Firehawk Games
Firehawk Games RPG Products => Novus RPG => Topic started by: samwise7 on April 22, 2011, 08:06:40 PM
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To make a Save, the player rolls 2d10 and adds in the
stat bonus of the required stat, and his level, along with any
other special modifiers that might apply. If the result equals
the Target Number of the Save or is higher, he succeeds and
is not affected (or receives a lesser effect in some cases).
I thought the saves were going to be +1 for every 2 levels essentially?
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No, Saves have always been "Stat bonus + Level". We had other things that were +1 every two levels (like the one mod for DEF).
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Page 7
Hit Points - This is a measure of how much damage a
character can take before going unconscious.
You might want to put in this glossary description at what point a character dies.
Saving Throw (Save) - This is a roll to resist or avoid
being affected by something (spell, poison, etc.) that is
not covered by another type of roll. There are 8 types
of Saving Throws, one for each stat.
You might want to define how Saving Throws are tabulated.
Page 9
Step 6: Develop Your Character (p. 17)
The player receives 30 Character Points (CPs) to use in
creating a first level character. For each level beyond first level
that the character achieves, he receives 15 additional Character
Points. These Character Points may be spent on learning
Skills, Spells, Combat Moves or acquiring Talents..
There are two periods at the end of this sentence.
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No, Saves have always been "Stat bonus + Level". We had other things that were +1 every two levels (like the one mod for DEF).
I think I've always messed that up. hehe. I like it. (http:///smile.gif)
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Movement by Terrain Type (page 57)...."Moutainous" should be "Mountainous"
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got that one about the Mountainous already... (http:///bigsmile.gif)
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Page 14
The Magic Stat is the stat that is used in determining
Spell Points, and it is also the stat used for the
Magecraft and Spellcasting skills. If a Class does not
have a Magic Stat listed, then Intelligence should be
used unless and/or until the character learns a School
of Magic, and then the Magic Stat for that particular
School should be used.
The and/or part of the last sentence is kind of confusing.
page 16
There are other things, such as special abilities, shields, spells,
Combat Moves, and Boon Point results that can alter your
character's DEF for either good or bad. The majority of these are
situational, meaning that they only apply in certain situation.
Situation should be situations.
page 17
For the Fate Roll,
he rolls a 9, a 10, and a 6, bringing his total roll up to
37. This is 15 points more than the TN of the task, so
he earns 3 Boon Points as well.
The example uses the old 5 over the TN gets a Boon Point, instead of 10 over.
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page 18
Elvish - This language of the Elves.
Elvish - This is the language of the Elves.
page 19
If fewer than 5 ranks are required to bring the total
number of skill ranks to an amount equal to the associated
Stat Value, then the maximum number of skill ranks that
may be purchased is equal to
Huh? I'm not really sure what this is trying to say, and the end of it seems to be missing.
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Get the final version of 0.4 that last thing was something that I have already fixed in it.
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Greetings
Just starting to read through and make a character - here are a few things spotted to date:
p. 13 Cleric description - reference to 'Pure Spell User'?
p. 13 Archer, p.14 Minstrel, Rogue have additional favored skills under 'Favored Skills' and then an additional Favored skill under 'Special Abilities'?
p.16 Hit points - I had to read this twice as in fact the CON+20 is not starting hit points but base hit points before adding level bonuses.
p.16 Spell points - may need to make clear somewhere that the Special Ability of Minor or Major Adept grants these additional SP just in case someone looking at Special Abilities double counts?
p.16 Fate points - in the example John has only a 10% chance of getting the result he needs so this looks a bit strange: I could understand him choosing 2 fate points because this would average at 11 ...
p.17 Movement - Is Base Movement = Racial Description + Speed bonus? It could be read that spending an AP allows Base Movement + Speed bonus while running = 2 x Base Movement i.e. Speed doesn't make you run faster? The AP table on p.38 does not resolve this as it just refers to Base Movement and Double Base Movement.
p.18 Learning skills - presumably if you have say 2 in a skill from a Background and purchase your maximum 5 ranks then the 4th and 5th new ranks will cost 2/5 rather than 1/3 (Fav/Std)?
p.18 Large space between 'which' and 'one' under Combat Moves.
p.31 Plate armour looks really cheap!
p.31 As the basic Amor covers the torso (might be worth adding 'Torso' to the table) then helm, greaves and bracers add up to a total AR?
More later - probably next weekend after I get back from Miami.
Regards
Edward
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kustenjaeger -- welcome!!
p. 13 Cleric description - reference to 'Pure Spell User'?
pure spell user is a bit of terminology from a game I worked on previous to Novus, so that is a slight slip as it were... hehe I will have to fix that.
p. 13 Archer, p.14 Minstrel, Rogue have additional favored skills under 'Favored Skills' and then an additional Favored skill under 'Special Abilities'?
Yes, the classes are roughly balanced, and giving additional Favored skills is a way of doing that. Every class starts off with 7 Favored skills. If we thought that a given class SHOULD have a skill as a Favored skill, we made it so. And did so for every class. However, sometimes there were classes where we didn't come up with 7 skills, so we left the remainder as the player's choice.
The Rogue and Minstrel, to bring their class abilities into balance, got extra Favored skills (player's choice - and already figured into the listed Favored Skills)
p.17 Movement - Is Base Movement = Racial Description + Speed bonus? It could be read that spending an AP allows Base Movement + Speed bonus while running = 2 x Base Movement i.e. Speed doesn't make you run faster? The AP table on p.38 does not resolve this as it just refers to Base Movement and Double Base Movement.
Hmmm.. I thought that I removed Speed from the Base Movement stuff... Will double check
Good comments overall.. will definitely try to address them all... (http:///bigsmile.gif)
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I printed out the free version, and I've been reading over it in preparation for my campaign. I think I'm making my printer angry by printing these, hehe.
Page 18
Trickery Chr
In the skill summary table, you need to add that Trickery can be Chr or Dex. I noticed you changed that in the Trickery skill description.
Page 19
"Basic Martial Arts (Spd - Unarmed): Anybody may acquire
this skill. This allows a character to fight when unarmed
using the Unarmed Combat Moves. Refer to p. 40 for
more information on the damage that unarmed attacks
do. This skill is a prerequisite for the Advanced Martial Arts.
Should the word Talent be added to the end of the last sentence, or should the word "the" be removed?
Page 19
Staves (Spd - Melee: Includes Quarterstaff, Short Spear
and Spear.
You are missing a ")" at the end of the word Melee.
Page 23
Advanced Combat Training
Cost: 15
Trainable: Yes
Description: The character receives special training that allows
him to enhance his melee capabilities. The Multiple Attacks
from High Skill (p. 36) capability described in the Combat
chapter requires that the character's Combat Skill Bonus be
split among the number of attacks he is able to make after
receiving modifiers for the number of attacks that he plans
on making and the number of foes to be attacked.
This Talent allows the character to use his full
remaining Combat Skill Bonus, after the adjustments
for multiple attacks has been made, for each of those
multiple attacks, rather than splitting it among them.
As with the original capability, this Talent may not
be used in conjunction with combat styles or skills that
allow for multiple attacks each round.
Does anyone else find the wording of this to be really confusing? I think you have some long sentences that should be broken up and possibly reworded. I read it twice, and I think I know what it does, but I'm still not all the way sure. You might want to clarify that a bit.
Page 23
This Talent also increases how many Hits Per Level the
character receives, giving him 2 Hits Per Level.
This Talent also increases how many Hits Per Level
the character receives, giving him 3 Hits Per Level.
I still think you should replace Hits with Hit Points (http:///smile.gif)That's all I got for now. The text is much cleaner and much more understandable.
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Page 43
It is complex because these Codified spells were created by a
more flexible set of underlying rules that allows for both the
creation, learning and casting of Codified spells, which are
easier to cast, and also the use of what we call Spell Bases in
Improv casting, that is creating and casting spells on the fly,
on the spur of the moment. These more advanced rules will
be covered in a later product.
I added the word "by" and bolded it. Also, you need to break that long sentence into shorter sentences. Maybe start the paragraph out with the word Magic instead of "It" as well.
page 44
These discounts are already figured
in and listed in the spell costs next to the spell's name.
You might want to put that line in a few more places. Players might think they have a discount in addition to the one that is already listed for the spell. They might not get confused by it however.
Page 45 - The Spells Vs DEF box
The next step is to compare this
SAME result against the target's DEF.
If it is equal to or higher than that,
then the attack hits. The damage, including
Scalable Damage, is resolved
just as any other attack.
I added the missing word "the" and bolded it.
Page 45
In the listing of spells by school table, it might be good to put an "*" next to the spells that are Fast Cast.
