User:Xandar

My Content

As of the creation of this page, there should be nothing of interest here, and if you've stumbled across this somehow, I apologize for its blandness. I've created an account with intent to publish Homebrew content on here in a number of forms. The initial content that'll appear will likely be very rough and very badly balanced, what makes sense to me might not to others.

While there is nothing here currently, there are Rudimentary Ideas that I've come up with and will make note of while working on my first major piece.

Warning now, I have a bad habit of making things unnecessarily complex for the sake of what I deem to be "Awesomeness."

Completed Projects

Expanded Armor Class (3.5e Variant Rule) Brought about primarily because I was wondering why people played Armor class as a Hit v Miss system, I wanted to spice my games up a little and add an interesting level of realism. The result is this system, which I think works well enough for what it is.

Cyclone Boots (3.5e Equipment) A take on a relic from Castlevania Lords of Shadow 1, adapted to have functions in 3.5e. I tried to replicate some of the lore for the item as well as one of the moves from the game, though the latter comes out in a fare more rudimentary form, it's functional and may require some tweaking.

Current Projects

A list of projects that I'm currently working on. While I should focus on one, there's Never just one going on in my mind.

Alchemy Revision. The most pressing and Largest of my Homebrew projects at the moment, nearly three months of intense work has paid off thus far. A number of revisions have been made to it as it's been worked on, but now it's finally near completion, I would wager approximately 95% Completion at that. As-is, a few things still need to be Defined or Finalized (Specifications for the Quantity of Liquid a Potion Recipe Results in, for example, factor into how large of a Splash zone a Potion may have when Thrown). The overall project has reached a Tremendous size, Five separate Google Docs files Totaling an Unbelievable 56+ Pages of Content. A Fair amount of three of them are defining the system as a whole and information on it, while the majority of it is basically a Tremendous List, list of Potions, List of Toxins, list of Converted Venoms, etc.

If you'd like to look at this at its current status, you can find it here

Combat Maneuvers Revamped. Currently in its infancy, very basic ideas are currently forming for this, but I don't know that the current ones are the solution.

Targeted Strikes. Some progress has been made here, Limbs have health and effects for falling below certain thresholds, as well as being drained of health. Needs more work still.

Mana-Casting. Sort of a Pseudo Fusion of methods that others have put forth with my own spin on it. Functionally complete, but I feel it needs more work.

Project Status

A rudimentary Update log or bit of Information for things that don't have their own pages yet.

Complete Alchemy - An Alchemic Overhaul

Currently going under the title "Complete Alchemy - An Alchemical Overhaul," this system is very near completion. Estimated 95% completion in fact. The current list of things To-Do is basically just revision and fleshing out some of the Potion and Toxin lists some more, however a Small Facet of the system called "Herbalism" still has some factors that need to be defined.

The Project has a number of files now, some which have been written, they are as follows:

Complete Alchemy An Introduction Document to the revision as a whole. All of these will eventually be presented as Wiki pages of course, this one covers a general amount of information about the system as a whole, Defining Alchemy, Herbalism, the differences between the two (In short, Refined Chemistry vs sort of Mashing Reagents together into a paste or something), changes to existing Feats (Eventually will include Custom Feats, should I finally figure out a few suitable ones), Changes to Spells in accordance with the system (Primarily preventing the ability to use Fabricate or Creation to have Easy infinite-access to Reagents, but some extra functional uses for the system), and finally Changes to Existing equipment. Most of what was changed around and listed in these Sections was drawn from the Brilliant Gameologists forum "Arsenic and Old Lace" thread, which contained a tremendous amount of information about Poisons in 3.5, listing Feats and Animal companions and equipment etc that helps with Poison use. Not All of it has been transferred over, I converted what I felt was most appropriate, removed (Left out really) a few things, and am fully aware that it's unlikely to be the Entire chunk of Alchemy and Poison use related feats.

