Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

[Morcleon]

That is has been. Sorry about PvN, took 3d6 points of life damage, y'see.

Was fun though!

Indeed it was. I believe you used Champion for that game, yes? How well did it scale into epic?

Maybe we could start it up again sometime.

[Snowfire]

Indeed it was. I believe you used Champion for that game, yes? How well did it scale into epic?

Maybe we could start it up again sometime.

The actual build was Champion/Lord Warden (yes, that one)/Prodigal Explorer with a feat that allowed me to combine Jena's Le Shay weapons with her Armaments and turn them into spellfire weapons. That being the reason that I could actually somewhat inconvenience Akira without having to use anything that was even moderately limited in terms of uses.

As to scaling into Epic...well...monoclass Champion doesn't. Not anywhere close to well at least, primarily because the PrCs for it are just better than taking 20 levels in Champion even now. My last epic level game (ages ago, I'm actually a little bored of them now) involved combining Champion, Heartwielder and Immortal together. I actually managed to scare Kazyan with that one

Any mayhaps, mayhaps. We'll see

[Lix Lorn]

*bites*

V.V
I was just bein' friendly.

[Morcleon]

The actual build was Champion/Lord Warden (yes, that one)/Prodigal Explorer with a feat that allowed me to combine Jena's Le Shay weapons with her Armaments and turn them into spellfire weapons. That being the reason that I could actually somewhat inconvenience Akira without having to use anything that was even moderately limited in terms of uses.

As to scaling into Epic...well...monoclass Champion doesn't. Not anywhere close to well at least, primarily because the PrCs for it are just better than taking 20 levels in Champion even now. My last epic level game (ages ago, I'm actually a little bored of them now) involved combining Champion, Heartwarden and Immortal together. I actually managed to scare Kazyan with that one

Any mayhaps, mayhaps. We'll see

I know. >.> *cough*Google*cough*
And Akira wasn't using any limited term use things... actually, I don't even think he had limited use things.

Ah, okay. That's pretty awesome. If I ever try out an epic evoker, I'll likely go with Stargazer, Aerial Mage, and... something else. Because Aerial Mage is amazingly good if you take Flyby Attack. ^_^

V.V
I was just bein' friendly.

*pets* We know. :3

[Bacchante]

I've been making use of this in two games so far. In one that I'm DMing, a rather odd gestalt 3.5 game, a player is a Paladin/Werebear/Champion. Quite fun, really. And in one I'm playing in I've been building a sniper Champion. Haven't made use of Stargazer or Empath just yet, but I'd like to.

Although poking about on the IRC channel mostly ends up with cobwebs. Which is a shame. I'd had some ideas about Radiant Artifacts and was looking to chat about it. Among other things.

[jamieth]

I know it's not a really relevant post, but I recently found a project on Kickstarter called the RPGBard. It's a web application that turns a user-provided text, art, tables, stat blocks and such into a layed-out PDF ot the RPG book, with templates for 3.5 and PF included. I'll watch it closely, just in case it'll help me create the better Tome of Radiance.

[Zale]

Hey, as someone who's playing with this class in a gestalt game, let me first say it's been fun just making characters with this.

However, I was wondering what happens when a Device/Costume is destroyed (Sundered, etc). Is it gone for good, or does it merely require another full-round to summon? (Do enchantments remain or what?).

I also thought it strange that illuminations deal untyped damage, and offer options to reduce it to physical damage.

Anyway, awesome work.

[AuraTwilight]

After playtesting, I will probably be integrating ToR into my Puella Magi class's second revision.

Just a heads up. Will do that when my current campaign finishes, me-thinks. -w-

[Ilorin Lorati]

This isn't an official thing Zale, but in my game when a costume has been sundered, I went with a 24 hour cooldown before being able to resummon it, and the first resummon had to be as the full action.

And the reason they're "reduced" to physical damage is because of the strategic qualities of specific damage types. Specifically, there are feats and class features that interact with specific types of damage.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

This looks really cool, and aside form some empath aspects being underwhelming as a primary class feature (looking at you, Strength) balanced as well! I do have one question though.

