Swade Conversion: Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence

[Koshnek]

The original build of Balitrox seems to have been lost somehow. After a good bit of discussion, this is the approved version of Balitrox that made it into the game.

Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence (Original SWD)

Balitrox was once a man dedicated to his path. His duty was to track down users of magic that strayed from the path of righteousness and slay those who could not be redeemed. He carried out his duty with great abandon, however; once he received orders he carried them out with no regard to whether they were right or wrong.
As the years passed, his abilities grew and his hunger for the blood of mages became insatiable. Balitrox began to kill mages indiscriminately. He was too powerful to be slain, so a cabbal of mages set forth a plan to contain him. His soul was stripped from his body and embedded into a great axe.
Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence now carries the sentience of the once-man Balitrox. In the presence of Magic, it glows with a red luminescence, but Balitrox's captors "cursed" him to only be able to slay those who would use magic for evil. If not regularly bathed in the blood of wielders of arcane power who harbor evil intent, Balitrox becomes dormant and is only as useful as the Great Axe his soul is contained within.

Balitrox-ConvertImage.png (28.04 KiB) Viewed 13456 times

• Str+d10+4 Mega Damage, AP 6, -1 Parry, 2 Hands, 15 lbs
• Danger Sense (Evil Arcana Detection) - Balitrox softly glows blood red when supernatural evil is around, providing just enough time to react before its too late.
• Berserk (Balitrox Hungers) - Per the Berserk Edge, you can flip the switch and give partial control over your actions to the Reaver of Essence. This comes at a cost - ending Balitrox's berserking rage is not an option until its hunger has been sated by the blood of a wielder of arcane power.
• Dispel (Balitrox's Denial)
  • P.P.E.: 10
  • Trait: Fighting
  • Trappings: Dispel activates on a Fighting roll and looses its ability to Dispel at range. In exchange, it never suffers a -2 penalty vs varying arcane sources.
• Vow (Major)

  Balitrox hungers for the blood of the wielders of arcane forces. Any who wield the Reaver of Essence must swear to Balitrox to pursue and slay all arcane users of evil intent.

  • Minor Transgression: Allowing an evil arcane wielder to escape with his life results in Fighting suffering a -1 penalty to use until atoned, as Balitrox is constantly reminding the wielder of his vow.
  • Major Transgression: Failing to engage in combat with an evil arcane wielder results in Balitrox's Damage bonuses no longer applying, -2 to activate Dispel, PPE pool cannot be tapped (so the bearer must provide the PPE, or not use Dispel at all), and Danger Sense not working. The hectoring of Balitrox grows louder, now, and if the character is not on a quest to atone, he must make fatigue rolls to deal with not being able to sleep because of the constant haranguing.
  • Mortal Transgression: Willingly entreating with an evil arcane user will break the Vow between the wielder and Balitrox. Balitrox will first try to take control, plunging the user - willingly or unwillingly - into an arcane blood bath not seen since the Sorcerer's Revenge. Barring that the Axe falls silent and will not work as anything other than a mundane medieval Battle Axe (per SWD) until a major quest is performed to atone. Burying it in the heart of one of Dunscon's inner circle, for instance.
    • Loose control: Make a Spirit roll at -2 or Balitrox takes control for a time, leaving a trail of arcane bodies possibly good or evil in its wake.

[Koshnek]

Swade Conversion:
Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence
Balitrox was once a man dedicated to his path. His duty was to track down users of magic that strayed from the path of righteousness and slay those who could not be redeemed. He carried out his duty with great abandon, however; once he received orders he carried them out with no regard to whether they were right or wrong.
As the years passed, his abilities grew and his hunger for the blood of mages became insatiable. Balitrox began to kill mages indiscriminately. He was too powerful to be slain, so a cabbal of mages set forth a plan to contain him. His soul was stripped from his body and embedded into a great axe.
Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence now carries the sentience of the once-man Balitrox. In the presence of Magic, it glows with a red luminescence, but Balitrox's captors "cursed" him to only be able to slay those who would use magic for evil. If not regularly bathed in the blood of wielders of arcane power who harbor evil intent, Balitrox becomes dormant and is only as useful as the Great Axe his soul is contained within.

