The perspiration is yet to start:
The sage abilities discussed on this page, not included in the teaser above, finally establish once and for all my method for characters making magic items in the game. It's not merely an issue of spending a lot of money and buying the place where the fabrication takes place, but with deliberately seeking out certain studies early in the game that permits item creation by potentially 7th or 8th level — although to do so this early would require more than one character to likewise make plans.
I've said before that the goal with creating magic items and invoking similar profound magical effects is not to throw thousands of gold pieces at the problem and then roll dice, but to spend much time, so that only so many items can be created before the character becomes too old to adventure. It should be supposed that yes, a player character CAN make a vorpal blade or a +5 holy sword themselves ... but that the time scale on these items should be ten years.
This includes an understanding that such items are so rare that no, the player cannot go out and adventure for such things in the space of a few months. Ten years of game time describes how long a character ought to adventure in order to achieve a level to where they could conceivably take a holy avenger out of the hands of the 22nd level paladin wielding it. It's not my feeling that a weapon of this kind should be found stuck in a rock at the end of a platform in a deep dungeon ... unless the nature fo the rock, the dungeon and the time it took to get here made the character pay the necessary cost to even see the thing. Just cause we're here, and can touch it, doesn't mean the rock will let it go.
Anyway. There's no rush to actually detail the sage abilities; I haven't any characters yet who have chosen these paths. Study "flowers & sprigs"? Who knew?
It helps, however, to know they're there, and how the path to reach them works.
So ideally one could create a magic item at 8th or 9th level, but a particular quirk of your sage studies is that it is technically possible for a 10th level character to have gained only ten points of knowledge in their field of primary study (nightmare of nightmares). While obviously that seems quite unlikely, have you thought about how one might gain points of study without leveling?
ReplyDeleteThe Functionary study is what first prompted this query from me: as the implication in the system as designed was that only Clerics ran for civic office, which is almost certainly not the case in your world.
Or would you stand by it and say that an expert is almost always a high level character? I'm not against that explanation, but I am curious.
Several points here. One at a time, starting with accumulation of knowledge points.
ReplyDeleteThe character starts with one study within one field; he or she starts with 12 knowledge points in that study at 1st level, evidence of hard scholarship or training. So having ten points in the knowledge of their primary study is only possible if the character is non-levelled.
Now, you get 1-12 pts. of knowledge per level, so at 10th level, the minimum one could have is 20. Which still makes the person an amateur. However, the chances of that happening is 1 in 61.9 billion, so I'm not worried. If every person in the world tried to roll it right now, odds are 9:1 against anyone doing it.
Can you gain knowledge without levels? Yes. It's called Instruction. All the rules aren't there, but if you look at this page on the old wiki, the precepts are there.
After all, the character got their first 12 points, and others besides both in and out of fields, through being instructed. And so someone with time, money and a lack of interest in levels CAN become an expert in something.
Now, if you notice on the character background generator I've been writing, the character's progenitor under intelligence can be a political advisor (roll 99-00 on a %die), which gives the character the politician study ... which, according to the same page, will increase at 0-3 pts. of knowledge per level. ANY class can potentially get this result, so one need not be a cleric.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the Illusionist has a study called "Liberalism," which isn't designed yet, but which gives a different approach to the pursuit of politics, with the possibility of rising into that structure.
Keeping in mind that "politics" in a world where monarchy is virtually the only form of governance, the pursuit means essentially "advising" rather than direct authority. Technically, anyone can do that, and did historically, but someone with the study can do better. Just as anyone can fight, but a fighter does it better.
Point in fact, the Thief has a study called "Jack-of-all-trades," which allows the character to collect sage abilities from other fields, which could include politics.
And again under the background generator, everyone rolls against their intellience for "talents." A roll of -10 to -12 on that table, 15% chance for characters with an intelligence above 10 (10% for those with a 10 and 5% for those with a 9), gives a FREE additional field from any class of the character's choice. So the character could choose "Politics" from the cleric list if they desired.
So ... as you can see, I've given some thought to cross-training into studies of other classes. The implication is that clerics, being highly motivated to focus on governance through giving advice, are compelled to study the field, while others who go that direction fall into the category of wanting to go there.
The effect, then, is a lot of clerics with the skill who perhaps resent this part of their career path, vs. a lot of true believers who worked hard to get here.
I think that's everything.
Excellent response, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love rules like this, which imply a certain level of worldbuilding on their own. Any mid-level cleric is probably versed enough in governance to run their abbey. Any mid-level fighter has probably acquired enough institutional knowledge to pass down their skills. Thieves wedge themselves wherever they see fit. Mage-types have a high enough INT that they have a good chance of picking up extra studies even if they're knee-deep in esoterica otherwise.
Just excellent.
And all without relying on a point-buy system.
ReplyDelete