My second Hombrew character, Magnus the Nomadic Wizard. He's practically a hermit.
Magnus
Human Wizard
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SKILLS
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Strength d6 []+1 []+2 []+3
Dexterity d6 []+1 []+2
Constitution d6 []+1 []+2
Intelligence d12 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
___Arcane: Intelligence +1
___Knowledge: Intelligence +3
Wisdom d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
Charisma d4 []+1
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=============================================================
POWERS
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Handsize 6 []7 []8
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Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell, you may play it for its power as if it were in your hand.
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When you acquire a card with the Magic trait, you may immediately explore again.
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Add 1,([]2) to your check to recharge a card; ([]if you succeed the check by at least 4, you may put the card underneath the top card of your deck instead.)
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CARDS
Favored card type: Item
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WEAPON 1 []2
SPELL 6 []7 []8 []9
ARMOR 1 []2
ITEM 5 []6 []7 []8
ALLY - []1
BLESSING 2 []3
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BASIC DECK
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1 Quarterstaff
2 Strength
2 Arcane Armor
1 Force Missile
1 Invisibility
1 Leather Armor
1 Codex
1 Potion of Vision
1 Holy Water
2 Blast Stone
2 Blessing of the Gods
=============================================================
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ROLE: THAUMATURGE
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POWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Handsize 6 []7 []8 []9
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Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell ([]boon with the Magic trait), you may play it for its power as if it were in your hand.
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When you acquire a card with the Magic ([]or Divine) trait, you may immediately explore again.
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Add 1,([]2) to your check to recharge a card; ([]if you succeed the check by at least 4, you may put the card underneath the top card of your deck instead.)
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[]When you play an item for your combat check, add your Knowledge die to the check.
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[]You gain the skill Divine: Wisdom +1
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[]You may use Knowledge in place of any skill to acquire a boon with the Magic trait.
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[]At the start of your turn, you may banish a card to search your deck for a card and put it into your hand.
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ROLE: FORCE MAGE
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POWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Handsize 6 []7 []8
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Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell, you may play it for its power as if it were in your hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you acquire a card with the Magic trait, you may immediately explore again.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Add 1,([]2),([]4) to your check to recharge a card; ([]if you succeed the check by at least 4, you may put the card underneath the top card of your deck instead.)
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[]You may discard a spell to ([]have a character at your location) roll a d10([]+2) instead of your(/their) Strength or Constituion die on any check.
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[]During your encounter, reduce any damage dealt to you by 1,([]2).
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[]You may recharge a blessing to recharge a random card from your discard pile; you may not play this power during an encounter.
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maybe require him to discard the card for his first power if its not a spell. add a little bit of risk to it isntead of basically giving him an extra card in hand. also may need to tone down the recharge power with some feat boxes because as is he seems strictly better than ezren. love the role carss though a bit unsure as to the flavor of adding his knowledge die when he is using items.
You have a lot of good ideas here, but I think you're balance is all over the place (especially in the Thaumaturge role). I'm probably going to be a bit negative here, but I'll try to emphasize the good as well to balance it out. Hope these help!
Here are my notes:
For skills, your character is, basically Ezren, with Con and Cha swapped and one point of Arcane swapped for Knowledge. This has 2 issues. 1. Knowledge is a lot weaker than Arcane, so this is a very unappealing swap and makes his skill layout look bad. 2. One of the threads around here stated that they advise against pairing a d12 with a +3 skill. I'd consider giving him +2 in another skill (possibly another +1 in a third) and dropping knowledge to +2.
Your card list is, for the most part, good. He has even less exploration ability than Ezren, which may be frustrating early on before you get those juicy magic boons in the later adventures, but I don't think is bad, per se. I don't think I've ever seen a character with starting armor that does not have light armor proficiency, so you might consider dropping that. Maybe more the armor into a third blessing?
Now for the powers. I'm gonna take these one-by-one:
Hand size: no issues, they look fine
Proficiencies: as I said above, it's odd to have armor with no capacity for proficiency
Examine power: this is an interesting power, and a nice twist on the original. I might consider playing with the top card revealed, as continually looking there may slow the game down. Also may make blind-exploration less threatening, but probably still fine.
Exploration: Works fine, we'll get into the variation in the roles.
Recharge: feylund is right, this is just strictly better than Ezren. I don't think the rest of your card warrants such an upgrade. I'd recommend taking out the bonus to checks, and just focusing on the super-recharge.
Thaumaturge:
By the time you get your role, "Boon with the magic trait" will basically mean "All non-blessings". I fear that's going to be far too powerful. Item with the Magic trait might still be too strong, but could be worth trying.
