daryen / Skeeve

As the TL;DR version:

To specifically "check for traps" with advantage requires Trap Master.

To check if things are odd, which might be (or might not be) a trap can be done with Perception. Perception does not say it is a trap; it just says something out-of-place is there.

I should not mention traps direction with Perception checks. Skeeve just looks for things that are odd or out-of-place.

That fits with what I understood. Skeeve can look for clues but may not discern things that are due to a lack of training/experience (ie he does not have the trait).

Great! I'm there with that. I will state my searches and investigations more specifically going forward.

Or maybe someone with Trap Master will join. 🙂

Or get Ealdwig to pick out up

Skeeve will take the Geomancy trait. I'll let you add it to my character sheet so that it's description is correct. However, since the magical disciplines are all named after gemstones, this one should be, too. If you don't have a better one, how about calling it Topaz Magic?

For the rest, I'm gonna save it so I can try to get the Diehard trait. I know that it isn't the best trait for getting HP, but I really like how it can really fit in with his whole "altered by the fey" thing he has going on.

Latest thoughts. Changed Shift to remove duplicate functionality with onyx magic. You can use either Shift.

Geomancy : The magic of patterns and dimension

Apophenia: You detect connections and decipher patterns beyond normal perception.

Affix : Test to lock a section of reality until the start of your next turn. This can lock items, elements, and even space. Locking an area creates a translucent 10x10 or smaller barrier. Once created an action without a test is required to maintain the lock. Locks can be broken with 1 point of damage.

Realign: Your touch can repair items and heal wounds. You restore 1 point of damage per success rolled.

Shift: Test to alter one aspect of items that can be held in one hand.
By testing with disadvantage items half your size can be affected. Depending on the nature of the shift it can be permanent or temporary. Aspects include size, shape, color, weight, texture, taste, smell, and more.

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Shift : Test to move any object or creature you see from an area nearby to you or vice versa. The shift cannot bypass sold barriers. Test with disadvantage to extend the range of the source or destination. A Save is allowed if the target is unwilling.

On Shift, here is what I am thinking ...

The Push power in Onyx Magic is purely combat oriented and only affects others. It could theoretically just be part of the main Hurl power, but I view Hurl as more just pure TK which allows for manipulation and control. Push was just there to do what it says on the tin: push someone else away. There is no teleport and the person physically moves through the intervening space. Also, it can't pull; it only pushes away. Everything else is covered by Hurl. I should have asked for it to be violent so it would knock the target down if they failed a save, but I didn't, so it is what it is.

What I want with Shift is a personal short-range teleport. I want it to allow Skeeve to use the short-range teleport. If it helps, can we call it Blink or Door instead of Shift. Honestly, I am willing to have it work only on Skeeve. In fact, how about this:

Blink : You may instantaneously move yourself up to two range bands (I dunno, 50 feet?) without passing through the intervening space. No roll is required, it simply functions as a move, except for the distance and that it is a teleportation effect. You must be able to see the destination, and the way to the destination cannot be completely blocked.

Is that workable?

Also, I'd like to call it Topaz Magic, so it stays with the base gem-theme with the names.

Teleport/Blink is fine to a point. As this is something that is beyond normal mundane activities I think it needs a roll of some kind. If you want guaranteed success then there has to be another failure penalty other than not teleporting.

EX: Blink : You may instantaneously move yourself without passing through the intervening space whether close or far. You must roll a save, at disadvantage if the distance is Far, or your next roll is at Disadvantage / Take 1 damage / can not take steps (move without an action).

Though some magic does not require a roll those thing usually mimic mundane activities. Ex: Onyx Shield

I am ok with having to roll. Rolling for activation is fine. On the other hand, rolling to avoid a bad thing is cool, too. I kinda like that because it's different. How about if the roll fails the next action (not turn) is lost? Otherwise taking one damage point is fine, too. Actually, let's go with the point of damage. That gives the option of losing an action (by healing) or living with the damage.

On Apophenia, there used to be something about discerning the meaning of unknown languages. Did that go away? If not, that'd be cool for those times where we run into weird sayings or things written on walls. Obviously it would be good for reading a book or full document, but rather for figuring out the gist or intent of phrases, headings, inscriptions, and very short things like that. Or is that just kinda included in the short description?

Languages are party of the patterns. It is just a specific that I left of as I didn't think it was needed. Track it in as an example of your want the reminder

Works for me. Thanks! I'm excited for this!

I'm banking the last six so I can save up for Diehard.

After that, who knows?

Another thing, for my fourth rune, can Skeeve work with both Rikia (I assume she's still in the background serving as an employee of Fiznik) and Braun to learn the rune for Life?

The point is that it would then let me make scrolls for things like cure disease, remove poison, healing, and such like that. When he gets ambitious enough to try a three word scroll, he might even be able to do more!

Research into magic is costly and mages are reluctant to share their words. 100 gold to gain a precious "Life" word. Roll a standard test to see if you can learn the new word of power.

OK - this self crafting Spell Reader progression is a bit of unexplored territory and I think we worked out most of the initial details earlier. However I think there needs to be a XP cost to learn more words as the # of words you know is also the Max # words you can put on a scroll. Plus it expands the utility of this trait. The original trail had scrolls controlled by GM. I want to allow flexibility but it has to follow the existing framework as closely as possible.

The cost of the Trait in XP grown with the # of words. Cost = 1+#*#. So 3 words = 10 XP, 4 = 17 XP, 5 = 26 XP . . .
So to learn the new word would require 7 XP.

