|
|
Thu, Oct. 22nd, 2009, 11:30 pm
Warforged
| Some people say a man is made outta mud | | A warforged's got oil for blood | | Metal and wood and steel and bronze | | A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong |
| | You load sixteen tons, what do you get | | Another day's orders and ya ain't free yet | | Sweet Maker don't you scrap me 'cause I don't know.... | | What happens to a warforged when he ain't no mo' |
| | I was made one mornin' where the sun didn't shine | | I picked up my weapon and I walked to the line | | I loaded sixteen tons of into a ballista bow | | But the makers all say we ain't got souls |
| | You load sixteen tons, what do you get | | Another day's orders and ya ain't free yet | | Sweet Maker don't you scrap me 'cause I don't know.... | | What happens to a warforged when he ain't no mo' |
| | I was born for warrin', I ain't got a name | | Fightin' and trouble are my middle name | | I was raised from the forge by an ol' magic line | | Cain't no jumped up wizard make more a my kind |
| | You load sixteen tons, what do you get | | Another day's orders and ya ain't free yet | | Sweet Maker don't you scrap me 'cause I don't know.... | | What happens to a warforged when he ain't no mo' |
| | If you see me comin', better step aside | | A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died | | One fist of iron, the other of steel | | If the right one don't a-get you | | Then the left one will |
| | You load sixteen tons, what do you get | | Another day's orders and ya ain't free yet | | Sweet Maker don't you scrap me 'cause I don't know.... | | What happens to a warforged when he ain't no mo' |
A short story that was written for the Chi-Town anthology; it got left out, so I'm reprinting it here.
Mind Over Matter
Whatever an enemy might do to an enemy, or a foe to a foe, the ill-directed mind can do to you even worse.
-Gautama Buddha, Cittavagga The Mind ( Read more... )
So, I've been playing a lot of Civ IV, and realized something that annoys the ever-loving crap out of me: Building a new city. No matter how advanced my civilization, every city starts out with nothing. No matter how advanced your civilization, no matter how much your people complain of overcrowding, every city starts out with 1 population, and no buildings. There are a rare few wonders which give all of your cities a certain building, but they're few and far between. If/when they make Civ V, this is what they need to include is wonders (or something similar) that requires you to build 6-8 of a building, then building this thingy will stick one in all of your cities. I also want the ability to take population out of city A and stick it in city B. You're bitching about overcrowding, when Philadelphia is producing one goddamn hammer a turn. MOVE, YOU BASTARDS!
Rich Burlew did a great version of the Divine Trickster idea for 3.5, but it's got a few problems in Pathfinder... rules changes that rendered the old version unsuitable. Building on his foundation, and with a bit of my own stuff (run past my DM), I've got a variation on the class, that emphasizes their role as sneak attackers, healers, and skill monkeys. Rich's original version is here: http://www.giantitp.com/articles/5M5QGsJ5mpbLfAHduZG.html
The Divine Trickster The Divine Trickster Requirements: Alignment: Any nonlawful. Skills: Bluff 6 ranks, Hide 6 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 1 ranks, Disable Device 1 ranks. Spells: Ability to cast 2nd level divine spells from the Chaos, Luck, or Trickery domains. Special: Sneak Attack +2d6 class ability, Channel Energy class ability. Class Skills: The divine trickster’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Cha), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Languages (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str). Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier. Hit Dice: d8 Saves: Reflex and Will good; Fortitude poor Base Attack Bonus: 3 points every 4 levels.
