FOLLOW THE LEADER
School: transmutation
Level: bard 2, ranger 2
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Components: V, S
Range: close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets: You plus one creature/2 levels, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: yes (harmless)
This spell gives you a +10 foot enhancement bonus to your base speed. It has no effect on other modes of movement, such as burrow, climb, fly, or swim. You also gain a competence bonus equal to ½ your caster level on Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Fly, Profession driver, Profession sailor, Ride, Stealth, and Swim skill checks.
You also give these benefits to the targets, but only if they follow your lead. In essence, you must lead the way and they must follow in your path. The targets must make every effort to follow in your footsteps, ride their horses behind you, paddle their canoes after yours, etc., or lose the benefits of this spell until they begin following you again. This spell is often used to travel through difficult terrain that would require skill checks to maneuver through successfully, such as balancing on rooftops, leaping over crevasses, climbing mountains or through tree branches, squeezing through narrow winding tunnels, flying through storm winds, guiding carriages through winding city streets, boating through whitewater rapids, riding exotic mounts over desert dunes, sneaking through enemy territory, or swimming through murky swamps.
Once the spell is cast, a target creature must remain within 10 feet per caster level of the next affected target creature or lose the effect of this spell. This spell does not give creatures the ability to fly or a climb or swim speed.
Interesting concept, but I'd make it with a will save, as typically, the problem will be players not following through the battleplan :)
Thanks for the feedback! And so quickly!
I was originally going to go with a Will Save, but I was using haste as a template, and it has a Fortitude Save, which quite honestly surprised me.
My experience with D&D...I mean Pathfinder!...battleplans, is that the players spend an hour or two of real time planning, and then the characters spend less than 6 seconds messing it all up! Hahaha!
.
..
...
....
.....
Personally, I'd gun for:
Bard 2/Ranger 3
..and make it an Enchantment/Compulsion effect, justifying it as the Bard/Ranger guiding them with words/commands/hand signals as they (the targets) follow them... ..which a ranger can do but a bard can do.. better (earlier/with a lower level slot).
Hmm.. tho I am prone to bard-bias...
Hmm.. +10ft of move also seems a bit lackluster - perhaps allow the targets a bonus to saves/resist environmental effects if the leader (caster) successfully avoids said effects?
o-O Course, you could just leave it be - no one would be crying at our table if you introduced this i.e it's hardly gonna break ze mythical game balance.
Seemingly.
Anyhoo, my likely the idea! :D
.
..
...
....
.....Personally, I'd gun for:
Bard 2/Ranger 3
..and make it an Enchantment/Compulsion effect, justifying it as the Bard/Ranger guiding them with words/commands/hand signals as they (the targets) follow them... ..which a ranger can do but a bard can do.. better (earlier/with a lower level slot).
Hmm.. tho I am prone to bard-bias...
Hmm.. +10ft of move also seems a bit lackluster - perhaps allow the targets a bonus to saves/resist environmental effects if the leader (caster) successfully avoids said effects?
o-O Course, you could just leave it be - no one would be crying at our table if you introduced this i.e it's hardly gonna break ze mythical game balance.
Seemingly.
Anyhoo, my likely the idea! :D
Really great ideas! I like the idea about the Enchantment (compulsion) effect and the idea about getting a bonus on saves if the leader made it first.
I'm also considering letting it share woodland stride/flawless stride effects, provide a bonus on checks to avoid non-lethal damage (a la the Endurance feat), and/or give DR/X against non-lethal damage from hustling or forced marching.
I don't want the spell to be too complicated or give out so many abilities that it creeps up in level. It's supposed to be a kind of low-level alternative to teleport. A 2nd level bard spell is available at 4th level and a 2nd level ranger spell is available at 7th; a 3rd level ranger spell is available at 10th level, when teleport, plane shift, and tree stride have been available a while, and transport via plants is just around the corner.
Really great ideas! I like the idea about the Enchantment (compulsion) effect and the idea about getting a bonus on saves if the leader made it first.
I'm also considering letting it share woodland stride/flawless stride effects, provide a bonus on checks to avoid non-lethal damage (a la the Endurance feat), and/or give DR/X against non-lethal damage from hustling or forced marching.
I don't want the spell to be too complicated or give out so many abilities that it creeps up in level. It's supposed to be a kind of low-level alternative to teleport. A 2nd level bard spell is available at 4th level and a 2nd level ranger spell is available at 7th; a 3rd level ranger spell is available at 10th level, when teleport, plane shift, and tree stride have been available a while, and transport via plants is just around the corner.
Ooh, I like the idea of sharing woodland/flawless stride effects.
Perhaps - allow it to share the caster's movement rate and effects and bring the spell levels down to Bard 1/Ranger 2.
Then the bard could make use of Expeditious Retreat and the Ranger could use it with Pass Without Trace relatively early/at low levels
- i.e make it low level and if the caster wants to commit additional resources (spells and/or feats) to 'up' the effects/return then they can..
