The Fighter has always been a popular class, and is arguably the most relatable, grounded-in-reality archetype in the game. D&D (pre 4E) has always treated the Fighter as a simple class, ideal for beginners but without the options to be all that relevant at higher levels. Many players consider it boring. In 13th Age, the Fighter is middle of the road in terms of complexity, being manageable for beginners (especially if the more straightforward options are selected), yet with enough dials to keep players who like that kind of stuff engaged. Some complaints about the class include flexible attacks, which some players feel remove too much narrative agency from the hands of the player (an issue I've addressed before), and the reduction of its tactical "defender" options compared with D&D 4E. In this article I'll present new Fighter-specific feats and a new Maneuver that address these issues, as well as making a lightly-armored Fighter a more viable option.
New Maneuver
Interpose (1st Level Fighter Maneuver)
Triggering Roll: Any natural even roll
Effect: An ally engaged with you or the target gains a bonus to AC equal to the higher of your Dexterity or Constitution modifier. You take an equal penalty to your own AC.
Adventurer Feat: You may reduce the penalty to your AC by half, rounded down.
Champion Feat: Once per battle you can use this maneuver at-will, without having to trigger it (decide before you make the roll).
Epic Feat: You may ignore the penalty to AC when you use this maneuver.
Discussion
Obviously some players will balk at a maneuver that reduces their own AC, but that's missing the point. This is a tactical maneuver, not a strict power boost. It's designed to replicate the "mark" of 4E, and its sole purpose is to make the Fighter a more attractive target than the ally he's protecting. The Fighter is probably tougher with higher AC, HP, and Recovery rolls, so most enemies should logically avoid attacking them and go for the easier quarry first. By buffing the ally's AC and hurting your own, you tilt that enemy's decision in favor of attacking you. Yes this could allow an enemy attack to hit when it would have missed, but sometimes it's worth the risk if you can take it but your ally can't.
In some ways Fighters already had solid defender abilities with the Threatening class feature, the Skilled Intercept talent, and a handful of maneuvers (Shield Bash, Punish Them, Strong Guard, and Swordmaster's Anticipation), but no real good way of defending an ally while maintaining the position of fighting side by side with them (Strong Guard notwithstanding, but that requires both a shield and that you miss, so it's less likely to trigger when the Escalation Die is higher). This Maneuver provides that, and with the feat support it can be less dangerous to use.
New Fighter Feats
Reliable Attacker
Adventure: You may opt to use any Maneuver that triggers off of a natural even roll or hit as an at-will power instead.
Champion: Once per battle when using a natural even roll/hit at-will power, you may opt to trade in its effect for another if the roll triggers a Maneuver that you'd like to use instead.
Epic: Once per battle you can trigger a flexible attack with your natural even roll/hit at-will, gaining the effects of both.
Mobile Fighter
Adventure: When wearing light armor you gain a bonus to Disengage rolls and Skilled Intercept saves equal to the higher of your Dexterity or Wisdom modifier.
Champion: Once per battle while wearing light armor you gain a free move action that you can use at any time during your turn. You can use this move action to continue moving after being intercepted if you successfully Disengage.
Epic: Once per battle as a free action you can pop free from an enemy instead of rolling a Disengage check or a Skilled Intercept save if you're wearing light armor. Additionally, you may use your free move action granted from the Champion tier feat when it's not your turn.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Review: Heart of the Wild
Introduction
Heart of the Wild is the most recent supplement for The One Ring. It's essentially a gazetteer to western and central Wilderland (the Vales of Anduin and Mirkwood; which is to say everything except the Dale-lands, Lake-Town, and the Long Marshes). The yet-to-be-released companion volume, Darkening of Mirkwood, is a plot point campaign sourcebook that requires Heart of the Wild (though you can use HotW just find without Darkening). It's most useful for Loremasters as a setting reference and a source for new Adversaries and NPCs, though there are some player options sprinkled throughout it. You can purchase the book here
, and it's also available for sale as a PDF.
Production Value
This is the first hardcover product in the line, and it makes all the difference. Previous softcovers (including the core rulebooks) had issues with the binding (my copies included), which is a sore point for an otherwise beautiful set of books. The hardcover format seems to have eliminated this problem, as the binding certainly seems as solid as any other RPG book I've owned. At 128 pages it's a little short for the price point.
Layout
The book is divided into 3 main sections (plus an introduction, an updated map, and an index), the Vales of Anduin, Mirkwood, and Adversaries. The two major regions are divided up into various sub-regions, which are treated separately. The subregions correspond to those on the maps, and while this makes the book convenient to reference if you're interested in a specific place on the map, it can be a little repetitive to read this way, especially with all of the similar-sounding regions (west upper vales, east upper vales, west middle vales, east middle vales, etc. through Anduin vales and nether vales). This is exacerbated by the fact that each region is given entries for wildlife, inhabitants, notable characters, and notable places. The wildlife entries in particular are tiresome, as most of them include the expected bears, deer, squirrels, etc. There are a few notable details like the swarms of insects that beset travelers in the East Nether Vales, which the wandering Erringmen fend off with fire-pots full of incense, but by and large I think that space could have been saved by detailing the general wildlife in the introductory section to the two major regions, and then if there are interesting wildlife for a given sub-region mentioning those in its summary. This is the one part of the book that feels like it was placed in to pad page count, which is all the more noticeable with only 128 pages.
The art lives up to what we've come to expect from this line, which is to say that the style fits the setting very well. You get a mix of paintings and, for some specific NPCs, pencil drawings. There is at least one piece of recycled art (the portrait of Thranduil), but the vast majority of it is new. My one complaint is that a lot of the Mirkwood pieces look really similar, and don't seem to depict anything besides "ooooh, scary trees!" Given that similar pieces are found in the core books, it's tough to really appreciate some of the Mirkwood stuff.
Sidebars abound in this book, and they run the gamut from new player options, to interesting details about characters ("Thranduil's Ring" and "The Crown of the Elvenking" being particularly nice touches), to short little stories that better demonstrate locations or situations ("A Campfire Tale," "Forgotten Treasures"), or advice about keeping already-visited locations fresh ("Strange Faces in Familiar Lands"). This is a great way to maintain the consistent region to region structure while still allowing for unique details to be given, and it visually informs the reader that something here is different, important, or is getting a different style of treatment. My only gripe is that while the sidebars are in the index, there is no notation that indicates they're sidebars (a minor gripe, to be sure).
Content
As a setting reference this book does what it needs to do, without over-detailing things. A description of the landscape for each sub-region, and a handful of versatile NPCs with motivations and personalities that seem relevant to the interests of adventurers. Some might end up as adversaries, some allies, while others could go either way. Concepts are generally not repeated, so you're getting something new and interesting with each NPC. The entries are short and to the point, with an attribute level given, Traits, Endurance, and ranks in any skills that the NPC is likely to demonstrate. One nice touch that updates Tolkien to the sensibilities of most modern gamers is that about half of the NPCs are female.
A lot of the descriptions (of both NPCs and specific locations) act as hooks, to spark curiosity and inspire GM creativity. Personally, this is the type of published material that I tend to get the most use out of as a GM. A little "seed" that I can take off in my own direction. I supply most of the details and plotlines, but I wouldn't have ever thought of it if I hadn't read that interesting little initial description. For this reason I anticipate that Heart of the Wild might be sufficient for my GMing needs, in that Darkening might provide too much detail for my tastes. In other words, Heart of the Wild will probably still be useful to GMs who don't like running published adventures (which I don't).
