Feats

[Sepulchrave II]

Re: Peerless Infusion

A lot of questions and issues are raised by the existence of the feat.

I guess this is the crux of the matter for me, as well. I'm conscious of precedent (no magic items to hold epic spells), but I'm not persuaded of its sanctity, given how many other rules we've changed. Besides that, the feat needs tidying and tweaking.

Just thought I'd put it out there.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I ... got frustrated, as we don't have a [ward] yet.

We need a to-do list. Seeds which are a fairly high priority. Ones that should be fairly straightforward, and which could be done next. Sometimes you have to do the less important ones first, because they clarify things for the big ones.

[Ward] would be to abjuration what [augment] is to transmutation, right? Meaning that some of the functions currently assigned to [augment] might have to be reassigned. Should the default area for [ward] be an emanation? Or should it be one target? Magic circle against evil vs protection from evil.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

[Ward] would be to abjuration what [augment] is to transmutation, right? Meaning that some of the functions currently assigned to [augment] might have to be reassigned. Should the default area for [ward] be an emanation? Or should it be one target? Magic circle against evil vs protection from evil.

I think [ward] should be an emanation - so many of its signature spells (or, at least, the spells that I had envisaged as bound up in it) are area effects. It also differentiates it somewhat from [augment]; I think it's appropriate that their respective baselines are measured using this basis,

I wonder if [ward] should start out big - really big - using area as a sink for factors. Making a [ward] huge should be relatively easy. This isn't so much the battlefield paradigm as the strategic one: "I cast antimagic zone on my castle" should be pretty straightforward; "I cast antimagic zone on my city." shouldn't be too far behind. Especially bearing in mind that a Magnipotent Jake can flatten the city with one spell.

I've always seen [ward] as capable of defending kingdoms. Like the Girdle of Melian.

A [ward] which used a Monarch as a component (priced as an artifact, say at -10) would be a good way of investing a king with his kingdom's defense. One combined with a [geas] effect would also be very cool: you could literally force the marriage of king and country with a spell like this; bind the monarch to the soil. The [ward] effect is dependent upon the wellbeing of the king; the king is compelled to uphold and defend the land, under the terms determined by a geas.

Such an effect could be made generational with [time] and [ensoul] as descriptive seeds. Maybe that's why some countries have virtuous kings in D&D (kings are never virtuous in RL); they're all acting from some subconscious compulsion.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

How about this one? Clear the mooks out of the way so you can whack the wizard. I'm not so good with nonspell feats, so I don't know if it's balanced. There's probably a nonepic feat somewhere that does the same thing, only better.

Irresistible Assault [Epic]
You may charge a target regardless of intervening creatures.
Prerequisites: BAB +30, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Bull Rush, Mobility, Power Attack, Str 25
Benefits: Initiate a charge against any target within charge range. You may bull-rush any opponents in your path. Your charge does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
For every 5 feet which you move, you gain a cumulative +1 modifier to all opposed Strength checks made for purposes of bull-rushing. If, at any point, you fail an opposed bull-rush, your charge ends in that square instead. You determine the direction in which any bull-rushed opponent moves away from you.
As you charge, you may make a single attack of opportunity at your highest BAB against as many opponents whom you successfully bull rush as your Combat Reflexes permits.


Edited: removed armour/shield provisions. Tweaked wording. I hate wording; it has to be so precise. Oh, changed the name, too - I think more generic feats are better for nonspellcaster types.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I just started a thread in Rules: Epic Fighter question: engaging mooks . That should provide a basis for seeing what a feat of this level should do.

The requirement to be wearing full plate and carrying a heavy shield is unusual. I could see working in elements the shield bash mechanic somehow; maybe your strength bonus is halved if you use a light shield.

Dunno about full plate, though. If someone had a more comprehensive suit of armor (dwarven plate, or something) would that be OK? What is it about the full plate that makes other kinds of armor inadequate?

 

[Sepulchrave II]

If feats give access to aggregates:

Remote Manifester [Epic]
Prerequisites: Epic Spellcasting, Spell Focus (Divination) or Specialist Diviner, Spellcraft 30 ranks.
Benefit: Spells which you develop which incorporate [reveal] as a secondary seed use the [reveal] seed's range rather than the base seed's range for the purpose of determining the final spell's range. You may target any object, creature or area, or cause any effect to occur at any range - even on other planes - with a spell developed with this feat. You may not mitigate against the range of the base seed if you use this feat in spell development. If a target or area is warded against the [reveal] seed, you must first penetrate the ward with a successful opposed caster level check.


The 'unlimited range' feat - which subsumes an extraplanar factor. You still have to pay for [reveal] as usual, and can't use your range sink: it's hard to disintegrate someone on another plane. It probably stands on its own at +30; which would place it on a par with perniciousness as far as value goes - is that reasonable?

Should there be a +30 category, now?

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Continuing in the same vein, splitting the Magical Weather aggregate into a bunch of more specific feats:

Mistweaver [Epic]
You cover the lands in enchanted mists and necromantic fogs
Prerequisites: Epic Spellcasting, Spell Focus (Necromancy), Spell Focus (Enchantment), Widen Spell, Spellcraft 33 ranks
Benefit: When you combine [weather] as a secondary seed with an [afflict] or [compel] base seed in a spell which specifies a non-permanent effect, you may use the [weather] seed's range and area as the final spell's base range and area.


You could make a big fog that blinds everybody within 10 miles - or a hundred miles, depending on how big we make [weather].

Two Spell Focus feats make it nice for an archmage. And that's what archmages do, right? - cover lands in mists n' stuff?

 

[Cheiromancer]

I just noticed that you renamed/reworded Juggernaut.

I like it.

Remote Manifester makes me uneasy. Duration and range are primarily reserve factors, and secondarily they indicate what the maximum extent of the seed is (beyond which inefficient linear factors are required). I am pretty committed to the notion of costless buyback, and the feat compromises this notion. More importantly, a seed with a long range is one that seems most suited for remote manifestation; we've already decided that it is ok to cast on someone 1200 feet away. As written it would be easier to cast a touch-only seed by remote manifestation than a [destroy]. That's backwards; if we wrote a seed which had to be delivered by touch, it would be because ranged use would be unsuitable. And if ranged use would be unsuitable, remote manifestation would be totally unacceptable.

I also think it might be too strong- even with a feat and a secondary factor, making distance irrelevant is a big deal.

Re: Mistweaver.
Blindness is a permanent effect, isn't it? Would it work if you tied the duration to the [weather]? If not, it would be easy to say that the maximum duration is 20 days or something (which trumps permanent). And if the duration is going to go away, there seems to be no harm in allowing the effect to be pernicious.

When you say "these parameters" - you mean range and area, right?

 

[Sepulchrave II]

More importantly, a seed with a long range is one that seems most suited for remote manifestation; we've already decided that it is ok to cast on someone 1200 feet away. As written it would be easier to cast a touch-only seed by remote manifestation than a [destroy]. That's backwards; if we wrote a seed which had to be delivered by touch, it would be because ranged use would be unsuitable. And if ranged use would be unsuitable, remote manifestation would be totally unacceptable.

It's funny; I feel quite the opposite. I see the [reveal] seed as forging a pathway through which magical energy can move, bringing the image of the target to the caster's mind; and him casting the spell almost as though he were in the location. It makes more sense to me for a touch spell to move along this conduit than one with range.

 

[Cheiromancer]

Oh, flavorwise I could see that; and I agree it makes sense. But if an effect is deemed to be unsuited for use at range, 8 SP of reserve factors must have been reallocated to boost the seed. Adding in 12 SP to boost the range to long (or beyond) seems perverse. Now if the base seed had to be able to affect targets 1200 ft. away in order to manifest remotely- that would be a different story.

This criticism is overly abstract; unless we have actually drafted a seed that has a restricted range it remains theoretical. But making an attack that ignores range and cover, and that denies any possibility of counterattack (except by someone who has also specialized in Remote Manifestation)... at least with Scry and Fry you actually had to put yourself in harm's way.

What are your thoughts on Scry and Fry, anyway? Folks always prepared for battle, and warded against divination and teleportation? The divination wards won't work against an epic [reveal]- unless it is Cheap.

Would that be a possibility? That the base effect must be effective at long range, and that the [reveal] is a C-class? Or would that be overdoing it?