1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime

[Jackinthegreen]

Make a PrC for adepts like Sublime Chord is for Bards.

[Garryl]

Tactical raging

At higher levels, and even at low-mid levels with the Extra Rage feat and other options, a standard Barbarian has more than enough rages to enter one in every encounter during the day. The only penalties are the loss of skills that the Barbarian wasn't investing in anyways and a minor AC penalty that matters less and less as attack bonuses become greater and alternative attack forms that don't target AC (or attack touch AC) become more common. So why not rage all the time?

Under this variant, rages have unlimited uses. Not per day, not per encounter, just at will, with a few exceptions. Instead, the Barbarian gets a number of different rage variations, each of which have certain limitations, situations in which the Barbarian can be forcibly removed from his or her raging state.

Once your rage ends, you become fatigued for some time. You cannot enter a rage again until after that duration has elapsed, even if you are immune to fatigue or the condition is removed prematurely.

A Barbarian knows one type of rage at level 1 and gains a new type known every 4th level. The Extra Rage feat grants knowledge of 2 new types of rage. Anything else that gives an extra rage per day instead gives an equal number of rages known.

Rage still lasts for up to 3 + Con mod rounds, unless you are knocked out of it early. I'm not addressing, yet, what happens as rage improves at higher levels (greater/mighty rage and indomitable will).

Skill restrictions refers to the standard limitations on what skills you can use in a rage. Not all types of rage retain them.

Battle Rage
Restrictions: None.
Effects: +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 Will saves, -2 AC, skill restrictions.
Limitation: Rage ends if you do not attack an opponent nor are attacked by an opponent for 1 round.
Aftereffects: When your rage ends, you are fatigued for 2 rounds.

Berserker Strength
Restrictions: You cannot call upon your Berserker Strength while you have more than half your maximum hit points.
Effects: +4 Str, +2 Will saves, DR 2/-, fast healing 1, skill restrictions.
Limitation: Rage ends if your hit points rise to greater than half your maximum.
Aftereffects: When your rage ends, you are fatigued for 5 rounds.

Deathless Frenzy
Restrictions: You cannot enter a Deathless Frenzy while you have more than one quarter your maximum hit points.
Effects: +8 Str, +2 Will saves, -2 AC, extra attack on full attack (all at -2), skill restrictions. You are not disabled/dying from hp or 0 or less, nor are you staggered/unconscious from nonlethal damage equal to or greater than your hp. Add 1/4 your maximum hit points to your actual hit points to determine whether or not you are dead.
Limitation: Rage ends if your hit points rise to greater than half your maximum.
Aftereffects: When your rage ends, you are fatigued for 5 rounds and exhausted for 2 rounds.

Duelist's Frenzy
Restrictions: You cannot enter a Duelist's Frenzy while flanked.
Effects: +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, +1 Will saves. Choose a single opponent you are aware of when you enter the rage. You deal +1d4 damage on all melee attacks against that opponent.
Limitation: Rage ends if you are attacked by a flanking opponent other than your chosen opponent.
Aftereffects: When your rage ends, you are fatigued for 2 rounds.

Furious Bulwark
Restrictions: None.
Effects: +4 Con, +2 Will saves, DR 5/-.
Limitation: Rage ends if you move more than 5 feet during any round.
Aftereffects: When your rage ends, you are fatigued for 2 rounds.

Short Fuse
Restrictions: None.
Effects: +2 Str, +2 Con, +1 Will saves, -2 AC, skill restrictions.
Limitation: Rage ends after 3 rounds, regardless of the remaining duration.
Aftereffects: When your rage ends, you are fatigued for 2 rounds.

Superstitious Rage
Restrictions: You cannot enter a Superstitious Rage while subject to fear (shaken, frightened, panicked, or cowering).
Effects: +4 Str, +2 on saves vs. spells and supernatural abilities, -2 AC, skill restrictions.
Limitation: Rage ends when you fail a save against or allow yourself to be willingly affected by a spell or supernatural ability, excluding those you use on yourself.
Aftereffects: When your rage ends, you are fatigued for 1 round. If your rage ended as a result of a spell or supernatural ability, you are also shaken for 3 rounds.

