TBH I've never really seen why people ban Synthesist. it is literally worse in every conceivable way than baseline Summoner. Summoner is strong because of action economy. You get two fully fledged characters for the price of one.
Synthesists trades half your actions for...slightly better physical stats. It's an awful trade.
It's like building a Fighter who gets +4 to attack rolls...for the cost of being permanently Staggered. It ain't worth it if you're actually optimizing.
I do agree though that base Summoner is essentially a full caster in disguise, which is problematic. The usual compromise I see is to run the OG Summoner but with the Unchained Summoner spell list. This brings them in line with other 6-casters.
It doesn't change my bonus, though I can't charge at an adjacent target. I could swap that to a different Maneuver though, if the base weapon damage is already enough to kill.
I'll throw out a wild card and say that having a rotating cast of characters works better for a system with a progression curve with less vertical, more horizontal growth.
In Pathfinder (especially at low levels), CR matters a lot. Given when/how unlucky a player is they could be stuck with characters that are pretty much completely useless for multiple delves, if those characters even survive the inevitable AoEs that kill them even if they save.
Playing a system like Savage Worlds (which does conveniently have a Pathfinder add-on) might work a lot better for having a rotating cast. It also has built-in rules for sanity and permanent injuries, so you get the "grim and gritty" feel with less homebrew. It makes it easier to justify a character sitting out a mission if they get their arm broken (or lopped off) on a mission.
Storm Dragon Has Wrath & Glory come a long way from its initial release? I spent a small fortune for some kind of pre-order (maybe it was a Kickstarter?) and the system I received was a total mess. I know that Cubicle 7 has it now, but after spending so much to receive a really messy, chaotic system, I never got back into it.
They did a full "Second Edition" of the game, yeah. The Core Rulebook is completely overhauled. In addition to a lot of the rules being polished, it's also now...readable. The formatting of the 1st edition was awful.
Man, I WISH this was Wrath and Glory. I have no doubt this game is gonna be fun but that system is so much easier to do stuff in lol. So much simpler, but somehow feels even more flexible.
Yeah, it's a raw stat check once it's trained and then you get a +10 for every level it's trained after that. So if you had a 40 in Ballistic Skill and were Experienced (Rank 3) in that skill, you'd have a check of 60.
Oh yeah, equipment. I should probably look in the book. I wish there was an equivalent to Electrostatic Gauntlets so I didn't have to spend so much XP mimicking the base function of my weapon.
Dotting in, didn't see this until just now and don't have time for a full post. The tossing of Aptitudes makes me rethink some things; I actually primarily picked Warrior because it gave me the right Aptitudes for most of my Talents.
Real quick as well, what do you mean by "3 points from Characteristics?" literally 3, or 3 "advances" (i.e. 15 total points)?
@GM: Do you remember what general stats the game expects us to have at this stage? Like is a 45 in Weapon Skill considered good at our "level", bad, or average?
Yeah. The languages are basically Low Gothic (English), High Gothic (mangled pseudo-Latin), Binharic (Tech-Priest machine speech; not always actually binary, could be any programming language), and "Xenos".
Most characters would not know specific Xenos/alien languages, but some might.
It's pretty much what you wanna be better at. Think of it like any other RPG's level up system, except instead of getting +1 skill point every level and a Feat every other level you can get those things in any configuration or proportion you want.
I will by no means claim to be the foremost authority on 40k lore, which itself is a convoluted mess of inconsistencies. From my understanding, Yes, a rogue Aeldari helped to resurrect Guilliman, but even he doesn't trust them. Most of the Aeldari are still at odds with the Imperium, just as most of the Imperium think all xenos should die. But comparing them to pretty much everything else out there, they can be an ally of convenience.
Of course the meme-verse has Guilliman and Yvraine madly in love, making hybrid eldar-marine babies!!!!
As I mentioned before, you serve an Inquisitor who is neither a hardliner, nor a wild radical. A couple psykers, some others who dance in the grey, sure. But Xenos and Daemonhosts might be across his line...
