NEW Immortals Handbook - Ascension thread

[Upper_Krust]

Hello!

DISCLAIMER: If I missed this in a previous post, forgive me.

If I recall correctly wealth is 1/3 your ECL/LA in Ascension. Assuming I am not mistaken each additional artifact would raise your LA by 1/12, right?

Correct.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Blood and souls for my lord Arioch really isn't what I have in mind (though Michael Moorcock is phenomenal ).

Here's what I ended up going with:

Tear of Night: The tear of night is a mithral spear +10 that inflicts an additional 1d8 points of divine cold damage per strike, or 5d8 on successful critical hit. The tear of night grants the Greater Critical (spear) and Improved Critical Multiplier (spear) feats any wielder who meets the prerequisites.

If the tear of night delivers the killing blow to a opponent the wielder can imprison the soul of said foe in the tear of night with a successful level check (DC 11 + targeted creature’s HD + divine bonus). The tear of night can contain up to 8 souls at any one time, with immortals imprisoned count as their divine rank in prisoners. A non-divine soul can be used to cast a single non-epic spell at no cost, including no XP cost so long as the XP cost is less than or equal 100 * the level of the soul. A divine soul can be used to cast a single epic spell at no cost (including XP costs and backlash damage).


Pricing
+14 +10 enhancement bonus (10 * 1.4)
+6 divine cold damage (as divine ability: reduce energy by 1 step to 1d4, reduce overall damage by 1/2 to multiply on crit)
+6 soul stealing as divinie ability
+2 grant 2 feats
=+28

Not sure I like the part about being able to cast any epic spell (unless you have the apropriate knowldege skill level and you cannot use mitigating factors to raise/lower the DC).

 

[Upper_Krust]

Couple more questions:

1.) Looking through the Surtur preview, it seems that the full Cosmic Strike damage can be applied to all attacks in a full attack action. Does that mean a 120 HD Elder One with Perfect Cosmic Strike and Perfect Three-Weapon Fighting can add 30d20 divine damage to each and every one of his 12+ attacks? How about if he wields additional everdancing weapons like Alabaster: does he get to apply the full 30d20 divine damage to these attacks as well?

Strike is balanced for four attacks, that said I am in two minds about whether or not to just allow Strike to be used in this manner. I am sure there are even crazier combos in there somewhere.

2.) Do Virtual Size Categories increase the base damage for a monk's unarmed strikes? For example, let's say a Medium-sized immortal had 20 levels in monk, giving him 2d10 base damage for his unarmed strikes. If said immortal had 265 Strength (and thus 17 VSCs and a base damage multiplier of x384), do his unarmed strikes deal 768d10 base damage? If he were wielding an appropriately dense greatsword forged from Black Hole Matter instead, he'd only do 480d10 base damage.

A 20th-level monk's unarmed strike already does more damage than a greatsword so I have no problems allowing this.

 

[EarthSeraphEdna]

Strike is balanced for four attacks, that said I am in two minds about whether or not to just allow Strike to be used in this manner. I am sure there are even crazier combos in there somewhere.

So just to be on the safe side, should Strike damage be multiplied by 4 and then spread out across all attacks? So a 120 HD Elder One with Perfect Cosmic Strike would have a damage allowance of +120d20. If he had only four attacks, he'd get +30d20 to each one. If he had twelve attacks from triple-wielding, he'd get +10d20 to each. If he had fifteen attacks from triple-wielding weapons of speed, he'd get +8d20 to each. If he had THIRTY attacks from triple-wielding flashing weapons of speed (flashing effectively doubles your attacks on average), he'd get +4d20 to each. How does that sound?

A 20th-level monk's unarmed strike already does more damage than a greatsword so I have no problems allowing this.

That would certainly tip the damage in favor of monks... if it weren't for the fact that you can't get 2x Power Attack ratio for unarmed strikes (unless you take the Hammer Fist feat from that one WotC sourcebook I forgot about). The Power Attack chain of abilities definitely makes two-handed weapons the way to go. Ultimate Power Attack with a two-handed weapon is -1 BAB for +20 damage, that's just too much to pass up.

Say, would you allow a monk to go three-weapon fighting by using his unarmed strikes for all three of his "weapon slots"? That gives you the potential for twelve unarmed strikes in a full attack, not even including Flurry. If not, then would the ability to do so be an epic feat or divine ability? I'd be perfect for "You Are Already Dead" Kenshiro.

