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#1 Mist-Bound Aug 14, 2008 13:58:46

I have relatively little knowledge of the minutia of DarkSun, but I have heard of it, and I'm particularly fascinated by its concept of Defiling Magic- magic that is augmented by draining the life-energies from the land around the caster. I've been aiming to incorporate this, in a somewhat altered fashion, into my own 4e games- in this case, Defiling Magic is a shunned and reviled secret of the arcane arts, not a default ability of any apprentice turned loose on the world. I've been thinking that the way to handle things might be in a series of related feats- this does mean that you give up a lot of other capabilities if you want to focus on defiling, but that seems thematically appropriate. I admit that it does trouble me somewhat, so if people can suggest other ways to handle it, please feel free. These are the rudimentary concepts for said Defiling feats... I have no real experience with creating rules of any sort, so I desperately need feedback on these. Heroic tier feats Defiler You have learned to drain the lifeforce from the earth and plants around you to augment your magic. Prerequisite: you must be a Wizard or have taken the Wizard multi-class feat. Benefit: when you cast a spell, you may choose to drain energy from the land around you to either increase the damage dealt by +1 die (so 4D6 becomes 5D6). Special: the land around you in a 1 square close burst is sucked dry of life when you choose to defile, leaving it a sterile scar of ash and dust. Consequently, until you leave the defiled area, you cannot make use of this ability again. Extend Defiling You have learned to draw power from an even wider area. Prerequisite: Defiler Benefit: you may increase the area you draw power from by an extra square. For each extra square of land defiled, you increase the power of your defiling boost by +1 die. Special: you may select this feat multiple times, allowing you to further extend the area you can drain. You do not have to drain the maximum area that you can drain; it is entirely up to you. Special: you may use this ability's 'controlled drain' to acquire more power while still within a defiled area- in this case, you only gain the benefit of draining the lifeforce from the previously untouched land. If you have defiled 1 squares of land around you, then choose to defile 3 squares of land, you only count as having defiled 2 squares of land for your defiling benefits, as the first square of land has already been sucked dry. Paragon tier feats Revitalise You have learned to feed the energy you draw from the land into yourself, healing your wounds and restoring your energies. Prerequisite: Defiler Benefit: when you choose to defile, rather than augmenting your damage you may instead choose to regain hitpoints as though you had successfully used a healing surge. Power Surge Your skill at draining energy now allows you to further intensify the magics that you cast by infusing them with stolen lifeforce. Prerequisite: Defiler, Extend Defiling Benefit: when you choose to defile, rather than increasing the damage die, you may choose to instead increase the damage die type of your cast spell by one step. D3 becomes D4, D4 becomes D6, D6 becomes D8, D8 becomes D10, and D10 becomes D12- this is the maximum amount you can boost your spell's damage to. Epic tier feats Infusion By stealing the lifeforce from the land, you can replenish your own arcane energies. Prerequisite: Defiler, Revitalise Benefit: when you choose to defile, you may choose to regain one expended Encounter or Daily spell instead of either increasing damage or regaining hit points.