PDA

View Full Version : New Deity/Cleric Spell: Libron



drawingfreak
2007-06-11, 07:11 PM
Libron, the Great Writer
Domains: Knowledge, Law
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Titles: the Author of All, the Great Writer, Keeper of the Book
According to his followers, Libron wrote the universe into existence and continues to write in the Book to this day. His clerics use the written word to cast their spells. His favored weapon is the quarterstaff.

New Clerical Spell
Edit Time
Divination
Level: Clr 5
Components: M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Area: 50 ft. Radius Burst
Duration: -1 minute/level starting at Lvl 5
Saving Throw: none
Spell Resistance: none
A follower of Libron may use thieir holy book to re-write a brief moment in history once per day. At 5th level, they can edit up to 1 minute of time, adding on a minute per level. At one point in history this spell was once able to be cast constantly, but this became a problem to Libron as it started to drastically work against the Story.
Material Component: Holy Book of the followers of Libron, ink, writing utensil

The Readers of the Story
Clerics of Libron are known as the Readers of the Story, Readers for short. They burn ink as sacrifice to their deity and use Holy Books, bound and blessed by the highest of their order, to cast their spells by writing it into the pages.
Each of the 20 blank pages of the Holy Book has space for 25 lines. Each line can hold 1 spell. Overall, 1 Holy Book has space for 500 spells. Holy Books cannot be sold.
Anything can be used as the "ink" to write the spells with, though black ink is preferableas the Great Writer also uses black ink. However, if one is unable to use ink for one reason or another, there are no penalties. In fact, a subsection of the Readers use their own blood, thinking the personal experience would bring them closer to their god. This faction calls itself the Blood Writers. Their practice is not forbidden, but they are seen as arrogant for calling themselves Writers instead of Readers.

Pilgramage notes to come...

Poppatomus
2007-06-11, 07:12 PM
You in the middle of writing a thesis too?

EDIT: Also, ignoring the spell for the moment, shouldn't the weapon be something more specific to a writer? I mean, it could be something like, a Large, sharpened fountain pen, wielded as a dagger (same statistics). Or an oversized tome of various writings wielded as a two handed great club.

Korias
2007-06-11, 07:23 PM
Libron, the Great Writer
Domains: Knowledge, Law
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Titles: the Author of All, the Great Writer, Keeper of the Book
According to his followers, Libron wrote the universe into existence and continues to write in the Book to this day. His clerics use the written word to cast their spells. His favored weapon is the quarterstaff.

New Cleical Spell
Edit Time
Divination
Level: Clr 5
Components: M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Area: 50 ft. Radius Burst
Duration: -1 minute/level
Saving Throw: none
Spell Resistance: none
A follower of Libron may use thieir holy book to re-write a brief moment in history once per day. At one point in history this spell was once able to be cast constantly, but this became a problem to Libron as it started to drastically work against the Story.
Material Component: Holy Book of the followers of Libron, ink, writing utensil

more detailed notes on Clerics of Libron to come...

Can anybody say "Munchkin"?

While the God is cool, the spell is overpowered for a Cleric 5 spell. Make it so that it can only effect a very small amount of time, like the Omega 13 from Galaxy Quest. Editing time is a huge thing. It puts the player in direct control of the enviroment, which is the DM's world.

drawingfreak
2007-06-15, 04:05 PM
You in the middle of writing a thesis too?

EDIT: Also, ignoring the spell for the moment, shouldn't the weapon be something more specific to a writer? I mean, it could be something like, a Large, sharpened fountain pen, wielded as a dagger (same statistics). Or an oversized tome of various writings wielded as a two handed great club.
The quarterstaff was chosen due to the clerical pilgrimage (soon to be editted in to the top post). Like the pen idea though.


Can anybody say "Munchkin"?

While the God is cool, the spell is overpowered for a Cleric 5 spell. Make it so that it can only effect a very small amount of time, like the Omega 13 from Galaxy Quest. Editing time is a huge thing. It puts the player in direct control of the enviroment, which is the DM's world.
Munchkin.........there I said it. (j/k) Was it something in Munchkin 3 cause all I have is 1 and 2 and I don't see what you are referring to.

Also, working on the spell duration now. I realized that with what I have there now, they would automatically get 5 minutes to edit. Bad move. First post will be editted shortly.

Poppatomus
2007-06-15, 04:10 PM
I'm a bit unclear on what that spell does still. Does that mean that a 10th level cleric can write down what happened over a ten minute span at some point in history and thus no what happened in some particular time and place? Does it mean that, ten minutes after losing a battle a 10th level cleric can change history so that a Solar showed up for 5 minutes to help him win, killed his enemy, then cast a wish on the priest to increase his attributes?

what is the spell supposed to allow a person to do?

