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View Full Version : Manipulating Ethereal Protoplasma (Feats and others) [PEACH, please. Really]



Eldan
2011-03-21, 07:47 AM
Note: all of these are supposed to be mainly used in my homebrew setting, Etherworld. The control skill is detailed there.

Feat type: [Aether]
Aether feats only work when used on the ethereal plane, and, more specifically, in the deep or elemental aether, as they draw on environmental protoplasm, which is not available on other planes.

Ethereal Crafter [Aether]

Prerequisites: Control 6 ranks, one item creation feat
Benefit: You draw upon ethereal protoplasm as a raw material when crafting items in the aether. You only have to pay 25% of an item's market price in raw materials.
Normal: You pay 50% of an item's market price in raw materials.


Unstable Creation [Aether]

Prerequisites: Control 4 ranks, Spell Focus: Conjuration
Benefit: When on the ethereal, you may choose to draw upon protoplasmic matter when casting spells of the [Creation] subschool that create an item or structure that is either permanent or lasts at least for 1 minute per caster level.
If you do, these spells are cast at +2 caster level, but their effects are only transitory: any permanent structures created by them decay back to protomatter after one hour, while structures that would last for ten minutes per caster level or more, but are not permanent, decay after ten minutes.

Protean Blade [Aether]

Prerequisites: Control 4 ranks, Base Attack Bonus +1
Benefit: As a full round action, while on the ethereal, you can create a weapon out of protomatter by making a DC 15 control check. This weapon acts as a normal weapon, except that it has only Hardness five and 1 hit point. The weapon counts as magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. For every ten points you beat the check by, the weapon gains a +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls.
You can increase the check DC by five points to create the weapon as a move action, or by ten points to create it as a swift action.
If you leave the ethereal, the weapon dissipates after one minute. Similarly, if it leaves your hand, the weapon dissipates at the end of your turn (thrown weapons still deal their damage, but then vanish).

Protoplasma Cannon (Siege Weapon, not a feat)

The Protoplasma cannon is a highly prized (and expensive) piece of shipboard weaponry developed by the artificers of the shipwright's guild to battle various ethereal dangers such as mist dragons and particularly strong ghosts. The weapon consists of a brass tube with intake slits along it's length, and a plethora of arcane machinery, mostly copper and quartz crystals, but also more exotic materials. Protoplasma is drawn in and concentrated, then fired in a massive ball, not unlike that of a cannon.

The cannon can be fired by a single crew member, as he would a ranged weapon, though with a -4 penalty. The weapon has a range of 120 feet and deals 3d6 points of bludgeoning damage, which is considered magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction or hurting incorporeal creatures.
Reloading the weapon takes a move action from the operator, as he just has to operate a switch, after which it takes a full round to draw in enough protoplasm to fire again.


Condensor (Weapon Enchantment)

Cost modifier: 1000 gold pieces, ranged weapons only

In the hands of any wielder with at least one rank in the control skill, a condensor weapon creates it's own ammunition. This ammunition deals normal damage for the weapon and is not considered to be made from any special material otherwise (though it is, of course, considered magical).

Adamantrue
2011-03-21, 08:23 AM
I don't know how to judge the others, but Ethereal Crafter is pretty in line with Extraordinary Artisan from Eberron (minus the Control skill portion).

Eldan
2011-03-21, 08:38 AM
That was the intention, yes.

unosarta
2011-03-21, 08:42 AM
It seems like you would be able to increase the check by to (to DC 25) for the last feat to make it a swift action. If you felt that that was too low, increasing the DC by 15 would work too.

Eldan
2011-03-21, 08:43 AM
Fair enough.

I thought about also increasing it to make the weapon count as magical. Would that be appropriate?

unosarta
2011-03-21, 08:59 AM
Fair enough.

I thought about also increasing it to make the weapon count as magical. Would that be appropriate?

Well, it is made out of ectoplasm. So, yes, that would make sense.

Oh! Maybe for every 10 points you beat the DC by, the weapon gains an enhancement bonus of +1, never going past +5. To get +5, you would need a DC 65 Control check, which seems kind of reasonable. Thoughts?

