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  1. - Top - End - #31
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Sewercop View Post
    I am still surprised wotc havent sued you guys for ip theft. You say it yourself, you even mention the source many times,even the words itself. How is this not plagiarism at it worst?
    Because there's an OGL out there. We can't put "Magic of Incarnum" in the title, but we can certainly tell people in the forums that the mechanics are based on those previously seen in that work.
    The races, classes, veils, etc. are all completely new and unique to Dreamscarred Press, and while there is some mechanical overlap in a few of the feats, that's more due to the nature of the system and the fact that there's only so many ways to write "add x for y effect". Dreamscarred Press is very familiar with the OGL and all of its requirements and is operating well inside its parameters on both the Akashic Mysteries and Path of War products.
    Last edited by Ssalarn; 2014-05-21 at 12:46 PM.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Sewercop View Post
    I am still surprised wotc havent sued you guys for ip theft. You say it yourself, you even mention the source many times,even the words itself. How is this not plagiarism at it worst?
    Adaptation is allowed

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    Last edited by PsyBomb; 2014-05-21 at 12:32 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire
    Optimization stops being practical and starts being theoretical when your DPR is measured in Tarrasques instead of hit points
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  3. - Top - End - #33
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by stack View Post
    The bonuses are a bit fiddly in some cases, like the hand bind. Rarely worth the standard action at low levels due to the short duration. The foot bind bonus is nice though, the extra speed makes pestilence-based flight much faster. Also helps with overland travel. I could get behind expanding the paths instead, though that would be more for future paths to have to fill in as well. I guess that could be a positive, actually, granting more design space for future paths.

    The gamla actually strikes me as a great chassis for a wrath daevic. The smaller weapons shouldn't apply to natural attacks (powerful build doesn't), and the extra reach is great. Dex penalty doesn't matter in heavy armor and Con is nice.

    Okay, I think I'm going to look into going that route then, trimming out the moving parts that bringing unnecessary complications and expanding the Paths to be a little more robust.

    I actually kind of like that idea, it brings the Vizier a little more in line with the Psion as far as that implementation of a base caster chassis with some plug and play options to customize it. I'll try and get you guys a playtest doc showing what that will look like before the end of this weekend. That may even open room for me to add an additional Path to the initial release!

    On the gamla-
    It's kind of my favorite akashic race so far, and was something I've had in my folder of homebrew stuff for a long time. I think it's really a pretty decent race for any of the akashic classes, though granted Vizier has some impediments since the 12 foot tall caster is probably going to make a pretty tempting target. I think he does a pretty good job of complimenting the materials without being OP. And of course, it's surprising how many people love the opportunity to spit in the enemy's eye and get some mechanical reward out of it.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    This looks exciting, Ssalarn! I'll be certainly picking up Akashic Mysteries.

    Quick Question (my apologies if it was mentioned here or in another thread) ...

    I'm a big fan of the Incarnum Spellshaping feat from MoI. Especially for plain old use by wizards, clerics, etc. who aren't using any of the Incarnum classes. Will there be something similar to additional and new arcane & divine spells with the [Incarnum] spell descriptor? In essence, to allow me to add more of these spell types to be used by the original Incarnum Spellshaping feat?

    If there's an equivalent or corollary game mechanics in Akashic Mysteries that does this, I'm up for that as well. Even if it involves some swapping-out or re-fluffing.

    Thank you!
    Last edited by Miss Disaster; 2014-05-21 at 12:42 PM.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Snake charmer Magus' adamant coils doesn't have a listed duration.

    The races are all pretty damn cool, Sobek is probably my favorite but.... 20 foot base speed makes me cringe. A lot.

    Also feels a bit weird that Desire Daevics don't have diplomacy. I mean I understand that's because it's on Dominion's list but it still feels like Desire's fluff is screaming for it.

    Minor stuff:
    The Suqur doesn't have a listed size in its stat block.

    I haven't played the warlord enough to judge its strength but I really like the idea behind it. WotC's rule on not mixing two noncore subsystems always really irked me and it's nice to see that design space being explored.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Miss Disaster View Post
    This looks exciting, Ssalarn! I'll be certainly picking up Akashic Mysteries.

    Quick Question (my apologies if it was mentioned here or in another thread) ...

    I'm a big fan of the Incarnum Spellshaping feat from MoI. Especially for plain old use by wizards, clerics, etc. who aren't using any of the Incarnum classes. Will there be something similar to additional and new arcane & divine spells with the [Incarnum] spell descriptor? In essence, to allow me to add more of these spell types to be used by the original Incarnum Spellshaping feat?

    If there's an equivalent or corollary game mechanics in Akashic Mysteries that does this, I'm up for that as well. Even if it involves some swapping-out or re-fluffing.

    Thank you!
    I do have some stuff that's been kind of tucked away and marked "potential additional material" that includes akashic spell options. So in answer to your question, there isn't really anything out there right now that matches up with Incarnum Spellshaping though there are some feats specifically designed to help standard spellcasters dip a toe into the system.

    One of my long term goals with the project is to start creating classes, archetypes, and options for characters who utilize an Essence Pool and some of these feats without doing any veilweaving. We've already started to kind of explore that idea a bit in some of the archetypes we've got out there and there's some stuff on the table to really delve into that aspect of things a bit later if we see success with this initial run. Enhanced ability to interact with veils, Essence, and other components of the subsystem and integrate them into traditional spellcasters is definitely part of that game plan.

    Quote Originally Posted by squiggit View Post
    Snake charmer Magus' adamant coils doesn't have a listed duration.

    The races are all pretty damn cool, Sobek is probably my favorite but.... 20 foot base speed makes me cringe. A lot.

    Also feels a bit weird that Desire Daevics don't have diplomacy. I mean I understand that's because it's on Dominion's list but it still feels like Desire's fluff is screaming for it.

    Minor stuff:
    The Suqur doesn't have a listed size in its stat block.

    I haven't played the warlord enough to judge its strength but I really like the idea behind it. WotC's rule on not mixing two noncore subsystems always really irked me and it's nice to see that design space being explored.
    Thanks for the notes! I'm glad you like the materials so far. I'll go in and fix the Suqur's size entry and note the duration on Adamant Coils.

    I'm going through all 3 classes with a fine-toothed comb this week, so I'll keep your suggestion for the Desire Daevic in mind while I'm working with that class. There's a somewhat different layout for the Passions being looked at, so evaluating things like possible additions/subtractions to the Passion skill and Veil lists isn't going to be really adding anything to the work load that wasn't going to get reviewed anyways.
    Last edited by Ssalarn; 2014-05-21 at 01:16 PM.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Sewercop View Post
    I am still surprised wotc havent sued you guys for ip theft. You say it yourself, you even mention the source many times,even the words itself. How is this not plagiarism at it worst?
    As long as they do not copy things outright they should be fine, as far as I understand it. However, I Am Not A Lawyer and you should not rely on what I write in regards to legal matters. And giving legal advice is against the forum rules.

    Let me just say that you cannot copyright game mechanics, Wizards to my knowledge have not patented Incarnum, and as far as I know nothing in Akashic Mysteries is copy-pasted from non-OGL products nor share names.

    Copyright in regards to rolplaying games is pretty complicated.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Gemini476 View Post
    As long as they do not copy things outright they should be fine, as far as I understand it. However, I Am Not A Lawyer and you should not rely on what I write in regards to legal matters. And giving legal advice is against the forum rules.

    Let me just say that you cannot copyright game mechanics, Wizards to my knowledge have not patented Incarnum, and as far as I know nothing in Akashic Mysteries is copy-pasted from non-OGL products nor share names.

    Copyright in regards to rolplaying games is pretty complicated.

    Word. One of the first things I asked Andreas when he tapped me for the project was "Isn't that a non-OGL product?"
    I have since learned a lot about the way the OGL works, and Andreas and Jeremy are old pros at this.
    The important thing is that we have our own Veils, our own classes, our own races, and actually quite a few of our own unique takes on directions you can go with the basic framework of a system that gives you a rotating pool of a set resource.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Random thought that popped into my head: Racial feats for the three Akashic races that allow them to bind their essence-based racials to unlock more specialized abilities? Not exactly sure how to execute it well, just the idea popped into my head of a giant camel man hurling some magically akashicly empowered spittle that blinds the foe or turns into acid or... something.

    Would also like to see more emphasis on veils that can be bound to multiple slots with different effects, those always seemed particularly fun in MoI deciding how to bind them (at least the ones that didn't make one obviously better than the rest). That's just personal preference though.