As I said in the story chat researching or purchasing a word would be expensive. I am actually thinking 100 GP for a word is cheap as that is the price to craft a scroll. But due to story history I am fine with leaving that as stated. Still thinking on this for future reference though.

These are initial thought, open to feedback, but the premise of power comes from XP must be maintained.

Hmm. If I remember, Rikia had four to start with. I just had three. However, functionally, I have only actually used two. So, if you want to make this harder work for me, well, first of all that's perfectly fine. In fact, we can drop me back to just the two words if that will make it work better for you. Note that I am not asking to swap out the third word. I'm willing to entirely drop it if it'll help you recalibrate. While I freely admit I will try to take what is available to me, I want this to be fun for everyone, including you. So I am fully willing to only have two words if that makes things easier for you, especially if you get any more spell readers in the future. Heck, we can drop the runes entirely and just use the book-standard Scroll Reader, if the runes will cause too many issues.

Also, I only asked about Rikia's approach because Skeeve has only ever found a single scroll. I might not have even thought about it, except that using that one scroll was awesome and I had no way to get more. (Yes, I know we can technically buy them, but they are very expensive!) Since it didn't look like I was gonna find anymore, I asked about being able to make my own.

Another point is that if Skeeve finds any other rune based scroll readers, he'd definitely trade. We just have found any. And, again, he's happy to trade. He isn't expecting anything for free.

Back to the current situation, to make sure I understand.
1) I can learn a maximum of four words total?
2) It costs both gold AND XP to learn a new word?
3) Is there anyone in the base beside the NPC Rikia that knows words? (I assume at least Fiznik and maybe Valpip, but I don't know that for sure.)
4) Is there anyway to research a word? I mean Skeeve has an entire arcane library at his disposal. It would seem a shame to waste it.
5) Are there any limitations on what word that can be gained? Is it limited to an arbitrary pool of what's available, or can he research pretty much whatever he wants? (Obviously, when trading, it is whatever the other mage has. I mean when gaining one through research/gold.)

Again, let's just drop me to the two words I have used so that we can more properly reset and not let things get too nuts. I get nothing direct back for this. This is just to help,reset things. Then, depending on your clarifications, we can work on getting Skeeve a new word.

Edit: to be absolutely clear, I am fine with whatever changes are needed. Just trying to understand the new rules so I can adapt and move forward. I am willing to be as flexible as needed.

Rikia was a test case and I never though too deeply on expanding the # of words and its impact on the trait. A simple solution would be to simply divest the max word scroll from words known. As you know the ability to craft scrolls it not in the rules so all of this is extra anyhow. I added this feature primarily to allow Spell Reader to gain access to scrolls so that they woulld have options without relying on random drops in adventure. The addition of magic shops is to supliment this. I will work on adding more into the story as appropriate.

I think a simple solution is to keep the base "Spell Reader" trait limited in the tier of scrolls it can produce. An additional trait would allow the crafing of more powerful scrolls to reflect the increase in power it provides.

Revised Spell Reader :
You have spent years learning the true language of the arcane world, allowing you to read power-laced words to unleash their effects. You have mastered a few arcane words that you can combine to craft into runes or talisman to activate at a later time

Gaining this trait grants you three words of power to start. A single new word can be learned from any talisman or scroll with a successful test but doing so destroys the item pass or fail.

Using the words known define the desired effect and test to create a rune or talisman. Failure requires you to restart the process. Runes contain only a single word and produce simple magic equivalent to magic disciplines. Talisman can contain any number of words and have a greater effect.

To successfully read a scroll, talisman, or rune perform a standard 2d6 Test . When successfully read, the magic of the scroll takes effect, and the scroll turns to dust. If the Test is failed, the magic is not invoked and the scroll is unaffected.


New Trait : Scroll Scribe (Requires Spell Reader)
You can craft scrolls of immense power . . .

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Thus the # of words limits only the effect created an not the power

With these revisions gaining words is less prohibitive.

Life is a rare word mostly the ability is held by priests and druids who don't use words. + Baun is a natural healer and can help you research for a price
+ Valpip is an artificer and uses as different system of power
+ Fiznik is a wizard and knows many words. I will come up with a list.
+ Rikia knows Fire, Shield, Wind, Speed and will trade

OK, so I keep the three words I had before, and my search for the Life word will end up being a quest of sorts to find it. Cool. I can get behind that. Works for me. We can figure out how he goes about that later.

So, now I have new questions:
1) I can't make scrolls unless I have the Scroll Scribe trait? So I can't make my scrolls anymore?
2) In addition to scrolls, I can make Runes and Talismans? I guess they work kinda like scrolls, but they can't be terribly powerful? Do they turn to dust, too, or do they just lose their magic until "repowered"? (It'd be nice if talismans can be reusable.)
3) Not sure what the Disciplines entry is for. Is that things like Onyx and Crystal magic?

So, if I am understanding this all correctly, those two scrolls I created were not actually scrolls, but were actually talismans? That means my supplies for one-word scrolls are now for making Runes, and my new supplies for two-word scrolls are now for making Talismans? I'm fine with that, but I just want to make sure. Will the Talismans still be about as powerful as those two-word scrolls were, or will they be less powerful?

Also, if I am right about Disciplines, then their "Power" entry should be "varies". They cover a range.

I understand things are evolving, so I am just trying to keep up!

So, do I need to have Skeeve take Alchemist so we can go through all of this for potions?

(Just joking, but I imagine that one would get messy, too.)