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View Full Version : Pain Points (from the Dreadnaught Thread)



Ziegander
2008-12-13, 10:52 PM
But I have an idea. You want the Dreadnaught to hit stuff all the time. Understandable. Well for the Dreadnaught to be able to hit stuff he needs to be able to attack their AC. Illusions, Spells, flight, etc all make this impossible. Further to be able to hit stuff he needs to be able to attack at all. Restraints, magical or otherwise, hinder this, as well as poisons and diseases and other things of that nature.

My idea revolves around the Dreadnaught becoming more and more focused and more and more threatening the more damage he is dealt. If that Invisible Stalker hits him with an attack the Dreadnaught gets mad and can "see" it for 1 round. Something to that effect. If he is restrained and keeps getting plinked away at by his foes he shatters his holds and goes on a rampage.

Some sort of Pain Points maybe? He spends them to achieve superhuman effects?

Well, since Fax has his own Weapons Group and Investiture Feats systems going, does anybody want to help me flesh out this idea? Basically I am envisioning several "disciplines" if you will, but also several ways to accumulate such points. A la FFX, you could accumulate points by being dealt damage, by dealing damage, by being effected by status, by your friends being damage, etc, etc. A la Tome of Battle the "Limit Breaks" you could perform by spending these points would be organized into disciplines, and then there would be multiple classes (2-4) that would draw from these disciplines. There would be structure in the form of levels of powers offered by these points and each power in these levels would cost the same amount of points.

Now... ideas?

Lappy9000
2008-12-13, 11:04 PM
Is another thread really necessary?

Ziegander
2008-12-13, 11:19 PM
Well, I want to be respectful to Fax, don't I? Yes, another thread is very necessary. I don't want to derail discussion of his class, I want to come up with several of my own classes based around the idea, and I want to develop specific powers. None of this has anything to do with the Dreadnaught and therefore requires a new thread.

Ziegander
2008-12-13, 11:48 PM
Further Musings

Okay, I'm thinking of six levels of powers for this system. Powers cost a number of points equal to their level squared. Pain Points won't be the name of the game, they will just be points, since not everybody will be getting points from taking damage. That said!


Threshold Methods

The classes will have Threshold Limits based on their character level, which allow the character to accumulate Threshold Points up to that limit. There will be various methods with which to accumulate TP, some of which perhaps may only be available through feats or Prestige Classes? Anyway -

Slayer Method
Accumulation: You gain 1 TP whenever you deal damage for each 10 damage you deal.
Benefit: You gain an insight bonus to damage equal to 2 +1/2 your class level, and deal 1d10/5 class levels in bonus damage whenever you successfully confirm a critical hit.

Stoic Method
Accumulation: You gain 1 TP whenever you are dealt damage for each 5 damage the attack would deal before any resistance or reduction.
Benefit: You gain DR/-- equal to 2 +1/3 your class level, and resistance to all energy types equal to 2 +1/2 your class level.

Tactical Method
Accumulation: You gain 1 TP anytime you and an ally deal damage to the same enemy in the same round, or anytime an enemy misses you or an ally with an attack of opportunity.
Benefit: You gain an additional +2 bonus to attack rolls while flanking and gain +4 to your AC to avoid attacks of opportunity.

Guardian Method
Accumulation: You gain 1 TP whenever an ally is dealt 10 or more damage.
Benefit: Whenever you are dealt damage each of your allies gains temporary hitpoints equal to twice your character level for 1d4 rounds.

Impetuous Method
Accumulation: You gain 1 TP each time you miss an enemy with an attack roll, or whenever an enemy succeeds on a saving throw against an effect originating from you.
Benefit: You may lower any attack roll by up to 2 in order to add 3 damage per point lowered, or you may reduce the save DC of any effect of yours by up to 2 in order to empower that effect (as Empower Spell) once per point lowered (applying the empower effect twice separately).

Evasive Method
Accumulation: You gain 1 TP each time an enemy misses you with an attack, or whenever you succeed on a saving throw against an effect originating from an enemy.
Benefit: At the beginning of each of your turns choose one foe. You gain a dodge bonus to AC and an insight bonus to Saving Throws against that foe equal to 1 +1/per five class levels.

Okay, well, that's all for now. Any other thoughts?

Daracaex
2008-12-14, 03:12 AM
What are you trying to do, exactly? Is this something everyone gets? Or is it class-specific? You could do a class that gets a pool of "Pain Points" or what have you and then gets a bunch of abilities he can invest those points into, like how an Incarnum-user invests essentia. Make the pool equal to the amount of HP the character is missing and you'll have a class that gets more and more dangerous the closer to death they are.

And now I am suddenly reminded of Lucario from Smash Bros.

Ziegander
2008-12-14, 03:46 AM
What are you trying to do, exactly? Is this something everyone gets? Or is it class-specific?

"there would be multiple classes (2-4) that would draw from these disciplines." This is stated in the OP.


You could do a class that gets a pool of "Pain Points" or what have you and then gets a bunch of abilities he can invest those points into, like how an Incarnum-user invests essentia.

This is a possibility for another route entirely. My original idea would be that you have a pool of points, you accumulate them and then spend them to do stuff. I'm not sure if I want the points to go away at the end of encounters or what (I'm not really seeing any reason for them to).


Make the pool equal to the amount of HP the character is missing and you'll have a class that gets more and more dangerous the closer to death they are.

Again, not exactly what I originally had in mind (think a cross between the Crusader's Steely Resolve pool and psionic power point reserves), but also an interesting idea.


And now I am suddenly reminded of Lucario from Smash Bros.

Sadly, I've not had the privilege of playing, or even witnessing the playing of, Smash Bros Brawl. :smallfrown:

Have you played Guild Wars? Think of this idea as how Warriors in that game accumulate, I think it's called, Rage Points (maybe Adrenaline?) to spend to use their attacks. Well, there would be a few classes based around this "accumulate and spend" system and each class would be able to choose one or more Methods of accumulation at character creation, one of the classes might even be able to change his Methods every day, or even on the fly. In addition to having different ways of accumulating the points there will be different sets of powers, "disciplines" if you will, which have different thematic and mechanical effects.

Ziegander
2009-01-06, 05:44 AM
BUMP! :smallsigh: