Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Novacat Aug 02, 2009 22:47:14	Forever separated from the rest of the human race, both by their culture, and by the ancient curse that struck their skin the purest white, Belenians hold themselves as the true image of humanity. Belenians have wrought many woes upon the mortal world; some by design, and some by ignorance. It is from the womb of Belenia that the first vampire was born, and from their pride was forged the fall mankind by the demon-hordes of Raz'Thel. Even after this terrible mistake, it was the Belenians who opened the door for the demons into the New World, through the creation of the Tieflings. Still, for all their sins, the Belenians remain what they always were: the children of the Great City of Belen, forever wandering without a nation to call home. Now, with the Old World overrun by demons, and all hope of returning to Belen vanished, they have accepted their fate, and thrown in their lot with mankind and the many peoples of Arkhosia, bestowing upon them the Belenians' mastery of fear. For masters they are. To a Belenian, fear is a weapon; a tool to be used against one's enemies. To feel fear is to be weak, and to strike fear into others is to know power. A Belenian spends his entire childhood learning how to harness fear, to know it as a warrior knows his own blade. A true Belenian need not even try to intimidate those around him; an accomplished child of Belen should strike uncertainty into all around him simply by being there. Ability Scores: +2 INT and CHA Size: Medium Speed: 6 Vision: Normal Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Intimidate Fearless: +2 to defenses vs Fear attacks, and +5 to saving throws to end fear effect Belenian Terror: You may use your highest ability modifier, instead of your Charisma modifier, on Intimidate checks.
#2 Novacat Aug 02, 2009 22:55:17	Racial Feats Heroic Tier Improved Belenian Presence [Belenian] Prerquisite: Belenian, Belenian Presence racial power Benefit: On a miss, your Belenian Presence power bestows a -1 penalty to attack rolls on the target until the end of your next turn. Know No Fear [Belenian] Prerquisite: Belenian, Fearless racial feature Benefit: The bonus to defenses against Fear effects increases to +4 Strike the Fearful Prerequisite: Belenian Benefit: You gain a +1 to attack rolls against targets suffering from any Fear effect. Paragon Tier The "Stare" Prerequisite: Belenian, Belenian Presence racial power, 11th level or higher Benefit: Your Belenian Presence becomes a Close Burst 5. At 21st level, it becomes a Close Burst 8. True Image of Humanity Prerequisite: Belenian Benefit: After each extended rest, your Action Points reset to 2 instead of 1. Epic Tier Face of Terror Prerequisite: Belenian, Belenian Presence racial power, 21st level or higher Benefit: Your Belenian Presence power becomes a Close Burst 10. Unearthly Visage Prerequisite: Belenian, Belenian Presence racial power, 21st level or higher Benefit: When you reduce an enemy to 0 HP or fewer, all enemies that can see you take a -1 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn. Creatures immune to fear are also immune to this effect.
#3 Novacat Aug 03, 2009 23:21:48	I would appreciate some feedback, particularly regarding the mechanical aspect of the race. I want their fear-effect to be relatively small, so that it's usable at-will, but it's still significant.
#4 Crimson_Concerto Aug 03, 2009 23:46:38	Belenian Terror: When using an attack power with the Fear keyword, you may roll the attack twice and take the better of the two rolls. I don't think this is a good idea. It's far too niche and just way too useless to too many classes. The majority of classes out there either don't have attacks with the fear keyword or have too few to really consider, and so this racial feature becomes completely useless to them. Racial feature that are awesome for some classes and completely useless for others are bad. This should get turned into a racial feat.
#5 bartleby42 Aug 04, 2009 0:20:33	[CENTER][SIZE="5"] Ability Scores: +2 INT and CHA Size: Medium Speed: 6 Vision: Normal Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Intimidate Fearless: +2 to defenses vs Fear attacks, and +5 to saving throws to end fear effect All well and good. Belenian Terror: When using an attack power with the Fear keyword, you may roll the attack twice and take the better of the two rolls. Wow. This is elven accuracy for every attack with a particular keyword. Way too strong. Starlocks would be pretty much required to take this race. How about, when spending an action point to take an extra action you may reroll the attack roll of a power with the fear keyword, you must take the second roll?
#6 Novacat Aug 04, 2009 1:01:23	Update: I have altered the Belenian Presence power, as well as the Belenian Terror feature, based on the observations here. Belenian Presence is no longer At-Will, and is no longer a Minor Action, but it now affects all enemies in a small Burst. Belenian Terror has been altered to remain equally useful to most classes, or more specifically, changes Intimidate to be equally effective for all classes. I kept Belenian Presence as a Skill check vs Will, because I really like how it parallels normal uses of Intimidate, and really reflects on the character's ability to scare folk. I'll be reworking some of the now-obsolete feats momentarily.
#7 Crimson_Concerto Aug 04, 2009 4:03:12	This racial power should most definitely NOT be a standard action. In fact, there are very few racial powers that will ever work as a standard action. In all my time critiquing homebrew races, I've only every seen one racial power that worked okay as a standard action. The reason this is bad is that the standard action is the action that a character uses in order to fulfills its class and party role. Other uses of the standard action (such as second wind and total defense) simply do not see consistent per encounter use for exactly this reason. A standard action racial power thus forces the character to play out of role or never make use of the power. This is exactly the reason that the Minotaur's Goring Charge is a terribly designed racial power. Minor action was perfectly fine before. The power had problems, but that was not the part of the power that needed fixing. Returning the racial power to a minor action and bringing it back to affecting only one target (maybe two) will make the race perfectly fine... You could even let it target one creature at heroic tier, two creatures at paragon tier, and three creatures at epic tier.
#8 Polis Aug 04, 2009 10:16:30	Don't mean to nitpick your fluff but Tieflings are devils not demons.
#9 Novacat Aug 04, 2009 10:47:54	Don't mean to nitpick your fluff but Tieflings are devils not demons. In my setting, "demon" and "devil" are synonyms, with "demon" being the more common term.
#10 Novacat Aug 04, 2009 11:29:22	Update: Reduced Belenian Presence to a minor action, and one target per tier. I've left the related feats alone, since they're still relevant, and now serve only as extra range for the power.
#11 bartleby42 Aug 05, 2009 14:20:50	Much better! It looks fine as it is now. True Image of Humanity seems a little much for a paragon tier feat, esp. if you are bard. But if it was published I would probably just sigh heavily.