The Campaign Builder's Guild

Sorry, the wording of the challenegs is so weird for Iron Heroes.  Major Defense Challenges actually *decrease* your Defense to improve your attack abilites.  For example, the "Suicidal Strike" Major Defense Challenge gives you either +6 to damage or +3 to attack at the expense of -6 Defense, all for one round.

If we implemented the Weapon Bond rule, Eareg couldn't accept Major Defense Challenges (he could still accept Lesser or Moderate Defense Challenges) while weilding Meteor because he's psychically unwilling to put the rifle in danger: Major Defense Challenges represent a character leaving themselves open to attack and throwing caution to the wind in order to make a particularly strong or accurate attack.  The idea of the will save is that if Eraeg can break through the psychic block that stops him from putting Meteor in danger he can still accept Major Defense Challenges.

The upside would be that various Attack Challenges - which can improve Defense at the expense of Attack bonus - work better while he's weilding Meteor, and Defense Challenges that add to DR work better, too.

I thought this was a nice tradeoff, but if it seems like too convoluted a solution (or just not to your taste) maybe we can scrap it or rework it some other way.

How Mastery Level works with Multi-classing. It isn't mentioned anywhere in a rulebook or SRD as far as I could find. I had to go and search the creators site.

You take the highest mastery rating of the two classes and then add half the value of the lower mastery.

Berzerker 4/Weapon master 1(with Power primary) would have 4 Power Mastery (3 + (2/2 = 1)) = 4. If the Weapon master didn't have Power as his primary mastery feat, he would have 3 Power Mastery (3 + (1/2 = .5)) = 3.5 = 3

That being said, our group seems to be going the way of the undead.

Heh way of the undead?  That is, 3 members will be grave-spawn of one kind or another, eventually?

Quote from: SteerpikeHeh way of the undead?  That is, 3 members will be grave-spawn of one kind or another, eventually?

That'd be it. And unless Crow can make it to some more games, it'll leave Gorethirst as the only quick member of the party.

By the way, Llum, Corpsegobble has gone up 1 HD.  He gets +1 Strength, +1d8 hp, +1 to attacks, +1 Fortitude, and +1 Climb.  When he reaches 6d8 HD (still a ways off) he will reach Huge size.

Quote from: SteerpikeSorry, the wording of the challenegs is so weird for Iron Heroes.  Major Defense Challenges actually *decrease* your Defense to improve your attack abilites.  For example, the "Suicidal Strike" Major Defense Challenge gives you either +6 to damage or +3 to attack at the expense of -6 Defense, all for one round.

If we implemented the Weapon Bond rule, Eareg couldn't accept Major Defense Challenges (he could still accept Lesser or Moderate Defense Challenges) while weilding Meteor because he's psychically unwilling to put the rifle in danger: Major Defense Challenges represent a character leaving themselves open to attack and throwing caution to the wind in order to make a particularly strong or accurate attack.  The idea of the will save is that if Eraeg can break through the psychic block that stops him from putting Meteor in danger he can still accept Major Defense Challenges.

The upside would be that various Attack Challenges - which can improve Defense at the expense of Attack bonus - work better while he's wielding Meteor, and Defense Challenges that add to DR work better, too.

I thought this was a nice tradeoff, but if it seems like too convoluted a solution (or just not to your taste) maybe we can scrap it or rework it some other way.

Ah ok I see. Yea let's scrap this since it's getting too convoluted heh. Some other ideas to work with:

- While prone Eareg may fire meteor with a minor bonus to his attack roll
- Eareg gains a small amount of DR vs fire based attacks

thoughts?

Yes to both of those.  I'll update the list!  I think that's about all I can justify for freebies for Eareg, but at the end of it Meteor will likely be a near-artifact level weapon of exceptional power and personality.

EDIT: I do think that I'll let Kaius keep his Charisma bonus.

For the other players who haven't felt the glowing touch of my GMly generosity, fear not!  There WILL be goodies for all.  For example, Tarim will unlock certain forbidden formulae from his journal.  I definitely do NOT want to give the impression I'm playing favorites.

