Ga'alian Quads

A Ga'alian Quad is the result of four persons being heartseeded at the same time with matching heartseeds. During the process, they are given at least one shared ability. It can be literally anything.

Examples:

-- They can share hit points.

-- They can give each other up to 5 of their AC or to hit bonus.

-- They can all instant cast a certain spell such as say fireball while having a resist10 to fire themselves. This can create very interesting tactics. For example, I gave one group Sanctuary to steal a holy idol from a temple. Each could cast Sanctuary themselves and each other. The unique quality of the quad and heartseeds let them stack it 4 times. Frustrating for the players, but fun for me.

-- They flank when within weapon reach of each other no matter the position.

Literally anything can be done, but that is the concept. A shared ability or two to change up the focus of combat and make it more challenging. Players will hate them, and that is the point! Just make sure they hate the quads and not you! Quads are awesome because they give you a chance to bend the rules. But even with Quads there needs to be a measure of balance. For example, a Quad that combines hitpoints (woohoo ... a wizard with 200 hp!) also all die at the same time (literally ... all four drop like a stone once the HP pool is depleted). You can give hints to the players like “It’s really strange ... just as Ashira hits the barbarian, a fresh wound opens up on the cleric.” If you do it well, then the PCs have a chance to figure out what’s going on and figure out that they need to focus on the less armored members. A Quad that has allows the members a Dexterity score of 24 would have a lower Strength score.