[Cobalt Sage Creations] Stormbound Public Playtest - New Akashic Class, Veils, & More

[Mairn]

Welcome to the Playtest for the Sage’s Archive: Stormbound, presented by Cobalt Sage Creations! This book features a number of new additions to the Pathfinder Roleplaying game, including:

The Stormbound: an Akashic Veilweaver infused with the powers of an endless storm that enhances their innate akashic abilities while in combat. Gaining access to a unique veil known as the Storm veil, the stormbound uses their abilities to disrupt and control the flow of combat. Whether it be in melee using offensive veils, or in the back row assaulting their foes with their storms, the stormbound can be a formidable and dangerous ally or foe.

Two archetypes for the stormbound: The devotee of the storm, a worshipper of the storms who channels both divine magic and veilweaving, and the wind whisperer, who gains the powers of the stormbound through a loyal storm spirit.

Two new prestige classes: The storm warrior, a weaver of storms who augments their command over the forces of nature with martial might, and the veilshifter, a veilweaver who through intense meditation has learned to rapidly and frequently change out their shaped veils throughout the day.

Forty new veils: featuring new options for veilweavers new and old. You will find new offensive options such as the rapture of the gods, utility veils that expand a veilweavers capabilities such as the tactician’s tabard, and an entirely new category of veils known as the Storm veil that affect an area around the veilweaver.

New feats and items for veilweavers old and new: such as the Shift Veil feat which allows a veilweaver to meditate throughout the day to swap a shaped veil, or the new Confluence feats which allow a stormbound to combine the effects of synergistic Storm veils.

Note: The following book makes use of the veilweaving system of magic originally printed in Dreamscarred Press’ Akashic Mysteries. While this book has everything you need to create and play a Stormbound, including the rules for veilweaving, Akashic Mysteries will provide you with expanded character options and build variety.

The Sage's Archive: Stormbound - Public Playtest (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ABe7k5tCA8L9ViI22Vl6hrr9VoYg4blYG5T-nBBA-RI/edit?usp=sharing)

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Hey there everyone,
My name is Hal/Mairn and I am the lead developer and writer of this project! You may have seen my name before as part of the team for the Legendary Magus, and as a cowriter on a few other projects. This is my first major solo writing project and I can't wait for you to read it and tell me what you think. Enjoy!

[Mehangel]

Just a couple things:

1st, I find it strange that the veil 'Storm Gauntlets' scale from 1 > 1d3 instead of 1 > 1d2.

2nd, The veil 'Treantplate' incorrectly mentions the 'belt' chakra when it should be 'shoulder'.

[Mairn]

Just a couple things:

1st, I find it strange that the veil 'Storm Gauntlets' scale from 1 > 1d3 instead of 1 > 1d2.

2nd, The veil 'Treantplate' incorrectly mentions the 'belt' chakra when it should be 'shoulder'.

As far as the first point goes: Storm Gauntlets is a reprint from Akashic Mysteries with a slight rewrite to its text to make it fit with the standardized second-person language for spells and feats. The actual mechanics of the Veil are the same as the Akashic Mysteries version.

Second point: Nice catch! I rewrote all of the "Armor" and "Weapon" veils quite a few times, which included shifting around their slots until I decided on the standard Hands/Wrist for weapons and Shoulders/Chest for armor. That must have slipped through the cracks, and now its fixed.


Edit to avoid double posting: It was pointed out to me how similar Bands of the Void were to the Darkholds veil of Akashic Trinity (I am not very familiar with all of this books veils), so I have rewritten it. Rather than acting as a bag of holding, it now allows you to teleport creatures and objects within short range to a square adjacent to you. It now can open an Extradimension space as part of the wrist slot, but the flow of time being altered within that space is still restricted to the Belt slot (you can now also choose to make time go faster with in the space, as well as going slower).

[Makiru]

Some quick catches I saw skimming through:
Orc FBC calls back to an ability that doesn't exist in the current document. Probably remnants of a previous draft.

The class doesn't have a set veilweaving modifier. I'll chalk that up to copy-paste placeholder text, but that's kinda important to know.

Bunch of random grammer and formatting errors. Biggest one I remember is The Blizzard says cold damage in it's first entry, then nonlethal in the next.

I'm not any good with hard number crunching (there are individuals far more proficient here for that), so this is about as much as I can help you with.

[Deviston]

"TELEPORT" (emphasis mine)

And now you have my attention in full.

[Mairn]

Some quick catches I saw skimming through:
Orc FBC calls back to an ability that doesn't exist in the current document. Probably remnants of a previous draft.

The class doesn't have a set veilweaving modifier. I'll chalk that up to copy-paste placeholder text, but that's kinda important to know.

Bunch of random grammer and formatting errors. Biggest one I remember is The Blizzard says cold damage in it's first entry, then nonlethal in the next.

I'm not any good with hard number crunching (there are individuals far more proficient here for that), so this is about as much as I can help you with.

Nice catch on the Orc ability. Stormbound used to have a cap on the essence they could gain each round, and when you went over that cap you took damage. I ended up removing it because it felt bad in play, and it made the ability a little too fiddly. The Orc FCB is now: "Add +1/3 point of damage to damage rolls made with a weapon descriptor veil, or with natural attacks granted by a veil."

"The stormbound uses their Wisdom to determine their veilweaving modifier." Is in the Veilweaving section. Not sure if it was missed, or if you are referring to something else with "doesn't have a set veilweaving modifier".

Blizzard was originally nonlethal, but was swapped to lethal damage because the nonlethal tracking was annoying in play. Missed removing the nonlethal text in the essence.

Thanks for all the help :)

[khadgar567]

is it me of storm bounds storm veils are kinda copy of weather sphere talents from spheres of power. and while elderstorm is good fluff but my gut feeling says it needs a bit more I bring the lightning and less I shape storm to get this unique toys. and armor and weapon tags feel good but you might want to update content couple notches before publishing.
what I look for storm veils is more like drums of Raijin where pc can bardic performance a severe storm and spend essence to literally amp up the power.

[Mairn]

is it me of storm bounds storm veils are kinda copy of weather sphere talents from spheres of power. and while elderstorm is good fluff but my gut feeling says it needs a bit more I bring the lightning and less I shape storm to get this unique toys. and armor and weapon tags feel good but you might want to update content couple notches before publishing.
what I look for storm veils is more like drums of Raijin where pc can bardic performance a severe storm and spend essence to literally amp up the power.

They are not a copy of SoP Weather sphere, but I would imagine there would be thematic overlap considering "Weather" tends to be a fairly narrow concept if you don't delve into weird or inherently magical storms (like chaos storms, negative energy storms, etc).

I'm not sure what you mean by 'update the content notches a couple' in regards to the Armor and Weapon descriptors. The Weapon descriptor rules are the official DSP Akashic rules for the new Weapon descriptor (taken from April Augmented 2018, which I confirmed with the Devs at DSP is their intention for Weapon-veils going forward) and the Armor descriptor was a small tweak on those initial rules.

I will look into the Drums of Raijin (if I can find it) and see what you mean. The current class is built around its Storm damage building over the course of the fight as the storms they wield grow in power, rather than immediately springing into existence. This could be an idea for a future Archetype or PRC if this class is expanded on in the future, but for the time being I enjoy how the Storm veil system works in play.

[MilleniaAntares]

Veilproofing seems too weak to have a 5th level restriction to me.

"All: Add +1/3 to the amount of temporary essence you can have before you begin taking damage from your Growing Storm ability."

I can't find any other mention of Growing Storm in the document.

Edit: The Molten Scales veil does not specify when the armor bonus is restored to normal, after using any of its "trade armor bonus for X" abilities. For clarity's sake you should also specify if you can use many of the "trade armor bonus for X" abilities in the same turn.

The Deluge does not specify if it does anything to creatures made out of fire. Perhaps you can clarify whether they would be affected by the Deluge's effects beyond what is stated, or not.

[Mairn]

Veilproofing seems too weak to have a 5th level restriction to me.

"All: Add +1/3 to the amount of temporary essence you can have before you begin taking damage from your Growing Storm ability."

I can't find any other mention of Growing Storm in the document.

Edit: The Molten Scales veil does not specify when the armor bonus is restored to normal, after using any of its "trade armor bonus for X" abilities. For clarity's sake you should also specify if you can use many of the "trade armor bonus for X" abilities in the same turn.

The Deluge does not specify if it does anything to creatures made out of fire. Perhaps you can clarify whether they would be affected by the Deluge's effects beyond what is stated, or not.

Good point on Veilproofing. It originally had a 5th level requirement because Storm Powers were gained at a slower pace in my Pre-Rework version of Storm Veils, which were more complicated and had more abilities that modified them.

Yup Growing Storm was stripped out. The ability now reads: "Add: Add +1/5 point of essence."

Clarified that the armor reduction penalty lasts until the beginning of your next turn, and that multiple abilities can be used at the same time as long as they do not reduce the armor below 0.

The Deluge is intended to not adversely affect Fire creatures whose stats don't specifically call out being harmed by rain or water. This is similar to natural rain, which doesn't adversely affect fire creatures.

[MilleniaAntares]

Overall, I like this class. It has nice flavor, and seems to have decent enough utility.

What is the Storm Spirit's type? Any subtype?

I think The Deluge's temporary hit point maximum should be increased with more essence investment. Maybe +3 per essence, with a lower initial cap?

I cannot tell if (counter)clockwise is a legitimate option for The Tempest.

Not sure if you're looking for additions to your content, but I think a storm veil based off a paradoxical, unnatural calmness in weather could be interesting... After all, hurricanes have a natural calmness in their eye!

[Castilonium]

I love the veils that involve movement and teleportation like Bands of the Void, Ionizing Scarf, Lightdash Bindings, and Runecloth of Doorways. I love the Shift Veil feat, Veilshifter PRC, Aura of the Adaptable, and Tactician's Tabard, because one of the things I don't like about akashic magic in general is how your choices are locked in at the start of the day. I love how the Stormbound doesn't have the same problems as SoP's weather sphere, letting them protect their allies from most of their weather effects and being unable to cause mass area devastation at low levels. Great job all around :smallsmile:

What is the Storm Warrior's veilweaver level? Is it their character level, or is it their Storm Warrior level?

Loreseeker's Gloves are weak. Kreighton's Perusal (http://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Kreighton%27s%20Perusal ) does the same thing as Loreseeker's Gloves with 10 essence invested, and it's just a 1st level spell. It also seems like using the bind is worse than not using the bind, because most books have more than 10 pages.

I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but how exactly does Rapture of the Gods' shield increase its enhancement bonus, other than from someone casting Greater Magic Weapon on it?

I agree with MilleniaAntares. The Deluge should have a scaling THP cap.

Are The Fulmination's lightning bolts always vertical, or can they be oriented in different directions?

A Totem of the Storm can be created to invest 0 essence, and its price is radius in miles x 10 x the essence it invests x 5,000 gp. So if you create it to invest 0 essence, it costs 0 GP? And if you create it to invest 1 essence, it costs 50,000?

[MilleniaAntares]

I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but how exactly does Rapture of the Gods' shield increase its enhancement bonus, other than from someone casting Greater Magic Weapon on it?
The weapon descriptor (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ABe7k5tCA8L9ViI22Vl6hrr9VoYg4blYG5T-nBBA-RI/edit#) allows the shield to be improved as a regular shield.


A Totem of the Storm can be created to invest 0 essence, and its price is radius in miles x 10 x the essence it invests x 5,000 gp. So if you create it to invest 0 essence, it costs 0 GP? And if you create it to invest 1 essence, it costs 50,000?
I'd recommend having 0 essence count as 1/2 essence for pricing purposes, much like how cantrips are counted as 1/2 spell level.

[Mairn]

Overall, I like this class. It has nice flavor, and seems to have decent enough utility.

What is the Storm Spirit's type? Any subtype?

I think The Deluge's temporary hit point maximum should be increased with more essence investment. Maybe +3 per essence, with a lower initial cap?

I cannot tell if (counter)clockwise is a legitimate option for The Tempest.

Not sure if you're looking for additions to your content, but I think a storm veil based off a paradoxical, unnatural calmness in weather could be interesting... After all, hurricanes have a natural calmness in their eye!

Storm Spirit type: Outsider. Clarified.

The Tempest: Only straight directions are valid for The Tempest... mostly because working out how to word spinning rotations would be a nightmare. My official Dev response would be "If you and your DM can work out how you would want rotational direction to work, go hog wild."

As far as additions go: Paradoxically calm weather is currently being represented by the 'Clear the Skies' Storm power. Waaaaay back in development it was a Storm Veil, but I found making an interesting effect to go with it that wasn't extremely niche or interesting enough to fill an entire veil was a task would be quite the chore. If Stormbound is ever revisited in a future addition, its definitely something I want to go back into. For now, I like the 12 Storm Veils + 5 Confluence feats. It gives a decent enough variety without too much overlap.


I love the veils that involve movement and teleportation like Bands of the Void, Ionizing Scarf, Lightdash Bindings, and Runecloth of Doorways. I love the Shift Veil feat, Veilshifter PRC, Aura of the Adaptable, and Tactician's Tabard, because one of the things I don't like about akashic magic in general is how your choices are locked in at the start of the day. I love how the Stormbound doesn't have the same problems as SoP's weather sphere, letting them protect their allies from most of their weather effects and being unable to cause mass area devastation at low levels. Great job all around :smallsmile:

What is the Storm Warrior's veilweaver level? Is it their character level, or is it their Storm Warrior level?

Loreseeker's Gloves are weak. Kreighton's Perusal (http://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Kreighton%27s%20Perusal ) does the same thing as Loreseeker's Gloves with 10 essence invested, and it's just a 1st level spell. It also seems like using the bind is worse than not using the bind, because most books have more than 10 pages.

I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but how exactly does Rapture of the Gods' shield increase its enhancement bonus, other than from someone casting Greater Magic Weapon on it?

I agree with MilleniaAntares. The Deluge should have a scaling THP cap.

Are The Fulmination's lightning bolts always vertical, or can they be oriented in different directions?

A Totem of the Storm can be created to invest 0 essence, and its price is radius in miles x 10 x the essence it invests x 5,000 gp. So if you create it to invest 0 essence, it costs 0 GP? And if you create it to invest 1 essence, it costs 50,000?

Storm Warrior: They don't have an effective Veilweaver level, since the class is not a traditional veilweaver. I added clarification in regards to this, stating they use their character level as their effective veilweaver level for their Storm veils, and nothing else.

Loreseeker's Gloves: Fair point. I don't want to do *too much* to buff it. 10 Minutes to use -> 1 Minute. -1 Round per essence. Bind effect changed to 5 pages + 5 per essence. The bind effect does grant a complete understanding, so I don't want it to be able to read an entire library in the space of a few hours.

Fulmination: Vertical only.

Totem of the Storm: In my brain I was going off the rules for Cantrips being 0.5 when calculating magic items, I simply didn't record it anywhere on the page. This has been fixed.


In regards to The Deluge maximum temporary HP cap:

It serves two purposes: The first being to allow the Veilweaver to stack them outside of combat up to the cap, so their party can begin the fight with the full capacity of Temp HP. The essence-based scaling is for in-combat utility, allowing the Veilweaver to perform an active role in mitigating damage. Making the cap scale with essence invested would either reduce their between-fights buffing, or allow them to buff way too much during the minute-long grace period after combat before their Storm essence is lost.

Edit: I almost forgot about the Shield question, but MilleniaAntares beat me to the punch anyhow ;) I have added a link to the Descriptors in the ToC to hopefully help clear this up a bit, because unless people have been paying attention to every but of Akashic content released lately they have likely missed the rules introduced in April Augmented 2018.

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I am very glad you both enjoy the class, and I really appreciate the help and critiques!

[singera]

do you plan to add any compatibility veil wise for lost sphere's akashic classes? the radiant, eclipse, and nexus.

[Castilonium]

In regards to The Deluge maximum temporary HP cap:

It serves two purposes: The first being to allow the Veilweaver to stack them outside of combat up to the cap, so their party can begin the fight with the full capacity of Temp HP. The essence-based scaling is for in-combat utility, allowing the Veilweaver to perform an active role in mitigating damage. Making the cap scale with essence invested would either reduce their between-fights buffing, or allow them to buff way too much during the minute-long grace period after combat before their Storm essence is lost.
A Stormbound can already use a max-invested Storm veil out of combat by using the Channel the Storm storm power combined with Stormweaving's full round action meditation. So, that grace period after combat isn't such a concern when buffing. With that in mind, you can easily figure out the maximum amount a Stormbound would be able to buff people's THP at any given level if The Deluge had a scaling cap instead of a static cap.

Alternatively, if you don't want to have the THP cap scale with essence invested, you could have it scale with veilweaver level, similar to the Sonic Armor storm power.

[Mairn]

do you plan to add any compatibility veil wise for lost sphere's akashic classes? the radiant, eclipse, and nexus.

I am currently leaning on this being a future expansion on the content, but it may be added before release. If it is, I will make an update post in this thread.



A Stormbound can already use a max-invested Storm veil out of combat by using the Channel the Storm storm power combined with Stormweaving's full round action meditation. So, that grace period after combat isn't such a concern when buffing. With that in mind, you can easily figure out the maximum amount a Stormbound would be able to buff people's THP at any given level if The Deluge had a scaling cap instead of a static cap.

Alternatively, if you don't want to have the THP cap scale with essence invested, you could have it scale with veilweaver level, similar to the Sonic Armor storm power.

Yup, being able to buff it outside of combat if you invest your Storm powers into it is by design.

The issue for me with making the cap scale is the initial cap would need to be lower. Beginning every fight with 30 HP is already kind of strong. I may go back and take a look at some numbers. Having the cap increase as long as essence is invested in the veil but when the essence is lost all temp HP beyond the cap is also lost could be a way to go about it that allows it to be stronger in combat while not overly buffing its out of combat utility.

[Val666]

I am currently leaning on this being a future expansion on the content, but it may be added before release. If it is, I will make an update post in this thread.

I would like to suggest including the Rajah in possible support for other classes in the future. A Storm Title would be very interesting. Some more Heraldries too. :smallsmile:

[Mairn]

I would like to suggest including the Rajah in possible support for other classes in the future. A Storm Title would be very interesting. Some more Heraldries too. :smallsmile:

Yeah if there is an expansion its something I want to do.

Still not sure if I would want it to be a Stormbound with titles, or a Rajah with storms (both?).

[khadgar567]

Yeah if there is an expansion its something I want to do.

Still not sure if I would want it to be a Stormbound with titles, or a Rajah with storms (both?).
I prefer rajah with storms since rajah needs bit more option then i smash and look good but technicly prcs kinda solves that.

[Mairn]

I prefer rajah with storms since rajah needs bit more option then i smash and look good but technicly prcs kinda solves that.

My issue is more how Storm veils might end up interacting with PoW maneuvers on the same character. Giving a Rajah easy access to Storm veils could add a lot of "free" damage. Something I would have to play with and test a bunch.

[khadgar567]

My issue is more how Storm veils might end up interacting with PoW maneuvers on the same character. Giving a Rajah easy access to Storm veils could add a lot of "free" damage. Something I would have to play with and test a bunch.
Yeah rajah in such odd place that giving it free damage maybe hurt the class but i think rajah actualy needs is one proper damage dealing discipline that allows him to use essence as ofensive tool rather than self healing.

[Tariyan Draegr]

Just commenting to say that the storm veils are honestly the best take on weather magic I've seen. Everything fits together super well and it's still wild while beng controllable. Looking forward to the final release.

[Mairn]

Just commenting to say that the storm veils are honestly the best take on weather magic I've seen. Everything fits together super well and it's still wild while beng controllable. Looking forward to the final release.

I'm glad you like it!

Took a lot of iterations to get where they are now because the balance of passive damage and actually feeling like a "storm" was a tight rope to walk.

