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By popular demand posted:This gross and wrong oversimplification of a vastly complicated series of conflicts makes me wonder what this asshat would've made of the wars of Israel. Judging by The Doomsday Project, he's decided to not make long multi-year games where political stuff might need to be more complicated and focused on a more granular, operational-ish game. It's probably for the best. For reference, Vietnam: A Rumor of War has seasonal turns, Doomsday project has daily turns.
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Feb 25, 2021 19:43
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TK_Nyarlathotep posted:I'm genuinely shocked to hear enthusiasm on it from you, cuz you have been dunking on it HARD. Yeah, it's very easy for me to fall into a negative spiral, and AoS is so easy to dunk on, but I've had stuff that I liked about it for a long time. Well, as long as Knight-Venators existed, at least - I find something to be very evocative in firing a singular arrow to murk an enemy champion on the other side of his army. At least Soulbound is better at selling me on the setting and isn't offensive mechanically. Still sad about no Free Guild options - I mean they try to stay as close to TT heroes as they can, but if they invented those Trade Pioneers, why not Guild Veterans/Drill Sergeants/Doppelsoldiers or whatever?
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Feb 25, 2021 20:19
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JcDent posted:Still sad about no Free Guild options - I mean they try to stay as close to TT heroes as they can, but if they invented those Trade Pioneers, why not Guild Veterans/Drill Sergeants/Doppelsoldiers or whatever? I wonder if the problem with the Free Guild is that there's just no hiding them as reskinned units from the Old World. The rewritten Stormcast are actually interesting, so there's some hope they might do something good with them. But the core "men and women defending their homes with conventional pike and shotte" appeal of the WHFB Empire is lost in a world as gonzo as AoS.
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Feb 25, 2021 21:09
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Well the given reason they did not give us Freeguild Solider and Witch Hunter from the start is that they are still pretty attached to the Old World and they wanted to focus largely on new stuff first. With Champions of Order’s new talents its at least fairly easy to build them yourself.
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Feb 25, 2021 21:29
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Soulbound: Champions of Order Talent Show A lot of the new Talents are designed, by my estimation, to give you stuff to buy after you've been in play a while - many of them require some level of Training, Focus or both in a specific skill, or a decently high attribute, or some other condition you probably won't meet early on. Several are quite nice, as well! For example, Aether-Efficiency is Kharadron only, requires Training 2 and Focus 2 in Crafting, and also requires you to have an Aether-Rig, but it gives a straight +1 Power Capacity - which, given how rigs work, opens up a ton of new options for poo poo you can staple it. Kharadron can also get Aetheric Agitator, which only needs one of Training 2 or Focus 2 in Crafting, and lets you make bigger explosions with weapons that have both Aetheric and Blast, but means you risk explosion when you suffer a Deadly or Serious Wound. Then there's stuff like Armor Expert, which requires Body 3 and Reflexes Focus 2, and it lets you ignore the Penetrating trait on attacks made against you and reduces Rend damage to your armor. A very nice trick for anyone in heavy armor. Sylvaneth with Soul 3 and both Training 1 and Focus 1 in Nature can take Attuned to Nature, which lets you heal 2 Wounds per Rest instead of 1, as long as you're in direct contact with soil or a body of water...but if the land is Chaos-tainted, you have to make a Soul/Fortitude roll against the Doom, and if you fail you get no healing and also take a Minor Wound. In the B's and C's, we get standouts like Blood of Martyrs, which requires Blessed (Sigmar) and both Trainign 2 and Focus 2 in Devotion but causes you to do 2 Damage per level of Devotion Training to any Daemon that manages to damage you, as your blood literally sprays out and burns them. Compelling Music requires Soul 3 and both Training 1 and Focus 1 in Entertain, but lets you make a Soul/Entertain roll when performing music to either cause Charmed in the audience, give the audience bonuses on their next opposed roll within a few hours, or even restore Soulfire once per rest. Concussive Shield requires any Spellcasting Talent, and it lets you make a Mind/Channeling roll whenever someone damages you from Close Range while you have Mystic Shield up. If you beat their defensive roll, they're Stunned until the end of their next turn. Close-Quarters Specialist also lets you do more unarmed combat stuff, though you need Training 1 and Focus 2 in Weapon Skill. It gives you a bonus to Melee when unarmed or attacking at Close range with a Subtle melee weapon. In the D's, E's and F's, some neat tricks include Decisive Action, which requires Training 2 and Focus 2 in Reflexes but gives a bonus to Melee and Accuracy against anyone lower in Initiative order than you, or Display of Valor, which lets you restore Mettle and remove Frightened from allies in Medium range once per combat when you kill a non-Minion enemy. Exploding Bolts requires a Spellcasting Talent and Training 2 or Focus 2 in Channeling, but lets your Arcane Bolt deal half its damage in splash damage to anyone in Close range of your target, though they can make a roll to dodge if their Defence was higher than the main target's. Fanatical Faith requires Training 2 and Focus 2 in Devotion, but lets you make a Soul/Devotion roll whenever you're wounded to reduce the Wound's severity, though it can't prevent it altogether. G through L get things like Gargant's Grip, requiring Body 5 and Might Training 3, which lets you wield Two-handed gear in one hand, or Hurler, which needs Body 2 and Training 1 or Focus 1 in Athletics but increases the range of anything you throw. In the Right Hands is good if you want to do a lot of improvised weapon stuff - no prereqs, and it means that any object you pick up that's sturdy enough to survive combat (such as a barstool or a crafter's hammer) does not have the Ineffective Trait when you use it as a weapon. Iron Grip requires Might Training 1, and it lets you double Might Training on any roll related to grip strength, including grapples, keeping an enemy from taking something you're holding, or not falling from a cliff you're hanging from. Plus, it makes you immune to being forced to drop anything you're holding. Lead From the Front has no prereqs and gives allies in your Zone a bonus to Melee and Accuracy as long as you're in Close range of an enemy that damaged you since your last turn, while Lead the Way helps party mobility. It has no prereqs, and any time during yur turn, any ally that sees you can spend 1 Mettle to move up to one Zone closer to you, as long as they're able to move. (Limit once per round per ally, but very handy.) M through R gets tricks like Mollifier, which gives you a bonus to any use of the Parley action or any roll to try and resolve a violent situation peacefully, and Obvious Threat, which requires Intimidation Training 2 and means that whenever you're in Close range of an enemy, they get a penalty to Defence against any attacks not made by you. Pressing Attack needs Training 1 or Focus 1 in Might, and it means if you roll a 6 on a melee attack, after you do damage you can Shove as a free action immediately and can choose to knock the target Prone instead of doing knockback. Ricochet needs Training 2 and Focus 2 in Ballistic Skill, but if you have it, when you hit with a ranged attack you can choose to do half damage to deal the other half to another target in the same Zone, or to have a thrown weapon return to your hand in place of dealing the second set of damage. You can take it multiple times, even, and each time you do it adds an additional bounce which deals half damage to another target. S and T have things like Sceptic's Armor, which requires Focus 1 in Theology but means if a Miracle targets you or your Zone and you're aware it's happening, you get a bonus based on your Theology Focus to resist it because you know the loopholes in the prayer and belief system to exploit. Siege Specialist requires Crafting Training 1, but it lets you do double damage to static structures like doors, walls or barricades. Studied Defence requires Training 1 and Focus 1 in Awareness, and it lets you spend an action to study an enemy in Long range, giving you a bonus to Defence against their attacks until your next Rest...but you can only have one studied target at a time. Swagger guives you a bonus on any roll where appearing confident matters, like getting someone to hire you, talking your way past a guard, threatening people or bluffing. Also, most people will accept whatever you claim as true and won't generally call your bluffs. Tempt Fate lets you roll 2d6 during a Rest against 1d6 from the GM. If you lose the roll, the Doom goes up by 1, but if you win, you gain 2 Fate points, which can be spent to turn a single die into an automatic 6 before rolling. You can't ever have more than 2 Fate Points unspent. Trophy Taker lets you take a trophy from the body of any defeated Champion or Chosen foe, such as their horn, broken weapon or severed limb. Once per combat as a free action, you can gain 1 Mettle or recover from Frightened by taking out a trophy and explaining how you got it. Any given trophy can only be used this way once. U to Z includes Unnerving Grace, which requires Body 4 and Stealth Training 1, but lets you use Stealth in place of Intimidation and get a bonus when doing so and also causes people to usually look the other way if they notice you sneaking around, so they don't piss you off. Vexation rquires Guile Training 1 and Intuition Trianing 1, but lets you be see annoying that whenever a creature that can see or hear you within Medium range makes a roll, you can spend Mettle to remove dice from their roll based on your Guile Training. Weight of Destiny increases your max Soulfire by 1 and lets you recover Soulfire once per adventure for free, but you now have a destiny that you decide with the GM. At each downtime, if you've made no prgoress towards your destiny since the last, the Doom goes up by 1, or 2 if you have actively avoided your destiny. Witch's Hammer requires Arcana Training 3, Weapon Skill Focus 3 and a melee wepaon, but it lets you spend Mettle to unbind spells with Weapon Skill when someone casts a spell in your Zone. Next time: Miracles, because that took up more time than originally planned.
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Feb 25, 2021 23:45
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I'm reading Ghoulslayer right now and as much as i am liking Age of Sigmar stuff having Gotrek just continually poo poo on everything and call out the gods for getting their asses kicked and running off to a new realm is pretty funny. I have to admire the self awareness of a company having one if its most beloved characters from an old line show up and go "the gently caress is a duardin you jackasses"
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Feb 26, 2021 05:05
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Hey, Panzeh. Absolutely adoring you bashing on Rumors of War, but you could you give a little more historical context for names and stuff? I'm a relatively well-educated and knowledgable guy and I still have to google a lot. At least like the acronyms when they're first introduced or something. Not harsh criticism, just being constructive! Thanks for your efforts.
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Feb 26, 2021 05:06
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Mors Rattus posted:Soulbound: Champions of Order You forgot to mention the GRU Commandos talent in the G category  Man, unbind-with-weapon is some hilarious stuff. I STAB THE SPELL OUT OF THE AIR!
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Feb 26, 2021 05:14
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Xiahou Dun posted:Hey, Panzeh. Yeah, it's a bit tricky when, says, he's using NLF instead Viet Cong.
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Feb 26, 2021 05:15
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JcDent posted:Man, unbind-with-weapon is some hilarious stuff. I STAB THE SPELL OUT OF THE AIR! I think you mean awesome stuff 
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Feb 26, 2021 05:42
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wdarkk posted:I think you mean awesome stuff I'm still a fan of the Icewind Dale LP on lparchive, you know :P
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Feb 26, 2021 06:07
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Xiahou Dun posted:Hey, Panzeh. Absolutely legit. DRV- Democratic Republic of Vietnam(North Vietnam) NLF- National Liberation Front(The term the North used for its southern elements, though they would later end up using Viet Cong as well) PAVN/NVA - People's Army of Vietnam/North Vietnamese Army(The DRV's regular forces) KR - Khmer Rouge(Cambodian Communist insurgency) RVN - Republic of Vietnam(South Vietnam) ARVN - Army of the Republic of Vietnam(South Vietnamese Army) PLAF - People's Liberation Armed Forces(It's what the Communists called the 'Main Force' Viet Cong units, could be confused with the Chinese army, though. The VC military units could be divided into three categories fairly broadly- Local Forces, which are the part-time soldiers, guerillas and such. Regional Forces which are full time local militia, and Main Forces which are regular type military formations) PL - Pathet Lao(Laotian Communist organization) I'll work to introduce someone if they're not someone obvious like a US president as well. For example, Le Duan was the main decisionmaker in North Vietnamese politics, though the US government had no idea about this at the time. Much of this knowledge comes about with the gradual opening of Vietnamese archives in the late 90s and 2000s. If I bring in a new acronym, i'll try to explain it. Part of my approach in this part of the review was to try to explain how much history there is here compared to what the game actually has. Panzeh fucked around with this message at 11:19 on Feb 26, 2021 |
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Feb 26, 2021 10:41
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Panzeh posted:If I bring in a new acronym, i'll try to explain it. Part of my approach in this part of the review was to try to explain how much history there is here compared to what the game actually has. And you're doing a fairly good job of it, I went from knowing poo poo all about Laos to wanting a game about Laos. I have also learned about the Main Forces VC, which I previously thought were PAVN, the tan uniforms and pith helmets. How can I tell them apart?
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Feb 26, 2021 12:24
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JcDent posted:And you're doing a fairly good job of it, I went from knowing poo poo all about Laos to wanting a game about Laos. The biggest difference is in MTOEs(modified table of equipment- what's in the unit and how is it organized) for the units(the VC main force units were designed to be supplied by pre-placed caches and lacked towed artillery as well as much of a logistical tail)- the uniforms won't look all that different. As the war went on, the units became more and more formed by Northerners anyway and by 1972 the VC Main force units were indistinguishable from the PAVN. Panzeh fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Feb 26, 2021 |
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Feb 26, 2021 12:28
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I just found out that there was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG in the mid-80s. Did you guys ever talk about this, archives maybe?
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Feb 26, 2021 13:36
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Inkless pen is your friend and mine :https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/
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Feb 26, 2021 13:52
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By popular demand posted:Inkless pen is your friend and mine :https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/ Ooh, that is very nice. Thanks to everyone who made this possible. And there's even two entries talking about TMNT.
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Feb 26, 2021 14:14
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I would just like to say that compared to almost any text or treatment of the Vietnam war Panzeh actually used comparatively few alphabet soup abbreviations. After a while it all bleeds together. The entire body of literature around the war is non-stop abbreviations and number designations.
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Feb 26, 2021 20:42
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Soulbound: Champions of Order Miraculous Power So, new miracles! Each god gets five new Miracles, plus ten each for Grungni and Teclis, plus five new Universal Miracles that any Blessed character can take. Let's take a look! Universal Benediction: You spend a minute doing a ritual blessing the group. Each ally in your Zone can, for one roll within the next few hours, add an extra die to one roll. Also, if any of them are affected by Malediction, it ends Malediction's effect immediately. Handy and free, though it's not a giant boost. Cleanse: You remove stains and dirt from all objects within Short range or remove poison and disease from all food and water within Short range. Free and very handy if you're wandering the wilderness. Exorcism: Spend 1 Mettle to target a Daemon or Undead in Medium range and force a Devotion roll against their Determination. If you win, they're Frightened of you until the start of your next turn, even if they'd normally be immune to Frightened, and while Frightened they must use their Move on their turn to go away from you until no longer within Medium ranage. If you somehow win by more than twice their Soul, you instead instakill them. You can sustain with Mettle, too! Very nice if you plan to be going up against the undead or daemons a lot. Malediction: Spend 1 Mettle to target a foe within Long range and make a Devotion roll. For several hours, the target gets -1 die from all rolls. If you know the target's name and spend ten minutes doing a ritual, you may instead target anyone in the same realm. Also, if the target is affected by Benediction, you remove the effect when you use Malediction. A nice if, again, not super huge debuff. Smite: You spend 1 Mettle to target a foe in Medium range and make a Devotion roll against their Determination, dealing damage that ignores Armor if you win. A nice generic attack. I'd usually favor knowing how to actually fight, but it's a good backup weapon. Alarielle Dwellers Below: You spend 1 Mettle to summon up vicious earth spirits with a Devotion or Nature roll. All enemies in your Zone take damage based on your roll, and you may spend 1 Mettle to have that damage ignore Armor. This is an excellent area attack, especially because it's selective in only targeting enemies, though it's a bit high in Mettle cost. Green Paths: While touching a plant, you can sense all plants and roots within Long range, and may use your Move to teleport to any plant in Long range. Also, any allies in your Zone can spend 1 Mettle to teleport with you. A very handy mobility track, and very Mettle-efficient - it costs you nothing, and anyone porting with you pays their own way. Many Jaws, Ever Hungry: You spend a minute praying to invoke Alarielle's protection over a Zone. Large carnivorous plants sprout from it around you, remaining for eight hours. They won't hurt you or your allies, but everyone else treats the Zone as a Major Hazard unless they can fly. The fact that it's only one Zone limits it to situational usage like most traps, but anywhere you can set up a chokepoint, it is very powerful. Reap and Sow: You spend 1 Mettle to target a living creature in Close range. They roll Fortitude against your Weapon Skill,and if they fail, you dael damage that ignores Armor. If this would Mortally Wound them (or drop them to 0 Toughness if they don't have Wounds), you reach into them, grab their heart and pull it out, instantly killing them. For a willing target, this happens automatically, no rolls. Once removed, the heart becomes a toughened wooden seed, which remains viable for up to a year. While viable, you may plant it and water it with at least one sphere's worth of Aqua Ghyranis. The next day, the creature is reborn, fully grown and healed but naked and carrying nothing. They retain all memories up to their own death, but nothing between then and their rebirth. This is not the best attack spell, but it excels as a way to keep a party member from permanently dying, which can otherwise be quite difficult if you're not lucky. Spring Follows Winter: When you take damage, you can immediately spend 1 Mettle as a Free Action to send out a blast of life energy, healing your Soul in Toughness to all allies in your Zone (but not yourself). This is a neat trick to have in the belt, especially if you're the party tank. Ethersea Abyssal Nightmare: Spend 2 Mettle to target a Zone in Medium Range and fill with horrible squid and octopus tentacles, creating a Major Hazard. also, any creature that enters the Zone or starts their turn there glimpses nightmares of the deep sea and becomes Frightened until the end of their next turn. You can sustain this Mettle. This is expensive but a hell of an area denial effect. Not selective, though, so your allies will want to stay out of it. Erosion: You pick a Zone in Long range, sending ethereal currents to erode it. All Partial Cover in the Zone erodes away entirely, while all Total Cover becomes Partial Cover. If you spend 1 Mettle, you instead instantly remove all Cover and also reduce the Armor of all creatures in the Zone by 1. The free effect is niche, but the Mettle spend is super good. Ethersea Tempest: Spend 1 Mettle to target a Zone in Long range. Until the start of your next turn, it becomes Difficult Terrain, and when any flying creature enters the Zone or starts turn them, they must make an Athletics roll against your Devotion or fall Prone. Also, air-breathing creatures can't breathe there and may eventually drown. You can sustain with Mettle, making this another excellent (but non-selective) area denial effect. Smothering Silence: You summon the silence of the depths into a Zone within Long Range. All creatures in the Zone are Deafened, and no sound may enter the Zone, and all sounds originating in the Zone are nullified. You may spend 1 Mettle to also coat the area in darkness, causing all creatures in it to be Blinded. You can sustain with Mettle. The free effect is niche, but the Blinded effect is very nice. Tranquility of the Abyss: You summon the comforting embrace of the sea into your Zone. You and all allies in your Zone are immune to Frightened and if any of you are Frightened it ends immediately. You may spend 1 Mettle to also heal all allies in the Zone 1 Toughness. You can sustain with Mettle - which also repeats the heal for free if you originally spent Mettle for the heal. This is a pretty useful defensive aura, thanks to that. Grimnir Ember Storm: Spend 1 Mettle to summon up glowing cinders of bravery. All allies within Short range get a bonus to Speed and ignore Difficult Terrain until the start of your next turn, but can't Flee or Retreat until the miracle ends. You can sustain with Mettle. This is a very handy buff aura, and the drawback shouldn't come up too often. Prayer of Ash: Spend 1 Mettle to target an ally in Medium Range and anoint them with ashes. Until the start of your next turn, they get +1 Armor and are immune to Frightened, and if they were already Frightened it immediately ends. You can sustain with Mettle. This is a great if slightly expensive buff, Armor is great. Prayer of Grimnir's Fury: You call down Grimnir's fury as flames across your skin. Whenever an enemy enters Close range of you for the first time or starts their turn in Close range, they take damage based on your Soul. You can sustain with Mettle. This is free for the first turn, making it a pretty handy aura if you're going to get a lot of enemies coming in close - especially Minions or Swarms, who you will mow down without effort. Take Their Measure: Pick a target in Medium range and make a mildly difficult Intuition roll. If you succeed, you learn one or more of their Toughness, amount of Wounds, amount of maximum Mettle, Armor, Body rating, a single combat-related Talent, and Training and Focus in one of Ballistic Skill, Fortitude, Might, Reflexes or Weapon Skill. You get more the better you roll, but the roll gets harder the more times you target the same person. Not always super useful, but free to cast. Warrior's Oath: Whenever someone swears an oath within Short range of you, you can activate this. They must promise to do or not do a specific thing within a certain timeframe; if they don't name a timeframe, it lasts indefinitely. The oath must be willing, but it can be sworn at gunpoint or otherwise under duress. If the target breaks their oath, they automatically take a Serious Wound. This would be niche...except for the fact that it works at gunpoint, so you can force it on foes. Grungni is new for this book! While Grungni doesn't speak to people these days, he does still grant power to the rare few that serve him as priests (and take the Blessed (Grungni) Talent). Blessed Are the Makers: You can use this whenever you or an ally in Short range makes a Crafting roll to reduce the Complexity by 1 or cause each 6 on the roll to count twice, your choice. Niche but handy, and presumably if you worship Grungni, you plan to make a lot of Crafting rolls. It's also free! Cacophonous Hammer Strikes: You smack a hard surface with your fist or weapon, creating the sound of a massive amount of hammer strikes. All enemies within Medium range are Deafened until the start of your next turn. You can spend Mettle to also force them roll Fortitude against your Devotion, and any failures are also Stunned until the s tart of your next turn. You can sustain with Mettle, and if you forced the roll, all enemies must roll again to avoid being Stunned again. The mettle spend is exceptionally good. Find Strength in His Absence: You can spend 1 Mettle to grant a gift of self reliance to an ally within Long range. While the target has no allies in the same Zone, they get a big bonus to Melee and Accuracy and +2 Armor. If an ally enters their Zone, the bonuses are suppressed until they leave. You can sustain with Mettle. The buff is really good, though it means the target has to solo an entire Zone. Forge-Master's Endurance: You harden yourself to flame and make a Devotion roll. Whenever you or any allies in Short range take damage from fire or heat this turn, you reduce the damage based on successes. You can sustain with Mettle. Niche, but when it's useful it's very useful, and in Aqshy it should come up relatively often. Guardian Forgespirit: You awaken an inanimate object with your faith to protect you. For the turn, your Defence gets a bonus as the object moves to intercept attacks. If you do get hit anyway, you can spend 1 Mettle to make the attack miss anyway, but the object you awakened is destroyed and the miracle ends. As long as the object is intact, you can sustain with Mettle. This is a very good defensive buff for yourself, but if you're already tanky, it might not be very necessary. Heat of the Forge: You summon the forge's heat with a Devotion roll. Either you and all allies in your Zone heal Toughness based on your roll, or all enemies in your Zone take damage based on your roll. You can spend 1 Mettle to get both, making this a very useful miracle. The options you get let you conserve Mettle when you don't need both effects. Mend the Broken: You may pray to Grungnir and concentrate on a broken object within Close range to repair it even without tools. When using this Miracle, you don't need Smith's or Endrineer's Tools to repair things, and you can use Soul in place of any other attribute for Crafting rolls to make repairs. Since it's costless, it's basically always active, and if Soul is your best stat, it might be worth it, but I wouldn't go for this until you feel solid in your build. Rune Lore: You may call on the runes and target an ally within Short Range to either give them a buff to Defence and rolls to resist spells or give their weapon the Magical and Rend traits and +1 Damage. You can sustain with Mettle. Either buff is pretty good, though I'd favor the offensive one. Shower of Sparks: You can punch your palm to let out a shower of sparks. All enemies in your Zone must roll Fortitude against your Devotion and if they fail they take damage, more the worse they fail. You can also spend Mettle to inflict Blinded on anyone who takes damage, which lasts until the start of your next turn. It's a free selective area attack, and the Mettle spend makes it even better. Simulacrum of the Black Chain: You may spend 2 Mettle to conjure an imitation of the chain Grungni made to seal the Gate of Deepest Night, targeting a creature or object in Long range. If a creature, they are Restrained. If an object, you may link it to any other object within Long range. In either case, the chain is unbreakable and Restrained creatures can't escape it until the miracle ends. It normally lasts a turn, but can be sustained with Mettle. This is expensive, but the fact that it cannot be resisted is very useful, and I'm sure you can come up with all kinds of dumb tricks with a giant unbreakable chain. Khaine Catechism of Murder: You speak the prayers of Khaine, increasing the Melee and Accuracy of yourself and all allies in your Zone who can hear until the start of your next turn. Also, if any allies in your Zone are Frightened or Charmed when you use this, they may spend 1 Mettle to end those Conditions. You can sustain with Mettle. This is a great buff aura. Crimson Rejuvenation: You may call on Khaine and target yourself or an ally in Medium range. Until the end of your next turn, when the target kills a creature, they regain Toughness equal to half the victim's Toughness, minimum 1. If they damage a Swarm, they recover Toughness equal to the damage. You can sustain with Mettle. This is useful if a high-damage ally needs some regen, but I think there's better healing options. Heartseeker: You can spend 1 Mettle to hear the heartbeat of all living creatures in your Zone perfectly, making it impossible for them to hide from you. Also, whenever a creature in your Zone speaks, you can roll Intuition with a bonus against their Guile with a penalty to see if they're lying. You can sustain this with Mettle. This is useful socially and as an anti-stealth measure...but the fact that it fails against the undead is annoying. (Well, strictly speaking, the lie detection works, but I'm not sure that's intended.) Mark of the Bloody Hand: You coat your palm in fresh blood (anyone's works) and touch someone at Close range to leave a handprint. If the target has killed a sentient creature at any point in the past, the mark instead appears as a slow flow of blood from their own hands. Regardless of how it manifests, the mark is visible at all times, regardless of clothes or armor. You make a Devotion roll, and it lasts for days based on successes. Anyone will notice the mark on even a basic inspection and will probably find it suspicious, and for the duration you always know the target's exact location and can spot them no matter what, even if disguised or hidden. So, you know, a creepy tracking device. It's free to use, too. Rite of the Doubled-Edged Blade: Yes, it's spelled that way in the book. Anyway, whenever a creature within Long range damages you, you can spend 1 Mettle to deal your Soul in damage back, ignoring armor. This is a very handy trick to have. Sigmar Abjuration: You spend 1 Mettle to target a Zone within Medium range. Daemons and Chaos-corrupted mortals in that Zone lose dice on all rolls based on how much higher your Soul is than theirs. Even if their Soul is equal or higher than yours, they get -1 to all rolls. You can sustain with Mettle. This is super good when dealing with large groups of Chaos, though against major foes it will not be a huge debuff in most cases. Bolts of Inspiration: You can spend 1 Mettle to get your Soul in bonus dice on your next roll as Sigmar grants you divine inspiration. However, you can't use this again until you Take a Breather or Rest. Which, y'know, it's