Posts from 2017-04-20

April v2.25 Update & "Das Uberblog!"

It's that time of the month again, and what a month it's been. Being a 'team player' kind of guy, I do prefer to bounce ideas off others and work together to solve problems, so you can understand the challenge of being a solo developer. Even with the help of my local groups, I found we all eventually lose sight of how a new player looks upon the system. So when I made the decision to get sabre 'out there' in the public space last year, I knew it wasn't quite ready but I needed people to engage with it and give me feedback so I could continue development in the right direction.

So I've been really pleased with other gaming groups giving sabre a try and relaying back their experiences, which is largely what this update consists of. Believe it or not, we're actually getting close to 'system stable' where updates are wound back to every six months, and I get to put my feet up for a change! (kidding, too many other things in the pipeline.) I'll go into detail about what the development plan is towards the end of this blog. Anyway, let's get to it.

Art! 

I've completed art for the escardi, corvid and saerid races in the premium edition. Being the most exotic in the system, it was good to have these done so people know what they look like. My style is developing nicely I think, with clear signs of improvement though I still have much to learn. 

Crafting Improvements

I've had a few requests for a more detailed crafting system, specifically for weapons and armour, so here it is! The premium edition has a new 'crafting equipment' link in the Equipment section, and it's linked from the Craft skill in the professional skills section too. It has material types with prices, from which you can craft any of the weapons and armour listed in the game. 

Armour prices are precisely calibrated so I used them as the baseline to come up with material costs, then adjusted weapon costs accordingly, based on their size (or SIZ if you prefer). Some went up in price, some went down, and I tweaked a few numbers for the wooden weapons too. It was at this point I realised that weapon Hit Points were irrelevant, so I removed that stat and just left them with AP, which is a more elegant system used by shields and armour. 

Finally, masterwork items have had a major overhaul in how they're made. It's no longer simply a matter of being lucky when crafting and getting a critical. Masterwork items require a 70% talent, and then you can just choose to make one, but they take much longer to construct and use more materials too. 

Shamans

We've come up with some new talents under the heading of 'Shamanic Traditions' to flesh out this style of magic which should spice it up. It's always fun coming up with ways to enhance magic styles, though this one was challenging! Hopefully it'll work out (I salute all shaman guinea-pigs!)

The freedom of magic

One of the big things I've heard from groups playing sabre is that magic is cool and fun, but too restrictive in certain ways. I must confess that in coming up with the backgrounds, I've been thinking in terms of how races interact in my own fantasy world, but they shouldn't be restricted like this for others. So, I've greatly reduced the restrictions on which races can take what backgrounds, allowing far greater flexibility for characters.

Furthermore, there's a general feeling that characters are punished for not wearing as much armour as they can, as combat in sabre can be quite brutal. While this was sort of intentional, the overhaul of the magic system I completed in January did go a little too easily on damage output and damage absorption. I figured if players wanted to be on the front line, they should be in armour! I very much liked the distinct line between fighters and spellcasters too, but there's certainly room to expand on this. 

So, the backgrounds that let you wear light armour and cast greater magic have been expanded to allow medium armour too. I still want heavy armour to be the providence of dedicated fighters though, so that restriction remains. I still would like 'cloth-wearing casters' to be a thing though, so I've boosted the spirit points from dedicated spellcaster backgrounds to +5. 

'Magical Prodigy' has proven to be a very popular background to take, and this remains unchanged but now has some stiff competition for different styles of magic users. When recalibrating the value of backgrounds recently, I wasn't sure how to weight this one, and clearly underestimated the appeal of two separate greater magics. So now you can choose this, heavier protection or more spirit to choose from, much in the same way melee and ranged combat have their different styles as well.

Furthermore, I've increased the baseline damage output from most spells so you can be more effective while blasting things to bits. Additionally, I've modified the 'Block' type reaction spells so they simply grant a big chunk of armour against one damage source, which should help magic users survive on the battlefield without making them permanent fixtures. Ideally, fighters should be using 'Control Movement' to keep other fighters at bay, allowing ranged and magical combatants to do their thing without being hassled. 

