Friday, April 8, 2011

Dungeons The Dragoning 1.2

Thanks to everyone's suggestions and comments, I was able to fix a few problems with the last version of Dungeons the Dragoning. I'd go over things, but there is a lot to list, so let's start with the link to get that out of the way:

Dungeons the Dragoning 1.2

Now, to the changes.

* Things are now in alphabetical order. You would be surprised how long it took to do that.
* Examples have been put in the book for Character Creation, Spell Combos, and Special Attacks.
* A few things (such as the description of Raises and Checks) have been provided earlier in the book.
* Specialties have been changed to just give +1 to the stat or skill when they apply, to make things less confusing.
* Sizes changed to have 4 as human average. Halfings are 2, Elves are 3, Aasimar are 5, and so forth.
* The Aasimar Racial ability starts them with Fearless and Jaded so they never need to spend XP on them.
* Human Racial ability now gives you +100 starting XP.
* Squat Toughness is now less broken, working as a once per scene reduction of hit point loss to 1.
* Atlanteans made less weak. Their mechanics for recharging their resource point have been improved and they can roll twice for all Psychic Phenomena rolls and take either or both results.
* What happens to a promethean with damaged limbs or a destroyed body is spelled out.
* Promethean Alchemy has been replaced with an ability to recharge Pyros after taking E damage.
* Vampires can now use parasols to protect themselves from the sun - the more frills the parasols have, the greater protection they give.
* A Werewolf in Warform is slightly less rape.
* Free Study has been added to the Classes section as an option between class choices.
* Classes in general have been fixed a bit. Some have had skills added.
* Several missing feats have been added.
* Exalt Asset section has been re-done to stop having such a terrible layout.
* Racial Feats now note the race they are for.
* Psychic Phenomena now occurs when keeping exploded dice on an Unfettered test instead of when rolling doubles, thus making it less punishing to high-stat casters but also making the choice of risking Phenomena an actual choice.
* Evocation spells now do real damage instead of wasting your turn.
* Necromancy and Transmutation changed significantly. Wizards now get Necromancy, Clerics get Transmutation.
* Special Attacks that use non-attack actions have been made more clear on what they mean.
* Dots in the Artifact Background limited to 5 total during character creation.
* Mithril Legs made less broken, no longer better than being Super-God.
* Necrodermis weapons no longer impossible to parry or dodge, still immune to prayers and mercy.
* Rolled dice over 10 now convert to Kept dice at a 2:1 ratio instead of 1:1, thus ensuring that future generations will still have kept dice to use.
* Stunting not changed at all. Mentioning it here because no one uses it.
* Healing Surge action added in. God help us all.
* Monster sizes changed to go with the new average size.

18 comments:

  1. I gotta say, the pointbuy's kinda imbalanced, slightly.

    by choosing options in the standard method, and maximizing xp to points they end up spending 4000 xp. then they get the starting 600 on top of that.

    with midpower point buy is 4000xp with ten percent of that being able to be reserved for starting xp.

    Maybe remove the clause where they can reserve xp and just give them the 600xp at step 7?

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  2. A big THANK YOU! for this awesomely quick revision, of course, and specifically for adding examples and clarifying the use of certain School Actions in the Sword School chapter. That was one thing I was really confused by. Also I see that you've chosen to give cooler names to the Universal Advantages; this was, of course, imperative. No, really.

    I'm happy you aren't totally burnt out from the first version, and I hope you can keep the steam up for a bit longer at least! :D

    Good job!

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  3. Any chance of seeing the high-quality conversion be put up somewhere? Because I at least don't care if it's a couple hundred megs.

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  4. Some of the chapter headers are "Chapter # Chapter Name". Includes Pages: 16, 99, 100, 106,107, 115, and 116 that's all I found in the 200 pages (which is as far as I currently am)

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  5. Well, this is pretty much exactly what I was hoping for and sooner than I expected it too. Love the revisions to the races, like the changes to the exaltations, and I'm a big fan of anything that speeds up RPG combat, which is never fast enough (except in Paranoia).

    Did notice one mistake: In the example for creating a special attack, you say Difficult Strike instead of Limited Use.

    Keep being awesome.

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  6. Scratch that, I mean you say Limited Use instead of Difficult Strike.

