Another 3rd party (badly written ability) help!

[Max Caysey]

Hello...

So one of my friends have found a class call Sovereign King, in the book called Quintessential Paladin. Now that class, is prety cool fluff wise, but when it comes to some of the game mechanics it fails.

Here is the problematic ability: "One With the Land (Su): The sovereign king has a supernatural awareness of the state of his land. At all times he knows if the land is healthy and if the harvest is on time. He knows exactly what weather is going to prevail with 1d4 + Wisdom days in advance and if there is a threat to the kingdom’s safety such as monsters or invaders. While within the borders of his kingdom, he never gets lost."

So how do I/we go about making predicting the future functional within a game? Any suggestions are welcome.

[Animyzo]

make it more like a mystical ability. Weather wise, he can be accurate to a degree. Like the weatherman. But for the other stuff, unless you want the party to know about certain things to prepare in advance, make his future telling (invasions and such) be more vague.

Example.

As dm you know an (enemy) Dragon will be in there area where the party will be in a day or so. He might get the insight (vision or feeling) that there are dark forces at work, and get a sense of something bad will happen near by and shortly (it keeps the suspense and mystery alive.) You can be more specific depending on how cryptic you want to be as a DM

just my $0.02

[Zaq]

The way it's worded, it looks like the only thing he actually knows in advance is the weather. I don't think he knows about the "threat to the kingdom's safety" ahead of time. I think he knows about it as soon as it happens, but not before.

[Segev]

The way it's worded, it looks like the only thing he actually knows in advance is the weather. I don't think he knows about the "threat to the kingdom's safety" ahead of time. I think he knows about it as soon as it happens, but not before.

This is my reading, as well. King P. C. Dude IV is not going to know that the orcs WILL invade in 10 days' time. But he might know that there is an orc horde that is approaching with intent to commit mayhem. He'll CERTAINLY know when said horde crosses his border.

In fact, the most dramatic way to handle it, I think, would be for his awareness of it to be similar to Obi-Wan when Alderan was destroyed. The moment the first homestead is crushed by the oncoming greenskin swarm, he knows because he almost feels it, personally.

[atemu1234]

Hello...

So one of my friends have found a class call Sovereign King, in the book called Quintessential Paladin. Now that class, is prety cool fluff wise, but when it comes to some of the game mechanics it fails.

Here is the problematic ability: "One With the Land (Su): The sovereign king has a supernatural awareness of the state of his land. At all times he knows if the land is healthy and if the harvest is on time. He knows exactly what weather is going to prevail with 1d4 + Wisdom days in advance and if there is a threat to the kingdom’s safety such as monsters or invaders. While within the borders of his kingdom, he never gets lost."

So how do I/we go about making predicting the future functional within a game? Any suggestions are welcome.

You just do? He's one with the land, he is just aware.

[Eloel]

and if there is a threat to the kingdom’s safety such as monsters or invaders

A high level party might take 6 seconds to decide to invade and 6 more seconds to get in. Predicting that from days ahead is going to be impossible, especially given they themselves have no idea by then.

[Mr.Moron]

Hello...

So one of my friends have found a class call Sovereign King, in the book called Quintessential Paladin. Now that class, is prety cool fluff wise, but when it comes to some of the game mechanics it fails.

Here is the problematic ability: "One With the Land (Su): The sovereign king has a supernatural awareness of the state of his land. At all times he knows if the land is healthy and if the harvest is on time. He knows exactly what weather is going to prevail with 1d4 + Wisdom days in advance and if there is a threat to the kingdom’s safety such as monsters or invaders. While within the borders of his kingdom, he never gets lost."

So how do I/we go about making predicting the future functional within a game? Any suggestions are welcome.

I'm assuming you're the GM. He uses the ability there are a few possibilities:


You have trouble planned that would feasibly strike in that period: Tell him about the trouble.
You don't have trouble planned during that period and you don't want introduce problem elements: Tell him everything is clear.
You don't have trouble planned but think something like that could be fun: Tell him trouble is coming, then add that trouble to your plans.



