New Feat: 'Tis But a Scratch! [Archive] - Wizards Community

New Feat: 'Tis But a Scratch! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Mark_Aged
08-30-07, 01:28 PM 'Tis But a Scratch!

With your thick skin, and aberration and abnormal organs now able to shift and move to avoid damage, you are able to take no damage from sharp, thrown things.

Prerequisite: Aberration Blood, Natural Armor +3

Benefit: Whenever a thrown weapon deals piercing damage that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage, and the weapon goes halfway though you. You may then draw this weapon, as the Draw a Weapon action. Well it's in you, you may not use it to attack.

Do yea' think its balanced?
Mark_Aged
09-01-07, 08:14 AM Bump.
Radijs
09-01-07, 11:53 AM I think its weird.
But in itself its well not that great. There aren't going to be a lot of situations where you're about to be put into negatives with a thrown piercing weapon.

If I'd have to choose between this one and say improved toughness I'd take the latter.
Mark_Aged
09-01-07, 01:02 PM It's going to be useful mostly in just my campaign, where there's a lot of spear throwing going on. And I thought in general, it's pretty good, think about it, you can never die from a spear.
Tedronai
09-01-07, 02:09 PM Won't be particularly attractive at higher levels when all (or at least most) of your items are magic. Personally, I don't want that Vest of Resistance +5 to be sundered. (particularly with the common house-rule around here that sundered magical items explode)

If you're close to 0 hp, something has already gone wrong. I want my feats to prevent that situation from happening in the first place, rather than just saving me when it does (at least until those spear-wielding folks decide to simply stab me instead of cleverly disarming themselves).
Mark_Aged
09-01-07, 02:32 PM Well, it was made for the lower levels of my world, where magic items are very hard to come across, and half the time if you lose your non-magic armor, you have more then enough money to replace it. But that a side, you don't think it's over powered?
Tedronai
09-01-07, 02:54 PM It's power is entirely derived from the prominence of such attacks in the specific campaign. Outside of your peculiar situation, I can't see myself ever taking this feat, while in that situation, any martial-oriented character with a feat to spare is likely to take this, and possibly make room for it by sacrificing a more conventional feat.
Radijs
09-01-07, 03:26 PM If half the foes you're going to put against your PC's are going to be spearchuckers the feat's going to be more useful.

But I would be a lil hesitant to have my ten thousand gold armor sundered when I get to low HP.
Tedronai
09-01-07, 03:51 PM One other problem you'll come up against is that HP values for armours are not generally listed (as sunder attacks against them are, barring this feat, impossible, and worn items only take damage on a critically failed saving throw).
Mark_Aged
09-01-07, 05:35 PM Yeah, I figured you could mostly just guess how thick it is, and go from there with the table that says the hardness of things and HP per inch of thickness.
Radijs
09-01-07, 06:05 PM http://www.d20srd.org/srd/exploration.htm Table on the rigth.
Mark_Aged
09-01-07, 06:32 PM Yeah there yeah go! The hardness is the Substance, and the HP is the armor bonus times five.
Tedronai
09-01-07, 10:52 PM Unless you use armours from other books, such as Thistledown, Leafweave, Coral, etc. etc. ...
Mark_Aged
09-02-07, 08:34 AM Oh yeah... looks like I have some tables to write.
supersod
09-03-07, 04:49 PM i like your idea
Mark_Aged
09-04-07, 08:48 AM Thanks! I thought it was pretty good myself.
RobbyPants
09-04-07, 10:10 AM Another option is to try for a similar effect with different game mechanics. For example, you could try:

Give some Damage Reduction against thrown piercing weapons.
Give some Damage Reduction against thrown piercing weapons, if it would drop you to 0 or lower HP.
Give a flat Damage Reduction against all piercing attacks or all ranged attacks.
Say that any ranged attack that deals 1 to 3 points of damage instead deals 0 (an odd sort of Damage Reduction).
Allow a Reflex save to avoide the missle or lessen the damage.

