First of all, this is awesome. Great job; the format looks very professional. I don't know if you did this with the latest version (I used the link on the first page of this thread), but you might want to put the paragon paths on separate pages. It makes it a bit easier on the reader.
I only have one suggestion: the Striker damage feature for Firebenders seems very low. While it caps at a high value, it takes so long to get there that I feel they would never benefit, especially at higher tiers. A Paragon Sorcerer is dealing Stat +2 extra damage to each target, compared to a max of Stat +6 for the Firebender. At level 14, the secondary stat will be 18 or 20, so it takes the Firebender 6 or 7 rounds just to be equal to the damage bonus of the Sorcerer. Most combats are not going to last that long, and they would need to last for another 4 rounds in order for the Firebender to fully benefit from his damage bonus.
If you want to keep the mechanic, perhaps have it increase by 2 each round.
First of all, this is awesome. Great job; the format looks very professional. I don't know if you did this with the latest version (I used the link on the first page of this thread), but you might want to put the paragon paths on separate pages. It makes it a bit easier on the reader.
I only have one suggestion: the Striker damage feature for Firebenders seems very low. While it caps at a high value, it takes so long to get there that I feel they would never benefit, especially at higher tiers. A Paragon Sorcerer is dealing Stat +2 extra damage to each target, compared to a max of Stat +6 for the Firebender. At level 14, the secondary stat will be 18 or 20, so it takes the Firebender 6 or 7 rounds just to be equal to the damage bonus of the Sorcerer. Most combats are not going to last that long, and they would need to last for another 4 rounds in order for the Firebender to fully benefit from his damage bonus.
If you want to keep the mechanic, perhaps have it increase by 2 each round.
Thanks for the comment! The reason I made the paragon paths one big streaming section is because of a lack of art. I could put paragon paths on individual pages, but it would look really empty and empty, white space really bugs me as a graphic designer. I could definitely do one of the sections up that way and see if it looks okay.
Regarding the firebender, that is a very very valid point. While most of the feedback for the firebender has been "omg op," there is definitely validity in what you said. Maybe an increase of 2 each round would work... hm...
First of all, this is awesome. Great job; the format looks very professional. I don't know if you did this with the latest version (I used the link on the first page of this thread), but you might want to put the paragon paths on separate pages. It makes it a bit easier on the reader.
I only have one suggestion: the Striker damage feature for Firebenders seems very low. While it caps at a high value, it takes so long to get there that I feel they would never benefit, especially at higher tiers. A Paragon Sorcerer is dealing Stat +2 extra damage to each target, compared to a max of Stat +6 for the Firebender. At level 14, the secondary stat will be 18 or 20, so it takes the Firebender 6 or 7 rounds just to be equal to the damage bonus of the Sorcerer. Most combats are not going to last that long, and they would need to last for another 4 rounds in order for the Firebender to fully benefit from his damage bonus.
If you want to keep the mechanic, perhaps have it increase by 2 each round.
Thanks for the comment! The reason I made the paragon paths one big streaming section is because of a lack of art. I could put paragon paths on individual pages, but it would look really empty and empty, white space really bugs me as a graphic designer. I could definitely do one of the sections up that way and see if it looks okay.
Regarding the firebender, that is a very very valid point. While most of the feedback for the firebender has been "omg op," there is definitely validity in what you said. Maybe an increase of 2 each round would work... hm...
Oh, yeah, I didn't think about the white spaces...that would bother me too! You might have to find some artwork, heh heh.
Well, I didn't look at the Firebender's powers. If they get a lot of multitarget powers then I could see a reason to keep the damage bonus lower; but this really makes them more of a controller than a striker.
