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    Default [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Welcome to the playtest for Psionics Augmented: Occult, the latest in Dreamscarred Press’ line of psionics expansions. With this project, we’re working to integrate Pathfinder’s recent book Occult Adventures with our psionics system, bringing psionic versions of occult classes, ties to the occult for psionic classes, new feats and powers, and more.

    Unlike some of Dreamscarred Press’ previous playtests, we’re trying a new model with this one. Rather than releasing an entire book worth of material for testing at once, we’ll be putting out smaller packets of rules over time. We hope that this “rolling playtest” will allow us to focus on, well, focused testing of new class options, abilities, and the like, and allow us to release them sooner rather than later. The end result will be that we can get the new stuff from the playtest to your table as efficiently as possible, without compromising on the quality you’ve come to expect from DSP. We will be periodically updating the playtest with new material, as well as keeping a close eye on the feedback we receive here.

    So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what we’ve got to offer:

    Wave A (December 18th, 2015)

    • The Gambler, a kineticist archetype focused on balancing high amounts of risk for a great reward, while delivering variable elemental damage with their kinetic blasts.

    • The Goetic, a spiritualist archetype who, rather than calling a phantom to do their bidding, binds seven otherworldly horrors into their body to make their power their own. This defense-focused archetype allows the spiritualist to transform themselves into horrific new forms to warp the battlefield and protect what is theirs. In addition, we have two more, less intensive archetypes for the spiritualist: the Athanatic Channeler, a spiritualist who uses psionic powers rather than psychic spells, and the Crystalline Binder, who stores their phantom in a psicrystal and can cause it to transform into a heavily-armored creature of crystal and ectoplasm. Finally, we have the Unpattern, an archetype that can be applied to a spiritualist’s phantom, allowing it to tear reality asunder with its tattered form.

    • The Living Legend, a soulknife archetype that invokes stories of heroes and villains to gain their strength, weaving words into weaponry and creating the tools out of mental power to make their mark on the world.

    • The Ringleader, a mesmerist who’s always the life of the party, and can draw both allies and enemies into his festivities with a special collective called a carnevale.

    Wave B (January 8th, 2016)

    • The Govi, an occultist who inverts their normal training in the arts of magic circles and mystical traps to go on the attack against extraplanar interlopers and possessing creatures. We've also added a few new feats for occultists in their document, with more to come.

    • The Host of Heroes, an aegis archetype with medium-theming similar to the Living Legend. They can modify their astral suit to fit legendary figures they seek to emulate and piggyback on the fame of, and gain benefits based on the myths they weave into their power.

    • The Mindrender, a mesmerist with dread terrors who is more terrifying that fear itself, who can lock people down with his stare.

    • The Shattered Mind, a psionic occultist who shards off his mind and soul into his implements, turning them into psicrystals and storing his psionic powers in them.


    Wave C (January 29th, 2016)
    • The Avant Guard, a kineticist archetype that partially shields their body from the ill effects of burn using psionic power, and manifests the remainder of their power in the form of an ectoplasmic guardian. We've also written up some new feats for kineticists.

    • The Shadow Aspect, a wilder fueled by emptiness and neglect. Rather than getting standard wild surges, they gain a special type of phantom.

    • Psionic discipline occultist implements; one each for athanatism, clairsentience, metacreativity, psychokinesis, psychometabolism, psychoportation, and telepathy. Any occultist with the psionic subtype may learn to use these implements, allowing a spellcasting occultist to cross over into uncharted territory, or a Shattered Mind occultist to focus entirely on psionics.

    • A set of Psionic Skill Unlocks and several related feats, as well as rules for using occult skill unlocks as a psionic character.


    Wave D (February 21st, 2016)
    • The Cryptographer psion archetype, who has cracked the code of psychic magic in order to gain access to an occultist implement matching their discipline specialization.

    • The Empath, a psionic medium archetype that eschews spirits and instead allows a character to connect themselves to all people and all histories, and share in the most powerful communal thoughts through the ages. These Zeitgeists determine the psionic powers and class abilities of an Empath.




    We look forward to your feedback, and hope you enjoy the ride.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Gambler Feedback

    Fluff: I like the theme of the Gambler, it seems pretty cool!

