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I have devised a method for giving each energy type a unique and balanced special effect so that it can be swapped in for an existing direct damage offensive spell (like Fireball). With the feedback I received from the Making Every Energy Type Unique thread I have simulated and updated each of the elements. Since there are many changes between my unique elements now and what I proposed before, I am creating this new thread for them. As a warning, this thread is written with an intermediate and advanced audience in mind.
Here is how they work. If you have a spell, such as Fireball, you could replace the standard effect (1d6 fire damage per level) with any of my elements, such as Incendiary which would deal 1d4 fire damage per level and set subjects on fire. There is no change to level, duration, area, etc., unless specifically stated, there is just a change to the damage (usually reduced) and a special affected added to compensate for the reduced damage. I wanted to make every element feel truly unique.
To balance each element I conducted simulations with two identical groups of icon characters fighting each other. Each group had 12th level Seoni, Merisiel, Seelah, and Valeros in identical starting formations. I used a number of variance reduction techniques as follows to accelerate convergence of results. Each character of the same name (such as Valeros 1 and Valeros2) shared the same d20 rolls, acted simultaneously, and performed the same actions (as much as possible), so that in a perfectly fair fight both groups would be defeated at the same time, every time. I used statistical averages when possible. For example, given Valeros' attack, damage, crit range, and his target's AC he may deal on average 15.3 damage for an attack. I recorded fractions of hit points and numeric affects when possible. The only difference between the groups was that Seoni 1 used my unique elements while Seoni 2 always used the standard damage. Both Seoni's always cast Chain Lightning, unless unable to do so. Between simulations I tweaked the effects of the unique elements and reran the simulation until both groups were defeated at approximately the same time. For this I assumed that ALL numeric effects from unique elements stack and that here is no lower limit to attributes, although you may choose to use different assumptions if you use these unique elements. I have also not associated elements to specific classes yet, so you will need to use your best judgment for that. Results from these simulations were sometimes surprising but the affects I am reporting are those that lead to a fair fight.
Some elements have been renamed to avoid confusion with mainstream energy types. I have also analyzed the Black Tentacles spell and generalized its affects into a new element.
Here is a list of the unique elements and summary of what they do:
Incendiary (evocation) - deals fire damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> 1d4), and every 5 points of damage causes targets to burn for that much damage every round for 4 rounds. Burning targets can attempt to extinguish the flames with a full round action and Ref check against the DC of the spell (+2 if rolling on the ground).
Freezing (evocation) - deals cold damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> 1d4), every 5 damage reduces Dex by 1 and every 2 Dex reduction reduces move by 5 feet and attacks by 1. Casting spells requires DC (10+ Dex penalty + spell level) Concentration. Movement cannot be reduced by more than half. Dex recovers at 1 per minutes. As the Dex penalty is reduced so are the movement and attack penalties.
Caustic (evocation) - deals acid damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> 1d4), and every 10 damage imposed -1 on attacks, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks and casting spells requires a DC (10 + penalty + spell level) Concentration check to cast. Penalties are reduced by 1 every 10 minutes.
Shock (evocation) - deals electricity damage, increased damage by one step (d6 -> d8). After any damage reduction (saving throws, electricity resistance, etc.) any remaining damage is split evenly between lethal and non-lethal damage (an odd extra point becomes non-lethal).
Annihilation (transmutation) - deals disintegration damage, increased damage by one step (d6 -> d8), overcomes hardness and regeneration, every 5 points of damage inflict one point of bleed, and damage can be reduced by half with a Fort save (in addition to any other save). Bleed can be ended with a full round action and a DC (15 + 1 per point of bleed) Heal check, or is reduced 1 for every 2 point of healing received.
High Momentum Material (conjuration) - deals bludgeoning, reduced damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), every 5 damage imposes -1 to attacks, AC, and -5 movement. If movement is reduced by half or more then subjects cannot run or charge. All penalties can be removed by taking a move action that provokes and attack of opportunity (getting up). Every casting also attempts a Bull Rush to push targets away from the source of the spell with CMB = spell damage. Bull Rushed subjects take 1d4 lethal/non-lethal damage per 4 feet of movement if they strike a hard/soft surface. Can count as a special material if a weapon of that material is used a focus during casting.
