Min/Max Boards

Rabbit misses his shot, while Machop's barrel grazes it, and Zax's following arrow manages finally manages to to bury itself on the commander's broad chest!

Hey, that hurts! You want me to-

The commander is once again interrupted by an attack. More specifically, a goron bomb droped from above at high speed by Kurt. The ensuing explosion shatters the ice under the commander and sends him splashing into the sea!

Good work! Now, put down the pirates on the ice! Artillery, reload!-orders the captain, trying to stand tall, but clearly shaking from his bleeding wound.

The archers left at the docks focus on the orcs nearby Zax, and after a couple of volleys, none of them is left standing! The bombard crew finishes preparing another shot. The captain himself pulls a small bag out of his belt and throws it at the pirate commander trhasing on the water, but aparently the loss of blood has left him half-blind as he manages to miss the large target.

Near the houses, Pha can hear the militia and guards worrying around her bandaged up body.

Why isn't she moving? You said you had managed to close the wound!
She's lost too much blood! Or whatever's this purple thing is. Clearly it was important for her.
Hold on, I'll try giving her this. Pray to Naryu that it works on faeries as well as it does on us.


Pha can feel a liquid being poured trough her lips, which helps ease the pain and makes her feel... Refreshed.

The pirates still aren't done yet. Their commander finally manages to get a grasp on the remaining ice and pulls himself out. He's in a mess, with several arrows sticking out from his body, half his front teeths broken from the previous round with Kong, several patches of skin burned black from Pha's ice and now several bruises from Kurt's bomb. He bables as he rises himself:

I'm gonna raze down this place... I'm gonna crush your bones... I'm going to pile up your bodies and make a big fire...I'm going to smash your heads, rip your limbs and stomp on whatever's left.... And them I'm gonna get really ANGRY!

The commander's muscles bulge up as his veins seem ready to pop up. He swings his glaive in an arc aimed at the captain's head, only for a tree to pop out of nowhere. Neverthless, splinters fly everywhere as the serrated glaive almost cuts the sudden obstacle in one go.

The remaining pirates seem invigorated by their commander's display, and rise themselves from the water and move to engage whatever they can. Zax easily dodges an ungraceful swing, Rabbit finds his power armor harmlessly deflecting another blow, and even Kurt manages to float away from a javelin that got awfully close. The guard captain isn't as lucky however. An halberd cut trough his armor saps his final ounces of strenght and drops him on the ice. The remaining Hylian guards on the docks gasp at seeing their leader fall and the militia suddenly start looking around as if for a route of escape. The remaining orcs cheer with wicked laughs, while their commander simply snarls and buffs as he pulls of his weapon from the sudden tree and looks for a new target.


Situation

Crunch

Hopefully final rolls for the round

Rolls!

Gold dragons are only old at CR 21.

Sometime this summer, maybe I'll finally have time for making the dragon epic progressions.

It's more of a damage scaling badly at medium-high levels, as monster HP starts scaling out of the bat while most damaging spells stick to 1d6 per HD. We can see this to some degree in spell compendium where we have spells starting to deal 1d8 per HD and 1d10 per HD later on.

Bonus on penetrating SR is another nice idea, but not fully ignoring. Otherwise at this rate SR may as well not be there.

Also trivia, despite all the talk of "blasting suckorz", in a big test made on the wotc forums of solo characters, the arcane casters were pretty blasting focused. Because stuff like Web and Grease isn't that hot when you don't have a party to finish of your oponent quickly before your spell wears off, so puting down the enemy instantly with some pimped fire bolts proved a much safer bet.

So you gotta ask yourself, if blasting spells one-shot the enemy whitout even need of the rest of the party needing to finish off the enemy, is it really ok? And what exactly happens when the monsters turn those spells against the party, that have much less inflated HP?

- Make Energy Substitution into a single metamagic feat (still +0 adjustment).  Let the caster choose on the fly as he's castng the energy spell what energy type he wishes to substitute it for.

I greatly disagree with this. on the contrary, a caster should be rewarded for picking an element and sticking to it.  Casters in most media usually speacilize in an element.

Good catch. Indeed the cloud giant is suposed to become huge by 11th level, so the usual giant growth formula had to be changed a little. Should be fixed now.

So I guess people think the small upgrade I did earlier was well?

Added both feats to the Dvati entry, nice work David!


However, I think the Two As One is fine as it is.  It tecnically already lasts indefenetely as as it only end when you dismiss it.

