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View Full Version : I reject your reality and substitute my own(tribute)



TSGames
2007-08-17, 03:21 PM
This is a tribute and slight alteration to a homebrew class that appeared on these boards a long time ago. The original can be found here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11491).


Wizards and sorcerors draw from different sources of inner and outer power to fuel their magic. Wizards tend to believe in an underlying set of universal laws that inundate the multiverse, which define reality and can be predicted with but the right knowledge. Sorcerors confide in a chaos-with-purpose, a flowing and unpredictable sea of magic, like the run of a river that changes course where it may and takes the willing along for a ride.
Some mages go crazy. Not the terrifying crazy that eats at the will and drives one to fiendish acts, but the strangely amusing kind of crazy that makes one lose their grip on everyday life. Mages who have slipped off the status quo have been seen talking to signposts, writing entire books in one letter, or casually slinging magic missile spells at shadows, asserting with calm grace that they are "attacking the darkness." They're prone to using illusion spells to trick their own eyes, and dosing themselves on powerful hallucinogens to while away their free time. They're harmless nutters, usually.
Of course, when signposts start talking back, and the tomes entitled AAAA AA AAA AAAAAA start making sense, it could be there's a method to a mage's madness. Or a madness to a mage's method. Noone's quite sure how it happens... but every once in a blue moon, a crazy mage gets so eccentric that the world they interact with starts going bonkers too.
They're the Weirders. And they're Weird.

I proudly present my slightly altered version of:

The Wierder
To qualify for the Weirder prestige class, a character must meet the following prerequisites.
Alignment: Any chaotic.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 4 ranks.
Spells: Must be able to cast at least two 3rd-level arcane spells from the illusion school.
Special: Must have accomplished at least one of the following:
-Made friendly contact with a chaotic neutral outsider.
-Concentrated on a self-induced illusion for at least 3 consecutive days.
-Overdosed on a hallucinogenic substance.
-Been subject to insanity, as per the spell.
------------------
Hit Die: d4.
Skill Points: 2 + Int modifier per level.
Class Skills: Craft (alchemy) (Int), Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (The Planes), Profession (herbalist) (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).
{table]Level |BAB |Fort |Ref |Will |Special |Spellcasting
1|+0|+0|+0|+0|Addled mind|+1 level of arcane spellcasting class
2|+1|+0|+0|+0|Psychadelic aura|+1 level of arcane spellcasting class
3|+1|+1|+1|+1|Indecipherable|+1 level of arcane spellcasting class
4|+2|+1|+1|+1|One with everybody, the furniture is talking|+1 level of arcane spellcasting class
5|+2|+1|+1|+1|Un/Real| +1 level of arcane spellcasting class[/table]

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Weirder.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:A Weirder gains proficiency with no weapons or armor.

Addled Mind (EX):Weirders have trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality, and so do their enemies. Weirders suffer a -4 penalty to Will saves against magical effects of the illusion school. However, they add their weirder level to the Will save DCs of their own illusion spells and magical effects. In addition, a Wierder's unique perspective makes it difficult to understand the actions of those around him. Because of this a Wierder takes a penalty equal to his Wierder class level when he uses the following skills:Bluff, Diplomacy, Sense Motive, and Gather Information.

Psychadelic Aura (SU):At 2nd level, anyone within a weirder's immediate surroundings sees things begin to distort and change in bizarre ways - changing colors, growing stretched or squashed or bent in odd places, and in general not making sense to the rational mind at all. The weirder exudes a psychadelic aura, with a maximum radius of 5 feet per weirder level; anyone within this range suffers a 20% miss chance with all attacks and a -2 penalty to attacks, saves, and skill checks. The weirder can expand or contract this aura, extending its radius up to 5 feet per level of weirder, or reducing it to as little as a 5-foot radius. They cannot supress their aura.
The weirder is immune to the effects of psychadelic auras, his own or another weirder's. Presumably, he's used to seeing the world that way anyway.

Indecipherable (Ex):Weirders are hard to get a hold of with enchantments and compulsions, as their thought processes are so cross-wired that everybody else's assertions seem crazy. At 3rd level, they gain a +4 bonus to Will saves versus mind-affecting and compulsion effects, and are immune to confusion, insanity, and similar spells and effects.

One with Everybody (Ex): At 4th level, a weirder's sense of self becomes so distorted that it encompasses others as well. They can cast spells with a range of "self" upon other creatures by touch.

The Furniture Is Talking (Su): At 4th level, the world around the weirder starts to get a mind of its own. Objects in the weirder's psychadelic aura begin moving of their own accord, as an animate objects spell of caster level equal to the character's weirder levels. (For example, a 4th level weirder's psychadelic aura will animate up to four Small objects, two Medium objects, or one Medium object and two Small objects.) They cannot control which objects animate, or what these objects do, and the objects de-animate once they leave the psychadelic aura. Animated objects have an Intelligence and Charisma score of 10 + weirder level; in general, they will act in the interest of self-preservation and engage in social interaction where inappropriate.

