fighter kit: Deathbringer

[Lord Smite]

What do you all think of a mod for a fighter kit Deathbringer. I think that playing through being a fighter of the same sect that Sarevok was part of would be awesome, and there are many diff opps for this kit. My idea goes as follows
-Must be chaotic evil aligned.
-cannot use sheilds.
-has and "aura of fear" ability that would make all monsters within an area around the deathbringer make a save vs. death (or something) or be stunned in terror for a number of rounds. This ability would be gained with levels much like rage or kai, and would increase in effectiveness and duration the higher the level.
-Immune to state altering spells, and most most clerical spells. by this i mean they would be immune to horror, confusion, slow, haste, domination, strength, as well as all healing and cure poison spells, etc. I feel that because of the Deathbringers fighting style of inflicting terror and controlling rage to kill their opponents, they would be immune to the mental commands of other spellcasters, but damaging magics would still affect them as normal.
-they would have a slim random chance of doing a deathbringer assault during combat, and the chance of this would greatly increased if they attack a creature held by their aura of fear.
-in TOB they could recieve an extra HLA that would allow them to make all critical hits in the next 2 rounds(or so) deathbringer assaults, and maybe add a hit bonus on to their attack roll. The amount of damage done would increase with level, naturally.

*This may seem a bit strange, but i think it would be a cool addition, taking into account the deathbringers fighting style and use of pain and rage to enhance thier combat.
-a cumulative thaco bonus % would be added with eact hit done by the deathbringer in combat. this would last for several rounds, so your thaco might increase 2 or 3 points during a large combat.
-the deathbringer would do more damage the lower their hit points were. for instance, say their hit points had been lowered to 75% of full health, they might do 4 extra damage on each hit. ( Getting injured in combat would make anyone angry, and wrath is the main object that deathbringers call upon for strenth in combat, thus making them fight harder).

Please comment on this. Add stuff, take away stuff, I know it definately needs some more balancing.
Tell me if you thinks its a good idea, or if its total bolonga.

[ 03-21-2003, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: Lord Smite ]

[Thorfinn]

Just so I understand, his only real disadvantage is he cannot use shield? As opposed to most fighter classes who tend to think that the shield is simply not worth giving up the extra attack?

[Butterfingers]

Well in classic D&D, there was no Deathbringer class. There were however, two versions of Dreathbringers. A weapon and a special attack. Children of certain evil Gods could gain the Deathbringer Assault... Like a certain person who needs a spoiler tag in your post.

A Deathbringer weapon however, was fierce.

A Deathbringer weapon could be anything, sword, axe, spear, etc. It was a cursed weapon, but, one many Fighters lusted after. Each time combat was entered, there was a small chance that the Deathbringer would activate. When activated, it added +2 to hit and +2 to damage on each hit, each hit there after doubling. So, after 2 hits, it was +4 to hit and damage, climbing rapidly. After three hits, it was +8 to hit and damage. On 4 hits, it was +16 to hit and damage. As you can see, very few creatures could survive for very long under such an onslaught. Also, criticals could be rolled on a 15 or higher on a to hit roll. However, when the Deathbringer assault was activated, the warriors' AC was set to 10 and he had a -5 penalty to all of his saves. He also suffered a morale failure at times (5% chance on each attack roll IIRC) and would attack anybody... Including party members.

Most Deathbringer weapons were only +1 or +2 enchanted, rare exceptionals were highter or had other abilities, however, when the assault was activated, the + to hit did count to hit highly enchanted creatures. Once it hit +4 for example, he could hit Demi Liches... However, he would need to "warm up" first, like say, on a summoned creature in order to reach this level of enchantment, as his weapon would not strike said lich at first.

[Thorfinn]

That weapon sounds only marginally cursed. Give Fred, the 7th level sword specialist that weapon, give him an Oil of Speed, send him into a room, shut the door, wait for the noise to die down, and go in and collect the loot. So what if he is AC10? By the end of the first round, he is using a +16 sword, and by the end of the second round, it is a +256 sword...

[ 03-21-2003, 05:47 PM: Message edited by: Thorfinn ]

[Indemaijinj]

With ascension installed and a barbarian using the immunity combo. O_O

Oh the humanity!

[Butterfingers]

Well, it's not that simple. Powerful as a Deathbringer weapon might be, it was easy to defend against really.

