D&D 3E/3.5 Pharaoh's Blood - A Fan-Made D&D 3.5 Rules Supplement

[Grunker]

Hi there, guys!

In this thread I present to you a weighty tome called Pharaoh's Blood, which is my own fan-made rules supplement for D&D3.5. I am currently running a campaign set in Mulhorand, Faerûn (Forgotten Realms), called Past Atonement. This rules supplement has been created alongside this campaign, but it should be sufficiently generic for anyone who likes in 3.5 to find it interesting.

The tome holds new races, classes, feats, prestige classes, spells, monsters and more.

I hope some of the experts here (from rules lawyers to GMs, from gamers to munchkins) will take a glance at it, perhaps more than just a quick look if they feel so inclined.

Some of the rules in the tome is based on the house rules in my campaign (they are few, so they shouldn't be much trouble, but I recommend taking a quick look at them anyway - you can download them at the bottom of this page).

If you want to take a look, this post holds some additional information in spoiler-tags for those interested in knowing what I'd like help with/am not satisfied with. Otherwise just skip to the bottom of this post and download the lewt! General feedback is more than welcome.

Some notes on what remains:

Spoiler

1) Magic items need a correct PRICE and COST TO CREATE. I haven't looked into this yet, but probably will later if no one saves me from it.
2) The balancing is very hard to do. I want the stuff presented in Pharaoh's Blood to be on the level of, for example, powerful prestige classes, but I don't wan't it to end up on the level of the stuff I outlaw in my own campaign (Planar Shepherd, for example).
3) The races are of special interest here; I've tried making some races that need level adjustment and instead given them other disadvantages. Let me know how that went.
4) The most important areas to balance is, in order of importance, races, classes, prestige classes, spells.

Some notes about balance:

Spoiler

Some will react to this tome with a "it's broken!" attitude I'm sure!
Bear in mind that D&D3.5 have a long range of extremely powerful classes and prestige classes especially. I ban a minimum of these in my campaigns (examples of what I personally ban includes Savage Species, the Planar Shepherd, and so on - even stuff like mineral warrior is only borderline, not straight out banned), so my stuff needs to be on the same level as other powerful things so that it will actually be of gamist interest to my PCs.

Some notes on copy-rights:

Spoiler

SRD: As far as I know, I keep within the limits of the SRD, and when I don't, I don't present details on non-SRD content but refer to the sourcebook. Please let me know if this is not the case.

Pictures: It is extremely tough to browse through da intrawebs and find out what is copyrighted/what isn't. The pictures I use are mainly set as "may be used" by the artist, created by my own friends, OR I have found them on pages that state that content on there is free to use. If this is not the case, please let me know.

Without further ado, here are the download links:

HOUSE-RULES FOR PAST ATONEMENT

PHARAOH'S BLOOD - 2nd EDITION

 

[Visigani]

So energy drain... a 9th level spell, now has the maximum potential of draining around 80 hitpoints.. unless I'm reading something wrong it's effectively a version of harm.

I think improved toughness already did that.... maybe I'm wrong?

Your changes to the true believer feat make is really quite powerful. I don't want to say broken but it's exceptional. To put it mildly. Especially as it is a gateway to relics which are also often potent items (The Rod of Reversal, The Cudgel that never Forgets and the Gauntlet of the Blood Lord all come to mind).

Your changes to weap spec. et al are kind of... nonsensical. I mean... Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization... make you better with all weapons. Go ahead, sound it out... Weapon Focus... makes you better with all weapons. It's just silly. I mean maybe I could see it with improved crit.. but weapon specialization... really? Whatcha specializing in? Oh, EVERYTHING. It ceases to be a specialization.

Your fumble rules are ridiculous. A critical fumble situation would be superior, based on your base attack bonus. If you roll a natural 1, roll a d20. If you roll your base attack or above you critically fumble. This way as you level it becomes increasingly unlikely you'll do something phenomenally stupid, and it adds a hint of potency to folks who go full bore with their BAB.

 

[Grunker]

Before I reply to ya brodude, let me just take the time to say that although I really appreciate you taking the time to gimme some feedback, the house-rules are pretty much set in stone. We've been playing a LONG time with those, and those don't warp the game in any way (at least for us).

