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Hooooooooboy this is an interesting thing you found.
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Aug 11, 2021 02:29
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I put even odds on the book being inoffensively boring except for a few bog standard displays of unexamined assumptions, or a real mind bending deep dive into those unexamined assumptions.
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Aug 11, 2021 02:56
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That Old Tree posted:I put even odds on the book being inoffensively boring except for a few bog standard displays of unexamined assumptions, or a real mind bending deep dive into those unexamined assumptions. Actually thinking about it you're probably right. If this had been written in 2003-2008 they might have let more problematic poo poo fly, but probably not in 2021
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Aug 11, 2021 03:09
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I would not hold your breath on that front but 
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Aug 11, 2021 03:23
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With no alternative that would let me live out my fantasies of living the high mercenary life of flying a succession of clapped and/or heavily modified Fishbeds, I'd so play this game.
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Aug 11, 2021 06:36
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PoontifexMacksimus posted:It looks like you linked the same Mammut dashboard twice Oops, fixed! Thanks for the catch!
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Aug 11, 2021 10:19
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That lens flare in s covering most of Israel From Jerusalem to the gulf of Eilat. That covers almost the entire population so I'm wondering if the book includes some northern enclave up in the mountains.
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Aug 11, 2021 12:37
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Siembieda has, in a rare bit of self-awareness, admitted in the they're not really suited to tackle the Middle East, so it's been avoided.
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Aug 11, 2021 15:52
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 Part 1: The First Few “Chapters” I’ll start by noting the way this book is laid out. It is broken into ‘chapters’ with each chapter representing long reports the main character has typed and sent home via some electronic method for review. Since satellites aren’t available and there’s no cell towers, it’s unclear how the messages make it from the Middle East to Germany. The ‘chapters’ aren’t numbered in the traditional manner and there’s no table of contents, except in back of the book where a timeline that essentially acts as a table of contents is included with the glossary. It is all very strange. I will mostly be calling them chapters. Report #14 – Chapter 1 The first chapter opens with a quote from someone named Keeper Abdullah that says “Few of the survivors cared about old grudges anymore.” and “Why hold on to old hatred when there’s hardly anyone left to hate?” It appears that some sort of civilization was formed by the remnants of the Israelis and Palestinians coming together after the nuclear apocalypse scoured the region. Or maybe Jews and Muslims. It’s not explicit. Whee! The action starts in media res with a black ops mission falling apart. We meet our main character, Lieutenant Steffan Meyer, who is the low ranking man on this operation. He’s part of a squad of special forces soldiers from the NCR located somewhere in the Sinai near Egypt proper. The author spends a large portion of the chapter dancing around the purpose of the mission and never explaining what ‘the package’ that they have is, but it’s much too short of build any real suspense. They’re preparing a nuke to blow up the Suez Canal and, presumably, economically damage the New Phoenix Empire.  T-10 Armor, which Meyer is wearing. Unfortunately they’re spotted by an enemy patrol kitted out with Kittani armor and robots that kills all but Meyer and the leader of this operation, Captain Schmidt. The captain, along with the nuke, is captured while Meyer manages to sneak away. The captain orders him to flee and get word back to the NGR. When Meyer is around two kilometers away the captain blows the nuke, killing the enemy patrol, himself, and giving Meyer a massive dose of radiation poisoning.  One of the Kittani enemies in pursuit. Meyer is shellshocked and wanders back into the blast zone. Everything is dead, but he does manage to find and take a blob of trinitite with the captain’s dog tags fused into it. Trinitite will end up important to the plot so let’s explain that it’s a glassy stone created by the heat of a nuke fusing sand together. In a daze Meyer heads east and eventually ends up in the empty ruins of an old port town. He types up his report in hiding and then gets some rest. Report #15 – Chapter 2 When Meyer wakes up he notices he is being tracked by a dozen humans who are, in turn, immediately attacked by a huge Brodkil (a 12 foot tall humanoid demon). Meyer jumps out of his hidey hole to assist the humans and gets beat to hell in the process. Like, part of his skull dented inward beat to hell. Between his significant radiation poisoning and the severe head injury he passes out just after seeing the humans use some sort of energy sword to defeat the demon. He drifts in and out of consciousness but eventually wakes in a well maintained, modern building being watched over by Joseph, who introduces himself as an Elder Shaper. Joseph (and everyone else here) speaks Dragonese, which Meyer learned as part of his Spec Ops training. He's given food and introduced to Norah, a young warrior woman who is acting with barely restrained hostility toward Meyer. I mean some real textbook Tsundere bullshit. Guaranteed she’s the love interest. Joseph is the first exposition dump to occur in the next few chapters. He tells Meyer that they are in Rum, one of the many refuges of his people, called the Makfi. They were made up of the survivors of the coming of the Rifts, mostly people who had prepared underground shelters and Bedouins too far out in the desert to be vaporized. The Makfi, as a result of the Rifts, are almost universally low level psychics and much of their culture is formed around these powers. Joseph also explains all about the psionic properties of the trinitite, or as they call it, Glass. As a Shaper (you can hear the character class when he says it), he can mold the rock into artifacts ranging from simple psionic batteries to weapons able to channel and magnify psionic power.  Trinitite Meyer, finding that his stuff has been returned to him and that he’s not actually a prisoner, begins typing up his report. Report #16 – Chapter 3 Meyer begins physical rehab and gets out of his room long enough to explore the Rum enclave. It’s mostly underground, carved into huge canyons and very difficult to detect from the outside. I assume were meant to picture a modern version of the structures at Petra. Joseph continues dumping exposition, explaining in further detail about the objects that can be shaped from Glass. He also explains that the chunk of rock Meyer grabbed with the captain’s dog tags in it is called a Soul Stone and is very rare and important to Makfi culture, although its powers are ill defined at this point. The Makfi psychically sensed the soul stone and that’s why they were out tracking Meyer. His actions in fighting the Brodkil convinced the retrieval group to save him rather than just taking the soul stone and leaving him to die. Norah is there and berates Meyer about how cowardly he is for leaving his captain behind (they psychically watched the entire first chapter), and how she’s baffled that the Soul Stone would choose to end up in his hands. It's an honor she wanted for herself. That, combined with the fact that Norah was careless and almost let Joseph be killed by the Brodkil before being bailed out by Meyer, she's still pissed about everything. She's somewhat mollified when she finds out that Meyer was ordered away by his superior officer. Meyer takes a nap but awakens to hearing a one-sided conversation even though no one else is in the room. Clearly he has burgeoning psychic powers and is inadvertently eavesdropping on Norah’s thoughts while she stands guard in the hall. She notices assumes he is spying, so she immediately tries to kill him. Tsundere! She is stopped by Elder Naomi, a new character and Norah’s mother. Naomi senses that Meyer has gained newfound powers and agrees to teach him. Meyer is still in piss poor condition even after a week or so since the explosion. All his hair has fallen out and his body is covered in ugly, dark splotches. He has brutal headaches and can barely stand up to basic activity without passing out. He types up his report and heads to bed.
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Aug 11, 2021 18:00
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Could you post an excerpt or two? I'm curious what the actual writing is like. So far this doesn't sound terrible, just an ordinary kind of bad, but there's plenty of time to change that.
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Aug 11, 2021 18:29
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Siembieda has, in a rare bit of self-awareness, admitted in the they're not really suited to tackle the Middle East, so it's been avoided. Of course since this is Palladium, even this sensible policy has had dumb repercussions in their products. Ninjas & Supersies includes the martial art Ch'a Ch'uan, which was developed by ethnic-Chinese Muslims. But in order to avoid discussing Islam, according to N&S Ch'a Ch'uan is a Mongolian style (despite not having a Mongolian name) practiced by nomadic goat-herders who do jump-kicks from horseback.
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Aug 11, 2021 18:35
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Note: there are Muslims in Mongolia. And while Mongolian mounted co bat styles exist, they don’t have names, they’re just…how you fight from horseback. Most involve bows and polearms. E: Japanese bajutsu is derived form Mongolian horseback fighting so that’s typically what people refer tone older Mongolian style as, too, these days.
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Aug 11, 2021 18:58
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Tulul posted:Could you post an excerpt or two? I'm curious what the actual writing is like. Unfortunately I made the poor decision of getting a physical copy, so a picture will have to do:  The prose is perfectly acceptable and workmanlike. There's no major editing issues, no word choices that the author gets hung up on, no bizarre tangents to irrelevant nonsense, but at the same time it's not fine literature. There are no flourishes or grand descriptions that really grab the imagination and scenes are laid out in fairly spare language. Everything moves along reasonably well, although the amount of exposition being dumped does tend to drag. The guy is a decent enough author for the kind of genre fiction we're working with. The main thing that seems weird is the conceit that this spec ops guy is writing up all this prose into a report to his superiors each night. I can only imagine Lieutenant Meyer actually secretly wanted to be a pulp author and this is his only outlet.
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Aug 11, 2021 19:16
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Mail service and communication are baffling mysteries in the Rifts setting. Erin Tarn routinely sends mail through unknown means. Early books said that long-distance radio is nixed by all the ambient PPE, but that's frequently forgotten later. (Satellites are explicitly no longer usable, which remains consistent.) Carella got around that by having messenger drones be a thing, but that was forgotten afterwards. Technically T-10 armor is radiation-shielded, but if that was a big enough nuke to annihilate Kittani power armor (a single tacnuke wouldn't be enough), it fits that it wouldn't be enough shielding. Everything about the Makti is whole cloth, I believe, and not based on anything from the game. Too bad their psychic powers don't seem to include psychic purification.
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Aug 11, 2021 19:45
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Mail service and communication are baffling mysteries in the Rifts setting. Erin Tarn routinely sends mail through unknown means. Early books said that long-distance radio is nixed by all the ambient PPE, but that's frequently forgotten later. (Satellites are explicitly no longer usable, which remains consistent.) Carella got around that by having messenger drones be a thing, but that was forgotten afterwards.
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Aug 11, 2021 19:48
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SirPhoebos posted:Of course since this is Palladium, even this sensible policy has had dumb repercussions in their products. Ninjas & Supersies includes the martial art Ch'a Ch'uan, which was developed by ethnic-Chinese Muslims. But in order to avoid discussing Islam, according to N&S Ch'a Ch'uan is a Mongolian style (despite not having a Mongolian name) practiced by nomadic goat-herders who do jump-kicks from horseback. Erick Wujcik was trusted by Siembieda as a source on Asian history and culture, so I'd presume he had much more of a blank check for that sort of thing. This trust was often misplaced. Ninjas & Superspies at least admits some of its martial arts information is fictional, but given its absolutely cringe depictions of Asian people, it's not worth being too generous about it.
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Aug 11, 2021 19:50
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To be honest "soldier beefman is ?dying? of radiation and skullcrush, but is discovering cool new psychic powers yet not instantly mastering them" is far more interesting a start than I expected.
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Aug 11, 2021 20:36
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GimpInBlack posted:Oops, fixed! Thanks for the catch! No problem. For games I hope to get to play I find detailed walkthroughs like these very helpful as a head start on internalizing the systems
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Aug 12, 2021 00:13
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That Old Tree posted:To be honest "soldier beefman is ?dying? of radiation and skullcrush, but is discovering cool new psychic powers yet not instantly mastering them" is far more interesting a start than I expected. Thanks for helping me name a future Dominions pretender.
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Aug 12, 2021 00:39
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EverettLO posted:Unfortunately I made the poor decision of getting a physical copy, so a picture will have to do: The "it's a military report" is a writing conceit that excuses the lack of flourish in the author's product. And make no mistake, product is exactly what it is here.
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Aug 12, 2021 02:12
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Part 2: The Latter Half of the First Section Report #17 – Chapter 4 Meyer continues his rehabilitation and comes to grips with being psychic. First he gets a guided tour of the local bazaar thanks to Norah, who takes on the exposition duties. It’s your stereotypical hectic Middle Eastern market. Wonderful smells, dense crowds and exotic wares. Naomi explains the various guilds that are the economic backbone of their society. They seem to get all their major necessities through trade, which seems incredible given that the Rum refuge is the size of a small city and totally concealed. Their walk ends at Elder Naomi’s house. I forgot to mention, when Meyer first showed evidence of uncontrolled psychic powers, he was given a special psionically-imbued collar that kept him from doing anything with his powers. Naomi is making soup and dropping more exposition. She makes apologies for her daughter’s behavior but explains that their sensitivity to mental intrusion is due to an event in their cultural past called the Purge. In a neat detail, it seems that psychics manifest is ways that are core to the users personality. Someone more physically inclined, such as an athlete, manifest physical powers, while someone with a more caring bent might get healing powers. Long ago one group of Makfi known as the Azizans got a bit too married to the idea of political dominance and manifested a number of straight mind control powers. They quickly took over Makfi society and immediately went cartoonishly evil, compelling people into bloodsports and undertaking unspeakable ‘experiments’ with unwilling victims. The Makfi eventually rose up and overthrew the Azizans, killing as many as they could find in an event called the Purge. Since that time mind tampering of any sort has been seen as a Azizan thing and put up there with other capital crimes. Naomi begins training Meyer on using his psychic power. It’s slow going and he makes very little progress before being too tired to continue. She notes that it seems much more difficult for Meyer than for most children and she thinks it’s because he came into the powers so late in life. Norah arrives and walks Meyer home, but before she can leave his room her face goes slack and a new voice speaking in ALL CAPITALS introduces itself as an Azizan who knows who and what Meyer is and can help him get home, if only he’ll turn over the soul stone. The pitch completed, Norah resumes her normal behavior and assumes Meyer’s injuries are making him hallucinate when he tells her about it. Meyer gives up and writes his report before crashing into bed. Report #18 – Chapter 5 Meyer tries to make it to Elder Naomi’s place by himself but faints about a hundred meters away. He notes that he seems to be getting weaker rather than stronger. Meyer tells Naomi about the new voice Norah exhibited and Naomi is skeptical. She does note that it’s certainly possible that an Almurid, which is basically a cultist using forbidden Azizan powers, could be on the loose. Meyer wearing the collar makes him that more vulnerable to enemy intrusion since it stops any ability he might have had to protect himself. Training continues to go far too slowly for either participant. Elder Naomi is worried that Meyer is going to end up prey to some cultist and decides on a risky course of action. With his permission she enters Meyer’s mind and dredges up all of his worst memories along with reliving every painful sensation he ever felt. All this is in an effort to force his mind to develop a protective response, which would be a functioning psychic power. She digs deeper and deeper until Meyer is nearly about to die when she abruptly pulls back. Norah is suddenly in the room and Naomi is looking almost as broken down by the experience as Meyer. Now, though, he is able to resist other minds intruding into his own. Norah puts it to the test and her mental probes are easily shut down. Norah then helps Meyer back to his bed and warns him to tell everyone that Naomi stopped destroying his mind on her own, not with Norah’s help, which is apparently how it really went down. The methods Naomi used were suspiciously Azizan and she doesn’t want anyone to think her mother is going evil. Meyer then rests until awoken once more by Joseph and a new character, a healer named Luca who has been applying psionic healing on Meyer since he first arrived. Mostly it’s a low-key conversation about Meyer’s progress but when he mentions Azizans and their mind powers, Luca explains an interesting fact to help understand why they became so evil so quickly. When they inflict pain on a mind, the pain reflects back on them as pleasure. It can quickly become addictive. Meyer once again finished his report and drifts into sleep. Report #19 – Chapter 6 He next awakes after a lot of hazy, waking dreams, but this time he immediately knows something is deeply wrong. Norah is in civilian clothes and is actually smiling at him, if only in pity. His pillow is covered in blood and it appears to be coming from his eyes, nose and ears. He’s been drifting in and out of consciousness for a few days. The radiation poisoning is nearing its grim conclusion. As a side note, it’s kind of strange that they didn’t use some kind of radiation removal power on Meyer since Joseph mentioned earlier than part of a Shaper’s powers is the ability to remove the radiation from the Glass. Also, as Alien Rope Burn mentioned, there are psychic healing powers in Rifts that can deal with radiation. Oh, well. Meyer takes it all in quite stoically and asks for someone to operate his broadcaster to send his final message home. After dictating the message, he divides up his things, giving his remaining weapons to the Makfi and specifically giving the Soul Stone to Norah on the stipulation that she complete his mission to destroy the Suez Canal. Seems like a pretty big ask for a people that like to remain hidden. With all his earthly deeds as complete as he is able, Meyer heads to sleep for one final time.
