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Shadow the Demon Lord Part 7: The Novice Paths Once you finish your Starting adventure, you level up and gain your Novice Path. The four Paths map pretty well to the classic D&D retroclone standbys. You’ve got the Magician, the Priest, the Rogue and the Warrior. Each time you level up in your Novice Path, you gain some specified bonuses. These can include increases to your Attributes or Characteristics, more languages/professions, more magic or new talents. There are optional rules includes for a Group Identity. This is a shared background that ties your group together and gives them a reason to remain a party. You can pick an Identity or roll a d6 if you want to see how your group can come together.  Without further ado, let’s get into the Novice Paths themselves.  Magician This is Shadow of the Demon Lord’s take on the magic-user. They are very barebones, offering the widest spell variety and choice of any of the Paths in the game, the Magician allows you to fill in the blanks of the class however you like. No two Magicians will ever be the same, just because of the sheer number of magical traditions and spells you can choose from. One thing to note is that in Shadow of the Demon Lord there is no divide between arcane and divine magic. Magicians can learn the Life tradition and cast healing spells just like Priests, and Priests are likewise not barred from taking destructive spells exclusively. Level 1 Magician Attributes: +1 to two Characteristics: Health +2 and Power +1 Languages/Professions: You become literate in all the languages you know and add one academic profession of your choice. Magic: You get four choices, and with each choice you can either discover a magical tradition or learn 1 spell from a tradition you already know. Cantrip: When you discover a new tradition you get an extra level 0 spell from it (all traditions have 2 level 0 spells, and you get one when you discover it, so this talent means a Magician always knows all the level 0 spells for any tradition they learn). Sense Magic: A spell all Magicians get for free, does that you’d think Level 2 Magician Characteristics: Health +2 Magic: You get two choices, discovering a tradition or learning a spell with each. Spell Recovery: You can use an action to heal damage equal to your Healing Rate and regain one casting of a spell you’ve learned. You can do this once per rest. Level 5 Expert Magician Characteristics: Health +2 and Power +1 Magic: Discover a tradition or learn one spell Counterspell: You can counter spells you see other magic users casting with a triggered action, causing them to take 1 bane to the attack roll and you get 1 boon when resisting it. Level 8 Master Magician Characteristics: Health +2 Magic: Discover a tradition or learn one spell Improved Spell Recovery: You get back two castings of a spell per use of Spell Recovery now.  Priest These guys aren’t clerics, there’s a path for that later on. They’re hardier than Magicians but have less spell variety in return. They’re more like junior clerics, but when we get into the Expert Paths you’ll see that they have tons of ways they could develop and branch out, so if you want to start working your way up to a druid, paladin or a spiritual berserker, Priest is where you want to start. Priests in SotDL don’t derive their power from the gods, who are distant from the world. Their power comes from within, but the faith they follow shapes their thinking and magical practices, and therefore the traditions they can learn. Each god/pantheon has a few choices to make on that front:  You’ll notice that every religion has Life as a tradition. This is to make sure all Priests have access to healing magic, which almost exclusively comes from the Life tradition. Level 1 Priest Attributes: +1 to two Characteristics: Health +4 and Power +1 Languages/Professions: You can become literate in one language you speak or add a new language. You get one religious profession. Magic: You discover one tradition associated with your faith. Then you make two choices, discovering one tradition from your faith of learning one spell any tradition you know. Shared Recovery: You can use an action to heal damage equal to your Healing Rate, and then allow a target within short range to do the same. You can do this once per rest. Level 2 Priest Characteristics: Health +4 Magic: You make two choices, either discovering a tradition from your faith or learning a spell. Prayer: You can use a triggered action when a creature within short range makes an attack or challenge roll to grant them 1 boon on the roll. Level 5 Expert Priest Characteristics: Health +4, Power +1 Magic: Learn one spell from your traditions. Divine Strike: When you use Prayer to grant 1 boon to an attack roll, the attacker also deals 1d6 extra damage. Level 8 Master Priest Characteristics: Health +4 Magic: Learn one spell from your traditions Inspriring Prayer: When you use Prayer on someone other than yourself, you make attack and challenge rolls with 1 boon for 1 round. Improved Shared Recovery: you can use Shared Recovery twice per rest.  Rogue Probably my favorite Novice Path from a design perspective, the Rogue is geared towards letting you go in any direction you want later on. You can get better at killing enemies, becoming a skill monkey, becoming the ultimate thief, or even branching out into a magic Path. Rogues also have a strong core design focused around making them better at attacking, making your attacks both more reliable and harder-hitting. Rogues are the glass cannons of lower level characters. Level 1 Rogue Attributes: +1 to two Characteristics: Health +3 Languages/Professions: You can either speak a new language or add a new common, criminal or wilderness profession. Nimble Recovery: You can use an action to heal damage equal to your Healing Rate and them move up to half your Speed without triggering free attacks. You can do this once per rest. Trickery: Once per round, you can make an attack or challenge roll with 1 boon. If you use this to do an attack roll, you get 1d6 extra damage. Level 2 Rogue Characteristics: Health +3 Exploit Opportunity: Once per round, when you roll above a 20 on an attack roll and get 5 more than the target number, you can take another turn before the end of the round. Roguery Talent: You can choose a Roguery Talent (see below) Level 5 Expert Rogue Characteristics: Health +3 Dirty Tricks: Whenever you make an attack roll with 1 boon, you deal 1d6 extra damage. Rogue Cunning: You can use Trickery twice per round. Level 8 Master Rogue Characteristics: Health +3 Roguery Talent: You get another Roguery Talent (see below) Roguery Talents
 Warrior We all know and love the Warrior. This Novice Path is all about one thing: dishing out damage while taking punishment and remaining on their feet. There isn’t a lot to the Warrior’s design, but there doesn’t have to be, as the Expert and Master Paths later on give you tons of variety and flavor, while the Warrior makes sure that no matter what direction you choose to go, you’ll always be a reliable source of damage and a sturdy tank. Level 1 Warrior Attributes: +1 to two Characteristics: Health +5 Languages/Professions: You can add one common, martial or wilderness profession. Catch Your Breath: You can use an action or triggered action to heal damage equal to your Healing Rate. You can do this once per rest. Weapon Training: When you attack with a weapon, you get 1 boon. Level 2 Warrior Characteristics: Health +5 Combat Prowess: Weapon attacks deal 1d6 extra damage. Forceful Strike: When you roll above a 20 and exceed the target number by 5 on an attack roll, you deal 1d6 extra damage. Level 5 Expert Warrior Characteristics: Defense +1, Health +5 Combat Expertise: when you attack with a weapon, you either deal 1d6 extra damage or you can make another attack against a different target before the end of the turn. Level 8 Master Warrior Characteristics: Health +5 Grit: You can use Catch Your Breath twice per rest Combat Mastery: When you attack with a weapon, you either deal 1d6 extra damage or you can make another attack against a different target before the end of the turn. This is cumulative with Combat Expertise, but each attack must have a different target. And that’s it for the Novice Paths! Now that we’ve been over them all, Let’s talk about which Path Spradley would likely head into. Spradley knows they’re big and slow and not that good with people, so when they are thrust headlong into a life of adventure and excitement, they do what comes naturally: they pick up a weapon and start smacking people with it. Before long, they find that they have a knack for this, and take it up as a way to defend themselves. Spradley is following the path of the Warrior, and to represent this, we make the following changes: +1 to Strength and Intellect, + 5 to Health, they’ll get the Mercenary profession, and get the Catch Your Breath and Weapon Training talents. Additionally, they get a battleaxe and a large shield. Spradley Sprocket Strength 12, Agility 8, Intellect 11, Will 8 Perception 9 Defense 15 Health 17 Healing Rate 4 Size 1, Speed 8, Power 0 Damage 0, Insanity 0, Corruption 0 Languages: Common (Literate) Professions: Folklore, Religion, Mercenary Immune to disease, poison, asleep and fatigued Key Mechanical Body Repairing Damage Catch Your Breath Weapon Training Gear: Battleaxe, large shield, basic clothing, backpack, 1 week of rations, waterskin, tinderbox, 2 torches and a pouch with 2 copper pennies. Spradley has a few more miles on them. During their quest to decipher the message written inside their arm, they fell in with a band of mercenaries who made good use of their mechanical muscle. Spradley learned the way of the axe and shield, and fought well among the humans and orcs they traveled with. They blew their pay on books, learning more about the history of the clockworks and their heritage, and studied up even more on folklore, especially that of the golems. Spradley believes they are close to finding out the truth, traveling to more and more cosmopolitan cities in search of a scholar who can help them understand whatever secret is etched into their own body. Audience Participation We’ve been over the Novice Paths, so it’s time to decide on what Queegol will become. She’s traveling around, working in various cities and towns, which just makes it easier for her to get sucked into a world of adventure along the way. Take a look at the Novice Paths and let me know which one you would like to see Queegol enter into. The choices: Magician Priest Rogue Warrior Also, I want to leave you all with a teaser for Chapter 4: Expert Paths. Shadow of the Demon Lord’s character advancement system is one of my favorite things about it, and Expert is where things really start to open up in terms of character diversity and build choices. So here are the Expert Paths in the core book, to give you an idea of what’s coming up.  Next time: The Expert Paths! Serf fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Jan 8, 2017 |
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Jan 8, 2017 18:38
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unseenlibrarian posted:Kinda gives me an FF Tactics vibe, with basic jobs, then slightly better ones, and then even better later. This is an apt comparison. The Expert Paths give more powerful abilities while remaining kinda broad, and then the Master Paths are more specialized, with fewer abilities but those abilities are pretty drat sweet. Schwalb said one goal while making the game was that it would be simple to learn, with characters becoming more complex over time, and that players should get something new added to their toolkit with every level. I think SotDL hits that pretty well. Also the Master Paths can get pretty insane. I don't want to spoil too much, but if you're into giant robots, this game has something for you on that front 
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Jan 9, 2017 14:47