A few locations are given a more detailed treatment, to the extent that they're mapped out. These are the Halls of Thranduil (a much better version than the one from Karen Wynn Fonstad's "The Atlas of Middle Earth," though doubtless that's because more liberties were taken), Dol Guldur (an overhead view of the exterior with important features labeled), Beorn's house, and the three Woodmen settlements in Mirkwood (with a note that Mountain Hall is mapped out in Tales from Wilderland). Actually, there are a few locations where only a very short summary is provided, and the entry otherwise says "refer to Tales/Loremaster's Book." For example, Beorn doesn't get much treatment since the LMB goes into a lot of detail on him. This attempt to keep the book "dense" and not reprint information may be a pro to some, and a con to others who would rather have a more complete reference in one book. Going back to the maps, these hit a pretty sweet spot of providing enough detail to get a sense of how the place is laid out, but not going so far as to count individual houses and whatnot. For me as a Loremaster, this level of detail is enough to keep my description of the place consistent, but it's not so rigid that it locks me out of options.
I think the biggest missed opportunity in this book is that there are no hazards provided at all. I thought the region-specific hazards in Tales from Wilderland were a very nice touch, and I expected an abundance of them in Heart of the Wild. Again, considering that the book only clocks in at 128 pages it's a bit mind boggling why these were neglected. The few general hazards listed in the LMB can get stale really fast, and while you could do a quick scan through the area's description to adapt them to a sub-region in a pinch, there's not a lot of ease-of-reference there, and there might not be something immediately obvious.
Adversaries
At just 11 pages the Monsters of the Wild chapter is much shorter than the other two, but considering how limited the selection from the LMB is it is a pretty decent expansion to the number of foes available. Obviously Tolkien doesn't have the menagerie of monsters that a game like D&D does, so it's a fine line between giving the Loremaster enough options to keep his players interested and providing so much that it no longer feels like Middle Earth.
Aside from basilisks, grim hawks, and wood-wights, all of the adversaries are more or less variations on stuff that the players have likely already come across. There are enough mechanical differences to be noticeable, though. There are some specific "boss" orcs (including one with a named weapon), forest goblins, a warg "boss," hill-men, wild men, a new type of spider, and a trio of...nah, I'm not going to spoil that one ;)
Player Options
The most significant options for players are new Fellowship Phase Undertakings, though these will largely be linked to a very specific location, so your options are unlikely to be greatly expanded during any one Fellowship Phase. Some of them are interesting new twists on what can be gained from an Undertaking, with some being fairly generic (Hunt with the Woodmen) and others being very unique (Taming the Steed of the Moon). There are 14 altogether, and with so much variety they can easily be used as examples to inspire Loremasters to create custom Undertakings using the same or similar mechanics with tweaked or substituted details.
There are 2 new "sub-cultures," which are the Wild Hobbits of the Anduin Vales and the Woodmen of Mountain Hall. The entries are disappointingly sparse, with some starting skill ranks being switched around and new Cultural Blessings being granted (though in the case of the Woodmen it's as simple as switching the wording of Woodcrafty from "in a forest" to "in the mountains"). Unlike the Men of the Lake from the Lake-Town book, there are no new cultural Virtues or Rewards, and no new backgrounds. What makes this especially puzzling is that for the Hobbits in particular, a lot of the options from the core rulebook don't fit thematically at all. Again, I stress that at 128 pages there could have been more here.
Woodmen and Elves also get one new Cultural Virtue each. River-blooded represents a Woodman who has River Maiden ancestry, whereas The Call of Mirkwood can be taken to show how an Elf PC is beginning to fade.
Final Thoughts
Overall I'd say this book is well worth it for GMs, and for anyone who wants a fairly comprehensive reference book on Wilderland. Though it's worth keeping in mind that as a reference book, it's not strictly canon as many liberties were taken to make it appropriate for use in an RPG. I still think it's a great read for getting a sense of what these lands are like, and what life would be like there. If you're just a player with only a casual interest in Tolkien lore you might not find much of use here.
By and large it's a great addition to the TOR library, though it's not without its flaws. A lack of new Hazards, player options that could have been done in more detail, and a short page count for the price (but hardcover is awesome!) keep this from getting a perfect rating, but they're pretty minor issues and shouldn't get in the way of purchasing this book if you're on the fence. The book is absolutely stuffed with "seeds" that will provide GMs with inspiration for many adventures and campaigns, and it makes a great reference for adding color and detail to travel through these regions.
Heart of the Wild is the most recent supplement for The One Ring. It's essentially a gazetteer to western and central Wilderland (the Vales of Anduin and Mirkwood; which is to say everything except the Dale-lands, Lake-Town, and the Long Marshes). The yet-to-be-released companion volume, Darkening of Mirkwood, is a plot point campaign sourcebook that requires Heart of the Wild (though you can use HotW just find without Darkening). It's most useful for Loremasters as a setting reference and a source for new Adversaries and NPCs, though there are some player options sprinkled throughout it. You can purchase the book here
, and it's also available for sale as a PDF.Production Value
This is the first hardcover product in the line, and it makes all the difference. Previous softcovers (including the core rulebooks) had issues with the binding (my copies included), which is a sore point for an otherwise beautiful set of books. The hardcover format seems to have eliminated this problem, as the binding certainly seems as solid as any other RPG book I've owned. At 128 pages it's a little short for the price point.
Layout
The book is divided into 3 main sections (plus an introduction, an updated map, and an index), the Vales of Anduin, Mirkwood, and Adversaries. The two major regions are divided up into various sub-regions, which are treated separately. The subregions correspond to those on the maps, and while this makes the book convenient to reference if you're interested in a specific place on the map, it can be a little repetitive to read this way, especially with all of the similar-sounding regions (west upper vales, east upper vales, west middle vales, east middle vales, etc. through Anduin vales and nether vales). This is exacerbated by the fact that each region is given entries for wildlife, inhabitants, notable characters, and notable places. The wildlife entries in particular are tiresome, as most of them include the expected bears, deer, squirrels, etc. There are a few notable details like the swarms of insects that beset travelers in the East Nether Vales, which the wandering Erringmen fend off with fire-pots full of incense, but by and large I think that space could have been saved by detailing the general wildlife in the introductory section to the two major regions, and then if there are interesting wildlife for a given sub-region mentioning those in its summary. This is the one part of the book that feels like it was placed in to pad page count, which is all the more noticeable with only 128 pages.
The art lives up to what we've come to expect from this line, which is to say that the style fits the setting very well. You get a mix of paintings and, for some specific NPCs, pencil drawings. There is at least one piece of recycled art (the portrait of Thranduil), but the vast majority of it is new. My one complaint is that a lot of the Mirkwood pieces look really similar, and don't seem to depict anything besides "ooooh, scary trees!" Given that similar pieces are found in the core books, it's tough to really appreciate some of the Mirkwood stuff.
Sidebars abound in this book, and they run the gamut from new player options, to interesting details about characters ("Thranduil's Ring" and "The Crown of the Elvenking" being particularly nice touches), to short little stories that better demonstrate locations or situations ("A Campfire Tale," "Forgotten Treasures"), or advice about keeping already-visited locations fresh ("Strange Faces in Familiar Lands"). This is a great way to maintain the consistent region to region structure while still allowing for unique details to be given, and it visually informs the reader that something here is different, important, or is getting a different style of treatment. My only gripe is that while the sidebars are in the index, there is no notation that indicates they're sidebars (a minor gripe, to be sure).
Content
As a setting reference this book does what it needs to do, without over-detailing things. A description of the landscape for each sub-region, and a handful of versatile NPCs with motivations and personalities that seem relevant to the interests of adventurers. Some might end up as adversaries, some allies, while others could go either way. Concepts are generally not repeated, so you're getting something new and interesting with each NPC. The entries are short and to the point, with an attribute level given, Traits, Endurance, and ranks in any skills that the NPC is likely to demonstrate. One nice touch that updates Tolkien to the sensibilities of most modern gamers is that about half of the NPCs are female.
