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Old 04-20-2011, 06:53 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1
slaydemons
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Default Runeweaver [3.5 peach also WIP] also first attempt at homebrew

Runeweaver

{images to be put in later}

“Why settle for runes that explode, when you can make it do anything you desire?”

Runeweavers are very specialized abjurers using a line of runes. they study lightly on how to make runes into Arcane focuses, turning their spell books into literal weapons. Runeweavers can utilize runic magic by mixing their runes of power with effect runes to give them any kind of area shape desired, or combine two runes of power to create spells drawn from various class lists.

Characteristics: Attacking from a distance, traps, blasting.

Alignment: Any

Religion: They mostly follow magic deities, or their own racial deities.

Background: Most runeweavers learn by instinct, reflecting on the potential of runes they’ve used.

Races: Humans often become this class as they find a way into everything and are by far the most flexible of races, elves also are at peace with this as they enjoy studying. Half-orcs take this class more often then elves as it uses instinct rather then intelligence. Dwarves have an affinity to this strange wielding of magic.

Other Classes: They get along with melee front-liners who help protect them as they cast their runes into magical effects. They also tend to get along with people who use their intuition more then anything else such as Druids. Wizards as they typically don’t like wizards as most will think how they go about with magic wrong.

Role: They are magic support or artillery, and at times trap setters.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Runeweavers have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Wisdom is their unique casting ability, Constitution is good for all adventurers especially those with small hit die like the Runeweaver.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d4
Starting Age: As wizard
Starting Gold: As wizard

Class Skills
The Runeweaver’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int) and Use Magic Device (Cha).


Skill Points at First Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Runeweaver
LevelBase AttackBonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecial 0th1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th
1st
+0
+0
+0
+2
Intuitive spell knowledge, Scribe rune, Scribe scroll31        
2nd
+1
+0
+0
+3
42        
3rd
+1
+1
+1
+4
Controlled trigger 421       
4th
+2
+1
+1
+4
Summon Rune familiar432       
5th
+2
+1
+1
+5
 4321      
6th
+3
+2
+2
+5
 4332      
7th
+3
+2
+2
+6
 44321     
8th
+4
+2
+2
+6
2nd rune of power44332     
9th
+4
+3
+3
+7
 444321    
10th
+5
+3
+3
+7
 444332    
11th
+5
+3
+3
+8
Class Ability4444321   
12th
+6/1
+4
+4
+8
 4444332   
13th
+6/1
+4
+4
+9
Class Ability44444321  
14th
+7/2
+4
+4
+9
 44444332  
15th
+7/2
+5
+5
+10
 444444321 
16th
+8/3
+5
+5
+10
3rd rune of power.444444332 
17th
+8/3
+5
+5
+11
 4444444321
18th
+9/4
+6
+6
+11
 4444444432
19th
+9/4
+6
+6
+12
 4444444443
20th
+10/5
+6
+6
+12
Runic mastery4444444444

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the runeweaver.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Runeweavers are proficient with light armor, but not with shields. A Runeweaver can cast Runeweaver spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a Runeweaver wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass Runeweaver still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.



Spells
A Runeweaver casts arcane spells which are drawn from the runeweaver spell list
To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the Runeweaver must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Runeweaver’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Runeweaver’s Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a runeweaver can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given above. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score.
Unlike a bard or sorcerer, a Runeweaver may know any number of spells. She must prepare her runes by getting a good night’s sleep and spending 1 hour refreshing her mind from her spellbook, preparing the runes is practicing how the runes are drawn as they must draw them as they flip through the book for the correct page.


Familiar
A runeweaver can obtain a familiar in exactly the same manner as a sorcerer can.(more on this later)
Scribe Scroll
At 1st level, a runeweaver gains Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat.

Scribe rune
Runeweavers have the ability to use any rune in their book and make a mirror image on any surface as if they cast a rune (much like casting the explosive runes but they don't need to have information written down)

Rune of power
Rune of power is what runeweavers call their spells, by obtaining higher levels they can combine two runes of powers like the do with the normal effect runes creating a whole different type of effect. One rune must always be a level zero rune and it uses the highest rune level as its spell slot you cannot use runes you don’t have either. Example: the rune shown now will suffice say bob the 10th level runeweaver used a small fire rune and a cinder rune it would be like casting a different spell in this case fire trap and it would be off a third level spell slot.

Intuitive spell knowledge
A runeweaver can replace his spellcraft from drawing its key ability from Int into Wis at first level.