Being able to do it at range may be too good for my tastes, in particular because as you mentioned, the Dvati does have a lot of reasons to keep a twin in some safe location. More in particular because even if close fusions are somewhat a staple of fantasy, long-distance ones aren't.

Yes, since he's large, you can target his upper body part whitout the other pirates geting in the way.

1-Only the enanchment bonus of the armors stack, not the base armor bonus.

2-Yes.

3-Done.

Cloud Giant



HD:d8

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feature
1	+0	+2	+0	+0	Cloud Giant body, Powerful Build, Clear Grace, Lesser Cloud Magic, Str+1, Con+1
2	+1	+3	+0	+0	Titanic Star, Str+1, Con+1
3	+2	+3	+1	+1	Growth, Scent, Advanced Cloud magic, Str+1, Con+1
4	+3	+4	+1	+1	Throw Stone, Catch, Cloud Symphony, Str+1, Con+1
5	+3	+4	+1	+1	Trample,Between Good and Evil, Str+1, Con+1
6	+4	+5	+2	+2	Love of Luxury, Up In The Bag, Str+1, Con+1
7	+5	+5	+2	+2	Opposed Moral Outlook, Growth, Fee-fi-fo-fum, Str+1, Con+1
8	+6	+6	+2	+2	Titanic Stand, Greater Cloud Magic, Str+1, Con+1
9	+6	+6	+3	+3	Creactive Combat, Cloud Shake, Str+1, Con+1
10	+7	+7	+3	+3	Giant in the Sky with Diamonds, Titanic Strike, Str+1, Con+1
11	+8	+7	+3	+3	Cloud Castle, Master Creative Combat, Growth, Str+1, Con+1

Skills: 4+int modifier per level, quadruple at first level. Class skills: Climb, Concentration, Craft (Any one), Diplomacy, Jump, Intimidate, Knowledge(any), Listen, Perform, Profession (any) Sense Motive and Spot.

Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons and his own natural weapons, plus light  armor.

Features:
Cloud Giant body: The Cloud Giant loses all other racial bonuses, and gains giant traits (mainly low light vision), a base speed of 30 feet, two natural slam attacks doing 1d4+Str each and a +1 racial bonus on thrown rocks.  Lastly, he gains natural armor equal to his Con bonus.


Ability score increase: a Cloud Giant gains +1 Str and +1 Con for each level in this class, up to a total of  +11 Str and +11 Con at 11th level.

Powerful Build: At first level, a Cloud Giant gains Powerful Build.  The physical stature of Giants lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever the Giant is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the Giant is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A Giant is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A Giant can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.

Clear Grace: All cloud giants possess an ethereal beauty  that seems contrary to their massive size and brute strength. They can use their Con mod instead of their Cha mod in all skill checks. In addition they gain four “free” skill points at first level, plus another for every extra HD they gain, that must be spent in Perform ranks.

Lesser Cloud Magic: The Cloud Giant can use Fog and Obscuring Mist as a SLA 1/day, plus another use for every 3 HD he has.

Titanic Star: Cloud giants claim that they're much closer to the titans of old than to any of their “lesser” giant cousins. Altough some would claim that's mostly their ego, the massive weapons Cloud Giants fight with are indeed a strong argument on their favor.

At 2nd level, the Cloud Giant can spend 24 hours creating a morningstar one size category  larger than he would normally be able to wield from raw materials on his area.

Its stats are like a regular morning star one size category larger than he would normally be able to wield, but it gains an enchantment bonus of +1 for every 2HD of the Cloud Giant. It can only have a +5 enchantment bonus to attacks and damage, but enchantment points can be spent to get special abilities like keen. The Cloud Giant can change his Titanic Star properties with 8 hours of hard work. Those bonus apply only to the Cloud Giant that created it, and he can only have one such weapon at a time.

When the Cloud Giant changes size, he can spend another 8 hours of work to increase his Titanic Star another size category.

Growth: At third level, the Cloud Giant finishes growing to large size but loses Powerful Build.  His AC, bonus to hit, slam damage, grapple and skills change accordingly, but he doesn't get any ability score bonus or penalties.  His base movement speed increases by 10' (This movement boost occurs again at 11HD and 19HD, as the giant increases in size again).

The Cloud Giant continues to grow throughout his life:
At 7HD, the Cloud Giant reacquires Powerful Build, granting partial benefits of Huge size.
At 11HD, the Cloud Giant grows to Huge size and loses Powerful Build.
At 15HD, the Cloud Giant reacquires Powerful Build, granting partial benefits of Gargantuan size.
At 19HD, the Cloud Giant grows to Gargantuan size and loses Powerful Build.

