The Inkwell Ideas 2016 Holiday Sale has started! If you’re looking for a gift for your favorite RPG players or GMs, we have some of the best ideas.
Our DungeonMorph Dice Sets and Card Decks are all 30% off with the code “30forHolidays”. Simply go to our store and add any of them to your cart, then enter the code in the pop-up that appears. And if you want more savings, there are two bundles of three dice sets each (so you can get all six different sets). These bundles save you an extra $10 per bundle.
In addition, our Creature Deck (Printed and PDF) Bundles have been discounted to match the PDF only price! (No discount code required.) So our 5 deck bundles are all $11.95 and our 6 deck bundle is $12.95. We have 5 decks for each of 0e/1e Creatures Using the Labyrinth Lord stats, Dungeon World, Fate, and Pathfinder. Our 6 deck bundle has System Neutral (knowledge check information) for each creature. Each deck for each system focuses on a couple of different creature types. Our 5e Creature Decks are printed on demand, so they are not part of this sale.
Note: We’ll also upgrade US packages to priority mail for no extra cost and ship within one business day!
It is a rewrite of the popular world/large area map software Hexographer. Updated UI, better child map functionality, generators for features of the world (what are the ruins, cities, etc. like?), new realistic icon set added (but it will still have the classic icon sets), and a bunch more.
Has a demo version already. Works with Windows 64-bit, Mac OSX & Linux. (Java based, but has native builds for Windows and Mac OSX.) Remember: It is an early demo so you will see bugs as well as many features not yet implemented.
For simplicity, most rewards here for the software only include the upgrade from Hexographer 1. Don't have a license for it? You don't have to wait, get it now: Go to our store here and get one for half price, or get it in the bundle with Cityographer and Dungeonographer. Or if you don't mind the wait, pick the $35 "Hexographer 1 & the Upgrade" reward level and pledge extra for any add-ons you would like.
Our rewards feature several bonus items: Icon Sets, Mug, Mousepad, and Alpha Access. You may also add these to any pledge--see "Add-On Details" section below for the amounts to add.
Another great reason to support the project is we're adding more icons and features through stretch goals. The two new icon packs we’re making as part of this Kickstarter (expanded alternate classic and isometric) were originally promised to have 100+ icons each. Soon (if/when we make it to $30,000) we’ll be doing at least 140 of each. And that will almost surely grow in the last week and a half of the campaign.
Those of you backing the project now or by noon US eastern time on Thursday Sept 8th may reply to project update #10 (only visible to backers) may vote for your top three choices by posting a comment to that update. We'll use those votes to decide which cultures to develop into 10+ icon mini-sets to add (at no extra cost) to add to as further stretch goals.
In the past week we released Infinite Potions (tables to describe potions) and Infinite Trinkets (tables to give you a nearly unlimited number of unique trinkets.) These followed up on our prior Infinite Tomes product.
The tables of this document allow you to quickly make a medieval/fantasy menu. Two or three rolls per dish are all you need to develop the menu. As noted in the “Caveats” section please note this is not a realistic menu for a commoner’s diet or even for most medieval inns/taverns. But it can serve as a great resource for a higher-class inns/taverns or for a royal dinner or feast. A final table of fantasy creatures takes things even further in the direction of fantasy, if desired.
Examples:
pickled herring; side of bacon over chopped spinach
lamb in vinegar and wine; side of boiled asparagus
cabbage rolls, stuffed with pork and eggs; side of rice in almond milk
roast lamb in wine with caraway, pepper & salt; side of pickled vegetables
It is time for our Annual Columbus Day software sale. Christopher Columbus was an explorer... and explorers use and make maps... so we're putting Hexographer, Dungeonographer and Cityographer for sale at 40% off! Use the code "Columbus40" when checking out. The sale ends at the end of Monday/early Tuesday, depending on your Time Zone.
Each product is a map-making software program built from the ground up to make maps for games, primarily RPGs.
Hexographer focuses on world and large area (continent, kingdom or even the area of a few villages.) The maps are in the classic 0e/basic D&D style or the 1e style.
Dungeonographer is used to make building interiors and of course dungeons & caverns. It has a multitude of built in graphics and you can make one map with two modes: battlemat/semi-realistic graphics or line-art/basic graphics.
Cityographer creates city and village maps. But it does so much more! It will randomly generate a city in one step after you make some settings; or you can make a city in just 5-7 steps which allows you to make more specific settings at each step; or you can hand place every building and road. And every building placed (whether automatically or by hand) will have its residents described or if it is a store it will have price lists, details about the staff, etc!
Now that our DungeonMorphs Kickstarter is almost complete we’re now able to offer them on our online store. (We’re still working on a few pledges that had some late questions as well as the matching font and 6″x6″ cards. All of these will be wrapped up shortly.)
Currently we’re able to offer our Cities, Ruins & Villages dice sets and the 2.5″x2.5″ cards. The cards include the matching PDF.
To offset the shipping cost, use the code “offset15” to get 15% off. Plus we’ll include a free extra random die with every order. This is good through September 6th. (For most orders, the 15% more than offsets the shipping cost.)
We’ve also overhauled our online store, so let us know if you see any issues.
This set has all 90 City (30 maps), Ruins (30 more), and Village (30 more) designs from our matching dice sets. Get them as a print-it-yourself PDF at 6″x6″ per design or as the PDF and printed on 6″x6″ cards and mailed to you. Also included is a PDF with the maps as 2.5″x2.5″ tiles. This PDF with the 2.5″x2.5″ maps also includes a mirrored version of each map/tile for even more combinations!
