Gate Pass Gazette Gate Pass Gazette Issue #1 Is Here!

Hello folks! Here it is, Gate Pass Gazette Issue #1, which you can download today! We hope you enjoy it - it's crammed full of official new Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition content!

The Gate Pass Gazette is the official monthly magazine for Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition. Each month, this digital supplement comes crammed with new rules and resources for your game.

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Mysterious Mastermind: The Fateholder (Paul Hughes)​

A giant arachnid with eight multicolored eyes, a fateholder fixes its prey with an unsettling gaze that can read, or even alter, the victim’s past, present, and future.

Foretold Prowess (Thiago Rosa)​

This article provides four new archetypes for adventurers aware of the silken threads meant to bind sapient beings into the Great Web of Fate. Some seek to use and twist them towards their own ends, others to re-weave their own destinies, and a tenacious few choose to rend them asunder.

Weaving Prophecy (Cassandra MacDonald)​

Upon a plain of vast, silver cities of porous towers connected by silken strands, a great weaver works tirelessly on patterns of silk that tie one world to the next. Everything here is to her precise design, maintained eternally in axiomatic perfection. In every window of these webs, she sees destiny play out for every being who takes part in her plans, and as her web grows, so too does her reach. Here, Weaver of Destiny, the Mother of Law, Lady of the First Web, the Fate Spinner weaves patterns into prophecies and chaos into order.

The Fellspire (Marc Kenobi)​

Set in a dark corner of the land beyond the Bleak Gate, Fellspire is a perpetually-twilit city long fallen to decay, though its titular tower still rises like a spear to pierce the bleak skies above. Its reflection in the Waking is a rambling swamp where creeping vines choke all other growth as they reach to break the stones of a long-forgotten ruin.

With most of its residents gone, those that remain are filled with an endless hunger and an overwhelming sense of distrust. Some hold just enough sanity to deal in unclean magic, souls, or flesh with those intrepid few who visit, while far more prey on such visitors—and each other.

Lurking in the shadows of darkened alleys or ancient sewers, they’re always ready to pounce on their next meal, no matter how much of a fight it puts up.

These challenges, items, and monsters can be used all together or wherever your game needs some horror in the shadows.

 

[Morrus]

Speaking of bladeseer (cool idea, btw), do the Weave Sight and Sight Beyond Sight abilities last for the duration of the spell (1 hour for see invisibility, and Con, up to 10 minutes for clairvoyance)? Or do they just last until the end of the combat/scene?

"As per the [spell]."

 

[This Effin’ GM]

No, you keep the die until the end of the combat.

"You lose your prophecy die at the end of the combat or the scene, whichever comes first."

Ok thanks.

I like the class it’s neat flavor but that is a (after turn one) +4.5 to all attack rolls stackable with advantage and it can only get better (assuming no one chooses damage). That’s pretty strong! I’m looking forward to playtesting it and seeing how well this will do, time to send it to the Court of Practical Applications!

 

[Faolyn]

"As per the [spell]."

Yeah, that's what I found confusing.

05e books will typically have abilities that say "you can cast [spell]," meaning that you are literally casting the spell, and your ability therefore is the spell with all of the spell's limitations. This ability just says you can do a thing, as per the [spell], not that you're casting the spell. It's reminiscent of Basic and AD&D books, where a creature's text would say something like "it can see invisible things, as per see invisible."

Plus, as @Bolongo said, the description also contains the phrase "while you have a prophecy die." So it becomes double unclear to me if it lasts as long as the spell does, or only as long as you have the prophecy die (i.e., until the end of the combat).

Also, if it's like casting the spell, where see invisibility is not a concentration spell and it lasts an hour, it's entirely possible that the fighter will have the spell active most of the time (at least if there are frequent-enough combats). Two exertion isn't a huge number, considering that a 7th-level fighter has 7 points and can still fight even without spending any--and it only takes a minute and a Hit Die to recover 1d4 of those points. If you have healers in the party, you don't have to spend those Hit Dice on regaining hp.

 

[Waller]

Yeah, that's what I found confusing.

05e books will typically have abilities that say "you can cast [spell]," meaning that you are literally casting the spell, and your ability therefore is the spell with all of the spell's limitations. This ability just says you can do a thing, as per the [spell], not that you're casting the spell. It's reminiscent of Basic and AD&D books, where a creature's text would say something like "it can see invisible things, as per see invisible."

Plus, as @Bolongo said, the description also contains the phrase "while you have a prophecy die." So it becomes double unclear to me if it lasts as long as the spell does, or only as long as you have the prophecy die (i.e., until the end of the combat).

