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Topics - VennDygrem

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1
[D&D 5e] FR - Red Skies at Morning / OOC Discussion
« on: August 15, 2015, 09:56:44 AM »
"This is bullshit, and I'm going to tell you why!"

Post any out of character discussion here.

2
[D&D 5e] FR - Red Skies at Morning / Let the Dice Fall Where They May
« on: August 15, 2015, 09:55:16 AM »
This thread may be used to link to Dice Rolls.

3
[D&D 5e] FR - Red Skies at Morning / Heroes and Antiheroes
« on: August 15, 2015, 09:53:35 AM »
The world of Karthun needs heroes... and this is where you'll find them!

Post your character sheets in this thread.

4
[D&D 5e] FR - Red Skies at Morning / Encyclopedia Karthunia
« on: August 08, 2015, 12:58:24 AM »
Doryan, the Last Continent

  To the far north, a frozen expanse of half-buried giant ruins serve as grim reminders of the former giant empire within a region
known as The Endless. Countless expeditions travel to The Endless in search of what lies beyond The Dread Peaks, but few return and
none have scaled the infamous mountain range. If the gods have secrets and Karthun holds mysteries, what lies beyond The Endless is
one of the deepest.

  To the far south, the rocky, war-scarred lands (now known as Kraghorn) were once held by the Dreadwing Council, Doryan’s most
powerful draconic empire. The dragons of Karthun wielded great power from their fortress within Eternity Peak but a deific war
between corrupted dragons, World Wardens, and the gods brought an end to the dragons and their followers. In the years that passed,
the barren lands became the home to savage clans.

  A majority of nations holds coastlines to each several of Karthun’s oceanic bodies. Along the east coast, Desin, the ruined remains of
the dwarves former nation sits alongside the warm ocean waters of the Whitemist Sea (named for its continual waves of steam created
by the Worldfire). When the force of the Worldfire reached the Last Continent, Desin was the first to suffer, as it cracked and pulled
massive pieces of the land into the ocean, carving massive rifts and canyons into the landscape.

  To the south, the realm of Prathian’s patron race, the Elemental Lords, serve as keepers of Istin, the few remaining dimensional
leylines, and act as the rulers of the wild elementals and Djinn houses of Karthun. Istin is a land of elementals and magic with
wondrous landscapes, both beautiful and dangerous.

  Further south, one of the last bastions of valor in Karthun stands in the nation of Landrin. Led by the embattled knights of the Last
Watch, Landrin follows the teachings of the former goddess of valor Valkyre and wages war with followers of The Mother of the Dead
and her theocracy: Erast.

  Formely the majority of the nation of Landrin, the seat of the Mother of the Dead’s power on Karthun, Erast was founded by the
Mother and her son, Kyzul on the day of his birth. From his throne in Tenshan the City of Tombs, Kyzul rules Erast and leads the
church of The Mother name in a campaign to destroy Landrin and put to rest the wild undead haunting the Last Continent.

  On the west coast, the chaotic lands of Sylnn exist in a constant state of open warfare and deep shadow wars, all to the delight of
Felicos. While Sylnn or “the Kingdom of Five Thieves” is no longer his seat of power, Felicos revels in the power-hungry chaos
and civil wars spreading across Sylnn. Five regions, include the warring lizardfolk clans of Diesess to the horseman cult known as
the Kings of Dusk in the northern plains of Kolther, have claimed independence (also issuing gestures of dominance), though no
one single ruler has yet emerged. Along Sylnn’s coast of the Sea of Torment, several of Sylnn’s splinter nations battle armies of the
merfolk royal houses and other creatures from the unexplored depths of the sea, including the kingdom of Tavia.

  Tavia is a kingdom with its eyes on everything happening in Karthun. The training ground of master spies and assassins, Tavia wages
wars with Sylnn and Andern, while working towards grand plans to infiltrate Xyn, the lands of Prathian the Eternal Sage. From her
throne in the city of Highroost, The Queen of Whispers manages shadow games of deception, favors, and intrigue in every royal court,
army, and major faction across Karthun.

   From a series of small islands off the coast of Tavia, the monolithic towers of Xyn reach toward skies that roil with a vortex of
rolling, godlike power. From the central tower of The Nexus, Prathian and his Archivists push the boundaries of magic and technology
while safeguarding dimensional barriers from horrific beings from the beyond attempting to breach Karthun’s plane.

  Along the southernmost border of The Endless, the nation of Daynir stands as the one of the oldest and most influential nations in
Karthun’s history. Xag, the City of Monoliths, stands as a beacon of education, technological innovations, and arcane discovery as
well as housing the Grand Archive of Daynir: an archive said to contain written accounts dating back to the Age of Making, artifacts,
dangerous technology, and otherworldly curiosities from across Karthun and beyond. Over time, Xag has become the home of great
thinkers, mages, politicians, merchants, and those who disagree with the word of the gods, as it is common knowledge  that the gods
refuse to enter the City of Monoliths, though no one, not even devoted followers, can say why for certain.

  Off the western coast of Daynir, the island home of the Sunwalker clans of dwarves, all former slaves and rebels against the
Underlords, stands as the mageocracy of Thulengard. From here, the dwarves of Thulengard launch campaigns against the Underlords
and other threats to Karthun.

  At the heart of the Last Continent are the kingdoms of Andern and Symul. Andern, often referred to as the Throne of Honor, is a land
once great with chivalry and heroism now weary from centuries of wars with Tavia, Sylnn, failed volunteer efforts to save Desin, and
skirmishes with the ferocious elven clans of Symul. Despite this, the Iron King holds his kingdom together through strength of will
and the bravery of heroes.

  In Symul, three ancient clans, each bound to one of Karthun’s three moons, embody the spirit and power of totem animals: wolf,
bear, and jackal. One of the oldest blood wars in Karthun’s history, each clan battles for supremacy over the others, with each gaining
and losing dominance with the waxing and waning of the moons. To Symul’s neighboring nations, the forest kingdom of Symul is a
beautiful and dangerous place as the elves rarely show even the littlest hint of mercy.

5
Play By Post / [D&D] Interest check - Karthun, the Lands of Conflict
« on: August 06, 2015, 12:06:58 AM »
I've been a fan of the webcomic d20Monkey for a while now, and as soon as the author introduced his homebrew campaign setting, Karthun, I was hooked. The flavor of the world is rich for old school adventure and intrigue, while introducing a lot of elements from other campaign settings that I love (like Forgotten Realms, the Gods walk among mortals, but like Eberron, the focus of the story is entirely on the story of the players as the heroes of the world. Furthermore, magic and technology co-exist and co-mingle to a certain extent). Recently, the creator launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to publish a full, hard-cover book detailing everything needed to run games in this setting, and so of course I jumped at it. Not long ago, a PDF was released for backers with a good amount of text covering lore and other content, sufficient enough to begin running a game.

From the intro:
Quote
"Karthun is a world of danger, political intrigue, and adventure where the gods walk among mortals. From monolithic cities where the gods refuse to tread, to the frozen ruins of the giants empire, Karthun is filled with exotic locations, powerful magic, fantastic creatures, and technological marvels both benign and dangerous. Across Karthun, adventurers engage in the political turmoil of royal courts, launch expeditions into the ruins of sunken empires from floating citadels, and discover the truth of some of the world’s oldest secrets. In Karthun, heroes hold court with the gods, shaping their own destiny. Will heroes take to the battlefield in wars between nations, or conversely, strive to end centuries-old wars between nations to bring a new age of peace to Karthun?

