SangoProduction
2018-01-05, 09:14 PM
Blaze (https://heroesofthestorm.gamepedia.com/Blaze)is the newest hero added to Heroes of the Storm. He's a flame-throwing ranged tank with AoE damage. In this post, I will try and replicate most things Blaze can do, within the Pathfinder framework. (I also this this song is rather appropriate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCnYPxdKTSM).) So, without further ado...
To start things off, let's choose a race. Dwarf seems to fit the general, basic look of a large, stocky fellow who seems impossible to push out of the way. The stat bonus of +2 Con is great for the tank role Blaze is supposed to fill, and +2 Wis feeds the class we'll select. I also swapped in Lasting Grudge (because you're supposed to be getting hit). Nothing else is of note.
Next up is the class. It's actually a pretty simple decision, as far as I'm concerned. 20 levels of Sage (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/sage). I'll go over how it implements every single aspect of his gameplay in just a moment.
-First off is the Esoteric Training. You get 1 at 1st, 8th, and 16th level. The choices will be Enhancer, and Ki Blaster, for reasons we'll touch on later. (And either of the other 2 at 16, if you ever make it there.)
Also, Enhancer adds an untyped bonus to physical stats, which is really rare. It probably ought to be Enhancement, but even then, at level 12, you're getting a +10 enhancement bonus to whatever physical stat you want. ...But you're going to need to have that in Strength, if you don't want to fall behind on the to-hit. At level 12, if you put it in to Strength, you are 1 attack bonus off of being equivalent to a Full BAB user, but you also get that 10 Strength worth of bonus damage. Would you trade -1 to-hit for a +5 damage? What about with Dragon style where it's like -1 to-hit for +7 to 10 damage?
-At level 2 (and every level there after), you get to select Esoteries, based on your training. Since we took Enhancer level 1, we have the basic and the Enhancer ones open to us. Specifically, pick up Combat Form. It does a lot of stuff (like stackable x/- DR), but most importantly, it's a very reasonable way to fluff your character looking like he's in a Firebat suit. Also, the DR makes him more tanky, and unarmed damage scaling will be important once we unlock the flamethrowers. (Nvm. I lied. The flame throws don't scale on unarmed damage. Well, they'll get you through the early phases...I guess.)
-Level 1 and 3, we get a Style Talent. Right now, I say we take the Life sphere. "Life sphere? Why?" Because Blaze heals from HIS OWN GOD DARNED FLAMES! We need Life to replicate this...and it's actually quite nice. (More explanation later.)
-This allows us to select a casting tradition. We'll take the Magical Signs (all of his magic is very visible), and Painful Magic (I've seen SC2's opening cinematic) drawbacks. While Blaze is talkative, I don't think he strictly *needs* to talk to use his abilities...then again, Silence does actually stop him from using abilities in game, so take it if you want. Draining Casting is also a fairly unobtrusive option, especially for what it's being used for, but it's arguably overpowered. A single nonlethal hit point per spell? wow.
For Sphere Specific (Enhancement) drawbacks, we take Bodily Enhancement (since we won't use puny mortal materials). You can take Enhancement Dependency, if you want, since you'll basically be permanently enhanced by your class feature, but I find that kinda cheesy. Under Life, we take Regenerate (Blaze can only heal himself). Slow Recovery is an option, because Blaze only regenerates, but it actually hurts the representation (the burning spill lasts only half a turn's time). And finally, Destruction, take Energy Focus (Custom), Shape Focus (Energy Wall), and Destructive Touch (you might want to get rid of this later, but it works fine to start with).
This nets us 1 Ki point per 3 levels, 1-2 Enhancement talents, 1-2 Life talents and 3 Destruction talents.
-Anyway, back to the Talents at level 1 and 3. Take the base sphere of Life at level 1. This gives you a bonus talent, with the tradition. Take Lingering Resilience. Notably, this grants additional DR/- (stacks explicitly with Combat Form) for 2 rounds, though only when you have already taken enough damage to heal that...but you want to heal only after you've taken damage anyway, so doesn't matter. And finally at level 3, pick up Self-Renewal. It changes the cure/restore in to a swift action.
