Black Flag Project Black Flag Design Notes #1

[Parmandur]

Limiting talents by class groups? Oh well. That's nothing some multi classing can't fix!

Yeah, OneD&D is doing basically the same thing, they just have five groups instead of 3 (4 for the Class Groups, and generic Feats).

 

[Clint_L]

I mean, they’re right, though.

D&D doesnt belong to one company. Acting like it does is much more strange, like pretending the NFL solely owns American football.

D&D definitely does belong to one company. But the game doesn't, in the sense of the rules, so the original quotation seems accurate enough.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

D&D definitely does belong to one company. But the game doesn't, in the sense of the rules, so the original quotation seems accurate enough.

Unless you're defining DnD as the literal ability to legally label products with the name, no, it doesn't.

 

[ninjayeti]

Personally, I like what I have seen so far from PBF: 5E cleaned up a bit and rebalanced, but an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude.

 

[Scribe]

They may try and follow all the rules of the NFL-- change a few things here and there-- but they still can't get many people to watch it because the fact is, it's really not the game itself people care about, it's the brand. People watch the NFL because it's the NFL, not because it uses a very specific set of American Football rules that everyone care about.

There's also....a dramatically small percentage of men who can play the NFL game, at a level of execution people want.

Half of the NFL cannot even reach that bar, and its getting worse every year lol.

 

[Minigiant]

So Black Flag's Talents are just OneD&D's Feats except split into Martial/Magical/Techinical instead of Warrior/Expert/Priest/Mage/None

 

[Kobold Stew]

I think you are overlooking the possibility of an archetype/subclass/PrC/etc granting limited access to other trees as a class feature or to grant a choice of specific selection of talents outside the ones normally available. Also there is good in not allowing any fighter to "take take a magical or technical feat; let Sorcerers take a martial one." When that fighter/sorcerer/etc can't just snag an A or S tier talent from outside their normal pool it keeps the various thematic niches from being combined into a bland soup of "MOAR POWAH" allowing them (and their weaknesses) to be balanced separately in isolation for more interesting choices relevant to a niche's theme.

It's certainly possible -- I would expect e.g. Eldritch 'Knight to have access to some Magic talents, etc. But that becomes fiddly, and (I still believe) less fun overall. Much better would be not to have talents that are so superior to others, right? An S Tier magic talent will almost certainly mean more to a Wizard than to a Rogue, so let the Rogue have access to it.

 

[tetrasodium]

So Black Flag's Talents are just OneD&D's Feats except split into Martial/Magical/Techinical instead of Warrior/Expert/Priest/Mage/None

Spoiler

As a scholar, you have spent time researching particular academic subjects at an institute of learning or under the tutelage of a knowledgeable teacher. Choose a talent from the following list to represent this experience: Polyglot, School Specialization, or Trade Skills.

As a soldier, you have received special training or honed natural capabilities that have kept you safe during your service. Choose a talent from the following list to represent this experience: Armor Training, Combat Casting, or Combat Conditioning.

Maybe maybe not. It depends on how they are gained. Polyglot Combat casting & School specialization are almost cross.... umm... pool(?)

It's certainly possible -- I would expect e.g. Eldritch 'Knight to have access to some Magic talents, etc. But that becomes fiddly, and (I still believe) less fun overall. Much better would be not to have talents that are so superior to others, right? An S Tier magic talent will almost certainly mean more to a Wizard than to a Rogue, so let the Rogue have access to it.

They very well might, but "access" is a broad range. Having "access" to a selection of them at any talent gain interval vrs being allowed to more broadly choose any qualifying magical talents but only at certain points rather than being able to choose them during any talent choice level are slightly different. We already know how that can be expanded in future supplements by looking back at 3.x too where it wasn't uncommon to see "this feat can be selected as a $class bonus feat"" or whatever the wording was

 

[bedir than]

There's also....a dramatically small percentage of men who can play the NFL game, at a level of execution people want.

Half of the NFL cannot even reach that bar, and its getting worse every year lol.

But Black Flag isn't about setting up the Patriots. It's about putting together a team that wants to play the same style together. It doesn't have to be a billion dollar company to be a success.

 

[Weiley31]

All I know is, any fixes or buffs to classes that Black Flag does, I will either use or add on to.
I'm still looking forward to seeing how everything goes still.