PDA

View Full Version : [D&D 3.5] Best (Planar) Touchstones



Cieyrin
2010-08-24, 06:55 PM
People only seem to mention the Catalogues of Enlightenment when it comes to these but there's more out there that ard damned useful if you spend the time to truly invest. The Monastery of Zerth'Ad'Lun's Higher Order Ability is bloody amazing in breaking action economy when you need it. Free action ready with the trigger being "When my target starts his turn"? Yes please!

The Were Glade is pretty bad ass as well, for the power up that comes with the limited lycanthropy. Plus, I'm sure there's some abuse for permanently having the Shapechanger subtype somewhere out there.

So, what else is out there that makes the Planar Touchstone feat worthwhile? Don't forget Sandstorm's Touchstones, either, though I haven't read them recently myself. Pipe up, Playground!

Cieyrin
2010-08-25, 07:36 PM
No opinions? At all? Anybody?:smalleek:

Darrin
2010-08-27, 04:14 PM
I've been meaning to post this for a while, and then I saw your post, but... my schedule... suddenly acquired the titanic paragon template... anyway.

Yes, picking up a Planar Touchstone feat can get you a basic ability that is often a lot better than some other feats... Ok, I'm looking at you, Dodge [General]. The requirements aren't too terribly difficult, although picking up 8 ranks of Knowledge (the Planes) in a non-caster build can be tricky, although the Planar Substitution Levels can help quite a bit. A common misconception, though... you *do not* need to visit the site to pick up the basic ability. And that's mostly what I'm interested in.

The rules aren't entirely clear on the touchstone object, though. It costs 250 GP, but while the Prerequisites seems to imply the object needs to be on your body, the rules say you have to sacrifice the item to create the link. And then somewhere else it says you can have a touchstone weapon for +250 GP... which I guess you don't destroy?

The Touchstone rules in Sandstorm didn't exactly clear this up, either... the Prerequisites now say you need 8 ranks of Knowledge (local) *OR* a touchstone key (which means if you can scrape up 250 GP, you can take this feat at 1st level). They also now say you can either sacrifice the key, or 250 GP worth of material components. However, they don't say if this Touchstone feat replaces the original Planar Touchstone mechanics, or if they are mechanically separate.

Oxyhynchus stands out to me as the most "Whoa...!" basic ability... free attack whenever your opponent is flat-footed? Heck yeah, I can think of a few builds that could use that.

Here's a list of interesting basic abilities:

Arthenmyr's Wrath: Gain acid resistance 5.
Blinding Tower: Gain darkvision 60', or increase existing darkvision +30'.
Ice Catacombs: Gain cold resistance 5.
Monastery of Zerth'Ad'lun: +1 dodge bonus vs. melee attacks, or +2 dodge bonus vs. full-round melee attack.
Catalogues of Enlightenment: Choose a cleric domain, gain the domain power (see below).
Oxyrhynchus: gain extra attack at -5 penalty with chosen weapon whenever opponent is flat-footed.
Pilgrim's Rest: +1 untyped bonus to AC while on the material plane.
Valley of Thunder: +1 untyped bonus to AC.
Fields of Autumn: +1 untyped bonus on ranged attack rolls.
Ashardalon's Tongue: +1 untyped bonus on unarmed melee attack rolls.
Densahl's Challenge: +1 untyped bonus on melee damage rolls.
Restyn's Last Stand: +1 untyped bonus on melee attack rolls.
Peak of Continuation: Gain hardness 1, stacks with DR.
Salt Statuary (Sandstorm): Gain Improved Heat Endurance feat (i.e., fire resistance 5).
Dusty Conclave (Sandstorm): Improve natural armor bonus by 1.
Blue Dragon's Graveyard (Sandstorm): gain electricity resistance 5.

