Of gods, spheres, and magical chairs: A short examination of Spelljammer and 5th edition D&D Part 1

Note: For a quick lesson on the basics of Spelljammer, check out my Spelljammer 101 post.


Way back in time, back before Wizards of the Coast owned D&D, it was owned by TSR. Due to management decisions, many strange things came about, best of which is Spelljammer.


I love Spelljammer, and though it has it’s problems… quite a few of them… the heart of it is of silly space adventures, swashbuckling action, and weird creatures not seen elsewhere in D&D.

…And it sadly hasn’t gotten any real support since its original line ended back in 2e.


So, of course, the fans have done their best to adapt it to newer editions, including 5th, but there is a problem. Two major ones in fact, in my opinion. Both of them stem from a conflict with 5th editions’ design philosophy: Spelljamming helms leave their user magicless until they can regain their spells, and divine casters can’t gain spells from their gods outside a sphere where their god has influence.


Let’s take a look at these two issues and consider how necessary they are to Spelljammer, and how they might be made to work in 5th edition. Starting with:

Helms taking all spells from their users

You are a powerful mage, the forces of the universe bend to your whim, you are ready to take to the stars and explore wildspace! You gleefully move to the spelljamming helm, curious to see how quickly you can master this new toy. Sitting down, preparing for this artifact’s power to flow through you… and then your magic is gone. All your spells have been drained from you, into the chair. How can you defend your ship if you get attacked? If you need to send a Message or escape quickly?

Basically, having to lose your magic just to pilot a ship kinda sucks. Sure, it FLIES, but you are just useless until you take a long rest, from the very start of the adventure!


How does this conflict with 5th edition?

Losing all your spells isn’t very fun. Having your powerhouse spellcaster reduced to a slightly tougher commoner isn’t very fun.

Is this a necessary part of Spelljammer? definitely not. Spelljammer does not need its helmspeople to be magicless. That said, it can add an interesting cost to piloting a spelljamming ship though, so should it stay? It certainly doesn’t have to stay in its current form, but let’s look at the options, as a sort of scale:

1. Leave it as it is. (The purist’s stance) Honestly, I’ve never played Spelljammer, not back in the day and I’ve only DM’d a 5e Spelljammer game which I’ve been putting off solidifying rules for. It’s possible that I’m overthinking it and it isn’t as big of a deal, but I don’t feel like that is true. The PCs could hire a spellcaster NPC to pilot for them, but that is also a trade off of losing all their spells or not getting to pilot the ship themselves. Might not be an issue for some people, but I wouldn’t want to impose that on someone that does see that as an issue.
2. Leave them with at-will abilities. A slight step away from the original “lose all spellcasting”, leaving the helmsperson with cantrips and other spells they would be able to cast at will would at least allow them to defend themselves and contribute to the adventure. Definitely preferable to option #1, but only a little.
3. All spell slots of highest level. It’s a bit jump from “all your spells” to “your most powerful spells”, and now that I think about it, it really does work. It’s a bit of a moot point for first or second level casters, but Spelljammer really seems to be more designed for fifth level and higher. And honestly, now that I’m writing this out, this one makes a lot of sense. It has a cost, that cost makes sense with how much the helm is powered, and it leaves the helmsperson enough magic to feel at least somewhat useful.
4. Helmsperson chooses a number of spell slots. Now we are letting the players make the decisions, how much are they willing to sacrifice to improve the ship’s maneuverability? This can also have an added limit to the number of spell slots, both to keep them from dumping all of them in and then feeling useless later and to reduce any decision paralysis. Limited to one spell slot would be simplest, but more might be more interesting.
5. Attunement by spellcasters only. Attunement is a wonderful mechanic, and with a slight tweak can work decently for helms: Multiple people can attune to it. Because nothing would be more annoying than stopping after each helmsperson’s shift to let the next one attune.
6. Attunement by anyone. Similar to the previous, but obviously, not limited to spellcasters. This is kinda where I feel that it begins to lose flavor. I suppose if it isn’t requiring the loss of spell slots, then it isn’t super dependent on spellcasters, and this allows non-spellcasters to use it, it might make it more fun for players who aren’t currently/don’t like playing spellcasters to try to pilot the ship.
7. Sit on helm. No attunement required, just need to put your butt in the chair. Why am I even putting this here? I don’t like it for several reasons, most of all because it feels lazy.

What option will I go with in my game? This has basically been my way of forcing myself to think about this and make a decision and I am definitely leaning towards #3 or #4. Honestly I really would like to test out #4 to see how the players react to it. 1 and 2 seem too harsh to be fun, and 5 to 7 lose a bit of the flavor in my opinion. I will probably write up rules for #4 and maybe #3 and post them at a future date.

Something else that I will need to address when I write those rules: The warlock problem, how to handle short rest spellcasters? I could either impose that it doesn’t last as long or isn’t as powerful… I will have to think about it.



Next time, I will examine the other big issue: Clerics being unable to regain their spells outside of a sphere where their deity has influence.

Two big ideas to add to D&D 5e

I have been thinking about 5e for some time, and it has occurred to me that there are some things that could be implemented to benefit the D&D community and WotC alike.

Idea the first: Add a Legendary Player's Bundle to DnD Beyond

This one is pretty simple, and I'm kinda surprised that it has not already been implemented:  Make a trimmed down version of the Legendary Bundle (which is every piece of official content available on DnD Beyond at once, for 15% off, plus 15% off any future purchases) that only has player content. While the normal bundle comes with EVERYTHING, the player's version would only have content that is useful to players, making it much more appealing to players who don't DM.

Being generous, including all class options, race options, backgrounds, feats, and spells, the total value of player options comes to $100.90 (By my calculations, at time of writing this).

At 15% off, that would come to $85.77, which is much more reasonable than the $360.70 for the full Legendary Bundle, less than a quarter of the price! Since there are a lot more players than DMs, this would likely appeal to a wider audience than the Legendary Bundle ever could.

 The only things (that I can think of) that this would take to implement, are a few interface changes on the website, adding tags to all of the player content to mark them as a part of this bundle, and figuring out prices of future books with the player content discounted (or implement a system to do this automatically).

This idea originally also included all beasts that a druid could wildshape into and adventure specific familiars, but these seemed like something that could be cut for the sake of lowering the price a bit more (~$30).

Idea the second: Introduce setting guides to the DM's Guild

This idea would definitely take more effort to implement, but it would likely be extremely profitable for WotC.

Release a pair of PDFs (with print on demand options) every so often on DM's Guild (and probably DnD Beyond as well): 

This plan comes in three parts:

Part one is "The Player's Guide to [Setting]", with everything that someone from that setting would know: Major locations, people, creatures, culture, etc., maybe using condensed and/or edited versions of older setting guides, throw in some race and class options and everyone is happy. (and of course setting specific rules, such as for Spelljammer ships and travel)

The second part is "The Dungeon Master's Guide to [Setting]", which contains everything that the above player's guide has, plus further detail on everything. Where the pg has a note about some strange creature that the PCs might have heard of, this one has details about its behavior, habitat, diet, and of course, it's stat block (or at least what Monster Manual monster to use for it). It would also include quest ideas and potential dangers.

Beyond expanding upon details of the world, this book has a guide on how to run a game in that setting, how to capture the feel of it and express that to the players. How to run a pulp adventure in Eberron, get that post-apocalyptic feel in Dark Sun, portray the philosophies of the factions in Planescape, or the high-seas-in-space hi-jinks of Spelljammer.

Finally, the third and most important part: Open DM's Guild to submitted content for that setting.
Once the third part is done, all WotC has to do is sit back and watch the D&D community create multitudes of content for that setting. Adventures, more detailed location descriptions, more monsters, and a multitude of player options. A guide for creating content in the setting, and probably several Guild Adept adventures/supplements would be advisable, but not as required.

I feel that this idea is the less likely of the two, for several reasons:
1. It would take a lot more effort and possibly forming a whole new team just to tackle it (unless they want to at least partially hand certain settings over to Guild Adepts, like entrusting Eberron to Ruty Rutenberg and Satine Phoenix).
2. It could distract from whatever storyline the current adventure is focusing on, reducing sales of that adventure book and Adventurer's League adventures.
3. This idea has the possibility of getting rushed, just to get the content out there without sufficient playtesting or progressing the story of these worlds to keep them fresh for those who played them in past editions. This is a small thing, and might not bother people who just want their favorite setting adapted to 5e, but it could also cause those who are new to the setting to not be as interested.

Conclusion

Perhaps these are things that WotC has already considered, perhaps they even have them planned for some point in the future. I think they have a lot of potential, the first as a way to generate more (likely lasting) support from non-DMs in DnD Beyond, and the second as a way to open up the worlds of D&D to the community, and let their unlimited creativity add to the amazing possibilities that D&D allows us.

That and I want to see all the amazing spelljammer ships that the community can come up with.


I am curious to hear what people think of my ideas, so please leave a comment!

Races of Avion, Take Two, Part 1

After taking a break from my avion project, I realized that I didn't like how it had been developing. I scrapped some of it, though I may go back to it, even I don't know. I have come up with some different ideas, and I felt like writing them down here.


I scrapped the planar collision idea, though I still like the idea, I'm not currently using it for Avion. After reading a few chapters of a Dark Sun novel, I started liking the idea that there was a lot of small (in population, not size) races striving to make a place for themselves, and only by gaining some adaptation of note can they continue to survive.

Elves, for example have their natural grace, and quick mind, not to mdention that they very well might have been the first race. (But, they would never admit that.) Being a very old race, they have done what seems to be a common trend in my current ideas, their race splits into multiple sub-races. After an event (large war?), several of these sub-races merged so that there are four distinct elf races.

Wood elves (elves) decided that they would rather life amongst the plants, they split further depending on where they lived (jungle, forest, treetop, deep forrest, and possibly even desert).

High elves (Eladrin) believed they were above living in the forests and focused more on magic. They split into separate groups depending on their beliefs, but came together in time of need.

Dark elves (drow) were early High elves that believed in destroying the lesser races before they could get a foothold. Some repented and became the 'Risen elves', eventually joining back with the high elves. Those who remained became twisted and dark versions of their High elf brothers, and were driven underground to escape their destruction at the hand of their brothers.

Orik (Orcs) are wood elves that lived in the magic rich jungles in the southern part of their continent. The magic gave them plant-like properties, made them stronger and green skinned (as well as the ability to absorb some nutrients from the sun). They are able to reproduce with humans or other elves, creating half-orik (half-orcs).


Half-Elves also exist, and partially due to laziness, they are the same no matter what race of elves they are descended from.


Also, surface dwarves are evil.


What do you think of this idea? Please leave a comment!

Arcana Of Avion

Its been a while since I did much work on my Avion setting, but since I am now working on two stories and another project set there, it has slowly been getting more developed.

The most interesting developments have been about some of the fluff things for the arcane power source.

There are three ways to gain the ability to cast arcane magic: the wizard way, the sorcerer way, and the warlock way. Each method is different and comes with its own risks.


