Gauging Interest - Homebrew Requests (That means come talk!)

[Lord_Gareth]

I only have three minutes, so I'll make this brief - I have a talent for putting out moderately balanced homebrew material (which is then honed by the community into something playable) and I'm wondering if a few of my concepts actually have any interest behind them. That, and I'd like to hear what people ARE interested in, to see what I might take a stab at.

Shield Dancer - A prestige class that uses heavy or light shields as their only weapons, it gives a new meaning to "Defensive Weapon".

Giant Scissors - Giant. Scissors. As a weapon. This is a personal fantasy of mine, and I'm also imagining the possibility of a PrC that uses them (and the ability to split the scissors into a pair of swords).

Blood Caster - A PrC that, like Blood Mage, is focused on blood magic, but more on the magic end, less on the blood.

Tempus Fugit - Time magic. In some form.

Let me know what you think!!

[DiscipleofBob]

I actually made something that fit the Shield Dancer concept earlier in a thread made for Urban-based prestige class. I could post it in here if you like.

My request however:

A Puppeteer base class similar to Kankuro from Naruto for reference. Basically, not that strong on his own, but manipulates medium-size and larger marionettes with all sorts of hidden weapons, poisons, etc. Should have some way to customize puppets for individual flavor.

[boomwolf]

Shield Dancer-TWO SHIELD FIGHTING! THIS IS SPARTAAAAAA.
Sorry, had to do that.

Giant Scissors-Na, plain silly. have we already got a "scissor sword" at some book. (a pair of giant scissors with a sword in the middle for three-armed creatures.)

Blood Caster -Don't think we need another one. we got tons of mages.

Tempus Fugit -That will be hard as hell to balance, but will be cool as hell.

May I suggest one of his spells?

Time Bolt
Evocation [Force]
Level: ?
Components: see text
Casting Time: free action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Targets: One creature.
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes

A missile of magical energy darts forth from your fingertip and strikes its target, but instead of hurting it now it hurts it a few moments ago.

As you cast the spell the target instantly takes on 6d6 points of damage, at one of the following ten rounds you must preform a "spell" as a standard action, this action provokes attacks of opportunity.
Failure to "cast" the "spell" in the following ten rounds will lead to the caster of the time bolt to make a will save with DC 25 or vanish as a result of a time-space failure fixing itself. if the save succeed the "caster" takes 10d6 points of damage instead.

[ErrantX]

I would encourage the Tempus Fugit class out of you. I like time magic (ironic, as I despise time travel outside of Delorean-based whimsy) and would be interested in your take on it.

@Boomwolf:

Neat spell, but a little complicated. Also, the "spell" you perform a few rounds later to make sure that time doesn't eat your face, could you actually just cast another spell and have both work or would you just do a little silly finger dance and kookiness ensues in the past? It's neat, but the mechanics are unwieldy.

-X

[Lord_Gareth]

I actually made something that fit the Shield Dancer concept earlier in a thread made for Urban-based prestige class. I could post it in here if you like.

My request however:

A Puppeteer base class similar to Kankuro from Naruto for reference. Basically, not that strong on his own, but manipulates medium-size and larger marionettes with all sorts of hidden weapons, poisons, etc. Should have some way to customize puppets for individual flavor.

Post it if you like, I'll see if I like it :P

As to Puppeteer - Already Done, This Has Been, Young Jedi, though not by me. See here ^_^

Boomwolf - Umm...that...spell...makes...no...sense.

Time magic is going to have a lot of language involved to make sure DMs don't blow players up and/or cause odd things to happen. Look at the Epic Level Handbook's spell "Time Duplicate" (I think that's the name, anyway) for an example.

[boomwolf]

Say, Lord_Gareth, you are very skillful in making homebrews. (the harrowed is too damn good evil actually.) but you seem to be "looking" for ideas.
I for the other hand got too many ideas, and not the skill to make them. (lookat my homebrews, a complete mess.)

So why won't you team with me for the "complete technologist" project? nobody even posted in it, probably because that project will be ****ing hard. but it will bring us some good time homebrewing, and we will actually make SOMETHING, and not random ideas that people rarely use.

Heck, don't tell me you never wanted to make a book? (even if only an e-book) everybody does.
And that project will solve the needs and wants of any mistreated gnome player.

As for the spell-I KNOW it makes no sense, but its a concept spell, not an "out for using" spell. I like wrote down my idea and thats it, no editing no nothing.

[Riva]

Makes pretty decent sense to me. The spell reaches into the past right? So, the damage happens before you cast the spell, technically.

