Initial Opinions of Novus?

[harpy]

Thanks for that clarification on the declaration round, now it makes sense.

I'd posted my impressions over on rpggeek.com also, with a friend who chimed in with his own impression.

[imported_Rasyr]

You should see if Brian will come post over here.

His comment about adding up the bits of armor being missing is an important observation.

One of the problems with writing a system is that quite often our mind will fill in the gaps of things that are missing and we don't even realize it. It takes somebody who hasn't been through it a half a dozen times to spot things that we miss (hence the Open Beta - to do exactly that!!!)

[harpy]

Oh an one of Brian's comments did resonate with me a bit, about some of the flavor of the Boons.  It is a bit gory, but one of the highlights of Rolemaster was all of the scars, burns, eyes getting poked out, ears chopped off, fingers lost, arms and legs chopped off... etc.

We used to joke that "character development" meant how many limbs you had lost over the course of a camapaign, but we did enjoy that level of... detail... to our games.  The Boons are for the most part either temporary condition effects (stun, prone, daze) or bonus damage, and then jumps to a death blow.

So I guess, is there any plans for permanent condition effects for the Boons and Snags?  Stuff that costs 3, 4 or 5 points depending on the severity.

When you can recount how you lost that finger to the orc chieftain, or the eye patch you wear is from a nasty encounter with a Wyvern, that's when a lot of the magic happens.

[imported_Rasyr]

Oh, I am sure that there is plenty of room for expansion with Boons and Snags...

And don't forget, it is the GM who chooses which Boons are applied against your character, just as you choose which Boon result is applied against the monster you are fighting.

[Fidoric]

Spells: Caster internalizes the spell, taking an
amount of damage equal to his Will Stat Bonus
times the number of spell points of the spell.

I have found a point I think is broken in the spell snags table (p 52). This may need to be reformulated. If a character has a zero or negative will stat bonus... he takes no damage or "negative damage" (whatever this might be). Maybe it could be enough to change "will stat bonus" by "1 or will stat bonus, whichever is greater"
BTW, why is it that the more will you have, the more damage you take from your spell failure ?

Fidoric

[imported_Rasyr]

Didn't think of it the way you are. Hmm.. might be better to change it to SP times number of Snag Points earned

[Fidoric]

It is a 3 point snag so at least a 3*SP damage.
SP costs are between 1 and 3, for a max damage 12 with a 4 points snag. This is equivalent to a well-placed sword strike. Not very deadly but significant enough when engaged in a combat situation I think.

Fidoric

[Fidoric]

Trying not to be a nuisance but... something in the combat boons is feeling unbalanced, especially after the v0.3.

Adrenal Surge (dx): Does additional damage equal to Strength Stat Bonus.

Skilled Attack (dx): Does additional damage equal to your number of skill ranks in your weapon skill.
1 Strong Attack (dx): Does additional amount of damage equal to the Base Damage dealt.

I can see easily that both skilled attack and strong attack are interesting from the beginning and will become ever better as levels go up, but Adrenal surge is almost useless compared to them.

Best regards,
Fidoric

[imported_Rasyr]

Hmm... we could always allow additional Boon Points to be put into Adrenal Surge, which would allow for stacking it with itself (but not with the others with the dx tag).

That would make it more competative.

And don't forget, not every option is created equal. (we try to be close, but sometimes it doesn't always pan out).

[Fidoric]

It is a difficult thing to balance things indeed. And you manage it well IMO.
Besides, your comment made me realize something I may have misunderstood. You cannot stack with other dx boons as stated in the table. Does it mean that you cannot buy the same boon option twice ? Say, if you gain two boon points, you can "buy" skilled attack and knock prone for example but not twice skilled attack ?

[imported_Rasyr]

Correct. Unless an entry specifically states otherwise, you cannot stack the dx labeled entries, and that includes with additional inclusions of the same Boon.


For example, Combat Shuffle gives a distance that the foe is shoved per Boon Point spent on it. We can do Adrenal Surge the same way (i.e. does extra damage equal to Str Bonus x number of Boon points put into this Boon). In such a case, you are not purchasing the Boon multiple times, but deciding how powerful to make the Boon when you choose it.

[Fidoric]

Crystal clear for me now.
Thank you

[Rex]

Just picked up the Deluxe Beta and the Libram Novus about a week ago. Scanned thru it and it looks to be put together well and I like what I have seen so far. Will take more time to go thru it in depth and see if it is something I would like to run or play in.