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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class Vitaemancer: Strength through Sacrifice [Base Class][PEACH]



Thundamoo
2017-03-14, 09:48 PM
The Vitaemancer Base Class
"It's Definitely Not Blood Magic!"


A vitaemancer is a powerful mage that uses their own vitality as fuel for their spells. Most commonly, vitaemancy is considered to be a corruption of natural sorcerer abilities, but in reality their power stems from another source. Magic does not naturally flow within the vitaemancer, but some strength within them lets them tap into arcane forces with the very power that keeps them alive, undead, or simply together at all.

Conceptually, the Vitaemancer is intended to be a high-risk, high-reward caster class that hypothetically has greater spell/day and damage/round output than the sorcerer, but needs to consistently put itself in dangerous situations to achieve its maximum potential. It trades a few of the strong utility spell schools for a few choice thematic picks from the cleric list and a few spells of its own. The Vitality Siphon ability is a tide-turner that can deal large amounts of damage and quickly swing a near-death Vitaemancer back to nearly full power... but only if the Vitaemancer is already almost dead and surrounded by multiple enemies. If you're looking for a caster that has a little less brain but a lot more heart, the Vitaemancer is for you.

Abilities: The Vitaemancer is an arcane caster that uses Constitution as their casting stat. Expect them to have far greater hit point totals than traditional casters, but at an important cost: casting spells endangers them, effectively lowering their hit point total for a while. Vitaemancers thrive in the middle of battle, and the more they risk death the more powerful they become. Thus, Dexterity is also an important stat for them, as it increases their armor class and the hit bonus for their ray spells.

Role: Vitaemancers have a little less utility than other arcane classes, as they lack a few key spell schools. Unlike wizards or sorcerers, however, Vitaemancers can thrive close to the front lines, taking advantage of their powerful short-range abilities.

Background: Vitaemancers are exceptionally rare, and little is known about where their power comes from. Many who are born with vitaemancy potential never pursue their gift due to its dangerous, self-destructive nature, and most that do are ostracized from their communities as practitioners of evil magic. In reality, vitaemancy is no more good or evil than regular old sourcery. It merely comes from a different source.

Organization: Vitaemancers are too rare to have formal organizations.

Alignment: Vitaemancers are not required to have any particular alignment, but evil vitaemancers seem to be slightly more common.

Races: There doesn't seem to be any connection between race and probability of vitaemancy aptitude. In rare cases, vitaemancy abilities have been documented in races that normally lack the intelligence to perform magic at all.

Religion: Vitaemancers usually follow religions normal for their race or culture, but the rare and powerful nature of their abilities may drive a vitaemancer to one of the many gods of magic.

Other Classes: Vitaemancy is not well understood, but the self-sacrificial nature of its power is looked upon by most other classes as somewhat worrisome.



Vitaemancer Table and Spells Known
LevelBABFort
SaveRef
SaveWill
SaveSpecial0th1st2st3st4st5st6st7st8st9st
1st+0+2+0+0Sacrifice Pool, Lifecasting42
2nd+1+3+0+0Combat Casting53
3rd+1+3+1+1Vitality Siphon (5ft)531
4th+2+4+1+1Steady Concentration[/td]642
5th+2+4+1+1Vitality Siphon (10ft)[/td]6421
6th+3+5+2+2Sacrificial Power7532
7th+3+5+2+2Vitality Siphon (15ft)75321
8th+4+6+2+2Sacrificial Defenses85432
9th+4+6+3+3Vitality Siphon (20ft)854321
10th+5+7+3+3Sacrificial Potency955432
11th+5+7+3+3Vitality Siphon (25ft)9554321
12th+6/+1+8+4+4Superior Vitality Siphon9554432
13th+6/+1+8+4+4Vitality Siphon (30ft)95544321
14th+7/+2+9+4+4Swift Vitality Siphon (1/day)95544432
15th+7/+2+9+5+5Vitality Siphon (35ft)955444321
16th+8/+3+10+5+5Arcane Stamina955444332
17th+8/+3+10+5+5Vitality Siphon (40ft)9554443321
18th+9/+4+11+6+6Swift Vitality Siphon (2/day)9554443332
19th+9+4+11+6+6Vitality Siphon (45ft)9554444442
20th+10/+5+12+6+6Supreme Vitality Siphon9554444443

Hit Dice: d4

Class Skills: The Vitaemancer’s class skills are Concentration (Con), Disguise (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at First Level: (2 + Int mod) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int mod

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Vitaemancers are proficient with all simple weapons. Vitaemancers are not proficient with any armor or shields.