Class Features: Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The divine trickster gains no additional armor or weapon proficiencies. They may trade their medium armor proficiency for the Dodge proficiency, if they wish. If they already have Dodge, they may exchange it for Extra Channel. Spells per Day: When a new divine trickster level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in a divine spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as wild shape or domain powers that are based on cleric level), except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class before becoming a divine trickster, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day. Directed Energy (Su): The divine trickster learns to combine their ability to channel energy and strike at vital points to direct their channeled energy into a single target, causing either a devastating wound, or great healing, depending on their target. The ability to sneak attack and channel energy may still be used in the normal fashion, if the divine trickster wishes. Those who channel positive energy may choose to not make an area attack or healing, instead using their positive energy against a single target. If that target is undead, they may add their positive energy damage to their sneak attack damage for a single, devastating, strike. If the target is living, they may use sneak attack's knowledge of anatomy to direct the positive energy more effectively, thus adding their sneak attack damage to their positive energy damage. Thus Toby, with +3d6 Sneak attack and +4d6 Channel Energy can choose to sneak attack a lich for +7d6 damage (in addition to the damage caused by the weapon and other bonuses he may have). Alternatively, he could choose to heal Ashe for 7d6 damage. Either use consumes a daily use of Channel Energy, and affects only a single target. The maximum range for either use is 30 feet. Those who channel negative energy can do the same, but with the reversed effects; they may use sneak attack and negative energy to severely damage living targets, or to greatly heal undead (and others dependent on negative energy). Either use consumes a daily use of Channel Energy, and affects only a single target. The maximum range for either use is 30 feet. Bonus Dice (Ex or Su): At every even level (2, 4, 6, 8, 10), the divine trickster may add +1d6 to either his Sneak Attack damage or his Channel Energy damage. This must be chosen at the level the bonus die is gained, but may change for each level. For example, Toby could add +1d6 to sneak attack at levels 2 and 4, and choose to add the rest to Channel Energy, or could choose to alternate levels between Channel Energy and Sneak attack. Trap Guidance (Su): The divine trickster gains special intuition through his divine energy; at 3rd level, she may add her divine trickster level as a bonus to all Divine Trickster class skills. This requires the expenditure of a daily use of Channel Energy, and lasts for 10 minutes per point of Charisma bonus (minimum 10 minutes). Domain Flexibility (Su): Select one of the following domains to which the character has access: Chaos, Luck, or Trickery. The trickster may spontaneously convert any prepared cleric spell (except a domain spell) into a domain spell of the same level or lower in the selected domain, just as a cleric channels energy to convert spells into cure spells. Hide in Plain Sight (Su): The divine force the trickster serves subtly distracts nearby creatures from looking in her direction. Starting at 7th level, the divine trickster can use the Stealth skill even when being observed. Slippery Mind (Su): This is exactly like the rogue ability of the same name, except that it is a supernatural rather than extraordinary ability. Restrictions: The divine trickster is obligated to uphold whatever beliefs or mandates are given by the force that provides her divine spellcasting power; failure to do so will cause her to lose her supernatural abilities as she would her ability to cast spells. |
Someone on the Giant in the Playground boards suggested slowing spellcasters down... making them take a penalty to their initiative to cast spells. Here's my version of it: I think a simple way of doing this would be that, on a caster's initiative, he declares what spell he will cast. He does not cast it until X initiative counts later, where X equals the level of the spell; quickened spells (and swift-action spells) count as level 0 for this purpose. The spell is targeted at the end of the casting time, or can be aborted. While casting, the spellcaster is flat-footed. This does several things. 1) Slows spellcasters down. Being slower than other people is dangerous, especially since, in that 2 count time where you're casting Glitterdust, the other side may have closed with you. 2) Makes meat shields more valuable. At least for a couple rounds, where the wizards are trying to slowly get defenses in place, having a meat shield to interpose becomes much more important. 3) Makes disrupting a more viable tactic. Instead of needing to ready an action, you have to hit them sometime in their casting period (though you can still ready an action). Since the spell-caster is flatfooted during the casting, they get ganked more my rogues and the like. If you really want to have fun, rule that any spellcasting time that can't be completed before initiative equals 0 can't be cast that round, and carry an initiative penalty onto the next round (so if the wizard rolls a 3, and wants to cast a 5th level spell, he has a -2 to his initiative next round). A low initiative roll can cripple a caster who has to keep playing catch-up. Makes Dexterity more important, or something like Improved Initiative, to give them room to cast, and keep them from always acting last.