Now, the Catalogues of Enlightenment offer quite a bit more via various domain abilities. Also, it's important to note that the Catalogues do not require this domain to be part of your deity's portfolio... in fact, they don't require you to worship a particular deity at all, so you can cherry-pick some of the best domains without worrying too much about divine retribution. Here's a list of those that might be interesting:

Baator (Spell Compendium, Planar Domain): see perfectly in darkness or deeper darkness
Bestial (BoVD): gain scent
Celerity (Spell Compendium): increase land speed +10'
Demonic (BoVD/FC1): +1 divine/profane bonus on attack and damage with unarmed strikes and natural weapons.
Destruction (Core): smite naughty 1/day
Dream (Spell Compendium): immune to fear
Elysium (Spell Compendium, Planar Domain): smite evil 1/day
Fate (Spell Compendium): gain uncanny dodge ability.
Hunger (Spell Compendium): gain a bite attack
Inquisition (Spell Compendium): +4 bonus on dispel checks
Luck (Core): reroll any roll 1/day
Magic (Core): activate spell-trigger and spell-completion items as 1st level wizard.
Orc (Spell Compendium): smite naughty 1/day
Storm (Spell Compendium): gain electricity resistance 5
War (Core): gain weapon proficiency and weapon focus feats (see below)

The War domain, of course, offers a particularly juicy two-for-one deal... weapon focus and martial/exotic weapon proficiency for the cost of only one feat. This is particularly useful if you chose a deity with a great favored weapon, but the deity never had the common decency to add the War domain to his portfolio. Or... even if you don't worship that deity, and are just looking for an easy way to pick up EWP: Spiked Chain... well, here you go. A list of WF/EWPs that can be obtained via Planar Touchstone:

Bastard Sword (Note: Kord explicitly says (e) for exotic, while Kelanen and Mayaheine specify (m) for martial proficiency. The FRCS deities don't specify martial or exotic.)
Finder Wyvernspur (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Helm (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Kelemvor (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Kord (Living Greyhawk Deities v2.0 p. 96)
Eilistraee (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 237, Drow)

Chakram
Shar (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)

Claw Bracer
Luthic (Faiths & Pantheons p. 150)
Malar (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Sharess (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Urdlen (Faiths & Pantheons p. 137, Gnome)

Double Scimitar
Spirits of the Past (Faiths of Eberron p. 142)

Drow Scorpion Chain
Vulkoor (Secrets of Xendrik p. 72)

Dwarven Waraxe
Gendwar Argrim (Living Greyhawk Deities v2.0 p. 65, Dwarf)

Kama
Tem-Et-Nu (Sandstorm p. 45)
The Dark Six (Faiths of Eberron p. 49)
The Mockery (Faiths of Eberron p. 51)

Khopesh
Horus-Re (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 237)
Ramman (Lost Empires of Faerun p. 41)
Re-Horakhty (Sandstorm p. 47)

Net
Eldath (Faiths & Pantheons p. 222)
Istus (Living Greyhawk Deities v2.0 p. 84)
Marduk (Sandstorm p. 47)
Sotillion (Living Greyhawk Deities v2.0 p. 156)

Nunchaku
Waukeeen (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)

Pincer Staff (MM p. 164)
Blibdoolpoolp (Complete Divine p. 124, Kuo-Toa)

Scourge
Beshaba (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Loviatar (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)

Shuriken
Lliira (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Mystra (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Tymora (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)

Spiked Chain
Kossuth (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)
Tsolorandril (Living Greyhawk Deities v2.0 p. 171)
Zoser (Sandstorm p. 45)

Tail Scythe
Parrafaire (Serpent Kingdoms p. 188)
Shekinester (Seprent Kingdoms p. 188)

Whip
Al-Ishtus (Sandstorm p. 45)
Azul (Sandstorm p. 45)
Khurgobaeyag (Living Greyhawk Deities v2.0 p. 94, Goblin)
Lolth (Drow of the Underdark p. 19, Drow)
Myrhiss (Living Greyhawk Deities v2.0 p. 122)
Nepthys (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 237)
Pyremius (Living Greyhawk Deities v2.0 p. 137)
Sharindlar (Faiths & Pantheons p. 122, Dwarf)
Sune (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 234)