Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:57:13 -0500 webmistress@dndresources.com (Forums) IP.Blog 60 The New World The magic-less Bard will also fall among the abilities of the adapted Expert class.
Here's a look at the first draft of the new Expert class' stats

___________________________________________________________________________


Expert
Hit Dice: d6
Skill Points: 8/level (x4 at first level)
Starting Gold: 3d4 x10
Base Attack Bonus: 3/4 of level (15/10/5)
Base Saving Throws: See text below.


Armor and Weapon Proficiency: An Expert begins play proficient with all Simple Weapons and Light Armor but not Shields. If using the Weapon Groups variant, the Expert begins play with Simple Weapons and 2 more proficiencies.
Abilities:
Focus: At 1st level an Expert chooses any 10 skills and considers them class skills from then on. The Expert must also choose a focus for his saving throws, either Fortitude, Reflex or Willpower. His choice of saving throw will progress at the 'good' rate (+12 at 20th level) while the other two will progress at the 'poor' rate (+6 at 20th level). Once these choices have been made they cannot be changed and are considered the Expert's class skills and focused saving throw for every Expert class level he takes.
Bonus Feat: At 1st level an Expert receives a bonus feat from the following list: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Animal Affinity, Armor Proficency (medium, heavy), Athletic, Communicator, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Diligent, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Insightful, Investigator, Iron Will, Leadership, Lightning Reflexes, Magical Aptitude, Necropolis Born, Night Haunt, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers, Open Minded, Persuasive, Run, Soul of The North, Spell Hand, Self-Sufficient, Shield Proficiency, Skill Focus, Stealthy, Toughness. If the feat has requirements the Expert must meet them before he can take the feat. The Expert receives another bonus feat from this list every five levels (5th, 10th, 15th etc).
Expert's Edge: At 1st level and every three levels from then on (3rd, 6th, 9th etc) an Expert can choose one of the special abilities from the following list. The Expert must meet any requirements the ability has before he can learn the ability.
Inventor: An Expert with at least 4 ranks in any two Craft skills gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. An Expert with this ability also gains a +2 insight bonus into checks that combine the two crafting skills (e.g Armorcrafting and Weaponsmithing when creating a golem). This ability can be chosen multiple times, each time it applies to two different Craft skills that the Expert has at least 4 ranks in. The one Craft skill can be chosen for two different combinations of the Inventor ability but the +2 competance bonus to that skill is only applied once.
Scholar: An Expert with at least 4 ranks in any two Knowledge skills gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. An Expert with this ability also gains a +2 insight bonus into checks that combine the two knowldge skills (e.g History and Nobility when dealing with a noble family's past). This ability can be chosen multiple times, each time it applies to two different Knowledge skills that the Expert has at least 4 ranks in. The one Knowledge skill can be chosen for two different combinations of the Scholar ability but the +2 competance bonus to that skill is only applied once.
Explorer: An Expert with at least 4 ranks in Knowledge: Geography and Survival gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. Surviving in the wild or through harsh conditions are familiar to an Explorer. In these situations an Explorer can choose to take 10 on a Survival check. An Explorer also gains circumstantial bonuses to his Survival check when he makes a successful Knowledge: Geography check (DC and application determined by DM).
Planar Explorer: An Expert with at least 9 ranks in Knowledge: The Planes and Survival gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. This works just like the Explorer ability except it only applies in siutations on planes other than the Explorer's native plane. This ability also gives the Expert a +2 bonus on saving throws to avoid harmful extraplaner effects (e.g Energy Drain on Negative Energy Dominant planes).
Diplomat: An Expert with at least 6 ranks in Diplomacy and Sense Motive gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. An Expert with this ability also gains a +2 insight bonus into checks that combine the two skills (e.g when negotiating the hand over of hostages with some bandits).
Fast Talker: An Expert with at least 4 ranks in Bluff and Intimidate gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. An Expert with this ability also gains a +2 insight bonus into checks that combine the two skills (e.g when making a false threat to scare someone into doing what you want).
Infiltrator: An Expert with at least 6 ranks in Open Lock and Disable Device gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. An Expert also gains a +2 competance bonus to Move Silently and Hide checks when trying to open a lock or disable a device while remaining hidden.
Evasion: An Expert with at least 12 ranks in Tumble gains the Evasion ability. This works just like the Rogue ability described in the Player's Handbook.
Uncanny Dodge: An Expert with at least 6 ranks in Spot and Listen gains the Uncanny Dodge abilty. This works just like the Rogue ability described in the Player's Handbook.
Improved Uncanny Dodge: An Expert with at least 12 ranks in Spot and Listen and the Uncanny Dodge ability gains the Improved Uncanny Dodge ability. This works just like the Rogue ability described in the Player's Handbook.
Spellweaver: An Expert with at least 6 ranks in Spellcraft and Knowledge: Arcana and access to at least 2 spell-like abilities (such as those offered by certain feats, e.g Soul of The North) gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. The Expert is also able to enter either the Sorcerer or Wizard class at an available opportunity (next level up basically) if he so chooses.
Entertainer An Expert with at least 4 ranks in any two Perform skills gains a +2 competance bonus on all checks with these two skills. An Expert with this ability also gains a +2 insight bonus into checks that combine the two preforming skills (e.g singing and string instruments while singing and playing the lute).
Advanced Performer: Encourage: An Expert with the Entertainer ability and at least 6 ranks in any Perform skill gives himself and all allies who can hear/see him (in the case of Weapon Drill performances) a +2 bonus on all attack rolls, damage rolls with weapons and saves against fear effects. This effect lasts for 2 rounds + the Expert's Charisma bonus
Advanced Performer: Distract: An Expert with the Entertainer ability and at least 9 ranks in any Perform skill distracts all enemies who can hear/see him (in the case of Weapon Drill performances) for 1 round. Enemies can make a Will Save (DC = result of the Perform check) to avoid being distracted. Enemies are distracted for as long as the Expert continues to perform.
Exampler: At 12 level the Expert chooses any 3 skills he has 12 or more ranks in. The Expert can now teach these skills to others who can learn. This essentially gives the Exampler the Teacher feat (varaint can be found on www.community3e.net) but it only applies to the 3 chosen skills. The Expert is, however, more adept at his chosen skills than regular teachers and thusly can train students to a higher skill rank.