Page 48 - Dark Omen Spell
A
favorable omen might be the sighting of a vulture, or a
stain that looks like a rat or something similar in nature,
while an unfavorable omen might appear as a dove or
something shaped like a butterfly. (Base: Divination)
Your favorable and unfavorable example are reversed, hehe. (http:///smile.gif)
The object, if a weapon will do its normal
Base Damage, but no Strength Damage.
This spell has the old Strength Damage that was removed.
That's it for now.
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Greetings
A few more bits and pieces from my reading last week (Deluxe version 0.4):
p.8 'Individual skills are the last type of item a player may purchase ...' - what does this mean?
p.13 Special Abilities: states that in all cases additional skills are already added into the favored skill list - Tim mentioned that the Rogue and Minstrel get a couple more to balance them i.e. 9 rather than 7 - in this case if the special ability section for these classes has already figured in the "1 Favored Skill" shouldn't it be deleted or is the p.13 comment wrong? There needs to be more clarity here - it might be better to leave out the favored skills gained by the Special Abilities from the class's skills section to avoid people double counting - the same could be said for HP/level.
p.24/27 Shield Training cost is inconsistent - 5 in the table on p.24, 3 in the description.
p.36 Encumbrance Unit. Third line 'per' is unncessary.
p.38 The IP needs to be added to the Character Sheet. In addition most of the Initiative section duplicates Item 1 in the Combat Round Sequence so is unncessary. Step 4 needs a space between 'Step' and '4'.
p.39 Brawling. What are the 'appropriate modifiers'?
p.39 Called shots. What about against the torso? This has less armour than the total AR?
p.39 Dodging. If a character has Acrobatics with any levels at all as it is DEX based won't it always be prefersable to use it?
p.68 I think the TN+% = boon has already been picked up here?
p.69 What distance is covreed in a Climb or Move Silently task?
p.73 Hit Points - so a character with good levels in First Aid not only finds it easier to achieve i.e. reach the TN but also delivers more healing - this is a bit self-fulfilling - what about recovering hits for score over the TN up to the skill level of the first aider?
p.74 Is first level experience referred to anywhere else? Shouldn't it be in the character section so it can be added to the character sheet.
p.74 Advancing Levels. Why is the experience progression escalating (i.e. by previous increment +100) when awards stay more or less static - won't this mean more sessions to break a level as time goes on?
p.74 Awarding Experience Points. Can't the top of the table be cropped and just say 50/session? Why is there a reduction in experience for unsuccessful encounters - failure should usually be its own penalty as it makes it harder to reach the goals.
p.75 Second column line 4 all the words run together.
p.77 Need to explain what the creature entries mean. I assume that the Ant, Giant 'Attacks: 7 Bite (7) means an attack bonus of 7 and a base damage (in parentheses) of 7? Likewise I assume the numbers in the parentheses after each stat is the bonus?
Character sheet: Generally this is good - a few points:
(a) As noted above needs to be guidance to include the 100 xp at Level 1
(b) No obvious place for damage type of a weapon to be included
(c) Presumably the boxes against skills are designed to be ticked if favored? I don't think this is explained - an example of how to fill out the sheet might be a good idea.
I've created a half elf Minstrel and a human Wizard; I'm in the middle of creating a Dwarf hillock living Cleric - when I've added one or two more I'll run a solo session.
My test with the initial two against a couple of Orcs raised questions about charges and running away that I'll add as another topic.
Regards
Edward
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Not sure if it has been reported already, but the shaman was listed with 2 hits per level though he did not have any combat training talent. It should be 1 hit / level, if I understand it right.
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It was brought to my attention that Willpower really doesn't do anything. What does it affect?
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I've noticed a few more things, but I'll have to go through it again and type them up when I get time.
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p. 25
The Multiple Attacks from High Skill (p. 40) capability described in the Combat chapter requires that the character's Combat Skill Bonus be split among the number of attacks he is able to make...
P. 40
Multiple Attacks from High Skill: As characters gain ranks in their melee Combat Skills, they gain the ability to make multiple attacks.
"Multiple Attacks from High Skill" should probably be shortened to simply "Multiple Weapon Attacks", like stated on the "Action Points Table" p. 38. As stated now, it reads like its the "Multiple Attacks from High" skill. Or maybe it should read as "Multiple Attacks from high skill ranks", or something.
And can this topic become a "sticky", if possible?
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And sticky it is... (http:///bigsmile.gif)
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p.27
The feature, Detect Waiting Magic, allows the character to detect waiting magic within the area checked as well as active magic.
I would suggest changing "Detect Waiting Magic" to "Detect Dormant Magic", perhaps?