A lot of the descriptions (of both NPCs and specific locations) act as hooks, to spark curiosity and inspire GM creativity. Personally, this is the type of published material that I tend to get the most use out of as a GM. A little "seed" that I can take off in my own direction. I supply most of the details and plotlines, but I wouldn't have ever thought of it if I hadn't read that interesting little initial description. For this reason I anticipate that Heart of the Wild might be sufficient for my GMing needs, in that Darkening might provide too much detail for my tastes. In other words, Heart of the Wild will probably still be useful to GMs who don't like running published adventures (which I don't).
A few locations are given a more detailed treatment, to the extent that they're mapped out. These are the Halls of Thranduil (a much better version than the one from Karen Wynn Fonstad's "The Atlas of Middle Earth," though doubtless that's because more liberties were taken), Dol Guldur (an overhead view of the exterior with important features labeled), Beorn's house, and the three Woodmen settlements in Mirkwood (with a note that Mountain Hall is mapped out in Tales from Wilderland). Actually, there are a few locations where only a very short summary is provided, and the entry otherwise says "refer to Tales/Loremaster's Book." For example, Beorn doesn't get much treatment since the LMB goes into a lot of detail on him. This attempt to keep the book "dense" and not reprint information may be a pro to some, and a con to others who would rather have a more complete reference in one book. Going back to the maps, these hit a pretty sweet spot of providing enough detail to get a sense of how the place is laid out, but not going so far as to count individual houses and whatnot. For me as a Loremaster, this level of detail is enough to keep my description of the place consistent, but it's not so rigid that it locks me out of options.
I think the biggest missed opportunity in this book is that there are no hazards provided at all. I thought the region-specific hazards in Tales from Wilderland were a very nice touch, and I expected an abundance of them in Heart of the Wild. Again, considering that the book only clocks in at 128 pages it's a bit mind boggling why these were neglected. The few general hazards listed in the LMB can get stale really fast, and while you could do a quick scan through the area's description to adapt them to a sub-region in a pinch, there's not a lot of ease-of-reference there, and there might not be something immediately obvious.
Adversaries
At just 11 pages the Monsters of the Wild chapter is much shorter than the other two, but considering how limited the selection from the LMB is it is a pretty decent expansion to the number of foes available. Obviously Tolkien doesn't have the menagerie of monsters that a game like D&D does, so it's a fine line between giving the Loremaster enough options to keep his players interested and providing so much that it no longer feels like Middle Earth.
Aside from basilisks, grim hawks, and wood-wights, all of the adversaries are more or less variations on stuff that the players have likely already come across. There are enough mechanical differences to be noticeable, though. There are some specific "boss" orcs (including one with a named weapon), forest goblins, a warg "boss," hill-men, wild men, a new type of spider, and a trio of...nah, I'm not going to spoil that one ;)
Player Options
The most significant options for players are new Fellowship Phase Undertakings, though these will largely be linked to a very specific location, so your options are unlikely to be greatly expanded during any one Fellowship Phase. Some of them are interesting new twists on what can be gained from an Undertaking, with some being fairly generic (Hunt with the Woodmen) and others being very unique (Taming the Steed of the Moon). There are 14 altogether, and with so much variety they can easily be used as examples to inspire Loremasters to create custom Undertakings using the same or similar mechanics with tweaked or substituted details.
There are 2 new "sub-cultures," which are the Wild Hobbits of the Anduin Vales and the Woodmen of Mountain Hall. The entries are disappointingly sparse, with some starting skill ranks being switched around and new Cultural Blessings being granted (though in the case of the Woodmen it's as simple as switching the wording of Woodcrafty from "in a forest" to "in the mountains"). Unlike the Men of the Lake from the Lake-Town book, there are no new cultural Virtues or Rewards, and no new backgrounds. What makes this especially puzzling is that for the Hobbits in particular, a lot of the options from the core rulebook don't fit thematically at all. Again, I stress that at 128 pages there could have been more here.
Woodmen and Elves also get one new Cultural Virtue each. River-blooded represents a Woodman who has River Maiden ancestry, whereas The Call of Mirkwood can be taken to show how an Elf PC is beginning to fade.
Final Thoughts
Overall I'd say this book is well worth it for GMs, and for anyone who wants a fairly comprehensive reference book on Wilderland. Though it's worth keeping in mind that as a reference book, it's not strictly canon as many liberties were taken to make it appropriate for use in an RPG. I still think it's a great read for getting a sense of what these lands are like, and what life would be like there. If you're just a player with only a casual interest in Tolkien lore you might not find much of use here.
By and large it's a great addition to the TOR library, though it's not without its flaws. A lack of new Hazards, player options that could have been done in more detail, and a short page count for the price (but hardcover is awesome!) keep this from getting a perfect rating, but they're pretty minor issues and shouldn't get in the way of purchasing this book if you're on the fence. The book is absolutely stuffed with "seeds" that will provide GMs with inspiration for many adventures and campaigns, and it makes a great reference for adding color and detail to travel through these regions.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
13th Age Options: The Cleric
Next up are a few more options for the Cleric. The Cleric has a history of allowing for various build options in D&D, most notably depending on domain (i.e. a Cleric of the Sun plays differently than a Cleric of War). While I don't think that the current 13th Age Cleric lacks for options, the player in my group who played one complained that the class is too Daily-heavy. The vast majority of its spells are Daily use, and the Domains have Daily effects as well. All of the following options provide a little more flexibility in resource management. The new spell was an option that I created specifically for my Cleric player, while the Domains are new (and unplaytested) creations.
New Spell
Divine Mark (1st Level Cleric Spell)
Ranged Spell
Once per battle
Target: 1 nearby creature
Attack: Wisdom + Level vs MD
Hit: The target is dazed until the end of your next turn. The target is also Marked (Hard Save ends). Each ally that hits the Marked target heals HP equal to double your level.
3rd Level Spell: The target is Weakened instead of Dazed.
5th Level Spell: Allies that attack the Marked target deal an extra 1d10 damage.
7th Level Spell: Increase the bonus damage to 2d10.
9th Level Spell: The spell now targets 2 nearby creatures.
Discussion
A once per battle spell is really a no-brainer since there's only one other (Spirits of the Righteous) on the Cleric's list. While Clerics do admittedly have a lot of Daily options to play with, during rounds when you know you're not going to use one, you're reduced to the choice of spamming Javelin of Faith or a basic attack (or Combat Boon, later). For someone hoping for a more "complex" class this might seem lacking.
My player was also interested in getting some more control abilities, as well as in providing healing that doesn't cost a Recovery (my group is...weird about Recoveries). A "pacifist," non-damaging spell fit the bill really well (which is a niche all by itself; one of these days I might have to work up a non-damaging at-will ability).
While a Hard Save sounds pretty powerful for a once per battle ability, I've not found the spell to be overpowered, mainly because Marked enemies go down really quickly, so it doesn't provide as much healing as you might think. Still, any feedback from other groups would be highly useful, as it's more art than science to create a non-damaging spell like this, especially when most of the others you might compare it to scale via an HP cap. Perhaps an HP cap is a better way to go about designing this spell, but truthfully I wanted to explore something a little different.
New Domains
Domain: Arcana OR Mysteries
Choose another spellcasting class. You can swap out one of your own spells for a spell of your level or lower from that class.
Adventurer Feat: You can use Wisdom for the swapped spell's attack and damage.
Champion Feat: You can swap out 2 of your own spells for 2 spells of your level or lower from that class.
Epic Feat: You can swap out 3 of your own spells for 3 spells of your level or lower from that class. Additionally, you can choose a second spellcasting class, and spells you swap out can come from either additional class.
Invocation of Arcana/Mysteries: The crit range of your spells and spells cast by nearby allies expands by +1 this battle.
Domain: Focus OR Fortitude
When you pick your spells at the beginning of a Full Heal Up, you can choose any Daily Cleric spell twice, gaining two uses of that spell.
Invocation of Focus/Fortitude: Once during this battle you can allow an ally to make a Recharge Roll immediately after using a Recharge power. If they fail they can still attempt to Recharge the power after the battle normally. OR you can let an ally make a Normal Save immediately after using a once per battle power, and if they make the save they can use that power again.
Champion Feat: Reduce the power's Recharge result by 5 (so a Recharge 16+ power becomes Recharge 11+) for the bonus Recharge roll. Regaining a once per battle power becomes an Easy Save.
Epic Feat: You can affect 2 allies with this Invocation during this battle.
Discussion
With the Arcana/Mysteries Domain a Cleric has access to more non-daily spells simply by virtue of being able to choose from the list of another class, which should offer enough customizability to satisfy any player. For players who feel that they're "stuck" playing a Cleric because the group "needs one" (which, as it turns out, is one of my gaming pet peeves, but plenty of players still have this mindset), this Domain is an opportunity to expand into a concept that they'd rather be playing. For Clerics interested in this Domain but who still want to focus on their core role as a "leader," I would point them to the Bard class, and ask their GM really nicely if they can use this Domain to swap out spells for Bardic Songs. This Domain can be used to evoke the feeling of the old Mystic Theurge Prestige Class from D&D 3.x, and this is no coincidence; the Cleric player from my 13th Age game once played one of these, and layered another Prestige class that threw Psionics into the mix on top of it. Needless to say the character was fairly useless (and in a 3 person party, no less), but if he ever wants to revisit the concept, this version avoids the pitfalls of 3.x.
Meanwhile, the Focus/Fortitude Domain gives the Cleric a version of the Wizard's High Arcana, namely the ability to double up on Daily spells. Going along with the theme of doubling up, the Invocation lets an ally gain a double use of a Recharge or once per battle power. This Domain will allow a Cleric to "play favorites" with their myriad of Daily spells (hint - a doubled up spell might be a good candidate for Ritual Magic, since you'll still get to use the spell in a fight later).
New Spell
Divine Mark (1st Level Cleric Spell)
Ranged Spell
Once per battle
Target: 1 nearby creature
Attack: Wisdom + Level vs MD
Hit: The target is dazed until the end of your next turn. The target is also Marked (Hard Save ends). Each ally that hits the Marked target heals HP equal to double your level.
3rd Level Spell: The target is Weakened instead of Dazed.
5th Level Spell: Allies that attack the Marked target deal an extra 1d10 damage.
7th Level Spell: Increase the bonus damage to 2d10.
9th Level Spell: The spell now targets 2 nearby creatures.
Discussion
A once per battle spell is really a no-brainer since there's only one other (Spirits of the Righteous) on the Cleric's list. While Clerics do admittedly have a lot of Daily options to play with, during rounds when you know you're not going to use one, you're reduced to the choice of spamming Javelin of Faith or a basic attack (or Combat Boon, later). For someone hoping for a more "complex" class this might seem lacking.
My player was also interested in getting some more control abilities, as well as in providing healing that doesn't cost a Recovery (my group is...weird about Recoveries). A "pacifist," non-damaging spell fit the bill really well (which is a niche all by itself; one of these days I might have to work up a non-damaging at-will ability).
While a Hard Save sounds pretty powerful for a once per battle ability, I've not found the spell to be overpowered, mainly because Marked enemies go down really quickly, so it doesn't provide as much healing as you might think. Still, any feedback from other groups would be highly useful, as it's more art than science to create a non-damaging spell like this, especially when most of the others you might compare it to scale via an HP cap. Perhaps an HP cap is a better way to go about designing this spell, but truthfully I wanted to explore something a little different.
New Domains
Domain: Arcana OR Mysteries
Choose another spellcasting class. You can swap out one of your own spells for a spell of your level or lower from that class.
Adventurer Feat: You can use Wisdom for the swapped spell's attack and damage.
Champion Feat: You can swap out 2 of your own spells for 2 spells of your level or lower from that class.
Epic Feat: You can swap out 3 of your own spells for 3 spells of your level or lower from that class. Additionally, you can choose a second spellcasting class, and spells you swap out can come from either additional class.
Invocation of Arcana/Mysteries: The crit range of your spells and spells cast by nearby allies expands by +1 this battle.
Domain: Focus OR Fortitude
When you pick your spells at the beginning of a Full Heal Up, you can choose any Daily Cleric spell twice, gaining two uses of that spell.
Invocation of Focus/Fortitude: Once during this battle you can allow an ally to make a Recharge Roll immediately after using a Recharge power. If they fail they can still attempt to Recharge the power after the battle normally. OR you can let an ally make a Normal Save immediately after using a once per battle power, and if they make the save they can use that power again.
Champion Feat: Reduce the power's Recharge result by 5 (so a Recharge 16+ power becomes Recharge 11+) for the bonus Recharge roll. Regaining a once per battle power becomes an Easy Save.
Epic Feat: You can affect 2 allies with this Invocation during this battle.
Discussion
With the Arcana/Mysteries Domain a Cleric has access to more non-daily spells simply by virtue of being able to choose from the list of another class, which should offer enough customizability to satisfy any player. For players who feel that they're "stuck" playing a Cleric because the group "needs one" (which, as it turns out, is one of my gaming pet peeves, but plenty of players still have this mindset), this Domain is an opportunity to expand into a concept that they'd rather be playing. For Clerics interested in this Domain but who still want to focus on their core role as a "leader," I would point them to the Bard class, and ask their GM really nicely if they can use this Domain to swap out spells for Bardic Songs. This Domain can be used to evoke the feeling of the old Mystic Theurge Prestige Class from D&D 3.x, and this is no coincidence; the Cleric player from my 13th Age game once played one of these, and layered another Prestige class that threw Psionics into the mix on top of it. Needless to say the character was fairly useless (and in a 3 person party, no less), but if he ever wants to revisit the concept, this version avoids the pitfalls of 3.x.
Meanwhile, the Focus/Fortitude Domain gives the Cleric a version of the Wizard's High Arcana, namely the ability to double up on Daily spells. Going along with the theme of doubling up, the Invocation lets an ally gain a double use of a Recharge or once per battle power. This Domain will allow a Cleric to "play favorites" with their myriad of Daily spells (hint - a doubled up spell might be a good candidate for Ritual Magic, since you'll still get to use the spell in a fight later).
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
13th Age Options: The Half Elf
This is the first article in a new series, which will have the tag "13A Options." 13th Age is a young game, and it has a streamlined, transparent, and flexible rules set that lends itself really well to houseruling and homebrewing. It embraces the philosophy of working with players to help them create the type of character that they want, but with just the core rulebook so far there's a lot of room for expansion. As a disclaimer, I'll say up front that I'm NOT hoping for a long line of splat-books and option-glut. D&D suffered horribly from that, I think that it ultimately detracted from the game.
These additional options are more along the lines of providing advice through examples on how you can go outside of the rules as written (RAW) to provide some interesting mechanics that back up your players' concepts.
So let's dig right in, then. The Half-Elf was given its own unique racial ability during the public playtest, and while its racial power "Surprising" does give the Half Elf its own identity outside of its two parent races, it suffers from the unfortunate consequence of being applicable to only a narrow range of classes. Given the strides that 13th Age otherwise took to ensure that any race could be viable with any class (ability bonus from both race and class, notably), this is a problem. I'd argue it's a big problem. While rolling up characters for playtesting I've always passed on the Half Elf, and none of my players have ever chosen one in a game I've run. My solution is an alternative racial power.
Dual Heritage
Special: You can choose this instead of Surprising when you create your character. When you make this choice, you also need to choose one Elven sub-race for your parentage.
Roll Initiative twice as if you had the Human's "Quick to Fight" racial power. If the second roll is lower than the first, you gain the power of the Elven sub-race that you chose for this battle.