Un/Real (Ex): At 5th level, a weirder's power and mind have become so scrambled by madness that they cannot distinguish between what is real and what is not; eventually, reality begins to buckle with their perception, treating all magical effects as both illusive AND real at the same time. Weirders may react to any spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural effect not originating from themselves as if it were either an illusion or real. If the weirder treats a normally real effect as real, or an illusory effect as illusory, then there is no change in treatment of the magic. However, things get fuzzy when they mix up others' magics.
If a weirder reacts to an illusion as if real, then for all effects and purposes it IS real for the weirder. An illusory fireball requires a Reflex save to avoid taking full damage, for example, and the illusion of a wall is just as solid as true stone. This can be used to the weirder's advantage - the illusion of a rope will hold a weirder, while other characters could never hope to use it, and a silent image of a bridge spanning a chasm can be trod upon by the weirder as if it were truly there.
If a weirder reacts to a real magical effect as if illusory, then they may make a Will save to disbelieve the very reality of the magic (they still take a -4 penalty due to their Addled Mind). If the spell usually allows a Reflex or Fortitude save, then a successful Will save is treated as if it were the save usually made for such a spell. (For example, a weirder who disbelieves a fireball and makes their Will save still takes half damage.) The weirder can also make a Will save to disbelieve structures such as a wall of force, a gust of wind, or a symbol; success allows the weirder to ignore them as if they didn't exist at all.
No matter their addled senses, a weirder always knows which of their spells are real and which are not, and thus can never disbelieve their own non-illusory spells, or treat their own illusions as real.
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And that's the class as I have altered it. Most of the class is still the same, but I changed the Addled Mind ability, and the skills slightly. Also, I would like input on the capstone ability, "Un/real", if it it too powerful one of the suggested variants that it be made into a percentile role. In other words, make it so that the Wierder has a 50% chance to treat an effect as an illusion and a 50% chance to treat an effect as real.

Thoughts? Comments? Opinions? Insults?

Goober4473
2007-08-17, 03:37 PM
Everything's so... psychadelic!

I kinda love it.

Perhaps they should lose a level of spellcasting in there somewhere though? Maybe at 5th level?

[edit]: I think that The Furniture Is Talking could perhaps make objects talk only? They could make Diplomacy checks and stuff to try and get information.

Weirder: "Did an orc with a spear and a scar on his left eye pass through here recently?"

Tree: "My branches are totally huge! They can touch anything but themselves..."

MMad
2007-08-17, 10:19 PM
I still love the Weirder concept. :)

Re-reading it though, it strikes me as odd that the weirder gets to choose which to magical effects to believe and which to disbelieve with the Un/Real ability. Disregarding the balance issues, I'm not sure it fits with the concept of the class, as I see it. Routinely choosing to disbelieve spells, going "What.. Fireball? That can't possibly be real!" anytime a bad guy chucks a spell at you seems just a bit too convenient and "in control" for a crazed, delusional mage. Imo, every now and then they ought to just go "Crap! Fireball!" and jump for cover.

On the other hand, since this class will probably mainly be used for comic roleplaying anyway, perhaps it could be assumed that roleplayers will use the ability erratically anyway, in which case it's not an issue. Or is the intention for Weirders to be able to make snap decisions about whether to believe an effect based on whether it would be convenient for them to do so?

Xuincherguixe
2007-08-18, 02:32 AM
I love it!

TSGames
2007-08-18, 03:35 AM
I still love the Weirder concept. :)

Re-reading it though, it strikes me as odd that the weirder gets to choose which to magical effects to believe and which to disbelieve with the Un/Real ability. Disregarding the balance issues, I'm not sure it fits with the concept of the class, as I see it. Routinely choosing to disbelieve spells, going "What.. Fireball? That can't possibly be real!" anytime a bad guy chucks a spell at you seems just a bit too convenient and "in control" for a crazed, delusional mage. Imo, every now and then they ought to just go "Crap! Fireball!" and jump for cover.

On the other hand, since this class will probably mainly be used for comic roleplaying anyway, perhaps it could be assumed that roleplayers will use the ability erratically anyway, in which case it's not an issue. Or is the intention for Weirders to be able to make snap decisions about whether to believe an effect based on whether it would be convenient for them to do so?
I see your point, but it is as you said, this is a class that expects more roleplaying than most. Even with that being the case, if the character still chooses to only make will saves against spells, it is easily counter balanced by a poor will save combined with a -4 from the class abilities. Consider that over a 5 level PrC, the character is netting a -2 to will saves and a +2 to all other saves.