The maps feature hand-drawn art by AJ Stone.
Each design has two roads placed at the same points on each side, so any two designs can be placed adjacent to enlarge the map. Number and letter codes match the codes on the dice if you want to use them together (not required.) These letter codes can also be used to jot down the placement and position of the tiles (if tile1F is 90-degrees clockwise, write “1F” 90-degrees clockwise, etc.)
We're in the last day and a half of our Kickstarter with just about $700 to go!
This project will augment our line of ENnie Nominated* System Neutral RPG card decks with three new decks:
Another Creature Deck (54 cards, one card per creature) focusing on more Dragons, Outsiders & Undead with system neutral ecology information on each; great for knowledge checks, showing the players the creature and planning adventures.
Another Deck of Adventures (54 mini adventure outlines & a map, each on a trading card) Each card has an adventure outline on one side and the primary map for the adventure on the other side. Each adventure has either a science fantasy or swords & sorcery theme, but they are easy to convert to regular fantasy.
An NPC Portraits Deck of 54 fantasy characters where each card has a portrait on one side and the back has minimal system neutral style stats, personality and background for the character.
In the past we did 5 Creature Decks (each deck focused on a couple of different creature types) and 2 Encounter Decks (the new Deck of Adventures is a similar concept). For this Kickstarter you can pledge for up to 10 card decks. The 3 new decks, the 5 previous Creature Decks, and the 2 prior Encounter Decks. (More details on the prior decks are given below.) Just pledge for the total number of decks you want. We'll get the list of specific decks you want during the Kickstarter survey.
In this project, you'll get both a PDF of any card deck you choose as well as a link to get the deck printed at cost through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. (The exact printing cost varies by the number of cards, but expect to pay about $4.50 for printing a deck.) DriveThruRPG/RPGNow also has a shipping fee (currently $3.99) for first class US mail. Or at the $15 level, you'll get the PDF and one deck shipped to you (Add $10 for each extra deck you'd like.)
The PDF allows you to use the cards when playing on-line. You can share the images, make tokens, etc. for personal use.
This project will augment our line of ENnie Nominated* System Neutral RPG card decks with three new decks:
Another Creature Deck (54 cards, one card per creature) focusing on more Dragons, Outsiders & Undead with system neutral ecology information on each; great for knowledge checks, showing the players the creature and planning adventures.
Another Deck of Adventures (54 mini adventure outlines & a map, each on a trading card) Each card has an adventure outline on one side and the primary map for the adventure on the other side. Each adventure has either a science fantasy or swords & sorcery theme, but they are easy to convert to regular fantasy.
An NPC Portraits Deck of 54 fantasy characters where each card has a portrait on one side and the back has minimal system neutral style stats, personality and background for the character.
In the past we did 5 Creature Decks (each deck focused on a couple of different creature types) and 2 Encounter Decks (the new Deck of Adventures is a similar concept). For this Kickstarter you can pledge for up to 10 card decks. The 3 new decks, the 5 previous Creature Decks, and the 2 prior Encounter Decks. (More details on the prior decks are given below.) Just pledge for the total number of decks you want. We'll get the list of specific decks you want during the Kickstarter survey.
In this project, you'll get both a PDF of any card deck you choose as well as a link to get the deck printed at cost through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. (The exact printing cost varies by the number of cards, but expect to pay about $4.50 for printing a deck.) DriveThruRPG/RPGNow also has a shipping fee (currently $3.99) for first class US mail.
The PDF allows you to use the cards when playing on-line. You can share the images, make tokens, etc. for personal use.
I've had this idea in my head for a couple of weeks and finally got the chance to write it up. If you're stuck for how to create the shapes of your world, it may help, regardless of which map editor you like to use.
One of our "to-dos" from our DungeonMorphs 2: Cities, Villages & Ruins Kickstarter late last year was to make a PDF of the original DungeonMorph Cards. They are now available through DriveThru/RPGNow.
These original DungeonMorphs had a Font and PDF of battlemats for each design, but there was never a PDF matching the cards.
We're actively working on the other goals for the DungeonMorphs 2 project and remain on track to get the new city, village, and ruins dice and cards and PDF and Font released in May.
Pledging ends tonight (Tuesday) at 11:30pm eastern.
We've hit our goal to do a second set of dice (splitting the city/village set of 5 dice into two separate sets--cities & villages--of 5 dice each)
We're working on a stretch goal to do a Ruins set of 5 more dice if we hit $19,000.
Also, we've just hit other stretch goals that give everyone who backs for 2 or more sets two extra dice of each of the sets you back. So the cost per die has gone down a good bit thanks to backers!
One other note: you can also back for our prior sets (dungeon: "Adventurer" and "Explorer" and cavern: "Spellunker") and get the bonus dice for these as well. Finally, other Inkwell Ideas products (Creature & Encounter Decks, Monster Stand-Ins) can also be added on.
Having trouble linking at the moment... see the links elsewhere in the thread. Thanks!
You can do it either way. Pledge the $20 reward but pledge $80 or just pick the $80 reward. But it is important that you message me through Kickstarter so I can set the revised originals aside to ship them soon after pledging completes.
Need a city/village but don't have one ready? Grab a few of these dice, roll them, line them up and you've got a random city/village! Or do the same with cards. Also includes matching PDF, Font and more! This update includes several of the designs as samples.
You can also pick up the revised (same dungeon/cavern layouts, but prettier) original dungeon/cavern DungeonMorph Dice through the Kickstarter. Just pledge for them as another dice set(s). We'll send these to US backers 2 weeks after the Kickstarter ends. International backers will need to double the shipping premium to get this second shipment. (Sorry.)