Agreed. Currently the Firebender rocks multiple targets like a mo-fo, but we are going to be getting rid of a lot of that. They will still have a generous selection of Line Powers, but for the most part it should be distance or close-range single target power attacks. As a result, we are currently changing the Source of Strength feature significantly. Here are some ideas we're considering:
*Harmonies will use a minor action to gain a +2 to their Source of Strength. Ragers will remain the same but gain a +3 or +4 per hit to make up for the power divide. Both builds will have fewer attacks that hit multiple targets. *Ragers will use the "pool" of... err... fire points(?) gained by hitting targets to boost the liklihood of a critical hit either passively (i.e. for every 3 points reduce the critical threshold by 1 point, from 20 to 19, from 19 to 18 and so on.) or actively (spend 2 points to reduce the critical threshold by 1 point for your next attack). In the first instance a successful critical hit would reset the score to 0 or perhaps your Stat bonus. The second example pays for itself. *Ragers will use the "pool" of fireypointage to grant themselves additional attacks called Firebarrages. They might require a second roll, they would probably deal sneak attackish damage. *Ragers also charge when they are hit (as per the Ragers Paragon path, which would get a boost.) *Harmonies will stay the same, focusing on area attacks, making them secondary controllers while Ragers will have something done to make them pure-striker. Other ideas?
Also, on a related note, if you find some art that we could use, that would be great. Solid screencaps would be fine, but fan-art would be better. Find a Paragon path you like and find a picture that fits them! Should be a way for those of you who don't like to homebrew rules so much, but still want to help to... er... help.
-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.
*Harmonies will use a minor action to gain a +2 to their Source of Strength. Ragers will remain the same but gain a +3 or +4 per hit to make up for the power divide. Both builds will have fewer attacks that hit multiple targets. I like this alot. +3/+4 to hit is a rather hefty bonus, though speed SOS is pretty dangerous too. Looks good.
*Ragers will use the "pool" of... err... fire points(?) gained by hitting targets to boost the liklihood of a critical hit either passively (i.e. for every 3 points reduce the critical threshold by 1 point, from 20 to 19, from 19 to 18 and so on.) or actively (spend 2 points to reduce the critical threshold by 1 point for your next attack). In the first instance a successful critical hit would reset the score to 0 or perhaps your Stat bonus. The second example pays for itself.
Rage points? Anger points? *Ragers will use the "pool" of fireypointage to grant themselves additional attacks called Firebarrages. They might require a second roll, they would probably deal sneak attackish damage.
OK. It seems like you may be buffing the firebender in alot of different ways, you probably already thought of that. *Ragers also charge when they are hit (as per the Ragers Paragon path, which would get a boost.)
Above, except specifically ragers. *Harmonies will stay the same, focusing on area attacks, making them secondary controllers while Ragers will have something done to make them pure-striker.
OK. Other ideas?
Nothing applicable, and nothing non-applicable other than mount writeups that I've already mentioned.
Also, on a related note, if you find some art that we could use, that would be great. Solid screencaps would be fine, but fan-art would be better. Find a Paragon path you like and find a picture that fits them! Should be a way for those of you who don't like to homebrew rules so much, but still want to help to... er... help.
1: Harmonies will use a minor action to gain a +2 to their Source of Strength. Ragers will remain the same but gain a +3 or +4 per hit to make up for the power divide. Both builds will have fewer attacks that hit multiple targets. I like this alot. +3/+4 to hit is a rather hefty bonus, though speed SOS is pretty dangerous too. Looks good. 2: Ragers will use the "pool" of... err... fire points(?) gained by hitting targets to boost the liklihood of a critical hit either passively (i.e. for every 3 points reduce the critical threshold by 1 point, from 20 to 19, from 19 to 18 and so on.) or actively (spend 2 points to reduce the critical threshold by 1 point for your next attack). In the first instance a successful critical hit would reset the score to 0 or perhaps your Stat bonus. The second example pays for itself. Rage points? Anger points? 3: Ragers will use the "pool" of fireypointage to grant themselves additional attacks called Firebarrages. They might require a second roll, they would probably deal sneak attackish damage. OK. It seems like you may be buffing the firebender in alot of different ways, you probably already thought of that. 4: Ragers also charge when they are hit (as per the Ragers Paragon path, which would get a boost.) Above, except specifically ragers. 5: Harmonies will stay the same, focusing on area attacks, making them secondary controllers while Ragers will have something done to make them pure-striker. OK.
Other ideas? Nothing applicable, and nothing non-applicable other than mount writeups that I've already mentioned.
Also, on a related note, if you find some art that we could use, that would be great. Solid screencaps would be fine, but fan-art would be better. Find a Paragon path you like and find a picture that fits them! Should be a way for those of you who don't like to homebrew rules so much, but still want to help to... er... help.
