Toy Killer
2013-07-26, 03:40 PM
I'm officially decided to go all out on a "Fixer" Mercenary campaign.
The basic back drop; A thieves guild, two hundred years ago had an up-rising as a man named Theodore Blackwing came up with the notion that they could be so much more in the world then simple money launderers and strong arms. The guild leader was less then convinced and took his outspokeness to be an insult to his leadership, breaking a guild law and ratting him out to the authorities.
But not until after Blackwing had set up a primer for his vision: The Blackwing elite. A simple down trodden shrine in the middle of a deserted bog, where messangers from kings, guild leaders and barons come to make prayers to a long forgotten deity, leaving large sums of gold as tithe.
The Blackwing elite is this church's Angels, going out and creating miracles for those that pay proper respects. Kidnapped at infancy, and trained from the day they can walk, the Blackwing elite are teams of 5 that help dictate world politics and economics with a simple night's passing.
---
As an E6 game, with heavy skill requirements, I've had some issues with keeping the abilities of the game in line with what I want them to be able to do. A single level of rouge (Or other skill monkey) is going to be needed just to keep pace with the Disable device, stealth and knowledge ranks I want to have as a requirement for each 'Angel'. That aside, I know I'm going to have to heavily revamp the spell casting system to allot for things that should simply be outside of the realm of 3rd level spells.
I know I'm going to allow for ritual magic in UA, it may even be a 'Mini-feat' for so many ranks in Spellcraft.
The thing is, I want anyone to be able to 'attempt' magic without formal training. I was thinking that having a single rank in spell craft at all is understanding the basics of how magic works. Classes like wizards would be able to prepare ahead of time to fire off spells, but in desperation could attempt to manipulate the mana weave and cast spells without it being prepared, and sorcerer's just understand magic naturally.
But then I started thinking that maybe ALL magic should be spell-craft checks and having the spell on your list or prepared for that day should simply give you a circumstance bonus. IE, if the car is the target of the spell, and the carburetor is loose, preparing the spell for the event of a wizard is going in with the right tools in hand for that particular model of engine, while being a sorcerer is like simply having put the carburetor back into place a hundred times.
If that makes sense, awesome, I'm getting the point across. So this would require a bit of risk in attempting a spell unprepared or known, but still put in a risk for spells known and it not being as simple as "I cast Obscuring Mists".
The whole point of the complexity I'm introducing is making Skill Checks more relevant in the long run, since I want this to be less "Super spell casters ahoy!" and more ninja hit team, plus making them skill checks allows teamwork to be utilized in desperate situations.
So then I would also have to make Metamagic something to be trained in, and it affects the 'effective' level of the spell in terms of the DC check.
Finally, while the spell range of the magic system is vast and very versatile, I need to heavily rearrange spells so that the players have the higher end utility spells available at lower ranges. So, someone can Memory Modify the Dwarven Expert to believe he was told by his superior to rewire the Manaphage Exhilarator instead of being knocked unconscious.
I'm not especially worried about power levels here, in handing risky spell casting to anyone with cross skill ranks in spellcraft, as almost every NPC the PCs are going to be facing are likely to be significantly lower level then them (I may even implement the M&M Mooks! rule to speed up any combat that may go down) as they are supposed to be Elite, truly above the competition. The goal of the secessions will rarely be "Kill these guys" or "Grab the McGuffin"; It will usually be far more challenging then that.
Example Mission:
Background information: The Kingdom of Tribune has finally convinced the Dwarven nation to allow them to build a Teleporting Circle within city limits of De'luce.
Standing Objectives Apply [Campaign stuff, meaning don't get caught breaking the fictional Geneva Convention and don't alert anyone to the fact that the Blackwing Elite exist. Plus, bounty on kid napping a child successfully]
Primary Objective:
Sabotage the Circle, before it is finished being constructed.
[I would have a map of the city and basic Teleportation circle structure laid out as an additional hand out, people with knowledge engineering would have red crayon notes written on the side to point out important information they know for about the structure. The hand out will point on when the circle is expected to be completed and what stage they were at during the issuing of the mission]
Nobody Suspects the circle was tampered with by an outside source.
Secondary Objective:
Rile current outrage against the Circle with the citizens of Deluce.
Delay the construction in anyway possible in the mean time.
Incapacitate Chief Constructioneer Drowl Dirkspite, Circle Magic Expert (Until after construction)
Tartary Objective:
Obtain official blueprints for the Circle.
Summon outsider through the Circle.
Wreck a Circle within the Dwarven city limits.
Obtain Curitane Crystal for inspection.
[This missions back drop would be that a trade guild has been out shined a few too many times by the Dwarven tech, and they can't allow it to keep occurring. The final straw was allowing the circle to be built in a non-dwarven nation. They don't want it simply stopped but discredited against both the human kingdom and Dwarves alike.
Some things will be completeable (Sabotaging through taking the Curitane Crystal), others will not (Incapacitating Constructioneer Dirkspite), but I need the magic system, ultimately, to be more transparent then it currently is through Pathfinder, allowing me to make rules up on the fly for things like "Casting a summon spell through the Teleportation circle" that isn't simply nodding and saying 'sure'.]