The revised versions of the DungeonMorph Dice look amazing! (Dungeon Geomorphs on dice. Each dungeon desing edge has two corridors that can be used to connect to another mini-geomorph. Roll a dungeon by grabbing a few of these 1" dice, rolling them, and pushing them together and linign them up.) The stonework pattern is pretty and the dice have *far* fewer issues.
Get these now and the others later… you don’t have to wait for the other sets to come in! Use the code “OffsetShipping” on the final page of the order process to subtract out the $6 US shipping cost. (International orders will still pay some shipping, but it will be $6 less.)
We’ll include the pictured tray while supplies last.
I have a question, are the 3.75, pretty much stats copy-pasted from the bestiary/NPC codex? Because I'd really love that.
Thanks for your interest!
Yep, they are pretty much the Pathfinder stats from the bestiaries. In some cases we had to abbreviate, but with rare exception we fit all the stats and special ability descriptions as well as feats, skills and languages.
The stats on the back of each creature feature the familiar Pathfinder format. A few things were moved a bit so a line wasn’t used for just one word, but all the information you need to run an encounter for almost every creature is included: AC, initiative, Ability Scores, hit points, attack types, feats, special abilities, and special ability descriptions. It was very difficult to condense the information for some creatures!
Three reasons why these are useful:
Grab just the creatures you need for a session instead of thumbing back and forth through the book.
It is different art than what the players may have already seen. Cover the bottom of the card with your finger and they won’t have as much out-of-game knowledge.
Thanks for the feedback so far, and keep it coming. I'll look at the adept and druid again. But I also wanted to clarify that I'm also looking to make sure my numbers are correct. (except skills which I haven't touched yet.)
Something like this?
http://www.inkwellideas.com/roleplaying_tools/random_village/
Art is creative commons and from here if you just want to use that directly:
http://clipart.nicubunu.ro/?gallery=rpg_map
This is my first time leveling up monsters, so I'd love to get second opinions. I chose to make a goblin and kobold into 3rd level sorcerers. I felt that was best to make them shaman-types, but if you've got a better suggestion (using only the core rulebook, please let me know.) Maybe druid would be my second choice, moreso for the kobold. (I like the goblin having access to fire.)
I basically looked at the leveling rules in the bestiary appendix. Which gives you some stat adjustment rules (I didn't use all of them) and then you just level the creatures up (BAB, saves, pick spells, powers, etc) and set the CR. I gave them each high Cha (using both +4s for the same ability because it was so low.) Alternately, maybe I could have noted that for casting they use a different ability. Or as mentioned in the first paragraph make them a different spellcaster that doesn't use Cha for spells. I also didn't mess with skills yet.
GOBLIN SHAMAN 3:
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60'; Perc -1
DEFENSE
AC 13, touch 13, flat-ft 11 (+2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 14 (3d6+3)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +2
Resist fire 10
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +2 (1d3)
Range sling +4 (1d3)
Spells Known: CL3; 1st(5) burning hands (bloodline), sleep,
mage armor, magic missile; 0(at will) dancing lights, detect
magic, flare, ray of frost, prestidigitation;
STATISTICS
Str 11 Dex 15 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 9 Cha 14
Base Attk +2 CMB +1 CMD 13
Feats: Eschew materials, Improved Initiative
Skills: Ride +10, Stealth +10, Swim +4 Langs: Goblin
Spec Quals: elemental (fire) bloodline
SPECIAL ABILIITIES
Elemental Ray (Sp): 5/day. Can unleash an elemental ray as
a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a
ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1d6+1 points of fire
damage.
Alter Energy (Ex): Can change the type of energy of spells
that deal energy damage to fire. This also changes the
spell's type to match the type of your bloodline.
NOTES
Goblin sorcerer 3, elemental (fire) bloodline
KOBOLD SHAMAN 3:
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60'; Perc +4
DEFENSE
AC 15, touch 12, flat-ft 14 (+1 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 10 (3d6)
Fort +2, Ref +1, Will -1
Resist acid 5 Weakness light sensitivity
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +2 (1d6-1) or 2 claws +2 (1d3-1)
Range sling +4 (1d3)
Spells Known: 1st(5) burning hands, hypnotism, mage
armor (bloodline), magic missile; 0(at will) acid orb, dancing
lights, detect magic, flare, prestidigitation;
STATISTICS
Str 9 Dex 13 Con 10 Int 12 Wis 9 Cha 16
Base Attk +2 CMB +0 CMD 11
Feats: Eschew Materials, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills: Craft (trapmaking) +6, Perception +4, Stealth +6
Langs: Common, Draconic
Spec Quals: crafty
SPECIAL ABILIITIES
Crafty (Ex): Craft (trapmaking) and Stealth are always class
skills for a kobold.
Claws (Su): Can grow natural weapon claws as a free
action. Allows two claw attacks as a full attack action using
full base attack bonus. Each of these attacks deals 1d3-1
points of damage.
NOTES
Kobold sorcerer 3, draconic (black) bloodline.
Less than a day to go! (Ends Sat, Feb 2 at 11:30pm US eastern time)
Project Link: http://kck.st/11Bv0Hh This art (by Eric Quigley) is a free letter-size print for anyone backing for 5+ physical card decks. (Great for a binder cover.)
We've also added 2 Monster Coloring Book PDFs using the line art from the project, just because it was a fun idea. Free to backers who pick up 7+ physical decks or $3 each added to any other pledge.
