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Post by Daos on Oct 7, 2022 14:05:32 GMT -8
Been toying with the idea of coming up with a henchman system for the game, since 5E doesn't seem to have one. Of course, as you're all level 1, it's too early to worry about that immediately, but it is something I've been thinking about.
The main issue I see is that a 5E character tends to be more complicated than a 2E character. So controlling multiple characters in 2E is a lot easier than it would be in 5E. Of course, this is also a pbp game, so there's a lot more time to look over your character options and make decisions without bogging things down too much.
In 2E, you could have up to 15 henchmen with a CHA of 18 (a CHA of 25 would get you up to 50!!!), so that's probably way too much (not that you necessarily would be bringing all of them with you on every adventure). I was thinking something smaller in scale, like maybe you can recruit 1 henchman for every +1 to your CHA mod. So at CHA 20, that's 5 henchmen...which seems far more manageable. Although that means you need a CHA of at least 12 to even have one, whereas in 2E even with a CHA of 2, you can recruit at least one.
Any thoughts?
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Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,540
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Post by Matt4 on Oct 7, 2022 23:25:20 GMT -8
I think it's a cute idea!
I'm not sure which book, but some time ago they published some rules about "sidekicks". Less complex PCs you could use, maybe you could look into that as well.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Oct 8, 2022 4:00:29 GMT -8
That certainly makes sense, though I find having lots of extra minions gives you a much bigger advantage in 5E than in 2E.
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Post by Daos on Oct 8, 2022 13:24:11 GMT -8
I'm not sure which book, but some time ago they published some rules about "sidekicks". Less complex PCs you could use, maybe you could look into that as well. Not sure if it's in any of my books, but I'll keep an eye out for it. That certainly makes sense, though I find having lots of extra minions gives you a much bigger advantage in 5E than in 2E. In what way?
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Post by GravityEmblem on Oct 8, 2022 14:41:14 GMT -8
Mostly because of the "action economy," as people call it. In 5E, your action has a bigger impact on the combat than in 2E, whether by making attacks, or taking the Help action, etc. So having extra actions can give you a huge bonus. That's why powerful creatures get legendary actions--because otherwise, the party would beat them up, because they have so many more actions. That's my assessment of it, at least.
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Post by Daos on Oct 8, 2022 15:10:31 GMT -8
This is technically true in 2E as well, minus the Help action part (I hadn't considered that), but I just figured I could compensate by bumping up the difficulty of combat. Of course, 2E assumes the PCs have henchmen so that's baked into the difficulty level, which isn't the case with 5E.
Well, I might experiment a bit with it, see how flexible the system is, before committing to it one way or the other. Thanks for the insight.
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Post by Daos on Oct 11, 2022 12:55:37 GMT -8
As there are only three of you, I'm working on a set of recruitable NPCs to help fill out the party a bit. They are a Fighter (Tank), Mystic (Healer), Druid (Blaster) and Bard (Support). I've finished the Fighter and am working on the Mystic now. You'll have the option of bringing a maximum of two with you on any quest you go on.
Speaking of quests, there will be four kinds. There are main quests, which further the main storyline and are given to you by the nation's ruler. There are side quests, which are given to you by other NPCs. They are smaller in scale, and may or may not have any impact on the main storyline. Then there are personal quests--these are essentially self-made quests the players fulfill on their own to further their own personal storylines (e.g., Poppy tracking down her family's killers). And finally there are companion quests, which are quests that center around the character development of recruitable characters.
Main quests are only unlocked when the previous main quest is completed. There's usually some downtime between them, to give the party a chance to work on other things. Side quests are unlocked by any number of factors, including getting to know the NPCs in question, fulfilling certain criteria, and so forth. Companion quests are usually unlocked at a certain point for the companion, depending on the nature of the quest and the character.