Balitrox-ConvertImage.png (28.04 KiB) Viewed 12801 times

• Str+2d10 Mega Damage, AP 4
• Malice: Glowing red luminescence coats Balitrox's blade around arcane forces. When in the presence of someone actively using those forces for malevolent purposes, misty tendrils form from the luminescence and writhe with fury and anticipation.
• Ravenous Abandon: Per the Berserk Edge, you can flip the switch and give partial control over your actions to the Reaver of Essence. This comes at a cost - ending Balitrox's berserking rage is not an option until its hunger has been sated by the blood of a wielder of arcane power
• Denial: Balitrox Denies any magic it comes into contact with. This is the Dispel Power limited to the Range of Touch. It is activated via Fighting and costs 1 PPE per Denial. Denial is treated as Magic for the purposes of cross-AB Dispelling.
• PPE: 5/5
• Notes: -1 Parry, 2 Hands
• Weight: 7
• Cost: 190400

Balitrox Build

Base Item: Great Axe (Str+d10, AP 2, -1 Parry, 2 Hands, 7 lbs, $400)
Free: +1 die type to damage
Free (Arcane Trapping): Sting-like aura near evil arcane practitioners
Minor: AP +2 (5000x2=10000)
Minor: PP +5 (5000x2=10000)
Major: Berserk (25000x2=50000)
Major: Dispel (Self, activated via Fighting, treated as Magic against other ABs; [20000x3]x2=120000)

[Stoic]

No.

[Pender Lumkiss]

No

[Venatus Vinco]

Balitrox (Enchanted Item)
Base Item: Great Axe (Str+2d10, AP4, MD)
Major: Add an Edge Danger Sense
Major: Add an Edge Berserk
Minor: +2 AP
Minor: +2 AP

To get dispel you'd need to give up an edge.

Spirit Spear Option
Str+3d6, AP 6
Gains +1d6 damage and +6 AP against supernatural evil.

Creation Rules

Enchanted Items
Use the Minor and Major Item Creation rules found in Arcana & Mysticism. Magic melee weapons always deal Mega Damage.

For Signature Items choose one option:

• An enchanted item (weapon, armor, gear, etc.) with 2 Minor and 2 Major Upgrades up to Heroic rank.
  • For armor use light or heavy Enchanted Armor from Arcana and Mysticism as a base item.
  • For weapons use medieval melee or ranged weapons (SWADE Personal Weapons section) as a base item and add an additional damage die.
  • For gear use the “Magic Items & Equipment” sidebar on page 46 of Arcana & Mysticism to re-trap a piece of gear (not weapons or armor) as “magic”. Subject to GM approval process.
• Use an existing Magic Item (comparable in power to Spirit Bow or Spirit Spear) as a template. Subject to GM approval process.

[Koshnek]

Would we able to convert it closer to the original where he had the vow that interacted with Berserk? The intent was that it was a pretty serious drawback (Berserk had an additional requirement where it could not end without having spilled the blood of a magic user. Any magic user). Then the vow required various levels of Everett agreeing to hunt evil magic users similar to SWD miracles sinning with the final level leaving the axe completely innert with base SWADE stats.

Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence (Enchanted Great Axe)
Base Item: Great Axe (Str+2d10, AP 4, MD)
Minor: AP +2
Minor: PP +5
Major: Add an Edge (Danger Sense)
Major: Dispel
Vow (Major): Probably similar if not identical to the original build above.
Major: Berserk (Updated to SWADE Berserk, modified to be similar to above. This could potentially be more dangerous now that SWADE Berserk can incapacitate the character)

[Pender Lumkiss]

So like how do you know if someone is evil? What if we pass a joe on the street and some kick says, “That guy is an evil magic user for sure?”

Or like you work with a controlled demon?

[Freemage]

On the Dispel build:

Dispel costs 1 PPE/use. You're giving i the Touch Limitation, which gives you a -1 to the cost, and then activating with Fighting, which inflicts a +1 penalty to the cost--so you end up at 1 PPE/use, which seems solid enough. However, this pretty much monkeys with the notion that he gets to bypass the "Different AB" penalty. My advice is that it be treated as AB: Spellcasting or AB: Faith (your preference), and thus able to disrupt one of those at no penalty, and the others at -2.

[Venatus Vinco]

Also,

I am just going to chime in now and say no to using negatives (like hindrances) to add more upgrade slots. It's just not in the rules and I am uncomfortable breaking them right out of the gate.

To help make this work I can see glows in the presence of evil as a trapping or minor slot (losing the benefits of danger sense).

VV

[Ndreare]

Sensing Supernatural evil is pretty common second level spell in Palladium so a (minor or major?) slot fits the setting paradigms. Perhaps Presence Sense or the shifter awareness as the baseline?


But it is already providing Danger Sense, so it could just be a matter or trapping on the danger sense, that the axe is always aware of the evils around him?

[Venatus Vinco]

But is already providing Danger Sense, so it could just be a matter or trapping on the danger sense, that the axe is always aware of the evils around him?

Yes, but he also wants dispel and berserk. But only two major slots. In the old version danger sense was trapped that way.

