Hey guys! I just wanted to give you guys a head's up that I have caught something awful. I will try to remain active but please understand that work + sickness = a very sick WarforgedMan.
I'm having a blast playing here though, thanks again for having me Aloha and Rungok.
You're not supposed to like the guy with the crazy laugh.
Well, yeah. But not always. Yagami Light, Alexander Anderson, Lelouch Lamperouge, Alucard. They were likable from the first moments of the show.
I wonder, what is Salem's reason? She and Ozpin seem to know each other.
I'm going to guess that they were married.
You're not supposed to like the guy with the crazy laugh.Well, yeah. But not always. Yagami Light, Alexander Anderson, Lelouch Lamperouge, Alucard. They were likable from the first moments of the show.
I wonder, what is Salem's reason? She and Ozpin seem to know each other.
Difference is that the story is following them. Here, that evil guy is not, he is a complete antagonist and the story is not following him, it's for teamn RWBy and JN(P)R to some extent. So if you don't like him, that is good. He's just some evil guy trying to hurt the good guys.
I've got a question about Semblances, i'm writing up a character for this, despite knowing you guys are full. And I was wondering if all characters start with their semblance(not have to take an edge) unless they take the weak/locked aura hindrance? - found it.
Edit: Would something like the extra limbs(from super powers) with requires activation and slow to activate be legal in this play. The PDF says only core, but the whole idea of the character's semblance was based on this one.
Hey! Since I've gotten a couple of confused PMs and this post about Semblances, I figured I'd break everything down about how they work.
Basically, I wanted people to have a power pool they could use to soak wounds (which is how Aura is depicted, see the health meter in the Vytal Tournament). Rhinobug's solution was to give everybody access to powers like Armor and Speed to simulate on-the-fly superpowers.
I only really am comfortable running Savage Worlds (and I was pretty attached to this weapon creation system), but I think RWBY is actually one of the only settings where hit points might work better than wounds. Oops.
Semblances all require activation via Spirit roll. However, rolling to activate your semblance is a "free action" in that it does not impose a Multi-Action Penalty or use a portion of your movement for a round.
Most negative modifiers, upon review, in both Necessary Evil and the Super Powers Companion don't really work for this setting or how Semblances work in general. Effectively every power has Requires Activation, and the only other negative modifiers I could see working are Device, Limitation, and Slow to Activate. Contingent is not okay, but you can have multiple powers in one Semblance as long as they work coherently together. This does mean they activate simultaneously.
Almost all of the positive modifiers are OK, based on GM discretion.
When creating a semblance using superpowers from the Super Powers Companion or Necessary Evil, use the more expensive version of the power (generally, this means the Super Powers Companion).
Semblance powers from the Super Powers Companion and Necessary Evil are activated until your next action, at which point you can reroll as a free action to keep them on. Since those powers are effectively a "free action", being Shaken does not automatically turn off your semblance. If you fail your roll to unshake, you can still roll to maintain your power.
Semblance powers from the core book stay active for their listed duration and then need to be re-activated. A shaken status does not turn them off either.
Power Stunts (using your power to simulate another power--think the Flash making a tornado with his Super Speed, or the Hulk using his Super Strength to make a "burst" attack by clapping) are okay, they still require a spirit roll and spending a benny.
Apologies for not getting this all pinned down in the book as I should have. Still working on that updated PDF for you all so you have a better reference. :)
@Azil: I'll send you a PM about playing. With regards to your power, I don't see why not, as long as it's activated. Seeing as how at least one person can perfectly duplicate himself with his Semblance, I don't see why not.
So using a is semblance a free action. You can use a semblance, move and attack, all without multi-action penalty? Cool.
My belief about Ruby's more constant use of her semblance is just her being more adept with her powers. In SW rules, I'd say she has a spirit die around d10 now, and probably an edge that gives her a +2 to activating her semblance. At least... that's how I'd do it.
Also, that edge would be kinda neat if it made its way into your pdf. :P
as for hp can simply increase the wound threshold a bit to increase durability or simply have the first wound threshold be your aura so to speak. get to incap well now you are out of your shield and are considered an extra aka one last wound but still otherwise not inhibited till then. that changes things around quite a bit such as wound penalties so there are other things to consider. sorry i didn't see this post in regards to azir but i think i was pretty constructive for not having noticed this one before hand.
