Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
Homebrew Exaltation: Spark W2; She Blinded Me with SCIENCE!
Topic Started: Apr 24 2016, 04:15 PM (1,713 Views)
weredrago2
Member Avatar
He Who Posts Too Much
Changed up the Weird Science power a bit. Translating all of the ideas to Dungeons: The Dragoning won't be as easy as giving Wraiths the Ghost Dice from the Ghostbusters RPG.
Edited by weredrago2, Apr 29 2016, 12:57 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
weredrago2
Member Avatar
He Who Posts Too Much
I performed a major overhaul on the Spark. The most important change is to Weird Science, which now makes the Spark's casting style fairly different from everyone else. It's a bit wordier than I'd like, but it's still a work in progress.

Along with that big change are some littler changes. The opening fluff has improved, and I added a good Tell. Rapid Repurposing has been replaced with the mostly similar Junker, and the Assets have all been modified for (hopefully) the better.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Eisenritter
Member Avatar
Old Iron Knight
Every asset gives a bonus to spellcasting. Do please recall I got shat on mercilessly when the Sage assets did this.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Traskus
Member Avatar
Spitball Wizard
You make reference to wonders and how to make them, but the entry no longer establishes what a wonder is (if it ever did). Are they what allow you to cast spells with gizmos, home-made artifact items, or are they random items you can macguyver? Nevermind, it's artifacts. Had to scroll down.


You can cast spells with gizmos, okay fine. What if someone else picks it up? Who can and can't use it? What if it breaks, how do you replace it?

The +1k1 to casting is a bit much for some assets. Metatropi, Katastrofi, and Epikrato don't really need it.
Edited by Traskus, Oct 24 2016, 12:19 AM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
weredrago2
Member Avatar
He Who Posts Too Much
Sorry guys, it's 2 AM where I am. Staying up can cause me to randomly become inspired to write, but it can also impair my everything else. I'll replace the casting bonuses with something better later.

There are two different ways you could reasonably handle Weird Science gizmos. You could either include rules to accommodate them being actual items instead of memorized magic spells (such as rules for breakage and repair), or you can just treat them as spells with special trappings (meaning that your ray gun is an Energy Ray spell with a new paint job and cannot 'break' or be taken away from you). Right now, the rules for Weird Science gizmos follow the latter, because I only want to rock the boat for spellcasting a little instead of a lot. I might be willing to change to the former later, but the rules for them right now are fairly long as it is.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Username

I've been looking over the Spark again since I have one in a game of mine, although he uses a bit of an older build. I was working on some changes based on his set up and this one without just making another, but I figure it's probably better to just work on this one instead.

I was reading over the changes to Weird Science and in conjunction with some of the other powers the Spark gets it seems a bit overpowered. At first I thought it only applied to your chosen spell school, but on reading it again today I see the special casting rules and use of Intelligence only applies to all spells you cast. That's very strong as is, but it gets a bit worrisome in conjunction with the Eureka! power which can let you get up to an extra +5 intelligence. Since Intelligence is needed to craft items and cast spells, you're almost certain to start with 5. You'll probably have a Cyberbrain to get that to 6 normally as well. You'll be able to throw out some horribly nasty spells, saves that people have no functional chance of succeeding or buffs that can go through the roof. This is a similar issue to the one that the Promethean has, although they don't get the benefit of only needing to focus on a single characteristic for all magic. I do like the idea of having Gizmos apply to all your spell casting, the problem is more with the Eureka! power.
In addition, I think phrasing the explosion along the lines of "On another 1, the gizmo causes an explosion like a plasma grenade on the target of the spell." This would solve the confusion of what happens after it explodes, since it currently leaves people wondering what happens to the spell after that and whether you lose the spell forever or can make another and so on. The odds of rolling 2 1's unmodified is only 1%, although since pushing and being untested (or both) drops the result it might be easier to force. A plasma grenade is only 3k3 damage and it would happen even on beneficial spells (Try to cast message to talk to someone, instead cause an explosion on them) so I think it balances out. If not, perhaps just say causes an explosion like a plasma grenade struck you; changing it from explodes to causes an explosion clears up some ambiguity that would otherwise need to be clarified.

Another issue with Eureka! is the Power Stat 4 ability, Visionary. Eureka! lets you boost a mental characteristic by 1 per mania for an entire round, or test if that's longer. Visionary gives a static bonus to mental skill tests equal to the mania spent on the test, and a +1k0 bonus for every 2 spent. Does the mania spent on Eureka! to boost a characteristic count for Visionary? Either way seems to cause problems. If it doesn't, then Visionary is pretty worthless since it is at max a 2k0+5 static bonus (technically up to 3k0+6 if you go all out and use your racial power too as a Kobold) and only to mental skills and only for a single test, while Eureka is +1k1 per mania for an entire test, but possibly many tests done in the same round as well. If they do stack, the number it adds is still quite minor (making Eureka go from +2k2 for spending 2 mania to +3k2+2 for instance) but boosting something that is likely to already be insanely high.

It might be better to replace Eureka! with Visionary, but rather than +1k0 for every 2 spent, make it +0k1 for each 2 similar to the Orichalcum Promethean. Then when spending 2 you get a 2k1+2 rather than just 2k0. Epikrato would then refer to Visionary rather than Eureka!. I admit, I'm not 100% certain with what to replace Power Stat 4 though; even at PS 4 Eureka! would likely be too stronk.

Speaking of Assets, a question about Metapropi: It currently says you modify yourself as if you had Wild Shape or Improved Wild Shape. Those feats do more than add Traits or move Characteristics, they also transform you into an animal, meld all your equipment with you and make you unable to cast spells. I presume Metapropi is intended to only include the Trait and Characteristic features, but perhaps it should be stated outright if that is the case, something along the lines of:

Metapropi
The Axiom of Transformation. As a Half Action, you can spend Mania to modify yourself, allowing you to add traits and alter physical characteristics along the lines of the Wild Shape and Improved Wild Shape feats. You can spend two Mania to alter a willing ally this way. These changes last until the end of the scene.

The final questions are about Mad Artificer. It says it lasts until it is discarded: If you give the item to someone else, does that count as discarded or do they work until you "consider" them discarded?
More importantly, I think it might be more interesting if it applied to all Artifacts rather than just Wonders. Wonders are very limited, which makes the PS 5 ability especially a bit of a let down. Since they're so situational, most of them aren't going to be worth the XP to make Real. Since the Artifacts you could make are still limited by the Artifact Rating, it would still prevent you from going too wild with the Artifacts right away. All artifacts would allow you to make your own Cybernetics eventually as well, which seems appropriate for a Spark. I belief that using the ability more would be balanced by the fact that it reduces your Maximum resource while in use, or makes it so you have to spend large amounts of XP which will swiftly begin to add up. Being able to make more than just Wonders might work as a PS 4 ability, but I think that it would work better earlier so that way your available artifacts grow as your ability to spend resource does.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
weredrago2
Member Avatar
He Who Posts Too Much
Made some changes in response to feedback.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Exaltations · Next Topic »
Add Reply
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2

Theme created by "Josh Hall/Alpha.". Find more great designs at the ZetaBoards Theme Zone.