Author Topic: Diablo Dissection  (Read 5576 times)

Offline The_Mad_Linguist

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Diablo Dissection
« on: December 19, 2011, 01:57:44 AM »
So, basically nobody has actually analyzed the content in the Diablo 2: Diablerie book.  Here's a crack at it, and lists some of the content that may be useful for optimization

Game Design Novelties
The Diablo books hold onto some legacies from second edition.  Partly, of course, since the Diablo 2 sourcebooks were actually split across the 2e and 3e divide.  That feeds into another source of oddity - it's one of the very first 3e splatbooks to come out, and it really shows. 

The attempt to more closely match diablo II with the mechanics also results in some design choices, making it more gamelike.

Biggest differences in major design choices:

Classes go up to level 25.  Not level 20.

Nonspellcasters pick and choose their abilities off a menu.  And they're actually pretty decent - better than most feats. 
-Pure melee classes select between at wills  and fixed bonuses
-Pseudomagical classes don't get spellcasting - instead, they have abilities are 'at will', but require you to make an ability score check - failure means you can't use it for the remainder of the day. 
-Pure spellcasters have small, fixed lists, and spells only go up to level 6.  There's a bit of equivalence forced between spell levels and the 'group numbers' for noncasters as well.

No multiclassing is available by default.  There's a note that multiclassing is fine if you're incorporating this content into other settings... so long as you don't do things like multiclass barbarian/barbarian "[that's] just silly - don't do it."

The book is waaaaaaaay less formal than you see in most splatbooks.  I actually prefer the tone.  It's one of the old edition holdovers.

Magic items are randomly rolled, uncraftable, and rather unusual in effect.

So, you might at this point be saying 'hey, that sounds kinda like a fusion of third and fourth edition mechanics'.  That's a pretty fair assessment.  It reads a *lot* like someone's attempt to rebalance the 3e system by grafting 4e mechanics on.

Khanduran Dipping
So, as previously stated, these classes were designed not to multiclass, but it's allowable.  What class abilities are best for dipping?  A few jump out.

Amazon:

Magic Arrow (Group 1)  Let me quote it:
Quote from: Magic Arrow*
You can take a full-round action to create and fire magic arrows.  These arrows always hit, and have a +1 enhancement bonus to damage.  You can turn one nonmagical arrow into a magic arrow for each ranged attack your level allows.  The magic arrows disappear after they hit.
That * indicates that you have to make a DC 16 charisma check after using this ability, or be unable to use it for the rest of the day (the ability can be refreshed as if it were a first level spell). 

Never missing?  Absolutely incredible for an archer, even if you can't use normal magic ammo.  I'm going to assume that the enchantment is part of the firing process, and you can't just hoard them.  That would even more broken. 

Barbarian: Suffers a bit from no multiclassing with barbarian.

Find potion: (Group 1) Make a DC 20 search check on a dead enemy.  If you succeed, you rip their organs out with your teeth and regain hp. 
Bad.  Ass.
Also, adds a lot of survivability to a melee character at low levels.

Necromancer:
Skeleton Mastery (Level 1): Control twice as many skeletons as you'd normally be able to.  Great for animate dead users, and it looks like it also works on the summon undead line.  I'd actually consider dipping this as a dread necromancer, despite the lack of spell progression.


Paladin:
Prayer (Group 1): Full round action to heal 2 hp to yourself and allies within 5'.  A DC 13 Charisma check to avoid a 'defresh'.  The exploit - taking 10 to slowly heal HP outside of combat - seems actually as-intended, given that this is supposed to model Diablo II -style combat.


Note: GP values are COMPLETELY different from standard DnD, and since there's a note that the prices need significant adjustment for use outside of Diablo campaigns (and should not be used as is), I will not be listing them in this guide.  Otherwise I'd just be saying "Super Mana potions are 500 gp and restore eight spell levels, buy a hundred of them".  Same as use-activated true strike.

Offline The_Mad_Linguist

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Re: Diablo Dissection
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2011, 01:58:11 AM »
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Offline The_Mad_Linguist

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Re: Diablo Dissection
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2011, 01:58:21 AM »
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Offline PlzBreakMyCampaign

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Re: Diablo Dissection
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2012, 09:24:39 PM »
Not that impressed due to the ... well difficulty actually using any of this in a normal 3.5 game

No items due to uncraftability.

Most of the classes aren't special.

Even most of the monsters aren't useful for a DM. This point is probably the weakest and has the highest likelihood of actually being used.