 

[mercucio]

Not sure I like the part about being able to cast any epic spell (unless you have the apropriate knowldege skill level and you cannot use mitigating factors to raise/lower the DC).

I should have been more clear:

1. You can only use a soul to a cast spell you know so this ability is only of use to spellcasters.

a.) I could see allowing creatures with limited uses/day of a spell-like ability gaining a similar benefit.

2. Second, I'm using the Feanmerc epic spellcasting system, so a couple points in regard to your concerns vis a vis the Spellcraft check and factors:

a.) If one were to go with point 1.a then a deity could use the epic spell associated with his Portfolio an additional time per day per divine soul.

b.) The highest DC epic spell you can cast is dependant on the highest level Improved Spell Capacity feat you have. The maximum Spellcraft DC for a 10th level epic spell is 34, and increases by 10 each additional you take Improved Spell Capacity.

c.) You learn one epic spell per Improved Spell Capacity feat, and learn more by taking Epic Spell Knowledge.

 

[EarthSeraphEdna]

How do weapons from higher Progress Levels work within the artifact system? For example, let's say I wanted an immortal to dual-wield a pair of Smith & Wesson Model 500s (2d8 base damage in d20 Modern). They would be forged from orichalcum and fire orichalcum bullets, and since orichalcum weaponry confers a x12 base damage multiplier, they would each deal 24d8 or 20d10 base damage.

Dual-wielding orichalcum hand crossbows would only give you a base damage of 12d4 or 5d10 damage. Dual-wielding orichalcum heavy crossbows is slightly more viable with a base damage of 12d10 damage, even with the -4 attack penalty (which is neglible at epic levels anyway). Either way, you'd still need to drop one to reload the other, even with the Instant Reload epic feat.

EDIT: Also, how would you rate the Worm That Walk's discorporate ability?

Discorporate (Ex)
If gravely threatened, a worm can discorporate as a free action, simply falling into a pile of individual vermin that slither quickly away. So long as any of the component vermin survive, they can breed and create a new body to house the wizard’s intelligence and personality. Discorporating is a dangerous tactic, because once separated, the vermin are treated no differently than other vermin. Also, the worm stands a good chance of losing all its equipment. However, discorporation almost assures that at least one maggot (if not dozens) will manage to crawl away, and so provide for the worm’s continued existence.

I'd probably call it a low-end divine ability, since there are a multitude of ways to prevent it, especially at epic levels. Sorry if there's an ability like it in Ascension that I'm not aware of.

 

[jedrious]

How do weapons from higher Progress Levels work within the artifact system? For example, let's say I wanted an immortal to dual-wield a pair of Smith & Wesson Model 500s (2d8 base damage in d20 Modern). They would be forged from orichalcum and fire orichalcum bullets, and since orichalcum weaponry confers a x12 base damage multiplier, they would each deal 24d8 or 20d10 base damage.

Dual-wielding orichalcum hand crossbows would only give you a base damage of 12d4 or 5d10 damage. Dual-wielding orichalcum heavy crossbows is slightly more viable with a base damage of 12d10 damage, even with the -4 attack penalty (which is neglible at epic levels anyway). Either way, you'd still need to drop one to reload the other, even with the Instant Reload epic feat.

EDIT: Also, how would you rate the Worm That Walk's discorporate ability?



I'd probably call it a low-end divine ability, since there are a multitude of ways to prevent it, especially at epic levels. Sorry if there's an ability like it in Ascension that I'm not aware of.

considering he has the worm that walks template as a divine ability

 

[jedrious]

does an outsider that gains a deific template via Paralelled gain portfolios?

 

[dante58701]

Last time I checked they do.

 

[EarthSeraphEdna]

What's the current rule in Ascension for adding monster HD instead of class levels? Adding, say, Dragon or Outsider HD will give you full BAB and save progression instead of epic BAB and epic save progression. Sure, you'll get less class features and feats (and by extension esoteric abilities), but I'm sure melee-fighter types will enjoy the full BAB. Full good save progression is very nice too.

Both Dragon and Outsider HD get lots of skill points though (6 + Int and 8 + Int respectively), and they'll be going to waste with things like Omnicompetent and Maven. Dragon's d12 HD is going to be wasted too with the divine HD size upgrades.