Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax May 10, 2004 19:14:52	I apologize if this is a discussion that hs been done to death already, I have done a fair bit of old-post reading after discovering these boards, but specifically with the XPH, I think there are some new elements to it. With the introduction of the epic spell system and now the new cerbremancer prestige class, do other people feel as I do, that the whole "advanced being" metamorphisis has lost some of it's appeal? Specifically, most of the special abilities and benefits that advanced beings gain are reproducable on a permanent basis with properly constructed epic spells at a fairly reasonable DC, and the benefit of progressing psionic levels and arcane levels at the same time (as most of the advanced being templates do) is now available with requirements far less than any of the pre-reqs for the different advanced being prestige class templates I've seen linked and discussed. I realize that by writing off the cerbermancer as a "broken" class, then it removes some of the issue. Now as to how this relates to the topic of the thread, I'd like to get people's opinion on ways that advanced beings should be able to link their awesome powers of magic and their mastery of psionic abilities together, with synergy instead of just addition. One thing I've seen discussed are allowing the combination of psicraft and spellcraft scores for figuring DC on epic spells. An idea I had that I haven't seen, my apoligies again if someone else has already put this forward, would be to allow the expenditure of PSP's as a DC reducing factor on the construction of epic spells, similar to the expenditure of XP points. One could argue that PSP's will just come back with rest, but my counter to that is the XP spent could probably be earned back with less time spent adventuring than it would take to restore the depleted PSP's. Another idea, non epic spell related, would be to allow advanced beings to use PSP's to augment spells via metamagic feats. An example would be instead of using a higher spell slot to memorize a maximized fireball, the spell could be cast out of a 3rd level spell slot but with the expenditure of some amount of PSP's instead of a higher spell slot. Or alternatively, they could give up spell slots in exchange for PSP's equal to manifesting a power of that level once per day. An advanced being doesn't need all of the 1st level spells they get each day, they could chose that half of them could be convereted to bonus PSP's instead. On a seperate note, what special benefits can avangions recieve to make them more comparable on a "powerfulness" basis to dragons. With the epic spell system, there are so many ways to augment stats, DR, SR, not to mention reduce DC's on those same epic spells, etc. that the concept of an avangion being more magically potent compared to a dragon's physical capabilities just doesn't work I don't think. I'd take a dragon with a breath weapon and a boatload of claw and bite attacks over a butterfly with an aura that isn't going to affect 90% of the things thrown against it. I'm thinking that perhaps some of the abilities of the arch mage, arch psion, or even incantrix prestige classes could be thrown into the mix. As I am fairly new to 3rd edition, and even newer to 3.5, if there are glaring things I am not understanding, any enlightenment is greatly appreciated.
#2 xlorepdarkhelm_dup May 10, 2004 19:26:10	... Look for threads on Advanced Beings, Dragons & Avangions, and countless others here on this forum. In them you will find many, possibly enlightening details you seek.
#3 zombiegleemax May 10, 2004 20:18:30	The simple solution is to bar non-advanced beings from using epic magic. I do like your spellcraft + psicraft idea, though.