[3.5 Base Class] "I want to live inside a castle built of your agony!"

[Ishcumbeebeeda]

I read the journal in one sitting the night before last, myself. I was going to post in thread asking if you were going to pick it up again, but realized how old it was. I can understand that the transcribing and re-tooling and whatnot could be a pain, but if you did happen to start it up again I, for one, would be pretty eager to see what happens to Usel, though the rest sounds pretty cool too.

[Tacitus]

I definitely fall under the classification of happy lurker. Would you be terribly opposed to recording the audio of the session? Or is that not possible? I forget details of things...
I know it may not be for everyone, on the recording and the listening end, but I tend to enjoy listening to D&D playing podcasts and such from time to time. Like the Critical Miss crew, or Cry and company.

[Xefas]

I definitely fall under the classification of happy lurker. Would you be terribly opposed to recording the audio of the session? Or is that not possible? I forget details of things...
I know it may not be for everyone, on the recording and the listening end, but I tend to enjoy listening to D&D playing podcasts and such from time to time. Like the Critical Miss crew, or Cry and company.

Audio is not out of the question. Audio quality might be questionable. My patience with learning how to properly edit recordings into something people would actually want to listen to is questionable. Whether or not the knowledge that we're being recorded will effect the game is a good question. But the possibility is there. I've actually been toying around with the idea of doing my own youtube Let's Plays, so I've acquired a (very) basic grasp on the concept. That said, I have an entire (decent length) RimWorld Let's Play fully recorded that no one will ever see, because apparently the knowledge that I'm being recorded compels me to fill every silence longer than a second or two with 'errr's and 'ummm's (which, for reference, is something I don't usually do).

Still, I won't rule it out. And, you never know, some day the world might get to hear Xefas ramble about RPG paraphernalia over a game of Civ5 or something. Once I conquer the filler words.

[Tanuki Tales]

So, going to be playing one of these soon, and I have a question:

If a character has an ability/feat/racial trait/whatever that says "X skill is always a class skill for the character", does this mean they're valid selections for either Primal [Skill] Perfection or Unthinking [Skill] Comprehension?

[General Patton]

I'm gonna have to guess that's a no, for fluff and crunch reasons. Those excellencies specify Teramach class skills. Just because something is a class skill for you does not mean it is a class skill for all Teramachs. Furthermore, the bonuses and ranks are rooted in raw monstrous instinct. I can't think of any skills not on the Teramach list that would be appropriate for that.

[Arbane]

Now, after the fact, I've gotten a decent number of PMs and other pokes in unrelated threads from people saying they were reading the journal and were sad to see it go. I guess it may've just been a case of folks happily lurking but not really having anything they felt merited posting in the journal thread. I know them feels; perfectly understandable. I just didn't know that. I thought I was just vomiting words into an empty room.

One of the many problems with the internet - with rare happy exceptions, the only time ANYONE comments on creative efforts is to complain or nitpick.

[DracoDei]

From one of the most very basic class features:

and such weapons may bypass damage reduction as if they were magical.

Are you sure that you don't also want this to grant a 50% chance to effect incorporeal creatures?

I tried to check if this had been asked before, but it didn't seem to be.

I've got one class and another in progress that grants similar effects, so I've thought about this sort of thing a bit. The first class (Grace-Gift) is because they aren't supposed to need to invest heavily in their weapon (and aren't supposed to attack during their own turn, only with AoOs, so being able to turn on and off some bonuses to encourage that help), and the second is because they end up wielding six weapons at once. Because, as we all know, if your weapon-based class doesn't make the Fighter cry, you are doing something wrong.

[Tanuki Tales]

Since the playtest didn't get to a point where this came up (and sorry if it's already been answered in the thread), I have a question:

Do All-Consuming Rampage Release and Retribution Will Follow stack or does one supersede the other? And if so, which takes precedence?

[vasharanpaladin]

You can be under multiple rage effects at once. Some later Mythos require counting them.

[TwentyFold]

Can there be a mythos based off of Eating beings to gain some sort of special ability that they have, kind of starts off as some kind of cannibalism things that gives you bonuses from eating humanoids at first, (like healing you as part of the Vigor Spell) and later being able to consume even stranger beings such as Mindflayers to gain something of theirs, as well as previous bonuses that have been obtained from this mythos.

Just wanted to give an idea for a Cannibalistic Mythos.

Edit: Sorry if this sounds sloppy, didn't have much time to post.

[exodix]

Indiscriminate Filth-Quaffing Appetite
Prerequisite: -

You cannot be poisoned or afflicted by a disease from something that you ingest, and whenever you would be Nauseated, you are instead Sickened for the same duration. Indeed, any natural inclinations you would have about what is and isn't properly edible leaves your mind completely. Rotting, spore-spewing fungal roadkill is just as appetizing to you as a fresh salad or hunk of roasted beef (you still have old favorites of course; although, to the vexation of any traveling companions, you may discover new ones thanks to your enhanced diet).

After you have subsisted on a diet of things that are normally inedible for your kind for a week or so, your body starts building up a resilience towards other foreign agents. You gain a +1 bonus on saving throws against all poison and disease. For every week you continue to dine on assorted foulness, this bonus increases by 1, until it reaches a maximum of +4. (This bonus does not decrease over time, just to be clear.)