Definitely going for strong aura as my semblance is mostly passive. i need to keep my semblance going if it is going to be fun.
back to spoilerness the concept that Grimm can possess objects now is pretty frightening.
as for hp can simply increase the wound threshold a bit to increase durability or simply have the first wound threshold be your aura so to speak. get to incap well now you are out of your shield and are considered an extra aka one last wound but still otherwise not inhibited till then. that changes things around quite a bit such as wound penalties so there are other things to consider. sorry i didn't see this post in regards to azir but i think i was pretty constructive for not having noticed this one before hand.
Definitely going for strong aura as my semblance is mostly passive. i need to keep my semblance going if it is going to be fun.
I still think generating character with playing cards is the best idea.
It is pretty great, except that it leads to Cool Guy syndrome when somebody gets a higher stat draw than the rest of the party. That and progression being so slow and painful were really the only disputes I had with the system.
My junker in classic Hell on Earth did fabulously, though I have to admit there was a lot of luck on that part.
Wind would be an interesting way of doing it. let us know if/how you are going to implement it if you do.
Scythe and I were talking and we were discussing possibly incorporating the "Heavy Armor" tag to help with the Aura issue. I like the soaking with it that is currently in there, I'm just worried that I'll see it more as life points rather than points to do cool/neat/bamf things with.
I am leaving this in spoilers so people don't read and think it is officially implemented when they go looking for it later if you decide to implement and adjust it.
I after another few minutes of sleep and a nap i think i have a good working method. Till your aura is depleted you do not receive multiple wounds. you get shaken or if you were still shaken you only get one more wound until your aura is gone or you willfully stop soaking with it(free action and no role to stop it same with bringing it up you are literally just coating your body in it). As long as you are not caught surprised you always soak with your aura. who doesn't want to have protective shield up and keeping you alive. You take 1d6 dmg per shaken/wound you would be taking normally (you are really only going down one tick though). You can not Ace on this damage unless you got a raise on the fighting/shooting role. this is to simulate being thrown around in combat thus not taking huge damage but if you get pinned by a well placed hit/shot you can get hurt a lot more because more of the energy hits you instead of just moving you. You can still spend a Benny to soak a roll reducing the wounds as normal which will reduce the aura drain but as long as one level of damage remains you are still going one track down and taking the appropriate number of d6. either Spirit or Vigor would work in this case for soak but if you are out of Aura you can only soak with Vigor. I recommend the PP + Spirit + Vigor as that means your edges that improve your aura/semblance also increase it's durability.
For Aura Regen i recommend 1/2 the greater of your spirit or vigor per hour while resting quarter rounded up when active/ not resting. While aura is full naturally healing rolls should be done every other day and get +2 if resting/non stressful that time frame. This is due to aura being able to heal scratches instantly and other wounds a bit slower but heavy wounds still take some time but still much faster then normal.
Please read Rungok, Warforged, and Aloha. (not sure if run and war were paying attention because it was in spoilers and i want their input)
Yah since this is my first play by post i wasn't sure how initiative or combat are done. It just felt right since i got attacked i would get an attack back so posted one. It sounded like only me and that one grim were fully in combat and it went so i just did the attack back no one else was in combat so figured we would just go back and forth till cards??? start to be distributed. Will parry and toughness be posted so that we can easier describe if we successfully kill or are we just posting our rolls like i did and wait for response as to what happened. She also like i said in ooc would have made her attacks wild if she didn't see any other Grimm actively charging/engaging which i am just assuming you will add bonuses if there are none or leave it as is if there are.
Further information on Onyxia's outfit. as it was just revealed it isn't a full dress but the ribbon was holding on long leg coverings These double as a cloak and sash for combat,physically active, or relaxing and comfortable with the people she is around. When around town/public or people she doesn't know she will tuck her tail and wrap the cloak around her waist so it looks like a long dress with a slit going up her leg but it is doubled over so can't actually see the leg unless she has them fairly far apart. After she feels she has made a decent first impression with people she is far more comfortable and does not care nearly as much. While it is around her waist it is not actually attached to anything it is like using a very snug belt with no belt loops a solid tug or being pinned while she moves will remove them. While around her shoulders it is lose and in a slipknot. When she has the covering her tail is moderately uncomfortable as it is under her skirt when the coverings are removed she will reflexively stretch it out which does lift her skirt if she is distracted and forgets to adjust the skirt to put her tail properly through the hole designed for it.
