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Topics - Tarkisflux

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Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / The Templar (3.5e Base Class)

« on: October 01, 2012, 04:07:40 PM »

I think the idea of a divinely ordained warrior has a lot of traction, but the narrow vision of the paladin has been a bit stale for a while now. In DnD land, there's lots of different faiths to go out and champion or fight for, but the various adaptions have never been particularly good ones. So there's lots of idea space left to use there, and the cleric doesn't fill it so well IMO.

I co-wrote a martial 2/3s divine caster over on the wiki to fill the void, work with a variety of alignments and faiths, and replace the paladin along the way. They don't have a particularly wide selection of spells (which should be mostly relegated to utility anyway), and they don't get a pile of bonus feats. What they do get is a bunch of selectable vows to convey the "divinely ordained" aspects of their character and allow them to cover lots of different faiths. And a choice of fighting styles as well to allow them to cover the "warrior" part of things and fill a combat role or two reasonably well.

So it should be a rather broad class that's able to fill many roles within a variety of parties, while staying solidly within the divinely ordained warrior design space. And hopefully mid-high T3 or low T2. If that sounds like an idea you want to discuss, I invite you to check it out on the wiki. Feel free to leave comments here though.

Here be the link: The Templar

Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Static Spell Point Systems (with bonus MAD Casters tweaks)

« on: May 31, 2012, 06:26:06 PM »

So Garryl's point based Mage got me thinking. I really, really, really hate point based systems that allow you to cast more of your highest level spells than the standard advancement does. A lot of people see this as a feature instead of a bug. I'm not one of them. Others say it's just something that you suffer through so that they can still cast the right number of their lower level spells. I say that's crap. You can cap high level slots fairly easily, you just need to go with a fixed pool and downward scaling costs instead.

Here is my preferred layout, followed by a bit of discussion on tweaking it to fit taste. The next post will have supporting changes that work with this to bring in some caster MAD.



Level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20


MP Cost per Spell
0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
4	8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	4	8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	4	8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1	2	4	8	—	—	—	—	—	—
1	2	4	8	—	—	—	—	—	—
0	1	2	4	8	—	—	—	—	—
0	1	2	4	8	—	—	—	—	—
0	0	1	2	4	8	—	—	—	—
0	0	1	2	4	8	—	—	—	—
0	0	0	1	2	4	8	—	—	—
0	0	0	1	2	4	8	—	—	—
0	0	0	0	1	2	4	8	—	—
0	0	0	0	1	2	4	8	—	—
0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	8	—
0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	8	—
0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	8
0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	8
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4

With this table, I am explicitly allowing people to cast a lot more spells of lower than their highest level than they previously could, and I'll get to why I'm doing that in the next post. I care a lot less about people with infinite web / glitterdust at level 11 than I do about bonus flesh to stone / acid fog. You get the same thing in regular point systems anyway, when the cost of a spell level is minor compared to the size of your pool, but this way avoids the bonus high level spells that would otherwise come along.

And if you didn't want people getting free spells so early, you could either add new highest level spell costs (like 16, or 32), or use a different number sequence. 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 0 makes them wait an extra couple of levels before free ones set in, and putting a 12 or 13 in front of that adds 2 more levels still. You could make the chain as long as you wanted if you never wanted people to cast spells for free, but you get some large numbers for costs, and thus mana pool size, and some annoying subtraction at that point. Which I would prefer to avoid.

You probably don't want to use a simple linear cost line for value reasons. Setting them up in exponential format (like my table) makes you choose between 1 spell of your highest level or 2 of the next highest. Setting it up in Fibonacci (like the alternate numbers above) makes you choose between 1 of your highest or 1 of the next highest and 1 of the level beneath that. But doing a linear line makes you choose between 1 of your highest and 1 of your next highest plus something much lower level. And that's an easy decision in favor of the highest spell level (most of the time) that also results in less use for your lower level effects.

Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Gestalt Style Multiclassing [3.5e]

« on: April 02, 2012, 10:27:23 PM »

I don't know of anyone who thinks 3.5e's multiclassing system works very well, including myself. I wrote this up as a potential replacement for the system a while ago, but never really discussed it and eventually forgot about it. When a couple of threads here reminded me of it, I thought I'd put it up here to get some extra eyes on it.

Design Basis
The basic idea is to use CR math to point us at an appropriate setup for multiclassing. Since 2 creatures of CR X-2 are supposed to be equal in power to a creature of CR X, giving a character of level X the abilities of two different classes of level X-2 sounds like a good start. That character has left their primary class behind by 2 levels, and would gain substantial benefits to their secondary class as a result. We'll go with a much reduced ability set for people who just take a single level in a second class rather than go with the normal mixed pair levels, however, since it looks like too much of a boost in flexibility otherwise. So a single level in a secondary class will get you those abilities at half character level (another option would be character level -4 or -5).

