Rebalancing Compendium [Rebalancing 3.5]

[RobbyPants]

Added Balance and Sense Motive as class skills to the fighter.

Added the cleric domains to a new Spell List section (which also contains the Generalist spell list)

Cleaned up the cleric entry.  They now get 4 skill points per level.

[ZeroSpace]

I got the Slayers D20 book a month or so ago, and it uses spellcasting system that seems... interesting. Each spell has a DC to it, which you roll against as a Fort save. How well you do on this determines how much drain damage (Nonlethal) you take, as well as whether you need to make a second control check to maintain the spell. If you fail it by enough, the spell also fatigues you, and spellcasting deals LETHAL damage while exhausted.

The only issue with the spellcasting in that book really is that fact that A) there is very little in the way of utility (it's mostly blasting), and B) the blasting is ridiculously charged up compared to regular dnd. An example, one of the trademark spells deals damage comparable to a Disintigrate to everything in a 100(!) ft radius, with a Fort save for half. Particularily amusing when you consider that the absolute lowest that save DC will be is 25, and likely to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 35.

But anyways, was just throwing that out to you for ideas, RobbyPants. Also, the user Fax Celestis on GitP is doing his own 3.5 rebuild; you may want to have a chat with him to sound off some ideas. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98722 That's the link to the thread.

[RobbyPants]

I'll have to take a look at it.

A while back I tried some house rule that would let you do simlar things with a Fort save.  As I expected, this made Divine casters even nastier because they get a good Fort progression.  Also, it seems hard to set a good DC at all spell levels becuase it can be easy to boost your Fort save enough to never or seldom fail.

I've always had a hard time using saves or skills to balance things like these.

____________

Also:
I started working on the PDF for this project.  It will still be a bit, but in the (relatively) near future, I'll post it.

[ZeroSpace]

Well, I think what they did for Slayers is jacked up the DC's for spellcasting big time. Sure there are a lot of boosters for casting, but needing to make a DC 20(!) fort save for basic spells offsets this somewhat. And if memory serves, the casting classes don't get strong fort saves. They do get to add their class level to those saves, but only for casting.

And oh yes, the spell I mentioned (the Dragonslave)? DC 50 to cast. Have a good day.

[RobbyPants]

I modified the wording of the half-elf to read: "A half-elf gains a human’s bonus skill point.  At first level, the half elf gains an extra four skill points and one extra skill point each level thereafter."

OW4 pointed out elsewhere that the old wording didn't technically give the same as the human's bonus skill points.

[RobbyPants]

Added new iterative rules.

[RobbyPants]

Alright!  The PDF is up! 

It's about 400KB, so I can't attach it here.  I've uploaded it at filefactory (you need to enter in a capcha code and follow two links to download it, but it's free, and I don't think you need an account.  Just click "download for free with filefactory basic").  Feel free to let me know of any better places to host this!

PDF Download

[Soda]

I hate being so anal, but someone has to list typos.

Monk's enlightened fist "a number of times per day equal to + the monks level". 3+ or just Monk level?

Immobilizing fist- capitalize 'Reflex'
Combat insight- cap  'Starting'
Extra space on Ki Reinforce- "+ 1d6 Force damage"
Diamond Body- some conditions are capped, some not.
Timeless body ends with 'Damage reduction increases by two'. I'm not sure what that's for.
Awe of 'perfection' cap.
Walk the path cap.

Paladin should probably list class skills since it's all new.

Paladin's turn undead is strangely 2+ Cha times per day.

Non-typo: I'm thinking Dodge should keep it's signature mechanic because a couple other things use it. I recommend changing it to a +2 vs the single dodge opponent.

Persistent Spell: 'Duration: Concentration' spells should be changed to "rounds/level + concentration" instead of "rounds/level".

Turn Undead- " ]healed "

I'll check the second half later.
More:

Blasphemy- stray period after DC

Inconsistency with the chart for force effects, as 0 level spells don't gain the special direct damage spell effects.

You should add an alternate to Cure Minor in the form of Stabilize, for DM's who don't want any free healing.

Cleric domains like Earth have Summon Monster but earth elementals are on the summon nature's ally list (starting at SNA 2).

Healing domain- "You may cast any Cure spell as a swift." action
Healing domain abilities are a little overlap-y. Cure Moderate heals 1d4 ability damage, but at 3rd level you could heal 3 ability damage to everyone within 30 feet. Possibly the healing domain power could instead add Cha mod to turn undead healing or something like that. So the Cure line gets to heal ability damage and feel special.

Protection- "you can prevent up to 1d6 damage per cleric level to any ally within 30 feet of you from a single attack."

