ubik2
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Posts posted by ubik2
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I like the idea of the Materia being used to unlock spells and upgraded effects.
I wasn't sure if you intended to exclude the existing magical implements (which bring the magic damage to a similar level as non-magical damage). If you are supposed to still be casting through your sword, it might be worth having materia bump damage too.
There's a minor mistake with the description of Restore referencing Earth.
Does the Time Slow effect prevent the target from taking actions? If so, this might be too strong for the given difficulty.
None of the careers have Summoning as a class skill, though that may be intended.
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5 hours ago, RagingJim said:Firstly, would you use the Augment spell to add an effect to a weapon? eg fire, lightning, blast etc?
If so, and you add such effect to a ranged weapon, what happens? Does it activate per shot? or Only if you use it in melee? Would you need to augment each piece of ammo (bullet, arrow etc)?
The Augment spell in the book can't exactly be used in this way. You can certainly flavor the additional ability die to represent the effect of something like fire or lightning, but it's not providing a new mechanical option. For example, Augment to add Fire to a sword simply manifests as an extra ability die. In some cases, like when attacking an opponent vulnerable to fire, the vulnerability applies to the augmented weapon.
If you want a house rule for doing this, adding the ability die is reasonably balanced against effects that cost one difficulty, so you could replace the benefit of the ability die with something like the Fire effect (with the ability to trigger Burn). In this case, I'd rule the Burn potency to be the same as it would be under the Attack spell (based on Knowledge ranks).
Edit: I agree with Richardbuxton that if you want to attack yourself with the enchanted weapon (and you're mostly a caster), you should probably just use the Attack option, with the enchantment aspect being flavor. If you're trying to enchant someone else's sword, the Augment option works better.
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1 hour ago, Richardbuxton said:Augment Willpower to be 5 then Concentrate and use Attack with Close Quarters and Empowered for an Attack that does base damage 10 at a Difficulty of Daunting (4)
Minor issue, but it looks like the wording of the Augment spell adds an ability die, but doesn't actually increase the ability, so the base damage doubled would only be 8. The extra die does help deal with the difficulty dice. You also have the option to get another 3 from a wand (or perhaps 4 from a staff, though a wand with close-quarters would be more optimal).
Your point is still totally valid.
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15 minutes ago, yeti1069 said:Submitted the following:
Questions on the Heal spell:
1. Can you target yourself? Other spells (Augment, for example) specify that you can, but this does not.
2. If you CAN target yourself, does the difficulty get increased the way it does when using Medicine on yourself?
3. Is there any limitation on the amount of healing a character can receive from magic (the way it was limited for the Force Power, for instance)?
4. Is there any limitation on using Heal to remove Critical Injuries?1 and 2 have not been asked.
3 and 4 have been answered (no and no).
Edit: For those wanting the exact text, it's the first question in the FAQ.
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7 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:Has anyone put this to the developers?
If you mean in regard to the frequency, the developers responded that the strain cost on the spell was meant to be the limiting factor, and players are able to cast Heal as often as they like.
If you mean a target restriction, I'm not aware of it being specifically asked or answered.The developers indicated that the Heal spell is intended to be a viable replacement for the Medicine skill, and it probably wouldn't serve that role if it cannot be used to heal yourself (which you can do with the Medicine skill).
D&D had a similar issue where people weren't certain if you were in "touch" range of yourself (you are).
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12 hours ago, yeti1069 said:The spell specifies a target they are engaged with, but doesn't call out that they can Heal themselves.
I guess there's a question of whether a target is at engaged range to themselves. If they aren't, I'd have a hard time saying what range they would be instead, so I think they are. Based on that, I think it's perfectly acceptable to allow Heal on self.
Outside of combat, I think it's reasonable to limit Heal to once per target per encounter (perhaps once per caster per target per encounter). This keeps the session from being too focused on one player making a bunch of rolls while everyone else is inactive.
It's true that with magic, severe critical injuries heal faster (for the easy ones, a simple Medicine check is probably better). This may be an advantage, if you want your players to continue the session. It may be a disadvantage if you want your players to really feel the sting by being inactive for some period in the hospital recovering. You're generally putting the story on hold while this happens, though (or just having the bad guys win off screen), so the table time is the same regardless.
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Overall, this looks really nice.
