Anyone check out Radiance RPG yet?

Tyro Devil
A tyro devil is a fiend that serves a time of training in the mortal realm to damn souls.


Overview
Here is key information about this immortal.
Type: Fiend. Your creature type changes from person to fiend. You ignore abilities that only target persons and affected by abilities that specifically target fiendish creatures.
Appearance: Similar to a tiefling, you appear as you did in mortal life and may show or hide traits such as horns, infernal skin, and black eyes.
Prime Attributes: Mundane attacks use Strength while magic attacks use Intelligence.
Powers: You can form contracts with mortals, holding their souls in exchange for power, and perhaps damning them. You enjoy immortality, fiendish traits, and the ability to communicate and visit with mortals.
Challenges: You serve a terrible fiendish master and constantly work to fill a quota of souls. Holy water harms you. Frustratingly, you can only harm mortals by contract.
Typical Alignment: Any evil. Even if you tend toward chaos, you are under the thumb of a devilish master and forced to live within the straightjacket of infernal order.
Multiclassing: Blackguard, fighter, invoker, rogue or warlock. You may select 1 of these classes to pursue under the multiclass option.


Powers
This immortal enjoys the following abilities.
Broker Devil: You start knowing the truename of 1 standard level 9 devil (RMG, page 60-63), typically a barrister or nighthag, with which to trade souls. See the Visitation ability.
Devilish Skills: Boost Arcana, Bluff, Intimidate, Literacy, Religion, and Stealth checks by +3.
Devil’s ContractM: Up to 3/day, you can seal a bargain with a willing person (no other creature type). You hold a lien on the person’s soul and grant him 4 basic abilities, 2 intermediate abilities, or 1 advanced ability of his choice from any class, or boons from your deity, for a period of 24 hours. Alternatively, the bargain requests the death of another person, a gift of 1,000 gp, the granting of a noble title, or the carrying of your child (a tiefling). If the contract signer dies while the contract is in effect, his soul typically proceeds to your master’s realm (see Infernal Master below) as a slave and cannot be restored to life by any means except a Wish or Miracle. Otherwise, after 24 hours the contract ends and the person is free. You may sell someone’s soul, or lien on a soul, to another devil or to a mortal for an amount equal to 100 gp x (soul’s level)2. Costs 5 vitality.
Horns and TalonsM: As a swift action you may hide or show infernal natural weapons such as horns and talons that collectively inflict 1d4+Str damage. Reflex resists.
ImmortalM: As a devil, you do not age, do not need to breathe, eat or sleep, and cannot be raised from death if slain.
Infernal GoutM: Creatures within a 15-ft cone suffer 1d6 fire damage per level (max 5d6), or ½ damage when Reflex resists. Costs 1 vitality.
NethersightM: You can see in magical darkness as well as normal darkness.
Resist Hell’s IreM: Boost DR by +5 to resist fire and saves by +5 to resist poison.
SendingM: You can send a message of 25 words or less to any living creature you have met before and know by name and is presently located in the same realm of existence. Costs 5 vitality.
Vile SkinM: As a swift action, you may hide or show supernaturally tough skin to enjoy +2 DR. The skin is strongly colored such as vile green, blood red, or charcoal black.
Vile Smite: As a swift action, apply +1d4+1 vile wound damage to 1 of your attacks made that same round. Costs 2 vitality.
VisitationM: Once daily, you can unerringly move yourself to a person or fiend in any realm of existence who has just uttered your truename. You can transport up to 250 pounds of gear or 1 Medium or smaller creature with you. You automatically return to your departure point after 1 hour unless magically trapped.