Wed, Jul. 8th, 2009, 11:37 am
Oyayuzuri
Oyayuzuri being Japanese for "inheritance from a parent", I thought it an appropriate way to introduce my thought. I've been reading "Path of the Assassin", which is a biographical manga about Tokugawa Ieyasu's early life, and his relationship with a suppa (ninja) who served him. As they stress family and clans, it got my geekliness thinking about combining Oriental Adventures and Birthright... not as an "Asian-themed Birthright", but using the family rules in OA to create families in Birthright with a bit of history. Mind you, I'm doing this largely without books, just from memory. So, every scion generates family honor, per the rules in Oriental Adventures. Those who are regents use the rules for Samurai, representing that they have enough deific bloodline to hold an influential position. Non-regent scions use the values for the class closest to them... fighters, rangers, and paladins use the values for Bushi, wizards for wu jen, priests for shujenka, and bards and thieves for Yakuza. Whatever you have is the initial bloodline strength of your character's family. You then turn to the "family events" table, just a couple pages behind the table for generating initial honor. You roll on that table as dictated by your family caste, BUT you always ADD the absolute value of anything you roll... having an infamous ancestor adds to your bloodline strength, while it would take away from a OA character's honor (your ancestor being infamous doesn't actually add to the strength, it just makes it far more likely that you have a more significant bloodline). After adjusting for family events, you then roll for the various inheritances you have... special weapons, income from land holdings (though they may not be Holdings, per se), and these might influence your individual bloodline strength. You can also use the tables therein to determine your surviving family... grandparents, uncles, cousins, and the like. After generation, your bloodline strength increases just like normal in Birthright. However, you now have a more nuanced creation system, that simultaneously generates a family and family history for you. ------------- Related, but separate, idea: Use the Birthright powers tables in Oriental Adventures, basing it off of either individual or family honor. Maybe families have certain powers which are associated with them, and as individuals increase the family honor, the families gain more power. In that case, falling in honor enough to impact your family's honor would represent a very real threat to family power... too much dishonor and your family will lose the favor of the Kami, and the gifts that brings. Or base it on individual honor, with powers accumulating as you, yourself, become better regarded. Dishonorable acts, in this case, could destroy your own power base, even as they increase them through their pragmatic effects.
Ok, a quick and dirty mechanism for determining the success of an illusion:
The base chance an illusion will be successful is equal to the illusionist's Chance to Learn Spell for illusions. To that, you add your character's Charisma (your ability to sell the illusion, yourself) and your level (twice your level if you are a specialty illusionist). From this, observers can subtract their Wisdom OR Intelligence, whichever is higher.
So, a 2/3 gnome illusionist/thief with a 9 intelligence and a 10 Charisma will have his illusions taken seriously 4+50 (because this is an illusion, he gets that +15%)+10% of the time... or 64%. Not good, but he isn't very bright (not very observant, forgets little details, etc.). His saving grace is being an illusionist... that +15% for illusions saves his butt.
An 10th level elven wizard, on the other hand, with his 17 intelligence and 13 charisma, gets his illusions right 98% of the time. He's bright, can sell it pretty well, and has a lot of experience. If he were a diviner, not just a wizard, he'd be down to 83%, because diviner's take a -15% with illusion spells.
A 2nd level bard who just squeaked into the class has a 72% chance to sell the illusion (because he has a 13 intelligence and a 15 charisma).
Of course, this might be modified by a few different things (like sense priority or simple WTF-ism), it also gives them the ability to judge how likely people are to believe things. It also keeps illusionists as the premiere illusionists... being an illusionist is worth 3 points of intelligence, and more as you gain experience.
You can use this chance a few different ways.
First of all, you can use it as the chance that someone will even have a reason to disbelieve... if they don't roll the percentage, they don't have any reason to disbelieve. This gives illusionists a fair amount of power, since, as the 10th level wizard example shows, you reach a point where it's very hard to disbelieve illusions.
You could also use it as a chance that an illusion will be automatically disbelieved... anyone seeing this illusion will say "That's got to be fake!" They won't see through it (which clever low-percentagers can use... say, a fake-looking wall over a real wall, or concealing an angry golem), but they won't believe it, either. This weakens illusionists a little bit, since disbelief no longer necessarily takes an action, but it does give them the ability to play the odds. "I probably can't pull off an illusion of a troll... but I CAN make an illusion over this rope bridge to look like a masonry bridge, and maybe convince them that there is no bridge!"
