Have you read all of Eragon / Inheritance cycle? Need some advice for homebrew.


Advice


Hey guys, I am an experienced Pathfinder player and GM who is considered making and running his own homebrewed setting to fit within the confines of the Eragon/Inheritance Cycle books. For the most part I am just looking for opinions on what I have set up so far. Know that this is nowhere near finished, just a super basic hour of work for you to throw ideas and advice at. Spoilers abound, you have been warned.

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Eragon/The Inheritance Cycle homebrew as f@+# Pathfinder Rules
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By Jake Wedemeyer
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Contents:
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1. Setting: Alagaesia
2. Magic
3. Battles of the Mind

Setting: Alagaesa
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This serves as a basic background to let people familiar with the series see where we stand, and those unfamiliar
learn a bit about the world they will soon dive into. SPOILER WARNING: if you haven't read all the books but plan
to, the following contains some serious spoilers.

The Inheritance cycle, commonly referred to as the Eragon books, takes place in the land of Alagaesia: a land once
dominated by the Dragon Riders of old. You find yourselves in the new age; entering this land after the defeat of
Galbatorix, but before the Riders have truly found their new place in the world. It is just over a year after Eragon
made his final journey from Alagaesia himself, and in that time 7 new riders from the various races have come into
being, having had one of the eggs from the Vault of Souls hatch for them. Of these, 3 are elves, 2 human, and the
first to have a dragon hatch for him of the lot: a young dwarf by the name of Vandûr. Oh, and lets not forget the
most recent addition to their ranks: You. You and your dragon have existed under Eragon and Saphira with the other
riders for just over 2 months, learning about yourselves and your bond. You have both trained with your masters
(as for what/how you trained, see your class) and have come upon your first trial: Showing yourselves to the world.
You have been tasked with a simple visit to each Ellesmera, Illirea, and Tronjheim, and as our story begins you and
your dragon decide to where you will fly first

Magic
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Magic will be done VERY different from normal pathfinder, and the basics will be explained here. for further
questions, please address your specific GM for their ruling.

1. Energy
Magic now has a resource: Energy. Just like in the books, your spells will be limited only by your ingenuity, vocabulary,
and your energy to cast such spells. The amount of energy you have is equal to your Hit Points plus ALL modifiers for all
ability scores. (i.e. if you have modifiers of +1, -2, +5, +2, +2, 0, your total would be HP + 8) Energy will be reduced
in accordance with the power consumed by the spell by GM ruling. If a spell is considered to be so simple that it would
be unnoticable by the caster, no energy is consumed (cantrips basically). Additionally, if your energy level reaches 0 or
less you fall unconscious. If you energy level reaches a number less than the negative value of your constitution score,
you pass into the void and die. As a free action, dragons may transfer as much of their own energy into their rider as
they wish. There is no cap on this transfer other than death, but if you continue to transfer energy past when you fall
unconcious from having 0 or less energy you will cease to able to sever the transfer and if all of your energy is
consumed you will die.

2. The Ancient Language
Magic is no longer a list of spells to learn or memorize, but a list of words to know and understand. What kind of magic
you can weave is limited only by your ability to use the words you possess. For the sake of ease, any word in the english
language is assumed to have a counterpart in the ancient language that you can learn. Additionally, in your class you will
find a section dedicated to using your intent to shape spells that you don't have the words for. For example, say you
wanted to throw an orb of fire at an enemy but only knew the word 'Fire', by using this mechanic you have a chance of
imposing your will and intent on the spell well enough for it to work as you intend despite the lack of words. This can
also end in ways you did not intend... so unless you train it well its still much better to simply learn the words.

3. Wards
Wards can be cast... Generally these require operator words, such as 'if' 'then' 'or' 'and' etc to be known in the ancient
language, but a clever caster may find a way around this. Wards are veryf lexible, but in the most basic sense they
protect you in some manner or another from harm. Wards will drain energy normally. As a general rule, when directly warding
against physical attacks ("If a blade is about to hit me, stop it" etc) you will lose 1 energy for every 4 damage the
attack would have done had it landed. Removing a ward from yourself to prevent energy loss is a swift action done only
on your turn. Despite it consuming a swift action, this may remove as many wards at once as you wish. Alternatively, if
one has the language necassary to do so, one could make the ward draw energy from another source: A gem, the person the
ward is on, etc.