Challenges
This immortal suffers the following challenges.
Devilish Deity: Select a lawful evil or neutral evil deity such as Asmodius, Lilith, Nefriti, Phane or Rorax. You can change to a different qualifying deity, but no mundane or magical means can change to any non-qualifying deity.
Harmed by Holy Water: You suffer 2d4 damage from a direct hit by a single vial of holy water. See RPG, page 162 for details on using holy water.
Infernal InvitationM: Whenever you advance in level, you must perform a 10-minute ritual to join your Infernal Master in a supernatural 30-ft-cube spartan private sanctum without exits. Until you do so, you cannot advance in level. The ritual transports you both to this place to meet for 1 hour. During this time, you may a) Speak with your master as a “neutral act”, b) Embrace him in intimate union as an “act of sin” to gain a gift worth 100 gp per level, c) Offer him a gift worth 100 gp per level as an “act of weal”, or d) Engage him in combat to the death as an “act of woe”. If you slay your master, you are free of him, though you eventually acquire a new master as usual when advancing in level. This sanctum is also where you go if banished by Exorcism. Costs 5 vitality.
Infernal Master: You gain a devil (RMG, page 60) as a patron. The devil is a standard devil if you are level 8 or lower, a balor devil if you are level 9 to 15, and a balor devil prince if you are level 16+. Whenever you rise to equal your master’s level, you gain a new, more powerful master. The master resides in the same realm of existence as your Fiendish Deity, such as Gehenna for Asmodius, Hades for Lilith, Tartaros for Nefriti, Acheron for Phane, or Nonesuch for Rorax. The master doesn’t help you, but you require him for abilities such as Infernal Invitation and Quota of Souls.
Oath of Unharm: Against a person, you can only make 1 attack roll against him for each attack roll he has made against you, unless commanded by a deity or a Devil’s Contract with a person.
Quota of Souls: You must collect souls for your master using Devil’s Contract (above). Your quota 1 per month, 13 per year, and 666 in total before you are free of him. You cannot sell these souls for your benefit. Souls that collect beyond your quota are yours to sell or otherwise do as you please.
Vile TortureM: If you fail to meet your Quota of Souls by the appointed time, you are immediately sucked through a magic gateway that traps you in a punishing torture chamber at your master’s abode. You remain there for 2 minutes, of for 3 rounds if you resist using Will against the patron’s attack roll, suffering 1d6 damage per round, after which you return to your departure point if you are still alive or vanish forever if the torture killed you.


Design Guide
You may apply all of this immortal’s features at once, boosting the character’s level by +4. Or you may apply features as a character progresses, as follows.
Level & Features
1 Devilish Deity, Devilish Skills, Horns and Talons, Infernal Gout, Infernal Invitation, Infernal Master, Nethersight, Oath of Unharm, Visitation
2 Quota of Souls, Devil’s Contract, Resist Hell’s Fire, Vile Torture
3 Harmed by Holy Water, Sending, Vile Skin, Vile Smite
4 Broker Devil, Immortal

BTW, here is a really fun recap of a classic Paizo adventure path using Radiance RPG rules:


http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qv3i?Radiance-RPG-Playtest-Rise-of-the-Runelords#7

NM - was a Necro post. Had not seen this game before and didn't realize the original post was 2 years old.

Khaalis said:

NM - was a Necro post. Had not seen this game before and didn't realize the original post was 2 years old.

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After my first glance over of the game, I'm impressed. For still being a d20 core, this is a great reinterpretation of the system. Nice blend of other system inspirations and a fair chunk of new ideas.

I have another question for you aside from the Expansion... your Pact Magic series. Any plans to convert it over to Radiance or is there already a lot of influence already in Radiance that I just haven't seen yet on my first skim through?

Khaalis said:

After my first glance over of the game, I'm impressed. For still being a d20 core, this is a great reinterpretation of the system. Nice blend of other system inspirations and a fair chunk of new ideas.

I have another question for you aside from the Expansion... your Pact Magic series. Any plans to convert it over to Radiance or is there already a lot of influence already in Radiance that I just haven't seen yet on my first skim through?

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Glad you like it so far. Yeah, I was inspired by a variety of systems from Blue Rose to Star Wars.

Any PC can take up pact magic in Radiance RPG by selecting the "Heretic" theme on page 116 of the Players Guide. Rather than a distinct list of spirits, pactmakers select abilities from among the various deities, even if they don't worship those deities. That's why each deity has a pact-like seal ;-).

The Heretic starts with Seal Minor Pact, which allows you to swap abilities each day for deity abilities. Then typically, you next take Heretical Lore, which grants access to 3 more deities and their abilities. From there are various options typical for binders.

If you want more than this, I suggest a heretic shaman (page 90), with the shaman's series of pact options. Or try a heretic invoker which allows access to 1 deity's abilities in greater amount (due to your divine bloodline) plus the heretic's access to other deities. Or, the sage and warlock have abilities like Channel the Divine (page 87) or Fiendish Ritual (page 96).

