Roleplaying in the Nippon-Ichi verse

[Koumei]

More things I don't want to use in the game:
[*]Levels that are retarded-high, and stormtroopering. If the players like, it can go up to 20. If they really want, they can then reincarnate back to level 1-3, gain some consolation prize and go through again on a New Game+
[*]Bonuses for reincarnation: but see above
[*]Item World: maybe they can go there for a plot thing (or even setting their home base up inside one of their items that they carry with them into the base). But not for levelling their gear up, that would be dumb.
[*]Felonies, as anything other than a plot thing.*
[*]The Dark Assembly, unless someone wants to, say, murder their way onto the senate. Though it would be funny to add some random class as one that has to be passed by the senate. Or provide team bonuses that have to be approved, and approval is gained by physically bribing the senate (ie me).
[*]A million variants of the same weapon, with bigger numbers (like all cRPGs). We'll stick with Tome D&D stuff to avoid "Throw the Silver Katana out, buy the Gold Katana, wait, we found an Imperial Warlord Katana, nevermind!"
[*]The Overlord class. I know, weird right? The Overlord is, in Disgaea, supposed to be a boss type thing and special. It would be wrong to say "You can be an Overlord, or something less awesome". So it's just a Title, nothing more.


*For the uninitiated, it's another method of grinding for power in Disgaea 2. You collect subpoenas from the postman (who only ever delivers subpoenas), and then you enter the subpoenas in item world (or transfer the bailiff from it to a normal item, so as to level an item up while you go) until you find the Court Gate, which you enter to find yourself facing charges. The jury consists of prinnies and the judge is a prinny. As such they don't care if the wrong person or even multiple people show up, they declare you guilty and you get a reward. Felonies include "High Attack score", "Too high a level", "Being too rich", "Too many murders"**, "Liking Girls" or in the case of Tink, "Existing". Whoever is actually declared guilty gets a number of felony points on their record, which makes the Dark Assembly like them more, gives them discounts buying stuff, and also makes them gain XP faster, sort of like levelling someone up as a carrot and reincarnating in Makai Kingdom, for the 70% XP boost.

**Yes, too many murders. As in, there is some acceptable quantity.

[Username17]

I liked the in-game implementation of the School Council better than the way the Dark Assembly worked. But admittedly, the concept is even more batshit. It's like dealing with the class representatives from Ikkitousen. hat being said, all the structural formating bills to pass like "Please Reincarnate Me" or "I want more power" or "Create additional club space to put minions in" have just got to go. Passing bills through the Dark Assembly should be for stuff like "Open the Gate to Jubilex's Palace" and not "Start stocking shoes in the cafeteria."

As for unlocking stuff, I could see unlocking dragon mounts as a pretty reasonable turning point.

Anyway...

Marionette

The 3rd edition keyword you are looking for is "[Compulsion]." Anyway, DR/Axes is unacceptable, because under no circumstances do I want to have a discussion about whether a glaive is an ax or not. "DR Level/Slashing" is probably how you want to write it up. Probably their biggest power in Disgaea is their immunity to status bullshittery. Giving them Poison Immunity seems pretty reasonable.

Fear is a a cone shaped save or lose with a real amount of fuckery even if the save is made. Giving it to Jacks at first level is over the top. You could give them Intimidate as a Swift Action. That would be pretty darn keen and go well with either a Necromancer, Jester, or Assassin build. Making one pumpkin is way less than a "create food" and shouldn't be capitalized or reference the spell at all. It should instead be "All Souls Day (Su): Each morning, a Jack has about one half of a leftover pumpkin that they aren't using any more. Other creatures could eat it - or just smash it against a wall. Once it dries, it's super hard to clean up." The Yard Work needs to be way more explicit.

Pump Kin (Ex): the Jack gains a +3 Racial bonus on Intimidate checks, and may use the Intimidate skill as a Swift Action.

All Souls Day (Su): Each morning, a Jack has about one half of a leftover pumpkin that they aren't using any more. Other creatures could eat it - or just smash it against a wall. Once it dries, it's super hard to clean up.

Yard Worker (Ex): the Jack is made for yard work, so gains a +3 Racial bonus on all Craft checks. All Jacks get Profession: Farmer for free.

Bonus Proficiencies: A Jack is inherently proficient with shovels, rakes, hoes, and scythes. In addition, these weapons in the hands of a Jack are treated as their most closely analogous martial weapon (a hoe is treated as a pole axe, a scythe is treated as a war scythe, a shovel is treated as a battleaxe, and so on).

