Author Topic: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime  (Read 308699 times)

Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #120 on: July 19, 2012, 05:39:25 AM »
Mobility fix:

Mobility also grants +4 on tumble checks to avoid attacks of opportunity.  If you fail your tumble check to avoid an AoO, you still gain the +4 dodge bonus against AoOs.

Hang on, don't we already have a quick fixed thread somewhere on the forum?
« Last Edit: July 19, 2012, 05:43:19 AM by Jackinthegreen »

Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #121 on: July 20, 2012, 07:57:49 AM »
Ninjutsu Genius:

Prereqs: Int 13, must be gained at or before your first level of Ninja

Benefit: You use Intelligence instead of Wisdom for all ninja abilities that rely on Wisdom such as the AC bonus and Ki Power.

Ninja equivalent of Kung-fu Genius.

Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #122 on: July 20, 2012, 08:28:56 AM »
New Trait: Friendly Face

Benefit: Creatures you meet who share a language with you and would otherwise be Indifferent towards you start out as Friendly instead.
Drawback: You suffer a -4 penalty to Intimidate checks, since you're just not convincingly scary.

How's that?  Significantly reduced, since it doesn't change hostile or unfriendly.  No encounter avoidance, just makes people who couldn't care less a little more on your side.
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #123 on: July 20, 2012, 09:28:54 AM »
A prestige class for Shadowcaster, using divination-focused mysteries (new ones, I guess).  I don't really have any mechanics in mind, just a general premise of someone who gains knowledge through Shadow.  Help?
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #124 on: July 20, 2012, 09:35:10 AM »
A prestige class for Shadowcaster, using divination-focused mysteries (new ones, I guess).  I don't really have any mechanics in mind, just a general premise of someone who gains knowledge through Shadow.  Help?
"Who knows what Evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."

Like that? :D

Wish I could help, but I know absolutely nothing about the shadowcaster. I heard it so much about what a PoS class it is that I never bothered to read it.

Hmm... are there any Divination-based Spellshaping circles? Wouldn't it be awesome to have a Spellshaper focused on using Illusion, Divination, and Negative energy? How about skipping the crappy mechanics of the shadowcaster, and just going "whole hog homebrew"?  :p
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #125 on: July 20, 2012, 09:45:46 AM »
A prestige class for Shadowcaster, using divination-focused mysteries (new ones, I guess).  I don't really have any mechanics in mind, just a general premise of someone who gains knowledge through Shadow.  Help?
"Who knows what Evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."

Like that? :D

Wish I could help, but I know absolutely nothing about the shadowcaster. I heard it so much about what a PoS class it is that I never bothered to read it.

Hmm... are there any Divination-based Spellshaping circles? Wouldn't it be awesome to have a Spellshaper focused on using Illusion, Divination, and Negative energy? How about skipping the crappy mechanics of the shadowcaster, and just going "whole hog homebrew"?  :p

Well, I'm (as we speak) implementing a shadowcaster fix based on the fixes I made for Powerbard.  That would transition the Shadowcaster directly from PoS --> awesome.  So it would be for that.  However, the spellshaping thing does indeed sound awesome!
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Offline Garryl

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #126 on: July 20, 2012, 10:00:14 AM »
A prestige class for Shadowcaster, using divination-focused mysteries (new ones, I guess).  I don't really have any mechanics in mind, just a general premise of someone who gains knowledge through Shadow.  Help?

You might find some divination mysteries in the Descent of Shadows project on GitP.

Hmm... are there any Divination-based Spellshaping circles? Wouldn't it be awesome to have a Spellshaper focused on using Illusion, Divination, and Negative energy? How about skipping the crappy mechanics of the shadowcaster, and just going "whole hog homebrew"?  :p

Fleeting Image for illusion, Devouring Shadow for negative energy, and Astral Essence or Glimmering Moon for divination (I don't remember the exact contents of each).

Hmm, I should make a Shadowcaster fix. But that would probably look too much like a Sorcerer with class features. How about if the shadowcasting mechanic, instead of locking you to having each mystery available 1/day (or 2/day or 3/day), gave you a pool of uses for each of your apprentice, initiate, and master paths, which would be spent spontaneously to cast your mysteries. At the beginning of the day, you would prepare your mysteries form those you know (a number far greater than the current crappy 1/level). The more your prepare, the fewer daily uses you get. Prepare less, and get more uses. Gets a hint of both prepared (Int-based) casting and spontaneous (Cha-based) casting blended together, with a bit of being different so it's not just casting by another name. Also, at-will fundamentals from level 1, would there be anything broken about that?