Whirling Frenzy
Restrictions: You cannot enter a Whirling Frenzy while prone, entangled, or immobilized.
Effects: +4 Str, +2 dodge to Ref saves, +2 dodge to AC, extra attack on full attack (all at -2), skill restrictions.
Limitation: Rage ends when you fall prone or fail to move at least 5 feet during your turn.
Aftereffects: When your rage ends, you are fatigued for 2 rounds.

[Jackinthegreen]

Nothing about Ferocity from the Cityscape web enhancement or Resilient Rage from Dragon 330?

[Garryl]

I forgot about ferocity, and I'm not familiar with resilient rage.

Thoughts about higher levels... At 11th level, you can choose two types of rage when raging. The effects stack, and the limitations of either can still remove the whole rage. The durations of the fatigue from the aftereffects stack. At 20th level, this improves to 3 types of rage at once.

Frenzied Berserker PrC: Requires knowledge of the Deathless Frenzy rage. Grants the ability to use Deathless Frenzy at higher hp (up to any amount of hp less than your maximum at 10th level) and increases the effects and the bonus to your effective hit points to avoid dying.

[Jackinthegreen]

Resilient Rage: Instead of normal rage bonuses, gain +4 to Dexterity, +2 to Constitution, +2 to Will Saves, and damage reduction 1/-.  This temporary damage reduction stacks with the permanent damage reduction the implacable gains at higher levels.
At 11th level, the bonuses increase to +6 Dexterity, +6 Constitution, and DR 2/-.  At 20th level the bonuses improve to +8 Dexterity, +8 Constitution, and DR 3/-.

[Jackinthegreen]

Various construct grafts for the legs.  Mostly to replace said legs and enough of the pelvis to attach the grafts.  Different variations can be spiderlike and give a climb speed; heavy and give a bonus against trips, bull rushes, etc.; get a faster base land speed; and so on.

[Jackinthegreen]

Mongrelfolk have seven component races in their ancestry:  Dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, human, orc, and...  Goblin.  Clearly there's some interbreeding going on besides half-elves and half-orcs.  I'm contemplating something along the lines of Races of Consequence, but only working with half-races since the quarter ones in RoC would bring the total number too high.  Though I suppose starting with a half-goblin and doing the full RoC treatment would work as well.

And there's also Races of Ansalon to look at for comparing things like gnome/human and such.

Edit:  Huh, RoA has half-goblins.  It's a start.

[Keldar]

How to make 1/4 races: Feats. First level only.  Want a mongrel (not folk)?  Play a human, take two.
1/4 Elf: You gain low light vision and +1 bonus to listen.
1/4 Orc:  You gain Darkvision 20 feet and fetching tusks.

[Amechra]

Standardizing saving throws. I mean, more than they already are.

Every effect has one of the following Save lines:

Type I: No save
Type II: Yes (Save Partial)
Type III: Yes (Save Negates)
Type IV: Effect Partial (Save Negates)
Type V: Automatically Fails

Willing creatures may treat any effect as if it was Type I.
Evasion treats the Save line for an effect with a Reflex save as if it were one step highter. Improved Evasion improves it by another step.

Same story for Mettle.

[Jackinthegreen]

Feat or other ability that lets an ally make an AoO against an enemy that is forced to make a Reflex save.  Maybe just on a failed save or something.

[Stratovarius]

Make a PrC for adepts like Sublime Chord is for Bards.

This sounds like it would be a very fun class to make. Might take a stab at it myself.

[Garryl]

Just some thoughts on those spells that affect humanoids specifically. Why should it specifically be easier to affect humanoids with magic than any other type? How about instead affecting creatures of your type? So giants can charm, dominate, and size-change other giants, etc.

Sympathetic Friendship (Sor/Wiz 1, Bard 1, etc.): As Charm Person, but affects your creature type.
Sympathetic Paralysis (Sor/Wiz 3, Cleric 2, etc.): As Hold Person, but affects your creature type.
Sympathetic Domination (Sor/Wiz 5, Bard 4, etc.): As Dominate Person, but affects your creature type.
Sympathetic Growth (Sor/Wiz 1, Strength 1, etc.): As Enlarge Person, but affects your creature type.
Sympathetic Reduction (Sor/Wiz 1, etc.): As Reduce Person, but affects your creature type.
Sympathetic Daze (Sor/Wiz 0, Bard 0, etc.): As Daze, but affects your creature type.

