A possible fix balancing magical PCs with mundane ones, that opens many new RP options - add a third type of essences

[Dedman1234]

I was considering putting this in feedback, but since the post is technically a suggestion, I've posted it here.

On arelith the world belongs to the casters currently. It has been the case for quite some time now, not even due to their current mechanical advantages, but because of the fact, that almost every worthwhile character essentially runs on their magic. If all the casters formed some kind of a union and decided to suddenly stop selling scrolls/wands to anyone, then in about a month every single mundane build would be essentally powerless against them. Now the situation is a bit different - instead of relying on caster PC merchants, mundanes have to rely on rng drops... not sure if that is such a good idea, really. Mind you, I like the new changes, that had been made, as being able to literally stop the flow of time while not being a dude, that spent decades of study to achieve such a feat makes little sense. But I have to admit, such changes have weakened mundane PCs considerably and that is not a good thing.

If someone wanted to create a PC, that hates magic and is actually capable of killing mages to "demonstrate" that hatred, then going with UMD is the only reliable way of doing so. There are a few decent builds around, that are capable of such a thing, but even those might end up faring badly without a way to disable the mages summons or their damage shield. In other words, a mage-hater would have to resort to a really long and drawn out method of dealing with wizards (who are now able to gs+teleport away if things stop going their way) or to essentially become a wannabe wizard themselves via UMD, by relying on scrolls/wands/rods.

It closes off many RP options and essentially forces everyone to rely on magic (at least if they don't want to get trashed in any kind of a PVP situation).

ENTER SPECIALISED ESSENCES
I saw a few unique essences being sold by UD merchants and they are usually overlooked, since they don't really grant much power at all, with the possible exception of the additional 1d8 fire damage. So, my idea is to add more types of such essences, that confer more powerful bonuses, but are costly to craft and their duration is short. Specialized essences would only last 10-15 rounds (depending on the effect of a particular essence) and a character would only be able to utilize two at any given time: one defensive applied to the armor and one offensive applied to the weapon.

Possible effects of defensive essences would include:
*Immunity to death magic
*A big bonus to one of the three saves
*Bonus AC against non-PC racial type (so less tanky Players might be able to ignore summons)
*30/- damage reduction vs a single elemental damage type
*5/- reduction of magical damage
*Immunity to spells of 3rd circle or lower

The essences would allow characters that would normally get curbstomped by certain builds to cover their weaknesses temporarily, while not invalidating PCs who are more defensively oriented, as they would be able to pick different kinds of essences, that might protect them against other dangerous threats they had no way of dealing with before.

For instance: A WM with a low will save is about to face a wizard. They slap on a defensive "Will bonus" essence, that allows them better chances of not getting immidietely stunned, but they still have to deal with the mages damage shield and spells that do not rely on will saves (IGMS for instance), but he still retains his ability to rain crits. Now, a pally/bg will have less offensive power that the WM, but better saves, so he might opt to pick the essence, that reduces magical damage, so IGMS will have less of an effect. A character with gsf: abjuration and good saves will have the least offensive powers out of the three, but will need neither the bonus to saves, nor additional protection against magic damage, so they will be free to pick 30/- damage reduction vs acid and just smash right trough the wizards damage shield.
Wich leaves a character with low str/dex picking the invulnerability to 3rd level spells and they are now able to temporarily avoid getting knocked down whenever someone near them casts the Balagarn's iron horn. So, warlocks might actually fight eachother from time to time. It would also make playing a mage a bit less boring, as they would now have to actually work around certain essences and their enemy would be able to actually adapt to their strategy.

As for offensive specialized essences, those would grant big bonuses against summons. For instance a temporary +7 enchancement bonus against elementals/outsiders or something. It would allow mundanes to deal with summons should they have to (Let's say a fight in a tight corridor with the mage using the summons to block the mundane from reaching them). Mind you, such a change would not make summons useless. They would still be quite strong in PvE and would be quite useful in PvP, but they would no longer be basically unkillable. Mundane characters would also be able to get better results against certain bosses, that were previously out of their reach, but getting such an advantage would be costly, so teaming up would still be the preffered option.


Such a solution would allow mages to keep their versatility (it would actually force them to get even more versatile), while allowing mundane characters to counter them. It would also open up many new building paths, as being your generic "Big AB, umd, AC" dude would no longer be so necessary.

Last but not least (and actually the most important part) it would open many new Roleplaying options as being reliant on magic would no longer be a must. I mean, who wouldn't want to meet a PC with a tragic backstory featuring an evil wizard and a hatred for everything, that is magical. I mean, creating such a PC is possible, but it would be essentially a meme build, that is ironically countered by wizards.

[Irongron]

This subject came up in a previous suggestion, and I approved it for those essences.

Interesting specialised essences is defnitely a good idea, and you have some interesting ones here. What is needed for this to actually be an actionable suggestion though, is precise recipes and effects, and for that you will likely need more input. Moving this to feedback as you suggested in your first paragraph.

[Anomandaris]

I play a mundane rogue within 35 lore and am generally not afraid of most spellcasters. Not to say they can’t kill me quickly in many circumstances, but so can I if I pick my moment. I really think the whole “casters are OP” we need more dispel on hit or flat immunity stuff is no good. Saves are high enough on this server to make most DC abilities irrelevant for all but a few types of builds. Sure IGMS and some Non save bases stuff is lethal, but I’ve seen plenty of mages get wrekt by stealth builds and Or WMs etc.

Lastly as an edit this game is rock papers scissors. There’s always gonna be a build or multiple builds that curb stomp yours. That’s part of the fun!