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Post by sparkusclark on Nov 17, 2016 7:41:45 GMT
A small bracelet made out of Gulthias bark. When activated, your skin forms a hard, blood-red bark-like substance that deflects attacks.
As a reaction you can give up part of yo ur life force to increase your armor. For every 5hp you sacrifice, add +1AC.
The effect lasts until the start of your next turn when you can sacrifice the same amount to keep the bonus going.
Example: The orc swings at Dorthal and rolls a 15. Dorthal uses his reaction to activate the Blodbark Bracelet, sacrificing 10hp to raise his AC to 16, the blade skitters off his now hardened skin. Dorthal's turn is next and he knows he needs to get away, but that the orc will take an attack of oppurtunity when he moves. Dorthal decides to take the risk and sacrifices another 10hp to keep his AC at 16 as he makes a break for it.
Varient: Xhp equals +XAC
This was my first idea, but then I realized the 1/1 potential ratio could be easily abused, and I wanted this item to be a risk to use.
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Post by joatmoniac on Nov 19, 2016 4:48:23 GMT
I have a few ideas kicking around on this one, but I would love to know which system and edition this is for before making those thoughts known, haha.
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Post by sparkusclark on Nov 19, 2016 5:13:24 GMT
I have a few ideas kicking around on this one, but I would love to know which system and edition this is for before making those thoughts known, haha. Right! 5e Good point, hadn't thought of that.  |
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Post by dmxtrordinari on Nov 19, 2016 16:18:18 GMT
It's an interesting item. In practice I imagine as a PC with this item the uses would be far less frequent than initially imagined considering your sacrificing health to not get hit so there would be a lot of circumstances where you lose more HP not getting hit than you would getting hit. I don't see spellcasters using this item too much simply because shield is just better and at least the classes with more spellcasting have lower HP to play around with. As a heavy melee class I'm probably only using this item for really big enemy hits that I know are going to be heavier than the HP loss I'll take on average. I understand the idea of it being risky, but it's simply figuring out how much damage is being put out and reacting accordingly.
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Post by joatmoniac on Nov 21, 2016 7:28:31 GMT
I do like the idea, but dmxtrordinari brings up some of the concerns that I was also thinking. If you are the kind of DM that uses the standard damage for the monsters then the ups and downs of damage are set. Low end it is almost too risky as 5hp can be a big deal for low level characters, and the other end the 5hp doesn't mean a lot. The issue at high level play is the potential for abuse as the numbers have been squished more than in previous editions and dumping 25hp to get 5AC is a low cost way to make sure you aren't hit for a round. The first idea that came to me was the use of hit dice. The same pool that a person could use between long rests could be a cool way to get the same effect, but even out its cost and usefulness. You could also have the effect last longer to make it more enticing to the players. Not too sure what the numbers would work out to, but it would be a more easily quantifiable item that also allows for each class to have the same cost for use. So yeah, those are just some ideas that kicked around, but again I really like the idea! |
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Post by sparkusclark on Nov 22, 2016 19:58:15 GMT
You both make good points about how level will affect the usefulness/amount it is used. Going with a number of Hit dice sounds terrific but leves me wondering if It should be just The hd or if they aught to be rolled too. For a bit of backstory. My party of four 5ths and two 4ths has few meat shields and so l had built this with them in mind. I had also wanted to create the idea of an item that helped for a price. The fun bit being that they don't yet know that it was the protective item the assassin had been using; believing his strange flux in AC came from the shield-shaped medallion he was wearing (something my friend who plays the big bad that had sent said assassin had come up with as a distracting ploy). Also, l am tempted to turn it into a leveling magic item,but am also fine with it just being a low level item. Will probably decide if she levels as the players muck about. |
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