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Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Universal/Generic 5e Character Class
« on: January 12, 2024, 09:45:37 AM »
I'm working on writing a sourcebook set in an Asian-style world where muscle wizards and monks who can fly and shoot fireballs should totally be a thing. I'm also not happy with how the core multiclassing system works. So I spent an inordinate amount of time to come up with this, which I'm sure can be broken to hell and used to create the 5e Pun-Pun, which is why I'm asking you, Gentle Reader, to help me find all the horrible/bad/overpowered things that can be done with it. Excuse the bad/missing formatting. I'll clean it up as I have time. I tried using ChatGPT to fix the formatting, but it's being a lazy pain in the ass right now.


Why make this class?
The multiclassing rules in standard D&D leave much to be desired. In Chinese mythology and stories, it's common for a "mundane" character (like a monk,  fighter or barbarian in D&D terms) to have powerful magical abilities. This class facilitates such characters and offers balance at higher levels.

How to use this class?
Characters taking this class should be barred from multiclassing with standard D&D classes. This class is designed to emulate and balance them. Full spellcasters might prefer standard classes, but those wanting to mix abilities will find this class suitable.

Class Abilities
All characters using this class start with the following but can purchase more with Build Points.

Hit dice: d6 (improvable by taking Tough)
Saving throws: Choose two for proficiency
Proficiencies: Simple weapons only, no armor or shields
Skills: Choose three for proficiency
Languages: Up to three, including a secret language if applicable
Background: Choose one standard D&D background (a second can be purchased)
Character Traits (See below): As many as you want, but you can only get at most 2 extra build points from taking them.
Ability Score Improvement: When you reach 4th character level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. You may purchase a feat instead of increasing ability scores.

Build Points
Build Points are used to purchase Class Abilities and Feats. The costs for most of these are listed with their descriptions (1 if not specified). Some class abilities are tiered, and will require spending more build points to access more advanced features. Some tiered class abilities will additionally be limited by level. You cannot take any of these Class Abilities more than once unless they specify otherwise in their description.

Each character starts with 3 build points, and gains 1 more at each level. A character may gain extra build points by taking a character trait (listed below, but DMs feel free to make up your own). For each trait taken, you gain 1 more build point. No more than 2 bonus build points may be purchased in this way for any character.


Character Traits
Roleplaying Character Traits should be encouraged via awarding Inspiration points. DMs are encouraged to frequently add scenarios to allow players to roleplay their character traits, and to make up their own traits.

Righteousness (Yi): Inspired by the noble actions of heroes in myths. Characters with this virtue always strive to do the right thing, even if it's not the easiest path. If they break this oath, they will take disadvantage on all ability checks until they have had time to contemplate their actions (1 long rest).

Wisdom (Zhi): Characters with this virtue always aim to be cool headed and choose a moderate course rather than an extreme one. A character with this virtue cannot choose the Overly Curious or Dauntless traits.
Loyalty (Zhong): Characters are extremely loyal to their comrades or cause, and may never abandon them. If they break this oath, they will take disadvantage on all ability checks until they have had time to contemplate their actions (1 long rest).

Humility (Qian): Inspired by legendary figures who achieve greatness through modesty and humility, characters who strive for this virtue may never brag about themselves, complain about harsh circumstances, or try to obtain more than their fair share. If they break this oath, they will take disadvantage on all ability checks until they have had time to contemplate their actions (1 long rest).
Honesty (Chéngshí): A character who strives for this virtue may never willingly lie (but they may not offer everything they know, and can refuse to answer). If they break this oath, they will take disadvantage on all ability checks until they have had time to contemplate their actions (1 long rest).

Dauntless: You never back down from a challenge. You may not retreat from a fight, or back down from a direct challenge to you (unless it would lead to certain death or dishonor). If you back down from a challenge, you are disheartened and take disadvantage on all ability and skill checks until you’ve had time to rest and reconsider your actions (1 long rest). 

Stinky: This flaw makes the character naturally smelly, hindering social interactions and giving disadvantage on Persuasion (charism) checks with civilized races.

Delicious: Monsters find this character irresistibly tasty and may target them preferentially in combat.

Loudmouth: The character is incapable of whispering and tends to blurt out things without thinking, possibly alerting enemies or spoiling plans. They take disadvantage on stealth checks that require them to be quiet for more than 1 round.

Chronic Snorer: During rest periods, the character's loud snoring could attract unwanted attention or creatures, and may interfere with their companions’ ability to benefit from a Long Rest. Roll 1d10 each time the party takes a long rest, and on a 1 any companions who are sleeping within 20 feet do not get the benefit of a long rest. (This does not affect creatures with the deafened condition, including if they plug their ears, but such creatures are automatically surprised if the party is ambushed while they are asleep).

Overly Curious: Much like Sun Wukong's insatiable curiosity in "Journey to the West," this character must investigate anything even slightly unusual, potentially leading to danger or delays.

Gluttony (Zhu Bajie Inspired): A character with an insatiable appetite, leading to potential food-related distractions or resource depletion. Any time food is presented, the character must consume at least twice as much as a typical character (so they need double rations for the day, etc). They will not ignore obvious dangers to pursue this, but may be lured into traps and have disadvantage to perceive such threats any time a tasty treat is visible.

Gullible: This character always wants to believe in the best in people, and finds it hard to believe that others might have malicious intent. They have disadvantage on Insight checks to determine if others are lying.


Class Abilities (purchasable with Build Points)
Feats: D&D 5e feats may be purchased for 1 build point. You can also choose a feat instead of an Ability Score Increase, as per the standard D&D rules.

Archetype: Choose the abilities of one Archetype for any class (sorcerous origin, wizard tradition, (Patron + Pact Boon), monastic tradition, etc). You gain all of the abilities at the appropriate levels for a standard single-classed D&D character with this archetype. You may only choose one Archetype per character. If you do not have some of the abilities that are improved by an Archetype, you gain no benefit for those Archetype abilities until you spend an additional build point to acquire them.

Some archetypes likely would not work well with this system, such as the Arcane Trickster or others that add spellcasting onto a class that otherwise does not get it, and thus should be disallowed. Any specific abilities from disallowed archetypes should be allowed to be purchased using Build Points, if the player desires. However going through all of the available archetypes and assigning costs for their abilities is beyond the scope of this work. Talk to your DM to work out the costs using what’s listed here as an example.

Skilled: Pick three skills or tools. The character becomes proficient in them. This may be taken more than once. Build points spent beyond the first on skills may be used to grant knowledge of up to three new skills, or grant expertise of up to three skills the character is already proficient in (or any combination thereof).

