New Kit: Vampiric Monk
bbear
Member Posts: 1,180
Monk description (scroll down): http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/kits.php#9
Has all advantages and disadvantages of a normal monk except the following:
Advantages:
-Each hit has a 5% chance of level draining the opponent by 2 levels, healing the user by 2d6 hp (cant go above max hp). No saving throw or magic resistance
-Immune to level drain
-Drain Punch at lvl 13: Once per day, if the opponent is hit in the next attack, the opponent is level drained by 2 levels, healing the user by 2d6 hp (cant go above max hp). No saving throw or magic resistance
Disadvantages:
-+4 penalty to thaco, damage and AC during daytime above ground (anywhere exposure to sunlight)
-Does not gain magic resistance like normal monks. Instead gains cold resistance (at same levels and same percentage)
-No Quivering Palm
-Must be evil
Has all advantages and disadvantages of a normal monk except the following:
Advantages:
-Each hit has a 5% chance of level draining the opponent by 2 levels, healing the user by 2d6 hp (cant go above max hp). No saving throw or magic resistance
-Immune to level drain
-Drain Punch at lvl 13: Once per day, if the opponent is hit in the next attack, the opponent is level drained by 2 levels, healing the user by 2d6 hp (cant go above max hp). No saving throw or magic resistance
Disadvantages:
-+4 penalty to thaco, damage and AC during daytime above ground (anywhere exposure to sunlight)
-Does not gain magic resistance like normal monks. Instead gains cold resistance (at same levels and same percentage)
-No Quivering Palm
-Must be evil
1
Comments
Same as a normal Monk except
Advantages-
Stunning Blow replaced with Draining Strike, rate of acquisition changed to 1 per 8 levels, starts with 1 use. Each attack in the next round deals 1d4 magical damage per 2 levels (to a max of 5d4) and heals the monk for the damage dealt with no save, ignores magic resistance. Save vs death at +3 on-hit or lose 1 level. Targets with Negative plane protection (or immunity to level drain) are immune to both the both effects.
Level 7: Regeneration 1 hp per round. Only effective at night or underground (certain indoor areas can count as underground). Replaces Lay on Hands. Increases to 2 per round at 14, 3 per round at 21, 4 per round at 28, 5 per round at 35.
Level 9: Immunity to Level Drain, in addition to other benefits.
12: Gaseous Form contingency: (Gained automatically when resting), when reduced to 20% or less hp, instantly assume gaseous form clearing all harmful effects, and granting 6 hp/ second regeneration and complete immunity to all damage and effects for 1 round, Gaseous form cannot attack. Only functions 1/day. In addition to other benefits for this level.
Level 13: Immunity to normal weapons. Only effective at night or underground.
Level 14: Gains 30% magic resistance at Night or underground, and 3% resistance to cold and electrical damage per level (Caps at 80%).
20: Immunity to +1 and lower weapons. Only effective at night or underground.
Disadvantages- Same as monks except
Cannot be good
Takes 10% more damage from Fire spells
-1 penalty to hit/damage/ac during the day, unless underground. Penalty increases by 1 per 4 levels, to a maximum of -6 at 20.
Healing spells and items are only half as effective (doesn't apply to healing from Draining strike, Gaseous form or regeneration).
I like your suggestions, but I think simplicity is preferable than a lot of additional rules. Gaseous form is actually very op unless you get 1 shot by opponent.
You can´t be vampire and live on sun.
NEVER ! No exception.
No vampire = no live steal
Also vampires don´t have soul.
You can´t be Child of Bhaal if you don´t have soul.
( Do not even dare think about " Mind flayer monk " )
Um, nobody can survive on the sun. We'd all be incinerated or radiationally poisoned long before we even encroach upon its surface.
" There are two known efficient ways to destroy a vampire permanently. One, is to immerse a vampire in naturally running water (such as a river). Doing this causes it to lose one third of its hit points each round until it is finally destroyed (in other words, it can only survive for three rounds). The last, is exposing the vampire to direct sunlight. Upon first exposure, the vampire is disoriented and can only make a single move action, or attack action before it is destroyed utterly. "
BTW: Try cast " False sunrise " to some vampires in BG2.