Reagent Compendium - A complete rundown of the Reagents which this rebuild employs, details on the Rarity of the Reagents and subsequent difficulty to find them in the wild, examples of environmental difference, variables related to areas that get enough visitors that Alchemists may have picked them clean of Reagents already, etc. It defines the functions of Different Reagents in both Herbalism and Alchemy, presenting them in a straightforward way that allows readers to reference the Document (Eventual Page) to know what factors the different Reagents will contribute to their Custom-Creation. It Currently contains close to Sixty Reagents, a small pool of which is comprised of Toxins.

Potions Catalog - A Document (Eventual Page) that covers virtually everything relevant to Potions, but partly has info directly relating to Alchemy as a whole (This may be Removed and transferred to the "Complete Alchemy" Document, or at least placed there as well so that it doesn't require anyone to reference multiple pages at once.) A decent portion of it is Dedicated to a list of Potions that I've created as a standard sort of introduction to the system, serving as examples to follow or take inspiration from when creating a Potion of your own.

Mortis Alchemia - While Mortis Alchemia is the name that I'm most happy with so far, it is still subject to change. This Document covers everything to do with Toxins in a format similar to the Potions Catalog, restating a decent amount of information (To prevent referencing different documents/pages excessively). Identical to the Potions document, it has a list of Pre-defined Toxins meant to serve as examples and guidelines for designing a Toxin yourself.

Converted Venom List - Far more Generic in naming structure, the Converted Venoms list is precisely what you'd think it is. I painstakingly searched through all of the monster Manuals that I could get my hands on (Though I should note it was almost exclusively these, additional books that have Creatures in them with Venom may not be on the list). The introduction and first section of the Document explains how to convert a Venom to this system based on its Normal 3.5 Paramters, but the majority of it contains already converted ones, so most of the work has been done already.

Initially it was planned to form a version of this Revision that didn't contain the Custom Potion/Toxin elements, and it was thought that being able to do that was going to be a Far off Dream that may or may not be possible, however through intense effort on my part and a friend of mine who's been acting as my consultant on all of this, that has been achieved and is fully integrated. A tremendous amount of progress has been made in the last Two Months or so that I've been working on it, and frankly I'm glad to be nearly done. Once the last of it is defined I'll begin adapting it to the Wiki and looking for Feedback, and fully expecting it to upset people some or not appeal for a number of reasons.

The Revision at this moment sits at Approximately 95% Completion, and a version is expected to be ready to be adapted to this Wiki soon, perhaps by the end of the month? (Circa 19th of July, 2017)

Combat Maneuvers Revamped Still in infancy, though currently taking some inspiration from the 5e Advantage v Disadvantage system while using Charge-Like Bonus (+2 to Attack, -2 to AC) rules for how it impacts your current action. My hope is to have it grant appropriate +2 (or less) bonuses based on your action choice, Swinging on a Rope would be considered akin to a charge, giving you certain bonuses but considering you flat footed as you can't maneuver yourself appropriately on a Rope. May have Aid-Another integration to encourage team play ideas.

Targeted Strikes A basic system currently, making certain strikes more difficult in accordance to the size of the target relative to the creature it belongs to. Currently only covers Limb-based strikes, and only works on Humanoids with any ease. Attempts at creating Formulas to Adapt a creature appropriately underway. Covers being able to render a limb ineffective which either removes attacks or negates movement, head-based strikes can allow for faster kills (To be Revised as this seems overly powerful for the difficulty that it currently has) or quicker knockouts. Highly Precise strikes (Fingers, ears, eyes) as well as potentially very Powerful strikes (Torso oriented, Impaling the heart or other organs) yet to be decided.

Mana Casting Mostly complete but a little similar to two existing concepts on the Wiki, I'm attempting to do more to distance it from them while also rebalancing it. In its current state it generates mana a little frequently, and empowers casters a bit more than I had intended. Functionally complete, just not as flavorful as I want it to be.

Ideas and Plans

A list of content that I've come up with that hasn't been adapted to the game. Yet. Hopefully.