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Post by Daos on Oct 12, 2022 15:17:02 GMT -8
I decided to try porting over the reaction adjustment mechanic from 2E to this game. It works much like it did before, but simplified a bit. Basically, I make a CHA check for a PC whenever they meet a new NPC. Depending on how low or high the roll is, the NPC's initial reaction is Hostile, Threatening, Cautious, Indifferent, Friendly or Love. This is only the initial reaction, though; it's possible to change a person's mind by interacting with them. This also won't apply to every NPC, just most of them. It would be weird if, due to bad luck, the Supervisor wound up hating one of you (or all of you!) when you are supposed to work for him. (Also worth remembering, the way an NPC feels about a PC might not be apparent. One might hate your guts, but act cordial and friendly to your face. Or maybe they really like you, but are distant and aloof.)
Also, I don't know how much, if anything, Gravity and Matt4 know about Seattle, Washington or the Pacific Northwest in general. But I am cramming quite a few references to them into the game. In fact, all four of the NPC companions I mentioned earlier are specific references to some cultural aspect of that area. It's fine if you don't pick up on any of them; Horizon probably will.
Which reminds me, when the game starts, we'll be beginning in the garden of Si'ahl, during a coffee festival. Imagine Oktoberfest, but with coffee instead of beer.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Oct 12, 2022 15:24:54 GMT -8
The only thing I know about Seattle is Grunge music. Is one of our companions going to be Kurt Cobain? i want him right now
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Post by Daos on Oct 12, 2022 15:29:55 GMT -8
Well, no spoilers, but I did say one of the four companions would be a Bard...
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Post by HorizonsDream on Oct 13, 2022 19:07:46 GMT -8
Seattle is the home of Starbucks too, and it rains 8 to 9 months out of the year. It isn't like a hard rain, but more like a misty rain most of the time. Rainy season should have started by now, but we have had nothing but sun this month (and I absolutely hate it).
There is also something called the Seattle Freeze. People visiting from other states or whatever say that the people here just aren't friendly because we don't say hi to every stranger on the street. We keep to ourselves, and we don't open up to people easily. I find it kind of refreshing that I don't have random strangers coming up to me to strike up a conversation (sadly it has happened a few times while waiting for the bus in Seattle. I found it creepy.). I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, so everyone knew everyone's business.
Though, I did hear an interesting explanation about why the Seattle Freeze is a thing here. Seattle, or rather Washington, has been home to very note worthy serial killers: Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgeway (The Green River Killer), and Robert Lee Yates. Maybe you could consider it city wide trauma, but it makes sense that Washingtonians would be a little leery of people after having living through the fear that these serial killers caused.
Puget Sound is the second largest estuary in the U.S, and it is an especially deep body of water. I've been whale watching twice in the Pudget Sound. We have a few pods of orcas that consider the Puget Sound home.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Oct 14, 2022 3:47:30 GMT -8
Wow, I can see how all those serial killers would affect the way people treat each other. Modern society is already becoming more isolated, and that probably doesn’t help. So, the Bard is a grunge musician, the Druid takes care of orcas, the Mystic is a serial killer, and the Fighter won’t talk to strangers?
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Post by Daos on Oct 14, 2022 15:01:14 GMT -8
It's possible; you'll find out soon enough.
So far I'm done with the Fighter and should finish up the Mystic tonight (just need the backstory). I haven't even started on the Druid and Bard yet, but I have a three day weekend coming up, so hopefully can make good headway then.
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Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,540
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Post by Matt4 on Oct 14, 2022 15:10:25 GMT -8
The only thing I know about Seattle is that my favorite RuPaul's Drag Race contestant used to regularly perform there. She even has a water-related stage name in Jinkx Monsoon! So now I'm hoping that our bard will be a drag queen and thanks for all the info, Horizon!
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Post by GravityEmblem on Oct 17, 2022 4:46:11 GMT -8
The only thing I know about Seattle is that my favorite RuPaul's Drag Race contestant used to regularly perform there. She even has a water-related stage name in Jinkx Monsoon! So now I'm hoping that our bard will be a drag queen Unlikely, Kurt Cobain only performed in a dress, like, twice.
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