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Campaign Guidelines


phydaux

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i'd like to get some feedback on the campaign guidelines I'm giving to my players.

 

 

 

 

Characters will be built on 100 points with up to 50 additional points from disadds.

 

Normal characteristics maximums.  Stats above normal maximum cost double.  “Standard” fantasy races are available, with humans vastly prevalent.  Use the racial packages in Fantasy Hero.

 

Characters will have 300 silver pieces with which to buy starting equipment.

 

Combat will be quick and deadly.  Be forewarned.

 

Heroes and notable monsters can slay foes in a single hit, while commoners and lowly creatures can strike heroes with little to no effect.  This is due to the prevalence of:

 

Some variation of Deadly Blow

 

and one of the following

 

Roll with the Punch (Combat Luck, DEX roll to activate)

Suck It Up! (Combat Luck, CON roll to activate)

Endure the Pain (Combat Luck, EGO roll to activate)

 

Notable monsters & NPCs will have one level of Combat Luck, and some will have two levels.  Nearly all of them will have Deadly Blow.  Build your characters accordingly.

 

Feats are powers bought to represent exceptional skills & abilities.  While feats are allowed, there is no reason to believe they will be necessary for characters to be successful.  There is a 45 active point limit on all feats.  Feat builds will need the GM’s approval.

 

Magic is a multipower.  Buy your reserve with the following limitations:

 

1-handed Gestures to activate (-1/4)

Incantations to activate (-1/4)

Sorcery skill roll to activate (-1/4)

All slots X2 END (-1)

 

Thaumaturgy is your ability to understand magic.  Sorcery is your ability to cast it.  Spell casters will need both skills.  It will also be possible for characters to use Sorcery in a skill vs skill test (modified by range) to counterspell the Sorcery of others as they attempt to cast spells (a half phase action).

 

Your Sorcery skill can never exceed your Thaumaturgy skill.  Your Thaumaturgy skill can never exceed the level of the Thaumaturgy library (or sacred texts) the character either owns or has access to (the Access Perk).

 

The Circle of Sequestered Magics maintains private libraries for its members in most cities.  Also, most temples have reflectories that their priests can access.  The levels of these “basic” libraries are 13.  It can be assumed that these libraries also have “restricted sections” for members with higher than normal access.  This represents full membership in the Circle or Priesthood.  This higher level of membership also brings certain obligations along with the perks. 

 

Often practitioner shops will sell “portable” libraries of the most common & respected magical textbooks or sacred texts.  These portable libraries can be purchased for 20 silver per level up to level 15.  Libraries, reflectories and practitioner’s shops are available in most major cities.

 

Magic text books & sacred texts that can confer skill levels above 15 are known to exist.  Some are even generally known by their titles, or are regional/personal variants of known works.  Most extant copies available for purchase in practitioner’s shops are fakes, and studying them will, without the character’s knowledge, actually reduce their Thaumaturgy skill (and by extension their Sorcery skill).  Genuine copies of these text books sell for exorbitant sums.  Rumors of their existence attract GREAT interest from mages, merchants, AND thieves. 

 

It is said that some of these books, even the genuine ones, can threaten the reader's sanity.  Others can threaten their very soul.  Some, it is whispered, can threaten the continued existence of the entire world by opening a Gate to allow the Old Ones to return. 

 

But all the High Priests & Magi agree that these are just stories told by old women , and meant to frighten young children and foolish novices.

 

Since it was the High Elves who taught the other races magic, most spell books are written in High Elvish (some less common ones are written in other languages, such as  Dwarvish, Old Manish, and The Vile Tongue).  Most spell users will have either the 1 point Literacy talent and the language skill High Elvish, or an exceptional backstory explaining why they were able to learn magic skills & spells without studying from books (or from books not written in High Elvish).

 

Further, anyone who buys a magic multipower reserve should also but the 5 point Detect Magic sense power to more fully represent their magic abilities.  The skill Analyze Magic is also recommended (but not necessary).