Martial Weapon Proficiency
Benefits: You are proficient with all martial weapons.

Basic Armor Training: You gain proficiency with light and medium armor, and shields.

Reliable Talent: For any skills you have Expertise in, you may never count as having rolled lower than a 10 (unless you have disadvantage).

Indomitable: Choose one ability score for which you are proficient with the associated saving throw. If you fail a saving throw or ability/skill check for that ability score, you may reroll. You may use this once per short rest.

Cunning Action: Your quick thinking and agility allows you to move and act quickly. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.

Uncanny Dodge: When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack's damage against you.

Evasion: You must be proficient in Dexterity saving throws to take this ability. You can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a red dragon's fiery breath or an ice storm spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Sneak Attack: As the rogue ability. Each point spent gives +1d6, with a maximum of no more extra dice than ½ character level rounded up.

Spellcasting: The first time you take this, you gain two cantrips and the ability to cast one 1st level spell. Each further point spent on the Spellcasting class ability will increase the maximum level of spells which can be cast by 1, as well as granting one more spell known, and another cantrip for every two points spent. Every time the character gains a level, they may replace as many spell formulae and cantrips known as they want.

Spellcasting in this system is based on spell points, with spells costing a number of spell points to cast equal to their level (this replaces the sorcery point system under the sorcerer class). However, the character may never cast the maximum level spell available to them more than three times per short rest.

The amount of spell points gained from this ability is equal to the number of times it has been taken squared. All spell points are reset with a long rest. This ability cannot be taken more times than ½ of your character level (rounded up) to a maximum of 9 times.

You may choose any ability score you want to determine your saving throws and spell attacks. Yes, this means you can make that Muscle Wizard you’ve always dreamed of.

Extra Spell Points:
Prerequisite: Spellcasting
Benefits: You gain 2 more spell points the first time you take this, and the amount you gain increases by 2 for every time you take it (2, 4, 6, 8). You may not take this more times than your character level, up to a maximum of 4 times.

Metamagic:
Prerequisite: Spellcasting
Benefits: For each build point you spend, you can learn one Metamagic (as listed in the Sorcerer core class). For the purposes of using these abilities, Spell Points count as Sorcery Points.

Spell Knowledge: A character with the Spellcasting ability may take this ability to learn two new spell formulae of any level they can cast from the Spellcasting ability. This may be taken as often as wanted.

Channel Divinity: The character gains the ability to Turn Undead 1x per short or long rest, of a cleric equal to their character level, as described in the Cleric core class. Beginning at 6th level, you can use your Channel Divinity twice between rests, and beginning at 18th level, you can use it three times between rests. When you finish a short or long rest, you regain your expended uses. As you gain levels, you will also gain the ability to Destroy Undead of certain CR, as a cleric of your character level.

Divine Domain
Prerequisite: Channel Divinity and Spellcasting
Benefits: You gain the benefits of a cleric domain.

Scholarly Caster: This ability costs two build points. A spellcaster with this ability keeps a book or other item that contains all of the spell knowledge (formulas/formulae) that they have gained throughout their lives by studying ancient tomes, scrolls, divine inspiration and/or sharing information with other scholars or supernatural beings.
A character with this ability who has access to their spellbook may change all prepared (known) spell formulae after a long rest, or one prepared formulae by spending 1 minute per spell level. If their spellbook is lost or destroyed, they may recreate it by spending one full day per point they have spent on the Spellcasting class ability in study.

A character with this ability may also cast any ritual spell even if they do not have that spell prepared/learned currently.

Font of Magic: This ability costs 2 build points. A spellcaster who takes this Class Ability regains a number of spell points equal to the number of times they have taken the Spellcaster class ability each time they take a short rest.

Eldritch Invocations:
Prerequisite: Spellcasting
Benefits: They gain an Eldritch Invocation of their choice from the Warlock class abilities. The Learned Scholar class ability above counts as Pact of the Tome for prerequisites.

Wildshape: Spending 1 point will let you gain the ability to change into a small or tiny creature of the beast type of your choice once per short rest. You must choose the specific form at the time of picking this ability, but can change your choice each time you gain a level. These forms may not have a CR greater than 1/4th or 1/4th of your level, whichever is greater.

Spending a second point on this gives you the ability to Wildshape as a druid of your level. Spending a 3rd point grants you the Wildshape ability of a Circle of the Moon druid of your level (excluding elemental shapes). Spending a 4th point grants you the elemental shapes available to a Circle of the Moon druid of your level.

Armor Proficiency: You are proficient with all armor and shields.

Powerful Music: You gain proficiency with three musical instruments (or performance types, such as singing) and the Bardic Inspiration and Song of Rest abilities equal to a bard of your level.
If you spend a second point on this, you gain the Cutting Words ability of a College of Lore bard.

Fighting Style: You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the options listed in the Fighter class. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once.

Second Wind: You have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level. Once you use this feature you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Action Surge: You can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible bonus action. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. This may not be used to cast a second spell in a round, but can be used to activate magic items that may produce the effects of spells.

Unarmored Defense: While you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + one ability score modifier (your choice, this cannot be changed once chosen).

Martial Arts
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Gain the ability to use Dexterity instead of Strength for attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes and weapons. Unarmed strikes can use a d4 for damage. Gain the ability to make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.

Ki
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Gain a Ki pool equal to your character level. You can spend these points to fuel various Ki features such as Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind (which you can take for free). Recover Ki points after a short or long rest.
Choose one ability score (traditionally Wisdom) to determine any saving throw DCs or attack bonuses associated with abilities fueled by your Ki.

Step of the Wind (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 0 Build Point
Benefit: Spend 1 Ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.

Flurry of Blows (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: After taking the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 Ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

Patient Defense (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Spend 1 Ki point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.

Deflect Missiles
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack, reducing the damage by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your character level.

Slow Fall
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Use your reaction to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your character level.

Stunning Strike (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Spend 1 Ki point to attempt to stun a creature you hit with a melee weapon attack.

Ki-Empowered Strikes (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Stillness of Mind
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.

Purity of Body
Cost: 1 Build Point
Benefit: Gain immunity to disease and poison.

Diamond Soul (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 3 Build Points
Benefit: Gain proficiency in all saving throws. Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 Ki point to reroll it and take the second result.

Quivering Palm (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 3 Build Points
Benefit: Spend 3 Ki points to set up lethal vibrations in a creature's body. On a subsequent turn, you can use your action to trigger these vibrations, which can render the creature unconscious or even kill it.

Empty Body (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 2 Build Points
Benefit: Spend 4 Ki points to become invisible for 1 minute, during which time you also have resistance to all damage but force damage.

