Sunday, April 3, 2011
Ideas and Bugfixes
I'm currently working hard on Version 1.2 - and it's coming along well. I've been getting a lot of good feedback on the IRCs and even some good questions from people on various forums. I've got a bit of a backlog of things to change and fix, and even some good ideas for things to add in a splatbook. If you have any suggestions, questions, or things that are obviously typos, feel free to add them as comments on this post. I'm more than happy to listen to anything people have to say.
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I'd like to see some guidelines for monster/npc creation that hopefully won't take as as long to make as a character.
ReplyDeleteAdventure Generator tables might be fun as well.
DON'T FIX WHAT AIN'T BROKE
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see a full example of character creation, step by step, and maybe a sample combat.
ReplyDeleteSome detailed campaign hooks would be nice too. Just sort to address this whole "So you have this unfathomably motley crew, now what in the name of fuck are they going to *do*?"
Actually, any time there's a thing that players are supposed to generate from bits - like spell combos, or sword school techniques - it'd be nice to see a couple tutorials of that.
ReplyDeleteAgree with what TA said. The sword school maneuvers are quite confusing, though pretty intuitive (basically action + attack, then stack as many Advantages and Restrictions as possible).
ReplyDeleteFor splatbooks? Add Trinity Universe. We need to see how Psiads and Novas work. But that's probably me, who considers magic, psionics and superpowers to be distant from each other.
Some sort of techie/crafter class would be cool.
ReplyDeleteJust want to point out that the Tremere mention Blood Magic but i can't find the rules for this.
ReplyDeleteThe Ratchatcher can become proficient with "Entanglement" weapons, but no where is stated what qualifies as an entanglement weapon (I dearly want to make the Promethean, gnomish ratcatcher feasible).
ReplyDeleteI'm still making my way through the rulebook and may come back with more later, especially once we start making characters or actually start playing. However the only issue immediately coming to mind at this time is that the Mark of Pelor asset feels underpowered compared to most assets. I feel that it should at least be able to be utilized as a dazing or blinding attack. Perhaps it could be used to hurt vampires (and any other creatures with a similar weakness) like sunlight; this could be a very powerful ability but would most likely not be utilized in very many situations.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this could potentially necessitate a separate supplement in and of itslef, perhaps rules for vehicles and space travel.
ReplyDeleteAw, I wrote a whole huge post but I think the board software ate it. Gonna reconstruct.
ReplyDelete1) It looks like none of the Sword Schools offer anything to someone who uses ranged attacks. Since this is what Guardsmen are supposed to be about, that kinda sucks for them. They get Iron Heart, but it reads like even with the Action (Aim) they still need to construct all their abilities around Ordinary weapons, and that means no guns.
2) Magic-Users have Tested as a required Feat at level 1, and that's the only place to get Tested. That's weird! You'd think such as Clerics would be likely to get Sanctioned, but meanwhile there's no such thing as a high-level Magic-User who isn't Sanctioned. I feel like Tested should be an optional Feat at all levels of Magic-User and maybe in Bard, and a required Feat at Cleric 1 or 2.
3) The workings of Classes is kind of confusing, and leads to some very weird things if I'm reading it right. So let me try to spell out how I think they work, so if I'm misreading that can be pointed out.
When you pick a Class - whether at creation or later - you pick from the classes for which you meet the prerequisites. For example, let's say that having 2 Weaponry and 1 Athletics, you pick Fighter 1 as your class.
Fighter 1's Characteristics are Strength and Constitution. Fighter 1's Skills are Crafts, Athletics, Brawl, Drive, Ballistic, Weaponry, and Intimidation. Fighter 1's Feats are Hardy, Armor Proficiency (Light), Armor Proficiency (Medium), Power Attack, Weapon Proficiency (Any), and Shield Proficiency. Fighter 1's Sword Schools are Iron Heart and White Raven. Fighter 1 has no magic schools. Fighter 1 is "finished" when you have Hardy, Armor Proficiency (Light), Power Attack, and a Weapon Proficiency. When you have those, you're free to remain in Fighter 1, or move into a new class for which you meet the prereqs - possibly Fighter 2, possibly something else.
However, while you are in Fighter 1, finished or unfinished, those listed stats? Strength, Constitution, those 7 skills, those feats, those two schools? Those are the only things you are allowed to spend Experience to improve. Want to train Politics? Finish up Fighter 1 and go into Scholar or Bard, because they're the only people who can get good at Politics. Have you already finished Scholar and Bard 5, but never trained your Politics because you didn't need it as a prereq? Then you are screwed, because you will never again have an opportunity to train Politics.