[MilleniaAntares]

I have some concern with the storm veils that require actions to use, at higher levels. Unless you manage to meditate them up to the limit and then get into combat within the 1 minute window, they will almost never be used within the first few rounds of combat... And combat, usually, only tends to last 3 rounds or so, in my experience.

This is doubly troublesome with the ones that rely on saves, since they'd be very low at the start of combat.

[Mairn]

I have some concern with the storm veils that require actions to use, at higher levels. Unless you manage to meditate them up to the limit and then get into combat within the 1 minute window, they will almost never be used within the first few rounds of combat... And combat, usually, only tends to last 3 rounds or so, in my experience.

This is doubly troublesome with the ones that rely on saves, since they'd be very low at the start of combat.

There are a few ways to go about it, but you can spend a Storm power to allow you to always have a pool of essence for your Storm veils (one talent for half your maximum cap, selecting a second time for full essence cap), and at higher levels you gain 2 essence each round for your Storm veils. This can allow you to quickly reach cap if you only focus on a single Action-using veil.

[MilleniaAntares]

There are a few ways to go about it, but you can spend a Storm power to allow you to always have a pool of essence for your Storm veils (one talent for half your maximum cap, selecting a second time for full essence cap), and at higher levels you gain 2 essence each round for your Storm veils. This can allow you to quickly reach cap if you only focus on a single Action-using veil.
Oh, I see! Makes sense, guess I forgot about those features...

Edit: The Devotee of the Storm's Hidden Passage class feature would be better if it could affect allies within X feet as well. Hiding your own tracks is only good when you're not traveling with others!

[Mairn]

Edit: The Devotee of the Storm's Hidden Passage class feature would be better if it could affect allies within X feet as well. Hiding your own tracks is only good when you're not traveling with others!

Oh, yeah. Good point!

[MilleniaAntares]

Maybe it's just the anti-caster in me, but I feel that Distracting Current should also put a penalty on concentration checks... and perhaps even require a concentration check even if casting in otherwise ideal conditions. Otherwise, only ray users would be affected.

Inured to the Wind seems a bit niche. Perhaps it can be improved by also applying the effective size increase against being moved (bull rush, reposition, drag, etc), or by providing a bonus to CMD/saves that would move you... or something like that.

Edit:

For Favored Class Options, have you considered adding the three akashic races to the list? The gamla (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/gamla), sobek (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/sobek) and suqur (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/suqur).

[Mairn]

Maybe it's just the anti-caster in me, but I feel that Distracting Current should also put a penalty on concentration checks... and perhaps even require a concentration check even if casting in otherwise ideal conditions. Otherwise, only ray users would be affected.

Inured to the Wind seems a bit niche. Perhaps it can be improved by also applying the effective size increase against being moved (bull rush, reposition, drag, etc), or by providing a bonus to CMD/saves that would move you... or something like that.

Edit:

For Favored Class Options, have you considered adding the three akashic races to the list? The gamla (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/gamla), sobek (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/sobek) and suqur (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/suqur).

Oh yeah that is an interesting idea for distracting current and inured to the wind. Will mock something up for them when I get a chance.

I left out the three original akashic races because they didn't *really* fit the flavor of the class.

[JoshuaZ]

This looks awesome. Under the fluff for the Veilshifter:


"Though intense meditation, study, and application of akashic theorem a veilweaver can learn to more easily center themselves, allowing the shifting and reshaping of akashic veils at a whim."

There appears to be a grammar or language issue here. Theorem seems like a weird word here, and grammatically it would be either "an akashic theorem" or "akashic theorems." Was this supposed to actually say "akashic theory" which makes more sense?

[Mairn]

This looks awesome. Under the fluff for the Veilshifter:


"Though intense meditation, study, and application of akashic theorem a veilweaver can learn to more easily center themselves, allowing the shifting and reshaping of akashic veils at a whim."

There appears to be a grammar or language issue here. Theorem seems like a weird word here, and grammatically it would be either "an akashic theorem" or "akashic theorems." Was this supposed to actually say "akashic theory" which makes more sense?

Thanks. Fixed it.

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The public playtest for Stormbound is coming to a close now as the book enters layout. Thank you everyone for your eyes and playtesting!