Strange Magic is puttering along nicely, with ethermagic due in beta by the end of the month. With the bulk of the development done, Interjection Games can once more produce strange and ridiculous base classes and not work on one massive project to the exclusion of everything else. Here's a preview!
The Sanguine Disciple - Available mid-October
Unlock the power of blood with the sanguine disciple, a martial maneuvers base class that focuses on the stacking and extension of numerous bleed effects using the new bloodsongs system. Blunt, powerful, and very in-your-face, this class' complexity in play comes from the dual management of the aforementioned bleed effects and a pool of blood points drawn from the heart's blood of your victims. The secrets of the blood are not free, however, and those who do not draw sufficient blood may find themselves giving of their own blood to continue fighting.
The Onmyōji - Available November
Travel to the far east, where the voices of the ancestors influence the policy of today, and where those who can act as a conduit through which those voices can be heard are elevated to positions of power. The onmyōji is a spiritual and secular advisor, adept at warding against and influencing the spirit world, responsible for the calibration of the caldendar, and capable of binding helpful spirits to his service temporarily.
The Soulshriever - Available December
In stark contrast to the onmyōji, the soulshriever is a conduit for the ghosts of the dearly departed, entities with unfinished business in the living world. Inspired by Whoopi Goldberg's performance in the film Ghost, the soulshriever must learn to deal with the voices constantly clamoring to get her attention every hour of the day, for ghosts don't get tired, and they simply won't shut up until they've had their say. At her worst, the soulshriever is constantly exhausted and fond of anything that muddles her mind enough to make the voices fall into the background. At her best, the soulshriever is an instrument by which unfinished business can be finished, and the spirits following her around are all too happy to help in the hopes that their turn is up next.
I have been waiting forever for a good Onmyōji class to come out! Plus it is being released in my birthday month! Coincidence? Probably, but I don't even care. :D
It's really cool so far (helping critique it)! Similar idea, different execution than Path of War I can say. Better imo, but your mileage may vary. Leave it to him to spoil more than that.
the sanguine disciple, a martial maneuvers base classDoes martial maneuvers refer to using path of war? Or is it another system you made?
*Hiss!* Ah, Path of War, the book that made me panic and claim truename magic before Dreamscarred could get their hands on it, too.
Hi there, Ben! No, it does not. These maneuvers are my own, and I suppose Dreamscarred's association with the word "maneuvers", for good or ill, will force me to find another word to describe them. For the class, they are called "bloodsongs", though I'd have to compare them to maneuvers at least once. Any suggestions?
Instead of being a straight increase to the power of martial classes, the sanguine disciple's maneuvers are designed to add movement flexibility to the class. What is the best fighter or ranger build? The sort that can stand still and full attack! This is boring. To combat this, the sanguine disciple picks up abilities in four categories.
Builders - Build Focus
Finishers - Can activate once Focus is beyond a threshold. Clears all focus.
Harmonies - Non-dismissable stance. Always a swift to activate.
Resonances - Passive
All non-resonance abilities require either blood points (from a pool that fills up when you kill things) or a temporary reduction in your own Constitution score to power. As your spellcasting and maneuver DCs are all based on Con, cutting yourself to keep flailing is a huge decision, but it may be a very good idea in low CR fights so you can harvest blood points for the nasty fights in which sacrificing Con would kill you.
Builders and Finishers are either a swift action or a standard action. This is particularly cool, as you can supercharge your next attack (or soften a target up) as a swift action, move, and pop a special attack as a standard action, effectively double-dipping that single attack with all sorts of cool features. Do you want to do ability damage and bleed? Do you want to reduce AC and bleed? Do you want bleed and bleed? It allows a smallish list of maneuvers to expand multiplicatively, thus allowing for all sorts of fun from something with a short development cycle.
Does a sanguine disciple do more damage if he stands there and beats on something? Depending on your build, yeah, usually, but if you stand still and swing, you aren't stacking all sorts of nifty penalties on the enemy, and I guarantee you aren't building up focus for your next finisher as quickly as the disciple who's burning through his resources to pull all the crazy tricks.