76
Dungeon World / Re: New Class: The Battlemind
« on: July 10, 2012, 03:57:00 PM »
There's something really odd here, the original post doesn't show up. So you can see it at my blog: http://www.latorra.org/2012/07/10/the-battlemind/
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
77
Dungeon World / New Class: The Battlemind
« on: July 10, 2012, 02:21:00 PM »
(Cross-posted from my blog: http://www.latorra.org/2012/07/10/the-battlemind/.)
This morning I accidentally woke up and designed the Monk for Dungeon World.
So why is this post about the Battlemind? Because I think that’s a better name for what I’m thinking here. It sidesteps the whole orientalism/exoticism angle and gets right to what the class really is, allowing you at your table to place it into the world. It also more clearly differentiates this class for the Fighter with fists as their signature weapon.
The touchstones for this class are my half-remembered 3E psionics rules, the concept of the Monk, and the Greybeards from Skyrim. Usually for a class Adam and I would do a pretty thorough review of what that class looked like in each edition, but this is just an idea that sprung into my head.
So what’s the core of this class?
The Battlemind
You start with these moves:
Oneness
When you have time and tranquility to center your mind and body lose any Focus you had and gain 3 Focus. You cannot have more than 3 Focus at any time.
Stance
When you set your mind and body to combat choose a stance available to you and roll+Wis. Choose three of these stances to be available to you to start with:
Battlebody
While you wear no armor, have Focus remaining, and carry less than your Load, you have 2 armor.
Fists of Power
Your body itself is a weapon with Hand range.
Damage dice is probably d8 (but see the Stances). HP is likely Constitution+8. Load is probably on the low end.
Focus is the main thing that the class’s moves revolve on. The core moves already demonstrate a lot of the core things moves can do with Focus: Spend it, count it, use it as a bonus. There’s a whole lot of advanced moves that fall straight out of that:
Focused Defense
When you’re in a stance and take damage you may spend 1 Focus and leave that stance to negate the damage.
Expanded Mind
When you use Oneness you gain 4 Focus. Your maximum Focus is 4.
Combat Flow
When you kill an enemy while in a stance you may change stances immediately, without rolling. Just choose a new stance.
Mastery
Choose a new stance to add to your list.
Crouching Tiger
When you concentrate on movement and speed you may spend 1 Focus to defy gravity: for a few moments, so long as you keep moving, you may run up and across any vertical surface.
Restored Focus
When an ally successfully Aids you you may choose to gain 1 Focus instead of taking +1.
This morning I accidentally woke up and designed the Monk for Dungeon World.
So why is this post about the Battlemind? Because I think that’s a better name for what I’m thinking here. It sidesteps the whole orientalism/exoticism angle and gets right to what the class really is, allowing you at your table to place it into the world. It also more clearly differentiates this class for the Fighter with fists as their signature weapon.
The touchstones for this class are my half-remembered 3E psionics rules, the concept of the Monk, and the Greybeards from Skyrim. Usually for a class Adam and I would do a pretty thorough review of what that class looked like in each edition, but this is just an idea that sprung into my head.
So what’s the core of this class?
The Battlemind
You start with these moves:
Oneness
When you have time and tranquility to center your mind and body lose any Focus you had and gain 3 Focus. You cannot have more than 3 Focus at any time.
Stance
When you set your mind and body to combat choose a stance available to you and roll+Wis. Choose three of these stances to be available to you to start with:
- Serpent’s Coil: While in this stance you use Focus to Hack and Slash.
- Troll’s Strength: While in this stance your damage dice is d10+Focus.
- Dragon Turtle’s Shell: While in this stance your Armor is equal to your Focus.
- Dragon’s Foresight: While in this stance you use Focus to Defy Danger.
- Unending Life: While in this stance you cannot die. Don’t make the Last Breath move even if you reach 0 HP. As soon as you leave this stance, if you’re still at 0 HP, you make the Last Breath move as normal.
- Giant’s Reach: While in this stance your body is a weapon with these tags: Hand, Close, Reach, +1 damage, messy, forceful.
Battlebody
While you wear no armor, have Focus remaining, and carry less than your Load, you have 2 armor.
Fists of Power
Your body itself is a weapon with Hand range.
Damage dice is probably d8 (but see the Stances). HP is likely Constitution+8. Load is probably on the low end.
Focus is the main thing that the class’s moves revolve on. The core moves already demonstrate a lot of the core things moves can do with Focus: Spend it, count it, use it as a bonus. There’s a whole lot of advanced moves that fall straight out of that:
Focused Defense
When you’re in a stance and take damage you may spend 1 Focus and leave that stance to negate the damage.
Expanded Mind
When you use Oneness you gain 4 Focus. Your maximum Focus is 4.
Combat Flow
When you kill an enemy while in a stance you may change stances immediately, without rolling. Just choose a new stance.
Mastery
Choose a new stance to add to your list.
Crouching Tiger
When you concentrate on movement and speed you may spend 1 Focus to defy gravity: for a few moments, so long as you keep moving, you may run up and across any vertical surface.