Sacrifice Pool: Unlike other spellcasters that rely on spell slots, the vitaemancer uses a sacrifice pool to determine how many spells he can cast per day. The sacrifice pool starts at zero when the vitaemancer is created as has no upper limit. Various actions, such as casting spells, add to the Vitaemancer’s sacrifice pool. If the current value in the Vitaemancer’s sacrifice pool is ever greater than the Vitaemancer’s current hit point total plus his temporary hit point total, the vitaemancer falls unconscious and is helpless until his combined current and temporary hit points equal or exceed his sacrifice pool value. At the end of an uninterrupted eight-hour rest, the vitaemancer can choose to reduce his sacrifice pool by as much as he wants, with the exception that the sacrifice pool can never be less than zero for any reason.


Lifecasting: A vitaemancer casts spells drawn from the vitaemancer spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time the way a wizard or a cleric must.

To learn or cast a spell, the vitaemancer must have a Constitution score equal to at least 10 + the spell’s level. The difficulty class for a saving throw against a vitaemancer’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the vitaemancer’s Constitution modifier.

A vitaemancer’s ability to cast spells is not restricted by spell slots. Instead, when a vitaemancer attempts to cast a spell, he must add a number of points to his sacrifice pool equal to the twice the spell’s level (after modifiers such as metamagic). 0th level spells (cantrips) add exactly one point to the sacrifice pool, plus any adjustment for metamagic or other effects. This addition to the sacrifice pool occurs immediately after the spell is successfully (or unsuccessfully) cast. Thus, if casting a spell with a duration of instantaneous were to add enough points to the sacrifice pool to cause the vitaemancer to fall unconscious, the spell goes off successfully and then the vitaemancer immediately falls unconscious. Spells that fail, such as from an unsuccessful concentration check, still add to the sacrifice pool. Furthermore, if a situation other than casting a spell affecting a vitaemancer were to cause a spellcaster of a different class to lose a prepared spell slot, that situation adds twice the relevant spell level’s value to the sacrifice pool of a vitaemancer instead.

Like a sorcerer, the vitaemancer has a limited selection of spells. The vitaemancer begins play with four level-0 spells and two level-1 spells of your choice. At each new vitaemancer level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on the Vitaemancer table above.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered vitaemancer level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a vitaemancer can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the vitaemancer "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level vitaemancer spell the vitaemancer can cast. A vitaemancer may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

Combat Casting: At second level, the vitaemancer gains Combat Casting as a bonus feat.

Vitality Siphon (Su): At third level, the vitaemancer gains the ability to transfer his sacrifices onto others. Vitality Siphon is a supernatural ability. Using Vitality Siphon is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and it can be done a number of times per day equal to one-third the vitaemancer’s vitaemancer levels, rounded down. Vitality Siphon has a 5ft radius, centered on the vitaemancer. This radius increases by 5ft at fifth level and 5ft every two vitaemancer levels thereafter. For every two points in your sacrifice pool, Vitality Siphon deals one damage to every creature of the viteamancer’s choosing within the radius, or half that much on a successful fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ your vitaemancer level + your CON mod). Your sacrifice pool’s value is reduced by half the total damage dealt by this ability, rounded down. Damage dealt by Vitality Siphon rips directly from whatever force keeps a creature going, be they living beings, constructs, or undead. Thus, Vitality Siphon’s damage cannot be restored for 1d3+1 days, except through the use of limited wish, wish, or miracle.

Steady Concentration: At 4th level, the vitaemancer gains Steady Concentration (RoS) as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites.