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  7. pg 227the disposition table: both sides of the table increase difficulty

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  8. oops my page numbers are off by one

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  9. Awesome!!!!
    Happy to see that, I'll soon print it, the starting scenario is almost ready... :D

    anyway I'd like a high-quality conversion too if it is possible...

    or more source material from your sessions! ^^

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  10. Thanks! This system has brought me the most fun character building I've had that I can even remember. In the process of kidnapping people to play with me.

    Also, thanks for the update and all the fixes! Appreciate your hard work.

    On a side note... Elves smaller than humans? And equal to gnomes in stature? Maybe I play too much D&D but that one confused me.

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  11. A lot of good in this new version! Sad at no ranged special attack schools though.

    Are there any plans for weapon upgrades/special-ammo(or chargepacks) and the like?

    Gil Bert: not in height, but it means the elves are very frail.

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  12. Since no one's made a form-fillable pdf character sheet yet I decided to crap out a Word Template as a stopgap, here's the download link:
    http://www.mediafire.com/?xbbr8bfzt8ww770

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  13. Let's try this again...

    About the "Kid" Hindrance, is it supposed to include the "Small" hindrance, or are they to be taken separately?

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  14. A few issues in the stats: Dexterity is a godstat here. In L5R at least its split between reflexes and agility, but in this case, its all in dex (a common issue in whitewolf-based games actually). Another is that armor is bad at low levels (massive penalties until you can afford proficiency) and not too good if heavy at higher levels.

    In the worst of these cases: Unless Best quality, Plate annihilates most of a character's worth unless specifically clumsy. Armor does not only make you far easier to hit (static AND dodge/parry are all affected), but Artifact armor can prove even worse, as the "best quality" attributes are overridden by the magical material bonus. In several cases, armor means you simply take more damage, and this becomes more likely as the game/levels advance.

    Uncertain what can be done in regards to this to truly fix it but a few off-the-top suggestions that would probably need refining:

    -High Strength can affect max-dex of an armor. Perhaps STR 3 improves by 1, STR 5 by 2?
    -Constitution also applies very limited damage soaking like armor. Or average of Con/Will?
    -While Dodge remains Dex, static defense moved to Wisdom, or perhaps average of dex/wis. Need to notice crap to react to it and all that.

    Additionally, some artifact bonuses are rather questionable for weapons and armor compared to just getting "best" quality. The Darksteel bonus may be handier with armor becoming usable (and with some constitution-armor points?) but Orichalcum and wraithbone for ranged weapons is rather questionable.

    Is the 'free clip' at least free of reload time? Is "will never jam or overheat" worth it when so many weapons are already reliable? Artifact dots are worth a lot, but the bonuses can seem a little small. 2-5 dots of artifact for +1 damage over a "best quality" on an orichalcum melee weapon? why bother?

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  15. The text on artifacts say, when forged into weapons, they can be considered of 'best' quality.

    >p187 "...each of these artifact weapons is already considered to be of best quality owing to the enchantments used to forge them."

    However, when browsing artifact types for ranged weapons, Orichalcum and Wraithbone both specifically specify that they prevent weapon jams and overheating, which is already part of 'best quality' weapons, p167

    So is the former just flavor text and the specific results the real effect?
    Will my mithril heavy bolter still jam?

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  16. Actually says artifact bonuses REPLACE the bonuses for best quality (187, first paragraph below the dot-cost table).

    Any ranged artifact weapon other than Orichalcum or Wraithbone can still jam.

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  17. Also, unless using a weapon that can 'overheat' or perhaps if it was unreliable to begin with (however there's no text marking a cancelling like in 'poor' so as-is the only unreliable one; the musket, becomes reliable) you gain nothing from "best" quality on a ranged weapon instead of "good".

    Plasma and POSSIBLY muskets gain from being 'best quality'. Most other weapons get something from Good quality, but nothing from Best. Any weapon already reliable gains nothing from higher quality, little from orichalcum, and have enough ammunition to make wraithbone questionable as well.

    The shotgun may or may not find good use in Wraithbone construction, depending on whether or not the free clip requires loading or not. (seems to me it wouldn't but as it has not been stated...)

    Weapons whose base ammunition is very difficult to come by could make good use of that, though one would have to discuss with their GM what 3 missiles (or single full grenade clip) are produced by the weapon.

    A brawler's fist deals more damage than a shield-bash.

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