Restored Focus
When an ally successfully Aids you you may choose to gain 1 Focus instead of taking +1.
78
Dungeon World / Re: System desired to make three-dimensional characters
« on: July 09, 2012, 07:32:12 PM »
One of the GM's core responsibilities in DW is to ask questions, and that's a great place to add depth. Ask them about their characters. Where'd that signature weapon come from? Has your character been beyond the city walls before? etc. Don't just ask those up-front, ask them as they become relevant.
Also, don't be afraid of starting with caricature. When you start, yeah, the fighter may be a big gruff guy with a weapon. That's all you need to know to get started, don't worry about it. But as that gruff guy goes places, sees things, and you explore his past, he'll gain that depth.
If you really want character depth you might also look at Burning Wheel. That game has character depth out the wazoo and it rocks.
Also, don't be afraid of starting with caricature. When you start, yeah, the fighter may be a big gruff guy with a weapon. That's all you need to know to get started, don't worry about it. But as that gruff guy goes places, sees things, and you explore his past, he'll gain that depth.
If you really want character depth you might also look at Burning Wheel. That game has character depth out the wazoo and it rocks.
79
Dungeon World / Re: Sanity
« on: July 09, 2012, 12:52:40 PM »
Yeah! Wizards getting more out of sanity is a great solution.
80
Dungeon World / Re: Sanity
« on: July 07, 2012, 01:04:24 PM »
Wizards are more sane? That dog won't hunt monsignor!
81
Dungeon World / Re: Human Wizard/Cleric and bonus spell
« on: July 07, 2012, 10:42:52 AM »
I'd never thought of it that way! Much better phrasing.
82
Dungeon World / Re: Sanity
« on: July 06, 2012, 08:18:07 PM »
Yup, that's what I was thinking: permanent sanity loss is the big bad thing beyond your initial reactions of shock and horror and flipping out. Oh, sure, you can keep it together even when you would flip out, but that means inviting long-term problems.
83
Dungeon World / Re: Human Wizard/Cleric and bonus spell
« on: July 06, 2012, 06:27:04 PM »
A 1st level spell that would have its level reduced becomes a Rote/Cantrip.
A Rote/Cantrip that would have its level reduced stays a Rote/Cantrip.
A Rote/Cantrip that would have its level reduced stays a Rote/Cantrip.
84
Dungeon World / Re: XP
« on: July 06, 2012, 06:04:46 PM »
There's nothing wrong with getting more XP during the session or end of session! My opinion reflected my anecdotal experience, not something that needs to happen for the game to work. If you get more XP during the middle of the session, great! As long as you can find a place to make camp (and risk whatever might come across you in the night) you can level up. If you're really worried about that you can use a 1/session cap, but I doubt it'll come into play much unless your sessions are pretty long.
85
Dungeon World / Re: Human Wizard/Cleric and bonus spell
« on: July 06, 2012, 06:02:42 PM »
Maybe "add to your spellbook" or "your list of spells" is a better wording. You don't prepare it for free.
86
Dungeon World / Re: XP
« on: July 06, 2012, 01:23:36 PM »
Anecdotaly, End of Session at least feels like more XP. You're likely getting 3-5 XP right there, whereas 5 failed rolls by one player in one night is quite a few. It's possible for sure, but 5 XP for End of Session is pretty common.
87
Dungeon World / Re: XP
« on: July 06, 2012, 01:06:59 PM »
I don't know that I've said that, but maybe!
XP is totally the most hackable part of the game. If you want 1/session, go for it. Practically, since most XP is in the End of Session move, you're most likely to only level once per session anyway.
XP is totally the most hackable part of the game. If you want 1/session, go for it. Practically, since most XP is in the End of Session move, you're most likely to only level once per session anyway.
88
Dungeon World / Re: XP
« on: July 05, 2012, 07:58:15 PM »
Originally it was "erase all your XP" but then I had a player nearly kill me a realized how much that sucked. The idea was to give you more reasons to make camp and find safety ASAP, but 1) it broke up the flow too much and 2) it was too punishing. So now you just "spend" XP equal to your level+7. If somehow you have enough XP to level twice you only get one level per safe camp (which isn't in the rules yet, but probably should be).
89
Dungeon World / Re: Gnoll Emissary stats?
« on: July 05, 2012, 07:36:27 PM »
We've already got a few of those fixes in place. Thanks for the catch.
90
Dungeon World / Re: Question about DW hardcover
« on: July 05, 2012, 07:34:26 PM »
Sorry to get here so late, but here's the full explanation: we're only doing one print run of hardcovers. That means we print how many we need for the Kickstarter, rounded up to a nice even number for the printer. If we're close to a price break we might even go for that.
So basically the Kickstarter was your only way to be sure to get one, but there will probably be a few around (at retailers and in our hands) after the Kickstarter. Once those are gone we don't have plans to keep the hardcover in print.
So basically the Kickstarter was your only way to be sure to get one, but there will probably be a few around (at retailers and in our hands) after the Kickstarter. Once those are gone we don't have plans to keep the hardcover in print.