DracoDei
2012-04-28, 12:16 PM
Wikipedia-like cross indexing: Replacing Common Magical Effects (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14989794#post14989794) covers enhancement bonuses on weapons and armor, resistance bonuses, ability score increasing items, deflection bonuses, and natural armor bonuses.
Fixes exist for low magic campaigns. Never studied them much, but I think they include "better than good BAB" progression and such. There is talk of the "Christmas Tree" effect.
I actually don't MIND the idea that a character at higher levels is heavily dependent on his magic items. I just want those magic items to be DIFFERENT between characters. Basically I want to kill the idea of "staple" magic items, and make it so there are many equally good items to put into a given slot for each class.
Here is my sleep-deprived rant on how to make this happen:
Remove all items that give a bonus to ability scores (keep the spells though). This includes Tomes (and the matching ability from Wish) Compensate by giving ability score increases EVERY level, rather than every 4 levels, but you may not spend more than half your bonuses (rounded up) on any given ability score.
EDIT^3: Alternatively, inspired by THIS (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278041) (which I also cross-indexed at the start of this post) keep the items, but make the every level increases default to enhancement bonuses, but every 4 levels you may select any single point of such enhancement bonus and change it to untyped. This CAN be the point you just added at that level, but it doesn't have to be.
Increase Holy/Axiomatic/Anarchic/Unholy enchantments to a +3 bonus. Compensate by allowing characters to pick an alignment aspect they have every 5 to 10 BAB. If you are out of alignment aspects, you can repick one's you already have, and gain +2d6 damage against the opposed alignment. True Neutrals instead apply their bonuses to the four corners of the alignment grid (so their attacks count as good aligned against chaotic evil and lawful evil targets, but not against neutral evil targets, etc), but have a SLIGHTLY larger interval between when they get them and get "magic" as their first added effect. Paladin's add the [Good] tag to all smite evil strikes, or if they already have it (either from levels or from a spell or perminent weapon quality) instead add [Lawful] to their smite evil. If they have both, they add 2d6 damage to the smite damage. All of this is negated if the target isn't evil. Modify similar smite's from other classes accordingly.
Leave Silver and Cold-Iron alone. If anything we want to ACCENTUATE the golf-bag effect here.
Triple the price of resistance bonuses on items, and remove all spells that grant a straight up (rather than situational) resistance bonus greater than +1 to saves. Compensate with "Greater" versions of the save-boosting feats (and maybe pumping their numbers), and with faster scaling save catagories to go with the faster BAB catagories.
Enhancement bonuses provide the same to-hit bonus, and the SQUARE of that bonus to damage (there, now people won't always go with +1 Frost Shocking over +3).
Dig up the Wuxia rules that gave everybody the ability to run up walls, balance on the top of willow branches, and run across water at certain levels. Use them. Make a high level feat with Skill Focus(Jump) as a prerequisite that allows you to multiply your jump checks by 2, and scales up from there. Now flight isn't a requirement to be competitive.
EDIT:
And Callos_DeTerran has now given me permission to quote his rules, which it turns out he created in a project called Warriors and Wuxia (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205213) provided I gave him credit, which I just did, so here we go.
Flight
Note that all references to Initiator level should be replaced with Equivalent Character Level, or maybe BAB.
This is an almost integral part of most cinematic wuxia/kung-fu films and settings and this one is no different! This rule allows characters to perform astounding feats of athleticism without requiring them to spend valuable resources to do something that every cinematic wuxia star seems capable of. When these rules refer to level, they refer to a character's initiator level which is determined as such. Each level in a martial adept class adds +1 to a character's initiator level, each level in a non-martial adept class that has a full BaB counts a 1/2 while ever level in a class that does not have a full base attack only counts as 1/4. Initiator level is always rounded down.
At 5th level a character gains the ability to walk or run across surfaces that wouldn’t otherwise allow such passage (such as water, quicksand, rough terrain, floors on the verge of collapse, etc.). The character must begin and end their movement on a surface capable of supporting their weight (and making any balance checks that might be required for narrow surfaces) but may otherwise treat such surfaces as normal terrain. If the character does not end their movement on a surface capable of sustaining their weight then they are treated as if they had just stepped unto it at the end of their turn. A character crossing water will fall into it and need to begin swimming, for example. Not, this movement does not protect the character (in any way) from any hazards the surface might have. Crossing lava, for example, would deal damage to the character as if they’d been splashed with it for every five feet that they cross, making it a very dangerous prospect.
