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When bringing my wife to a game, her playing an Elven magic user and me a Human warrior with a greatsword, we are not allowed to kill the BBEG's most trusted lieutenant, a mid to high level mummy, by impaling him with my greatsword, then her bringing him back to life as the low-level NPC nobleman he once was.
Okay, its been a while because my life has been busy, but I've been doing some work, off and on with this setting and have had a different idea recently that I wanted to run by you guys. This could change magic significantly. What I'm thinking about is making all magic into Arcane, and combining Divine magic with Turning Dead. I'd still keep the Spirit Points(albeit altered) and use these points for all the Cleric's supernatural powers (Druid would change to an Arcane magic-user). Based on this, the Cleric's spell list would have to be boiled down into what actions typically define a holyman, the miraculous powers within the mortal world granted to them by their deity.
Instead of the older Star Wars RPG, you might use the Condition Track from the current Star Wars RPG Saga Edition, well, a slightly modified version, anyway. Here's the information, if you have the Saga Edition, it won't hurt to skip the parts you already know. First, hitpoints end at 0. There's nothing below that. Hitpoints per level are calculated as normal. For the first level, I'd suggest going with one full hitdie plus a number of racial hitpoints(I'll put a list of what I use below). That'll give some comfort room, but not a lot. The Damage Threshold is similar to Massive Damage from D&D/d20 Modern. Damage in excess of the Threshold that doesn't outright kill the character drops that character one step on the Condition Track. The Threshold equals Fortitude plus Size Modifier(which is +5 for Large, +10 for Huge, +20 for Gargantuan, and +50 for Colossal in this case). Critical Hits(when confirmed) will drop the player one step on the condition track(two if its Critical and past the Threshold). Exhaustion and Fatigue will lower a character's state on the condition track. Similarly spells which inflict states(Stunned, Dazed, et cetera) lower the condition. Finally, any failed Fortitude or Will save will as well Spells that relieve states, resting for a time, or medical treatment can improve a character's condition. The Condition Track itself has 6 steps.
Then a final modification since your players will no longer have -10 hitpoints. When in a dying state, give the players 1 + CON mod rounds before they die(unless a deathblow is given, or something explodes near them). This makes them fear things such as crossbows, because they can potentially be dropped without being killed(Damage Threshold). Hope this has been helpful.
Another alternate way to handle things is to have the party need to fulfill a side-quest in order to raise a character with the Vow of Poverty. This way, their deeds take the place of the material component, the character with the Vow doesn't have a problem, and the player who has the dead character can play monsters for a time.
I'd suggest mixing the Base 3.5 classes with d20 Modern classes. The Wisdom based class can be spliced with the Cleric to create a Holy Man class, for example. The Tough Hero and the Barbarian can become the Brawler. Then you can use Talent trees to allow characters to more accurately choose what kind of each hero archetype they are.
I'm considering a setup like that to give out to my players as a way of managing their inventory, marking certain pages as equipment slots. Each binder would basically be everything anyone needs to know about that one character.
well, oozes multiply by division (one ooze; idiot damages ooze; two oozes), not sexually. And they're mindless. I'm not entirely sure how that would work......... and I don't think I want to know Magic Experimentation seems to be a very common reason. Why couldn't a magic user have said one day "You know, I'd like a henchman with all the benefits of my trusted lieutenant and a black pudding."?
Last Weekend
Wade pauses in front of the man-sized door to the hangar bay. He is certain that he was not followed, and a look at the door tells him that the lock has not been tampered with in a visible manner. Wade thought for a moment at the door, before stepping close to the keypad so that his body blocked line of sight to all but him. He hoped he was just being paranoid, but he felt it better to be ready. As the door slid open he cleared the code from the keypad and stepped in.
I think its mainly listed as having one Ion and one Laser so that it actually has one damaging weapon on board other than the missile launcher. Some players out there hate the concept of "nonlethal" damage. Anyway, if you like, I have a rough idea of penalties for using Starship-scale weapons on character-scale targets that I've been working on as a "just in case" for a SW game I'll be running soon. My players have been known for doing some crazy things, I've learned to anticipate many of them. For vehicles of size Huge and Gargantuan apply a penalty somewhere from -5 to -10 on attacks against character-scale targets. For Colossal sized vehicles, apply a penalty somewhere from -10 to -15. Exception- Vehicles that are logically used to attack character scale targets(i.e. an AT-ST) are exempt to these penalties. Addendum: It may make sense for the penalties to bee -5 for Huge, -10 for Gargantuan, and -15 for Colossal; leaving the -20 for Colossal(Frigate) and up. Attacks made by these vehicles is targeted at a single character, but is considered an area attack, with the character being at the center of the attack. Damage is not multiplied, instead, the damage multipliers determine the size of the damage radius. A multiplier of x2 means that the damage covers the square in which the targeted character stands, plus a radius of one square; a multiplier of x3 would mean the occupied squares with a radius of two squares; and so forth. This keeps most such attacks from being instant-kills at low levels, while remaining dangerous.