 

While there is no limit on the size of a player’s magic multipower reserve, no single slot can have more than 45 active points.  “Odd ball” spell builds will need the GM’s approval.

 

Much like the priesthood has its network of temples and mages have The Circle of Sequestered Magics, rogues have their own “professional organization.”  The Thieves’ Guild protects members who ply their trade in major population centers.  In exchange for this protection the Guild expects members to regularly report on their activities, and to forward 20% of their “take” to the local Guildmaster or his assigned underboss.

 

Most local Thieves Guilds are associated with a larger organization called The Black Hand.  The Black Hand is lead by a shadowy figure known as The Master of Assassins, or sometimes more simple The Old Man.   The Black Hand is known to insert itself into all manner of business, legitimate, illicit, and governmental.

 

In some cities independent thieves’ guilds operate separate from the greater Thieves’ Guild.  Whenever these independent guilds operate in cities in competition with the Thieves’ Guild, their conflict is marked by constant bloodshed, and by the extreme violence of their criminal activity.

 

Membership in the Thieves’ Guild is a perk, and has obligations as well as privileges.   Membership in the Black Hand would, therefore, come with ever greater obligations.

 

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Over all pretty good and coherent. But you haven't touched on issues like OCV/DCV and Damage. You might want to give guidelines for these so that the players have a ball-park to aim for.

 

I take it that the campaign is intended to be low magic. I suspect that you will get next to no effective magicians at the point caps you have imposed for spells. But magic could work well for utility sort of things - invisibility, detects, silence, etc.

 

I would't add the penalty for wearing armour. It's an artificial construct that snuck into RPGs for no good reason I can see and will penalise spell casters unnecessarily.

 

cheers.

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At these point levels, and with Normal characteristics maximums, CV is self regulating.  DEXes will run between 12 and 18, with CVs between 4 and 6.  

 

And damage breaks out at 9 DCs.- a 45 active point feat, or a 45 active point spell, or a fighter with a 2-handed sword and Deadly Blow.

 

I envision players will break down their points as 60 for stats, 45 for skills, and 45 for "feats."  A mage could spend 16 points on a 45 point Magic MP and the rest on spells.  A fighter would spend 15 points on Deadly Blow and the rest on stats.  A rogue would buy more skills.

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Actually plenty of literature has examples of people in armour using magic.

 

I've gone and mined an old thread from ENWorld for a bunch of examples:

 

Literature:

Elric (and other wizards in the Young Kingdoms.)

Belgarath (the Belgariad)

The Knights from Elenium and Tamuli series.

The White Witch (Narnia)

Loads of the Elf Lords from the Silmarillion are mighty enchanters and wear armour. Although magic is very low key in Middle Earth and there is only one example I can think of where an Elf Lord who was (presumably) wearing armour entered into a actual magic battle - Finrod vs. Sauron. And presumably Sauron wore armour for that too. He seems to have worn it in later battles.

The Witch King of Angmar (Lord of the Rings)

Doctor Doom (Marvel Comics)

Thulsa Doom (Conan the barbarian movie)

The Taken (The Black Company) 

Skeletor (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe)

Malagigi - one of the the 12 Paladins of Charlemagne

Lots of the Aes Sedai and such in the Wheel of Time (I don't actually remember this myself, as it has been a long time since I read them.)

Eragon (Eragon series) (I haven't read it and I must admit I thought Eragon was a dragon... but hey, this is what happens when you go quoting the internets without doing additional research.)

 

 

I may be wrong on this one but hasn't Harry Dresden donned kevlar on the odd occasion?

 

 

Non-Specific Examples (none mentioned specific characters and I am not personally familiar with the work and thus can't fill in the gaps.)

The Deryni series

Elizabeth Moons Gird series

Anime as a while genre

 

Games where wearing armour is not prohibited for spell casters

Warhammer

Shadowrun

Basic DND - Elves only

Ars Magica

 

 

So to sum up - there's plenty of examples of wizards in armour to be found in literature.

