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nerdythebard · 3 years ago

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#27: Athena, Goddess of Wisdom

She had to make her appearance eventually, Gods and Goddesses.

Athena is probably one of the most famous deities. Daughter of Zeus, born despite his schemes, ready to defend the people and Olympus. Contrary to Ares's bloodshed, she represents strategy, military wisdom and careful planning. Spoiler alert: we're not making her a Battle Master ;)

Next Time: HAVE YOU EVER HEARD THE JAGUAR CRY TO THE BLUE CORN MOON!?

Let's see what we need for the SMITE version of Athena to appear in our D&D game:

Ultimate Defender: Even bigger protector than Artio, Athena is a Guardian with High Crowd Control and High Defence.

Reach for the Sky: Athena uses long-reach attacks and her Ultimate allows her to appear by her companion's side for some extra protection.

You and what Army: Athena can summon the Defenders of Olympus to form a shield wall around her, as well as taunt and goad enemies into fighting her.

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I know I've done this before many-a-times, but I really have no choice here. Athena is a guardian, she has the divine blood of Zeus in her veins... I have to make her a Protector Aasimar. We get a +2 Charisma and +1 Wisdom, 60 feet of Darkvision, resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, ability to speak Common and Celestial, the Light cantrip, and Healing Hands, which lets us recover Hit Points equal to our level once per long rest.

We're going to take the City Watch background, which gives us proficiencies in Athletics and Insight, two languages of our choice, but we're actually going to customize it and replace the Watcher's Eye feature with Legal Authority from the Inquisitor background. This allows us to become a representative of the law, pass judgments and sometimes even carry out the sentence. Basically, we can now tell those who attempt to invade Olympus

ABILITY SCORES

Strength will be first, our weapon is a spear and those are not labelled as finesse. Next is Constitution, we need to be able to take hits. Follow that up with Wisdom, it's kinda our thing, especially when it comes to strategy.

Charisma will be next, it's important for a good leader (and a proud crafter). Dexterity is a bit lower than I would like it to be, but in SMITE Athena is not the quick-and-nimble type. Finally, we're dumping Intelligence. We really need other abilities more, plus it wasn't a smart decision to punish Arachne for winning a competition.

CLASS

Once again, I'm putting a small twist on the prediction and I think this is the first time on the blog we're doing this.

Level 1 - Paladin: We start with the divine warrior. Paladins get a d10 Hit Dice, [10 + Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, proficiencies with light armour, medium armour, heavy armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. In the artwork, we see that Athena is not turtled-up in armour, so giving her a half-plate in addition to a spear and a shield seems like a good option. Our saving throws are Wisdom and Charisma, and we get to choose two class skills (Intimidation and Persuasion).

We start by getting Divine Sense, which informs us of any celestial, fiends, or undead within 60 feet of us. We know the type, but not what the creature actually is.

Lay on Hands is similar to our racial ability, Healing Hands. We have a pool of healing energy, equal to [our Paladin level x5] which restores itself at each long rest. As an action, we can touch a creature and restore its Hit Points by whatever points we have left in the pool. Alternatively, we can spend 5 points to remove one disease or poison from the target.

Level 2 - Paladin: We get Divine Smite. Whenever we hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, we can burn a spell slot to add extra 2d8 radiant damage (+1d8 for each spell slot above 1st-level to a maximum of 5d8). Damage increases by 1d8 if the enemy is a fiend or an undead.

We also get to pick a Fighting Style. To fulfil Athena's role as a guardian, we're once again going to pick Interception. Whenever a creature within 5 feet of us is hit by an attack, we can use our reaction to reduce the damage by [1d10 + our proficiency bonus]. We must be wielding a shield or a simple/martial weapon.

Paladins also get Spellcasting. Charisma is our casting ability, and we do not learn cantrips or rituals. Paladins have access to their full spell list and can each day prepare [Charisma modifier + half of Paladin level rounded down] spells. We start with two 1st-level spell slots:

Divine Favour bathes us in divine light and power, allowing our weapon attacks to deal extra 1d4 radiant damage for 1 minute (concentration).

Heroism increases your allies' morale. Until the spell ends (1 minute, concentration), one willing creature we touch is immune to being frightened and gain Temporary Hit Points equal to our casting ability modifier at the start of each turn.

Shield of Faith surrounds one creature of our choice within range (60 feet) for 10 minutes (concentration), granting it a +2 AC bonus.

Level 3 - Paladin: With Divine Health we are now immune to disease. We also get to pick our subclass, our Sacred Oath. Athena is a devoted protector of her city and the gods, so making her take the Oath of the Crown, to uphold the spirit of the nation and service to law seems fitting. We start by getting some Oath Spells; those are always prepared for us and don't count against the total number of spells known:

Command forces a Wisdom saving throw onto one creature within 60 feet of us, as we utter a single-word demand. On a failed save, the target is compelled to execute that command to the best of their ability at the beginning of their next turn. The command cannot force the target to harm themselves.

Compelled Duel forces one creature within 30 feet to turn their attention towards us and fight one-on-one, provided they fail a Wisdom saving throw. For the duration (1 minute, concentration), the compelled target has a disadvantage on attacks made against targets other than us and must make a Wisdom saving throw when attempting to move more than 30 feet away from us.

We also gain access to the Cleric's Channel Divinity. Once per short or long rest, we can use one of the two effects listed below:

Champion Challenge acts similarly to the Compelled Duel spell, as it prevents creatures who fail a Wisdom saving throw to move further than 30 feet from us. The difference is, this ability affects every creature within 30 feet radius.

Turn the Tide lets us use our bonus action to bolster the injured. Each creature of our choice within 30 feet of us regain [1d6 + our Charisma modifier] Hit Points, provided they have no more than half of their Hit Points.

Level 4 - Paladin: Time for our first Ability Score Improvement. We will, however, take the Spear Mastery feat instead. We gain a +1 to attack rolls made with our spear, the damage dice of the spear change from a d6 to d8, we can use our bonus action to extend the spear's reach by 5 feet until the end of our turn, and finally, we can prepare ourselves for a charge. If a creature that we can see within 20 feet of us gets within our spear's reach on its next turn, we can use a reaction to make an attack against it that deals additional 1d8 damage. If the creature used Disengage before, we're not getting the opportunity.

We can also grab another spell: Protection from Evil and Good grants one willing creature we touch protection from aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. Attack rolls against the target are made with a disadvantage, and the target cannot be charmed or frightened by the aforementioned creatures.

Level 5 - Paladin: With Extra Attack we can now attack twice instead of once during a single Attack action.

We also unlock 2nd-level spells and gain two spells from our subclass spell list:

Warding Bond ties up to one target within 60 feet of us. For 1 hour the target gains a +1 bonus to AC and saving throws, and resistance to all forms of damage. Additionally, whenever the target takes damage we take the same amount of damage.

Zone of Truth creates a 15-foot-radius sphere at a point within 60 feet of us for 10 minutes. Creatures inside the sphere must make a Wisdom saving throw or become unable to lie as long as they remain within the sphere's boundaries. They are not compelled to answer, however.

Level 6 - Paladin: We get our first Aura option. With the Aura of Protection, whenever a friendly creature within 10 feet of us must make a saving throw, it gains a bonus equal to our Charisma modifier.

We also get another spell: Magic Weapon transforms our non-magical weapon into a magical one, for the purpose of overcoming resistances and immunities. Until the spell ends (1 hour, concentration), we also get a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls done with the weapon.

Level 7 - Barbarian: Surprise! I believe it's the first time we jump into the rage machine. I can already hear you saying 'Ares should've been a barbarian!'. Maybe. Maybe not. Hear me out, though: Athena's rage is cold and calculated. Precise and bottled up, to be unleashed only when necessary.

Multiclassing into Barbarian doesn't give us any new proficiencies or skills, but we do get the Unarmoured Defence. When we're not wearing armour, our AC equals [10 + our Dexterity modifier + our Constitution modifier]. Unlike Monks, we still get this benefit even if wielding a shield.

We also get access to the Barbarian's key feature...

As a bonus action, the Barbarian can Rage and gain the following benefits (provided they're not wearing heavy armour):

Advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws

Bonus to damage rolls (+2; changes as we level up) for weapons that use Strength

Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage

The rage lasts for 1 minute (unless we dismiss it earlier, are knocked unconscious, fail to attack a target on our turn or taken damage during such) and while it's on, we cannot cast spells. For now, we can Rage twice before taking a long rest.

Level 8 - Barbarian: We gain Danger Sense, to better detect hostility. If we're not blinded, deafened or incapacitated, we have an advantage on Dexterity saving throws for effects we can see, such as traps and spells.

We can also forget about defence when making a Reckless Attack. When making our first attack on our turn, we can choose to do it recklessly. This gives us an advantage on melee weapon attacks that use Strength on our turn, but until the end of our next turn, all attacks made against us also have an advantage.

Level 9 - Barbarian: We can now Rage three times per long rest.

We also get to pick our second subclass, our Primal Path. And this is the moment where we get our Athenian warriors with the Path of the Ancestral Guardian. With Ancestral Protectors, we can call upon spectral warriors of the past which hinder the attacks of the first creature we hit while Raging. Until the end of our next turn, the target has a disadvantage on all attacks that aren't against us and when other creatures attack the target, they gain resistance to the damage type of the attack they make.

Level 10 - Barbarian: Halfway through the build and we're getting another ASI. We're gonna raise our Dexterity by 2 points.

Level 11 - Barbarian: Normally, we would've gained Extra Attack here, but we've already got it from our Paladin levels and they do not stack. We do, however, get Fast Movement which increases our movement speed by 10 feet provided we're not wearing heavy armour.

Level 12 - Barbarian: We can now Rage up to four times per long rest.

We get a new subclass upgrade. With Spirit Shield, our ancestral spirits now provide aid to those we defend. While we're raging, and a creature we can see within 30 feet of us takes damage, we can reduce the damage by 2d6.

Level 13 - Barbarian: At this point, our Feral Instincts are so sharp we have an advantage on our Initiative rolls.

Level 14 - Barbarian: Time for another ASI. Let's round up our Strength and put the other point into Dexterity.

Level 15 - Barbarian: Our additional damage while raging now becomes a +3.

We now get a Brutal Critical. Whenever we score a critical hit (Natural 20), apart from doubling our weapon damage die, we roll one more of the same die and add it to the score.

Level 16 - Barbarian: At this point, our Spirit Shield reduces the damage dealt to our allies by 3d6.

We also get another subclass upgrade. With Consult the Spirits, we can now use our ancestral warriors to cast either the Augury or Clairvoyance spells without a spell slot or material components once per short or long rest.

Level 17 - Barbarian: With Relentless Rage, we can now fight despite death. If we drop to 0 Hit Points while raging (and don't get damaged enough to insta-kill us), we can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw and gain 1 Hit Point on a success. Each time we use this feature after the first, the DC raises by 5 and resets after we finish a short or long rest.

Level 18 - Barbarian: We get the final ASI of the build and we put two points into our Dexterity. We can also now Rage five times before rest.

Level 19 - Barbarian: Our Brutal Critical increases to two additional dice when scoring a Natural 20.

Level 20 - Barbarian: We end with Barbarian 14, which ends with another subclass upgrade. With Vengeful Ancestors, we can truly pull the Uno Reverse Card. When we use our Spirit Shield (which now reduces damage by 4d6), besides just reducing damage, the spirits now deal force damage to the target, equal to the damage prevented.

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And that is Eda Athena, the Owl Lady! Let's see what we got:

To start off, we're a tank with many protection options for both us and our allies. With increased movement, advantages on initiative and damage-dealing rolls, plus some protection spells, we can easily lead and strategize.

With a half-plate and a shield our AC is 17, we have a +2 to our Initiative, 40 feet of movement, and an average HP of 175.

Unfortunately, our spell repertoire is not great, negative modifier to our Intelligence (if you want to fix that, be sure to hunt for the Headband of Intellect), and no ability maxed to 20.

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Okay, I think this is not a bad build. As always, treat these as suggestions and modify your own builds as you please. I hope you've enjoyed yourselves and I'll see you in the next one!

- Nerdy out!

#smite #hirez smite #protector aasimar #aasimar #dnd build #dnd #d&d 5e #dungeons and dragons #greek gods #athena #paladin #oath of the crown #barbarian #ancestral guardian

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allthefilmsiveseenforfree · 3 years ago

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Old (2021)

Oh you guys. You guyyyyyys. Buckle the fuck up, I am so pumped to tell you about this absolutely GONZO mummified deuce of a movie. Spoilers will be had in this one, because you need to know everything.

Old is the latest from M. Night Shyamalan and like....I think we all know M. Night’s track record. For every Sixth Sense, we also get a Happening or a Village. In some ways, he’s the most exciting director working today because every new film is a 50/50 coin toss, and mama loves living on the edge. The gist of this latest roll of the dice is that a group of different families who have all come to stay at a remote luxury beach resort get invited to go to a secluded private beach for the day, and after they arrive they discover they can’t leave. That’s not great, but the bigger problem is that they seem to be aging rapidly - like 2 years older every hour or so. That’s a solid “how are we gonna get outta this one” bottle episode premise, and in the hands of a better writer, it could be a fun sci-fi romp. M. is NOT that writer.

Some thoughts:

I should have known it would all go wrong from the terrible foreshadowing starting at the very beginning scene. The mom of our main family, Prisca (Vicky Krieps) says “You have such a beautiful voice, I can’t wait to hear it when you’re older.” The dad, Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) says, “Don’t rush this moment, enjoy the present while you can.” BECAUSE THE CHARACTERS WON’T BE ABLE TO LATER, DO YOU GET IT? dO yOU GEt iT? Wife leaned over and said “look at all the ferns - the oldest plants!” That last one was probably her projecting, but the point stands: there is nothing subtle about Old.

There’s a lot of just like, shouting out loud the things that are currently happening onscreen. “She’s having a seizure!” “People who go back the way we came black out!” “The rust has entered your bloodstream; it acts like poison!” That’s how you tell stories, right? Just having characters point out events that are occurring right in front of their stupid fucking faces with no other commentary or reflection?

An additional element that feels woefully ignorant at best and malicious at worst is the inclusion of a black male character (Aaron Pierre) who 1) is a rapper 2) is named Mid-Sized Sedan [I’ll give you a moment to deal with that detail emotionally] 3) says the single line of dialogue “Damn.” at least 4 times and 4) suffers the bloodiest, most violent onscreen death at the hands of a racist white man who is revealed to have paranoid schizophrenia. There are other gruesome deaths onscreen, to be sure, but the worst are body horror nightmares that could never occur in the real world - a woman whose bones are breaking and setting in the wrong position nearly instantaneously until she resembles a horrifying spider creature, and the aforementioned rust-in-the-bloodstream trick that leads to a Jeff-Goldblum-in-The Fly-bubbling-skin infection kinda deal. But Mid-Sized Sedan just gets stabbed in the chest repeatedly, brutally, a bunch of times by a white guy who pleads fear for his life even though MSS posed no danger to him, and it all happens onscreen when so many other characters are offered the mercy of offscreen deaths. I’m not sure if M. is trying to throw some real-world horror in and he’s just shit at it, or if it really didn’t occur to him how malicious this inclusion feels in a fantasy narrative, and I don’t really care. If you have a black character in your story and they die, you better think really long and hard about how it happens and what it means and it’s clear no one did that here.

Nothing to do with the film itself, but it did tickle me that someone brought a tiny infant to my pretty packed screening. The baby was very chill, thank goodness, and as far as I know did not age up to a kindergartner during the course of the film.

There is a Very Good Dog, a Yorkie, present for the first part of the film, but unfortunately the dog dies. It occurs offscreen, and given the premise of what’s going on on this beach, it’s not a shock when it happens BUT STILL.

The old age makeup, at least on Prisca is pretty great. Good job makeup department!

At one point, Guy gets attacked by another beachgoer, and his eyesight is failing so he has a hard time fighting back. But you are surrounded by sand, my dude, and you can still see blurry shapes. You’re not gonna throw some sand in the eyes until you’ve been stabbed like 10 times? Not gonna try to push him down, or sweep the fucking leg, or do anything but just keep raising your arms and getting stabbed while yelling “I’ll protect you!” I’ve seen stale tuna sandwiches with better defense mechanisms than you.

Like most fantastical premises, there are only a certain number of ways this narrative can end that really make any sense. It reminds me quite a bit of 2019’s Brightburn which was like “what if Superman but evil?” Either everyone is gonna die, or someone is going to improbably survive and you better have a real neat explanation for how that’s possible. Oh M. Night, when will you realize that your explanations are never as clever as you think they are? There’s no “twist” here really, simply a reveal, and it’s the equivalent of eating one of those sugar-free, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free snack cakes I broke down and ate out of desperation when I was on Weight Watchers. That shit is “food” in the same way that the climax is a “logical explanation for all this.” Big Pharma is luring sick people to the resort through targeted ads, then arranging these excursions to the wacky time beach in order to test how medicine they secretly slipped into the guests’ drinks works over decades of life. These sneaky medical breakthroughs are saving hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, we’re told, and the scientists offer a moment of silence for each fallen group of unwitting human lab rats after they inevitably die. Because if there’s one thing the world needs right now, it’s more distrust of pharmaceutical companies and the ethics of modern science! I can’t think of one possible reason we’d want to portray molecular biologists, immunologists, and virologists in a positive light right now, can you? When will those assholes get off their high horses and stop being universally trusted and beloved by everyone, am I right??

My saddest takeaway, tbh, is that this is a stacked international cast, with at least half the roles going to POC - this is the future liberals want, etc etc - and the result is THIS.

Did I Cry? Of course not.

Not all is terrible! It’s a beautiful movie to look at, because M. Night’s direction is never the problem, but combined with the script, the acting, and the absurd narrative leaps needed to make this story make even a little bit of sense, the whole thing turns into a mess. Unfortunately, getting Old with M. Night is less “leisurely retirement at a plush resort in Florida” and more “rancid can of Ensure and a poop-choked pair of Depends.”

If you liked this review, please consider reblogging or subscribing to my Patreon! For as low as $1, you can access bonus content and movie reviews, or even request that I review any movie of your choice.

#121in2021 #old #old movie #old 2021 #m. night shyamalan #old review #vicky krieps #gael garcia bernal #alex wolff #aaron pierre #movie reviews #film reviews

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grailfinders · 3 years ago

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Fate and Phantasms #175

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re entering the Dead Heat Summer Race! That’s right, we’re finally doing some Summer servants... in the Summer! We’re still a year off, but at least they’ve got the spirit!

As an added challenge, I’ll make sure all the teams get their own car! Fran & Maid Alter get a pass since they’re teamed up with people that already have cars (Babbage & Nero, respectively), but the others will all have their own vehicles to ride!

Anyways, today we’re building Nero Claudius... again. I promise this is... probably(?) the last time. She’s a Creation Bard to build up her golden theater on the sea as well as a sick car. She’s also a Draconic Soul Sorcerer to grab those giant guns she’s got on her back.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Team Electric Steam feat. Papa!

Race and Background

Nero is still a Human Noble. This gives her +1 to any two stats, and her Constitution and Charisma will need rounding up in a second, so go with those. She also gets proficiency with History, Persuasion, and Performance, plus the Lucky feat to re-roll her attacks, saves, and checks plus incoming attacks three times per long rest. You might be in a bikini, but you’re still the emperor. You get what you want, and what you want is just about everything.

Ability Scores

Surprising no one, your Charisma is your highest stat. The race was basically a popularity contest, and you won almost every leg of it. Second is Dexterity- you’re fighting in either a dress or a swimsuit, but in either case it’s definitely not armor. Your Constitution is next, races take a while and there’s no time to stop for snacks, so you’ll have to toughen up a bit. After that is Intelligence. You’re flighty, not dumb. Your Strength isn’t amazing, you don’t really need big muscles to look good, but we’re dumping Wisdom. It wouldn’t be high at the best of times, and the caster class suits you to a dangerous degree.

Class Levels

1. Sorcerer 1: Starting off as a sorcerer may get you less health and fewer proficiencies, but you still get Constitution and Charisma saves, as well as Arcana and Religion. You’re a caster now, it’s time to act like one.

The big reason we’re starting here right away is for the goody you get from being a Draconic Bloodline sorcerer, Draconic Resilience. Thanks to your great-great-great-great-great-grandparent Dragon Ancestor being a red dragon, you get an extra 1 hp for each level of this class, as well as a doubled proficiency bonus on charisma checks involving dragons.

You also get an unarmored defense of 13 + your dexterity modifier. Now you can wear a swimsuit anywhere you like without issues. I’d still recommend you don’t meet the king dressed like that, but you’re a noble, I’m sure he’s already expecting a bit of eccentricity.

