Author Topic: Utterance Users Brainstorming  (Read 3024 times)

Offline Sinfire Titan

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Utterance Users Brainstorming
« on: December 11, 2012, 03:14:27 PM »
All right, I really need to brainstorm some more and I'm fresh out of ideas. Between all of the shit I'm getting IRL and from the Halo clan I'm in, I've been burned out on ideas here.

As stated in the other thread, Truespeech is still a skill-based check. However the results of the skill check itself do not determine if an Utterance works or not, it determines how long it takes for the Utterance to "recharge". This basically removes the need for the Law of Sequence entirely, and now that the DCs for each utterance are going to be set in stone instead of being variable the Law of Resistance needs tweeking.

Pumping skill checks, therefore, will still be encouraged but won't be absolutely required. Given how much I'm changing things up, being able to hit a DC 50 Truespeech check will just be gratuitous as most utterances aren't going to instantly recharge if you meet the target DC (it will be like a Breath Weapon for most of them, others just recharge at the end of the encounter they are used in, and a rare few will have a 1-round delay on the recharge; very few will be able to instantly recharge).

Personal truenames are being tweaked; most effects that care about it will be personal-target effects. In the original it just raised the DC of the Utterance (both the skill check and save DC), but in this it improves the actual effect the utterance will have. Knights will have the most utterances that care about it, Truenamers will have a handful, and Hexblades might not get a single one. This change is largely because it's a huge pain in the ass to balance out the rules for using someone else's PTN, although the fact that only a handful of BBEGs would have a PTN worth researching is also a reason. The fact is researching the BBEG's PTN is very hit-or-miss as the DM can always override the rules and say it's impossible, even if the skill check result is obscenely high. I'd rather not put that kind of rule into this, as your own PTN is something all three classes will be learning anyway. There will be a mechanic to using your allies' PTN to "share" utterances, but this will be limited to a PrC.

The various Metautterance feats and other goodies Truenamers got in the original are being shifted over to Skill Tricks, most of which will require ranks in the Praxis skill in addition to the obvious Truespeech requirements. This makes it easier for a non-Hexblade/Knight/Truenamer to use Utterances, but given that those classes will have a heavy-handed limit on Utterance access anyway it won't cause a problem. Metautterances themselves are going to be unusual by comparison to previous incarnations of metamagic: Some metautterances will raise the DC of the utterance they are affecting, others will increase the recharge time, and some others will affect the duration of the utterance.

PrCs are getting overhauled in general, but the Utterance Users will be the most affected as the source material had no PrCs that advanced Utterances Known (although all of them provided unique utterances). As I am trying to steer away from the whole "PrC out as early as possible", most PrCs that advance any form of spellcasting are going to lose some CLs in some way (Theurge classes will be the only ones to have 10/10 progression, and even those ones will have prereqs that require you to lose CLs anyway).
« Last Edit: December 11, 2012, 03:23:55 PM by Sinfire Titan »
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Offline Sinfire Titan

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Hexblade
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2012, 03:35:37 PM »
As it currently stands, the Hexblade has the following going for it:

d10 HD
Good Fort and Will saves, poor Ref
4+Int Skill points (should be more than enough, given the consolidated skill list)
38 total Skill Tricks
Full BAB (with Iterative attacks going 20/15/15/15 instead of 20/15/10/5)
41 total Utterances Known (with a progression similar to the Duskblade)
Access to all Curses and to any Utterance of 5th level or lower from the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind.

Class Features (in alphabetical order):

Arcane Resistance (the same as it was)
Contagious Curse (the Hexblade's answer to the Truenamer's Speak Unto the Masses; it lets a Curse jump from someone that resisted it to another target)
Dark Companion (pretty much as it was, Hexblades won't get a familiar at all without a feat)
Mettle (as it was)
Piercing Hex (as SR is the only way to protect yourself from a Curse, this is how a Hexblade can bypass it since I'm removing that aspect of Truespeech in general)
Tormenting Words (Basically the Hexblade's way to draw Aggro; imposes penalties on enemies who are cursed in order to provoke them into attacking the Hexblade)
Improved Mettle (The Hexblade can reroll a failed save if Mettle would apply to that saving throw)
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Offline Sinfire Titan

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Knight
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2012, 03:36:02 PM »
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Offline Sinfire Titan

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Truenamer
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2012, 03:36:26 PM »
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Offline Garryl

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Re: Utterance Users Brainstorming
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2012, 04:39:20 PM »
I was reminded of this from a while back. There isn't much in there as I never expanded on my original idea, but you're welcome to glean anything you can from it.