Deth Muncher
2012-08-09, 10:48 PM
Those of you who've been here a while should be used to me posting up really silly campaign and character ideas, and I aim to please, so since you guys seemed to like my idea about the Fantasy Tanks a few weeks ago, I figured I'd let you in on my next silly idea for a short campaign I'm going to run for folks up at my college: a Megaman themed game! I haven't quite decided if I'm doing X or Original series, but I'm leaning towards the OG series. "But Deth!" I hear you exclaim, "You can't do Megaman in D&D 3.5!" To which I would reply "Oh, you silly person," and pat you on the head, "it is quite easy, for these forums themselves have provided the answer!"
This is your Wall of Text warning.
Originally, I was trying to do this without homebrew. I don't really use homebrew, ever. Just don't trust it. However, in my attempts to fit Megaman into the existing books (and I do mean ALL the books), I realized that I could only approximate certain things - namely, the Megabuster, trademark weapon of the eponymous hero of the series. At which point, I came upon this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111577) - a PrC that also relies upon another (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99529) bit of homebrew, but does what nothing else does - gives you an armcannon and makes you a beast at using it. It also utilizes Tome of Battle for a purely ranged character, which I think is totally cool (definitely click that second like - it's a gunslinger school for martial adepts). And actually, the neat thing is that with the Cybernetic Gunner (the first link), it literally is completely for making you into Megaman (or X) - or, in a much more wonderful note, Bass. Basically, it gives you an armcannon (or two, if that's what you fancy), and then lets you emulate the standard idea of using elemental boosts and charged shots by granting them as special moves. Pretty cool, I think. But while the "hero" characters might focus on this (Megaman, X, Zero, Protoman and Bass), that does a poor job of representing the other two main types of named Megaman characters - namely, the big brutes like Guts Man, and the fancy weapon users like Yamatoman. So what to do?
Well, while delving around the homebrew again, I found The Brawler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=204494), a hilariously written class which is good at the thing it needs to be - punching people in the face. And hey, you throw some Hulking Hurler in there for good measure, and you've got all the big punchy guys as well as the rock-throwy ones too.
For the weapons guys, though, that's pretty easy - any number of Fighter/Kensai/etc builds can do this.
But then I was thinking "But wait! Almost all of the badguys have elemental affinities! How do I represent that?!" It's Hot Outside, It's Cold Outside, and the Magic Item Compendium came to save the day, however, in the form of Augment crystals, and the rings that give you an elemental subtype. So with a little bit of tweaking for someone like Elecman, you've got the ability to exist as an elemental subtype, and do elemental damage with all your attacks. I'd say this is pretty well wrapped up.
So! Why did I post this here? Because I want to see if you guys think there are better ways to represent the characters via core things, so that I can tell the players what they've got for options, since obviously all the normal classes from D&D aren't really going to fit in a Megaman game. Likewise, I'm going to post up a few builds for characters at 5/10/15/20 to see what you guys think, though you're welcome to do the same if you like the idea.
Which, by the way, I hope you do - this is just a silly thing I've had floating around for a while, but the last time I mentioned videogame themed D&D, you guys clamored for more, so here we are!
Sample Build 1: Protoman
Level 5 Male-Identifying Warforged Crusader
Character Flaw: Frail (Kudos if you know why.)
Flaw Feat: EWP (Firearms)
Lv1 Feat: Point Blank Shot
Lv3 Feat: Precise Shot
Equipment of Note:
Wandgun (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5867363#post5867363) - As Blues here won't have an armcannon yet, and the arm crossbow Warforged component is WAY out of his pricerange, we have the Wandgun. He'd likely load it with wands of Orb of Force. Also, of course, his trademark Tower Shield.
Other Important Things: Since he'd have to trade in a school from Crusader to take the Black Rain Discipline, he'd probably swap Devoted Spirit, and take
-BR: Iron Caress, Smoking Steel Parry, Azure Battle Mandala, Dust Devil Shot, Righteous Devil Gunslinger (Unsure if this would, then, let him shoot his wandgun as a regular firearm of some sort, but it's really just to fill out the list here)
-WR: Bolstering Voice (Stance)
-SD:Charging Minotaur, Stone Dragon's Fury
-----------------------------------------
Level 10
Crusader6/Cybernetic Gunner4
FlawFeat: EWP Firearms
Lv1: Point Blank Shot
Lv3: Precise Shot
Lv6: Dodge
Lv9: Mobility
Equipment of Note:
At this point, good ol' Protoman will have entered the Cybernetic Gunner class, meaning he can ditch the Wandgun. At this point, he's probably ended up killing some Robot Masters, which means he should have some pretty decent loot. Since I'm big on using Augment Crystals from the MiC to represent powerups from the MM series, he upgraded from the wandgun to a Rifle from the Cybernetic Gunner list, and increased it to a +3 bonus so that he could equip Greater Augment Crystals, as well as his Tower Shield. (That's 18000GP for the buster, 9000 for the shield, and 112 to make the rifle, by the way.) With over half of his WBL depleted, he'd likely have a Greater Demolition crystal on his Rifle (6000) and a Greater Crystal of Arrow Deflection on his shield (5000). This leaves ten grand for whatever he feels like, roughly.
Other Important Things:
From level 6 of Crusader, he's got Smite 1/day. Woo. Since he's started into the Cybernetic Gunner class, he now has access to Diamond Mind maneuvers. He also gets the Charged Shot ability, and can upgrade his arm cannon twice (honestly, he'd probably get the Deadly Precision twice to get his Critical range to 14-20/x3). He also gets a body upgrade via the Component Mastery, netting him a Leg Upgrade to give him a dash. Also, he gains new maneuvers.
