Homebrew Corpscrafter Feats ((PEACH)) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Homebrew Corpscrafter Feats ((PEACH)) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
OSStrange
08-05-07, 03:39 AM Here's some feats I'm trying to design based along the lines of Corpsecrafter, be brutally honest. It may be my first threat/post but I want truthful replies. If you think they're stupid ideas, then say it. You think I can fix them some way, say it. Needs re-wording, help me. Well, here they are:

Undeaths Rebirth
Undead you raise or create don't seem to want to stay down, instead they like getting back up.
Prerquisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher.
Benefit: Each Mindless Undead you raise or create with a necromancy spell can gain this effect. When the Mindless Undeads created Hit Points reaches 0 it dies. At this point it begins it's rebirthing effect, for all purposes the undead is destroyed but gains a Fast Healing 5 until brought back to its original Hit Points, at this point it is in effect reanimated with full life. The rebirthing effect only happens once, after which should the Mindless Undeads Hit Points reach 0 again it dies as it normally would. Should the Mindless Undead ever, under any circumstance, gain Intellegance these benefits are lost instantly along with any other effect requiring Undeaths Rebirth. When determining Hit Die control, count this undead as it's usual Hit Die as double.

Undeaths Learnings
Undead you raise or create seem to learn from their deaths.
Prerquisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth.
Benefit: After an Undead is reborn with Undeaths Rebirth rebirthing effect it gains an immunity to what intially caused it's death.
Example: A +1 Shocking Longsword does the striking blow, the mundane is calculated before the magical. If the mundane damage destroys the Undead, upon his rebirth he is immune to mundane slashing damage. If the mundane slashing damage does not destroy him but the extra magical electricity damage does, he's then considered immune to magical electricity damage.
Example: The undead is lit a flame by a lantern, should the fire cause it's destruction, upon his rebirth he is considered immune to mundane fire.

Death's A Pain
Your undead hate dying, and to show this as they go out with a larger boom.
Prequisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth, Destruction Retribution.
Benefit: Upon the Undeads second death it explodes with greater negative energy dealing 1d8 damage with an additional 1d8/2 HD to all creatures within a 15-foot spread (Reflex DC 17 Half). This superceeds Destruction Retribution and therefor does not stack.

Undeaths Hardening Flesh
Your undead refuse to go down easily.
Prequisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth, Hardened Flesh.
Benefit: After you undeads rebirthing effect occurs it gains a +4 natural armor bonus to Armor Class. This superceeds Hardened Flesh and therefor does not stack.

Undeaths Quickened Pace
Your undead are quicker to the fight now that they have a second chance.
Prequisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth, Nimble Bones.
Benefit: After you undeads rebirthing effect occurs it gains a +6 bonus to Initiative checks and a 20-foot increase to its base speed. This superceeds Nimble Bones and therefor does not stack.

Well, there they are, I may come up with a few more but this is the general direction.
katarl
08-05-07, 04:41 AM Looks interesting, but you won't be able to get them until epic levels, and then, who would take them?
OSStrange
08-05-07, 11:31 PM Should I remove the level requirement? Lower it?
katarl
08-06-07, 06:15 AM Yes, some of the prerequisites and restrictions seem unusual, what reason is there for a 20th level prereq? Mindless only?
OSStrange
08-06-07, 02:29 PM I'm not sure how I should do the 20+ caster thing cause I thought the whole thing of an udead dying and then getting back up without the caster ever having to bother was a bit of a high point, you think I should lower it or something? The Mindless part was a restriction to be put it so it wouldn't work on vampires and that sort. Also, many argue you get the Corpsecrafter benefits for when you become Lich, and to counter act that I made sure that they were Mindless, and last I checked, Lich tend to have atleast some brains that work. So instead of giving a Lich the chance to be reborn only to be much much stronger I limited it.
OSStrange
08-14-07, 09:00 AM Anything? Come on, is there none of you out there with anything to yell at these about? Needs more flavor, needs more wording, needs less blah blah blah. Something, anything, please. How am I to learn from a mistake if noone points it out to me?
Realms of Chaos
08-14-07, 09:29 AM I think that Undeath's Rebirth is powerful and wordy. I think you could remove both problems through some creative wording, as below. Note that I am taking some creative license with this ability.

Deaths Rebirth
Undead under your control do not want to stay down.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: The first time that an unintelligent undead under your control is destroyed, it is reanimated 1d4 minutes later, with full hit points. All unintelligent undead you create are treated as having twice as much HD as normal for purposes of control.
Special: affected creatures that gain intelligence lose the benefits of this feat.

It isn't overpowered on the grounds of the long regeneration time and the fact that you can only control half as many undead as normal.

As for death's learnings, let's put a limit on what it can do so that it isn't too powerful, but makes Death's Rebirths somewhat worthwhile.

Deaths Learnings
Your undead can learn from their own destructions.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter, Deaths Rebirth
Benefit: When an undead creature is reanimated by Deaths Rebirth, if they were previously destroyed by weapon damage, they gain immunity to that form of damage (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing). If they were previously destroyed by energy damage, they gain immunity to that form of energy (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic).

The others are okay, I guess, although they lack a bit of flair.
RobbyPants
08-14-07, 10:33 AM I like the idea of these, but I do feel the level requirements are too high as well. If they're only reanimating once, then it's not that powerful. If you're afraid it's too powerful, perhaps the reanimation can be prevented by lowering the HP to 0 a second time after the Fast Healing kicks in, but before it reanimates.

As for the Undeath's Hardened Flesh, it's a relatively weak feat. This is largely because Hardened Flesh is particularly weak. There's no way I would consider blowing two feats to give my undead +4 AC. It's a cool idea, but it needs to be beefed up a bit.

If you really want to increase Undeath's Quickened Pace, consider removing the extra Initiative and speed increase, and give a new ability: if the undead is a zombie, it can take a full round worth or actions (and possibly run). If the undead is a skeleton, it gains an extra attack if it takes a full attack, or gets an extra 30 feet of movement if it moves (similar to Haste). I'd still lower the caster-level requirement, but I feel something like this might make Nimble Bones (and this feat) more worth-while.
arderkrag
08-14-07, 12:42 PM Death's A Pain
Your undead hate dying, and to show this as they go out with a larger boom.
Prequisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth, Destruction Retribution.
Benefit: Upon the Undeads second death it explodes with greater negative energy dealing 1d8 damage with an additional 1d8/2 HD to all creatures within a 15-foot spread (Reflex DC 17 Half). This superceeds Destruction Retribution and therefor does not stack.

I like everything but this one. I would make the DC based either on a.) 10 +1/2 Total Caster Level + modifier or b.) 10 + 1/2 HD of Undead + Casting modifier.
arderkrag
08-14-07, 12:52 PM I'm not sure how I should do the 20+ caster thing cause I thought the whole thing of an udead dying and then getting back up without the caster ever having to bother was a bit of a high point

It is - I think it's great. only comparable thing, really, would be to make The Black Cauldron a gameplay item and make some Cauldron-born*. I'd leave it as is - mindless undead, even with 50 hd, aren't really that powerful at epic levels, even in force. This certainly makes them something to contend with. I'd make instant destruction effects overcome it, perhaps - only high-level spells, though, so your epic skeletons don't get toasted with Undeath to Death.
Been done in my world. The Iron Crown of Annuvin is there as well.
OSStrange
08-14-07, 10:22 PM Chaos, I like how you reworded it. I like the idea of 1d4 minutes, it could be short or it could end up being long, instead based on the hit points which in turn might help the players guess better at the hit points, I guess.

Robby, how would you reword those two feats?

Arder, I put it at a Reflex DC of 17 because I figure it's more or less an attempt at upgrading Destriction Retribution, which has a set Reflex save DC.

Overall, drop the 20+ caster level requirements? Correct?
RobbyPants
08-15-07, 10:03 AM Robby, how would you reword those two feats?
I guess my problem with the hardened flesh feat you made is not in its wording, but rather I feel it's a bit weak. I have to think of a good way to improve it. A higher Natural Armor bonus would be nice, obviously, but how much (I don't know that I have a good answer)? If you don't want to simply pump the AC up to +6 (or whatever), perhaps you could increase the existing damage reduction by five points and grant the +4 natural AC bonus. Remember that skeletons already have DR 5/bludgeoning and zombies have DR 5/slashing. Perhaps these could be increased to 10. It's not that hard to overcome, but it will be a pain if you're lacking the proper weapons.