People who work outside of the Imperium's normal rules (Rogue Traders and Inquisitors primarily) often have xenos in their retinue just as a matter of convenience. Kroot, Orks, Aeldar, and Sslyth are probably the most common. And that was before the new stuff with Yvraine etc.
The new 40k RPG, Wrath and Glory, explains a bit more about the Ynnari (Yvraine's splinter faction). They're sort of like an Aeldar version of the Farsight Enclaves, and pretty explicitly allied with the Imperium at least when it comes to combating shared threats.
For posterity though, Dark Heresy does have rules for xenos in the Enemies Beyond supplement. I believe they had rules for Aeldari, Kroot, and Ork mercenaries.
If this game takes place in the "modern day" (post Rowboat Resurrection) an Aeldar wouldn't be out of place for an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor's retinue, though that would of course vary. It looks like our GM wants us to be working for more of a hardliner or traditionalist.
@GM: I'm dumb lol, they're not separate traits they're just the sub-Traits included in the Mechanicus Implants Trait. So everything I want is already provided, no homebrew needed.
Just need to figure out if I can get some approximation of Electrostatic Gauntlets.
Edit 1: oh, Luminen Shock and Luminen Blast will do that for me, neat.
Edit: Did you say 1e material was kosher? From what I can glean, The Lathe Worlds has some Electro-priest themed talents that synergize with the other Luminen-related Talents.
From what I could tell there are Traits for Electoos and all the stuff you'd need to be an Electro-priest, but they're only available at GM discretion. Would you mind if I drew up a modified Tech-Priest background that gave access to those Traits?
I just realized you asked for next steps, not just encouragement lol. You'd want a good Weapon Skill; WS determines your melee attack rolls, so re-rolling that 1 is a good idea.
Strength also determines your melee damage, so I would simply swap that with one of your better rolled stats
Willpower determines your Psyker abilities, so you'd probably be best swapping that with your Perception; Will should be your highest ability score as a Psyker, regardless of other specialties.
These three plus Toughness should probably be your primary starts that start at 25.
TBF these old FFG RPGs are extremely dense and hard to learn in a short timeframe.
Edit: I should probably roll my stats. Let's see what they say before picking my "tagged" stats.
Characteristics:
Weapon Skill:2d10 ⇒ (4, 10) = 14
Ballistic Skill:2d10 ⇒ (10, 10) = 20
Strength:2d10 ⇒ (3, 5) = 8
Toughness:2d10 ⇒ (7, 9) = 16
Agility:2d10 ⇒ (5, 4) = 9
Intelligence:2d10 ⇒ (10, 7) = 17
Perception:2d10 ⇒ (7, 3) = 10
Willpower:2d10 ⇒ (2, 5) = 7
Fellowship:2d10 ⇒ (10, 4) = 14
Influence:2d10 ⇒ (1, 1) = 2
The Strength and Agility scores definitely leave much to be desired, as does Influence. Hm. But everything else is pretty damn good.
I would like to reroll the 3 in Strength first.
Strength:1d10 ⇒ 9
Then the entire Influence roll.
Influence:2d10 ⇒ (6, 7) = 13
Much better for a Tech-Priest of some sort.
I think I will "tag" Intelligence, Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, and Strength most likely. I'm gonna see if you can put together an Electro-Priest in Dark Heresy because I don't remember if they have any of the mechanics needed for that.
Let me mull something over. I'm less familiar with Dark Heresy than Deathwatch, but Rogue Trader did give me the bug to play a 40k RPG again.
My live group(s) have actually been playing Wrath and Glory, which is definitely worth a look. It's a much rules-lighter way to play 40k but without going too deep into being just "storytime". It plays a lot like the wargame (10th edition specifically) in terms of combat, but has an actual skills system and such to back it up.
As we already have a bunch of Psyker applicants, I'd probably think about rolling up a Tech-Priest of some kind.
