Facing an Ethical Dilema

[Primal Fury]

I've got (what I think is) a good idea for a class, but I'm having a problem with the things power level. Basically, the whole premise is a mortal born with/gifted with/steals a greater divine spark than most other mortals. This allows them to, slowly but surely, turn into deities themselves. Rather than using the rules from Deities and Demigods, I'd use those from the Immortals Handbook, if only because that pays more attention to increasing power level rather than arbitrarily handing out godly power (e.g. Divine Rank 1 would be those mortals who found favor with their deity and became Disciples, with power balanced for a 5th level character, and Prophet, Divine Rank 2, is balanced for a 10th level character).

One of my concerns is the divine abilities. Some that are available right from the start seem rather tame (summoning creatures based on your own HD), while others seem quite unfair (being able to use the Polymorph spell at will).

What should I do? I WANT to make this class, but I don't want to make something that's completely retarded either.

[Arbitrarity]

I like the idea. I think the trick is to not hand out literal divine ranks, but instead to hand out similar abilities. Rather than "pick an ability from book XYZ", give a list of fair abilities, limited in scope.

[jiriku]

I'm assuming you're planning to build a 21-30 epic progression homebrew PrC.

Polymorph at will is not really so impressive for an epic character. Any garden-variety incantatrix can persist shapechange beginning at 17th level. Likewise, turning into a medusa or bodak or something lets you toss around a save-or-lose effect every round. Throwing polymorph on others isn't so terrible if the save DC is appropriately balanced. If you feel a particular effect is overly strong for a given divine rank, just houserule it up one rank.

[Arbitrarity]

No, I think he means a base class. Like, 1-20.
Anyways, the main problems would be balancing class features, allowing customization, and giving enough fairly scaling powers.

[Primal Fury]

Yes, I do mean a 1-20 base class. And if I did use the abilities right out of the book, the way I have it in my head they'd be able to polymorph at will at level... five.

The problem is there would already be plenty of customization, more than I could come up with anyway. And most powers do scale properly, with the exception of certain abilities. The only problem is the balance.

I WANT to be original with this, but... I dunno.

[AtwasAwamps]

Cripple the abilities.

You can't really hand out god-like abilities to PCs. Considering what a wizard can do without your class, simply look at the abilities you want it to have and cripple them. Horribly. Give them a per-day limit, have them cause ability damage, limit their targets, have nasty save DCs, or whatever.

The mortal frame was not meant to contain the power of the gods. It should suffer for using powers far beyond its ken and means.

[Temet Nosce]

Yes, I do mean a 1-20 base class. And if I did use the abilities right out of the book, the way I have it in my head they'd be able to polymorph at will at level... five.

The problem is there would already be plenty of customization, more than I could come up with anyway. And most powers do scale properly, with the exception of certain abilities. The only problem is the balance.

I WANT to be original with this, but... I dunno.

Alter the level for any abilities you truly think are game breaking (but lets be honest, the entire Polymorph line is game breaking in the first place). Really though? As long as your idea won't grant the class a wider range of powerful options than a Wizard (or if you really don't care, an artificer) I'd think you'd be ok. It's pretty hard to write material more powerful than what's already in official books.

[Primal Fury]

That's... actually a really good idea Atwas. Maybe some ability burn too. The other more powerful abilities have requirements that are so high, they'll have to wait for epic level anyway if they want them (Stats and skills up in the 40s).

Custom abilities shouldn't be a big problem... Just needs ta think.

[Rixx]

A spontaneous divine caster might be a neat choice for this.

[Primal Fury]

Actually Rixx... It would sort of already be that. Even if I changed absolutely nothing... Kinda.

And no, Temet, they would most certainly NOT be more powerful than artificers, or even wizards for that matter. They'd gain access to portfolios, and a fair bit of power in those areas, but they would NOT have the same universal applicability as those classes. If I had to put another class right next to them... it'd be the sorcerer.

[Temet Nosce]

And no, Temet, they would most certainly NOT be more powerful than artificers, or even wizards for that matter. They'd gain access to portfolios, and a fair bit of power in those areas, but they would NOT have the same universal applicability as those classes. If I had to put another class right next to them... it'd be the sorcerer.

There you go, balance them against tier 2s (powerful, but limited options) and (this is just a suggestion) nix the truly obscene abilities. Tier 2s are easily playable in most games.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

I'd recommend drawing on the Binder and the Warlock. At each level up choose from a list of abilities, either an SLA at-will or a passive benefit. Stat bonuses, boosted defenses, a natural weapon, or similar.

[Primal Fury]

There you go, balance them against tier 2s (powerful, but limited options) and (this is just a suggestion) nix the truly obscene abilities. Tier 2s are easily playable in most games.

There are no... "truly obscene" abilities, at least not until the higher divine ranks (aka epic level ranks), but those are no worse than epic spellcasting.

@Sstoopidtallkid: That seems incredibly... generic, almost to the point that it sounds like it's been done a whole bunch of times already.

[Kylarra]

An idea so that you don't have to worry about balance is to just make the class, and then make sure it has enough options to go several different ways (not hard with portfolios) and then just play an entire party of those. They only need to be balanced in relative to each other and you just adjust the CR to taste since that system is uberborked anyway.

[Primal Fury]

Also true... But the thing is the way certain stuff works. Once they start getting divine ranks, there's certain stuff they just can't do. Someone who picks up the Healing portfolio would be the one o' the best healers around, but they are actually forced to reduce their damage out-put by a certain percentage (50 to 75%). It's the same with... the Community portfolio, they focus on helping others, but if caught by themselves, their toast when it comes to buffs (self-buffing is incredibly nerfed).

I suppose that DOES balance it in a way, and gives everyone their own role in the party.