(( All images were found via Google image search. You can click on all of them to get linked to their sources. ))
The Genasi race has always been a paradox to me. On one hand, it does something spectacular that I wish more races would do, and that is that gives players options, specifically racial feature and racial power options. When you play a Genasi character and tell the other players your character's race, they want to know more details about what sort of member of your race you are because your race alone simply isn't enough information.
However, on the other hand, the racial feature options available to the Genasi race are some of the most boring, drab, and uninspiring in the entire game. Yes, some of the energy resistances offered aren't offered anywhere else, but the mechanic itself is about as unique as the defense bonuses that otherwise plague the race, and I do mean plague.
Not being one to settle for less than perfection, especially not from a race that by all counts deserves to be so much more amazing and unique, I've decided to put some of my boredom to use this summer and reimagine the Genasi race, at least on a mechanical level. I hope that you enjoy this attempt at recreating the Genasi race, and I look forward to questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, and of course, praise. (Yes, that last one was a joke. I promise that I'm not really that arrogant.)
Oh, and the Air-Soul Genasi can fly!* *sort of...
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5'7" - 6'2" Average Weight: 130 lb. - 225 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Charisma and either +2 Constitution or +2 Dexterity Size: Medium Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, Primordial Skill Bonus: +2 Nature Elemental Origin: Your ancestors were native to the Elemental Chaos, so you are considered an elemental creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin. Elemental Manifestation: Choose one elemental manifestation: Earth-Soul, Fire-Soul, Air-Soul, or Water-Soul. Each manifestation offers particular benefits and provides an associated power.
The first thing that you'll notice is that I've redone the race's ability score bonuses. Yes, I know that many people will be upset about losing "swordmage-the-race", but I decided that I might as well go all out if I'm going to do this at all, and honestly, Intelligence and Strength are about the last two ability score bonuses that I would have given the race. I decided on Charisma as the primary ability because I view Charisma as the mental version of Strength (just as I view Wisdom as the mental version of Constitution and Intelligence as the mental version of Dexterity); I imagine Genasi having a great deal of elemental power, and while I do imagine this power as manifesting physically, I view it primarily as mental. Secondarily, I selected Constitution and Dexterity because I can imagine all possible Genasi manifestations (even those not redone here and even those not yet recreated in 4E at all) as being well represented by either bonus, some even by both.
There was the temptation to tie a character's secondary ability score bonus to their selected manifestation, but I decided against this because (A) if they still only got the option between Constitution and Dexterity across the entire race, then I feel like that would be too limiting to each individual manifestation, (B) if they got more than just those two options across the entire race, then I feel like that would make the race as a whole too versatile, and (C) there are manifestations for which I could easily see either option equally making sense (e.g. Water).
Many of you may have realized that my proposed Genasi ability score bonuses would mean that there would be no race that could grant bonuses to both Strength and Intelligence. To be honest, I don't care. It's just not important to me to have every possible racial ability score bonus combination covered, and I was totally fine with our lack of a race with boosts to both Constitution and Intelligence. I realize that this may not be the case for some of you, but rest assured that the remainder of this project can still be used just as well even if you decide to keep the race's original bonuses (I could hardly blame you, and I wouldn't at all be offended). However, I will not be persuaded to alter these bonuses by concerns that are not thematic.
Moving on, the second thing that you may notice is that the race's basic block does not have a listed speed. This is because speed is something that I've decided to tie to each individual manifestation. Some manifestations are faster, and some manifestations are slower. This makes good thematic sense to me, but I saw no need to extend this to other features like Size and Vision.
Third, you'll notice that the race's basic block grants only a single racial skill bonus. Again, the second skill bonus is something that I've decided should logically vary depending on the element being manifested. A bonus to Nature, however, was something that I felt should appear as a constant, especially since Wisdom almost made it as this race's primary ability score bonus over Charisma pretty much solely because of Nature.
Finally, you'll notice that I've only recreated four manifestations. I have given some thought to additional manifestations, but for the initial presentation of this idea, I wanted to limit the number of manifestations that we would have to discuss down to the four classical elements. If this concept sees some success, then I will consider adding manifestations for Cold and Lightning, possibly even Light and Dark.
