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View Full Version : Need a little help with player powers in my d&d 3.5 game



Kapelteta
2012-06-14, 03:57 AM
I'm fairly new to running a game (3.5), and I am looking for some help with designing part of my campaign.

As far as storyline goes the players will be lost and wandering through a large plain. They will come across an injured human with white hair who is on the verge of death. The human is an agent of one of the local kings, and was sent to investigate why spellcasters in another hostile nation were disappearing. While returning he was ambushed and grievously wounded, but managed to escape his captors who are close on his trail. He knows that there is no hope of surviving long enough to evade his captors any longer, and so enlists the aid of the players to finish delivering his report.

The agents that this human is part of have special powers and knowledge ( in this case the reason for the disappearance of spellcasters) that are passed on through the exchange of blood, and will offer/trick/compell the players into such an exchange.

What I am trying to come up with is appropriate powers for each type. I am going to be using elemental types divided into fire, earth, air, and water with a player each taking on one of them. I would like to have 3 powers for each that come into effect at the level they are infected and every 2 levels thereafter.

Fire
1

Darkvision (1/day for a number of rounds equal to your Cha Modifier min 1)

2

Darkvision (2/day)
ability to add flaming and flaming burst to held weapon (1/day for 3 rounds) or change the damage type of next spell cast to fire/empower spell cast that already has fire descriptor

3

Darkvision (3/day)
flaming and flaming burst (2/day for 3 rounds), next 2 spells
Your speed is increased by x1.5 and where you walk you leave behind a 5ft. wide Wall of Fire (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/wallOfFire.htm) whose duration is equal to your Charisma Modifier and caster level is equal to your character level. Effect ends at the end of your turn, and does no damage to you on this turn or the next.


Earth
1

Tremorsense (1/day for a number of rounds equal to your Con Modifier min 1)

2

Tremorsense (2/day)
ability to add corrosive and acidic burst to held weapon (1/day for 3 rounds) or change the damage type of next spell cast to acid/empower spell cast that already has acid descriptor

3

Tremorsense (3/day)
corrosive and acidic burst (2/day for 3 rounds), next 2 spells
Earth Glide 1/day with a duration equal to your Constitution Modifier in rounds (min 1)


Air
1

Blindsense based on hearing (1/day for a number of rounds equal to your Int Modifier min 1)

2

Blindsense (2/day)
ability to add shocking and shocking burst to held weapon (1/day for 3 rounds) or change the damage type of next spell cast to sonic/empower spell cast that already has sonic descriptor

3

Blindsense (3/day)
shocking and shocking burst (2/day for 3 rounds), next 2 spells
ability to become ethereal 1/day with a duration of 1/2 your Intelligence Modifier in rounds


Water
1

Ability to use Clairvoyant Sense (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/clairvoyantSense.htm) except that the range is 800ft. and the duration is concentration (Wis Modifier Max. Min of 1) (1/day)

2

Clairvoyant Sense (2/day)
ability to add frost and icy burst to held weapon (1/day for 3 rounds) or change the damage type of next spell cast to water or ice/empower spell cast that already has water or ice descriptor

3

Clairvoyant Sense (3/day)
frost and icy burst (2/day for 3 rounds), next 2 spells
Teleport without error to the location within 800ft. that you last scryed (with Clairvoyant Sense) a number of times per day equal to 1/2 Wisdom Modifier (min 1)


In general I would like the first ability to be some sort of sensing ability enhancement, the second to be offensively focused, and the third to be some sort of movement related ability (although none of those are locked in stone)

Also what kind of adjustment in enemy strength do you think I would need to implement to still keep the game from stagnating when they get all these abilities.

Another thought that occured to me would be to have the ability strength/duration based off of a ability modifier Cha for Fire, Con for Earth, Int for Air, and Wis for Water.

Additionally I had planed on having the characters hair color change to the elements corresponding color as they gain more powers (red for fire, black for earth, green for air, and white for water) as a little flavor.

I welcome any thoughts or opinions about how I could change or modify any of the above.:smallbiggrin:

JeminiZero
2012-06-14, 07:54 AM
Traditional D&D has the 4 classical elements tied to 1 energy type:
Earth: Acid
Fire: Fire
Wind: Lightning
Water: Cold

Hence earth element is usually correlated to acid, so you could give that as the earth offensive ability.