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Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 8: The Paths of Faith and Power Upon reaching level 3, you get to pick your Expert Path. These are grouped into four groups of four that are themed around the four Novice Paths. The book makes very clear that while you can follow your grouping and take up an Expert Path suggested by your Novice Path, you are not locked into this. Expert Paths have no prerequisites, and you can move into any of them that you want, so long as you can work it into the story. A big part of being an Expert level character is your Objective. This is something you’d like to accomplish in your time as an Expert character, a goal to work towards while leveling up. The book provides a table for you to randomly roll on if you like, you can pick one of your own choice or make up something that suits your character. You share your objective with the GM, and they use it to guide the campaign, pushing you to accomplish your objective. I think this is a really useful tool for indicating what the player is interested in, and helping the GM tailor the game to their desires. A few example objectives are: “A castle, tower, ship or some other kind of property.” “To be remembered after I have left this world.” “To make a friend from an enemy.” “To prove to everyone that I am, in fact, a badass.” The GM can use objectives to tie your group together, giving your objectives overlapping goals and creating adventures that help your group accomplish them together. Your friends help you accomplish your objective, and you in turn help them with theirs. The game also provides rules for choosing a second Expert Path at level 7 instead of taking a Master Path. I’m going to go over the Paths by the sections they’re broken down by. In the book they’re presented in alphabetical order, but I like presenting them in themes. I’m also not going to go over them in as much detail as I did in the Novice Path section. Wait until you see how many Master Paths there are to cover. Paths of Faith  Cleric The cleric is all about their holy symbol and things they can do with it. A symbol usually looks like the divine iconography of the cleric’s god, and they often decorate their armor with them but rely on a single symbol that they channel their magic through and also use to power a lot of their talents. Level 3 Cleric All level 3 characters get to add +1 to two Attributes. Clerics get more Health and Power, and they get another language or a religious profession. They discover more traditions or spells that are associated with their religion, and get Conviction, which allows them to make Will challenge rolls to resist frightening and horrifying effects with 1 boon. They also get Icon of Faith, which lets you choose one tradition you know, and all spells you cast with a holy symbol of your god give you 1 boon to cast them and the targets take 1 bane to resist. Level 6 Cleric A little more Health and magic, and you get Empowered Symbol, which means that any spell cast using Icon of Faith that heals or does damage heals or damages 1d6 more healing or damage. Level 9 Master Cleric Even more Health, Power and magic, and you get Divine Power, giving the benefits of Icon of Faith to any attack spell cast from any tradition associated with your religion.  Druid You know them, you love them, the druid is the tree-hugging spellcaster of SotDL, but a little hardier and more outdoorsy than most casters. They have tons of flavor, with a first tier of powers that make the druids stand out from other Paths. While their spell selection is pretty limited, they make up for it with a few special powers that no one else can get. Level 3 Druid A little extra Health and Power and either another language or a religious or wilderness profession. You get to discover the Life, Nature or Primal traditions, or learn one spell from one of those traditions. You also get Druid Mysteries, which allows you to do all of the following:
A bump in Health and some more magic, and Tree Walker, allows you to teleport between trees within medium range of each other. Level 9 Master Druid Another jump in Health and Power, another spell, and Resist Elements, which means you take half damage from cold, lighting, thunder and fire.  Oracle One of my favorite Paths in the game, the oracle is best described as a divine barbarian. By allowing supernatural entities to enter their bodies, the oracle gets enhanced combat prowess and access to divine wisdom and minor bits of prophecy. Doing this puts a strain on them though in the form of Insanity, which builds up each time they allow themselves to be possessed. Level 3 Oracle You get more Health and Power, plus another language or profession and you can either discover another tradition or learn a spell from one of your traditions. You also get Divine Ecstasy, which allows you to enter a state of possession for 1 minute, granting all the following bonuses:
Level 6 Oracle More Health and another spell, and you get Commune with the Gods, which lets you use Divine Ecstasy to ask up to three questions with yes or no answers and then make a Will roll with 1 bane. On a success the GM answers truthfully. If you fail, you gain 1 Insanity. Level 9 Master Oracle More Health and Power and you earn one more spell. Divine Ecstasy gets boosted by Avatar, which gives you the following additional effects:
 Paladin Now we’re back in familiar territory. Paladins are holy warrior, crusaders for the gods, and they learn to channel magical energy through themselves to destroy their enemies, heal their allies and gain supernatural powers. Paladins can serve any of the gods, but lend themselves towards the more zealous faiths. The paladin is a very strong Expert Path with a wide range of powers that make them strong melee combatants and lets them keep their friends on their feet. Level 3 Paladin More Health and 1 point of Power, and you can either discover a tradition associated with your religion or learn a spell from a tradition you already know. You also get Divine Smite, which allows you to, on a successful attack with a weapon, expend a casting of a spell to deal an extra 1d6 damage per rank of the spell you expended. If the enemy is undead, demon, devil, spirit or fae you get another 1d6 on top of that. And you get Faith Healing, a support talent that lets you expend a casting of a spell while touching a creature to allow them to heal damage equal to half their Healing Rate or remove a poison or disease affliction. Level 6 Paladin A bit of Health and a new spell, and you get Divine Vigor, meaning you cannot be diseased or poisoned. You also get Sense Enemies, which allows you to spend an action to innately know the location of all enemies within medium range for 1 minute. Level 9 Master Paladin Some more Health and Power, another spell, and the Holy Radiance talent, which gives you the ability to summon a divine light that empowers your allies and weakens various kinds of supernatural foes. Paths of Power  Artificer Combining magic and engineering, the artificer is a versatile Path that can provide all kinds of useful gear to your party. Later on they can imbue items they create with spells and even create mechanical minions to help out. Level 3 Artificer You get the standard Attribute increase, as well as some Health and Power. You can either speak a new language or get a new academic profession, and either discover a new tradition or learn a spell. You get your core ability, Artificer’s Bag, which contains loose parts with a value equal to twice your party level in gold. You can spend an action, 1 minute, and use a toolkit to assemble those parts into any piece of gear in the game, with a value equal to or less than the amount of gold in the bag. You can make any number of these items so long as their total value isn’t more than your bag can have. Once you complete a rest, these items fall apart and their value is returned to the bag. Level 6 Artificer More Health and either another tradition or spell, and you get the Store Spell ability, which allows you to imbue a spell into any item created from your Artificer’s Bag. The spell is stored until expended or you rest, and anyone can use the spell without needing to meet the Power requirements. Level 9 Master Artificer You start off with Health, Power and either a tradition or a spell. You then get Mechanical Servants, a really cool talent that lets you make small constructs (statted in the bestiary). 1 gold gets you a servant, and you can spend another gold to make it fly. You can make as many servants as you have gold in your bag to support them, and they fall apart when you complete a rest.  Sorcerer These guys aren’t like your standard D&D sorcerer. They are standard magic users who push themselves to their limits and drain energy from the environment itself to fuel their magic. They can accomplish amazing things, but that energy builds up inside them, and if they fail to contain it they explode, wreaking havoc on anyone nearby but leaving them unscathed. Level 3 Sorcerer Increase two Attributes by 1, gain a little Health and a point of Power, and discover a new tradition or learn a spell. You get Sorcery, which allows you to empower an attack spell, giving you 1 boon to the attack roll and the target 1 bane to resist. When you do this, you gain a point of strain. Sorcerous Strain is the other thing. You build up strain, and at the end of each round in which you gained strain, you make a Will challenge roll with a number of banes equal to your strain. If you fail, you explode with power, dealing 1d6 damage per point of your Power to everything within range. When this happens your strain is set to 0. Level 6 Sorcerer You get more Health, and either a new tradition or a spell, and access to Greater Sorcery. When you cast a spell you can take 1 strain to apply one of the following effects to the spell:
A little more Health and a point of Power, and either a new tradition or a spell. And you get Sorcerous Blast, which lets you aim at a creature in medium range, reduce your strain by 1, and then make an Intellect or Will roll against their Agility. On a success, they take 2d6 damage.  Witch The witch is an interesting Path that has very thematic powers with a dash of magic to expand their capabilities. They are magic users who learned their practices from the Fair Folk long ago, and witchcraft is handed down on an individual basis. Witches can be found anywhere, but typically live in secluded areas on the fringes of civilization and society, working as spirit healers and soothsayers for small villages. Level 3 Witch You get the standard Attribute increase, with some Health and Power. You can speak another language, add an academic profession of add a common/wilderness profession. You discover one tradition or learn a spell. You get the Witch Fire spell, which allows you to create a damaging ball of green fire that you can move around the battlefield and teleport to. The final talent at this level is Guidance, which lets you use a triggered action to give a creature that can see an understand you 2 boons on a challenge roll. Level 6 Witch At this level you get a Health increase, another tradition or spell, and the Flying Broom spell, which of course lets you expend a casting of a spell to make a broom into a flying vehicle. You can even take a passenger with you! Level 9 Master Witch Health and Power increases, and another tradition or spell. Additionally you get Lasting Bond, a talent gives you and a willing creature bonuses when you’re close to each other, and allows you to communicate across any distance with mirrors.  NWS for nudity and general grossitude Wizard A pretty close analogue to the D&D equivalent, the wizard has a little more flavor out of the box. They are versatile spellcasters who use big spellbooks called grimoires to expand their spellcasting capability even more than normal. With even more expanded magical powers later on, wizards are the most reliable and flexible spellcasters in the game. Level 3 Wizard You get your Attribute increases, as well as some Health and Power. You can speak another language or get an academic profession, and you discover a tradition or learn a spell. You also get your Grimoire, which is a book with any three spells of a rank you can cast inside it. While holding it, you can expend a casting of a spell to instead cast any spell from your grimoire with an equal or lower rank. When you learn a spell that is in your grimoire you can replace it with a new spell that you have the rank to cast. Level 6 Wizard More Health, and either a new tradition or a spell. You also get Spell Expertise, which gives you an extra casting of all rank 0 and 1 spells you know. Level 9 Master Wizard A little more Health and some Power, another tradition or one spell, and the Spell Mastery talent, which gives you 6 spell points. When you cast a spell, you can expend 1 + the spell’s rank in spell points to cast it without expending the casting. You regain all spell points when you complete a rest. We're in a three way tie between Magician, Rogue and Priest on Queegol. Gimme some more votes and I'll get her statted out for the next post. Next time: The Paths of Trickery and War!
