WithoutHisFoot's page

Recall knowledge as part of the action used to Hunt Prey. On a critical success, you and your allies gain +1 circumstance bonus to your next attack against the creature, a +1 circumstance bonus to your next saving throw against the creature, and a +1 circumstance bonus to AC against the first attack from that creature.

Bonus to AC/saves instead of damage and saves against fear (arguably worse, but maybe better in some situations)

Applies only on first attack, rather than all attacks that round

Applies to a specific target, rather than whatever target the party member wants to attack

Bonuses are circumstance for MH, rather than Inspire Courage's status bonuses. I'm not sure how much this matters for attacks, but circumstance bonuses to AC are somewhat easy to get (shields, and cover, for example).

Costs multiple feats and skill points, when Inspire Courage is "free"

Requires a skill check (that must critically succeed)

Slightly less action cost because you needed to study the enemy anyway. Still requires an action every round past the first that you wouldn't have spent, so it "saves" one action compared to inspire courage per enemy that you use it on.

Probably still works in antimagic fields, for what that's worth.

The PCs have been seeking the keys to an ancient vault that imprisons a fallen angel. They have learned that the last key was entombed with a powerful priest who in ancient times led a crusade that destroyed a group of powerful vampire lords who ruled over a foreign empire.

What they do not know is that this priest is not dead, but was turned by one of the vampire lords. In my world, vampires absorb experiences and fragments of personality from those whose blood they drink. One of the vampire lords defeated the priest, but decided to turn her into his servant rather than kill her. However, her faith was so strong that the vampire lord became a convert, released her from his control, vowed to serve her god and seek redemption from the vampire's curse. He subsequently aided her crusade, and his knowledge of the other vampires and their empire was the reason the crusade was successful.

When they returned to her home city, her church would not destroy their greatest hero, but neither could they let her roam free in her cursed state. Therefore, they built a temple complex underground, which serves as a tomb, temple and prison for priest, the vampire lord and the other crusaders that he turned. The vampire lord did not resist imprisonment, seeking redemption through prayer and devotion.

To reach the complex, the party will have to navigate the twisted halls of an ancient collapsed city that lies beneath the modern church's city as its foundation. At its end they'll find the temple complex inhabited by a congregation of vampires, including both the vampire lord and the priest. Some of the vampires are penitent, seeking redemption and a cure to the curse. Others, however, are restless and seek release from their prison.

This dungeon is built beneath a major city, in the undercity (you know the trope - a city built on the bones of older cities). It was built by the church of the sun god as a prison/vault to hold a powerful vampire lord and the faithful that had been turned by the vampire. In particular, a group of church followers had attempted to destroy the vampire lord, but were unsuccessful and were turned. When their hunger is sated, they are still faithful. My thinking is that, unable to cure them, the high priest of the time built a prison to hold them. The vampire lord is also protecting a key that the PCs need for the main storyline. I currently haven't decided if he is there willingly or not. This prison/vault/dungeon was built about 8 centuries ago.

The fey's name is Faerghallagan. He is a member of the Knights of Winter, a group of quasi-legendary fey knights - something like the Knight of the Round Table meets the Chandrian out of Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles. Asking them for help is something of a gamble, as they tend to be unpredictable. Sometimes they're the hero who rescues the princess, other times they're the monsters who kill the grieving family. A common thread in their stories is that they don't really understand mortal races and their problems. They're not evil, but neither are they good. Humans tend to speak of them as boogeymen, elves tend to think of them as a capricious force, like a bolt of lightning, best avoided.

The Bane of Sorrow is their Holy Grail - the thing they quest for above all others. Their other stories are just interludes in this main quest. The Knights serve a queen, and they believe the Bane of Sorrow "will end the winter of her heart."

I didn't tell the PCs much about the Bane of Sorrow. They know it's old. They know it was originally part of a trio of artifacts: the Bane of Sorrow, the Crown of Envy, and the Star of Wrath. The Knights don't seem to be interested in the other two.

