Design Manager
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Out of left field...
The Vizier is a really solid class on it's own, but it is amazing as half a gestalt character.
Not at all surprising given that several veils intentionally work best in combination with other class abilities (like Circlet of Brass which is generally much better for Wiz/Sorc blasters than straight Viziers).
Playing really well with other classes is a legacy item of the system that I really tried to preserve.
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Out of left field...
The Vizier is a really solid class on it's own, but it is amazing as half a gestalt character.
Not at all surprising given that several veils intentionally work best in combination with other class abilities (like Circlet of Brass which is generally much better for Wiz/Sorc blasters than straight Viziers).
Playing really well with other classes is a legacy item of the system that I really tried to preserve.
Well, it worked. :)
The flexibility of the class is great on it's own. As the other half... if the character is a wizard type, could load up on enhancement veils to really pump his wizardness; or he could really load out on physical type veils to cover a weakness if needed. And change day by day.
This is possibly my favorite Dreamscarred class (I loved Incarnum back in the 3.5 era). I like characters that don't have to rely too much on outside forces - Monks in melee. So the idea of a gestalt Vizier/Aegis (and maybe a bit or Soulknife thrown in) really makes me drool. Now just to convince the GM to let do Metaforge as one side of the gestalt.... goes off scheming....
You definitely succeeded on preserving that legacy. Its really easy to make akashic feats worth it on non-veil weaving classes too. For instance, taking feats to get the forcestrike gauntlets + extra essence is actually a large damage and AC boost for the unarmed. Courtesan's cloak is a strong veil to take in general for anyone who can spare the feat.
I really like that part of it.
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Just dropped in to say that the incarnum conversion that you're working on Ssalarn is kick@ss! So much so that after reading the vizier and daevic I purchased the WIP. Looking very forward to the completed Tome of Win. However, I would like to say just one thing: why not give the amplifier veilweaving/spellcasting 10/10. In all honesty I don't think it would make it unbalanced. You're giving up a lot just to enter the prestige class. Also, this would mimic the mystic theurge progression more closely.
Cheers
Volf
Thank you for the complement, and for the purchase!
The caster bump has been a pretty common request, and I may go that route just so that the class is more appealing to spontaneous casters who are usually already a level behind in their casting progression.
I have some updates to the playtest materials ready, but when I went to upload them Sunday the Dropbox links kept breaking. I may need to wait until I have some quality time with a desktop computer instead of my tablet before I get those out to you all.
@ avatarless
Pharaoh is actually probably going to see its initial release in an Egyptian themed supplement that includes things like a Tomb Guardian archetype for the Warder and some psionic and akashic beasties matching the theme as well, so the name's likely to stick. Think of it less as us going off theme and more as us broadening our horizons ;)
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*Excitement intensifies*
An Egyptian themed supplement would make me very happy. The stuff we got for Osirion just wasn't enough, an honestly, I didn't like the adventure set in it. I can't wait to see what you guys pump out.
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Design Manager
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*Excitement intensifies*
An Egyptian themed supplement would make me very happy. The stuff we got for Osirion just wasn't enough, an honestly, I didn't like the adventure set in it. I can't wait to see what you guys pump out.
One of the things we were bumping into is that people really want a completed Pharaoh, and we're not even going to be 100% sure that there's enough demand for a second Akashic release for at least a couple more months. So, a fun themed release (that may or may not tie in to an upcoming campaign setting / adventure path from DSP) with entries for all of the DSP power systems just seemed like a better way to go. That may mean the Pharaoh gets reprinted as part of a separate collection down the line, or it may mean that if we do an AM2 we do another class or several extra archetypes to fill that hole.
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So, a fun themed release (that may or may not tie in to an upcoming campaign setting / adventure path from DSP) with entries for all of the DSP power systems just seemed like a better way to go.
OK, now I know what I want to see two of every year. A AP themed book full of Psionics, Intiators and Akashics. Heaven.
My mind won't let go of a product like that for Wrath that has Mythic rules for all three..
Ok.. calm down...
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While I definitely like the idea of themed releases that have something for all DSP subsystems, I still really want an AM2 release. My subscription to AM (on the new DSP website, not here on Paizo) hopefully shows that. So, I really hope that AM2 happens.