If you look at the sample settings, each of them either splits Melee or Ranged. Those with Gunnery have 5 combat skills, but otherwise, they're limited to 4 skills. The default fantasy setting doesn't split Ranged, since it's just not dominant enough to justify being two skills. Genesys isn't a simulationist game, so the fact that knowing how to throw a knife is totally different than knowing how to shoot a bow isn't important.
I'd also worry about how fragmented the Knowledge skills are. This can serve a role, where you want different party members to each have their own Knowledge skill, but you run the risk of making each of them insufficiently valuable. Instead, you're likely to just have one player with a high Int that makes all the rolls, and doesn't bother investing XP. I think it's hard to justify more than a couple Knowledge skills without it becoming a trap option, but certainly in a game where the characters are all scientists or scholars, it could work. The playtest had more Knowledge skills, but they trimmed it back to one for the book. In D&D, there are 4 knowledge skills, but those aren't competing for the same XP as the skills that are applicable in combat.
Casting skills don't run into this issue, since players generally only take one of those. If you allow a character to take two different casting skills, the increase in versatility may justify the additional expense in XP. It does mean that you need to design magic systems and flavors for all of them, though.
You may also want to remove Operating, and roll that into Survival (piloting a ship) and Mechanics (operating gnome constructs).
I think players are expected to pick a couple skills outside of their career, but your setting does end up with more skills than normal. That shows up as an issue with the 8 career skills not seeming sufficient, but it will also be an issue when spending XP. Players will need to level more skills, which makes advancement slower, and the initial characteristic spread more defining.
From a formatting standpoint, it's nice to use the skill's proper name (capitalized) when possible, since it makes it clear that you're calling out a specific game term.
I agree that an advantage die on bow attacks is really strong. If this were limited to a variant bow that was lower damage than the normal bow, this would be fine, but I don't think this is the case for Dragonlance. Removing a setback die is better, but that might still be too strong, given that a lot of opponents will have defense, so it's usually applicable.
The low light vision description for the Half-Dwarf mentions half-elves instead. Goblins have a similar issue with half-ogres, and Centaur references elves.
The Minotaur's Brutish Strength, and high Wound Threshold is probably a little too powerful given the XP cost (I think the D&D Dragonlance setting had a similar issue with Minotaur being overpowered). Bonus damage is pretty strong, and even the Centaur's bonus is probably undercosted.
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The tier 3 Animal Companion talent is another approach to having a bound demon. It's also useful for something like a golem.
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4 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:Range Upgrade cost 2 Difficulty per Range band.
I think I recall that in SW, the Move power requires your target to start in range, but you can move them out of that initial range. Of course, your homebrew spell could rule differently.
In this case, I'd say the effect they're looking for is to cause damage, and those mechanics are covered by the Attack spell. If the result of resolving the Attack spell is 10 damage, then narratively, they got to short range from the ground. If they end up doing 20 damage, they managed to get their target to medium range. I'd also ignore the strain that would be inflicted on the target from falls for this situation.
I would also not let the Manipulative effect be used to move the target 1 range band up, if the target would fall.
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13 hours ago, Underachiever599 said:Blast and Burn or Empower and Blast could let your character clear out large groups of minions and rivals with relative ease compared to non-spellcasters.
Unless you tweak things to either add the implement damage bonus to Blast, or use double the Knowledge rating, Blast isn't going to be very effective at clearing groups. I'd suggest the former, since it doesn't vary as much as doubled Knowledge. These two suggestions are from the FAQ.
In D&D, wizards are control, so they're effective against groups of minions, but your Genesys world doesn't have to have them in the same role. The high end of direct damage for the Attack spell is better than the other options, so it might be better to let the archer take out the minions, with his reliable bow that can eliminate one every shot, while the mage goes against the heavy opponent, missing more often, but landing more devastating hits. The crossbow essentially has a base damage of 9, a halberd/great axe ends up at 11, while the Empowered attack spell from a staff ends up at 14 (though it costs 2 strain).
Edit: In any case, I wouldn't tweak the rules unless you're having a problem with them.
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2 hours ago, Dragonshadow said:Frankly as is, for the most part, you can only sustain one spell, and if you're actually moving during your turn it's as costly as the initial casting is.
If a caster needs to move while sustaining a spell, they may be better off sacrificing their action instead, though if this is frequent, that player will get bored.
An example that comes to mind is late game use of the Barrier spell for +5 defense with enough advantage to have it apply to everyone in the party. In that case, I'd probably rather maintain that spell than add attack spells when I need to move.
For Augment, the Haste adder mitigates the concentration cost. Druids using this to shift are sacrificing their first action, but that may have been spent closing anyhow.
