Iron Heroes - I have it in my hands!

[Aldarc]

Thanks for the answer, Mike. That should put to rest some people's fears about the ability.

 

[A'koss]

Indeed, thanks for jumping in and clarifying this point Mike.

(Again, this is all IIRC. I haven't looked at IH in quite a long time.)

Maybe Sorcica can take a closer look at the rules tomorrow and see if there's something he may have missed...

Cheers!

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Indeed, thanks for jumping in and clarifying this point Mike.

Maybe Sorcica can take a closer look at the rules tomorrow and see if there's something he may have missed...

Cheers!

Certainly can!

Like I've said, the arcane pact offers a +1 to +10 bonus (but see below). It costs 100gp plus either 250 gp x bonus wanted or the sacrifice of a living sentient humanoid.

Now this is from the book. "You can make a pact once a week, but you cannot gain the benefits of of more than one pact at a time. The maximum bonus you can gain equals your class level."

I'm confused. Does this means that you can have more than one pact 'in effect', waiting to be used. And that the total number of plusses stored is equal to your class level.
I think so, it's not that clearly described.

But, if you ask me, I don't hink it would be terribly unbalanced to skp the weekly limit, since it has a cost attached to it anyway.

As I've also said, the arcanist does have a mana pool, but there's no description of it, so I have no idea how it works, in or out of combat.
An arcanist has a daily mana limit, though, which is the mana he can safely gather in a day. It ranges from 12 mana at 1st level, to 70 mana at 20th.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Also, a big Thank You! to Sorcica for reading & typing like a mad man to feed our insatiable (and envious) IH appetites.

Thanks,

DrSpunj

Well thank you.

 

[A'koss]

Certainly can!

Like I've said, the arcane pact offers a +1 to +10 bonus (but see below). It costs 100gp plus either 250 gp x bonus wanted or the sacrifice of a living sentient humanoid.

Now this is from the book. "You can make a pact once a week, but you cannot gain the benefits of of more than one pact at a time. The maximum bonus you can gain equals your class level."

I'm confused. Does this means that you can have more than one pact 'in effect', waiting to be used. And that the total number of plusses stored is equal to your class level.
I think so, it's not that clearly described.

It just means that you can't just make 8 pacts and give yourself a huge stored bonus if you happen to have a couple of months off... As I read it, you can only have 1 pact in effect (stored) until you use it's benefits up and no more than 1/week.

But, if you ask me, I don't hink it would be terribly unbalanced to skp the weekly limit, since it has a cost attached to it anyway.

Probably not at lower levels, but possibly at higher levels depending on how much treasure IH gives out...

As I've also said, the arcanist does have a mana pool, but there's no description of it, so I have no idea how it works, in or out of combat.
An arcanist has a daily mana limit, though, which is the mana he can safely gather in a day. It ranges from 12 mana at 1st level, to 70 mana at 20th.

[Again, emphasis mine]

Hmm... so either Mike is remembering the rules wrong, or the rules themselves are wrong. Could the mana pool be referring to the "daily mana limit"? Does the daily limit seem artificially low - would it make more sense if it were per encounter or even per spell?

Thanks for having a closer look at this Sorcica.

Cheers!

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

It just means that you can't just make 8 pacts and give yourself a huge stored bonus if you happen to have a couple of months off... As I read it, you can only have 1 pact in effect (stored) until you use it's benefits up and no more than 1/week.

Ah... but then what does it mean that you can only have a number of plusses stored equal to your class level. What about levels 11-20 then (I ought to mention that this ability becomes available at 9th level.

Hmm... so either Mike is remembering the rules wrong, or the rules themselves are wrong. Could the mana pool be referring to the "daily mana limit"? Does the daily limit seem artificially low - would it make more sense if it were per encounter or even per spell?

Arcanists start with two schools of magic, a primary and a secondary. (it says you start with three one place, but this is obviously a mistake.
Then it says you have a mana limit. 1st level, it's 12. In the text, it says that your level determines the limit to the amout of mana you can gather at any one time. Then it refers you to the chapter on magic.
Here it says, that to cast the spell, you must gather mana. "When you use mana you reduce your total available mana by the amount spent on the spell."
It then goes on with what happens if you exceed your limit etc.

So I'm not any closer to a clue. Apparently, it's the amount of mana you can safely use in a day (I'm guessing day). If so, arcanists seem woefully underpowered to me.

To conclude, on the class feature table for arcanists, it says mana pool. But as I've said, there's no description in the text. Mana Limit is on the table and in the text, so I don't think they're identical.

Mike?

Thanks for having a closer look at this Sorcica.

You're welcome

 

[A'koss]

Ah... but then what does it mean that you can only have a number of plusses stored equal to your class level. What about levels 11-20 then (I ought to mention that this ability becomes available at 9th level.

I suspect it is another mistake and it actually refers to your Mastery Level and not your class level. Would that make more sense...?

Arcanists start with two schools of magic, a primary and a secondary. (it says you start with three one place, but this is obviously a mistake.

Lovely...

Then it says you have a mana limit. 1st level, it's 12. In the text, it says that your level determines the limit to the amout of mana you can gather at any one time. Then it refers you to the chapter on magic.

Hmm, let's try to break this down bit by bit... Here it almost seems to suggest your mana limit is per spell - "any one time". Would that make sense?

Here it says, that to cast the spell, you must gather mana. "When you use mana you reduce your total available mana by the amount spent on the spell."
It then goes on with what happens if you exceed your limit etc.

Ugh... okay, now I'm not so sure. It's like we're either missing the Mana Pool values entirely or the rules had changed somewhere along the playtest and we're getting references to rules that no longer exist. My guess is that the mana limit is per spell and we should ignore all references to this mana pool. Could that work?

So I'm not any closer to a clue. Apparently, it's the amount of mana you can safely use in a day (I'm guessing day). If so, arcanists seem woefully underpowered to me.

Per spell limit perhaps?

Mike?

MIIIIIIIIIIKE!

Cheers!

 

[EricNoah]

For now, my "solution" to the issue of converting monsters is...

1) If the creature doesn't have a character class, I just use it's D&D armor class.

2) If the creature does have a character class (an orc warrior, for example), I a) change its armor from D&D to IH (remove armor bonus, note DR), and b) give it a class defense bonus equal to 1/2 its class levels. Typically the class in question is the NPC warrior. I may also use two home-brewed NPC classes (the Brute -- a "lite" barbarian; and the Bandit -- a "lite" rogue), and in those cases I might grant a slightly higher class defense bonus.

I'm kinda doing this in eTools -- I created DR versions of leather, studded leather, chain, etc. with a 0 armor bonus and the DR noted in the name of the armor ("Leather (DR 1d2)"). To add a class defense bonus, I just manually up the AC on the Stats screen by the appropriate amount. Until I see the rules this should do nicely.

 

[A'koss]

A couple of other questions popped into my head whilst we all wait...

Is there a middle ground between finesse weapons and power weapons - perhaps longswords? Or do they all fall into one of the two categories?

We were told that armor is supposed to be slower to wear than in core D&D, is this true? What about skill check penalties?

Thanks again!

 

[Knight_Arothir]

I'd also like to express my thanks, Sorcica, for taking the time to answer so many questions. And if you have a second - I'm also curious about something (however mundane it probably sounds):

What do the armour and weapons lists look like? Basic D&D stuff, or totally different lists? How about armour and weapon illustrations - I'm hoping they look more reasonable than the Player's Handbook cyberpunk armour.