How exactly do lines work with the grid? Can they only be used in 45 degree angles? Otherwise, the lines would end up looking a lot like a path, which of the two I think is mechanically a stronger idea.
That said, i really don't think path is necessary. I mean, couldn't you do something like the following and get basically the same effect?
Close burst x Target: y creatures, no two of which may be more than z squares from each other
Unless the path is used when laying down a zonish type effect... But then couldn't you just do a Close wall?
Close wall 4 Target: Each creature in wall Effect: squares in the wall... Etc.
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Will Thibault is a winged, feathered serpent rarely found anywhere except in warm, jungle-like regions or flying through the ether. Due to his intelligence and powers he is regarded with awe by the inhabitants of his homelands and is considered to be divine.
Thanks for the comment. Honestly, when I first thought of paths and lines, I initially figured that I could use a hypothetical "close wall" range. After some consideration thouĝ, creating the line and path ranges gave a little more flexibility in designing the kind of attacks that I wanted to and were in essence, a bit more graceful.
I, for one, think we should definitely take advantage of them and maybe cull some of the close blasts and remake them into lines and paths. Especially the firebender (holy ****).
So, I was trapped at home with a computer, but without internet, the other day. It was right after a game of Avatar, so i was thinking about the game. And... well... I made a new earthbender. Not 100% done, but pretty much have the "core" down.
Here it is, for your perusal, use, reworking, or mockery, as your desires lend you.
(sorry if the post is a tad over-huge, also, the original had nice formatting that this one lacks.)
Earthbender This is how I would like to see the earthbender, sort of my take on it. I was wondering if it could be made to fill my defendery desires without feeling like it has left the show's style too far behind. I'm pretty happy with it. You are welcome to use any or all of the parts here for your project, or not. ^_^ Consider this my contribution to the discussion, well, another contribution. You can probably also tell that I'm fulfilling my single greatest 4th ed desire. I want more defendery defenders. I love the role, and would like to see it get morel ove from all over. To that end I've tried to make the earthbender the most defender like defender to have ever defended. They often sacrifice for their party, and even grow in strength as a side effect of sacrificing. Any time you see the word Note I'm reminding myself, or the reader, of something, or just explaining why I went a certain way. ***Note: Any power that mentions "an ally" cannot be used to mean yourself, it will say "you or an ally" in that case.
Role: Defender Source: Elemental Key Abilities: Strength, Wisdom, Intelligence, Constitution ***Note: the decision to go strength over con is still pretty debatable. I did it to be more agro control (with standard AOOs) but I can see the argument that the earthbender could trade some agro control for survivability. also more key abilities mean more viable builds, and reduces the odds of having one "Correct" build. Though I'm not sure I've managed that.
Armor Proficiencies: Coth, Hide, Chain, Scale, Plate Weapon Proficiences: Simple Melee, Simple Ranged, Unarmed Attack Implement: Ki Focuses, weapons with which you're proficient Defense Bonus: +2 fortitude
Hit Points at 1st Level: 15 + Constitution Score Hit Points for each level gained: 6 Healing Surges: 8 + Constitution Modifier
Skills: Insight (Wis), Perception (Wis), Choose two more skills at 1st level from: Class Skills: Athletics (str), Endurance (con), History (int), Arcana (int), Religion (int)
Resilience Choose one of Resilient Mind or Resilient Spirit. When you spend a healing surge to regain hit points, or are effected by a power that acts as though you did (I.E. lay on hands and cure minor wounds) you regain additional hit points equal to your resilience. When you are bloodied your Resilience goes up by one, this may stack if it occures mutiple times in an encounter When you are dropped to zero or fewer hit points your Resilience goes up by two, this may stack if it occures multiple times in an encounter. When an Ally is dropped to zero or fewer hit points your Resilience goes down by one.
Resilient Mind Your Resilience starts each encounter equal to your Intelligence Modifier, and maxes out at your Intelligence Score.
Resilient Spirit Your Resilience starts each encounter equal to your Wisdom Modifier, and maxes out at your wisdom score.
