Cleaning Up the Cruft #3 Feats -- part one

Feats are turning out to be the hardest part of clean up. There are so many, many of them very good and fun in play.Rather than bloat the game with a glorious excess, the trick is to keep to the ones that enhance the game.

The first thing though is get rid of all useless feats.The low hanging fruit here is of course stuff that has no place in the game.

All feats for magic systems that are no longer in use (Incarnum, Psionic,Tome of Battle , Shadow) can go. Thats actually a lot of feats no longer on the table and a good start to the whole thing.

The next fruit, a little higher up the tree are feats for options that are not in play.

Taint, Vile and Exalted -- gone.

After that, well whew.. That a lot of feats gone.

Tomorrow (or so) we start on the hard stuff...

Campaign Ideas Day Five

Some Supers Themed games

I've never tried to run these as I really don't have a set of rules that works well for me. I've dabbled in Hero, GURPS 4 Supers, Mutants Masterminds and several others but none of them balance ease of use/generation and results in a way I really like. FASERIP (Classic Marvel) seems to be the closest but its just not quite right...


Unmanifest
They say power corrupts. In the case of Metapowers its literally true. The stronger the super the madder they are. As one of the Unimanifest you have the ability to defend yourself against powers in ways that no normal human can. Can you stop the costumed crazies before you become one?

M.A.R.S
Metahuman Armed Response Squads. Its time to take down those costumed crazies so that sane people have a chance. Powered Armor vs. Supers


Ground Zero:
This is an old comic universe my best friend and I built way back in 1990.
Supers with logically powers and continuity. GURPS would work pretty well but so would Beyond Human

Cleaning Up the Cruft #2 Classes

I feel inspired so y'all get a two-fer today.

The second part of my cruft patrol was much easier than I expected. I had expected to angst over the classes but I found to my pleasure, it was easier to delete them then it was to put them in the first place.
I did have a few troubles, 1st with the the pseudo "tech" classes like artificer and gun mage. After some thought I decided why not? I also was not sure about some of the "at will" classes but I decided to nix those and last, the Totem Warrior. I nearly kept that but in the end , it went away.

Psionics got a major change. All of the Psi classes except the Soul Knife which got altered a bit were removed and replaced with the excellent Psychic class from Green Ronin's Psychic's Handbook.

During this rebuild

Last as a general thing, I like non spell using classes so most of those stayed ...

Barbarian Extras
(PF) Breaker, Brutal Pugilist, Drunken Brute, Elemental Kin, Hurler, Invulnerable Rager, Mounted
Fury, Savage Barbarian, Superstitious, Totem Warrior
(UA) Hunter (drop rage for Ranger abilities as SRD) (everywhere)

Bard
(PF) Arcane Duelist, Archivist, Court Bard, Detective, Magician, Sandman, Savage Skald, Sea Singer,Street Performer,
Diplomat (as Half Elf Sub)
Gnome Bard
(H) Spell Preparation Bard (Firhom, Most Places, Human Bardic Knack is free)
(L) Bardic Colleges used

Clerics
Cleric (everywhere) domains and sub-domains OK
(H/PF) Militant Cleric – loose channel and domain powers, gain full BAB, Deities favorite weapon,
may specialize
(L) Ancestral Speaker (Dwarf)
(L) Arcane Disciple (Hunzun City States)
(L) Spontaneous Domain Casting
(UA) Cloistered Cleric (everywhere)

Druids
(PF) Aquatic Druid, Arctic Druid, Blight Druid, Cave Druid, Desert Druid, Jungle Druid, Mountain
Druid, Plains Druid, Swamp Druid, Urban Druid., Bear Shaman, Eagle Shaman, Cat Shaman, Serpent
Shaman, Wolf Shaman,
(L) Environment Weapons List
(L) Organizations
(UA) Druidic Avenger
(UA) Swift Hunter
(H/L) Animal Focused: Lose Wildshape, May Share all abilities with Companion, may speak with all
Animals of type at will +3 Levels to Animal Companion
(L)_Spontaneous Rejuvenation: Drop Spontaneous Summons for Spontaneous Healing
(L) Shapeshifter

Fighter
(PF) Archer, Crossbowman, Freehand Fighter, Mobile Fighter, Phalanx Soldier, Polearm Master,
Roughrider, Savage Warrior, Shielded Fighter, Two Handed Fighter, Two Weapon Warrior, Weapon
Master
(H) Musketeer
(UA) Thug

Monks
(PF) Drunken Master, Hungry Ghost Monk, Ki Mystic, Monk of the Empty Hand, Monk of the Four
Winds, Monk of the Healing Hand, Monk of the Lotus, Monk of the Sacred Mountain, Weapon Adept,
Zen Archer
(L) Holy Monk
(L) Vigilant Monk
(L) Decisive Strike
(L) Fighting Styles
(L) Weapon Schools


Paladin
(PF) Divine Defender, Hospitaler, Sacred Servant, Shining Knight, Undead Scourge, Warrior of the
Holy Light
(UA) Hunting Paladin
(L) Power of Self
(L) Angels Sight (for Divine Health)
(L) Charging Smite (for Mount)
(L) Gaze of Truth (for Detect Evil)
(L) Hunter of Fiends (for Smite Evil)
(L) Celestial Sword (for Mount)


Ranger
(PF) Beast Master, Guide, Horse Lord, Infiltrator, Shapeshifter, Skirmisher, Spirit Ranger, Urban
Ranger , Extra Combat Styles
(L) Mythic Ranger
(L) Distracting Attack (for Companion)
(L) Solitary Hunting (for Companion)
(L) Moon Warded (for Combat Style)

Rogue
(PF) Acrobat, Burglar, Cutpurse, Investigator, Poisoner, Rake, Scout, Sniper, Spy, Swashbuckler, Thug,Trapsmith
(L) Disruptive Attack (loose uncanny dodge)
(UA) Feat Rogue (Drop Sneak Attack for Feats)

Sorcerer
(PFSRD) Aberrant, Abyssal, Arcane, Celestial, Destined, Draconic, Elemental, Fey, Infernal, Orc,
Undead
(PF) Aquatic Bloodline, Boreal Bloodline, Deepearth Bloodline, Dreamspun Bloodline, Protean
Bloodline, Serpentine Bloodline, Shadow Bloodline, Stormborn Bloodline, Verdant Bloodline
(UA) Battle Sorcerer

Wizard
(PFSRD) Schools (A, C,D,EN, EV, ILL, NEC, TR, UNIV)
(PF) Elemental Schools and Focused Schools
(L) Arcane Reabsorption (Lose Arcane Bond)
(L) Wild Wizard (Anagakok)
(L) Hedge Wizard (as Halfling Substitution)
(L) Fildh (Lose Scribe Scroll and Bonus feats, gain Bardic Lore, Greater Divining, Must Take
Divination as prime school)
(H) War Wizard (lose 1 spell per level, scribe scroll, sub wizard feats for custom abilities gain medium BAB, D8 light armor cast)

(L) Skirmisher (aka Scout) (everywhere except Dragon Empire and 7 Nations-- save tribes)
(L) Light Cavalry (everywhere with horses especially Vi and Toulani)
(L) Sniper (everywhere, may still take 5' step, gains all Martial ranged weapons)

Swashbuckler (Pathfinder version, 9 Cities, Brin, 7 Nations)

Artificer (Pathfinder versions) (7 Nations, Dragon Kingdoms)

Gun Mage (7 Nations, Dragon Kingdoms)

Rogue-Mage (Custom)

Shaman (Green Ronin) (Beast Tribes, Toulani, Chun, Amer Tribes,)

Noble (as Green Ronin, everywhere)

Infiltrator (KoK) (Everywhere)

Witch (Aradia, Queens Domain, Ashanan, )

Warord (ToS) (?)

Sacred Fist (Kobold Quarterly 12) (Hajasa, Ro-Jin)

Phantom (Thief/Cleric) (Kobold Quarterly 12) (Hajasa, Ro-Jin)

Emissary (Thief/Cleric) (Kobold Quarterly 12) (Hajasa, Ro-Jin)

Sage (Kobold Quarterly 12) (Hajasa, Ro-Jin)


Spy (Adventuring Classes, Fistfull of Denarri, All)

Beastmaster ( Adventuring Classes, Fistfull of Denarri, )

Corbie ( Adventuring Classes, Fistfull of Denarri)

Sea Dog (Skull and Bones) (Sea Folk, Brin, 7 Nations, Dragon Empire )

Corsair (GRR Freeport) (Brin, 7 Nations, Dragon Empire, Sea Folk )

Buccaneer (Skull and Bones) (Sea Folk, Brin, 7 Nations, Dragon Empire )

Bounty Hunter ( Adventuring Classes, Fistfull of Denarri)

Arcane Archer (from its own book)

Savant (Thieves World) (Everywhere)

Assassin (Green Ronin Assasins Handbook )

Oathsworn (Arcana Unearthed, Lawbringer Theocracy)

(PF) Cavalier (PF) (Midlands, 20 Kingdoms) Orders Renamed
Knight of the Dragon (Order of the Dragon)
Knight of the Crown (Order of the Lion)
Knight of the Stone (Order of the Shield)
Knight of the Garter (Order of the Sword)
Knight of the Sword (Order of the Cockratice)
Knight of the Falcon (not available)
Knight of the Bath (not available)
Knight of the Palantir (prestige class)

