Hi everyone, it's time for the monthly Sabre update and we've got some extensive core fixes to tell you about, thanks to playtesting done by my local groups. Let's get to it!
Advanced Characters
It's been tricky to find a nice balanced way of making an character from scratch that has some experience. Adding points to skills over the course of playing is more art than science, and replicating that is very difficult. So I've had another pass on this, both to bring more even results to start from, and to simplify the process. Adding dozens of Accolades to skills can be tedious at this level, so that's been made redundant for starters. I'm moderately confident this will be a big improvement!
Animal Training
At the request of one of our players, the Animal Training skill has been expanded to allow the teaching of Combat and General talents to beast and dire beast pets. This greatly enhances their utility and durability in combat.
Robotics Overhaul
This is a big one. The robotics system has been evolving over the last few years, with rules tweaked, rewritten and patched on until the whole thing was rather messy. We've gone over it carefully to refine the methods for making and operating robots, in a clear and concise manner that we believe is a big improvement!
Parry Overhaul
Let's face it, Parry as a defensive style has been pretty ordinary since the start. Especially compared to the other methods:
* Evade is great, because if you succeed, you avoid all damage and it works against ranged and melee attacks. Restricted by light armour only.
* Blocking with a shield is great as it lets heavily armoured (i.e. non-agile) characters have a powerful defence against ranged and melee attacks.
* Parry was only really useful if you're using a very large weapon, and you were too heavily armour to take advantage of Evade bonuses. Smaller weapons were useless for Parry as the damage from larger weapons could still get through, and you can't parry Ranged attacks.
So there are a number of improvements here to make it much more viable. The size of the weapon no longer matters. A short sword can Parry a greatsword with no damage coming through. Think of it more as deflecting the attack rather than taking the brute force of the blow. Some small weapons, such as daggers and whips, specifically say they cannot be used to Parry. So while it still can't be used against ranged attacks, at least you can be assured that you can Parry larger weapons if you need to.
Weapon Balance Tweaks
Another thing that's been bothering me for years is weapon Armour Points. Using an attack that damages weapons was convoluted and not very useful, so I've taken the big step to change weapon durability to be represented by Hit Points, which also makes it work really well on vehicles and starships. This was a big step as it required fixing every single character sheet, as well as bestiary and NPC templates, a process that is still ongoing. The end result is that the tweaked 'Sunder Weapon' type manoevures now deal damage in an easy to understand way.
This has also allowed me to add wear and tear on weapons and equipment, where on a fumbled roll with that equipment it loses 1 HP. This way, you'll eventually have to do some maintenance to keep it in top condition.
One of our players (Hi Luke!) crunched some numbers on the difference between Longarms and Heavy Weapons, and while it was pretty well balanced, I felt that the roles of these weapon types should be a little more divergent. So, Longarms have lost a bit of damage (via talents) and gained more accuracy, while Heavy Weapons have dropped a talent or two and picked up some extra damage talents instead. I finally feel like all of the Heavy Weapon talents are useful and desireble, even if I do have to go through the NPC templates again to update everything :)
Bestiary and Encounters Updates
Yeah this is going to take a while. I've completed the Bestiary monsters (and added some more stock images to get rid of those awful placeholders), and I've done most of tne Bestiary's NPC templates, but the rest (spellcasters, mounted enemies and all the scifi templates) still need doing. It'll be a couple of weeks :)
Space Dragons
The Zacharial species has lost its space folding ability. It's a little disappointing, but the GM in charge of a campaign with these things flying around made a great case for it. Being on a starship keeps a party together, but if a Zacharial can just jump out of an airlock and fold to another star system on a whim, it makes the GM's job a lot harder. They can still focus on boarding actions in space combat and fly around for a while in a vacuum, but they need their own ships to fold to other star systems. In this regard, they've gained their own species starship designs too.
