The Easiest VoP Fix Ever!

[1pwny]

I've read a lot of VoP fixes in my time on this forum, and don't get me wrong, they're very good. But I think its a much better idea, in general, to add new content rather than change old content. So my response is: new feats!

Spoiler: The Feats

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Always Alert[Exalted]
Prerequisite: Character level 4.

Effect: The gods, depending on your devotion to them, will wake you up if you need it, every so often. For a number of times per day equal to the number of Exalted feats you have, you can negate one of the following conditions if it has been placed on you: confused, dazed, fascinated, or stunned. You can activate this effect in response to an effect that would impose one of these conditions


Celestial Wings[Exalted]
Prerequisite: Character level 6, at least 2 other Exalted feats.

Effect: You gain the ability to manifest a pair of holy wings. For a number of minutes/day equal to twice your level, you may manifest a pair of wings, giving you a flight speed equal to your land speed. If you are under level 10, you have Average maneuverability. You gain Good maneuverability at level 10, and Perfect at level 15.


Divine Step[Exalted]
Prerequisite: Character level 8, at least 2 other Exalted feats.

Effect: You step, ask your patron god for a little push, and then miraculously end up in front of the enemy. A number of times per day equal to the number of Exalted feats you have, as a swift action you may instantaneously teleport up to 60(?) feet from where you were standing. If your base land speed is greater than 60 feet, then you may instead move up to you base land speed.


Exalted Mind[Exalted]
Prerequisite: Character level 10, at least 3 other Exalted feats.

Effect: Your mind is under the protection of the higher deities which are impressed with your conviction. Gain a bonus to Will saves equal to the number of Exalted feats you have.

Deified Immortality[Exalted]
Prerequisite: Character level 12, at least 4 other Exalted feats.

Effect: Having so much divine energy in your body has changed you to being something a little... more. Like any good deity, it takes a bit more than just some hocus-pocus to kill you now. You gain immunity to death effects.

[Zaydos]

Always Alert says "You can activate the eye in response to an" the meaning is still clear but you might want to touch up on the wording.

Celestial Wings says "If you are under level 5," when you can't take the feat till 6th and you don't get average till 10th, minor typo is all, though.

I'd say Exalted Vision and Exalted Mind need to be higher level (Exalted Mind copies an 8th level spell except it can't be dispelled or punctured by effects which get around Mind Blank, so it should probably be 15th, Exalted Vision is a relatively short duration 5th to 7th level spell with a cost each time you cast it i.e. you won't be spamming and a 75k item for the same effect), and for Exalted Mind I'd make it the 2nd in a tree where the first gives Continuous Protection from Evil, and throw on another feat option where you radiate a Magic Circle against Evil. That way you can get the most necessary protections (Charm and Dominate) at the level you need them while leaving off the "these are nice and powerful but you can get by without" protections against other compulsions/Inspire Courage. Exalted Vision I'd actually split up. A feat to See Invisibility (available from first), a feat to see through magical disguises, and a feat to get an automatic Will save against illusions on sight with a bonus equal to Exalted feats. The three together wouldn't quite be true seeing (autopass instead of autosave at +Big) but would make it more reasonable as a continuous thing, otherwise I'd suggest making it just a feat that gives you True Seeing as an SLA 1 time, with the ability to take it multiple times to get n+1 extra uses each time (so twice gives 3 daily uses which will usually be enough, 3 times gives 6, 4 times gives 10) while maintaining the need to use it tactically like well True Seeing.

[Vaynor]

Getting permanent True Seeing at level 8 seems a little overpowered. At the very least, this needs to be explicitly a magical bonus so it has some weaknesses.

[1pwny]

Okay, I'll get to work on it. I basically looked at that list with all the necessary magical items, and threw together a few effects to mimic them.

[Zaydos]

Okay, I'll get to work on it. I basically looked at that list with all the necessary magical items, and threw together a few effects to mimic them.

True Seeing is odd to be placed on there because it's 1 of the few things that VoP gets, and also something that very few parties actually do. You don't really need to be able to auto-see through illusions and magical disguises, all that does is cut down on encounter variety, and the one thing it does do that most characters need is to see invisible creatures which is easier to do with a 2nd level spell.

