Hunted Trait + 7 Ranks of Spot, Would that classify as "Spot 10 Ranks" for the purpose of getting the feat "Deft Strike"?
No.
The Attune Waters spell looks
almost fine to me, except for the bit about breathing the water freely. For one thing, it would make the most sense if only properly-aligned characters could breathe the water... but my bigger issue is that Water Breathing is already a level-three spell. If you take out the ability to breathe the water, then it's fine, otherwise I think you'll need to change the spell level to four. Still, looks like a highly useful spell in this campaign. As for the worries about munchkinry (involving transporting it, with or without Dust of Dryness, or using it as a spell component), I think that we can just have it retain its aligned-ness for 1 day if you remove it from the area, and can't be used as a spell component (because magic'd things just typically make funky-weird spell components that don't work). If you'd like to propose different anti-munchkinry, be my guest.
The Vader's Choking Hand spell... no. I agree, there should be more direct-combat style level 2 spells, but that's broken for a level 3 spell. Medium range? No save? No spell resistance? Lasts for as long as you want it to? Balls NOOOOOOOO! Sure, adding the forced concentration check every round goes a short way towards balancing it out, but concentration checks are easy to make. Even against the strongest characters, the concentration check DC would be, what, 14? Put max ranks in concentration (you know, like all spellcasters probably should) and you have a really good shot at succeeding every round until the target dies. Try to change the balance of it if you really want a choking spell.
The variant pickpocketing rules are interesting... but gives no numbers. For instance, what is the DC to hide your theft from your mark? It doesn't say. So I'll try to make up my own rules...
To steal an item, make a touch attack against its owner. Apply the object's size modifier to the AC, and ignore armour or natural armour bonuses to AC (unless the owner has the item hidden inside their armour, in which case armour bonus still counts).
To avoid being noticed when stealing an item has two steps. First, make a Bluff check opposed by the owner's Sense Motive check; this will determine how suspicious they think you're being, and will determine your circumstance bonus (or penalty). Second, make a Sleight of Hand check opposed by the owner's Spot check. If they win, then they have noticed your attempt, regardless of whether or not you succeeded in securing the item, and they may make an Attack of Opportunity if they wish. For every 5 points that you beat the owner's Sense Motive check with your bluff check, you get a +1 circumstance bonus on your Sleight of Hand check. You get a +2 to the bluff check if you are behind the owner. You can use a weapon to pickpocket someone, but only if the object you're targeting is outside of their clothing, or tied on. Well-secured or difficult-to-reach items may provide circumstance penalties (zippered pockets are a bitch to get through unnoticed, shoes are hard to get unnoticed, and if you have to jump to reach somebody's necklace that's somewhat hard to hide).
((basically you need to be fast enough to grab the thing, you need a good poker face, you need to be stealthy enough to not get noticed, and it always helps if your mark is clueless... which most commoners are, and most high-level clerics aren't))
Yeah, 10 rounds is a long time to disable a spell that was given as a gift. I'll houserule that if the spell is granted willingly, the caster is unable to use it for their next 2 turns.
If there's a thieves' guild around that knows about spellthievery, then yes there's a good chance that they'll give a damn about you muscling in on their turf, and make you an offer you can't refuse. *stab*
If a spell is prepared with metamagic feats, then you will get the metamagic'd version when you steal it (assuming you're able to steal spells of the appropriate modified level). If you, the spelltheif, have metamagic feats, you can apply them to your stolen spells, but doing so might increase the casting time (as Sorcerers; so spells that normally take a standard action to cast now need a full-round, etc.). If a sorcerer tries to gift you a spell with a metamagic feat applied to it, they will lose their move action for their next turn, and they'll lose a higher-level spell slot. (plus you'll need to be able to steal spells of the adjusted level)
You can either use a normal-people Handy Haversack, or request a Small-people one which weighs 1.5 pounds and carries 1/4 as much l00t. Costs the same and you'll need to wait for them to make the thing (unless you find a town of primarily halflings... not likely for a while)
Storm Elemental summoning looks fine to me. Fun, even.
I always think of clerical spell research as:
Cleric: *studies how a hypothetical spell would work for a few weeks* "Hey God, can I have a spell that works like *explains how the spell works*
God: Yes. *grants* *doesn't bother to tell anyone else*
DAMMIT Fool, not again... *sigh* Although I suppose it's up to you, it's not like I'm going to force you to roleplay a certain way. As for the Master Specialist PrC, it looks strong and versatile... not enough to make me say "no", but... I think the easiest way to bring it into line is to fix the downright simple entry requirements, since you can start taking it at level 4, which is earlier than almost any other PrC. I think I'll just change the Spellcasting requirement to be level 3 spells. You'll still be able to take it
reasonably soon, especially as far as Prestige Classes go, but it won't be as super-duper soon.
Lastly, for the new people. Hi! I find that fighters are a decent class, but new players tend to get overwhelmed by all the bonus feats and make sub-par choices. Barbarians are extremely simple to play, Rangers are also extremely simple to play (the Two-Weapon Fighting rules can seem weird at first but are actually pretty basic, and the bow-using Rangers are just an extended exercise in "select target and shoot it"), Monks are pretty simple to play but also have a tendency to be somewhat worthless (their lack of armor is "made up for" by their ability to dump points into wisdom instead of other stats, which will typically give them less protection than a 100 gp chain shirt). Just ignore Van the monk, who was powergamed all to hell in exchange for being forced into not touching money and roleplaying in a very restricting way. The last non-spellcasting class is the rogue, who is relatively easy to play decently, but hard to play well. Basically you want to sneak attack things without making an obvious target out of yourself; the best ways to do this involve Invisibility (either costly or time consuming), feinting (time consuming), or flanking. This works best if you can persuade your beefier friends to run
around the enemies before attacking so that you can flank safely, but nobody listens to rogues.
Anyway, before you can play, you'll need to have an online sheet (Mythweavers or The Tangled Web work well, links are in the OP) (there is also a character generator in the OP which will give you the basic idea for how characters are made), the Maptools program, and a picture of your person. It doesn't necessarily have to be a good or accurate picture, I just need to be able to see it so that I can make a token for you. Other than that, the next session is at 11:00 PM GMT on Saturday, hope to see you there!
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Topic: D&D 3.5- Western Marches: dead and gone (RIP) (Read 305946 times)