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Zeful
2010-06-11, 07:21 PM
How would something like this change the game?

For background: I've been working on a campaign setting for a little over 8 years (making very little progress as I've scrapped more material due to not being able to clearly state it than I've actually written) and I came up with a set of permanent bonuses as kind of a gimmick for the setting. So far I've come up with a set of bonuses that can't be removed, dispelled, suppressed, or even destroyed by mortal magic as these bonuses (tentatively called Boons) are given to the player by one of the hundred of thousands of creatures with Divine Rank. Only a god of a higher divine rank even has a chance to remove them (and I'm leaning on a percentile chance based on the difference in ranks between the two gods).

Some of the bonuses I've come up with are:
Stat bonuses: In addition to providing the bonus, it provides an equal, undamageable buffer before the stat hits 0 (A character with +1 con can be raised from the dead an infinite number of times, because Raise Dead can't subtract the final point to bring him down to 0 Con. He can still be killed normally as his Hp is a byproduct of his Con). However he also can't choose to damage that attribute of his own free will (such as from Overchannel) because the ability score can no longer be damaged.
Save Bonuses, Skill bonuses, small elemental attributes, resistance to damage (that can't be overcome) SR (maybe) and Spell-like abilities (which antimagic field can't suppress).

So what effect would some of this stuff have on the game?

The Mentalist
2010-06-11, 09:02 PM
I think it really depends on the numbers you attach to it. I mean a hurling a 5d6 fireball from the god of fire would be wicked awesome and powerful at level 1 but by the time you hit level 10 even the "mighty" truenamer has a better option in combat.

Skill Bonuses are always handy little things if they're nameless and not going to be replaced by a piece of gear. Damage Reduction never hurt but it's not really all that useful in numbers that are usually applied (DR 5 at level 20 on the Barbarian... really...)

I think that you may want to consider having the SLAs not be stoppable by Anti-magic, even clerics go dead in an anti-magic field.

I think that the bigger question than what this will do to your players is what's the societal implication of this. You have a more significant percentage of the population running around with magic (if they're easier to get) does it become an arms race sort of thing, where everyone hoards their gifted or do you end up with Ebberon (I'm sure there are options I'm missing but I just woke up)

Edit: Also, what edition are you talking about, because 3.5 (which a large percentage of the boards seems to play and I default to) Con doesn't drop for Rez anymore.

Edit again: If it is 3.5 you may use the slotless magic item rules.

Zeful
2010-06-11, 09:36 PM
I think it really depends on the numbers you attach to it. I mean a hurling a 5d6 fireball from the god of fire would be wicked awesome and powerful at level 1 but by the time you hit level 10 even the "mighty" truenamer has a better option in combat.SLAs from boons would be rare (simply because the spell determines the power not the scale of the spell).


Skill Bonuses are always handy little things if they're nameless and not going to be replaced by a piece of gear. Damage Reduction never hurt but it's not really all that useful in numbers that are usually applied (DR 5 at level 20 on the Barbarian... really...)They would be either Sacred or Profane bonuses, depending on the god's alignment. I think I might do DR by die (Dr 4/cold iron reduces the first for points of damage from each die used in the attack unless it comes from a cold iron weapon) or have it scale at 1/2character level+Con Score.


I think that the bigger question than what this will do to your players is what's the societal implication of this. You have a more significant percentage of the population running around with magic (if they're easier to get) does it become an arms race sort of thing, where everyone hoards their gifted or do you end up with Ebberon (I'm sure there are options I'm missing but I just woke up)Boons are rare rewards from the significant population of Divine beings (I'm running with the Japanese concept that there's a god for everything) who like hiding. They can't be bought or sold, and most deities earn uses because of a series of checks in the system. Every divine being that grants a boon allows every other deity of that rank and lower to grant one boon for free. They hoard those free boons obsessively.


Edit: Also, what edition are you talking about, because 3.5 (which a large percentage of the boards seems to play and I default to) Con doesn't drop for Rez anymore.Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The subject of the spell loses one level (or 1 Hit Die) when it is raised, just as if it had lost a level or a Hit Die to an energy-draining creature. If the subject is 1st level, it loses 2 points of Constitution instead (if this would reduce its Con to 0 or less, it can’t be raised). (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/raiseDead.htm) But yeah 3.5.


Edit again: If it is 3.5 you may use the slotless magic item rules.
I can price them out myself, I was just wondering about their effects, and how players might interact with them.

The Mentalist
2010-06-12, 01:42 AM
One more forget the rules point to me.

I like the idea myself, I'll bring up neutral deities though, may want to decide on a bonus type for them.