This is a move Paizo should have taken years (we're talking close to a decade) ago, so it's good on that front at least. Their explanation for never updating the forums has always been because it is, for some godforsaken reason, intrinsically linked to the storefront instead of being its own separate thing.
Any update to any of their online infrastructure would necessitate overhauling the forums as well.
Been super hectic at work, but not for much longer. I also somehow missed that this was for the Merc game, not the Slave game so mulling over whether I want to retool my Bio-borg's backstory or make a different guy real quick.
I don't have an alias yet but it'll take like 5 minutes to make one whenever Gameplay kicks off. Been a busy week for me, but I've been checking this thread every day.
Well I've been sick this week, so I haven't been able to start yet.
Not an admonition, just a statement. Take your time and feel better!
I don't have an alias yet but it'll take like 5 minutes to make one whenever Gameplay kicks off. Been a busy week for me, but I've been checking this thread every day.
I'll need to think of a mercenary character if we're doing two tables. Maybe I'll try the Vampire Hunter? Would depend on whether vampire slayin' is on the table.
Also not sure how much sense it would make but I've wanted to play a dragon for a while in RIFTS, they seem neato.
Concept: Captured surface-dweller, transformed into a Bio-Borg because he's expendable and otherwise useless as a slave (given True Atlantaeans are superior in every way, I figure a normal human would seem pathetic by comparison). There was a slave uprising in the middle of his brainwashing; he still remembers most of his past and is HORRIFIED by his transformation into a hideous non-human thing. Think for added irony I'd make him a former soldier of the Coalition states with the hatred of all things supernatural that comes with it.
How mandatory is the "Bio-borgs are amnesiacs" thing? Figured there'd be some nice body horror potential if my character managed to avoid being fully Stroggified brainwashed, but not sure if that's utterly impossible.
I'm trying to digest the new options. Tattooed Warriors seem interesting thematically, but mechanically unless I'm missing something isn't getting a bunch o0f stuff related to using Ancient and Medieval weaponry utterly worthless in RIFTS? Everything and its grandma has MDC so like 4 of your locked-in tattoos are pretty worthless. Unless you take Tattooed Archer anyway; Edge tax to be good?
Undead Slayer in most circumstances just seems like Tattooed Warrior++; more tats, better societal status, no drawbacks really.
Bio-Borgs seems pretty cool, as do Stone Masters.
Also, can I get a vague outline of what the initial story setup and plot is gonna be? That might help me figure out what I wanna play. I'd prefer not to get a full play-by play of the campaign, but an idea of the general themes and starting goals would be perfect.
Prompting for Jelani's, Gark's and Rynjin's ratings--I've already gotten DCat's and Feral's general feelings on the matter.
I gave my ratings on the Discord a while ago, though I guess I never put numbers to them and you've changed the order since then lol.
Something like:
1.) 0/10, not a fan.
2.) 5/10, I'm open to being convinced the system isn't trash anymore I guess?
3.) 3/10; I personally would find it fun but you seemed lukewarm on it KC and I don't feel comfortable voting for something the GM would dislike.
4.) 7/10; I'm pretty comfy with PF and with being a co-GM in other games, I'm perfectly fine with this.
Heh - Storm Dragon, there isn't any balancing in RIFTS! Pick a race based on its perks, then pick a Framework (class) that sounds like it would be cool to run, and do the best you can with it. I don't know about SWADE RIFTS, but in SWD RIFTS the Frameworks were all over the place in terms of their raw power. Hopefully in SWADE RIFTS the Frameworks are more equally matched.
That was exactly my issue. Being a Burster in a party with a Juicer and a Glitter Boy in SWD RIFTS was some real Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit s&+&. You throw fire bolts for 3d6 damage and then the Glitter Boy comes in and says "I do double that but with higher accuracy, longer range, and better armor piercing".
Makes you feel kinda superfluous, especially if you pick ANY non-combat Edges (which Arsenio had a couple of).
I'm interested. I've tried to wrap my head around the balancing in RIFTS a few times but never quite managed to grok it. 4th time's the charm?