Stealth

Speaking of combat imbalance, I've done some work on improving stealth options this month too (everyone gets something!) The 'Advantage' talent, essential for any stealthy assassin character, has been boosted to +5 which makes a big difference when attacking an unsuspecting target. But actually remaining undetected and staying alive while in light armour was definitely lacking.

So, 'Honed Reflexes', 'Sneaky' and the new talent 'Sharp Eyes' now add a lot to stealth gameplay options. Instead of a fixed 5% bonus (or in the case of Sneaky, Expanded Critical which really functions as luck more than expertise), you can now take these talents 4 times at regular skill intervals (50, 70, 90, 99) for +5% each time. So, evade checks can get a +20% bonus which really helps these squishy characters stay alive, and perception checks get the same benefit to help spot the new super stealthy characters.

Because the stealth bonus can go much higher now. There's the +20% from 'Sneaky', along with up to +10 from the 'invisibility' type spells, and +10% from Shadowcat leather armour. Add the 'Soft Step' manoeuvre to the mix and you can get a +50% result bonus for that added 'ninja vanish!' flourish. Oh, and the Ninjato weapon has been improved now too, adhering much more accurately to the size and ability of the weapon so it's actually the best weapon for a stealthy character. I have a corvid NPC assassin travelling with one of my gaming groups, he's rather effective!

Fatigue

The fatigue system was a hitting characters a little too heavily, so I've tapered the penalties back to 5% per level, but also added two levels to the scale. 

Serious Wounds

The dice roll for going down at 0 Hit Points was a little tedious, so I've changed it to simply make the character unconscious and bleeding at this point. The 'Grit' talent lets you stay conscious, but you're restricted in similar ways to how it is now – the main thing is, the roll to stay conscious is gone. Hopefully the additions to character survivability (bonuses to evade and magical AP) will keep non-armoured characters alive longer. Healing from potions and salves has been reduced (they were making divine casters look weak!) but I still want to keep healing in combat greatly restricted. It should always be easier to destroy than create, or in this case, easier to harm than to heal. It keeps the fights from going on too long as well. Healing should be for after a fight, not right in the middle.

Threat Levels

Lastly, gauging the power of a character should be easier, mostly for GM's so they know how to challenge their group without obliterating them. The Threat Level calculator has performed this task in the past, but it was never front-and-centre, and it was a bit clunky too. 

It's been overhauled to focus on the most important aspects of a creature's combat ability, with less relevant stuff removed and the calculations more straight-forward. It's actually possible to calculate a character's Threat Level off the top of your head, once you've had a little practice! The TL calculation has also been moved to the character creation section, with a space in the top-right of the character sheet, so players should be able to figure out the number for themselves. Most starting characters are TL 1 anyway so the initial calculation is easy. 

Coming Attractions!

Earlier in the blog I mentioned that the system is close to becoming stable, which means far fewer updates, completed art and a relaxed and satisfied developer. Next month, I hope to have the 4 remaining pieces of race art done, and I might even get the siege warfare mechanics completed too. 

The month after that, I want to have pictures of all the weapons arranged into their respective groups, as well as the armour types. I'll also have psionic talents done in the same way as the other greater magic styles.

The month after that, I embark on creating the final greater magic style which has constantly been pushed back, ever since the start of sabre development - Summoning magic. It's a whole slew of spells that are big enough to warrant its own field of study, effectively. With the bestiary in good shape, being able to summon monsters, or at least aspects of monster physiology for your own use is a very cool mechanic and it'll be coming eventually!

After that, I'll finish off the Feydwiir Atlas and commence work on the art for the bestiary entries. Lots to do, but they're smaller so it's not so bad. Once that's out of the way, I'll have a go and making a big splashy cover for the codex. I think my skills have advanced enough 

So ends the biggest blog I've written, and probably the biggest month of updates yet. I hope you're enjoying the system!

________________________________________________________________________________________

v2.25 Premium

New stuff!

* Added art for the saerid, corvid and escardi races.

* Added 'Sharp Eyes' general talent.

* Added 'Chameleon' saerid general talent.

* Added 'Dive Bomb' corvid general talent.

* Added 'Rock' thrown weapon, the latest in advanced ranged weapon technologies.

* Added Naginata martial arts weapon.

* Added Shamanic 'Traditions', 4 fields of expertise with 4 talents each for specialising the style of shaman magic you wish to pursue.

* Added 'Fast Knockdown' and 'Shove' Brawn manoeuvres.

* Added 'Teleport Pet' druidry spell.

* Added 'Shield Push' manoeuvre.

* Added a new set of heavy armour called Cavalry Plate, heavier and with better protection but with less mobility, mainly for use by mounted warriors.

* Added Pet armour to the barding armour section and gave it a link on the contents page.

* Added 'Intellect Fortress' psionic spell.

* Added 'Inside Reach' combat talent and combined it with effects from the now removed 'Grapple Expert' talent.

 

Crafting System 

* The ability to craft weapons and armour has been greatly expanded, with properly calculated time and material costs in greater detail (it has a link in the Equipment section).

* Creating masterwork items is no longer a fluke (i.e. a critical success), it's now planned for in advance and has a greater expenditure of time and materials.

* Masterwork weapons now gain +2 AP, +1 damage and +5% to related skill check results.

* 'Artisan Crafter' and 'Efficient Crafting' talents have been modified.

* Weapons no longer have a Hit Point value. They just have an Armour Point value just like shields and armour, and it functions the same way for damage purposes.

* Recalibrated the cost and size of weapons based on their material, time and skill requirements (some went up, some went down). 

* The 'Permanency' talent has been tweaked. It requires masterwork items, and the gem cost has been increased.

* The 'Aetheric Hammer' spell now also has an option to reduce crafting time.

* 'Aetheric Hammer' repair dice is now 1d4, with each point of Spell Power granting +1 to the repair bonus.

* Craft (Leatherworking) and Survival skills now mention they allow the character to skin animals to obtain leather.

* Longspear, shortspear and greatclub have had their damage reduced by 2 points, because they're wood, which isn't as good as metal for stabbing things with. Except vampires.

* 'Elemental weapon', 'Far Striker', 'Staff of power', 'Vampiric weapon' and 'Vorpal weapon' spells all grant additional AP to the enchanted weapon.

 

Fatigue system tweak

* Added 2 extra fatigue levels, and each fatigue level is now a cumulative -5% penalty to all skills for more granularity and is less onerous.

* Spirit Surge now gives +3 fatigue levels and subtracts 5 Spirit after 1 minute, can't go above max or below 0. Other fatigue inducing abilities are unaffected.

* Failing an Athletics skill check results in a normal failure (unsuccessful attempt) with no fatigue accrued. 

 

Artificer Construct

* Material costs and amounts have been adjusted according to the new equipment crafting system.

* There are no modifiers to working with different materials, except that working with mithral or dragonscale requires the Exotic Crafting talent, and flesh or bone requires Unethical Construct as usual.

* Construct begins with 15 STR and 10 CON (swapped them around to yield +1 damage).

* Construct enhancement 'mighty fists' now changes unarmed dice from 1d6 to 2d6, Medium sized enhancement.

* Added 'Massive Fists' construct enhancement for Huge or larger constructs, 3d6 instead of 1d6 damage.

* The 'Death Ray' construct enhancement is now able to be taken multiple times, choosing different damage each time.

 

Weapons & Armour

* Bodkin arrows ignore 2 AP instead of 1.

* Ninjato is now Medium in SIZ, can be used as a two-handed weapon and can also deal slashing damage.

* Sai and Sword-Catchers now have 1 ENC.

