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View Full Version : Legacy items and going in too deep



Monstropolis
2013-09-27, 07:39 PM
Hello everyone, I am Monstropolis and a new poster and hopefully positive contributor to this forum. I've been lurking this forum for a little bit now, and now I've decided to add my opinions, questions and thoughts as well.


My experiences with D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder collectively stretches back about 6 years of on and off play. I like to grasp on to the aspects of the game that can't normally be found in computer games and board games, and that's thinking on your feet and outside of the box. Anything that empowers my players to thwart me in new and imaginative ways is a win in my books. Obviously I am also an ally, as GM I play by a few golden rules.

0: Fun for everyone first, everything else comes after. This is rule 0, because I try to adhere to it everywhere and not just for D&D.
1: The GM is not god, I will not try to oppress others ideas and plans. That does not mean absolutely any plan will work though.
2: Engage the players, if a player is feeling left out by an encounter their is a problem. This leads back to rule 0.
3: The GM is not the players enemy, the GM is the players environment and should act as such. This is about how GM's make an encounter, instead of thinking "is this encounter hard enough?" to "is this encounter fun?".

I have more but these have changed little in my years of play compared to the rest.


I am here to ask for some assistance on the matter of some legacy items I am trying to make for a Pathfinder Campaign. It all started with one of the players creating her background that inflicted her with a terrible curse and in turn gave her a boon. She was new and thus had no idea what she was asking for, I took it as a challenge to honor her request. The others players heard about this and similarly wrote their backgrounds like that. Now I am trying to make 5 legacy items in total and thought I would pick your collective brains for help.

On to the one that started them all, I will only provide the descriptions non-spoilered so that you will have untarnished opinions on what the items should do and provide spoilered text with context to the player and more spoiler text as to what I have so far. I am not committed to any of the ideas I have thus far, and will appreciate any assistance. For those of you unfamiliar with legacy items, they are items that grow in power as you do. In other words they also level.

Stutter Stone: Once thought of as a blessing, those afflicted with the stutter curse are granted amazing powers at great expense. The stutter affliction forces the body out of the normal stream of time that all other things belong, with only the soul as an anchor to real time. Once thought to be a flawless boon, it was quickly realized that once deceased one could not move on from their mortal coils due to their own inability to will themselves on, instead their are stuck at their place of death and quickly driven mad as they are forced to experience their deaths over and over again. Strong will means little and only holds off the madness for a short while.


Formerly an Ioun stone, this artifact is now transfixed to the forehead of our Elven Rogue.

The Curse:
Unchanging: Once rendered below 0 hit-points, the player does not bleed out nor does the player stabilize. If the spell bleed is used on the player, he is slain at the end of his next turn if he is still below 0 hit-points. If the spell stabilize is used on the player, he becomes conscious and able to use one move action a turn without injury.

Maddening Pain: Once slain the player has as many days as their CR to be resurrected, otherwise the player has gone so mad that no amount of aid will change that. Other effects occur based on DM discretion.

Willed Healing: The player must make a will save every time he is provided magical healing, the save directly allows for that much immediate healing the rest comes in the form of fast healing.

Example: Rogue has 30 hit points, she gets smacked for 20. She then drinks a potion that gives back all 20. She rolls a 14 on her will save, that means she received 14 hit points immediately and has fast healing 1 for 6 rounds.

The boon:(nothing is concrete here, just a muddle of ideas)
Initiative meddling: The rogues is able to bounce around the initiative order. By dropping down on the initiative order one round, the rogue may move back up the order in another round.
- No idea how beneficial this would actually be

Take back: The rogue is able to return a consumable as if it were never used.
- The rogue is an archer and I want to encourage specialty ammunition.

Willed healing: This is the boon portion of the curse, no injury is permanent to the rogue. Things like negative energy, loss of limb and stat loss is never permanent.
- This was the big thing the player wanted

Incite arcana: The rogue is able to revitalize the arcane magic previously cast upon a person or object. Basically recasts the last spell cast on a person or object.
- I like this, because if the player isn't paying attention this could have very different results.


Thank you all for your time and opinions.

