Custom divine abilities, portfolios, etc.

Keep in mind, again, that the party I'm talking about is currently around ECL 700 rather than 492.

Also, both melee characters have taken the ability (I forget its name) that lets their attacks always deal maximum damage. That makes a difference, when you get a lot of dice involved- they always deal the same (massive) amount, instead of something that would be maybe 40% less if we assume that the STR bonus is significantly smaller than the dice.

Third, they're both using Uncanny Weapon Specialization, which means that yes, in fact VSCs (or anyway effective size increases on weapons) are coming into play. Heavily. They're both got STR in the hundreds and are milking it for all they're worth- I actually capped Uncanny Weapon Spec at the level Neutronium offers (+15 effective sizes) after seeing how the numbers really got out of hand when they could just add VSCs like crazy.

Fourth, that guy doing the million points typically assumes the form of a Fang Dragon, age category 15 or thereabouts, modified by several templates and using something like 14 Divine Immensities stacked together until his body's around 6 miles long. Fang Dragons, by race, get to deal attack damage as if one size larger; he adds Improved Natural Attack to that, and then piles on a bunch of other bonuses to effective size. Since the attack damage by size goes up on an exponential curve, it gets nasty real quick, especially if you're always dealing max damage.

So yes, he deals over a million points when he Bites.

EDIT: Oh, and Dervish guy has a DEX in the range of 1000 or so, if memory serves (don't have his data right in front of me to check); combine that with his divine bonus and a bunch of other bonuses he gets to add to Initiative thanks to his classes (for example, Swashbuckler gets to add the INT bonus), and his Init modifier is above +600 even if he didn't have Perfect Initiative (which he does). So yes, the Nexus Dragon's little tricks didn't save it- the subtraction aura gave the party pause, true, but they carefully stacked buffs and items and other preparations until they were certain they wouldn't lose anything to it that they cared about. That's why it took them two entire sessions to prep before finally attacking one.

The Neutronium Golem gave them brief pause, since they knew its printed CR is through the roof, but after they did their usual divinations and such to scout its abilities in character, and actually sat down to do some calculations, they figured that as long as the two melee guys were teleported in right next to it and everybody else was kept around 3000 miles away, they'd be fine. And so they were.

EDIT SQUARED: I should also point out, in fairness, that even your own First One is awfully close to the million-point mark if you take the exponential size curve into account. All he'd need to do is take (and use) 6 Divine Immensities to multiply his damage by x8, which is well past 1 million. And he'd be smaller than the melee guys in my ECL 700 party (at full size), in that case. Divine Immensity is a huge power booster to fighting characters, with the way damage increases by size.
 
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Your games sound utterly amazing! My epic group has implemented the Ascension rules but we are still as a group ECL 40 (hero deity). I could only imagine what my one super power gamer would be able to do at such high ECLs . . .
 

What is the point of a game where the modifiers so grossly outclass the variable effect? why not just compare static values and resolve the course of history in one sitting?
 

What is the point of a game where the modifiers so grossly outclass the variable effect? why not just compare static values and resolve the course of history in one sitting?
We very rarely get into combat actually- I've mostly been giving XP and QP for "story award" situations. The ongoing plot of the waking Demiurge has the various universes tied up in knots. In fact, the only reason that group went looking for Nexus Dragons or that Neutronium Golem in the first place, was because they specifically wanted to find threats from the higher dimensions which might wake it up early. See, they're not trying to actually stop the wake-up, they're trying to control when it happens- so that they can distract the Demiurge long enough to let others gathered at a different place open a portal to the higher dimensions and thus get some help with putting it back to sleep. If it wakes up early, that whole plan goes poof because the portal isn't ready to open yet, and if it wakes late, they might not be able to convince anything on the other side to help them.

When they do fight, they're always very careful to find out everything they can about the target beforehand, and spend time devising strategies and tactics so as to gain as many advantages and cover as many contingencies as possible. Under those conditions, every combat will end up brief and to the point if it happens at all, because they specifically don't go for anything like a fair fight. They make very sure their advantages outweigh the enemy's, and attack with overwhelming force. If they don't think they can do this with a particular foe, they then go in attempting negotiations and dealmaking, or try to find some way to just work around the offending entity.

So really, the game's much more about RP than any sort of random situation, these days.
 


