AbdulAlhazred
Legend
Honestly, one of the problems I'm having with the HoML design of techniques is just how many different ways there are to recast something. Mimicking animal calls could USE Nature to sub for other skills, such as Intimidate. It could also simply be used for the ability to spend a Vitality Point (HS) when you have an applicable technique to auto-succeed (Say on a hunting task where you need food). Maybe hunting is a Nature check (I think its called 'foraging' in 4e) and so is Mimicry, but if you don't have some more specific hunting technique, then you'd employ Mimicry to entitle you to auto-success. Point is, you could also consider Mimicry as a way to employ Bluff instead of various other skills. This is of course a pitfall of ALL skill systems, it is never 100% clear, even given a specific narrative, which skill should apply. Honestly, it might even be better if I were to abolish the 4e-style skill system entirely in my game and just go with 'substitute one attribute bonus with a different one' as the mechanical effect. Then if you want to be a bad-assed tracker/hunter guy you'd pick up the corresponding techniques and move the narrative in the direction of tracking and hunting, put it all on your high WIS score, and be bad-assed! A 'huntsman' boon could package up the relevant techniques, along with some sort of relevant utility power, into a nice bundle. You could still buy the relevant techniques on their own if you wished.That too works too... it takes on a interesting/weird dynamic if it requires trained perception to do. Trackers making animal calls based on skills other than nature come to mind also.
Well, there's an option is to make all the 'instant' ones only available as boons, whereas things that you can't generally rinse and repeat in combat would be available for purchase, ala rituals/practices. They could all be 'techniques', but some you can't just go out and buy. GMT in 4e is pretty much exactly 'Major Boon' in HoML, so that works fine. A super snazzy 'Distraction' technique that you can pull in combat as a standard strategy would thus be part of say a 'Trickster' boon, which would raise you a level when you get it and can't be bought (except maybe when its appropriate to the narrative, in which case the cost is, in HoML terms, just flavor).Could just be seen as lesser GMT in this 4e specific paradigm if it doesnt need prepared (or a trance state) or a longer time to do. But yeah practices being geared toward the latter and cantrips being a quicky thing you can do are different.
But I think maybe there value might be much the same even if the practices operate as normal.
It points out how bloody rich the Wizard was made with rituals and cantrips on top though (especially with those essentials and post essentials cantrips).
The Skald was similarly boosted however.
It was really the skill swapping practices that influenced my thinking on that, i needed to make those situational as they are just too powerful in comparison to the other cantrips without that adjustment. After the adjustment they feel like these rituals and practice with a fast casting time.
Yeah, its workable. It wouldn't be TOO hard to make some fairly broken ones, but that's no different than with powers in 4e where 'Twin Strike' and similar stuff basically follows the architecture of the game, but is still a little 'broken'.