Combat Talents

The Warrior of Many Faces wrote:Sounds like somepony's thinking Druid. These look good conceptually; I especially like Budding Seed, it reminds me of Leech Seed from Pokemon. The main thing I think this needs is polishing to make it a little less wordy; unfortunately, I can't think of how to do it. I do recommend making the Plantling's "takes a turn to grow" thing a Trait rather than stating it in the attack description. Additionally, I think Grow either needs to have a higher PiP cost or it needs to not have all those benefits at once. Heck, just making the effects have 1d6 healed, 1d10 permanent HP, and 1d6 increase to Strike would help, since there's an element of chance in there.

The thing is, it already skips a turn, and it has to use protect twice to activate grow, requiring 3+1/2 turns of putting itself in danger both to aoe attack and direct attacks, to use grow. That, and the skill is already rather costly for a conjuration that can easily get killed on a high roll.

I've edited it a bit now, turn skipping is now a trait called "grow", the self-buff is now "blossom".

edit edit: Updated the budding seed description.

Wasn't really sure where to put this, so here it is.
As much as I like strong skills, I think Perfect Focus might be too strong currently.
I mean, you gain resist 3 with a decent chance of gaining +4 instead of +2. The only other +4 talents have some kind of drawback to them, like 4d8 damage (4-28) or ending your next turn stunned.
Thus I propose that the extra PiPs gain should be removed from Perfect Focus, replaced instead by refreshing the resist 3 until the end of the following turn.
So from this:

[+2] Perfect Focus [Inspired by LoganAura]
You gain resist 3 until the end of your next turn. At the start of your next turn, if you have not taken damage since you last used this ability, you gain 2 more pips.

To this:

[+2] Perfect Focus [Inspired by LoganAura]
You gain resist 3 until the end of your next turn. At the start of your next turn, if you have not taken damage since you last used this ability, the resist 3 continues until the start of your following turn.

Thoughts?

Quietkal wrote:Wasn't really sure where to put this, so here it is.

You're perfectly fine posting it here. Welcome to the forums!

Quietkal wrote:As much as I like strong skills, I think Perfect Focus might be too strong currently.

Yeah, I worry about that too.

Quietkal wrote:I mean, you gain resist 3 with a decent chance of gaining +4 instead of +2. The only other +4 talents have some kind of drawback to them, like 4d8 damage (4-28) or ending your next turn stunned.

Very true. However, if you do take damage - all you've done with your turn is effectively given yourself 3 temporary hitpoints for 2 pips. That's a really terrible deal. Sure, you have extra resistance on top of it still - but after you take damage the enemies will probably target your allies. So the upside is huge, while the downside is painful. I'm hoping that abalances out.

Quietkal wrote:Thus I propose that the extra PiPs gain should be removed from Perfect Focus, replaced instead by refreshing the resist 3 until the end of the following turn.
So from this:

[+2] Perfect Focus [Inspired by LoganAura]
You gain resist 3 until the end of your next turn. At the start of your next turn, if you have not taken damage since you last used this ability, you gain 2 more pips.

To this:

[+2] Perfect Focus [Inspired by LoganAura]
You gain resist 3 until the end of your next turn. At the start of your next turn, if you have not taken damage since you last used this ability, the resist 3 continues until the start of your following turn.

Thoughts?

This is a potentially interesting idea, but there's an issue with it. The issue is that it doesn't just make Perfect Focus weaker, as you intend, it also changes the role of the power.

Perfect Focus as is throws a catch 22 at the enemies. It gives them an incentive to damage you, but also gives you resistance against the damage. It can protect your allies by drawing blows to you and can also ensure you can take a bit of a beating - extra pips or not. Plus, the current version can be effectively used multiple turns in a row, the version you propose would become almost meaningless if you don't take damage.

I'm definitely concerned Perfect Focus might be too strong, but if we weaken it we should be sure to keep what we like about the talent too.

[-4] Contaminate
Target an enemy that is currently suffering from ongoing damage or Vulnerability. The target and all adjacent enemies take 1d10+4 damage. Flip a coin for any non-adjacent creatures to see if they suffer damage as well.

[-2] Pure Skill
For your next ability that rolls a die, treat the highest die as though it rolled it's highest possible value, without triggering a special move. This move can be used multiple times to affect additional dies, but all of them are used up/wasted when you use an ability thats roll a die. This effect is lost if you are knocked unconscious. This cannot affect dies rolled as part of special moves.

Examples
"Judo Throw" uses 3d12 for damage:
- Using "Pure Skill" and then Judo Throw converts it into 2d12+12 damage (You can roll special moves from the remaining dies).
- Using "Pure Skill" twice in a row and then Judo Throw converts it into d12+24 damage.
- Using "Pure Skill" four times would convert the Judo Throw to a flat 36 damage (without special moves), but since there is only 3 dies, you would waste one use of "pure skill".
- Using "Pure Skill" with "Miracle" (4d12 healing) causes it to heal for 3d12+12.)

Zarhon wrote:[-4] Contaminate
Target an enemy that is currently suffering from ongoing damage or Vulnerability. The target and all adjacent enemies take 1d10+4 damage. Flip a coin for any non-adjacent creatures to see if they suffer damage as well.

[-2] Pure Skill
For your next ability that rolls a die, treat the highest die as though it rolled it's highest possible value, without triggering a special move. This move can be used multiple times to affect additional dies, but all of them are used up/wasted when you use an ability thats roll a die. This effect is lost if you are knocked unconscious. This cannot affect dies rolled as part of special moves.

Examples
"Judo Throw" uses 3d12 for damage:
- Using "Pure Skill" and then Judo Throw converts it into 2d12+12 damage (You can roll special moves from the remaining dies).
- Using "Pure Skill" twice in a row and then Judo Throw converts it into d12+24 damage.
- Using "Pure Skill" four times would convert the Judo Throw to a flat 36 damage (without special moves), but since there is only 3 dies, you would waste one use of "pure skill".
- Using "Pure Skill" with "Miracle" (4d12 healing) causes it to heal for 3d12+12.)

Hmm, Pure Skill needs some clarification. Is it a free action? Or an immediate interrupt that triggers before you use an ability? I'm thinking it's actually a standard action judging by how you wrote it. So let's try this:

[-2(X)] Pure Skill
For your next ability treat the next die roll as though it rolled it's highest possible value, without triggering a special move. This move can be used multiple times to affect additional die rolls of a your next combat talent.

[quote="SilentBelle"]

Zarhon wrote:Hmm, Pure Skill needs some clarification. Is it a free action? Or an immediate interrupt that triggers before you use an ability? I'm thinking it's actually a standard action judging by how you wrote it. So let's try this:

[-2(X)] Pure Skill
For your next ability treat the next die roll as though it rolled it's highest possible value, without triggering a special move. This move can be used multiple times to affect additional die rolls of a your next combat talent.

Yes, I intended it to be a standard action (but it only lasts until you roll a die or your knocked unconscious, allowing chaining and providing a risk to using it), similar to how "Meditate" works right now.

As for the suggestion, I like it, but I'm not sure if it isn't overpowered or exploitable, being able to use it all at once.

Also, it's not specified if unused charges can be wasted or are "saved" until the next application (e.g. if you decided to heal somepony with 2 dies instead of using a 3-die attack, would you still 1 die left over?).

Pure Skill seems, well, absolutely useless in my opinion. It doesn't trigger a special, and from a statistical standpoint you're doing less damage than if you were to simply use that move twice, since a 1d10 has an average of 5.5). And if you were to use this for something like Frostfall, that would require 13 PiPs total (6+7), which means you need 3 turns to build up those PiPs (discounting moves like Deal with Discord), 3 turns (with the original power, 1 with SilentBelle's suggestion) to build up the charges, and one turn to actually USE the power. That's 6 turns of doing what is pretty much absolutely nothing.

Videocrazy wrote:Pure Skill seems, well, absolutely useless in my opinion. It doesn't trigger a special, and from a statistical standpoint you're doing less damage than if you were to simply use that move twice, since a 1d10 has an average of 5.5). And if you were to use this for something like Frostfall, that would require 13 PiPs total (6+7), which means you need 3 turns to build up those PiPs (discounting moves like Deal with Discord), 3 turns (with the original power, 1 with SilentBelle's suggestion) to build up the charges, and one turn to actually USE the power. That's 6 turns of doing what is pretty much absolutely nothing.

You raise a really good point. Perhaps it should be a free action I think it would work better. It would certainly be a lot more useful, and if you think about it, it's essentially doing a +4, +5 or +6 bonus to damage depending on the die, while negating the chance of a special move. Personally, the only moves I would use it on would be Fireswath, Ignite, or fireball. Honestly, I probably wouldn't use it on any move that uses more than one die roll.

I just got a new idea for a talent and I'm not certain if there is any way to actually balance it because we build monsters so differently from how we build player combat talents. It's inspired by the Blue Mage from Final Fantasy:

[-1] Give and Take - Immediate reaction
Trigger: You are attacked by an enemy
The attack that triggered Give and Take now replaces Give and Take and can be used by you until end of combat.

SilentBelle wrote:I just got a new idea for a talent and I'm not certain if there is any way to actually balance it because we build monsters so differently from how we build player combat talents. It's inspired by the Blue Mage from Final Fantasy:

[-1] Give and Take - Immediate reaction
Trigger: You are attacked by an enemy
The attack that triggered Give and Take now replaces Give and Take and can be used by you until end of combat.

This one almost requires the Scan talent, or you won't know what the PiP cost is. Also, if it's based off the Blue Mage, shouldn't this be any combat talent that affects the user? An attack would be something that does direct damage, IIRC, but Blue Magic can also be used to learn things like Bad Breath and White Wind.

Videocrazy wrote:

SilentBelle wrote:I just got a new idea for a talent and I'm not certain if there is any way to actually balance it because we build monsters so differently from how we build player combat talents. It's inspired by the Blue Mage from Final Fantasy:

[-1] Give and Take - Immediate reaction
Trigger: You are attacked by an enemy
The attack that triggered Give and Take now replaces Give and Take and can be used by you until end of combat.

This one almost requires the Scan talent, or you won't know what the PiP cost is. Also, if it's based off the Blue Mage, shouldn't this be any combat talent that affects the user? An attack would be something that does direct damage, IIRC, but Blue Magic can also be used to learn things like Bad Breath and White Wind.

True, it would just be a gamble when you decide to use the move without scanning. I figured that this move should stay strictly to damage-dealing moves as I thought that might be easier to balance. But yeah, on second glance, I could change the trigger to: "You are affected by an enemy talent". Though it definitely should stay as enemy moves only. I also have it as a reaction because stealing a stun move would most likely be unfair.

Honestly, I'm pretty much certain that this move can't be balanced properly because monsters have such a variety in their pip-usage. Though if the DM knows that you are using it they could tweak monsters to compensate. That's a fair amount of extra work though.

Videocrazy wrote:Pure Skill seems, well, absolutely useless in my opinion. It doesn't trigger a special, and from a statistical standpoint you're doing less damage than if you were to simply use that move twice, since a 1d10 has an average of 5.5). And if you were to use this for something like Frostfall, that would require 13 PiPs total (6+7), which means you need 3 turns to build up those PiPs (discounting moves like Deal with Discord), 3 turns (with the original power, 1 with SilentBelle's suggestion) to build up the charges, and one turn to actually USE the power. That's 6 turns of doing what is pretty much absolutely nothing.

The point of the talent though is to ensure your skill has a good amount of damage exactly when you need it, regardless of how badly you roll. Sometimes, you don't need a special so much as you need a big damage output (e.g. if your special is healing, but everyone is already topped, or similar effects that aren't useful at that moment). Imagine if you rolled 3-5 damage on something like Judo Throw (3d12 damage), or on any similar skill that costs a huge amount of pips and has no flat damage value. With "pure skill", you could be certain you'd have a decent amount of damage AND still have two chances for a special attack. It's value for multi-die abilities is to sacrifice a special but still have a chance of getting a special on the other dies. This ability is fantastic for use with healers with PiPs to spare.