So why all the math?
Because we like to play the game by the book, even if we aren't often actually using the rules. Or more precisely, we like to stick to the rules we've agreed upon, since as I've previously stated and proven the game is heavily house-ruled. Also, there's a bit of thrill in the "how far we have come" feeling, when we compare what the characters were doing years ago back in merely Epic territory (or even pre-Epic), to what they're doing now. Seriously, what player who has built a character around combat (i.e. a warrior type) doesn't want to deal as much damage as possible? Dealing a million points with one hit is bragging rights, even if the number of people one can brag to is very small.

In other words, I suppose, we do it because the math makes it cooler than it would be without the math.
 

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Pansoniferous (Su) [Transcendental][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Unlock the hidden powers of all of your artifacts.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Prerequisite: Int 130[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Benefit: The power of all artifacts you wield is doubled. Thus, enhancement bonuses will be doubled, as will all numerical facets of the item. This ability may create new powers within a magic item, in instances of powers covered that do not possess a numerical facet.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Special: This effect can be taken multiple times and its effects stack. Each time it is taken it can multiply the power of your artifacts even further. In this case a double-double is a triple.[/FONT]​
 

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Pansoniferous (Su) [Transcendental][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Unlock the hidden powers of all of your artifacts.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Prerequisite: Int 130[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Benefit: The power of all artifacts you wield is doubled. Thus, enhancement bonuses will be doubled, as will all numerical facets of the item. This ability may create new powers within a magic item, in instances of powers covered that do not possess a numerical facet.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Special: This effect can be taken multiple times and its effects stack. Each time it is taken it can multiply the power of your artifacts even further. In this case a double-double is a triple.[/FONT]​
Interesting. This could be very strong if misused, say, to get the artifacts having extra Transcendental abilities- but with Trans abilities so close to infinite anyway, it might not matter.

If my custom True Soulmeld (turn-a-soulmeld-into-an-extra-personal-artifact) Cosmic ability is acceptable at Cosmic, then this probably WOULD be acceptable at Trans, as long as one is careful to stop infinite loops of using this one ability to gain multiple Trans abilities from one's artifacts (which could then be used to take this ability, thus getting more powers, ad infinitum).
 

Interesting. This could be very strong if misused, say, to get the artifacts having extra Transcendental abilities- but with Trans abilities so close to infinite anyway, it might not matter.

If my custom True Soulmeld (turn-a-soulmeld-into-an-extra-personal-artifact) Cosmic ability is acceptable at Cosmic, then this probably WOULD be acceptable at Trans, as long as one is careful to stop infinite loops of using this one ability to gain multiple Trans abilities from one's artifacts (which could then be used to take this ability, thus getting more powers, ad infinitum).

In general, I'd hope that good taste, if nothing else, would keep players from doing that. When that fails, DM discretion is invaluable. Even then, it's still only as abusable as several other abilities - most notably, Equilibrium. For my own campaigns, that ability is moved from Transcendental status to the Aeonic/Omnific tier, due to its capacity for complete abuse.

Edit: This ability is more sort of implied to exist by the Immortal's Handbook, so I thought I might as well go ahead and put it into text form.


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Mythical [Ability Score] (Ex) [Divine][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Benefit: One of your ability scores is increased by your divine rank.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Special: You can gain this ability six times. Each time it is taken, it applies to a different ability score.[/FONT]

Edit again: And now, for something a bit different.


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Aeonic [Class] (Ex) [Aeonic/Omnific][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]You have a truly masterful grasp of your profession.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Benefit: You have class levels in this class equal to your hit dice. [/FONT]​
 
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Is this balanced? It seems quite comparable to Cosmic [Effect], but... it just looks like an awful lot of damage.

Draconic [Effect] (Cosmic Ability)
Your [Effect] ability contains all energies, as if it was the breath of the Chromatic Dragon.

Benefit: The effect contains acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic, dealing 1d8 damage of each energy type per hit die of the effect.

e.g. A Greater Deity (100 Hit Dice) taking Draconic Hand would gain a touch attack dealing 50d8 each of acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic damage.

Special: This effect can be taken multiple times, and its effects stack. Each time it is taken it either applies to a different effect, or to the same effect as follows:

Taken twice = Superior Draconic [Effect], original effect doubled.
Taken three times = Greater Draconic [Effect], original effect tripled.
Taken four times = Perfect Draconic [Effect], original effect quadrupled.
Taken five times = Draconic Mastery, use any type of Draconic effect at the Perfect level.
Taken six times = Uncanny Draconic Mastery, use any type of Draconic effect at the Perfect level, and shape area effects to only affect those you wish to target.
 
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