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View Full Version : New Incarnate Soulmelds[PEACH]



Glimbur
2009-07-13, 11:34 PM
First, some design notes.

I don't like how slowly the saves from soulmelds scale; so I propose it instead be 10+half meldshaper level+essentia. This makes them sometimes better than full casters focused on their casting and using highest level spells, and sometimes not.

I also had to grapple with the issue of what alignment means, and here's what I came up with.

Good: Teamwork.

Evil: Fear and Domination.

Law: Watchfulness, Judgment, Durability.

Chaos: Trickery, Lies, ?

With no further adieu, here are some more effects for the Incarnate Avatar.

Evil Incarnate Avatar
Chakra Bind (Crown)
You shape the forces of tyranny to your head.
You gain Charm Person as an at-will ability. You may have no more active Charms than the amount of essentia you have in this soulmeld. Your caster level is your meldshaper level. Resiting is a Will save of DC10+half meldshaper level+essentia invested.

Chakra Bind (Brow)
You put on the terrible face of Evil.
You gain a gaze attack that only affects your enemies. If your foes with line of sight to you fail a Will save DC 10+half meldshaper level+essentia invested, they are Shaken for a minute. If they succeed at the save they do not need to save again unless you direct the gaze at them as a move action.

Chakra Bind (Heart)
You pull tyranny about your heart in coils of domination.
You gain Dominate Person as an at-will ability. The save to resist is a will save DC 10+half meldshaper+essentia invested. Each two points of essentia invested let you affect an additional creature type besides humanoid; when you bind the soulmeld you create a list of types affected in which order. You may have only one Dominate effect active at a time.

As an example, Vladmir the Unshakable (an evil Incarnate) binds the Incarnate Avatar to his heart. He decides that he wants to be able to affect Giants, Outsiders, and Monstrous Humanoids in that order. So when he has 2 essentia in the meld, he can also target Giants with his Dominate ability, when he has 4 he can also target Outsiders, and when he has 6 he can affect Monstrous Humanoids.



Good Incarnate Avatar
Chakra Bind (Crown)
You enhance your teamwork with the power of Good.
You gain an additional +1 to hit when flanking and give an additional +1 for allies to hit when you use the Aid Another action. Each point of essentia increases each of these bonuses by one.

Chakra Bind (Brow)
You channel the teamwork of legendary adventurers of old.
You gain the ability to cast the wizard spell Heroics at will. You may have up to your meldshaper level divided by three copies of this spell running at once, and any person may only have one casting of Heroics from you on them at a time. You are a valid target for this ability.

Chakra Bind (Heart)
I'm not actually sure what to do here.



Lawful Incarnate Avatar
Chakra Bind (Crown)
You are more calculating and suspicious with the help of Law.
You gain a +2 insight bonus to initiative rolls. Each point of essentia invested in the meld increases this bonus by +1.

Chakra Bind (Brow)
You channel the power of watchmen everywhere to increase your senses to superhuman levels.
You gain blindsense 20'. Each point of essentia in this meld increases the range of your blindsense by 5', and if you have at least 4 points of essentia in this meld the blindsense turns into blindsight.

Chakra Bind (Heart)
You fill your core with the implacable power of Law. You are unstoppable now.
You are under the effect of a Freedom of Movement. Its caster level for being dispelled is equal to your meldshaper level, but if it is dispelled it reappears on you in 2d4 rounds.



Chaotic Incarnate Avatar
Chakra Bind (Crown)
You take the trickery of the con man onto your head like a veil.
You gain use of the spell Disguise Self at will.

Chakra Bind (Brow)
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7411/slaad.jpg


Chakra Bind (Heart)
The souls of tricksters and slaads cluster about your heart.
You gain an ability similar to the wizard spell Confusion, except it is not [mind-affecting] and only works on creatures you touch. It also works on undead and constructs and anything with sensory perception. You are confusing not their minds, but their forms. This effect lasts 1 round, with an additional round for each essentia you have invested in this soulmeld.

And a bonus soulmeld:

Hands of the Wrestler
Descriptors: None
Classes: Incarnate
Chakra: Hands
Saving Throw: None
You wrap the souls of wrestlers who practiced with bears around your hands.
You gain a +3 Insight bonus to grapple checks.

Essentia Effect:
Each point of essentia improved the bonus to grapple checks by +2.

Chakra Bind(Hands)
Scars run up and down your arms from bear claws. You have mastered the Suplex.
You gain a special attack. As a standard action, you may make a touch attack. If you touch your foe, make opposed Grapple Checks. Freedom of Movement does not help here because you are not trying to hold your foe for long. If you succeed, you suplex your foe. They take 1d10+1.5*Str Mod damage and are prone.

Essentia Effect: Each point of essentia increases the damage you do with a suplex by 2. Each two points of essentia let you do another suplex after the first in the same round as part of the same standard action. Make an opposed grapple check for each suplex, but you only have to make a touch attack for the first suplex.

Kellus
2009-07-14, 03:39 AM
Wow, this is great! It's nice to see some incarnum support, because they really don't get any. Great work! For the most part this looks nicely balanced.

For a heart chakra bind for Good, maybe you could have some kind of ability that frees your allies from mental control or something like that? Sort of as a counterpoint to the Evil heart bind. Even just a touch that lets people attempt saving throws agains à la slippery mind?

Giant Frog literally made me spit out my dinner, I was laughing so hard. BRILLIANT.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-07-14, 07:56 AM
Very nice. The only possible issue I see is that you need to note whether the additional suplexes (suplices?) for Hands of the Wrestler require extra attacks or if they come free--a 20th-level incarnate can invest up to 6 essentia into it, which would give him 4 attacks with only a +10 BAB, so if you didn't want incarnates getting tons of attacks you should probably specify that they require an attack to use.


Giant Frog literally made me spit out my dinner, I was laughing so hard. BRILLIANT.

Agreed.

Glimbur
2009-07-14, 07:49 PM
I probably should mention that I also think the Incarnate deserves a 3/4 BAB. The extra suplexes as part of the same attack was intentional. It mirrors the fighting style of a certain famous russian... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zangief

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-07-14, 08:32 PM
The extra suplexes as part of the same attack was intentional. It mirrors the fighting style of a certain famous russian... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zangief

In that case, you should probably explicitly state that you get them all on a standard action; without specifying, it's ambiguous and most would rule it to take attacks.

Glimbur
2009-08-27, 02:01 PM
Rakshasa's Cunning
Descriptors: Lawful or Evil
Classes: Incarnate
Chakra: Heart, Crown
Saving Throw: Varies, see text

You guide your speech with the cunning of a cat adapted to hunt... different prey.

You gain a +2 insight bonus to Bluff and Disguise checks.

Essentia Effect:
Every point of Essentia invested increases the bonus to Bluff and Disguise by +2.

Chakra Bind(Crown)
These cunning cats are shapeshifters, and you appear to be one as well.
You may use Disguise Self at will. Caster Level is equal to your Meldshaper level. Will saves to recognize this as an illusion have a DC of 10+half meldshaper level+invested essentia.

Chakra Bind(Heart)
You channel the magic of these terrible beasts.
Choose three spells a sorcerer of half your meldshaper level could know. You may cast these spells once per five minutes with a separate cool-down for each spell as a Spell Like Ability. Pay XP and gold costs as though you were casting the spell, not using it as a SLA.. The save, if applicable, is 10+Half Meldshaper Level+Essentia invested.

Giving some sorc/wiz spells to Meldshapers might seem odd, but I don't think it's imbalanced. It acts as a lower level spell heightened to the max level an equal level sorc could cast, but the save will be lower because Essentia Capacity < Ability modifier+misc. Paying for material components prevents casual use of Stoneskin and probably also other spells. The most broken use would probably be spells of instantaneous duration; take Wall of Iron, Wall of Stone, and Fabricate or some such and build a fortress. By the level you can do that, though, how bad is that really?

Transcendence of the Archon
Descriptors: Good
Classes: Incarnate
Chakra: Shoulders
Saving Throw: Varies, see text
The glowing light of the heavens shelters you.
You gain Electrical Resistance of 5.

Essentia Effect:
Each point of invested Essentia increases your Electrical Resistance by 5.