An interesting bit came up recently and it made me wonder, did the designers just never consider that players may want to turn the turret of a parked transport or blasters of a fighter against enemy NPCs, standard sized characters, not those in other vehicles? I have been pouring through the core rulebook and the Starships of the Galaxy rulebook, but haven't found any mention. Is it in some other book? ----- If not, here's something I've been considering. Due to the size difference between the character and various vehicles, the following penalties apply to attacks against characters from those vehicles, with exceptions for vehicles designed to specifically attack lone characters(example, an AT-ST firing upon a soldier). A Colossal sized transport takes a -10 penalty when firing upon a character. A fighter(whether airspeeder or starfighter) of Huge or Gargantuan size takes a -5 penalty when firing upon a character. Now, even with those, the ships can be a bit too harsh against a single NPC/PC, so I suggest an additional change, turn the attack into area damage(centralized on the character being fired at), based upon the multiplier the weapon in question does. Firing a Light Laser Cannon at a character would deal 3d10 damage in the square the character occupied and in a 1 square radius, since it has a x2 multiplier. Firing a Light Turbolaser, on the other hand, would still deal 3d10 damage, but the area would be a 4 square radius, since it has a x5 multiplier. Too much?
As to the matter of the anti-ship guns on the cruiser, I'd have to look at my books when I get home. Anti-personnel weapons are a separate modification, likely of questionable legality. Off the top of my head & not knowing the rule, while you can fire a turret-mounted gun on things that are people-sized, it may incur some penalty for shooting at smaller-than-Colossal-sized targets. I will check on it, although I am sure it would be an impressive light show :) The best info I found was a small mention in the Saga book on page 183 when it lists a Star Destroyer's stats. "Apply a -20 penalty when firing against targets smaller than Colossal-size." Neither the Citadel-Class Cruiser nor the R-41 Starchaser entries have such a mention. However, the designers obviously didn't consider the possibility of using such large, powerful weapons against single characters, so it might be fair to include a -5 to -10 penalty to such attacks, in addition to making them area attacks without the damage muliplier(due to relative power, as a good blast could drop some mid-level character's quickly). As for anti-personnel weapons, the only one I can think of is the "Docking Gun" modification in Starships of the Galaxy, page 47. Its basically a mount which allows you to load a character scale weapon on it creating a turret. They have a rating of Licensed, can fire as long as the ship has power, cost is 1000 plus the cost of the weapon used, and the damage based on the weapon mounted. What it doesn't say is whether or not manually controlled or automated.
I was thinking, it might be a good idea if we all work together and figure out how much each of us knows about each other, so we don't get into any confusing situations. Just list basically what your character has told the others, not necessarily the truth about the character. The story Wade has told the crew(who each may know it whole or in parts as each of you choose). Wade was born a spacer and became a war orphan from around the middle to the end of the Clone Wars, to be raised in a state orphanage on Corellia. At the age of 19, to try and make something of his life, he applied for and was accepted to the Imperial Academy as a pilot. About a year and a half into things, he got involved in an incident which resulted in an expulsion and discharge of a number of cadets. He'd set off to make the most of what he'd learned as a pilot-for-hire/mercenary/bodyguard/what-have-you, until he'd managed to save up over the past two or three years to get his own craft and manage himself somewhat. The crew found him drifting in space because he'd had to leave a port of call after a job due to a disagreement with a local sabaac card shark, who turned out to be the son of a minor ranking member in a crime syndicate. The card shark told his father's goons to work Wade over, but he distracted them by kicking the table up into their way and running. He'd managed to make his way to his ship and left as he found out maintenance had been completed, but overlooked that they hadn't refueled it yet. He'd slipped out of the immediate threat only to run out of gas with a limited number of consumables. That was eight months ago.
Maybe someone's taken her under their wing with a sort of guardian / ward relationship - a nearly skeletally skinny nervous albino sixteen year old might pull on the heartstrings of any scoundrel that uses a gruff exterior to hide a good heart. :) I can take that role, if you like. Assuming the R-41 is okayed, it has two seats, and would make sense that Wade would want someone to take on the Mechanical and Use Computer roles before joining up with the rest of the crew.
