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View Full Version : Jaina Proudmoure WoW D&D 3.5.



NekoJoker
2010-02-18, 08:41 PM
Sooo, a frien dof mine is thinking how would WoW characters be if they wwere in the D&D pen and Paper world, as a matter of fact I have no idea, but he has asked me to post here for those of you who have actually played the game to give us a hand. How would Jaina Proudmoure look like on a character sheet, what classes levels and skills would she have in your opinion?
any Backgroud specifics?
anything at all?

Eldariel
2010-02-18, 08:44 PM
Jaina...well, she's obviously a Human Sorcerer (Charisma, etc.) around level 10 or so (Teleport, among others), with perhaps some Elemental Summoning specialization and hm, potentially one level of some mass booster like Marshal or such for Brilliance.

Draken
2010-02-18, 08:51 PM
You could grab the WoW RPG 3.5 core book for a more specific version. She would be a mage-type Arcanist (basically an evoker).

Brilliance Aura is a 7th level spell there (and a broken spell by the way, make a spellcraft check DC 15 + 2x spell level and cast the spell without expending a spell slot, rounds/level duration). Which makes her at least level 13.

Frosty
2010-02-18, 09:02 PM
I'd make her a Focused Specialist (Conjuration) who does NOT ban evocation. Probably banned Necromancy, Enchantment, and Illusion. Her earliest abilities are summonings...and then later she can mass teleport. Definitely screams Conjurer. Make took the Master Specialist school and is heading into Archmage soon.

nyarlathotep
2010-02-18, 09:03 PM
She also has teleportation circle making her at least level 17 unless some abuse is applied.

NekoJoker
2010-02-18, 09:09 PM
I am currently getting the WoW 3.5 Rulebook, keep things coming, I'm loving the feedback
I thought of Master Specialist and Archmage as well.
Speaking of which, what are your opinions about Archmage?

AstralFire
2010-02-18, 09:09 PM
Any suggestion involving 'Wizard' is 'what.' Vancian preparation just totally breaks how they work.

Draken
2010-02-18, 09:20 PM
The WoW RPG 3.5 rulebook did something interesting to classic vancian casting.

Your spells prepared are separate from your spell slots. So it is like a sorcerer with a spellbook, capable of changing his spells known each day from those in the spellbook.

Unfortunatelly you can prepare a ridiculous amount of spells of each level at once, eventually, it is an insteresting mechanic but it was applied in the most broken fashion possible.

Runestar
2010-02-18, 09:56 PM
Teleport lets you bring other people along, so she is at least 10th lv.

Her elemental could be the summon elemental reserve feat from complete mage, though it will be fairly weak, and you need SM6 to get a medium sized one (so at least sorc12).

Maybe some other reserve feat such as storm bolt to give her a reusable ranged attack.

Blizzard --> Ice storm? Not sure about brilliance aura though. I like the idea of marshall, but what aura simulates that?

Frosty
2010-02-18, 10:02 PM
Maybe homebrew a class feature (replaces familiar) where once per hour, you automatically regain a spent spell slot of 1dX level, where X = 1/2 your effective levels in one arcane spellcasting class (wizard + PrCs that advance said wizard spellcasting, for example) rounded up.

AgentPaper
2010-02-18, 10:50 PM
Brilliance Aura should probably just be a class feature or something, all casters within 100 feet or so get +1 caster level.

Ashiel
2010-02-18, 11:33 PM
Well, Brilliance aura is supposed to make you regain your mana more quickly, not make it stronger.

Truthfully, I think she'd be better statted as a Psion. The elemental could easily be made from an Astral Construct. Psionics has an excellent selection of blasting powers, and quite a few travel and teleportation powers. It completely sucks at necromancy related things, which works great for Jaina anyway.

Finally, Brilliance aura could (admittedly it would be broken, but as others have pointed out the spell version is way broken too) grant her and other characters around her PP regeneration (+1 / rank, up to 3). That regeneration could be per round, per minute, or per hour, depending on how major you wanted it to be.

