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Messages - Veklim

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1
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 13, 2012, 07:20:31 PM »
OK, Core abilities in place, all ready and waiting for perusals! All I need now is something for the dead levels at 8th and 16th, and the rest of the Weaves, an this should be ready for proper PEACHing and stuff.

@bob
Anything you particularly like/dislike about this so far? Anything you feel needs a drastic change or simply removing/replacing?

2
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 13, 2012, 09:14:31 AM »
Updates! There have been updates!! I find joy in the overuse of exclamation marks!!!

What do you think about the mixed element Weaves in 2nd Circle? Not wanting more than a half dozen Weaves in any one circle you see, so there aren't too many overall for anyone to remember, but this way different attunements actually lead to different weave lists, even though every warper gets every weave. Is the whole attuned/opposed mechanic working OK for weave limitation do you think? It appears perhaps a bit complex on the surface, but is simple enough once you get the idea, and I'm hoping it offers some appreciable differences in game experience depending on your element chosen.

3
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 12, 2012, 06:17:17 PM »
Four 1st Circle Weaves up, one for each element, flight has moved to 2nd Circle and shall be joined by 3 others soon.

Still cogitating the Core Weave upgrades, but element creation/control stuff like control flame, shape stone and create water will be here somewhere.

Also considering a universal Weave of each level, which allows for summoning an appropriately sized Elemental of your attuned element...needs some thought though, might leave that for an ACF in honesty (replace Core Weave perhaps?)

4
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 08, 2012, 06:18:14 PM »
Got a lot of stuff to do over the next day or two, shall be working on the Weaves offline so I may well have a chunk of new stuff to put up by the end of the weekend!  :D

Thinking I may move Flight to 2nd level, have an idea for a 1st level Air Weave, also gonna think on the Core Weave upgrades, thinking it might work nicely to add additional benefits depending on how many Motes you have invested in it.

Any ideas for other stuff you want this class to do would be great, ACFs are easy enough, I can change out Maelstrom and Enhanced Maelstrom for less combat oriented approaches, and maybe replace Weaves with a summoning mechanic...dunno. Gonna try and finish the actual class before i think too much on that! Feat ideas and higher level Weave ideas are VERY welcome, already thinking on a few, but this is going to need a little help to flesh out before I feel even vaguely happy about putting it next to the TK  :-\

5
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 07, 2012, 09:15:41 AM »
OK, quotes!

"Nothing says 'No' like a mountain to the face."

"I warn you General, the front two ranks may get wet."

6
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 06, 2012, 10:23:31 AM »
Updates are coming along nicely, need to fill out at least 1 Weave of each element for the 1st Circle before I do much more, don't wanna go too far into the murky depths without a little more feedback!

There are a few options for stuff to give and/or improve with class abilities for the dead levels, but one thing I want to do is progress the powers I presented in the Elemental Motes section (Like The Wind, Earth Whispers, Body Aflame and Surface Ripples)...thinking about that, should really give them a category name for easier reference later.

EDIT:
bob...dude...you got my name wrong. Again! :P

7
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 05, 2012, 07:25:57 PM »
OK, fleshed out a bunch more of the class, quick note to set intentions straight and open up the field for collaborative endeavours!

The Circles are going to consist of one or two powers for each element, all of which will be available for use. Attuned element powers will cost one less Mote, opposed element powers will cost one more Mote. These will be the 'spellbook' for the Warper

The Enhance Maelstrom ability is there to allow adaptive blasting with your Maelstrom attack, I need to make a few more but I think the ones presented give a good idea of my intentions for this in any case.

What do you think so far?

8
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 05, 2012, 03:51:32 AM »
Maelstrom is meant to be a weapon attack, yes. It gets iterative attacks, may be considered a weapon when choosing feats, etc. Shall slightly alter wording to try and make this clearer. Also, yes the base ability is a little weak, but it will be augmented throughout the class, so it's not on it's own!