 

OK, my saying that the trope of wizards not wearing armour has "no good reason" is wrong. The reason is game balance. But I think there's other ways of managing game balance that still allow for a spell caster in armour. A trope that I personally would enjoy playing.

 

Of course it's your game so your rules.

 

cheers.

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"It's an artificial construct that snuck into RPGs for no good reason"

 

It's a way to help enforce genera.  You just don't see mages in chain mail & helm in the source material.

 

You do, but they tend to be highly powerful dudes who could easily have sufficient sorcery skill to offset any armor penalty.   Conan has certainly cut down his share of sorcerers who ought to have been wearing armor if they could have.

 

Game balance is not exactly "no good reason".

 

OTOH it could be argued that some wizards don't wear armor because they don't need to.  Force field or resistant defenses are really really cheap, especially if you can stick them in a multipower.

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Actually plenty of literature has examples of people in armour using magic.

 

I've gone and mined an old thread from ENWorld for a bunch of examples:

 

Literature:

Elric (and other wizards in the Young Kingdoms.)

Belgarath (the Belgariad)

The Knights from Elenium and Tamuli series.

The White Witch (Narnia)

Loads of the Elf Lords from the Silmarillion are mighty enchanters and wear armour. Although magic is very low key in Middle Earth and there is only one example I can think of where an Elf Lord who was (presumably) wearing armour entered into a actual magic battle - Finrod vs. Sauron. And presumably Sauron wore armour for that too. He seems to have worn it in later battles.

The Witch King of Angmar (Lord of the Rings)

Doctor Doom (Marvel Comics)

Thulsa Doom (Conan the barbarian movie)

The Taken (The Black Company) 

Skeletor (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe)

Malagigi - one of the the 12 Paladins of Charlemagne

Lots of the Aes Sedai and such in the Wheel of Time (I don't actually remember this myself, as it has been a long time since I read them.)

Eragon (Eragon series) (I haven't read it and I must admit I thought Eragon was a dragon... but hey, this is what happens when you go quoting the internets without doing additional research.)

 

 

I may be wrong on this one but hasn't Harry Dresden donned kevlar on the odd occasion?

 

 

Non-Specific Examples (none mentioned specific characters and I am not personally familiar with the work and thus can't fill in the gaps.)

The Deryni series

Elizabeth Moons Gird series

Anime as a while genre

 

Games where wearing armour is not prohibited for spell casters

Warhammer

Shadowrun

Basic DND - Elves only

Ars Magica

 

 

So to sum up - there's plenty of examples of wizards in armour to be found in literature.

 

OK, my saying that the trope of wizards not wearing armour has "no good reason" is wrong. The reason is game balance. But I think there's other ways of managing game balance that still allow for a spell caster in armour. A trope that I personally would enjoy playing.

 

Of course it's your game so your rules.

 

cheers.

Also Exalted

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You do, but they tend to be highly powerful dudes who could easily have sufficient sorcery skill to offset any armor penalty.   Conan has certainly cut down his share of sorcerers who ought to have been wearing armor if they could have.

He did? He never event met the main Evil Sorcerer dude.

 

And one has to distinguish between "wizards don't wear armor" and "nobody in that situation wears armor". Your average Plotting Vizier has no reason to wear chainmail just like anyone else at the caliph's court (except guards, of course). The same goes for sages in their towers, priestly magic users in their temples or city-bound scholars.

 

Also, the distinction between "clerics" and "wizards" is rather artificial, and one does get to wear armor for some kind of reason.

 

Game balance is not exactly "no good reason".

Again, clerics. Or rPD, UoO. In lots of settings where mages can't wear armor, this doesn't mean that they're going around with force fields on all the time. Actually, quite often they've got no proper means to up their defenses. Often due to "game balance", but there are many ways to skin that peculiar cat.