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #127 on: July 20, 2012, 10:23:26 AM »
I think I'm going to write this up later. I'll just jot down some stuff here as a placeholder, and for help brainstorming. If you'd rather me not clog up your thread, and instead post it in one of my own, just let me know, Garryl.

Shadow Spy (or Umbral Oracle, still debating the name... and focus)
Requirements: 8 ranks in Spot and Hide. Must know at least one Formula from the Fleeting Image circle, and one from either the Astral Essence or Devouring Shadow Circles. Must know at least one Formula of second level or higher.
Special: Must have spent 24 hours in a dark place with no light source brighter than starlight.

Abilities:
Shadow Familiar - You can animate your shadow and have it act as a spy, scout, or just a second pair of eyes while keeping watch.

Have this scale with level, starting out with a very limited range it can move away from the character, and no ability to interact with anything (other than observing). Later on, it will be able to move farther away (eventually unlimited as it becomes a full-blown cohort/familiar) and interact with the physical world (maybe give it the stats of a Shadow, but without the create spawn ability). Also, have it start out with darkvision, then get the ability to see in magical darkness.

SLAs: Later on, give the shadow companion SLAs like Shadow Walk, Clairvoyant Sense, and Remote Viewing (because the psionic versions of these are a lot better than the arcane version). These will only be usable in areas where there are natural shadows or in areas of darkness or shadowy illumination.

Me and My Shadow
Give the character the ability to share/borrow some of the abilities of his shadow companion, and eventually merge with it, gaining all of its abilities (and more?).

The class will also progress spellshaping, of course, and be a d6 HD, 3/4 BAB class with 6 skill points per level and a focus on stealth. I'm debating whether it should also have some other focus, like Knowledge-based abilities, Sense Motive/Read Thoughts, Divination (although there are already two "Divination"-based spellshaping PrCs), etc.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2012, 12:36:38 PM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #128 on: July 20, 2012, 10:24:40 AM »
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Offline Garryl

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #129 on: July 20, 2012, 11:32:37 AM »
I think I'm going to write this up later. I'll just jot down some stuff here as a placeholder, and for help brainstorming. If you'd rather me not clog up your thread, and instead post it in one of my own, just let me know, Garryl.

Nah, go right ahead. It's a public thread. I just use it as a notepad, but it's got a life of its own.

Quote
Shadow Spy (or Umbral Oracle, still debating the name... and focus)

From what abilities you've mentioned, I'm getting a vibe similar to the way the Blades of Nammara used their Shade familiars (from Bared Blade if I remember the book's name right, think magical assassins working for the goddess of justice).

Offline Garryl

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #130 on: July 20, 2012, 12:25:47 PM »
Shadowcasting, Mk. whatever

A shadowcaster begins play knowing all fundamentals available to her and 3 apprentice mysteries. At every level thereafter, she learns 2 new mysteries of her choice that she can cast. To learn a mystery of a given level, the Shadowcaster must be at least 2x mystery level -1.

At the beginning of each day, a shadowcaster can retrieve any number of her mysteries known. Each mystery retrieved counts against her daily uses of that grade of mystery. The 1st mystery along a path (1st, 4th, 7th) costs 1 daily use to retrieve, the 2nd (2nd, 5th, 8th) costs 2 uses, and the 3rd (3rd, 6th, 9th) costs 3 uses. Once retrieved, each mystery can be cast spontaneously. Later in the day, a shadowcaster can retrieve additional mysteries by meditating for 15 minutes and spending additional daily uses of her mysteries as appropriate.

As normal shadowcasting otherwise.

Shadowcaster: Daily Mystery Uses by Level
LevelApprenticeInitiateMaster
13----
25----
37----
410----
514----
618----
7243--
8305--
9307--
103010--
113014--
123018--
1330243
1430305
1530307
16303010
17303014
18303018
19303024
20303030

10/6/2016: Smoothed out the progression of uses so you don't actually fall behind the original shadowcaster when you're just getting 2nd, 5th, and 8th level mysteries (3/5/7/10/14/18/24/30, up from 3/4/6/9/13/18/24/30).
20/7/2012: First draft.
« Last Edit: June 10, 2016, 02:14:18 PM by Garryl »

Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #131 on: July 20, 2012, 12:58:25 PM »
So once it's retrieved, how many times can they cast it?  Or is it that there's a communal pool of uses, that you spend to (a) retrieve mysteries and (b) cast them, so that it's a tradeoff between more mysteries and more uses?

If it's the latter, I would allow retrieval at any time, kinda like an Erudite's unique powers per day except enforced by the communal pool.

That's a pretty damn cool mechanic, btw.