I only suggest these due to the negative feedback of the sundering items I've read. I agree that it seems odd that if you were getting hit anyway, why wouldn't the items already be taking damage?

Take or leave what you want ;)
Mark_Aged
09-04-07, 10:52 AM You know, your right. Plus it's kind of bagging to be an aberration feat from the start. Okay, here's a newer one:

'Tis But a Scratch!

With your thick skin, and aberration and abnormal organs now able to shift and move to avoid damage, you are able to take no damage from sharp, thrown things.

Prerequisite: Aberration Blood, Natural Armor +3

Benefit: When ever a throw weapon that deals Piercing damage to you that would normally lower you to 0 or less HP, you take no damage, and the weapon goes halfway though you, and is added to your inventory. You may then draw this weapon, as the Draw a Weapon action. Well it's in you, you may not use it to attack.

How about now? Is it good now?
Radijs
09-05-07, 07:24 AM I would remove the text "And is added to your inventory".
It just sounds weird. Like you're gonna leave it in there and draw it no sooner then you use it. I keep getting the image of a porcupine of javelins walking into town and pulling them all out of himself at the blacksmith where he'd sell em. You know what I mean?

"Whenever a thrown weapon deals your piercing damage that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage."

Thats how I would put it. :twocents:
Mark_Aged
09-05-07, 09:54 AM Well, I was kind of looking forword to doing that, but yeah, okay:

'Tis But a Scratch!

With your thick skin, and aberration and abnormal organs now able to shift and move to avoid damage, you are able to take no damage from sharp, thrown things.

Prerequisite: Aberration Blood, Natural Armor +3

Benefit: Whenever a thrown weapon deals piercing damage that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage, and the weapon goes halfway though you. You may then draw this weapon, as the Draw a Weapon action. Well it's in you, you may not use it to attack.

Good now?
Tedronai
09-05-07, 02:22 PM Any particular reason why this wouldn't function against arrows? Its just jumping out screaming at me that it should.
I can SORT OF understand how this wouldn't affect melee piercing attacks, but projectile weapons are just too similar to thrown weapons for me to buy it.
Mark_Aged
09-05-07, 04:06 PM Well, the thing is, I got this idea from a funny picture I found on a forum that's from an anime (I don't want to say the name, the scene is kind of gory) where this group of people throw metal spears at this robot/alien girl, and she was like "I am fine", and the picture says "'Tis But a Scratch!" and I laughed, and I was like, "I have to make a feat out of that!". Roleplay wise, your organs gain a six sense of danger of sharp things, so even if you are denied your Dex to AC, if your low on HP, you still take no damage from thrown weapons deal piercing damage, but arrows are to small to detect quick enough, plus to fast, even if your organs try to move out of the way, they won't be able to in time. No being (not counting Pun-Pun) can throw sharp things as fast as an arrow travels, so your organs can easily move in time. Gameplay wise, arrows are a bit to common, so unable to die from them seems a bit to overpowered.
Rettu_Skcollob
09-13-07, 10:54 AM "The Black Knight always triumphs!"

Indeed. Well, that's quite an interesting feat there.

In fact, I love it! If some bastard throws a spear at you, then throw it right back, twice as hard.
Riven213
09-13-07, 08:37 PM It'd be funny for a spoof campaign, but I can't see it being taken particularly seriously otherwise (especially given its lack of realism and well-known origins). Its applications are narrow and restricted, it draws certain assumptions (such as, your opponent can't use Sunder) and it pushes its objective with elements that don't make sense (what force or reason is behind your armor's hardness being doubled, aside from the fact that it is mechanically convenient to the feat having its desired effect?).

That said, I've played spoof campaigns, and I could easily see it being picked up for one of them, possibly even featured quite heavily.
Mark_Aged
09-14-07, 03:58 PM Riven213, I think your reading the wrong version. This is the newest version:

'Tis But a Scratch!

With your thick skin, and aberration and abnormal organs now able to shift and move to avoid damage, you are able to take no damage from sharp, thrown things.

Prerequisite: Aberration Blood, Natural Armor +3

Benefit: Whenever a thrown weapon deals piercing damage that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage, and the weapon goes halfway though you. You may then draw this weapon, as the Draw a Weapon action. Well it's in you, you may not use it to attack.
Mark_Aged
09-16-07, 08:27 AM Bump.
KitsuneSoup
09-17-07, 04:18 AM I don't like it.

First, it makes them invincible to thrown weapons.

that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage

Every monster in the world would want this. I realize it's half of a joke, but even still, that monster is going to destroy everyone, and throwing spears at enemies is going outta style really fast.

'Tis But a Scratch sigh
General
You are difficult to kill with thrown weapons.
Prerequisites: Abberation or Abberation Blood, natural armour +3 or higher
Benefit: You gain DR 6/- against piercing ranged attacks. Weapons that do not defeat your DR are not destroyed, and on your next move action, you may draw any such weapon.

Thematically, it's interesting, I suppose, but spears don't seem they go into robots at all, and it almost sounds more like you're aiming for an ooze monster, not an abberation.

KS
Mark_Aged
09-17-07, 10:57 AM Nah, you where looking in to it to deep. Think about it, not even a kobold has just a spear, they always have a sling on their person. So at first, it seems like your invincible against thrown weapons that deal piercing damage, but you just can't die from them. Think about it, kobolds throw all kinds of spears, see that your not dead, and shot some lead bullets at you with slings. It's not that great when you think about it.
KitsuneSoup
09-17-07, 11:37 AM So at first, it seems like your invincible against thrown weapons that deal piercing damage, but you just can't die from them.

-head explodes in strange cloud of red mist and strange whatthehell-

Clarfication? Do you mean, you want to be able to taken all the way down to 1hp, but by Ra, that last point better come from a bow? Because then, this just took the highway of humour off-ramp to Useless Avenue. Blowing a feat for DR that doesn't work until a chld throwing a rock kills you?

KS
Mark_Aged
09-17-07, 11:54 AM Well, not dying is better then taking less damage. As you said, you have 1 HP left, your running out of battle, and a spear is chucked at you. I deals 10 damage, making you going in to dying mode (with DR), or you take no damage at all (my way).
RobbyPants
09-17-07, 12:12 PM Well, not dying is better then taking less damage. As you said, you have 1 HP left, your running out of battle, and a spear is chucked at you. I deals 10 damage, making you going in to dying mode (with DR), or you take no damage at all (my way).
Well, compare it to the rogue's (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/rogue.htm) ability, Defensive Roll:
Defensive Roll (Ex)

The rogue can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it than she otherwise would. Once per day, when she would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), the rogue can attempt to roll with the damage. To use this ability, the rogue must attempt a Reflex saving throw (DC = damage dealt). If the save succeeds, she takes only half damage from the blow; if it fails, she takes full damage. She must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute her defensive roll—if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, she can’t use this ability. Since this effect would not normally allow a character to make a Reflex save for half damage, the rogue’s evasion ability does not apply to the defensive roll.

This is pretty similar to your feat, but it can only be done once per day. Granted, your feat is a bit more specific (only applying to thrown weapons), but this is a level 10+ rogue ability. I think you need to tone it down a bit. I have three suggestions:

Drop the "does no damage" clause, and switch to something else (damage reduction, higher AC, whatever).
Make it useable once per day and add in a Reflex saving throw.

Without some change, it's too powerful.
Mark_Aged
09-17-07, 12:35 PM Well remember, it doesn't apply to all thrown weapons, just against thrown weapons that deal piercing damage. That means if the spear or dagger or whatever is magic, this won't effect it. Is that good?
RobbyPants
09-17-07, 01:17 PM Well remember, it doesn't apply to all thrown weapons, just against thrown weapons that deal piercing damage. That means if the spear or dagger or whatever is magic, this won't effect it. Is that good?
Yes and no.

Because the feat is so limited in it's scope, it will either be incredibly powerful, or utterly pointless, depending on the situation.

What I see happening in your campaign world is something akin to the evolution of weapons and armor (historically speaking). The basic premise is that people would develop an armor to help protect them from the prevalent weapons. At that point, the people would need to come up with new weapons to penetrate the armor. With the old armor obsolete, new armors would be created to protect against these new weapons. The pattern continues.

Basically, it seems that thrown piercing weapons are really popular. So people come up with a way to protect themselves from them (your feat). Once this happens, people are going to stop throwing spears, and just start throwing axes and hammers to compensate. Will there eventually be feats that protect them from slashing or bludgeoning projectiles?

This is one of the reasons I think you should consider designing your feat to apply to a more broad set of circumstances, but make it less powerful. While a flat DR 3 against piercing projectiles would not be as cool as taking no damage (if dropped to 0 HP), it wouldn't be so powerful that people would want to stop using spears.
Mark_Aged
09-17-07, 02:13 PM No, there won't be feats to protect against slashing or bludgeoning projectiles. Remember, this is an aberration feat, and not everyone is an aberration.
RobbyPants
09-17-07, 04:18 PM No, there won't be feats to protect against slashing or bludgeoning projectiles. Remember, this is an aberration feat, and not everyone is an aberration.
That's true, I forgot you changed it.

How often are the PCs going to be fighting aberrations? If it's fairly often, it might still make thown piercing weapons less than effective.
Mark_Aged
09-17-07, 05:37 PM Not too often. There will be like, 2 to 4 encounters with them, and a small village in the middle of nowhere filled with only aberrations late in the game, that the PCs will only find if they happen to bumble around till they happen to find it.
Mark_Aged
09-19-07, 08:55 AM Bump.
Mark_Aged
09-22-07, 11:19 AM Bump.
Mark_Aged
09-24-07, 10:06 AM Bump.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mark_Aged 08-30-07, 01:28 PM	'Tis But a Scratch! With your thick skin, and aberration and abnormal organs now able to shift and move to avoid damage, you are able to take no damage from sharp, thrown things. Prerequisite: Aberration Blood, Natural Armor +3 Benefit: Whenever a thrown weapon deals piercing damage that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage, and the weapon goes halfway though you. You may then draw this weapon, as the Draw a Weapon action. Well it's in you, you may not use it to attack. Do yea' think its balanced?
Mark_Aged 09-01-07, 08:14 AM	Bump.
Radijs 09-01-07, 11:53 AM	I think its weird. But in itself its well not that great. There aren't going to be a lot of situations where you're about to be put into negatives with a thrown piercing weapon. If I'd have to choose between this one and say improved toughness I'd take the latter.
Mark_Aged 09-01-07, 01:02 PM	It's going to be useful mostly in just my campaign, where there's a lot of spear throwing going on. And I thought in general, it's pretty good, think about it, you can never die from a spear.
Tedronai 09-01-07, 02:09 PM	Won't be particularly attractive at higher levels when all (or at least most) of your items are magic. Personally, I don't want that Vest of Resistance +5 to be sundered. (particularly with the common house-rule around here that sundered magical items explode) If you're close to 0 hp, something has already gone wrong. I want my feats to prevent that situation from happening in the first place, rather than just saving me when it does (at least until those spear-wielding folks decide to simply stab me instead of cleverly disarming themselves).
Mark_Aged 09-01-07, 02:32 PM	Well, it was made for the lower levels of my world, where magic items are very hard to come across, and half the time if you lose your non-magic armor, you have more then enough money to replace it. But that a side, you don't think it's over powered?
Tedronai 09-01-07, 02:54 PM	It's power is entirely derived from the prominence of such attacks in the specific campaign. Outside of your peculiar situation, I can't see myself ever taking this feat, while in that situation, any martial-oriented character with a feat to spare is likely to take this, and possibly make room for it by sacrificing a more conventional feat.
Radijs 09-01-07, 03:26 PM	If half the foes you're going to put against your PC's are going to be spearchuckers the feat's going to be more useful. But I would be a lil hesitant to have my ten thousand gold armor sundered when I get to low HP.
Tedronai 09-01-07, 03:51 PM	One other problem you'll come up against is that HP values for armours are not generally listed (as sunder attacks against them are, barring this feat, impossible, and worn items only take damage on a critically failed saving throw).
Mark_Aged 09-01-07, 05:35 PM	Yeah, I figured you could mostly just guess how thick it is, and go from there with the table that says the hardness of things and HP per inch of thickness.
Radijs 09-01-07, 06:05 PM	http://www.d20srd.org/srd/exploration.htm Table on the rigth.
Mark_Aged 09-01-07, 06:32 PM	Yeah there yeah go! The hardness is the Substance, and the HP is the armor bonus times five.
Tedronai 09-01-07, 10:52 PM	Unless you use armours from other books, such as Thistledown, Leafweave, Coral, etc. etc. ...
Mark_Aged 09-02-07, 08:34 AM	Oh yeah... looks like I have some tables to write.
supersod 09-03-07, 04:49 PM	i like your idea
Mark_Aged 09-04-07, 08:48 AM	Thanks! I thought it was pretty good myself.
RobbyPants 09-04-07, 10:10 AM	Another option is to try for a similar effect with different game mechanics. For example, you could try: Give some Damage Reduction against thrown piercing weapons. Give some Damage Reduction against thrown piercing weapons, if it would drop you to 0 or lower HP. Give a flat Damage Reduction against all piercing attacks or all ranged attacks. Say that any ranged attack that deals 1 to 3 points of damage instead deals 0 (an odd sort of Damage Reduction). Allow a Reflex save to avoide the missle or lessen the damage. I only suggest these due to the negative feedback of the sundering items I've read. I agree that it seems odd that if you were getting hit anyway, why wouldn't the items already be taking damage? Take or leave what you want ;)
Mark_Aged 09-04-07, 10:52 AM	You know, your right. Plus it's kind of bagging to be an aberration feat from the start. Okay, here's a newer one: 'Tis But a Scratch! With your thick skin, and aberration and abnormal organs now able to shift and move to avoid damage, you are able to take no damage from sharp, thrown things. Prerequisite: Aberration Blood, Natural Armor +3 Benefit: When ever a throw weapon that deals Piercing damage to you that would normally lower you to 0 or less HP, you take no damage, and the weapon goes halfway though you, and is added to your inventory. You may then draw this weapon, as the Draw a Weapon action. Well it's in you, you may not use it to attack. How about now? Is it good now?