Champion Feat: Once per day you can use your Elven power even if your second initiative roll was higher
Discussion on Balance
At first glance this might seem to be a but too powerful. After all, Humans don't get a "consolation prize" when their second roll is lower than their first! But Dual Heritage should be better than Quick to Fight, because a Half Elf doesn't get the bonus feat of a Human. And since you're only using the Elven power when the Initiative re-roll failed, you'll still never benefit from more than one racial power in a single battle.
Thematic Goals
This is pretty similar to the original racial power from the first Escalation Edition, "Adaptable." That power let you choose either the Human or Elven racial power when you roll Initiative. Dual Heritage is a little more streamlined in that it bypasses the possibility of option paralysis. Because it combines the two racial abilities into a single-trigger amalgam it also feels more like its own thing compared with "choose one of these two powers, use them exactly as written." I also like that it has an element of randomness to it, which reflects the wildness and the chaotic elements of a Human pairing with a Fey. What you get out of that union shouldn't be completely predictable. This notion is at least partially inspired by the art on p. 69 of the core rulebook.
First Iteration
I'm including this section to provide some insight into the design process of this power. Initially, I was thinking of wording it this way: "Roll Initiative twice as if you had the Human's "Quick to Fight" racial power. If the second roll is odd it doesn't count; instead you gain the power of the Elven sub-race that you chose for this battle."
This version came about after thinking about monster design and flexible attacks right after each other, so I obviously had "let the die roll be the trigger!" on my mind. It was also a really easy way to get 50/50 odds on whether you use the Human or Elven power while obviously preserving that element of uncertainty. The problem with this is that it's no fun for the player if their first Initiative roll is really low, and then they roll a 19 on the second die and don't even get to keep it. The current form is much more satisfying to a player. It feels cool to be able to say "I have the Human's power, but better!" without actually making the two races unbalanced.
These additional options are more along the lines of providing advice through examples on how you can go outside of the rules as written (RAW) to provide some interesting mechanics that back up your players' concepts.
So let's dig right in, then. The Half-Elf was given its own unique racial ability during the public playtest, and while its racial power "Surprising" does give the Half Elf its own identity outside of its two parent races, it suffers from the unfortunate consequence of being applicable to only a narrow range of classes. Given the strides that 13th Age otherwise took to ensure that any race could be viable with any class (ability bonus from both race and class, notably), this is a problem. I'd argue it's a big problem. While rolling up characters for playtesting I've always passed on the Half Elf, and none of my players have ever chosen one in a game I've run. My solution is an alternative racial power.
Dual Heritage
Special: You can choose this instead of Surprising when you create your character. When you make this choice, you also need to choose one Elven sub-race for your parentage.
Roll Initiative twice as if you had the Human's "Quick to Fight" racial power. If the second roll is lower than the first, you gain the power of the Elven sub-race that you chose for this battle.
Champion Feat: Once per day you can use your Elven power even if your second initiative roll was higher
Discussion on Balance
At first glance this might seem to be a but too powerful. After all, Humans don't get a "consolation prize" when their second roll is lower than their first! But Dual Heritage should be better than Quick to Fight, because a Half Elf doesn't get the bonus feat of a Human. And since you're only using the Elven power when the Initiative re-roll failed, you'll still never benefit from more than one racial power in a single battle.
Thematic Goals
This is pretty similar to the original racial power from the first Escalation Edition, "Adaptable." That power let you choose either the Human or Elven racial power when you roll Initiative. Dual Heritage is a little more streamlined in that it bypasses the possibility of option paralysis. Because it combines the two racial abilities into a single-trigger amalgam it also feels more like its own thing compared with "choose one of these two powers, use them exactly as written." I also like that it has an element of randomness to it, which reflects the wildness and the chaotic elements of a Human pairing with a Fey. What you get out of that union shouldn't be completely predictable. This notion is at least partially inspired by the art on p. 69 of the core rulebook.
First Iteration
I'm including this section to provide some insight into the design process of this power. Initially, I was thinking of wording it this way: "Roll Initiative twice as if you had the Human's "Quick to Fight" racial power. If the second roll is odd it doesn't count; instead you gain the power of the Elven sub-race that you chose for this battle."
This version came about after thinking about monster design and flexible attacks right after each other, so I obviously had "let the die roll be the trigger!" on my mind. It was also a really easy way to get 50/50 odds on whether you use the Human or Elven power while obviously preserving that element of uncertainty. The problem with this is that it's no fun for the player if their first Initiative roll is really low, and then they roll a 19 on the second die and don't even get to keep it. The current form is much more satisfying to a player. It feels cool to be able to say "I have the Human's power, but better!" without actually making the two races unbalanced.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Adapting Ally Rolls to Other Systems
I recently posted an article on the Ally Roll table in The One Ring. Interestingly, it was pretty similar to an improvised mass combat system I'd come up with for 13th Age, with inspiration from Dungeon World. The concept itself has a lot of potential for general applicability, with the gist being that a single die roll is used to represent a group of allies fighting a group of enemies, with a scale of outcomes tied to the results. These outcomes need not be written out as a table ahead of time, but they certainly can be. At minimum your spectrum of outcomes should include bad stuff (allies losing ground) on low rolls, neutral results (or success with complications) on middle rolls, and good stuff (allies gain ground) on high rolls. The One Ring makes it easy to include really bad stuff and really good stuff at the far ends of the spectrum due to the Eye of Sauron or Gandalf Rune being rolled, respectively, but this could easily be represented by lowest and highest numerical results as well (fumbles and crits, in d20 terminology).
What Die Type Should Be Used?
This question is, of course, system-dependent. For The One Ring (TOR) the Feat Die (the special d12) was the obvious choice, and the precedent for the mechanic already exists in a published adventure. A d20 might be appropriate in d20 systems, though I chose to instead opt for 2d6 with 13th Age (13A). As it turns out, I have some further ideas for modifying the ally check which become more interesting with 2d6 compared with a d20, which I'll discuss later. But what about a system with non-standard dice, like Edge of the Empire (EotE)?
The similarities between TOR's Feat Die and the Force, Challenge and Proficiency dice of EotE made using the Force Die or the red/yellow d12s pretty tempting. Theoretically the blank face and the Triumph/Despair could stand in for the Eye of Sauron/Gandalf Rune, with Success/Failure and Advantage/Threat standing in for good or bad results (faces with both being neutral). On the Force Die the applications of light/dark side pips should be pretty easy to guess. The ultimate problem with such a system is that the results of the roll aren't easily or intuitively as modifiable as a numerical system. This presents a couple of big problems, the first being that you can't "custom fit" the probabilities to account for the difficulty of the odds your allies are facing, and second being that bonuses or penalties (due to PC intervention, terrain, narrative changes, etc.) are tough to apply. It's easy to just say "use a regular d12, or 2d6 just like the other examples!" but ideally you'd use a die or dice that are already used in the game, since not all players can be expected to have a set of standard RPG dice (ok, ok, so most probably have a couple of d6s from board games or whatever). Thus the obvious choice becomes the d% dice.
You'd basically treat the Ally Roll like you would a roll on the critical injury table (again, you can pre-make a custom table or just wing it). Off the top of my head, I'd probably break the results down into 1-5 very bad (Eye of Sauron), 6-40 bad, 41-70 neutral, 71-95 good, and 96-100 very good (Gandalf Rune). The odds are stacked against the allies with the bad range having a 35% chance of being rolled, neutral a 30% chance, and good 25%. The percentile roll provides a lot of granularity for adjusting based on the difficulty/conditions of the battle, and of course you need to leave PCs the opportunity to be the real heroes by making it an uphill fight.
Oh, and while we're at it I'll note that in the 2d6 system I employed for 13th Age the equivalents to an Eye or Gandalf would be double 1's or double 6's, respectively. While this makes these results less likely to trigger than in the other examples, it also has the advantage of simplicity. GMs can get around the reduced probabilities by interpreting those results with a heavier hand, but the probabilities are also a little more malleable when the roll is modified (see the "Game Specifics" section).