EARTH-SOUL
Speed: 5 squares Skill Bonus: When you first gain this manifestation, select either +2 Dungeoneering or +2 Endurance. This choice can be retrained. Earth: You have the Earth keyword. Landslide: You have Earth Walk. (You ignore difficult terrain that is rubble, uneven stone, or an earthen construction.) You ignore armor penalties to your speed. When you are slowed while wearing light or no armor, your speed becomes 3 instead of 2. Rugged Form: When an attack would score a critical hit against you, you can immediately make a saving throw to turn the critical hit into a normal hit. Earth-Shock: You have the Earth-Shock power.
Earth-Shock (Earth-Soul Genasi Racial Power) Encounter Minor Action, Close blast 3 or burst 1 Target: Each creature in the blast or burst that is touching the ground. Attack: Highest ability score +3 vs. Fortitude (+6 at 11th level, +9 at 21st level) Hit: The target is knocked prone.
The Earth-Soul was the first that I decided to tackle, and right away, I envisioned characters with this manifestation as being slower, which is part of why I removed Speed from the race's basic block above to begin with. To compensate for this lower speed, the race has the Landslide feature. It borrows the Dwarf's ability to ignore armor penalties to speed, but unlike the Dwarf, it also grants at least some benefit to characters not burdened by armor, an increased movement speed while slowed. The Earth Walk mechanic was something that I added a lot later when I realized that this manifestation was lacking compared to the others, and I feel that ignoring some of the most common sorts of difficult terrain in the game is pretty amazing, but not so amazing that it overpowers the race, especially not with a speed of 5. The working name of this feature was "Steadfast", but I originally intended to name this feature something with the word "boulder", as I imagine a boulder not actually being all that fast (at last not at first) but being unstoppable enough to be scary.
One thing that I wanted to make sure that I got rid of in this redesign was boring defense bonuses, but I understood the logic in wanting to grant the manifestation a feature that represented its physical toughness. Indeed, the physical toughness of a being so strongly associated with (and arguably at least partially constructed of) earth and stone should be substantial, and so I created the Rugged Form feature. It may seem too good, but remember that turning a monster's critical hit into a normal hit isn't nearly as bad or significant as turning's a player character's critical hit into a normal hit.
I know that the old blanket +1 to all saves was awesome, but I really just wasn't feeling the thematic justification for it beyond the toughness already covered, and it was frankly a very boring feature, so I decided to scrap it entirely.
Finally, I didn't actually change the racial power too much. In fact, most of these racial power revisions stick pretty closely to their original version. The only changes that I made to Earth-Shock were (A) improving its attack bonus to current standards, (B) changing its range to give the option of using it either as a blast or as a burst so that more artillery characters could make better use of it, and (C) having it target all creatures instead of only enemies for thematic and balance reasons.
All in all, this was a pretty simple manifestation to redo, and I don't expect that it will cause too much fuss or controversy.
FIRE-SOUL
Speed: 6 squares Skill Bonus: When you first gain this manifestation, select either +2 History or +2 Intimidate. This choice can be retrained. Fervent Form: You have resistance to fire damage equal to 5 + one-half of your level. Fire: You have the Fire keyword. Unlike other Fire creatures, you do not shed light by default. Ignite: You have the Ignite power. Fire-Pulse: You have the Fire-Pulse power.
Ignite (Fire-Soul Genasi Racial Power) At-Will Minor Action, Personal Effect: You shed either dim light to a radius of 2 squares, bright light to a radius of 5 squares, or bright light to a radius of 10 squares. While you shed light as a result of this power, you can as a minor action cause one flammable object that is not carried by another creature to catch fire. While you shed dim light as a result of this power, this can be any object that you touch. While you shed bright light as a result of this power, this can be any object that is within 5 squares of you. You can end the effects of this power as a free action. Otherwise, they last either until you use this power again or until you fall unconscious.
Fire-Pulse (Fire-Soul Genasi Racial Power) Encounter * Fire Special: You can use this power in one of two ways: * Minor Action, Close burst 3 * Target: One creature in the burst. * Immediate Reaction, Close burst 3 * Trigger: An enemy in the burst hits you with a melee attack. * Target: The triggering enemy in the burst. Attack: Highest ability score +3 vs. Reflex (+6 at 11th level, +9 at 21st level) Hit: 1d8 + highest ability score modifier fire damage, and each creature adjacent to the target takes fire damage equal to your highest ability score modifier. (2d8 + at 11th level, 4d8 + at 21st level)
The reasoning behind the Fire-Soul's skill bonus options may need a bit of explaining. History was actually the first bonus that came to mind because Fire is so often used as a metaphor and embodiment of intelligence, technology, innovation, and civilization, and I felt that this was covered best by History. I decided on Intimidate after reviewing a list of skills and deciding that Fire was something that most creature have some immediate (if not innate) fear of because of its reputation for being such a destructive elemental force.
