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  1. - Top - End - #91
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    If the dragon wasn't going to be a challenge with a surge + blast + barrier, it wasn't going to be a challenge with only 2/3, either. Blast damage isn't that high; it won't take out many CR-appropriate enemies in a single hit, except on a crit, and even then not a dragon. Losing out on it is no biggie, and you'd have the surge and barrier anyways to do with as you please.

    Assuming you weren't going to do anything useful with your standard action without the blast, getting off a third illumination in the round is still only increasing the party effectiveness by 12.5% (you by 50%, and you account for on average 25% of the party). That's rarely the difference between a challenge and not a challenge.
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  2. - Top - End - #92
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Just interjecting into this: I really think you may want to add a costume option for any rogues or mages classing into. Movement penalties and such hurt, and as is, either of those archetypes are strictly better using the old magical girl or not using a Costume.

  3. - Top - End - #93
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by KoihimeNakamura View Post
    Just interjecting into this: I really think you may want to add a costume option for any rogues or mages classing into. Movement penalties and such hurt, and as is, either of those archetypes are strictly better using the old magical girl or not using a Costume.
    Nimble helps quite a lot in this case - as does making one's costume Mithral, which obviates any penalties except ASF for medium and heavy. I think it also flat out negates those for Light.
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    Damn you Snowfire. I cried.
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    T_T I swear, you just made me cry.
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    Well, here's another for your sig, Snowfire.

    <struck dumb>

  4. - Top - End - #94
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Snowfire View Post
    Nimble helps quite a lot in this case - ans making one's costume Mithral obviates any penalties except ASF for medium and heavy. I think it also flat out negates those for Light.
    True. But I can't see how you'd do that. Maybe I'm tired.

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by KoihimeNakamura View Post
    True. But I can't see how you'd do that. Maybe I'm tired.
    Making armour - which costume is - from Mithral reduces ACP by 3, ASF by 10%, increases max DEX by 2, halves the weight, and makes it count as one step lighter than it actually is for purposes of movement and proficiencies.

    Costs you a bit, yes, but it's more than worth it. And then there's the Agile Enhanced Armament (which could honestly do with being a lot better) which reduces ACP by 1, increases max Dex by 1 and increases movement speed by 5' per times taken to a maximum of base land speed.

    There's also the Nimble costume effect - 3 motes for +10' enhancement to base land speed.

    Oh, and the Twilight armour enchantment - the specifics of which I forget - but that I remember doing nice things to ASF penalties.
    Quote Originally Posted by QuintonBeck View Post
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mynxae View Post
    Damn you Snowfire. I cried.
    Quote Originally Posted by Falcon777 View Post
    T_T I swear, you just made me cry.
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    Well, here's another for your sig, Snowfire.

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  6. - Top - End - #96
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Snowfire View Post
    Making armour - which costume is - from Mithral reduces ACP by 3, ASF by 10%, increases max DEX by 2, halves the weight, and makes it count as one step lighter than it actually is for purposes of movement and proficiencies.

    Costs you a bit, yes, but it's more than worth it. And then there's the Agile Enhanced Armament (which could honestly do with being a lot better) which reduces ACP by 1, increases max Dex by 1 and increases movement speed by 5' per times taken to a maximum of base land speed.

    There's also the Nimble costume effect - 3 motes for +10' enhancement to base land speed.

    Oh, and the Twilight armour enchantment - the specifics of which I forget - but that I remember doing nice things to ASF penalties.
    So.. basically buy a Mithril Studded Leather with stuff and then go 'Hey, this is my costume', and take Nimble/Agile?

  7. - Top - End - #97
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Well, that would've worked with the old magical girl; but the new raidient raiments are items in on themselves, kinda like the mind blade if you will. You can't make them out of magic materials any more; though you can still enchant them.

