Grayfigure
2016-04-10, 11:00 AM
A while ago, I created a Bladesinger homebrew, testing out my creative muscles while exorcising that demon of inspiration that burns within us all. It was.......ok-ish :P. But then the SCAG came out with an official Bladesinger built in, and mine fell into dust and memories.....such sadness.....
BUT! I recalled that, during the creating session and the balancing back and forth, someone asked me if I could modify a 'spearsong' version of the kit. I remember thinking that it didnt really fit what I was going for, but it couldve been modified for it, but the idea started bouncing around in the back of my head...why did they want a spear so badly? and why did that sound familiar.....?
it hit me later, that it was leaning toward the homage of Kaladin Stormblessed, one of the main protagonists in Brandon Sanderson's Stormight Archive. I'd read The Way of Kings that very summer, and though it wasnt exactly my standard read, I stuck with the story enough to get through the second book, Words of Radiance. Now that ive finished that, I have a far clearer idea of what I was once asked to do: Turn my Bladesinger into a Knight Radiant.
That wont work.
My Bladesinger is far too limited in what it was intended to do to truly express Kaladin's suite of powers. Whats needed....is its own Kit, made from scratch. And so, Ive created this thread to begin the creative process anew.....on winds of a Storm, Dancing on the edge, with a ring of Light Fairies to guide the way......
here's the idea. FAIR WARNING: this is the start of the process. this is less about the ideas being balanced (that'll come later if I can get it polished down to where it keeps me excited), and more about just getting the 'feel' of that power suite in. That being said, EVERYTHING I'll post as an idea is on the table for Heavy Modification to better fit the DnD5e power scope. Im building this first iteration off of the Fighter Class chassis, so im hoping to somehow file this down into an Archetype. If I would hazard a guess, based off the books, not all the Knights Radiant (KRs from now on), are warriors, so it would make sense to make an Archetype for each of the Orders, based on a Class that most closely suits the character the Order is introduced with (The only ones we know the most about are Kaladin's Winderunners, and Shallan's Lightweavers). All are invited to join in on the process, cus frankly, I dont know how far im even going to take it. Below, are a list of power ideas, with (hopefully) explanations on why I think they would work, where they are inspired from in the story, and a customization to make it work in the power hierarchy. I give you:
The Windrunner:
Ok, a Knight Radiant's power comes from 'Stormlight', which is a light that comes not from him/herself, but from the HighStorm. What we need is a power economy that is capable of being generated, without it coming from the PC, but something the PC can, with some effort, get their hands on readily. My Idea is to change 'Stormlight' to 'Soullight'. Soulight comes from Greater light sources (sun or moonlight) filtered through a Knight Radiant, then captured in an object capable of holding the light. I chose gemstones to match the stormlight holders from the story. You would basically, over the period of a long rest, charge these gems as you would batteries, then during the course of adventuring, use these batteries to power your KR abilities. Seems convoluted? yeah, it kinda does. Im not 100% sold on this idea, but felt this needed something different than the spell slot system to express it. I got a bit of the idea from a Magic Point system I cobbled together in my other homebrew, The Avatar of Blades. Still needs a LOT of polish, but thats the general idea.
After a bit of reworking, I think this version of the healing idea will work better. I'll use Third Wind as a name placeholder for now. Give up 'SoulLight' to add attributes to Second wind. Lowest amount adds your fighter level in regeneration for 5 turns. Middle amount doubles your fighter level in hit points received from Second Wind. The highest amount grants you a second usage of Second Wind, but may only be done once a long rest..
Ok, here goes. In The Way of Kings, during I believe the final battle of the story, the Protagonist uses his powers beyond healing for the first time, using his abilities to draw all the arrows being shot at his soldiers to his shield. I think he ended the fight with a nearly impossible number of arrows jabbed into his shield. I would really like a thematic power like that for usage. Thing is, something like that without proper restraints, could be extremely exploitable.
The idea i have goes like this: You may, as a reaction, use SoulLight to shield yourself and your companions from various forms of harm. The triggering projectile, and all other projectile after the triggering that passes within 15 ft of you , immediately targets you with the attack. Subsequently, you gain your CHA modifier in AC until the beginning of your next turn.
The idea is that you are one of the toughest people on your team, and so you have gained an ability to use that toughness in favor of the team, even if youre not the original target. Now, the numbers themselves will need consideration before this power is close to finalized, but this gives you the general idea.