The good thing is about being the GM is that you've pretty much got free reign to make prophecies 100% accurate if you like. The only thing you need to do to make the predictions come true... is make the predictions come true.

[Flickerdart]

Hello...

So one of my friends have found a class call Sovereign King, in the book called Quintessential Paladin. Now that class, is prety cool fluff wise, but when it comes to some of the game mechanics it fails.

Here is the problematic ability: "One With the Land (Su): The sovereign king has a supernatural awareness of the state of his land. At all times he knows if the land is healthy and if the harvest is on time. He knows exactly what weather is going to prevail with 1d4 + Wisdom days in advance and if there is a threat to the kingdom’s safety such as monsters or invaders. While within the borders of his kingdom, he never gets lost."

So how do I/we go about making predicting the future functional within a game? Any suggestions are welcome.
The only thing he knows the future for is the weather (since that's the clause that's terminated with "1d4+Wisdom days"). He only knows about present threats to the kingdom's safety (is, not will be). He doesn't even know about potential threats such as "these adventurers will someday rise to become strong enough to challenge the king." But he would be aware of any adventurers who are threats - all high-level characters - even if they are not currently pillaging and sacking the land.

[Max Caysey]

Thanks for all your responses.

So I gather, that the time (1d4 +wisdom days) is only for the weather, and that the threat is only perceveid when it is actually a threat. Which, as I understand it would be an invading army, the moment they crossed the border and not a days march from the border. Would you all agree on this?

The next thing is how to define when its a threat... What if only 10k men poses a threat to the kingdom (as in the continuation of the reagents rule), and 5000 is only a nuisance? Would the mental alarm go of on 5000 men, who poses a threat to the farmers and their crop, which could damage the harvest but not coup the land?

[Eloel]

I'd say anyone that means to harm the country and has the means to attack, whether or not it's an actual threat, counts.

A farmer burned neighbor's farm over a hassle? Nobody cares. An enemy burning down a farm because it's in that country? It does.

[Blackhawk748]

Thanks for all your responses.

So I gather, that the time (1d4 +wisdom days) is only for the weather, and that the threat is only perceveid when it is actually a threat. Which, as I understand it would be an invading army, the moment they crossed the border and not a days march from the border. Would you all agree on this?

The next thing is how to define when its a threat... What if only 10k men poses a threat to the kingdom (as in the continuation of the reagents rule), and 5000 is only a nuisance? Would the mental alarm go of on 5000 men, who poses a threat to the farmers and their crop, which could damage the harvest but not coup the land?

Id say 5000 men pose a threat to a kingdom, thats quite a bit of concentrated force. Now do the two dozen bandits in the woods count? Maybe depends on how powerful they are and how smart they are. Threats have a sliding scale. I mean a single Wizard or Assassin with a good plan could be a threat to the kingdom, even if your army numbers in the millions, so again its kinda up to you.

[jiriku]

Thanks for all your responses.

So I gather, that the time (1d4 +wisdom days) is only for the weather, and that the threat is only perceveid when it is actually a threat. Which, as I understand it would be an invading army, the moment they crossed the border and not a days march from the border. Would you all agree on this?

The next thing is how to define when its a threat... What if only 10k men poses a threat to the kingdom (as in the continuation of the reagents rule), and 5000 is only a nuisance? Would the mental alarm go of on 5000 men, who poses a threat to the farmers and their crop, which could damage the harvest but not coup the land?

I'd suggest interpreting it a little more narrowly as a "threat to the kingdom's survival". Thus, a band of 100 brigands in the forest is no threat to the kingdom if they have no goals beyond poaching the occasional deer and tumbling the occasional merchant so they can get what they need to survive. However, a band of 100 mercenaries hiding in the forest who are intent upon a plan to infiltrate the capital and kill every member of the royal family and every noble they can find is a serious threat to the kingdom, and would be discovered.

Also, bear in mind that this is a [divination] effect, which means it can be blocked by anything that would block a divination. If the king's nephew is planning a coup but all the conspirators are protected by mind blank, there's no warning. If some members of the plot are not warded against divination, but those members know very little and don't know the identity of the plot's mastermind, then there's a warning but it's vague and fuzzy, because the brains of the people who really know what's going on are hidden behind mind blank spells and the divination effect can't access what they know.

[Surpriser]

Just like some others have indicated before, the feeling of imminent danger could vary with the size of the danger.
A few dozen bandits in the woods: A constant feeling of uneasiness concerning these woods, especially while they are raiding a merchant caravan.
An army of orcs crossing the border: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced"
The scheming nephew planning a coup: A mental ping whenever the conspirators meet (unless they are mind blanked) or act.

In short, there are always threats to a kingdom and its inhabitants (at least there should be), but most of the time, these are just background noise. But when something big happens, he knows about it immediately.

[Segev]

Yeah. This class feature is basically saying, "The character is aware of any plot-relevant threats to his kingdom."

[Max Caysey]

What I feel is, that its dificult to handle the "fate" knowing of the ability. I do however, after reading your comments and responses, that I now have a way of handleling it.

I have boiled it down to this:

1. He knows about eminent threats. Not an army on the way 10 days from his borders. The 1d4 + wisdom score is only about the weather.

2. He does not know the specifik of the threat, he just knows that there is a threat to his kingdom or his lands. That way, he must actively apply his "CIA" or scouts to disvover the threat.

[Karl Aegis]

What this ability does is tell you if your seneschal, spymaster, steward or chancellor are plotting against you. A king would normally get any of this information from his courtiers without the information being turned off in an antimagic field. It's one of those niche abilities that in most situations will be entirely useless, like half the monk class.

[Barstro]

if there is a threat to the kingdom’s safety such as monsters or invaders.
Lawyering this leads me to a few conclusions/questions.
What constitutes a threat to the kingdom's safety?
Is "kingdom" just the realm, or is the realm just the skin and the king is the mind? If the latter, then the king's safety is included.
Is "such as monsters or invaders" dicta, or required language. If required, then he is only aware of "non citizens" being there.


Now do the two dozen bandits in the woods count?
To address my questions and Blackhawk's, I suggest the following;
The king knows EVERYTHING that is a threat. Every damn moment of every day he know that the blacksmith guild is upset at iron prices, farmers are upset that the road are not perfectly smooth, there are at least eight bandit groups in the woods and plenty will fill the spot if any are destroyed. There are no secrets, but dealing with all these "problems" would not be cost effective. The PC has eventually learned to tune out the nonsense and now only cares about an actual invading force.

[Max Caysey]

Lawyering this leads me to a few conclusions/questions.
What constitutes a threat to the kingdom's safety?
Is "kingdom" just the realm, or is the realm just the skin and the king is the mind? If the latter, then the king's safety is included.
Is "such as monsters or invaders" dicta, or required language. If required, then he is only aware of "non citizens" being there.


To address my questions and Blackhawk's, I suggest the following;
The king knows EVERYTHING that is a threat. Every damn moment of every day he know that the blacksmith guild is upset at iron prices, farmers are upset that the road are not perfectly smooth, there are at least eight bandit groups in the woods and plenty will fill the spot if any are destroyed. There are no secrets, but dealing with all these "problems" would not be cost effective. The PC has eventually learned to tune out the nonsense and now only cares about an actual invading force.

That is something that is hard to answer... And indeed some om my problems about this. Epsecially whether or not the nobel within the kingdom could sceme agaist the king with or without his knowledge.

[Surpriser]

Due to the wording of the ability, you will have to make a DM's call about how much exactly they know.
This ranges from a hunch, that there is some unknown threat to "Lord Traitorous is plotting to stage a coup on the night of the next Full Moon" and can include things like the bandits in the woods or apply only to threats to the kingdom's very existence.