    SO yeah, no Mythral raiments for you.
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  8. - Top - End - #98
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Garryl View Post
    If the dragon wasn't going to be a challenge with a surge + blast + barrier, it wasn't going to be a challenge with only 2/3, either. Blast damage isn't that high; it won't take out many CR-appropriate enemies in a single hit, except on a crit, and even then not a dragon. Losing out on it is no biggie, and you'd have the surge and barrier anyways to do with as you please.

    Assuming you weren't going to do anything useful with your standard action without the blast, getting off a third illumination in the round is still only increasing the party effectiveness by 12.5% (you by 50%, and you account for on average 25% of the party). That's rarely the difference between a challenge and not a challenge.
    Well, actually, yes, I do really need both the surge and a blast:-) Barrier, not so much... OK, let me check whether the timing works...

    Let's do some math, shall we?
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    An Old Red Dragon is a CR20 monster.
    On the defensive side, it has 378 hp, AC 33 (touch 6), DR15/magic (irrelevant. Every weapon at these levels is magical), Frightful Presence (actually helps the Champion) and Immunity to Fire. It is, OTOH, takes 1.5 times damage from cold.

    Now...

    Champion 20
    STR 34 (18 base + 5 levels + 5 tome + 6 belt) mod +12
    CHA 28 (18 base + 4 tome + 6 cloak) mod +9
    DEX/CON/INT/WIS 8
    32 point buy

    Costume elements:
    Resplendent (20 motes), Temporal, Enchanced, Primal[cold] (18 motes), Nimble

    Enchanced Armaments: Empowered (others are irrelevant)

    Illuminations:

    Unlimited Fist Works (UFS) (Surge, Battles*4) - effective EL 28, crafted with Sunlight Illumination, 20 motes, infused into Resplendent Device

    All-Sundering Blizzard Palm (ASBP) (Blast, Assault, Prism[cold], Reactive*16) - EL 20, 20 motes, base damage 20d6 cold

    Tactics:

    Use cartridge to teleport into melee.

    Use UFW. Your BAB is now +20/+20/+20/+20/+20/+15/+10/+5

    Full attack. Including Weapon Focus, Enchanced Device, Str bonus you now have a full attack of +34/+34/+34/+34/+34/+29/+24/+19, and damage of 1d6+22 (12 STR, 9 CHA, 1 Enchanced Device)

    You now have 22 motes free. Replace your first strike with ASBP. Use reroll in case of 1.
    Your damage is equal to 1d6+22 + (20d6+80) cold (4 additional damage per dice thanks to Primal with 18 motes)
    Assuming average rolls, you deal 28.5 + (150*1.5) = 253 damage. AND, dragon takes 16 additional damage from every hit for one round.

    Make the rest of your attacks. They now have effective damage of 1d6+38 average of 41.5 per hit.

    Your attacks have a chance to hit of 0.95*4/0.85/0.6/0.35, for an average of 5.6 hits.

    5.6*41 + 253 = 482 damage. A good thing our girl probably went non-lethal on a poor lizard...


    Oh, yeah, I LOVE this class!
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  9. - Top - End - #99
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Regalus View Post
    Well, that would've worked with the old magical girl; but the new raidient raiments are items in on themselves, kinda like the mind blade if you will. You can't make them out of magic materials any more; though you can still enchant them.

    SO yeah, no Mythral raiments for you.
    I think that's something Selinia is going to need to answer. Because they're still physical items, unlike Mind Blade, and all of the DMs I've played this with have allowed Mithral versions of costume. Far more importantly I see no reason why you can't make Costume out of magical materials.

    And in all honesty, I'll be pushing for it hard - as well as Houseruling it if I have to in the games I run (playtest probably notwithstanding).
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mynxae View Post
    Damn you Snowfire. I cried.
    Quote Originally Posted by Falcon777 View Post
    T_T I swear, you just made me cry.
    Quote Originally Posted by Qwertystop View Post
    Well, here's another for your sig, Snowfire.

