so a topic under a lot of discussion with the fourth edition of dungeons & dragons is the lack of options besides killing people. the lack of options, period, really. i mean, i couldn't help but melt that guy's brain! so the fix i'm thinking on, at the moment, works with the new dnd axiom "simple rules, many exceptions." okay, my psychic blast does 3d8 psychic damage. simple. well, how about this. i make an "enchanter." i give up something major from my class-- lets say you are a wizard & you give up "spellbook." in exchange, you get "enchant." enchant works something like this: any time you drop a foe to zero hit points with a power that has the "psychic" type, you can "enchant" him instead. an enchanted character is under your control until he makes a successful save, & regains hit points up to "bloodied" (or conversely, to the hit points they were at before you hit them). you maintain the economy of action with an enchanted character: the two of you can only make one minor, one move, & one standard, total." this is sort of the way the mindflayer's "thrall" power works, with some tweaks for pc control. not too shabby, right?which means next up is the necromancer. much harder to do. a summoner, well. a summoner you do something similar, you just let them summon one guy & all their powers come through that guy, right? whatever. a necromancer, what, you only get one zombie? lame. so the plan for that though is: make him a fucked up controller. okay, like here. you get the power rise!. rise makes a burst around you difficult terrain for the encounter. if you sustain it with a...lets say move action, since i'm making this up, enemies in that terrain take 1d10 necrotic damage. okay, so what is that? suddenly you thow out your arms, shouting "aszher & orcus, tenebrous nigromantica, RISE! RISE!" & zombies & skeletons start clawing their way out of the dirt. spooky as hell, right? maybe you use a daily power: any time you kill a guy with necrotic damage in this encounter, you get, like, a flaming sphere. only instead of a flaming sphere, it is a revenant. i hate you necromancer...or i heart you.