It is a dangerous time in the Lands of Conflict and the world needs heroes."

Some basic points:
(click to show/hide)

Critical Maneuvers:
(click to show/hide)

That's just the tip of the iceberg, and this is the setting I want to run my next game in.

What do you say? Karthun needs heroes. Are you in?

The plan is to run this in 5th Edition, making use of my "Red Skies at Morning" subforum to relaunch the game with the new campaign setting and new storyline. If there isn't enough interest, I could run the game in 3.5, though I'm somewhat less comfortable doing so. If that's the case, I might make use of my Maker's Crown subforum.

Starting level is likely to be somewhere from 5-7. Flavorful character concepts are highly encouraged, and can be accommodated with tweaks or other homebrew to support the concept (such as a concept of a Fighter/warrior who prefers to bludgeon enemies with heavy gauntlets rather than fight with a sword or other weapon; in this case, a special weapon would be available which deals more damage than a regular unarmed strike or gauntlet.)

There's a lot more information to share if anyone is interested, but I need some interest first.

6
[D&D 5e] FR - Red Skies at Morning / Act I - Before the Storm
« on: September 07, 2014, 12:02:59 PM »
Act I - Before the Storm
Red gates of iron cast their black shadows on this land, Dividing souls... far below;
The gathering winds the armies watch are rising from the west, Foretelling news... of freedom's hand

The year is 1489, by Dale Reckoning. The realm of Faerun has seen many changes over the years, as the influence on world-shaping events has ebbed and flowed with the will of Gods and mortals both. Peace is a rare commodity in this day and age, one that few seem to have any interest in trading. Many once-secure kingdoms and trade cities have been ravaged by war and treachery, while others still struggle to remain standing. The great conflict between order and chaos rages ever on, even as forces beyond common reach conspire to rewrite the laws that govern them; Such an act could reshape Faerun, the Gods, and, perhaps, even the very planes of existence- with good intent or ill.

You awaken to the gentle rocking of waves and the bracing sensation of the ocean’s breeze, cool and salty against your face, and the night sky seems to have left a calm hush in your immediate surroundings. At sea, it seems, you have found peace. However, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Your head is groggy and you can’t quite recall what happened within the last day, particularly the circumstances that led you here. Your hands are bound before you, and a length of iron chain connects you to others in the same situation. You are captives cramped into a small dinghy, trailing behind a larger vessel by thick, braided rope. Two guards are positioned at the rear of the vessel; one facing you, and one facing toward the front of the ship. The guard facing you seems to have a crossbow at the ready, though it does not seem to be pointed directly at any one of you and is instead pointed slightly downward, but at this distance you're not quite sure what. Upon checking, most of your equipment is not present in the pram; it must be on-board the ship.

(click to show/hide)

(click to show/hide)


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[D&D 5e] FR - Red Skies at Morning / Old OOC Discussion Thread
« on: September 04, 2014, 03:56:33 PM »
Post any discussion of in-game events and any table-side ruckus here.

8
[D&D 5e] FR - Red Skies at Morning / Old Dice Rolling Thread
« on: September 04, 2014, 03:53:52 PM »
If you're rolling your dice with the forum dice roller (and you probably should be), your rolls go here.

9
[D&D 5e] FR - Red Skies at Morning / Old Character Sheets
« on: September 04, 2014, 03:51:54 PM »
Post links or templated character sheets here, as well as any character background info you find is relevant.

10
Play By Post / Interest check-in for a 5th Edition D&D game
« on: August 20, 2014, 09:16:35 PM »
Over in the General Discussion forum, there was some interest in trying out the newly published 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. I've already had experience running versions of the rules through the playtest program, and so I've offered to run a play-by-post game for it.

So far, interested players include: linklord231, caelic, and bhu. Ideally, I'd like to limit it to 5 players, with a hard maximum of 6.

You'd probably need access to the new Player's Handbook, though access can be granted to the information needed to play if you don't have the book.

I'm thinking that the best place to start is either 3rd or 4th level; level 3 gets you to the first class specialization options (Fighter/Rogue Archetype, Paladin's Sacred Oath, etc.), while 4 gets you your first ability score improvement or feat, depending on your choice.

For ability scores, I'm willing to take a vote between rolling or point buy. Rolling would involve 4d6 drop the lowest for 6 ability scores (probably through Invisible Castle), arranged per player's choice, and if the first set of rolls is abysmal, you can reroll the whole set one more time and then choose between the two sets. Point Buy would probably be 30, which is higher than the published standard but doesn't allow anything to get out of hand.

Above all, try to make a character, rather than just a pile of stats. Though the idea is to test the game mechanics, particularly in a PbP setting, that really involves seeing how all aspects translate, including roleplaying, exploration, and social challenges in addition to combat. The PHB section on backgrounds actually seems like a good way to come up with an idea, even randomly-generated if you like. I'm certainly interested to see how that works out.  :D

Optional rules that are definitely in-place include feats, multiclassing, and others as I think of them. You may also suggest some if you'd like.

Starting Wealth is going to be less of a concern, but assume that you'll begin with just about all of the typical equipment that you'll need for adventuring. Official magic items for this edition haven't been published yet, though there are many offered in the playtest documents I've still got, and some can be converted from other editions fairly easily, so this won't be low-magic campaign.

Speaking of which, I haven't decided whether or not to run this in an established campaign setting or not. There's enough fluff available in the PHB to set it in any of them, and most other details can be ported over easily. Feel free to suggest one if you have a preference, otherwise I always have homebrew stuff I can work from.  ;)

11
Foreward: I love the flavor of the 4th Edition Warlock, though it's much more common for me to play in 3.5 games and there's still some appeal in the 3.5 Warlock. However, it always just seems to be missing something. The 4E Pacts offer a lot of versatility in the kind of character you play as a Warlock, and so I figured I'd try my hand at combining the two versions. However, it turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. The current write-up, below, feels like it's gotten a little out of hand. I could use some help getting it back on track, and refining/finishing up the class features.

Beyond possibly polishing up or changing the current class features, I also don't have Greater Pact Boons written up yet, though the idea was to depart from the existing boons and grant something meatier to each Pact. I also need to fill in a few levels near the end, and decide what 'Apotheosis of the Adherent' actually gives you as an enticing capstone ability. I'm also not even sure if the Star Pact Boon is worthwhile or not, so it's definitely up for review/alteration.


The Warlock


“At last! With but a drop of blood, the pact is made. I swear myself to your service, master, and in return-- unimaginable power!”

Some study arcane tomes and scrolls in search for ancient lore and magical secrets. Some are born with a talent for spellcasting. Others, however, pledge themselves to a greater entity in search of a quick path to power. Such a road is dangerous to tread, and most do not survive the journey. A few, however, manage not only to grasp this forbidden power, but to hold onto it and make their mark upon the world.

