Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Vanigo 08-31-06, 11:09 PM	So, I'm working on a rough outline of a campaign setting (Campaign Workshop thread here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=691134)), and I came up with a few custom spells and feats for it. I'm pretty confident most of them are balanced, but there are some I'd like some input on. Any comments? A few things worth pointing out, here: the only casters allowed are druids, artificers, and paladins (although hostile wizards, sorcs, and clerics are around), and chaos beasts are basically anything that's not a human or animal. (Chaos beasts instinctively hate humans in this CS, and have been waging a rather unorganized war against them for the last century or so.) Resourceful Crafter In a world poor in magical components, you have learned to improvise. Prerequisite: Any item creation feat Benefit: When crafting a magic item, you can reduce the gold piece cost by spending additional experience. Each additional experience point you spend reduces the monetary cost by 5 gp. (If you have a craft reserve, you may use it to supply this experience normally.) You may spend as much or as little additional XP as you like, but cannot reduce the gp cost below 0. Special: An artificer may select Resourceful Crafter as one of his artificer bonus feats. Dispel Antimagic Abjuration Level: Sor/Wiz 7 Components: V, S, M Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) Target: One antimagic field Duration: Instantaneous or 1d4 x 10 minutes (see text) Saving Throw: None Spell Resistance: No This very specialized spell has one purpose: to remove antimagic fields and similar effects. You may target any such effect within range. Make a dispel check against a DC of 15 + the caster level of the antimagic field. (For antimagic field effects with no defined caster level, use either the hit dice of the creature that created it, or, if it is naturally occuring, CL 20.) If this check is succesful, the targetted antimagic field is dispelled if it was a temporary effect, or suppressed if it was permanent. A suppressed antimagic field will remain inactive for 1d4 x 10 minutes. Material Component: A piece of parchment with some magical writing on it, worth at least 100 gp. A parchment may be specifically prepared for this purpose, or any scroll of sufficient value may be used instead. Protection from Chaos Beasts Abjuration Level: Dru 2, Pal 2 As protection from evil, except that instead of evil creatures, this spell provides protection from chaos beasts.
Vanigo 09-02-06, 12:48 AM	:sigh: Why does no one care about my stuff?
Chrono Nexus 09-02-06, 10:42 AM	Because you don't have a topic. What you have basically done here is presented a few unusual homebrew feats and spells... but the basic response is going to be "so what?" unless you say something else.
Vanigo 09-02-06, 01:21 PM	But, I do. I'm concerned that they might not be properly balanced - especially dispel antimagic; the ramifications of that one could be huge - so I'm asking for advice on what needs to be done.
Chrono Nexus 09-02-06, 01:34 PM	Your spells and feats are balanced, but are much too specific in how they can be used. I can't see you using these more than once or twice in a game...
Vanigo 09-02-06, 03:02 PM	Your spells and feats are balanced, but are much too specific in how they can be used. I can't see you using these more than once or twice in a game... You can't see using a spell that gives you +2 AC and +2 to all saves against just about anything you'll ever fight in the entire campaign more than a couple times?... Oh, I see, you thought I meant the chaos beast statted out in the MM. No, in this CS "chaos beast" is a generic term for pretty much any monster other than animals. I forgot about the monster specifically named "chaos beast" when I came up with that. Come to think of it, I should probably change that to prevent this kind of confusion. (How is a spell that's strictly weaker than protection from chaos balanced at second level, anyway?) As for dispel antimagic, I'll admit that I didn't write it up with the intention that it be used much. I actually needed a magic-enhancing spell to serve (along with imbue with spell ability and limited wish) as the prerequisites for ether turbines - a magic item that serves as a component of what I call a steam mythal. It's a rather important facet of the CS. Resourceful Crafter is there to help PCs deal with the generally weak economy - they won't have much money to spend, typically.
Chrono Nexus 09-02-06, 04:44 PM	You can't see using a spell that gives you +2 AC and +2 to all saves against just about anything you'll ever fight in the entire campaign more than a couple times?... Oh, I see, you thought I meant the chaos beast statted out in the MM. No, in this CS "chaos beast" is a generic term for pretty much any monster other than animals. That's pretty vague. Anyway, protection spells(as in Protection from --) never work against everything- they have specific creatures or alignments they work against. It sounds like you want a Protection vs. Nonanimal- This is much too wide-reaching for a protection spell. The only Chaos Beasts I can think of are Abberations and Demons. Everything else has either a lawful or natural explanation or bent.
Vanigo 09-02-06, 06:34 PM	That's pretty vague. Anyway, protection spells(as in Protection from --) never work against everything- they have specific creatures or alignments they work against. It sounds like you want a Protection vs. Nonanimal- This is much too wide-reaching for a protection spell. The only Chaos Beasts I can think of are Abberations and Demons. Everything else has either a lawful or natural explanation or bent. Well, it does mean something rather specific, there's just a whole lot of variation within that category. You could read the details in the Campaign Workshop thread I posted, but the gist of it is this: The Earth is thrown into an alternate dimention by a high-energy physics experiment gone awry, and the subtly different laws of physics there shut down everything more complex than a steam engine (including stainless steel and most synthetic materials), with predictable effects on society. People start rebuilding, then strange green meteorites start warping wildlife into strange monsters - the chaos beasts - bent on destroying humanity. They're called chaos beasts by pretty much everyone, more for what they cause than for what they are, despite the fact that many of them are lawful. It's a misnomer, but no one cares. I agree that protection from chaos beasts is wide-reaching, but I don't see any fundamental problems with that. (Yeah, it's a bit unorthodox, but so what?) What I'm concerned about is whether it's fair to put it at second level, or whether I should bump it to third. (Or maybe Dru 3/Pal 2?)