Deep Roots (Ex): A Jack has Tremorsense out to 5' per point of Constitution Bonus they have (minimum 5'). The DC to Trip a Jack is increased by +4.

Typical Classes: Assassin, Jester or Samurai

As for Vampires, K wrote a pretty decent one for the Tome of Necromancy. You'll want to switch it up a bit, because no one will have any Turning, so being Undead is no big deal. Still, the blood drinking rules work pretty well (though I'd modify it to Con damage rather than drain):

Blood Drinking (Ex): The character can drain blood from a helpless or willing victim, inflicting 2 points of Constitution Damage per round. The character heals 5 points for each point of Constitution Damage in this way, and consuming 4 points of Constitution from intelligent creatures is considered enough "food" for one day (and the vampire gains no sustenance from any other food). Humanoids slain by this Constitution Damage may rise as vampires or vampire spawn (though the character has no control over them unless granted by another ability).

That is basically a disadvantage. And you can use it to power a number of cool vampire powers. In Disgaea, Vampires normally turn into bats or belch chaos fire on people, which is weird and one of the reasons you don't really bother. In Makai Kingdoms, Vampires run around with syringes and books and can be pretty decent casters as blasters or healers. I'd go with that. The Disgaea Vampire has an Intelligence bonus and a gaze that dazes people. Favored class is Beguiler or Assassin.

As for the Orc? I suggest using the Races of War Half Orc:

• Medium Size
  30' movement
  Humanoid Type [Orc]
  Darkvision 60'
  +2 Strength
  +2 to Intimidate, Gather Information, and Survival checks.
  Favored Classes: Assassin and Barbarian

You might want to throw a reference to their dogpiling abilities in Disgaea 3. Maybe have them get an extra +2 to-hit when flanking? Something like that.

Finally, Minions:

• Prinnies
• Zombies
• Fungi
• Treants
• Slimes
• Giant Bats

Mounts:

• Serpents
• Dragons
• Hell Hounds
• War Slugs
• Cockatrice
• Manticores
• Wyverns
• Nightmares

-Username17

[Username17]

Anyway, on unlockable reincarnation-only classes. You could throw in stuff like the Galactic Demon with a certain mandatory number of levels of True Fiend and some pre-selected Spheres and shit.

-Username17

[Koumei]

It's like dealing with the class representatives from Ikkitousen.

I can't really remember much about the inner dealings, I think I was focusing on the knickers.

Passing bills through the Dark Assembly should be for stuff like "Open the Gate to Jubilex's Palace" and not "Start stocking shoes in the cafeteria."

Please tell me that second one actually crops up in Disgaea 3. I am wanting a PS3 just for this game (okay and Cross-Edge, also a N1 game). Oh, those 10-level dungeons in people's heads... can the person in question enter their own head?

As for unlocking stuff, I could see unlocking dragon mounts as a pretty reasonable turning point.

That could work, yeah.

Marionette fixed (DR, [Compulsions], Poison Immunity).

Jack fixed. I was confusing Fear with Cause Fear, also. But now we have an always-useful-never-broken ability instead.

Vampires fixed a bit. Need to fix some more though.

In Makai Kingdoms, Vampires run around with syringes and books and can be pretty decent casters as blasters or healers. I'd go with that.

I forgot all about Disgaea ones. Yeah, MK ones for the win. I use mine as a Samurai mostly. It's friggin lethal, though not as deadly as the actual Samurai and the Sabre Kitty (both are the primary strikers).

As for the Orc? I suggest using the Races of War Half Orc:

Works for me, ditto the Flanking bonus. Maybe a dumb penalty where all girls get +3 to Bluff/Diplomancy against them because, at least in D2, Orcs liked girls (and would be more likely to vote Aye for a girl).

Minions and Mounts look like good lists.

Also I'm toying with putting a half-arsed social combat thing together. A quick "For every 3-ish ranks in [Skill], you get to choose a [Skill] ability that can be used in social combat. Some have minimum rank requirements because they're bad-ass."

With shit like "Make a Diplomacy Attack (d20+ranks+Cha+fuck you, you don't get + 60) to negate an Intimidate Attack or halt someone from deciding 'Fuck this, I attack'" and "Make an Intimidate Attack to make two people like each other one step more, at the cost of liking you one step less" and shit.

