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Messages - Draco Dei

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61
Ah, actually the saving throw bonus was an after-thought. I created this spell because I wanted/needed a 0th level spell that was thematically related to Silence. In the setting this is intended for... well, never-mind the details. Let's just say that having a bunch of spells that are very niche or even useless to the average adventurer is actually a plus.

What I might end up doing is creating two versions of the spell. One of which has no penalty at all, or perhaps a token -1 or -2. Probably will also reduce the duration. That would be the version recommended for "public" use.

Then there would be the version for the "Equestria Begins" campaign I am running on a Discord server. For that one I might actually INCREASE the penalty, since that is literally its core function in the setting. Magical equivalent of stuffing your ears with wax so you can focus better on your research. Naturally, anyone who wanted to use this could... perhaps a wizard they characters are working for who gets irritated at them for both thinking he isn't using it "Just poke me or wave your hands infront of my face you numbskulls!" and thinking he is "You don't need to shout." and/or "What are you doing? Stay away from me!". Because he has had Arcane Sight permanancied on himself for decades and has forgotten the opportunity costs of casting Detect Magic at the drop of a hat... this scenario could probably use work, but I think it gives the general idea.

62
<Trying to delete due to accidentally quoting instead of modifying, but there doesn't seem to be an option for that...>

63
Why is the verbal component Bard only?
Because it is supposed to be a spell that you often end up wanting to cast right on the other side of a door from a potential threat*, but the only bard spell I know of that DOESN'T have verbal components is the one that lets you over-ride Silence.
*While hoping they don't notice the "hole" until it is too late.

Suspected that aspect might be unprecedented (can't remember for sure, even now), decided to throw it in there anyway.

64
These are generally more complex than most Traits. That will make balancing them a bit difficult.
True, but you have known me a while... par for the course for my 'brew, right?

For what it is worth, they haven't caused any problems in my game, although Inoffensive has never come up, and the only character with "Physical Training Focus" quit in a rather sudden huff over something unrelated.

65
I would definitely reduce the penalty and the duration.  Compare it to Resistance
I see where you are coming from, but am reluctant to do that with an effect that can be replicated with a few coppers worth of bee's wax.

Resistance doesn't have any downsides to having it cast on you, and is more difficult to replicate all the effects of with purely mundane means. Not that you CAN'T especially for specific threats, but then again this only protects against one very specific sort of threat.

So... are you sure?

66
So if I have this right, you cast the spell, and when the spells duration ends you (or whoever you cast it on) remembers nothing of the events that happened while the spell was in effect?
Well, as long as your definition of "duration ends" also includes "the spell is dismissed" then yes.
Is there a way for regaining these memories?
Well, as it stands, Modify Memory could probably get back 5 minutes worth per casting. I am thinking it shouldn't be easy to counter, but I should probably allow at least Wish and Miracle to by-pass it. What do you think?

Maybe have it vary as you go up the chain? Dispel Magic -> Break Enchantment/Greater Dispel Magic -> Limited Wish->Wish/Miracle. Probably keep it to stuff at least one or two spell levels higher than the specific memory-wiping spell in question? Or maybe select the levels so a Wizard would have to have a higher level to be able to cast the level of spell that can counter it than the minimum bard level to cast it in the first place?

67
Quiet
Illusion (Glamer)
Level: Bard 0, Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: One Willing Creature
Duration: 1 hour/level (D)*

This spell muffles sound around the targets sound-sensing organs. The target takes a -10 penalty to listen checks and they gain a +4 bonus on saving throws against deafness from loud sounds, including both thunderstones and against that specific effect of spells that deafen via loudness (so NOT Holy Word or Blindness/Deafness for example, but including any spell that also deals [Sonic] damage). Use the same roll, but increase the total by 4 for the determining if the target is deafened.

*Both the target and caster of this spell have the ability to dismiss this spell simply by willing it so.



Questions:
Should I increase the listen penalty and/or adjust the saving throw bonus?

Is the wording clear? If not, any suggestions for better wording?

68
Sleight of Hand
Conjuration
Level: Bard 0, Sorcerer/Wizard 0, Assassin 1
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Components: V, S
Range: Touch
Target: 1 Non-Magical object
Duration: 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw: No (Object Only)
Spell Resistance: No (Object Only)

The object must meet all of the following criterion:
  • Free to move from its current location (So NOT, for example, a link of a chain, part of a lock, a nail in in a wall, or a ball carved from the middle of a larger ball made of a lattice with spaces too small for the smaller ball to fit through).
  • Unattended by anyone other than yourself.
  • Non-Magical
  • Have a volume of 1 cubic inch/level or less.

The object vanishes into an extra-dimensional space linked to the body-part you touched it with.

While in this extra-dimensional space the object has it has total cover and concealment. It reappears when the spell ends or is suspended by any means. The space includes sufficient air to keep a candle or torch of any size small enough to be effected by the spell from going out.

If you dismiss this spell it appears from any part of your body you could use to deliver a touch spell. If it ends by any other means it appears in the closest space to the part of your body you used to initially cast this spell sufficiently large to contain it and is not inside of something/somecreature.



Questions:
Levels and class access look good? Should I maybe bump this up to 1st level across the board and then make a 0th level version with an Instantaneous duration that teleports an object from one point of contact with your body to another (including the traditional "up my sleeve" as a possibility for both source and destination)?

How could I phrase the "freely moving" condition better?

Less important:
Should I change the school back to Transmutation to match Rope Trick? Probably not... What about adding the [Summoning] sub-school?

69
Peephole
Illusion (Glamer)
Level: Bard 1, Sor/Wiz 1, Assassin 1
Casting time: 1 standard action
Components: V(Bard only), S
Range: Touch
Target: Object Touched
Area:  1 inch diameter cylinder extending directly away along axis of finger (or equivalent body-part) used to touch object for 1/2 inch per caster level.
Duration: 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw: Yes (Object Only)
Spell Resistance: Yes (Object Only)

The portion of the object described under "Area" turns invisible. Attended objects or magical objects receive saving throws and, if appropriate, spell resistance.



Notes:
Just remember it works both ways...

Questions:
Levels and classes look good?

Should I have verbal components for all versions of this regardless of class?

Should there be certain materials this doesn't work through? Magical objects? Lead? Metals in general?

70
These are inspired by Modify Memory. And yes, the base spell has three footnotes, and a single sentence makes up ~95% of the importance of the main body its description.

Secret Business, Least
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind Affecting]
Level: Assassin 1, Bard 1, Blackguard 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: 1 willing creature*
Duration: 5 rounds/level (D)
Saving Throw: Will Negates (Willing Only)**
Spell Resistance: Yes (Willing Only)***
*Charm, Domination, torture, blackmail, etc still count, they just autopass on any saving throw attempted. Pro Tip: You can target yourself!
**The save only matters for stuff like "any spell that allows a will save"-type mechanics.
***So if the target has spell resistance, by R.A.W. it has a chance to stop the spell if the target doesn't take the action to drop their resistance.

When this spell ends by the duration expiring, or being dismissed (but NOT by Dispel-ing or other such means) the target forgets all that occurred while it was active.

Note that this does NOT cause a loss of levels, experience, skill ranks (except, at the GMs discretion, those that represent very secret knowledge), etc gained during the duration, just that the character can't remember he has those skills until they are in an appropriate situation to use the specific one, and can't remember how they learned them.

Explaination: The above paragraph is fairly pointless for THIS spell... slightly less so as you get into its higher-level sequels, and very important for the highest level spell in this series.

Also note that a given instance of this spell can't erase the memory of its own casting.


Secret Business, Lesser
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind Affecting]
Level: Assassin 2, Bard 2, Blackguard 2
Duration: 5 minutes/level (D)

This spell functions like Secret Business, Least except for the increased duration.


Secret Unpleasantness
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind Affecting]
Level: Assassin 3, Bard 3, Blackgaurd 3
Target: 1 creature*
Duration: 10 minutes/level (D)
Saving Throw: Will Negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
*Note the removal of the word "willing".

This spell functions like Secret Business, Least except for the changes in the header above.

Especially note that a given instance of this spell can't erase the memory of its own casting.


Secret Business
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind Affecting]
Level: Assassin 4, Bard 4, Blackguard 4
Duration: 1 day/level (D)

This spell functions like Secret Business, Least except for the increased duration.


Secret Unpleasantness, Greater
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind Affecting]
Level: Bard 5
Target: 1 creature*
Duration: 2 days/level (D)
Saving Throw: Will Negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
*Note the removal of the word "willing".

This spell functions like Secret Business, Least except for the changes in the header above.