Overall, it lacks the huge diversity of spirits and their lore. But in practice, you still gain access to a ton of flavorful abilities and there is still the same heretical theme going on, as cherry picking divine boons is not something the deities or their priests would approve of.

Ok, so I have a mechanics/math question on this.

AncientSpirits said:

IMMORTALS
A 4-level "immortal template" is basically 30 design points worth of abilities plus -10 design points worth of challenges, for 20 dp total. The PC gains more vitality, saves, and wealth with the new levels, but no abilities from his class, race or theme (if any).

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You state the total DP = 20, but I only get 18.

* Powers = 30 DP (There are 14 powers, presumably at cost 2 ea. = only 28 DP)
(1. Animal Magnetism / 2.Expert Trip / 3. Feral Senses / 4. Grapple / 5. Hybrid Form / 6. Immortal / 7. Jump / 8. Mystic Ritual / 9. Resist Cold / 10. Scent / 11. Werewolf Prowess / 12. Wolf Empathy / 13. Wolf Form / 14. Wolf Skills)

* Challenges = -10 DP (There are 5 challenges cost at -2 ea. = -10 DP)

What am I missing? Is there a Power missing? Or is there some reason that 2 of the 14 Powers listed are cost out at 3 no 2? Or is the cost really 18 DP?


The reason I ask, is because on first glance, my first thought is how I would apply this to my homebrew game. I would want a more stripped down version of this to fit my Lycan race, using this template as a form of a racial levels to allow a form of "Species Paragon". I'd allow any Lycan to take as many (0-4) levels in this racial class as desired. However, some of the options don't apply in my homebrew.

So for example, if say I wanted to drop the "Werewolf Curse" and "Lycan Limitations" challenges. Assuming the build is actually 20DP, that should mean I need to trim 2 equal 2DP powers. In this case I would drop "Immortal" and "Mystic Ritual". I would ten also slightly redistribute the levels for better spread:
1 - Feral Senses, Scent, Jump, Resist Cold / Weak with Silver -- [4P / 1C]
2 - Grapple, Hybrid Form, Wolf Skills / Bound by Silver -- [3P / 1C]
3 - Animal Magnetism, Wolf Form / Strange Attraction -- [2P / 1C]
4 - Expert Trip, Werewolf Prowess --- [2P]

This would make the Template worth 18DP (24 P, -6 C) or if there IS a 15th power then 20 DP.

Is that modification correct for the build math?


Additionally, on a side note, the "IMMORTAL" entry in Werewolf seems to be missing text.

ImmortalM: You do not age, do not need to breathe, eat or sleep, and cannot be raised from death if slain. You lose your immortality if you lose your...

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Khaalis said:

Ok, so I have a mechanics/math question on this.

You state the total DP = 20, but I only get 18.

* Powers = 30 DP (There are 14 powers, presumably at cost 2 ea. = only 28 DP)
(1. Animal Magnetism / 2.Expert Trip / 3. Feral Senses / 4. Grapple / 5. Hybrid Form / 6. Immortal / 7. Jump / 8. Mystic Ritual / 9. Resist Cold / 10. Scent / 11. Werewolf Prowess / 12. Wolf Empathy / 13. Wolf Form / 14. Wolf Skills)

* Challenges = -10 DP (There are 5 challenges cost at -2 ea. = -10 DP)

What am I missing? Is there a Power missing? Or is there some reason that 2 of the 14 Powers listed are cost out at 3 no 2? Or is the cost really 18 DP?


The reason I ask, is because on first glance, my first thought is how I would apply this to my homebrew game. I would want a more stripped down version of this to fit my Lycan race, using this template as a form of a racial levels to allow a form of "Species Paragon". I'd allow any Lycan to take as many (0-4) levels in this racial class as desired. However, some of the options don't apply in my homebrew.

So for example, if say I wanted to drop the "Werewolf Curse" and "Lycan Limitations" challenges. Assuming the build is actually 20DP, that should mean I need to trim 2 equal 2DP powers. In this case I would drop "Immortal" and "Mystic Ritual". I would ten also slightly redistribute the levels for better spread:
1 - Feral Senses, Scent, Jump, Resist Cold / Weak with Silver -- [4P / 1C]
2 - Grapple, Hybrid Form, Wolf Skills / Bound by Silver -- [3P / 1C]
3 - Animal Magnetism, Wolf Form / Strange Attraction -- [2P / 1C]
4 - Expert Trip, Werewolf Prowess --- [2P]

This would make the Template worth 18DP (24 P, -6 C) or if there IS a 15th power then 20 DP.