Should I hash such a thing out or say "Fuck it, it's D&D/N1. They can use Intimidate and Bluff in combat, and ignore Diplomacy and play that shit out"?

[Leress]

Please tell me that second one actually crops up in Disgaea 3.

Yes, well for the stores anyway.

Oh, those 10-level dungeons in people's heads... can the person in question enter their own head?

Yes, but it's limited to the number of times you can go in per incarnation.

[Koumei]

So, minions. I figure these are basically Followers if anybody feels like taking a Leadership feat, and if the group end up in control of their own Demiplane Netherworld they count as having Leadership (for Minion) purposes for free. As a group, not individuals. Using highest Cha.

Actually, maybe there's a better way of doing it. I'm very much open to suggestions here.

Zombies: Human Zombies, the bottom of the barrel, come in at CR 1/2, so these are your ideal Level 1 Follower. 8 of them combine to be CR 4, which is "acceptable" when you're level six. At level 8 or more, you can pick something that would make a CR 2 Zombie. Every 2 levels above, you can add another CR to the zombie. Actually increasing the Follower Level doubles the CR each time. So for a level 10 character, a level 2 Follower could be a CR 6 (12 HD) Zombie. Grand.

Prinnies: a Prinny is a Level 1 Minion, and has the following statline:
Small Construct [Extraplanar, Chaotic, Evil, Dood]
Str 10 Dex 8 Con - Int 4 Wis 4 Cha 10
Speed: 20' Reach: 5'
Init -1
HD: 2d10 (11 HP)
AC: 11 (-1 Dex +1 Size +1 Natural Armour), Flat 11 Touch 10
Fort +3 Ref -1 Will -3
BAB/Grapple: +1/-3
2 MW Daggers +3/+3 (1d3)
Special:
Two-Weapon Fighting, as the [Combat] Feat basic ability
-1 Racial penalty on saves vs Confusion/Insanity/Suggestion, -1 more for every Prinny within 30'.
Not Immune to the following Mind-Affecting Effects: Confusion, Insanity, Suggestion
Death Throes (Su): when thrown or reduced to 0 HP, the Prinny is instantly destroyed. It explodes in a 30' radius, dealing 1d6 Fire damage per HD (Ref half, Str-based).

For every level above 6, you can give your Prinnies another HD.

Eringas: oh hey, Myconids! Next.

Giant Bats: a Dire Bat is CR 2, so you can just take it as a level 2 Follower and nobody cares. At level 9 or more, they are level 1 Followers. After that you could add an extra HD per level, whatever.

Slimes: an Ochre Jelly probably fits the bill, and is a Level 3 Follower. Until level 9, where they are Level 2, and then at level 12 they are Level 1.

Treants: a character who is level 10 or more can treat Treants as level 2 Followers, which is totally rad except you're hard-pressed to get more than one at that level and they don't advance. At level 15 you can treat them as level 1 Followers and you stopped caring ages ago.

the little stump things are totally Orcworts.

Mounts:
A Mount is a Cohort, I guess, unless you really want a mount very much and it suits your character and you even took Mounted Combat, in which case Mister Cavern might just give you a mount.

Serpents: Giant Snakes? I'll go through and pick some of my favourite giant snakes and attach a (CR+2) tag as the minimum level. I did a check on Disgaea DS, and realised the shark things are serpents. So that would be some awesome Half Fiend or Half Dragon Dire Shark or something equally amazing. So again, high level and if draconic, "I want to ride a dragon!"

Cockatrice: will need to be rewritten to not be Small.

War Slugs: will need to be written up.

Hell Hounds: Hellhound requires level 5+, Shadow Mastiff requires level 7+ and Nessian Warhound requires level 11+ and "I want to ride something scary!"

Manticores: required level 7+

Nightmares: Nightmare is level 7+, and Cauchemar is level 13+ and "I want to ride something scary!"

Wyverns: level 8+ and requires "I want to ride a dragon!"

Dragons: my suggestion is Half Dragon Wyvern with the "Breathe 1/d4 rounds" feat and Meta-Breath Feats. Thoughts? Also, requires the Dark Assembly Bill "I want to ride a dragon!" (level 10+)

[Maxus]

Huh.

The Green Mage could use an air-slash attack. Probably 1d6/level + Cha slashing or piercing. An Air Telekinesis wouldn't be too bad, either.

[Username17]

Huh.

The Green Mage could use an air-slash attack. Probably 1d6/level + Cha slashing or piercing. An Air Telekinesis wouldn't be too bad, either.