Wizards study old tomes, discover arcane secrets, and basically figure out how magic works in order to cast it. The Risk for this type of magic is that if you learn too many arcane secrets you might go insane, and that's the nicest of the risks. This method is severly lower than it once was due to the "quick and easy" nature of the other two methods.


Sorcerers find the blood of some magic creature, such as dragons, demons, etc., and inject it into themselves to mutate themselves to be magical conduits. The type of blood you inject into yourself determines what kind of sorcerer you become. The risk with this is that you can get an unwanted mutation, become magically addicted to magic blood, become controlled by the creature is it is powerful and still alive, or just simply die. This is the most common method, due to the increase of the availability of demon's blood, creating an abundance of chaos sorcerers.


Warlocks make deals with powerful entities, smart ones know what they are bargaining with. Great power is gained, but at great cost. Some lose their soul, some give the entity a chance to use their body at any time, and some may make a good deal, but their soul becomes corrupted by the entity's power. With the demon's blood method of sorcery becoming more popular, so does the trust of the demons themselves, this method is slowly gaining popularity in Avion.




Wizards risk their mind.
Sorcerers risk their body.
Warlocks risk their soul.




The other arcane classes can take one of these and roll with it, "I traded my soul to play this here guitar real good."



So, what do you think of that? I'm glad I finally got something that's unique to the setting, and I've decided to scrap some of the work I've already done.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or anything else to say, please leave a comment! I love to get feedback on my ideas!

Merry Christmas and a Story Idea Too!

Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you get the +5 magic weapon you were hoping for!


Last night I went on a mini-rampage and wrote a bunch of character ideas for yet another story concept. I hope you like it.


The watcher of dreams... The white owl
Long have my people watched over the dreams of the people of the cities of Krish. The taint that flows into our world gathers where there are many people. This taint leads a man deeper into his own dreams, into the abyss, and it is my people who lead these lost ones back to their dream so that they may wake.
More and more, of late, have the people been dragged into the abyss. My people can scarcely keep these lost ones all from being devoured by the abyss.

I have been chosen. I must find the cause of this, And I must destroy it.

But, I cannot do it alone. I know a man, head of the City Guard of Glighton, He may help me...


The watcher of the city... The gray hawk
I, like my father, watch over the people of Glighton, capital of Frameria. The people place their safety in my hands, but their faith has waned of late, as the monster attacks grow more frequent and more destructive. There is a hole in the east wall that a man could walk though, not to mention the horrors that did make it through. Twelve were lost in that attack, three of them my own men.

It is my job to protect the city and its people. I must find the cause of this, and I must destroy it.

There is a man of the forest, who knows of all things of nature and some things outside it. He may help me...


The watcher of the forest... The brown falcon
The ageless forest calls to me. It accepted me and made me a part of itself. Now, as it hurts, I hurt as well. The beasts spout flame and ice, destroying my home, my love, my life. They are like nothing I have seen before, it is as if they are of another world. Yet even now that I cannot help my own forest, a man of the city cries to me to help solve their problems.

The spirits of the forest come to me for help. I must find the cause of this, and I must destroy it.

A man in a shining tower knows of things beyond this world. He may help me...


The watcher of knowledge… The black raven
The wizard's tower, the last true bastion of the old magic. I alone still reside there, it may be the last safe place in this world, but for how long? I study these old tomes, looking for the power that the wizards of ancient times commanded. But they are coming, as the old prophesies foretold. They will destroy this tower, before I can truly command ultimate power.

This knowledge must not be lost before I can unlock it. I must find the cause of this, and I must delay it.

Perhaps the Aesir have a champion who will fight them? I shall lend my power to that person...


The watcher of souls... The golden dove
I dream of beasts. Terrible monsters that torch the sky and freeze the sea. They are led by a creature beyond description, who stalks with only destruction in his wake. Death does not describe what befalls those who battle him. Yet I stand against him with a shimmering light, and he cannot stand against me. I must, for the sake of this world, find this light, and soon.

My Aesir leads me to the truth, I must find this light. Then, I must find the cause of this, and I must destroy it.

I must find the man who walks in dreams. He May help me.




My recently starting to read DragonLance books may be the cause of this... Oh, and Aesir are the deities of sorts in Avion.


Does that sound interesting? Think its dumb? Misinterpret a certain word that makes it seem inappropriate? Leave a comment!

4e Player Vs. Player Concept

Something that I have been wanting to try for a while, to be able to pit my character ideas against someone else's.

Be they machines of destruction, some off the wall half-baked ideas, or an invincible tank.

But the problem with this is getting it to work... and not just have it be "Whoever dumps the most dailies first and hits wins." as Wyatt Salazar put it, but have it so that characters might have a chance against just about any other same level characters.

After a small discussion on twitter, it was theorized that 3 on 3 matches with one player per team would probably work out the best. The 3 character limit would force the player to pick their character's roles carefully.

I would have liked to have a 1 on 1 match, but maybe we can save that for later.


now, the next step is to find a means to do this online. There has been a lot of talk lately about RPGs on google wave. I have yet to try it but will soon. Suggestions also included fantasy grounds/skype or maptools/skype, (thanks to Gamerfiend)

After that I will figure out the maps and anything else that I can think of.


So, discussion time!
Leave a comment if you have an answer for
A) Is the 3 on 3 a good idea?
B) What would be the best way to attempt this online?
C) Should there be anything more complicated than a plain featureless map?
D) Do you want to try it?

My Glorious Comeback! and NaNoWriMo!

