FreakyCheeseMan
2014-07-02, 04:48 PM
Been working on my own system for ever and ever, and I've been wondering how to balance shapeshifting.
One of the basic ideas I have for the system is that levels = CR = ECL. So, in theory, no creatures are more or less powerful for their HD (as best as I can manage, anyway.) Another element is that, for the most part, character advancement will be wider rather than taller - your numbers won't go up so much, particularly HP and damage, but you'll get more versatility, counters, sneaky tricks, etc.
One of the issues I've been working with is trying to make shapeshifting/polymorphic ideas remotely balanced (They're well-known for being overpowered in 3.5, but in general, the idea does seem to have a lot of might to it.)
So, here's my idea:
1: All qualities will be tagged as either Physical, Not Physical, or Both. (Having claws is Physical. Being able to cast a spell is Not Physical.) When you shapeshift, you lose everything that has a tag of either Physical or Both from your base form, and gain everything tagged as Physical from your new form.
2: Any shapeshifter will have to take at least one "Morphic Level" - these are levels that, by default, give them no benefit beyond standard character advancement (feats, basically.) You can only shapeshift into forms which have a maximum level of the sum of your Morphic levels, and you trade your morphic levels for that form. (So, if you had Druid 3/Morphic 1, you could only transform into a 1st level thing - say a dog - becoming effectively Druid 3/Dog 1.)
I think this adds a bit more balance to the concept, and emphasizes the fact that shapeshifting is more powerful than just a spell. (Whereas in 3.5, a Psion 7 can turn into any 7HD creature, effectively getting all of the benefits of 7 levels of something else while keeping all of his psion stuff.)
Anyone have any thoughts on this idea? Ever seen anything similar?
One of the basic ideas I have for the system is that levels = CR = ECL. So, in theory, no creatures are more or less powerful for their HD (as best as I can manage, anyway.) Another element is that, for the most part, character advancement will be wider rather than taller - your numbers won't go up so much, particularly HP and damage, but you'll get more versatility, counters, sneaky tricks, etc.
One of the issues I've been working with is trying to make shapeshifting/polymorphic ideas remotely balanced (They're well-known for being overpowered in 3.5, but in general, the idea does seem to have a lot of might to it.)
So, here's my idea:
1: All qualities will be tagged as either Physical, Not Physical, or Both. (Having claws is Physical. Being able to cast a spell is Not Physical.) When you shapeshift, you lose everything that has a tag of either Physical or Both from your base form, and gain everything tagged as Physical from your new form.
2: Any shapeshifter will have to take at least one "Morphic Level" - these are levels that, by default, give them no benefit beyond standard character advancement (feats, basically.) You can only shapeshift into forms which have a maximum level of the sum of your Morphic levels, and you trade your morphic levels for that form. (So, if you had Druid 3/Morphic 1, you could only transform into a 1st level thing - say a dog - becoming effectively Druid 3/Dog 1.)
I think this adds a bit more balance to the concept, and emphasizes the fact that shapeshifting is more powerful than just a spell. (Whereas in 3.5, a Psion 7 can turn into any 7HD creature, effectively getting all of the benefits of 7 levels of something else while keeping all of his psion stuff.)
Anyone have any thoughts on this idea? Ever seen anything similar?