Sacrificial Power: At 6th level, the power of the vitaemancer’s spells grows the more he has sacrificed. The vitaemancer’s damaging spells deal additional damage equal to one-fifth the current value of his sacrifice pool, rounded down. Furthermore, the vitaemancer gains a +1 sacrificial bonus on attack rolls equal to the same amount. These bonuses only apply to targets in range of the vitaemancer’s Vitality Siphon.

Sacrificial Defenses: at 8th level, the vitaemancer’s ability to avoid damage increases the more he sacrifices. For every 10 points in his current sacrifice pool, he gains a +1 sacrificial bonus to his AC. These bonuses only apply against targets in range of the vitaemancer’s Vitality Siphon.

Sacrificial Potency: At 10th level, the viteamancer’s spells become harder to resist the more he has sacrificed. For every 15 points in his current sacrifice pool, viteamancer gains a +1 sacrificial bonus to his spell save DCs and to the DC of his Vitality Siphon. These bonuses only apply to targets in range of the vitaemancer’s Vitality Siphon.

Superior Vitality Siphon: At 12th level, Vitality Siphon now restores hit points equal to half the amount of sacrifice pool it reduces.

Swift Vitality Siphon: At 14th level, the viteamancer can use Vitality Siphon as a swift action once per day. At 18th level, this increases to twice per day.

Arcane Stamina: At 16th level, the viteamancer has the endurance to remain conscious even after sacrificing beyond his normal limit. When the viteamancer would normally fall unconscious from his sacrifice pool exceeding his hit point total, he instead rolls a fortitude save with a difficulty class equal to 10 plus the amount by which his sacrifice pool exceeds his current hit points plus his temporary hit points. (DC = 10 + sacrifice pool - (current HP + temp HP)). On a success, he remains conscious as normal. On a failure, he falls unconscious. The viteamancer must reroll this saving throw at the start of his turn and whenever he takes damage or adds to his sacrifice pool, until his combined current and temporary hit point totals equal or exceed his sacrifice pool.

Supreme Vitality Siphon: Vitality Siphon now deals damage equal to the current value of the sacrifice pool, rather than half that amount. Furthermore, if the viteamancer were to die or fall unconscious by taking damage or adding to his sacrifice pool, Vitality Siphon automatically and immediately activates if there are any daily uses of it available. Though this effect activates after damage is dealt, it occurs before the viteamancer actually dies or falls unconscious. Thus, if the damage dealt is enough to instantly kill the viteamancer, but the hit points restored are enough to save him, the viteamancer does not die. Likewise, he is treated as though he never fell unconscious for the purposes of continuous actions like casting a full-round spell.




The Vitaemancer spell list contains all sorcerer/wizard spells with the following exceptions and changes:

The Vitaemancer does not have access to the Divination, Enchantment, or Illusion spell schools.

The following spells are added to the viteamancer spell list at the levels noted:

1:
Entropic Shield
Cure/Inflict Minor Wounds
Detonation, Minor (Viteamancer)

2:
Body Blades (SC)
Cure/Inflict Light Wounds
Death Knell
Energy Vortex (SC)
Sound Burst
Vampiric Touch
Vigor, Lesser (SC)

3:
Cure/Inflict Moderate Wounds
Detonation (Viteamancer)
Resist Energy, Mass
Ring of Blades (SC)

4:
Consumptive Field (SC)
Cure/Inflict Serious Wounds
Sacrificial Might (Viteamancer)
Vigor (SC)
Vigor, Mass Lesser (SC)

5:
Cure/Inflict Critical Wounds
Detonation, Major (Viteamancer)
Energetic Healing (BoED)


6:
Cure/Inflict Light Wounds, Mass
Energy Immunity
Flesh to Strength (Viteamancer)
Vigor, Greater (SC)


7:
Consumptive Field, Greater
Cure/Inflict Moderate Wounds, Mass
Gravity Vacuum

8:
Cure/Inflict Serious Wounds, Mass

9:
Cure/Inflict Critical Wounds, Mass




Detonation, Minor
Evocation
Level: Viteamancer 1
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Self
Area: 10ft radius spread
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude Half
Spell Resistance: Yes

The caster unleashes a powerful wave of force, damaging and pushing back everything around them. Creatures and unattended objects in a 10ft radius area centered around the caster take 1d4 force damage per caster level (max 5d4) and are knocked back 10ft away from the center of the blast. Creatures take half damage and are not knocked back if they succeed the fortitude save.