super good, even limited like that. Eye of the Hurricane: You can spend 1 Mettle to call up Sigmar's stormy power. Ranged attacks aimed at anyone in your Zone automatically fail if they come from outside the Zone, and anyone trying to enter your Zone must roll Determination against your Devotion to do so. Also, any bad weather has no effect on your Zone - rain, wind, hail, lightening and so on just can't get in. You can sustain with Mettle. This is pretty great defensively, though note it's not selective - your friends can't shoot enemies in your Zone from outside it, either. Speak to the Soul: Pick a creature in Long range. When you speak out loud, no matter how softly, they can hear you as clearly as if you were speaking into their ear, and may understand you even if you share no language whatsoever, no matter how noisy things are or even if they're Deafened. You get a large bonus to any roll relying on your voice that is opposed by your target while this lasts, too. You can sustain with Mettle. This is useful both for communication and socially, especially since it's pretty low-cost. Witness to Destiny: Whenever you or an ally within Medium range would be Mortally Wounded, you can spend 1 Mettle as a free action to activate this, preventing the target from becoming Mortally Wounded. They still take Damage and Wounds as normal, and they can still be Mortally Wounded by later damage, though you can keep spending Mettle to prevent it again, too. This cannot be used to help a creature that's already Mortally Wounded, though - you have to stop it as it happens. This does explicitly let you prevent effects that would autokill when the victim is Mortally Wounded, too, like the Bloodreaper's decapitation ability. Very handy! Teclis is again new for this book, and works really well if you want to be a wizard-priest. Arcane Feedback: Spend 1 Mettle to target a Zone in Medium range. You weaponize its flow of magical power. Whenever any creature in that Zone makes a Channelling roll to cast a spell, they also take damage that ignores armor. The better they cast, the more damage they take, but it's capped by your Soul. You can sustain with Mettle. This is really good when fighting enemy wizards! Archmage's Guidance: Spend 1 Mettle to target an ally in Short range. If they make a Channeling roll to cast a spell before the start of your next turn, you can take a number of their rolled dice equal to your Soul and add 1 to them. You can sustain with Mettle. This is really good if you have a wizard buddy who's going to be casting a lot, and I'm not sure but I think you can technically target yourself. Bolster Magic: You can select an ally in Medium range and bless them with Teclis' mastery. The Complexity of any roll to unbind a spell they cast is increased quite a bit based on your Soul. You can sustain with Mettle. This is niche, since it relies on enemies unbinding your spells. Convey Thoughts: You can connect your mind to that of another creature in Long range. For the next ten minutes, you and the target can telepathically communicate with each other, which lasts even if you go outside Long range of each other. This is free, so it's a handy communication thing, and it explicitly also lets you share senses if you want. Examine the Arcane: You can speak a prayer to Teclis to target a Zone within Long range and make an Arcana or Devotion roll. For quite a while based on your roll, all magic in that Zone becomes visible to everyone as if all viewers had the Witch-Sight Talent. I'm not sure this is actually useful often, or possibly ever. Illuminate the Path: You can call on Teclis to ask to be shown either the most direct or the least difficult path to a goal or destination. You perceive the answer as a ribbon of light only you can see, tracing out that route for the next day. If you want the most direct route, it will be as close to a straight line as possible based on the methods of transport you have available. If you ask for the least difficult, it will be the route with the last amount of hard terrain, natural hazards and so on, though it will not take into account the threat of monsters or enemies. The GM is instructed to be genuinely helpful, though, as Teclis really does want you to find what you're going for. Handy and costless. Knowledge is Power: You can pick a target within Medium range. Until the start of your next turn, they can use their Mind instead of their Body for all Body-based rolls. You can sustain with Mettle. This is a neat trick, though I'm not sure it's as useful as it seems at first glance. Protection of Teclis: You can spend 1 Mettle to call on Teclis' protection against death. Whenever you or an ally in your Zone would suffer a Wound, you roll Devotion to reduce the severity of the Wound based on successes, to a minimum of Minor. You can sustain with Mettle. This is useful in a pinch, though hopefully you won't need to sustain it long. Storm of Searing Brilliance: You can spend 2 Mettle to shoot massive eye lasers. You roll Devotion, and each success adds to a pool of damage which you may then divide across any number of targets in Long range, though you have to deal at least 1 damage to each target. Each target is also Blinded until the start of your next turn. This is really good! Like, really good. Doesn't ignore Armor, though. Wisdom of the Gathering: Whenever you Take a Breather or Rest, you can use this and have a discussion with the party about a puzzle or analogy relevant to the party's Goals. The GM gives the party one piece of previously unknown or unconfirmed information about the topic that will help understand or resolve it. This might be the party realizing they missed a critical clue or logically deducing some upcoming event or...really anything that's helpful, as your divine guidance leads everyone closer to enlightenment. So, basically, you have a hint dispenser power. Next time: Magic.
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Feb 26, 2021 20:52
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Panzeh posted:Absolutely legit. Thanks a mill, and I hope I didn't come off as peevish or anything. You're doing a great job, I just was giving the constructive criticism that it would be even more readable by adding a the occasional couple of words like ACRONYM (What It Stands For) and Some Dude (was the head ferret wrangler of Taiwan) or whatever. Also did inklesspen die or get banned or something?
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Feb 26, 2021 21:07
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Mors Rattus posted:Grungni is new for this book! While Grungni doesn't speak to people these days, he does still grant power to the rare few that serve him as priests (and take the Blessed (Grungni) Talent). Grugni seems really cool, and it is nice to see things with both defensive and offensive capabilities.
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Feb 26, 2021 22:18
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JcDent posted:(RIP Inkless)). Is the archive officially no longer seeing updates, then? Last I talked to the owner, they were planning another update.
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Feb 26, 2021 23:36
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You are your own ally, so you can use Teclis miracles to boost your own magic.
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Feb 26, 2021 23:48
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PurpleXVI posted:Is the archive officially no longer seeing updates, then? Last I talked to the owner, they were planning another update. inklesspen was never a prolific poster but that account's last post was July 2020; possibly one of the people we lost in the previous site owner's abuse debacle and may not see again.
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Feb 27, 2021 00:12
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Vietnam Rumor of War Season 6 - A really poorly improvised movie script So, if the neighboring countries are so badly handled, how about what the US is doing in Vietnam itself. I've made a picture illustrating the US strategic options and constraints, which I think will be very illustrative of the design here.  As you might know before, this game has scripted arrivals and withdrawals of units. It even has strictly required adherence to corps boundaries. But it lets you choose your strategic stance during a turn, right? Well, yes, you have choices. Unfortunately, this is a bandaid on a design that already failed. Because of the poor choice of map/unit scale, Starkweather has a very difficult time coming up with mechanics that reflect the things happening on the map very well, so to get the feeling of 'Vietnam' back, he tries to throw in these strategic stances. I'll get to the Communist ones in another update, but i'd like to dive into how the US options work because I think they're very emblematic both of how uninteresting they are design-wise and how ahistorical they are. One thing to note before I begin is that the main flaw with all of these is that they presume that the US will be doing the same thing with every unit throughout the whole country. In reality, almost everything simulated in these missions(except US offensives) happened at the same time. The US conducted search and destroy missions, counterinsurgency programs, and improved the ARVN all at the same time, and did it throughout the leadership of all of the commanders of MACV(Military Assistance Command- Vietnam, the overall US command for Vietnam). The Marines might be trying combined action platoons in Binh Dinh while the 196th Light Infantry Brigade conducts search and destroy in Tay Ninh while the ARVN 1st Infantry gets its small arms upgraded. I get what's trying to be done here with the choices, but they just don't map to much. Search and Destroy This is the primary US mission through the Westmoreland period. The option about detaching battalions is important because given the poor match between map scale and unit scale, it's the only way for the US to defend anything while attacking the NLF forces. Because of the game mechanics, it's very difficult to actually accomplish much with these ops, which is probably the only realistic thing about this. Search and destroy really was a flawed operational plan, based mostly on Westmoreland trying to accelerate the process that was happening. What typically happened is that the US forces would go in, clear some caches out, maybe engage NLF forces, but the NLF troops could easily avoid or disengage from these operations, and the cache finds were of fleeting use- while this might temporarily disrupt supply in an area, without getting at the units that were making the caches, these were replaceable. The times when NLF forces were actually vulnerable were when they were going on the offensive. Near Tay Ninh in 1966, the US almost caught one of the cache-laying units after a mis-timed offensive by the 9th VC Main Force division drew enormous interest from US forces that nearly cut off the retreat of the 82nd Rear Services group. Unfortunately, the US wasn't quite sure what they were after and this valuable unit slipped through their grasp. I don't think this option as far as the game is concerned is that flawed, except that it's exclusive with the others. Hearts & Minds I uh.. what? So the US and ARVN basically engage in an absolute ceasefire and somehow the VC recruits less and US unrest goes down. I think GMT's(the wargame publisher) COIN series of games has a flawed and simplistic model of insurgency, but this is much much worse. It barely even registers as anything real. I don't think Starkweather gave a poo poo when he farted this option out the door. So, there's a lot of speculation about whether the US could've pursued a more counter-insurgent approach during the war, and I think that's asking the wrong question. The US did pursue a variety of COIN approaches throughout the war, from Special Forces-directed CIDG(Civilian Indigenous Defense Groups, paramilitary formations made up of rural populations in Vietnam, often ethnic minorities) to US Marine Combined Action Platoons, where they would mix a squad with a Popular Forces militia platoon in a village. The problem is, these deployments are quite vulnerable to attack. The Marines were able to do what they did en masse because Binh Dinh wasn't under big unit threat, as such dispersed units would prove easy targets for large scale offensives. Vietnam posed a complicated question in terms of military/political approaches because it had aspects of both problems there. There was no shortage of literature on counterinsurgency, and the problem was not that the US didn't know how to fight insurgents, but more they weren't really sure how to fight the NLF effectively. It's quite possible they never really learned, and were fortunate that Le Duan, the leading figure of North Vietnamese politics liked to push the issue, and launch offensives himself, believing that victory was around the corner, with just one more good push(Sound familiar?). Offensive This is pretty much for if the Chinese intervene. There's not really that much of a reason to use this stance without that circumstance. Once the Chinese come in, the US is locked in this stance though it costs no supply any more. It's a full on shooting war, just like the Korea game and Fulda gap game. Yee haw. Vietnamization So, much like Hearts and Minds, this suffers terribly from being mutually exclusive with other options as well as being a misunderstanding of what Vietnamization really was. Vietnamization was a political approach to the war, not a stark change in US policy toward improving ARVN. It was Nixon's strategy of peace with honor, or barring that, disengagement with a good excuse. The first part is, as seen in the last update, an expansion of the war to cut off NLF supply lines in order to buy some peace and quiet to withdraw. Unfortunately for Nixon, what happened is that withdrawal of troops took on a momentum beyond his control and he felt the need to disengage more quickly than Abrams wanted. The US had been working to improve the ARVN since its formation in the 1950s. The idea that this should be locked to one option or have nothing to do with US troop withdrawal is absurd. The fact that Westmoreland can't do the option that improves ARVN is hilarious, too, though i guess somewhat forgivable if you try to look at his strategy in broad strokes, but the US was working on their forces regardless. It's just the assistance activities kicked into overdrive when the US stopped doing search and destroy missions in 1969. As I said before, I think a better game would look to put these dichotomies into the basic mechanics of the game somehow, the way Vietnam: 1965-75 did. Nick Karp added the actual pressures driving the US into Vietnamization without ever mentioning it anywhere in the game. That's what good game design looks like. There are significant flaws in that game, but there's a unified kind of systematic design that is completely missing in this thing. Instead what these strategic options are doing is force-feeding the flavor of the war onto basic game mechanics that don't suit it. It's a scripted game that doesn't even have the script right. There is in fact a game called Hearts and Minds, that while scripted, has a more accurate script than this game and takes about 4 hours between two knowledgable players. This game takes far longer and offers even less freedom than that game to enact a strategy. Oh, and the US does have commander in chief changes, though they're on a timeline by US unrest instead of the turn track. There's a slight amount of player agency here, but not much. It feels like a half-baked addition. There were changes between the approaches of these men, yes, but isn't it the job of the player to run things in a game? Remember, US and ARVN troop, air group, armor, artillery, and helicopter arrivals and departures are all on strict schedules in this game. The player has no input on this important facet, but they do get to decide when the C in C changes. Also, as a side note, HQ missions is a really weird term for these as they have nothing to do with HQs in game. Next up- Part 7, the NLF - What if I told you it could be even less interesting?
