Avianmosquito
2016-11-22, 08:11 PM
I got a request from khadgar567 to convert the soul barrier effect from my system for use in D&D. He specifically requested it for Pathfinder, but I wrote it for 3.5 because that's what I'm most familiar with. It could still be used as-is in Pathfinder, I'm sure.
Soul barrier (Su)
(Insert creature here) is protected by an innate magical barrier, absorbing damage from physical attacks and spells. Soul barrier may be treated as an extra layer of health, and must be depleted before damage can be done to the creature underneath. Soul barrier is always hit for touch AC and does not benefit from damage reduction or spell resistance, but does benefit from saving throws when applicable. Soul barrier has a maximum of X and regenerates by Y each round until it reaches full. As a free action, any creature that possesses a soul barrier and one open hand may focus their soul barrier in one direction, causing it to take half damage, but not decreasing any damage that exceeds the amount it can block. Doing this leaves all three other directions exposed, and soul barrier cannot be focused behind a creature, and can only be focused to the side if the creature has a free hand on that side.
Obviously, (Insert creature here) is going to be whatever creature this is used on. X and Y are going to vary, depending on the expected difficulty of the creature. He requested it for player races, but for player races I can't imagine this could be anything but horrifically overpowered at low levels, flat useless at high levels, or most likely both. So the best I can think of for player races is making it so X is equal to HD, and Y is equal to 1. That way, it'll strengthen as time goes on, but won't regenerate any faster, preventing it from being overpowered or underpowered at any level. Here's an example for player races.
Soul barrier (Su)
(Insert creature here) is protected by an innate magical barrier, absorbing damage from physical attacks and spells. Soul barrier may be treated as an extra layer of health, and must be depleted before damage can be done to the creature underneath. Soul barrier is always hit for touch AC and does not benefit from damage reduction or spell resistance, but does benefit from saving throws when applicable. Soul barrier has a maximum equal to the user's hit dice and regenerates by 1 each round until it reaches full. As a free action, any creature that possesses a soul barrier and one open hand may focus their soul barrier in one direction, causing it to take half damage, but not decreasing any damage that exceeds the amount it can block. Doing this leaves all three other directions exposed, and soul barrier cannot be focused behind a creature, and can only be focused to the side if the creature has a free hand on that side.
For other creatures, it can get a bit more creative, but the above version largely works for them as well. D&D's not really my thing anymore, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time homebrewing entire creatures for it just to give examples. I'm sure anybody who still plays D&D (it's been a couple years for me) will be able to do that themselves. Feel free to make use of it if you wish.
Soul barrier (Su)
(Insert creature here) is protected by an innate magical barrier, absorbing damage from physical attacks and spells. Soul barrier may be treated as an extra layer of health, and must be depleted before damage can be done to the creature underneath. Soul barrier is always hit for touch AC and does not benefit from damage reduction or spell resistance, but does benefit from saving throws when applicable. Soul barrier has a maximum of X and regenerates by Y each round until it reaches full. As a free action, any creature that possesses a soul barrier and one open hand may focus their soul barrier in one direction, causing it to take half damage, but not decreasing any damage that exceeds the amount it can block. Doing this leaves all three other directions exposed, and soul barrier cannot be focused behind a creature, and can only be focused to the side if the creature has a free hand on that side.
Obviously, (Insert creature here) is going to be whatever creature this is used on. X and Y are going to vary, depending on the expected difficulty of the creature. He requested it for player races, but for player races I can't imagine this could be anything but horrifically overpowered at low levels, flat useless at high levels, or most likely both. So the best I can think of for player races is making it so X is equal to HD, and Y is equal to 1. That way, it'll strengthen as time goes on, but won't regenerate any faster, preventing it from being overpowered or underpowered at any level. Here's an example for player races.
Soul barrier (Su)
(Insert creature here) is protected by an innate magical barrier, absorbing damage from physical attacks and spells. Soul barrier may be treated as an extra layer of health, and must be depleted before damage can be done to the creature underneath. Soul barrier is always hit for touch AC and does not benefit from damage reduction or spell resistance, but does benefit from saving throws when applicable. Soul barrier has a maximum equal to the user's hit dice and regenerates by 1 each round until it reaches full. As a free action, any creature that possesses a soul barrier and one open hand may focus their soul barrier in one direction, causing it to take half damage, but not decreasing any damage that exceeds the amount it can block. Doing this leaves all three other directions exposed, and soul barrier cannot be focused behind a creature, and can only be focused to the side if the creature has a free hand on that side.
For other creatures, it can get a bit more creative, but the above version largely works for them as well. D&D's not really my thing anymore, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time homebrewing entire creatures for it just to give examples. I'm sure anybody who still plays D&D (it's been a couple years for me) will be able to do that themselves. Feel free to make use of it if you wish.