All 4 elements have a damage type associated, air is electricity, earth is acid, fire is obvious and water is cold. I thought everyone knew this, it's core book stuff..?! OK then, I'll spell it out a little more plainly, and probably reword a bit.

With regards to the Wisdom issue and Motes, that number of Motes is arbitrary at best just now, I very much doubt we'll use that by the time this class is nearing completion. At the moment it's a temporary place holder, nothing more, but I do see your point!

9
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 04, 2012, 07:18:04 AM »
OK, early concept abilities going up now. I've gone with Wisdom based for this, since the TK is Charisma based and the Mindbender is Intelligence based I believe (and if not, why not?!). Besides, Wisdom made sense for an elementalist, at least to me!

EDIT:
I'll start putting in the elemental mastery abilities soon, and we need to figure out the powers after that. Also bob, think we need to do skills!
Also, I filled in the Motes entry on the table with a reasonably simple progression, it'll almost certainly change once we start developing abilities and powers, but it's a good place to start when looking at power. Consider, the higher the level, the more passive abilities you will be maintaining on yourself, the rest of the group, and perhaps enemies and other legitimate targets. So even if you are limited to 11 Motes on any one ability use at level 20, you still have many other things to do with the rest of them!

2ND EDIT:
Having thoughts on a feat...

Resonant Motes. [General]
'Every living thing possesses a measure of the four elements inside them, including you. It is easy enough to learn a small portion of the power I wield.' - Rai'khan, a Water Warper.
Requires: Psionic character OR Must have been successfully targeted by a World Warper ability.
Benefit: You gain a number of 'Resonant Motes' equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1) which may be used to maintain Mote effects which have targeted you. If an effect requires more Motes than this feat grants you, the remainder must still be invested by the character who activated the Mote ability. These Motes may be of any element, but may not be used to activate Mote abilities, even if you could otherwise do so.
Special: You may only take this feat once. Just to make that absolutely clear.

I know, I know, haven't even written up a single Mote ability yet...but this was a fleeting thought which I had to put down in case it vanished without leaving it's number or anything...

Also, as per this;
Air - Flight (starts outs not so great, gets better), Like The Wind (speed increases like a barbarian)
Earth - Tremorsense (starts at 10ft, gets better quite fast), Earthglide (as per the elemental ability, give or take)
Fire - Attack and damage bonus (+1 / 4 class levels or thereabouts), Body Aflame (fire armour with perks, shall elaborate later)
Water - AC and Reflex bonus (probably +1 / 4 class levels, will follow same progression as Fire), Psychic Tsunami (very cool mass debuff, will elaborate a lot later!)
I shall be adding these in as and when a rough power scale emerges. Once that's done, and we have an idea of how often to grant access to a new 'circle' of powers we can bulk out the Mote powers themselves.

I'm thinking we make 4 power lists, one for each element. We have 2 types of ability, pure (the blasty stuff) and mixed (the powers which use more than one element).
Pure will speak for itself, range, area, shape, etc will be covered here, along with physical damages. This is the list which will be progressively cheaper (and some eventually at will) for an Attuned element Warper.
Mixed will be where the versatility is. These will be on a single element's theme, but add other element Motes for a varying bonus effect. For example:

Flight
1st Circle Air (Mixed)
Range: Self or creature touched
Use: 2 Air Motes + 1 non-Earth Mote
Investment: 1 Air Mote
Effect: The touched creature gains Flight (as per the spell, blah, blah). The target gains an additional benefit depending upon which element was used to manifest this ability as follows:
Air: You gain +10ft flight speed
Fire: You gain a fiery 10ft radius aura which deals 4 fire damage to any enemy inside it at the end of your turn.
Water: If you use a bullrush or overrun attack whilst flying, you gain a +6 momentum bonus to all related strength, attack and damage checks.

Thoughts..?









