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Asterite34 posted:Hell, I'd read it. The closest thing I know of to an actual english Sword World release is...ugh... the Goblin Slayer ttrpg, and quite frankly gently caress that Please don't look that up folks, you can't bleach the stain out from your mind. 
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Mar 3, 2023 10:49
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DNA Cowboys posted:Legend of Mana, Jade Cocoon, and Monster Hunter Stories seem like close fits. How the heck did I forget Legend of Mana and Jade Cocoon? Shame on me.
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Mar 3, 2023 11:24
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  Chapter 10: Species We’re at the chapter that really gets into the crunchy bits for furry role-play, with 18 unique species and their various subspecies and cultural traits. The species of Beast World are similar to the concept of race in other 5th Edition settings, albeit with some changes: the species serves as the main race (for instance, murine covers rodents), then there are subspecies (in the vulpine example, there are mice and rats), and finally a homeland which grants abilities based on a character’s culture and upbringing rather than being explicitly biological. These do not supersede or replace a character’s background. To give a core race analogy, an elf’s weapon proficiencies would be considered a homeland trait, while their darkvision would be a species trait. Every playable species in the Beast World is some variety of mammal, with dragons and kobolds being the reptilian exceptions. This is pretty inline with the most popular kinds of fursonas, where after hybrid combinations the most popular species are various kinds of canines and felines with dragons being number 5. As Beast World inhabitants “breed true” when having children, hybrids aren’t an option, which may be regrettable for those with fursonas of that type, but understandable given how complicated it would make options. The book also has a handy sidebar for creating one’s own species not covered in the book. It isn’t a detailed system, but rather gives some broad guidelines to keep them relatively balanced.  There aren’t really “racial languages” in the Beast World, even if certain species are more common in certain regions. The Common tongue is a magical language which was designed during the earliest history of the Beast World to enable interspecies communication, and even the Brethren were able to master its use nearly instantly. But there still exist other languages, which mostly map up to the major countries along with counterparts and naming conventions of real-world cultures: for example, Allemance is French, Glasrúnish is Irish, Al’ar is Caribbean with some post-Colonial Portuguese, Carib, and Indian names, Draconic is Greco-Roman, and so on. Monstrous languages exist as Dungeon inhabitants. I will not be going over every trait of a species, but rather highlighting some of the more interesting or iconic parts. I will also be giving my brief thoughts on each species’ utility for builds. One interesting thing to note among the species is that Darkvision is very rare. Only the Tenebrine species and Mole subspecies of Ligonine have it, and Murines have low-light vision where they can treat dim light as bright light. Some species still have special “greater than human” senses, such as vulpines being able to detect magnetic north and bats being able to see echoes of ethereal creatures and blindsense in the Astral Sea, but torches and lamp oil will be a pretty important commodity in Beast World parties more so than in core 5th Edition. Additionally, all of the species have the humanoid type, save for Jackals which are fey and Dragons which are…well, dragons. Bovines are physically-imposing people who have a natural connection with the Beast World’s plant life. Their traits reflect this, such as the species gaining advantage on melee attacks if they move at least 10 feet towards a creature they’re attacking, or the bison subspecies being able to wield two-handed weapons in one hand and treating versatile weapons as being two-handed even when wielded in one hand. They can touch a plant to communicate with it for 1 minute and learn about what it sensed nearby. Their homelands reflect how their people adapted to the needs of their particular regions, such as Vinyotians being hired for muscle at businesses which grants them proficiency in Perception and one gaming set, or Oric bovines having the ability to repair broken magical items with cost and DC based on rarity. Thoughts: It goes without saying that bovines encourage the player to go for melee builds. A bison doesn’t have to sacrifice the defensiveness of a shield in order to use a heavy weapon, and the advantage on a charge attack can be easily exploited to get Sneak Attack as a Rogue. The plant whisperer ability has some creative uses, such as carrying around a “pet plant” to pick up on things the party might miss or gift one to a person they wish to spy on.  Canines are a widespread species, with dogs being found in every region but most wolves live in Allemance. Their species traits are pretty broad, including +2 Charisma, advantage on Survival checks when tracking, and advantage on saves vs ingested poisons. They are natural team players, with wolves having a limited form of Pack Tactics where they gain advantage on attack rolls if they and at least 2 allies are adjacent to the target, and +2 on Charisma checks if within the presence of at least 3 allies. Dogs, by contrast, have advantage on attack rolls when they’re fighting 2 hostile creatures adjacent to each other, and their keen ears give them +1d4 on initiative rolls and advantage on Dexterity saves vs magical traps and spells when surprised. Their homelands reflect their particular peoples’ history in the region, such as Allemance soldiers being trained in backswings which once per round grants a free 1d4+ STR or DEX base weapon damage attack if they miss with a melee attack. Thoughts: Wolves really shine if you have at least two other PCs or allies who engage in melee, and their ability score increases encourage Charisma-based martials such as Valor Bards and Paladins. The dog’s advantage on attack alternative works well with a reach weapon and appropriate feats, in that a target’s ally may provoke an opportunity attack should they try to move away and thus deny the advantage. Bonuses on initiative rolls are good for just about anyone. Celerines are rabbits and squirrels, innately magical people who prefer to live in the big cities and keep up with the latest artistic trends. Their base species hews towards being agile, such as a 35 foot base walking speed and are immune to being surprised as long as they’re conscious. Rabbits begin play with the Prestidigitation cantrip, and squirrels can climb vertical surfaces as part of their movement. Their homeland traits determine how their particular culture learned to shape their inherent magic, such as Arnerian celerines being able to grant themselves and adjacent allies a speed boost for one minute once per long rest. Thoughts: Prestidigitation is one of the more useful cantrips, and vertical movement is nice but kind of peters off at higher levels when Spider Climb, flight, and the like become more common. The Oria trait’s restraining tentacles are a good means of crowd control, and Vinyot’s personal aura of silence is good for shutting down enemy spellcasters if the celerine has some means of preventing movement (like grappling). Cervines are elk, which is also their only listed subspecies, and most of them are native to Oria. Although they may seem introverted, they have a great curiosity for the world, leading quite a few to explore beyond the snowy north. Their species and subspecies traits encourage them towards gish builds, where they have a hoof and/or gore* natural weapon attack and can treat either their eyes or their antlers as an innate spellcasting focus. Their homeland traits can trace back generations to some esteemed individual or group who made a name for themselves in new lands, such as Al’ari cervines having arrived as cultural ambassadors, being proficient with two artisan or musical instrument tools and can knock enemies prone with their natural weapons while charging. *Some cervine have antlers, some don’t, and unlike the real world it’s not split by biological sex. Thoughts: Treating your eyes or antlers as a spellcsting focus frees up one’s hands to hold other things, making them good martial casters. Neither their species nor subspecies gains a bonus to any mental abilities, which is kind of a loss. The Vinyot homeland trait can be used on the party’s wagon to help reduce damage and deal more damage when ramming, which is good for Ironaxle wagons. Equines are born to move, and horses and donkeys alike hail from nomadic cultures. Both the species and subspecies traits have features centered around movement, such as the horse being able to double their movement speeds (not just base walking, which is 35 for equines) during the first round of combat and donkeys being able to sleep for 4 hours and continue walking even when nonmagically asleep. Donkeys also make for good mages, for they have advantage on Constitution saves to maintain concentration on a spell. Their homelands reflect things they picked up on the road, such as Vinyotian pilgrims who are proficient in Religion and learned how to hide ciphers within written documents. Thoughts: The base species has +2 to Wisdom, which strongly pushes them towards being a Cleric, Druid, Monk, or Ranger. The horse subspecies’ special stomp attack (move through an enemy square, damage and knock them prone) counts as an unarmed attack, which should mean that as a monk its base weapon damage die can increase with level. Donkeys as mentioned before are good for Concentration spells although their sleepwalking trait is of more limited use.  Felines were born in Al’ar, and even those who moved to other lands still carry with them nearly a millennium of island culture. Unlike dogs they are choosier in who they befriend and associate with, and even among good company they still prize having some “alone time” every now and then. The species is predictably agile, such as treating their Strength score as 6 points higher for jump distances and a 35 foot movement speed, but have some supernatural traits such as being immune to divination spells lower than 6th level and being more aware of their surroundings while asleep. The Chikitu subspecies represents smaller felines and gain the benefits of Dodge whenever they take the Dash action,* while the Grandi represent tigers and other big cats and have a cleavelike ability where they gain a free melee weapon attack if they drop a creature to 0 hit points with a melee weapon. Homeland traits represent how they adapted to a more inland lifestyle if away from Al’ar, such as Allemagne (Alley Cats) having a climb speed if they can brace against two parallel walls and being proficient in brewer’s supplies. *The text could afford to be a bit clearer, as one could ask if a Feline Rogue using Cunning Action could thus Dash and Dodge during the same turn, which would be really powerful. Thoughts: Felines are heavily pushed towards the physical classes, in that only Chikitus gain a mental ability score increase and that is from Wisdom. As mentioned above the Chikitu’s Dash may be powerful depending on how it’s read, and Oria’s Cat Got Your Tongue can be useful for shutting down an enemy spellcaster; the only downside is that the DC is low (8 + proficiency bonus) and they use their primary casting stat to save. Laetines are ferrets and otters, one of the Small-sized races who share flexible bodies and curious and inventive mindsets. They make for good Artificers and Wizards, with the species granting a +2 Intelligence, and their noodly bodies treat their size as Tiny for determining where they can fit and squeeze into. Otters have a swim speed and can hold their breath for 15 minutes and add double proficiency bonuses to Dexterity and Intelligence checks when using ropes, while Ferrets have adaptable minds which lets them become proficient in their choice of one of four sensory-based skills (Insight, Investigation, Perception, Survival) every long rest. Their homeland traits reflect expertise in some local industry, such as an Orian architect capable of performing a falling rubble-based AoE when hitting the weak point of a structure or Al’ari laetines being proficient with nets and are capable of building ones with higher escape DC and AC for purposes of breaking free. Thoughts: The noodle body has all sorts of creative applications, as Tiny is the smallest size category in 5th Edition. The otter’s double proficiency on rope isn’t so hot, although the ferret's bonus skill proficiency is nice if not exactly amazing. Oria’s AoE rubble is perhaps the most potent ability, although Vinyot’s jury-rig effects can also be useful albeit a bit situational. Ligonines are a bit of an exception for the species, as instead of being linked by similar physical features or ancestries they are instead linked by those who live in the highest and lowest places of the Beast World. They have three species, being armadillos, moles, and sloths. The ligonines help maintain the Loamlink network of subterranean tunnels running throughout the Beast World, which they allow others to use although most people find them inconvenient to travel. The eruption of the Dungeon in recent years has been disastrous for the species, who have memories of those lost from their appearance. The main species traits are brief and reactive, granting +2 Constitution and adding proficiency bonuses to mental ability checks that aren’t skills. Moles are built for underground travel, such as a burrow speed, darkvision, and once per short or long rest can grant themselves tremorsense. Armadillos have mobility and defensive-minded traits, such as a natural armor of 14 plus Dexterity bonus, and can curl up into a defensive ball that lets them move twice as fast while dashing and subtracting 3 points of nonmagical physical damage whenever they Dash, Disengage, or Dodge. Sloths are built for melee, having a Climbing speed, claw natural weapons, treat their unarmed reach as being 5 feet longer than normal, and have advantage on their first Strength or Dexterity contested ability check they make against a creature if they haven’t moved that round or used their bonus action or reaction. Homeland traits are different, being based on whether they spent their lives underground, on the surface, or in the forested canopies. Thoughts: The subspecies are different enough they may as well be treated as their own entries. Moles are basically the dwarves of the setting, and being one of the few races with darkvision they do not need to rely on light sources or magic to function in the dark, which is very useful. Armadillo rogues are quite potent, as they can go really fast when using the Dash action and two out of three actions that trigger their defensive ball are Rogue Cunning Actions. Sloths are pretty good for grapple and shove builds, as they have reliable means of gaining advantage provided that the enemy doesn’t move away from them.  Murines are the rodents of the Beast World. Both mice and rats called Arneria their home, but the rats moved en masse to other lands after losing their ability of silent speech that mice still possess. Rats are famous for starting and operating the first independent newspapers of the Beast World, motivated to keep in touch with friends and family across vast distances. The species main traits are rather interesting, including the aforementioned low-light vision and also being “mazeproof” in being able to retrace their steps over the last 7 days. The mice subspecies can communicate via subtle nonverbal cues with other mice, and can expend a spell slot* as a reaction if a creature would ordinarily lose concentration on a spell in order to maintain it. Rats can go for twice as long without food and water, and once per long rest as a reaction to seeing a spell cast within 60 feet they can cause the spell to affect them as well. Mice follow typical homeland traits separated by country, although the rats are an exception: in having spent generations living among others for much of their history, they can choose their homeland trait from any non-murine species list. Those living in Arneria can choose Blackwild Feedback, which is the result of a magical catastrophe that robbed them of silent speech, where as a reaction once per long rest can gain resistance to necrotic damage until the start of their next turn. *slot level equal to the spell at risk. Thoughts: Rodents are very good team players; mice can help maintain concentration effects, and rats can turn single-target beneficial spells into multi-target ones benefiting themselves as well. Arnerian mice’s homeland trait can let them teach their voiceless speech to non-mice allies, and use the Help action at range with them which is a pretty strong ability. The rat’s basic homeland trait is rather underwhelming as necrotic isn’t a super-common damage type, which likely means they’ll choose some other species’ homeland trait instead. Ovines are another single subspecies entry, representing sheep who have a reputation for being gentle and patient. Their people inherited the ability to communicate with quiet-minded beasts, a peculiar gift from Pirhoua. As a result, sheep are more likely than others to be vegetarians, and work well as shepherds and in other occupations involving animal husbandry. The bulk of their traits come from their species, which include being able to communicate with creatures of the Beast type, can cast Animal Messenger once per long rest, a climbing speed of 15 feet, and are capable of eating any form of green vegetation. The sheep subspecies causes their wool to deal +1d4 lightning damage whenever they make an attack that does damage of the same type. Their homelands exhibit various interpretations of their green thumbs and sagely natures, such as Allemance ovines being able to do a trip attack with reach weapons that can knock a target prone on a failed Strength or Dexterity save, or Al’ari ovines capable of affecting multiple targets with their Animal Messenger if the animals in question live in water. Thoughts: Most of the ovine’s features are rather underwhelming and strongly push them towards specific archetypes. The lightning wool’s bonus damage only works with a specific damage type, encouraging them to pick up Shocking Grasp or related spells, and even then +1d4 isn’t a whole lot. The perpetual beast speech is perhaps the most broad ability, although its utility will depend on DM Fiat. This is getting to be a long post, so will continue in Part 2.