Perfect Self (Ki prerequisite)
Cost: 3 Build Points
Benefit: When you roll for initiative and have no Ki points remaining, you regain 4 Ki points.

Danger Sense
Prerequisite: Proficient in Dexterity saving throws
Benefits: You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

Rage: You can Rage as a 1st level barbarian. If you take this a second time, you count as a barbarian of your character level when determining rage damage and number of uses per day.

Extra Rage: You count as a barbarian of your character level when determining rage uses per long rest.

Relentless Rage: Your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you’re raging and don’t die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead. Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.

Persistent Rage: Your rage is so fierce that it ends early only if you fall unconscious or if you choose to end it.

Indomitable Might:
Requirement: To take this, you must be proficient in Strength saving throws.
Benefit: if your total for a Strength check is less than your Strength score, you can use that score in place of the total.

Extra Attack: You gain a second attack. You cannot take this prior to 5th level. You cannot permanently gain a third attack on an action through any other feats, class abilities, or archetypes (barring spells like Haste, etc, that can temporarily grant extra attacks).

Reckless Attack: Grants the Reckless Attack ability, allowing the character to make attacks with advantage at the cost of granting advantage to attackers against them until their next turn.

Fast Movement: Increases speed by 10 feet while not wearing heavy armor. This may be taken up to 3 times.

Quick Reflexes: You gain advantage on initiative rolls and the ability to act normally on the first turn of combat if surprised.

Brutal Critical: Add one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack. You may take this up to three times.

Improved Critical: You score critical hits on either a 19 or 20 on the die roll. This does not stack with other abilities that can expand the range of critical hits, but can be taken with Brutal Critical.

Tough: Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your level when you gain this feat. Whenever you gain a level thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by an additional 2 hit points. You also heal these extra hit points whenever you spend hit dice on a short rest. This feat may be taken up to 4 times.

Lay on Hands: As listed in the Paladin class.

Divine Smite (requires Spellcaster): When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell point to deal 2d8 radiant damage to the target, in addition to the weapon’s damage. If you choose to expend additional spell points on this attack, each adds another 1d8, to a maximum of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend.

Improved Divine Smite
Prerequisites: Divine Smite and at least level 9
Benefit: Add +1d8 radiant damage to all of your melee weapon attacks, and this stacks with your Divine Smite ability.

Aura of Protection: As listed in the Paladin class, except you may choose to apply the bonus from Wisdom or Intelligence instead.

Courageous: You can’t be frightened while you are conscious. If you take this a second time, it applies to all friendly creatures within 30 feet of you as well.

Cleansing Touch: As listed in the Paladin class, but uses may be linked to Wisdom or Intelligence instead, if desired.

Skilled Hunter: Gain the Favored Enemy, Land’s Stride, and Natural Explorer abilities, as they are listed in the Ranger class. This ability may be taken more than once. Choose new Favored Enemies and Terrain each time this ability is chosen.
Additionally, if you have taken this ability at least twice, you gain the benefits of the Hide in Plain Sight ability listed in the Ranger Class.
If you have taken this at least three times, you gain the benefits of the Vanish ability listed in the Ranger Class.
If you have taken this at least four times, you gain the benefits of a Freedom of Movement spell at all times.

Blind Fighting: You have trained extensively to fight without your sight, and to rely on other senses. When you attack a creature you can't see, your inability to see it doesn't impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it, nor does it get advantage on attack rolls against you. You are also automatically aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature isn't hidden from you and you aren't deafened.

Sense the Supernatural: You have a sixth sense when it comes to creatures that are divine or unnatural. As an action, you may open your senses for 1 minute. During this time, you can sense whether the following types of creatures are present within 1 mile of you (or within up to 6 miles if you are in your favored terrain): aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. You may also detect cursed or sacred locations within this range. This feature doesn’t reveal the location or number of creatures or locations, unless they are within 60 feet, but it does give the direction(s) they are in.
If such creatures are within sixty feet, you know the exact location as well as type of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity. Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell.
You may use this once per short rest. If you wish to use it more often than this and have the ability to cast spells, you may expend a spell slot for additional uses and these last 1 minute per level of the spell slot expended.

3
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Alternate shield use rules
« on: March 05, 2022, 08:06:58 PM »
I've always hated how useless shields are in D&D. I'm thinking of adding the following rules to tower shields and large shields:

Shield Wall (Optional Rule)
Alternatively, a tower shield may be used as a shield wall. The shield user must choose whether to use this optional rule at the beginning of their turn, and cannot change it until the beginning of their next turn. When using a tower shield as a shield wall, the user chooses a cone originating at their square. All targets within this cone receive total concealment from the shield user's attacks, and the shield user receives total cover from theirs. The shield user does not receive the normal shield bonus to AC against attacks originating outside of this cone when using a shield in this way. This DOES provide total cover against spells. However, it does not provide any protection against being Bull Rushed. Additionally, the target's tower shield may be the target of applicable attacks and spells.

A large shield may be used in the same manner, but only grants cover and concealment (not total). Small shields and bucklers are not large enough to be used like this.

I'll also add this to the normal shield in 5e games (treating it as a large shield), and plan to add the Tower Shield back into the game as well (it will be heavy (30 lbs and require 15 str), give disadvantage on stealth and make it impossible if used with heavy armor, and grant a +3 to AC).

4
Other Games / Valheim
« on: November 22, 2021, 08:49:30 AM »
If you don't know, Valheim is a game very much like Minecraft with decent graphics (and it's harder, more like some of the harder survival modpacks). It's still in early release at the time of writing this, but the content that's in so far is pretty awesome. You're a dead Viking in their equivalent of purgatory trying to earn your right to pass on to Valhalla. If you have the game, or are interested and have $20 bucks and a PC with a decent graphics card, I have started a dedicated server. It's nothing fancy, but would be interested in playing with any of you. DM me on discord if interested (PhaedrusXY#9923).

5
Legends of the Heroes / Shattered Isles
« on: November 08, 2021, 04:58:18 PM »
So... I started a new game with my kids.  :lmao

My son and I took a long road trip (6 hrs each way), and spent quite a bit of it discussing D&D. Eventually, the discussion reached the following conclusion: he'd really like to play a binder, but they're weak and he likes stronger characters... Eventually, we of decided to come up with a setting where all the tier 1 and 2 classes were banned (with in-world reasons), and to also beef up binders a bit. We're basing it off the Sky Raiders book by Brandon Mull, if you're familiar with it (and if not... you should go read it right now). The setting is technically a post-apocalyptic Eberron where his old character was responsible for and/or involved in "breaking the world".

What's left of the material plane is a series of "islands" floating over an endless void of space. Some of them are fairly large, like small continents, but most are small, and they all move around slowly with respect to each other... So there are no reliable maps, and getting around involves flying somehow (there are blimps), and is insanely dangerous (most of the ruins on these "islands" are haunted and/or housing some kind of terrible, ancient evils leftover from before the breaking of the world, etc). It can also be very lucrative, and hence of course there are idiots who go around plundering them. They are typically called "sky pirates", and are pretty deserving of the name... because they are not averse to robbing and/or stealing children and conscripting them to use to explore the (insanely dangerous) ruins.

The first adventure involved only my son's character, with him starting out as "level 0" and encountering a medusa who instead of turning him to stone decided to train him as a binder. He then went back and joined the "crew" he'd been a slave of previously as a "full member", and they raided a keep with 5 skeletons, with the two NPCs with him both getting beaten up pretty badly (one below 0 and one just barely above), but no one actually dying (which I regard as a success when DMing 1st level characters...).

We've brainstormed quite a bit, and are even considering writing up a campaign book for this. A few details:
1) the gods all died and/or were "cut off" from the world during the "breaking"
2) the prime material plane was actually cut off from or moved further from the outer planes, and closer to the elemental planes
3) all the dragons died as part of the "final battle"
3) because of 1, 2, & 3, there are no wizards, sorcerers, clerics, druids, etc. (Basically all the T1&T2 classes).
4) "Benders" are a thing (as in Avatar: The Last Airbender). We're using some homebrewed classes that look a lot like warlocks. Here's the Airbender class: https://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Bender_of_Air_(3.5e_Class) (Oof.... looking at that, it is incredibly weak... will almost certainly buff it...)

Debating on whether to allow beguilers, warmages, and dread necros. Leaning towards yes, but making them mostly NPCs.

We're using PF1 as the base ruleset, but allowing 3.x material.

6
Legends of the Heroes / Mind Games
« on: May 02, 2021, 03:29:44 PM »
So... started ANOTHER game for my kids. :P This time, we're using 3.5 rules again because my son wanted to be a psion. He is nuts over Wanda/the Scarlet Witch, and after discussion he decided that Psion reproduces here better than most other classes could. He decided to base his looks and general attitude off Loki, but powers off her. Mechanically his race is Kalashtar, and I'm running the game in a modified Eberron setting (using the maps, some NPCs, and overall setting, but making some major changes like dropping racial/bloodline restrictions on Dragonmarks, having warforged basically be cheap golems, etc).

During our brainstorming session, the backstory we came up with is that he's a prince, who has an older sister who was destined to rule. He wanted to rule instead, and tried to "sabotage" her (even going as far as having her kidnapped at one point, but she escaped) and wound up being exiled. Eventually his parents died, and she became ruler. He was very angry and bitter and joined a cult for a while that was bent on world domination, starting with his own homeland. They did an "experiment" on him, altering him mentally to turn him into a "weapon", but then he ran away. He has since been on the run from the cult, and trying to get back to his kingdom to warn his sister about them. His starting "cover" was that he is an actor (with a hat of disguise, and a good bluff skill) and is traveling around with an acting troupe.

Incorporating him into the setting, we decided that his sister is the Queen of Aundair, and that he had fled into the Eldeen Reaches where he joined the acting troupe and due to his charisma had worked his way up to basically being their "second in command".

He knows that the "Cult" basically worships something called The Watcher, and is known as Cult of the Eye. They're all psionically powered somehow (feats, classes, templates, etc). Warforged "touched by the Eye" will be the "foot soldiers" for the cult, and will mostly be psiwarriors with deep crystal weapons and armor. (There will be other warforged/automatons in the world, but they will be mindless aside from a few unique individuals. There will have been attempts at embuing them with sentience over the years, but the consensus will be that this always incurs a cost (i.e. they're possessed, insane, requires a soul/mind, etc, and is generally not worth it/too dangerous and taboo)). Psionics will otherwise be rare, but I’m using full transparency.

Although he doesn't know this yet, I have decided that the "Cult of the Eye" actually worships the Dreaming Dark, and they're a branch of the Riedrans, who are planning to invade and conquer Khorvaire. Kalashtar are basically individuals who partially resisted being possessed by a Quori. The Quori is trapped inside their minds, but the person remains in control, not the Quori. Although kalashtar don't normally dream, they can enter a shared dream using my Lucid Dreaming system (and a dream spindle). If they do so... they wind up being confronted by and/or battling the Quori trapped in their mind (similiar to Mal in Inception).

The first few sessions consisted of him trying to lead his acting troupe back to Audair from the Reaches, and being attacked repeatedly by psionicists of some kind and/or outsiders that they'd sent after him (a half-demon psion, yeth hound, ranger/seer, warforged psiwarrior, xill, and shadow mastiff to name a few).

My daughter is playing a changeling Mind Pirate (my own homebrew, in the Mindscapes forum), who is the Spymaster for Audair. We came up with what I think is an awesome backstory for her, which I'll add later. Her best friend IRL is playing Queen Ayala, whenever she has time to join us. I'll add more later. Game is going quite well, and we've entered a new phase were I'm going to basically run them through the Red Hand of Doom, but with the "Red Hand" being the reformation of Dargunn into the New Dhakanni Empire, and allying themselves with Droam and the DoSQ and preparing to take over Khorvaire, with some help from young dragons from the Chamber who believe that this is what is necessary and called for by the Draconic Prophesy in order to unite the forces of Khorvaire against a future invasion from a massive outside army (i.e.... Rierdra).

Link to the forum with the Lucid Dreaming system and Mind Pirate:
http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?board=139.0

7
Mindscapes / Mindstealer Master (PrC)
« on: May 01, 2021, 03:41:04 PM »
Mindstealer Master


(click to show/hide)
   
Brave words. I've heard them before, from thousands of species across thousands of worlds, since long before you were created.
-The Borg Queen, a Mindstealer Master

 The Mindstealer Master is the ultimate monster spawning factory, assimilating psychic and genetic information from myriad creatures and recombining it in new ways, some of which may have never been seen before in any creature that has previously existed.

BECOMING A MINDSTEALER MASTER
The Mindstealer Master typically starts out as a Mindstealer Drone which encounters a Deepspawn and assimilates its abilities.

 ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Must have taken all levels of the Mindstealer Drone and Deepspawn monster classes.