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2007-06-15, 08:52 PM
A little clarification: a Munchkin is someone who focuses on uber powerful characters, also known as powergaming. The comment was because one could simply erase the main villain. Change history so he died 2 seconds ago. This shoulod be an epic spell. seriously.

drawingfreak
2007-06-18, 01:11 PM
A little clarification: a Munchkin is someone who focuses on uber powerful characters, also known as powergaming. The comment was because one could simply erase the main villain. Change history so he died 2 seconds ago. This shoulod be an epic spell. seriously.
Guess I'll be needing some help restricting this spell. Any suggestions?
I prefer it being non-epic...also maybe a single digit level spell. Thing is, all the games I play only last so long, due to college. Only NPCs have been level 10 and over. If I was to play this game when the school year begins anew, then I want whoever plays the cleric to eventually gain this spell.

Terror_Incognito
2007-06-19, 11:28 PM
I think it should give an Insight bonus to hit and AC.

Also, perhaps this could be a retro active spell, meaning the Cleric must cast this spell immediately after the spell finishes, although I'm not sure how that would work.

So perhaps

Edit Time
Divination
Level: Clr 5
Components: M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Area: 50 ft. Radius Burst
Duration: -1 minute/level starting at Lvl 5
Saving Throw: none
Spell Resistance: none
A follower of Libron may use thieir holy book to re-write a brief moment in history once per day. At 5th level, they can edit up to 1 minute of time, adding on a minute per level. The effect of this is to give the cleric an +X Insight bonus to Hit and AC.

Korias
2007-06-20, 12:55 AM
Yeah. A "Munchkin" is a person who is known for power gaming. He builds insane characters that can deal maximized damage, gnomes that cast level 5 spells at level 1, and other such things.

I Agree with the above spell. It should provide an Insight bonus. Perhaps that it only effects the cleric. IE: ClericA Uses Edit Time. He gains X To AC And to Hit for the next round.

drawingfreak
2007-06-20, 02:17 PM
Hmm. I think I like that idea. Any others?

Smiley_
2007-06-20, 02:47 PM
re-writing time is something akin to a "miracle" or "wish" spell. You actually change reality. Not even Time Stop does that. I would suggest cutting the time edited down from a minute to a round or so.

Now we encounter another problem. Say if you have a cleric who can cast this spell. He could easily screw up the whole campaign. I would assign a heavy XP penalty due to the strain caused by taking an eraser to and rewriting time.

There should also be a limit as to how far back you can go. I would say an hour per level at most. The level should be at least 8th due to the possibility of exploitation.

Poppatomus
2007-06-20, 02:58 PM
[QUOTE=Terror_Incognito;2766062]I think it should give an Insight bonus to hit and AC.

Also, perhaps this could be a retro active spell, meaning the Cleric must cast this spell immediately after the spell finishes, although I'm not sure how that would work.

So perhaps

Edit Time
Divination
Level: Clr 9
Components: M/DF, XP
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: self only
Area: 50 ft. Radius Burst
Duration: -1 minute/level starting at Lvl 5
Saving Throw: none(will negates)
Spell Resistance: none
A follower of Libron may use thieir holy book to re-write a brief moment in history once per day. At 8th level, they can edit up to 1 minute of time for every level they posses.

During this time, the priest can temporarily edit themselves out of existence almost completely. Even when in plain sight on opponent must make a spot check at DC 25 just to recognize their existance, and if the priest chooses they may emphasize this, adding either a knowledge (history) or their hide score to this DC. Even if the character's presence is acknowledged, the creature still will likely not recognize them (see below) considering them to be a random member of their species.

The effect is not limited to sight. So powerful is the priest that she is capable of temporarily removing herself from the time stream. For the duration of the spell other creatures forget that they exist, even close friends or longstanding enemies. During the duration of this spell the caster can not be scryed or targeted by any spell, nor would any character think to do so.

A characater in the middle of interacting with the character or otherwise vitally concerned with their existance at the time of the casting (a prison guard, for instance) Is allowed to make a Will save at DC 20 + the caster's knowledge (history) or bluff score to resist this effect. Any action that would break invisibility ends this effect.

drawingfreak
2007-06-20, 08:10 PM
Where can I find examples of already existing time based spells outside of the Player's Handbook?

drawingfreak
2007-06-20, 08:36 PM
How about this? Need a starting level...