Keep in mind if you have a RoF Higher then 1 and are using multiple shots you are at a -2 penalty unless you have the edge Rock and Roll. If you have a Spread weapon you get a +2 for your shooting which negates this normally i am unsure if that bonus is applied as it wasn't expressly added in the rwby book but is a blanket rule in core. if you roll a 1 though you accidentally hit an innocent bystander. Normally this is 1 or 2 for full auto or spread shotguns we may be reducing this due to setting. Subject to GM discretion as it is vague. with Firing into Melee normally a 1 will hit an adjacent target usually an ally but this is RWBY i doubt this would be in effect against Grimm. i can see it though against other hunters or highly intelligent Grimm. All innocent bystander rules are very much for thematically appropriate it is not advised to always apply it.
In addition for all the shots you take you only get 1 wild die for that weapon's attacks regardless of how many shots. You do however get to chose which attack roll it replaces. Also ammo if your gun needs it uses the ROF squared in total ammo. so 2 rof uses 4 and 3 uses 9 if you have to roll your ammo usage.
If you are using two weapons you are at a -2 to both attacks as it is a multi action unless you have two fisted. You are still subject to a -2 on your offhand unless you are Ambidextrous.
sorry for all my walls of text i have been accused of rules lawyering.... a few times. ofcourse this game is for fun so it is rated GM for GM discretion is advised.
A question just came to mind about activating your semblance, does anything special happen on a raise?
We really should be talking the mechanics of the game in the discussion thread, people.
I completely agree but no one else was and it was taken over to ooc game play. just getting tired of no feedback so thought it was ignored or to daunting with my walls of text so stopped talking to myself till some one showed interest or started another topic. what i put over in gameplay directly applies to what was going on in gameplay at the time and was a currently active ooc conversation.
I personally think the wall of text approach explains things pretty well. Seeing as the system i've played that uses the same attribute/skill system didn't have the ace's, wilds, or raises that this one does.. Despite not being in the RP it's a great learning tool to see some explanation alongside what's happening.
thanks glad i could help.
Let's leave the wall of texts to the discussion thread then. The gameplay thread is more meant to play out like a storybook, not a technical manual. :P
Yea, leave the discussion thread for helping clueless over here XD
When designing a weapon is choosing the Area of effect attribute selecting the type of range your weapon has or is it just an additional effect.
ex: You take medium range for 4/8/16 and due to having weaponcrafting expert you are able to also take AoE. Do these shots explode dealing the Aoe Once they reach the range, or can you choose between normally shooting at your 4/8/16 ranges or using an AoE creating a blast in a templated area adjacent to your character?
Even in fear of having too many cooks in the kitchen, I decided that I'd write a post about how dice work in Savage Worlds. Later, I'll do a write-up of what actions can be done in combat, so on and so forth.
For -almost- every roll you make, you are going to be rolling your Ability/Skill die and one Wild Die. If you're rolling Agility, you're rolling Agility and a Wild Die. If you're rolling fighting, you're rolling Fighting and a Wild Die. If you're firing a mini-gun with a Rate of Fire of 5, you're rolling FIVE Shooting dice and ONE Wild Die (You only get one Wild Die per action and automatic fire is one action).
The Wild Die will always be a D6 until much later when Edges that you take care change it. Whatever modifiers are affecting your roll also affect your Wild Die, both good and bad. The only time you do not usually roll a Wild Die is when you roll Damage. That is its own beast in itself.
Whenever you roll maximum upon a die, it is called "Acing" or "Aceing". I don't know, I'm sure someone will correct me :P. Regardless, what it means is you get to roll that dice again and add the newly rolled total back to it's maximum. If I roll a d8, get an Ace (8), and then roll a 7, then I rolled a 15. You keep rolling the die until you no longer get Aces (which leads to some insanely high and awesome rolls).
When you roll, you take the result of either your Ability/Skill die or your Wild Die, whichever is higher. So if you rolled an 11 on your d12 but rolled a 6, another 6, and then a 4, you'd take the Wild Die because it rolled a 16 and rolled higher. The Wild Die can only ever replace one die, so if you automatic fire and miss a bunch and the Wild Die hits...it only replace ONE of the missed die.
