Exploring the Savage World of Keltica

Game Master ZenFox42

Arabella, Marko, Connor, WindDancer - I found this general advice for anyone with Arcane Background :

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Over each Rank :
Get 5 more Power Points (this may not be as important if you have the Wizard or Rapid Recharge Edges)
Which leaves 3 advancements for up to 3 new Powers, with an occasional trade-off of a new Power for
....A boost to an Attribute die (Arcane Attribute first, then Vigor or Spirit)
....Boosting the Arcane skill (and maybe boosting/adding another skill)
....Some helpful Edges

This is assuming your PC's focus is having more Powers, you can mix-and-match it with the previous post depending on your PC concept.

ANYONE WILLING TO BE IN A MOCK BATTLE?

I'd like to test some predictions that a simulation program I wrote has made regarding "boss" battles - that's where the BBEG (big bad evil guy) is a Wild Card just like you are.

But in case there's a total party kill, I don't want it to "count", so I'd like to do it here in Discussion.

It would be all of you vs. ONE character - a fighter-type to keep things simple.

Don't know how busy y'all are, but there doesn't have to be a particularly fast response time on this battle at all.

Any thoughts?

Advancement: So were you just asking what we were planning to do, or are we to make our changes (once we decide them) to our PCs now?

Mock Battle: Dunno if want/need lil ol' WD involved, since mostly she'd just be kicking sand in the bully's face. :o) But sure, I'm up for it as time allows.

WD, in your case go ahead and make the change. I just wanted to check that everyone wasn't going say they were all taking the same new skill or something...

Since you'd be present in any "real" battle, the kicking of sand would definitely help, and give a more realistic estimate of the party's capabilities - glad to have you!

I'm not getting more powers until we hit seasoned. I had a hard enough time finding three powers that I liked for Connor as it is. For that same reason, I may wait to get more PP.

I guess I'm going to upgrade Investigation and Psionics.

Regarding choices, WindDancer's a woodland creature so "camping" is just "life" for her. But she's sticking with Connor, so it comes down to his choice for the two of us.

if you *don't* increase an Attribute while you're Novice, you can't increase two Attributes while you're Seasoned! So be sure to boost some Attribute before you hit Seasoned.

Not clear on the point of when you reach the new rank. Let's say one has 19 XP. One is a Novice. One gets 1 more XP and then one advances to Seasoned. If you increased an attribute as part of the advancement that comes with reaching 20 XP, is that part of your advances while a Novice or do you become Seasoned and the advancements made at that point count as part of your "Seasoned rank" advancements? Conceptually, I'd think the advancements that you choose are in place at the point you start your stint as an Advanced rank, rather than being something that came while you were advanced, since presumably the things that happened before reaching 20 XP were what justifies your improvements.

But other things you've written makes it sound like the latter, that the character reaches advanced rank the advances made are considered part of the Seasoned Rank.

If the latter, it sounds like you take your attribute increase either at XP 5, 10, or 15.

I'm caught between taking a new power (summon ally) or raising my vigor. I'll make a decision tomorrow. In the meanwhile, I wouldn't mind hearing anyone's thoughts.

I've read (repeatedly) that Summon Ally can be quite over-powered, especially at higher Ranks, so please try not to abuse it if you take it.

Seeing as maintaining powers doesn't penalize you, I would probably limit the power to only one ally at a time.

The correlation between Ranks, XP, and advancements is :

Make your PC (0 XP) Rank = "Novice"
Advancement (at 5 XP)
Advancement (at 10 XP)
Advancement (at 15 XP)
Advancement (at 20 XP) Rank = "Seasoned"
Advancement (at 25 XP)
Advancement (at 30 XP)
Advancement (at 35 XP)
Advancement (at 40 XP) Rank = "Veteran"

So you see you only get 3 advancements *while* you're a Novice, after that you get 4 advancements during the other Ranks.

Also see page 43 of the manual (in my version) for how they explain it. Hope that helps!

I agree with the one summons at a time. I think I'll be sure to include that as a house rule when I run a Savage Worlds fantasy campaign.