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Jan 10, 2017 00:24
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Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 9: The Paths of Trickery and War The Paths of Trickery  Assassin This Path provides pretty much what you’d expect. If you want to be a sneaky killer or a spy with a license to kill, you can’t go wrong with the Assassin. They get their core ability early on, and when combined with the talents of a Rogue alone they become formidable fighters, and some Master Paths offer even more abilities that enhance the assassin’s skill at quickly eliminating enemies. Level 3 Assassin You get your two Attribute increases, some Health and an extra point of Perception. You then get either another spoken language or a common or criminal profession. Assassinate is your defining talent, allowing you to make an attack against a surprised creature or one you are hidden from, forcing them to make a Strength challenge roll. If they fail, they take damage equal to their Health, which remember means instant death in Shadow of the Demon Lord. You also get Disguise Expertise, allowing you to spend an action and use a disguise kit to disguise yourself, and Quick Reflexes, which gives you the ability to spend an action to hide or retreat. Level 6 Assassin More health and the ability to Manufacture Poison. This lets you spend a little time and money to create doses of poison, which we’ll go over in a later chapter. Level 9 Master Assassin A bonus to Health and Killer’s Eye, which lets you study a creature that is unaware of you. On a successful Perception challenge roll you make all attacks against that creature with 1 boon and you get 2d6 extra damage.  Scout A pretty close analogue to rangers, scouts are the stealthy vanguard of any party. They can use melee or ranged weapons in equal measure, but are focused around a support role in that their observations make their party more effective. A scout in the right place at the right time can melt an enemy with support from their party members. Level 3 Scout Attribute increases, more Health, +1 to Perception and +2 to Speed, which is rare in this game. You can speak another language or get a wilderness profession. You gain Alertness, which gives you a boon to all Perception rolls and you can’t be surprised unless you’re unconscious. Forward Observer gives you a boon to sneaking and hiding when you’re not close to your party, Quick Reflexes allows to to use an action to hide or retreat, and Trackless means you don’t leave tracks on solid ground unless you choose to. Level 6 Scout More Health and Reveal Weakness, which allows you to spend an action to target 1 creature within reach. For one round, all allies get 1 boon to attack that creature. Level 9 Master Scout Another boost to Health and Low Blow. This talent means that when the target of Reveal Weakness takes damage, you can use a triggered action to attack them.  Thief Ah the thief. This is a straight continuation of the rogue, with a set of talents to pick from that customize your thief however you like. They have a narrower focus than the rogue, as your choice of thief means you want to really get deep into theivery and subterfuge. Level 3 Thief Attribute increase, +1 Perception and more Health, plus either another spoken language or a criminal profession. Quick Reflexes is one you’ll remember, allowing you to take an action to hide or retreat, and you get two choices from the Thievery Talent list (see below). Level 6 Thief Another +1 to Perception and a bit of Health, plus Dodge, which allows you to take an action or triggered action and choose one creature you can see. For 1 round, they take 1 bane to hit you and you get 1 boon to resist their attacks. You also get another Thievery Talent. Level 9 Master Thief A bump in Health and Opportunist, which allows you to use a triggered action to attack any creature within reach that takes damage. And you get your final Thievery Talent Thievery Talents
 Warlock If you’re familiar with the Blue Mages of Final Fantasy, you’ve pretty much grasped what the warlock does. While they do know a little magic of their own, they focus themselves around snatching spells from the minds of their enemies and using their own magic against them. Warlocks generally either didn’t begin as spellcasters, or they never finished their training, instead preferring the quick and easy way to power. Level 3 Warlock You get your Attribute increases, more Health and a point of Power, either another spoken language or a spell and then a choice of a tradition or a spell. Steal Spell is your bread and butter ability, allowing you to make an Intellect attack roll against an enemy’s Intellect when they try to cast a spell. On a success, they fail to cast the spell and if your Power is high enough you gain a casting of the spell that lasts until you expend it or until you complete a rest. You can use this talent once per rest. Additionally, Vanish lets you turn invisible for one round after you take damage, but if you expend the casting of your stolen spell you can extend the duration to one minute. Level 6 Warlock The customary increase in Health and either another tradition or spell. Elude Divination is a talent that makes Divination spells used against you fail. Expert Spell Thief gives you two uses of Spell Steal per rest. Level 9 Master Warlock At this level, the warlock gets a bump in Health and another point of Power, as well as a choice between a tradition and a spell. Your abilities grow and you get Spell Thief Mastery, which lets you Steal Spell three time, and it now always succeeds and you can cast the spell regardless of your Power. And you get Vanishing Escape, allowing you to teleport a short distance when using Vanish. Paths of War  Berserker Whatever you’re picturing, you’re right on the money. Berserkers are warriors who lose themselves in their lust for battle, hacking and chopping away until their collapse in exhaustion. Once they start fighting they can’t stop, and this obsession with the fight frays their sanity and makes them susceptible to losing control and attacking anything and everything in sight. Level 3 Berserker Starting out, the berserker gets +1 to two Attributes and a big Health boost. They gain the Berserk talent, which allows them to enter a state of bloodlust for 1 minute. When they come out of it they have to make a successful Will challenge roll or gain 1 Insanity. Berserk grants the following:
Level 6 Berserker Now you get another big boost to Health as well as Ferocious Wrath, which gives you +2 Speed while berserking and gives you 1 boon when attacking frightened creatures. For synergy, you get Frightful Wrath, which frightens creatures who are close by when you start berserking. Level 9 Master Berserker A final big Health increase and Reckless Strike, which lets you make attack rolls with 2 banes but deal 2d6 extra damage on a hit.  Fighter That old standby, the fighter. In Shadow of the Demon Lord, fighters are the undisputed masters of what they do. This is a very solid Path that gives you reliable abilities, good tankiness, and ensures that you’re the toughest threat on the battlefield. If ignored, a fighter is devastating. Level 3 Fighter Increase two Attributes by 1, then take a bump in Health and either learn another language or get a profession. You also get a Fighter Talent (see below). Level 6 Fighter Even more Health and Durable, which means your Healing Rate is now equal to your Health divided by 3. Level 9 Master Fighter Another jump in Health, and Weapon Mastery, a talent that makes it so that when you roll a weapon attack and the roll is 9 or less you get to reroll it, but you must use the second result. Fighter Talents
 Ranger Relentless hunters and trackers, rangers are another familiar Path, but unlike their D&D equivalents they get no magic spells and no animal companion. Those come later on. What rangers excel at is picking one enemy and hounding them to the ends of Urth without fail. They hunt down enemies and eliminate them, or track them over long distances. Level 3 Ranger You get your Attribute boosts, and a +8 to Health, which is the biggest in game, rivaled only by a Master Path later on. You add tracker to your professions, and you get Alertness, which means you can’t be surprised and get 1 boon to Perception rolls. You also get Hunt Prey, which lets you use an action to designate one enemy you can see as your prey. When you roll to track, find, or attack your prey you get 1 boon. Level 6 Ranger A smaller boost to Health, a +1 to Perception, and two new talents. Expert Guide gives you the ability to always know which way is north, and you can flawlessly retrace your steps. When traveling, everyone shares your Speed. Expert Tracker lets you make an Intellect challenge roll when you study animal tracks, and on a success you learn one true thing about the animal. Level 9 Master Ranger In addition to more Health you get Master Hunter, which prevents your prey from hiding from you and gives you an extra 1d6 damage when attacking them. Relentless Pursuit allows you to move up to half your speed when your prey moves.  Spellbinder Another great Path, the spellbinder is all about focusing magical power into a weapon, making it more reliable and invincible. Later on they can invest greater power into it and deal more damage with it. The practice was invented by the fae to deal with superior iron weapons, but the traditions of the spellbinder have carried on. Level 3 Spellbinder Attribute increase, more Health and a point of Power, and you can either discover a tradition or learn a spell. You also get Spellbound Weapon, a rank-0 spell that gives you 1 boon on attack rolls with the weapon, lets you cast spells through it, gives you the ability to teleport it to your hand from up to 1 mile away and you can instantly repair it, even if you only have a single fragment. Level 6 Spellbinder Health boost and either a new tradition or a spell. Your Spellbound Weapon can now be affected by Invest Power, which causes it to light up with eldritch fire and deal 1d6 extra damage for 1 minute, all for the cost of expending a rank-1 spell. Level 9 Master Spellbinder The customary Health and Power boost, another tradition or spell, and access to Magic Weapon, a straight buff to Spellbound Weapon that gives you another boon when attacking with it and makes it alway deal 1d6 extra damage. And that’s it for the Expert Paths! I have a little criticism for the Warlock and Fighter, as the former doesn’t let you do enough with Spell Steal, and Fighter needs access to one more Fighter Talent. Other than that, the Expert Paths are really cool, and give you lots of directions to branch off in. But if you thought the Expert Paths had a lot of variety, just wait until you see the Master Paths! ...but let’s have a preview, shall we?   Also, this is the last call for votes on Queegol's Novice Path, and we need to get her an Expert Path too! Next time: Spradley and Queegol Become Experts!
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Jan 11, 2017 00:11
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bewilderment posted:Fun thing with Shadow of the Demon Lord is that while Warrior 'naturally' leads into fighter, nobody's stopping you from going something like Magician->Fighter->Zealot. And stuff like that can work! As long as you don't pick a weird combination that spreads your stats every which way and focus in just one or two things, you can do pretty well. Hell yeah. One thing I love is a subtle aspect of the boon/bane system where a class like the warrior gets so many boons and bonuses to their attacks, that once you start building into fighter or berserker or spellbinder, you start getting more than enough boons and can trade them for the banes that come with special attacks. Also the warrior's multi-attack system is fantastic. Just one enemy? No need to roll multiple attacks per round, you just chunk all the damage into one blow, or you can spread it around for crowds. I still maintain that the fighter should get at least one more talent. Hell, the thief gets four!