Eldan
2011-03-21, 09:01 AM
I thought about that, but I wasn't entirely sure if that was still balanced, really. That's an awfully expensive weapon you are basically getting for free (Control is a useful skill anyway).

unosarta
2011-03-21, 09:23 AM
I thought about that, but I wasn't entirely sure if that was still balanced, really. That's an awfully expensive weapon you are basically getting for free (Control is a useful skill anyway).

At higher levels, the normal weapons are basically useless anyway.

Hm... maybe you can only create one weapon with an enhancement bonus? And maybe it scales with level, instead of the actual check? You could have it be +1 at fifth level, +2 at tenth, +3 at Fifteenth, and +4 at twentieth, that way it would never actually go up to the highest bonus possible. I don't know, it seems kind of reasonable.

Eldan
2011-03-21, 09:27 AM
Which reminds me that I should probably include a "can not leave your hand" clause.

Okay, then. Enhancement bonus included.

This feat is probably standard training for guild marines. Saves quite a bit of money on expensive weapons later. Especially when they need magic weapons to battle ghosts.

Edit: changes added.

unosarta
2011-03-21, 09:33 AM
Awesome.

Also, could he create throwing weapons/ranged weapons, or would they simply dissipate? Maybe as an increased feat?

Eldan
2011-03-21, 09:34 AM
Actually: that's already added in.

The weapon dissipates at the end of the turn, so it can still be thrown.

Also, I made the enhancement scaling flexible: your weapon doesn't fail because you try to create a strong one. Instead, you roll, and if you roll high enough, it's magical, otherwise mundane.

unosarta
2011-03-21, 09:39 AM
Actually: that's already added in.

The weapon dissipates at the end of the turn, so it can still be thrown.

Also, I made the enhancement scaling flexible: your weapon doesn't fail because you try to create a strong one. Instead, you roll, and if you roll high enough, it's magical, otherwise mundane.

Awesome!

How would bows work? Would you have to summon the arrows?

That kind of leads to weakness for a character who uses ranged weapons like this, though, since they cannot ever have more than one attack a round, with the need to summon arrows and thrown weapons (thrown weapons especially).

Eldan
2011-03-21, 09:40 AM
Hmm. Didn't think of that.

Create ammo as a free action?

Edit: This gives me ideas...

unosarta
2011-03-21, 09:43 AM
Oh man, this sounds like it could make a fantastic Prestige Class, focused on creation of ethereal weaponry.

Eldan
2011-03-21, 09:49 AM
Originally, I was writing an entire martial discipline called Protean Blade, focused on creating, manipulating and using ethereal weapons. But it got a bit awkward and I couldn't really think of more than about five maneuvers.

I'll add more things to the starting post now.

Eldan
2011-03-21, 09:58 AM
Done. A siege weapon and a weapon enchantment.

unosarta
2011-03-21, 10:01 AM
The Protoplasma Cannon looks fine.

Can one enchant the Condenser as if it were ammunition, and then give those enchantments to the ammunition it creates?

Eldan
2011-03-21, 10:05 AM
It's a weapon enchantment, not an item by itself. So you can, naturally, enchant the weapon further.

unosarta
2011-03-21, 10:11 AM
No, I mean, the enchantment gets rid of the need for ammunition. However, ammunition can also be enchanted (and I am fairly sure there are ammunition only enchantments), so by doing so, the ranged attacker actually loses quite a bit, although makes it up ever so slightly by not needing to pay for ammunition.

Because of this, I was wondering if it were possible to actually enchant the ammunition? You could probably make it cost double, since it is hard for the magic to affect the ectoplasm.

Eldan
2011-03-21, 10:16 AM
Are there? The only thing I remember was ammunition with an enhancement bonus of it's own, which I'm fairly certain was done away with during the change from 3.0 to 3.5.

unosarta
2011-03-21, 10:29 AM
Like, different effects. Yes, the actual enhancement bonuses do not stack, but a +5 Distance Seeking Longbow of Speed is going to gain benefit from a set of +1 Flaming Burst Icy Burst Shocking Burst Wounding Bane (common creature) Cold Iron/Adamantine Arrows.

Speaking of which, characters who create their own ammunition with the above enhancement won't be able to choose material type so as to overcome DR, which is really important as a ranged character, where your attacks tend to be smaller and faster than larger and slower, thus making DR that much more effective against you.