Black company too deadly

[ST]

One more thing -- anybody who has the book should really go out and read the first Black Company novel at a minimum. Trust me, if there's much in the book that doesn't click for you, it will after that.

 

[Pangias]

thanx

thank you for all those answers.
I will give the setting a try, i think it will make the deal of what i expect as a DM and the desire of my player.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'm of the opinion that it could have used a class bonus to Defense.

It's realistic, and it could reduce lethality a bit, too.

 

[Old One]

Psi -

I tend to agree with that. The two elements I would probably include if I was running a BCCS-campaign would be class-based defense bonus (limited to the max DEX bonus of armor worn) and armor as damage conversion.

~ Old One

 

[Henry]

I've had it for almost a week now, I've been playing with some sample 1st level and 10th level characters, and these are my impressions so far:

-Half of my players would NEVER play it as-is. They're too sentimental for 3E-style campagning, and have no desire to play "weak characters." Which, let's face it, they are, compared to the robustness of 3E characters.

-A character with the Magician's Apprentice background and a couple of feats spent in things like skill focus can increase Magic Use to the point where someone can cast effects their body has NO business handling. How'd you like to be an 8 hit point mage on the end of a 2d8 + 5 spell drain?

- I find the fighting classes actually far more capable than their D&D counterparts, especially looking at the Command abilities on a small squadron, as well as abilities like Sniper, Knife Trick, etc. Plus the feats which give +1d6 sneak attack damages.

-The magic system is indeed very powerful at higher levels (above 10th). Just making some sample characters, true Wizards have no one, but three scores as high priority: Intelligence, Constitution, and Charisma. Charisma one would think is important, but its importance is dwarfed by both the "Magnitudes" and by the convenience of more skill points for high INT. In fact, I'd consider CHA more important than DEX only because many magic feats have a high CHA component, and if you don't care about these particular feats (the one which improves spell energy regain is nice, but not essential) then DEX is more important especially if you are throwing many rays and ranged touch attacks.

-The point Old One made about the multiple dice is true, but the turnover starts I believe after nine dice, not six or 7. Each added die is +2, and each die step is +5; therefore, you'd have to remove 2 to 3 dice to keep the equivalent DC, and this is why more dice is better. However, once you pass nine dice, the average total of the 7 higher dice (average if 7d6 is 24.5) is measurably higher than the nine lesser dice (average of 9d4 is 22.5), and it keeps building from there.

With this in mind, OO, I will probably change some of my sample spells for your Gameday game.

 

[Old One]

I've had it for almost a week now, I've been playing with some sample 1st level and 10th level characters, and these are my impressions so far:

-Half of my players would NEVER play it as-is. They're too sentimental for 3E-style campagning, and have no desire to play "weak characters." Which, let's face it, they are, compared to the robustness of 3E characters.

Hah!

-A character with the Magician's Apprentice background and a couple of feats spent in things like skill focus can increase Magic Use to the point where someone can cast effects their body has NO business handling. How'd you like to be an 8 hit point mage on the end of a 2d8 + 5 spell drain?

Very true...one of the threads in the Green Ronin forums commented about the strong chance of lower level casters knocking themselves unconscious by getting too ambitious.

- I find the fighting classes actually far more capable than their D&D counterparts, especially looking at the Command abilities on a small squadron, as well as abilities like Sniper, Knife Trick, etc. Plus the feats which give +1d6 sneak attack damages.

Agreed. The additional permanent action points for fighters and many of the class-skills for non-magic types are pretty powerful.

-The magic system is indeed very powerful at higher levels (above 10th). Just making some sample characters, true Wizards have no one, but three scores as high priority: Intelligence, Constitution, and Charisma. Charisma one would think is important, but its importance is dwarfed by both the "Magnitudes" and by the convenience of more skill points for high INT. In fact, I'd consider CHA more important than DEX only because many magic feats have a high CHA component, and if you don't care about these particular feats (the one which improves spell energy regain is nice, but not essential) then DEX is more important especially if you are throwing many rays and ranged touch attacks.

Yep!

-The point Old One made about the multiple dice is true, but the turnover starts I believe after nine dice, not six or 7. Each added die is +2, and each die step is +5; therefore, you'd have to remove 2 to 3 dice to keep the equivalent DC, and this is why more dice is better. However, once you pass nine dice, the average total of the 7 higher dice (average if 7d6 is 24.5) is measurably higher than the nine lesser dice (average of 9d4 is 22.5), and it keeps building from there.

Thanks for the better analysis...I just did a quick eyeball on this.

With this in mind, OO, I will probably change some of my sample spells for your Gameday game.

I thought ya might !

~ OO

 

[sinmissing]

infection rules

Are these rules OGC? If someone minds, could you give me a synopsis?

 

[Henry]

I didn't read heavily about them, but they mainly apply when dealing with groups in a company environment, or in a city or other "civilized" setting. First time I've ever seen d20 rules for things like Typhoid, Red and Black Plagues, malaria, etc.! I may be using some of those for my D&D games, just because it's more fun for someone to stave off "scarlet fever" than "devil chills" or "laughing sickness" or some disease that makes your skin polka-dot. As for mechanics of the diseases themselves, they're no different than the may diseases work in the DMG.

 

[Old One]

Are these rules OGC? If someone minds, could you give me a synopsis?

Briefly, if you take CON damage as either a result of weapon wounds or a grievous injury (another BCCS mechanic), you have to make a Fort Save (with current CON) at the end of the encounter with a DC equal to 1/2 the total damage taken. If a healer treats you after combat, the higher of the Fort save and Heal check is used.

Failure means the wound is infected and heals slower. The DC on any Heal check to convert lethal to non-lethal increase by +5 and lethal/ability damage heals at 1/2 the normal rate.

Failure by 10 or more means the wounds have turned septic (never a good thing). Each day they are septic, they must make a DC 15 Fort save (at current CON). If successful, they heal at the lower "regular failure" rate above. If they fail, they don't heal at all that day and take 1d3 of STR, DEX and CON damage...which could quickly become deadly. Making three consecutive DC 15 Fort saves means you are the worst of the infection and heal at the lower "regular failure" rate above.

Although it doesn't specifically list it in the Healing Talent spell description, I would allow curing a septic infection with DC +30 application of the spell (similar to the DC increase for taking care of poison or disease). Success would allow the patient to heal at the lower "regular failure" rate.

~ Old One