At 7th level, your diet expands to things that are not, nor were ever, alive. Stones, dirt, precious metals, furniture, glass - any solid matter that you can shove down your gullet and won't fight back can be used as sustenance, and each one has its own unique flavor that others of your kind just can't seem to understand.

At 13th level, your body can metabolize just about anything. Fire? Light? Sound? The distilled sorrow of flayed mortal souls that pools inside the Maggot Pits of the Nine Hells of Perdition? The wandering memories floating amidst the River Styx? All legitimate sources of nutrition.

---

does that scale with class level or Character level?

[PeacefulOak]

So, a couple of sessions into my first game DMing for a Teramach. He chose the Rage Release mythos along with Worldbreaker Grip, and Hands Like Bloody Meathooks. Level 1 was a quick and dirty dungeon crawl where he wrecked face on everything. Didn't get to actually grapple anything because the initial punch killed them right off. The party includes a Druid and a Sorcerer, and he definitely held his own or outperformed the others. The BBEG at the end was a Minotaur, which was the only thing to successfully hit him. Almost dropped him, but the party prevailed.

Second session had the party at level 2, and they ended up facing a swarm of skeletons. The team was in trouble, except for the Teramach whose AC while raging was 20. The sorcerer cast enlarge person on the Teramach, giving him reach and even MORE armour, so he became really unhittable and the team mopped up the enemies.

He's not game breaking right now, but I have to be careful. If the party can plan for the encounter and arrange themselves, they can blow through behind the Teramach meat shield. If they're surprised or surrounded, the squishes... Squish.

[Quarian Rex]

*Awesome DM allows Homebrew at the table*

Please keep going with the updates/evaluation. Tis interesting.

As a side thought, when guaging the balance of the class remember that forgotten details in game might skew your perceptions of the class' balance. For instance, when the Terramach was Enlarged his AC should have gone down by 1 (+1 AC for Str, -1 for Dex, -1 for size). Nothing gamebreaking but it makes a difference when a buff with positives and negatives makes you think it's actually...

giving him reach and even MORE armour, so he became really unhittable...

[PeacefulOak]

Woops! For some reason I thought the Strength bonus was much higher. Thank you for that!

[Amechra]

Spoiler: Extraordinary Mythos

Show

Inordinate Cobalt-Stained Maw
The best part wasn't the meat they left behind - the best part was the screaming.

The Teramach gains Cobalt Rage and Improved Essentia Capacity as a bonus feat. The amount of Essentia invested in Cobalt Rage increases by one each time they kill a creature while Raging, to a maximum of their Essentia capacity. This additional Essentia is lost when their Rage ends.

Advanced
Ripping Forth Soulstuff: While Raging, the Teramach's Essentia capacity increases by one.

Kudos to whoever gets the reference.

---

Spoiler: Excellency

Show

Building A Dam Across Madness
Prerequisite: All Consuming Rampage Release or Retribution Will Follow

The Monster has no control over its Rage - the very concept is nonsensical. It is nothing but the urge to violate and ruin. But you - you? You have learned some methods to hold it back.

Whenever you would enter a Rage, you may choose not to; the strain of doing so forces you to select one of the following curses:

• The next time you Rage, you add your Strength bonus as a Morale bonus to damage you deal in melee, but cannot distinguish between friend and foe.
• The next time you Rage, you gain a +2 bonus to Strength, but take a -2 penalty to your AC.
• The next time you Rage, you gain additional Attacks of Opportunity each round equal to your Strength modifier; however, you must make every Attack of Opportunity presented to you.

If you are suffering from all three curses, you cannot use this Excellency.

[Draken]

Spoiler: Extraordinary Mythos

Show

Inordinate Cobalt-Stained Maw
The best part wasn't the meat they left behind - the best part was the screaming.

The Teramach gains Cobalt Rage and Improved Essentia Capacity as a bonus feat. The amount of Essentia invested in Cobalt Rage increases by one each time they kill a creature while Raging, to a maximum of their Essentia capacity. This additional Essentia is lost when their Rage ends.

Advanced
Ripping Forth Soulstuff: While Raging, the Teramach's Essentia capacity increases by one.

Kudos to whoever gets the reference.

---

Spoiler: Excellency

Show

Building A Dam Across Madness
Prerequisite: All Consuming Rampage Release or Retribution Will Follow

The Monster has no control over its Rage - the very concept is nonsensical. It is nothing but the urge to violate and ruin. But you - you? You have learned some methods to hold it back.

Whenever you would enter a Rage, you may choose not to; the strain of doing so forces you to select one of the following curses:

• The next time you Rage, you add your Strength bonus as a Morale bonus to damage you deal in melee, but cannot distinguish between friend and foe.
• The next time you Rage, you gain a +2 bonus to Strength, but take a -2 penalty to your AC.
• The next time you Rage, you gain additional Attacks of Opportunity each round equal to your Strength modifier; however, you must make every Attack of Opportunity presented to you.

If you are suffering from all three curses, you cannot use this Excellency.

I feel like the exceptional mythos should have All Consuming Rampage Release or Retribution Will Follow as prerequisites since it doesn't give you a rage effect and by itself it doesn't actually do anything.

No comment on the excellency other than that... Dunno, doesn't entice me?

[DracoDei]

Or, to allow more flexibility, maybe the pre-requisite should be "Any Mythos that Grants a [Rage]" effect, or maybe even "Any Rage Effect" if you, for some reason want to open it up to Barbarians and such.?