This would be a pretty simple port over of Divine Smite, albeit with a few changes. Of course, SoulLight would power it instead of spell slots, but their would be a limit on how much you could charge it up. At later levels, you may/may not gain either a stronger version, or just the ability to charge it up further. Haven't really decided yet; kinda want to flesh out the SoulLight idea more first so I have a clearer idea of the power economy I'm working with.
Lightly based off of Reverse Gravity as a template. Player/user uses an action to touch their target and states the intended destination. Once declared, the target immediately falls their movement speed each turn until they encounter a solid surface (wall, ceiling, bottom of a balcony, etc....). If they land on a surface that impedes their "fall" or if the surface is their destination, they will interact with the surface as if they had fallen to the ground, taking falling damage as if they had fallen the distance traveled and struck the ground in the prone position. Until the lashing ends, the direction the target fell in will now be considered "down" for the duration of the lashing. Once a lashing 's duration has ended, normal gravity will immediately reassert itself and, if not on a surface that is properly facing down, the target will fall back to the ground, following all normal falling and falling damage rules. If a single lashing is used or if a specific square is not chosen, the target will be able to move normally on any surface it encounters that can bare it's weight. If a double lashing is used, a target will be considered restrained to a square of its size, as long as that square is chosen as the destination. If only a direction is chosen as the destination instead of a square, the target is not restrained once it reaches a surface that impedes it's fall, only knocked prone. Double lashing will cause a target to do double the expected falling damage, though they will follow normal falling rules once the double lashing ends; they will do 3 times the expected falling damage on a triple lashing. The maximum of 20d6 falling damage still applies for all forms of lashing. A single lashing will last 2 rounds, a double will last 3 rounds, and a triple lashing will last 5 rounds.* Extra SoulLight may be used to double the duration of lashings. At a higher level (tbd), lashings will cost an attack instead of an action. Only 3 lashings are allowed per turn and can also be ended with a Free Action.
This ability would work almost exactly like the Warlock's Pact of the Blade Pact Boon, but with a few additions. I would have the player choose a 'Signature Weapon' for their character. While, as a Pact Weapon, you could create any weapon you want, whenever you created your Signature Weapon, you would get extra bonuses. All Pact Weapons would be considered magical, like normal, but would also get a+2 to attack/damage. A Signature Weapon would get a +3 to attack and 1d4 added to damage after your damage/proficiency bonuses are applied. The reason I have this feature so far back in the kit is because both protagonists didnt manifests these weapons til later.....however.....I know that in one case, the female protagonist actually had her weapon since she was a child, and I suspect that the male protagonist had his for a similar length of time, though if there's a reference to that in the books, I missed it. So argument can be made for moving this up further into the kit. As always, Still in the development stage...
Fly could be done two ways, depending on how much, or how little complication one would want by this point in the creation process. In the story, the Protagonist actually used his Lashing abilities on himself to fly, and also to actually stick to walls to fight. It would make for a great thematic battling.....but from a gameplay perspective, wouldnt really add anything to combat while bogging it down with complication. For the sake of simplicity, I would suggest simply giving the build access to the Fly spell at this point. If you want the thematic feel of the power though, Id suggest using/modifying the Lashing rules just a bit to make it usable on player as well. That way, they could use it in death defying ways, to 'fly' around the battlefield. The DM would need to keep an eye on this to keep it from overshadowing the game/other players, and also to provide the Windrunner with challenges to this as well.
I have not a single clue what to put here, because.....well.....we dont know all of Kaladin's powers as of yet. According to the end of his section of Words of Radiance, he's almost there (2 of 3 Oaths spoken), but still has one more Oath to find in himself. Until such a time as we know his full suite of powers, I'd recommend we leave this space blank. However, educated guesses as to what that last power could reasonably be are always welcome.
And here is where I am for now. Im going to be continuously going through this thread and updating my ideas until I have all 'more to come' spaces filled out. Feel free to offer advice/insight/criticism now, or wait until I have more information slotted in. Feel free to join in the process as well!
Edit - 4/13/16: Ok, all the More to Come descriptions are in. Now its time hard decisions. With the number of Ideas i have, there might be a full Class in here. That would more easily support making several KR kits on the base Class (Warming up to your idea, zeek0!), but would present challenges of its own (separating Archetype powers from Base Class powers, figuring out what ARE BC powers with only limited info to go on, remembering that i SUCK at BC'ing...). Otherwise, I have more than enough powers for an Archetype....but that means cutting some powers from the list. Im open to any opinions or imput you all have about what path to take. Also, I'll be going through the power descriptions i have there and 'themeing' them up, or streamlining them down. I await your comments!