Yeah, the Wade character does seem a little too "good" for the Empire, but I'm working him more along the lines of the type who believes in what the Empire could be, if it weren't for many of the corrupt officials in its ranks. He detests the idea of needless sacrifice of innocents, but is also willing to gun down an unarmed and helpless enemy if the opponent in question tells Wade that if allowed to live, he'll devote that life to ending Wade's. He's basically a man of contradictions, with his main reason for hiding out in the fringes being that "someone" within the Empire has betrayed him, and he's spending his time trying to figure out who it was, but he's still to naïve to realize that the "someone" is effectively the Empire as it currently stands. This is also partially why he hasn't gone and joined the Rebellion, he sees it as a purely criminal act. Even if/when he discovers what the Empire truly is, it'll probably such a shock to him that this time he's spent as a refugee of sorts simply seeking who cut him loose will turn into an actual lifestyle choice as he will likely loose faith in the system. The kind of Empire he believes exists won't really exist until much later in the Star Wars time-line, when the Remnant and the New Republic sign a treaty. Also, what I'm trying to do with this character is take an upstanding person and have life crap on him until he becomes less so, concerned more with survival. Someone who believes in something, and then shown that which he believes isn't what he thought it was. This way my character isn't fully developed at the outset, and has room to grow over the course of the game, based on how the story progresses. Think of this character as a fusion between Firefly's Malcom Reynolds, Wing Commander's Maverick, and Burn Notice's Michael Westin... in Star Wars. Alternatively, I am willing to alter this character, as I don't feel the character is set yet, since we haven't started the game yet. I can certainly change things up so that he didn't discover anything unsettling about the Empire, and the whole thing simply be due to him being set up and not wanting to die. As for whether or not the sector that planet he was in being Juiblex, my suggestion is "whatever is better for the story".
@Quandry Spoiler:
I understand that a second ship may not fit, and can do without it. I actually thought of some kind of small shuttle, but the downside to those is they tend to be larger than fighters, about as big as average transports, and normally aren't very armed, usually relying on fighters as their defense.
As a side note, regularly unarmed craft with hidden weapons just feels too much like a Bond-mobile ripoff. And not the cool James Bond, but Roger Moore's James Bond. Additionally, an intelligence operative understands the need to blend in with his environment, therefore, a character in the kind of place where everyone is armed will be armed himself. While I admit I like the idea of a fighter along with whatever transport the group has, I can go without it. And I still like the idea that while he's a pilot, he's only slightly more than useless when it comes to actual larger ships, so he will not step on the toes of the pilot.
I have no problem with letting the fighter be destroyed if things end up imbalanced, I'll post the stats in a spoiler box at the bottom. My main reasoning behind it was that most shows set up on a ship also had smaller craft along with them(Firefly's Serenity had its two shuttles; Farscape's Moya had the transports, as well as John's pod, Aeryn's prowler, and eventually Dargo's difficult to define ship) As for the deep space meeting, if you don't want to play it out, that's fine, perhaps its part of the group backstory of how they all came together(like how Mal & Zöe met Wash, Jayne, and Kaylee in Firefly). Or not. R-41 Starchaser
Spoiler: Gargantuan starfighter
Init +6; Senses Perception +6 Defenses Ref 16(flat 11), Fort 24; +6 armor
Speed fly 16 squares(max. velocity 1,050 km/h), fly 4 squares(starship scale)
Abilities Str 38, Dex 20, Con -, Int 18
Crew 1(skilled); Passengers 1
Laser cannons (pilot)
Revised character information. Wade Macton
-Stats-
Spoiler:
Scoundrel 1
11 STR 0 17 DEX 3 13 CON 1 16 INT 3 16 WIS 3 13 CHA 1 Hitpoints: 19
(I'm holding off on making a new alias until I'm certain everything is okayed.) -History-
Spoiler:
A capable pilot, but prefers the yoke of a fighter to larger craft. Graduated from the Imperial Academy eighth in his class, but his scores in certain tests caused him to be shuffled into Intelligence rather than a fighter squadron. Jumping at the chance for the rapid advancement this promise, he quickly accepted. From here he was trained in infiltration & exfiltration, escapology, security circumvention, and mixed martial arts. His instructors found him an eager and fast learner, but naïve, as he believed that the good of the Empire was the same as the good of the people.