I simply provided them because Pharaoh's Blood have a few references to them (so you'd know what was what).

That said, I'll take the time to reply to your specifics, but I hope this thread can be about Pharaoh's Blood

So energy drain... a 9th level spell, now has the maximum potential of draining around 80 hitpoints.. unless I'm reading something wrong it's effectively a version of harm.

Yep, we don't use energy drain that much except for monster abilities. It works pretty well for us.

I think improved toughness already did that.... maybe I'm wrong?

You're right, it's an old leftover from the old house-rule set we used.

Your changes to the true believer feat make is really quite powerful. I don't want to say broken but it's exceptional. To put it mildly. Especially as it is a gateway to relics which are also often potent items (The Rod of Reversal, The Cudgel that never Forgets and the Gauntlet of the Blood Lord all come to mind).

We haven't really been in a situation where this would be an issue; hence the change. I am comfortable this would be remedied should we find ourselves in that situation

Your changes to weap spec. et al are kind of... nonsensical. I mean... Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization... make you better with all weapons. Go ahead, sound it out... Weapon Focus... makes you better with all weapons. It's just silly. I mean maybe I could see it with improved crit.. but weapon specialization... really? Whatcha specializing in? Oh, EVERYTHING. It ceases to be a specialization.

The point is gameplay. Re-name it to "Weapon Skill" or something if that suits you. We don't really care (it's the same reason we use the Wu-Jen as a Mulhorandi flavour - just because it says "Wu-Jen" doesn't mean you have to call it that in the game. A class is just a set of mechanics).

In essence, picking WF and WS for anything but a Warblade meant less use for the cool items the players found on adventures. This was an unnecessary limitation.

Your fumble rules are ridiculous. A critical fumble situation would be superior, based on your base attack bonus. If you roll a natural 1, roll a d20. If you roll your base attack or above you critically fumble. This way as you level it becomes increasingly unlikely you'll do something phenomenally stupid, and it adds a hint of potency to folks who go full bore with their BAB.

We've been playing with these rules for over two years now and they have never posed a major problem. "Ridiculous" is very much in the eye of the beholder. Yes - the impact of a fumble is much greater now, BUT it doesn't mean as much.

We mostly play pre-written adventures (we just completed The Banewarrens, which was pretty excellent by the way) and the range of options player's have at their disposal make them a bit tougher than the creatures in your standard adventure. Add to this that we are very experienced (most of my players have played different forms of pen & paper for more than 10 years) and most of us know the rule-set pretty well, the additional challenge suits us. Throwing a monkey wrench in the player's dealings by increasing the impact of a fumble by a large degree doesn't nuke them as much as you'd think.

But, if there are further comments I'd really like it if they could revolve around the rules supplement

 

[nonsi256]

.

I'll start with youre request, but I'll have more to say later on.

Haji-Jin is quite OK. In terms of power it's about Rogue-Paladin gestalt.

Haka Priest spells: could you explain the first sentence, because I go lost there. As written (at least what I make of it), it’s just a pumped up Wizard.

Medjai – given my little understanding or interest in ToB mechanics, I’ll leave it to someone else to analyze.

Brave – nothing to talk about. Numeric bonuses are the least significant. They don’t let you do stuff you couldn’t do before. The defensive bonuses are nice though.

Preserver – a sort of Loremaster on steroids. Powerful, but not hysterical… until she gets Forgotten Mysteries. Applying cost reduction to multiple metamagic feats simultaneously is nutz.

Seeker – something doesn’t sit right with sneak attack and sunlight or angelic transformation.



As for my overall impression . . . . . .


These rules remind me of a harsh response I got quite a while back.
While it never followed an analysis to your rules and while I hardly agree with everything that’s been written there, it sure made me think about all the goals I set myself to accomplish (not just regarding roleplaying games) and the means of accomplishing them.


Getting into specifics . . .


>> “Everyone is free to use the content in the tome for anything the want as long as they credit me!”
Childish.
Plain simple childish.
If you post for the sake of credit - don't.