BUT! I recalled that, during the creating session and the balancing back and forth, someone asked me if I could modify a 'spearsong' version of the kit. I remember thinking that it didnt really fit what I was going for, but it couldve been modified for it, but the idea started bouncing around in the back of my head...why did they want a spear so badly? and why did that sound familiar.....?
it hit me later, that it was leaning toward the homage of Kaladin Stormblessed, one of the main protagonists in Brandon Sanderson's Stormight Archive. I'd read The Way of Kings that very summer, and though it wasnt exactly my standard read, I stuck with the story enough to get through the second book, Words of Radiance. Now that ive finished that, I have a far clearer idea of what I was once asked to do: Turn my Bladesinger into a Knight Radiant.
That wont work.
My Bladesinger is far too limited in what it was intended to do to truly express Kaladin's suite of powers. Whats needed....is its own Kit, made from scratch. And so, Ive created this thread to begin the creative process anew.....on winds of a Storm, Dancing on the edge, with a ring of Light Fairies to guide the way......
here's the idea. FAIR WARNING: this is the start of the process. this is less about the ideas being balanced (that'll come later if I can get it polished down to where it keeps me excited), and more about just getting the 'feel' of that power suite in. That being said, EVERYTHING I'll post as an idea is on the table for Heavy Modification to better fit the DnD5e power scope. Im building this first iteration off of the Fighter Class chassis, so im hoping to somehow file this down into an Archetype. If I would hazard a guess, based off the books, not all the Knights Radiant (KRs from now on), are warriors, so it would make sense to make an Archetype for each of the Orders, based on a Class that most closely suits the character the Order is introduced with (The only ones we know the most about are Kaladin's Winderunners, and Shallan's Lightweavers). All are invited to join in on the process, cus frankly, I dont know how far im even going to take it. Below, are a list of power ideas, with (hopefully) explanations on why I think they would work, where they are inspired from in the story, and a customization to make it work in the power hierarchy. I give you:
The Windrunner:
Ok, a Knight Radiant's power comes from 'Stormlight', which is a light that comes not from him/herself, but from the HighStorm. What we need is a power economy that is capable of being generated, without it coming from the PC, but something the PC can, with some effort, get their hands on readily. My Idea is to change 'Stormlight' to 'Soullight'. Soulight comes from Greater light sources (sun or moonlight) filtered through a Knight Radiant, then captured in an object capable of holding the light. I chose gemstones to match the stormlight holders from the story. You would basically, over the period of a long rest, charge these gems as you would batteries, then during the course of adventuring, use these batteries to power your KR abilities. Seems convoluted? yeah, it kinda does. Im not 100% sold on this idea, but felt this needed something different than the spell slot system to express it. I got a bit of the idea from a Magic Point system I cobbled together in my other homebrew, The Avatar of Blades. Still needs a LOT of polish, but thats the general idea.
After a bit of reworking, I think this version of the healing idea will work better. I'll use Third Wind as a name placeholder for now. Give up 'SoulLight' to add attributes to Second wind. Lowest amount adds your fighter level in regeneration for 5 turns. Middle amount doubles your fighter level in hit points received from Second Wind. The highest amount grants you a second usage of Second Wind, but may only be done once a long rest..
Ok, here goes. In The Way of Kings, during I believe the final battle of the story, the Protagonist uses his powers beyond healing for the first time, using his abilities to draw all the arrows being shot at his soldiers to his shield. I think he ended the fight with a nearly impossible number of arrows jabbed into his shield. I would really like a thematic power like that for usage. Thing is, something like that without proper restraints, could be extremely exploitable.
The idea i have goes like this: You may, as a reaction, use SoulLight to shield yourself and your companions from various forms of harm. The triggering projectile, and all other projectile after the triggering that passes within 15 ft of you , immediately targets you with the attack. Subsequently, you gain your CHA modifier in AC until the beginning of your next turn.
The idea is that you are one of the toughest people on your team, and so you have gained an ability to use that toughness in favor of the team, even if youre not the original target. Now, the numbers themselves will need consideration before this power is close to finalized, but this gives you the general idea.
This would be a pretty simple port over of Divine Smite, albeit with a few changes. Of course, SoulLight would power it instead of spell slots, but their would be a limit on how much you could charge it up. At later levels, you may/may not gain either a stronger version, or just the ability to charge it up further. Haven't really decided yet; kinda want to flesh out the SoulLight idea more first so I have a clearer idea of the power economy I'm working with.