My friend/DM Matt and I spent some time coming up with a prestige class for Pathfinder. We don't have a lot of fluff associated with it, but the mechanics are solid. Requirements: Able to cast 3rd level spells of the summoning sub-school Augment Summoning and Spell Focus: Conjuration Knowledge Nature or Knowledge Planes 5 1 Can telepathically communicate with any creature you summoned w/i 100 feet 2 Greater Augment Summoning: May add +2 to any one stat, which stacks with Augment Summoning, and may be chosen at the time of casting. All creatures summoned must increase the same ability +1 Caster 3 Damage Reduction: To creatures summoned via spells of the summoing subschool, either one damage reduction is increased by 5, or creatures without damage reduction gain DR 5/magic +1 Caster 4 Greater Augment Summoning: May add +4 to one ability score, and +2 to another ability score, which stacks with Augment Summoning, and may be chosen at the time of casting. All creatures summoned must increase the same abilities, in the same amounts. +1 Caster 5 Increase Summons: Summon one additional of any creature summoned via Summon Monster or Summon Nature Ally Spell. All Summon Nature's Ally and Summon Monster spells are automatically considered Extended without raising spell level. This does not stack with Extend Spell. 6 Greater Augment Summoning: Bonuses from Greater Augment Summoning improve to +6/+4/+2. All creatures summoned must increase the same abilities, in the same amounts. +1 Caster 7 Greater Damage Reduction: Creatures summoned by spells of the summoing subschool gain DR 5/Adamantine and Magic. +1 Caster 8 Greater Augment Summoning: Bonuses from Greater Augment Summoning improve to +8/+6/+4/+2. All creatures summoned must increase the same abilities, in the same amounts. +1 Caster 9 Maximize Summoning: When using Summon Monster or Summon Nature's Ally to summon creatures below the level of the spell, you automatically summon the maximum amount allowed. For example, if using Summon Nature's Ally II to summon wolves (from the Summon Nature's Ally I list), you will gain 3 wolves, instead of 1D3 (plus the one additional from Increased Summoning). 10 Enhanced Summoing: Up to three times per day, you may sacrifice a spell of 3rd level or lower with a range of Touch or greater during the casting of a Summon Nature's Ally or Summon Monster spell. The spell sacrificed applies to all creatures summoned by that spell. +1 Caster
Fri, Jun. 12th, 2009, 09:06 am
Woo-hoo!
"Mysteries of Magic is in development
I’ll be assigning art to Amy Ashbaugh in a week or so, and I’ll be assigning the cover to Steven Argyle if I can find his email address and if he’s still interested."
Woo-hoo!
http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=104459I know, my rule is "A Palladium Book isn't real until it's gone to the printer", but... WOO-HOO! Amy does awesome work, so I am completely stoked about this! http://www.alashbaugh.com/
So, I've had a change of character in our Pathfinder game. I was playing a LG Dwarf Ranger/Rogue in our Night Below game. In the Herenshire, the word of Rangers has the force of law outside of towns, a fact I did not remember, but did me little good in the game (since we went from having two followers of Chaos to having a follower of Chaos and a Paladin of Fluffy-bunniness). In clearing out the Goblins in south Herenshire, a party member was revealed to be a drow... he is, in theory, a LG celestial-blooded sorcerer. Now, this party member had traveled with us for months, never revealing his nature. He was still using the gifts of his dark mistress, while claming to follow Matus, the deity of just lordship. Of course, given that he revealed himself while negotiating a truce with goblins, and had previously shown a preference for charming folk into doing his bidding (orcs and a bandit, no less), my dwarf was extremely distrustful of him. He was fairly certain that the Paladin sticking up for him was charmed. With great reluctance, I let him live until we got to town. At town, they punted it to the local count (since being a drow is illegal, but the squire wasn't sure what would happen if he ordered the drow executed), and the count put him on probation. We went on a bit, tracking down some missing pilgrims. We found a scene of carnage, and were attacked by chaos beasts (imagine if a krenshar and a displacer beast had a particularly ugly child), and, while we defeated them, most of us were injured. The drow offered to heal people. I declined. He attempted to do so anyway, using this bolt of light which was, to my dwarf's mind, quite similar to the Magic Missiles he'd been tossing around. My dwarf, being under attack by a drow, quite naturally fought back. I went up to trip him (had a nice trip build going... trip, then sneak attack when they stand up), and missed. The elf wizard (who is claiming he's not evil about as convincingly as a dwarf can claim to be a titan with a glandular condition) decides that this has to stop, and throws a color spray... which knocks out the drow, but leaves the dwarf untouched. My dwarf considers this to be aid, so does nothing to the elf at this point. Now the paladin comes up and argues that I was not being attacked, I was being healed. I point out that I had declined this spell to be cast on me, he did it anyway, and I cannot be sure he was attempting to heal me, since the two look identical (my dwarf had no ranks in spellcraft). During the course of this argument, the elf decides I'm being too rough with the unconcious drow (thumping him with the butt of my axe to emphasize points), so he casts Ray of Enfeeblement on me. This is an attack, which results in him getting tripped, and then punched in the face when he tries to get up to run. (It should be pointed out that, at this point, the other two party members were making very good arguments as to why we should not be killing people, and my dwarf had modified his plan to simply break the hands of the drow, not kill him). The result? My dwarf leaves them on the moors. They get back days after me, my own story already having been told, and have to confirm my story, instead of telling it first. And my dwarf now patrols a section of the hills, while they left those pilgrims to die. And I'm now playing a summon-heavy druid with an impish streak in her (she tried to convince the paladin that tiny trolls lived inside her, causing her pain every month because she didn't take care of them... the paladin insists that she has seldom seen herself naked).