At 10th level, the character’s ability to go where no one else can reaches a new height. As long as the character begins and ends their movement on a surface capable of sustaining their weight (and again, making any balance checks that might be required), the character is treated as having a fly speed equal to their land speed with good maneuverability. If the character does not end their movement on a surface that can support their weight, then they immediately begin to fall once their movement has ended unless there is something the character can grab a hold of. If the character makes an attack in the middle of this movement then all of their forward momentum is halted and any remaining movement (if the character can move after attacking, such as by using the Spring Attack feat) must be used to go in the opposite direction.
At 15th level, a character is able to balance on things that no other person ever could. The tips of spears, blades of grass, narrow branches, almost anything can be used to support the character’s weight as long as they make a Balance check (DC 25). If they fail this check then the surface is treated as being unable to support the character, as normal, and the character will begin falling. Additionally, if the character makes an unarmed melee attack against an opponent and hits in mid-flight (or makes an unarmed melee attack as their last attack if they get multiple attacks while moving), then the character is treated as having a surface that can support their weight and doesn’t begin to fall at the end of their turn. On their next turn the character can make another leap, at half speed, by pushing off of the opponent. If the character makes another unarmed melee attack as their last attack, then they are capable of jumping again on their next turn, the penalty to their speed remains at half of their total speed.
Improved Flight (Feat)
Requires: 10th level, ability to fly
Benefit: The character treats their maneuverability while flying as one step better (from good to perfect if using the flying rules above) and may make a standing Jump check before moving. However far they would have been capable of jumping is added to their fly speed for the round, enabling a character to potentially go much further then normal. Abilities that allow a character to treat a standing jump as a running jump of any kind act as normal.
EDIT^2: Note that for purposes of THIS thread "initiator level" should be replaced with "ECL" for PCs and "hitdice" (or perhaps "CR"?) for NPCs, and that this should be applied to all humanoids and monsterous humanoids that can't already fly to keep things balanced.
END EDIT
Better ranged-combat feats (or the three archery disciplines that Age of Warriors came up with). Also mitigates the "if you can't fly you are a putz" factor.
MAYBE make high level feats that grant immunity to Poison and Mind-Influencing effects.
Create a compendium of INTERESTING magic items.
Fixes exist for low magic campaigns. Never studied them much, but I think they include "better than good BAB" progression and such. There is talk of the "Christmas Tree" effect.
I actually don't MIND the idea that a character at higher levels is heavily dependent on his magic items. I just want those magic items to be DIFFERENT between characters. Basically I want to kill the idea of "staple" magic items, and make it so there are many equally good items to put into a given slot for each class.
Here is my sleep-deprived rant on how to make this happen:
Remove all items that give a bonus to ability scores (keep the spells though). This includes Tomes (and the matching ability from Wish) Compensate by giving ability score increases EVERY level, rather than every 4 levels, but you may not spend more than half your bonuses (rounded up) on any given ability score.
EDIT^3: Alternatively, inspired by THIS (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278041) (which I also cross-indexed at the start of this post) keep the items, but make the every level increases default to enhancement bonuses, but every 4 levels you may select any single point of such enhancement bonus and change it to untyped. This CAN be the point you just added at that level, but it doesn't have to be.
Increase Holy/Axiomatic/Anarchic/Unholy enchantments to a +3 bonus. Compensate by allowing characters to pick an alignment aspect they have every 5 to 10 BAB. If you are out of alignment aspects, you can repick one's you already have, and gain +2d6 damage against the opposed alignment. True Neutrals instead apply their bonuses to the four corners of the alignment grid (so their attacks count as good aligned against chaotic evil and lawful evil targets, but not against neutral evil targets, etc), but have a SLIGHTLY larger interval between when they get them and get "magic" as their first added effect. Paladin's add the [Good] tag to all smite evil strikes, or if they already have it (either from levels or from a spell or perminent weapon quality) instead add [Lawful] to their smite evil. If they have both, they add 2d6 damage to the smite damage. All of this is negated if the target isn't evil. Modify similar smite's from other classes accordingly.
Leave Silver and Cold-Iron alone. If anything we want to ACCENTUATE the golf-bag effect here.