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Aug 12, 2021 02:44
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   Chapter 1: Introduction The concept of Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards was widened during the advent of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition when the spellcasting restrictions of previous editions were removed. When Pathfinder became its spiritual successor, more than a few of their own designers refused to believe the evidence at the time, downplaying its potential problems by shifting the blame to players and GMs, making design decisions and errata that held martial characters to the bounds of “realistic physics,” and an active fanbase which cheered them on whenever they nerfed useful nonmagical features and feats deemed “overpowered.” In spite of many players insisting that there was no sign of imbalance, it was apparent to many people both in mechanics and actual play experience. Solutions for “fixing fighters” and noncasters were extremely popular, both in professional third party publishing sourcebooks and homebrew material. Spheres of Might was one such attempt in the former category, and along with Path of War was one of the better-known sourcebooks catering to this demand. Path of War’s method was to make a pseudo-Vancian maneuver system of special moves which refreshed between encounters, albeit with a heavier emphasis on combat over general-purpose utility. Spheres of Might, on the other hand, focused on a more even mixture of combat and noncombat options for noncasters, focusing on more at-will abilities and special moves triggered by a binary feature known as martial focus which could refresh in the middle of an encounter by performing certain actions under the right conditions. Both books were popular by those who sought to bridge the caster/noncaster imbalance, although they did so in rather different ways. With that history lesson out of the way, we’ll cover how Spheres of Might’s conversion went for 5th Edition. Much like Spheres of Power it makes use of Spheres arranged by themes and styles of fighting, with Key Ability Modifiers used for determining the Sphere DC of certain attacks and Martial Traditions to determine one’s starting spheres. Legendary Talents are identical in every way to Spheres of Power’s Advanced Talents besides the name, and an advantage of the system is that virtually every Sphere and talent can be taken at virtually any level with no prerequisites. But there are some new terms. Instead of using Spell Points and Augmentation to split more limited-use features, Might makes use of Martial Focus. Anybody who possesses martial talents (as well as Spheres of Power’s Mageknight and Prodigy classes) can gain martial focus, and you either have it or you don’t. You can expend martial focus in order to use special abilities or enhance existing ones depending on the talent or class feature in question, and there exist various talents and features which let you regain it as a bonus action or reaction under certain circumstances. But on its own, martial focus can be expended to treat an STR/DEX/CON save roll as a natural 10, and it can be regained after a minute of rest or taking the Dodge action, and it can also be lost if you get KO’d or go to sleep/elven trance. Additionally, there are things known as Special Attacks which are alternative ways of performing an attack via the Attack action and replace an existing regular attack. You can only make one Special Attack per round if you have means of making extra attacks. Finally, there’s a new Fighting Style Option known as Martial Spheres Apprentice which grants a bonus martial talent and the ability to achieve martial focus if not already possessed. Finally, there are Class Options where those possessing a core class that is “martial” (barbarian, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, or rogue) can choose to forego taking a subclass, instead gaining 2 martial talents at any level they’d normally gain a subclass feature. Finally we have a process on How to Build a Character, which details a sample step-by-step process of building PCs under Spheres of Might in a similar fashion to how Spheres of Power did it.  Chapter 2: Martial Traditions Martial Traditions are Spheres of Might’s answer to Casting Traditions. Martial Traditions represent various backgrounds of how a character came into a life of violence and/or self-defense. Every Martial Tradition derives from one of the PHB Backgrounds, each of which has three Traditions to choose from. A Tradition also has a Key Ability Modifier derived from one of the three mental ability scores (each Background having 3 Traditions of each score), as well as four bonus Talents the PC gains for free. Finally, a Martial Tradition has its own list of Starting Equipment which a PC can choose instead of their default Background if they so desire. Virtually every Tradition grants 1-2 talents from the Equipment sphere in determining major weapon/armor proficiencies, 1-2 other spheres which are unlocked at the base level, and in some cases have a Variable option where a character can choose a bonus talent in line with the Tradition’s themes or an additional Equipment talent. There are also guidelines for designing one’s own Martial Tradition which follows the above guidelines. With 39 Martial Traditions spread across 13 Backgrounds, we aren’t exactly starved for choices: we have options ranging from iconic fantasy RPG concepts such as Knight (Noble) and Street Tough (Urchin) to less conventional options such as Witch (alchemy rather than magic, Hermit) and Ruin Delver (Sage). Every Spheres of Might class starts out with a Martial Tradition by default, but the core “martial” classes save the Monk all have the option of starting play with a Tradition in exchange for trading in starting proficiencies: typically all martial weapons, medium armor, and shields, and in the Rogues’ case their “roguish weapons” plus 1-2 skills (or 1 skill and thieves’ tools) in place of a skill. As for why, Spheres of Might’s martial characters aren’t omniversal weapon and armor masters. Their Tradition determines their preferred weapons and armor, and Equipment sphere talents typically grant proficiency in 5-7 themed martial weapons per talent or one higher category of armor (along with shields if already proficient in light or medium armor). As the core rules have 24 martial weapons (14 are simple), most Martial Traditions aren’t exactly starved for choices. In my personal experience most players tend to stick with 1-2 weapons over the course of play (1 melee and 1 ranged or 2 melee and a backup ranged), so this isn’t as big of a penalty as it seems. As for why the Monk doesn’t get such a choice, their class features are already equivalent to a martial tradition and deeply tied into their class as they level up. Martial Traditions are a bit simpler than Casting Traditions given the lack of Drawbacks, Boons, and thus Spell Points, but the granting of 4 bonus talents rather than 2 is meant to make up for this. Chapter 3: Classes With 7 classes and 31 subclasses (33 if we count variants), we have a lot of options for building our warriors of the Spheres. And like Spheres of Power they are more akin to generic “templates” in concept rather than baked-in roles. Every class allows the character to pick any 2-4 skills in which to be proficient rather than a specific list, and three of them allow the character to choose one uncommon save and one common save in which to be proficient. Each one is proficient in light armor and simple weapons by default, with further proficiencies determined by Martial Traditions and talents. Finally, each class save the Scholar gains Extra Attack given their “fighter” inclinations.  The Alter Ego is our first class, a person who is not one but several people. Depending on the subclass this may be literal, such as two souls sharing the same body, or metaphorical such as a spy living a double life. As part of their core features they have two Personas (or 3 with Troubador subclass), which are broad literary archetypes that replicate the features of other (core) classes to a limited degree and grant a number of bonus talents that can only be accessed in that particular Persona. The Alter Ego can only be in one Persona at a time, and each Persona is treated as its own person for the purpose of alignment and divination spells. The subclasses further flavor the origin and nature of the multiple Personas, such as a Jekyll & Hyde style Chemist, a magical girl-style Empowered form, the otherworldly Possessed which can be an entirely different character mechanics-wise if so desired, a Troubadour who can act so well they have three Personas and can fool truth-compelling magic, and a Vigilante whose “civilian” persona can aid in skill checks and downtime activities for their crime-fighting identity. Assessment: It may be easy to think of the Alter Ego as Spheres of Might’s “rogue class,” and it can definitely be built that way. However, the subclasses and Personas can grant them a variable range of party roles beyond what their talents can bring. The Mentor Persona and Empowered subclass can make the Alter Ego a limited caster (with both Vancian and spherecasting versions), while the Dragon and Hero Persona and Chemist subclass can make them a better straightforward warrior in the vein of the Barbarian or Fighter. The Antihero and Lover Personas and the Troubadour and Vigilante are closer to typical stealth/scout/skill using roles, while the Fool Persona and Possessed subclass are the odd ones out in having some rather broad features. Pathfinder’s Troubadour was very much in the vein of a bard, being a gish caster with stealth and social-themed skills and class features, but the 5th Edition version is a lot more broad than this.  The Armiger is the opposite of a weapon specialist. They rely on a set of Customized Weapons which they can swiftly draw and use in rapid flourishes between attacks. Their core features revolve around maintaining 3-5 Customized Weapons based on level which grant them bonus talents as long as they’re wielded and can switch out these talents and what weapons are Customized every long rest. Their other features involve being able to draw and re-equip weapons faster and in between attacks, with higher-level features allowing them to do this better and switch out weapon talents more frequently. The Armiger’s three subclasses include a spellcasting Antiquarian (Vancian or spherecasting) which lets them place spell slots or magic talents into Customized Weapons, a mobile Commando who relies upon speed to impose negative statuses on foes and regaining martial focus when switching weapons after critting/killing/succeeding on contested ability checks, and a Polymath jack of all trades both in and out of combat who gains a variable Fighting Style, increased proficiency bonuses on non-proficient skills, and can change more weapon talents when using their higher-level Armiger class features. Assessment: The Armiger is similar to the Vancian Wizard in that while it doesn’t have a lot of talents all at once, it has a potentially wide variety to choose from between long rests. The use of customized weapons to encourage the right tool for the job is a neat feature, and their limited ability to use different weapons between attacks allows for some nice combo potentials. However, their assortment of Customized Weapons will depend greatly on their existing proficiencies. Some Equipment talents grant proficiency in a narrow band of weapons which are functionally similar, while others have a more diverse assortment. As there are few restrictions as to what kinds of talents can be imposed via Customization, an Equipment talent granting proficiency in a weapon is entirely possible, although that’s kind of a waste just for one weapon unless one is two-weapon fighting.  The Artisan specializes in knowing how to build and break things. They can substitute a d6-12 damage die with a weapon or improvised weapon based on level via Deadly Tools, gain double proficiency in any artisan and thieves’ tools in which they’re proficient, and at higher levels gain features such as crafting items faster and cheaper, expending martial focus to roll double the damage die with the Deadly Tools ability, and can dispel magic effects and curses on targets and ignore alignment/class/race restrictions when using magic items. They have four subclasses reflecting a certain type of trade, each granting a bonus tool proficiency and sphere talent: a Chef who can buff the party between rests with hearty foods and brewed potions; a Sapper whose traps are deadlier and can make temporary Glyphs of Warding; a Smith who can damage the equipment of enemies, imbue non-magical weapons and armor with enhancement bonuses during long rests, and grant 1-2 equipment-based buffs to party members between long rests; and a Technician who can craft advanced devices such as constructed drone companions, vehicles with variable movement speeds, and suits that can physically enhance the wearer. Assessment: The Artisan is pushed into a skill-user role more by encouragement than by force, with a fair amount of utility and party aid abilities via the subclasses. Deadly Tools is rather useful for those who specialize in light weapons such as daggers, for right off the bat it gives them a better damage die. It’s also a class that can afford to neglect STR/DEX for physical attacks on account that the Equipment sphere’s Toolkit Training lets one use tools as improvised weapons and substitutes one’s Key Ability Modifier for attack and damage rolls. The subclasses vary a bit; the Chef gains a rather situational initial feature and an underwhelming capstone, while the Sapper (along with the Trap sphere in general) necessitates a certain play-style of cloak and dagger scouting and ambushes that other PCs may not care for. The Technician’s Inventions are a definite high point in part because they can be swapped out during a day of downtime rather than stuck as permanent choices. Additionally, it’s entirely possible for the Artisan to grant a “group flight” for small parties at 6th level by taking an Air Vehicle as 2 inventions (the subclass can choose to make additional inventions at a time or grant a single invention enhanced benefits if “taken multiple times”).  The Commander occupies the “party buffer” role of classes. Its core features include spending a bonus action to let an ally make a weapon attack as a reaction, a limited-use d6-d12 Command die based on level that can be added to an ally’s d20 roll, and can spend an action to restore the martial focus of allies 1-3 times per short or long rest based on level. Each subclass grants a bonus sphere talent related to its theme: the Captain uses Commands that can subtract enemy damage and synergizes with the Guardian sphere’s patrol package; Drill Sergeant grants the ability to grant 1-3 known martial talents to allies between long rests and synergizes Commands with the Gladiator sphere’s boast and demoralize options; General grants persistent buffs and wider-ranging tactics talents from the Warleader sphere; and the Leadership sphere-friendly Politician lets one make money every day from connections and has the ability to call in NPC specialists 1-3 times per week to help out with specific tasks. Assessment: The Commander cannot do many things on its own as a class, with the majority of features helping allies perform better. The subclasses more or less follow suit, with different types of aid based on the favored sphere. The General subclass is perhaps the most “physical” given that the Guardian sphere’s patrol package encourages opportunity attack and reach weapon-focused battlefield control builds. The Politician is the most open-ended but also situational on account of their Specialists and features which require some downtime and contact with civilization to make use of, as opposed to more immediate effects for dungeon-crawling parties.  The Conscript is the broadest class in Spheres of Might. Whereas the other classes granted martial talents at a rate of ½ (Alter Ego, Armiger, Scholar, Striker)to ¾ (Artisan, Commander ) level progression, the Conscript is the only one that gains a martial talent every level. It doesn’t have many core features, going for broader-use things such as Second Wind like a Fighter or gaining temporary access to a bonus talent and an additional independent martial focus as 18th and 20th level abilities. The majority of class features are from one of seven subclasses: Brawler treats the character as being 1-2 size categories larger for grapple/shove/etc maneuvers, deals additional unarmed strike damage, and can wield heavier weapons in one hand; Fury is a discount Barbarian that has a slower-progression rage along with bonus movement speeds and immunity to being Frightened; Knave’s a discount Rogue with partial Sneak Attack and some other thief-like features; Marshal enhances the use of the Scout sphere’s scouting feature and grants 1-2 Favored Enemies as a Ranger; Mechanic focuses on the gear-based spheres (Alchemy, Tinkerer, Trap) and grants an additional amount of formula, poisons, and gadgets to be created between rests and lets the Conscript activate them and Trap sphere talents faster; Paragon grants a Fighting Style along with morale-boosting Warleader sphere features to allies; Sentinel focuses on the Guardian sphere such as halving the amount of damage unloaded from that sphere’s delayed damage pool or can challenge another creature if a challenged target is reduced to 0 HP; and Warrior is the most generic, allowing a “reckless attack” where the character gains advantage on all attack rolls but suffers advantage on all attacks directed towards them, along with later level features such as a once per long rest ability to survive a blow at 1 HP that would reduce them to 0 HP, can expend martial focus to ready an Action as a bonus Action, and can attack 3 times instead of twice when using Extra Attack. Assessment: More than any other class in Spheres of Might, the Conscript will be defined mostly by their choice of sphere talents. The subclasses are a bit specific, usually enhancing a sphere or certain way of fighting. In the original Pathfinder version, the Conscript was very much a “build your own class” to the point that one possible build was just to have nothing but bonus feats and bonus talents while still being versatile and relevant unlike the poor Fighter. The 5e Conscript is a bit of a spiritual successor, albeit the Warrior subclass is the only option that can truly be “broad” in terms of its granted features.  The Scholar is the mind-over-matter skill user of Spheres of Might. They have a pretty fragile d6 Hit Die (the other 6 classes are evenly split between d8 and d10) and are the only class without Extra Attack. Their core class features involve substituting their KAM for Strength for carrying capacity, can spend 5 GP on “generic equipment” for class features that help create particular items, gain Scout and a gear-based sphere (Alchemy, Tinkerer, orTrap) as bonus spheres, and the rest of their features are part of their subclass or Studies. Studies are chooseable abilities related to a field of knowledge that grant the Scholar certain persistent benefits, with more than a few granting a bonus talent from a sphere and/or proficiency (or double proficiency) in a skill or tool. There are 18 Studies to choose from and the Scholar can learn up to 10 (9 by level, 1 by subclass), and includes such options as Physics (gain Brute sphere and substitute KAM for Strength for sphere abilities), Meteorology (can craft a lightning rod quarterstaff can can shoot lightning and absorb lightning damage), Chemistry (create single-target flashbang grenades that can blind and deafen on a failed save), Aerodynamics and Marine Studies (gain Athletics sphere and can build gliders which can initially grant glide speed and flight at higher levels or underwater-breathing devices), and Arcane Studies (can cast Vancian spells as rituals like a Warlock’s Book of Ancient Secrets). The three subclasses are Archaeologist (jack of all trades, more skill proficiencies, 1 study of choice, can attune to more magic items), Natural Philosopher (can learn Material Impositions which enhance Chemistry’s flashbang grenades and allow one to gain near-supernatural abilities from certain physical substances), and Occultist (can learn more Vancian spells as rituals related to themed Esoteries). Assessment: The Scholar’s low Hit Die and talent progression (with scant few bonus talents unlike the Alter Ego or Armiger) along with less direct Studies pushes the class strongly into an indirect fighter and skill-user role. In this role they are clearly the best, for they can gain proficiency and even double proficiency in a fair number of skills this way without the use of sphere talents. The Studies vary a bit in attractiveness: Linguist’s 4 bonus languages is boring and easily superseded by spherecasting and Vancian options that allow a magic-user to speak them all, while Chemistry’s flashbang grenades can be simulated by certain talents and only really shines if one particular subclass is taken. As for the subclasses, Archeologist feels a bit boring although their skill and magic item attunement bonuses have potential to be effective with the right builds (and a generous GM), with Natural Philosopher and Occultist possessing more immediately compelling abilities. Both of these subclasses have some pretty good choices, although in the case of Occultist the bulk of their abilities are going to be done either out of combat or cast before encounters in the case of long-duration spells.  The Striker is our final class, and it’s similar to Spheres of Might’s Prodigy in that it has an ability which can only trigger and be spent during combat. Strikers gain points of Tension whenever they damage a foe or take damage from a foe, and can spend Tension on Techniques such as gaining stackable bonuses to attack/saves/AC and being able to take certain actions as bonus actions. Higher-level class features grant them new ways to gain and spend Tension. There are 3 subclasses, one of which has a variant depending on whether Vancian magic or spherecasting is being used. The Boxer focuses on unarmed combat, gaining appropriate bonus Equipment talents (or bonus talents of their choice if they already have them) along with improved unarmed strike damage and some more defensive abilities at higher levels; the Bloodriser grants spellcasting (buffs and offensive magic up to 4th level in Vancian) and the ability to spend Tension in place of Spell Points (spherecasting) or to cast spells faster or via higher level slots (Vancian); and the Skirmishing Scout encourages the use of Stealth, such as being able to gain Tension for 1 minute outside of combat, along with higher level features such as bonus damage when making attacks while hidden, grant +10 to Stealth when spend 1 minute camouflaging themselves, and cannot be tracked via nonmagical means. Assessment: The Striker is the most combat-focused of Spheres of Might’s base classes. With the exception of perhaps the Armiger,* all of the prior classes’ default features had options for non-combat and utility applications. The Striker’s subclasses can help a bit in this front, although even the Bloodriser and Skirmishing Scout’s features are meant either as a bonus for engaging in combat or to help prepare them for when the battle begins. On the other hand, the Striker is a very effective fighter. The requirements for gaining Tension are very easy to meet, and the bonuses to AC and non-skill related d20 rolls can help push them to the upper limits of bounded accuracy. *and even then that depends on what talents they select for their weapons. Thoughts So Far: I have overall positive feelings in regards to the initial chapters of Spheres of Might. My major concerns revolve around the restriction of Martial Traditions to Backgrounds. As Casting Traditions had no such limitations, it feels a bit restrictive even if most Martial Traditions are meant to combine thematically with their parent Background. The classes are quite open-ended, although I can’t help but feel that Alter Ego and Scholar will be a bit narrower in focus in regards to player imagination. I can imagine Armigers, Commanders, and Conscripts easily filling a variety of concepts and build ideas, although the “maintaining two identities” Alter Ego and “frail but brainy” Scholar push one’s mind to a more limited range of ideas. This isn’t a problem with the system so much as how players may approach building them. I also like how while not their major features, virtually every class save the Conscript has some means of gaining magical aid. In the case of those who don’t have outright magical subclasses, the Artisan can make use of and even craft a limited subset of magical items, the Commander’s Politician subclass can call upon magic-using Specialists, and the Scholar’s Occultist subclass can make use of Rituals. While none of the spherecasting subclasses have Blended Training to the point that they can freely take magical talents with martial talent slots, a few choice bonus talents can still make them respectable gishes. Join us next time as we cover the first couple of Spheres and stat Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher!
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Aug 12, 2021 04:42
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I can't believe the rifts Middle East novel seems... fine. I wasn't expecting Tom Kratman but I was feeling a little dread, you know?
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Aug 12, 2021 08:27
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The author's doing a lot from whole cloth with the cultural and psychic stuff, but considering Rifts World Book 4: Africa, that's largely a blessing so far.
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Aug 12, 2021 16:41
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Yeah, it doesn't seem to be making a lot of specific use of the setting, but thus far none of it seems that bizarre or horrifying. I was expecting like, OCC: Mega-Jihadi.
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Aug 12, 2021 17:52
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 So, first off, a small elephant in the room: Maggotkin of Nurgle is the oldest still active battletome in the entire game. It's from before AoS 2, in fact. Only the Idoneth battletome rivals it in age, and still doesn't manage to match it. A side effect of this is that it lacks a lot of the nice changes of newer books, like subfactions, though they exist in the lore. On a basic level, Nurgle's motivation is to spread rot and disease everywhere, seeing this as the greatest way to spread life. What Nurgle wants is the maximum amount of life possible, and disease and decay are forms of life. A human corpse is one death that nurses a thousand loves - maggots, germs, spores. A stagnant lake and a rotting tree are both wellsprings of new life, and because it's more life than you'd get if you just let things be...well, rot it all, plague for everyone. Nurgle considers diseases and insects to be beautiful things, things he loves as much as any life, and his anger is saved for those who reject his generous attempts to share that love. His physical form is a horrible mountain of fat and pus, his rotting flesh crawling with sores and lice. He drools filthy, foul substances constantly from hundreds of open mouths, and massive flies follow him in a black cloud. Like, cow-sized flies massive. Nurgle is often counted as the third most powerful of the Chaos Gods, weaker than Khorne and Tzeentch, but this is not because he is weak. Instead, it is because he is cyclical. He is immensely powerful in times of plague, so much so that his flesh bulges in his garden as it struggles to contain his might. However, when the diseases fade into remission, he becomes weak, hollowing out from within. And yet, while he is weakened, he is rarely defeated for long before the cycle returns him to great heights. Many believe he should probably be closerst and most friendly with the Great Horned Rat, but in truth, he tends to like the other Dark Gods better even though he works with the Rat more often. See, the Rat ultimately wants to destroy all non-Skaven life, which is anathema to Nurgle, who rejoices in new creation. Thus, Nurgle sees the Rat as a short-sighted fool to be used rather than a friend or ally. In the Age of Chaos, Nurgle's chosen battleground was Ghyran, as he sought to spread his gifts to the power of Life itself. His forces seized the Jade Kingdoms, corrupting the lands they took and turning thousands of tribes to frenzied worship of the Plague God in an effort to survive his 'gifts.' The Sylvaneth were driven into hiding with their goddess, and it seemed Nurgle might achieve a permanent victory there. However, the Age of Sigmar came before this could be achieved, and the Stormcast and Sylvaneth together were able to defeat the greatest champions of Nurgle. The Genesis Gate, the greatest of Nurgle's corrupted realmgates, was sealed, and the Plague God fell into a depressed stupor for a time. His armies were driven back on all fronts, and he seemed to be losing badly. Things have changed somehwat now - Nurgle has regained much of his optimism, as he has come to the realization that by obsessing over Ghyran alone, he was in truth being selfish. His gifts must be spread to all of the Mortal Realms, and therefore he can resurge by turning away from a losing fight to focus elsewhere for a time. The Garden of Nurgle itself is Nurgle's home within the Realm of Chaos. It is impossible for most to survive there unless they are granted protection by worshipping him, for it is a place of disease, horrible worms and deadly miasmas. Here, the Feculent Gnarlmaws grow wild, covered in strange fungus and horrible fever-blooms. Their spore-sacs spread the sickly light of plague as they drift through the murky lands of the Garden, trailing vines covered in pus-leaking thorns. Mucus is a constant, as are insect larvae and flies. Bone fountains rise from thick, congealing lakes, spraying strange goos. The Garden grows and shrinks with its master's power, spreading and claiming land from the other gods when Nurgle is at his high points, but falling back and losing to the invading forces of the other Chaos Gods when Nurgle is weak. His daemonic forces patrol the inner garden constantly, seeking out the forces of Nurgle's brothers to drive them out. Nurglings can be seen everywhere, causing problems for anyone they can find, while the Beasts of Nurgle gather in large packs in the marshes. At the center of it all is Nurgle's Manse, the home of the dark god himself. Here, Nurgle wanders about, whistling and singing as he brews new plagues. Each new creation is raised in a gigantic cauldron within the Manse, then released onto the Poxfulcrum when it is ready. This is a caged monster that has existed for millenia as Nurgle's personal test subject. Only when he is happy with the results on the Poxfulcrum is a new disease allowed out, a feat achieved by flipping the cauldron and pouring all the contents into the soil, where they will eventually make their way into the Mortal Realms. Nurgle's daemons are, like their master, often fat and infested with horrible, foul disease. They stink horribly and exist to spread the gifts of Grandfather Nurgle all throughout reality. Their presence causes epidemics, and when they gather in force, they wield the power of entropy and misery as much as any other weapon. They are rarely as cruel or hate-filled as the daemons of other Chaos Gods, for they tend to be very bad at telling people apart in the first place. They kill without malice or distinction - it's just what they do. They tend to be either detached and somewhat morose in their demeanor or violently cheerful and laughing as they kill, both expressions of the fatalistic view of Nurgle and his desire to grant all his blessings. The greatest of them is Epidemius, personal Tallyman of Nurgle and one of the Seven Proctors of Pestilence, whose job is to catalogue all of Nurgle's creations. The work never ends, and he has many servants assisting with it. He rides on a large palanquin so he can focus all his attention on his work rather than simple things like walking, and he is carried about by a giant pile of Nurglings, who help operate the massive abacus built into the palanquin. Epidemius notes mortality and infection rates, measures secondary symptoms of note and keeps tally of the strength of each disease. Nurgle approves of his work and gifts him frequently, allowing the Tallyman to serve as a locus for diseased power for the daemons that fight alongside him. His mere presence renders them stronger, more resilient and more able to spread plague. He's actually been around the Mortal Realms well before the Age of Chaos began, having been one of the first daemons ever to appear there. His travels are patternless and random, but he always seems to show up in time to record major outbreaks of newly made plagues. Few demons can rival Epidemius, but among them is Horticulous Slimux, said to be the first Plaguebearer ever made. Even the eldest Great Unclean Ones cannot remember a time in which he did not care for the Gardens. He is a gnarled, leathery thing that lacks the good humor of many of the Plague Legions. He is pragmatic and efficient, as he has a job to do, whether it is in battle or the garden. He rides a giant snail named Mulch, one of the few beings he shows much affection for, and he spends most of his time travling Nurgle's holdings and dragging the Gruntleplough behind him. He examines the rotting, festering plants to ensure they grow correctly. He far prefers remaining in the Garden of Nurgle when he can, as he finds the Mortal Realms far too sterile for his tastes. He tends to be bad-tempered and upset when forced to war as a result, as he takes out his worries for his plants on those around him. He calls forth what he can of the Garden in battle, using his magic to bring its rotting, endless life into the Realms, and he is never seen far from the Beasts of Nurgle, whom he loves as if they were pet dogs. He may be slow to move, but he is relentless and unstoppable, and his pruning shears have slain many, many heroes. The Plague Legions have been having some problems, though. While their work in the Realm of Chaos fighting the other Chaos Gods continues apace, with very few problems, they can't apply all the same ideas. The Great Unclean Ones lead the Legions and tend to be quite good generals, as they easily adapt their understanding of disease spread to wars of attrition. The problem is that the forces of Order have been quite relentless in destroying Nurgle's corrupted realmgates, meaning they are running a bit low on ways to get daemons easily into the world of mortals. They have increasingly had to rely on summoning rituals by Nurgle's mortal worshippers, which can only be done in places that have become very corrupted and full of Filth Pits, Rotwoods, Bulgebarks and other Chaotic plantlife. There, conduits can form that will allow the daemons of plague into the world. These summonings are simple to do as long as you have sufficient magical power and are willign to risk your soul, but the tunnels they make don't last long and a lot of the summoners end up killed by the daemons they call forth. Further, unless a True Name is used, the daemons that get through are just whichever ones were lucky enough to answer the call first. Thus, you often end up with a random assortment of unorganized daemons who have to figure out a rough hierarchy quickly. Nurglite daemons are, at least, fairly good at this, as they tend to be more interested in spreading plague than fighting each other. Natural tunnels to the Garden can also form when mortal populations suffer horrible outbreaks of plague, as happened recently to the city Astralon. Seven years after its founding, it was ravaged by the Nodding Blight, which killed so many in its cramped streets that the Plague Legions were able to break through in the overwhelmed hospitals. The war between them and the Astral Templars defending the city remains ongoing. Because Nurgle's logistical needs are now fueled largely by mortals, Nurgle is heavily reliant on his mortal servants, the Rotbringers. There are plenty of them, because turning to the worship of Nurgle has been an excellent survival strategy since the Age of Chaos began. After all, desperate prayers to Nurgle may not cure the symptoms of your illness, but they will remove the pain and suffering of it, if you are willing to give up your soul to Chaos. Others despair at seeing their lands destroyed and turn to Nurgle as a way to curse their foes and share their suffering. Nurgle likes that just as much, seeing it as another way of celebrating entropy and rot. Grandfather Nurgle welcomes to broken, the spiteful and the forsaken to his embrace, giving them strength from the diseases that blight them. He also is happy to manipulate the good intentions of those who study disease, and several of his champions are those who once tried to cure his ills and delved too deep into experiments to further their understanding of the plague. They became fascinated by what they saw, tempted by the bitter revelations of despair, until at last they gave up on cures and lived to spread what they had once fought. Nurgle has relatively few simple warriors - he has little need for those whose obsession is pure martial conquest, though he does occasionally bless those who fight his enemies in his name. Rather, he prefers it when his warriors are cunning, able to infect their foes rather than kill them, so that even other Chaos champions find their only hope for survival is to turn to the Grandfather. Total death is a failure, after all - better to use the enemy as a breeding ground for disease, allowing survivors so that they can spread the plague further. Thus, the Rotbringers celebrate more those who poison wells, infect supplies or use warpstone to mutate and infect the enemy, not those who simply kill well. Regardless of how they earn the blessings, though, Rotbringer leaders inevitably swell up into hulking, monstrous figures. They are covered in bloated flesh and thick muscle, often splitting their skin and revealing the diseased organs beneath. Their armor, if they have any, is usually buckled and bent by the pressures of their flesh, and many have no need for armor anyway, their bodies turned into hardened scarring that does the job better. Their strength and resilience are legendary, and while the metal of their weapons is always pitted and covered in rust and verdigris, the force they use to swing means it rarely matters. Besides, they exude an aura of plague that kills slower but no less easily. The Rotbringers are usually cheerful sorts, though often their humor is grim and nihilistic. This is because their joy is born from despair, from a complete understanding that all things will eventually rot. Thus, while they may joke with their foes, they show no mercy or forgiveness - what would be the point? Living longer wouldn't be a kindness. For the Rotbringers, the world exists to be despoiled, and the 'gifts' of Nurgle are not truly a comfort as they claim. Rather, they are proof that nothing has meaning, that the only comfort is bringing everyone else into the fold with them. They desecrate shrines and temples, make examples of priests, and make an effort to ensure everyone else is as hopeless as they were when they embraced the Plague God. They make a special effort to taint any place of life-giving power of healing, as these inevitably make the best plague vectors. They will dig out massive pits, known as Filth Pits, using giant wyrr-maggots. These holes are filled with poo poo, pus and other horrible substances to a depth of several feet, so they can serve as breeding grounds for disease and altars of sacrifice to Nurgle. Captives are hurled into them and left to die in drawn-out starvation and plague, that they might wear the walls of reality thin and create new access points for the Plague Legions' summoning. Skaven of Clan Pestilens often support the Rotbringers, working closely with them despite their gods' different goals and disdain for each other. Next time: Armies of the Rotting
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Aug 12, 2021 19:41
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Part 3: The First Half of the Second Section Report #20 – Chapter 7 As it turns out, the main character doesn’t actually die a slow, mewling death! While painfully drifting around consciousness he mentions the same thing I mentioned above: Joseph was able to remove radiation from the Glass and he wishes it would work on people. Norah decides to quickly consult with a Librarian, which is basically a psychic version of the internet. They read books at artificially quickened speed and retain it all with perfect recall, keeping a mental index on file and able to consult with other librarians if need be. The Librarian, a young woman named Anuva, manages to recall some personal notes from a Healer two centuries before who had success in working with a Shaper to expel radiation from a dying individual. Anuva sits with Meyer during his recovery and explains what happened. An emergency psychic operation is performed with the combined efforts of the Elder Shaper and several healers which manages to cure the radiation poisoning and not completely kill Meyer. It took the efforts of like a half dozen healers each maintaining individual organs just to get through the operation. As a result, and I assume this will become more important later, the radioactive dust Meyer had inhaled and that was permeating his body was turned into inert and psychically sensitive microbeads of Glass. It’s horrendously painful, though. Meyer is still weak as hell, down a large amount of muscle mass, and peppered with debris that I can only assume is a huge stroke risk. Meyer types up his report and adds a special authentication code to his personal messages since he inadvertently gave access to outsiders when he thought he was dying. Report #21 – Chapter 8 After a few weeks of bedridden recovery, Norah begins his physical training to get Meyer back into warrior shape. She starts by bullying him so badly that he snaps and begins to fight back, which makes the pain as a result of the embedded glass stop for some reason. Renewed purpose, or something. Naomi stops in with a message from the Council of Elders – the Makfi will not be helping Meyer in his ongoing plan to try and destroy the Suez Canal, and in fact will be imprisoning Meyer officially to ensure he doesn’t try to do it on his own. They’ve only managed to avoid destruction at the hands of the Phoenix Empire by remaining hidden and not striking any harder than destroying the occasional slave raid into their territory. Meyer is not too pleased, but it much more pleased that his armor has been repaired by a Psi-Tech, who replaced the damaged parts with Glass. His imprisonment is fairly civilized, really only being locked in at night and escorted during the day. Meyer is allowed, as part of his reconditioning, to accompany Norah on her patrols. Mostly it’s a lot of walking and running and he improves rapidly. Report #22 – Chapter 9 This report excludes the authentication code, but doesn’t seem like a faked report or anything, so I assume the author forgot it. On their patrols Meyer gets to know Norah better and learns more about the structure of Makfi society. The main refuge of Rum has around 5,000 people but there are tons of surrounding hydroponic farms hidden in the immediately surrounding landscape making probably another few thousand. The warriors patrol these areas both to head off threats and to see if anyone needs anything. The other warriors they meet on patrols, and in fact most Makfi they meet in general, are quiet and extremely suspicious around Meyer, who is still a glaring outsider. Meyer also meets Elder Abduel (sic), the leader of the Rum Warrior’s Guild. He carries a huge, amazing glass sword composed one of the two (or now three) Soul Stones in Rum. Abduel watches Meyer’s training but doesn’t say much. As they continue their patrols Meyer finally gets Norah’s backstory, and we also get Meyer’s. Norah’s father and brothers were warriors who were killed by a giant Sandwyrm that her seer mother failed to psychically foresee. Norah, embittered, decided to become a warrior in their honor rather than a seer. Meyer’s parents were killed by a Gargoyle incursion into a supposedly safe part of the NGR’s territory and he and his sister became soldiers to get vengeance. The sister chose to turn herself into a full conversion cyborg disguised as a gargoyle to perform an assassination and succeeded at the cost of her life. Meyer chose the less insane option. At the end of the chapter it looks like Norah is moving in for a kiss but ends up just inspecting Meyer’s head and noting that new hair is finally growing in. There have been a few hints so far that she is actually a lesbian so my earlier thought that she is a love interest are probably misplaced. Report #23 – Chapter 10 This one is also missing the secret identification code, but on purpose this time. Our ALL CAPS TALKING AZIZAN FRIEND leaves a note to Meyer in his messenger unit since his mind is no longer so easy to invade. It’s a bunch of threats and promises, but the gist is still the soul stone for safe travel back to Germany. It takes up about a page. Report #24 – Chapter 11 Meyer is concerned that his recorder has been co-opted but has more important things on his mind. We get the first action we’ve seen in a long time as the Rum warriors, under Elder Abduel, prepare for a retrieval mission. A Phoenix Empire slaver raid has managed to capture Elder Mahmoud, the leader of the healer’s guild, along with a bunch more people. Almost all of the warriors are called up to rescue him. A plan is drawn up and the power of one Soul Stone is shown, as it is able to display a 3D holographic view of the slavers, their route, and can even see where they will be in a couple hours. Abduel selects an ambush spot and the warriors, including Meyer, jump onto stripped down hovercraft kept built only for speed. They make it to the ambush point with twenty minutes to spare. The ambush mostly goes off without a hitch, although there are some casualties. Meyer manages to save another warrior named Ibrahim from a Brodkil and nearly gets himself killed by a gurgoyle (a slightly smaller, slightly weaker gargoyle) but is in turn saved by Ibrahim. Norah ‘saves’ Elder Mahmoud by executing the gurgoyle he had incapacitated mentally. Elder Abduel leaps around and cleaves enemies apart like a goddamn anime. The group cleans up the remaining Kittani escorts and begins the job of stripping everything of value from the battlefield. They manage to capture a bunch of Kittani weaponry and vehicles, plus rescue all the prisoners. It cost the lives of four warriors, though, which is noted to be a major loss. Norah shows Meyer how to mentally repair the cracks in his armor that he received from the gurgoyle. With the action completed, Meyer begins considering who, if any, of his associates might be the Azizan behind his recent hacking. He assumes it was someone who could directly type into it, although as readers of Rifts World Books we know of Psi-Tech powers that could easily sidestep this limitation.
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Aug 12, 2021 20:20
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There are a bunch of Dune vibes in this, it seems.
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Aug 12, 2021 21:39
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Spheres of Might Chapter 4: Spheres, Part I Note: I forgot to mention a specific bit of terminology. Those who make use of martial spheres are known as Practitioners, in much the same way that those making use of magic spheres are known as Spherecasters. Unsurprisingly the longest chapter in the book, we’ll cover Might’s Spheres in four parts. There are 22 different Spheres covering a variety of fighting styles, tools, and non-magical skills, although 2 of them are special cases and will be reviewed out of order. The first is the Equipment sphere, which is the universal Sphere for determining armor/weapon proficiencies and has some talents designed for specific weapon usage. The other is the Leadership sphere, which grants the character NPC minions. It’s not suitable for all campaign styles and labeled an optional Sphere, and so will be covered last. Like Power there are Spheres which have default abilities when unlocked, and others grant you a bonus talent when taken. However, what separates Might from Power is that about half of the Spheres (10 out of 22) grant proficiency in a skill, tool, or in one case weapon group when the base sphere is taken. And in the former two examples if you’re already proficient with the skill/tool then you either gain another proficiency (in the case of Alchemy or Athletics) or a bonus talent from the sphere to reward your focus. Furthermore there are many talents in those spheres and others which can grant you proficiency in such things or double proficiency if already proficient. What this means is that it’s relatively easy to create skill-monkey characters with the right spheres and talents even if your default class doesn’t grant many skills. This is in line with the original Pathfinder rules which gave you skill ranks for free when taking certain spheres and talents. Like Power there are basic talents that can be taken more or less prerequisite-free as well as Legendary Talents which are optional via GM discretion and have steeper (usually level-based) requirements. Talents are separated into parenthetical tags denoting whether or not they make use of a base sphere ability, and most have Variants which can grant a bonus talent in exchange for more restricted use of the default sphere abilities.  The Equipment Sphere is the major determinant for our Sphere-user’s favored weapons and armor. It has no default sphere ability, instead granting a bonus talent of choice if taken by someone who didn’t have a Martial Tradition (otherwise the initial talents are pre-selected). (discipline) talents determine weapon proficiencies, while (other) talents cover armor proficiency* and miscellaneous abilities. Most (discipline) talents grant proficiency in 5-7 martial weapons, while a few grant less but have special abilities. For instance, Crossbow Expert grants proficiency in all crossbows but allows all wielded ranged weapons to ignore half and three-quarters cover, while Bombardier Training allows one to be proficient in alchemical items and can hit an adjacent target if the initial attack roll misses. Rock Toss is notable in that it allows you to throw heavy objects and even creatures in general as heavy-hitting thrown weapons, while Staff Mastery can turn quarterstaffs into Reach weapons and grants the two-weapon “d4 bludgeoning” attack of the Polearm Master feat. The weapon groups of (discipline) talents are such that taking two of them can be enough to grant a character more than enough diverse proficiency options to last them an entire campaign, although going for a “proficient in everything” build creates diminishing returns as there’s a bit of overlap in weapon types between several (discipline) talents. *which seems counterintuitive. Non-discipline talents don’t grant proficiency save in the case of Armor Training, but do other things. Einhandler lets one make an opportunity attack as a reaction vs a missed attack when fighting with finesse weapons one-handed and without a shield, while Mystic Fists treat unarmed strikes as magical and let them deal piercing or slashing damage in addition to bludgeoning. There’s a lot of useful talents here for those who wish to specialize in a certain weapon or armor and shield type. Legendary Talents grant proficiency in “advanced era” equipment, such as modern day firearms and grenades. Combos: Crossbow Expert is a good choice for non-crossbow “sniper” type characters. Rock Toss combined with Throwing Mastery lets a thrown creature boomerang back towards the thrower, while the Telekinesis’ Dampening Field can negate damage done to the thrown creature. The Alteration sphere’s Size Change, the Brawler subclass, and Brute sphere’s Muscular Surge lets the Rock Tosser lift and throw creatures and objects of larger size categories. Staff Mastery goes well with the Dual-Wielding sphere given it’s considered two-weapon fighting, while Expert Reloading lets one use the Barrage sphere with Loading property weapons easily. Polearm Guard plus the Guardian sphere’s patrol package and Fencing sphere’s Lunge lets a character strike and even shut down movement from farther-away targets. Sling Combatant and Bombardier Training are ideal for Alchemy sphere abilities, while Throw Shield specifically calls out the Shield sphere. Whip Fiend can work well with the Athletics sphere’s Rope Swing talent. Existing Comparisons: Quite a bit of these talents (and some talents in other spheres as well) derive partial benefits from quite a few feats. Crossbow Expert’s cover-ignoring attack comes from Sharpshooter, while Expert Reloading has a similar ability to the Crossbow Expert PHB feat but applies to Reload property weapons in general. This highlights a pretty nifty advantage of Spheres of Might; in traditional 5th Edition many characters are torn between the choices of taking a feat or an Ability Score Increase every 4 levels. By splitting like-minded feat benefits into individual talents, this eases the burden for martial characters while also having a faster sense of progression. This is similar to the original Pathfinder version, which made certain talents count as Associated Feats for the purposes of meeting prerequisites for other feats, Prestige Classes, and the like. As even Pathfinder talents were virtually prerequisite-less, this gave Sphere Practitioners a lot more freedom in character-building. Just for fun: I decided to see how many talents it would take to gain near-universal weapon and armor proficiency to be closer to the “core martial” classes. Being a Githyanki with the Pikeman Martial Tradition starting out gives them proficiency in all armor and shields along with every non-whip reach weapon and “sword-suffix” weapons. Bruiser Training and Rogue Weapon Training make them proficient with every PHB weapon save the Longbow and Net, although at that point they aren’t really starved for choices. Spheres of Might also has four new weapons which are also covered in the Equipment sphere talents, so taking Custom Training (3 weapons of choice) 2 more times expands them to all manufactured weapons. For unarmed strikes and improvised weapons they’d need Unarmed Training and the Barroom sphere (detailed later).  The Alchemy Sphere specializes in volatile mixtures, poisons, medicine, and chemical enhancements. The base sphere grants proficiency in alchemist supplies or a poisoner’s kit and lets one create a batch of formulae or poison every short rest whose number is based on one’s Proficiency Bonus + the number of talents possessed in the sphere. Talents who share the same name as an existing piece of equipment, such as alchemist’s fire, lets the character apply the talent’s benefits when using that item, and virtually every talent has a Potency option that makes its effects more powerful when martial focus is expended. (formula) talents include classic options such as Alchemist’s Fire and Holy Water, giving many options for various kinds of energy damage and negative conditions to impose on targets, along with more beneficial talents such as Salve which restores Hit Points or War Paint which grants advantage/resistance to various effects depending on the color of the paint. (poison) talents are self-explanatory and impose various negative conditions and even damage to targets that fail a Constitution saving throw. (other) talents are auxiliary benefits that can enhance and alter how formulas and poisons are used and applied, while Legendary Talents include more potent effects such as powerful explosives, being able to create Sovereign Glue or a Universal Solvent, poisons that can lower one’s Proficiency Bonus or petrify, and even a youth-granting elixir or philosopher’s stone which are incredibly costly to make (an exception to the otherwise “free” rules for alchemical creation if possessing the right tools). Combos: Energy-damaging formulas applied to weapons don’t mention that they can’t stack with each other, so multiple characters with martial focus and the right Alchemy talents (as well as Enhancement’s Energy Weapon talent) can focus on a single weapon that deals several d6s of various energy damage. Performance Enhancer’s advantage-granting on certain ability checks can be combined nicely with abilities that focus on skill use, such as the Brute, Scout, and Wrestling spheres. The Alteration sphere’s Enhanced Poison talent can apply to (poison) sphere talents, while the Equipment sphere’s Poison Blowgun Expert can increase their DC to further guarantee their effectiveness. The Creation sphere's Alchemical Creation talentcan be used to make more formulas and poisons. Gaseous Application plus the Nature sphere’s Air Mastery talent lets a character relocate the gas to another square by breathing it in and releasing elsewhere, while the Barroom sphere’s Brutal Breaker base ability grants proficiency in alchemical weapons given their improvised weapon status, and that sphere’s (fragile) talents can grant further damage and debuff on top of the existing effects. The Barroom sphere’s Alchemical Dragon and the Tinkerer sphere’s Pressurized Liquid Applicator talents can turn alchemical items into AoE attacks. The Leadership sphere’s Alchemists (followers) talent allows one to craft and maintain 1 more formula/poison than normal. Existing Comparisons: In terms of feats and subclasses, there aren’t many abilities which replicate Alchemy sphere talents. The closest is the Artificer Alchemist’s Experimental Elixir, which both has generally fewer uses in terms of refresh rate and a smaller number of potential effects. There is an Alchemist feat for Unearthed Arcana, but it doesn’t really map to any sphere talents save for proficiency-doubling for the appropriate tools.  The Athletics Sphere focuses on mobility of all kinds. As a base sphere ability it grants proficiency in either Acrobatics or Athletics (or a bonus talent if proficient in both) and lets one regain martial focus when taking Dash or Disengage as an Action but not as a bonus action. The sphere has 3 (motion) talents which apply buffs or a debuff when the character moves a certain amount or through a hostile creature’s space, but the vast majority of talents are miscellaneous (other). Some interesting choices include Mighty Conditioning which lets one use STR or DEX for Acrobatics or Athletics and DEX for determining jump distance if so desired, Rope Swing which lets someone move through squares in midair and even stop in midair provided that there is something their rope/whip/tentacle/etc can latch onto, Tumbling Recovery which lets the character drop prone and move 10 feet to avoid hostile effects with advantage/disadvantage as appropriate, and Wall Stunt which lets one ascend vertical surfaces and even larger creatures as difficult terrain. Legendary Talents include such options as gaining fly, swim, and burrowing speeds, short-term speed boosts in exchange for a level of Exhaustion, and creating afterimages which can foil enemy attacks by having them target the duplicate. Combos: Mighty Conditioning can make a DEX-focused shover/grappler build possible. The Alteration sphere’s Aberrant Body and the Tinkerer sphere’s Artillerist Gadgets grant a natural reach weapon and item respectively that can be used with Rope Swing. Capoeira Spin works well with removing the prone penalty from Tumbling Recovery, while Scale Foe calls out uses with the Beastmastery and Wrestling spheres. Sudden Flank’s granting of advantage goes well with the (exploit) talents and Fatal Thrust base ability of the Fencing sphere given the latter’s melee-based requirement. Rapid Motion, Swift Movement, and Speed Boost can stack with other movement-boosting effects to make a very speedy character, as well as take advantage of the “must move at least 40 feet” greater aspect of the Moving Target talent without spending one’s Action on movement. Shark Swim and Strong Lungs allows a character to hold their breath for hours, which can work nicely for storing gas-based attacks for a long time with the Nature sphere’s Air Mastery talent as mentioned before. Existing Comparisons: Rapid Motion clearly has origins with the Rogue class’ Cunning Action and helps increase the mobility of sphere-users. Mighty Conditioning’s use of Dexterity to determine jump distance is similar to the Thief subclass’ Second-Story Work. The various Legendary Talents which grant variant movement speeds are similar to Spider Climb, Alter Self’s Aquatic Adaptation, and the at-will teleports of the Way of Shadow Monk and Shadow Magic Sorcerous Origin. In Spheres of Might’s case they are permanent effects and the teleportation requires using Dash and expending martial focus, so they’re a bit more powerful on account that they cannot be dispelled, don’t have a set duration, or must be used under a certain kind of illumination. In exchange, they require payment in talent slots which don’t grow on trees.  The Barrage Sphere is a ranged combat exclusive sphere, focusing on firing off flurries of projectiles in comparison to the Sniper sphere’s range and accuracy. It grants no bonus proficiencies upon taking it, instead granting a Special Attack known as a Barrage where a character can make an additional ranged attack in addition to a normal attack as a bonus action that doesn’t apply one’s ability bonus to damage. Sort of like a ranged Two-Weapon Fighting in rules mechanics. (barrage) talents enhance or alter the Barrage in some way, such as intentionally missing the bonus action attack to gain advantage on the regular one, replacing the bonus attack with a melee attack or shove, the bonus attack striking the regular attack to turn up to 90 degrees mid-flight and strike around corners and behind cover, and so on. (other) talents include options such as recovering more spent ammunition from the battlefield after combat, regaining martial focus if hitting with at least two attacks when making a Barrage, and being able to make opportunity attacks with ranged weapons by treating them as a melee weapon with the Reach quality. The three Legendary Talents include attacking with a selective 30 foot AoE cone, never running out of non-magical ammo as long as you have 10 pieces of that particular ammunition, and using arrows and bolts to create staircases and platforms when shot into walls, large creatures, and the like. Combos: Hammering Shots expends martial focus when making a Barrage to add one’s ability modifier to the bonus attack, but Blitz Focus lets one regain martial focus if at least two attacks hit when making a Barrage, meaning that one could effectively not use martial focus if two attacks hit that round. Mixed Barrage’s shove capability works well with the Brute sphere which is also focused on shoving. While the Sniper sphere’s Snipe Shot and related talents are a Special Attack and cannot be used with a Barrage, that sphere’s Deadly Aim ability applies to all ranged attack rolls which have advantage which means that it can work with Distracting Shot. Additionally the Fencing sphere’s (exploit) talents come into play when making an attack with advantage, and not just melee attacks. The Sniper sphere’s Trap Technician allows one to disable traps with ranged attacks, meaning that if done as part of a Barrage you can feasibly disable several traps at once if you’re ever in such a sticky situation. The Haste spell, the Time sphere’s Adjusted Frequency, and the Equipment sphere’s Splitshot can grant additional attacks, making it easier to regain martial focus via Blitz Focus and also get in more attacks. The Equipment sphere’s Point-Blank Shooting removes disadvantage on ranged attacks from being within 5 feet of a hostile creature, making it ideal for Mixed Barrage, and that same sphere’s Expert Reloading lets one use weapons with the Reload quality with the Barrage sphere. The Scout sphere’s Wind Reader is ideal for ranged weapon users in ignoring environment-based disadvantage. Using Cone of Death with thrown alchemical items can be a way of performing an AoE alchemical attack, albeit pricey unless one invests in the Alchemy sphere! Existing Comparisons: The Ranger’s Hunter subclass has a Volley ability which is similar to the Barrage sphere’s Cone of Death, albeit it’s longer-range and hits all enemies within a 10 foot radius rather than a larger cone. The Arcane Archer’s Curving Shot sounds similar in the “bonus use to effectively gain advantage via reroll” although that class’ magical arrow shots can only be used twice per long rest rather than being effective at-will abilities (plus or minus martial focus).  The Barroom Sphere is a bit narrower in thematic focus than the previous spheres. It specializes in the use of improvised weapons and alcoholic beverages to apply various buffs and debuffs in combat. It has two base default abilities: Brutal Breaker makes one proficient with all improvised weapons and can grab and attack any such weapon as part of the same action, while Hard Drinker treats drinking any liquid including potions as interacting with an object and can grant the Drunk status for 1 minute whenever an alcoholic beverage is imbibed. Certain talents can trigger special abilities by expending this Drunk status, requiring one to get drunk again before performing similar abilities. However, a person can only consume a number of such beverages before suffering the poisoned condition (which can be altered via the Conscript’s Brawler subclass and the Iron Liver talent), which makes it limited-use. (drunk) talents are mostly buff-related in nature, such as gaining temporary hit points, gaining +2 to STR, DEX, or CHA for a limited number of rounds, gain advantage when escaping grapples and restraints, vomiting to reroll a failed save against an ingested poison and turning an adjacent square into difficult terrain that can knock people prone who move through it, and dealing 1d6 unarmed damage if a lower damage die and expending Drunk status to auto-roll max damage with unarmed strikes. The (fragile) talents specifically require use of fragile objects which are improvised weapons made of weak material, typically softer than iron unless one has the Steel Breaker Legendary Talent. They include wielding such objects as +1 AC shields and breaking the object as a reaction to turn a critical into a normal hit, breaking the weapon to deal bonus damage based on level, and imposing the Confused condition on a failed CON save. That last one, Concussion, has a bit of strangely-worded text: quote:A confused target can’t take reactions and must roll a d10 at the start of each of its turns to determine its behavior for that turn. You can expend your martial focus as a reaction to increase the result of the d10 rolled by your key ability modifier. Increasing the result sounds good, right? Well a result of 1 is random movement, 2-6 can’t move or take any actions, 7-8 hits a random creature with a melee attack, and 10 or higher the creature can act normally. While I can see certain higher results being better than others, there’s not as much control given it’s a static number that only goes up, so a character with a +4 or +5 KAM may very well be less able to impose the “can’t take actions” penalty if doing so is more advantageous than a random weapon attack. The (other) talents don’t fit anywhere else, such as being able to deal damage with any object including those that bear no resemblance to a standard weapon (1d6 or 1d8 instead of 1d4), being able to throw any weapon with a 40/120 foot short and long distance range, and being able to spend Hit Die to heal oneself when drinking an alcoholic beverage. We have a lot of Legendary Talents, such as being able to drink alchemical liquids and poisons and spit them out as a 15 foot AoE cone, break a fragile weapon as a reaction to automatically crit, expend Drunk status to gain resistance to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage against one attack, and treat unarmed strikes and improvised weapons as +1 magical weapons. There are a few talents which feel a bit...underpowered. Surprise grants advantage on an attack roll when attacking a target with a weapon they weren’t aware of (including improvised weapons that haven’t been used in a hostile manner), which honestly sounds like something you’d gain advantage for by default. Additionally, the Blazewater Legendary Talent allows one to spill alcohol on a weapon and light it on fire to deal +1d6 fire damage, which is the same as the use of the Alchemist’s Fire talent. Granted, that last one requires the expenditure of martial focus and a more expensive or limited-use item, but given the former’s 7th Level prerequisite I expected something more. Combos: The Alchemy sphere’s Panacea, the Life sphere, and magic which can remove the Poisoned condition are good ways of mitigating the overuse of (drunk) talents. Drunken Boxer works great when combined with features and talents which increase one’s unarmed damage, such as the Equipment sphere’s Unarmed Training and Mystic Fists talents and the Alteration sphere’s Size Change. A Charisma-using spellcaster or practitioner can boost their spells and abilities via Miracle Drink. Improvised Shield specifically calls out use of the Shield sphere. As mentioned before, alchemical weapons count as improvised weapons and work well with this sphere. Bottle Rocket greatly extends the range on most thrown weapons and is a good choice for those using them with the Barrage and Sniper spheres. The Blazewater Legendary Talent should be able to stack with other +1d6 energy damage Alchemy talents and the Enhancement sphere’s Energy Weapon talent. Existing Comparisons: The two things that most immediately spring to mind are the Tavern Brawler feat and the Way of the Drunken Master Monk subclass. In the case of the former the improvised weapon proficiency and unarmed strike damage increase is similar to the Barroom sphere and Equipment’s Unarmed Training talent, in line with the “2 talents equals 1 feat” balance. But the ability to grapple when attacking with an improvised weapon matches none of the existing Barroom talents. As for Drunken Master, very few of its class features map to Barroom either. This makes Barroom more or less its own thing as far as I can tell.  The Beastmastery Sphere is one of this book’s minion-centric Spheres, the other being Leadership. It grants proficiency in Animal Handling (or 1 bonus sphere if already proficient) along with one of two packages. The Rider package and (ride) talents center around mounted combat, and its base ability allows the mount to gain an evasion-like effect (half/no damage on DEX save damaging effects). The Tamer package and (tamer) talents focus around training animals to be loyal and able to perform special tasks. Unlike Spheres of Power’s Conjuration or Death spheres which provide default stat block templates that are further customized by talents and leveling up, the beasts gained via the Tamer package are out and out Monster Manual creatures of the Beast type with a variable maximum Challenge Rating based on one’s character level. And the Broad Skills talent can let one domesticate any non-Humanoid creature provided it has a maximum unadjusted Intelligence of 4. Needless to say, this is a Sphere with a lot of open-ended possibilities. Just look at this list and sort by Intelligence. Beasts overall stick to one role, that of physical melee attackers who may have a special sense type or alternative movement, but you may be able to get a Flailsnail with its AoE stun effect, a Beholder Zombie with its multiple eye rays, a Stone Defender bodyguard to remain by your side at all sides to grant you +5 AC as its reaction, or even a hydra or clay golem at the higher levels! The (ride) talents include substituting your Animal Handling in place of your mount’s Acrobatics/Athletics, redirect attacks targeting the mount to hit you instead, have your mount do the Disengage action as a bonus action, or take temporary control of a creature you climb on by making it a mount if it fails a CHA save. (tamer) talents include granting yourself and your tamed creature the benefits of the Help action as joint bonus actions, boosting the other’s AC by 2 as a reaction while within each other’s reach, making an attack as a reaction if your tame beast succeeds on a grapple or shove, and you and your tamed creatures use the individual’s highest passive Perception for the whole group. Legendary Talents include short-term mind control to tame a creature by expending martial focus, the ability to summon all of one’s animal allies with a bonus action (they still have to get there normally), and the ability to speak with animals. The first mentioned ability is Beast Tamer, and there are 4 other Legendary Talents which have it as a prerequisite and build off of it, such as increasing its duration and range. Combos: Acrobatic Mount mentions that it can be used with the Athletics sphere’s (motion) talents, while that same sphere’s Scale Foe can be used with Bronco Buster by substituting Strength (Animal Handling) for Strength (Athletics) checks. The Commander’s Drill Sergeant subclass can grant animal allies temporary sphere access, and Brute and Wrestling are highly appropriate for many animals and several Beastmastery talents make use of them in grappling or shoving enemies. Focusing Connection used on a mounted animal is an easy way to regain martial focus as long as you’re not dismounted. The Leadership sphere’s Rangers (followers) talent has those allies automatically capture a set number and CR of beasts each day which you can tame. The Scholar’s Zoology Study adds KAM to the Practitioner’s effective level for determining the CR of tamable beasts, making it useful for a 2-level dip for characters focusing on this sphere. Existing Comparisons: The Conjure Animals spell is the closest approximation to this sphere, although given the Broad Skills talent other Conjure [Creature Type] spells can fit the bill. Generally speaking those spells have lower maximum Challenge Ratings save for the higher-level ones, and are Concentration spells with limited duration while Beastmastery’s tamed creatures are indefinite in duration barring the Beast Tamer Legendary Talent. The Mounted Combatant feat’s three features are available as individual talents, so that’s a pretty direct comparison. Thoughts So Far: These six Spheres have a fair amount of variation between each other and a good assortment of offensive, defensive, and utility features. If anything Barrage stands out as being the only one with mostly attack-themed options. The Alchemy sphere has a lot of energy type damage and useful means of non-magical healing and debuffs, although it’s Elixir of Youth and Philosopher’s Stone talents felt too expensive and high level to be of use in most games. Athletics is a neat Sphere, granting many kinds of mobility rather than anything directly offensive. I really like Beastmastery, although I feel that certain monster combos are bound to be overpowered with anything that broad. If I had to pick a least favorite it’d be Barroom. The alcohol and drunk status stood out as being limited-use while also imposing a debilitating condition. Join us next time as we cover the next 5 spheres and stat up Shovel Knight! PS I know you’re all still waiting on Geralt, but I promise to get around to him in my next post. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Aug 14, 2021 |
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Aug 13, 2021 09:48
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Age of Sigmar: Maggotkin of Nurgle The Filth Foreign Legion The daemonic armies of Nurgle are called the Plague Legions, and they are exceptionally numerous. An individual Legion is often smaller than its counterpart in the forces of the other Chaos Gods, but there's far more of them. Each one is led by a Great Unclean One who determines tactics and makeup, so they can be quite diverse based on what their master likes best. Some prefer aerial forces full of Plague Drones, while others like huge packs of Beasts or waves of Plaguebearers. The Great Unclean One will be served by a number of lieutenants, who may be Heralds, Poxbringers or other potent daemons, including smaller Great Unclean Ones. They are often given long and florid titles. Underneath them are the Tallybands, always seven of them. Most are made of seven packs of Plague Drones or Plaguebearers. The Beasts of Nurgle and Nurglings do not belong to this hierarchy - they just decide to follow armies around most of the time, as they're usually far too thoughtless and chaotic to take instruction. The Great Unclean Ones only rarely consider them a major factor in any given plan and just let them do as they please most of the time. Rotbringer armies of mortals are known as Contagiums. The number of total Contagiums in the Realms is unknown and wildly variable - in some times, there are tons of them, but in others, they are almost wiped out. Most Contagiums are centered around a trio of warbands known as Cysts. Each Cyst commands a small collection of warbands made from Putrid Blightkings and Pusgoyle Blightlords, and each is led by a Nurglite champion. Typically, a Contagium will have one Cyst led by a Lord of Plagues, one by a Lord of Blights, and one by a Lord of Afflictions, but this is far from universal. The Lords are advised by Sorcerers and Harbingers of Decay. Typically they will establish a clear pecking order among the trio, sometimes by backstabbing or violence, and sometimes by friendly competition and feats of strength and endurence. Above them, outside the Contagium, are the mighty champions of Nurgle whose names are feared across the realms. If the Glottkin, Gutrot Spume or a Maggoth Lord show up in a location, no Cyst is going to refuse to serve them.  The Munificent Wanderers are the largest of the Plague Legions, led by Thrombolhox the Giving. He is a Great Unclean One famous (or infamous) for his generous nature and his love of gifting plagues to everyone, ally and enemy alike. The Wanderers attempt to infect their physical forms with as many diseases as possible before they head into the Mortal Realms, so they can emulate their leader. It wouldn't do to meet someone new and have nothing to offer them, after all. Their symbol, the tri-bell, represents their call for all to come and take.  The Befouling Host are notable among the Plague Legions for their pale-skinned daemons. Their chief duty is to patrol the borders of the Garden of Nurgle and protect the hedge-forts that watch over it. They are relatively rarely seen in the Mortal Realms, but when they are, they are frequently led not only by their Great Unclean One, Bul'gla'throx, but also by Horticulous Slimux. They are fond of plants and fungi over animals, and they have a tendency to take captives and live victims alive so they can be turned into fungal nurseries. Their symbol is a trio of plagueswords coated in spores.  The Droning Guard are a Legion that specialize in aerial warfare. They are infamous among their kind and are frequently seen in Ghyran, their flies darkening the skies. Their leader, Uncle Septuklus, provides them with cover in the form of swarms of large but relatively normal-sized flies, while their swarming Plague Drones use the cover to fly in before diving to assault the foe. Where they fly, miasma and fetid stench fill the air. Their symbol is the plague fly badge, given to Septuklus by Nurgle himself.  The Blessed Sons are not actually a single Contagium but a network of elite warriors belonging to many. They are a brotherhood marked by their green armor, which they wear as a sign of devotion to Nurgle. They have been seen across Ghyran, Aqshy and Ghur, fought under many great Maggoth Lords and even the Glottkin, and they are easily the most numerous group of Nurgle's mortal devotees. It is estimated that there upwards of hundreds of thousands of Blessed Sons in total. Their symbol is the chitin triptych, which represents the three great secrets of rot.  The Drowned Men wear copper coated in verdigris and their bodies leak brine. They serve the great pirate king Gutrot Spume, and they are pirate crews as well as Chaos warbands. Some are land-based raiders, some aerial warriors, but all make heavy use of rotting, magically infested hulks and vehicles. They specialize in quick raids and ambushes, striking their foes from unexpected regions and causing as much devastation as possible in a short time before quickly exiting the area. Their symbol is the trident over the tri-lobe, a symbol of practicality associated with the wealth and power of their leader.  The Filthbringers are masters of poison and magic. Their Contagium is feared for its arcane might and alchemical skill as much or more than their strength in arms. They wear maggotbone armor and are led not by the standard martial champions but by covens of Nurgle Sorcerers who summon plague into the field. They are frequently found fighting alongside daemons called on by their sorcerers, and their most famous leader is Festus the Leechlord. They are known for their love of taking captives, as they always need new test subjects. Their symbol, the three-horned skull, is a sign of unnatural and incurable illness. Next time: The Fat Men
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Aug 13, 2021 20:07
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Aww no mention of the Order of the Fly.
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Aug 13, 2021 20:28
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Age of Sigmar: Maggotkin of Nurgle Big Ol' Boys The Great Unclean Ones are Nurgle's greater daemons, and visually they mirror the appearance of the Plague God - fat, bloated things full of disease and corruption, stinking and rotting where they stand. Mites and maggots crawl through their forms, glutting on demonic pus, invoking the eternal nature of decay. However, on average, they're very cheery sorts, if eccentric. They're very intelligent and surprisingly orderly creatures who have a natural grasp of logistics and strategy. They're often quite sentimental and prone to chatting with those around them, mortal or daemon alike. They often position themselves as parental figures to their worshippers, cheering them on as they fight. Their good humor doesn't prevent them from wanting to spread plague all over, though, and when they become angry, they are terrifying indeed. In battle, they wield their own weight as a weapon, crushing foes with their bodies and destroying those who survive with their immense swords or flails. Some use mystic, rusted bells to call their fellows out from the Realm of Chaos, while others are sorcerers of great skill. The most infamous of these daemons is Rotigus, who will go farther than any other to spread Nurgle's will. He wears a heavy cowl that drips with phlegm and ooze, and he humas frequently. He is the daemon that most often answers the prayers of the starving and drought-stricken, who call on him as a demigod known as the Rainfather, the Lifefont or the Bringer of Plenty. He is, in a sense, a lifebringer. When he arrives, he does call forth new life from the land - far too much of it. Livestock are born deformed and slick with ooze, cancerous might forms tumors on the plants, and endless rains of filthy, stinking water fill the skies. Rotigus brings the gift of life, but he brings with it the equal gifts of suffering and plague. The Heralds of Nurgle are the middle ranks of the daemonic hierarchy. They lead the soldiers of the Plague God and empower them, often wielding grotesque but useful magical abilities. Poxbringers are the most authoritative, drawn from the ranks of the lower Plaguebringers and made taller and stronger. They have huge but rotting antlers upon their heads, and they serve the Great Unclean Ones and wield massive baleswords, taking out the champions and leaders of the foe to allow their followers more chance to spread plague. Occasionally, they are given special duties, such as studying the effects of plague on new species and describing them back to their master. Sloppity Bilepipers are drawn from the ranks of Plaguebearers who are infected with the Chortling Murrain, a disease that drives them to a laughing fever and compulsive dancing and quipping. They are given gutpipes and sent out to amuse the Tallybands between battles, though their fellow Plaguebearers rarely find them especially amusing. The other daemons love them, at least, and the Great Unclean Ones especially find their antics hilarious. Nurglings and Beasts of Nurgle also enjoy them, often trying to join in the fun. They remain horribly infections, and mortals struck with the Chortling Murrain will laugh themselves literally to death, the air driven from their bodies and their muscles torn by uncontrollable seizures. The daemons themselves are doomed to die as well - but when they go into remission. Once a Bilepiper stops laughing and joking, they are quickly killed by their fellows and used to make a new set of gutpipes. Spoilpox Scriveners are the enforcers of Nurgle, ensuring the Tallybands don't get lazy in their duties. They are spiteful and cruel in the best of times and quick to lash out at their fellows, but their moods only get worse when they have to go to the Mortal Realms, which they are violently allergic to. They keep track of the Tallymen and mark down the names of those who hesitate or lose count, writing with pens made from the seized tailfeathers of Lords of Change. They constantly browbeat those around them, speaking from immense mouths at the end of long proboscises. When they fight, they use those mouths to attack the foe with deadly bites. Those they punish are often deliberately infected with the Chortling Murrain and turned into Sloppity Bilepipers, for the Scriveners hate no creatures more. Plaguebearers from the bulk of the Plague Legions, and most are forged out of the soulstuff of victims of Nurgle's Rot. The disease inflicts the soul itself, causing horrific pain and eroding away all sense of compassion and joy, until all that is left is misery trapped in a bloated, rotting body. When at last a victim dies, the soul travels to the Garden, where it is plucked and reshaped into a daemon. They stink horribly and are covered in sores and boils. Their organs are filled with gas and often hang from splits in the flesh. The Plaguebearers have only one eye and one large horn, and their work is tallying of disease. Tracking all the plagues unleashed on the world is impossible even for them, but Nurgle expects it, so they try. Facing the Plaguebearers means hearing the constant sound of counting, with occasional pauses as a daemon loses track. In battle, they can withstand even the worst blow if they're lucky, and their plagueswords exude filth and disease with every strike. Beasts of Nurgle are large, slug-like creatures coated in slime, blubber and muscle. Their huge, fanged mouths drool constantly and drip with mucus, and their heads are surrounded by poxy tentacles, each strong enough to tear out throats or strangle men and each tipped in a large lamprey mouth. Their skin secretes paralytic ooze constantly. However, the Beasts themselves rarely have malice in them. They are enthusiastic, friendly and happy to meet any mortal they can find. They aren't interested in killing - they want to play with the soldiers they fight. The problem is that they don't understand how humans break, they're desperate for attention, and they're very, very large. Many fall beneath their bulk or die to the diseases that grow on their bodies, and the daemons seem to think of themselves as small dogs, utterly unaware of their own strength and power. They only stop thrashing when their playmates die and stop moving. Then they anxiously paw at the corpses and go looking for new toys, leaving the bodies to dissolve away. Nurglings are a constant sight around the Plague Legions - swarms of tiny, babbling daemons that hatch from pustules inside the Great Unclean Ones. They infest their progenitors' bodies, gnawing at loose flesh and drinking up the liquids that ooze out. They appear to be tiny versions of Nurgle, fat and cheery and with tiny antlers. They're constantly laughing and squealing as they scamper around the field in huge numbers, and even one of them is dangerous to mortals, given how plague-ridden they are. In large numbers they're also lethal more directly, as they are fearless and happy to hurl themselves en masse at enemies far larger than they are. They will rip and tear at anyone they can grab, and in sufficient numbers they're able to kill even gigantic monsters. Lastly, we have the Plague Drones, daemonic cavalry of the sky. Ranking Plaguebearers are allowed to ride gigantic Rot Flies into battle, and their plagueswords are dipped seven times into cauldrons filled with Nurgle's Rot. Each carries a sack of wax-sealed severed heads with them, each turned into a vessel of plague and disease. They throw these like grenades at the foe, infecting them with horrific ailments. They're nasty themselves, but their mounts are far worse. Rot Flies form when a Beast of Nurgle is rejected by mortals too often, and begins to feel resentment and anger. When the Beast is finally banished back to the Realm of Chaos, it buries itself in the Garden in a fit of despair, and huge flies surround it. They form a living cocoon of daemonic insects, altering the Beast within. When the cocoon splits apart, a Rot Fly emerges fully formed, fueled by spite towards those who rejected it. Their vicious stingers and chitinous limbs are able to punch through armor with ease, and their proboscis can open wide enough to swallow a man whole. Victims who are swallowed have the worst time of it, for their souls are sealed within the daemon to suffer eternally, a trap for those who rejected the love of a Beast. Next time: The mortal servitors of Nurgle
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Aug 14, 2021 20:15
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Red Markets: a Game of Economic Horror Part 22: Job Creator Any game that’s based around jobs needs a way to, well… make work to do, mechanically. That’s the Job Creator section. It’s of… mixed quality. Workplace Essentials Red Markets lays out seven essentials for every job:
The rest of Job Creator is a very long series of explanations of each of these points and the GMing mindset behind them, plus examples for everything. Not always good examples, but examples nonetheless. Scores and Contracts Red Markets is nominally designed for both the “service-based economy of most RPG plot hooks” and for being your own boss. Follow the lead of someone giving you a job, or spot opportunity and go after it. In practice, most of the mechanical support is for contracts unless you’re using the optional MBA rules in the back of the book. Scores, as-written, are pretty much just “Contracts, but skip over negotiation” under normal rules. Equilibrium quote:In the real world, equilibrium is determined by a Supply/Demand Curve. Demand determines the price. Increase supply and demand drops. Increase demand and supply decreases. This is the most fundamental principle in economics. You get four quarters of the supply/demand graph - “flooded” and “volatile” (high supply), “subsidiary” and “scarce” (low supply). Each one has a few suggested actions for players to take to adjust the equilibrium price with Scams - take note that Scams don’t exist for Scores, which again, are player-created and not privy to the Equilibrium price without additional checks! It’s unfortunate that all of the Taker advice is kept in the “GM only, players keep out” section, because getting hosed by random dice establishing a value you can’t really do much about even if you know it? Not a recipe for fun! Economy Just briefly defines a few economic types (poorly), between “mixed”, “laissez-faire”, “controlled”, and “other” (for more experimental systems). Everything that’s not evil goes in “mixed”, evil extremists get the two extreme labels, and experimental systems exist to be additional obstacles. Also a suggestion to “make the triumph of the proletariat a retirement goal” if the players want to start a communist revolution. Game doesn’t work without inequalities in hand. Clients We went over these guys already, so just quickly recapping - all you need mechanically are three or four Spots, and the big thing you need narratively is why they’re still in the Loss despite having the money to get out. Three of the Spots are the same as players - weak, soft, and tough. Rich clients can have a Gift spot, giving away equipment for extra Sway. This is all pretty straightforward. It also doesn’t exist in Scores, again. Short and simple, not much to say. Competition Competition exists not just to be a wrinkle in negotiations, but also to let the crew define themselves by their ethics. How they treat the competition has mechanical and narrative consequences, and it’s a button that’s obviously close to the characters’ hearts to push. Both clients and competition are called out as good recurring elements, and continuing to use them allows the players to learn from past experiences. We also finally get boom and bust rules in the GM section! Bust: roll a d10, on an odd number you have two competition teams to deal with, and one can potentially just be out to actively sabotage the PCs rather than just be competitors. Boom: on an even on a d10, there’s no competition at all. Mutually exclusive, of course, and honestly I wouldn’t use either one. Dealing with the competition is an important element but Bust’s double-competition just serves to eat even more PC action and spotlight time. Travel Time and the Site Travel time’s measured in Legs, “units of story rather than distance”. One charge of Rations for every Leg, one encounter per Leg. Everything deals with the system in Legs. That’s… all that’s said, basically. The site, on the other hand, gets detail befitting being a glorified dungeon, complete with a long checklist of things to do and think about. Plenty of emphasis focused pulling maps and blueprints off the internet instead of actually drawing them up as the GM, which is certainly a choice (as is “look up evocative photos to set the mood by searching terms like “ruin porn””). Emphasis is put on building the history of a ruined place, much like it was when we talked about placing casualties; maps differ, opportunities are concealed, history is “written on the walls”. Complications The Market makes Complications regardless of whether it’s a Score or a Contract. Players aren’t supposed to be able to predict what’s coming, while they are supposed to be able to overcome it with what they have on hand. It’s not a “rock falls” tool. In theory. Wrapping it Up Altogether Stokes estimates “about 1000 words” for a completed job writeup (!!!), without factoring in any additional prep like encounters, casualty placement, et cetera. It takes up two full pages of the book in smaller-than-usual text with reduced spacing. This is way more than is sane. Please don’t actually force yourself into multiple pages of job description prep for every single session, thanks.  RM art as usual. Creating Contracts There are a lot of goddamn random tables in this section. 15 pages of them, for economies, competition, goods, complications, all sorts of poo poo. The quality is mixed, and in some places it’s better to just have your own ideas ready, but they’re at least somewhat useful as a reference for “this is what the game wants me to do”. Scores Scores are marginally different from Contracts, primarily by being player-decided. Players take over the Goods and Equilibrium, Economy, Wholesaler (replacing Client), and Site from the Contract setup; the rest stays in Market hands (including travel time… to a known site that the PCs are choosing to go to, and would know that up front instead of “surprising the players with them once the game starts”...). Value is given per Haul for the Equilibrium, Wholesalers exist as a narrative explanation for why there’s no negotiation whatsoever. There is also the option to use the MBA rules, once again presented without explanation, but that’s its own thing. A few methods for designing scores are given, with mechanical approaches. Strategic Thinking has everybody propose ideas for each element, with the highest Black + Research roll going first and the highest Black + Foresight roll having “the best sounding plan” (being right). Market rolls a Red, and if it’s higher then something is slightly off. That makes complications a bit easier, but limits how much people can actually contribute to the planning by gating it behind random chance and one answer each. Rumor Mill has everyone collaborate to create rumors about each element, using the “yes, and…” approach. Black + Foresight goes first, everyone rolls a Sensitivity check to see if their rumor’s true or not. Next person gets to start, and repeat. You get a lot more meat to work with in exchange for not getting as easy of a complication. ”Oh! That’s Cool!” (yes, really) is explicitly listed as the “throw out the rules” option… and still has some rules. Everyone proposes things, Market counts to three, everyone points to their favorite idea and the winner gets it (and can add in elements from players that don’t compete). It’s kind of pointless to mechanize this. Mr. JOLS Mr. JOLS is a Score, but a little special. For one, it forbids the “Oh! That’s Cool!” planning method to keep everything in character. For another, it pays “enough”. Everybody who’s retiring makes it rich doing so; anyone who’s not gets all their costs paid, plus 10 bounty on top of it, and the free Reference the retiree counts as. It’s a big deal! No competition, just a seriously bad site to chase down. The site’s supposed to seriously hurt, and there’s a lot of complications formed here. It’s probably going to kill someone to get there, but it’s also a major enough score to serve as a setting capstone - perfect. Mr. JOLS is part of campaign play (which we’ll get to next time), and so there’s one extra bit of play we get here - “the Dream” vignettes, where every player flashes forward to the “happy ending” they want to chase. Runs the risk of running long, especially if everyone does theirs in sequence, but I’m a sucker for character vignettes so I think it’s a neat mechanic. Overall? Score and Contract design is pretty much a “fail” on mechanics across the board for me, with particular issues in how it handles equilibrium pricing and the forced mechanization of planning collaborative scores even in freeform. It works, but there’s nothing compelling here and plenty frustrating. Even the random tables aren't interesting. Next time: enclave creation and campaign rules.
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Aug 14, 2021 21:55
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 Geralt of Rivia Medium Humanoid (Witcher) Prodigy 15; Battleborn (Spheres of Might) Armor Class 17 Hit Points 123 (15d8+45) Speed 30 ft. STR 14 DEX 12 CON 16 INT 14 WIS 12 CHA 8 (27 Point Buy, +2 CON, +1 INT) Saving Throws Dexterity +6, Intelligence +7 Skills Arcana +7, Athletics +7, Investigation +12, Nature +7, Perception +11, Stealth +6, Survival +6 Tools Alchemist’s Supplies (Prodigy class), Poisoner’s Kit (Witcher race), Smith’s Tools (Prodigy class), +1 Musical Instrument (Outlander background) Senses passive Perception 21, Darkvision 60 ft. Languages Common plus one other Background: Outlander Casting Tradition: Witcher Signs Sphere DC 15; Spell Points 9 Bonus Magic Talents: Destruction, Protection Boons: Metasphere Specialist; Drawbacks: Magical Signs, Somatic Casting 1; Variants: Protection: Limited Protection (Aegis only), Protected Soul Destruction - Confining (blast type), Extra Blast Type (Bludgeoning, Kinetic, Warding), Fire (blast type), Frightful (blast type), Sculpt (blast shape) Slowing (blast type); +4 extra talents from Mind, Protection, and Time spheres Mind - Confusion (charm), Enthrall (charm), Expanded Charm, Suggestion (charm) (+1 extra talent from Magical Expertise feat) Protection - Obstruction (aegis), Punishment (aegis) (+2 extra talents from Variants) Time - Adjusted Frequency (chronos), Time Freeze (chronos) Universal - Glyph (metasphere), Mass (metasphere), Quicken (metasphere) (+3 extra talents from Boon and Magical Expertise feat) Martial Tradition: Witcher Schooling Key Ability Modifier: Intelligence Sphere DC 15 Bonus Martial Talents: Alchemy, Equipment (Armor Training), Fencing, Scout Alchemy: - Alchemist’s Fire, Basic Poison (poison), Flash Powder (formula), Gaseous Application, Performance Enhancer (formula), Salve (formula), Specialized Venom (constructs, elementals, undead) (+4 extra talents from Intuitive Combatant feat, subclass, and tool proficiency) Equipment: - Armor Training, Bombardier Training Fencing: - Ankle Strike (exploit), Parry Anything, Parry and Riposte (+2 extra talents from Combat Training feat) Scout: - Target Weakness (research), Track the Scene This talent may be exchanged for another every short rest Special Abilities Alchemy: Can create up to 12 formulas or poisons at a time every short or long rest in any combination, lasting for 1 day. Alchemist’s Fire (1d4/4d4 fire damage, set target on fire failed DEX save), Thunderstone (1d10/3d10 thunder and deafened for 1 minute/stunned for 1 round minute on failed CON save), Basic Poison (1d4/3d4 poison damage and the poisoned condition for 1 round on failed CON save), Performance Enhancer (gain advantage on STR/DEX/CON ability checks and saves for 1 minute but disadvantage on INT/WIS/CHA ability checks and saves), or Salve (target spends HD to heal themselves, adds +2 HP and/or +3d8). Alchemist’s Fire and Performance Enhancer may be exchanged for other talents one meets prerequisites for every short rest. Ankle Strike (exploit): If feinted (melee attack w/ advantage) creature falls prone on failed DEX save. Destruction Blast Rider Effects: bludgeoning damage, push target back 5 feet, Augment 1 SP up to 20 feet (bludgeoning, collide with object deals +1d6 bludgeoning +1d6 for every 10 feet they would’ve continued); fire damage, catch fire on failed DEX save, taking 3d8 fire damage per round, Augment 1 SP frightened until flames are extinguished (fire); psychic damage, frightened until start of your next turn on failed WIS save (frightful, Augment 1 SP to extend duration to 1 minute, new save each round); force damage, unable to move closer to caster until start of caster’s next turn (confining, Augment 1 SP take additional force damage equal to damage dice rolled if willingly move from current space); bludgeoning damage, gain resistance to first damage attack or effect of creature before start of your next turn (warding, Augment 1 SP to choose up to 5 damaged creatures); force damage, knocked prone on failed STR save (kinetic, Augment 1 SP creatures made prone cannot stand up unless make STR save as an action or bonus action); force damage, can only use action or bonus action for 1 round on its turn if fail WIS save (slowing, Augment 1 SP to stun instead). Expertise: Investigation, Perception Extra Attack: May attack three times instead of once when using the Attack action. Fatal Thrust: Whenever attacking in melee with advantage can reroll one of the d20s used for advantage roll. Flawless Sequence: Don’t lose link from sequence if failed to add a link since beginning of previous turn. Focused Sequence: expend martial focus to increase sequence by 1 link. Glyph: Augment 1 SP to bind magic sphere effect into a 5 foot cube that lasts for 1 hour or until triggered. Augment 1 SP to increase size to 20 foot cube, increase duration to 24 hours, or Augment 4 SP to last indefinitely but reduces max Spell Points by amount until triggered or dispelled. Imbue Sequence: Gain mystic energy tied to one magic sphere. Defended (immediately gain benefit of one aegis), Destructive Edge (Destruction, add class level to 1 damage roll, damage matching a chosen blast type), Mind Breaker (creature subtracts 1d4 from WIS saves until end of next turn whenever damaged/shoved/grappled by prodigy), or Time Slip (+10 speed). Inspired Hit: all weapon and spell attack rolls crit on 19-20. Intuitive Combatant: Every long rest can replace one martial talent known with a different talent. But only talents gained via leveling up (see Talent Progression by Level below). Mass: Augment 1 SP to decrease magic sphere ability with duration of at least 10 minutes by 2 steps to increase number of targets by 5, counts as a single effect for purposes of Concentration. Augment 2 SP to apply to magic sphere ability with instantaneous duration if willing targets,* or Augment 3 SP to target the unwilling instead. *unlikely, most magic sphere effects known are self-targeting or offensive in nature. Prodigious Skill: Spend Spell Point to treat a d20 ability check as a 15 instead of rolling. Resilient Physique: Immune to all diseases and advantage on saving throws vs effects that inflict the poisoned condition and deal poison damage. Sequence: Gain 6 max links. Gain links by doing special actions in combat. Can spend links to perform Finishers. Track the Scene: advantage on ability checks to find and follow tracks, can determine general information when following tracks up to 14 hours old. Unbroken Sequence: can prevent a sequence from ending for 1 round if it would end due to Conditions. Actions Aegis: range self, concentration up to 1 hour. Gain resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage (Obstruction) or creature takes 3d4 psychic damage whenever damaging bearer of aegis (Punishment). Augment 2 SP to remove Concentration. Alchemical Item: +6 to hit, range 2/60 ft., target 1 creature or 5 ft. cube if Gaseous Application. Auto-hits willing targets. Alter Time: range 30 ft., target 1 creature. Can grant benefits of Haste (as spell) or Slow on failed WIS save (as spell) for 2 SP. Or can freeze time in a 20 foot cube for 1 SP. Cantrips: can cast druidcraft, prestidigitation, or thaumaturgy. Carpet Bomber Finisher: Throw one formula or poison per link in Sequence. Creature cannot be affected by more than one formula or poison from this ability. Charm: range 30 ft., duration varies, target 1 creature (or 6 if Mass). Forces d10 table of random behavior for 1 round on failed WIS save (Confusion, Greater is 1 minute concentration), make target charmed for 1 minute concentration (Enthrall, Greater is 1 hour), or plant suggestion for very simple requests into targets mind for 8 hours or until action is completed (Greater can do basic and very simple requests). Augment 1 SP to use Greater Charm effect. Destructive Blast: range self, 5-foot radius or 30-foot cone or 120-foot by 5-foot line, saving throw varies. Hit: 14 (3d8) variable damage type plus rider effect. Augment 1 SP to deal 39 (8d8) damage instead. Feint: Can choose to use Help action on self. Next attack roll before end of next turn will have advantage. Light Crossbow: +6 to hit, range 80/320 ft., 1 creature or object. Hit 5 (1d8+1) piercing damage. Crit on 19-20. Longsword: +10 to hit, range 5 ft., 1 creature or object. Hit 9 (1d8+5) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage if Ard’aenye is being used). Crit on 19-20. Bonus Actions Focused Sequence: expend martial focus to cease concentration on a magic effect. Quicken: Augment 1 SP to reduce casting time from 1 action to bonus action when targeting self or held object with magic sphere effect. Augment 2 SP (1 SP more) to do when targeting any single willing creature.* *unlikely, most magic sphere effects known are self-targeting or offensive in nature. Scout: Learn enemy Vulnerabilities, Resistances, & Immunities if within 120 ft. and succeed on DC 20 Investigation or Perception check. Target Weakness: next attack made against scouted creature with weapon attack treats half total damage as type target is Vulnerable to. Expend martial focus to use without an action. Reactions Alter Time: Can freeze time in 20 foot cube for 2 SP (including Augmented cost). Parry & Riposte: Expend martial focus to make melee damage roll, subtract from result of attacker’s damage. May attack and add (exploit) talent if final result is 0 or less. Can also work on spells and ranged attacks. Succor: If Punishment Aegis is up, can be dismissed to deal +3d6 psychic damage vs attacker. Equipment Aerondight (+3 silver longsword), Ard’aenye (treat as Flame Tongue longsword, +3 to attack and damage), Raven’s Armor (+3 Chain Shirt of Resistance [Poison]), light crossbow, alchemist’s supplies, poisoner’s kit, Roach (draft horse), Witcher’s Medallion (As Lantern of Tracking [see Rime of the Frostmaiden] save its creature type corresponds to all 10 types and never runs out of light) Conversion Details: Yet another conversion from an earlier Pathfinder build! Technically speaking this is an “advanced Geralt” near the end of Witcher 3, where he has enough Ability Points to afford most choices on his Combat, Signs, and Alchemy skill trees as well as possessing his iconic alchemical recipes. As a result, his level and stat block are very high in comparison to other builds I’ve done. Lower-powered versions of Geralt not yet at the end of his career will likely have more focused builds with less talents, so I made sure that the only Legendary Talent I took was the Fencing sphere’s Parry Anything (5th level). I chose Prodigy on account that it allows for free selection of both magical and martial sphere talents, and I needed a good amount of both for an authentic Geralt. In terms of his magical abilities I made a new Casting Tradition, detailed below. Geralt and most Witchers aren’t magical specialists, relying upon five simple Signs, or spells, that can be used quickly in combat. The Aard and Igni signs were easy to simulate via the Destruction sphere, particularly the Fire blast type and various movement and prone-inflicting blast types such as Kinetic and Confining. Yrden could be flavored as the Universal sphere’s Glyph talent combined with Destruction talents (particularly Slowing) and the Time sphere’s Time Freeze talent. Quen was the hardest to replicate on account that there’s no “auto-negate damage from the next hit” type of effects in Spheres of Power or default 5th Edition for that matter. Thus, I focused on two Protection talents that can reduce incoming damage and damage attacking enemies in turn to give the best equivalent effects. For Axii I relied upon a few Mind talents, ones which could manipulate targets for out of combat and utility use (Enthrall and Suggestion) and one which can turn enemies on each other (Confusion). For the Axii ability to stop a creature in its tracks, the Slowing blast type (which coincidentally was gained via the Time sphere) has an Augmented version that can stun targets. For combat talents, I wanted medium armor proficiency to give Geralt a respectable AC, and also let him be good at throwing alchemical items to simulate his “bombs” so I chose the aptly-named Bombardier Training. Fencing was a good choice in that it gave good options for him to knock enemies prone non-magically via Ankle Strike and can parry enemy attacks via the Parry and Riposte and Parry Anything talents. Scout was my next choice as it granted the incredibly useful ability to learn of enemy weaknesses and resistances, a necessity for any Witcher worthy of the title. For the specific talents, Target Weakness and Track the Scene reflect abilities Geralt could do in the video games. For the Prodigy class’ Expertise feature I assigned the two skills to Investigation and Perception, reflecting Geralt’s keen senses and eye for detail. Finally, Alchemy is Geralt’s most-invested sphere. Thanks to the Intuitive Combatant feat and the bonus talents from the Battleborn subclass, Geralt is by no means limited to the talents provided. Swapping out certain Alchemy talents for others he doesn’t currently know, such as Alchemist’s Fire for Flash Powder, represents him preparing different types of poisons, bombs, and concoctions during rest periods to fit the situation. He can even assign such talents to non-Alchemy sphere talents if so desired. In an odd way that’s in keeping with the video games, as there are special potions which can be purchased and drunk to retrain one’s skills. But onto Alchemy proper, I focused on the talents in keeping with some of the more well-known alchemical items seen in the games. Salve represents the healing Swallow, while Alchemist’s Fire represents Dancing Star. The Basic Poison along with Specialized Venom represents various oils Geralt coats his blade with in order to better harm monsters.* Those aforementioned talents, combined with Gaseous Application can represent gas-based bombs such as Dragon’s Dream and Devil’s Puffball. Thunderstone represents the Samum bomb, and Performance Enhancer can represent various physically-minded decoctions that grant a persistent buff. Switching one’s Alchemy talents around can further simulate other choices, such as Alchemical Ice for Northern Wind, Flash Powder for Zerrikanian Sun, and even the Bomb Legendary Talent for Grapeshot! *and Scout’s Track the Scene can be a good reflavoring of this as well. But all of these options come at the expense of Ability Score Increases. Although partially made up for via some very powerful weapons and armor, Geralt’s highest ability score is his 16 Constitution, with Strength and Intelligence both 14. While his high level makes him rather powerful, he does punch a bit below his weight class in several areas. Talent Progression by Level Level 1 Prodigy: Alchemy (Basic Poison, Salve, +1 talent from tool proficiencies), Destruction ([confining], fire, sculpt, +1 talent from Protection sphere), Equipment (Armor Training), Fencing, Protection (Obstruction, Punishment, +2 talents from Variant), Scout (Target Weakness, +1 talent from skill proficiency), Universal (Glyph, Quicken, +2 talents from Boon); Level 2: Alchemy (Alchemist’s Fire, +1 talent from subclass), Destruction (frightful, +1 from Mind sphere), Mind (Enthrall) Level 3: Mind (Expanded Charm) Level 4: Alchemy (Thunderstone, +1 talent from Intuitive Combatant feat), Destruction (slowing, +1 talent from Time sphere), Time (Adjusted Frequency) Level 5: None Level 6: Destruction (Extra Blast Type [Bludgeoning, Kinetic, Warding]) Level 7: Scout (Track the Scene) Level 8: Fencing (Ankle Strike, Parry Anything, Parry and Riposte, +2 talents from Combat Training feat) Level 9: None Level 10: Alchemy (Performance Enhancer, +1 talent from subclass), Mind (Confusion) Level 11: Alchemy (Specialized Venom [Constructs, Elementals, Undead]) Level 12: Alchemy (Gaseous Application), Mind (Suggestion, +1 talent from Magical Expertise feat), Universal (Mass, +1 talent from Magical Expertise feat) Level 13: None Level 14: Time (Time Freeze) Level 15: Bombardier Training Edit: As Geralt doesn't possess any of the Universal packages tied into the relevant Destruction blast types, he doesn't get a bonus blast type from that sphere.  By Warrior of Zelda on Deviantart New Race: Witcher Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1. Age: Witchers are theoretically immortal, although their dangerous lifestyles means that virtually all of them die from violence or acts of nature within the first few centuries at most. They reach maturity in line with their original species before the Trial of the Grasses. Alignment: Alignment is dumb and doesn’t map well onto the world of the Witcher. Size: The majority of Witchers are transformed humans, with a few of elven origin and no known dwarves, halflings, or monsters. Your Size is Medium. Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only in shades of gray. Witcher School Training: You have proficiency with the longsword, rapier, scimitar, and shortsword. Tool Proficiency: You gain proficiency with your choice of either alchemist’s supplies or poisoner’s kit. Monster-Wise: You have proficiency in Arcana and Nature. Resilient Physique: You are immune to all forms of disease and have advantage on saving throws versus effects that cause poison damage or the poisoned condition. Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice. Casting Tradition: Witcher Signs Key Ability Modifier: Intelligence Bonus Spell Points: None Bonus Magic Talents: Choose two: Destruction, Mind, or Protection Boons: Metasphere Specialist*; Drawbacks: Magical Signs, Somatic Casting 1; Variants: Limited Protection (Aegis only), Protected Soul *Witchers typically take the Glyph and Quicken talents, the former to simulate Yrden and the latter to allow quick follow-up attacks after using a Sign. Martial Tradition: Witcher Schooling Key Ability Modifier: Intelligence Bonus Talents: Equipment sphere: Armor Training Alchemy sphere Scout sphere Variable: Witchers gain one talent in line with their school: the Berserker sphere (Bear), the Fencing sphere (Wolf), the Scoundrel sphere (Viper), Equipment’s Crossbow Expert (Bear or Viper), or Scout’s Heightened Awareness (Griffin). Libertad! fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Aug 18, 2021 |
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Aug 15, 2021 02:17
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I don't remember the job creation rules being that bad in play. But I didn't see what was happening on the GM side. It's possible he just threw out the rules and ran the adventure he was interested in running.
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Aug 15, 2021 02:30
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Is it just me or are most of the formulae absolute garbage? Like, you have to spend a talent, your martial focus, and a formula use just to deal the same damage as a cantrip.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:14
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Chapter 4: Spheres, Part 2  The Berserker Sphere is our next combat-heavy sphere. Its two base abilities include Adrenaline where one suffers a -2 AC for a round in order to gain the benefits of a buff, and Batter which is a Special Attack made with a melee or thrown weapon which “batters” a target to make them vulnerable to other Berserker talents. The former ability involves making use of (adrenaline) talents such as reducing all incoming damage by one’s proficiency bonus, increasing one’s land speed by 5-20 feet depending on level, and expending martial focus to reroll a missed weapon attack roll. The latter ability makes use of (exertion) talents which apply a debuff to a target* such as -1d4 on all attack rolls, being unable to take bonus actions/reactions on a failed CON save or stunned if already battered. There’s a lot of other untyped talents, such as Brutal Strike which takes the -5 attack/+10 damage of Great Weapon Master but extends it to any melee/thrown weapon when battering a target, Bloody Counter where the character lets a melee attack auto-hit them in exchange for performing a counterattack along with an (exertion) talent, and Deathless which grants advantage on all death saves and helps them recover faster when stabilized at 0 HP. Legendary Talents include using a weapon attack to tear a fabric in space-time to perform long-range teleportation in exchange for an exhaustion level, severing a target’s limb if critting and expending martial focus, and the ability to raise surrounding terrain and create holes when using the Shatter Earth talent. *Shatter Earth, which turns surrounding squares into difficult terrain by shattering the ground instead of hitting a creature. There is one Legendary Talent that leaves things unclear rules-wise. Spell Sunder only has a 5th level prerequisite and allows one to temporarily dispel ongoing spell effects on a target when attacking them. But it briefly references the Brutal Strike talent as part of the required action. As that talent is not a prerequisite, it begs the question of whether or not it is necessary in the use of Spell Sunder. Combos: The Fencing sphere’s Parry & Riposte can reduce an attack’s damage via your own weapon damage roll, so the +10 bonus from Brutal Strike can be very helpful for this if the GM rules that it can apply. Additionally, the -5 penalty can be further mitigated via the many ways of gaining advantage, and the Fencing sphere’s Fatal Thrust base ability can help even further in rerolling one of the advantage d20s. The Juggernaut (adrenaline) talent makes one immune to difficult terrain and movement-slowing effects, which lines up well with Athletics sphere talents that grant alternative movement speeds being treated as difficult terrain. Furthermore, Shatter Earth can affect stone or a softer material, while Athletics Terrain Glide can only move through dirt or loose soil; the former talent combined with Alter Terrain in making a 5 foot deep hole can thus bypass any hard surfaces in buildings and roads to tunnel underground if the climate allows for it. The Equipment sphere’s Throwing Mastery talent is useful in applying a boomerang effect to thrown weapon attacks so you don’t have to waste actions drawing new weapons after the throw. The Atavism Legendary Talent lets one be treated as their original creature type or Beast for beneficial effects such as Beast Bond. A fellow PC with the Beastmastery sphere’s Bronco Buster talent can treat the Berserker-user as a mount and let them gain the benefits of (ride) talents. A few Legendary Talents in the Wrestling sphere have the Shatter Earth talent as a prerequisite. Existing Comparisons: The two benefits of Great Weapon Master exist as separate talents with wider applications beyond that feat’s Heavy quality prerequisite. The Mobile feat and Ranger’s Land Stride can allow one to move normally through difficult terrain, albeit under different circumstances than the Juggernaut talent. The Destruction sphere’s Slowing blast type talent has a similar action negation/stun effect as the Heavy Swing talent. The Great Destroyer talent’s double damage to and advantage on breaking objects is actually the same as the Siege Monster monster quality, although the talent’s advantage part is an added bonus. The Battlemaster Fighter’s Sweeping Attack is similar to Reaper’s Momentum in granting a cleavelike bonus attack on another target, although Battlemaster just does one additional attack while Reaper’s is potentially unlimited albeit at the cost of a hefty -5 penalty to all attack rolls.  The Brute Sphere is the other “strong guy” offensive sphere, centering around the use of shove and overrun actions. It grants proficiency in the Athletics skill (or +1 talent if already proficient) and its base ability allows one to move a shoved target even further by a number of feet equal to the result they failed by and also suffering bludgeoning damage. (manhandle) talents are added effects on top of shoving, such as imposing disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks for 1 round on a failed CON save, reducing their movement speed to 0 on a failed DEX save, immediately making a second shove to push them even further, or being able to perform a follow-up disarm (and a Scoundrel’s trick talent if applicable) or grapple check. Untagged talents include being able to shove a creature into another target and make a free shove attempt to knock them prone, can shove a target as a bonus action whenever you damage them with a melee weapon, a temporary “surge of strength” which grants several possible benefits in exchange for later exhaustion, and dealing an additional 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 5 feet a shoved target would otherwise move when they collide with a wall, large object, or other creature that halts their shoved movement. The Legendary Talents include a bunch of non-shoving related “super strength” effects, such clapping one’s hand to generate an AoE burst dealing thunder damage, stomping the ground to create an AoE effect to knock nearby targets prone, and a (manhandle) talent which can temporarily throw a target into the Ethereal Plane. Combos: As shove and overrun attempts rely upon the Athletics skill, the Athletics sphere’s Mighty Conditioning allows one to substitute Dexterity for a Brute focused build. The Scholar’s Physics Study similarly lets them substitute their Key Ability Modifier for uses of shoving, grappling, and Brute sphere effects. The Perpetual Motion applying a second shove attempt combined with Hammer can add up to a lot of d6s when slamming a foe into a wall or similar solid structure. Muscular Surge’s effective size increase can work well with the grappling-focused Wrestling sphere, while the Conscript’s Brawler subclass can further enhance one’s effective size category. Get Over Here specifically calls out the use of various “tether” style abilities from Spheres of Power as well as Athletic’s Rope Swing talent in regards to applying shove attempts to tethered creatures. The Robbery (manhandle) talent lets one apply a Scoundrel sphere (trick) talent when stealing from a shoved target. The Dropkick talent’s jump-based movement can benefit from talents which increase movement and jump distance such as Athletic’s Polearm Vault and Brute’s own Muscular Surge. A huge amount of other spheres have talents that relate to shoving: Barrage’s Mixed Barrage, Beastmastery’s Mounted Maneuvers, Dual Wielding’s Combo Maneuvers and High-Low Combination, Equipment’s Versatile Shield, Gladiator’s Boast base ability and several talents (Exemplar, Cow Enemy, Daunting, Derision), Guardian’s Guardians Focus, Leadership’s Opportunistic Teamwork, Shield’s Smashing Counter, Warleader’s Deadly Herdsman, and Wrestling’s Ground Game. Existing Comparisons: As far as I can tell the vast majority of the Brute sphere is original content, and from what I could find in the official rules the only subclasses and feats that make reference specifically to shoving in the triggering of special abilities is the PHB’s Shield Master whose equivalent was covered by Equipment’s Versatile Shield talent. The Battlemaster’s Pushing Attack sounds like it’d qualify as a similarity, but it’s not actually a shove in terms of game mechanics even though it performs pretty much the same result. It’s not a 5e option, but back during 3rd Edition there was a popular Fighter subclass known as the Dungeoncrasher. Its major class feature gave some rather massive damage bonuses when the Fighter pushed foes into walls and other solid structures, and I see a lot of its inspiration in the Hammer talent.  The Dual Wielding Sphere covers two-weapon fighting both melee and ranged. It grants three base abilities: can expend your martial focus to make an off-hand attack without needing to spend a bonus action, +1 to AC when wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand, and can draw or stow two one-handed weapons at once. Its (dual-wield) talents grant added effects to one’s offhand attack, such as substituting an attack for a grapple, shove, or Help action, not provoking opportunity attacks from damaged creatures for 1 turn, and making an additional attack provided that attack targets a different creature. Other talents include being able to have both wielded weapons deal the same damage die and type if so desired, able to two-weapon fighting with non-light weapons, and expending martial focus to shove a creature if both the main and offhand attacks hit. The two Legendary Talents include doing an AoE spin attack against all foes within 15 feet and the ability to wield a third weapon in a mouth or a third prehensile limb if possessed. Combos: The Two-Weapon Fighting Fighting Style is great when paired with this sphere in granting bonus damage to the offhand attack, something the Dual Wielding sphere doesn’t grant oddly enough. Combo Maneuvers and High-Low Combination work well with the Brute sphere, while Perfect Set-Up is good for the Fencing sphere’s (feint) talents and Fatal Thrust ability given its granting of the Help action. Dancing Display’s negation of opportunity attacks is good when paired with Athletics’ Dizzying Tumble given it requires moving away from a hostile creature. The Shield sphere’s Guarded Stance treats a held weapon as a shield, allowing one to make use of that sphere’s core ability and talents when dual-wielding. Furthermore, Dual-Wielding’s Focusing Defense and Shield’s Reactive Defense both rely on taking the Dodge action, and the former’s AC bonus makes it more likely for the latter’s ability to trigger. A weapon benefiting from an unorthodox damage type via a magic property or spell enhancement can apply this benefit to another held weapon courtesy of Asynchronous Swing. Finally, Dual Wielding is great for builds reliant upon making many attacks. The base ability lets one make an off-hand attack via no action by expending martial focus. The Greater Focus feat and the Conscript’s Master of Combat class feature grant additional independently-maintained martial focuses, while Extra Attack, Action Surge (from either the Fighter or the Alter Ego’s Hero Persona), a Haste effect from the spell of the same name or the Time sphere’s Adjusted Frequency, and the bonus action attack from Barrage’s Barrage ability, the Equipment sphere’s Hand Crossbow Mastery, a Scimitar of Speed magic item, or even just a regular two-weapon fighting offhand attack (on top of the expended martial focus’ no-actions) can add up to a lot of attacks per round. Existing Comparisons: Two of Dual Wielding’s base abilities and one talent copied the Dual Wielder feat benefits from the Player’s Handbook. Besides that, there’s not many other official feats, subclasses, and spells that specifically make reference to offhand attacks that I know of. The Dancing Display opportunity attack-negating talent is similar to the Swashbuckler Rogue’s Fancy Footwork class feature, although that feature merely involves making a melee attack with no other bells or whistles.  The Fencing Sphere focuses on nimble maneuvers to set up enemies for debilitating strikes. Its core abilities include Fatal Thrust which allows one to reroll one of the d20 rolls for melee attacks made with advantage, and Feint where you can choose to grant the Help action to yourself and thus gain advantage on the next attack roll made. Using Help in giving someone (including yourself) an attack roll advantage is called a “feint” which (exploit) talents require but apply only to your own attacks. However, these talents don’t require that they be made with melee attacks; only Fatal Thrust specifically calls this out, so you can totally “Help yourself” when using a ranged weapon and apply an (exploit). (exploit) talents center around various debuffs, such as making the target lose the ability to make opportunity attacks for 1 round, falling prone on a failed DEX save, moving them 5 feet to a different space within reach, or expending martial focus to blind an opponent for 1 minute or until they spend an Action to unblind themselves. Untagged talents include being able to feint as a bonus action, a “blade bind” which grapples the target but allows them to also break free if they drop the held weapon beyond the usual means of countering grapples, expending martial focus to parry a melee attack by reducing its damage by an amount equal to your weapon damage roll, and treating one’s melee reach as 5 feet more but suffering -2 penalty on attacks vs adjacent targets. Legendary Talents include the ability to parry ranged and spell attacks, an (exploit) that can temporarily increase a target’s exhaustion level and stack with itself, a “vacuum cut” which increases a melee attack’s reach by 30 feet, and a more advanced “vacuum slice” that instead targets all opponents in a 30 foot line. Combos: Expert Feint reducing a feint to a bonus action is helpful for Conscript Knaves and Rogues given it grants them an easy means of applying Sneak Attack. The Conscript Warrior’s Reckless attack grants advantage on attacks and thus opens up the use of (exploit) talents. The attack penalties for Berserker’s Brutal Strike and Sniper’s Deadly Shot talents can be mitigated via Feints and Fatal Thrust in the case of Brutal Strike. The opportunity attack negation by Distracting Blades works similarly to Dual-Wielding’s Dancing Display in regards to using abilities such as Athletic’s Dizzying Tumble. The movement reduction on Leg Slash can combine nicely with similar effects such as Alchemy’s Alchemical Ice and Paralytic Venom, Barrage’s Suppressing Fire, Berserker’s Leg-Smasher and Sever, Dual-Wielding’s Dizzying Combination, and the Time sphere’s Adjusted Frequency or Destruction’s Slowing blast type. Lunge’s reach increase goes nicely with Equipment’s Polearm Guard and the Guardian sphere’s Patrol package in regards to triggering opportunity attacks from farther away along with some close-range battlefield control. Berserker’s Brutal Strike damage bonus can be helpful if allowed to be added to Parry and Riposte: the latter talent doesn’t require an attack roll, so while +10 damage reduction may seem a bit powerful it can only apply to a target that’s been battered if ruled in such a way. Traitorous Blade’s bonus action attack with a disarmed weapon can synergize with Dual Wielding if made as an offhand attack. Bind Weapon’s grappling effect can synergize with the Wrestling sphere, particularly (slam) talents. Dual-Wielding’s Perfect Set-Up lets one use the Help action in place of an off-hand attack and can be used for opening up an (exploit) use. Existing Comparisons: Fencing’s Footwork talent is similar to Athletics’ Tumbling Recovery, although the former can only be triggered on a reaction while the latter can trigger on a bonus action but requires one to drop prone in order to use. The few talents that involve disarming a target are similar to the Battlemaster’s Disarming Attack maneuver, although that one merely disarms and adds bonus damage, while Fencing’s talents do other things instead of damage such as a blade bind grapple or catching and then attacking with that weapon. The Battlemaster’s Feinting Attack and Lunging Attack also do similar things to Fencing sphere abilities, although the former maneuver only works on creatures within 5 feet and the latter only applies to one attack made that turn.  The Gladiator Sphere makes use of psychological tricks in demoralizing one’s foes and instilling confidence in oneself and one’s allies. The default abilities are Boast and Demoralize. The former triggers as a reaction whenever the character crits, KOs, or grapples/shoves a hostile creature, and comes with a base (boast) ability that grants oneself advantage on their next attack roll or contested ability check. The latter is an action that imposes the Frightened condition on a target within 30 feet who fails a CHA save or a bonus action if martial focus is expended. (boast) talents provide new boasts the character can make, such as forcing a foe to choose a new target or waste a hostile action on a failed WIS save until the start of your next turn, allowing nearby allies to hide even when observed by calling attention to yourself, and letting nearby allies make new saving throws against ongoing effects. (demoralize) talents allow for new uses and additions to the base ability, such as performing as a bonus action with no martial focus expending when damaging/grappling/shoving an enemy, using it as a reaction when critting/KOing a foe, and targeting additional foes at once. (fear) are talents which apply only to targets already Frightened of the character, granting advantage on attack rolls or provoking opportunity attacks when the Frightend target fails an attack/grapple/shove attempt. There’s many untagged talents, such as new means of performing boasts and doubling the range of Boast and Demoralize. Legendary Talents include Frightening hostile opponents within 30 feet if they fail a WIS save (no action required), automatically critting vs frightened enemies with a CR less than one’s proficiency bonus, and expending martial focus to ignore a target’s immunity to the frightened condition (albeit they save with advantage). Combos: As many talents rely upon shoves and grapples, Gladiator goes well with talents from the Brute and Wrestling spheres. Alchemy’s Frightening Hallucinogen, Barroom’s Menacing Belch, Retribution’s Terrifying Hook and Violent Pressure, Warleader sphere’s Frightful Roar, and Wrestling’s Grandstanding Slam provide other means of applying the Frightened condition and thus (fear) talent effects. For Spheres of Power, Conjuration’s Frightful Presence, Dark’s Fearful Darkness, Death’s Frightful reanimate talent, Destruction’s Fire and Frightful blast type talents, Illusion’s Illusionary Obstruction, and Mind’s Fear talents also grant the Frightened condition. The Distracting Display Boast is useful for Sneak Attackers, possessors of the Scout sphere, and others who require hiding from one’s opponents in order to maximize their potential. Two or more characters with the Menace talent and/or the Destruction sphere’s Confining blast type can more effectively box in a target and/or force them into an ideal direction of movement. Existing Comparisons: The Battlemaster’s Menacing Attack is similar in imposing the Frightened condition on a target via a damaging attack, although Gladiator provides a wider means of doing so. The Berserker Barbarian’s Intimidating Presence can also do this, having very similar wording to the Demoralize ability albeit Gladiator doesn’t end if line of sight or distance limits are broken a successful save doesn’t negate further uses of Demoralize to that same creature. There are other frighten effects such as the Archfey Warlock’s Fey Presence or the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer’s capstone ability, but those are usually rest-based and target an AoE effect for targets (which the Aura of Fear Legendary Talent can also do and at a lower level than the Sorcerer). The reaction-based boasts have some rather open-ended buffs which make it hard to directly trace specific official spells and features for them. Thoughts So Far: The Berserker sphere feels a bit like a Barbarian But Not Quite in its focus on powerful strikes and direct offense. It is a bit of a heavy talent investment for the offensive side of things, as the only talent granted for free is an (adrenaline) one rather than the more offensive (exertion) choices. There’s a few talents which grant a boon when a target’s reduced to 0 HP, particularly the martial focus restoration one, which in comparison to similar choices in other spheres is going to be relatively rarer unless you’re fighting low-HP mooks a lot, while the -5 attack talents are risky propositions unless you have means of gaining easy advantage. Additionally Shatter Earth seems a popular prerequisite for other Legendary Talents, but given that it doesn’t trigger when hitting a foe and its affected squares are rather few it doesn’t really feel worth using when there are spells which can cover a wider AoE like Destruction’s Physical blast type combined with the right blast shape talents. It’s for these reasons that Berserker ranks relatively low for me. I like Brute more in the fact that it has a good amount of debuff and battlefield control options for brawny fighter types, and the super-strength Legendary Talents are pretty cool. It has a lot of synergy with other spheres given how common the shove maneuver is in Spheres of Might, and I can see a lot of characters taking Follow-Through to knock around enemies when attacking them. I’m a bit mum on Dual-Wielding: the major focus on offhand weapon attacks is a bit unfortunate when such attacks don’t add ability modifiers to damage, so I feel that most people taking this sphere are going to select classes granting access to the Two-Weapon Fighting Style in order to make up for this which is rather limiting for the otherwise open-ended Spheres system. Fencing has a surprising amount of applicability to builds besides finesseable quick fighters as one would presume, which makes me rate it highly. Gladiator is another one that rates rather low for me. The triggers for Boast means that one needs to specialize in shoves and grapples to make it occur more often unless one invests in talent taxes that also allow one to boast when succeeding on saving throws or when an attack/grapple/shove misses the character. While the (boast) talents include various useful effects, it does push one into making use of Brute and/or Wrestling sphere talents to be useful. As for Demoralize, while there’s a Legendary Talent which bypasses this, the Frightened condition is one of the more common ones for monsters to be immune to, on par with Charmed and only less common than Poisoned. On the other hand, while one of its talents grants proficiency (or double proficiency if already proficient) in Intimidate, I do like how the (demoralize) and (fear) talents mean that a character doesn’t need the Intimidate skill or even a high Charisma to instill fear and dread in their opponents.
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Aug 16, 2021 05:16
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OutsideAngel posted:Is it just me or are most of the formulae absolute garbage? Like, you have to spend a talent, your martial focus, and a formula use just to deal the same damage as a cantrip. Unfortunately you're not wrong. I do think that some such as Tanglefoot Bag, Flash Powder, and Salve can still be useful, although the damaging ones leave much to be desired. I'm also less than impressed with Basic Poison, too. Unlike Spheres of Power Cantrips they don't have the excuse of being balanced against Spell Points and are instead limited by short rest. The Destruction sphere's Fire blast type can accomplish similar effects as alchemist's fire, with perhaps the only downside that it has a lower 30 foot default range vs a thrown weapon's 20/60. Or the Enhancement sphere's Mental/Physical Enhancement talents having a longer default duration of 10 minutes vs Performance Enhancer's 1 minute, not imposing disadvantage on "opposite" abilities but being limited by Concentration. In going over Spheres of Might it's clear that they followed similar procedures to their Pathfinder predecessor and Spheres of Power in wanting to focus on "at-will" abilities. However, official D&D has a lot of rest-based abilities even for noncasters, and in Might there's but a few talents which refresh this way, with martial focus' action economy being the big limiter instead. I feel that the aversion to rest-refreshing abilities for the spheres is to the book's detriment. Edit: One argument for the low damage might be that as you can throw alchemical weapons as an attack they can add up over time with Extra Attack. But unless you heavily invest into the Alchemy sphere or spend hundreds to thousands of gold pieces on such weapons you're not getting gobs of beakers to throw. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Aug 16, 2021 |
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Aug 16, 2021 05:25
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 Shovel Knight Medium Human (Variant) Conscript 9; Paragon Armor Class 20 (18 when using adrenaline talents) Hit Points 76 (9d10+18) Speed 30 ft. (+10 ft. w/ martial focus) STR 18 DEX 10 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 14 (27 point buy: +1 STR Variant Human, +1 CHA Variant Human, +2 STR Combat Dabbler feat x2) Saving Throws Charisma +6, Dexterity +4 Skills Acrobatics +12, Athletics +8, History +4, Perception +4 (Variant Human), Persuasion +6 Tools Joustus (card game), Mason’s Tools Senses passive Perception 14 Languages Common plus 2 languages of choice Background: Noble Feats: Combat Dabbler x2 (+2 STR), Combat Training Martial Tradition: Knight Sphere DC 14 Athletics - Air Stunt, Mighty Conditioning, Mobility, Rapid Motion, Sudden Flank, Swift Movement, Training (Acrobatics), Wall Stunt, Whirlwind Flip Berserker - Alter Terrain, Juggernaut (adrenaline), Ruinous Tread, Shatter Earth (exertion) Equipment - Armor Training x2, Knightly Training (discipline) Warleader Special Abilities Adrenaline (Juggernaut): Take -2 AC to not be affected by difficult terrain and cannot have movement speed reduced until the start of next turn. Air Stunt: Can “run” up walls, two size category larger creatures, and air, treating movement as difficult terrain. Exertion (Shatter Earth): Can spend an attack as part of Attack action and expend martial focus to turn all spaces within 5 feet, a 10 foot cone, or 15 foot line into difficult terrain, those passing through fall prone on failed STR or DEX save. May also create 5 foot deep holes in the ground of affected squares and also choose to raise terrain by 5 feet in squares adjacent to affected squares. Extra Attack: May attack twice instead of once whenever taking the Attack action. Fighting Style - Defense: +1 AC when wearing armor. Mobility: Opportunity attacks have disadvantage when leaving hostile creature’s reach. Ruinous Tread: May choose to make squares difficult terrain whenever leaving them. Sudden Flank: gain advantage on next attack before end of your next turn against creature that you successfully tumbled past. Swift Movement: All movement speeds +10 ft. when have martial focus. Whirlwind Flip: Regain martial focus when succeeding on tumble (action or bonus action) vs hostile creature. Actions Shovel: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., 1 creature or object. Hit: 8 or 9 (1d6+5 or 1d8+5 if two-handed) piercing damage. Throwing Anchor: +8 to hit, range 20/60 ft., 1 creature or object. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) bludgeoning damage. Shout (Fierce Shout): Can affect self and all allies within 10 feet to gain +4 damage on first attack made within 1 round. Bonus Actions Rapid Motion: Dash as bonus action. Rousing Leadership: Perform shout as a bonus action whenever reduce enemy to 0 HP. Second Wind: Can regain 1d10+9 hit points once per short or long rest. Tactics (Aggressive Flanking): all allies within 20 feet who can see and hear gain +2 on attack rolls vs hostile creature if at least 2 allies are within its reach. Takes bonus action to maintain each round. Equipment +1 full plate, +1 shovel (reflavored spear), 10 throwing anchors (reflavored light hammers), Phase Locket (reflavored Cloak of Etherealness but lasts for 2 rounds), Wand of Fireballs Conversion Details: As my first purely martial build, Shovel Knight’s end result was pretty fun to stat up: a full-plate wearing Strength-focused mobile fighter jumping and tumbling through enemy spaces and breaking up the ground to create holes and difficult terrain. I chose to give him the Knight Martial Tradition as it was most in keeping with his theme, even if the Warleader sphere ends up going to waste. For class I chose Conscript due to the unparalleled talent progression, and the Paragon subclass with the Defense Fighting Style to shore up his Armor Class and also due to its “inspirational figure” flavor text. I extensively focused on both Athletics and Berserker, choosing talents which play well off of each other. Shovel Knight’s keymark ability doesn’t actually make him jump as per the 5e rules: rather he makes use of the Air Stunt talent to vertically move through the air. Combined with Swift Movement to increase his base speed, Rapid Motion to let him Dash as a bonus action, and the Berserker sphere’s Juggernaut talent to ignore treating air as difficult terrain, Shovel Knight can cover great distances despite not technically flying. He can still fall if ending his turn in mid-air, in keeping with the platforming theme with is why I didn’t choose the Sparrow’s Path talent. But beyond just clearing vast aerial distance, the Athletics sphere also helps simulate Shovel Knight’s signature attack of using his shovel as a pogo stick to strike and bounce off of enemies before landing to strike again. Air Stunt covers the aerial movement, but Mobility makes it hard for opponents to strike when Shovel Knight leaves their reach,* while Sudden Flank and Whirlwind Flip grant him benefits when he successfully tumbles through their squares. Thanks to Mighty Conditioning he doesn’t need a high Dexterity score to tumble, substituting Strength instead. *and when rolling with disadvantage against an 18 or 20 AC means that even the strongest opponents risk missing him. For his signature digging ability, Shovel Knight makes use of the Berserker sphere’s Shatter Earth talent enhanced by Alter Terrain to create holes in the ground and dig up surrounding dirt. Ruinous Tread allows squares he moves through to count as difficult terrain, which will not negatively impact him if he makes use of Juggernaut. Although the text implies that Ruinous Tread only works on solid ground, the rules wording implies that it can affect squares in midair, which if interpreted as such can make it harder for foes to give chase when he bounces away with Air Stunt. Talent Progression by Level Level 1: Athletics (Rapid Motion, Sudden Flank, Swift Movement, +3 talents from Combat Training feat and skill proficiency), Equipment (Armor Training x2, Knightly Training), Warleader Level 2: Athletics (Wall Stunt) Level 3: Berserker (Juggernaut) Level 4: Athletics (Mighty Conditioning, +1 extra talent from Combat Dabbler feat), Berserker (Shatter Earth) Level 5: Athletics (Air Stunt) Level 6: Athletics (Mobility) Level 7: Berserker (Alter Terrain) Level 8: Athletics (Whirlwind Flip, +1 extra talent from Combat Dabbler feat), Berserker (Ruinous Tread) Level 9: Athletics (Training - Acrobatics)
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Aug 16, 2021 12:07
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Chapter 4: Spheres, Part 3  The Guardian Sphere allows a character to serve a “tank” role by occupying the enemies’ attention. It has three default abilities, with the first automatic and only one of the other two being chosen:* a Delayed Damage Pool where the character can temporarily absorb all damage done to them for one turn before suffering it on the next turn, a Challenge which imposes disadvantage on a target’s attack rolls when they perform offensive actions that don’t include the character as a target, and Patrol which sets up a zone where the character gains bonus opportunity attacks and movement which is triggered when someone moves into/out of/through the zone. (challenge) talents influence the ability of the same name, such as imposing disadvantage on concentration saves on a challenged foe within reach or can end a challenge early to turn a challenged target’s critical hit into a normal one. (resilience) tags include increasing the amount of hit points that are stored in a Delayed Damage Pool as well as negating Conditions and hostile magical effects by turning them into HP damage that is then stored in the pool. (zone) talents give new features to one’s patrol, such as allies gaining +1 AC while within the zone, making opportunity attacks whenever an enemy makes an attack against anyone within the zone, and reducing enemy movement to 0 if they are damaged from your opportunity attack. There’s a few untagged talents, such as Defend Other which allows one to spend a reaction to redirect enemy attacks towards yourself and additional ways of regaining martial focus via Challenges and Patrols. Legendary Talents include options such as forming a bodyguard-style bond with a creature to know of their location and teleport to their location, forcing challenged creatures to succeed on a Wisdom save to voluntarily move away from the character, and dealing radiant or necrotic damage to a challenged target when they attack people other than you. *with a talent granting use of both default abilities Combos: The Conscript’s Sentinel subclass is specifically meant to enhance Guardian sphere abilities, and its ability to halve the damage dealt from the emptying of a Delayed Damage Pool really increases a character’s staying power. As the size of a Patrol is based on reach, abilities and talents which increase reach are highly useful, such as the Fencing sphere’s Lunge, the Light sphere’s Encompassing Light, the Alteration sphere’s Size Change, and so on. Additionally, as movement from triggered opportunity attacks cannot exceed your regular movement you can make that round, talents and abilities which increase your speed such as the Athletics sphere’s Swift Movement and the Enhancement sphere’s Speed Control are useful. The Stand Still talent’s speed reduction effect combined with the Alchemy sphere’s Paralytic Venom can be a quick way to impose the paralyzed condition upon a target. The Barrage sphere’s Vigilant Sharpshooter allows one to treat a ranged weapon as a melee weapon with the Reach quality and make opportunity attacks with it, allowing it to be used to make patrol attacks. The Destruction sphere’s Blade blast shape can instill blast types into a weapon and can thus be used with a patrol attack, allowing for some neat battlefield control possibilities such as the Bludgeoning and Teleporting blast types. Existing Comparisons: The Sentinel feat from the Player’s Handbook is a clear inspiration for the Guardian sphere, particularly the effect of stopping enemy movement via an opportunity attack. The Oath of the Crown Paladin’s ability to take damage intended for a nearby target is reminiscent of the Defend Other talent, albeit that one’s ability to be combined with movement from a Patrol makes it have a greater potential “reach.” The mechanics of the Challenge ability are reminiscent of the Battle Master Fighter’s Goading Attack maneuver, although that one requires the Fighter to first hit the opponent, has a shorter default duration, and doesn’t grant the marked target advantage on rolls against the character. Another difference is that Challenge occurs when the target fails a Charisma saving throw, making it less dependent on a foe’s Armor Class and more dependent on their force of personality to resist the bait. Another comparison can be made to the Swashbuckler Rogue’s Panache ability, although that one also prevents the “challenged” creature from making opportunity attacks to others and can be ended sooner via other conditions.  The Retribution Sphere focuses on prepared counterattacks. Its default ability is Counterstrike, a Special Attack where one attack can be readied to trigger based on 1-4 potential hostile actions* rather than an entire Action if one possesses Extra Attack. The Counterstrike deals additional damage equal to one’s proficiency bonus, and if it successfully hits then the character regains the use of their Reaction if it was already spent. This is pretty good for potential action economy combos; additionally, a character doesn’t have to potentially waste their entire round setting themselves up for an attack that never comes via the usual means of Readying an action, and a successful counter rewards them by making it not even cost an action but instead a single attack. (counter) talents specifically enhance one’s counterstrike by imposing negative effects beyond damage such as halving their movement, launching them into the air via uppercut, or making them unable to speak or use mouth-related abilities like breath weapons. Untagged talents include being able to move half one’s speed before making a counterstrike, can make an additional melee attack on top of the readying action which deals no damage but forces a struck opponent to stay within the character’s reach, and choosing to intercept attacks which can be negated via rolling higher on the contested attack roll. There’s only 2 Legendary Talents; the first one lets one jump after an uppercutted enemy to make an additional attack against them in midair, and the second one prevents a target who has been countered from performing the same action that triggered the counterstrike on a failed CHA save. *based on level. Combos: As discussed in prior Spheres, abilities which enhance one’s movement can let someone move faster when using Raging Bull (bonus movement before a counter) and cover more ground. Abilities and talents which can force an opponent to act a certain way (such as running away via the Frightened Condition) can be applied as a Counterstrike trigger for a better set-up. Launching Uppercut has some utility uses for willing targets launched. Intercepting Strike mentions that one cannot intercept spell attacks or massive ranged weapons “unless you are using such a massive weapon yourself somehow.” The Equipment sphere’s Rock Toss talent, Conscript’s Brawler subclass, the Alteration sphere’s Size Change, and the Telekinesis sphere’s Dancing Weapon an/or Orbit talents can feasibly allow a character to wield such massive weapons. Existing Comparisons: While there are various Reaction abilities that can counter/parry/etc, the concept of setting up a “counterattack” in exchange for increased boons or choosing a single attack to “ready” while otherwise acting normally in a combat round don’t have any official equivalents of which I am aware. As a means of self-comparison, this Sphere was originally known as Boxing in the Pathfinder version of Spheres of Might and thus could only be used with unarmed, natural, and light melee weapons. While there is a Variant in the 5e version that restricts its use to unarmed attacks, Retribution opens it up by making it a general “counterattack” sphere independent of weapon type.  The Scoundrel Sphere subscribes to the school of hard knocks style, focusing on unbalancing and disorienting opponents to better set them up for attacks. While previous Spheres had various effects that imposed disadvantageous conditions upon foes, Scoundrel makes it the default. It grants Sleight of Hand (or 1 bonus talent if already have it) as a free proficiency as well as a (trick) talent but has no default abilities. The Scoundrel sphere’s talents instead enhance existing actions as well as a new one in this book that any character can use: Dirty Tricks, which are Sleight of Hand checks that can impose a negative effect for 1 round to 1 minute depending on the effect unless undone earlier via the target spending an action. (trick) talents apply to Dirty Trick or Steal attempts, such as also being able to make a single attack against the target, able to use Dirty Tricks up to 10 feet away, and switching a stolen object on a target’s person with something else (including volatile alchemical items that can be rigged to explode). Untagged talents include making a disarm attempt as a reaction to disarm a foe of an attempted attack with that weapon, gaining the benefits of partial cover as long as an ally’s adjacent to you, and being able to redirect enemy opportunity attacks to another target via a Dirty Trick attempt. Legendary Talents allow the Scoundrel to steal increasingly implausible things, such as armor or worn clothing, a target’s skill proficiency, and even their heart which gives them the charmed condition in regards to you! Combos: The Switcheroo talent already mentions its use with Alchemy sphere talents, although the Tinkerer sphere’s Artillerist Gadgets also qualifies given it allows for the creation of an explosive detonator. The Conscript’s Knave subclass can add Sneak Attack damage when the character successfully uses a Dirty Trick or Steal attempt on a target. If a Rogue has access to the Twist the Knife or Quick Thievery talents then they can easily set up a target for being Sneak Attacked via an initial Dirty Trick. The Alchemy sphere’s Contact Poison Delivery mentions its use via Dirty Trick and Steal actions, as does Brute’s Robbery talent. Filthy Distraction’s imposition of disadvantage on Perception checks works nicely with Scout’s Fast Stealth, where one can perform a Dirty Trick or Steal as an action and then Hide as a bonus action. Improved Grifting lets one add double proficiency to Sleight of Hand checks, which works well with the Trap sphere’s Sneaky Trapper in better hiding temporary traps. The Leadership sphere’s Friends in Low Places mentions that followers can Help in aiding rolls with Sleight of Hand in “a large enough place.” While this may not have immediate combat purposes, if followers are turned into a Sidekick via that sphere’s Squad Legendary Talent then it’s more feasible that they should be able to do so. Existing Comparisons: The Steal Identity Legendary Talent is similar to the Assassin Rogue's Imposter class feature, although the talent has a shorter onset time and an explicit duration. The Misdirected Attack talent is similar to the Mastermind Rogue’s Misdirection ability, although they both have different qualifications for triggering.  The Scout Sphere is another “Rogue-friendly” sphere, although this one involves more reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering. It grants Stealth as a bonus skill (or +1 talent if already proficient), and its default ability allows the character to learn a target’s Vulnerabilities, Resistances, and Immunities to damage types and conditions via a successful DC 20 Investigation or Perception check. Creatures who have been successfully rolled against are considered “scouted,” and (research) talents grant the character additional benefits against them such as critting on a 19-20, having +2 AC vs their attacks, and expending one’s martial focus as a bonus action to scrounge up materials which treat half the damage of their next attack as being of a type the scouted creature is Vulnerable towards (basically 1.5 times the damage such an attack would normally do). The untagged talents include things such as gaining proficiency/double proficiency in Disguise Kits, Investigation, Perception, or Stealth, being able to Hide as a bonus action, gaining advantage on all WIS saves and Investigation checks vs Illusion spells and Illusion sphere abilities, and ignoring disadvantage on ranged weapon attacks imposed by weather and similar environmental effects. There’s a few Legendary Talents which allow one to multi-target creatures via a single scouting roll, being able to read the mind of a scouted creature, and being able to scout creatures even if they’re not present as long as their tracks are analyzed. Combos: The Divination sphere’s Discern Individual specifically calls out granting advantage on rolls for the Scout sphere’s primary ability, while the Enhancement sphere’s Mental Enhancement talent and Alchemy’s War Paint (yellow paint) provide other means of granting advantage on such rolls. The Empirical Tracker Legendary Talent combined with the Leadership sphere’s Detectives followers talent or the Team Lookout sidekick talent can easily be justified in the use of granting advantage on the scouting roll if such characters are present. Existing Comparisons: There’s some conceptual similarities with the Ranger, most notably the Monster Slayer subclass which has a feature that can do the same thing as scouting although it doesn’t require a roll, cannot get past anti-divination measures, and can only be used a limited number of times per long rest. Whereas the Scout sphere’s only limitation is on rolls for individual targets. The Track the Scene talent grants advantage on rolls to track creatures and learn general details about them this way, closer to the general Ranger. The Recall Lore Augmentations of various (divine) talents in the Divination sphere accomplish similar things to the Scout’s primary feature, albeit are limited to certain creature types in line with the talent and focus on Arcana/Nature/Religion rather than the broader Investigation/Perception skills. The talents which grant limited detection of magical auras, scrying, and tremorsense/blindsight also borrow some inspiration from that sphere as well as more general divination magic.  The Shield Sphere is a defensive-minded one, requiring the use of a shield in order to use or a talent to substitute a weapon as a pseudo-shield. Oddly it doesn’t grant proficiency in shields by default, as one needs the Equipment sphere’s Armor Training to do that! The sphere’s default feature allows one to spend a reaction to gain +2 AC vs an incoming attack, and (deflect) talents allow the character to perform additional effects against these triggered attacks such as shoving or disarming the attacker or breaking the shield to turn a critical hit into a normal hit. Untagged talents include expending martial focus to apply the AC bonus vs all valid triggering attacks for the round rather than just one, granting the AC bonus to allies within one’s natural reach, and can substitute one’s AC with a rolled attack roll result rather than gaining the +2 bonus. There’s only two Legendary Talents which are short and sweet: one allows the character to apply the AC bonus to spell attacks,* while the other grants the character a bonus on all saves equal to their shield’s AC bonus but can’t stack with saving throw bonuses that “allow you to add an ability modifier to saving throws, such as the paladin’s aura of protection.” Which seems to be a rather specific kind of bonus, but I’m not complaining. *which is odd, as the default sphere ability didn’t specify certain attack types or preconditions besides attacks “you are aware of.” Combos: The Guarded Stance talent lets one treat a held weapon as a shield for the purpose of the default sphere ability, which lets it be more easily used with shieldless options such as the Dual-Wielding sphere and the Duelist Fighting Style. The Equipment sphere’s Throw Shield talent specifically calls out the use of the Shield sphere’s Cover Ally talent, and its range can be extended even further via the Far-sight Scope application of the Tinkerer sphere’s Ranged Weapon Improvement talent and/or the Barroom sphere’s Bottle Rocket talent. The Equipment sphere’s Versatile Shield talent or the Tinkerer sphere’s Integrated Weapon talent allows one to wield a shield and a two-handed weapon at the same time and can thus benefit from this sphere. Catch Blade and Smashing Counter (deflect) talents allow one to disarm or shove attackers, which goes well with the Brute sphere and a few Fencing sphere talents. The Barroom sphere’s Improvised Shield can turn a weapon into a temporary shield. The Gladiator sphere’s Deafening Clangor Legendary Talent specifically requires possessing the Shield sphere as a prerequisite. The Trap sphere’s Trapped Shield talent lets one place traps directly onto a wielded shield. Existing Comparisons: There are two talents which are similar to benefits of the Shield Master feat from the PHB. The Protection Fighting Style is similar conceptually to Cover Ally, although the former has a greater effect (disadvantage on attack roll vs +2 AC) whereas Cover Ally can include a higher potential reach than the 5 feet of the Fighting Style option. Thoughts So Far: Of the five spheres in this post, I’m most fond of Guardian. Dungeons & Dragons has had a rather troubled history when it comes to simulating “tank” concepts. While the Fighter could theoretically fill this role by physically interposing themselves between monsters and the rest of the party, there are many means of overcoming mere space and distance. Guardian goes for battlefield control options in extending one’s movement and reach, while also imposing a “bad things will happen to you if you attack anyone else” debuff that inconveniences opponents who choose to ignore the Guardian. Retribution seems like a cool concept, but the low amount of triggers and the wide amount of actions that can be taken requires a bit of guesswork on the player’s part unless party members use abilities that manipulate enemy actions to some extent. On the one hand, the acceptable triggers are pretty broad, so I may be better able to gauge its usefulness with some actual play experience (none of the PCs in my Spheres games have this sphere). I like both Scoundrel and Scout. The former adds a universal Dirty Trick rule to the game that’s broad in its usefulness, while the sphere’s various means of confounding enemies and even stealing items in the middle of combat allow for some clever play. Scout’s base feature is useful in that it grants a useful feature in determining enemy weaknesses and resistances, and it has a decent amount of skill-granting/doubling talents. I do feel that the Track the Scene talent is a bit limited in being restricted to a target’s physical tracks and not more general “crime scene evidence” stuff. And barring the advantage on tracking rolls the rest of the talent feels like something someone can do on a good enough skill check result. I don’t have any strong feelings on Shield. This is more due to my personal preference in not tending to play sword and board style characters, and its “ally defense” talents feel inferior to Guardian’s even though I realize that making them on par may steal a bit of that sphere’s thunder. I am currently unsure of who my next converted character should be. In my previous entries I did my best to do characters whose powers and abilities were in line with one or more of the spheres reviewed in the prior post. I was considering Ezio from Assassin’s Creed given that Scoundrel and Scout (along with Athletics for parkouring) seem right up his alley given my experience with Assassin’s Creed Origins. But Ezio’s story spans a trilogy of games which I haven’t played, so I’d be treading in unknown waters. But I’ll be more than happy to hear advice from fans of the character if such spheres are indeed relevant for one of the most dateable men in video games! Alternatively I’m considering Corvo from Dishonored, a character from a franchise that I have played. Although an authentic conversion may require some multiclassing with Soul Weaver given that one of his powers (Possession) can only really be simulated by the Wraith subclass rather than sphere talents. Join us next time as we review all but one of the rest of the spheres and convert an undetermined character!
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Aug 17, 2021 12:11
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