Ants Webcomic for the Week of 6/30

Here's this week's comic... of course, if you are a Patreon Supporter, you have already read it!

Webcomic for the Week of 6/23

Simplifying and Condensing

In designing the core rules for Saga of the Splintered Realm, one trick is finding the most economical, simple and intuitive way to present information. For example, I cut two pages of treasure rules down to one page tonight, and didn't lose a single thing. In fact, it's now a little cleaner and easier to remember:

Monetary Treasure

Roll 1d20 + CL, target 15. If successful, the creature has monetary treasure. For the value of the treasure, roll 2d10 and multiply the result by the value multiplier (see below). Convert this to a value in silver coins.

Magical Treasure

Roll 1d20 + CL three times. Natural 20s do not automatically succeed.

·      First roll: target 20. If successful, the creature has one instance of minor magical treasure.

·      Second roll: target 25. If successful, the creature has one instance of moderate magical treasure.

·      Third roll: target 30. If successful, the creature has one instance of major magical treasure.

Experience and Treasure by Monster Challenge Level

CL	XP Value	Multiplier	CL	XP Value	Multiplier
0	5	(Roll 1d10)	11	1,750	X85
1	10	X1	12	2,000	X100
2	25	X2	13	2,500	X125
3	50	X3	14	3,000	X150
4	100	X5	15	3,500	X175
5	250	X10	16	4,000	X200
6	500	X20	17	4,500	X225
7	750	X35	18	5,000	X250
8	1,000	X50	19	5,500	X275
9	1,250	X60	20	6,000	X300
10	1,500	X75	21+	(+500 per)	(+25 per)

Fresh Eyes: Magic in Saga of the Splintered Realm

In reading about D+D 5E, and some of the ways in which casters can swap out spells for other effects in various situations, it makes me think about flexibility (or lack thereof) inherent in the existing B/X spell system. I like the idea that a caster gets to tailor a spell or make decisions in play about how much to invest or where to allocate points. The B/X model doesn’t allow that as much as I’d like.

I’m tinkering with something akin to a spell point system that has the current B/X spell advancement hierarchy at its heart. Here is the skinny:

•          You earn a number of spell points each level equal to the level you advance to. You add these to your existing pool. As a magic user 3, you will have 6 spell points in your pool (1+2+3). When you advance to level 4, you add 4 points to this pool (bringing you to 10). If you have exceptional Intelligence, you get to add your bonus one time (at level 1) to this pool. The magic user 4 with INT 11 (+2 modifier) has 12 points in his magic pool.
•          Spells cost a number of points to cast equal to their sphere. Spheres expand to 12 (to match character progression). You can only cast a spell from a sphere of your level or lower; as a magic user 4, you can cast any spell in your spell book of up to sphere 4. I’d distribute the current spells among these spheres: level 1 spells become spheres 1 and 2; level 2 spells become spheres 3 and 4; level 3 spells become spheres 5 and 6; etc.
•          You cannot use a spell of a sphere rated higher than your INT. With INT 10, you can access no better than sphere 10 spells.
•          Many spells would have the option for tailoring their effectiveness. For example, arcane dart is a sphere 1 spell. You deal 1d6+2 per spell point you use (minimum of 1 point). If you cast this and use 4 spell points (the most you could invest in a spell as a magic user 4), you deal 1d6+8 damage with it. Fireball, as a sphere 5 spell, deals 5d6 damage as a base (costing 5 spell points). You can throw a 5d6 fireball as a magic user 12 (costing 5 spell points), a 6d6 fireball (costing 6 spell points), continuing upwards to a 12d6 fireball (12 spell points – if you have INT 12). The law of diminishing returns kicks in with lower sphere spells. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend 12 spell points on a 1d6+24 arcane dart (dealing 25-30 damage, albeit with no save allowed) when you can use the same number of points to throw a 12d6 fireball (dealing 12-72 damage over a large area – although targets do get to save for half).
•          This allows a wide range of tailoring… charm person is a sphere 2 spell (high end of level 1 to my mind). However, you can invest up to +4 more spell points into it when you cast it, increasing the difficulty of the saving throw. If you cast a 6-point charm person, you can force one target to save at -4. It could even allow you to affect multiple targets; for every +2 points you spend, you can attempt to charm one additional target: a 6-point charm person spell can charm 3 human-like characters at one time. This allows for the caster to make a number of decisions in play in terms of resource allocation – you can do something with 2 points, or you can a lot with 6 points – or anywhere in between.

Apples to Apples

A direct comparison in terms of total points with the previous system presents some challenges, but let’s give it a shot… let’s look at level 9.

•          In the current iteration of the rules, level 9 gives you the following progression: 4/3/3/2/1. This gives a total of 13 spells per day (we’ll leave off bonuses for INT for right now).
•          The new system would give you 45 spell points at level 9. This would allow you to cast 9 spells per day if you cast 1 spell each from each of the 9 spheres you have access to. However, if you elect to do nothing but cast sphere 1 spells and only spend 1 point in each one, you could cast 45 spells that day; if you do nothing but cast sphere 9 spells, you can cast 5 of them and then you are spent. In effect, the new system allows you, at each level, to do what you could last level + 1 spell of the highest sphere. These numbers skew a bit because level 3 spells (for instance) are now divided between spheres 5 and 6. You can get close to replicating the existing progression as a magic user 9 by casting 4 spells of sphere 1 (4 points), 3 spells of sphere 3 (9 points), 3 spells of sphere 5 (15 points), 2 spells of sphere 7 (14 points) and 1 spell of sphere 9 (9 points), for a total of 51 points (you have 45 available). This is a pretty close approximation, and you give up a few points in order to increase your flexibility substantially.

Ants Webcomic for the Week of 6/16

Webcomic for the week of 6/9

Chapter Four begins, and we're back to the core group. I'm ready to kick this thing into high gear...

Vault of the Goblin Map

This weekend we'll be exploring the lair of a dragon's shadow. Should be a good time... assuming the heroes survive (and maybe even if they don't). This will be a chance to play test some rules and play along with some friends who've never played a RPG before! Looking forward to it...

Ants Webcomic for the Week of 6/2

This week's comic wraps up the third chapter of Fall of Valhalla, and finishes up our sojourn in the past. Next week, we get back to kicking butt and taking names with the core team...