Copper Coins! New Alpha Fighter
Posted: June 3, 2011 Filed under: Classes, Copper Coins!, Homebrew, RPG, Spirits Of Eden 2 Comments »I’ve already revised how character classes “look” like 3 times. Part of the issue is that I want them to be eminently playable, without actually needing to buy Perks. At first I tried to do this by giving them Starting Perks, but that left a bad taste in my mouth. I think the class itself should be playable without even needing to touch Perks at all just yet. If you wanted to you should just be able to read the class, write down your class stuff and buy equipment and then set off to play. So I decided instead to have each class award a few combat talents and a few traits. These, compared to Perks, are not great. But they’re not meant to, because they’re free. Perks cost character points. However, they make the character completely playable and interesting without needing to buy Perks. There is still the option of the GM awarding starting Character Points with which to buy a few Perks, but I want it to be just that – optional.
Names of the abilities are subject to change. They currently have this sort of accidentally hilarious Soviet theme to them because those are literally the first things that popped into my head. Without further ado:
Different Kinds of Classes
Posted: March 11, 2011 Filed under: Classes, Copper Coins!, D&D 3.5, D&D 4e, Dark Heresy, Deathwatch, Homebrew, Legacy D&D, Other Systems, Rogue Trader, RPG 1 Comment »Most people, when they think of “classes” in RPGs think of the typical class-level system in D&D. You pick a class and you advance in levels within it. You might have numerous choices to make each level (in D&D 4e) or you might have no choice of what you get in a particular level (seen more often in Essentials D&D and pre-4e D&D), but you only make those choices within that level when it is achieved. Until you’ve broken the threshold to a new level, you have no more pick of abilities. You have some limited ability to use powers from other classes each level as well. However, there are other ways that “classes” are done. I’m not particularly saying they’re better, though I will not claim to be fond of D&D’s class system, but that there’s different ways classes are handled, and the D&D model is not the only game in town for design of a class-based RPG. Here’s my personal favorite.
Spirits of Eden Combat Styles
Posted: October 11, 2009 Filed under: Campaigns, Classes, D&D 4e, Homebrew, RPG, Spirits Of Eden 2 Comments »Combat Styles grant characters the ability to add some variance and flair to their set of powers. They define a part of the character’s backstory, personality or fighting style into mechanical terms to wield in combat. A Combat Style is gained by taking a Style feat. You can only have a single Style feat at a time, and if you retrain it, you must also retrain every Combat Style power into powers from your primary class other than Style powers. Some DMs may prevent the retraining of Combat Styles.
Once you select the Combat Style feat, you can take, or retrain a power into, one of the feat’s Style powers when you reach the appropriate level. To select a combat style, you must be of the appropriate power source mentioned next to the Style’s name, or you must have multiclassed into a class of the appropriate power source.
Combat styles are like a small multiclass. Their powers are focused towards a certain power source (or a few) and towards a certain role. They can help those within that role to polish and vary it, or those with other roles to add a bit of versatility. Next to the name of the combat style, the necessary power source, and the role which inspired the Style, are both mentioned.
Might of Eden: Legendary Crusader
Posted: August 15, 2009 Filed under: Classes, D&D 4e, Homebrew, RPG, Spirits Of Eden 2 Comments »The product of small military orders with religiously-focused goals and wielding the power of the spirits, Paladins are soldiers of a different breed than Fighters or Warlords, both of whom can also be commonly found in such settings. Paladins are much fewer in number and, if not treated as being elite, are respected in much the same way that other members of clergy are.
Paladins were born from the relationship between clergymen on the battlefield and their guards. During the Aptoan War, Clerics were loath to be defended by common soldiers to whom they felt no connection, and who understood little of their ways. This led to soldiers being scouted for their religious knowledge and adherence, and those who were truly pious being promoted over the rest of their comrades to a special, divinely-ordained office – that of the Paladin, the legendary crusaders.
Despite times changing, the main role of the Paladin has remained much the same since then. Paladins are clergy trained to fight and protect. While a Cleric is raised and trained to passify others, enlighten them and heal their ails, Paladins are taught to smite and suppress the enemies given them by their orders and to protect their quarries. The roles since then have progressed and blended – many Paladins are trained in more peaceful religious arts and in magic prayer songs (which would have once been taboo, many centuries ago) of their own that can heal and defend others with the same magic Clerics wield. Clerics are taught to use weapons and defend themselves as well as Paladins once defended them, often trained by Paladins in these martial arts.
But despite this blending of powers, the social structures of Paladin orders are maintained. Paladins maintain tight connections with the temples of clergy and become “honorary members”, frequenting one or two places where they are sent to accompany Clerics or other vulnerable, valuable people in order to defend them as well as to see that nothing against the mission of the pilgrimage occurs. Many paladins and their quarries form deep bonds, and Paladins with some name recognition are allowed to prioritize accompanying people they know (or people they love) over strangers.
Like Clerics, Paladins are invested with shards of spirit power using a sacred ritual. The Hymn for this ritual forms the base of Paladin songs, making them slightly different from a Cleric’s. Also like Clerics, the ritual for the creation of Paladins was long ago copied or stolen and found its way to unscrupulous hands, leading to Paladins created for nefarious purposes, sometimes even against their own will, that have to be wary of using their powers or worse, feign membership in an Order to dispel suspicions.
Might of Eden: Warlocks in Eden
Posted: August 9, 2009 Filed under: Classes, D&D 4e, Fluff/Inspiration, Homebrew, RPG, Spirits Of Eden 2 Comments »Between the polar opposites of Wizards and Clerics or Paladins – those who study the entire external phenomena of magic to produce the results in a calculated fashion, and those who take spirit magic into their bodies and become part of it – lies the Warlocks, arcanists who have drawn a piece of power from an external source and imbued it in their bodies in a limited, and some may say corrupted, fashion. Unlike a Cleric or Paladin, a Warlock’s magic primarily destroys and warps, rather than protects and cures – those spells that don’t are rare. Unlike a Wizard, a Warlock’s magic is limited to the elements that he or she has taken into his or her body and can draw upon. All Warlocks have a main element they can manipulate above all else.
Warlocks tend to have an undeservedly bad reputation in highly spiritual areas like the rural country, at least if they announce themselves as such. Most people can’t tell the difference between them and Wizards for the most part, so they can settle for the lesser stigma. To the other magic users, Warlocks are an interesting exemplar of magic but silently agreed upon to be limited in scope and perhaps dangerous. If they prove themselves upstanding and honorable, Warlocks can achieve respect, even admiration from people. It is all a matter of how they use their powers. Even the most evil and destructive powers drawn from the most vile of sources can be wielded towards good. All it takes is willpower, fortitude and a thick skin.
Many Warlocks learn some bit of Wizardry themselves, seeking mentors to help them to control their powers. Many Wizards take such pupils if only for a chance to see first hand a Warlock’s powers and perhaps even make a mutual agreement and become imbued themselves. Such Warlocks tend to gravitate to learning a Wizard’s prodigious utility powers, since their own attack spells are already destructive enough.
Might of Eden: Spirit Hunter
Posted: August 7, 2009 Filed under: Classes, D&D 4e, Homebrew, RPG, Spirits Of Eden 2 Comments »Rangers are not merely the wildsmen of Eden. Rangers are fast, potent fighters that train in specific styles suited to specific environments. They are the most traditional of all the martial warriors of Eden, committing themselves to a way of battle since an early age and perfecting it. Often, Rangers are trained by masters or elders from their home villages and become deeply entwined with their environments. Whether it be an urban sprawl, or the green forests, or the harsh deserts, or the cold mountains, the Ranger masters his or her environment and adapts his or her style to fight whatever might come.
Rangers are often sought after by people as guides, trackers, guards and assassins. They form a rather small portion of the military strength in Eden, often used as specialists in groups of other warriors, again as guides or scouts.
The least common and most mysterious of the Ranger disciplines is that of the Spirit Hunter, a path spoken of in many tales. In Eden, fighting spirits is a taboo, but in the wilderness, believing in a superstition is more detrimental than helpful. In this environment, a spirit hunter ranger trains and survives, brushing daily with the most awe-inspiring of creatures in Eden, faced with his or her own mortality against the powerful quasi-immortals roaming the land.
A Spirit Hunter knows the ways of the spirits. This ranger has mingled with them, learned sacred words, witnessed and studied their means of changing anything alive via their spirit magic. Their magic has rubbed off on him or her – or perhaps it was there all along. A Spirit Hunter blends the boundary between the weapon arts of man and the wild magic of spirit beasts.
This esoteric knowledge mixed with the know-how of the woodland hunter creates a Ranger altogether very different from urban wanderers with their blades or the rural snipers with their bows. This Ranger is doing magic, whether proper or not, with some understanding of it. Though the Spirit Hunter requires some catalyst, something burn, some liquid to enchant, a weapon to direct at the enemy, an emotion to twist into an advantage, he or she is still doing magic nevertheless.
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