10
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 03, 2012, 11:00:43 AM »
Much gratitude to sirpercival for the remarkably easy to follow instructions for table formats on these boards...  ;)

Change Log:
(click to show/hide)

World Warper  Hit Dice:D8
Alignment: Any



Level
Base
Attack
Bonus

Fort
Save

Ref
Save

Will
Save


Special


Motes
1st+0+0+0+2 Wild Talent, Natural Attunement, Elemental Motes, Maelstrom 3
2nd+1+0+0+3 Sense Elements, Enhance Maelstrom 1/encounter 4
3rd+2+1+1+3 1st Circle Weaves 5
4th+3+1+1+4 Attuned Resistance 6
5th+3+1+1+4 Maelstrom (1 Mote), Core Control 7
6th+4+2+2+5 Enhance Maelstrom 2/encounter 8
7th+5+2+2+5 2nd Circle Weaves 9
8th+6/+1+2+2+6  10
9th+6/+1+3+3+6 Core Command 11
10th+7/+2+3+3+7 Maelstrom (2 Motes), Enhance Maelstrom 3/encounter 12
11th+8/+3+3+3+7 3rd Circle Weaves 13
12th+9/+4+4+4+8 Attuned Immunity 14
13th+9/+4+4+4+8 Greater Control 15
14th+10/+5+4+4+9 Enhance Maelstrom 4/encouter 16
15th+11/+6/+1+5+5+9Maelstrom (3 Motes), 4th Circle Weaves 17
16th+12/+7/+2+5+5+10  18
17th+12/+7/+2+5+5+10 Core Contingency 19
18th+13/+8/+3+6+6+11 Enhance Maelstrom 5/encounter 20
19th+14/+9/+4+6+6+11 5th Circle Weaves 21
20th+15/+10/+5+6+6+12 Elemental Apotheosis 22

Class Skills (4+Int): Autohypnosis (Wis), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (psionics)(Int), Knowledge (the planes)(Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str)

Proficiencies.
The World Warper is proficient with all simple weapons, light and medium armour and all shields except for tower shields.

Wild Talent.
At 1st level, the World Warper gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat.

Natural Attunement. (Su)
At 1st level, a World Warper chooses an element to focus on, and gains unique abilities based on that choice. This element is referred to as your Attuned Element, however, each element has an opposed element which imposes certain restrictions on your choices. Each element also has an energy and mundane damage type associated with it, both of which are listed with their element below along with what types of abilities each element specialises in. If you have a weakness or vulnerability to an element when you obtain this ability, you may not attune to that element. Choose from one of the following:
  • Air. Electricity and piercing damage (movement abilities). Opposed element: Earth.
  • Earth. Acid and bludgeoning damage (defences). Opposed element: Air.
  • Fire. Fire and slashing damage (offence). Opposed element: Water.
  • Water. Cold and subdual damage (insightful abilities). Opposed element: Fire.

Once made, this choice is permanent and may never be changed, not even with a Wish or Miracle. The element chosen is inextricably linked to your very soul.

Elemental Motes. (Su)
From 1st level onwards, the World Warper gains control of a certain number of tiny elemental conduits called Motes, made real by his psionic power. Each Mote connects to a single element, chosen when you gain access to each Mote individually, and once chosen it remains of that element. However, at 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter, you may choose to reassign the element of a number of Motes you control equal to your Wisdom modifier. This is the only way a World Warper may change the element of a Mote he controls, it is otherwise permanent. You gain a number of Motes as listed on the table.

You may treat any non-opposed Mote as a Mote of your Attuned Element, but may never do so with an opposed element Mote (for example, you choose Air as your Attuned Element, you may treat any Fire or Water Mote you control as being an Air Mote, but cannot do so with any Earth Mote you control). As such, you need never choose a Mote of your Attuned element, but you may still do so if you wish.