Edit: Is the OG Rifts Atlantis book at all necessary? From a glance at the description, everything (mechanical, at least) seems to have been duplicated into the Savage RIFTS sourcebook.
I recognize few or perhaps even none of you need the following, but just in case it is helpful:
In case it's not clear, in M&M 3e, "Devices" means Powers that have the Removable or Easily Removable Flaw. Depending on what you are using to build your character (e.g., Hero Lab vs Ski's CharGen vs book etc.) this may not be obvious. Difference between what should be Equipment and what should be a Power should have to do with how integral it is to your character. Frex, Green Arrow's bow is a "Device," i.e., Power because everything Green Arrow does has to do with his archery. But a guy who's main schtick is something else and he just keeps a bow on hand for ranged attacks in case he needs it, probably just bought that as Equipment.
Or possibly didn't even buy it at all; if you buy a Ranged Damage power you're perfectly allowed to just flavor it as an object your character miraculously never gets disarmed of. System is nicely flexible like that.
I am tossing around some ideas. I am currently leaning towards something silly like a yoga instructor or minor league baseball player. Or maybe someone trying to break into the WWE. That could be fun.
yoga instructor: sure that can work
minor league baseball player: coach or something sure
break into the WWE: ummm WHAT!?
Yeah, that should be "Breaking into the NJPW" since we're in Japan. There's another big wrestling league in Japan but I don't recall the name.
Although the WWE itself actually is pretty popular in Japan from what I recall.
I'm torn; I had a fun idea for being the "cool teacher" (read: teacher who THINKS he's cool but all his students think he's kinda dorky) but everyone else in an adult apparently so I won't have the other players to clown on me.
Robert Henry's question on guns is one I share. Private gun ownership is very rare in Japan, at least in the urbanized areas. Even the gangs have a hard time getting their hand son them.
In Andromeda, Rommey's (the ship's AI) android acted independently (out of contact with the ship, Then linked back up when in contact. That would work. Interesting idea.
I was thinking about playing either a techie (mad scientist, much like Scorpius from the Farscape series) or a straightforward Brick (tough, strong, not the best thinker)
There is no need to overly limit your character's powers unless you want to. You can always have a very limited TK ability as a niche side power for a different type of build or create a powerful set of abilities around TK that are much more powerful.
The issue, of course, being that I DID want to. =p
It just doesn't really work in this system. A Character with TK 10 will always be as strong as a character with TK 10 (Limited: Within 6 feet of the user) in terms of raw lifting strength; the difference is that the flat TK 10 character will be able to exert the same force at up to 4 miles away. The Limited user gets a point refund (up to half the cost) but you can't funnel that back into having a higher rank since Move Object is a combat-oriented power.
@Storm Dragon - I get you. Some builds just do not feel right within the limitations of the system. Point based games are more flexible than class based systems but still some characters are harder to realise than others. :)
Yeah, though TBF that was I think my first experience with M&M; I sucked at building characters. Still kinda do but I might be able to execute on it better now.
The issue I had is that the drawback in the freeform RP also came with upsides; his telekinesis was limited to a small range, but was massively powerful and flexible comparatively to other telekinetics in the setting. M&M doesn't really allow for that since the power of your abilities is still rank-locked, so the reduced range was ALL downside and made him feel like the 5th wheel in a part with characters like "dude with maxed super speed ranks who can essentially be omnipresent on the planet" lol.
I made a character for one of your games years ago named Forzare; his powerset was actually based on another character I had for a freeform roleplay even more years beforehand who was an ace space pilot with sort of tactile telekinesis (he could control anything within arm's reach with his mind).
I might toss out some kind of variant of that character if I can get the powerset to actually feel good in M&M; it was unsatisfying on Forzare.
Alternately (or perhaps additionally), the call of technomancy rings loudly in my ears...
Not to nitpick, but if Tanith is grabbed onto his neck, and Krathanos's neck is now further from the ground than it was before, isn't Tanith further from the ground than 20 feet? =p