High Kinetic Energy Material (conjuration) - deals bludgeoning/slashing/piercing (casters choice) and can count as a special material if a weapon of that material is used a focus during casting.
High Momentum Force (evocation) - deals magical bludgeoning, reduced damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), has full effect on incorporeal targets, every 5 damage imposes -1 to attacks, AC, and -5 movement. If movement is reduced by half or more then subjects cannot run or charge. All penalties can be removed by taking a move action that provokes and attack of opportunity (getting up). Every casting also attempts a Bull Rush to push targets away from the source of the spell with CMB = spell damage. Bull Rushed subjects take 1d4 lethal/non-lethal damage per 4 feet of movement if they strike a hard/soft surface.
High Kinetic Energy Force (evocation) - deals magical bludgeoning/slashing/piercing (casters choice) and has full effect on incorporeal subjects.
Lux (illusion and evocation) - deals fire damage, reduced damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), every 2.5 points of damage imposes -1 to Dex and visually reliant skills, +5% spell failure chance (somatic spells only), and affected subjects must make a DC (5 + Dex penalty) Acrobatics check to move faster than half movement without falling prone. Subjects becomes vulnerable to Sneak Attack if their Dex penalty exceeds their Dex modifier (-2 penalty minimum). All penalties are removed after 1 full round or by effects that cure blindness.
Acoustics (illusion and evocation) - deal sonic damage, reduced damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), every 2.5 points of damage imposes -1 to Dex and audiologically reliant skills, +5% attack miss chance, and affected subjects must make a DC (5 + Dex penalty) Acrobatics check to move faster than half movement without falling prone. Subjects becomes vulnerable to Sneak Attack if their Dex penalty exceeds their Dex modifier (-2 penalty minimum). All penalties are removed after 1 full round or by effects that cure deafness.
Death (necromancy) - deals negative energy damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> d4), every 5 damage also inflicts 1 point of Str damage (even to creatures normally immune to ability damage). Creatures healed by genitive energy are healed by 50% of the damage deal and heal one point of physical ability damage per 5 points of healing, if they are already at full hit pints then they gain 25% of damage in temporary hit points for 1 minute per spell level. 0th level spell do not cause healing. And has full effect on incorporeal subjects.
Life (necromancy) - deals positive energy damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> d4), every 5 damage also inflicts 1 point of Str damage (even to creature normally immune to ability damage). Creatures healed by positive energy are healed by 50% of the damage deal and heal one point of physical ability damage per 5 points of healing, if they are already at full hit pints then they gain 25% of damage in temporary hit points for 1 minute per spell level. 0th level spell do not cause healing. And has full effect on incorporeal subjects.
Toxic (necromancy) - deals poison damage, reduces damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), deals 1 dice of Con damage per round for 1 round per dice of damage (any static bonuses to damage apply to the first round of damage only). Each round subjects can made a Fort save to negate the Con damage for that round. Counts as poison and can be treated as a poison, although using magic to dispel or suspend the poison requires a caster level check against the DC of the Toxic spell. And has no effect on incorporeal subjects.
Plague (necromancy) - deals disease damage, no damage dice, and caster inflicts a mundane disease with a DC equal to or less than the save of the Plague on subjects. If the disease has a lower DC than the DC of the Plague spell, the disease DC is raised to match the spell DC. Subjects immediately becomes infected with the chosen disease and must make a save or immediately suffer the effects of the disease. Subjects make daily saves to resist the effects of the disease for 1 day per spell level or until the required saving throws are made to end the disease, whichever is longer. Counts as a disease and can be treated as a disease, although using magic to dispel or suspend the disease requires a caster level check against the DC of the Plague spell. And has no effect on incorporeal subjects.
Distraction (divination) - No direct damage, imposes -1 per spell level to attacks, saves, skill checks, ability checks, spell/ability DCs, AC (Max equal to Dex bonus to AC), and casting spells requires a DC (10 + spell level) Concentration check (don’t forget the penalty to checks). Penalties last for 1 minute per caster level. And has full effect on incorporeal subjects.