Lightly based off of Reverse Gravity as a template. Player/user uses an action to touch their target and states the intended destination. Once declared, the target immediately falls their movement speed each turn until they encounter a solid surface (wall, ceiling, bottom of a balcony, etc....). If they land on a surface that impedes their "fall" or if the surface is their destination, they will interact with the surface as if they had fallen to the ground, taking falling damage as if they had fallen the distance traveled and struck the ground in the prone position. Until the lashing ends, the direction the target fell in will now be considered "down" for the duration of the lashing. Once a lashing 's duration has ended, normal gravity will immediately reassert itself and, if not on a surface that is properly facing down, the target will fall back to the ground, following all normal falling and falling damage rules. If a single lashing is used or if a specific square is not chosen, the target will be able to move normally on any surface it encounters that can bare it's weight. If a double lashing is used, a target will be considered restrained to a square of its size, as long as that square is chosen as the destination. If only a direction is chosen as the destination instead of a square, the target is not restrained once it reaches a surface that impedes it's fall, only knocked prone. Double lashing will cause a target to do double the expected falling damage, though they will follow normal falling rules once the double lashing ends; they will do 3 times the expected falling damage on a triple lashing. The maximum of 20d6 falling damage still applies for all forms of lashing. A single lashing will last 2 rounds, a double will last 3 rounds, and a triple lashing will last 5 rounds.* Extra SoulLight may be used to double the duration of lashings. At a higher level (tbd), lashings will cost an attack instead of an action. Only 3 lashings are allowed per turn and can also be ended with a Free Action.
This ability would work almost exactly like the Warlock's Pact of the Blade Pact Boon, but with a few additions. I would have the player choose a 'Signature Weapon' for their character. While, as a Pact Weapon, you could create any weapon you want, whenever you created your Signature Weapon, you would get extra bonuses. All Pact Weapons would be considered magical, like normal, but would also get a+2 to attack/damage. A Signature Weapon would get a +3 to attack and 1d4 added to damage after your damage/proficiency bonuses are applied. The reason I have this feature so far back in the kit is because both protagonists didnt manifests these weapons til later.....however.....I know that in one case, the female protagonist actually had her weapon since she was a child, and I suspect that the male protagonist had his for a similar length of time, though if there's a reference to that in the books, I missed it. So argument can be made for moving this up further into the kit. As always, Still in the development stage...
Fly could be done two ways, depending on how much, or how little complication one would want by this point in the creation process. In the story, the Protagonist actually used his Lashing abilities on himself to fly, and also to actually stick to walls to fight. It would make for a great thematic battling.....but from a gameplay perspective, wouldnt really add anything to combat while bogging it down with complication. For the sake of simplicity, I would suggest simply giving the build access to the Fly spell at this point. If you want the thematic feel of the power though, Id suggest using/modifying the Lashing rules just a bit to make it usable on player as well. That way, they could use it in death defying ways, to 'fly' around the battlefield. The DM would need to keep an eye on this to keep it from overshadowing the game/other players, and also to provide the Windrunner with challenges to this as well.
I have not a single clue what to put here, because.....well.....we dont know all of Kaladin's powers as of yet. According to the end of his section of Words of Radiance, he's almost there (2 of 3 Oaths spoken), but still has one more Oath to find in himself. Until such a time as we know his full suite of powers, I'd recommend we leave this space blank. However, educated guesses as to what that last power could reasonably be are always welcome.
And here is where I am for now. Im going to be continuously going through this thread and updating my ideas until I have all 'more to come' spaces filled out. Feel free to offer advice/insight/criticism now, or wait until I have more information slotted in. Feel free to join in the process as well!
Edit - 4/13/16: Ok, all the More to Come descriptions are in. Now its time hard decisions. With the number of Ideas i have, there might be a full Class in here. That would more easily support making several KR kits on the base Class (Warming up to your idea, zeek0!), but would present challenges of its own (separating Archetype powers from Base Class powers, figuring out what ARE BC powers with only limited info to go on, remembering that i SUCK at BC'ing...). Otherwise, I have more than enough powers for an Archetype....but that means cutting some powers from the list. Im open to any opinions or imput you all have about what path to take. Also, I'll be going through the power descriptions i have there and 'themeing' them up, or streamlining them down. I await your comments!