Nevershutup
2013-09-27, 07:55 PM
Giving all the special abilities at level one seems a bit over powered though not game breaking, and obviously this character is not meant to be played past death (Oh well...). If you need help with the other items, it may be good to tell us what kind of characters the other players are playing. (I'm a new poster as well, so you may want to depend on someone with more seniority.) Also, willed healing is worded to say the rest of the healing is gained in fast healing. Fast healing one, two, three, or like the rest of the healing divided among so many rounds, etc...

Freddrick
2013-09-27, 10:47 PM
Welcome to the community from a fellow newbie poster as well. I hope your game goes well.

Here are my thoughts on you item. I'm putting them in spoilers since I don't know if any of you players read these forums.


Formerly an Ioun stone, this artifact is now transfixed to the forehead of our Elven Rogue.
Ioun stones never worked this way and without outside effects don't attach. Just simply call it a minor artifact.


The Curse:
Unchanging: Once rendered below 0 hit-points, the player does not bleed out nor does the player stabilize. If the spell bleed is used on the player, he is slain at the end of his next turn if he is still below 0 hit-points. If the spell stabilize is used on the player, he becomes conscious and able to use one move action a turn without injury.
I am finding it hard for this to be that much of a disadvantage. If you get dropped to negative hit points you aren't bleeding. In order to be killed you have to be hit with a very combat ineffective spell, (would the bad guy rather cast a spell on a disabled person or do something else against an active target) assuming the bad guys even notice you aren't bleeding. If this is a curse its rather beneficial imo.

To make this a curse more impactful consider having it prevent natural healing. Having the body and soul be out of step puts a strain on their energies not allowing the body to heal naturally, but also keeping them from bleeding out. Call it "Soul Stasis."


Maddening Pain: Once slain the player has as many days as their CR to be resurrected, otherwise the player has gone so mad that no amount of aid will change that. Other effects occur based on DM discretion.
Change CR to HD or levels since CR can be a nebulous term. If they are not resurrected then you have an instant ghost based on the item description.


Willed Healing: The player must make a will save every time he is provided magical healing, the save directly allows for that much immediate healing the rest comes in the form of fast healing.
Cool concept but also not that much of a curse, it just delays some of the healing and creates more book keeping.

Consider having them make a will save for 1/2. if they fail then they only get 1/2 healing but if successful then they get full healing.


The boon:(nothing is concrete here, just a muddle of ideas)
Initiative meddling: The rogues is able to bounce around the initiative order. By dropping down on the initiative order one round, the rogue may move back up the order in another round.
- No idea how beneficial this would actually be
Cool concept, very confusing wording and situationally useful.

If the rogue needs for a party member to move or cast a spell to get a benefit then they can wait this round and move quickly the next without sacrificing their initiative position.

Consider this wording: The rogue may delay their initiative X times per day without changing their position in the initiative order the following round.


Take back: The rogue is able to return a consumable as if it were never used.
- The rogue is an archer and I want to encourage specialty ammunition.
Be VERY careful with this. I recommend placing a limit on it of so many times per day or only certain types of items. Otherwise EVERY consumable item you introduce would stick around FOREVER.


Willed healing: This is the boon portion of the curse, no injury is permanent to the rogue. Things like negative energy, loss of limb and stat loss is never permanent.
- This was the big thing the player wanted
So all ability damage and negative levels are temporary. Consider the damage heals at the rate of 1 ability point or level per day. Lost limbs regrow in 2(?)d6-con modifier days. Rename this ability something like "Body Stasis."


Incite arcana: The rogue is able to revitalize the arcane magic previously cast upon a person or object. Basically recasts the last spell cast on a person or object.
- I like this, because if the player isn't paying attention this could have very different results.
This ability has great potential for trouble. I approve.

Hope this helps. Best of luck with your game.
-Freddrick

Monstropolis
2013-09-29, 11:48 PM
I apologize for the late reply, flew season struck hard and sudden.

Moving along, I seem to be unclear as to my intention with this post. The powers mentioned are only ideas I have for the legacy item to have. As such, they will be limited and only come at certain levels like class abilities. I'm posting here to receive opinions and ideas for other possible abilities for the item to have. More importantly I'm looking for glaring issues with the abilities I or others have suggested.

Thanks for the incite so far, I will post updates on the item as I fine tune it. As always leave your comments and opinions, every little bit helps.