Rebirth of Magic OoC

[Linguz]

I've got no problem with it. And since, unless everyone says they're fine with it, it has no effect, I have no reason to say no.

[The_listener]

Well....
Name an achievement that Rick may have accomplished and a god or alignment basis that he would petition and we'll go from there

[Linguz]

Well... he doesn't follow any deity... but he does steal from the rich, keep some, and then give the rest to the poor. And by keeps some, I mean very little.

An accomplishment... he broke into a rich aristocrat's home, stole his rapier, stole his ring, and got out without being seen, if that counts.

[The_listener]

Probably a trickster god impressed, but only minorly, lets say a +5 to your roll with a neutral god. Soooo roll a D100+5

[Linguz]

Lesse go, rolls!

(1d100+5)[87]

[The_listener]

And so the Trickster god blesses you with..... "Drum roll"
An Artefact of the Gods! From on high a powerful instrument of divine power descends placed in your care to use as you see fit. (The exact details of the item are left to the Dm )
But, can your bear its power? Roll a save Fort or will 15

[Linguz]

What if I sell it?

Also, rolling will... (1d20+3)[5]

[The_listener]

It will vanish from existence, or reappear in your possession days later. Which a trickster god may find amusing, you selling his item, knowing you gain money and lose nothing...

However, you cannot bear the divine power the item holds, your mind twists as it's raw essence is constructed before you and your wisdom drops by 4 (As I am still working on those rules)

Would any one else like a go?

[Linguz]

That drops my wisdom to normal.

If you want help with the problem-rules, I can help.

Oh, and how's this: A good god blesses first, and then takes 'payment'. A neutral god does the same. An evil god gets the payment first, then blesses.

So with the natural claws, you'd get them and later lose strength for a bit before returning to normal with a good and neutral god, while an evil god would make you lose strength when you get them, return to normal strength later, and then lose the claws even later.

Also, that one that happened couldn't possibly happen in our setting... so instead, something like spell-like abilities being granted could be possible.

[The_listener]

I like the payment idea, and the whole thing is still a work in progress, so I'll toss it around a bit

And whereas that "an item floats down from on high" scenario is unlikely, the idea can be carried into this setting I believe, you could claim that the pure, reawakened magic is absorbed into an item you carry, empowering it and binding it to you.

[Linguz]

That's possible. Random mundane item becomes magical.

[Your random golden ring is now a ring of protection +2!]

[Halberd]

Hmm... A very interesting system... Let's see how it works with a good deity/whatever it is that's giving us these powers.

Ixin will appeal to whatever Lawful Good/paladin-ish power there is. For Law, he acts as a semi-vigilante, punishing criminals, but within the rules of the system. He does not hesitate to mete out the death penalty himself, however. So far as Good is concerned, he keeps barely enough money for himself to survive, while giving out the rest to the poor and needy. He gives nonevil thieves a chance to repent by giving them enough money to make an honest living.

Singular Achievement: Ixin once arrived upon the scene of a violent robbery of a market, in which a group of eight criminals were cutting down anyone who dared resist them taking everything of value there. He fought and killed the entire band of brigands(who were quite skilled in combat), with the exception of one, who surrendered. After sending the one who surrendered to prison, he healed the wounded (one of which would almost certainly have died were it not for his help) and helped prepare the burial rites for the two he couldn't save.

[mattie_p]

Sorry I'm last, usually I'm pretty good, but work has been kicking my butt for the last 72 hours.

Listener, sounds like an interesting mechanic. Do you think there might be rituals or such players could perform to improve their odds of a positive outcome? I'm thinking things like Kensai, where players spend xp to improve a chosen weapon or themselves, or Rokugan samurai (I think) where players spend gp to enhance their weapon. Legacy weapons also spring to mind (Weapons of Legacy)

I would want to see a little more of the system before I decide to affirm it.

[TheDon]

I would kind of like to see an XP cost like Mattie_p said. This way it would keep things a bit more balance rather then getting something for nothing.

OracleofSilence, you have 2 actions going on for this round, I'll use the first one (which sadly has crappy rolls :/)
Ya ya, I realize my mistake. Nothing to see here, move along people.

[Halberd]

Well, I really dislike XP costs in general, but that might be because I'm more used to 4e, in which the entire party pretty much remains in complete lockstep XP-wise and leveling up is a one-way journey. I'll see how the system works before fully passing judgement, though.

[TheDon]

your turn btw.

As for the XP cost, could be a gold cost too, might be more appropriate actually.

[The_listener]

A tithe to the God seem's like the best bet, possibly an XP penalty on a failed save? Representing the drain on your body if the power proves to much?
Or possibly being assigned tasks to which a blessing is a reward? Hmmm so many options, unfortunalty I am ass deep in work at the moment otherwise I could sit down and focus, I'm going to drop a few notes down in my next meeting, which may annoy my boss but meh

And I must admit, as a DM and a player, I find XP costs a hassle, personally I run games in a "You level up when I feel you deserve it" basis, so Xp is never really that integral, I instead work little side quests to upgrade xp reliant abilities:
E.g: A Kensai wishes to upgrade his weapon, so he has to engage in combat with a creature of his CR with nothing but that weapon, no armour, no equipment, nothing. If he wins, the weapon is upgraded as he proves himself, if not... well he died, so meh

[Linguz]

I don't like XP costs. The drain on your body could be shown as a drain on physical or mental stats instead. Heck, make it a drain that can't be healed except by time. Then your body gets used to the magic and returns to full. Gold costs don't make much sense with magic.