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Jan 11, 2017 04:01
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Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 9: Spradley and Queegol level up! Spradley has changed a little bit since we last saw them. They found an old sage who helped them understand the writing on the inside of their arm, which turned out to be an incantation for an ancient form of magic, one that could imbue Spradley’s weapon with arcane power. The discovery awakened a latent power in Spradley, one that seemed to have almost been waiting for this particular moment. Reciting the incantation filled Spradley with power, giving them the ability to use magic. But that is not all there is to the writing. The incantation is just one portion of the message, which appears to have been left by Spradley’s creator. Filled with determination, Spradley decides to seek out their maker and discover why this power was sealed within them, and why the cryptic message implores them to seek out the reclusive engineer. At level 2, Spradley picks up the normal Warrior kit, including +5 Health, Combat Prowess and Forceful Strike. At level 3, Spradley’s magical potential is unlocked, and they pick up the Spellbinder Expert Path. Spradley gets an Attribute increase, putting +1 into Strength and Intellect, +3 Health, and 1 point of Power. Spradley discovers the Battle tradition, which replaces their normal Madness with Battle Madness and gives them access to a variety of spells. When discovering a tradition, you learn one rank-0 cantrip, and Spradley chooses Celerity, which allows them to move up to twice their Speed without triggering free attacks. They also get Spellbound Weapon, the core spell of the Spellbinder Path. Since their Power is 1, they get 2 castings of each rank-0 spell, and 1 casting of any rank-1 spells, but they don’t know any yet! Spradley makes all attacks with their battleaxe with 1 boon thanks to Weapon Training, and they deal an extra 1d6 damage because of Combat Prowess. If they roll over a 20, they get another 1d6 damage on top of that with Forceful Strike. By casting Spellbound Weapon, which has a 4-hour duration, they get another boon to all attacks, the ability to teleport the weapon to their hand, and they can repair all damage to it. So assuming they’re rolling with Spellbound Weapon up, they roll attacks with 2 boons and deal at least 2d6 + 2 damage, with the possibility of doing another 1d6 on that, which becomes more likely due to rolling with 2 boons. They can sacrifice that capability to use special maneuvers to better control the battlefield, and give themself better odds by canceling out the boons with banes. With a suit of scale armor, Spradley has a Defense of 16, with a +2 from their large shield, making them pretty hard to hit, and with 26 and a Healing Rate of 6, Spradley is beefy for a hybrid type character. They can hold their own on the front line of a fight, and will be able to acquire even more spellcasting capability later, focusing on the Battle tradition. Spradley Sprocket, Level 3 Warrior/Spellbinder Strength 13, Agility 8, Intellect 12, Will 8 Perception 9 Defense 18 Health 26 Healing Rate 6 Size 1, Speed 8, Power 1 Damage 0, Insanity 0, Corruption 0 Languages: Common (Literate) Professions: Folklore, Religion, Mercenary Immune to disease, poison, asleep and fatigued Key Mechanical Body Repairing Damage Catch Your Breath: use an action to heal Damage equal to Healing Rate 1/per rest. Weapon Training: when attacking w/ weapon, take 1 boon. Combat Prowess: weapon attacks deal 1d6 extra damage. Forceful Strike: on attack roll of 20+, deal 1d6 extra damage Spells: Spellbound Weapon (2), Celerity (2) Gear: Battleaxe, large shield, basic clothing, backpack, 1 week of rations, waterskin, tinderbox, 2 torches and a pouch with 2 copper pennies. Our old friend Queegol has undergone a life change since we last saw her. She’s fallen into a life of adventure and roguery after encountering a cult devoted the Demon Lord. Realizing that mere words will not be enough to help people, she has bent her wealth and skill towards that noble goal, and discovered skills that she didn’t even know she had. Knowing that she’ll never make a great fighter, and lacking faith in the gods, she’s turned to the crafty sorts her work brought her into contact with in order to develop her talents. She’s made friends with thieves and assassins and rogue mages of all stripes, learning how they ply their craft and incorporating their lessons into her own repertoire. Now she works against the Demon Lord’s cultists from both sides of the law, pursuing them with words and reason where she can, but stalking them with blade and pistol in the night. Queegol has taken up the Path of the Rogue, learning their particular mixture of luck and talent, and she has chosen to augment her capabilities with magic as well. As a level 1 Rogue, she gets to increase two Attributes by 1, and she chooses Agility and Intellect, focusing on her strengths. She gets +3 Health and chooses to learn High Archaic as a result of her conversations with magicians. She then gets Nimble Recovery, giving her a boost of healing and some mobility in fights, and Trickery, granting 1 boon on a single attack or challenge roll per round. At level 2, Queegol gets Health +3, Exploit Opportunity, which gives her an extra turn when rolling over a 20, and a Roguery Talent. She chooses Magic, which increases her Power by 1, and lets her discover the Enchantment tradition and the spells Bewitch and Question. Bewitch lets her keep enemies off her back in combat and Question allows her to extract information from unwilling sources. Queegol the Fang, Level 2 Rogue Strength 8, Agility 13, Intellect 12, Will 8 Perception 11 Defense 14 Health 14 Healing Rate 2 Size ½, Speed 10, Power 1 Damage 0, Insanity 0, Corruption 0 Languages: Common (literate), Elvish and High Archaic Professions: merchant, law Immune to disease and charmed Iron Vulnerability Shadowsight Sneaky Nimble Recovery: spend an action to heal damage equal to Healing Rate and move up to half speed without triggering free attacks. 1/rest. Trickery: one per round, make an attack or challenge roll w/ 1 boon. If using for an attack, the attack deals 1d6 extra damage. Exploit Opportunity: if attack roll is above 20, take another turn before end of round. 1/round. Roguery Talent: Magic (increase Power by 1 and make two choices: discover a tradition or learn a spell w/ each) Spells: Bewitch (2), Question (1) Equipment: rapier, pistol, soft leather armor, noble’s clothing, cloak, 1 week of rations, a waterskin, a healing potion, a pouch containing 11 silver shillings, a personal servant, a guard and a three horses with saddles. Now that we’ve also covered the Expert Paths,  what would you like to see Queegol take up for her next Path?
Serf fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Jan 15, 2017 |
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Jan 15, 2017 17:52
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wdarkk posted:Oh wow Goblin Rogue Daredevil. Um, well, until you said that I didn't realize what I was making, but yeah, that is pretty much exactly what Queegol is. If you were to use the Demon Lord's Companion, you could take the Mystic Expert Path for some kung fu badassness, and then at Master just take Martial Artist and you would have it all. Tasoth posted:So is it actually possible to have 'Fremen Fedaykin' or 'Titan Pilot' as end game builds in SotDL? Because that's kind of fantastic if it is. I'll go ahead and say: this is absolutely possible, and the crazy things you can do with regards to character building in SotDL is one of the major reasons I love it. As we get further along and Spradley gets more spells from the Battle tradition we'll start to see that Schwalb is obviously a fan of anime and the Book of Nine Swords.
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Jan 15, 2017 22:31
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Urban Arcana was far better than d20 Modern deserved.