Water element is usually correlated to cold damage, so you could use that instead of sonic for the offensive ability.

For Water senses, you could use Blindsense that only works under water, similiar to a shark (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shark.htm). Then change the Air senses to Blindsense that only works in air.

Also, you could give scaling elemental resistance for each level, as appropriate for each correlated element type.

For movement mode I would use recommend something milder for all the elements. Probably:

Earth: Burrow
Fire: ???
Wind: Flight
Water: Water Breathing + Swim Speed

Fire sadly has no associated movement form. So maybe you could give it an effect similiar to Burn ability of Fire Elementals, possibly based off the fire shield (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fireShield.htm) spell.

Yitzi
2012-06-14, 08:54 AM
For the Fire element movement power, consider giving the effects of the Fire Stride (http://dndtools.eu/spells/forgotten-realms-campaign-setting--19/fire-stride--1219/) spell.

Cipher Stars
2012-06-14, 11:57 AM
Earth: Burrow
Fire: ???
Wind: Flight
Water: Water Breathing + Swim Speed

Fire sadly has no associated movement form. So maybe you could give it an effect similiar to Burn ability of Fire Elementals, possibly based off the fire shield (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fireShield.htm) spell.

Climb Speed. Fire clings pretty well to all sorts of surfaces. Sure, there are some things fire doesn't stick to but that's not really the point.

Kapelteta
2012-06-14, 01:26 PM
Traditional D&D has the 4 classical elements tied to 1 energy type:
Earth: Acid
Fire: Fire
Wind: Lightning
Water: Cold

Hence earth element is usually correlated to acid, so you could give that as the earth offensive ability.

Now that you mention acid it seems so obvious l:smallsigh:



For the Fire element movement power, consider giving the effects of the Fire Stride spell.

Ooo... I really like that I may implement a similar ability for water, and then give water the ability to scry from one pool to another as its first ability so they know where they are going where as fire is only line of sight.

I think I am going to use Ethereal Jaunt for winds movement ability, but I am going to have to limit it somehow so that it is on the same level as the others since Ethereal Jaunt is a level 7 spell while Earth glide is level 5 and Fires Stride is level 4... Maybe I will just use fly after all since it is a level 3, but then I'm gonna have to make it a little stronger to keep up with the other 2... decisions decisions:smalltongue:

Will update main post tomorrow... off to bed for now.

Deepbluediver
2012-06-14, 02:31 PM
Traditional D&D has the 4 classical elements tied to 1 energy type:
Earth: Acid
Fire: Fire
Wind: Lightning
Water: Cold
Huh, I never realized acid was supposed to be earth-related. I always picture the classic "Rock" when I think about earth-powers.


Earth: Burrow
Fire: ???
Wind: Flight
Water: Water Breathing + Swim Speed

Fire sadly has no associated movement form. So maybe you could give it an effect similiar to Burn ability of Fire Elementals, possibly based off the fire shield (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fireShield.htm) spell.
Why not give fire a bonus to ground-based movement speed, like a monk? It's not quite as thematically appropriate as the rest, but it's something.

Plus, movies and cartoons have often shown fast-moving characters leave trails of fire behind them. :smallbiggrin:

Kapelteta
2012-06-15, 07:58 AM
Why not give fire a bonus to ground-based movement speed, like a monk? It's not quite as thematically appropriate as the rest, but it's something.

Plus, movies and cartoons have often shown fast-moving characters leave trails of fire behind them. :smallbiggrin:

Thanks for the idea hope you like my implementation :smallbiggrin:

Also made a few other changes like adding teleport as the 3rd level of water, although im not completely satisfied with that. It doesn't feel "watery" enough? :smallconfused: Maybe I should add some type of focus thingy to it?

TheWombatOfDoom
2012-06-15, 08:07 AM
Perhaps for fire movement, you could improve the player's speed. Fire burns quickly, afterall.

With water, perhaps to attach it more to water, whereever you teleport to must also have water. It could act as a liquid gateway, and counterbalance perfectly teleporting.