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I don't see how looking at what the setting treats as magical is somehow more arbitrary than just saying "anything unrealistic is automatically magical no matter what setting we're looking at".You think a dividing line between "violates the laws of physics" and "doesn't violate the laws of physics" is arbitrary?
If you apply that dividing line to all fantasy fiction regardless of what each individual setting tries to tell you about what's normal and what's supernatural, then yes, it's arbitrary.
Trying to apply the same magical/nonmagical boundary equally to One Piece, Harry Potter, Pokémon, Lord of the Rings, Pathfinder and Pecos Bill is arbitrary and ridiculous.
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I'm reluctant to link my own posts, but I feel like this line of conversation is just heading straight toward what I already talked about HERE, so maybe linking it can help people understand where I'm coming from.
I don't see how looking at what the setting treats as magical is somehow more arbitrary than just saying "anything unrealistic is automatically magical no matter what setting we're looking at".You think a dividing line between "violates the laws of physics" and "doesn't violate the laws of physics" is arbitrary?Except that if the setting itself isn't running by our laws of physics, that's not a really useful distinction.
It doesn't really matter anyway. You have to accept that most of the PF setting runs on magic or on different laws of physics already (humanoid giants, giant bugs, huge flying creatures, not to mention high-level martials all break out of realism already.) Once you've done so, holding martials to realism because they don't have magic is silly. They're already unrealistic.
Holding martials within certain limits because that matches the aesthetic you're aiming for does make sense. But it needs to acknowledged that way.
This is a good point, but I see two issues with this.
First, if the laws of physics are different you still run into the issue of "Why is the non-magical class on par with the magical class." The magically empowered one should still leave the physics bound fighter in the dust because the magically empowered class should be able to push limits in the same way as the fighter while *also* benefiting from magic.
The other issue is that if the laws of physics are set in the Pathfinder world in such a way to explain why they can do a few normally "impossible" things, why can't the fighter smash down buildings and move super fast to match the insane speed and strength he uses to tear down a dragon in seconds? The rules are letting him hit things faster and harder than should be possible, but he doesn't seem to benefit from these 'loose' physics in any other way.
Edit: To me, it all ends up feeling a bit arbitrary and inconsistant. Like the Pathfinder world can't decide if it wants to be realistic or not realistic.
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First, if the laws of physics are different you still run into the issue of "Why is the non-magical class on par with the magical class." The magically empowered one should still leave the physics bound fighter in the dust because the magically empowered class should be able to push limits in the same way as the fighter while *also* benefiting from magic.
One way around this is if the setting's altered physics contains a spectrum of possibility, the upper end of which requires lots of investment of time/effort to actually capitalize on. If learning to use magic also requires a good deal of time/effort, then as you rise in level you'll see the results of people's choices of how they invested their time/training.
The other issue is that if the laws of physics are set in the Pathfinder world in such a way to explain why they can do a few normally "impossible" things, why can't the fighter smash down buildings and move super fast to match the insane speed and strength he uses to tear down a dragon in seconds? The rules are letting him hit things faster and harder than should be possible, but he doesn't seem to benefit from these 'loose' physics in any other way.
Yeah, Pathfinder's pretty inconsistent in its ideas of what it takes to be fantastic.
How might you articulate your thoughts in a system-agnostic manner, where "mythic" isn't a thing?I'd rule that One Piece is a High Mythic world, myself - any ship that's worth respected has at least one person with tiers/ranks on it, or a devil fruit user, or a devil fruit user with mythic tiers, who's normally Captain.
A really bad-ass pirate crew, like the Straw Hats themselves, might have multiple mythic members.
Of course, I wouldn't even stat up devil fruit users as classed humans. I'd stat them up as monstrous humanoids with a unique set of Sp, Su, and/or Ex abilities based on their fruit (with more/better abilities as the hit dice grows). I guess they might still have a couple class levels beyond that, too. Like Luffy's got a few brawler levels but he's mostly monster hit dice.
Mythic's a pretty handy way to represent martials who are at an "impossible" power level. (Edit: Especially if they're clearly non-standard. Zorro's a 1 in a million swordsman.)
