Owen K.C. Stephens's Blog, page 63

Hex Rounds and Wandshells for Starfinder

Yesterday we presented spell guns and runethrowers, magic devices that can produce spell effects from battery power. The next obvious question is — can you have magic bullets that produce spell effects?

Of course you can. Presenting: Magic Muntions!

[image error]

(art by Yuri Hoyda)

Magic Munitions                     Item       Credit

Item                                            Level      Cost       Bulk

Hex round, 0-level spell          2             140           L

Wandshell, 0-level spell          3             325           L

Hex round, 1st-level spell       5             450           L

Wandshell, 1st-level spell       7             750           L

Hex round, 2nd-level spell     8          1,400           L

Wandshell, 2nd-level spell    11         3,250           L

Hex round, 3rd-level spell     11         3,700           L

Hex round, 4th-level spell      14       10,600          L

Wandshell, 3rd-level spell      15       17,500          L

Hex round, 5th-level spell      17       36,650          L

Wandshell, 4th-level spell      19       81,000          L

Hex round, 6th-level spell      20     112,800          L

Magic munitions allow you to load a one-shot, consumable version of a spell into a weapon. Any spell with a casting time of no more than 1 standard action, that does not require Resolve Points or materials with a cost, can be turned into a magic munition. Activating a magic munition is a standard action, and when you do so the weapon does not have its normal effect (and does not use any ammo or battery beyond the magic munition). The magic effect normally originates as if you had cast the spell. If the spell has a range of touch, you can instead target any legal target within the weapon’s reach of first range increment. The caster level for the spell effect is equal to the magic munition;s item level.

A hex round can only be fired from a spell gun or runethrower able to cast a spell of the same or higher level, or a weapon with the spellthrower fusion. A wandshell can be loaded into any weapon. As magic munitions these ammos can be loaded into any ranged or melee weapon, even ones not designed for physical ammunition or that are normally totally unpowered. Loading a single he round or wandshell into a weapon is a move action. A weapon can’t have more total item levels worth of magic muntions loaded into it at a time than its own item level. Thus a item level 9 laser pistol with the spellthrowing fusion could have one hex round with a 2nd-level spell, or three wandshells with 0-level spells.

Magic munitions not loaded into a weapon are easily identified as magical at a glance, of even by their unusually heavy heft. Most have the spell loaded into them carefully noted on their casing. You cannot craft a a magic munition of a specific spell unless you can cast that spell, or have someone able to cast the spell available to do so when you create the munition.

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Spellguns and Runethrowers for Starfinder

As soon as you say a setting has spellcasters and blasters, there’s a group of players who want to have spellguns. And that’s fair. After all there are numerous examples of spell-generating hybrid technology in science-fantasy fiction (my specific inspirations come from The Irregular at Magic High School and Outlaw Star, but there are many more examples).

But Starfinder doesn’t really have anything like that. There are spell ampules and spell gems… but those are 1-shot consumables, not the spellguns we want.  So I was going to post a few examples of spell guns last Friday… and realized I hadn’t written how how I figured the item level and cost of such things. So I delayed the article to today, and you get a enarly-double-length Monday article that both shows the design process I used, AND presents two sets of finished spellcasting weapons.

So how do we figure out the effective item level of a device that can cast detect magic using a battery, and how do we scale that against a baleful polymorph rifle?

Well, let’s start with something we CAN easily scale — damage. If we can find a relationship between damaging spells at each level and weapons that are roughly as effective, and spells of each level have roughly the same impact on the game as one another, that should allow us to set item levels for devices that create other spells effects of each level.

It’s best if we pick a few spells that come as close as possible to JUST doing damage at each level. We can then figure out a rough benchmark for the typical weaponlike damage each of these things does, looking back at our benchmarks for weapon damage. There’s some subjectivity there of course, but in general we can compare these to damage from weapons (treating a save and attack rolls to be about even in terms of damage-per-round options, and treating area or ongoing attacks as being 10-20% more damage for benchmark purposes) to tell us roughly what item level weapon does comparable damage.

We want two effective item levels (EIL) for each spell — one taken from the closest equivalent longarm or advanced melee weapon (representing an item used by people skilled in combat), and one taken from the closest 1-handed basic melee weapon or small arm (representing an item use by those unspecialized in combat). Those are listed with a slash as skilled/unspecialized. We’ll go into why we want those separate numbers in a moment.

