You moved over here so I'll do the same. Here's the main rub:
I just thought this was supposed to be a somewhat more freeform system where I had abilities and could DO stuff more often. It feels like I have more a chance of failure than success when my abilities can just not work because either I roll low enough OR I roll perfectly high but 10% of the time one of my high rolls disappears because one low roll was slightly lower than another. I assumed most opposed rolls at least would be confined to fighting other supernatural creatures, but even an extra success on this spell apparently just means I can attack one guy a round with a swarm of bugs large enough to fill the average hotel room waist deep in insects. Or split the dice and in the case of my last three roll sets only kill one of these nameless mooks anyway.
At this point it would have been exactly as effective and cost less resources for me to have just bashed these guys' heads in with a pipe, snuck into the room, and murdered them all in their sleep. There'd be less dice rolls involved and I'd have extra Faith to spend. If my abilities are supposed to be all flash and no substance fine, whatever, but I'll just not use them at that point.
As-is it feels like everything I can do is, in Pathfinder terms, Phantasmal Killer. There's at least three points of failure for most every ability, which means they're all really shitty and unsatisfying to use. I'm finding myself wondering what the point of them is in the first place if I can't just DO some stuff. I don't see why fighting a couple of random guys should be a thing a literal demon from hell should have a problem with.
Maybe it's a mismatch of expectations. I was expecting to be a horror movie villain, but I'm just some schlub with a few extremely limited magical tricks instead.
Ok, so your concerns runs deeper than I thought.
But first come first, let's first talk about the case at hand
As I'm seeing it, the main benefit of the power used is that you have an extra attack using your swarm and Skadus still have his entire turn.
I'd admit that I would have been easier to rule for me if you have called some wolves (for example). With the two success you would have have two wolves, And I have the statistic of wolves. The wolves would have their own actions per turn, meaning two extra attacks. I would have know how many dices to roll for attack and how many dices to roll for damage. THe downside is that wolves can be shot/stabbed down.
And, for the moment, I don't know how to balance the insect swarm against it.
what do you think, rynjin?
I have no idea. I don't know what kind of balance this game is supposed to strike. I thought random mortals were supposed to be cannon fodder, but I think that was wrong given how hard it's been to affect people so far.
Wolves I doubt would have gotten me anything (and if it did, it would have been more than two). I call all of X creature within a 5 mile radius; In an urban area my options are mostly rats and insects.
Maybe I've been spoiled by games like Godbound and Mutants and Masterminds, where against trash you basically just get to do all your cool stuff without issue (in the former, unworthy opponents don't get saves, and in the latter you can actually just Take 10 on attack rolls against mooks and minions, and they take only one hit to drop, and with a cheap Advantage can keep smacking them and dropping them in one shot until you run out of mooks to hit), but I was just expecting these guys to be horrifically eaten by 2000+ lbs of insects ala The Mummy, no concern of game balance against random guys at all.
So, Nicos, how would you feel abut going back to Ambervale? I personally would love to keep playing Sven, and I think everyone else agrees for their characters.
I really like the lore for WoD but I'm really not feeling the mechanics, and honestly having the whole party in different countries not interacting has me kind of bummed too.
I would also like to go back to Ambervale. Mostly because I built my mage to support others and help facilitate the story(Correspondence is nice during times where we don't have leads). He's not very fun solo.
I have no idea. I don't know what kind of balance this game is supposed to strike. I thought random mortals were supposed to be cannon fodder, but I think that was wrong given how hard it's been to affect people so far.
I actually think you are correct. The reason I've been pushing it is because Is my first run Gming and I want to know how strong your character actually is.
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If you guys find your character unsatisfactory you can change it. Or, if you find that playing alone to be boring you can move. Though It would be difficult (story-wise) for stefan.
The defense of my thesis is next week and the ghost of partial unemployment still haunts my nights, but I admit that lazyness and discovering WoD are the main reason I have not posted in Ambervale. I'll post tonight.
So, what do you guys say? I would like to keep playing WoD, but if you don't want, I guess we can start a spin-off of ambervale or something.
I wouldn't mind playing a relatively high level (12+) Pathfinder game, or a game in some other system like Mutants and Masterminds or Savage Worlds.
I'm up for anything. My preference is somewhere around 6-9th level.
Savage Worlds would be a nice change for me, but I'm really up for anything as well.
I was thinking about 2nd level PF with Rinjyn's class building rules and set in Ambervale to develope more the lore of the vale.
I'm afraid that 10+ level would break ambervale. A campaing like that would require some other much bigger setting (The realms?), but something can be worked out if you want it.
Dear god anything but the Realms.
Eberron might be neat, but I've had my fill of FR in the last few months playing 5e.
A Dark Sun campaign would be amazing, not sure how you feel abut the setting though.
I don't know anythinga bout eberron or Dark sun and nor really want to learn by DMing.
What about playing 10th level heroes defending a kingdom from the advancement of an evil empire?
I do like base defense games.
I do have an almost fully-fleshed Idea for a campaign like that. Though, last time we had some issue with high levels, don't know if you and scavion have something to say about it.
Did we? I don't remember us having any issues with high levels at all. The problem with Blackest Scale is that everybody but me and Lemmy stopped posting, and then IIRC you disappeared that first time for a few months and came back saying you'd been in jail. =)
Really?, I could swear that blackest scale ended much before than we started ambervale.
In any case. We did have problems. Or at least you people made several complains. You didn't like the teleporting enemies, lemmy didn't like time traveling (at least Sun Xiao was able to retro-avenge his family). The reason I didn't continued blackest scale was that I felt that after some time every step of the campaign had elements you guys didn't like.