Getting a RAISE is when you get four or more higher on your roll than is needed for the task. Most tasks have a Target Number (TN) of 4. You either do it really flashy, get more results than usual, have a special effect happen, something along that line. When you get a RAISE in combat, you get an extra d6 to roll for damage.
Damage is rolled all together and added together. Sorzar's weapon is STR + 2d4. If I hit an enemy's Parry (which is their TN) by four or more, I would roll a d6 (for my STR), 2d4 (for my weapon), and an extra d6 for the raise plus any modifiers! This will give me a ton of damage to pump out! However, you could also be hit by something like this, since Savage Worlds' motto is "Fast, Fun, Furious". Combat is quick and deadly but luckily...we have Bennies.
Bennies are used for two main purposes; to reroll rolls and to soak damage. When you spend to reroll, you always keep the best roll and you can reroll as much as you'd like as long as you have bennies. Soaking is when you take damage and want to negate it. Your Toughness is how difficult you are to hurt, what they need to roll in order to Shaken you and cause Wounds. If you had a Toughness of 11 and were hit by my attack, I'd have to roll an 11 in total to even shaken you, 15 to hurt you!
How you Soak wounds (so you don't take them permanently and you avoid the negative Wound modifier) is you spend a benny, you roll your Vigor and a Wild Die with your current Wound Modifier as a negative on the roll. SW follows the mindset that the more hurt you are, the easier you are to take out. You negate a wound by rolling a Four and can negate additional wounds by rolling Raises (8 negates two wound, 12 negates 3, 16 negates 4). You can never take more wounds than the total wounds you have left, meaning you have the potential to take 4 wounds right off the bat (-1 Wound, -2 Wound, -3 Wound, Incapacitated). If you already have two wounds and get hit, the most you would ever have to soak from that attack is TWO wounds (albeit with a -2 from your two existing injuries). You have to Soak Wounds right when it happens, you cannot choose to later.
Bennies are replenished every sessions, most players have three bennies. You gain more for excellent roleplay, roleplaying your hindrances, and whenever the GM gosh darn feels like it!
I hope that helps explain some things, the system is really easy just hard to explain and not just show. If anyone has any questions, please let me know and I'll try to answer them for you!
So how do we tell how far we are from an opponent?
Short of using maps, we ask Aloha (or later on, me) how far away you are. We will try to make sure it's indicated how far an opponent is whenever we update a round of combat, but in case we miss it just ask!
Ok, how far am I near the closest Grim?
How do you do multi actions?
Characters may perform multiple actions such as Intimidating someone while blasting away with a shotgun,running and Fighting, attacking with a weapon in each hand, and so on.
Two important rules apply:
• A character can’t fire more than his weapon’s Rate of
Fire in one round
• A character may not make more than one Fighting attack
with the same weapon in one round
In essence, a hero may not perform the same action twice
in a round—he can’t make two simultaneous Intimidation rolls
or cast two different spells. He could make a Fighting and a
Shooting attack if he had a gun in one hand and a knife in the
other, however, and could even issue a Taunt at the same time.
He could only make two Fighting attacks if he had a knife in
each hand, however (or had the Frenzy Edge).
Each additional action attempted in a round subtracts 2
from all the hero’s rolls. If an adventurer wants to fire a gun
with one hand and slice at an adjacent foe with a sword in
the other, for instance, he subtracts 2 from both rolls. If he
also wanted to make a Test of Wills against someone at the
same time, he subtracts 4 from all his rolls.
Wild Cards get their Wild Die on each action as usual.
A moving character may perform these actions at different
points in his movement, but still suffers the multi-action
penalty. This might seem a little odd in practice—a character
might shoot a pistol, move a few inches, then issue a Taunt—
suffering a –2 penalty to both even though the Taunt roll has
yet to be resolved—so make sure the player is committed to
both actions before resolving either.
►►Free Actions: Some minor actions are “free” and don’t
inflict multi-action penalties. Speaking a short sentence or
two, moving up to the character’s Pace, falling prone, resisting
opposed rolls, or dropping an item, are all examples of free
actions.
as stated in savage worlds deluxe edition.
Bottom line the more things you try to do the harder it is to do anything so most people try to keep it small. in my post most of my actions were not effected by multi action penalties due to being dice-less to perform. All i really did was pick up my cloak, put it on, change my weapons, and run at the grim i just like to try to add flare.
So I am playing it pretty fast and loose. Combat hasn't technically started because combat tends to slow things down and the people who are fighting are only fighting mooks and will basically just be rolling combat skills back and forth or running. Once combat actually starts, I'll deal out cards from a deck IRL and post the initiative order. :)
I don't know about Rungok but I may start using maps again once we split into the team threads. For now it feels like there's too many people scattered too far for maps to be much use without driving myself crazy.
@Tora: The grimm are a little further than your full pace away from you (ten pace).
If we're going to kick over to using those rules, lets get Rungok to sign off and we'll do it when we split the threads for teams.
So just to lay the rules out nice and neat:
Aura is your power pool (10 + any edges) + vigor + spirit. This means an "average" huntsman would have an Aura pool of 22, with the absolute maximum being somewhere around 25 (power points edge at every rank) + 24 (max vigor and spirit) + 15 (default powerpool and Aura Mastery) = 66.
Aura soaks damage automatically unless you are caught by surprise or willingly turn it off to soak with your vigor or body damage outright. Every wound and shaken result taken rolls 1d6 that subtract directly from your aura pool. These dice do not ace unless that attacker had a raise.
By spending a benny, you can roll Spirit or Vigor (I would say Spirit for Aura soak rolls, keep Vigor for non-Aura soaks). Every success and raise reduces the incoming wounds by 1.
Once you are out of Aura pool damage and soaking both work as normal in Savage Worlds.
Overall this is a really good marriage of Wind (in the form of Aura) and Wounds into Savage Worlds and I think its a lot more useful and integrated than my original Aura soaking rules. Pretty much my only objection is that this lends itself to really massive power pools for people who spec into Aura Mastery. I feel like keeping Power Points and Aura Pool separate takes away from the nature of Aura though, and will get confusing fast. On the other hand since this is a high-damage setting the power pool will likely go away fast in combat, so it's likely relatively balanced (with a healthy dose of rule of cool). It also doesn't invalidate a high-vigor character since with sufficiently high vigor and some of the additional soaking edges in RWBY you can still body attacks without Aura if you're confident enough
My seal of approval stands. Rungok, how do you feel?
Well, I need time to re-read over it and consider how it would affect both beginning and late-stage gameplay, so I'll have an official answer for you tonight, okay? :)
At first glance it looks good though.
Yeah, you might notice something I didn't in terms of balance. It looks good but homebrew does always complicate things (this game is living proof. :) )
It's a good thing I'm a game developer then! :P
Like I said, I'll go over it and get back to you.
I was thinking, after looking at it, that my suggestion is:
Instead of a complicated extra buffer of wounds (from a mechanical perspective, in lore it could very well be considered that) one could instead just use the Aura pool as a pool of bennies that can be spent for the purpose of soaking, just like normal ones, but you use your spirit die instead of your vigor die. (This is further evidenced by the time Pyrrha unlocked Jeaune's aura, meaning he has a good spirit die, which is also later confirmed through his use of many leadership edge-like tactics)
That way you can do pretty much what you were saying here. That way, you can still end up getting your butt kicked *because* you've been spending your 10-25 aura points on your dust and semblance powers and are tapped out.
Other edges that improve aura rolls would also add to the spirit roll to soak. (+2 to the roll, etc.)
The rule of cool applies here. Just like how stunts work in exalted, a hero in RWBY can perform a death-defying stunt. If a player does something particularly awesome, uplifting to their spirit, or just an action that makes the other players or GM go 'wow', the GM can give the hero 1 point of aura back. This works similarly to how bennies can be awarded players.
One of the biggest issues about balanced gameplay is system bloat. You add a bunch of more words and rules that a player has to remember just so they don't mix their aura pool with their power points or just outright forget to use it for half a combat because it was so different from the normal rules. I'm also not liking having a 60+ pool just because of natural progression, so I would rather us use them better.
Tana - with Two Fisted, you make two separate attack rolls (as you did), but *each* one gets a Wild die. However, because you don't have Ambidextrous, the second attack is at -2 because it's your "off" hand.
