[4e] - "I am on a mission, and none shall stand in my path" (Paragon Path) PEACH

[Shadow_Elf]

Soul Saver
“I promise you a swift death in the name of the Raven Queen! May your darkened soul find peace”

Prerequisites: Divine class, Charisma 16, Must Worship Raven Queen

You are a representative of death itself, sent by the Raven Queen to collect souls and save mortals from necromancers and the Cult of Orcus. You destroy any blasphemous undead that stand in your path with the firmness of your belief and the radiant tools of the Raven Queen. You exchanged your emotions for the power to serve the Raven Queen, and so you go about your soul-guarding business in a nonchalant manner.

Soul Saver Class Features
Soul Cleanse (11th level): You may spend an action point to use your Second Wind without expending its 1/encounter use instead of taking an extra action. If you have used your second wind already, you can still use this feature.
Brilliant Soul (11th level): You have one additional healing surge. You gain 5 hitpoints whenever you spend a healing surge, for any reason (even if the power states that you gain no hitpoints).
Raven Queen’s Reward (16th level): When you reduce a humanoid that possesses a mortal soul to 0 hitpoints or fewer, you gain a +1 bonus to your Fortitude defense until the end of the encounter. This bonus is +2 for undead enemies. Multiple such effects stack a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. A better bonus supersedes an inferior one.

Soul Saver Prayers
Soul Flare Soul Saver Attack 11
“My soul burns with the power of the Raven Queen!”
Encounter * Divine, Radiant, Implement
Standard Action Close Burst 5
Target: All creatures in burst
Special: You must expend a healing surge but regain no hitpoints when you activate this power.
Attack: Charisma vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d8 + charisma modifier damage.
Effect: All allies in the burst can spend a healing surge and gain your Brilliant Soul benefit.
Special: This attack deals 2d8 damage to undead and bypasses their resistances.

Soul’s Reprieve Soul Saver Utility 12
“The shielding wings of the Raven Queen envelope you or a nearby ally, attenuating their life so they may further the cause of death”
Encounter * Divine, Healing
Minor Action Close Burst 10
Target: You or one ally in burst
Effect: The target cannot take actions or be attacked until the end of your next turn. On their turn, they may use their second wind without expending its 1/encounter use. They still occupy the square they were in.

Fimbulwinter Soul Saver Attack 20
“Fell the chill of cold death itself, mortals”
Daily * Divine, Cold, Implement, Zone
Standard Action Burst 4 within 10
Target: Each creature in burst
Attack: Charisma vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2d8 + charisma modifier cold damage and the target is slowed (save ends). For every creature reduced to 0 hitpoints by this attack, you regain a healing surge.
Special: The burst creates a zone of difficult terrain until the end of the encounter.
Special: Damage dealt by this attack bypasses resistances and deals double vulnerability damage.

Thoughts? Over-powered? Unbalanced?
PEACH away!

[Vazzaroth]

I like the Raven Queen's Reward, similar to the Soul Stealer from the Warlock.

I don't know about Soul Cleanse though.

Do you mean you can take a Second wind a second time in an encounter? Do you mean it doesn't take a Healing Surge? Both?

And do you mean 5 additional Hitpoints for Brilliant Soul? Or "When you would gain 0, gain 5 instead"?

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Vazzaroth

I like the Raven Queen's Reward, similar to the Soul Stealer from the Warlock.

I don't know about Soul Cleanse though.

Do you mean you can take a Second wind a second time in an encounter? Do you mean it doesn't take a Healing Surge? Both?

And do you mean 5 additional Hitpoints for Brilliant Soul? Or "When you would gain 0, gain 5 instead"?

To clarify:
Soul Cleanse: You use your second wind, but it doesn't cost you your second wind. If you've already used it, you can use Soul Cleanse anyways. It still costs a healing surge.

Brilliant Soul: You gain +5 hp when you spend a healing surge. For any reason. Even if it's to drink a potion, use a power or refill the power of an item.