Since we're mucking about with creature types being important for spells, here's another thought.

Sympathetic Conversion (Sor/Wiz 4, etc.): For the purpose of spells and abilities, your creature type becomes that of the touched creature for 1 hour/level. Does not affect your traits and features resulting from type. You still count as your actual type for meeting prerequisites and for any other purposes.

[Jackinthegreen]

Make a PrC for adepts like Sublime Chord is for Bards.

This sounds like it would be a very fun class to make. Might take a stab at it myself.

Aside from getting 9th level spells, it would also need some sort of spice that thematically goes along with the adept's repertoire.  Something building on the familiar for sure since that's the adept's only class feature, plus some other things based on how adepts aren't as studied as clerics.  Maybe more spontaneity in spells or something, plus some access to certain normally arcane spells as divine ones.

[Stratovarius]

Make a PrC for adepts like Sublime Chord is for Bards.

This sounds like it would be a very fun class to make. Might take a stab at it myself.

Aside from getting 9th level spells, it would also need some sort of spice that thematically goes along with the adept's repertoire.  Something building on the familiar for sure since that's the adept's only class feature, plus some other things based on how adepts aren't as studied as clerics.  Maybe more spontaneity in spells or something, plus some access to certain normally arcane spells as divine ones.

So... I might have interpreted "adept" as "martial adept", resulting in this guy.

I do have a few ideas around the arcane side of the adept though, which is basically cribbing from the spell learning class feature of the Beguiler and allowing the adept to spontaneously cast those. As well as maybe grabbing a few abilities from the Bonded Summoner for the familiar.

[Amechra]

A tune-up to the Rilken and Skarn, and a "Paragon Class" called the Mishtai Reclaimer that both races can take.

Some notes:

• The Rilken and the Skarn are just the different genders of the Mishtai, with Skarn being the males and Rilken being female. Confusingly enough, which "race" you belong to does not determine what human gender you appear to be - because the Mishtai are lizard people, and don't care.
• Rilken racial skill bonuses change to +2 to Bluff and Escape Artist.
• The Skarn's natural weapon scales with the number of Soulmelds they have shaped; this replaces the "gain benefits for binding a Soulmeld to their arms" thing.
• Any time a Rilken uses Aid Another with another Mishtai , the bonus they give increases by one. If they have a Soulmeld bound to the Brow chakra, the bonus instead increases by two.
• The Skarn increase the bonus for fighting defensively by one. If they have a soulmeld bound to the Arms chakra, the bonus increases by two instead.

The Mishtai Reclaimer would have two components; first, each subrace would have its own Paragon Class, and completing that would allow them to take Mishtai Reclaimer itself. I'm kinda waffling about whether or not they should get proper meldshaping - I kinda want them to have a unique Soulmeld list drawing imagery more from Grafts than items.

[Amechra]

Play with the Hierarchy of Ability Types a bit.

The Hierarchy is:

• Natural: Passive, cannot be Countered, Dispelled, or Suppressed.
• Extraordinary: Active or Passive, cannot be Countered, Dispelled, or Suppressed.
• Supernatural: Active or Passive, cannot be Countered or Dispelled.
• Spell-Like: Active, cannot be Countered.
• Spells: Active.

[Amechra]

A 5-level PrC that gives you pieces of the Incorporeal subtype as class features. Each piece should be active, so you can toggle your miss chance or whatever.

[Stratovarius]

A 5-level PrC that gives you pieces of the Incorporeal subtype as class features. Each piece should be active, so you can toggle your miss chance or whatever.

Psion Uncarnate isn't quite what you're looking for?

[Amechra]

A 5-level PrC that gives you pieces of the Incorporeal subtype as class features. Each piece should be active, so you can toggle your miss chance or whatever.

Psion Uncarnate isn't quite what you're looking for?

Of course not.

[Stratovarius]

Of course not.

Given that, I'm assuming you mean a five level class that gets a permanent ability to swap in and out of incorporeal and doesn't really rely on magic at all? So more for rogues/shadow focused people?