I was thinking of turning Summon Ally into a Spectral Hound. I want it to be similar to the Conjure Familiar spell in Skyrim. Should I use the Bodyguard template, and just say that its a dog. Or would the dog be better?

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Arabella will take Investigation Skill (d4) and increase her Persuasion skill to d6. I know Connor has the skill too, but I think it will gall me too much if Arabella can't look for traps and secret compartments and doors just because she lacks the investigation skill. It seems right that she be the one who can do that sort of thing.

My comment about being frustrated isn't so much this particular system as it is the fact that most systems have a similar problem when it come to a character who starts the game with a background that implies a fairly wide range of knowledge and skills. I've had the same problem with some characters in Pathfinder. I see Arabella as a savvy scientist and con artist. That assumes she would have things like streetwise, a couple of specific science skills, stealth, and so on.

The GM recommended having a d4 in fighting even if the character is not going to be a fighter, just to make it harder to hit, and a d6 in vigor to survive wounds, and a notice skill. So that ate up some more slots.

I'm probably just guilty of envisioning the character as more advanced than they system allows, so no one needs to argue me out of anything. I'm just sharing what is on my mind regarding the way advancement works.

I'm probably going to skip the attribute increased recommended before reaching 20 xp, just because I don't really need to increase any attribute to be able to add and increase the skills I want (most are based in Smarts, which is d8 right now.

... most systems have a similar problem when it come to a character who starts the game with a background that implies a fairly wide range of knowledge and skills.

d8 vs. d10 and Raises

One thing I've just noticed is that d10's give you a LOT better chance of one-or-more Raises than d8's (25% vs. 40%!).

So if the roll is something where getting a Raise makes a big difference (like your Attack roll for the extra d6 Damage, or your Arcane skill roll since many Powers get a boost with a Raise, or Spirit so you can act on the same round you recover from Shaken, etc.), that's a good reason to go from a d8 to a d10.

Marko -

Use the bodyguard template for the Traits and Damage etc., but describe it however you want. Then it's the dog's bite that does 2d8 Damage, etc. It could even be wearing armor for the +4 - whatever you want. Gotta love those trappings! :)

And just FYI, I consider this more like a "Conjure Ally" - you temporarily solidify the creature out of magic "stuff" and it evaporates when killed or the spell ends. It has an "artificial intelligence", so it understands complicated orders and can make intelligent decisions, but no real soul or personality.

Connor, Marko –

I *really* hate to nerf things that PC’s already have and are using, but I would like to discuss Bolt.

It’s like having the only three-round burst semi-automatic firearm in a world of single-shot guns.

Normally, there's a built-in drawback : even with a maxed out d12 Spellcasting skill, there's a 23% chance of Backlash when firing off 3 bolts. But because of my house-rule that only snake-eyes causes Backlash, that has been reduced to only 4%, and with a d8 Casting skill it's now only 5% instead of 34%(!). So normally you'd either be more cautious about casting multiple bolts, or you'd be running low on Bennies a LOT faster.

And, to get the same equivalent action (multiple attacks with NO Attack penalties) for 2 bolts, a fighter-type PC would have to take 2 Edges, or 4 Edges AND be Veteran Rank for 3 Bolts. Of course, the fighter doesn't have to deal with Backlash, but now neither do you (much).

So, I'm considering this house-rule : you can only fire one bolt at a time while Novice, two bolts while Seasoned, and three bolts once you reach Veteran. It doesn't limit how many you can cast or how much damage you can do, just how rapidly you can cast them.

What do you think? Feedback and/or alternate ideas are welcome!

Arebella

Your guilty of the same thing I am guilty of. You don't like starting at 1st level.

I *really* hate to nerf things that PC’s already have and are using,.
It is unfortunate, but you tend to do this quite a lot. Not sure what to tell you except what you did this time by asking for feedback, good idea.

As a player that has experienced this a few time, it is very demoralizing, to the player, when you to do this. My only recommendations is to limit doing this as much as you can, and think if you pulling the only teeth a character has.

I'm fine with this change, though I want to make my intentions clear up front, as well.

Connor will not be getting any more powers, or any more PP, or any higher Spellcasting, until he hits seasoned. This means that as written, casting 3 Bolts would take 33.3% of my mana - which makes it risky, both because I cannot do it often, and also because it means having less PP around to do other things with.

With that said, I don't intend to use Bolt all that much anyway. Connor will be spending his Novice time still learning to use his powers (There's one that we haven't even seen yet), and at some points he'll find himself unable to manifest them. Partially because they're still new to him, partially because he doesn't entirely know how to manifest them, they won't be something that he automatically thinks of. Like he hasn't asked WindDancer to attack anything yet - it hasn't occurred to him. I'm not even sure he knows that the dust storms are her doing.

In retrospect, I wish that during the fight with the wolves, I had done something more clever, because that's more the direction that I want Connor to go in.

So, for this level up, rather than upgrading Psionics and Investigation like I had intended, I want to do something else. Assuming that it will work with my slingshot as well as any firearms, I'd like to raise Shooting from 1d4 to 1d6. I'm also considering picking up Lockpicking (at 1d4), but I'm skeptical about how useful that might be in this environment / world. If not Lockpicking, I'd like to pick up Climbing (1d4), for trees, which certainly could have uses.

It would probably be easier to just activate the traditional backlash of the power. Where a roll of 1 on the Spellcasting die causes a backlash, rather than just a snake eyes.

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If this town was marked on a map, it might be labeled "last outpost of civilization" or "beyond here there be dragons"...

... he hasn't asked WindDancer to attack anything yet - it hasn't occurred to him. I'm not even sure he knows that the dust storms are her doing.

I'd think this kind of violent conflict is far enough outside Connor's experience that either 1) it's so uncomfortable he doesn't like thinking about it much yet, or 2) it's so exceptional that he wants/needs to talk about it. It'd be a matter of how you envision the boy as to which way it'd go. I'm fine with either.

I've considered the traditional Backlash, but the changes I've made to the Arcane rules have been to help Arcane characters...ok, "spellcasters" from now on...be on a more even par with fighter-types.

Alex and K'Don can swing their swords all day, doing anywhere from 2d4 to 2d10 damage per blow, but only one blow per round.

Bolt allows a spellcaster to do 2d6 damage, and with the Wizard Edge, Marko could successfully cast 1-power Bolts an average of 16 times (at Short range) in one battle if he did nothing else, which is way longer than most battles. And since *most* fights are spaced well apart in time (don't hold me to that!), he can get in there and slug right along with the fighters almost every time.

So, since he is doing the same amount of damage as the fighters, why should he be penalized by damaging himself (or spending a Bennie) 12% of the time by getting a Backlash on a *single* 1? That's why I changed it to snake-eyes.

But, Bolt-as-written does allow multiple Bolts, which is the equivalent of being able to attack multiple times per round, which fighter-types have to take multiple Edges in order to be able to do without penalty. The proposed house-rule still allows the spellcasters to do as much damage as the fighters over the course of the battle, it just keeps them from being a rapid-fire machine gun at Novice level. In a world with revolvers or semi-automatic guns, multiple Bolts per round wouldn't be overpowered.

Even D&D's Magic Missile starts you at one missile at first level, and you get more missiles as you increase in level.

I think I would like to at least *try* it to see what happens, unless Connor or Marko have any strong objections. If after using it for a while, I'd be open to discussion and re-consideration from those it affects.

Connor and Marko, any thoughts?

I found a really cool description of the creation and evolution of the Savage Worlds system by its creator HERE.

I found myself thinking "oh, so *that's* why they do it that way!" many times while reading it.

I'm also considering picking up Lockpicking (at 1d4), but I'm skeptical about how useful that might be in this environment / world. If not Lockpicking, I'd like to pick up Climbing (1d4), for trees, which certainly could have uses.

Arabella has lockpicking at d4, just so you know.