[RobbyPants]

Soda, thanks for listing those.  I'm glad you did.  I caught some myself, but there's a lot of material to read through, and after a while I start reading what I want to be there, and not what's actually there.   When I get some time, I'll fix them and re-upload the new version.

Also, does anybody know of a good place to host a 1/2 MB file for free?  Filefactory only seems to allow access some of the time, which can be a real pain in the ass.

[AlterFrom]

Dropbox (in my sig) lets you create "public" links to files in your Dropbox. I'd offer to host it off my account, but I get another 250 MB of storage if I refer someone else in (as does the refee). 

I'm trying to find if there's a filesize limit right now.

[RobbyPants]

Thanks.  I'll look into that later.  Right now it's about 420 KB, but I'm sure it could grow.

[RobbyPants]

Modified Shield Specialization.  Removed the big boost to AC and replaced with a blocking mechanic.

[RobbyPants]

Well, let's see if this new PDF link works!  Let me know if you have any problems.

[AlterFrom]

Works for me. And I got 250 more MB of storage. 

[RobbyPants]

Yeah, it works great for me on a different computer too.  Thanks!

[Midnight_v]

1. Is it possible to add pictures? I mean to the Pdf. I don't know how all that works yet sadly.
2. Orcs should have a + 4 bonus to intimidate otherwise  they're just breaking even for taking the -4 to charisma if I'm not mistaken.

Collary as to why I asked about pictures: Adding pictures means we've essentially made a product nearly equal to the "pathfinder" changes and it's a free download. YAY! Robbypants goes in for the kill. 

[RobbyPants]

1. Is it possible to add pictures? I mean to the Pdf. I don't know how all that works yet sadly. 

It wouldn't be hard, but it would drastically increase the file size.  Basically, I just write the thing up in Word, and I have a printer driver (PDFCreator) to export the thing to PDF.

My only concern is how it works to use copywrited images.  I don't have time to create my own artwork, and even then, I'm only so good and most anything I do is black and white pencil.  What were you thinking about pictures?  Stuff from existing WotC books?

2. Orcs should have a + 4 bonus to intimidate otherwise  they're just breaking even for taking the -4 to charisma if I'm not mistaken. 

They have a -2 Cha, so they net a +1.  Although, I'm not sure they need the -2 Cha, since it was removed from half orcs.  I could go on about whether or not you need three -2's to balance a single +4, but as we all know, penalties to anything other than Con almost never matter because you'll simply pick a class that isn't affected by those penalties.  So, really, all the -2 to Cha does is say that orcs shouldn't be bards, sorcerers, and paladins; it doesn't weaken the race.

Collary as to why I asked about pictures: Adding pictures means we've essentially made a product nearly equal to the "pathfinder" changes and it's a free download. YAY! Robbypants goes in for the kill. 

That's funny.  Until you mentioned it, I never even considered "competing" against Pathfinder.

[Midnight_v]

They have a -2 Cha, so they net a +1.

    Doh'!
What was i thinking. .. ah well.

My only concern is how it works to use copywrited images.

Hmm... well... I'm thinking you can use copywrited images as long as you make a bibliography(or whatever that annoying credit thing from college english is called)  and as long as you're not actually "SELLING" the product. Otherwise you have to clear all the art. On that same note, more than likely... we could just ask around and get permissions frankly somewhere there's an artist out there dying for the publicity. Of course I could be looking from a wrong angle with this entire question...  if so forgive me I think I'm having some kinda weird day anyway.

That's funny.  Until you mentioned it, I never even considered "competing" against Pathfinder.

Well... Welcome to earth.
.................................................................................................

 O..k... Seriously, though while I never stated that or even had thought of itas a goal anywhere, on some level I know that all they did for changes was jimmy with the classes and add a few house rules. Not really adressing the overall balance issues or the overpowered ness of some classes...
Following that they threw it outthere for open playest/"Very" limited critisicm.

So on some level both they and we did a simlar thing: a rules revision.
Thing is we never plan to charge people for it, it just out of love. Love to make a better game.
We aren't competing with them, but as far as variant 3.5 systems.
We end up being kind of a Non-profit competitor.
....course again... I've been awake for 22 1/2 hours now so it maybe the exaustion talking.
*damn* I gotta sleep. See you in 6hrs.
M_v

[veekie]

For the art, ask around DeviantArt if you see a piece you like, some artists would be happy to let you use their stuff just by crediting them.

[crashy75]

...

Also, does anybody know of a good place to host a 1/2 MB file for free?  Filefactory only seems to allow access some of the time, which can be a real pain in the ass.

Mediafire.com works pretty well.