They bring up a good point in gameplay about how pp works. As far as i understand it our semblances do not use up PP it is aura and abilities that use Aura Mastery that do so. so if you want to activate your semblance to teleport you spend an action??? and roll spirit if you succeed you teleport if you don't succeed you don't. as long as it is a semblance it does not drain your PP. I am unsure if teleportation or going invisible count as an action thus accrue and inflict multi action penalties.
I made my semblance easy it is just a passive i am lucky shooting and hitting with Rose and Gild and those that oppose me are unlucky. it is completely passive (i envision Onyxia doesn't even know what her semblance is and barely acknowledge the effects as that would be fun/funny and entertaining) Thus i have just been rolling semblance every turn as a matter of maintenance as those were the last rulings i recall from posts.
Tora you were a bit vague on what you were doing in your post. were you spending the Benny and rolling vigor to soak? in which case you roll a d4 as that is your vigor die and then a d6 for your wild die. (page 69 in the deluxe book i sent you)
The good thing about play by post is you have plenty of time to post. I have the core and rwby rule books open and displayed on my screen while i am posting so i can make sure to properly have my own posts be an example to explain things as we go in ooc. I believe it is best to get all the questions and misunderstandings of rules done while we are all together so things go smoother when we split the parties.
I spent a Benny because I have no idea what to do.
Schythe - you are mostly correct about how Semblances work, except activating (or maintaining) them takes only a Free action for the Spirit roll, thus you never incur any MAP (multi-action penalties).
And yes, you do have to roll to maintain them, but only on any turn where the duration of the SW Power you are using to represent your Semblance "times out" - for example, I have Quickness, which lasts 3 rounds as a Power, so I only have to roll to maintain it every 4 rounds. But if your Semblance is a Superpower, you do have to roll every round to keep it active.
Tora - your options were "you can spend a benny and either roll vigor to soak the wound, or spend a benny to roll a d6 and take that many power points".
You would do what Schythe said and roll a d4 and a d6 if you were using your Vigor to Soak the Wound, in which case each Success (4-7) and Raise (8-11, 12-15, etc.) removes 1 Wound of damage done to you. (And you might want to consider raising your Spirit or Vigor to a d6 on your next Advancement - both will be used a lot in combat!)
But, since you rolled only a d6, I'm assuming you meant to take that many Power Points (PP) away. Since you rolled 3, you spent that many PP to avoid *all* damage. And, assuming you started with 10, you're now down to 7. However, note that normally you lose d6 PP *per Wound* to avoid all damage. And Bad Things happen when your PP go to zero - for instance, to activate your Semblance, in addition to the Spirit roll, you must make a Vigor roll at -2 or take 1 point of Fatigue!
And, no, you couldn't have used your Teleport Semblance to avoid the blow, because you can only activate it on *your* turn, and it was on the *creature's* turn that it attacked you. Does that make sense?
Hope all this helps!
So my semblance is useless for defense? What damage do I have currently?
Best check with the GM's, but I would guess your Semblance is useless for defense.
If you spent the 3 PP's, they absorbed the 1 Wound inflicted on you, so you are currently wound-free.
If that is the case, it is useless in the system.
Well there are a few ways to to do what you are trying. The flash step sounds most like Teleport (3) with Rapid Teleport (+3) (need one point drawback) which lets you teleport 12 distance and gain a gang up bonus with yourself (and others i assume). yes it isn't useful for defense other then disengaging it you get the cool flash step stuff like bleach and bonuses on attacks.
If you are looking for defense it would be Speed which you can take up to level 5 which would put your pace at 24 and any attacks against your are at a -1. if you take some drawbacks for it you can get the 7 to go 48 pace and every one gets a -2 to hit you.
Those are the two cases i can see for flash step. both are great gap closer and add a lot of utility.
Although i do request that we revisit the duration of powers. We are already limiting the super power compendium powers by forcing activation if we also limit their duration which most are set to not have. while those in core book can keep it going longer as they have a duration and can retry every turn as well. I would recommend just setting blanket duration to 3 rounds or 2 for super compendium if you want to still have it limited. possibly with a round of cool off where you cant reactivate for a round if you failed the check after duration expires. This prevents semblances from just fluctuating on and off a lot through combat.
Just food for thought
I think Ill have to figure out something else that will work. For now, she has no Semblance, just an Aura. We already have someone that is pretty much speed I thought so no.
Also, your link to the free powers book was a dude.