Technomancer spells have the following exemplar damage spells at each spell level:

0-Level

Energy Ray (1d3, single target EAC ranged)  EIL – 0/1

1st-Level

Jolting Surge (4d6, single target EAC melee) EIL – 12/15

Overheat (2d8 energy in a cone, save for half) EIL – 11/15

2nd-Level

Caustic Conversion (4d6 energy, single target EAC ranged, ongoing damage) EIL – 13/18

3rd-Level

Arcing Surge (10d6 energy, line, save for half) EIL – 19/24

Explosive Blast (9d6 energy, radius, save for half) EIL –  19/24

Since we already hitting item level 19+ by 3rd level spells, it’s pretty clear 4th-level and higher spells would be beyond the scope of even 20th level equipment.

So, erring on the side of items that duplicate spells skewing up at lower item levels (as we not the benchmark damage for low-level weapons is a bit off, a weirdness the designers accepted so no one would actually have a weapon that did 1 point of damage), and standardizing the curve between skilled and unspecialized, we come up with the following typical item level for something that can reliable reproduce magic effects:

EIL by Spell Level

0-Level Spells: 3/8

1st-Level Spells: 11/16

2nd-Level Spells: 13/18

3rd-Level Spells: 19/24

We know from the price difference in spell gems vs spell ampules that giving a spellcaster access to more spells from their spell list is cheaper than allowing anyone to use that magic effect, so let’s use the same logic here. The lower “skilled” EIL is what we use for “Spell Guns,” which we define as only being able to be used by a character who can cast spells of the same spell level and class list as the one reproduced by the spell gun. So a microbot assault spell gun can only be used by a technomancer who can cast 2nd level spells.

The higher-level EIL we’ll use for Runethrowers. They function just like Spell Guns, except they can be used by anyone.

Also, we’ll use Small Arms proficiency for Spell Guns (so any spellcasting PC can use them), and Longarms for Runethrowers. Of course attack rolls won’t matter for all spell effects, but we’ll rule that any nonproficiency penalty you take with with a Runethrower impacts both any related save DCs, and reduces the Runethrower’s caster level.

We’re also going to ban any spells that require Resolve Points, have a casting time greater than 1 action, or require an experience material mentioned in the spell description. Otherwise each item casts a spell and works like a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to the item level, and all decisions made by whoever pulls the trigger.

So, borrowing some typical costs and battery usages from appropriate items:

Small Arms

SPELL GUNS                    Item     Credit      Spell

Name                              Level    Cost         Level   Battery  Usage

Spell Gun, Apprentice        3         1,500       0           20            2

Spell Gun, Mage               11       26,000       1           40            4

Spell Gun, Arcanist           13        52,000       2           80            8

Spell Gun, Archmage        19      600,000       3         100          10[image error]

(art by info@nextmars.com)

Longarms

RUNETHROWERS                 Item     Credit      Spell

Name                                    Level    Cost         Level   Battery  Usage

Runethrower, Neophyte       8          10,000       0           40            4

Runethrower, Warlock         16       180,000      1           80            8

Runethrower, Theurge         18       400,000      2         100            10[image error]

(art by info@nextmars.com)

Runethrower (neophyte, Warlock, Theurge)

A runethrower is a hybrid weapon that contains a single spell of the listed level. It can convert energy from a battery into the energy needed for that spells, using a rune embedded within the weapon to provide all the eldritch control needed to create magic effects.

Only spells that can be cast in a single action or reaction can be placed in a runethrower (and always use a standard action to activate), and it must not have any Resolve Point cost or require any material with a cost (as noted in the spell description). A runethrower’s caster level is equal to its item level, and any decisions that need to be made when it creates a spell effect are decided by the user.

A runethrower can normally only have a single spell added into it. That spell can be changed to another spell of the same level by anyone with the ranks needed to craft the runethrower, at half the cost of creating a new runethrower. A runethrower can also have a additional spells of the same or lower level placed within it as Weapon Fusions (at the normal fusion cost, though it cannot be transferred from another weapon). Each weapon fusion of this type is treated as a weapon fusion with a level equal to 5 + the level of spell it contains. If a runethrower has multiple spells, the user decides which one to use each time it is activated.

Any penalty to attack rolls a character takes applies to a runethrower’s save DC, and if a character is nonproficient, that penalty also applies to the ruenthrower’s caster level when they use it.