Allowing for Player Interaction
There can potentially be problems associated with running different sections of the battlefield with differing degrees of abstraction. On the one hand, the PCs and their immediate foes will be operating on the scale of individual actions, individual Hit Points/Endurance/Wounds/etc., and individual initiative slots. The allies all get lumped into a single roll which represents how both sides are faring in relation to each other, and the results are more often than not going to be much more narrative with much less bookkeeping. While you can add some bookkeeping (see the unit strength idea that I presented in the original 13th Age post, which was the second link at the top of this article), my personal preference is to reduce that level of tracking and instead focus on the broad needs of the plot. The PCs shouldn't care about too much detail, because in-game they have their own problems, and so they'll be perceiving their allies in broad strokes (besides, this keeps the game moving more quickly, with less time spent on the GM "fighting themselves").
But what happens when a PC wants to interfere? This is best handled by a modification of the Ally Roll. Here are 4 distinct examples.
What Die Type Should Be Used?
This question is, of course, system-dependent. For The One Ring (TOR) the Feat Die (the special d12) was the obvious choice, and the precedent for the mechanic already exists in a published adventure. A d20 might be appropriate in d20 systems, though I chose to instead opt for 2d6 with 13th Age (13A). As it turns out, I have some further ideas for modifying the ally check which become more interesting with 2d6 compared with a d20, which I'll discuss later. But what about a system with non-standard dice, like Edge of the Empire (EotE)?
The similarities between TOR's Feat Die and the Force, Challenge and Proficiency dice of EotE made using the Force Die or the red/yellow d12s pretty tempting. Theoretically the blank face and the Triumph/Despair could stand in for the Eye of Sauron/Gandalf Rune, with Success/Failure and Advantage/Threat standing in for good or bad results (faces with both being neutral). On the Force Die the applications of light/dark side pips should be pretty easy to guess. The ultimate problem with such a system is that the results of the roll aren't easily or intuitively as modifiable as a numerical system. This presents a couple of big problems, the first being that you can't "custom fit" the probabilities to account for the difficulty of the odds your allies are facing, and second being that bonuses or penalties (due to PC intervention, terrain, narrative changes, etc.) are tough to apply. It's easy to just say "use a regular d12, or 2d6 just like the other examples!" but ideally you'd use a die or dice that are already used in the game, since not all players can be expected to have a set of standard RPG dice (ok, ok, so most probably have a couple of d6s from board games or whatever). Thus the obvious choice becomes the d% dice.
You'd basically treat the Ally Roll like you would a roll on the critical injury table (again, you can pre-make a custom table or just wing it). Off the top of my head, I'd probably break the results down into 1-5 very bad (Eye of Sauron), 6-40 bad, 41-70 neutral, 71-95 good, and 96-100 very good (Gandalf Rune). The odds are stacked against the allies with the bad range having a 35% chance of being rolled, neutral a 30% chance, and good 25%. The percentile roll provides a lot of granularity for adjusting based on the difficulty/conditions of the battle, and of course you need to leave PCs the opportunity to be the real heroes by making it an uphill fight.
Oh, and while we're at it I'll note that in the 2d6 system I employed for 13th Age the equivalents to an Eye or Gandalf would be double 1's or double 6's, respectively. While this makes these results less likely to trigger than in the other examples, it also has the advantage of simplicity. GMs can get around the reduced probabilities by interpreting those results with a heavier hand, but the probabilities are also a little more malleable when the roll is modified (see the "Game Specifics" section).
Allowing for Player Interaction
There can potentially be problems associated with running different sections of the battlefield with differing degrees of abstraction. On the one hand, the PCs and their immediate foes will be operating on the scale of individual actions, individual Hit Points/Endurance/Wounds/etc., and individual initiative slots. The allies all get lumped into a single roll which represents how both sides are faring in relation to each other, and the results are more often than not going to be much more narrative with much less bookkeeping. While you can add some bookkeeping (see the unit strength idea that I presented in the original 13th Age post, which was the second link at the top of this article), my personal preference is to reduce that level of tracking and instead focus on the broad needs of the plot. The PCs shouldn't care about too much detail, because in-game they have their own problems, and so they'll be perceiving their allies in broad strokes (besides, this keeps the game moving more quickly, with less time spent on the GM "fighting themselves").
But what happens when a PC wants to interfere? This is best handled by a modification of the Ally Roll. Here are 4 distinct examples.
- A PC kills the foe he was fighting, and wants to effectively "join" the ally group. Simple enough, just pick out a single opponent or two (or a mook/minion group, if the game supports that), pull them out of the ally roll and into a new personal combat with the PC, using PC scale actions, HP, etc. If it makes sense that the enemy would already be a little wounded, go with whatever feels right. To represent the loss of some enemy forces, you could grant a bonus to the Ally Roll (magnitude dependent on the strength of the foes that the PC "drew out").
- A PC blankets the enemy forces with an area effect (grenade, fireball spell, etc.). Depending on the size of the enemy group and their durability, this might result in bonuses to the Ally Roll, or perhaps even an automatic positive result. This is most likely the case if your positive result reads that an enemy/enemies are wounded or slain, and it makes sense that the area attack would have wounded/killed some enemies. If the PC spends his entire turn and what is probably a limited resource (grenade or daily-use spell), yeah the effect on the Ally Roll should probably be pretty huge.
- A PC wants to use a skill to bolster the allied forces. An obvious choice would be Leadership (EotE), Inspire (TOR), or a Cha check with applicable background (13A). Again, if the PC is using their action to do this then the results should be pretty big. For some systems that call is automatic (for example, in EotE using a skill is almost always an action), but for others it'll be up to GM discretion (13A and TOR). GMs might even want to give players a choice of doing things quickly and getting a simple bonus, or spending their action/turn and getting a more significant bonus (a bigger numberical bonus, or perhaps even an automatic "good stuff" result depending on the nature of the action).
- A PC wants to command a specific ally to act upon something outside of their own conflict. For example, commanding an allied archer to shoot the enemy Wizard, or ordering a rebel soldier to fire at the Moff at the computer terminal. A successful check should allow that ally to be "pulled out" of the ally group for a turn or more, letting them act as an individual at the same scale as the PCs (this is basically example 1 in reverse). The price you'll pay for this is that you'll probably add a penalty to the Ally Roll, since without that individual's aid the other allies will have a tougher time of it. Perhaps with a really good roll (Great/Extraordinary success in TOR, Advantage/Triumph in EotE, or a Natural 16+ in 13A) this penalty can be reduced or eliminated.
Game Specifics
Ok, so with the general principle and some examples laid out, let's provide a summary of some baseline mechanics that a GM can draw upon. Keep in mind that this stuff is still mostly theoretical, as I've minimally playtested it with 13th Age and The One Ring. Not only that, but because there is so much variance in specific conditions this is designed to be modifiable and somewhat improvisational by the GM.
The One Ring - You'll be using the Feat Die for the Ally Roll, usually with a spread of Eye (really bad), 1-4 (bad), 5-7 (neutral), 8-10 (good), and Gandalf (really good). Bonuses/Penalties to the Ally Roll should generally be between 1 and 4, with +/-2 and +/-4 being good starting points thanks to the Complications Table (pg. 48 LMB, GM Screen). Keep in mind degrees of success, with a simple success on any PC's skill check to interfere providing a modest bonus, and Great or Extraordinary successes have better results.