You can also cast Spells using your Charisma, grab Light and Minor Illusion to put on a good show, Sword Burst so you can actually use a sword (we’ll get better options later), and Magic Missile and Create Bonfire for some quick shots from your cannons. You also get Absorb Elements, because this and Blade Ward are the easiest to get “weakness nullifying” spells, and this one’s actually good.

2. Bard 1: Bouncing over to bard real quick gives you another set of Spells that also use Charisma. You also get Bardic Inspiration, d6s you can hand out as a bonus action to allies. While they have one, they can add it to an attack, save, or check they have to make. You have Charisma Modifier inspiration dice to give out per long rest.

You do whatever you want, and while Prestidigitation isn’t quite that open-ended, it’s still pretty good for a single spell. You also get Friends, Command and Charm Person to be your usual charming self. Grab Cure Wounds for just a touch of healing, and Feather Fall. You’ve got giant metal wings, they should be good for something, right?

You get proficiency with Animal Handling as well.

3. Bard 2: Second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, adding half their proficiency bonus to all ability checks. You can also perform a Song of Rest on short rests, adding 1d6 to healing done. Your dulcet tones inspire everyone around you! (Usually to put as much distance between themselves and you as possible, but hush)

Your inspiration also turns into Magical Inspiration- creatures can use your inspiration to add to their spell’s damage or healing potential.

Finally, you get the spell Unearthly Chorus, which doesn’t have any damage or healing potential! It just makes you even better at charisma checks. It’s also very flavorful for someone about to open a theater.

4. Bard 3: Third level bards graduate from their college, and the College of Creation will one day allow you to afford a car! For now, you only have a Note of Potential, adding extra effects to your inspiration depending on how they’re used. Adding one to an ability check gives the user advantage on the die roll. Adding it to an attack roll deals thunder damage to the target and each creature next to it that fails a constitution save. Adding it to a saving throw adds temporary hp to the user equal to the roll plus your charisma modifier.

You know how I just said you only have the note? We lied. You can also make a Performance of Creation once per long rest or by spending a second level spell slot. You can create any nonmagical item, as long as it is worth less than 20 times your bard level in GP, and medium or smaller. Neither of those restrictions will help you make a car, but they’ll improve as you level up.

Finally, you get Expertise in Animal Handling and Arcana, doubling your proficiency bonus in both skills.

For your spell, Enhance Ability makes it easier to do whatever you set your mind to, giving advantage on one kind of ability check for the duration.

5. Bard 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma for stronger spells and more inspiration.

You also learn the Dancing Lights cantrip so you can put on even better shows, and Pyrotechnics for pretty much the same reason. You need an existing source of fire to set it off, but you can always combo it with Create Bonfire in a pinch.

6. Bard 5: Fifth level bards are a Font of Inspiration, recharging your inspiration on short rests instead of long ones. Also, your inspiration grows to d8s.

You can also make a Motivational Speech with a third level spell slot, giving your party temporary HP, advantage on wisdom saves, and advantage on its next attack if it gets hit by an attack.

7. Bard 6: Countercharm is okay, spend an action to give advantage to your party on charm and frightening saves, but we’re really here for your subclass specialties. Your Performance of Creation can make Large objects now, and you can spend an action to make an Animating Performance, turning a large or smaller (gee, that worked out nicely) object into a Dancing Item for up to an hour. It’ll only dodge on its turn unless you use your bonus action to command the thing, but you can inspire people and command it in the same action. You can make a dancing item once per long rest, or by using third level spell slots. Also, you can only have one at a time. I’m pretty sure a functional car in a medieval setting is worth more than 120 gold though, so we’ll work on it some more later.

For your spell, I’d suggest Suggestion, it’s very useful for making the world revolve around you.

8. Sorcerer 2: Second level sorcerers become a Font of Magic (you are just becoming a font for all sorts of crap, huh?), giving you sorcery points equal to your sorcerer level. You can turn spell slots into points, or points into slots, or even cooler stuff next level!

For now, the big new thing is you can cast Shield. Those giant metal wings make it harder to hit you than you’d think.

9. Sorcerer 3: Third level sorcerers get that cooler thing I was just talking about, Metamagic! When you get it now, you get two metamagic options that can alter how your spells work; Heightened spells force disadvantage against their save on one creature they effect, and Twinned spells target two creatures instead of only one (Note: twinned spells only work on spells that target a single creature.)

You also get Scorching Ray, giving you a macross missile massacre of fire out of those organcannons you’re hauling around with you.

10. Bard 7: We’re stopping back in bard real quick to grab your fourth level spell, Hallucinatory Terrain. Somehow you always bring the waterfront with you when you use your NP, and now you really can do that!

11. Sorcerer 4: Use this ASI to max out your Charisma for the best spells possible. Speaking of the best spells possible, you can cast True Strike now for advantage on an attack next turn! You can also cast Shadow Blade so you have a sword you can attack with. A cool, spooky sword that deals psychic damage and has advantage against targets in the dark. Yes, it took us half the build to get a sword, that’s what happens when you’re a cavalry class.

12. Sorcerer 5: Fifth level sorcerers are even better at skill checks now thanks to their Magical Guidance, using your sorcery points to reroll failed checks for, essentially, permanent advantage on whatever you do.

You can also cast Water Walk. Eventually your NP will involve actual water, so you’ll want to be prepared for that. Forcing your whole party to do the doggy paddle every time you want to cut loose isn’t a great look, be a team player here.

13. Sorcerer 6: Our last stop on the sorcerer train is sixth level, giving you an Elemental Affinity for fire. All your fire damage spells get your charisma added to their damage, and you can spend a sorcery point after casting one of them to gain resistance to fire damage for an hour. Always remember to apply sunscreen throughout the day. Now more than ever, that shit gets hot.

To take advantage of this new affinity, you can cast Melf’s Minute Meteors, launching chunks of those cannons off and firing a couple per turn at your enemies, dealing fire damage in a small area around their destination. Creatures have to make a dexterity save, and if they succeed they take half damage. Like scorching ray, these are multiple instances of fire damage, so add your charisma to each one.

14. Bard 8: Back in bard for good now! Use this ASI to bump up your Dexterity so you can start being good with a sword. Just in case that’s still not enough, you can cast Charm Monster now too. You have enough gravitas to bend the authors to your will, I’m sure you can handle a manticore or two.

15. Bard 9: Your Song of Rest grows to 1d8 now, but more importantly you get fifth level spells! Animate Objects is another way to build your car (we’re still 5 levels away from performance of creation building it) or to get your cannon bits into position.

16. Bard 10: Tenth level bards get another cantrip! Honestly, we probably should’ve gotten Mending earlier. Adventuring in an outfit where a single snapped string can completely remove your top isn’t a great idea. You also get Magical Secrets, giving you two spells from any spell list. Flame Blade gives you a more thematically appropriate weapon, and Fireball is a big boom you can fire off.

On top of that, you get another round of Expertise, doubling your proficiency in Performance and Persuasion.

You also get a bigger inspiration, letting you hand out d10s.

17. Bard 11: Eleventh level bards get sixth level spells, like Mass Suggestion. It’s like Suggestion, but for the masses.

18. Bard 12: Use this last ASI to bump up your Dexterity again for a higher AC and better swordplay.

19. Bard 13: Your song of rest increases to a d10 as well, and you get the seventh level spell of champions, Mirage Arcane! If you make an illusion you can really feel, is it still an illusion? Anyways, you can make your golden theater now and the ocean surrounding it, and it all lasts for 10 days!

20. Bard 14: Your capstone level of bard lets you hit a Creative Crescendo, creating up to five items at once when you use your Performance of Creation. One of those objects can be Huge, the rest all have to be Small or smaller. You also don’t have to worry about cost when making objects, so that car is finally within reach!

You also get Magical Secrets again for two more spells. Prismatic Spray gives your golden theater some big ass cannons, creating a 60′ cone of light that deals different kinds of damage and effects. You also get Tenser’s Transformation, turning you from a full caster class into a proper fighter once more. You get temporary HP, permanent advantage on weapon attacks, you deal extra force damage, gain proficiency with all weapons as well as strength and constitution saves, and you can attack twice per action. The downsides are you can’t cast spells and after it ends you have to make a constitution save afterwards to prevent exhaustion, but I think it’s appropriate that we finally gave Nero those migraines she’s always complaining about.

Pros:

As usual, nero’s build is pretty adaptable, with a little bit of everything to help out any dedicated role in the party. She has healing, dps spells, utility, social graces, pretty much all skill checks, and also literally the ability to make whatever item she might need in a given situation.

Tenser’s Transformation is meant to turn wizards into melee fighters, and you’re (more or less) a bard. With almost 200 HP thanks to this spell and the ability to make your own armory, you can turn yourself into a terrifying war god practically at will.

Elemental Affinity can be really scary if you game the system right. Max out a casting of scorching ray to deal 20d6+50 damage to a single target. That’s better than a 9th level fireball. It also gives resistance to one of the most common damage types!

Cons:

Fire is one of the most common damage types, so it’s also one of the most common resistances. You have other stuff to fall back on, but it’ll put a crimp in your style if you go up against fire elementals. Or water elementals. Or fiends. Or- you get the picture.

We don’t improve on physical stats until level 14, which means you’ll be stuck with an AC of 15 for a majority of the game, and your sword skills won’t be that useful until very late in the campaign.

The big moment where the build really comes together as Nero is around level 19-20, meaning most players will never actually reach that point. Sorry guys, Nero is a luxury few can afford.

#fate grand order #FGO #D&D 5e #DND #Nero Claudius (Caster)#Sorcerer #Bard

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itskatastrophe-x · 3 years ago

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Far Off Places (CH 4)

Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 , Chapter 5

Word Count : 3,919

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

When you walk back into the den, Ranboo is writing viscously. You want to ask what he’s writing about or if you could read anything, but decide against it and instead head to the kitchen to make something to eat. The analog clock on your wall reads 12:48. Too late for breakfast, so you pull out some fish, carrots, and broth to make some soup. You hoped that Ranboo would be ok with whatever you made so that maybe he might join you for lunch. You started preparing the fish first and then brought the broth to simmer. Just as you were going to check on Ranboo, he came through the door and he let off a soft grunt as you bumped into him. You gasp in shock and look up at him and laugh. He looks around at the half prepared meal and smiles. “Do you need any help?” He looks back down at you and you shrug. “It’s honestly almost done. All that needs to happen is to dice the carrots and put everything in the broth to boil.” He nods and makes his way to the counter where the carrots are drying and begins to cut them up. You thank him quietly as you dump the fish into the bubbling pot and he hums a happy response back.

You both sit down to eat and chat idly through mouthfuls of warm stew. He talks more about his life living with Phil and Techno, as well as his platonic husband and adopted child. He talks more about the latter, smiling all the while, and you could feel the love and enthusiasm practically radiating off of him with every word he spoke. He told you stories of his kids first moments that he could recall, the journey to the house, and even flipped to a page in a journal where he had hastily drawn a doodle of him in the margin. Michael and Tubbo. The three of them sounded the most trustworthy out of any of them here, and you came to find out that they were some of the youngest people living here.

After lunch was finished, you took to the kitchen to clean and offered to let Ranboo stay for as long as he liked, which he respectfully declined, saying he had things to take care of in Snowchester. You said goodbye from your place at the sink and he turned and left your house, only to come back minutes later to knock on your door and let himself in again. “Did you want to go with me?” You looked at him with a puzzled expression as you set the last dry dish in the cupboard. “What, to Snowchester?” He nodded, an air of caution surrounding him. “If you trust me enough to, I would love to. I haven’t seen anything outside of this house and the surrounding land. It would be good to get out.” He nodded happily and patiently waited as you went to your room to pack a light bag and attach your weapons and fresh armor. When you came back downstairs he was idly messing with the strap of his own bag, completely spaced out.

“So,” you started quietly, snapping him back to reality. “What will I say to anyone we see along the way? No one knows who I am and I doubt they’ll accept a stranger so willingly.” He smiles at you and looks at the clock, as well as flips to a page in his book. “Well, most people will be out doing their own things today at this time. The trip should only take us a little while and not many people live in Snowchester. Foolish has been working on our mansion there but he’s really sweet and accepting. Other than that, we just have to avoid Bad and Ant. They’re with The Egg and we don’t need any of that kind of interaction.” You nod and fasten a buckle on your boots and follow him out the door, turning to lock it, then back to catch up to Ranboo. Curse his long legs.

You both didn’t say much on the journey there. You were mainly amazed by all the sights and buildings. You had to travel through the nether at one point, which he gave you a gold helmet so as not to be attacked. He fought off any of the mobs that neared you so you didn’t make them angry, and also since he had the best armor and weapons. The cobble highway was a sight to behold, you thought. They told you about it the previous day, but you were not expecting this much cobble and obsidian. From the portal you came out of, it looked like a maze with paths leading in all directions. Off in the distance you could see a large structure, to which Ranboo said was the main portal that led directly to DreamSMP. You weren’t sure what kind of name that was for the land but he said it had been that way since before he even arrived. When you went through the portal, you were in shock by your surroundings as they blurred in and out. The teleportation affects made you dizzy and nauseous, something you were sure you would never get used to.

Ranboo took you past what he called the community house. He said it was one of the first buildings to ever exist on this land. He quickly gave you a summary of George and who he was, but said it would be rare to ever see him, seeing as he was almost always sleeping. You travelled on, only passing one person on the way. They didn’t say anything, but waved from their spot under a small dirt covering. You smiled and waved back and turned to Ranboo. “Who is that?” Ranboo hummed and turned to where you mentioned but gave you a confused look. You turned back to where someone had previously been just seconds before, only to find the small space completely empty. “I swear someone was just there,” you muttered. Ranboo only shrugged and turned on his heels to continue on, you following closely behind.

You both neared a long tunnel full of water, gates holding it back from spilling out. Ranboo stopped a few feet away, rolled up his sleeve, and tapped a small gem on his arm that would have gone completely unnoticed if he hadn’t brought attention to it, seeing as it was so small. A virtual screen popped up and you gasped in shock. He looked at you as you stared at the screen and tried to tap it, your hand phasing through it completely. “What is it?” He dropped his arm and the screen disappeared. “Don’t you have one?” You stood there in shock and looked down at your own arm, nervous to pull back your sleeve. Eventually you did, but saw nothing. Ranboo extended his hands, asking permission to touch your arm, and you held it out for him as he inspected it closely. He asked to see your other arm, so you rolled back the sleeve and he looked at that one as well. He smiled up at you and took your other hand, extending your pointer finger, and tapped a spot on your wrist just under your thumb. You felt a small bump there and rubbed gently as Ranboo took back his hands. A screen popped from where the bump was and you put your free hand to your mouth.

“What is it,” you ask again, staring at the translucent, light grey panels in front of you. “How did I never notice this before?” He chuckles at you and brings his back up. You put yours next to his, noticing that his boxes were full of little icons. “We call it the inventory. We don’t really know how it works, but it stores extra items you can’t carry in a normal bag.” He taps one of his icons and the screen fades away as a box fizzles into reality and drops into his open hands. He sets it down in front of him, purple sparkles dancing around it in a flurry. He opens it and scans another screen until he finds what he wants, clicks it, and a trident appears in front of him. He grabs it and hands it to you, clicks on another one to make it appear, then grabs the box and opens his inventory to put it away. It blurs out of vision and you watch as the little icon reappears on the box it was previously on. “These tridents have what’s called ‘riptide’. We’re going to go into this water and activate them to cross to the other side as fast as possible.” You looked down at the heavy weapon in your hand and stood it up next to you. It was tall and cold and gave off an iridescent glow, signifying that it was in fact enchanted.

Ranboo opened the gates, took a big breath, and stepped into the water. The trident in his hands caused the water to pulsate around it, casting a dim glow on the liquid around him. He motioned for you to get in as well, and you did. You shut the gate and watched as he activated the enchantment. He looked at you and motioned with his free hand to follow him, and just like that, he was gone. The jolt caused the water to rush around you violently and you had to put your hand against the glass to steady yourself. You looked at the trident and imagined what he had just done, and the trident reacted, lighting up the water and causing your hand to tingle. You positioned it in front of you the way Ranboo had done himself, and it flung you forward at an alarming speed. You used your opposite arm to shield your eyes, and when you slowed down and uncovered them, you were at the end of the tunnel. You swam the short distance to the exit and let out your breath, gasping in oxygen and hunching over. Ranboo closed the gates behind you as you shook out your hair and leaned your weight against the trident that acted as a staff.

When you finally caught your breath you looked up to see Ranboo covering his mouth, trying to hold back his laughter. “What?” That sent him, and he burst into full laughter. It was contagious and you couldn’t help but also laugh, though you were still unsure what had caused the fit in the first place. Ranboo calmed himself and smiled at you. “The look on your face was priceless,” he said in between gasps. “It’s always funny to watch people’s reactions the first time they use the loop. Just wait until we go back. It’s even faster that way!” You stare at him in shock, and he giggles more. “Come on,” he says as he turns and waves at you, his tail swishing side to side as he walks with a pep in his step.

You walk the rest of the short distance in comfortable silence until you hear a small rumbling and the sound of wood being put in place. It didn’t take very long until your eyes landed on possibly the biggest mansion you had ever seen. The largest building you had seen was your castle and this mansion in front of you had to easily be almost as big as it. Ranboo called out to someone out of sight and you followed him forward and into the mansion. There was a glass chandelier high above your heads and a grand staircase in front of you, the railing carved with excruciating detail. “How long has this been going on?” Ranboo ran his hand along the railing and smiled. “Three weeks almost. I think he might take a break here soon, though.” Ranboo called out again and finally got a response. An excited sounding voice called back to him from somewhere farther back. You followed Ranboo through the main hall behind the staircase to a door in the back, a strange statue displayed through the open doorway. You saw a shimmer of gold that looked like it was almost moving, and as you got closer you noticed that it was in fact moving. You came through the door and squinted, your hand coming up to protect your eyes from the harsh midday sun. Your jaw dropped and you stood there in awe.

There, standing next to a very tall, poorly depicted Ranboo, was a man. A man dressed in gold robes and chains, rubies glinting in the sun from a large necklace, and what looked to be a shark helmet over his head. He looked down at you both and you couldn’t help but gasp at his shining emerald eyes. “Ranboo,” he boomed, a large smile spreading across his face. He turned to face you fully now, his jewelry and chains jingling as he took a step and squatted in front of you both. “Ranboo you didn’t tell me we would be having guests! I would’ve gotten out the fancy silverware!” He laughs at his own joke and you can’t help but to giggle.

Right before your eyes, you watch as he shrinks in size slowly, until he’s roughly the same height as Ranboo. He looks very much more human now than he did before and he extends his hand out to you. He beams at you as you place your hand in his and he tugs and pulls you into a short hug, then releases you again. “My name is Foolish! Well, it isn’t really, but that’s what everyone calls me! Sorry if I gave you any kind of spook. I’m part demi-god. Part totem of undying, part shark god. So I guess I would just be a regular god. Anyway,” he cuts himself off with a wave of his hand and walks past you. You turn on your heel and jog to catch up to his fast pace. He hums a happy tune as he leads you through some empty halls then up the stairs all the way to the top floor balcony that overlooked Snowchester. He smiles at the sight before the three of you, then turns to look at you.

“What do you think of it? Pretty neat, huh? I think this is the biggest build I’ve done for anyone other than myself.” You leaned over the railing slightly to look down at the walls of the structure then looked back at him, eagerly waiting and bouncing on the balls of his feet. “It’s really impressive! I’ve never seen anything like it. Ranboo told me how long you’ve been working on it and that in itself is just amazing.” He was visibly pleased with your response and let out a yell in excitement, bouncing around in circles. He stopped mid circle and pointed a finger to the sky. “I think it’s celebration time. Would you two like to accompany me in some arson?” Ranboo laughed heartily and you looked at him in confusion. “Arson? Will you be burning the mansion down?” Foolish chuckled as he lead you back through the halls and out the back door to the statue. “No, this! I make a ‘muppet’ statue of people and then on big events I do a sort of ritual to burn it down!” He got out his flint and steel and opened his inventory, bringing out a jukebox and a disc. “I made this disc special for these moments,” he said, looking back at you before placing the disc in.

Low drums sounded from the box and he began the ritual. To what and for who he was doing this for? No clue. But he seemed to be having fun dancing around the statue to the music. He lit one of the feet on fire, then another, then reached up to about mid level to get the front and the back. The smell of burning wood and wool hit your nose and it made you anxious. Thoughts of your kingdom came back to you and you had to turn and leave. Ranboo took notice and followed you away, catching up to you in a few swift steps. He put a hand on your shoulder to turn you and past him you could see the smoke. He spoke in a careful tone as he asked you if you were ok. “Honestly, I don’t know,” you replied quietly.