Class Skills
 All skills are class skills for a Mindstealer Master.
Skills Points at Each  Level: 4 + int

Hit Dice: d8


Level
Base
Attack Bonus
Fort
Save
Ref
Save
Will
Save

Special
1st+0+0+0+2Spawn Drone, Absorb Drone, Delegated Power, Deceivingly Innocent Form, Telepathic Command
2nd+1+0+0+3Pre-programming, Expanded Archive
3rd+2+1+1+3Advanced hardware, Sleeper Agent
4th+3+1+1+4Universal Knowledge, Revive Drone
5th+3+1+1+4Reprogram Drone, Universal Mastery
6th+4+2+2+5Assimilate
7th+5+2+2+5Resistance is Futile
8th+6+2+2+6Adaptation
9th+6+3+3+6Eternal Overlord

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Mindstealer Master does not gain any new proficiencies with armor, weapons, or shields.

Spawn Drone (Su): The Mindstealer Master may spawn Mindstealer Drones, which are 100% loyal to him (as thralls/believers of Thrallherd). This is a modified version of Spawn Child, from the Master's Deepspawn levels, and functions as that ability except as noted here. The Mindstealer Master (hereafter referred to as "the Master") may also use Early Birth to create these special Spawn Children more rapidly, but they will then die and decay as normal within 1d4 minutes if not Absorbed by the master before then.

At first level, the Master may only spawn Drones with a single level of Mindstealer Drone, and no other class levels. However, such drones may advance by gaining experience points (usually done by draining creatures of all their memories and assimilating them). The Master may control a number of drones at once equal to its own hit dice, but the advancement of the drones is limited. The master may only have one “full strength” drone with hit dice equal to the Master’s minus 1, one drone with the Master’s hit dice minus 2, and so on. Drones with only 1-3 levels of Mindstealer Drone and no other levels or hit dice only count as 1 hit die creatures for the purposes of these limitations. So the Master may control up to his hit dice of these at once. The Master's drones may not take levels of Mindstealer Master while they remain under his control. If they do, they become "free-willed" Masters of their own, and migrate to a new area so as to not compete with their Master's food source.

Any drones which gain enough hit dice (via class levels) to exceed the Master’s control limitations become uncontrolled. The Master may absorb other drones to regain control over a “renegade” drone (unless the renegade's has an equal or higher number of hit dice than it's master), but drones which have been uncontrolled for more than a week become “free-willed” and cannot be reclaimed by their Master. All Mindstealer Drones and Masters consider these renegades to be a threat to their race, and will spare no expense to exterminate them. However, if the renegade drone survives long enough to become a Mindstealer Master itself, then the others will accept it back into the "family".

These controlled minions replace the Favorite Child ability of Deepspawn, as the Favorite Child would just be too jealous of all of these Drones, and no doubt have to be put down after it started fighting with them.

Absorb Drone (Su): The Mindstealer Master can reabsorb living drones it has created to gain all of their stolen knowledge (including their Psychic Archive). The Mindstealer Master must absorb at least one drone per day or begin to “starve”, taking one point of intelligence drain per day which cannot be healed until it "feeds" by absorbing a drone. "Blank" drones which do not have any stolen memories do not provide any sustenance, and so are useless as "food" for the master, even if they were created with the Pre-programming ability. Absorbing a drone instantly cures all Intelligence drain the Master has suffered from starvation. Absorb Drone has a range of touch and requires a move action from the Master to use.

Delegated Power (Ex): For every Mindstealer Drone under its command which has more than three hit dice, the Mindstealer Master itself counts as one level lower for the purposes of which forms it can access with its Change Shape and Psychic Combine class features (from its Mindstealer Drone levels). For example, if a 3rd level Mindstealer Master (total character level 14) had absorbed the abilities of a 12th level psion, but currently had 3 Mindstealer Drones under its command with more than 3 hit dice, then it could no longer access any of the abilities of that psion via its Change Shape or Psychic Combine abilities.

Deceivingly Innocent Form (Ex): The Mindstealer Master receives Deceivingly Innocent Form as a bonus feat.

Telepathic Command (Su): The Master can communicate telepathically with any drones under its command if they are within 1 mile. Since this is a very limited form of telepathy, it does not allow the Master to qualify for feats or classes which require the Telepathy ability.

Pre-programming (Su): A Mindstealer Master of at least second level can create drones which already have knowledge of forms within their Psychic Archive, as if they’d absorbed them. These forms must be from the Master’s own Psychic Archive. In addition, the Master may imprint knowledge of class abilities from his psychic archive onto drones he creates. Drones created in this way may have class levels up to one less than the Master, but the first three levels must always be of Mindstealer Drone.

Expanded Archive (Ex): At second level, the Mindstealer Drone's Psychic Archive expands. It can now "remember" up to twice its total hit dice of creatures.

Advanced hardware (Su): Once a Mindstealer Master reaches level 3 of this class, it can create drones that are an actual monster hybrid of a form the Master has genetic knowledge of. The created spawn receives Monster Blooded and Monster Hybrid as bonus feats, and hit dice according to the creature chosen for these feats. The total hit dice of the spawn may not exceed the Master’s level -1, and the first three levels must always be of Mindstealer Drone. If the drone ever becomes free-willed (it's Master is destroyed, or exceeds his capacity of controlled drones), the Drone loses the bonus feats, and must choose two of its other feats to replace with them.

Sleeper Agent (Su): Upon reaching 3rd level, not only does the Mindstealer Master gain the ability to shape the bodies of her drones as she wishes. She also may give them any memories she wants, including the memories of creatures she has within her Psychic Archive, creatures she has Assimilated (see Assimilate below), and she may also fabricate memories entirely from scratch, although in the latter case such creatures have inherently unstable minds and are prone to breakdowns (-4 to Will saves vs. any Mind Affecting abilities, once per week Will save vs. DC 15 or go permanently insane as the Insanity spell). She may program such creatures such that they do not even know that they are Drones, and may believe themselves to be the creature whose mind she has implanted within them. She may alter or implant memories into these minds as they are formed, and/or block off certain aspects of the mind and memories which will only be released at a certain time, or after witnessing a specific trigger. A frequent usage of this ability is to replace a creature with a Drone which thinks it is the original, and program it to then "remember" that it is a drone, and what its mission is (often assassination) once it has passed within some area of high security.

Universal Knowledge (Ex): The Mindstealer Master has by 4th level amassed an amazing depth and diversity of stolen memories and knowledge. It is now considered to have maximum ranks in all skills.

Revive Drone (Su): The Master may revive a drone which has been dead for no more than one week and whose body is mostly intact. This ability has a range of touch and requires one hour of concentration. This otherwise works as Raise Dead, except the drone does not lose a level.