Arcane Archer

Alchemist (PF) (7 Nations)

Inquisitor (PF) (Lawbringer Theocracy)

Oracle (PF) (anywhere, Ancient Ones)
Note this class does not gain the curse ability

Hexer (PF Witch Class) (Dark or Grey Elves)

Monster Hunter (GRR Freeport) (everywhere)

Yogi (Monte Cooks Best D20 ) (Hajasa, Vara)

Runeblade (Monte Cook Book of Experimental Might) (Northlands, Dwarfs)

Investigator (Crime and Punishment)

(L) Archivist (HoH)
(H) Cloistered Archivist lose all armor, gain Bardic Lore

Psychic

Soul Knife

and whew, thats it....

Cleaning Up the Cruft #1 Races

Races proved to be the easiest. I was already leery about many races, so I only had to drop a small number of them.

First to go were the "machine" races Ironborn and Warforged. They gave it too much of a "science fantasy" feel when the highest technology I wanted was "clockwork"

Shifters went as well. They are not a well designed race and are just too "Ebberon" for my taste. It also deals away with the temptation by player or DM to insert a Wolverine clone.

Also getting the axe were Changeling and Illuminian. Both were cool but neither fit well.

Since I decided to do away with the standard psionics system (more on that later) that ruled out Elan. Now I like these guys but like the machine races and the other psionic races (the ones I did not use) they felt out of place. So away they went.

I fussed with Halflings for a while but in the end decided they can stay

So the current list, now far more Fae focused is as follows...

Human
Half Elf
Elf (Grey or White)
Tainted (aka Half Orc)
Dwarf (Hill, Mountain, City)
Elf (Grey or Light)
Gnome
Halfling
Spirit Folk (OA, Wood (bamboo) River, Sea)
Azhar (Jinn Blooded, GRR Freeport)
Lesser Assimar
Lesser Tiefling
Troll Blooded (as Half Ogre)
Half Fey
Dhampire

oh and one more, a newcomer that happily is essentially Human, the Ilian from The Psychics Handbook web enhancement...

Of course as before Natural Lycanthropes, Talking Animals and various Fae are still allowed on case by case basis.

Clearing up the Cruft: Intro

My current personal project is something long overdo, clean up the 3X cruft and streamline my game world to emphasize for fun and more flavor.

Midrea was of course originally made out of bits and pieces from my various 2e games, a city here, a setting there and so on. GURPS bits and Rolemaster bits were added but until 3e, it was pretty much fantasy gumbo.

As 3x progressed, it became "the ultimate sandbox" where you can use anything and everything. This is actually how I pitched it back in 2004 WOTC contest.

The thing is, well its a poor way to make a game world. So many of the classes and races just don't fit in well, Gate-Worlds not withstanding, the feel shoehorned and forced. Yuck.

I think its time for a change...

What I am going to do is trim feats, classes, races and everything else I feel doesn't fit in well. when I done, Midrea will be mean lean gaming machine.

Not only I am going to clean house but I am going to document these changes as I go along.

I hope y'all join me and find something of interest.

Campaign Ideas Day Four

More Midrea Based Games


Destiny of Swords:
Someone has shattered the Jewel of the Stars. Each of the pieces will grant great power to anyone or anything THING that finds one. The characters are Jewel Hunters on the track of shards for good or ill. This is basically Inuyasha with a Midrea bent. D&D with Gestalt rules


Kingsmen.
Stand with the Joykiller and save your kingdom from all threats within and without. While you are at it find the King a wife, the Princess a suitable husband, manage the factions and keep the assassins at bay. Quite a task, even for a Kingsman.


Down Below:
There are few ways of the projects of Polis, money, connections or a military scholarship. Without those there is only the Rangers. The characters are the member of the Ranger corp (not necessarily the class) chartered to protect Polis from Down Below or sometimes itself. D&D with very very high magic

New Item: Death Breaker Sword and Mace OSR Version

These items are relics of the Unhallowed Wars, each made of well cared for steel covered with runes of preservation and warding. They are usually found on the form of a short sword or mace although other one handed weapons are possible.

They are +1 weapons with the ability to strike and undead targets even ones that are incorporeal. They do double damage against such targets.

In addition a flask of holy water can be poured into the weapon, where it will be absorbed. Any target struck by the weapon takes the effect of the holy water though there is no splash. effect

It is rumored that there are also "fouled" versions of these weapons in the form of a wicked curved sword that are +1 and do double damage against living lawful targets and can take a flask of unholy water which has effects as above on certain targets.