VV

[Koshnek]

Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence
Balitrox was once a man dedicated to his path. His duty was to track down users of magic that strayed from the path of righteousness and slay those who could not be redeemed. He carried out his duty with great abandon, however; once he received orders he carried them out with no regard to whether they were right or wrong.
As the years passed, his abilities grew and his hunger for the blood of mages became insatiable. Balitrox began to kill mages indiscriminately. He was too powerful to be slain, so a cabbal of mages set forth a plan to contain him. His soul was stripped from his body and embedded into a great axe.
Balitrox, the Reaver of Essence now carries the sentience of the once-man Balitrox. In the presence of Magic, it glows with a red luminescence, but Balitrox's captors "cursed" him to only be able to slay those who would use magic for evil. If not regularly bathed in the blood of wielders of arcane power who harbor evil intent, Balitrox becomes dormant and is only as useful as the Great Axe his soul is contained within.

Balitrox-ConvertImage.png (28.04 KiB) Viewed 13380 times

• Str+2d10 Mega Damage, AP 4
• Malice: When in the presence of those who would use arcane forces for evil deeds, misty tendrils of glowing red luminescence coat its blade. They constantly writhe with fury and anticipation.
• Ravenous Abandon: Per the Berserk Edge, you can flip the switch and give partial control over your actions to the Reaver of Essence. This comes at a cost - ending Balitrox's berserking rage is not an option until its hunger has been sated by the blood of a wielder of arcane power
• Denial: Balitrox Denies any magic it comes into contact with. This is the Dispel Power limited to the Range of Touch. It is activated via Fighting and costs 1 PPE per Denial. Denial is treated as Magic for the purposes of cross-AB Dispelling.
• PPE: 5/5
• Notes: -1 Parry, 2 Hands
• Weight: 7
• Cost: Will add it up shortly

Balitrox Build

Base Item: Great Axe (Str+d10, AP 2, -1 Parry, 2 Hands, 7 lbs, $400)
Free: +1 die type to damage
Free (Arcane Trapping): Sting-like aura near evil arcane practitioners
Minor: AP +2
Minor: PP +5
Major: Berserk
Major: Dispel (Self, activated via Fighting, treated as Magic against other ABs)

---

If we can't keep it to original with the Vow & Berserk, dialing it back on the Danger Sense in order to keep the Sig Item intact and legal, can we at least tweak the Berserk a little bit to work similar to how it originally worked? (Keep the blood requirement vs making a smarts roll)

The idea was a "great power comes with great responsibility" kind of thing. And also, that power coming from a less than wholesome source.

[Pender Lumkiss]

No to malice. How far is presence? Impossible to GM, those who would is looking into the future... How could a GM determine a magic users entire life? Automatically succeed? Really?

I would rather just see as an action can sense evil arcane users within line of sight with Notice.

[Koshnek]

It might be more interesting to mak3it just glow for evil magic users than someone intending to use magic for evil.

1) Unlijeky, but it could pick up on someone evil who has seen the err of his or her ways

2) Some evils are worse than others. Maybe someone does evil that’s not deep enough to Mark their soul? Maybe they are more “lawful neutral” if you will and cross back and forth across the line. Maybe we come up on that type, but Balitrox can’t detect it and he blindsides has.

Either way the mechanics are there in game, so it shouldn’t be too big of a leap. (Shifters have corruption, so evil marks you in some way, and the spirit weapons detect evil after some fashion)

[Pender Lumkiss]

Either way I would use the mystic’s ability to sense evil and supernatural as the mechanics behind when the axe glows.

[Koshnek]

I’m ok with however it shakes out. If it would be easier we could change it to just glows for any magic (cuz he hates all equally). I thought it’d be more thematic for magic he can destroy (evil), kind of like a magical pavlov’s axe.

Or just whatever works .

[Snake Eyes]

Clarify something for me because I'm not bright. Dispel activated by Fighting. Are you simply Fighting the spell or is this a strike against the caster with the added boost of Dispelling his cast?
As it stands, it looks like VV suggested no Danger Sense, but as a free trapping, that it has the glow. I like the idea of using the Mystic's Spiritual Awareness as a basis. Free Action / Innate Ability with a Notice roll to detect what the GM decides is an Evil Magic User. This excludes non-magic-using demons, etc. If the roll succeeds, and Evil Mages are afoot, you get the glow.
Any objections to this?

[Koshnek]

1 pp dispel, -1 PP limited to touch +1PP for being activated by another roll (Fighting). All RAW there.

Edit: Treated as if a dispel from AB: Magic to deterMine penalties. Also, it works just like dispel. If I’m on hold I could try to smack an incoming fireball, or if not I could touch myself to try and dispel an effect or chop a mage to remove their armor and slice them, etc.

As to the glow, I’m ok with that or whatever you guys decide on. Just looking for an effect similar as described thematically (Similar to Sting from LotR)

[Snake Eyes]

Edit: Treated as if a dispel from AB: Magic to deterMine penalties. Also, it works just like dispel. If I’m on hold I could try to smack an incoming fireball, or if not I could touch myself to try and dispel an effect or chop a mage to remove their armor and slice them, etc.