Whoops.

I have not posted since august...

And now its November...

Time for NaNoWriMo!!


Ok, I'm not really going to write a novel, not in a month anyway. Though I will try to work on one. And I'm going to give you a taste of it right here!


An Untitled Novel (ver. 0.000000000004)

Ebberhard wished he had a better form of transportation. His legs were hurting, but he refused to believe it was because he was getting old.

“Pick up the pace, Eb. Are you getting old or something?” Jonoa said, snapping him out of his thoughts. “I'm not getting old, I've just been walking a very long time.” he replied, trying to convince himself as much as the ghost. “and if you had legs, Mr. incorporeal, you would be tired and in pain as well.”

The “Mr.” was Ebberhard's best guest, as ever when taking energy from from Ebberhard to create a humanoid form, Jonoa's spirit was difficult to tell the sex of. It was a common trait among elves to have gender neutral spirits, and this one that had been bound to him since his childhood was no different.

“Well,” Jenoa started, in that tone of voice that let Ebberhard know that Jenoa was about to talk about it's race, “If I still had my elf body, I still wouldn't be getting old for quite a while...” “Well,” Ebberhard started back, mimicking Jenoa's tone, “Perhaps that was one of my parents aims in their experiment, when they bound you to my body. And sometimes I wish they hadn't given me my magic senses so that I didn't have to hear you talk about the elves all the time.”

“Oh, Eb...” The ghost sighed, “You know I don't like when you talk about them. How can you after all the experiments they did on you?”

“That was a long time ago,” Ebberhard scowled, “And you know as well as I that they have paid for their crimes. For all we know they may still be paying for it. The judiciary system is tough on people that do illegal experiments, especially those that experiment on children.

“Uggh, that is so like you...” Jenoa said, clearly irritated, “We've been on this road for so long, are we there yet?”

“yes, actually, we are almost to the address.” he replied, with a tint of smugness.
Jenoa was suddenly in a much better mood, “Oh! I wonder what sort of house feisty ol' Lil has?” They walked up to a plain looking house which surprised Jenoa, causing her to blurt out, “I thought it'd be more extravagant!”

“People don't always do what you expect. Now shush, I have living people to talk to.”

Ebberhard walked up to the house and knocked on the door, admiring the runes on the door. He recognized them as Kleptic, the thieves script. It went into great detail describing what would happen to any thief foolish enough to attempt to attempt to steal from them. He was reading what would happen on the third day after the thief had been caught when the door opened. A buxom, female elf opened the door and examined Ebberhard's face for a moment before excitedly leaping at him.

“Ebby!” The hugging elf cried, “Its been so long! Where have you been? What have you been up to?” She paused for half a second, squinting at the area around Ebberhard. “Is Jenoa still there? Hows she doing?”

“She's fine.” Ebberhard said, reluctantly returning the hug, “She was just saying how much more extravagant she expected your house to be” He ignored the dirty look and words of protest from jenoa. “But she is glad to see you are doing well, Liliana, as am I”

Lilena moved back towards her home, grabbing Ebberhard by the hand, “Well, what are we doing standing out here? Come in! Come in! Sorry its such a mess! I had no idea you were coming!”

“Oh, Compared to my study, I'm sure it is immaculate” Ebberhard replied.

“Oh, Ebby, compared to your study, my outhouse is immaculate...”

Jenoa stifled a laugh, “Oh, her outhouse probably is immaculate!”

They entered the house to find that it was filled from ceiling to floor with various artifacts, “Well, there is the extravagance you were looking for, Jenoa... Hmm... And what is this?” Ebberhard said as he picks up a small cylindrical device with a dial and a button on it. “I wondered where my 'Flame of Ethoren' went to...”

Lilena whirled around with a worried look on her face, “Oh, that's yours? I found it in my bags after the last time I went to go visit you, and it looked nice there and I kind of was wondering where it came from...” She trailed off, looking a little sick.

Ebberhard felt Jenoa's hand on his shoulder, a sign that he was supposed to do something nice. He knew Lilena had a problem with stealing things while they had adventured together, which was fitting since she was a thief. She had been telling him how she was doing much better about it now that she was a respectable married woman. Ironically, that had been during her last visit. He also knew that he had to act quickly before she broke down into tears. “Didn't I let you borrow this last time that you visited? Something about a ice creature bothering you or showing off at the neighborhood bonfire?” Both were obviously not true, but he was fairly certain that she would not protest. Jenoa, on the other hand, was squeezing his shoulder, and ghosts can actually squeeze surprisingly hard.

“Oh, that must have been it!” Lilena spouted, relieved, “ Well I'm glad you remembered, those are rare, aren't they?”

“Yes, they are getting that way...” His powers of deception impressed even himself, “Well, as thanks, I have brought you payment for taking care of it.” He smiled inwardly as he reached into his bag. He pulled out an ornate dagger, he knew that she recognized it immediately because she was suddenly right next to him.

“Is that...?” Her eyes opened widely as her hands slowly reached for the dagger

“It is,” He hands her the dagger, “The Dagger of Truth.”

“Its surprising that you are giving it to me, considering that I tried to use it on you when we first met.”

“As I recall, you didn't get the chance.” he smiled as he remembered the time that he and his group had been threatened by Lilena. The poor girl had been so embarrassed when the adventurers had laughed at her, they caught her and used the dagger's truth inducing properties on her. It led to her joining the group, but it was not a pleasant experience for her. He decided to not pursue the topic further. “So, I suppose that I should get down to why I came here...”