Fervent Form is just Fire resistance. Yes, I am altering these manifestations significantly (and, yes, I did get rid of the boring and unnecessary defense bonus), but did you really think that I'd make a Fire-Soul Genasi without Fire resistance? That would make no sense. I did, however, at least improve it to Tiefling-like scaling.
The Ignite power simply does what I think that a Fire-Soul Genasi should have been able to do all along. The physical description for the manifestation even says that its hair is literally Fire, so why can't these characters even brighten up a room? The power also allows the character to set fire to nearby objects, a feature that I must admit that I stole from the Psionic Spark Wild Talent Cantrip. Yes, I do realize that this entire power is mostly just flavor and merely replicates the effects of what you could do if you just bought a candle and a torch, so no, I am not considering it to be a major racial feature in terms of mechanical power, but other than Fire resistance, lighting, and setting stuff on Fire, there really isn't that much that I expect from the Fire-Soul, and so I spent the rest of the design space for this manifestation improving its terrible racial power.
For those of you that didn't know that Fire-Pulse was a terrible power, please go take a look at the updated version of the Tiefling's Infernal Wrath racial power. Go on, I'll wait… … … … … See what I mean? Infernal Wrath is pretty much objectively better than Fire-Pulse in every way: it's a free action, much better than an immediate reaction; it's range is better by 9 squares; it has a far less restrictive trigger, only requiring that you get hit rather than that you get hit specifically by a melee attack; and it doesn't even require an attack roll and instead functions as an effect. Worst of all about Fire-Pulse, though, is it made no thematic sense. Why in the world should these characters only be able to set an enemy on fire after getting hit? Why can they not set fire to an enemy whenever they want? However, not only did I need to bring Fire-Pulse up to par mechanically and alter it to make sense thematically, I also needed to add in something to make up for the Fire-Soul's current mechanical inadequacy. My solution was twofold: (A) After improving the power's attack and damage to current standards and improving the power's range to something more reasonable and useful, I added a secondary attack targeting creatures adjacent to the primary target. This would give the power a reason to require an attack roll. Unfortunately, I still found this lacking in power, and I also feared that it made the power too complex, so the power now simply deals fire damage to all creatures adjacent to the target as an effect upon successfully blowing up the initial target. Note that, while this does affect the character itself if it is adjacent to the target, this damage is never enough at any level to surpass the character's fire resistance anyway. (B) Because I both wanted to allow the power's use not to be restricted to when the character was hit in melee for thematic reasons and wanted to use my leftover design space to improve this power's versatility while not necessarily making any individual use of the power any more powerful than any individual use of any other racial power, allowing the power to be used either as a minor action or as an immediate reaction was actually the first thing that came to mind, and I must say that I'm rather pleased with the result both thematically and mechanically. The minor action version seems about comparable in power to the Dragonborn's Dragon Breath racial power, and the hit effect seems decent enough to justify the attack roll and other limitations on the Immediate Reaction version in comparison to the Tiefling's Infernal Wrath.
AIR-SOUL
Speed: 7 squares Skill Bonus: When you first gain this manifestation, select either +2 Acrobatics or +2 Stealth. This choice can be retrained. Air: You have the Air keyword. Swirling Form: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Athletics checks made to jump, and each of your allies within 5 squares of you gains a +1 racial bonus to Athletics checks made to jump. Glide: You have the Glide power. Wind-Walk: You have the Wind-Walk power.