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Jan 17, 2017 19:41
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Hey folks, sorry for the long delay. Life has been hectic for a while, but I'm gonna be doing my best to get this review done because I really do love this game a lot. Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 10: The Master Paths A - C At level 7 you get to either pick a Master Path or a second Expert Path. Master Paths gain benefits at levels 7 and 10, and represent a deeper evolution or branching of your character’s talents and skills. You can again pick any Master Path you like, and there are no prerequisites for them. Part of having a Master Path is picking a Quest. Your Quest is another story beat that you’d like to hit. It can be personal or it can be larger in scope, but it should be something very difficult to achieve and represent your character’s biggest step in taking control over the game world. The party as a whole might achieve bigger things, but this is how you will make your mark. Like with Objectives, you’re encouraged to think about Quests as a group and work together to complete your Quests and help each other achieve the pinnacle of achievement. I’m not going to divide the Master Paths up into any themes this time around. Instead, I’ll be going over them in alphabetical order, as the book itself presents them.  Abjurer Specializing in Protection magic, the abjurer is a master of wards and shielding spells. Level 7 Abjurer All level 7 characters get +1 to three Attributes. The abjurer gets an increase in Health and another point of Power, they can speak another language or pick up another profession, and they either discover the Protection tradition or learn one Protection spell. When you cast a Protection spell, your Guarded Casting talent grants you a bonus to Defense equal to 1 + the rank of the spell you cast for 1 minute or until you use the talent again. Level 10 Abjurer A little more Health and an additional spell. You gain Warded, which means that all creatures attacking you take 1 bane, and you make challenge rolls to resist attacks with 1 boon. quote:Acrobat Masters of the Air tradition, aeromancers are capable of casting powerful air spells that aid their allies and scourge their enemies. Level 7 Aeromancer Attribute increase, more Health, +2 Speed and +1 Power. You can speak another language or add a profession, and you either discover the Air tradition or learn another Air spell. You become capable of Air Walk, letting you fly after casting an Air spell for a number of yards equal to 1 + the rank of the spell. Level 10 Aeromancer A little more Health, another spell, and you just straight up become capable of Flight, all the time. quote:Apocalyptist  Arcanist Deeper understanding of the Arcana tradition leads to deeper mastery over magic itself, and this Path allows greater versatility and flexibility in spellcasting. Level 7 Arcanist Attribute bump, a little Health and a point of Power. You get another language or another profession, and you either discover the Arcana tradition or learn one Arcana spell. Your flexibility comes from Arcana Mastery, which lets you expend the casting of an Arcana spell to instead cast any other spell you know of the same rank. Level 10 Arcanist More Health and another spell. You also get Reclaim Arcana, which allows you to roll a d6 when you cast an Arcana spell, getting the spell back on a 6, and Swift Arcana which lets you use triggered actions on your turn to cast Arcana spells.  Astromancer Mastering the Celestial tradition lets you call upon the light of the stars themselves, and astromancers learn to harness the power of light in all its forms. Level 7 Astromancer Standard Attribute increase, more Health and a Power bump, along with either a language or profession and you either discover the Celestial tradition or learn one Celestial spell. You can summon points of light when casting Celestial spells via the Inner Radiance talent, and Intense Light means your Celestial spells do 1d6 extra damage. Level 10 Astromancer More Health and another spell. Blinding Corona, which causes the point of light created by Inner Radiance to blind nearby enemies, and Power of the Sun, which gives you 1 boon to attack rolls on Celestial spells and imposes 1 bane on enemies resisting them. Avenger The Avenger is all about, you guessed it, taking vengeance. When someone is giving a friend of theirs a hard time, they’re capable of making life hell for that enemy, becoming scary combatants that are deadly efficient at focusing on one enemy at a time. Level 7 Avenger The standard +1 to three Attributes, along with a good chunk of Health and another language or profession. You then get your core ability, Vow of Vengeance, which allows you to mark an enemy who hurts you or another creature. This vow gives you 1 boon to all attacks against the marked target, as well as keeping them frightened when you’re around and allowing you to chase them down. Level 10 Avenger More Health and Avenger’s Wrath, which gives you a flat 1d6 extra damage when attacking your marked target.  Bard Far from being the basic class they are in most games, Bards are masters of the Song tradition, and their abilities augment their Song spells, allowing them to further enrapture those affected by their magic, while also growing their abilities as factotums. Level 7 Bard Attribute increase, more Health and a point of Power, plus you can speak another language or add the entertainer or musician profession. You either learn the Song tradition or learn a Song spell, and you get Esoteric Knowledge, which gives you a boon on all Intellect challenge rolls to recall useful information. Level 10 Bard Another spell and some Health, as well as Disarming Charm, which impairs people you have charmed. Additionally you learn Swift Song, which allows you to use triggered actions to cast Song spells. Beastmaster These guys use Primal magic to form permanent bonds with animals, using them as companions in all aspects of play. This is where you’d want to look if you want to play a classic D&D ranger or maybe a druid with a focus on animal friends. Level 7 Beastmaster With the Attribute increase your also get a little Health and +1 to Power, as well as either the Primal tradition or a Primal spell, and another language or a wilderness profession. You get Primal Beast, which enhances the Beast Within spell, and Primal Bond, which allows you to use the Befriend Animal spell to create permanent companion animals that get several bonuses. These include: allowing you to share spell effects with them, giving you a boon to Perception rolls when they’re near, and allowing you to communicate with them telepathically. Level 10 Beastmaster More Health and a spell, and Primal Power, which gives any animal you have charmed a boon to all attack rolls and flat 1d6 more damage with attacks.  Blade The equivalent of a bleed-focused build, the Blade revolves around cutting people with knives and making their blood come out. They do this better than other people with bladed weapons somehow, they don’t really go into specifics. Level 7 Blade You get your Attribute increase, more Health, and either another language or a profession. You also get Bleed, which is your core ability. When you roll over a 20 on an attack roll, the target starts to bleed, dealing 1d6 damage to them at the end of every round that they don’t use an action to stop the flow. Level 10 Blade A little Health and Swift Blade, allowing you to use triggered actions with your daggers or knives. quote:Brute For the person who loves mounts, the cavalier revolves around fighting from horseback. Or really the back of anything that can be ridden. Want to be a rhino rider or a chocobo knight? Go for it. Level 7 Cavalier Standard Attribute increase, a chunk of Health, and another language or a common, military or wilderness profession. You also get Combat Riding, which gives you a boon to attacks made while mounted. Level 10 Cavalier A little more Health and two abilities: Devastating Charge, which gives you 1d6 extra damage on attacks made as part of a charge, or 2d6 extra damage if that attack was made while mounted, and Master Rider, which gives you +2 to Defense and Speed while mounted. quote:Champion This is your battle-priest. They sing, chant, scream or shout things to their allies that bolster them in combat, allowing you to boost the combat abilities of your friends in pretty significant ways. Level 7 Chaplain Attribute boost, a nice Health boost, and either a military or religious profession. You also get Battle Chant, which you can maintain on your turns, and gives your nearby allies a boon to all weapon attacks. You can use this three times per rest. Level 10 Chaplain More Health and Emboldening Chant, which gives your allies affected by Battle Chant an extra 1d6 damage, and Succor, a minor healing ability that expends Battle Chant uses.  Chronomancer Your standard time mage, all about using spells from the Time tradition and messing with the linear flow of time. Level 7 Chronomancer You get your Attribute increase, a little Health and a boost to Power, and either another language or a profession. You either discover the Time tradition or learn one Time spell, and get Quickening, which lets you move up to your Power when you cast a Time spell without triggering free attacks. Level 10 Chronomancer More Health and a new spell, and Precognition, which lets you use a triggered action when you cast a Time spell to gain an insight. You can spend the insight when you fail a roll to try again.  NWS for some nudity Conjurer If you like summoning monsters to help you out, this is the Path for you. It lets you get bonus monsters and makes your monsters deadlier. Level 7 Conjurer Besides your Attribute increase, bit of Health and Power and language/profession, you also get to discover the Conjuration tradition or learn one Conjuration spell. You get Conjure Tiny Monster, which lets you conjure a free tiny monster when you cast a rank 0 Conjuration spell. And you get Frightening Monsters, which gives all your conjured monsters the frightening trait. Level 10 Conjurer Another smidge of Health, and another spell, and Powerful Monsters, which gives all your conjured monsters a boon to all attacks and an extra 1d6 damage. quote:Conqueror
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Jan 24, 2017 05:00
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Cyberpsychosis always struck me as a really dumb idea, but I understand that it has to exist as a game balance mechanic. At least Shadowrun has a good in-universe reason for why you can't get too cybered up.
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Feb 6, 2017 15:09
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I still play off and on and I last ran Elementalism/Pistols, which was pretty fun. Man a Secret World RPG would be dope. The closest thing I can think of that replicates the combat would be like Feng Shui.
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Feb 9, 2017 16:29
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Kurieg posted:One of the shotgun powers is calling down a mortar strike while one of the elementalist powers is bashing someone's face in with Thor's hammer. I would have gone with Herbert West, but that works too. The fact that TSW is inexplicably an MMO and not a single-player RPG is mind-blowing. It would have been 1000x better.
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Feb 9, 2017 16:38
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Wasn't there a twist at the end of season 1 of TNG where Starfleet was being controlled by aliens that looked like piles of spaghetti or am I losing my mind?
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Feb 14, 2017 21:52
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Aliens producing offspring is in itself incredibly dumb. Of course the same goes for half-elves and half-orcs and all that.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:14
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Been a really rough
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Feb 21, 2017 16:48
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Hey folks, I know it's been a little while since our last update. Forgive me for that, I was having some technical difficulties. Anyways it's time for more... Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 11: Master Paths D-E  Death Dealer When I read this Path’s description, I think of ultra greatsword characters from Dark Souls. You use heavy weapons, and you use them well. Big drat swords and axes, anything that uses two hands is in your wheelhouse. Level 7 Death Dealer Attribute increase and a big chunk of Health as well as Brutal Swing, which is the classic D&D cleave. When you incapacitate an enemy, you can make an attack against another enemy. Level 10 Death Dealer Besides another nice Health boost, you also get the awesomely-named Make Mountains of the Dead, which allows you to attack any number of creatures within reach. You don’t have to roll or anything, and if any of the enemies have less than 20 Health, they just straight up die. quote:Defender Dervish If you want to wield two weapons and look cool while doing it, you want to be a dervish. The penalties to dual-wielding in SotDL are pretty steep, but if you take this Path you basically become the magic bullet of fighters. Level 7 Dervish You get the standard Attribute increase, a solid chunk of Health, and either another language or a profession. You get Ambidexterity, which lets you wield one-handed weapons as off-handed weapons, and Off-Hand Parry, which gives you a +1 to Defense for using a non-shield weapon in one of your hands. Level 10 Dervish More Health, and Two Weapon Mastery, allowing you to get 1 boon when attacking with two weapons. If you attack one target with both weapons you also deal 1d6 extra damage. quote:
Every group has one player who wants to try and talk their way out of anything. The diplomat lets you do just that. They get bonuses to social combat rolls and can turn foes into friends. Level 7 Diplomat You start off with your standard Attribute increase, a little bit of Health, and either a profession or a language. Then, you get Master of Diplomacy, which gives you a boon in social settings to all Intellect and Will attack rolls. Stay the Hand is your other core ability, which lets you make a Will attack roll against an enemy’s will after they hit you. On a success you can either cause their attack to miss you or charm them for 1 minute. Level 10 Diplomat A little Health, and Soothing Words, which lets you clear status effects from nearby creatures, and Unexpected Alliances, which upgrades the charm from Stay the Hand to compelled. quote:Diviner  Dreadnaught Do you want to be invincible? Well, you can’t, but being a dreadnaught is as close to that as you can get in SotDL. They wear the heaviest armor and absorb nasty hits like it was nothing while never giving an inch. Level 7 Dreadnaught Increase your three Attributes and gain a solid chunk of Health. You get either a language or a military profession. Iron Clad lets you ignore the requirements for heavy armor and gives you a +1 to Defense while wearing heavy armor. Immovable means that while you’re awake the only way you can be moved is if you want to be moved. Level 10 Dreadnaught Another chunk of Health and Weapon Resistance, which means that while you’re wearing heavy armor you take half damage from weapons. Essentially, if you’re fighting humanoid enemies with swords, axes, guns etc. you have an absolutely massive advantage. quote:Duelist If you like to charm enemies and protect your allies from charms and other mental status effects, the enchanter is the way to go. Level 7 Enchanter Attribute increase, a bit of Health and +1 Power along with a language or profession. You either discover the Enchantment tradition or learn an Enchantment spell. You get Enchantment Defense, which lets you remove mental status effects from yourself with an Intellect challenge roll and Subtle Charm, which prevents enemies you have charmed from remembering that you charmed them. Level 10 Enchanter A little more Health and a spell. Countercharm lets you make an Intellect challenge roll when a creature within sight becomes charmed, and on a success the effect is removed. Persistent Enchantment doubles the duration of all your Enchantment spells. quote:Engineer  Executioner The name for this Path is pretty apt, as it does exactly what it says. If you’re looking for ways to instantly kill or severely damage your foes and end fights quickly, then the executioner will give you what you need. Level 7 Executioner Standard Attribute increase, a little Health, and either another language or profession. You get Execute, which means that once per round, you can make an attack with 1 boon that deals 1d6 extra damage. If the attack injures the target (brings them up to damage equal to half their Health), they have to make a Strength challenge roll. If they fail, they are insta-killed. Level 10 Executioner A bit more Health and the Exacting Strike ability, which lets you use a triggered action on a successful attack to deal maximum damage. quote:
Do you want to boldly go where no one has gone before? Push yourself the limit and discover hidden secrets? Expand your senses and surprise people with your perserverence? Look no further than the exorcist for all that. Level 7 Explorer Besides the traditional Attribute increase you also get more Health, +1 to Perception and +2 to Speed. You also get another language or a wilderness profession. Preternatural Senses gives you 1 boon to all Perception rolls, while Perseverance lets you make a Strength challenge roll to remove a few different status effects from yourself. Respite lets you take a 1 hour rest with your allies, and at the end of it, everyone heals damage equal to your Healing Rate. Level 10 Explorer More Health and Driven, which means that any time you roll a 5 or less, you can roll another d20 and add that to the result. Still pretty swingy and you’ve only got a 20% chance of it triggering, but when it does there’s a good chance it will turn things around. Next time: more Master Paths!