Adding divine essentially says "explore again when you acquire a blessing". I think it's worth testing, but this power was already the biggest reason to play Ezren, so a power up makes me a bit nervous.
Recharge had no changes
Item use: Why is this knowledge and not arcane? Arcane seems to match the flavor better. Either way, it might be strong, but should be fair.
Divine Skill: Perfect fit, no change needed.
Knowledge to Acquire: NO. I'm sorry, but this is the single most broken ability I have seen posed on these boards. By itself, on a worse ability, I don't think I'd like it, as it removes variety. However, considering your Knowledge is already through the roof, and that every magic boon gives you a free explore, this is just excessive. I'm sorry if I'm being harsh, but here's the bottom line: Don't adjust this ability. Don't tweak it. Kill it and replace it with something in the ballpark of reasonable.
Banish to search: I have no idea about this ability. It might be strong, or it might be awful. I love the idea, though, and I think you should give it a shot. The only tweak I might make is to require the card types to match, but you might not even need that.
Force Mage:
1st two abilities: No changes
Recharge: I'm not sure you needed the double-jump to 4. If you don't scrap the bonus to recharge as I considered above, I think +3 would still be fine.
Polymorph effect: I like it. I think there's probably a way to clean up the wording, and I'm not sure about going from +0 to +2, but I think this is a cool ability.
DR: I don't know how much of a difference 'during your encounter' makes, so I'm not sure it's pulling its weight in ink. I guess it's for barriers or monsters that deal AoE damage, but since he doesn't really hang out with people, how often does that come up? Also, there is no character power that reduces all types of damage in a single feat, so you may want to model it closer to Seoni, Sajan, or Amiri's power.
Blessing heals: It basically turns your blessings into staves of minor healing. I think this power seems reasonable and interesting. I'm not entirely sure how it fits the character, but good design.
feylund wrote: maybe require him to discard the card for his first power if its not a spell. add a little bit of risk to it isntead of basically giving him an extra card in hand. also may need to tone down the recharge power with some feat boxes because as is he seems strictly better than ezren. love the role carss though a bit unsure as to the flavor of adding his knowledge die when he is using items. I do not think the first power is strictly better than Ezren's spell cycling power. They essentially function the same but with this power you have to play the top card of the deck to keep digging.
For the recharge power, I'm thinking of doing away with the recharge part to make it completely different from Ezren's.
As for the Knowledge die, I'll be also changing it a bit. It really doesn't have the flavor as you stated.
Thanks!
There are some good concepts here. As a suggested balance for the recharge power, I would suggest taking out the bonus to the check altogether, but leaving the rest slightly modified. Something like:
If you succeed at your check to recharge a spell by 4 or more, you may shuffle the card into your deck ([ ]put the card underneath the top card of your deck) instead of recharging it.
Like isaic16, I am not sure if the Thaumaturge search your deck power is too good, too weak, or just right. I am actually leaning toward a bit weak. Maybe try the following adjustment:
[]At the start of your turn, you may bury a card to search your deck for a card of the same type and put it into your hand, then shuffle your deck.
This one will certainly need some testing to check the balance. If it is too weak in that form you could add "or banish the card to search your deck for a card of any type" but wow that gets wordy.
Greyhawke115 wrote: If you succeed at your check to recharge a spell by 4 or more, you may shuffle the card into your deck ([ ]put the card underneath the top card of your deck) instead of recharging it.
I like that idea.
Hi guys, thanks for your input.
Updated v1.1
Changes
-Recharge Mod: Removed the bonus to recharge completely and placed Greyhawke's suggestion. Can become more potent with Force Mage role.
-Added Light Armor proficiency as filler power feat for both roles.
-Removed Knowledge feats from Thaumaturge. Replaced with new feat.
-Combat Hardiness: Changed Force Mage power feat slightly to reduce any type of damage only during a failed combat check.
As for the "miracle" power feat of the Thaumaturge, I don't know how powerful a search effect is in the game yet. I haven't tested it yet but as of now, it appears situational but can be really potent. It can hand you a card you desperately need. It has to be tested first before I can think of upping its power.
Magnus
Human Wizard
=============================================================
SKILLS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Strength d6 []+1 []+2 []+3
Dexterity d6 []+1 []+2
___Disable: Dexterity +2
Constitution d6 []+1 []+2
Intelligence d12 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
___Arcane: Intelligence +1
___Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
Charisma d4 []+1
=============================================================
=============================================================
POWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Handsize 6 []7 []8
-------------------------------------------------------------
Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell, you may play it as though it were in your hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------
When you acquire a card with the Magic trait, you may immediately explore again.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]When you succeed your check to recharge a card by 4 or more, you may shuffle the card into your deck ([]put the card underneath the top card of your deck) instead.
