The problem of saves.

[S'mon]

I'd go with the 'need Resist Call feat to get a save' option. Maybe make the save fairly low and allow that those caught who have the feat can take 10 on the saving throw if they're in a non-stressful situatin where they can relax, meditate etc.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

who have the feat can take 10 on the saving throw if they're in a non-stressful situatin where they can relax, meditate etc.

Instead of putting take "10" into saves- put in a concetration skill check during stressful situations.

If they fail, then they suffer a penalty on the save or put the check after a succesful save and if it fails they must make another save the following round.

SD

 

[Taren Nighteyes]

If resist call was a skill you could grant circumstance bonuses/penalties on a table like so:

Resist Call DC 20
---------------------
In Combat -5
Sleeping -2
Concentration Skill +1/5pts in concentration
Meditating +2

etc.


Taren Nighteyes

 

[Enkhidu]

I'd simply make The Call have no save, and not be subject to magic resistance. The I would create the feat Resist Call with the following benefits:


Resist Call

Prerequisites: The ability to add your Wisdom bonus to your AC, Iron Will.

Characters with Resist Call can make a saving throw in order to resist the urge to walk westward brought on by the Call. The DC is 15.

 

[Henry]

I'd go with the "race or feat" idea. The prerequisite feat to gain the save is "must be X level monk of the such-and-such order."

Don't let anyone fool you - despite all the hype, there's nothing wrong with no-save effects in a game; the thing that people mainly have a problem with is "save or die" effects.

 

[Forrester]

Options I've considered:

1) Make the save very very high and say that in this case, a Natural 20 doesn't mean auto-success.

2) Make it a no-save effect that someone can take a feat to gain a save against. Spending a feat on "Resist Calling" or something would let you make a Will Save against Calls.

3) Make it not a save-based effect but a skill-based effect -- since Skill checks don't succeed on a 20. "Resist Calling (Wis) " is a class skill for all classes, but you can only start gaining ranks once you've undergone some training.

In any of those cases, I still see player complaints coming.

Maybe this speaks to my failings as a DM. As a writer and a TV fan, I'm too much into the drama of some save-effects. I don't think that there SHOULD be saves against them.

If you have a failing as a DM its that you are worried too much about making this a no-save effect. In fact, I think the "buy a feat to get a save" makes it too easy, unless the Will save is monstrously difficult.

Working within the rules, I would do something like this:

1) Use the 20s are 30s, 1s are -10s variant for all to-hit rolls and saving throws. It's a well-established and respected variant, and means that 20s are not auto-successes.

Make the Will save necessary to resist the urge something like 40.

2) A PC or NPC can take a Feat (perhaps only if they are lawful and if they've had the necessary training) to double their normal bonus to Will saves when resisting The Call. Or maybe just a straight +5 bonus. Depends on what level your campaign is.

Piece of cake. And I don't think many players would complain, especially after they learn how established this is in your world.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Best suggestion I've seen so far:

A. It's a no save effect that is subject to SR and only effects mammals, humanoids, and monstrous humanoids.

That seems to cover all the bases:
-No save: PCs won't normally resist it--certainly not until they're powerful; No one in the general population will resist it.

-Subject to SR: High level monks will sometimes resist it. (So will creatures with other means of getting SR but that's OK; why do monks need to be the only ones ever to resist it?)

-Affects only mammals, humanoids, giants, and monstrous humanoids: Will not ever effect 20th level monks (they're outsiders). (High level alienists, elemental savants, contemplatives, and acolytes of the skin will also be immune but that's a feature not a bug; it gives more in-game meaning to their transcendance). If your mutant humans are abberations or outsiders, it would also give them a mechanical reason to be unaffected.

 

[drnuncheon]

Maybe this speaks to my failings as a DM. As a writer and a TV fan, I'm too much into the drama of some save-effects. I don't think that there SHOULD be saves against them. Looking at a Medusa's eyes should STONE you, barring magical protection.

Considering that turning your back or closing your eyes removes the need for a save, I always assumed that the save vs. a medusa's gaze represented 'not looking them in the eyes'.

J

 

[Saeviomagy]

1. What's the benefit of having your players affected by this? What's wrong with them being special, and therefore able to avoid it? Most of the rest of the population would (for instance) die to the average sword stab, but the heroes (past level 1 at least) won't.

2. If the call is blocked by walls, is it blocked by other things? Like large rocks, or other features of the land? If so, you could make it a reflex save rather than a will save.

3. You could always make it a 'save for half' roll - a successful save means they just walk off to the west. A failed save means that they'll run off to the west, and actively oppose anyone or anything who gets in their way.

 

[d20Dwarf]

The Call is an effect produced by the coolest villains in the entire world: Evil Whales.

Yep, the Whales got messed with for too many years, and they finally decided it was time to bring the whoopass back. The Whales generate the Call in an intelligent and motivated effort to pull as many humans as possible to the edge of the continent. When the humans reach the cliffs overlooking the ocean, they throw themselves off the edge without a second thought. Then the sharks that the whales have domesticated EAT the humans, the camels, the sheep, the cows, and everything else mammalian that jumps off the cliff. In the long run, the Call messes up a lot of humanity's efforts to rebuild and keeps the average life expectancy pretty low.

Evil Whales, man. How can you not love that?

-Tacky

Sounds like a great Blue Planet setting!