Just some thoughts.:smallsmile:

Zephyros
2010-02-19, 12:03 AM
I am away from books right now. But since I own both old WarcraftRPG (add-on) and WoW D20 (stand-alone): Jaina was statted in the book Alliance&Horde as a Wizard with archmage levels and just used some of the warcraftesque spells. In WoW-rpg she was an Arcanist following the Mage path.

IMHO many spells/day for the arcanist wasn't bad balance-wise cause in the WoW RPG all spells were like KABOOM-BOOMKAKA-BOOMKABOOM, and not tentacles/rope-tricks/shivering touches and the likes.

ps: I really really adored the old Warcraft D20, so great fluffy/artistic books... WoW RPG had just better quality printing and paper :smallfurious:

AgentPaper
2010-02-19, 12:08 AM
Well, Brilliance aura is supposed to make you regain your mana more quickly, not make it stronger.

That's the specific mechanics they used to reflect the ability in WC3. In a general sense, Brilliance Aura represents how Jaina (or whoever has it) is so brilliant that other people around her become more effective at casting their spells. Since DnD uses vancian casting instead of mana, increasing mana regeneration doesn't work. Thus, just a straight CL increase is probably the best reflection you'll find.

Alternately, use the spell recharge system in UA, and then have Brilliance Aura make that a bit more effective somehow. (I don't actually remember much about that system)

Salt_Crow
2010-02-19, 12:34 AM
Jaina Proudmoore appears in the Shadow & Light splatbook (an older version of the chain btw). I do not believe having seen her statted out in the newer version of the rulebooks. Anyways, she's a 13th-level wizard/4th level archmage, lawful good. However, since the older WarcraftRPG (newer ones are called WoWRPG iirc) uses the spells from PHB mostly, she doesn't have brilliant aura spell prepared anywhere.

Just to give an idea about the general power level in the aforementioned rulebook, Malfurion is a 35th-level NPC (CR 38 though), Thrall 28th and Uther 23rd. Although this gives us a bit of something to build a more favourable (and more up-to-date) version of the character, I wouldn't in any way rely on this official bit of info to believe her to be a mere 17th-level character. This is a rulebook where Deathwing's a CR 35 encounter while Archimonde is CR 50. :smallannoyed:

Kaiyanwang
2010-02-19, 03:15 AM
In one Dragon Magazine there is a spell that mimics quite well Frost Nova. Level 4, d6 frost damage per level (cap 10d6) in a 20 feet radius, fort save or stunned. Evocation, Standard Action.

Ashiel
2010-02-19, 03:33 AM
That's the specific mechanics they used to reflect the ability in WC3. In a general sense, Brilliance Aura represents how Jaina (or whoever has it) is so brilliant that other people around her become more effective at casting their spells. Since DnD uses vancian casting instead of mana, increasing mana regeneration doesn't work. Thus, just a straight CL increase is probably the best reflection you'll find.

Alternately, use the spell recharge system in UA, and then have Brilliance Aura make that a bit more effective somehow. (I don't actually remember much about that system)

Just trying to stay true to its roots 'tis all. Warcraft in its game forms uses a mana system; both in Warcraft 3 and in World of Warcraft. There are many effects in the games that enhance the damage or potency of things, or provide passive static modifiers. However, in many cases (as with brilliance aura), they allow for faster regeneration of Health or Mana.

Which is why I suggested statting her as a Psion, since they fit very well with warcraft themed mages (they're natural elementalists and good blasters, a lot of teleportation style powers, the ability to summon various creatures, and a power-pool of sorts that they draw their magic from). If used in this way, her Brilliance Aura could be kept in exactly the same flavor and a more accurate mechanical representation.

