Proposed Changes

This page documents proposed changes to the system following the playtest, for comment by the players.

Issue: Damage an armour system makes the numbers really hard to keep track of, and is generally a bit brain melting.

Potential Solution:

• Weapon strikes deal 3 hits to someone in no armour, 2 hits to someone in light armour, 1 hit to someone in heavy armour. Wielding a 2h weapon allows you to call QUAD every 5s (counts towards 5s rule for calls, so means you can do more calls OR more damage)
  • Keeps 2h weapons threatening, particularly for heavy armour
    • Slightly less threatening than at playtest (hits to kill is ~5/6/9 for no/L/H armour, vs 3/4/5 at playtest) - but in practice not by as much as the numbers make it seem, since often 1 hit per second is not possible (meaning the QUADs are a greater proportion of hits)
  • Means that a 2h weapon which is throwing out damage is not throwing out as many calls.
  • Makes combat slightly noiser, though 5s rule will mitigate that
  • Damage can be tweaked if needed
    • Monster damage can be varied more easily
    • Allows monsters to back off on damage while still fighting in a fun way
  • Much simpler to explain the damage system

Lower the threshold for advanced skills to 20/25 and/or move several skills down to basic level.

Any healing received while bleeding out will stabilise (without regaining hits).

Add more means of between encounter healing.

Add healing to more classes, and improve the core skills healing tree.

Priest of Aria feels like about the right rate of healing, other classes are likely to be more mass healing (magisters) at lower rate, more burst healing (i.e. higher rate but limited use) (adept?), or bonus between encounter stuff (crafter? - potentially allow upgrading one person's armour for an encounter?).

Starfarer's probably don't get their own healing, because it's basically impossible to make fit with their metaphysic in a way that doesn't result in time travel being a thing - but their ability to bug out of encounters likely gives them enough support utility.

Review magisters in light of this (and the potential for Cobalt shenanigans). one possibility is for each Magister spell to reduce *max* hits by 1 for the rest of the encounter, as well as the HP loss, but that may be too much numbers. Magister PARTY HEAL calls should not affect themselves

• Change Expose to: “The next offensive call you take lasts for 10s instead of 5s (or lasts for 5s if instantaneous). You may lose a RESIST to take this for 5s instead, if you have one which applies. If you would be immune to this call, you take it as normal.
• Change Fortify to: “Resist the next offensive call you take”
• Add a call modifier which always does the EXPOSEd effect (e.g. SUPER)
  • Maybe also change BACKSTAB into “all or nothing” (i.e. no effect if seen), but also make most BACKSTAB skills optional
• Reword the ENRAGE call to force more aggression, and brief it as such when explaining calls.
• Clarify how BACKSTAB works at range (i.e. if the person is not in your field of view when they start the call)
• Add SELF to the wiki…
• Replace some DISARM skills with DISARM ALL, to avoid ambidex making it less relevant
• Fix the description on DISAPPEARING (i.e. default 5s, unless specified)

The crafter class is getting a complete overhaul. What is likely to happen is that the components will move to a separate list, and that most of their skills will allow then to pick a new component from that list (of an unlocked element) as well as the skill effect. E.g. Refine Energy becomes “Allows you to refine and work with material naturally attuned to Energy. This allows you to buy Platinum and Opal components. Gain a Platinum or Opal component”. Complex Interplay gets “Gain a new component” (in addition to current effects), etc.

Regroup, Reinforce now rallies the party to the Starfarer (who cannot move while DISAPPEARED)

Advise against ranged damage on monsters.

Generally aim for slightly higher hits than in playtest.

More sentient monster options (make some of the human opposition clear on wiki). Some of this will be plot that we don't want to reveal yet, but there is definitely some which can go up.

Trap corridors work surprisingly well - but WOUND on legs does not without a time limit (e.g. 10s)