However, I can see that the long turns are very limiting. Perhaps one of these would work? I also added an extra incentive to using it.

[-2] Pure Skill - Free Action
You can only use this ability before using another ability, to do one of the following (player choice):
- If the ability has die rolls, you treat the highest die as though it rolled it's highest possible value, without triggering a special move.
- You ignore the effects of blindness and weakness for that abilities use.
Pure Skill can be used multiple times for a single ability, provided you can pay the extra PiP cost. This ability cannot affect special moves.

(e.g. using it with "Punishing Blow", you can either deal a flat 12 damage instead of a d12, or do a d12 that isn't affected by blindness and weakness.)

[-2] Pure Skill - Free Action
You can only use Pure Skill whilst performing another ability. When you do, you ignore the effects of either blindness or weakness (Not both!) for that ability and can choose to treat any one of its rolled dies (After they were rolled) as though it rolled its highest possible value, without triggering a special move. This ability can affect special moves, but cannot be used more than once for any single ability.

(e.g. you roll a 3d12, which roll 2, 6, 7. With Pure Skill, you can turn the 2 into a 12 and the attack ignores either blindness or weakness, if it is affecting you.)

SilentBelle wrote:I just got a new idea for a talent and I'm not certain if there is any way to actually balance it because we build monsters so differently from how we build player combat talents. It's inspired by the Blue Mage from Final Fantasy:

[-1] Give and Take - Immediate reaction
Trigger: You are attacked by an enemy
The attack that triggered Give and Take now replaces Give and Take and can be used by you until end of combat.

This seems a bit unfair for the DM, as copying an ability might force them to "retcon" the use of that ability if they didn't expect it or planned monster PiP costs in advance. There's also the fact that some monsters might not even have a PiP cost for their stuff, or have a huge PiP inflation (e.g. [+7], so they can use a [-21] attack) for powerful attacks. And of course, there's the danger of a player getting a completely overpowered ability that no sane DM would ever allow them to have.

Well, I don't know too much about balancing attacks myself, but I have some suggestions for attacks that could be implemented maybe possibly. They're mostly pretty Bardy in name if not in effect; basically, they're my thoughts on some things Vinyl Scratch might use if she were ever to get into battle.

(+1)Rhythmic - Free Action
This move may only be used once per round.

(+3)Blue Bolt
Deal 1d10 damage to a single target. You can only use this move every other round.

(-2)Sonic Boom
Deal 1d8 damage to all enemies.

(-4)Reckless Reverb
Do 2d10 damage to one target and 1d8 damage to all adjacent targets. You may also choose to deal 1d8 damage to yourself. If you do choose to do so, this attack only costs 3 pips.

...and then a couple more I think I'll save for the crazy ideas thread.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:Well, I don't know too much about balancing attacks myself, but I have some suggestions for attacks that could be implemented maybe possibly. They're mostly pretty Bardy in name if not in effect; basically, they're my thoughts on some things Vinyl Scratch might use if she were ever to get into battle.

(+1)Rhythmic - Free Action
This move may only be used once per round.

(+3)Blue Bolt
Deal 1d10 damage to a single target. You can only use this move every other round.

(-2)Sonic Boom
Deal 1d8 damage to all enemies.

(-4)Reckless Reverb
Do 2d10 damage to one target and 1d8 damage to all adjacent targets. You may also choose to deal 1d8 damage to yourself. If you do choose to do so, this attack only costs 3 pips.

...and then a couple more I think I'll save for the crazy ideas thread.

I don't have much time right now, gotta go to work, but I'll focus on Rhythmic since it caught my attention.

It's way too good as it is now. [+pip] free actions need some sort of condition that stops them from being used every turn, otherwise every player would choose it for min-maxing purposes.
How about:

(+1)Rhythmic - Free Action
This move may only be used when you have no pips.

I know it's probably not the right answer at the moment, but we can think of more ideas later.

SilentBelle wrote:It's way too good as it is now. [+pip] free actions need some sort of condition that stops them from being used every turn, otherwise every player would choose it for min-maxing purposes.

But I put a restriction like that in there already?

EDIT: Oh, I didn't know that. Hmm...I figured one free pip per round in exchange for taking one less combat talent into battle was fair enough as was. I mean, if you and/or other people believe that to be untrue, that's certainly fine - I'm the rookie at this stuff, after all!

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:

SilentBelle wrote:It's way too good as it is now. [+pip] free actions need some sort of condition that stops them from being used every turn, otherwise every player would choose it for min-maxing purposes.

But I put a restriction like that in there already?

Free actions, by definition can only be used once per round.

Oh, I didn't know that. Hmm...I figured one free pip per round in exchange for taking one less combat talent into battle was fair enough, but if you and/or other people believe that to be untrue, that's certainly fine - I'm the rookie at this stuff, after all!

Oh, wait, hold on...there appears to have been a mix-up! Sorry for the double-post, but I want to make sure this gets seen and cleared up!

You actually, according to the rulebook, can only take one free action per turn, not per round! Big difference there. (Turn is one player's or enemy's, well, turn, while a round is a singular cycle of everypony's turn!)

So with that cleared up, does Rhythmic seem any better now? And, though I hate to bug you, and thus won't by asking this of everyone not just SilentBelle, I would like to remind you that I have some other combat talents I am rather unsure of at the immediate moment...hmm. But no pressure to do so, like, immediately or anything.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:Oh, wait, hold on...there appears to have been a mix-up! Sorry for the double-post, but I want to make sure this gets seen and cleared up!

You actually, according to the rulebook, can only take one free action per turn, not per round! Big difference there. (Turn is one player's or enemy's, well, turn, while a round is a singular cycle of everypony's turn!)

So with that cleared up, does Rhythmic seem any better now? And, though I hate to bug you, and thus won't by asking this of everyone not just SilentBelle, I would like to remind you that I have some other combat talents I am rather unsure of at the immediate moment...hmm. But no pressure to do so, like, immediately or anything.

Oh wow! I can't believe I misread that! Thank you so much for pointing that out I blame 4E for equating it to a minor action. It's always great to be corrected!

I'll go over the abilities tomorrow, between preparing my next Ponytales campaign.

EDIT: Alrighty, I'll do an analysis now.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:Well, I don't know too much about balancing attacks myself, but I have some suggestions for attacks that could be implemented maybe possibly. They're mostly pretty Bardy in name if not in effect; basically, they're my thoughts on some things Vinyl Scratch might use if she were ever to get into battle.

(+1)Rhythmic - Free Action
This move may only be used once per round.

(+3)Blue Bolt
Deal 1d10 damage to a single target. You can only use this move every other round.

(-2)Sonic Boom
Deal 1d8 damage to all enemies.

(-4)Reckless Reverb
Do 2d10 damage to one target and 1d8 damage to all adjacent targets. You may also choose to deal 1d8 damage to yourself. If you do choose to do so, this attack only costs 3 pips.

...and then a couple more I think I'll save for the crazy ideas thread.

Rhythmic, now that I've had time to think about it is a tough one to balance. But it also holds the most potential for a unique move (which is why it caught my eye in the first place) It's too good as it is now (Essentially +1 pip regen), maybe make it an immediate reaction:

[+1] Rhythmic Immediate reaction
Trigger: You use a combat talent that has a [-] pip cost
Effect: You gain 1 temporary hit point per pip spent on the triggering talent.

This essentially reduces the time between your hard-hitting moves and gives a really small effect.

Blue Bolt It's too good, at +3 pips, the effects for moves should be to cause only the slightest effect, or do something risky to yourself and with a chance of a good pay-out. The over-all effect should be only marginally in your favour. I feel it should be more distinct than just a turn limitation and pure damage, it needs some sort of zing!

Sonic Boom is slightly too good. With a damage output that is only marginally smaller than fireswath. But the main problem I have with it is that it holds almost no flavour that separates it from other moves already out there (Namely Fireswath). It should be a little more distinct from other combat abilities out there.

