Cleric role

here's a rough draft of the cleric role. My intent is to make roles largely "class-neutral": the character could be a warrior cleric, an adept cleric, or an expert cleric (not happy with expert as a class name), though there will be clear advantages. Adepts get poor attack bonus and 1d4+1 hp/level; experts get medium attack bonus and 1d4+2 hp; warriors get good attack bonus and 1d4+4 hp. Adepts get the best spellcasting abilities; other classes, if they take a spellcasting role (one with a spell list) get a bare-bones ability to cast spells. Obviously a number of things need to be fleshed out, including tweaks to turning undead (& channelling power in general) and exact spell lists.

Considering using James Mishler's cascading d6 for Turn Undead (aka channel power) http://jamesmishler.blogspot.com/2009/12/cascading-d6-system-for-bx-etc.html

First-tier, second-tier, and so refers to the first tier at which a character takes on this role. A character that starts off as a cleric would be an acolyte at 1st and 2nd level, a friar from 3rd-5th level, and so on, while a character that becomes a cleric later in life (a fighter gaining religion, for instance), would start the first tier at a higher level, perhaps 3rd, 6th, or 9th.

With races becoming roles, this means demihumans will always lag behind humans in general roles, and won't ever reach the fifth tier in anything but their racial role, without level limits or penalties.

Cleric
Clerics are holy warriors and scholars invested with divine power. They are more martial than most temple priests, and often undertake divine quests to defeat evil or chaos (or cause it!). They may wear light armor and wield blunt weapons.

First Tier: A first-tier cleric is known as an acolyte.
• Ascetic Life: Due to their regimented lifestyle, clerics gain +1 hit point each level they advance in the cleric role.
• Channel Power: Clerics can “Turn” the undead, making them flee from the Priest’s holiness (or, in the case of an evil Priest, bringing them to heel as servants and minions).
• Spells: Acolytes can learn the following spells:

Second Tier: A second-tier cleric is known as a friar, and expected to go out into the world to fight the enemies of her faith.
• Warrior-Priest: Friars gain a +1 bonus to damage with blunt weapons, and the ability to wear medium armor, thanks to their martial training.
• Spells: Friars can learn the following spells:

Third Tier: A third-tier cleric is known as a curate, and begins to take responsibility for the well-being of lesser clerics, as well as her religious faith.
• Power of Faith: Curates continue to increase their martial abilities, and gain a +1 bonus to hit with blunt weapons and the ability to carry a shield.
• Acolyte: The curate gains an acolyte student to assist her. Should the acolyte die, another will replace him the next time the curate gains a level. If too many acolytes die, or die under suspicious circumstances (ie, not in the cause of their faith), the cleric is likely to face investigation and repercussions.
• Spells: Curates can learn the following spells:

Fourth Tier: A fourth-tier cleric is known as a clerist. Clerists often lead a stronghold of their faith.
• Establish Stronghold: At the fourth tier, a cleric character may establish a stronghold and attract a body of loyal (or perhaps even fanatic) men-at-arms who will swear fealty to him.
• Staff: The clerist gains two acolyte assistants, and her former acolyte becomes a friar in her service.
• Spells: Clerists can learn the following spells:

Fifth Tier: A fifth-tier cleric is known as a high clerist, and typically is the head of, or embodies, her faith in the campaign world.
• Resurrection: A high clerist gains access to the resurrection ability. This ability acts as a raise dead spell, with the following differences: the person resurrected must be on good terms with the cleric’s faith, must have died since the cleric’s faith became established in the campaign world, and only be used once per month. The subject incurs no ill effects or penalties from the resurrection, but is expected to undertake a quest to benefit the high clerist’s faith at the earliest opportunity.

Darkwater RPG, take...three. Or four.

(reposted from a thread here http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2284&start=0 )

I've been mulling over "my" rpg for some time, and had a burst of thought (and mild inspiration) in the past few days. So, I'm just going to sketch out some ideas here.

To make one thing clear, though, I'm building on S&W as the core framework, but it's not intended as retro-clone in any shape or form. It's a S&W + 3e + True20 hybrid. Simplicity with choice.

Abilities: I'm really mixed here; need more thought. I'd like to swap Charisma for "Presence", which I think is clearer and more in line with my take on it, but is it worth the confusion?