    <struck dumb>

  10. - Top - End - #100
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Which os wht they can be enchanted. It's why we have stuff like the Light and Heavy costumes, and the implemente, versátiles and Stance devices, and why these have their own stat blocks unlike the old version. Here the Raiment is created bu the Radiant's inner light in the case of the champion, ir out of star stuff in the case of the zodiac; unlike the old magical girl who designated and enchanted her costume components.

    Basicly the same rules that applied to devices apply to Costumes now; unless Selina decides otherwise.
    Last edited by Regalus; 2012-11-08 at 01:47 PM.
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Regalus View Post
    Which os wht they can be enchanted. It's why we have stuff like the Light and Heavy costumes, and the implemente, versátiles and Stance devices, and why these have their own stat blocks unlike the old version. Here the Raiment is created bu the Radiant's inner light in the case of the champion, ir out of star stuff in the case of the zodiac; unlike the old magical girl who designated and enchanted her costume components.

    Basicly the same rules that applied to devices apply to Costumes now; unless Adkins decides otherwise.
    If this is this case, then I am pushing incredibly hard for either a modification to those rules, a costume effect, or feats that allow this to be done. Costume is not Mind Blade. Or at least it really, really shouldn't be.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mynxae View Post
    Damn you Snowfire. I cried.
    Quote Originally Posted by Falcon777 View Post
    T_T I swear, you just made me cry.
    Quote Originally Posted by Qwertystop View Post
    Well, here's another for your sig, Snowfire.

    <struck dumb>

  12. - Top - End - #102
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Will there be a side bar on converting to pathfinder?

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Ringwrym View Post
    Will there be a side bar on converting to pathfinder?
    I believe it's planned, but Sel is just getting out of midterms right now.
    Quote Originally Posted by QuintonBeck View Post
    Many thanks to Snowfire for collating all these. He's a madman, but he's a helpful madman.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mynxae View Post
    Damn you Snowfire. I cried.
    Quote Originally Posted by Falcon777 View Post
    T_T I swear, you just made me cry.
    Quote Originally Posted by Qwertystop View Post
    Well, here's another for your sig, Snowfire.

    <struck dumb>

  14. - Top - End - #104
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    that fine good luck Sel

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    I kind of have to agree. 3.5e Mindblade was very poorly made and the class that uses it wasn't that good until Pathfinder came out. That said, good luck on your midterms! (Those were always a pain)

  16. - Top - End - #106
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    So I'm in the middle of crafting a Champion. Major problem I'm having is: What's the duration of barriers that don't list a duration? Surges are 1 round effects, Blasts are Instantaneous, but what's a Barrier's duration?

  17. - Top - End - #107
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Barriers used to last 1 round by default (back when they had default Cover/Concealment effects). You should probably use that value until Selinia comes back to clarify it.
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  18. - Top - End - #108
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Oh, and side note: None of the weapons are light, so they aren't eligible for Weapon Finesse.

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by KoihimeNakamura View Post
    Oh, and side note: None of the weapons are light, so they aren't eligible for Weapon Finesse.
    Nope, they currently aren't; that's why I proposed a Light Device archetype a while ago. I'm not even concerned about Weapon Finesse as much as about dual-wielding. We have a Twinned Device, after all...
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Whew! Well, midterms over, and the worst of the post-midterm crushwave of classwork over, and I've left myself a few days to just unwind and decompress, so... it looks like I'm back and good to go! I don't actually have any proper updates this time, unfortunately, but there are several in the works. Including the Empath, which I've finally finalized the mechanics on!

    Lots of brilliant suggestions and comments here, but I'm afraid that if I tried to reply to every post in the pages of backlog I've accumulated, I'd never catch up enough to start working on the class again! So I'm going to focus on the posts that have actual questions or confusions in them at the moment. A lot of the suggestions will be implemented in the next update, so I guess my reply to those is going to simply be "Progress!". As always, suggestions and critique are very welcome, and I thank those who chipped in.

