Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 serkai Mar 10, 2011 6:43:08	Hi there. I'm in the middle of running a campaign based on the manga Ravemaster (written by Hiro Mashima), and thus far I've been simply making stuff up on the top of my head when it comes to manga-specific details (such as the Ravestones and the artifact-sword Ten Commandments, more on them further down). Lately, however, I've been noticing that my homebrew materials have outbalanced the group of PCs, and that battles either end before they even start, or take X hours to complete. So, I've decided to ask for help on this matter. First of all, I'd like to ask help on the various new classes that would be needed for the remake. Here's a list, and as simple a description as i can make, of the classes. Ravemaster: This is the main protagonist of the campaign, the one unique character chosen by the holy ravestones to be their wielder. The RM fights using the shape-changing artifact sword Ten Commandments(TCM), which alters it's powers according to the shape it currently has. As long as the TCM is 'set' with a ravestone, the ravemaster can activate the shape-changing ability, transforming it into one of ten different shapes. Which shapes are available depends on how many of the ravestones the RM are in possession of. According to the manga, the ravemaster graduates into something called the Sword Saint once all shapes of the TCM has been unlocked, so I would assume that could be used as an epic destiny or something. Silverclaimer: The silverclaimer is an alchemist of sort, someone who has linked their soul to an object of silver, forming what is known as Soul Silver. Through force of will, aided by the soul silver, the silverclaimer is able to alter silver according to their will, much like how the elemental chaos can be influenced by strong-willed personalities. The silverclaimer in the manga also uses their soul silver as a weapon, reshaping it into spears, shields and whips, and through the burning of ones own soul silver during an attack the silverclaimer can inflict unblockable 'true' damage in exchange for their own life. Dragon Monk: This is much like the average monk in D&D, a strong fighter that battles using martial arts. The dragon monk uses moves inspired by the various dragon species that inhabits the world, and in the manga the dragon monk does not have more than one move per dragon kind. This class, I have more or less just taken the normal D&D4 monk and altered the names of it's powers, but a more specific version would be cool. Now let's proceed beyond the classes, and enter into the realm of items and other stuff. Here I will give a simple list and descriptions of various items and special powers that exist in the manga. Ravestones: These are the five fragments of Holy Bring, a legendary stone created by Etherion, the power that gave birth to the gods. Each fragment holds different powers (knowledge, combat-prowess, telepathy, foresight and the 'implement' for the TCM), and together they help the ravemaster utilize the full powers of the TCM. Sinclaires: These are the evil replicas of the Ravestones, and they help the Darkbringer utilize the full powers of the Decalogue, the evil twin of the TCM, Just like the ravestones, the five pieces of sinclaire each have different powers (damage-negation, time-reversal, gravity-controll, domination over the darkbrings, and the 'implement' for the Decalogue) and together they help the darkbringer utilize the full powers of the Decalogue. Darkbrings: These are the weaker (but still considderably powerful) offspring of the Sinclaires, each with their own powers and abilities. They are separated into two categories, Elemental DBs and Reverse DBs. All in all there are 6 Elemental DBs, each controlling a different 'element' (fire, ice, air, earth, 'life' and 'flowing'), while there are 4 Reverse DBs. The elemental ones are the ones that I might need help with how to make, sinc the reverse ones mostly transform a human into a monster or something simillar. Etherion: This is the original power of the world, the force that created the world and anything in it (if we use D&D terms, I guess it was the power from where the gods and primordials came?). This is the power that was used to create the ravestones, and so far only one person is known to have wielded it throughout history. One of the main protagonists in the manga also carries this power, but she is more or less unable to controll it, causing it to flare uncontrollably around her when her emotions are extremely out of balance. Figuring this out is probably one of the biggest knots in my mind atm... Here is some more detail about the TCM (and Decalogue, since it's the same thing, more or less). The TCM has ten different forms, each with it's own specific powers. Here follows the list. Eisen Meteor (First Shape): Eisen Meteor is basically just a big lump of iron, a regular vertisale sword. It is shown to have some kind of ability to penetrate magical defenses, but it is so small it is neglectable. Explosion (2nd Shape): Explosion is a fire-type weapon that creates explosions wherever the blade violently collides with something. Thus far, I simply made the weapon deal an extra 5 fire damage per tier to the target and any creature adjacent to the target. Silpharion (3rd Shape): The silpharion is the speed blade, allowing the ravemaster to move faster and attack more frequently. The speed I fixed by allowing the ravemaster to shift 2 before or after attacking with this weapon, and since the campaign hasn't proceeded far enough for the extra attacks to matter, i haven't thought of it yet. Runesave (4th Shape): This is a hard nut to crack... Runesave is a weapon that cannot harm solid materia, such as trees, rock or creatures. It can, however, negate magic and affect non-solid matter, such as water, fog or fire. In the manga, it is used to negate powerful magic used against the ravemaster and his friends, and at one pint it is used to temporarily silence a strom that's been raging for over 50 years. Blue Crimson (5th Shape): The Blue Crimson is a pair of short swords, one focues around cold and ice while the other focuses on heat and fire. This was fairly easy to addapt after, since I just added the appropriate damage type and dice, but since I still don't quite understand how dualwielding works on D&D4, I figured I'd mention it here none-the-less. Currently using two-weapon ranger powers for this weapon. Melforce (6th Shape): This is a 'I push you because you are too close' kind of weapon. It is used almost only to push, pull or slide one or more targets. As of now, I let the ravemaster pick between making a reach 5 attack or pushing the target 3 squares when attacking with this sword. Gravity Core (7th Shape): Except for the fact that this sword is heavy, not much is told about it in the manga (as far as I can recall, at least). It is seen flattening a formation of sharp rocks to protect the ravemaster as he is falling once, and I belive it is capable of grounding flying targets within a certain space from the ravemaster, but that I am unsure of. Million Suns (8th Shape): This is a brilliantly shining sword of radiant power. It is used as daylight to kill a vampire, it is also used as a sunflash to blind enemies and as a torch to light the way in dark caves. I'm not sure on how to translate this one into D&D material either, so I just made it radiate sunlight and deal radiant damage. Sacrifar (9th Shape): This one... is difficult. While using this sword, the ravemaster gains unrivaled power, ignoring any damage recieved, dealing insane amounts of damage and benefits from increased defenses, reaction speed and movement speed. The downside is that once activated, it gets harder and harder to revert the TCM into some other weapon, and the longer Sacrifar is active, the more it corrupts the ravemaster, until in the end, the ravemaster simply goes into a berserk rage, attacking any and all living things, rampaging on until someone manages to remove the sword from the ravemaster, at which point the TCM reverts back to the original form (Eisen Meteor). Honestly, I have no idea how to apply this in the D&D system -.-;; I made it so that the sword eats a healing surge per round used, deals double damage and regenerates 10 hit points per tier. I also made it so that a saving throw is neccessary to change form, and that the DC is at +1 per healing surge lost to sacrifar. Lastly, the ravemaster suffers extreme damage to the nervs after having used sacrifar, to the point of being unable to grip anything with the primary weapon hand (right in this case), and I'm considdering representing this with a -1 penality per healing surge lost to sacrifar to any checks that requires the use of the right hand. This penality would then vanish at a rate of -1 per extended rest, or something along those lines. Ravelt (Last Shape): This is the last shape of the TCM, and except for the fact that it unlocks the full power of the other 9 forms, I don't remember much about it. I'll get back to it once I've reread the manga >_<;; The forms of the TCM are just that, forms. With the exception of Sacrifar, they are supposed to be like magic weapons, growing in strength alongside the ravemaster (starting at +1 and ending at +6). In addition to this, the ravemaster is able to use powers by channeling his combat-prowess into the TCM via the ravestones. This is where things get messy for me. The ravemaster is supposed to have various attacks depending on which form of TCM he is currently using, and I'll go into a simple list of those below. Most of these attacks are actually combinations or boosts of the various base powers of the