You watched over his shoulder as the statue of him was falling apart, raining fire down as Foolish stood in front of it, looking up in awe. “Could… Could Foolish have…” You cut yourself off, hoping Ranboo would catch on. Ranboo looked back at Foolish and was quiet for a minute. “I’m not sure why he would. We’re nowhere near you, according to your details of your trip. He does love arson, but he’s a pacifist. He’s never even killed.” He looks at you in a soft way and you relax slightly, almost comforted by his reassurance. You were still wary, but for now you trusted what Ranboo had to say.

Foolish looked back at you and waved happily, the fire dying down behind him as he jogged his way inside. “Wasn’t that fun,” he sighed happily. “Why’d you come back inside?” You looked away and Ranboo cleared his throat. “They were just a little tired is all. They had a long day and wanted to just relax for a minute.” You internally thanked him for not telling the truth, but you knew one day he would have to know. They both talked for a while about the mansion and the layout, so you sat on the stairs, lost in thought as their voices echoed through the halls. They walked up the stairs and down some halls and soon their voices were barely a whisper to you. You leaned against the pole for the railing and shut your eyes, not focusing on any thought in particular, but letting things pop out. Soon enough, you were drifting to sleep without even meaning to. Your body slumped farther and eventually you shifted to lay on the stairs next to you instead of the pole.

The sun was blaring hot. Your legs kept giving out on you and your vision was black. It took you a minute to squint in the sun to get a good look at where you were. There were trees everywhere, not a building in sight. Just you in the woods, completely alone. You looked down at yourself and took note of your clothes. Tattered and torn. Your bow and arrows were missing but your axe was next to you leaning against a tree. The smell of flowers and citrus filled your nose as you grabbed your weapon and began walking. Honeysuckle was growing nearby so you grabbed a couple flowers to suck some of the nectar out to try to hydrate yourself slightly. Your arms were sore and your head was pounding. Your vision blurred at the corners and you had to catch yourself from falling over, using your axe as a crutch.

Then you saw it. The same green as before. Adrenaline kicked in and your senses came back to you as you yelled out. The person stopped, back facing you, then started to sprint. You readied yourself and held onto your axe tightly as you took off after the person. They were fast, but you knew how to use your terrain to your advantage. The person turned quickly and shot an arrow at you and you dodged it by a hair, hearing it whistle past your ear. You dipped behind a tree and caught your breath momentarily and listened to the person's footsteps as they slowed, then came to a stop. You took this time to attach your axe to your hip and reach up to a branch, bringing yourself quietly up into the trees. You peeked out and watched as the person cautiously made their way closer. Their hood was pulled up and the angle from where you were perched made it impossible to see their face.

When they were almost under the branch you were on, you silently brought out your axe and prepared to jump. The fall wasn’t far but the wind from it felt nice on your heated skin. You landed directly in front of them, the shock causing them to stop and stagger backwards. You used this opening to grab the handle of your axe with both hands and shove it against the person’s torso and push them to the ground. Their hands came up next to yours as you both fell. Your left knee landed next to them, your right foot on the opposite side, and the bar of your axe pushed against their throat. The only thing from keeping this stranger from choking was their own two hands pushing back.

“Who are you,” you practically yelled. You looked down at them as they chuckled roughly through gasps of air. They wore a mask with a simple smile etched into it, a crack going down the right side. “Who’s asking.” By their voice, you now identified them as male. “I am,” you state. “You aren’t supposed to be able to interact with me. Now answer me. Who. Are. You.” You pushed harder and he squirmed, trying to get a better grasp on your weapon. He coughed and took in a breath before speaking again. “I go by Dream,” he says quietly. “And why should I trust you, Dream? I was told you were put into prison for murder, arson, and a whole list of other things.” He let out a laugh. “So you met them. That’s what they told you? And you believed them without a second though?” He brought a knee up and pushed against you as hard as he could. The sweat from your palms loosened your grip and he broke free, taking your axe with him as he stood and backed up, readying said weapon in front of him. “You know, I saw your kingdom,” he started. “You should know then that you should always listen to the other side before coming to a decision. You listened to those people and took their word for everything without even hearing what I had to say.” You breathed heavily from your spot on the ground.

Dream lowered the axe and threw it behind him as he extended a hand towards you to help you up. You stared at him for a moment while you calmed your nerves and decided to take his hand. Pulling you up seemed effortless and you wondered if he had held back at all and allowed himself to get captured. “You wanted to tell me your side, and yet both times I ran after you, you ignored me. Why?” He shrugged and laughed a breathy laugh. “I’m bored,” he said nonchalantly. “I’ve been stuck in a prison cell for months with only a couple visitors. I reached out to see if I could do anything else and found that I could hop into dreams. But only yours. So I thought maybe you would be the one that would be able to help me.” You stared at him, partially confused. Your body shook and you fell to your knees. “God damn it,” you whispered. “I guess I’ll see you in another dream,” he said as he turned and ran off.

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monstersdownthepath · 4 years ago

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Spiritual Spotlight: Hanspur, the Water Rat (and Ashkaelae)

Chaotic Neutral God of Rivers, River Travel, and Smugglers

Domains: Chaos, Death, Travel, Water Subdomains: Exploration, Murder, Rivers, Trade

Inner Sea Faiths, pg. 58~63

Obedience: With the assistance of another priest of Hanspur or by yourself, simulate the act of drowning. You can do this by fully submerging yourself in a body of water, exhaling all of your breath, and painfully inhaling water instead of air. Alternatively, you can lie on your back with your head at a lower elevation than your legs while water is slowly poured on your face and up your nose. If you choose the latter method, you must cover your face with a cloth while the water is poured. When you conclude this simulated drowning, contemplate your life and how your goals coincide with the teachings of Hanspur and the Six River Freedoms. Benefit: You gain a +4 sacred or profane bonus on Survival checks attempted while on or near rivers.

Just reading this makes my sinuses burn and my lungs itch, and not just because it’s springtime and I have allergies! As anyone who’s ever been in a body of water large enough to slap their face with a wave can attest to, inhaling large amounts of water sucks. While this Obedience requires only one wet breath, some... well, some pretty severe complications can arise from it, if your DM ponders even slightly what doing this to yourself every day would do. Dry drowning and secondary drowning are both real dangers from brief immersion, let alone concentrated efforts at simulating one of the worst fates someone can experience (I say this a lot but basically anything that deprives you of air is pretty terrible). The ��simulation’ will likely only last a few seconds while the rest of the hour is spent recovering from your experience and meditating, but even that may not be enough to offset the fluid likely building up in your lungs. Priests of Hanspur must sound atrocious, coughing themselves ragged every day! No wonder it’s recommended your ritual is overseen by another priest, either, because they’d likely be skilled in helping you manage your symptoms.

Dangers of daily drownings aside, keeping up with the demands of this ritual is pretty easy so long as you’re somewhere with easy access to water. In Hanspur’s homelands, the River Kingdoms, this is pathetically simple! Everywhere else? It’s a lot harder! While I do appreciate that there’s a secondary ritual you can do if total immersion is impossible, but what happens if you’re stuck somewhere with no easy water access? Your waterskins won’t carry you for very long, even if you pilfer them from your party as well. Better invest in a Decanter of Endless Water! Or do something ridiculous like fill the party’s Bag of Holding up so you can just hop in and out whenever you need to.

That benefit is also the weakest I’ve seen in a long time, granting a bonus to only a single skill type and only while near rivers. Survival checks aren’t even all that commonly made, unless your DM is kind enough to let you use Survival to navigate with river rafts rather than Profession or Ride checks. Hanspur really doesn’t want his faithful straying too far from the River Kingdoms, which is only further exacerbated by how his Boons work, so if you’re not the type to linger near rivers you may just want to skip him entirely.

Boons are gathered slowly, typically obtained when a given character has 12, 16, and 20 hit dice. Unlike fiend-worshipers, servants of the Eldest, and devoted of the Empyreal Lords, characters worshiping Neutral gods do not have catch-all classes… but Neutral-aligned characters can enter the Evangelist, Sentinel, and Exalted Prestige Classes earlier than Evil characters, classing in as early as level 6 (they need +5 BAB, 5 ranks in a single skill, or the ability to cast lvl 3 spells); entered ASAP, one can gain the Boons at levels 8, 11, and 14.

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EVANGELIST

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Boon 1: River Sage. Gain Hydraulic Push 3/day, River Whip 2/day, or Hydraulic Torrent 1/day.

Hydraulic Push and Hydraulic Torrent live in the same niche of “giant water spouts what push stuff around,” with Torrent being obviously an order of magnitude more powerful than Push. While Push has a range of Close and can target only a single creature or square, Torrent is a 60ft line that Bull Rushes or attempts to destroy everything it encounters, so it really depends on if you’re thinking you’ll need three small streams or one really, really big one. Notably, Torrent can Bull Rush targets of any size, unrestricted by the limits of your pathetic frame, while Push contains no such limiter removal and thus likely means you can only blast creatures up to a size larger than you.

Also of note, Torrent attempts to shatter everything it comes into contact with until it runs into something or someone it cannot destroy or push past. The Strength score the Torrent uses is equal to your caster level plus your casting ability modifier, meaning it will start out barely stronger than you are but will eventually be able to punch holes in iron and shatter stone. Hell, with a lucky roll, it may be able to do that anyway. Your choice on which two to take wholly depends on if you want to push three Medium critters around or launch one Colossal one.

What? River Whip? I don’t see any spell like that here! Lets move on! (alright alright; i just don’t like it. it’s good as an emergency weapon but more or less anything else is better in any scenario)

Boon 2: River Scion. As a free action you can breathe underwater, as if affected by Water Breathing, for a number of hours per day equal to the number of Hit Dice you possess. These hours need not be used consecutively, but must be used in 1-hour increments.

A disappointingly weak Boon. Really, what else is there to see or say? If you need to go underwater, this ability is great and has zero downsides. If you don’t, this Boon doesn’t exist. It’s a very binary Boon that relies on your environment, which means that if you’re overjoyed if you’ve remained in the River Kingdoms, but in a desert or jungle or mountain peak, you’re going to be extremely disappointed upon hitting level 11.

Boon 3: River’s Embodiment. 1/day as a standard action, you can transform yourself into a Huge water elemental, as per Elemental Body IV. You can stay in this form for 1 minute per Hit Die you possess, and can dismiss this effect as a free action.

Finally, a transformation ability that doesn’t suck! What does suck is that this is a level 7 spell being granted to you 1/day, when other Boons are equivalent to level 9 spells in power. Hanspur could have at least given you a little bonus on top of it, or made it 2/day, but it’s hard to complain about the force you become under Elemental Body IV. You become immune to bleed, critical hits, Sneak Attacks, and on top of it all get insurmountable DR 5, and the stack of stats you get? Mmmm-mm! Chef’s kiss!

+6 AC, +8 Con, +4 Str, all for the price of -2 Dex (more than made up for with the +AC). And, of course, a swim speed and the power to collapse yourself into a destructive Vortex, but those are only useful if you’re in water, while the rest of the stat buffs are far more universally useful. You’re not exactly the destructive and terrifying Fire Elemental or the deceptively sneaky Earth Elemental, but a wall of surging water can still wreak all manner of havoc on your enemies, your new dual slams able to smash ships (and bones) to pieces, and since Water Elementals are capable of speech and gesture, you can merely bask in your new tank stats while still casting spells.

There’s also the much more amusing but niche use of transforming while already polymorphed by a hostile effect, as having a new polymorph effect used on you while you’re already changed can end the first automatically.

While I wish the effect was usable more often, or at least broken into 1-minute increments, I can’t call it a bad Boon by any means.

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EXALTED

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Boon 1: River Guide. Gain Obscuring Mist 3/day, Haunting Mists2/day, or Aqueous Orb 1/day.

I love the name of this ability because two of the three spells do the opposite of guiding people. Now I’m a big fan of Obscuring Mist; it’s a simple staple in my list for almost every caster I make just because of how versatile it is! But now that I know there’s an alternative, it may have competition. Both Obscuring Mist and Haunting Mists do roughly the same thing, but one could argue that Haunting Mists does it better; in addition to granting concealment and shutting off an enemy’s eyes, it deals 1d2 Wisdom damage and shakes up anyone starting their turn inside the mist... But as a Figment spell with the Fear descriptor, there are a great many creatures immune to its unique power, and True Seeing allows one to see through it perfectly, whereas Obscuring Mist remains impenetrable to the apex predator of the Illusion school.

While it cannot be dispelled by wind or motion like a tangible fog, it’s important to note that there’s no way to protect specific creatures from the sanity-damaging effects of Haunting Mists, and its casting distance of 20ft and 20ft spread means that you will likely always be caught in its radius. The range means using it offensively is painfully limited, unless you want to cast it from invisibility after sneaking into the middle of an enemy formation, which... you probably, definitely don’t want to make a habit of.

It’s great for covering your retreat, but not your advance or setup like the normal Mist is.

Aqueous Orb is a good choice if your party is getting screwed over by the mist more than the enemy, creating a big ol’ 10ft ball of water that intercepts and engulfs anything that moves into it, or which it moves into. It deals 2d6 nonlethal damage whenever it rams into a creature and a further 2d6 to everything it has engulfed each round, but the damage isn’t so much the main draw as the fact it’s a massive, roving Sphere of Grappling, snaring and drowning any creature it manages to get ahold of if they fail the Reflex save. It’s a fun little spell that’s great for mopping up and controlling minions, especially ones you don’t actually want to kill, and even at its worst it can become a makeshift barrier in a narrow hallway since there’s no written way to actually move through it beyond wasting 2, 3, or more rounds by slamming into it and swimming through to the other side while your party books it in the other direction.

Boon 2: River Traveler. As a free action, you can grant yourself and any allies within 30 feet of you a swim speed of 60 feet. This effect lasts for 1 round per Hit Die you possess or until you dismiss it as a free action, whichever comes first. Your allies must remain within 30 feet of you or lose this benefit. In addition, you gain a +2 profane or sacred bonus on saves against spells with the Water descriptor.

See, this should have been added to River Scion as a bonus. River Scion and River Traveler feel like they could have combined into a single Boon to make something decent, but as it is they both fall into the same niche: Solves the encounter they’re meant to solve, useless otherwise. This ability is noteworthy for having no restrictions about how many times it can be used, essentially letting you switch swimming off and on at will. The fact it doesn’t take an action is incredibly important, because using the massive 60ft swim speed the ability grants actually removes the bonus, as getting further than 30ft from you makes it fizzle.

I don’t really understand why it would grant 60ft of movespeed if they’re restricted to a 30ft bubble, nor do I understand the purpose of the bubble in the first place. It makes exploration a slog, and escape scenarios more finicky than they should be. Since it can be activated whenever you need to as a free action, the duration feels unneeded. There’s so much about this ability that conflicts with itself that it bugs me too much to say much in the way of positives. The +2 to saves vs Water spells is a fun little ribbon, though most Water spells tend to be harmless utility spells rather than ones you’d need to make a save against.

Boon 3: River’s Depths. 1/day as a standard action, you can cause one creature within 30 feet to begin drowning, filling its lungs with water. The target of this ability can attempt a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Wis mod) to negate the effect. If the target succeeds, it is staggered for 1 round. If it fails, the target immediately begins to suffocate. On the target’s next turn, it falls unconscious and is reduced to 0 hit points. One round later, the target drops to –1 hit points and is dying. One round after that, the target dies. Each round, the target can attempt a Fortitude save to end the effect. This ability affects only living creatures that must breathe and cannot breathe underwater. This is a curse effect.

Now this one’s just insulting, being a technically weaker version of a level 5 spell, Suffocation. It’s weaker in four ways: 1) It fails against creatures which are amphibious which, if you’re in the River Kingdoms, is many. 2) It’s curse effect, which can mean some creatures are resistant or immune to it. 3) It has a 30ft range, unlike Suffocation’s range of Close (25ft + 5ft/level). And, finally, 4) Just ONE successful save ends the effect entirely, while Suffocation continues to torment and stagger the victim for 3 rounds until its effects finally expire.

It’s hard to ignore fact that it’s a basically a Save-Or-Die with excellent DC scaling, but I can’t get over it being weaker than an existing level 5 spell! ... Granted, Suffocation could probably get away with being bumped an extra level or two higher given how frighteningly effective it is at shutting down any creature who needs to breathe even if they succeed their save. I’m probably slamming down too hard on an ability that, again, is a Save-Or-Die at best and an unavoidable stagger at worst (good for making some emergency repairs against a powerful full-attacker), and for extra fun can be used without any components involved, so you can just drop it on someone out of the blue and they’ll have no idea who just tried to kill them. While I am disappointed it doesn’t meet the power of other Boons, it’s undeniably effective against a large portion of the creatures you’ll be fighting, even at 1/day.

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SENTINEL

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Boon 1: River Warden. Gain Wave Shield 3/day, Masterwork Transformation 2/day, or Quench 1/day.

Wave Shield is one of those rare spells that are amazing to have, but not especially good to prepare or to waste a precious Spells Known slot on. It’s an immediate action spell that grants insurmountable DR and Fire Resistance equal to half your caster level in response to a single incoming attack, which isn’t stupendous at low levels but is a generous equivalent to immediate, on-demand temporary HP as you get higher and higher level. If a creature relies on a lot of little hits rather than a few big ones, blocking even one of them can save you in the long run, and if your DR cancels out the damage from a poisoned or diseased attack, all the better!

It’s not an especially strong spell given how it only works once before fading away, but it’s better than the other two options by a country mile. Masterwork Transformation is something you’ll rarely need more than a few times in a campaign before masterwork items fall into your laps (or you can simply buy them), and by the time you gain this ability it will likely no longer matter. That being said, if you’re in a low-wealth campaign or have been forced to scavenge for your gear, Masterwork Transformation will save you THOUSANDS of gp over the course of your life, because as a spell-like, the material components are ignored and thus you can slowly upgrade your entire party’s armaments for free. Given its ability to affect a generous 50 pieces of ammunition per casting as well means the Ranger and Gunslinger will adore you, and you can work in tandem with a mystic craftsman (PC or otherwise) to get all of your favorite gear enchanted without discarding your precious family heirloom sword for that masterwork one you looted.

Not to mention the simple joy in taking all the gear off a bandit clan, Masterworking all of it, and selling it for a tidy profit.

Compared to the combat utility of Wave Shield and noncombat utility of Masterwork Transformation, it’s hard to make a case for Quench, which falls into the category of ‘niche spell’ like Water Breathing and Water Walking in that it will instantly solve a handful of scenarios and be utterly useless in the rest. Yes, you may need to put out a forest fire or stop a building you’re in from burning to a crisp, but you’ll have to decide if it’s worth giving up three emergency DR 4/-- and Fire Resistance 4 bandages... as the martial-focused Sentinel. If you plan on fighting a fire that day or encountering a magic item that can generate fires (which Quench shuts off for 1d4 hours) and no one else in your party bothered learning Quench, by all means, but as the Sentinel having the DR is probably better in most cases.

Boon 2: River Champion. 3/day as a standard action, you can sculpt water into the form of a melee weapon that you are proficient with. You must have enough water to form the weapon, an amount equal to the weapon’s normal weight. Once formed, the weapon behaves as a weapon of its type with an enhancement bonus of +1, which increases by 1 for every 5 additional HD you have beyond 5 (max +4). This weapon deals double damage to creatures with the Fire subtype. The weapon dissolves into ordinary water after a number of rounds equal to your HD or as soon as it leaves your hand, whichever happens first.

Boons which call weapons to your hand are alright in cases where your signature weapon has been taken from you, and by the time you receive this ability you will have a signature weapon, but such times tend to come few and far between. This one also has the additional caveat that you don’t actually create the weapon from nowhere, there must already be water around to make it, at least enough water to match the weapon’s typical weight. The good news is that a gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds, and a trident--Hanspur’s holy weapon--weighs only 4, with most other weapons barely ever approaching 10, so you can reasonably carry around an emergency weapon in a waterskin or in your backpack... And you know, now that I think about it, it’s kind of cool to be able to turn a glass of water into a dagger.

But when will you need to? How often do you find yourself bereft of a usable weapon often enough to need an emergency armament like this? I can see the niche in front of me, making a new weapon as-needed against creatures whose DR makes them difficult to damage with your normal gear or taking advantage of that delicious little tidbit about doing double-damage to fire-based creatures, but they take your whole standard action to make and last for only a single combat (if that), and you can’t even shuffle around the +1 bonuses for additional effects!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s by no means bad (unless you’re both in a waterless area and haven’t filled your waterskin), especially at 3/day, but I can’t help but wonder when you’d actually need it at level 11+ when you likely already have a primary weapon and several backups.

Boon 3: River’s Renewal. When completely submerged in water, you gain Fast Healing 2. You can recover a total number of hit points equal to twice your HD in this manner each day. At 20 HD, if you fall below 0 hit points and your body is fully submerged in a river, you automatically stabilize.

As a final Boon, I wish the Fast Healing had a higher threshold than just 28 points a day (+2 per level). In combat it likely won’t matter, and while out of combat it’s a decent amount of healing, usually enough to spare a couple spell slots from your healers or some potions, it’s just not all that impressive for a third and final Boon. Sentinels are the only followers of Hanspur who don’t get some method to easily navigate the seas, so taking advantage of this Boon to its fullest extent relies on an outside method of gaining water breathing or a swim speed.

Funnily enough, you can carry around a Bag of Holding filled with water and use it as a recuperative pod in case you don’t have access to a deep puddle, which is dubiously useful but not entirely terrible. HOWEVER, the little addition at the end is also a kick in the teeth; why does that only happen at level 20? Why can’t that be a base part of the Boon? It’s just insul--Wait, it only works if you’re submerged in a river, too? You can’t stabilize with some good old pond water? The mighty ocean? Can’t take a dip in a bathtub to stop bleeding out? Come on, Hanspur!!! Be a little more generous to your worshipers!

I dunno, maybe I’m underselling the out-of-combat healing this Boon offers, but it just doesn’t feel worth it to put up with the Water Rat for your entire adventuring career just for an extra 1/8th of an HP bar.

You can read more about him here.

#Spiritual Spotlight #Neutrality Notes #Pathfinder #Dungeons and Dragons

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paperanddice · 4 years ago

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Tears of the Crocodile God Part 1

Tears of the Crocodile God is a 4th Edition adventure from Dungeon Magazine issue 209. It’s a paragon tier adventure for 15th-17th level characters, right about in the middle of the system, and is meant to be a relatively dangerous adventure, pushing a party to their limits with few risk-free ways to recover. It contains 10 combat encounters and 4 major puzzles, though two of those puzzles can be used to avoid an encounter and a few of the encounters could be considered optional, depending on how clever players are in avoiding them or choosing which to engage with. Theoretically, an incredibly fast and picky party could avoid nearly every encounter, though doing so would be nearly impossible without foreknowledge or exceptional luck, and would likely result in one of the poor endings for the adventure. These encounters are not trivial ones either, ranging from level 15-20. Normal 4th Edition encounter building isn’t designed for this many fights in a single day, and so the adventure has a mechanism for how to get around it that I’ll discuss as part of the conversion factor.

For the conversions, I’ll put them right around the mid point of the systems as it is in 4E. That means around 10th level for 5e, and 5th level for 13th Age. Both of these are fairly advanced and powerful heroes, and so the threat against them can be similarly advanced and fit within the original story and design. This does require some discussion on the length of the adventure and the number of encounters included within it. 5th Edition is technically meant to have 6-8 encounters per long rest, and so the adventure only slightly exceeds that expectation, though many of the games I’ve run rarely hit such numbers. 13th Age on the other hand is very specifically intended to do 4 regular encounters per full heal-up, so pushing it to more than double that number is far beyond the capacity of the characters.

One aspect I’d like to discuss at the front here as well is the way Icons could interact with the adventure in a 13th Age game. Nephalot and the Crocodile God are not Icons in and of themselves, and they don’t necessarily line up too much with the default Icons in the setting. The closest alignments as I see them are the Crusader (power at all costs, a ritual to sacrifice a few weaker lives to create one more powerful immortal creature could be useful), the High Druid (the Crocodile God itself represents a powerful animal spirit that could be useful to her) or maybe the Three (lean more into the reptile imagery, or give the Crocodile God some draconic features as it absorbs the energy). Standing against the actions of Nephalot and the Crocodile God could be the Archmage (perhaps the evil ritual Nephalot has been using is something an earlier Archmage came up with and the current one wishes to see its use stopped), the Emperor (the Crocodile Cult represents a potential threat to the stability of the Empire), the Great Gold Wyrm (evil must be vanquished), or the Priestess (the Crocodile is not a god, and even if it were it’s a threat to the people with its constant human sacrifices).

Crocodile Fonts

Now we must discuss the mechanism the adventure uses to extend the characters’ capacity. Drinking from the crocodile fonts scattered around the dungeon can refresh characters, healing them, giving back healing surges, and recharging one expended daily power. Each font has 2 free uses and 3 more gated behind a dangerous trap and a skill check. Converting the intention of these fonts into the other systems requires a decision on the best way to do so.

For 5th Edition, my method was to allow each font to grant a short rest (as short rests are far longer in this system than either of the others and some classes rely on them quite a bit), as well as replenishing two spent Hit Dice. They could recharge some spell slots or other features as well, but the mechanism for that was complicated and upon more review not entirely necessary. The resources characters have are intended to be able to last many encounters, so merely granting access to short rests and additional hit dice should theoretically give enough endurance to push through. In a spellcaster heavy party or one that’s less experienced or equipped with little magical gear, allowing a use of the font to recharge half the character’s level in expended spell slots (as the wizard’s arcane recovery feature), or one third for partial casters like paladins and rangers, or a choice of recharging half the maximum amount of another per day limited feature such as Lay on Hands or Sorcery Points. This is more powerful with once per long rest features, so take that into consideration.

13th Age has a few other options however. Full heal-ups aren’t exactly tied to taking a specific long rest the way they would be in D&D. Depending on the story, full heal-ups could be scattered days apart, or could happen in the middle of a dungeon as characters push forward. They are simply intended to come every 4 standard encounters, regardless of the in story time between those encounters. That gives us a choice of simply allowing a full heal-up once the party finishes roughly half the combats, allowing the party a full heal-up at one point during the adventure of their choice, allowing drinking from a font to grant a full heal-up but limiting the fonts so that the total uses available in the dungeon are 1/character, or letting each font allow a similar refreshment as the 4E version of the adventure and disallowing a proper full heal-up while within the dungeon.

My personal preference would probably be to the last of those, as part of the tone of the adventure is pushing through where recovery isn’t really easy. In this case, I’d probably keep the fonts to 5 maximum uses and allow drinking from one to have effectively the exact same effect as 4E. Return to full hp, regain 2 expended recoveries, and recharge one daily use power. Granting recharge rolls for all or even a single expended ability or spell could be good as well, especially for classes like the barbarian who might want more than a single rage use across 10 potential fights. As I have far less experience with 13th Age I can’t be 100% certain on the best option for this, so I’ll leave some of the specifics to your own discretion. If you feel that simply granting a full heal-up fits better with your group’s capabilities and the story, go for that, though I’d still tie it to the crocodile fonts in some capacity. Having them be a key resource and forcing the players to make tough decisions as to when to make use of them is a major point.

As traps, the crocodile fonts are mostly out of combat mechanics and force players to take a risk if they want to push their recovery beyond the freely granted uses.

5th Edition:

Crocodile Font Trap Mechanical and magic trap This trap uses a magical sensor to recognize when to slam the jaws of the statue shut, trying to catch a creature within them. Attempting to drink from the crocodile font after the first two uses forces the character to succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 22 (4d10) piercing damage and become restrained. While restrained, the creature takes 11 (2d10) piercing damage at the end of each of its turns and its face is held underwater, forcing it to hold its breath if it can’t breath water. The target or a creature that can reach the font can take a standard action to attempt a DC 15 Strength check, freeing the creature on a success. The font can be jammed open by making a Dexterity check using thieves’ tools or a Strength (Athletics) check against DC 18, allowing the additional drinks without danger. The font can also be destroyed (AC 15; 30 hp; immune to cold, necrotic, poison, and psychic damage). Destroying the font releases a restrained creature, but also neutralizes the font’s magic.

13th Age: These kinds of traps may go a little against some of the themes of the system, but they aren’t a hidden surprise that screws a character over with no warning. They’re clearly signposted, and a character that triggers it has done so having accepted the risks.

Champion-tier crocodile font trap: DC 20 skill check using Dexterity or Strength to hold open so a creature can take a drink from a font after the first two uses without risking getting hit by it; +10 vs. PD (the creature drinking from the font) - 4d6 damage, 5 ongoing damage, and the target is stuck and hampered and the target must start making last gasp saves. Making a last gasp save ends all effects. On a fourth failure, the target’s head or upper body is severed by the font. Multiple use. Make the skill check as the character drinks, rather than ahead of time.

River Crocodiles

The smaller crocodiles that occupy all running water within the labyrinth are generally pretty calm, though characters that bother the crocodiles or get into a combat close to the water may have to contend with them acting up and a few attacking. Given their relative weakness in comparison to the characters, they’ll quickly flee if confronted.

5th Edition River Crocodile Medium beast, unaligned Armor Class 13 (natural armor) Hit Points 16 (3d8 + 3) Speed 20 ft., swim 40 ft. Str 13 (+1) Dex 14 (+1) Con 13 (+1) Int 2 (-4) Wis 10 (+0) Cha 5 (-3) Skills Stealth +4 Senses passive Perception 10 Languages - Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Hold Breath. The crocodile can hold its breath for 15 minutes. Actions Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d8+1) piercing damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 11). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the crocodile can't bite another target.

13th Age:

River Crocodile 3rd level mook [beast] Initiative: +5

Bite +8 vs. AC - 4 damage Natural even hit: The target is stuck and takes 2 ongoing damage (save ends both). The crocodile can’t use its bite on another creature until the target saves.

AC 19 PD 17 MD 13 HP 11 (mook) Mook: Kill one river crocodile for every 11 damage you deal to the mob.

Secret Doors

Finding the secret doors in the labyrinth should be moderately difficult. A DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check to notice them works for 5th Edition, and a DC 25 Wisdom based skill check should work for 13th Age.

The other common features of the labyrinth, such as the biting insects, runewheels, and the dreams of the crocodile god aren’t as concerning to me. The biting insects are the only one with a real mechanical effect, and it’s not one that I particularly care to keep track of. The first 5th Edition conversion I made included it, and it was just something people regularly forgot and didn’t care too much for and the long rest penalties really shouldn’t come up. I consider taking a long rest within the Labyrinth an automatic fail state for the adventure, as the trial lasts far too long for those outside to wait and the labyrinth will be invaded with dozens of crocodile cult warriors and priests if the time extends that long. Characters are forced to either flee or rush through as fast as possible if they try to take a long rest.

Next update I’ll start exploring the specific encounter and puzzle areas of the dungeon, as well as discuss the four sacrifices that the party may encounter and what could be done with them.

#D&D #DnD #Dungeons and Dragons #5th Edition #13th Age #Adventure #Tears of the Crocodile God #my homebrew #long post

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battlersexual · 4 years ago

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Board Game Showcase #4: Root

Hey! It’s been a while since I did one of these: Six months, to be exact. In that time, I’ve been playing a lot of board games. The old college club moved online for the pandemic, so we’ve had plenty of opportunities. So, I have a new one for today. This is actually going to be a wargame, which means I have to talk a bit about wargame mechanics. I’ll do a more in-depth discussion of them at some point, but for now I’ll just leave space for a link here and mention the basics.

So, Root. This game came out of absolutely nowhere and won a bunch of awards back around 2017-18. It certainly flew under my radar at first - I was more interested in a different wargame, which I will be making a showcase of very soon - but the moment I started playing in earnest, I realized how brilliant it really was. So let me tell you why Root is so great.

Story:

Root’s story is typical of wargames - more about factions and empires than individuals. You and up to three other players - five in the expansion - play as different groups vying for control of a thriving forest. The forces of the Marquise de Cat, an imperialist hailing from tamer lands, have seized control of almost the entire forest and are gearing up to industrialize the place. The forest’s old masters, the proud Eyrie Dynasty and their squabbling bureaucracy, have united under a new leader and are gathering their forces for reconquista. The citizens of the forest, the mice, foxes, and rabbits of the underbrush, have decided to throw off the yoke of oppression and band together as the Woodland Alliance, engaging in sabotage and guerrilla warfare to take the forest for the people. And in the midst of it all is the Vagabond, a traveler seeking to find a place in this new status quo taking shape, with the potential to play kingmaker or even seize power for himself.

Also, they’re all cute animals.

Mechanics and more under the cut.

Mechanics:

Oh boy, this is gonna be a big one. In fact, for the first time in Board Game Showcase history, I have to split up the mechanics section. See, Root is an asymmetrical game, much like Cosmic Encounter was, but unlike Cosmic, Root’s factions have differences that go far beyond a single ability. So instead, I’ll summarize the major mechanics here and go into detail on the factions in their own section.

Root is played on a board representing an autumn forest, with twelve “clearings” connected by paths and separated by thick forested areas.

Each clearing has a suit, represented by the color of the trees as well as a small symbol (you can see it on the prior image: this one is just the art) next to the clearing. The suits are Fox, Mouse, and Rabbit. Each clearing also has small white squares, which represent building slots: different clearings support different levels of infrastructure.

The denizens of the forest are represented by a 54-card deck with four suits: the aforementioned fox, mouse, and rabbit, as well as a bird suit that acts as a wild card for the board: any bird card can represent any clearing.

Cards are mainly used for their suit, but can also be crafted: if the cost on the bottom of the card is paid (using crafting pieces, which are different for each faction but all in some way represent infrastructure in clearings), you get the benefit. Sometimes this is an upgrade, sometimes it’s points and an item, but it;s usually worth considering, and some effects can make certain factions exceedingly powerful. There are also “ambush” cards, which are played from the hand directly in battle, and “dominance” cards, which unlock alternate victory conditions.

Most factions have three kinds of piece they can place on the board: Warriors, Buildings, and Tokens. Buildings are always square, and tokens are circular.

Moving warriors around is highly dependent on who rules each clearing, which is determined by how many pieces a faction has there. Ties default to nobody ruling the clearing.

Battle is simple: When a battle is initiated, the attacker rolls two dice numbered 0-3. Once rolled, the attacker takes the higher number and the defender takes the lower one. The number is dealt to the opposing side as hits, each of which removes a warrior. If there are no warriors left, buildings and tokens start being removed. You can only deal as many hits as you have warriors.

The goal of the game is to reach 30 victory points. You earn points by crafting item cards, destroying buildings and tokens, and completing your faction’s goals. Each turn consists of three phases: Birdsong, Daylight, and Evening.

And that’s the end of the basic rules. If it seems like there’s a lot missing, that’s because...

Factions:

Each of the four factions in Root has completely different rules for how they play. I’ll have to present each one individually. I’ll be leaving some things out: each faction has a LOT going on, and I’ll try to convey what they do at the core.

The Marquise de Cat starts out controlling almost the entire forest, and gets points from building sawmills, workshops, and recruiters. She plays the most like a traditional 4x game, taking territory, building, and using resources. Sawmills make wood, which make more buildings. Workshops are used as crafting pieces, and recruiters make more soldiers and let her draw more cards each turn. She takes three actions each daylight, plus more for each bird card she discards, and can both pump out troops quickly and move across the map at a good pace. She starts with a heavily defended keep, and can spend cards to either overwork her sawmills or save troops from death with field hospitals.

The Eyrie Dynasties start stuck in the opposite corner from the Marquise’s keep, but with a good army and a Roost, which acts as a combination crafting piece, recruitment area, and point generator. They have a choice of four different Leaders:

All of the leaders have different abilities and affect the Decree. The Decree is the Eyrie’s political system: It’s got four columns (Recruit, Move, Battle, and Build), and each turn, the Eyrie player adds a card to the decree, then resolves it from left to right. For each card, the player must perform the corresponding action in a clearing of the same suit. This means the number of actions the Eyrie can take ramps up each turn, but the catch is that if any action can’t be fulfilled, the government falls into turmoil, the leader is replaced with a new leader, the decree is reset, and the player loses points for every bird card in the decree.

The Woodland Alliance don’t start on the board at all, but rely on sympathy tokens and supporters. Supporters are cards in a special supporter zone that can be used to spread sympathy or revolt. Sympathy tokens represent popular support for the alliance: it’s used to craft, it scores them points, and if another faction takes aggressive actions in sympathetic clearings, they make even more supporters of the cause from the general outrage. With enough support, they can revolt, setting up a base on the map and gaining warriors and officers, which allow them to take military action at night. They have fewer troops, but are much stronger: their guerrilla warfare means they always take the higher number in all conflicts.

The Vagabond isn’t a faction, but an individual. While the rest of the players are busy warring, this guy is over here playing D&D, complete with character classes.

The Vagabond wanders around the map with his pawn (not a warrior), searching ruins for items, trading with the other factions, questing, and building up a relationship meter with the other players. He doesn’t take territory, and he can leave the clearings and hang out in the forests. His items determine his capabilities, and everything he does helps or hinders the other players, directly or indirectly. He can ally with a faction by giving them cards, which earns him points, or he can go hostile and earn a point for each warrior of another faction he kills.

The expansion introduces two more factions, but we’ll go over them in that section.

Flavor:

Amazing. The different playstyles really get to the heart of the political game here, where you often can’t easily predict what other players will do and how the forest will change in a single turn. The art on the cards and board is also gorgeous, and really brings this little forest to life.

Replayability:

It’s a wargame, there’s almost infinite replayability by definition, but Leder Games went above and beyond. On the back of the board is another board, this one depicting a winter forest.

The clearings on the winter board don’t have fixed suits: instead, you place suit markers in whatever configuration you like. This is admittedly more for advanced players, but it’s nice that it was included in the base game at all, and adds even more replayability out of the box.

Expansions:

There are several expansions coming out, but only two finalized for release: The Riverfolk expansion, and the Clockwork expansion.

Riverfolk adds several things, including a board and rules for a second Vagabond player, and two new factions: The Lizard Cult and the Riverfolk Company.

The Lizard Cult is a dragon-worshiping cult that cares about the outcasts of the forest, and by that I mean the discard pile. Each turn, the most common suit in the discards is marked as the “outcast”, and the lizards perform conspiracies in the clearings matching the outcast suit. They don’t discard cards themselves to use them, instead only revealing them from their hand each turn, but to compensate, they have to radicalize their followers into acolytes before actually performing their conspiracies.

The Riverfolk Company are riverfaring merchants and mercenaries. Their goal is to set up trading posts in the forest and make a tidy profit. They act as merchants in-game as well: everything is for sale. Their hand is always visible, and other players can buy cards from them. They can sell their warriors as mercenaries, and ferry other factions along the rivers connecting some clearings, and they set the prices of all their services turn-by-turn, so they can react to the market. In exchange, they get more things they can do on their turn the more people buy from them, and if the other players aren’t careful they can become a terrifying force.

The Clockwork Expansion is very different from Riverfolk. It doesn’t add any new factions: instead, it compensates for players not having a large enough gaming group by making automated versions of all the base game factions. I can’t give much more detail, as I don’t actually own this expansion at the moment, but I love the idea.

There are a lot more expansions in the works, including new boards, a new deck, new vagabonds, and a new riverfolk-style expansion featuring two new factions, the Corvid Conspiracy and the Underground Duchy, but those aren’t fully released yet.

Criticisms:

Root can be a difficult game to learn, since you have to keep track of everyone’s different playstyles and rules to really play well. It can also be a bit snowball-y, with the winner often being very obvious several turns in advance. In terms of actual defects, the Lizard Cult have a special rule that isn’t listed on their faction board and only exists in the rulebook, which is frustrating. It’s also not a great two-player game, only really shining with three or more players.

Availability:

Root is pretty easily available, since it’s still in the process of release to this day. You shouldn’t have issues finding a copy. It’s also got some good mods on Tabletop Simulator.

Conclusion:

When I first played Root, it was two-player, and I got stomped. I thought that would be the end of it, and I decided I probably wouldn’t like the game. Then, a week passed, and I wasn’t able to stop thinking about it. I tried it again, and again. I played it against myself to refine my strategy. I bought my copy and taught it to people.

It’s been months since then, and Root has become one of my favorite games. So don’t be discouraged if it’s hard to get started with. Give it some time, and some thought, and you’ll see the appeal. There’s a lot of great design here, and I thoroughly recommend Root.

#Board Game Showcase #Root #board games

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uberguber89 · 5 years ago

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Custom Rule for D&D and Pahtfinder: Morale Points

Using morale points:

Every character has a maximum morale point pool equal to the sum of their constitution, wisdom, and charisma scores (typically leading to 24-54 points). players cannot gain morale points above this maximum.

After rolling any type and any number of dice, but before the result is revealed, you may spend any number of morale points you have to increase the result, up to the maximum achievable on the die type. for example, when rolling a D20 for an attack roll or skill check, with a result of 15 on the die, and a +4 modifier, you may spend 1 point to achieve a final result of 20, insuring success at that DC, or if you suspect the DC might be higher, you may spend up to 5, for a final result of 24 if you think the task is more difficult, but you may not buy any higher than that since the maximum die result is 20. OR if you use a Cure Wounds spell and roll a 2 and a 5, you may spend up to 9 morale points to ensure the maximum result on those two dice combined (16), before any spell-casting modifiers.

Why morale points?:

"isn't this stuff already covered in the rules?" short answer; "yes, technically," but let's take a closer look at those rules;

"FOOD: A character needs one pound of food per day. A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + (their) Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero. " - pg 185 PHB.

So, according to rules-as-written a character could have one single meal every 3 days, or up to a week with a high enough Con modifier, and suffer no penalties. Zero. none. Not even a headache. your adventurer is not a python!!! this is not how food and water work in real life! It should NOT be how it works in-game. while, yes, you can argue that this is the biological response, anyone who's gone a day (or more) without food knows that this doesn't represent the mental toll these obstacles can take.

Even if we ignore the incongruities already mentioned, it has always stuck out to me while reading novels like Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings or just about every fantasy novel involving travel, that they tend to spend a lot of time describing the mental and emotional fatigue of living away from the creature-comforts of home and/or on the road. Sure! Frodo and Sam can eat Lembas bread all day, every day, until the elf finishes reciting his poetry, but it's not gonna raise anyone's spirits. sure, you've got piles and piles of fresh bear-meat to keep you fed, but it doesn't go down easy if you can't afford the time to start a campfire to cook it. there's a reason they only give bread & water when you're in medieval prison, and it's because it sucks. even if you have all your biological needs met, your brain needs flavor as much as your stomach needs calories. We've all experience that feeling of doing something you're not necessarily "bad" at, but optimal performance requires more mental resources than something you have a higher skill bonus in you are more familiar with, and while you are perfectly capable of the task in ideal conditions, (i.e. well-rested, hydrated, nourished, etc,), it becomes disproportionately difficult in non-ideal conditions (think about "hangry" or all those posts about existential dread turning out to be dehydration). It should be noted, you can experience all this without the "exhaustion" described by the core handbook, and that needs to be represented somehow. It also stuck out to me that these challenges are almost never included in rpg's in a way that is both meaningful AND fun. In every case I've ever experienced, it is either hand-waved and ignored, or examined in excruciating detail, halting every other aspect of play. With this in mind, I set out to design a set of rules that are substantial enough to affect the story and be worth tracking, while staying abstract enough to maintain a game's pacing. I want these rules to elicit the same “gods! I need a beer” or “I’d kill for a home-cooked meal right now,” sentiment you see from characters in most traditional media, with the same desperation the players think, “I’m out of hit points/spell slots, I need a long rest”. Thus, morale points. It should be said, that all of these rules are in addition to the rules-as-written, not a replacement.

regaining and losing morale points:

sleep: A minimum of 4 hours sleep in a relatively safe location (i.e. camping with an ally keeping watch, or in a barn or secluded alleyway) is required to avoid losing morale points. getting 8 hours of solid rest in a safe location will restore 1 morale point, and doing so on a bed will restore 2. for every night without sleep, or sleep in an unsafe or uncomfortable area, your character will lose one morale point.

food: while 1 pound of food will keep 1 character fed for the day, such as trail rations or a simple tavern meal, each GP spent on food will restore 1 morale point. your character will lose 1 morale point for every 24 (twenty-four) hours without sitting down for a meal. (Even a meal at half-rations can serve this purpose if it’s treated as a relaxing sit-down)

drink: every GP spent on wine, ale, or other good drink of your character's choice will restore 1 morale point. This can include smoking herbs, or other recreational substances like coffee or other drugs (fantasy or real), however, the 1gp per morale point exchange rate remains the same. a character will lose 1 morale point for every 6 hours without water.

random happenstance: rolling a natural 20 will restore 1 point, and a natural 1 will lose you a point. No “critical hits” or “critical failures” on skills or saving throws, only the auto succeed/fail and the morale point change.

good company: during a rest, 1 character may make a performance check. with a 10 or higher, each other member of the group may regain 1 morale point. on a result of 20 or higher, the group gets 2 each. 30 or higher gets 3, and so on. the performer can only regain 1 point on a 20 or higher (performing can be fun, but hard work) A result of 9 or less causes everyone involved to lose 1 morale point.

Going hunting: jerky, nuts, and dried berries in your rations may meet your daily protein requirements, but nothing beats fresh. During a rest, a character may make a survival check. With a 10 or higher, you may gain 1 morale point to allocate to any character, including yourself. on a result of 20 or higher, you may allocate 2 as you choose. 30 or higher gets 3, and so on. A result of 9 or less causes everyone involved to lose 1 morale point.

Going foraging: Spice is the variety of life - as a wise man once said, "a man can live on nutrient blocks from here to Judgement Day, if he's got enough rosemary". Any number of wild herbs and natural substances can be used to flavor your food or for recreational purposes. During a rest, a character may make a nature check. with a 10 or higher, you may gain 1 morale point to give to any one character, including yourself. on a result of 20 or higher, you may allocate 2 as you choose. 30 or higher gets 3, and so on. A result of 9 or less causes everyone involved to lose 1 morale point.

Emotional labor: during a rest, a character may make an insight check. with a 10 or higher, you can aid another character’s check to restore morale, giving them advantage on their roll. A result of 9 or less causes you to misread the situation. You grant disadvantage, and lose 1 morale point.

Pep talk: flattery and pretty words may not win battles, but they sure can brighten someone’s day, and isn’t that an encouraging thought? It isn’t? Ok, well, in any case, during a rest, a character may make a persuasion or deception check. with a 10 or higher, one other member of the group may regain 1 morale point. on a result of 20 or higher, the character gets 2. 30 or higher gets 3, and so on. The speaker can only regain 1 point on a 20 or higher. A result of 9 or less causes everyone involved to lose 1 morale point.

Minor treatments: Not every injury or ailment causes hit point damage or noticeable stat changes. It may be a minor allergy that makes you cranky, or a joint that gets just stiff enough to be annoying “but it’s fine i’m totally fine guys”, or that ringing in your ears that won’t go away unless someone rubs your jaw the right way. You’re not performing medical miracles, just the observations that can come with medical training. during a rest, a character may make a medicine check. With a 10 or higher, one member of the group may regain 1 morale point. on a result of 20 or higher, the group gets 2 each. 30 or higher gets 3, and so on. the care provider can only regain 1 point on a 20 or higher. A result of 9 or less causes everyone involved to lose 1 morale point.

Situational:

Ideals: seeing, experiencing, or doing somethingthat reinforces your ideals can gain you one morale point. Conversely, an extreme event, as determined by the GM, that causes you to question your ideals causes 1 morale point loss

bonds: you can regain 1 morale point by spending an hour or more with one of your bonds. If one of your bonds are injured or damaged, you must make a wisdom saving throw equal to 15+ the damage they suffered, or lose morale points equal to the damage they suffered. If one of your bonds is killed or destroyed, you lose all of your morale points when you learn about the loss.

Flaws: you can gain morale opints by acting on one of your flaws, at the risk of another character losing morale points. During a rest, you may choose another player character, describe how your flaw manifests, and choose a DC. then, the GM will assign a skill or saving throw for each of you (these may be the same roll or different) based on the situation. If you both succeed, you gain 1 morale point and the other character gains 0. If you succeed and the other character fails, you gain 2 points, and they lose 1. If you both fail the roll, you both lose 1 morale point.

hobbies: during a rest, a character may make a roll with a gaming set they are proficient in. with a 10 or higher, each other member of the group may regain 1 morale point. on a result of 20 or higher, the group gets 2 each. 30 or higher gets 3, and so on. If two or more characters are proficient in the same game, each participant can make this roll with advantage. A result of 9 or less causes everyone involved to lose 1 morale point.

Travel pace: traveling at Fast pace causes you to lose 1 morale point for each hour at this pace (think about running a marathon). Traveling at Normal pace causes no morale point loss, but no actions can be taken to restore points. Traveling at slow pace, stops for food, rest, and hobbies can be assumed as part of the travel time, but you cannot make stealth checks at the same time as checks to improve morale. You move at half speed in difficult terrain, and you lose an additional morale point per hour.

How many morale points should the players start with?:

if they're professionals hired for a daring assignment, they may understandably have full points. However, if they're independent agents, with no employment to speak of other than turning to adventuring, or starting out escaping from captivity, it would be understandable (though perhaps less fun) to start at 0. In most other, less-extreme circumstances, you may want to consult with your players, and choose a middle-ground such as half-maximum, or a percentage based on a wis or con saving throw (player’s choice).

#D&D #pathfinder #tabletop rpgs #custom rule #morale points #personal #edited and reblogged

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hellyeahheroes · 5 years ago

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Building Rose Wilson in D&D 5e

I kinda cannot find myself other things to do, especially as I decided to not do anything for April Fools this year because, well, how do you even top the nonsense that is happening. And feel like making one more of those, so let’s build another daughter of an assassin

Because I shamelessly lifted the template for writing these from Tulok the Barbarian, let’s start with defining some goals for this build. First of all, we need to be able to move and strike like a daughter of enhanced super-soldier with assassin training would. Second, we need to be able to see the future and use it to our advantage. Third, we need a sword striking like a weapon from the future. Finally, we need to be able to do all the acrobatic fighting in armor. Rose’s most popular costume is some weird-ass skintight chainmail, which is likely bad for the skin as hell. Don’t worry, if you’d rather have her indifferent, lighter outfit, I’ll leave a few alternatives to make that work too.

For Ability Scores, we’ll be using Standard Point Array, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. If you or your DM prefers a point buy or rolling, use these as guidelines, just remember you need to have at least 13 in Charisma, Dexterity, and Intelligence, there is going to be some multi-classing here.

Strength: 10, we don’t need it but you are supposed to have at least somewhat enhanced strength.

Dexterity: 14, you’re extremely acrobatic and fast, enough to keep up with likes of Cass Cain or your asshole father.

Constitution: 12, you can take a hit and sadly we’ll be straying from higher hit dices this time.

Intelligence: 13, you are much smarter than some give you credit for.

Wisdom: 8, you tried to challenge Big Barda to a fistfight, that’s the opposite of this ability score.

Charisma: 15, you may act aloof to people but if you can interrupt Wonder Girl and Supergirl romantic moment with a rocket launcher and not get pulverized, you know how to talk yourself out of trouble.

Race: It’s how D&D calls species! Sorry, Christoper Priest was about burst through the door to remind us Rose is Hmong, and that’s a serious quarantine breach. Anyway, I think she counts as a metahuman, which sounds a lot like Variant Human. If you have an issue with it, pick Half-Elf, but we’ll go with Human. Variant Humans get +1 to two Ability Scores, pick Charisma and Intelligence. You get one free skill proficiency, I’d go with Acrobatics, and one free language, pick something campaign relevant. Finally, you get a free feat. Human Determination allows you to add +1 to your Dexterity and once per long rest give your self an advantage on an ability check, attack roll or a saving throw.

Unarmored Rose: Redistribute +1s so that you have 16 in Charisma and Dexterity.

Background: I wasn’t exactly sure which one to pick, but Rose and her father share that weird thing in their outfits that make them look like pirates so why not, let’s go with that. Criminal and Soldier can also work if, but I like the idea too much. Pirate gains proficiency with Athletics and Perception, navigator’s tools and water vehicles and gain Bad Reputation, which lets you get away with minor offenses in a civilized settlement because people are afraid of you and won’t report it. Rose can be rude to people and get away with it after all.

Now to the meat of the building, character levels

1st Level: We’ll start as a Rogue, gaining proficiency in 4 skills - Intimidation, Deception, Stealth, and Persuasion - Thieve’s Cant secret language, Dexterity and Intelligence saving throws, thieve’s tools, simple weapons, short and longswords, rapiers, hand crossbows, and light armor. Moreover, you can gain expertise in two I’d recommend Acrobatics and Athletics - of those, doubling your Proficiency modifier for them.

Rogue’s also gain Sneak Attack, allowing you to add 1d6 to a ranged or melee attack made with a light or finesse weapon when you have an advantage to attack roll or another, not incapacitated, an enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it and you don’t have a disadvantage on the attack roll. Rapier is a finesse weapon and can easily be refluffled to serve as a stand-in for majority of swords Rose uses.

2nd Level: We’ll now take a quick dip into the Warlock to get you that sword.

Warlock gets an Otherworldly Patron. Hexblade has one forged with some sort of weapon of unknown origin that may be sentient. It has been sort of left ambiguous if Willow is a spirit possessing you or split personality caused by brain trauma, but whichever version you want you can work into this. As Hexblade you are Hex Warrior, gaining proficiency with Medium Armor, shields and martial weapons. Once every long rest you can pick a single weapon you are proficient with that isn’t two-handed and can use your Charisma in place of your Dexterity or Strength for attack and damage rolls made with it.

You also get Hexblade Curse, letting you once per short or long rest curse a single opponent within 30 feet from you that you can see as a bonus action. As long as the target is cursed, which is until a minute passes, either one of you dies or you are incapacitated, you add your Proficiency Bonus to damage rolls against it, crit against it on roll of 19 or 20, and if they die you regain hit points equal your Warlock Level + your Charisma modifier.

As a Warlock, you gain access to Spells. You know two cantrips and two spells and have a single spell slot you regain on short rest. Spells that require an attack roll do it with modifier equal your Charisma Modifier + your Proficiency Bonus, if your target needs to make a saving throw against your spell, Difficulty for it equals the sum of these two numbers +8.

Blade Ward is a Cantrip that until the end of your next turn grants you resistance against bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. Your HP will not be something to write home about, spoiler warning.

Booming Blade lets you attack as a part of casting a spell, on a hit your target takes damage as from normal attack but if they willingly move until the start of your next turn they take 1d8 thunder damage.

Hex lets you curse one creature you can see with 90 feet, making you deal it extra 1d6 necrotic damage when you hit it with an attack and grants it disadvantage on all checks for one Ability Score of your choice. It is a concentration spell and lasts up to 1 hour and if your target dies early, you can just move it to another target as a bonus action on your next turn.

Shield is cast as a reaction when you are hit by an attack or Magic Missile, allowing you to add +5 to your AC until your next turn, including against the attack or Magic Missile that caused you to cast it. Play it as you being hit was just your vision and you managed to avoid the damage.

3rd Level: Back to the Rogue now, 2nd Level Rogue gets Cunning Action, allowing you to take Dash, disengage or Hide as a bonus action or use said bonus action to Aim, giving you an advantage on next attack as long as you don’t move during this turn.

4th Level: 3rd Level Rogue bumps their Sneak Attack to 2d6 and gets to choose Roguish Archetype. Swashbuckler gains rakish audacity, letting you add your Charisma bonus to your initiative rolls and use Sneak Attack if you are within 5 feet of an opponent and no other creature is within 5 feet of you and you don’t have a disadvantage on the attack roll. You also gain Fancy Footwork, meaning if you make a melee attack against a creature, it cannot make opportunity attacks against you until the end of your turn. So if your dad drugged another heroine to fight you, you can strike her, don’t even need to hit, and then just slip past her to stab Slade next turn. And if you hit her with Booming Blade she cannot even chase you without taking more damage.

Have I mentioned your dad sucks?

5th Level: 4th Level Rogue gets an Ability Score Improvement, but we’ll go with a feat - Medium Armor Master lets you increase your Dexterity by 1, increases maximum bonus from Dexterity to AC you gain in Medium Armor from 2 to 3 and removes disadvantage Medium Armor imposes on Stealth checks. Rose’s iconic suit is some weird skintight chain shirt or scale armor, but you can even pick up Half-Plate for a total of 18 AC, 20 with a shield, if you want.

Unarmored Rose: Take the feat we will be taking when Rose hits Rogue 8

6th Level: 5th Level Rogue gains Uncanny Dodge, letting you use your reaction to halve damage against you when you are hit by an attack. Again, play it as you seeing the vision of attack and using that to be able to avoid it. Also, your Sneak Attack increases to 3d6.

7th Level: One more detour, time to start messing with the fate some more. No, not with Doctor Fate, that would be lethal. Anyway, 1st Level Wizard gets a Spellbook with 3 Cantrips and 6 1st Level Spells and 2 1st level Spell Slots. The Save DC and Spell Attack rolls are like Warlock’s but use Intelligence instead of Charisma. Wizard and Warlock count their spell slots separately but you can use one class spell slots to cast spells you know from the other class. Wizard recovers them on a long rest but Arcane Recovery lets you once per day on a short rest recover a number of spell slots equal half of your Wizard level, rounded up.

Friends lets you for the duration gain advantage on all Charisma checks against one creature, but once it ends it is aware what you did and gets angry at you. The fact this is a cantrip explains some things about few of Rose’s relationships.

Message lets you send a small message to another creature and get a short reply. You can use it as a team communicator for rest of the Titans.

Shocking Grasp is a paralyzer, letting you make a meele spell attack against a single target to deal it 2d8 lightning damage (it scales as most damage-dealing cantrips) and making it unable to take reactions until start of it’s next turn.

Cause Fear is a vial of fear toxin you stole from Scarecrow that forces a target to make a Wisdom Saving throw or be frightened of you for the duration or until it akes a saving throw on one of its turns. Doesn’t work on constructs or undead. Honestly, it would be much better as a Warlock Spell but I wanted to get Shield faster, feel free to switch the two around.

Disguise Self is your holographic projector that lets you alert your looks to make you look like another humanoid in the same size category and having the same array of limbs.If fails under closer scrutiny as it is an illusion.

Feather Fall lets you slow down the fall of you and up to five creatures within rage and if those affected reach the ground before the spell ends, they take no damage. I guess it’s your parachute.

Fog Cloud is a fog grenade, obscuring heavily everything within the area for up to 1 hour or until wind disperses it. Use it to retreat if things go badly.

Protection from Evil and Good gives all aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey fiends and undead disadvantage on attack rolls against you (or someone else you use it on), makes you immune to being charmed or frightened by them or, if you already were, grants advantage on saving throws to break out of it. I don’t know if Granny Goddess counts as a celestial but this could be pretty useful against mind control stuff done by Hellfire Club or when Blackest Night falls from the sky again.

Sleep allows you to roll 5d8, add the results and then put to sleep creatures in the spell’s rage of your choice, starting with the one who has the least amount of HP, are put to sleep until the combined HP of creatures you put down this way equals the sum of your rolls. Sleeping gas, a friend of any human fighting superheroes and supervillains on regular basis.

8th Level: 2nd Level Wizard gets an extra Spell Slot and gets to choose a School. School of Divination grants you Portent - after finishing a long rest you roll 2 d20s and write down the results. Until next long rest, you can use these rolls in place of an attack roll, saving throw or an ability check made by you or a creature you can see. The downsides are you have only two of them, each is of single-use, if you don’t spend them they’re lost, you need to declare you use them before the dice is rolled, and you can only do it once per turn. But these are extremely powerful and let Rose act in accordance of visions she sees. Hell, it can easily be played in line with how Doctor Villain theorized her powers work

Pretty much how it is working.

9th Level: So now that made these detours, let’s go back to Rogue for some more fighting prowess and better skills. 6th Level Rogue gains Expertise in two more skills, I’d go with Intimidation and Persuasion.

10th Level: 7th Level Rogue gains Evasion, letting you take no damage instead of half damage if you succeded on Dexterity Saving Throw against all spells and effects that ask of one. Your sneak attack increases to 4d6.

11th Level: 8th Level Rogue gets an Ability Score Improvement, but we’ll instead take one last feat - Lucky gives you 3 luck points per long rest that you can spend to roll one additional die on an attack roll, ability score or saving throw and choose which result is used. You can also spend them when a creature attacks you to roll a d20 and decide which roll the attacker is using.

Unarmored Rose: Spend the rest of your Ability Score Increases to round up first your Charisma and then Dexterity.

12th Level: 9th Level Swashbuckler gains Panache, letting you make a Persuasion check against target’s Insight - if they fall nonhostile creature is charmed by you for one minute and hostile one gains disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you and cannot make opportunity attack against a creature other than you for 1 minute or until you are more than 60 feet apart or another ally hits them with an attack or a spell. Also, your Sneak Attack increases do 5d6.

13th Level: 10th Level Rogue gets an Ability Score improvement, time to invest into Charisma.

14th Level: 11th Level Rogue you gain a Reliable Talent - whenever you roll for a skill you are proficient with, you treat rolls below 10 as 10. And your Sneak Attack increases to 6d6.

15th Level: 12th Level Rogue gets another Ability Score Improvement, round up your Charisma.

16th Level: 13th Level Swashbuckler can execute an Elegant Maneuver to, as a bonus action gain an advantage on the next Acrobatics or Athletics check you’ll make during the same turn. And your Sneak attack rises up to 7d6.

