The Nexus & City of Seven Seraphs - A planar metropolis with a new veilweaving class

[Ssalarn]

I'm interested in seeing how the Radiant compares to the Rajah. It sounds like Radiant may be more Vitalist to Rajah's Tactician, and there's certainly enough room for both (especially since Rajah is an initiator and Radiant isn't, already a huge difference!).

The radiant has actually been something I've been working on for a super long time, originally as the Vedist, so it has had a significant amount of time for refinements and adjustments in the basic framework, though I've had the opportunity to set up quite a few entirely new veils for it as part of this project.

Originally the idea was that it would be very much like the Vitalist, including an akashic collective that you created by investing essence in allies and tying them all into a network together, but I streamlined and simplified a lot of that into a new and unique class feature that builds on itself and isn't as "fiddly" as some of my older ideas were. It's still a half BAB "full caster" equivalent, though with fewer binds and veils than the vizier since it leans more on class features that also use its essence pool. It's primary function is as a healer and defensive buffer, though it does have a strong selection of control options and some decent offensive buffing as well. Older fiddly ideas I had like making it gain a bonus on saving throws against effects it draws out of allies have been replaced by simpler static options like having monk saves and getting to add its Wisdom bonus to certain Con-based abilities. It's also got a few compatible "pet" veils for players who like having a little minionmancy, most of which can also help add options to other classes like the vizier.

[Milo v3]

I was curious if Radiant was the new Vedist when I read the description on the kickstarter.

[Sayt]

Just backed myself, and reading through the Nexus, and holy ****balls the Nexus art is amazing. I'd seen it on the blog, but big and high def is a whole new thing.

[Ssalarn]

Just backed myself, and reading through the Nexus, and holy ****balls the Nexus art is amazing. I'd seen it on the blog, but big and high def is a whole new thing.

Yeah, I certainly agree! Vincent Coviello has been absolutely destroying it with his amazing art, cranking out high quality piece after high quality piece. Have you seen the iconic for the radiant class? That's also one of the new races written for the book. It's set to be a tome that's loaded with top-shelf art, tons of quality crunch, and some really fun and expansive fluff.

[Sayt]

Yeah, I certainly agree! Vincent Coviello has been absolutely destroying it with his amazing art, cranking out high quality piece after high quality piece. Have you seen the iconic for the radiant class? That's also one of the new races written for the book. It's set to be a tome that's loaded with top-shelf art, tons of quality crunch, and some really fun and expansive fluff.

Not yet, still working on the planar veils.


Speaking off, is it planned to do a set for each major outer plan, or is Co7S focusing on the four in alpha at the moment?

[Ssalarn]

Not yet, still working on the planar veils.


Speaking off, is it planned to do a set for each major outer plan, or is Co7S focusing on the four in alpha at the moment?

There's actually 5. There will be other veil sets in the book for the other akashic classes but only one of them will be planar themed, with the others themed around different concepts. I believe we're currently looking at like 115 veils in total, give or take a handful, with the bulk of the non-Nexus veils being part of the post-funding playtest packet.

That being said, while Co7S is going to be focused on roughly 6 planes (technically the genie set covers all 4 elemental planes but I'm inclined to treat it as 1 sub-plane set), odds are good that if/when Co7S succeeds we'll continue to support the Nexus and other akashic classes with new planar veil sets in future expansions until we've checked all the boxes there are to check.

[Draacul]

I believe we're currently looking at like 115 veils in total, give or take a handful

Looks suspiciously like Akashic Mysteries Expanded.
Not that there is anything wrong with it.

[Ssalarn]

Looks suspiciously like Akashic Mysteries Expanded.
Not that there is anything wrong with it.

Veilweaving as a subsystem clicks in really well with the kind of adventures that Co7S promotes, and one of the goals is to make it largely a stand-alone book. That includes having classes that can cover all the base party roles, so just by virtue of having those akashic classes and making sure they're properly supported we've ended up with a very robust selection of akashic options. The extreme accessibility of akashic magic, where literally any class can dip a toe in the system, is also nice since it means that the book provides even the most non-magical class access to some tricks.

It wouldn't really be wrong to consider this, at least in part, an Akashic Mysteries Expanded book though. AM had a lot of boxes to check; flight, unique movement, specific kinds of AoEs, a wide spread of boosters for various skills, etc. Since all of that is kind of out of the way, we got to embrace a lot more niche material and expand areas AM didn't cover as well. The new akashic options include planar travel, contingency abilities, ability theft, more ways to communicate with things you can't normally communicate with, more summons, more healing, and a whole array of other options. To an extent, when all is said and done Akashic Mysteries may end up looking more like the expansion book to Co7S rather than the other way around, particularly since Co7S has the benefit of a couple years of polish and refinement over Akashic Mysteries and will have everything you need to run the new akashic classes.

The important thing to note though is that City of Seven Seraphs is a lot more than an expansion for Akashic Mysteries. There's new psionic support, new feats, and a huge selection of GM options like adventure hooks, NPCs, rules for tying Co7S into existing campaigns, and basically everything else a campaign setting needs to provide a complete adventure experience. It's comparable to books like Cerulean Seas, Rhune: Dawn of Twilight, or the Aethera Campaign Setting and offers tons of goodies for players and GMs alike.

[beastofmideon]

Can anyone give me a clue on the shadow lock on the webpage. I am terrible at riddles. I am looking forward to more info on the planar ships. The campaign I am playing in is going planar and I think it would be fun to add these ships to the mix.

[Ssalarn]

Can anyone give me a clue on the shadow lock on the webpage. I am terrible at riddles. I am looking forward to more info on the planar ships. The campaign I am playing in is going planar and I think it would be fun to add these ships to the mix.

I haven't been very good at guessing where Christen is going with the riddles, but...

Spoiler: Final Shadow Lock

Show

Six they came, Union’s sacred math,

She was the first to find the path,

She was second to walk the shade,

The third fought bravely with no blade,

He revealed the weavers-risen,

He found named the living prison,

Last to balance infinity,

And you must bear the final key,

The names across the hidden places,

Spoken through the Book of Faces.

If the Archweaver hears your cry,

Secrets revealed, all mystery dies.

I think they're either references to designers on the project or characters discussed in the Lost Spheres blog posts about the project. First to find the path seems like a clear Pathfinder reference, second to walk the shade probably refers to the shadewalker class I wrote for the book, fought bravely with no blade seems like a monk reference maybe? Revealed the weavers-risen seems like either a veilweaver reference or maybe has something to do with the veryx race, living prison probably refers to the new Akashic race he revealed where they're crystal people with evil outsiders trapped inside of them, and "last to balance infinity" is a numerology reference probably tied to the blog article from a couple weeks ago. That's about as far as I got deciphering that while waiting in line for the Gran Turismo demo here at PAX.

[Kaidinah]

Hey, look what snuck onto the campaign page!

Spoiler: Cool Stuff

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New Classes: Nexus, Shadewalker/Eclipse, Radiant, Aethernaut. Revised and Expanded Classes: Echo, Aberrant (Aegis) and Theurge.

New races like the judow, and inevitable-spawn people influenced by kyton or the a fresh-look at the ceptu (from Epidemic Books Oathbound: Seven) a races of telekinetic invertibrates!

What could this Aethernaut be? And also, do I spy Aegis support!? This has me on the edge of my seat.

Also there is a Theurge. I wonder if it has any relation to Kobold Press's Theurge class? If so then it seems fans of Vancian casting will get some neat toys!

These Ceptu sound pretty cool too. Gotta love inhuman races.

[Ssalarn]

Hey, look what snuck onto the campaign page!

Spoiler: Cool Stuff

Show

New Classes: Nexus, Shadewalker/Eclipse, Radiant, Aethernaut. Revised and Expanded Classes: Echo, Aberrant (Aegis) and Theurge.

New races like the judow, and inevitable-spawn people influenced by kyton or the a fresh-look at the ceptu (from Epidemic Books Oathbound: Seven) a races of telekinetic invertibrates!

What could this Aethernaut be? And also, do I spy Aegis support!? This has me on the edge of my seat.

Also there is a Theurge. I wonder if it has any relation to Kobold Press's Theurge class? If so then it seems fans of Vancian casting will get some neat toys!

These Ceptu sound pretty cool too. Gotta love inhuman races.

Today's blog post from Lost Spheres also includes art for one of the new races, the mirrorkin, and some expanded details, including a description of the aethernaut class! "Aethernauts are warriors that glimpse the future and unleash unpredictable primordial forces from planar essence or from carried magic items. They rip reality with their weapons, harness planar phenomena, and navigate ley lines. All aethernauts are natural survivors in strange universes, skilled handlers of magic items, and experts on the planes!"

Everything except stretch goals is pretty much laid out at this point. 7 races, 7 classes, and a ton of material including archetypes, PrCs, feats, spells, psionic powers, and loads of GM goodies.

[Draacul]

7 races, 7 classes, and a ton of material including archetypes, PrCs, feats, spells, psionic powers, and loads of GM goodies.

I do wonder how they manage to fit all that in the measly 300 pages,especially with hundred-plus veils.

[Kaidinah]

I do wonder how they manage to fit all that in the measly 300 pages,especially with hundred-plus veils.

That's a good question. They have a setting and a lot of crunch to stuff into that book.

Speaking of a lot of stuff, just look at that blog post! Thats a lot of stuff right there. Glad to sew details on these classes though. Aethernaut is not what I expected. This is a good thing though considering what the blog described was cooler than my expectations.

[beastofmideon]

Did I read correctly that they increased the page count to 400 pages. They are giving away the store!