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Feb 27, 2021 01:09
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 Buck Rogers XXVc: The 25th Century No Humans Allowed Gennie Manufacturers, Part 1: Leave your resumé with the dog-man Now we move on to a chapter all about genetic engineering companies. This is a welcome step in terms of utility, as all these organizations are still running in the present of the game world and industrial espionage will likely form a part of any campaign. I’m just saying, they put all the Monster Manual stuff in the back half, so be patient, we’ll get there. First up is the Aphrodite Genetic Engineering Group, founded way back in 2180. They hold the distinction of A) being the first in the phone book and B) creating the first true genetically engineered life form, the Venusian Mud Turtle, released in 2186. They’ve been coasting on the success of this for years now, trying to develop another genotype that’s as hardy and useful as the Mud Turtle, without success. They’ve been keeping busy with helping GennieTek modify the Desert Runners. The current person in charge is Carlatta de Vries.dop, who was described last chapter. Don’t get on her bad side. (Note: The PCs will get on her bad side.) There follows a map of AGEG’s headquarters, located at Maat Mons, which was the site of the Venusian space elevator that RAM destroyed. Only the main building is detailed, with security and maintenance having their own structures, but what’s here is pretty comprehensive and would make a good generic “genetics lab” map for any adventure where it’s needed. There are 15 locations noted, notes on security procedures and what level of Access Card is needed to enter certain areas without alerting guards, and the big centerpiece is a room full of growth vats. AGEG policy is usually to pursue any legal offenses against it through the strict Venusian courts, but they’ve been known to indulge in “personal justice” as well, usually against corporate spies- arranging accidents, altering memories, and a nasty bit of identity theft known as “complete erasure” which deletes any record that you existed and makes you someone they can either kill or subject to genetic experiments without any problems. The entry ends with AGEG’s mailing address, and an unrelated but amusing sidebar advertising an employment service that implants skills in its customers so they can become anything from a Venusian Tour Guide to a Terrine Force Trainer. BioScience is located on Mars and is, naturally, RAM owned and operated. Founded in 2202, they were instrumental in creating the Martian genotype, addressing problems that befell early colonists of the red planet at the expense of limiting their ability to live and work on other worlds. BioScience is also behind the Terrine and Worker genotypes, and the less successful Whitefang, which we’ll meet eventually. BioScience is not the same as the RAM BioScience Division but they do have to work under their supervision, and most of this is done by Division director Durella Valmar, sister of Ardala. She gets a quick write up, basically she’s a little more science-y, less cunning, still evil. We also get a couple of fake employment ads for the company. DNA-Recon, Inc. was founded in the Aerostates in 2190, setting up shop in what was going to be a university. Late in the 23rd Century they were infiltrated by a RAM spy, who set off a low-level nuke in their genetic stores, ultimately killing over a thousand people (a hundred or so in the blast, the rest of radiation poisoning.) Now they’re in a more secure location and almost completely cut off from the outside world, with strict policies not just against Martian employees but also any Venusians who aren’t Aerostaters. Their main product is the kraken, a flying food animal herded by the Aerostaters, though the entry also says they created the Martian sand squid (which doesn’t match the squid’s entry.) They’ve also been in contact with the Stormriders, who seem to have been helping them increase kraken herd sizes while in return receiving… nobody’s quite sure yet. The Drakolysk Corporation is a newer company, founded in 2430, though rumor has it they’re a division of BioScience. Also Martian, they’re responsible for the Tinker, the Terrine Mark II, and they also produce Workers. They were the ones behind the attempt to destroy Remus Wydlin and his stock of “Barney” Terrine 1bs, but while they had Holzerhein’s report, al they really succeeded in doing was blowing up the lab and thus gaining no information on the rogue genotype. The Genetics Foundation located on Earth isn’t so much a firm as it is a governing body, in theory. It was founded in 2195 to regulate gennie development and manufacturing, and it technically still has this jurisdiction. (Though they have no control over cybernetic implants, biotech, etc.) The Foundation was actually dissolved when the SSA passed laws restricting genetic development, but when RAM won the war they reinstated the Foundation as a puppet organization. They don’t do ethical stuff anymore, they just regulate the patents on gennies that are submitted to them- no patent on a genotype is considered valid unless it goes through the Foundation. RAM, of course, can look at the genetic samples and documentation for any Foundation-registered genotype, and that’s why they keep them around. They’re apparently located in Boulder. GennieTek is BioScience’s chief competitor, and was founded in 2212. They call themselves the hardest working genetics firm in the solar system, and they can point to over five hundred different gennies created since they were established. The most famous of these is probably the Desert Runner, which was a massive project plagued by delays- originally slated for 2215, it came out in 2220, and in between the company was forced to lay off half their staff. Their stock only really fully recovered when they won a bid to manufacture Terrines with a license from BioScience. Other gennies they’ve manufactured include the Stormrider, the Crocospider, and the Jovian Ray. (They’re also credited with the Coyodorg but this appears to be another editorial slip-up, as the MM-style entry says they actually represent a natural evolution.) To put a pause in this at the halfway point, we’ll stop at Ishtar-Genesis, oldest of the Venusian companies. Ishtar-Genesis was actually born from the remains of Biofusion, a company that aided in the initial settlement of Venus. The Biofusion scientists sent to Venus set up shop, started growing bacterium, and have since focused exclusively on breeding animals for Venus to continue terraforming the planet. (They focus on low-intellect animals because of the revolt of the Lowlanders.) One of the most interesting things they’ve been doing is focusing on silicate-based life. We get stats for the new CEO, Mariana Almisan. She doesn’t actually have a proper class or level, she’s just a CEO with 10 hp, good mental stats, and a few skills. She’s described as a silver-haired woman (not clear if she’s old or if that’s just the style) who wears regal robes, and she’s very smart, and there’s no indication of her attitudes towards RAM, NEO, etc. Presumably like the company she’s focused on the terraforming to the exclusion of all other matters. Next post I’ll wrap up the companies and, since it’s a very short chapter, include some write-ups on Medical Equipment.
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Feb 27, 2021 02:32
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Panzeh posted:Vietnam: 1965-75 GMT just announced a second edition of this game, with updated components (it was one of the best looking games ever when it was released) and "clarified" rules. https://www.gmtgames.com/p-911-vietnam-1965-1975-gmt-edition.aspx
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Feb 27, 2021 04:55
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You did exactly what I asked for and it's perfect and I thank you profusely. It takes it from a really good review that I have to have three tabs open to follow to an awesome review that makes me want to pick up a book on the topic later. You the best, hoss!
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Feb 27, 2021 07:03
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Panzeh posted:Vietnam Rumor of War Season 6 - A really poorly improvised movie script I'm greatly enjoying the historical contextual stuff in these posts, thank you for writing it up.
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Feb 27, 2021 10:50
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Soulbound: Champions of Order Never Believe It's Not So So, first we get 5 new Common spells, then 5 for each existing Lore, then 15 for the new Lore of the High Peaks. Common Aetheric Whisper: This spell is pretty easy to cast, and what it does is let you pick either a target you can see in Long range or anyone you've met face to face that's in the same realm. You can say about 20 words per success, and the target hears them whispered in their ear. Useful but not awe-inspiring. Aetheric Weapon: An easy spell, you pick a weapon in Short range and give it the Magical trait for a minute. Extra successes either extend duration or let you target more weapons. This is extremely useful if you go up against ethereal foes, though since they're not immune to nonmagical weapons in this game, it's not absolutely required. Bouyancy: This lets you target a Medium or smaller creature or object in Medium range as it falls, casting an easy spell to make it float harmlessly in the air for a round. You can instead cast it to make the target fall normally but slow to safe landing speed just before it lands, which lasts for about a minute or until landing, whichever comes first. You can also spend Mettle to cast this spellimmediately when a target in range falls rather than waiting for your turn. Extra successes either give you more targets or extends duration for the round-long float. This is a bit complicated as a description, but - well, Feather Fall has never been a bad spell. Shackle: An easy spell, and it lets you touch two Medium or smaller objects that are also touching each other. They stick together as if they were physically joined for ten minutes per success, and prying them apart requires a pretty difficult Might roll. Niche use but I'm sure you can figure out some real dumb poo poo. Ward: You spend ten minutes doing a ritual and making an easy roll, then pick an area within your Zone, which can be any size you want up to and including 'the entire Zone.' You then pick if you want to know when creatures enter, leave or both, and for hours based on successes, whenever that happens, a magical alarm sounds. You can decide the volume and specific sound, but it should generally be a noise that is suitable for your Lore, and you can specify specific beings or even whole categories of creature that won't trigger it. You can also set a password that someone can say to avoid triggering it when crossing. Again, complex description but a staple utility spell. Amber Predatory Hunger: A spell that's not easy but you only need one success to pull it off. You pick an ally in Medium range, and until the start of your next turn, the first time the target kills a living creature, they regain Toughness equal to that creature's max Toughness. Extra successes extend duration on this. This is better than the Khainite miracle of the same general sort, since spells are cheaper than Miracles generally. Prey's Vigilance: This one's pretty hard to pull off without a good pool and Focus. You pick an ally in Medium range, and until the start of your next turn, the target is immune to surprise and gets a bonus to Defence and Natural Awareness and also to Awareness and Reflexes rolls. Extra successes give more targets or duration, your pick. The bonuses are really good, but the difficulty of casting can be annoying. Slip the Snare: Not too hard to cast, though it needs two successes, so Focus helps. You pick an ally in Long range, and they lose Restrained and become immune to Restrained until the start of your next turn. Extra successes extend duration or add targets, your choice. I'm not sure I'd take a spell pick on this early, but it has its uses. Stalker's Cunning: Again, not too hard, but Focus is nice. You pick an ally in Long range. For the next minute, they get a bonus to all Stealth rolls and to Melee and Accuracy when attacking someone unaware of their presence. Extra successes add duration or targets, your choice. If you're plotting an ambush, this is actually really, really good. Warcry: This one is pretty hard without good Focus, but it's worth it. You perform a mighty roar infused with Ghurish power, and all enemies in your Zone are Stunned until the start of your next turn, with extra successes adding duration. Stunned is really nasty! Amethyst Dirge: This one's a challenge unless you have a good dicepool and good Focus to pull it off. You hum a song that causes despair, giving a penalty to Defence and all rolls to all enemies in your Zone for a round. Extra successes increase duration or add to the dicepool penalty - a really powerful effect if you can stack successes...but you need at least four to get the spell cast in the first place. Forestall Death: This one's not easy, but you only need one success for the basic effect. You pick a target within Medium range. Until the start of your next turn, the target can't be Mortally Wounded or killed, with extra successes extending duration. If they would be Mortally Wounded, they take Wounds as normal but do not become Mortally Wounded, and if they were already Mortally Wounded when you cast, they stop being Mortally Wounded and lose Stunned. However, when the spell does end, the target takes a Minor Wound that can't be prevented by any means at all, and they can't have the spell cast on them again until they Rest. Even with these limits, this is an excellent emergency button. Haunt: This one mostly needs a great dicepool - the difficulty isn't high, but you need a lot of successes. You pick a Zone in Long range and spend a minute performing a ritual. For the next day, that Zone is haunted by angry spirits which are loud, irritating and cause unease. For the duration, no living craeture can Rest in that Zone, and all rolls get increased Complexity there. Extra successes either extend duration or increase the Complexity penalty to rolls. This requires a lot of setup, but it's a huge debuff. Sadly, it's also not selective, so you don't want to be in that Zone either. Grave-Sand Hourglass: Pretty hard without good Focus. You conjure a ghostly hourglass in your hand and pick a living creature you can see within Medium range. At the start of their next turn, you roll a d6, and depending on the result, the target loses a point from one of their Attributes, losing another from that attribute each turn for the duration. If it hits zero, you randomly pick another attribute to start draining. If that one hits zero, it goes to the third. A target with 0 in a single attribute is Stunned. A target with 0 in two attributes is Unconscious. All three? Dead. Extra successes extend duration. Sadly, you're gonna need a lot of successes to reliably use this - most foes have at least one good attribute that won't hit zero easily, and you're not able to influence which one you drain. I believe that the attributes all return when the spell ends, but the spell does not specify. Spectral Grasp: This one's not easy but quite doable with any amount of Focus. You call up a field of ghostly hands around yourself, turning your Zone into Difficult Terrain that only affects your foes as the hands grab at them for a round. Any enemy that enters the Zone or starts turn there has to make a Reflexes roll or be Restrained, which they can escape with a Might roll. Extra successes extend duration...and also make those rolls harder. This is pretty great. Bright Cindercloud: This one is a challenge, especially if you don't have Focus. You breathe out a cloud of billowing smoke into a Zone within Medium range. Until the start of your next turn, it is Heavily Obscured. Extra successes extend duration. I'm honestly not sure this is worth doing, but it might be? I don't clearly remember how the visibility rules work. Heart's Fire: This one's got high difficulty but only needs one success. You pick a Mortal target within Medium range. They are filled with fiery zeal, getting a bonus to all rolls until the start of your next turn, but when the duration ends, they take 1 Damage per bonus die they got, which ignores Armor. Extra successes either increase the bonus (and also the damage) or extend duration. This could be really good, but only if your target can take it. This definitely is better as a buff than a damage spell, though - you don't want to boost your enemy when there's better attack spells. Pyroclasm: This one's pretty hard, requiring a good dicepool and Focus to have a chance. You pick a Zone in