Oi ...

No, I haven't fallen off of the map again already -- just had to deal with training the most evil new arrival to the worksite I've seen in years for two nights, then capped it off with a three-hour dental appointment. Blegh.

Posting shall resume anon! In the meantime, a question that I've surely asked before but the moment, my mind it is a sieve:

I posted a draft of an esper class here on the blog that (mainly because I futz around with the Red Box) only went to third level. Would it be worthwhile to expand the class and see what happens, and -- more importantly for scaling concerns -- would ye folks prefer to see such an expansion run to twenty levels, or to thirty-six?

Egypt Gazetteer thoughts: on clerics.

Well, it looks like I'm actually devoting some brainpower to trying to make this work. Naturally, almost immediately I find myself having Deep Thoughts -- in this case about the four classes and what I plan to do with them.

The cleric is being, to put it kindly, a pain in the arse.

You see, the concept of a "cleric" or "priest" as it exists in the modern Western world (and in many other modern places for that matter) is of an individual who feels a higher calling, called to serve a higher power, preach the word, etc. etc, and this carries over into D&D with the benefits of getting nifty spells and the ability to smite (or control) the undead. Which is cool; I love me some crusaderish types with a warhammer or the pious healer types. It's all good.

But for the vast, vast majority of pharonic history in Egypt, it wasn't like that. Ye hells, there wasn't even an established priestly "social class" until the New Kingdom -- serving at a temple was something the middle class and the nobility did as a job, as a duty. They had seasonal shift-work at the temples, even. And when the concept of an "official" priesthood developed in the New Kingdom it was still more of a job than what we often define as "priest": one could be granted a priesthood as a sinecure, much like any other title, and men could pass on their positions to their sons. Certainly a lowly we'eb could work his way up the priestly ranks, but it was often more like looking for a promotion.

Priestly duties are also different from what the Western world is used to. The Egyptian priest maintains the rituals of the temple and performs the offerings to the god's statue in return for the benefices of the god in question to be given to the people -- a business transaction of sorts -- and because the rituals maintain the order of the universe so that the gods can do their thing. (The offerings to the deity were then distributed to the temple staff as part of their wages!) Very much an "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" sort of thing. This is why, when shrines and temples fell into disrepair such as during the Amarna interlude, the gods were said to not answer; humanity wasn't holding up its end of the bargain.

All of this isn't to say that there wasn't faith in Egypt -- there certainly was. In many ways, though, it was a very D&D-ish way of faith, with it's "I'll do x if you do y" (leaving aside how even the faithful will cheerfully threaten the gods when using magical incantations -- which the sun god gave to humanity as its perogative).

So, should there even be a "cleric class"? Or should it be subsumed into the other classes as something any given character may do as a profession? Much of the mechanical abilities assigned to the class fit just as well with an Egyptian "wizard" if not moreso. On the other hand, tweaking a few things to add a bit more flavour and keep the fourth class probably wouldn't break the metaphorical bank even if it might feel a little redundant to me as I write it.

Deep thoughts, blaergh ...

Repost: Esper Class v. alpha

As the old download link is, it seems, broken:

Esper v. alpha

File Downloads --

It's taken me longer than it should have to get to these; I think this will be reliable, at least in the short term. In any case, here they are:

Final Fantasy Red Box Hack 1.0

Little Treasures

One-Page Dungeon: Chantry of the Earthflame


I know the download site isn't ideal; please bear with me ...

Odd Jobs: Rhen Giska

Rhen Giska
Magic-User 1

AC / Hit Points: 8 / 3
Alignment: Neutral

Str 9
Int 16
Wis 9
Dex 14
Con 8
Cha 10

Equipment: backpack (spellbook, iron rations, two small sacks, scrollcase with parchment, quills and ink), two flasks of oil, lantern, lantern staff, four daggers, heavy cloak

Money and Unusual Belongings: lesser fire sigil, slender blackened iron torc, 4 gold pieces, 13 silver pieces

Spells in Spellbook: detect magic, read magic

Notes: Rhen is a would-be sage and fascinated with physical enchantments in general and the manifestation of elemental sigils in particular; since acquiring the rough crystal flame, he's been drawn to find others. This in turn pulled Rhen away from his studies and into the adventuring life. He will attempt to conceal the thumb-sized sigil unless he trusts his fellow adventurers; if hired as a retainer, he will most certainly do so.