Pecos Bill was either mythic or not actually human. =P (Edit and aside: Mythic Adventures had finite space, so it can't possibly cover every mythological ability. If you want a guardian/champion ability for controlling the weather with a CMB check, just write it up.)
That's a good question, because that requires a system agnostic way of addressing grossly asymmetric levels of power. Which is actually very common in anime.
Superhuman or just "super" perhaps works as a system-agnostic term?
So going back to One Piece, Zorro and Sanji are superhumans. Usupp and Nami, while both still highly skilled, clearly operate at a lower tier of power. A foe that's a dire battle for Nami or Usopp may be a mere warm-up exercise for Zorro or Sanji. While a foe that could seriously challenge Zorro would by all rights casually annihilate Nami (though Nami's brilliant, and will put up a hell of a fight if she has any chance at all).
And similarly, Chopper's a "normal" devil fruit user, while Luffy actually makes the breakthrough into being a "super" devil fruit user while fighting another "super," Crocodile.
There's a mid-tier occupied by powerful humans and most strong shinigami (with the strongest shinigami in this tier usually being squadron lieutenants). Most of the characters in the series are in this mid-tier.
And then there's an upper tier that's shared by shinigami captains and upper tiers of hollows. A captain's usually stronger than the rest of his squad put together.
And above them are a handful of shinigamis and hollows who have transcended to a sort of "ultra" tier. Just like the captains are worth as much as their entire squads, the Commander of the Thirteen Squads is easily a match for multiple captains.
The mid-tier characters are generally very skilled and competent, but usually lack a level of raw might that is necessary to stand up to a "super" or "ultra" tier opponent. Though some of my favorite fights in that series involve a mid-tier character managing to beat a "super" - or a super managing to beat an ultra =P
The main hero of the series, Ichigo, starts a strong member of the bottom tier, graduates to mid-tier at the start of season 2, and then breaks through into "super" status by the end of season 2. He then moved past that, eventually reaching a transcendant state that actually consumed his power in exchange for going head-to-head with a god, and returned back to being a normal human for a period of 2 years or so. The last story arc I'm familiar with involved how Ichigo returned back to at least "super" state with the aid of the Thirteen Squads.
Anyways, "super" v. "normal" is hopefully adequate as a system agnostic way to express it.
I suppose when you look at it One Piece is pretty much a Tiered set up similar to the way a lot of people look at Pathfinder.
Top Tier = Luffy and anyone with Ruler's Haki
2nd Tier Zoro and Sanji = Armament Haki users and probably most Logia DF users.
3rd Tier = Brook, Franky, Robin
4th Tier = Chopper, Ussop and Nami
I support it. It's just a different set of genres to draw characters and concepts from. So long as the numbers line up with the published rules, I've never had a problem with them as my Players or partners.
Most of the people I've run with that actually sketched their characters had anime-inspired designs, and the best ones you could actually tell the studios that they drew their styles from.
Luckily, it isn't too hard to make anime inspired characters in pathfinder, though you generally have to pick from the more magically attuned martial classes to do it well.
My favorate anime creation: a Naruto inspired synthesist summoner. His eidolon was a nine-tailed (shadow) fox, and he used the full dimensional dervish chain. Being able to teleport step in between every attack and flank with yourself while being in eidolon form was awesome and thematic.
The funny thing though, I guess while it is possible to mimic anime inspired abilities the "power" attacks are thing thing that's missing. It is hard to mimic the explosive power that is found in a lot of animes without actually casting a fireball.
I feel a lot about customizing the feel of your game comes down to making a concious decision on what to include and what not to include.
Classes, Feats, Optional rules like Hero Points, the Vigor Wounds system or Stamina Combat
All of these are tools for getting the game to feel the way you want it to feel.
If something doesn't fit the image ofthe Role you want it to fill they change it, replace it or add something.
Sometimes it takes using a 3PP class instead of a normal one. Or maybe you give the Fighter exclusive access to the Book of Hideously overpowered feats (yes it's a real book)
Sometimes it's as simple as adding a house rule like "Melee attacks inflict collateral damage on the area around their target equal to half the damage they inflict for the round."
Cut
Paste
and Tweak
Always feel free to customize your game to fit what you and your players want to see, even if that means sacrificing the Sacred Cows.
Just to point out something often overlooked - It depends on the magic. Pathfinder style high fantasy level magic, sure it gets practically impossible for martials to compete.