    Quote Originally Posted by Prime32 View Post
    "Four pairs of magic boots" is simple. If one veil would create glowy boots made out of fire, and another would create glowy boots with spikes on them, you get glowy boots with spikes made out of fire.
    I really like this idea. And if you're eating resources (veils per day, essentia) to use it, I don't see why having two boots is that big of a deal.

    Don't have much else meaty to add, though I'll be trying a Sobek Dominion Daevic tomorrow so I might have some thoughts after that.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Ssalarn View Post
    I do have some stuff that's been kind of tucked away and marked "potential additional material" that includes akashic spell options. So in answer to your question, there isn't really anything out there right now that matches up with Incarnum Spellshaping though there are some feats specifically designed to help standard spellcasters dip a toe into the system.

    One of my long term goals with the project is to start creating classes, archetypes, and options for characters who utilize an Essence Pool and some of these feats without doing any veilweaving. We've already started to kind of explore that idea a bit in some of the archetypes we've got out there and there's some stuff on the table to really delve into that aspect of things a bit later if we see success with this initial run. Enhanced ability to interact with veils, Essence, and other components of the subsystem and integrate them into traditional spellcasters is definitely part of that game plan.
    Thanks for your reply, Ssalarn. I'll look into those feats you mentioned in your first paragraph (above). And I hope to see those Akashic Spell Options make it to print in a future Dreamscarred Press supplement.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    I'm surprised there's no elephant folk in a game like this.

    I second wanting akashic spell options. Hell, while you're at it akashic psionic options and akashic maneuver options could be cool too....and akashic invocations and vestiges if you ever get around to porting the warlock or binder.

    I'd also like to see the daevic passions get more versatility. Losing half my class features if I want to play a dominion without a shield or gaining no benefit from my capstone or AoO modifiers if I'm a wrath deva with a one handed weapon or trying to finesse is...eh. I know there's an image in your head of how these specializations are meant to be portrayed, but some flexibility there would be nice.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by squiggit View Post
    Would also like to see more emphasis on veils that can be bound to multiple slots with different effects, those always seemed particularly fun in MoI deciding how to bind them (at least the ones that didn't make one obviously better than the rest). That's just personal preference though.
    You mean like Totem Avatar? Would be cool to see a PrC specialising in one of those veils, eventually letting you bind it to all your chakras at once or transform into the creature it's based on.

    Quote Originally Posted by Anlashok View Post
    I second wanting akashic spell options. Hell, while you're at it akashic psionic options and akashic maneuver options could be cool too....and akashic invocations and vestiges if you ever get around to porting the warlock or binder.
    What about the opposite? Veils that grant you knowledge of psionic powers, with binds that expand the list or add free augments.
    Last edited by Prime32; 2014-05-22 at 12:41 PM.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Anlashok View Post
    I'm surprised there's no elephant folk in a game like this.

    I second wanting akashic spell options. Hell, while you're at it akashic psionic options and akashic maneuver options could be cool too....and akashic invocations and vestiges if you ever get around to porting the warlock or binder.

    I'd also like to see the daevic passions get more versatility. Losing half my class features if I want to play a dominion without a shield or gaining no benefit from my capstone or AoO modifiers if I'm a wrath deva with a one handed weapon or trying to finesse is...eh. I know there's an image in your head of how these specializations are meant to be portrayed, but some flexibility there would be nice.
    It's funny that you mention Vestiges. Alexander Augunas, author of Pact Magic Unbound, the Pathfinder port for the vestige system, recently reached out to DSP on our Facebook page and he and I are now in talks for a future collaborative vestige/akashic release.

    Daevic Passions are... I'm going to call them a work in progress. There's a reason the Daevic will be the last of the three classes to release, and those are pretty much our primary culprits. I wrapped up alpha testing on a system where the Passions had kind of a light side / dark side thing going on (Dominion had Tyranny and Benevolence, Wrath had Justice and Vengeance, Desire had Love and Lust), and unfortunately the feedback was pretty universal in that there were just too many moving parts. The Daevic was supposed to be the easy entry class for the akashic system, and unfortunately his evolution during playtesting has moved him farther and farther away from that.