Mind Blast (enchantment) - deal non-lethal mental damage, reduced damage by 1 step (d6 -> d4), every 5 point of damage deals 1 point of Wis and Dex damage (even to creatures normally immune to non-lethal and ability damage). Has full effect against incorporeal subjects. Has no effect on subjects with zero intelligence.
Curse (abjuration) - No direct damage, forces subjects to roll twice on attacks, saves, skill checks, and ability checks and take the lower roll, and casting spells requires a DC (10 + level of curse + spell level) Concentration check. If creatures save against a curse they only have a 50% change to be affected for each roll and casting attempt. Curse is fully affective against incorporeal subjects, and last for 1 minute per caster level.
Phantasmal (illusion) - deals mental damage, reduce damage by two steps (d6 -> d3), damage is split evenly between Wis and Dex, and damage can be negated by half with a Will save (in addition to any other save). Phantasmal is fully affective against incorporeal subjects, even if they are normally immune to ability damage. But it has no effect on creatures with zero intelligence.
Desiccation (transmutation) - deals non-lethal dehydration damage, reduces damage by one step (d6 -> d4), every 10 point of damage deals 1 point of Str damage, and cannot be healed through magical or mundane means until subjects have consumed a full day’s worth of water, or two days’ worth of water if they have suffered lethal damage. Alternatively Heal and Hydrate spells can be used to rehydrate subjects in place of water.
Tentacles (conjuration) - creates areas that attempt grapple checks and deal bludgeoning damage. Every creature within the area of a tentacle spell is the target of a combat maneuver made to grapple each round on the casters turn. The tentacles do not provoke attacks of opportunity and the area they cover is considered difficult terrain, but may be attacked and temporarily killed. Tentacles CMB = caster level (as BaB) + spell level (as Str bonus) + 1 size modifier per 2 spell levels above 1. CMD = 10 + CMB. If the tentacles succeed in grappling a target or maintaining a grapple, that target takes dice (1d3 for level 0, 1d4 for levels 1-2, 1d6 for levels 3-4, 1d8 for levels 5-6, 2d6 for levels 7-8, and 3d6 for level 9) + Str damage and gains the grappled condition. Grappled opponents cannot move without first breaking the grapple or having the tentacles in their area(s) killed. Tentacles receive a +5 bonus on grapple checks made against opponents they are already grappling, but cannot move or pin targets.
A 5 foot patch of tentacles has AC = 10 + CMB, 5 hit points per spell level, and saves (save are hard to print without a table, so ask me if you want them). Each round the patches of tentacles are all restored to full health, even if a patch was killed, as the injured tentacles are replaced by healthy tentacles. Tentacles are not affected by mind-affecting spells or abilities, flanking, or precision damage.
Tentacles spells last for 1 round per caster level. Single target tentacles spells remain in the square they targeted until the end of the spell and receive +2 Str. Tentacles’ are NOT affected by spell resistance and do NOT rely on saves or attacks to affect targets, they always rely on CMB to affect targets. They have no effect on incorporeal targets and their damage can be resisted by DR. At GM’s discretion, helpless targets and debris may be dragged away by the tentacles. Tentacles are NOT affected by Augment Summoning or similar feats.
For the sake of space I have not included every nuance of these unique elements, so feel free to ask for more details on any of the elements. I have determines environmental conditions that can enhance of reduce unique elements, but I have not included them here.
I would like to know what thoughts and constructive feedback people have. My next goal is to add small elemental affects onto spells when they are cast as a full round actions.
[NOTE: since these have already been simulated and found to be balanced, I will only believe that they are unbalanced if substantial evidence indicates such.]
Are there really that many spells with tentacles?
These elements are all intended to be used as substitutions, so you would pick a spell, say Freezing Sphere and then replace the icy features of the spell with tentacles features. So it would a Black Tentacles-ish spell scaled to 6th level potency. Using it as a replacement element you could make Black Tentacles-ish spells at any level and have them scaled appropriately.