* The 'Impact' weapon trait now reduces the AP of a blocking shield by 1.

* Lochaber axes now correctly have the Impact trait, like all other axes. 

* Metal shields have had their damage bonus (for bashing) increased by 1.

* The ENC of shields has been reduced. 

* Medium and Heavy armour talents now merely let you wear the armour (removed mention of a penalty). You can't wear medium or heavy armour without taking the talent.

* Removed the restriction on charging with Longreach weapons (I doubt anyone was following this anyway).

* Reach and Longreach weapons no longer deal half damage to adjacent targets - they instead simply don't apply the character's damage modifier.

* Shield Bash can only be used against adjacent targets.

* Revised the ENC of Mail Shirt (now called a mail haubergeon) and Brigandine coat.

* Weapons made of wood now have the 'Wood' trait (important for shamans). This generally means the weapon has -2 AP and damage compared to similiar metal weapons.

* 'Expanded Cartridge' weapon mod now just reduces the reload time on crossbows by 1 (rapid fire arbalests = ridiculous). Weapon ENC is increased by 1.

* Repeating Crossbows now have the 'Burst' trait which reduces the need to make multiple attack rolls in a round. 

* Clarified that the shield block bonus applies to successful block results.

* Recurve bows now deal 1d6+1 damage, and composite longbows deal 1d8+1 damage.

* Hand crossbow is now correctly listed as a Small weapon.

* Dragon Pistol is now correctly listed as a Pistol-type weapon.

* The 'Scatter' weapon trait now removes penalty for firing at adjacent target and grants a +5% result bonus to your attack roll.

* All firearms with multiple barrels have the Expanded Fumble trait as these weapons were notoriously unreliable. Price has been greatly reduced though!

* Armour for corvid or raelani characters is half the listed price, and the ENC for each piece is reduced by 1 (minimum of 1).

 

Maneouvres

* Updated the section on learning new manoeuvres to bring it into line with the spell learning system.

* 'The ol' one-two' is now called 'blistering assault', can be applied to any martial arts weapon.

* 'Body Slam' manoeuvre now deals 1d6+DM collision damage.

* Added 'Leap' & 'Sprint' manoevures to each of the available standard mounts.

* Revised and improved the 'Sunder Weapon' manoeuvre which is now called 'Damage Weapon' to differentiate from the Axe talent.

 

Talents

* 'Blighted Soul' sorcery talent now gives you invulnerability against necrotic damage, which gives you 1 Hit Point of healing.

* Removed 'Brilliant Performer' talent, folded its benefit into the 'artist' talent.

* 'Sacrificial Spirit' Sorcery talent now stops any method of preventing the damage taken.

* 'Reciprocating Strike' talent now requires 90% shield skill and 'Block Magic' requires 99%.

* 'Tiny Warrior' talent now grants +3 damage instead of +2. (It's a tiny change but it helps, pun intended).

* 'Commander' Leadership talent has reverted back to using the highest party result instead of the Commander. Much better!

* 'Advantage' combat talent now requires 50% stealth skill and grants +5 damage instead of +3.

* 'Braced Shot' talent now also negates the penalty for firing longarms and crossbows from full cover.

* 'Hover' talent can now be taken by the saerid race too.

* 'Honed Reflexes' talent can be taken up to 4 times at successive skill levels for a maximum of +20% evade result bonus at 99%.

* 'Sneaky' talent requires 50% stealth skill and grants +5% result bonus instead of Expanded Crit. Talent can be taken up to 4 times at successive skill levels for a maximum of +20% result bonus at 99%. 'Vanishing Potion', 'Vanish', 'Invisibility', 'Obscurity Veil' & 'Bend Light' spells now grant stealth bonuses in 5% increments instead of 10%.

* 'Skill expertise' and 'Skill Mastery' talents have been changed to 'Combat expertise' and 'Combat mastery', only apply to combat skills.

* Tweaked the text for the 'Cleave Armour' axe talent.

