Fanaelialae
Legend
I have to say, of the many 3e variants I've read (Trailblazer, Pathfinder, Fantasy Craft, etc.) this is the only one that's seriously piqued my interest since I stopped playing 3e. The token system looks like an elegant solution to the issue of modifier bloat. I also really like your approach to area effects, and the way your class design embraces the modularity of 3rd.
I'm curious as to why you chose to allow Power and Speed tokens to boost Str & Dex attacks, but no other BABs can be boosted with tokens. Do you feel that this is needed to balance a disparity between classes that have / don't have magic, or is it for some other reason?
As written, Limited Wish appears to allow you to cast spells with a Frequency of 24 hours or more, once an encounter. I don't know that it is necessarily game breaking, but you may want to limit it to "Encounter or the Frequency of the spell cast, whichever is longer". While I haven't read the entire spell chapter, and therefore don't know if this applies, you may want to apply the same restriction to Wish and Miracle, to avoid abuse of spells with a Frequency of once per year.
I know this has been mentioned before, but I also find it very odd that both Search and Perception exist (after your skill merging, they're the only skills that strike me as redundant). If a Druid and a Ranger walk into an ambush, you end up with the strange scenario where the Druid notices the ambush automatically (assuming his Perception is high enough) while the Ranger only notices the ambush if the player says he is looking for an ambush. The Druid is poor at actively finding the ambush if his Perception fails, whereas the Ranger's only chance is to actively search. It creates weirdness, and I'd suggest the two be merged.
The biggest issue that I can find is that, as written, anyone without at least 1 rank in Perception has essentially no chance of noticing someone with even 1 rank in Stealth, which isn't the case for most opposed skills. Assuming equal Str, someone with 1 rank in Athletics has a significant advantage over someone with 0 ranks (avg 13.75 vs avg 10.5), but it's far from a guaranteed success. Against an untrained Stealth check, untrained passive Perception has very little chance of success (the average Stealth check will be 10.5, whereas passive Perception is 0). Even trained Perception doesn't have much of an advantage over untrained Stealth at level 1 (11 vs avg 10.5). Untrained passive checks don't seem to be of much practical value to the system, as far as I can tell. That, in turn, makes Bluff and Stealth more potent than skills normally opposed by a DC or an opposed check.
The problem, as I see it, is that trained skills roll a minimum of 10 (with a maximum of 20) whereas passive checks always "roll" either 0 or 10. Under your system, an untrained check averages 10.5, but a trained check averages 12.75. An approach that gives passive skills a slight advantage would be for untrained passive checks to be equal to 11 + modifier (note that it's still unlikely that this will beat a trained check). Trained passive checks would be 13 + mod (making it challenging but possible for an untrained check to beat it). Of course, at higher levels trained will beat untrained hands down (assuming you've been increasing ranks every level), but that applies to all skills. This change brings active/passive skills more in line with active/active and active/DC skills.
I hope this doesn't come across as overly critical, as I really do think you've done an amazing job with EG!
I'm curious as to why you chose to allow Power and Speed tokens to boost Str & Dex attacks, but no other BABs can be boosted with tokens. Do you feel that this is needed to balance a disparity between classes that have / don't have magic, or is it for some other reason?
As written, Limited Wish appears to allow you to cast spells with a Frequency of 24 hours or more, once an encounter. I don't know that it is necessarily game breaking, but you may want to limit it to "Encounter or the Frequency of the spell cast, whichever is longer". While I haven't read the entire spell chapter, and therefore don't know if this applies, you may want to apply the same restriction to Wish and Miracle, to avoid abuse of spells with a Frequency of once per year.
I know this has been mentioned before, but I also find it very odd that both Search and Perception exist (after your skill merging, they're the only skills that strike me as redundant). If a Druid and a Ranger walk into an ambush, you end up with the strange scenario where the Druid notices the ambush automatically (assuming his Perception is high enough) while the Ranger only notices the ambush if the player says he is looking for an ambush. The Druid is poor at actively finding the ambush if his Perception fails, whereas the Ranger's only chance is to actively search. It creates weirdness, and I'd suggest the two be merged.
The biggest issue that I can find is that, as written, anyone without at least 1 rank in Perception has essentially no chance of noticing someone with even 1 rank in Stealth, which isn't the case for most opposed skills. Assuming equal Str, someone with 1 rank in Athletics has a significant advantage over someone with 0 ranks (avg 13.75 vs avg 10.5), but it's far from a guaranteed success. Against an untrained Stealth check, untrained passive Perception has very little chance of success (the average Stealth check will be 10.5, whereas passive Perception is 0). Even trained Perception doesn't have much of an advantage over untrained Stealth at level 1 (11 vs avg 10.5). Untrained passive checks don't seem to be of much practical value to the system, as far as I can tell. That, in turn, makes Bluff and Stealth more potent than skills normally opposed by a DC or an opposed check.
The problem, as I see it, is that trained skills roll a minimum of 10 (with a maximum of 20) whereas passive checks always "roll" either 0 or 10. Under your system, an untrained check averages 10.5, but a trained check averages 12.75. An approach that gives passive skills a slight advantage would be for untrained passive checks to be equal to 11 + modifier (note that it's still unlikely that this will beat a trained check). Trained passive checks would be 13 + mod (making it challenging but possible for an untrained check to beat it). Of course, at higher levels trained will beat untrained hands down (assuming you've been increasing ranks every level), but that applies to all skills. This change brings active/passive skills more in line with active/active and active/DC skills.
I hope this doesn't come across as overly critical, as I really do think you've done an amazing job with EG!