The main story involves the PCs looking for the final resting place of King Olgrimm the Bloody, an ancient king who disappeared while leading an army northward to defeat the Winter Witch, a sorceress who had been terrorizing the land. He lived some 900 years ago, ans was famous for heroic adventures (but not well loved by his people, who he pretty much abandoned while gallivanting about the world). King Olgrimm had an item that the PCs need for main quest (a key to a vault that imprisons the... You know how these things go. It's not really related to the Bane of Sorrow). My current inclination is that the Winter Witch and the queen that the Knights of Winter serve are the same person. Further, I like the idea that King Olgrimm isn't dead, but frozen in magical ice. To get the item they're after, the PCs will have to free him, which could lead to problems if he decides to lead his army back to reclaim his kingdom.

I can claim very little credit for these rules. This mechanic is based almost entirely on Ben Erickson's blog article, ‘Thinking on Your Feet: Tactical Movement in Star Wars Sage Edition,’ which was an attempt to solve the very problem I was considering. His article, of course, was written for Star Wars Saga edition, so needed some tweaking and conversion.

Your study of combat has given you the knowledge required to make the most out of your placement on the field. You know how to strike and from just what angle to make the most of your attacks.
Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +3, Knowledge (tactics) 3 ranks.
Benefit: Make a DC 15 Knowledge (tactics) check as a move action. If successful, you gain a Maneuver Point, plus 1 for every five points by which you beat the DC. These Maneuver Points can be spent on one or more actions to gain superior positioning on the field as described below. These maneuvers happen immediately, are considered a part of the move action to activate this ability, and may provoke attacks of opportunity as normal. Unless otherwise specified, you may only use a given maneuver once each round. Any Maneuver Points that are not spent are lost.

One Maneuver Point
-Blade Cover: You receive a +4 circumstance bonus to AC against the next melee attack made against you unless an enemy uses a swift action to clear your blade.

Two Maneuver Points
-Driving Attack: You may attempt a bull rush combat maneuver against an opponent within reach.
-Luring Blade: You can attempt a drag combat maneuver against an enemy within reach.
-Sweeping Blow: You can attempt a reposition combat maneuver against an enemy within reach.

Three Maneuver Points
-Rapid Step: You move half your speed. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
-Unbalancing Strike: An enemy within reach is flat footed against the next attack made against him.

Your study of combat has given you unparalleled control of the battlefield.
Prerequisites: Combat Movement, Knowledge (tactics) 6 ranks.
Benefit: Using the Combat Movement feat only takes you a swift action. In addition, the following options become available.

One Maneuver Point:
-Watchful Step: You take an extra 5 foot step. You cannot take both a Watchful Step and a Rapid Step in the same use of Combat Movement.

Two Maneuver Points:
-Bounding Charge: During a charge action taken this turn, you can move an additional 10 feet. All other rules for charging still apply.
-Sliding Charge: During a charge action taken this turn, you can take a 5 foot step after you finish your movement but before your attack. All other rules for charging still apply.

Three Maneuver Points:
-Dizzying Attack: You may attempt a dirty trick combat maneuver against an opponent within reach.

• The truename mechanic and wizard archetype are based fairly heavily on Tzi José Luiz' version from his blog Tower of the Lonely GM which was almost, but not quite, what I was looking for.
  
• The mechanic for discovering truenames is taken, with small modification, from 3rd edition's Tome of Magic, as is the wizard archetype's capstone ability.
  
• The truename spells are based on those from Tome of Magic, with modifications inspired by Zaq's post regarding the old truenamer class on the Giant in the Playground messageboards.

Mortals do not automatically know any truenames, including their own. Outsiders and true dragons, however, truly know themselves and their place in the cosmos, so always know their own truename. Discovering truenames can be done in several ways.

Without research: If a mage invokes a truename while casting and you are within hearing, you can attempt a spellcraft check (DC 20 + the subject’s CR) to understand the truename. If you do not have the truename training feat you suffer a -4 penalty on this check. Similarly, someone can attempt to teach you a truename that they know, allowing you the same check. On a success, you learn the truename and, if you have the proper training, may invoke it as described below. If you fail the check, you cannot attempt to learn that truename for one week.

