A couple times over the course of the book, Sky Bison are referred to as "Wind Bison". Small difference, but I guess it's at least slightly relevant.
Aerial Acrobat:
You gain a +3 bonus to Acrobatics checks and, once per encounter, you may make an Acrobatics check as a free action.
This confuses me. An acrobatics check to do what? Jump? If so, you might want to add in a, you can use acrobatics instead athletics to jump feature.
Soundbender:
Deafening Action (11th Level): each creature adjacent to you is deafened. You may daze adjacent creatures instead of taking another action.
Perhaps you meant to a when you spend an action point, at the beginning of that one. You also probably need to add a duration to the deafened and dazed conditions.'
Windstaff glider:
Ride the Winds (16th Level): You gain a fly speed equal to your land speed.
Potentially unbalancing sinc you could feasibly stay in midair for most of your career and ignore every melee monster in the book completely.
Airbending/Earthbending/Firebending/Waterbending:
This is more personal preference than anything else, but it would be nice to see these powers scale with level.
Bend the Earth (Earthbender 2):
You might want to specify that one square of ground within range is elevated.
Dai Li:
“...” A glove made of stone flies out of the shad- ows and asphyixates you.
Minor quotation typo.
Also, the level 20 daily seems rather situational. Perhaps add a less amazing effect if the target is not suprised? ...and I'll continue scouring the book later. Thanks for the confirmation that someone is reading these . Also, Happy Holidays.
I should clarify, I'm looking for a way to make each character if they haven't been made before. June, for example, is probably a ranger, like we said, but I think she definitely has some powers that make her Shirshu a little more unique. That probably means we make a stat block for the Shirshu beast companion, a couple powers that link with that and then a feat or two.
Mai is the same dealie, she's clearly a rogue or a ranger, but let's look for a feat or a power that is really Mai.
I know a couple of Epic Destinies are in my brain:
Stone Monolith: A shaperish path. It would focus on defense and indomitability. Think Juggarnaught with a dash of Golem.
Eternal Flame: Our long awaited Harmonious destiny. I'm thinking it would be an aura based Destiny, bending the raw emotional power of fire into rainbows of death. Good times to be had by all.
Leviathan: This one is CJ's, you remember the end of season 1, like that.
As always, I haven't got a clue what the Airbender should have.
Back when I was working on this, I was writing these things in my sleep, I would go out to pick some veggies and think of a couple of new classes while I was out. I'm hoping to be back in the groove soon. Keep the critiques coming sisters and brothers! Happy Seasonal Gift Exchange!
-Usagi
I'm one of the minds behind the Avatar the Last Airbender 4e Project. We're about a quarter of the way through releasing the revised PDF, containing all four bender classes, paragon paths, epic destinies and a menagerie of feats and items from the show. Come by and lend your mind to the swarm.
If you are having a dearth of ideas, take a look at themes. If you haven't seen them before, a theme is chosen at 1st level and grants you a power, and past that point, whenever you gain a power, you can choose a theme power or a class power. I dunno, but it seems like concepts like southern/kyoshi warrior could be conveyed better by a theme than a feat system that makes you bleed for every power.
Rage of the Dragon (16th Level): When you are first bloodied, increase the extra damage from your source of strength by 4. 2 and you can’t go over your maximum Source of Strength dam- age.
Typo.
Lightningbender
Lightning Crush (16th Level): Whenever you use a firebender or lightningbender attack with the Lightning keyword, you may choose to take a -2 penalty to the attack roll to increase the damage dealt by 4.
This seems kinda useless. +4 damage is (in 99.8% of cases) worse than +2 attack.
White Lotus Novice
Effect: Use a melee or ranged at-will attack power. If you hit, you may slide the target a number of squares equal to half your level. The target grants combat advantage to you until the end of your next turn.
This could get kinda crazy at level 30. 15 square slides are rather dangerous...
White Lotus Specialist - White Lotus Gambit
Whoa. You get to let a ton of allies leap forward and use souped up MBAs, then stun the target, as a move action!?!