Plus, we’ll create all the cards with system neutral info (like an ecology or knowledge check information).
And there will be a version of each card with blank backs.
(Samples for most of the above are linked from the Kickstarter page.)
Each of those systems will have 5 different decks of 54 cards each (plus a cover card and license card). Each deck is focused on a couple of different creature types:
If you pledge for all 5 creature decks, we’ll include a full page print of several of the monsters together. It is perfect for the pocket in a binder front cover.
In addition to the creature cards, the Kickstarter also offers cards that make random encounters more interesting. Each card of the two 54 card decks has an encounter outline on one side and a map and other information on the other side. Draw a card for an outline and another card for a map and another for a twist and so on.
The cards are $15 for the first deck and $12 for each extra. However, if you get 7 or more decks you can get them for $11 each with the “Any 7 Decks” reward. If you want 8 or 9 decks (see below for more decks to add) just add $11 each.
Other rewards:
The card decks are available as PDFs if you prefer. (You automatically get the PDF for any physical deck you pick.)
There is a PDF of 350+ creatures as print-them-yourself paper minis.
You can also pick the DungeonMorph Cards as one of your physical card decks. They are 90 2.5″x2.5″ cards with connectable dungeon designs on each. The card back is a mirror of the front.
You can also pick our Monster Stand-Ins pre-printed cards as one of your physical card decks. They are 100 4″x3″ cards with between one and nine monsters on each (depending on the creature’s size.) It comes with a pack of 16 plastic stands.
Finally, most of the art is available as stock art for other publishers. Check the project page for details.
I had a Kickstarter with Stock Art rewards about 2 months ago which you may have seen. It failed to fund, primarily I think due to low demand for the product related to it.
I took a hard look at it and decided to do a different product that also needs significant monster art.
The plan is to do 70+ new monsters as stock art. Earlier this year we did 150 monster images (about 100 different monsters, some were variants). This Kickstarter will generally not have variants of any particular creature. It will also be better in three other ways:
1. Each color monster image will have a black & white line art version.
2. Backgrounds are also an option for each piece.
3. We plan to get feedback from backers on each artist's initial sketches and hopefully also on their works in progress.
You can get the line art and color versions plus the backgrounds for all 70+ monsters (and more if we do more creatures as stretch goals) for $180.
Or if you want to be more selective (pick only certain creatures or only certain artists or only the line art) you can get 100pts of art for just $40. (The full-size (at least 1/4 page @300dpi) line art for a creature is 2pts. A full size color creature is 5pts. 6 pts gets the color creature and either the background or the line art version while 7pts gets you the line art, color and background of a given creature.
A sample creature from each artist, a list of creatures planned, more on the points and the license terms are on the Kickstarter's project page.
We're also doing a PDF of minis and creature trading cards (great art on the front, game stats on the backs) as well as encounter building cards. More details on the linked page.
Ends Monday evening! We are only about half way, but hopefully we can get there especially if we make an addition...
I've added some rewards for more art:
Some folks have asked for line art versions of the prior Kickstarter's creatures. So we're going to do some! If you were part of the prior Kickstarter or bought the color versions since then, you'll get the matching line art version. We won't be doing all the creatures, but hopefully this will be a nice bonus.
Of course, we're hoping this increases pledges: if you missed the prior Kickstarter you can pledge for all the prior Kickstarter's stock art and get these new line art versions. Or you can pledge at a higher level for extra points to pick some of the prior color creature art and/or the new line art for specific creatures.
One of my backers suggested I post here. I actually didn't realize how active this sub-forum is!
I've got a Kickstarter that I genuinely hope will help other 3rd party publishers (or any publishers for that matter, as well as myself!)
The plan is to do 100 new monsters as stock art. Earlier this year we did 150 monster images (about 100 different monsters, some were variants). This Kickstarter will generally not have variants of any particular creature. It will also be better in three other ways:
1. Each color monster image will have a black & white line art version.
2. Backgrounds are also an option for each piece.
3. We plan to get feedback from backers on each artist's initial sketches and hopefully also on their works in progress.
You can get the line art and color versions plus the backgrounds for all 100 monsters (and more if we do more creatures as stretch goals) for $200. Or if you want to be more selective (pick only certain creatures or only certain artists or only the line art) you can get 100pts of art for just $40. (The full-size (at least 1/4 page @300dpi) line art for a creature is 2pts. A full size color creature is 5pts. 6 pts gets the color creature and either the background or the line art version while 7pts gets you the line art, color and background of a given creature.
A sample creature from each artist, a list of creatures planned, more on the points and the license terms are on the Kickstarter's project page.
We're also doing a PDF of minis and a laminated cardstock minis of the creatures, but I'm not sure how well that will do here due to the Bestiary Box.
I had been tinkering with something like this a while back. In short, it was an effort to break out the abilities and other factors (BAB, Saves, HD, etc) of the classes and assign a point value to each. Then let someone use those point values as guidelines to build a class. I'd love to get back to it, but just got more into other projects.
I agree it could be abused, but as a tool to start a conversation in cooperation with a GM I think it has a role.
I'd appreciate the feedback, thanks for your hard work! (My guess/worry is it was SIAC, but I was hoping I was applying it in an unusual/novel way, and didn't want to overload it.)
Summoner's Spice Aura Moderate Transmutation; CL 7th
Slot --; Price 4,000 gp; Weight --
Description
This multicolored, coarse powder is usually found in a small pouch inscribed with several runes which denote command words. A full pouch will contain 20 pinches of spice.
A caster may add a pinch or more of this magical powder to the spell components of any Summon Monster or Summon Nature's Ally spell while casting the spell. The creatures summoned will gain the caster's choice(s) of the following monster abilities: Climb 60 feet, fly 60 feet (good maneuverability), swim 60 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, scent, grab, pounce, and trip.
Each ability causes a change to the summoned creature's form. Climb causes the creature's fingers and toes to become tacky. Large, eagle-like wings are fused to the back of a creature granted the fly ability. Swim "webs" a creature's fingers and toes. The other abilities cause more subtle changes. The caster must designate which one of the creature's attacks activates the grab or trip abilities if either is chosen.
One pinch will add one ability to every creature summoned by one summoning spell, but one pinch is required per ability added. Adding Summoner's Spice to a spell does not affect casting time. Using the proper command words the caster is able to specify the abilities the summoned creatures gain. The creatures keep the extra abilities until the spell that summoned them expires.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, beast shape II; Cost 2,000 gp
Never too early, but... you don't have to wait until next year!
There are many things you can be doing now to practice.
Offer to review an upcoming product. (Or just review one that's published. One caveat: I'd make any criticism constructive. Not that you can't include criticism, but if you've got nothing but negatives to say or you can't make your feedback constructive your time is better spent on a another product.)
Offer to edit an upcoming product.
Offer to playtest.
Send a proposal for an adventure, mini-sourcebook, etc.
Do 10-20 related magid items and put them out as a free pdf. (Maybe go through DriveThru for experience in the process, exposure, and
Do 4-5 mini encounter areas as a free/cheap pdf.
Most of those focus on the idea of working with new/small publishers who are often very receptive to someone offering to help.
Sorry that this feels like a beginner question, but its not clear to me. For spells like Mass Cat's Grace, Mass Invisibility, etc. does the caster get to pick specific targets in the range/area of the spell (to avoid giving a benefit to foes), or are all affected? If the spell has a limited number of targets and the caster doesn't get to choose, does the caster pick a spot and then the closest creatures are affected (as the sleep spell does)? And does this vary by spell? (If so a couple of examples would help.)
I just bought the full version of Hexographer after toying around with it a bit - this thing is pure gold!
It brings back the feeling of the old days when I had coded a color sprite generator for the C64 in order to program my own fantasy adventure - and then I say Ultima II and played and played and played...
Anyways, this is a nice piece of work and worth every cent, imho and will help immensely with my Kingmaker campaign that starts in a few weeks.
The ability to hide/unhide a specific hex with the click of a mouse button is what made me switch to it for live mapping - plus it gives the player who is manually writing out the map a quick visual reference.
Thanks for the mention!
In case anyone doesn't know, that's a new feature added just a few weeks ago. Any hex (the terrain and features--such as a city, ruins, castle, etc) can be toggled to "GM-Only" by just right clicking the hex and selecting the option in the pop-up menu. You can also designate a hex as GM-only or not as you're placing it using the checkbox on the bottom of the terrain toolbox/tab.
Everything (lines, text, individual features, etc.) can be set as GM-only or not. Then you can toggle the GM-only things all on (viewable) or off using a single checkbox in the left sidebar. So you can make your map, turn off the gm only things, save it as a PNG image for your players, then turn them back on for your own use.
All of this is doable from the free version (which is truly usable by me 3-year-old--she loves to "make a map"), so unless you don't want to boot up your computer or you like a different style (which is fine, different tastes and all that) you definitely should try it.
--Joe (Hexographer creator in case it's not obvious.) :)
Thanks for giving Hexographer a whirl. If you all have some specific suggestions to improve the text usability, I'm happy to hear them.
Also, if you (Jeff) created the text using the "styled text" feature (minor political, minor geographical, continent, etc.) , you can change the font, size, color, etc. of all the text of that style by going to the "Customize lines/text" tab, scrolling to the right if needed, and finding the style and changing the font. Then all the text on your map in that style will change as soon as you hit apply on the bottom of that tab.
You may have to reposition the text on the map as a result though. Just hit the select text button on one of the text tabs and drag the little yellow handles of the text items on the map as needed. (I don't think you will actually have to select it to move it, off the top of my head.)
--Joe (Hexographer creator, in case that's not obvious.)
*...Not thrilled with the presentation values here.
If/when you can, I'm not clear on what "presentation values" means. Sentence structure? Vocabulary? More fluff? As well as any other detailed advice.
In any case, I've got a "thank you" gift for you (a free license to some gaming software I make) for spending so much time giving us all advice. But I need to email it to you and I can't find an email address for you and it seems this message board doesn't have PMs.
Description
When a spellcaster draws a rune with Chalk of Augmented Summoning before or while casting a summoning spell, the monster template matching the rune is applied to all creatures summoned by the spell.
The rune must be drawn where the creature(s) will appear. It must be drawn on a level surface, typically a floor. Drawing a rune changes the spellcasting time to at least a full round action. If the spell is already a full round action or longer, the duration is not changed.
The spellcaster may also draw the rune at any time before casting the spell. In this case, drawing the rune is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Only the spellcaster who draws the rune may take advantage of the rune's magic.
The spellcaster must use one stick of chalk per challenge rating adjustment of the monster template. (Minimum 1 stick.) The magical energy of each stick of chalk is fully consumed when drawn. Each rune drawn can only augment a summoning spell once. A rune can not be damaged or disfigured unless dispelled.
