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In D&D, a Sorcerer creates magic due to two mandatory conditions: innate power and access to the Weave. I would like to clarify, what does this "innate power" mean if isolated from the Weave? From your point of view, is it possible to rethink a Sorcerer as a mystic who will not have access to the Weave (and, as a result, unable to cast spells), and who will channel his innate power in some other way? For example, instead of casting spells, will he be able to create various non-magical effects (like Ki or Psionics) that do not require from him touching the Weave?

I will answer to your lore question, which is an irony only those who know me well could appreciate.

Since you mention the Weave, it appears you are somewhere in the Forgotten Realms (FR) twin-worlds of Aber or Toril. (Probably Toril.)

Mechanically speaking, all magic MUST go through the Weave in Forgotten Realms. The God(s) of Magic have decreed it to be so and enforce it upon the local Prime... which is why the Shadow Weave is such a big deal and ongoing conflict. The "innate power" means that the character has been born with a natural connection to the Weave, rather than a learned or otherwise acquired one.

I'd like to play a Sorcerer who (like any Sorcerer) has an inner power, but because of an ancestral curse he doesn't have access to the Weave. Instead of spells, he transforms his inner power to materialize sort of "Spiritual Guardian" (like Soulbound Summoner in Pathfinder), and can weaken enemies by slightly lowering their combat stats.

The only in-lore example of non-Weave creatures that have powers are psionics. Psionic creatures are completely separate from the Weave. Even the God of Magic cannot stop a psionic creature from using their powers (though there are wild psionic and null psionic zones in FR, and a savvy Greater Power can absolutely manipulate that to their advantage, and the psionic creature's disadvantage, just so your DM knows).

Mechanically speaking, any psionic creature is considered to contain their own independent internal mini-Weave that is under their absolute control and has no connection with the Weave of magic.

Lore wise, psionics are so rare in FR, that almost everyone except for the very learned and a few specific types of monsters, will simply treat you as a magic user with all the pros and cons based on which region of the world you are in. Some love magic users, some hate magic users, and some have jealous magic users who dislike any apparent threat or challenge to their power and local authority.

Yuan-ti in the South and the Illithid, Grey dwarves, Aboleths and so forth of the Underdark are the two main sources of psionics in FR - and anywhere in the vicinity of their communities, the general psionic emanations can cause other species to give birth to psionic offspring. These could serve as your regions of origin: The South or any place with a known access to the Underdark, or even the Underdark itself.



In order to play a "Sorcerer" type character, picking a Psion (INT based) or Wilder (CHA based) works. A psion has access to a greater number of powers and is considered more meditative/intellectual, while the Wilder has access to fewer powers, is considered more emotional/passionate, but has a Wild Surge ability that can boost certain powers above normal limits - at a small risk of losing control and wasting the attempt to manifest the power with some exhaustion on top as a limitation. The psion is usually compared to the wizard, and a wilder to a sorcerer, but in reality either can serve as a sorcerer-type - just depends on which mechanics you feel fit your character better.

Psionics (in 3rd ed) no longer have access to summon creature type effects generally speaking - it was replaced by the Astral Construct power which allows you to pull ectoplasm from the astral or ethereal and build a temporary and customized construct on the fly (full round action) each time you call it forth. There is also an Astral Tasker power chain from 3.0 that allows for more options. It is not unreasonable to ask the DM to allow you to make a skill check to shape the construct into a creature of choice (but just use the standard default stats and options to keep things easy). As a bonus, Astral Constructs are translucent which would give it the appearance of a spirit guardian, though it is solid. Make it glow, and you sort of have the Patronus from Harry Potter.

Furthermore, there are debuff powers available to psionics, so you could pretty much build a character as you described in all respects by carefully selecting which powers your character can use - except if you wanted your 'spirit guardians' to be non-physical, though there may be a way around that with enough research.



Thus lore-wise (and mechanically speaking), psionics provide around a 90% match to what you have described as desired for your character. Here is a link with more details: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Psionics
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Most commonly (but not exclusively), being a Sorcerer means you have a dragon somewhere in your family line. 5e and PF have a number of subclasses who build on different lineages of sorcerers, and outside of the PHB, 3.5 also has a lot of Alternative Class Features building on Sorcerers of a different background: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?444354

D&D 3.5 has a psionic version of the Sorcerer in the form of the Wilder, found in the SRD: https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/wilder.htm

There are two somewhat curse-based, spontaneous arcane spellcasting debuffing base classes in D&D 3.5, Hexblade from Complete Warrior from and Jester from Dragon Compendium. While they might serve as a foundation, they are both not very good and severely lacking, especially for a first time player.
Other classes that could carry the general idea:


Of all those options, I consider Dragonfire Adept as the most beginner-friendly - it was published for free by WotC (class, breath effects), is an at-will blaster with built-in debuffing rider effects, favours Constitution (so it is more forgiving of beginner mistakes by having a lot of HP and a good Fort save) - and the fluff makes it easy to segue in dragon-bloodline-based sorcery, if that is your thing, and like Sorcerers it benefits from Charisma as it sets the save DCs.
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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Full spell list
« Last post by nijineko on Yesterday at 06:30:54 PM »
Thank you again for your fabulous work!
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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Fun Finds v7.0 - Now with +15% more reposts!
« Last post by nijineko on Yesterday at 05:37:00 PM »

A second item of note from the same book is a great find for those max-range archery builds.  The Archer's Standard will likely require someone else to carry it for you (thri-kreen and other 4-armed archers can manage it solo) but it lets you ignore all penalties associated with an additional range increment and also extends your maximum range by 1 increment (11 normally, 16 for Cragtop Archer).
Arcing shot allows one to ignore ranged penalties anyway, and Farsight reduces the penalties to -1 per increment all the time. Still, nice for those times where there is a ceiling to account for, and for the extra increment.