Phew! That's quite a bit, isn't it?
I would really appreciate any sort of comments!

Go Read A Book (Here Are Some Suggestions)

Go read a book from one of these series:

Discworld by Terry Pratchett.

Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin

Shannara by Terry Brooks

Xanth by Piers Anthony


I've only read books from the first two series, but have also heard great things about the others.

Any agreements with the series above or other suggestions?

Race Origin Stories: All Decended From Humans

Some fantasy settings describe humans as being "a young race" compared to the elves and dwarves that have been in existence for ages upon ages. But, what if the humans are the old race, struggling to remain on top, while the world becomes filled with new races trying to make a place for themselves?


Perhaps, long ago, humans left the material plane to colonize other worlds. The people who would later become the elves left for the feywild, and those who did not come back long ago became the eladrin, and those who went instead to the shadowfell became drow. The ancestors of the dwarves went to a plane of elemental earth with high gravity. Halflings and gnomes have a similar ancestry and the gnomes also spent some time in the feywild.

Make sense?


Orcs and goblins, on the other hand, make me wonder where they could have come from. Perhaps they went to some far plane and became twisted by the lack of resources, some struggle that they had to endure, or maybe the plane's evil aura. The orcs went to some savage plant filled world and at some point began to become plant-like, gaining their green hue.

Dragonborn's ancestors went to some world with frisky, shapechanging dragons. TMI there.


Of course, its not required that planar travel be required, with the above stories it kinda implies that this is a future version of our world. If you want it to be from a fantasy setting, maybe the human peoples are seperated long enough for them to gain further different traits, or maybe it was just random or magical mutation.


How about a story?
The dragonborn were once half-dragons, spread across the world, separate from each other. One day one of them helped a great king who offered him anything that he desired. He requested for a small portion of the kingdom to create a place for his kind and for the king to send messages around the world to let all the half-dragons know they had a place to call home. Their descendants later rose to take over that kingdom, but that's another story.


Kinda a random post, haphazardly thrown together (more than usual), but how do you like it?
Comment!

APSC: Martial Barbarian, The Way its Meant to Be

Well, after quite a while of posting at least every other day (about a month!), sickness, adjusting to a new computer, and laziness caught up with me and I've missed several days that I should have been posting.

So, to make it up to you I present: Martial Barbarian!

The way it's meant to be!

First the crunch, then the fluffs.

Mechanical changes:

I... I honestly can't find anything that needs to be changed. So, onto the...

Fluff:

When civilization (towns and cities) is described points of light in a dark world, barbarians are those who live in the darkness. These uncivilized people battle for food, territory, and their tribe's right to live. Considered to be almost monsters, a theory encouraged by their powerful rages, where they devastate their opponents with increased strength and agility powered by their blood being forged through generations of survivors in a hellish landscape.

Though the spirits may watch over them, these barbarians are not powered by them. Untold eons of the strongest surviving and the weak falling has built people the perfect martial machine. This added to their unsurpassed rage makes any foe think twice about fighting them.



Well, its not a lot, but its more than I've been doing lately.
Any thoughts on the fluff?

How To Go Over 200 MPH in 4e

I was bored the other day, I decided that I would make a character as fast as possible.

And dag, did I do it.


I start with the razorclaw shifter's base speed 6, made him a druid with the primal predator class feature, and went from there. I adjusted the character's stats to best work with the choices below, which gave me 18 dex (it wouldn't let me go any higher legally) and the rest didn't matter.

Base
razorclaw shifter speed: 6
Druid primal predator class feature: +1 speed

Feats
Bloodied fleetness: +1 speed while bloodied
Student of the plague (flame speed): +2 speed until end of next turn while running.
Fast runner: +2 speed while running
One of the speed feats (Hunting wolf form, fleet footed or both vampiric heritage and vampire alacrity): +1 speed

Powers
Razorclaw shifer racial power, Razorclaw shifting
Lvl 2 Utility Fleet pursuit
Lvl 22 Utility Sky talon
Lvl 29 daily attack Primal Archetype

Paragon path
Sky hunter- lvl 11 encounter attack blinding talons, Skyhunter's action.

Epic destiny
Prison of the winds- +2 speed bonus

Items
The Deluvian Hourglass- Time stop (lvl 22 wizard utility) get two standard actions from a minor.
Fleetrunner boots (epic tier)- when running, move +6 more than your speed, rather than +2.
Clockwork cowl (epic tier)- get two standard actions from a minor.
Fleet hero tattoo (epic tier) +3 bonus to speed until end of next turn when using action point.
Star opal ring (epic tier) +1 speed
Timeless tome + 6- time stop adds 3 standard actions instead of two.
Dagger- everyone knows you run faster with a knife out.


The base speed:
Race: 6
Class feature: +1
Speed feat: +1
Epic destiny: +2
Star Opal ring: +1
Fleet hero Tattoo: +3

Total base speed: 14 squares

Step one: get beaten half to death.
Bloodied fleetness: +1

Current total: 15 squares

Step two: during this encounter
Razorclaw Shifting- +2 speed until end of encounter
Fleet pursuit- until end of encounter, speed bonus equal to dex mod (+ 10 at 30th level)while in beast form.
Sky talon- until end of encounter, gain for that flies at your speed + 2.
Primal Archetype- until end of encounter, gain a +4 speed bonus while in beast form.

Current total: 33 squares

Step three: previous turn
Flamespeed: +1 speed, +2 while running until end of next turn.