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Mar 3, 2023 11:27
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 Tenebrines are raccoons and possums, Beasts who are traditionally active during the night. Their people can be found everywhere in appreciable numbers in the Beast World, but are the most common in Vinyot’s cities. They greatly prefer urban centers over rural areas, having an indescribable love for cities for which they feel truly alive during nightfall. Their main species has darkvision, are immune to diseases both magical and nonmagical, and when in a settlement of at least 10,000 people they can reroll an attack, ability check, or saving throw once per long rest. Raccoons have great tactile senses, having advantage on checks to open locks if they previously felt the teeth of a key used to open it and automatically open locks they successfully opened before, while possums can use their tails as a bonus action to knock a target prone with a contested Athletics or Acrobatics vs the target’s Strength save along with dealing +1d4 damage to prone opponents. Their homeland traits are in line with the large population centers of their region, such as Oric tenebrines being trained by War Mages. This gives them double proficiency when using Stealth to blend in with crowds, and attacks they make with daggers and shortswords while hidden and can delay their damage and the target noticing for 1 round. Thoughts: The raccoon’s lockpicking bonus feels too situational to be useful, but the possum’s tail trip attack is really good for just about any build that relies on melee combat. They also have Darkvision, which makes them good scouts in dungeons and other light-poor environments. Their homeland traits are pretty situational and of limited utility save for certain kinds of adventures. Ursines are a strong people who have been divinely blessed with long memories. They are most common in Oria, and their culture places a high degree on honor and bringing pride to the family name via trophies and titles from great deeds and competitions. They are a single subspecies race, that being Bear. They have eidetic memories which allow them to accurately recall anything they’ve seen, and can commit spells they witnessed to memory which in the case of being used to copy what they witnessed into spellbooks can be done at a library or university within 7 days and an Arcana check. Their subspecies trait is more physical, allowing them to spend Hit Dice upon rolling initiative to add the results (not modified by Constitution) as temporary hit points for 10 minutes. Their homeland traits reflect how they committed their strong minds to use, such as Allemagnian usrine substituting their Intelligence in place of Charisma for Performance and Persuasion, and once per long rest can grant a nearby ally a second save vs charming effects via an encouraging word. Thoughts: The ursine’s amazing memory is great for wizards, and their subspecies even has a +1 Intelligence bonus. Ironically none of their species or homeland traits are specifically combat-related, with Arneria being the exception (proficient with war picks and deal +2d6 piercing if you hit a creature during the first round of combat). This pushes them more into being brainy mages. Trading out Hit Dice for temporary hit points can be useful to extend their survivability if a short rest isn’t guaranteed.  Vulpines are tradewind (red) foxes and desert fennecs, their traditional homelands being Vinyot and Beylik respectively. Both people are known for their cleverness and seemingly-supernatural senses to monitor instances of cause and effect. The base species can discern the direction of north at any time, can make an Intelligence saving throw to extend a concentration spell beyond its normal duration with a newer, more difficult save every round after, and once per long rest can make an Intelligence check to gain information from the GM about the result of an action when presented with multiple choices. Tradewind foxes are capable of detecting illusions as a bonus action and have advantage on Investigation checks to suss them out, along with substituting an Intelligence save with a Dexterity save once per long rest. Desert foxes who don’t move for an hour can sense any creature within a 90 foot radius arriving in the area, and can choose to wake up upon such a creature’s arrival. Their homeland traits draw upon their innate senses and cleverness, such as a Vinyotian fox having a limited number of “emergency fund” gold pieces if unable to access their main source of wealth and can use any combination of ability and skill for the purposes of negotiating costs and services. An example used is a fox using Intelligence (Athletics) to give a merchant advice for a diet regimen in order to get a better deal on food. Thoughts: The desert fox’s senses effectively act as a nonmagical alarm spell, and their Intelligence bonus pushes them towards being wizards, artificers, or eldritch knights/arcane tricksters. Their deduction abilities are broadly useful for just about any character concept, although several of their homeland traits are rather situational. Bats are the newest species to the Beast World, where one of their number against all odds managed to find said world afloat in the Astral Sea. Their existence has been of great curiosity to the other civilizations, for the Astral Sea isn’t known to have any quiet-minded bats, and the bats themselves were initially unaware of other gods and don’t worship any of their own. They’re the only willful species in that plane, and due to their natural talent at Astralcraft they do not want for space nor resources. So without having to spend much of their existence to survive, they prioritize the arts and shaping astra into aesthetically pleasing shapes and patterns. And while they can track time, bats don’t have a cultural concept of history, having skills passed down by parents and caring mostly about firsthand knowledge. Those bats who do go to the Beast World are curious explorers, arriving in a portal at the Junction in the city of Patrae. Bats have no subspecies, and their only homeland trait is the Astral Sea. Those not in the Astral Sea have a cheiropocket, an extradimensional space connected to the membrane of their wings which they can use to store nonliving objects, and have a glide speed outside the Astral Sea but a flying speed while in it. A limited number of times per long rest they can create a supersonic shriek which in the Beast World causes creatures of the Astral Sea to be visible to them, but gain blindsense out to 120 feet while in the Astral Sea. Finally, their sole homeland trait lets them add their proficiency bonus to Astralcrafting checks, and they also know the Charles’ Chunk cantrip which basically lets them summon a piece of solid Arcana they can reshape to a limited extent. Thoughts: Overall, the bat species is kind of underwhelming unless the DM makes heavy use of invisible extraplanar beings and adventures in the Astral Sea. The cheiropocket is the kind of thing that would be most useful in a game where encumbrance matters, although by the time the party gets a Bag of Holding (or can make one as an Artificer) it may peter off. Brethren are a new but incredibly populous race, comprising 33% of willful creatures in the Beast World.* Twelve years ago almost all of them lived in the Broken World, but after that the survivors were rescued by Pirhoua to relocate into the Beast World. The Brethren soldiers who fought in the Invader Wars were forced to labor for seven years as reparations, being given tattoos as a mark of shame and are colloquially known as Reparators. Although there are still old wounds of those dark times, most Brethren have integrated into the wider society of the Beast World with the younger generations having never known life in the Broken World. *This makes me wonder how the continent’s resources were able to adequately handle this huge population explosion. The book does explain it as the Jackals helping them out with magic and new engineering techniques, but it’s still a notable amount. Brethren use the traits of Variant Humans from the Player’s Handbook. However, their homeland trait is the Broken World, giving them a curio for free. Curios tend to be handheld objects with a technology level akin to 1990s Earth, although some more advanced curios exist such as a solar-powered toaster. Generally speaking, curios that mimic the effects of a cantrip can operate indefinitely, but ones that mimic a 1st-level spell can be used once before needing to be recharged by switching out batteries (which are known as acid buttons). Acid buttons are also renewable, recharging when plugged into a curio after 8 hours of exposure to sunlight. Thoughts: Just like the core rules, Brethrens are a great option in terms of power and versatility. On top of their bonus feat, they also get what is effectively a bonus cantrip or long rest-based 1st level spell. Kobolds, particularly willful kobolds, are another of the newer guests of the Beast World, a lucky few having escaped notice of their draconic masters in the Ancestral Homeland. Generally speaking, a kobold is most likely to become willful when they gather in large numbers, as the mental enhancement of their minds coming together provides that special something to achieve self-awareness. There’s believed to be under a thousand named kobolds in the Beast World, and most others don’t know what to make of them or their simple-minded peers. In terms of stats kobolds are great at getting their hands on all sorts of things, letting them steal non-held objects from enemies in combat as a reaction to being attacked via Sleight of Hand. Additionally, they gain +1 to +5 on an ability check they don’t have existing bonuses on besides their ability modifier. This number is dependent on how many other kobolds are within 60 feet. Finally, they have no subspecies or homeland traits, instead having a lineage related to their draconic creators where they reduce damage taken from an elemental type chosen at character creation by 1d6 to 3d6 depending on their level. Thoughts: Kobolds are rather underwhelming in that their most potentially powerful feature is one that really only works if you have a party of kobolds or kobold allies following you around. And even then, it won’t apply to checks you’re proficient in so it won’t be aiding the things at which you’re actually skilled. The damage reduction against a specific energy type probably won’t come up often unless you pick fire, and the “combat pickpocketing” may be highly situational in usefulness as it can’t be used to disarm an item the target is holding.  The next two races are rather interesting in that they were explicitly made to be more powerful than the others, given that they have special places in the history of the Beast World. The book has a sidebar explaining to take caution with the power discrepancy, but also mentions doing lots of playtesting to ensure they don’t trivialize encounters either. Jackals are the rarest species in the Beast World, long believed to be mythical creatures. They made their existence known at the end of the Invader War, with hundreds of jackals appearing to help resettle millions of brethren into the new world. Although they have worked as envoys and engineers for doing this monumental task, much about their culture and even their home cities are still kept secret, shrouded in ancient illusions. Jackals have a reputation for acting slowly and for being exceedingly polite and formal. Still, they do have leisurely activities, and one of their more famous games that has recently spread to the Beast World is the Three Acres War, a cross between a tabletop wargame and LARP whose players (mostly Jackals) organize conventions to meet up and play. Jackals have no subspecies nor homeland traits. They are unique among the species in that they have a net +6 to ability scores, with +2 in Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom. Their immortal natures make them immune to age-based effects, and have double proficiency in one set of artisan’s tools and one of the knowledge-based skills (Medicine and all Intelligence-based ones save Investigation). They also can treat one non-heavy martial melee weapon as having the finesse and thrown property. They also get some bonus spells reflecting their connection to the Arcana, gaining Eldritch Blast, two wizard ritual spells, and once per long rest can cast the Dream spell that can additionally make the target forget about the Jackal’s presence if they fail an Intelligence saving throw. Thoughts: Being able to treat a single non-heavy weapon as finesseable really opens up a lot of options, and there’s a variety of useful ritual spells. Alarm, Find Familiar, Identify, and Unseen Servant are pretty good choices. While the free Eldritch Blast may look tempting for a Warlock dip, Agonizing Blast still explicitly calls out Charisma which is a downside. Their more powerful version of Dream is pretty good, as it can really mess with a target by interrupting their rest if they get unlucky on a save; not something of great use in traditional battles and dungeon crawls, but can be useful for more intrigue-based campaigns.  