d20 Dark*Matter: ongoing review
- Thread starter Roudi
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(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
I've heard a bit of talk that the PrCs in Polyhedron for Shades of Grey were overpowered. Has there been significant changes? Or am I just thinking of the Pulp Heroes? (I never saw either.)
The ones in Dark Matter look pretty weak, actually. A lot could get their pre-reqs trimmed with no balance concerns. The Visionary (Monotheistic path) has to spend action points on pretty much all of its special abilities, too. Sleep of Morpheus needs to remove the Hit Dice cap, too - the earliest you can get it is 10th-level, at which point you could put 6 Hit Dice creatures to sleep. Pretty weak.
The ones in Dark Matter look pretty weak, actually. A lot could get their pre-reqs trimmed with no balance concerns. The Visionary (Monotheistic path) has to spend action points on pretty much all of its special abilities, too. Sleep of Morpheus needs to remove the Hit Dice cap, too - the earliest you can get it is 10th-level, at which point you could put 6 Hit Dice creatures to sleep. Pretty weak.
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
I'll answer JPL's question here.
There's regular spells suited to the Mage and Acolyte classes.
The three Dark Matter spellcasting PrCs have what seem to be spell-like or supernatural abilities (sometimes not clarified, unfortunately). Each level gives a new ability (except level four of the Visionary).
Some require action point expenditure and some don't. Every Visionary ability requires AP to be spent. Diabolist abilities sometimes require hit point damage (Black Warding requires you to sacrifice 1d4 hit points, but really, if you get hit even once it's worth the blood loss). Abilities you would use all the time (except for the Visionary) don't require AP. Expensive abilities, like summoning demons, require AP.
JPL said:
Buzz said:
There's regular spells suited to the Mage and Acolyte classes.
The three Dark Matter spellcasting PrCs have what seem to be spell-like or supernatural abilities (sometimes not clarified, unfortunately). Each level gives a new ability (except level four of the Visionary).
Some require action point expenditure and some don't. Every Visionary ability requires AP to be spent. Diabolist abilities sometimes require hit point damage (Black Warding requires you to sacrifice 1d4 hit points, but really, if you get hit even once it's worth the blood loss). Abilities you would use all the time (except for the Visionary) don't require AP. Expensive abilities, like summoning demons, require AP.
Last edited:
HeapThaumaturgist
First Post
jaerdaph said:So Heap, when are we going to see SFX Skills: Hermeticism?
I need to alert the publisher that I'm winding up on the MS, but I'm about 70% done with SFX Skills: Hermetic Alchemy.
Hermeticism was one of my least favorite of the traditions. It always felt a little "2nd Ed D&D Wizard" ... Fly, Sleep, Iron Bands of Billaro/Hold Person, Homunculus ... and then Transmutation, which really had either no practical application, or broke the GMs game, depending on how the player felt that day.
So, during my usual research period into the real-world background, I decided to play a little closer to both the source material and some offerings from the d20 arena. Additionally, I refigued the ability to transmute substances into something with direct, defined game-world implications ... both giving the concept a purpose and a limiter.
After the arcana trifecta ...
--fje
hobgoblin
First Post
buzz said:I was of a mind to start a thread about that error. As Psion mentioned when MM came out (the Sand Slave features an ability that assumes D&D-style nonlethal), it looks even the guys at WotC houserule that bit of d20M.
or it could be that the editors keep forgetting that the rules have changed.
they use the same terms and all so its easy to miss on a readthru. and it sounds as if those abilitys/powers are just verbatim copys of the d&d variants, with no balance checks (talk about taking a shortcut. if they are going to keep doing that, why not just release a addon for d&d that unclude modern classes and gear?)
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