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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other Astral Deva Form!? Players reward DM!



Stewbert
2016-03-02, 08:24 PM
I DM for a group of 8, have been for 2 years. I have a character in the group and have done from the start. We play 3.5.

Our group is currently level 10/11 and we have just discovered and defeated the guardian of a Wishing Well that grants each person that drinks from it a wish effect. I decided to give each player a Baldurs Gate Esque dreamlike sequence with a special ability learnt based on choices made during the dream. Everybody loved it but I was extremely cautious about breaking people so kept things sweet, simple and balanced. Here is what people got.

Ranger: +2 Dex
Barbarian: +2 Will Save
Paladin: +1d6 on smite evil
Druid: +2 Wisdom
Sorcerer: Died during fight with guardian, was reincarnated as a gnome, hates gnomes so used his wish effect to get his original body back.
Half Dragon Fighter: Temporary ability to gain aetherial energy wings and gain flight for round/lv - once/day this was nice for him as hes big on the lore of his dragon heritage and I knew he wanted wings.
Bralani, Eladrin player: Ability to dualweild Scimitar like Morwel the queen of stars body guard, Gwynharwyf, without penalty and free weapon focus Scimitar.

So far so good, some are more valuable than others, but in general everyones happy and no one feels cheated, I don't think i've broken the game either.

At this point everyone turned around and said “Hey! What about your character what did you get and dream!?” Two players volunteered to make my dream sequence for me, the ability is incredible but, I am concerned it is far too powerful and so I come to you all with said ability asking for a judgment of power. The players have said they want to reward me for being a good DM and so they gave me a purposely very strong ability to let me have my special moment!

Here is the ability I earnt, and for interest I am currently a Wizard3/Cleric3/Mystic Theurge5 support buffer, status removal, healer, battlefield controller and generally indestructible character. I have added in red what I believe would begin to balance this ability, please let me know if you agree or how you would fix it, or even if you think its fine as is because the players saw fit to give it to me!

Astral Deva Form: Usable once/5days. Cannot be used if Fallen Deva Form has been used in the last 5 days.

Turn into an Astral Deva as a Free Action for 5 rounds and gain the following abilities; Standard Action & Lasts 1/2 totalHD in rounds

Perfect Flight: 30ft (Good Flight 100ft, as per an actual Deva)
Enhanced Healing: +2d8 on any healing spell (I think making my Caster Level = Character Level for healing would be balanced here so +3)
Extra Targeting: – any spell with a target/s can now target one additional target(Only applies to Divine spells 4th level and lower)
Widen Spell: 5ft – any spell with an aoe is increased by 5ft(Only applies to divine spells 4th level and lower)
Solar Blast: 10d10 Ranged Touch, No Save, SR:Yes, Damage is positive energy ( this is a one use ability, using it ends the form instantly no matter how many rounds were left and it is a full round action to use) (Character level x d6 instead of 10d10)
Aura of Good:


Fallen Deva Form: Usable once/5days cannot be used if Astral Deva Form has been used within the last 5 days.

Activates automatically upon reaching 1/3hp, you turn into a Fallen Deva for 5 rounds and gain the following abilities;
Dimension Door: At will as a move action. (Don't see this Form being used much and I think this ability sounds very fun so i'm keen to let it slide but it is likely broken)
Aura of Chaos
Surge: +1d6 to Caster level vs SR checks. (This seems ok as is.)
Roulette Passive Ability: Every time you cast a wizard spell 4th level or lower roll a d20, on a roll of 10 or higher you cast that spell again and roll the d20 again but this time the roll must be 15 or higher. If you roll higher than 15 you cast the spell again and roll again but this time you must roll 20. You keep rolling until you fail at which point the spell casts as many times as you passed your ability. (I would consider banning this, the Dimension Door abuse seems strong enough that this is overkill.)

I half wonder if the form should just work like Alter Self or something and give the racial traits of an Angel with some Flight & Natural Armor and that alone would make me happy!

Thanks!

VoodooPaladin
2016-03-05, 02:49 AM
Here is the ability I earnt, and for interest I am currently a Wizard3/Cleric3/Mystic Theurge5 support buffer, status removal, healer, battlefield controller and generally indestructible character. I have added in red what I believe would begin to balance this ability, please let me know if you agree or how you would fix it, or even if you think its fine as is because the players saw fit to give it to me!

Well, I really wish my skills were up to snuff, but I'll do the best I can!

So your character is an 11th-level Mystic Theurge, who serves a generalist support role. Once/5 day abilities are fairly new ground, from what I know, but they seem close in concept to 1/week abilities, which tend to be rather powerful. In light of these facts, I think it's safe to say that most of this is quite reasonable. Setting things to scale with character level is a solid choice for a fan-favorite who you can expect to use a lot more. I would object to requiring a Standard Action to activate: if you don't like it being a Free Action, try a Move Action instead, so your character can still cast a spell that turn.

Move Action dimension door at will for 5 turns isn't a big deal, by itself. You might want to limit its range to Medium or Close (same range as a magic missile or a scorching ray, respectively) if you don't want to think about what you could do with a 720 ft. teleport range. Other than that, evocative, effective, and not particularly powerful at all, really.

Roulette Passive Ability seems more weird than OP. If you were a single-classed wizard, this would be absurd, but I think it could fly in this case. I think the big question is, do you have to target the same creature/space with each copy, or are the copies unrestricted? In the former case, I don't think it's overpowered at all, since that turns out less like 3.0 Haste and more like a really good piece of Metamagic.

So really, I think it's less a matter of balance and more one of adjudication. Relax and enjoy your 30 seconds as an Angel.

As a personal note, I think your players are really clever: I wouldn't have thought to give a Mystic Theurge a double-sided transformation. It's an ingenious little choice, and I can't help but think well of it. :smallsmile: