Nephelim's page

So I had an idea for a project that I wanted to write, and wanted to see if this was an appropriate place to do it... I have subscribed to the Iron Gods path, but because of reasons, I am unlikely to be able to actually play it, though that is not to say that I can not enjoy it.

So, what I propose is the post a series of correspondences between Surrah Silvermane and her Mentor\Godfather, Malichi Ashenharp, as she makes her way through the Adventure Path.

So, assuming that this is an acceptable place for such a project, I am hoping to begin -- I didn't see a forum dedicated to Play-by-post here, and part of me is hoping that those who are on-the-fence about the Path might like to read these correspondences and get a feel for the series in a more voyeuristic way than simply a novelization.

If there is a better place for this sort of thing, please let me know, and I will ask for a move of the thread.

I just want to say that I love this rule, and everyone that I have described it to sees its elegant simplicity as a HUGE advantage. The fact that this has been a cooperative effort (led by Lincoln and Findel, certainly) is something that I take great pride in.

Well done, one and all.

Rain of Frogs and Mad Monkeys. They may not be the greatest Swarms (Vomit Swarm might have that nailed down) but seriously? Calling a horde of angry primates or a rain of toxic frogs? What's not to love?

I find myself thinking of a few things when the discussion of Epic-Level play comes up, mostly Comic books. This should not be construed as a BAD thing. In (Marvel) Comics, you have some fairly well-defined tiers of power, ranging from the Punisher to Silver Surfer. At the upper power levels, players start to look more like Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch than they do the New Warriors. Again, this is not a BAD thing.

Mechanically, I agree with those of you who point out that the system becomes by its nature at least problematic to cope with scaling past L20. So what about this: a bin jump from 20 to 21. Make 21 the new first level. Amp up the unit of measure, and ignore all that lower-fidelity stuff that gets lost in the shuffle. Now, granted, "throwing away" all that stuff that you managed to accrue from levels 1-20 might be a bitter (blue) pill, but you're talking about a rebirth into a higher plane here, both thematically and in terms of the number-crunching.

You'd need to schematize some method of conversion from 20th level stats to E1 level stats, which might be a fairly tricky thing to do with consistency and stability, but really, once you are Epic, you don't really ever go back, in any meaningful sense. Dealing with Orc Hordes is like dealing with mosquitoes. Irritating, and in large ENOUGH numbers they can become significantly dangerous, but not really the stuff that you're likely to be concerned with telling a story about, in any genre past the parable.

My point is this - why does Epic Level have to be a continuation? People seem to say quite often (and IMHO correctly) that L1-10 plays in a completely different way than L11-20. If Epic level really is "a different game" in a metaphoric sense, why not make it a different game in a literal sense, but a different game that can accommodate "importing" from the non-epic instances, and is designed from the ground up to be concerned with EPIC stuff.

PC's once again become a small fish in a big ocean, just like when they took on those first bandit raiders so long ago, only now, the Bandit Raiders are Gith cosmo-pirates with their Astral brigantines and Red Wyrm mounts. the Players are throwing around power and skill that would be as bone-chilling awesome to the Bartender back at the Prancing Pony as the Power Cosmic is to Night Thrasher.

And that is not a BAD thing.

* Oil of Sliperyness on the saddles and stirrups of the guard's horses before you steal the MacGuffin, and Sovereign glue on the reins.

* Jumping Caltrops and bits of flint mixed in with lamp oil.

* pasting explosive runes on the inside of a knight's helmet visor

... though I suppose those are not "not as intended" so much as "not as expected"

Save sundering for the "oh crap that cool item I designed is totally unbalancing" situations. Giving players lots of toys in order to smash them is almost definitely going to breed bad blood.

Especially if this Gear-smashing Barbarian is a repeated character... he will quickly be seen as little more than the DM's hand in the gameworld, taking away what they will think they have earned.

I can tell you it would piss me off.

Geez... that damned Drow can ruin anything, even a conversation about MONKS!

OK, so I got a little impatient... tell me what you think. My intent is to create a mechanic where the BoED VoP can be modeled, and still have room for variation and adaptability to enable the Vow to be something that most any Class or Alignment can take advantage of.

Instead of Chakras, I chose to use the term "Meridian" as it is (arguably) a bit more setting-agnostic but holds the same meaning. I also dipped a bit into Incarnum, and came back out with 10 Meridians, more or less coinciding with Body Slots. Each Meridian has an equivalent Magic Item slot, as well as a more-or-less descriptive Foci Affinity, and a linked attribute. Further, each meridian has a baseline effect that occurs as Meridian are opened.

At First level, a VoP character opens one Meridian, at second level, they can chose a single Foci. At Third level, and every Odd-numbered level after that, they open an additional Meridian. Each odd-numbered level, they get a new Foci.

Foci are akin to "items" that are attached to a Meridian. They (normally) have no outward manifestation, but provide extra "stuff" for the Vow-taker. My design intent here is that each Foci will have a favored Meridian, and attaching it to its favored meridian would add an additional advantage, or perhaps attaching it to a non-favored Meridian might inhibit it in some way. Conceivably, a meridian might have significantly different effects depending on which Meridian it is attached to. A meridian with no attached foci provide only their base effect, and no Meridian can have more than one Foci (though that would be a good Feat)

Finally, Meridians have a potency, defined as a "Tier." When the first Meridian is opened, it is a T1. When the second Meridian is opened, and every second one past that, all meridians increase by 1 Tier. As a character walks the path toward enlightenent, their Meridians burn more brightly.

The effect of this will become more clear if you read on...

[I'm not certain how to do Charts in this board, so lets try this...]

Meridian......Slot........Foci Affinity ...................................... Attribute .................Effect
Crown ...........Head ....non-visual perception, mental Stats......Int..............+1 Enhancement Bonus, +1 per tier past 1
Feet ...............Feet .....Movement, Mobility, Stability...............Speed..........+5' Enhancement on base speed, +5' per T, up to double
Hands...........Hands.....Attack Rolls, Skill Proficiency ..............Dex.............+1 Enhancement Bonus, +1 per tier past 1
Arms .......... Bracers ...Defenses (durability)............................Str..............+1 Enhancement Bonus, +1 per tier past 1
Brow..............Eyes.......Vision, Awareness ...............................Wis.............+1 Enhancement Bonus, +1 per tier past 1
Shoulders.... Mantle ... Defenses (avoidance), Movement.........Saves..........+1 Resistance Bonus, +1 per tier past 1
Throat..........Amulet....Communications, persuasion...............Cha............+1 Enhancement Bonus, +1 per tier past 1
Waist............Belts........Physical Stats, survivability..................Con............+1 Enhancement Bonus, +1 per tier past 1
Soul..............robe........Energy resistances (incl +-).................SR...............SR = Character Level +T, min 10th level
Heart............Vest.........Immunities, bodily integrity................DR...............DR that scales with level, min 10th level

So those are the Meridians. The first design hurdle I have hit here is that at 20th level, as written, a VoP character will have +6 enhancement bonus on ALL their stats, which strikes me as really bad. Taking a page from the BoED again, I think I want to have each of the Meridians that rovide an Enhancement bonus to be considered T-1 for every one of them past the first. That way, the first one you open will end up providing the highest bonus in the long run. I'm not sure how to best schematize that, however.

Next are Foci.

Foci are divided into three categories, Mind, Body, and Soul. (I'm thinking that if I use Soul here, using it also as a Meridian name is a doubly-poor idea, so again, these are working names right now). Within those categories there should be foci for Offense, Defense, and Utility. Once a Foci is chosen and attached to a Meridian, it should be very hard to "move" it.. though I do not think impossible. A long and expensive ritual, perhaps, or even just a "retraining" option on Leveling up?

I went through the BoED and stripped out all the things it provided the VoP besides what I have above, and looked at them as Foci. As mentioned, my goal is to be able to mimic the VoP from BoED. To that end, I have the following Foci:

1: Mind
a: Offensive
b: Defensive: Mind Shielding
c: Utility: True Seeing
2: Body
a: Offensive: Enhancement bonuses to attacks
b: Defensive: AC bonuses, Endure Elements
c: Utility: Sustenance, Regeneration
3: Soul
a: Offensive
b: Defensive: Deflection to AC, Energy Resistance
c: Utility: Freedom of Movement

That could more or less recreate the BoED VoP. If the Foci are written so that they have sliding values as the PC increases in Tier, and\or added advantages for attaching a Foci to a specific Meridian, you can do things like:

• The Exalted bonus to AC is 3 + Tier. If attached to the Arm meridian, it also provides Natural armor bonus of +1/2 T
• if Sustenance is attached to the Waist Meridian, it becomes Greater Sustenance 2 Tiers later.
• Mind Shielding, if attached to the Crown or Shoulders Foci, provides Mind Blank (eventually)

One of the advantages I see with using Foci and Meridians as a two-tiered schema is not just for its adaptability to suit a wide range of character types, but also to enable a DM to tailor its power level to suit the prevalence of magic in their game. The BoED version of the VoP also provides a raft of Exalted feats that I haven't addressed here, because I don't think that they are really needed besides mentioning in the Vow itself that you get a bonus Exalted feat every other level past the level when the PC took the Vow. I also think that those feats should be expanded from just "exalted" to also include Oracle blessings (where thematically appropriate), possibly feats related to the character's faith (Be they Cleric\Oracle Divine feats, Wildshape\Druid Feats, conceivably even the new Bloodline arcana, if it was appropriate to the concept), or even replace them with a Domain.

Foci and the VoP can clearly provide characters with a huge advantage in terms of having "equipment" that can't be removed, sundered, or run out of charges and ammo, so it is a REALLY good idea, I think to have a mechanic by which they can be lost, perhaps not physically, but a Code of Conduct restriction, or even making them vulnerable to Spellblights or perhaps Meridians "clogging" due to Ability Damage or Drain, effecting the appropriate attribute-linked meridian, and any foci attached to it.