D&D General Insanely Epic Arrow Deflection

[Tony Vargas]

incredibly wrong... so so wrong. I meant you forgot animating smoke rings.

And igniting pine-cones, and starting a fire in the snow, though I figured fireworks skills might cover that. And making your staff glow, and talking to birds. (And, unsuccessfully brute-forcing passwords.)
I mean, yeah, Gandalf was a great wizard of his age, rivaled only by Saruman. So just card tricks and fireworks wouldn't be the half of it... maybe a third.

It would be so unreasonable to expect to just get into D&D and by playing Gandalf by the time you're out of Apprentice Tier...
...which ends, at, 4th, isn't it? Erm.

 

[Garthanos]

I see no problem with that - though, you'd really need a decent take on the Warlord. And, of course, you'd also want to simulate somewhat historical but renowned magic-users, on the other side of the aisle, like Paracelsus or John Dee.

The mages of his day - goetes and magoi? I can't think of one to equal his renown, so perhaps not merely on par. Though presumably, the earlier Empedocles could be counted as an equal.

It's very hard to find legendary or even Mythic mages who wouldn't give their souls to have the power of a D&D wizard... and if you do make some Alexander the Great in D&D he might need to be the kind whose delusions of Godhood were justified

 

[Garthanos]

There is a monk ability that allows one to attack any enemy one is adjacent to during a round. But Is there an ability that allows one to grant armor class boosts to anyone you are adjacent to during the turn while allowing your speed worth of shifting? I am picturing how this could be leveraged to represent parrying arrows and attacks against allies and similar over a large part of the battlefields I think I just got a power idea for that controller monk build huzzah

Still way more sedate than that wild craziness of course.

Then again a martial technique that allows 5 +1 per 2 levels damage resistance to ranged attacks after level 5 in 4e and a discipline which allowed one to grant full cover hmmm might appear much like that

 

[Bardic Dave]

It's a natural part of the world, in that paradigm. Everyone has chi in traditional Chinese medicine, just as everyone had humors in medieval western medicine, and everyone has adenosine phosphates in modern molecular biology. None of those things were actually regarded as supernatural, because they're all describing the natural processes of the human body. Some with models that just didn't prove out as at all effective in making predictions or prescribing treatments.

Conflating Qi with magic is just a product of the distorted lens of orientalism.

If you find a video of someone shooting six-foot jets of flame from their fingers in a 120-degree arc (because I find it easier to remember the 1e version than the 5e version I happened to read just the other day), I expect it'll've been done with CGI (or, possibly, a little more low-tech and a lot more dangerous, some careful camera angles and off-label use of a propane tank).

I don't wholly disagree with your position, but I feel like you cherry-picked the more questionable statements from Celebrim's post, while ignoring his most solid arguments. Specifically, how do you respond to the following?

Traditional Chinese practice regarding Qi prior to contact with the West extended the concept of Qi to such things as divination techniques, spell-casting, and virtually all other things we would recognize as a magical practice. To suggest that Feng Shui or Baguadao or any of the other schools weren't practicing magic just because they believed that they had an accurate description of how the world works, would be to suggest that cabbalism or theurists or Renaissance "natural philosophers" like Cornelius Agrippa weren't practicing magic because they also believed they were manipulating what was a natural part of the world.

The division between natural and supernatural tends to be one that you can only have if you have a naturalist view of the world. Of course you don't find it in places where naturalism doesn't flourish as a philosophy.

 

[Tony Vargas]

. Specifically, how do you respond to the following?

(re: Ki being referenced in magical beliefs or legends of supernatural powers, as well as explaining non-supernatural aspects of life and real martual-arts skills)
It's no different from the humors also being relevant to alchemy or molecular biology coming up in the explanation of a Marvel mutant's superpowers.

 

[Ancalagon]

This feels much more "Exalted" than *D&D" to me...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I absolutely think this is something that should be possible in dnd, but I’d make it a Monk thing since it’s already their thing. This is just an even better version.

At X level, when you use Deflect Missiles, you can deflect any further ranged weapon attacks made against you before the start of your next turn, and at Y level you can deflect ranged attacks from cantrips and spells of a level equal to half your Monk level rounded down, as if they were ranged weapon attacks, as long as they require that the caster see you, and you are the only target of the spell.

You can still only redirect a single such attack in a given round, when you spend ki to do so.

 

[Garthanos]

I absolutely think this is something that should be possible in dnd, but I’d make it a Monk thing since it’s already their thing. This is just an even better version.

At X level, when you use Deflect Missiles, you can deflect any further ranged weapon attacks made against you before the start of your next turn, and at Y level you can deflect ranged attacks from cantrips and spells of a level equal to half your Monk level rounded down, as if they were ranged weapon attacks, as long as they require that the caster see you, and you are the only target of the spell.

You can still only redirect a single such attack in a given round, when you spend ki to do so.

Cool thought!

The ability i am considering having a 4e context could also be translated as a sword master style Martial Technique classically called wall of steel (martial techniques are like Grandmaster Trainings but derived off of weapon based enchantments with some limits to hold balance) a monk could use it unarmed but other badassed martials who are focusing on techniques (instead of magic items) end up perhaps the first users.

However for the monk specifically that moving fast across the field so your defenses can affect the temple itself or allies part is different than protecting yourself from the missile fire however and letting your wall of steel protect things other than you is part of the thought.

Havent nailed it down yet but I have been thinking in terms as the monk being just 1 more martial artist among many.

 

[Garthanos]

@doctorbadwolf

I forgot that I had written this up and 2 others for other tiers as Grandmaster Trainings. They are approximately balanced around other magic items. This one if the dm wishes to use slots probably takes up the arm slot. (One could flavorfully call it the Arm Chakra. )

 

[Garthanos]

@doctorbadwolf To be clear even with the Barrier of Steel Technique such characters do not get the measure of immunity that you see in that video unless its epic characters fighting a paragon army or perhaps if it had some extra benefit when blocking the attacks of swarms double the amount of damage reduction?