It is VERY effective...
"" Vampire Minion ""
Humans who was bitten by Vampire but not killed or transformed to vampire. They share little vampire power, but they don´t need drink blood to surrive ( but they like drinking blood
Can you explain me how exactly is possible " mimic " divine curse ?
Can your " Chuck Norris Monk " mimic also gods power and be ruler of universe ?
In the case of Vampires, depending on the HD of the victim, they become a spawn (very weak, vampires with several extra weaknesses and few vampiric abilities, that dies if it's creator does), or true but still sub-servant vampires (who regain their original will (but have shifted to an evil alignment, though they can change over time if they wish) if their master is destroyed). It's possible for a spawn to become a true vampire if they live long enough to raise their HD enough to cross the threshold point.
You aren't replicating vampirism exactly, you're replicating the idea of it. Using Ki to drain life force of other beings to strengthen your own, by attuning your Ki to negative energy and darkness. This overspecialization allows for quicker growth into a supernatural existence, but also resulting in reduced strength during the day as well as a lowering the effectiveness of beneficial spells that rely on positive energy. You're not a being suffused with direct negative energy as undead are, so it doesn't harm you, but your attunement to negative energy does make such spells much less effective then they should be.
The monk's quivering palm is actually MUCH different in PnP then it is in BG. The if the initial save fails, the monk can will the target to die at any time with no save, within 1 month of being hit by the attack, no matter how far away the target runs, and it by-passes most magical protections against instant death, since it's not magic. This of course has no use in BG, but in PnP could be used to force someone to help with a particular course of action, but are too valuable to kill if it can be avoided.
Also, yes, yes monks can indeed mimic the powers of gods and divine beings ( I personally find the idea retarded myself, but that's how the game treats them...so..what can you do?). It's merely a matter of having enough levels. In PnP, ANY character that goes beyond level 30 has begun to walk the road toward divinity, which requires them to either find a divine sponsor, or have the power to take the strength from a demi-god or very high powered demon. (Bane, Bhaal, and Mykrul when they were mortal destroyed a lesser god of ice elementals and split it's divinity between themselves, before they went to challenge Jergal, one of the most powerful gods of that age. (You can read about it in depth in the book The Dead Three, which can be found in BG1).
" To become a vampire one must be afflicted by vampirism, vampirism is not a disease. It is a curse, a curse that infects and transforms its victims. Vampirism affects each victim to a varied degree. " No they can´t " mimic " gods even demigods power. Hight level monks are only extremly powerfull MORTALS who can unlock all their mind and body potencial. But there is always line what they can´t overstep.
" Demigods, are considered the first rung on the ladder of the gods. Demigods are true immortal deities and capable of granting spells. A demigod typically has only a handful of clerics and roughly 300 to 3,000 worshipers that typically pray to a deity of such power. A demigod may create and control a small realm (generally within one of the Outer Planes) that can be shaped and controlled as the demigod wishes. Additionally, the demigod has a small ability to shape reality in regard to his or her portfolio as it relates to mortal life, become extraordinary in some skill related to his or her portfolio, and extend his or her senses to a mile away from an avatar or any holy sites dedicated to him or her. "
The first time you get access to level drain in games is as a level 9 spell.
I've been binge on 2nd edition rules for several days, rest assured, I've read them, Ravenloft's vampire rules have no place what so ever in Forgotten realms due to the fact that that Demi-plane of Dread is self-contained (it technically exists in the same cosmology of most 2nd edition settings, but has different rules for things like Vampirism and such which can indeed be inflicted by a curse or by being drained by a vampire...of course Ravenloft Vampires are also immune to sunlight once they exceed 10 HD...it weakens them by preventing most use of their powers, but can't kill them). FR uses the standard core book's vampire rules. Vampirism is only spread when a victim dies of a vampire's energy drain and doesn't receive proper rites to purge the negative energy.
