Dragon's Egg - Rules Questions and Discussion

[Steerpike]

Since any elf can cast (or try), I thought it might balance it out more to limit it to elves and classes that actually have healing spells. Given the party's need for healing, I'm not opposed to opening it up to any elf or caster, with non-healers taking the -4 penalty.

 

[Nihal]

Then... can I or not?

Though it makes sense to elves be able to cast it, it still makes sense to casters too, since non-elven casters can cast life magic. Otherwise non-caster elves shouldn't be able to cast arcane magic then.

 

[Steerpike]

Otherwise non-caster elves shouldn't be able to cast arcane magic then.

Initially, elves and dwarves had their own magic. Dwarves still do - no one else can use their rune magic. I only opened up elven magic since it was the healing magic, and it gets to be pretty limiting not to open it up, even though it makes more sense in the context of the game world not to do so.

You can cast healing magic at the -4 penalty. This will open up a lot of healing to the group, potentially, though mana limitations should keep it from being OP.

 

[Nihal]

You can cast healing magic at the -4 penalty. This will open up a lot of healing to the group, potentially, though mana limitations should keep it from being OP.

...and bad luck... don't forget the luck, heh.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

So, now that I've gone and chanced it, what's the rule on natural 1s when climbing? I know that, regardless of bonus, natural 1 = fail (and natural 20 = success)…

But for climbing, fail by >5 is a fall. So… what if a natural 1 is still within 5 pts. of the target? Is that just a normal hang-on-for-dear-life fail?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

((How long does it take a non-caster to regain mana? 1/4 MP per hour, right? Also, how much mana did Edan's Poultice take from him? He only had one point to begin with.))

At negative mana, you gain 1/4 x level mana.
(1/2 for Baldy & Cadell; 1/4 for Mauve & Keit—eat our mana-regenerating dust, casters!)

At 0+ mana, you gain 1 x level mana.
(2 for Baldy & Cadell, or it would be if we didn't max out at 1 MP!)

Once a spell is cast, the Mana used regenerates at an hourly rate equal to the character's level. Thus, a level one character gains 1 Mana Point per hour. If the character is suffering from "negative Mana" (see below) the character gains ¼ point per level per hour until she is in positive territory.

 

[Steerpike]

The Poultice spell took 3 mana points away. Remember that spell checks are penalized when there is not enough mana to cast the spell.

The initial version of the rules had a flat -10 penalty any time you try to cast a spell and don't have enough mana. I'm changing that, however, to a -2 penalty for every point of mana that is lacking. So if you have 1 mana point and want to cast something that takes 3 mana points, you take a -4 penalty in addition to any other penalties or bonuses you might have. If you have 1 mana point and want to cast something that takes 6 mana, you'd get the -10 penalty.

 

[SeverinR]

I think the increasing penalty is much better, it should be alot harder to cast 7 mana points in the whole then just 1.
( it would also take 28 hours to return to 0, with -7 mana.)
Maybe an additional negitive for casting when negitive, rather then just going into the hole? Ie just keep casting even with no mana, say cast a spell at-2 mp, that takes you down to -4, the penalty would be -4, maybe it should be -2 for every point in negitive? So instead of -4 it would be -8. This would punish the person that just keeps digging deeper and deeper.

 

[Steerpike]

And maybe automatic runaway magic corruption if you cast with no mana and fail, since you are depleted of magical energy and have no resources to draw upon

 

[Nihal]

Technically people using arcane magic are already drawing the energy from another source—using their MP to control this energy, I guess—, so I don't think there should be an automatic runaway for "not having resources to draw upon", perhaps a penalty on the roll. =P

P.s.: If you really want to keep the balance of energy for energy you could borrow something from GURPS and sacrifice HP to allow runaway saves or something along these lines. You would be using your own vital energy to tame the magic.

 

[Steerpike]

Technically people using arcane magic are already drawing the energy from another source—using their MP to control this energy, I guess—, so I don't think there should be an automatic runaway for "not having resources to draw upon", perhaps a penalty on the roll. =P

No, I mean you have no resources to draw upon to attempt to control the magic. As you said, they are using their MP to control the energy. If the casting check fails, the caster has no MP with which to try to control the energy.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I'm not going to attempt to call Nissa when I don't have my 1 MP! I don't even want to know what the runaway would be.

Spoiler: my first guess

She'd probably summon a small army of midget succubi. Baldhart would be too mortified by their nakedness to blow out her torch to make them disappear. Awkwardness would ensue.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Question about shield walls...

I know a two-person-wide wall works in a 10-foot-wide corridor. This one's 20 feet wide.

So here's my question... would a shield wall work here, but with limitations? For example, in melee, it's easy for enemies to force the wall to break by going to the side of either shield-bearer. In that case, I assume the shield wall bonus is completely gone.

But... if enemies are shooting from afar, I would think the shield wall works because all shots are fired from one direction. In other words, could the shield wall bonus apply, but only while enemies are shooting from down the corridor and none are engaging us in melee?

(If so, Baldy will borrow a shield to help Cadell catch arrows.)

 

[Nihal]

Question: What is the penalty for fighting with only one eye? Would it work in the same way for melee and spellcasting? And the AC?

 

[Ireth]

I don't think it would affect anything but your DEX bonus, personally. But that's Steerpike's call.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

AC penalties involving sight are -2 from behind, -1 if flanked. (*scoff* At least for all you non-barbarians.)

So—just a guess, of course—but I'd think a missing left eye would affect the left flank (-2 AC instead of -1 AC?), and maybe from behind, but I'd expect right flank and straight ahead are normal.

 

[Ireth]

Wouldn't her depth perception be affected too? That should involve a penalty, IMO. Maybe -1 to hit.

 

[Nihal]

Affecting the DEX... makes sense. Yeah, I suspect the penalty wouldn't be always the same for every situation. I feel that targeting something to use a spell could be troublesome too, but I don't think the casting itself would be affected.

And yup, her depth perception would also suffer.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

That makes sense.

Pfft—I'd be like, screw you, villagers.

RAAAH!

 

[Nihal]

Hahaha! She's not ready to become a hamburger yet. :<