[Avatar d20 Project] Bending System and Bending Classes - Thread II

[Mephibosheth]

Well, Felinoel, one of the functions of your "Gravity bending" is covered under the airbender's Wind Shaping ability, in Hand of Air. And I quote.

Granted, that's on a pretty small scale, but still. Do we have any precedent for "heavy gravity" effect from the show?

I'm with Eighth_Seraph on this one. It seems like the things you're grouping under "gravity bending" are just applications of seeds like Wind Shaping and Levitate. I don't think we need a special name or ability to represent them.

Are we thinking of 4e yet because I have already started a waterbender and would like to post it for comments. I don't have any powers yet but have the class done.

A couple of people have tried, but nothing ever approached completion. I'm still wrestling with a number of different ideas for how to adapt our classes to the structure of 4e, but haven't really been able to solidify things. My problem with 4e so far is that classes only get 2 at-will abilities over their entire progression, whereas our benders get nothing but at-will abilities. We could use a completely different structure for our classes, but then all we'd be doing is re-balancing what we currently have and putting things in 4e language. So, I guess the final answer is "I don't know." Feel free to post your 4e waterbender, but try to find one of the 4e threads to post it in. They should be pretty easy to find.

As for the effect of the comet, I think that there is an easier option than giving a bonus to the skill rolls. Rather than giving a bonus that would turn a novice into a master, we could simply halve the DC of all firebender forms during the comet's flight. That way novices would be brought up to a higher level of power, and masters would be elevated to near godly levels. I think that is reflected in the show, with master firebenders standing on flying orbs of flame and mooks being able to burn a swath through the earth kingdom's shoreline.

Ultimately, isn't this essentially the same as giving a bonus to bending checks? Either way, bending seeds are easier to pull off and you can reach higher DC's. Ultimately, I think I'd rather use a bonus to bending checks, if only because that's how we've done it in the past and it makes it easier to use low DC seeds. Halving the DC is great for high DC seeds, but not as cool for low DC ones.

Issues with firebending:
- There is no listed range for Fire Blast that I saw.
- Lightning allows neither a reflex save nor requires an attack roll. Though I don't recall it being normally deflectable, it should be a Reflex for No Damage. Also, I recommend just increasing the dice rather than automatically empowering.
- Fire Blast is listed as ranged, rather than ranged touch.
- Should probably be more than a simple Unarmed Damage addition for fighting in melee (this is for all benders) as they all do it when they really want to hit someone hard. Pretty much high level benders in this system will never fight closer than 30 feet. Perhaps...

FelixZ addressed most of these issues pretty well. I just want to touch on a few things. First, I can't remember why we didn't notice that lightening has absolutely no save or attack roll. I think the consensus was to make it a ranged touch attack. Also, I'm definitely open to alternate methods of addressing its power. It is a full-round action though, so whatever we go with should be pretty intense. 2d4/level or even 2d6/level. I haven't had a chance to crunch the numbers though.

Second, Fire Blast is a ranged attack because all bending blasts (with the exception of the Air Blast, which has a different mechanic) are ranged attacks. There were balance concerns about allowing iterative touch attacks and the way firebending is portrayed in the show indicates (at least to me) that a normal ranged attack is necessary to hit, not just a touch attack. So, the reasons were consistancy, balance, and accurate representation of the show.

Third, I don't really have any major problems with your Up Close and Personal feat, though it seems like it would result in a firebender's Wisdom modifier being added to his bending check twice. I'd say it's worth it even if you removed the bonus to bending checks and left it just adding Wisdom to damage. Maybe add Wisdom to attack and damage? Either way, it looks like it would be useful to a specific type of bender, and I would probably support adding it to the list! We always need more feats.

Heat Wave (Template):
Base DC: +10

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Though a fast defeat is the usual way of firebending, sometimes lingering damage can get the job done more efficiently.

Conflagrate: Targets who catch fire from these attacks have a harder time shaking them off; the Reflex Save DC to extinguish flames is changed to (10+½Bender Level+Wis Modifier) and the residual flames deal additional damage equal to the bender's Wisdom modifier. These flames do not stack on the same target, and the bender may only set them on fire once a round.

Sweltering Blasts: Even the most agile of opponents gets worn down under a firebender's assault if they don't know when to move, as the air itself begins to heat up. A target of your sweltering blast that doesn't move out of their square on their next turn must make a Fortitude Save or become fatigued, regardless if the attack actually hit or not.

(Conflagrate has no basis, but I think it is logical. Sweltering Blasts is vaguely based on Ozai in the finale.)

I'm torn on this one. On the one hand, I've repeatedly committed to a "canon only" stance. On the other hand, this seed is really cool and close enough to canon that I want to include it. I like it, and it does add some much-needed versitility to firebenders. Ultimately, I'm going to leave this one up to the community.

Focus Fire (Template):
Base DC: +5

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Economy of motion. Everything must fall as quickly as possible.

Attacks made with this seed are extremely precise and focused, reducing collateral damage to a minimum. The bender adds his Wisdom modifier to the form's attack roll or his deflect attack roll, but the opponent doesn't catch on fire from the attack. This form has no effect on any ability which does not allow an attack roll.

An interesting tradeoff, but we already have a feat to represent Zuko's ability to damage weapons. Still, there seems to be a place for this seed. What says the community?

I have just made this account briefly (hence the name), as I happened upon this forum/thread in my internet travels to state my belief on sand bending and lavabending.

Sandbending: Toph could only vaguely throw sand around for two reasons: she couldn't really see where she was throwing and she was focussing much of her attention and energy on the tower. I don't really know how d20 works, but I don't think it is a particularly separate discipline.

Welcome to Giantitp! I hope you enjoy your stay .

I think the hangup for everyone has been the discussion of sandbending outside the show itself, on the wikipedia pages and the Nick website. It mentions how sandbending is similar to waterbending in some of its motions and philosophies. Plus, sandbenders just look so cool, people want a separate set of abilities to be able to play a sandbender who's mechanically different from a normal earthbender. Plus, there are a few unique abilities we know of, like the miniature sandstorms they use to propel their sand sailors.

Lavabending: Avatar Roku clearly performs this feat whilst destroying his temple. It is not just removing an obstacle in its path. He moves his hand and we see a corresponding image of three thin columns of magma rising from the main body situated below. Clearly this is not natural and controlled by him. That is all.

That's true. I'd forgotten about that. Looks like solid evidence to me for putting lavabending on the firebender list. What says the community?