Also, as said before, you're reading too much into this. They aren't replicating a vampire's exact abilities, they're using their Ki to mimic certain aspects of them. If having 30 days to will someone to die after punching them once isn't ridiculously over the top, I don't know what is (and that is literally how the quivering palm works, the BG version just assumes you will them to die immediately). Specializing your ki to steal other people's life force (aka..Ki), is child's play. Stunning blow already forces the user's ki into the subjects body disrupting their Ki to freeze their movement (it's not pressure points or other crap like that), the draining blow would instead of restricting movement, literally siphon their Ki away, and since Ki is life force, it would strength the monk (healing) while weakening the subject (damaging, and potentially weakening them permanently if they have a weaker body, the chance for level drain).
Other then thematic similarities (forcefully drawing strength from others via synthesized negative energy, and hyper-specializing their ki to a particular environment, ie darkness which also includes weakness and loss of most of their specialized powers in light) , the vampiric monk has NOTHING to do with vampires. (that gaseous form is actually LESS powerful in a lot of ways then ability normal monks get to phase temporary into the ethereal plane (which in PnP includes the ability to walk through most walls, and fly if they desire for as long as they can maintain the effect, which they can for so many rounds per day based on level, split up as they choose).
Also, it says pretty clearly (the high level rules book), any character that progression beyond lvl 30, has begun the steps towards godhood, slowly growing in power as they complete various tasks and such to prove their worth, gaining various lesser divine abilities the closer they get to 40, at which point they become a Demi-god level deity.
Monk's can exceed the limits of their physical bodies, becoming supernatural beings at lvl 20, they start getting a host of abilities, like being able to shift themselves briefly to other planes and other such things, they also stop the process of aging (though can still die when their time is up, if they don't seek means to extend it). So, they actually have a bit of a head start over other classes, since unlike a mage, their abilities are almost exclusively constantly in effect or usable through strength of will and are completely independent of magic. (the Monk is a somewhat annoying case as the one in BG is heavily drawn from the 3rd edition Monk, rather then the 2nd edition oriental adventures or 1st edition monks)
@ajwz
Technically you gain access to level drain at level 7 (4th spell level), but the spell isn't implemented. (Drains 1 level, no save, and a target that dies of it is animated as a zombie equal to half their HD, to a minimum of one).
Although I'd probably take out the "Daylight/Nighttime" stuff. For me, that stuff seems like more of a "Minor Inconvenience" than a gameplay-defining disadvantage. You're just going to sleep through the day, right? Not a huge deal. There aren't a whole lot of timed things in the game.
In addition to the Half-Healing you suggested, I'm not sure what I'd take from him. I toyed with the idea of taking some of the monk basics, like Immunity to Poison/Disease/Charm, but they feel like they'd fit thematically with his goal.
Perhaps his suffusion of negative energy registers him as Undead for a few spells where it matters. Sunray and False Dawn. Perhaps Turn/Destroy Undead damages him for every round he remains in the area. The problem being these aren't really used by enemies, are they? Maybe we'll have to take away all positive energy healing.
I suppose you could make them completely unhealable by spells or potions, relying exclusively on their regeneration and Draining strikes to keep them alive, with the gaseous form as a last ditch "OH $%#^" button to hopefully save your life.
The day/night thing is only overpowered if you abuse rest, which makes EVERYTHING overpowered, and if you're gonna cheese, you're gonna cheese, so there's no point in even bother to consider the stupidly broken crap players can come up with...as said before many times before, you're not competing with anyone and ultimately only cheating yourself out of a challenge if you do crap like that.
I try and stat and balance my kits, classes, and mechanics under the assumption you're working with a by-books DM, who enforces the rules as close as humanly possible within the system, and isn't afraid to let you die if you did something stupid like memorizing a page full of Magic Missiles, when debuff or buff spells would've saved your life, or rendered you useless after you blew all your spell in the first 3 rooms of a 28 room dungeon where resting would be impossible.
obviously though, the stats are just a draft...I tend to come back and make minor tweaks here and there after testing, to try and ensure that nothing is too broken....I mean hell, as long as it's less broken then the F'ing berserker, aka the most broken class in the game, I'm doing ok. (though where possible I try to stat things as close to their PnP counterparts, if/where possible).
For instance, here's a few rebalances and additional kits I'd like to see some day either officially or in a mod for bards.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/224600/#Comment_224600