Radijs 09-05-07, 07:24 AM	I would remove the text "And is added to your inventory". It just sounds weird. Like you're gonna leave it in there and draw it no sooner then you use it. I keep getting the image of a porcupine of javelins walking into town and pulling them all out of himself at the blacksmith where he'd sell em. You know what I mean? "Whenever a thrown weapon deals your piercing damage that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage." Thats how I would put it. :twocents:
Mark_Aged 09-05-07, 09:54 AM	Well, I was kind of looking forword to doing that, but yeah, okay: 'Tis But a Scratch! With your thick skin, and aberration and abnormal organs now able to shift and move to avoid damage, you are able to take no damage from sharp, thrown things. Prerequisite: Aberration Blood, Natural Armor +3 Benefit: Whenever a thrown weapon deals piercing damage that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage, and the weapon goes halfway though you. You may then draw this weapon, as the Draw a Weapon action. Well it's in you, you may not use it to attack. Good now?
Tedronai 09-05-07, 02:22 PM	Any particular reason why this wouldn't function against arrows? Its just jumping out screaming at me that it should. I can SORT OF understand how this wouldn't affect melee piercing attacks, but projectile weapons are just too similar to thrown weapons for me to buy it.
Mark_Aged 09-05-07, 04:06 PM	Well, the thing is, I got this idea from a funny picture I found on a forum that's from an anime (I don't want to say the name, the scene is kind of gory) where this group of people throw metal spears at this robot/alien girl, and she was like "I am fine", and the picture says "'Tis But a Scratch!" and I laughed, and I was like, "I have to make a feat out of that!". Roleplay wise, your organs gain a six sense of danger of sharp things, so even if you are denied your Dex to AC, if your low on HP, you still take no damage from thrown weapons deal piercing damage, but arrows are to small to detect quick enough, plus to fast, even if your organs try to move out of the way, they won't be able to in time. No being (not counting Pun-Pun) can throw sharp things as fast as an arrow travels, so your organs can easily move in time. Gameplay wise, arrows are a bit to common, so unable to die from them seems a bit to overpowered.
Rettu_Skcollob 09-13-07, 10:54 AM	"The Black Knight always triumphs!" Indeed. Well, that's quite an interesting feat there. In fact, I love it! If some bastard throws a spear at you, then throw it right back, twice as hard.
Riven213 09-13-07, 08:37 PM	It'd be funny for a spoof campaign, but I can't see it being taken particularly seriously otherwise (especially given its lack of realism and well-known origins). Its applications are narrow and restricted, it draws certain assumptions (such as, your opponent can't use Sunder) and it pushes its objective with elements that don't make sense (what force or reason is behind your armor's hardness being doubled, aside from the fact that it is mechanically convenient to the feat having its desired effect?). That said, I've played spoof campaigns, and I could easily see it being picked up for one of them, possibly even featured quite heavily.
Mark_Aged 09-14-07, 03:58 PM	Riven213, I think your reading the wrong version. This is the newest version: 'Tis But a Scratch! With your thick skin, and aberration and abnormal organs now able to shift and move to avoid damage, you are able to take no damage from sharp, thrown things. Prerequisite: Aberration Blood, Natural Armor +3 Benefit: Whenever a thrown weapon deals piercing damage that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage, and the weapon goes halfway though you. You may then draw this weapon, as the Draw a Weapon action. Well it's in you, you may not use it to attack.
Mark_Aged 09-16-07, 08:27 AM	Bump.
KitsuneSoup 09-17-07, 04:18 AM	I don't like it. First, it makes them invincible to thrown weapons. that would reduce your HP to 0 or less you take no damage Every monster in the world would want this. I realize it's half of a joke, but even still, that monster is going to destroy everyone, and throwing spears at enemies is going outta style really fast. 'Tis But a Scratch sigh General You are difficult to kill with thrown weapons. Prerequisites: Abberation or Abberation Blood, natural armour +3 or higher Benefit: You gain DR 6/- against piercing ranged attacks. Weapons that do not defeat your DR are not destroyed, and on your next move action, you may draw any such weapon. Thematically, it's interesting, I suppose, but spears don't seem they go into robots at all, and it almost sounds more like you're aiming for an ooze monster, not an abberation. KS
Mark_Aged 09-17-07, 10:57 AM	Nah, you where looking in to it to deep. Think about it, not even a kobold has just a spear, they always have a sling on their person. So at first, it seems like your invincible against thrown weapons that deal piercing damage, but you just can't die from them. Think about it, kobolds throw all kinds of spears, see that your not dead, and shot some lead bullets at you with slings. It's not that great when you think about it.