Dragons come in two varieties. Those elder wyrms still in the Ancestral Homeland and those eldest who escaped are closer gamewise to Monster Manual dragons, and the descendants of those who resettled in the Beast World are a better representation of the playable options. While the latter may be Medium size, they still possess the might of the creatures that bear their name. Newborn dragons have translucent skin and become metallic or chromatic based on the moral choices they make in life, which are their subspecies. Their lineage is their homeland trait equivalent, which is based on the environment of their parents’ lairs. In terms of stats dragons gain +2 to a single ability score of their choice, and have +3 to another ability score depending on their subspecies. They are the only species besides bats to have a natural flying speed, and unlike bats have no restriction on when it can be used. They have natural weapons and natural armor which make them formidable foes even without equipment, and the maximum for all of their ability scores is 22. There are five subspecies, each of which have a metallic and chromatic type to which I assume most readers are familiar. Each subspecies grants +3 to a relevant ability score, proficiency in two skills or appropriate tools, and one 1st level spell at 1st level and a unique kind of dragon magic spell that only dragons can learn at 5th level. The subspecies are Monarch (all about impressing people with your sheer presence), Bulwark (bulky scales to better protect you), Dancing (agile movement and fine-tuned breath weapon shapes), Scholar (skills and spells for knowing and identifying stuff plus limited Metamagic options), and Whispering (social knowledge, can hear through stone and solid barriers and have venomous claws). The lineage options determine a dragon’s breath weapon, special movement modes beyond just flight, and what damage type they are resistant towards. The breath weapons are the most notable feature, being pretty powerful effects of various shapes and ranges whose uses per long rest are based on their proficiency bonus. Most breath weapons have a secondary effect beyond damage, such as a Glacier lineage’s cold breath being capable of creating solid cubes of ice, or Cove’s acid breath dealing half damage to targets adjacent to the primary target. Thoughts: As the book says, dragons are really powerful. The most powerful species in this book, I might add. There’s enough subspecies and lineage combinations to make them good at just about every role, and their breath weapons are effectively free uses of powerful AoE damaging spells that scale with level. Add a fly speed on top of that and you really can’t go wrong in picking them. Thoughts So Far: While it’s virtually impossible to do a holistic overview of every anthropomorphic creature type, this chapter did a good job at giving stats for the more popular species. I also like the separation between biological abilities and more cultural homeland traits, and the latter had several options which played against type so many of the animals aren’t pigeonholed into certain predetermined roles. The setting is rather mammal-heavy, and I feel that a few of the choices are a bit unbalanced. That being said, I felt that most of the “races” had some features and roles at which they could excel, and with 18 main species there’s more than enough options to not feel sparse. Join us next time as we explore new and existing options of might and magic in Chapter 11: Classes!
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Mar 3, 2023 11:28
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Nessus posted:Wouldn't be a big stretch to cast it as Monster Hunter, either. For your punishment, make me an extremely elaborate marbled steak that would probably take like all day to eat.
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Mar 3, 2023 13:59
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By popular demand posted:Please don't look that up folks, you can't bleach the stain out from your mind. But I thought you kids liked slaying goblins 
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Mar 3, 2023 14:53
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I agree that I can't think of many examples of "Natural Fantasy" in videogames, but I like the Nausicaa influence nonetheless. I'm a little surprised that "Space Fantasy" isn't a separate category so as to capture Phantasy Star, Star Ocean, Xenoblade, Xenosaga, Xenostar, Starstar, and Xenoxeno. But the real question is: in this game, are kobolds little lizard guys or little dog guys? Mirage posted:"Table talk RPG" is indeed how Japanese gamers define the "TTRPG" acronym. This goes back at least as far as the venerable RPG Sword World, which I've been considering writing up here. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Mar 3, 2023 |
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Mar 3, 2023 16:27
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Halloween Jack posted:But the real question is: in this game, are kobolds little lizard guys or little dog guys? They're neither. They actually more resemble FFXIV's version of spriggans, really. And man, I would love to have a Phantasy Star campaign. That would kick rear end.
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Mar 3, 2023 23:29
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 Chapter 11: Classes This chapter is rather self-explanatory: it goes over how the various classes fit into the Beast World along with a new subclass for each of them. Artificer is an exception, for that class isn’t OGL. Barbarians aren’t technologically-primitive warriors too undisciplined to learn more “proper” fighting styles. In the Beast World, they come from all walks of life, but what unites them is harnessing a rage that is a form of ego death which strips away part of their willful nature in order to focus on sheer might and power. The Path of Thought’s Tremor is a representation of this trance, and its features initially include explicitly physical abilities such as adding one’s Constitution modifier to melee damage on the first 1-2 hits when raging depending on level, doing bonus psychic damage on a critical hit, and at higher levels levels gain preternatural senses such as always active tremorsense and being able to form a Telepathic Bond when raging. Thoughts: Flavorwise I like how the setting is divorcing the Barbarian class from the unfortunate implications of technologically primitive people being prone to anger and lacking knowledge in more “refined” forms of combat. As for the subclass, Strength and Constitution are almost always going to be the highest ability scores of the Barbarian, so this subclass makes them better at doing what they do best: damage. The tremorsense feature is permanent and isn’t dependent on raging, so it also turns the Barbarian into a rather good scout/“ghost-slayer.” Bards interpret the power of Arcana as a Universal Symphony of rhythm connecting all facets of creation, and influence this force by eliciting emotion from magic itself. Bards in the Beast World are evenly split between learning their powers via formal colleges vs informal self-taught techniques. The College of Witches specializes in using magic to gain influence over the ghosts of the Netherworld. Initially they can call a ghost into service for one hour that acts as a harmless scout, and can attract a limited number of ghosts to haunt creatures or objects as part of a long rest. These latter kinds of ghosts have Essences which provide minor bonuses and features to creatures or objects they haunt for 1 minute via Bardic Inspiration, such as the Scoundrel granting a bonus to ability checks and +1d6 force damage on a hit. At higher levels they can temporarily learn spells they don’t know from ghosts as part of a long rest, and can create ghosts from dying humanoids to perform special actions the creature possesses. Thoughts: The ghost scout is like a more limited version of the Echo Knight’s phantom double, but even then it can be useful for scouting purposes. The class feature doesn’t explicitly say that it is incorporeal, so that makes it less powerful it may initially sound. The ability to learn bonus bard spells is extremely strong; unlike the Lore Bard they can only learn from their own class’ spell list, but they can learn a much higher number in being equal to half their bard level minus one. The capstone ability can be abusable a la the Bag of Rats trick, but the text does mention that creatures who know they will be resurrected via Revivify will not produce a ghost. Overall a really strong subclass. Clerics serve the various gods of the Beast World (and potentially in worlds beyond), and Pirhoua has the most clerics due to having a close motherly bond with her creations. The Mercy domain represents those souls who seek to to turn the defeated to a brighter path and bring down death as a last resort. At 1st level they are proficient in Persuasion and have a longer-range multitarget Sanctuary, their Channel Divinity can negate the damage from a melee attack as a reaction, and at higher levels they can bestow providence on themselves or a friendly creature (treat a d20 roll as a 15) whenever a hostile creature surrenders or dissolves hostilities. At higher levels they can have all of their damaging spells be nonlethal in nature, and at 17th level has their Sanctuary cause attackers to autofail Wisdom saves when they attack the spell’s target. Thoughts: The thing with the Mercy domain is that a player who chooses it is communicating that they want to play a particular type of game, one that would require more input from fellow players than other subclass options. While there is no penalty for choosing violence, a fair amount of its features revolve around avoiding death and being reactive rather than proactive. The book does mention these considerations in a sidebar to an extent, but its usefulness will really depend on the DM as much as the player.  Druids most commonly live in forests and spend their whole lives in the shadows of the trees. They are organized into circles who induct members by burying them alive beneath a tree, after which they are reborn in a seed pod. Druids are horrified at the Dungeon’s existence, viewing it as an affront to nature, swelling the ranks of Delvers with their kind. The Circle of the Wild Card represents those druids who follow Varasta’s example and emphasize nature’s unpredictability. Their main feature involves crafting a special deck of magical Wild Cards which can be randomly drawn from a limited number of times per long rest based on their level. At higher levels they gain features to better control the odds at what card results they get. There are 23 different card results, and include a variety of features such as summoning a scimitar of moonlight that can be used in melee or expel a slash of light as a ranged attack, one where the druid and their allied creatures can communicate as though they were adjacent to each other for the next 8 hours, can turn their body incorporeal for 1 minute, and growing magical fruits which cause those who eat them to recover the maximum possible die results from healing spells. Thoughts: The good thing about this subclass is that when you draw a card, you don’t have to immediately activate its powers, instead being any time until the next long rest. Barring a few exceptions you can’t use the cards or have the ability persist while you’re wildshaped, which thus makes the Wild Card druid more of a “classical caster.” The deck’s randomization and wide abilities hurt it a bit in that you can’t always guarantee you’ll get exactly what you need, although given you can “hold onto” a card’s use this lets you save it up for the right moment much like prepared spells. Fighters are the most varied of adventurers, reflecting a diverse array of combat styles across countless cultures. Most fighters who were old enough fought in the Invader War, and many who survived became Delvers upon discovery of the Dungeon. The Main Event martial archetype reflects a professional wrestler of the Storied Histories League, who mixes special moves and grapples with showmanship. Their main ability involves generating points known as Heat, which have a variety of ways to be gained such as an ally hitting an enemy you have grappled or successfully hitting with an attack roll that has disadvantage. At higher levels the subclass grants them additional ways to gain Heat. Heat can be spent on special moves known as Spots, such as Hot Tag where you touch a creature which then uses its reaction to move and melee attack a target, or Clothesline where you spend a reaction to make a melee attack against a creature entering your reach and reducing their speed to 0 feet while knocking them prone. Gimmicks are basically more advanced Spots, which include passive effects as well as a more powerful Finisher move. Thoughts: One cannot help but draw comparisons to the Battlemaster Fighter in that both subclasses learn special moves as they level up. However, unlike the Battlemaster Fighter the Main Event requires generating Heat before they can be used as opposed to automatically using them, and Heat is lost as soon as the battle is over and must be built up again during the next battle. As such it is a less attractive choice in its abilities being more situational. Monks aren’t formal mystical fighters performing rote exercises and meditation to achieve enlightenment. Or at least, that is but one of many possible ways of mastering themselves. What unites monks is discovery of a process where they separate themselves from the world, glancing at hidden truths impossible to understand via conventional perception. The Way of the Kidney Punch are those who glanced upon a rather controversial truth, that to win fights is the greatest goal. They start out with being able to make a special Kidney Punch unarmed attack by spending ki, imposing one level of Exhaustion on the target if they fail a Constitution save. At higher levels they can reduce the damage of incoming melee attacks in much the same way Deflect Missiles works for ranged attacks, can waive the ki point requirement for Kidney Punches if they hit with their first unarmed strike in a Flurry of Blows, and at 17th level they can gain additional unarmed strikes by spending 3 ki points per bonus attack. Thoughts: Being able to “deflect melee blows” is an extremely useful ability, as most monks will be punching up close. Although still requiring a reaction to activate, it makes Kidney Punch Monks reliable tanks when engaging 1 on 1. Exhaustion is a pretty good condition to inflict on enemies, although requiring a Constitution save means that a lot of big monsters will be resistant to it.  Paladins are those empowered by appropriate gods to use their might and skills to make the world a better place. They have high standards to live up to, but it is these standards which have communities place their trust in them in the first place. Before the Dungeon’s arrival undead and demons could only enter the Beast World by those making offers to Veronette, but the Dungeon provides a worrying new way for such creatures to menace mortals. This has caused paladins to take an intense interest in the Delve. The Oath of Revolution Paladins are the checks and balances against the political leaders of the Beast World, having sworn oaths to empower and uplift the meek of the earth. Their bonus spells tend towards divinatory aims, such as Comprehend Languages, Speak with Dead, and Scrying. Their channel divinity can force a target to kneel prone for 1 minute and answer questions truthfully for the duration (can save each round to end the effect), as well as an Evincive Strike they can make the result of a d20 attack roll they just made usable by friendly creatures in treating it as their own attack roll until the start of their next turn. At higher levels they get an aura granting a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls to friendly creatures (up to a mile at 18th level), can detect lies and become immune to charm, and at 20th level can sing a song granting them free uses of Divine Word, a fly speed, and allied creatures can reroll the result of a d20 roll once. Thoughts: This is what I’d call a role-play heavy class, in that it emphasizes more non-combat and investigative abilities for the paladin. The Channel Divinity is kind of weak in that there are spells like Hold Person, Entangle, and Zone of Truth which can achieve similar effects but require spell slots rather than being one use per rest. The Evincive Strike is so-so. If you crit with it, then you can share the benefits with nearby allies; parties with rogues and mages with spells requiring attack rolls will see a very nice boost to their damage when this occurs. But as you must declare your use of the strike before making the roll, this is rather unreliable and is thus better used to ensure that party members are guaranteed to hit a well-defended opponent instead. Rangers are the protectors of the road and its travelers, learning the magic of the wilds to better protect both it and the civilized world from each other. The Carrion Master ranger archetype are those doomed souls who decide to enter into a pact with Veronette. Their bonus spells are appropriately necromantic, such as False Life, Animate Dead, and Death Ward, their magic can affect undead as though they were of the Beast type, and they have the ability to transform a corpse of a Beast type creature into a Carrion Companion which is like an animal companion but undead. Every long rest the Ranger can choose a different carrion companion provided they have access to an appropriate corpse, and there are different stat blocks with their own special abilities and attacks. At higher levels they can turn the corpses of Humanoid and Beast type creatures into zombies, choose from more powerful stat blocks for their Carrion Companion, can graft body parts onto said companion to give them new abilities such as a scorpion sting or wings for a fly speed, and at 15th level the ranger can gain some of the benefits of being undead for a short time and they can order commands to their companion and undead without spending a bonus action. Thoughts: This subclass immediately invites comparisons to the Beastmaster Ranger, but I’ll be comparing it to the revised version on account that the original is nigh useless. The Carrion Master’s companion can be easily revived and/or replaced if destroyed, and combined with raising undead they have a reliable supply of meat shields although by the time they get these features regular zombies and skeletons are pretty weak companions. Conjure Animals is a more reliable means of generating meat shields to be honest, although raising zombies isn’t limited-use which works in its favor.* The carrion companion stat blocks have a few clear winners, which tend to be the higher-level ones: ghoul-touched have paralytic claws much like the monster, but have a weak non-increasing DC 10 Constitution save, and the mummy-touch has a dreadful glare ranged attack that can impose the frightened condition. As such, it’s a rather strong subclass due to the action economy. *They’re still limited in how many zombies they can raise. Rogues come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but are united by those who prefer finesse and panache as problem-solving tools, ranging from conventional criminals to smooth-talking politicians. This entry talks briefly about crime in the Beast World, notably that prisons are rare as punitive justice is the exception rather than the norm, and legal penalties vary ranging from hard labor to tattoos marking criminals as a felon. Fell Infiltrators are those rogues who learn and use the powers of demons to better fight them…or so they say. Initially they gain proficiency in Religion and fiendish languages, and for a number of hours based on their rogue level can take the form of a demon which grants them a variety of benefits, such as turning the Sneak Attack dice into d8s instead of d6s, resistance to cold and poison (damage and condition), and darkvision. They can also generate an aura of silence on a creature they deal Sneak Attack damage towards until the end of their next turn once per short or long rest. At higher levels they gain features such as becoming immune to Zone of Truth and being able to shield themselves and nearby allies against divination spells, and can inscribe demonic sigils into objects and creatures with a variety of effects such as rotting away from necrotic damage each round. Thoughts: Increasing your Sneak Attack damage is a very attractive option, and given the rarity of Darkvision among species this helps the Rogue act as a competent scout in nocturnal and dungeon-like environments. The downside is more role-play related as fiends and fiendish-looking creatures are as disliked in the Beast World as they are in other campaign settings; perhaps even more so, as tieflings aren’t a “common race.” The higher-level abilities are more situational, particularly the sigils and immunity to specific spells. As its lower level features are broadly useful, this is a dip-friendly subclass. Sorcerers are those with inborn arcane magic, not necessarily from ancestry but being born in a magic-rich environment or influenced by a force manipulating the fundamentals of Arcana. If anything, sorcerers are extra real in that they create magic through their own existence, and the world attempts to overcorrect them. The Frosturn Eclipse sorcerous origin are those who follow Aubade’s example and use the state of Sunblood to enhance their magic. They are Muscle Wizards, using Strength instead of Charisma for their spells and abilities, and gain proficiency in light armor and Aubade’s trademark war pick and morningstar. They also have abilities that encourage them to fight in melee, such as ignoring disadvantage on ranged spell attacks when adjacent to a hostile target and can spend sorcery points to continue staying conscious if reduced to 0 hit points. At higher levels they gain Extra Attack and can enter a special state known as Eclipse if they deal fire or cold damage to an adjacent enemy, which has several of the benefits of Haste plus dealing additional damage with melee attacks and gaining temporary hit points. Their 14th and 18th level abilities grant them the Penetrating Spell metamagic option (downgrade immunity to resistance and resistance to normal) and can cast a cantrip in place of a weapon attack. Thoughts: Dispensing Charisma to use Strength makes this subclass an attractive choice for melee-focused builds that aren’t Valor Bards and Paladins. However, multiclassing may be more or less required to get the full benefits, as being proficient with just light armor and a puny d6 Hit Die makes the Frostburn Eclipse Sorcerer a surprisingly fragile fighter. Staying conscious at 0 hit points isn’t as attractive an option given that sorcery points are a precious resource, and a party with Healing Word can reliably get you back into the waking world if the group needs you up and running. Warlocks gain their magic from patrons, creatures that don’t fit within the cosmic understanding of gods and mortals. As such, many people are suspicious of warlocks, leading many to believe that their powers come from demons…which can be true or not true depending on the warlock in question. Patrons can differ in personality and goals, but their alien minds make for strained relationships between them and their servants, often expressing impatience due to a different perception of time. Warlocks with the Ghost God as their patron were chosen from a young age, expressed in unpleasant ways such as migraines and nightmares as a result of the pseudo-deity calling from across the cosmos. Their bonus spells don’t really have any consistent theme and include such options as Enlarge/Reduce, Sending, Confusion, Geas, and Fabricate. Hey, I thought that last one wasn’t available! Initially they can shift into the Broken World while holding an object bearing their likeness and are immune to the negative effects of that plane’s environment. They can also gather material during a long rest in the Broken World that adds +1 to their spell attack rolls and save DCs of warlock spells. At higher levels they can twist space and time as a bonus action a limited number of times per long rest to teleport or force creatures to spend extra movement, can create a 120 foot cube of safe space in the Broken World, empower an NPC to become a 1st level Ghost God Warlock who gains a level every time you do, and at 14th level once per long rest can cast Banishment on multiple targets to send them to the Broken World. Thoughts: Being able to add +1 to spell attacks and save DCs is already a strong bonus, and as it costs virtually nothing there’s no real downside to it either. Getting an NPC warlock who levels up with you may be good depending on how they’re built, although as they are 9 levels lower you’re most likely going to keep them out of combat and rely on more utility talents. Being immune to the Broken World’s environmental dangers and ability to set up a safe zone will only be of use if the DM decides to have adventures centering around exploring that plane. As a result, the most useful features of the Ghost God Warlock come in at the early levels, making it another very dip-friendly option.  Wizards are scholarly mages who use spellbooks to perform mental exercises, holding a thought in their minds to be released as a spell at a later time. The Somnomancy arcane tradition was created by sloths studying the Dreaming, realizing that the plane’s connection to the thoughts of all living creatures can allow them to bestow the powers of wizardry onto others. Initially they cannot be magically put to sleep and recover one level of exhaustion on a short rest instead of a long one, and during a long rest gain bonus spell slots that they can only use in granting to other creatures albeit they use the wizard’s attack bonus and save DC. At higher levels they can make it so that such shared spells can be cast as a bonus action if they’re normally cast as an action, can fall unconscious* as a bonus action to gain blindsight to 60 feet, and at 14th level they can create a remote sensor they can view through while in such an unconscious state. *Same as the condition, but with less penalties. Thoughts: Sharing spell slots is by far the most broadly useful and potentially abusable ability. While the number and level of spell slots is dependent on your Wizard level, the text doesn’t specify that the spells have to be Wizard spells, which opens up some interesting multiclass combinations. And even just with Wizard spells, there are some nice choices: you can’t really go wrong in giving the Shield spell to your allies, and letting fellow party members share the load in maintaining Concentration spells themselves rather than relying on you opens up a lot of possibilities. Thoughts So Far: For the subclasses that are mechanically powerful and effective in conjunction with their parent class, the winners are the Thought’s Tremor Barbarian, Witch Bard, Kidney Punch Monk, Carrion Master Ranger, and Somnomancy Wizard. These subclasses all have good abilities in both low levels and high. The Fell Infiltrator Rogue and Ghost God Warlock suffer in that their best abilities are at the earliest levels, leaving the higher level ones feeling too little, too late. The Wild Card Druid is hard to judge at a glance without seeing it in play given its random nature, and the Main Event Fighter, Revolution Paladin, and Frostburn Eclipse Sorcerer feel the weakest of the lot. The Fighter in that the Battlemaster archetype feels more reliable and broad, and the Paladin and Sorcerer in not really synergizing with their main class’ strengths. Join us next time as we learn about the delving crews’ homes on wheels in Chapter 12: Wagon Customization!
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Mar 4, 2023 00:15
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 Chapter 12: Wagon Customization ”You’ll come for the beasts, but you’ll stay for the wagons.” The delver’s primary mode of transport isn’t just for getting to Point A to Point B: it’s a combination vehicle, base of operations, mobile weapons platform, and depending on the customizations can be all sorts of other things. The rules for wagons are in-depth in this chapter, from using them in combat and races to buying enhancements for them. Delver wagons are special objects with their own rules: like PCs they gain levels in line with the party, which determines their hit points, Maneuverability (a special stat which can be spent to do fancy movement-based abilities), Adaptability (special stat that can be spent for a variety of things such as rerolling a drive check or making swift repairs), and the number of Attachments (basically customized enhancements) that can be placed onto the wagon. The rules are pretty detailed, ranging from existing and new Conditions that can affect the wagon’s function, special Drive checks for driving the wagon, and making repairs to the wagon via wainwright tools due to damage and Conditions. Draught is a term for animals, steam engines, or other things responsible for a wagon’s locomotion. With the aid of druids and rangers, all wagons are built with something known as a Ranger Fetish that safeguards draughts from harm. While a draught is hitched to a wagon, they are not treated as creatures and cannot be specifically targeted by attacks or effects that affect one creature. The book notes that single-hand reins (for Drive checks) and wainwright’s tools (used to repair wagons) are tool checks, and suggests giving PCs free proficiency in one of them if the campaign plans on using wagon rules often. This is twofold, to prevent a “proficiency tax” for an important ability, and also making them not skills prevents Bards, Rogues, and characters with the Skill Expert feat from dominating wagon encounters. The book does mention as an optional rule to fold tinker’s tools into wainwright tools and land vehicles into single-hand reins if the DM would prefer to focus on existing tool proficiencies.  There are three broad types of wagons that serve as “classes,” which provide their own unique benefits based on level. They do not have to be purchased like other attachments and are unique to that type alone. Windsprinters are sleek, swift wagons that prioritize maneuverability and speed but are the most fragile type: their special features include things such as +2 on Drive checks made to race, ignoring difficult terrain, and gaining Jackal-Reared Axe Beaks as special draughts which are the fastest known mounts in the Beast World. Ironaxles are slow, sturdy wagons built to dish out and withstand punishment, and their special features include a ram attack, gaining resistance to damage from nonmagical attacks, and a steam engine as a special draught. Rocksteadies are built for versatility and reliability: their special features include being able to make repair patches no matter where you are on the wagon (normally you have to do so at the service hatch), delaying the negative effects of a breakdown (the “bloodied” condition for wagons), and can gain a pair of autotrotter draughts that can act on their own like programmed constructs and store spells to be released at a later time. On top of their practical functions, wagons provide a useful service for 5th Edition gaming groups: they give PCs something to spend money on! Wagons require gold pieces to gain levels, and on top of that attachments that customize the wagon also cost gold. It’s for this reason that a suggested “wealth by level” table was made based on dungeon delves and funds saved up. Special additions known as attachments can be added to wagons. It’s not enough to have the gold, for attachments are separated into Grades which can only be taken by wagons of sufficient level, and they also take up physical space so you’re also limited to space (measured in cubic feet) as well as weight. Some attachments can only be taken by certain wagon types: for instance, the cannon weapon can only be installed on an Ironaxle.  Components are the first type of attachment, usually having abilities which require them to be used in order to gain their function. They include such options as various types of weapons such as ballistae and cannons, a quick-retract winch which if attached to a character allows them to be pulled to the wagon’s roof for no movement cost, metamagic crystals which if touched provide free sorcery points to apply to a metamagic ability possessed by the crystal, soul orbs fueled by ki points that let the user create a distant image double they can attack through as if physically present, and a speed mirage which can create illusory duplicates of the wagon when Maneuverability is spent to gain extra movement. Fittings are the second type of attachment, being passive or persistent effects. They include such options as an intruder chime that lets out a loud warning when certain creatures not specified as “safe” get adjacent to the wagon, a block of privacy to soundproof the wagon’s walls, an auto-raft and sail that allows the wagon to cross bodies of water, and tremor caps which give tremorsense to the wagon’s inhabitants if the vehicle is in contact with the ground. There is one interesting attachment that defies the magical restrictions of the Beast World. Eighty-Eights are four wheels which contain one quarter of a teleportation circle, and as a reaction the driver can imagine a location the wagon has been to before and teleport to said location. As this attachment is a high Grade, functions only once a week, isn’t pinpoint perfect, and works well with the primary function of wagons (to travel) I can let this one slide. Last but not least, Furnishings aren't attachments in that they aren’t limited by wagon level, but are mostly cosmetic features. They’re usually things that make wagons more comfortable spaces to live in, such as beds, storage spaces such as safes and crates, light sources such as oil lamps or permanent dancing lights cantrips, fold-out patios, built-in plumbing systems such as water tanks and baths, and work stations for various types of tool proficiencies. For delving crews that have a lot of gold but are low on space, they can purchase extraspatial cubes that add more physical space within a wagon. The cubes’ prices increase exponentially, being affordable for just a few cubes but going into the thousands when you approach and exceed double digits. Extraspatial cubes are actually the product of the Broken World, with the cubes reaching into that plane’s existence to pull its space into them. Which sounds rather dangerous, although there are no negative side effects to using them in the rules. Our section on wagons proper ends with stats for unhitched draught types. They aren’t anything to write home about, with dire horses known as Draydrivers being the default type and steam engines being huge objects instead of creatures.  Wagon Encounters provide new rules and alterations designed in mind with vehicular play. The first rule, Enormous Enemies, is a special addition to all creatures that are naturally Huge and Gargantuan, where they take less damage from Large and smaller creatures until reduced to half their hit points, and automatically crit when attacking creatures in melee if the target is one size smaller. Most wagon weapons ignore Enormous creatures’ damage reduction, so this encourages gaming groups to use wagon weapons when fighting big enemies. Mobile Encounters are a new encounter type representing larger-scale events such as races and battlefield skirmishes where tracking individual feet is impractical. Squares of terrain are expanded from 5 feet by 5 feet into 120 feet squares called “grounds.” Friendly creatures on the same ground collectively move and act as a “force.” There are new special actions, such as Scout where a creature can learn about hidden threats and creatures in nearby Grounds on an opposed Perception vs Stealth check, or Entrench which must be performed collectively and grants all members of a force cover until they spend movement. Movement and range involving attackers and targets are more fluid, represented as speed in grounds. For melee fighters and those who prefer to battle up close, there’s a special action known as Pass where spending a ground of movement plus contested Dexterity or Drive checks can narrow the gap and allow for advantage on melee attacks and opportunity attacks for the winning side. We also have unique rules for racing, which are treated as a Condition where all focus is spent on movement and one can maintain this condition a number of minutes based on Constitution before suffering exhaustion. Rallies are a sample encounter for such races along with other events taking place on a straight path, and we have example rules along with visuals for how a rally may go down:  Our final new rule is for Hordes, where many enemies are combined into a single force resolving actions collectively. A horde is a group of creatures acting together, and are typically used in concert with Mobile Encounters. There are three different horde types based on number: Ambush, Unit, and Mob. The larger types have more creatures and thus more potential attacks, but cannot take certain actions due to their size, such as hiding. Attacks are resolved based on the target’s AC minus the attack bonus of an attack type, which determines the number of attacks that hit. Hordes targeting wagons split their attacks based on wagon locations. Hordes can suffer morale losses, where they must make a saving throw based on the number of creatures killed, and on a failed save half their number will flee and scatter. This sounds like quite the number of rules, right? Well this chapter thankfully ends in a Quick Reference covering them all, easily turned into handouts for gaming groups! Thoughts So Far: The rules for wagons are involved to the point that I feel that I’d need to see them in actual play to find out how they work in practice. That being said, I do like how the authors didn’t scrimp on details in making wagons a useful feature for games. The vehicle weapons in particular have good damage, range, and debuffs to make relying on them in battle a viable option, and attachments such as Metamagic Crystals and Soul Orbs directly enhance existing capabilities and class features. PCs will surely appreciate wagons for being more than a simple house on wheels. None of the rules are setting-specific, meaning that they can be transplanted into non-Beast World campaigns easily enough. I am a bit wary about the Enormous Enemies rule: such creatures tend to be pretty powerful already, and there will be times when parties run afoul of dinosaurs, giants, and other such creatures away from their wagon such as inside a dungeon. It’s another rule that ends up punishing melee characters, who will be the most likely to get critted in battles with them. Join us next time as we finish this book in Chapter 13: Magic Items & Spells and the Appendices!
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Mar 4, 2023 07:20
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Libertad! posted:Varasta, Handsome Idiot Dice Fox is perhaps the closest a deity can get to becoming a willful creature, for his portfolio of chaos allows him a wide domain of influence. He often takes the form of a tradewind vulpine in the Beast World, and unlike the other gods he can visit mortals and mingle among them, having a fondness for making various kinds of bets as a sort of cosmic bookkeeper. His three Divine Charges aren’t really edicts of conduct so much as explanations for his own behavior, where his only real edict has him act as someone earnestly willing to hear and negotiate the terms of any bet or contract. He becomes a deity of nature every day after 2 AM, representing the chaos of the wilderness and venerated by many (but not all) druids. Varasta holds in his breast pocket an envelope recording the odds of the bet between the sibling deities, and if any mortal were to read it it would collectively unravel the minds of every willful Beast. Sometimes he’s lost the envelope, but thankfully he managed to recover it each time. Please tell me that "Handsome Idiot Dice Fox" is an epithet flung after him on a hasty departure from one of his mortal sojourns that he reclaimed and turned into a bop, "My Stinkybones" style?
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Mar 4, 2023 07:56
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Libertad! posted:Sorcerers are those with inborn arcane magic, not necessarily from ancestry but being born in a magic-rich environment or influenced by a force manipulating the fundamentals of Arcana. If anything, sorcerers are extra real in that they create magic through their own existence, and the world attempts to overcorrect them. The Frosturn Eclipse sorcerous origin are those who follow Aubade’s example and use the state of Sunblood to enhance their magic. They are Muscle Wizards, using Strength instead of Charisma for their spells and abilities, and gain proficiency in light armor and Aubade’s trademark war pick and morningstar. They also have abilities that encourage them to fight in melee, such as ignoring disadvantage on ranged spell attacks when adjacent to a hostile target and can spend sorcery points to continue staying conscious if reduced to 0 hit points. At higher levels they gain Extra Attack and can enter a special state known as Eclipse if they deal fire or cold damage to an adjacent enemy, which has several of the benefits of Haste plus dealing additional damage with melee attacks and gaining temporary hit points. Their 14th and 18th level abilities grant them the Penetrating Spell metamagic option (downgrade immunity to resistance and resistance to normal) and can cast a cantrip in place of a weapon attack. As written a level 18 Sunblood sorcerer can cast eldritch blast twice as an attack action, if they somehow gain access to that spell with say, a feat or being a Jackal. That is loving absurd.
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Mar 4, 2023 09:13
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At level 18, you probably have better things to do, honestly.
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Mar 4, 2023 15:28
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Soulbound: Era of the Beast I Wonder Why I Didn't See It There Before The power of Death is fading back to more normal levels with the end of the Necroquake. However, it is not a final defeat, and Nagash is slowly recovering his power in the depths of Nagashizzar. The Mortarchs have been left to their own devices, and they're all eagerly pursuing their onw interests, except for Arkhan the Black, who is loving dead. Hints exist that he might come back eventually in the future - mostly, the fact that if any being existed who could survive a brush with the Perimeter Inimical of a realm and a fall beyond it, it'd be Arkhan. Orpheon Katakros alone is maintaining the actual thing he was told to do - the conquest of the Eightpoints. He's got several fortresses set up now and is looking forward to fighting Archaon. Olynder has finished her deal with Be'lakor and is back to hunting the First Prince, their alliance now forgotten. Neferata and Mannfred are focused more on fighting each other, seizing each other's territory and ignoring that their boss is losing ground throughout the Mortal Realms. As yet, it seems unlikely that anyone but Nagash could actually force any of these folks to work together on anything, and he's not in a position to do so. While Nagash is out of the picture, however, lesser undead are still bound to serve their masters. His curses and judgments stand unbroken, and so many undead with less freedom than the Mortarchs are still bound to carrying out his will - or at least what his will was before he got blown up. They carry out their final orders as best they can. In some situations this means that the undead fight for causes that are now entirely hopeless or pointless, with the situation having changed too much since Nagash's last orders came down. They simply do not have a choice in this matter. Soulbound undead are luckier, however, granted far more independence. Many see the Era of the Beast as their greatest chance to break free from Nagash's slavery. They have generally been put in service to the Mortarchs, who have much more limited reach than Nagash does, and the rise of the forces of Destruction gives many chances to rebel. Of course, the more open the rebellion, the greater the price to be paid when Nagash reforms himself...but for many Soulbound of Death, that is a price they are willing to pay for vengeance, protection of those they care about or personal power. Others remain loyal, seeking to empower their master's return, but...well, Nagash has never been good at inspiring willing loyalty. The Flesh-Eater Courts have always been the least predictable of the forces of Death, thanks to their mix of being living beings (if living beings saturated with death magic) and their shared delusions. In the wars in Hysh, the Bonereapers found that even courts loyal to Nagash could not be relied on to simply meet every demand placed on them. Some vassal lords did not like the idea of just handing their loyal men over to a nominal ally to fulfill their needs for bones, as shown when the Abhorrant Lord Varshorn turned on the Ossiarchs and defended his ghouls by tearing off the head of the Ossifector Xaramos, who had come demanding bone to fuel Nagash's advance. In doing so, he slowed the advanced long enough for the Lumineth to put up a stronger defense, reducing the total casualties and buying time for Teclis. There have essentially been no consequences to this, and the Courts are now permitted to just do whatever they want. They tend to see the current era as a golden age, convinced that their lands are flourishing. Not that it's all sunshine and roses...especially for Varshorn. He was a vassal to the Bright Emperor Gorstane Mortevell, Abhorrant Archregent and hardline Nagash-worshipper. Gorstane is very upsey with Varshorn and considers his attack on the Ossiarchs to be a betrayal and rebellion and has decided to personally put down his wayward servant. As far as the Lumineth are concerned, this is undead infighting that is keeping everyone else safe, and even if they wanted to interfere, they're too busy rebuilding to do so. They are, unfortunately, not aware of the delicate balance of Flesh-Eater political alliances. Varshorn has been a lynchpin keeping the local courts from massive civil war with his charisma and ability to sway ghouls in large numbers via courageous deeds. His own delusion is one that tends to push his followers to stick to their own lands, which they see as prospering, rather than the aggressive expansionism of other Abhorrants or Gorstane's own worship of Nagash over all else. Soulbound might realize that actually, it'd be good for everyone to keep Varshorn alive and in charge so that the ghouls don't descend into warfare that could threaten everyone nearby. The Nighthaunt under Olynder have done well for themselves. Sure, Be'lakor infiltrated Sylontum and threatened Olynder's own grave, but their temporary alliance earned the Nighthaunt the souls of many of the Sigmarite Brotherhood, which now suffer in the hands of the Krulghast Cruciators. The truce with Be'lakor is now over, though the undead have been more than willing to try and exploit the Cursed Skies. Hoping to capture more Stormcast souls, the Nighthaunt chase the storms. They can't harvest most of the souls caught in the storms, but the few they do grab are enough to keep them doing it. It is an open question which is a better fate. Perhaps the Krulghast offer a new opportunity, however. Before now, they spent most of their time in the depths of the underworlds, tormenting captured spirits. They excel at causing and extending suffering. Their first deployment in battle rather than behind the lines was in the Battle of White Gold...but now that they have emerged into the world, they have left a trail that can be tracked. The hidden torture rooms and prisons of Nagash are now exposed, for those with the skill to track ghostly energies. Soulbound heroes, if they move fast enough, might even be able to reclaim some of the Sigmarite Brotherhood before their torments wipe out their identities and leave only pain and anger. Teclis blasted through the Ossiarchs and smashed the Triptychs, fighting his way through Equuis Main and leaving stabilizing runes all along the way, anchoring many of the underworlds held by the Ossiarchs and preventing them from being drawn to the Nadir. In doing so, he spread hope to living settlements across Shyish, who in increasing numbers have begun refusing the bone-tithe and rebelling against the Ossiarchs. Defeats in Hysh have also left many Ossiarch legions weakened, particularly with the trouble they're having harvesting bone at home. The protracted warfare in the Eightpoints is stretching what supply lines still exist near to the breaking point, and the Ossiarch empire is losing a lot of wealth keeping it up. Katakros is a patient sort, however, and his soldiers are making the best of it, gathering up the dead the aelves were forced to leave behind in Shyish. The souls of these aelves are being carved up to create precise, agile bone-constructs, and the legions have begun a policy of monitoring the battles of the forces of Destruction or the Dawnbringers so they can swoop in after to seize bones of the fallen. They don't even have to fight for those - patience will reward them, and they will gather the power of their enemies without having to do any of their own work. The Null Myriad are the legion that's suffered the most, thanks to the disastrous battle in Haixiah where Arkhan fell. They were built to be heavily resistant to the wild magic at the edges of the realms, but "resistant" is not the same as "immune." One of the survivors of the battle managed to crawl all the way from the edge of Haixiah to a realmgate, and the enlightening magic of Hysh has left a permanent change on the creature's mind and soul. Enlightened and expanded, they have repaired themself with the bodies of their fallen brothers. Their body now matches their growing mind - a hulking mass of limbs and faces that has terrifying strength and even more terrifying intellect. They desire little more at this moment than to acquire more materials to build their ideal body, inspired by some maddened vision in the glowing desert. Even they cannot explain what form they envision - but whatever it is, it is very big. The Soulblight have ever been the most ambitious servants of Nagash, and many see the Era of the Beast as a chance to satisfy those ambitions. Many have grown quite powerful by embracing their bestial sides or otherwise taking advantage of the shifting situation. Mannfred deliberately failed in Invidia so he could retreat sooner and take over a large chunk of Neferata's powerbase. Neferata has responded by having her agents assassinate or turn many of Mannfred's followers. Other Soulblight lords have seized control over now-masterless armies of the dead or embracing the beast's form and becoming powerful Vargskyr or Vargheists. With Nagash stuck at home, little can be done to stop the vampires from doing whatever they want, and some even now reach out to the Stormcast diplomatically in an effort to find ways to break free. The wight kings also are embracing their newfound (if temporary) freedom, seeking to reclaim their kingdoms and drive out their old masters, while the necromancers once serving Nagash are now plundering his libraries, all hoping to gather power and be too hard to deal with once Nagash is back to himself. Neferata's largely been on the losing end of all this. She's clever and cunning, but she never expected to fall in Chamon - and she definitely didn't expect most of the Spiral Crux to collapse around the ears of her servants after she left. Many Nulahmian assassins and agents have become stranded in Chamon, trapped alongside the Kharadron forces they'd been instructed to spy on. Absolutely no one is happy about this, and the Kharadron and vampires alike would very much prefer the vampires go home. While they remain, they are forced to hunt for blood in the skyports and cities of Chamon, and the deaths they will cause are far too much given the losses already taken - but, again, the want to leave. A crafty group of Soulbound could make a deal to get them out of Chamon...but it'll take real skill to get them out and manipulate them more than the party is manipulated by them. Next time: Destruction, or, a bunch of rear end in a top hat idiots having a grand old time.
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Mar 4, 2023 20:59
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Mors Rattus posted:Soulbound: Era of the Beast Couple of good adventure/campaign ideas in that part. Also, I like how the metaplot here is basically "the big boys hosed up and are temporarily off the board, go hog wild, lads".
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Mar 4, 2023 21:37
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I like that the Grand Alliance of Death is throwing a kegger until mom and dad come home
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Mar 4, 2023 21:52
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It’s a good status quo for a while.
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Mar 4, 2023 22:26
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 Chapter 13: Magic Items & Spells It wouldn’t be a proper high magic setting without a chapter full of eldritch loot and tricks! This chapter is relatively short at 11 pages, but these pages are packed with 18 magic items and 27 new spells, so you get quite a lot in spite of its brevity. Of the magic items, about 11 require attunement, and two of them can only be used by a limited number of classes. They range from common magical tools used by Delvers and people of the Beast World, to famous legendary items that have their own place in history. 6 of the magic items are legendary rarity, 4 are uncommon, 4 are rare, 3 are very rare, and one’s rarity varies depending upon the level of spell it can absorb (the Self-Teaching Scroll). Odd that we have none which are common…well, besides the Stone of Six Strengths which isn’t technically part of this chapter. Some of the more interesting items include the Blanket of Safekeeping (teleports the attuned character to a bed it is spread across when they take damage), the Carrion Staff (a legendary item of Veronette that can spend charges to create undead beings but can “lie” about how many charges it restores due to the goddess’ spiteful ways), Jyristä the Lightning Blade of Oria (first item made in a covenant forge, +3 longsword that deals bonus lightning damage and can absorb and channel lightning attacks into it to supercharge melee attacks), Lantern of Nature’s Unveiling (undead, fiends, and creatures under their influence have black halos when within its light), Scrolls of Self-Teaching (wielder can spend a reaction to divert a spell cast on them into the spell scroll), Soil of Fecundity (plant-like teapot which can pour out emerald dust that makes farmland super-fertile), and Wiletaper the Contract Candle of Vinyot (candle used to enforce the most important contracts in the Beast World, has two creatures magically bound to an agreement with a variety of contingency-like effects regarding the contract’s enforcement/breach). The spells are a different story: 11 are cantrips, 9 are 1st through 3rd level, and 5 are 6th to 9th level. So we have a bit of high-level magic, but an awful lot of easily-accessible spells. The more interesting spells include Borrow Concentration (4th level, shift the concentration restriction of a spell you’re maintaining to a friendly humanoid), Enthrall (9th level, permanently charm a humanoid and maintain a telepathic link with them), Forecast Harvest (1st level, learn qualities about nearby soil and the state of herd animals), Inflict Empathy (3rd level, target is charmed as long as you and your allies don’t attack it as they reflect on the harm they caused in the past), Mannequin Mage (9th level, friendly targets gains spell slots of a 7th level wizard which they can use to cast spells you prepared for an hour), Moment of Resolve (cantrip cast as bonus action, damage can’t break concentration on a spell until the end of your next turn), Provoke Hiccup (1st level, cast as a reaction and target must make a Charisma save to cast a spell with a verbal component), Stagecraft (cantrip, basically bardic prestidigitation/thaumaturgy that does things such as recording and play ingback a performance you do, or a magical camera transcribing whatever you see onto a sheet of blank paper), and Swift Invisibility (1st level, as Invisibility but cast as a bonus action, duration is one round, and doesn’t require concentration).  Appendices The final pages of our book end in four appendices. Only one appendix is of any notable length, having brief discussions and random tables for why your gaming group’s party of delvers decided to meet up together, along with some sample adventure hooks and common means of how delvers split up loot and magical items. Nothing exactly extraordinary. The remaining appendices include how to make pictos that were discussed way back in Chapter 2, an index of names and terms, and a character sheet for wagons including a pseudo-map for placement of components and the physical makeup of the vehicle. Thoughts So Far: I like how the magic items include a range of unique treasures, ones practical to the adventuring lifestyle, and those more broadly reflective of regular life in a high magic setting. I would have preferred all of the magic items in the book to be located here, as some are spread out in prior chapters such as the Bubble Armor in Cosmology & Religions or the Stone of Six Strengths in Oria. As for the magical spells, there are quite a few that are pretty powerful in being broad, although they have some built-in limitations. Borrow Concentration is pretty potent, but as it ends if you cast the same spell it is used for concentrating again, meaning you can’t do things like give every party member the benefits of Divine Word. Moment of Resolve lets you ignore damage for concentrating on a spell, but as it’s a cantrip with a bonus action you cannot cast any other “real spell” on the turn you cast it which makes it less useful for non-primary mages. It’s cleric-only, so the clerics most likely to use it are going to be warpriest types. Enthrall may seem potent, but as it can only affect Humanoids and even then only one at a time it is rather lacking in comparison to more broad spells of that level such as Shapechange, True Resurrection, and Wish. Swift Invisibility is a useful way to gain advantage on an attack or to quickly hide. And like Forecast Harvest, there are a number of spells that may not be immediately useful to typical adventuring crews but help flesh out the “practical magic” side of life in the Beast World. Overall I like this chapter. Final Thoughts: There are many things to like about the Delver’s Guide to Beast World. It is a fully-imagined setting with a built-in rationale for the adventuring lifestyle, has unique things to set it apart from other settings on the market such as customizable wagons and humans being the exception rather than the norm, manages a good balance between macro-level surveys of realms and regions while having enough of a personal touch in the form of interesting NPCs and their establishments, and the author’s love and respect for the fandom he is part of shows through in his work. The new mechanical options have some unbalanced options here and there, but enough of the material looks steady enough to be usable in most games. It is for these reasons I highly recommend the Delver’s Guide to Beast World, be you a furry or a furless outsider!
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Mar 4, 2023 23:53
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Kurieg posted:As written a level 18 Sunblood sorcerer can cast eldritch blast twice as an attack action, if they somehow gain access to that spell with say, a feat or being a Jackal. Capfalcon posted:At level 18, you probably have better things to do, honestly. It's definitely a powerful option, particularly if taken with Eldritch Adept to get something nice like Agonizing Blast. That amounts to 8d10+40 damage if all of them hit the same target. And if you used Evoke Eclipse for a bonus weapon attack, you can cast it three times! It really plays to the strengths of a blaster caster. However, given that at 18th level you're already stretching the limits of what can conceivably fit within the balanced framework of 5th Edition. And as noted, at that level you probably have access to more limited use yet more potent options like Disintegrate, Insect Plague, Prismatic Spray, Psychic Scream, and other damaging AoE spells that can impose additional negative conditions on top of damage. Don't get me wrong, it is pretty powerful, but amounts to straight damage which tends to be the least powerful of high-level combat options.
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Mar 5, 2023 00:04
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Worth remembering that the bonus damage from hex isn't once per round. So add 8d6 to that total.
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Mar 5, 2023 00:39
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Mors Rattus posted:
It's nice that the writers realised that Flesh Eaters actually having complex and involved intrigues is more interesting than them pushing each other around and then translating that into intrigues in their head. That was a thing in the Army Book fluff and I remember thinking... why?
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Mar 5, 2023 03:45
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Soulbound: Era of the Beast She Glanced This Way The forces of Destruction have felt the present era coming even before Kragnos was set free. The thunder of his hoofbeats and the heartbeat of the realms has echoed in their souls for some time now, drawing them to Ghur. Few of them understood the nature of the call, of course, but they gathered in the far reaches of Ghur and got busy fighting anyone nearby to entertain themselves. It's part of why they played little role in the battles that immediately preceded Kragnos' return - they were too busy heading for Ghur to fight Morathi, Teclis or Be'lakor. People watching out for them tried to raise a warning, but everyone else was too busy to notice...until Kragnos smashed his way free from his mountain prison and teamed up (if briefly) with Gordrakk and Skagrott. While Morathi and Lord Kroak managed to keep Excelsis from being destroyed, the battles of that mighty Waaagh! have spread as legend across the realms, and the forces of Destruction rally to try and match it. There hasn't really been a better time to be Soulbound to Destruction. The Mortal Realms are now a roiling mass of chaotic warfare, and anyone you want to fight is almost certainly available to do so. Most of these Soulbound are loving every minute of their recent lives, getting into bigger and more fun fights all the time. All that remains is to take power by force - the exact method most Soulbound of Destruction prefer. Kragnos has created several new Bindings by, essentially, just smashing them together and wandering off. Destruction warriors in Bindings of Order are also coming into their own, as their skillset and understanding of the folks following Kragnos have now become invaluable. Skragrott the Loonking did his best to try and control Gordrakk, and if he'd succeeded, Excelsis would have fallen. Skagrott's fungal seers identified three artifacts that, if they'd been gathered, would have ensured the destruction of Excelsis and the ability of the Waaagh! to invade Azyr. Gordrakk was too impatient to listen to the grot king, though, and only got one of the three before he started the invasion. Skagrott has retreated back to his home base of Skrappa Spill to sulk about this and figure out a new way to catch the Bad Moon's eye. The Gloomspite in general have been up to the same - heading back to their lairs and coming up with new ideas. Kragnos has drawn their interest, for the Bad Moon was shining on him when he broke free, and they certainly find the ruins he creates to be great areas to raise mushrooms and spiders. However, the grots have had little success in manipulating Kragnos - the Kruleboyz in general and Gobsprakk in particular have taken on that job, leaving the grots to fume. The troggherd that invaded Excelsis alongside Kragnos was led by the troggboss Glogg, who died in the battle. With Glogg dead, they have decided it's time to go home. There's one problem with this: they live in the Spiral Crux of Chamon and it's largely cut off from the rest of the realms. Fortunately for the troggs, once they all gathered up in the cave that Glogg napped in before the battle, they've concluded that at least one of their number seems to know about a realmgate that is still working. This could be invaluable for any Soulbound party with the wherewithal to follow them...but that party's also going to need the patience and strength to keep a giant mob of grots and troggs from becoming distracted. Ogor mercenaries helped defend Excelsis, paid by the Knights Excelsior...and at the climax of the battle, the ogors betrayed their employers and smashed into the Stormcast lines from behind, opening a path for the invasion at the behest of Skragrott. Skragrott hired them first, you see, and came up with the plan. Their high-profile betrayal has caused a lot of problems for other ogor mercenaries, however. They've never been the most beloved mercenaries and many already assumed they were treacherous. Now, many Free Cities have refused to hire ogors at all for fear of being betrayed not just after battle but in the middle of it. This means many ogors have taken to seeking other paymasters, with the Kruleboyz often using meat to hire them to raid Dawnbringer caravans and soften them up, but the forces of Death and Chaos are also taking up some of the slack. The mercenaries that Skragrott hired were specifically of the Brokenjarl Mawtribe, who have tended to stick around the Mekitopsar jungles due to their preference for eating reptiles. Rather than go home after Excelesis failed to fall, the Brokenjarls have followed the path Kragnos made - and in doing so, they have found a Draconith corpse, a refreshing change from their tendency to eat feral Seraphon warbeasts. The mawtribe is now obsessed with finding and eating more Draconith, both because of the taste and to make Kragnos happy. Indeed, the local forces of Order will probably quickly ask a Soulbound group to do something to keep the Brokenjarls away from Kragnos. They're already terrorizing the young Draconith trying to settle in the area, and they'll only get worse if they get Kragnos' seal of approval. The Orruks have come to Ghur in massive numbers, some drawn by prophetic dreams and some by the charisma of Gordrakk. They are by far the most numerous of the forces that invaded Excelsis, and they have become the face of the Era of the Beast. The biggest shift for them is that to a greater and greater degree, the orruks feel united. They are far less likely to fight each other over their differences in belief than to band together and find someone else to fight. This grace is even extended to the other forces of Destruction fairly often, and it has led to a growth in Waaagh! energy and an even greater fury than has generally fueled their prior attacks. The Dawnbringer Crusades are at constant threat of orruk attack, and the clans of the orruks seem unlikely to slow down any time soon. Not all of them have heard that the siege of Excelesis failed, either. In the Lost Mesas of Carcass Donse, the orruks have been too busy fighting over whether they liked Kragnos or Gordrakk more and didn't get the news. A new Ironjawz Waaagh! is now emerging to march to the aid of their two heroes at Excelsis, unaware that the assault has already happened. Excelsis is still rebuilding after the siege, and while these orruks will not be nearly as numerous, any attack will slow down the rebuilding and kill many defenseless civilians. Probably a good place for a Soulbound party to jump in and stop them. The gargants have been slow to decide where they stand on Kragnos. Gallet Stomp tried to fight him, but Kragnos killed them all save one, Derko Walrusbiter, whom he spared when the gargant pledged loyalty to him. The other gargant stomps have generally decided it's probably better to be on Kragnos' side than against him, after that, but it's still a debate. Those that side with Kragnos have taken to wearing horns or painting their feet to resemble hooves. Many of the gargant matriarchs have reached a tentative theological agreement that because Kragnos has four feet, he's been twice blessed by the Gorkfoot and Morkfoot. One of the more loyal matriarchs, Dokka Wallthumper, has been unable to keep up with Kragnos and grown to miss the sounds of his mace and hooves. To emulate the smashing noise, she has taken to beating on a nearby mountain with a giant tree she uprooted. Other gargants are being drawn to the noise, and their arrival is going to threaten everyone that lives nearby. The Kruleboy clans deserve special mention, too. They've emerged in force, seeing Kragnos as the answer to a prophecy of the best time to return to the world. Many Kruleboyz now follow in Kragnos' path, attacking and looting anyone they meet along the way. Gobsprakk, the Mouth of Mork, is at the center of this theological revelation. He tracked Kragnos down after Excelsis and talked him into allowing the Kruleboyz to serve him directly. Gobsprakk now preaches in the name of Kragnos, evangelizing among the Kruleboyz to get more into service. Many Kruleboyz now worship Kragnos equally alongside Mork, and they have taken to baiting Dawnbringer Crusades with fake relics and ambushing them once they've been drawn into the wilds. Then they go after the city the Dawnbringers came from. It's become very clear that the Kragnos-worshipping orruks are a major threat. Next time: Campaign Ideas
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Mar 5, 2023 16:49
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Does inklesspen still update?
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Mar 5, 2023 20:22
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I think Life got in between that as the last update was August 2021.
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Mar 5, 2023 20:47
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Somebody on the internet got mad at them and they appear to have gone low profile for a bit. Hopefully things get better!
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Mar 5, 2023 21:14
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Midjack posted:Somebody on the internet got mad at them and they appear to have gone low profile for a bit. Hopefully things get better! Man, I'm sorry to hear that, I'm super thankful for all the help they gave creating the archive and I hope they'll be back again some day.
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Mar 5, 2023 21:32
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quote:Some of the more interesting items include the Blanket of Safekeeping (teleports the attuned character to a bed it is spread across when they take damage) That's both adorable and very useful. Every parent in the world would want one per child. Long live Inklesspen! I think I still have my files from running wget on the archive, just in case.
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Mar 6, 2023 02:40
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Mors Rattus posted:Soulbound: Era of the Beast For some reason, even though EoB is supposed to be Destruction's time to shine, I somehow got more out of the Death section than this. Though I confess I find the mental image of pack of ogres chasing fleeing young dragons, shouting "stop so we can eat you, you're delicious" quite funny.
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Mar 6, 2023 07:43
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Being an ogre is a constant state of frustration, turns out that most living (or mobile at least) things have absolutely no desire to let you eat them! Though I'd imagine that any and all dumb fearless Dodo-like creatures are long extinct on all the realms. Considering how much disappointment comes into an ogre's life it's a real testament to their good nature that they never give up the spirit of cheerful optimism.
