Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

I like the risk/reward idea behind it.

However I wonder if it adresses the DR problem. Sure it increases the damage by 5, then 10, then 15...

I would think a problem here is that it not only helps to break DR it also gives a huge damage boost against ANYTHING. Feels like it would be a pretty whicked boost to leveling in slighlty easier areas where the AC loss would not account for too much.

Overall this ability feels like it would be great for a Frenzied Berserker or a similar class but for what you wanted to achieve, breaking DR it seems to be the wrong path to go.

Really think an ability to aim at breaking DR should have decreased damage rather than more.

Maul
The Bear Warrior mauls his victims relentlessly forgoing the chance of precise hits for raw undeniable damage.
Specifics: The Bear Warrior attacks his enemies dealing 0.9 damage per level of Bear Warrior + half his Strentgh modifier. This damage ignores any and all damage reductions and resistances.
Duration: Mode
Cooldown: 60 Seconds
Rational: With 10 levels of Bear Warrior, this will deal 9 damage with every attack plus half of the strength modifier. The damage here is exactly half of what the bear warrior would deal per average, reducing it significantly against anything without DR. The Cooldown is mainly so one has to think a bit about wether one turns if off or keeps it on in a fight with mixed opponents having DR and some not.

I am really no expert for balance I suppose Chad or Aaron could say more to this. I'd think breaking through DR is pretty damn strong still so it could require reducing the damage even further but this would be an ability focused solely on breaking DR.

Let me know what you think...

the problem i see with this is some DR is quantified as "ex. 10/-". i do not know if there is a way to bypass (x)/- DR.

aaron22 wrote:the problem i see with this is some DR is quantified as "ex. 10/-". i do not know if there is a way to bypass (x)/- DR.

Don't know honestly...

That's what the whole point of the ability would be, to bypass DR. I just thought a bleed type ability best because it is gradual and not just big swing that deals lots of damage or scales off damage. Honestly I like this one the most if not a bleed type move over time. It works like a wounding or a Expose weakness.

Maul
Specifics: The Bear Warrior mauls his victim in an all out assault, ignoring his defenses while increasing the ferocity of his attacks. For each round of the duration his damage increases cumulatively by half his Bear Warrior levels rounded up, while his AC decreases cumulatively by 2.
Duration: 1 round / 2 Bear Warrior levels.
Cooldown: 60 Seconds
Rational: With 10 levels of Bear Warrior, it will last 5 rounds and the final round will give a damage bonus of 25 and an AC decrease of 10. It will help the Bear Warrior against high DR opponents, but it comes with a high risk.

This ability also gives him a burst damage button which I've wanted from the start, but QC said no too. That's my only concern, but the ability to get up to +25 temp damage in a round is a big way to overcome DR. I might offer a suggestion to make it more of a 1 round ability, just does it on the next activation full round. So you get a full round of attacks with bonus damage and suffer the AC penalty. Otherwise you could potentially get 30 attacks at higher damage which seems a bit overkill. If this was on a timer for say 30 seconds and did a flat plus and minus based on your bear warrior level, it be best IMO. Like this:

Maul
Specifics: The Bear Warrior mauls his victim in an all out assault, ignoring his defenses while increasing the ferocity of his attacks. For the next round he gains a damage bonus equal to his bear Warrior levels at the cost of 1 AC every two Bear Warrior levels rounded up.
Duration: Instant
Cooldown: 30 Seconds
Rational: Basically a big hit slam for 1 round. Good for overcoming some quick DR, but not designed to be spammed. This is my counter suggestion if a bleed/wound is not suitable. It would be nice if there was a mauling animation to it too.. no idea if that's even doable.

Still prefer the damage over time though.

The argument against the damage over time was basically just an RP one, as especially undead don't bleed while having resistances most of the time.

K'yon Oblodra wrote:The argument against the damage over time was basically just an RP one, as especially undead don't bleed while having resistances most of the time.

Understandable, not sure the RP reason for wounding or expose on them then? Anyone know that?

System limitation. In PnP you can't apply bleed damage to undead and Expose Weakness doesn't exist.

chad878262 wrote:System limitation. In PnP you can't apply bleed damage to undead and Expose Weakness doesn't exist.

Chat do you know of any PnP reason a damage over time would be appropriate here?

The only reasons that come to mind are burning, bleeding, poison, acid and more exotic a desintegration effect which would be magically induced but neither really makes sense for the bear warrior... Poison and bleed would but as mentioned make little sense against undead, there it would be burning but not sure how that would be applied via paws... Maybe some kind of spirit energy?

Bummer.. not sure what to do.. they don't really have channeling in this game, so you can't channel a claw attack. My only thought would be the flat damage increase, or your idea that just is an average damage that pierces​ DR.

That, or.. Let's go way out on a limb here:

Maul
Specifics: The Bear Warrior mauls his victim in an all out assault, ignoring his defenses while increasing the ferocity of his attacks. For each round, the Bear Warriors defense is reduced by 4 and gains the feat adamantiam fist. In addition, his attacks cause wounding.
Duration: 1 round / 2 Bear Warrior levels
Cooldown: 60 Seconds
Rational: This offers a wounding for non undead and a basic DR overcome.

Looks like it would do what you're looking for except for the 10/- DR which I am not sure how common that is.

An idea for your damage over time idea, a solution would be a sacred ointment applied to the paws that could deal Holy damage... Though not sure what the others think of that.

Would be similar to a poison but more on a spiritual basis.

I would advice not to go too exotic in your suggestions, and keep the mechanics simple. What would a huge strong bear do if it encounters an enemy that resists its normal attacks? It probably wouldn't stop and rub its paws in divine ointments I think it would use its strength and size to increase its offense, even if that means opening itself up for counterattacks.

Pure physical damage makes more sense to me for this class, than trying to turn its paws into adamantine or adding some semi-magical effect. Bleed could also make sense, but it comes with DR issues and creature type issues. This is all assuming that Bear Warrior actually needs help in this regard.

dedude wrote:I would advice not to go too exotic in your suggestions, and keep the mechanics simple. What would a huge strong bear do if it encounters an enemy that resists its normal attacks? It probably wouldn't stop and rub its paws in divine ointments I think it would use its strength and size to increase its offense, even if that means opening itself up for counterattacks.

Pure physical damage makes more sense to me for this class, than trying to turn its paws into adamantine or adding some semi-magical effect. Bleed could also make sense, but it comes with DR issues and creature type issues. This is all assuming that Bear Warrior actually needs help in this regard.

The way I see the bear warrior it is a ritual warrior, the Celtics had bear warriors and they actually used poisons and ointments in their warfare. It would of course be the human that would apply the ointment before going to battle... Possibly on his hands prior to changing forms.

The only reason I'm staying away from flat damage increase is QC turned it down before. The adamantiam fist would be more so it going all out wreckless attack on something rather than give it a damage boost, solve the mechanic issue and override the DR. Its just as easy to say "All the attacks this round pierce DR."

Wounding does 1 hp a round.. it's nothing crazy.

PS. I really appreciate the feedback guys. Thank you!

can we offer a separate attack mode that applies damage in the form of slash(claw), pierce( teeth), bludge(paw) to all damage for a period of time.

i cannot see a reason that adamantine, silver, holy(unholy) or cold iron would be applicable for a bear warrior lore and practice. my guess is it would be a magical transformation that may need some requirements attached to it. similar to silver fang i suppose but that comes from divine classes so makes more sense that way.