Those would be reasonable things to have, but Disgaea Green Mages don't do physical damage. Ever. None of their spells can mimic weapon attacks. As is, the only time I think they might be on the weak side is level 1. At level 1 they are going to be two weapon fighting with a quarterstaff, able to ghost sound and message at will, shoot a d4 raged touch attack, and have 8 hit points. That's quirky, and a little on the weak side. But I think it's playable.

Please tell me that second one actually crops up in Disgaea 3. I am wanting a PS3 just for this game (okay and Cross-Edge, also a N1 game). Oh, those 10-level dungeons in people's heads... can the person in question enter their own head?

Yes, there are a number of things you have to pass in the student council like the ability to shop for shoes and belts and shit. And I'm pretty sure you can enter your own head. But you often don't, because the monsters in your head are based on your level when you start the adventure, so you generally want to enter the heads of characters who are lower level. Since head effects are based on spending large amounts of mana, this involves reincarnating people and then putting them in clubs where they get the mana other characters earn and then backbenching them until after you complete some item worlding and head diving. Then you buy them some awesome powers that they get to keep even after reincarnating again.

Anyway the big innovation is the clubs. Instead of keeping track of patronage and minionhood by who created who (thus making your starting prinnies less than worthless in Disgaea 1), patronage and minionhood are defined by arbitrary clubs that you join and assign leadership to. And you create more clubs by passing motions before the student council. That makes the entire minion/mentor system work way better.

Also I'm toying with putting a half-arsed social combat thing together. A quick "For every 3-ish ranks in [Skill], you get to choose a [Skill] ability that can be used in social combat. Some have minimum rank requirements because they're bad-ass."

Well... you're defining the classes people can take and deciding what magic items people can get. So you don't have to allow Diplomancy to get out of control if you don't want it to. But if you wanted to make a Socal Skill Challenge system, you could.

• In the Dark Assembly, there is a lobbying phase. Each player can lobby with any social skill. A successful lobby attempt alters the leanings of one senator.
• There are a finite number of lobbying phases before the vote.
• At the end, each senator rolls up their final vote based on their final leanings.

Something like that. Where even a massive diplomancy score wouldn't make the other players useless.

-Username17

[Koumei]

Mostly I'm hoping it's actually the cafeteria you buy shoes from. Because that would justify petitioning the Student Council for it.

Laharl: I want to buy some shoes!
General Store: What the fuck do you think this is, kid, a brothels? We don't sell shoes here!
Laharl: that... made no sense outside of a single Fry & Laurie sketch. Let me talk to the Dark Assembly.
Senator: I dunno, stores selling shoes? What next?

as opposed to:

Raspberyl: I want to buy some shoes!
Cafeteria: this... is the canteen. We sell food here. Not shoes. You can get a loaf, but not loafers.
Raspberyl: We'll see about that! Student Council...
Council Member: listen, punk, we're the Student Council, we outrank the UN. You're selling shoes.
Cafeteria: ...do you want salt with them?

---

Clubs and mana sharing sound awesome. Also, I hear about "Evilties" which are apparently passive skills similar to the basic ones characters get except better. What are they/how are they gained?

---

That's a better idea, yeah. Random talky-talky with other people can just be done on the fly without a complex system, then people can look back and say "I liked that simple and effective thing we did with the Dark Assembly. Remember when you made a Knowledge: Your Mum check to get approval?"

---

So, special races:

Efreet:
Large Dragon [Fire]

Requirement: "I want to be a Great Wyrm"

Speed: 30'
Reach: 10'

Ability Scores: +4 Strength, +4 Constitution, +2 Wisdom

The Efreet has 6 Dragon Hit Dice:
12+5d12 plus (Con*6) HP
BAB +6
Base Saves: Fort +5 Ref +5 Will +5
(4+Int)*9 Skill Points
3 Feats (1, 3 and 6 HD)

Class Skills: Craft, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (Any), Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spot

Natural Armour: +6

Natural Weapons:
-Primary Bite 1d8+Str
-Primary Gore 2d6+Str (double Str bonus on a charge)
-2 Secondary Claws 1d6+Str*0.5

Immunities: Magical Sleep and Paralysis Effects

Fiery Wrath (Su): all of the Efreet's natural weapons deal +1d6 Fire damage when they successfully hit. Also, whenever it deals Fire damage with a Spell-like ability, the target catches fire (Ref negates).