With his spells, however, Rhen had best rely on throwing daggers, lit oil and anything else he can manage until he scavenges up something better. His knowledge and cunning can also serve his party well -- and detect magic will help scour a suspicious or cluttered dungeon room for magic items (and traps).

At least until he dies or almost dies, Rhen will seem more insanely-curious thief than magic-user. This is bolstered by his preference for "normal" clothing instead of wizardly robes, though his all-enveloping cloak leaves him draped regardless.

Of Magic-Users and Clerics: O mighty spellcaster --

Skimming through my copy of the Rules Cyclopedia recently (I forget what it was I was actually looking for; probably the different sorts of landed-gentry high level characters become so I can work on my esper class again), I happened to notice something that struck me as interesting. Making a quick comparison with Labyrinth Lord, I found something even more interesting.

Clerics can be argued to get more spellpower than magic-users, if one looks at the number of spells per level and not just the number of levels of power available.

Now before the torches and pitchforks come after me, let me just say that yes, I know that the 7th-level spell cap for clerics and the 9th level cap for magic-users arguably makes a difference. It's the number of lower-level spell-slots that caught my eye, though, and I can't help but be amused ... all the moreso because the cleric starts off a level behind, with no spells at first level.

The break seems to come between 9th and 10th levels:

9th:

CL - 3/3/3/2 (11)
MU - 3/3/3/2/1 (12)

10th:

CL - 4/4/3/2/1 (14)
MU - 3/3/3/3/2 (14, different spread ...)

... where the MU keeps adding higher-level spells, but the cleric keeps on adding more slots for lower level spells.

Later on, a few more examples:

15th:

CL - 6/5/5/3/3/3 (25)
MU - 5/4/4/4/3/2/1 (23)


20th:

CL - 7/6/5/4/4/4/3 (33)
MU - 6/5/5/5/4/4/3/2 (34)

.... where it's trying to even out again, but not quite making it even though the MU has gained a level ahead. The distrubution is still a little weird. (Note that because of BEMCI's 36-level progression, a 20th level MU still doesn't have 9th level spells yet. That's next level.)

Whether or not this is actually of any concern, of course, is the great quality-vs-quantity argument I suppose; whether the gaining of the highest two levels of spells is worth the lessening of spell slots further down the line in the "lesser" levels. I admit I'm mostly commenting on it out of amused curiosity.


Where it gets really amusing is when a comparison is made with Labyrinth Lord. Due to LL's shifting of the cleric progression table to allow for spellcasting at first level, and adjustments for the twenty-level scale instead of thirty-six, the cleric pulls even further ahead -- and surprisingly early!

4th:

CL - 3/2 (5)
MU - 2/2 (4)


5th:

CL - 3/2/1 (6)
MU - 2/2/1 (5)


10th:

CL - 5/4/3/3/2 (17)
MU - 3/3/3/3/2 (14)


15th:

CL - 7/6/5/4/4/3/1 (30)
MU - 5/4/4/4/4/3/2/1 (27)


And then we have

20th:

CL - 9/8/7/6/5/5/3 (43)
MU - 6/6/5/5/5/5/4/4/4 (44)

... where again the MU pulls ahead in overall numbers, but the balance is sorely lacking. And in the lower levels of the classes, in LL the cleric quite simply has the numerical advantage from early on. Again, whether this is a problem or not depends on one's opinion of means of balance and the quality-vs-quantity debate.

I have to say, though -- as someone whose highest level game ever run was in the vicinity of 9th or 10th before players asked for a reset, I think I'll be sticking with the BEMCI progression lest the magic-users lynch me ;3

Class: Esper (alpha version)

Nothing in BEMCI has had me howling in frustration quite so much as my attempts to work up some rules for a psionic class. Admittedly I have a certain set of goals I've been trying to reach ...

- limited number of psionic abilities
- abilities usable pretty much at will
- "power points" and the like to be avoided if at all possible

... and they likely aren't helping me at all.

Despite all that, after knocking my head against the proverbial wall I've put together a draft of an idea for a Red Box esper class. I haven't been able to test it yet, let alone eyeball it and see how horribly it breaks; but this or something like it with minor tweaking is what I'm aiming for.

I'm posting the alpha up, if only to try and convince myself it's "finished" and to leave it alone for a bit before I go silly in the head. And who knows, someone just might find it useful --

Esper_class_v_alpha.pdf 72.1 Kb

Final Fantasy Red Box Hack 1.0

Here we go again; but this time, with a little more seriousness than the "Mycelian Kingdom" -- a 'hack' of sorts of the first Final Fantasy, for the good ol' BEMCI Red Box. This is a work in progress, so please bear with me.

Also, apologies for those who have already seen the Arcanist class here on this blog, but it does truly belong in the hack.

Final_Fantasy_Red_Box_Hack_1_0.pdf 95.8 Kb

Variant Arcanist Spell Lists

The “flavour” of the arcanist class is easily varied by substituting the base spell list for a more specialized one.

Presented here are two such variants for Basic Red Box arcanists, plus spells as needed; one from a semi-generic archetype for a spellcasting warrior, the other an adaptation of a familiar class from another source --


Magic Knight

With a few exceptions, the spells of these arcanists focus on dealing exotic damage effects in melee – and making that melee easier.


First Level

Accuracy
Bolt
Bulwark
Detect Magic
Elemental Blade I
Entanglement
Read Magic
Stunblade


Accuracy
Range: 0
Duration: 2 turns
Effect: The arcanist's next attack is more accurate

This spell is cast upon the arcanist's ready weapon, enveloping it in a visible sheath of magical energy. The next attack that the arcanist makes with the enspelled weapon is granted a +3 to its roll to hit.


Elemental Blade I
Range: 0
Duration: 1 turn
Effect: Adds elemental damage to a weapon

A simple elemental enchantment, this spell bestows a bonus to damage the next time a weapon with the spell cast upon it is used in battle. The weapon will do an additional 1-3 hit points of elemental damage, exact type chosen by the arcanist at the time the spell is learned, until the end of the spell's duration. Additional variations of elemental blade I may be learned by the arcanist.

Alternately, the spell may be cast to cause all damage inflicted by the weapon to be of the specific elemental type. This version does not grant additional damage.


Entanglement (Black Iron Briars)
Range: 40'
Duration: 4 rounds
Effect: One target is held in place

When this spell is cast, a mesh of magical energy coils around the legs and lower body of the chosen target -- which must be no larger than an ogre -- and roots it to the ground. For the spell's duration the target cannot move from its spot, though it may still attack, defend itself, cast spells, etc.


Stunblade
Range: 0
Duration: 2 turns
Effect: Grants a stunning effect to a weapon

When this spell is cast upon the arcanist's ready weapon, the weapon is sheathed in a dully shining field of magical energy. The next successful attack made with the enspelled weapon will cause the target to be stunned for two rounds in addition to the weapon's normal damage.


Crimson Arcanist

For those who want their fantasy to be a little more “Final”, the crimson arcanist is a true Renaissance spellcaster, fitting between the cleric on the one hand and the magic-user on the other.

First Level

Bolt*
Bulwark**
Carbuncle
Cure Light Wounds
Detect Magic
Protection From Evil
Read Magic
Remove Fear

*Bolt may use any form of energy, chosen when the spell is cast. (traditionally, the choices are fire and electricity.)

**When the caster is a crimson arcanist bulwark may be cast on any target, with a range of 50'.


Carbuncle
Range: 150'
Duration: 3 turns
Effect: Worsens the Armour Class of one creature

When this spell is cast, a ruby orb flies from the arcanist to strike one chosen target. that target's Armour Class immediately worsens by three due to the magical interference of the spell. Carbuncle does not allow a saving throw.