This style of character doesn't have all of the actions or survivability bonuses that they would have as two separate, lower leveled characters, so we toss them a few extra bonuses to try and help them out and grant hit dice and skill points (assuming you're not using a skill variant where they matter more) based on their character level. Save bonuses are also an option for this treatment, but BAB and CL probably shouldn't be considered.

Mechanics
For a simple, two class setup, this would work as follows. You advance in your primary class, ClassA to whatever level you feel like, and then you take 1 level in a second class, ClassB. You would gain a hit die and skill points for your new level, retain all of the abilities of your primary class at a level equal to your character level -1, and gain all of the abilities of the second class as if you had a level in it equal to half your character level (rounded down). You would also gain retroactive hit dice and skill points for up to half of your character levels. After that, you could go back to advancing only your primary class, and be a ClassA X-1, ClassB X/2 henceforth (where X is equal to your character level) using whichever numeric bonuses were larger at any given time. And every even level you would get ClassB's hit die and skill points if they were greater than ClassA's. If you instead took a second level of ClassB, the levels would look like ClassA X-2, ClassB X-2 (Character level X). They would basically be a full gestalt of Class A and Class B with 2 extra hit dice and 2 extra levels worth of skill points, and some bonuses and abilities that trail their single classed friends.

At low levels, this reduces to basic multiclassing. You can be a 1/1 or a 2/1 or a any real differences. As soon as you advance to 4th character level, however, you become a full gestalt and each level advances the abilities for both classes.

Example
Start off as a Wizard 4. Take a level in rogue. Gain an additional wizard hit die, wizard skill points, and replace your first two levels worth of wizard hit dice and skill points with rogue points. Gain abilities of 2nd level rogue, and use whichever BAB/Saves are better. Currently character level 5 with 5HD, 5 sets of skill points, and the abilities of a 4th level class and a 2nd level class.
- At next level, if you take wizard you gain wizard 5 BAB/Saves/Abilities, rogue 3 BAB/Saves/Abilities, and rogue hit dice and skill points (because they're better, and that would give you 3 levels of them). Currently character level 6 with 6HD, 6 sets of skill points, and the abilities of a 5th level class and a 3rd level class.
- If you instead take a level of rogue at next level, you become wizard 4/rogue 4 gestalt and follow all gestalt rules. Replace any remaining wizard hit dice and skill points with rogue hit dice and skill points, and gain an extra rogue hit die and skill points. Currently character level 6 with 6HD, 6 sets of skill points, and the abilities of 2 4th level classes.

Known Bugs:
This admittedly works weirdly with prestige classes. For most prestige classes you could do it such that you can only advance 1 prestige class at any given character level, so you could be a wizard 6, wizard prestige class 4, rogue 10 (character level 12). It doesn't work with multiclass patch prestige classes at all really, not without dropping some of the advancement scheme. If someone wanted to rogue/wizard into arcane trickster, they shouldn't get two sets of SA boosts or spell casting advancements. Simply eliminating both separate progressions for the single prestige patch class progression seems a bit weak off hand if you allow multiple progressions for people who select non-patch prestige classes. Probably workable with on-the-spot adjustments though.

This also doesn't model work for multiclassing more than 2 classes very well. The cost for each additional class goes down as you fall behind your character level and your abilities become less level appropriate. You only need 1 level in your third class, so you can add in a ClassC by taking ClassA X-3, ClassB 2, ClassC 1 to get a gestalt like ClassA X-3, ClassB X-3, ClassC X-3 (Character level X) or ClassA X-2, ClassB 1, ClassC 1 to get a gestalt like ClassA X-2, ClassB X/2, ClassC X/2 (Character level X). The cost for a fourth class is even less, and basically doesn't work at all unless you are already a 3 way gestalt. It would look like ClassA X-3, ClassB 2, ClassC 1, ClassD 1 to get a gestalt like ClassA X-4, ClassB X-4, ClassC X-4, ClassD X-4 (Character level X), but those are a ~~bit~~lot unwieldy. Anything more than 4 classes probably doesn't work at all.

Since this means that multiclass casters are casting like cohorts, this has issues in games with leadership cohorts. The easy way to patch that is to tone down cohorts in the first place, but if you don't want to do that this is a less good thing all around.

Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / [3.5] Waypoint Style Teleportation

« on: January 31, 2012, 10:11:48 PM »

Been working on a replacement for teleport on the wiki, and thought I'd offer it up for scrutiny.

Project goals:

Restrict destinations in order to add a bit of "the journey" back in to higher level games (but not too much). Allow characters to add their own and discover new destinations.
Rework long distance teleport effects so they can fit in at a lower spell level.
Make teleport ambushes require a bit more work and preparation. This is mostly so I don't have to work as hard to justify to myself why I haven't used them against characters (or their family, friends, contacts, support structure, etc.) while they are still becoming a real threat and they can't defend against them.
Restrict teleport escapes a bit, and make them harder to pull off.