[Eighth_Seraph]

That's true. I'd forgotten about that. Looks like solid evidence to me for putting lavabending on the firebender list. What says the community?

Er. Roku was the Avatar, dude. He could have been earthbending easily enough. That being said, the Nickelodeon website does explicitly say that lavabending goes under firebending, so I have absolutely no problem adding it to the firebender list.

I really do like the Heat Wave seed, but I have a question. Did we ever define when, if ever, a firebending form catches an opponent on fire, and how to handle it? I mean, are we going to have characters making DC 15 Reflex saves after every Fire Blast? Or is the the Heat Wave template that makes the fire catch? I'll quote the SRD.

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Catching On Fire

Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and noninstantaneous magic fires might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells with an instantaneous duration don’t normally set a character on fire, since the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash.

Characters at risk of catching fire are allowed a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid this fate. If a character’s clothes or hair catch fire, he takes 1d6 points of damage immediately. In each subsequent round, the burning character must make another Reflex saving throw. Failure means he takes another 1d6 points of damage that round. Success means that the fire has gone out. (That is, once he succeeds on his saving throw, he’s no longer on fire.)

A character on fire may automatically extinguish the flames by jumping into enough water to douse himself. If no body of water is at hand, rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus.

Those unlucky enough to have their clothes or equipment catch fire must make DC 15 Reflex saves for each item. Flammable items that fail take the same amount of damage as the character.

I like the idea a whole lot, but we need to more clearly define the "catching on fire" mechanics under the bending system before we can implement it well.

As for Up-Close and Personal, the main problem we have is that only the firebender can channel his blast through an unarmed strike, so the feat can only be taken by firebenders. And seriously, I think a better feat would be something along the lines of...

[Feat Name] (I like "Up-Close and Personal" as a name)
Prerequisites: Air Blast, Water Blast, Earth Blast OR Fire Blast class ability; Base Attack Bonus +3
Benefit: You gain damage progression on your unarmed strike as a monk of a light fighting style, modifier by your level in a bending class. Earthbenders instead get damage progression as a monk of a balanced fighting style.
Special: If you take levels in a monk fighting style of the same type granted by this feat, your levels in monk and your bending class stack for the purpose of unarmed damage progression,

[AstralFire]

Okay, I apologize for any flubs. I'm a major pyromaniac so most of what I'm addressing is Firebenders, and I've only skipped over what the other benders can do in a cursory manner. I glanced at Airbenders and noticed they were ranged touch, so I thought it was an omission from Firebenders. Likewise, I didn't realize only Fire could deal blast damage with a melee strike.

There's a discrepancy in Skill Points per level between the website and the thread that I noticed.

Regarding Lightning: I vote for 2d4 damage per level (almost identical to the current version) but make it so that it either cannot be deflected or is deflected at a large penalty. We see people dodge Lightning more often than we do attempt to stop it.

Regarding Up-Close and Personal: I like Eighth Seraph's version, it's more elegant than mine. That is enough additional damage that I think a desperate bender (or a more melee-oriented one) would fight up-close voluntarily.

Regarding catching fire: I would take the stance that anyone who gets hit by a fire attack roll or doesn't make a reflex save is automatically on fire for that round. You can only catch on fire once per round.

So, making some modifications to earlier suggestions:

Intensity
Base DC: 15

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• Intensify: Oftentimes, from a firebender’s point of view, a fire is simply not hot enough. By focusing on an already existing source of fire as a standard action, a firebender can increase the damage it deals by 1d6, plus an additional 1d6 for every 4 points by which the Firebending check exceeds the DC, up to the firebender’s Blast damage.
  
• Quench: A little-used form among most firebenders, a firebender can use or ready a standard action to negate a single Fire Blast passing within 10 feet of him. Quenching blasts further away than 10 feet is possible, but the Firebending DC increases by +2 for every 5 feet further away the blast is. The firebender may also attempt to quench standing flames (such as from lingering fire damage) in this manner. Any fire that is still under the direct control of another bender is contested, and is thus an ineligible target of this seed.
  
  The Firebender may also Quench a single source of fire per round as an Immediate Action; this increases the Firebending DC by 20.

^ I didn't really understand how this was a template, so I changed it from one. Quench is pretty fully an independent usage. Pretty much the only thing Intensify could combo with was Playing with Fire from the wording. I added some usage, which prevents a ready firebender from catching on fire and allows them to protect their friends from firebenders as well.

Lingering Flames (Template):
Base DC: +15

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Though a fast defeat is the usual way of firebending, sometimes lingering damage can get the job done more efficiently.

• Conflagrate: Targets who catch fire from these attacks have a harder time shaking them off; the Reflex Save DC to extinguish flames is changed to (10+½Bender Level+Wis Modifier) and the residual flames deal Fire Blast damage. These qualities replace (do not stack with) the standard effect of Catching on Fire for this attack.
  
• Heat Wave: Even the most agile of opponents gets worn down under a firebender's assault if they don't know when to move, as the air itself begins to heat up. A target of your Heat Wave that doesn't move out of their square on their next turn must make a Fortitude Save or become fatigued for the duration of the encounter, regardless if the attack actually hit or not.

Origin: Sozin's Comet, Ozai. (Speculative)

Pyrotechnics (Template):
Base DC: +10

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The burning pride and desire of the firebender can stun and awe even the most hardened opponent.

• Rainbow Flame: The bender's flame becomes exceptionally bright and may become unusually colored. (Player's option.) Opponents targeted by Pyrotechnic attacks are Dazzled, and if subject to a critical hit, must make a Reflex Save or become Blinded for 1d4 rounds.

Origin: The Firebending Masters. (Speculative)

Focused Fire (Template):
Base DC: +10

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Economy of motion. Everything must fall as quickly as possible. To that end, you strike precisely with your hands.

• Precision: Attacks made with this seed are extremely precise and focused, reducing collateral damage to a minimum. The bender adds his Wisdom modifier to the attack roll (as well as his Deflect Attack rolls for the round), but the opponent cannot catch on fire from the attack. The range of these techniques is limited to ¼ normal, or 10 ft+5 per every 4 Bender Levels. The damage dice used in the attack increase size by one step. Note that this template cannot be applied to any form that cannot be performed with the hands (such as by applying another template involving a body part) nor to any form that does not require an attack roll.

Origin: First Season Zuko.