There are two ways to illustrate this;

The first being heavy book keeping and undoing everything a creature did if the 'time bolt' killed him in the past. For example, at round three creature 'A' gets knocked down to six hit points. Somehow he doesn't get finished for seven rounds, when at round ten the time mage casts the time bolt, aiming it for round three and slaying it in the past. One would have to figure out exactly what he did, and undo it. Also, everyone would act differently if said creature had died. While this could be interesting it is very book keeping intensive.

The other option for a damage spell that travels through time is the way Boomwolf put it. Instead of casting the spell first and reaching into game past for the effect to take place, you decide that your future self will cast the spell (within the time limit) and that its effect will resolve at the current moment. If you fail to do this, paradox will whup you like a red headed step child, in order to keep everything balanced. This mode allows for a lot less book keeping.

And yes, it would allow you to cast a different spell and take actions normally, since you are not technically acting that turn. Action resolves round three, action originates from some round after that (within the time limit, of course).

Did that make any sense?

[DiscipleofBob]

Shield Defender

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Hit Die: d12, Skill Points: 2+Intelligence

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|AC Bonus|Special

1st|

+1

|

+2

|

+0

|

+2

|

+0

|Shield Weapon Proficiency

2nd|

+2

|

+3

|

+0

|

+3

|

+0

|Two-Shield Fighting

3rd|

+3

|

+3

|

+1

|

+3

|

+1

|

-

4th|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|

+4

|

+1

|Ricochet Shield

5th|

+5

|

+4

|

+1

|

+4

|

+1

|Light Fortification

6th|

+6

|

+5

|

+2

|

+5

|

+2

|

-

7th|

+7

|

+5

|

+2

|

+5

|

+2

|Elaborate Defense

8th|

+8

|

+6

|

+2

|

+6

|

+2

|Total Fortification

9th|

+9

|

+7

|

+3

|

+6

|

+3

|

-

10th|

+10

|

+7

|

+3

|

+7

|

+3

|Back Armor Shield[/table]

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Shield Weapon Proficiency The Defender realizes that the best defense is a good offense and the best offense is a good defense. Why bother with a sword or mace when that shield is just as heavy and and provides cover to boot? A Defender can wield a shield as if it was a bludgeoning weapon with no penalties and retains the shield's bonus to AC while doing so. Other penalties, such as two-weapon fighting, still apply however.

Two Shield Fighting At 2nd level, the Defender finds that having one shield is sometimes not enough, and learns to wield two shields at once. The AC bonus from both shields stack, and the Defender can wield both shields as bludgeoning weapons while still retaining their bonus to AC. Normal two-weapon fighting penalties still apply, but a Defender can attack with one shield and simply block with the other, retaining the AC bonus but not incurring any two-weapon fighting penalties.

AC Bonus At 3rd level, the Defender gains a deflection bonus to AC as long as he is wielding at least one shield. This bonus increases to +2 at 6th level, and to +3 at 9th level.

Ricochet Shield At 4th level, the Defender can hurl a shield and either ricochet it off enemies or have it return like a frisbee. A Defender can throw a shield as if it had the Returning quality with a range of 20 feet except as follows: The Defender can hit as many enemies as he desires and catch the shield in the same standard action as long as the shield travels a total distance of no more than 20 feet. If the shield travels longer, it does not return until the beginning of next round and the Defender loses the AC bonus from the shield until then.

Light Fortification At 5th level, a Defender is treated as having Light Fortification as long as he is wielding at least one shield and fighting defensively in combat. This increases to Total Fortification at 8th level.

Elaborate Defense At 7th level, a Defender gains an insight bonus to his AC equal to his Defender level as long as he is fighting defensively and wielding at least one shield.

Back Armor Shield At 10th level, a Defender can strap a third shield of any kind, even a tower shield, onto his back and gain the AC bonus from that as well as any other shields he is wielding. This third shield cannot be wielded as a weapon as any other shields you may be wielding can.

Okay, I rushed a lot on this one so there's still a lot of fine-tuning on this one. Haven't done prerequisites yet. Any recommendations or questions?

[sing]When Captain America throws his mighty shield...[/sing]

[boomwolf]

Riva got it right to the last word.
But I still say its a bit messy, need to be reworded and such.

In any case time magic can be 2 types:
-Past
-Future
(present is normal spells.)

Future is simple, cast now, effect later.
For past you got 2 options how to do it:
-Effect now, cast later. (or make a paradox if you screw up, that leads to your almost certain death.)
-"Undo" events. really messy and unwanted.

[DiscipleofBob]

See, when I think time magic, I think the FF-version of Haste, Slow, and Stop.

[Reinboom]

Giant Scissors - Giant. Scissors. As a weapon. This is a personal fantasy of mine, and I'm also imagining the possibility of a PrC that uses them (and the ability to split the scissors into a pair of swords).

