S&SS Advanced Players Guide

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

If by 'lifted' you mean "written by Geoff Skellams, who also wrote the community rules for Gamma World, then heavily reworked and revised them to work for fantasy games", then yes.

That's exactly what I meant!

What part(s) of this book did you write, Patrick?

 

[Knight Otu]

Chapter one: Character Options
Racial Class modifiers ( minor skill bonuses for specific races by class)

Is that something of a prefered class variant? I have had the idea that it might be more fitting if favored classes might add bonuses to certain rolls instead of incurring XP penalties, so I wonder if that is something similar?

 

[Stone Dog]

The playing card card initiative system largely ignores initative bonuses, as they only come into play for ties ( high cards go first ).

Ignores bonuses? I scoff at that. Maybe you get a card for every +2 worth of bonus you have and you get to keep the highest card. I'd go for that.

Phase combat is also interesting though. Sounds HEROish.

Weapon speeds gain a bonus or penalty to initiative scores. Most single hand melee weapons ( Mace, longsword etc.. ) have a modifier of 0.

As expected. Sounds pretty decent to me actually.

The wound level system removes hit points from the game and thus is fairly complex. The book says that the main advantage of this system is speed of play because you don't need to roll and track damage, but the mechanics don't seem to support this claim as the defender needs to make a "Damage Check" roll ( modified by class HD, DR, Toughness Feats, Energy resistance, Temp hit points and more ) to see how badly he has been hurt on the Damage Check result table.

Yikes! Well, if the chart is handy enough I might be able to work it out, but that just sounds like a lot to deal with.


Thanks again! I am solidly interested in it now!

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Is that something of a prefered class variant? I have had the idea that it might be more fitting if favored classes might add bonuses to certain rolls instead of incurring XP penalties, so I wonder if that is something similar?

Yes, they seemed to based on the same premise as racial prefered class bonuses - with some exceptions/additions. Here is a sample:

Summon Mastery: Your summoned creatures are often superior specimens. Once per day when you cast (an appropriate summoning spell ), the creature summoned has maximum hit points for its type. Races: Elf, Gnome

There are several that provide benefits beyond skill point bonuses as I had previously used as an example in the ToC

 

[Knight Otu]

Yes, that seems similar, but not identical to my ideas. I read that right that each class has a number of bonuses, and each applies to one or more races?
(my idea was more that each race has two, maybe three classes which provide a bonus if you stay longer in that class than any other)

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

The racial class modifier listings are seperated into the following sections:

Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, Monk ( about 32 different modifiers )

Rogue, Bard ( About 35 modifiers )

Cleric, Druid ( about 15 modifiers )

Sorcerer, Wizard ( about 23 different modifiers )

 

[Patrick O'Duffy]

That's exactly what I meant!

What part(s) of this book did you write, Patrick?

Just wanted to clarify things.

As for me, I wrote the wound level and critical hits systems, as well as the alternative spellcasting systems.

 

[Patrick O'Duffy]

Yikes! Well, if the chart is handy enough I might be able to work it out, but that just sounds like a lot to deal with.

The chart has, I think, maybe 5 entries. It's been a while since I wrote it.

In practice, the wound level system is pretty simple, because the Damage Check bonus of your character is a fixed number. It can be temporarily modified by something like a spell, but 90% of the time it's going to stay the same until you level up.

(I'll also say that the system is not 'better' than the hit point system, nor is it meant to be. It's an alternative for groups that want to cut down on in-game bookkeeping for damage; you do a little more work when creating & levelling up the character, in exchange for less work (and detail) in play.)

 

[Stone Dog]

As for me, I wrote the wound level and critical hits systems, as well as the alternative spellcasting systems.

Did you? I am looking forward to checking out those. Well the wounds and the spellcasting that is. Crits are just fine right now, but who knows? Maybe you have done something that I really like.

I bet you can't go into your wound levels much, but could you tell us something about the playtesting of it? I just wonder how smooth it is in actual play. It sounds a touch on the daunting side.

(edit) Heh... you got me pardner... yer pretty quick on the post there...
That answer was just what I wanted to know!

 

[Stone Dog]

Okay. I've seen it. I like it. I will buy it soon.

Health levels look like they rock on toast.

I love the geomancer.

There are a few other things too, but that is what really stood out in the few minutes I flipped through it.