The Moon Spirit - Moons Wrath
Until the stance ends you gain a +2 power bonus to Waterbender attack powers
For typos and other missteps where the solution is obvious, we will simply fix, but for rules changes, I'll post what I think the solution ought to be. In some cases these are left-overs from a previous draft that didn't get updated properly. Also, please include either a page number or a short quote so we can easily find and catalogue whatever's wrong.
Lightning Crush (16th Level): Whenever you use a firebender or lightningbender attack with the Lightning keyword, you may choose to take a -2 penalty to the attack roll to increase the damage dealt by 4.
This seems kinda useless. +4 damage is (in 99.8% of cases) worse than +2 attack.
Agreed. The solution:
Lightning Crush (16th Level): Whenever you use a firebender or lightningbender attack with the Lightning keyword, you may reduce your Source of Strength damage by 2. If you do, the attack deals an additional 1d10 damage.
Now the saavy among should notice that's just the text from the Lightning Burst feat. Well, upon looking back that feat seems disappointing for Epic Tier. The idea still rocks, so here's the beefed up Lightning Burst
Lightning Burst: Whenever you use a firebender or lightningbender attack with the Lightning keyword, you may reduce your Source of Strength damage by 6. If you do and the attack hits, the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.
Effect: Use a melee or ranged at-will attack power. If you hit, you may slide the target a number of squares equal to half your level. The target grants combat advantage to you until the end of your next turn.
This could get kinda crazy at level 30. 15 square slides are rather dangerous...
This is as good a time as any to make a confession. I had an innaccurate understanding of the rules when I wrote this. Specifically, I thought all of those powers that say "the target a number of squares equal to your Dexterity modifier" affect a target equal to you Dex + half your level and such and such. This is a pretty common misconception and... well, I still think the rules are unclear, but yeah, that's how I wrote a lot of these powers with that concept in mind. This is a major reason why the book needs a rehaul.
This power should read:
... you may slide the target a number of squares equal to your Wisdom, Intelligence or Charisma modifier...
If you are having a dearth of ideas, take a look at themes. If you haven't seen them before, a theme is chosen at 1st level and grants you a power, and past that point, whenever you gain a power, you can choose a theme power or a class power. I dunno, but it seems like concepts like southern/kyoshi warrior could be conveyed better by a theme than a feat system that makes you bleed for every power.
Great. Can you direct me to some source material so I can look into Themes?
You gain a +3 bonus to Acrobatics checks and, once per encounter, you may make an Acrobatics check as a free action.
This confuses me. An acrobatics check to do what? Jump? If so, you might want to add in a, you can use acrobatics instead athletics to jump feature.
Yes. That is, normally an Acrobatics check is a move action or even a Standard action. This way, once per encounter while making an Acrobatics check you can declare that it will only take a free action. It's not a jump, but it could be another, more creative,kind of movement of suitable airbendery badassery.
Deafening Action (11th Level): each creature adjacent to you is deafened. You may daze adjacent creatures instead of taking another action.
Perhaps you meant to a when you spend an action point, at the beginning of that one. You also probably need to add a duration to the deafened and dazed conditions.'
Also yes. Until the end of your next turn, since it can hit multiple targets.
Also, the [Dai Li] level 20 daily seems rather situational. Perhaps add a less amazing effect if the target is not suprised? ...and I'll continue scouring the book later. Thanks for the confirmation that someone is reading these . Also, Happy Holidays.
Target: One creature
Hit: 2d8 damage and the target is grabbed.
Special: If the target is surprised, the attack deals no damage and the target is instead unconcious [save ends].
Good, aweseome, great. Fun? Yes, fun.
-Usagi
I'm one of the minds behind the Avatar the Last Airbender 4e Project. We're about a quarter of the way through releasing the revised PDF, containing all four bender classes, paragon paths, epic destinies and a menagerie of feats and items from the show. Come by and lend your mind to the swarm.
First off, thanks for the commentary on each of the edits, that is really fulfilling to read .
These all seem like really good fixes, but I'd to quibble a bit on the Dai Li again.
I still think that the lvl 20 daily could be a bit stronger, perhaps 3d8 or 4d8, and maybe let the power have an attack roll bonus if the target is suprised? I just think that most lvl 20 dailys have to be not just good, but on the "Whoa." *Re-reads power* level.
Source material for themes... Hmmmm... Sadly the only thing I can think of is their original source the Dark Sun Campaign Setting. It's a nice setting anyway, but the themes were part fo what sold it to me. Unfortunately, I don't know of any good/free theme homebrew.
The Mai Addendum: What really struck me about Mai was that she had a tendency to pin people to walls/ships/columns and throw 2-5 daggers at once.
Mounts: I dunno, but adding mounts would be nice, since there are a fair amount of them in Avatar.
Metalbender: Again, the level 20 daily does not seem close enough to the edge of brokenness.
I shall return with more input, and possibly some theme homebrew of my own.
I am scouring all of the emails/Facebook messages I've received in the past. I also found a .rtf document of bullet point changes to some of the heroic tier powers. I can't remember if I wrote this or just saved it from somewhere.
On Facebook, I was talking back and forth with a guy who was actually running an Avatar campaign at the time. Here are some snippets.
Point of confusion for me, paragon paths are acquired at lvl 11, so why the lvl 10 paragon powers for everyone? Is there an optional rule/errata I've missed?
(This one made me feel really embarassed.)
The air bender got a lot more play this game. All told I've come to the conclusion that the air bender is a more controllery controller than the original, which is a good thing.
We had our earth bender rebuild his character between games (after the first "tutorial" fight in the building game made him unhappy) and he's much happier. Helping with the rebuild I'm feeling like the shaping earthbender isn't too good as a defender, while the quaking is. I'm not sure if they are balanced overall, but I'm a huge fan of playing up your role, so it lacks appeal to me.
I also kinda feel the same about the torrential water bender, who feels like it is role confused about leader v controller. I see a potential point there, but something about it lacks appeal. I think mainly because the calming build, which is the leadery leader has both stats in the same block, which would encourage players to lean towards the torrential build.
Fire bender made me smile. Striker that works in an interesting and effective way. Though I have some worries that it is overpowered overall. The usual weakness of strikers is that they can't get a lot of enemies at once, and the firebender can. I'd like to compare them in totality against some of the other strikers a bit more.
And here are the contents of that mysterious document I found. Spoiler:Show
Airbender
Tornado Project – Level 1 Daily Up to 3d8.
Leaping Tackle – Level 3 Encounters 2d8
Cut Through the Air – Level 5 Daily Up to 3d8. Miss: Half damage.
Gale Blast – Level 5 Daily 4d6 damage. Target is slowed UENT and pushed 5 squares.
Air Pelt – Level 9 Daily Remove the combat advantage (save ends). Instead: Allies may move through the target's square without provoking an opportunity attack.
Page 18 - Earthbender suggested feats. This isn't a mistype or absence, this is more of a feel thing. I would flip the recomended feats for the shaping and the quacking. Quacking seems more about staying back and hammering from a distance, and the shaping seems to be more melee focused. If that is the case headstrong makes more sense for Shaping.
Page 31 - The Professional Earthbender. It says you pick Good or bad when you take the path, then to pick after each extended rest. One of the two is unnecessary.
Page 39 - Straightpunch power. The effect section is actually a special, not an effect.
Page 87 - Unsubtle Breeze feat. This reads that it gives your enemies the ability to move when they are missed...and I'm pretty sure thats not what you wanted.
Thats what I found after a quick look. I'll keep you up to date if I find things, and again, I love what you did.
(I'm posting all of this stuff on here so you guys can see and so I have everything I need in one place.)
Another guy who runs an Avatar game asked me via Facebook to post this for him, as his Wizards account is broken.
OK, let me start this off with a bit of a (probably unnecessary) preface. I'm currently a handful of games into running a campaign using the rules as they currently stand. I've restricted a few things, like class selection is just 8 options (4 benders, guerrilla, rouge, fighter, warlord). The players all all benders right now, 5 players. One of each and two water benders. I've got a few years of college art school behind me. I know that seems irrelevant. But all projects end with a crit (critique) where the whole class sits in a circle and lets loose on the project. So I want to say that if i seem harsh or overly free with my opinions, that's my excuse XP. Most importantly I'm really impressed by the whole thing, the game has been a complete blast so far, and I think you did a great job. ^_^ Given that I'm kind of a judgmental so and so, that's hopefully worth something. Now, onto the crit part...
Let's take this in sections. First, the overall rules things...
Paths/Lines - I think both of these are excellent overall ideas. They really reflect the style of avatar "magic", and after reading the blurb on them I find myself wanting them in the rest of the 4th ed world. I especially feel like lines are an exciting and meaningful part of the game. On the other hand, paths kinda aren't. Not because the idea doesn't work, but because there are VERY few of them floating around. Since the idea is so fun I would really like to see more of them. Perhaps my only real solid complaint is that they lack a type (which they desperately need) of one of: Close, Area, Ranged, or Mellee. For purposes of my game I've appended Close to all line or path attacks. Seems to be working.
Equipment - I feel the gear is mostly pretty solid. It is obviously not enough for a full campaign, but is more than enough for a decent DM to work from to fill a whole campaign. A couple of items have minor issues of their own. The one that jumps out to me is the fire days mask. Given that there are only two path powers in the fire benders total list this items ability (which seems super cool) is actually really hard to actually use. This feels mostly like a disconnect between the items and the classes they support. Not a big one, but worth a crack at bringing together.
Class Bending Powers - The generic at will bending powers of the classes are a problem. They seem at first glance like something really cool/versatile/win but when you start trying to use them they keep coming up on weird and uncomfortable limits/lack of limits. I recommend replacing them with a utility power block (ala the core books wizard) for each class. Some examples of powers I recommend in there Torch at will * elemental, Fire Minor action Ranged 5 Effect: Cause a ball of fire the size of a lit torch to appear. Sustain Minor Special: You may move its to any other square within range as a minor action. Also, you may light a torch or other easily flammable substance with this. Also, you may move this into an opponent's square to attack them. (attack) Dex vs reflex Hit: 0 dmg (plus source of strength) and the small fireball goes out.
Rock Cart at will * elemental standard action close blast 1 effect: you cause the ground to rise up into the shape of a rock cart, capable of carrying friends and gear. Roll Attack roll, results determine capacity. 9 or lower, 250lbs 10-24 500lbs 25 - 39 1000lbs 40+ 2000lbs (taken from tenser's floating disk) Sustain standard Special; When you spend a move action to move normally you may choose to have this cart stay adjacent to you (move with you) If you do not it crumbles as soon as it is not adjacent to you. You may spend a move action to move this cart your movement in a straight line, it crumbles at the end of the move.
Also things like; Earth Tent; Warm/Cool Breeze; fish snag; stone sculpt; fire show; ghost sound(for a few of them); help/hinder swimmer; etc
OK, now for the meat of this thing (yeah, that was just the warm up, what of it?) Classes!
Air - First off i love air benders in this book. They are definitely the best done of the classes in it, and are probably some of the better done controllers period. The focus on push/pull/slide and prone is exactly how an air bender feels like they "should" be to me, and it makes them fill their role as controllers better than so many (cough AOE wizard cough) That said, nothing is perfect. ^_^ The biggest thing I would like to see is more path powers. Especially some very long range weak impact path powers. It just seems to me that paths sum up the air bender way so very well. I would also like to see a few powers that capitalize on the air bender's mobility a bit more. Flyby attack style. Silly detail, air benders have very few minor actions. That could probably stand to be improved.
Earth - For everything good I had to say about air benders I must say ill of earth benders. These are definitely the worst of the classes in this book. So let me take a moment and triage what I feel is up with these guys. The problems I have with the earth bender all end up boiling down to role confusion. I feel like the earth bender is too busy trying to be a bit of everyone to successfully be itself. A defender needs to do two things, and do them very well. Foremost it needs to punish opponents for attacking allies other than itself, and second it needs to live through being the one hit. The earth bender tries to do this via the earthen shield and shifting ground abilities. Unfortunately they just don't work very well for that. Both moves don't really punish, they reduce the effectiveness of the opponent's attack. While that does extend the lifespan of your allies, it isn't nearly as tactically useful. Worse still the ability can be used on yourself. This makes it function like an anti-taunt. Just what a defender never wants. Plus the earth bender powers are severely role confused. I see a lot of controller movement/terrain changing and the like. If that made the enemy focus on attacking the defender (IE movement away from the earth bender is difficult terrain) that would be cool, but often it actually makes attacking the earth bender harder. Example, force of earth gets them away from you, not a good thing. Propelling stone is likely to make you hard to hit, can be used to cover an ally, but is hard to use that way. Mostly though I think the earth bender needs a new core mechanic that controls agro better.
Fire - Fire is a solid striker, and honestly may be a bit OP. I think you mixed the good of the usual striker (high damage) with a good usually reserved for the controller (AOEs) and resulted in multiplying the first in a way that isn't usually achievable. Thus far though my worries in that area have not been born out by my campaign. So I could be worried over nothing. There is one problem though. The harmonious build is stronger than the raging build. I like the mechanics for both, but the harmonious is more useful overall. I don't imagine that would be too hard to tweak together. Personal thought on the matter. I would love to see the two builds play a little more differently, so perhaps keep the harmonious just as it is and change the raging to provide a bonus to crit chance or something similar instead of standing damage. Makes the harmonious feel reliable while the raging feels reckless. just a thought.
Water - I like the water as well, especially the calming build. Feels like a nice mix of different styles of support. The torrential build feels a bit too controllery too me, but it ends up playing acceptably. The flowing strike feature can be a bit hard to keep straight sometimes, but it is far from unplayable. Also, is it meant to not work on area and close attacks?
Avatar - Seems a bit OP for just a few feats. Especially changing the stats on the powers you get from other classes to your own. I really like the idea of being the ultimate multi classer, but i think it needs to be tweaked back a bit. I wondered at one point if it wouldn't do better as it's own class, with class features of its own and picking from the others power lists depending on level, but I'm not sure if that would work better or worse.
The Blue Spirit Utility Power doesn't work. You can't take Immediate Actions on your own turn (which would generally be the trigger for a successful Stealth check). Is this meant to limit the availibility of it, or should it be Free Action?
I'm the guy who wrote that over the top reply up there ^_^
I think along the lines of new content what I'd like to see is a little more core role focus. For example the rough rhinos would do well as a paragon path open to martial classes that allows firebending to be used in a more defensive manor, giving the fighter and it's ilk some new defender-y options.
June struck me as a controller myself. With a focus on incapacitating her opponenets. Then again, that was mostly the creature. A Brute/Controller Elite mob?
Cabbage Merchant, defender based around "art of distraction" style powers? Ok, maybe that's too silly of an idea... ^_^
Oh, and on the topic of controller business. Push, pull, and slide are way more powerful than shift or move. Forced movements never draw an AOO, even when you force yourself. So they let you get around things like the fighters mark. They also work when prone with no ill effect (move and shift are halved, round down) and last but far from least they work unimpeaded when immobilized. In short replacing Shift with slide in all those powers makes them way more powerful, which may or may not be what you want. Perhaps most should be changed to shift, with a couple kept on slide for that sort of awesomeness.
Having played a few more games since I wrote that I've come to feel that the firebender is more powerful than I originally suggested. In a couple of fights I ran the numbers and the firebender alone did more damage than two rouges and a wizard taking full independant actions could have (assuming all three stood in the same square the firebender did and were hells bent on damage)
. Also, Happy Holidays.
