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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 4914682" data-attributes="member: 94">I think my concluding analysis of the Big Six is much better read as "You don't have to have all six of the Big Six at optimal levels (ie, a steady increase of +1 per 3 character levels), all the time," ... as opposed to "You can play a completely no-magic game without any of the Big Six."Trailblazer is not a low-magic ruleset. "Feature." Not-so-subtly hidden.Note that 4e improved ALL saves to the Good rate (1/2 HD), while also removing save or die. If I can take your statement there-- "I'm a little worried that all characters will have saving throw profiles typical of clerics," and extrapolate it to, "I'm a little worried that all characters have identical saving throw profiles," I have just described 4e.I suppose your mileage may vary on standardized saving throw profiles.Barring "Save or Die" Reflex saves-- which I suppose might be relegated to high-level "Tomb of Horrors" style traps (but definitely not lava: If you fall in lava, you die. No save.)-- I think you underestimate the value of making 10 run-of-the-mill, nothing-but-damage Reflex saves to failing 1 key Fort save. I'd rather not sweat the 10 Reflex saves, and use my APs to make those key saves.And that's not even counting Evasion.But if you feel that what's presented is a "False Choice," then I encourage you to give all PCs THREE Good saves. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Overall we tried to de-emphasize the importance of skills in terms of "CR-consequential" stuff. It's a design goal that all characters be able to be good at lots of "Roleplay-consequential" stuff. You can do things, explore things, know things, etc.You left a lot of cool skills off your list. Jump is good. Spellcraft is good. Survival is good (everybody can track). Linguistics is cool.There are bound to be some "duds" on the skill list-- especially for PCs without a clear "concept" to work towards, other than kicking ass-- but I definitely don't agree that everything other than Acrobatics, Perception, and Stealth is a dud. First, you're overstating the spell level increase of long durations, area of effect, and multiple target spells. Such spells exist at all spell levels (except perhaps 0th). They're not equivalent to their short duration, single target counterparts, no. They give up something, somewhere-- usually on the order of 1/2 a spell level-- in order to boost duration or AoE. (I'll direct you back to Heroes of High Favor: Elves.)But it's incorrect to say that your AoE spells are always your highest level spells.We'll address specific spells later; and in the meantime look at spells with durations longer than 1 day. The goal in the design here is not to have spells that last longer than "1 rest." You definitely don't want a situation where the casters buff everyone, rest, and get all their spell slots back-- so that the party begins with "Full buffs + Full spell slots."That's explicitly called out in the text as one of the design goals.I can't state this often enough:When you get right down to it, the 10-minute rest is nothing more than an agreement between the players and the DM to hand-wave 10 minutes instead of hand-waving a day.If the DM doesn't want to allow the party to rest, he doesn't allow it. Whether that process takes place across 10 minutes or 24 hours is irrelevant. I look forward to more comments when you have time. You know I encourage commentary from esteemed contributors. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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