(Discussion) General Part III

[Creamsteak]

This is the third continuation of the general discussion of Living EN World.

[Thels]

Perhaps it is a little high, but it's probably gonna stay a base of operations after characters leveled up a lot, and it would be awkward if the gold limit would go up along with the highest level chars.

Afaik only one night passed in Trek to the Vinyard, which went pretty much synchrone with the first nightpass in the Inn. Not sure that's the adventure you mean, though.

[Manzanita]

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but as I'm considering creating a new character, I thought I'd examine the characters already created. This is what I found. Our of 41 approved characters:
21 are human
6 elves (3 high, 2 grey, 1 wood)
3 dwarves
3 half-elves
5 halflings
2 gnomes
1 half-orc

1 barbarian
3 bards
3 clerics
2 druids
5 fighters
1 monk
4 paladins
3 rangers
9 rogues
2 sorcerers
7 wizards
1 aristocrat

[Velmont]

You should lock (Discussion) General Part II. It isn't and some may continue to post on it by mistake or willingly, and that would split the discussion...

[WizWrm]

Originally Posted by Velmont

Velbrik's Stutterstep

I like the spell, but there is something I don't like. It is not in the balance of the spell, but in the concept. Travelling between planes, I always have seen that as a hard feat of magic, and doing such at first level spells, is pretty strong, even if it is only for a short time.

I do agree with you on this point - a first-level spell "shouldn't" be able to do things like this, even if they're mechanically reasonable. Likewise, you shouldn't have a first-level spell that summons thunderclouds and rains fire for a mile radius, even if it only does 1 point of damage to 1d4 buildings in that radius. I thought about that as I was designing the spell.

However, I couldn't really think of another way to achieve the same effects magically; something like "This spell grants you +20 to your Tumble checks for 1 round/level," seemed just too lame to me. Plus, I liked the image, which was what made me write this spell up in the first place.

I guess if you wanted to think about it another way, Summon Monster I does the same thing; it summons a creature from another plane (in this case, the caster is summoning himself to another plane, briefly), but "trades" mass (you can't summon in a dragon with Summon Monster I) for the magical bonds that forces the creature to obey your commands. Since you don't need to command yourself, that energy can be diverted to summon a higher mass; like planar binding lets you summon more powerful creatures than summon monster, but you don't automatically have control of them. It sort of makes sense.

Originally Posted by Velmont

Maybe it could be a level higher, as you can consider that spell to be an automatic success on any tumble check made, and in that case, could easliy be compare to invisibility, who is virtually an automatic success on Hide...

Well, it's not really an automatic success on any Tumble check, which is what invisibility might do; at most it's +20 to the skill for 1 round/level, which is a better bonus than jump, of the same spell level (though it's not a better bonus after caster level 5), but for 10% of the duration.

[GnomeWorks]

Originally Posted by garyh

Now Delmonte just needs to survive long enough to invent the feats!

MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmm... well, thanks for giving the go-ahead for the final draft.

But his name is Delmontes, not Delmonte.

[GnomeWorks]

On an entirely different note from my previous post...

Should there be a thread specifically designed for player contributions? For instance, it seemed rather difficult to get my feats okay'd and have a continous conversation about them, as there was a lot of other conversation going on in this thread. I think it'd be easier to contribute new things if there were a thread specifically for it, that the judges could look over quickly and see all the new ideas.

I also think that there should be a record thread that keeps track of all the player-created additions, such as WizWrm's spell and my feats, once they're all okayed. That way people know what the final and official draft is, and all that fun stuff, though it should probably be noted what is currently available and what isn't (everything should be put there, but it should be noted that the Delmontes feats won't be available, until Troi researches them, at which point they'd become available, one at a time).

[Macbeth]

Good ideas, GnomeWorks, I think that having one (Record) thread for all the approved feats, spells, and such, would be a great idea. I'm not so sure about having another thread just for the submissions, I know that the original idea had been to take up as little space as possible, but if we don't need to be THAT worried about space, then it sounds good. I'll wait for a few other judges to sound of their opinions, and if there are no objections I will log into the judge acount and get those threads started.

[Velmont]

I have a suggestion for you WizWrm, it have the same goal, but not really the same effect.

You summon shadows. These shadows preceeds you and follow you, leaving a trail of shadows which is hard to see where you are.

If you move up to 5 feets, the shadow is just around you like a small aura and give no bonus.

If you move up to your movement, you have a one-half cover(20%), as you leave a shadowing cloud.

If you move more than your movement (double move or running), you have a 9/10 concealment(40%) as you leave a shadowing trail.

The bonus remain until your next initiative. Blindfight can help someone who attack the target of the spell.

So, what do you think of it. Ok, it doesn't allow you to tumble better, but it give you a chance to be missed if you have to move around someone. It can be almost as good as displacement, but in that case, you can only move, and if you do a full attack, you have no bonus, so it is a lot more tactical than blur or displacement.

If it is too strong, you can add that the spell is not as effective if in an area of a daylight or something like that.

