Character Narratives Preview from PRIMEVAL THULE

Here's another preview of the Primeval Thule campaign setting for D&D 5th Edition coming from Sasquatch Games. I already showed you the table of contents and the beastman warrior. This time it's one of the nineteen character narratives from the setting. "In 5e, narratives can be taken as an alternative to backgrounds. Narratives provide a small list of benefits thematically linked to the story and flavor of the specific narrative. At first level these features include skill training and usually a signature ability that provides a small combat benefit. As the character increases in level, additional benefits become available, reflecting a rise in stature or notoriety. At higher levels a narrative might grant an income, a title, or even followers!" (thanks to Fabrício for the scoop!)

For the original announcement, click here.

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[IgnatiusJ.Reilly]

How about "You can use the ability once. You regain the use each time initiative is rolled."

5e does give out goodies when initiative is rolled, so that seems like a thematically consistent metric.

Rich, I'm looking forward to seeing the FG module details on the KS page, so that I can throw more money at you.

Don't some folks roll initiative every round though?

 

[epithet]

Don't some folks roll initiative every round though?

I've never heard of that. Do they? Seems like a lot of effort.

If that's the case, being a high level battlemaster must be awesome at that table, because they can spam their abilities every round.

 

[IgnatiusJ.Reilly]

I've never heard of that. Do they? Seems like a lot of effort.

If that's the case, being a high level battlemaster must be awesome at that table, because they can spam their abilities every round.

Way too much effort. I forgot that about the Battlemaster though, since it hasn't come up yet.

 

[unnatural 20]

They've also confirmed that a module for Thule (too-ley?) will be produced for Fantasy Grounds! https://www.kickstarter.com/project...le-5e/posts/1315797?ref=backer_project_update

Edit: Much like life, the above paragraph included too many "alsos".

 

[transtemporal]

Fair enough. Perhaps my players are layabouts.

Our group are basically teenagers. 30 minutes of activity followed by eating cheetos and sleeping in til 12, lol.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

I've never heard of that. Do they? Seems like a lot of effort.

If that's the case, being a high level battlemaster must be awesome at that table, because they can spam their abilities every round.

We roll initiative every round at my table.

Easy enough to say, "At the start of an encounter" for the superiority die recharge (or other "when you roll initiative") ability. We've not played to that level yet, so it's never been a problem, and everyone at our table knows they'll get kicked in the junk if they try that crap.

OT: I'm very much looking forward to this setting - Conan vs. Cthulhu? Hell yeah!

 

[Psikerlord#]

1/encounter abilities? I thought that went the way of the dodo with 4th edition. 1/short rest seems to be the more recent mechanic.

Yeah i will probably change any encounter powers to short rest powers for consistency. That cutthroat strike is really strong

 

[mach1.9pants]

You think that's bad - there's a land to the North of me which I think was founded by a guy called Scot, because he called it Scot Land. No imagination, that man.

For real lack of imagination try: New York, New Plymouth, New Jersey, New Orleans, New Kids on the Block...

 

[mach1.9pants]

In all honesty, we see no difference between saying "once per short rest" and "once per encounter." They're functionally the same thing 99 percent of the time. We just prefer the simpler language from previous editions, and trust savvy gamers to handle the mechanic correctly.

Rich Baker
Sasquatch Game Studio

They are 100% NOT the functionally the same thing. That is a complete error in the way 5E works IMO. 4E yes, 5E no way at all. I played an online game (as a Paladin) last night, we had 5 encounters and not one Short Rest. An hour is along time when you are defending a keep. There was no chance to rest up for a whole hour. The same has applied for many of our sessions, getting an hour short rest is hard. So, IMO, you really need to decide what is the balancing device for this per encounter or per short rest. I am a backer of this, but I really don't want to be burned on mechanics that are not correct. That's how I see this, a BIG BIG problem, along with the shipping ~ I'll probably cancel my pledge, unless you can convince me to your way of looking at it. I look forward to your reasoning/reply, Rich.

EDIT: I answered before I saw there was more, so I will clarify. I have no problem with per encounter power, just that they MUST be around 1/2 to 1/3 as useful/powerful as an equivalent per short or long rest power/ability. Otherwise they will in no shape be balanced and an automatic pick for anyone. IME they'll be available to the PCs 2 or 3 times more often. The DMG agrees with that, as quoted above, 2-3 SR per day and a heck of a lot more encounters! And this has been my experience of 5E (3 dif groups and campaigns) Looking at those abilities some look pretty powerful for that IMO.

I already have the PFRPG PDF so I feel no need to get this for the fluff, which is most of the book. SO really I am buying it for a) the physical book, I love books! and b) good crunch. So the crunch needs to be near perfect for me. Esp at $35 shipping!

 

[ShadoWWW]

I see the 5e version suffers from similar symptoms like 13th Age version.