Spell Guns (Apprentice, mage, Arcanist, Archmage)

A spell gun is a hybrid weapon that contains a single spell of the listed level. It can convert energy from a battery into the energy needed for that spells similar to a runethrower, but rather than have an internal rune that provides the directions to create a spell effect, requires an eldritch spark from the user to initiatie this conversion. Thus a character can only use a spell gun if they are of a class and level able to cast the spell contained within the spell gun (though it need not actually be a spell known).

Spell guns otherwise follow the rules for runethrowers.

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Fallback Feats for 5e, PF1, PF2, and Starfinder

Tuesday’s Fallback feats were a bit hit. Sadly, circumstances prevented me from posting two new rules-elements worth of content Wednesday.

So, today not only am I giving your four new Fallback feats, they all work in four game systems — 5e, PF1, PF2, and Starfinder. Though these these feats are written using Pathfinder 1e/Starfinder terminology and formatting (I didn’t take the time to write 4 slightly different versions of each), the actual feats and rules themselves work in all 4 game systems.

These feats all fallow the normal Fallback Feat rules.

ELDRITCH BACKLASH [Fallback]

Your magic harms those that ignore it.

Benefit: When you cast a 1st level or higher spell that does not affect any creatures or significant objects you target or that are in the area, one target of your choice with an AC no greater than 15 + your caster level takes damage equal to one weapon in your possession with which you are proficient (without adding any bonus damage from ability scores, feats, or special abilities), or 5 HP per level of the spell, whichever is greater.

LEARN FROM FAILURE [Fallback]

You are constantly analyzing your efforts, and even when you do not succeed, you may learn something useful from your failure.

Benefit: When you fail at an attack roll or an ability check or skill check to identify, recall lore about, disarm, disable, or bypass a creature, trap, or hazard, or survive or get along in the wilderness, you may immediately make an appropriate ability or skill check to learn one new relevant fact about the creature, object, or region involved at the normal skill DC to learn information or recall knowledge. Multiple failed checks can reveal multiple new pieces of information without the DC increasing.

[image error]

(Art by GrandFailure)

SIMMERING RAGE [Fallback]

Even when a foe incapacitates you, your anger at being sidelined grows.

Benefit: When you are unwillingly bound, charmed, enchanted, entangled, grabbed, grappled, held, paralyzed, petrified, or magically slept by a foe (or foe’s trap or hazard) during a combat encounter in such a way that you cannot take any effective actions, you gain a +1 bonus to saving throws, rolls, or checks to end the situation incapacitating you (if any), which is cumulative if you are incapacitated for multiple rounds.

Additionally when you stop being incapacitating, you gain a +4 bonus to any attack roll or skill check you make in your first full around, and tot he save DC of any spell or ability you use that round.

STREAKBREAKER [Fallback]

Your bad luck doesn’t last forever.

Benefit: When you fail an attack roll or skill check roll (not including taking 10 or taking 20) and your d20 result for the check was 11 or worse, you gain a +1 luck bonus to all attack rolls and skill checks where you make a d20 roll until you succeed at one. If you already have a luck bonus active from this feat when you qualify for it again, you luck bonus increased by 1 until you succeed at a skill check or attack roll.

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Fallback Feats for Pathfinder 1e

It can be frustrating, as a player, to have your entire round go by without doing anything effective. It’s especially frustrating when you tried to do something cool, and the end result is nothing but wasted effort.

On the other hand, if you can’t fail at things, the thrill of success is dimmed.

But failure can be relative. When you lob a fireball at a group of giants and they all make their save, they at least take SOME damage. If you lob a fireball at a group of ninja with evasion, the end result may be doing no damage at all.

Ideally, the game moves along fast enough you can shrug off the bad round and look forward to more opportunities. But that isn’t always the case, and some players seem to have the bad luck to be totally ineffective multiple rounds in a row… and that’s no fun.

Enter the fallback feat… an entirely untested idea on how to make failure less frustrating.

Fallback Feats

Fallback feats only function in rounds when you have not taken any action that exceeded a foe’s CMD, caused a foe to take damage, or caused a foe to fail a saving throw. Ongoing events from previous rounds can do those things, but if any action you take manages one of those effects, your fallback feat does not function that round. Fallback feats also require you to have attempted some specific actions, which must also fail in order for the feat to function.

[image error]

(Art by Roman)

ELDRITCH BOLSTER [Fallback]

When your magic energy fails to effect any foe, it instead bolsters your health.

Prerequisites: Caster level 1st

Benefit: When you cast a spell that has an effect other than to deal damage, and it is entirely negated by saving throws or spell resistance, you gain temporary hit points equal to double the spell’s level. These hp do not stack with other temp hp gained from this feat, and last for 10 minutes or until expended.

HONED DEFENSES [Fallback]

When your efforts to harm your foes fail, you instinctively step up your defenses.

Prerequisites: Caster level 1st or base attack bonus +1

Benefit: When you have made at least one attack that could deal damage, or used a damage-dealing ability or spell, and no foe or targeted object took damage as a result, you gain a +2 bonus to your AC, CMD, and saving throws. You apply this bonus to the next attacks made against you or saves you make before the beginning of your next turn. The bonus applies to a maximum number of attacks or saves equal to the number of attacks you made or creatures you targeted or had in a damaging area.

For example, if you caught three ninja in a fireball and damaged none of them, and didn’t take any other effective actions this round, you apply your Honed Defenses bonus to the next three attacks or saves you make before the beginning of your next turn.

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Wrapping up the 5e Mascot Class, With Shtick

We spent last week presenting the base of the Mascot class for 5e. Tuesday we laid out the concept and framework for the Mascot class for 5e, Wednesday we presented the Domestic Companion option for that class, Thursday we presenting the Inspiring Failure class feature, and Friday we presented the Torchbearer option.

All that’s left is to create its selectable class feature, shtick.

SHTICK

You are often surprisingly effective in combat… just not in ways that traditional heroes are. Instead you have actions that,–backed by a combination of your moxie, some luck, and the total surprise you are engaging in adventuring at all–can alter the flow of combat in surprising ways. These sometimes-comical options are known as shtick. You gain your first shtick at 2nd level, and gain an additional shtick at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level. You cannot select the same shtick more than once.

Some of your shtick abilities for a foe to make a saving throw. The DC of such saves is equal to 8 + you proficiency bonus + your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma bonus. You select which ability score applies to your shtick save is based on when you gain your first shtick, and once made this decision cannot be changed.

[image error]

(Art by Lunstream)

Adorable Bravery

The very fact you place yourself in places of extreme risk without any apparent talents or powers to make such actions look like reasonable choices on your part can endear you to foes who see you as a cute little thing, rather than a threat.

Using your action you can stand defiantly in the face of a creature within 30 feet that has attacked and damaged you or an ally. The target must succeed at a Wisdom save or be charmed by you for 24 hours, or until you attack them. Once you have successfully affected a creature with adorable bravery, you cannot attempt it again until after you take a long rest.

Baffling Affront

Using your action you engage in behavior that is both confusing, and obviously out of place with no apparent explanation (and no visible reason for you to believe it will work). You might scold a giant for being a bully, act like a bull about to charge an enraged minotaur, or challenge a lich to a dance-off. The behavior is so unexpected and novel, the target is briefly taken aback. You select one creature within 60 feet that is able to see or hear you. The target must succeed at a Charisma save or be incapacitated for 1 round. Once you have successfully affected a creature with baffling affront, you cannot attempt it again until after you take a short rest.

Expertise

While your traveling companions have been learning new spells, mastering fighting techniques, and perfecting new forms of skulking, you’ve been picking up little tips and tricks from the cooks at inns, drovers of friendly caravans, and other behind-the-scenes folks. Much of this builds off a direction you might have taken in your career, but never mastered until now.

Select an additional background. You gain the benefits and items from this background.

Natter On

You are adept at the endless chatter common to some working-class folk, and can both use it to get the skinny in a new region, and to overload a creature with more words than they are used to processing. When you are in a settlement where you speak one of the common languages, each day you may make one Charisma check with proficiency to learn local gossip and rumors without anyone realizing you are gathering such information.

Additionally, using your action you can direct a stream of apparently endless but potentially important words at a creature within 30 feet able to hear you. You can maintain this for a duration of concentration (10 minute maximum). As long as the target can hear you, they are deafened to any other sound.

Pewter Flask

Sometimes, you are saved by  the noncombat equipment you carry on you. This might be a spider’s fangs sinking into your cookbook, a giant crushing a loaf of bread thinking it was your head, or an arrow being stopped by hitting the pewter flash you have in your vest.

When you take damage or have a condition applied to you, as a reaction you can instead have one item in your possession be destroyed and not take the damage or condition. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again until after you have taken a long rest.

The Right Tool

You know that sometimes the important thing is not who tries something, but what they try to do it with. While mighty heroes are busy giving speeches and staring down the forces of evil, you’re keeping track of who is holding what, which item is in which belt pouch, and what is likely to be needed in the coming moments.

Using your action, you can change what items are ready for use for yourself and every willing adjacent ally. You can ready items from yourself or a willing ally for use by another ally. Only items that can be readied or put away in an action can be affected by this ability.

Shielded By Clutter

You have so much stuff that attacks are as likely to hit your cooking pot, tailoring cloth, or portable library as to damage you. As long as you have any equipment or gear, you are considered to have the benefits of a shield without needing to hold one in your hand. If you are adjacent to an ally and they are attacked, as a reaction you can cause them to benefit from having a shield (temporarily ending your shielded by clutter benefit). This lasts as long as the ally is adjacent to you, until the beginning of your next turn.

Spoon to the Knuckles

You may see yourself as a cook, or tutor, or dressmaker rather than a warrior, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t willing to treat a monster like an unruly child and rap their knuckles with a wooden spoon (or otherwise take them to task).

Make an ability check with advantage using a tool with which you are proficient. Your DC is equal to your target’s AC. If you succeed, you do a single hp of damage (though this does not trigger rules triggered by making an attack). Additionally, the target is so flabbergasted by your effrontery they have disadvantage on any attack thy make for 1 round.

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The Torchbearer Archetype for the 5e Mascot Class

Monday we laid out the concept and framework for the Mascot class for 5e, Tuesday we presented the Domestic Companion option for that class, and Wednesday we presenting the Inspiring Failure class feature.

So, it’s time to present our other initial archetype, the Torchbearer.

Mascot Archetype

At 1st level, you choose an archetype that defines what kind of mascot you are, and gives you some idea how other PCs and NPCs are likely to see and treat your character. You can choose from the Domestic Creature or Torchbearer archetypes.

The archetype you choose grants you features at 1st level and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level.

[image error]

(art by Zdenek Sasek)

Torchbearer

You are a dedicated assistant to adventurers and heroes. You may not actually carry a torch of course — you might be a young squire with a mace, a farmer with a pitchfork, or a hireling with more loyalty than your employers know. You don’t think of yourself as a hero, but you will aid them however you can. You spend a great deal of time carrying torches to light their way, bringing them lost weapons, and standing beside them in the darkest moments so they do not have to face such risks alone.

A Light In The Darkness

Beginning when you take this archetype at 1st level, your plucky courage and willingness to take the same risks as your allies moves them to be their very best. This ability, and all your other torchbearer abilities, only function after a round when you do not make an attack or cast a spell. If you take either of those actions, no torchbearer ability functions until after the beginning of your next turn.

When an ally within 30 feet makes an attack roll or saving throw, you may choose to roll 1d20 as well. If your result is better than the ally’s (or both of the ally’s, if they have advantage), they make take your d20 rather than use their own die results. Once an ally chooses to use your d20 result, you cannot use this ability again until after the end of your next turn.

How Dare!

You friends are offended when enemies harm you. At 7th level, if a foe successfully hits you with an attack, or forces you to make a saving throw you fail, one ally of your choice within 60 feet gains advantage on their next attack against that foe. Only one ally can have this benefit at a time, and it must be used within 2 rounds.

Over My Dead Body

At 10th level when you are adjacent to an ally, and an enemy targets that ally (with an attack or a spell or effect that selects targets rather than an area), you can use your reaction to cause the attack or effect to target you instead. The effect otherwise works normally (requiring attack rolls to hit or allowing saving throws as appropriate), just with you rather than your ally as the target.

It’s Good To Have Friends

Those who harm you find your allies wroth. At 15th level when an ally attacks a foe that has within the past day damaged you, or created an effect or cast a spell you failed a saving throw against, and the attack is a success you can use your reaction to make it a critical success instead.

Don’t Be Dead

So great is your grief at seeing the fall of the heroes you have spent your life helping, the universe itself responds by keeping them just at the brink of death’s door. As an action you can attend an adjacent ally who died within 1 minute as a result of massive damage or from failing a third death save. The ally turns out to have never quite died, regains a number of hit points equal to your level (or half it’s maximum, whichever is less), and becomes conscious. Once you use this ability, you cannot do so again until you take a long rest.