Especially note that a given instance of this spell can't erase the memory of its own casting.


Secret Life
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind Affecting]
Level: Assassin 4 (self only), Bard 6, Blackgaurd 4 (self only)
Duration: Permanent (D)

This spell functions like Secret Business, Least except for the increased duration and that the target may spend 1 minute to dismiss it as if they were the caster.



These are great for secret societies. Which makes them more likely to fit in with the villains than the heroes, but there is no reason a heroic character couldn't use them. They have use for doing interviews regarding crimes while keeping the course of investigation secret even from the most important of witnesses/suspects. I've seen something like the 6th level version of this in some fiction although that mind-wipe usually removes skills along with memories.

With the fact that most of them function very much like each other a bard character very focused on this sort of magic might end up using a lot of his "swap spells when leveling up" on this. Is that a bad thing?

Note that the duration increases are a smaller multiple for the ones that can work on an unwilling target. Should there be NO duration increase relative to the previous spell level for those two?

Are there any other changes I should make or implications I should be aware of?


Notes to self:
Add material component of one drink's worth of alcohol, but possibly change this to absinth or nepenthe specifically for the 9th level version? Maybe.
Add option for reversion via a command phrase or (as a drawback) Dispeling (add both if I do this, just that either one works in any specific case) to 2nd and higher level versions of Business, but NOT any version of Unpleasantness? Probably.
Explicitly state that Modify Memory can recover 5 minutes per casting.

71
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / [3.5] My Pre-existing Traits (P.E.A.C.H.)
« on: November 08, 2021, 11:00:14 PM »
This is my first post as I am hoping to migrate from Giant in the Playground to here for my homebrewing. I have much more to come, but some of it will probably be a significant amount of work to re-code for the formatting here.

P.E.A.C.H. stands for "Please Examine And Critique Honestly".



This first one makes "Dumb Jock" less of an oxymoron in D&D.
Physical Training Focus
Some people use their understanding to gain greater insight into how to perform better physically... others don't let having the attention span of a squirrel on a sugar rush stop them from having the acrobatic skills of one.
Prerequisites:
Intelligence 11 or lower (minimum 3)
Strength greater than Intelligence OR size Tiny or smaller
Constitution greater than Intelligence OR no Constitution score (such as most constructs and undead)
Dexterity greater than Intelligence

Benefit
For the purposes of skill points per level replace your intelligence modifier with 1.

Drawback
You may not put skill points into or take feats that give bonuses to NORMALLY cross-class Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma based skills, and such skills that NORMALLY are class skills count as cross class (but never exclusive to another class) EXCEPT FOR Listen and/or Spot if those are, respectively, class skills. This means (for example) that a Rogue with this trait can still put skill points into Use Magic Device, but he only gets 1 skill rank per 2 skill points he puts into it and a can have a maximum number of ranks in the skill of (Character Level +3)/2.
For the above purposes, "Speak Language" is considered to be an Intelligence based skill. Which means, for example, that a fighter with this trait can't put skill-points into "Speak Language" and a bard with this trait would treat "Speak Language" as a cross-class skill. There are still no skill rolls involved and still no such thing as "partially fluent" in a language.

Special
If you have both this and the Dabbler trait, your effective Intelligence Modifier for purposes of skill points is 3. In other words, you apply this one first.

Roleplaying Ideas
Characters with this trait might be "jocks" or very at harmony with their own bodies but a bit befuddled by the world around them.



Next up, we have something for when the "Jack of All Trades" feat doesn't go far enough to serve your character concept and other diversified character concepts.

Should this have additional benefits to eliminate (or even just reduce) the delay in getting into Prestige Classes?

Dabbler
Your studies are eclectic.
Benefit
Count your intelligence modifier as being 2 points higher for purposes of calculating your skill-points*. At first level you select two skills that are either knowledge skills or can be used untrained. Treat these as always being class skills. You also only require 3 ranks in a skill to gain a synergy bonus from it, rather than 5, provided you have at least 1 rank in the skill that the synergy bonus is granted TO.
*So 4 effective intelligence points for this purpose, usually granting 8 additional skill points at 1st level and 2 at each level after that.

Drawback
Your skill rank maximum for class skills is 2+(3/4 level). Your skill rank maximum for cross-class skills is (level+4)/3.

Special
If you have both this and the Physical Training Focus trait, your effective Intelligence Modifier for purposes of skill points is 3. In other words, you apply this one second.