Princes of the Universe His Majesty, King Frederick Mercurius XXIII, slowly strode down the central carpet of his throne room. Every seventh step, he spoke a phrase, prescribed by ancient ritual. He stated the powers of the throne, an office he would assume when the sun reached its zenith in an hour's time. Each phrase spoke of the fealty of the realm to the king, of the king's power of high and low justice, of the treasury and the tax, the gaol and the axe. All these powers he took to himself, king of the land.Every seventeenth step, he assumed a piece of regalia, taking ancient advice from a member of his staff. A cloak from the steward of his castle, and the advice "Let your law settle lightly on the people, and they will wear it well." A key from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who said "Tax lightly in peace, so your people will stay rich." An orb from the Justicer; "Judge innocence and guilt carefully, and execute with a heavy heart; heads, once doffed, are not lightly returned." A scepter from the General of his armies, and the admonishment that "Wars ruin lands and slay your subjects, but give no ground to conquerors." From his queen, grave in her youth and pale in her wedding gown, he received his crown. "Be king, and father of kings. Uneasy rests the kingdom without an heir; uneasy rests the king who raises his heir to sloth and ignorance."King Frederick knelt a moment before the throne. In a phrasing so old that none knew the origin, he stood before assembled throng, noble and common alike, and intoned an ancient oath."I am Frederick, son of John, son of Dean, son of Brian, King of Rhye. I pledge myself to the prosperity of the realm and the safety of its people. I will give justice to those wronged, comfort to those bereaved, and uphold the rights of peers of the realm and all those who uphold it. I pledge to this by my Life, my Fortune, and my sacred Honor."As he settled onto the throne, the noontide sun shone down upon the land, and a roar rose throughout the hall, the city, and the kingdom. It was a roar of a free people, whose freedom would flow from the throne for another generation.Regomancy is the magic of kingship. Wielding it, a monarch can bring victory to his armies, prosperity to his realm, and obedience to his laws. In practice, it is an art of ritual; formulas which must be strictly followed to be successful. It draws its strength from the regard of the people for their king; their love for a good king, or their fear of a cruel one. Its effects, however, are subtle; people of a regomantic land do not become mindless zombies, unable to disobey their lord. Instead, the realm itself comes to obey the monarch, bringing forth prosperity, even in times of hardship. *** I have, as you'll note above, completed another article. This is the teaser for it, before I print it for editing, and then send it in to Palladium. And most of it is about clowns.
Ok, so I'm looking at ph2, acquired through the tertiary market, and I have to ask: Wizards of the Coast, why do you hate gnomes? As we all know, in 3rd edition, gnomes had several racial abilities that were pretty useless unless you were a spellcaster. Bonus to Alchemy? Increased DC to illusion spells? Both suck unless you're a spellcaster, and specifically one who uses a lot of illusion (meaning bard, wizard, beguiler, etc.). They were also saddled with a suck-ass favored class... first Illusionist, then Bard. Now, we have 4th edition, where Wizards continues to show their gnome-hate. Not only did they not include gnomes in the original Players Handbook (a status they'd had for thirty years), they gave them this power: Master Trickster. "But Mark," you whine plaintively, unable to comprehend my greatness and perspicacity, "it's a neat power, making every gnome an illusionist." Yeah? What about gnome wizards? You know, the kind of class that benefits from having a +2 to Intelligence, and is specifically suggested for gnomes? What do they get in exchange for this little donut being near useless, since it gives them, as a minor action encounter power, something they already have as standard at-will... and that a power of completely fiated usefulness? Seriously, Wizards: Why do you hate gnomes?