As for the wording of the quickness feat, perhaps something like:
Undead you animate and create are supernaturally fast.
Benifit: Zombies you animate or create are not limited to single actions only. They lose that ability from their template, and may now take full round actions or a standard and a move action. Skeletons you animate or create may take an extra attack if they make a full attack, or may move an extra 30 feet during a move action. These effects do not stack with Haste or similar effects.
It could probably use a bit of tweaking, but I think the bulk of the intent is there. What do you think?
OSStrange
08-15-07, 11:12 AM I like the DR idea, but I think it's a bit strong with the bonus +4 AC, I'm thinking, either DR 10/whatever plus normal Hardened Flesh or change it to +4 AC and change the DR to an over all DR 5/-. That way it improves a bit on both fronts. Though my train of thought may be misplaced.
RobbyPants
08-15-07, 12:05 PM I like the DR idea, but I think it's a bit strong with the bonus +4 AC, I'm thinking, either DR 10/whatever plus normal Hardened Flesh or change it to +4 AC and change the DR to an over all DR 5/-. That way it improves a bit on both fronts. Though my train of thought may be misplaced.
I'd consider DR 5/- much more powerful than DR 10/slashing or DR 10/bludgeoning. It's not that hard for a 1st level combat-oriented PC to overcome either of those last two. As a general rule of thumb, I almost always carry one weapon of each type with me for just such occasions. So, my greatsword wielding fighter-type will probably have a short sword and a warhammer too. A simple move-action later and the DR is no problem.

Another way to limit it is to cap the DR at 5 or some other number based on the hit dice of the undead, whichever is lower. Maybe they get 1 point of DR for every two or three hit dice.
OSStrange
08-15-07, 08:39 PM I like that, +4 AC and an additional +1 DR bonus to their existing DR rating for every 4 Hit Die the undead in question has.
OSStrange
08-23-07, 11:22 PM Anything anyone else wants to add.......?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
OSStrange 08-05-07, 03:39 AM	Here's some feats I'm trying to design based along the lines of Corpsecrafter, be brutally honest. It may be my first threat/post but I want truthful replies. If you think they're stupid ideas, then say it. You think I can fix them some way, say it. Needs re-wording, help me. Well, here they are: Undeaths Rebirth Undead you raise or create don't seem to want to stay down, instead they like getting back up. Prerquisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher. Benefit: Each Mindless Undead you raise or create with a necromancy spell can gain this effect. When the Mindless Undeads created Hit Points reaches 0 it dies. At this point it begins it's rebirthing effect, for all purposes the undead is destroyed but gains a Fast Healing 5 until brought back to its original Hit Points, at this point it is in effect reanimated with full life. The rebirthing effect only happens once, after which should the Mindless Undeads Hit Points reach 0 again it dies as it normally would. Should the Mindless Undead ever, under any circumstance, gain Intellegance these benefits are lost instantly along with any other effect requiring Undeaths Rebirth. When determining Hit Die control, count this undead as it's usual Hit Die as double. Undeaths Learnings Undead you raise or create seem to learn from their deaths. Prerquisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth. Benefit: After an Undead is reborn with Undeaths Rebirth rebirthing effect it gains an immunity to what intially caused it's death. Example: A +1 Shocking Longsword does the striking blow, the mundane is calculated before the magical. If the mundane damage destroys the Undead, upon his rebirth he is immune to mundane slashing damage. If the mundane slashing damage does not destroy him but the extra magical electricity damage does, he's then considered immune to magical electricity damage. Example: The undead is lit a flame by a lantern, should the fire cause it's destruction, upon his rebirth he is considered immune to mundane fire. Death's A Pain Your undead hate dying, and to show this as they go out with a larger boom. Prequisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth, Destruction Retribution. Benefit: Upon the Undeads second death it explodes with greater negative energy dealing 1d8 damage with an additional 1d8/2 HD to all creatures within a 15-foot spread (Reflex DC 17 Half). This superceeds Destruction Retribution and therefor does not stack. Undeaths Hardening Flesh Your undead refuse to go down easily. Prequisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth, Hardened Flesh. Benefit: After you undeads rebirthing effect occurs it gains a +4 natural armor bonus to Armor Class. This superceeds Hardened Flesh and therefor does not stack. Undeaths Quickened Pace Your undead are quicker to the fight now that they have a second chance. Prequisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth, Nimble Bones. Benefit: After you undeads rebirthing effect occurs it gains a +6 bonus to Initiative checks and a 20-foot increase to its base speed. This superceeds Nimble Bones and therefor does not stack. Well, there they are, I may come up with a few more but this is the general direction.
katarl 08-05-07, 04:41 AM	Looks interesting, but you won't be able to get them until epic levels, and then, who would take them?
OSStrange 08-05-07, 11:31 PM	Should I remove the level requirement? Lower it?
katarl 08-06-07, 06:15 AM	Yes, some of the prerequisites and restrictions seem unusual, what reason is there for a 20th level prereq? Mindless only?
OSStrange 08-06-07, 02:29 PM	I'm not sure how I should do the 20+ caster thing cause I thought the whole thing of an udead dying and then getting back up without the caster ever having to bother was a bit of a high point, you think I should lower it or something? The Mindless part was a restriction to be put it so it wouldn't work on vampires and that sort. Also, many argue you get the Corpsecrafter benefits for when you become Lich, and to counter act that I made sure that they were Mindless, and last I checked, Lich tend to have atleast some brains that work. So instead of giving a Lich the chance to be reborn only to be much much stronger I limited it.
OSStrange 08-14-07, 09:00 AM	Anything? Come on, is there none of you out there with anything to yell at these about? Needs more flavor, needs more wording, needs less blah blah blah. Something, anything, please. How am I to learn from a mistake if noone points it out to me?
Realms of Chaos 08-14-07, 09:29 AM	I think that Undeath's Rebirth is powerful and wordy. I think you could remove both problems through some creative wording, as below. Note that I am taking some creative license with this ability. Deaths Rebirth Undead under your control do not want to stay down. Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter Benefits: The first time that an unintelligent undead under your control is destroyed, it is reanimated 1d4 minutes later, with full hit points. All unintelligent undead you create are treated as having twice as much HD as normal for purposes of control. Special: affected creatures that gain intelligence lose the benefits of this feat. It isn't overpowered on the grounds of the long regeneration time and the fact that you can only control half as many undead as normal. As for death's learnings, let's put a limit on what it can do so that it isn't too powerful, but makes Death's Rebirths somewhat worthwhile. Deaths Learnings Your undead can learn from their own destructions. Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter, Deaths Rebirth Benefit: When an undead creature is reanimated by Deaths Rebirth, if they were previously destroyed by weapon damage, they gain immunity to that form of damage (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing). If they were previously destroyed by energy damage, they gain immunity to that form of energy (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic). The others are okay, I guess, although they lack a bit of flair.