Through research: Alternatively, you can research someone’s truename using a combination of mundane and magical methods, but the process is expensive and time consuming. Legendary individuals and powerful beings may have their truenames recorded in ancient texts, but as a rule these texts are neither complete nor accurate. Shorter lived creatures, such as humans, probably don’t have their names recorded in any important texts, so discovering their truenames requires arduous research using geneologies and magical divinations.

Each week of research costs 500 gp for meditative incense, access to private libraries, research assistants, and so forth. For each week of research, make a knowledge check in the relevant subskill to discover someone’s truename, with a DC of 15 + (creature’s CR). The check can be modified by your knowledge of the subject, as shown in the table below. It takes a number of successful checks equal to ½ the creature’s CR (minimum 1). If the check fails, you may try again with another week of research, but the gold spent on materials is wasted. See the list below for factors that modify the knowledge check made to research a personal truename.

You may interrupt the research process at any time, resuming the process later. Simply record your progress for later reference.

Obscure Creatures: Ironically, it is often more difficult to discover the truenames of obscure creatures than powerful ones. Historians occasionally reference the actions of figures of note, while obscure creatures are rarely, if ever, noted in anything other than personal accounts, so mundane texts aren’t much help. Anything with less than 5 HD is usually considered obscure unless they have historical or political significance. Researching the truename of an obscure creature requires magical divination.

Truename Research Conditions:

• Staff of research assistants: +2
  
• Access to a large library or other repository of information: +2
  
• Commune spell*: 2
  
• You know who the subject’s ancestors are:
  Parents: +1
  Grandparents: +2
  Great grandparents or beyond: +3
  
• Divination spell*: +2
  
• Contact Other Plane spell*: +2
  
• Legend Lore spell*: +6
  
• You know the subject’s birth (given) name: +1
  
• You have spent more than one month in the subject’s company: +2
  
• You are related to the subject (or you are the subject): +4
  
• Subject is considered obscure (see above): -8
  
• You have never met the subject: -2
  
• You know the subject by a false name: -4

*Must be cast within the week of your knowledge check.

Knowing a truename is not enough to use it. Invoking a truename requires the Truename Training feat (see below), which represents specialized learning in this esoteric branch of arcana. As a prerequisite for the feat, you must be a spellcaster and must know your own truename, either because it was taught to you or as a result of research, as described above.

Once you have the proper training, you can invoke truenames that you know to gain powerful benefits.

• You can spontaneously substitute your own truename for a somatic, verbal or material component (costing 1 gp or less) of a spell. If used to substitute the verbal component, the spell will work even inside an area affected by silence or similar dweomers. This carries the risk of revealing your truename to other spellcasters.
  
• By invoking a truename as a spellcasting component, you can impose a –2 penalty to the target’s saving throw against your spells and you gain a +4 bonus on caster level checks made to overcome the target’s spell resistance (if any).
  
• By invoking a truename while you cast a divination spell, you can use the truename as the mystical equivalent of a “body part” for scrying purposes on the target, and you effectively have intimate knowledge of the subject.
  
• By weaving a weapon enchantment with a truename, you can create a powerful weapon against the target. With this special enchantment, the weapon gains the effects of a bane enchantment and ignores miss chance due to concealment (but not total concealment), but only against the target. Attacks still must target the correct square. The weapon also overcomes the target’s damage reduction and defeats its regeneration (if any). This requires the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat and modifies the weapon’s cost as a +1 bonus.

Truename Training [General]
You comprehend the language of the cosmos and can learn and invoke truenames to bolster your magic.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast arcane or divine spells, spellcraft 1 rank, and knowledge of your own personal truename.
Benefit: You can invoke truenames and cast truename spells as described in the truenaming rules in the magic chapter.
Normal: While anyone can attempt to learn a truename, only those with proper training can invoke them.

