Recent content by Spade

Don't create a hard and fast rule unless you want to actually make a big deal about literacy on occasion. Otherwise it's complexity in the name of realism without a meaningful game impact. In my campaign setting, literacy and languages are a big deal. So reading at all is at least a DC 15 skill...

I'm not saying social skills are useless, just that the numbers assigned to them don't translate into other clear numbers- such as hit points. And as such, social skills and powers are very squishy. At extremely advanced gameplay levels you can reliably evaluate them in a clear and even manner...

The noble is definitely underpowered. The problem is not that the Noble doesn't open doors, but that social skills are only as weak or as powerful as GM scripting. That makes the bulk of noble achievements dependent on what the GM decides to do, and takes a lot out of the hands of the player...

The game is what you make of it. What you don't want to make of it is a pile of house rules so every class can compete with the Barbarian. You need to tone down the Barbarian class. Me and my mates have tried, it's not an easy task. Any thread you try to pull either takes out something really...

Rule #3a: Don't become dependent or emotionally attached to an accessory. Rule #3b: If it ain't a comrade of at least equal might, it's an accessory. This is Conan, there is no Guenwhyvar. My short list of character's to try includes an older Borderer with an "Animal Cohort" flock of crows. No...

Leadership for an Animal Cohort works well, whether you advance the animal or give it levels. Allowing an Animal to advance as a "PC Hero" can raise questions, because that's a magically powerful creature after a few levels. Such a thing makes no sense without Handle Animal ranks to...

So you want PC-scale combat, with large waves of the enemy? My fast and dirty approach: Rescale combat rounds to last approximately 30 seconds. Give the PC's more narrative freedom, and declare that every Hit Point of damage they do with their weapons is converted to one dead enemy. For...

I've prodded at making d20 into a classless system. You can do it, but you need to start off by stripping a lot down to the bone and rebuilding it. A lot of class abilities are worth more than a feat. In my last classless project, I built a level progression with a feat at every level, and an...

There is no binary, it is all a spectrum. 4E takes the artificial-seeming structures of the game system and makes them both more ubiquitous and in-your-face than d20. That's not to say that d20 Conan has no inconsistencies. And Hit Points are always a sore thumb, and an entire huge discussion...

Every game falls somewhere between Gamist and Simulationist. 4E is very Gamist, with the pacing of special abilities a matter of story-building rather than character-building. Simulationist designs take more time to act out, but give player decisions the character of a roleplayed, tactical...

I'll pursue this because how you interpret Profession definitely affects the balance of the Pirate. I almost want to write up the full argument, but that's been done to death, and I don't have the energy to do it up formal-like yet again. The book's rules for Profession are a boring collection...

As I recall, TD still allows one move action at a time until she's in a position to be "captured" by the leader of the enemy forces. Most temptress archetypes have their dramatic successes after a period of patience, it's why they are forever snarling at Conan once they think he's in their...

Oops. Well, I'll draw back to the point that the Pirate is a more conventionally capable fighter, closing that skill gap brings them fairly close together. Thematic distinction is a good thing in classes, as well as in a player's sense of having a fair deal.

When you boost the Pirate's skills, it starts to close in heavily on the Thief. 6-7 skills points on a Pirate with a full BAB and better Dodge, and your Thief is starting to feel pinched into a Glass-Jawed Shotgun corner. The same holds for the Noble. It's definitely underpowered, but if you...

Random Bored Lurker Interjection. Sounds like part of the problem is a newer GM. Rolling dice to determine whether to hit a fearsome Barbarian or a scantily clad prize doesn't make much sense. Either they've identified her as an enemy, in which case the player was using bad tactics in exposing...