Reprogram Drone (Su): Starting at 5th level, the Mindstealer Master may use Psychic Reformation on any drones it controls as a standard action with no XP costs. This ability has a range of touch. It may only imprint the drones with abilities that it has knowledge of within its Genetic Knowledge (Deepspawn) or Psychic Archive (Mindstealer Drone) abilities, however, and the drone must meet any prerequisites needed for imprinted abilities.

Universal Mastery (Ex): At level 5 and up, the number of creatures the Mindstealer Master may remember via its Psychic Archive is unlimited.

Assimilate (Su): At 6th level, the Mindstealer Master has learned to infect and take over creatures, as well as consume and recreate them from scratch. Any creature hit by the Master's bite or tentacle attack must make a Fortitude save (DC 10+1/2 Master's hit dice + Master's Int modifier) or be infected with a supernatural disease which will slowly turn it into a Mindstealer Drone under the Master's control. There is no incubation time for this disease, and affected target takes 1d4 points of Charisma drain immediately and another 1d4 Charisma drain per hour. Each instance of Charisma drain after the first may be resisted with another Fortitude save (same DC), but this does not cure the creature of the infection, but merely slows its completion.

This infection is a powerful curse, not a natural disease, and such even works on creatures normally immune to diseases. Unlike normal diseases, this disease continues until the victim reaches Charisma 0 (and is converted into a Mindstealer Drone) or is cured as described below.

To cure the disease (and prevent Assimilation), the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring a DC 20 caster level check for either spell), and then the disease can be magically cured as any normal disease. This only works if the victim has not been Assimilated (drained of all charisma and turned into a Mindstealer Drone). Once a victim has been Assimilated, only a Wish or Miracle may convert them back to their previous forms. Even death and subsequent resurrection will not remove the curse once it has reached its conclusion. Additionally, if the target has been Assimilated and then Absorbed by the Mindstealer Master, the Master must first be destroyed before they can be brought back by any means short of direct deific intervention.

When the target's Charisma is drained to zero it is Assimilated. The Master chooses how many Mindstealer Drone levels to add to it, or how many of its levels to replace with Drone levels (up to 3). The target keeps any other current levels, and starts with knowledge of its previous form. If any of its levels are racial class levels, it gains Monster Blood and Monster Hybrid as bonus feats as with the Master's Advanced Hardware ability. If the Assimilated target has as many or more hit dice than the Master, then it is too powerful to be controlled, and instead lapses into a coma from which it can only be awakened from by consecutive casting of Remove Curse, Cure Disease, and Restoration (or other magic which can remove a curse, a disease, and restore the ability drain).

Resistance is Futile (Su): At 7th level, the Master has learned enough about creature physiology that it and drones under its command may modify the abilities they have stolen to bypass resistance and immunity. When choosing one absorbed ability to use (via Change Shape or Psychic Combine), the Master or Drone may modify that ability to bypass 5 points of damage resistance per Mindstealer Master level. It may also affect creatures normally immune to the ability, but such creatures get a +5 to their saving throws against the ability and ignore half of the damage of the ability (which is not bypassed). If the ability does not do damage and does not normally allow a saving throw, the target has a 50% chance to ignore the ability each time it is subjected to it. Each Drone or Master may only have one such immunity-bypassing ability at a time, but may change which ability Resistance is Futile applies to each time they select another absorbed ability to access via Change Shape or Psychic Combine.

Adaptation (Ex): The Master's knowledge of the myriad defensive and offensive abilities of creatures has advanced to the point that it may create new defenses against abilities it has been exposed to, even if no creatures which it has genetic or psychic knowledge of has such a resistance. The Master may grant itself or a drone it Spawns or Reprograms the ability to become partial immune to any ability that it has personally been affected by, or which any drone which it has previously reabsorbed has been affected by. While active, this partial immunity gives the Master or Drone a 50% chance of ignoring the effects of the ability each time it is affected by it.

Each Master or Drone may only have one such Adaptation at a time. The Master may change the ability its own Adaptation protects against as a Standard action, and may change the Adaptation of all Drones which are within range of its Telepathic Command as part of the same action, if it so wishes.

Eternal Overlord (Su): The Mindstealer Master has learned to leave a psychic imprint of itself within all the creatures it creates. If the Master is ever destroyed, this psychic seed will then germinate within one of them over 1d4 days, with the Master being reborn within the body of its offspring. The Master will then immediately reconfigure its new body to match its own one. This works as the Clone spell, except that all creatures created by the master count as clones.

(click to show/hide)

8
Legends of the Heroes / New campaign for my kids based on Marvel characters
« on: December 24, 2020, 10:21:30 AM »
My kids want me to run a game based on marvel, with them playing clones of Black Widow and the Scarlet Witch. They both want to run on the chaotic/neutral side of alignments, skirting between good and evil, and here is what I have so far.

The Scarlet Witch will be a sorcerer. My son's playing this character, and mostly making his own character creation decisions.

Black Widow I thought would be best approximated as a monk. I'm working on a mostly defensive-based (dodging) Monastic Tradition for her.

Monastic Tradition: Way of the Dancing Reed
You dance like a reed in the wind, allowing you to easily avoid attacks.

Sidestep: Starting at 3rd level as a reaction you may cause an attack that would have hit you to miss. You may use this once per encounter. You may also gain another use by spending a Ki point.

Blurred Form: Starting at 6th level, you are so fast and adept at dodging that it's hard for an opponent to predict your movements. As a bonus action, you may enter a frenetic dance that gives all opponents disadvantage on their attacks against you. This lasts a number of rounds equal to your monk level, and is usable once per short rest. You may also gain another use by spending a Ki point.

Houserules to the monk base class:
1) I'm super annoyed that the unarmed fighting style for the fighter gives higher unarmed damage than the monk's... So... I'm going to use the 3.5 unarmed damage table for them. Also, if all they make is a single unarmed attack in the round they get to double the damage.
2) Add Wisdom modifier to their Ki points.


I am having them start out as a pair of assassins trained from birth to work together for a secret organization that basically "polices" rulers. Here's what I have on it so far:

Librat Manus (supposed roughly to translate to Balancing Hands... but don't lecture me about Latin, please :D I just thought it sounded cool.)
Secret society of assassins, always working in pairs, and trained from birth to work with each other. One with a martial/stealth bent, and the other with magical powers. They're like a more evil version of the Harpers. They "monitor" the kings and other rulers, going after them if they are too oppressive (outright murdering the ruler is last resort, as it can often be very destabilizing. They more often "send messages", etc.)