Actually the mind-affecting immunity is the same way. Unless the DM is going out of their way to make it rocket doom tag you don't need it, it's too expensive to get via items (you want Will save boosters not immunity), and what part of it makes it a "must have" is mostly the part duplicated by a much lower level spell effect (protection from charm/dominate as those can produce a 2 creature swing). Note how a mind-affecting immunity item costs almost an 8th of your WBL at Lv 20, most characters won't be getting it (you're better off getting a pearl of power Lv 8 and being nice to the wizard... if there's no wizard capable of casting Mind Blank no one is getting mind blank anyway). Also Always Alert covers most of this other than Charm/Dominate.

As for effects you neglected you actually missed the bigger must haves on the list. Tactical teleportation/movement is a must for melee, partially because it's cost effective (Anklet of Translocation) and partially because where True Seeing/Mind-Affecting Immunity just shuts down encounter types in a binary, this lets melee do their job by enabling full attacks. There's already Travel Devotion for this purpose (1/day for non-clerics) but maybe something that lets you Swift action move a number of times per day equal to your Exalted feats would be appropriate. Death effects is the bigger must have immunity than Mind-Affecting (yet cheaper) mostly because Mind-Affecting is "out of the fight" and death effect is "dead, go to the Outer Planes, do not pass go, do not collect $200", and also something that the game expects at lower levels of play (death ward). Arguably miss chances are also necessary, but only arguably because by the time they become must haves to fix your AC (mostly because they cost a fraction of what an AC that gives the same miss chance does) a fair number of the monsters have counters (Blindsight, true seeing, being a dragon with spells to get both).

[1pwny]

True Seeing is odd to be placed on there because it's 1 of the few things that VoP gets, and also something that very few parties actually do. You don't really need to be able to auto-see through illusions and magical disguises, all that does is cut down on encounter variety, and the one thing it does do that most characters need is to see invisible creatures which is easier to do with a 2nd level spell.

Actually the mind-affecting immunity is the same way. Unless the DM is going out of their way to make it rocket doom tag you don't need it, it's too expensive to get via items (you want Will save boosters not immunity), and what part of it makes it a "must have" is mostly the part duplicated by a much lower level spell effect (protection from charm/dominate as those can produce a 2 creature swing). Note how a mind-affecting immunity item costs almost an 8th of your WBL at Lv 20, most characters won't be getting it (you're better off getting a pearl of power Lv 8 and being nice to the wizard... if there's no wizard capable of casting Mind Blank no one is getting mind blank anyway). Also Always Alert covers most of this other than Charm/Dominate.

As for effects you neglected you actually missed the bigger must haves on the list. Tactical teleportation/movement is a must for melee, partially because it's cost effective (Anklet of Translocation) and partially because where True Seeing/Mind-Affecting Immunity just shuts down encounter types in a binary, this lets melee do their job by enabling full attacks. There's already Travel Devotion for this purpose (1/day for non-clerics) but maybe something that lets you Swift action move a number of times per day equal to your Exalted feats would be appropriate. Death effects is the bigger must have immunity than Mind-Affecting (yet cheaper) mostly because Mind-Affecting is "out of the fight" and death effect is "dead, go to the Outer Planes, do not pass go, do not collect $200", and also something that the game expects at lower levels of play (death ward). Arguably miss chances are also necessary, but only arguably because by the time they become must haves to fix your AC (mostly because they cost a fraction of what an AC that gives the same miss chance does) a fair number of the monsters have counters (Blindsight, true seeing, being a dragon with spells to get both).

Those are really good points. I just took away the True Seeing one (I derped), and put Divine Step.

How do you think I should go about the death-immunity, and at what level? Any suggestion would be helpful.

[Zaydos]

Those are really good points. How do you think I should go about the death-immunity, and at what level? Any suggestion would be helpful.

As an item it is available for as little as 24/25k (1/3rd what True Seeing is, less than 1/4th Mind-Affecting Immunity) but that's on armor so can cost up to 64k if you have a full suite of other armor effects. I'd say you could give it at 12th? Let's you get it right before Finger of Death comes online. There are a few creatures completely reliant on death/energy drain effects (Banshee, Nabassu, Wight) but they are few enough and it's usually a horribly painful supplement that it ought to work. I'd make it have a few prereqs, if it wasn't supposed to be exalted I'd look at Libris Mortis's feats to slow down/prevent negative levels.