You don’t use newlines (especially between paragraphs and after the names of class abilities) and pagebreaks as often as you should – this makes reading of your document difficult.

 
Favored Classes
Nobody hardly ever uses FCs as it is.


Feats
The fixes seem totally arbitrary.
If they work for you, then more power to you, but as presented, I don’t see why the general public should care.


Fumble rules
These go against one of the most important unwritten thumb rules: if it’s something you’re gonna use a lot – KISS (Keep It Simple and Stupid).
Fumbles, being just one of many combat aspects, should be something that’s easy to remember, so you don’t need to reference the table more than once or twice on the total, otherwise it costs you too much game time.


Identification of magical items.
Think of what it means in regard to the game world.


Retreating
That’s a suggestion, not a house rule.


Restriction on spells
Totally arbitrary. The most powerful spells are in the PHB already.


Survivability
Except for the just removal of massive damage rules, the rest have little effect on the game.
HP are just one of many necessities for “staying on your feet”, and you still drop dying at -1.


More regarding Pharaoh’s Blood . . .
Feats: those are incredibly unbalanced vs. one another.
Weapons: a melee character has to be an idiot not to take proficiency in one of them.

 

[Dandu]

I would like to say that this is super special awesome.

Unfortunately, I do not believe I can do so in good conscience.

 

[Visigani]

I would like to say that this is super special awesome.

Unfortunately, I do not believe I can do so in good conscience.

 

[Dandu]

You're doing it wrong. Here, let me show you:

I would like to say that this is super special awesome.

Unfortunately, I do not believe I can do so in good conscience.

 

[kitcik]

The rules are kinda silly, but you have to give the OP credit for calling [MENTION=6676235]Visigani[/MENTION] "brodude."

I think it was very bromantic.

 

[Grunker]

.

I'll start with youre request, but I'll have more to say later on.

Haji-Jin is quite OK. In terms of power it's about Rogue-Paladin gestalt.

First off: Thanks.

Second off: Do you mean rogue-paladin gestalt in power level or in flavour or?

It doesn't gain evasion, trapfinding, uncanny dodge, or ability. It gains a bit fewer skill points. The aim was to make up for this with the other stuff, putting it only a bit over the level of a rogue (the players will have to look elsewhere for the "rogue"-rogue). This has not succeeded, in your mind? If not, do you think it should be reduced in power?

Haka Priest spells: could you explain the first sentence, because I go lost there. As written (at least what I make of it), it’s just a pumped up Wizard.

Heka-priest is the only class which has been tested in a few playing environments. As was, most found it underwhelming (it was as you see but without the access to arcane prestige classes). The nerfed spell progression was a real issue (which is why we had to give the class a buff by allowing it access to arcane prestige classes - most good divine ones give TU-progression).

But yes, basically, it's a wizard with these factors:

1) Nerfed spell progression
2) Casts divine magic
3) Has access to domains

Brave – nothing to talk about. Numeric bonuses are the least significant. They don’t let you do stuff you couldn’t do before. The defensive bonuses are nice though.

Unfortunately, I agree with you. The brave could use some more focus on making it an active class instead of a reactive class.

Preserver – a sort of Loremaster on steroids. Powerful, but not hysterical… until she gets Forgotten Mysteries. Applying cost reduction to multiple metamagic feats simultaneously is nutz.

Have you read the Dweomerkeeper mate?

The preserver is supposed to be a powerful loremaster and a nerfed Dweomerkeeper. The only power it shares with the Dweomerkeeper is the lowered metamagic, and that is far from the most broken power of the Dweomerkeeper (try casting three wishes a day without XP costs).

So yeah, I don't know if I succeeded but the idea was to hit a level between loremaster (who no gamist would ever choose) and dweomerkeeper (which is pretty broken).

Seeker – something doesn’t sit right with sneak attack and sunlight or angelic transformation.

It's the fight-fire-with-fire concept. Fight evil with all means at your disposal. The end justifies the means.

As for my overall impression . . . . . .

These rules remind me of a harsh response I got quite a while back.
While it never followed an analysis to your rules and while I hardly agree with everything that’s been written there, it sure made me think about all the goals I set myself to accomplish (not just regarding roleplaying games) and the means of accomplishing them.