Truly, a small power point regeneration wouldn't be horrible, assuming it wasn't too quick on the boost, and it was mostly blast-y powers that were being used. I mean, I wouldn't advise it for standard D&D; but Warcraft D&D is a bit different. In Warcraft D&D, this would both work, and be thematically and mechanically appropriate. :smallsmile:

faceroll
2010-02-19, 03:39 AM
I'd say she has the Fiery Burst reserve feat, for her basic attack.


In one Dragon Magazine there is a spell that mimics quite well Frost Nova. Level 4, d6 frost damage per level (cap 10d6) in a 20 feet radius, fort save or stunned. Evocation, Standard Action.

That's a Lich spell, not an Archmage spell.

Kaiyanwang
2010-02-19, 04:14 AM
I'd say she has the Fiery Burst reserve feat, for her basic attack.



That's a Lich spell, not an Archmage spell.

In Wow, all mages have frost nova, and frost mages can perform the deadly shatter combo basing ot that.

Moreover, in a quest in the Wrath of the Lich King, Jaina is seen use a Frost Nova.

Runestar
2010-02-19, 05:21 AM
I would take the classed npcs' cr with a pinch of salt. They are probably not optimized, and involve odd combinations of classes which often don't complement one another well. So their actual effectiveness is likely a lot lower than what their cr would suggest.

For example, I remember illidan being a rogue8/fighter7/sorc20? Cr35 on paper, but likely no more than low 20s in actual gameplay.

GolemsVoice
2010-02-19, 06:05 AM
You wouldn't need to mimic her spells in Warcraft III, most of them have been included in WoW RPG. And, yes, brilliance aura is horrible broken. Spellcraft check of 33 to regain your 9th level spells? Done without even looking at what you rolled.

For her fire attack from WoW, you could give her a staff that fires magical bolts of fire that scale wth her HD.

Optimystik
2010-02-19, 07:35 AM
I'd make her a Focused Specialist (Conjuration) who does NOT ban evocation. Probably banned Necromancy, Enchantment, and Illusion. Her earliest abilities are summonings...and then later she can mass teleport. Definitely screams Conjurer. Make took the Master Specialist school and is heading into Archmage soon.

In Warcraft 3 she turns invisible a lot (such as when she spied on Antonidas and Medivh), so I don't think she banned Illusion. I don't see a reason to make her a Focused Specialist - it doesn't quite fit in with her collegiate nature.

Runestar
2010-02-19, 07:47 AM
The suggestion to make her a refluffed psion is worth looking into, IMO. The water elementals could simply be astral constructs shaped to look like elementals.

Salt_Crow
2010-02-19, 07:40 PM
The suggestion to make her a refluffed psion is worth looking into, IMO. The water elementals could simply be astral constructs shaped to look like elementals.

I concur. I have always thought the psionic mechanics fitted better with MMORPG's mana system, where more mana spent = greater power with the spell (power) being cast.

Would it be so game-breaking if one introduced the psionic mechanism into the spellcasting system? Then one could devise up a spell that restores power points at a very slow rate to emulate brilliance aura etc etc.

Runestar
2010-02-19, 09:43 PM
Would it be so game-breaking if one introduced the psionic mechanism into the spellcasting system? Then one could devise up a spell that restores power points at a very slow rate to emulate brilliance aura etc etc.

Yes, because the current dnd spells were designed with vancian spellcasting in mind, not mana. Psionics is only balanced because the powers were specifically revised to take into account the format-warping nature of spell/power points.

The key problems should start surfacing at mid lvs. A typical spellcaster will use mostly his higher lv slots, with lower lv slots remaining largely unutilised or reserved for buffs/utility. With spell points, you can freely "convert" lower lv slots to cast higher lv slots. In the worst case scenario, a lv17 wizard would be able to cast many more 9th lv spells than he otherwise could, long after a normal wizard has fallen back on his 8th and 7th lv spells, and these are really the guns which dictate the outcome of the battle.

Vancian spellcasting is not without its flaws, but it stayed throughout the editions for one inescapable and undeniable reason - it works. :smallsmile: