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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!

If you’ve been on the fence about supporting the Worldographer/Hexographer 2 Kickstarter, now is a great time to get in because you’ll be able to vote on our upcoming stretch goals!

What is it?

• 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.

Now we’ve added Infinite Menus!

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
  

And for a modular inn/tavern battlemat, check out our Modular Battlemats: Inn!

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.

Inkwell Ideas has recently released DungeonMorphs: Cities, Ruins, & Villages after a successful Kickstarter! These cards or PDF bring the same “connect mini-maps together” concept of our original dungeon & cavern DungeonMorphs to various settlement types! A preview is also available at the link.

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.)

More details & make a pledge here!

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.

More details & make a pledge here!

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.

We've also posted an update with new NPC card samples.

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.

Link to article/tutorial.

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.

We've recently launched the second generation of DungeonMorphs: RPG Geomorph maps on dice and cards!

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.

Currently we have the Explorer set available for sale on our website. Here is the direct link to that part of the online store. We’re working with the manufacturer to re-make the other two sets (& something new…)

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.

See a large picture by clicking this.

Inkwell Ideas' 5 decks of Creatures for the Pathfinder RPG are now available. Each deck has 54 creatures, one to a card, plus a checklist and a couple of license cards. Each creature card features wonderful art on one side and the Pathfinder RPG stats for the creature on the back. Check out the sample! (Note: page two of the sample is aligned to print on the back of page one.)

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.
  
• People love collecting trading cards.
  

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.

Thanks in advance!

We’ve finalized the game systems we’ll use for the creature cards in our Creature and Encounter Cards Kickstarter. The game systems will be:

• Pathfinder
  
• Labyrinth Lord (1E Fantasy)
  
• FATE (sample coming soon)
  
• Dungeon World
  
• 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.
  

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:

• Aberrations, Dragons, & Magical Beasts
  
• Undead & Constructs & Outsiders
  
• Humanoids & Fey
  
• Monstrous Humanoids, Lycanthropes, Oozes, Plants, Dire/Were Animals & Vermin
  
• Animals
  

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.
  

Hi All,

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 new project is here: http://kck.st/11Bv0Hh

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.

Hi All,

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.

On Kickstarter

For the tabletop RPG map, pick a genre on the edge of the map and then answer questions to find a game that may interest you, just for fun.

Add monster stickers to the rooms of games you've played.

There's also a computer RPG timeline as well.

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.)

Thanks a bunch. I'm sure I'm missing something.

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;

Skill Points/Level: 2: 0CCP; 4: 60CCP; 6: 120CCP; 8: 180CCP;

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

175 Damage Reduction: Damage reduction 1/- @7; Damage reduction 2/- @10; Damage reduction 3/- @13; Damage reduction 4/- @16; Damage reduction 5/- @19

Druid Based Class Abilities

390CCP Spells as Druid

90CCP Orisons

85CCP Nature Bond

85CCP Other Nature Abilities: 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

120CCP Wild Shape

Rogue Based Class Abilities

160CCP Sneak Attack: 1d6 @1; 2d6 @3; 3d6 @5; 4d6 @7; 5d6 @9; 6d6 @11; 7d6 @13; 8d6 @15; 9d6 @17; 10d6 @19; Master strike @20

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;

75CCP Maneuverability: Evasion @2; Uncanny Dodge; Improved Uncanny Dodge @8

270CCP Rogue Talents: Rogue Talents @2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20; Advanced Talents @10

Sorcerer Based Class Abilities

510CCP Spells as a Sorcerer

100CCP Cantrips

10CCP Eschew Materials

150CCP Bloodline Powers: @1, 3, 9, 15, 20

80CCP Bloodline Feats: @7, 13, 19

130CCP Bloodline Spells: @ 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19

Example: Druid with Bloodlines

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?

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

Cleric's Channel Energy set: 1d6 @1; 2d6 @3; 3d6 @5; 4d6 @7; 5d6 @9; 6d6 @11; 7d6 @13; 8d6 @15; 9d6 @17;10d6 @19

Druid's 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

Fighter's Weapon Training: @5; 9; 13; 17; 20 (Mastery)

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

Ranger's Tracking/Hunting set: Track @1; Wild Empathy @1; Hunter’s Bond@4;  Swift Tracker @8;  Quarry@11; Camouflage @12; Hide in Plain Sight @17; Improved Quarry @19; Master Hunter @20

Rogue's Trapfinding set: 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;

Sorcerer's Bloodline Powers set: @1, 3, 9, 15, 20

Wizard's Arcane Bond

Thanks to anyone who weighs in!

I put this up on another forum, but I'm looking for a variety of opinions (and hopefully specific suggestions) and of course a lot of experts should be here...

I had an idea for how to do multiclassing differently than I've seen it before. I think it can get over the issue of underpowered multiclass spellcasters, although it is more a matter of a way to balance creating a new class that matches the player's concept than multiclassing. This new class can be from the beginning or I could see ways that a character could evolve and gain new abilities. (For example, a character joins a monastery for a few months and then has some monk abilities but has forgotten something else.)

I’d love to know if people have seen similar concepts before either online or published (I don’t have the Advanced Player’s Guide or Game Mastery books, for example), or if there are major holes in the idea or if people like it, but can suggest a few tweaks. I also remember something like this in the 2nd edition D&D player’s handbook.

The basic idea is to split the classes apart based on groupings of their special abilities, then give each group of abilities a price in “character points” or whatever you want to call it. Also, give point values for having a d6 of hit points vs. d8, etc; as well as a cost to have 4 skill points/level vs. 6 skill points and so on. For spellcasting, spellcasting as a wizard would have one rather large cost. But to allow more limited spellcasting to be added to another class in exchange for a lesser ability, one could use another classes’ spellcasting or perhaps limit the number of schools of magic in the new class.

The magic in the system is getting the point values to make sense so that the relative value of a Barbarian’s “rage” abilities is appropriate compared to the Fighter’s bonus feats and so on. I remember seeing someone did a spreadsheet along these lines for the 3.5 abilities, but individualized for each individual ability. I think that could fall apart for my purposes, but I think keeping most of the abilities grouped together solves most of that.

Using this method, my hope is that one could give a Fighter trap-related abilities (in case the party won’t have a thief or the player has a good concept around that) by dropping his a fighter ability (or combination of abilities, weapon proficiencies, choice of hit die, etc.)

Also note that if I do go forward with this idea, one would have to sanity check the results. For example, if a new class was stacked with many abilities at 1st level, they should be spread out somehow. Or if you wanted a class that had a particular set of abilities but it would cost just a bit too much, then perhaps some individual abilities could be dropped or moved up to a higher level.

You can now take the RPG Blog Readership Survey by following this link: http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=NLJOJ_6cc605e2

The survey is designed to be useful for all blog writers, not just for the blog writers who helped create questions. I'll be posting updates on the results regularly so everyone can benefit (other blog writers as well as others in the RPG industry) at: http://www.inkwellideas.com

Those who take the survey are helping blog writers to understand what is important to blog readers. Hopefully, by taking the survey, you're helping to improve what you'll be reading in the future. Also, I don't think any blog writer isn't also a reader, so blog writers should take the survey as well.

The survey is 25 questions long, but a few of those are text boxes that allow you to specify what "other" means for the previous question. Most of the questions are multiple choice, and in most cases you can check more than one answer.

Because GenCon is next weekend, I plan to run this survey through August 23rd, although that plan could change.

If you have a blog, please post consider a post about the survey. Obviously the more people who take the survey, the better the results.

I wasn't sure if I should post this here or in a more general gaming sub-forum since the hex maps are reminiscent of the maps in 80's/early 90's TSR products. If this is the wrong place, please move it with my apologies.

Here's a sample of a map created with Hexographer: Sample

If you haven't seen the program before, it lets you easily create hex maps. The icons scale nicely; a random terrain generator is included as well as a terrain wizard that lets you just sketch a little bit of terrain on a blank map and it fills in the rest; you can add roads, rivers, coastlines, add text labels; use hex numbers & customize them; customize the hexes; etc.

Several new features and bug fixes have been added to the core Hexographer software:

• The random terrain generator has been significantly reworked so the resulting terrain is less random.
  
• The random terrain generator is explained by clicking "Help" once you've opened the custom random terrain settings screen by clicking the "Custom Terrain" button on the start screen of the applet.
  
• A number of small usability fixes have been made, such as some customization screens getting close, apply, and save buttons.

And the "Pro" version can now be ordered. For just $5 for a 1-year license of $25 for a lifetime license, the pro version allows you to:

• Run off-line: The pro version is downloaded to your computer so you don't need to be connected to the internet.
  
• Customize terrain and feature icons: Use any .png image for the terrain and feature icons. (Go to the map edit window's "Options" menu and choose "Customize Hexes.") Both the pro and non-pro versions allow you to change the background color of each terrain type, the sizes of terrain or feature icons, or whether to display icons or not.
  
• Expand an existing map: Add (or subtract) a number of hex rows or columns above, below, to the right or to the left of an existing map. (Go to the map edit window's "Options" menu and choose "Expand/Shrink Number of Hexes.")
  
• Add detailed notes to a hex: Any hex can now be described in detail with a freeform text field. Adding a note to a hex adds a small rectangular marker to the map. Clicking it will pop open the note for further editing or just to read it. (The note markers can be turned off using the map edit window's "Show/Hide" menu and selecting/deselecting the "Notes on Map" menu item.)

Pro version maps can be read and edited by the free version of Hexographer, but the extra features are not available for further editing. (However, custom icons added using the pro version will be displayed by the free version.)

Learn more and it out here: Hexographer Overview

I'm starting to announce my latest project in a few more places (I had been working with a few people in a few message boards debugging the alpha versions and making feature requests) and since I didn't see a Paizo forum dedicated to pre-3.0 D&D versions, I figured this was the best place to post.

Anyway, if you liked hex maps in the style of the Dragon magazine series "Voyage of the Princess Ark" or other "Known World"/"Mystara" products, I've created a Java program that helps you easily (I hope) create hex maps in the same style.

I think I'm now ready to call this version "Beta."

Here's the link: http://www.inkwellideas.com/?page_id=160

Some key points:
-It starts as an applet in a web page so many people won't have to install anything. (You may need to install/upgrade Java, however.)
-You can start with a map of random terrain or a blank map.
-You set the map's width and height in hexes and the size of the hexes.
-You can customize the random terrain generator to give a different mix of land.
-Then your map opens in a pop-up window.
-There you can select terrain buttons then click on the map to change a hex into that terrain. You can also drag over hexes to change all of those hexes.
-You can select generic line and text buttons to draw lines or add labels and there are also preset line a text buttons that have settings appropriate for coastlines, rivers, roads, country borders, etc.
-You can optionally turn on/off hex borders, hex numbering, terrain icons.
-Hex numbering is very customizable: font name/style/size/color; rows then columns vs. columns then rows; set the separator character; what number to use to start the rows and columns.
-If you add text and lines and note if each is a political feature, natural feature or infrastructure, you can turn each of these on and off as if they are layers. (The preset road/river/boundary line and text buttons are set up for this.)
-You can save it to a native format for later editing and export it as a regular PNG image so it can be edited in an image editor or printed.
-And probably a whole bunch more.

Please let me know what you think, if you encounter any issues, and what you'd like to see added.

I started looking into random dungeon generators... I wanted to see how nice the resulting maps are, how customizable they are, and what else they provided. I wound up writing a review of seven:

Random Dungeon Generators Reviewed

Did I miss any that you would recommend? Is there some other criteria I should add?

Hi All,

Before I go too far and potentially waste a decent amount of time, I thought I would get some feedback/constructive criticism about an idea I have for a magic system.

The system allows a spellcaster to alter the range, duration, area of effect, damage and other factors of base spells. Costs are assigned to these variable factors and they are multiplied with the spell's base cost to determine the spell's point cost. (Unfortunately, the variable factors vary based on each spell because for some spells changing one factor makes a big difference game-balance-wise and for other spells changing the same factor doesn't matter much. However, for easy multiplication they are all whole numbers except for .5 and only .5--it doesn't any other halves.) The point cost is then deducted from the caster's daily allotment of spell points. The new spell system includes changes for each spellcasting class so each class is given a number of spell points per day based on the caster's level and ability modifier.

The spells used are the familiar core spells such as Mage Armor, Sleep, Fireball, Wall of Force, etc. Because many players already know these spells, the system is easier to master yet it gives spellcasters added flexibility. For example, if a player wants to cast Mage Armor but he wants the spell to last an entire day he can just modify the duration of the spell and the spell's cost will be a little more than the basic version.

In the example, Mage Armor that lasts just one hour would cost 8 points. (Spells where the variables closely match first level spells are all around 8 points in the system.) To make it a full day would requires a multiplier of 3, so if no other changes are made the cost would be 24 points. (24 points is the equivalent of a little more than a 3rd level spell in the system.)

