Protectors of the earth and the natural world, primal characters reach into the energy of that same ecosystem they protect in times of crisis to bring punishment those who transgress against the natural order.
The Ultimate Exaltation of Earth
The eternal enduring cycle of life and death, of destruction and renewal, flows through you. Your body takes the form of earth that is constantly crumbling to dust and reforming. Your spirit, like the earth, can never truly die.
Encounter*Primal,Limit,Polymorph
Minor Action
Effect: You drop to zero hit points, but are not dying, and not unconscious. You automatically pass all death saving throws. You become immune to damage and are weakened. At the beginning of your turn, expend a healing surge or the power ends.
Heroic Effect:When this power ends, you regain hit points equal to your healing surge value and recover 1d4+2 healing surges.
Paragon Effect: When this power ends you regain hit points equal to your bloodied value and recover 1d4+2 healing surges.
Epic Effect: When this power ends you regain all of your hit points and recover 1d4+2 healing surges.
Howling Ascendancy
You connect with the wild, drawing forth the attributes of all of nature’s creatures. With a supernatural howl, you become nature’s vengeance.
Encounter *Primal,Limit,Rage
Minor Action
Effect: Your speed increases by 2.
Heroic Effect: Once per turn as a free action, you may choose one of the following: +5 to Athletics, +2 AC, or +4 damage. The effects last until the start of your next turn.
Paragon Effect:Once per turn as a free action, you may choose one of the following: +5 to Athletics, +2 AC, +6 damage, or spend a healing surge to recover hit points. The effects last until the start of your next turn.
Epic Effect: Once per turn as a free action, you may choose one of the following: +5 to Athletics, +2 AC, +8 damage, spend a healing surge to recover hit points, or fly your speed. The effects last until the start of your next turn.
Primal Army
The primal spirits that inhabit all things respond to your urgent need. Nature’s threads bind you all, as you become a general of these wild spirits, if only for a time.
Encounter *Primal,Limit,Conjuration
Minor Action
Effect: You summon one or more wild platoons. Each wild platoon counts as a large creature and can block movement and counts as concealment against enemies. A wild platoon may not be destroyed, but may be dismissed by you as a free action. You may spend a move action to move all wild platoons five spaces. At the beginning of each turn, expend one healing surge or dismiss all wild platoons summoned.
Heroic Effect: You summon one wild platoon within 10 squares of you. Any enemy that starts its turn next to a wild platoon is slowed until the end of turn and takes 5 psychic damage.
Paragon Effect: you summon two wild platoons within 10 squares of you. Any enemy that starts its turn next to a wild platoon is slowed until the end of turn and takes 5 psychic damage.
Epic Effect:You summon three wild platoons within 10 squares of you. Any enemy that starts its turn next to a wild platoon is slowed until the end of turn and takes 5 psychic damage.
Form of the Great Sea
Let the salt of Earth admonish the water to bear the virtue of the Great Sea. Blood becomes water neverending. Drenched in this water, past injuries are forgotten as you bring the force of the great yawning tides to bear upon your enemy.
Encounter*Primal,Limit,Polymorph
Minor Action
Effect: You assume the guardian form of the Great Sea. Your hit points change to that of your bloodied value. Whenever you expend a healing surge to regain hit points, those hit points become temporary hit points instead. If an effect would heal damage, it instead grants that amount of temporary hit points.
Heroic Effect: whenever one of your attacks hits an opponent, as a free action you may spend one healing surge to daze that enemy until the end of its next turn. The enemy is also weakened (save ends).
Paragon Effect: whenever one of your attacks hits an opponent, as a free action you may spend one healing surge to daze that enemy until the end of its next turn. The enemy also is immobilized (save ends).
Epic Effect: whenever one of your attacks hits an opponent, as a free action you may spend two healing surges to stun that enemy until the end of its next turn. The enemy is also immobilized (save ends).
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About gamefiend
A Jack of All Trades ,or if you prefer, an extreme example of multi-classing, Gamefiend, a.k.a Quinn Murphy has been discussing, playing and designing games straight out of the womb. He is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of this site in addition to being an aspiring game designer. As you would assume, he is a huge fan of 4e. By day he is a technologist.
While I like most of these, I kinda feel Ultimate Exhaltation of Earth feels more like a Shadow power. Becoming immortal and defying death seems more a power drawn from the realm of darkness than the earth itself. Other than that, great work, keep it coming!
So, I have a question… Are these limits supposed to be specific to certain classes? Like you have Warden’s guardian form type powers and a Barbarian’s Rage type powers, but it doesn’t look like these are specifically for those classes. So can you have, say, a Swarm Druid with the Rage limit break?
Whoa, cool stuff. I agree that the Exaltation of the Earth seems a little more shadow-like, but I really like these. Not only are they powerful, but cool. The Primal Army power is probably my favorite. Platoons that nuke enemies by default? Oh yeah.
Sorry for the delay guys! I’m glad you like.
@MagusRogue wwell, if I were going to do a version of exaltation for Shadow, it would include the character becoming super-insubstantial. This power is meant to represent the infinite HPs of the earth itself. It feels funny saying a player has “infinite” HP, so I went with the zero HP but immune to damage route. I see where you’re coming from though.
@Novaseaker yup! I meant for these to cross some class boundaries. So you can have a druid with a rage limit break or some other mix. I think it’s cool to shake it up and there is no real penalty for it.
@Andy I’m glad you like! Primal Army is my second favorite next to Form of the Great Sea.
I love this concept of Limit Breaks! Awesome job! There are a few things I’d like to see clarified before trying to apply it to one of my games, if you don’t mind.
1. You mentioned that Limit Breaks are chosen at character creation and can be retrained, but you did not mention how many Limit Breaks a character can have. The text suggests that you can learn multiple limit breaks over the course of a character’s career, but there are no such rules in your write-ups. My question here is whether and when a character learns a new Limit Break to add to his or her repertoire of Limit Breaks?
2. Would it be possible to use Limit Break rules in normal encounters instead of special Limit encounters that the DM has to design from scratch? The concept wouldn’t work so well if the players can only use their awesome powers when the DM feels like designing an encounter tailor made to let them do so, and the fact that they know they are expected to use their Limit makes the encounter a bit predictable and less exciting. I saw someone propose a change in the way Drive points are gained to make it suitable for a normal encounter. What is your opinion on such an approach?
3. For Limit powers that allow the use of Healing Surges to use a power, you might want to restrict it to an Attack Power of the corresponding Power Source. For example the Tireless Technique Martial Limit Break can be very encounter-breaking in the hands of a Martial character who somehow poached a very powerful but non-martial Encounter Power (such as the Barbarian’s Hurricane of Blades). At Epic Level, burning 1 healing surge to use that power every turn is just brutal, to say the least.
4. Limit Breaks are supposed to be activated using your Second Wind or by expending a Standard Action, but many of them list Minor Action as their action type. What are you supposed to use the Minor Action for? I understand that some powers have a virtual limit imposed by the amount of Healing Surges you have left, and so you may choose to activate them after they end, but for other powers that have no such limit, does it mean you have to spend a Minor Action on top of expending your Second Wind to benefit from them? Also, does your Second Wind still grant its normal benefits (+2 to all defenses, spend a healing surge)? If you want to end a Limit Break before the end of an encounter, what type of action is it? Can you activate the same Limit Break again within the same encounter?