Mystaran Immortals

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

zombiegleemax

Jun 26, 2005 23:47:19
I am interested in converting immortals to d&d3E rules, and came up with a few problems. I looked at the "rise of the immortals" pdf document at The Lighthouse, but there are some things there which seem against the spirit of the original immortal rules.

1. What happens to the mortal levels and hit dice that the character had ? are they totally lost ? this seems right according to od&d immortal rules, but against 3e ones.
2. Okay. lets say a mortal had the two weapon fighting feat. As an immortal, can he wield two weapons as easily ? or did his feat fade away ? If that seems logical, what about metamagic, or item creation feats ? are they just wasted ?
3. Immortal (and divine ,for that matter) rules, have meaning only if there is some upper limit to mortal power. Now, suppose the upper limit is 26th level, 28th level, or whatever. What about creatures that have a higher ECL ? a level 23 epic dragon barabrian is the equal of a level 60 barbarian (or something, I dont quite remember), and a level 60 barabarian can crunch immortals for breakfast. Once again, ECL brings a major headache.

I think several changes are needed in the lighthouse immortals, to make them more 3e compatible, but I couldn't think of any solutions to the problems above.
#2

Cthulhudrew

Jun 27, 2005 3:51:27
I haven't read the conversion guidelines at the Lighthouse, so I can't really comment on those, but I will give some advice as to how I'd handle things:

1. What happens to the mortal levels and hit dice that the character had ? are they totally lost ? this seems right according to od&d immortal rules, but against 3e ones.

I'd go with the basic rules base provided in the 3E Deities and Demigods book, which had God/Immortal levels in addition to the basic character class levels. IE, a 26th level mortal and a 4th level Initiate (for example) would have the full 26 HD from his mortal classes, plus his Immortal HD.

2. Okay. lets say a mortal had the two weapon fighting feat. As an immortal, can he wield two weapons as easily ? or did his feat fade away ? If that seems logical, what about metamagic, or item creation feats ? are they just wasted ?

Again, I'd use the D&D book as a base, and have the character keep all abilities and feats gained from mortal classes.

3. Immortal (and divine ,for that matter) rules, have meaning only if there is some upper limit to mortal power. Now, suppose the upper limit is 26th level, 28th level, or whatever. What about creatures that have a higher ECL ? a level 23 epic dragon barabrian is the equal of a level 60 barbarian (or something, I dont quite remember), and a level 60 barabarian can crunch immortals for breakfast. Once again, ECL brings a major headache.

That's a tough one. Don't have any advice here.
#3

zombiegleemax

Jun 28, 2005 15:23:02
About question (2)
Immortals can cast any spell, whenever they want, by expending TP.
This is a standard action, with no material, somatic or verbal components (no focuses or XP either), and thats what is called "Immortal Magic". How can mortal metamagic feats be of any use here ? and for that matter, spellcaster levels seem useless too, not just metamagic (or item creation) feats.
Actually this is my biggest problem. All the rest can be solved somehow, but I can't see any way to solve this one by keeping both od&d and d&d3e mindsets.
#4

Traianus_Decius_Aureus

Jun 28, 2005 16:56:21
About question (2)
Immortals can cast any spell, whenever they want, by expending TP.
This is a standard action, with no material, somatic or verbal components (no focuses or XP either), and thats what is called "Immortal Magic". How can mortal metamagic feats be of any use here ? and for that matter, spellcaster levels seem useless too, not just metamagic (or item creation) feats.
Actually this is my biggest problem. All the rest can be solved somehow, but I can't see any way to solve this one by keeping both od&d and d&d3e mindsets.

My thoughts are that metamagic should add to the TP cost of the spell. For example a 5th level spell that is metamagicked 2 levels higher should be considered a 7th level spell for TP costs. Spellcaster level should perhaps be the 20 + Immortal level + any relevant caster level- thus an Initiate 4, who had 20 levels of sorceror could cast a magic-missile as a 44th level caster. The same Initiate casting a clerical spell (without any cleric levels) would only be a 24th level caster. In addition, Immortals may continue to memorize/cast spells as they could when they were mortals. So magic-using immortals could have spells available regardless of their TP. Non-spellcasting Immortals would & should be more limited in that area.

It's been awhile since I looked at the immortal rules, so this may need to be tweaked
#5

zombiegleemax

Jun 28, 2005 19:04:39
My thoughts are that metamagic should add to the TP cost of the spell. For example a 5th level spell that is metamagicked 2 levels higher should be considered a 7th level spell for TP costs. Spellcaster level should perhaps be the 20 + Immortal level + any relevant caster level- thus an Initiate 4, who had 20 levels of sorceror could cast a magic-missile as a 44th level caster. The same Initiate casting a clerical spell (without any cleric levels) would only be a 24th level caster.

Very nice !! thats a great idea. Thanks

In addition, Immortals may continue to memorize/cast spells as they could when they were mortals. So magic-using immortals could have spells available regardless of their TP. Non-spellcasting Immortals would & should be more limited in that area.

That was also one of my problems. In my opinion, such spells should still be mortal magic, not immortal. After all, the immortal casts them using the magical forces, not his own Power. Which brings up the option to "lace" them with a bit of power to make them stronger, perhaps.

Thanks, Decius. Your post gave me ideas about other problems I had with the immortal rules, as well. once I was , but now I am :D