Lycein Arcana Questions...

[Primitive Screwhead]

RW.. Thanks for the great Christmas present! (even if I didn't get the discount :\ )

I have read through it twice or so, and had a quick question:

THe Gatekeepers and Scribe of Worlds Feat. You have a table of number of words to Craft DC/XP cost, but I cannot discern any way of setting the precision of the portal. It looks like the more words you use, the better the portal will be at getting you to exactly where you want to go.

I was thinking, after just reading the new Thieves World novels, that a great scribe could use less words to describe the same location.

I guess my question on this is: How did you plan on adjudicating precision for the portals?

 

[Verequus]

I've found a PI infringement, RW: You are mentioned the Displacer Beast, which isn't in the SRD. Probably you should patch this along with errata, I have yet to find.

 

[dekrass]

I believe there are a couple of copy/paste errors in the converted classes. The ones I've noticed are on page 28 in the ranger. It says that the EOM Ranger's class skills are the same as core rules paladin. It also says they have d10 HD I assume that is an error.

 

[RangerWickett]

Yep. I'll change the original text version I have, but so far the problems are minor enough that they're not worth patching. Here's hoping we might get a print deal, though. *grin*

 

[RangerWickett]

THe Gatekeepers and Scribe of Worlds Feat. You have a table of number of words to Craft DC/XP cost, but I cannot discern any way of setting the precision of the portal. It looks like the more words you use, the better the portal will be at getting you to exactly where you want to go.

I was thinking, after just reading the new Thieves World novels, that a great scribe could use less words to describe the same location.

I guess my question on this is: How did you plan on adjudicating precision for the portals?

That ability was inspired by Myst, actually. I'm not quite sure what you are asking. With Scribe of Worlds, anything less than the highest difficulty probably won't get you to a specific spot that you know of.

You might create a portal that says, "Second-story room with a computer full of fantasy fiction, next to a pile of blankets on the floor that make up the bed of the room's occupant. A sliding door leads into a closet, while a second door opens into a hallway that connects to the rest of the apartment. In this room, a ceiling fan with four light bulbs illuminates poorly-organized piles of books and writing implements. Two windows look out upon a parking lot, surrounded by light trees and a sprawling old-folks community. Beyond the community is a growing suburb of a massive metropolis marked by three paved freeways - one traveling east-west, one north-south, and one encircling the metropolis and its suburbs in a ring. But here in this apartment room, furnishings are spare and frugal, belying the giant city outside."

That's a fairly good description of my apartment, in 134 words. But there are likely many such places in the infinte multiverse, so even if I wrote that and wanted to have a portal to my apartment, I'd probably end up going to some place that is similar. Only if I spent thousands of words (and lots of XP) to create the portal would I be certain it would go to my apartment. Until that point, Scribe of Worlds is best used for when you want to go someplace interesting, rather than some place specific.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Scribe of Worlds...

So the intent was the highest DC and XP cost for the most precision, which is what I had assumed.

In the new Thieves' World anthology, there is a tale of a Crimson Robe adept who studies words and languages. Seeking out the words of power that are the building blocks of the world. With these words, one can create effects much like spells, or more correctly create the effects that spells attempt to emulate.

What I was thinking was a way to scale precision to how well the creator of the portal knows words. I think there could be a scale of precision vs number of words vs quality of words. A common phrase is that a picture is worth a thousand words. A talented poet can paint a picture in the readers mind with many less than that.
Basically, break the current chart down into two:

  Craft DC, XP Cost, and Precision
     5              20          Must be at the location to scribe. 
    10            100          Must be currently Scrying the location.
    15            200          5% chance of correctly identifying the intended location
    20            300          10% chance of..
    25            400          15% chance of..
    30            500          25% chance of..
    35            600          50% chance of..
    40            700          75% chance of..
    45            800          99% chance of..

  Words Used, Modifier to Skill Check
   1             -15
   5             -10
  30              -5
  200            0
  500           +5
  1000         +10
  > 1000      +15
 The number of words can be limited to 200 when information about the real location is unavailable.

If the chance roll is failed, the portal will still work, but will transport users to a very similiar appearing (at first) location. The GM can scale how dissimilar it gets by how much the roll was missed by.

In this manner, it takes a DC 20 skill check and 20 XP to write on a scroll "Here" and have it be a portal to the current location. This could be accomplished by a character who has just qualified for the feat. As a player, the best use for this feat would be transportation to known places. As a GM, the best use for this feat is convienant 'one-shot' adventures far off the path of the current campaign.

To take this into game context, in my new Eberron game, assume my mage5 wants to go this route. In order to adventure into the interior of Xendric he reads some books and studies up on the land. Then he scribes a Tome. Wanting to be go to the right place, he attempts to go the whole enchiliada.. DC of 45, XP cost of 800, and over 1000 words. He needs to roll at least a 18 (8 ranks + 2 INT + 2 Skill Focus + 15 word bonus). At that point, if he succeeds.. he deserves it!
Later, the group decides to adventure to Argonnessen and he tries again. This time there is no information he can gather, so he is limited to 200 words. The best he can do would be DC 30, and even then the portal may lead to a created world of imagination...or back to Xendric since primitive jungles look soo much alike

Of course, also in play you will probably never have a player come up with a thousand word description of his/her desired world of adventure.. if you do.. I want that player in my game! Instead you will get a "I make a portal to Terry Prachetts' Disk World... I rolled a Craft of 32 and spent my XP.. can we go now?" This would mean having a monetary cost increase as part of using more words, call it the cost of good paper.

Actually, I have no idea where I am going with this. It just seemed very odd to me that there where no 'rules' as to precision in the use of the portals. As a player I would worry about taking a feat that may work, and then only if the GM feels inclined to let it work. If this particular tradition gets used in my game at all, it will be as a plot device only. But that does not make me any less willing to 'tinker' with the mechanics!

 

[Verequus]

Yep. I'll change the original text version I have, but so far the problems are minor enough that they're not worth patching. Here's hoping we might get a print deal, though. *grin*

Nice to hear about the potential print deal! But if you have to patch the book again, please change it to show one page only at a time. I don't like it to have it change back everytime, I open the book up. BTW, if I use the bookmarks, my viewing settings are always changed, too. Can this be remedied, too?

 

[dekrass]

Nice to hear about the potential print deal! But if you have to patch the book again, please change it to show one page only at a time. I don't like it to have it change back everytime, I open the book up. BTW, if I use the bookmarks, my viewing settings are always changed, too. Can this be remedied, too?

I'll second those requests, and would love to see this stuff in print products.

 

[Archus]

Yep. I'll change the original text version I have, but so far the problems are minor enough that they're not worth patching. Here's hoping we might get a print deal, though. *grin*

A print version of the combined EoMR and LA with eratta would be great. I'd get at least two copies.

 

[Archus]

Anima: Enduring Healing Powers

Can you take healing powers as enduring anima powers? I would find that to be pretty gross.