For stat generation, I used the following home-brew method I found:
Two Strong, Two Good, Two Weak by Yunru
Roll 3d6 for two stats, these are your "weaknesses" - areas where your character simply isn't gifted or hasn't focused.
Roll 4d6k3 for two stats, these are your average stats, neither neglected nor specialized.
Roll 6d6k3 for two stats, these are your "strengths" - areas where you're either gifted or have heavily invested in.

Feel free to offer feedback/comments in this thread.

9
Legends of the Heroes / The Warper
« on: November 15, 2018, 09:16:55 PM »
My son said he wanted to play a new character based on warping space and I said...

I just happen to have written a class specialized in teleportation and spatial manipulation in the past... and after looking at it, he said it was perfect. So we started a new game... He's playing a 3rd level star elf warper, and my daughter is starting out playing a 3rd level oslecamo nymph, although she may change over to an agraramel (time thief... the other custom class in the link) at some point. I included an NPC agraramel that I'll offer her to take over at the next game time (it's an anthropomorphic rabbit that's been warped by the Far Realm.... and I will use some custom stats for a choker for it's race.... saying that it can extend and grapple with its ears, and distend its mouth open for a nasty bite...).

Their first adventure took them through a mysterious portal into a demiplane that was inspired (ripped off) from Lewis Carol's Alice In Wonderland... and the final BBEG was a Gibbering Mouther Red Queen... which they easily (too easily...) defeated.

10
Off Topic Fun / Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO)
« on: August 06, 2018, 02:47:18 AM »
I started playing this again over the past week (I'm working 12  hr night shifts and frequently am not busy). The Crystal Cove area has been open and I have been having a blast running it. I've gotten to where I can solo it 9 times out of 10, and managed to get 330 crystals once. :D


It got pretty intense at times... At one point, the main "boss" came up to the top of the ramp, along with 1-2 other "mini-bosses" and several wraiths... They killed me, my hireling, and all of the kobolds... but I'd already gotten the 100 crystals so I still "won".


It was hard on my equipment, though... At one point, everything I was wearing was broken. :P


I definitely was spending more in repairs than I was getting out of it...


It was definitely worth it, though. You can craft/buy some really great gear with the green gems you get as a reward, and it was tons of fun. I did a few runs with a guy, and it was way easier with two people. Even after crafting/buying myself a set of armor and several skill boosting hats (probably costing around 1000 total), I still have over 1600 green dragonshards.

11
Off Topic Fun / Audiobooks not available in US
« on: July 01, 2018, 12:47:10 AM »
Hi all. I'm a big fan of the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. However, 3 of the books aren't available for purchase as audiobooks in the US due to some stupid licensing problems. I managed to get one of the three (Excision) somewhere in the past... but was wondering if any of you who live in the UK (or any other region where these books aren't restricted for sale...) could help me get a copy.

I commute 2 hours each day for my work, and audiobooks make it a lot more tolerable. I also never have time to sit down and read an actual paper book.

12
General D&D Discussion / d20srd down?
« on: August 13, 2017, 08:50:40 PM »
Is it coming back? Anyone know what happened to it?....  :???

13
Legends of the Heroes / Forest Friends
« on: July 29, 2017, 04:49:50 PM »

Levoid
m NG Forest Gnome Druid, Level 3, Init 6, HP 30/33, Speed 20
AC 17, Touch 13, Flat-footed 15, Fort 8, Ref 4, Will 8, Base Attack Bonus 3   
  club +3 (1d4-1, 20/x2)
  sling (10 bullets (1 sp)) +6 (1d3-1,  )
  Produce Flame (melee touch) +3 (1d6+4, 20/x2)
  +1 leather,   heavy wooden (+3 Armor, +1 Shield, +2 Dex, +1 Size)
Abilities Str 9, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 16, Wis 17, Cha 15
Condition None

(click to show/hide)

I started running a D&D game for my 9 year old son today, and thought I'd post a log of it here. I made up a quick adventure on the fly, and after the first encounter a friend of his came over and wanted to play, and so did my four year old daughter. :D

My son is using a forest gnome druid that I'd made a while back, his friend said he wanted to play an animal and after a bit of discussion we decided to go with an awakened parrot warlock named Sunshine. My daughter said she wanted to be a fairy, so I just let her use a "stock" pixie, whom she said has a pink bunny pet named Cutie Pie. (Update: She's a White-haired Witch 1/Monk 1 now. She said she wanted magical hair like my wife's witch, and my wife said she isn't going to play anymore, so I'm just going to gestalt their characters. I'm also going to use the PF Pixie as it has more magical abilities (which my daughter likes to make up on the fly... :p) and the d20srd is down right now...)


[SIZE=+1]Tinkerbell[/SIZE][/URL]
F   Pixie (PF) White-haired Witch/Monk, Level 1/1, Init 10, HP 18/18, DR 10/cold iron, Speed 
AC 24, Touch 24, Flat-footed 18, Fort 5, Ref 8, Will 6, Base Attack Bonus 1   
grab + constrict (+9) hair +8 (1d4+4, 20/x2)
  unarmed strike (claws) +8 (1d6+4,  )
  MW light crossbow +8 (1d8, 19-20/x2)
 (+6 Dex, +1 Size, +7 Misc)
Abilities Str 5, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 24, Wis 14, Cha 20
Condition None

In the first encounter, my son's druid, Levoid, saw smoke near his home (which he said is an "invisible hut"). He snuck up to investigate, and saw three goblins sitting around a campfire roasting a rabbit. Unfortunately one of the goblins spotted him. He hit them with an Entangle, and called for his animal friends (riding dog AC and two pet "deer", which mechanically I used mule stats for...). Only one of them gets caught in the Entangle, and another hit Levoid with a javelin, but then his animals massacred the two that had escaped the entangle.

He talks to the entangled one, and it says that they'd only came there to hunt. So after getting it to promise never to return, he lets it go. However, he tracks it and follows it back to a huge encampment with hundreds or maybe even a couple thousand goblins. He remembers that there is a village nearby and rides off to warn them.

He convinces the mayor of the danger, and then goes off to gather forest friends to slow down the encroaching goblin army while the townspeople prepare to evacuate to the nearest city. The other two characters come in at this point, and we ad-hoc a lot of this. They recruit some grizzly bears to roll boulders down into a narrow gorge to block it, and then use eldritch blast and more animal heavy labor to dig out a ford in the river to make it too deep to pass easily. This slows the goblins down enough to let the townspeople make it to the city unharmed, and then we all rejoiced and they went outside to play on the monkey bars. :D

Now I need to decide where to go with this from here. Likely it will be just my son and me, but my daughter might want to play as well. I might continue the whole goblin army thing, or I might just have that be resolved in the back ground by NPC armies, etc. (After all... how much can a lone level 1 gnome druid and a pixie do against an army?) If anyone wants to throw out some quick and easy adventure hooks I'm all ears. :D

I'm thinking that I'll have some grateful NPC award him with a Candycane of Awesomness for saving the village and warning the city of the army, to see if he remembers/recognizes it. :P Maybe they'll drop another quest in his lap, too (something about finding out where all these goblins came from, who is organizing them, etc).