MAKING A WARLOCK
{descriptive text}
Abilities: Charisma is by far the most important ability score of a Warlock, as it governs how strong their powers are. A Warlock’s other abilities play a considerable role in their survival, though none are entirely essential. A Warlock with a high Intelligence proves to be highly skilled, while a high Dexterity makes for a nimble Warlock who relies on finesse rather than sheer force. Constitution, as always, helps improve survivability, though it becomes much more important to Warlocks of the Fiendish and Shadow pacts.
Races: Any race can make a good Warlock, as they seek their power from beyond. Humans make for the most versatile Warlocks, though any race known for strong personalities and willpower tend to excel as Warlocks.
Alignment: Any. Almost all Warlocks have at least one Chaotic or Evil alignment component, though Warlocks are sometimes forged from noble intentions and come from all walks of life.
Starting Gold: 4d4x10 (10 gp)
Starting Age: As Rogue.

Table: The WarlockHD: d6


Level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Base
Attack
Bonus
+0
+1
+2
+3
+3
+4
+5
+6/+1
+6/+1
+7/+2
+8/+3
+9/+4
+9/+4
+10/+5
+11/+6/+1
+12/+7/+2
+12/+7/+2
+13/+8/+3
+14/+9/+4
+15/+10/+5

Fort
Save
+0
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+5
+5
+5
+6
+6
+6

Ref
Save
+0
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+5
+5
+5
+6
+6
+6

Will
Save
+2
+3
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+10
+10
+11
+11
+12


Special
Eldritch Blast, Pact, Invocations (least)
Pact Boon, Warlock’s Curse
Shadow Walk
Occult Senses, Deceive Item
Pact Resilience
Invocations (lesser)
Improved Warlock’s Curse
Improved Pact Boon
Pact Resilience (SR)
Energy Resistance
Invocations (greater)
Improved Warlock’s Curse
Pact Resilience (2/day)
Greater Pact Boon

Invocations (dark)
Improved Warlock’s Curse


Apotheosis of the Adherent

Invocations
Known
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
7
7
8
8
9
10
10
11
11
12
Skills (4 + Int modifier, x4 at 1st level): Appraise, Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Hide, Knowledge (Arch + Eng), Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Knowledge (Local), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Profession, Search, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Warlocks gain proficiency with all simple weapons and light armor, but not with shields. Warlocks incur a spell failure chance from any armor or shield with which they are not proficient.

Saving Throws: Whenever a Warlock invocation or class feature requires an enemy to make a saving throw against the effect, the DC is equal to 10 + ½ your Warlock level + your Charisma modifier.

Eldritch Blast (Sp): You gain a magical attack that takes the form of a 60-ft ray. At first level, it deals 1d6 damage on a successful ranged touch attack. This damage increases by 1d6 for every two levels beyond first. This ability is the equivalent of a 1st level spell with a caster level equal to your class level.

Your Eldritch Blast can also be altered and enhanced through the use of Blast Shape and Blast Essence invocations (See below).

Firing your Eldritch Blast is an attack action, and thus you may make multiple Eldritch Blast attacks in a round provided your base attack bonus is high enough. In this case, any Blast Shape or Blast Essence you apply to your Eldritch Blast affects all rays you fire in that round.

Invocations: As the ability in Complete Arcane, pg. 7, except as follows:

A Warlock knows all invocations of each grade they have attained. Once each day, the Warlock draws upon their Patron’s power and selects their invocations for the day, chosen from the Invocations they know. You may not select more invocations of a higher grade than you have selected for a lower grade.

For instance, if you are an 11th level Warlock, you have 7 invocations and access to least, lesser, and greater invocations. If you select 2 lesser invocations, you cannot select 3 greater invocations. Thus, you could select 3 least invocations, 3 lesser invocations, and 1 greater invocation, or you could select 3 least invocations, 2 lesser invocations, and 2 greater invocations.

Blast Shape and Blast Essence invocations do not need to be chosen in this way. Once each round as a free action, you may choose to imbue your Eldritch Blast with one Blast Shape and one Blast Essence of your choice. This does not affect the time it takes to attack with an Eldritch Blast.

Pact: You have pledged yourself to a figure of great might, or perhaps an ancestor or other relative sold your loyalty without your consent. In the end, the result is the same- you serve a powerful master who provides you with fantastic arcane prowess. Your pact also determines the Pact Boons that you gain as you reach higher levels. At 1st level, you select a Pact chosen from those outlined below.

Fiendish Pact
(click to show/hide)

Fey Pact
(click to show/hide)

Star Pact
(click to show/hide)

Shadow Pact
(click to show/hide)

Warlock’s Curse (Su): As a swift action once per round, you may place your Warlock’s Curse on a single enemy within Close range (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels). Against an enemy under your Warlock’s Curse, your eldritch blasts deal extra damage equal to your Charisma modifier. Your target takes this damage whether your attack hits or misses. Furthermore, your Pact Boon (see below) provides an enhanced effect against enemies under your curse. Your Warlock’s Curse lasts for 1 minute, although you can dispel the curse on any number of targets as a free action on your turn.

Your Warlock’s Curse improves as you gain levels.

At 7th level, you can now place your Warlock’s Curse on two enemies in range with a single swift action, and now all enemies currently affected by your Warlock’s Curse other than the primary target also take the bonus damage whenever you successfully hit with your eldritch blast. The duration extends to 1 minute per Warlock level you possess.

At 12th level, your Warlock’s Curse can affect three enemies in range, and it can now be placed as a free action on your turn (no more than once per round). The bonus damage increases to twice your Charisma modifier, and the duration becomes 1 hour per Warlock level you possess.

At 17th level, your Warlock’s Curse can instead affect all enemies in a 20-ft. radius burst from a point you specify within Medium range. Once per day as an immediate action, you may force an enemy under your Warlock’s Curse to reroll any one d20 roll it just made and take the worse result. If the target still succeeds on their roll, you do not lose the use of this ability. Lastly, you may choose to make your Warlock’s Curse duration permanent until you dispel it.

Pact Boon (Su): Throughout your career, your patron bestows you with new abilities and other gifts.These boons are dependent on which pact you made at 1st level. You are immune to any harmful effects of your own Pact Boons, and you may decide not to trigger them if you wish.

Shadow Walk (Su): On your turn, if you move at least 15 ft. away from where you started your turn you gain concealment for 1 round. Concealment imposes a 20% miss chance on all attacks made against you (unless the attack ignores concealment).

Occult Senses: At 4th level, the pact with your Patron empowers your awareness in new and mystical ways. See the Pact listings for descriptions of these abilities.

Deceive Item: As the ability in Complete Arcane, pg. 8.

Pact Resilience: At 5th level, your Patron’s gifts begin transforming your body, making it hardier and more resilient. You gain fast healing 1, and damage reduction equal to ½ your level, overcome by cold iron.

Once per day as a free action, you can enter a heightened state that lasts for 2 minutes. During this time, your fast healing improves to ½ your level and you gain energy resistance equal to your Warlock level against two different energy types (chosen from fire, cold, electricity, and acid). Once the duration ends, these abilities return to normal.

At 9th level, your Pact Resilience improves, improving your fast healing to 2 and granting you Spell Resistance equal to 11 + your level. While in your heightened state, your Spell Resistance improves to 15 + your level.

At 13th level, your fast healing improves to 3 and your damage reduction can only be overcome by weapons that are both magic and cold iron. Furthermore, you can enter your heightened state twice per day, and your energy resistance in this state applies to all four energy types.

Energy Resistance (Su): At 10th level, your patron’s influence grants resistance to specific types of harmful energy, typically influenced by your pact. Choose two from the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic. You gain resistance to those two types of energy equal to your Warlock level. This stacks with the energy resistance gained through Pact Resilience while in your heightened state.