    I'm currently thinking about a bit of a revamp where we cut out a lot of the benefits currently obtained through the Passions (defensive abilities, bonus feats, etc.), and we give him a set of bonus feats that can be spent on Akashic or Combat feats, and some flat bonuses through his Daevic Possession class feature that sync up with his new abbreviated but expanded Passion list. So, we go with 9 Passions, 6 of which are like specialized subdomains that work mostly like the primary but subbing out very specific differences.

    For Example:
    Rickard is a Wrath Daevic. New Wrath would normally grant Rickard a +1 competence bonus per point of Essence invested on all attacks made with slashing weapons, but Rickard has chosen to specialize with Vengeance which replaces that benefit with a +1 competence on all natural attacks. His brother Bran reacted to the trauma that led them to bond with daeva differently and instead follows the path of Justice. Brand gains a +2 competence bonus on all damage rolls made with two-handed slashing weapons.


    And the differences would kind of scale out from there, so that the individual Passions offer you smaller benefits than they do currently, but with more directions to build your character in. I'd probably couple this with cutting the Daevic's Essence Pool in half and removing his free Improved Essence Capacity, but then allowing him to count his Passion Veils as automatically acting as though they have 1/2 the Essence invested in his Passion to represent the symbiosis between the Daevic and his daeva.

    Thoughts?

    Quote Originally Posted by Anlashok View Post
    I'm surprised there's no elephant folk in a game like this.
    There's going to be a total of 5 races. I was seriously considering a race of elephant men for race #5 (race number 4 are the Shiva-esque half-daeva), but Andreas was pretty clear that I had reached and/or exceeded my quota of anthromorphs for this book.
    Last edited by Ssalarn; 2014-05-22 at 01:18 PM.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Prime32 View Post
    What about the opposite? Veils that grant you knowledge of psionic powers, with binds that expand the list or add free augments.
    I like that. I like it a lot.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Ssalarn, I love that idea for Passions. I'll type more on this as soon as I get to a computer instead of my phone.

    As for "easy entry", the Guru already fits that bill to an extent. Seriously, they play a lot like rogue-mystics with a rotating set of powers they can meditate for (+17 Stealth at level 4 is fun...)

    Random question, are either of the two unrevealed races Dex/Wis?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire
    Optimization stops being practical and starts being theoretical when your DPR is measured in Tarrasques instead of hit points
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    There's going to be a total of 5 races. I was seriously considering a race of elephant men for race #5 (race number 4 are the Shiva-esque half-daeva), but Andreas was pretty clear that I had reached and/or exceeded my quota of anthromorphs for this book.
    Replace one of the other anthromorphs. I'd take a half-elephant over a Half-Giant Camel.


    I'm currently thinking about a bit of a revamp where we cut out a lot of the benefits currently obtained through the Passions (defensive abilities, bonus feats, etc.), and we give him a set of bonus feats that can be spent on Akashic or Combat feats, and some flat bonuses through his Daevic Possession class feature that sync up with his new abbreviated but expanded Passion list. So, we go with 9 Passions, 6 of which are like specialized subdomains that work mostly like the primary but subbing out very specific differences.

    For Example:
    Rickard is a Wrath Daevic. New Wrath would normally grant Rickard a +1 competence bonus per point of Essence invested on all attacks made with slashing weapons, but Rickard has chosen to specialize with Vengeance which replaces that benefit with a +1 competence on all natural attacks. His brother Bran reacted to the trauma that led them to bond with daeva differently and instead follows the path of Justice. Brand gains a +2 competence bonus on all damage rolls made with two-handed slashing weapons.
    This still sounds like it's going to have the same problems he was citing (each passion being very niche, retrained to a very narrow weapon style), having one style be "Slashing weapons" and another be "Two-handed slashing weapons" really doesn't help that. Like at all. Unless you plan to have a few dozen of these.

    Also I'm not sure how it solves the problems you were having of too many moving parts. You're still picking a domain and a subdomain, all you changed was the terminology.

    The Daevic was supposed to be the easy entry class for the akashic system, and unfortunately his evolution during playtesting has moved him farther and farther away from that.
    For what it's worth, I still hate that the class that gets designated as the "Must be simplest for a new player" class is the most martially focused class. I wish just once that the martially focused class could be allowed to be the most complex, while the caster type got the simple end of the stick.

    But I also hate that the Daevic is being constrained by what Pathfinder thinks is appropriate for a weapon wielding warrior type to be able to do, with so much effort being wasted on convincing people "No, really, it's not that much better than a Fighter!".
    If my text is blue, I'm being sarcastic.But you already knew that, right?


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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Seerow View Post
    Replace one of the other anthromorphs. I'd take a half-elephant over a Half-Giant Camel.
    But the Gamla are my most popular race! I think they're also the most original; I know that 3.5 had elephant-men and bird-men, and odds are pretty good that there have been alligator-men or crocodile-men in some supplement out there, but I've never seen anyone other than myself and Camel Cigarettes anthropomorphize a camel.


    Quote Originally Posted by Seerow View Post
    This still sounds like it's going to have the same problems he was citing (each passion being very niche, retrained to a very narrow weapon style), having one style be "Slashing weapons" and another be "Two-handed slashing weapons" really doesn't help that. Like at all. Unless you plan to have a few dozen of these.

    Also I'm not sure how it solves the problems you were having of too many moving parts. You're still picking a domain and a subdomain, all you changed was the terminology.
    You'd pick a domain or a subdomain. The domains would just offer more specialized options within the framework of the existing domain, and once everything's on paper you'd have a very specific and controlled amount of moving parts that should be easy to mitigate.



    Quote Originally Posted by Seerow View Post

    For what it's worth, I still hate that the class that gets designated as the "Must be simplest for a new player" class is the most martially focused class. I wish just once that the martially focused class could be allowed to be the most complex, while the caster type got the simple end of the stick.
    I think in some ways the whole akashic system is actually going to be pretty simple and accessible. I'm working on some changes to the Vizier right now that are going to simplify him and replace the fiddly bits (Essence Bond) with a smaller number of clean abilities (and of course, regular binds).

    Quote Originally Posted by Seerow View Post

    But I also hate that the Daevic is being constrained by what Pathfinder thinks is appropriate for a weapon wielding warrior type to be able to do, with so much effort being wasted on convincing people "No, really, it's not that much better than a Fighter!"
    You know that I agree on this and you're probably not the only one who recalls a few months back when I was bashing my head against a brick wall trying to convince people that Full BAB =/= low versatility. I still remember wanting to tear my hair out that I could lay the Daevic side-by-side with the Barbarian, Ranger, Paladin, Gunslinger, and Cavalier and show all the ways that he was well-balanced to those classes and immediately have someone respond with how he's too versatile to be almost as good in combat as the Fighter....
    I've moved on from that battle, I've made the concessions I'm going to make, and hopefully the end result is something that enough people like that I get to keep doing this and making more stuff.

    Just FYI, I'm also working on a class for Amora Games called the Iron Lord who is a full BAB buffing class who can also add elements of battlefield control, healing, group stealth, and more, so breaking that association between full BAB and low versatility in the minds of the gaming population is an ongoing project for me, as is my "Being able to do it all day long shouldn't mean it has to be 50% weaker than other options because everyone is still running off the limited resource called hit points" campaign.

    But the last couple paragraphs are a fairly large detour from the actual project

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Ssalarn, the Elephant-Man can be a specified appearance for one of the alternate racial features for Gamla.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire
    Optimization stops being practical and starts being theoretical when your DPR is measured in Tarrasques instead of hit points
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Need a prehensile trunk in place of the spit though. Not sure what to add to invest essence into, maybe carrying capacity?

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by PsyBomb View Post
    Ssalarn, the Elephant-Man can be a specified appearance for one of the alternate racial features for Gamla.
    I knew there was something I liked about you.....

    Since we were actually already talking about giving different "packets" of alternate racial traits to the sobek to represent sobek from different environments, that could be a fun way to basically sneak like an extra half dozen races in!

    Any requests for other races who could sit on the Gamla chassis but trade out the Spit and Desert Strider ability for another packet that works for a different type of anthromorph? Off the top of my head, I'm thinking a hippopotamus race, are there any other good large ungulates? Buffalo maybe?

    I also like the idea of the leopard or baboon, but I worry they'd require too many changes to the core racial chassis.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    I like the odd of elephants as an alternate racial package. Thoug if we are taking about replacing a race as mentioned above, my vote would be for the bird people since they have the least dynamic mechanics. They don't seem to do a lot that other winged races don't already do.

    Gamla are the most nonstandard without being too weird so probably the most worth keeping.

    I can't think of anything other than the previously mentioned hippo for Gamla.... but Sobek could turn into tigers, peacocks... Maybe cobras or something.

    There's also some pretty crazy insects and spiders in the relevant regions you're trying to build off of here.

    Edit: The Gamla can turn into rhinoceri! That's not a particularly common animal choice either.
    Last edited by squiggit; 2014-05-22 at 04:02 PM.

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by squiggit View Post
    I can't think of anything other than the previously mentioned hippo for Gamla.... but Sobek could turn into tigers, peacocks... Maybe cobras or something.

    There's also some pretty crazy insects and spiders in the relevant regions you're trying to build off of here.

    Edit: The Gamla can turn into rhinoceri! That's not a particularly common animal choice either.
    I love it! I'm going to play around with this and get a couple of these alternate racial packages added to the playtest doc over the weekend.

    I'll probably have to snag names to associate with the alternate racials though; Gamla, Sobek, and Suqur literally mean camel, crocodile, and hawk.

  23. - Top - End - #53
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    May I request a Tiger race called the Singh, alt race to the Sobek or Suqur? Dex/Wis if possible. They fit the region in question, look up Sikhism for reference.
    Avatar by Elder Tsofu

    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire
    Optimization stops being practical and starts being theoretical when your DPR is measured in Tarrasques instead of hit points
    My Guides:
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    Fear Itself: the Dread

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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    I had a concern that I wasn't sure how to address with the rules, in the specific area of "Self Contained". If an isolated culture or whatever that only knows Akashic tried adventuring, it has a lot of trouble removing ability and level damage, traveling, and likely other major utility abilities. Can they Dispel, for instance? I'm not sure what the best way to address this would be; I have often found a need for some kind of "ritual" abilities to give noncombat access to some of these.

    I already mentioned this on the DSP forum, so I'm looking for thoughts from others here.
    Last edited by JusticeZero; 2014-05-24 at 10:24 PM.
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  25. - Top - End - #55
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by JusticeZero View Post
    I had a concern that I wasn't sure how to address with the rules, in the specific area of "Self Contained". If an isolated culture or whatever that only knows Akashic tried adventuring, it has a lot of trouble removing ability and level damage, traveling, and likely other major utility abilities. Can they Dispel, for instance? I'm not sure what the best way to address this would be; I have often found a need for some kind of "ritual" abilities to give noncombat access to some of these.

    I already mentioned this on the DSP forum, so I'm looking for thoughts from others here.
    At the very least, Gurus can Dispel offensively via Sunder Veil and some philosophies can cure a limited selection of status effects (Akasins can Remove Blindness and Raise Dead, Sineaters have Atonement, and Vayists have Breath of Life). They don't have much in the way of travel-boosting capabilities, though I believe that Coward's Boots are on every class list and can help speed things along. I'd need to look through the veils more closely to see if anything has the ability to fix ability damage/drain and the like.

    I'll have more tomorrow on this, plus an attempted build.

    EDIT: Immaculate Touch can emulate Paladin Mercies. Horselord's Greaves can cast Mount when bound. Heart of the Wight gives bonuses to save against a ton of stuff, not instant removal but helps long-term. That's all I see for now.

    EDIT2: The build I'm working on is for a Sineater Guru (don't know why I like the Gurus so much, they just appeal to me). Dipping two levels of Soulknife (Deadly Fist archetype) to start picking up Bladeskills, plus free Flurry. Specifically, the Bladeskill in question is Focused Offense, which allows a complete Strength dump (and low Cha/Int with moderate Dex). Made for a Gamla.

    Perhaps a build stub...