...and as the caster's options increase then so does the power of the spell -- ultimately, as you say, being replaced by higher/more cost effective options like teleport and overland flight etc
//
Hmmmmmmm...
However, regarding Expeditious Retreat - tis a single round duration but... that'd still be ok - it's more a ranger spell to be used with Long Stride, Pass Without Trace and later Woodland Stride for long hauls but a bard could use it for a quick dungeon dash/with Haste later on.
I have to sleep - wondering if it'd break the bank being able to use it with Fly... probably.. maybe hmm. Maybe not.
Perhaps the caster could designate the 'Leader'? So.. choosing a barbarian would net the party additional base move, the rogue would allow them to make use of Evasion while they follow (useful for navigating dungeon corridors where traps are suspected) and..
...other.. stuff. Sleep sorry >_<! Will check back tomorrow.
Good luck!
I really like this spell, going to steal. Personally though, I would avoid the adding of Evasion to it. It just seems like every bard/ranger would use it every time the party went dungeon diving. But maybe you don't mind that.
As for Woodland Stride, again, I wouldn't. Druids don't even get to share that with their Animal Companions.
I'm sorry for pointing out problems without offering many solutions, but I also would strongly avoid being able to designate the leader. If you add that, then a high level group with a Monk in it is going to just cruise at extremely high speeds.
But one thing I think I would like to see added would be something closer to "adds +10 to you base land speed, +5/every 5 caster levels." Just a thought for you.
I think adding evasion is a bit much, especially since this is mostly a movement spell, not a defensive spell.
I'm thinking of maybe boosting the speed by +10 at 10th level AND granting flawless stride (ignore difficult terrain) then. Maybe +20 to speed AND freedom of movement at 20th?
And I think the caster should be the leader. Letting the followers use the caster's speed, movement effects, etc., is a bit much.
I don't think it should have its level lowered--longstrider is 1st level, and only grants +10 to speed for 1 hour/level. Follow the leader grants a bonus to speed and skills, and shares it with 2-10 others. So it should be at least 2nd level. And even that relatively low level is balanced on the few 2nd level spells bards can select to know and the few 2nd level spells rangers can cast per day.
I think only the caster can be the leader, and the leader can share feats and spells. This is a great spell for overland movement. Since 10 feet is 1/3 of normal speed, have it add 1/3 to distance traveled as long as it is cast that day once or twice.
While it's great for overland movement, I was actually picturing underground movement, like when in LOTR they went through those dwarven ruins. I can picture the caster leading folk through crumbling ruins, balancing on cat walks, squeezing through tunnels, climbing over collapsed temples, etc. etc.
While it's great for overland movement, I was actually picturing underground movement, like when in LOTR they went through those dwarven ruins. I can picture the caster leading folk through crumbling ruins, balancing on cat walks, squeezing through tunnels, climbing over collapsed temples, etc. etc.
Hmm.. so where are you at design wise - can you provide a summary of your current version/draft of the spell for us to sniff?
For us..
..the hungry hordes of doom!
:O
I understand that you are saying that the spell has no effect on speed of other forms of locomotion, but you might want to revise the language a bit. It says 'it has no effect on other modes of movement,' but then immediately says that it makes you a better swimmer, climber, flier. It does have an effect, just not on speed. I might just delete the second sentence.
FOLLOW THE LEADER
School: transmutation
Level: bard 2, ranger 2
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Components: V, S
Range: close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets: You plus one creature/2 levels, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: yes (harmless)
This spell gives you a +10 foot enhancement bonus to your base speed. It does not affect the speed of other modes of movement, such as burrow, climb, fly, or swim. You also gain a competence bonus equal to ½ your caster level on Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Fly, Profession driver, Profession sailor, Ride, Stealth, and Swim skill checks. At caster level 8, the enhancement bonus to speed increases to +20 and you gain the ability to ignore the penalty to speed from difficult terrain or being entangled. At caster level 16, the enhancement bonus to speed increases to +30 and you gain the benefits of freedom of movement and can use the “road or trail” overland movement modifier even when in trackless terrain, whether on foot or mounted.
You also give these benefits to the targets, but only if they follow your lead. In essence, you must lead the way and they must follow in your path. The targets must make every effort to follow in your footsteps, ride their horses behind you, paddle their canoes after yours, etc., or lose the benefits of this spell until they begin following you again. This spell is often used to travel through difficult terrain that would require skill checks to maneuver through successfully, such as balancing on rooftops, leaping over crevasses, climbing mountains or through tree branches, squeezing through narrow winding tunnels, flying through storm winds, guiding carriages through winding city streets, boating through whitewater rapids, riding exotic mounts over desert dunes, sneaking through enemy territory, or swimming through murky swamps.
Once the spell is cast, a target creature must remain within 10 feet per caster level of the next affected target creature or lose the effect of this spell. This spell does not give creatures the ability to fly or a climb or swim speed.
Level: bard 2, ranger 2, Travel Domain
Fixed that for you. Now it's perfect.
Neat!
Thanks!