Controlled trigger
Whenever a Runeweaver would ordinarily trigger a spell that is set off by seeing it or reading it (such as Symbol of Insanity or Explosive Runes), he may make a Spellcraft check with a DC of 10 + the spell's level + the spell's caster level to avoid triggering it. (10+3 level spell + 5th level wizard=18 to not trigger the rune when read) though its still not safe for others to read and he is able to warn others of the symbol, and he can no longer trigger the rune himself but others can.

Spellbooks

Runeweavers need to use their book in order to fight, they use arcane spells called runes to aid them in battle. most runes cause damage, they flip open the page with the rune they are trying to cast and the arcane magic explodes from within the book and outwards. They also have a special room in their books for a special set of runes called effect runes which changes how the spell blasts out. if they don't use an effect rune the book is most likely destroyed unless they don't use a rune that damages anything.

Runeweavers don't begin to cast until they have chosen what to cast. most will choose an effect so their book doesn't blow up higher level Runeweavers can use two runes of power to create one marvelous effect. To combine runes they have to take some time to prepare it and combine both runes into one for a short while.


They start off with all effect runes, with just two level 0 rune of power and one level 1 of their choice when they start off and may gain two rune per level, they must start off with the weakest of their respective powers and level raise it up from their respective trees, trees starting out at the at level 0 runes. If they happen to come across another runeweaver spell book he can make a spellcraft check to essentially steal the information of these books and then copy it into his own book. (15 + level of the rune)

Runic mastery

At level 20 they choose a set of runes (the fire, wind, earth, or water runes not univerisal)to master and from then on they can trade a rune they prepared this morning into their chosen mastery as long as they both have it in their spellbook.


Master Class LevelNatural Armor Adj.IntSpecial
1st- 2nd +16Alertness, improved evasion, share spells, empathic link
3rd- 4th +27Deliver Runes
5th- 6th +38Speak with master 
7th- 8th +49Speak with animals of its kind
9th- 10th +510  
11th- 12th +611Spell resistance
13th- 14th +712Scry on familiar
15th- 16th +813  
17th- 18th +914  
19th- 20th +1015 
Familiar Ability Descriptions
All familiars have special abilities (or impart abilities to their masters) depending on the master’s combined level in classes that grant familiars, as shown on the table below. The abilities given on the table are cumulative.

Natural Armor Adj.
The number noted here is an improvement to the familiar’s existing natural armor bonus.

Int
The familiar’s Intelligence score.

Alertness (Ex)
While a familiar is within arm’s reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.

Improved Evasion (Ex)
When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.

Share Spells
At the master’s option, he may have any runes he casts on himself also affect his familiar. The familiar must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit.

If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the familiar if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the familiar again even if it returns to the master before the duration expires. Additionally, the master may cast a spell with a target of "You" on his familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself.

A master and his familiar can share runes even if the runes normally do not affect creatures of the familiar’s type (magical beast).

Empathic Link (Su)
The master has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the familiar’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.

Because of this empathic link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does.

Deliver Runes (Su)

Familiars can cast spells as If they were the spellbook in order to do this they have to be willingly painted on with ink, drawing both an effect rune and a rune of power of fifth level or lower, and they can only do this once per battle, you also must have the rune in your spellbook.

Speak with Master (Ex)
If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex)
If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers). Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures.

Spell Resistance (Ex)
If the master is 11th level or higher, a familiar gains spell resistance equal to the master’s level + 5. To affect the familiar with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the familiar’s spell resistance.

Scry on Familiar (Sp)
If the master is 13th level or higher, he may scry on his familiar (as if casting the scrying spell) once per day.
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Last edited by slaydemons : 07-27-2011 at 11:44 PM.
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Old 04-20-2011, 07:07 PM   Top  -  End  -  #2
slaydemons
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Join Date: Dec 2010
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Gender: Male
Default Re: Runeweaver [3.5 peach also WIP] also first attempt at homebrew

for the effect runes
Spoiler


For some of their runelist
Spoiler
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Last edited by slaydemons : 05-05-2011 at 06:10 PM.
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Old 04-21-2011, 12:00 AM   Top  -  End  -  #3
Veyr
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: Runeweaver [3.5 peach also WIP] also first attempt at homebrew

Fair warning: I'm going to be all grammar-nazi on you. I'll try to explain why I'm making the edits I am.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
{images to be put in later}
DeviantArt's a good source; remember to ask artists for permission! Most will give it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
“why settle for runes that explode, when you can make it do anything you desire.”
Heh, nice, but you should capitalize the W in "why", since it's the beginning of a sentence.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
abjurationist
Heh, "abjurers".