Mechanically, I found Scavion perma-ultra-invisibility to be hard to deal with.
I don't blame you, he was kind of a one trick pony. I'll diversify a bit more this time and make something a bit more traditional.
I didn't like enemies that flee, in general. And Lemmy just doesn't like time travel AT ALL (see: His posts in the Flash thread. So much salt.).
Story elements aren't really super bound to mechanics anyway. I thought the weird time bubble...thing was interesting in concept, though was hard to understand what was going on at first.
The time bubble thing was because the verses of creation for time ordering was located there. The verse for spatial separation was there once upon a time, but was moved for a reasons I never thougt about.
In any case
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2uh1p?Defense-of-Astengard#1
Apocalyptic Form: +1 Charisma, +1 Manipulation, +2 Appearance. Immune to Poison. +2 Initiative. No reflection. Cannot be photographed or video taped.
Primary Physical
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4 (Specialization: Lightning Reflexes)
Stamina: 3
Secondary Mental:
Perception: 3
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 2
Tertiary Social:
Charisma: 2
Manipulation: 1
Appearance: 3
Revelatory/Apocalyptic Form: Roll Faith pool vs DC 6, a success is a success. Spend a Faith for automatic success. Form grants the following abilities: Immunity to Poison, No Reflection, Improved Initiative, Improved Social Traits
Immunity to Mind Control and Supernatural Fear
Immune to Possession: Cannot be possessed, unless another Demon casts me out while I have no Faith (resisted Willpower negates).
Illusion Resistance: Perception + Alertness at DC 7 negates illusions. Illusions created by Demons have the DC set at their Faith or Torment, whichever is higher.
Resistance to Lethal Damage: Can soak lethal damage in Revelatory Form.
Heal Physical Damage: Spend one Faith to remove one lethal damage, or ALL bashing damage. Aggravated damage is unaffected.
Invocation: Whenever my Celestial name is spoken, I am aware of it. A DC 7 Faith roll allows me to home in on the source. One success grants a mental picture of the invoker, two gives me a picture of their surroundings (including any people around), three or more lets me listen in for a turn (Willpower DC 8 lets me extend that turn by turn).
This can also be used to communicate with far away Demons (DC 7 Faith for connection, DC 6 Willpower to maintain for more than a turn). Communicating with a thrall is possible as well, and takes no effort.
Supernatural Awareness: Perception + Alertness (DC 7) lets me concentrate on an area equal to my Faith i miles and detect supernatural acts within it. One success gives me basic knowledge of "it happened" and general power level, two gives me the direction, three gives me the direction and approximate distance, and four or more gives me exact distance, direction, and full knowledge of location if the area is familiar to me. This is an active check, but a passive one may be granted for large-scale Evocations or spells.
1.) Summon Animals: Roll Perception + Animal Ken. All animals, down to the lowliest insect within a number of miles equal to Faith score are detected. One type of animal may be summoned, and all within the radius flock to my presence and attack those who threaten. If insects or other vermin are chosen, this creates a swarm a number of cubic yards in size equal to the successes rolled.
--High Torment: The effect is limited to carnivorous creatures, and whips them into a murderous frenzy. Each turn a Willpower roll must be made to avoid the pack turning on everyone nearby-including myself. If control is lost it may be regained after a turn by another attempted Willpower roll.
Lore of the Wilds:
1.) Wilderness Sense: Roll Perception + Survival to get a detailed map of the surroundings (to anumber of miles = to Faith score), including general locations of all people and animals, including other Demons (though they may make a DC 7 resisted Willpower roll to resist being found). This may also be used in Urban areas, though the DC increases to 8 instead.
--High Torment: Flora and Fauna in the area become hostile to humans and attack. Any people in the area must make Athletic or Survival rolls to avoid harm as they travel, with a DC equal to my Torment.
2.) Quicken Growth: Roll Survival + Stamina. A specif plant grows in size by a number of cubic yards equal to the number of successes rolled. Vine or roots in contact with a building when this happens take damage as though attacked by something witha Strength score equal to the number of successes. Objects inside are swallowed from sight. The plants retain this size for a number of rounds qual to the number of successes rolled.
--High Torment: The plants grow to entwine and tear at any humans in the area. Roll a number of dice equal to Willpower, treated as a grapple attempt on all humans in the area. With success, roll a number of damage dice equal to Torment that deals lethal damage.
Lore of the Flesh:
1.) Body Control: Roll Int + Medicine to raise/lower metabolism or purge a body of poisons. Can only affect target I can touch, and an unwilling target can resist with a DC 8 resisted Willpower roll. Simple things like removing fatigue is DC 6, while more complicated effects are more difficult (eg. purging alcohol is a DC 7, purging poison is a DC 8, and putting someone into a coma is DC 9). Effects last one scene, or are permanent with expenditure of temporary Willpower.
--High Torment: The same effects as above, but lacking finesse. Successes are compared to subject's Stamina. Successes exceeding their Stamina deal Bashing damage.
2.) Manipulate Nerves: Roll Int + Medicine to affect a change on the targeted nervous system. Simple changes like dulling pain are DC 6, while more complex effects are more difficult. Increasing or decreasing a person's reflexes (increasing Dexterity) is DC 7 or 8, improving or dulling their senses is DC 9. Multiple successes increase the effect. This power can be resisted by a DC 9 resisted Willpower roll, and I must make physical contact to affect others than myself.
--High Torment: The same effect, but more brute force manipulation. Multiple successes exceeding target Stamina deal lethal damage.