But not all fantasy magic allows for invisible flying projected images dropping meteor swarms.I agree with you. In a game where magic is much more toned down than pathfinder there is no reason to give the martials 'anime' powers. I think the reason people keep asking for 'anime' powers in Pathfinder though is specifically because it has that level of rediculous magical power where you have to wonder why it even has a "non-magical Fighter" class.
In a way though, Pathfinder Fighters are already Anime characters. Though shear training and force of will, they can gain enough hit points to survive lava and meteor swarms. Fighters can kill a Great Wyrm Dragon in seconds if they get close enough. The fact that the game acts like that sort of thing *isn't* magical really bothers me. It also makes me wonder why people don't want to give fighters ablities like "split a building with a single sword swing" while they're at it.
What is Pathfinder structural damage. Can a feat (requiring any sundering feat as the only prerequisite) give a fighter structural damage, then later, a feat to split structures.
I'm assuming the mechanic that doubles feats allowed as long as half are prerequisites.
So setting aside specific mechanics.
How do you capture an anime feel for a Pathfinder game.
Story is part of it.
A classic one in a lot of fantasy Anime is Maoh(Dark Lord) vs. the Hero.
The Maoh is the dark force behind and empowering all the monsters against humanity. The hero(s) of light is said to appear to stop him.
Often those Heroes come from another world, a pack of Teens dragged across time and space to save the world. Other times it's a local farm boy on an island in the middle of nowhere.
The Maoh often is served by 4 Evil Generals.
All the Monsters are organized and working together, even ones that normally wouldn't. The will of the Maoh and his generals forces them into line. Goblins, Orcs, Giants, Dark Elves, Chimeras, Demons and Undead. All working side by side under the Maoh's banner. Not only that but the existance of the Maoh actually makes them all more powerful and more agressive.
As Pathfinder Campaign flat out, you make your PCs the Heroes of Legend. They are destined to be more powerful than any other person in the world and only they will be able to fight the Maoh. Maybe that means Mythic rules, maybe something else.
Maybe they are the only people in the whole world who can have PC classes. Everyone else in the world uses the NPC classes. (Evil Generals and Maoh Agents get PC classes due to power of Maoh). If the greatest General in the world is a Warrior 10/Expert 5/Noble 5 and the most powerful spellcaster is a 20th level Adept, even a 5th level PC can look impressive.
You'll need some Legendary Weapons for them to collect and I would feel free to toss Unique powers or Feats into the mix to show just how different and special the PCs are.
I don't see how looking at what the setting treats as magical is somehow more arbitrary than just saying "anything unrealistic is automatically magical no matter what setting we're looking at".You think a dividing line between "violates the laws of physics" and "doesn't violate the laws of physics" is arbitrary?Except that if the setting itself isn't running by our laws of physics, that's not a really useful distinction.
It doesn't really matter anyway. You have to accept that most of the PF setting runs on magic or on different laws of physics already (humanoid giants, giant bugs, huge flying creatures, not to mention high-level martials all break out of realism already.) Once you've done so, holding martials to realism because they don't have magic is silly. They're already unrealistic.
Holding martials within certain limits because that matches the aesthetic you're aiming for does make sense. But it needs to acknowledged that way.
I feel as someone who has tried and failed to have people all use the same language with regards to well... anything, that it is in effect tilting at a windmill. Everyone has their own language and it is a rare person who would change it. Everyone here has their own definition of what is martial or magical with very limited overlap.
More on topic I love anime in my games. That is with some common sense of course. Feel free to draw stories and concepts from all sources anime included. Just be aware that the game you are playing may not be able to accurately copy the character you're inspired by.
Don't expect your Pathfinder character based on Goku to be able to destroy planets with a punch or instantly travel anywhere in the universe. As long as you're fine staying in whichever rules are currently being used then have a blast.
Oh and if people want to mod a game to be more over the top with their martials then go for it.
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I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of anime tropes in my RPGs, but all the combat/non-caster going over the top stuff doesn't bother me that much.
What bothers me are things like female hypersexualization and casual sexism, mood swings (with or without face faults), stock main characters that are easily identified on TVTropes (especially the enigmatic bishi, or the noblewoman villain), or all the screaming in combat.