Glide (Air-Soul Genasi Racial Power) At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 10 feet (2 squares). Effect: You take no damage from the fall. If you use this power not during your turn and fall at least 25 feet (5 squares), then you can choose to stop falling. You resume falling immediately after the start of your next turn. You also resume falling if you are stunned or if you fall prone, as though you were flying. If you use this power during your turn and fall at least 25 feet (5 squares), then you can choose to stop falling and gain a fly speed equal to your speed until the end of your turn (you resume falling immediately after the end of your turn). However, this flight cannot take you upward, and if you fly upward before the end of your turn (such as by using your Wind-Walk racial power), then you lose this flight and cannot use this power to stop falling until after you have landed or until the end of your turn (you can still use it to not take damage from a fall). Special: Unlike other free actions, this power can be used at the start of your turn or at the end of your turn. If you use this power at the start of your turn, then you treat it as having been used during your turn. If you use this power at the end of your turn, then you treat it as having been used not during your turn. Wind-Walk (Air-Soul Genasi Racial Power) Encounter Move Action, Personal Effect: You can fly a number of squares equal to your speed +2.
(( Note that Glide has been altered since I posted this thread, so the majority of the following is now irrelevant. ))
You skipped to this one because I said that it could fly, didn't you? Well, since we're on the subject, I might as well go ahead an talk about it. Sorry to disappoint you, but there's just no way to balance normal or even overland flight at-will. The benefit alone of being able to ignore all difficult terrain is simply too powerful in combat to be a racial feature, and even overland flight is simply too amazing out of combat. What I think can be done, however, is Glide. I first got the idea for a racial feature like Glide when I saw the Winged Bracers, an item way back in Dragon Magazine 369 (cookie if you can guess why I was initially so excited to read that issue to begin with). Unfortunately, while the mechanic was a great attempt, it just didn't make a lot of sense logically and was very problematic mechanically. Why do a 4-square fall and a 20-square fall allow me to fly the same distance? Does this really allow me to fly during somebody else's turn? Why does this let me fly even if I'm unconscious or petrified? I also wanted to allow Air-Soul Genasi to avoid falling damage, but I always felt it weird that so many effects that reduce falling damage function while a character shouldn't be able to take any actions at all, so I combined all of this into one, little, neat, tidy, free-action power.
Okay, so the power isn't that neat or tidy. In fact, the power is very complicated and even pretty difficult to understand. Even I have some trouble with it, and I'm the guy who wrote it. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that I can't figure out a way to craft his power without it being this complicated, and I have been trying basically ever since I put up the Penguins and moved onto this project two weeks ago. So, before you spout out the first thing that comes to mind, please make sure that you understand every aspect of why the power currently looks the way that it does.
The first thing that you may be wondering is why in the world this power needs to work with "start of turn" and "end of turn" mechanics. The reason is that this power should not allow the character to fly on a turn other than their own. I have limited this by only allowing the power to grant flight during a character's own turn, but falling often happens on a turn other than the character's own, and so the power basically needs to delay falling until the character's turn. Furthermore, if the power is only going to grant flight during the character's turn, then the character is going to start falling again at the end of their turn (I do not want to grant flight until the start of the character's next turn because I do not want to allow the character additional movement with flight that could be granted on another character's turn, and this would also screw too much with the trigger necessary to keep the character falling at a reasonable rate). It's a little known rule, but you actually can't use any actions during the start or end of your turn (seriously, look it up), so this power has to make special allowances to get used during those times.
I did experiment briefly with the wording of falling "immediately after the start of your turn" and "immediately after the end of your turn", but believe it or not, that turned out to be more confusing, specifically when it came to wording when a character could or could not gain the fly speed if falling on their own turn, because getting it after falling only 10 feet was way too little but needing to fall 30 more feet after already having fallen 30 feet was excessive. Besides, there are other reasons why a character might fall at the start or end of their turn, and I'd like for this power to be usable in such circumstances anyway.
The rest of the distances have been carefully crafted to allow the character one turn of flight (maximum of 14 squares with a double move or 18 squares with a double run) for every 40 feet (8 squares) that the character falls, though this is only 30 feet (6 squares) on the character's own turn, which is fine because it probably needed to use an action to fall to begin with anyway. The reason that this is 40 feet and not 30 feet as it may seem to be is because for the power to grant consistent flight it must get used during an initial fall (at least 30 feet), again during the fall at the start of the character's turn before it can fly (another 10 feet, totaling 40 feet), again at the end of the character's turn when it falls after losing its fly speed (another 30), again at the start of the character's turn again (another 10 feet , totaling 40 feet since the character's last turn), and so on.
The part about losing the flight if you fly upward is actually a very recent addition that I added in when I realized that having some sort of method of at least semi-legitimately flying at-will (such as by taking the Desert's Voice prestige class and getting Wind-Walk as an at-will power) would be very problematic when combined with this power. This solution may seem a bit forced, but I think that it works.