Roleplaying Ideas
Characters with this trait may flit from interest to interest, never devoting themselves to any one pursuit for very long at a time.



This next one lets those with poor social skills (whether from the player, the character, or both) speak up with much less fear. Might also have a place in socially focused character builds in low level campaigns or ones where the GM makes such things a big challenge for even highly focused characters. ((What do people think of this in each of those two roles?)
Inoffensive
You don't often get what you want, but at least things don't get any worse.
Benefit
When making a diplomacy check you reduce all DCs 10 points for the purposes of if you make the situation worse than (or the same as) it was before. Similarly, when attempting a Gather Information check, you are 10 points more likely (applied as a reduction to your DCs or penalty to the rolls of others as necessary) to avoid being thought of as suspicious, or attracting attention. When using the Aid Another action with Diplomacy or Gather Information, you bestow this benefit instead of providing a numerical bonus, provided you succeed on your own check.

This 10 point DC reduction and aid another effect applies to Animal Empathy if you select to have all effects of this trait apply to that class feature.

Drawback
You take a -2 penalty on Diplomacy checks and Gather Information checks (and animal empathy if selected). You provide no numerical bonus when using the Aid Another action with Diplomacy or Gather Information.

Special
When you take this trait you may decide to have it apply to Animal Empathy or not. Once made this choice is permanent.

Roleplaying Ideas
Characters with this trait may not be very pushy, except when they are intentionally being so (IE making an intimidate attempt). They may simply state their desires in a way that makes it clear they are simply making them known in case it matters to anyone. When working with a group they smooth over any ripples in negotiations with outsiders.

((Question to reviewers: Should Inoffensive also grant the benefit that any Sense Motive check against your bluff checks that doesn't succeed by at least 2 (5?) means they don't believe you, but also aren't sure enough to hold your possible lie against you. Maybe a -2 to bluff and a 5 point margin of "doubt"?))



A bit of intro to this next one: Was making a sniper character for a player to use in my game and was reading a handbook or two to figure out how to do it better. Whipped up this trait to fix a common gripe. And yes, it is inspired by Hawkeye's statement in The Avengers.

Should I drop the second pre-requisite for this?

"I see better from further away"
You prefer to take the long (range) view of things.
Prerequisites
  • Proficient with at least one weapon with a range increment of greater than 30' (NOT counting the Far-Shot or other range-extending feats, magic such as the Distance enhancement, etc)
  • 4 Ranks in Spot (P.F. 1 rank in Perception) OR Skill Focus [Spot]

Benefit
You count as having the Point Blank Shot feat for Pre-requisites, including for Prestige classes (but see below). You can deal Precision Damage out to 1 range increment (whatever that is for the individual weapon after accounting for feats, enhancements, etc.), but, again, see below.

Special
If you achieve 6th level in Ranger you may replace the Manyshot bonus feat with the Far-Shot feat, or any feat that has Far-Shot as a pre-requisite. If you do so, you must meet all pre-requisites of the feat you select EXCEPT for dexterity score and the Point Blank Shot feat (if it has one or both of those as requirements).

Drawback
You take a -2 penalty to attacks rolls (including melee attacks) at ranges of 30 feet or less. Within this range you also take a -2 to Spot checks. You do not gain precision based damage within this range.
You may never gain the Point Blank Shot feat or any feat that can substitute for it. If a class grants it you may instead select a different feat that has that feat as a prerequisite and that you qualify for. If you would gain it from an item and the item offers no alternative benefit if you already have it, then you do not gain anything from that aspect of the item. If it offers an alternative if you already have that feat then you may select such an alternative as if you had it.

Roleplaying Ideas
You may literally hang back from where-ever important things are happening, perhaps favoring high perches.



This last one I am least sure is not overpowered.
Careful Reader
You have great skill with the activating of scrolls, but at the cost of speed.
Benefit
You treat all spells on scrolls as being one spell level and three caster levels lower for purposes of deciphering and/or activating them. The effects of a successfully activated scroll are unaffected by this trait.
Drawback
Reading a scroll requires one full round, plus one round for each spell level. The reduction to effective spell level does not apply to this.
Roleplaying Ideas
Your speech when verbalizing written information may be precise but slow. You might never insert your own thoughts in leu of the text as written (unless, perhaps you are doing so very much intentionally) no matter how nonsensical and rife with errors the work may be.

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