Current total: 34 squares

Step four: Action point
Action point- extra action
Skyhunter's action- fly up to your speed before using action gained from action point. (move 34 squares)
Extra action blinding talons- move twice your speed, then attack. (move 68)

Total squares traveled: 102 squares

Step five: Run, don't walk
Running (with fleetrunner boots)- +6 squares
Fast Runner feat- +2 squares while running
Slame speed- extra +1 while running

Running speet total: 43

Step six: Items
The Deluvian hourglass (with Timeless tome +6)- use minor action to gain 3 standard actions.
Clockwork Cowl- Use minor (a Move in this case) action to gain 2 standard actions.

Actions total: 0 Minor actions, 0 Move actions, 6 Standard actions

Step Seven: Move it, move it.
Use 6 Standard actions as move actions (43 squares each, 43 * 6 = 258 squares)

Total squares traveled: 360


Step Eight: Calculate
360 squares * 5 ft/square = 1800 ft
1800 ft/6 seconds * 10 seconds = 18000 ft/minute
18000 ft/minute * 60 minutes = 1080000 ft/hour
1080000 ft/hour / 5280 ft/mi = 204.54545454... Mi/hour


If you can't read that, it says that he is moving at 204.5 miles per hour. 1800 feet in six seconds. I even calculated how fast you could go if you ran for a minute, it averages out to almost 60 mph.


Before you ask what the purpose of doing this is, its a mechanics experiment. When I started I was surprised to get as high as 70MPH.
So, other than that, what do you think? Did I miss anything? Can you do better? How?

APSC: Ideas and Whats Next?

Well, I'd at least like to think that the posts about the divine bard are the cause for my sudden increase in visitors, and because of that I will definitely continue with the project. The only question is: whats next?

There are currently four power sources, and 17 classes in 4e (19 if you count playtest classes) and though not all combos make sense, there are still a lot of possibilities.

Here are some of the ideas that I like:
Divine: Bard (already done), Warlock, Druid, Sorcerer (as favored soul?), Swordmage
Martial: Monk, Barbarian
Primal: Warlock, Any divine class, Ranger, Bard, Swordmage
Arcane: Paladin, Ranger, Avenger, Invoker, Shaman

you may notice that I have no martial classes in that list other than the ranger, they might be possible to alter, but It would be quite difficult and I would like to put that off until I have more experience on this project.



To be honest, I am really happy with how the divine bard has turned out and I will be sure to post my playtest results when I finally get a chance to use it. Some people had trouble understanding WHY I was doing it, but I did get some support as well. I am still open to getting feedback on the mechanical changes and the fluff I wrote, and now I want you to tell me what you think would be good for the next focus of the project.

Do you like one of the ideas above? Do you think another one would be better? Convince me, and I might just do the one you want next!

Power Source Theory

Just a quick post today, next time there will be more Divine Bard!


I have a theory, and to some extent it is based on a mix of 3.x and 4e D&D. Basically its that the Power Sources can be grouped into three different types: Given, Taken, and Self.


Given sources include Divine and Primal, and are granted to them by some other source such as a deity or nature.

Taken sources include Arcane, and are taken from their prospective planes, the universe itself, the mana flow, etc. without any being's consent.

Self sources include Martial and Psionic, and are from within the user, built up from training the body, mind and spirit.



I hope to add the future power sources to this list, Though I assume that Elemental will be a 'taken' and shadow may be a 'taken' or a 'self'.

Does that sound about right? Comment and put in your opinion. I dare ya!

APSC: 4e Divine Bard Fluff and Stuff

Warning: Rant ahead! if you are just here for the Divine bard fluff then scroll down until you see the word "Fluff" in bold letters.


For some reason, people seem to have trouble understanding the concept of this project: To alter existing classes to have different power sources. Hoping to achieve this by first adjusting the mechanics to change the way the class feels when played to match the new power source, then to add some fluff to fill in the gaps.

Maybe I should have done the fluff first, but the change of mechanics is mostly to support the fluff.

I started divine bard is because it is what inspired the project in the first place (if you look at this post there should be a link to The Hypertext d20 SRD, on that page is rules for the 3.x divine bard.), thought keep in mind that the project in question is bigger than just the bard.


If that is not the answer you are looking for: its just something interesting to do, give people more options.

Another Thing that is common among commenters is suggesting that I change the class' name to something else. trying to keep it still a bard, he casts magic through his music, just has a different power backing it. Ok?

What I am trying to get across: Still a bard! Just, not an arcane bard!



Fluff

Divine bard:
Any decent bard can move someone's emotions, but to truly move someone's soul, bring them to a state of euphoria or send them to the depths of deepest depression, they need that divine touch.

Whether by gaining your god's favor by prayer and devotion, trading your soul for the musical ability, or simply being picked out by your god, you were blessed with the ability to make music that truly touches people's souls, and even command the power of your god. Through hymns and songs of worship, you not only inspire belief in your god, but channel his power to attack your enemies.


The three methods of becoming a divine bard

The hard way: By prayer, worship, study, and devotion, you have gotten your god's attention and he finds you favorable to lead his worshipers. You joyfully spread the word of your god in your songs, and pull in new followers without the slightest effort.

The easy way: By dark rituals you have called a dark, evil god and traded your very soul to perform like no other, yet your music carries a silent taint of evil that few can sense. Your music is empty and joyless to you, and after a while you see it begin to spread evil ideas among listeners, as the dark god works through your instrument.

The random way: A god decides that you are the ideal candidate to become his musical champion, whether you want the gift or not. Your songs carry the god's message, even if the song is about a different subject, it can be as much a curse as a blessing if the god is not your favorite.