12
Min/Max 3.x / Help with customized spell selection
« on: July 16, 2014, 09:52:34 PM »
I'm currently in the process of building a character (at 12th level) using Oslecamo's 'God' monster class, rebuilding an existing character who has been known for using Force spells primarily (as well as a decent selection of other decent battlefield control spells). I'm taking the 'God Domain' and 'God Magic' Divine Characteristics to gain access to the Force Domain (as it fits the character and it seems that it should be the first domain this character should choose). However, the domain spells in particular leave a lot to be desired. I've obtained permission to use the Customize Domain feat (Dragon #325) to alter the spells I have available in the domain, and have done my best to plumb the depths of all the handbooks and spell lists I can find to get the most bang for my buck, as it were. I could probably forego the Customize Domain feat and take the domain as it is, freeing up a feat in the process, though the default domain spell list isn't spectacular.

I'm still not 100% sold on my spell selection, and so I figured I'd see if I could get any advice.

Currently, the domain consists of:
1- Mage Armor (default)
2- Wings of Cover
3- Manyjaws
4- Resilient Sphere (default)
5- Wall of Force (default)
6- Blade Barrier or Howling Chain [SpC] (not fully decided)
7- Forcecage (default)
8- Telekinetic Sphere (default) or Maze
9- Crushing Fist of Spite [BoVD] or Binding Chain of Fate [CoS: Waterdeep]

I'm open to advice on replacing or selecting any of these, though Resilient Sphere and Wall of Force are pretty much set as they're both good spells and have served me well in the campaign so far.

  • Mage Armor is kind of a waste at first level since I will rarely have to cast it more than once in a day, and that's the spell level I'll have the most castings of. However, there are very few spells that fit the Force theme that could plausibly fit there. Shield could fit, but I'd rather not spend the action in combat setting it up. Mage Armor is a nice 'all-day' spell, though again, I will only need one or two castings in a day.
  • Manyjaws seemed like a good options for a go-to blasting spell, and is rated highly in most handbooks. I could be convinced to replace it, but I think it's a fine selection as-is.
  • The level 6 spell is giving me the most trouble. At one point I just stuck Thunderlance in there despite pushing its spell level back just to shoe-horn it into the build, but I decided that it's not worth it. I can replicate it through other class resources if I need to jump into melee, though I probably won't want to be there too often. Blade Barrier is an alright spell, though not really all that great; Howling Chain is a rather good spell, though I'm not sure how much shelf life it'll have once every enemy and their grandmother can fly. I'm also not thrilled with the material cost.
  • Force Cage is a nice spell for 7th level, though it's expensive at 1500gp a pop. Anything worth replacing it with?
  • The lack of saving throw on Maze is what makes me think of replacing Telekinetic Sphere at 8th level; it's not a [force] keyword spell, but it fits the theme (specifying the maze itself is made of planes of force). However, trapping something in a force bubble and moving it around has its own appeal.
  • For 9th level, there's not a ton of great options either. There's some appeal to Binding Chain of Fate, especially as another control spell. Crushing Fist of Spite offers a pretty nice "set it and forget it" damage option, though that's about it. I'm also not 100% sure I can ignore the Disease component in casting the spell; The wording of God Magic says I supply expensive and xp components myself, but says nothing of anything else. I imagine the disease component as being almost literally the only thing that makes the spell [Evil], so I could probably convince the DM to remove both parts and leave the spell otherwise intact. However, I'm also open to finding a better spell to put in this spot as well.


So, any advice? Keep in mind, these will not be the only spells I have access to; I just want to get the most I can out of this domain as it fits the character, and part of their portfolio will include Force Magic.

13
Magics of Arhosa / Boncyff [Race]
« on: May 29, 2014, 11:30:11 PM »
Boncyff

Though hardy and resilient, Boncyff are nonetheless abominations. The product of Necromantic experimentation, they are perhaps the only known success in creating Undead with a soul. This gives them many unique advantages compared to normal undead, though it still leaves them in limbo between life and death. Though originally meant to be the perfect undead minion, Boncyff were made fully self-aware, and thus capable of making their own decisions such as whether to disobey an order. This has not endeared them to their Hegni creators, and the Hegni tend to treate them as if they are incapable of thought, punishing any disobedience harshly.

Personality
Each Boncyff is completely unique, and thus a wide variety of personalities can be observed, though most often they come off as rough, distant, and cold in temperament. However, most are forced into the role of soldier or guard for some important personage in the realm of Marleath, and as a result are expected to act and behave like mindless servitors. As a result, most are taciturn and short of speech, although amongst their own company they can be more gregarious.

Physical Description
Due to the way in which they are created, it is incredibly rare to find two Boncyff who are identical, and they are not a highly populous race to begin with. Many look much as they did in life, with a generically humanoid shape and an average human range of heights and builds. Others may be missing pieces of flesh or body parts, often replacing them with mismatched parts or covering them up. Others yet may be almost gaunt and skeletal. All Boncyff have deadened flesh which is a pale, mottled grey in a variety of shades, with plates of magically-treated bone acting as a sort of exoskeletal armor. Some still possess their original eyes, though not all do. As such, some Boncyff have a pale mote of light glowing within their eye sockets, often in hues of blue, red, or yellow, though others have been encountered.

Relations
The Boncyff do not have an easy time in their racial relations. Created as servants to the Hegni, they have never risen above that are distinctly lower class citizens in the heirarchy of Marleath. Hegni believe they can order Boncyff around on a whim, and because of the power structure of Marleath, they are more or less right. The Casglwyr look upon the Boncyff as the perfect creatures upon which to experiment and graft, and as such are feared even more than the Hegni. Only the Gollwyd have a reasonable relationship with the Boncyff, although it is still master to servant. But at least the Gollwyd acknowledge that the Boncyff are sentient and treat them as such. Other races do not know of the existence of the Boncyff, and would most likely be shocked to hear of their existence.

Religion
Boncyff find their judgement of religion coloured by their interactions with the Hegni. Despite being sentient undead, and thus firmly within the domain of Lledrith, they despise that god for what he has allowed to happen to them. But they do not particularly find solace in the arms of any of the other dieties, excepting some Boncyff who feel a connection to Hannhangnefedd.

Language
Boncyff speak Marletan, and no other, by default.

Adventurers
Most of those Boncyff who become adventurers have done so by fleeing Marleath, venturing outward through the long dark of the tunnels, eventually finding their way to the surface. Amongst Boncyff society, such as it is, there always persists rumours of these sort, inspiring another few Boncyff to take that step into the unknown.

