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View Full Version : [3.5] Need Help With An Idea



Zertryx
2010-09-13, 12:43 AM
Ok so I am starting a new campaign with my friends and in the begging of the game I'm going to have the characters "Branded" with a mark.

The idea behind this mark is it actually gives them a power/powers but im not sure which way I want to go with it, here's the ideas I had.

1: I was gonna have it to were each day a random ability is restored into the branded mark and the PC's can use this ability 1/day, the ability's would be something like "Auto Critical on next attack", "Heal "X"d8 HP", "Extra Move Action this turn". how ever by using this ability it also does something negative in return (because it's suppose to be somewhat a curse) But I'm having trouble picking Ability's / negatives and weather or not the negatives should have a save or just happen. Each new day the ability changes at random and I'll have a set of 3-5 ability's / negatives for using it.

2: They get to choose which ability they wanna set the branded mark to be able to use each day. Also each time they kill a boss a New ability is acquired. (the 1/day and negatives still happen though) this option thought they would only start off with 1 ability and gain new ones each boss.

3: Combining the two ideas above but giving the Brand it's own set of "Charges" and each different ability cost a certain number of charges, and either by slaying a normal enemy and absorbing it would fill the charges or after a certain amount of hours of rest heal up a limited amount of points.

If anyone could give me some ideas as to, Ability's to allow them to gain, Negatives that would accrue for each ability and which of the 3 options would be best and or give me your own idea, this would be very appreciated.

I'm looking for stuff that could work in general for most character builds, and things that are not to over powered but enough to make it worth using and the side effects enough to make them have a hard time wanting to use it and not wanting them to use it.

Vangor
2010-09-13, 01:00 AM
How about allowing each character to initially decide what types of rolls to apply a bonus to of X, but to use again the character must sacrifice on subsequent rolls of the same type 2-3X. Perhaps use a maximum of ECL or (ECL+1)/2 per bonus and a minimum of 2-3 per sacrifice. A barbarian could choose to add five to hit to assure a blow lands, but he would need to sacrifice ten total to hit with two at a time before being able to use the ability again.

Means the positives and negatives are strictly decided by the players, in a sense, and the players need to find ways to mitigate the minus. Say raise the DCs of spells when you absolutely must land, but sacrifice the level of DC needed against less important fights against weak saves.