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Mar 6, 2023 07:56
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Ogres deal with frustrations by smashing them to bite sized bits, and they're really good at it.
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Mar 6, 2023 08:52
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By popular demand posted:Being an ogre is a constant state of frustration, turns out that most living (or mobile at least) things have absolutely no desire to let you eat them!
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Mar 6, 2023 08:59
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wiegieman posted:Ogres deal with frustrations by smashing them to bite sized bits, and they're really good at it. I'd imagine there's some very angry grillmasters chasing down and eradicating any forces of nurgle because of the latter's tendencies to eventually reduce everything into slimy goo, which famously does not make for good grilling.
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Mar 6, 2023 09:26
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Nessus posted:Reliable reporting tells me they're like onions. They've got layers. I thought Ogres had lawyers these days.
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Mar 6, 2023 09:56
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By popular demand posted:Being an ogre is a constant state of frustration, turns out that most living (or mobile at least) things have absolutely no desire to let you eat them! So basically Louis C. K.'s character from Gravity Falls is their spirit animal?
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Mar 6, 2023 10:18
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I prefer the character Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies and how he keeps referring to the miniclone guy as a 'baby' and trying to get him to climb into his belly. Now imagine that cheerful geezer tagging along your adventuring crew and while he's disturbing, he is also a terrific tank to place between you and a charging enemy (fast food delivery)
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Mar 6, 2023 10:41
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 Chapter 2: Game Rules Yes, this game does rule, but maybe we shouldn't be so upfront about that, Emanuele. It's not a good look. The Game posted:This is probably the most important chapter in the book and one that should be read with great attention, regardless of if you are the Game Master or a Player. I feel like this is a lie, honestly. This rulebook suffers from an issue so many do: It's kind of all over the place and not everything really flows together in a natural, easy to explain kind of way. I can't really blame the author for this, though. I've made a few homebrew TTRPG systems myself, and I've really struggled with this at times. Sometimes, it really is just best to put something in a place where it doesn't make sense simply because it doesn't fit anywhere else. Sometimes, a rule WOULD be best in a specific place, but that section is getting too long and unwieldy, so you end up just having to bite the bullet and put it elsewhere. I've found what's REALLY important is to put things in bite-sized chunks, explain the very basics, and then expand on those basics later. Personal thoughts on organizing rulesets aside, we'll jump in with the first page of Chapter 2. It talks about changing the rules to fit the situation, and that the game intentionally has rules that overlap or seem redundant. Not everything has to be used, learning when and where to actually use what rules is a big part of GMing. I find this to be pretty sound. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I've been GMing games for over 20 years now, and I have to agree. Sometimes: gently caress the rules, they're not fun. Either way, this is a lot of words to describe Rule Zero, which they never actually mention by name. The real meat begins on the second page of chapter two, where it begins to define Scenes. Now, one might assume this is basic TTRPG stuff and we should already know it. And it is, but it has a little bit of a twist. This game favors a hard and fast approach to making a scene, and I'll let the book speak for itself here, and add my two cents after:  The first thing of note is that the game wants the GM to just shut up. Don't give paragraphs of description. No essays. Give the players enough Next are Conflict Scenes. These are for when the PCs clash with NPCs! But it's not just for fights. Everything from having a tense, faux-polite high-society conversation to negotiating for hostages, and even, yes, fights, are Conflict Scenes. While the usual Scenes tend to be a little abstract, the game says that Conflict Scenes really zoom in on the actions of the PCs and how everything counts now. However, the book declines to really get into it yet, and advises reading the rules for Checks first. ... So why not put this after Checks? Why can't explaining Scenes come after explaining Checks? Maybe this is just a personal gripe, but it rubs me the wrong way. The author wanted to assure us we're not jumping around like this, and we've done it within less than 1 and a half pages since saying that. Well anyway, Interlude Scenes! These are for slower-paced scenes. Usually traveling, or long periods of downtime where very little happens. In these, the players all decide on what in general they're doing in this time period, instead of focusing on minutia. Some of the best role-playing comes out when it's just the PCs doing nothing but hanging out, but well, more often than not it's just boring. These are also useful for pursue long-term objectives, like PROJECTS which are, again, later in the book. I'm not as annoyed by this one, though. It's not one of the most basic systems in the game we're refusing to explain in favor of *checks notes* how to set up segments of play. Then there are Game Master Scenes, which are basically just cutscenes, JRPG style! The book is careful to mention, and I think it's good it does, that GM Scenes specifically require that no PCs are present where the scene takes place. Uninterruptable monologues are bullshit, as are the villain just grabbing the MacGuffin without any chance of the PCs interfering for... Reasons. Usually, GM Scenes are there to set up or support tension, showing what other characters, particularly Villains, are doing. I really like doing this in my own campaigns, though I tend to do so sparingly. Fabula Ultima wants this to be a regular thing without taking agency away from Players, and I support and appreciate this. The game now explains multiple scenes make up a session, which ends when everyone is done playing. At the end of this you'll distribute EXP (more on that later but from me this time not the book). And it says a typical session is about four hours, which seems about right. Despite being a game about emulating a JRPG, it compares this to an episode of a TV show: The protagonists come into a situation, fix it/make it worse, and thus influencing the metaplot. I feel like comparing it to exploring a Dungeon or a side quest might have been more pertinent. Multiple sessions make up a campaign, we all know this kind of thing so far. Apparently, the game is expecting a campaign to be about 20-50 We'll jump into some important rules of the game now, and these are ACTUALLY important. These are the hard and fast rules I feel every TTRPG needs to discuss as soon as possible. These are the small nitpicky rules that will save a lot of time to memorize over time. Instead of diving into it myself, since I don't think I have much to say here, I'll let the game speak again.  That third one seems iffy, but I promise that there isn't really much division in the game's system, and multiplication is usually something that happens once and the result kept for a while before having to be checked on again, like how much a Skill is actually giving you at your current level. We're now touching on Anatomy of a Character because of course we are and character creation is nowhere near this page.  No, this is stuff the game feels we have to know right now despite that we still don't know how to DO anything in the game. Where is character creation? I wasn't joking before. It's halfway through the book. I'm actually kind of tempted to skip this section and come back to it later when we get to the character creation rules, but no. That wouldn't be in the spirit of an F&F. We're doing this thing.So each character has a total of three Traits. Traits are actually a lot like Aspects in Fate. A short phrase (though generally shorter than in Fate) that explains who your character is. The three Traits are:
Then there are bonds, which are a tad more complex. Bonds between PCs are something that always feel a little hard to define at character creation. Players have never used these characters before, how do they possibly relate to each other? The game tries to simplify this by making a concrete list of the available Bonds. There are six, pulled from three sets of two conflicting themes:
After that, we talk about LEVELS, CLASSES, and SKILLS. Level is an abstraction of power (the coward's way out! TELL EVERYONE YOU'RE A LEVEL 10 SAMURAI! Do it in character!) You start at level 5, and every level is in a one of the game's 15(!) classes. That sounds horrible, but it's actually not as dense as it sounds. Every class gets a one-time bonus the first time you put a level in that class, and a skill point you can put in one of the class's five skills. Some skills can be taken multiple times for more effect, but be careful: When you've put 10 levels into a class, it is considered Mastered. Among some other effects, you can never put another level in that class, so choose wisely! As a side note, this also means that in Fabula Ultima, multi-classing is not only encouraged, it's mandatory. But! What's this? MECHANICS? CORE MECHANICS? Be still oh my heart, we've finally reached that point! Let's talk about ATTRIBUTES.  this cool picture of dice is not just here because i feel i spoke too much without images it's relevant i swear There are four Attributes in this game:
Why? Why is this here? This is even more mystifying than my previous gripes! It'd be one thing if the game decided how to use your attributes to figure out your max HP or how much stuff you can carry, but instead it just decides to tell you these things exist and then COMPLETELY FORGET ABOUT THEM for a long while! How long? Until character creation, and we already explained why that's a problem. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. The game does not explain how to create characters until halfway through the book!  I swear. This is a good game. I mean it. But this is one of the three huge gripes I have about it that made me dock points from its score. Well, we're almost at 15000 characters, and this is my breaking point. I refuse to explain mechanics that the game itself refuses to explain. Next time: How the main mechanic of the game works. No. Seriously. We're finally there, guys. I mean it. And you will also get my frustration at why this was not the first thing the game explained when we get there, too.  In closing, have this picture of a pocket watch. It is entirely irrelevant, but it's pretty and I'd like to end this on some semblance of a high note. Mecha_Face fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Mar 8, 2023 |
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Mar 8, 2023 00:43
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Putting the whole rules chapter before character creation is the right thing to do, because it means when you start reading all the abilities in the character creation section you know what they'll do, rather than being 'okay, so I get two florps every action scene... is that good?'
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Mar 8, 2023 01:01
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Tsilkani posted:Putting the whole rules chapter before character creation is the right thing to do, because it means when you start reading all the abilities in the character creation section you know what they'll do, rather than being 'okay, so I get two florps every action scene... is that good?' I'm not at all denying that. My gripe is that I feel, personally, that you should explain the basics of the system. How stats work, how to use stats, how to figure out your substats. Then you go into character creation, and after that, THEN start really getting into how the game works. The nitty-gritty. Even if that were what the game was going for, it's doing it poorly: It's introducing mechanics, not explaining them at all, and jumping to something new and then not explaining THAT, and then it tells you how stats work but not what they actually do mechanically. When I approach these things critically, I'm approaching this from the angle of someone new to TTRPGs, and this is their first game or close to it. It comes off to me as unnecessarily confusing and overwhelming. Mecha_Face fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Mar 8, 2023 |
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Mar 8, 2023 01:06
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Mecha_Face posted:I'm not at all denying that. My gripe is that I feel, personally, that you should explain the basics of the system. How stats work, how to use stats, how to figure out your substats. Then you go into character creation, and after that, THEN start really getting into how the game works. The nitty-gritty. Even if that were what the game was going for, it's doing it poorly: It's introducing mechanics, not explaining them at all, and jumping to something new and then not explaining THAT, and then it tells you how stats work but not what they actually do mechanically. When I approach these things critically, I'm approaching this from the angle of someone new to TTRPGs, and this is their first game or close to it. It comes off to me as unnecessarily confusing and overwhelming. You literally stopped right before it tells you how the stats work mechanically, two pages later, as the core mechanic. The book is introducing all the basic terminology, then the core mechanic, and then working out from there. By the time you get to character creation, you will know what it means when it says a class ability works with the combat system like this, or it modifies the inventory system like this, or it unlocks this class of ritual spells, because you'll have already read those parts of the rules. Character creation showing up in a book before you understand what any of the things character creation talks about do is one of the biggest complaints about roleplaying books out there and has been for decades.
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Mar 8, 2023 01:14
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Tsilkani posted:You literally stopped right before it tells you how the stats work mechanically, two pages later, as the core mechanic. The book is introducing all the basic terminology, then the core mechanic, and then working out from there. By the time you get to character creation, you will know what it means when it says a class ability works with the combat system like this, or it modifies the inventory system like this, or it unlocks this class of ritual spells, because you'll have already read those parts of the rules. Yes, I stopped before it explained how the stats work mechanically, after the book introduced several things that rely on stats to fully understand. The issue is not that character creation comes after the rules, the complaint is that not only does character creation come after ALL the rules, but also that the rules are out of order. We should have gotten attributes and checks first. Not scenes. And we certainly should not have gotten Traits and Bonds when their only effects are how they influence Checks, before we got to learn about Checks. And then, we learn about things that won’t actually be fully explained until during character creation, so why was that even there? On the matter of whether character creation should come after all the rules or not, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I don’t like that idea, and I already explained how I like the compromise of giving the basics, so I’m not going to repeat myself when this is clearly a difference of opinion.
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Mar 8, 2023 01:34
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