-Usagi
Bolded commentary above.
I have renumbered each suggestion so they can be more easily discussed. It appears that I misrepresented my #1, i.e. the "+3/+4 per hit" means that while the Rager only boosts her Source of Strength "pool" when she hits with an attack (which is harder to do than burning a Minor action), she boosts it by a larger margin. This, I think, is represented well by building anger. What do people think of the boosting the critical hit chance? Keening? Whatever? -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.
Oh, OK. I see what you're doing on #1, looks very good. I vote for +4 becuase dnd is based on approximately a 50% hit rate, not including CA and other buffs. Alternatively, you could boost SOS for ragers by 1d6 per hit, to accentuate the swingy/chancy/crit-fishery nature of the rager you seem to be going for. It also fits the 50% plus a bit hit rate rather nicely, I think. Oh, and the crit-fishing thing sounds good. Seems like something that should scale w/tier since other sources of crit-fishing become more available as you enter paragon and epic tier. Again, you probably have thought of that already. I'll take the oppurtunity to say that this is decidedly amazing hombrew material you have/are put/putting together.
Oh, you flatter us, I'm sure. Though, I'll be honest, I'm pretty proud of what we've put together. It seems to get only better with this second phase too.
CLASS FEATURES SOURCE OF STRENGTH Firebending is a martial art that relies on building yourself up, progressively growing in power as the battle goes on. As you fight, your Source of Strength damage increases. You start out dealing 0 extra damage with each attack. Depending on your build, your extra damage increases when you perform certain actions. Your maximum Source of Strength damage is equal to 4 + your Constitution/Charisma modifer (for Harmonious or Raging respectively). This increases to 6 + Constitution/Charisma at 11th level and 8 + your Constitution/Charisma at 21st level. Your Source of Strength damage resets to 0 at the end of the encounter. Harmonious: You breathe deeply, fnding the eternal fame within yourself. Once per round, you may sacrifce your minor action to increase your extra Source of Strength damage by one. This is culumative. Raging: You use your anger to fuel your fre-bending. Once per round when you hit a target with an attack with the fre keyword, increase the amount of extra damage by 3. This is cumulative.
Maybe each build could have a power associated with spending their Source of Strength points. Like, the Rager could spend to increase his crit range and the Harmonious build could spend points to... do something. I really like the idea of that, actually.
EDIT: I've gotten an email from a guy who's planning on running an Avatar game who said he'd really like a Monster Manual of sorts. I know we've tossed that idea around since forever, but maybe we should get on that. Or have someone get on that.
I'm a decent hand at monster design, and I'm running an avatar game of my own, so I might contribute to that if that sounds OK to you. If so, what do think of starting with a series of mounts that scale with level, but you have to pay to make them scale?
...and on the subject of the quality of this homebrew, the fact that you know how the mechanics work, listen to feedback on how they work, and are capable of going back and fixing things that didn't work puts you ahead of the greater portion of things you see floating around these forums.
...and you also have a really nice looking handbook , that helps .
Well, we try. I'd like to have a set of classes out there that have integrity throughout. If that requires a bit of work over the course of a year or so, so be it. Besides all that, after watching the show for the first time, it screamed to me that benders needed to be classes in 4e... so here we are. Also, feedback is tons of fun (even though I have a terrible tendency to take things personally, but hey) and fixing the classes to reflect that feedback just makes the classes... better. The earthbender is a great example. I think it was a fine class before, but with the recent changes, it makes it a fantastic class that inspires a lot of strategy and just proves that the latest edition of D&D has a ton of design space that's yet to be used.
Ramblerambleramble.
By all means, please! Whatever monsters you make, I'll lay them out into a PDF and get a Avatar Monster Manual (needs an awesome name, btw) going. I had an idea earlier to put out some feelers on EnWorld and RPG.net to see if we could some guys to make some monsters and stuff, but I haven't decided whether or not to yet.
One thing though, if you have the Adventure Tools program that can export monsters as an image, that would make my life SO MUCH EASIER.
So much easier.
(Did you know? One of the top Google searches leading to the document on Scribd is "how to bend air with your hands." I have a feeling that we disappointed some 12 year olds...)
, that helps .