Reckless Reverb This one has great flavour, similar to the lightning talents, but different enough to stand alone as it's own move. At four pips, with a potential to hit your special talent 3 times safely, doing an average of 20 damage. That seems (very slightly) underpowered, which is good, because you can pop down it's cost by hurting yourself for about 13.5% of your HP on average and grant an extra chance to trigger your special. The choice is makes the ability pretty awesome actually, and is what sells this move to me. I don't feel I have to suggest any change on this one. It's fairly balanced.

Feel free to add any input I'm quite far from perfect.

Well took me a while, but here's my input to your input. Anyone who wants to, feel free to add your input to my input to SilentBelle's input oh dear I've gone cross-eyed.

Rhythmic seems...worse now? Like, depending on your moveset that's still a free pip per round, or rather it's lessening the cost of one of your moves by one and giving you temporary HP to boot, every single time you use a [-] move. That seems a bit overpowered to me.

Let's see...Blue Bolt. How about this:

(+1)Blue Bolt
Deal 0 damage to selected target. If that target does not have a vulnerability to Blue Bolt, it gains 2 Vulnerability to Blue Bolt. If it does have a vulnerability to Blue Bolt, its new vulnerability to Blue Bolt is equal to its previous vulnerability plus one.

....hmm. If this effect stays in, may wanna change the name. Hmm again.

And now, after I'm done with this I may want to move this to the crazy ideas thread:

(??)Sonic Boom
Target every creature but yourself on the battlefield, one at a time, in the order of your choosing. Every time you target a creature, roll 1d8. That creature takes damage equal to the roll. On a roll of 8, your special move is not activated, but the currently targeted creature is stunned (save ends).

Interesting idea, I think, but I have no idea what the PiP cost/gain should be. And whether bad or good, it's definitely weird.

Have a bunch of shielding combat talents.

[-2] Combustive Crest
You place a shield on yourself or target ally, that acts as 5 temporary hit points for one round. If the target loses a minimum of 5 temporary hit points within one round, the creature that last dealt damage to that target is stunned (Save ends) and dealt 1d8+4 damage. If the temporary hit points are removed through non-damage effects, nothing happens.

(In other words, you place a 1-round shield on a pony, any creature that "breaks" it before it fades is stunned)

[-4] Soul Shield - Free Action
Choose a creature, ally or hostile. You give them 10 temporary hit points and Regeneration 3 for two rounds. If a minimum of 10 temporary hit points are lost in any way during those two rounds, the creature under this effect is stunned (save ends) and dealt 2d8+4 damage. If the temporary hit points are removed through non-damage effects, nothing happens.

(This shield can be both defensive (at a great risk), or offensive (if you can deal the 10 damage, you stun and greatly harm them, but it can backfire, healing/protecting the opponent if your damage is insufficient))

[+X] Power Diffusion - Free action
Choose an effect:
- Sacrifice all of your current temporary hit points to gain half that value in PiPs (Rounded up).
- Sacrifice all of an allies temporary hit points (with their permission) to give them half that value in Pips (Rounded up).
- Deal 1d10 damage to yourself, gaining an equal amount of temporary hit points and 2 PiPs.

[-2] Vitality Veil
Choose an effect:
- Grant 12 temporary hit points to yourself or an ally.
- Sacrifice temporary hit points of yourself or an ally to heal them for the same amount. Sacrificing/Healing exactly 8, 10 or 12 hit points triggers an appropriate special move.

[-6] Bulwark - Immediate Interrupt
Trigger: An ally would be dealt damage.
Effect: Target ally gains 3d10 temporary hit points and Resist 2 for one round.

[+2] Warping Ward
Choose yourself or an ally to grant 5 temporary hit points for one round. During that round, for as long as the target has any amount of temporary hit points, they cannot be afflicted by blindness, stuns, weakness, or vulnerability. This does not prevent the affects or remove any status already present at time of cast.

[-2] Combustive Crest
You place a shield on yourself or target ally, that acts as 5 temporary hit points for one round. If the target loses a minimum of 5 temporary hit points within one round, the creature that last dealt damage to that target is stunned (Save ends) and dealt 1d8+4 damage. If the temporary hit points are removed through non-damage effects, nothing happens.

