Firehawk Games
Firehawk Games RPG Products => Novus RPG => Topic started by: samwise7 on March 25, 2011, 11:40:05 PM
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So, who has some ideas for some new Novus races? I'd love to steal those ideas and plop them into a homebrew setting. (http:///smile.gif)
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Well, I have a whole slew of races that I will eventually be adding. Including the following:
Ketauri
Vsori
Kalbari
Merak
Aesyr
Volar
Phrenali
Drogosi
Ceanid
Corvari
Myotari
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I recognize several of those. (http:///smile.gif)
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I recognize several of those. (http:///smile.gif)
You should recognize all of them. I wrote them for another system. Due to the recent signing of a contract, I now own the full rights to all those races (and I gave that other company the rights to use those races as well), which means that I can add them into Novus if and when I like.
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Do you plan to put them in Libram Novus PDFs in the future?
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yes
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Cool. (http:///smile.gif)
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LOL!
Yeah!
I immediately recognized them all as well!
Cool!
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Neato. Any other usable info from? Monsters? Etc
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I own the full rights to the following:
Races (from various issues of HARPer's Bazaar, and 1 issue of Express Additions)
Ketauri
Vsori
Kalbari
Merak
Aesyr
Volar
Phrenali
Drogosi
Ceanid
Corvari (EA #6)
Myotari (EA #6)
Wildings (HB #6)
Cultures (from various issues of HARPer's Bazaar)
Arboreal
Highlands
Cragger
Oceanic
High Valley
Avian
Nali
Tribal
Aquatic
HARPer's Bazaar #2 - (The Clerical Orders, minus the stats)
HARPer's Bazaar #3 - (The Beastmaster & The Clerical Orders, minus the stats)
HARPer's Bazaar #5 - Elementals (excluding stats, talents, and spells)
Express Additions #8 - Craftsmanship & Herbalism rules
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Should be enough for Libram Novus 3 & 4 ! (http:///bigwink.gif)
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If you find that the main book is less than 100 pages... maybe you could put some of those funky races in it too. (http:///smile.gif)
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We are kicking the idea around a few ideas for races/cultures.
1) A culture of evil Halflings (Warlocks/Black Magic).
2) A race of Half-Dwarf / Half-Devils (we're not calling them Devarfs or Dwevils). (http:///smile.gif)4) A Human sub-race that might come with inherent magical abilities (think like a D&D Gnome).
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I like that size-changing race idea -- it has some interesting possibilities. For example, they have hidden cities, built up in the tops of normal sized trees, or in small underground caves that are not accessible to normal sized people (i.e. through a tunnel/fissure that is only six inches tall). And if their possessions also change size, that makes for interesting possibilities.
However, I think that such an ability should cost Spell Points (or the equivalent in Power Points -- a set of points used for activating/using inherent magic-like abilities -- such abilities would also require their own skill to use, such would ALWAYS be a Favored Skill for a character with inherent abilities).
For example, the size-changing race - they have 2 default sizes. It costs 3 PP to change size and requires a Willpower-based skill roll to accomplish this (base TN 15, modified by conditions that may disrupt concentration). Or perhaps make the PP cost based on the degree of change. If the default size is 6", then each size increment would be 6" and would cost 1 PP to change (i.e. to become 4' tall, they would have to spend 7 PP, 1 PP for every additional 6" in height). It would cost 11 PP to become 6' in height, and then another 11 PP to shrink back down to 6" tall....
And, yes, this means that they could also assume larger than human forms if they had enough PP....
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Those are some cool ideas for how to translate the size changing race to Novus. I'm not sure if I like the fact of them being larger than humans, but others might.
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Just remember that different sizes will have different advantages and disadvantages....
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Sorry that I'm not familiar with the races that were posted....just curious if any were "feline" based or not.
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No, but adding a feline race wouldn't be difficult..
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No, but adding a feline race wouldn't be difficult..
All it would require would be a little catnip.
Sorry, couldn't resist...
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For a feline race (Lions always seemed like the best option in my opinion) I would use the Elves as a baseline and tweak it from there.
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Completely off the cuff.....
Felines would have enhanced scent capabilities, a natural AR (fur), and of course, natural claws. The fur may give them a drawback (such as an increase in Armor Penalties from wearing armor -- i.e. the AR stacks, but wearing armor slows them down more than it would a furless race -- perhaps it gives a Dex Penalty even if they have training in wearing the armor...)
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Felines should have more DEX than a normal human and Darkvision.
They are also very distrustful of strangers, can be standoffish, can be spiteful, but can also be loyal to a fault.
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For a feline race (Lions always seemed like the best option in my opinion) I would use the Elves as a baseline and tweak it from there.
I dunno...
I would use Humans as baseline. Bonuses to dex, str, and con.... minuses to .... what?
(http:///frown.gif)Tim (Rasyr), are you gonna do the Bazaar and EA races for Novus, or do you want players/playtesters to do it? That's something I would be interested in...
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I will be doing them, soon as I finish up with version 0.4 and get it released
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Alrighty then...
Now, any more ideas about the feline race anyone?
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They have a flaw for another ability. If someone drops something on the ground, they will attack it and play with it till they get bored. (http:///smile.gif)Just kidding.
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Weakness - ball of yarn...
heheh
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Maybe they can only wear 7-leagues boots ?
More seriously, I can't see why their fur should give them AR. I am not used to kick kittens, but I am positive their fur won't protect it from my attack... I think that their fur should give them bonuses to resist cold, that they should have nightvision and maybe enhanced reflexes giving them better initiative.
On the stats side, they may have lighter bones, giving them less strength. Cats are long runner so maybe they should have less constitution. Finally, I think cats are not prone to lasting actions, so maybe a low self-discipline ? To compensate this, I woud propose higher dexterity and speed.
Maybe something like :
Dex +3, Speed +2, Con -2, Str -2, SD-1.
Cold resistance +4
Nightvision greater
Enhanced reflexes (initiative +2)
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Con -2?
What about a cats "9 lives"?
And are we talkin' "house" cats or "real" cats, like lions and tigers?
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Lions and Tigers OH MY! (http:///smile.gif)
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Not sure whether to applaud or smite that comment.....
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Bah ha ah aha .....
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How would you do a race that can fly?
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How would you do a race that can fly?
One of the races that I am working on for the Tyrlon setting are the Volar - a race of winged humanoids (i.e. short human-like people with feathered wings). Their racial ability of flight will look something like this:
Flight - The Volar have a Base Flight Rate (BFR) of 20' per Action Point. The Volar can fly continuously for a maximum number of hours equal to their Constitution Stat Bonus without rest. The Volar may increase their flight speed using pace multipliers, just as with their BMR, however doing reduces their maximum flight time accordingly (i.e. if flying at a "run", 2x normal pace, divide maximum flight time by 2). When flying, Encumbrance Penalties are doubled for the Volar.
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I was wondering- in general how do you actually go about "Racial Balance", when designing new races?
Posted by: Rasyr(Tim)
One of the races that I am working on for the Tyrlon setting are the Volar - a race of winged humanoids (i.e. short human-like people with feathered wings). Their racial ability of flight will look something like this:
Flight - The Volar have a Base Flight Rate (BFR) of 20' per Action Point. The Volar can fly continuously for a maximum number of hours equal to their Constitution Stat Bonus without rest. The Volar may increase their flight speed using pace multipliers, just as with their BMR, however doing reduces their maximum flight time accordingly (i.e. if flying at a "run", 2x normal pace, divide maximum flight time by 2). When flying, Encumbrance Penalties are doubled for the Volar.
I have players who will choose a race based fully upon character concept; while others will attempt to "min-max"- choosing a race that has "better" stats or skills. The racial stat modifiers are obviously one way of balancing races, but is there another aspect to this?
Please keep in mind that I am reading through the game and posting and haven't finished the pdf as of yet!
Thanks!
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I have players who will choose a race based fully upon character concept; while others will attempt to "min-max"- choosing a race that has "better" stats or skills. The racial stat modifiers are obviously one way of balancing races, but is there another aspect to this?
Each racial ability is actually given a point value, and races will have roughly the same point values (the stats always zero out at +/-5 (with Half-races being +/-3 and racial abilities)). So, the idea will be that all races are roughly balanced. For some that are more powerful, I am considering docking Character Points -- for example, if a race costs 15 points more than the average race, then the player would have to give up 15 of his starting CP to play a character of this race...
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If its not stepping on any toes (http:///bigwink.gif), I would love to see an example of, say the Elves or the Volar, and how they were made. I also have some races I would like to introduce for other players to use and would like them to be fairly balanced.
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My next issue of Libram Novus is going to be more races...
Some of the races, however, contain abilities whose costs I have not released to the public yet.
The next couple of days will likely be hectic for me (real world things going on), so it may be a little while before I can put together some sort of example for you.
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That's a cool example of flight, thank you. (http:///smile.gif)