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In my honest opinion the whole wizards can't use metal armor thing is a DDism and its irrational I can think of many more examples from fantasy and fiction where characters are able to use armor and other tools at the same time that they use magic. However in examples that are DD based you end up seeing these weird limitations like wizard cannot heal or wizards can't use armor, very inconsistent with the genre. So to me the whole idea is it ludicrous its a DDism that is not adding to our game and I hate it.
We already have other limiting factors, so the wizard choosing to pay points for some of his abilities means he disqualifies to use the free equipment everyone else has access to?

On the other hand if a players designs his magic to have a restrainable limitation then I do not have a problem because he was compensated with points.

 

Do we limit the fighters deadly blow to not include when he wears armor? It is a metagame rule that only applies to one special effect. :(

 

PS: this post like all my post was made in my phone so if it becomes indecipherable I apologize. 

 

Edited once I got home from a PC.

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Absolutely magic-users shouldn't be able to wear armour. Stands to reason. Also, thieves should be limited to something called "banded leather armour," clerics should only be able to use blunt-force weapons; druids should have to master swords with sickle-shaped blades; barbarians shouldn't wear armour, but should get cheap Combat Luck levels; Dark Elves should be able to wield scimitars in both hands simultaneously; assassins should have the unique ability to kill people with a single dice roll; two percent of very smart people should have extra, balance-destroying magic-like powers; experience points earned by monk-class characters should be useless; cavaliers must take a Total Commitment-level "Berserk versus All Evil characters;" bard-class characters should be able to take more physical damage than huge, ancient dragons...

 

Look, we have to be logical here, and extrapolate our premises to the obvious and reasonable conclusions.

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If you want to use a "balancing" factor like magic users can't wear armor, then give it a campaign specific reason. in rolemaster (i run fantasy hero in RM's campaign setting shadow world) magic users cant wear metal armor because the metal interferes with the manipulation of the essence. channelers (clerics) in that setting are similairly limited, but not nearly so much as essence users because their source of power is somewhat different. mentalists in that setting can wear armor but not a helmet.

 

This doesnt mean the characters literally cant wear the appropriate armor...they can. but if they do so, they take major penalties to spellcasting, which in rolemaster can be very bad if you fail by enough points.

 

How i deal with this in HERO is the metal interferes with channeling the essence properly which generally translates to a -3 spellcasting penalty in full metal armor, -2 penalty in partial metal armor but only a -1 in softer armors. (Discomfort and distraction)

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I've seen several explanations for the "mages can't wear armor" phenomenon from an in-game perspective. The most common one is probably material canceling access to magical power. Quite often this is iron (cf. faerie legends?), sometimes all sorts of metal. One source links this to electrical conductivity for some kind of reason, where everything worse than gold is posing a problem (which leaves gold, silver and copper). Druids usually get it even worse. Sometimes these restrictions encompass all occurrances of said material, and not just armor as a "magical Faraday cage". This also solves the "mages can't use proper weapons" issue, if that's a problem with you. Although you have to be really tight-fisted here (i.e. go the "silver dagger" route), or else you'll still easily circumvent the archetype: If daggers and quarterstaffs are okay, then spears are good, too. And wham, you can run around like your average Viking.

 

Then there are the non-magical "solutions". My favorite is the legal one: Wizards are often in guilds, and guild dress codes were a thing. This might even force you to wear that silly hat and the robes. The other common one doesn't seem as suited to non-class-based games like HERO: The assumption that armor is really, really difficult to wear. Even if you have the godlike physique of Adonis, you'll be stumbling over your own feet if you haven't worn chainmail regularly in your tweens. As I've said, if you're not class-based, this seems rather artificial, especially if your view of medieval reality doesn't start and end with the Court Jester (which is the best movie ever, but not probably not your go to guide when it comes to knightly realism).

 

Loopholes abound here. If you're not overly restrictive in the justifications, it's easy to find something that technically is okay. If iron is forbidden, there's leather or even bronze (the latter being 100% as good as iron, if a bit more expensive). You have to be free to make intricate gestures? Well, then just don't wear anything on the arms. A helmet and breastplate are probably the first thing anyone sensible would wear if combat is imminent.