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Feb 25, 2017 20:03
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marshmallow creep posted:I looked at building a few sample characters myself (with my admittedly cursory knowledge of the book), and one thing that I found I like about Shadow of the Demon Lord, at least that I've noticed, is that you can't make a spellcaster with a basically bottomless toolbag with instant "gently caress-you"s for everything. I made a full caster Priest set up and think he caps out at...seven or eight spells known. SotDL has an interesting system where magic-users get comparatively fewer spells than an equivalent character in another system, but gets more uses of them. Spells can't solve every problem, and due to the restrictions placed on how many spells you'll even learn, you end up limited in a good way. You have to choose your spells carefully, and they can be pretty potent under the right circumstances. That 9d6 spell can only be cast once, too, whereas most mundane characters will be hitting with 5d6 or 7d6 attacks much more frequently. I feel that this encourages spell casters to choose their moments carefully but also explore spells that might be less about damage and more about buffing and altering the playing field. As for Make Mountains of the Dead, I think that depends entirely on the GM's encounter design. If a player picks the Death Dealer, that's a signal that they want to make use of their toolkit. There are tons of sub-20 Health enemies with a Difficulty Rating of around 10 or so. An average encounter for Master characters is 51-125 and the maximum recommended difficulty per day is 500. It would be pretty easy to throw in a few groups of humanoid enemies or medium monsters/animals into a few of those fights to give the Death Dealer something to use their ability on. I just think you need to budget for what the characters want to do.
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Feb 26, 2017 04:14
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Cassa posted:Shadow of the Demon Lord review has a mistake, I can't find the bit where you talk more about Eidolons  By level 10, when your eidolon becomes a mecha, it would have 75 Health and 13 Defense. It isn't very hard to hit but it is beefy and it can heal itself. If you have the Technomancy tradition, you can use the rank-0 spell Jury-Rig to heal 1d6 damage to it as well, and you can use that at least 2 times a day. The eidolon kicks rear end.
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Feb 26, 2017 05:26
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What about Cadillacs and Dinosaurs?
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Mar 10, 2017 18:38
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Halloween Jack posted:13th Age is cool, but I was pretty impressed with Shadow of the Demon Lord. About how do the two stack up with each other vis a vis tactical options? Fighters in SotDL mostly provide the basic framework for how martial-type characters play. And even then, when you start picking up Expert and Master Paths you aren't locked in to martial stuff. The Warrior is solid, and provides bonuses in the form of boons, which you can trade in (essentially) for lots of special maneuvers. This isn't specifically called out, but most players can put it together in a way that I think Schwalb intended. The actual Fighter Expert Path is a little lackluster. It makes you drat good at fighting, but doesn't offer enough customization for me, and doesn't measure up to the flexibility of similar Paths like the Thief. But since you can pick other Paths and build however you like, the issue isn't as pronounced as it is in 13th Age, where you have lots of tricks but no control over when you can use them.
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Mar 25, 2017 03:59
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To this day I have no idea how you'd even run D&D combat without a grid. It would be madness.
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Apr 5, 2017 17:27
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Charts like that have always been an embarrassment to the hobby.
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Apr 6, 2017 15:25
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LeSquide posted:I'm now on a huge Demon Lord kick and I think I want to run a game soon; what supplements besides the Companion are good? Is the Hell/Devil boom decent? I'm aware of the shocking setting twist. Forbidden Rules is very good, as it has a lot of alternate rules that I really like. Tales is also great because it has a lot of interesting adventures that can be dropped into a campaign and also used as examples and frameworks for your own adventures. I would also recommend taking a look at the Poison Pages and finding any that look like stuff you'd want to use. I've picked up most of them since they're cheap and interesting, and so far they've all had cool things in them.
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Apr 10, 2017 19:29
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Marking is just a mechanical way of being such a giant rear end in a top hat that the enemy can't help but hit you. A bard can hurt people by singing, why can't a fighter be such a dick to a wolf that the wolf has to go after them?
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Apr 12, 2017 17:07
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Let me pitch y'all this idea: how about we don't strap bombs to dogs.
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Apr 12, 2017 21:30
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slap me and kiss me posted:If I ever see a 1940s soviet military planner, I will pass along your suggestion. Please do.
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Apr 12, 2017 22:59
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PurpleXVI posted:Who is Gareth Michael Skarka? For twelve years, you have been asking: Who is Gareth Michael Skarka?
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Apr 27, 2017 13:07
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Dareon posted:Dogs can pet other dogs? Dogs Going Their Own Way
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May 17, 2017 17:47
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Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 12: Master Paths G - Po Geomancer This Path is all about the use and manipulation of the earth. It provides you with some toughness that magic-users are generally lacking, and gives access to a few other tricks that involve the natural world. Level 7 Geomancer You get your standard Attribute increase, a decent amount of Health and a point of Power. You discover the Earth tradition or learn an Earth spell. You get Earthen Defense, which lets you spend an Earth spell of Rank 1 or higher, and for each Rank the spell has, you roll a d6. This total becomes your Earthen Defense pool, which is a buffer of extra hit points that takes damage before you do. Level 10 Geomancer You get another chunk of Health, another spell, and Earth Walker, letting you ignore difficult terrain on natural surfaces and letting you move through solid stone and dirt. quote:Gladiator Gunslinger This Path lets you inject a little western into your dark fantasy. You can make your own guns and use them like no one else can. The book does say that it makes more sense for technically-minded characters to pursue the art of gunslinging, but anyone can get into it. Level 7 Gunslinger You have your Attribute increase, a little Health and either another language or a profession. You also get Six-Shooter, letting you transform a pistol into a revolver. You can fire a six-shooter six times before needing to reload it, and anyone besides you attempting to use it takes 3 banes to the attack. Level 10 Gunslinger Another bit of Health and two abilities: Deadeye Shot, which gives you 1 boon and an extra 1d6 damage on attacks with pistols or six-shooters, and Speed Loader, which lets you reload a gun as a minor action rather than an action. quote:Healer Hexer The Curse tradition is the Hexer’s stock in trade. Curse spells are very good at debilitating your foes, and the Hexer just enhances that. The abilities of this Path combine nicely with Curse magic, and allows you to make life hell for your enemies. Level 7 Hexer Standard Attribute increase, as well as a little bit of Health and +1 to Power. You get another language or a profession, and you either discover the Curse tradition or learn one new Curse spell. Evil Eye is you core ability, which lets you use a triggered action when hitting an enemy with a Curse spell to apply one of three effects. Desire charms the enemy, Lethargy slows them, and Pain deals 2d6 damage to them. Level 10 Hexer Another bit of Health and a spell, and Exacting Curse, which makes targets cursed by you take 1d6 extra damage from your attacks. quote:
Illusionist If you think this Path is all about illusions… well, you’re not wrong. It does what it says on the box, and perhaps not in the way you’d expect. I find this to be one of the more niche Paths, even though it has a nice mix of abilities. Level 7 Illusionist You get your Attribute bump, a smidge of Health and a point of Power along with another language or profession and you can discover the Illusion tradition or learn one Illusion spell. Convincing Illusions imposes a penalty of 2 banes on anyone trying to discern your illusions, and gives you 1 boon when attacking with illusion spells. Level 10 Illusionist A little bit of Health, another spell, and Illusory Duplicates. When are damaged by an attack you can roll a d6. On a roll of 6, reduce the damage to 0 and teleport to a nearby open space. This is an ability that I like a lot, as it gives you that feeling of being always prepared from time to time. quote:Infiltrator Inquisitor One of the more meaty and flavorful Paths, the Inquisitor is all about being scary and mean, and it is very effective at doing those two things. It has some of the better debuffs outside of magic, and has one very… unique ability that I’m not sure I like. Level 7 Inquisitor You get your Attribute boost and some Health, as well as another language or profession. You get Dreadful Threat, which lets you make an Intellect attack against a creature’s Will, and if you succeed they become frightened while they can see you until either they damage you or they complete a rest. Master Torturer does just what you think it does. While torturing people, you can make an Intellect vs. Will attack roll, and if you succeed the creature will have to answer 1d6 questions truthfully. Finally Scrutiny is your core ability, and lets you make a Perception vs. Intellect roll to make a creature the subject of your Scrutiny, meaning that you can tell when it deliberately tells a lie and your attack rolls against them receive 1 boon. Level 10 Inquisitor You get more Health and Inquisitor’s Judgment, giving your weapon attacks against the target of your scrutiny an extra 1d6 damage. quote:Jack-of-All-Trades  Mage Knight This the the Path of the Battle tradition. It is a simple and straightforward path that emphasizes using attack spells, buffs, and regular attacks in tandem. This is actually a great Path to dip into at the tail end of a fighter’s progression, as even the low-level Battle spells can add a lot to a high-level character. Level 7 Mage Knight Standard Attribute increase, more Health and a point of Power, and either another language or a military profession. You either discover the Battle tradition or learn one Battle spell, and Escalating Violence gives you 1 boon to attack rolls with a weapon after you cast a spell. This lasts for 1 round. Level 10 Mage Knight A little Health, another spell, and Mage Knight Tactics, which lets you use a triggered action to attack with a weapon at any point in a round after you cast an attack spell. quote:
Marauder Another flavor of barbarian or berserker, the marauder focuses on mobility through charging. You get bonuses to charging and extra opportunities to charge. Take this Path if you want to dash around the battlefield like a ping-pong ball of murder. Level 7 Marauder You get you Attribute increase, as well as a nice bonus to Health and +2 to Speed. Powerful Charge means you no longer trigger free attacks when charging and you deal 1d6 extra damage on an attack made while Charging. Level 10 Marauder Another boost to Health. Bloodthirst lets you use a triggered action to charge anytime a creature becomes incapacitated from one of your attacks. Strength from Pain allows you to take 1 boon when making Strength attack and challenge rolls while injured. quote:Miracle Worker Myrmidon I would like to say this Path allows you to be Captain America, but that would be misleading. This Path does make you pretty badass with a shield, but you’re not gonna be throwing it at Nazis and bouncing it off of walls any time soon. Still, if you want to be a tank and protect yourself from damage, the Myrmidon is an excellent Path for that. Level 7 Myrmidon Attribute increase and a boost to your Health and either a language or a military profession. Forceful Shield lets you move targets back when you hit them with your shield and Shield Block lets you use a triggered action to impose 1 bane on an enemy trying to hit you while you have a shield. Level 10 Myrmidon Another chunk of Health and Shield Mastery, which gives you +1 to Defense while you have a shield and when attacking with a shield you get 1 boon, 1d6 extra damage, and you do not lose the shield’s defensive property. quote:
Poisoner Do I really need to explain what this Path does? You poison people. Pretty cut and dry honestly. Level 7 Poisoner You get the standard Attribute increase along with a little Health and either another language or a profession. Poison Mastery lets you use an alchemist’s kit and 5cp worth of ingredients to make a dose of poison. When creatures are poisoned by you, they make Strength challenge rolls to resist with 3 banes and take 3d6 extra damage from them. Level 10 Poisoner You get a little bit of Health and the ability Poisonous Touch. This allows you to use an action or triggered action to attack a creature with a needle hidden in a ring or in your finger. You can make a Strength/Agility roll vs. Agility, and if you succeed they take 1 damage plus 2d6 extra damage from the poison. They then make a Strength challenge roll to resist, and if they fail they are poisoned for 1 minute, which makes them dazed and slowed. If they’re already poisoned, they take 3d6 extra damage At the end of each round a poisoned creature must make a Strength challenge roll, and on a failure they take 1d6 damage.
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Jun 8, 2017 05:37
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you definitely, definitely do die when you use the transporter but it's not like that's stopping you so it's not a big deal
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Jun 21, 2017 21:15
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Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 13: Master Paths Completed! I'm back and here to finish off the Master Paths in Shadow of the Demon Lord. Without any further ado, let's jump right in: Pyromancer This is the Path to take if you’re really into the Fire tradition, and just want to burn poo poo up. It can make you into a low-rent version of The Fury, and really what more do you want? Level 7 Pyromancer Standard Attribute increase, as well as a little bit of Health and +1 Power. You also get either another language or a profession, and you either discover the Fire tradition or learn 1 Fire spell. Flame Blessing just makes it so that you flat take half damage from fire across the board. Level 10 Pyromancer More Health and another spell, and Immolating Flames, which forces any creature that is hit by one of your Fire spells to make an Agility challenge roll. If they fail, they catch on fire, which is 1d6 damage per turn. quote:
Savant If you’ve been reading along and thinking “spellcasters don’t get that many spells”, then this is the Path for you. The Savant trades off raw magical power for a deeper understanding of spells, getting more spells than any other Path. If you don’t mind being restricted to lower-tier spells and having fewer castings, but you want a bigger magical toolbox, the Savant is worth a look. Level 7 Savant Attribute increase, as well as a little Health and either another language or a profession. You then get 2 picks, and you can use them to either discover a new tradition or learn another spell. You also get Tradition Focus, which lets you pick two Traditions you’ve already discovered; when you attack with spells from those Traditions, you get 1 boon, and creatures roll to resist them with 1 bane. Level 10 Savant You get a little boost to Health and you learn 2 more spells from the Traditions you picked with Tradition Focus. quote:Sentinel Shapeshifter This Path specializes in Transformation magic, and is focused around the idea of letting you transform into other forms with more benefits and transform faster and more often. Also, this was a huge missed opportunity to call the Path the Transformer. Level 7 Shapeshifter You get your standard Attribute increase, along with a little more Health and a point of Power. You can learn another language or a profession and you either discover the Transformation tradition or learn 1 Transformation spell. You gain Superior Transformation, which grants you one of the following bonuses when you transform yourself:
You get a smidge of Health and another spell, along with Swift Transformation, which lets you spend triggered actions to cast Transformation spells. quote:
Stormbringer This Path is all about bringing the pain with Storm magic and loving people up by feeding off of electricity. It gives you boosts to mobility and your defenses as well. Overall, if you want to zip around the battlefield throwing lightning bolts and eating electricity, this Path is great. Level 7 Stormbringer You get you Attribute increase, more Health, a point of Power and +2 to Speed, as well as another language or profession. You either discover the Storm tradition or learn 1 Storm spell, and you get Ride the Lightning, which grants you the ability to, after casting a Storm spell, spend a triggered action to fly your Speed. Level 10 Stormbringer More Health and another spell, as well as Powered by the Storm, which means that whenever you would take damage from lightning or thunder, you reduce that damage to 0 and gain a +5 bonus to Health for 1 minute (which is cumulative). Also, while affected by the talent, you get 1 boon when attacking with Storm spells, and creatures resisting you take 1 bane. quote:Technomancer Templar This reminds me of the Sentinel, as it is another Path focused around creating a zone to kick rear end in. I think that it needs a little more to finish it out, as the abilities are nice and flavorful, but it just needs a little more bang to really get people’s attention. Level 7 Templar Standard Attribute bump, +1 to Perception and a nice chunk of Health supplemented by either a language or a religious profession and you get Temple of Faith, which teaches you the temple of faith spell. When you lay down the temple of faith, it affects a radius 5 yards around you and lasting for 1 minute. While the zone persists, any creature that moves into it allows you to spend a triggered action to move towards it and attack it. If you succeed, they are also immobilized for 1 round. Level 10 Templar More Health and your Temple of Faith now grants you 1d6 extra damage to targets inside it. I think in the end the Templar is a little half-baked. You could have plenty of fun with it, but the main talent needs a little love. A boon to the attack, or giving your Defense a boost inside the zone, anything would really add a lot to it. quote:
Thaumaturge Do you like chaos? Well this is the Path for the Chaos tradition, and it allows you to be pretty drat chaotic, both to your benefit and detriment. Level 7 Thaumaturge Attribute bump and a little Health and 1 point of Power. You either learn another language or a profession and you either discover the Chaos tradition or learn 1 Chaos spell. You gain the talent Seize Chaos, meaning that when you make an attack or challenge roll and dislike the result, you can spend a triggered action to roll 2d20. You must replace the original roll with one of the numbers and take Damage equal to the other number. Level 10 Thaumaturge You get a little more Health and another Spell. Have you ever wanted to cast a spell but you’re out of castings of it? Well Fluid Magic makes that a thing of the past, as now you can expend a casting of another spell of equal or higher rank to cast a spell that you have no more castings of. quote:Theurge Transmuter Transmuters are the ultimate users of the Alteration tradition. To them all things can be altered and ultimately everything is fluid, capable of changing for the better or worse at any moment. This is a very simple Path that has a tight focus, but it might not be on what you think. Level 7 Transmuter You got your standard Attribute bump, some Health and +1 to Power, as well as either another language or profession and you either discover the Alteration tradition or learn an Alteration spell. Optimization lets you, after completing a rest, reduce one of your Attributes by 2 to raise another by 2. This lasts until you complete a rest. Level 10 Transmuter You increase all your Attributes by 1. Yep, that’s exactly as awesome as it sounds. Transmuters just get an across-the-board Attribute increase to make themselves even better. In return, the only other things you get at this level are some Health and another spell. quote:
Weapon Master Sort of a cross between the zen master and the crusty old soldier, the Weapon Master is about picking a weapon and being the absolute best with it. But because Shadow of the Demon Lord is such a cool game, you’re not locked in to just one weapon. And in fact, you get a lot more flexibility than you might imagine. Level 7 Weapon Master Standard Attribute increase, and a good bit of Health, as well as another language or profession. Favored Weapon is your core ability, and it comes up after completing a rest. When you do so, you choose a weapon, and that weapon becomes your favored weapon until you use this talent again. When wielding your favored weapon, you get +1 Defense and you make all attack rolls with 1 boon. Level 10 Weapon Master Another nice chunk of Health and Weapon Specialization, which adds 1d6 damage to your attacks with your favored weapon. quote:Woodwose Zealot This is the Path to take if you want to be the most extreme sort of crusader or soldier of the faithful. Zealots are people willing to drive themselves mad for their devotion to the gods, and quite happily do so in order to destroy their enemies. Level 7 Zealot Attribute increase and a big boost to Health. You get another language or a religious profession. Zeal is your core talent, and it allows you to, when you fail an attack or challenge roll, to gain 1d3 insanity and reroll. You have to use the second result, and when you use this talent, you can’t be charmed, compelled, or frightened until the end of the round. Violent Madness removes uncertainty from your Insanity, meaning that when you go mad, you always get the violence result. Level 10 Zealot Another big chunk of Health and Divine Might, a talent that lets you make a second roll with 1 boon after using Zeal. If you use this for an attack, it deals 1d6 extra damage. And that’s it for the Paths! As you can probably see by now, not all of them are balanced or have the same amount of attention devoted to them, probably because there are a shitload of them. I’m not a fan of all of them, and I think there are definite improvements that could be made, but overall the variety and choice present in the game means that you’re always gonna end up with an interesting character who is very different from anyone else in the party. Serf fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Jun 26, 2017 |
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Jun 24, 2017 05:33
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imagine stanning this hard for hard for Zak S lol
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Jun 26, 2017 17:56
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Terratina posted:Metaplot, ew. When has metaplot been good for a gameline? Aside from tempting people to buy more books to find out when happens next? There's a really good episode of System Mastery about it.