    Quote Originally Posted by Qwertystop View Post
    Nice. Did you not post a link to this on the original thread? Or did the subscription-update-emailer just mess up?
    I've added the link in my signature, and I have added a link at the top of the OP in the old magical girl thread. However, I've avoided posting in it because... I have no new content, and I'm not keen on necromancing a thread just to link a new one.

    Quote Originally Posted by jamieth View Post
    Second, I believe there's still no clear ruling on which Device archetypes are considered light weapons, and this is kinda important for 1) weapon finesse, 2) dual-wield.

    The thing is, Versatile seems to be a bit large for dual-wielded weapon (possible, sure, but it is also possible by rules to dual-wield bastard swords...) so, if Empath would truly be the "rogue" to Champion's "fighter" and Zodiac's "mage", I'd consider giving them a "rogue-like" Device archetype, something like, "Light. Dmg(S) 1d4, Dmg(M) 1d6, Crit 18-20x2, is treated as a light weapon"
    Presently, there is only one device type that is considered Light - the Stance type. Versatile and Marksman weapons are one-handed. I'll try and clarify this with the next batch of tweaks. The lack of a light weapon is actually intentional, for the simple reason that a multiwielding magical girl can have six of her devices active at once, potentially. Yes, One-Handed forces a bit of an accuracy hit on her, but as feats like Rapid Shot have clearly displayed, more hits almost always counteracts lower hit-chance... and then some. You saw what happened to that poor, poor red dragon. Do you really want to do that with more accuracy?

    Quote Originally Posted by jamieth View Post
    upd: One more thing: the wording on Complex Formula is a bit unclear; is it in addition to the number of Illuminations known on the table? So, for example, a Zodiac 1 would know 7 standart Illuminations, and have 4 of them readied, plus one Complex, which is readied at all times but can only be used 1/encounter?
    That is correct. I'll work to clarify that.

    Quote Originally Posted by jamieth View Post
    Oh, and one more thing: Why Zodiac? Not to say it isn't a nice-sounding word, except it isn't class-name-sounding... and with the class's Starlight-based nature, would Stargazer really be a bad fit? I loved the name back in the MG1.0 - class's themes less so, but the current Zodiac is just a perfect fit for flavor, I believe...

    upd3: Currently in the process of developing a Stance-based Champion20 able to punch an old red dragon into oblivion in one full attack. So far, got to around 311 damage on average, surely can do better...
    I... had a reason for Zodiac when I came up with it. At one point in development, the zodiac had a strong fate/fortunetelling theme tied to it. That got ditched pretty early on in favor of making the three classes a Sun/Stars/Moon cycle, but I never went back and tweaked it. In retrospect, Stargazer is much better, and will probably be changed once I can get around to editing all those references to Zodiac.

    Quote Originally Posted by jamieth View Post
    One more issue:

    Is that even possible under the current rules? Am I reading the AoE augmentations wrong? Let's take Explosion as an example. As written, it applies a "-1d6 cumulative penalty to blast's damage for each rank", but since the Augment itself costs 1 mote /rank, all it will do is offset the Augment's damage increase. Well, I guess it is possible to bring Blast to 0d6 damage by loading it with only Explosion ranks, but definitely no less... Or is it supposed to mean that the motes spent on Explosion don't increase the damage, and incure the 1d6 penalty for each mote instead?
    It is not presently possible, I do not think. However, it opens up design space in the future for things that do reduce mote cost - it's a safeguard, more than anything.

    Quote Originally Posted by jamieth View Post
    OK, one more thing. The Resplendent Device, just want to make sure I'm reading it right.

    For example, a Champion20 invests stores a 20-motes Surge inside her Stance; while the illumination is so charged, she only gains 20 motes per round, rather than 40. Then, at her turn, she uses the illumination (speaking of, it say "illumination may be used at any time; this seems to imply it doesn't take an action, which is almost certainly wrong. How about the following wording: "You may use the stored illumination by taking the same action it would take to use it normally - swif, move or standart, depending on the Illumination type)".)

