User:Zhenra-Khal/Improved Damage Types and Combinations (3.5e Variant Rule)
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Improved Damage Types And Combinations[edit]
The entire school of Evocation, as well as many other spells that only deal damage, are often regarded as near-useless. The best schools of magic - Illusion and Necromancy - Bring to the table much better offense and defense. This is because they attack a binary defense - Saving throws. You either succeed the save or you fail. And often, there are still consequences even if you succeed. These spells can kill a target outright, or hinder them, reducing their ability to fight.
With spells that just deal damage, you don't get these benefits. You're targeting a gradual defense - Hit points. And unfortunately, a target with 1 HP remaining fights just as well as it did when it had 100 hit points at the beginning of the fight. Unless you're trying to kill the enemy with Massive Damage saves, all too often a Fireball just won't cut it.
So, here I will first give energy/damage types secondary effects - After all, Fire will set things aflame, Acid will continue to dissolve matter, Cold will chill to the bone and Electricity will send enemies into convulsions and lock muscles.
Then, I will add reactive effects - Such as evaporating acid with heat to create toxic fumes, freezing objects to make them more brittle and vulnerable to sonic spells, or splashing an enemy with water to make your next frost or lightning spell hit much harder.
When combined with the Wound Thresholds variant rule, this should make Evokers, and even noncasters, a bit more useful.
New Energy Effects[edit]
Below are the new elemental effects. Most of them work off of "Hit Dice" of damage; 1 "HD" worth of damage is equal to the number of HD the creature possesses - Effectively, one HP of damage per character level. Thus, a creature with 10d4 HD would gain a stack every 10 points of damage. You could, of course, have 1 "HD" of damage be equal to half the target's HD. This would mean a character with 10d4 HD would gain a stack for every 5 points of damage they took, instead of every 10. Either way, this means a character with 10d4 HD and a character with 10d12 HD would both suffer the same number of stacks from taking 36 points of damage (3 or 6, depending on which of the level-based versions you use) despite there being a large difference in maximum HP and therefor overall toughness.
Stacking effects from this variant rule are lost at a rate of one stack per round, thus causing the status effect to have an effective duration of one round per stack, but losing potency over time as the victim recovers or the lingering effects lessen.
Reduction in damage taken will also reduce the secondary effects of each element, thus making Energy Resistance and the like continue to be useful. Creatures immune or vulnerable to the type of damage in question will of course be immune or more vulnerable to each status effect. Likewise, some status effects, like the pain caused by Fire spells, won't effect some types of creature just because they're immune to that.
Fire[edit]
The most-used element, Fire sets flammable things alight, heats up the area, and causes terrible pain. An effect that deals Fire damage will apply one stack of Burn for every HD of damage they deal, or 2 stacks per effective spell level against objects. Burning targets take 2 points of Fire damage per Burn stack per round (With a Reflex save for half, rounded down, using the effect's original save DC); This additional Fire damage cannot cause new Burn stacks. Burning targets also suffer pain from the burns, taking a penalty on attack rolls and skill checks equal to the number of Burn stacks present. Fire damage also sets most flammable objects ablaze on a failed save. Creatures immune to pain, such as oozes, undead or contructs, will be immune to the penalty to attack rolls and skill checks.
Fire damage consumes all stacks of Chill on the target, dealing +1 damage per die of the Fire attack per stack consumed.
Frost[edit]
Cold freezes liquids, slows movement and makes solid objects more brittle. An effect that deals Cold damage will apply one stack of Chill for every HD of damage they deal, or 2 stacks per effective spell level against objects. Chilled targets have all their movement speeds, and their Reflex saves, lowered by -5ft and -1 respectively, for every stack of Chill present; Though this cannot reduce their movement below 0ft. Chilled objects have their Hardness reduced by 2 for every stack of Chill present.
Cold damage consumes all stacks of Burn or Soak on the target, dealing +1 damage per die of the Frost attack per stack consumed.
Acid[edit]
Acid dissolves matter, causing pain and compromising physical structure, and continuing to do so until neutralized. An effect that deals Acid damage will apply one stack of Corrode per HD of damage dealt, or 2 stacks per effective spell level against objects. Corroded targets take 2 points of Acid damage per round (With a Fortitude save for half, rounded down, using the effect's original save DC); This additional Acid damage cannot apply more stacks of Corrode. The targets also have their defenses reduced, reducing the target's physical AC bonuses by 1 per stack applied. This AC reduction affects shields first, then armor, then natural armor; In the case of objects, their hardness is reduced by 1 per stack applied. Unlike other status effects added by this variant rule, the reduction in hardness and AC from Corrode stacks does not go away until the object is repaired; In the case of natural armor, points of natural armor AC are recovered at the same rate as ability damage, and can thus be recovered naturally or with spells. However, targets immune to ability damage are not immune to damage to their natural armor.
Lightning[edit]
Electricity courses through matter, often burning molecules as it goes. It also causes muscles to tighten, lock and convulse, reducing the target's ability to function. An effect that deals Electricity damage will apply one stack of Shock per HD of damage dealt, or 2 stacks per effective spell level against objects. Shocked targets take a penalty to their Dexterity and attack rolls equal to the number of stacks present; A target that would be reduced to or below 0 Dexterity is Paralyzed until the penalty reduces enough for them to act again. Targets normally immune to paralyzation, except Oozes and other amorphous creatures, are immune to the paralyzation effect of Shock stacks, but not to the other penalties. Oozes are immune to Shock stacks altogether, as they lack muscular structure, circuitry or magical animation for the electricity to disrupt.
