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A couple of options I'm curious about with Trailblazer
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<blockquote data-quote="ValhallaGH" data-source="post: 5603889" data-attributes="member: 41187"><p>Really? Huh, that's an unusual conclusion.</p><p></p><p>In my experience, agreed to by the gamers I talk to about such things, 4e character creation is slowed down by Magic Items (a level 30 character takes about 30 minutes to knock out if you have a clue about what you want to do; picking his gear takes 7 hours).</p><p></p><p>3.x is a bit more variable, but the two biggest slow downs that I see are spell selection and gear selection. </p><p>Choosing feats is just a matter of deciding on your character's emphasis and sticking with it - and skills are so rarely useful in campaigns that you just grab what you want and don't worry (one talking skill, one movement skill, and one knowing skill should cover all the needs of a character in a given campaign; plus Spot and Sense Motive if you've got the points left over). </p><p></p><p></p><p>While I agree with the premise, the example makes me balk. My complaint is every dungeon door having a lock DC of 40 to 60, when the DCs of locks are supposed to be 20 (common lock; nearly impossible for the untrained to open) to 40 (super-lock, able to stymie all but the best thieves), with most around DC 30 (great lock, only very good thieves can bypass it). </p><p>For some reason adventure designers decided that characters should always have a given skill maxed out or untrained, and set DCs based upon the maximum value for that level.</p><p>As it is, the only skills that need more than 10 ranks are the Opposed skills - stealth & perception, deception & seeing through deception. Everything else is against static DCs, and the DM can make sure that he keeps those sane (Effortless to Nearly Impossible: 0 to 40).</p><p></p><p></p><p>1) As already mentioned, this will require a hefty redesign of the martial classes, especially the Fighter. It might be as simple as giving the class(es) a lot more freedom to use the option, or it might be really complicated. Regardless, it will take a fair bit of work.</p><p></p><p>2) You can go for the 1/2 level + 5 model, but you'll end up with very front-loaded skills (or extremely front-loaded if Skill Focus is also a +5). Not many skills will be worth it, but the ones that are will be huge. It will give you a much faster skill chunk of leveling, and more predictable PC skills (so you know what is and isn't a challenge), which seems to be the goal. So, yeah, it will do (some) of what you want.</p><p>For a TB translation of the concept, the only things I see needing to change on the player side are "Skill Points per level" to "Trained Skills" - maybe have Training add +3, and Class Skill add +2, so characters can be all-rounders or archetype focused. New trained skills come with increased Int bonus, and maybe a feat (or equivalent replacement); or just every 5th (or 3rd, or 10th; alter to taste) character level.</p><p></p><p>... For my own games I'd probably give them Level + 2 (Trained) + 1 (Class) in all skills. But I have never seen a skill check break the game (except for Diplomacy, but those rules are exceedingly silly and <strong>always</strong> incorrectly run by the DM; one more reason I like Trailblazer).</p><p></p><p></p><p>Best of luck.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ValhallaGH, post: 5603889, member: 41187"] Really? Huh, that's an unusual conclusion. In my experience, agreed to by the gamers I talk to about such things, 4e character creation is slowed down by Magic Items (a level 30 character takes about 30 minutes to knock out if you have a clue about what you want to do; picking his gear takes 7 hours). 3.x is a bit more variable, but the two biggest slow downs that I see are spell selection and gear selection. Choosing feats is just a matter of deciding on your character's emphasis and sticking with it - and skills are so rarely useful in campaigns that you just grab what you want and don't worry (one talking skill, one movement skill, and one knowing skill should cover all the needs of a character in a given campaign; plus Spot and Sense Motive if you've got the points left over). While I agree with the premise, the example makes me balk. My complaint is every dungeon door having a lock DC of 40 to 60, when the DCs of locks are supposed to be 20 (common lock; nearly impossible for the untrained to open) to 40 (super-lock, able to stymie all but the best thieves), with most around DC 30 (great lock, only very good thieves can bypass it). For some reason adventure designers decided that characters should always have a given skill maxed out or untrained, and set DCs based upon the maximum value for that level. As it is, the only skills that need more than 10 ranks are the Opposed skills - stealth & perception, deception & seeing through deception. Everything else is against static DCs, and the DM can make sure that he keeps those sane (Effortless to Nearly Impossible: 0 to 40). 1) As already mentioned, this will require a hefty redesign of the martial classes, especially the Fighter. It might be as simple as giving the class(es) a lot more freedom to use the option, or it might be really complicated. Regardless, it will take a fair bit of work. 2) You can go for the 1/2 level + 5 model, but you'll end up with very front-loaded skills (or extremely front-loaded if Skill Focus is also a +5). Not many skills will be worth it, but the ones that are will be huge. It will give you a much faster skill chunk of leveling, and more predictable PC skills (so you know what is and isn't a challenge), which seems to be the goal. So, yeah, it will do (some) of what you want. For a TB translation of the concept, the only things I see needing to change on the player side are "Skill Points per level" to "Trained Skills" - maybe have Training add +3, and Class Skill add +2, so characters can be all-rounders or archetype focused. New trained skills come with increased Int bonus, and maybe a feat (or equivalent replacement); or just every 5th (or 3rd, or 10th; alter to taste) character level. ... For my own games I'd probably give them Level + 2 (Trained) + 1 (Class) in all skills. But I have never seen a skill check break the game (except for Diplomacy, but those rules are exceedingly silly and [B]always[/B] incorrectly run by the DM; one more reason I like Trailblazer). Best of luck. [/QUOTE]
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A couple of options I'm curious about with Trailblazer
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