He has Greenbound Summoning (template)

14
Handbooks / Famous Optimized Character Builds
« on: August 17, 2016, 03:40:04 PM »
I was so happy to have found this...

15
I have a mid-level wizard, with access to 4th level spells, and he wants to destroy or cripple a massive fleet of ships before it sets sail, hopefully without dying in the process. He has access to allies of various classes, some a bit higher level than himself, but likely can't take many with him as he has to Teleport to a distant location to conduct this attack. There are hundreds of thousands of enemies in this fleet, and they no doubt have their own spellcasters, some higher level than my own. This fleet is currently within a harbor, and I have about 1 week to prepare if needed, for that's when they plan to set sail.

What's the most reasonable way to approach this? I'm thinking weather-based magic, but they will be able to counter/dispel that almost as soon as it is deployed.

Another option I've considered is a wraith/shadow/wight-apocalypse... and conveniently my own character's city just happens to be suffering an attack by undead at the moment, some of which are incorporeal. Of course, if this plague hasn't destroyed my own city yet, and indeed the odds look good that our own clergy will contain it, then it likely won't destroy them before it can be stamped out by their casters, either...

It's likely a hopeless endeavor, but I thought I'd pick your collective brains about it. ;) It's a 3.5 game with moderate optimization, and most materials available, even some homebrew and pathfinder. I don't expect to defeat this army myself of course, just slow them down. I'd rather not give more details about my character as there is at least the possibility for PvP in this game, and it's possible that some of the other participants might frequent this board.

16
Gaming Advice / Best abilities to "consume"? (PF)
« on: April 17, 2016, 11:08:47 PM »
I'm applying to a PF game with a monster character that has the consuming template. Basically, it can gain permanent abilities by eating other monsters. Just about anything is fair game except spellcasting. What would be something fun and flavorful (pun intended) to add to what is basically an aboleth/beholder hybrid?

Since I'll likely be quite strong offensively, but lacking somewhat in defense, I should probably consider something defensive. However I will also have the ability to quicken a supernatural or extraordinary ability once each round, and currently he doesn't have any that I'm tempted to use this on. (His eye rays are already a free action, and he has Quicken SLA as a bonus feat, which I can apply to one of his aboleth SLAs). So an awesome (quickened, Ex or Su) offensive ability would be something to consider as well.

Since the starting CR is 12, and I'm already at 11 without having eaten anything via Consume, I'll only get two special abilities in this way at the start. Although, he could have more via Consuming Curse if he bites a creature and then keeps it alive, but I don't know how much of this kind of stuff the DM would put up with... Blink + Quickened Dimension Door from a Blink Dog (basically turning it into just a dog) would sure be awesome, though. :D

Other obvious/insane ones I've thougth of:
Split from a Black Pudding
Regeneration from something hard to bypass
Strands from a Roper (that's a lot of Str damage...)
Fast Healing from a Hydra
Possession (always a favorite of mine... although it would probably be terrible for this character)
Unearthly Grace from a Nymph (probably not worth one of the two permanent slots, but if he could just bite one...). Heck... Stunning Glance is pretty good, too (especially since he can Quicken it every round for free...)

17
Gaming Advice / Best Pyromancer/Burninator build in PF
« on: March 25, 2016, 12:29:22 PM »
I'm looking to build a silly pyromaniac character. Will start at 7th level, and will be working as part of a military, but likely doing "special ops" types of jobs. I like the looks of the Alchemist, but am wondering if it can be as effective as a sorcerer. They do get a lot of bombs, and also have spellslots. So they should in theory be able to blow a lot of stuff up, but I've never played one.

Here's what I'm thinking: I can use anything from PF or 3.5. So... what's the highest rate of fire we can get on a sling? And would that apply to a gnome calculus?

With the Fast Bombs discovery, I can "throw" a bomb as an attack, and it is clarified in the pfsrd that any feats or other things that boost your number of attacks also boost the number of bombs you can throw.

Edit: And... problem solved. :D The DM will let me use the gnome calculus along/combined with the following: There is a way to load a sling as a free action by juggling in PF. Even the visual is awesome. There is also a double sling, which is as insane as it sounds. I can't wait to use this.  :lmao After TWF, the rest of my feats will probably go to Extra Bombs to give myself some stamina.

18
Gaming Advice / Best class to gestalt with a Beast-bonded Witch? [PF]
« on: December 11, 2015, 07:32:47 PM »
I'm thinking of applying to a PF game with a beast-bonded witch, and am debating what to pair it with. Of course I could use wizard, and get double the benefits of any metamagic feats and the like I pick up, but I think I'd rather avoid that amount of bookkeeping... If there were something like the Factotum in PF, I'd probably take that. What are some good options? Lore Warden Fighter could of course work, but its a bit underwhelming, especially given the MO I plan on having with this guy.

The game will mostly be made up of solo play, but the possibility to interact with other PCs, either directly or indirectly, will exist. What I have in mind for this guy is a behind-the-scenes puppetmaster type of character. He will be ancient, his original body having died a long time ago. He exists by stealing the bodies of others (and this is how he will infiltrate and take over organizations, etc). A couple of earlier builds can be found here and here, with the new version I'm going to build being more like the second one.

Edit: I should mention that 3rd party (including Path of War) is out...

Edit: Investigator (Sleuth archetype) looks interesting. Magus could also work well, but again brings a lot of book keeping. Gunslinger might work mechanically, but doesn't really fit the theme I think.

19
I've looked over the grappling rules, and I'm still not 100% sure how to interpret this situation. Could you attack a creature adjacent to you if you were both grappled by Black Tentacles? If so, what specific rule would you use? The one where you can attack with a light weapon with a -4 penalty?

20
One of the Blood Quickening rituals of the Spellscale race gives +1/2 their character level as a bonus on Spellcraft checks. This could be tremendous for an Incantatrix... Would Alter Self allow them to skim this, or would they actually need to be a spellscale?

One the one hand, it is a racial bonus to a skill, which the spell normally grants. On the other hand, Spellscales have to do a ritual in the morning to choose which boon to get for the day...

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