Chalk of Augmented Summoning is created in sets of 16 sticks.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Polymorph; Cost 3,000 gp
Spoiler:
In hindsight I think it fell victim at least partially to the "makes GMing harder" guideline in that you have to apply a monster template to the monster on the fly. That and there aren't too many monster templates yet unless you're adding extra sources.
Will you/judges engage in (sober) discussion about the items in question?
I suspect my participation is going to be limited to forwarding my original comments on the item; my responsibilities at work and for the rest of the contest won't leave me a lot of time to do any back-and-forth discussion about hundreds of items, especially as they'll all be nested in one thread....
This is probably too late for this year, but maybe next year the judges can surround the portions of comments that are ok to pass on to the participants with a special message board tag. Or even just a bold tag if that is good enough and avoids the programming time. So you can do that as you're judging to avoid the extra effort late. You could even make it the responsibility of the last judge to comment on the item to sanity check the comments designated for the submitter...
Then someone with more time than a judge can copy and paste as necessary... or do a query to automate it. Perhaps even add a "I want to see the judge's comments" checkbox when submitting that will automatically email the comments within the tag on the day after the winners are released.
I believe that Kirth (posted above), has been working on a more modular, classless system, that may help you. Maybe he'll share it, if you ask nicely.
That's sort of where I'm going (or have gone). In my case it is more like the 2nd edition DMG class-building rules if you remember that. The idea is to break down each core class into groups of abilities, give each group a weight and give the player points to spend. But you can't buy things a la cart because I feel there could be too much min/maxing. (However, some ability "groups" are just one ability because the ability is important enough or nothing else in the class went with it.)
Here's some more notes on it, although all the numbers have been revised since: http://inkwellideas.com/?p=1025
If Kirth or anyone has done something similar, please post. I'd love to have second and third opinions on things.
A hybrid class should not be as good as it's parent classes at their class abilities.
Again, I'm zeroing in here because this comment directly addresses where I'm going.
I'm *trying* to create/allow hybrids that are as good as the parent classes at the abilities the hybrid retains. So is there something wrong with that? I'm hoping not and here's why...
The reason for that is many people who multiclass spellcasters in particular lament that their spellcasting becomes near worthless when it is a Sorcerer5/Something 5 vs. a Sorcerer 10. (Even though they get all those other abilities from the other class, something breaks down mathematically that a 1/2 this and 1/2 that doesn't equal a whole this or that.)
So my idea is to let the player pick sets of class abilities (unchanged) from two or more classes in order to multiclass. The example above is the result of what I'm testing.
As another less detailed example of the spellcasting issue (which I bet you're familiar with) take a sorcerer/monk. The idea is if I keep the sorcerer's spells and drop all the bloodline stuff, what could I take from the monk that will balance the class and come close to matching a player's character concept. The idea is to keep the resulting new class roughly balanced compared to the sorcerer and monk and any other base class. Alternately, maybe I want a monk with bloodline stuff from the sorcerer. What do I drop from a monk to get bloodline powers and feats. (Maybe not the bloodline spells because this class isn't a spellcaster.) Those are just example/rhetorical questions to give you an idea of where I'm going and why.
But thanks again for the opinions, this is all very helpful. Please do comment further as you see fit.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I did want to follow up on this one point as it most directly critiques where I'm trying to go with this...
Kryzbyn wrote:
Keeping all druid abilities, plus all barb abilities...this guy will be nigh unstoppable. Give him a druids animal companion on top of that...damn. Raging while wild shaped...<shiver>
So would you (or anyone else) see an issue with rage and wild shape together, even if all other from the two classes are dropped (barbarian's maneuverability feats, trap sense, damage reduction; druid's spells/orisons, nature bond, nature feats)?
In the example above I'm already dropping trap sense and damage reduction from the barbarian; and spells/orisons from the druid. I'm also lowering the hit die to d10 and limiting the armor to a druid's and sort of splitting the difference with the weapons.
For simplicity I'm really trying to just fit things together as-is, without changing ability sets around such as making wild shape increase every 5 levels instead of every 2; etc.
Would you allow the class described below in your campaign? If not, what would you take away? (Or if it is underpowered, what would you add back?)
This is sort of a druid/barbarian. I envision it as an native american indian warrior class that is part of a tribe that is close to animals.
From the druid they get:
*Nature bond
*Several Nature Feats (Nature Sense @1; Wild Empathy @1; Woodland Stride @2; Trackless Step @3; Resist Nature’s Lure @4; Venom Immunity @9; A Thousand Faces @13; Timeless body @15)
*Wild Shape (1/day @4; 2/day @6; 3/day @8; 4/day @10; 5/day@12; 6/day @14; 7/day @16; 8/day @18; At Will @20)
From the barbarian they get:
*Rage (Rage @1; Rage Power @2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20; Greater Rage @11; Indomitable Will @14; Tireless Rage @17; Mighty Rage @20)
*A Few Maneuverability Feats (Fast Movement @1; Uncanny dodge @2; Improved uncanny dodge @5)
The hit die splits the difference of the two classes: d10.
They get the Barbarian's base attack bonus progression.
They get 4 skill points/level (as do both barbarians and druids).
They get the druid's armor options (Light, Medium non-metal armor and non-tower shields).
Finally they get to use all simple weapons plus one "favored" weapon of their tribe. (More like a cleric.)
Does that seem particularly unbalanced compared to other base classes?
I'm looking for help in finding how/where this breaks and I think the best way to do that is to get more eyes on it.
