Changes to Core Races/Classes/Feats

[Caeleddin]

Bront - I have always considered the Half-Orc to be grossly underpowered. +2 to 1 stat and -2 to 2 others without anything else significant in return do not even put them back on par with a 1st Ed Human (ie., no bonuses OR penalties).


I gave the Humans BSword because all the other races get an exotic weapon as martial weapon (with the sole exception of Halflings) or automatic profficiencies. Half-Elves would get either Elf profficiencies or Human, depending on their background. Gnomes get Hook-hammers, remember? I was thinking of giving the Halflings Kukri as standard (like Elves and their bows). Elves get the +1hnd because it will once again make them the supreme archers they once were (in 1st Ed).

Humans and the BSword is pretty universal. The Bastard Sword is actually the Broadsword. Humanity used it extensively in medieval times. The knights used the BSword, NOT the LSword, regardless of what DnD wants you to think. IIRC, the LSword never actually existed as described in DnD. The Oriental equivalent of the European BSword was the Katana (and what do you know, they have the same stats in the DMG).

Paladins with high Cha just means they take longer to nail. I have seen a Paladin with about +10/11 saves (Cha was about 22 due to template, and he got bonus to saves via feats) at ECL7. Higher saves don't help them much against Meteor Swarm or even an Empowered Maximised Fireball (ok, so it is a level 10 spell.... ). If they get Evasion, THEN it would be broken. But they can't, not without losing their Paladin abilities (his God is not gonna be happy if the Pal leaves him). The Evasion business is the main reason why I don't want to open the Pals up to multiclassing. A Pal with 2 levels of Rogue is gonna be almost impossible to stop spells-wise.

Yes. Metamagic feats are better for spontaneous spellcasters than before. This is why I put Sorcerors down as needing Wild Talent. Bards are OK because they are a tad weak compared to other classes as they are at the moment (I did tweak Glibness a bit, though to make the bonus to Bluff +10 instead of +30; that spell scares me, given the number of times I have seen it used).

Good point on Manyshot. It is now restricted to a 30ft cone.

Hmmm..... Make TWF no penalty for light weapons, -2/-2 for one handed weapons and never get lower than that?

Quickdraw has been changed to "...sheath a weapon as a 5ft step equivalent that does NOT provoke an AoO. You can still take a 5ft step as per usual. You can only do this BEFORE your standard action or full round action."



Thanks for your comments and pointers. Keep them coming!

 

[MadBlue]

In my next campaign, I'm toying with the idea of giving a bonus Feat to all characters at 1st level (it has to be a Regional, Ancestor or Heritage (i.e. Draconic Heritage) Feat). In that case, Humans will get the Adaptive Learning special ability (from the Human Paragon class). In any case, Half Orcs will get the Monstrous Mien special ability (from the Half-Orc Paragon class) and maybe Favored Class: Any (as something from their Human heritage), and Elf Subraces will all have the ability score adjustments of the PHB Elf, rather than the adjustments in the MM (and I use the Lesser Drow from Player's Guide to Faerun).


MadBlue

 

[Caeleddin]

I am toying with giving Sorcerors spell chains.



Thus, if you take Monster Summoning 1 and get to level 3 and want to take MS2, you can "trade in" MS1 for MS2 (taking up your second level known slot) and choose another spell for the now empty level 1 spells known slot.

 

[Caeleddin]

Would giving Paladins a domain break the game? They will only get the spell-list and the +1 spell/spell level bonus, not the domain powers.

 

[Bront]

Paladin spells are slightly different level than cleric spells. A 4th level paladin spell is sometimes a higher level cleric spell. Otherwise, I don't see it as too breaking other than it gives a paladin a significantly larger spell repitoir.

 

[Caeleddin]

1 more spell a day to each spell level they can cast and they get the first 4 spells of the domain only (I am using the Cleric domains) because of their spell levels.