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Galuf the Dwarf
Senior Scribe
USA
715 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Oct 2012 : 22:13:34
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I was thinking this to myself not too long ago while my internet was out (my laptop had been having IP conflicts with my household's router). Anyways, I thought about the potential for improvements or variants for the spell Iron Body from the 3.5 Edition PHB, especially after seeing the Stone Body spell reprinted in the Spell Compendium. I decided to try my hand at making homebrew spells for adamantine and mithral variants of Iron Body.  Tell me what you think.
Adamantine Body
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 min/level
Description: This spell functions like Iron Body, except as follows:
- Your damage reduction is 25/adamantine instead of 15.
- Your enhancement bonus to Strength is +8 instead of +6
- Your unarmed attacks increase by one die size (1d4 to 1d6, 1d6 to 1d8, etc.) for damage rolls. They also overcome damage reduction as adamantine weapons.
Material Component: A piece of adamantine that used to be part of an adamantine golem, a hero's armor, or a war machine.
Mithral Body
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 min/level
Description: This spell functions like Iron Body, except as follows:
- Your Dexterity score is only reduced by 2 rather than 6, and your speed remains normal. You also only take a -3 armor check penalty and have a 40% chance of arcane spell failure.
- Your weight only increases by a factor of five rather than ten.
Material Component: A small piece of mithral that once belonged to a mithral golem, a hero's armor, or a war machine.
You guys don't think it's too powerful for a level 9 arcane spell, do you? 
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Galuf's Baldur's Gate NPC stats: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8823
Galuf's 3.5 Ed. Cleric Domains: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14036
Galuf's Homebrew 4th Edition Races: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13787
Galuf's Homebrew Specialty Priest PrCs: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14353
Galuf's Forgotten Realms Heralds and Allies thread: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8766 |
Edited by - Galuf the Dwarf on 13 Oct 2012 15:28:57
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12055 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2012 : 23:33:34
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I love these, I'd just make one minor tweak to the adamantine one. Making the damage reduction 25/adamantine is a bit much. However, keeping it at 15/adamantine would kind of suck. However, how about you keep the 15/adamantine and add secondary damage resistance 5/- (such that you only have 15/adamantine against other weapons, but even against adamantine you reduce the damage by 5).
This would be a great metal mage's spell repertoire. Some other lower level versions nearing the level of stone body
copper body - maybe having some ability to absorb and transfer fire and electricity? Make the damage reduction something like 5/adamantine or magic. (this could be like a 4th lvl effect)
Silver body - similar to stone body, but your attacks are treated as silver. The damage reduction would be less as well (this could maybe be a 5th lvl affect).
other ideas, tin body, lead body, magnesium body, mercury body |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Galuf the Dwarf
Senior Scribe
USA
715 Posts |
Posted - 11 Oct 2012 : 01:55:37
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
I love these, I'd just make one minor tweak to the adamantine one. Making the damage reduction 25/adamantine is a bit much. However, keeping it at 15/adamantine would kind of suck. However, how about you keep the 15/adamantine and add secondary damage resistance 5/- (such that you only have 15/adamantine against other weapons, but even against adamantine you reduce the damage by 5).
So, that's all that's awry with it, eh? What about just have the DR increase to 20 instead of 25, then? Still too much?
quote:
This would be a great metal mage's spell repertoire. Some other lower level versions nearing the level of stone body
I agree on the first part. Trobriand the Metal Mage in Undermountain might make exceptional use of such. 
quote:
copper body - maybe having some ability to absorb and transfer fire and electricity? Make the damage reduction something like 5/adamantine or magic. (this could be like a 4th lvl effect)
Could work. 
quote:
Silver body - similar to stone body, but your attacks are treated as silver. The damage reduction would be less as well (this could maybe be a 5th lvl affect).
That sounds about right.
quote:
other ideas, tin body, lead body, magnesium body, mercury body
I don't know about any other than Mercury (and even then, that'd likely be a lot like Amorphous Form), but I was also thinking about Arandur Body, Cold Iron Body, Darksteel Body, Darkwood Body, Duskwood Body, Hizagkuur Body and Platinum Body. |
Galuf's Baldur's Gate NPC stats: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8823
Galuf's 3.5 Ed. Cleric Domains: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14036
Galuf's Homebrew 4th Edition Races: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13787
Galuf's Homebrew Specialty Priest PrCs: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14353
Galuf's Forgotten Realms Heralds and Allies thread: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8766 |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12055 Posts |
Posted - 11 Oct 2012 : 06:30:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Galuf the Dwarf
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
I love these, I'd just make one minor tweak to the adamantine one. Making the damage reduction 25/adamantine is a bit much. However, keeping it at 15/adamantine would kind of suck. However, how about you keep the 15/adamantine and add secondary damage resistance 5/- (such that you only have 15/adamantine against other weapons, but even against adamantine you reduce the damage by 5).