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Well, I'll buy both books either way. =)
I've been looking more and more at your current akashic races and I feel as if something about the Gamla is off. I've noticed most non-human races are usually given a skill bonus, however Gamla are not. I think they could benefit greatly flavor-wise by giving them a +2 bonus to one or two skills. I think its a great way of adding flavorful and fun tools to a race without making them too strong.
I feel like Sobeks suffer from a minor version of this problem since their stealth bonus is so specific.
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I've been looking more and more at your current akashic races and I feel as if something about the Gamla is off. I've noticed most non-human races are usually given a skill bonus, however Gamla are not. I think they could benefit greatly flavor-wise by giving them a +2 bonus to one or two skills. I think its a great way of adding flavorful and fun tools to a race without making them too strong.
I feel like Sobeks suffer from a minor version of this problem since their stealth bonus is so specific.
Noted, and taken under advisement. I'd been considering Appraise and Intimidate for the Gamla, but felt like it changed their tone more than I wanted. The races are also already pretty high RP too, so I've been hesitant to add much to them.
In other news, looks like we'll probably be adding Eternal Guardian to the Pharaoh's list of class disciplines. It's got abilities whose flavor is solid for the class, and it turns out it's not one of the disciplines reserved as "unique" for another class.
So that'll leave us with Golden Lion, Empty Pyramid, Eternal Guardian, Piercing Thunder, and Solar Wind as the final set of Pharaoh disciplines.
To be fair, Gamla already have +4 intimidate against most things they'd roll intimidate against from being large sized. That's a good skill bonus right there that I had forgotten about. Though racially, they are down 2 AC and down 1 CMD because of their large size and dexterity penalty. With their massive reach (if actually armed with a reach weapon) they can probably circumvent this AC problem by poking people from 20 feat away. Gotta love large PCs.
I think I talked myself out of wanting skill bonuses for the Gamla with that paragraph, but I think Sobeks could still be deserving of one.
And that is great news! Eternal Guardian is another discipline I very much enjoy. There is a lot of party support in the Golden Lion + Eternal Guardian combo that the Zealot very much enjoys. Glad to see another class getting that fierce combo.
As you probably have noticed, Martial Traditions have been a big point of discussion in the Path of War threads. I was wondering, will there be any similar organizations in the final Akashic mysteries product? Obviously there would be no disciplines to swap out, I just mean will you do fluffy write ups for different Akashic groups?
For instance, an example of a guru monastery or a group that takes in young Daevics in an attempt to teach them to balance their needs with the needs of their Daeva.
I think it would be pretty cool.
If the second book does end up with an Egyptian theme, would the Deo still fit or would that be removed or reflavoured to help the theme stay consistent?
I think we'd probably tweak the fluff a little bit but keep them with the Pharaoh in whatever that final product looks like.
Sounds good.
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If the second book does end up with an Egyptian theme, would the Deo still fit or would that be removed or reflavoured to help the theme stay consistent?
What is a Deo? I can only think of one Dio in Egypt and he's a vampire.
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Design Manager
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Sounds good.I think we'd probably tweak the fluff a little bit but keep them with the Pharaoh in whatever that final product looks like.
Since the Deo are already supernatural snake-people, we might use the asp (or aspis) as the starting point for their appearance and just tweak the origin of their supernatural nature.
Pop me a PM Milo, and I'll get them set up in a source doc we can both tweak and comment on.
In other news, I'm trying really hard to get new toys in everyone's hands, including a fully functional Pharaoh beta. I'm also looking for a new job, so that's eating into the time I have for stuff a bit, but I am working on things, and I've done a few small grammar tweaks and polishes to the existing playtest docs.
I'm expecting an update any time now from Jeremy and Andreas on when the Guru is going to be available to everyone, and when we'll get the Vizier errata added to the .pdf.
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Thank you Ssalarn. Good luck in your job searching ventures!
Deo sound pretty slick. Snake people would fit in well with the akashic races currently available.
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Design Manager
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I wanted to thank Endzeitgeist for his awesome review of the Vizier. Check it out here!
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I realize this has been stalled a bit - the Guru should be out this week. :)
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I wanted to thank Endzeitgeist for his awesome review of the Vizier. Check it out here!