Obviously, the system adds some complexity to spellcasting. To add major flexibility to spellcasting and preserve game-balance, some complexity is a side effect. Still, if someone has constructive ideas to minimize the complexity, please post. I do have a couple of ideas in mind. (Have spellcasters predetermine the costs of their favorite spell factors for their most commonly used spells and/or use spell reference cards (which many players do already) so players can easily look up the modifier values.)

I know of a few other very freeform spell systems, but for a variety of reasons I'm not interested in those... I'm trying to make a hybrid that keeps people on the same page of what the core of the spell does by re-using the core of the spells we all know but lets the spellcaster change key aspects of the spell. That said, does anyone know of something like the system I've described? Secondly, does this sound interesting and something you would look at and consider adding to your game? Third, what constructive criticism do you have? Thank you!

http://www.inkwellideas.com/coat_of_arms/?p=14

The Coat of Arms Visual Designer allows you to create a personal coat of arms, recreate an ancestor’s coat of arms, create a crest for a fictitious character such as a character, NPC, or kingdom in a game, create arms for your persona in an organization such as SCA, or create a logo for your organization, company or team.

You can save your design to your computer and even get it printed on shirts, mugs, etc.

I've made a few major recent updates to the Coat of Arms Visual Designer I've been creating, particularly to the user interface. (And I've already got another great upgrade in mind! Hopefully that will be ready next week.)

If you haven't seen it yet, the software allows you to easily and quickly create a coat of arms.

For a game setting, you may want to create a coat of arms for the key nobles in the game or maybe for each government or for other key organizations. Players of knights or other noble characters may want to create that character's arms. Outside of gaming, you may want to create a personal coat of arms as an avatar for the forums or you want to recreate an ancestor's coat of arms.

If you are interested, take a look at the examples to see what's possible, then open the instructions in one tab/window and then open the software designer in another web browser window.

Main Page: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/

Please send me feedback (see the link on the website) or post constructive criticism or positive reviews here. Thanks! I'm planning on adding to it and making improvements every week or so for a while yet. I'll definitely be adding more creatures, symbols, and objects to include in a coat of arms.

Latest changes:

• You can now re-position and re-size the creatures (like Lion Rampant, Dragon Statant, etc.) and symbols (such as many crosses, Cannon Balls, etc.) by dragging them or dragging the corners of the images.
  
• You can also quickly create several copies of a creature or symbol in a chosen pattern. You can tweak the locations of these copies individually, but changes to the colors change the colors of each copy. This makes the software more consistent with the rules of heraldry.
  
• The design graphic updates more quickly and uses less memory.
  
• And a bunch of minor enhancements.
  

[Since I last posted here, there have been a slew of improvements to the software.]

If you've ever wanted to quickly design a coat of arms for your favorite knight or noble character the free Coat of Arms Visual Designer will allow you to create a coat of arms in minutes. You could even create them for all the key nobles, governments or other organizations in your game setting!

The free, web-based Coat of Arms Visual Designer has been updated nearly every week with new features and more options for the past couple of months. Only a few things need to be added to consider it "beta" quality. It now loads 70% faster, allows a user to change the shape of the shield, has over 100 creatures and symbols to choose among, and more!

The software (which runs in your web browser) has many different uses, some for heraldry experts and some for people with a casual interest.

For a game setting, you may want to create a coat of arms for the key nobles in the game or maybe for each government and other key organizations. Players of knights or other noble characters may want to create that character’s arms. Outside of gaming, you may want to create a personal coat of arms as an avatar for message boards or you may want to recreate an ancestor’s coat of arms.

The Coat of Arms Visual Designer is available at http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/ and the website includes a mini-wiki about heraldry.

I hope this is the right place to put this. I truly hope a bunch of y'all find it useful and I'm trying to spread the word.

I've been working up a coat of arms designer that is easy to use and runs on a web page.

For players with a Knight type of character, this tool can be used to create that character's coat of arms. GMs can create coats of arms for NPCs such as other knights, dukes, barons, kings, and even city-states or organizations.

The website also has a bit of a primer on heraldry, including what many of the creatures and symbols usually mean so you can use that as a guide for what to include on a coat of arms.

Take a look at the examples to see what's possible, then open the instructions in one tab/window and then open the software designer in another web browser window. Feel free to look over the heraldry information on the other pages of the site as well.

Main Page: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/
Examples
Instructions
The design software

Please send me feedback (links on the website) or post constructive criticism or positive reviews here. Thanks! I'm planning on adding to it and making improvements every week or so for a while yet.