My least favorite, however? Here's the world. Here's how the world works, with this new power thingy tacked on. Here's the limitation on that power. Now here's the main protagonist, who doesn't have to follow those rules.
Bonus points if the reason he doesn't have to follow the rules is because he's so highly trained and disciplined. That's just shorthand for "You must love the rulebreaker, because he has a greater moral purity than you." He's the best, so he's the hero? No. Hell no.
These aren't strictly anime, though. However, they're what I notice when people try to add more "anime feel" in their games. Otherwise, enjoy, add more anime to your and my game, that's cool.
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What bothers me are things like female hypersexualization and casual sexism, mood swings (with or without face faults), stock main characters that are easily identified on TVTropes (especially the enigmatic bishi, or the noblewoman villain), or all the screaming in combat.
My least favorite, however? Here's the world. Here's how the world works, with this new power thingy tacked on. Here's the limitation on that power. Now here's the main protagonist, who doesn't have to follow those rules.
Bonus points if the reason he doesn't have to follow the rules is because he's so highly trained and disciplined. That's just shorthand for "You must love the rulebreaker, because he has a greater moral purity than you." He's the best, so he's the hero? No. Hell no.
Sorry to go slightly off-topic, but I would recommend Akatsuki no Yona (aka Yona of the Dawn). Aside from simply being one of my favorite works of fiction ever, it's a huge breath of fresh air from all those things you mentioned.
When I ran Age of Worms with a ninja, a telepath, a spellthief, and I think a dwarven werebear cleric, a lot of villains met the party like a tomato meets the pavement. In home games, you can be more broken, because the bad guys are broken too.
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I don't know very much about anime.Here are some things that martial characters can do in many anime shows (using their 'ki' or equivalent) but which (generally) only casters could hope to do in Pathfinder:
Slash their sword, emit a wave of destruction in a thirty foot cone.
Put on a burst of speed that looks like teleportation.
Protect an ally by deflecting a hundred arrows at once.
Cut a hold in a wall big enough for a cart to pass through.
Cut an entire galleon in half.
Make their body temporarily impervious to harm.
Run on water.
Air-jump.
Run or jump up a building.
Fall from the sky, shattering the ground but not hurting their legs.
Quickly recover from massive injuries by resting and eating.
Punch someone so hard they smash through a stone pillar.
Survive that being done to them.Some people want high-level Fighters to be able to do this sort of thing in Pathfinder. Others want the game to be more gritty and realistic (for non-casters) and say these things are 'too anime'. Hence threads like this.
I belong to the first. I do want my martials doing those thingss, or most of them.
I feel as someone who has tried and failed to have people all use the same language with regards to well... anything, that it is in effect tilting at a windmill. Everyone has their own language and it is a rare person who would change it. Everyone here has their own definition of what is martial or magical with very limited overlap.
Language both shapes and is shaped by thought processes. The fact that no two people truly think alike means that they will both process language at least slightly differently.
I belong to the first. I do want my martials doing those thingss, or most of them.I don't know very much about anime.Here are some things that martial characters can do in many anime shows (using their 'ki' or equivalent) but which (generally) only casters could hope to do in Pathfinder:
Slash their sword, emit a wave of destruction in a thirty foot cone.
Put on a burst of speed that looks like teleportation.
Protect an ally by deflecting a hundred arrows at once.
Cut a hold in a wall big enough for a cart to pass through.
Cut an entire galleon in half.
Make their body temporarily impervious to harm.
Run on water.
Air-jump.
Run or jump up a building.
Fall from the sky, shattering the ground but not hurting their legs.
Quickly recover from massive injuries by resting and eating.
Punch someone so hard they smash through a stone pillar.
Survive that being done to them.Some people want high-level Fighters to be able to do this sort of thing in Pathfinder. Others want the game to be more gritty and realistic (for non-casters) and say these things are 'too anime'. Hence threads like this.
That is where something like Spheres of Power is great. Between the Sphere system and the Magic traditions you can create an Anime style fighting art.
Human Fighter at First level; Take Basic Magical Training and Advanced Magical Training.
This gives you 1 Sphere, 1+ (Caster Stat) Spell Points, you count as a Low Caster and can take a Magic Tradition.