Boncyff Racial Traits
  • +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma: Boncyff are tough and resistant to many of the world's perils, though they are not the brightest minds, nor the most personable.
  • Medium: As Medium creatures, Boncyff have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Living Undead: Boncyff are Undead with the Living Undead subtype. A living undead is a created being given sentience and free will through powerful and complex creation enchantments. Boncyff are living undead that combine aspects of both undead and living creatures, as detailed below.
    Features: As a living undead, a Boncyff has the following features.
    --A Boncyff derives its Hit Dice, base attack bonus progression, saving throws, and skill points from the class it selects.
    Traits: A Boncyff possesses the following traits.
    --Unlike other undead, a Boncyff has a Constitution score.
    --Unlike other undead, a Boncyff does not have low-light vision or darkvision.
    --Unlike other undead, a Boncyff is not immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities.
    --Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, effects that cause the sickened condition, and energy drain.
    --A Boncyff cannot heal lethal damage naturally.
    --Unlike other undead, Boncyff are subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, and death effects.
    --As living undead, Boncyff can be affected by spells and effects that target living creatures as well as by those that target undead. Damage dealt to a Boncyff can be healed by either positive energy or negative energy effects (such as by A Wound Mended or The Black Whip, respectively), and a Boncyff is vulnerable to spells that specifically target and affect Undead.. However, effects that heal hit point damage that do not specifically heal undead provide only half their normal effect to a Boncyff. Necromantic effects or magic that specifically targets undead still heal a Boncyff normally, and Boncyff react normally to the fast healing ability.
    --A Boncyff responds slightly differently from other Undead or living creatures when reduced to 0 hit points. A Boncyff with 0 hit points is disabled, just like a living creature. He can only take a single move action or standard action in each round, but strenuous activity does not risk further injury. When his hit points are less than 0 and greater than —10, a Boncyff is inert. He is unconscious and helpless, and he cannot perform any actions. However, an inert Boncyff does not lose additional hit points unless more damage is dealt to him, as with a living creature that is stable.
    --As a living undead, a Boncyff can be raised or resurrected.
    --A Boncyff does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, but he can still benefit from the effects of consumable spells and magic items such as potions.
    --Although living undead do not need to sleep, a Boncyff must rest to recover certain class features, such as the 8 hours necessary for a Wizard to recover and prepare his spells.
  • Hardened Flesh: Boncyff are created in such a way that their skin is more resistant to damage, and bone plates cover sensitive areas. Boncyff gain a +2 bonus to Natural Armor.
  • Lifebond (Su): Once per day, a Boncyff can choose a specific living creature that is friendly to them as a full-round action, creating a special bond with that creature. Whenever the chosen creature is within 60 feet, the Boncyff gains a +1 bonus on all saving throws; double this bonus against Fear effects and Necromancy effects (such as Necros and spells of the Necromancy school of magic). If the chosen creature dies, the Boncyff loses these bonuses and takes a -2 penalty on all saves for 24 hours. If they replace the chosen creature with another living creature on a subsequent day, the bond can be transferred at their option. A Boncyff can only be subject to one Lifebond at a time.
  • Automatic Languages: Marletan. Bonus Languages: None
  • Favored Class: Champion

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14
Magics of Arhosa / Casglwyr [Race]
« on: May 29, 2014, 11:28:44 PM »
Casglwyr

The third of the three races with some position of power in the realms of Marleath, the Casglwyr have always been regardeded with some suspicion by the others. Doubtless useful, their strange prediliction for body modification and grafting, especially to their own living forms, has caused the Hegni and the Gollwyd to view them with some suspicion. But the Casglwyr do not appear particularly interested in the politics or the power struggles, and as such are mostly left alone to pursue what strange desires they wish. Their mastery has come at a price, however, and Casglwyr have degenerated in body and mind. Casglwyr have paid the price gladly, as it has allowed them to carefully craft their own destiny on an individual basis.

Personality
Casglwyr are extremely unsettling due to uncanny reserves of patience and focus, benefits that are balanced with unstable and uncertain minds. Casglwyr are sometimes encountered deep in the middle of an internal dialogue, except they seem to be speaking for both sides. Other times, they may burst out in an intense and sudden display of rage, despair, fear, or any number of other emotions, seemingly for no reason at all. Other Casglwyr are capable of coming across as completely sane and normal, though one may yet wonder if their mental instability is merely hidden away. The only common trait is that they are, one and all, obsessed with the process of changing their forms.

Physical Description
Casglwyr come in all shapes and sizes, with many of their physical features having been replaced with a variety of grafts from other creatures, or altered through magic. An unaltered Casglwyr ranges in height between Hanian averages to slightly larger. Their skin is naturally a pale shade of violet with their darker veins providing a contrast not entirely unlike marble stone, and their wispy hair comes in shades of white. Their eyes are solid orbs of white, with no discernable pupil or iris, though this has no effect on their vision.

Relations
The attitude of the ruling races of Marleath, the Hegni and the Gollwyd, is that it is best to leave the Casglwyr to their unnatural researches. While keeping a weather eye on them, of course. The Boncyff, often the target of their experiments, are terrified by what the Casglwyr are able to do to them, and avoid the vivisectors at any and all costs. The races of the surface have not yet met the Casglwyr, but when they do, their reactions will be one of horror.

Religion
Casglwyr are aware of the Gods and their imminent war, but are far too busy fine-tuning their craft to care much beyond a nodding worship in the direction of Lledrith. The other gods they worship as the need arises, a mercenary attitude that has not endeared them to any of the pantheon.

Language
Casglwyr speak Marletan. They occasionally learn to speak other languages, mostly to speak to any creatures captured from the surface.

Adventurers
Casglwyr are seen as useful freaks, which gives them more freedom within the constraints of Marletan society than any other race possesses. Casglwyr are free to set out on long expeditions to hunt down artefacts, unusual creatures for grafting, or all other manner of treasure, and as long as they are not disruptive, Ve Angau and his servants are entirely unconcerned.

Casglwyr Racial Traits
  • +2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma: Casglwyr have spent ages perfecting their necromantic grafting talents, at the expense of their sanity and their self-knowledge.
  • Medium: As Medium creatures, Casglwyr have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Grafted Form: Upon character creation, the Casglwyr may choose one undead graft of 1st or 2nd level, and gains the benefits and penalties of that graft.
  • Flesh Heritor: Casglwyr start with one bonus corpuscle available to them at character creation.
  • Grotesque Countenance: With any creature who is not necromantic or undead, Casglwyr take a -4 penalty on all charisma-based skill checks.
  • Graft Familiarity: Casglwyr gain a +4 bonus to Knowledge checks to identify grafts and their abilities, and may make such skill checks untrained. They also receive a +2 bonus on all Heal checks related to grafts.
  • Automatic Languages: Marletan. Bonus Languages: TBD
  • Favored Class: Vivisector
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15
Magics of Arhosa / Gollwyd [Race]
« on: May 29, 2014, 11:26:04 PM »
Gollwyd

Gollwyd are relative newcomers to the art of necromantic magic, although that is only as practitioners. Once, they were one of the lesser peoples who populated the borders of the Hegni kingdom, and became the subject of the experiments conducted by their budding necromancers. But rather than afflict their people, as those experiments had done to so many others, they appeared to take favour upon them. Perhaps it was the hand of Lledrith at work, not wishing to put all of his new magic into a single basket, but for whatever reason, the Gollwyd grew in stature and personality over the many long years in the dark of Marleath, and are now vying with the Hegni for positions and power beneath the uncaring eye of Ve Angau.

Personality
A shrewd people, Gollwyd are used to analyzing the motives of other people and preparing for as many variables as possible. In the best of cases, the Gollwyd are manipulative and commanding, unafraid to take charge or impress their opinion upon others. In the worst cases, they are paranoid and obsessive, hesitant to leave a room until they have counted all of the buttons on all of the shirts of each occupant of the room. But whatever form their personality takes, they either strike fear or admiration into the hearts of those who gaze upon them, and are more than willing to take advantage of such a change.