Medium range, and it explodes, creating a Deadly Hazard until the start of your next turn. Extra successes either increase duration or can be spent 2 for 1 to add extra Zones in range as long as they're adjacent to at least one Zone you've already targeted. That's a lot of power if you can pull it off, but it's a hard spell to cast. Searing Touch: Another one that's difficult but only needs one success. Your hands glow with burning heat. Pick a target in Close range. If they're an ally, you remove your choice of Charmed, Frightened or Stunned from them. If they're an enemy, they take damage. Extra successes let you remove additional conditions or do more damage. This is versatile, but the damage option is probably not going to be super impressive. Smouldering Gift: Not too hard, really, but Focus will help, since it needs 2 successes. You conjure a lump of coal into your hand, which lasts for an hour. You can do whatever you want with it, and can sense its location if it's within Long range. As long as you can detect it, you can spend an Action to release the Bright magic inside it. This either causes it to burn equivalent in brightness to a torch for the rest of its duration or makes it explode, your choice. The explosion does 1 damage to all creatures in Close range, which ignores Armor on whoever is carrying it on their person. Extra successes either extend duration or cause the explosion to deal more damage. This is pretty good, really, a grenade is useful. Celestial Celestial Winds: This one's pretty easy. You prophetically predict the weather in a 10-mile radius up to a day in advance, and until that time ends, you can subtly alter it by manipulating wind speed and direction - so, effectively, you can control the weather as long as you don't want to do anything like call a hurricane out of nowhere or specify where lightning strikes. Extra successes increase range or duration. Handy for travel. Glimpse: Not super easy, but only one success needed. You can only cast this during a Rest, and it lets you gaze into the near future. You get a pool of Glimpse Dice based on your successed. On any roll you make until your next Rest, you can add one die from the Glimpse pool. If you have any left over, they go away when you Rest. Handy, if relatively minor. Stormcaller: You want a large dicepool for this, but successes are easy to get. You spend a minute on a ritual calling on storms, creating one over a single Zone in Long range that lasts for ten minutes. You can choose how gentle or nasty it is. A destructive storm causes Difficult Terrain and a Minor Hazard for anyone lacking proper shelter, and anyone that starts their turn in the Zone has to a roll 1d6; on a 1, they take 3 Damage as lightning strikes them. Extra successes let you target more adjacent Zones or extends duration. The setup time means this is mostly handy for planned battles, and it's not selective, but it also works well to end droughts. Spirit Storm: This one's hard! Lots of succcesses needed. You call up a magical storm in a Zone within Long range, turning it into Difficult Terrain until the start of your next turn. Every time anyone in the Zone moves or does any action, they get struck by lightning and take 3 Damage. Extra successes extend duration. This is a nasty hazard, sure, but it's so hard to cast and lasts for so short a time that I'm unsure it's worth it. Thunderstrike: This one's even harder. You call a lightning bolt out of the sky. It explodes in a Zone with Long range, causing everyone in it to be Blinded, Deafened and Stunned until the start of your next turn. Extra successes, if you somehow have any, extend duration. This really, really isn't worth the difficulty. Gold Breach the Unknown: Relatively easy. You touch an object or substance in Close range and learn what it's made of and how it is commonly used. Extra successes give you obscure properties (like magical powers of an enchanted weapon or what an unknown potion does or if it's cursed). For the next hour, if you make a Crafting roll or help an ally with a Crafting roll involing the object, the roll gets reduced Complexity based on successes. Handy. Caustic Slag: This is an incredibly hard spell to cast. You target a Zone in Medium range and turn the ground nto molten, acidic slag, causing Difficult Terrain and a Deadly Hazard for rounds based on successes. Anyone that takes damage permanently has their Armor reduced by 1 each time, as it is damaged by the sludge and requires repair. This is too difficult to cast to actually be practical most of the time. Encode Metal: Very easy. You enchant a Medium or smaller metal object in Close range, allowing it to absorb sound. For the next minute, every sound around it is permanently imprinted into it with total clarity and fidelity. Extra successes extend duration. You choose a secret word when you cast, and whenever anyone touches the object and says that word, the object replays everything it recorded at original volume. This is an incredibly useful utility spell, especially since it's so easy to do. Iron Maiden: Not super easy, but doable with Focus. You pick one creature in Long range and turn everything touching their skin into wickedly barbed metal for rounds based on successes. They get +1 Armor for the duration, but whenever they attack or move above Slow speed, they take damage equal to their Armor, which ignores Armor. This is a pretty good debuff, though getting it to last a while will be challenging. Razorsphere: Relatively easy. You turn nearby materials into a small metal sphere of concentric spinning blades. It floats slowly around you until the start of your next turn, and whenever an enemy gets into Close range of you or starts their turn there, they take 1 Damage that ignores armor as the sphere slashes across their vulnerable spots at high speed. Extra successes add damage or duration, your choice. This is a neat defensive option. Grey Blind Spot: This is a fairly difficult cast, but doable with Focus. You pick a creature in Long range. For minutes based on successes, they can't perceive your or any allies in your Zone at all. The spell ends immediately if anyone they can't perceive physically interacts with them or if they take damage. Even with those limitations, this is super useful. Infiltrate Dreams: Not easy, but doable, especially if you ahve any Focus. You choose either a sleeping creature you can see in Long range or anyone you have met face to face before that is currently sleeping in the same realm as you. You become Unconscious for 10 minutes, sending your mind into their dreams. Extra successes extend duration. You may observe the dream undetected automatically, but you can also make Guile rolls to alter their dream. Failure causes the spell to end immediately and shunts you back to your body, but success lets you alter the dream's aspects such as who is in it, where objects are placed, the setting, the contents of speech or any other details. You can't actually hurt the person, since it's just a dream, but it can be very stressful. The target remembers the dream in clear detail, and the GM should consider how it affects them in waking life, such as by giving them new ideas or making them reconsider a course of action. A sufficiently disturbing dream may also prevent the benefits of Rest. I'm sure you can find all kinds of uses for this. Mindrazor: Not an easy cast, but you only need one success. You may target any number of Piercing or Slashing weapons in Short range, deceiving reality itself to allow them to ignore Armor for rounds based on successes. Further, they do extra damage to Frightened foes, as fear strengthens the deception. This is really good. No Escape: This is very difficult even with Focus. You choose a target in Medium range and implant a nightmare in their mind that convinces them their shadow is attacking them. The hallucination deals 1 Damage and causes them to be Restrained until the start of their next turn. They can attempt an Intuition roll as an action end the spell prematurely, though. Extra successes add duration to the Restrained effect or increase damage, your choice. Given the difficulty, this is really just showing off. The Withering: This is incredibly difficult. Choose a creature you can see in Medium Range. You curse them with self-loating, causing a penalty to Melee, Accuracy and Defence and reducing all dicepools by 1 for all rolls until the start of your next turn. Extra successes extend duration or add targets. Which, you know, would be great if this didn't require at least five successes to begin with. Jade Geyser: This is relatively easy with any Focus. You choose a creature in Medium range and summon forth a jet of water from the ground beneath them. They must make a Reflexes roll or become Prone and take 1 Damage. Extra successes increase the damage and difficulty of the roll. Even if they succeed, the Zoone they are in floods with water and becomes Difficult Terrain for the next minute. You can stop this early as a Free Action. This is pretty good! Purify: Again, relatively easy. You touch a target in Close range and purify it with magic. If it's food or water, you can remove contaminants, poison and disease from up to 20 gallons of water or 100 pounds of food per success. If it's a creature, you cure it of all disease and poison. If it's an undead or Chaos-corrupted creature, they also take 1 Damage per success which ignores armor. This is a very versatile and useful spell. Throne of Vines: Difficult but doable with any Focus. You summon up a mass of vines that encase you and hold you up from below. For the next minute, you are Restrained but get +1 Armor. While bound this way, you also get a bonus to all Channelling rolls and can attempt to unbind spells as a free action without any Mettle spending. Extra successes increase the bonus to rolls. However, calling on the power of the realm in this way demands balance, and when the spell ends you take a Minor Wound. This is still really good even so. Waning Season: Difficult unless you have good Focus. You invoke the power of winter, causing 1 Damage that ignores Armor to all foes in Short range due to cold. Until the start of your next turn, no enemy in your Zone can regain Toughness by any means. Extra successes increase either damage from cold or duration of the no-healing aura, your choice. As a selective AoE damage spell it's...decent, I'm not sure how useful the aura is. Wheat from Chaff: This is difficult but doable with any Focus. You may target any number of plants in your Zone. They are instantly harvested, with any useful parts cleaned and stripped of any waste, which dissolves harmlessly. Alternatively, you may cast this targeting all enemies in your Zone. They take 1 Damage, become Prone and are shoved into a random adjacent Zone. Extra successes increase damage. This is really good! Light Brilliant Lance: This is very difficult, though it's doable with Focus. You fire a laser out of your palm at a target in Long range that you can see. They take 1 Damage and must make Fortitude roll or be Blinded until the start of your next turn. Extra successes increase Damage or Blinded duration, your choice. This is mostly a style move. Darkness of the Soul: Not easy, but doable with any Focus. You pick a target with Medium range and force them to confront the worst parts of themselves, causing them to be overcome with negative emotion for rounds based on your successes. At the start of their turn during the duration, they must make a Determination roll or be Incapacitated until the start of their next turn. They roll each round, regardless of the result the round before. This is an incredibly nasty debuff. Effulgent Gaze: This one's difficult without good Focus. You bless yourself with unclouded sight. For the next minute, you can't be Blinded and your eyes shoot beams of harmless light out to Long range, causing illusions and darkness to vanish while you look at them, though they come back when you look away. Your eye-lights cause objects to appear as bright as on a sun-lit day. Extra successes extend duration. This is goofy but not useless. Lambent Light: Also difficult without good Focus. You target a Zone in Medium range. Enemies in that Zone glow with ghostly light until the start of your next turn, and remain glowing even if they leave the Zone. While glowing, they get a penalty to Defence and a huge penalty to avoiding detection. Extra successes extend duration. This is useful but the difficulty limits how useful it can be. Seed of Hysh: Relatively difficult but doable with any Focus. You target a creature in Medium range and optimize their movements. Until the start of your next turn, they get a bonus to Speed, Defence and opposed Reflexes rolls. Extra successes add targets or duration, your choice. This is a pretty great buff. The Deeps A Chill Mist Rises: This is very difficult, and not easy even with Focus. You pick a Zone in Long range and raise Ethersea mist in it. All enemies in the Zone have a penalty to opposed Awareness rolls and Natural Awareness, and a huge penalty to Defense that lasts until they take any damage during the duration. Extra successes increase duration. The difficulty limits how much use you'll get out of this. Blood in the Water: The roll is doable if you have a great dicepool, but it wants a lot of successes. It gets easier, however, if you have living folks to sacrifice. See, to cast this, you need to perform a minute-long ritual in which you drown at least one intelligent creature, and the spell gets easier the more people you kill this way. Once you succeed, you know the location of all sentient creatures within a mile that are on or in the same body of water as you for the next hour. If you don't want to actually murder, you can just spill the blood of an intelligent creature in the water, but you only get an instant snapshot of where people are when you do that rather than a persistent and perfect awareness. Either way, the detection range expands with extra successes. The difficulty on this makes it prohibitive unless everyone's really down for murder-fuelled magic. Gaze into the Abyss: Hard but doable with Focus. You choose a target that can see you with Short range and flood their mind with hypnotic Ethersea currents. They become Charmed by you or Frightened of you, your choice, until the start of your next turn. Either way, they get a penalty to Sped and Defence for the duration, too. Extra successes extend duration. This is really good. Tidal Surge: Difficult but doable with any Focus. You choose a target within Medium range and transform yourself into a giant wall of water that smashes into them, doing 1 Damage and forcing a Might roll to not become Prone. You reform next to them at the start of your next turn, but until that time you are a mass of water that cannot be targeted by anything and does not count as a creature. Extra successes add damage. This is a pretty good trick, I think. Watcher in the Dark: This is relatively easy if you have a big dicepool. You submerge yourself in water and become able to detect all bodies of water within one mile that are at least as big as the one you're in. As long as you remain submerged, you can cause a liquid version of your head to break surface from any of them, perceiving the area through that head with all your normal senses. You can also speak through it in your normal voice. Extra successes add range. This is...weird, but potentially useful. High Peaks is the new Lore of the Lumineth Stonemages. Assault of Stone: Very difficult without Focus and not easy even then. You pick a Zone in Medium range and summon a rockslide onto it. Anyone in the Zone takes 1 Damaeg and has to roll Might or Reflexes to avoid becoming Restrained and Prone until the start of your next turn, though they or one of their allies can make a Might roll to free them early. Extra successes either extend duration of the conditions or add damage, your choice. Difficulty may make this hard to use. Entomb: Hard but doable with Focus. You pick a Large or smaller creature in Medium range that is touching the ground. The ground surges beneath them, encasing them in stone until the start of your next turn. For the duration, they are Restrained, by anything targeting them hits the shell instead. The shell crumbles if any single source deals at least 5 Damage to it, and the creature inside can attempt to smash it during the duration. Extra successes either extend duration or how much damage is needed to break the stone. This is neat but I'm not sure how useful it is. Freezing Heights: Hard, but doable with Focus and a big pool. You conjure the biting chill of the peaks, dealing 1 damage that ignores Armor to all foes in your Zone and forcing a Fortitude roll. If they fail, they become Stunned until the start of your next turn. Extra successes add either damage or Stunned duration, your pick. This is good if you can pull it off reliably, but that might not be easy. Gravitic Redirection: Doable with a big enough dicepool, but you need a lot of successes. You pick a creature in Medium range and transfer gravity's hold on you onto them. They take 1 Damage and must make a Might roll or be Restrained until the start of your next turn. While they are Restrained, you can fly at Normal speed. Extra successes either extend duration or add damage, your choice. This...is possibly useful, since successes aren't hard to get, but you need a lot of them. Living Fissure: Difficult but doable with enough Focus. You chose a point in the ground in your Zone, tearing open a chasm between yourself and that point. All creatures in the Zone except you must make a Reflexes roll or fall into the fissure, which counts as a new Zone. It is ten feet wide and ten feet deep, with extra successes increasing depth by 10 feet or width by five, and anyone that falls in takes 1 Damage per 10 feet of fall and becomes Prone. Oh, and this fissure is permanent. Alternatively, you can create the fissure along the border your Zone and an adjacent one. If you do, no one falls in, but you have made a new Zone between the two original ones. This is pretty useful, really! Memorial Stone: This is very easy to cast. You touch a Medium or smaller stone object and place a memory within it. The memory can be up to ten seconds of any single sensory experience and an emotion, such as the smell of fresh bread, heartbreak and the sound of someone's last words, whatever, as long as it's a combination you've experienced. Anyone that touches the object after this experiences the memory. Extra successes let you add additional senses to the memory or extends how long the memory can be. It is noted that while you can use this for things other than comfort and commemoration, you want to be careful because it will give that memory to everyone that touches it, forever. This is of limited use but is certainly cool. Shadow of the Citadel: Difficult but doable with Focus. You stand resolute and cast a long shadow. Until the start of your next turn, enemies in your Zone are Frightened of you and treat your Zone as Lightly Obscured, and allies in your Zone get a bonus to Defence, Melee and Accuracy. Extra successes extend duration, and the spell ends early if you leave the Zone. This is a really good aura, though getting it to last very long may be hard. Sky Wardens: Difficult but doable with Focus. You choose a Zone in Long range and summon mountainous bird spirits to guard it. Whenever a flying enemy enters the Zone or starts their turn there, they take 1 Damage, and if they're Large or smaller, they are knocked Prone by the spirits, taking another 1 Damage per ten feet fallen. Extra successes either increase the damage or the duration, and on your turn you can use an action to move the spirits to a different Zone in Long range. This is useful as an anti-air defense, though duration may be tricky to get. Stonemason's Will: Very easy. For the next minute, stone bends under your touch like it was clay (if you focus on it - it won't do so at just an incidental touch). You can shape it into anything you want as long as you can physically sculpt it, and when you stop touching it, it returns to stone rigidity. Extra successes increase duration. I'm sure you can find all kinds of uses for this. Strike of Eagles: Not too hard with any Focus. You choose a target in Long range and summon an eagle spirit to attack them. They take 1 Damage and if Medium or smaller they must make a Reflexes roll or be thrown into an adjacent Zone and become Prone. Extra successes increase damage. Not bad as an attack spell. Unyielding Calm: Not too hard but needs a good dicepool. Until the start of your next turn, allies in your Zone can't be Charmed or Frightened, and any that already are immediately end the Conditions. Extra successes extend duration. Not bad, though it's hard to build up extra successes. Vertigo: This one's pretty drat hard to pull off. You choose a Zone in Medium range and curse foes within it with vertigo. Until the start of their next turn, they get a penalty to Defence and all Body and Mind rolls. Extra successes extend duration or penalty, but given how hard this is to cast, it's going to have limited use in the first place. View from the Summit: Very easy. For the next minute, you can see the area as if standing on a mountaintop directly above your physical position. You see with your normal vision, but can see out to five miles and over obstacles that'd normally block line of sight most of the time, thanks to your perspective. Extra successes extend duration. Handy, I suppose. Voice of the Mountains: Relatively easy. For the next minute, you can clearly hear any sounds made by any creatures within a mile as if they were right next to you, thanks to the stone and earth conveying them to you. You have to make an Awareness roll to figure out where any specific sound is coming from, though. The GM may grant a bonus to tracking or finding craetures nearby at their discretion. Also, you can send your voice on the wind to be heard by everyone in the spell's range for the duration. Extra successes extend range or duration, your choice. Useful if a bit niche. Weight of the Mountain: Easy enough with any Focus. You choose a Medium or smaller object in Short range. It is locked motionless in place, nearly impossible to move until the start of your next turn. An action and Might roll is required to move it at all for the duration, but success ends the spell. Extra successes make the Might roll harder and extend duration. This has a ton of potential uses, IMO. Next time: New special gear and downtime activities Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Feb 28, 2021 |
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Feb 27, 2021 18:33
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The 'Nam game just makes me wonder what the designer's interest even was. Like- he didn't have to make a Vietnam war game, or he could just make one about the air war if that's the one thing he's interested in. There's a feel that almost every mechanic is there because he feels there needs to be something. Laos and Cambodia are sorta there but not in any detail, there are a lot of abstractions but not to any coherent purpose. Just, why does it exist? You can pick any war, any battle.
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Feb 27, 2021 22:11
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Maxwell Lord posted:The 'Nam game just makes me wonder what the designer's interest even was. Like- he didn't have to make a Vietnam war game, or he could just make one about the air war if that's the one thing he's interested in. I think he decided to make a Vietnam game long before he realized just what an undertaking that would be. The Korea game before this was half-assed, but at least it kinda had a way of working. The Doomsday Project, a series of games about a Cold War gone hot seems to be him doing something he's more interested in. You're right, though, that most of the mechanics that aren't air combat, land combat, and units moving around are very perfunctory- sometimes a few anecdotes strung together but they capture almost nothing but minutiae. The presence of US troops has no effect on the formation of VC units, but you can send in special forces to rescue POWs from the Hanoi Hilton. Picking a full 10 years of a complex war is an incredible challenge to model, and in almost every case, it seems Starkweather chose the most minimum possible thing that gets at the flavor. You'll see more of this in the next update when I talk about the Communist player's HQ stances. Yes, you will have to choose between having your troops able to evade and having them able to infiltrate for the season-long turn. Don't ask me why.
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Feb 27, 2021 22:43
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Soulbound: Champions of Order poo poo You Can Own A lot of new things to own that do unique stuff were introduced here - presumably because the core largely covered mundane goods well enough to need few of those. Some interesting items: Black Pearl: Found at the greatest depths of the oceans of the Mortal Realms, they are typically retrieved only great expense and danger. Why would you want that? Well, having a black pearl causes you to be surrounded by a shimmering aura as if you were underwater, increasing Defence. They're real hard to get and expensive, though. Bracers of Ember-Iron: Tools made by the Fyreslayers that give +1 Armor so you can be a Fyreslayer who also has armor. They're a bit expensive and need Body 3+ to wary because they're really heavy, though. Etherblossom: A flower found only in the Weirding Vale of Ghyran. If you hold one, you can fly at Normal speed. As an action, you can also tough it to a surface to make it ethereal for a minute, allowing people to just pass through it harmlessly. You can only use that power once a day, though, as it causes the Etherblossom to close and regenerate its magic. These aren't even too expensive, really, but they're hard to find. Float: One of six drugs developed in the city of Misthavn! It's a powder you can snort as an action to get the benefits of the Flight spell. However, it lasts 1d6 minutes...rolled secretly by the GM. You don't know when it will suddenly end. It's moderately expensive per dose. Glatch Ink: Another Misthavn drug, slightly cheaper. It's a dropper full of black liquid that you drop in your eyes, and it turns your eyes and veins black as well as giving a bonus to all Channeling rolls for one minute. Its only side effect is that repeated use will permanently stain your eyes and veins black, making it clear you use it. Sawfang Dust: Drug number three, it's a set of crystals you chew that make your mouth taste of blood. They fill you with bloodlust, causing your melee attacks to deal extra damage for a minute, but also leave you craving meat, as rare and bloody as you can get. Not too expensive, either. Skiffer's Salve: Drug four, and very cheap indeed. It's a balm that heals and also causes a powerful euphoria. When used, it heals 2d6 Toughness, but reduces you to Slow speed for a minute. This is honestly pretty great. Synesthalcum: Drug five! A stimulant that massively heightens your senses. It's a purple tincture that you can consume as an action to immediately double your Initiative (which changes where you go in the turn order) and also boosts Melee, Accuracy and Defence. It lasts for a minute, but when the high wears off, you crash hard and are Stunned for an hour. It's also quite expensive. Witch-Mist: The final drug, this is a narcotic mist you snort that turns you Ethereal for a minute, which means you can pass through solid objects and only take half damage from non-magical attacks. However, the night after you take it, you're going to have vivid and clear nightmares that feel like memories from another life. Also, it's costly. Quicksilver Draught: Not a drug, but it basically works like one. It's a vial of alchemical silver liquid made from mixing grains of Celestium with molten silver. You can drink it as a free action to get a bonus to Speed and Defence for a minute. Worthwhile, and it's not even very expensive. Runic Munitions: A notable tool for gunners, these are developed in Greywater Fastness. They were originally designed to smash through Chaos armor, but they've proven equally effective at fighting the Dreadwood Sylvaneth. Each one is a bullet inscribed with a duardin magical rune that causes it to explode on impact. Loading a runic round is a free action, and it makes the next attack with the gun deal extra damage and permanently reduce the target's Armor by 1 after the attack - so you they still get their full Armor against the attack itself. Also, runic rounds are Magical for purposes of damaging magical armor or creatures resistant to non-magical attacks. They're very expensive, but each purchase gets you ten bullets. Simulacra Amulet: These are magical amulets made by the Lumineth of Illiatha. Each one is uniquely made for its wearer and only works for them, but what they do is save your life and make philosophers very angry. See, if you die when wearing it, it explodes in a flash of light and creates a perfect clone of you right next to your corpse, with all of your memories, abilities and all equipment you had when you died except the amulet. The clone is at full health and has no damage. If you make a Last Stand while wearing a Simulacra Amulet, it has all the normal benefits, but the party Soulfire doesn't refill and the Doom does not rise, as you haven't actually sacrificed yourself. (Continuity of consciousness is a problem you can solve on your own time.) Trident Dagger: These are special blades designed for the Freeguild of Excelsis. They look like normal daggers, but have a concealed button in the guard that makes the blade split into three blades. The original wielder was a Freeguild captain who hated using a shield and preferred having an offhand dagger but also wanted it to have defensive functions, so his buddy in the Ironweld made this blade. It's a low-damage weapon with Defensive, Piercing, Subtle and Thrown (Short), and it requires Weapon Skill Focus 2 and Reflexes Focus 1 to use properly. Venom of Nagendra: A deadly poison developed and primarily used by the Kraith sect of the Daughters of Khaine. It causes the victim's blood to boil and explode out of them. Pleasant! You can coat a Slashing or Piercing weapon with a few drops of it as an action, and that makes the next attack cause Poisoned for one minute. On top of the normal effects of Poisoned, this condition also deals 1 Damage per turn that ignores armor, and if the victim dies, they explode into red mist that causes their Zone to be Lightly Obscured for a minute. Pleasant! Whitefire Tome: This is a magical book developed by the Whitefire Court of Hallowheart based on the ancient Agloraxi secrets they've discovered. If you cast a spell while holding and roll successfully, it adds a success. This is really useful - it may not help you succeed, but it will greatly empower your spells. All the new Kharadron gear is just the Aetheric Navigator's specialty stuff...so let's talk Endeavors. Remember, you get 1 Endeavor per week of downtime, with up to three max. The game normally assumes you only have a week between adventures, but notes that for a slightly slower story you might assume two weeks, so that everyone has a chance to do an Endeavor, even the Stormcast, or so the Fyreslayers and Kharadron actually have time to get all their poo poo fixed and also still do something. Alternatively, you can give everyone two Endeavors a week instead of one, optionally at higher DN. The game gives no advice on how much higher the DN should be, though. We get a shitload of new Endeavors, as well, to cover a lot of stuff you might want to do! A Grand Feast: If you have the A Warm Meal Talent, 50D of ingredients per person and a reason to party, you can use this to throw a party. Every member of the Binding must participate, though Stormcast don't. Only one person has to have the Talent, though. Anyway, when you complete it, the Binding recovers all Soulfire and the Doom drops by 1, because parties own. Abandon Duty: This is more a mechanic - a Stormcast can choose to not report in on their Stormhost and instead get all the Endeavors that everyone else gets rather than one less per downtime. If they do, the Doom goes up by 1. Account Deeds: You can go tell your story to bystanders however you want. This has no mechanics, but the GM should incorporate it into the mythic history of the Realms and it will be shared by minstrels and academics. If you decide to spend some time to make an actual art piece, written or drawn or whatever, that thing itself will enter the annals of history in mythic form. Arcane Monument: If you've got a Spellcasting Talent, you can use this and pick a Lore you know. All casters get a bonus die on spells of that Lore while they can see the monument. (Or perceive it with other senses, optionally, if appropriate - Light magic might use the sound of magical chimes, while Jade might use a field of scented flowers.) The GM decides how big a scale you can make this, based on your availavle resources and manpower. Blood Ritual: If you have the Blood Sacrifice Talent, you can use this to perform a sacrificial ritual on a worthy foe. You kill them, probably in the dead of night or at a remote location, in a ritual that leaves you with a Lasting Wound - effectively, a Minor Wound you can't heal until your next downtime. Once before your next downtime, you can invoke your ritual. If you do, you double your Training on a single Channelling or Devotion roll and treat it as if you rolled all sixes by spending Soulfire. Brawl: You can decide to just get in fights. You make an extended Weapon Skill test, making three rolls in which you're aiming to get at least eight successes. If you succeed, you beat all comers and make a reputation for yourself, getting a bonus to all opposed Intimidation rolls in areas you've fought in and probably being avoided by passers-by. If you fail, however, you lose a major fight and begin the next adventure with a Minor Wound and may be heckled about the loss. Conspire: You can work to pull down someone in power and raise someone else up. This is an extended Guile test, with three rolls aiming at 8 successes by default, which the game figures is about right for replacing a mid-ranking member of a city Conclave. You can change that up depending on how important the target is, and it may not always be possible - you can't use this to, say, replace a Mortarch. Alternatively, this can be used to just sow chaos and dissent in an organization, and if successful it makes the most disgruntled members defect from it. Consult the Mountain: This is Alarith-only, and it lets you seek out the wisdom of your aelementor, which will give you some kind of riddle or story to think about. This requires a Fortitude extended test, with three rolls to get up at least 8 successes. If you succeed, you get a bonus to Defence until the next downtime thanks to the geomantic power of the mountain. Cultivate: You can grow weird plants. There's tons of weird plants in the Mortal Realms. This requires an extended Nature test, with three rolls to get at least eight successes. If you succeed, you learn about the uses of a plant or fungus and harvest a useful quantity. Plants in most Free Cities could give you the equivalent of a dose of poison, a vial of acid or an apothecary's satchel, but if you find some unique stuff to grow, it might do something more, like give you a one-shot use of a spell effect. Decorate Armor: You can just do fashion. You tell the GM how you're making yourself look cool, displaying trophies and so on. While you wear the armor, the GM may grant you minor benefits based on what you did - for example, a cloak made from a Grey Seer's skinned fur might give a bonus to rolls to intimidate or impress Skaven. Desperate Measures: This requires the Doom to be 7 or more. It also is real dumb! You do horrible rituals to burn yourself out. You immediately gain 20 XP and can never gain XP again. Why? Elaborate Plans: Usable if you have one of the A Good Plan or Backup Plan Talents. You spend a week considering all possibilities, and for the next adventure, if you have A Good Plan, it reduces the difficulty of planning with it, and if you have Backup Plan, it prevents the Complexity increase when rerolling with it. Establish Trade Route: Usable if you have the Trader's Cache Talent. When you use it, you pick two Cities of Sigmar you've been to recently. You then go and advise local merchants on directions and trade goods, establishing a route between the two cities. It isn't necessarily safe, but it is safer than what was there before. You can only do this once per unique pairing of cities. Every trade route you establish permanently increases your maximum number of successes in Trader's Cache by 1. Foretell: You watch omens, consult diviners, do any kind of stuff to predict the future. You select three Rumors or Fears, and the GM tells you how those might manifest as Threats. Fortify: You're going to need cash for this. You pick an area to fortify - a building, a hilltop, a gate, whatever. You then make an extended Crafting roll, which is harder the bigger a thing you want to set up. If you succeed, you apply a trait to any number of Zones representing the area you fortified, and you can fortify an area multiple times for different traits. Partial Cover or Light Obscurement are easiest and cheapest, followed by Minor Hazard or Difficult Terrain, followed by Major Hazard, Total Cover or Heavily Obscured, and the hardest and most expensive is Deadly Hazard, with a DN of 4:12 and a cost of 550D. You can make the penalties or bonuses selective to enemies or allies respectively by adding 5 more successes to the Complexity, but no matter what, you only get 3 rolls per week. Gossip: You spend a week talking to people and learning local secrets. This is an extended test of three rolls, aiming at 8 successes total. The first roll is Soul/Entertain, the other two are Mind/Entertain. If you succeed, you discocver up to five Rumors and can choose to spread one of your own, which may be false or true at your discretion. Greater Loyal Companion: You need Training 2 and Focus 2 in Beast Handling, and this is how you get your own Magmadroth. Basically, you pick a Beast that you want as a Loyal Companion. You don't already have to have one, and if you do you're going to have to replace it with the new one. Can't have two, apparently. Anything that's a Beast is a viable target, but gaining its trust is going to be the hard part. It's easiest to recruit a Warrior or Minion Beast. Champions are hard, and Chosen are very hard - difficulty 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Complexity is equal to the total Toughness of the creature. Over one week, you can make three rolls to try to build up successes. First is a Survival roll to track it down, then a Might, Ballistic Skill or Weapon Skill roll to subdue it. Finally, you get a Beast Handling roll to bond with it. If you build up enough successes, you get the Loyal Companion Talent with that creature as the Companion. If you get at least one success on all three rolls but don't get enough total, you can choose to keep trying if you have more downtime, in which case all further rolls are Beast Handling. Alternatively, you can give up and leave. Lastly, you can choose to try again later. You bank all successes you've built up and can come back next downtime, when your three rolls will be a Survival roll to track the thing down again and then two Beast Handling rolls. If you totally fail one of the three rolls, the beast ignores you and while you can try again next downtime, you have to start from scratch. If you totally fail two of the three rolls, it lashes out and causes a Lasting Wound which is effectively a Minor Wound you can't heal until the next downtime. If you fail all three, it mauls you and you get a Lasting Wound and also a Deadly Wound. Grieve: If a party member or equivalently important person has died recently, you can use this to mourn them in whatever way is appropriate to you. For the next adventure, you get +1 maximum Mettle. Harvest Souls: Isharann Soulrender only. You can spend a weak hunting for mortal souls. This is an extended Stealth test, with three rolls aiming for 8 successes. If you succeed, no one notices what you're doing, as you harvest from the dying at hospitals or disappear vagrants under cover of fog. You harvest enough weak souls to totally fill your lurelight. If you fail, people notice and get pissed off and you don't get anything. Infiltrate: You choose a secret group in the city - a Chaos cult, a criminal group, whatever. You make an extended Stealth or Guile test, aiming at 8 successes over 3 rolls in a week. If you succeed, you learn something about their organization and goals. If you used Stealth, you also know how to get into their hideouts, and if you used Guile, the low ranks trust you. If you fail, the group realizes they have an intruder and you're gonna need to run or get captured. Interrogate: You approach someone and try to get information from them, whether a captive prisoner or some rear end in a top hat you've cornered in the town square. You get an extended Intimidation or Intuition roll, with three tests aiming at 8 successes most of the time, though that number may rise or fall depending on how smart and loyal your target is. If you succeed, your victim tells you about some plot, hideout or other piece of useful info. If you fail, you still get told something you want to hear, but they leave out a key bit or lie about an important detail. Labor: You just go out there and do manual labor to earn money, whether through magic or sheer grit or whatever. You're much better at it than the average person, since you're a hero, and there's plenty of work to do. You earn 200D of Aqua Ghyranis. Meditate: Requires Mind 3+. This specifically is practice of Teclian and Hyshian meditations, though it is not limited to the Lumineth. It can also be used to represent other traditions, with the GM altering the benefits slightly to match. But for Teclian meditation, you spend a week studying math, magic and philosophy, and for the next adventure, you get a bonus to opposed Mind/Awareness rolls and, on an RP level, increased focus. Mentor: This is done by two different PCs together. One is the teacher, one the student. The teacher picks a skill they have more Training in than the student and spend a week instructing them in it. During the next adventure, the teacher can Help the student as a Free Action once per round, as long as it's helping in the taught skill. Negotiate: You reach out to a local hostile faction for diplomacy, such as an orruk clan or a Flesh-Eater Court. Most of your time is spent getting them to sit down and talk, but once you do, you learn what they want, who their leaders are, and what would be required to collaborate with them. You get a bonus on opposed rolls to speak to the group ou negotiated with, apparently permanently. A second use of this Endeavor lets you establish a conditional truce or trade agreement with them. Perform: You do street art. This is an extended Entertain roll, with three rolls aiming at 8 successes. If you succeed, you earn 100D in tips and also put forth an ideal or perspective that sticks with the audience. Also, you will often be recognized near your venues. Pray: If you have a Blessed Talent, you can use this to ask your god for guidance in a manner appropriate to them. This is an extended Devotion roll, with three rolls aiming at 8 successes over the week. If you succeed, you receive divine inspiration - though not a clear answer. Instead, once during your next adventure, you may use any Miracle of your god, even if you don't already know it. You may forgo this to instead get a hint into the question you asked, though. Purge Lore: You decide to hide away dangerous knowledge where no one can find it. You secretly tell the GM what you want to hide, then make an extended Mind/Stealth roll, with three rolls aiming at 8 successes. If you succeed, the knowledge is buried and the Doom is reduced by 1. However, if anyone ever discovers the knowledge, the Doom goes up by 2...and if your enemies find out you hid a secret, they're going to try for it. Rally Followers: You try to gather up people to help you. You don't personally lead them most of their time, but you're their patron and establish their core goals and principles. This is a three-roll test aiming at 100 successes, using an appropriate skill to whoever you're recruiting - Athletics may help convince Fyreslayers, for example, while Devotion may call Sylvaneth through the Spirit-Song. By default, you're aiming at your own culture and subfaction, but if you focus specifically you can diversify that. Your total success pool is persistent over the entire campaign! Once you hit ten successes, you've collected up a small group - a warband, a ship's crew or similar, all of whom you know personally. At thirty, you have a company, a guild or equivalent, with several ntoable members who may work as Contacts or Hirelings if you develop relationships with them. At 60 successes, you have a battalion, a magical college or similar. People know about them for their own merit, rather than just their connection to you. At 100 or more, you have a full Glade, Lodge, Stormhost or equivalent, with its own reputation and clout. If it gets bigger, it may even develop its own subfactions or schisms. Whenever you do this Endeavor, you can also ask for your followers to help do something in which numbers matter more than individual skill. There's no roll for that - you just tell the GM what you want them to help with, and the GM decides what they achieve and what trouble they get into while doing it. Redeem: You must have Training 1 and Focus 1 in Intuition. When you do this, you select an enemy that won't try to kill you on sight and whom the GM agrees has a chance at redemption. You spend a week talking to them, showing them kindness and otherwise trying to get them to reconsider. At the end, you roll Determination, and it gets harder the higher the Doom is. If you succeed, the targeted enemy considers making a change. You can support them, but you can't force them to redemption. I appreciate this mainly as a way to signpost that this is a thing you can do. Run a Business: The first time you do this, you just set up a business and define what it offers, with the note that you shouldn't be selling anything that resembles what would be traditional adventuring activities because this is downtime, not running an adventure. Maybe you start a martial arts studio or a restaurant. Every time you do an Endeavor after that, you roll 2d6, multiply the result by 10, and make that many drops of Aqua Ghyranis. If you do three Endeavors in a row that aren't Run A Business, your business collapses and has to be started over again for your income to restart. (So basically, you have to spend every third Endeavor after starting a business doing nothing but run the business to keep making money.) Scout: You go and examine a nearby area, learning about it. You work with the GM to decide some interesting details about the terrain you scout out and how the magic of the Mortal Realms has shaped it, along with what its history is. The smaller an area you scout, the more you're likely to learn. While in that arae, you (apparently permanently) double Training for Survival rolls in the area and for Lore rolls about it. Seek Foe: You decide to find someone worth fighting. You work with the GM to create a new antagonist, figure out why they're mad at you or you're mad at them, what they look like and so on. Later, if you defeat this antagonist, you get 1 extra XP on top of the normal XP you gain playing the game. Alternatively, you might use this to design a lost artifact or hidden location, getting the bonus XP when you discover or secure it. Sensory Reprieve: You decide to spend a week in isolation, avoiding crowds and strong stimuli so you can recenter yourself. How much stimulus is too much is up to you, but you avoid it. For the next adventure, you get a bonus to all Determination rolls and to all rolls to resist Frightened. Also, you're in a good mood for a few days. Succumb to Despair: You do nothing useful and just indulge in your worst traits. The Doom increases by 1. The game acknowledges that there is no mechanical reason to ever do this, and many groups will have absolutely no use for it, but it's there for if your group wants to toy with the narrative of a descent into darkness. It also notes that you should only ever do this if the entire group consents to it, because it is making life harder for everyone deliberately to no benefit. Tend Nature: You go out and work to heal the local wildlife, tend to infected plants, protect animals from Chaos taint, that kind of thing. Until the next downtime, you get a bonus to all Fortitude rolls and to all opposed Beast Handling rolls. Terrorise: You pick an enemy faction nearby whose week you're just going to ruin. You start spreading fear as an extended Intimidation roll aiming at 10 successes in three rolls. If you succeed, all local Minion and Warrior foes of that faction are Frightened of you until the next downtime. If you fail, all factions you have previously terrorised lose all fear of you until you re-apply it. Being Batman is hard. Track Beasts: You decide to learn more about the local fauna as an extended Survival roll, aiming at 8 successes over three rolls. If you succeed, you work with the GM to design a new beast you discover, including its role in the local ecology, its traits and what it cares about. If necessary, you might even make stats for it. From here on, you or anyone you tell about it can hunt and track the thing. If this results in a local settlement or city getting a new food source or removing it as a threat to locals, the Doom decreases by 1. If you fail, you learn nothing. If you fail by 3 successes or more, you suffer a Lasting Wound as the beast lashes out at you before fleeing. Transform: You spend a period doing something that alters your nature. You figure out what. Whatever the case, you pick two Attributes and swap their values, recalculating all derived stats as necessary. However, doing this is very taxing, and you suffer a Lasting Wound. Next time: Expanded Contacts. Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Feb 28, 2021 |
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Feb 28, 2021 01:33
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On the Soulbound Spells a lot of the new ones are intended to be the high level ones you would get after playing the character for a while and having really buffed your character.