As said before, you may find yourselves in a variety of situations in which many skills will be useful. Ok, perhaps not Boating or Driving...

Okay, we can limit the full - auto on the Bolt power. Can I still overpower Bolts for an extra dice of damage?

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I just lost a 16-year-old pet that I had it's entire life. I won't be posting today, maybe not tomorrow. Y'all decide amongst yourselves what course of action(s) you want to take, give as much detail as you can, and I'll get back to you.

My deepest sympathy to you as you go through this difficult time. I assume it was jije (?)

You have our sympathies. Take what you need.

-Posted with Wayfinder

K'Don - you may have added the total of the "take" before the expenses for the trip (tents, food, etc.) were taken out. So let's say you have 50 SP (from creation) + 94 (after expenses) = 144 SP.

Marko - sorry, I didn't see your question yesterday, I hadn't refreshed my browser before I made my last post.
Sure, a single 3d6 bolt for 2 power is still possible.

ALL - this will be a short day for me, I'm leaving the house in a couple of hours and won't post again until tomorrow AM.

Anybody, is there a list of supplies and prices available somewhere. Armor, weapons, leather doo-dads and knick-knacks? Not looking for anything specific just browsing for anything

No, not really. There's basic weapons and armor in the main ("Deluxe") manual, but everything else I'm either taking from the Fantasy Companion or adjusting prices from Pathfinder.

Name what you're looking for and I'll try to price it. But keep in mind you're only likely to find the most common things in this frontier town...

Crispy fried "Dragon Wings" can be any number of things, a potato chip shaped like a dragon wing. A chicken wing as we have here. Anything that works.

Fox, (thought you were AWOL this morning) is there an armor upgrade I could get?

"Dragon Wings" had better be a nickname for something mundane! Probably like our Buffalo Wings, chicken wings with hot sauce.

The rules for Weird Science make vague references to spare parts and special materials used in trappings, etc. Arabella will spend some of her cash on such things so she will have parts for her devices. Let me know how much she needs to spend for the parts for a new device (next advancement, most likely) as well as spare parts.

She'd like to use some unusual naturally occurring object related to a magical animal/creature as a power focus of her next device. I encourage you to introduce such an item with the adventures we have in the meantime, unless you want me to make something up and introduce it myself. It might be something like a horn (like a unicorn horn, only not so rare and special), a shell, amber from the sap of a treant, etc. I'd like her to develop an illusion device so perhaps something from a creature that can cause illusions.

Take your time getting back to the game. I lost a cat that I'd had for 16 years last year and so I know it takes some time before you feel like doing anything routine.

Even so, K'Don still likes the real thing. Nothing like a fresh fried dragon wing in hot sauce. Probably made from the flaming chemicals of a fire drake.

Yeah, as rare as they are, and as hard as a real dragon would be to kill, these are probably chicken wings with a really hot ("dragon fire hot!" claims the server) sauce. But K'Don, if you ask, the server assures you that of course, they're real. :)

K'Don, you currently have leather armor (+1 to Toughness). Chain (+2) costs 300 SP, plate (torso only, +3) costs 400 SP. Shields are not an option for "great"-weapons since they take two hands.

Arabella, I'm going to take a minimalist approach (one of the things I really like about SW) and say that the spare parts are things you pick up here and there for a negligible cost (unless *not* having them imposes a penalty to a roll?). I mean, you won't even spend any SP for your next new weird device, it's all covered by taking the Edge itself.

Already had you covered on the finding-an-unusual-animal idea (as per a previous email - maybe you posted here before reading it?).

Anyone know if Paizo supports getting emails when new PM's arrive?

Ditto for campaign posts, but PM would be more important, I virtually never check my PM's.

Advancements

These are the last I heard, please let me know if you're NOT doing what's listed...