Obscure Truename [General]
Truenames are notoriously hard to discover, but yours is more difficult than most.
Benefit: Researching your truename is difficult. Such research requires magical aid, and the knowledge checks suffer a -8 penalty, just as if you were an obscure creature.

The truenamer knows that there is but one incontrovertible truth to the universe: know a person’s truename and you know their soul. Any mage can make a study of truenames and learn their power, but the truenamer wizard devotes all of his power toward this pursuit.

Arcane Bond: The truenamer eschews a normal arcane bond in favor of superior mastery of truenames.

At 1st level, a truenamer already knows his own truename. He gains Truename Training as a bonus feat, and can therefore invoke his and other truenames as described in the truenaming rules.

At 3rd level, a truenamer learns to use his truename to bolster his magic in new ways. Once per day, he can invoke his truename to spontaneously add the effects of a metamagic feat, chosen from the list below, to a spell he casts. Doing so does not increase the spell’s casting time. While he must have access to spell slots of the appropriately increased level, using this ability does not actually require a higher level spell slot or increase the spell’s level in any way, unlike traditional metamagic. Using this ability carries the risk of revealing his truename to others, however. At 7th level, and at every four levels thereafter, the truenamer may use this ability one additional time per day, to a maximum of five times per day at 19th level.

At 3rd level, he may use Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Silent Spell, and Still Spell. At 7th level, he adds Empower Spell to the list. At 11th level, he adds Maximixe Spell and Widen Spell to the list. At 15th level, he adds Quicken Spell to the list. Anytime he learns a metamagic feat, he adds that feat to the list as well.

This ability replaces a wizard’s normal arcane bond options.

Say My Name and I am There: At 20th level, a truenamer may teach others a few syllables of his truename – a sort of true nickname - that he invests with cosmic power such that speaking the syllables can conjure him forth. Whenever someone says those syllables, he can appear at their location regardless of the distance, even if he is on a different plane. He knows who is summoning him and can choose not to be transported if he wishes, but he has only one round in which to decide.

Learning these syllables requires no check, nor do they require the Truename Training feat to invoke, and they are not sufficient to invoke his full truename.

This ability replaces the wizard’s 20th level bonus feat.

There are several new spells, described below, that have the new [Truename] descriptor. These spells require you to invoke the truename of your target as part of the casting and therefore require the Truename Training feat to use, but they are quite powerful or have unique effects. Because you are invoking a truename as part of the spell, the target suffers a -2 penalty to resist your spell and you gain a +4 bonus to overcome its spell resistance, if applicable.

Augment Truefriend
Transmutation [Truename]
Level: Bard 2, Cleric 2, Druid 2, Sorcerer/Wizard 2, Witch 2
Components: V, S, T
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
The spell grants the subject a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution. All the usual benefits for better ability modifiers apply: attack rolls, melee damage rolls, hit points, skill checks, and so on.

Truename Component: When you cast this spell, you must speak the truename of the creature you’re augmenting.

Bane of the Archrival
Abjuration [Truename]
[b]Level: Cleric 3, Paladin 3, Sorcerer/Wizard 3, Witch 3
Components: V, S, T
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: 20 ft. radius emanation centered on a point in space
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: Will partial(harmless, see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
This spell protects those within its area against a single named foe, doing so in three ways.

First, the area is forbidden to the creature. It must make a successful Will save to enter it by any means (movement, teleportations spells, and so on). If it fails its Will save and was endeavoring to use a teleportation spell to enter the area, it is shunted to a random open space within 10 feet. If no free space is available, the spell simply fails. The creature can try to force entry once each round, gaining a new save with each attempt. Even if the named creature gets inside the barrier, the other aspects of the spell function normally,

Second, all creatures within the area gain a +4 deflection bonus to AC against attacks from the named creature, and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws required by the named creature’s spell effects and special attacks so long as they remain within the affected area.