Mote abilities usually require you spend a certain number of specific Motes, and many abilities also require the investiture of one or more Motes to maintain the effect. Spent Motes are returned to your control at the beginning of your turn unless you elect to invest them, any Motes invested in the upkeep of an ability are invested when you activate the ability and may be recovered as a free action, but the effects they were maintaining immediately end. You may not spend or invest (or more likely, a combination of both) more than 1 + 1/2 class level (minimum 1) Motes on any single ability use, and all Mote abilities which require a save have a DC of 10 + 1/2 class level + Wisdom modifier

Core Weave.
You begin knowing only one Mote ability, referred to as your Core Weave. Which one you gain is determined by your Attuned element as follows:
  • Like The Wind. (Air) As a move action you may invest Air Motes to gain a +10ft / Mote bonus to all your base speeds for as long as you keep them invested.
  • Earth Whispers. (Earth) As a move action you may invest Earth Motes to gain tremorsense with a radius of 10ft / Mote for as long as you keep them invested.
  • Body Aflame. (Fire) As a move action you may invest Fire Motes to literally ignite your body for as long as you keep them invested. This deals no damage to you or your equipment, but whenever a creature successfully attacks you in melee they immediately receive 2 / Mote fire damage.
  • Surface Ripples. (Water) As a move action you may invest Water Motes to gain a +1 / Mote insight bonus to initiative and saves for as long as you keep them invested.

Maelstrom. (Su)
Beginning at 1st level, the World Warper gains the ability to channel their Attuned Element into a destructive blast of energy at will. Doing so is treated as a ranged attack with which you are proficient, affects a single target, has a range of 50ft + 5ft / class level, a critical of 20/x2 and deals elemental damage of the type for your Attuned Element equal to 1D8 / 2 class levels (minimum 1D8) plus your Wisdom modifier. This is treated as if it were a weapon attack, it may benefit from iterative attacks due to a high base attack bonus and may be selected for feats like weapon focus.

At 5th level you gain the ability to enhance your Maelstrom with the investment of a single Mote (this counts toward your Mote limit if combined with an Enhanced Maelstrom). This requires a swift action and the Mote is invested as long as you wish, or until the start of your next turn, whichever is longer. You may not invest an opposed Mote in this manner (so a Fire Warper could not add the effects of a Water Mote to his Maelstrom). Depending upon which element you use, you will gain one of the following effects:
  • Air. You may move 5ft as a free action every time your Maelstrom attack hits.
  • Earth. You gain a stacking +1 deflection bonus (max. +5) to AC until the beginning of your next turn for every time your maelstrom hits.
  • Fire. You gain a stacking fire damage bonus equal to +1 / damage die (max. +5) until the end of your turn for each maelstrom attack which hits.
  • Water. Every successful attack on a target gives you a stacking +2 bonus (max. +10) to hit that same target until the beginning of your next turn.

At 10th level, you may invest two different elemental Motes into your Maelstrom ability, gaining the effects of both. You still may not invest an opposed Mote.
At 15th level, you may invest three different elemental Motes into your Maelstrom ability, gaining the effects of all three. You still may not invest an opposed Mote.

Sense Elements. (Su)
As the Shugenja ability except using your World Warper level and Psicraft instead of Shugenja level and Spellcraft.

Enhance Maelstrom. (Su)
At 2nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the Warper gains the ability to adapt and change their Maelstrom ability a certain number of times per encounter as listed in the table. As a standard action you may expend a use of Enhance Maelstrom and the listed number of Motes to imbue a single Maelstrom attack with any one or more enhancements you know, as long as you can pay the combined Mote cost for all enhancements applied. Only non-opposed Motes may be used to pay for enhancements. Enhanced Maelstroms do not have a critical range or multiplier. Each time you gain this ability you learn one of the enhancements listed below:

Enhancements
(click to show/hide)

Weaves. (Su)
Beginning at 3rd level, the Warper steps fully onto the path of the Warper and learns his first true Weaves. These require a standard action to perform and are much akin to psionic powers or spells, with one or two differences. Firstly, to use a Weave, you must spend Motes of the correct element to activate it. When activated the Weave is either instantaneous or lasts for 1 round, but many Weaves have an option called Maintenance which allows you to invest Motes to increase this duration (maximum maintained duration is listed in brackets). This is called maintaining the Weave.