So, that's all that's awry with it, eh? What about just have the DR increase to 20 instead of 25, then? Still too much?
quote:
This would be a great metal mage's spell repertoire. Some other lower level versions nearing the level of stone body
I agree on the first part. Trobriand the Metal Mage in Undermountain might make exceptional use of such.
quote:
copper body - maybe having some ability to absorb and transfer fire and electricity? Make the damage reduction something like 5/adamantine or magic. (this could be like a 4th lvl effect)
Could work.
quote:
Silver body - similar to stone body, but your attacks are treated as silver. The damage reduction would be less as well (this could maybe be a 5th lvl affect).
That sounds about right.
quote:
other ideas, tin body, lead body, magnesium body, mercury body
I don't know about any other than Mercury (and even then, that'd likely be a lot like Amorphous Form), but I was also thinking about Arandur Body, Cold Iron Body, Darksteel Body, Darkwood Body, Duskwood Body, Hizagkuur Body and Platinum Body.
Yeah, I had thought about increasing the DR to 20/adamantine and while simpler in design.... it becomes a problem for powerful creatures whose natural attacks quite simply aren't going to do 20 points of dmg per hit. For a single level upjump, you're seriously increasing the DR. That's why I recommended a secondary DR. It basically gives you some damage reduction if someone DOES have an adamantine weapon without having to provide it by another means.
Lead body I was just generally thinking something like iron body, with a lot fewer enhancements (i.e. slower, less strength) but actually a larger physical damage when you hit (you've got a lot of kinetic potential in motion). It'd be relatively low level.
Tin body would simply be the introduction to the series, with no dmg reduction whatsoever, no strength bonus, just the base immunities and all the hindrances (less dex, arcane casting failure, etc...). Tin body could be like 2nd lvl or something.
Magnesium body would simply be something like a combination of iron body with fire shield and also providing some kind of blinding and maybe fire dmg added to physical attacks (i.e. magnesium is rarely found in nature uncombined... its basically what's used in road flares). Increase the arcane failure chance and make the character actually take minor fire dmg every round as his body burns.
Mercury body would be something akin to amorphous form. However, mercury itself is highly poisonous. Therefore, this ability would be a lot different than the other metal bodies (it might provide dex bonuses instead of str, the physical damage may actually just be replaced with a poison attack, etc...).
I wouldn't recommend the "wood body" affects, as those feel more druidic. However, the idea of Arandur, darksteel, and Hizagkuur would indeed make for interesting realms materials. Particularly if you link them with their earlier 2E effects and not just those of MoF. The problem comes that those metals are all superior to iron, so you're just coming up with more 9th level (or higher) spells. The only one I'd truly recommend researching as a viable one is the Hizagkuur one... and that only because in "Volo's guide to All Things Magical" this metal is treated as magic reflective (i.e. all magic cast is 100% turned upon its source). If you reduced the efficacy of the iron body stuff (i.e. less strength, less dmg reduction, less physical dmg, greater arcane spell failure) but built in some kind of spell reflection it'd be a very interesting spell. You'd have to take into account that there would be people willing to add still spell to their spells and try to set this as some kind of semi-permanent effect, so I'd recommend something like it turn so many spell levels and then the whole effect is gone or something similar. In the end though, you'd have a definitely different spell but similiar enough in its idea that all of these could be a commonality to "metal mages".
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Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12055 Posts |
Posted - 11 Oct 2012 : 06:35:08
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| Oh, and btw, as I spoke about people with the still spell idea. The lower level effects might actually become highly useful to some people who might also have metamagic feats like persistence. So, while that tin body might sound so-so.... to someone who is willing to persist it into say an 8th/9th lvl spell so that they are like that around the clock, it could be interesting. Of course, all their spells then have to be stilled OR they find some way to reduce the spell failure rate... but who knows, they might find a way around that too. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 11 Oct 2012 : 09:27:21
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How about Heavenly Body?
It makes you impervious to damage by the opposite sex.  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12055 Posts |
Posted - 11 Oct 2012 : 13:34:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
How about Heavenly Body?
It makes you impervious to damage by the opposite sex.
Yes, but it does drain you physically.... repeatedly |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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An idea for variants/improvements for Iron Body
