Primal Fury
2009-09-11, 01:20 PM
Over in the Roleplaying sub-forum, I posted "Beauty in D&D" trying to find out if my idea for a class based on aesthetics would make any sense without spitting in the face of a very widely accepted ideal. I came to find that I was worried about absolutely nothing, and that I was being rather silly. :smallredface:
That having been said, I'd like a bit of help in creating this new base class, as I've made attempts in the past that didn't turn out very well.
It's name doesn't really matter at this point, but I've been thinking about: the Aesthete, Enchanter/Enchantress, and Conduit (don't like this one, but it's in my head anyway.)
One of it's main abilities is very similar to the Warlock's Eldritch Blast. This ability doesn't have a solid name either (Aesthetic Burst/Blast, Wondrous Burst/Blast, Gift of True Beauty {again another icky one, but there it is.}) But rather than doing actual damage to the target with arcane energies, it tries to overload the targets senses with the casters raw ideal of aesthetic perfection. This would result in various mind affecting stauses: like Dazzled, Blinded, Shaken, Confused, Panicked etc. And rather than an attack roll on the weilders part, it would only require a will save on the target's part. This could be augumented by various feats that might come later if this thing gets off the ground.
One of the other abilities I have in mind are Aesthetics. Rather than being raw representation of the casters ideals, it funnels that ideal through the various Experiences (thank you Gralamin :smallwink:) they've went through. Aesthetics are organized into Experiences that dictate the form their ideals take.
Here are the Experiences I already have, as well as their basic functions:
Aesthetic Experiences
Pleasing- Healing, Mental Buffing, Resurrection, General Improvement of Well-Being
Emotional- Charming (possibly Domination), Crowd Control (Fear), Rage, Manipulation of Emotions
Maddening- Crowd Control (Confusion), Mental Attribute Damage, Corruption of Reality
Elemental- Damage Dealing, Non-Combat Elemental Summoning, Elemental Manipulation
Magical- Disrupting & Controlling Enemy Magic, Strengthening Allied Magic, Dead & Wild Magic
Bestial- Physical Buffing, Growth of Natural Weapons, Manipulation of Animals
Entropic- Physical Attribute Damage, Destruction of Objects, General Erosion
Each day the (insert class name here) becomes Inspired by her past trials and tribulations, allowing her to change the experiences she may use on any given day. It's similar to what wizards, clerics, and druids do with their spells, but it's more like choosing which school of magic you want access to that day rather than specific spells.
As they level up, they'd be able be inspired by more than one experience at a time. BUT! Some experiences cannot be used with others. These are called Antithetical Experiences. You can know two opposing experiences, but you can't be inspried by both of them at the same time.
By the same token, other experiences work quite well with others. These are called Synergistic Experiences. When using two Synergistic Experiences at the same time, they both get some sort of bonus.
As for the role this class would play... As you can see, that could vary depending on the experiences they choose on any given day, but their primary place in the party seems to be (if you wanna use 4e lingo) Controller. They keep the enemies dazed/stunned/etc with their (insert at-will brain zapping ability name here), while the rest of the party beats the crap out of them. Many of their aesthetics accomplish this as well (Fear, Confusion, Magic Disrutption, etc.). Granted they could also serve as healers, buffers/debuffers, or blasters, but with a wizard and/or cleric present, that seems largely unnecessary.
I've also been rolling a kind of Final Fantasy-esque (not on purpose, that's just how it looks in retrospect) summoning mechanic in my head, but I want to know how this here sounds first.
I've got plenty of fluff on how they think, live, and act; but where does a person with these kind of abilities come from???:smallconfused:
So... Blah blah blah Charisma main arribute. Blah blah blah Poor BAB, Poor Fort, Poor Ref, Good Will. Any one wanna give me some advice? :smallbiggrin:
That having been said, I'd like a bit of help in creating this new base class, as I've made attempts in the past that didn't turn out very well.
It's name doesn't really matter at this point, but I've been thinking about: the Aesthete, Enchanter/Enchantress, and Conduit (don't like this one, but it's in my head anyway.)
One of it's main abilities is very similar to the Warlock's Eldritch Blast. This ability doesn't have a solid name either (Aesthetic Burst/Blast, Wondrous Burst/Blast, Gift of True Beauty {again another icky one, but there it is.}) But rather than doing actual damage to the target with arcane energies, it tries to overload the targets senses with the casters raw ideal of aesthetic perfection. This would result in various mind affecting stauses: like Dazzled, Blinded, Shaken, Confused, Panicked etc. And rather than an attack roll on the weilders part, it would only require a will save on the target's part. This could be augumented by various feats that might come later if this thing gets off the ground.
One of the other abilities I have in mind are Aesthetics. Rather than being raw representation of the casters ideals, it funnels that ideal through the various Experiences (thank you Gralamin :smallwink:) they've went through. Aesthetics are organized into Experiences that dictate the form their ideals take.
Here are the Experiences I already have, as well as their basic functions:
Aesthetic Experiences
Pleasing- Healing, Mental Buffing, Resurrection, General Improvement of Well-Being
Emotional- Charming (possibly Domination), Crowd Control (Fear), Rage, Manipulation of Emotions
Maddening- Crowd Control (Confusion), Mental Attribute Damage, Corruption of Reality
Elemental- Damage Dealing, Non-Combat Elemental Summoning, Elemental Manipulation
Magical- Disrupting & Controlling Enemy Magic, Strengthening Allied Magic, Dead & Wild Magic
Bestial- Physical Buffing, Growth of Natural Weapons, Manipulation of Animals
Entropic- Physical Attribute Damage, Destruction of Objects, General Erosion
Each day the (insert class name here) becomes Inspired by her past trials and tribulations, allowing her to change the experiences she may use on any given day. It's similar to what wizards, clerics, and druids do with their spells, but it's more like choosing which school of magic you want access to that day rather than specific spells.
As they level up, they'd be able be inspired by more than one experience at a time. BUT! Some experiences cannot be used with others. These are called Antithetical Experiences. You can know two opposing experiences, but you can't be inspried by both of them at the same time.
By the same token, other experiences work quite well with others. These are called Synergistic Experiences. When using two Synergistic Experiences at the same time, they both get some sort of bonus.
As for the role this class would play... As you can see, that could vary depending on the experiences they choose on any given day, but their primary place in the party seems to be (if you wanna use 4e lingo) Controller. They keep the enemies dazed/stunned/etc with their (insert at-will brain zapping ability name here), while the rest of the party beats the crap out of them. Many of their aesthetics accomplish this as well (Fear, Confusion, Magic Disrutption, etc.). Granted they could also serve as healers, buffers/debuffers, or blasters, but with a wizard and/or cleric present, that seems largely unnecessary.
I've also been rolling a kind of Final Fantasy-esque (not on purpose, that's just how it looks in retrospect) summoning mechanic in my head, but I want to know how this here sounds first.
I've got plenty of fluff on how they think, live, and act; but where does a person with these kind of abilities come from???:smallconfused:
So... Blah blah blah Charisma main arribute. Blah blah blah Poor BAB, Poor Fort, Poor Ref, Good Will. Any one wanna give me some advice? :smallbiggrin: