Conan RPG Acheronian Edition

Trodax said:
He, he, some more questions I thought of... :D

Wait a minute, how does this work with the 1/2-level attack increase? Would it still be based on highest attack -5, -10 and so on? If so, a 15th level character would have attacks at +7/+2/-3, and it feels kind of odd with those negative attacks.

Yes, this was just the easiest way to count extra attacks. One every fifth level is elegant for a 20 level arch.

To be honest, I'm not sure I like iterative attacks under this system at all (mainly because scholar-types will have the same number of attacks as warrior-types, I guess). Couldn't you replace them with a feat (or a chain of feats) similar to Rapid Shot (make two attacks, but both are at a -2 penalty)? This would make the difference between the warrior-types and the scholar-types larger, because the warrior-types would be more likely to take such a feat.

Another way would have been to drop all extra attacks from levels. Instead you could have spent a feat to have one, the maximum amount perhaps capped by your Dexterity or level. (Like one per five levels.) However, this might make Soldiers shine a bit too much - they already have an edge when compared to anyone else. Since damage output does not necessarily increase very much with increasing levels, dropping "inborn" extra attacks would have made superior numbers even more dangerous when used against the Player Characters. Even as it is, improved mook Hit Points and fixed attack/defence together with the multiple attacker rule makes a mob of commoners a dangerous thing.

Besides, I kind of like the idea of a Spawn of Dagoth Hill scholar bombarding people with alchemical bombs using Quick Draw and multiple attacks, heh.

Is this a special rule for the PC's, or do all characters in the game get a hit point boost? I'm thinking mostly of low-level mooks here (level 1 or 2 perhaps), for which the difference would be significant.

All characters, so mooks have more hit points. Since everyone have half of the Hit Dice with extra levels, HP difference between levels isn't as sharp. A housecat doesn't kill your average commoner with one claw strike anymore.
 
Majestic7 said:
I suppose if you want to reinforce Nomad a bit, giving +1 to Dodge or Attack while mounted, perhaps even both, would be the kind of thing in line with his Class Abilities.
Yeah, that kind of bonus would fit. I agree, though, that the Nomad is quite specific, but I actually see this as a reason to give the class a more general boost (so that it would be more attractive even when you don't have a horse or donkey to scoot around on).

No, all Pirates have the Seamanship Bonus - it is a class ability. It is just a generic note that the bonus comes both to Attack and Dodge, not only Dodge and Skill Checks like RAW.
That's cool.

Pirates get some very sweet Class Abilities along the line, so I didn't see a need to buff them.
The only "problem" I have with this is that it makes Pirates a good class to multiclass into, but less attractive to start out with (under your system it's much better to start as a Barbarian (+1 dodge and 2 extra hit points) and then become a Pirate, then the other way around).

What comes to the Noble.. why do you think Nobles should have +1 to Ref? I see Ref as something mobile, quick fighters get. Nobles, especially Hyborian ones, are supposed to fight encased in steel, on horseback so Fort seemed far more logical. It as well abstracts their better overall health since they have grown among riches instead of starving every other day like most of the other people...
Well, I was thinking mostly of foppish, courtier-types for the Noble. And with the "barbarism conquers civilization"-theme of Conan, I actually think starving every other day and living a hard life should make you more vital and resistant (in the real world, I agree about the health thing, of course :wink: ). If you see the Noble as mainly a badass Hyborian knight, +1 Fort is cool, though; I mostly wanted to hear your reasoning.

BTW, an alternative (just brainstorming here) would be to let the Noble choose at level one between +1 Ref (for the foppish dandies) or +1 Fort (for the steel-encased toughies). Or maybe even make the choice between Dodge and Parry to make the class a bit more generally powerful.
 
Trodax said:
Yeah, that kind of bonus would fit. I agree, though, that the Nomad is quite specific, but I actually see this as a reason to give the class a more general boost (so that it would be more attractive even when you don't have a horse or donkey to scoot around on).

I contemplated making Nomad and Barbarian equal in starting bonuses. However, since there haven't been any Nomad character or NPC's, it wasn't something that I have given a lot of thought. I'd say that the easiest fix would be to give him the same stuff that a Barbarian gets.

The only "problem" I have with this is that it makes Pirates a good class to multiclass into, but less attractive to start out with (under your system it's much better to start as a Barbarian (+1 dodge and 2 extra hit points) and then become a Pirate, then the other way around).

Everyone doesn't have Barbarian as an allowed first level class. Black corsairs most likely have Barbarian/Pirate builds. Zingaran and Barachan corsairs will have their first level as Pirate, since Barbarian is a forbidden class for them. There is as well the difference in skill points and class skills... and I actually like the idea that the Zingaran and Southern Island pirate will differ quite much through this first level choice alone.

Well, I was thinking mostly of foppish, courtier-types for the Noble. And with the "barbarism conquers civilization"-theme of Conan, I actually think starving every other day and living a hard life should make you more vital and resistant (in the real world, I agree about the health thing, of course :wink: ). If you see the Noble as mainly a badass Hyborian knight, +1 Fort is cool, though; I mostly wanted to hear your reasoning.

Well, Barbarian has +1 Fort too and most likely higher Con than the Noble. Anyway, I think physical exercise is to an extent part of Noble life even for those foppish courtiers - riding, hunting, that sort of thing.

BTW, an alternative (just brainstorming here) would be to let the Noble choose at level one between +1 Ref (for the foppish dandies) or +1 Fort (for the steel-encased toughies). Or maybe even make the choice between Dodge and Parry to make the class a bit more generally powerful.

If you go that way, better make the starting bonus depend on Regional Feature, with Stygian nobles receiving +2 Will, Hyrkanian +1 to Ref and Ranged Attacks or something like that. I contemplated it, but really, too much trouble for the gain, hehe.
 
Majestic7 said:
If you go that way, better make the starting bonus depend on Regional Feature, with Stygian nobles receiving +2 Will, Hyrkanian +1 to Ref and Ranged Attacks or something like that. I contemplated it, but really, too much trouble for the gain, hehe.
Yes, of course, that's a good idea! You might be right about the trouble/gain, though. :)
 
LOL that is by far the biggest crap I've ever read

Why make Conan RPG, wich is in my opinion the cadillac of role playing game into a crappy 4th edition?

4th edition is the worst thing ever. If I ever want to play monster bashing I'll play Age of Conan on my computer.

Faster base attack progression is meant to make combat faster and deadlier (You ever saw Conan fight for 3 hours in the novel?)

I don't like the skill compression either. You lose the flavor that let you play 2 noble or 2 borderer or 2 pirate completly differently. If you want to be stealthy buy Hide and Move silently what the problem?? Also I don't know for you, but I'm a pretty good climber but an horrible swimer, and I'm pretty sure I could never escape a pair of manacle. So you think "Athletic" is very logical?

Role playing game is about exploring many aspect. I don't understand the obsession about combat! The Soldier or Barbarian should CRUSH the Noble in hand-to-hand combat. But they can't beat the Noble with all his army. The Nomad can overpower the borderer on his horse in the desert, but will get crippled with arrow in no time when the last lure him in the forest.

Maybe you find fun to spend your evening having everybody rolling 50/50 and say "Wow the fight is so even", I better like exploring every facet of so rich Hyborian age.

MAN the game is about CONAN and his savage and violent world, not Paladin throwing rainbow with their holy sword!!!!
 
treeplanter wrote:
Role playing game is about exploring many aspect. I don't understand the obsession about combat! The Soldier or Barbarian should CRUSH the Noble in hand-to-hand combat. But they can't beat the Noble with all his army. The Nomad can overpower the borderer on his horse in the desert, but will get crippled with arrow in no time when the last lure him in the forest.