If one of the Empath's aspects has Heart of Devotion and takes Vow of Poverty for the second feat, how does switching it on and off work with the requirement? Can she drop her non-radiant equipment in a bag of holding somewhere before powering up and take advantage, or has VoP still not found a home outside of Druids?

[Hunter Noventa]

I only just found this glorious and amazing...thing of immense beauty. It far outshines my own attempts to shoehorn magical girl aspects in 3.5/PF, and I'm going to beat my DM over the head with it.

I love it all. The subtle nods to everything...the outright overt nod to the Persona series with the Empath, it's just so amazing that it makes me want to weep with joy.

[jamieth]

@Hunter Noventa: I can in no way speak for Selinia, but still thanks for your praise!

@Everyone: after far too long, I found some free time again, and an episode 2 of "Bringing Light Where the Sun Don't Shine" aka adventures of four Radiants in the Sunless Citadel is up:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

[tonberrian]

Can Barriers normally target characters? Returning seems to imply that they are, as it has text that it doesn't follow that.

[sreservoir]

iirc it's a relic from an older version preserved to future-proof for when/if such functionality were to be added backa.

[Darkweave31]

I have to say I absolutely love it... thinking I could rework the fluff and combine with the high school harem comedy homebrew system for an Infinite Stratos game ^^,

[Hunter Noventa]

So I've been working to get ready to use the system in an upcoming game, and I find myself having a couple of odd issues, mostly because of a lack of examples I think. Like, I'm Working up an Empath that will go into Magical idol and figuring out personas and Illuminations. Part of it is theming the personas and what abilities to give them, but another part of it is the Innate Illumination. Like, the Example of Mira at level 1 on the wiki seems to be midsing an innate illumination, but has them later.

I'm also kind of confused about how Barriers work in regards to edges. is this because they can have od shapes like walls or taking up individual blocks? Like, if I had a Shadow Borders Barrier, since that's a wall it would provide the miss chance to everything on one side of the wall or am I missing something else here?

I'm also trying to figure out well, what you'd do with the sheer number of illuminations a Champion has, unless you really are supposed to give them several different kinds of blast.

I think the system could do with a section of example illuminations and breaking down how they're built so the process is a little bit easier to follow, personally.

Also would be helpful if a large chunk of the Magical idol information wasn't just plain missing on the wiki. I still love everything here, I just think it needs some more examples of how things are intended to be built.

[jamieth]

In order: Innate Illuminations numbers were tweaked kinda late in the development, possibly Mira's sheet was made before that. Table on the Wiki is the latest version, I believe (Though, in case of any doubt, use versions of classes in this thread; first post should have them all linked)

Re:Barriers: Borders Barrier consists only of its edge, and the edge, as far as I understand, grants concealment both ways.

Re:Champion: Well, you might want at least one ranged Blast and an Assault one, and Awakening Surge of Might for +2 Cha or +2 Str or +2 Dex, depending on your build, is always nice.

Re:Magical Idol. My bad :-( You can either look up the class table on this thread, or wait for me to fix a wiki (which should take no more than several minutes)

[Garryl]

I know it's designed to be used offensively to stop enemies from buffing, but the Isolation surge foundation is really strong antimagic when used defensively. That is, it's better as a buff than as a debuff. Of course, it's even better as both (via Bolts or Pulses).
- SR 15 + mote cost is on the high end of SR (75% resist rate vs. an equal level spellcaster). That you don't need a standard action to lower it for friendly spells and that you still leave it up against harmful spells when you do so is just icing on the cake.
- Automatic suppression of magical effects (1/3 motes). Assuming a bare minimum of party communication, everyone should know what buffs everyone else in the party has been using, so you can exclude those from the randomized targeting. If you have a good enough Spellcraft skill to identify what gets cast all the time, you can exclude everything except for the ones you really want to suppress. It's not quite as good as straight out dispelling a debuff, but with motes refreshing each round you can easily keep short- and medium-duration effects suppressed until they run out.