Scent: At 3rd level the Cloud Giant gains the Scent extraordinary quality as his nose also grows bigger.

Advanced Cloud Magic: At 3rd level the Cloud Giant can use Levitate as a SLA 1/day for every 3 HD he has.

Throw Stone:  At fourth level, the Cloud Giant may begin throwing boulders or other large objects.  A giant of at least Large size can hurl rocks weighing 40 to 50 pounds each (Small objects) up to 600 feet. A Huge giant can hurl rocks of 60 to 80 pounds (Medium objects). A Gargantuan giant can hurl rocks of 90 to 120 pounds (large objects).  Inanimate objects of similar size and heft may be used as well, counting as rocks of the same type.

Catch: At fourth level, a giant that would normally be hit by a rock can make a Reflex save to catch it as a free action. The DC is 15 for a Small rock, 17 for a Medium one, and 19 for a Large one. (If the projectile provides a magical bonus on attack rolls, the DC increases by that amount.) The giant must be ready for and aware of the attack in order to make a rock catching attempt.

Cloud Symphony: At fourth level, the Cloud Giant gains Bardic Music as a Bard of his Cloud Giant level-3. This stacks with levels of other classes that grant Bardic Music. He may use his Con mod instead of Cha mod in any Bardic Musics he plays.

Trample:  At fifth level, as a full-round action, The Giant can move up to twice his speed and literally run over any opponents at least one size category smaller than itself. The Giant merely has to move over the opponents in its path; any creature whose space is completely covered by the Giant’s space is subject to the trample attack. If a target’s space is larger than 5 feet, it is only considered trampled if the Giant moves over all the squares it occupies.

A trample attack deals bludgeoning damage (the Giant’s slam damage + 1½ times his Str modifier).

Trampled opponents can attempt attacks of opportunity, but these take a -4 penalty. If they do not make attacks of opportunity, trampled opponents can attempt Reflex saves to take half damage.

The save DC against the Giant’s trample attack is 10 + ½ Giant's HD + Giant’s Str modifier. The Giant can only deal trampling damage to each target once per round, no matter how many times its movement takes it
over a target creature.

Between Good and Evil: Perhaps nothing defines the whimsical and powerful cloud giants so well as the philosophical rift dividing their kind. Split almost evenly between good and evil, they behave in many ways like two separate races. Evil cloud giants lead reclusive lives, only coming down from their mountain peaks for vicious raids and brutal reprisals, while their good-aligned cousins seek out friendly contact and act as mentors for other species. The victims of attacks view cloud giants as brutal monsters, while the beneficiaries of their aid speak in awed tones of the benevolent colossi. Wise mountain communities hail the approach of one or two cloud giants as cause for welcome and perhaps even celebration, while the thundering approach of more than a couple is often regarded as the harbinger of despair.

At 5th level, the Cloud Giant gains an ability based on his alignment. If he's neutral in the good-evil axis, he can l pick one. When later abilities are gained that are also based on the good-evil axis, a neutral Cloud Giant must stick to his previous choice.

Protect the Weak(good)- A weapon is simply a tool. It is your hand that saves lifes. Allies (including yourself) whitin your reach gain a bonus to AC and to resist trip, disarm, grapple and bullrush Attempts equal to your weapon's enanchment bonus. If that weapon is your Titanic Star, increase the bonus granted by this ability gained by 2.

Crush the Weak(evil)-A weapon is simply a tool.It is your hand that destroys lifes. Enemies whitin your reach take a penalty to AC and to resist trip, disarm, grapple an bullrush Attempts equal to your weapon's enanchment bonus. If that weapon is your Titanic Star, increase the penalty by 2.


Love of Luxury: Whetever good or evil, Cloud Giants will  show off their wealth at every opportunity and enjoy the finest food, drinks and jewelery. They're particularly infamous for covering themselves in so much bling they can barely move. And still remaining a mighty threat.

At 6th level, the Cloud Giant can drink two potions of any kind as a single standard action and whitout provoking attacks of opportunity, and can also wear two magic items of the same kind per body slot, gaining the benefits of both as if they were on diferent body slots (but remember bonus of the same kind don't stack). So he may wear up to four magic rings, two magic necklaces, a suit of armor over another etc, etc. In the case of armor, the enanchment bonus of both armors do stack on the Cloud Giant. Finally the Cloud Giant may set up to two weapon Crystals on his Titanic Star.

Up Inside the Bag:at 6th level, the Cloud Giant can, as a standard action that doesn't provoke attacks of oportunity, put a creature at least one size category smaller than himself (don't count Powerful Build for this) inside a container large enough either adjacent to him or on his possesion and close it. He must suceed on a melee touch attack and win a Str check against his target. If he suceeds on both, the victim is pulled kicking and screaming inside the container and the Cloud Giant quickly closes it! The victim must then cut his way out or burst trough, the damage/DC it needs to deal depending on the container properties. In alternative, they may atempt an Escape Artist check with a DC of 10+HD+Str mod. As a move action, the container may be closed air-tight, in which case the victim inside will run out of air and start to suffocate in 2d4 rounds. If the container is small enough, the Cloud Giant may use it as a weapon with Throw Rock, in which case it shatters on impact and the victim takes falling damage as apropriate plus Rock damage.

At the lack of an apropriate container, the Cloud Giant may simply carry the victim on one of his hand, not taking any penalties for grappling, but they count as grappling. If he then finds a suitable container, he can stuff them inside with another standard action and another Str check.

At 8 HD, this ignores Freedom of Movement effects and creatures trapped into a container by the Cloud Giant cannot use dimensional travel.

Opposed Moral Outlook: For countless centuries, a great philosophical divide has sundered the cloud giants into two camps. Though scholars remain unsure as to exactly what debate or feud split  them so diametrically, most agree that the argument was over a question of altruism versus pragmatism.

At 7th level the Cloud Giant gains a new ability based on his Alignment.

Altruism (good)-The altruistic cloud giants maintained that as an enlightened people, it fell to them to guide and uplift other, less gifted races for the betterment of all. Occasionally, particularly heated arguments may turn to violence, but such disputes should end before blood is drawn as rivals agree to disagree after an invigorating brawl.

Once per round, if an ally fails on any save while inside the reach of the Cloud Giant, he may Attempt to hit them with a melee attack as an attack of oportunity to allow them to re-roll the save and take the best result. If the weapon used is the Titanic Star, the Cloud Giant may use a simple “tap”  that doesn't deal damage, and the ally ignores any extra effects if they Succeed on the save (like half damage from a fireball).

Pragmatism(evil)-The pragmatic cloud giants, however, believed such treatment to be no gift at all, but rather theft of opportunity to attain one's full potential. Enlightenment cannot be given, they maintained, only earned. It is the right of the cloud giants, blessed as they are, to take whatever they wish, for those who could not hold their own belongings don't deserve to keep them.


Once per round, if an enemy succeeds any save while inside the reach of the Cloud Giant, he may Attempt to hit them with a melee attack as an attack of opportunity to force them to re-roll the save and take the worst result, but they don't take damage from the weapon itself. If the weapon used is the Titanic Star, it deals damage as normal, and if the enemy still Succeeds on the save, they take any side effects, such as half damage from a fireball even if the target has evasion.

Fee-fi-fo-fum:At 7th level the Cloud Giant's sense of smell grows even keener, increasing its range to 90 feet. He can now also pinpoint the exact position of creatures trough smell as a swift action.

Titanic Stand: At 8th level, while standing on an higher position than his oponent, the Cloud Giant gains a bonus on AC, saves, attack and damage rolls equal to 1/4 HD. In addition he no longer takes penalty for attacking while levitating, and may move horizantally at his full base speed when using his Levitate SLA.

Greater Cloud Magic: Cloud Giants like some privacy. At 8th level, the Cloud Giant can use his own racial SLAs as a swift or move action, and his Fog Cloud and Obscuring Mist now block special senses like Blindsight, Blindsense and Mindsight and divination effects like Detect spells, scrying and Arcane Sight.

In addition, the Cloud Giant may treat his Fog Cloud and Obscuring Mist as solid ground whenever it is conveninent to him, so he can climb inside it as a ladder and then stand on top of it for example.



