Harbingers feats

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

Shei-Nad

Apr 10, 2006 22:24:05
Hey all. Long time no see. (Actually, no time so no see ;))

I was skimming through the threads and found my way to the Complete Psionics previews, and the preview of the Ectopic Form feats for astral constructs brought back an old idea I had scribbled earlier on how to bring Harbingers back into play D&D3e-wise. I wrote it down in words and made it resemble the structure of those feats.

Note that each feat has a statement regarding the harbinger's strength against ??? power and ??? construct. That's actually something I just added reading it now, but I don't have the time to have each harbinger correspond to a construct. Someone probably will here anyways. But the idea would be to have mind trust (flame) gain a +1 bonus against mind blank (forest) and so on, which I guess you figured out.

I'd like comments, good or bad, as ever. I don't use that system though, and moved on to something completely different, which I think best represents the books (with mindscape, harbingers, constructs and nothing astral), though this might be more appealing to D&D fans.

Constructs would follow the same mechanics, but I can't find those, though I'm pretty sure I had written draft rules for those too. hmm...

By the way, if you are unfamiliar with early AD&D Dark Sun mechanics, the above probably didn't make much sense.

Anyways, here:

HARBINGER [Psionic]

You have learned to shape your mental attacks for better effect.

Prerequisites: Know either ego whip, id insinuation, mind trust, psionic blast or psychic crush power.

Benefit: Your mental attack has a special effect.

Special: You can gain Harbinger multiple times. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new harbinger. You can only apply one harbinger feat to each mental attack power you manifest. The power to which a harbinger is linked is stated in the harbinger’s prerequisites.


Harbinger (Sword)

Your power takes on the shape of a sword, shearing through mental defenses to strike.

Prerequisite: Mind trust power

Benefit: When using the mind trust power, make a melee touch attack against your target, even if you are normally not within melee reach. If the attack is successful, you target suffers half damage on a successful Will save.
Addionally, the DC of your mind trust power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct

Normal: A successful will save against mind trust negates all damage.


Harbinger (Chatkcha)

Your power takes on the shape of a chatkcha, circumventing mental defenses to strike.

Prerequisite: Mind trust power

Benefit: When using the mind trust power, make a range touch attack against your target. If the attack is successful, you target suffers half damage on a successful Will save.
Addionally, the DC of your mind trust power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Normal: A successful will save against mind trust negates all damage.


Harbinger (Flame)

Your power takes on the shape of flames, burning through mental defenses.

Prerequisite: Mind trust power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your mind trust power, she must make another Will save against the save DC minus 2 or take 1d10 points of damage every round thereafter. She can make a new save each round against a new DC lowered by another 2 points for every round after the power was manifested to stop the damage.
Addionally, the DC of your mind trust power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Normal: A successful will save against mind trust negates all damage.

Harbinger (Incantation)

Your power takes on the form of an incantation, overwhelming mental defenses.

Prerequisite: Mind trust power

Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on manifester level checks to overcome power resistance when using the mind trust power.
Addionally, the DC of your mind trust power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Normal: A successful will save against mind trust negates all damage.

Harbinger (Templar)

Your power takes on the form of a templar, symbolizing betrayal and bringing down your opponent from within.

Prerequisite: Ego whip power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your ego whip power, she also becomes stunned for 1d4 rounds.
Addionally, the DC of your ego whip power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Noble)

Your power takes on the form of a noble, symbolizing scorn and exposing your opponent’s weaknesses to herself, making every task seem unsurmountable.

Prerequisite: Ego whip power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your ego whip power, she is also considered exhausted for 1d4 rounds.
Addionally, the DC of your ego whip power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Slave)

Your power takes on the form of a slave, symbolizing despair and defeat for your opponent.

Prerequisite: Ego whip power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your ego whip power, she also becomes cowered for 1d4 rounds.
Addionally, the DC of your ego whip power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Dragon)

Your power takes on the form of the Dragon, symbolizing horror and grief, terrorizing your opponent.

Prerequisite: Ego whip power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your ego whip power, she also becomes frightened for 1d4 rounds.
Addionally, the DC of your ego whip power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Wyvern)

Your power takes on the form of a wyvern, overcoming your target with rage.

Prerequisite: Id insinuation power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your id insinuation power, she cannot randomly attack you, and has a 40% chance of attacking the nearest creature.
Addionally, the DC of your id insinuation power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Scorpion)

Your power takes on the form of a scorpion, overcoming your target with a sense of impeding doom.

Prerequisite: Id insinuation power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your id insinuation power, she cannot randomly attack you, and has a 30% chance of fleeing from you.
Addionally, the DC of your id insinuation power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Crystal Spider)

Your power takes on the form of a crystal spider, debilitating your target with mental poison.