Just a note: This is extremely long. Thus, the cut. ( Read more... )
In honor of GM's Day, this little song is set to Bob Seeger's "Rock n' Roll Never Forgets". There are two versions of it; one says "Role-play never forgets", while this one says "D&D never forgets". So you're a little bit older and a lot less bolder Than you used to be So you used to shake a die But now you stop and think about your dignity So now geek sixteen's turned thirty-one You get to feelin weary when the work days done Well all you got to do is get up, get some dee six to get your fix Come back baby D&D never forgets You better make yourself a fighter Go down to the gamestore or the local mall Check the local BBS Chances are you wont have to go too far Yeah the rafters will be ringing as the game goes on The group will be shouting as they're playin' along And all you got to do is get in into the mix If you need a fix Come back baby D&D never forgets Oh the bards still playing it loud and lean Listen to the fighters all making 'em scream All you got to do is just make that scene tonight Heh tonight Well now geek sixteens turned thirty-one Feel a little tired feeling under the gun Well all Gary's children are out there getting their fix With three dee six Come back baby D&D never forgets Said you can come back baby D&D never forgets
Before every game, I go through a little ritual. I ask myself "If my character dies this game, what am I going to play?" Our most recent game, about the only thing that made sense was a greenscale lizardman, probably a ranger. Problem: 4e doesn't have stats for lizardmen. Nowhere. So, I fiddled with them. This represents my final version. They're fairly stout, and can survive low levels without armor, but will want some, eventually. Greenscale Lizardfolk +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom (there aren't really any consistently high scores amongst Greenscales. However, Strength and Wisdom tended to be higher than they needed to be for classes that didn't rely on them) Size: Medium Speed: 6 squares Vision: Normal Languages: Common, Draconic Skill Bonuses: +2 Athletics, +2 Nature (They're swimmers, in swamps where climbing can be useful. They're wilderness people.) *Reptile Blood: Lizardmen have the Reptile keyword, and are considered Reptiles for all effects. (Self-evident) *Swamp Walk: Lizardmen ignore difficult terrain that results from mud, bogs, or shallow water. (All lizardmen have this) *Scaly Skin: Lizardmen have a +2 bonus to their AC defense. (I added up their ACs; they're 2 points higher than they should be, given their Dex/Int scores and listed armor; it's easiest to see in the hunter type. If you think that's too powerful, call it an Armor bonus, so it doesn't stack with armor, but would work with shields) *Waterborn: Lizardmen may hold their breath for 5 + Constitution Modifier + 1/2 their level minutes, even while exerting themselves. They may swim at their speed with a successful Athletics roll. (A bit of an extrapolation; the MM listing mentions that they can hold their breath for 10 minutes "with ease", and that they swim a lot. This makes them about on par with those with swim speeds, but they have to make a Athletics check). Lizardfolk Feats: Both are Heroic tier Tail Sweep [Lizardfolk] You gain the encounter power of Tail Sweep. Tail Sweep Encounter Minor Action * Melee wall 3 within 1 Target: Each Creature in Wall Attack: Strength + 2 v. Reflex Hit: 1D6 + Strength Modifier damage and the target is knocked prone. Increase damage to 2D6 + Strength modifier at 21st level. Special: You may use this in place of a melee basic attack. Claw Attack [Lizardfolk] You gain have claws as natural weapons. Your unarmed attack has a proficiency bonus of +2, and does 1D4 damage. You may use these claws in melee basic attacks, or any power that has the "Weapon" keyword at melee range.