Maybe you find fun to spend your evening having everybody rolling 50/50 and say "Wow the fight is so even", I better like exploring every facet of so rich Hyborian age.

MAN the game is about CONAN and his savage and violent world, not Paladin throwing rainbow with their holy sword!!!!

I couldn't agree more on this. You perfectly captured my thoughts. On the other hand:

I don't like the skill compression either. You lose the flavor that let you play 2 noble or 2 borderer or 2 pirate completly differently. If you want to be stealthy buy Hide and Move silently what the problem?? Also I don't know for you, but I'm a pretty good climber but an horrible swimer, and I'm pretty sure I could never escape a pair of manacle. So you think "Athletic" is very logical?

Skills have been simplified in DD4 because the system was kind of flawed, being far too much complicated. I don't want to start this again, but create your Scholar4/Thief2/Noble1 major NPC by the book, calculating skill ranks, counting stats increases, racial bonuses and so on and you'll see the system has to be streamlined.

LOL that is by far the biggest crap I've ever read

Why make Conan RPG, wich is in my opinion the cadillac of role playing game into a crappy 4th edition?

4th edition is the worst thing ever. If I ever want to play monster bashing I'll play Age of Conan on my computer.

Hey wake up! That was already what 3.5 was about: optimization, number crunching, power leveling and monster bashing. Nothing's new in DD4, they just simplified the whole picture. Personally, I've always had this "video game feeling" when playing 3rd or 3.5 ed.

Of course nothing prevents to have some good RP with 3.5, but actually the same can be said about 4th ed (or about any system). But to my opinion, the more time you spend in number crunching during play, the less time you have for RP.

Faster base attack progression is meant to make combat faster and deadlier (You ever saw Conan fight for 3 hours in the novel?)

3 hour combats can happen pretty often in OGL... As for the stories, there some large scales battles that last for more than 3 hours.

Oh, and your nickname just rocks! 8)
 
But to my opinion, the more time you spend in number crunching during play, the less time you have for RP.

Lets take our disagreement over the system as read and move on, but even so i have to call this one. 3.5 number crunching takes place during character generation. There is very little actually during play: probably less than in 4th edition.
 
Kintire wrote:
Lets take our disagreement over the system as read and move on, but even so i have to call this one. 3.5 number crunching takes place during character generation. There is very little actually during play: probably less than in 4th edition.

I knew you'd bite on this one, Kintire! :wink:
 
Hervé said:
Skills have been simplified in DD4 because the system was kind of flawed, being far too much complicated. I don't want to start this again, but create your Scholar4/Thief2/Noble1 major NPC by the book, calculating skill ranks, counting stats increases, racial bonuses and so on and you'll see the system has to be streamlined.

Hey wake up! That was already what 3.5 was about: optimization, number crunching, power leveling and monster bashing. Nothing's new in DD4, they just simplified the whole picture. Personally, I've always had this "video game feeling" when playing 3rd or 3.5 ed.

Of course nothing prevents to have some good RP with 3.5, but actually the same can be said about 4th ed (or about any system). But to my opinion, the more time you spend in number crunching during play, the less time you have for RP.

3 hour combats can happen pretty often in OGL... As for the stories, there some large scales battles that last for more than 3 hours.

Oh, and your nickname just rocks! 8)

Haha funny

I guess about skill it's a matter of preference. For PC player it's not a big deal to keep track of skill for PC player, and since I like to spend time think about my NPC and create them and I keep them in a file for reuse it's not a big deal for me. I can understand tough for NPC it can simplify thing if your local thug just have "Stealth +10" or the standart sentinelle "Perception +8"...

While I disliked 3.5, I think it was actually far better than 4e (But 100 x time worse than Conan). Character were not Clone like in 4e, there was some flavour between a Thief and a ranger or a sorcerer... Combat where a lot faster too

So far we never really had 3 hours combat (in real time) in Conan, maybe an hours long sometime (and i find it long). Mass battle are an exception beause, heh, this should be exceptionnal 8)
 
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