A few weeks ago redditor hornbook1776 posted an alternate method of character creation for D&D 5E, hosted on The Arcana Times. Hornbook's Life Path Method is based, mainly, around three random tables which are used to determine starting ability scores. There is a table for randomly determining race and a table for class assignment and level advancement, but I am not going to analyze those as the first does not add an mechanical differences to character generation, and the second is both optional and more complex than it first appears.
Before going any further, I have two confessions to make. First, when it comes to my analysis skills, sometimes it is amateur hour in my house, but I eventually get it right. Second, I did not realize how deep the rabbit-hole goes when it comes to lifepath character generation systems.
After briefly reading through the PDF, I decided a quick and easy way to see how it Hornbook's Life Path Method works out would be to bulk generate a few dozen stat arrays. Ten minutes later I had a few dozen arrays and two results; there bias towards the Academic Path and all tables tended to generate results lower than the standard array option from the Player's Handbook.
Going back to see if anyone else had noticed the bias, I come upon Overpwred's post that had a much more rigorous analysis using a nifty little Python script that he whipped up. Fortunately my results were very similar, although my small sample size showed an even larger divergence from the standard array.
With the assistance of redditor /u/Overpwred I was able to analyze tables that I modified so that they all produce the same expected values, but with each table having the ability scores that are favoured. For the Academic table this is Intelligence & Wisdom, followed by Dexterity & Charisma, and lastly Strength & Constitution, [11.42, 12.06, 11.32, 12.95, 13.08, 12.03] being the result I got when when 1,000,000 results were generated for the Academic table.
This modified table does not necessarily give the same range of values found on the standard array, but it does give an expected value somewhere between the standard array and 4d6D1. There are still 5 results that either give no net ability score increase, or result in a penalty. These are not fun results, which got me thinking about how Backgrounds could be integrated into the tables.
I hope to get ahold of hornbook1776 to see if we can collaborate on releasing a revised version of his table on Arcana Times. While I work on that, my next post will look at life-path character creation in other systems, which were more numerous and diverse than I expected.
Wednesday 4 March 2015
Thursday 13 November 2014
Tactile Maps: Redux
Yesterday on r/MapPorn (a safe for work part of Reddit focusing on the enjoyment of maps), someone posted another example of tactile maps and how they would be used for navigation.
Tuesday 11 November 2014
DMG Preview: Creating New Races
Today WotC published an article looking at a portion of Chapter 9 of the DMG, dealing with creating races, the examples being the Eladrin and a portion of the Aasimar. It looks like the guidance in the DMG will fall on the side of fewer powers rather than more, which makes sense since one of the main design principle of 5e seems to be the avoidance of powercreep.
In recent interviews Mike Mearls (head of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons) has said that instead of splat books WotC will be releasing two storylines/campaign settings a year. Some of these campaign settings will be accompanied by player's guides, which is where WotC is going to release rules for new classes and races.
This is a smart move, although it will annoy some who want to see specific races/classes now. Instead of a splat book dealing with psionics, psionic classes will be released alongside a campaign setting that focuses on psionics. Hopefully this allows allows us as a community to avoid published powercreep and instead give DMs and players the freedom to play with just the core three books without feeling like they are missing out.
In recent interviews Mike Mearls (head of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons) has said that instead of splat books WotC will be releasing two storylines/campaign settings a year. Some of these campaign settings will be accompanied by player's guides, which is where WotC is going to release rules for new classes and races.
This is a smart move, although it will annoy some who want to see specific races/classes now. Instead of a splat book dealing with psionics, psionic classes will be released alongside a campaign setting that focuses on psionics. Hopefully this allows allows us as a community to avoid published powercreep and instead give DMs and players the freedom to play with just the core three books without feeling like they are missing out.
Wednesday 29 October 2014
Reskinning (or Refluffing) a Campaign Setting
When it comes to RPG games there are basically two types of resources: fluff and crunch. Crunch is generally regarded as the mechanics of the system, and fluff is all the stuff that surrounds it. Recently, although from the state of this blog it may not appear so, I have been bogged down in the minutiae of crunch. I have been looking at attribute score generation methods and the pros-and-cons of standard array, point-buy, and randomized attributes.
Going from six attributes to nine attributes is not as easy as just throwing more build points at a player and hoping they do not just consider four or more of the attributes dump-stats and max out their main stats. But that is a different post entirely, once I get the math down and my playtesters do not keep breaking the math. What I want to look at today is reskinning some rules that have already been designed for you, or in this case classes.
One of the methods I use for studying is to rewrite a chapter or an article while replacing key words with other words, forcing myself not to just skim and type the entirety out as fast as possible. This is what I have been doing with the 5e D&D players handbook. I figured that there would probably be some rules that I would not want in my game, but so far, other than changing which attributes apply to which proficiencies, my only erratas have been that choosing feats instead of attribute score improvements are listed within the class descriptions, and some of the names have been changed.
The goal I have with renaming some of the classes is to break the expectations that may come from veteran players, and to give some direction on the flavour of magic that can be found in the setting. Wizards are Ritualists, Warlocks are Occultists, Paladin are Oathbound, and Clerics are Oracles.
The name Ritualist goes in with my concept that the vancian magic that Wizards would normally use is just the completion of a ritual that they started to perform when they were "memorizing" their spells. Ritualists do not have an innate access to magical powers, and instead they learn through extensive study and the mastering of arcane rituals that have been passed down over the centuries. It should also lead players to look at one of the main strengths that a Ritualist has: ritual casting.
Warlocks have gotten a lot of baggage from pop culture, and video-games in specific. Changing the name to Occultist helps to illustrate the hidden source of their power, and also that they have a less formalized grasp of magic than a Ritualist would have. I am undecided as to whether I want to reskin the Great Old One patron option for Occultists, since that brings them fairly close to the concept of the cultists adversaries I have in my head. On the other hand, it is not like Mythos creatures are non-competitive.
The change from Paladin to Oathbound was fairly obvious, with the new found focus on oaths as the source of their magic. I also tend to find uncommon compound words interesting. Shadowfell, Feywild, Batman. All interesting. The new focus on oaths also opens the way to a class that is almost a reflection of the Occultist, with an oath made to an Archfae in return for powers intended to defeat other fae, or an oath made to a celestial being in trade for powers to defeat the servants of the Archfiend.
The most significant fluff change comes with the renaming of Clerics to Oracles. Priests at your local temple will not necessarily have access to spells, and cleric just reminds too many of my friends of clerical assistants, a common job title. No, Oracles are people you have direct access to their deity, although not necessarily the backing of a church hierarchy. I also like the idea, inspired by Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, that deities are powered by their worshipers, and sometimes they have to take a direct interest in their followers well-being.
Going from six attributes to nine attributes is not as easy as just throwing more build points at a player and hoping they do not just consider four or more of the attributes dump-stats and max out their main stats. But that is a different post entirely, once I get the math down and my playtesters do not keep breaking the math. What I want to look at today is reskinning some rules that have already been designed for you, or in this case classes.
One of the methods I use for studying is to rewrite a chapter or an article while replacing key words with other words, forcing myself not to just skim and type the entirety out as fast as possible. This is what I have been doing with the 5e D&D players handbook. I figured that there would probably be some rules that I would not want in my game, but so far, other than changing which attributes apply to which proficiencies, my only erratas have been that choosing feats instead of attribute score improvements are listed within the class descriptions, and some of the names have been changed.
The goal I have with renaming some of the classes is to break the expectations that may come from veteran players, and to give some direction on the flavour of magic that can be found in the setting. Wizards are Ritualists, Warlocks are Occultists, Paladin are Oathbound, and Clerics are Oracles.
The name Ritualist goes in with my concept that the vancian magic that Wizards would normally use is just the completion of a ritual that they started to perform when they were "memorizing" their spells. Ritualists do not have an innate access to magical powers, and instead they learn through extensive study and the mastering of arcane rituals that have been passed down over the centuries. It should also lead players to look at one of the main strengths that a Ritualist has: ritual casting.
Warlocks have gotten a lot of baggage from pop culture, and video-games in specific. Changing the name to Occultist helps to illustrate the hidden source of their power, and also that they have a less formalized grasp of magic than a Ritualist would have. I am undecided as to whether I want to reskin the Great Old One patron option for Occultists, since that brings them fairly close to the concept of the cultists adversaries I have in my head. On the other hand, it is not like Mythos creatures are non-competitive.