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Aug 2, 2017 14:36
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Dark Continent? Ebonians?
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Aug 15, 2017 16:36
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I've been reading through the Abandon All Hope write-up (great job, btw) and at the same time I've been going through my Shadow of the Demon Lord stuff and I came across this in a supplement about the Void (which is basically spacehell)quote:
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Aug 19, 2017 02:36
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Loxbourne posted:Isn't Shadow of the Demon Lord set in not-Diablo European fantasyland? Which supplement is this and how did they work in space and spaceships? There's lots of small nods to sci-fi stuff in the supplements. The core book does include a for-sure robot alien creature. But for this supplement (The Hunger in the Void), the titular Void is a hell dimension where the Demon Lord lives. It is mostly empty, but bits of old worlds destroyed by the Demon Lord drift around, and those worlds could contain literally anything. So you occasionally come across cool sci-fi stuff like this.
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Aug 19, 2017 16:09
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Shadow of the Demon Lord Part 14: Equipment Equipment in Shadow of the Demon Lord is tracked in a system that I personally find a little too fiddly for my tastes. But before I start injecting my own biases into the game, let’s jump right in. The game has four tiers of currency, with an exchange rate that any WoW player will understand easily: 10 pieces of the lower tier of currency equal 1 piece of the next highest tier. Bits Copper pennies Silver shillings Golden crowns So if you have 10 cp, you can exchange that for 1 ss. I like how this part of the system works. It feels like the lower tiers of currency will remain useful in higher level play because most people in the world deal in bits or coppers, and all that normally-useless lower value currency can still take you far depending on where you are in the world. Similarly, the game has a four-tiered system to describe how hard it is to find certain things. The rarity is determined by how likely you are to find the item in a settlement of a certain size. Common - these items can be found anywhere for sale. Uncommon - specialized production chains are needed, so these are for sale in communities of 1,000 people or more. Rare - this stuff requires exceptionally skilled labor and extensive facilities, and can be found in areas with a population of 5,000 or more. Exotic - usually magical in nature or requires unusual materials. These advanced items are only found in cities with a population of 10,000 or more. Carrying limits are where things start to get a little silly for more. As a rule, you can only carry a number of discrete items equal to your Strength score. If you think about the amount of random poo poo a typical adventuring party accumulates in the course of an expedition and beyond, this becomes weird real fast. You clothing counts as one item, every 10 loose coins or 5 loose gems count as 1 item, but any container you have like a backpack or satchel, counts as 1 item no matter how much you put in there. A 1-foot cube of space can apparently hold 500 coins and reduce them to 1 item. Each 1-foot cube of space can hold the equivalent of 500 coins, so a 4-foot cube can reduce 5000 coins to 1 item. Except that when loaded up in this manner, containers become heavy and count as 3 items. This is a little too fiddly and weird for me, but I can see what the game is trying to do. Though coins are the only example item it gives on fitting into that 1-foot cube of space. It could do with a few more examples of how much can fit into what area and whether they will count as 1 item or more. Next up are living expenses. When you finish an adventure, you get to pick what level of lifestyle you want to live for the next adventure. You pay the listed amount of money and you get a small detriment/benefit for your choice. This abstracts all the bookkeeping of buy incidental stuff and lets you just skip right to what is most important to your character. Destitute - no upkeep, and when you start an adventure you have a chance of losing some small valuables. If you can’t lose anymore, you become diseased. Poor - 2cp upkeep, same as Destitute except the roll you have to make to avoid losing something is a little easier. Getting By - 1ss and no detriment or benefit. Comfortable - 2ss and at the start of the adventure you have a chance to save some of your investment. Wealthy - 1 gc upkeep and you have a chance to save even more. Rich - 2gc+ and you have a good chance to save a lot of money. Armor and Clothing  Armor is pretty simple in SotDL, but it works a little differently than you might expect. You of course have penalties to certain things like swimming and climbing and you’re slower while wearing heavier armor. Armor also has required Strength scores to use it, and if you don’t meet that, you take a penalty to Speed and make all Strength and Agility challenge and attack rolls with 1 bane. When wearing armor, the Defense of the armor is not a bonus to you existing Defense unless it says exactly that. Instead, and this is true for all armor heavier than light armor, you replace your Defense with that of the armor. I like how this works because it makes sense that you don’t get the benefit of your speediness while wearing armor. The armor acts like armor is supposed to: it absorbs blows that would otherwise hit you. Let’s get into the armor and what it gives you
Weapons  If you were expecting a chart of weapons like good old D&D, well you’re going to get exactly that. SotDL doesn’t exactly do anything new with weapons. You’ve got the types you’re accustomed to: melee, ranged, simple, military, heavy etc. Some of them have Strength requirements and give you 1 bane if you don’t meet it. Some weapons are two-handed, others are one, and a few are “off”, which means you can wield them in your off-hand. Some weapons have special properties. Big weapons are generally Cumbersome, giving you a bane to all attacks with them, some are Finesse, which means you can attack with either Strength or Agility when using them, others, like the guns and crossbows, need to be reloaded after every shot. Guns in SotDL also have the Misfire property, meaning that when you attack with it, if you get a 0 or less, the gun has a chance of being just jammed or it can explode in your hand. Defensive is a property applied to shields, giving you a bonus to Defense. All weapons in SotDL deal either 1 damage, 1d3 or a number of d6s and possibly a little extra. The most common amount of damage is 1d6. Your standard spear does 1d6, and a sword/axe does 1d6 + 1. Guns are particularly powerful, with pistols dealing 2d6 and rifles doing 3d6. The damage for weapons tops out an an innate 3d6 for the rifle and the great weapons, which require a Strength of 13 to use. More damage comes from specific talents. I’ve seen damage as high as an 8d6 with a great weapon and it can get up to 10d6. Fighters in SotDL are the damage kings, as spells generally don’t do that much damage, and a ton of monsters take half damage from spells. A few take half damage from weapons, but generally speaking the guy with the weapon is going to be doing the most damage. You can either track ammo manually or use the abstract system: if you roll a 0 or lower on your ranged attack, you are out of ammo and can’t use the weapon until you recover more. Adventuring Gear  This is your standard list of stuff an adventurer might need. Your universal adventurer’s kit has the classics: backpack, bedroll, cutlery (actually, huh?), tinderbox, torches, 20 yards of robe, a grapnel, a week of rations and a waterskin. Most of that is pretty familiar. You’ve then got your sources of illumination, from matches up to spotlight lanterns. After that is a wide variety of stuff. Things like a crowbar, which gives 1 boon on Strength challenge rolls to open closed things or an implement of magic for casting your spells for most Traditions. There are knuckledusters, listed here and not under weapons because they act as an enhancement for your unarmed strikes, adding a whopping 1 damage to them! Enjoy punching goatmen to death 2 damage at a time. Nets are listed here, and they do what you think they would do, while there are also torturer’s tools. The torturer’s tools are a problem for me. They allow you to spend time torturing a creature (though the game never says this directly. This description is all mechanics), you can deal damage to the creature after attacking their Will with yours. So essentially tortture is a contest of personalities that can hurt the tortured target. At the end of this, if you succeed, you can ask the target a question that they must answer truthfully, or make up something if they don’t know. As a person who is anti-torture and knows the evidence backs me up on that view, this tacit endorsement of torture as an effective tactic is really off-putting. But in the end, it serves to underline the kind of world SotDL takes place in: one where evil methods get results. The chapter ends with the prices for common foods, drinks, services and the cost of various retainers, OD&D style. There are potions, among which are your standards like healing potions, resistance potions and antitoxins. But a few stand out to me.
And that’s it for the equipment chapter! It oscillates between good stuff like the abstract ammo tracking system to weird, fiddly crap like the carrying limits rules. Equipment in SotDL is meant to be simple and easy to get your head around and for the most part I think it accomplishes that. If you’re an old D&D player most of this is second nature, aside from how armor works. And for folks not inured to d20 stuff, it is easy enough to understand. The simplification of weapon damage in particular is nice, as it makes the math easier to get and cuts down on the number of dice you need (even if I do like all my pretty d8s and d10s). That’s it for this Shadow of the Demon Lord update. Next time we’ll get started on covering the magic traditions!
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Aug 26, 2017 05:50
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Kurieg posted:I still remember the 5e preview stream where Mearls personally DMed a game for the PA/PVP crew, and Kurtz's hopes being dashed against the rocks once he discovered he could no longer be a 4e style cleric and spending the rest of the game despondently doodling on a notepad. Lemme tell you, that really didn't instill a lot of hope in the game for me from the beginning.
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Sep 19, 2017 21:29
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unseenlibrarian posted:That, sadly, was a homebrew. But a great homebrew. https://dnd-5e-homebrew.tumblr.com/post/136812581995/oath-of-the-common-man-paladin-by This is what I always thought a paladin should be. Too bad its wasted on 5e.
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Oct 2, 2017 17:26
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wiegieman posted:What is with these people, though? Are they all just houseruling everything, or playing all caster parties, or do they really like only half the party being important? D&D brain damage.
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Oct 5, 2017 20:47
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