Creactive Combat: Cloud Giants are not only bigger,they're also smarter than their other brethern. At 9th level, they can quickly spot unique oportunities in the tick of battle. Once per round, when they hit with a melee or boulder attack, you can choose to use this ability as a free action and roll a 1d8:

1-The Cloud Giant may Attempt a Disarm whitout provoking attacks of oportunity on the target. If they Succeed, the item falls on the bag/backpack/pockets of the Cloud Giant.
2-The Cloud Giant may Attempt a Bullrush whitout provoking attacks of oportunity on the target. If they Succeed, they don't need to move after the enemy.
3-The Cloud Giant may start a grapple as a free action whitout provoking attacks of opportunity on the target. If he Succeeds, the Cloud Giant doesn't take penalties for maintaning the grapple (in the case of a rock, the enemy is simply left half-buried on it). This ignores Freedom of Movement effects.
4-The Cloud Giant may make a free attack every target adjacent to the first one. In the case of mirror image, this destroys them all.
5-The Cloud Giant may make a trip as a free action whitout provoking attacks of opportunity on the target. If he Succeeds, they also can't move out from their current position for 1 round, even by dimensional travel.
6-Make a new basic attack against the target.
7-Pick one of the previous options of your choice.
8-Pick up to any two of the previous options of your choice (can't pick the same twice).

Cloud Shake: At 9th level, the Cloud Giant may shake a creature traped inside a container as a move, swift or standard action, in which case they take 1d12+Str mod bludgeoding damage and must suceed on a save with DC10+1/2HD+Str mod or become Dazed for 1 round. If they fail three such saves in a row, they're knocked uncoscious for 1 hour instead. The Cloud Giant may elect dealing nonlethal damage instead with this ability.

Giant in the Sky with Diamonds: At 10th level, the sense of luxury of the Cloud Giant grows even bigger. As long as he invests at least 1% of his total wealth in shiny jewelery, fine vests, top quality booze, best  food and similar, he radiates an aura with a radius of 100 feet whose effects depend on his alignment (he must let himself be seen and heard for this aura to work).

Benevelont Colossi(good)- Allies of the Cloud Giant inside the aura benefit from his Titanic Stand bonus, as long as the Cloud Giant is above both ally and enemy. In addition as an immediate action, the Cloud Giant may fully block an attack targeted against an ally inside his threat range (but not himself) by Succeeding on a melee attack roll against the attack roll of the enemy. If the other attack didn't have a roll, use the DC. If it didn't have a DC or attack roll, this automatically Succeeds.

Brutal Monster (evil)-Enemies of the Cloud Giant inside the Aura take a penalty on attack rolls, damage rolls, saves and AC equal to his Titanic Ground bonus as long as the Cloud Giant and the attacker are both above the victim. In addition as an immediate action, the Cloud Giant may make a Boulder or melee basic attack against anyone under him and inside his aura (and in range of the basic attack used as well).

Titanic Strike-At 10th level, as a standard action 1/day per HD, in one fluid motion the Cloud Giant may fling a Boulder into the air and as it falls, hit it with its Titanic Star to send it flying towards its target! This has the same range as a Boulder attack, but it deals damage as if if it was the Titanic Star itself hiting the target(including enanchments).

Cloud Castle-Legends abound of magical cloud giant cities nestled in the very clouds themselves that float with the winds and circumnavigate the world. Many will tell you they're mere fantasies, even many cloud giants themselves. The truth is that they're lying, since they simply don't like to be disturbed in their private homes.

At 11th level the Cloud Giant can 1/day, with 1 hour of concentration, create up to 1000 cubic feets of cloud that are semi-solid and thus can support weight, shaped as he wants (but fine detail below windows and door openings is impossible). Those clouds are fluffy but durable, treat them as Stone for purposes of anyone Attempting to break them. The Cloud Giant can will them to move in any direction at a speed of 10 feet per round. If the same direction is maintained, the speed can be increased 10 feet per round up to a speed of 200 feet per round. Strong winds don't disperse a Cloud Castle, but will push it on the same direction.

The Cloud Castle lasts 24 hours, after which it will slowly disperse by itself unless the Cloud Giant spends another hour focusing. Multiple Cloud Giants can unite their Cloud Castles to create true floating cities. A Cloud Giant can focus to maintain a brethern's castle.

From the ground and air the Cloud Castle looks like a normal group of clouds until someone gets at least whitin 100 feet. Divinations of all kinds from outside 100 feet report the cloud castle as a normal cloud gathering as well, and automatically fail to detect any other things and beings inside it.

In addition, a Cloud Giant who multiclasses into an arcane caster class can count his Cloud Giant levels as levels of that class for purposes of CL/ML and for the purposes of learning new spells/powers and getting new spell slots/power points. However, he does not retroactively gain spell slots or new spells for caster levels he did not take, nor does he add his Cloud Giant level to his character level for the purpose of class features, such as familiars.


Master Creative Combat: at 11th level the Cloud Giant adds the enanchment of his weapon on all checks when using creative Combat, and may re-roll the d8 once and take whatever of the two result he prefer in each Attempt. Once per minute, he may simply pick any result but 8.


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