Do you have a plan for converting race-, class-, or ability- based resistance to these new energy types?
Perhaps a table?
Energy resistance and spell resistance should apply as usual.
I have thought some about how race-, class-, and ability- features would interact with these energy types, but I only have come up with answers for some of the abilities as follows:
Blind Fighting, Improved Blind Fighting, Blindsight, and Blindsense each reduces penalties from Lux by 2, but Low-light vision and light sensitivity/light blindness increase penalties by 25% each.
Blindsight and Blindsense increase penalties from Acoustic by 25%. (You know, I actually hate calling them Lux/Acoustic, but I had to change it from calling them Light/Sonic since using pre-existing Pathfinder terms was confusing a lot of people.)
I suppose channel resistances could apply against to Life/Death, poison resistance/immunity should apply against Toxic, disease resistance/immunity should apply against Plague, bonuses against curses/hexes should apply against Curse (they are rare but I have seen them at least once).
Desiccation deals non-lethal damage, so its ineffective against undead and constructs.
Poison immunity should prevent the penalties associated with Caustic, but I haven't figured out how poison resistance will work yet. Trip immunity prevents the penalties associated with High Momentum Material/Force but I haven't figured out how trip resistance will work yet.
I will try to go through all of the elements and figure out how they will be affected by common abilities. You get a GOLD STAR for giving me a good idea of how I can improve my elements.
First I am all for new an interesting ideas on elemental damage.
Why would low light vision increase the penalty by 25%?
Why would simply having blind sight/sense reduce acoustic penalties?The reason I ask is just because you have one "sense" does not mean you do not have the other, ie if you have blind sight it does not mean you do not have sight and if your sight is affected then it does not mean that just because you have blind sight it negates 25% of the penalty.
Also, does not Incendiary do more damage than the base spell by doing damage/5 or 1 point of damage per round per 5 points for 4 rounds? That 4 round addition to the effect can be huge IMHO.
You also might want to add a GM note that if the target has flammable objects on them to raise the ref DC or raise the ref DC for some other reasons as well. ie no hand free to put out flames, drop and roll in a puddle of flammable oil, etc.Have you done any play testing? How did the changes affect the game.
MDC
I figure that eyes that gather significantly more light than human eyes (low-light vision) will suffer more from intense blasts of light than human eyes, hens increase penalties.
Blind sight/sense increases acoustic penalties since Blind sight/sense are often described as relying on echolocation, seismic vibrations or some other form of sound. This would be like how bats, with blind sense from echolocation, can in reality be disoriented by loud noises.
The penalties I have from Lux following the penalties from the Blinded condition. I'm not 100% comfortable with what I have for Acoustic as being nearly the same as Lux but the Deafened condition is pretty wimpy compared to Blinded, so I used pretty much the same affect for both, except that Lux gives a miss change for attack and Acoustic gives a spell failure chance. I assumed that loud noises not only deafen but also temporarily stun and disorient targets. I would like to come up with something better for Acoustic in the future.
Since Incendiary reduces the damage by by one step (d6 -> d4) it deal less initial damage than standard fire, equal damage after 2 rounds of burn, and more damage after 3 rounds of burn. So standard fire is better for a short fight, the same in a fight that last a few rounds, and worse in a long fight. I was alright letter Incendiary do more damage since you have to wait 4 rounds to get the full affect.
I used the same extinguishing rules for Incendiary as are printed for Alchemist's Fire. I did write some environmental conditions that would affect fire/Incendiary spells, but I haven't considered modifications based on what a person is carrying.
I have not been able to conduct a live play test yet, just simulations. I have tried but my players prefer to just use the spells printed in the books. If anyone is willing to try my elements in their game, I would be very happy hear any play testing feed back. Until then about the best I can do is come up with better simulations.
A friend did this with a Final Fantasy world and had close to a dozen types, including plant and rot energies. The specifics elude my memory, but the variety appealed to his players.
This might be too technical for you but here are my thoughts,
IMHO, it really depends on how Low Light vision is defined, as in some games it is defined more as shifting the eyes ability to see into other frequencies as well as the standard visible spectrum. I also have seen some games just say it is magic and go from there.