Detonation
Evocation
Level: Viteamancer 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Self
Area: 20ft radius spread
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude Half
Spell Resistance: Yes

The caster unleashes a powerful wave of force, damaging and pushing back everything around them. Creatures and unattended objects in a 20ft radius area centered around the caster take 1d6 force damage per caster level (max 10d6) and are knocked back 20ft away from the center of the blast. Creatures take half damage and are not knocked back if they succeed the fortitude save.



Detonation, Greater
Evocation
Level: Viteamancer 5
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Self
Area: 30ft radius spread
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude Half
Spell Resistance: Yes

The caster unleashes a powerful wave of force, damaging and pushing back everything around them. Creatures and unattended objects in a 30ft radius area centered around the caster take 1d8 force damage per caster level (max 15d8) and are knocked back 30ft away from the center of the blast. Creatures take half damage and are not knocked back if they succeed the fortitude save.

Flesh to Strength
Level: Viteamancer 6
Components: V, S, M
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets: One creature/level, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: Will negates (mostly harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (mostly harmless)

This spell allows a group of creatures to tap into the basic essence of Viteamancy, temporarily converting their life energy into a directly relevant strength. Every creature affected by the spell takes 10 damage, but gains a +4 sacrificial bonus to an ability score of their choosing. Damage dealt by this spell ignores damage reduction.

Material component: Flakes of dead skin or strands of shed hair.

Gravity Vacuum
Conjuration
Level: Viteamancer 7, Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium: 100ft + 10ft/caster level
Area: 50ft radius spread
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex Partial
Spell Resistance: No

This spell creates a brief but incredibly powerful gravitational pull at a point you designate, dragging or outright hurling everything in an area towards a center point. Every creature in the area that fails its Dexterity saving throw is flung towards the center of the effect, taking 1d6 damage per 10ft moved if it collides with another creature or object before reaching its destination. Creatures that do not have any secure object to grab onto or otherwise stabilize themselves with get -5 to the dexterity saving throw and are still dragged 5ft towards the center of the effect even if they succeed. Creatures that fail their saving throw by 5 or more are knocked prone once they reach their destination.

Sacrificial Might
Transmutation
Level: Viteamancer 4
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 Round/Level (D)

You continually sacrifice more of yourself to maintain a mighty presence on the battlefield. For the duration of this spell, at the start of your turn, you add two additional points to your sacrifice pool. However, your base attack bonus becomes equal to three-quarters your character level, rounded down (which may give you additional attacks), you gain a +4 enhancement bonus to strength and armor class, and a +2 enhancement bonus to caster level.

Material Component: A drop of your blood or small chunk of your body.




Body Fuel
You can purposefully cripple yourself for an immediate boost in power.
Prerequisites: Vitaemancer 2nd level, CON 16
Benefit: As a free action, you may voluntarily take one point of CON damage in order to reduce your sacrifice pool by an amount equal to your Vitaemancer level.

Damage Distribution
In a pinch, you can transfer injuries from more important organs to less important ones.
Prerequisites: Concentration 8 ranks, CON 16
Benefit: As a move action, you may deal two points of ability damage to a single ability score of your choosing in order to restore one point of ability damage to a different ability score of your choosing. However, to restore a physical ability score (STR, DEX, CON) you must damage another physical ability score, and to restore a mental ability score (INT, WIS, CHA) you must damage another mental ability score.

Direct Vitality Siphon
You can directly suck the vitality from a single target rather than from an area for increased effect.
Prerequisites: Vitaemancer 3rd level
Benefit: When you use your Vitality Siphon special ability, you can choose to give it a range of touch instead of its listed area of effect. When you do, you must make a melee attack roll to touch the target. If the attack roll succeeds, Vitality Siphon deals twice as much damage and the difficulty class of the fortitude save is increased by 2, but only the touched target is affected. If the attack roll fails, Vitality Siphon does nothing. This still counts as a daily use of Vitality Siphon.