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
using a line of runes they Study lightly on how to make runes into Arcane focuses turning their spellbooks into literal weapons.
Methinks you're missing some punctuation or something here; I'm not entirely sure how this sentence (sentences?) is supposed to go, honestly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Runeweavers can use runes better then anyone else can mixing their runes of powers with effect runes to make them have any kind of area they desire.
"Runeweavers can use runes better than anyone else can, mixing their runes of power with effect runes to have any kind of area they desire." The last "they" is kind of ambiguous, too; clearly you mean runeweavers, but grammatically they seems like it ought to be referring to the runes of power or the effect runes. I'd actually reword the end of the sentence to be more like "to affect any area they desire" (and do the mixtures only affect area?).

Otherwise, "then" indicates time ("wait for the signal, then...") or sequence ("do this, then that"), while "than" is used with comparisons ("better than this", "more than that", etc.).

When you have nouns that are phrases ("rune of power"), you have to be careful with plurals — "runes of powers" implies that there are multiple powers, but most likely you just mean "power" as in force or strength, and thus it doesn't also get pluralized, you're just left with "runes of power".

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Higher level runeweavers can combine the effects of two runes into new and wondrous effects, tales say the most powerful can combine 3 runes of power.
Should write out "three" here; it's weird to say "two" and then "3". Most stylistic guidelines suggest writing out all numbers less than or equal to one hundred.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Adventures: some travel for the like the thrill of adventuring this is more of a character thing imo
Heh, you should probably write something or else just leave this bit out. Plenty of WotC classes lack this entry anyway.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Characteristics: Attacking from a distance, traps,
Looks like you didn't finish.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Religion: if they were to worship one it would be one with magic in their domains.
Implication here is that most runeweavers don't worship at all; might want something on why that is the case.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Background: Most runeweavers learn by instinct, thinking about the potential of runes if they could be used more then once for explosions.
Another case of "than" rather than "then". Otherwise, I'm not sure that runes in D&D are universally associated with explosions; sure, there's Explosive Runes, but there's also Sepia Snake Sigil, Symbol of Insanity, Glyph of Warding, etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Races: Humans often go into this as they find a way into everything and are by far the most flexible races, elves also can find at piece with this as they enjoy studying. Half-orcs rarely take this class but they have been known to. Dwarves have a strange affinity to this strange wielding of casting
"... by far the most flexible of races. Elves ..."

Also, "peace" is lack of war, while "piece" is a part of something.

"... Half-orcs rarely take this class, but it has been known to happen on occasion." Or something. As is, you seem to contradict yourself.

I'd also replace "casting" at the end there with "magic".

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Other Classes: They get along with melee front liners who help protect them as they cast their runes into magical effects. They also tend to get along with people who used their intuition more then anything else such as clerics. They normally don’t hate rogues and will probably prefer them to wizards as they typically don’t like wizards as most will think how they go about with magic wrong.
"front-liners" probably. Not entirely sure, but I think there should be a hyphen there.

"... people who use their intuition ..." Shouldn't switch tenses in the middle like that. Also, clerics, intuitive? You say intuitive, and I'm thinking sorcerer or bard. I know, Wisdom might have to do with intuition, but it also has to do with meditation and discipline, which doesn't seem to follow. If anything Wisdom-based, I'd go with druid there.

The last sentence seems awkward. For one thing, rogues might easily be considered intuitive. For another, "not hate" isn't very much... I'd generally expect that to be true of just about everyone. I'd probably just drop the bit about rogues, and go into how they tend to resent Wizards.

Anyway, skipping ahead a bit as the rest seems OK (or needs to be filled in since it's still there from the template).
Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Abilities: Wisdom is their primary casting, intelligence is just good for everyone just like con is
Incomplete, but more importantly, Intelligence isn't that good for everyone, not like Con is. I would say something like "Wisdom is a Runeweaver's primary ability, used for his unique spellcasting. Constitution is important for all adventurers, especially those with a small hit die like the Runeweaver. Intelligence is useful for skillpoints." and then whatever you want to say about Dex or Str (if anything; you don't have to bring all of them up if you don't want to).

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Skill Points at First Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier
Pet peeve: personally, I believe that the Archivist, Psion, Wizard, and Wu Jen are the only classes in the entire game that deserve 2+Int skill points per level. Those are the Int-based full-casters; anything that isn't deserves at least 4+Int. So I suggest you use 4+Int. If you want to continue WotC's tradition here, though, 2+Int is correct.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
{table}
I'd capitalize my class features ("Scribe Rune, Scribe Scroll", etc.). Also, "0lvl" should probably be "0th". Also, remove the "Class Ability" lines from your empty levels. You can either fill them with a dash (—), or just leave them blank.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the runeweaver.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Runeweavers are proficient with simple weapons and quarterstaffs, and up to light but not any shields. Armor of medium and heavy interferes with a Runeweaver’s movements, which can cause her spells with somatic components to fail.
Should bold Weapon and Armor Proficiency there. Anyway, the quarterstaff is a simple weapon, no need to call it out in particular. I would just copy the Bard's armor proficiency rules for this, since it works the same way, just saying "but not with shields" instead of "and with shields (but not tower shields)". So, this:
"Runeweavers are proficient with light armor, but not with shields. A Runeweaver can cast Runeweaver spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a Runeweaver wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass Runeweaver still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes."