I adore souseiseki

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Who does split her scissors up.
So, I'm all for this. :P

[Baron Corm]

Say, Lord_Gareth, you are very skillful in making homebrews. (the harrowed is too damn good evil actually.) but you seem to be "looking" for ideas.
I for the other hand got too many ideas, and not the skill to make them. (lookat my homebrews, a complete mess.)

So why won't you team with me for the "complete technologist" project? nobody even posted in it, probably because that project will be ****ing hard. but it will bring us some good time homebrewing, and we will actually make SOMETHING, and not random ideas that people rarely use.

Heck, don't tell me you never wanted to make a book? (even if only an e-book) everybody does.
And that project will solve the needs and wants of any mistreated gnome player.

As for the spell-I KNOW it makes no sense, but its a concept spell, not an "out for using" spell. I like wrote down my idea and thats it, no editing no nothing.

I was gonna post in the complete technologist project to basically say "shadowrun", but thought maybe someone could have some other unique idea. Anyway, in case you've never heard of it, shadowrun is pretty much DND with technology, and it is very well built (google it).


As far as time spells are concerned, I think it would be much simpler to just make two metamagic feats: one which causes your spell effect to happen in the past, and one which causes it to happen in the future. Other than actual time travel, which would be broken, this pretty much covers any time spell.

[DiscipleofBob]

So does my PrC meet your expectations for the Shield Dancer type character?

[Lord_Gareth]

Not really - the similarity ends at, "They have two shields". Nice class, though ^_^

Also, I have some different concepts for time magic than what has been shown here - I'll explain in a few minutes.

Giant scissors - yay!

[Lord Tataraus]

Hm...I'd be interested in your take on a chronomancy base class or PrC. There are so few. Part of the reason I am so interested is I am currently making a chronomancy base class using the Xbender format from the bending classes. If you're interested, check out my Timebender.

[Jaerc]

Honestly, I'm most interested in the Shield Dancer.

Second comes the Time Fugit as a project. But I'll warn you; I'm even more opinionated about time magic than other things. I also happen to think that a lot of game designer and fantasy authors have gotten wrong. But, hey, wow me.

Giant scissors are 'meh' to me. They'd never really be used, with the exception of a rare setting or module here and there. Still kinda nifty if you're into that stuff.

And blood based magic-- we are inundated in it. If you think yours is unique and cool. Why not?

[Lord_Gareth]

"Blood-Based" does not mean "Sorcerer". That project has been moved into a thread of its own as I begin to formulate ideas - look for "[Sorcerer/Wizard Replacement] The Paradigm Project".

I'll begin writing up Shield Dancer very soon.

An example of time magic -

Retrocognition [Divination, Time]
Sorcerer/Wizard 5, Cleric 6
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Focus
Casting Time: Five Minutes
Range: 1 Year per caster level
Targets: One creature
Duration: 1 round per caster level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: No

Through means of this spell, the caster spies on a particular creature in a manner very similar to a Clarivoyance spell. However, the caster names his or her target (whatever name the caster knows them by) and a time in the past (such as "two months ago") when casting this spell. From the point in time named onward, for one round per caster level, the caster can percieve the target and all within 30 feet of them unless the target suceeds at a Will save.

During this time, the caster may target the being they are spying on (and only that being) with spells that require ranged touch attacks or target a single being. The power of the spell limits paradox - if the target is eliminated, they cease to be (thus, if the caster assasinates theirself, there is no infinite time loop). However, the spell cannot stop events from happening differently - that is, assasinating a great hero in the past will prevent their deeds from being done.

Focus - A large, masterwork clock worth at least 10,000 G.P., which the caster turns back during the casting.

[Ascension]

That has the potential of being horribly, horribly broken. The seeing into the past is fine, but attacking into the past? Entire campaigns could be completely altered or averted by a few choice spells cast into the past. Even if it had month-per-caster-level range it would still be incredibly stupidly powerful...

EDIT: Now, if you want to give it only to NPCs, I guess that'd be alright since you could control what they did to the timeline. In the hands of players, though... I shudder to think what would be possible.

[Lord_Gareth]

If I added a clause about the target being able to attack back?

Not all DMs will use time magic. Those that do can find ways to deal with it - especially by countering with other uses of time magic. Yes, campaigns will get effed up. That, good sir, is the idea. You're -warping time-.

[DiscipleofBob]

The two shield thing isn't an essential part of the class, only an option if players want to go that route. May I ask what exactly you were looking for in such a class?

[Baron Corm]

Just like to point out that a backwards-in-time metamagic applied to scrying has nearly the same effect. What you would really need to homebrew was a special version of scrying which you could damage people with. Just trying to be efficient

[Lord_Gareth]

Let me make myself clear this time - I dislike the metamagic solution. It can get even more broken, can't really explore all the possibilities of time magic, and I just hate metamagic anyway.