More coming soon! Feats open to suggestions.



Add more Viteamancer spells
Add more Viteamancer feats
Balance tweaks

Thundamoo
2017-03-14, 09:49 PM
[Reserved, just in case.]

Blu
2017-03-15, 11:53 AM
Well, how about Vitality Siphon not aplying RD altogether? I mean, it's a Su ability that seems like a Spell-like ability, and those don't aply RD. It makes more sense for me that way. You could also make it has an added bonus to reach 50 ft on level 20(i like multiples of 10...)

About the spellcasting. From what i understood, i doesn't actually sacrifice all that much, sure if he's Sacrifice pool reaches his current HP + temp HP he falls unconscious, but that's it. I does not take any damage for it, and with CON focus and a d8 hitdie, this guy will have some good chunk of HP for a full caster. How about changing it so that when he casts a spell, instead of 2xSpell level to his sacrifice pool, he takes the spell level to his spellpool and the spell level damage to his HP, with rulling that damage taken this way can't be healed for less than his actual sacrifice pool or some form of negative temporary HP.

Btw, i love the idea of a caster that is actually killing himself for power.

Btw, more ideas. How about some kind of diferent metamagic where he takes more damage to his HP(or negative temporary HP of some sort) or other things to aply metamagics?

Or some kind of feat like Body fuel where he can take ability damage to reduce his sacrifice pool.

Or some form of shaping for his Vitality Siphon, like instead of area, it does more damage to a single target or goes into a cone form or other stuff.

Edit: Sorry got that wrong, it's DR, yes

Thundamoo
2017-03-15, 04:41 PM
Thanks for responding, Blu!

By RD, do you mean DR, or Damage Reduction? I did my best google-fu and I couldn't find what RD stood for.

If so, I was not aware that Su abilities naturally ignored DR! Could you point me to where that is stated, by chance? Either way, I agree it makes sense for the ability to ignore DR entirely, I was just worried it would make the ability seem broken, but it seems my worries were unfounded.

Regarding the caster not actually sacrificing that much... you make a very good point. It should be spookier to get really low.

The sacrifice pool currently works the way it does because I basically want the Vitaemancer to cast with hit points, but actually casting with hit points would be amazingly broken if you had, say, a cleric in the party that could just give you all your "spell slots" back whenever they wanted. So yeah, it had to be a kind of "damage" that couldn't be healed.

But do you know what's really annoying? Keeping track of like three or four different kinds of hit points. Imagine having to keep track of the actual damage you've taken, the portion of that damage that couldn't be healed except under X condition, and the portion that couldn't be healed except under Y condition, and so on. Sounds kind of like a hassle.

This is why nonlethal damage counts up, so I just stole that and gave it a different name so that it couldn't interact with or be reduced by random obscure effects from The Splatbook Beyond The Grave That I've Never Heard Of. Game design is fun!

Temporary Negative Hit Points could be really cool (I might steal that for something), but I don't think this class needs TNHP and a Sacrifice Pool: they both basically do the same thing, right?

The main problem is that you don't fear death, so... What if your character just dies if your sacrifice pool is more than ten over your HP+Temp HP, just like how you die when you go to -10? Do you think that would fix the problem by itself, or should there be some more dangers?

Regarding your metamagic idea, I'm not totally sure what you're suggesting. Applying Metamagic to a spell works with the Vitaemancer normally: metamagic raises spell level, and you take spell level * 2 sacrifice when you cast a spell. Badabing, badaboom.

I love the Body Fuel feat. I'm going to figure out the exact balance and add it ASAP.
Feats for shaping Vitality Siphon sound cool. I probably won't have it shape to a cone (it already hits in a 360 degree cone, haha) but changing its range to touch and having it apply max damage to a single target would be pretty cool. I'll put that in too. Thanks for the sweet suggestions!

Blu
2017-03-15, 05:09 PM
Thanks for responding, Blu!
You are welcome.