[Bahumut]

The amount of content we're getting is positively insane! We're in the home stretch, so please remember to spread the word on social media, so we can make sure this wonderful project gets funded!

[Lost_Spheres]

Did I read correctly that they increased the page count to 400 pages. They are giving away the store!

When the team all got together we knew we needed to look at expanding page count and we are happy to confirm we have done just that! Remember, if we have our way this is ONLY the beginning.

[Ssalarn]

I do wonder how they manage to fit all that in the measly 300 pages,especially with hundred-plus veils.

My understanding is that Christen bumped it to 400 pages, and all the veils and akashic classes put together probably won't be more than about maybe 50 of those pages. The other classes, as I understand it, are a bit smaller as far as the pages they consume, so there should be a ton of room for lots of items, locations, NPCs, spells, powers, etc. I noticed on the Kickstarter comments page that there might even be some Spheres of Power / Spheres of Might support in the City? I don't know to what extent and I know keeping the book as simple and accessible as possible is a priority, as is ensuring that you don't need other books beyond the CRB to use the content it presents, but Christen is definitely trying to make it open to the most popular 3pp supplements as much as possible.

That's a good question. They have a setting and a lot of crunch to stuff into that book.

Speaking of a lot of stuff, just look at that blog post! Thats a lot of stuff right there. Glad to sew details on these classes though. Aethernaut is not what I expected. This is a good thing though considering what the blog described was cooler than my expectations.

I'm pretty excited for the aethernaut myself! As I understand it, the aethernaut is going to be one of the two full BAB classes and will be kind of like a Fighter/Psychic Warrior/Occultist mash-up, something of a planeswalking MacGyver, though my knowledge of the class is fairly limited and not a whole lot more expansive than anyone else's at this point.

I do know that at least one of the races will be an akashic native outsider like a lot of people have asked for, and at least 2 of the other races should have akashic alternate racial traits available. Basically, if you have a question about any of the akashic mechanics in the book, I can totally answer those Other questions I'd need to refer to the other members of the team.

[Long_shanks]

I just backed the project (and am petitioning my gaming group to do the same). This project is beyond awesome and I can't wait for it to be completed.
Good luck with the rest of the campain.

[Mithril Leaf]

Will we be getting something Akashic that focuses heavily on buffing your allies?

[Draacul]

Will we be getting something Akashic that focuses heavily on buffing your allies?

That's Rajah,in playtest presently.You can't be focused on buffing much heavily.
But Radiant is apparently a thing,but whether he is better as buffer remains to be seen.

[NomGarret]

Heres's a text vs. table question on the Nexus: There are instances of the Nexus getting essence capacity increases in the table but no mention of such a class feature in the text.

[Bahumut]

Heres's a text vs. table question on the Nexus: There are instances of the Nexus getting essence capacity increases in the table but no mention of such a class feature in the text.

Wow, good catch, Nom! I can't speak for Ssalarn, but I'm 99% sure that the missing full description of Improved Essence Capacity was an oversight, and should be included. The Nexus appears to be the most capable veilweaver when it comes to essence capacity, gaining it earlier than the Guru, and even gaining the second and third increase sooner than the Vizier!

[beastofmideon]

This project is looking awesome! The page count was just raised to 400!

[Thealtruistorc]

Friendly reminder we still have $2.5k to obtain before this is a sure thing. Rope in friends, up your donations, do whatever it takes because this book isn't a sure thing at this point.

Seriously, folks.

[Bahumut]

Friendly reminder we still have $2.5k to obtain before this is a sure thing. Rope in friends, up your donations, do whatever it takes because this book isn't a sure thing at this point.

Seriously, folks.

It's honestly giving me anxiety how close-to-the-wire this one is getting...we are 115 PDF backers, or less than 50 hardcovers away at this point! One good suggestion I read somewhere was sharing at your FLGS, you never know who might be interested in a product like this!

[Thealtruistorc]

One good suggestion I read somewhere was sharing at your FLGS, you never know who might be interested in a product like this!

Just when I was wondering how to kill time tomorrow...

[Mithril Leaf]

So I'm personally quite interested in the Radiant, is there any more information (even if vague) about the companion or specific veils it is looking at getting?

[AlmaPenzare]

Hey Ssalarn, as we draw closer to the closing hour, I wanted to ask; it says on the kickstarter page the project won't happen if you don't hit the 28k goal. Is this true? It seems like so much work has already been done on the project it would be such a shame to throw it away if you're behind 1k

[Kaidinah]

Forum ate my post? Weird.

This book sounds like an absolute treasure chest. Did you guys see that fungus race? the Rhyzala? That explains the Radiant iconics's interesting appearance. I actually really look forward to this.

This bit makes me think the race may base future generation's appearance off whatever race is dominant in the area: "Rhyzala differentiate to to increase their successes interacting with the cultures and time periods they encounter."