Jarvisi fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Aug 18, 2022

• Game modes: All game actions are broken down into 3 distinct formats:
  
  • Encounter Mode: Starts when you roll initiative. 6 second rounds, and each turn is broken down into 3 Action units. Move up to your Speed? 1 Action. Strike with a weapon? 1 Action. Grapple a foe, Jump a gap, Hide? 1 Action. Spells? 1-3 actions.
    
  • Exploration Mode: A.k.a. any active play that isn't inside an initiative block. Measured in 10 minute blocks. Allows you to clearly designate a game action to take (i.e. Scouting, Detecting Magic, Treating Wounds, etc.) and while you can break it up with discrete actions like "I open the door", you'll be doing the background action in general and gaining some benefit from it. It lets players who are less aggressive about describing their dungeon crawling still "do something", even when not actively describing individual actions.
    
  • Downtime Mode: Time between adventures is codified. You've got your basic crafting and earning income, retraining of feats and features, and a host of other options. Then, the Gamemastery Guide gives even more guidance and options.
    
  
  
• Traits: Everything you do is trait-based. And traits matter. They matter so much. Some examples:
  
  • Identify Magic (Concentrate, Exploration, Secret): Concentrate doesn't do anything on its own, but some things that disrupt your mental state would prevent you from doing this (i.e. confusion, raging). Exploration means that you can only do it in that mode, so it takes a standard 10 minute block of time. Secret means the DM rolls the check but doesn't tell you the result, they just give you information (possibly false) based on your secret result.
    
  • Demoralize (Auditory, Concentrate, Emotion, Mental): Auditory means the target has to be able to hear you (although not necessarily comprehend). Emotion and Mental limit your targeting and allow targets to have specific defenses for those kinds of actions. For instance, Mental effects can't target objects or mindless beings, like constructs or some undead. Emotion effects are less effective on some elves.
    
  • Heal (Spell, Healing, Necromancy, Positive): I won't get into fine details, but the short version is that this spell will, by rule, not affect certain creatures (like constructs) or adversely affect others (undead) based on the traits. No need for lengthy text boxes on each monster block.
    
  
  
• Proficiencies: Every. drat. Thing. is a proficiency. Your armor. Your saves. Your skills. Your weapons. Perception (not a skill). Your DCs. So, what does that mean?
  
  • Proficient: If you have any proficiency level in something, you add your level to it. So, your to-hit, your saves, your AC, your DCs, EVERYTHING scales directly to your level. Why? Because it makes it incredibly clear that proficiencies matter. You hit level 10? Oh poo poo, anything you are untrained in is way, way behind. Better do things you are trained in. (There are feats and such that can partially mitigate this so you aren't awful at things, but you certainly won't be good unless you are proficient.)
    
  • TEML: Trained/Expert/Master/Legendary. Achieving these ranks give you +2/4/6/8 to your roll.
    
  • Related attribute: Get a bonus to the roll for every 2 points in the attribute above 10.
    
  • Bonuses: Every roll can have the following bonuses that range from +1 to +4: Circumstance, Item, Status. Take your best bonus in each category. No need for a bunch of maths. You get up to 3 total bonuses that each cap at +4. The end.
    
  • Example: Gimli is a level 1 Fighter with 18 Strength swinging an axe that he's an Expert with and has a Bless spell giving him a +1 Status bonus. So, he rolls his d20 and adds +1 (Level) +4 (Expert) +4 (Strength) +1 (Status) = +10. That's it. That is how good he is with every swing of his axe.
    
  
  
• Degrees of Success: Forget everything you know about critical failures and successes. Here's how it go: Make a roll, compare result to DC.
  
  • Did you meet or beat the DC? Success.
    
  • Did you not? Failure.
    
  • Did you beat by 10 or more? Critical Success.
    
  • Did you fail by 10 or more? Critical Failure.
    
  • Did you roll a 1? Reduce your degree of success by 1 step.
    
  • Did you roll a 20? Increase your degree of success by 1 step.
    
  • Yes, you can fail on a 20 and succeed on a 1. But only in extreme cases. What is interesting is that every point of bonus or penalty counts big now, because it moves you not just closer to success or failure, but also critical success and failure.
    
  
  
• But what about BAB, CMB, CMD, acronym, acronym, acronym???
  
  • Dead as hell.
    
  • I showed above how to get your attack bonus. Strikes (basic attack action) and many other things that were previously maneuvers (Shoving, Grappling, Knockdowns, etc.) are now tagged "Attack". If you do more than 1 Attack action on your turn, you suffer a Multiple Attack Penalty. Your second attack is at -5 and each attack after that is at -10. Some things will mitigate this (i.e. Agile traited weapons), and other things will get stronger based on your penalty (i.e. Press traited feats). The same penalty applies regardless if you are using a Strike, a maneuver, or a spell. If it has the Attack trait, it uses this system.
    
  • Defenses are DCs based on the targeted stat. For instance, Grapples and Shoves compare you Athletics roll to the target's Fortitude DC (their Fortitude save bonus +10). Creating a diversion is a Deception check vs. the target's Perception DC.
    
    
• How about "Encounter" or "Short Rest" abilities? These are mimiced by the Focus Spell System.
  
  • Every time you get a new Focus Spell (largely through feats), you get +1 Focus Point Pool (max 3).
    
  • Each class with Focus Spells gets a 10-minute Exploration activity to recharge 1 Focus Point.
    
  • Most classes with Focus Spells gets additional feats to recharge extra points per 10-minute block.
    
  • Each Focus Spell costs 1 point to cast and the Pool is shared between all your spells.
    
    
• Character creation is done through the "ABCD" method:
  
  • Ancestry: The concept formerly known as "Race". Gives you a Heritage feature, base HP, movement speed, languages, vision, and ability modifiers (see below).
    
  • Background: Gives you 2 more semi-customizable ability boosts, a skill, and an associated skill feat.
    
  • Class: Gives your character a fundamental chassis, including key ability score, hp/level, proficiencies (skills, equipment, saves, and perception (which is not a skill)), and your basic ability set.
    
  • Don't know why they used an "ABC" acronym when you are only 75% of the way done.
    
  • Then, by level, characters advance by picking up more feats in 4 categories: Ancestry, Class, Skill, and General. Feats are gained separately and generally do not compete (although skill feats are a subset of general feat and you can use your general feat slot to get a skill feat, instead).
    
    Attributes are handled as follows:
    
    • Start with a block of straight 10s in STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA.
      
    • Ancestry +2 to three attributes and -2 to a fourth. Two of those increases are fixed, one of them is wildcard. (Humans, being generalists, just get two +2 wildcards, no penalty).
      
    • Background gives two more +2s, one chosen from a pair defined by the background, the other free.
      
    • Class gives +2 to your key ability (some classes have more than one ability to choose, but you only get a boost to that one).
      
    • Four wildcard +2s to dole out to 4 different attributes.
      
    • No ability can start above 18.
      
    • You cannot assign two boosts to the same score in the same step.
      
    • You can (optionally) take a two -2 flaws to two different scores to get an extra boost during the ancestry step. There's some extra rules for this, but basically it's a pretty steep penalty that lets you still play an ancestry that gets a penalty to your class's key ability without being too far behind.
      
    • When getting more ability boosts via leveling up, you get 4 wildcards, but boosting any skill past 18 only boosts it by 1 each time you advance, so scores cap pretty low.
      
    • Otherwise, you'll never really see odd ability scores, which were pretty useless anyway.
      
      
    So, I'll give an example character, so you can see it all come together.
    
    Gimli, son of Gloin, son of Copyright Infringement:
    
    • Gimli is a Dwarf, who has a base of 10 HP, a Speed of 20ft, a clan dagger, and gets +2 CON/WIS, -2 CHA, and a free boost, which we'll assign to STR.
      
    • Gimli is a Strong-Blooded Dwarf, so his Heritage feature is poison resistance and better saves against poison.
      
    • Gimli picks a first level Ancestry feat, so he'll take Dwarven Weapon Familiarity, which gives him access and proficiencies in advanced Dwarven weapons, in this case, for the Dwarven War Axe.
      
    • Gimli, being from Durin's line, is a Noble, so we'll give him that Background. He gets two boosts, one of which must be INT or CHA. Being a friendly sort, we'll give his fixed boost to CHA, and his second, free boost, to STR. He'll also get proficiency in the Society skill, Genealogy Lore skill, and the Courtly Graces skill feat.
      
    • Finally, Gimli is a Fighter, and we'll choose to make STR his key ability (DEX is also an option), which gives him +2 STR. He also gets 10 more HP, and all of the following proficiencies:
      
    • Expert Perception
      
    • Expert Fortitude and Reflex saves
      
    • Trained Will Saves
      
    • Expert in Unarmed attacks, Simple, and Martial weapons (his Ancestry feat also applies this to his martial and advanced Dwarf weapons)
      
    • Trained in advanced weapons
      
    • Trained in all armor and unarmored defense
      
    • Trained in Fighter class DC
      
    • Trained Athletics skill (we could have chosen Acrobatics, instead)
      
    • Trained in 3 more skills: We'll take Acrobatics, Intimidation, and Survival.
      
      
      
    • For being a fighter, he also gets the Attack of Opportunity reaction (this is rare among both players and enemies in this edition, only fighters and select monsters get it, natively) and the Shield Block general feat, which lets you use your shield to reduce damage taken.
      
    • Gimli also gets a level 1 Fighter feat, and since he's got stubby short Dwarf legs, we'll give him a way to engage a little faster. He'll take Sudden Charge, which lets him, if he hasn't attacked yet, move twice for the normal action cost, and then get a Strike in if he ends adjacent to a foe.
      
    • To finish, Gimli also gets four free ability boosts, so we'll give him +2 to STR/CON/WIS/CHA.
      
      Gimli's final attribute total looks like:
      STR: 18 (A/B/C/F)
      DEX: 10
      CON: 14 (A/F)
      INT: 10
      WIS: 14 (A/F)
      CHA: 12 (-A/B/F)
      
      With a starting 22 HP (10 Ancestry + 10 Class + 2 CON), and +7/+5/+5 Fort/Ref/Will saves.
      
      
    
    
  
  

• Multiclassing/prestige classing is super simple. It's called Archetyping and you do it by simply skipping a Class feat and instead taking an Archetype feat. That feat gives you some bonuses, and chains to further feats you can take at later levels by, again, skipping your class feat. That simple. You are always still your main class, through and through. No complex formulas of bonuses or spells slots. You are your main class. You just take some other feats.
  
• Weapons and Armor are diverse. There's dozens of weapon traits and every weapon has 1 or more. In addition, weapon families can add different bonuses when you crit. Armor isn't always about just grabbing the highest AC in a type. Many have extra bonuses or penalties. Picking the ones that fit your build makes all of it feel less samey. Also, customizing your magic weapons and armor feels enjoyable because basic bonuses like to-hit and AC don't compete with cool flavor bonuses like ghost touch or camouflage.
  
• Rarity: Spells and items that would short-circuit a game's flow (i.e. Zone of Truth or Locate) or be otherwise incredibly powerful for PC use (i.e. Geas or Resurrect) are marked as higher rarity and are not player-facing by default. It lets DMs have them a tools, and be able to let players use them on a limited basis without players feeling entitled to them.
  
• Healing matters, and not just ping-ponging at 0hp. When you drop to 0hp, you have plenty of opportunity to not be dead, and to get healed back into the fight, but the opportunity cost is massive. Even if you get healed immediately, you drop down in initiative, and you generally have to spend at least 2 actions on your next turn standing up and picking up your dropped weapon (and maybe even a second weapon or shield with a 3rd action). And all of these will provoke AoOs. You'll basically lose you whole turn when you go down and so will the person healing you.
  
• Caster/martial balance feels a lot better, at least coming from 5E. The fact that spells take more actions, and have more restrictions feels like the choices you make with them matter more.
  
• With the release of the Gamemastery Guide, the game gives you not only a metric ton of charts and tables to mechanically shore up your game, but a lot of discussion goes into flavor and ways to make the systems interesting, fun, and engaging. It's actually very good at explaining WHY you should do some things and not just HOW.
  
• Characters really feel complete at level 1, unlike how 5E makes you wait until you get a subclass at level 2 or 3, or until you get a feat at 4 to feel like your build is more than the local shitfarmer. A level 1 bog standard fighter has a minimum of 5 skills and 4 feats. That's enough to actually feel like a somebody.
  

• The Alchemist class is really bad, especially the mutagenist. They are already throwing errata at it, but it got reworked late in design when the magic item system changed and it's still underpowered and awkward.
  
• Combat Cantrips feel real awkward. Caster clerics don't have a real power damage cantrip and most everyone else gets Electric Arc which is basically the hammer when every single monster (or even better, 2 monsters) is a nail.
  
• Clerics are still Big drat Heals, and while they can definitely do other things, and other people CAN heal, clerics just feel like healing on EZMODE and that's kind of a shame.
  
• Some builds lack diversity and others are swimming in it. Clerics have almost infinite possibilities, between dozens of unique dieties, each with their own core customizations, subclasses, spell lists, etc. A Rogue has levels where their subclass nearly forces feat selection, so it doesn't always feel great.
  
  

• Swashbuckler (Wit)
  
• Bard
  
• Fighter
  
• Rogue
  

• The party spots a Hellknight coming down the road.
  
• The Rogue, having been Avoiding Notice as an Exploration Activity, hides in the woods.
  
• The Bard and Swashbuckler start hollering that the Fighter is attacking them.
  

• Bard: Rolls Deception(CHA) (19)
  
• Hellknight: Rolls Perception(WIS) (18)
  
• Swashbuckler: Rolls Deception(CHA) (17)
  
• Rogue: Rolls Stealth(DEX) (16)
  
• Fighter: Rolls Perception(WIS) (15)
  

• Bard Delays, waiting for the Hellknight to close.
  
• Hellknight Strides in to intercept the Fighter.
  
• Swashbuckler uses Bon Mot to tell the Hellknight how dumb they were for falling for their ruse and gains Panache. They then spend their remaining 2 Actions to Ready a Confident Finisher after the Fighter acts.
  
• Bard returns to Initiative. Casts Fear for 2 Actions, which targets the Hellknight's Will Save, which has been lowered by Bon Mot. The Hellknight fails and is Frightened 2, lowering all of their DCs and Checks (including AC, Saves, and Attacks) by 2. They use their 3rd Action to cast Inspire Courage, increasing all party member Attack and Damage rolls by 1.
  
• Rogue Delays, waiting for the Fighter to set them up.
  
• Fighter Strides to close the gap to the Hellknight. Then, the Fighter Trips the Hellknight. Because the Frightened condition has lowered the Hellknight's DCs by 2 and the Bard is playing Inspire Courage for +1 to the Attack roll (Trip is Attack tagged), the Fighter succeeds and the Hellknight falls, becoming Prone and Flat-footed. The Fighter follows up with a sword Strike. Because this is the 2nd Attack of the turn, the fighter has -5 to the roll, but that is made up for by Flat-footed (-2 AC), Frightened (-2 AC), and Inspire Courage (+1 Attack).
  
• Now that the Hellknight is vulnerable, the Swashbuckler uses their Delayed action unleash a Confident Finisher. They have all of the bonuses as the Fighter, but not the Multiple Attack Penalty. Also, since they have Panache, they deal 2d6 bonus Precision damage. They are very likely to Critically Hit.
  
• Rogue now Strides in from the woods, Flanking with the Fighter, and Strikes twice, with all of the bonuses and gaining bonus Sneak Attack precision damage on each strike as the foe is Flat-footed.
  

KPC_Mammon fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Aug 18, 2022

Chevy Slyme fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Aug 19, 2022