RobbyPants 08-14-07, 10:33 AM	I like the idea of these, but I do feel the level requirements are too high as well. If they're only reanimating once, then it's not that powerful. If you're afraid it's too powerful, perhaps the reanimation can be prevented by lowering the HP to 0 a second time after the Fast Healing kicks in, but before it reanimates. As for the Undeath's Hardened Flesh, it's a relatively weak feat. This is largely because Hardened Flesh is particularly weak. There's no way I would consider blowing two feats to give my undead +4 AC. It's a cool idea, but it needs to be beefed up a bit. If you really want to increase Undeath's Quickened Pace, consider removing the extra Initiative and speed increase, and give a new ability: if the undead is a zombie, it can take a full round worth or actions (and possibly run). If the undead is a skeleton, it gains an extra attack if it takes a full attack, or gets an extra 30 feet of movement if it moves (similar to Haste). I'd still lower the caster-level requirement, but I feel something like this might make Nimble Bones (and this feat) more worth-while.
arderkrag 08-14-07, 12:42 PM	Death's A Pain Your undead hate dying, and to show this as they go out with a larger boom. Prequisites: Corpsecrafter, Level 20 Caster or higher, Undeaths Rebirth, Destruction Retribution. Benefit: Upon the Undeads second death it explodes with greater negative energy dealing 1d8 damage with an additional 1d8/2 HD to all creatures within a 15-foot spread (Reflex DC 17 Half). This superceeds Destruction Retribution and therefor does not stack. I like everything but this one. I would make the DC based either on a.) 10 +1/2 Total Caster Level + modifier or b.) 10 + 1/2 HD of Undead + Casting modifier.
arderkrag 08-14-07, 12:52 PM	I'm not sure how I should do the 20+ caster thing cause I thought the whole thing of an udead dying and then getting back up without the caster ever having to bother was a bit of a high point It is - I think it's great. only comparable thing, really, would be to make The Black Cauldron a gameplay item and make some Cauldron-born*. I'd leave it as is - mindless undead, even with 50 hd, aren't really that powerful at epic levels, even in force. This certainly makes them something to contend with. I'd make instant destruction effects overcome it, perhaps - only high-level spells, though, so your epic skeletons don't get toasted with Undeath to Death. Been done in my world. The Iron Crown of Annuvin is there as well.
OSStrange 08-14-07, 10:22 PM	Chaos, I like how you reworded it. I like the idea of 1d4 minutes, it could be short or it could end up being long, instead based on the hit points which in turn might help the players guess better at the hit points, I guess. Robby, how would you reword those two feats? Arder, I put it at a Reflex DC of 17 because I figure it's more or less an attempt at upgrading Destriction Retribution, which has a set Reflex save DC. Overall, drop the 20+ caster level requirements? Correct?
RobbyPants 08-15-07, 10:03 AM	Robby, how would you reword those two feats? I guess my problem with the hardened flesh feat you made is not in its wording, but rather I feel it's a bit weak. I have to think of a good way to improve it. A higher Natural Armor bonus would be nice, obviously, but how much (I don't know that I have a good answer)? If you don't want to simply pump the AC up to +6 (or whatever), perhaps you could increase the existing damage reduction by five points and grant the +4 natural AC bonus. Remember that skeletons already have DR 5/bludgeoning and zombies have DR 5/slashing. Perhaps these could be increased to 10. It's not that hard to overcome, but it will be a pain if you're lacking the proper weapons. As for the wording of the quickness feat, perhaps something like: Undead you animate and create are supernaturally fast. Benifit: Zombies you animate or create are not limited to single actions only. They lose that ability from their template, and may now take full round actions or a standard and a move action. Skeletons you animate or create may take an extra attack if they make a full attack, or may move an extra 30 feet during a move action. These effects do not stack with Haste or similar effects. It could probably use a bit of tweaking, but I think the bulk of the intent is there. What do you think?
OSStrange 08-15-07, 11:12 AM	I like the DR idea, but I think it's a bit strong with the bonus +4 AC, I'm thinking, either DR 10/whatever plus normal Hardened Flesh or change it to +4 AC and change the DR to an over all DR 5/-. That way it improves a bit on both fronts. Though my train of thought may be misplaced.
RobbyPants 08-15-07, 12:05 PM	I like the DR idea, but I think it's a bit strong with the bonus +4 AC, I'm thinking, either DR 10/whatever plus normal Hardened Flesh or change it to +4 AC and change the DR to an over all DR 5/-. That way it improves a bit on both fronts. Though my train of thought may be misplaced. I'd consider DR 5/- much more powerful than DR 10/slashing or DR 10/bludgeoning. It's not that hard for a 1st level combat-oriented PC to overcome either of those last two. As a general rule of thumb, I almost always carry one weapon of each type with me for just such occasions. So, my greatsword wielding fighter-type will probably have a short sword and a warhammer too. A simple move-action later and the DR is no problem. Another way to limit it is to cap the DR at 5 or some other number based on the hit dice of the undead, whichever is lower. Maybe they get 1 point of DR for every two or three hit dice.
OSStrange 08-15-07, 08:39 PM	I like that, +4 AC and an additional +1 DR bonus to their existing DR rating for every 4 Hit Die the undead in question has.
OSStrange 08-23-07, 11:22 PM	Anything anyone else wants to add.......?