4. Casting
As in the books, magic is a somewhat fickle beast until you get used to the drawing upon the flow of magic. The spellcraft
skill will function as your knowledge of this ability and others beside, and will be used to determine if you can access
the magic in order to cast your spell. The check DC is equal to 10. This means that once your spellcraft bonus is equal to
9 or greater, the check is no longer neccasary and you are considered versed enough in magic to draw upon it at will. Until
you get that same 9 or greater spellcraft bonus, attempting to access the magic in order to cast is considered a swift
action. After you get +9 or greater it is a free action.

Battles of the Mind
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So you want to take control of someone through sheer willpower, eh? More information on HOW exists in your class page, but
the basic mechanics will be described here

1. New Skills
*Mind Breaker [Int]
The ability to attack with your mind. Rolls against your opponents Mind Defender

*Mind Defender [Wis]
The ability to defend your mind against attack. Roll when attacked via mind or preemptively

2. Explanation
Your mind can be passively open or closed or niether, ready to attack or ready to defend or... not, respectively. When open, you gain a
+[Mind Breaker modfier] on perception checks as a misc. bonus, and double your total Mind Breaker modifier on your next
attack with your mind. However, you take a -5 on the next Mind Defender roll. When closed, you take a -5 on perception checks but gain
double your normal mind defender bonus against ALL attacks made on your mind, with a minimum of +2. when niether, you get no bonuses or
negatives to anything. Changing your state (from open to close or vice versa including neither etc) is a swift action.

3. Statuses
Within mind battles their are a few new combat statuses that can happen to you or that you can inflict on others. VERY similar to grapple.
Maintaining one of these statuses on another person is a move action.

*Contained
You are contained. Any spellcraft checks to access magic are now at DC 15 instead of 10. The one containing you is completely
aware of any actions you plan on taking, but you can still take these actions at will. You can free yourself with a successful
mind defender vs your opponents mind breaker roll as a full round action. Once they are in, the only way to get them out is fight
back. You can't defend anymore. To contain someone, simply beat their Mind Defender with your Mind Breaker as a move action.
You cannot contain someone while contained yourself.

*Controlled
You are controlled. This is a more severe version of contained. Your actions can now be dictated by the controller, however it
comes at a price. Any time your action would be dictated, you gain a free attempt to break free of the control via Mind Breaker
vs Mind Breaker. If the action is deemed to be severely against your nature (GM call), you gain a +5 on this attempt. To control
someone, beat their Mind Defender by 5 or more AFTER having already contained them. If you lose this attempt by 5 or more instead,
the contained breaks free of their containment. To escape control if they DON'T attempt to control your actions, you can make
a mind defender vs mind breaker attempt anyways as a move action. (this means you can attempt to break free twice per turn if
they choose not to dictate your actions, and if you succeed on the first attempt you still have a standard action)
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That's it so far. The classes aren't finished yet (for both Rider AND Dragon, as I intend the pair to be played by two people rather than just a Rider and his GM-boring dragon) Tell me your thoughts if you wish to :D


I'd be interested to see where you take this. For my own game I'm actually researching how to bring Saphira to life - what kind of dragon would she be or be based on? Her blue coloring is fluff compared to her actual abilities, spells, etc. So if you have any thoughts on her, or dragons in general in this world, put them out there.

I like your ideas for how magic works, but would like to see what Power Words you come up with and how much Energy they each take.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

One of the biggest issues in the series was that the ancient language is typically not something taught to anyone who isn't an elf or a rider. I'd propose giving elves a bonus on Spellcraft checks or reducing the DC for elves to show this.

Definitely take a look at Words of Power - they're very close to what the Inheritance Cycle uses, but currently have less words and (somehow) less flexibility.

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