Amechra
2011-02-27, 11:29 PM
I have stolen a thousand hearts, to dash them against the stones. I have caused brave men to hurl themselves from mountaintops, lest they face me. I have lied in languages I can't even speak.
Threaten me with your sword? Pathetic fool, is that all you are good for?
Hassan, Charismatic Master of the Serpent's Tongue, Lover's Beguiling, and Dragon's Smiling Paths.
Welcome, all comers, and allow me to tell you of a man who should be as well renowned as his friend, Rekshar, is. His name is now lost; he founded no grand school, taught no grand warrior, fought no grand battle. For though he journeyed with the Founder, his interest was not the sundry fighting styles of many tribes; it was, instead, the tricks and skills that the rest of the tribe eventually could teach him. Rather than strike a blow, he healed them. He could steal a fly's wings from above it, trick men into gladly giving him his wives, see men's intentions no matter how much they try to hide them, and listen to the weeping of a broken-hearted lover from miles away.
He did not become a master of arms; he became a master of skills.
And that was what divided him from his old, dear friend.
Alright, what are you yammering about already?
OK, here is the skinny: skills are weak. Sure, you get outliers like Diplomacy and the like, but who here uses, let's say, Use Rope? I mean, you should eventually be able to truss up GODS, but nope- beaten out by a couple spells, and they aren't high level.
Or a strength check. Or some other little thing.
So, I propose to do for skillmonkeys what the Tome of Battle did for beatsticks; add some Tier 3 action for those beyond Factotum, who gets it for different reasons, damn it! Tier 3 on skill-like merit alone, or bust!
And by I, I mean that I will get as many of you readers to help me as possible. Because I really don't know where to start.
And I/we might as well balance down Diplomacy while we do it; after all, convincing someone to die for you should NOT be a flat DC, unless you have some crazy voodoo, like this stuff should be.
Tie things to the sky. Leap mountains. Make dragons crap themselves. All this should be possible.
Alright, how should this look mechanically?
I actually like the sound of basing all this around something kind of like maneuvers; namely, schools with level-based abilities. However, they have certain prerequisites, namely skill ones; whatever skill(s) they are based off of, and a special skill, specific to that ability score, which will be cross-class to every class that does not EXPLICITLY say that it has it as a skill. And can't be made a class skill except for by using a special feat.
Meaning Mr. Factotum shouldn't get it for free.
An Excellency might look something like this:
Widow's Walk
Verminous Perch (Task)
Level: [Skillmonkey class name] 1
Prerequisite: Climb 4 Ranks, Balance 4 Ranks, 1 Rank in both the Strength and Dexterity skills [needs a name]
Initiation Action: 1 Immediate
Range: Personal
Target: You
By focusing on the skills of a furtively-acting thief, you gain the ability to ascend walls and run accross rafters with ease. As long as you remain in the Widow's Walk, you may take 10 on any Climb checks, and treat any surface you are walking on as being 2 inches wider for the purpose of the DCs for the balance check.
Of course, that is just a simple, basic example. Some terminology that might not make sense at the moment is the (Task) bit; put simply, I'm thinking their should be two types of excellency, fast little Tricks and more long term Tasks (like maneuvers and stances, respectively)
Example Tricks would be: hopping up onto a roof, pilfering someone's pants, or catching your balance on greased marbles in the rain.
Example Tasks would be: building a wall from a couple pieces of string lying around, pretending to be someone you aren't, making someone believe something against all evidence for a long time.
So, I humbly ask you all to please help me in this. I have no idea where to balance stuff around, and in general need more ideas.
Anyone, please?
EDIT: I've decided to scale it down towards 4 different ranks, a la invocations. At least, for now.
(I didn't put PEACH because there isn't anything to PEACH. Yet.)
Threaten me with your sword? Pathetic fool, is that all you are good for?
Hassan, Charismatic Master of the Serpent's Tongue, Lover's Beguiling, and Dragon's Smiling Paths.
Welcome, all comers, and allow me to tell you of a man who should be as well renowned as his friend, Rekshar, is. His name is now lost; he founded no grand school, taught no grand warrior, fought no grand battle. For though he journeyed with the Founder, his interest was not the sundry fighting styles of many tribes; it was, instead, the tricks and skills that the rest of the tribe eventually could teach him. Rather than strike a blow, he healed them. He could steal a fly's wings from above it, trick men into gladly giving him his wives, see men's intentions no matter how much they try to hide them, and listen to the weeping of a broken-hearted lover from miles away.
He did not become a master of arms; he became a master of skills.
And that was what divided him from his old, dear friend.
Alright, what are you yammering about already?
OK, here is the skinny: skills are weak. Sure, you get outliers like Diplomacy and the like, but who here uses, let's say, Use Rope? I mean, you should eventually be able to truss up GODS, but nope- beaten out by a couple spells, and they aren't high level.
Or a strength check. Or some other little thing.
So, I propose to do for skillmonkeys what the Tome of Battle did for beatsticks; add some Tier 3 action for those beyond Factotum, who gets it for different reasons, damn it! Tier 3 on skill-like merit alone, or bust!
And by I, I mean that I will get as many of you readers to help me as possible. Because I really don't know where to start.
And I/we might as well balance down Diplomacy while we do it; after all, convincing someone to die for you should NOT be a flat DC, unless you have some crazy voodoo, like this stuff should be.
Tie things to the sky. Leap mountains. Make dragons crap themselves. All this should be possible.
Alright, how should this look mechanically?
I actually like the sound of basing all this around something kind of like maneuvers; namely, schools with level-based abilities. However, they have certain prerequisites, namely skill ones; whatever skill(s) they are based off of, and a special skill, specific to that ability score, which will be cross-class to every class that does not EXPLICITLY say that it has it as a skill. And can't be made a class skill except for by using a special feat.
Meaning Mr. Factotum shouldn't get it for free.
An Excellency might look something like this:
Widow's Walk
Verminous Perch (Task)
Level: [Skillmonkey class name] 1
Prerequisite: Climb 4 Ranks, Balance 4 Ranks, 1 Rank in both the Strength and Dexterity skills [needs a name]
Initiation Action: 1 Immediate
Range: Personal
Target: You
By focusing on the skills of a furtively-acting thief, you gain the ability to ascend walls and run accross rafters with ease. As long as you remain in the Widow's Walk, you may take 10 on any Climb checks, and treat any surface you are walking on as being 2 inches wider for the purpose of the DCs for the balance check.
Of course, that is just a simple, basic example. Some terminology that might not make sense at the moment is the (Task) bit; put simply, I'm thinking their should be two types of excellency, fast little Tricks and more long term Tasks (like maneuvers and stances, respectively)
Example Tricks would be: hopping up onto a roof, pilfering someone's pants, or catching your balance on greased marbles in the rain.
Example Tasks would be: building a wall from a couple pieces of string lying around, pretending to be someone you aren't, making someone believe something against all evidence for a long time.
So, I humbly ask you all to please help me in this. I have no idea where to balance stuff around, and in general need more ideas.
Anyone, please?
EDIT: I've decided to scale it down towards 4 different ranks, a la invocations. At least, for now.
(I didn't put PEACH because there isn't anything to PEACH. Yet.)