The other option is to build implements like the Druidic Circlet for their spell, and just keep track of whether it's causing balance issues.
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9 minutes ago, c__beck said:Page 218 says:
"Spells that can be sustained through concentration last until the end of the character's next turn…. However, if the character performs the concentrate maneuver during that next turn, the spell's effect last until the end of the character's following turn, instead."
That, to me, says one spell per manoeuvre.
I read that text to indicate that a single maneuver is sufficient to sustain all existing spells. However, I assume the intent of the rule is that you need a concentrate maneuver for each spell.
Rules Lawyer:
Will spell 1 end? No. They performed the concentrate maneuver during the turn. Will spell 2 end? No. They performed the concentrate maneuver during the turn.
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On 12/8/2017 at 1:44 PM, DarthGM said:They have to hit with it first, and generate enough advantage to trigger the Burn, AND they're at short range. Even if you start (somehow) with a 5 Intellect, you still have to roll the Augment spell well enough to get to 7 Intellect, maintain it, and then maneuver and cast the attack spell you just laid out.
Dedication will only take you to 5 characteristic, so I'm not sure how a character would get to 7. A literal reading of Augment is that while you get an extra attribute die on your skill check, you are not increasing your attribute, and therefore would not increase the base damage. Between the two of these, I think you're still capping at 14 damage. I've also read this to imply that you add an attribute die even if your skill is higher than your ability (not upgrading the die), though that may not be intended.
In settings with cyberware, you could potentially bump this to 18 (since you can boost Int to 6 and Overcharge to 7) but this is an uncommon mix. If your setting allows cyberware with magic, I would suggest that you not allow the cyberware bonus to apply to the magic.
In any case, 14 with Burn is very good. Using a magic ring this goes down to 12, and will generally be successful, which is probably about as good as the Sniper Rifle, and better than existing Fantasy weapons. I'd suggest not providing a PC with an Empowered+Burn magic ring.
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5 hours ago, Hugh Salamando Filth said:Aye, there should be more lore skills. Didn't check those until recently.
I seem to have expressed my point poorly. While in the setting there are a lot of lore skills, it doesn't work well mechanically to reproduce that in Genesys, since the cost of the skill is the same as the cost of other skills that are more commonly used.
I could be off base on this, and if your campaigns have encounters being won by lore checks more often than combat checks, splitting knowledge up makes sense.
Another approach is to have a T1 talent for access to each forbidden lore, while still having a single Knowledge skill.
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This is impressive.
It looks like Tech-Use replaces Mechanics, but there's still a number of mentions of Mechanics.
There's a *lot* of lore skills. I understand that normally, knowing one of these things doesn't get you the other information, but it damages the balance. In a normal campaign with a single Knowledge skill, that skill gets used about as much as another skill like Perception. It's hard to imagine each of the individual lore skills coming into play that often, making them a trap option. They don't have to be as valuable as the combat skills, but they're probably not even close. Perhaps if it was just Lore and Forbidden Lore, it might work better.
Multiple magic skills is fine, since any individual character is generally only going to use one, and they actually do use it a lot. In fact, for the base Genesys setting, the developers figured they'd use it too often, so the mechanics push the player to invest in Knowledge as well.
It may make sense to combine Melee (Light) and Melee (Heavy), like the modern setting. Given how much melee there is in this universe, keeping them distinct is also reasonable.
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8 hours ago, AtoMaki said:However, contacting your lord should be quite a hassle: it either practically ends the adventure because of travel time/waiting-for-the-message time (that's why it works for single player and one-shot campaigns, where such things are obviously no concern), or it forces the party to either have a single lord (Yoriki campaign) or have their lords readily at hand (Winter Court/Topaz Championship maybe?).
Assuming there is a shugenja in the party, Dominion of Suitengu can allow communication across any distance, including voices with 2 opportunity. Assuming the shugenja probably didn't buy that invocation, the importune invocations rule can provide access to get an update. This requires an item of value to the character (and will likely need to be performed for each party member), but perhaps this just turns into a mini-quest to acquire an item that allows them to call home (making that their giri, temporarily). Without a shugenja, perhaps they can do a favor for a local shugenja, and in return, be granted the invocation as a favor.
There are some difficulties with this approach. The shugenja in question needs to be familiar with the other location. Given the existence of this invocation, I would actually expect something like telegraph offices to exist in cities, with some shugenja specializing in making this communication possible. Perhaps they would go on tours to establish knowledge of the other locations, but for a more magic version, they would travel through them with a senior shugenja (4 opportunity), which would establish that knowledge.