The power may still not be perfect, but that's for you to decide and hopefully help me out with. There are still a lot of weird questions. For example, what exactly happens if you get knocked prone while hanging in mid-air (between using the power and gaining a fly speed at the start of your turn) but fall far enough to remain hanging in mid-air though use of the power again? Should this power even be allowed to be used when the character falls prone in mid-air, even though creatures that can legitimately fly cannot stop their fall in any such way? I've at least specified that the character resumes falling if it is stunned or of it falls prone, so some of these questions may be questions that could be asked about any flying creature that falls prone, so is it really the job of this power to give those circumstances rules at all? Or should I merely give a recommended ruling for such a circumstance but not actually include any additional rules in the power?
Oh, but wait, that's right, this manifestations has other features besides Glide that we should discuss, doesn't it? Well, between Glide and the speed of 7, I still wanted to give the Air-Soul a little something more but not anything too big. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to give it a bonus to jumping somehow, but Glide exhausted all of my originality, so I settled on a safe and simple minor bonus to Athletics checks made to jump, combined with the ability to grant this bonus to nearby allies in a fashion similar to the Elf's Group Awareness racial feature or the Half-Elf's Group Diplomacy racial features.
The Wind-Walk racial power also underwent a minor change. It used to be that this power simply allowed a character to fly 8 squares, but it has always bothered me here, as it has with many monster abilities, that this is unaffected by being slowed. However, the power now also improves as your speed does, including the speed bonus I granted the race, which makes this power now grant 9 squares of flight by default, so I shouldn't hear too many objections here.
I made sure that Wind-Walk would not alone grant problematic use of Glide in or out of battle. By the end of the character's turn after using Wind-Walk, it will have fallen a total of at least 60 feet (30 feet after using the power and 30 additional feet at the end of their turn), so it would need to get a total speed bonus of +5 before this would become problematic.
You may also notice that the revised form of this manifestation does not grant resistance to cold. This is because I never understood the thematic justification for granting them cold resistance to begin with. Frankly, there are better and more important things that need to be granted by this manifestation long before cold resistance.
WATER-SOUL
Speed: 6 squares, swim 4 squares Skill Bonus: When you first gain this manifestation, select either +2 Endurance or +2 Heal. This choice can be retrained. Aquatic: You have the Aquatic keyword. (You can breath underwater. In aquatic combat, you gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls against non-aquatic creatures.) Rippling Form: You can make an escape attempt as a minor action instead of as a move action. All ongoing damage that you take is halved. Water: You have the Water keyword. Swift-Current: You have the Swift-Current power.
Swift-Current (Water-Soul Genasi Racial Power) Encounter Move Action, Personal Effect: You can shift up to your speed over ground or liquid terrain. You take no penalties for squeezing during this movement, can move through enemy spaces, ignore difficult terrain, and take no damage if the surface or substance you move across would ordinarily deal damage to you.
And finally the Water-Soul! To be honest, it bothers me to absolutely no end that the official Water-Soul Genasi gets not a single bonus to swimming beyond its Strength bonus, and even that's not necessarily guaranteed anymore since Genasi were granted the long-awaited racial ability score bonus combination of Constitution and Intelligence. Now, I don't intend to imply that Genasi are a primarily aquatic race, but I don't think that they should be so terribly inconvenienced by battling in what is literally their element. To this end, I have granted them the Aquatic keyword and a swim speed.
I was originally going to grant them a swim speed of 6, but I felt that was taking up too much design space that might not even get used in many campaigns. Besides, I still didn't want to give the impression that the race was primarily aquatic. Then, I thought about granting them a swim speed equal to half of their normal speed, but I ran into the problem of what happens when a character is slowed; does their swim speed become 2 or 1? Then, I thought about a swim speed of 3, but it bothered me that the slowed condition would then have no effect on heavily armored character. Therefore, I finally settled on a swim speed of 4 squares.
Rippling Form is actually where most of the crunch is for this manifestation. I understand why the official Water-Soul Genasi gets a bonus to saves versus ongoing damage, but save bonuses are just so overdone as racial features, so I decided to take an alternative approach and simply say that Water-Soul Genasi take only half damage from ongoing damage. It's simple, elegant, effective, and keeps in theme with their official feature.