Brilliant Soul should probably also be +1 healing surge I think. +2 is probably overpowered in addition to the other feature.

[Vazzaroth]

First:

I think soul clense should read for clarification:
You may spend an action point to use your Second Wind without expending it for the encounter instead of taking an extra action.

Also:

Soul's reprieve seems a little repetitive. Grants a minor action, but they can't do anything else with their other actions? Might as well just make it not a Minor, or at least allow them to take non-combative actions.

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Vazzaroth

Also:

Soul's reprieve seems a little repetitive. Grants a minor action, but they can't do anything else with their other actions? Might as well just make it not a Minor, or at least allow them to take non-combative actions.

Soul's Reprieve also protects them from all damage. Its like putting them in a bubble; they can't affect the world around them, and the world can't affect them. It gives them a brief moment to catch their breath and spend a healing surge. Sorta like taking them out of play for a turn, but they still occupy the square they were in.

[Vazzaroth]

I understand the idea, it's like Sanctuary, the only thing is, you say: Cannot take any actions. Can spend a Minor action to spend a Healing Surge.

My suggestion is removing the mention of a Minor Action, saying all they can do on their turn is take a Healing Surge.

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Vazzaroth

I understand the idea, it's like Sanctuary, the only thing is, you say: Cannot take any actions. Can spend a Minor action to spend a Healing Surge.

My suggestion is removing the mention of a Minor Action, saying all they can do on their turn is take a Healing Surge.

Oh, thanks. Didn't notice that.

[Rigon]

excuse me but the Raven Queen's Reward seems too powerful.
imagine a big a battle (which will happen more often between 11-20) where there are tons of undead minions. at the end of the battle when the party finally cuts his way through to the "Boss" or "Elite group" the raven paragon could have +30 fortitude.
i suggest you set a maximum border like (character level - 10)... or 10 or something.

EDIT:
ooooor. how about +1/+2 stacking fortitude against necrotic/poison/disease attacks...
or maybe +1/+2 stacking to all defenses against ONLY necrotic attacks...
some limit is needed...

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Rigon

excuse me but the Raven Queen's Reward seems too powerful.
imagine a big a battle (which will happen more often between 11-20) where there are tons of undead minions. at the end of the battle when the party finally cuts his way through to the "Boss" or "Elite group" the raven paragon could have +30 fortitude.
i suggest you set a maximum border like (character level - 10)... or 10 or something.

EDIT:
ooooor. how about +1/+2 stacking fortitude against necrotic/poison/disease attacks...
or maybe +1/+2 stacking to all defenses against ONLY necrotic attacks...
some limit is needed...

The BBEG or Elite group would probably be a new encounter. So the Fort defense resets.
Also, the Soul Saver has to personally kill the unit. It is doubtful that a party of 5 would allow their Leader/Defender to slay 15-30 enemies in any encounter, since strikers and controllers would dominate the "# of kills total" jobs. It also has no bearing against anything but natural creatures and undead. Fight against demons? No bonus conferred. Fight against Hags? No bonus, again. They also have to humanoids or undead. Fight against dragons? no bonus. Fight against bears? Also no bonus. They also can't be a construct. Eidolons/golems? no bonus either.

[Mando Knight]

Originally Posted by Shadow_Elf

It also has no bearing against anything but natural creatures and undead. Fight against demons? No bonus conferred. Fight against Hags? No bonus, again. They also have to humanoids or undead. Fight against dragons? no bonus. Fight against bears? Also no bonus. They also can't be a construct. Eidolons/golems? no bonus either.

Fight against Eladrin? No bonus. Fight against Elves? No bonus. There are non-natural humanoids that are fairly common in the main section of the world...

[Rigon]

that kinda confuses me.

"Raven Queen’s Reward (16th level): When you reduce a natural non-animate humanoid to 0 hitpoints or fewer, you gain a +1 bonus to Fortitude until the end of the encounter. If it is an undead, this bonus is +2. Multiple such effects stack."