- A note: Why is this only 10? Well, in most cases, Fire Kick adds more raw damage. As I mentioned earlier, it's pretty easy to add 3 dice with Fire Kick at high levels in addition to Blue Fire... and kicking adds more range. Blue Fire Kicks deal 9d8 damage per strike. Blue Focus Fire Blasts would deal 6d10 damage per strike but be more accurate, which is 7.5 damage less per attack (a little bit more than the average of 2d6). They're more accurate, but they also lose out on the chance for lingering fire damage, and again must be performed at closer range. Without this, there's no good reason for a high level firebender not to spend their entire time spinning on their head and kicking like they're auditioning for the part of Chun-Li in You Got Served: Street Fighter Style... from approximately 300 feet away.

That's cool, but we see more variety in attack than that.

[Mephibosheth]

Er. Roku was the Avatar, dude. He could have been earthbending easily enough. That being said, the Nickelodeon website does explicitly say that lavabending goes under firebending, so I have absolutely no problem adding it to the firebender list.

Yeah...sorry about that. I guess I spaced on that for a moment in my joy at finally having new "evidence" on this issue. Now, all that remains is to determine what you can actually do with lavabending...

I really do like the Heat Wave seed, but I have a question. Did we ever define when, if ever, a firebending form catches an opponent on fire, and how to handle it? I mean, are we going to have characters making DC 15 Reflex saves after every Fire Blast? Or is the the Heat Wave template that makes the fire catch? I'll quote the SRD.

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Catching On Fire

Characters exposed to burning oil, bonfires, and noninstantaneous magic fires might find their clothes, hair, or equipment on fire. Spells with an instantaneous duration don’t normally set a character on fire, since the heat and flame from these come and go in a flash.

Characters at risk of catching fire are allowed a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid this fate. If a character’s clothes or hair catch fire, he takes 1d6 points of damage immediately. In each subsequent round, the burning character must make another Reflex saving throw. Failure means he takes another 1d6 points of damage that round. Success means that the fire has gone out. (That is, once he succeeds on his saving throw, he’s no longer on fire.)

A character on fire may automatically extinguish the flames by jumping into enough water to douse himself. If no body of water is at hand, rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus.

Those unlucky enough to have their clothes or equipment catch fire must make DC 15 Reflex saves for each item. Flammable items that fail take the same amount of damage as the character.

I like the idea a whole lot, but we need to more clearly define the "catching on fire" mechanics under the bending system before we can implement it well.

The website has all firebending abilities igniting combustible objects, but says nothing about creatures and characters. I would be fine with making this a function of the Heat Wave seed. It's a simple fix and won't necessarily make it so that characters are making Reflex saves every single round (though that's definitely possible).

As for Up-Close and Personal, the main problem we have is that only the firebender can channel his blast through an unarmed strike, so the feat can only be taken by firebenders. And seriously, I think a better feat would be something along the lines of...

[Feat Name] (I like "Up-Close and Personal" as a name)
Prerequisites: Air Blast, Water Blast, Earth Blast OR Fire Blast class ability; Base Attack Bonus +3
Benefit: You gain damage progression on your unarmed strike as a monk of a light fighting style, modifier by your level in a bending class. Earthbenders instead get damage progression as a monk of a balanced fighting style.
Special: If you take levels in a monk fighting style of the same type granted by this feat, your levels in monk and your bending class stack for the purpose of unarmed damage progression,

I think the point of the original feat was to be useful only to firebenders (correct me if I'm wrong, AstralFire). The idea was to represent the power that you see, for example, in The Southern Raiders when

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Zuko and Azula both punch each other and are tossed backwards in the resulting conflagration.

[AstralFire]

My stuff so far is all thinking about Firebenders, yeah. :D But I didn't mean to limit it just to them for that one.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Oh, Meph, I just noticed that the Chi Immobilization and Disrupt Bending feats on the website doesn't have a listed duration. Also, as long as I have your attention. The playtesting arena is back up, and I have a character awaiting a level 10 opponent.

[Mephibosheth]

Wow, how did we not notice that? What do you think, a number of rounds equal to the character's Wisdom modifier? Rounds/level?

[AstralFire]

Wow, how did we not notice that? What do you think, a number of rounds equal to the character's Wisdom modifier? Rounds/level?

I'd make it 3 rounds for Chi Immobilization. Rounds/level would be way too crippling and if it's based on Wis modifier... sucks for anyone who only qualifies for the minimum Wis. Chi Disruption could probably last for the encounter.

The wording for Chi Disruption should also note that Strength can never go below 1.

Any thoughts on my wall of text? >.>

[Eighth_Seraph]

Meh, I think rounds equal to modifier is fair. If you only got the minimum required Wis, then you'll reap the results. Eliminating the use of your opponent's arms for even two or three rounds is worth a feat, methinks.

[Mephibosheth]

How 'bout a compromise. The penalties last for one round, plus a number of additional rounds equal to the character's Wisdom modifier. Then it's always at least 2 rounds, but it's not necessarily a static number.

I'll address the aforementioned "wall of text" later. My initial impressions are favorable, however.

[Eighth_Seraph]

I'll get started on the Wall of Text, then. Oh, and I approve of the compromise.

Lingering Flames gets a thumbs-up from me, though I think it requires a clause stating that any firebending form using the template automatically lights the opponent on fire, opposed by a Reflex save.

Pyrotechnics is an interesting idea, but I think it would be better off as a feat. I made an epic seed called Dragonfire on the non-canon thread which gave effects for each color of fire, if you want to check it out. The only problem is that blasts can't score critical hits, so the blinding is out, unless you want to make it "if the attack roll lands on a natural 20..."

The reason that Intensity was a template was due to the primary function (to intensify the flames of a form). I'm okay with the allowing Quench to put out a fire as an immediate action, but it needs to be capped. Once per round is kind of weak, but the function seems too contrived otherwise.

Focused Fire is a completely different direction than we usually take seeds, and if following the pattern we've established with this project, seems more appropriate as a feat. Having said that, I think it would be a completely worthwhile feat to take, without being broken. It feels like something out of Complete Bender, y'know?

[AstralFire]

I'll get started on the Wall of Text, then. Oh, and I approve of the compromise.

Lingering Flames gets a thumbs-up from me, though I think it requires a clause stating that any firebending form using the template automatically lights the opponent on fire, opposed by a Reflex save.