Prerequisite: Id insinuation power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your id insinuation power, she cannot randomly attack you, and has a 40% chance of doing nothing but babble incoherently.
Addionally, the DC of your id insinuation power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Silk Wyrm)

Your power takes on the form of a silk wyrm, slithering past your opponent’s mental defenses.

Prerequisite: Id insinuation power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your id insinuation power, she cannot randomly attack you, and has only a 5% chance of acting normally, but she has an additional 5% chance of commiting any other actions.
Addionally, the DC of your id insinuation power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Sand)

Your power takes on the form of a load of sand, crushing your opponent mental defenses beneath its weigth.

Prerequisite: Psychic crush power

Benefit: Your target must first make a Fortitude save against the DC of your power. If she fails this save, she does not gain her +4 bonus on the Will save against your power.
Addionally, the DC of your psychic crush power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Boulder)

Your power takes on the form of a large boulder, racing toward your opponent and smashing through her mental defenses.

Prerequisite: Psychic crush power

Benefit: Your target must first make a Reflex save against the DC of your power. If she fails this save, she does not gain her +4 bonus on the Will save against your power.
Addionally, the DC of your psychic crush power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Mekillot)

Your power takes on the form of a mekillot, steadily pushing back your opponent’s psyche and forcing its way through her mental defenses.

Prerequisite: Psychic crush power

Benefit: If your target succeeds at her Will save against this power, she is considered checked for one round. On her action, she can attempt to break free of this effect with another will save against the power’s DC (without a +4 bonus). However, if she remains checked and you manifest this power against that target on the following round, you gain a cumulative +1 bonus to your power’s DC.
Addionally, the DC of your psychic crush power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.


Harbinger (Silt Horror)

Your power takes on the form of a silt horror, grabbing hold of your opponent’s psyche and bringing down her mental defenses.

Prerequisite: Psychic crush power

Benefit: If your target succeeds at her Will save against this power, she is considered entangled for one round (but can still move at half speed, see entangled condition DMG p.300). On her action, she can attempt to break free of this effect with another will save against the power’s DC (without a +4 bonus). However, if she remains entangled and you manifest this power against that target on the following round, you gain a cumulative +1 bonus to your power’s DC.
Addionally, the DC of your psychic crush power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (So-Ut)

Your power takes on the form of a so-ut, rampaging through your opponents’ minds, leaving them agitated in the wake of your attack.

Prerequisite: Psionic blast power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your psionic blast power, she also becomes shaken for one round after the stun effect has ended for every round the stun effect lasted.
Addionally, the DC of your psionic blast power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Kirre)

Your power takes on the form of a kirre, stalking your opponents and haunting them with his feline grace and predatorial skills.

Prerequisite: Psionic blast power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your psionic blast power, she also becomes fascinated for one round after the stun effect has ended for every round the stun effect lasted.
Addionally, the DC of your psionic blast power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.


Harbinger (Tembo)

Your power takes on the form of a tembo, bringing down your opponents’ minds through malice and guile.

Prerequisite: Psionic blast power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your psionic blast power, she also becomes confused for one round after the stun effect has ended for every round the stun effect lasted.
Addionally, the DC of your psionic blast power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.

Harbinger (Sloth)

Your power takes on the form of a sloth, savagely hacking at your opponents’ minds leaving them winded by your mental attack.

Prerequisite: Psionic blast power

Benefit: If your target fails her save against your psionic blast power, she is also considered fatigued for one round after the stun effect has ended for every round the stun effect lasted.
Addionally, the DC of your psionic blast power is increased by 1 if your target manifested ???, and by 2 if it used the ??? construct.
#2

kalthandrix

Apr 10, 2006 22:37:26
I do not know about making each form a seperate feat- maybe it should be more like the bards ability- X ranks in Psicraft or Knowledge (psionics) gets you Y harbringer use able with Z power. Maybe make it a set of feats- maybe two for the defense mode harbringers and two for the attack mode.

I love this idea personally- I just ran TC and at the end the Lord Vardon manifested mindwipe and I regreat not playing that out a bit more (in my defense I would like to point out that it WAS 3 o'clock in the morning though).
#3

balican_gigolo

Apr 10, 2006 22:42:31
wow, I really dig this. I will be implementing this in my campaign!!
#4

squidfur-

Apr 11, 2006 1:37:22
to note - the malhavoc press book Hyperconscious deals with the use of mindscapes and their respective qualities (ie. equivalents of the harbinger rules)
#5

Shei-Nad

Apr 11, 2006 7:55:49
Hmm. I was not aware of that. Thanks for the note, squidfur.