Classes: Classes are broken up into "Classes" (or maybe Roles), and "Aspects" (or maybe Classes"). Classes are more or less mechanical: warrior, adept, expert. Or warrior, mystic, rogue. Classes are "what" a character does (hit things, cast spells, other); Aspects are "how" they do it. Elf would be an aspect, as would Fighter, Barbarian, Knight, Wizard, Cleric, Druid, and etc. As characters progress, they can take on new aspects, or develop existing ones, so an Elf could become an Elven Wizard by taking on the Wizard aspect, or a High Elf, by taking on the High Elf aspect. See levels & tiers below.

Races: Subsumed into aspects, so a first level elf would be an Elf, while a 1st level human would be a Fighter, or Wizard, or Thief, or whatever. The Elf could take Fighter at third level, but will always lag a little bit behind in Fighter abilities.

Levels & Tiers: This is my eureka moment; I realize it may be not all that exciting to many people, however. I'm going to squish the game into 10 or 12 levels. Characters will get a new aspect at first level, third level, sixth level, and ninth level. Possibly 12th, if I go that high. These match up to the tiers: Adventurer, Heroic, Champion, Legend, (Epic?). Aspects will get new abilities, or refine old ones, at higher levels; other aspects will only be possible at higher tiers: Archmage at Legend, for instance.

Multi-classing: not sure of this. Have to think about it. I could ditch multiclassing if aspects brought certain abilities with them, so a Wizard warrior had some ability to cast spells or use magic, albeit at a much lower level than a Wizard adept.

Spells: Higher level spells are going to get seriously sorted and cut. I'm going to try and squish the levels down, but not necessarily spell power. Wish is pretty much out. Spell lists will be linked to aspects, with a base of "common" spells, so an elven adept will get common + elf spells, while a (human) wizard adept gets common + wizard spells.

Saves: probably a single flat save with bonuses/adjustments.

Damage: damage by class rather than damage by weapon.

Experience: one chart. Or, possibly, no chart. Use whatever chart you fancy. Or maybe using Achievement points, a la Engines & Empires.

Nostalgia

I came late to a civil (but crude) discussion on Circvs Maximvs (thus the crude) about older game editions, and the topic of nostalgia came up. I'm not claiming this is great literature, but I think it's worth reposting. I have no problem with nostalgia (quite the opposite; my thesis is likely to try and capture it), but the goal to which it is directed is inherently unachievable.

*****
Why is nostalgia seen as "bad"?

Because it has connotations (and more than connotations) of looking at the past with rose-colored glasses; eg arguing that "X" (in the past) is superior to "X" in the present while ignoring or discounting that "X" in the past involved large amounts of animal waste, infectious diseases, or the fact that 50% of the children born in Britain in 1823 died before their 21st birthday (that last courtesy of National Geographic & arguments for/against human evolution).

I'm alternately enthralled and horrified by how landscape architecture (which I'm studying for a masters degree) has become entangled with sociology and..."cultural studies", but it has reinforced the fact that everything we do is a product of our times, including nostalgia. Thus, I don't see OD&D as an "precursor" to 4e (though it is), but as two concurrent game systems that create two different styles of play.

*****

The thing is, you can't recreate the past. You can create something contemporary that draws inspiration from the past, but you can't copy it wholesale into now. The whole OSR is built on a) the OGL, b) the educated understanding of copyright the OGL engendered, and c) the online D&D community built, in large part, in reaction (positive or negative) to 3e and 4e. Our understanding of Gygax's core literary & genre inspirations has changed as we assimilate or reject Shannara, The Wheel of Time, The Black Company, and Harry Potter, not to mention movies & games.

I read a short story a number of years ago about a musical prodigy raised in isolation but constantly recorded, with his compositions made public, until someone managed to sneak him some recordings of past composers. His "benefactor" warned him not to tell anyone, but the "monitors" realized it anyways, as suddenly the prodigy's compositions lacked the (musical flourishes) he'd heard from Mozart & Bach. He'd gone from pure inspiration to artifice. D&D isn't quite on that level, but the sentiment is there. OSR nowadays reject ideas they may have embraced twenty years ago, because now "wizards must use wands" sounds like 4e or Harry Potter, and "using minis" is a 3e/4e-ism...never mind the fact that many people gamed with miniatures or something similar (I used a chalkboard during college) to provide a visual representation of the encounter area during play.

So, if you want to reject those things, that's fine...but don't pretend that's how "things really were", or that your game is "better" because it's "older".

Nostalgia is about a condition and a feeling -- you equate a sense of pleasure with a condition that existed in the past. You cannot, as outlined above, recreate the exact condition, so the goal is to/must be to recreate the feeling with current conditions..which likely utilize similar elements as in the past, and thus invoking both pleasurable feelings and memories of pleasurable feelings.

