morphail's page

So, Age of Lost Omens World Guide is supposed to describe the setting in 10 geographically and thematically distinct areas.
What will those be?

We know greater Absalom is one (city+island).
If I understood correctly a second one will include Varisia (inc. New Thassilon), Linnorm Kings, Mammoth Lords and Irrisen.

What will the others be?

My guess is Mwangi must be one at is it very distinct culturally and geographically + its big and awsome and one of my favorite. A Sargava goes here and maybe also The Shackles, Mediogalti Island and the sudden lands.

River kingdoms may include other nations that play well with it (at least in the Kingmaker game): Razmiran, Numeria, Brevoy.

Can Ustalav be grouped with any of its neighbors thematically??

Can Taldor and Qadira share a section without going to war??

Will Cheliax annex its little
Nidalese and Isgeri sisters in its chapter?

I love weapon traits. They make for interesting gameplay and help with simulating melee combat.
Therefore I think weapon traits should have a bigger impact on the game. Weapons that allow disarm/trip and so on are great because they give more options for strategy (I'm ignoring if these are powerful/useful strategies for now) . They make the weapon shine in doing whatever it's designed to do. We need more of these.

Examples I think should be added are:
Armour penetration. Weapons such as (war) hammers and picks were specifically designed to overcome heavy armour. A trait such as "penetrating" could allow a two action attack against a target in medium, heavy or construct armour. This attack targets TAC instead of AC. GM can decide that additional monsters are considered "armoured" such as giant beetles or earth elementals.
This trait makes hammers and picks very powerful against specific enemies (reduced in power because of action economy). If this trait seems too powerful, it can be dealt with the same way as Forceful, Agile and Reach are treated- having smaller damage die. This way a sword (d8, versatile) is better when fighting lightly armoured people (and most monsters) while the new warhammer (d6, penetrating, shove) is better against heavily armoured enemies.

For flails you can go another route. Flails (arguably) are used to overcome shields. So a simple way is to give flails some form of advantage against raised shields (or even against cover). But I thought of something more fun with the shield mechanic:
New athletics maneuver called "depress shield" has the attack trait and requires an empty hand: target enemy with raised shield reflex DC. On a success the shield is no longer raised- the target loses its bonus to ac and can't take the shield block action until it raises its shield again. On a critical the target can't raise the shield until the end of its next turn.
Now flails can have a trait that allows them to use this maneuver without an empty hand and gain item bonuses (just like trip and disarm maneuvers).

Like these ideas? Have other ideas for interesting weapon traits? What traits in the playtest are uninteresting or not useful?

I was thinking it would be fun to know what are specific weapons preferred in different parts of the inner sea.
It is quite obvious that if a weapon in RL is east-Asian then it is used in Tian Xia, or if south-Asian, in Vudra.

What about the arms and armour of the inner sea region?
We know the Aldori sword is used in Brevoy and probably around the north of Avistan, Khopesh are big in Osirion and the Shoanti of Varisia have unique weapons such as the klar and earthshaker.

What about other places? Polearms for instance are very diverse and each style can suite a country without affecting much usability or balance-
The bardich for instance just screams Irrisen to me (maybe because it comes from Poland/Russia), while a halberd could be used in Taldor, Andoran and Molthune.

Other weapons/armor can fit thematically. I would guess big maces and flails are fashionable in modern day cheliax, while Taldans go about rapiers and stilletos, and a pirate of the shackles feels naked without a cutlass.

Do Nirmathi soldiers use long pikes to offset Molthuni mounted knights?
Do people in Absalom laugh at you for wearing splint mail when everybody who is cool is wearing banded?
If someone is carrying a bill and a shotel, does it mean she is probably from Hermea?

your thoughts please

Woo hoo!
Good job!