If so, I was not aware that Su abilities naturally ignored DR! Could you point me to where that is stated, by chance? Either way, I agree it makes sense for the ability to ignore DR entirely, I was just worried it would make the ability seem broken, but it seems my worries were unfounded.

"The creature takes normal damage from energy attacks (even nonmagical ones), spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities."

It's from the Damage reduction SRD. I don't know if i can post the link but a simple google search gets you there.

Regarding the caster not actually sacrificing that much... you make a very good point. It should be spookier to get really low.



The sacrifice pool currently works the way it does because I basically want the Vitaemancer to cast with hit points, but actually casting with hit points would be amazingly broken if you had, say, a cleric in the party that could just give you all your "spell slots" back whenever they wanted. So yeah, it had to be a kind of "damage" that couldn't be healed.

But do you know what's really annoying? Keeping track of like three or four different kinds of hit points. Imagine having to keep track of the actual damage you've taken, the portion of that damage that couldn't be healed except under X condition, and the portion that couldn't be healed except under Y condition, and so on. Sounds kind of like a hassle.

The main issue is that a prepared Vitaemancer can simply stop casting and spamming Vitality Siphon when the Sacrifice pool gets sky high, and it can get pretty crazy when you have d8 hitdie and CON focus. I mean, starting with 18 CON and focusing on it a lvl 20 of this guys can go to an average of 325 HP, and a 324 points Sacrifice pool means death to anyone around you. So you are not actuallly risking death for stacking sky high on the pool because that is a variable you control. The idea of the Pool putting damage on you that can't be healed can solve that.

Feats for shaping Vitality Siphon sound cool.
It can even be a class feature the choice of, Area burst or ranged touch attack. I can also advice to reduce the number of uses of the ability so that it as to be used smartly

Edit: Ninja'ed a lot... I think i edit my posts too much...

Thundamoo
2017-03-15, 05:25 PM
I see! Thanks, I did indeed find it. I've removed any mention of DR from the ability description so it can slide by sweetly unresisted like every other (Su) effect. The more you know~!

Speaking of which, I've added a few feats to the once-barren feat list. Feel free to check them out!



The main issue is that a prepared Vitaemancer can simply stop casting and spamming Vitality Siphon when the Sacrifice pool gets sky high, and it can get pretty crazy when you have d8 hitdie and CON focus. I mean, starting with 18 CON and focusing on it a lvl 20 of this guys can go to an average of 325 HP, and a 324 points Sacrifice pool means death to anyone around you. So you are not actuallly risking death for stacking sky high on the pool because that is a variable you control. The idea of the Pool putting damage on you that can't be healed can solve that.


Hmmm... Gotcha. I agree that an additional pool on unhealable damage would solve the immediate problem, but I still don't want to go with that idea for the reasons listed above. I feel like with the right number tweaks, we can get the current system balanced. Tweaks such as:
The number of times per day you can Siphon
The damage dealt/Sacrifice healed ratio of the Siphon
The Vitaemancer's hit die.

Personally, I think I'd like to start by hitting the Vitaemancer's Hit Die. Chopping it down to a d4 makes early levels a lot scarier and dents the high-level issue a little. That said, the sheer level 20 spell output of a Vitaemancer isn't a HUGE concern for me: when you're a level 20 caster, you are going to be busted as heck regardless of your spell/day output. Also, a d4 makes level 1 absolutely awful: even assuming a CON of 18 you KO yourself after just a few casts, even if you don't take any "real" damage.

Making the Siphon/day count be every third level instead of every second might help too. Finding good opportunities to hit multiple targets with Vitality Siphon should be key to having a healthy sacrifice pool, not just being able to say "eh, I have a few more uses of this, may as well top off."

Blu
2017-03-15, 05:40 PM
I think you could also change Flesh to stenght spell level. At lvl 6 we have Bull's strenght, mass, provided we can't choose what type of stat to increase that is still not much of a diference. Or you could change it to be untyped bonus, since when 6th level spells come online enhancement bonus to stats are already pretty trivial. Maybe you could even up the bonus to +6 or +8 and up the spell level to 7.