Posted by: samwise7
Page 26
I still think Waylaying is too cheap. That one looks like a Min/Maxer's dream come true.
Waylaying does have some limitations to it:
...and he must either attack the target from behind or with surprise.
Maybe once the target is aware of the Waylaying character (or NPC! (http:///wink.gif)
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Saves are always versus a specific stat. However, if playtesting warrants it, there is nothing that says that the TN of the Save cannot be adjusted by the amount of damage done... (http:///bigsmile.gif)
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p.34
Bastard Sword - Often called a Hand-and-a- Half Sword. It has an extra long hilt that could easily accommodate either 1 hand or two.
Any thoughts about adding a special Damage Bonus for using the sword two-handed, or should we just use the One Handed Weapons in Two Hands rule?
p.36
Encumbrance Unit
Outside of a character's Basic Equipment and Backpack, a character may carry an amount equal to 2 lbs for each point of their Strength Stat Value. Thus a character with a Strength Stat Value of 15 has an Encumbrance Unit of 30 lb.
Each full Encumbrance Unit gives the character a -4 modifier to all actions. Especially large or bulky items can impose greater modifiers. If the character is carrying more than 2 Encumbrance Units, his Movement Rate is halved, and he will be unable to dodge, or perform any other types of similar actions.
So no matter if a character has a Strength stat of 5 (10 EU) or 15 (30 EU), he will suffer an Encumbrance action penalty if he is carrying more than 2 Encumbrance Units; which also halves his Movement and hampers his combat ability?
Shouldn't a character's Strength determine the number of EU he can carry- beyond his basic equipment? I may be wrong, but the Human stat average looks to be about 12-13. So wouldn't it make sense for a character with a Strength greater than the average, to be able to carry more EU?
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Encumbrance Unit -- notice that the size (i.e. the amount of weight) in the encumbrance unit is based on strength. To make the number of encumbrance units allowed ALSO based on strength would be giving a double bonus to those with high strength.
In your example, the character with the St of 5 would have an EU of 10, while the character with the St of 15 has an EU of 30 (3x the weight that a character with a strength of 5 can carry).
If we wanted to make the number of EU carried based on Strength, then we would have to make the size/weight of the EU a static number and NOT based on Strength. But I am not fond of this method.
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I forgot to mention it before, but welcome to the forums Windmark. (http:///smile.gif)
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Thanks, Sam! (http:///smile.gif)I just started rolling up some characters and one thing that was a slight speed bump was the initial confusion of "Primary Stats" and "Prime Stats". I couldn't think of any better suggestions for "Prime", other than "Master Stats", but i dunno...maybe it isn't a big deal.
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p. 48
In addition to the spells from each School, there are also a group of Codified spells known as Universal Spells because they are very common and often learned by casters from
many different Schools.
If Codified spells and Universal spells are one in the same, then to avoid confusion, may they just be known as Universal spells? Or whatever terminology is decided upon.
And speaking of spells (http:///bigsmile.gif)Can we please get a ruling on the confusion about Major/Minor Adept spell points that was brought up by samwise7, earlier in this thread?
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All of the listed spells in the core book are Codified spells. Universal spells are a sub-group of Codified spells, Black magic spells are another subgroup of codified spells, etc...
Can we please get a ruling on the confusion about Major/Minor Adept spell points that was brought up by samwise7, earlier in this thread?
Do you mean this:
Page 14
The Magic Stat is the stat that is used in determining
Spell Points, and it is also the stat used for the
Magecraft and Spellcasting skills. If a Class does not
have a Magic Stat listed, then Intelligence should be
used unless and/or until the character learns a School
of Magic, and then the Magic Stat for that particular
School should be used.
The and/or part of the last sentence is kind of confusing.
Basically, what that is saying is that you use Int as the stat for spell points if the character is not of a Class that has a specific school of magic. If he later learns a school of magic (use as Mysticism), then his stat for Spell Points is now his new Magic Stat (i.e. Will in this particular case).
Is that what you were asking about? If not, please quote the appropriate post.
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Sorry I wan't more specific.
Page 25
I'm confused on Spell Points... On page 16 it says that Minor gets 7 + Magic Stat bonus, and Major Adepts get 12 + Magic Stat bonus Spell points. Then on page 23 it says that Minor Adepts gain an extra 3 Spell Points, and that Major get an additional 5 Spell Points...
I think I may have answered my own question... :(http:///smile.gif)Thanks
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The bit about extra spell points should just be ignored -- that was from a previous incarnation of how I handled spell points and was forgotten.