If we're walking through cliche land anyways, you'll also have to pay attention the the elves. Why are they allowed to run around all fancy-prancy?

 

 

But in the end coming up with something that requires a sufficiently low level of handwaving isn't all that hard. But the big question would still be why you want it that way in the first place?

 

Is it all about style and the wizardly archetype? Then you probably would want to include a good reason for the robes and staff, too. If that image is that important, tight hose and a courtly doublet might be as bad as byrnie.

 

Game balance is a bit more difficult. If you have a very wide, unrestricted variety of spells this is almost a non-issue. I don't think that having to spend some measly points on a force field spell is any kind of balance. The advantages probably outweigh the investment (always accessible, potentially more protective). If the mage as a "glass cannon" is the goal, restrictions on protective spells should go hand in hand with the restrictions on mundane protection.

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I'm supprised that there is so much discussion over one aspect that I was only THINKING of adding, and so little over that things I actually put in.

 

I'd really like to discuss my approach to magic.

 

I'm not TOO worried over the X2 END restriction.  4 END isn't that costly for a 3rdRKA, and if the player wanted he could blast away with 0 END 2d6RKAs all night. 

 

And In my head it just makes sense that magic would be a multipower, and characters would spend experince points to "learn" new spells.

 

I know that eventually playerd are going to want to convert their Multipowers to a VPP.  I'm going to tell them "No."  I think letting a player come up with any power he wants at any time he wants is game breaking at this level.  I want players to have to make decitions, and have those decitions have consiquences. 

 

"I knew I should have learned that flying spell instead of another mystic blast!"

 

I really like the idea of letting spell casters use their Sorcery skill to counterspell the casting of other spell users.  I fugure it won't take long before one of the players becomes Mr. Spell Jammer, particularly if I have an NPC caster interupt their casting over and over in an early encounter. 

 

This will lead to players wanting a high Sorcery skill, and what is, IMO, the biggest restriction - Linking the Sorcery skill to Thaumaturgy skill, and Thaumaturgy skill level to library level.

 

Getting access to a level 13 library will be fairly east, and a level 15 library only mildly more difficult.  Higher level magic and sacred texts will be rare, most will be bogus, some actually detrimental to Thaumaturge skill, and a few will be Chathulu-esque (Mu Wa Ha Ha Ha!!!).

 

In fact i see the search for high level magic tombs geing a prime motivator for adventuring.

 

Mages seeking to find lost books.

 

Theives trying to steal them.

 

Fighters hired to protect them.

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Multi-power magic systems are the easiest to regulate. it's not expensive for characters to add new spells, so it's easy for them to generate a large repetoire of spells if you desire that in your campaign. they limit the amount of power a mage can throw around all at once. they are essentially a no-brainer as far as i'm concerned. i've been rocking a multi-power based magic system since the 4th edition even when the designers said you werent allowed to do that (wait, what? isn't that the individual GM's decision?)

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I'm supprised that there is so much discussion over one aspect that I was only THINKING of adding, and so little over that things I actually put in.

 

I'd really like to discuss my approach to magic.

 

I'm not TOO worried over the X2 END restriction.  4 END isn't that costly for a 3rdRKA, and if the player wanted he could blast away with 0 END 2d6RKAs all night. 

 

And In my head it just makes sense that magic would be a multipower, and characters would spend experince points to "learn" new spells.

 

I know that eventually playerd are going to want to convert their Multipowers to a VPP.  I'm going to tell them "No."  I think letting a player come up with any power he wants at any time he wants is game breaking at this level.  I want players to have to make decitions, and have those decitions have consiquences. 

 

"I knew I should have learned that flying spell instead of another mystic blast!"

 

I really like the idea of letting spell casters use their Sorcery skill to counterspell the casting of other spell users.  I fugure it won't take long before one of the players becomes Mr. Spell Jammer, particularly if I have an NPC caster interupt their casting over and over in an early encounter. 