    Anyway, our Champion fights with only 20 motes per turn, until the big one. At the beginning of this turn, she uses the Surge, gaining it's effects, and immediately refills to full 40, able to pull both a Barrier and a Blast at the same time. Now, that Dragon is barely even a challenge...
    That is, indeed, the correct interpretation of the device effect. Again, I'll head back and make that clearer.

    Quote Originally Posted by Snowfire View Post
    I think that's something Selinia is going to need to answer. Because they're still physical items, unlike Mind Blade, and all of the DMs I've played this with have allowed Mithral versions of costume. Far more importantly I see no reason why you can't make Costume out of magical materials.

    And in all honesty, I'll be pushing for it hard - as well as Houseruling it if I have to in the games I run (playtest probably notwithstanding).
    Here's the rundown: Short version is that no, you cannot have costumes made out of special materials. You can, however, enchant them normally. A magical girl manifests her device and costume, or is granted them by some higher power - no mortal craftsman could plausibly replicate one, let along remake one in an entirely different material. Even if you rebuilt it down to the finest detail, a replica of a costume would likely be an impractical showpiece at worst, and a mundane but serviceable suit of armor at best. You can enchant what's there, unlike a mindblade... but you can't just up an make new armaments out of whatever you like. I will endeavor to clarify this.

    However, I would point out that Costumes, as-is, innately posses many of the qualities of mithril equipment. They are lighter and more flexible than their mundane siblings - for example, compare a Light costume's 10% ACF with the 20% on a chain shirt, it's direct mundane competition. The twilight armor enchant could likely cover that with ease, and it's fairly cheap for the good it does.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ringwrym View Post
    Will there be a side bar on converting to pathfinder?
    Yes.

    ...eventually.

    Until then, as with most Pathfinder conversions, most of it is common sense.

    Quote Originally Posted by ZeroNumerous View Post
    So I'm in the middle of crafting a Champion. Major problem I'm having is: What's the duration of barriers that don't list a duration? Surges are 1 round effects, Blasts are Instantaneous, but what's a Barrier's duration?
    A barrier's base duration is 1 round! I feel incredibly silly for accidentally cutting that out.

    Quote Originally Posted by KoihimeNakamura View Post
    Oh, and side note: None of the weapons are light, so they aren't eligible for Weapon Finesse.
    Reasons for Versatile and Marksman not being light are given above, but Stance is an unarmed strike - which means that, by definition, it is a light weapon! Between weapon finesse and the Empowered armament enhancement, a magical girl using a Stance can almost entirely eschew Str is she wants to!
    Lovely Rita Mordio avatar by Zefir! Thank you!

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  21. - Top - End - #111
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Selinia View Post
    Presently, there is only one device type that is considered Light - the Stance type. Versatile and Marksman weapons are one-handed. I'll try and clarify this with the next batch of tweaks. The lack of a light weapon is actually intentional, for the simple reason that a multiwielding magical girl can have six of her devices active at once, potentially. Yes, One-Handed forces a bit of an accuracy hit on her, but as feats like Rapid Shot have clearly displayed, more hits almost always counteracts lower hit-chance... and then some. You saw what happened to that poor, poor red dragon. Do you really want to do that with more accuracy?
    Yes, actually. Some of us aren't relying on mass hits or are doing SA types. This decision severely hurts both of them. (Or, I suppose, I could just not MC using anything from here.)

    Here's the rundown: Short version is that no, you cannot have costumes made out of special materials. You can, however, enchant them normally. A magical girl manifests her device and costume, or is granted them by some higher power - no mortal craftsman could plausibly replicate one, let along remake one in an entirely different material. Even if you rebuilt it down to the finest detail, a replica of a costume would likely be an impractical showpiece at worst, and a mundane but serviceable suit of armor at best. You can enchant what's there, unlike a mindblade... but you can't just up an make new armaments out of whatever you like. I will endeavor to clarify this.