Pyrotechnics is an interesting idea, but I think it would be better off as a feat. I made an epic seed called Dragonfire on the non-canon thread which gave effects for each color of fire, if you want to check it out. The only problem is that blasts can't score critical hits, so the blinding is out, unless you want to make it "if the attack roll lands on a natural 20..."

Oh, I didn't realize. I can definitely see this being a feat, now that I think about it more.

Pyrotechnics [Bending]
The burning pride and desire of the firebender can stun and awe even the most hardened opponent.
Prerequisites: Fire Blast 2d6
Benefit: The bender's flames become exceptionally bright and may become unusually colored. Any opponent he deals fire damage to becomes dazzled for the next round. If the bender rolls a natural 20 on his Fire Blast attack roll, the target must make a Reflex Save or become Blinded for 1d4 rounds.

The reason that Intensity was a template was due to the primary function (to intensify the flames of a form). I'm okay with the allowing Quench to put out a fire as an immediate action, but it needs to be capped. Once per round is kind of weak, but the function seems too contrived otherwise.

Capped how? You can only make one immediate or swift action a round as it is, right?

Hmm, you may want to clear that up then. I read Intensify as only working with fire that was already present, so it couldn't be combined with Fire Blast and stuff. I can see it improving Wall of Fire, but only the round after.

Focused Fire is a completely different direction than we usually take seeds, and if following the pattern we've established with this project, seems more appropriate as a feat. Having said that, I think it would be a completely worthwhile feat to take, without being broken. It feels like something out of Complete Bender, y'know?

I was trying to make a hand-based seed that could compete with Fire Kicks for usefulness - right now, there's no good reason not to be kicking everything you can since it not only increases your damage with your skill, but increases the range at which you can fight dramatically. I haven't really done much number crunching with the other benders, but I know compared to standard D&D classes the Fire Kick damage isn't even that awesome (though it's not bad) - it's just that nothing competes with it. The Breath template is for escaping or surprising someone. We still see plenty of hand-based firebending in the finale and the episodes leading up to it, and that should get some mechanical representation.

In what way does it break the pattern? -confused, a bit-

[Mephibosheth]

OK, hopefully I've been following this discussion correctly.

Intensity:

As written now, the seed doesn't affect instantaneous firebending abilities like Fire Blast. It would only affect already-existing fire and fire from abilities like Wall of Fire.

I don't know if I like the ability to use Quench as an immediate action (or as a readied action like in the current version). If you could, it'd be basically the same as Deflect Attack, except you never fail and you can only use it once. It just seems redundant to me. I think the original idea was to allow firebenders to do things like this, where Zhao walked through Jeong Jeong's wall of fire. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but using it as an immediate action (or even as a readied action) just seems redundant. I would support a re-write of Quench to function like the opposite of Intensify.

Lingering Flames:

If I'm reading everything correctly, we're looking at a final draft of Lingering Flames that looks like this:

Lingering Flames (Template):
Base DC: +15
[spoiler]Though a fast defeat is the usual way of firebending, sometimes lingering damage can get the job done more efficiently.
Conflagrate: If a firebender successfully affects a target with a firebending attack (either by a successful attack roll or a failed save), the target must make a Reflex Save or catch on fire. Additionally, the save DC to extinguish the fire increases to 10 plus half the firebender's class level plus the firebender's Wisdom modifier.
Heat Wave: Even the most agile of opponents gets worn down under a firebender's assault if they don't know when to move, as the air itself begins to heat up. A target of your Heat Wave that doesn't move out of their square on their next turn must make a Fortitude save or become fatigued for the duration of the encounter, regardless if the attack actually hit or not.

Note I reduced the damage from catching on fire as a result of Conflagrate, but I still think it's a viable seed, especially when combined with Intensity.

Pyrotechnics:

I'm fine with it as either a seed or a feat. Note that blasts can score critical hits, just like any other ranged attack, so the blinding could be on any critical hit (useful for those benders that invest in Improved Critical).

Focused Fire:

Again, we need to codify exactly how an opponent can catch on fire. The website stipulates that all combustible objects can be set on fire by all firebending moves (like the ships that go down in flames in The Deserter) but is silent on how creatures are affected. I think Eighth_Seraph and I are operating on the assumption that Lingering Fire allows you to catch an opponent on fire, but other firebending seeds do not. I think this ruling avoids a lot of unnecessary rolling and is in keeping with the standard set by the SRD.

Given this assumption, Focused Fire gives you a lot of benefits for a low skill DC and no cost. Additionally, the Sundering Blast feat was created to represent the exact moment you're talking about, AstralFire. Finally, given the trade-off between using Firestorm (not possible with Fire Kick) and gaining the bonus to damage, firebenders have incentives to use both hands and feet.

I hope I've addressed everything and that I'm not completely off base.

Mephibosheth

[AstralFire]

Well, I appreciate being taken seriously, coming into this project so late.

Regarding Intensify: I think that removing the ability to quench Fire Blasts entirely is a good idea, since it's just another variation on Deflect Attack. I support keeping it around to handle unattended fires. Things like Wall of Fire should really be covered by Contested Bending, no?

Regarding Pyrotechnics: I think it's better as a seed, and I feel it is potentially too strong as a feat, as the feat form makes you lose nothing to hurt their Attack Rolls and potentially their entire ability to fight. Benders aren't feat starved, just a little feat hungry at low level, so it's not a huge loss.

Regarding Firestorm: You... can't use Fire Kick with Firestorm? The way Eighth and I were talking earlier, I'm not too surprised that my reading of how things worked was unintentional, but:

- That should probably be clarified. My understanding was that since Fire Kick doesn't have a time associated with its manifestation, when applied to Fire Blast it functioned exactly as Fire Blast did in all respects, including allowing it to work with Firestorm.
- That's still not a good reason to use Fists. Assuming Rapid Shot:

KICKS - 4x9d8 damage a round if all three attacks hit (for an average of 162)
FISTS - 5x6d8 damage a round if all four attacks hit (for an average of 135, which is pretty inferior)
LIGHTNING: 40d6 damage a round if Lightning and Blue Fire can be combined (for an average of 140). There's still no reason to use your fists unless you -really- need to hit four different distant people with a weak attack in a round. The kick gives you superior range and would let you set up lingering flames.
FOCUS FIRE - Deals 4x6d10 damage (132) with a, say, +6 modifier on the attack roll. That's actually slightly farther behind kick damage, but I would be willing to take an average loss of 30 damage on an easy target for a much easier time striking a foe.