So, I was posting to RPG.net, on one of their many Palladium topics, and came up with an idea, based on my Weapon Proficiency idea. For those who do not know it, my Weapon Proficiency idea is pretty simple: At every level, you gain +1 to something. This may be a +1 to strike, a +1 to Parry, or a +10% to range; the full list is in the pimp my skill monkey article. If you spend 3 skills on a WP, you get the equivalent of 3rd level skill in the weapon, letting you add either 3 +1s or a +2 and a +1 (since you cannot have the same bonus on successive levels). Now, for combat skills (and by these, I mean the Hand to Hand skills), I've got something similar, that obviously hasn't been playtested. To gain Combat Training (so named because "Hand to Hand" leads to people asking why hand to hand skills help with shooting), you spend at least one skill; you can spend more, up to a limit set by your OCC Group. For every skill you spent on Combat Training, you gain a +1 to one combat bonus at every level. Thus, if you spent 1 skill on Combat training, you get a +1 to initiative, strike, parry, dodge, damage, or roll at 1st level, and another +1 at 2nd level. If you spent 3 skills, you get +3 to spend at 1st level, +3 at 2nd, etc. Spending one skill gives you automatic parry, and 2 combat maneuvers (different kinds of kicks or special attacks). Each additional skill adds 2 combat maneuvers. This is in addition to a basic punch and snap kick. The are two limitations on this. First is that no one bonus can account for more than 2/3rds of your total, except if you've spent only 1 skill, and then only at 1st level. The second is that each OCC is limited in how many skills it can spend on Combat Training, depending on its group. Men at Arms (e.g. Knights, Juicers, and Martial Artists) may spend up to 4 skills on Combat Training. Scholars and Adventurers (such as PF's Squire class, the Wilderness Scout of Rifts, or Robotech's Civilian OCC) can spend up to 3 skills on Combat Training. Men of Magic and Psychics can spend up to 2 skills on combat training. RCCs limit at whatever they most closely resemble; a Lanotaur Hunter is Psychic, but they're really Men at Arms types at heart. Dragons are Magic and Psychic, but they're also King of the Monsters... they get the maximum possible. Now, this fails to account for a few different things currently integral to Palladium's system. The first is the Critical Strike; most Hand to Hand skills improve your chances of a critical strike at a certain level. I'm not sure how to handle that; I think I may go with "Your critical strike improves by 1 at at levels 9, 14, and 19 - the number of skills you spent on Combat Training"... meaning a maxxed out Man at Arms will get a 19 CS at level 5, a 18 at level 10, and a 17 at level 15. I'm not as thrilled with that option, since there are some characters whose concepts revolve around CS (like assassins). While that can somewhat be addressed by them putting more of their bonus into damage bonuses, it's not quite a comfy fit for me. The second is all of the special attacks... the Knockout/stuns, the Pin/Incapacitates, and the Death Blows. My temptation is to simply make them available as skills, with a minimum level. Knock-out/stun, for example, would be available at 1st level, but would require an additional skill to be spent. Someone who doesn't want to learn it until later can put it off. While it opens up the possibility of "My character, Mr. Uber-deathly-killing-machine, has spent 4 skills on combat, plus learned every special maneuver he can at 1st level", the hope is that said character will be so widely incompetent at anything that doesn't have an initiative roll attached that he won't be played. Lastly (and only because I forgot it while writing other things in the article) is attacks per melee. I'm personally in favor of their being fewer attacks per melee, and leaving everyone at 2 + their OCC bonuses does tend help with that. It means that rounds take less real time, and gives low-action characters more influence on the combat. For those who want more attacks in their game, I'd go with +1 at X level (perhaps, again, based on your class group) Just a thought that wandered across my brain. It leads to more flexible and player-defined characters, while keeping the "Palladium-ness" of the game mostly intact.
As is well known, Palladium's system is pretty horrific for multiclassing. The OCCs are heavily front-loaded, with you gaining most of your abilities at 1st level, and only moderate increases thereafter. As such, switching classes doesn't really work... even if your old skills stop at 3rd level, they're still there, and integrating similar abilities from multiple classes can be difficult. However, people still want to do it. They want to go from the Farm Boy OCC to the Jedi OCC, or from the Shire Gentlefolk OCC to the Ringbearer RCC. They must haves it, their precious. And, so, I've put some preliminary thought into it, just to fiddle with the idea.
