Mikeynerd's page

24 hours buffs make life much much simpler. I liked the 3ed version of buff spells much more than the 3.5 ones because they lasted all day, so you wouldn't have to track the very annoying 10 minute/level spell durations.

I'm all for simpler book keeping. And the beauty of a 24 hour buff is no more weighing NPCs down with uber stat mod items. If you look at NPCs in most of the supplements as example characters half their items seem to be given over to stat boosters.

4th Ed would have to adjust the Magic Item rules though. I know they have the 'if it looks like a duck...' rule to stop people doing this but a 24 hour buff needs to be cast once a day - so all you'd need is a 1/day buff item which is therefore 20% of the normal cost.

The idea that longer durations belong in the realm of high level spells I think is just silly. It's just a product of that "casters should suck at level 1 and pwn at level 20!" mentality, which I have no use for. Spells (and all class abilities for that matter) should increase in potency as levels are gained, not uses per day or duration.

My opinions on spell ranges are similar.
TS

Agreed! Besides feats can be used to boost those if that edge of better range etc is required/desired

Actually bugger character level. Make hitpoint level equal to a character's BAB. Why? Well if you have a good BAB then you're a fighting type. A bad BAB - not so much. Trouble with character levels is that Mr fighter gets back the same amount as Mr Wizard. So Mr Wiz is feeling fine while Mr Fighter is not.

By linking to BAB it's linked (roughly) to amounts as well.

I too think spell slot loss is even worse.

Spend Xp are gone and you just start collecting new.
Lost spell slots are gone forever and you always have to remember that you have lost a certain slot due to creation.

The most important design rule (in my POV): THE LESS TO REMEMBER/CONSIDER - THE BETTER.

So I would say replace XP costs for additional Gold costs or something easly spend and replaced and everything is just fine.

Good points. Less is always better for rulesets when it comes to stuff. It's just that ... exp cost sits badly with me since it implies that its someone being less able to do something as a result of having spent a lot of time doing something. It offends my ability to suspend disbelief.

I like that other idea of hitpoints.

How about this then? Still nix EXP but make it a Spellcraft check (since it's magical investment after all) to create a magic item.
DC is 15. DC Mods are 0 for Faint, 5 for Moderate, 10 for Strong, 15 for overwhelming. If a person fails then the time is wasted and 50% of the resources consumed (but the item is not ruined - they can still keep going). If they fail by 5-9 then they roll on a funky uh-oh table and lose 50%. Fail by 10+ suffer they roll twice on a funky uh-oh table and item is utterly ruined.

Something along those lines at least. It's not much to whack a task DC with some sort of penalty kicker in and not too much more than simple. Magic crafting is risky - so there should be things that can go wrong.

The end result is you still have a cost/penalty for making magic but there's no exp cost (which as a game mechanic method is great for stopping abuse but as a suspender of DB is annoying).

UPDATE: Forgot Pathfinder were suggesting the orisons (at will 0 level castings) thing. So nix the level 0 component.

BUT - how's this for ease of GMing. Undead flee if reduced to half hitpoints or less by a positive blast. And if a negative using cleric heals the equivalent of half their hitpoints they fall under his command (ie if they had no damage, but the roll is equal to or higher than half their max hp, then the command aspect still occurs).

Undead didn't have will saves Vs turning before, it's still player power dependent (ie they'd have to choose what level of spell to chuck in order to have an effect), and the GM doesn't have to roll for heaps of will saves.

Of course if spell sacrifice is used then level 0 clerics only have a couple of cracks at it. So maybe level 0 could be used to power it but they lose one of their prepared at will slots until the next prayer period.

D'oh I just read this and stupidly posted another thread.

Idea was make an ability check with loss of spell slots while the item existed as means of punishment.

UPDATE - No idea if this is a posting faux pas to cross post the same text and not have a link (apologies rendered if so) but this seems to be where the discussion is happening. Edited/tweaked post as follows;

I really hate the exp costs for magic items thing. I know it's a game balance mechanism designed to punish PCs for making cool stuff but you'd think making magic items would actually, I don't know, make you more experienced.

Here's an idea.

Making an item means a potential loss of a spell slot. The character has to make a Primary stat check (DC 10 if 1k to 5k, 12 if 5001 to 10k, 15 if 10,001 to 20k, DC 20 if 20,0001 to 50k, DC 25 if 50,001 to 100k, and DC 30 if 100,000k+)

Success = no loss
Failure by 1-5 = loss of low spell slot
Failure by 6-9 = loss of medium spell slot
Failure by 10+ = loss of high spell slot

Low = Bottom third, Medium = Middle spells, High = top spells

Eg if 5th level Wiz Low = 0-1, Medium = 2, High = 3

The slot remains lost until that item is consumed or rendered unmagic. A spellcaster can suck magic out of existing items through a reverse ritual that can restore the magic.

The flip side is of course magic items will be more expensive since spellcasters potentially lose power for crafting things - but then even useless magic becomes useful as the spellcaster can suck the magic out of them like they were a vampiric Jimmy Stewart.

I really hate the exp costs for magic items thing. I know it's a game balance mechanism designed to punish PCs for making cool stuff but you'd think making magic items would actually, I don't know, make you more experienced.

Here's an idea.

Making an item means a potential loss of a spell slot. The character has to make a DC 15 Primary stat check with a -1 for every 1000 gold invested in an item.