(To get that much damage with kicks:
Template Mastery (Fire Kick)
Template Mastery (Blue Fire)
Wis 22
Bending during the daytime or masterwork item
Focused Bending (Fire Blast)
Base DC is 25

You're making an average DC of 50, and you need to make 55 to deal 9d8; if not, you'll deal 8d8, which at 144 is still higher, with a longer range to safely do it from. You'll roll every bending check since your minimum check is 41 and 40 is all you need to make it 8d8, with a strong chance of 9d8. And here's the (heh) kicker, you're doing all of this too far away for any other bender to even touch you.

I think Firestorm should eventually remove its penalty and shift to a bonus or follow the full Greater Flurry progression. Full Greater Flurry is probably too much, but compared to kicking you have worse accuracy, worse range, and worse damage. That's too much.

[yosho]

Hum, Astralfire you seem to think like me. I was planning to post those same seeds. Mine were a little different but what ever.

As were on the subject of intensify I would like to recommend one more subability for it.
Intensify
Ray: The firebender focuses her fire blast into a precise ray of fire. The firebender makes a fire blast attack as a ranged touch attack and can apply precision damage too it as well. This attack bypasses fire resistance.

Catching Fire: I believe that the fire blast should not automatically set opponents on fire. The seed should be the only way to do that unless they are dripping in oil or something. I agree with Mephibosheth's version except that damage should be upped to 1d6 + wis + 1d6 per 15 above the dc.

Pyrotechnics: It has enouph worth that it should be a seed and not a feat. It appears like a viable technique.

Pyrotechnics (Template)
By learning to change the color and brightness of her flame the firebender can aw and stop her opponents.
Color (+15): Your flames dance in bright dazzling colors. Anyone damaged by fire with the color template must make a will save or suffer from dazzled for one turn. For every 5 by which you beat the DC you may either increase the effects one step or increase the duration by one turn. Dazzled->fascinated->dazed->confused.
Light(+10): The firebenders fire becomes incredibly bright. Anyone damaged by this template must make a fortitude save or become blinded for the benders wis modifier number of rounds. This template lowers the damage done by fire by -1d6.

Focused Fire:I agree that focused fire should be a feat.

Lightning: I recommend staying with units in the d6s since people tend to have more of those at the table than d4s. The seed should state its not able to be deflected, and requires a ranged touch attack.

Well I think that's everything for now. Hope I didn't miss anything.

Oh, since were throwing some new seed out why don't I add one of my own to the queuing list.

Searing Flame (Template)
Base DC: +20
With precise control of their element firebenders can harm and disable enemies without burning them to a crisp.
Sear: By controlling the heat and pressure of fire, the firebender burns the targets skin as to make them more vulnerable to flame. Those damaged by the fire lose 1 point of fire resistance as the fire softens the skin. Targets without fire resistance instead take 1 extra point of fire damage any time they take fire damage. However this maneuver makes the fire less dangerous, thus base damage is reduced by -1 per die. By every 10 that the the DC is beat add 1 to the loss of resistance or vulnerability.
Burning Feet: By burning a persons feet they can no longer move freely. Reduce the damage of the attack by half. Every target must make a reflex save to avoid the effects. Those that fail the save have trouble walking with burnt feet and must make a reflex at the beginning of their turn or fall prone. To stand from prone requires a reflex save as well.
Burning Hands: Sometimes an enemy simply needs to be disarmed, and for that purpose firebenders have made this form. By attacking the opponents hands with fire they must succeed at a fortitude save or be burned. Those burned must make an additional fortitude save or drop everything they hold in their hands. This save must be made every round at the beginning of their turn. Drawing or picking up an object also requires a save.
Note: To be subject to these effects the target must take at least 1 point of fire damage. These effects end after one minute or until healed.

So what do you think?

[AstralFire]

Comparing some stuff -

Using my previous DC comparison for Air Benders instead of Fire, when Rapid Shotting, Airbenders deal an average of 138 damage as Ranged Touch (rather than Ranged) with Air Scythe at level 20. When using Air Burst, this drops down to 110 damage (compare to Fire Burst Kick capping out at around 7d6, or 24.5 average damage). (Air Burst Scythe might be limited to only one attack rather than all iterative attacks, in which case it STILL wins, albeit slightly, at 27.5).

Earthbenders using Firebending Study and Rapid Shot can build up 117.5 if all attacks hit (easy for them because they gain both Strength to Attack AND Strength to Damage)

Waterbenders can build up similar numbers to Earth using Firebending Study and Rapid Shot (although they are less likely to hit than Earth unless they take the Zen Archery feat).

Compare to my previous numbers on Firebenders, and they're barely ahead of Earth and Water, and actually -behind- Air as far as Firestorm goes. Using Fire Kicks, they're a little ahead, but Air is better at swatting multiple targets.

This is all kinds of weird.

Fire's only trick is damage and it can't even really properly pull ahead of the other disciplines at that. Blue Fire Lightning will require overbending from anyone in the canon setting pre-epic and deals a measly 140-ish damage in its current or proposed states, and Fire is the weakest defensively by far of the disciplines.

I propose Blue Fire be made a higher feat or even a Prestige Class - the DC is really high and restrictive right now, and really Azula keeps it up more times than not. It's practically a permanent modification. It's important to note that she is the only firebender who uses it, so it's a character specific on-switch, not a late skill to be mastered by all Firebenders.

Currently the only fire AoE I would bother using is Fire Burst or Fire Wall, with the Explosion Template (and as you can guess, that's for its useful battlefield control ability moreso than damage.) Flamethrower is probably the world's best way to destroy forest, but a Fire Kick Fire Sweep (or even just a Fire Sweep) is better for most practical purposes, and Rapid Shot Firestorm Fire Blasts is best unless you really need to nuke more than five targets a round that will die to 8d6 damage but not 9d8.

Some radical thoughts that I suggest:
[SCRUBBING MOST OF THIS SO I CAN THINK COHERENTLY, WILL POST MORE LATER]
- Electricity: Ranged Attack made at a -5 penalty, not deflectable, deals 3d4 Con damage or strikes Wound Points, Fatigues (then Exhausts) the target. Cannot critical.

Sorry; I realize I'm pretty arrogantly disregarding a lot of work that you guys have already done, but when I compare these guys to what a Barbarian or Fighter can do at 20, they feel really limited.

I'd elaborate more and hammer out charts but I'm already proposing something radically different and I don't know how well it'll be received.