Also, if this way is not suitable for you, there is the variant which I suggested: the Wierder has a 50% chance to treat a spell as illusion and a 50% chance to treat it as real. This would easily counter act if not nerf the ability entirely.

Just thought I'd summarize the class a bit, or the negatives of it at least:
1.all poor saves
2.lowest HD
3.lowest BAB
4.Takes increasing penalties to several key social interaction skills
5.Allies are not immune to the psychedelic aura
6.an additional -4 to will saves

That's about all the bad to counter balance everything. If playing with the variant rule, the Un/real ability should be considered a negative, otherwise it is a positive.

Delcan
2007-08-20, 12:24 AM
Squee, somebody likes this one I made! :D Thanks for the extra attention; this is probably the one homebrewed thing I've ever made that I absolutely need to play in a game sometime, it's the one I like best.

The ability to choose between illusion and reality with Un/Real isn't so unusual for such an insane character; it's less about insanity and more about the fact that reality has simply buckled under their sheer deranged self-confidence. Being a Weirder isn't just about being crazy; it's about being so devoted to one's brand of crazy that the world around you throws up its hands and says 'Fine, I give up, have it your way.' Reality really is a matter of convenience for them, as mentioned.

Un/Real is the clincher as far as possible brokenness is concerned, but the important thing to note is that even if they make their Will save against, say, a fireball, they still take the half damage. In the long run, the biggest use that Un/Real will see in a campaign is a handful of moments where, at a key moment, a rule gets to be tossed out the window. Those moments of unreality are what the Weirder should be all about - and I think those moments are worth five levels of bad saves, bad skills, bad hit points, and... well, you get the picture.

I especially like the addition of a penalty to social skills; I wish I'd thought of that. :)

(But yes, every once in a while a Weirder should say "Crap! A Fireball!" and duck for cover. Because it's funnier that way. ;) )

TSGames
2007-08-20, 02:23 AM
I especially like the addition of a penalty to social skills; I wish I'd thought of that. :)


Thank you, I'm glad you like it. I really didn't alter it much other than that though, I kinda just threw in two more class skills and put it into a table :P

Damage Control
2007-08-20, 12:17 PM
Profession (herbalist) is a nice touch.

F.H. Zebedee
2007-08-20, 12:34 PM
Hurrah! The WEIRDER! Probably my favorite homebrew class of all time. Just plain made of win. And LSD. But mostly win. Literally the reason why I joined these forums. And this revision only made it even tastier.

Tarken
2007-08-21, 11:16 AM
I'm just going to use the word illusion as a verb here: with Un/real could you do someting like use silent image and illusion yourself up a scroll of wish or something?

on the other hand that PrC is pretty cool, I'd use it if my DM let me, but he likes to keep sanity in his settings

TSGames
2007-08-21, 02:14 PM
I'm just going to use the word illusion as a verb here: with Un/real could you do someting like use silent image and illusion yourself up a scroll of wish or something?


No. Un/real does not apply to the illusions cast by the Wierder. Now, if you're asking could another caster in the party create the illusion of such a scroll, the question becomes more complex. A Wierder could pick up the scroll, could use it, and could try to cast from it. Now, keep in mind that while the scroll is real to the Wierder, it is still an illusion, so producing a tangible effect such as a Wish spell is beyond the ability of Un/real. Producing an illusion of a wish spell is quite impossible as it is not manifested in any way, and therefore could not be mimicked by an illusion. Thusly, the Wierder may cast from the scroll as if it were real, but nothing will happen.

Delcan
2007-08-21, 10:52 PM
I'm just going to use the word illusion as a verb here: with Un/real could you do someting like use silent image and illusion yourself up a scroll of wish or something?

Oooh, this is a good question. And frankly, I'd like to see the Weirder try this.

One COULD simply take DM fiat and say no, or just twist the wish to do something humorous (or say that, since there's no spell that summons a scroll of wish, the scroll's just a piece of paper with writing on it). But if we take it as a given that the illusion is only real for the Weirder, you could say that whatever the Weirder wishes for, happens - but it's still an illusion.

Weirder: "Pardon me, good sir, but I'd like to deposit my 5,000 shiny new gold pieces."
Banker: "...what gold pieces?"
Weirder: "The gold in my bulging knapsack, you knave!"
Banker: *after cursory examination* "You stuffed this knapsack with rocks."
Weirder: "Only to emphasize the weight of the gold!"
Banker: "Security..."

Wishes for stat boosts could be illusory in nature. Ever feel smarter, when you really weren't? Or really charismatic and personable, when you're really drunk and disorderly? :smallbiggrin: Remember, while reality may buckle around the Weirder, it doesn't for everyone else.