That's about all for this month, which should be plenty to digest for now! One of these days, the system really will settle down and the changes should be far fewer, but it's all worthwhile as it's slowly paring back the system into more readily understandable chunks. All good! Peace.
________________________________________________________
Sabre RPG Scifi Core Rulebook v1.16
General
* Revised the Advanced Characters section for what I hope is more uniform numbers.
* The medical scanner now lists Surgery as one of the skills it can be used with, and has a bonus to first aid as well.
* 'Barrel Extension' weapon mod doesn't work on missiles.
* 'Coca Wine' narcotic duration is now correctly listed as 2 hours.
* Combat Talents & Manoeuvres can be taught to Beasts and Dire Beasts using the Animal Training skill.
* Squires cannot learn the Animal Training skill.
* Sentry Turrets now require a remote control to use, cannot use voice commands by default, and require an action to start them shooting at a target.
* Heal Rate is now calculated as Hit Points/6.
* 'Efficient Crafting' skill now increases the hours per day that you can use craft or tech skills such as Robotics to 12 hours instead of 8.
* Arborean species is no longer Vulnerable to fire damage.
* Xarani skin colour now varies according to their mood.
* EVA suits now provide +5 ap vs radiation damage.
* 'Leap' and 'Sprint' manoeuvres can only be used during your turn. Leap no longer ignores difficult terrain.
* Devices with the Worn-out condition now also have half the normal charges.
* Added 'Xen' medicine.
* Listed how long it takes to make medicines.
* Morphine now provides a -5% Evade penalty instead of losing a Reaction.
Robotics Changes
* Removed 'Massive Fists', 'Colossal Fists' and 'Mighty Fists' robot upgrades (buy a power fist!)
* Revised 'Battering Ram' upgrade.
* 'Saw Blades' robot upgrade now increases Damage Modifier bonus for each body size increase and damaged targets bleed, but it cannot be augmented with Unarmed weaponry.
* 'Transform' upgrade now notes that Armour Plating also lowers transformed Movement.
* Rewrote the sections on how to build robots, repair robots, and operate robots.
* Robots can be be programmed with skills and talents, no longer requiring the expenditure of Accolades.
* Reduced the Circuit cost for building robots.
* Added 'Robot Avatar' talent.
* Added 'Expanded Memory' robot upgrade.
* Robot Program devices now allow the robot or Automaton to take talents related to the skill learned. Talents and skill points are lost if the program is removed. The price of Robot Programs is now much higher.
* Positronic Brain upgrade now grants +10 INT.
* 'Broad Application' Robotics talent now also allows the roboticist to use Mechanic and Electronic manoeuvres on robots.
Parry Changes
* The effectiveness of parrying attacks is no longer limited by weapon SIZ.
* Many Tiny and Small weapons such as daggers cannot parry.
* The Parrying weapon trait now grants a +5% result bonus when Parrying.
* The 'Impact' trait now also mentions that Parrying weapons are affected.
* The Martial Arts skill no longer increases weapon SIZ, but allows you to Parry with empty-handed and Martial Arts weapons.
* Charge no longer increases weapon SIZ.
* 'Solid Defence' and 'Swift Parry' manoeuvres now grant +5% to Parry results.
* Removed 'Stronger Parry' melee manoeuvre.
* 'Fight Dirty' Unarmed manoeuvre now specifies it is a result penalty.
* 'Fencer' talent now grants its result bonus to the skill in general, not just for feint etc.
* 'Lightning Riposte' is now just called 'Riposte'. It now gives a free melee attack on a critical Parry.
* 'Reciprocating Strike' shield talent now gives a free attack on a critical Block.
* Added 'Iron Wall' shield talent.
* Removed 'Skewer' blade talent, replaced with 'Duellist' talent.
Weapon Stuff
* Modern melee weapons with the Perforate trait instead have the Bleed trait.
* Added upgrades for 'Powered Weapons' invention.
* 'Weapon' background event now provides a weapon of 500cr or less in value, but it has the Worn-out condition.
* Weapons and devices now all have Hit Points, including weapons which always had Armour Points in a convoluted kind of way. Hit Point numbers on weapons are much higher in some cases, and all devices also have Hit Points.
* When using equipment or weapons, a fumble reduces its Hit Points by 1.
* Improv Laser and Improv Gun inventions now list slots for installing on vehicles and starships.
* Improvised Laser has less charges and uses modern batteries. High-Tech batteries double charges as usual.
* The Martial Arts skill now allows the use of all Martial Arts weapons by default.
* Removed the 'Martial Weapons' talent.
* Some high-tech weapon mods are now available in the modern era.
* Replaced 'Shrapnel' heavy weapons talent with 'Heavy Hitter' which grants damage, increases with skill level.
* 'Practiced Aim' longarm talent now gives +2% result bonus, increases with skill level. Skill requirement is 50%.
* 'Defensive Swing' heavy weapons talent is now at 70%.
* 'Low Profile' longarms talent is now at 90%, 'Braced Shot' is now at 70%.
* 'Haymaker' Unarmed manoeuvre now also grants Reach.
* 'Faultless Aim' Small Arms manoeuvre now grants EC only on single shot attacks.
* 'Improvised Laser' invention is now Modern era.
* Gatling trait for 'Improvised Gun' and 'Improvised Laser' can only be used on heavy weapon configurations. Accurate trait has been removed from Improv Gun.
* 'Blast Shield' invention is now Modern era.
* Added a note about cover gained from smoke and fog, noting that AoE effects work normally and night vision sees through it. Noted this difference in 'Low Profile' talent.
* 'Sniper' talent now only applies its bonus on single-shot longarm attacks.
* 'Hail of Arrows' talent now grants the Burst ability.
* 'Opportunist' sword talent now makes it so Swords don't reaquire Reactions to make opportunity attacks.
* Removed Particle Accelerator vehicle weapon, replaced with Hvy Plasma Cannon.
* Mass Driver vehicle weapon now has a clip size of 1, takes only 12 slots.
* Improv laser invention's electric damage option now halves the damage figure.
* Corrected the text for 'Powerful Throw' talent.
* Added 'Switch Bow' and 'Powered Crossbow' high tech weapons.
* Added 'Close Quarters Specialist' general combat talent.
* Added 'Martial Finesse' talent.
* Added 'Blade Finesse' talent, Removed 'Agile Defence' blade talent.
* Added 'Ammo Feed' upgrade for Hazard Suit invention.
Starship Manual v1.06
* Zacharial have gained a species starship design bonus, and lost their 'Fold Space' talent.
* Added 'Weapon Turret, Capital'.
* Zacharial's unarmed attack is a bite, not claws.
* Zacharial can take the 'Ravenous' talent.
* Added Heavy Plasma Cannon.
* Mass Driver now has a clip size of 1, takes only 12 slots.
* Cruise Missile takes 15 slots.
Sabre RPG Premium Fantasy Core Rulebook v1.16
General
* Revised the Advanced Characters section for what I hope is more uniform numbers.
* Combat Talents & Manoeuvres can be taught to Beasts and Dire Beasts using the Animal Training skill.
* Squires cannot learn the Animal Training skill.
* Heal Rate is now calculated as Hit Points/6.
* 'Leap' and 'Sprint' manoeuvres can only be used during your turn. Leap no longer ignores difficult terrain.
Parry Changes
* The effectiveness of parrying attacks is no longer limited by weapon SIZ.
* Many Tiny and Small weapons such as daggers cannot parry.
* The Parrying weapon trait now grants a +5% result bonus when Parrying.
* The 'Impact' trait now also mentions that Parrying weapons are affected.
* The Martial Arts skill no longer increases weapon SIZ, but allows you to Parry with empty-handed and Martial Arts weapons.
* Charge no longer increases weapon SIZ.