You take (as an Example)
Elf Dimension Style which you learned from the great elf warrior Puck.
Elf Dimension Sword Style
Drawbacks: Draining Casting, Focus Casting (Weapon)
Boons: Fortified Casting
This translates into
-You need to have a Weapon to cast spells
-Each spell you cast causes Non-lethal damage due to the effort
-You use you Con as your Caster Attribute.
For your 1 Sphere you take Destruction
So at 1st level we have a fighter who can make an attack that blasts people at Close range (25'+5'/2 levels) and inflicts 1d6 bludgeoning damage. He has to use his Sword as the focus of the strike, so visually the blast comes from a powerful sword strike. Each time he does so however he takes 1 non-lethal damage. The damage of the blast and the damage he takes performing a move will increase as he gains levels.
As he gains levels he can use his regular Feats to buy some extra talents and improve the Sphere.
EX: He could take Sculpt Blast to make Cone and Line attacks
He could learn Crafted Blast allowing him to change the damage type to Piercing or Slashing
He Could learn Force Blast to make the attack a Force Effect
He could learn Air Blast to be able to just blow enemies away from him with just the Wind Pressure of his swing.
He can learn Energy Blade to combine the Blast with his normal Melee attacks
By 10th level you now have a Fighter who can Slash a Boat at 50' for 10d6 slashing damage.
That particular attack would cost him 1 Spell Point (or Chi or Mana or whatever you choose to call it) of which he has a number equal to his Con modifier and inflict 3 non-lethal to himself due to the effort.
but he did a pretty good number on the boat.
Spheres is fun like that, yeah. XD I suppose I prefer systems that... allow people to create much of their own flavor for the game.
So basicly they charge you to fill in the blanks.
I could never get anyone in playing gurps. I had all the toon books.
What I didn't have is a way around their awful experience system that gave a level to only one character.
Not exactly. What they do is give you lots of components, and you can assemble them yourself into something that matches the character you want to play. If you're looking for the easy route, they have samples, so you don't actually have to come up with something on your own unless you really want to.
It's really no different than picking something like a Wizard School or a Sorcerer Bloodline. Ultimately, every character comes with some fill in the blank stuff, and Spheres just happens to be very good at it.
So basicly they charge you to fill in the blanks.
I could never get anyone in playing gurps. I had all the toon books.
What I didn't have is a way around their awful experience system that gave a level to only one character.Or an understanding of either the rules or point of TOON!
It doesn't have levels and everyone gets plot points as long as they do stuff.
The guy at the convention running it didn't get it.
If spheres of power is 100% compatible with Pathfinder, I might get it, eventually. Might get unchained first.
Unchained has some nice options in it as well.
Stamina Combat ups the Combat Feats a wee bit when in the hands of ... well any class the DM decides gets Stamina combat.
I'm a fan of Grouped Skills cause that really evens out the whole Skill Point divide
Lots of different magic options
and Dynamic Magic Item creation is a permanent part of my games now, it not only makes Crafting more of an in game event instead of just "I plunk down a bunch of coin and take a few days off" but it also helps reduce that Wealth by level gap Crafters tend to create. Base Crafting Cost = 85% instead of 50%. Events during the crafting process can bring it down but generally not without the Crafter getting help from other people. If they want to keep the prices down Crafting ends up being a group thing instead of just the mage locked in his lab.
I actually do own Spheres. My only concern with it is whether using it is too niche.
I actually do own Spheres. My only concern with it is whether using it is too niche.
@Rosita - can you explain this? Too niche in-game or too niche with regard to finding games/players/it will restrict who you can play with?
@Greylurker - thanks for the example of building stuff with SoP. Probably the best advertisement for a much vaunted book I (up until now) have no understanding of. I will now likely get SoP based mostly on your post.
Oh, and place me squarely in the League. Don't mind a bit of fantasy in my anime at all. Or vice versa.
Though TBH I'm really more of a manga fan of Masamune Shirow (Appleseed/Dominion:Tank Police/Black Magic/Orion/(wish I had Intron Depot)) and of course, my heart will always belong to the entire manga run of Miyazaki's Nausicaä.
Oh, and place me squarely in the League. Don't mind a bit of fantasy in my anime at all. Or vice versa.