Wonder if there is a shield that can hold a standard... then make it dancing for those who are not Thri-Kreen.
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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Fun Finds v7.0 - Now with +15% more reposts!
« Last post by nijineko on Yesterday at 05:34:11 PM »
Plants blocking Disintegrate is a fairly famous exploit.

I see your Disintegrate and raise you a readied action with Quall's Feather Token: Tree!
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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Industrial Magic - Fabricate
« Last post by nijineko on Yesterday at 05:21:16 PM »
Too bad this thread hasn't seen any more updates.

I'm looking at the Fantastic Machine and Greater Fantastic Machine spells in the Spell Compendium (p88-9). Making those into magic items would do wonders for assembly lines.

Not to mention Eberron's Autodesk and Forging Homunculus.

3.0's Astral Tasker power chain (not updated so still viable in 3.5) allows one to create astral constructs with skills. Do so with an Erbauer and you can jump the lifespan to hour/level.
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Hello. I'm new to D&D and I'm about to have my first game session where I want to play a Sorcerer. My DM has given me permission to rethink this class a little bit, so that I can play more comfortably and everyone else can have more fun with me. As such, I am asking for your help. This is a very important question for me, so please answer it in as much detail as possible, with examples from lore and in a way that is understandable to a newbie. Thank you.

In D&D, a Sorcerer creates magic due to two mandatory conditions: innate power and access to the Weave. I would like to clarify, what does this "innate power" mean if isolated from the Weave? From your point of view, is it possible to rethink a Sorcerer as a mystic who will not have access to the Weave (and, as a result, unable to cast spells), and who will channel his innate power in some other way? For example, instead of casting spells, will he be able to create various non-magical effects (like Ki or Psionics) that do not require from him touching the Weave?

I'd like to play a Sorcerer who (like any Sorcerer) has an inner power, but because of an ancestral curse he doesn't have access to the Weave. Instead of spells, he transforms his inner power to materialize sort of "Spiritual Guardian" (like Soulbound Summoner in Pathfinder), and can weaken enemies by slightly lowering their combat stats. I know my DM doesn't mind introducing a storyline about a character who goes on adventures to break a curse and gain access to magic. But at the end, when he does find a way to get rid of the curse, because of a moral dilemma and the benefit to his allies he decides to deliberately give up his dream of becoming a powerful mage in favor of the powers he's used to.
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D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / [DnD3.5e]How does the mount charge work?
« Last post by Quintaine on Yesterday at 07:27:44 AM »
My friends and I are confused about the mount charge. There are two main questions. First, what action does the rider need to do for a mount charge. Second, whether a mount charge is considered a charge and benefits from charging related abilities, such as Pounce, Rhino’s Rush,etc.
Following are the rules for mount charge.
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“If your mount charges, you also take the AC penalty associated with a charge. If you make an attack at the end of the charge, you receive the bonus gained from the charge. When charging on horseback, you deal double damage with a lance (see Charge, page 154).”(PHB 157)
“Lances and Charge Attacks: A lance deals double damage if employed by a mounted character in a charge.”(PHB 154)
“If your mount charges, you also take the AC penalty associated with a charge. If you make an attack at the end of the charge, you receive the bonus gained from the charge.”(RC 89)
According to the second sentence of First paragraph, it seems whatever action rider uses to make an attack, he can make a mount charge. But the third sentence links to charge action, but designers never said rider need make a charge action for mount charge. I’m really confused about that.
By the way, the Spirited Charge feat said “When mounted and using the charge action, you deal double damage with a melee weapon (or triple damage with a lance).” And the Halfling Outrider’s 8th level ability: “Full Mounted Attack (Ex): At 8th level and higher, a hal-fling outrider may make a full attack when her mount moves more than 5 feet but no more than a single move action. The character cannot combine this full attack with a charge action” They are seems to suggest rider need to make a charge action to mount charge.
I wonder if there a clear description can answer my questions. And if the rider can use charging related abilities during mount charge, it seems a very powerful build because of the multiplicity damage.
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I immediately think of the Boots of Agile Leaping, from MIC, p. 76.  Though those require 5 ranks in Balance, they let you stand from prone as a swift action without provoking attacks of opportunity for a mere 600gp.  With that being the case, even if you double the price of the boots, 1200gp so you don't have the skill rank requirement would be fine, imho.
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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Fun Finds v7.0 - Now with +15% more reposts!
« Last post by linklord231 on April 17, 2024, 10:51:13 PM »
I would expect a "clasp" to be slotless, but apparently it's neck slot.  Still very good though!
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