=============================================================
=============================================================
CARDS
Favored card type: Item
-------------------------------------------------------------
WEAPON 1 []2
SPELL 6 []7 []8 []9
ARMOR 1 []2
ITEM 5 []6 []7 []8
ALLY - []1
BLESSING 2 []3
=============================================================
=============================================================
BASIC DECK
-------------------------------------------------------------
1 Quarterstaff
2 Strength
2 Arcane Armor
1 Force Missile
1 Invisibility
1 Leather Armor
1 Codex
1 Potion of Vision
1 Holy Water
2 Blast Stone
2 Blessing of the Gods
=============================================================
=============================================================
ROLE: THAUMATURGE
=============================================================
POWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Handsize 6 []7 []8 []9
-------------------------------------------------------------
Proficiency []Light Armor
-------------------------------------------------------------
Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell ([]boon with the Magic trait), you may play it as though it were in your hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------
When you acquire a card with the Magic ([]or Divine) trait, you may immediately explore again.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]When you succeed your check to recharge a card by 4 or more, you may shuffle the card into your deck ([]put the card underneath the top card of your deck) instead.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]You gain the skill Divine: Wisdom +1
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[]Add 2 your checks to acquire ([]or recharge) a boon with the Magic trait.
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[]At the start of your turn, you may banish a card to search your deck for a card and put it into your hand; shuffle your deck.
=============================================================
=============================================================
ROLE: FORCE MAGE
=============================================================
POWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Handsize 6 []7 []8
-------------------------------------------------------------
Proficiency []Light Armor
-------------------------------------------------------------
Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell, you may play it as though it were in your hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------
When you acquire a card with the Magic trait, you may immediately explore again.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]When you succeed your check to recharge a card by 4,([]3) or more, you may shuffle the card into your deck ([]put the card underneath the top card of your deck) instead.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]You may discard a spell to ([]have a character at your location) roll a d10([]+2) instead of your(/their) Strength or Constitution die on any check.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]When you fail a combat check, reduce any damage dealt to you by 1 ([]2).
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]You may recharge a blessing to recharge a random card from your discard pile; you may not play this power during an encounter.
=============================================================
This looks much better. I think you may be close enough that it's worth going to playtest some of the items here. I do have a couple suggestions:
1. I'd consider putting light armor option on the base card, instead of a hand size increase, for the reason I mentioned before. I don't think it's a big difference either way, since they're probably both going to be your least-wanted pre-role power feat.
2. I'd add 'or' to the put card underneath power feat, since I can see a situation where you'd rather shuffle it in than put it second from top, and it's good to make clear that there is an option.
3. I noticed you didn't try either of my suggestions for the Thaumaturge's first two power feat changes. I'd go ahead and test them as they are, but keep an eye out for how strong it gets in the late game, and be prepared to scale it back if you find it to never be a downside.
4. I don't think you technically need the 'you may not play this during an encounter' rider on the blessing heal. Since it's not affecting the check, it technically already cannot be used during an encounter, and the wording may serve to imply that other abilities that can't be used during an encounter can. (I know there are some wording choices in the main game that the creators regret for that reason)
5. Your card feats look a bit flat (you have 2 types with 3 pluses, and the other 4 all have 1). You might consider moving a card feat to blessings to vary it a bit more (I'd recommend taking from spells, items, or allies).
Obviously, take these with as many grains of salt as you'd like. Hope you have fun!
isaic16 wrote: 1. I'd consider putting light armor option on the base card, instead of a hand size increase, for the reason I mentioned before. I don't think it's a big difference either way, since they're probably both going to be your least-wanted pre-role power feat. Light armor proficiency is not necessary for you to use any armor. That's why I feel there is no need to have it during early adventures. I do understand that adding it in later adventures seems kind of weak, but the option is there if ever a player might want to take it. Regardless, I'll consider this.
Quote: 2. I'd add 'or' to the put card underneath power feat, since I can see a situation where you'd rather shuffle it in than put it second from top, and it's good to make clear that there is an option. Makes sense
Quote: 3. I noticed you didn't try either of my suggestions for the Thaumaturge's first two power feat changes. I'd go ahead and test them as they are, but keep an eye out for how strong it gets in the late game, and be prepared to scale it back if you find it to never be a downside. Firstly, I don't think it's all that powerful to be able to play almost everything from the top of your deck. It isn't as game breaking as you
imagine it to be.
