D&D 4E List of Potential New Martial Practices

[AbdulAlhazred]

Not that far off though I am arguably holding on to 4e prime a bit tighter at the moment.

For instance I am thinking a DM deciding that one doesnt need a feat to learn rituals / martial practices would just be a low impact house rule in 4e. Any class which had the feat I would be inclined to provide a few more free ones ... and carry on.

Your approach is probably more practical than mine. I have to do a lot of work getting material into my system if I don't want to generate it myself. Although its ALMOST as easy to import a 4e monster as it is to just customize one in 4e itself (IE you are just tweaking around with some numbers and the flavor/description mostly).

it is not a huge jump I think when I fixed the new cantrips so they were more situational I thought wow those are now about like rituals in function even if faster to perform.

Yeah, and I'm still thinking about consumables. If they're essentially 'stored rituals', and in my system a stored ritual (a preparation) could be basically like a cantrip, it could also be like a potion, so it all seems to work. That does take potions and such from being basically 4e style 'stored powers' to being something that has a narrative description (and ties to some skill most likely) which provides the character with the ability to make a check with said skill when it makes sense (IE I drink the Dragon Control potion and exclaim "Axathrax, surrender your greatest treasure!" and behold I get to make a check to see if I get a success).

Actually that example brings up a number of design decision points that would have to be examined. It seems like using up a perishable resource should give an auto-success, right? Does it cost a vitality point somewhere along the way? Maybe preparations simply have a cost in coin instead? They could obviously require specific circumstances to make and thus be a limited resource. There are clear use cases though, giving the whole party access to a way to do something that only one guy is normally good at (or even none of them are) by turning it into something else they can do (but its unlikely with this mechanic that it would work well for all PCs, being able to sub Acrobatics for Dungeoneering might work well for the rogue, but maybe not so well for the cleric).

 

[Garthanos]

There are clear use cases though, giving the whole party access to a way to do something that only one guy is normally good at (or even none of them are) by turning it into something else they can do (but its unlikely with this mechanic that it would work well for all PCs, being able to sub Acrobatics for Dungeoneering might work well for the rogue, but maybe not so well for the cleric).

I had thought of that issue when flying with acrobatics as the core skill was brought up.... the wizard or witch that you would like good at flying would be an int based character unlikely to be adept at acrobatics ie they use int for reflexes and so on.

 

[Garthanos]

Reincarnative/Akashic/Ancestral Dreaming

This inspired at least in part by certain classes being part Martial the Skald and Berserker, perhaps along with the idea of practices/rituals being not very different (I have been allowing bloodline-rites to run the borderline anyway)

Reincarnative/Akashic/Ancestral Dreaming -- History ---> This is a form of trance but rather than reducing sleep time it requires you engage a full 8 hour sleep (occasionally as long as 12 hours) with full REM so cannot be combined with trance. This might result in sleep walking where one performs a task which one doesn't really have the skill or background for such as building a boat or really anything one might hire someone to do or it might be just talking in ones sleep where the task is more mental like researching or knowledge skill related. This could be a very open ended thing. The task performed generally has a Karma pt cost comparable to hiring someone to perform it the task might be accomplished in about half the time normal if you are channeling a true expert and have a higher Karma pt cost . Sometimes you might awake shy one healing surge -- payment for that true expert or a side effect of accelerated physical activity?

Generally you do not always have the best control over what you find just as sometimes you cannot find someone to perform the task you need in the real world (which is often a streetwise task) a history check might be the roll for this.

Flavorful effects

• Accidental - you wake up and you realize you cooked a great breakfast and everyone is ready for the road.
• Anachronisms - Out of date items made.
• Left over effects - You awake speaking a language that nobody knows.

Reincarnative Dreams is actually rooted in the Blood-rite concept and would definitely be one accessible by way of the Mythic Bloodline feat. As tapping into an ancestor it seems a Barbarian or thing and as scanning the Akashic record it feels the purview of the Skald.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Not that far off though I am arguably holding on to 4e prime a bit tighter at the moment.

For instance I am thinking a DM deciding that one doesnt need a feat to learn rituals / martial practices would just be a low impact house rule in 4e. Any class which had the feat I would be inclined to provide a few more free ones ... and carry on.

I had thought of that issue when flying with acrobatics as the core skill was brought up.... the wizard or witch that you would like good at flying would be an int based character unlikely to be adept at acrobatics ie they use int for reflexes and so on.

I guess one answer is that the plot coupon may be worthwhile even if the mechanics are unfavorable (IE if you can put an SC onto a whole other narrative path that leads to more favorable options down the road, then making one fairly difficult check may be worth it, especially if you can buy a success/negate a failure). Thus the wizard with 2 left feet indeed doesn't 'wire fu' too well, but narratively he bears down, bashes his head on a limb, and manages to keep up with the rogue.

The other answer of course is 'not everyone has to do it the same way', maybe the wizard uses a 'Fly' ritual, and the rogue uses 'Wire Fu' and they both manage to get over the castle wall (neither of them being especially strong and thus good with Athletics checks). Note how this also helps to resolve silly burrs in the design of 4e where rogues don't climb as well as fighters out of the box.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

This would be an alternative way to implement things like the Deva's racial memory trait.

 

[Garthanos]

Note how this also helps to resolve silly burrs in the design of 4e where rogues don't climb as well as fighters out of the box.

Yeh that one felt like an oops... Nimble Climber option anyone?

 

[Garthanos]

This would be an alternative way to implement things like the Deva's racial memory trait.

I might consider it a freebie practice for the Deva just like Trance is for the Fey folk , AND trance was one of the first new martial practices I designed if I recall correctly. The ability they have currently is potentially combat useful.

Note this is much in common functionally with the Trained Preparedness practice AND is functionally similar to using hirelings for things you do not know how to do... just feels a tad more heroic

Every one of the the Wheel of Time leadking ie player characters are basically Reincarnating Heroes and the Trope is so common in Legend and Myth ( as well as the most widely held religious tenant IRL), that making it very accessible seems actively appropriate.

 

[Garthanos]

Reincarnative Dreaming is another one that is dependent on the Karma Point mechanic.

I am progressively more appreciating that particular idea.

 

[Garthanos]

Here is another item for the Mind over Matter grouping (anybody for a disenchant?)

Mind over Matter: Grip of Giants --Athletics / Endurance --->Disenchant (Destroy inanimate item you can grasp turning it into a chunks and powder - items that are magical the dust is residuum but rather impure and you must spend some significant time filtering it. It takes some time to break a magical item in the first place but it is relative to the quality of the skill roll and the level of the item that determine how long.

Not sure about the value of this one as a martial practictioner is unlikely to have a use for residuum however... I have seen mechanics in D&D land where barbarians due to a philosophical stance might reasonably gain karma points out of destruction of magic items however.

EDIT:After revisualizing and renaming and keeping it magic item specific - I now really like where this went.

 

[Garthanos]

Suppose that might be a Barbarian Cleansing