***Note: the Resilient Mind focuses on mindor controlleryness, moving enemies away from allies and the like while the Spirit focuses on leaderyness a bit, bonuses to allies and the like Also, this power is pretty much the only thing keeping the earthbender up. Since most of what an earthbender does makes it (rather than it's allies) more likely to die, these bonus HPs are desperately needed.
Reactive Strike When an enemy attacks an Ally you may use reactive strike. This is dependant on two factors. One, that you still may use an AOO this turn, as reactive strike uses your AOO for the turn in question. Two, that the positions of yourself, the ally, and the enemy qualify for one of the two strikes. If the positions qualify for both you may use whichever one you prefer. If you are not adjacent to either the enemy or the ally you may not use reactive strike. The listed Reactive Strike powers do not themselves draw AOOs, but with Neutral Jing Reactive strike can be used to draw AOOs.
***Note: this is the difinatave power of the earthbender. It is a little more powerful than the fighter's mark at first, but lacks the ability to deny movement, the fighter's best trick. It also is designed to turn neutral jing into a monster.
If you are adjacent to the enemy making the attack you may use Shifting Ground Shifting Ground Earthbender Feature A wave of ground drives your enemies away from your allies. At Will * Elemental, Implement Immediate Interrupt Trigger: An adjacent enemy attacks one or more allies Target: The triggering enemy Attack: Strength vs. Fortitude Hit: 1d8 + Strength modifier damage and the target is pushed one square away from one of the allies it is targeting (this may negate the attack, causing them to have wasted an action).
If you are adjacent to the ally being struck you may use Earthen Shield Earthen Shield Earthbender Feature A shield of earth rises up, taking the hit for an ally and driving back to return it whence it came. At Will * Elemental, Implement Immediate Interrupt Trigger: An adjacent ally is attacked Target: The triggering enemy Attack: Strength vs. Reflex Hit: 1d6 + Strength modifier damage and the ally recieves a bonus to all defenses equal to your resilience for this attack (and any secondary attacks attached to it). ***Note, secondary attacks does not include mere mutliple attacks a round. So this would effect a poison based secondary attack vs fort, but would not effect a ranger's twin strike for the second hit.
Neutral Jing You may spend a Standard, Move, and Minor action on your turn to use Neutral Jing. (Note: you may not use neutral Jing if you are lacking an action from dazed or the like, but you may act the turn you use it if you have action points) Neutral Jing lasts until the begining of your next turn. While active you gain three benifits. One, when you deal damage you deal additional damage equal to your Resilience. Two, when you could perform a Reactive Strike or AOO you may instead perform any standard action, including reducing it to a move or minor action. This is still considered an immediate interrupt. Three, enemies draw an AOO from you when they enter a square adjacent to you. This attack resolves immediately after the entry, unlike a normal AOO. (Note: this AOO can still be changed to another standard action) ***Note: Neutral Jing was meant to grab what I felt was the core of the earthbender's philosophy in the show. Which was simply "don't act, react." Let your opponent commit to a course of action first, so that your course of action will always be the right one.
Earthbending I would prefer to work this out as a series of "cantrips", but that's another discussion entirely.