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Inspiring Failure for the 5e Mascot Class

Monday we laid out the concept and framework for the Mascot class for 5e, and Tuesday we presented the Domestic Companion option for the Mascot Archetype class feature. We’ll present the Torchbearer archetype later in the week, but today I actually want to define the Inspiring Failure class feature.

While a Mascot character is often out of their element and overmatched by the circumstances of adventuring, the very fact they keep trying can inspire their allies. When a mascot succeeds at a task everyone is delighted, even their failures can inspire the heroes around them to achieve greater success on the mascot’s behalf.

[image error]

(art by Lunstream)

Inspiring Failure

You get one use of Inspiring Failure at 3rd level, and gain an additional use at 11th, 17th, and 20th level.

The first time each day you fail an attack roll, Ability/Skill check, or saving throw while you are in an encounter that can earn XP (as determined by the GM), you earn one inspiring failure point (IFP). When an ally within 60 feet who witnessed your failure fails an attack, ability/skill, or save, you may expend an IFP to grant them a special reroll. If the d20 on their reroll results in a 1-10, they gain a +10 bonus to their total.

Each additional use you gain of inspiring failure allows you to gain an IFP from an additional failed roll on your point. When you take a long rest, you lose all IFP.

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Mascot Class Archetypes, for 5e

Yesterday we laid out the concept and framework for the Mascot class for 5e, so now it’s time to begin deliver into some specifics.

At 1st level you choose a Mascot Archetype. This defines what KIND of mascot you are, and will impact your character’s options and play style as you gain more levels. In a full version of this class we’d likely want at least 3 Mascot Archetypes, but for blog posts I think we can just do two. (If there’s a huge demand for more, we can always circle back ‘around to it.

The Mascot Class, for 5e

There’s a character that shows up fairly often in fantasy fiction, that is rarely taken as a player concept in RPGs. This is the brave hireling who tries to defend you with a cooking pot, the gardener and family friend who carries you when your legs give out, the faithful tutor who takes an assassin’s dagger so you can defeat the villain.

They aren’t mages, or warriors, or treasure acquisition experts. They are commoners or civilians, who love the heroes enough to go with them, and are often described as the “heart” of the group… because “hanger-on and potential hostage” doesn’t sound as complimentary.

Basically, they are adventuring group mascots. They DO make appearances as NPCs in some games, and I have seen GMs do great jobs with them. But I also know a lot of players who would LOVE to roleplay the team mascot… as long as they could still DO something.

And I think it’s possible to build a class that gives a player game options that are fun, while still preserving the “civilian” nature of a mascot.

I think this idea works REALLY well for 5e, so I am using that for my framework. We’ll need to start with some basics.

[image error]

(Art by Jacob Blackmon)

Mascot Class Features

As a mascot, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d6 per mascot level

Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d12 (or 8) + your Constitution modifier per mascot level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Shields

Weapons: Simple weapons

Tools: Pick any four

Saving Throws: Wisdom, Constitution

Skills: Choose two skills from Animal Handling, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Perception, Survival, and Religion

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

(a) a simple weapon and a shield or two simple weapons

(a) Two tools you are proficient with

(a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

Table: The Mascot

Level Proficiency Bonus Bonus Features

1st +2 Mascot Archetype

2nd +2 Shtick

3rd +2 Inspiring failure (one use)

4th +2 Ability Score Improvement

5th +3 Schick

6th +3 Ability Score Improvement

7th +3 Mascot Archetype feature

8th +3 Ability Score Improvement

9th +4 Schick

10th +4 Mascot Archetype feature

11th +4 Inspiring failure (one use)

12th +4 Ability Score Improvement

13th +5 Shtick

14th +5 Ability Score Improvement

15th +5 Mascot Archetype feature

16th +5 Ability Score Improvement

17th +6 Inspiring failure (three uses)

18th +6 Mascot Archetype feature

19th +6 Ability Score Improvement

20th +6 Inspiring failure (four uses)

Okay with that we can begin to build out the game options. So, what are the mascot archetypes?! What shticks can you pick from?! How does FAILURE inspire?

Come back over the course of the week, and we’ll investigate these intriguing options.

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If the RPG Industry is So Terrible, Why Do I Do This?