EDIT: Also, does the spell->SLA->Su progression still apply?
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Offline Garryl

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #132 on: July 20, 2012, 01:08:16 PM »
Exactly like that. Communal pool of uses. If you want access to a mystery you haven't retrieved yet, it only takes 15 minutes to retrieve it. Spell/SLA/Su and everything else about mysteries (probably not the bonus feat thing, though, due to the increased number of known mysteries) is just as before.

Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #133 on: July 20, 2012, 01:12:40 PM »
If you want access to a mystery you haven't retrieved yet, it only takes 15 minutes to retrieve it.

Missed that line.  Carry on...
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #134 on: July 20, 2012, 05:19:22 PM »
Brainstormage.

Multipurpose class construction grid.  Choose a power source (draconic, deific, primal, shadow, psychic) and a caster progression (mundane, lesser, greater, full).  Not sure if unique mechanics should be tied to power sources or caster progressions, or even a third axis... probably the second choice, since you can define two mechanics and have the "caster progression" be relative strengths of two mechanics (0-100, 30-70, 70-30, 100-0 or something like that).

Ideally, you could reproduce relatively-balanced versions of the original base classes using this.

Basically, a huge project.


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Offline Garryl

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #135 on: July 22, 2012, 12:34:02 AM »
You know, I think I can make the Diablo 1 classes for D&D using that mana mechanic I whipped up for my Mage class. Everyone gets the Sor/Wiz spell list, because Diablo 1, that's why.

Warrior
- Use Fighter chassis and bonus feats, except d12 HD.
- Starting at 2nd level, gets a small mana pool and cantrips, working up to 1st level spells at 3rd, 2nd at 7th, 3rd at 11th, 4th at 15th, and 5th at 19th. Caster level is 1/2 class level. Mana regen is 0 until about 10th level, rising to maybe 2 at level 20. Casting is Int-based.
- Repair Skill: Gain Skill Focus (any Craft) at 1st level. Can craft mundane items faster and cheaper. Get Craft Magic Arms and Armor at 11th level. Add Mending, Make Whole, and the Repair Damage line (for the spells within the level range you can cast) to your spells known and spells retrieved at all times.

Rogue
- Ranger with Trapfinding in place of Track. Also, Disable Device as a class skill.
- No animal companion.
- Gain Blindfighting instead of Endurance.
- Inner Sight: At 4th level, you can perfectly detect (as per blindisght) creatures you have attacked within the last 1 minute.
- Gonna need something for the later levels.
- Starting at 1st level, gets a small mana pool and cantrips, working up to 1st level spells at 2nd, 2nd at 4th, 3rd at 7th, 4th at 10th, 5th at 13th, 6th at 16th, and 7th at 19th. Caster level is full class level. Mana regen is 0 until about 5th level, rising to maybe 4 at level 20. Casting is Wis-based.

Sorcerer
- See my Mage class, but maximum spell level is Cha-based instead of Int. Still uses Int for bonus MP and spells known at 1st level.

Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #136 on: July 22, 2012, 08:52:36 AM »
Hulking Leap

Prereqs: Jump 5 ranks, size large or larger (Goliaths and Half-giants qualify with Powerful Build), Improved Bull Rush

Benefit: You may make a hulking leap.  If you jump at least ten feet of distance and land onto or within 5 feet of an enemy, you may make a special bull rush attempt against that enemy.  If you succeed, you knock them back as far as possible but do not move with them.  If you land such that multiple enemies are within 5 feet of you, you may make the special bull rush against all of them, knocking them back  If you intentionally jump down from a height you ignore the first 20 feet of fall damage.

Inspired by Leap from Diablo 2's barbarian, but I think it needs more.

I know the version in the D2 Diablerie would work, but that needs a bit of a redo as well.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2012, 08:58:11 AM by Jackinthegreen »

Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #137 on: July 24, 2012, 03:55:48 PM »
Sublime Dervish, basically a martial adept dancer.  Available disciplines: Border of Life?, Dancing Goddess, Scarlet Rose, Dancing Fox, Dancing Leaf, Bitter Edge?

Ideas for class features?
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Offline Garryl

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #138 on: July 24, 2012, 04:11:59 PM »
I'd also give Desert Wind as a discipline. It's has the most mobile feel of the ToB disciplines (possibly barring Tiger Claw, which is mobile in a different, less graceful way).

Dervish Dance: Whirling Frenzy without the flurry component. In order to gain the benefits, you must move 5' each round (or else the dance ends). Also gives Spring Attack for both normal attacks and for martial strikes. If you make multiple attacks as part of a strike, you must move at least 5 feet between each.

Uncanny Dodge (duh).

Dex to Perform checks. Or Cha to initiative checks.

Offline sirpercival

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Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« Reply #139 on: July 24, 2012, 04:24:00 PM »
Good stuff.  Is this a prc or a base class?
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