Originally Posted by
SurlySeraph
What about having Spirit Release inflict 1 negative level, no save, per round of incorporealness after the first? Lets it be usable in an emergency at low levels, still a heavy penalty, but predictable enough that you won't have the Rogue turning into a wraith and slaughtering the party. It also scales fairly nicely, letting him survive being incorporeal for one more round each level, though if you don't have Restoration it's unpleasant.
EDIT: On further reflection, I think auto-fatigue as you suggested is best. Con damage isn't too bad, since Lesser Restoration heals 1d4 and 2 rounds of incorporealness is totally worth a 2nd-level spell. And if the character takes a Strongheart Vest or binds Naberius, they can be incorporeal all they want. Con drain or negative levels are too hard to get rid of at low levels, and crippling your character until you can afford Restoration isn't much fun.
Ok, so one vote for auto fatigue.
Sense Life kind of shuts down a fair number of plots. You might just let them use Deathwatch at will like paladins can use Detect Evil at will; still very useful, but they can't walk into a room, go "That guy's a vampire!" and instantly attack, and there are ways to interfere with it.
Sense life is deathwatch, it's functionally almost identical. I might reduce the range on it though. Like 5 or 10 feet. That way its more like "That guy's a vam...::gets slaughtered by vampire::
I'm not sure about the Incorporeal Touch. As it's (Su) it's a standard action. But it's still an incorporeal touch attack for the same damage as a dagger, meaning that until the character gets iterative attacks it's basically Weapon Finesse plus ignoring armor against all enemies, unarmed, for free.
For balance comparison, there's Emerald Razor, a maneuver from Tome of Battle that lets you make one melee attack as a touch attack as a standard action; it's a 2nd-level maneuver, so you can't use it before 3rd level, you can't use it every round, and it's still considered pretty good. I like the flavor and Incorporeal Strike's not broken, but I can see trouble coming from it.
For 1d4 damage, period. No Str. The only way to increase this damage is with things like sneak attack. And it only works against living targets.
Also, you don't specify whether Incorporeal Touch uses negative energy. This is good. DON'T say that it's negative energy, or all Paleborn will pick up Tomb-Tainted Soul for infinite healing.
Yes, that was intentional. :smallwink:
I don't think this race is broken, but I would hesitate to allow it at low levels. All of its abilities could be very powerful at low levels, and its drawbacks can be very irritating to the party (scaring the druid's animals, no resurrection so if he dies no more trapfinding), and are potentially powerful weapons (scaring off animals, hiding his body in a closet to use the wraith as an assassin).
That's just not right, lol.
At high levels it's more reasonable, but as-is I'm not sure it's balanced enough at low levels. The fear effect from Unnatural Aura is flavorful enough that I think it should stay, my suggestion on Spirit Release is above, and it might be prudent to put some kind of limit on Incorporeal Touch - say, costing 1 hp to use so it's not a no-brainer at low levels.
EDIT: Also, giving +2 to five skills that every single Rogue uses leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Sure Halflings get +2 to four skills and +4 to Hide, but Jump and Climb aren't nearly as important as senses and stealth. It's not overpowered by any means, but it looks excessive. It'll make people think you intended for this race to be an overpowered choice for rogues, and Incorporeal Touch and Spirit Release will solidify that judgment. You might want to drop one or more of those bonuses, or switch them to Knowledge (religion), Sense Motive, or something else that fits the flavor but doesn't come up as much.
I was thinking that in the back of my mind. It really wasnt intentional to make this race so rogue-friendly, it just worked out that way. :smalltongue: I used the bonuses a ghost gets to its skills and threw in move silently because, well, incorporeal things are silent. I can pare out some of the awareness though without much of a loss and make some proper replacements.
And finally, I definitely like the flavor of the abilities. A ghost-touched rogue would be a fun character, someone born with an undead soul that is a cool idea, and you could have a lot of fun getting creative with Incorporeal Touch and Spirit Release. Just be careful about the power level.