Spotlight On: Critical Hits

When I was creating my own system I had great plans for Critical Hits, including many hit locations, and effects for each of them.  Get hit in the head?  You may end up with a concussion.  Stabbed in the heart?  You’re dead.  I may one day go back to it, but I wanted something a bit simpler for this game, while not keeping the vanilla extra damage.

So I can up with the idea that a Critical Hit does damage to a physical attribute.  Instead of a Longsword doing x2 damage on the roll of a 19-20, it would instead do 1 point of damage to Strength, Dexterity or Constitution.  The higher the multiplier of the weapon, the more ability damage it would do, so a Longbow would do 2 points of ability damage, a Scythe 3 points.

A slight variation on this that I’ve been toying with is that each damage type affects a different ability.  Bludgeoning would do Strength damage, Slashing would do Dexterity damage, and Piercing would do Constituion damage.  My reasoning for these pair ups was rather arbitrary, which is why I havn’t just adopted it.  Bludgeoning damages the muscles, making it harder for them to work with the same force they normally can.  Slashing parts the ligaments needed for coordination.  Piercing goes deep into the body and hits major organs.

Bandits wielding bows, or warrior wielding axes of any kind can be the doom of a party, as a few Crits and you’re gone. I think this system will keep critical hits dangerous, without the threat of killing you outright, especially at low levels. 

Thoughts?

Legends: The Elves

The Elves were a race of people who lived in the time of the Gods.  Contact was lost with them sometime after the God’s disappearance, and they are presumed to have died out in the intervening thousand years.

Knowledge of the Elves as a people is limited.  Texts say that they were a slave race of the Ishari, kept separate from other races during their empire, and liberated by the Gods.  The God of Forests and Sun took them under his wing, helping them establish their place in the world.  They called him Valya Vara, and he took this as his name.  What it was before this is unknown.

Physically Elves were very similar to humans, with three major exceptions.  They were a lot slimmer than humans, some illustrations show them looking almost emaciated, though these may date from a time shortly after their liberation.  Secondly, their ears were larger than a humans, long and slender, with little to no earlobe present.  Finally their eyes were more almond shaped than a human, and their pupils were vertical slits, much like a cats.

The Elves took their place in the forests of the world tending to keep away from the other races, being a reclusive people, probably because of their time as slaves.  They took to magic naturally, and some religious books of Valya Vara seem to indicate that they may have been the race most naturally inclined to magic, almost like it was a part of them.  Many scholars point to this as the cause of their disappearance, the magic that was so much a part of them turning against them like it did the other races.  Others think that they may have ascended to a higher form of being, becoming more magic than mortal.

Whatever happened, the Elves are considered a lost race, and with their penchant for basic living in their forest homes, the answer may never be found.

Professor Adrian Pageguard, University of Dertrel.

Work in Progress: Campaign Map

Those of you who have been in previous campaigns of mine may recognise some of the place names :)

Conundrum: Class(es)

With the major reworking of skills, feats, and low amount of magic in the world, I need to redo a lot of the standard classes.  This led me to the thought that I may just want to start from scratch.

This brought up the following possibilities:

-         Have only one class.  Each character would choose a number of class skills, with the ability to take more with feats later on.  Characters would all be on an exactly level playing field, but would perhaps not feel as unique as they do in other games. 

-         Have three classes.  Similar to Dragon Age, Fighter, Rogue, and another.  With no ‘magic’ class, I was thinking perhaps a Sage type, though this feels weak to me for some reason.

-         Have many specialised classes.  Much like regular Dungeons and Dragons.  This would give me the opportunity to make the Aristocrat a viable class, as I would like the option for players to start as nobles, with all the advantages and disadvantages that brings.  This would be the most work however.

Prestige classes would be those that have gained access to magic, almost always through a spirit, though the initial steps would be through feats, which would be the prerequisites for the classes.

Spotlight On: Skills

Skills are one of the rules that I am giving a major reworking to.  I have looked at combining redundant skills together, such as happened in Pathfinder, and many homebrew campaigns, and coming up with new skills that I felt were missing from the game.  I have also turned a few basic mechanics into skills, such as saving throws now being skills, and base attack bonus is now gone, replaced by several weapons skills.

Current Skill List.

Acrobatics

Appraise

Architecture and Engineering

Awareness

Bluff

Bullrush

Climb

Diplomacy

Disable Device

Disarm

Disguise

Dungeoneering

Escape Artist

Forgery

Fortitude

Geography

Grapple

Handle Animal

Heal

History

Intimidate

Investigate

Initiative

Leadership

Linguistics

Local Knowledge

Memory

Nature Lore

Nobility and Royalty

Occult Lore

Overrun

Ride

Reflexes

Religion Lore

Sense Motive

Sleight of Hand

Spellcraft

Stealth

Survival

Swim

Trip

Weapon: Axes

Weapon: Bows

Weapon: Hand

Weapon: Crossbows

Weapon: Flails

Weapon: Heavy Blades

Weapon: Light Blades

Weapon: Clubs

Weapon: Hammers

Weapon: Polearms

Weapon: Thrown

Weapon: Lances

Weapon: Peasant

Willpower

Changes still being considered:

Splitting Noblity and Royalty into two skills, Etiquette and Heraldry.

Splitting Architecture and Engineering into two separate skills.

Combining Nature Lore and Survival into one skill, Wilderness Lore.

Thoughts?

Spotlight On: Feats

Feats are those tricks characters pick up that give them an edge, or allow them to use skills in new and interesting ways.  They may allow them to bend or even break the rules.

Feats in Ancient Urth: Sandbox are very similar to feats in other d20 products.  I have yet to decide how often characters will get feats through levelling, as I have decisions yet to make on the class(es) I will be using. 

