Discussion and Suggestion Thread

[The-Mage-King]

Or hilarious.

[DonQuixote]

Can't say I know the reference.

[The-Mage-King]

The Character is Tobi, from Naruto.


For most of the second half of the series, he was the comic relief minion.

(click to show/hide)

Then it turned out that he's actually the BBEG and pulling the strings all along.


The comic relief part is what I was poking fun at.

[DonQuixote]

Ahhh.  Yeah, I was just thinking about the sort of villain who has minions carry his mask around in a box so that he's never in danger, then ends up possessing a trusted NPC for the last few sessions.

[pppp]

My mate from gaming group pointed out, that the living armor race is incredibly powerful. Especially their immunity to trip attacks makes them unstoppable opponents for many lockdown builds. Moreover, they cannot be hurled by Unseen Impetus or Setting Sun throws.

[DonQuixote]

Sorry for the long delay before a reply, but it's been a crazy week and I'm just starting to settle down.

Now, in terms of lockdown builds...I don't feel particularly strongly on that one.  If we get some more voices in here, I'll concede the point, but I've never actually heard of a DM throwing a lockdown build against a party.  The question on whether or not you can use Setting Sun or Unseen Impetus throws actually has a lot to do with interpretation, as those say that you "resolve the throw as a trip attempt."  I would allow them to be thrown, as you are simply using the trip attempt rules, rather than actually tripping the target.

I haven't actually had any time to write new material recently, but I do have a contest entry for a prestige class contest that has ended.  I should be able to post it before the end of the week, so look for that.

[Nanshork]

I don't see immunity to being tripped as an issue, but that's just my opinion.

[DonQuixote]

Have a prestige class.

(Not entirely new, as I wrote it for a prestige class contest, but it hadn't actually been posted with the spellshaping stuff until now.)

[Garryl]

Gee, more Searing Flame love? Seems like a disproportionate amount of classes have a fire theme, although that might just be me.

Ashen Eyes: Didn't you already do this idea with the Hand of Death's Chill's Frostsight, except better?

I don't understand why the vow requires you to forsake heavy armor. Between proficiency with all martial weapons and Spellshape Channeling, it implies a combative bent that should fit with it. You'll still probably be suffering ASF for it, unless you already spent took the time and effort to get class features to negate that. Besides, with a d6 hit die and an explicit inability to make the usual ranged spell shape attacks, you're going to be pretty vulnerable.

The scrying stuff is fun, and I suppose pretty darn necessary. Since you can't actually see that far, you could be easily walking into an obvious ambush if you don't look ahead for it.

Other than that, you're an Oracle of the Stars without the circle options or the luck manipulation. Doesn't feel all that impressive to me.

[DonQuixote]

Gee, more Searing Flame love? Seems like a disproportionate amount of classes have a fire theme, although that might just be me.

Yeah, it's a problem.  Thing is, I have more fire-related ideas than anything else.  They're the things that interest me.  You have the ideas that you have, and there's not much you can do about it.  *Shrug*

Ashen Eyes: Didn't you already do this idea with the Hand of Death's Chill's Frostsight, except better?

It's actually closer to the Living Spellshape vision.  Thing is, I really wanted to play up the blind oracle angle, but I also didn't just want to give you blindsight at level six.  I chose to have you slowly develop your vision, as it is now.

I don't understand why the vow requires you to forsake heavy armor. Between proficiency with all martial weapons and Spellshape Channeling, it implies a combative bent that should fit with it. You'll still probably be suffering ASF for it, unless you already spent took the time and effort to get class features to negate that. Besides, with a d6 hit die and an explicit inability to make the usual ranged spell shape attacks, you're going to be pretty vulnerable.

The original conception was of a lightly-armored oracle darting through combat.  I suppose an insight bonus to AC could well be in order.

The scrying stuff is fun, and I suppose pretty darn necessary. Since you can't actually see that far, you could be easily walking into an obvious ambush if you don't look ahead for it.

It's also most of where the idea for the class came from.  I started thinking about actual pyromancy, which led to this.

Other than that, you're an Oracle of the Stars without the circle options or the luck manipulation. Doesn't feel all that impressive to me.

Hrmm.  I shall give it some thought, then possibly re-build.  I actually find the ashbound oracle to be a much more attractive class than the oracle of the stars, but that might be because of my aforementioned elemental predilections.

[The-Mage-King]

So, it's been kinda bugging me for a while, but...


Why do second level formulae all require you have a formula from that circle? Second, at least, should be able to be gotten with dips.

[DonQuixote]

Why do second level formulae all require you have a formula from that circle? Second, at least, should be able to be gotten with dips.

*Shrug*  This is just a point of philosophy on which we disagree.  Dabbling gets you 1st-level formulae, but anything more advanced than that takes commitment.

[DonQuixote]

So, I expected that, over the summer, I'd have a lot of free time to work on the spellshapers.  I projected finishing my to-do list by the beginning of August, and that I'd have the third PDF finished by the time I headed back for my last year of college.

I'm having to re-evaluate this time scale.  I'm working for a PR firm, which is taking up a decent amount of my time during the week.  I'm still playing D&D Thursday nights--we're doing the D&D Next playtest this week--which also eats up a sizeable chunk of time.  On top of that, being home means that I'm exposed to all manner of distractions.  I can finally play Skyward Sword, for example.  For another example, I'm currently in the middle of finally watching Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Finally, I was having issues with some of the new material even when I did have time.  The Anchorite character options are tough, since one of them needs to replace the auras--meaning a new effect for every circle.  I've done some poking at it, but it's still pretty daunting.  If you take a daunting task, then factor in less free time and a myriad of distractions, you end up with a lot of difficulty in getting things done.