Though TBH I'm really more of a manga fan of Masamune Shirow (Appleseed/Dominion:Tank Police/Black Magic/Orion/(wish I had Intron Depot)) and of course, my heart will always belong to the entire manga run of Miyazaki's Nausicaä.
Big fan of Shirow's stuff myself, although the new book he's doing with Rikudo Koshi caught me a little off guard.
not a creative combo you would expect to see.
Hi guys, i actually made a thread the other day about how to incorporate "anime" style abilities and more utility to all characters.
Please click here and provide some feedback for me. I think that this could be used to bring more "anime" into pathfinder quite easily
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Hi guys, i actually made a thread the other day about how to incorporate "anime" style abilities and more utility to all characters.
Please click here and provide some feedback for me. I think that this could be used to bring more "anime" into pathfinder quite easily
It takes an entire thread to say "Path of War"? :P
Oh, and place me squarely in the League. Don't mind a bit of fantasy in my anime at all. Or vice versa.
Though TBH I'm really more of a manga fan of Masamune Shirow (Appleseed/Dominion:Tank Police/Black Magic/Orion/(wish I had Intron Depot)) and of course, my heart will always belong to the entire manga run of Miyazaki's Nausicaä.
Big fan of Shirow's stuff myself, although the new book he's doing with Rikudo Koshi caught me a little off guard.
not a creative combo you would expect to see.
Wait, Shirow's doing something new that isn't porn?
Wait, Shirow's doing something new that isn't porn?Oh, and place me squarely in the League. Don't mind a bit of fantasy in my anime at all. Or vice versa.
Though TBH I'm really more of a manga fan of Masamune Shirow (Appleseed/Dominion:Tank Police/Black Magic/Orion/(wish I had Intron Depot)) and of course, my heart will always belong to the entire manga run of Miyazaki's Nausicaä.
Big fan of Shirow's stuff myself, although the new book he's doing with Rikudo Koshi caught me a little off guard.
not a creative combo you would expect to see.
I want to say yes....but it's a close shave. Sort of Not enough to get censored, but just enough that you don't want other people to catch you reading it.
It's a Yuri Action Comedy.From what I understand he did the writing and Rikudo did the art, because Shirow felt his own art style wasn't a good match for the story..
I actually do own Spheres. My only concern with it is whether using it is too niche.@Rosita - can you explain this? Too niche in-game or too niche with regard to finding games/players/it will restrict who you can play with?
The second.
The second.I actually do own Spheres. My only concern with it is whether using it is too niche.@Rosita - can you explain this? Too niche in-game or too niche with regard to finding games/players/it will restrict who you can play with?
It's a very good system but there are always players who fight tooth and nail to avoid anything "different"
There is one guy in my group who won't give up Vancian Spellcasting until we pry it out of his cold dead fingers.
If he wants to hold onto it, fine. It's when people insist YOU have to hold on to it as well that the problems start.The second.I actually do own Spheres. My only concern with it is whether using it is too niche.@Rosita - can you explain this? Too niche in-game or too niche with regard to finding games/players/it will restrict who you can play with?It's a very good system but there are always players who fight tooth and nail to avoid anything "different"
There is one guy in my group who won't give up Vancian Spellcasting until we pry it out of his cold dead fingers.
yeah he's not that bad, he just won't play if we run a game with a different magic system. Won't even show up, which is a shame cause I normally like having our whole group there.
Anyway Shifting back to Topic.
Anime is a very visual medium, that's part of it's attraction. Now we can't draw a picture of every fight but you can encourage more detailed descriptions.
Try incorporating a Stunt system. Let players describe awesome attacks and reward them for it. If you thnk what they are doing needs a skill check have the roll their skill against the CMD of the monster.
The better and cooler their description the more Bonuses they get on the skill roll.
If the roll succeeds come up with some cool benefit that fits what they described.
This works much better in a system that heavily penalizes anything more than a 5' step. Sometimes you can make it work, but there aren't that many awesome attacks that involve standing still and the Bonus from the Stunt system isn't likely to match being able to make their full attack.Anyway Shifting back to Topic.
Anime is a very visual medium, that's part of it's attraction. Now we can't draw a picture of every fight but you can encourage more detailed descriptions.