I've added a new descriptor to hopefully streamline a few effects, replaced the entire teleport line (including rules for replacing it on creatures who had it innately), and updated a bunch of others to work with the waypoint style. I plan on adding several new effects in a while, but it's entirely useable at present. Here's the project link: Waypoint Style Teleportation.

And here's the intro blurb from the page, in case you wanted to see the general shape of things before you clicked on the link:

(click to show/hide)

Teleportation is a wondrous ability that allows instantaneous and relatively safe transit between two known locations. Unfortunately, its form in Dungeons and Dragons supports narrative elements that we don't much care for. Teleport makes for an amazing last moment escape spell and can rob you of a complete victory over your foes, or them a complete victory over you, with little cost or drama. In combination with scrying, it can become an ambush spell. The ability to travel to any place you've seen means that you can scry a location or enemy, prepare for them, teleport there and deal with them while they're surprised, and then teleport back. And while there are certainly countermeasures for this sort of tactic, they are often unreasonable to apply for every enemy the characters may have or for all of the characters and their friends to have these defenses against their enemies. Aside from that, the ability to find a location remotely and travel there instantly eliminates exploration aspects from stories. In a number of stories and games the journey to a place is half of the entertainment, and it is lost if you can just cast around it.

In many games these issues don't arise, and that's fine. But we feel that there's room for improvement with teleportation style effects, improvements that allow us to retain the narrative elements we like while removing some of the potentially problematic elements.

A large portion of the issues with teleport arise not from the transit itself, but from the ability to select your destination from literally anywhere. So the core changes here will be to remove the ability of teleportion spells to travel to any location, and instead limit the destinations. We do this by creating a new descriptor for teleportation spells and updating the rules for all spells of this type. To address the narrative issues with teleport retreats we will add minor updates to some spells and replace others, eliminating the Teleport line of spells in favor of the new Warp line of spells. The new spells require additional time to use and can be followed relatively easily, so they are much more difficult to use for ambushes or last minute escapes. We will also add a few new offensive, defensive, and simply narrative utility effects that work with these new rules. Lastly, we will also provide conversion information for existing characters and monsters, so that those who could previously teleport all over the battlefield don't lose too much ability.

Comments, criticisms, and suggestions welcome.

Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Tome of Prowess - A complete skills rewrite and revision [3.5e, but PF compat]

« on: December 15, 2011, 05:24:55 PM »

A while back I started working on a skills rewrite. D&D 3.x placed a high value on skills but never actually delivered anything with them. You could use them for cool things with epic rules, but no one ever did because 1) epic had it's own problems and 2) people already had items to do the things for them anyway. So one of the main goals was to fix the mid and high level utility issues associated with skills and generally make the subsystem matter after level 5. A big part of that was bringing utility effects from spells into the skill system in a way that wasn't just "now you can use X spell". While I was at it I combined a few skills, broke up a few others, and redid class skill and skill point assignments.

The work is currently hosted at www.dnd-wiki.org, and I am not planning on porting the full work over. It is long and I don't want to have to update it in multiple places. I do want people to get a sense of what it's all about without having to click on a link, however, so I am bringing in a few sections as teasers. Those should be added to the reserved posts shortly. If you want to take a look before I have those formatted and in place though, feel free to follow this link to see the complete project:

Tome of Prowess

Please note that it is currently incomplete in some sections (mostly fluff chapters and feats), but I'm happy enough with it's current form to share it with a wider audience and ask people for comments and criticisms on it. Consider it in beta if you like.

A note on the name - this work is not a part of the Tome series of homebrew. The name is more a reference to the Tome of Battle or Tome of Magic supplements, works which redid a subsystem but were intended to be simply dropped into play. PhaedrusXY sort of suggests that it is in his homebrew rules thread, but it's a separate work not written by Frank and K. I did take scaling skill feats idae from their work and write feats along those lines, but there's some additional acquisition limits on those not present elsewhere.

One other side note - I had originally planned on holding off on this thread a bit longer, but since Prime32 just pointed veekie to it in another thread and it's presently relevant, now seems like the time to start this up to collect criticisms and whatnot.

Introduce Yourself / Introductions

« on: December 09, 2011, 04:11:30 PM »

Hello boards!

I'm Tarkisflux, and this is my introductory post. Some of you may know me from other places, as I'm an occasional poster at the Den and more-or-less in charge of one of the two DnD Wikis out there (www.dnd-wiki.org for reference). I enjoy playing a wide assortment of games, but there's a special place in my heart for the "let's discuss/understand/fix X" game. I've been lurking here on and off for a while now, but decided it was time to jump in and make an account.

Anyway, nice to make your acquaintances.