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Spells
I'd insert some blank lines between paragraphs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Familiar
You don't have Summon Familiar in the table; you should.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Scribe rune
Runeweavers have the ability to write runes and make them arcane focuses for their spell or make them just like any other rune, their choice.
I'm not entirely sure what this means. What do you mean by runes here? Just the new spells you've written? How do they work as "arcane focuses"? Also, if you want to be truly pedantic, the plural of "focus" should be "foci" since it's a Latin word, but "focuses" is generally acceptable. Not sure which WotC generally uses.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Rune of power
At higher levels runeweavers have the ability to combine runes of powers into new effects at 8th level you can combine two runes for a new spell effect which will be up when I get a chance to think of them all
I don't understand how this works.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Intuitive spell knowledge
A runeweaver can replace his spellcraft from drawing its key ability from Int into Wis at second level.
I'd just make it from 1st, personally, but I like this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Controlled trigger
Runeweavers if making the necessary skill check (spellcraft), can avoid triggering any spell with the word rune in it (10+spell level+ caster level) so if a level 5 wizard cast explosive runes it would be (10+3 level spell + 5th level wizard=18 to not trigger the rune when read)
OK, this works, except it limits the Runeweaver in ways you wouldn't expect him to be limited — plenty of rune-based spells do not actually include the word "rune" in their name. At the very least, I'd say "any spell whose name includes 'Glyph', 'Rune', 'Sigil', or 'Symbol'."

Actually, I'd probably word it something like "Whenever a Runeweaver would ordinarily trigger a spell that is set off by seeing it or reading it (such as Symbol of Insanity or Explosive Runes), he may make a Spellcraft check with a DC of 10 + the spell's level + the spell's caster level to avoid triggering it." You should also specify if the spell is now safe for others to look at or read, or if someone else can still set them off, and whether or not this is permanent, or whatever.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
Spellbooks

Runeweavers need to use their book in order to fight, as such it isn’t such a farfetched idea that they have memorized every spell in their books, they don’t need to prepare their spells in the morning the simply have to refresh their memories of their runes and meaning. No glyph takes up more then one page in a spellbook as most of the glyphs are compact to fit into one page, carrying 3 books around can get rather tiresome when you have the power of the runes.
"isn't a farfetched idea" seems a bit... weak. Anyway, this is confusing: do they need the spellbook to prepare their spells, or not?

The line about it getting tiresome seems a little silly. Clearly wizards wouldn't use so much space if they didn't have to; that limitation is clearly a hindrance.

Quote:
Originally Posted by slaydemons View Post
They start off with all effect runes 1 level 0 runes of power and 1 level 1 of their choice when they start off and may gain one rune per level they must start off with the weakest of their respective powers and level raise it up from their respective trees additionally they are not limited to these spells only if they find another runeweavers book before it is somehow destroyed they can inherit the secrets of the book and learn all the glyphs in there as well, much like wizards can learn from other wizards books. They also know any universal rune of power for their level automatically(haven't even gotten to those uni runes)
"all effect runes 1 level 0 runes of power"? What does that mean? I am... somewhat confused by this entire paragraph, actually.


OK, so basically... a lot of this class relies on other people reading stuff you've read. That makes it rather difficult to use in combat, no? Some description on how they fight would be nice. I would change the "Spells" section to "Runes", and then describe what the runes actually are. Something like "Runeweavers use a special type of arcane spells called runes." and go on from there. How they get used, what is the same and what is different from an ordinary spell, etc etc. For "Control Trigger", you could probably simply say that it includes any spell on the Runeweaver's rune list.

Then there's the combining thing; I don't understand how that works. It's a really cool concept, though.


In general, I like the idea; runes are somewhat under-used in 3.5 I think. I'd look up the Geometer (Complete Arcane) for some inspiration on how WotC delved into this somewhat — that's just a PrC though, so it's not going to do everything you want. There's also the Runecaster (Races of Stone, IIRC?), which may also be helpful. Races of Stone also has the Craft Rune Circle, and Magic of Eberron has Etch Minor Schema, which may also be useful to you.
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