Værn's Thread of D&D Goodness
As I'm sure you probably already know, D&D itself is a tabletop pen & paper role-playing game upon which several video games (such as Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, and, of course, D&D Online) are based.
What makes the tabletop game so awesome? House rules. The ability to change game mechanics (such as giving spellcasters a power point system like psionics in place of their traditional system), create your own spells, and even make your own class from scratch. My group mainly plays 3.5, but even in 4E (which seems significantly less open-ended in terms of customization) all of the possibilities to create things from scratch still exist.
Example of me abusing house rules!My personal favorite exploit of house rules involves the Vicious weapon enchantment.
The spell required to place the enchantment uses a massive amount of negative energy to suppress the target's life force. The enchantment itself deals a large amount untyped damage to anything it touches, plus a bit a untyped damage to the person wielding the weapon.
I convinced the DM of one game to agree that the enchantment should deal negative energy damage since it's what spell utilizes. Negative energy harms living creatures and heals undead. My character was treated as undead for the purpose of healing; positive energy hurt him and negative energy heal him as though he was undead. The character wore a Vicious gauntlet, so he dealt massive amounts of damage as he healed himself every round from the weapon's "drawback".
(I'm pretty sure the DM only let me get away with it because everyone else's characters were twinked hardcore, whereas mine actually had a valid background story that he was built around and needed something to balance him a bit more with everyone else.)
So. Anyways. The main purpose of the thread. One of my friends is running a 3.5 game where he's requiring everyone to make a custom class or race. I've already had one made for a long time now, but it was mostly made just as a joke (though it's actually balanced and he's already approved it). However, I decided that I might as well make a more serious class since everyone else is taking forever with theirs.
I've already got the basics for it. The class is a chronomancer. All of its spells are going to be somehow time-related. The class uses a power point system like the psionic classes for casting spells; since all of its spells will somehow warp time, certain spells that have a major impact on the timeline will have a chance of generating points of paradox.
Værn's Chronomancer Paradox SummaryAfter a chronomancer rests to restore spell points, any paradox points that (s)he has accumulated is immediately subtracted from his or her spell point pool; if (s)he has an amount of paradox equal to or greater than his/her maximum spell points, (s)he is shunted into an alternate timeline where any of the severe changes (s)he made to his/her home timeline would have occurred naturally. In order to return, the chronomancer's party (on their home timeline) must reverse the changes made by the chronomancer to reduce his/her paradox below its maximum limit, then use a limited wish/miracle spell to pull the chronomancer back to their timeline.
So. With the paradox mechanic in mind, I need ideas for time-related spells for the class. I found a chronomancer class online and I'm pulling a couple of the more interesting things off of its spell list, but I want to collect as many ideas as I can.
I want to avoid having anything that reduces paradox; I want it to be a severe consequence for warping reality that can only be cured by reversing the chronomancer's actions, like how paladins permanently lose all of their abilities if they commit an evil act unless they can atone for it properly. I am, however, trying to think of a way that I can make a spell that has a greater effect if the chronomancer has more paradox.
Main Topic: What are some good spell ideas for a chronomacer?
Secondary Topic: If you play D&D often, what kind of house rules (if any) does your group play with?
Tertiary Topic: What do you like or dislike in general about D&D and/or D&D-based games?