Third, the barrier blocks any attempt to possess or exercise mental control over those within the spell’s area by the named creature. These effects are suppressed for the duration of the spell or as long as the subject remains within the spell’s area.

Truename Component: When you cast this spell, you must speak the truename of the creature you’re warding against.

Bulwark of Reality
Conjuration (Creation) [Force] [Truename]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, S, T
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1 hour/level
A faint glowing silvery field of force surrounds the target, providing a +6 armor bonus to Armor Class.

Unlike mundane armor, the bulwark of reality entails no armor check penalty, arcane spell failure chance, or speed reduction. Because the bulwark of reality is made of force energy, incorporeal creatures can’t bypass it the way they do normal armor.

Truename Component: When you cast this spell, you must speak the target’s truename.

Resurrect the Named
Conjuration (healing) [Truename]
Level: Cleric 9
Components: V, S,M, DF, T (Diamonds worth 25,000 gp)
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: touch
Target: dead creature touched
Duration: instantaneous
Saving Throw: None, see text
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
You restore to life a creature whose truename you invoke during the casting of the spell. This spell functions like raise dead, except that you can resurrect a creature that has been dead for any length of time. You must have some piece of the creature’s remains, though even a pinch of ash is enough.

Upon completion of the spell, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no negative levels, and all of the prepared spells possessed by the creature when it died.

You can revive someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. This spell can also resurrect elementals or outsiders, but it can’t resurrect constructs or undead creatures. This spell can’t restore to life a creature who has died of old age.

Truename Component: When you cast this spell, you must speak the truename of the creature you wish to resurrect.

Note: This spell was written with revised death and dying rules in mind. Under these rules, this spell is the only way apart from story elements to return a creature to life. This spell has no place under the normal rules, as there are no meaningful improvements that can be made to true resurrection.

True Banishement
Abjuration [Truename]
Level: Cleric 8, Sorcerer/Wizard 8
Components: V, S, T
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One extraplanar creature
Duration: instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell functions like the banishement spell, except that it affects a single creature whose truename you invoke. There is no Hit Dice limit, and the spell allows no saving throw (spell resistance still applies, though). Objects that the creature hates, fears, or opposes don’t grant bonuses on the level check to overcome the creature’s spell resistance, but you do receive the +4 bonus for invoking its truename.

If true banishement is successful, the creature cannot return to the plane it was banished from for one month per caster level unless it learns and invokes the spellcaster’s truename, in which case the prohibition no longer applies.

Truename Component: When you cast this spell, you must speak the truename of the creature you’re trying to banish.

True Prayer of the Chosen
Transmutation [Truename]
Level: Cleric 4, Paladin 3
Components: V, S, DF, T
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round/level
For the duration of this spell, you are protected by the power of your deity, giving you insight into the threats you’re about to face. You gain a +1 insight bonus to Armor Class and saving throws for every three caster levels you have (maximum +6). You also gain 2 temporary hit points per caster level.

Truename Component: When you cast this spell, you must invoke your truename.

Unname
Universal [Truename]
Level: Cleric 9, Sorcerer/Wizard 9
[b]Components: V, S, T
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target: One creature
Duration: instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
With this powerful spell, you erase the subject’s truename from existence itself. The last thing the subject ever hears is your voice uttering its truename – then nothing but oblivion. Items worn, held, or carried by him are likewise obliterated with no save allowed.

In addition, the subject’s very existence is erased from history. With the exception of the caster, anyone who knew the subject or knew of him must succeed at a Will save or lose all memory of the subject. Any mention or depiction of also him disappears from texts, images, statues, and so on.

Even if someone retains memories that the subject ever existed at all, creatures who are unnamed are difficult to restore to life. Doing so requires a miracle spell combined with resurrect the named. This is made more difficult if none remain who know the subject’s truename. Because the subject has been erased from all records, the bonuses to researching his truename outlined in Table: Researching a Truename provide only half their usual benefit.

Truename Component: When casting this spell, you must invoke the truename of the creature you wish to unname.