Dragonbane general thread

[Sir Brennen]

What’s the power curve like in Dragonbane? As in, how powerful are advanced characters compared to new ones? Are low level monsters still a threat to more advanced characters? How well can characters of mixed levels adventure together?

There are no levels in Dragonbane; advancement is a bit more subtle and incremental. Each session a player will have the opportunity to advance about 5 to 10 skills each by a single point, if they manage to roll over their current score (meaning the higher the skill, the less likely they’ll succeed.) Last session I had a player that only advanced one skill out of six attempted.

A character that has been in a few sessions will be somewhat more skilled, and possibly have a Heroic Ability or two if they managed to max a skill out at 18 (again, can take a while) or the GM deemed they had earned one.

But, Attributes don’t change. If you have a 14 Constitution, you’ll always have a 14 Con, and therefore 14 hit points. There is a Heroic Ability you can take to get more, but it’s only 3 at a time, and you’re sacrificing the option to take a different Heroic Ability.

And that goblin archer with a d10 shortbow is still going to be a threat to even more advanced PCs, especially if he has friends, and any if them score a critical hit (double damage)

As mentioned upthread, when adding a new character, they should get a skill roll for each session the game has been played, and an equal number of Heroic Abilities the other characters have.

 

[MacDhomnuill]

Exactly. Which opens up so much content. Basically anything OSR is usable fairly easily. Now if only I could crack the monster code.

I also keep hearing a lot about WFRP and Dragonbane. Specifically The Enemy Within campaign. I think that would be interesting. Definitely want to look at eventually converting some of my WFRP stuff over.

My approach to using OSR adventures with dragon bane is to assume a beginning DB character is equal to about a level 4 OSR/OSE/BX character thus far it has worked out pretty well.

 

[MacDhomnuill]

What’s the power curve like in Dragonbane? As in, how powerful are advanced characters compared to new ones? Are low level monsters still a threat to more advanced characters? How well can characters of mixed levels adventure together?

A goblin with a crit could kill just about any character in DB. Unlike class and level games (dnd and its myriad clones) DBs BRP heritage means combat is more grounded and all things being equal a highly skilled swords man dies just as fast as a farm when stabbed in the kidney. On the other side skills can i crease quite fast if the GM allows all the available options to get skill rolls. Training especially can increase skills quickly by using down time to have PCs teach each other skills. My eldest daughters fighter is teaching the middle daughters bard swords during down time while the rouge run by my son is learning a secondary skill of tavern management (its a long story) from the local tavern owner. Unlike many other games power increase for non mages is largely skills and gear based. Magic is two fold as it is both a skill which needs to be increased with skill rolls and spells that must be learned individually.

 

[overgeeked]

My approach to using OSR adventures with dragon bane is to assume a beginning DB character is equal to about a level 4 OSR/OSE/BX character thus far it has worked out pretty well.

Interesting. Why 4th?

 

[overgeeked]

Another indication of power level and tone of Dragonbane, look at resurrection.

It's a costly spell in time and resources. It permanently lowers your WIL (main casting battery stat), takes 6 hours to cast, you only get one chance and if you fail the target is permanently dead, you have to roll to cast, and the resurrected person loses 1d3 points from all their CHA-based skills.

 

[Aldarc]

Another indication of power level and tone of Dragonbane, look at resurrection.

It's a costly spell in time and resources. It permanently lowers your WIL (main casting battery stat), takes 6 hours to cast, you only get one chance and if you fail the target is permanently dead, you have to roll to cast, and the resurrected person loses 1d3 points from all their CHA-based skills.

Though I like the idea of Resurrection being costly, the permanent loss to Willpower seems unnecessary and not my cup of tea. I will readily admit that I’m not a fan of PCs losing their stats. Its less the case with Charisma skills, which can be raised again. I would probably sooner just get rid of the Resurrection spell entirely but if I ever get back to my Greek-inspired Dragonbane, I may change the costs so they are a little more interesting than permanent stat losses.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Though I like the idea of Resurrection being costly, the permanent loss to Willpower seems unnecessary and not my cup of tea. I will readily admit that I’m not a fan of PCs losing their stats. Its less the case with Charisma skills, which can be raised again. I would probably sooner just get rid of the Resurrection spell entirely but if I ever get back to my Greek-inspired Dragonbane, I may change the costs so they are a little more interesting than permanent stat losses.

One thing you could do, without changing the rules, would be to have an NPC who knows the spell cast it. Of course, it would have to be someone who owes the PCs greatly, is extremely generous or just believes the sacrifice is for the greater good.

Or you could introduce powerful magic items or even magical beings capable of resurrecting a character. I’d still require some sort of cost or sacrifice from the PCs, to underscore the significance of being brought back from the dead.

 

[Aldarc]

One thing you could do, without changing the rules, would be to have an NPC who knows the spell cast it. Of course, it would have to be someone who owes the PCs greatly, is extremely generous or just believes the sacrifice is for the greater good.

Or you could introduce powerful magic items or even magical beings capable of resurrecting a character. I’d still require some sort of cost or sacrifice from the PCs, to underscore the significance of being brought back from the dead.

Those are good ideas. Thinking about it further, I think what I would consider would be that Resurrection stays the same. It's a last ditch option, particularly in the open field. But the spell would not cost Willpower to the caster IF the spell is performed at a place of magical power, temple, or shrine. However, there would likely still be a steep cost for performing such a ritual: sacrificing a magic item, wealth, or some sort of debt to a god or magical being.

 

[overgeeked]

Though I like the idea of Resurrection being costly, the permanent loss to Willpower seems unnecessary and not my cup of tea. I will readily admit that I’m not a fan of PCs losing their stats. Its less the case with Charisma skills, which can be raised again. I would probably sooner just get rid of the Resurrection spell entirely but if I ever get back to my Greek-inspired Dragonbane, I may change the costs so they are a little more interesting than permanent stat losses.

I love it. It pushes a particular tone and style. Namely: let go of dead PCs. Roll up a new one instead.

It reads to me like they don’t want resurrections to really be a thing. But want the option to exist and be incredibly costly. Which I agree with. It’s the compromise position between no resurrection and common resurrection. It exists, but is properly costly. Just as it should be.

 

[Aldarc]

I love it. It pushes a particular tone and style. Namely: let go of dead PCs. Roll up a new one instead.

It reads to me like they don’t want resurrections to really be a thing. But want the option to exist and be incredibly costly. Which I agree with. It’s the compromise position between no resurrection and common resurrection. It exists, but is properly costly. Just as it should be.

I'm fine with the philosophy of letting go of dead PCs, but this feels like a worst of both worlds situation for me. If they want people to let of dead PCs, then don't include Resurrection at all. However, I don't particularly like Resurrection as is because I loathe attribute loss, which was something that I was happy to see gone in D&D. I think that there are other ways that they could have made Resurrection costly without resorting to attribute loss. It feels more punitive than costly, and I would prefer the latter.