Success = no loss
Failure by 1-5 = loss of low spell slot
Failure by 7-9 = loss of medium spell slot
Failure by 10+ = loss of high spell slot

Low = Bottom third, Medium = Middle spells, High = top spells

Eg if 5th level Wiz Low = 0-1, Medium = 2, High = 3

The slot remains lost until that item is consumed or rendered unmagic. A spellcaster can suck magic out of existing items through a reverse ritual that can restore the magic.

The flip side is of course magic items will be more expensive since spellcasters potentially lose power for crafting things - but then even useless magic becomes useful as the spellcaster can suck the magic out of them like they were a vampiric Jimmy Stewart.

The charges thing I think is broken. 50 charges is way too much for a wand (in my opinion obviously). The wand of cure light wounds (damn you cheap wand! Damn you to hell!) is kind of an example of how the wand charges thing is rubbery.

Here's a fix.

Wands are less powerful than rods. Rods, by and large, less so than Staves.

So Wands have 20 charges, Rods have 35, and Staves have 50.

Sure it's still alot and you might have to rebalance things but still, should work.

Hitpoints represent a combo of toughness and skill - the body to resist the blow and the skill in ameliorating the blow at the last second. Which is why people can tool around with 140 hitpoints and the idea of assassinating someone like that without a spell jacked up / uber feat rich / sneak attack maxed assassin becomes problematic.

Curing spells provide a random range amount of healing. Trouble is a CLW heals a 1st level PC near full but a 9th level PC hardly at all. As a game mechanic it makes sense. As a suspension of disbelief it does not.

Instead it should be based on character level. Trouble with that is it means lower level characters get thumped a bit since a CLW isn't going to do much no matter the level - and a low level caster can only cast lower level healing magics.

So to that end give healing a bump. Make miraculous healing easier at lower levels. For example;

Character Level * Spell Level * 3. No having to roll dice at all. A flat figure. It represents the body's healing being sped up as if someone had several days bed rest.

Sure lower level PCs still grapple with the issue of less healing potential but then the Wand of CLW will still pull their bum out of the fire there.

I've had it as a home rule in my PBEM for 5 years and it's worked really well. I've included a house rule of a DC 15 Heal check taking a minute boosts spell level by one.

If the Turn Undead Burst thing stays in the game then the spell level becomes the highest spell level you can cast. So if you're a 5th level cleric then you do Xd6 damage and heal 9 character levels each time.

Awesome articles man. Yes indeed the entire thing crps me big time with the economic side of the house. I'd love to see a more sensible price list & economic snapshot that made sense.

Well I read it and loved it as an idea. But came up with this as the tweak; It's powered by spell sacrifice.

So basic ideas are;
1) Rename the power 'Divine Burst'
2) It does (1d10*spell level) damage (1d10/2 for level 0)

Eg Ted sacrifices a 5th level spell doing 5d10 positive damage to undead, and healing people for 5d10 damage. If negative then 5d10 damage to living and 5d10 healing to undead.

3) Have a feat called Discretionary Divine Blast that allows a cleric to choose who is affected and who is not.

4) Save DC for undead is based on the spell DC of the spell sacrificed.

Simple, neat, no having to track how many uses a PC has left. Sure clerics are sacrificing spells for healing (potentially) but less so given everyone gets affected by the mass healing.

I broadly agree. I had a flip through the pathfinder skills system and I like what I see so far. BUT so more can be done to fix broken things.

Here's some ideas.

1) Less skills. Roll in more skills like they have done already. Examples as follows;

Animal Handling = Handle Animal, Ride
Appeal = Deception, Intimidate, Diplomacy
Athletics = Acrobatics, Balance, Climb, Jump, Escape Artist, Swim etc
Craft = Craft
Cultural Lore = Knowledge: Geography, Knowledge: History, Knowledge: Nobility, Knowledge: Local
Heal = Heal
Linguistics = Linguistics
Magic Lore = Knowledge: Arcana, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device
Mechanicist = Disable Device, Open Locks, Craft Locks / Traps, Clockworks etc
Mystic Lore = Knowledge: Religion, Knowledge: Planes etc
Natural Lore= Knowledge: Nature, Prof: Farmer, Survival, Weather etc
Perception = Perception
Perform (Choose)= Perform (Disguise is a Perform option)
Profession = Profession
Rock Lore = Knowledge: Dungeoneering, Prof: Mining etc
Sleight = Sleight of Hand
Stealth = Stealth
Trade Lore = Appraise, Prof: Merchant etc

2) Universal skills. No more cross class or class skills. Anyone can access the skill list if they've been using or attempting to use those skills etc. It allows for more rounded characters and people not choosing a class ill suited to their concept solely because it has some skill points in it.

3) Everyone has 4+Int Mod as minimum base skill points. Why have a fighter as a guard when he can't see people? It's not going to overly unbalance things and it means a non human fighter with an Int of 9 is no longer going to have a single skill point he can assign to maybe 8 skills.

4) No more x4 initial skills. With more average skill points, less skills, and no cross class the x4 can be removed and the maths becomes simpler.

5) Create a Skill Focus Feat. The feat allows you to select 3 + Int mod skill focuses. A focus gives a +4 bonus (Insight?) to a subset of a skill eg Perception: Scent or Mechanist = Open Lock. Possibly let someone using a focus take 10. This way player characters can specialise in a broad skill and so can NPCs.

6) Create an NPC class called Citizen (or something like that). Having Commoner and Aristocrat and Expert is dumb. Simply have a typical peasant type a level 1 citizen and a craftsman type a level 3 citizen or something like that. They have poor combat, poor all saves, get 4 skill points (+ Int Mod), but get class abilities of say a Skill Focus feat every three levels. With universal skills a citizen can be readily tailored and skill focussed.