Hello, and a belated happy new year! This month, we've got a huge amount of additions to the system, thanks to help from some clever people who did the heavy lifting on this stuff (thanks to Aidan, Ahria, Mark and Libbi!)
Genetics Science
This has been on the backburner for a long time, but now it's done. It's another way of adding buffs to your characters, in a way that's balanced pretty well, but let's face it, it will increase a character's power, though not in a huge way. When you combine it with cybernetics and powered armour, you can get some serious late-game power!
Ophidian Species
This one is something I had in the back of my mind for the past few months, but didn't really have time for. So I handed this off to my crack support team and we put together a water-friendly reptile species with some cool abilities. And I found some time to get the artwork done this week :) (Oh, and yes it was designed so that you can use Yuan-ti miniatures!)
Venator Species Modified
Another suggestion was to split the venator species into different types of animals, so now you can choose feline, canine or ursine 'uplifted' creatures to play. This doesn't affect the old feline venator, except they gained a little speed. I may or may not change the artwork at some point, as the current one does show the upright/all fours nature of the species, and I'm not going to fit 6 variations onto the picture anyway ;)
There's one more species I have in the pipeline, but it's pretty 'out-there' so I want to parse it over the next month and of course, find some time to get a picture done. Rest assured, it's pretty awesome :D
Aside from all this new content, there's plenty of fixes and tweaks here and there as we shake the hell out of the system. We're currently running a high-tech starship campaign, and an industrial era steampunk game, so both of these eras are getting a lot of attention. Anyway, check out the patch notes and I'll probably have more for you in the next update! Peace.
v1.08 Scifi Encounters Manual
* Updated Robot templates, and all manoevures have been checked and corrected.
v1.08 Scifi Manual
New Stuff!
* Added 'Ophidian' species and associated talents and manoeuvres.
* The Venator species now has three subspecies, feline, canine and ursine to choose from.
* Added starship hull variations for the new venator subspecies.
* Added Genetics science under its own section.
* Added 'Expert Navigator' starship talent.
* Added 'Psibreaker' combat talent.
* Added 'Alien Lover' and 'Addictive' Xarani talents.
* Added 'Inventor' and 'Legend of Science' Mentari talents.
* Added 'Dimensional Shunt' psi discipline.
* Added exotic wood to the crafting section.
* Added 'Power Boots' mechanic invention.
* Added 'Arclight Armour' industrial era steam invention.
* Added 'Folding Shield' industrial era invention.
* Added 'The Art of Seduction' talent.
* Added cost for kevlar and silksteel bowstrings in the weapon modification section.
* Added 'Doctor's Orders' First Aid manoeuvre.
* Added 'Knee to the groin' Seduction manoeuvre.
* Added St. Mary's Thistle to the herb chart.
* Added 'Detoxification Tonic' to reduce addition and intoxication duration.
* Added 'Cyber Warrior' and 'Computers Expert' computer talents.
* Added 12mm Revolver industrial era weapon.
* Added Lever-Action Shotgun industrial era weapon.
* Added 'Weapon Mount' upgrade for vehicles to clarify installing weapons, removed earlier text.
* Added 'Drive Hard' manoeuvre.
Tweaks
* 'Psychic Healing' now has an option to extend the range.
* The Species Talents section now has its own heading.
* Removed 'Staunch Wound' from the list of uses for Luck Points (I thought that had been removed years ago!)
* Altered the language of 'Sleep' psi discipline to clarify that the target wakes up upon being attacked, and can defend themselves.
* 'Strong Back' talent now automatically updates to let you use heavier backpacks, so you don't need to take it multiple times anymore.
* 'Focused Fire', 'Powerful Shot', 'Forceful Strike', 'Martial Fury' manoeuvres have been altered to be more efficient with spirit point cost and extra damage gained.
* 'Compact Explosive' now has a 'gas grenade' upgrade option.
* Added some colour variation to the armour table headings to help legibility.
* 'Flexible' venator species talent is now 'Venator Expertise'.
* 'Night Owl' venator species talent is now 'Venator Power'.
* Adjusted the Drive manoevures to accomodate the new vehicle mechanics.
* The Compact Assault Weapon has regained the 'Gatling' trait, lowered its damage and increased its price and range.
* Corrected the height and weight range for xarani characters.
* 'Damage Control' manoeuvre now gives +1d4 Hit Points, clarifies what it can be used on.
* Removing a talent now gives back half the current cost of a talent.
* Only one spirit boosting remedy of any type can be taken in a 24 hour period.
* Limited the 'Enhanced Speed' nanomed to two actions per round.
* Revised 'Plasma Jet' robot upgrade, renamed to 'Plasma Jetpack'. Also revised Plasma Jetpack upgrade for powered armour.
* Advanced characters now gain a +% to secondary skills instead of setting the number to an amount.
* 'Inside Reach' talent now also applies to Unarmed skill.
* 'Blistering Assault' Martial Arts manoevure is now listed under Unarmed, can be used by both.
* 'Casanova' talent now requires 90% Seduction skill.
* Added 'Return' trait to the ranged weapon table.
* Increased damage of the Steam Cannon invention.
* Steam engines now only list their hourly operating cost, extra coal and water must be carried separately.
* 'Gen Warrior' background now gains +1 to all Attributes.
* The human 'Ambitious' trait now also applies to manoevures.
* 'Universal Tonic' now also requires 2x St Mary's Thistle.
