Corvus Drake
07-19-2009, 12:03 AM
OK, so I'm running a 3.5e campaign with evil characters involved.
These evil characters have survived some wild situations, including a zombie apocalypse in a major city that featured a grand enfilade from a gold dragon to burn off the spores. There were DC15 death effects flung everywhere and the players all made the saves.
There have been fumbles and criticals, all balanced due to a system that I'll be sharing which causes the spellcasters and skill-players to suffer as many risks to fumble and chances to crit as a fighter.
In other words, a hell of a campaign.
More recently, one of the characters died. A Cleric who turned evil and since has been trying to regain her powers through redemptive acts has died at the hands of a Wraith. She rose as a Wraith after her maker was destroyed (a Dread Wraith), and I gave the player the opportunity to take a level in Emancipated Spawn rather than roll off as died. She accepted.
My issue is that Emancipated Spawn (Savage Species) retains the undead nature and abilities of the character. In this case, this robs the player of her equipment (she is incorporeal) but gives her a vast array of immunities. This will balance just fine over time, but I'm more concerned with specific sub-abilities.
1. Immune to Criticals. She can't be the victim of a critical hit. I'm not 100% sure of this one.
2. Create Spawn. This could get really broken, really fast. The character's weapons and unarmed strike are now replaced with Incorporeal Touch, which deals 1d4+STR MOD damage and 1d6 Con Drain. This in and of itself is an awesome weapon, and will couple nicely with the Cleric once she completes all 3 levels of the prestige class. The issue is that when this weapon kills, it causes the soul of the victim to rise as a wraith in 1d4 rounds. It remains enslaved to the creator until either it or the creator is destroyed. Savage Species houserules its example into a limit of 20 of these spawn, but obviously even a couple of these could become quite vile.
3. Turn Undead. She's a cleric. Kord would accept an undead cleric if it aligned with him, I think, but obviously the powers could become quite hazardous for her. Turn undead, area cures, etc.
4. CL. Does this character exist as an "ex cleric" until ES level 3? Does it gain a level as a class known as Wight? This seems really blurry, especially addressing the example in Savage Species.
TO those who will wonder why I allowed this; it's a great way for a healer to gain more depth and redeem herself all at once.
These evil characters have survived some wild situations, including a zombie apocalypse in a major city that featured a grand enfilade from a gold dragon to burn off the spores. There were DC15 death effects flung everywhere and the players all made the saves.
There have been fumbles and criticals, all balanced due to a system that I'll be sharing which causes the spellcasters and skill-players to suffer as many risks to fumble and chances to crit as a fighter.
In other words, a hell of a campaign.
More recently, one of the characters died. A Cleric who turned evil and since has been trying to regain her powers through redemptive acts has died at the hands of a Wraith. She rose as a Wraith after her maker was destroyed (a Dread Wraith), and I gave the player the opportunity to take a level in Emancipated Spawn rather than roll off as died. She accepted.
My issue is that Emancipated Spawn (Savage Species) retains the undead nature and abilities of the character. In this case, this robs the player of her equipment (she is incorporeal) but gives her a vast array of immunities. This will balance just fine over time, but I'm more concerned with specific sub-abilities.
1. Immune to Criticals. She can't be the victim of a critical hit. I'm not 100% sure of this one.
2. Create Spawn. This could get really broken, really fast. The character's weapons and unarmed strike are now replaced with Incorporeal Touch, which deals 1d4+STR MOD damage and 1d6 Con Drain. This in and of itself is an awesome weapon, and will couple nicely with the Cleric once she completes all 3 levels of the prestige class. The issue is that when this weapon kills, it causes the soul of the victim to rise as a wraith in 1d4 rounds. It remains enslaved to the creator until either it or the creator is destroyed. Savage Species houserules its example into a limit of 20 of these spawn, but obviously even a couple of these could become quite vile.
3. Turn Undead. She's a cleric. Kord would accept an undead cleric if it aligned with him, I think, but obviously the powers could become quite hazardous for her. Turn undead, area cures, etc.
4. CL. Does this character exist as an "ex cleric" until ES level 3? Does it gain a level as a class known as Wight? This seems really blurry, especially addressing the example in Savage Species.
TO those who will wonder why I allowed this; it's a great way for a healer to gain more depth and redeem herself all at once.