    15 Point-Buy:

    Str: 7 (carrying capacity solved by being Large)
    Dex: 13 (was expensive to get, but needed for feats. Gets the level-4 stat point)
    Con: 14 (a pity I couldn't take serious advantage here, but had to cut points somewhere and this isn't a mega min-max build)
    Int: 10 (can drop to 8 without issue, or 7 for truly high-op, though reinvesting is a challenge)
    Wis: 18 (Priority here for items)
    Cha: 10 (again, can drop to 8 without issue, or 7 for truly high-op)

    1) Deadly Fist 1 (IUS, Flurry, Weapon Finesse)
    2) Deadly Fist 2 (Focused Offense!)
    3) Guru 1 (Gentle Touch, Piranha Strike, Forcestrike Knuckles online)
    *Build is fully online at this point, striking for 1d8+1d4+14 subdual or 1d8+10 lethal*
    4) Guru 2 (Hand Bind unlocks, gaining shield bonus to AC, can now affect Undead with Gentle Touch)
    5) Guru 3 (Extra Essence feat)
    6) Guru 4 (Expanded Capacity!, extra defensive abilities)
    *At this point, capacity is 3 with 7 essence in the pool. Unarmed Strike in combat hits for 1d8+3d4+20 (avg 31) subdual or 1d8+16 (avg 20.5) lethal, and has tons of options outside of combat*

    EDIT: With the change to Chakra Power on Page 4...
    7) Guru 5 (Chakra Power, second bind). cap 3, 9 essence in pool. Unarmed Strike hits for 1d8+3d4+23 (avg 34) subdual or 1d8+19 (avg 23.5) lethal, though this requires ALL essence invested. However, it does leave your Feet bind open, and 2 Veils not yet determined)
    Last edited by PsyBomb; 2014-06-11 at 09:08 PM.
    Avatar by Elder Tsofu

    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire
    Optimization stops being practical and starts being theoretical when your DPR is measured in Tarrasques instead of hit points
    My Guides:
    PsyBomb's Guides to the Akashic Mysteries (Now with all three classes!)
    Fear Itself: the Dread

    Extended Signature HERE

  26. - Top - End - #56
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Hey all, sorry for the communications black-out the last couple of days. My day job had 1 person sick, 1 person on vacation, 1 person with a family emergency, and one person doing out of town business calls so things got crazy.

    I've gotten a lot of great feedback from everyone and am currently working on integrating that all into the materials. My goal is to have an update out either tonight or tomorrow including the following changes:

    Minor fixes pointed out by Stack, Prime32, and others including things like fixing durations for abilities on veils, classes, and archetypes.

    Vizier update - removing Essence Bond, replacing it with a standardized bind progression and path-specific auras. Will try to add a 3rd Path for this update as well once I get some initial feedback from the alpha group on a couple contenders for the spot.

    Daevic update - We're expanding the Daevic Possession class feature to include some standardized defenses for all Daevic's, and changing the way the Passions work so that they're simpler, more straightforward packets of abilities.

    Guru update - mostly just minor tweaks for clarity here. Airbound Imbuement has a makeover scheduled that I'm hoping to get into this update as well.

    All righty guys, stay tuned...

  27. - Top - End - #57
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Ssalarn View Post
    Hey all, sorry for the communications black-out the last couple of days. My day job had 1 person sick, 1 person on vacation, 1 person with a family emergency, and one person doing out of town business calls so things got crazy.

    I've gotten a lot of great feedback from everyone and am currently working on integrating that all into the materials. My goal is to have an update out either tonight or tomorrow including the following changes:

    Minor fixes pointed out by Stack, Prime32, and others including things like fixing durations for abilities on veils, classes, and archetypes.

    Vizier update - removing Essence Bond, replacing it with a standardized bind progression and path-specific auras. Will try to add a 3rd Path for this update as well once I get some initial feedback from the alpha group on a couple contenders for the spot.

    Daevic update - We're expanding the Daevic Possession class feature to include some standardized defenses for all Daevic's, and changing the way the Passions work so that they're simpler, more straightforward packets of abilities.

    Guru update - mostly just minor tweaks for clarity here. Airbound Imbuement has a makeover scheduled that I'm hoping to get into this update as well.

    All righty guys, stay tuned...
    Thanks for the update. As Veils go, also don't forget the Snakehandler's Gauntlets. We spoke about it about 5-6 pages back in the old thread, but DR/Magic is effective for perhaps a level and a half. The bonus against poison and the Bind effect are decent, but not enough to warrant shaping it given that it competes with Forcestrike Knuckles, Armory of the Conqueror, and Gloves of the Master Thief.

    Random question, do you plan to have any Good-aligned Veils? There are a few Evil ones, which makes playing a Good Vizier more difficult than it has to be (and some of those are best-in-slot for a long time)

    EDIT: Yeah, the more I work with Gurus, the more I'd love to see a PrC for them and Soulknife. Something about evoking their Philosophy from their very soul. As I showed above, this is good for Sineaters already... and if the PrC ends up happening then it'll be an awesome path for any combat-focused Guru.
    Last edited by PsyBomb; 2014-05-25 at 07:00 PM.
    Avatar by Elder Tsofu

    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire
    Optimization stops being practical and starts being theoretical when your DPR is measured in Tarrasques instead of hit points
    My Guides:
    PsyBomb's Guides to the Akashic Mysteries (Now with all three classes!)
    Fear Itself: the Dread

    Extended Signature HERE

  28. - Top - End - #58
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by PsyBomb View Post
    Thanks for the update. As Veils go, also don't forget the Snakehandler's Gauntlets. We spoke about it about 5-6 pages back in the old thread, but DR/Magic is effective for perhaps a level and a half. The bonus against poison and the Bind effect are decent, but not enough to warrant shaping it given that it competes with Forcestrike Knuckles, Armory of the Conqueror, and Gloves of the Master Thief.

    Random question, do you plan to have any Good-aligned Veils? There are a few Evil ones, which makes playing a Good Vizier more difficult than it has to be (and some of those are best-in-slot for a long time)
    ***
    I've just added the Snakehandler's update to the source docs, so that change will be visible with the rest of the release. Thanks for reminding me!

    Currently the Guru has several Good-aligned veils. The Vizier had a few but they.... well, they didn't make it. I'll try and work a few more in there. Do note that you can always take the Tainted Chakra feat to remove the alignment restriction from your veilweaving and also boost the bonuses from some of those veils as well. Any wearer can take Tainted Chakra and shape Heart of the Wight for a +3 profane bonus to saves vs. death effects, disease, paralysis, poison, sleep, and stun effects without any Essence invested, for example.

    On the Soulknife PrC/archetype - It's on the list, but we had to be very careful about tip-toeing around "soul" references in this release, so we'd either have to go with different flavor or I'd have to run it by Andreas before we could use that kind of reference.

  29. - Top - End - #59
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    Quote Originally Posted by Ssalarn View Post
    I've just added the Snakehandler's update to the source docs, so that change will be visible with the rest of the release. Thanks for reminding me!

    Currently the Guru has several Good-aligned veils. The Vizier had a few but they.... well, they didn't make it. I'll try and work a few more in there. Do note that you can always take the Tainted Chakra feat to remove the alignment restriction from your veilweaving and also boost the bonuses from some of those veils as well. Any wearer can take Tainted Chakra and shape Heart of the Wight for a +3 profane bonus to saves vs. death effects, disease, paralysis, poison, sleep, and stun effects without any Essence invested, for example.

    On the Soulknife PrC/archetype - It's on the list, but we had to be very careful about tip-toeing around "soul" references in this release, so we'd either have to go with different flavor or I'd have to run it by Andreas before we could use that kind of reference.
    Not a problem. Anything I can do to help my favorite subsystem see the light of day once more is the LEAST I can do. Reflavoring it to reference "Forming a weapon out of Akashic energies" is simple enough, but I see your point. If you tiptoe hard (errr, soft?) enough, you can do it without using the word "Soul" anywhere (Make the relevant prerequisite "Have the Bladeskill class feature", which by extension would require them to be a Soulknife... and would allow the Deadly Fist/Soulbolt/Shielded/Armored archetypes). I'm looking forward to anything that progresses both Veilweaving and Enhanced Mind Blade (or equivalent)

    I've been taking Tainted Chakra on every Vizier I've made, as well, but occasionally the feat tax forces a delay (especially on Hand Cannon builds) that gets annoying. Might just be the price of business there, though.
    Avatar by Elder Tsofu

    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire
    Optimization stops being practical and starts being theoretical when your DPR is measured in Tarrasques instead of hit points
    My Guides:
    PsyBomb's Guides to the Akashic Mysteries (Now with all three classes!)
    Fear Itself: the Dread

    Extended Signature HERE

  30. - Top - End - #60
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    Default Re: Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries

    I would be careful reducing the daevic's essence capacity boost. Some veils would really suffer. Gorget of the wyrm is already suspect on a daevic, reducing it a step would hurt badly.

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