My first Compendium Class is for our Sylvan World game. It intends to establish a knightly code and flavor for characters wanting to protect the Woodland Realm.
Any comments?
Sylvan knight
When you make a vow to uphold the chivalric virtues and protect the forestland realm, this compendium class becomes available.
Starting move:
Knight of the Realm
When you take action protect someone or something, you gain +1 ongoing as long as your actions are virtuous and brave.
Advanced moves:
Champion of the Woods
The creatures and beasts of the wilderness feel kinship to you. Unless provoked they will always be friendly or neutral to you and your party.
Favour of the Wilds
If you are not wearing any armor, by concentrating for a moment, you may summon an armor of branches, leaves, stone and moss. Treat this as 2 armor.
Herbal Remedies
Whenever you make a camp or forage in the wilderness, you always gain poultices and herbs.
Spirit Sight
Gifted with the sight of the spirits, you always see through illusions and physical changes and may determine which creatures are from other Planes.
I really like the flavor of this! Here’s some feedback on the specifics.
Sylvan Knight
Seems a little vague and wide open to me. Who, exactly, are you making this vow to? I get the feeling that you have someone in mind, like a fae lord or the Forest Mother or something like that.
Knight of the Realm
Whoa, that’s potent! A flat-out +1 ongoing is a huge mechanical benefit. Look at the core playbooks for examples… the only example I can think of is the Barbarian’s Good Day to Die, where you get +1 ongoing while you’ve got 1 or 2 HP… which is a way more serious thing.
Despite that, it’s kind of bland. +1 ongoing shifts the probabilities of your rolls a lot, but doesn’t add much to the fiction. Such moves aren’t terrible
The trigger is likewise wide open: “take action to protect something or someone” and last as long as “your actions are virtuous or brave.” I could, for example, trigger it by leaping to the defense of a shop window in the Great City, and it could last until I’m somehow less-than-virtuous-or-brave… whatever that means? Arguably, it could last indefinitely.
It looks like you want this move to reward or encourage the Sylvan Knight for bravely defending those of its realm, yeah? I’d be inclined to work with the Defend move. It could be as simple as “when you Defend a subject of the Sylvan Realm, you gain 1 extra hold (even on a miss).” And/or give them a more passive bonus while they have hold, like “while you have hold from Defend, you ignore fear, pain, and doubt.”
Champion of the Woods
I like the move, but find myself wanting it to be a little more flavorful. Something like “Creatures and beasts of the woods treat you with the same respect that would give a full grown bear.”
Favour of the Wilds
Does this work anywhere? Am I sprouting the armor from within? Drawing it from my surroundings? Or is this intentionally vague, prompting the GM to ask “what does that look like?”
Herbal Remedies
Cool move. Do I get 1 use? Or one “poultices and herbs” (2 uses, slow, 1 wt). (I’d be inclined toward 1 use, myself.)
Spirit Sight
One problem with moves that let you sense stuff like this is that you have to keep remembering to work it into your descriptions as the GM. I’m a big fan of making “perception” moves work in one of these ways:
a) You can always ask the GM “what here is hidden by illusion” and always get an honest answer.
b) When you Discern Realities, you can always ask “What here is not what it seems?” for free, even on a miss.
c) Add the following to the list of questions you can ask when you Discern Realities:
– What here is hidden by illusion?
– What here is not in its natural form?
– What here is not of this word?
Jeremy Strandberg Wow! Superb comments! I’m definitely going to rework this with your ideas in mind. As this was my first attempt I was a bit lost. The Knight of the Realm was a bad move from the beginning but I just got stuck with it. As for other moves I was considering to leave them a bit vague on purpose to find out how exactly they work during the game. But I really like your ideas.
How about this:
Jeremy Strandberg
Knight of the Realm
When you take part in the daily life of a dwelling, you may write a new bond using the name of the dwelling. Any time you protect that dwelling from evil, you may mark it as resolved to gain 1 XP.
Advanced moves:
Alpha Authority
Your stature and presence (or maybe it’s just your musk) that the creatures and beasts of the wilderness understand your dominance and treat you as one of their own. Unless provoked they will usually be friendly or neutral to you and your party.
Herbal remedies
Whenever you make a camp or forage in the wilderness, you always gain one use of poultices and herbs to your gear.
Spirit Sight
The spirits of the nature guide your sight. When you are discerning realities you may also always ask one of the following:
– What here is not from this plane?
– What here has been concealed with magic?
Optional move:
Favour of the Wilds
When you walk under the open sky, if you are not wearing any armor, by concentrating for a moment, you may summon the nature to form an armor around you. Treat this as 2 armor. The GM may ask what does it look like.
I think you’ve maybe gone too far in the opposite direction on Knight of the Realm. It’s now pretty darn weak, to the point that I’d question spending a move on it. Basically, it gives the chance to get 1 extra XP every session.
I like the angle of developing some sort of bond with a community, but I feel like it should do more. Again, I’m tempted to play with the Defend move. Maybe…
“When you spend a day or so living as a part of a sylvan community, write a bond with that community. This bond can be resolved like any other.
“Additionally, when you Defend someone with whom you have a bond, or a member of a community with which you have a bond, gain 1 extra hold. Even on a miss, you get 1 hold.”
Regarding Alpha Authority… I actually prefer your original wording. It’s simpler. What I was suggesting is that you replace the “effect” (Unless provoked they will usually be friendly or neutral to you and your party) with something more fictional, like giving you the respect due a large, dangerous woodland beast.
If you’re happy with “friendly or neutral to you and your party” outcome, I’d skip the fictional justification and just go straight to that. Like, “*Friend of the Woods* As long as you do nothing to provoke them, beasts and spirits of the woods will be friendly or at least neutral towards you.” Let the effect show the fiction, rather than telling the fiction as a justification for the effect.