If you want to change it to be only a debuff, I would recommend removing the parts where you choose what spells are and aren't affected and instead have it only apply to harmless spells.

[Reality Glitch]

The Wishmaster class in my signature uses some material from this, if you wish (pun intended) you could go check it out. (It could stand a little more P.E.A.C.H.ing)

[Hunter Noventa]

In order: Innate Illuminations numbers were tweaked kinda late in the development, possibly Mira's sheet was made before that. Table on the Wiki is the latest version, I believe (Though, in case of any doubt, use versions of classes in this thread; first post should have them all linked)

Ah okay, that makes sense then.

Re:Barriers: Borders Barrier consists only of its edge, and the edge, as far as I understand, grants concealment both ways.

Interesting. but if you were to make a Shadows Stronghold, only those within it would get the concealment bonus then?

Re:Champion: Well, you might want at least one ranged Blast and an Assault one, and Awakening Surge of Might for +2 Cha or +2 Str or +2 Dex, depending on your build, is always nice.

True enough, though at say, Level 1 surges are less useful depending on your build too. I guess I need to be thinking that they can do more than illuminations, Champions are meant to be potent combatants and buffing their own attack in addition to having blasts is an option.

Re:Magical Idol. My bad :-( You can either look up the class table on this thread, or wait for me to fix a wiki (which should take no more than several minutes)

Yeah i did spot it here and took a look, it's not like time is an issue.

Now I just have to figure out how to theme my Personas, and I doubt anyone here could help with that. Though it seems logical to have one focus on buffing, another on debuffing, another on blasting, while using the Innate Illuminations for a basic blast and surge kind of combo.

Oh! Magical idol calls out Personas known in it's section on growing class features, but is the Persona capacity included in that?

[Garryl]

Interesting. but if you were to make a Shadows Stronghold, only those within it would get the concealment bonus then?

Concealment applies across the edge, not specifically to those inside or outside. Everyone outside treats targets inside as having concealment and everyone inside treats targets outside as having concealment. There's no concealment for attacks from folks inside the barrier against others inside the barrier.

[Hunter Noventa]

Concealment applies across the edge, not specifically to those inside or outside. Everyone outside treats targets inside as having concealment and everyone inside treats targets outside as having concealment. There's no concealment for attacks from folks inside the barrier against others inside the barrier.

Well, that seems less than useful then, I'm having a hard time thinking of a situation where I'd want to basically give my enemies concealment like that.

[jamieth]

Hiding from enemy archers while spamming area illuminations which don't suffer miss chance? Though I agree it's likely situational...

[Garryl]

The Shadows barrier also useful against mixed range parties. If some are in melee and others at range, you can fight the melee enemies without problem while the ranged foes suffer the miss chance. At 12 motes it counts as total concealment so you can't even be targeted by spells and you don't provoke attacks of opportunity. Since you control when the barrier goes up, you can put it up after your attacks but before your enemies, giving you the defensive benefits without impeding your attacks. Concealment also prevents sneak attack and other precision damage abilities, so you can use it to further impede enemy rogues.

That being said, Shelter (the barrier that gives cover) will frequently be a better choice. Unless your AC is so low that enemies are hitting you on a natural 1, the AC bonus will provide a better defensive benefit than the miss chance. You also get a bonus on Reflex saves, and the sorta-total cover at 12 motes completely prevents all attacks (except melee attacks), not just targeted spells. Having cover doesn't stop precision damage, but it does prevent attacks of opportunity right from the get-go. And as a plus, Champions get access to Shelter (but not Shadows).

[Hunter Noventa]

The Shadows barrier also useful against mixed range parties. If some are in melee and others at range, you can fight the melee enemies without problem while the ranged foes suffer the miss chance. At 12 motes it counts as total concealment so you can't even be targeted by spells and you don't provoke attacks of opportunity. Since you control when the barrier goes up, you can put it up after your attacks but before your enemies, giving you the defensive benefits without impeding your attacks. Concealment also prevents sneak attack and other precision damage abilities, so you can use it to further impede enemy rogues.

