Just tell methat I can use Unarmed Strike while in Angel Stance and I'm happy. Oh, and tell me what the rules for Unarmed actually ARE.
Just in case you actually waited for me to reply (I was okay with that so I assumed you posted it just to let me know, and I waited for you to post some more about channellers's magic), I don't mind. If anything, I will wait until tomorrow to say any more stuff (I waited until today because I was hoping to see some general notes on what their example spells were like), but the general idea is that it would be a an enchanter who keeps his spells in gemstones, and because they aren't really labelled he has to either use them without knowing what they are or spend time identifying them whilst in combat. I think it matches the concept of the class, anyway.
*bump* So if you're thinking of having me as Gatherer, here's my current thoughts. Flavor: Gather ghosts/elemental spirits/otherworldly horrors in a cloud, as I said earlier. Most people can't see it, but might feel "a presence". Perceptive mages can definitely sense there is magic there. My guy will often have multiple conversations going at once with beings both living and dead (and some that have never been either...) Spell Selection: *Sounds like Crossbow is supposed to be our At-Will, so I can't make my guy quite as frail as I would have liked since he'll need some physical stats for that :/ *A few combat spells like Hold Person/Fireball/Scorching Ray for tough fights, crossbow the rest. Refluffed as throwing ghosts and magma spirits and such, of course. *A "bag of tricks", things like Animate Rope, Spider Climb, Speak With Dolphins etc that will sit around until needed, much like the bajillian scrolls my Wizards always carried. "We actually need a Turn Pudding To Brick spell? *sniff* this is the happiest day of my life!" *An uberspell or two. From what you've previewed it sounds like something people will do, so it should be playtested. Depending on exactly how uber these things can be tinkered, we need to see if it's a "well half the party is dead but we can still win thanks to this!" or a "oh look the final boss, splat" [followed by DM saying "yeah I assumed you would do that, that's why the boss sent his clone out first!" etc] *I love summons. There are advantages and disadvantages to having an eagle carry you rather than just gaining Flight, or having a snake poison someone rather than just pointing your finger and dissolving them, or a Unicorn instead of just Cure, or having a Ghost scout rather than an Invisible PC. I enjoy the tactics and flavor of directing a small army across the battlefield. Any of the above that can be accomplished with summons will make me happy. But as a "control group" Gatherer, and with Omnia also wanting pet plants, my Evocation/Conjuration ratio may need tweaked to test stuff other people prefer. *Whatever is needed to have stuff to tinker/plant/copy. Google Doc still rather empty. Feats: While I'll eventually want bigger bag/better tinkering/etc, I'd like to spend a portion on Knowledge equivelents. Talking to ghosts should let me learn a bunch of stuff about history ("Back in my day..."), Biology ("Aim for that soft spot below their shoulder, I've fought these creatures before!"), Culture ("That guy's wearing a Gilgarian belt, make sure you compliment his beard. Oh and don't shake his hand, that's how they challenge each other to duels."), medicine ("Fever, purple rash and itchy teeth? Sounds like Elthaw Plague. Give him lots of water and see if you can find some Footh Flowers."), botany ("Protip: Basilisk Weed looks remarkably similar to Footh Flowers. Nooot quite as healthy, as I found out."), Planes ("xlhnfoharg'nl."), etc. A generic "Bardic Knowledge" style bonus would be fine too, not sure how broad a category counts for a +X to be considered equal to a more combat related +1 (although some Knowledge rolls can give combat bonuses, such as recognizing weak spots or knowing how Trolls regenerate; more concerned with having a ghost that can read the ancient heiroglypics we find or whatnot) Stats: Still no listed spells, so whatever scales with those, boosts Knowledge, sorta aim a crossbow.
Finals and ponyfic have meant that most of my time spent working on this has been brainstorming specifics for Omni's plant spells. I'm having Kazeto as a Channeler and I have mentally shunted the "deckbuilding" mechanics to be confronted when the time comes, because that's going to be a nightmare. "Get +1 to Knowledge whenever pondering something that a ghost might be able to tell you" is one of the generic feats, yes. So as not to have that cover things like "flip it over for massive damage" we could narrow it to, say, geography or history or whatever maybe. I'd rather not be writing out "knowledge skills" like in other games though. Slippery slope there and you've seen how hard I've been avoiding slippery slopes. I am not sure what the Gatherer's at-will is. The theory is that he can toss low-level spells with impunity due to his duplicate power and the (still proto-phase) "loot/drop" mechanic. If I settle on this, he can toss say 8 spells per day and break even, and he can toss say 12 and gamble on what he's going to get to replace what he burned. So rather than an at-will power you have an "allowance." I suppose it's only fair to also have a Knowledge and an Attunement-based basic weapon, eh? How about, like, a magic missile orb that runs on a recharging magic "battery," and a... I dunno about Attunement. Similarly I guess it's only fair that (certainly in a playtest) you start with maybe two or three uber-spells. Perhaps this can end up being a thing for character creation--you have been nurturing these spells for x amount of time and have x upgrades to spread out (increased if you have the feat because if you don't you're just using the natural growth that happens in your garden). It's also only fair to give Gatherers a whole bunch of spells that are somewhat above their basics anyway, because at first those are going to be the most limited resource in the game. Thanks for your thoughts on your spells it makes my life easier. Let's give you one feat and see how I feel about Essence having four spells as the default. I already fear that even one multiplicative effect (Fire/Earth/Holy/Power Hammer) is too many to be available for a starting character without a feat investment. We will see how him having that spell every few rounds (with its rather scary downside) compares to a Channeler's powerups and a Gatherer's access to mid-range spells. Though I still need to nerf the fact that Fire Strike's drawback is "take damage" which is too easily mitigated.
Then give it teeth: "take 1 point of damage. That point of damage cannot be healed except by a night's sleep." Or something.
"Scorched Soul: Your current and maximum health are reduced by 1 until you perform an extended rest." "Playing with fire: Until your next turn, damage you take is doubled." "Heat Stroke: Each time you perform this attack, the damage you take is 1 higher than last time, until you perform an extended rest."
The channeler sounds awesome! Its like a combination of a D&D 2e wildmage and the magic system from Hero Quest
Well, it sort of is like that. Or at least it's supposed to be, what exactly it will end up as depends on how it gets balanced.