Breath Weapon (Su): the Efreet has a Breath Weapon 1/4 rounds. It is a 30' cone that deals 2d6 Fire damage per hit die (Ref half, Con-based). Anyone who fails the save catches fire.

Typical Classes: Knight, Red Mage or more Dragon Hit Dice

Dragon Advancement:
+1 Natural Armour per HD
At levels 10, 15 and 20, add +1d6 to Fiery Wrath
At levels 12 and 18, the Efreet may grow in size (replace usual modifiers with +4 Str and +2 Con) or gain/improve access to the Fire or Pyre Sphere.

Galactic Demon:
Large Outsider [Extraplanar]
Additional Subtypes: same as its Alignment

Requirement: "I want to be All Powerful!"

Speed: 30'
Fly Speed: 10' (Perfect)
Reach: 10'

Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence

Level 8 True Fiend:
8+7d12 plus (Con*8) HP
BAB +8
Base Saves: Fort +6 Ref +6 Will +6
(8+Int)*11 Skill Points
3 Feats (1, 3 and 6 HD)

Class Skills: Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Disguise, Escape Artist, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, Use Rope

Natural Armour: +2
Spell Resistance 18 (improves with levels)
Acid Immunity
Telepathy to 100'
Damage Reduction 8/Good (improves with levels)
Energy Resistances: Cold, Fire and Electricity 10
Immune to Nonmagical Poisons

Advanced Access to the Sphere of Terror

Typical Classes: continual of True Fiend

[Leress]

Clubs and mana sharing sound awesome. Also, I hear about "Evilties" which are apparently passive skills similar to the basic ones characters get except better. What are they/how are they gained?

Evilites are passive skill that can be learned there are one that are unique to a character or class such as Mao's Violent Courage ( Attack power increases by the number of enemies in battle x 3%) and there are common ones like Fire Body (Fired damage reduced by 50%) that many can learn.

You can also learn some other character's unique Evilites if you are in the same club by mean of the Class world and 10 times the mana cost.

[Koumei]

Awesome, something else to power level :D

Anyway, the To-Do List:
-Find a better way to do minions
-Detail the Dark Assembly Mechanics
-Stat up the Cockatrice, War Slug and Serpent
-Special Equipment type Minions: Golem, Rifle Demon
-Pick a specific White Mage to use for the Cleric/Priest/Support
-Prestige Class: Rune Knight (for Knight x _____ Mage)
-Consider boosting pistols or something
-Later-on items: Syringe, Thunder Drum, Bazooka/Minigun (one of the two)

Notes:
-Potions will never be found. Some of the weird-ass edible alchemical recipes will, instead. And we all come full-circle.
-It won't hurt for me to pen out the basic idea for their first basic story arc, the different adventures with wobble-room for levels (so they can talk to the different guests in any order) and so on. Holy shit, planning!

[Koumei]

Right... This seems good for the White Mage. So I can tick that one off.

And the Serpent could totally be a Winged or Half Dragon Bulette/Dire Shark. So it shall be one of those.

Petitioning the Dark Assembly:

Whenever people want something out of the Dark Assembly, their first course of action is to actually step forward with their request. When they do this, a number of Senators will feel like showing up, based on how important they consider the issue. This can vary between 5 and 20.

A DC 20 Sense Motive check will give a general idea as to whether the bill is likely pass or fail without action on their part. DC 25 will actually let the PCs know who is for and against, and DC 30 will show by how much:

Love:	Guaranteed "Aye"
Strongly in Favour of:	Will vote "Aye" without peer pressure
In Favour of:	75% likely to vote "Aye"
Indifferent:	may abstain or randomly decide
Asleep:	will abstain
Drunk:	completely random
Opposed to:	75% likely to vote "Nay"
Strongly Opposed to:	Will vote "Nay" without peer pressure
Loathe:	Guaranteed "Nay"

Guaranteed is guaranteed... unless you convince them otherwise.

If merely Strongly opposed/in favour, it is treated as a guarantee, except if the majority of their party votes the other way they might change their mind (100% to stand their ground, -10% of outnumbering).

A regular Opposed/In Favour is basically a dice roll at 75%. Except they shift 5% Nay for every Strongly Opposed/Loathe in their party, and 5% Aye for every Strongly in Favour/Love in their party, and are more susceptible to bribes.

Indifferent can be easily bribed - or easily angered by the bribing of those of a conflicted party.

Sleeping people don't vote. When waking someone up, do it gently or they may Loathe you.