Many of the skill based OCCs aren't too bad. If you want your Rogue Scientist to become more of a Headhunter, spend the skills to increase your Hand to Hand and pick up some Weapon Proficiencies. You're still a Rogue Scientist, but you pretend to be a headhunter when the firefights start. You advance as a Rogue Scientist, because you are. Any special abilities can be learned like skills. It's simple, and avoids having to futz about with numbers.
The tricky bit comes when someone wants to add a magical or psionic class. To me, the simplest method is to declare an arbitrary training time ("You're going to need to apprentice for 4 years" or "You have to earn XP while training before you can go ahead."), and then give them the abilities of a 1st level whatever, while keeping them a 5th level Rogue Scientist. However, two important things change. First, they move to the more expensive of the two XP tables involved, while staying their current level and XP. Furthermore, they take a 10% penalty to their XP for every OCC involved... so our hypothetical Rogue Scientist turned Ley Line Walker would switch over to the Ley Line Walker table, and may be a little bit behind where 5th level for a Line walker actually starts. He'd have to earn enough experience, taking a penalty of 10% to all awards, to reach 6th level before he could do things as a 2nd level Line Walker, and would simultaneously be a 6th level Rogue Scientist. He would gain new skills at the Rogue Scientist rate (so if RS's get new skills at 6th level, he'd get them), but would gain PPE and ISP at his Ley Line Walker rate, because that's the better of the two. He can keep adding classes, but as time goes on, he gets less and less able to learn more, simply because he's got so much he's trying to keep up with.
This makes changing classes unattractive, but not impossible. For those who aspire to be alchemists (who need to be a 6th level Wizard, 6th level Diabolist, and 3rd level summoner), they started in one of the three (probably Wizardry or Diabolism, if they had alchemy as an early goal), picked up another one ASAP (probably 2nd level), and the third at 3rd or 4th level. When they finally pick up Alchemy, they're swinging around a 30% penalty to XP, working on the very expensive Alchemist table... but they're improving in four areas of magic at once.
Sun, Feb. 22nd, 2009, 05:39 pm
Dwarven Women
I find it somewhat odd that I may have to create a tag for "Love Songs about Dwarves". | Dwarven women, are beautiful lovers | | Dwarven women, they understand | | I've been around some, and I have discovered | | That dwarven women know just how to please a man. | | (Verse) | | Everybody seems to love those human women | | Buck eighteen on up to twenty-five | | Well I love 'em too, but I'm tellin' you | | Dwarves know to really love, and boy it sure is fine | | (CHORUS) | | (Verse) | | So baby don't you worry about growin' whiskers | | Those elven girls ain't got nothin' on you | | Cause it takes some whiskey, to get 'em frisky | | And frisky dwarves may just be the ones to teach 'em a thing or two. | | (Chorus) |
Tue, Feb. 10th, 2009, 10:24 pm
Palladium PDF
A while ago, I proposed to Kevin that I write a PDF for Palladium... a quickie set of rules that could be given to people at Cons, or could be downloaded free to get people interested in the game. Maybe bundled with an adventure, so people could try out the various games and the Megaversal system. I am a lazy son of a bitch. I simply can't get into writing this thing. I keep wanting to tweak things... change how rules work to fit my prejudices... not the massive overhaul some have called for, but a couple tweaks, here and there. It's frustrating to me, because I hate giving up on a project, and I think this is one that needs doing. However, I just can't get into it.
Ok, so last night we started a Ninjas and Superspies game, only without the Ninjas and without the Superspies... just some gizmoteers, an ex-Green beret, and a thief (I think) who are investigating UFOs for a private company. Now, the GM decided that he liked rule 9 (wherein you reduce specific skills to large categories). What we did, however, was use the skill programs themselves as our skills... so my Commando Mercenary with the Basic Military, Guerrilla Warfare, Military Intelligence, Assassin/Bodyguard and Language programs used those as his skills. In Rifts this wouldn't work, since there aren't skill programs, but it allows for a very capable and flexible character... if I can come up with why Military Intelligence would allow me to do something that my GM buys, I get to do it. Our specific skills were limited to Weapon Proficiencies (I wound up with 11 of them; I'm a frightening sniper) and our Martial Arts forms. There was some confusion about how rule 2&3 worked... this group is used to low being good, and so the idea that "high as possible, without going over" was a bit confusing.
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rpg_crank's journal
cheerful