Level 1 At Wills
Force of Earth Earthbender Attack 1 The very earth around you turns into a whirlpool, moving your enemies and allies allike where you deem best. At-Will * Elemental, Implement Standard Action Close Blast 1 Target: All Creatures in Blast Attack: Strength vs. Fortitude Hit: 1d6 + Strength Modifier damage and the target is slid one square, but cannot be moved from the blast. 21st Level: 2d6 + Strength Modifier damage
Fortifying Strike Earthbender Attack 1 You reawaken your energies with one unyeilding blow. At-Will * Elemental, Weapon Standard Action Melee Weapon Target: One Creature Attack: Strength vs AC Hit: 1[W] + Strength Modifier damage and you gain temporary hit points equal to your Strength modifier. 21st level: 2[W] + Strength Modifier damage
Supporting Strike Earthbender Attack 1 You reawaken an ally's energies with one unyeilding blow. At-Will * Elemental, Weapon Standard Action Melee Weapon Target: One Creature Attack: Strength vs AC Hit: 1[W] + Strength Modifier damage and an Ally adjacent to you or the target gains temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier. 21st level: 2[W] + Strength Modifier damage
Grounding Stone Earthbender Attack 1 You command the earth to hold back your foes, and it obeys At-Will * Elemental, Implement Standard Action Range 10 Target: One creature Attack: Strength vs. Reflex Hit: 1d6 + Strength Modifier damage and if the target moves before the begining of your next turn they take an additional Intelligence Modifier damage. 21st level: 2d6 + Strength Modifier damage
Distracting Rock Earthbender Attack 1 With a single well placed stone you remind your enemy who they should be targeting. At-Will * Elemental, Implement Standard Action Range 10 Target: One creature Attack: Strength vs Will Hit: 1d4 + strength modifier damage and the target takes a -3 to attacks against all targets except you until the end of its next turn. 21st level: 2d4 + strength modifier damage
Level 1 Encounters
Spike Drive Earthbender Attack 1 You drive the enemy into the dirt, keeping them right where you want them. Encounter * Elemental, Weapon Standard Action Melee Weapon Target: One creature Attack: Strength vs. AC Hit: 2[w] + strength modifier damage and the target is immobilized until the end of your next turn. Resilient Mind: Target is instead immobilized, Save ends. ***Note: Keep'em near ya, simple enough
Gravity Pull Earthbender Attack 1 You draw in your enemies like the earth itself, letting them burn like a meteor. Encounter * Elemental, Implement Standard Action Ranged 10 Target: One creature Attack: Strength vs AC Hit: You pull the target your wisdom modifier squares. The target draws AOOs as though it were performing a standard movement. Resilient Spirit: Any Ally who recieves an AOO on the target gains a bonus to hit and damage equal to your wisdom modifier. ***Note: this power only punishes enemies who aren't attacking you. Since it is a pull it won't do shite on an adjacent enemy. This should strongly punish enemies who target your striker first, giving the striker a free hit and bringing them next to you at the same time.
Double Strike Earthbender Attack 1 You and the earth strike in perfect concert Encounter* Elemental, Implement(first attack), Weapon(second attack) Standard action Melee weapon Target: One or two creatures First Attack: Strength vs Fortitude Hit: 1d10 + Strength modifier damage Second Attack: Strength vs AC Hit: 1[w] + strength modifier damage ***Note: So you sure you wanna walk by my Neutral Jing Character? I have double strike ready and I get my resilience damage to both hits ^_^
Level 1 Dailys
Unyeilding Earth Earthbender Attack 1 You reach into the earth, and borrow a little of its endless resolve. Daily * Elemental, Stance Standard Action Target: Self Effect: Your speed is reduced by 1. Whenever your hit points are reduced by an enemie's attack (Note: not temp hit points) your resilience goes up by 1. Any time an Ally is bloodied your Resilience goes down by 1. ***Note: stances rock, I wanna see more stances.
Cascade of Earth Earthbender Attack 1 Daily * Elemental, Weapon Standard Action Melee Weapon Target: One Creature Attack: Strength vs AC Hit: 2[w] + Strength modifier damage and the target is knocked prone and immobilized (save ends both) Resilient Mind: Target takes a penelty to saves against this effect equal to your intelligence modifier. Miss: Half Damage and the target is knocked prone.
Razorsand Pit Earthbender Attack 1 You drive your opponent into the dirt, Which drives itself painfully in as a series of tiny dealy spikes. Daily* Elemental, Implement Standard Action Melee Weapon Target: One creature Hit: 2[w] + Strength modifier damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 damage (save ends) Miss: Ongoing damage only Special: The target may not attampt to save against this effect on a turn during which it has attacked.
Feats
Calming Breath Prereq: Earthbender, Resilience feature Benefit: You may spend a standard action to increase your Resilience by 1. If you do this while using neutral jing you gain 2 instead of 1.