The change from Paladin to Oathbound was fairly obvious, with the new found focus on oaths as the source of their magic. I also tend to find uncommon compound words interesting. Shadowfell, Feywild, Batman. All interesting. The new focus on oaths also opens the way to a class that is almost a reflection of the Occultist, with an oath made to an Archfae in return for powers intended to defeat other fae, or an oath made to a celestial being in trade for powers to defeat the servants of the Archfiend.
The most significant fluff change comes with the renaming of Clerics to Oracles. Priests at your local temple will not necessarily have access to spells, and cleric just reminds too many of my friends of clerical assistants, a common job title. No, Oracles are people you have direct access to their deity, although not necessarily the backing of a church hierarchy. I also like the idea, inspired by Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, that deities are powered by their worshipers, and sometimes they have to take a direct interest in their followers well-being.
Monday 29 September 2014
Armored Combat
There is a video that is making the rounds that shows how effective full plate is, and how it little it encumbers your movement. This is not to say that the rules for armor should be changed, but it does give you an idea of how much brute force is involved in armored combat.
Wednesday 17 September 2014
Fantasy Races: the Planetouched
Taking inspiration from the new 5th edition of D&D, I looked at their planetouched race, but unlike most other races they only have one subtype/subrace rather than a selection like the other races. Therefore, in addition to an infernal bloodline, I will have a celestial based bloodline in my campaign setting.
Ability score increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. Planetouched mature at the same rate as regular humans but live a few years longer.
Alignment. Planetouched may not have an innate tendency towards good or evil in respect to their lineage, but many of them end up there. The obvious infernal traits of the Tiefling often lead them to being social outcasts, and therefore a tendency to question authority, whereas people with an Aasimar bloodline are often revered in society and have a tendency towards lawful alignments.
Size. Planetouched are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is medium.
Darkvision. Thanks to your planar heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can not discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Aasimar Bloodline:
appearance text
Ability score increase. Your Composure score increases by 2.
Celestial Resistance. You have resistance to cold damage.
Celestial Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the armor of agathys spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the daylight spell once per day. Composure is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Celestial.
Tiefling Bloodline:
appearance text
Ability score increase. Your Manipulation score increases by 2.
Hellish Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage.
Infernal Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day. Manipulation is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.
Planetouched Traits:
Planetouched share certain racial traits as a result of their planar ancestry. There are two separate bloodlines of planetouched, those with infernal blood, the Tieflings, and those with celestial, the Aasimar.Ability score increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. Planetouched mature at the same rate as regular humans but live a few years longer.
Alignment. Planetouched may not have an innate tendency towards good or evil in respect to their lineage, but many of them end up there. The obvious infernal traits of the Tiefling often lead them to being social outcasts, and therefore a tendency to question authority, whereas people with an Aasimar bloodline are often revered in society and have a tendency towards lawful alignments.
Size. Planetouched are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is medium.
Darkvision. Thanks to your planar heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can not discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Aasimar Bloodline:
appearance text
Ability score increase. Your Composure score increases by 2.
Celestial Resistance. You have resistance to cold damage.
Celestial Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the armor of agathys spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the daylight spell once per day. Composure is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Celestial.
Tiefling Bloodline:
appearance text
Ability score increase. Your Manipulation score increases by 2.
Hellish Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage.
Infernal Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day. Manipulation is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.
Game Mechanic Hi-Light: Epic 6
Way back in 2007 Ryan Dancey put forward the idea that D&D has four distinct phases of play: gritty fantasy, heroic fantasy, as paragons, and superheroes. Another way of putting this would be looking at what the players save. From 1st to 5th they save the town, from 6th to 10th they save the city, from 11th to 15th they save the country, and from 16th to 20th they save the world.
Epic 6, commonly referred to as E6, is a game about the first two phases of play. Character progression from level 1 to level 6 is as per D&D, but upon attaining 6th level advancement changes. Each additional 5000 experience past 6th level gives the heroes an additional feat.
The rules for Epic 6 can be found at this website.
Epic 6, commonly referred to as E6, is a game about the first two phases of play. Character progression from level 1 to level 6 is as per D&D, but upon attaining 6th level advancement changes. Each additional 5000 experience past 6th level gives the heroes an additional feat.
The rules for Epic 6 can be found at this website.
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