Mastery Replacement

[Iron Dragoon]

This is a rough idea Dune and I came up with to replace High/Grand Mastery with since its been pointed out that Darius is on the fast-track to those masteries.. As he now qualifies for High Mastery.. This was made to fit more in-line with the Beast Rider class and give it some extra depth and in-game interaction.

What we're looking for here is some feed back on it.
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In place of High Mastery/ Grand Mastery: Beast Rider specific fighting style.

A sort of mix between the Elven Bladesinger, similar principles of Kung-Fu, and mysticism similar to Native Americans. The style consists of multiple 'stances' or 'forms.' Each stance/form brings out a specific aspect, both phsically and mentally, in the Beast Rider that relates to the Totem animal and his mount.

Each stance lasts for one round per character level. During this time the PC is gains the noted benefits of that stance as well as takes on a mental aspect related to the stance. On a related note, be aware that the more a stance is used the more that stance's mindset affects the character.

In order to learn this style, at the first rank the Beast Rider must return to his Tribe. He must then be found worthy by his fellow Beast Riders. His worth is proved through various tests, each determined by the Beast Rider giving the test. After the character has proven his worth to a number of fellow Beast Riders determined by the GM, the Tribe's Holy Man takes the character to a Holy Place of the Tribe.

At this Holy Place, the character is put into a trance and the spirits of past Beast Riders and their Totem Mounts are called forth. The character is then tested by these spirits. The Totem tests the character first, to determine if he/she is able to form a stronger connection to the Totem Beast.

During this test by the Totem, the character has the aspect related to the stance/form he is attempting to learn brought out in him/her, to the point where it dominates his/her personality, reducing him/her to an animalistic state. The character must then be able to regain his own personality in order to pass the test (or however the GM determines to test the PC). After the character passes the Totem's test, he is then confronted by the spirit of the Beast Rider.

The character must engage the spirit in combat and defend himself/herself against the stance he/she is attempting to learn. Once this test is passed, the spirit of the Beast Rider then imparts the knowledge to the character. This testing must be done for each individual stance attempting to be learned.

Note that the character may not be able to learn all stances, as the character's personality may be incapable of bringing forth some aspects. I.E.- a character who is massively huge and has almost no skills in stealth or a low Dexterity score may not be able to attain the Agility inherant in the Totem to learn the corraspondant stance.

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As noted, each stance lasts for 1 round per character level. A stance must be declared at the start of the round. Initiative and action modifiers vary by stance, check each stance's description for details. When in effect the aspect of the totem explified comes to the forefront - a trait of agility or stealth would influence how Darius approaches a battle differently than how an aspect of ferocity would.

On the end of the stance, the Beast Rider is slightly dazed - he suffers a -2 to all attack rolls, a +2 to saves, a +2 to initiative, and a +2 to armor class, as well as losing any dexterity bonuses. This lasts one round unless noted otherwise. A stance can be ended early at the Beast Rider's discretion. Penalties deminish by a factor of 1 per rank in the style.

Stances:
1.) Bonus to Damage: Raw power of the Totem's Jaws.
[ +1 to STR; +1 to all physically based hit and damage rolls.]

2.) Bonus to Hit: The inherant Lethalness of the Totem.
[+1 STR; +5-20% chance of Knock down and/or Disarm on sucessful hit.]

3.) Bonus to AC: Agility of the Totem.
[+1 to DEX; -1 to AC; +1 to all check for actions based on DEX.]

4.) Ability to fight until Death: Tenacity and Ferocity of the Totem.
Suggests this be changed to: +1 CON; Beast Rider stays concious during combat until Death (-10 Hit Points); if the Beast Rider does not kill his foe, he/she goes into shock; must make a System Shock check, and a 1d4/2d4 roll to see how many days he/she will be in a 'coma.'

[Dracos]

I'd suggest those being +2s, but this isn't 3rd ed and there's no linearization of it so probably best as is.

Neat stuff though.  Good differentiation.

Edit:

Needs better names though.  Something tribal or whatnot.  You've got descriptive names there, but they've got like a zero coolness factor to state in game.  If you had to talk about your stances in the game, it'd be a royal pain in the neck.

Dracos

[Asrana]

Needs to define the Str bonus a bit better.

If you go from 17 to 18 in the happening of the stance, what occurs?

That said, I think more direct statistical bonuses rather than Str bonuses might be a better idea.

Otherwise looks good, as Drac said, maybe brainstorm some more tribal names or the like. >_>;

[Carthrat]

I agree with basically everything that's been said, and I also think further clarification on how your bonuses pile up would be awesome.

I assume that basically, if you take two ranks in stance x you double it's effectiveness, and so on and so forth.

[Anastasia]

Needs better names though. Something tribal or whatnot. You've got descriptive names there, but they've got like a zero coolness factor to state in game. If you had to talk about your stances in the game, it'd be a royal pain in the neck.

Agreed.

Needs to define the Str bonus a bit better.

If you go from 17 to 18 in the happening of the stance, what occurs?

That said, I think more direct statistical bonuses rather than Str bonuses might be a better idea.

Mmmm. Yeah, there's a point here with how silly exceptional strength can be at times. Reading #mk and this, I may just change it to a flat stacking mod instead.

I agree with basically everything that's been said, and I also think further clarification on how your bonuses pile up would be awesome.

I assume that basically, if you take two ranks in stance x you double it's effectiveness, and so on and so forth.

That's coming. I want to get everything else in order before worrying about the fun of twin, er stacking.

[Dracos]

I'd suggest, re:stacking, that it'd be more of the 'two styles meshed' than the 'I can stand even more fiercely in raging tiger style and double my bonuses', if only because doubling is generally avoided by the system already in favor of stacked alternate bonuses and it has the real potential to get out of hand.  (3 totem's jaws = +3 to hit and damage and likely another +3 to hit +3-4 to damage.  That's liable to overstep the entirety of his original attack damage).

Dracos

[Anastasia]

I'd suggest, re:stacking, that it'd be more of the 'two styles meshed' than the 'I can stand even more fiercely in raging tiger style and double my bonuses', if only because doubling is generally avoided by the system already in favor of stacked alternate bonuses and it has the real potential to get out of hand.  (3 totem's jaws = +3 to hit and damage and likely another +3 to hit +3-4 to damage.  That's liable to overstep the entirety of his original attack damage).

Dracos

EDIT for reading comprehension:

Yeah, basically. Balance issues and all that, these will be worked out a little later. Different skills may stack to different levels(A weak stance at the start may be able to stack two or three times into something good, for example, better than one that can't stack but starts stronger. Or something.).

That'll be addressed int he final draft I'm going to soup up tomorrow.

[Dracos]

I'd still say if you're going a 'stacking' route, it'd probably be better to go more tree of style development rather than 'KAIOKAIOKEN x4!'  I mean, looking at the examples put out so far, there's nothing really in the weak category.  They all look reasonably sensible in terms of power for a mid-to-high weapon prof ability.  I wonder if there'd really be much benefit in having weaker 'stackable' ones as I think the result would only be equivilent to saying "this bonus costs 2 wp instead of 1".

Dracos

[Iron Dragoon]

How about:

Modify bonuses (lower probably), but allow the mixing of stances. At Rank 1 of the style, can mix 2 stances for X number of rounds. At Rank 2, I get 'awarded' another stance, and at Rank 3, can mix 3 stances. Trade-off new stances with another level of 'mix-ability' each Rank in it.

Limits the number of stackability, and if the bonuses are lowered, makes it more 'malliable' to the situation while not being over-powering.

[Dracos]

Your bonuses are generally +1 types.

They really can't go much lower without being stripped entirely.

Dracos

[Iron Dragoon]

Your bonuses are generally +1 types.

They really can't go much lower without being stripped entirely.

Dracos

Not the +1 to base stats. In the STR department, that could be multiple #'s, and in the CON department, could be quite a few more HP's, too. And Darius is already a health sponge.. Though.. He tends to *need* those HPs.

[Dracos]

Yes, the strength one.  And you could remove the stat bonus stuff all together, but that's changing one bonus to another really, not so much reducing.

And you've just given the reasoning I'd mentallly use to justify leaving such a stat bonus there.  You're playing a character that's going to regularly have reason to make use of an extra 10-20 hp, which would get less useful as a flat +5.  So there's a visible reason to use the style in the game rather than just tweaking: It adds to your barbarian ability to rush ahead and survive.

Dracos

[Iron Dragoon]

Barring any major complaints, this is the final decision. Post questions/comments/suggestions if you have any.
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A sort of mix between the Elven Bladesinger, similar principles of Kung-Fu, and mysticism similar to Native Americans. The style consists of multiple 'stances' or 'forms.' Each stance/form brings out a specific aspect, both phsically and mentally, in the Beast Rider that relates to the Totem animal and his mount.

Each stance lasts for one round per character level. During this time the PC is gains the noted benefits of that stance as well as takes on a mental aspect related to the stance. On a related note, be aware that the more a stance is used the more that stance's mindset affects the character.

In order to learn this style, at the first rank the Beast Rider must return to his Tribe. He must then be found worthy by his fellow Beast Riders. His worth is proved through various tests, each determined by the Beast Rider giving the test. After the character has proven his worth to a number of fellow Beast Riders determined by the GM, the Tribe's Holy Man takes the character to a Holy Place of the Tribe.

At this Holy Place, the character is put into a trance and the spirits of past Beast Riders and their Totem Mounts are called forth. The character is then tested by these spirits. The Totem tests the character first, to determine if he/she is able to form a stronger connection to the Totem Beast.

During this test by the Totem, the character has the aspect related to the stance/form he is attempting to learn brought out in him/her, to the point where it dominates his/her personality, reducing him/her to an animalistic state. The character must then be able to regain his own personality in order to pass the test (or however the GM determines to test the PC). After the character passes the Totem's test, he is then confronted by the spirit of the Beast Rider.

The character must engage the spirit in combat and defend himself/herself against the stance he/she is attempting to learn. Once this test is passed, the spirit of the Beast Rider then imparts the knowledge to the character. This testing must be done for each individual stance attempting to be learned.

Note that the character may not be able to learn all stances, as the character's personality may be incapable of bringing forth some aspects. I.E.- a character who is massively huge and has almost no skills in stealth or a low Dexterity score may not be able to attain the Agility inherant in the Totem to learn the corraspondant stance.

--

As noted, each stance lasts for 1 round per character level. A stance must be declared at the start of the round. Initiative and action modifiers vary by stance, check each stance's description for details. When in effect the aspect of the totem explified comes to the forefront - a trait of agility or stealth would influence how Darius approaches a battle differently than how an aspect of ferocity would.

On the end of the stance, the Beast Rider is slightly dazed - he suffers a -2 to all attack rolls, a +2 to saves, a +2 to initiative, and a +2 to armor class, as well as losing any dexterity bonuses. This lasts one round unless noted otherwise. A stance can be ended early at the Beast Rider's discretion. Penalties deminish by a factor of 1 per rank in the style.

Per rank in the style, the Beast Rider can mix one extra stance into his movements. The Beast Rider must, however, be in the first stance for half of the maximum number of rounds possible. After the half-way point is met, he may then add in the bonuses of a second, which will last half of maximum rounds as well. Upon reaching the 'time limit' the dazed effect come into play, but at half again normal penalties. I.E.: -3 on Attack rolls, +3 on Saves, +3 to Initiative, +3 to Armor Class.

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Stances:

1) Fangs of the Mighty Tiger (Power of the Totem's Jaws)
[ +2 damage; +1 to all checks based on STR]

2) Bloody Claws of the Tiger(Leathalness of the Totem)
[+2 to hit; on a sucessful roll of 17 or higher the Beast Rider has a 15% chance of inflicting a 'Bleeding Wound,' dealing 1d2 Hit Points of damage per round for 1d4+1 rounds. Does not affect creatures that would otherwise not bleed, I.E.- Golems, Elementals, Undead.]

3) Stance of the Swift Hunter (Agility of the Totem)
[-2 AC; +1 to all checks based on DEX]

4) The Cornered Beast (Tenacity of the Totem)
[Beast Rider can stay concious and fighting normally up to -10 HPs; +1 HP per character level added upon entering stance; if the Beast Rider does not kill his foe, he/she goes into shock; must make a System Shock check, and a 1d4/2d4 roll to see how many days he/she will be in a 'coma.']
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Having trouble comming up with names for the stances, so if you got suggestions, toss em up. If not, then, eh, we'll work around it >.>

[Anastasia]

If you have any last comments, this is the time. If not, I'll approve this tomorrow.

[Dracos]

Paying by the style and not by the stance?  Seems odd.  Though if dune has no complaints I'm not going to poke at it.

Names of the needing!  Screw the genericism!

1)Fangs of the Mighty Tiger

2)Bloody Claws of the Tiger

3)Stance of the Swift Hunter

4)The Cornered Beast