[String]

Whew.

I've been catching up on the various threads for the past several days (I started saturday, after sozins comet came out). First off:

WOW. Just...WOW. Thanks so much for this amazing system. It's notperfect (but then again, neither is DnD) but it is amazing. I love it, I ran a quick fight of two Earthbender 20's (I'm not horribly imaginative when playing PnP), love it even more.

My two cents on a few things:

I like Yosho's versions of Searing Flame and Pyrotechnics, although the Sear application sounds a tad confusing, even if I understand it. Maybe some clearer language?

I support all the desiscions that have been made, as far as I can remember.

And a Question or two: Would this thread be the place to post Affiliations( Order of the White Lotus, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, among others)? I really enjoy making affiliations, and they would be good to help with fluff.

I see that there are no Prestige classes for the Firebenders or Airbenders. granted, airbenders dont have enough screen time (besides aang who has his whole avatar thing going on) to justify any canon prestige class...but perhaps a Air Nomad Monk prestige class? Or a Naval Officer class for Firebenders? And of course, prestige classes for non-benders, but that isnt for this thread

[AstralFire]

I've been sitting here altering my posts for like, 3 hours now and I'm just gonna throw in the towel for the night and wait for other opinions.

Problems:
- I just do not, at this moment in time, see a point to using any AoE attacks under this system as far as damage goes. They mostly seem pretty thoroughly useless compared to just bending at multiple targets in one round.
- Fire's damage is decent (not great), but it can't do anything else and it takes hits like a wet paper bag. That needs to be fixed.
- The really low firebending damage is an easy fix for either the VP/WP (which is recommended for this setting) or the HP systems, but I can't come up with something that works well for both. You may wish to just officially declare this a VP system since these guys hit like wet noodles in an HP system. A Barbarian walking around with 260 HP and some DR armor is not going to get remotely hindered by anything except a firebender, who he'll just charge at and cut in half because it has crap for AC and HP.

[Eighth_Seraph]

You, my good sir String, are a godsend. No, this is not the place to post affiliations, but we do have a thread set up for it. If you go to the first page of this thread, there will be a link to the main hub, where we post all things directly in relation to the Avatar setting. You can post any affiliations or ideas for them you have on there for critique and admiration.

I like the concept of Searing Flame, though I'm not sure if I'd put Burning Feet/Hands under the seed. I'll accept it, but it seems to fall more into feat territory. Hrm. I'm saying that a lot today, aren't I?

I also like the new write-up of Pyrotechnics, though I would stop short of allowing the seed to make a target confused. No matter how pretty those colors are, I'm not going to attack my party members on your behalf.

The proposed Ray clause of Intensify is far too powerful, what with it making the blast a touch attack AND allowing precision damage AND bypassing fire resistance. I would allow it to bypass resistance, but that's enough for a secondary function, I think.

The really low firebending damage is an easy fix for either the VP/WP (which is recommended for this setting) or the HP systems, but I can't come up with something that works well for both. You may wish to just officially declare this a VP system since these guys hit like wet noodles in an HP system. A Barbarian walking around with 260 HP and some DR armor is not going to get remotely hindered by anything except a firebender, who he'll just charge at and cut in half because it has crap for AC and HP.

Hrm. I'd want to playtest that. In a one-on-one fight? My money's on the barbarian, hands down. In a party situation? I want to see. Good thing the playtesting thread's back up.

I see your point though, Astral. I want to see for myself where exactly they fall short, though, and playtesting makes problems and possible solutions much easier to pinpoint; for me, at least.

[Mephibosheth]

I apologize to everyone who posted after AstralFire. I'm not going to address your suggestions and comments just yet. The issues AstralFire brings up seem to me to be far more pressing.

Comparing some stuff -

Using my previous DC comparison for Air Benders instead of Fire, when Rapid Shotting, Airbenders deal an average of 138 damage as Ranged Touch (rather than Ranged) with Air Scythe at level 20. When using Air Burst, this drops down to 110 damage (compare to Fire Burst Kick capping out at around 7d6, or 24.5 average damage). (Air Burst Scythe might be limited to only one attack rather than all iterative attacks, in which case it STILL wins, albeit slightly, at 27.5).

This shouldn't be the case, and I'm grateful that you said something. Airbenders were difficult to address in this area because, while they have the potential to deal substantial damage and their destructive capabilities have been show a number of times in the show, their worldview makes them refrain from using these abilities. However, it's almost impossible to represent this restraint and committment to non-violence mechanically, and we have to rely on players to appropriately play their airbending characters.

That said (and it could probably be stressed more in the class write-ups), I think Air Scythe needs to be dialed back. I would support the following changes:

• basing damage on class level rather than bending check, making it 1d6 per 4 Airbender levels
• removing the clause about using Air Scythe at the rate of an airbender's quarterstaff attacks. Like Air Blast, it should be at the BAB rate, with the possibility of Rapid Shot or Firebending Study.
• in order to make up for the reduced damage, allowing Air Scythe to bypass 10 points of hardness. It's used for destroying objects most frequently anyway.

I think that these changes will make the seed less powerful. Airbenders should not be dealing massive damage, at least not directly.

Earthbenders using Firebending Study and Rapid Shot can build up 117.5 if all attacks hit (easy for them because they gain both Strength to Attack AND Strength to Damage)

I'd be OK with removing Strength to damage. That seems like too much reliance on Strength.

Waterbenders can build up similar numbers to Earth using Firebending Study and Rapid Shot (although they are less likely to hit than Earth unless they take the Zen Archery feat).

We've had a lot of concerns about Ice Shards and waterbending damage, but I think most of them have been addressed. I think I'm OK with waterbenders and earthbenders being able to deal damage of this magnitude, especially at level 20.

Compare to my previous numbers on Firebenders, and they're barely ahead of Earth and Water, and actually -behind- Air as far as Firestorm goes. Using Fire Kicks, they're a little ahead, but Air is better at swatting multiple targets.

This is all kinds of weird.

Fire's only trick is damage and it can't even really properly pull ahead of the other disciplines at that. Blue Fire Lightning will require overbending from anyone in the canon setting pre-epic and deals a measly 140-ish damage in its current or proposed states, and Fire is the weakest defensively by far of the disciplines.

You're right. Firebenders are supposed to be the ones who can pack the biggest offensive punch in terms of direct damage, and it seems like they need some help in that regard.