Stuns are incredibly powerful on their own. Stunning Heron's Hoof is a -4 PiP Immediate Interrupt that stuns the attacker. This one stuns an enemy, does damage to them, and the temporary hit points means they'll last longer. This talent seems like it should be a lot more expensive.

[-4] Soul Shield - Free Action
Choose a creature, ally or hostile. You give them 10 temporary hit points and Regeneration 3 for two rounds. If a minimum of 10 temporary hit points are lost in any way during those two rounds, the creature under this effect is stunned (save ends) and dealt 2d8+4 damage. If the temporary hit points are removed through non-damage effects, nothing happens.

(This shield can be both defensive (at a great risk), or offensive (if you can deal the 10 damage, you stun and greatly harm them, but it can backfire, healing/protecting the opponent if your damage is insufficient))

This shouldn't be a free action, or should be more expensive. Otherwise, you can use this just before a megaspell, guaranteeing even more damage. Virtually no risk.

[+X] Power Diffusion - Free action
Choose an effect:
- Sacrifice all of your current temporary hit points to gain half that value in PiPs (Rounded up).
- Sacrifice all of an allies temporary hit points (with their permission) to give them half that value in Pips (Rounded up).
- Deal 1d10 damage to yourself, gaining an equal amount of temporary hit points and 2 PiPs.

Shouldn't be a free action. There's no good reason for it to be.

[-2] Vitality Veil
Choose an effect:
- Grant 12 temporary hit points to yourself or an ally.
- Sacrifice temporary hit points of yourself or an ally to heal them for the same amount. Sacrificing/Healing exactly 8, 10 or 12 hit points triggers an appropriate special move.

Special moves really shouldn't be able to be activated this easily, especially since using this power twice means that you can activate any of the three tiers of a special move.

[+2] Warping Ward
Choose yourself or an ally to grant 5 temporary hit points for one round. During that round, for as long as the target has any amount of temporary hit points, they cannot be afflicted by blindness, stuns, weakness, or vulnerability. This does not prevent the affects or remove any status already present at time of cast.

I'd probably say that self-inflicted status effects. Otherwise, abilities like Psychic Surge go from useful to a must have.

Videocrazy wrote:1) Stuns are incredibly powerful on their own. Stunning Heron's Hoof is a -4 PiP Immediate Interrupt that stuns the attacker. This one stuns an enemy, does damage to them, and the temporary hit points means they'll last longer. This talent seems like it should be a lot more expensive.

2) This shouldn't be a free action, or should be more expensive. Otherwise, you can use this just before a megaspell, guaranteeing even more damage. Virtually no risk.

3) Shouldn't be a free action. There's no good reason for it to be.

4) Special moves really shouldn't be able to be activated this easily, especially since using this power twice means that you can activate any of the three tiers of a special move.

5) I'd probably say that self-inflicted status effects. Otherwise, abilities like Psychic Surge go from useful to a must have.

1) Problem is, the crest lasts only one round. If you don't get attacked, you essentially waste PiPs and skip a turn to prevent 5 damage at most. If its cost is increased to -4 and it doesn't go off, you waste an average of three turns. In addition, think of the ability in a roleplaying standpoint, where the DM is controlling enemy combat actions: An enemy creature that sees (or feels) it in action probably isn't going to let the effect go off twice afterwards (due to common sense), unless it has no other choice / can take the punishment / the creature is incredibly dumb or non-intelligent.

2) Yeah, I see what you mean. Editing it to a standard action.

3) Ah, forgot to edit that. It should have the added rule of "can only be used once per round".

4) If an enemy attack them with any amount of damage, the 12 one can't trigger, while getting the 8 and 10 to trigger to are pretty much luck based on getting the appropriate amount of damage on them.

But I see your point with the 12. I could make it so that you grant 15 temporary hit points (requiring exactly 3, 5 or 7 damage to be dealt to trigger), or add an additional coin flip to see if your special triggers (giving you a 50% chance, minus the chance of attacking). This ability pretty much relies on having a lot of temporary hit points for that special trigger, which enemies likely wont allow and very few skills go that high.