    However, I would point out that Costumes, as-is, innately posses many of the qualities of mithril equipment. They are lighter and more flexible than their mundane siblings - for example, compare a Light costume's 10% ACF with the 20% on a chain shirt, it's direct mundane competition. The twilight armor enchant could likely cover that with ease, and it's fairly cheap for the good it does.
    That works until higher levels. At that point you're better off not using the feature and buying armor. This is ignoring the fluff about 'not able to make it', because I can think of several builds that disagree with that. It's a .. rather annoying nerf from the original, but I gather that was part of the intent. I assume from this you aren't creating a 'Clothing' option either?

    ETA2: Okay, so last time. I can actually see why this would only matter i n certain games more (like gestalt) and not be something you want to design for in an overall class. It's not as bad as I was thinking. I am curious why there is no Clothing option though. (Apologies)

    Reasons for Versatile and Marksman not being light are given above, but Stance is an unarmed strike - which means that, by definition, it is a light weapon! Between weapon finesse and the Empowered armament enhancement, a magical girl using a Stance can almost entirely eschew Str is she wants to!
    Yes. See my above point about SA.

    Included by way of Editing: Why does Light armor reduce movement speed?

    I am an idiot. It does not reduce movement speed. c.c
    Last edited by KoihimeNakamura; 2012-11-15 at 12:50 PM.

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Changes! Hodgepodge of stuff here - nothing huge, but I'm chipping away at it.

    • Assorted formatting and wording tweaks to make the classes less ambiguous and easier on the eyes. Infinite gratitudes to everyone who was pointing these out.
    • Zodiac now gains Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat when she gains her Radiant Schemata class feature. I thought on how to handle this for a good while (thanks to sreservoir for bringing it to my attention and providing so many suggestions to fix it, by the way!), and eventually settled on this as a compromise between a few different stances. It adds a good deal of utility to the class without breaking it, in my opinion, and immensely adds to a zodiac's out-of-combat utility.
    • Zodiac capstone now protects all (Su) abilities granted by the class.
    • The Ancients barrier augmentation now costs 3m/rank, down from 4m/rank. Further, Champions may make use of it along with the other classes.
    • Added the Returning barrier augmentation. Tactical positioning, ho!
    • Added the Silence barrier augmentation. Currently holding the record for most expensive non-ranked augmentation, but AMF effects are pretty potent... particularly given Evoker flexibility.
    • The Prism blast effect now allows elements to be set on preparation, rather than crafting.
    • Clarified that Radiant Armaments don't wink out in an AMF - though costume effects do.
    Lovely Rita Mordio avatar by Zefir! Thank you!

    Homebrew:

  23. - Top - End - #113
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Selinia View Post
    Presently, there is only one device type that is considered Light - the Stance type. Versatile and Marksman weapons are one-handed. I'll try and clarify this with the next batch of tweaks. The lack of a light weapon is actually intentional, for the simple reason that a multiwielding magical girl can have six of her devices active at once, potentially. Yes, One-Handed forces a bit of an accuracy hit on her, but as feats like Rapid Shot have clearly displayed, more hits almost always counteracts lower hit-chance... and then some. You saw what happened to that poor, poor red dragon. Do you really want to do that with more accuracy?
    On this, I'd note that at present it seems a poor method of balancing. Using the stance that some girls might get six weapons and take advantage of the light weapon in this way is not a good reason to penalize any magical girl who wants to use light weapons for other reasons. Really if that is an issue, it should mean that the penalty to attacks is brought on by having the extra weapons rather than preventing light weapons as a whole. This could be accomplished by simply adding in that for every 5 mote invested into twinned device the magical girl gets a cumulative -1 penalty to attack along with the extra copy of her device.
    If you don't want to do that, you should still allow some of the device types to be applicable for weapon finesse despite not being light, thus allowing some weapon wielding magical girls to use dexterity for attack rolls. This would at least alleviate one of the main issues with there not being light weapons available for devices.