I'm not sure I understand this... Creating the stuff in Pharaoh's Blood was always about, first and foremost, getting some Mulhorandi flavour and mechanics into the game.

From there, I had to give the classes enough pep so that they would be interesting for experienced players in a tough meta with hard encounters.

Getting into specifics . . .


>> “Everyone is free to use the content in the tome for anything the want as long as they credit me!”
Childish.
Plain simple childish.
If you post for the sake of credit - don't.

Oh, come on mate, should I have put a "" after that?

Why so mad?

You don’t use newlines (especially between paragraphs and after the names of class abilities) and pagebreaks as often as you should – this makes reading of your document difficult.

Thanks. I will think on this when next I edit it. Have you any particular examples?

 

Favored Classes
Nobody hardly ever uses FCs as it is.

The house-rules are still for my internal group of players, I don't really see how they are relevant for you to comment on, as I have stated previously.

Feats
The fixes seem totally arbitrary.
If they work for you, then more power to you, but as presented, I don’t see why the general public should care.

They shouldn't! I have said multiple times now that the house-rules are just an internal document. They are only in the OP because Pharaoh's Blood references them sometimes.

Fumble rules
These go against one of the most important unwritten thumb rules: if it’s something you’re gonna use a lot – KISS (Keep It Simple and Stupid).
Fumbles, being just one of many combat aspects, should be something that’s easy to remember, so you don’t need to reference the table more than once or twice on the total, otherwise it costs you too much game time.

No it doesn't. As I said, we've been playing with them for about two years. Pressing alt-tab on my laptop to bring up the table is very easy, and doesn't cost any game time. Using the table poses zero problems for our group.

Identification of magical items.
Think of what it means in regard to the game world.

You're gonna have to spell it out for me bro. Again, you're commenting on a rule we've been using for quite some time.

Retreating
That’s a suggestion, not a house rule.

Yeah... so?

Restriction on spells
Totally arbitrary. The most powerful spells are in the PHB already.

While this is true to some extend, the Spell Compendium has several spells that have prooved to ruin parts of the game for us. Hence the restriction.

Survivability
Except for the just removal of massive damage rules, the rest have little effect on the game.
HP are just one of many necessities for “staying on your feet”, and you still drop dying at -1.

Why is this a problem?

More regarding Pharaoh’s Blood . . .
Feats: those are incredibly unbalanced vs. one another.
Weapons: a melee character has to be an idiot not to take proficiency in one of them.

Feats: I concur, but I don't know how to remedy this. As per your earlier advice, I have focused on what I wanted them to do first and foremost, the balancing comes now... But I am not sure what to reduce and what to leave untouched.

Weapons: Like which, and why? I posted this to get feedback of this sort, and I'll remove them in a second if I can see your reasoning

All in all, I thank you for taking the time to comment, but again, I'd wish less time was spent on the house-rules... They are pretty insignificant, and as I said, we've been playing with them for a long, long time, and the problems you identify have never been an issue.

I would like to say that this is super special awesome.

Unfortunately, I do not believe I can do so in good conscience.

Ooooooh, so deliciously edgy. I almost cut myself there babe.

The rules are kinda silly

Fantastic, constructive criticism!!!

No, seriously, I like that you hate the rules but I would really know why. The contributors to this project have very deep knowledge of 3.5 and have been playing it since it came out. If together they could only produce a 'kinda silly' rules supplement, of course it wouldn't make them happy, but it WOULD be a chance to learn, now wouldn't it?

I.e. please tell me WHY exactly Pharaoh's Blood sucks ass, and I shall revel in your criticism. Telling me it's 'kinda silly' just makes baby Jesus cry, and I know you are not that rude.

 

[Dandu]

Allow me to be blunt: between working in the paint industry as a lab tech, studying for a Chemistry GRE Subject Test, rooting out Communists, and helping edit the beta document for the Legend RPG - which is actually being designed by the best optimizers to have played 3.5e as far as the internet is concerned - I do not have the time to look over your project as well.

The best advice I can give is to paraphrase what the Buddha said and throw all your preconceptions out the window so that you may look upon the world with eyes anew.