* 'Solid Defence' and 'Swift Parry' manoeuvres now grant +5% to Parry results.
* Removed 'Stronger Parry' melee manoeuvre.
* 'Fight Dirty' Unarmed manoeuvre now specifies it is a result penalty.
* 'Fencer' talent now grants its result bonus to the skill in general, not just for feint etc.
* 'Lightning Riposte' is now just called 'Riposte'. It now gives a free melee attack on a critical Parry.
* 'Reciprocating Strike' shield talent now gives a free attack on a critical Block.
* Added 'Iron Wall' shield talent.
* Removed 'Skewer' blade talent, replaced with 'Duellist' talent.
Weapon Stuff
* 'Agile' weapon trait critical damage bonus increased to +3, no longer lowers weapon HP.
* Weapons now all have Hit Points instead of Armour Points. Hit Point numbers on weapons are much higher in some cases.
* When using equipment or weapons, a fumble reduces its Hit Points by 1.
* The Martial Arts skill now allows the use of all Martial Arts weapons by default.
* Removed the 'Martial Weapons' talent.
* 'Practiced Aim' longarm talent now gives +2% result bonus, increases with skill level. Skill requirement is 50%.
* 'Low Profile' longarms talent is now at 90%, 'Braced Shot' is now at 70%.
* 'Haymaker' Unarmed manoeuvre now also grants Reach.
* 'Faultless Aim' Firearms manoeuvre now grants EC only on single shot attacks.
* 'Hail of Arrows' talent now grants the Burst ability.
* 'Opportunist' sword talent now makes it so Swords don't reaquire Reactions to make opportunity attacks.
* Corrected the text for 'Powerful Throw' talent.
* Added 'Close Quarters Specialist' general combat talent.
* Added 'Martial Finesse' talent.
* Added 'Blade Finesse' talent, Removed 'Agile Defence' blade talent.
Sabre RPG Basic Fantasy Core Rulebook v1.16
General
* Revised the Advanced Characters section for what I hope is more uniform numbers.
* Heal Rate is now calculated as Hit Points/6.
* 'Leap' and 'Sprint' manoeuvres can only be used during your turn. Leap no longer ignores difficult terrain.
Parry Changes
* The effectiveness of parrying attacks is no longer limited by weapon SIZ.
* Many Tiny and Small weapons such as daggers cannot parry.
* The Parrying weapon trait now grants a +5% result bonus when Parrying.
* The 'Impact' trait now also mentions that Parrying weapons are affected.
* The Martial Arts skill no longer increases weapon SIZ, but allows you to Parry with empty-handed and Martial Arts weapons.
* Charge no longer increases weapon SIZ.
* 'Solid Defence' and 'Swift Parry' manoeuvres now grant +5% to Parry results.
* Removed 'Stronger Parry' melee manoeuvre.
* 'Fight Dirty' Unarmed manoeuvre now specifies it is a result penalty.
* 'Lightning Riposte' is now just called 'Riposte'. It now gives a free melee attack on a critical Parry.
Weapon Stuff
* 'Agile' weapon trait critical damage bonus increased to +3, no longer lowers weapon HP.
* Weapons now all have Hit Points instead of Armour Points. Hit Point numbers on weapons are much higher in some cases.
* When using equipment or weapons, a fumble reduces its Hit Points by 1.
* The Martial Arts skill now allows the use of all Martial Arts weapons by default.
* Removed the 'Martial Weapons' talent.
* 'Practiced Aim' longarm talent now gives +2% result bonus, increases with skill level. Skill requirement is 50%.
* 'Low Profile' longarms talent is now at 90%, 'Braced Shot' is now at 70%.
* 'Haymaker' Unarmed manoeuvre now also grants Reach.
* 'Opportunist' sword talent now makes it so Swords don't reaquire Reactions to make opportunity attacks.
* Added 'Blade Finesse' talent, Removed 'Agile Defence' blade talent.