*natural non-animate humanoid... you mean living humanoid or undead humanoid or undead or living humanoid?

also imagine the following scene:
the party enters the great graveyard of a city while on a mission to eleminate a possible vampire threat (as a Raven paragon you'll bound to get a mission like that as Lady Raven kinda hates them).

a man in black sits at the entrance of a big crypt... looking at a the party he flashes his pair of teeths while releasing a hissing call... and the dead start to pop out of their graves. and there you have it... a giant encounter with tons (possibly hundreds) of undead minions.

some will be closer to the vampire and the vampire will be some sort of leader thus those zombies will be harder to kill but the most of them will remain 1hp minions. AND as a raven paragon with a party (which is most likely not made up of raven paragons only) you will be motivated to kill each and every zombie.

what happens... you kill (or better slay) enough undead to fill a graveyard (literally) and then you are facing a vampire boss AND there is no time for rest as intelligent evil undead enemies have a tendency to attack weakened and tired "do-gooders" BUT problem is your paragon will not be tired. (s)he will be like an unpushable fortress of the black bird.

so the situation is the paragon slayed many undead but did not end the encounter and is facing an undead boss with a stupidly high fortitude defense.

EDIT: excuse me but excluding elves and eladrin from the grasps from the Raven Lady would be kinda counterproductive... does their deaths as "non-natural" humanoids serve the Mistress less? why?

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Mando Knight

Fight against Eladrin? No bonus. Fight against Elves? No bonus. There are non-natural humanoids that are fairly common in the main section of the world...

That's quite a good point. What defines whether something's soul goes to the raven queen or if it even has a soul? I was trying to limit the bonus to only against things with souls...

For example, (almost) all Shadar-Kai worship the Raven Queen, and they live with the knowledge that to die is to join her in eternity... but they have a Shadow Origin. But they qualify... However, an Angel or Demon or Fire Elemental would not count... But a Genasi should. Any suggestions?

[Rigon]

and now i just realized each and every one of us was wrong.

the Raven Queen hates undead and is the divine (4th ed "radiant") entity of the death which reaches everyone.

in this matter each inhabitant of the material plane with a soul should count when declaring the bonus from the feat.

religion is no matter... you can worship Pelor too you'll die anyway.

"If your life is a phrase then the Raven Queen is the period at its end."

[Vazzaroth]

I would just add "Such modifiers stack up to a number equal to your Charisma Modifier."

Or 5. Or 10. Either way.

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Rigon

and now i just realized each and every one of us was wrong.

the Raven Queen hates undead and is the divine (4th ed "radiant") entity of the death which reaches everyone.

in this matter each inhabitant of the material plane with a soul should count when declaring the bonus from the feat.

religion is no matter... you can worship Pelor too you'll die anyway.

"If your life is a phrase then the Raven Queen is the period at its end."

I'm pretty sure the Raven Queen doesn't get the souls of like dogs and cats and water buffalo. Probably Melora gets those, and recycles them into the circle of life. Which si why I was trying to find a way to say "anything with a soul capable of worship" in mechanical terms. It was not about worship. Origin key was the determining factor of the ability, and your deity worship does not affect your origin, your race does.

[Rigon]

uhm this is a line.
that is why there are many people (in real life) who say that animals have no souls and they cannot go to afterlife.

so i think i was trying to describe the same group as you did... as in my terms "having a soul" is the requirement for going to any afterlife at all which you choose with your religion.

and animals will be - as you said - recycled by father nature.

problem are demons or primordial elementals... but we excluded them (we did exclude them right?)

so...
"upon slaying a living intelligent sentient creature which was native on the material plane and had soul and was capable of having a religion OR any undead... you get a self stacking fortitude bonus which lasts till the end of the encounter (+1 for living / +2 for undead).
remember kids to count your frags! and zombies count double!"