Much of his naïveté was shed in his early missions as he learned of the greater grey areas, until on one such mission he came across a data transmission which implicated the Empire in some horrible deeds. Double-checking his mission, he discovered his true purpose was to be the empire's scapegoat. Imperial Intelligence couldn't take back the time and training they'd invested in him, but they could sever all ties and revoke all clearance. He was being unceremoniously cut loose because of his beliefs and simultaneously used as a political tool in an attempt to trick a distant region into greater Imperial control through requested aid. With his resources minimal and enemies on either side, he collaborated with his intended target in order to disappear. The Empire considers him MIA, presumed dead; but a few of his superiors and trainers remain suspicious. Officially, his mission was a success, due to the Empire only needed a showy attempt on the target's life, whether or not he lived or died didn't matter, unfortunately for the Empire, the plan was unsuccessful since the target managed to keep his region from requesting political aide, thus denying Imperial roots to set. Wade's new contact supplied him with a small fighter and new identification in exchange for his life; on the agreement that if he received a call for help, he would do all he could. -Ideas/Requests-
Spoiler: One idea I think might be interesting is that if Wade doesn't start off with the group, that he's in his fighter, just floating in space, out of fuel with his distress beacon on, and has been there for two or three days. Afterwards, he just stays with the crew out of a need of something to do to earn money.
I'd like to have him start with an R-42 Starchaser(page 115, Force Unleashed), as its old and dependable. This wouldn't mean he wouldn't stay with the rest of the crew, just that he does things a little differently. I thought of a way to show him being better with fighters than larger craft, if its okay. Would it be okay to grant him a +5 bonus to Pilot checks with fighters/bombers along with a -5 penalty to Pilot checks with larger ships? Sorta like a Trait in d20 Modern, maybe call it "Fighter Savant" or "Flight Jockey"?
If that's the route you're taking, you may want to consider having the ship be a Citadel-Class Cruiser(page 70, SotG) with the Junker template(page 104, SotG) applied. This gives the may-break-down-if-you-sneeze-hard property, while the ship itself comes with 3 unused emplacement points and docking space for two fighters(or similarly sized craft). Plus its an out-of-date ship which is rarely made any more, if at all.
This seems to have piqued my interest, and I have a basic idea for a character. Wade Macton
History:
Spoiler:
A capable pilot, but prefers the yoke of a fighter to larger craft. Graduated from the Imperial Academy eighth in his class, but his scores in certain tests caused him to be shuffled into Intelligence rather than a fighter squadron. Jumping at the chance for the rapid advancement this promise, he quickly accepted. From here he was trained in infiltration & exfiltration, escapology, security circumvention, and mixed martial arts. His instructors found him an eager and fast learner, but naïve.
Much of his naïveté was shed in his early missions as he learned of the greater grey areas, until on one such mission he came across a data transmission which implicated the Empire in some horrible deeds. His last act was to complete the mission, then disappear, making it seem as if he'd been caught after a success, tipping the odds in his favor for his chance at disappearing. Kinda going with the sneaky yet combat capable type, probably looking at a Scoundrel/Scout type character. What's the starting level for this campaign? Also, if you think this is acceptable, send me an email at CatoNovus -at- gmail *dot* com, 'cause I have a few minor ideas for this character that might be fun, but wanna run them by you first.
This far into things and I'm still wanting to run the system with six elements. I like the idea of the pentacle of five elements, but something just doesn't feel quite right. So, once again, I come to you helpful people and see what ideas we can brainstorm. Currently, I can see three methods for setting up six elements with energy types. #1 Fire-Heat/Water-Cold
#2 Fire-Heat/Water-Cold
#3 Fire-Heat/Water-Cold
Any and all ideas are welcome.
I remember a friend of mine telling me about one of his favorite characters some time ago. He played a perpetually pissed off halfling thief, who in the process of escaping a badguy decided to drop down the side of a building from ledge to ledge as a quick way down, and the DM decided that one of the ledges would have glass on the edging to stop thieves, so he ended up falling three stories into an ally in which a Mage's Duel was being conducted. He startled the spellcasters so much that they accidentally cast their spells on him, one of them casting Permanancy and the other casting Enlarge Person. Later on, he ends up being cursed with a voice that should he speak, anyone who hears him dies. He seeks out a method to communicate through telepathy so that he doesn't kill his teammates. Finally, his party was holed up in a castle with a full army of orcs attacking, and the vast majority of the castle's forces out fighting elsewhere, so they all get an idea. The medium-sized halfling climbs up to the uppermost spire, the rest of the party closes all the windows/doors, then cast silence spells across the entire castle. The thief then pulls out a Horn of Blasting and shouts into it "HEY YOU GUYS!" at the orcs. The DM just looks at him dumbfounded and the player asks "So, how much experience do I get?" He went up 10 levels that night. So, if you guys ever come across a five foot four inch tall halfling with an attitude and a cloak, don't annoy him. That's my favorite other person's character.
