Cutting so fast you reach the gods

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AndreiChekov
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Cutting so fast you reach the gods

Post by AndreiChekov »

So, I'm working on a class right now that cuts things so fast that they can split the atom, cast gate, teleport, fly and other such things because of how fast they can move their swords.

It is a prestige class, so are these abilities appropriate for their level (each one is at the minimum level possible)?

split the atom everyone within a mile dies, their bodies are disintegrated. You also die. requires a full-attack action. level 15

Cut to the gods As a full attack action, you can cast Gate 2/day. spell like ability, using strength for modifiers. 17th level

Also, is this ability too fiddly?
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

I wouldn't call it fiddly, but it could be worded better-

The Candles Remain (ex?) When you make a successful melee attack with a slashing weapon, you may choose to not deal the damage immediately, but instead make a note of it, creating a Cut Pool tied to that target which may be increased with further such attacks. At any point, you may, as a swift action, inflict an amount of damage equal to or less than the points in a cut pool to the linked target.
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Post by AndreiChekov »

Prak wrote:I wouldn't call it fiddly, but it could be worded better-

The Candles Remain (ex?) When you make a successful melee attack with a slashing weapon, you may choose to not deal the damage immediately, but instead make a note of it, creating a Cut Pool tied to that target which may be increased with further such attacks. At any point, you may, as a swift action, inflict an amount of damage equal to or less than the points in a cut pool to the linked target.
Thank you. I've been working on this for about a week, and still haven't been able to come up with the right wording. Do you mind if I steal this?
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Post by AndreiChekov »

Also, all of those abilities are meant to be (Ex). I forgot to mention that.
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Post by Prak »

Go for it. I accept small shrines with weekly offerings of cigars and rum as payment.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
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You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by pragma »

Prak wrote:The Candles Remain (ex) When you make a successful melee attack with a slashing weapon, you may choose to not deal the damage immediately, but instead make a note of it, creating a Cut Pool tied to that target which may be increased with further such attacks. At any point, you may, as a swift action, inflict an amount of damage equal to or less than the points in a cut pool to the linked target.
You might want to add that the cut pool is reduced by the amount of damage you've dealt to the target. Right now there's a way to make the cut pool bigger, but no way to shrink it.

Also, is your body disintegrated when split the atom causes you to die? Or only everyone else within a mile?
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Post by AndreiChekov »

does that mean that I give the rum to your shrine rather than to you? Because i would totally mail you a pack of cigars if you gave me your address. : P
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Post by Prak »

Typically offerings are made to the shrine, yes, though I would certainly accept mailed cigars too.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
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You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by TiaC »

Does splitting the atom have any effect on inanimate objects? As it is, it would vaporize everyone in a city while leaving it otherwise unharmed.
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Post by TarkisFlux »

If you don't care about the summoning aspect of the gate ability, I wrote an unlimited use feat style one a while back you're welcome to loot for wording or idea. Link.
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Post by Username17 »

While The Court Jester is one of the greatest movies ever made and cutting something in half only to have it fall apart dramatically later on is wicked cool, the ability to delay damage in D&D is almost completely useless. Seriously, aside from reducing the effects of enemy Regeneration and DR, it doesn't really do anything at all. D&D already is a world where your attacks do "nothing" until people suffer critical existence failure later on.

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Post by Red_Rob »

Yeah, I don't know why you'd use the cut pool and not just deal the damage. More useful would be the ability to retroactively declare you had cut people and deal some amount of damage or do a Combat Maneuver (such as Disarm) as a Swift or Immediate Action.
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Post by Prak »

Yeah, DR/Regen are the only reasons I could think of for using that ability. I'd probably only use it for full attacks and such if I didn't happen to have a puzzle monster's specific weakness.

That doesn't mean you couldn't make it useful, however. Off the top of my head, I could see using it to enforce the image of the swordsman making a flurry of attacks at hyperspeed which all take effect at once like you'd see in a game, and then allow the swordsman to do stuff with that pool, like destroy/remove an opponent's armour.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by schpeelah »

Why would sundering armor require damage delay though? It's a cool visual, but I can't even think of this effect doing anything useful in any source material. It's just a matter of pacing the impact of an attack in a scene.