Anyhow, it provides a solution if you need it, but may be an unwelcome modification to the setting. It means that major news will quickly travel across Rokugan, which dramatically changes the way wars play out. It probably significantly affects trade as well.
Edit: What will the players do when corrupt minister Pai changes the rules of the shugenja network to prevent updates from Carpenter Wall.
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5 hours ago, 2P51 said:I wasn't talking about activating everything on every roll. That dice pool is also devoid of Boosts which are added in nearly every pool all the time so the example is incomplete and frankly disingenuous. Furthermore the fascination with Blast is probably 'overblown' since in a fantasy setting you're going to have more melee focused PCs that will be engaged with opponents making Blast a bad option anyway.
There's also no setback dice or adversity dice, and the target is at optimal range. I do think it's likely that casters will stand still and focus for boost dice. I also think Blast is a weak option. If your trying to take out minions, don't bother with Burn. If you're taking out rivals, don't bother with Blast.
Disingenuous means someone is deliberately misleading. It's a much stronger word than misleading, and probably not appropriate for a friendly forum discussion.
I haven't said that the magic system is broken because of this. I just pointed out the probabilities.
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3 minutes ago, DarthDude said:But using one thread to inflict 2 strain is just an option? The GM could spend it otherwise like granting 2 blue to an NPC or do something narratively to the disadvantage of the PCs?
Just an option. Since the threat penalties for magic are 2x as severe as usual, I figure that's what the GM will choose, but he's still free to choose something else.
At higher levels of threat, you may damage your implement, or end up hitting a party member as well. For simplicity, I just assumed the GM always chooses strain/wound (and the player chooses to take strain rather than a wound).
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15 minutes ago, Grimmerling said:Is it possible now to use advantages before cancelling out???
Oops. Good catch. I wasn't thinking clearly. The proper average strain is actually only 1.6.
The success chances weren't affected by that mistake.
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14 hours ago, CitizenKeen said:But. Check this out. http://anydice.com/program/dd64
With a mere two Boost dice (say, from a double Aim maneuver for 2 stress, or a singular Aim maneuver and some assistance), you get off both Blast and Burn 43% of the time.
It looks like that version is still just based on one triggered effect (advantage >= 2).
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10 minutes ago, DarthDude said:I have not the book, yet. I thought casting a spell does only cost two strain. Is there something else costing additional strain in the process? You mention 4 points of strain on average.
Threat gets spent to increase strain, and an uncountered threat buys two strain instead of one for magic. Since the player's advantage is all dumped on effects, on average there's just under 1 uncountered threat (which could be taken as a wound, but I imagine the player will generally prefer strain).
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On 12/6/2017 at 9:28 PM, EliasWindrider said:Get a magic ring you can get 3 specific enhancements without increasing the difficulty, one can be a double increase to difficulty.
The magic ring bumps the difficulty, though it ends up being better than a wand.
Getting boost dice is the best solution. With a wand and boost dice, you can get your chance to just over 50% with 5 yellow and two blue dice.
There's also the option of talents. The signature spell talent that decreased the difficulty by 1 helps some.
Overall, there's not that much advantage in triggering both Blast and Burn, and I'd probably focus on just getting one good effect in.
Bioroids: Combat Skills - Hurting Humans
in Shadow of the Beanstalk
Posted
Players who want a combat bioroid may want to be able to pass as human (or cyborg). This means extra synth skin and either shades/googles or replacement eyes. They'll also want to avoid the common models, perhaps having a custom face sculpt. For the Adonis/Eve models, the eyes may be the only real giveaway. Similarly, a clone can simply cover their barcode with makeup or clothing.
If NAPD notices these characters are non-human, it is going to find these characters very disconcerting even outside a violent crime scene. At a violent crime scene where a bioroid kills a human, you'd have to leverage some hefty favors.
Bioroids don't get a bunch of extra XP at creation to offset not being able to participate in combat, so I'd allow any modifications to pass as human to be free at creation if the player wants it to be part of their concept.
The Soldier career section indicates there are a significant number of paramilitary bioroids, so it's likely the public is aware that there are killer bioroids, but don't expect to see those deployed in public areas.
NPC bioroids are likely to be much more obviously bioroids. They'll typically have different behavior and many obvious metallic features to mark them as non-human.