Of course, these are not the only methods, feel free to create your own. Nothing in D&D is set in stone, it is changeable.


Its not a lot, but what do you think of the fluff? one more post about the Divine Bard, then I'll see what to work on next.

APSC: 4e Divine Bard Character Sheet

I was kind of disappointed with the lack of replies to my previous post, but I decided that it needed something more visual to make it stand out more. So I present to you: Davyd the Divine Bard's Character Sheet and Power Cards!

Click to enlarge

You may have noticed that I also abbreviated "Alternate Power Source Class" to "APSC", but that's not terribly important.

What is important is that I get some more feedback on this. I can come up with plenty of ideas, but it helps to know if my ideas are any good. So please, give this and its explanation an honest critique.

Next I will work on A heap of fluff and a new At-will power for the divine bard, open to suggestions for that as well.

Alternate Power Source Class: 4e Divine Bard

Its what you have all been waiting for:

The first prototype for my alternate power source classes: The Divine Bard


I will go through each step, as to make it clear how to alter the power source, and hope to get as much feedback as possible. This build is inspired by a 3.x option found on this page.

Step one: Main Ability Scores
Bards typically have charisma as their main score and intelligence and constitution as secondary abilities. Divine classes have wisdom as one of their scores, usually the main one, but charisma is a vital part of the bard, so I would put wisdom in the place of intelligence, which is the common ability for arcane classes. Note: This is written for the builds in the PHB2. In Arcane Power several powers are added that use wisdom as a main score, if you are using Arcane Power, especially the virtue of prescience, then do not switch intelligence for wisdom, or use it at your (and your DM's) discretion.

Step two: Class Skills
Bards are known for their wide range of skills, so there is little to add. The only difference is that instead of arcana, religion is automatically trained, though arcana is still trainable.

Step three: Proficiencies
Divine classes do not seem to have enough of a theme to make a solid difference. The only change to be made would be the addition of holy symbols to their list of implements, and possibly the removal of wands.

Step four: Defense Bonuses
All of the divine classes get a bonus to fortitude, reflex, and will, except for the cleric, who only has will. The bard already has reflex and will, so for the sake of keeping it balanced nothing is changed in this category.

Step five: Class Features
This is what I think is the most difficult part of this, for fear that I would "unbalance" the class. I would like to make "Words of Friendship" into A Channel Divinity and add an altered version of the avenger's "Channel Divinity: Divine Guidance" where the trigger is a bloodied ally within range making an attack roll, change the requirements (obviously), and change the name to "Inspire Courage". This may be adding too much to the class without balancing it, but I guess I'll have to wait for some feedback to see.


Sample Character soon!

Well, there you have it! the first draft of the divine bard rules. Next, I have to refine it and get it just perfect, adjust the fluff to match, and then test it out if I can talk my DM into letting me. Please leave a comment, as I really would like input on this project.

Ideamancy: Create but not control...

It is entirely possible that I have an overactive imagination. I come up with new ideas all the time, so many that I can't seem to work on all of them. but because I like to talk about them, here are some new ones:

Dokapon Table-top RPG
First- a little back story. It started when one of my favorite webcomics did a comic of a game I had never heard of before, Dokapon Kingdom. (and they also did a second comic) I looked the game up, and it seemed pretty interesting, a RPG mixed with a board game. The way the battles are played would work well with a D&D 4e core, as there are few attacks that you can do (you can have three at a time- attack, strike, and whatever magic you have at the time) and it could be quite interesting.
The reason I came up with this is that there is a DS game along the same lines called Dokapon Journey that I just found out about. Seriously, go check this game out, it is awesome.

Arcane Costs
The second idea is a group of possible class feature replacements for arcane characters (only 4e at this point) that gives the character a bonus and a penalty. The basic premise is that the character gave something up for his vast arcane powers, an eye or two, your constitution, etc.

possible costs:
Eye: - 5 perception, bonus to hit?
Both eyes: 1/2 arcana skill + 1/2 Lvl for perception checks, gain magic vision?
Health: Con score can be lower than 8, extra points gained this way go into main ability score.

these are just ideas at this stage, not in any way ready to be used.

Yet another setting: City of Chroma (tentative title)
A smaller than usual setting for me, only a city, but I think it is interesting. A city full of factions, each with their own distinguishing color. At this point, it seems that the faction is nothing more than what their belief system is, but somehow these people are connected.

White- The ruling faction, militaristic and order-centric verging on oppressive. Solders look kinda like Organization XIII members, but in white and with plate armor.

Red- Doesn't care who is in charge, will help anyone from another faction as long as they are not likely to be caught.

Blue- Doesn't care who s in charge as long as it does not inconvenience them.

Yellow- Doesn't care who is in charge, but will help whoever seems to be winning.

Brown- Lower class, taught to believe they have no influence, so they don't realize the power in their numbers.

Black- Rebels against the white faction, most hide amongst the other factions. Lead by the "Black Knight" who wears the same armor as the white soldiers, but black. There are actually several black knights, but few know this.


Well, that's what I'm coming up with lately, what do you think? If this post affects you in no other way, go look at Dokapon Kingdom. It's a lot of fun to play with friends.

Alternate Power Source Classes: Idea Forming

Well, I have not really mentioned it, but I'm on twitter. Apparently, so is Mike Mearls, one of the people that work on 4e. I got to talk to him yesterday, and I asked him what he thought of one of my ideas, and he said he thought it could be pretty interesting.

Geek out.

^^

He he he he he...


Right, so anyway, if you told one of the guys who made 4e that you are doing something cool for it, and pointed him at your blog, wouldn't you want to get on it right away?