That was a very nice review indeed! Every kind word was well deserved. Endzeitgeist is not the only one looking forward to those future releases. I love your work, and I a certain many others do too, based on how popular your threads have been for Akashic mysteries.
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I have been informed that due to the unreliable and inconsistent nature of the ARG race point system, DSP has chosen to avoid going there with our new products (a decision I totally get).
If you need those numbers for a game or your group uses that system, here's an unofficially official breakdown:
Gamla:
Standard Stats - 0 rp
Large Size - 7 rp
Desert Strider - 1 rp
Endurance - 1 rp
Essence Pool - 4 rp
Undersized Weapons - -3 rp
Spit - 1 rp
Total = 11 rp
Sobek:
Standard Stats - 0 rp
Slow - -1 rp
Water adaptation - 1 rp
Camouflage - 1 rp
Bite - 1 rp
Sweeping Tail - 1 rp
Essence Pool - 4 rp
Total = 7 rp
Suqur:
Standard Stats - 0 rp
Slow - -1 rp
Glide - 4 rp
Talons - 1 rp
Falcon Blood - 4 rp
Essence Pool - 4 rp
Total = 12 rp
Note that I valued that essence pool very highly; I think that's fair since essence value can fluctuate greatly depending upon how much of your build can utilize it. I also didn't mark the investable abilities up due to their scaling nature; that's accounted for in the essence pool.
On the daevic warrior's possession ability, when describing the benefits you gain at every odd level, it says:
The daevic may choose whichever bonus best suits him each time he gains this benefit, but once he has gained a specific benefit he cannot choose it again until he has chosen every other option
This can be interpreted as "Once you've bought each benefit at least once, you can start stacking up the natural armor bonus." I'm not sure that's intentional. On the other hand, saying, "you cannot choose it until you have chosen each trait the same number of times" is a bit clunky. Maybe a stated level limit would be easier? Something like "choose only once at first level, twice at 9th level, thrice at 17th level" ?
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Design Manager
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The idea is that you need to rotate through the benefits each time. I could have hard-locked it in to a standardized progression (Nat Armor bonus at level x, skill bonus at level y, etc.) but I wanted to give the players a little more facility in their characters.
What does everyone else think?
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+1 for avoiding the ARG's RP-system; when it hit my shelf, I buried my face in my hands for the implications it had on race-balancing. It's a great book for scavenging, but the implication that it nets balanced races...well...glad to see you're instead going for old-school balancing. :)
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Design Manager
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+1 for avoiding the ARG's RP-system; when it hit my shelf, I buried my face in my hands for the implications it had on race-balancing. It's a great book for scavenging, but the implication that it nets balanced races...well...glad to see you're instead going for old-school balancing. :)
In the spirit of full disclosure, even if we had included the RP for the races in the final product, it would have been something I went in and calculated after the fact (as I did above).
I personally feel like all 3 races are pretty much equivalent, but there's an obvious gap in the rp value between the sobek and the other two races; it would have been even more severe since the ARG didn't seem to assign any point value to the Undersized Weapons trait (a trait the gamla and centaur share) despite the fact that there's a pretty clear difference in the value of large size between a creature who can use it to its full extent and those who have a limiting factor.
Anyways, point is that the RP system from the ARG is, kind of like the CR system only much moreso, pretty arbitrary and not necessarily the best gauge of actual power and effectiveness.
And this conversation is a sterling example of why we we're going to avoid it in the core product altogether :P
ARG Race Builder should never be a player tool.
I'm using it to create special races at my players request like
Ex: Why can't I be a Dragonborn? Night Elf (not Drow, they be totally different man)? ect.
Publishers generally release races with more than combat racial features, but players will generally try to turn a race into a combat monster (+2 to every physical, additional +2 to one physical, and -2 to all mental? Oh god what)
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Design Manager
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Kind of amusingly, the RP system also charges 2 rp for a +2 to a single skill, but only 1 rp for a natural attack. So I could create a race that's basically nothing but a rolling ball of fangs and claws that comes in at a lower rp than elves and dwarves :P
Anywho, Guru should be coming out any day now, but Daevic is being delayed slightly so I can incorporate some changes to the feat and essence system that EZ brought to my attention in his review. Ideally that means the framework surrounding the class for the Daevic release is going to match the final updated versions of the Vizier and Guru by the time we compile everything. There's also a big update to the Akashic Races document that I'm planning on having out before Sunday, including some polishes to the current mechanics and 2 sub-races for each of the three anthropomorphic races.