Targeted Strikes, Called Shots exist in a Myriad of different forms, I have a generic version in mind that can be used that is more simple than some and potentially easier or at least simpler to use, with a possible added layer of complexity for those interested.

A Complete Alchemy Revision, I've always hated that Alchemy in 3.5 boils down to 'Spell in a Bottle,' In a game where plenty enough Wands, Scrolls and Staves do this, this seems incredibly redundant, and has prompted me to create my own Homebrew Alchemy System akin to what you see in games like Kingdoms of Amalur, The Elder Scrolls, and other games that include Mixing Reagents to accomplish specific effects. I'm designing it expressly to avoid having the 'Spell in a Bottle' Effect, focusing it on being more akin to a Primitive form of Chemistry where combining reagents forms compounds that have interesting and useful effects. Some of the effects do directly mimic magical effects, but they aren't presented as just "Cure Light Wounds" for example. The idea, at the moment, is to eventually have it developed to a point where the System is Incredibly Free-Flowing, and that players can Design Alchemic Substances by following a specific Formula of Mixing Ingredient X with Ingredients Y and Z, allowing for Custom Potions to be made with specially Tailored effects based on the players design.

A Witchcraft and Voodoo Expansion to Alchemy, Whereas my Alchemy Revision is planned to be more akin to Primitive Chemistry, I had to wonder about the use of more Mystical substances, where the Reagents of the Alchemy Revision are semi-magical due to the fantasy setting, you still have to distill them to draw out the effects of the Reagent for a Potion, and those effects are Properties of the Reagents. Witchcraft and Voodoo type stuff on the other hand always involves Exotic And Bizarre ingredients as well as an Incantation or Invocation of some sort. This Expansion to the revision has no work yet, but the concepts are being thought out, the easiest way to execute it would be to have an additional Reagent list each of which has more Magical properties, but then, why is it separate from the Revision? I had the thought to have it based around the Incantations used during the Witchcraft/Voodoo type creation, and the Incantations used would Empower Reagents, which are then finalized by the Alchemic side of the process. This would be rather interesting I think from a Roleplay standard, as well as to separate it from the Alchemy Revision, but would be rather Difficult to achieve the desired Level of Customization as I want from the Alchemy Revision.

A Monk Revision in the Vain of Tome of Prowess, amusingly whilst watching Kung Fu Panda, I'd wondered about the possibility of making a Monk that is more True to a Martial Arts Style. Classes like this already exist for sure, but I'd wanted to take a stab at doing it myself, where a player may Adopt a Martial Art, gaining a Single ToB style Stance, with some of the limitations removed. When the Stance is undertaken, they'd be granted Maneuvers related to the Martial Art they'd chosen, a few passive changes (Penalties And Benefits both) and the Maneuvers in question would be designed to be explicitly like Martial Arts Maneuvers. Because of the nature of Martial Arts being "Spammable" these Maneuvers would be Infinite in nature, but less powerful accordingly, and in some cases more situational, specific kinds of Counters for example tailored to the Weapon style that your opponent has chosen. This is an Extremely Rudimentary Idea, and has yet to be fleshed out at all even in my head.

A Combat Maneuvers Revamp Concept, Something I noted while playing was that one of my players likes to specify Precisely what he's doing, complicated attempts at doing this and that, and sometimes it felt a little poor to only give him basic damage. For example, he, whilst holding onto a rope, kicked off and used the swing-back momentum to help drive his Axe into the intended target. I treated this as an Advantage to beating AC, not perhaps the intended thing, but I figured it was fair game as the beast they were fighting was rather Beefy in that regard, and proving a little Difficult to hit. This prompted me to think about a revision where Complex and Specific Maneuvers (Specified, not Tome of Battle) could be encouraged with some kind of incentive with proportionate penalties that, hopefully, don't make them too difficult to use, overpowered because of the drawbacks, or discouraging for players that opt not to.