I propose Blue Fire be made a higher feat or even a Prestige Class - the DC is really high and restrictive right now, and really Azula keeps it up more times than not. It's practically a permanent modification. It's important to note that she is the only firebender who uses it, so it's a character specific on-switch, not a late skill to be mastered by all Firebenders.

I actually kind of like this idea, especially now that we have a few new firebending seeds and they won't loose out so much from losing Blue Fire. We struggled for a while with how to represent Blue Fire for the very reasons you mention (only Azula, a "firebending prodigy" using it), and a feat might be better.

Currently the only fire AoE I would bother using is Fire Burst or Fire Wall, with the Explosion Template (and as you can guess, that's for its useful battlefield control ability moreso than damage.) Flamethrower is probably the world's best way to destroy forest, but a Fire Kick Fire Sweep (or even just a Fire Sweep) is better for most practical purposes, and Rapid Shot Firestorm Fire Blasts is best unless you really need to nuke more than five targets a round that will die to 8d6 damage but not 9d8.

I think this is as it should be. You see firebenders using targeted blasts far more frequently than AoE seeds. Even in normal D&D, AoE spells tend to be good for taking out mooks and little else. The AoE seeds give firebenders some versitility and a few surprises (enemies will learn quickly not to group too close together), but don't necessarily need to be on parity with more powerful targeted moves.

Some radical thoughts that I suggest:
[SCRUBBING MOST OF THIS SO I CAN THINK COHERENTLY, WILL POST MORE LATER]
- Electricity: Ranged Attack made at a -5 penalty, not deflectable, deals 3d4 Con damage or strikes Wound Points, Fatigues (then Exhausts) the target. Cannot critical.

Sorry; I realize I'm pretty arrogantly disregarding a lot of work that you guys have already done, but when I compare these guys to what a Barbarian or Fighter can do at 20, they feel really limited.

An interesting suggestion. My only concern is that we've seen lightening damage objects and buildings in the show (IIRC), meaning direct damage. I like it being a ranged touch attack, carrying a hefty penalty to deflection (I seem to remember Aang blocking lightening with a huge rock in the finale, but I could be mistaken), and fatiguing the target. What if we just made it 2d6 damage per level instead of 2d4? Seems powerful (max 240, average 140 damage) but not overwhelming.

Another suggestion you made which I like is to improve the Firestorm ability like a monk's Flurry of Blows. When I first read your post and wracked my brains for ways to make firebenders more powerful, this was the first thing that popped into my head. It provides a bump in power to hand-based firebending, increases the overall power of the discipline, and fits with the firebender philosophy like a glove. What says the playground?

Mephibosheth

[ErrantX]

I support the increase in power to Firestorm, by the numbers Astralfire's got some good points.

As far as nerfing down Air Scythe, I'm not really sure about basing the effect's damage on Airbender level, I don't recall any of the other powers having such a limitation. That being said, perhaps reducing it a d4 instead a d6 and then using your other changes?

-X

[Eighth_Seraph]

I'm on board with the new Firestorm, but I have a question. When making the monk variant for the system, I also did a slight revamp on Flurry of Blows. With Greater Flurry at level 11, instead of getting two extra attacks at your highest BAB, you get one extra attack at your highest BAB, and another extra at your next-highest BAB (similar to TWF). If you're thinking of the PHB Flurry, make sure that you explicitly explain it in the ability's description, rather than saying "As the monk ability."

Also, I would much prefer if Air Scythe continued to be based upon the Airbending check. The reason, as usual, is overbending. Air Scythe just screams of potential for overbending, when a suitably angry airbender completely loses it and tears a prison wall/door/warden to shreds.

Of course, we could go with basing Air Scythe on level and simply add in a new function for overbending that increases effective bender level. This leads me to think of other problems with overbending, particularly with sustained effects like Run as the Wind and Manipulate in situations where you're calming the waves of a heavy storm. But I'll wait to have this conversation until the firebender and Air Scythe are resolved.

[Katasi]

I apologize to everyone who posted after AstralFire. I'm not going to address your suggestions and comments just yet. The issues AstralFire brings up seem to me to be far more pressing.



This shouldn't be the case, and I'm grateful that you said something. Airbenders were difficult to address in this area because, while they have the potential to deal substantial damage and their destructive capabilities have been show a number of times in the show, their worldview makes them refrain from using these abilities. However, it's almost impossible to represent this restraint and committment to non-violence mechanically, and we have to rely on players to appropriately play their airbending characters.

That said (and it could probably be stressed more in the class write-ups), I think Air Scythe needs to be dialed back. I would support the following changes:

• basing damage on class level rather than bending check, making it 1d6 per 4 Airbender levels
• removing the clause about using Air Scythe at the rate of an airbender's quarterstaff attacks. Like Air Blast, it should be at the BAB rate, with the possibility of Rapid Shot or Firebending Study.
• in order to make up for the reduced damage, allowing Air Scythe to bypass 10 points of hardness. It's used for destroying objects most frequently anyway.

I think that these changes will make the seed less powerful. Airbenders should not be dealing massive damage, at least not directly.

I have to agree with Eighth and Errant that doing it be level doesn't seem the best. But I agree with Errant that reducing it to d4s could work well.

Blue Fire[/I]. We struggled for a while with how to represent Blue Fire for the very reasons you mention (only Azula, a "firebending prodigy" using it), and a feat might be better.



I think this is as it should be. You see firebenders using targeted blasts far more frequently than AoE seeds. Even in normal D&D, AoE spells tend to be good for taking out mooks and little else. The AoE seeds give firebenders some versitility and a few surprises (enemies will learn quickly not to group too close together), but don't necessarily need to be on parity with more powerful targeted moves.



An interesting suggestion. My only concern is that we've seen lightening damage objects and buildings in the show (IIRC), meaning direct damage. I like it being a ranged touch attack, carrying a hefty penalty to deflection (I seem to remember Aang blocking lightening with a huge rock in the finale, but I could be mistaken), and fatiguing the target. What if we just made it 2d6 damage per level instead of 2d4? Seems powerful (max 240, average 140 damage) but not overwhelming.

Another suggestion you made which I like is to improve the Firestorm ability like a monk's Flurry of Blows. When I first read your post and wracked my brains for ways to make firebenders more powerful, this was the first thing that popped into my head. It provides a bump in power to hand-based firebending, increases the overall power of the discipline, and fits with the firebender philosophy like a glove. What says the playground?