Edit Time
Divination
Level: Clr ?
Components: M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Area: 50 ft. Radius Burst
Duration: -1 minute/every other level starting at Lvl ?
Saving Throw: none
Spell Resistance: none
A follower of Libron may use thieir holy book to re-write a brief moment in history once per day. At one point in history this spell was once able to be cast constantly, but this became a problem to Libron as it started to drastically work against the Story.
Upon casting, the caster automatically receives a +1 insight bonus to his attack roll and AC for one round. In addition, he can add or subtract 1d4+his caster level to all rolls made by characters he is aware of within a 50 ft. radius of himself during the duration of the spell.
Material Component: Holy Book of the followers of Libron, ink, writing utensil

Matthew
2007-06-22, 05:48 PM
Munchkins are actually not usually thought to be synonymous with Power Gamers. The real hallmark of the Munchkin is not his ability to create uber powerful Characters legally, but his willingness to break and bend the spirit and letter of the rules. More times than enough, a Munchkin doesn't understand the rules of the game well enough to Power Game, but it is not uncommon for aspiring Power Gamers to become Munchkins.

Anywho, this seems like a way too powerful type of spell. there was an (A)D&D supplement called The Chronomancer, which dealt with altering time in game, but I am not sure whether there is a 3.x version of the rules.

I think the best approach is to allow the casting of this Spell a short time after the events it seeks to change and then allow the altering of X number of Die Rolls by Y Points. The game effect would be for the Spell to be instantly used up when the event takes place and the Spell retroactively cast after the combat. This sort of thing will undoubtedly lead to paradoxes.

Aris Katsaris
2007-06-22, 06:56 PM
Instead of "rewriting history", it might be best if this spell could only be used to compel as-yet-unknown-by-the-caster moments in time -- so that instead of changing events, you merely determine actions that *might* have been made.

The "modified history" must be entirely consistent with the one the caster already is aware of.

To make up an example to illustrate what I mean -- e.g. you find the house of a friend burned to the ground. You don't yet know if your friend made it out alive or not -- you *therefore* use this ability to change/confirm history to ensure that he is indeed safe and sound.

But if you've already discovered his dead body, then that's not something you can modify, because you already know he is dead.

Poppatomus
2007-06-22, 07:00 PM
Instead of "rewriting history", it might be best if this spell could only be used to compel as-yet-unknown-by-the-caster moments in time -- so that instead of changing events, you merely determine actions that *might* have been made.

The "modified history" must be entirely consistent with the one the caster already is aware of.

To make up an example to illustrate what I mean -- e.g. you find the house of a friend burned to the ground. You don't yet know if your friend made it out alive or not -- you *therefore* use this ability to change/confirm history to ensure that he is indeed safe and sound.

But if you've already discovered his dead body, then that's not something you can modify, because you already know he is dead.


"Schrodinger's Transfiguration"

Eldan
2007-07-11, 11:09 AM
Wouldn't that just have the effect that the players stop actually doing anything without casting the spell, because any action they did gave them certainty, which would be bad for them?

HomerHT
2007-07-11, 11:19 AM
Edit Time
Duration: -1 minute/every other level starting at Lvl ?
SNIP!
In addition, he can add or subtract 1d4+his caster level to all rolls made by characters he is aware of within a 50 ft. radius of himself during the duration of the spell.
Material Component: Holy Book of the followers of Libron, ink, writing utensil

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but does this mean that a 20th level Cleric can, for 10 minutes, add or subtract anywhere between 21-24 to any roll made (in other words, no PCs ever get hit or fail saves, while every enemy is always hit, fails every save, and takes +21-24 damage)? Change the bonus/penalty to only 1d4 and the duration to one minute, and you've probably got a level 7+ spell.

drawingfreak
2007-07-11, 11:30 AM
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but does this mean that a 20th level Cleric can, for 10 minutes, add or subtract anywhere between 21-24 to any roll made (in other words, no PCs ever get hit or fail saves, while every enemy is always hit, fails every save, and takes +21-24 damage)? Change the bonus/penalty to only 1d4 and the duration to one minute, and you've probably got a level 7+ spell.
Whew...thanks for catching that. Though as for the minutes, it had yet to be determined.

I like your thinking. One second.

Edit Time
Divination
Level: Clr 7
Components: M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Area: 50 ft. Radius Burst
Duration: -1 round/every other level starting at 7th level, maximum -3 rounds
Saving Throw: none
Spell Resistance: none
A follower of Libron may use thieir holy book to re-write a brief moment in history once per day. At one point in history this spell was once able to be cast constantly, but this became a problem to Libron as it started to drastically work against the Story.
Upon casting, the caster automatically receives a +1 insight bonus to his attack roll and AC for one round. In addition, he can add or subtract 1d4 to all rolls made by characters he is aware of within a 50 ft. radius of himself during the duration of the spell.
Material Component: Holy Book of the followers of Libron, ink, writing utensil