13th Age - Use 2d6 for the Ally roll, with 6 or less being a bad roll, 7-9 as neutral, and 10 or more being a good result. Optionally, double 1's can be very bad, and double 6's very good. While simple numerical modifiers certainly work for bonuses or penalties (I'd use the range allowable by Backgrounds: 1-5), I really like the idea of successful skill checks adding a die to the pool to provide a functional "re-roll." In other words, roll 3d6 and keep the highest 2 values. Severe penalties could go the opposite way (roll 3d6 and keep the lowest 2 values). This boosts the low probabilities of the double 1's/6's for very bad/good results, and in my opinion is a more satisfying impact for players than a straight modifier (a modifier can't save a horrific roll, but a re-roll very well could). Optionally, a 16+ on the PC's roll can add the extra d6 in addition to a numerical modifier. The base dice pool of 2d6 works really well here because re-rolling the entire Ally Roll comes across as a bit too powerful to me.
Edge of the Empire - Using a d% for the Ally Roll this system potentially offers the most granularity, but realistically things should probably be kept to intervals of 5%. As I stated before, the baseline breakdown might be as follows: 1-5 (very bad), 6-40 (bad), 41-70 (neutral), 71-95 (good), and 96-100 (very good). A bonus of 10% per success on a PC's skill roll seems about right, though with checks that have a goal other than simply boosting the Ally Roll, allowing Advantage to be spent to also boost the Ally Roll by 5% per Advantage seems reasonable. Additionally, keep in mind that with EotE the minion rules already provide an easy way to adjudicate battles between small groups of allies and enemies, and so GMs should consider carefully when using these Ally Rolls is really appropriate. Probably only with large squads that would result in unwieldy dice pools if treated as minions, or if the GM wants the combat to run especially quickly and doesn't want to deal with actual dice pools and minion tracking.
Miscellaneous Note on Cumulative Bonuses
Sometimes it makes sense for a bonus to an Ally Roll to last more than a single round. For example, if you give the roll a penalty for one of the ally combatant being wounded or killed, then that penalty should probably stick around until the playing field is even with an enemy being wounded or killed. If the Ally Roll gets a bonus because the enemy leader was taken down, that drop in enemy morale should probably last for the entire battle.
Some player actions will result in advantages of variable duration. If a PC rolled to inspire his allies, how long does that bonus to the Ally Roll last? It could be just 1 round, it could be longer for a higher degree of success. Maybe it simply lasts until a low roll comes up (bad or very bad) and the allies are demoralized again. Go with what makes sense. Some "tactical" rolls where a PC tries to direct allies to a better fighting position should obviously last as long as the allies hold that position. You might even alter the outcome of a roll (on the fly, even if you're using a pre-made table) so that a bad result, which would normally wound or kill an ally, instead drives the group off of this position, nullifying the bonus.
Ultimately, one last thing to keep in mind is to go with what makes sense in the moment. This house rule isn't designed to be an in-depth new mechanic tacked onto the game, and doesn't need to strike a perfect balance. Rather, it's designed to provide some structure for handling groups of allied combatants narratively. It's for when "making it up as you go along" feels too arbitrary. It's there as a baseline, to get your creative juices flowing, and to basically provide a status update on how those other guys are doing, especially during rounds where the PCs aren't direction involved with that side of the battle. If you use it in a game, let me know how it goes.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Ally Rolls in The One Ring
It's funny what kinds of rules gems you can find buried in unexpected sources. In the second adventure of Tales from Wilderland (Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit) there is a scene where the PCs are supposed to make a stand in a defensible position (the ringfort) with a handful of allies. Enemies swarm the ringfort, and the battle description contains a table that describes how the allies fare in battle. This "Allies In Battle" table (pg. 34) keeps things moving quickly, preserving a narrative focus and making it unnecessary for either the Loremaster or the PCs to take control of extra characters.
In the play-by-post (PbP) game that I'm currently running the PCs ambushed a large orc camp backed up by 2 units of Elven cavalry, a handful of Barding archers led by the Barding PC, and a handful of Bardings disguised as orcs led by an exiled Dwarf PC who escaped a brutal captivity in the hands of orcs. Obviously that's a LOT of individuals to keep track of, and the need to abstract the mechanics for the battle were even greater considering that Legolas himself led one of the Elven units, and I didn't want to open up a can of worms by statting him out. Remembering that table from the short campaign that I ran for my regular gaming group (relevant posts under the TOR-C2 tag), I decided to adopt it for this battle.
While the table from Tales from Wilderland offers specific results for the battle that it applies to, it was immediately apparent that the results could be tweaked on the fly to apply to virtually any combat, with any number of allies and enemies. Here are the basics, in a nutshell:
The Loremaster rolls a Feat Die (the special d12; for those using regular dice, the 11 counts as an Eye of Sauron and the 12 is a Gandalf rune).
- If the Eye is rolled something really bad happens. For a smaller number of allies this will usually mean that one of them is slain. For larger "units" this could mean that multiple individuals are slain, the leader is slain, etc. Whatever is dramatically appropriate.
- On a roll of 1, 2, 3, or 4 the enemies are doing better than the allies. This might be represented by one of the allies suffering a wound (or being slain for larger groups), one or more enemies slipping past them to attack a priority target (probably one of the PCs, even one in Rearward stance), or a change in the tactical landscape. For example, if there are any modifiers in place due to the Complications table (pg. 48 of the LMB, or the GM screen), these can change to favor the enemy. Additionally, a 1 should probably have worse effects than a 4 (in TfW bad stuff triggered if you rolled under the number of allies, but obviously this wouldn't work for larger groups).
- On a roll of 5, 6, or 7 the allies hold their own, but don't necessarily gain any ground. Nothing particularly interesting happens in this round, or if you'd prefer to narrate changes in the battle they should be net zero.
- A roll of 8, 9, or 10 mirrors 1-4 in that now the allies are doing better. Depending on how many enemies are present and/or how fast the LM wants the pacing of the battle to be, this could mean that an enemy is Wounded, an enemy is slain, or the allies gain some sort of tactical advantage (there should always be a good narrative description for this, but it can be mechanically represented with that Complications table).
- If a Gandalf rune is rolled, the allies are doing extremely well. Perhaps an unwounded enemy is instantly slain, multiple enemies are slain or flee, an important enemy (perhaps a leader) is slain, or in some circumstances the LM might allow one or more PCs to regain a point of Hope as the tides are turned (though this should be used very sparingly, and you should have a good reason for doing so!).
Some Notes
These numbers are consistent with those from the table in TfW, with the results more generalized. But these can easily be changed based on the details of the battle. Are the allies severely outnumbered or in a rough spot? Maybe the numeric results are broken down like this: 1-6 is bad, 7-8 is neutral, 9-10 is good. In fact, it's worth pointing out that the originally published values are skewed toward the enemies (1-4 being bad vs. 8-10 being good), and I think this is important. Since the allies are statistically in a position to lose the fight, it drives home the fact that it's ultimately up to the PCs. They're the heroes, the stars of the show.
Along those lines, it's a good idea to offer the possibility of adding modifiers to the roll. These can absolutely be player-driven. A successful Battle roll might allow a PC to direct his allies to higher ground, providing a +1 bonus to the Ally Roll. A Great Success on an Inspire roll might give the allies a second wind, with a +2 modifier to the roll. A Healing roll might allow a PC to bring wounded ally back into the fight. Conversely, you can add a penalty to the roll to represent a new advantage gained by the enemy. If a PC is knocked out and their opponent(s) join the fight agains the allies, that might be a -1 penalty. The same logic obviously applies to reinforcements. And if you're stuck on how to adjudicate an Eye result by a player taking a risky action, why not make the allies pay for it?
Finally, you can give the battle some tactical "texture" by having multiple groups of allies (as is the case in my PbP game), with each group getting its own Ally Roll. This can give PCs an interesting choice to make as they need to decide which ally group to aid, if any, and it allows the victors from one group to affect another group, or the PCs and their foes. It's perfectly reasonable for a good result on an Ally Roll to result in a combatant breaking off from that "unit" and joining the PCs with its own individual stat block (this is especially useful if one of the PCs is knocked out, as it can give that player an ally to control).
