Runelords style endowments; how would you handle them?

[blackshirt5]

I'm wondering how anybody else would handle Runelords style endowments, as I'm stumped on how to do it for my homebrew. It was part of an idea I had where magic comes from outside sources(divine magic from the various gods of my world, arcane magic is actually the detritus of the creation of the universe) but psionics comes from within; psionic characters can gain endowments to increase their stats.

Would it be easier if the endowments were placed on Items instead of directly onto the characters? And like I said, how would you handle them in the first place?

 

[Dirigible]

Runelords style endowments

I don't know how they can say comedy is hard; most of the time, the material writes itself...

If you have the mind and maturity of a twelve year old.

 

[blackshirt5]

I don't know how they can say comedy is hard; most of the time, the material writes itself...

If you have the mind and maturity of a twelve year old.

Nevermind, that was just unnecessary.

I'm referring to the Runelords book series, Dirigible. Methinks you've been reading the BoEF too much as of late if that's where your mind is.

 

[Dirigible]

If you have the mind and maturity of a twelve year old.

I was talking about me, not you... no offence meant.

If I'd read the boks of which you speak, I'd offer some constructive help.

 

[blackshirt5]

Ah; basically(as I've yet to get super into them either; B&N only had the first one in stock and I'm partially done with them), you can have power endowed from someone else(their strength, speed, intelligence, etc.) but they lose it; those who give up strength are crippled, those who give up intelligence are babbling idiots for the remainder of their lives; they're cared for and honored for their sacrifice for the rest of their lives. Like I said, I like this idea for the psionic characters; I'm also toying with the idea of using this same principle in psionic item creation.

 

[Dirigible]

I see; sounds interesting.

(Without knowin the details) Possibly you could make it some kind of ritual, whereby one person accepts a -6 to a given statistic, and grants +2 to the recipient. Or, as you said, a magical item (perhaps a new feat, Create Endowed Charm) that doens't require any spells, but causes the abovementioned drain in order to produce a +2 Thingy Of Bonusness.

Samson gives up a lock of his hair, suffering -6 Str, and creates a charm, Samson's Hair Shirt that acts as a vest of strength +2.

Summit like that?

 

[Ace]

I would allow it as a special and rather unbalanced rule in a Runelords campaign

Anyone with stat of 13 or higher can donate 10 points of that stat to a Runelord -- As long as a the magic branding iron thingy is used of course. The Runelord gains the entire 10 points

Lets say a hypotethical PC is a Fighter 10 with an endowment of metabolism (con, from a con 15 person) and an endowment of wit (int, from an Int 14 person)

The party giving the stat loses 10 points or so and the Runelord gians 10


Lets say your Runelord is a Fighter 8 Noble 4
Str 14
Int 16
Wis 14
Con 15
Dex 15
Cha 12

he would become
Str 14
Int 26
Wis 14
Con 25
Dex 15
Cha 12

To make Runelords the PC would figure his stats normally (I would use 1d8+10 ala Conan as Runelord tend to be exceptional) than add the stat right in --

This will produce "supers" but thats what the characters in the book were anyway-

Another option is to check 4 color to Fantasy -- or one of the other supers games and give an appropriate "super" stat to the Runelord

 

[blackshirt5]

Ah; that's another possibility, as I was already thinking of using FCtF in my homebrew to simulate some of the weird powers found among adventurers.

Thanks for the input Ace!

 

[Dirigible]

Granting the whole sacrifice of points tot he recipient sounds grossly overpowered... how much of an advantage was it in the books?

 

[jaults]

In the books, it is certainly not something that would be considered balanced in a normal D&D campaign. Raj Ahtan, the leader of the "bad guys," has literally thousands or tens of thousands of endowments. With his boosted Charisma, he could make enemy castles give up just with the power of his voice. If I recall correctly, he could also bring down castle walls by yelling at them, and he could run hundreds of miles an hour. I don't remember what other things he could do. They really did end up more like superpowers than anything in non-Epic D&D.

I have no idea how to mimic something that powerful in D&D.

Jason