Need Help With Scarred Lands House Rulery

[Nytmare]

First and foremost, though I have lots of experience with 4E, I've never run or played anything past the Heroic Tier, so I don't have a really good handle on what the Paragon power level is like.

My last campaign ended a while back, and we've been looking to start things up fresh. In the end, we decided to roll up our sleeves and start an 11th level, 4th Edition, heavily house ruled, Scarred Lands game.

Character's will be limited to last October's Character Builder (build 230055) minus Dragon and Dungeon Magazine material.

Problem one. We will be using inherent bonuses, and though I'm pretty sure I've got a handle on them, I'm not sure what kinds of limits I should be putting on what characters are starting with, aside from halved treasure. I was imagining something along the lines of "half starting money, and choose any three, common(?), heroic tier items, realizing that you already have a +2 to attacks, damage, and defenses, and that the bonuses won't stack." Is that too limiting?

Problem two. Rituals are going to be something close to Colmarr's House Ruled Rituals, specifically in the realm of casting times and using healing surges to shorten them (I'm thinking maybe 5 rounds/short rest/extended rest/full day). Anyone have any suggestions or experience with alternate ritual systems?

Three. The Scarred Lands had a system of Invocation Benefits. Basically, what they allowed you to do was spend rounds praying to the setting's deities to gain various benefits. For our game, what I'd like the translation to be is characters spending a standard action to make a religion check (up to three consecutive turns for better and better bonuses), and sacrificing an Action Point (we have roughly twice as many, half powered APs) to gain an assortment of bonuses to skill, attack, damage, and/or defenses. The problem is that I have no idea what I should really be patterning these bonuses off of. The DC check I'm imagining would be an easy to medium DC based off your level and whether or not you are a follower of said deity. I just can't decide where the balance point should be between what kinds of effects I want, and what makes for a good trade for lost turns and action points.

More to come, I'm sure.

 

[Mentat55]

For the last point (the Invocation Benefits), I would consider (a) making the bonuses power bonuses, so you do not get ridiculous synergy with power bonuses granted by normal powers, and (b) if you really want them to be used, giving up a standard action (or up to 3) and some sort of action point is going to require a pretty awesome bonus.

Another thought: what if the Invocation Benefit was, instead of a set of bonuses, a daily power that someone could access by making the requisite skill check(s)?

Last thought: you could instead make Invocation Benefits rituals that take 1 round to complete, and then make a skill check to grant some effect. Unlike most rituals, it would be probably be a combat (or at least encounter) usable effect.

I have very limited experience with the Scarred Lands, mainly from just perusing some of the books, but it seems like a very cool setting.

 

[Nytmare]

Here's the rough draft of Invocation benefits I have, based almost purely off of what they used to be. The original 3.5 bonuses are in grey.

The main problem I have with them is that I feel them quickly skewing in balance. In the end, I'd like for there to be (roughly) one melee oriented bonus, one magic oriented bonus, and one skill bonus.

For the most part these bonuses can't just be used willy nilly by the players. It's supposed to be kind of a big deal when you're asking for divine intervention, and you run the risk of upsetting someone if you ask for help too frequently, too quickly, or from the "wrong" crowd.

Corean
Bonus to attack or damage a Titanspawn with a melee Weapon power, or power that deals Fire damage
Bonus to any skill check that involves fire or weapons? (I like the idea of skill bumps being more open ended like this)

+1 to craft or profession rolls involving blacksmithing (maximum +3)
+1 to Wilderness Lore rolls to start fires (maximum +3)
+1 to forging or creating weapons (maximum +3)
+1 to attack (maximum +3)
+1 to damage rolls against titanspawn for the duration of combat (maximum +3)


Madriel
Bonus to the healing effect of a Healing power
Bonus to a Heal skill check
Powers that grant you flight?
Radiant powers?

+1 point of magical healing (1 round max per die, maximum +3)
+1 save against negative energy attacks (maximum +3)
+1 bonus to turning checks against undead. (maximum of +3)

Tanil
Bonus to attack with a Beast or Ranged power?
Bonus to Nature skill checks

+1 to attack with ranged weapons (maximum +3)
+1 on any roll involving music (maximum +3)
+1 bonus on wild empathy and handle animal checks. (maximum +3)


Hedrada
Bonus to will defense for the rest of the encounter
Bonus to Knowledge skill checks
Defensive spells?
Bonus to hit with powers that deal Force damage?
Implement powers?

+1 bonus on rolls made to determine the truth, like Sense Motive (maximum +3)
+1 bonus to resist outside emotional manipulation, like most Will saves (maximum +3)
+1 bonus to saves against any spell that has the ‘chaotic’ designator. (maximum +3)


Enkili
Use your reflex defense in place of another defense?
Bonus to Acrobatics skill checks
Bonus to Bluff skill checks
Bonus to hit with powers that deal Lightning or Thunder damage?

When you use a power or ability with the Polymorph keyword and you do not have an Action point, you gain an action point?

+1 to Balance, Bluff, Disguise, Jump, or Tumble rolls (maximum +3)
+1 to Reflex saves (maximum +3)
+1 to any survival or swim rolls made during a storm at sea. (maximum +3)
(three rounds of prayer can be split between three different invocation benefits)


Chardun
Bonus to attack or damage with a power with the Charm or Fear keyword
Bonus to Intimidate checks
Extra bonus to intimidate checks vs undead

+1 to Concentration, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive or any skill that involves strategy or military tactics (maximum +3)
+1 to attack
+1 to any roll to inflict damage with a spell (maximum +3)
+1 bonus to saves against any spell with the ‘mind-affecting’ descriptor. (maximum +3)

Belsameth
Bonus to Charm and Necrotic powers?
Bonus to saving throws?

+1 bonus to next saving throw from an attack (maximum +3)
+1 bonus to next attack against a follower of a good aligned god (maximum +3)
+1 bonus on Control Shape checks. (maximum +3)


Vangal
Halve resistances/ignore resistance/ignore immunity?
Bonus to hit with Necrotic power?

Ability to strike otherwise invulnerable targets, such as those with damage reduction, incorporeal foes, and the like. Grants ghosttouch and a +1 for the purpose of determining whether or not the object can be hit. If the worshipper is wielding axes, both weapons become so enchanted (maximum +3)
+1 to the save DC of any necromantic spell cast. (maximum +3)

 

[Nytmare]

I just stumbled back here looking for information for another thread, and realized I had never posted the final set of cards.

 

[Blue]

Nytmare, how do these interact with things that trigger on an AP? Warlords, most PP and feats like Action Surge have "if you spend an AP for an extra action" or other wording that affects what you do with an extra action, I assume these only go off on the "regular" APs (so less often). Or do they happen on any AP usage?

Some PPs allow you to spend a AP in a different way, such as to regain an encounter power. Is this something that can be done with any card?

 

[Nytmare]

We didn't have any action point triggers in the group, but we were assuming that we would have them trigger on extra move and standard actions, but not off of the invocations.

It worked in our heads, but we never tried it at the table.