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View Full Version : Insane idea in need of help fleshing out:



The Vagabond
2015-06-06, 06:01 PM
Primarily- Something that is kinda like Psionics, mixed with Words of power, layered with the action economy of summoning, and functioning akin to a Bardic Performance in terms of use and flavor.

How the hell do I make it it work, is my question. I'm thinking that you gain two pools of aspects to mix and match- Melodies and harmonies, with a pool of summoned creatures, serving as your Power Points for casting spells and caster level. However, they last until they are either dispelled or are killed. They should be easy to kill, which makes them very vulnerable to fireballs and such- You can lose half your caster level with a single aimed fireball.

Then comes how exactly to structure it, and how to design the effects.

So, what do you guys think I should do?

qazzquimby
2015-06-06, 06:42 PM
I'm not sure what is insane about it, and you need to elaborate on the ideas you mentioned (what are melodies and harmonies, how does a pool of creatures act as powerpoints).

I think it might be interesting if you perform about epic tails, and they are reenacted as you present, with various effects happening each round, with present characters taking on traits of characters from the story (buffs and debuffs mostly), and additional characters being summoned. A story about a difficult battle ending with the death of a ruler would benefit more if your situation matches than if it doesn't.

If you want help with something specific I'd need questions.

The Vagabond
2015-06-06, 07:07 PM
I'm not sure what is insane about it, and you need to elaborate on the ideas you mentioned (what are melodies and harmonies, how does a pool of creatures act as powerpoints).

I think it might be interesting if you perform about epic tails, and they are reenacted as you present, with various effects happening each round, with present characters taking on traits of characters from the story (buffs and debuffs mostly), and additional characters being summoned. A story about a difficult battle ending with the death of a ruler would benefit more if your situation matches than if it doesn't.

If you want help with something specific I'd need questions.
Well, I suppose I should have been more specific, shouldn't I have? :smalltongue:

Basically- Think a Bard, okay? Now, imagine instead of Inspire Courage, you instead have spell effects, such as Fireball, Haste, and Animate Dead, only with an effective duration of one round.

You have an ensamble of performers, and each effectively functions as one Power Point, as in Psionics. You know a certain ammount of Melodies and Harmonies- Basically, Spells and Psionic Powers. Each ensamble member works together, effectively being "Used Up" for the round, to perform a Melody and Harmony- essentially, you summon a ton of psions to manifest multiple powers in one round on your allies by making a full round action, which all last one round, instead of multiple.

However, that sounds really, really cool, the bringing stories to life- I was thinking more "Epic Movie Soundtrack" when thinking up the class, but that really looks cool.

qazzquimby
2015-06-06, 10:52 PM
Summoning the pit band for your party's next musical number sounds really cool. You never have to fight without your personal battle music (https://youtu.be/__OSyznVDOY?t=17s).

Potential issues with the storytelling idea, the system calls for huge amounts of content, and each one needs some detail and fluff. If there are 20 or so fairly interesting stories, they'll all be seen pretty often. An overpowered story being used frequently will be very boring.

A counter to both these problems would be having the player prepare the stories, and give them a single use. This has advantages in that stories can be tailored to needs, and there is an expanding number (all stories used can be compiled) rather than a small limit. Downsides are there needs to be a system for creation to avoid imbalance (not bad though, since we would probably need one for the initial creation), and stories might be made specifically to deal with problems the character knows they'll face, and thus be unbelievable/boring. The second problem can probably be fixed with some DM intervention, which I think would be quite interesting. DM hears the story before its used, and if it is engaging and interesting, good epic material, it gains some significant benefit over if it was "the 4 heroes clear the dungeon without any major injuries, and find some good loot at the end."