Custom Forsaker - was about Fast Healing, now more

[carborundum]

In my savage tide campaign, one player wants to try a Forsaker. The group still insist on playing 3.0, just so you know.

He's taken all the prerequisite feats, roleplayed hating magic, refused potions and other healing, caused all sorts of difficulty because of this and explained it with a back story. The other players are happy to go along with it, and when next they rest up, he can take his first level Forsaker.

The thing is, he should finally get Fast Healing, but it has a limit of 10 points per day. That just won't cut it. He's the front combatant and I'd like to up his ability, though I'm not sure how far to go.

I could say it has no limit, but how do I balance that? Say it only works outside combat?
I could make an arbitrary but higher limit - 50% of your max, 2 x CON per day, whatever.

What would be reasonable to make up for having no magic items?

 

[Pyrex]

Just remove the limit. Parties generally heal up to full between battles via spells and/or the ever-popular Wand of Cure Light Wounds anyway, so removing the limit really won't damage your game; especially given all the hindrances the Forsaker already has.

If being truly limitless really bothers you, double the limit, then let him 'refresh' the limit by sacrificing oh, say, 750gp worth of magic items. Then have the party cleric carry an extra sack full of Cure Serious Wounds potions...

 

[WhatGravitas]

I agree with Pyrex, but if you *really* want a restriction, snag the one from the current 'unlimited healing' abilities by WotC sources (Reserve feat, Dragon Shaman): The Fast Healing cannot heal up to more than 50% of his maximum hp, below that limit, it always works.

I'd even consider upping that to 75%, since he cannot benefit from other healing.

Cheers, LT.

 

[carborundum]

Thanks guys - I'll leave it uncapped and see how it goes then.
The weird thing is, the party don't have a cleric so he'll probably end up being the healthiest 'til there's a death and someone makes a cleric

 

[Nifft]

How about: for every 1000 gp worth of magic item you Sunder, you get 20 "Forsaker points". You can spend up to one Forsaker point each round as a Swift action to gain one of these benefits:

• Fast Healing 5
• +2 to melee attack
• +5 to melee damage
• ... I dunno. Whatever else Forsakers do.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Pyrex]

Bleh. If we're going to start house-ruling the Forsaker, can't we at least make him *less* dependent on magic items instead of *more*.

It's always struck me as more than a little backward that (afaik) the Forsaker is the *only* class ever published that *requires* access to magic items to use his class abilities*; and it's also the one class published that hates magic...

*Yeah, there are a couple of class abilities like the one the Warlock gets to Take 10 on UMD, but afaik the Forsaker is the only class that powers-down when denied magic items...

 

[carborundum]

I've probably going to remove the bit about needing to regularly destroy items, that just seems too annoying. We're still trying to work out how exactly he gets powers as long as he avoids magic, yet needs to destroy an item to 'atone'.

I'm thinking that something in him needs to be kept away from magic, and that he's cursed to get sick if he gets too close to magic, to avoid the thing from getting too powerful. I'll skip him needing to regularly destroy items, but if he benefits from magic he will need to power up the protective spell inside himself by releasing the power from an item.

Further than that I'll leave until he survives a few levels.

I found some ideas on another site and ended up with this:

Prerequisites - as original.
BAB - Full progression, Fort & Will Good, Reflex Poor

Level
1 Ability +1, fast healing 2, forsake magic, SR 10 + forsaker level
2 Ability +1, DR 2/-, Evasion
3 Ability +1, natural weapons +1, tough defense (Con mod to AC)
4 Ability +1, fast healing 3, DR 4/-
5 Ability +1, natural weapons +2, Disjuncture Strike 1x/day
6 Ability +1, DR 6/-, Slippery mind
7 Ability +1, fast healing 4, natural weapons +3, Resistance +4
8 Ability +1, DR 8/-, Mettle
9 Ability +1, natural weapons +4, Foresight (Wis to AC)
10 Ability +1, fast healing 5, DR 10/-, Disjuncture Strike 3x/day

Ability +1 I'm capping at 5 in any one ability score.
Disjuncture Strike is a chance to destroy an item, I put it at 1% per Forsaker level, but I might go for 2%.

What do you think? Too powerful? Fair enough?

 

[Nifft]

The one nice thing about a Forsaker who gets benefits by breaking stuff is that he's balanced across a wider range of wealth levels -- and this is in contrast to a character with a Vow of Poverty.

Cheers, -- N

 

[carborundum]

That's a good point - I could put in a break-stuff demand for every advance in level...

 

[Nifft]

That's a good point - I could put in a break-stuff demand for every advance in level...

Ugh, that's the worst way to do it. You'd be tying level advancement to wealth.

Seriously, think in terms of charged items. Think about making all of his special supernatural abilities in terms of crafting cost, and then give him 1 "charge" of his class abilities per X gp value of magic item destroyed.

Also, I'd remove the restriction against getting magical healing and magical transportation, because all those do is annoy the rest of the players.

Cheers, -- N