Perfect Reactions Prereq: Earthbender, Reactive Strike feature, Resilience feature Benefit: If your resilience is greater than zero and your reactive strike is activated and you have your choice of which reactive strike power to use you may use both, first the Shifting Ground then the Earthen Shield, in return for which you reduce your Resilience by 1. ***Note, this requires that you be adjacent to the enemy, adjacent to the ally, have some Resilience, spend 1 resilience, and that that enemy attacks that ally. Such a hard one to pull off, but so nice if it does. Especially if it goes off while neutral jing is up, giving you two standard actions of your choice.
Here it is, my update to the Waterbender. I'm trying to fix two problems here: 1. Flowing Strike is only activated by Melee attacks (and ranged attacks with a certain feat). Now it get's one more catagory depending on your style. 2. From what I've heard, the Torrential build is good, but a little underwhelming. Also, we have too many controllery things in this book. Now the Waterbender can be defendery, an oft ignored secondary role (in my opinion at least, I haven't crunched the numbers). Some powers will be changed to reflect this and I will be adding feats in. The biggest change will be in the style dependent Torrential bonuses.
Text that differs from what's in the book is underlined and in italics.
WATERBENDER “Flow like the water itself: steady and calm like a stream and fierce and torrential like the storm.” CLASS TRAITS Role: Leader. You use your bending powers to direct the chi inside your allies, healing wounds and raising spirits. You can also push enemies around and craft things out of ice to present advantageous situation to allies. Depending on your choice of class features and powers, you might lean toward defender as a secondary role. Source: Elemental. The waterbenders gather their power from the moon and its natural pull on the oceans, directing the waters in the same way. Key Abilities: Wisdom, Dexterity, Charisma. Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather, Hide. Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, simple ranged. Defense Bonus: +1 Fortitude, +1 Will. Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution score. Hit Points for each Level gained: 5. Healing Surges: 7 + Constitution Modifier. Trained Skills: Choose four skills at 1st level. Class Skills: Athletics (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Endurance (Con), Heal (Wis), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Nature (Wis), Religion (Wis). Build Options: Torrential waterbender, Calming waterbender. Class Features: Healing Waters, Moon’s Blessing, Flowing Strike, Waterbending
Flowing Strike -- Waterbender Feature You are as versatile as water itself, turning any attack into an advantage for you and your allies. At-Will ♦ Elemental, Implement Free Action Range 10 Trigger: An enemy targets you with a melee attack. Calming: The effect may be triggered by an area attack. Torrential: The effect may be triggered by a close attack. Effect: The effect depends on whether the attack hits, or misses. Hit: You or one ally within range gains a +1 to all defenses against the attacking creature until the end of your next turn. Increase the bonus to +2 at 11th Level, and +3 at 21st Level. Miss: Choose an ally within range or yourself, they gain a damage bonus to their first attack against the attacking creature equal to your Dexterity or Charisma modifier until the end of your next turn. Special: You may not affect the same creature with this power more than once in the same round. When you create your character, choose Dexterity or Charisma as the ability score you use when giving damage bonuses with this power. These two choices remain throughout your character’s life and do not change the power’s other effects.
CALMING WATERBENDER There’s no need to be offensive with it. Being calm and content, you bend the water with ease, helping your allies and hindering your enemies. Steady as the stream, complacent as the pond. Make Wisdom your primary as it dictates your powers. Make Charisma your secondary as you’ll rely on it to remain calm in the heat of battle. Make Dexterity your tertiary, to help you react quickly to changes in the fight. This build complements your role as leader. TORRENTIAL WATERBENDER Despite your calm demeanor, you direct the water in overtly fierce ways, creating dangerous tidal waves and torrential conditions. You wade into the ocean of battle, using powerful blasts of water to protect your allies from harm. Make Wisdom your highest stat as it determines your general bending prowess. Dexterity should be your second highest stat as you need bursts of quickness to direct such terrible power. Charisma should be your third stat to help you coax and control the chi of your allies. Your secondary role is defender.
MOON'S BLESSING
Choose one style of waterbending.
Torrential:You gain proficiency in light and heavy shields. In addition, when an enemy bloodies an ally, you may shift a number of squares equal to your Dexterity modifier towards that ally. (Alternatively, this could give proficiency in better armor, what do you kids think?) Calming: You are trained in Heal. Whenever an enemy bloodies an ally, that ally may shift a number of squares equal to your Charisma modifier towards you. (Because of this change, the suggested skills for Calming waterbenders would be Diplomacy, Religion, History, Nature)
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.
i'm reading through the Avatar 4e sourcebook, i just wanted to list questions i have as they come up.
first being, The Airbender's Airscooter, have you already discussed that or not?
going through earthbenders at-wills, the Earthen shield and Shifting ground are listed at immediate reactions/interrupts respectfully, from how i interpret those abilities, they have no maximum range or limiting on them, essencially saying as a level 1 earthbender, i can make sure none of my allies ever get hit ever, am i interpreting that right, or no?
Ground Plate Armor as a level one daily power is good, but i think that attack is more about the AC boost than anything else.
No. The above earthbender build posted here was not written by the developers. In the acutal soucebook, shifting ground is a reaction, which means it takes place after the attack on the ally is resolved. The Earthen shield power CAN prevent an attack, but only when a Constitution attack against the ranged attack's attack roll succeeds.
So, as a level one earthbender, you can annoy melee enemies with a one square slide, and protect one ally from sniper fire approximately 50% of the time.
Oh, and I think the torrential defender looks cool, and that lines and paths are fine the way they are.
Also, when it says "Make Constitution attack against the ranged attack roll" in the sourcebook, there is a typo.
Right now, I'm concerned with the earthbender, so the above is of interest to me...
To be honest, the Resilience mechanic seems a little clumsy to me. Its important for a few things in the class, but overall is underwhelming. I like the idea though, but I'm not sure how I would incorporate it.
The earthbender's class features, on a whole, are fine and dandy. I think I do want to readjust the Neutral Jing class feature. Let's see...
NEUTRAL JING You are in tune with the flow of combat, knowing to hold your fist to land the perfect blow later on. During your turn, you may spend your standard action to acquire Neutral Jing, which enboldens your defensive capabilities. While you have Neutral Jing, you gain a bonus to attack and damage with earthen shields, shifting ground, and any power that is centered on a watched ally. This bonus is equal to your Strength modifier if you are a Shaper earthbender or your Wisdom modifier if you are a Quaking earthbender.
While I'm on a roll... here's how I'd figure the two earthbender features.
Earthen Shield Earthbender Feature When an enemy lets an arrow fly towards an ally, you repel the attack and launch your own against the offender. At-Will * Elemenetal, Implement Immediate Interrupt Close burst 5 (increases to 10 at 11th level and 15 at 20th) Trigger: An enemy makes a ranged attack against a watched ally. Effect: Make an attack roll against the target's ranged attack roll. If your attack roll is equal to or greater than the triggering attack, the target takes 1d6 + Constitution modifier damage and the attack is negated. The watched ally may shift 1 square after this is resolved. 21st Level: 2d6 + Constitution modifier damage.
Rebuking Offense Earthbender Feature An enemy goes in for the attack an enemy and you bring the earth against him, beating the attack back and landing choice blows. At-Will * Elemental, Implement Immediate Reaction Close burst 5 (increases to 10 at 11th level and 15 at 20th) Trigger: An enemy enters a square adjacent to a watched ally. Target: The triggering enemy. Attack: Constitution vs. Reflex. Hit: 1d10 + Constitution modifier damage and the target is pushed 1 square. 21st Level: 2d10 + Constitution modifier damage and the target is pushed 2 squares.
I definitely want to go through and change some of these Encounter and Daily powers into the "centered on watched ally" type powers. That's something I feel we didn't utilize enough.
Ekio, that is, in a word, poifect. I think with that addition the Earthbender will start to feel like a real, proper defender.