Now that's half of the Pyromania ability dealt with. We'll deal with the other half at level 8. (Also the Endurance Stimpack.)
At level 3, you also qualify for Dragon Style, which will always be useful.
-Level 4, we get another Esotery. Mental Escalation is absolutely insane, mostly because you basically only ever need Wisdom, but can dynamically assign it as your needs come. Need to be a face? Assign to Charisma. Translate texts? Intelligence!
Hardened Skin can be cool, and does work in to the theme of being a tanky firebat with miles of armor plating.
If you are somehow finding a way to not have enough healing with a swift action self heal that grants DR (or maybe your DM is just a ****, and likes chopping off your arms, and not giving them back on heal [don't worry, your whole body is unarmed strike] ), then Healing Factor is decent. It also grants 100% free out of combat healing, which is marginally cheaper than the Fast Healing Life talent (but will literally never be able to target others). Might work if you're just getting OHK'd. Of course, if you're getting OHK'd, then not getting hit in the first place would be the best thing to go for, so Hardened Skin.
BUT! What we are actually taking is Stunning Fist. Why? Because Blaze rams in to people, and stuns them! Just use this on a charge, and you're good. You even get a bonus to hit while charging! (But at level 6, take any of the above, aside from Healing Factor and you'll be fine.)
Also, because you took Enhancement Esoteric Style, you gain an Enchantment talent for free. Physical or Mental Enhancement are great options, and unless homebrewed to not do so, they stack with your Style. Energy Weapon (Flaming) works wonders for the theme. Also, this ought to trigger you getting one more, because of your Drawback.
-Level 5, we are going to deal with the Oil Slick ability. Unlike its name, it's actually more akin to tar than oil, applying a massive slow. Anyway, now, you get your next talent. This time, it'll go in to Destruction. This nets you the Destruction sphere, the Energy Wall talent (obvious reasons), and Selective Blast. For the custom blast, take Fire damage type, and (Entangle and Immobile until broken). This puts you at exactly 10 points, which is between 9 and 11, as suggested.
Now, Selective technically works for instantaneous blasts, but we are using it in spellcrafting, not for blasting. So pipe down! It's the idea that counts! (But...if the DM says no to that, I guess that's fine, as it reduces cast time by a round, and you heal each turn anyway...but now you're entangled. Let's just say the DM's fine with it!)
At level 5, you qualify for Dragon Ferocity. Take it.
-Now, you have all the components you need for the full burning-oil-slick-thing-that-heals-you-while-you-stand-in-it. Spellcrafting rules are...nebulous, and ill-defined, but this works. But, anyways, let's try and do this.
A more lenient DM might say that since your blast can only manifest in this form (with Custom Blast Type, and Energy Wall), the base sphere encompasses it, for the purposes of spellcrafting. If not, you have to add 2 complexity points, and it'll rarely be worth using (because it would take a full 3 rounds to use).
Then add Selective for 1 point.
Then add Life base sphere for 2 points.
So, now, the end result ought to be something around: After 2 full round actions, The spell lasts for CL turns, dealing damage each turn in an area based on Energy Wall, aside from those you selected out. And it also heals each round to those ...wait, you've got Regenerate drawback, you only heal yourself.
Me personally...I'd never use it in an actual game, but this just goes to show that we can if we wanted to. Just takes too long to set up, and healing is more than sufficient already, if you're not just being instantly murderized. Maybe negotiate with your DM to see how many points you'd have to pour in to it to make it only take a round or so.
Level 7, you could go with Darkness, maybe pick up a darkness drawback, and also take Snagging Darkness, if you wanted just the Oil Slick without the ignition. Else, get something from Enhancement or Life. Buying off drawbacks could also be of use. Or you could "Turn up the heat!" with Weather sphere, and being a walking, talking, flame-slinging apocalypse. Congratulations, you went from the hero to BBEG in one level. (OK. Not quite, though you will cause Heat Exhaustion to those anywhere in your vicinity. But at level 14 people take actual fire damage in your area, so they're rather boned. Oh look. There's that Pyromaniac aura damage.)