The purpose of this is to give a different way to multi-class which overcomes the issue of multiclassed characters not being as strong (depthwise) as single class characters. For example a Monk 5/ Wizard 5 can only cast 3rd level spells, but a Wizard 10 can cast 5th level spells and get more dice of damage, higher DCs, etc. Even for non-spellcasters this is a problem (although not as much.)
So my idea was to let players create new classes (even if they already have several levels of one class) by dropping a *set* of related class abilities and adding a different set from another class. The trick is balancing what gets dropped with what gets added. So you may be a druid that wants to have bloodline powers and feats from sorcerer. Well, to do so you need to drop some thing(s). You may need to tweak hit dice, skill points, armor allowed to get things to balance up because you need a few more points or you have some left over.
I know that dropping some abilities and adding others to an existing level 2+ character may seem strange, but that isn't much different than what happens with the default multiclassing. Maybe force a story reason or require the character to go through some weeks/months of training.
So back to the system, there are Class Creation Points (CCP) for lack of a better term. Each class is balanced to have/use 1000 points.
The easiest way to multiclass/class blend is to look at the ability set(s) you want from the class that is less similar to your overall concept and note the points needed to get those ability sets(s). Then look at the class that is more similar to your overall concept and see what you can drop that doesn't fit your concept. If you can drop enough points right off the bat, great. If not, then you'll have to pick some things that you hoped to keep but hopefully aren't too critical to your concept. (You or at least the GM doesn't want to overpower the class.)
You could also combine three or more classes in a similar way or build the class from scratch.
Also note that you can get or spend some points by changing the BAB progression the class uses, number of skill points per level, armor allowed, weapons allowed, and Hit Dice. (Swapping saving throw charts doesn't change the point values nor does switching which skills are class skills.
So with that out of the way, here are the CCP values for those common class attributes (hit die, BAB progression chart, etc.) and the point values for the ability sets of a few classes:
Basics
Hit Die: d6: 0CCP; d8: 60CCP; d10: 120CCP; d12: 180CCP;
Base Attack Bonus: Low (as Wizard): 0CCP; Medium (as Bard) 60CCP; High (as Fighter) 120CCP;
Armor: None: 0CCP; Light 20CCP; Light&Medium but no metal: 35 CCP; Light and Medium: 40CCP; Light, Medium and Heavy: 65; Add Shields: 15; Add Shields including tower shields: 20;
Weapons: Just a few: 0CCp; Simple: 20CCp; Simple plus a few others: 40CCP; Simple and Martial: 60CCP;
Barbarian Based Class Abilities
250CCP Rage abilities: Rage @1; Rage Power @2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20; Greater Rage @11; Indomitable Will @14; Tireless Rage @17; Mighty Rage @20
50 Maneuverability: Fast Movement @1; Uncanny dodge @2; Improved uncanny dodge @5
50 Trap Sense: Trap Sense +1 @3; Trap Sense +2 @6; Trap Sense +3 @9; Trap Sense +4 @12; Trap Sense +5 @15; Trap Sense +6 @18
135CCP Trapfinding/sense: Trapfinding@1; Trap Sense +1 @3; Trap Sense +2 @6; Trap sense +3 @9; Trap Sense +4 @12; Trap Sense +5 @15; trap sense +6 @18;
So say you have a concept of a Druid that has bloodlines (perhaps celestial, elemental, fey, etc, but the specific bloodline doesn't matter for the example.)
To gain Bloodline Powers, it will cost 150CCP, bloodline feats are 80CCP and bloodline spells are 130CCP for a total of 360CCP. To free up that many CCP, one would have to drop all the Druid's abilities except his core spellcasting. Even if we drop the ability for this new druid to use armor of any kind the new druid would only be able to keep his spells and orisons (or spells and nature bond or spells and the "other nature abilities" set.)
Actually, that might fit one concept of a Druid/Sorcerer, but I'm hoping to retain a bit more of the Druid's abilities. So if we try to use just the bloodline powers and spells from the Sorcerer it will cost 150+130=280CCP. Dropping the armor allowed gives us 50 points back. Dropping the nature bond ability gives another 85 points back and dropping the other nature skills gives another 85 points, for a total of 220. To get the other 60, I'd drop this new Bloodline Druid's skill points to 2/level instead of the Druid's 4/level. But one could also drop the BAB from medium to low to get the other 60 points.
Other Notes
Things don't have to come out perfectly. If you are 5 or 10 CCP over or under the class is likely still balanced. If you and/or your GM wish, you can alter the levels that some of the abilities are gained by the character of the class. Lower the levels if you have some leftover CCP or raise them if your new class is a few CCP short.
I am tinkering with allowing classes to pick up more limited spellcasting. This could take the form of 75CCP + 60CCP/school in the case of the sorcerer's spellcasting, for example. But with the many new classes (oracle, inquisitor, etc.) there will be even more options.
So as alluded to in the title, can you develop a class using this system that is broken? How would you fix it?
Paladin's Divine set: Detect Evil @1; Divine Grace @2; Divine Health @3; Channel Positive Energy @4; Divine Bond @5; Holy Champion @20
Um, just a thought here, but doesn't Detect Evil go in the Paladin's Smite Set, rather than Divine? After all, the Detect Evil is there for the purpose of determing if a target is a viable target of a Smite, so it's kind of necessary for that set.
I realize that you don't list a smite set here, but I assume you eventually intend to have one. And a Fighter Armor Set, a Witch Hex set, and so forth.
Good points. Yes there is a Smite set. I'd love to get feedback on my final list once I'm ready, but right now I'm just trying to make sure my first stab isn't way off base.