I am not, however, abandoning the spellshapers by any means.  I'm planning to review and heavily modify the Ashbound Oracle sometime in the vaguely near future, as editing will take less work and time than actually writing from scratch.  Hopefully, that will start getting my head back in the game and I'll be able to get to work on that to-do list.  I apologize for the delay in new material, and thank you all for your patience.

[Amechra]

Finally watching NGE? Good, it's a classic.

Notice anything about my avatar?

And I'm excited to hear about a new PDF; in honor of it coming out, I will make... a prestige class!

Probably mixing spellshaping with Warlocks (Eldritch Blast as a spellshape attack? WIN. Full stop.), or maybe with some other piece of homebrew that I have sitting around, gathering dust.

In other words... if I get it to you before you start working on everything, would you by any chance be willing to include it as official content?

I know, I overstepped my bounds! Please, not with the hose, not with the hose!

[DonQuixote]

Finished it in two days.  I've watched the first two movies of Rebuild, and I'm not sure that I like where things are going at the end of You Can (Not) Advance.  I vastly preferred where things went in the anime, but I'm willing to withhold judgment until You Can (Not) Redo.

Yeah, the prestige class can quite readily go into the list of official stuff, after I give it a cursory once-over.  I'll just be happy to have new things present--I'm really distressed with how much I've slowed down.

[Amechra]

You've written 2 sourcebooks by yourself; you are allowed to slow down.

Seriously, you are on the list of the most prolific homebrewers I've ever encountered the work of: the only other people I can think of who are anywhere near as prolific within one given system are Realms of Chaos (Xenotheurgy) and sirpercival (Rituals).

[The-Mage-King]

*Shrug*  This is just a point of philosophy on which we disagree.  Dabbling gets you 1st-level formulae, but anything more advanced than that takes commitment.

Understandable.


Also, there should be a feat allowing you to deal nonlethal damage with spellshape attacks/formulae. Because, really.

[pppp]

I made a little ACF for Savant which turns her into spellshaping variant of the beguiler. Sorry for clunky wording.


Savvy Trickster
Some savants, instead of academic lore, gather wisdom of rogues and other scoundrels.

   Class: Savant.
   Level: 1st.
   Replaces: You do not gain the Savant's Knowledge and Scholar's Cantrips class features.

   Benefit: At first level you treat Appraise, Balance, Bluff, Climb, Disable Device, Disguise, Escape Artist, Forgery, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Speak Language, Spot, Swim and Tumble as class skills. In addition, you receive trapfinding (as rogue).

At 5th level, your formulae become more effective when shaped against an unwary foe. All of following abilities affects only opponents which are denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether they actually has a Dexterity bonus or not).

At 5th level, you gain a +1 bonus to the save DC of any shaped formulae.

At 8th level, you gain a +2 bonus on rolls made to overcome the spell resistance.

At 11th level, you deal additional two dices of of damage with a spellshape attack.

At 14th level, your bonus to DC increase to +2.

At 17th level, you automatically overcome spell resistance of any foe.

At 20th level, the number of additional dices of damage of a spellshape attack increases to five.

[DonQuixote]

You've written 2 sourcebooks by yourself; you are allowed to slow down.

Seriously, you are on the list of the most prolific homebrewers I've ever encountered the work of: the only other people I can think of who are anywhere near as prolific within one given system are Realms of Chaos (Xenotheurgy) and sirpercival (Rituals).

Yes, but I have a to-do list that I have not done.  This fills me with guilt.  Plus, from what I've seen thus far, I'm going to be jumping ship to D&D Next when it's released, so I want to make sure that I wrap up my 3.5 homebrew properly.

Also, there should be a feat allowing you to deal nonlethal damage with spellshape attacks/formulae. Because, really.

A good point.  I should start compiling a list of minor, but useful, feats to add.  This shall be at the top.

I made a little ACF for Savant which turns her into spellshaping variant of the beguiler. Sorry for clunky wording.


Savvy Trickster
Some savants, instead of academic lore, gather wisdom of rogues and other scoundrels.

(Snip)

Thing is, I'm not actually sure how this related to the theme of gathering knowledge.  Sure, you can say that they "gather wisdom of rogues and other scoundrels," but the thing about savants is that they obsessively collect knowledge.  As a savant advances, she mechanically gains more and more knowledge about foes, allowing her to take advantage of different bonuses.  Instead, you here just get more martially powerful.

The thing about the savant is that it is intended as a tactical class with a support-based chassis.  One of my planned savant ACFs trades the savant's knowledge for a bardic music analogue--instead of focusing on knowing everything about the world, you're focused on learning everything about the past.  Much of historical knowledge comes from tales and songs that have been passed down, so your quest for knowledge inevitably leads you to possess a large repertoire of songs.

Even aside from the thematic concerns, the scaling on the savvy trickster is a bit much.  Given that you can turn invisible as a swift action, getting five extra dice of damage is a lot.  At that level, that's doubling the damage dealt by your base spellshape attack.

[pppp]

Of course, numbers could be adjusted and you can easily tune down this ability by 2 dices. Moreover, at 20th level invisibility due to the abundance of true sight, blindsight, blindsense, mindsight, tremorsense and last but not least see invisibility is not that useful, but I got your point.

I decided to create such ACF, because there are no dedicated skill monkey spellshaper. Divine casters got cloistered cleric and archivist, arcane could go beguiler, but spellshapers? They got nothing in this vein. In my opinion the most crucial point of this ACF is expanding skill list and adding skill points. Whole cloaked casting idea of mine is kinda boring (but still useful, I suppose).

And thanks for very quick answer