 

This will lead to players wanting a high Sorcery skill, and what is, IMO, the biggest restriction - Linking the Sorcery skill to Thaumaturgy skill, and Thaumaturgy skill level to library level.

 

Getting access to a level 13 library will be fairly east, and a level 15 library only mildly more difficult.  Higher level magic and sacred texts will be rare, most will be bogus, some actually detrimental to Thaumaturge skill, and a few will be Chathulu-esque (Mu Wa Ha Ha Ha!!!).

 

In fact i see the search for high level magic tombs geing a prime motivator for adventuring.

 

Mages seeking to find lost books.

 

Theives trying to steal them.

 

Fighters hired to protect them.

 

Overall i think your guidelines are pretty good. I would recommend changing the combat luck talents by removing the skill roll. As they are designed every attack will require 3 rolls, the magic users requiring a skill roll will require four rolls per action. Outside of combat this may make sense, but I can tell you from experience unless you are using an automated system like Roll20 it will drag out.

 

Also consider consecutive rolls reduce likelihood proportionally. 

Example

1 roll at 10- is a 50% success

 

2 rolls at 10- is a 25% success

3 rolls at 10- is a 12.5% success

4 rolls at 10- is a 6.67% success

 

It makes combat drag down a lot if multiple people are doing it.

 

If the intent is that the Sorcery skill is only used as a counter then that is fine, but the required skill roll even at a 13- makes a mage's spells fail ~30% of the time before even making an attack roll.

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I can't stress enough what a good point Ndreare is making. Systems with that level of action-reaction in combat may be more tactically deep, but they pay for it in combat length. Not only are there more die rolls per action, but since some them can nullify actions, a lot of turns get wasted as people try to do things and get nowhere. That can really drag down everyone's enjoyment. Combat starts to feel like a chore after your third turn in a row where your attack just fails due to probability. If you and your players like that kind of combat, then go nuts. But if they haven't agreed to it, and especially if they're newer to the game, I'd stay away from that kind of thing.

 

It also feels to me as though the library -> Thaumaturgy -> Sorcery restriction mechanic is a little roundabout. Again, your group's preferences may differ, but separating understanding of magic and actual execution of it into separate skills but then making the latter dependent on the former anyway feels mostly like a points tax for spellcasting. Which is fine if it's what you like, but at that point why not use a simpler tax? It sounds like Thaumaturgy and Sorcery will probably always be at the same rating anyway--most wizard players I've seen prefer power over understanding--so why not use perk requirements or some other tax that is less work for the players to manage? For example, instead of needing to pay money to boost a skill to boost another skill to use spells better, you could have them pay the money to be able to boost their one magic skill, and also have a collection of cheap perks that are required for access to specific spell types or base effects or what have you. It creates a slightly different dynamic than in the original--players could get a better Sorcery rating more cheaply if they were willing to skimp on versatility--but it helps create the sense that they are spending points to gain something new, rather than just paying extra.

 

Though that brings up another potential problem: ability to grow. As you pointed out, a 45-point Reserve with the appropriate minimum limitations would cost 16 points, and each slot in a Multipower is generally pretty cheap. Wizard PCs will easily be able to start with 45-Active Point spells, and there really isn't anywhere to go from there. They can learn more of them, and get better at casting them, but that 3d6 single-target Fireblast spell that a mage starts with will end up being the pinnacle of his craft, at least in terms of base damage. A wizard could create a variant of an existing spell that can be Usable on Others or that has a Time Limit, but it will always be weaker than what the base version is capable of; you can't pay more to give an existing spell new functionality. It also means that starting characters can rival the great master mages of the setting from character creation--unless NPCs have higher limits, in which case the PCs may end up frustrated--and that seems weird. Again, it could be what you want from your campaign, just make sure you're doing it deliberately. If it is problematic but you don't want to change your Active Point limit, it could be solved easily enough with Talents or the like; maybe advanced mages can get Combat Skill Levels or Weaponmaster for some spells, or apply Talents like Rapid Archery (from Fantasy HERO) to spells instead of weapons.