Chakra Bind(Shoulders)
Your angelic glow cows your foes.
You gain an Aura of Menace, as an Archon with some differences. Any hostile creature within a 10-foot radius of you must succeed on a Will save to resist its effects, with a DC of 10+half meldshaper level+invested essentia. Each point of essentia expands the radius of the aura by 5'. Those who fail take a -2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit you. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the your aura for 1 hour.

I saw the Aura of Menace and decided it could be fun. For a 9th level character, this might be underpowered. Possibly having the penalty to AC, saves, and attacks be equal to invested essentia, or 2 + half essentia would be good.

Girdle of the Nalfeshnee
Descriptors: Evil or Chaos
Classes: Incarnate
Chakra: Waist
Saving Throw: Will negates
You wrap the essence of a powerful demon about your waist.
You gain Acid Resistance 5.

Essentia Effect
Each point of essentia invested increases your Acid Resistance by 5.

Chakra Bind(Waist)
Multicolored lights dance around your midsection. They seem to contain your worst fears, barely contained.
As a standard action, you may activate your Smite ability (not to be confused with the Paladin ability of a similar name). Your next round, the lights dancing around you explode in a 30' radius, plus 5' per invested essentia. Any enemy within this radius must make a Will save DC 10+half meldshaper level+invested essentia or be Dazed for one round, plus one round per two invested essentia. This is a [mind affecting], [fear] effect, and blind creatures are immune.

Again, I saw a cool ability and wanted it. Adding all those tags and reducing the average duration of daze makes it... less ridiculous compared to the original monster. An AoE daze is still really good though, this might need nerfing and/or removal.

Aesthetic of the Lillend
Descriptors: Good or Chaos
Classes: Incarnate
Chakra: Heart
Saving Throw: varies.
These large winged snake people have powerful souls. Surely you can pinch off a bit for your needs.
You gain a +3 Insight Bonus to grapple checks

Essentia Effect:
Each point of invested essentia increases your bonus to grapple checks by +2.

Chakra Bind(Heart)
You channel the magic of these marvelous artists.
Choose three spells a sorcerer of half your meldshaper level could know. You may cast these spells once per five minutes with a separate cool-down for each spell as a Spell Like Ability. Pay XP and gold costs as though you were casting the spell, not using it as a SLA.. The save, if applicable, is 10+Half Meldshaper Level+Essentia invested.

This is part of an arms race to give every Incarnate the spellcasting ability like the Rakshasa meld gives Lawful and Evil Incarnates.

I might loot the list of elementals next; it's a lot easier to adapt a monsters abilities into a soulmeld than to make something closer to new.

Hair of the Phoenix
Descriptors: Law or Good
Classes: Incarnate
Chakra: Brow
Saving Throw: Will Negates
You shape your hair into spikes of Justice.
You gain a +2 insight bonus to Profession(Barrister), Sense Motive, and Bluff checks and may make Profession(Barrister) checks untrained.

Essentia Effect:
Each point of essentia increases the insight bonus from this soulmeld by 2.

Chakra Bind(Brow)
The spikes glitter with legal powers.
As an immediate action, you may raise an Objection to the action of any creature within line of sight that you have line of effect to. This Objection stops the creature from performing the action unless it makes a Will save of DC 10+half meldshaper level+essentia invested. If the save is failed, the creature loses the action it was going to spend on the action. For example, if you raise an Objection to a troll clawing at a wizard, the troll loses its Standard Action. If you object to the halfling running away, it loses its Full Round action because Run is a Full Round action. Full Attacks start as a standard action, if you successfully Object to the first attack in a full attack the attacker still has a move action. You may raise an Objection once an encounter, plus another time per encounter for each two points of essentia invested.
This was done as a joke, it might be too powerful.

Xzoltar
2009-08-27, 07:48 PM
10 + Half Meldshaper Level + Essentia invested

That's seem correct but if you consider caster having lot of way to boost their DC we may need the same for those Soulmeld. You usally have many essentai invest at the same time so often you won't have max essentia invest in each of them so the DC will be even lower.

But for the rest of the Soulmeld you made I really like them and I've put a bookmark on this thread