Talk:Thundersmith (3.5e Prestige Class)

My views

Hey there Eromythic, hope you're well. Soo I took a look at the class, very nicely done, simple but it fits very well into the theme you have with the Forgefire/Forgefire Adept. I've some minor points to make:

-The Thunderblows ability seems quite potent (two different modifiers, on top of possibly a Strength bonus with the forgehammer adept if it uses a weapon). Maybe it could use only one (either the mental attribute or Con)? I mean, even flavorwise, it doesn't seem to be all justified to me.

-Resistance to energy is nice but I'd raise it up to 10 at the 5th level.

-Lightning Forge is great, I like it very much.

These remarks are for the for the alternate versions as well. --The bluez in the dungeon (talk) 18:00, 21 January 2022 (UTC)

Hey!! I am well indeed. Happy to hear from you again. Very good remarks. I'll dial the Thunderblows down. Upping the resistance would be at odds with the current "Fueled by Lightning" feature I feel, but at the same time I don't really like how that one turned out so I'll keep in mind the change as I think about how to rewrite that one. Glad you liked the Lightning Forge!!. --Eromythic (talk) 13:31, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Oh I didn't think about the sinergy between energy resistance and Fueled by Lightning, but you are right. Maybe if you want to change it you could consider a variant of Energy Absorption? --The bluez in the dungeon (talk) 13:41, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Yes, that "hidden synergy" wasn't really a good thing. I've changed it into hopefully something simpler, but I'll keep thinking about that part for the time being. Healing doesn't sound too interesting to me, so I wanted to try and think something else that works before going for that.--Eromythic (talk) 14:48, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Don't go with healing! The article states at the end: "Some creatures derive a benefit other than healing from their energy absorption; this will be noted in the creature's profile". Maybe it could be that if the damage is equal or superior to the resistance it charges up to the maximum and deals x energy damage with the next attack. Or maybe it could be: immunity to that energy which results in the charge effect instead of healing. This obviously would make the resistance useless, but that would be fine, considering a scaling in power. --The bluez in the dungeon (talk) 15:58, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Sooo I'm reading your changes right now:

-Generally, the class is much more refined now, your goals seems to be fully reached.

-I've still a suggestion for you: the "Fueled by Energy" ability is much better now but I'd add a last thing. As it is now, you have to decided to distinguish between the ability to deal extra damage or to heal, but as it is written, a player cannot really choose which one in a typical combat situation, as it would probably had to decide to attack (and mostly deal energy damage) or to withold the offense for three round to heal. I'd make it so that one can choose to spend an action (move, standard, whatever) to heal directly, while still having the three rounds limit, so that it can't store energy indefinitely.

-Last concern: what if a player deals damage to itself to heal? Do you think you could add a countermeasure?

Other than these remarks, I think I will rate this class and its sister-classes in short.--The bluez in the dungeon (talk) 10:55, 23 January 2022 (UTC)

Thank you once again!! I really like your suggestion, but your last concern leads me to think that maybe it's best if I remove the healing aspect of "Fueled by Energy" entirely and leave it with the charges to deal damage. That will also make the ability simpler, which is a good thing in my book.--Eromythic (talk) 17:00, 23 January 2022 (UTC)

Well it could be for the best, healing is difficult to balance, though limiting it to self-healing was a step in the right direction. Anyway, it's fine without it, it was a good choice. --The bluez in the dungeon (talk) 18:00, 23 January 2022 (UTC)