Class: Arcanist

It still needs some tweaking and polishing up, but here's the arcanist class (which needs a different name like whoa), with everything needed for a Classic Red Box game. I hope *grins*

After further tweaking, I'm planning to expand the class into higher levels.


Arcanist
(Mageblade, Spellblade, Magic Knight, etc etc)

Some individuals have the knack for magic, but not the potential to be apprenticed as a full-fledged magic-user. Others are disinclined to commit to the years of training required of a magic-user's student, or would prefer to know a smattering of magics to supplement their other talents. Of these individuals some choose to combine their talent for magic with weapons-skill, and these people become arcanists.

An arcanist is a multitalented adventurer. A respectable combtant, though not the equal of a fighter, an arcanist also possesses knowledge of a variety of magic spells with which they may aid the party or augment their ability to combat the denizens of dungeons.

With fewer hit points and a more limited selection of armour than a fighter, an arcanist needs to be more cautious in combat – at least until the enemy is softened up by a few choice spells or attacks. Many arcanists choose to mix it up a bit, darting in and out of combat as opportunities present themselves and so keep out of harm's way – at least some of the time – until the time is right to land a strategic blow.

The magic of an arcanist is more limited than that of a magic-user; arcanist's spells never attain the sheer power of a magic-user's enchantments. Neither can arcanist cast as many spells in a day. The versitility of the arcanist lies in making use of magic and martial skill both, not relying on one or the other.

Like a magic-user or elf, an arcanist learns spells from scrolls, spellbooks or other arcanists, recording them into their own spellbook. In addition to new spells, arcanists stay alert for magical weapons and armour that they can use during adventures.


Prime Requisite: An arcanist has two PRs, Strength and Intelligence. If either score is 13 or more, the character gains a 5% bonus to XP gained. If both scores are 13 or higher, or one score is 16 or higher, the character gains a 10% bonus to XP gained.

Hit Dice: Arcanists' Hit Dice per level are determined using 1d6.

To Hit: Arcanists use the Cleric to-hit table.

Saving Throws: Arcanists use the Fighter Saving Throw table.

Armour: An arcanist may use only leather armour or chain mail (may not wear armour granting a base Armour Class better than that of chain mail). They may not use shields.

Weapons: An arcanist may use any one-handed bladed weapon, plus spear. In addition, they may use daggers, flasks of oil and vials of holy water as missile weapons.

Special Abilities: Like magic-users and elves, arcanists cast spells memorized from spellbooks; they use all rules for magic as applied to magic-users and elves. Arcanists have fewer spell slots, however, and a more restricted spell list.

[Even if the spell lists are broadened by the addition of new or newly-discovered spells, arcanists should never be given access to spells that harm or incapacitate whole groups of enemies, or that deal massive amounts of scaling damage.]

XP	Level	Title	Number of Spells / Spell Level
0	1	Disciple	1 First
1800	2	Initiate	1 First
3600	3	Duelist	2 First

First Level Spell List

Bolt*
Detect Magic
Floating Disc
Hold Portal
Light
Protection From Evil
Read Magic
Ventriloquism**

* see below
**alternately, ventiloquism may be replaced with bulwark (see below); this is suggested against, though the spell would be in-theme.


Bolt
Range: 150'
Duration: 1 round
Effect: Creates one bolt of energy

A bolt is a pulse of magical energy (usually of a specific kind chosen by the arcanist when the spell is learned, such as fire, ice or lightning), shot towards a target from the arcanist's pointed weapon or finger. A bolt has a +3 to hit its target, and inflicts 1-6 hit points of damage. Multiple versions of the bolt spell may be learned, gaining access to more types of energy.


Bulwark
Range: 0
Duration: 2 turns
Effect: Defensive barrier on the arcanist

As shield, save that bulwark instead grants a flat +2 bonus to the arcanist's current Armour Class rather than granting a blanket Armour Class vs. normal attacks and missiles. It does not defend against magic missiles until the arcanist is third level.