Stormwrack - any OP?

[smetzger]

I am considering adding Stormwrack to a Core + Freeport rules 3.5 game.

It's 25 pt buy, level 6. With light optimization.

Is there anything overpowered or anything I should be careful adding?

Thanks,

[heavyfuel]

Druids (mostly) can swap the Wolf from Summon Nature's Ally I, which is pretty good on land, for the Hippocampus, which is aquatic only, but insanely good. It's definitely better than anything available for SNA II, and 1d4+1 of them are also much better than the Large Shark, available for SNA III.

If your campaign revolves around aquatic environments, maybe think twice about allowing them. At lv 6 though, maybe not so much of a problem anymore

[Crake]

Druids (mostly) can swap the Wolf from Summon Nature's Ally I, which is pretty good on land, for the Hippocampus, which is aquatic only, but insanely good. It's definitely better than anything available for SNA II, and 1d4+1 of them are also much better than the Large Shark, available for SNA III.

If your campaign revolves around aquatic environments, maybe think twice about allowing them. At lv 6 though, maybe not so much of a problem anymore

Or just move them to the SNAII list?

[Fizban]

I dunno about any Freeport rules, but let's go down the list of Stormwrack stuff:

Darfellan have a natrual bite attack, Aventi are fully amphibious at the cost of one human bonus feat, Aquatic Elves have super low-light vision, and Hadozee have glide (but no flight). These are easy enough to evaluate based on your own expectations. Of the racial variants, Shoal Halflings are the only standout with fully amphibious again.

Knight of the Pearl has more damage/heal positive energy abilities than a normal Paladin, but they're weaker out of water and cap at 4d6. Legendary Captain gives a massive Leadership bonus, but that only matters if you're allowing Leadership. Scarlet Corsair is a full BAB and 3/10 sneak attack class, normally not do-able in core, and has a free action feint every so often. Sea Witch can make maelstroms and summon some big water monsters earlier than usual, but that's about it. Stormcaster is the first one with a serious ability: they add a stun effect to every electricity spell they cast at 5th. Wavekeeper is a Druid PrC that gets an at-will water blast when they're near water, if at-will stuff bothers you.

Ship's Mage and Storm Magic feats give easy caster level bonuses.

Water to Acid is the spell that gets the most press, since it creates a massive amount of permanent acid that can be bottled and even theoretically sold. Most of the other spells aren't too bad, though Stormwalk means a Druid doesn't even need a plant to teleport anymore.

The most notable problem item is the "material" Riverine, which is permanent magical force in whatever shape you want.

[Jormengand]

In a word: no. Anyone wishing to do stupid broken stuff with anything Stormwrack related would be better served using core and playing a wizard. Anyone not wishing to do that won't get a significant power boost over what they can already do either.

[Hiro Quester]

A few spells can be encounter-breaking. I'm playing a Druid in a game with core +Stormwrack. To keep things balanced between players, my DM asked me to pretend that a few spells were not in our books:

Red Tide, DM said, would simply end a few encounters that should be a fun challenge for our party: everything in the area (10 ft /level diameter circular burst) is knocked prone and at least sickened; if they fail the fort save they are nauseated.


Edit: Megalodon Empowerment enables one size larger wildshape forms, which can be a bit much (Gargantuan Giant Squid!).

But these are 8th level spells. They should be powerful.

But in general, for a nautical adventure, there is much in the book to add the nautical elements you and your players will want. And not much that is OP.