I added the special effect to give an added incentive to use it (since its unlikely a player will want to sacrifice a 12 shield to heal 8 damage, for instance).

The coin toss should keep players from using it with full healed targets, just to trigger the special.

5) Yeah, that makes sense: Status that you inflict on yourself doesn't count, to prevent abuse.

Edited spells:

[-2] Combustive Crest
You place a shield on yourself or target ally, that acts as 5 temporary hit points for one round. If the target loses a minimum of 5 temporary hit points within one round, the creature that last dealt damage to that target is blinded and dealt 1d8+1d10 damage. If the temporary hit points are removed through non-damage effects, nothing happens.

[-4] Soul Shield
Choose a creature, ally or hostile. You give them 10 temporary hit points and Regeneration 3 for two rounds. If a minimum of 10 temporary hit points are lost in any way during those two rounds, the creature under this effect is stunned (save ends) and dealt 2d8+4 damage. If the temporary hit points are removed through non-damage effects, nothing happens.

[+X] Power Diffusion - Free action
You can only use this ability once per round. Choose an effect:
- Sacrifice all of your current temporary hit points to gain half that value in PiPs (Rounded up).
- Sacrifice all of an allies temporary hit points (with their permission) to give them half that value in PiPs (Rounded up).
- Deal 1d10 damage to yourself, gaining an equal amount of temporary hit points and 2 PiPs.

[-2] Vitality Veil
Choose an effect:
- Grant 12 temporary hit points to yourself or an ally.
- Sacrifice temporary hit points of yourself or an ally (with permission) to heal them for the same amount. If you sacrifice/Heal exactly 8, 10 or 12 hit points, flip a coin to see if it triggers an appropriate special move.

(Hopefully will prevent wasting perfectly good temporary hit points just to trigger specials)

OR

[-2] Vitality Veil
Choose an effect:
- Grant 15 temporary hit points to yourself or an ally.
- Sacrifice temporary hit points of yourself or an ally (with permission) to heal them for the same amount. If you Sacrifice exactly 8, 10 or 12 temporary hit points OR heal exactly 8, 10 or 12 hit points (This only counts for hit points you actually healed, e.g. a player with 25 health getting healed for 8 doesn't count since you only healed 5 actual damage), you trigger an appropriate special ability.

(Sacrifice potential temporary hit points to trigger a special for about -4 points, when the chance arises)

[-6] Bulwark - Immediate Interrupt
Trigger: An ally would be dealt damage.
Effect: Target ally gains 3d10 temporary hit points and Resist 2 for one round.

[+2] Warping Ward
Choose yourself or an ally to grant 5 temporary hit points for one round. During that round, for as long as the target has any amount of temporary hit points, they cannot be afflicted by blindness, stuns, weakness, or vulnerability. This does not prevent the affects or remove any status already present at time of cast, or affect any affliction you cause to yourself.

[-2] Vitality Veil
Choose an effect:
- Grant 12 temporary hit points to yourself or an ally.
- Sacrifice temporary hit points of yourself or an ally (with permission) to heal them for the same amount. If you sacrifice/Heal exactly 8, 10 or 12 hit points, flip a coin to see if it triggers an appropriate special move.

I noted the exclusion of the word "all". That would indicate you get to choose how many hit points you sacrifice, and thus which move activates.

[+X] Power Diffusion - Free action
You can only use this ability once per round. Choose an effect:
- Sacrifice all of your current temporary hit points to gain half that value in PiPs (Rounded up).
- Sacrifice all of an allies temporary hit points (with their permission) to give them half that value in PiPs (Rounded up).
- Deal 1d10 damage to yourself, gaining an equal amount of temporary hit points and 2 PiPs.

There's still no real good reason for this move to be a free action, instead of a standard one. PiP-gaining moves are strong, and the ability to add that at any time is pretty broken. For example, this and Vitality Veil. With the first variant, you get a net gain of 4 PiPs with no downside, unlike moves such as Psychic Surge. With the second variant, a net gain of 6 PiPs.

Just curious, how would temporary hit points be removed through "non-damage effects"? By being overwritten by other temporary hit points?