Physical Description
Gollwyd share the same range of average height and physique as Hanians, with whom they might once have been kin, though they tend to be less hardy. Their skin is pale and cool to the touch, and though exceptionally smooth and flawless, seems to be drawn a little too tight for comfort. Their sharp, angular features do little to hide their opportunistic, predatory nature. Gollwyd tend to possess dark hair of brown or black, though some may be born with any hair color natural to Hanians. Likewise, a Gollwyd's eyes may be any color natural to Hanians, though in some cases red or solid white or black eyes have been observed. Some Gollwyd can pass for Hanian if they wish with little help.

Relations
Gollwyd are distrustful of the Hegni, though they often have to rely upon their cousins in necromancy to garner subjects to practice their Necromantic experiments upon; As such, they tend to find ways to charm and beguile those who might be of assistance, or if that fails they use simple diplomacy or bribery to get what they want. Unlike the Hegni, the Gollwyd tend to look upon the Boncyff with some friendship, recognizing that they are more than just the dumb brutes that the Hegni generally treat them as. As for the Casglwyr, much as the Gollwyd will make use of their talents towards vivisection, they otherwise regard them as warily as the Hegni do. They do not have relations with other races, as such, and any Gollwyd on the surface is almost certainly goinng to be treated as a Hanian.

Religion
As with their cousins in necromancy, the Gollwyd are devoted to the worship of Lledrith. Perhaps more so, as he raised them out of slavery and into a position of prominence within the lands of Marleath. Unlike the Hegni, they do not bare a particular hatred to Drancedigaeth, being able to understand his revilement at the practice of necromancy. Being somewhat more open in religious practices than the others in Marleath, they find time for each of the gods in turn, although Awyr Leuad is all but ignored, for the heavens do not exist in Marleath.

Language
Gollwyd speak Marletan, and have little to no cause to learn any other.

Adventurers
Undead minions don't grow on trees, though they can often be found rooted in the ground. The most powerful undead companions are forged far from civilization, and the darkest magic is usually hidden in the depths of the hidden places of the world. Gollwyd adventurers go out to seek ever greater ways to further their goals, no matter what they may be. They will plant themselves within a group of other adventurers so that the seeds of their deceptions can grow strong over a longer period of time, as the undead are not the only unwitting minions that can be useful.

Gollwyd Racial Traits
  • -2 Constitution, +2 Charisma: Gollwyd are not the hardiest of the races, given their connection to the undead, but they more than make up for it with a canny ability for both deception and leadership alike.
  • Medium: As Medium creatures, Gollwyd have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Gollwyd base land speed is 30 feet.
  • Low-light vision: While Gollwyd cannot see in the dark as the Undead can, they have enhanced vision that allows them to see twice as far as a human in conditions of dim light.
  • Unnatural Presence (Su): Animals, whether wild or domesticated, can sense the unnatural presence of a Gollwyd at a distance of 30 feet. They will not willingly approach nearer than that and panic if forced to do so; they remain panicked as long as they are within that range. The animal can make a Will save (DC of 10 + ½ your HD + your Charisma modifier) to resist the effect. Gollwyd cannot gain the service of an Animal Companion (such as that granted by the Totem Companion feat) unless the creature has a Type other than Animal, such as through an alternate class feature or feat.
  • Perverted Life: Due to their link to the negative energy that powers Necromantic magic, Gollwyd take a -1 penalty per die of hit points healed by positive energy effects (to a minimum of 1 hit point restored), such as most effects that heal hit point damage. However, they are healed by negative energy at a rate of 1 hit point for every 3 points of damage they would otherwise take. This does not grant immunity to Energy Drain effects or Death effects.
  • Leader's Charm (Su): Given their natural (and unnatural) charisma, Gollwyd make excellent leaders and can bolster their allies with their very presence. Allies within 30 feet of the Gollwyd receive a +1 bonus on Fortitude, Reflex, or Will saves. The Gollwyd can change which save receives the bonus as a move action.
  • Wary: Gollwyd are naturally suspicious of creatures they come across. You gain a +2 racial bonus on Sense Motive checks, and take a -2 penalty on Diplomacy checks.
  • Automatic Languages: Marletan. Bonus Languages: Any
  • Favored Class: Overlord
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16
Magics of Arhosa / Hegni [Race]
« on: May 29, 2014, 11:24:24 PM »
Hegni

The Hegni, once, were one of the surfaces races of Arhosa, gifted in the lore and magic of the world. But they were consumed by ambition, by the need to be better than they were, magically and physically. To that end, they began to experiment, first upon their own people then upon those who lived near to their lands, taking their bodies and minds and warping them, twisting them. Eventually, the best amongst the Hegni settled upon the undead as a solution to their dilemma, for intelligent undead need never perish, and so the greatest Hegni magicians transformed themselves into liches and other intelligent undead. Over time, fierce infighting whittled away at that number until only Ve Angau was left. He, as patriarch of the Hegni kingdom, drove the experiments to lengths unheard of, creating a number of lesser races that would serve or assist his Hegni. But to the kingdoms around him, the Llethu and Enayinbo in particular, what he had done was an abomination. Thus enraged, they drove back his undead servitors and encroached upon his very fortress. In response, Ve Angau worked a great magic, driving the Hegni people far underground, safely away from the prying eyes of the Arhosan kingdoms. Now the Hegni work their magic in peace, having all but forgotten the surface world.

Personality
Hegni stand out wherever they go, and are used to dominating those around them, for they are the greatest of the races of Marleath, and consequently act as such. They use their greater intelligence to their advantage wherever possible, seeking to outthink and outmaneuver any rivals. Conversely, they do understand the purpose of a good ally, and will use what they can to bolster relationships that may prove advantageous. Hegni are not necessarily evil or malicious, though there is certainly a large enough population that are. Many simply seek to understand the connection between spirits, undead, and the living, though they rarely let moral obligations stand in the way of their studies.

Physical Description
The most striking feature of the Hegni is the fact that they are semi-transparent, having become partially incorporeal due to experiments done centuries ago by their ancestors. Hegni tend to be tall and willowy, with adults averaging between 6 to 6 ½ feet in height and possessing a slim profile. Hegni hair is thick and coarse, and is most often found in shades of black, brown, and red. Their grey skin ranges in shades from light slate to dark charcoal. Hegni eyes are fairly normal, though the color of their irises are almost always light in hue, commonly blue, green, or grey.

Relations
Marletan races do not have relations, as such, except with those others who share the space with them, for they do not interact with the surface in any way. Boncyff are regarded as servants, little more than created tools. Casglwyr, for all their talents, are generally looked upon askance, for their personality and behaviour is bizarre at best, psychotic at worst. As for the Gollwyd, their more recent ascent to the pinnacle of the necromantic arts has spawned an unfriendly rivalry with the Hegni, and they view one another with ill intent.

Religion
Hegni are all but entirely devoted to Lledrith for the gifts he bestowed upon them, for it was he who recognized the ambition of the original Hegni people and gave them what would become the magic of necromancy, the relations with the undead upon which the land of Marleath is so dependant. Conversely, they view with Drancedigaeth with the utmost hatred, a feeling that is entirely mutual, for the god of death would see all of Marleath ripped asunder and lost forever, as its magic is an affront against all that he holds dear. The other gods come into play very little in the view of the Hegni, their minds being concerned only with the conflict that made them what they are.

Language
Hegni speak Marletan, and have no inclination or knowledge to learn other languages.

