too bad the only witnesses were the other party members and a lone, crazy hermit. Really incredible, though. And awesome for the warblade player as I killed his last character with the harpoon spider in the last adventure. 
Smurf?
Heh, my players have also begun to hate Skaven. He's the first villain they've faced with the intellectual capacity to truly outwit the party. The players entered the southern-most door of the ruins first and through a combination of stealth and overwhelming fire-power they managed to clear out the southern part of the ruin without setting the complex on alert. They didn't attempt to enter Skaven's quarters after the rogue was unable to pick the lock and the party didn't enter the web-filled tunnels reasoning that the spiders they assumed inhabited the caverns wouldn't be going anywhere and that the sentient inhabitants of the ruin posed the greatest threat. The party returned to the beach and re-entered the ruin via the northern-most door. The party triggered the foot-shredder trap and were attacked by the archers on the balcony. The party split up with three heading into the ruins and three retreating to the beach (and re-entering through the room with the blood-bloater pit trap). The party fought past the Allybashers and Hillfolk who were responding to the alert and ended up in Triel's mess hall (area 37 on the map) surrounding a large number of Triel's goons. As the party injured the enemy they would retreat to Triel's chamber and drink their potions and all the while Triel was buffing for the assault. When the party finally entered Triel's chambers they encountered six completely or mostly healed Hillfolk and and a fully armored and buffed Triel (AC 25! with the help of some spells from the spell compendium). The party fought a war of attrition with the tanks soaking up one or two hits from Triel then retreating into the hallway where the healers patched them back up and returned them into the fray. Eventually the Hillfolk ended up dead and Triel was surrounded and unable to heal without provoking potentially lethal attacks of opportunity. She was brought down by a critical hit by the greatsword wielding fighter-mage, but not before she managed to kill Kallev (the Tiefling from Drakthar's Way whom the party had taken on as a hireling). After the battle the party captured the Hillfolk guarding the passage into the northern caverns who put the fear of the unknown into the party. So, without resting or recovering spells the party decided to explore the web-filled caverns. They cut their way through the webs and made short work of the spiders there. The ettercaps gave them more trouble and retreated to the harpoon spider's lair where Skaven (and some of the Alleybashers and Hillfolk who remained alive in the ruins) awaited them. It was a short and brutal fight. Skaven's spells weakened the party and forced the rogue and the archivist to retreat. The Hillfolk and Alleybashers kept the party away from Skaven while he pummeled them with spells. Then the ettercaps managed to web the party's ranger-monk who was subsequently harpooned by the harpoon spider and impaled on her back. Skaven (who was running out of offensive spells) used this hostage to negotiate. He has demanded the value of the wands of control water from the party and safe-passage into the jungle (after which he will release his hostage). The party retreated and negotiated with Skaven via an Alleybasher messenger. Eventually they "agreed" to Skaven's demands but actually intend to ambush Skaven on the beach as he escapes. The party managed to turn Skaven's messenger against him and have plotted to have the Alleybasher free their companion while Skaven sleeps. However, Skaven has used his divination spells and his (invisible) familiar to learn all about the PCs' plot. He's now busy setting up a trap for when the party returns to the ruins. The only thing the PCs have going for them at this point is the Striders. The party rogue returned to the city (ostensibly to obtain the ransom money) but -- without informing the rest of the party -- made contact with the the Striders and brought them down to the ruins to help out. That's where our last session ended: with the party and Skaven engaged in a deadly game of cat and also cat. Skaven has definitely managed to rattle my player's normally unshakable confidence. Even when Tongueater killed the party barbarian they quickly shook it off (and agreed to recover the wands in exchange for a raise dead spell). But Skaven has them worried that they might be outmatched. I have a feeling that no matter what happens Skaven will be making an encore appearance before the campaign is over.
1. I would allow a race other than gnome to take the trait as long as the player came up with a compelling back story to explain it. Perhaps their ancestors were liaisons between the gnomes of Jzadirune and their own race or some organization in the city. The mages of Bluecrater would certainly have had an interest in the magic items created in Jzadirune and might have had a permanent diplomat living among the gnomes. The dwarves of the Malachite Fortress would also have cause to stay on good terms with the gnomes. 2. Base their information on their characters skills. Did they put ranks in Knowledge (history) or Knowledge (arcana)? If so, let them know a good deal of accurate information about the Vanishing. If they're completely uneducated then fill their heads with a variety of myths and legends about the event then give them a few kernels of useful info, and leave it them to figure out what is true and what is exaggeration. In the end you want to tell a compelling story and have a happy player with an interesting PC. So do what's going to do that for your campaign.