So for a project of mine I've broken down each classes abilities into groups. For example, the Barbarain has Rage, Maneuverability, Trap Sense and Damage Reduction ability sets
So I'm looking for a few more set of eyes to tell me what you think are the relative values of several sets of abilities.
Ideally, if you could say I'd make x 5 points and y 7 point ans set z 4 points, that would be wonderful. The scale you use doesn't matter, I can adjust for it. Even just saying x is much less worthwhile than y but x is a little better than z would help.
And if you've seen something like this before, please let me know about it. However, I have already seen a couple of 3.5 product that attempt to assign values to each classes individual abilities and that's not quite what I'm looking for.
Bard's Knowledge set: Bardic Knowledge @1; Lore Master @5; Jack of All Trades @10; Lore Master 2/day @11; Lore Master 3/day @17
Barbarian Rage set: Rage @1; Rage Power @2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20; Greater Rage @11; Indomitable Will @14; Tireless Rage @17; Mighty Rage @20
Monk's Metaphysical set: Still Mind @3; Purity of Body @5; Wholeness of Body @7; Diamond Body @11; Diamond Soul @13; Timeless Body @17; Tongue of the Sun and the Moon @17; Empty body @19; Perfect Self @20
Paladin's Divine set: Detect Evil @1; Divine Grace @2; Divine Health @3; Channel Positive Energy @4; Divine Bond @5; Holy Champion @20
The problem is the Magus. Is you need Str Dex Con as well as Int.
With the Wizard all you need. Is Int and Con.
You don't need as much Int as the Wizard does which can help the ability budget. The Magus is a hybrid character type he's going to have to spread himself out.
That is the point. You have to spread you self out. That is why you have low spell DC's. There is not realy a good way to make a hybrid character. If you mixing abilitys that blend well to gether you can make the character work. If you are mixing abilitys that don't blend well. It dose not mater how powerfull the class looks on paper. They will be under powered.
I had a big long post written but it got eaten by the server and going "back" didn't let me retrieve it. So I think here were the highlights:
-You shouldn't be much above average at anything if you try to have many varying abilities. See the old bard core class.
-So this idea is to let you dump a couple of related sets of abilities for a couple of others from another class.
-Doing so allows you to not be spread too thin, but still have the aspects of two or more classes that you want most.
-In this system, a multiclass (maybe I should say blended class) spellcaster will usually be comparable to any other spellcaster because his spell abilities won't be any different if you want to keep them in the blended class. If you want to make a cleric/wizard blend you may have to limit one or the other (probably to a few schools/domains) because there is no way to strip away enough from a wizard to give full cleric spells and vice versa. But if you have two high ability scores you can put one in Int and one in Wis. If you only have one high score, you have to decide what you want to be better at. But that problem exists already when multiclassing and even when single-classed (does your fighter want to be best at melee/damage (Str) ranged/AC (Dex) or hp (Con)?)
-However, the problem this solves when compared to normal multiclassing is that one may create a blended class that matches a player/GM's concept (say a Druid/Ranger) that can still cast spells just as well as a regular Druid (because you can choose to drop things other than the Druid's core spellcasting in favor of a set or two of related abilities from the ranger.) But in normal multiclassing a Ranger5/Druid5 would only be casting 3rd level spells while a full 10th level Druid would be casting 5th level spells. Even if you uncap the damage limits and base caster level on overall level, you don't have the variety of spells and you still lose some power. Further, you may have just made it more powerful overall than non-multiclassed characters.
No, no that does seem pretty broken... but at the same time it seems like more of a balancing issue.
The way I envision a point-buy system is that everyone starts as a commoner (because everyone starts as a commoner IRL right?) and you have poor BAB, poor saves, d6, no magic, etc. Then you buy what you want--you don't "give" anything up, you literally start with nothing.
I agree that the system would be crazy hard to balance, but I think once it WAS balanced then it would be an easy thing to maintain (add new powers, options, features, etc).
I can dream, can't I?
I think the example cited is greatly exaggerated to make a point... that if you have unbalanced rules, poorly chosen costs, and munchkin players the subsystem will have issues. And I admit that even if you have any one of those you'll have issues, although usually not as extreme.
Anyway, someone elsewhere did point me to two d20/3.5 point buy system books: Complete Control and Buy the Numbers.
But as mentioned above, these things could be abused. And they might not be balanced from the get-go. But I'm going to look at them and press forward with my idea. My blog post up above has been updated with a few more core classes' class ability groups broken up and given initial, stab-in-the-dark costs.
I think any GM using anything like this would have to reserve the right to sanity check it for abuse. For example, one shouldn't be able to pick a number of abilities that all kick in at first level. My idea of peeling out a set of related abilities will hopefully minimize the ability to min/max while still allowing a a character to be a good blend of two classes.
You really should check out the APG. A lot of the new class archetypes are similar to what you're talking about. That is, a rogue gives up trap based abilities and gets X, or a paladin gives up spellcasting and gains Y.
Thanks... I've got it on order now, although I skimmed a friend's copy.
Yeah, that does get really close to what I'm describing although many archetypes don't exist. For example the Fighter has an archer type, crossbowman, weapon master, etc., but I didn't see something that is a Fighter/Rogue blend. And the Cleric section (unless I missed a page) was all about subdomains, so there were not Cleric/other class blends. So building new archetypes is one options. I saw a site that has consolidated some fan-made versions. Or my idea of peeling away a set of related class abilities from a class and switching them for a set of related abilities from another class (and maybe changing HD, skill points, etc to match the concept and for balance) is another idea.
I still like my idea, but I can see how archetypes are useful and close to it.
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