Try incorporating a Stunt system. Let players describe awesome attacks and reward them for it. If you thnk what they are doing needs a skill check have the roll their skill against the CMD of the monster.
The better and cooler their description the more Bonuses they get on the skill roll.
If the roll succeeds come up with some cool benefit that fits what they described.
What if you combine it with Unchained's Revised Action Economy or Removed Iterative Attacks?
If he wants to hold onto it, fine. It's when people insist YOU have to hold on to it as well that the problems start.The second.I actually do own Spheres. My only concern with it is whether using it is too niche.@Rosita - can you explain this? Too niche in-game or too niche with regard to finding games/players/it will restrict who you can play with?It's a very good system but there are always players who fight tooth and nail to avoid anything "different"
There is one guy in my group who won't give up Vancian Spellcasting until we pry it out of his cold dead fingers.
I'm looking at Spheres of Power as a metaphysical system more fitting how I view magic working in my campaign setting, and as a means of reining in spellcasters a bit. In adopting it, I would remove Vancian magic as an option altogeter. I feel like Vancian characters just have too many options at the same time.
This works much better in a system that heavily penalizes anything more than a 5' step. Sometimes you can make it work, but there aren't that many awesome attacks that involve standing still and the Bonus from the Stunt system isn't likely to match being able to make their full attack.Anyway Shifting back to Topic.
Anime is a very visual medium, that's part of it's attraction. Now we can't draw a picture of every fight but you can encourage more detailed descriptions.
Try incorporating a Stunt system. Let players describe awesome attacks and reward them for it. If you thnk what they are doing needs a skill check have the roll their skill against the CMD of the monster.
The better and cooler their description the more Bonuses they get on the skill roll.
If the roll succeeds come up with some cool benefit that fits what they described.
What if you combine it with Unchained's Revised Action Economy or Removed Iterative Attacks?
Thinking about it, but I'm not sure.
Who's with me here?
'Sup? :)
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I don't see how looking at what the setting treats as magical is somehow more arbitrary than just saying "anything unrealistic is automatically magical no matter what setting we're looking at".You think a dividing line between "violates the laws of physics" and "doesn't violate the laws of physics" is arbitrary?
So by your standard nothing over level 5 is non-magical. At that point you exceed anything a human could ever do with normal skill use.
I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of anime tropes in my RPGs, but all the combat/non-caster going over the top stuff doesn't bother me that much.
What bothers me are things like female hypersexualization and casual sexism, mood swings (with or without face faults), stock main characters that are easily identified on TVTropes (especially the enigmatic bishi, or the noblewoman villain), or all the screaming in combat.
My least favorite, however? Here's the world. Here's how the world works, with this new power thingy tacked on. Here's the limitation on that power. Now here's the main protagonist, who doesn't have to follow those rules.
Bonus points if the reason he doesn't have to follow the rules is because he's so highly trained and disciplined. That's just shorthand for "You must love the rulebreaker, because he has a greater moral purity than you." He's the best, so he's the hero? No. Hell no.
These aren't strictly anime, though. However, they're what I notice when people try to add more "anime feel" in their games. Otherwise, enjoy, add more anime to your and my game, that's cool.
As someone who has been watching anime for 2 decades, I can't really identify these complaints.
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As someone who has been watching anime for 2 decades, I can't really identify these complaints.I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of anime tropes in my RPGs, but all the combat/non-caster going over the top stuff doesn't bother me that much.
What bothers me are things like female hypersexualization and casual sexism, mood swings (with or without face faults), stock main characters that are easily identified on TVTropes (especially the enigmatic bishi, or the noblewoman villain), or all the screaming in combat.
My least favorite, however? Here's the world. Here's how the world works, with this new power thingy tacked on. Here's the limitation on that power. Now here's the main protagonist, who doesn't have to follow those rules.
Bonus points if the reason he doesn't have to follow the rules is because he's so highly trained and disciplined. That's just shorthand for "You must love the rulebreaker, because he has a greater moral purity than you." He's the best, so he's the hero? No. Hell no.
These aren't strictly anime, though. However, they're what I notice when people try to add more "anime feel" in their games. Otherwise, enjoy, add more anime to your and my game, that's cool.
indeed. I was lost the moment tv tropes was mentioned.