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In the talents table on p 22 shield training has a cost of 5 but when you scroll down to the entry for it on page 25 it is only 3 points.
Matt
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Hi,
I could be mistaken as I've only just started reading the rules but: the example of success on page 16 gives 1 Boon Point per 5 points of success. From the thread discussing Novus on RPG.net I think this has changed to 1 Boon point per 10 points of success?
Cheers,
Dan
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I could be mistaken as I've only just started reading the rules but: the example of success on page 16 gives 1 Boon Point per 5 points of success. From the thread discussing Novus on RPG.net I think this has changed to 1 Boon point per 10 points of success?
Yeah, that example is something that needs fixing.
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Page 31: the section explaining armour penalty discusses 'rigid leather' whilst the other sections all use the term 'reinforced leather'?
Cheers,
Dan
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Good catch! -- Am slowly working towards getting version 0.5 ready for release, so as many corrections as possible are welcome...
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Page 50: typo: "Different branches of a School o Magic" should be 'of Magic' not 'o Magic'.
Cheers,
Dan
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P39 typo: brawling description is missing a period: "This type of attack is also known as a Brawling attack The Attack Bonus". The second sentence presumably starts with 'The Attack Bonus'.
Cheers,
Dan
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In the weapon description table, the short sword has a base damage of 4., ie the same as the dagger.
I suggest to make it 6, halfway between dagger (4) and broadsword ((http:///bigeyes.gif)
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The page numbers are from the free version. Sorry if some of these are duplicates, but I'm trying to type these out and then get back to prepping for my Monday game. (http:///smile.gif)
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Found another one. The Grimalkin has a +97 attack bonus. This is probably a D100 hold out. You might want to check over the other monsters to see if they have similar typos.
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Found another one. The Grimalkin has a +97 attack bonus. This is probably a D100 hold out. You might want to check over the other monsters to see if they have similar typos.
This was brought up in another post. Actually, it is a typo, where I forgot to delete the 7 after putting the 9 in place... (http:///bigsmile.gif)
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Some mention of Diseases and Poisons might be good as well.
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Okay, I have a few things done so far.
Also, I HAVE replaced the 5 spell users with a single one, and a table allowing for 6 types of spell users.
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Any chance to see something like that for other professions (aka archetypes or Irregular Novus ?) (http:///wink.gif)
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I might possibly add a "Martial Artist" as that would not be extremely hard to do (and I say Martial Artist and not Monk, cause they are different things).
As for other classes, I will eventually be officially displaying the rules that I used in creating the classes, though you can find a quick overview in some of the other threads.
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Here's another typo for you: page 47
"doing 3 points od damage" should be "doing 3 points of damage"
Cheers,
Dan
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Page 48:
"It is complex because these Codified spells were created a more flexible set of underlying rules" looks to be missing a word after 'created' - probably 'from' or 'using'.
Cheers,
Dan
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Page 48:
"It is complex because these Codified spells were created a more flexible set of underlying rules" looks to be missing a word after 'created' - probably 'from' or 'using'.
Cheers,
Dan
I have actually gon an reworded that entire paragraph (http:///bigsmile.gif)
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I had a minor situation that I thought I should mention. If there is a chase scene and both the NPC fleeing and the PC chasing him have the same movement, and both are using all of their APs to run at twice their normal movement how would you resolve the issue? They wouldn't have any left over APs to attack them, or try to trip them, etc.
In my case they had their faster animals chase them down and I fudged it, which ended the chase.
There was another question... but I'll have to go over my notes and see what it was.
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I had a minor situation that I thought I should mention. If there is a chase scene and both the NPC fleeing and the PC chasing him have the same movement, and both are using all of their APs to run at twice their normal movement how would you resolve the issue? They wouldn't have any left over APs to attack them, or try to trip them, etc.
In my case they had their faster animals chase them down and I fudged it, which ended the chase.
In such a situation, I would use Athletics to try and increase pace beyond a Run.
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I noticed that it is either in the Devil or Demons basic description that you use the incorrect word (devils for demons or vice-versa). You can tell that you copied the same chunk of text since both have similar strengths and weaknesses.
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I noticed that it is either in the Devil or Demons basic description that you use the incorrect word (devils for demons or vice-versa). You can tell that you copied the same chunk of text since both have similar strengths and weaknesses.
Or it could be one of those instances where I meant to type one, but typed the other. I did a lot of that as well... heheh