Adventurers
Inside Marleath, almost every member of the Hegni race could be considered an adventurer, for simply staying alive and outside the brutal politics and power struggles that take place beneath the notice of Ve Angau is a difficult challenge. Indeed, these days it is constrained by the existing power structures, and by the knowledge that should any action prove too disrupting, the dark Patriarch will take action. As a result, there are those few amongst the Hegni who have decided to see if perhaps there is a better option in gaining power - the surface. After all, there must be kingdoms aplenty where a smart necromancer can make his mark. And so although the trickle of Hegni to the surface is not great, it is steady.

Hegni Racial Traits
  • -2 Strength, -2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma: Hegni are exceptionally bright with strong minds and an imposing presence, despite their drastically weakened bodies.
  • Medium: As Medium creatures, Hegni have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Darkvision: Hegni can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and Hegni can function just fine with no light at all.
  • Scorn Earth (Su): The ancestors of the Hegni sacrificed part of their mortal connection to the realm of the living for a greater connection to the spirits of the afterlife. The Hegni floats up to 1 foot above the ground at all times, though they are incapable of exceeding that distance normally. Instead of walking, they glide along, unconcerned with the hard earth or difficult terrain. While they remain within 1 foot of a flat surface of any solid or liquid, the Hegni can take normal actions and make normal attacks, and can move at their normal speed (they can even “run” at four times her normal speed). For all purposes, Hegni are treated as walking rather than flying. Hegni are still subject to the rules for overland movement, including those for a forced march, and can still fall from a great height if they are not within a foot of a suitable surface (they do not stop a foot from the ground; after falling, the Hegni may stand up and resume floating as normal).
  • Phantom Touch (Su): While Hegni are only partially incorporeal and thus interact normally with material objects, they are able to reach through a living creature and drain the warmth and vitality from them. Hegni gain an incorporeal touch attack which deals 1d4 + their Charisma modifier damage to living creatures, and the target also becomes fatigued for 1 minute on a failed Fortitude save of DC 10 + 1/2 character level + charisma modifier.  Hegni use Dexterity in place of Strength for attack rolls with their Phantom Touch. Undead are immune to the damage and fatigue, and instead gain temporary hit points equal to the damage they would have taken. These temporary hit points do not stack. Hegni are immune to the effects of Phantom Touch.
  • Partial Incorporeality (Su): Hegni are often known as 'Living Ghosts' due to their limited opacity. This quality also lends them some limited benefit in combat. Hegni impose a 5% miss chance on all weapon attacks against them, similar to concealment, although this miss chance does not stack with any others.
  • Automatic Languages: Marletan. Bonus Languages: Any
  • Favored Class: Necromancer
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17
Magics of Arhosa / Necromantic Races Discussion
« on: May 24, 2014, 12:26:40 AM »
Since I'm at a bit of an impasse as far as balancing and tweaking the Necromantic races I was writing up, I'm going to post what I've got and see what anyone else can do with them. The idea was to come up with one race vaguely ideal for the Necromant and one for the Overlord, and one general melee-oriented race (as I'm not sure yet how the Vivisector is supposed to play).

The Gollwyd are similar to Dhampir (half-vampires) from other media in that they're touched by undeath but not undead themselves, although they have certain vampiric traits such as an unnatural charisma, obsessive personalities, and an aura that naturally frightens away animals. They can easily play either the creepy Nosferatu-type or the pretty Anne Rice type, though they're not vampires and don't need to subsist on blood/con-drain. Could make an interesting racial trait, though I didn't want them to actually be a vampire-lite. They manipulate others to do their bidding, which I felt was necessary for a race meant to be an Overlord with plenty of minions. This was the first race I started writing up, so it's gotten the least amount of attention as I tweaked more with the other two races. I'd like to work more of the manipulation and charm in, so this is the race most likely to get a complete overhaul in features.

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The Boncyff are basically the Undead version of Warforged, and thus fill the melee beatstick role. Instead of being Constructs with the Living Construct subtype, they are Undead with the Living Undead subtype. The same sort of alterations to the traits of the Type are made, though instead of doing a plain translation I altered things a bit to make them at least a little unique. Instead of partial immunity to crits, I give them a limited form of the Lifebond feat from Libris Mortis, though I played with giving them very limited Lifesense. I couldn't get it balanced so I chucked it.

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The Hegni are the Necromant race, meant to be spooky and mysterious though not innately evil (merely self-centered jerks in most cases). They are fully living, though I was inspired by the depiction of mages in a webcomic to create a race with glowing veins and eyes, which led me to try and work out the balanced Lifesight thing again. Once again, I couldn't get it to a satisfying level of balance, so I scrapped it in favor of reflecting their self-absorbed nature and their strength as casters, specifically as Necromants. Given the pale glowing, I decided to toss a little Illumian in there, to boot. Originally I was going to throw in some incorporeal undead flavor in, but this worked out to be more unique and flavorful.

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-----------------------------------------------------
I'm certain these aren't balanced as-written, so please do provide notes on how they can be altered. Or scrapped and written from scratch, if need-be.

18
Monstrous Builds / Gods - Phenominal Cosmic Power
« on: August 24, 2013, 10:25:18 PM »
I'm currently in the process of building (rebuilding, technically) a character using the God class. It's been slow going, because there are just so many options to consider, and I've got obsessive traits that keep me fiddling with such things. I'm not looking to make 'the most powerful thing of all things' but I am having issues trying to resolve potency with versatility. The class is capable of achieving this quite easily if one has little-to-no DM intervention, though it's a class that really requires incredibly close DM scrutiny. Most of this stems from the reliance on the God's portfolio to determine their realm of influence. There are, for instance, ways for the God to get a measure of spellcasting, but usually limited by their Portfolio and/or Domain(s). So, no cherry-picking spells.

Beside that, there are so many Divine Characteristics and Divine Salient Abilities to choose from. Over 20 levels you can generally get just about everything you really want, but building a character up half-way means prioritizing.

So to make a long story short, I've been trying to find builds of God characters to use as reference, but I only really know of one (Raineh Daze's character for the now potentially defunct Heroes Reborn PbP campaign). Does anyone else have a build handy? What options and combinations seem the most interesting to you, and how would you go about putting them to use in a character?

(Sorry if this isn't quite the correct place for this. I didn't want to clog the class's thread, and this isn't really a min/max topic. This subforum seems the appropriate place to ask this.)

19
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / [3.5 PrC] Rage Mage (Rewrite)
« on: July 08, 2013, 12:19:00 AM »
Rage Mage



Some men seek glory, or ancient wisdom, or sometimes just peace and tranquility in the world. On the other hand, some men just want to watch the world burn. A Rage Mage channels his fury through his magic, and then into his attacks, becoming a true force to be reckoned with. Which path will he take?