[image error](Image by Jessica Dale)

For about a month now, I’ve been talking about the realities of the U.S. tabletop RPG industry, as I see them. I’ve posted thoughts on Facebook and Twitter, including under the hashtags #RealGameIndustry and #NotesFromAnRPGDev. ENWorld also created threads to discuss many of these shortly after I started, and again a week or so later. (And, I just discovered, a third time on July 4th).

And a lot of those observations paint a pretty grim picture. Poor pay. No security. No prospects for retirement. Regular harassment from fans and pop culture commentators. A fairly wide spectrum of people who think what you do requires no special talents, and that’s why you can’t make a living at it, and if you wanted to be able to live in moderate safety you shouldn’t picked a “fun” job like making games. These, of course, are intermixed with people who feel the need to interject about how common these problems are in all industries–which certainly suggests picking a different career might not be as helpful as the first group wants to claim.

Of course, my experiences aren’t objective or somehow universal of course, but I have been involved in the industry for 23 years, as a freelance writer (full and part time), contract worker, staff designer, staff developer, freelance developer, producer, line editor, publisher, and consultant. But even then, it’s one narrow slice of the ttRPG industry. A number of other professionals have opined about what they agree with, and what they feel like need qualifiers, but there’s been little real disagreement that I have seen.

So, if it’s a terrible way to make a living—why do I? Why stick with an industry for decades if even the “success” of getting hired on-staff by the two biggest RPG companies in North America isn’t enough to leave me able to pay the bills without having to scramble every month?

I was writing the headline of this article, and my wife leaned over, and in all seriousness asked me “So, why DO you do it?”

I confess that in the past 6 months, I have begun to think maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe it’s time to hang up the dice, at least professionally, and switch to a “normal” job. I still may. But not this week, which brings us back to “why?”

There are two big reasons.

1. I Want To Help

And I think I can, but only from the inside.

So, what do I mean by help?

I mean help gaming, as a hobby, and game professionals, as a group. I want to work to make the ttRPG industry create the most good situations for the most people. That means working to improve conditions and stability, trying new things and seeing if any of them work better, answering questions, tutoring people, putting folks in touch with other folks for mutual benefit, and publicly fighting for diversity, inclusion, and ethical game designs.

And while it may be hubris to think I can make a difference, I’d rather struggle so survive if it means there is a chance I can make other people’s struggles easier. I’ll never be the person who determines if I have succeeded at this, of course. And I may never know if I really improve things. But I do get feedback that convinces me the effort is worth making.

It looks to me like there will be people trying to be full-time RPG professionals for the foreseeable future. I want to help them, and at the same time help the industry, hobby, and fans of gaming be the best they can.

2. I Think RPGs Are Important

I think ALL games are important, but especially ttRPGs. Roleplaying Games brought me most of the good things in my life.

High school was harsh for me, and I can honestly say I was miserable most of the time and considered suicide more than once. But RPGs let me explore ideas I was too afraid to discuss, helped me form a strong social support group, and let me make friends I am still playing with 25 and 30 years later. Nothing else came close to letting me deal with my pain, and learn something about bravery. 

I learned empathy through RPGs, and regret, and problem solving. It encouraged me to learn about history, grammar, math, probability, tactics, risk-taking and analysis, even a theory of fun. I doubt there is any positive aspect of my personality I can’t trace back to RPGs. And a lot of things I know were terrible parts of who I was growing up I overcame through interactions with RPGs, and the people I met through them.

My tightest bonds outside my immediately family came from ttRPGs. I met my wife through roleplaying. My best friends, from people I have known for more than 35 years to people I just got to know in the past year, through roleplaying. I have gotten to learn from geniuses, and help put folks much more creative than me on easier paths, through roleplaying games.

Further, I believe the influence of ttRPGs has much bigger ripples than people realize. And I want to have a small hand in what those ripples look like, and what messages they send out.

So yes, even when some person or persons leaves comments on videos claiming I am so fat and disgusting no-one should ever look at me or trust me, even in weeks when I have to spend 60-70 hours scrambling to pay the bills and arrange for opportunities to do the same thing next month, even when groups of people claim my ethics and morals are just schemes to draw attention, even when people smarter and more creative than me throw in the towel and leave the industry — or maybe especially those times — I feel the drive to keep doing this.

I know I cannot make a huge difference, but I feel this is the tool I can best use to do the most good, for the most people.

If you feel like supporting me in those efforts, you can make a huge difference by supporting my Patreon.