-BR: Iron Caress, Smoking Steel Parry, Azure Battle Mandala, Dust Devil Shot, Righteous Devil Gunslinger (Stance), Blossom of Inevitable Demise, Scarlet Battle Mandala, Lord of Arms (Stance)
-WR: Bolstering Voice (Stance)
-SD:Charging Minotaur, Stone Dragon's Fury
-DM:-
Level 15/20 to come.
This is your Wall of Text warning.
Originally, I was trying to do this without homebrew. I don't really use homebrew, ever. Just don't trust it. However, in my attempts to fit Megaman into the existing books (and I do mean ALL the books), I realized that I could only approximate certain things - namely, the Megabuster, trademark weapon of the eponymous hero of the series. At which point, I came upon this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111577) - a PrC that also relies upon another (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99529) bit of homebrew, but does what nothing else does - gives you an armcannon and makes you a beast at using it. It also utilizes Tome of Battle for a purely ranged character, which I think is totally cool (definitely click that second like - it's a gunslinger school for martial adepts). And actually, the neat thing is that with the Cybernetic Gunner (the first link), it literally is completely for making you into Megaman (or X) - or, in a much more wonderful note, Bass. Basically, it gives you an armcannon (or two, if that's what you fancy), and then lets you emulate the standard idea of using elemental boosts and charged shots by granting them as special moves. Pretty cool, I think. But while the "hero" characters might focus on this (Megaman, X, Zero, Protoman and Bass), that does a poor job of representing the other two main types of named Megaman characters - namely, the big brutes like Guts Man, and the fancy weapon users like Yamatoman. So what to do?
Well, while delving around the homebrew again, I found The Brawler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=204494), a hilariously written class which is good at the thing it needs to be - punching people in the face. And hey, you throw some Hulking Hurler in there for good measure, and you've got all the big punchy guys as well as the rock-throwy ones too.
For the weapons guys, though, that's pretty easy - any number of Fighter/Kensai/etc builds can do this.
But then I was thinking "But wait! Almost all of the badguys have elemental affinities! How do I represent that?!" It's Hot Outside, It's Cold Outside, and the Magic Item Compendium came to save the day, however, in the form of Augment crystals, and the rings that give you an elemental subtype. So with a little bit of tweaking for someone like Elecman, you've got the ability to exist as an elemental subtype, and do elemental damage with all your attacks. I'd say this is pretty well wrapped up.
So! Why did I post this here? Because I want to see if you guys think there are better ways to represent the characters via core things, so that I can tell the players what they've got for options, since obviously all the normal classes from D&D aren't really going to fit in a Megaman game. Likewise, I'm going to post up a few builds for characters at 5/10/15/20 to see what you guys think, though you're welcome to do the same if you like the idea.
Which, by the way, I hope you do - this is just a silly thing I've had floating around for a while, but the last time I mentioned videogame themed D&D, you guys clamored for more, so here we are!
Sample Build 1: Protoman
Level 5 Male-Identifying Warforged Crusader
Character Flaw: Frail (Kudos if you know why.)
Flaw Feat: EWP (Firearms)
Lv1 Feat: Point Blank Shot
Lv3 Feat: Precise Shot
Equipment of Note:
Wandgun (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5867363#post5867363) - As Blues here won't have an armcannon yet, and the arm crossbow Warforged component is WAY out of his pricerange, we have the Wandgun. He'd likely load it with wands of Orb of Force. Also, of course, his trademark Tower Shield.
Other Important Things: Since he'd have to trade in a school from Crusader to take the Black Rain Discipline, he'd probably swap Devoted Spirit, and take
-BR: Iron Caress, Smoking Steel Parry, Azure Battle Mandala, Dust Devil Shot, Righteous Devil Gunslinger (Unsure if this would, then, let him shoot his wandgun as a regular firearm of some sort, but it's really just to fill out the list here)
-WR: Bolstering Voice (Stance)
-SD:Charging Minotaur, Stone Dragon's Fury
-----------------------------------------
Level 10
Crusader6/Cybernetic Gunner4
FlawFeat: EWP Firearms
Lv1: Point Blank Shot
Lv3: Precise Shot
Lv6: Dodge
Lv9: Mobility
Equipment of Note:
At this point, good ol' Protoman will have entered the Cybernetic Gunner class, meaning he can ditch the Wandgun. At this point, he's probably ended up killing some Robot Masters, which means he should have some pretty decent loot. Since I'm big on using Augment Crystals from the MiC to represent powerups from the MM series, he upgraded from the wandgun to a Rifle from the Cybernetic Gunner list, and increased it to a +3 bonus so that he could equip Greater Augment Crystals, as well as his Tower Shield. (That's 18000GP for the buster, 9000 for the shield, and 112 to make the rifle, by the way.) With over half of his WBL depleted, he'd likely have a Greater Demolition crystal on his Rifle (6000) and a Greater Crystal of Arrow Deflection on his shield (5000). This leaves ten grand for whatever he feels like, roughly.
Other Important Things:
From level 6 of Crusader, he's got Smite 1/day. Woo. Since he's started into the Cybernetic Gunner class, he now has access to Diamond Mind maneuvers. He also gets the Charged Shot ability, and can upgrade his arm cannon twice (honestly, he'd probably get the Deadly Precision twice to get his Critical range to 14-20/x3). He also gets a body upgrade via the Component Mastery, netting him a Leg Upgrade to give him a dash. Also, he gains new maneuvers.
-BR: Iron Caress, Smoking Steel Parry, Azure Battle Mandala, Dust Devil Shot, Righteous Devil Gunslinger (Stance), Blossom of Inevitable Demise, Scarlet Battle Mandala, Lord of Arms (Stance)
-WR: Bolstering Voice (Stance)
-SD:Charging Minotaur, Stone Dragon's Fury
-DM:-
Level 15/20 to come.