BECOMING A RAGE MAGE

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Alignment: Any nonlawful
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Feats: Combat Casting
Spells: Able to cast 2nd-level arcane spells.
Special: Rage or frenzy ability


Class Skills
The Rage Mage's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).
Skills Points at Each  Level 2 + int

Hit Dice: d8


Level
Base
Attack Bonus
Fort
Save
Ref
Save
Will
Save

Special

Spellcasting
1st+0+2+0+0Spell Rage, Rage Armor
2nd+1+3+0+0Arcane Frenzy+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd+2+4+1+1Rage +1/day+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
4th+3+4+1+1Spell Fury+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th+3+4+1+1Greater Spell Rage+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
6th+4+5+2+2Rage +1/day, Awaken Rage
7th+5+5+2+2Outburst 1/day+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
8th+6+6+2+2Spell Rage (improved benefits)+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
9th+6+6+3+3Rage +1/day, All the Rage+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
10th+7+7+3+3Outburst 2/day, Tireless Spell Rage+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Rage Mages gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spellcasting (Ex): At every level except for 1st and 6th, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you has also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a Rage Mage, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Spell Rage (Ex): A Rage Mage no longer abides the standard limitations of the Rage ability, and as such can now cast spells while in a Rage as long as the spell's casting time is no longer than 1 full round. Furthermore, while under the effects of a rage, the Rage Mage's caster level equals his character level, and he can attempt concentration checks to avoid having a spell disrupted, though he still may not use any other Charisma, Dexterity, or Intelligence-based skills other than Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, or Ride. Otherwise, his Rages continue to operate in the same way, except as modified below.

Rage Armor (Su): Rage Mages incur arcane spell failure chances as normal, and thus most resort to their magic as they do not tend to wear any armor. At 1st level, whenever you enter a Rage, you gain the effects of the Mage Armor spell (thus, rather than having a -2 penalty to AC from raging, you now have a +2 armor bonus from your magic). Furthermore, by etching magical tattoos into their body, a Rage Mage may enhance their Rage Armor in the same way armor may be enchanted, treating the Armor effect as masterwork armor and paying the normal costs for enchantment. However, Rage Armor cannot have a total enhancement bonus higher than your Rage Mage class level.

Arcane Frenzy (Su): At 2nd level, a Rage Mage learns to balance his time between spellcasting and melee combat, becoming deadlier at both in the process. While under the effects of a Rage, you may add +1d6 energy damage for every two class levels (round down) to your melee damage rolls for 1 round after you successfully cast a spell. This bonus damage has an energy type that you may select when you enter your Rage, and which remains chosen until the Rage ends. You may choose for this bonus damage to be fire, cold, electricity, or acid damage.
At 8th level, each die of damage from this ability gains a +1 bonus to damage and attacks and your attacks bypass the concealment miss chance of incorporeal foes while under Arcane Frenzy is active. The Rage Mage may also choose to change the bonus damage's elemental type once per round at the start of their turn.

Furthermore, while in a Rage, when you deal damage from a melee attack your spells have a +1 bonus to Caster Level and to Save DCs for 1 round. This bonus doubles at 8th level.

Rage (Ex): At 3rd level a Rage Mage can enter a Rage one additional time per day, and another additional time per day at 6th and 9th levels.

Spell Fury (Sp): At 4th level a Rage Mage can cast a spell with a range of Personal as a free action when they first enter a Rage. This ability functions once per encounter.

Greater Spell Rage (Sp): Starting at 5th level, Whenever the Rage Mage enters a Rage, they are also automatically affected as though by the Rage spell, gaining a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus to Will saves, as well as taking a further -2 to AC. The Rage Mage may choose not to benefit from this effect if they so choose. This effect lasts until the Rage ability ends.

Awaken Rage (Sp): At 6th level, when a Rage Mage enters a Rage, they may affect a number of their allies equal to their class level with an effect similar to the Rage spell, granting them a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, while also imposing a -2 penalty to AC. This bonus lasts as long as the Rage Mage remains under the effects of their Rage ability. This ability's effect does not extend to the Rage Mage.

Outburst (Su): At 7th level, 1/day while in a Rage, the Rage Mage may affect all enemies within a 30-ft. radius with a violent outburst. A ghostly illusion with the appearance of the Rage Mage appears next to each foe, and attacks with a single blow. The Rage Mage makes a melee attack against each target. Upon a successful hit, the target takes normal damage from the Rage Mage's melee attack, plus 1d4+1 bonus damage per class level, and the target must make a Reflex saving throw against a DC of 10 + 1/2 character level + primary casting ability modifier or be knocked prone. Flying enemies may fall to the ground upon being knocked prone. All damage from this ability is considered force damage, and the attacks are not subject to the concealment miss chances for an incorporeal target. The attacks made as part of this ability do not benefit from the Rage Mage's Arcane Frenzy ability.

At 10th level, the Rage Mage may use this ability one more time per day, but only once per encounter.

All the Rage (Ex): At 9th level while in a Rage, a Rage Mage doubles the effect of all Morale effects that they become subject to, or subject others to. This includes the morale bonus to will saves from their Rage ability, as well as the Awaken Rage ability or morale bonuses gained from spells.

Tireless Spell Rage (Ex): You want to know the Rage Mage's secret? He's always angry! At 10th level a Rage Mage no longer needs to be Raging to benefit from Greater Spell Rage's effects. The spell's benefits become permanent, Extraordinary effects, and thus no longer activate upon entering a Rage. This bonus can be suppressed or reactivated as a swift action. Additionally, the Rage Mage is no longer fatigued after ending his Rage ability, and the Rage Mage need no longer enter a Rage to benefit from the Rage Armor, Outburst, and All the Rage class abilities.

PLAYING A RAGE MAGE
 The Rage Mage is, first and foremost, all about bringing the pain. Through magic and might, the Rage Mage is capable of becoming the most fearsome combatant on the battlefield. Rage early, buff up, and paint the town with your enemies' blood.
 Combat: Strangely enough, the Rage Mage is a natural party buffer, granting greater melee strength while later boosting any morale effects they impart on others. In combat, the Rage Mage will want to alternate between casting spells and melee attacks in order to keep their Arcane Frenzy ability going.
 Advancement: As arcane spellcasters, Rage Mages will likely seek ways of advancing their durability while progressing spellcasting. Rage Mages should already qualify for Abjurant Champion levels, and its class abilities in particular may help offset the AC penalties incurred from Raging. Eldritch Knight also helps improve the Rage Mage's base attack bonus while further advancing spellcasting.
 Resources: Though quite capable on their own, Rage Mages function best as part of a team. Regardless of whether you are functioning as an adventurer or a tribal shaman, there is no reason to turn down aid where it is available, or to provide it when it is needed.

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Off Topic Fun / Looking for some advice
« on: March 16, 2013, 06:42:25 PM »
Ok, so this isn't exactly light-hearted or fun, but this isn't a rant either. I could genuinely use some help, and this seems like the forum to ask for it in.

So I mentioned in another forum that I've got some pretty bad student loans. I currently owe somewhere between 130-150k between three student loan institutions. Two are private, and one is a set of Federal Loans. I already know I can reconsolidate my federal loans, so that's not the problem.

What I'm looking for is advice on what to do about my private student loans. Currently, between Sallie Mae and MEFA (a massachusetts-based lender), I pay ~$1400 per month, besides my federal loan payments (over $300/mo) and car loan payments (over $250/mo). That's a lot of money, and I don't make enough at my job to support this.

It had been suggested to me by my father to seek out loan consolidation, but there are very few institutions doing student loan consolidation right now thanks to the economy and how boned students are thanks to the high cost of tuition and living expenses at some colleges. I'm also paying for school on my own; my parents are upper-middle-class, but don't have a whole lot of savings.

So, does anyone have any experience with loan consolidation? Or with paying for student loans in general? My current job doesn't really leave much space for getting a second job, maybe just a few hours here or there, but I'm already exhausted all week from my current job. I also make enough as a pharmacy technician that most people with my job can live a comfortable, if lower-class living.

Any help or constructive advice would be appreciated.

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