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Rigon

so...
"upon slaying a living intelligent sentient creature which was native on the material plane and had soul and was capable of having a religion OR any undead... you get a self stacking fortitude bonus which lasts till the end of the encounter (+1 for living / +2 for undead).
remember kids to count your frags! and zombies count double!"

My only problem with this is that "living intelligent sentient screature native to the material plane" is debatable, and therefore up to DM discretion. Whle this is the general point I was trying to get across, I was trying to find an indisputable mechanical way to describe it.

[Vazzaroth]

A simple "Humanoid" might be the best way to work it, with "Or any undead" for the +2.

[Zocelot]

Originally Posted by Shadow_Elf

My only problem with this is that "living intelligent sentient screature native to the material plane" is debatable, and therefore up to DM discretion. Whle this is the general point I was trying to get across, I was trying to find an indisputable mechanical way to describe it.

This wouldn't be the first time the rules have been ambiguous, and said to let the DM decide. There is no indisputable mechanical way to do it, so just trust your DM to make the right calls.

[Rigon]

okay okay we can't perfectly describe the group which triggers the bonus from the feat BUT we are still missing out the balance.

i described an encounter (above, pretty long post) where the Raven Paragon would face a boss with a bonus like hell with cocktails.

so what limitation do we kick on it? hmm?

setting a max bonus? (5 / 10 / CHA modifier / Level - 10 / Level - 15)
changing the effects limitations? (+X bonus agains undead or necrotic source)

[Zocelot]

I like the CHA mod maximum. That way, it goes up slightly as the Cleric gets more powerful, but it can never go past 10, and will likely be below 8.

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Zocelot

I like the CHA mod maximum. That way, it goes up slightly as the Cleric gets more powerful, but it can never go past 10, and will likely be below 8.

Very well, I'll add that. However, a better bonus supercedes an old one. Therefore, if you have 6 kills, so +6 bonus, but then you do-in a group of 5 undead, you're at +11, since the undead bonus supercedes the normal one, even though its maxed.

^This path also works for pallies, btw, although it probably works better on a cleric (with the whole "healing" and "undead smiting" theme...)

[Rigon]

why not make a paladin sister paragon path?
like "Soul Saber" or something. but i think you would be forced to remove the healing powers and replace them with some sort of "smite undead twice then kick him where it hurts even undead too"

this path looks pretty good now... wanna make an epic destiny?
something which would be close to demigod just a bit Raven Queen oriented.

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Rigon

why not make a paladin sister paragon path?
like "Soul Saber" or something. but i think you would be forced to remove the healing powers and replace them with some sort of "smite undead twice then kick him where it hurts even undead too"

this path looks pretty good now... wanna make an epic destiny?
something which would be close to demigod just a bit Raven Queen oriented.

I could base the Epic Destiny off of the Chosen from the FRPG. The Chosen are exactly demigods, but their utility power varies depending on which god they serve.

[Rigon]

sorry but i never read about that (i don't have the forgotten realms book...).
but sounds like fun. what about the paladin paragon path? (the healing part looks like dead end for a paladin)

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Rigon

sorry but i never read about that (i don't have the forgotten realms book...).
but sounds like fun. what about the paladin paragon path? (the healing part looks like dead end for a paladin)

And the Hospitaler is?...

I might work on it, but I am currently working on another Paragon Path (can you tell how bored of hmwrk I am?) called the Blade Gale, which should be posted soon.

[Rigon]

the problem with the hospitaler is that it prolongs life... thus death comes later.
and the paladin of the Raven should do some death advertising instead.

i'm anticipating Blade Gale already...
(i checked some of your homebrews and i kinda liked them... i didn't post to those so i won't become a thread-necromancer)

[Shadow_Elf]

Originally Posted by Rigon

i'm anticipating Blade Gale already...
(i checked some of your homebrews and i kinda liked them... i didn't post to those so i won't become a thread-necromancer)

Blade Gale is now up