Also, if it's like casting the spell, where see invisibility is not a concentration spell and it lasts an hour, it's entirely possible that the fighter will have the spell active most of the time (at least if there are frequent-enough combats). Two exertion isn't a huge number, considering that a 7th-level fighter has 7 points and can still fight even without spending any--and it only takes a minute and a Hit Die to recover 1d4 of those points. If you have healers in the party, you don't have to spend those Hit Dice on regaining hp.

Being able to see invisible things isn’t as powerful as you think, and it’s quite situational. If somebody wants to keep spending exertion to do that, I can’t see how it breaks anything. Waste of exertion most of the time. And it is a bladeseer.

I don’t think it would be broken to say the character is permanently under the effects of see invisible. So having to spend 2 exertion per hour seems fine. That’s like 48 exertion a day. And they only have 2x prof.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, that's what I found confusing.

05e books will typically have abilities that say "you can cast [spell]," meaning that you are literally casting the spell, and your ability therefore is the spell with all of the spell's limitations. This ability just says you can do a thing, as per the [spell], not that you're casting the spell. It's reminiscent of Basic and AD&D books, where a creature's text would say something like "it can see invisible things, as per see invisible."

Plus, as @Bolongo said, the description also contains the phrase "while you have a prophecy die." So it becomes double unclear to me if it lasts as long as the spell does, or only as long as you have the prophecy die (i.e., until the end of the combat).

Also, if it's like casting the spell, where see invisibility is not a concentration spell and it lasts an hour, it's entirely possible that the fighter will have the spell active most of the time (at least if there are frequent-enough combats). Two exertion isn't a huge number, considering that a 7th-level fighter has 7 points and can still fight even without spending any--and it only takes a minute and a Hit Die to recover 1d4 of those points. If you have healers in the party, you don't have to spend those Hit Dice on regaining hp.

I’m not super clear what the question is?

 

[Faolyn]

I’m not super clear what the question is?

Do the spells last only for as long as they have the prophecy die (until the end of the combat/scene), or for the duration listed in the spells' description (1 hour or Con, up to 10 minutes). I find that the description in the text can go either way.

Being able to see invisible things isn’t as powerful as you think, and it’s quite situational. If somebody wants to keep spending exertion to do that, I can’t see how it breaks anything. Waste of exertion most of the time. And it is a bladeseer.

I don’t think it would be broken to say the character is permanently under the effects of see invisible. So having to spend 2 exertion per hour seems fine. That’s like 48 exertion a day. And they only have 2x prof.

But they do regain all exertion after a short rest, and can regain some by spending HD. I do agree it's very situational, though, and may never be used. But hey, we've had to fight several invisible creatures in one game I'm in (fortunately, none of them had greater invisibility), including in last Friday's sessions, so it does happen.

 

[Morrus]

Do the spells last only for as long as they have the prophecy die (until the end of the combat/scene), or for the duration listed in the spells' description (1 hour or Con, up to 10 minutes). I find that the description in the text can go either way.

My reading of it only says duration of the spell to me. But that's just me reading the text; I didn't design that.

 

[Bolongo]

I’m not super clear what the question is?

It's not so much a question, as pointing out that the wording of the ability is ambiguous.

Because "while you have a prophecy die" comes first in each description, that seems like it's the main factor governing the ability.
A later phrase like "see invisible creatures and objects as per the see invisibility spell" is most naturally interpreted as "refer to this spell to understand how seeing invisible stuff works". It doesn't seem to be saying that you literally cast the spell, with all that entails.
I mean, if we're supposed to assume it works exactly like the spell, does that mean the bladeseer also needs to use the verbal, somatic and material components for the spell?

 

[Savannah Broadway]

It's not so much a question, as pointing out that the wording of the ability is ambiguous.

Because "while you have a prophecy die" comes first in each description, that seems like it's the main factor governing the ability.
A later phrase like "see invisible creatures and objects as per the see invisibility spell" is most naturally interpreted as "refer to this spell to understand how seeing invisible stuff works". It doesn't seem to be saying that you literally cast the spell, with all that entails.
I mean, if we're supposed to assume it works exactly like the spell, does that mean the bladeseer also needs to use the verbal, somatic and material components for the spell?

Yeah, the intent is that you can only see invisible stuff for as long as the prophecy die is active--i.e. until the end of the combat or scene--instead of "you can cast this spell with all the components that entails."

 

[Savannah Broadway]

Ok thanks.

I like the class it’s neat flavor but that is a (after turn one) +4.5 to all attack rolls stackable with advantage and it can only get better (assuming no one chooses damage). That’s pretty strong! I’m looking forward to playtesting it and seeing how well this will do, time to send it to the Court of Practical Applications!

Hold that die, we've got some errata coming down the pipe that should make things clearer and also less initially powerful at such a low level.