Triple the price of resistance bonuses on items, and remove all spells that grant a straight up (rather than situational) resistance bonus greater than +1 to saves. Compensate with "Greater" versions of the save-boosting feats (and maybe pumping their numbers), and with faster scaling save catagories to go with the faster BAB catagories.
Enhancement bonuses provide the same to-hit bonus, and the SQUARE of that bonus to damage (there, now people won't always go with +1 Frost Shocking over +3).
Dig up the Wuxia rules that gave everybody the ability to run up walls, balance on the top of willow branches, and run across water at certain levels. Use them. Make a high level feat with Skill Focus(Jump) as a prerequisite that allows you to multiply your jump checks by 2, and scales up from there. Now flight isn't a requirement to be competitive.
EDIT:
And Callos_DeTerran has now given me permission to quote his rules, which it turns out he created in a project called Warriors and Wuxia (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205213) provided I gave him credit, which I just did, so here we go.
Flight
Note that all references to Initiator level should be replaced with Equivalent Character Level, or maybe BAB.
This is an almost integral part of most cinematic wuxia/kung-fu films and settings and this one is no different! This rule allows characters to perform astounding feats of athleticism without requiring them to spend valuable resources to do something that every cinematic wuxia star seems capable of. When these rules refer to level, they refer to a character's initiator level which is determined as such. Each level in a martial adept class adds +1 to a character's initiator level, each level in a non-martial adept class that has a full BaB counts a 1/2 while ever level in a class that does not have a full base attack only counts as 1/4. Initiator level is always rounded down.
At 5th level a character gains the ability to walk or run across surfaces that wouldn’t otherwise allow such passage (such as water, quicksand, rough terrain, floors on the verge of collapse, etc.). The character must begin and end their movement on a surface capable of supporting their weight (and making any balance checks that might be required for narrow surfaces) but may otherwise treat such surfaces as normal terrain. If the character does not end their movement on a surface capable of sustaining their weight then they are treated as if they had just stepped unto it at the end of their turn. A character crossing water will fall into it and need to begin swimming, for example. Not, this movement does not protect the character (in any way) from any hazards the surface might have. Crossing lava, for example, would deal damage to the character as if they’d been splashed with it for every five feet that they cross, making it a very dangerous prospect.
At 10th level, the character’s ability to go where no one else can reaches a new height. As long as the character begins and ends their movement on a surface capable of sustaining their weight (and again, making any balance checks that might be required), the character is treated as having a fly speed equal to their land speed with good maneuverability. If the character does not end their movement on a surface that can support their weight, then they immediately begin to fall once their movement has ended unless there is something the character can grab a hold of. If the character makes an attack in the middle of this movement then all of their forward momentum is halted and any remaining movement (if the character can move after attacking, such as by using the Spring Attack feat) must be used to go in the opposite direction.
At 15th level, a character is able to balance on things that no other person ever could. The tips of spears, blades of grass, narrow branches, almost anything can be used to support the character’s weight as long as they make a Balance check (DC 25). If they fail this check then the surface is treated as being unable to support the character, as normal, and the character will begin falling. Additionally, if the character makes an unarmed melee attack against an opponent and hits in mid-flight (or makes an unarmed melee attack as their last attack if they get multiple attacks while moving), then the character is treated as having a surface that can support their weight and doesn’t begin to fall at the end of their turn. On their next turn the character can make another leap, at half speed, by pushing off of the opponent. If the character makes another unarmed melee attack as their last attack, then they are capable of jumping again on their next turn, the penalty to their speed remains at half of their total speed.
Improved Flight (Feat)
Requires: 10th level, ability to fly
Benefit: The character treats their maneuverability while flying as one step better (from good to perfect if using the flying rules above) and may make a standing Jump check before moving. However far they would have been capable of jumping is added to their fly speed for the round, enabling a character to potentially go much further then normal. Abilities that allow a character to treat a standing jump as a running jump of any kind act as normal.
EDIT^2: Note that for purposes of THIS thread "initiator level" should be replaced with "ECL" for PCs and "hitdice" (or perhaps "CR"?) for NPCs, and that this should be applied to all humanoids and monsterous humanoids that can't already fly to keep things balanced.
END EDIT
Better ranged-combat feats (or the three archery disciplines that Age of Warriors came up with). Also mitigates the "if you can't fly you are a putz" factor.
MAYBE make high level feats that grant immunity to Poison and Mind-Influencing effects.
Create a compendium of INTERESTING magic items.