[mattie_p]

The gold costs go to sacred oils, incences, gems that must be crushed in a certain way, rare woods that must be burned, etc. It doesn't matter mechanically what it is, the bottom line is there is a cost associated with it.

Legacy items can have other costs as well. I'm reading a module where awakening the true power of the item costs the user hit points that are lost as long as the item is carried.

XP is an obvious cost in 3.5, as any created magic item requires the caster to sacrifice XP in order to permanently imbue the item with magic.

Like it or lump it, it is part of 3.5

Gifts from the gods or the residual divine essence, of course, are a completely different thing, and are completely up to the DM. Artifacts should never be put into a campaign without a deliberate reason.

But anway, with the randomness of this mechanic as laid out, I was merely asking if there were a way to influence the randomness, for a cost.

[The_listener]

I am pondering how to influence randomness, but so far the only clear way to influence it is by petitioning a Good aligned god (Then you may pick a blessing between your roll of +5 or -5) also remember that you may re-roll if your alignment matches that of the god or power etc.
Anyway, I have jotted some Ideas down and have a couple of free hours tomorrow (unless sleep wins me over) so I may spend some time with the laptop I have... "borrowed" from my partner and write it all down.

Oh and Halberd! let's say thats worth a plus 10 roll up a d100

[Halberd]

Here goes...
(1d100+10)[46]

[The_listener]

As a good character you may pick one of the following:
Rapid healing
Blessed By the Gods
Sorcerous Knowledge
Toughened Form
Heightened Speed
Heightened Strength
Immunity.

Pick Wisely.

[Linguz]

Seeing that in action for good characters, it might give them too much of a bonus. For example, a caster who gets the roll for natural weapons wouldn't benefit much... but if he was a good caster, he could get anything near natural weapons instead, which might help him a lot.

[Halberd]

Hmm...
Well, Ixin isn't an arcane caster, so Sorcerous Knowledge is out. I'm not sure what Immunity is resisting, so it's out on the grounds of being too vague. Same with Blessed By the Gods. Rapid Healing is nice, but Ixin doesn't get hit very often. Same with Toughened Form. That leaves the enhancements to speed and strength. Speed would be excellent for Ixin, as he often struggles to keep up in his heavy armor. It might also help his initiative, although if subsequent battles are like this one, it wouldn't matter very much. Strength would be wonderful as well- always nice to have extra accuracy and damage. I'm going to leave the final decision to a coin flip. 1 means speed, 2 means strength.
(1d2)[1]
Edit: I guess that means I pick Heightened Speed, then.

[The_listener]

Heightened speed confers the following:
A 50% increase to your Initiative and base Speed, as well as Run as a bonus feat.

[OracleofSilence]

What are the neutral choices for "Divine" blessings?

[The_listener]

The same at the moment, I am slowly working on a bigger list for each alignment, or in fact each god of my setting. But Right now the list is universal.
In fact, here is the base list without info or vices and virtues:

Spoiler

Divine Punishment
Disastrous Blessing
Eyes that have seen to much.
Fall to your knees and never rise.
Bear and unbearable weight
Agonizing Blessing
Marked for favor
Tail
Webbed form
Gills
Extra Limbs
Taloned hands
Wings
Extra Eyes
Host
Animal Aspect
Heightened Senses
A sense of the future
Crippling Visions
Armored Form
Rapid Healing
Blessed By the gods
Sorcerous knowledge
Toughened form
Heightened speed
Heightened Strength
Immunity
Tendrils
Geas
Smite
Empowerment
Blessings of the Great ones
Boon
Strengthening
Assurance
Artifact of the Gods
Unbound power
Outpouring of blessings
Chosen of the Gods
Champion of the Gods
Paragon of form
Avatar of the Gods

[mattie_p]

I have to say that this sounds, overall, like critical hit tables and critical fumble tables. They can be fun when everyone likes them, but players can resent when something bad happens and it is "their own fault."

Personally, I don't play with fumble and crit tables. Enough bad stuff happens to PCs (please note the IC thread where there has already been one near fatality with Rick, Ixin is hurting, and Verak is nearly unconscious and wrestling a howler!?! By his own choice!).

As such, my preference is against such a mechanic in this game.

[OracleofSilence]

Well so long as the traits cannot be lost by a single action (ie rolling badly once) I think this could be okay. Are there any negative conditions that can be conferred through this option? and What would be done to incur them?

[Halberd]

Originally Posted by mattie_p

Ixin is hurting

Bah. He has d10 hit dice. He was in no real danger.

Seriously though, Ixin's doing fine. He's at about 25 out of 40 HP, with only one rider opposing him. He'll pull through easily unless he gets really, really unlucky.

Verak, however, seems to be pretty much screwed.