Yeah, me too.

The idea is basically this: Find what makes a class fit into a certain power source (PS), in terms of crunch, extract its current PS and give it a new one. Easy, right? since I have been slowly pulling 4e apart piece by piece, I already have a good idea of many things, but the only PS that has some obvious feature that all users of that PS possess is Divine,with their channel divinity . Unless of course, I'm missing something. Well, I suppose there are implements, themes in their powers, and lack of range without a ranged weapon...

So here are some of the things I noticed and ideas for PS transplants.


Common main ability score
Divine - Wisdom
Martial- Strength (dexterity second)
Arcane- Intelligence (only 5 out of 6, Constitution second)
Primal- Constitution (wisdom, second)

Common skills
Divine - religion (all auto), diplomacy, intimidate, endurance, history, heal, insight.
Martial- intimidate, athletics, heal.
Arcane- arcana (all, almost all auto), history (all), diplomacy, insight, dungeoneering.
Primal- nature (all, almost all auto), endurance (all), athletics (all), heal (all), perception (all).

Common class features
Divine- Channel Divinity

Ideas for PS transplants
Divine- Bard, monk, warlock.
Martial- Monk, barbarian.
Arcane- none yet.
Primal- Warlock, Avenger.


Well, it's late... Is there anything that I missed? Do you have any questions/comments/criticisms/requests/etc.? Post a comment!

Optimized Characters: PHB1 Racial Traits Character Ideas

After my last post about optimized characters did so well (I broke my visits/day record!), I decided that I would expand on that and give some suggestions of what would be good optimized character to do based on a race's power and features. Here are the races of the first Player's Handbook:


Dragonborn
Dragon breath- A focus on area attacks or a certain element.
Dragonborn fury- Bonuses to attack rolls or bonuses while bloodied
Draconic heritage- Extra self healing.

Dwarf
Cast-Iron Stomach- Strong against poison.
Dwarven resilience- Self healing genius.
Dwarven WP- It's hammer time!
Encumbered speed- The party's pack mule.
Stand your ground- Stay where you are.

Eladrin
Eladrin Education- Skilled character.
Eladrin WP- Backup weapon.
Eladrin Will- Strong willed character.
Fey Step- Teleporter or just a very mobile character.

Elf
Elven WP- Use a bow and arrow!
Group Awareness- Bonuses to teammates.
Wild Step- Difficult terrain master.
Elven Accuracy- Try, try again.

Half-elf
Dilettante- Great for multiclassing characters or just to get an extra encounter attack.
Dual heritage- Get elf and human benefits.
Group Diplomacy- Group benefits, diplomatic group.

Halfling
Bold- Fearless character.
Nimble Reaction- Super dodger.
Second Chance- Super dodger.

Human
Bonus at-will/feat/skill- So many possibilities, can also benefit other character concepts (not other race's concepts though).
Human Defense Bonus- Tough character.

Tiefling
Blood hunt- Blood lusting character.
Fire Resistance- Flame centered or character that plays with fire.
Infernal Wrath- Vengeance, bonus to attacks.



I know that all of this could be thought up by anyone, but what I really wanted was to get your ideas flowing- what did I miss? Are there better ideas out there?

Optimized Characters: Start With the Racal Powers

One of my favorite things to do with 4e, especially with the character builder, is create characters with a theme. Sometimes that theme is just to make that character as powerful as possible, while other times its to use a certain subject, be it crunch or fluff, and run with it.

A major aspect of this can start with which race you pick for your character, and the racial power is a big part of that.

Attacks
Dragonborn - Who doesn't want fire breath?
Half-Elf - Get another class's at-will as an encounter power.
Human - Get an extra at-will.
Bladeling - Explosion of spikes attack!
Fire Soul Genasi - Immediate reaction fire attack.
Minotaur - Charge and use racial attack.
Orc - Attack and use a healing surge.

Buffs
Tiefling - Bonus to attack and damage if enemy hit you.
Deva - Bonus to attack, saving throw, skill or ability check.
Goliath - Resist 5 all for a round (scale up with tier).
Half-Orc - Extra damage on hit.
Longtooth Shifter - Damage bonus, regeneration.
Razorclaw Shifter - speed bonus, and bonus to defenses.
Bugbear - Bonus damage when you have combat advantage.
Storm Soul Genasi - Extra damage with thunder attacks.
Githzerai - Bonus to all defenses.
Gnoll - Extra damage on a charge.

Second Chances
Elf - Reroll a missed attack.
Halfling - Enemy rerolls a hit.

Movements
Eladrin - Teleport 5 squares.
Water soul Genasi - Shift up to your speed.
Wind Soul Genasi - FLY!
Githyanki - You or youally fly.
Goblin - Shift when missed by an attack.
Kobold - Shift as a minor action.
Shadar-Kai - Teleport and become insubstantial.

Other-
Dwarf - No racial power, but more features than you can shake a stick at.
Gnome - Turn invisible and wizard's cantrip.
Doppelganger - Can shapeshift into another humanoid.
Drow - Create a cloud of darkness or outline an enemy to make them easier to hit.
Earth soul Genasi - Knock enemies prone.
Hobgoblin - Automatically get a saving throw when you get a condition that a save can end.
Warforged - Gain HP or temporary HP.


I donno about you, but writing this has given me some more ideas for characters. It would be difficult but a fire soul Genasi that focuses on immediate interrupts, or a half-elf/dragonborn/bladeling that has as many encounter powers as possible. Ok, both of these are tricky build ideas, but can you think of any better ones based on a racial power?