Electricity damage consumes all stacks of Chill or Soak on the target, dealing +1 damage per die of the Lightning attack per stack consumed.
Sonic[edit]
Sonic damage affects things on a molecular level, vibration disrupting solid structure and making it fall apart. An effect that deals Sonic damage will apply one stack of Resonance per HD of damage dealt, or 2 stacks per effective spell level against objects. Resonating targets suffer a -3 penalty on Listen and Move Silently checks per stack present; If a target's Listen bonus would be reduced to or below +0, they are Deafened until the penalty lowers enough for their bonus to reach +1 or higher. Resonating non-cloth, non-flesh objects (So things like dragonhide, leather, hide, rope and fabric are exempt) take 1 point of damage per stack per round (With a Fortitude save for half, rounded down, using the effect's original save DC).
Sonic damage consumes all stacks of Chill on the target, dealing +1 damage per die of the Sonic attack per stack consumed.
Force[edit]
Force is raw magical energy, both physical and spiritual, riding the border being the two, and acting as a transition across that border. An effect that deals Force damage will apply one stack of Impulse per HD of damage dealt, or 2 stacks per effective spell level against objects. Impulsive targets that were originally incorporeal have their Miss Chance from incorporeality reduced by 2% per stack; If this reduces their miss chance to or below 0%, they temporarily become corporeal. Likewise, targets that were originally corporeal affected by Impulse become partially incorporeal, gaining 2% incorporeality for every stack present. This means corporeal things have a lesser chance of affecting them, but they also have a lesser chance of affecting corporeal things.
Necrotic/Negative Energy[edit]
Energy drawn from the Negative Energy Plane, Necrotic energy is the energy of the undead, their "life" force that withers living flesh and weakens the soul. An effect that deals Negative Energy damage will apply one stack of Decay per HD of damage dealt, or 2 stacks per effective spell level against objects, though Necrotic damage only affects organic matter, not stone, glass, crystal or metal. Decaying targets suffer -1 point per die of Positive Energy healing, have their Fast Healing and Regeneration (If any) reduced by -1, and a -1 on saves against Death effects for every stack of Decay present.
Negative Energy damage consumes all stacks of Vigor on the target, dealing +1 damage per die of the Necrotic attack per stack consumed.
Vitality/Positive Energy[edit]
Energy drawn from the Positive Energy Plane, Vitality is the energy of the living, and while it usually heals living things and harms undead, it can "overheal" them to the point of death by, effectively, cancer. An effect that deals Positive Energy damage or healing will apply one stack of Vigor per HD of damage dealt or healed, or 2 stacks per effective spell level to objects, though, like Necrotic energy, Vitality only affects living or dead matter, not inorganic material like stone or metal. Invigorated targets gain +1 per die of positive energy damage/healing, heal for 1 HP per round, and have a +1 on saves against Death effects, for every stack of Vigor present. However, when healed beyond their maximum health, living targets get sick and can actually die from Overhealing - Any healing over their maximum HP, called Overhealing, causes them to suffer effects from Wound Thresholds as if they had taken that amount of damage - Thus a target who had been Overhealed by more than half their maximum HP, they would be treated as Injured for the purposes of Wound Threshold penalties and effects. A target whose Overhealing exceeds their maximum hit points falls unconscious and possibly dies, as if they had been brought below 0 HP. Negative Energy damage affects Overhealing first, removing two points of Overhealing for every point of damage dealt, and doesn't apply stacks of Decay until it deals damage to the target's actual health pool.
Positive Energy damage consumes all stacks of Decay on the target, dealing +1 damage per die of the Vitality attack per stack consumed.
New Damage Types[edit]
These are damage types new to D&D, or new names for existing types with nonexistent or complicated names.
New Physical Effects[edit]
Similar to the above energy effects, physical effects function identically, except that their stacking effects degrade at a rate of 1 per 2 rounds, thus lasting twice as long as the above Energy effects. This is because these physical effects affect weapons, and a weapon will rarely apply more than one stack per round. This would make their effects constant, yes, but never severe enough to warrant their inclusion; And likewise, damage reduction is slightly more common than energy resistance, as well as affecting all physical damage types in most cases, as opposed to just one energy type. Thus, by cutting the rate of decay in half, it allows warrior-types to accumulate increasingly painful effects against foes, while making the few physical-damage spells that exist that much more potent.
New Other Effects[edit]
Water[edit]
Soak
New Reactive Effects[edit]
Toxic Cloud[edit]
Hit acid or poison with lightning or fire
Conduct[edit]
Hit ice or water with lightning
Mist[edit]
Hit water with fire
Shatter[edit]
Hit ice with sonic
Freeze[edit]
Hit water with ice
Launch[edit]
Hit force with bludgeoning
Timebreaker[edit]
Hit force with entropy or entropy with chaos
Mindrend[edit]
Hit entropy or chaos with psychic
