sage20500
2016-06-28, 12:29 AM
Ok, so my D&D group has recently switched from running a DMC themed campaign in 4th edition to 3.5 after the majority of the players in the group agreed that the DM seemed to have a better mindset for building 3.5 style monsters and encounters than doing things in a way that worked with 4e's system. Upside of switching systems in the middle of the campaign was that we weren't really that far into the story anyway so we're only making level 6 characters instead of anything higher, downside, the DM was giving every player in the party a devil arm that essentially was a bonus weapon enhancement that gave everyone a scaling property, an extra paragon encounter power, and an extra epic daily power designed for that weapon.
Here's where things get dicey, daily and encounter weapon powers (especially things that include spending of healing surges etc) are not a thing that translate over into 3.5. So we decided to instead make it to where everyone in the group is just getting an bastardized version of a legacy weapon and artifacts system. Essentially, players are not required to spend experience or gold on these artifacts in order for them to improve. Instead, they are designed to scale over the course of 20 levels with enhancement bonuses and abilities. Further note, players are not allowed to spend any further money on these artifacts to add any more weapon enchantments to them since they will count at ECL 18-20 as a +10 Weapon for all game mechanics purposes.
I've already stated up one as Alistair as a baseline to use for making the other artifacts, how ever I'm having some issues with designing the final aspects for what Gilgamesh is supposed to do for the party's barbarian.
So the idea with Gae Bolg(Alistair) was that I was mimicking either's stinger abilities to make 1 super hard heavy hitting attack since its being used by a mounted lancer who didn't feel like bothering with pounce and just wanted to do normal charge lance combat. The bleeding wounds effect was really only there to mimic some of the portrayals of how Gae Bolg was cursed a cursed barbed spear, so from there it can be surmised that its wounds would be particularly nasty and resistant to natural and most magical healing.
Gae Bolg:
Large Abyssal Bloodiron Great Spear
• +1 Enhancement Bonus at CL 4, +2 at ECL7, +3 at ECL10, +4 at ECL13, +5 at ECL16.
• Cursed Attacks: When ever Gae Bolg deals damage to any creature this can apply to, it leaves behind a Bleeding wound (See Wounding Special ability), every attack causes the target to bleed continuously until healed. Bleed damage is equal to the enhancement bonus and may stack over multiple attacks.
At +1 enhancement the wounds may be healed by a dc 15 heal check or the application of any heal spell; at +2 wounds can only be cured by any cure or healing spell or greater, at +3 wounds may only be cured by remove curse or a greater effect, at +4 wounds can only be cured by break enchantment or a greater effect, at +5 wounds may only be cured by remove Greater Curse or greater effect.
• +2 Enhancement Bonus to Strength at ECL6, +4 at ECL12, +6 at ECL18
• Gae Bolg may cast Rhinos Rush 3 x per Day at ECL8
• Gae Bolg gains the Valorous enchantment at ECL14
• Heartseeking Strike at ECL 16
Heartseeking Strike: Once per day before making a melee attack, Gáe Bolg’s wielder may declare their assault to be a Heartseeking Strike. The attack is made at an additional +5 morale bonus and if successful, the target must make a DC (15+1/2 level+Strength modifier) Fortitude save or die. This is a death effect. It is ineffective against constructs or creatures with no discernable anatomy. On a successful save, the attack instead deals 1.5x its normal damage and causes the target to take an additional 1/10th the damage for 10 rounds, as the wound gushes blood. (Credit to travelogue and their peach Fate/Stay/Night ideas for the heartseeking strike ability)
So now I'm currently working on Gilgamesh for the party's barbarian. She's mechanically playing a pouncing city brawler barbarian 20 on one side (With all the acf's to make extra attacks and charging great.) and the other side is Half Minotaur something, with 4 levels of fighter, and then 10 levels of War Hulk. Her main character concept so far has been that she runs at things and then just punches them to pieces, and since petrifaction in 3.5 is so much better than it is in 4e (They don't get a saving throw every round they are petrified the biggest thing) she was hoping to use Gilgamesh to do that.