The other benefit of Rippling Form was added last, when I decided that this manifestation needed just a little something extra going for it in campaigns that would never include aquatic combat. It's a feature that I often recommend for home-brewed races that want to gain some sort of bonus to escape, and it's both simple and effective enough to serve as a minor boost while also not adding so much that I would worry about the manifestation being overpowered in a campaign that did include a large amount of aquatic combat. In case the thematic justification for this ability isn't obvious, its working name was "Slippery" before I decided to simply add it to Rippling Form.
Swift-Current is the only racial power (or racial feature in general) that has not at all been altered from its original version. I think that it's perfect the way that it is. I briefly considered also having it allow characters to squeeze as though they were tiny, but then I ran into complications when I had to come up with rules for what would happen were this shift to end in a space that the character could not occupy. It was more trouble than it was worth, and there's no sense in potentially ruining a perfectly good power.
Speaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask? "If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB "If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave "WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm "Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha
Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further.
Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
DOUBLE MANIFESTATION Source: Forgotten Realms Player's Guide Prerequisite: 21st level, Genasi, Extra Manifestation feat Benefit: You can manifest two different elemental manifestations simultaneously, but you do not gain all features of both manifestations while doing so. Instead, you gain features as follows: * When you manifest your Earth-Soul, you gain the Earth, Landslide, and Earth-Shock features. * When you manifest your Fire-Soul, you gain the Fervent Form, Fire, and Fire-Pulse features, but you cannot use your Fire-Pulse power as a minor action. * When you manifest your Air-Soul, you gain the Air, Glide, and Wind-Walk features. * When you manifest your Water-Soul, you gain the Aquatic, Water, and Swift-Current features, and all ongoing damage that you take is halved. You also gain the Skill Bonus feature of one of your manifestations, chosen when you initially manifest both elements. When you manifest elements with different speeds, you take the lowest speed. This feat doesn't grant you any extra manifestations, so you can only manifest elements that you already have access to.
ELEMENTAL GUARDIAN Source: Martial Power Prerequisite: 11th level, CON 15, Genasi, Fighter Benefit: When you end your turn adjacent to any of your allies or adjacent to any enemy that is adjacent to any of your allies, you and one such ally of your choice gain a benefit until the end of your next turn depending on the element that you are currently manifesting.: * Earth-Soul: You ignore all difficult terrain when you shift. Your ally gains Earth Walk. * Fire-Soul: Your resist fire improved by 5. Your ally gains resist fire 5. * Air-Soul: You and your ally each gain a +2 racial bonus to AC and Reflex against opportunity attacks. * Water-Soul: You gain a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against effects that include ongoing damage. All ongoing damage that your ally takes is halved. FIRE-PULSE MASTER Source: Dragon Magazine 367 Prerequisite: Genasi, Fire-Pulse racial power Benefit: Your Fire-Pulse power gains the Reliable keyword and deals an extra 1D6 damage to its target.
FIRE-PULSE TRANSFORMATION Source: Dragon Magazine 391 Prerequisite: Genasi, Fire-Pulse racial power Benefit: When you use your Fire-Pulse racial power, each enemy adjacent to you that did not take fire damage as a result of the power takes fire damage equal to your highest ability score modifier.
ALTERED PARAGON PATH FEATURES
ELEMENTAL TEMPEST Source: Forgotten Realms Player's Guide Dual Manifestation (11th level): You can use two different elemental manifestations at the same time, but you do not gain all features of both manifestations while doing so. Instead, you gain features as follows: * When you manifest your Earth-Soul, you gain the Earth, Landslide, and Earth-Shock features. * When you manifest your Fire-Soul, you gain the Fervent Form, Fire, and Fire-Pulse features, but you cannot use your Fire-Pulse power as a minor action. * When you manifest your Air-Soul, you gain the Air, Glide, and Wind-Walk features. * When you manifest your Water-Soul, you gain the Aquatic, Water, and Swift-Current features, and all ongoing damage that you take is halved. You also gain the Skill Bonus feature of one of your manifestations, chosen when you initially manifest both elements. When you manifest elements with different speeds, you take the lowest speed. You can use the encounter powers for both of these manifestations in the same encounter.
WHIRLWIND GENASI Source: Forgotten Realms Player's Guide Whirlwind Breeze (11th level): When you use the Wind-Walk power, you gain a fly speed of 8 until the end of your next turn, but you cannot use the Glide power until after the end of your next turn.
