Quote Originally Posted by Fax Celestis View Post
Is that weird, by the by? Should I just make it based on your Tzocatl mod?
I have thought about this a bit more. I still have no other solution to this issue. I think basing a wide variety of buffs on modifier seems like a good idea. When I utter Eternal Armament, the current rules make me recalculate my attack bonus, which will probably be different than what it was last fight. This increases the amount of math that needs to be done at the table. Table math can be much reduced if there is at least a variant rule that lets me treat my Tzocatl check as x+Tzocatl modifier at least sometimes.

Then I can just write the number on my character sheet and be done with it.


Quote Originally Posted by Fax Celestis View Post
What if I alllowed take 10 when not threatened for litanies, but not edicts?
Given that there are degrees of success, but no actual failure, I think the x should probably be above 10. The expected value (mean) of speaking an edict tends to be better than the median result, so taking a 10 is typically worse than rolling. (btw, I am not referring to the fact that the average of a d20 is 10.5). It would probably make more sense to let someone treat their roll as somewhere in the 11-15 rather than a 10. You would have to do the math to determine the best number that balances the math.

At the very least, a side bar should explain how long it takes to take a twenty.

Other things:

Studied Edict smells like the sort of feat that will get argued about a lot on the playground. I am not sure whether they will decide it is useless or overpowered or both, but probably not neither. With that in play, the wording of every esoterica has to be even more rock solid than otherwise.

For example, if I get the esoterica for war cry to pick up the feat Rapid Shot, then studied edict, I could see it argued that I get another extra shot when I use the feat. Another interpretation is that I get a second combat feat. A third is that I get nothing.

That is just the first trick I could think of. I am sure there are others out there. I would suggest getting rid of the consolation prize for those who have the esoterica already, and anything that has studied edict as a requirement instead requires knowing the esoterica.

As a side note, the power of the esoterica seem to be all over the map. One grants a fighter bonus feat and another is worse than skill focus (buff), giving a smaller bonus, which doesn't scale with skill points invested, only applies to a single type of bluff, and is an insight bonus, which the book hands out like candy.

That will probably get a lot more attention in a later stage of development.