That being said, Shelter (the barrier that gives cover) will frequently be a better choice. Unless your AC is so low that enemies are hitting you on a natural 1, the AC bonus will provide a better defensive benefit than the miss chance. You also get a bonus on Reflex saves, and the sorta-total cover at 12 motes completely prevents all attacks (except melee attacks), not just targeted spells. Having cover doesn't stop precision damage, but it does prevent attacks of opportunity right from the get-go. And as a plus, Champions get access to Shelter (but not Shadows).

All right I can see that. I guess I'm just too used to thinking in the context of my usual campaigns, as we've been having a lot of 'boss' battles, most recently we took down a Shoggoth.

[Nyaa]

Is there martial initiating discipline to use with (or in place of) Tome of Radiance? I've googled around but didn't find anything.

[jamieth]

I don't think so; you can take the Valirye, which is the Tome of Radiance/Tome of Battle gestalt PrC, but you'll be limited to existing disciplines.

Of course, with Imbue Blast shape, you get to add your illuminations damage to your martial Strikes, which is nice in the first place.

[Sweetiebot]

Anybody got a copy of the latest PDF? I can't use the ones that Jamieth posts. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/image...allannoyed.gif

[Hunter Noventa]

So I'm going to finally be utilizing these rules (After some quick pathfinder conversions) and have run into something a bit confusing.

I'm planning to play a Radiant Armourer, coming in from Stargazer, but the text of the Armament Effects ability is somewhat confusion. I get that Armament Effects = Imbuements, but i want to know if I'm interpreting it right.

From that I'm reading, you have a pool of Imbuements for each type of Armament (Device, Costume, and possibly shield) equal to the Armament Effect Pool. Then for each one of these you summon, you pick Imbuements equal to the Armament Effect Limit. All of this is on top of however many Imbuements you have for you Evoker Level. is that the way it should be?

Like, I've got a Marksman Device, and my 1 Imbuement on it is Enhancement, and I have an Implement Device with Resplendent. Once I reach level 2 in Radiant Armourer, I put Temporal into my pool, and now when I summon either device, they have their own Enhancement, and since I only have one Imbuement int he device pool to choose from, they both get that as well, is that correct?

[Owrtho]

So I'm going to finally be utilizing these rules (After some quick pathfinder conversions) and have run into something a bit confusing.

I'm planning to play a Radiant Armourer, coming in from Stargazer, but the text of the Armament Effects ability is somewhat confusion. I get that Armament Effects = Imbuements, but i want to know if I'm interpreting it right.

Well, let's see if I can help clear up this confusion. Also seeing as this is from about a week ago hopefully it isn't too late.

From that I'm reading, you have a pool of Imbuements for each type of Armament (Device, Costume, and possibly shield) equal to the Armament Effect Pool. Then for each one of these you summon, you pick Imbuements equal to the Armament Effect Limit. All of this is on top of however many Imbuements you have for you Evoker Level. is that the way it should be?

This is not quite right. The way it should work is you find out how many Imbuements you get prior to factoring in the pool or limit increase. The armament effect limit just increases the number of Imbuements as normal (as PRCs do not increase Imbuements by default). The part where it gets a little tricky is that in addition to selecting a number of Imbuements equal to how many you can apply to your armaments (which is a shared number as normal) you also have your pool, which allows you to pick additional Imbuements beyond that.

As a result, rather than assigning specific Imbuements to your device and costume (and shield if applicable), you instead choose how many Imbuements you will apply to each. Then when you choose Imbuements for your pool (which is equal to the number of Imbuements you can apply to everything plus the number listed in the armament effect pool column of the table for your level) you need to ensure you have at least enough for each type to fill out the number you chose to apply to the given armament type. So say you can apply three Imbuements total, and you decided to go with two for your devices and one for your costume, if your pool is +1 (which would be 4 total) then you need to select 2 device Imbuements and 1 costume Imbuement, while the final Imbuement can be either.