As long as we are updating the Earthbender, can I say that I think it's Earthbender Resiliance needs to be cooler? I definitely think it's a great ability, I mean, very powerful. But I don't like it when the only thing seperating two builds is which stat you use to modify something. I think the Shaper should definitely keep it the way it is, to help her survive while wading into battle, the Quaker though, I think they ought to get something that interfaces with the new Neutral Jing ability. But first, Neutral Jing needs a bit of a rewrite:
NEUTRAL JING: You are in tune with the flow of combat, knowing to hold your fist to land the perfect blow later on. During your turn, you may spend your standard action to acquire Neutral Jing, which enboldens your defensive capabilities and lasts until the end of your next turn. While you have Neutral Jing, you gain a bonus to attack and damage with earthen shields, shifting ground, and any power that is centered on a watched ally. This bonus is equal to your Strength modifier if you are a Shaper earthbender or your Wisdom modifier if you are a Quaking earthbender.
Quaking: When you use a standard action to acquire Neutral Jing, it lasts for a number of additional rounds equal to your Strength modifer (e.g. with a Strength modifer of +1 the bonus would last until the end of the turn following the turn where it would have ended normally).
I think this is a pretty powerful ability, the Quaker will be, overall, a better long distance defender, especially if they sink an extra point in their Tertiary stat and roll with a 14 in Strength. For 1 Standard action, they could get a +2 or +3 on any defensive attack for 3 turns. But remember Earthbenders have pretty low AC's for Defenders (Hide Armor is their most powerful armor choice). The Shaper will stand out from the Quaker for having an AC that is, likely, 2 to 3 points higher.
I thought of this in class today, I want to replace my two least favorite Waterbender attacks (Water Bullet and Waving Uppercut) with souped up versions:
Icicle Trap--Waterbender Attack 1 You block an enemy's retreat with razor sharp icicles. At-Will ♦ Elemental, Cold, Implement Standard Action Range 10 Target: One creature. Attack: Wisdom vs. Fortitude. Hit: 1d6 + Wisdom modifier cold damage and until the end of your next turn, if the enemy moves away from you or an ally who they were adjacent to when this attack hit, they take Wisdom modifer cold damage. 21st Level: 2d6 + Wisdom modifier damage.
This fills two holes, firstly it's a second choice for the new Torrential build, secondly it's a cold At-Will for the ice based Waterbender. Sheilding Ice is not a Cold attack, and I would rather keep it that way. I reduced the damage slightly since Water Bullet swung for 2d4, which was really it's only good side. Move your full speed seemed like a good idea, but in practice it's hard to justify any intelligent creature not just moving 1 less than their full speed after the first instance. This is more consistently good, still offers motivation not to move and just generally seems cool.
Waving Uppercut--Waterbender Attack1 You raise your hands and a bolt of water lifts up, connecting to the target’s chin. At-Will ♦ Elemental, Implement Standard Action Range 10 Target: One creature. Attack: Wisdom vs. Fortitude. Hit: 1d8 + Wisdom modifier damage and one ally you choose does not provoke attacks of opportunity from the target until the end of their next turn. 21st Level: 2d8 + Wisdom modifier damage.
Waving uppercut feels like... it's so lame. One ally gets to move their full speed away from a target without take and AOO... yay? Again, though it seemed good in production, in the field it was underwhelming. I had a Waterbender who chose this and Water Whip, and after a while she just relied entirely on Water Whip because, well, it's just not good how we wrote it.
There you go.
-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.
A standard action is a high price to pay for attack/damage bonuses, but it is mitigated by the quaker's class feature. It all seems very nicely put together. I just hope you have something of equal value to dish out to the shaping earthbender. I think that given the revision to Neutral Jing, some related utility powers would be nice, maybe a daily utility to let you use Neutral Jing in the same action as second wind, and an encounter utility to let you combine it with total defence?
I'm still confused about lines. What happens when they are not used in a cardinal direction?
astralArchivist.com - 4e D&D house rules, homebrew, and story hours - now featuring ENWorld's Zeitgeist adventure path!
Will Thibault is a winged, feathered serpent rarely found anywhere except in warm, jungle-like regions or flying through the ether. Due to his intelligence and powers he is regarded with awe by the inhabitants of his homelands and is considered to be divine.