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Selinia View Post
    Presently, there is only one device type that is considered Light - the Stance type. Versatile and Marksman weapons are one-handed. I'll try and clarify this with the next batch of tweaks. The lack of a light weapon is actually intentional, for the simple reason that a multiwielding magical girl can have six of her devices active at once, potentially. Yes, One-Handed forces a bit of an accuracy hit on her, but as feats like Rapid Shot have clearly displayed, more hits almost always counteracts lower hit-chance... and then some. You saw what happened to that poor, poor red dragon. Do you really want to do that with more accuracy?
    On this, I'd note that at present it seems a poor method of balancing. Using the stance that some girls might get six weapons and take advantage of the light weapon in this way is not a good reason to penalize any magical girl who wants to use light weapons for other reasons. Really if that is an issue, it should mean that the penalty to attacks is brought on by having the extra weapons rather than preventing light weapons as a whole. This could be accomplished by simply adding in that for every 5 mote invested into twinned device the magical girl gets a cumulative -1 penalty to attack along with the extra copy of her device.
    If you don't want to do that, you should still allow some of the device types to be applicable for weapon finesse despite not being light, thus allowing some weapon wielding magical girls to use dexterity for attack rolls. This would at least alleviate one of the main issues with there not being light weapons available for devices.

    Owrtho
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    [creature]Shiny: Monster Competition XXXVI entry.
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    [class]Ozodrin: A class to play as an eldritch horror.
    other hombrew

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    The main issue, I believe, is sadly with the Twinned Weapon design, not Weapon Finesse; the ability to wield six weapons at once is abusable, no matter how heavily penalised. With MWF and GMWF, you have 14 attacks in a round, add surge of Battles, it becomes 16. At this point, you can have minus infinity to your attack rolls, and still hit more or less regularly with nat20 alone... and stall the combat to the point of unplayability.

    I say, limit it to three weapons, granted at 6 motes infused; sure, that disables Tomoe Mami builds, but would probably be more balanced overall.

    Just for fun: use Unlimited Gun Works. Congratulations, you now have a BAB of
    +16/+16/+16/+16/+16/+16/+16/+16/+16/+16/+11/+11/+11/+11/+11/+11/+6/+1.
    Tome of Radiance, a Magical Girl sourcebook for 3.5/PF.

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quite aside from the Weapon Finesse issue, I am going to be coming back to materials here. Because at higher levels, this is important.

    That aside, there is an issue which likely needs addressed in the Blast Illumination augment list. Specifically Volatility. Because at present it's broken to the point of ridiculousness.

    I will give an example.

    Let's go with a level 20 Zodiac here.

    Spoiler
    Show
    So. Complex Formula. Effective EL of 26 - 52 motes to play with.

    Blast: Tears of Heaven.

    Explosion 22, Tactics 1, Volatility 1, Clinging 6

    22 + 5 + 7 + 18 = 52

    So. This is a 110' radius 30d6 untyped blast that does not target your allies, deals half damage for six rounds if anyone hit by it fails a fortitude save, and - oh, this is the kicker - can be continually re-evoked as it knocks people out/unconscious using the incapacitated/dead person as its origin point.

    You evoke this in the middle of a city and the city ceases to exist. You evoke this at an army and the army ceases to exist. You evoke this in the general direction of a nation and the nation ceases. To. Exist.

    Yes, I am aware that it gives a reflex save for half. But if you fire this at an area with even a handful of people in it, one of them is going to blow their save. And unless they all have evasion, Clinging will likely kill any who fluff Fort. And then you get to re-evoke the blast. Using the corpse as the origin point.

    For free.


    If this is as intended, then the Zodiac flat out is THE most powerful battlecaster I have ever come across if all you're going for is utter obliteration. And they can pull of a lesser version of this - with the same consequences - at level 8.