Monday, November 11, 2013
The Critical Injury Table (Edge of the Empire)
Last week our group took a bit of a detour, and thanks to an Astrogation mishap ended up at some "hick outpost" in Wild Space. Now, my character is actually really AWESOME at Astrogation (just to be clear), but I was pulling a really crazy stunt (making a jump while in a planet's atmosphere to avoid Imperials in orbit), with a slightly damaged navcomputer (next check was supposed to be upgraded), and my GM decided that the difficulty for this was Formidable. Yep, that's the first time our group has had to face FIVE purples, and the upgrade certainly wasn't helping matters, so you can understand the mishap. Granted I was able to decrease the difficulty thanks to Master Starhopper, but that's just part of how awesome an Astrogator my PC is!
But anyways, I digress. The navcomputer was REALLY shot after that (oh, Despairs...), so we landed at this station to see if we could scrounge up supplies for a repair. Some Jawa junk dealer had what we needed, but we had to return to the ship to get the credits for it, and the half of the party that was guarding the ship were attacked by "salvagers" who had proceeded to tear pieces off of our ship. In a fit of rage after dealing with that (which only followed a whole string of "the party gets screwed" events, and did I mention the BBEG was a few days behind us in hyperspace?), I decided I was just going to walk into the Jawa's shop and take the parts by force, if need be. I took the assassin droid as backup. Our previous encounter with the Jawa revealed that he hit some type of security button in response to our weapons, and I suppose our GM thought that this was enough warning for us. I figured it would summon some guards, or activate an alarm, or at worst some kind of security system with lasers and stuff. No. The button had armed a THERMAL DETONATOR, and when the droid shot the Jawa he dropped the dead man's switch, and BOOM!
The GM called for Coordination checks, and while I disagree on how he implemented the results*, he's the GM so it's his call. Not surprisingly, both of us go down, and both of us roll really high on our d% rolls. The thing's got Vicious 4, so the Droid ended up Blinded (which seems to be permanent), and my character got Gruesome Injury (Presence).
I was bitter. I still am, a little bit, even if I've gotten used to the cool factor of my character being so horribly burned that people can't stand to really talk with her. I've suggested pursuing some kind of experimental regenerative procedure (equivalent in cost, or in my case obligation, to the Cybernetic options that increase Characteristics) so I guess "permanent" isn't quite as dire as it seems. It was definitely eye opening, though, especially since even without a prior critical injury I was pretty close to rolling "Bleeding Out," which would have effectively meant death since my only ally in the vicinity was also down.
Even now, I'm not really sure how I feel about the Critical Injury table. On the one hand, I've always been vehemently opposed to ability score damage in D&D, and one of the pros to 4E was that it was one sacred cow that was slain. So the fact that I took a permanent reduction to Presence (did I mention Cool and Negotiation are important skills for my character?) really hit a sore spot for me. I'm also not a fan of "save or die" spells in D&D, and a high percentile roll on the table can be exactly that.
On the other hand, the table does have the neat effect of providing a sense of danger without having combat be too lethal with regards to taking too many Wounds. It also captures the feel of the setting really well, what with lost limbs being a big thing in Star Wars, and certain weapons (like that Thermal Detonator!) being EXTREMELY deadly. Besides that it offers a plethora of neat "control" effects when used in combat, and provides a gritty realism without being too crunchy and still allowing for brash stunts, since you won't get badly hurt all the time.
It's not the most "fair" of mechanics because there's so much variability inherent in that d% roll, but overall I think that's probably ok. Characters SHOULD be in bad shape after being caught in the blast of a thermal detonator, or after taking injury after injury. It changes the stakes in a way that can't be solved by simply loading up on stimpacks, and I think that's important for the game. I just wish I hadn't rolled so high with my character.
*Basically, what I would have done was subbed Coordination (or Athletics) in place of Ranged Light as a "defense roll," with a success equivalent to a missed attack roll, threat equivalent to an attack roll's advantage, etc. Essentially make it no harder to avoid than if he'd lobbed the thing at us. What the GM had ruled was that success reduced damage by 1 each (I'd rolled 4 successes, but that was still higher than my Wound Threshold so I still suffered a Critical Injury). Neither way is "wrong," but I do find his ruling pretty harsh. Especially since the difficulty was either Hard or Daunting, and the only reason I did so well was 2 blank faces on the purple dice.
But anyways, I digress. The navcomputer was REALLY shot after that (oh, Despairs...), so we landed at this station to see if we could scrounge up supplies for a repair. Some Jawa junk dealer had what we needed, but we had to return to the ship to get the credits for it, and the half of the party that was guarding the ship were attacked by "salvagers" who had proceeded to tear pieces off of our ship. In a fit of rage after dealing with that (which only followed a whole string of "the party gets screwed" events, and did I mention the BBEG was a few days behind us in hyperspace?), I decided I was just going to walk into the Jawa's shop and take the parts by force, if need be. I took the assassin droid as backup. Our previous encounter with the Jawa revealed that he hit some type of security button in response to our weapons, and I suppose our GM thought that this was enough warning for us. I figured it would summon some guards, or activate an alarm, or at worst some kind of security system with lasers and stuff. No. The button had armed a THERMAL DETONATOR, and when the droid shot the Jawa he dropped the dead man's switch, and BOOM!
The GM called for Coordination checks, and while I disagree on how he implemented the results*, he's the GM so it's his call. Not surprisingly, both of us go down, and both of us roll really high on our d% rolls. The thing's got Vicious 4, so the Droid ended up Blinded (which seems to be permanent), and my character got Gruesome Injury (Presence).
I was bitter. I still am, a little bit, even if I've gotten used to the cool factor of my character being so horribly burned that people can't stand to really talk with her. I've suggested pursuing some kind of experimental regenerative procedure (equivalent in cost, or in my case obligation, to the Cybernetic options that increase Characteristics) so I guess "permanent" isn't quite as dire as it seems. It was definitely eye opening, though, especially since even without a prior critical injury I was pretty close to rolling "Bleeding Out," which would have effectively meant death since my only ally in the vicinity was also down.
Even now, I'm not really sure how I feel about the Critical Injury table. On the one hand, I've always been vehemently opposed to ability score damage in D&D, and one of the pros to 4E was that it was one sacred cow that was slain. So the fact that I took a permanent reduction to Presence (did I mention Cool and Negotiation are important skills for my character?) really hit a sore spot for me. I'm also not a fan of "save or die" spells in D&D, and a high percentile roll on the table can be exactly that.
On the other hand, the table does have the neat effect of providing a sense of danger without having combat be too lethal with regards to taking too many Wounds. It also captures the feel of the setting really well, what with lost limbs being a big thing in Star Wars, and certain weapons (like that Thermal Detonator!) being EXTREMELY deadly. Besides that it offers a plethora of neat "control" effects when used in combat, and provides a gritty realism without being too crunchy and still allowing for brash stunts, since you won't get badly hurt all the time.
It's not the most "fair" of mechanics because there's so much variability inherent in that d% roll, but overall I think that's probably ok. Characters SHOULD be in bad shape after being caught in the blast of a thermal detonator, or after taking injury after injury. It changes the stakes in a way that can't be solved by simply loading up on stimpacks, and I think that's important for the game. I just wish I hadn't rolled so high with my character.
*Basically, what I would have done was subbed Coordination (or Athletics) in place of Ranged Light as a "defense roll," with a success equivalent to a missed attack roll, threat equivalent to an attack roll's advantage, etc. Essentially make it no harder to avoid than if he'd lobbed the thing at us. What the GM had ruled was that success reduced damage by 1 each (I'd rolled 4 successes, but that was still higher than my Wound Threshold so I still suffered a Critical Injury). Neither way is "wrong," but I do find his ruling pretty harsh. Especially since the difficulty was either Hard or Daunting, and the only reason I did so well was 2 blank faces on the purple dice.
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