The only usefulness I can think of is increasing the delay so dramatically it's not a cut so sharp it takes a moment to register, but a curse that will cut upon command at a later date. We're in the realm of sword wizardry already anyway.
Last edited by schpeelah on Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Sakuya Izayoi »

Maybe instead, you can just ignore a certain amount of AC by going Blade Mode on stuff, letting you hit iron golems and the like, letting you Power Attack for more against stuff without that level of defense, and maybe another ability that lets you Zandatsu the vital organs out of puzzle monsters and closet trolls.

EDIT: or yeah, buying effects with the damage pool as per Prak's idea works
Last edited by Sakuya Izayoi on Sat Feb 14, 2015 12:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Prak »

It's purely for the visual in peoples' minds and to build a pool of points from which the swordsman can pay for special effects. I'm talking about turning a flavourflul but useless power into the basis for the class' resource management system.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by hyzmarca »

Depending on how long you can delay damage, you could use it for blackmail. You use it on someone and then you can kill them with a swift action if they don't do exactly as you say. That's rather useful if you can catch someone sleeping. And it isn't bad if you want an army of tiny people.
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Post by OgreBattle »

Instead of a cut pool delaying damage I can see it as dealing various save or suck status effects like holding them in place, making them drop what they're holding, blocking their ability to speak, etc.


Swinging tornadoes at people is also cool and can be a way to ground flying opponents, or create a tempest that prevents flying in the first place.

Sword surfing is also a cool way to fly around.

I'd look at the standard Cleric spell list as what powers are appropriate to have at what level, then apply them as sword skills.
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Post by tussock »

Split the Atom You can be immune to both disintegration damage and death effects, because someone cast a couple spells on you first. Killing everyone within a mile is not D&D friendly at all.

I mean, Clone, just for instance, even if you make it a non-standard fuck-you death, or magic jar or being a Lich or all sorts. Because everything in a mile is a lot of things.
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Post by AndreiChekov »

TarkisFlux wrote:If you don't care about the summoning aspect of the gate ability, I wrote an unlimited use feat style one a while back you're welcome to loot for wording or idea. Link.
Will take a look, thanks.
prak wrote:It's purely for the visual in peoples' minds and to build a pool of points from which the swordsman can pay for special effects. I'm talking about turning a flavourflul but useless power into the basis for the class' resource management system.
I was planning of having the class use spell like effects and have abilities that cut really fast and stuff, but that resource actually makes it all more interesting.
hyzmarca wrote:Depending on how long you can delay damage, you could use it for blackmail.
Would you also like a shrine?
Orgreerrrbattle wrote:Swinging tornadoes at people is also cool and can be a way to ground flying opponents, or create a tempest that prevents flying in the first place.

Sword surfing is also a cool way to fly around.

I'd look at the standard Cleric spell list as what powers are appropriate to have at what level, then apply them as sword skills.
Um, I have other abilities that are like those. Planar travel, and teleporting by cutting portals open. flying by spinning your weapon above your head like a helicopter. cutting so fast that it makes sparks and adds electrical or fire damage to effects.

It is just that the Gate question, I've heard around here that it can be a bit ridiculous, and I've heard on other places that it should probably come at an even higher level.



with splitting the atom. I don't really have wording down for that yet. I'm sure there are all sorts of things that are wrong with it that I haven't thought of yet.

Basically, I want it to look like a giant bomb going off, but considereing the scale of D&D things, big isn't really all that big. So, I could make it smaller in area. I suppose I need something in their that the effect fails if you don't die?
It is sort of meant to be a sacrifice that requires a true resurrection or wish to come back from. (which isn't really much of a sacrifice.)
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Post by Prak »

You can pattern Splitting the Atom off of Exalted Fury from BoED. That's a 40' radius blast which deal damage equal to the caster's hp +50 to evil creatures and kills the caster (who can then be raised normally).

In other words, it's exactly what you're looking for, just Goodly. There's a reason the theoretical build in my head that uses it is called the Nuclear Paladin.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
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You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Dogbert »

Someone remind me, is there "death by massive damage" in 3E? If so, the whole "Fist of the North Star" act with death by a thousand cuts counting as a single attack for the purposes of bypassing DR and Massive Damage would make it not-totally-worthless (as long as it's a low-level ability).
Last edited by Dogbert on Sun Feb 15, 2015 5:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Prak »

It's a variant in the DMG, yeah. It's based on size, so a medium creature saves at 50 damage, a small 40, etc.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Dogbert »

Make it a lvl 3 ability and I'm sold. That'd make it level-relevant.
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Post by darkmaster »

Nobody uses the massive damage rules though. I have litterally never seen the massive damage rules used in any game ever.
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