It's that last part that seems really off to me, particularly the lost opportunities. Weapon Profiency (Ordinary) is available as an optional Feat for Magic User 1, but not for later levels of Magic User - so if your wizard doesn't grab it at level 1, he can go all the way to Magic User 5 and never be proficient in ordinary weapons until he dips into Fighter or something. Because he missed his chance.
Now, perhaps that restriction is only supposed to apply while you're in an unfinished class, and while all your classes are finished you are allowed to get things from any of them. So maybe if I have a Fighter 3/Cleric 2 who goes into Fighter 4, I'm limited to Strength and Con until I finish Fighter 4, but then once that's finished I'm free to train Willpower and Wisdom and Composure again too. That'd be a lot less restrictive, but would kind of suck to be unable to up Composure without taking levels of Ratcatcher or Cleric.
Perhaps this is a place to borrow a mechanic from White Wolf's various clans/tribes/whatever? While you're in an unfinished class, you're restricted to the things in that class, sure. Sword Schools and Magic Schools and Feats, yeah, you can only train them if you've got them on one of your class lists. However, a character who has finished all his classes is free to train whatever Characteristics and Skills he likes, but paying double the experience if they're not on one of his class lists.
Also, every sword school lists a Key Skill, but that doesn't seem to mean anything. What are those supposed to mean?
ReplyDeleteZombies. You need to be able to play zombies, preferably as a race ("Zombie Vampire Ventrue Peasant" just screams to be played). Also Cyberpunks as a Exaltation.
ReplyDelete@TA:
ReplyDelete1) It is true that sword schools are melee-only. Gun Kata might come in a later book to help out ranged.
2) That's not a bad suggestion.
3) I've been asked this a few times, enough that it's definitely something I need to address. I'm going to add something in that'll do essentially what you suggest as a kind of 'Free Study' between classes.
I'll also try to add in examples for character creation, special attacks, and spell combos.
More...
ReplyDeleteAbout Blood Magic/Tremere: That was supposed to be Necromancy. It's fixed now.
Entanglement weapons were eliminated during editing. The only things in the category were nets and bolas, and bolas were universally better.
I'll make Pelor's mark better. It is admittedly not as good as it could be. Maybe some kind of solar death ray.
Clerics get "Empowerment" as a magic school. Is that supposed to be "healing?"
ReplyDelete^ I asked this before, and yes, it is.
ReplyDeleteWhat are Purge the Unclean, Improved Spell Focus, and Armor of Contempt supposed to be? They appear on the class lists, but not on the feat lists.
My question involves the Artifact background. I understand they run from levels 1-5, with 4-5 being incredibly powerful.
ReplyDeleteBut what types of powers quantify what levels of Artifact? For weapons, in particular? Inheritance can merit one a Common or Good quality rare weapon or piece of equipment, etc, but what if a character wants an Artifact weapon? What levels of Artifact would be appropriate? Say, an artifact lasgun or power sword?
The same stands for Artifact armor and what benefits would merit certain levels in Artifact.
There's a chart which specifies what level of item requires what artifact rating in the Artifacts chapter. But I've seen other people miss it so maybe it needs to be made more prominent or something.
ReplyDeleteI also think that Fighters should get Command as a skill (being fighters, they could be expected to lead in combat), but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteAbout the "Kid" Hindrance, is it supposed to include the "Small" hindrance, or are they separated?
ReplyDeleteIf they are separate, could a "Kid" have more than one level in "Small", maybe without the bonus XP after 1st level?
I think it was mentioned in one of the 4chan threads, but the fluff for Tau seems to imply they shouldn't be in the wheel at all: they don't know how to portals, they haven't left their sphere, and there sphere is surrounded by superfire, so no one goes in. If it's so impossible to get in or out, how are they a playable character, or even in the fluff at all? Also, are they actually all technology, or are they magipunk like the rest of the universe?
ReplyDeleteYou already mentioned a Gun Kata school, but I'd also like to put forward the idea of a "Pistol & Sword" school. So few games offer the option to use ranged and melee at once, and 40k uses it all the damn time. For example, an advantage could be letting you gain the effect of a feint (made with your melee weapon) for a ranged attack, and of course there could be one that lessens/removes the penalty for using ranged weapons in melee. An example restriction could be that your magazine is empty after the attack.
I dunno if you're still collecting ideas, but I have noted that perhaps the Ratcatcher class should have access to the "Obtain Familiar" feat, or something similiar for the classic small but vicious dog.
ReplyDeleteThat's really not a bad idea, Anon. Everyone likes the small but vicious dog.
ReplyDelete