Level 8 is great. You now have Ki Blaster esoteric training. Now we get the proper flame spitting, represented in Blaze's Flame Stream (except it hit only one target). Don't forget the esotery, which we gain at this level too. Elemental Aura grants 1d8 + (level/4)d8 fire damage...both as reflected melee damage, and as bonus damage on unarmed/qi strikes. You now have Pyromania taken care of, between swift action healing (damage reduction), and this ability ...although...slightly different. Call them creative liberties.
Oh, and this means we can swap out the base sphere of destruction, and cancel one of those drawbacks. And we get 2 bonus Destruction talents. The Greater Blast talent is a solid choice. Oh, and while it also is more spell point efficient than Destruction (1 per 2 turns rather than 1 attack), it can also be used as part of an attack. Pretty freaking solid.
You also no longer need strength...nor can you really use it...so split your Enhancement between Dex and Con, AND use touch attacks..
Level 9, see level 7. Also, Sheltered Vitality, if you picked up Hardened Skin, can actually make it rather hard to hit you, even with magical touch attacks, coming to +10 to 11 AC coming from the class itself (and Vitality), before Wisdom or Dexterity (both of which could be boosted by Enhancer style). And the saves being circumstance bonus, and thus stacking with other things, is really nice, and means it's going to be really hard to knock it off you, which is usually an issue with Vitality talents.
Level 10, Scatter Blast now has your Ki Blasts hitting a cone from 15 to 25 ft long. As a touch attack. Yeah. Got Blaze's basic attack now.
Level 12, Revivifying Ki Blast is actually a pretty reasonably idea, even though you probably won't die from HP damage. This is because anything that kills you (but leaves your body "relatively intact") can trigger this, and cause you to revive. It doesn't emulate Blaze, but it's just a pretty good idea around this level.
Level 14, Piercing Beam. Meh. Taken to fully emulate Flame Stream and how it passes through units in a line. I mean it's cool in case you have dummies in the way of your cone, but not a line.
Skip to level 20. Devastation Wave! This is quite a good emulation of the Combustion ultimate, even has it so you can't really move (save a 5ft step), and a reasonably accurate AoE, if we consider Blaze's character to be occupying little less than 5 square feet.
To start things off, let's choose a race. Dwarf seems to fit the general, basic look of a large, stocky fellow who seems impossible to push out of the way. The stat bonus of +2 Con is great for the tank role Blaze is supposed to fill, and +2 Wis feeds the class we'll select. I also swapped in Lasting Grudge (because you're supposed to be getting hit). Nothing else is of note.
Next up is the class. It's actually a pretty simple decision, as far as I'm concerned. 20 levels of Sage (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/sage). I'll go over how it implements every single aspect of his gameplay in just a moment.
-First off is the Esoteric Training. You get 1 at 1st, 8th, and 16th level. The choices will be Enhancer, and Ki Blaster, for reasons we'll touch on later. (And either of the other 2 at 16, if you ever make it there.)
Also, Enhancer adds an untyped bonus to physical stats, which is really rare. It probably ought to be Enhancement, but even then, at level 12, you're getting a +10 enhancement bonus to whatever physical stat you want. ...But you're going to need to have that in Strength, if you don't want to fall behind on the to-hit. At level 12, if you put it in to Strength, you are 1 attack bonus off of being equivalent to a Full BAB user, but you also get that 10 Strength worth of bonus damage. Would you trade -1 to-hit for a +5 damage? What about with Dragon style where it's like -1 to-hit for +7 to 10 damage?
-At level 2 (and every level there after), you get to select Esoteries, based on your training. Since we took Enhancer level 1, we have the basic and the Enhancer ones open to us. Specifically, pick up Combat Form. It does a lot of stuff (like stackable x/- DR), but most importantly, it's a very reasonable way to fluff your character looking like he's in a Firebat suit. Also, the DR makes him more tanky, and unarmed damage scaling will be important once we unlock the flamethrowers. (Nvm. I lied. The flame throws don't scale on unarmed damage. Well, they'll get you through the early phases...I guess.)