Hey all,
FYI, the party consists of the following: Marduk Hammurabi -- Male Human Binder 4; Marduk is an exiled noble from a distant and exotic land with an elaborate caste system (short description: one part ancient Egypt, one part ancient India, one part Frank Herbert's Dune). Marduk's goal is to reestablish his noble standing in the Cauldron region and to complete a ritual that will transform him into a Karsite (a Race from Tome of Magic that I turned into a template). Anson Hammurabi -- Male Human Wizard 3/Fighter 1; Marduk's brother and likewise exiled nobleman. Anson's interests run to the violent and macabre. His alignment is slowly shifting towards evil and he may be dragging his brother with him. Enlil, Daughter of Enkiou -- Female Human Ranger 2/Monk 2; Enlil is the sixteen year old slave and bodyguard of the Hammurabi brothers. She followed them into exile and has since discovered that not everyone in the world is a noble or a slave. Her Lawful alignment is beginning to clash with a newfound yearning for freedom (and, no doubt, a healthy dose of teenage rebelliousness). Edwin Spellmason -- Male Human Rogue 2/Bard 2; Edwin is a descendant of Cauldron's legendary founder, and his heroic temperament sometimes gets him in over his head in combat. For generations the Spellmason line has worked in secret to defend the city (so much so that most people believe the line has died out). Recent events have lead Edwin to believe that it's time to revive his lineage and it's reputation, but everyone who could prove Edwin is who he says he is keeps turning up dead. Edwin is obsessed with the idea that the demons of the Demonscar are going to attack the city someday soon. Desmond Greenleaf -- Male Human Archivist 3/Wizard 1; A former Lantern Street orphan, Desmond's caretakers noticed his genius early on and arranged a scholarship to Bluecrater via a mysterious benefactor. Since his graduation Desmond has performed various services for the local temples in exchange for scrolls and other help, most notably the Temple of Mithras (replaces St. Cuthbert in my campaign) and Wee Jas. He's begining to think that the clerics of Wee Jas have alterior motives for their friendship, however. Heimdahl Balkirk -- Male Dwarf Barbarian 2/Fighter 2; As a youth Heimdahl trained with his brother in the Malachite Fortress to become a champion of his people. A surprise raid from the underdark led to his bondage in the chains of Pyllrak Shyraat, however, and he spent the next decade toiling in the deep mines and fighting for his life against his cruel master and his fellow slaves. He became wild and savage and developed a righteous hate for slavers of all kinds. He was rescued from his bondage when Zenith Splintershield went mad and declared war on the underdark. He was taken in by his brother who had since become a priest of Mithras and is slowly being rehabilitated. He has the Dream Haunted trait and a drinking problem. The party has other reasons to visit Kingfisher Hollow as well. While exploring the underdark outside the Malachite Fortress the party encountered a band of drow slavers looking to make a purchase from Kazmojen. Marduk and Anson deceived the rest of the party and later managed to sell some hobgolins that they had captured from Kazmojen. They learned that the drow intended to visit Kingfisher Hollow next, but not who they intended to visit there. During Drakthar's Way Marduk managed to capture the Tiefling there but assumed she was just a dominated pawn of Drakthar. He let her go but offered to meet her in kingfisher Hollow on a certain date to discuss offering her a job. Since he assumed her a dominated pawn he has no idea that she works for the Blue Duke. Before the the Lord Mayor sealed off the entrance the party attempted to recruit warrior to staff the Malachite Fortress but the Blue Duke snatched them up before they party had a chance to make them an offer. But the Blue Duke might be interested in knowing who else is trying to start an army in the region and may use the Tiefling as a spy. As you can see I have a LOT to work with. Unfortunately I have little time to work with it in. If anyone has any ideas or knows of any modules I could adapt to the situation I'd be very appreciative!
What about Chthon or khthon, from Greek Mythology? Wikipedia has Khthon meaning "one of several words for 'earth'; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as gaia or ge does) or the land as territory (as khora does). It evokes at once abundance and the grave." "Abundance and the grave?" Sounds like the Underdark to me. Plus it has a creepy, Lovecraftian ring to it.
I, too, have coin desperate to be spent on a goblin plushie... |