    Class Skills: I would use a trait to nab Sense Motive, so thanks for saving me a trait :)

    Gamblers Blast: The rules work, but the type of Physical damage for the Blast isn't listed as Piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning.

    Powers: This is definitely a way to address some of the utility issue people sometimes find in their Kineticists.

    Playing with Fire: For some unlucky Players this burn change is going to result in a character death lol

    Wagers: These interact pretty heavily in the subsystems and I really can't tell by looking at them what the outcome will be. I need to actually use this in game to judge.

    I'm gonna have to run one of these against my players, but it looks interesting for sure!

    How does a Gambler interact with Diadems?

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Is there an established definition anywhere for the term "temporary power points"? If so, which book is it in, and which section?

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Quote Originally Posted by tekevil View Post
    Gambler Feedback <snip>
    The physical blast of a gambler deals damage of their active element; effectively, they make a choice between "touch attack and SR" and "a bit more damage, normal attack, and no SR." For the kineticist's diadems, a gambler's blast will get the bonus damage out of one if they are currently in the right active energy type, because Gambler's Blast carries an elemental type based on that (water for cold, fire for fire, air for electricity, and earth for sonic).

    Quote Originally Posted by Kymera View Post
    Is there an established definition anywhere for the term "temporary power points"? If so, which book is it in, and which section?
    There is not; the word is used informally, to denote that these power points will vanish after being used.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire View Post
    The physical blast of a gambler deals damage of their active element; effectively, they make a choice between "touch attack and SR" and "a bit more damage, normal attack, and no SR." For the kineticist's diadems, a gambler's blast will get the bonus damage out of one if they are currently in the right active energy type, because Gambler's Blast carries an elemental type based on that (water for cold, fire for fire, air for electricity, and earth for sonic).
    That doesn't really make sense though.... Are physical fire blasts affected by Damage Reduction? Are they affected by Fire Resistance? What would it even look like? Why break the division between the physical damage types and the energy damage types?
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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    I noticed that in the soulknife archetype, under the trickster, there is a typo in its sneak attack.

    Quote Originally Posted by What it says now:
    Sneak Attack (Intermediate, Su): You gain the sneak attack ability. Whenever you attack a creature that’s its Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when you flank your target, you deal extra damage. This extra damage is 2d6 at 4th level, and increases by 1d6 for every three living legend levels thereafter. This otherwise functions as the rogue ability of the same name.
    Quote Originally Posted by What it should say (bolded emphasis mine:
    Sneak Attack (Intermediate, Su): You gain the sneak attack ability. Whenever you attack a creature that’s denied its Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when you flank your target, you deal extra damage. This extra damage is 2d6 at 4th level, and increases by 1d6 for every three living legend levels thereafter. This otherwise functions as the rogue ability of the same name.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    For the Living Legend:

    Because you replaced both the 2nd and 4th level blade skills, it's kinda pointless to include a prerequisite of 6th level on legendary stunts (because the earliest you can even pick a skill or stunt is the 6th-level blade skill, as it's the earliest one you didn't replace).

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Quote Originally Posted by Milo v3 View Post
    That doesn't really make sense though.... Are physical fire blasts affected by Damage Reduction? Are they affected by Fire Resistance? What would it even look like? Why break the division between the physical damage types and the energy damage types?
    The physical form of Gambler's Blast functions the same way as the existing physical blasts the kineticist has that deal energy damage (Blizzard Blast, Charged Water Blast, Ice Blast, Magma Blast, Plasma Blast, Steam Blast, Thunderstorm Blast, and Winter Blast). They are not affected by damage reduction, but are affected by energy resistance. The reason for this is that the Gambler does not get composite blasts and is themed around using shifting elements. The added versatility helps keep them relevant later, and allows them to stay on-theme regardless of which type they're firing. Mainly, though, and it's there to allow them to function against enemies with Spell Resistance (just like the existing physical blasts that deal energy damage help with).

    As to what it looks like, it could take a multitude of forms. Maybe it's something similar to the physical substance of the elemental plane of fire, or a bundle of superheated plasma. A physical electricity blast might take the form of lightning similar to a natural lightning bolt, rather than a magical one. A sonic energy blast is likely a wave of sound, while a sonic physical blast might look like vibrations in the target that don't make a noise at all, as it shakes them apart. The important thing is just that they do something that bypasses normal defenses against magical effects that a golem or other monster might possess. It could even potentially be fluffed as an overcharged shot (less easy to hit with, so it's not a touch attack, and deals more damage/punches through SR).

    Quote Originally Posted by Mehangel View Post
    I noticed that in the soulknife archetype, under the trickster, there is a typo in its sneak attack.
    Well that's just downright embarrassing. Thanks for the catch.

    Quote Originally Posted by master4sword View Post
    For the Living Legend:

    Because you replaced both the 2nd and 4th level blade skills, it's kinda pointless to include a prerequisite of 6th level on legendary stunts (because the earliest you can even pick a skill or stunt is the 6th-level blade skill, as it's the earliest one you didn't replace).
    That limit is there because it's still possible to take the Extra Blade Skill feat beforehand, if the character so wishes.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Best Kineticist one can make, kudos to that.
    But it's still rather weak: You need several rounds to spool up to attaching/using any powers you want or riders... which sounds great...

    Except combat tends to be OVER in 2-3 rounds, so there's a very high risk of "We're done, let's go." "Wait! I'm finally ready to unleash my full power upon these foes!"

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire View Post
    That limit is there because it's still possible to take the Extra Blade Skill feat beforehand, if the character so wishes.
    Extra Blade Skill requires the Blade Skill class feature, and since you're not getting one until 6th, you don't qualify for the feat until 6th level, unless I'm horribly mistaken.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Quote Originally Posted by Kiton2 View Post
    Best Kineticist one can make, kudos to that.
    But it's still rather weak: You need several rounds to spool up to attaching/using any powers you want or riders... which sounds great...

    Except combat tends to be OVER in 2-3 rounds, so there's a very high risk of "We're done, let's go." "Wait! I'm finally ready to unleash my full power upon these foes!"
    I dunno, I think this is the kind of thing that may require more than conjecture.

    It seems to me that at worst you'd be set up on round 2, so no worse than most classes.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Living Legend is rather cool.
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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Quote Originally Posted by master4sword View Post
    Extra Blade Skill requires the Blade Skill class feature, and since you're not getting one until 6th, you don't qualify for the feat until 6th level, unless I'm horribly mistaken.
    You are absolutely correct. This oversight has been discussed internally, and the change we're going with is a slight tweak to the Protagonist's Portrayal ability to give them back their 2nd-level blade skill (which is important for allowing Focused Offense, one of the intended possible buildpaths of the archetype).

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Actually, since all wagers are Swifts unless stated otherwise...

    Round 1: Wager to build burn
    Round 2: Cash Out
    Round 3: now you can use those temp PPs.

    The round 1 wager may cost you PPs as well. So you're pretty far from "all day blasting", and you aren't gonna be adding any riders to your blast before round 3, nor getting any free casting before then.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Don't forget that burn persists between encounters. There is some amount of risk involved, but generally, a Gambler Kineticist will want to keep at least some burn on them to fuel Elemental Overflow and have on hand for cashing out at the beginning of an encounter.

    A potential scenario might be:

    Round 1: Cash Out, use temporary pp to manifest a power to blast or debuff, such as energy stun.
    Round 2: Use a wager to build more burn, possibly attaching a debuff or an AoE to your kinetic blast
    Round 3: Cash Out again or continue on the offensive with another wager.

    Or, if you know an encounter is coming, using Cash Out beforehand to have temporary PP on hand for use in a round 1 rider blast.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    That's far from a certainty. Your first encounter of the day certainly does not offer this, and any cashing out beyond this requires you to have kept some from your first fight. The gambler has no utilities or defenses he can spend burn on to shore it up in the morning. He's gotta blast someone.

    Maybe 'know when to fold space' could inflict burn. Certainly better than a filthy "1+con/day" limit like it was some sort of vancian bloodline.
    Last edited by Kiton2; 2015-12-18 at 09:35 PM.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Each of the wagers except for Raise the Stakes can be made without any resource expenditure or an actual target, because you can always just fire your kinetic blast at a space instead of a creature. That's a good point about Know When to Fold Space, though. The ability has gone through several revisions before reaching its current form. Currently, I'm unsure if a powerful defensive teleport should be spammable all day, so it has the limit to keep it from being something used every round of every fight, so long as the Gambler has psionic focus(es) to burn. If it proves to be a non-issue, it may end up less limited, or it might be shifted to something that gives you burn and is less spammable when you're running hot.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Quote Originally Posted by Forrestfire View Post
    You are absolutely correct. This oversight has been discussed internally, and the change we're going with is a slight tweak to the Protagonist's Portrayal ability to give them back their 2nd-level blade skill (which is important for allowing Focused Offense, one of the intended possible buildpaths of the archetype).
    Awesome. Int-based Focused Offense was the first thing I thought of when I saw that the archetype switched everything to Intelligence, only for me to then discover that the first two blade skills were gone.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Loving the Ringleader and the Living Legend (although the title on the latter could use a little work. Maybe something like Legend Scion). They are not only flavorful and versatile, but also seem really fun to play. The only issue I have is that the Ringleader doesn't seem to have many clear strategies. What would I be doing with the allies/enemies that I have in my collective, and how would that be shaping the fight?
    Dark Green, the color of Chaotic Evil

    Quote Originally Posted by Psyren View Post
    Altruistorc is leaving me deeply disturbed and intrigued at the same time...

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    small question about living legend can regular medium call living legend as his/her spirit for day what happens and what not happens?

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    No. The Living Legend's roles, while taking some abilities, the name scheme, and theme from the Medium's spirits, are their own distinct thing that the Medium doesn't get access to. There's more to come for the Medium, but this isn't it.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Living Legends seem awesome. A few questions:

    Storied Blade: Just to be clear, Living Legends have the same enhancements for both their roles' mind blades, right? That's the interpretation I'm getting from Shape Mind Blade (where "your mind blade" is always singular), but it's a little confusing with Storied Blade (since "your roles mind blades" is always plural -- but maybe just refers to their shape?). What happens if an enhancement is valid for one shape but not the other?

    Protagonist Portrayal: If a feat 'must be the same type as the feat it replaces', do you mean combat vs. psionic? Might be good to be explicit, but probably not the biggest deal.

    Blade Skills: I'm starting to think you need to add descriptors to blade skills so you can more succinctly future-proof against archetypes who can't select skills that change the shape of their mind blade.

    Legendary Stunts: we should all be grateful that this archetype's keyword is "legendary" and not "cunning".

    Quote Originally Posted by Now You See Me (Su):
    While the living legend is psionically focused, he can hide himself view in the open without anything to actually hide behind as long as he is within 10 feet of an area of dim light.
    I think you either need to remove "view", or add "from" in front of it.

    High Wizard's Fury: If your active role is the archmage, you can deal damage of your active energy type. It might be good to include a sidebar about how and when a soulknife chooses their active energy (when they regain power points, unless they're multiclassed or I'm missing something).

    Weapon groups: Especially given the Champion's taboo, what weapon group(s) are the various mind blades in? The champion is a lot less attractive if you can't use any other role's mind blade will you have it bound.

    Quote Originally Posted by Crystal Bookmark
    Throwing a storied blade while wielding a crystal bookmark does not require the crystal hilt be thrown.
    Quote Originally Posted by Thealtruistorc View Post
    Living Legend (although the title on the latter could use a little work. Maybe something like Legend Scion).
    I get what you're saying ("Living Legend" means someone who is alive, who is a legend), but I think the the name still works (someone who makes legends live again through them, for instance) and it has a good sound to it.

    (side note: It's really annoying that you can only look at a Google Doc's revision history if you have edit permissions...it'd be really useful for these playtests.)

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Hey guys! Glad to hear you like the Ringleader - that one is my baby. As for what its role is...honestly, I played around with that myself. I ended up on kind of a weird mishmash of support and debuffing, but I feel that debuffing got left behind. But don't worry! There are some thematic enemy-targeting tricks in the works, as well as a few more "bold stare"-esque options that will *ahem* Razzle and/or Dazzle.
    Author of Psionics Augmented: Seventh Path, Host of Heroes
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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Before addressing these questions, I wanted to note that the author of the Goetic has pushed a few wording changes and cleaned up the archetype some to make it easier to read and parse.

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Living Legends seem awesome. A few questions:

    Storied Blade: Just to be clear, Living Legends have the same enhancements for both their roles' mind blades, right? That's the interpretation I'm getting from Shape Mind Blade (where "your mind blade" is always singular), but it's a little confusing with Storied Blade (since "your roles mind blades" is always plural -- but maybe just refers to their shape?). What happens if an enhancement is valid for one shape but not the other?
    This has been something I've flip-flopped on when writing this up until now, about whether or not the living legend should enhance his roles' mind blades individually. I've finally decided that the general annoyance of having to have a mind blade that only functions in one form or the other is not worth the hassle on the players' part, and added in a new alteration to the Enhanced Mind Blade class feature.

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Protagonist Portrayal: If a feat 'must be the same type as the feat it replaces', do you mean combat vs. psionic? Might be good to be explicit, but probably not the biggest deal.
    That's a good point, I've added in a note making it explicit.

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Blade Skills: I'm starting to think you need to add descriptors to blade skills so you can more succinctly future-proof against archetypes who can't select skills that change the shape of their mind blade.
    That'd be a good idea if we had a time machine. It's something to that's been thought about, but right now errataing the psionics subsystem is sadly beyond my reach.

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Legendary Stunts: we should all be grateful that this archetype's keyword is "legendary" and not "cunning".
    I had to google that to understand

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    I think you either need to remove "view", or add "from" in front of it.
    Thanks for the catch.

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    High Wizard's Fury: If your active role is the archmage, you can deal damage of your active energy type. It might be good to include a sidebar about how and when a soulknife chooses their active energy (when they regain power points, unless they're multiclassed or I'm missing something).
    That's a good point; in Path of War Expanded, we have a similar sidebar on the Zealot. I've copied it over to the Living Legend as well.

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Weapon groups: Especially given the Champion's taboo, what weapon group(s) are the various mind blades in? The champion is a lot less attractive if you can't use any other role's mind blade will you have it bound.
    Currently, mind blades are not in any weapon group. It was an oversight when the soulknife was originally printed and has yet to be errata'd or otherwise clarified. The intent was that if you choose that Champion taboo, it limits what weapons you can turn your Thousand Blades of the Champion mind blade into, while otherwise not keeping you from using your other mind blade. I have amended the taboo to state that, since that intent doesn't seem to have made it into the wording at all.

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    I get what you're saying ("Living Legend" means someone who is alive, who is a legend), but I think the the name still works (someone who makes legends live again through them, for instance) and it has a good sound to it.

    (side note: It's really annoying that you can only look at a Google Doc's revision history if you have edit permissions...it'd be really useful for these playtests.)
    Quote Originally Posted by Thealtruistorc View Post
    Loving the Ringleader and the Living Legend (although the title on the latter could use a little work. Maybe something like Legend Scion).
    It's meant as a double-meaning. The archetype is both someone who lives legends, and a "living legend;" that is, the idiom sometimes used to describe someone who's so famous as to be legendary, oftentimes considered a national treasure, celebrity, or a major contributor to society. It's also slightly generic, which fits into some of the established names for soulknife classes and prestige classes, such as the Cutthroat, the Marvel, and the Strategos (in fact, almost every soulknife option is named one of "something something soul," "something something weapon," or "something generic but meant to evoke competence or general awesomeness").

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Hey, this looks pretty cool.

    Quote Originally Posted by Thealtruistorc View Post
    although the title on the [Living Legend] could use a little work. Maybe something like Legend Scion
    Wow, I could not disagree more strongly. I think Living Legend is a great name, and I think “Legend Scion” sounds awful.
    Last edited by Alea; 2015-12-21 at 07:44 PM.

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Just popping in to let everyone know that the Goetic (apparently our most fluid archetype right now) has gone through some more changes in response to feedback. The rules text for their class features have been tightened up, and fiddly details have been eliminated where possible to make the archetype less messy.

    The big changes are that the Goetic can choose to specialize in three horrors, giving up the ability to use the other four in exchange for being able to use their main three twice as much, and that the way horrors gain feats has been changed. Horrors' bonus feats have been removed from their progression, replaced with ability score bonuses. The "give each horror a different feat" thing has been made into a feat, but that feat is also due for revision.