Is that modification correct for the build math?


Additionally, on a side note, the "IMMORTAL" entry in Werewolf seems to be missing text.

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There werewolf is worth 30 design points.


You can usually tell how many design points something is worth by the vitality cost of the abilities or by looking at a class or such that has those abilities. For example, Animal Magnetism costs 1 vitality, is a basic tier ability, and thus is worth 1 design point.


Some of the abilities have pre-reqs that are folded into them. An example is Hybrid Form:
Going back to the shifter (page 92) in the Players Guide, Wereform is 1 design point, then there's Horrid Wereform (2 points) that ups the damage. Also, a rend effect is folded in, and Rend is 2 or 4 points depending on its severity and scope--I made this one worth 2 points. Finally, the form offers +4 DR and +10 ft speed for the duration, plus a little better damage than ever Horrid Wereform offers, adding +2 more points, for 7 design points total.


Animal Magnetism = 1
Expert Trip = 2
Feral Senses = 1
Grapple = 1
Hybrid Form = 7
Immortal = 4
Jump = 1
Mystic Ritual = 2
Resist Cold = 1
Scent = 2
Werewolf Prowess = 2
Wolf Empathy = 1
Wolf Form = 2
Wolf Skills = 3 (offers +5 bonus on 6 skills, which is like 3 basic tier abilities)
TOTAL = 30 points


In the Expansion Kit, I do offer a Progression from level 0 to level 4, to allow PCs to grow into their new nature.


You can use the design points to progress just as you've suggested, though you may want to adjust some of the values in light of the design point breakdown above.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question but I haven't yet had time to read it cover to cover and don't have the GM Guide yet....

Where did you get the Build Points for each ability? Is there a costing guide in the GM Guide? How are the Challenges cost out, or is that something detailed in the Expansion kit?

For some I understand since they are "cut and paste" such as "Grapple", which is a Racial/Basic level ability and thus worth 1 BP.

This would definitely support the idea of a Power/Cost master index.

Khaalis said:

Forgive me if this is a dumb question but I haven't yet had time to read it cover to cover and don't have the GM Guide yet....

Where did you get the Build Points for each ability? Is there a costing guide in the GM Guide? How are the Challenges cost out, or is that something detailed in the Expansion kit?

For some I understand since they are "cut and paste" such as "Grapple", which is a Racial/Basic level ability and thus worth 1 BP.

This would definitely support the idea of a Power/Cost master index.

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Great question. Pages 16 and 17 of the Masters Guide describe how to build new races, classes, and themes. Here's the entry on basic tier abilities:

Basic Tier: Offer at least 15 basic abilities. Refer to existing classes for inspiration. Here are guidelines:
Feats: A feat here means a mundane ability. An feat might grant +1 DR or a +1 bonus on attacks with +2 damage. Alternatively, when using weapons, apply +1d6 damage (or 1d4+1). Many of these abilities are based on “feats” as normally used in the d20 system such as Power Attack, thus the term. You can grant an ability to recover 1d6 vitality once daily or offer a +5 ft bonus to movement.
Spells: Basic tier spells deliver 1d6 damage per 2 levels (max 5d6) out to 15 ft at most, though they might do less if they can effect multiple targets at once. Spells let targets resist for 1/2 damage. A few abilities might do 1 or 2 wound damage, daze 1 target, or cause fatigue. Spells with unusual effects such as conjuring creatures generally work a short time, only 5 minutes at most. A magical defense offers +2 DR with armor or +5 without armor. And so forth. When translating level-based spells from other d20 games, 0-level and 1st-level spells sit at this tier. Typically, 0-level spells translate into abilities like Light that cost no vitality to use. Otherwise, they cost 1 vitality to activate.
Skills: Grant +5 bonus to 2 skills, or a +5 bonus with a +10 bonus in a very specific subset of that. Alternatively, offer bonuses to 3+ skills with a total bonus of 9 or 10.

Khaalis said:

This would definitely support the idea of a Power/Cost master index.

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I think this is a good idea! An index that would also incorporates the monster abilities from the GM guide, so as to make it easier to build monsters using point-buy.