Of course, I hope you all realize what this spirit of giving will mean that the monsters and villains are going to only get meaner from here on out!

EDIT: Tweaked Meteor's level-dependent abilities more, downplaying the power of the fire resistance and adding a Concentration check to some of the abilities, as well as clarifying them.

Tarim's bonus spell from his journal, since he passed his Madness check:

Demon's Ego
Transmutation
Level: Witch 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Personal
Target: Caster
Duration: 1 minute/level

The caster gains an enhancement bonus to Charisma of 1d4+1 points. Furthermore, the caster is treated as an outsider with regard to what spells and magical effects can affect her (rendering a humanoid caster immune to charm person and hold person, for example).

Hope I'm not being too annoying but wanted to point something out :P

Quote from: SRDThe character is on the ground. An attacker who is prone has a '"4 penalty on melee attack rolls and cannot use a ranged weapon (except for a crossbow). A defender who is prone gains a +4 bonus to Armor Class against ranged attacks, but takes a '"4 penalty to AC against melee attacks.

Ranged weapons that can fire from the ground (crossbows, guns, blowguns, etc) don't take a penalty to attack rolls. The level 11 ability actually makes meteor weaker. I don't think you need to worry about overpowering the ability since prone already gives some balancing penalties of its own and a small attack bonus would I think be fine. Anyhow, just wanted to point that one out. Otherwise I think you did a superb job of setting up the progression.

Steerpike sent this my way and I thought I might post it here. I really like the style of abilities as they are I feel much more suited to Meteor's style (charismatic and mind influencing) as opposed to just straight fire. Not sure on balance, it doesn't seem overpowered compared to the stuff others are getting but I'm no crunch expert.

[ic]Level Dependent Abilities:

5 - Channel Spells: Eareg can now cast spells with the Fire descriptor through Meteor. This allows him to add any ranged attack modifiers that would normally apply only to the weapon to ranged attacks when using fire spells.

7 - Telepathic Link: Meteor can now communicate with Eareg telepathically over any distance. It can use this ability to make requests, which Eareg finds increasingly difficult to ignore. It also acts as a translator '" Eareg can now understand Hellspeak.

8 '" Summon Phantom: Once per day, Eareg can summon a Wraith from Meteor's barrel '" one of the souls trapped in the rifle, a former kill. The Wraith persists for 1 round per level and obeys Eareg's commands.

9 - Weapon Sight: When Eareg closes one eye, he can see out of the barrel of Meteor. This allows him to redeem aim tokens for a bonus to hit instead of using his Gunfighter abilities, if he wishes; he is able to redeem a number of tokens equal to his level in this manner. Using this ability is a free action but requires a Concentration check of DC 14.

10 - Flaming Burst: Meteor automatically becomes a Flaming Burst Rifle, for no additional cost. This ability replaces Flaming.

11 '" Fascinate: Eareg's phantoms can now exert a Fascination effect, appearing not as mutilated spectres but as more alluring projections. Those who come within 20 ft. must make a Will save (DC 15) or become Fascinated while they remain within the aura (threatening or attacking them breaks the effect as normal). He can now summon up to three phantoms per day.

13 '" Keening: Once per day Eareg may use Meteor as if it had the Keening ability instead of its other eldritch abilities.

14 '" Channel Spells: Eareg can also now cast any spells through Meteor though, not just spells with the Fire descriptor.

Fire Type: Eareg gains the Fire subtype and so is immune to fire damage, but has vulnerability to cold damage (+50%).

15 - Bond: As the bond between Eareg and Meteor deepens the gunfighter can psychically pull it to his hand so long as its in his line of sight. This is a move-equivalent action requiring a Concentration check of DC 18. He cannot fire it psychically or otherwise wield it psychically, however.

16 '" Despair: Eareg's phantoms can now exert a Despair effect, actively terrorizing those they approach. Those who come within 10 ft. must make a Fear save (DC 16) or become paralyzed with fear; they get a new save each round that they remain within 10 ft. of the phantom. Those who save cannot be affected by Despair for one day. His phantoms now have the attributes of Dread Wraiths.