Maintaining the Weave.
Motes used for maintenance are invested as a non-action when the Weave's basic duration expires (duration before the parentheses). You may keep these Motes invested for as long as the maintenance duration states (duration inside the parnetheses) after which time the Weave ends anyway and invested Motes are returned to your control. Only certain element Motes may be used for most maintenance, as per the Weave descriptions, but there is another restriction. You may not maintain a Weave of your opposed element, and you may not use Motes of your opposed element to maintain a Weave, which means there will always be Weaves you know which you cannot maintain. However, you also gain a number of Resonant Motes equal to the highest circle Weave you know (so if you had 3rd Circle Weaves, you would have 3 Resonant Motes). Resonant Motes are of your Attuned element, and may only be used to maintain the Weave, including your Core Weave. If you fall asleep, lose consciousness or die, all maintained Weaves immediately stop.

1st Circle Weaves.
(click to show/hide)

2nd Circle Weaves.
(click to show/hide)

Attuned Resistance. (Ex)
Beginning at 4th level, the Warper gains energy resistance equal to his class level towards his attuned element (for example, a 6th level Water Warper has Cold Resistance 6). This resistance stacks with any other resistance you may be getting from other sources. You may instil a portion of this resistance in others with the investment of Motes. As a standard action which does not provoke attacks of opportunity, you must touch the creature to be affected and invest an attuned Mote to grant half your Attuned Resistance to the creature touched. Any Motes invested this way may remain invested as long as you wish.

Core Control. (Ps)
At 5th level your Core Weave gains new uses as your connection to your attuned element deepens. As long as you have at least 3 Motes invested in your Core Weave, you gain use of an at-will Psi-like ability as described below, depending upon your Core Weave. Treat your class level as your caster level for these effects.
  • Like The Wind: You gain a gaseous form (as per the spell, except as noted here) which is usable a total of 5 minutes / class level in a day. You may stop this effect as an imediate action or resume this effect as a standard action whenever you wish.
  • Earth Whispers: You may use Stone Shape (as per the spell) a number of times per day equal to your class level.
  • Body Aflame: You may use Pyrotechnics (as per the spell, except as noted here) a number of times per day equal to your class level. Using this ability does not extinguish the fire used if you do not wish to do so, although you may still elect to put it out.
  • Surface Ripples: You may use Quench (as per the spell) a number of times per day equal to your class level.

Core Command. (Su)
At 9th level you begin to unlock the true potential of your elemental attunement, even mighty elementals are laid low at your presence. As long as you have at least 5 Motes invested in your Core Weave, you may turn or destroy creaturess of your opposed element. You may also rebuke, command or bolster creatures of your attuned element. These abilities may be used a combined number of times equal to 3 + Charisma modifier / day (minimum 1).

Attuned Immunity. (Ex)
From 12th level onwards, the Warper becomes immune to damage from his attuned element.

Greater control. (Ps)
At 13th level, the ability you gained from Core Control improves. As long as you have at least 7 Motes invested in your Core Weave, your Core Control ability requires only a move action to perform and gains an enhancement as follows:
  • Like The Wind: You are no longer affected by wind in your gaseous form.
  • Earth Whispers: You no longer suffer a 30% chance of failure when stone shaping moving parts, however your DM may require an appropriate craft or knowledge check depending on what you wish to shape.
  • Body Aflame: Any creature which fails it's save against your Pyrotechnics ability is set on fire and takes 2 fire damage / Mote invested in Body Aflame. Creatures get a reflex save to try and put themselves out at the start of their turns, but take 2 fire damage / Mote for every round they fail this save until they either pass or the duration of Pyrotechnics ends.
  • Surface Ripples: You may now irrigate fields or refill wells and small bodies of water (using half the normal area of the spell) with this ability.