The same goes for blind sense, if it is ground vibration based then air based vibration should not have a huge impact.
Also what about creatures with multiple sense's or that can use multipe types of senses? Does the GM say ok, they were using this sense at the time the spell was cast so they should have this modifier? Or do they say the creature has these senses and take the worst possible penalty? Or does the GM say if they have more than one sense type that suffer no penalty as the other sense can fill the void left by the one that is affected.
As for play tests, you could introduce magic items that have the abilities and test them out that way. A cheep trick is to strip the PC's of spells or quite a few spells and then that forces them to use your magic items with the abilities you created. Or you could also just devise a mini-game or one shot adventure day with various GM created PC's and the abilities you want to test out.
MDC
Not too technical for me.
The Core defines low-light vision as giving characters eyes that are so sensitive to light that they can see twice as far a normal in dim conditions. Since low-light vision eyes are more sensitive to light, I figure they can also be more easily overload with intense light. I'm not familiar with any other definitions of low-light vision, but reasonable exceptions can always be made.
Blindsight and Blindsense are defines as coming from non-visual senses such as vibration, acute smell, keen hearing, and echolocation. Since 75% of those examples may be overloaded by loud noise, creatures with those abilities will lose more total sensing ability than creatures that don't rely on them. An exception should be made for creates that probably gain blindsight/sense from acute smell. I could say that blindsight/sense is a vulnerability unless the creature also has the Scent ability. I will have think about this.
I can't immediately think of any senses that are typically turned off, so could you provide a couple of examples of what you mean?
Good idea for play testing. If I also record what the characters do every round maybe I could replay the fight with different elements (strong maybe). You get a GOLD STAR for helpful suggestions.
Turned off sense's:
you have normal sight , low light vision and dark vision which one are you using at the time? If you have blind sense and normal vision are you using both at the same time or can you turn one off or not use it and just receive information from the other sense.MDC
I looked up Darkvision and Low-light vision and neither of them says anything about needing to be activating or canceling out by other forms of vision. They can all be active simultaneously.
Sorry if I wasn't very clear. I meant I can't think of any real senses that are turned on and off. For example, owls have eyes that are very sensitive to light (Low-light vision), but they don't turn the light sensitivity of their eye on and off. Bats and dolphins have echolocation (Blindsight/sense), pigs and dogs can smell well (Scent), elephants have a tremor sense (Blindsense), some snakes can sense infrared radiation (Darkvision?), fish can sense motion in water with their lateral lines (Blindsense), salt water fish and sense electric field (Blindsight), and some birds have specialized organs that act like a compass. None of these sense need to be turn on and off, they are all always active, as are our senses of touch, smell, vision, hearing, and taste.
If a creature shielded their eyes or ears before they were stuck with Lux or Acoustic it would be reasonable for the penalties to be reduced or eliminated. This degree of detail may be beyond the level of typical Pathfinder rules and is probably best left to DM judgment, like determine how soaking yourself in water will protect you from a Fireball spell.
Thanks for your comments. I will consider what to do if a creature has time to prepare for Lux or Aucoustic by shielding their eyes/ears.
Interesting; so you don't have positive energy as cleric-only, fireball as arcane caster-only, that sort of thing?
That is right, I don't have class specific detail yet, although I would like to address that topic in the future. For now, most offensive spells should be fine for having any of these elements substituted into them. Wizards/sorcerers have the most offensive spells, so these will have the biggest impact on them. I did specially consider positive/negative since wizards/sorcerers tend to be poor healers. Since a positive spell only has half affect for healing, and because you can't discriminate between friend and foe, I didn't see a problem letting wizards/sorcerers use it. You would also be a pretty terrible necromancer if you were banned from death-rays. It is important to remember that part of the price of a healing spell is the spell you could have cast but didn't. For example, casting a positive ball could heal your group 20 hit points, but you may be doing that instead of using a Fireball to deal 40 damage. I have also toyed with the idea of having positive/negative only heal 25% of their rolled damage, which I may apply to offensive heavy casters but not let the healers keep 50% healing.