Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

Palladium

Other (feel free to post about it)

[UXLZ]

I cannot see how someone thought making a class scale off Consitution would be a good thing to begin with.

[BlackFlyme]

Kineticists scale off of it. But they also take a type of damage called 'burn' to fuel their powers, so having a high Con is necessary.

But this actually really boosts half-orcs, since they can qualify as both orc and human, and thus can take the archetype. They can potentially have an effective starting intelligence of 22, as the archetype lets you treat your intelligence as though it was two points higher.

Also, some races had their life-spans changed to match humans. Aasimar, tieflings, etc. Oddly enough, not changed for Fetchlings or the elementals, such as Ifrits, Sylphs, etc.

Oddly, Kitsune enchanters haven't gotten hit.

[Flying Dice]

Kineticists scale off of it. But they also take a type of damage called 'burn' to fuel their powers, so having a high Con is necessary.

But this actually really boosts half-orcs, since they can qualify as both orc and human, and thus can take the archetype. They can potentially have an effective starting intelligence of 22, as the archetype lets you treat your intelligence as though it was two points higher.

Also, some races had their life-spans changed to match humans. Aasimar, tieflings, etc. Oddly enough, not changed for Fetchlings or the elementals, such as Ifrits, Sylphs, etc.

Oddly, Kitsune enchanters haven't gotten hit.

Fetish favoritism at work, maybe? 

[BlackFlyme]

Forgot to mention, there is an actual tinfoil hat as a magical item in the occult book. +4 against mind-effects and against divination spells. But -2 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

[BlackFlyme]

The greater version of it, known as a Stannum Crown, actually does. Immunity to mind-effects and Divinations that discerns information about the wearer or their location, but -2 to mental stats. DC 25 Will save just to remove it, +1 to the DC for each consecutive day worn. At DC 35, the wearer can no longer take it off of their own free will, and no-one else can take it off either. Not even a Nat 20 works, according to the description.

Plus at that point, no-one can be treated as though they were the wearer's ally anymore, and the wearer must always roll a save against all effects, even ones marked as friendly or harmless. They must even continue to save if rendered unconscious.

It was said to have been created by a mad psychic king who was convinced that beings from other planes were watching him.

[Neonivek]

I cannot see how someone thought making a class scale off Consitution would be a good thing to begin with.

It definitely can work and for the most part a lot of creatures in the game have their abilities use constitution over anything else.

It just needed to keep in mind how... lets say... utilitarian using constitution as your caster stat is.

[Gentlefish]

Dragon Fire Adepts scale off of CON and they're lots of fun. 15/30 ft cone breath attack every round? Yes please. invocations similar to warlocks? Oh baby. Simple weapon proficiencies? Ah well.

[Rolan7]

Constitution is the most important non-primary skill, particularly in a rounded party.  Even helps with save-or-dies.

I wrote more but came to the conclusion that the other skills are roughly balanced.  Charisma most questionably so, since typically a party Face is allowed to handle everything.  Depends on the GM, group, and situation though.

Oh and the giantitp "X stat to Y bonus" thread is gold, for Pathfinder and 3.5e:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?125732-3-x-X-stat-to-Y-bonus

[BlackFlyme]

To be fair, there is a good number of monsters who only really have their racial hit-dice going for them, which (usually) can't compare to actual class levels in mid-to-late-game.

Though Con is incredibly good to scale off of. Of the normal mental-based casters, I prefer ones that scale off of Wis compared to Int or Cha, since it helps your Will save. A great number of classes tend to have Cha as their dump stat, and some that have a decent number of skill ranks per level don't need to worry as much about their Int. Though a good Cha can be invaluable in role-playing heavy campaigns.

The only thing more optimized than having Con as a caster stat would probably be Dex. At least at early levels. Thankfully, I don't know of any Dex based casters.

In other news, I have been trying to figure out how effective cohort levels for monsters work, but I can't seem to figure it out. Anyone else have an idea of how it works?

[Flying Dice]

Agreed, casting from CON is pretty much the opposite of MAD; you just gotta max one ability, get a +1 or +2 to DEX, and dump whatever you like. So broken. INT/WIS/CHA are good caster stats not only because they make sense, but also because the general benefits from them are less critical, apart from bonuses to Will saves. It'd be like letting a martial class use CON for their AB and bonus damage, with a class feature to scale carry weight from CON.

[Neonivek]

Well actually Barbarians in 5e use Constitution for their AC along with dexterity. But that is to allow them to go armorless.

Strength, Dexterity, and Con can be used as a "casting stat" but it would have to function differently then normal.

I can picture a Con caster as being a sort of tank.

[Rolan7]

In other news, I have been trying to figure out how effective cohort levels for monsters work, but I can't seem to figure it out. Anyone else have an idea of how it works?

(3.5e) If they have a level adjustment then it's HD+LA.  If they don't, they're not "supposed" to be a cohort - it's houseruling.

[BlackFlyme]

In Pathfinder, there's a bunch of monsters available as cohorts in the back of each bestiary, and in a few other books here and there. But their listed effective cohort level doesn't seem to be based off of their hit-die or their challenge rating. I can't seem to be able to come up with a formula, and it is bugging me.

Not sure what LA is.

[Rolan7]

LA is Level Adjustment, but apparently Pathfinder did away with that and replaced it with .......
The sense I got (from a single giantip thread, I don't know PF) is that it's up in the air (GM fiat).  Which kinda sucks IMO.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?201579-Pathfinder-Level-Adjustment-Rules

Hopefully someone who actually knows PF can provide actual help.

[Neonivek]

Honestly I never liked the idea that creatures and monsters couldn't gain levels unless something prevented them from learning or growing.

as I've said before as lazy as 4e was... I actually did like the fact that it would make multiple versions of every single monster it created (weaker and stronger ones) and for some it actually made a lot of sense (The Skin zombie being made from different creatures).

Honestly I'd love to see that for 5e but with less "Pallet swap" aspect.

For example the "Rune Wolf" was a incredibly powerful wolf... but other then being powerful it was a wolf. If they remade the Rune Wolf and changed it up...