CONCORDANT LEADER Source: Martial Power Shared Manifestation (Concordant Leader Utility 12) Effect: The target shares one elemental manifestation you are currently manifesting. The effect lasts until the end of the encounter or until you take a minor action to end it. If the target already has an elemental manifestation, the new manifestation replaces the previous one for the duration of this effect. If the target gained all features of the previous manifestation, then it gains all features of the new manifestation, but if the target did not gain all features of the previous manifestation or did not already have a manifestation, then it instead gains features as follows: * If the target shares your Earth-Soul, it gains the Landslide and Earth-Shock features. * If the target shares your Fire-Soul, it gains the Fervent Form and Fire-Pulse features, but it cannot use Fire-Pulse power as a minor action. * If the target shares your Air-Soul, it gains the Glide and Wind-Walk features. * If the target shares your Water-Soul, it gains the Aquatic and Swift-Current features, and all ongoing damage that it takes is halved.
"That was surprisingly easy... I must have done something wrong..."Show
I was actually pretty surprised at how few feats and features needed to be reworked to accommodate this alternative interpretation of the Genasi race.
The most significant things that needed to be altered were those that allowed the Genasi to manifest multiple elemental manifestations at once. I knew going in that I would have to deal with this, but I decided that I would not recreate the basic forms of the manifestations with this in mind. Instead, I would work out how to make these work later. I have to say, I'm actually pretty pleased with how this turned out. The only thing that I don't think that I was able to do well in this are was the Soul of Erosion's Union of Blessed and Cursed Waters, and that was because I do not have a Caustic-Soul manifestation (and I don't plan on making one). My recommendation when it comes to mixing this variant with existing manifestations is simply, well, that you shouldn't. They're just designed too differently to mesh seamlessly, at least in my opinion.
I actually didn't think that my chance to Fire-Pulse would require so many alterations, but they were both pretty simple and intuitive, so no worries.
On the flip side, I expected to need to alter much more to accommodate Glide, but it turned out that I only needed to alter the Whirlwind Genasi's Whirlwind Breeze to avoid shenanigans of a character running straight up for two turns and then spending rounds upon rounds safely out of harm's way.
The only one of these that I'm really not happy enough with is the Elemental Guardian feat. The feats not very good at all to begin with, though, so I'm not going to let it bother me too much.
Speaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask? "If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB "If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave "WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm "Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha
Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further.
Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
The benefit for the water manifestaion on elemental gaurdian seems especially meh.
Yup, the feat is pretty awful, and I have no idea why anybody would ever take it. I was tempted to ignore it completely, but it did technically require some alteration based on this version of the race.
Also would the sustain system clean up glide any?
Unfortunately, I do not think so (A) because of how the power works with start of turn and end of turn mechanics, when a power cannot be sustained (it's complex enough making exceptions for free actions without making exceptions for entirely new ways for a sustain to work) and (B) because there aren't really any effects of the power that would last long enough to be sustained (none last even a whole round), and this is intended to prevent too much hanging around in the air and to prevent possible nonsensical consequences of allowing effects to go on longer than may be logically called for.
Speaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask? "If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB "If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave "WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm "Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha
Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further.
Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
I have considered that, but I worried that the result of splitting the power up into all of its separate functions would be too overwhelming and confusing. Still, I never did actually try it to see how it would look...
Sky-Dive: You gain the Free-Fall, Hover, and Glide powers.
Free-Fall At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 10 feet (2 squares). Unlike other free actions, this power can still be used at the start of your turn or at the end of your turn. Effect: You take no damage from the fall.
Hover At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 30 feet (6 squares). Unlike other free actions, this power can still be used at the start of your turn or at the end of your turn. Effect: You stop falling. If you use this power at the start of your turn or during your turn, then you resume falling at the end of your turn. If you use this power at the end of your turn or during another's turn, then you resume falling at the start of your next turn. You also resume falling if you are stunned or if you fall prone, as though you were flying.
Glide At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 10 feet (2 squares) at the start of your turn or at least 30 feet (6 squares) during your turn. Unlike other free actions, this power can still be used at the start of your turn. Effect: You can choose to expend your turn's minor action. If you do, then you stop falling and gain a fly speed equal to your speed until the end of your turn. However, this flight cannot take you upward, and if you fly upward before the end of your turn (such as by using your Wind-Walk racial power), then you lose this flight and cannot use this power or Hover until after you have landed.