I'm all for that.

Knockspell #3

Knockspell #3 is out, and I have a few monsters in it, and an author bio mentioning this blog.

If you came here after reading that, I apologize for the lack of posts - grad school is kicking my ass. The regular irregular posting will resume around December, run through most of January, and then go quiet until sometime in May. If it's any consolation, trust me, it's not a voluntary vacation from RPGs. ;)

Sammineth [3e]

Sammineth
+3/+1 eagle totem quarterstaff

Sammineth is a curved oak staff, just under six feet tall. The staff is engraved with images of eagles and feathers, and a magically hardened egg is bound to the head of the staff. The engravings are skillfully done, and depict a variety of eagles in flying, hunting, and perched. The base of the staff bears a worn iron cap shaped like a closed bird’s foot.
History: With the fall of the Amerite Empire and the final withdrawal of troops from the Shadowend, bandits, brigands, and worse came to the Hundred Kingdoms. Trade on the Great Road between Triumport and Gaidrilar slowed to a trickle, and none of the towns along the route cared to patrol more than a few miles, at best, beyond their walls. Caravan guards were as likely to rob their charges as the brigands they were hired to fend off, and the rude keeps of bandit lords dotted the kingdoms and highlands like carrion crows on a battlefield.
Veraza dauh’Izolla was the daughter of an Amerite footsoldier and a Keirunark tribesman. Blessed with her mother’s rigid sense of duty and order, and her father’s intuitive bond with the land, she swore to drive the brigands out of the Keirunark Highlands. She united the Kierunmark tribes behind her, and forged an alliance with the great eagles of the Highland peaks. Sammineth was a symbol of the bond between the tribes and the eagles.
When the Highlands were finally cleared, Veraza gave Sammineth to the eagles, and urged them to remember the alliances they had sworn. The eagles have acted as guardians and caretakers of the staff since then, gifting it to worthy druids and rangers who swear to protect the Highlands.
Properties: +3 enhancement bonus to attack and damage / +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage. Sammineth’s wielder can speak with animals three times per day as a druid of the equal level; gains a +3 circumstance bonus on all reaction rolls when dealing with eagles; and gains a +2 enhancement bonus to her Strength oncer per day. The bonus lasts a number of minutes equal to her level, and activating the bonus is a free action.

Dalerain VII: Ashara, Guardian of the Dawn

ASHARA
The Oathtaker, Guardian of the Dawn, Promised Lady

Demi-power of the Dalerain
Major AoC: Honor, Oaths, Pacts, Dawn
Minor AoC: Hope, Promise of Better Things, Faith
Symbol: Rays of light coming over a horizon, a golden hind, a padlock with no keyhole, a golden handprint
Allies: Brigit, Kaduv, Madate
Enemies: Kajalla, Malis
Avatar: Wizard 20 / Cleric 5
Ashara takes the form of a half-elven female when she creates an avatar. She has dark brown hair and grey eyes, and she radiates an aura of respect and determination. The Promised Lady carries a magical staff called Leithendau, or Light in Darkness, the properties of which appear to be under her complete control. She sometimes leaves an imprint of her hand in gold as a sign; much time and energy has been devoted to unravelling the prophetic secrets of these divine relics.
Ashara is a youthful deity, only recently ascended to the ranks of the Dalerain. Her companions include Fistine, the only other prominent half-elven Dalerain, and Brigit, the Bright Lady of fire and poetry. She loathes the malicious falsehoods of Malis and Kajalla, and takes every opportunity she can to thwart the objectives of the two older divinities. She frequently involves herself with her priests, granting council, aid, and even intercession if necessary.
Ashara is worshipped by those hoping for improvements in their life, and good and honorable sorcerers, wizards, and bards, and her favor is sought by nearly everyone at one time or another. Her faithful trust that poor circumstances will get better, and those that keep faith and honor are rewarded. They are vigilant against the undead, holding that undeath is a promise of repose frustrated, and that to free the undead to pass on is one of the greatest gifts they can give.

True
Domains: Glory, Good, Law, Magic, Spells
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Suggested Prestige Classes: Contemplative, Hunter of the Dead, Sacred Exorcist, Templar

Well, compiling my old writings has obviously taken a little more than a week. I'm up to 99 pages at the moment, and expect to add a few more (honestly. I'll be surprised if I hit 110...in this incarnation). I'm pretty well up-to-date on formatting and that sort of stuff, but the monsters still need some work (updating stat blocks, adding small bits of information that I was too lazy to do the first time around). Illustrations will probably wait for the next go-round with this manuscript.