WindDancer - 5 more Power Points
Connor - either upgrade Investigation and Psionics, or add Lockpicking or Climbing at d4 - which are you doing? Keep in mind, trees may or may not always be available to climb up, and if they have lots of limbs you don't even need to roll...
Marko - new Power, Summon Ally
K'Don - Agility to d10
Arabella - add Investigation skill and increase Stealth skill
Alex - ??? (I know he told us he'd be MIA, just being complete)

K'Don - just missed the hour window to add a comment to the armor prices (but this applies to everyone, too).

Regarding any non-magical items for purchase, check the SW manual first (which *is* very limited).

If you are just "browsing" for stuff, look thru Pathfinder's lists.

Or, if there's anything specific you want that you can't find in any lists, just let me know.

If you found it in the SW or PF lists, please let me know that, too.

Then I'll let you know its price and availability.

Anyone know if Paizo supports getting emails when new PM's arrive?

Ditto for campaign posts, but PM would be more important, I virtually never check my PM's.

For game play, subscribing to the game's RSS feed would be the easiest thing. There's a separate one for the discussion thread as well. The feed links are the orange buttons in the upper right-hand corner.

I've never looked for email notification of PMs so I can't help there, sorry. Maybe someone else knows a way.

(There's a tiny little indicator showing you have new PMs, but you have to remember to glance at the top of the page when you visit. Took me a while to get into that habit.)

What is PM and RSS I don't speak that language very well.

"PM" = Old-school shorthand for Private Message. Like email, but internal to the board. If you look at someone's profile you'll see a link for "Send Private Message"; that's how you make them. The little envelope up top near your name is how you get them.

"RSS" = Newer term, shorthand for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. It's basically a "news feed" you can subscribe to, and then you get updates about the subject. It needs a "news reader" or some other program/app that supports RSS on your end. Internet Explorer can do RSS for example, or Firefox with the right extensions. I think Outlook supports it too.

I hope that helps?

Both my parents seem to be out of the woods, and I expect to be able to post again regularly before long.

ZenFox, I'm so sorry for your loss. I know losing a beloved pet can really hit you hard. My condolences.

For his advancement, Alex will raise his Strength from d4 to d6. All that marching around in the wilderness did him some good.

ZenFox, I don't know if it's still supported, but I use FeedDemon to keep track of RSS posts, and it works pretty well (despite promising syncing with the now defunct Google Reader). The only thing I don't care for about it is that if you use multiple machines, you have to update your feed on each of them, rather than it remembering which feeds you've already seen online somehow.

Arabella - add Investigation skill and increase Stealth skill

Arabella couldn't advance stealth, so she is increasing her persuasion skill instead.

ZenFox, I don't suppose you could do a recount of Alex's finances? My notes say he has over 400 SP at this point, which I'm not sure can be right... I'm afraid I might have borked up the notes.

Welcome back, Alex. Glad your parents are doing better.

Alex - yes, welcome back, glad everything's ok.
Regarding finances, you started with 500 SP for PC creation.
Leather armor : 50 SP
Rapier : 150 SP
Caplock pistol : 200 SP
That's 400 SP.
"Chest of fine clothes" : a few really good complete "outfits" could eat up 100 SP. Maybe it's just one (merely) "good" outfit, and you had about 50 SP when you arrived?
Your call as to number and quality of outfits, and how much coin-in-pocket you had when you arrived.
Then add 94 SP for your adventures in WeMadeIt.

K'Don - sometimes you can Google an acronym you don't know, and add "means" (without the quotes) like
rss means
and find an acronym web site or sometimes even Wikipedia which will at least tell you the phrase it stands for, and sometimes explain it.

DUHHH, thanks, didn't think of that.

Thanks, guys. :)

I will be taking summon ally, but with the trapping if it being a spectral wolf. But I think it's best that the spell doesn't auto-level up as I do. It should stay at novice level, so if I want a stronger summons I'll need to get it with a new power advance.

Spoiler: I have no plans to get another summons.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Just curious, by "auto-level up" do you mean you won't be using more PP to get a different creature? Only 3 PP to get the spectral wolf?

I do appreciate the self-limiting on that!

P.S. - please post the specific details on the spectral wolf when you can (more trappings than battle specs since I assume the latter are for the Bodyguard)...