Okay I just wanted to get some feedback on the preview before I screen capture the pages and put them directly on the website.
I have also noticed a few things when constructing the stat blocks.
Firstly I think I am wasting space (and inadvertantly distracting people) by outlining those divine (cosmic or whatever) powers that are merely prerequisites for other powers.
Secondly, I think the competence bonuses attributed to portfolios is much too ambiguous and probably far too powerful. So I am likely going to change it to a single bonus to a pertinent action/ability.
Lastly, I wonder if there is a quicker way of describing one of the Effect abilities (such as Surtur's Uncanny Cosmic Mastery) - they take up a dreadful amount of room.
Also chances are I made some mistakes somewhere - so let me know where. Thanks.
Okay I just wanted to get some feedback on the preview before I screen capture the pages and put them directly on the website.
I have also noticed a few things when constructing the stat blocks.
Firstly I think I am wasting space (and inadvertantly distracting people) by outlining those divine (cosmic or whatever) powers that are merely prerequisites for other powers.
Secondly, I think the competence bonuses attributed to portfolios is much too ambiguous and probably far too powerful. So I am likely going to change it to a single bonus to a pertinent action/ability.
Lastly, I wonder if there is a quicker way of describing one of the Effect abilities (such as Surtur's Uncanny Cosmic Mastery) - they take up a dreadful amount of room.
Also chances are I made some mistakes somewhere - so let me know where. Thanks.
Well, I guess if you have Ultimate Power Attack, it could be assumed you had all the versions that are prerequisites, but it is also good to list these things incase there is a discrepency, or one of the powers offers a benifit not listed in the stat block. (Ex, if there was a power called uncanny disarm that let you disarm a foe and all foes are disarmed. )
The competence bonus could be the key factor in deciding who wins in a fight between two evenly matched foes. If one gets his bonus against the other (Such as surtur fighting a foe foolish enough to weild a molten sword) the one gaining the bonus is likely to win.
You could reduce the bonus, or restrict it to portfolio related actions - Ex: The fire portfolio might give Surtur +24, but only when he deals fire damage or such. (This is hard to word without taking up a paragraph)
Yea, the Effect Mastery abilities do take up space. When I threw Ltheb together, I found that a small table worked well. It's less verbose, but probably takes up less space if you use a slightly smaller font.
Oh! Here's an idea - List the base ammount of HD/Damage Die if applicable, and then say "See Page XXX (Begining of Divine Powers Section where you describe effects) for details" Or list the page the effect appears on if it has a Non-HD based effect. (Like for Gravitic, Thelemic, and Astro-type effects) This takes up less space, but a bit of referencing is needed to run said deity. "What is the damaga on Cosmic Storm? Grr page XXX, Shoulda written it down" Then again, if you didn't plan ahead of time that the PCs were going to fight a God, then perhaps the DM needs to take a bit of a break and make sure he or she knows exactly what that entails. (Ex - "Abraxas can nullify what!?! Permenent Hit Die Loss?!? Geez, the players are doomed!")
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Originally Posted by Anabstercorian
What if someone wanted to play an Awakened Neutronium Golem Wizard?
I don't know whether this is a thing of beauty or evil.
No major issues jumped out at me, though I haven't made much review of the statblocks themselves.
Surtur still has the proper attitude to gladiatorial arenas.
I see you are continuing your 'band of freaks' approach to creating adventuring parties.
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High Epic: Surtur is freed by the chance shifting of dimensional tectonics caused by an exploding galaxy. Already the clarion call of Heimdall's horn has sounded and battle is iminent.
I'd be more scared of whatever blew up the galaxy, myself.
Very nice, and very scary. What intrigued me most was the domains... I can't wait to see all of them in final form, with abilities like those (hint, hint)!
Well, I guess if you have Ultimate Power Attack, it could be assumed you had all the versions that are prerequisites, but it is also good to list these things incase there is a discrepency, or one of the powers offers a benifit not listed in the stat block. (Ex, if there was a power called uncanny disarm that let you disarm a foe and all foes are disarmed. )
Yes, but I could list those that are prereqs and outline those that are not.
So there is no point having Exoskeleton and Squamous explained, they just distract from Carapace.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ltheb Silverfrond
The competence bonus could be the key factor in deciding who wins in a fight between two evenly matched foes. If one gets his bonus against the other (Such as surtur fighting a foe foolish enough to weild a molten sword) the one gaining the bonus is likely to win.
You could reduce the bonus, or restrict it to portfolio related actions - Ex: The fire portfolio might give Surtur +24, but only when he deals fire damage or such. (This is hard to word without taking up a paragraph)
Its just too complicated and (potentially) too powerful.
A single relevant bonus would be a lot easier to implement I think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ltheb Silverfrond
Yea, the Effect Mastery abilities do take up space. When I threw Ltheb together, I found that a small table worked well. It's less verbose, but probably takes up less space if you use a slightly smaller font.
I may try that, although it probably means explaining the ability after the Combat text.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ltheb Silverfrond
Oh! Here's an idea - List the base ammount of HD/Damage Die if applicable, and then say "See Page XXX (Begining of Divine Powers Section where you describe effects) for details" Or list the page the effect appears on if it has a Non-HD based effect. (Like for Gravitic, Thelemic, and Astro-type effects) This takes up less space, but a bit of referencing is needed to run said deity. "What is the damaga on Cosmic Storm? Grr page XXX, Shoulda written it down" Then again, if you didn't plan ahead of time that the PCs were going to fight a God, then perhaps the DM needs to take a bit of a break and make sure he or she knows exactly what that entails. (Ex - "Abraxas can nullify what!?! Permenent Hit Die Loss?!? Geez, the players are doomed!")
