The list describe here is as yet incomplete; with more research and through the needs of gameplay, I would expect the list given to naturally expand over time. For the present, this is sufficient to describe the notion at play. It is not necessary for players to adopt the weapons below; but the +1 bonus to hit with the weapon, for characters possessing the sage ability, still applies whether or not the character is proficient.
Ideally, the character, having both a social and a regional background, would gain the bonus for one weapon from each, a total of two weapons. This is not always the case, as some social backgrounds, such as lawyer or a sinecure, suggests no such weapon. These backgrounds have other benefits. In any case, at least one hereditary weapon should be available to all characters with the ability.
Progenitor Weapons
The following weapons are available to characters according to their progenitors.
- Bow (short): gamekeeper
- Broad sword: gladiator
- Club: hermit, innkeeper, sailor
- Crossbow: artillerist, bounty hunter, marshal, tavern keeper
- Dagger: fence, guildmaster thief, gypsy, killer, mine foreman, rat catcher
- Guisarme: boatman (bill-hook)
- Halberd: mercenary
- Knife: cook, furrier, herbalist, mortician, potter, surgeon, tailor, tanner, trapper, veterinarian, village witch
- Long sword: crusader, landed knight, master-at-arms, steward, weaponsmith
- Quarterstaff: farmer, monk, porter
- Scimitar: all nobles/royalty (rapier), buccaneer (rapier), outrider
- Short axe: butcher (cleaver), graverobber (pick-axe), miner (pick-axe), prospector (pick-axe), tomb robber (pick-axe), witchhunter, woodcutter
- Short hammer: armourer, blacksmith, carpenter, cobbler, cooper, diemaker, furniture maker, labourer, leather worker, mason, metallurgist, puddler, sculptor, shipwright, stonecutter, toolmaker, wagoneer
- Short sword: landlord, squire, toll keeper
- Trident: fisherman
- Whip: husbandman, teamster
None: alchemist, alchemist's apprentice, architect, artist, baker, banker, bookbinder, brewer, chandler, confectioner, curate, draper, engraver, fishmonger, fuller, gambler, glassmaker, glazier, guildmaster, instrument maker, jeweller, juggler, lawyer, lapidary, librarian, medicant, papermaker, political advisor, priest, professor, scribe, sinecure, singer, tobacconist, tutor, usurer, vintner, weaver
Regional Weapons
The following weapons are available to characters depending upon their regions of birth.
- Ankus: Moghul
- Bastard sword: Austria, Dauphine, Milan, Savoy
- Battle axe: Denmark, Norway, Scotland
- Bola: Spanish America
- Bo stick: Ceylon, Guangdong, Korea, Okinawa
- Bow (long): England, Wales (South)
- Bow (short): Arabia
- Broad sword: Alsace, Lorraine, Venice, Walloon
- Club: Dutch colonies (knop), Leinster & Munster (shillelagh), Northumbria (cudgel), Plains Natives, Ulster (cudgel), Zulu (knobkierrie)
- Corseque: Corsica
- Crossbow: Castile & Leon, Genoa, Moroccan
- Dagger: Rhineland
- Dart: Connaught, Macedonia
- Flail: Bohemia, Moravia
- Glaive: Gansu, Hokkaido, Shikoku (naginata), Moskva
- Godentag: Flanders, Goblinish & Orcish lands
- Guisarme: Brandenburg, Hannover, Masuria, Mecklenburg, Tirol, Wurttemburg
- Halberd: Burgundy, Madrid, Switzerland (French), Valencia
- Hand axe: Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, Slovakia (shepherd's axe), Sweden (Finnish)
- Javelin: Anglesey, Catalonia, Languedoc, Manchuria, Wales (North)
- Jo stick: Kyushu
- Lance: Normandy, Picardy
- Long sword: Baden, Bavaria, Champaign, Guyenne, Ile de France, Naples, Portugal
- Mace: Kiyev, Madurai, Poland
- Maul: Luxembourg
- Morning star: Hungary, Papal States
- Pike: Switzerland (German)
- Rapier: Aragon, Auvergne, Bourbon, Dauphine, Limousin, Maine, Orleanais, Poitou, Touraine
- Scimitar: Anatolia, Greece, Kokand, Safavid
- Short sword: English & Dutch colonies (cutlass)
- Sling: Canaan, Inca, Sardinia
- Spear: Berber, Mali, Swahili
- Staff sling: Brittany
- Trident: Balearics, Cyprus, Thrace
- Two-handed sword: Egypt (khopesh), Hesse, Piedmont, Saxony
- Warhammer: Croatia
Is there any particular reason the Dwarves/Gnomes/Halflings get handaxes? Have you thought about the equivalent bonuses for certain non-humans, like Orcs, Goblins, or Gnolls?
ReplyDeleteIf I had an Arabian Elf whose progenitor was a gamekeeper, would I get a total +3 to short-bows, or am I just sitting on three separate +1 maximums for this rank of sage knowledge?
"Goblinish and Orcish lands" grants a bonus to the godentag. Looking up hand-axes, I was reminded of the hand-axe cultures of northern Europe. In my game's history, Scandinavia is gnome and halfling long before they are human, so that fit; I added dwarf in because they, too, are a forest/mountain people. So it fit.
ReplyDeleteYour gamekeeper elf wouldn't be from Arabia, it would be from one of the northern elvish civilisations or from the mid-Mississippi valley. But yes, it would be three separate +1's, or simply a single +1 for the short bow. Note that I've left elves as the only characters receiving a +1 for both types of bow AND the dagger too.
My bad, I'm not sure how I missed the Orc/Goblin stuff. Thanks for the further clarification: I was pretty certain the single +1 threshold was the intent, but the flavor of being terrified of Thracian Fishermen or other double-bonuses was just interesting enough to make me doubt myself.
ReplyDeleteI preface this by saying this isn't meant to be ungrateful or disrespectful, but this sage ability is my least favorite of every one that you've made, because it is really good mechanically, but not as much fun as the other really great stuff you've put out like the Tarot, the Stealth rework, the Bard and Monk rewrites, etc.
Every player I've introduced this system to as a Fighter jumps right onto Puissance immediately, because no matter what the weapon they might end up with is, the thought of having a +1 To-Hit with anything is just too good to pass up (especially alongside the other goodies Puissance offers).
Do you see that as a feature of this particular Study? Is that your experience with it as well? Or do your parties value the Teaching, Leadership, or Animal Training studies more?
Certainly I always hoped that Pandred's eventual Juvenis henchman would go for one of those instead.
It's the kind of sage study that makes me wary because passing out +1s makes me feel math-y instead of heroic personally, even if I really really like having the bonus for my character. Hearing your thoughts on the matter would be very enlightening.
Pandred,
ReplyDeleteThis is somewhat difficult to explain, given the manner in which I know many go about the game, but let me try to address some of these issues.
First and foremost, you'll remember I run a fairly rough combat system, which employs those goodies you describe, but which can also smash your fighter pretty hard to the ground with a good lucky hit; that stun lock system I use is vicious and helps balance out the modifier nature of combat. Unlike the system others play, where combat is a predictable dull attrition, so that the +1 bonus is measured only against how many +1s the other side has, mine is more random and unpredictable, meaning I can play more with this bonus and that.
Also remember that I also offer many of my monsters a higher AC than the books normally do; and adding +1 AC to an orc by changing its armor will wash out a +1 trident bonus. There are many angles to this: and because of that randomness, players will often prefer the heightened damage of a non-bonus weapon, or other qualities it may have in a fight (can be hurled, set vs. charge, weighs less, requires less space, replaced easily, etc.). One reason why I don't suffer from 5e's problems is that my combat rules are largely Restrictive and not overly Permissive, so it means a player has to think more before leaping to the most obvious apparent superiority.
In my online games, I do notice people run to the power options; I believe this is because most campaigns are built on poor, tiresome Gygaxian principles. If you're going to find yourself constantly pitched against traps, jump scare mechanics, ambushes and "the game coming to you," then there is very little reason to add skills to your character that include design, development, seeking knowledge or social interaction.
Again, so many online campaigns I see incorporate NPCs that are insultingly permissive to players, who will hear impossible-to-believe lies and treat them with credibility Because Of A Die Roll. I don't use that die roll and my NPCs are cognizant, wary, xenophobic and habitually hostile; so a player Can't just invent bullshit, make a roll and get by.
Players in my game have to Work for their bread ... the adventure doesn't roll out like a red carpet and thus players Must create their own opportunities.
[cont ...]
Look at the list of "adventures" I described in the post I put up tonight about artifacts. There are stories there, but if a player wants one of those artifacts, they'll have to figure out a way to get more information than I'm giving. My game won't have someone just appear to give them exposition. This demands that smart players familiar with my technique will seriously question whether or not they Need more combat ability; and whether what they're getting is worth what they're not getting.
ReplyDeleteWhere you speak about every player you've introduced, we're talking about the game campaign YOU run ... if those playing in that campaign don't hesitate to rush for more power, it is because YOU put a premium on direct, personal power. Before they can want the esoteric stuff, you've got to prove the value of that stuff; and if you keep handing them the answers on a plate, because that's how your game rolls, then don't blame them when they seek advantage on things you don't make easy for them.
My game isn't afraid of the players feeling stupid, helpless, in the dark, unsure of what to do and grasping that although they have all these great weapons and bonuses and stuff, they haven't a clue what to do next because they don't Know Anything. I like it, actually. Keeps players humble. Makes them think. Frightens them a little, that the world just isn't plain jane where it comes to what the next step should be.
My long time players have learned. So yes, yes, they DO rush towards the egghead stuff.
[...cont] Finally, Pandred, you'll remember the characters in the Juvenis campaign, for that first combat, Rushed at all the +1 bonuses ~ flank attacks and rear attacks and such. And lost so much semblance of order and defense that they got their asses handed to them and three out of five died. It's not all bonuses.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the sage ability posts as while I don't run your rules, Alexis, I learn a lot from how you structure things (and I greatly benefit from your research and analysis thereof, such your very useful figures on the number of man-hours needed to build different fortifications.).
ReplyDeleteAnd Embla had the opportunity to take a puissance ability and went for logistics instead, and that's been considerably more useful to us than a +1 with my battleaxe would have been.
Hah, Embla. You'll note I was burned to the ground for my man-hour numbers. Those need revision.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you regarding logistics vs. puissance.