Discussion and Suggestion Thread

[pppp]

I'll give it another look, but I'm generally of the opinion that not every level needs to be equally powerful, so long as the build as a whole has interesting components.  We'll see, though!

You know, a quick and dirty solution is to let arcane mastery spellsage use these abilities at will. Less bookeeping and as I proved, they aren't gamebreaking at their level.

Right, but--unlike a beguiler--no spellshaper is restricted to only Fleeting Image formulae.  Specializing in illusions means that your specialization will be useless against things not subject to illusions.  However, you'll still--at the very least--have the spellshape attacks from your other circles.

Okay, I got it. Still not happy

[DonQuixote]

I had actually already decided to move detect magic and arcane sight to at-will, based on various points that have been coming up in a current game.  So, that's done.  The 20th-level ability has been upped to a number of times per day equal to your Intelligence modifier.

I'm not going to switch everything to at-will for the very simple reason that you shouldn't always be able to instantly win against spellcasters.  Plus, I don't want the choice between standard spellsage and Arcane Mastery to tilt too far in favor of the ACF.

[pppp]

Thanks for adjusting this ACF!

On the other hand, do you know such item as ring of spellbattle (MIC or CA, but short description can be also found in first post HERE). It has quite unique and powerful ability, maybe it could be nice addition to the last ability of arcane path instead of true seeing?

[DonQuixote]

I mean, spellbattle just lets you counter (which you can already do) or change the spell's target.  It also lets you know about all spellcasting within 60 feet, but so does a combined greater arcane sight and true seeing.  Not worth the change, in my opinion.

[pppp]

Nope, there is a difference between ring of spellbattle and greater arcane sight.  The latter gives you only information about active spells, the former about spells being cast. This means that you are allowed to identify all spells even when casting concealed. True sight do not penetrate walls or skill tricks or simple cloaks.

[DonQuixote]

I mean, I would also assume that spell-battle doesn't let you penetrate walls, since--last I checked--the assumption is that effects require line of effect.

It's also worth noting that quickened true-seeing would be a tenth-level spell slot, while quickened greater arcane sight would be an eleventh-level spell slot.  You're doing both at once.

[DonQuixote]

Stoichen and spellsoul armor racial feats are up, and I'm toying with some other ideas for racial feats.  Probably won't be too many of these, but I really, really wanted to let stoichen be descended from Paracelsus' elementals.

Incidentally, the erdom, salamander, sylph, and undine are totally going to be among the spellshaping monsters that get written, under the header "Primeval Elementals."  The only one of those that isn't one of Paracelsus' elementals is the erdom, and that's because "gnome" was taken.  ("Salamander" is technically also taken, but I'm going to deal with that by defining the Monster Manual salamanders as imperfect descendents of the original elemental salamander.)

New material is going to be generally slow for the next couple of weeks, though. End of the semester and finals. So it goes.


Edit: Also changed the living spellshape slightly, since it's supposed to actually be blind.  Also futzed around with its ability score adjustments to compensate more for its size.


Edit Edit: Played around with the blindness some more, since I realized that normal blindness left the living spellshapes completely immune to all illusions forever.

[DonQuixote]

Fixed an oversight that allowed you to simultaneously benefit from multiple lamens.  New Codex II PDF has the errata.

[pppp]

You seem to be correct on this subject. Thanks for explanation!

Personally I love Living Armor race. All of their racial feats are fine for me with one exception: Mithral-Forged Body feat is strictly better than Alloy-Forged Body one. For the price of one point of Armor, Mithral-Forged Body offers a) light armor (ability to cast without ASF in light armor is far more often than casting in medium armor), b) -1 ACP (far better than -3 offered by Alloy-Forged Body) and higher Dexterity mod. Is  Alloy-Forged Body feat a bit redundant?

[DonQuixote]

The solution!

Base: +8 armor, +1 Dex, -5 armor check, 35% arcane spell failure
Alloy: +6 armor, +3 Dex, -4 armor check, 25% arcane spell failure
Mithral: +4 armor, +5 Dex, -3 armor check, 20% arcane spell failure

The armor bonus, combined with the maximum Dexterity bonus, adds up to +9 for each armor type.  And mithral no longer increases your base land speed, so it isn't quite as obvious a choice.  The existence of both feats is intended to allow you to choose medium or light armor, just as a normal character would.  And, hopefully, this leaves them more or less equal.

[Nanshork]

Having them all equal in armor bonus is a good step. 

[pppp]

The armor bonus, combined with the maximum Dexterity bonus, adds up to +9 for each armor type. 

Well done.

Do armor feats normally affect Dragonborn Spellsoul Armors, who lost their living armor ability due to the ritual of rebirth?

[DonQuixote]

Given that your race is no longer "Spellsoul armor," I'd imagine you don't qualify for them.

Also, you look very strange, since you still don't have legs, yet you can no longer levitate.

[Garryl]

Dragonborn is only a template. You're still a Spellsoul Armor, you just don't have any of the Spellsoul Armor racial traits. Since the armor feats don't actually require you to have the Living Armor ability, you can take them all the same. Gonna have to look at the wording to see if they actually give you any benefit, though. It's the same situation as Adamantine/Mithral Body Dragonforged (er, Dragonborn Warforged).

If this isn't what you want, DonQuixote, there's a really easy fix. Just explicitly require the racial ability that the feats are modifying as a prerequisite for those feats. Why the Warforged Body feats aren't like that I'll never know. It's like defensive programming 101 or something.

[DonQuixote]

I could swear that dragonborn warforged didn't actually get to benefit from the feats...

[Garryl]

They lose their racial bonus feats (poor humans), but nothing stops them from being members of their original race.

[DonQuixote]

...by the gods, you're right.  It even specifies that you still count as a member of your original race for the purpose of meeting prerequisites.

Well, guess I'll implement that fix, then!

[pppp]

Thanks for clarification! It's a small detail, but very important in my build

[DonQuixote]

New Codex I PDF, containing some typo fixes.  More importantly, some errata that lets a spellshape champion use her weapon for the somatic components of her formulae.  Yeah...that wasn't the case before.  Oops.

I am, incidentally, entirely alive and not dead at all.  The recent drought has a lot to do with a horrendous history research paper that I've been having to work on.  The to-do list still stands, and new material will resume once I have time!

[DonQuixote]

Masked ones got racial feats.  I'm actually kind of terrified of a masked one savant with Dissembling Visage, Unmasking, and Mask of Domination.  It would certainly be an interesting villain.