-Level 1 and 3, we get a Style Talent. Right now, I say we take the Life sphere. "Life sphere? Why?" Because Blaze heals from HIS OWN GOD DARNED FLAMES! We need Life to replicate this...and it's actually quite nice. (More explanation later.)
-This allows us to select a casting tradition. We'll take the Magical Signs (all of his magic is very visible), and Painful Magic (I've seen SC2's opening cinematic) drawbacks. While Blaze is talkative, I don't think he strictly *needs* to talk to use his abilities...then again, Silence does actually stop him from using abilities in game, so take it if you want. Draining Casting is also a fairly unobtrusive option, especially for what it's being used for, but it's arguably overpowered. A single nonlethal hit point per spell? wow.
For Sphere Specific (Enhancement) drawbacks, we take Bodily Enhancement (since we won't use puny mortal materials). You can take Enhancement Dependency, if you want, since you'll basically be permanently enhanced by your class feature, but I find that kinda cheesy. Under Life, we take Regenerate (Blaze can only heal himself). Slow Recovery is an option, because Blaze only regenerates, but it actually hurts the representation (the burning spill lasts only half a turn's time). And finally, Destruction, take Energy Focus (Custom), Shape Focus (Energy Wall), and Destructive Touch (you might want to get rid of this later, but it works fine to start with).
This nets us 1 Ki point per 3 levels, 1-2 Enhancement talents, 1-2 Life talents and 3 Destruction talents.
-Anyway, back to the Talents at level 1 and 3. Take the base sphere of Life at level 1. This gives you a bonus talent, with the tradition. Take Lingering Resilience. Notably, this grants additional DR/- (stacks explicitly with Combat Form) for 2 rounds, though only when you have already taken enough damage to heal that...but you want to heal only after you've taken damage anyway, so doesn't matter. And finally at level 3, pick up Self-Renewal. It changes the cure/restore in to a swift action.
Now that's half of the Pyromania ability dealt with. We'll deal with the other half at level 8. (Also the Endurance Stimpack.)
At level 3, you also qualify for Dragon Style, which will always be useful.
-Level 4, we get another Esotery. Mental Escalation is absolutely insane, mostly because you basically only ever need Wisdom, but can dynamically assign it as your needs come. Need to be a face? Assign to Charisma. Translate texts? Intelligence!
Hardened Skin can be cool, and does work in to the theme of being a tanky firebat with miles of armor plating.
If you are somehow finding a way to not have enough healing with a swift action self heal that grants DR (or maybe your DM is just a ****, and likes chopping off your arms, and not giving them back on heal [don't worry, your whole body is unarmed strike] ), then Healing Factor is decent. It also grants 100% free out of combat healing, which is marginally cheaper than the Fast Healing Life talent (but will literally never be able to target others). Might work if you're just getting OHK'd. Of course, if you're getting OHK'd, then not getting hit in the first place would be the best thing to go for, so Hardened Skin.
BUT! What we are actually taking is Stunning Fist. Why? Because Blaze rams in to people, and stuns them! Just use this on a charge, and you're good. You even get a bonus to hit while charging! (But at level 6, take any of the above, aside from Healing Factor and you'll be fine.)
Also, because you took Enhancement Esoteric Style, you gain an Enchantment talent for free. Physical or Mental Enhancement are great options, and unless homebrewed to not do so, they stack with your Style. Energy Weapon (Flaming) works wonders for the theme. Also, this ought to trigger you getting one more, because of your Drawback.
-Level 5, we are going to deal with the Oil Slick ability. Unlike its name, it's actually more akin to tar than oil, applying a massive slow. Anyway, now, you get your next talent. This time, it'll go in to Destruction. This nets you the Destruction sphere, the Energy Wall talent (obvious reasons), and Selective Blast. For the custom blast, take Fire damage type, and (Entangle and Immobile until broken). This puts you at exactly 10 points, which is between 9 and 11, as suggested.
Now, Selective technically works for instantaneous blasts, but we are using it in spellcrafting, not for blasting. So pipe down! It's the idea that counts! (But...if the DM says no to that, I guess that's fine, as it reduces cast time by a round, and you heal each turn anyway...but now you're entangled. Let's just say the DM's fine with it!)