Core Contingency. (Ex)
At 17th level, as long as you have at least 9 Motes invested in your Core Weave, you gain the ability to heal damage using your attuned element. As long as you are in contact with your chosen element, you gain fast healing equal to your Wisdom modifier. Furthermore, any damage which would be dealt to you (disregarding Attuned Resistance and Attuned Immunity) by your chosen element's energy type instead heals you of that much damage.

Elemental Apotheosis. (Ex)
At 20th level you transcend your mortality and the ravages of the elements, becoming part of that elemental force instead of bending to it. You become an Elemental (with the Augmented subtype maybe?), your Maelstrom ability becomes (Ex) and you always count as having a number of Motes invested in your Core Weave equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), even when unconsious or asleep.



11
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 02, 2012, 06:29:50 PM »
If you could send me the code when I send you the GitP format I would be much obliged. Would like to know how to create/edit them here too  :)

12
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 02, 2012, 09:23:38 AM »
Hrmmm....

Typed it up in GitP table format out of a force of habit, and it's not working here...

Any ideas on where to find a table making guide for these forums? Otherwise I can pop it up in the TK thread for you to transfer/link to..?

13
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: November 01, 2012, 07:44:32 AM »
OK, getting started on the table, filling out chassis basics right now actually. 2 things!

Thing number 1. Where do you want the class posted for construction? I could PM it to you for you to post yourself, or I can post it up where you want it, up to you!

Thing number 2. Need a brainstorming on key elemental abilities to be granted for your element specialisation. These are going to be at-will or permanent effects, many of which will be accessible later to any non-opposed element specialist, but at a mote cost. SO far the list includes (but not exhaustively, this is off the top of my head)
Air - Flight (starts outs not so great, gets better), Like The Wind (speed increases like a barbarian)
Earth - Tremorsense (starts at 10ft, gets better quite fast), Earthglide (as per the elemental ability, give or take)
Fire - Attack and damage bonus (+1 / 4 class levels or thereabouts), Body Aflame (fire armour with perks, shall elaborate later)
Water - AC and Reflex bonus (probably +1 / 4 class levels, will follow same progression as Fire), Psychic Tsunami (very cool mass debuff, will elaborate a lot later!)

Any other thoughts/ideas for such would be cool. Damage mechanic is still in mid-thought flow, will post/pm that separately as I get it down.

14
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: World Warper [WIP]
« on: October 28, 2012, 09:39:54 PM »
bob, I'm kinda itching to flesh out this elemental mote concept. If I made a bare-bones chassis and added the motes with a work in progress, would you mind..? Any thoughts for the basics (BAB, skills, saves, HD), I'll table 'em up for you and PM it over on GitP.  ;)

15
General D&D Discussion / Re: Discussion: Necromancy and Healing
« on: October 18, 2012, 11:58:46 AM »
I've not read through this entire thread, so forgive me if I say anything which has already been said, but...
*metaphoric deep breath*

Necromancy and healing HAVE to be the same thing, if you're to believe the fluff concerning both magics. Positive and Negative energy originate from 2 different planes, but these planes (and the energy which they radiate) are mutually reliant upon each other to balance the total force to a zero flat-line, so to speak. If they did not do this, the whole balance of the planes would spiral out of control so they must be linked in some way, like the two poles of a single energy, much like a magnet. In my world, this connection is a real, physical thing, basically a tumultuous corridor of raging pos/neg energies which links the two planes, cutting straight through the middle of the prime material plane. It is this 'conduit' which attracts the 'orbiting' elemental planes and causes the creation/entropy cycles vital for mortal existence.

Raising the dead, whether as undead or living, is still a necromantic act, and as someone pointed out earlier, many texts including holy ones, refer to the resurrection of good and righteous people BY good and righteous people. In fact, there's probably just as many, if not more mentions of this as there are of 'evil' resurrections in much early literature.