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Feb 28, 2021 01:49
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Mors Rattus posted:Desperate Measures: This requires the Doom to be 7 or more. It also is real dumb! You do horrible rituals to burn yourself out. You immediately gain 20 XP and can never gain XP again. Why? I actually really like this one. Doom being at 7 means the stakes are high, so I can see a player who is planning on retiring a character soon taking this. It's fluffy and makes sense for character whose back is against the wall and needs to prioritize the present over the future at all costs.
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Feb 28, 2021 05:16
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Soulbound: Champions of Order Making Contact So, the core book has the Contacts Endeavor. By default, what it does is let you meet someone you and the GM design together who can help you with something. By default, a normal contact can be hired for half cost if they provide a normal hireling service, gives two bonus successes if they could help you with an Endeavor, and if strengthened, also gives a bonus to all rolls to convince them to help you. Contacts can be normal strength or strengthened. But, overall, there wasn't a lot of guidance on how they worked! That has changed. This book introduces a bunch of example Contacts you can meet, along with rough stats - typically, they have a few skills they're good at, don't have any attributes over 2, and have one or two Talents. They also provide a Benefit - something you can convince or hire them to do that you couldn't normally hire people to do - and a Greater Benefit, which you can only use if they're a strengthened Contact. Aelven Shadowblade: An assassin in the service of the Free Peoples, a master of disguise and infiltration who is rarely seen by their targets. The base Benefit is that you can pay the Shadowblade 200D to have them perform the Infiltrate Endeavor on your behalf. You can pay them extra to give them a bonus to their rolls to do it, too. They roll to see if they get it done like a PC would, and if they fail, they are at risk of discovery, capture or death. If they succeed, you get all the benefits of the Endeavor but are only out cash. The Greater Benefit is that you can spend 400D to hire them to kill someone. You select a Champion or Chosen foe that you know of and provide their general location, routine and defenses. This can be gained by an Infiltrate Endeavor or other means of investigation. Once you do that, the Shadowblade makes a Guile or Stealth roll - relatively easy for a Champion, difficult for a Chosen. If they succeed on a Champion, the target dies. If they succeed against a Chosen, they deal 1 Wound, which the Chosen cannot heal by any means until your next downtime. If they fail, they may be captured or killed. Celestial Seer: A Celestial mage and prophet or diviner. The basic benefit is that you can pay 100D to receive an omen, randomly d etermined by the GM to be either positive or negative. If the omen is positive, you choose a skill and get +1 Focus to it for the next adventure. If the omen is negative, you get a bonus to Defence until the first time you are Wounded in the next adventure, and the first time you would become Wounded in the next adventure, it is one step less severe than normal. The Greater Benefit lets you pay an extra 75D for the seer to foretell a fated moment. During the next adventure, when you fail a roll you can declare it to be the fated moment. When you do, you immediately reroll with a bonus. If you fail the roll a second time, though, the Doom rises by 1. Collegiate Scholar: A mage of the Collegiate Arcane whom you have met and befriended. The basic Benefit is that they'll happily be a teacher for the Learn Spell Endeavor, though they can only teach Common spells or spells of their specific Lore. They usually don't charge, but the GM may rule depending on the spell they might ask for up to 100D. The Greater Benefit is that for 300D, they will help you with the Create Spell Endeavor, giving a bonus to each Channeling roll made for it, with a bigger bonus if the spell matches their Lore. Covenite Sister: A Khainite priest, likely one who has decided that helping you will somehow advance her position among the Daughters. The core Benefit is that for 200D, she'll happily make you two doses of witchbrew as per the Create Witchbrew Endeavor in the core. Alternatively, she can be asked to assist with that if you can already make it, adding a lot of dice to the Crafting and Devotion rolls involved. I'm unclear on if the assistance has the same cost or is free, but I'd lean to free. The Greater Benefit is that you can spend 250D to get two doses special Bloodrevel Witchbrew instead. Bloodrevel Witchbrew, on top of the normal benefits, also makes you immune to Frightened for the duration and increases your Defence, with a further increase against Daemons or creatures of Chaos. However, when its effects end, you have to make a Fortitude roll or become Poisoned for a day. Cultist: A devotee of one of the many gods of the Mortal Realms. Teh core Benefit is that you are always welcome in establishments dedicated to the Cultist's faith, even when normal people would be turned away. Temples will also provide food and shelter when needed. Further, if any party member performs the Forsake Endeavor to change what god their Blessed Talent applies to, as long as the Cultist's god is one of the gods involved, they ensure that there's no social problems with the god being forsaken. Lastly, whenever a party member uses the Pray Endeavor, the cultist helps out, providing a bonus to the rolls involved. If the party member and cultist share the same faith, the bonus is larger. The Greater Benefit is that the bonuses to Pray are increased, and further, whenever a party member performs the Redeem Endeavor, they get a bonus to the Determination roll, as the Cultist helps provide psychological healing. At the GM's discretion, this may also expand the list of valid targets for the Redeem Endeavor to include otherwise irredeemable villains. Devoted of Sigmar: A Sigmarite devotee who is on the front of the war with Chaos. The core Benefit is that you can tithe 200D to get a blessing when performing the Recuperate Endeavor, restoring 1 additional Soulfire. (No matter how many Devoted contacts you have, this can only be used once per Endeavor.) The Greater Benefit is that when a Fear advances to a Threat, the Devoted may call on the party to help calm people. This requires a group roll of Devotion from the entire party, all of whom get a bonus. If the party gets at least 8 successes on this, the Doom does not increase as a result of the Fear advancing to Threat. Endrineer: A Kharadron endrineer who has agreed to share some of their small amount of free time with the party, likely seeing some professional benefit to doing so. They may ask for rights to put their logo on gear they help maintain or build, for example. The core Benefit is that you can pay 250D to get their help with an Endrineering or Repair Equipment Endeavor, giving a large bonus to the rolls involved. The Greater Benefit is that their prices drop - 125D for the basic Benefit, or 200D to also get a bonus to Focus on each roll. Also, you can pay them 100D to perform the Regular Maintenance Endeavor for you on any Kharadron gear you have, freeing you up to use your time for something else. Flagellant: A Sigmarite zealot who works to use their own blood to cleanse Chaos taint from the land. They likely help you out while recovering from the blood loss that entails. The core Benefit is that they will let you use Devotion in place of Stealth for the Purge Lore Endeavor, and give a bonus to all rolls involves. However, if you use them in this manner, you suffer a Lasting Wound due to their harsh methods. The Greater Benefit is that the Flagellant will help you in a Cleanse Corruption Endeavor. You still have to take part, but one member of the Binding can do something else. If all of the Binding participates anyway, the Doom drops by 2 instead of 1. Freeguild Captain: A Freeguild leader, either a frontline commander or law enforcement specialist. They have great information networks either way. The core Benefit is that for 100D, they can get you further information on any one Rumor involving the military, law enforcement or similar. Also, once per downtime, they can send you a Medic, Mercenary Veteran or Scout hireling who will hang out with the party for 1d6+1 days. However, if this hireling dies, the Captain will ask for 500D for their family and the Doom increases by 1. The Greater Benefit is that for 200D, the Captain will help you with a Rally Followers Endeavor, giving you two automatic successes for it. Kharadron Captain: The leader of a Kharadron vessel of some kind, who is likely hoping you will hire them for trips that prove profitable. The core Benefit is that you can hire them for a voyage of up to a week's travel at a 25% discount. If you want a longer trip at the discounted price, you're going to need to make a Guile roll, harder the longer the voyage is. The Greater Benefit is that the price reduction is now 50%. Also, you can pay 150D to have the Captain assign crew to maintain your Kharadron gear, performing the Regular Maintenance Endeavor on your behalf. Also, if you hire a voyage through the captain, they will provide that maintenance service free during the journey. Merchant: A merchant, obviously. Probably someone seeking longterm profit by working with you to protect them against Chaos. The core Benefit is you can get them to perform the Shopping Endeavor on your behalf. You make a Guile roll and they willget you a number of Common or Rare items based on your successes, though you have to provide them the funds to do it plus 10% on top for their help - but they're never going to have trouble finding what you want, and it saves time for you. Also, the merchant counts as a free city for purposes of the Establish Trade Route Endeavor. The Greater Benefit is that when you use the merchant to go shopping on your behalf, they can now find you any one piece of Exotic equipment instead, though at a 25% markup. If the GM rules that the item is absolutely impossible to get, the return all but 10% of the item's price at the end. Noble: A local noble, though what that means varies wildly depending on where you are and who you're dealing with. The core Benefit is that you can pay 200D to be brought into their social circle, allowing you get further information on any single Rumor and giving abonus to all rolls on the Gossip Endeavor. The Greater Benefit is that now, you only have to pay 100D for the core Benefit. Also, you can pay 200D for help on the Conspire Endeavor, giving a large bonus to each Guile roll. However, if you fail anyway, the noble may be disgraced or implicated, or may implicate you to save themselves. Scourge Privateer: You befriend a pirate. The core Benefit is that they can get you passage on a ship for 50% of the normal price, as long as the trip is no longer than a week. For a longer voyage with the discount, you need a Guile roll, harder the longer the trip would be. The Greater Benefit is that you can pay 200D to receive training in monster hunting and Scourge tactics, though doing so uses up one Endeavor. Until your next downtime, you get the benefits of the The Bigger They Are Talent. Skilled Healer: You know a doctor or healer or medic of some kind. The core Benefit is that for 50D, they will attend one person during a Rest. That person heals 2 spots on their Wound track rather than 1. The Greater Benefit is that for 200D, they'll give you some kind of special, high quality medicine. A Mortally Wounded creature can take this medicine as an Action, or someone else can apply it to them as an Action. They are no longer Mortally Wounded and no longer Stunned, regain all Toughness and clear three spaces on the Wound track. However, it takes a full week to make a single dose of this stuff, and if you ask for it often you're probably going to have to provide the supplies to make it. Spy/Informant: You know a professional spy, criminal informer, clever street urchin or otherwise useful information gatherer. The core Benefit is that you can pay 100D to be introduced to any local secret societies or illicit groups without making them suspicious. The Greater Benefit is you can pay 250D to get leads on current events. When at least one Fear becomes a Threat, you will receive information on that Threat beyond what is common knowledge, such as an important location, a password to a hideout or what kinds of enemies you can expect to face when fighting the Threat. Unlikely Ally: This could be just about any kind of person who would not normally be friendly to the Free Peoples - maybe you befriend a local Orruk or convince a Vampire to assist you in order to advance their own interest. The core Benefit is that you can pay 200D (or equivalent value in goods and services) to get information about their faction or one they know about, though they may demand more if the intel you want is particularly broad or significant. The Greater Benefit is that they can be asked to subvert someone in their own faction or one which they have access to, likely in the form of blackmail, kidnapping or otherwise getting access to them at a key moment. They will expect repayment in the form of favors, especially protection from consequences and advancement of their own rank. Zharrgrim: A Fyreslayer priest and rune-forger who is willing to help you, probably in the name of their lodge. The core Benefit is that they will help you with the Grundtogg Endeavor even if you aren't part of their lodge, hammering runes you provide in for free. Alternatively, they will help you with the Forge Ur-Gold Rune Endeavor, giving you a large bonus to the Crafting and Devotion rolls involved, also for free. The Greater Benefit is that if you provide them with at least three pounds of ur-gold, they will make any single ur-gold rune of your choice for you, without you needing to personally perform the Forge Ur-Gold Rune Endeavor, and will also immediately hammer it into your flesh as part of that if you want. We also get two new Loyal Companions!  The Rakerdart is a predatory fish with sleek armor plates along their body and a long, serrated bill that they stab into prey and twist around to saw off protective flesh. They're often tamed by the Idoneth and used as pets and hunting beasts. Each is a Medium Beast Warrior with decent if not amazing melee skills, though they're quite fragile. The main benefit they have is they have Rend on their attack. You're going to want an Ethersea Cloak if you have one, though, as they can't breathe air. The other is the Scryhawk, a hunting bird native to the mountains of Hysh. They're normally a soft brown, but as they age and fly around in Hysh's light, their feathers take on a silver sheen, making them appear to trail starlight as they fly. They are drawn to the light of magical Scryhawk Lanterns, so you need to own one if you want to bond with a Scryhawk, and they're most often seen helping the Vanari with archery, as the lantern allows their master to see through their eyes. They're Tiny Beast Minions, exceptionally fragile, but someone who is looking through their eyes takes no penalties for shooting beyond their weapon's range, and with GM discretion may even allow for targeting foes at Extreme Range. The End Now we're back to army books. What we have available are: Chaos: Beasts of Chaos, Blades of Khorne, Disciples of Tzeentch, Hedonites of Slaanesh (New Mortals Update), Maggotkin of Nurgle, Slaves to Darkness Death: Nighthaunt Destruction: Ogor Mawtribes, Orruk Warclans, Sons of Behemat Order: Daughters of Khaine, Fyreslayers, Idoneth Deepkin, Sylvaneth
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Feb 28, 2021 21:13
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Slaanesh please.
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Feb 28, 2021 21:16
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I've been begging for ogres for a long time now, feed me please!
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Feb 28, 2021 21:53
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Sure ogors
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Feb 28, 2021 22:30
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| # ? May 23, 2024 06:18 |
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Ogors por favor. Ogre Kingdoms always had a soft spot in my heart, as I too am completely and utterly motivated by food. Apparently there's a playable one in the Cursed City boardgame too, which bodes well for the potential for PC rules in Soulbound.
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Feb 28, 2021 22:59
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