Drunk people are unreliable. It's a coin-toss, unless all of their party is voting one way, in which case they'll vote the other. Because they're dicks.

There will be a number of "turns" in which each party member gets a single attempt at persuasion. The number of turns varies, but is often between 2 and 3. Generally you want the total attempts to be more than half but less than all of the senators present. Nobody may attempt to influence the same person more than once per session.

Possible Actions:

Bribe a Senator: this requires a Sense Motive check to tell what they want (opposed by their Bluff if they don't want to be blatant about it, DC 10 if they're hinting, automatic if they flat-out tell you), then you need to actually give them what they want. Based on the value, this is worth at least one shift in attitude.

Sweet-Talk a Senator: this requires a Diplomancy check against the Senator, with a DC of 10 + their HD + their Wis or something. Success improves their attitude by 1 step, +1 for each 10 you beat it by. Failure by 10 or more worsens their attitude.

Lie to a Senator: this requires a Bluff check against the Senator, with a DC of 10 + their HD + their Wis or something. Success improves their attitude by 1 step, +1 for each 10 you beat it by. Failure by 10 or more worsens their attitude.

Bully/Blackmail a Senator: this requires an Intimidate check against the Senator, with a DC of 10 + their HD + their Wis or something. Success improves their attitude by 1 step, +1 for each 10 you beat it by. Failure by 10 or more worsens their attitude.

Impress a Senator: this requires a Perform* check against the Senator, with a DC of 10 + their HD + their Wis or something. Success improves their attitude by 1 step, +1 for each 10 you beat it by. Failure by 10 or more worsens their attitude.

*Or Jump, Tumble or something else you feel will wow them.

Be Clever: this requires an opposed Knowledge check against a Senator, using the same Knowledge. Make it at least half-way appropriate. Defeating them improves their attitude by 1 step, +1 for each 10 you beat it by. Failure by 10 or more worsens their attitude. Simply possessing the right Profession may also serve to work in this case, automatically improving their attitude by 1 step.

Offer Candy to Mistern Cavern: if this is done, you may automatically improve the attitude of a Senator by one step.

Use a Spell/Spell-Like Ability/Supernatural Ability/Extraordinary Ability: as long as it takes less than a minute to use, you may flat out use an ability that could change people's reactions. So an Illusion could be an automatic Bluff success, a Charm or Compulsion could be an automatic Diplomancy success, a Fear effect could be an automatic Intimidation success and so on.

Note: some Senators are flat-out resistant or susceptible to certain approaches. Sense Motive checks and simply remembering this shit and writing it down as you deal with them can help you in future, so you get to learn the personalities and defects of the senators. And abuse them.

Once all turns are over, the votes are in. If the bill passes, then congratulations, it passes! If it is denied, then you can go home and try again later or you may attempt to, in a manner of speaking, dissolve the senate. By which I mean "murder everyone who voted Nay". Those who did not vote Nay won't help, mind you, and people remember being stabbed when they come back to life, locking you in a vicious circle of DENIED and face stabbing.

[Koumei]

War Slug:
Possibly just go Frost Worm
[*]Must be Level 12 or higher (I dropped the CR to 10, see below)
[*]Cold replaced with Shocking, you figure it out
[*]Lose Breath Weapon and Death Throes
[*]10 HD, Str is only 20, maybe drop size to Large
[*]Possibly replace Trill with Electro-Charge (uses electricity to Haste itself and anyone adjacent to it)


Cockatrice:
Achierai
[*]Must be level 8 or higher (I upped the CR by 1, see below)
[*]Gains Petrification of an actual Cockatrice
[*]Once per day it may lay an egg, and by egg I mean Delayed Blast Fireball.


Rune Knight:

Rune Knights cast elemental spells and hit people with swords, often at the same time. They also like to affect other people's elemental power.

Requirements:
BAB: +5
Skills: Spellcraft 6 ranks
Special: Fire Bolts or Coldfire or Wind Blast, Designate Opponent

Features:
Hit Dice: d10
BAB: Good
Good Saves: Fort and Will
Skill Points: 2+Int
Class Skills: I don't fucking care, I'm making it for my game where I largely let players ignore Class Skills anyway

Proficiencies: none are gained

Level:	Casting:	Special:
1	+1	Magic Stab
1	-	Piercing Spell Stab, Braveheart
1	+1	Elemental Tilt
1	-	Tilting Stab, Spell Storage
1	+1	Magical Stab Frenzy

Casting Ability: at every odd level, the Rune Knight continues to gain access to Spell-like and Supernatural abilities from a Mage class they have levels in, as though taking levels in it instead. At every level, their Caster Level increases like normal.

Magic Stab (Su): if a Rune Knight successfully hits a foe with a melee attack, she may use one of her offensive Spell-Like or Supernatural Abilities on that foe (and that foe only, ignoring usual Areas of Effect or Targeting) as a Swift action. The foe is still entitled to any saving throws but she needn't roll to hit.

Piercing Spell Stab (Ex): starting at second level, any time the Rune Knight uses Magic Stab, she automatically penetrates any Spell Resistance. This has no effect on Spell Immunity however.

Braveheart (Sp): starting at second level, the Rune Knight may cast Bull's Strength at will.

Elemental Tilt (Su): starting at third level, the Rune Knight may, with a Swift action, either boost an ally or penalise an enemy. In either case the target must be within 30' and it lasts until the end of her next turn.
[*]A boosted ally gains a bonus to Saving throws against effects with the Rune Knight's main energy type equal to the Rune Knight's Charisma modifier, and Resistance to it equal to double the Rune Knight's Hit Dice.
[*]A penalised foe takes a penalty to Saving throws against effects with the Rune Knight's main energy type equal to the Rune Knight's Charisma modifier, and takes additional damage from that energy type equal to double the Rune Knight's Hit Dice.

Tilting Stab (Su): starting at fourth level, once per turn, any time the Rune Knight successfully hits a foe with a melee attack, she may apply Tilt as a free action to that foe. She may not use Magic Stab on the same attack.

Spell Storage (Su): starting at fourth level, the Rune Knight treats all weapons as Spell Storing, except they may store Spell-Like Abilities and Supernatural Abilities. So basically she loads her basic damage spell in before each fight, and opens up by stabbing, penalising and hitting them with the stored spell, then hits them again and channels. Or hits, channels and unleashes all in one, forgetting Tilt.

Magical Stab Frenzy: at level five, the Rune Knight may use a Swift action to charge up her Magic Stab. Doing this applies it as a free action once per successful hit from a BAB-derived attack, allowing for multiple blasts of magical damage per turn if she makes a Full Attack.

[Maxus]

Pseudo-Ethereal (Ex): Ghosts are kinda' sorta' Ethereal, but not fully. They interact normally with the normal world, although they gain Damage Reduction X/Magic where X equals their Hit Dice. Additionally, the Ghost may move through solid objects if focusing on doing so - as a Move Action - though not [Force] effects, and this does not protect it from attacks and so on.

I think some clarification is needed on that point. Is it a move action to focus, or is it just a move action where they're moving through stuff? Also, some sort of guideline for the focusing may be needed.

[Koumei]

The idea is that when making a Move action they can ignore walls and shit, but they can't charge through a wall, end their movement in one or so on.

[Username17]

So with that special move action, do they move their speed? Or some other number?

-Username17

[Koumei]

I get it, I need to word it better. How about:

"When moving via a Move action, the Ghost may be treated as Ethereal and thus ignore intervening terrain, however it returns to normal afterwards and thus must not its movement inside an object."

[Maxus]

How about

Additionally, a Ghost taking a Move action can move their speed through intervening objects, ignoring terrain and walls and furniture (and whatever else may be in the way), though not [Force] effects, and this does not protect it from attacks and so on.

I don't see any reason for them to have to end their move outside a solid object--this is D&D, not a turn-based strategy game. They're hypothetically still moving when their turn ends, considering they go to the next round.

edit: Dude, I ninja'd Frank.

[Username17]

I get it, I need to word it better. How about:

"When moving via a Move action, the Ghost may be treated as Ethereal and thus ignore intervening terrain, however it returns to normal afterwards and thus must not its movement inside an object."

That would also make them immune to attacks of opportunity.

-Username17

[Koumei]

Only when making a Move action. Not when casting, charging (obviously they still don't provoke off the target of the charge), using a bow in melee or running like a little girl. Though it does mean they can simply take a no-provoke Move first and then cast a spell or fire a bow.

Is this an issue? What I want is for them to be able to walk through walls in a way that isn't a big deal.

[Koumei]

Okay, I used your one, Maxus.

Aaaand I'll get to the other things on the list when I'm not tired. I guess.

[Koumei]

Equipment-Tier Minions:

Some minions are basically equipment, and can be gained as Magic Items. They are:

[*]Golems (as per the MM)
[*]Rifle Demons
[*]Wood Golems (as per MM Treants, except [Mindless] with all that goes along with mindlessness)

Rifle Demon
Large Outsider [Extraplanar, Mindless]

Str 15 Dex 18 Con 16 Int - Wis 10 Cha 3
HD: 10d8+60 (105 HP)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 30'
Reach: 10'

AC: 23 (-1 Size, +4 Dex, +10 Natural Armour)
-Flat 19
-Touch 13

Fort +13 Ref +11 Will +7

BAB/Grapple: +10/+16

Point-Blank (Su): the Rifle Demon may use an energy pulse as a sort of beam sabre, making a Melee Attack (+11) as a Standard action. If it hits, it deals 5d6 Force damage plus one and a half times its Strength modifier (+3). The Critical value is 19-20/x2

Energy Blast (Su): the Rifle Demon may fire a blast of energy with a Standard action. It can go out to 90 feet and requires a Ranged Touch Attack (+13). If it hits, it deals 5d6 Force damage.

Extinction Beam (Su): once per minute, the Rifle Demon may fire an Extinction Beam as a Standard action. This is a 5' wide, 60' long line, and all in the area take 10d6 Force damage (Ref half, DC 19).

Skills: none, though it provides a +4 Enhancement bonus to Intimidate checks for the owner

Feats: it is built with Improved Toughness, M-M-MONSTER Toughness (+20 HP), Great Fortitude (crappy PHB version) and Improved Initiative. It never gains more feats.

---

Syringe:
Moderate Magic Weapon

2-handed melee weapon (finesse-able), 1d8 Piercing for Medium
Critical: 19-20/x2
Special:
[*]Every time it hits, it deals 1d6 extra damage to living creatures, bypassing Regeneration and Damage Reduction, and restores an equal amount of lost HP to the wielder.
[*]It delivers a poison with each jab (DC 10 + half HD of wielder + Dex, primary and secondary damage: 1d2 Con)
[*]With a small jab, it may "cast" Cure Light Wounds at will (CL 1)

---

Regular Minions:

If someone has a reason to have minions at all (Leadership, owning a base, [Overlord] title etc.) then they gain them on the following chart. They gain extras for a high Charisma score as though this was a Spells per Day chart.

Your Level	CR 1	CR 2	CR 3	CR 4	CR 5	CR 6	CR 7	CR 8	CR 9
<5	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	4	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	4	3	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
11	4	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-
12	4	4	3	2	1	-	-	-	-
13	4	4	4	3	2	-	-	-	-
14	4	4	4	3	2	1	-	-	-
15	4	4	4	4	3	2	-	-	-
16	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	-	-
17	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	-	-
18	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	-
19	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	-
20	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	1

[Username17]

Your minion chart does not appear to be formatted correctly.

-Username17

[Koumei]

Fixed. I forgot you have to have the same number of columns per row, unlike say Excel where you can have one wide "Minions by CR" one, then below that divide them up nicely.

It is my intent that the minions generally come online in time to be worthless in an actual battle of relevant CR, aside from maybe a wall of living things that enemies might kill so they can get to you. Generally, they get sent off to do other shit (and if prinnies, fail even at that).

Does this seem plausible? Because we don't want them being good enough that people actually take them along in combat, use them, and make 80 attack rolls each. I've been in a game where one of the 8 players whored Leadership out and actually brought all Followers along at like level 15. And there was a Fiendbinder who had a whole team of Fiends, too. It was maddening.

[Koumei]

Pondering allowing Dread Necromancer, listing it as Typical for Jacks so that they can become Pumpkin Kings.

It's a shame there isn't a nice simple (Warmage style or Fire Mage style) class that could be a nice platform for Alraunes to enter Lurker in the Swarm (because all plants are infested with horrible bugs). I could make one, but I'm not sure it's really necessary.

---

Thunder Drum
Moderate Magic Item
This bulky wheel of drums is worn on the back, however you need to use both hands to actually attack with it (although one-handed/light bludgeoning weapons, torches, sticks and so on can be held).
[*]Attack Action: make a Ranged Touch Attack against someone within 30'. If hit, they take 3d6 Electricity damage.
[*]Standard Action: cast Lightning Bolt (CL = BAB, DC = 10 + half HD + Int) at will.
[*]Full Round Action: target one person within 50'. They must pass a Ref save (DC 10 + half HD + Int) or take 2d6 Electricity damage per HD.