Now, when you summon your device or costume, you choose which of the applicable Imbuements in your pool you apply to it (with the number equal to the type you chose).

Like, I've got a Marksman Device, and my 1 Imbuement on it is Enhancement, and I have an Implement Device with Resplendent. Once I reach level 2 in Radiant Armourer, I put Temporal into my pool, and now when I summon either device, they have their own Enhancement, and since I only have one Imbuement int he device pool to choose from, they both get that as well, is that correct?

So, looking at your description here you seem to have some slight confusion on how the Imbuements work normally with twinned device and radiant arsenal. As a level 5 stargazer with the twinned device and radiant arsenal feats, you have the ability to summon two different devices, and 1 Imbuement. Presumably, you are applying your Imbuement to your devices. However, according to twinned device, each device you summon share Imbuements, meaning they both by default have the same one, even when combined with radiant arsenal to make a different device. Thus a level 5 stargazer would only be able to have enhancement or resplendent shared by both devices.

Upon becoming a level 1 Radiant Armourer however you would gain her armament effect pool. This would allow you to select an additional Imbuement when deciding what Imbuements you want for the day. You still can only apply 1 Imbuement, and presumably you decide again to apply it to your device, except now you don't just choose which one you want. Instead you now decide what Imbuements you want in you armament effect pool. At level 1 you will have an armament effect pool of 2 (the total number of Imbuements you can apply + 1 extra). As you have decided to apply your one Imbuement to your device, you have to select at least 1 device Imbuement (and as you did not select to apply an Imbuement to your costume, there is no point in choosing one of those for your second Imbuement). Thus you decide to select enhancement and resplendent for your two Imbuements in your armament effect pool. Now, whenever you summon any of your devices, you select one Imbuement from your armament effect pool to apply to it. In this case that would be either enhancement or resplendent. So you may at this point summon your devices with the marksman having enhancement and the implement having resplendent. You may also choose to summon them with the reverse, or both one or the other. You may also summon two of one kind of device with different Imbuements from your armament effect pool. Essentially, any time you summon a device you get to choose which one it has.

Now say you hit level 2 of radiant armourer. Your total number of Imbuements goes up by 1, meaning that you can apply 2 to devices, or apply 1 to a device and 1 to your costume (or both to the costume). This also means that you armament effect pool is now 3 (since your base number of Imbuements went up). Say that you decide to apply both Imbuements to your devices when you select Imbuements in the morning. For the most part this will act like the previous level, except you will now be picking 3 Imbuements for your pool of which 2 have to be for devices. Say that in addition to enhancement and resplendent you pick temporal. Now when you summon a device you pick 2 of the 3 Imbuements in your armament effect pool. As before, you may pick any two of the three for any device you summon. Thus at this point you can have your previous marksman device with enhancement and implement device with resplendent, but also put temporal on both, or you could have some other combination (such as resplendent and enhancement on one). However, as you did not select to apply one of your Imbuements to your costume, it will not have any.
Note that when you summon you device, you will need to choose 1 of the 2 Imbuements on it to be the primary one. Normally this does not have an effect, but if you let someone else use the device, they will only benefit from the primary Imbuement.

Now say that you had chosen to apply an Imbuement to your costume in the morning (meaning you apply 1 to your devices and 1 to your costume). Now when you select Imbuements for your armament effect pool you must select at least 1 device Imbuement and 1 costume Imbuement (along with 1 that can be either). Presumably you choose to have two device Imbuements so you can apply different ones to each of you device types, meaning you choose 1 costume Imbuement. So far as summoning devices, it will act like previous level, where each can have 1 Imbuement, and you have 2 options to choose from. However, when you summon your costume, it will also have an Imbuement, however since you only selected one costume Imbuement for your pool, you will not get a choice (had you chosen to have 2 in the pool you would get a choice as with the devices).

You could of course also swap costumes and devices in these examples, I simply went with devices as that is what you noted using. Hopefully this helps explain how the ability works.

owrtho