    The goal here has been to make the class more accessible, and more easily built for those who aren't interested in spending a ton of time on character creation.

    At this point, a minimal-effort goetic has to pick three horrors (and the horrors class feature has been updated with a handy list with brief descriptions), and then every four levels he's got to make an either-or choice for each of those. This still leaves quite a lot of customizability.

  27. - Top - End - #27
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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Goetic looks really cool.

    Possessed Manifestation: As far as I can tell, this never says explicitly that a spliced goetic gets the horror's abilities. The Horrors section discusses them exclusively as distinct entities, and not as bundles of traits to be attached to a spliced goetic. I'd say the intent is clear (I'm guessing you wouldn't spend a lot of time fleshing out abilities that mostly only matter if the insane horror from out of space slips the leash), but it'd probably be worth making explicit just to save on silly arguments down the line. How long to horror effects last after a splice drops?

    Psionic Flesh: I think most people aren't going to argue for 14 bonus hit points at level two (one per horror), but "each of the horrors’ ability score bonuses" is technically ambiguous as to whether it means "one at 2nd level, and every four levels there after" or "that, per horror". If the intent is that the horrors' ability score bonuses only count as feats while the goetic is manifesting them, language to that effect should be added (carefully phrased so that the goetic still counts as a psionic creature even while not manifesting, most likely).

    Martyr's Consolation: When this says "Separate instances of this delayed damage do not stack: only the largest single instance of such damage is applied to Athanatism.", does that mean Anathanatism drops all but the highest split damage? This seems underwhelming compared to Martyr's Preparation until you get Mirror of the Soul...maybe because this mentions taking an effect for an ally, but not what happens in response to that. Without that, you get the ability to maybe tank some extra damage with a well-timed heal until 12th level, and then you can also potentially reduce the damage you take by your level. Martyr's Preparation gets to reduce damage taken by your level from the get-go, at the cost of requiring some good planning to get benefit from a heal. There's some good synergy with Destiny Bond and Guardian Stranger, though those come late, and are 1/day.

    Martyr's Preparation: How long do the bonus points from healing last? Until it refreshes next round? Until they're expended? (ala temporary hit points)

    Mirror of the Soul: Missed the "once per round, use one of its 1st level abilities as a free action" language from the other 12th level features.

    Ancestral Guidance: This is a hilarious way to tank possession effects.

    Clarisentience: Ironically, for "the most difficult horror to understand", granting a wisdom bonus makes it easier for the goetic to make Will saves and stay in control.

    Look Forward: Describes Clarisentience as being the one to see the target's future, but the target gets the reroll effect. Should either change the language ("allows a creature it locks eyes with to observe the terrible consequences of its actions in the immediate future", also not a gaze attack), or allow Clarisentience to reroll a d20 that effects that creature (mirroring the effect of Gaze Backwards).

    Gift of Vision: This is a really neat effect. All Seeing is pretty cool, too, but Gift of Vision is cooler.

    Future Sight: Who is aware of the pseudo-turn? Also, "and it reverts back to its position and status prior to taking this pseudo-turn" could be cleaned up a little -- sort of sounds like you revert before taking the turn rather than afterwards.

    Psychocreativity:
    Astral Doppleganger: Should there be a restriction to having one construct out a time, or can a goetic with nothing else to do with their swifts have up to three by constantly refreshing them?

    Zone of Shields: Missing "of" in "regardless its chosen..."

    Psychokinesis: Does it's slam attack count as a weapon attack for the basic effect? Is it intended that psychokinesis keeps its powerful build ability while increasing to Large and Huge?

    Telekinetic Limb: Can this wield a weapon? At what penalty?

    Telekinetic Melee: Another cheesemonkey problem: how many weapons can you wield like this? Might be addressable by changing "its weapons" to "the weapons it is currently wielding".

    Energy Arena: "Each of them rerolls initiative, and fights their own separate battle within the sphere." This needs some clean up. I'm also not sure why it's necessary to reroll initiative, especially if there's a chance that the goetic will need to drop the splice for whatever reason. How long does this last? Can it be dismissed?

    Psychoportation: You missed editing out a reference to Scorn Earth in the second to last sentence of the second paragraph of the basic effect.

    Tesseract/Impossible Step: one name is used in the header, and one at the start of its description.

  28. - Top - End - #28
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    Forrestfire's Avatar

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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    I've passed your feedback to the author of the Goetic, and here's his responses. Thanks for the feedback

    Spoiler: his response, in a long wall of quotes
    Show
    Many thanks for the interest!
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Possessed Manifestation:​ As far as I can tell, this never says explicitly that a spliced goetic gets the horror's abilities. The Horrors section discusses them exclusively as distinct entities, and not as bundles of traits to be attached to a spliced goetic. I'd say the intent is clear (I'm guessing you wouldn't spend a lot of time fleshing out abilities that mostly only matter if the insane horror from out of space slips the leash), but it'd probably be worth making explicit just to save on silly arguments down the line. How long to horror effects last after a splice drops?
    Actually the horror ​is​ separate, it just inherits the goetic’s stuff, and then the goetic possesses it. I will attempt to make the distinction clearer.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Psionic Flesh:​ I think most people ​aren't​ going to argue for 14 bonus hit points at level two (one per horror), but "each of the horrors’ ability score bonuses" is technically ambiguous as to whether it means "one at 2nd level, and every four levels there after" or "that, per horror". If the intent is that the horrors' ability score bonuses only count as feats while the goetic is manifesting them, language to that effect should be added (carefully phrased so that the goetic still counts as a psionic creature even while not manifesting, most likely).
    You only get the bonus during a possessed manifestation, so you aren’t going to benefit from it outside of one. So it’s technically correct, and I don’t think there’s any ambiguity in terms of intent. I may clarify but I think the current wording really should suffice.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Martyr's Consolation:​ When this says "Separate instances of this delayed damage do not stack: only the largest single instance of such damage is applied to Athanatism.", does that mean Anathanatism drops all but the highest split damage?
    It does mean that, yes.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    This seems underwhelming compared to Martyr's Preparation until you get Mirror of the Soul...maybe because this mentions taking an effect for an ally, but not what happens in response to that. Without that, you get the ability to maybe tank some extra damage with a well-timed heal until 12th level, and then you can also potentially reduce the damage you take by your level. Martyr's Preparation gets to reduce damage taken by your level from the get-go, at the cost of requiring some good planning to get benefit from a heal. There's some good synergy with Destiny Bond and Guardian Stranger, though those come late, and are 1/day.
    Well, if nothing else, horrors can respec every level. But yes, it's not much good when you only have one source of damage coming to you. Perhaps the 1st-level features should just apply to all damage to/by the target for 1 round, no immediate action needed. That would make it much better (though possibly too much better)