Splitting the power up like this is functionally identical, so I guess the question is then whether splitting it up really makes it easier to understand or not. I'd prefer to make it work as a single power, but if this is easier to understand and implement, then I could certainly deal with this.
Speaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask? "If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB "If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave "WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm "Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha
Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further.
Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
Well this is really more so I can get it sorted out on a function by function basis. I'm hoping to clear up a few points and then the powers can be merged again.
Glide for example, why does it trigger sooner at the start of your turn?
What's wrong with this?
Trigger: You fall at least 30 feet (6 squares) during your turn. Unlike other free actions, this power can still be used at the start of your turn.
Because by the start of your turn, you've already fallen at least 30 feet (I don't know of any way other than the Hover version of the power to fall at the start of your turn), so requiring an additional 30 feet of falling seems excessive. It would mean that the character gets a turn of flight for every 60 feet of falling instead of every 40 feet of falling. I considered trying to simplify by having all of the specified fall heights be 20 feet, still resulting in 40 feet of falling for every turn of flight, but then I feel like it's too easy to abuse because a character only needs to fly 10 squares on their turn (not difficult, especially not with the Wind-Walk racial power) to end up out of reach of many melee enemies for a whole round... I suppose I could split the difference and change all of the specified fall heights to 25 feet (5 squares), other than the Free-Fall version, of course... That would change the Glide portion to:
Glide At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 25 feet (2 squares) at the start of your turn or during your turn. Unlike other free actions, this power can still be used at the start of your turn. Effect: You can choose to expend your turn's minor action. If you do, then you stop falling and gain a fly speed equal to your speed until the end of your turn. However, this flight cannot take you upward, and if you fly upward before the end of your turn (such as by using your Wind-Walk racial power), then you lose this flight and cannot use this power or Hover until after you have landed.
As for your trigger, I'm actually not totally clear if the start of your turn counts as being during your turn because the rules are sort of weirdly worded about that.
Speaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask? "If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB "If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave "WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm "Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha
Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further.
Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
Actually, if I'm going to normalize it all to 25 feet, then I can just ditch the start and end of turn weirdness probably and instead specify "immediately after the start of your turn" and "immediately after the end of your turn". What do you think of this? Glide (Air-Soul Genasi Racial Power) At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 10 feet (2 squares). Effect: You take no damage from the fall. If you fall at least 25 feet (5 squares), then you can choose to stop falling at any point during the fall. If you use this power during your turn, then you resume falling immediately after the end of your turn. If you use this power not during your turn, then you resume falling immediately after the start of your next turn. You also resume falling if you are stunned or if you fall prone, as though you were flying. Special: If you use this power during your turn and fall at least 25 feet (5 squares), then you can choose to spend a minor action. If you do, then you stop falling and gain a fly speed equal to your speed until the end of your turn (you then resume falling immediately after the end of your turn). However, this flight cannot take you upward, and if you fly upward before the end of your turn (such as by using your Wind-Walk racial power), then you lose this flight and cannot use this power until after you have landed.
Or, separated out again into its constituent functions...
Free-Fall At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 10 feet (2 squares). Effect: You take no damage from the fall.
Hover At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 25 feet (5 squares). Effect: You stop falling. If you use this power during your turn, then you resume falling immediately after the end of your turn. If you use this power not during your turn, then you resume falling immediately after the start of your next turn. You also resume falling if you are stunned or if you fall prone, as though you were flying. Glide At-Will Free Action, Personal Trigger: You fall at least 25 feet (5 squares) during your turn. Effect: You can choose to spend a minor action. If you do, then you stop falling and gain a fly speed equal to your speed until the end of your turn (you then resume falling immediately after the end of your turn). However, this flight cannot take you upward, and if you fly upward before the end of your turn (such as by using your Wind-Walk racial power), then you lose this flight and cannot use this power or Hover until after you have landed.
I looked up the one effect that I thought actually could make you fall at the end of your turn, but it turns out I was wrong, so maybe there's nothing that can do that and I don't need to bother with it at all.
This is simpler, and I like it a lot better. Thank you, rampant. Do you like it?
Speaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask? "If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB "If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave "WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm "Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha
Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further.
Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