    Luckily, fixing this is rather easy. Make Volatility a shape. Lower the cost slightly - maybe to 5 - and make the number of times you can re-evoke scale with the number of times you took the augment. Otherwise...well, a level 8 character can wipe a nation off the map.
    Last edited by Snowfire; 2012-11-16 at 08:01 AM.
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    Damn you Snowfire. I cried.
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    T_T I swear, you just made me cry.
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    Well, here's another for your sig, Snowfire.

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  27. - Top - End - #117
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Eh... Complex Formula doesn't give you 52 motes in a single Illumination; cost of the Illum is limited by effective EL, and the Stargazer only pays number of motes equal to her real EL. So, at L20, you can evoke level 26 Illuminations, paying 20 motes.

    But I agree that Volatile needs to be a Shape.

    And I repeat my earlier concern; it feels wrong that Champions can evoke more powerful Illuminations then Stargazers, even though they do it with lower effective EL.

    upd: Also, I believe Volatile should only be re-evoked if it kills with initial Blast, not additional Clinging damage. At least, that's how I would rule it.
    Last edited by jamieth; 2012-11-16 at 08:42 AM.
    Tome of Radiance, a Magical Girl sourcebook for 3.5/PF.

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  28. - Top - End - #118
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by jamieth View Post
    Eh... Complex Formula doesn't give you 52 motes in a single Illumination; cost of the Illum is limited by effective EL, and the Stargazer only pays number of motes equal to her real EL. So, at L20, you can evoke level 26 Illuminations, paying 20 motes.

    But I agree that Volatile needs to be a Shape.

    And I repeat my earlier concern; it feels wrong that Champions can evoke more powerful Illuminations then Stargazers, even though they do it with lower effective EL.
    Actually, it does.

    Quote Originally Posted by ToR
    When evoking this illumination, the zodiac gains an effective +1 increase to evoker level for all purposes, and the illumination may be crafted using this increased evoker level for the purpose of determining mote limits. Any mote cost above the zodiac’s unmodified evoker level is paid for by this ability – she receives the full effect of the illumination, but will never pay a number of motes greater than her unmodified evoker level. A zodiac may use her complex formula once per encounter.
    At level 20, you have a +6 bonus. So an EL of 26 for the purposes of mote limits. Which means an illumination can have a mote cost of 52 (EL x 2). Which yes, as stated, you pay only 20 motes for as the ability pays the additional mote cost for you.

    And definitely agreed. Entire issue of weapons things aside, the Stargazer desperately needs something more than what it's got right now. I'm not sure what, but I'm thinking about it hard.
    Quote Originally Posted by QuintonBeck View Post
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    Spoiler: Things
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mynxae View Post
    Damn you Snowfire. I cried.
    Quote Originally Posted by Falcon777 View Post
    T_T I swear, you just made me cry.
    Quote Originally Posted by Qwertystop View Post
    Well, here's another for your sig, Snowfire.

    <struck dumb>

  29. - Top - End - #119
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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Actually, no, it doesn't.
    Quote Originally Posted by Illuminations description
    A magical girl may not craft any illumination with a cost greater than her evoker level in motes.
    So, a Stargazer 20 can craft Illums with cost 20 normally, 26 with Complex Formula, paying 20 motes in either case.
    Tome of Radiance, a Magical Girl sourcebook for 3.5/PF.

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    Default Re: Tome of Radiance: Mastering the Power of Love and Justice

    Quote Originally Posted by Snowfire View Post
    At level 20, you have a +6 bonus. So an EL of 26 for the purposes of mote limits. Which means an illumination can have a mote cost of 52 (EL x 2). Which yes, as stated, you pay only 20 motes for as the ability pays the additional mote cost for you.
    Regardless of the number of motes or actions available, an evoker may only use spend a number of motes up to her evoker level on illuminations of a given base type (Blasts, Barriers, and Surges) in a round.
    So you have a hard limit of 26 on a blast in a round.

    EDIT: Ninja'd.
    Last edited by ZeroNumerous; 2012-11-16 at 08:53 AM.

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