* 'Construct Slayer' has had its damage bonus increased to +5.

* The 'Grit' talent allows a character to stay conscious with a Serious Wound, they get dazed instead.

 

Magic

* 'Obliterate' shamanic spell now deals no damage on a successful resist check, damage dice increased to d6.

* Acid damage now eats away at specific layers of AP. Auric, then Mundane, then Natural, only needing to be higher than one type in order to reduce it by 1.

* Enhanced the effectiveness and clarified the use of the 'Time Stop' sorcery spell.

* 'Heal Wounds' divine spell now has a baseline of 1d6+1 hit points healed.

* 'Aura of healing' is now a 1d6 baseline.

* Magic backgrounds which grant the ability to cast spells in light armour now also allow the wearing of medium armour. 'Templar' no longer charges double cost for this bonus.

* Magic backgrounds which grant +3 Spirit now grant +5 Spirit.

* Saerid are no longer forbidden from learning Greater Magic, though they are restricted to the armoured variety. They have also lost their 'Hunter' trait. 

* Almost all Greater Magic backgrounds are available to all races except now, aside from Chosen One & Dark Scion. 

* Many non-magical backgrounds are now unrestricted by race also.

* 'Arcane Warrior' and 'Arcane Warlord' magic talents have been removed, and damage spells have had their baseline damage increased where appropriate (i.e. not necrotic spells).

* 'Block' and similar shield-type spells now simply grant +10 AP against an attack.

* 'Forcefield' artificer spell now grants +2 armour as a baseline.

* Clarified in the 'Healing Energy' alchemy spell that potions and salves can also only be used once per day each.

 

General

* Made mention in the armour section that Swim and Athletics checks receive penalties while wearing medium or heavy armour.

* Cheap clothing is ruined if the wearer sustains a Serious Wound.

* 'Knockdown' action now pushes target back 1 metre in addition to making them go prone.

* Reduced the time required for learning spells by 1 day for each intelligence category.

* Redesigned the Threat Level Calculator that focuses on the important aspects of character combat ability. Easier to read and do the math.

* The Threat Level Calculator has been moved to Character Creation, so players can determine their own TL to help the GM know how powerful the group is.

* Clarified the height bonus for damage under "Mounts, Flying and Height Bonuses". Ranged weapons gain +2 damage and some extra range when firing against targets 3 metres below them.

* The carry weight stats for mounts have been revised so they can actually carry stuff now.

* Coloured the contents page to show that they are all, in fact, hyperlinks.

* Bonded Pets can now be taught general combat talents.

* Removed the 'Free Action' bonus of a druid's Bonded Pet as they now use Reactions instead of Actions to command anyway.

* Added an entry on the character sheet for 'Maximum Lift' (10xSTR in kg).

* Anyone can defend against charging now. 'Set' weapons just do their normal extra dice of damage. Charging requires minimum distance of normal listed Movement rate.

* Healing poultices and tinctures heal 1d4 hit points. Potions and salves heal 1d4+2 hit points. Spirit potions work the same way. 

* 'Gifted Artificer' background now grants +2 armour for a construct.

* A section has been added to the character sheet for 'Threat Level'.

* A Serious Wound now simply drops the character unconscious, and starts them bleeding.

 ________________________________________________________________________________________

 v1.55 Basic Edition

 

Fatigue system tweak

* Added 2 extra fatigue levels, and each fatigue level is now a cumulative -5% penalty to all skills for more granularity and is less onerous.

* Spirit Surge now gives +3 fatigue levels and subtracts 5 Spirit after 1 minute, can't go above max or below 0. Other fatigue inducing abilities are unaffected.

 

Weapons & Armour

* Added 'Rock' thrown weapon, the latest in advanced ranged weapon technologies.

* Added Naginata martial arts weapon.

* Weapons no longer have a Hit Point value. They just have an Armour Point value just like shields and armour, and it functions the same way for damage purposes.