    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Martyr's Preparation:​ How long do the bonus points from healing last? Until it refreshes next round? Until they're expended? (ala temporary hit points)
    There are no “bonus points,” healing can just be applied to the soak pool instead of your normal HP pool. You cannot exceed that pool’s size with healing.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Mirror of the Soul:​ Missed the "once per round, use one of its 1st level abilities as a free action" language from the other 12th level features.
    Will fix. Or possibly make the 1st-level abilities just a passive effect for one round, rather than requiring immediate actions. The 12th-level feature would let you apply it to two allies/two enemies.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Ancestral Guidance:​ This is a hilarious way to tank possession effects.
    Note that the ​source​ of the effect gets the option of switching it to Athanatism, not the original target or Athanatism. So it wouldn’t do that unless the source was dumb.
    ​(that may be an unnecessary balancing factor)
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Clarisentience:​ Ironically, for "the most difficult horror to understand", granting a wisdom bonus makes it easier for the goetic to make Will saves and stay in control.
    Maintaining control doesn’t necessarily mean understanding the horror, but fair enough.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Look Forward:​ Describes Clarisentience as being the one to see the target's future, but the target gets the reroll effect. Should either change the language ("allows a creature it locks eyes with to observe the terrible consequences of its actions in the immediate future", also not a gaze attack), or allow Clarisentience to reroll a d20 that effects that creature (mirroring the effect of Gaze Backwards).
    Will fix.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Gift of Vision:​ This is a really neat effect. All Seeing is pretty cool, too, but Gift of Vision is cooler.
    Glad you like it; I thought it was really solid.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Future Sight:​ Who is aware of the pseudo-turn? Also, "and it reverts back to its position and status prior to taking this pseudo-turn" could be cleaned up a little -- sort of sounds like you revert before taking the turn rather than afterwards.
    Will fix. Intent was that Clairsentience and allies who can see it are aware of the pseudo-turn (i.e. the future).
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Astral Doppleganger:​ Should there be a restriction to having one construct out a time, or can a goetic with nothing else to do with their swifts have up to three by constantly refreshing them?
    Well, swift+full-round to regain psionic focus. Or swift+move with Psionic Meditation. Wasn't intended, but I’m not sure it’s a problem.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Zone of Shields:​ Missing "of" in "regardless its chosen..."
    Will fix.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Psychokinesis:​ Does it's slam attack count as a weapon attack for the basic effect? Is it intended that psychokinesis keeps its powerful build ability while increasing to Large and Huge?
    Yes and yes. One of Psychokinesis’s perks is being the largest.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Telekinetic Limb:​ Can this wield a weapon? At what penalty?
    It can, and I hadn’t intended a penalty but I suppose one might be warranted.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Telekinetic Melee:​ Another cheesemonkey problem: how many weapons can you wield like this? Might be addressable by changing "its weapons" to "the weapons it is currently wielding".
    Point, will do.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Energy Arena:​ "Each of them rerolls initiative, and fights their own separate battle within the sphere." This needs some clean up. I'm also not sure why it's necessary to reroll initiative, especially if there's a chance that the goetic will need to drop the splice for whatever reason. How long does this last? Can it be dismissed?
    It... does have a listed duration? “The sphere lasts a number of rounds equal to one quarter of Psychokinesis’s caster level, or until either Psychokinesis or its target are dead.” Rerolling initiative was to give Psychokinesis a chance to go “first” in the separate duel.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Psychoportation:​ You missed editing out a reference to Scorn Earth in the second to last sentence of the second paragraph of the basic effect.
    Good catch, will fix. Might be worthwhile to just name the ability what it is. Could be useful, in theory, for a prereq.
    Quote Originally Posted by twas_Brillig View Post
    Tesseract/Impossible Step:​ one name is used in the header, and one at the start of its description.
    Tesseract is intended, will fix.

    ​That was some seriously thorough reviewing!


    Happy holidays!

  29. - Top - End - #29
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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    I like what I see and aim to give a thorough read through them all.

    However one thing that caught my eye for the Gambler Kineticist is its capstone. Is it suppose to just be bucket of free power points? My reasoning is that since using All-In removes the limit of how much burn can be taken in at once, how much the kineticist can hold, free extra burn each turn, and gives a second swift action each turn then one can arguably make multiple wagers in a round, like spamming Elemental Roulette and Raise the Stakes, or toss quickened blasts. Then the Kineticist could just use Cash-out on the "pot" before the minute is up, not worry about any backlash from All-In and get 4 power points for each point of the obscene amount of burn that was built up. Bug or Feature?

    I know most games don't actually reach that point but I'm curious about the design idea. I'll be working through the other archetypes as I can.
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    Default Re: [Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

    Quote Originally Posted by JerichoPenumbra View Post
    I like what I see and aim to give a thorough read through them all.

    However one thing that caught my eye for the Gambler Kineticist is its capstone. Is it suppose to just be bucket of free power points? My reasoning is that since using All-In removes the limit of how much burn can be taken in at once, how much the kineticist can hold, free extra burn each turn, and gives a second swift action each turn then one can arguably make multiple wagers in a round, like spamming Elemental Roulette and Raise the Stakes, or toss quickened blasts. Then the Kineticist could just use Cash-out on the "pot" before the minute is up, not worry about any backlash from All-In and get 4 power points for each point of the obscene amount of burn that was built up. Bug or Feature?

    I know most games don't actually reach that point but I'm curious about the design idea. I'll be working through the other archetypes as I can.
    That is actually a bug; each wager was originally meant to be able to be made once per round, even while using All In and getting an extra swift action. In addition, Cash Out was meant to be capped by your normal maximum burn when using the capstone (so you could use it to negate the additional gain each round and fuel any other wagers as needed, but couldn't use it to cash out the entire pot). These concepts seem to have not made it into the current doc.

    Thanks for the catch. I've amended the playtest document.

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