17th Level: 14th Level Rogue gains Blindsense, which lets you discern the location of hidden or invisible creatures near you.

18th Level: 15th Level Rogue gains Slippery Mind, which means proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. Which is good if Slade tries to gaslight you into his new bullshit again. Your Sneak Attack increases to 8d6. Also, your dad sucks, have I mentioned that?

19th Level: 16th Level Rogue gets our las Ability Score Improvement, increase your Constitution for better Hit Points and Concentration, remember your HP increases also retroactively.

20th Level: Our capstone is the final ability of Swashbuckler, Master Duelist, which lets you reroll an attack roll with an advantage if you miss it once per long rest. And your Sneak Attack increases to 9d6

Overview: Rose Wilson is a Swashbuckler Rogue 17/School of Divination Wizard 2/Hexblade Warlock 1. Let us see how good this build is:

Pros: First of all you are incredibly hard to hit or hurt in general, with AC around 18 or 20 and multiple ways to reduce the damage or turn a hit into a miss - Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Shield, Portent, Lucky. Second, you have a lot of ways to screw with your own dice, making them do what you want through a combination of luck and foresight. There is a reason why Lucky Divination Wizard is seen as one of the most powerful things in the game and you add to this Reliable Talent, Master Duelist, Elegant Maneuver, Friends, Hex and Hexblade Curse. Third, with Hex, Hexblade Curse, Booming Blade and Sneak Attack you can deal huge damage, especially with your increased crit chance. You are also very Finally, you are incredibly mobile for someone in a half-plate, which will catch many opponents off-guard.

Cons: Your HP is decent but nothing to write home about, few hits will drop you into the danger area of Power Word: Kill easily. Your sword may be enhanced but is not magical so unless DM gives you a magical weapon a lot of enemies will be able to resit your damage or simply be immune to it. A lot of your abilities compete over your use of reaction or bonus action as well, making them somewhat redundant. Finally, your Intelligence and Constitution are not that good and it’s gonna hurt some of your spell rolls, especially concentration. Also, if you abuse your future-seeing powers too much DM will hate you.

Overall, however, you are a very good party member, fitting as both a skill monkey and damage-per-turn and even a small-part controller or defender in a pinch with power to bend dice to your will. Sweep into the battlefield, hit hard, move out and have the opponent have to go through Superboy to hit you back. Just remember that you work better as a part of a team so maybe don’t antagonize party members too much. Except if you’re on a team with Slade.

Your dad sucks.

Alternatives:

If you don’t like the whole Willow thing and don’t feel like refluffing and fixing it, skip Hexblade level for one more of Rogue, you’ll gain Elusive, ensuring no attack against you is made with an advantage.

If your Ability Scores are so high you can get an extra feat, consider either Defensive Duelist, which lets you use your reaction to add your Proficiency bonus to your AC when a creature hits you with a melee attack. Or, if you play Half-Elf Rose, Elven Accuracy for +1 to either Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma and an ability to roll an additional dice when you make an attack roll with advantage using any of these 4 Abilities.

- Admin

#Ravager #Rose Wilson #DC #Dungeons & Dragons

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zigmenthotep · 4 years ago

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Final Stand Review

Final Stand is a game about martial arts action fighting, and also a game that was recommended to me by a reader, which is convenient for me because I didn’t have to find it myself.

Setting: 1/3 [−]

The setting of Final Stand is a city with hundreds of dojo described as “stereotypical medieval Asia” with modern aspects, which is somehow weirdly specific and incredibly vague at the same time. It feels like they had a very specific idea about the world the game should take place in, but didn’t really do much to explain it or incorporate it into the actual game. Like you could literally change the setting to 1960s Iowa without making any changes to the game. Also I’m just not fond of the “generic east-asian” settings in general, they feel lazy.

Character Creation: 2.5/5

The first step in creating a character is to select one of fourteen ‘stereotypes’ which provide two ‘quirks,’ an ability that can be used twice per game, and two skills. We then chose our ‘way’ which is a combination of a style (drunken, flowing, Iron, ect.) and form (cobra, dragon, monkey, etc.) which grant energy and action points, two and three special techniques respectively, and two skills each. Then we add everything together, divide our actions between punches, kicks, and throws, and end up with something like this.

Name: Yuka Yen Stereotype: The Street Bum Quirks: Bad Manners, Street Smarts Ability: Dogged Tenacity (regain 1 energy after KO)

Energy: 20 Actions: Punch (3), Kick (4), Throw (2) Skills: Acrobatics (2), Contacts, Intrusion, Perception (2)

Way of the Empty Eagle Special Techniques No-Thought No-Concept Strike: 2 punch moves, 4 damage Void Attack: 2 throw moves, 5 damage Tearing Beak: 2 punch moves, 4 damage, and opponent loses one move Raking Talon: 2 kick moves, 6 damage, and opponent loses one move Flying Kick: 3 kick moves, 9 damage

So overall, it’s an okay system. You pick three things and distribute some points and that’s it. Also there are a lot of options with 14 stereotypes, 12 styles, and 12 forms, but a lot of that just feels more like minor variations than meaningful options. Also if there’s any intentional system of balancing the energy, actions, and moves of the styles and forms it is lost on me, it all seems mostly random and arbitrary.

Mechanics: 2.5/5

The mechanics here are a little odd, for all your non-combat skills if you have the skill, you succeed, if you do not, you fail, there is no rolling involved. If you have the skill from multiple sources (e.g. from your stereotype and style) you succeed better, so you can have any skill up to three times, but every skill you have multiple of is another potential skill you don’t have.

Combat is really the main focus here (hence the lack of any actual skill system) and is a little complicated. At the beginning of a fight, both parties roll the specified number of d6 for their punches, kicks, and throws, then dice that come up 2 or higher for punches, and 3 or higher for kicks and throws, are put into a move pool for the specific attack types. Still following? No? Eh, I’m sure it’ll be fine. The combatant with the highest total number of move dice acts first and selects a basic technique or one of their special techniques which can each be used once per fight. So for example, a basic light kick costs one kick move die and deals 2 damage. Attacks are automatically successful unless they are opposed by a defense move, for example, the dodge move costs one kick move die and can stop any incoming attack. However, unlike attacks, defense moves do need to be rolled, in this case requiring a result of 5 or higher. After the attack is resolved the defender becomes the attacker and it goes back and forth until both parties are out of moves, at which point the whole thing starts over again until somebody is knocked out.

It’s all definitely within the realm of “not as complicated at it seems, once you go through the entire thing and make sense of the eccentricities of it.” It’s a bit rough around the edges, but definitely comes across as something that has a definite intent behind it, and does something different.

Writing: 1/3 [−]

For the most part everything is understandable, but getting to that point may require a bit of re-reading. The order of things is also a little off, presenting character creation outline first, then the full mechanics, of which the basic techniques are listed last, then the stereotypes, styles, and forms, then miscellaneous game stuff. Which ends up requiring a lot of flipping back and forth between sections and hunting for the rules you need, which shouldn’t be that hard in a twenty-three-page document. Of course the thing that bothers me most, even though it might not be objectively the worst, nothing is in alphabetical order. The stereotypes, forms, and styles are just presented in what is as far as I can tell is a completely random order. And like, that had to be done intentionally, as there is an order followed in the lists and descriptions, but that order is completely nonsensical.

Presentation: 2/5

The layout is okay by the standards of a web-published game from 2002, which is to say it isn’t great. Basically just words on a page but with some effort put into formatting things into proper lists and tables.

Final Remarks

Final Stand is a game that seems to have had a clear idea of what it wanted to be; however, it is definitely lacking in the execution. Although I can’t say if it’s due to inexperience, or sanctifying the ideas and insisting that everything else had to be built around them. Overall, it just comes down to okay, another one of those things that has the feeling of having been worked on until it was “good enough.”

Base Points: 7 Character Creation: 2.5/5, Mechanics: 2.5/5, Presentation: 2/5

Adjustments: −2 Setting: −1, Content: N/A, Writing: −1

Overall Score: 33% (5/15 Points)

#ttrpg #Tabletop RPG #tabletop gaming #roleplaying games #rpg #rpg review

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thewritewolf · 5 years ago

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Nino’s Quest Chapter 6: Out of the Woods

The true struggle of DnD - getting the party together for a session. Not at all helped by magic terrorism attacks.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3. My ko-fi.

--- October 15th ---

Lord DM: Hey dudes, we still on for today? Since its been like two hours I’ll guess that was a no then

Adrien Regreste: sorry dude. Got roped into a last minute photoshoot :(

Marinoodles: same Wait no I mean- last minute bakery stuff Sorry to bail like this! D:

Alya’ll Beware: Don’t worry about it girl I was chasing that akuma that was running around It kept giving lb n cn the slip Got some good footage tho

Lord DM: Bummer dudes Guess thats one of the perks of living in paris We can try again next week, k?

--- October 18 ---

Direct Message From Alya

Alya: These akumas have been crazy, babe. Rain check on dates? At least until hawkbutt tires himself out

Nino: :( Can’t you take a break or two? You don’t have to be on the frontlines of EVERY akuma attack

Alya: …

Nino: [crying emojis, broken hearts, butterflies with red X’s over them]

Alya: alright, alright But just two, okay? People count on me for the latest news

Nino: totally, babe Just hope lb+cn won’t need rr+cara Cuz… you know That’d be rough

Alya: [eye rolling emoji] Yeah yeah I feel bad for them tho Their social life must be wack at this point

---October 22nd---

Lord DM: Hey, bro, we still meeting at your place or what? ??? Come on, dude! Not again! :(

Adrien Regreste: Sorry dude [sobbing emoji]

Alya’ll Beware: Akuma, babe. Can’t miss three in one week!

Lord DM: Yeah… guess so. Let’s just not miss the next sess, okay? I dont want this campaign to end

Alya’ll Beware: We’ve only missed two weeks so far. That’s not too bad We got pretty lucky with getting five in a row Esp considering how busy we usually are

Lord DM: Fair enough Next week sound good?

Alya’ll Beware: Should for me

---October 31st---

Lord DM: Im scared to ask but… DnD today?

Adrien Regreste: [thumbs up] I’ll be going on 4 hours of sleep But I can do it!

Marinoodles: Same here Lack of sleep and all

Alya’ll Beware: Yeah We good

Adrien Regreste: !!! Wait its actually happening Awesome! ...I should probably clean my room.

Marinoodles: XD Probably! :P

Adrien Regreste: :3

------------

An hour later and Nino had made the trip over to Adrien’s house, Alya and Marinette in tow. Their chatting had been less energetic than usual, no doubt because there wasn’t a single person among them who didn’t feel exhausted. A fact that wasn’t at all helped by the late hours that they were arriving at. It may have only been nineteen hundred hours, but when you’d only had a few hours of sleep each night for the past week, it made all the difference in the world.

Despite all that, they were determined. The very thought that they were willing to go through all this just to go further in his campaign was thrilling for Nino, and he didn’t want to let them down.

A wicked grin, looking out of place on him, stretched across his face. With the events he had planned for tonight’s session, he was sure they’d be awake in no time.

They entered Adrien’s room and saw the bounty of sugary treats and caffeine that their host had prepared. After some brief chit-chat, Nino got set up quickly and rolled right into the session. The longer he delayed the more likely it was that his players would fall asleep.

“The forest at last thins as you crest the top of a hill. From your vantage point, you can see the capital city on the horizon.” There were sighs of relief around the room.

“Finally! My character could definitely go for a proper bed after a week of roughing it,” Marinette said after taking a drink of pop.

“You’ll have to hurry, then. The sun is going to start sinking below the horizon. Unless you want to be stuck outside the city until morning, you’d better get moving.”

“My bard starts one last travel song as we rush over.” Adrien opened his phone, no doubt to a lyrics site and cleared his throat.

Alya quickly covered his mouth. “I do not have the time or patience to listen to another of your renditions of Take Me Home, Country Roads, Sunshine. Let’s just get to the city, alright?” Adrien’s eyes darted to Nino in a silent plea, but he simply shrugged.

“Sorry, dude. Babe has a point.”

Pouting, he closed his phone. Beside him, Marinette giggled and patted his back consolingly.

“You reach the city gates without any issue - no bandit or monster is stupid enough to get within stones throw of the capital, not with all the guards on patrol. They were a little suspicious to see you guys so late at night, but… two noble sigils, a bardic license, and my holy symbol put those dudes right at ease. There are still a few rooms open at the inn - how are you guys going to divvy up?”

A trio of blank stares looked back at him. He sighed.

“Each room costs money to rent. You don’t have a lot, so while you could get a private room for each of you, it’s probably better to room with someone else. So who is spending the night with who?”

“Dibs on the cleric!” Alya cried. She tapped her chin theatrically, “I guess that leaves you two together, right?”

“I- I guess so?” Adrien blinked, surprised at Alya’s sudden outburst. Marinette paled a little but nodded.

“Since you guys arrived so late, most of the rooms were already filled up and you had to make do with what you can get. When you finally find your rooms, they are across the inn from each other… and there is only one bed in each room.”

A slight blush, but neither Adrien nor Marinette were freaked out. Alya slumped in defeat - there wasn’t any roleplaying involved in sleeping after all. Unless they decided to do some method acting and have a sleepover.

“The four of us drift off to sleep, which was a totally great change of pace from the creepy woods that you’ve been sleeping in for a week now.” Nino punctuated his words with a yawn that proved contagious. “It was way late at night when suddenly… M, Adrien. Roll for perception.”

Adrien, naturally, rolled a one. Just when Nino was scared he’d accidentally killed them off, Marinette pulled through with a high roll. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“With your keen elven hearing, the creaking of the wooden floor boards was enough to jolt you from sleep. There is a glint of metal above you, and you feel a presence in the darkness. You have just a few seconds to react - what do you do?”

“I roll over!” Marinette blurts out, her eyes wide.

Nino nods. “Right, that puts you right on top of Adrien, who is now totally awake too. It was a good move, though - a knife plunges into the mattress, right where your neck had just been.”

All business now, Marinette asks, “What can I see?”

“Not much. Loose cloaks with hoods pulled up. Knives. Two people. The other person has stumbled back, probs spooked by your sudden movement.”

She taps her chin before her eyes widen again. “Wait, what about the others?! We have to go get them! Or at least get their help.” She shuffles through her character sheet. “Okay, um… I whisper to Adrien in Elvish ‘close your eyes’ and then I toss a flash flare thing at the guy.”

Nino rolls some saves - without the warnings, neither of them stood a chance. He looks up to see Marinette watching him with hopeful eyes. “You got ‘em, M. Now what?”

“I roll off the bed and try to take the guy’s knife.”

“You’ve got it and your turn ends there. The dudes are blinded, but it won’t be long before they’ve recovered. Adrien?”

“Can I cast a spell?”

“Not without your lyre, bro.”

“Fine, fine. I grab it off the bedside table.”

“And why do you think it’d be there?”

“...I’m a bard. Gotta be ready to play, first thing in the morning.” Adrien smirked.

Chuckling, Nino replied. “Alright, fair. What do you cast?”

Adrien stuck out a tongue as he thumbed through his spell list. His eyes lit up as he looked at Nino. “I cast summon monster one, and I summon the Good Boy.”

“Right,” Nino said as the others giggled. “So you’ve got your celestial dog next to you. I figure you want it to attack one of the dudes?”

To his surprise, Adrien shook his head. “No, I command him to go wake up the other two. Probably to go sit by their door and bark in a commanding angelic voice.”

The fight didn’t last long from there - the two of them probably would have been enough to deal with the assassins after they lost the element of surprise. But four against two made it a landslide victory.

“Even though you try your hardest, you weren’t able to catch either alive. One got stabbed and bled out and the other, well… hopefully the innkeeper will understand that it wasn’t your fault that the window got broken.”

“Do they have anything on them?” Alya crossed her arms. “I get the feeling someone is after us.”

“You’re immediately proven right when you find a note in the dead guy’s pocket that reads, ‘Information about the Necromancer cannot reach the king. Dispose of the adventurers before they get their audience.’”

The party exchanged looks.

“Spooky,” Adrien said flatly. The others nodded in agreement.

“Do I recognize the handwriting or anything?” Marinette leaned forward, the gears in her head turning. “Remember, I am a court brat.”

“Nope. Looks like it was written deliberately poorly. You don’t know if you’d recognize it normally.”

“Time for the king?” Adrien perked up.

“Yup, it’s time for-” Nino was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.

Adrien gulped. “Um… hello?”

Nathalie stepped into the room and narrowed her eyes at the dice and character sheets. Belatedly Nino remembered that Adrien usually claimed they were working on a project or homework during these sessions. “It is late. Your friends need to leave.”

Without a choice in the matter, they packed up and had the door shut behind them.

-------------

Nino’s fears were confirmed later that night during a discord chat.

Adrien Regreste: Sorry guys. Looks like we won’t be able to play at my house again Not for a while at least. :(

Lord DM: Don’t worry about it bro Had to happen eventually

Marinoodles: I’m so sorry! :( I hope you didn’t get in trouble because of us

Adrien Regreste: Nothing more than usual They aren’t threatening to keep me locked up at home So, you know Better than usual

Alya’ll Beware: That’s something at least R they going to let u hang out again?

Adrien Regreste: *shrugs* Probably. Anyway… Sorry to be a bummer. Night, everybody!

Marinoodles: Sweet dreams!

Alya’ll Beware: Night, kiddos.

Lord DM: Don’t let the assassins bite! ;) [Three thumbs down, one angry emoji]

#Miraculous Ladybug #Nino Lahiffe #Alya Cesaire #DJ Wifi #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrienette #Dungeons and Dragons #DnD #D&D #ml fanfiction #my writing #Nino's Quest

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comicteaparty · 5 years ago

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July 8th-July 14th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from July 8th, 2019 to July 14th, 2019. The chat focused on Court of Roses by Kelsey Peterson.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Court of Roses by Kelsey Peterson~! (http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until July 14th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. What do you think is the story behind Merlow’s bad dreams? What demons is Merlow fighting exactly, and why do some of those “demons” want him to hurt others? What does it have to do with Merlow being triggered by Nocturne?

khkddn

1) hmm visually speaking I think my fave scene is when Diana shoots all those arrows http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/117/ it just looks so cool

But I also liked when merlow bonded with the kiddos who were curious about his bagpipes, that was a cute moment

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. What do you think is the cause of Nocturne’s unfortunate circumstances that he mentions having to make due with? What might this have to do with his poor amount of stamina or immense magical gifts?

RebelVampire

1) Probably the scene where Nocturne and Merlow sleep in an alley under the rain. I am a sucker for rain, and I liked seeing Merlow's acknowledgement that he was kind of a dick but that Nocturne was still able to forgive him. Plus, the atmosphere the rain added was too perfect. Somehow a spot of warmth among the cold and bleak. 2) I see this going in one of two ways in terms of my current theories. Way 1 is that Merlow's dad wasn't just an elf, but like, ultra evil wizard elf. And his dad is trying to control Merlow and use him as a beautiful and dangerous pawn. Way 2 is that Merlow got possessed by a literal demon and that fighting the demon from taking control is a daily battle. I think in regards to hurting others, asides it just being that's what evil things do, having Merlow hurt others is a pretty quick way to break his spirit and just have him cave to the dark side. Nocturne kind of looks demon-y so there could be that connection. Or maybe whatever Merlow has within him just hates Nocturne's species since that seems to be a common theme in the world.

3) Nocturne. Nocturne is classy, powerful, but has that cute smidgen of vulnerability that makes him endearing. Also very classy, and how can you not like classy people? 4) Nocturne maybe had a fight that did not end well due to overconfidence maybe. And this left him permanently weakened with poor stamina. I also get the sense that there is some deeper emotional trauma hidden in this. Like the person that caused his weak stamina was someone super close who probably betrayed him. Cause every story needs a good betrayal? XD Alternatively, maybe he just had a poor dice roll to begin with for the game.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Those theories with Merlow and Nocturne are really cool, Rebel! aaaaa it's so neat to see people speculating this stuff.

That alley scene came out so nice too, I was happy with it. My own favorite scene so far... it's hard to pick, but I think it was the whole sequence of the main bards fighting the bandits that stormed the festival. Getting to let everyone show off, from Sven's muscle, to Feliks' conjuring madness, to Diana's enchanted tidinit, to Nocturne's mysterious power saving Merlow.(edited)

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. What do you think the background stories are for Feliks and Sven? How might Merlow’s pre-established friendship with Feliks affect his interactions with the rest of the bards given they have more history?

Attila Polyák

I like had no time the entire week and could only read till the page where we see Sung from a distance. I didn't want to comment before I catch up, but now that I found a bit of time I get a server not found error. My luck is horrible. :( That said I do feel like my favourite scene will be the bit where Merlow performed and the cats came to listen. That was soo hear warming, but I'd like to read the rest before saying anything.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Ugh, sorry, comicfury just, goes down sonetimes...

khkddn

3) merlow is my favorite character, he just seems so nice and sunshine-y! Diana is also cool too though, and I also like Feliks... decisions is Hard

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

I don't feel like I know any of the characters well enough to have a favorite yet! I know how they act on the surface -- so far Merlow is the most entertaining and Nocturne is the most aww-inducing -- but we haven't gotten into the depths yet. Anyone could become my official favorite with the right reveal.

Was Merlow actually "triggered" by Nocturne, or just upset? Important difference there! I took it as the standard fantasy trope of "these two species have a history of antagonism, but after fighting on the same side for a while they'll develop an Unlikely Bond, and discover that they are Not So Different After All."

Favorite scene so far, hands-down, this page. Perfect cinematic smash-cut, makes me laugh every time. http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/22

...no elaborate backstory theories from me, pretty sure Guilded Age permanently ruined me for theorizing about fantasy comics. Just looking forward to seeing where things go.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

That's a really popular page lol!!!

keii4ii

I have yet to catch up with the archive, but omg that is an awesome-tastic page (and now I wish Discord had a horrible bleeding music note emote to go with this)

snuffysam

real talk? my favorite scene in the comic was this: http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/ not even technically a scene, but the two panels side by side of merlow drinking alone, followed by merlow having a good time with all his friends, just got me right there in the feelings instantly. and the way the panels link to the first and latest page respectively is a stroke of genius. instant hook.

besides that, my favorite scene is the one of diana, sven, and feliks banding together to stop the bandits. these three were at each others' throats a second ago, but having to fight off those attackers brought them closer together. and we got to see them performing as a band while doing it. really makes me look forward to more things to come with the protagonist quintet working together.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

That makes me so, so happy, Sam, I was really excited to make those and code them properly, and I'm happy they have such an impact. :3

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. Do you think Merlow will ever meet his father or open up regarding the subject? What about Diana and her mother? Will something regarding Diana’s enchanted instrument and the history behind it come to play in the story?

RebelVampire

5) Favorite illustration is definitely this place. http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/135/ I adore the particle effects, the change in colors and tone, and everything just works really well together. It's super awe inspiring to see Nocturne get a moment of badassery. <3 6) Feliks probably got banished for too many shenanigans. Since I'm pretty sure Feliks is a bit too comfy with spending nights in jail. As for Sven, I don't know. Maybe he's the one without some sort of tragic back story. Or maybe Sven has a tragic backstory but the tragedy of it all just flew over his head and he didn't notice. I do think there's gotta be at least something bad that drove his desire for justice. Like maybe he had a hero who died tragically or something. I don't know. But I do think Merlow and Feliks' past relationship is gonna drive some wedges. Cause Feliks seems like the type to go "well I've known Merlow longer than all you have" so ya know, everyone will be mad cause it can mean nothing while also being still true and itll just make everything awkward. And Merlow will make adorable faces and try to peace keep.

7) Merlow and Nocturne. They're both really different in terms of their relationship with being bards (or w/e Nocturne wants to call himself). And I think that their different viewpoints really bring out different sides to them that we wouldnt normally get to see. And theres no like bitter conflict either. Just two ppl filled with warm fuzzies trying to get to know each other and navigate the world. 8) Yes to both. The latter because I think he'll have to explain his past more in detail at some point, and that probably means telling everyone the circumstances of his birth. The former because wishful thinking cause there's nothing like meeting your long lost dad who went to get some milk and never came back. Diana too, of course, will probably have to talk about her mother who probably died tragically or, at the very least, when Diana was least prepared for it. I do think Diana's instrument will create conflict. In that someone will go, "Let's steal that enchanted weapon." And then it gets stolen and Diana freaks and everyone does bard battles to get it back for her.

Copper Mouflon

Been reading the comic and so far I'm really enjoying it! Didn't expect to as it's not what I usually read, but hey you kept me hooked and going for the next page! Absolutely loved http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/118/ made me laugh out lout. There's obviously a lot of backstory in these characters and I'm curious to see where this will go!

Copper Mouflon

NNNooooo! I reached the end! Job well done! It only gets better as the story goes along, by the way, Nocturne is BAD ASS, but most of all I love who they all seem rather normal (in the context of the story) yet they all turn out to ... well be so awesome.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

:D!!!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. Besides getting hired for a murder investigation, what other consequences do you foresee for the group in regards to what happened at Saung? Will it gain them notoriety, or will it be swept under the rug?

RebelVampire

9) Honestly the detail I'm addicted to is Merlow's hair. Like I like the thought that goes into that colored bit of it, cause that seems like it'd be annoying to remember to include all the time. But more than that, I like seeing the fact that Merlow will actually undo the braid http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/70/ . Like there's several scenes like this where theres recognition that hair isn't plastic and displaces and people don't wear their more elaborate styles to bed usually. It's a nice realistic depiction of how hair works in everyday life. 10) I 100% think they're gonna have some notoriety from it. Cause what makes a better story than some bards who beat up bad guys at a festival. Plus, I'm sure other important people will sing their praises as well. Of course, this notoriety doesn't always mean good. Like sure maybe the king's 2nd cousin's butler will hire them for a job, but now bandit dude's secret twin brother can come and exact revenge on them. It's gonna be a dual edged sword where benefit and trouble will both come looking for them all.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. Who do you think murdered the count and for what reason? Was there any specific reason the murder took place during the festival? Do you ultimately feel Merlow and company will be able to help?

Attila Polyák

Okay, so questions, yummy! 1, Definitely playing for the cats in the alley, buut the beginning of the bard festival was pretty cool as well. That said, I just feel like that scene grabs the essence of performance so well. I really liked it. 2, I feel like his demons are literal demons and they cause his nightmare, tho I have no idea how he met/got posessed by them. Connection to Nocturne? Probably looks, he is an infernal after all. 3, Torn between Merlow and Nocturne. Merlow is just an ultimate positive dude even tho his demons seem to be rather messed up and Nocturne. Well... He's just plain awesome. 4, I think Nocturne is in this state mostly because of his own decisions. While we do not know much about him, we do know that he is: Not a bard, Someone used to having money around but not in any fear of not being able to use it, Fond of music, Is, magically speaking, rather powerful, In general a sophisticated person, In possession of some rather unusual items. While these circumstances could mean a lot of things, my guess is that he's kindof an alchemist and he somehow traded his stamina for magical capabilities in pursue of another, probably greater, goal. 5, I think my favorite illustration is the middle panel on http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/comics/134/ but really anything on this and the next to pages are. Just. Pure. Awesome. 6, I don't think Merlow's earlier friendship will influence the rest of his relationships as he seems to be generally friendly with almost literally everyone. 7, Merlow and Nocturne. I just find it to be a cool friendship, even though there are quite a few hints that there should be some friction between them for very real and serious reasons. Also Merlow "fanboying" about cool music is just adorable to see. 8, For Merlow... Yes, and I wouldn't be surprised if the topic was very eeply connected to his demons. Diana and her mother... I donno, maybe, but I'm more leaning towards no right now, but it could still happen.

10, I think that being part of the murder investigation will literally mean that they will be doing less bard stuff, which is obvious, but considering that they specifically came to town for the bard contest, it's still a shame. Now... beating the bandits already started them on an inevitable ride to notority, and being involved in the investigaton of such an inportant murder case. That will also boost them on their personal hype trains'. 11, Imo the greatest strength of the comic is the simple fact that even though a lot of not so great things happen to the characters (being thrown out to the streets for night, a murder case, bandit raid, inner demons, etc...) both the characters and the general tone of the story manages to be very positive. That's kinda odd, because this should be like... a bit of a dissonance. But the positive tone is just, simply there. I'd attribute that mostly to how Merlow reacts to everyone around him, but still since we see the story mostly from his perspective it just shines through a lot. Even when he is in pain, literally at times, he just somehow manages to feel positive. 12, I'm really unsure about the murderer, but I kinda feel like it's somehow directly connected to Merlow. Thus I ultimately think that the party will be able to help, one way or another, but the entire situation still feels a bit hazy.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Overall, do you think the new troupe of bards will be able to get along? What obstacles do you think there will be in them learning to cooperate with one another?

RebelVampire

11) While there are a lot of strengths, the one that stood out to me the most was the character designs. They're all so individualistic, yet each one is very specifically tailored to the character's personality. Like the minute I saw Merlow I was like "this is just a nice dude who maybe is a bit sensitive." and thats exactly what i feel like i got. and i always appreciate when the writing and visual design go hand in hand. 12) I think the count was murdered because nice counts disrupt the order of corruption and makes all the other nobles look back. As for the festival, yes. I actually think someone is trying to pin it on a bard. Especially if that bard's name is Merlow cause Merlow seems to have shitty luck. As for helping, I mean, I'm sure Merlow and company can find something. Although I personally feel like investigative wise Feliks and Nocturne are probably the best suited for the task. But hey the others can provide moral support?

13) I'm looking forward to just finding more out about Nocturne and why people seem to hate Nocturne's species. But just more Nocturne being fancy and classy is fine too. 14) I think the group will get along, but I think some relationships will fair better than others. Like I don't think Feliks and Sven are gonna become best pals anytime soon. And I kind of feel like Sven is gonna struggle fitting in cause he seems a lot more high energy than a lot of them can handle. Outside of that obstacle, I do also think that the biggest obstacle for them will be secrets. Cause they all seem to have something they want to hide, and hiding things from people who are supposed to be your allies can lead to bitter feelings. as everyone wonders why they arent trustworthy etc. etc. so i guess a better way to put it is trust will be their biggest obstacle, and that theyll have to accept a certain level of vulnerability.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Court of Roses this week! Please also give a special thank you to Kelsey Peterson for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Court of Roses, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://courtofroses.thecomicseries.com/

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tabletopinfinities · 5 years ago

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7th Sea

Swashbuckling and Sorcery Piracy and Exploration Espionage and Intrigue Welcome to the New World

What’s the premise?

7th Sea is a world of swashbuckling fantasy, in a setting that’s very much like our Earth circa the Age of Sail, but filled with sorcery, monsters, and the mysterious ruins of a pre-human civilization. The core book focuses on Théah, the 7th Sea world’s equivalent of Europe, which is currently recovering from a bloody war between the traditional Vaticine Church and the reformist Objectionists and emerging into a new age of nationalism and humanism. Monarchs play games of espionage while secret societies work behind the scenes. Traders sail to the New World in search of exotic treasures and pirates follow in their wake. Some nations are even beginning to experiment with a bold new idea - democracy.

The technology level of Théah is slightly higher than our world’s was at the time, thanks partly to a Vaticine Church that values knowledge and discovery and also partly to ancient Syrneth artifacts that are centuries beyond human science. Sorcery and magic are not uncommon - but are primarily the domain of the nobility. Spirits, monsters, and other beings haunt the wild places, and any given folktale has a chance to be true.

The characters you play are all very explicitly Heroes, doing noble deeds to fight tyrannical Villains. The world of 7th Sea has a lot of problems besieging it right now - the looming specter of the Castillian Inquisition, the depredations of the Atabean Trading Company, the tyranny of l’Empereur du Montaigne, just to name a few. It’s a world on the brink of becoming something wonderful - it just needs a few good heroes to show it the way.

You’d like it if you’re into: The Princess Bride, Pirates of the Carribean, Zorro, The Three Musketeers, Brotherhood of the Wolf, old Errol Flynn movies

Why do you recommend it?

If you’ve ever wanted to swing from chandeliers, plunder treasure, cut feathers off caps with a swish of your rapier, and woo the fair maiden / handsome prince / other attractive individual, 7th Sea is the game for you. Magic and strange technology add a great twist to an otherwise straightforward historical fantasy.

7th Sea, the new 2nd edition in particular, is one of the most inclusive and welcoming mainstream RPGs out there. Women and people of color can be characters of all kinds, and queer, trans, and nonbinary characters are littered throughout the books and accepted within the setting itself. That, plus the emphasis on your character being a capital-H Hero, make 7th Sea an unapologetically wholesome game. It’s lighthearted and silly, while still allowing for serious dramatic moments.

Plus your character practically cannot die, no matter how much you screw up.

What are the rules like?

The core idea of 7th Sea is that you will almost always succeed at what you’re trying to do. You’re a Hero, after all. If you don’t roll well enough, though, your success might not be total. The way they mechanically represent this is very narrative-driven and plays quite differently from the standard RPG.

There’s three kinds of rolls to make in 7th Sea. The most basic, the Risk, is when your character is trying to bypass a simple obstacle. For instance, they might be trying to escape from a burning room. You decide what your character’s Approach to that will be, and what combination of skills and traits to use. In this case, they might use Finesse + Athletics to dodge and and jump over falling beams, or perhaps Brawn + Weaponry to use their axe to hack a hole in the wall, or even Panache + Tempt to bat their eyes at the fleeing henchman and tell him that if he rescues you, you’ll surely owe him a favor. Then you roll a d10 for each point you have in the chosen trait and skill. If you’re using a skill you haven’t used yet this scene, roll another die, and if you take the time to describe your action a little, roll a further die. Each set of dice you can add up to 10 is one success - here called Raises.

All it takes to succeed in the Risk is a single Raise. The catch is: there will always be Consequences and Opportunities associated with the Risk. You’ll need to spend additional Raises to either avoid the Consequences or activate the Opportunities. In this scenario, the consequences might be something like “take 3 damage from fire” - and each Raises you spend towards that will remove 1 damage from that. Or perhaps you’ll need to keep your clothes free of ash so you can sneak into the ballroom after like nothing happened. For Opportunities, it might be something like “grab the important-looking letter on the table before it burns” or “lead the poor henchman along enough that he switches sides.” So success or failure is never just binary - unless you roll really well, you’ll have to make some choices about what the effects of your actions on the story will be.

The two other kinds of rolls work in a very similar way. Action Sequences represent fights, chases, and the like, and Dramatic Sequences are extended challenges like sneaking into the castle or snooping around town to find information on the wicked viscount’s plans. You make your Approach, and then each character gets to spend Raises from their pool to take actions. As before, all you need is a single Raise to do something, but if a Hero and a Villain are trying to contest, whoever spends more Raises on it wins. During Action Sequences, you can spend Raises to do damage - yes, this means anything can be used as an attack skill if you’re creative enough (“I use Wits + Scholarship to whip up a gas grenade and throw it at her!”). Action Sequences can have Consequences and Opportunities just like a Risk can, including Brute Squads, which are the nameless flunkies your hero mows through without a second thought. A single point of damage takes out a single brute, but any brutes left alive get to deal damage at the end of the round. There might also be events that happen at certain points in the Action Sequence once everyone’s down to a certain number of Raises - the storm hits the ship at 4 Raises, and it hits the rocks and starts to sink at 1.

Dramatic Sequences are the same but paced over a more extended period of time, and are more about seeing how far you can get in your task before you run out of Raises. As before, each Raise you spend lets you change the scene in some way - climb over the castle wall, for instance. Next, you might have to spend a Raise to sneak past the guards, then to steal the jailer’s key. If you run out, though, you’ll be unable to change the scene any further - so after you’ve rescued your ally from jail and you hear someone’s footsteps approaching, if you don’t have another Raise left to hide you may just have to fight your way out.

Every character is pretty tough and can take a fair amount of damage before going down. For every 5th point of damage you take (or any time you get hit with a firearm, because those things are nasty), you take a Dramatic Wound. Your first Dramatic Wound actually helps you - just like the hero in an adventure story, you become driven to succeed and get a bonus on all your rolls. For your second Dramatic Wound, the tables start to turn and now all the Villains get a bonus on their roles. For the third, you get an even bigger bonus as your heroic determination kicks in - and then at the fourth, you become helpless. Not dead, just unconscious or incapacitated - it takes an explicit act from the GM to actually kill you.

Finally, there’s Hero Points. These work a bit like an expanded version of Inspiration from D&D 5E, and other similar mechanics. Basically, you can spend them for bonuses to your roll, a bonus to someone else’s roll, to fight on for a round after you’re incapacitated, and a few other things. You can also spend them to activate your Knacks, which are big character abilities with effects like “knock out an entire Brute Squad in one go” or Come Hither, which lets you lure a character into another room and return without them… no rolling required. Everyone gets one Hero Point to start, and you can earn more by acting in accordance with your character. You can also get one at any time by choosing to fail a roll - so if you think the odds are overwhelming, or you just want to see what happens if your character gets captured or can’t stop the villain’s plan from succeeding, you can just say “I fail” and bank up another Hero Point for the challenge ahead.

What’s my character like?

Your character is a Hero. They come from a particular Nation that gives them some bonuses, and they have two Backgrounds that tell you what their professions are/were and give them some bonus skills and Advantages, as well as determining what in-character actions give them Hero Points. They have a Virtue and a Hubris, each based off the Major Arcana of the tarot (or Sorte deck, in this world). The Virtue is a powerful special ability they can activate, and the Hubris is a character flaw that you can get a Hero Point for roleplaying. Beyond that, there are no classes per se - the character is yours to define as you see fit. Advantages are the main way of customizing your character and giving them special abilities.

You can choose to take Advantages join a Swordsman School or take Sorcery from your nation of origin. Swordsman Schools give you the option to do some fancy Maneuvers in combat, which let you hit for lots of damage, parry opponents’ attacks, etc, as well as a unique Maneuver for each school based on its preferred weapons and fighting style. The difference in combat effectiveness between a swordsman and a non-swordsman is huge, so if you’re planning on making a character that excels at combat, swordsman is definitely the way to go. You also get to be a part of the Swordsman’s Guild, who are legally allowed to challenge people to duels.

The Core Rules present character creation options only for the primary Théan nations - if you want to play a character from another culture, you’ll need the appropriate book. (See What books should I get?, below.)

Avalon, seat of the Triple Crown, is a green and enchanted land touched by the Sidhe - elves, faeries, goblins, and other creatures. The Sidhe are sometimes beautiful, sometimes hideous, always inhuman, and frequently downright nasty. Queen Elaine recently ascended to the throne after recovering the Graal, throwing off the yoke of Montaignois conquest and bringing the Sidhe back to our world - but now the Sidhe are starting to encroach on human lands. This is a land of faerie tales, and those don’t always end happily.

The other two nations in the Triple Crown are the Highland Marches, a craggy land of proud clans and chieftains, and Inismore, a land with a fondness for stories, whiskey, and a good bar fight. Neither of these two is necessarily happy about being part of the Triple Crown, and there’s a growing separatist movement looking to break the alliance, no matter how much gunpowder and blood it takes.

Avalon’s Sorcery takes the form of becoming one of the Knights of Ellilodd, each one the embodiment of an ancient knight of legend. In exchange for taking a vow to the Graal to be a righteous protector of justice, you can tap into that knight’s legendary powers. Should you break your vow, you’ll need to atone before you can regain your powers, however.

Castille is a sun-dappled nation with a deeply passionate people. They recently held off a Montaignois invasion at dear cost, only to fall under the yoke of the Inquisition. Cardinal Verdugo controls their young king like a puppet while he conducts a reign of terror across Théah aimed at rooting out anything he deems heresy. Castille is the seat of the Vaticine Church, and its people are often devoutly religious and very highly educated thanks to the nation’s excellent universities.

While Castille has no Sorcery in the Core Rules, Nations of Théah, Volume 1 introduces Alquimia as an option, letting you invent various alchemical and technological marvels and advancing along a path of self-improvement towards a grand goal.

Eisen was the center of the fighting between Vaticine and Objectionist, and it left the land a blood-soaked mudhole full of traumatized survivors, divided between small princedoms, some of which seek to unite the nation under their banner. Worse, something about the concentrated misery has spawned literal Horrors, monsters of all shapes and sizes that roam the land and prey on innocent victims. But the people of Eisen are a grim, determined lot, and the nation’s not ready to give up without a fight.

Eisen’s Sorcery, Hexenwerk, is a particularly gruesome art dedicated to refining potions and unguents from dead bodies - and then consuming them to gain powers to fight undead horrors and other foes. Hexen are often hunted down as grave-robbers, but they do what they have to do to survive and stop the Horrors.

Montaigne is often considered the center of Théan culture, or at least the Montaignoise themselves certainly think so. Their courts set the standard for fashion across the continent, and their nobles throw the most lavish parties. Unfortunately, all of this has been built on the backs of the peasantry, who have been pushed to their limit by harsh taxes and conscription to serve in L’Empereur’s frivolous wars. L’Empereur sits on his grand throne, surrounded by an endless party of gilded nobility, oblivious to the whispers of revolution coming from below.

Montaignois Sorcery is passed down through noble bloodlines, but it’s quite ungenteel. The art of Porté lets you rip bleeding holes in reality and slip through the space between to walk to other places, or to pull objects out of thin air. Just never open your eyes while you’re in-between.