[Erekose13]

WizWrm:
How about something a little less extraplanar - Fancy Footwork or Quick Reflexes. Which while moving grant the user +20 tumble for 1rd/level.

I know that you said that you didnt like something so mundane, but really at 1st level I dont see someone being able to step even partially into the plane of Shadow. Shadow Walk is about 7th level if I remember right.

Another spell to balance it against is from Magic of Faerun, uh... I cant remember the name of it, but it is a 1st level Cleric spell that grants the caster +10 to any one skill, the ability to use a skill untrained or proficiency with a weapon. So I think that straight mechanics wise +20 tumble for a short period of time would be fine. Or perhaps given that it might encompass more than one move maybe make it scale a bit (+10 +1/caster level max +30) that way higher level casters will be able to avoid AoA even better.

[WizWrm]

Erekose13: Well, shadow walk is Brd 5 because it lets you move up to 1000 miles with no danger of failure, unlike teleport, and gives you perfect accuracy +/- a few hundred feet. Rope trick, on the other hand, is altering the fabric of reality at level 2 already. The real problem with the Tumble spell, though, would be that you've now effectively avoided all attacks of opportunity altogether, though you need to be moving half-speed while doing so. That's a whole nother spell, and not particularly flavorful.

Velmont: While I like the idea, your spell, like the Tumble spell, is very much a different spell from the one I had in mind. I don't think it's too strong, though; it's basically blur only while you're moving, which sets it nicely at a single level below blur, and displacement with a double move, and normally you don't tend to take as many AoOs with a double move, since you have another six squares that lets you move around creatures to get where you need to go.

Maybe if stutterstep just plain made you insubstantial and invisible during parts of the move? Technically, though, you'd still be doing the same thing, only with the Ethereal Plane instead of the Plane of Shadow.

[Pyrex]

Originally Posted by WizWrm

Maybe if stutterstep just plain made you insubstantial and invisible during parts of the move? Technically, though, you'd still be doing the same thing, only with the Ethereal Plane instead of the Plane of Shadow.

Ooh, that gives me a really great idea. How about something like this?

Tenebrous Form
Transmutation
Lvl: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V,S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round/level (D)

You infuse yourself with the essence of shadow,
causing your body ripple between material and
shadowstuff. This rippling becomes more pronounced
as you move, causing AOO's against you to suffer
a 50% miss chance unless the weapon can strike
both material and incorporeal targets. (i.e. Ghost
Touch)

A little different than your original design, but still preserves a lot
of the flavor and feels a bit more balanced for a 1st level spell. Instead
of giving you total protection for half your move, instead this grants 50%
protection for all your movement.

[ferretguy]

Just a quick post:

Spoke with Uriel, He is having a little problem with his server. He will be back again by tomorrow night barring any further mishaps.

[Velmont]

Originally Posted by WizWrm

it's basically blur only while you're moving, which sets it nicely at a single level below blur, and displacement with a double move, and normally you don't tend to take as many AoOs with a double move, since you have another six squares that lets you move around creatures to get where you need to go.

Yeah, but as I stated, the bonus remain until your next initiative, so it is not only usefull against AoOs, but it could be usefull against any attack folliwing a move, including ranged attack. If you want to be usefull only against AoOs, I would suggest maybe to raise a bit the cover. (Could be 10% for 5fts, 30% on single moves, 50% ongreatre than single moves, but bonus applied ONLY during the movement).

[Arken]

Hi, I was wondering what could be considered within the remit of feats invented by characters, I really wanted to be a bit of an artificer and spell creator and as there is no such SRD prestige class thta performs this role I suppose I would have to try and invent feats to achieve effects that make me a specialist at item creation. (Unless a group was set up to allow for the authorisation of of non SRD prestige classes in which case I'd try and get something together to be evaluated until considered balanced).

Of course there would be a problem if it was decided feats can achieve effects like this anyway, what do people think?

[Jack Haggerty]

For those of you who are interested (and especially the judges), I've posted a rough draft of a Halfling Sneak racial PrC in the House Rules forum. I hope to submit it for LEW approval once its ready...

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[ferretguy]

Another Notice...

Uriel will be off boards for mayhap a couple of days....
He had a smallish runnin with a couple of muggers, He is ok just a little shaken and may need some time to get his head straightened out.

[Jack Haggerty]

Originally Posted by ferretguy

Another Notice...

Uriel will be off boards for mayhap a couple of days....
He had a smallish runnin with a couple of muggers, He is ok just a little shaken and may need some time to get his head straightened out.

He didn't get hurt, did he?

Good Luck, Uriel. Take care.

[Velmont]

Take care of yourself Uriel, we needs you in whole.

[Uriel]

Im back online and actually heading into the hospital for X-rays. The muggers trashed my knee pretty badly (as well as putting a rather tacky looking pistol in my face...). I'll tryu to get online when Iget home.

Thanks ahead of time for the well-wishers

Ron/Uriel