Any update on Sculptor?
Kind of amusingly, the RP system also charges 2 rp for a +2 to a single skill, but only 1 rp for a natural attack. So I could create a race that's basically nothing but a rolling ball of fangs and claws that comes in at a lower rp than elves and dwarves :P
Anywho, Guru should be coming out any day now, but Daevic is being delayed slightly so I can incorporate some changes to the feat and essence system that EZ brought to my attention in his review. Ideally that means the framework surrounding the class for the Daevic release is going to match the final updated versions of the Vizier and Guru by the time we compile everything. There's also a big update to the Akashic Races document that I'm planning on having out before Sunday, including some polishes to the current mechanics and 2 sub-races for each of the three anthropomorphic races.
So what's your race? Death Ball
What?He has 4 claw attacks (hands+feet), a bite, gore, and a tail slap.
Why!
Greater beast totem baby.
Oh man, the RP system. My friend still brings it up as a point to say humans are weaker than other core races. Nevermind the fact that he only plays humans, aasimars, and tieflings.
The values in that book always made me laugh. Language options used to actually cost more points back then. I remember humans being 10 or 11 points in the playtest because their language package was 2 or 3 points.
Anyway, that Guru news is good to hear. I can't wait to see what kind of awesome art the Guru has. I saw the Akasin posted on DSP's Facebook, so I know its going to be good.
I have a question about the essence system and the essence feats. Will all the essence feats only be invested in 1/day, or will certain feats, such as Chakra Power and Chakra Targeting be treated as normal essence receptacles?
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Guru art?
Guru art?
That's the one! Akashic Mysteries has had some pretty awesome art so far. Two thumbs up from me.
Lotsa Dwarf love from DSP.
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Design Manager
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Lotsa Dwarf love from DSP.
That particular portrait has been in my head since I first started on the Guru. A big thank you goes out to Joe Shawcross for bringing it to life.
The iconic Vizier was modeled after a short story / one-off adventure I wrote / ran as a kind of character concept for the Vizier when I was still assembling the class in my head.
The iconic Guru is basically my character that I really want to play in an actual game. One day I'll get the chance (as soon as I find someone else to GM...).
The iconic Daevic is a gnome, and it's a combination of something I wanted to do and something the playtesters got to give some input on. The final iconic was going to be based on one of my cousin's characters; he passed away before this project really got off the ground and I figured this would be a good way to memorialize him within the community. Gnome got the most support, so the Daevic iconic will be based on his gnome berserker Suniba.
Guru art?
Very, very cool.
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+1 for avoiding the ARG's RP-system; when it hit my shelf, I buried my face in my hands for the implications it had on race-balancing. It's a great book for scavenging, but the implication that it nets balanced races...well...glad to see you're instead going for old-school balancing. :)
Well that's a relief. I was worried about making this particular decision with regards to Bloodforge.
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Design Manager
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Look what I just stumbled across!
I assume it will be available on this site shortly.
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Yup - it's submitted, just waiting for approval. :)
Sweet! I can't wait to grab it when I get home.
When will this be on dreamscarred site. I need to get my things their since my script is their.
Got my update e-mail. Congrats!
When will this be on dreamscarred site. I need to get my things their since my script is their.
Which site? It is up on Dreamscarred.com for me.
dreamscarredpress.com is where my account is. I opened one on the new site today but none of my history or groups came with the new account. I have lifetime access to all dreamscarred's pdf's from the kickstarter but this access has not been moved to the new website yet that I am aware of.
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Design Manager
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dreamscarredpress.com is where my account is. I opened one on the new site today but none of my history or groups came with the new account. I have lifetime access to all dreamscarred's pdf's from the kickstarter but this access has not been moved to the new website yet that I am aware of.
I know Jeremy was still working on transferring the memberships; have you tried downloading it on the old site?