TCM forms. Wings of Explosion: This attack sends a volley of small projectiles that explode on impact, dealing small damage over a large area. It originates from melforce and explosion. Silver Rush: Silver rush is a boosted version of silpharion that allows the ravemaster to move fast enough for the foes to think he teleported, and to also make attacks during that movement (move your speed and basic attack and adjacent target during the move, or something?). Burst Dance: Burst Dance is another combo-tech between melforce and explosion, this one creating a powerful blast of wind to push/slide targets into position before detonating a small but high-powered explosion at the very edge of the burst of wind. Runeforce: Pumped up version of Runesave, used mainly for RPing (this is what was used to silence the storm mentioned above, for instance). Not sure if it should be included here... Dual Explosion: This is basically a two-hit attack with the regular explosion, nothing all that difficult about it. Freeze Flash: This is a close blast attack that freezes the target/s in place and sets them aflame. Probably fairly simple to make as well... Meteor Crash: Heavy weight attack that uses explosions blast-attribute together with gravity cores extreme weight and damage potentual. Should be a single target high-damage attack that prones in a blast centered on the target, or something along this lines. As a sidenote, I'm currently letting the ravemaster shift between forms as a -no action- at the start of his turn. This action can only be done at the start of a turn, so the ravemaster cannot use more than one form per combat round. Now then, at long last, on to my problem. First of all, I would be delighted to hear what people think of this. I do have even more detailed information on almost anything mentioned here, so if you would need more information before feeling up to the task of c&c'ing, just let me know, and I will post it. Thank you for your time, and good fortune be with you for reading this far. Oh, and as a side note, the last boss of this campaign is naturally the Darkbringer, who is supposed to be a solo version of the character playing the ravemaster. Does anyone know of any good places where I can find tips on how to transfer a PC into a solo mob...?
#2 LightWarden Mar 10, 2011 14:45:05	Personally, I'd figure out why you want to do this.  Full class design is the hardest design task in 4e to do well.  It requires an enormous amount of effort and thought. When it comes to 4e, I am of the personal opinion that if you're trying to emulate a certain individual character's capabilities, it does not warrant a whole class, at least not one in the style of the ones released in the Player's Handbooks.  It may be a remarkably interesting concept, but unlike in 3.5e, a concept has difficulty holding up an entire class by itself.  The PHB classes (in my opinion, at least) are supposed to be able to encompass a variety of character concepts- the Rogue class can allow you to play a sharpshooter skulking through the shadows, a brutal legbreaking thug who closes in and beats people to death, a flashy and stylish con artist, or some other concept entirely.  Trying to build a class based on one individual's capabilities is like trying to make the Artful Dodger rogue into a class of its own.  It gets limiting very quickly, especially if you want to provide more than just a handful of powers (because removing character options from players isn't a lot of fun).  Themes or Essentials-style subclasses are a different story. As you've already noticed with your dragon monk, it can be easier to see if you can adapt an existing idea and expand it somewhat.  So taking the monk class and then adding in some powers like a close blast of fire or whatever would be great.  Now, your description of the silverclaimer is impossible to work with because I can't even tell what role it would fulfill (since its description is basically that it "does things with silver", which sounds a good deal like a theme rather than a class, same for Etherion and the various Dark Brings), but for your Rave Master, your description makes me think of using something like the Slayer/Scout from the Essentials line.  As you said, different forms can be equated to different stances, but while the Slayer and Scout have one particular encounter power (Power Strike, which you can use once per turn as a free action when you hit with an attack), I'd instead grant the class something similar to the power point mechanic.  Different stances can enhance your basic attacks in different ways (and change the properties of the weapon you're attacking with), and you can spend power points/charges to activate different special attacks based on the stance you're in.  It would grant a progression that matches what you've got and provides for some flexibility.