___________________________________________________________________________


So the ability progression looks like this:
Level:
1 - Focus, Bonus Feat, Expert's Edge
2 -
3 - Expert's Edge
4 -
5 - Bonus Feat
6 - Expert's Edge
7 -
8 -
9 - Expert's Edge
10 - Bonus Feat
11 -
12 - Expert's Edge, Exampler
13 -
14 -
15 - Expert's Edge, Bonus Feat
16 -
17 -
18 - Expert's Edge
19 -
20 - Bonus Feat

Any comments, suggestions, criticisms etc are welcome.]]> Sat, 18 Mar 2006 16:08:48 -0600 The New World At the moment I'm thinking about a prestige class based entry (as in D20 Modern) with 6th being the highest obtainable spell level UNTIL epic levels at which stage 7th-9th can become available.
Alright, so what ar ethe first pros and cons that come to mind?

Pro:
Magic users will still have access to pretty powerful spells such as Disintegrate, Polymorph, Heal and Harm but getting them will be harder.
Magic items can still exist though they are rarer and stronger items will be very rare and valuable since only epic casters will be able to create them.
It will add a bit more to being a spell caster than 'taking a level in wizard so I can become an arcane archer'
Con:
Have to make sure that the prestige class system does not make spell casting a waste of class levels

Any further pro/con comments would be warmly welcomed.
So, the prestige classess themselves. Here's what I'm thinking about at the moment:

Prestige Wizard
Requirements: Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Spellcraft 7, Combat Casting
Hit Dice: d4
Skills: As per the normal Wizard class
Skill Points: 4/level

Prestige Cleric
Requirements: Knowledge (Religion) 5, Spellcraft 7, Must dedicate service to a diety
Hit Dice: d8
Skills: As per the normal Cleric class
Skill Points: 4/level

Prestige Sorcerer
Requirements: Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Spellcraft 7, Must have an active Bloodline (from Unearthed Arcana)
Hit Dice: d6
Skills: undecided
Skill Points: 4/level

I may leave Druids as a base class and just play around with their spell casting a bit.
All the above are very rough ideas that I will be looking into in far more detail when I can.
Special abilities for the classess will be posted when I have them done out in detail.

Now a problem presents itself: getting 7 ranks in Spellcraft. Spellcraft is a cross class skill for the vast majority of base classes. Taking a level in the Expert NPC class (of which I'm a fan of) would solve the problem, but most players would dislike having to 'take a level out' just for some skill points. An idea I have is having Spellcraft as a Trained skill. Any person can have Spellcraft as a class skill if they pay a fee to an existing magic user to teach them. When the training is done they gain 1 rank in Spellcraft (regardless of maximum skill points at the time) and Spellcraft is permanantly addedd to their Class Skills list. This makes some sense as the ability to actually weave magic into the form you want it (my main interpretation of Spellcraft) had to be passed on from the original masters to other people who wanted to learn.

Half-caster classes like Ranger, Bard, Paladin etc have magic-less versions in various source books. Figuring out how a Bard functions without magic is another thing to be tackled at a later stage.

So now I have a basic idea to work from concerning spell casting in my world. This basic idea raises alot of questions relating to the world's structure, history, folklore and magic influence/properties. This will all be dealt with accordingly.]]> Tue, 14 Mar 2006 17:29:29 -0600 The New World 1. The School Game which is all about how things are going and what is happening in the game D&D game I'm playing in with a few friends of mine from school.
2. The New World which will be all about the world I'm attempting to create and (hopefully) DM myself at some stage.
Onward ho!

The School Game
So our DM, after extensive gaming with one of Ireland's earliest native D&D players, has decided to completely restart the game. He's been debating alot of house rules and alternatives and also wether or not to begin at 1st level (we had started at 6th previously). So what house rules are definates? The following have been comfirmed:
Weapon Groups (from Unearthed Arcana)
Active Armor Class. This is where instead of having a base of 10 in your AC you roll 1d20 every time your AC comes into play. This results in a more variable armor class but (in our opinions at least) a more realistic battle scenario. It might be from Unearthed Arcana but I can't be sure,
Equipment Diagram. This is a sheet with a blank picture of a humanoid outline. On it we draw/write in where the equipment our character is wearing is placed. Our DM got the idea after one of his games with the older D&D player in which his character was wearing an all black outfit. He forgot that it was winter in the campaign and it was snowing regularly. During the game his character was sneaking around in the woods, trying to avoid some hunters. Because of the all black outfit and the snow coveredground and trees he was quickly spotted and caught. The main purpose of the diagram is so we have a more accurate picutre of eachother's character's appearance and situations similar to the one the DM was in.
I think 1 or 2 more are being debated but those 3 are definates.
the character I'm currently playing is a Rogue/Paladin of Freedom/Sorcerer, 2/2/2. In the future (if we're staying at 6th level) I'll be going sorcerer all the way. If we start again at 1st level then I'm thinking of playing a Wizard or Rogue or something instead. The backstory behind the R/PoF/S sort of depends on the 6 levels and not actually coming in contact with the rest of the group until he did.
I should know more next week.

The New World
This part is a bit vague of yet. I WAS running a game with my own world and all in it but after the players lost the free time needed to play I decided to look at it in more detail. I soon realised I DEFINATLY wasn't happy with the world. So I scrapped it completely.
Now I'm looking to start again from scratch, building things so that I'm happy with them and they right to me.
So, what am I shooting towards? What kind of world do I want? What do I want the people of the world to be like? How does magic effect the world? How much magic is in the world? Does magic vary from region to region? Is magic readily accessible? How has the world evolved? How has the world developed politically, economically, technologically, socially, and artistically? What kind of state are the societies of the world in? How is the cosmos arranged? How do the people of the Material Plane interact with extraplanar deinzens? DO they interact? How are the planes related?
These are my starting points. I don't like making definates straight away. I prefer to think over the ideas, throw them out and then see how they can be bent and shaped into the goal I can imagine.
From that, where do I start? Well, I have a few basic concepts and interests that I want to work into the game world. For now I'm going to use them as the foundations of the game world concept and see what happens. So here they are:

1. The Age of Exploration. This period of history interests me greatly. The concepts of exploring, adventuring into the unkown, discovery and wonder and deffinatly ones I want involved in the world.
2. The Importance of Cosmology. Ever since reading the Manual of The Planes the D&D concept of the cosmos, alternate realities, interplanar relations and planar travel have interested me greatly. This is another section to develop on.
3. Sea Travel. Sea travel in age of exploration is also something I'm interested in. The D&D book Stormwrack is a huge help in this area. Deffinatly something to involve.
4. Medium Magic. As I see it, the base magic system layed out in the PHB is FAR too powerful. I want a much tamer magic system. The D20 Modern outlook on magic, as a prestige ability, is interesting though possibly a little too low magic. The idea of a magic level a little higher than low but much less than high is what I'm aiming for, though right now it seems difficult. Perhaps a variations on the D20 Modern magic concept? I'll have to wait and see.
5. A sense of epic scale, the supernatural and wonder. A vague idea right now, but something to think about.

So, how to combine these? So far the base idea looks like this:
A world where people know of magic, though accessing it is difficult. A world with large explored islands but far more unexplored lands overseas. A world where the planes influence Material Plane life at certain times of the year. A vast world with strange occurances and a stranger past.
Nothing much has been decided on here at this stage, but I now have a general guideline.
Influences? The Gunslinger series by Stephen King is a major influence. Right now I can't pin down any other influences I have. After typing all that I have too much to think about to worry about it

And that is all.
FOR NOW!
Cliffhanger ending!]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2006 13:46:44 -0600 Basically, in this blog I'll be throwing out ideas I've gotten for my own D&D world and relaying what's been happening in the game I'm playing in with a few guys from school.
I'm not currently DMing but being prepared for when I can/want to can't be a bad thing.
And that's about it until next time.]]> Tue, 24 Jan 2006 16:27:09 -0600