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View Full Version : I think I'm bleeding... (Feats, Weapon Properties)



Myatar_Panwar
2008-01-29, 11:12 PM
Ok, so my group and I have been using the Critical Hit Deck (CHD) lately, which is pretty kool, and I noticed that they have a few effects that use bleed damage. And then I thought, where have I seen bleed damage before in D&D? Oh yeah. Nowhere:smallconfused: . If it does exist in a book somewhere, someone please let me know.

Well anyways, I thought it was a pretty kool idea, so I decided to quickly-homebrew some rules on it.

Bleed Damage (1 and 2 I got from the rules card on CHD)

1. Bleed damage lasts for the number of rounds the effect specifies, and activates at the end of the affected characters turn.
2. Bleed damage can only be stopped prematurely if a magical healing spell is cast on the target, or if a standard action is taken to succeed on a 15 Heal check that provokes attacks of opportunity, unless otherwise stated.
3. Up to a maximum of 5 stacks from one specific effect can be placed on a target. For instance, it is possible for someone to be affected by 4 doses of bleed damage X, and 3 doses of bleed damage Y, but not 6 doses of bleed damage Y. (still a little iffy on this..)
4. Bleed damage is not effected by damage reduction, and can only be active if the original strike was able to do at least 1 point of damage.
5. Bleed damage can only affect creatures not immune to critical hits.

Feats

Rupture [Ambush]
Your most precise strikes can cause your opponents to bleed at a profound rate.
Prerequisites: Sneak Attack +3d6, Arterial Strike
Benefit: For every 2d6 of direct sneak attack damage you forfeit, you can cause immense amounts of bleeding for your foes. Every 2d6 you choose not to use can be transformed into 4 points in bleed damage. This effect lasts for 3 total rounds. The healing spell used to cure the bleeding must be of level 2 or higher, and the base heal check needed is 17. For every 2d6 past the first 2 that you give up, increase the heal check by 2, and the spell level needed by 1. But remember, you cant decrease your base sneak attack to less than 1. For instance, a level 17 rogue wants to use this feat, and sacrifice 8d6 sneak attack. So at the end of the opponents round for 3 turns, he would take 16 points of damage.

(a little unsure about this feat. At times it seems like no rogue would ever take it, beacause most rogues could take down an opponent in less than 3 rounds, but if you think about those extremely long lasting opponents, this feat seems pretty good. Like a dragon. Using the example in the feat, you are doing a total of 48 damage over the 3 rounds, when the average damage you would do with 8d6 is 24. So its double the damage.)

Messy Spell [Metamagic]
Your spells cause he target to bleed, rather than direct damage.
Prerequisite: none
Benefit: Your spells cast while using this feat will always do physical damage, rather than energy, force, negative energy, etc. Thus damage reduction applies, although all spells cast by this are considered magic for the purpose of overcoming DR/magic. The spell is considered Maximized but the damage is spread out over 3 rounds, and still deals a bit of initial damage (OK, I know this is confusing so far).
To figure out the damage done, just take the maximized amount, and divide it by 4. Then, that number will be used to deal the initial damage, and the bleed damage for the next 3 rounds. Ex. A level 8 wizard casts a Messy Fireball (need a new name for this feat, lol) at a white dragon with DR 10/magic. So to figure out the damage to be done, he finds out the maximum damage a fireball cast by him can do. Its 48, that divided by 4 is 12. His Messy Fireball is considered a magic weapon, so he does 12 initial damage and 12 points of damage at the end of the dragons turn for 3 turns. This is, of course, assuming that the dragon failed his reflex save for half damage. A Messy Spell uses the spells original spell level +1 (or should it be +2?).

Cutter
You are exceptionally good at causing creatures to bleed for longer periods of time.
Prerequisite: Nothing I can think of...
Benefit: The amount of bleed damage you do is increased by 1 per source, and each sources duration is increased by 1 round.

Weapon Properties

Mutilating, Minor
Price: +2000gp (?)
A mutilating weapon features small cruel looking spikes along its blade or shaft, and it it already features spikes, they appear even crueler and more in number. These spikes drive deeper into the opponents body than normal weapons, ripping the flesh as they are quickly sliced along the skin. Weapons with this property deal an extra 1 point of damage, and causes 1 point of bleed damage for 3 rounds total. This bleed damage stacks a total of 5 times, and with each new strike it renews the old ones, reseting their bleed durations.

Mutilating, Improved
Price: +15,000 (??)
This weapon bears even more spikes than the minor mutilating weapon, each one longer and more twisted than the last.
Acts as a Minor Mutilating weapon, except the bleed damage is increased to 3 per round.

Mutilating, Greater
Price: +40,000 (???)
This weapon is only wielded by the cruelest people out there. Its extra spikes are longer than ever, and twist in strange and disturbing ways. On a few of the more prominent looking protrusions, even more spikes reach out each of its sides. These weapons rend the flesh like no others.
This weapon acts like a Minor Mutilating weapon, except it deals 5 points of bleed damage each round.

Alright, so what do you think? Keep in mind that I am still somewhat unsure on how the heal skill/spells should be working exactly, although I think that the DC/ spell level should defiantly be based on the 'level' of the bleed damage. And the prices on the weapon properties are also just estimates. Any comments would be appreciated :smallsmile: .

SilentNight
2008-01-29, 11:42 PM
Seems nice. Bleeding damage was in the 3.0 wounding property and the feat arterial strike (also 3.0). Aslo nice avatar, love that villain.

Corlis
2008-01-29, 11:44 PM
My first thought is that you should probably specify that creatures immune to crits can't be affected by bleeding damage. After all, a skeleton has no blood to lose.

My second thought is that this might require quite a bit of bookkeeping for the DM or for you, since you have to remember how many bleed effects are on the target, and when each one wears off. Not sure how to make this simpler though, and anyhow, maybe I'm alone in thinking that.

Jaerc
2008-01-30, 12:28 AM
The idea is not without merit.

But if ever used in a way that mattered it introduces a huge amount of logistics/bookkeeping. Thats a bit of a hassle.

Myatar_Panwar
2008-01-30, 11:36 AM
My first thought is that you should probably specify that creatures immune to crits can't be affected by bleeding damage. After all, a skeleton has no blood to lose.

Whoops. Thought I had put that in there.

And yeah, the fact that it would cause a lot of bookkeeping was also a concern for me, especially with the weapon property. Thats why I decided that each new renewal of the bleed damage would renew the old ones, so you only have to keep track of the most recent one. Maybe this should apply to all forms of bleed damage? Or would that make it horribly overpowered?

Cieyrin
2008-01-30, 01:13 PM
Maybe you should include Arterial Strike as a prereq for Rupture, as one seems to dovetail into the other. Also, if i'm remembering correctly, you should include a clause in Rupture about still needing to do at least 1 die of sneak attack, as I believe that's part of all Ambush feats descriptions.

As for other bleeding effects, i believe barbed devils have a bleeding effect and also fang dragons, though that might have converted like how Wounding got changed from bleeding to Con damage.

Myatar_Panwar
2008-01-30, 01:57 PM
Where can I find Arterial Strike?

Edit: Oh, just found it in C. Warrior. Wow, I didn't notice that feat before, maybe I need to rethink Rupture...