* Recalibrated the cost and size of weapons based on materials, time and skill requirements (some went up, some went down). 

* Longspear, shortspear and greatclub have had their damage reduced by 2 points, because they're wood, which isn't as good as metal for stabbing things with. Except vampires.

* Craft (Leatherworking) and Survival skills now mention they allow the character to skin animals to obtain leather.

* Bodkin arrows ignore 2 AP instead of 1.

* Ninjato is now Medium in SIZ, can be used as a two-handed weapon and can also deal slashing damage.

* Sai and Sword-Catchers now have 1 ENC.

* The 'Impact' weapon trait now reduces the AP of a blocking shield by 1.

* Lochaber axes now correctly have the Impact trait, like all other axes. 

* Metal shields have had their damage bonus (for bashing) increased by 1.

* The ENC of shields has been reduced. 

* Medium and Heavy armour talents now merely let you wear the armour (removed mention of a penalty). You can't wear medium or heavy armour without taking the talent.

* Removed the restriction on charging with Longreach weapons (I doubt anyone was following this anyway).

* Reach and Longreach weapons no longer deal half damage to adjacent targets - they instead simply don't apply the character's damage modifier.

* Shield Bash can only be used against adjacent targets.

* Revised the ENC of Mail Shirt (now called a mail haubergeon) and Brigandine coat.

* Weapons made of wood now have the 'Wood' trait. This generally means the weapon has -2 AP and damage compared to similiar metal weapons.

* Repeating Crossbows now have the 'Burst' trait which reduces the need to make multiple attack rolls in a round. 

* Clarified that the shield block bonus applies to successful block results.

* Recurve bows now deal 1d6+1 damage, and composite longbows deal 1d8+1 damage.

* Hand crossbow is now correctly listed as a Small weapon.

* Dragon Pistol is now correctly listed as a Pistol-type weapon.

* The 'Scatter' weapon trait now removes penalty for firing at adjacent target and grants a +5% result bonus to your attack roll.

* Added the note that all firearms with multiple barrels have Expanded Fumble to the 'Multishot' trait. 

* Armour for raelani characters is half the listed price, and the ENC for each piece is reduced by 1 (minimum of 1).

 

Magic

* 'Block' and similar shield-type spells now simply grant +10 AP against an attack.

* 'Arcane Warrior' magic talent has been removed, and damage spells have had their baseline damage increased where appropriate (i.e. not necrotic spells).

* Almost all Greater Magic backgrounds are available to all races except now, and many non-magical backgrounds are now unrestricted by race also.

* Magic backgrounds which grant +3 Spirit now grant +5 Spirit.

 

General

* Added 'Advantage' combat talent.

* Added 'Inside Reach' combat talent and combined it with effects from the now removed 'Grapple Expert' talent.

* Updated the section on learning new manoeuvres to bring it into line with the spell learning system.

* The carry weight stats for mounts have been revised so they can actually carry stuff now.

* Added 'Leap' & 'Sprint' manoevures to each of the available standard mounts.

* Redesigned the Threat Level Calculator that focuses on the important aspects of character combat ability. Easier to read and do the math.

* Clarified the height bonus for damage under "Mounts, Flying and Height Bonuses". Ranged weapons gain +2 damage and some extra range when firing against targets 3 metres below them.

* Added an entry on the character sheet for 'Maximum Lift' (10xSTR in kg).

* Coloured the contents page to show that they are all, in fact, hyperlinks.

* Reduced the time required for learning spells by 1 day for each intelligence category.

* A Serious Wound now simply drops the character unconscious, and starts them bleeding.

* 'Honed Reflexes' talent can be taken up to 4 times at successive skill levels for a maximum of +20% evade result bonus at 99%.

* 'Sneaky' talent requires 50% stealth skill and grants +5% result bonus instead of Expanded Crit. Talent can be taken up to 4 times at successive skill levels for a maximum of +20% result bonus at 99%.