Make the elves from your ascended land...elven samurai are cool!! Imagine how much time would be spent learning ikebana and the tea ceremony...DECADES!\ I like this idea... Once you get everything finalized you could actually do a PDF publishing of your world... Interesting, but should I try, I might get in trouble, as I'm drawing very heavily from Pathfinder's magic wielding classes.
I recently managed to get hold of the Expanded Psionic book, and have mixed feelings about it. I like the idea of using the inner powers(psionics) as opposed to outer powers(prayers & spells). Part of what I'm trying to do is set up a game world in which science and magic coexist. A "two sides of the same coin" kind of thing, where one uses natural law(science) and the other warps it(magic). This is why I find the psionics as presented in the book a little disappointing, it feels more like magic, just dressed up to look like powers of the mind. This seems like a cop-out, and I don't know where to push it from here. I like the information listed which describes how to run campaigns where Psionics and Magic work in vastly different ways, so that an Antimagic Field does nothing against Psionics, and vice-versa. I may end up retooling many of the powers so that they don't feel so much like spells.
This is why a ring of sustenance is essential equipment. No intake of fluid and food = no need for the inevitable result of 'biological filtering'. The shorter sleep cycle is simply an added bonus. This all depends on the kind of setting you're in. In a setting where science doesn't exist, meaning gravity works the way it does because the gods said so, then there is no way to scientifically explain a Ring of Sustenance. This may also be true in a setting where both science and magic exist. However, in a setting where magic and science not only coexist, but are equals, then things get more interesting. If you have such a place where science and magic are merely two sides of the same coin, simply being different methods to reach the same goal, then I would rule the following: The Ring of Sustenance magically converts mana(pure arcane energy) into usable energy for your body, much like solar plates collecting and converting the ambient solar radiation into electricity. I do like me some science, but I do my best to divorce the idea of applying real world science to game worlds which simply do not follow the laws of physics, thermodynamics, and so forth.
I'd like to know why PCs never go to the bathroom. They're smart enough to do so when you're not paying attention. Just like in video games. What you should have said is that indoor bathrooms weren't common during the medieval period. Sure, you had the occasional indoor/outdoor number, with a bucket on the first floor to catch what was coming from the second. However, most people used chamber pots and/or outhouses to do their business. Quite true, but even keeping chamberpots in mind, you can still try your DM's patience. Like asking him to include every chamber pot on the map. :)
I know what you mean, I have similar peculiarities for Tegara(for instance, the governing Attribute for Spellcraft isn't always INT, it could be CHA or WIS, based on which class you use). If you like, I have an example of what I'm putting together for Tegara. It doesn't quite fit what you need, but it can altered to fit your needs.
"Best" in this case is a very relative term, because certain character sheets may be great, but not useful for your group. For instance, there could be a set that look great, but upon further inspection, are designed towards very-low magic when you're in a high magic setting, or vice-versa. It would help to know what you need on the character sheet before we start suggesting which one to use.
Uhm, is that in responce to my statement or someone elses? If it was mine, I just wish to say I wasn't aware of the illegality.
That's how the flaws in 7th sea work, except instead of 3/day, it can be activated by the GM or another player. Activation by the GM is the intent, I'm sorry if it wasn't clear. I thought it was by stating 3 random times per day. The only kind of flaw I can think of which can be activated by another player however is a phobia of some sort(PC tosses a snake at another PC who is afraid of snakes).
Yeppers, the site is mine. I pay to much for it every month because I don't know html or any other website programing code. There are lots of ways to learn the basics. When I was 15 I saved copies of lots of different pages and opened them in a text/visual editor, then saw what happened when I made slight alterations. I basically tore duplicates of websites apart and put them back together to see how they worked.
As has been said, if the players don't mind inter-party conflict, then its okay. Aside from that, the best way I could reconcile this gap between alignments is that while the characters may not see eye-to-eye, several may seem to have a grudging respect for each other. Fighter and Cleric for the MT and vice-versa. They may disagree upon beliefs and methodology, but they find that they work well together, and recognize each others effectiveness. The assassin could be explained as seeing the group as his best chance for survival, so while helping them out isn't necessarily an evil act, its not a good one since he's protecting them to help protect himself. The Warlock, he probably is either crazy enough to not know this isn't the best group for him, or he sees the group as a means to get him out of the trouble he seems to love to get himself into.
I've been working on a flaw/trait for a pregen character in Tegara. Kleptomaniac: Your character has a nigh uncontrolable urge to steal. 3 random times per day(or session), you must make a Will save. Should you fail, you must steal a random object from your surroundings or from someone near you. You do not always realize you have stolen anything.
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