As a result, I propose this:

Necromancy (imo) isn't evil, although it's application could easily be such, furthermore, it shouldn't even BE it's own school of magic, rather a subschool spread out amongst the other schools. This should include all healing, inflicting, resurrecting, raising, communication with the dead and any other manipulation of positive OR negative energy spells. I'd call this new subschool [Lifemagics], since that's what it is, and this label could apply to any spell in any school which fits the bill. All Necromancy spells would then be divided up amongst the other schools as appropriate. This would solve so many of the fluff vs mechanics arguments flat out.

Whereas I agree that Evocation would be a good school to dump pos/neg spells, I don't like the idea of it containing the lion's share of both the healing AND blasting tropes of magic. This would lead to some very odd consequences for the entire game system due to basic character concept conflicts (not to mention the feats, classes, PrCs, skills, equipment, etc which would all need examining). I also think that Evocation deals more specifically with elemental energies as a guideline, and pos/neg aren't elements in most cases (although a world built around this thought could be an interesting one).

...thus endeth mine two coppers worth.   :D

16
New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: Blaster [WIP]
« on: October 17, 2012, 03:46:57 PM »
Hrrrrm.....

Allow me to ramble and I may be able to get this right!

Quote
Perhaps have the abilities work a bit like incarnum?  So, creating the effect requires the motes, then you have a set pool of points you can assign?  So, making a flamthrower takes 1 fire mote and 1 air mote, then you add points to make it deal more damage/fill an area... 
No power point pools are needed, we can work with just motes for this. Firstly, you should gain 1 + (primary stat modifier) motes at first level, and an additional mote every other level (3rd, 5th, etc), this should allow for some breathing room with the mote's chosen element (more on this in a moment). Then what we do is limit the number of motes you may use on any one ability to 1 + 1/2 class level (minimum 1). This way you pay the minimum mote cost for each element to activate the ability, and may add more motes (up to this limit) to empower the ability once active. The extra motes can be of any element, but you must have the correct types for activation cost (so flight could be 2 Air & 1 Fire, but you could add any additional mote to add +10ft to your flight speed for instance). If we create the abilities well, we can make them scale this way, therefore reducing the number of total abilities without gimping options or railroading the build.

Quote
edit:  thought about it...  so, how about let all elements be open at all levels, but have scaling bonuses based on what motes you chose.  going pure limits options, but each of the 4 will have decent trees of bonuses to make it worth while.
OK, I see what you're getting at there. How about this:
You start with access to all four elements (air, earth, fire, water) and choose which motes are which element as you level up. However, from 1st level you also have one favoured element which you gain extra control over. This means you may spontaneously treat any mote of another element as your favoured element for any ability you use, offering versatility and a guaranteed set of abilities to use, without it getting too out of hand (shenanigans will occur if the player has too much freedom). As weird as this sounds, it means you never need choose motes for your favoured element, but that element's 'pure' abilities are always open to you. This is counter-intuitive perhaps, but solves a lot of issues all at once and is a simple mechanic.

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also, perhapce instead of wind, air, water, fire... go electrical, fire, acid, sonic, cold, force, and physical(bludgioning, piercing, and slashing).  Effectively having direct control over D&D's energies.
Sonic and Force aren't elements, and are both more potent than elemental damage types, because few things have a way of resisting them effectively, or indeed at all. I have considered both this and the physical damages though, and had a bit of a brainwave. Each element has an ability affinity, an energy type and a physical type attached to it as follows:
Air (movement) - Electricity, piercing
Earth (defence) - Acid, bludgeoning
Fire (offence) - Fire (duh!), slashing
Water (perception) - Cold, subdual
Sonic effects require at least 1 mote each of any 3 elements (for a minimum of 4th level)
Force requires at least 2 motes each of any 3 elements (for a minimum of 10th level)

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Also, how about abilities have affinities, oppositions, and mote costs?  so, flight has an afinity for sonic, fire, and force,  oposed physical and acid, with a mote cost of 3.  motes of an abilaties affinity can be used at cost, while off affinitys are used 1.5 to 1, and opposed cost double.  so flight could be had for 3 fire, 5 cold, or 6 acid. 
Nice idea, but it would get crazy complicated for both use and balance this way. How about we make it more simple, with a similar feel but less book-keeping. You cannot spontaneously convert an opposed element, so if you choose Air as your favoured element, then you can't spontaneously convert Earth motes into Air motes. Optionally, at a higher level (level 12-16 somewhere would make some sense I think) you might consider introducing a class feature which allows conversion at 2:1 ratio for opposed elements..?

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New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: Blaster [WIP]
« on: October 13, 2012, 07:23:14 AM »
OK then, new but simple mechanic to avoid spells/powers but allow for similar effects...

Elemental Motes.
You begin play with one Elemental Mote, and gain an additional one at every odd level. These make up the basis for your effects, the bigger the ability, the more motes you need. You start play with one primary element, gaining access to a second at 6th, a third at 11th and the last at 16th. Effects like simple blasting stuff requires motes of one element, but the more intricate the ability the more elements you must put together, so flight might require 2 Air motes and 1 Fire mote for instance, which would then require 1 Air mote to maintain.

This way, you can present a big list of abilities, which are restricted by which elements you have chosen throughout your career. Add a list of single element abilities for each element, these are only accessible to people who chose that as their primary element (the first one they choose), then onto steam effects with fire and water motes, sonic effects using air, earth and either fire or water motes (perhaps, this might need a little thought, but the idea is solid), then eventually being able to produce force damage from 16th onwards by using at least one mote of every element, and other funky stuff like that. Basically my idea is a cut-down, at-will caster who focuses on lots of ways to deal damage, but is capable of utility by mixing elements (you could have a separate class ability which stipulates how many motes you can use to activate an ability and how many elements you may mix in a single effect, so you could restrict force damage to a higher level that way if you like).

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New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: Blaster [WIP]
« on: October 07, 2012, 07:17:43 PM »
Give a progession for blast damage like a sneak attack progression, add abilities dependant on element like movement (air), damage (fire), debuff (cold), something-or-other (acid), offer adaptation and new abilities by mixing elements at higher levels. Make the blast a standard action and give choices for mixed elements as full attacks, moves and swift/immediate for certain utility boosts...

In short, the blasting aspect is the main 'power', but elemental choices and smart mixes offer range and utility. Might start fleshing out ideas if you're interested in this one...

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New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: Blaster [WIP]
« on: October 05, 2012, 04:47:00 PM »
OK then, a concept.

The Blaster is the ultimate elementalist, understanding the subtle balance between the elements, as well as how to manipulate them to explosive ends. They feel the connections created between earth, air, fire and water, and can listen to them just as easily as it can manipulate them.

They can feel the world around them through earth, they can hear distant truths on the wind, they can bring forth fire for warmth and safety in the coldest and most inhospitable of environments, and can irrigate the desert to grow crops and hanging gardens with ease. Every member of the class (unsure if blaster would fit as a name) focuses on one elemental damage type, and gains both destructive and utilitarian powers from that element. Then they gain access to some of the utility, as well as unique blasting potential, of another element at about 8th and a third at about 16th. Mixing elements is where the power-hikes occur, allowing them to keep up with mages on damage potential, without sacrificing utility, aiming T3 I guess?

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New Psionics: Mutant Powers / Re: Telekineticist
« on: October 05, 2012, 04:29:57 PM »
AH HA!! Come here my beauty, and admonish bob for misspelling my name!  :P

I posted a set of feats for the TK over on GitP, but then the servers went down and all crazy happened, so I jumped through multiple hoops and joined these boards too (which was odd, coz I could see the TK before, then registered and had to post a bit before I could see it again, thought I'd gone crazy but it's been a long week).

We'll have the rest of the feats done pretty shortly after the other board pops back up, along with the next PrCs (2 of them, 3 levels each, open requirements for use of skillset stuff and a funky unarmed type one hopefully). I may post them at both this end and the GitP, so as to avoid further disruptions!

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