* Topical remedies such as antiseptic have limited effectiveness - using more than one topical remedy of any type, whether its herbal or medicinal within 24 hours has no additional effect.
* 'Second Skin' is now a topical remedy.
* 'Medic' talent now only applies to Healing skill results.
* 'Improvised Armour' invention is now Industrial Era, renamed to 'Mechanised Armour', altered stats.
* 'Acrobatic Dodge', 'Acrobatic Attack', 'Honed Reflexes' now start at 50% skill with a 4% bonus to bring them into line with other similar talents.
* 'Resuscitate' manoeuvre is now under First Aid skill.
* 'Sawn-off' barrel modification now applies -1 damage to weapon.
* Altered Addicted condition to read "You must avoid failing another addiction check for this specific drug or nanomed for 14 days to remove this condition."
* Tweaked the language on the Martial Arts skill.
* 'Courage Under Fire' manoeuvre now also removes the frightened condition.
* Removed 'Resuscitate' medicine talent.
* Updated the 'Dirigible' and 'Difference Engine' invention details.
* Robot upgrades made from exotic materials don't get the benefits in the 'Other Benefits' column.
* 'Targeting Upgrades' now provide a +5% result bonus to ranged weapons instead of a damage bonus.
* Updated the text for vehicle combat to better explain how it all works.
* Updated the Steam Car invention for the new system.
* 'Power Boots' invention now provides AP, but replaces other leg armour.
* Updated robot templates in the Encounters manual.
* 'Swerve' manoeuvre is now 'Defensive Driving', improved ability.
* Added a Move stat for Transformed robots, listed in the upgrade.
* Robot 'Plasma Engine' is now Plasma Jet, requires a plasma jet invention to install.
* 'Sealed Body' robot upgrade is now specifically only for operating underwater.
* Split 20th century firearms table into early and late era weapons.
* Micro Missiles and LAW rockets are now all correctly listed as 'Rocket' not 'Missile'.
* Corrected build prices for missiles under 'Improvised Ammo' invention.
* Clockwork Golem and Steam Golem inventions now also let you take the 'Expanded Chassis' talent.
* 'Crank Gun' Clockwork invention now offers more options in terms of size and skill.
* Molotov Cocktail and Dynamite are now industrial era weapons.
Starship Stuff
* 'Polarise Armour' and 'Boost Defence' starship manoeuvres are now 1 action to use, but Boost Defence lasts the entire turn now.
* 'Drone Slayer' talent now allows you to attack drones using Reactions either on your turn, or when drones approach or leave the range of your weapons. Only requires 50% skill to take.
* Added 'Overload Weapons', 'Overload Shields' and 'Overload Engines' engineering manoevures.
* 'Power Shunt' and 'Reduce Signature' engineering manoeuvres only use 1 Cap regardless of skill level.
* Drone swarms with the Forcefield upgrade can now provide shields for a ship. Also tweaked the language of the Forcefield upgrade.
* 'Break Lock' action now prevents being re-locked for 1 round.
* Reduced system damage from engineering manoeuvres to 1d6 on a failure.
* A starships systems do not go down individually on reaching 0 HP on the hull. Pointed out that Damage Control manoevure can be used to get ship back into the fight.
* Updated the GM sheets for starship emergency repairs.
* Explained how to repair ship systems that have been destroyed.
* The Compact Assault Weapon is now available as a point defence system.
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v2.89 Premium Fantasy Manual
* 'Psychic Healing' psionic spell now has an option to extend the range.
* Removed 'Staunch Wound' from the list of uses for Luck Points (I thought that had been removed years ago!)
* Altered the language of 'Sleep' wizard spell, 'Somnolence' divine spell to clarify that the target wakes up upon being attacked, and can defend themselves.
* 'Strong Back' talent now automatically updates to let you use heavier backpacks, so you don't need to take it multiple times anymore.
* Removing a talent now gives back half the current cost of a talent.
* Added 'The Art of Seduction' talent.
* Seduction talents have been moved to their own sub category under General Talents.
* Advanced characters now gain a +% to secondary skills instead of setting the number to an amount.
* 'Inside Reach' talent now also applies to Unarmed skill, requires 50% skill.
* 'Blistering Assault' Martial Arts manoevure is now listed under Unarmed, can be used by both.
* 'Casanova' talent now requires 90% Seduction skill.
* The human 'Ambitious' trait now also applies to manoevures.
* 'Acrobatic Dodge', 'Acrobatic Attack', 'Honed Reflexes' now start at 50% skill with a 4% bonus to bring them into line with other similar talents.
* Added 'Knee to the groin' Seduction manoeuvre.
* Tweaked the language on the Martial Arts skill.
* Updated the Bestiary with corrected manoeuvres on the NPC templates.
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v1.73 Basic Fantasy Manual
* Removed 'Staunch Wound' from the list of uses for Luck Points (I thought that had been removed years ago!)
* Altered the language of 'Sleep' wizard spell, 'Somnolence' divine spell to clarify that the target wakes up upon being attacked, and can defend themselves.
* Removing a talent now gives back half the current cost of a talent.
* Advanced characters now gain a +% to secondary skills instead of setting the number to an amount.
* The human 'Ambitious' trait now also applies to manoevures.
* 'Acrobatic Dodge', 'Acrobatic Attack', 'Honed Reflexes' now start at 50% skill with a 4% bonus to bring them into line with other similar talents.
* Tweaked the language on the Martial Arts skill.