 

Lastly, I recommend getting rid of the "fake books damage your Sorcery rating" rule. Not much feels worse in a tabletop than having your hard-earned character advances taken away, especially if it's for trying to get better. If you're going to put obstacles in the way of becoming a better wizard, I strongly suggest that you don't punish the players for trying to overcome those obstacles.

 

All of this is just advice, though. If you think that what you have is better, remember that I'm just some stranger on the Internet who does not know your GMing style or player group as well as you do. I don't want to come off as mean or overly critical. Just trying to bring up a few factors that you might want to keep in mind.

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Hmmm.  So eliminate the Characteristic roll for Combat Luck.  I can see that.

 

Eliminate Thaumaturgy as a middle step and just have libraries and the Sorcery skill.  I can see that, too.  I want to keep the Sorcery skill roll because I want to include the counterspell game mechanic.  And I want to use use "find the ancient, high level spell book" as a campaign mechanic.

 

I'm not too worried about players missing rolls. I have a clear path to any starting character having a Sorcery skill of 15, and in a world where the city guards & common orcs will have CVs of 4 it's not hard for starting characters to have an OCV of 9.

 

Spell Users can still "grow" as casters, not by slinging bigger spells but by growing their pool size and having MORE spells active at a time.  I really can't see my way clear to allowing casters to sling more than 9 DCs if non-casters won't be able to throw more than 9 DCs.

 

I like the specter of "fake books damage your Sorcery rating" even if i never use it in game play.

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Non-casters should be able to produce damage as high as 12DC given the appropriate writeups.

 

A very strong fighter (STR 23) with a two-handed sword (Base DC 6) can get +1DC from Strength, can gain +2DC from Martial Arts...that's 9DC right there.  An expert swordsman with 6 combat skill levels can hit 12DCs. 

Wowsie Dowsie!  12 DCs in a 100+50 campaign?

 

I was playing in a 75+50 campaign recently.  I made a swordsman.  With an 18 STR, a bastard sword, shield, Deadly Blow and some combat skill levels I was rocking an OCV of 9, DCV of 9, SPD of 4 and swinging for 3d6 HtH KA.

 

The only problem was every other PC had a CV of 4, SPD of 3, and was swinging a 1 or 1 1/2 d6 KA.

 

It really BROKE the campaign.  I'm trying to avoid that in this one.

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Wowsie Dowsie!  12 DCs in a 100+50 campaign?

 

I was playing in a 75+50 campaign recently.  I made a swordsman.  With an 18 STR, a bastard sword, shield, Deadly Blow and some combat skill levels I was rocking an OCV of 9, DCV of 9, SPD of 4 and swinging for 3d6 HtH KA.

 

The only problem was every other PC had a CV of 4, SPD of 3, and was swinging a 1 or 1 1/2 d6 KA.

 

It really BROKE the campaign.  I'm trying to avoid that in this one.

yes, but in a 150ish campaign, everyone slinging 4D6 killing attacks will break the game.  Occasionally hitting 4D6k is okay.  Your fighters should regularly sling attacks between 6 and 9 DC to be fairly balanced.  Please note that what I mean by "balanced" is the PC's winning far more often than not. (they are the stars of the show after all)

 

A fighter with the stats you listed above against low grade enemies will routinely slaughter them.  In my opinion, this is okay for the most part.  There WILL be times when he'll face off against a warrior of equal skill and strength and the battle will be 50/50.

 

You really have to keep an eye on that Deadly Blow Talent though.  That sucker (along with Combat Luck) can throw a games balance all off if it's not accounted for at the onset of the game.  I support Deadly Blow in my games, but at much lesser level of effect that what was suggested in the 5th edition (not sure how 6th does it).  IMO, Deadly blow should be available in 3 levels, +1DC, +2DC and +3DC with the +3DC version being very rare, and it must be limited to some specific application. (vs a specific enemy, with a Requires Skill Roll, costs Extra END...etc)

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