However, I have decided it will be possible to gain feats outside of what class and level allow.  It will be possible to be trained in the use of a feat.  Whether through the hiring of a trainer, or reward for a quest, or even an exchange of training, characters will be able to pick up new feats, as if they had chosen them on reaching a particular level.  I have yet to get into the nuts and bolts of this, how much it would cost, how long it would take, but I think this would be a very interesting way to go, especially with the rarity of magic items.

Another change I am making is allowing feats to be taken multiple times, and stacking.  So if you took Weapon Focus twice, it would give you a +2 to attacks with that specific weapon.  However, to ensure things don’t get out of hand I am also considering putting a limit on how many times you can take a feat equal to your level.

In other ways I am considering removing restrictions from feats, such as the level limits on Weapon Specialisation and Improved Critical.  I am unsure as to why these feats had limits in place, perhaps to make them more special so that you felt accomplished when you reached a level that you could take them.

Needless to say these adjustments to the way feats work will require remaking some feats, possibly downing the bonus to account for the ability to take it multiple times.

Thoughts?

Spotlight On: Magic

Magic is a very rare thing on Urth in this age.  The abrupt disappearance of the Gods had many effects on the world, and one of the biggest was the change in magic.

Mortal beings, such as Humans, Orcs, and so on, can no longer directly interface with magic itself.  Instead they must rely on proxies, such as possessing spirits, magical rituals or magical items.

Many primitive tribes follow a shamanistic tradition, worshiping the spirits of nature.  Some of them can bond with a spirit, letting it inhabit them. A bargain is struck, and the mortal gets access to the spirit’s powers, in return for whatever payment the spirit asks.  In civilised lands those who study the occult can sometimes also contact these spirits, and achieve the same effect.

Magical rituals are very complicated affairs, bringing together several elements in a certain order to cause a certain effect.  These rituals are guarded jealously by those who know them, and are employed rarely less they draw attention to themselves.

Magical items are possibly the most common type of magic about this age.  The are highly sought after and often seen as a mark of prestige.  Because if someone is known to have an item of magic, many will covet it, and some will resort to any means to obtain it.

Those who have access to magic of any kind will find fear and suspicion from many quarters.  From the most superstitious of peasants to the most educated of kings, there are those who consider magic to be inherently evil, or at least innately dangerous and destructive.  Many wielders of magic are reviled and feared, even attacked on sight or murdered in their beds.

The lack of magical aid will have a great impact on this campaign compared to other Dungeons and Dragons games.  With no magical healing, no large area effect spells, battles will play out very differently.  With no charm or disguising spells, social situations will be more difficult.

The lack of magical healing will probably be the biggest issue.  Suddenly a minor encounter with bandits will be more than an inconvenience, as any injuries sustained will take time to heal, possibly delaying whatever mission the characters are on.  Tactics will become very important, as any advantage you can gain could save you days of convalescence.

Without large scale spells that group of thirty goblins is suddenly a threat, as you don’t have a couple of fireballs to dispatch them with.

This will bring a bigger focus on skills, as every skill the group has makes them more effective, and every one they don’t will limit them.  They cannot just buy a scroll to get around an obstacle.

Whilst magic will not be held out of the group’s hands, they will certainly not start with any, and it may be some time before they come across even the most basic form that they can use.  This means that other equipment and services will come to the fore, especially alchemy, which I plan to expand upon.  I’m also doing some fun things with feats that I will go into detail on next post.

This also means that they may be able to do more fun a interesting things with their money, rather than just upgrading that +2 sword to a +3.  This will hopefully encourage the sandbox feel of the game, enticing players to form large long lasting goals or plans they can work towards.

Urth: A Historical Overview

None know how the world began, or even what the world was like before the Ishari empire.  And our knowledge of the Ishari empire itself is limited and full of conjecture.

We do know that it covered much of the land of Timera, probably centred on the country of Ishter, with ruins being found in most countries.  Dedicated study of these ruins is prohibitive, due to conflicting politics and safety concerns.  This is also why we do not even know the makeup of the people of the Ishari empire.  Many scholars claim proof that the Ishari were human, others that it was a mixture of races.  To this date no conclusive proof has come to light.

We do know more about what happened upon the fall of the Ishari.  The people of Timera were protected by the Gods.  Through their priests, the Gods ushered in a time of prosperity and peace.  Magic was plentiful and controlled, whether channelled from the Gods or wielded directly by Wizards.  It was by no means a perfect time, as the Gods of the darker aspects, murder, treachery, and the like, forever strove to bring the peoples of the world into their influence, but on the whole it appeared to be a good time to be alive.

However, something happened to end all of that.  Today we only have theories on what happened to the Gods.  Just over a thousand years ago, seemingly between one day and the next, the Gods disappeared.  Magic spiralled out of control, bringing much devastation to the lands, especially Merkon, known as the centre of magical learning.  The priests could no longer speak to the gods, and many despaired that the Gods had abandoned or cursed the world.  Civilisation descended into barbarity.  Over the years many false prophets arose, proclaiming the return or soon to be return of the Gods.  Many met a bad end as their prophecies and claims turned false.

The mortal races lost access to magic.  They could no longer directly control it’s flows.  Only by cooperating with a spirit, angel, demon or other such creature, could mortals gain access to magic power.  Some rumours claim that rituals have been found, that can be used by anyone, even the lowliest peasant.  Others claim that the touch of any magic is tainting, causing any exposed to it to go mad, or rot away to nothing.

Eventually order began to be returned, as strong leaders rose, and banded their various lands together.  Trade has begun between many of these lands, as well as the exchanging of knowledge, which is just as important.

We have lost so much knowledge of our past.

Let us hope we one day reclaim it.

Professor Traynor Treesmith, University of Deral