17 - Symbiosis: Eareg's type changes to Outsider (he retains the Fire subtype) - spells and abilities affecting only humanoids no longer affect him.

19 '" Terror: Eareg's phantoms can now exert a Terror Aura. Those who come within 5 ft. of the phantom must make a Fear save (DC 20) or become Panicked.

20 '" Wailing Bullet: Once per day Eareg can fire a bullet that also functions as if he cast Wail of the Banshee as cast by a 20th level Witch.[/ic]

A note on Balance - these *are* freebies, in the sense that they aren't being bought with feats, money, or class levels.  I try to spread the generosity around, though, so other players can expect similar sorts of things; for example, I thought maybe of developing some sort of advancement chart for Vetter's arm. Also, Eareg will have to earn these abilities by cooperating with Meteor in various ways (we just did a solo session to that effect).

I was going to ask about the ol' claw, actually. Sweet! :D

Quote from: KindlingI was going to ask about the ol' claw, actually. Sweet! :D

Time to stat it up Steerpike, we want to see what sort of awesomeness Vetter is getting.

Here's a rough draft of Vetter's arm's level-dependent abilities.  He gains them very gradually and none are especially game-breaking, I think, but by the end the arm is very powerful - at 20th level the arm deals 1d12+2d6 damage (before Strength bonuses or whatnot - I assume Vetter is going for Weapon Finesse Mastery 4!) + 1 Con damage and always bypasses damage reduction; if he hits with both attacks he will deal 2d12+2d6+2d3 damage + 1 Con damage.

Vetter's Arm '" Level-Dependent Abilities

7 '" Improved Natural Attack: Vetter's claw damage with his grafted arm increases by one die type.  This stacks with the graftpunk ability of the same name.

8 '" Unholy Castigation: as he becomes attuned to his graft's demoniac nature, Vetter gains the power to channel his negative emotions '" hatred, anger, heartbreak, self-loathing '" into diabolic energy.  Once per day, Vetter can make an attack with his grafted arm that is treated as Unholy, dealing 2d6 bonus damage to living, non-demoniac creatures.  This attack is treated as eldritch for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction.

10 '" Wounding: by fighting with the claw, Vetter becomes adept at inflicting wounds that will bleed continuously.  Once per day, he can make an attack with his grafted arm that is treated as Wounding, dealing 1 point of Constitution damage to those it damages.  This attack is treated as eldritch for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction.  He can combine this with Unholy Castigation if he wishes.

11 '" Rend: Vetter can now make a Rend attack.  If he hits with both claws he automatically deals an additional 1d8+1d3 damage, plus any bonuses.  As his die-type increases, so does Rend damage.

12 '" Unholy Castigation: Vetter can now use Unholy Castigation three times per day, and those who take damage from the attack are Sickened for 1d4 rounds.

13 '" Improved Natural Attack: Vetter's claw damage with his grafted arm increases by one die type.  This stacks with the graftpunk ability of the same name.

14 '" Wounding: Vetter can now use his Wounding attack three times per day.

16 '" Unholy Castigation: Vetter can now use Unholy Castigation five times a day, and those who take damage are Sickened for 1d6 rounds.

18 '"Wounding: all of Vetter's attacks are now considered Wounding.

19 '" Improved Natural Attack: Vetter's claw damage with his grafted arm increases by one die type.  This stacks with the graftpunk ability of the same name.

20 '" Unholy Castigation: Vetter can now use Unholy Castigation at will.

For Nomadics gun, Meteor it looks legit from what I can tell. THe only thing that worries me is the Weapon Sight, I'd maybe restrict it to level/2 max tokens or 2 tokens for +1, leaning towards the latter. I think that would be more in-line with the Gunfighter/Archer. The Wailing Bullet could be strong, iirc Wail of the Banshee is one of those ridiculously OP spells, but 1/day isn't that bad at that level.

As for Vetters arm, the only scary thing would be if he starts getting graftpunk class levels and stacks higher die-types. He can get 1 or 2 more. So that d12+2d6 becomes  4d8+str+ 1 con damage that bypasses DR, for 1 more die type. But once again that's at 20th level.