A simple Dispell Magic, even a low level casting, could null the effect of the weapon. Protection from Magical Weapons could render it useless. The weapon's magical nature is considered Death Magic, and, casting Death Ward on your self or Death Watch on your whole party could also nullify the assault effects. Dead Magic Zones (Which could be common at high levels, especially if your party starts doing the Astral travel bit... which many high level parties do) made the sword nothing more then a hunk of metal. Also, if you missed a single attack, which is possible on a chancy critical miss, you lost the magic of the sword.

Keeping the weapon it self was dangerous. It drew attention of all sorts of powerful entities, all of whom wanted the weapon. Other fighters, demons, even Godlings.

Powerful as it might seem, the weapon had many drawbacks.

[Thorfinn]

Yes, there were ways of getting rid of the problem if you were a spellcaster and knew its weaknesses, oh, and happened to have the right spells memorized. And if you do cast it properly, it drops back to "just" a +2 sword, one smack away from being a +4 sword. If you did not have a spellcaster, though, or didn't think of it in the 2 rounds you have to live, or didn't happen to have the spell memorized, what then?

Regarding dead magic zones and astral travel, wouldn't that apply to the rest of your party's weapons and armor, too? Where is the special disadvantage there?

I do understand that many nasties would try to chase you down for it, but that sounds like free experience for the most part, particularly if you are a fighter-mage. One Stoneskin will protect you for a couple rounds, and once your sword gets to +16 or so, it is going to drop back to +2 only on a roll of a 1.

Besides, if it really does have that many disadvantages, why would so many powerful creatures want it?

[Butterfingers]

Well, not every hit makes the weapon come alive. It varies from 1 to 5%. Out of every 100 attacks, you might get the Deathbringer effect going just once.

As to why other things would want it, depends on what. Some would seek to have such a weapon destroyed. It is capable of slaying Gods. Others would want it for it self. Rumor says in the item description that the weapon feeds on death... And calls those to it that are capable of dealing it on a grand scale.

There was a whole table of extra effects, as well as curse effects, I no longer have those. It came from Dragon Magazine. Some weapons bleed the owner slowly over time. Others make the wielder age faster. Some, upon activation, cause the wielder to get level drained with every strike he makes. There was a a whole 1-100 listing of cursed effects. It's the random nature of what you get that can be quite bad. Or minor. Minor life drain is easily countered by a Ring of Regeneration, while items that protect you from level drain would counter other effects.There is not much that protects you from rapid aging however. A Human Fighter using one that caused you to age one full year for every strike upon activation would soon find himself an old man if he was not careful.

As it stated in the description, no owner of a Deathbringer has ever died of natural causes [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Link]

Originally posted by Thorfinn: Just so I understand, his only real disadvantage is he cannot use shield? As opposed to most fighter classes who tend to think that the shield is simply not worth giving up the extra attack?

Immune to both Charm, Emotion etcetera, but also to Healing, Cure Poison, Cure Disease spells AND to Strength. So that is quite a disadvantage if you ask me.

[Thorfinn]

Originally posted by Link: Quote: Originally posted by Thorfinn: Just so I understand, his only real disadvantage is he cannot use shield? As opposed to most fighter classes who tend to think that the shield is simply not worth giving up the extra attack?

Immune to both Charm, Emotion etcetera, but also to Healing, Cure Poison, Cure Disease spells AND to Strength. So that is quite a disadvantage if you ask me.[/QUOTE]That depends entirely on whether he can use items that duplicate those spells. If he cannot use potions of healing, or antidotes, or of health, or any of the of regeneration items, that is indeed a problem. But quite honestly, in the game the wife and I are playing, we have not taken a healing spell or a poison spell since Chateau Irenicus -- we just pop antidotes and pass around the rings of regen as needed. The Girdle of Hill Giant Strength is within spitting distance of Chateau Irenicus, so why bother with the wussy Strength spell? Not to mention that he is by definition a rolled up character, and will have exceptional strength, anyway. Everyone in our party would happily give up healing spells and poison spells for just immunity to psionics, let alone all the other bonuses...

Seriously, unless you take away the ability to use potions and items that have the same effects as the spells he has listed, this looks mostly like a laundry list to allow you to ignore for the most part the Improved Undead, the beholderkin, the illithids, the yuan ti mages, Improved Tor'Gal, Thrall Master, umber hulks, Koshi, Spirit Trolls, dragons, demons, demonic knights -- you know, pretty much everything in the game except kobolds...

[ 03-22-2003, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: Thorfinn ]