Now the base ability that it has is that any time she deals damage to someone, they make a DC 10 fort save or be petrified. We're setting it at 10 and its staying there mainly because how good petrified as a status can actually be, as well as for the fact that in the games its not something that will always happen when you use Gilgamesh, but more of something that can happen. So even though most things she punches will only ever have this effect trigger if they roll a 1, she balances out the low trigger chance by just making lots of attacks period (Sort of like with how most people use Touch of Golden Ice on cryo hydras) My big issue right now is coming up with an appropriate ability for when she hits ECL 14, and also for a capstone ability for when she hits ECL 16.
The 14 ability I thought of maybe giving her the Sudden Stunning enchantment, since aside from turning things to stone Gilgamesh is essentially used to have stronger melee attacks and to stagger enemies; except for the fact that to my knowledge at the moment her character is a Half Minotaur Orc... so her Cha score if she's lucky will be around 5-6 though I'm pretty sure it'll be a 3. Are there any other enchantments, feats, or spells used X times per day that we could use here to emulate the ability to stun that have a decent chance of actually going off? Or maybe another effect that could count as staggering that might be more easy to work with?
As for the 16 this is where I'm really stumped. Based on the info I've given for how Gilgamesh works, what is an appropriate once per day ability that you guys would think is on par with the ability of Heart Seeker?
Gilgamesh
Amulet of Natural Attacks:
• Enhancement Bonuses Increase at: +1 at Effective Character Level 4, +2 at ECL 7, +3 at ECL 10, +4 at ECL 13, +5 at ECL 16. (+X to Hit, +X to Damage)
• Petrifying Strike: Upon Taking Damage from Gilgamesh, the target must make a DC 10 Fort Save or become Petrified.
• +2 Enhancement Bonus to Strength at ECL 6, +4 Enhancement Bonus to Strength at ECL 12, +6 Enhancement Bonus to Strength at ECL 18
• Strength Sapping at ECL 8: (As weapon enchantment) Every time this weapon deals damage, target must succeed on a DC 15 Fort save or become Exhausted. (An exhausted character may only move half their speed and takes a -6 Penalty to Strength and Dexterity.)
• ECL 14
• ECL 16
Here's where things get dicey, daily and encounter weapon powers (especially things that include spending of healing surges etc) are not a thing that translate over into 3.5. So we decided to instead make it to where everyone in the group is just getting an bastardized version of a legacy weapon and artifacts system. Essentially, players are not required to spend experience or gold on these artifacts in order for them to improve. Instead, they are designed to scale over the course of 20 levels with enhancement bonuses and abilities. Further note, players are not allowed to spend any further money on these artifacts to add any more weapon enchantments to them since they will count at ECL 18-20 as a +10 Weapon for all game mechanics purposes.
I've already stated up one as Alistair as a baseline to use for making the other artifacts, how ever I'm having some issues with designing the final aspects for what Gilgamesh is supposed to do for the party's barbarian.
So the idea with Gae Bolg(Alistair) was that I was mimicking either's stinger abilities to make 1 super hard heavy hitting attack since its being used by a mounted lancer who didn't feel like bothering with pounce and just wanted to do normal charge lance combat. The bleeding wounds effect was really only there to mimic some of the portrayals of how Gae Bolg was cursed a cursed barbed spear, so from there it can be surmised that its wounds would be particularly nasty and resistant to natural and most magical healing.
Gae Bolg:
Large Abyssal Bloodiron Great Spear
• +1 Enhancement Bonus at CL 4, +2 at ECL7, +3 at ECL10, +4 at ECL13, +5 at ECL16.
• Cursed Attacks: When ever Gae Bolg deals damage to any creature this can apply to, it leaves behind a Bleeding wound (See Wounding Special ability), every attack causes the target to bleed continuously until healed. Bleed damage is equal to the enhancement bonus and may stack over multiple attacks.
At +1 enhancement the wounds may be healed by a dc 15 heal check or the application of any heal spell; at +2 wounds can only be cured by any cure or healing spell or greater, at +3 wounds may only be cured by remove curse or a greater effect, at +4 wounds can only be cured by break enchantment or a greater effect, at +5 wounds may only be cured by remove Greater Curse or greater effect.
• +2 Enhancement Bonus to Strength at ECL6, +4 at ECL12, +6 at ECL18
• Gae Bolg may cast Rhinos Rush 3 x per Day at ECL8
• Gae Bolg gains the Valorous enchantment at ECL14
• Heartseeking Strike at ECL 16
Heartseeking Strike: Once per day before making a melee attack, Gáe Bolg’s wielder may declare their assault to be a Heartseeking Strike. The attack is made at an additional +5 morale bonus and if successful, the target must make a DC (15+1/2 level+Strength modifier) Fortitude save or die. This is a death effect. It is ineffective against constructs or creatures with no discernable anatomy. On a successful save, the attack instead deals 1.5x its normal damage and causes the target to take an additional 1/10th the damage for 10 rounds, as the wound gushes blood. (Credit to travelogue and their peach Fate/Stay/Night ideas for the heartseeking strike ability)
So now I'm currently working on Gilgamesh for the party's barbarian. She's mechanically playing a pouncing city brawler barbarian 20 on one side (With all the acf's to make extra attacks and charging great.) and the other side is Half Minotaur something, with 4 levels of fighter, and then 10 levels of War Hulk. Her main character concept so far has been that she runs at things and then just punches them to pieces, and since petrifaction in 3.5 is so much better than it is in 4e (They don't get a saving throw every round they are petrified the biggest thing) she was hoping to use Gilgamesh to do that.
Now the base ability that it has is that any time she deals damage to someone, they make a DC 10 fort save or be petrified. We're setting it at 10 and its staying there mainly because how good petrified as a status can actually be, as well as for the fact that in the games its not something that will always happen when you use Gilgamesh, but more of something that can happen. So even though most things she punches will only ever have this effect trigger if they roll a 1, she balances out the low trigger chance by just making lots of attacks period (Sort of like with how most people use Touch of Golden Ice on cryo hydras) My big issue right now is coming up with an appropriate ability for when she hits ECL 14, and also for a capstone ability for when she hits ECL 16.
The 14 ability I thought of maybe giving her the Sudden Stunning enchantment, since aside from turning things to stone Gilgamesh is essentially used to have stronger melee attacks and to stagger enemies; except for the fact that to my knowledge at the moment her character is a Half Minotaur Orc... so her Cha score if she's lucky will be around 5-6 though I'm pretty sure it'll be a 3. Are there any other enchantments, feats, or spells used X times per day that we could use here to emulate the ability to stun that have a decent chance of actually going off? Or maybe another effect that could count as staggering that might be more easy to work with?
As for the 16 this is where I'm really stumped. Based on the info I've given for how Gilgamesh works, what is an appropriate once per day ability that you guys would think is on par with the ability of Heart Seeker?
Gilgamesh
Amulet of Natural Attacks:
• Enhancement Bonuses Increase at: +1 at Effective Character Level 4, +2 at ECL 7, +3 at ECL 10, +4 at ECL 13, +5 at ECL 16. (+X to Hit, +X to Damage)
• Petrifying Strike: Upon Taking Damage from Gilgamesh, the target must make a DC 10 Fort Save or become Petrified.
• +2 Enhancement Bonus to Strength at ECL 6, +4 Enhancement Bonus to Strength at ECL 12, +6 Enhancement Bonus to Strength at ECL 18
• Strength Sapping at ECL 8: (As weapon enchantment) Every time this weapon deals damage, target must succeed on a DC 15 Fort save or become Exhausted. (An exhausted character may only move half their speed and takes a -6 Penalty to Strength and Dexterity.)
• ECL 14
• ECL 16