Secondly, when you look at location decks statistically, how often would you find something divine? Not a lot, that's why I find the power feat not as overpowered as you think. This is the same reasoning I used when it comes to Sajan's power feat to pick up Liquid boons. Unless he plays alone, how often do you think he'll come across a Liguid boon, an actually relevant Liguid boon? Wouldn't you rather play a blessing instead to try and acquire it? In fact if you have a blessing instead, you can also use it on other characters who encounter a Liquid boon.
Quote: 4. I don't think you technically need the 'you may not play this during an encounter' rider on the blessing heal. Since it's not affecting the check, it technically already cannot be used during an encounter, and the wording may serve to imply that other abilities that can't be used during an encounter can. (I know there are some wording choices in the main game that the creators regret for that reason) This is noted. I completely forgot about that.
Quote: 5. Your card feats look a bit flat (you have 2 types with 3 pluses, and the other 4 all have 1). You might consider moving a card feat to blessings to vary it a bit more (I'd recommend taking from spells, items, or allies). Nope. I don't want too many minor healing. I may look into moving some into armor/allies but I take consideration the card feats when constructing power feats as with skill feats as I've written with my catfolk monk.
Quote: Obviously, take these with as many grains of salt as you'd like. Hope you have fun! Thanks! Any suggestion is always a big help.
v1.2
-Slight changes. I think he's ready for an adventure run. I want to know how potent the tutor power of the thaumaturge is in a game.
Magnus
Human Wizard
=============================================================
SKILLS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Strength d6 []+1 []+2 []+3
Dexterity d6 []+1 []+2
___Disable: Dexterity +2
Constitution d6 []+1 []+2
Intelligence d12 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
___Arcane: Intelligence +1
___Knowledge: Intelligence +2
Wisdom d8 []+1 []+2 []+3
Charisma d4 []+1
=============================================================
=============================================================
POWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Handsize 6 []7
-------------------------------------------------------------
Proficiency []Light Armor
-------------------------------------------------------------
Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell, you may play it as though it were in your hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------
When you acquire a card with the Magic trait, you may immediately explore again.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]When you succeed your check to recharge a card by 4 or more, you may shuffle the card into your deck ([]or put the card underneath the top card of your deck) instead.
=============================================================
=============================================================
CARDS
Favored card type: Item
-------------------------------------------------------------
WEAPON 1 []2 []3
SPELL 6 []7 []8
ARMOR 1 []2
ITEM 5 []6 []7 []8
ALLY - []1
BLESSING 2 []3
=============================================================
=============================================================
BASIC DECK
-------------------------------------------------------------
1 Quarterstaff
2 Strength
2 Arcane Armor
1 Force Missile
1 Invisibility
1 Leather Armor
1 Codex
1 Potion of Vision
1 Holy Water
2 Blast Stone
2 Blessing of the Gods
=============================================================
=============================================================
ROLE: THAUMATURGE
=============================================================
POWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Handsize 6 []7 []8 []9
-------------------------------------------------------------
Proficiency []Light Armor
-------------------------------------------------------------
Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell ([]boon with the Magic trait), you may play it as though it were in your hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------
When you acquire a card with the Magic ([]or Divine) trait, you may immediately explore again.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]When you succeed your check to recharge a card by 4 or more, you may shuffle the card into your deck ([]or put the card underneath the top card of your deck) instead.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]You gain the skill Divine: Wisdom +1
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]Add 2 your checks to acquire ([]or recharge) a boon with the Magic trait.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]At the start of your turn, you may banish a card to search your deck for a card and put it into your hand; shuffle your deck.
=============================================================
=============================================================
ROLE: FORCE MAGE
=============================================================
POWERS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Handsize 6 []7 []8
-------------------------------------------------------------
Proficiency []Light Armor
-------------------------------------------------------------
Examine the top card of your deck at any time; if it's a spell, you may play it as though it were in your hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------
When you acquire a card with the Magic trait, you may immediately explore again.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]When you succeed your check to recharge a card by 4([]3) or more, you may shuffle the card into your deck ([]or put the card underneath the top card of your deck) instead.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]You may discard a spell to ([]have a character at your location) roll a d10([]+2) instead of your(/their) Strength or Constituion die on any check.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]When you fail a combat check, reduce any damage dealt to you by 1([]2).
-------------------------------------------------------------
[]You may recharge a blessing to recharge 1 random card from your discard pile.
=============================================================
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