Mephibosheth

The upping lightning to 2d6 seems great, and giving firestorm flurry of blows seems like a good way to solve that problem. Though for simplicity I'd use the same flurry of blows as the redone monks for this system.

[AstralFire]

Actually, when I did my Air Scythe calculations, I didn't even remember to include any extra attacks they get from the Quarterstaff. So it would probably need to be toned down further.

I think a more adequate way to solve the issue of Airbenders is to make a set of seeds that can do a lot of damage, somehow, when paired together. It would require a significant investment in seeds and thus the average airbender would not be able to perform it.

Which brings me to another point - I think action points might be a good fit for this system. Not for a bonus to d20 rolls, as we already have overbending, but Emulate Feat: New Seed would be a good fit with the above. But I'm not sure, any variant rule has to be added in... slowly, and I'm not super familiar with airbenders.

Since last night with the help of my girlfriend, I've been working on overhauling the entire firebender class. When we thought about it, we didn't really see firebenders going all Vegeta-machine-gun on people much, the multiple blows really fast thing isn't really a trademark of bending. The current overhaul I'm designing requires a pretty radical alteration of how bending blasts and deflection works (at its core, the idea that you do not gain extra blasts for iterative attacks) and I'm not sure how well received it'll be. At the least, though, I think some ideas from it might be useful to this project. The firebender is the bender most dependent on the multiple blows aspect, and I think if I work out the kinks in that system, a retrofit to the other benders is easy - IF. I'm currently deadstalled on a few aspects.

So far I've spent about eight hours on this monstrosity and I'm not sure when it'll be done, though I'm aiming for today.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hoo boy. You'll want to tell us the basic idea behind this overhaul of yours before you go any further. One way or another, a whole bunch of hours' worth of designing is going to go down the drain, though not necessarily yours.

[AstralFire]

Hoo boy. You'll want to tell us the basic idea behind this overhaul of yours before you go any further. One way or another, a whole bunch of hours' worth of designing is going to go down the drain, though not necessarily yours.

In keeping with the very real possibility that this doesn't get used, I didn't want to clutter up this thread any more. Here's the unpolished turd I've been producing (it's not done):

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...68#post4581068

[endoperez]

I'm afraid I'm really out of touch with the whole mechanics part of this discussion, but I'd like to point out that damage isn't the only way to be agressive. Firebenders could use trip (Zuko in duels against Zhao and Azula), disarm (Zuko vs Aang, Kyoshi island), sunder (Zuko vs the archer-specilized rhino-rider in The Desert) or cause various status effects, which AstralFire suggested for lightning (fatigue in addition to damage).

As far as I understand, firebenders can trip, disarm or sunder as normal in melee range, or at range with Fire Whip. I don't know if they can use feats like Ranged Disarm or Ranged Pin with their Fire Blasts, but even if they could I doubt they could spare the feats for that. I don't know what they should get, if anything. Fighter bonus feats? DC ??? Fire blast to trip, deals half the normal damage if trip is successful? Just straight-out able to use the combat options with Fire Blast, and the improved feats available if you want to specialize?

[Mephibosheth]

That's true, endoperez, but not really the point we're making. The show establishes clear differences of philosophy and capability between the bending disciplines.

Airbenders hold a philosophy of defense and non-violence, and airbending focuses on defense and evasion. In our system, airbenders get bonuses to their AC and a substantial number of powers aimed at increasing their mobility and forcing opponents away.

Waterbenders focus on balance and change philosophically, and waterbending is balanced and flowing, transforming an opponent's aggressive energy into a counter-attack and making their defense into a strong offense. In our system, waterbenders have abilities like Tentacle and Water Whip that can be either defensive or offensive.

Earthbenders are strong and stable, focusing on tradition and a strong foundation philosophically. Earthbending relies on strong stances and is balanced between defense and offense. Earthbenders have access to defensive techniques like Earth Wall as well as offensive techniques like Column and Immobilize.

Firebenders are passionate and aggressive, focusing their philosophy on energy, speed, and power. Firebending is almost entirely lacking in defensive techniques and is all about the power of a quick, devastating, overwhelming offense. Almost every firebending technique is about dealing damage.

It is in this context that we're concerned about a firebender's ability to deal damage. Absent these distinctions, it wouldn't really matter nearly as much, since every class can be used effectively and even firebenders don't need to rely on damage all the time. Look at Explosion or Fire Whip or the examples of firebending you bring up. However, the show establishes that firebenders should be better at dealing damage than any other benders.

At least, that's why I'm concerned about this issue.

Mephibosheth

[endoperez]

Firebenders are passionate and aggressive, focusing their philosophy on energy, speed, and power. Firebending is almost entirely lacking in defensive techniques and is all about the power of a quick, devastating, overwhelming offense. Almost every firebending technique is about dealing damage.


However, the show establishes that firebenders should be better at dealing damage than any other benders.

Firebending is modeled after Northern Shaolin. I tried to find articles about it's methods (before that first post), but failed. My suggestions were inspired by my very limited understanding of its combat philosophy.

Take a straight punch. Ba Gua expert (airbender) wouldn't be where the hit lands and, optimally, would now be behind the opponent. Taiji expert would move a bit and turn a bit and push the arm away, unbalancing the opponent. Northern Shaolin expert might sweep the legs from under the opponent making a high punch. All are some kind of reserved actions or attacks of opportunity, but they can't really be modeled in D&D. My suggestion was based on that image of Northern Shaolin.


EDIT: It seems I managed to edit my edit away. I'll try again, paraphrasing from this :

"He moves in with a right thrust punch. I do not move away, but as his attack is coming I thrust out my left cup-fist at his jaw, my forward-moving arm brushing away the attack.
His attack was a bait; as soon as my cup-fist approaches him, he deftly changes his stance, thus avoiding my attack, and simultaneously in a smooth sweep, deflects my left hand and strikes my neck with his right palm."

Some kind of weird AoO combined with deflecting attacks, which doesn't really work in D&D. Perhaps bonus damage against someone whose attack you have successfully deflected?

[AstralFire]

I've got a bunch of ideas floating in my head to correspond to that stuff. If that Combat Flair thingummy I'm working on in my stupid prototype works, for example, I was thinking one of the abilities for a Firebender would be to Attack of Opportunity with a bend against anyone who moves in your immediate area.

Also, random thought for Earthbenders and Waterbenders, modeling their golem after a limited selection of traits for Astral Constructs - yes/no?