#The Shaman! (1.0)

23 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

frozen shard
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For heartflame, enduring stone and shifting flame doesn't feel very paradox-y to me, that's what I'd expect. Are they meant to be swapped (possibly representing tectonic plates and magma)?

viral gull
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this is sick

stuck saddle
stuck saddle
# viral gull this is sick

Thanks. Anything you like in particular, or dislike? I'm really interested on feedback for this one, so anu outside perspective is helpful.

viral gull
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gaining harmony by swapping out of primal shape feels a tad odd to me

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i get why i think, with how it gets harmony by having temp so you want to offset

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but it feels weird with what it encourages

stuck saddle
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Yeah, the goal I have is figuring out a reason to switch back out of your shape from time to time. Right now, it's still mostly set that shifting into your form should be default with turn, and may not be any reason to leave it. The idea of going harmony was that you get to set a surge of harmony because your resting the power that binds with your spirit. But I don't know if this is the best wY?

stuck saddle
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The Shaman! (1.0)

frozen shard
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for Spiritual Companion, won't it just die instantly?

stuck saddle
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So, initially, the idea was that its around until its targeted. BUT, I was going back and looking at the 4E books for some inspiration, and actually the old shaman's spirit companion core feature had a threshold - so I think I might copy that.

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I'd probably set it at the recovery value, and the idea is - if the companion takes damage equal to or higher than that value, it dies; else - nothing happens.

frozen shard
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hmm, recovery value might be a bit high. That could easily make it pointless for smaller enemies to attack it.

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And even then, it introduces the null result again in a big way. Either you kill it, or you make no progress. It's on the director's side, not the player's, but still...

stuck saddle
# frozen shard hmm, recovery value might be a bit high. That could easily make it pointless for...

Yeah, just did the math, way to high. As for null results, its a trade off - either its pass/fail OR its another stamina pool to track. Considering it is on the Director side, I'm pretty comfortable with that - namely because it only gets killed when the bad guy does something cool; which is still kinda of cool cinematically.

Math wise, - Intuition + Level would be a good threshold; that'll put the range between 3 - 15 over 10 levels; 🤔 Or 2 x Inutition would be 4 - 10; that might be better.

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Based on estimates in beasiary, that means minions will struggle to kill it except on a T3 result; Regulars and Solo's will need to use their big attack to kill it; but that means it doesn't hit a party member (probably)

frozen shard
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An alternative mechanic could be that the player can choose to take inflicted hits to their stamina, if they don't then the spirit "dies".

stuck saddle
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It's a free hit you can throw off, otherwise you can maintain it as long as you want. I really like that. Less tracking, less 'checking' - I think I'll put that down until further notice.

stuck saddle
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So, something I realized while working on this, but I think with spiritual companion - it really is a unique enough ability that it probably deserves its own class. I was debating if trying to combine the benefits of the old 4E Druid and Shaman into one class would outweight the complexity; yet the more I keep looking at it, the more it seems likes like that feature truly deserves its OWN class. So I think I'll change this one to more of a general summons ala the 'Bystandar' Feature of trobador, and this probably becomes the 'Druid'

brazen sierra
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I did something similar, where I was working on a subclass for the Elementalist and decided it's better as a whole other class instead.

One of my players loves playing a "gish" so I was making something specific for them and it just turned into its own thing.

stuck saddle