The basic back drop; A thieves guild, two hundred years ago had an up-rising as a man named Theodore Blackwing came up with the notion that they could be so much more in the world then simple money launderers and strong arms. The guild leader was less then convinced and took his outspokeness to be an insult to his leadership, breaking a guild law and ratting him out to the authorities.
But not until after Blackwing had set up a primer for his vision: The Blackwing elite. A simple down trodden shrine in the middle of a deserted bog, where messangers from kings, guild leaders and barons come to make prayers to a long forgotten deity, leaving large sums of gold as tithe.
The Blackwing elite is this church's Angels, going out and creating miracles for those that pay proper respects. Kidnapped at infancy, and trained from the day they can walk, the Blackwing elite are teams of 5 that help dictate world politics and economics with a simple night's passing.
---
As an E6 game, with heavy skill requirements, I've had some issues with keeping the abilities of the game in line with what I want them to be able to do. A single level of rouge (Or other skill monkey) is going to be needed just to keep pace with the Disable device, stealth and knowledge ranks I want to have as a requirement for each 'Angel'. That aside, I know I'm going to have to heavily revamp the spell casting system to allot for things that should simply be outside of the realm of 3rd level spells.
I know I'm going to allow for ritual magic in UA, it may even be a 'Mini-feat' for so many ranks in Spellcraft.
The thing is, I want anyone to be able to 'attempt' magic without formal training. I was thinking that having a single rank in spell craft at all is understanding the basics of how magic works. Classes like wizards would be able to prepare ahead of time to fire off spells, but in desperation could attempt to manipulate the mana weave and cast spells without it being prepared, and sorcerer's just understand magic naturally.
But then I started thinking that maybe ALL magic should be spell-craft checks and having the spell on your list or prepared for that day should simply give you a circumstance bonus. IE, if the car is the target of the spell, and the carburetor is loose, preparing the spell for the event of a wizard is going in with the right tools in hand for that particular model of engine, while being a sorcerer is like simply having put the carburetor back into place a hundred times.
If that makes sense, awesome, I'm getting the point across. So this would require a bit of risk in attempting a spell unprepared or known, but still put in a risk for spells known and it not being as simple as "I cast Obscuring Mists".
The whole point of the complexity I'm introducing is making Skill Checks more relevant in the long run, since I want this to be less "Super spell casters ahoy!" and more ninja hit team, plus making them skill checks allows teamwork to be utilized in desperate situations.
So then I would also have to make Metamagic something to be trained in, and it affects the 'effective' level of the spell in terms of the DC check.
Finally, while the spell range of the magic system is vast and very versatile, I need to heavily rearrange spells so that the players have the higher end utility spells available at lower ranges. So, someone can Memory Modify the Dwarven Expert to believe he was told by his superior to rewire the Manaphage Exhilarator instead of being knocked unconscious.
I'm not especially worried about power levels here, in handing risky spell casting to anyone with cross skill ranks in spellcraft, as almost every NPC the PCs are going to be facing are likely to be significantly lower level then them (I may even implement the M&M Mooks! rule to speed up any combat that may go down) as they are supposed to be Elite, truly above the competition. The goal of the secessions will rarely be "Kill these guys" or "Grab the McGuffin"; It will usually be far more challenging then that.
Example Mission:
Background information: The Kingdom of Tribune has finally convinced the Dwarven nation to allow them to build a Teleporting Circle within city limits of De'luce.
Standing Objectives Apply [Campaign stuff, meaning don't get caught breaking the fictional Geneva Convention and don't alert anyone to the fact that the Blackwing Elite exist. Plus, bounty on kid napping a child successfully]
Primary Objective:
Sabotage the Circle, before it is finished being constructed.
[I would have a map of the city and basic Teleportation circle structure laid out as an additional hand out, people with knowledge engineering would have red crayon notes written on the side to point out important information they know for about the structure. The hand out will point on when the circle is expected to be completed and what stage they were at during the issuing of the mission]
Nobody Suspects the circle was tampered with by an outside source.
Secondary Objective:
Rile current outrage against the Circle with the citizens of Deluce.
Delay the construction in anyway possible in the mean time.
Incapacitate Chief Constructioneer Drowl Dirkspite, Circle Magic Expert (Until after construction)
Tartary Objective:
Obtain official blueprints for the Circle.
Summon outsider through the Circle.
Wreck a Circle within the Dwarven city limits.
Obtain Curitane Crystal for inspection.
[This missions back drop would be that a trade guild has been out shined a few too many times by the Dwarven tech, and they can't allow it to keep occurring. The final straw was allowing the circle to be built in a non-dwarven nation. They don't want it simply stopped but discredited against both the human kingdom and Dwarves alike.
Some things will be completeable (Sabotaging through taking the Curitane Crystal), others will not (Incapacitating Constructioneer Dirkspite), but I need the magic system, ultimately, to be more transparent then it currently is through Pathfinder, allowing me to make rules up on the fly for things like "Casting a summon spell through the Teleportation circle" that isn't simply nodding and saying 'sure'.]