The Sarmatian Commonwealth is actually two lands under a single crown - the cosmopolitan Reczezpospolitans, and the more traditional Curonians, who still venerate the old spirits. Recently, the king, disgusted with gridlock in the houses of parliament, made a proclamation of Golden Liberty. This made everyone in Sarmatia was now a noble with voting power, marking the beginning of a chaotic experiment in democracy. Some Sarmatians seek to lead their country into a populist new era, some try to take advantage of the chaos to seize power, and others, resentful of the new order, plot to depose the aging king.

Sanderis, the Sarmatian Sorcery, is about making deals with devils. Dievai, to be more precise. They’ll do anything you wish, from snuffing a candle up to unleashing a firestorm that destroys an entire city - provided that you are willing to pay their price.

Ussura is a massive, wild country with long winters and sparse civilization. The Ussurans are pragmatic and hardy folk, and highly superstitious with good reason - spirits both good and evil thrive in these lands. The greatest among them, Matushka, watches over the Ussuran people like an overprotective mother, rewarding the just and punishing the wicked. The Czar recently died under suspicious circumstances, leaving the nation divided by two potential successors - one dedicated to modernization, the other seeking to preserve the old ways.

Ussura’s form of Sorcery, Dar Matushki, are the gifts of Matushka herself - often given as the reward for overcoming painful lessons. Those who fall out of favor with her will earn her wrath, however.

Vestenmannavenjar, another cold northern country, is a land of fierce raiders and warriors who have completely reinvented themselves as a modern nation. In recent years they presented the world with a standard, unified currency - the Guilder - that has come to dominate world trade and finance, all to the benefit of the Vesten, of course. Rather than the High King of olden times, they are ruled by the Vendel League, made up of the heads of all the various trade guilds. Now, rather than conquest and pillage, they extract their plunder from fees and interest. Some Vesten mourn for what used to be, a nation of honor and blood replaced by silver and greed.

Vesten has no Sorcery in the core book, but Nations of Théah, Volume 1 introduces Galdr, a magic derived from runic words of power. Each rune grants strengths tempered with weaknesses, to maintain the balance.

Vodacce is a nation of intrigue, divided up between seven Merchant Princes who constantly scheme against each other. Like Castille, they are devoutly Vaticine, but they have a very unorthodox interpretation of sin, believing that it is better to indulge yourself than let desire fester in your heart.

Vodacce’s magic, Sorte, is the exclusive province of women. The Sorte Strega can manipulate the strands of Fate itself, and can be distinguished by their long black veils, to hide the glazed look they get when manipulating destiny. Too much tugging on the strands risks them lashing back out at you, however, giving you bad luck at the worst times. The men of Vodacce all fear the power of Sorte, and keep the women of Vodacce oppressed and illiterate.

In addition to being from a particular nation, your Hero can also join a secret society. In 1st edition, all of these societies had hidden secrets to them that were presented in their own books. Given that some of the 2nd edition versions differ radically from their older incarnations and the book devoted to secret societies hasn’t come out yet, it’s unknown if those secrets still hold true, or if they hold the keys to different world-shattering truths.

Die Kreuzritter are a former order of crusader knights, since gone underground. They hunt monsters and defend the innocent, using the legendary metal called Dracheneisen, which has great powers against monsters and the supernatural.

The Knights of the Rose and Cross, one of the few secret societies with a significant public face, publicly fight injustice and protect the society’s Patrons. There are rumors of hidden occult secrets only revealed to the initiated.

The Invisible College are a loosely-affiliated band of scholars, artists, scientists, and philosophers who seek to preserve knowledge from those who would destroy it - especially the forces of the Inquisition. They have access to devices on the cutting edge of Théan science.

The Brotherhood of the Coast are pirates who have banded together under a shared code of honor, providing protection to ships that pay them and plundering those that don’t.

Močiutės Skara, “Grandmother’s Shawl,” is in its public face an order of nice old ladies who tend to the victims of disasters and wars, and are welcomed across Théah. In private, however, they seek to prevent wars and achieve peace through any means necessary.

Los Vagobundos are dedicated to upholding the reigns of good monarchs and overthrowing unjust ones. Their leader, the masked man called “El Vagobundo,” can appear many places at once - but unbeknownst to outsiders, it’s always a different member under the mask, channeling the power of the legend.

The Rilasciare are anarchist free thinkers who oppose oppression and tyranny in all its forms, but especially seek to do away with the very concept of monarchy. Some accomplish their goals through pranks and subterfuge, others through bombs and daggers.

Sophia’s Daughters, a small branch of the Rilasciare, are more specifically dedicated to aiding the Fate Witches of Vodacce, spiriting them to safety in other nations, educating them in secret, and making strides towards liberation whenever possible.

What’s the campaign like?

In a game where the characters all play Heroes, there’s a strong focus on defeating Villains. Before you fight them directly, you have to defeat their Schemes, upon which they stake some of their influence. Stop the Scheme, and they lose what they wagered, otherwise, they gain back double their investment. Foil enough Schemes, and they’ll be dramatically weakened for the final confrontation. Thus, most campaigns are focused around a central Villain and their underlings that the Heroes can work their way through.

Each of your characters also has their own separate Stories to pursue, which is how the experience system works. You pick what story your Hero will follow, such as “avenge my father’s death,” figure out what benefit they get at the end of the Story, like “Weaponry 5,” and then figure out how many steps the story will have in the story based on what you want. Although you probably know the beginning step of the story (“find the name of the woman who killed my father”) and what the end will be (“I challenge her to a duel”), you and the GM can work together to figure out the most interesting twists along the way (“Step 3: I discover she was secretly my half-sister”). If you want, there’s nothing stopping you from making the ending a tragic one at the last minute, or even deciding that your Hero should fail so that they can be led into a future Story (“She defeated me into the duel and threw me into the sea - but not before she told me the real reason she killed my father!”) In between these main story points, the GM will also weave in their own side stories and recurring stories, which grant rewards in the same way as you complete them.

Odds are also good your party will get access to a ship at some point, this being a setting with an emphasis on seafaring. Ships have their own abilities based on where they were built and their history, and can gain new abilities as the party completes various types of adventures, like unlockable achievements. Players are encouraged to work with the GM and flesh out the ship’s NPC crew. Of course, the crew will also need to be paid regularly lest they turn mutinous.

What books should I get?

It should be noted that 1st edition and 2nd edition are radically different, both in rules and setting. While the 1st edition books are still useful as inspiration, most of the material in them isn’t canonical any more, and a good chunk of the setting is completely new to 2nd edition anyway. Frustratingly, there’s some characters in both editions that didn’t get described in the 2nd edition books on the grounds that they were already described in 1st edition. If you prefer rules that work like a more traditional RPG, 1st edition is probably more for you (and it also has cross-compatibility with the d20 system in its later supplements). Otherwise, stick to the 2nd edition books. You’ll need a copy of the Core Rulebook, and then the other books describe and provide character creation rules for the other nations and continents not described there.

Nations of Théah, Volumes 1 and 2 flesh out the western and eastern nations respectively, adding some more geographical and historical material as well as some new character rules suited for those nations.

Pirate Nations is very useful for a seafaring campaign, covering the various groups in the Atabean Sea, from pirate republics to native sea-monster hunting Rahuri, a slave colony that cast off its chains, and the villainous Atabean Trading Company. It also includes the Théan nation of Numa, once the cradle of Théan civilization.

The Crescent Empire introduces the Middle Eastern-inspired nations, flourishing under a new Caliph who banished her wicked brother from the throne. These five nations are united as one despite their differences, but loyalists to the old Caliph still plant seeds of dissent for his return.

The New World has the Central/South American continent of Aztlan, once ruled by Old Gods that caused a great cataclysm when they were overthrown that made the land itself shift and change. The Aztlani now venture into this uncharted territory to reclaim what they once had, balancing cultural independence against unifying the continent under one flag, whether by alliance or conquest, while wondering how long they can hold back the greedy Théans eyeing the continent’s treasures.

Lands of Gold and Fire presents the African continent, Ifri, home to several wealthy and highly advanced civilizations. They are under threat both from expansionist Théan powers and the Atabean Trading Company, whose campaign of slavery has empowered an ancient evil in the land.

Several other books are forthcoming for 2nd edition, including one with more information on the secret societies, and The Colonies, which will detail the North American continent. Khitai, the Asian continent, will have its own separate game system (called, appropriately, Khitai), with similar but slightly different rules.

What equipment do I need?

7th Sea uses d10s only, and you’ll want about 6-8 on hand per player, plus a decent stockpile for the GM. Sharing dice isn’t recommended here because it’s easier to keep the dice you rolled in front of you to count Raises during Action Sequences. You’ll also need some method of keeping track of Hero Points - poker chips work well, but you can get creative. Official 7th Sea versions of both are available.

There’s also the Sorte Deck, which makes a great in-universe prop (especially for Fate Witches), although you should note that it differs slightly from real-world tarot decks and has a few arcana cards that aren’t detailed even in the Core Rules. You could use it to guide your characters’ fates, or suggest the next step in their Stories.

Notecards are also helpful for tracking ongoing Stories.

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grailfinders · 4 years ago

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Fate and Phantasms #94: Astolfo

Happy 2021! To celebrate the new year, we’re giving y’all this one a day early. Our research team has shown that “with Astolfo” is the best way to celebrate any holiday.

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re making everyone’s favorite nonbinary and Ereshkigal’s main squeeze, Astolfo; the knight of evaporated reason! They have a ton of Noble Phantasms accumulated from their adventures, so you’ll have plenty of fun stuff to do with this build.

Check out their build breakdown below the cut, or their character sheet over here!

Next up: Ooh child, things are gonna get easier.

Race and Background

Astolfo is a Human, despite their otherwise unexplained Monstrous Strength. This gives them +1 to all stats. They’re also a Knight of the Order, “the Order” being the Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne. This gives them Persuasion and History proficiency. Astolfo is a leader, and they’re literally a part of history (In FGO. Assume Orlando Furioso is an accurate history book at your own peril).

Ability Scores

Make Charisma your highest score; Astolfo is the heart of the party, and can inspire even other servants to greater acts of heroism than they accomplished in life. Second is your Strength; one of your personal skills is all about how strong you are, and you need to be able to haul a lance around for a couple levels before you get your mount. Third is Constitution- you took a trip to the moon, so you’re probably really good at holding your breath. After that is Dexterity- that’s not really heavy armor you’re wearing. Your Intelligence is a little low; you’re not really stupid, per se, but you don’t think your actions through that often. Finally, dump Wisdom. “Evaporated Sanity” does not a cleric make.

Class Levels

1. Paladin 1: Yes, we’re making the paladin a paladin. Look, later builds are going to make me figure out how to put a jetpack in someone’s butt in a medieval fantasy setting, let me have the obvious ones. This gives you proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as Insight and Athletics. Despite your evaporated sanity, you’re really good at reading people, and you can hang onto a hippogriff mid-flight.

You also have a Divine Sense, letting you sense celestials, fiends, and undead within 60′ of you as an action. You can also Lay on Hands as an action to heal a creature you touch, with a maximum of 5 times your paladin level HP to hand out per long rest. You can also spend 5 hit points from the feature to end a disease or poison effect.

2. Paladin 2: Second level paladins get a Fighting Style. Great Weapon Fighting will make your lance a little less unwieldy by letting you re-roll a one or two on damage when using a two-handed weapon. Technically this doesn’t work with lances, as they have the “special” property, not the “two-handed” property, but honestly your DM should have some pity on you, you’re using a weapon that comes with disadvantage on most of its attacks.

You also can use spell slots to create Divine Smites at this level, spending magical energy for more powerful attacks. Speaking of spell slots, you can also use those to cast Spells if you really want to, preparing and casting them using your Charisma score. Spells like Heroism turns one creature you target into basically you, gaining temporary hit points each turn and having immunity to being frightened. You can also use a Thunderous Smite for an early Trap of Argalia, knocking your target prone if they fail a strength saving throw with a DC of 8 plus your charisma modifier plus your proficiency bonus. They also get thrown a good 10′ away, which is a solid unhorsing if ever I saw one.

3. Paladin 3: At third level, you become the envy of Okitas everywhere with your Divine Health, making you immune to disease. You also take up a Sacred Oath, a promise you’ll uphold to your dying breath, which for you is every promise. That’s why you’re an Oath of Devotion paladin. When you take the class, you gain the oath spells Protection from Evil and Good and Sanctuary, protecting one creature from extraplanar enemies by imposing disadvantage or from any enemies by forcing a wisdom save respectively.

You also gain one use of Channel Divinity per short rest, which can be used in one of two ways. Sacred Weapon empowers your Lance, adding your charisma modifier to attack rolls and making the weapon magical for the duration of a minute. Turn the Unholy is similar to Turn Undead, though it works on fiends and undead, and only forces them to flee from you if they fail a wisdom save.

4. Paladin 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to round out your Strength and Dexterity for stronger attacks and less getting attacked.

5. Paladin 5: You get an Extra Attack per attack action, but also gain access to second level spells! Lesser Restoration can heal a target of various diseases or conditions like blinded, deafened, paralyzed or poisoned. You can also make a Zone of Truth to force others to tell the truth if they fail a charisma save. Other spells to look at include Magic Weapon so you don’t have to use your Channel Divinity to pierce through enemy defenses and Warding Bond for dramatic heroic sacrifices.

6. Paladin 6: At sixth level you recover the first pages of the Luna Break Manual with Astolfo’s Aura of Protection. Any ally (including themself) within 10′ of them can add your Charisma modifier to any save they make. Suddenly your wisdom saves aren’t nearly as bad as they were before.

7. Paladin 7: The pages keep coming with your Aura of Devotion, making yourself and any allies within 10′ of you immune to being charmed. Look at your bard, now back to me. Now back to your bard, now back to me. Sadly, their countercharm isn’t this, but if they stopped being a bard and took seven levels in paladin they could block charms like this.

8. Paladin 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for more powerful protections and stronger spells.

9. Paladin 9: Ninth level paladins get third level spells, like your oath spells, Beacon of Hope and Dispel Magic. The former will make your and your allies’ wisdom saves even stronger, and boosts your death saves and healing as well for up to a minute. The latter is yet another addition to your Luna Break Manual, breaking down any spells you come across, not just charms on you and your friends. You can also pick up Remove Curse for yet another way to destroy magical effects on your party.

10. Paladin 10: At tenth level, your Aura of Courage shuts down any frightening effects used on allies within 10′ of you. You’re basically a nightmare to any status-effect dependent creatures now.

11. Paladin 11: Your Improved Divine Smite adds a bit of radiant damage to all your attacks, for an even shinier weapon.

12. Paladin 12: Use this ASI to get the Mounted Combatant Feat, and use Martial Versatility to swap your fighting style to Dueling. These are secret tools that will help us later. The feat gives you advantage on attacks against unmounted creatures smaller than your mount, and you can redirect attacks at your mount to you instead. Your mount also gets its own evasion for extra survivability. Dueling adds 2 to a melee weapon’s damage if you’re using it one-handed, and thankfully it works with a mounted lance without having to fudge anything.

13. Paladin 13: Thirteenth level paladins get fourth level spells, like your oath spells Freedom of Movement and Guardian of Faith. Astolfo has kind of a Roger Rabbit-esque relationship with shackles, and calling on a friend never hurt. Well, it will hurt the people it attacks, just not you. More importantly, you can Find Greater Steeds, like a Griffon! The summoned creatures is a celestial, fey, or fiend, and it has an enhanced intelligence so it can understand you. You can communicate telepathically with them while you’re within a mile, and you can target yourself and your mount with a single spell. The creature disappears when it hits 0 HP, but you can re-summon it by casting the spell again.

We know it’s not a Hippogriff, but those are much weaker in D&D. Trust me, you do not want a flying mount with only 19 HP, especially since we’re not getting feather fall for another level.

14. Bard 1: We’ve got two of your Noble Phantasms, but we need to make a class change to pick up your third. Multiclassing into bard nets you performance proficiency, which will be handy when you’re actually playing La Black Luna. You also gain another set of Spells that use your Charisma to cast-check the multiclassing table to figure out how many spell slots you have at each level. You also get Bardic Inspiration, d6s you can hand out to other party members to aid them in saves, checks, and attack rolls. You get a number of these dice per long rest equal to your charisma modifier, and you can hand them out one at a time as a bonus action.

For your spells, pick up Friends and Vicious Mockery as your cantrips. Astolfo’s easy to get along with, but they’re also incredibly good at telling you exactly what you don’t want people to talk about. Also, pick up Animal Friendship and Speak with Animals for more Griffon fun, Earth Tremor for yet another way to knock people on their ass, and Feather Fall for when your mount is inevitably shot out from under you 1000′ in the air. Is it an ability Astolfo has? No. Is it something you should absolutely pick up before getting on a griffon anyway? Absolutely.

15. Bard 2: Second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to all checks you’re not proficient in. This works on skills, but also things like initiative rolls, lucky you. You also get a Song of Rest, adding 1d6 to healing done over short rests, and Magical Inspiration. Your allies can now add your inspiration to magical damage and healing as well! Astolfo has many talents, they probably have something to help with healing on them somewhere.

Speaking of healing, pick up Healing Word for another way to use your bonus action. Knocking people on their ass is funny, but not everything can be solved with thunderous smites. Probably.

16. Bard 3: Sixteenth level might seem a bit late to graduate from college, but life doesn’t have a set pace; go at whatever speed you’re comfortable with. Graduating from the College of Valor lets you turn your Bardic Inspiration into Combat Inspiration; inspired allies can now add your inspiration to damage rolls as well as their AC against a single attack. You also get a round of Expertise, doubling your proficiency in Insight and Persuasion. We’re not improving your wisdom, but you’re really good at reading a room. This is the compromise.

To help social situations even more, pick up Calm Emotions. You’re pretty good at defusing a situation, even if that means you’ll be getting yelled at from both sides of the argument.

17. Bard 4: Your final ASI makes you a Fighting Initiate, so you can pick up one more fighting style. The Superior Technique style nets you a Battle Master Maneuver that you can use once per short rest, adding 1d6 to your damage roll when you make a Tripping Attack. The target also has to make a strength save against a DC of 8 plus your proficiency plus your strength modifier or fall prone. A little extra tripping power isn’t a bad idea, especially if you’re trying to keep a different concentration spell up at the time.

You also get Prestidigitation for general magical effects (you’ve gotta have more trinkets to show off, right?) and Enhance Ability for your Monstrous Strength. As well as monstrous dexterity, monstrous constitution... the spell gives your target advantage on one kind of ability check, is what we’re trying to say.

18. Bard 5: Fifth level bards see their Bardic Inspiration enhanced to d8s, and you become a Font of Inspiration, so your inspiration refills on short rests instead of long ones.

You also get a third level spell, so we can finally toot La Black Luna with the help of the Fear spell. Each creature in a 30′ cone must make a wisdom save or drop what its holding and become frightened. They have to dash away from you for the duration of the spell, which lasts up to a minute or until they make another wisdom save after losing sight of you, you lose concentration, or a minute passes.

19. Paladin 14: Fourteenth level paladins can spend an action to use their Cleansing Touch, ending a spell effect on a willing creature within touch range a number of times per long rest equal to your charisma modifier. You pretty much no-sell most status effects by now, this is just the icing on the cake.

20. Paladin 15: Your capstone ability weaponizes your Purity of Spirit as your final addition to the Luna Break Manual, giving you the effect of Protection from Evil and Good permanently. This means aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead have disadvantage to attack you, and you can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. You already had most of those effects blocked off, but the extra insurance is appreciated.

Pros

Your high charisma and skill proficiencies plus your immunity to common socializing status effects makes you an excellent party face, especially in high-magic settings where you can expect nobles to charm you into following their lead. Astolfo don’t care.

Getting knocked prone is annoying. It wastes half your movement, and gives melee attackers advantage on hitting you. And you’re really good at knocking people prone. Trip them, smite them, or rip apart the ground under their feet. Effective and hilarious.

Being a bard is great, but sometimes you have to go off on your own for solo adventures, which renders your inspiration useless. Always having your mount by your side means your inspiration always has a target, which can make you an even more terrifying duo than you already were.

Cons

Going by the book, mounted combat is a little unwieldy, and also becomes an issue in tight spaces where your griffon can’t enter or fly around.

You have great saves thanks to your auras, but that doesn’t change the fact that you have really low wisdom. Good luck perceiving anything.

This is more a complaint than a weakness, but I’m a bit mad that they made Hippogriffs so much weaker than Griffons. I wouldn’t think adding horses would make them that much weaker, but here we are.

#Fate Grand Order #fgo #Astolfo #D&D 5e #Fate and Phantasms

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