KitsuneSoup 09-17-07, 11:37 AM	So at first, it seems like your invincible against thrown weapons that deal piercing damage, but you just can't die from them. -head explodes in strange cloud of red mist and strange whatthehell- Clarfication? Do you mean, you want to be able to taken all the way down to 1hp, but by Ra, that last point better come from a bow? Because then, this just took the highway of humour off-ramp to Useless Avenue. Blowing a feat for DR that doesn't work until a chld throwing a rock kills you? KS
Mark_Aged 09-17-07, 11:54 AM	Well, not dying is better then taking less damage. As you said, you have 1 HP left, your running out of battle, and a spear is chucked at you. I deals 10 damage, making you going in to dying mode (with DR), or you take no damage at all (my way).
RobbyPants 09-17-07, 12:12 PM	Well, not dying is better then taking less damage. As you said, you have 1 HP left, your running out of battle, and a spear is chucked at you. I deals 10 damage, making you going in to dying mode (with DR), or you take no damage at all (my way). Well, compare it to the rogue's (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/rogue.htm) ability, Defensive Roll: Defensive Roll (Ex) The rogue can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it than she otherwise would. Once per day, when she would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), the rogue can attempt to roll with the damage. To use this ability, the rogue must attempt a Reflex saving throw (DC = damage dealt). If the save succeeds, she takes only half damage from the blow; if it fails, she takes full damage. She must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute her defensive roll—if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, she can’t use this ability. Since this effect would not normally allow a character to make a Reflex save for half damage, the rogue’s evasion ability does not apply to the defensive roll. This is pretty similar to your feat, but it can only be done once per day. Granted, your feat is a bit more specific (only applying to thrown weapons), but this is a level 10+ rogue ability. I think you need to tone it down a bit. I have three suggestions: Drop the "does no damage" clause, and switch to something else (damage reduction, higher AC, whatever). Make it useable once per day and add in a Reflex saving throw. Without some change, it's too powerful.
Mark_Aged 09-17-07, 12:35 PM	Well remember, it doesn't apply to all thrown weapons, just against thrown weapons that deal piercing damage. That means if the spear or dagger or whatever is magic, this won't effect it. Is that good?
RobbyPants 09-17-07, 01:17 PM	Well remember, it doesn't apply to all thrown weapons, just against thrown weapons that deal piercing damage. That means if the spear or dagger or whatever is magic, this won't effect it. Is that good? Yes and no. Because the feat is so limited in it's scope, it will either be incredibly powerful, or utterly pointless, depending on the situation. What I see happening in your campaign world is something akin to the evolution of weapons and armor (historically speaking). The basic premise is that people would develop an armor to help protect them from the prevalent weapons. At that point, the people would need to come up with new weapons to penetrate the armor. With the old armor obsolete, new armors would be created to protect against these new weapons. The pattern continues. Basically, it seems that thrown piercing weapons are really popular. So people come up with a way to protect themselves from them (your feat). Once this happens, people are going to stop throwing spears, and just start throwing axes and hammers to compensate. Will there eventually be feats that protect them from slashing or bludgeoning projectiles? This is one of the reasons I think you should consider designing your feat to apply to a more broad set of circumstances, but make it less powerful. While a flat DR 3 against piercing projectiles would not be as cool as taking no damage (if dropped to 0 HP), it wouldn't be so powerful that people would want to stop using spears.
Mark_Aged 09-17-07, 02:13 PM	No, there won't be feats to protect against slashing or bludgeoning projectiles. Remember, this is an aberration feat, and not everyone is an aberration.
RobbyPants 09-17-07, 04:18 PM	No, there won't be feats to protect against slashing or bludgeoning projectiles. Remember, this is an aberration feat, and not everyone is an aberration. That's true, I forgot you changed it. How often are the PCs going to be fighting aberrations? If it's fairly often, it might still make thown piercing weapons less than effective.
Mark_Aged 09-17-07, 05:37 PM	Not too often. There will be like, 2 to 4 encounters with them, and a small village in the middle of nowhere filled with only aberrations late in the game, that the PCs will only find if they happen to bumble around till they happen to find it.
Mark_Aged 09-19-07, 08:55 AM	Bump.
Mark_Aged 09-22-07, 11:19 AM	Bump.
Mark_Aged 09-24-07, 10:06 AM	Bump.