At level 5, you qualify for Dragon Ferocity. Take it.
-Now, you have all the components you need for the full burning-oil-slick-thing-that-heals-you-while-you-stand-in-it. Spellcrafting rules are...nebulous, and ill-defined, but this works. But, anyways, let's try and do this.
A more lenient DM might say that since your blast can only manifest in this form (with Custom Blast Type, and Energy Wall), the base sphere encompasses it, for the purposes of spellcrafting. If not, you have to add 2 complexity points, and it'll rarely be worth using (because it would take a full 3 rounds to use).
Then add Selective for 1 point.
Then add Life base sphere for 2 points.
So, now, the end result ought to be something around: After 2 full round actions, The spell lasts for CL turns, dealing damage each turn in an area based on Energy Wall, aside from those you selected out. And it also heals each round to those ...wait, you've got Regenerate drawback, you only heal yourself.
Me personally...I'd never use it in an actual game, but this just goes to show that we can if we wanted to. Just takes too long to set up, and healing is more than sufficient already, if you're not just being instantly murderized. Maybe negotiate with your DM to see how many points you'd have to pour in to it to make it only take a round or so.
Level 7, you could go with Darkness, maybe pick up a darkness drawback, and also take Snagging Darkness, if you wanted just the Oil Slick without the ignition. Else, get something from Enhancement or Life. Buying off drawbacks could also be of use. Or you could "Turn up the heat!" with Weather sphere, and being a walking, talking, flame-slinging apocalypse. Congratulations, you went from the hero to BBEG in one level. (OK. Not quite, though you will cause Heat Exhaustion to those anywhere in your vicinity. But at level 14 people take actual fire damage in your area, so they're rather boned. Oh look. There's that Pyromaniac aura damage.)
Level 8 is great. You now have Ki Blaster esoteric training. Now we get the proper flame spitting, represented in Blaze's Flame Stream (except it hit only one target). Don't forget the esotery, which we gain at this level too. Elemental Aura grants 1d8 + (level/4)d8 fire damage...both as reflected melee damage, and as bonus damage on unarmed/qi strikes. You now have Pyromania taken care of, between swift action healing (damage reduction), and this ability ...although...slightly different. Call them creative liberties.
Oh, and this means we can swap out the base sphere of destruction, and cancel one of those drawbacks. And we get 2 bonus Destruction talents. The Greater Blast talent is a solid choice. Oh, and while it also is more spell point efficient than Destruction (1 per 2 turns rather than 1 attack), it can also be used as part of an attack. Pretty freaking solid.
You also no longer need strength...nor can you really use it...so split your Enhancement between Dex and Con, AND use touch attacks..
Level 9, see level 7. Also, Sheltered Vitality, if you picked up Hardened Skin, can actually make it rather hard to hit you, even with magical touch attacks, coming to +10 to 11 AC coming from the class itself (and Vitality), before Wisdom or Dexterity (both of which could be boosted by Enhancer style). And the saves being circumstance bonus, and thus stacking with other things, is really nice, and means it's going to be really hard to knock it off you, which is usually an issue with Vitality talents.
Level 10, Scatter Blast now has your Ki Blasts hitting a cone from 15 to 25 ft long. As a touch attack. Yeah. Got Blaze's basic attack now.
Level 12, Revivifying Ki Blast is actually a pretty reasonably idea, even though you probably won't die from HP damage. This is because anything that kills you (but leaves your body "relatively intact") can trigger this, and cause you to revive. It doesn't emulate Blaze, but it's just a pretty good idea around this level.
Level 14, Piercing Beam. Meh. Taken to fully emulate Flame Stream and how it passes through units in a line. I mean it's cool in case you have dummies in the way of your cone, but not a line.
Skip to level 20. Devastation Wave! This is quite a good emulation of the Combustion ultimate, even has it so you can't really move (save a 5ft step), and a reasonably accurate AoE, if we consider Blaze's character to be occupying little less than 5 square feet.