I have no problem with this, then.

[Pender Lumkiss]

Actually... This is what happens when you make the dispel activate off of a fighting roll.

For triple the credits and +1 to Power Point activation costs, the power activates as part of another action (an attack roll for a weapon, roll to activate another power, etc.) using the Trait result of the primary action. Power Points are spent before rolling, and with a failure on the primary action the power fails as well.

So it would be... +2 PPE on successful hits activate dispel against the target.

I just copied the earth shaker language.

Why 2? Self limitation takes the power from 1 to 0 but it must be at least 1 pt... Then the activating as part of another action bumps it +1. So 2 pts.
(Honestly making it work off fighting changes it so it no longer works with range so a self only limitation seems superfluous)

[Koshnek]

No, limitations reduce the cost of a power at activation exactly like modifiers increase the cost of a power at activation.

Each limitation placed upon the power reduces its total Power Point cost by one when it’s activated (this can’t reduce the cost below 1).

Edit: So it can actually be useful, if thematically appropriate, to limit even 1 PP cost powers.

For triple the credits and +1 to Power Point activation costs, the power activates as part of another action (an attack roll for a weapon, roll to activate another power, etc.) using the Trait result of the primary action.

So the way it works is that it costs 1 PPE to cast Dispel, increased at activation by 1 for activating as part of another roll and reduced by 1 for being limited to the range of Touch.

So, up to this point, everything works as intended and in accordance with RAW.

Now, the Fighting issue may be a valid concern. I had always assumed, even in SWD, that you're changing the activation to whatever skill roll is appropriate to the item. I did not ever come to the conclusion that it affected the mechanics of the power.

So if I instead had bolt attached to the axe, for example, I assumed when you swing the axe, the bolt would fire off. I assumed the Bolt activated akin to baseball (aiming where the ball hits with a fighting roll). Or how like in some anime/games, when you swing your melee weapon a burst of power flies from it. Im probably wrong, but I'll ask and see what the good word is.

[Pender Lumkiss]

After reading some more. I aggree, +1 PPE on successful hits activate dispel against the target.

[Venatus Vinco]

Go for it.

VV

[Snake Eyes]

@Freemage @Venatus Vinco @Pender Lumkiss did this get the green light? I'm fine with the last version as written.

[Freemage]

I think we still need to iron out the final version of Malice. Even the Mystic Awareness version feels like a Major Mod (Edge equivalent) to me. Now, maybe if it wasn't so premonitory, so it was JUST a cool visual effect, that could work.

For instance: Glows with red energy when in the presence of someone actively using magic for malevolent purposes. So it won't trigger when a Necromancer sits next to you at the bar, but if he tries to use Lower Trait on the bartender's Smarts in order to con a free drink out of him, then you've got him.

So instead of being an early-warning system, it becomes a target-generator--you know which targets on the battlefield will qualify for meeting the Berserk edge's requirements.

[Venatus Vinco]

For instance: Glows with red energy when in the presence of someone actively using magic for malevolent purposes. So it won't trigger when a Necromancer sits next to you at the bar, but if he tries to use Lower Trait on the bartender's Smarts in order to con a free drink out of him, then you've got him.

Looks good

[Snake Eyes]

For instance: Glows with red energy when in the presence of someone actively using magic for malevolent purposes. So it won't trigger when a Necromancer sits next to you at the bar, but if he tries to use Lower Trait on the bartender's Smarts in order to con a free drink out of him, then you've got him.

Looks good

@Koshnek This looks like the version that will fly. -1 Burn to Everett for this taking so long.

[Pender Lumkiss]

Worst item ever, only to be outdone by Soulgaurd. Approved.

[Koshnek]

Malice: Glowing red luminescence coats Balitrox's blade when near arcane forces. If in the presence of someone actively using those forces for malevolent purposes, misty tendrils form outwards from the luminescence and writhe with fury and anticipation.

@Snake Eyes does this work?

[Snake Eyes]

Sure. Close enough for government work. It still doesn't work as an early warning system, but adds visual flash to the item.

[Ndreare]

@Koshnek I am Trying to follow this long winded Post.

Any chance you could update the original to show the final write up with the old version in a OOC tag or something? I would even give you a benny for the Thursday night roll20 game as a reward.

[Koshnek]

@Ndreare the SWADE conversion is current. I just added the flavor text and picture to make it more complete for you. For the sake of your old man eyes, I also went back and OOC'd the SWD version.

@Snake Eyes that's perfectly fine. With the amount of magic around at all times, i wasn't expectnig the base glow to be worth much if anything beyond flavor and description.