No major issues jumped out at me, though I haven't made much review of the statblocks themselves.
Surtur still has the proper attitude to gladiatorial arenas.
Once I start brainstorming I usually come up with more ideas than the space allows. I was a bit annoyed with Surtur's realm since I could have fleshed out things a bit more and added another 3 or 4 features.
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Originally Posted by Phantom Llama
I see you are continuing your 'band of freaks' approach to creating adventuring parties.
Is it so terrible of me?
Does it detract or add to things when I wander of the path beaten by the mythology?
I try to look at things from the perspective of what would I do if I were roleplaying them, what kind of servants would I keep, how would I defend myself.
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Originally Posted by Phantom Llama
I'd be more scared of whatever blew up the galaxy, myself.
...of course it may just have been a natural event.
Wow, avesome ! Now I can see Surtur being able to burn the world ... and even recover from avatar form, if some crafty PC's defeat him.
Glad you like it.
Although remember Surtur is a small fry (no pun intended) in the grand scheme of things.
I was going to add an Aspect of Surtur's Avatar form, but I realised that it would have 15 Hit Dice which is the same as a Fire Giant. If you wanted a non-epic Surtur to battle, I would simply add the Hero-deity Template to a Fire Giant and give it equipment for a 30th-level PC (ECL 30/CR 20).
Very nice, and very scary. What intrigued me most was the domains... I can't wait to see all of them in final form, with abilities like those (hint, hint)!
You and me both!
I'll try and see how much I can eat into the Portfolios tonight.
I appreciate the vote of confidence Phantom Llama mate.
Two other things I have uncovered in my recent travails.
1. Should anyone be allowed to wield a weapon heavier than themselves?
Surtur's sword outweighs him by a considerable margin.
The reason being that the weight of the object is increasing eightfold for every +15 strength, whereas the density of the creature only doubles every +15 strength (from virtual size categories).
Slightly tricky one this.
2. Should all immortals gain the +3 bonus to Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom from old age?
1. Should anyone be allowed to wield a weapon heavier than themselves?
Yes.
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2. Should all immortals gain the +3 bonus to Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom from old age?
This is trickier.
I think I lean towards no, assuming the immortal is pregenerated with a stat array or built from an already ancient creature like a Pit Fiend or so forth. In that case the initial array should be assumed to already include aging bonuses. Ascended mortals built from the ground-up should get the bonuses.
1. Should anyone be allowed to wield a weapon heavier than themselves?
Slightly tricky one this.
Anyone capable of easily lifting such a weapon in the first place is presumably used to dealing with the unfortunate consequences of Newtonian mechanics from their own strength. Or you could simply rule that a deity's aura, which is also the source of their Deflection bonus is cabable of exerting a balancing force that keeps gods swinging orichalcum greatswords from being raped by conservation of angular momentum.
At some point you're going to have to either fly, or make DC 70+ Balance checks every round to avoind sinking into the ground due to your own weight anyway, unless everyone has Adamantine floors.
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2. Should all immortals gain the +3 bonus to Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom from old age?
I don't think so. They're immortal, so they don't really age (they do, however, accumulate more power as they age, through worship and suchlike). An ascended mortal would probably keep the age modifiers of his mortal self (although it would probably be possible to Wish to have them reversed if they were inconvenience).
Curses! I can't download it for some reason - whenever I try, it says I don't have permission. I'll have to wait until it shows up on the website.
Attachments were disabled for a bit yesterday, that may have been the problem?
UK, you passingly reference sand and shadow giants. Are those references to creatures you'll provide at a later date, or are those references to WotC giants? If the latter, I'm pretty certain they're not OGC. I guess this is a pretty gray area, as you really can't claim those names as IP, but I figured it's better to mention it in any case.
__________________ Also posts as Ashardalon (here and elsewhere) and as Eques Concordia and Guinea Pig (only elsewhere).
Very much, even as my DM would earlier get an seizure before allowing me to play him in Ragnarok Scenario.
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Originally Posted by Upper_Krust
Although remember Surtur is a small fry (no pun intended) in the grand scheme of things.
I was going to add an Aspect of Surtur's Avatar form, but I realised that it would have 15 Hit Dice which is the same as a Fire Giant. If you wanted a non-epic Surtur to battle, I would simply add the Hero-deity Template to a Fire Giant and give it equipment for a 30th-level PC (ECL 30/CR 20).
Surtur ? The Elder God ? The guy who'll burn 9 worlds of Viking mythology ? Small fry ? Let me guess ... Neutronium Golem would crush him like bug ? Without noticing his existence ...
And if I were wanting my, unfortunate, Players to fight something like that ... I would throw at them Half-Red Dragon Fire Giant with max HD. With bodyguards and feat-chain selection copied from party's Frenzied Berserker. Party's arcane-blaster wasn't thankful when he recived this Greatsword hit due to "friendly fire".
EDIT: And how would You explain Ymir remaining alive ? Isn't it that Odin cheated and killed Ymir to create Midgard ?
Last edited by Rikandur Azebol; 21st December 2006 at 08:31 PM..
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