Edit: How about providing fatigue and later exhaustion depending on how full your sacrifice pool is? It fits thematically since you are actually using your life to cast and makes Body fuel even more tempting since you should be below certain points. Maybe Fatigue at half pool and Exhaust at 3/4 or so.

Also, if you reduce it's hitdie and number of uses, you can let the healed/damage ratio just fine.

Well, with the fixes we talked about i think is not necessary to make Sacrifice pool kill the Vitaemancer

Thundamoo
2017-03-15, 05:57 PM
I think you could also change Flesh to stenght spell level. At lvl 6 we have Bull's strenght, mass, provided we can't choose what type of stat to increase that is still not much of a diference. Or you could change it to be untyped bonus, since when 6th level spells come online enhancement bonus to stats are already pretty trivial. Maybe you could even up the bonus to +6 or +8 and up the spell level to 7.


I changed the bonus to a Sacrifical bonus so it stacks with your fancy-pants magic items. It's pretty blatantly superior to Mass [Ability Buffing Spell] now, but I guess that's not saying much.



Edit: How about providing fatigue and later exhaustion depending on how full your sacrifice pool is? It fits thematically since you are actually using your life to cast and makes Body fuel even more tempting since you should be below certain points. Maybe Fatigue at half pool and Exhaust at 3/4 or so.


I'm not super hot on this idea for a few reasons:
1. I now have to keep track of whether my pool is above half, three-quarters, and max rather than just max. Ew, bookeeping!
2. While thematically appropriate, the actual Fatigue and Exhaustion effects are not very relevant to a Vitaemancer. Can't run or charge? Dude, I can teleport if I need to run, and I don't use weapons. Strength and Dex penalties? I guess a lot of good rays and touch spells are on the Vitaemancer list, but I can just not use them if they won't hit. Half speed at exhaustion is relevant, but you can deal. Still, the main reason is:
3. I want Vitaemancers to be encouraged to toe the line of near-death, not discouraged. The more Sacrifice Pool you have, the easier you are to kill, but the more powerful you become. That's the main goal of the pool- to have a high-HP character running around with low HP all the time because it makes them have MORE OF THE DAMAGES. I want a caster that is encouraged to run into fights like a barbarian. Wouldn't that just be beautiful?

Blu
2017-03-15, 06:03 PM
To be fair, it would seem totally awesome to se one of this dudes pop an enemy with a directed vitality siphon.

Well, we can leave the sacrifice pool alone, because i also forgot the part where it takes into acount your current HP, silly mistake on my part so it should be fine by now. d4 hitdie is fair, since at higher levels their big chunk of HP will derive from CON anyway, but at lower levels it encourages smart play.

Thundamoo
2017-03-15, 06:14 PM
To be fair, it would seem totally awesome to se one of this dudes pop an enemy with a directed vitality siphon.


Right? That was an excellent feat suggestion, thanks again.



Well, we can leave the sacrifice pool alone, because i also forgot the part where it takes into acount your current HP, silly mistake on my part so it should be fine by now. d4 hitdie is fair, since at higher levels their big chunk of HP will derive from CON anyway, but at lower levels it encourages smart play.

Ah, yeah I can see how that would seem pretty crazy then.



Well, with the fixes we talked about i think is not necessary to make Sacrifice pool kill the Vitaemancer


Yeah, probably not. But here's a question: would it make the Vitaemancer cooler? Like, would seriously upping the risk of death make the class more fun? I think some players would love toeing that line more with the greater risk, while others would just be frightened of it and not like the class as much as a result. Thoughts?

Blu
2017-03-15, 06:20 PM
Yeah, probably not. But here's a question: would it make the Vitaemancer cooler? Like, would seriously upping the risk of death make the class more fun? I think some players would love toeing that line more with the greater risk, while others would just be frightened of it and not like the class as much as a result. Thoughts?

Hum... thinking of something. Well, since for every system there's a counter, how about spells that manipulate Sacrifice pool? Like removing or adding points to it? Not much, but you can base those on psionic powers that strike power point reserves, provided that the numbers were tone down a little since the sacrifice pool can kill you. That ups the game of risk-reward but can be also cruel.