Tag: Lord Khaalis

RACES

So, to a prior topic on races, I’ve been putting together a list of Racial Tags to use for those who want to have a more defined list of mechanical traits for their races. Here is what I have so far.  Thoughts?

Astral Sight: You can use Discern Realities to notice magical power and spirits which would be invisible or otherwise undetectable normally. A successful check means he can tell there’s magic or a spirit present, and its general direction.

Claws / Jaws: You have vicious claws or jaws capable of dealing your damage.

Darkvision: You can see in complete darkness, but only in greytones. 

Hearty: You are immune to disease and poisons.

Eagle-Eyes: The character has long distance vision.

Endurance: You live in an extreme environment and are not harmed by it. (Polar, Volcanic, etc. – gain 1)

Enhanced Hearing: The character can distinguish the tiniest sounds at long distances, but is susceptible to loud noises nearby.

Enhanced Touch: The character’s fingers, tentacles, or whatever are extremely sensitive and can feel tiny details or sense minute movements in a device (such as an old lock).

Flight: You have wings and are capable of flight.

Hard Hide: You have a thick skin which acts as 1 Armor.

Heightened Smell: The character can detect minute differences in smells, picking up trails and the presence of certain substances long after they’ve disappeared.

Glamour: You are hard to target as you have a confusing, shimmering appearance granting 1 Armor.

Jump: The character can jump much further than normal.

Long-Lived: You’ve been around a long time and gain a +1 when Spouting Lore about old stuff (legends, events, history).

Low-Light Vision: You can see normally even in dim and faint light.

Nature Bound: Choose your native terrain. You are completely at home in this environment and can take advantage of it as needed.

Otherworldly: You can resist emotional or mental attacks, however, you often don’t know the best way to react in social situations.

Oversized: Your attacks gain the Forceful tag.

Small-Sized: You can use your small size to your advantage such as climb things, sneak and hide, fit into small spaces.

Stable: Ignores the Forceful tag from Large or smaller creatures.

Taciturn: You are a listener, not a talker and have a natural ability to remember what others have said.

Treasure Sense: You can identify where precious minerals and metals may naturally be found, and can evaluate gems and jewelry.

Water-Born: You have gills and may breathe underwater unaided and can swim perfectly as easily as a human walks.

Fast / Slow – not sure how to make a mechanic for something like this in DW.

Hey all. I have a quick etiquette question.  I am looking at re-designing some of the DW classes to fit my homebrew sandbox a bit better than the old D&D classes. However, I am not looking to reinvent the wheel. There are a ton of great classes out there, but none exactly fit the style I am looking for. My question is this. Would people be offended if the moves from their various classes ended up used in other classes (with appropriate credit given of course)?  For example using the move “Thoughtsend” from Nemo’s Beguiler in a Telepath class; or the move “Deny Accusation” by Anthony Giovannetti for a Courtier class?

How do people codify the more mechanical aspects of a race’s fiction?  This is one area I have a rough time with when trying to groc DW.  I like detailed races, and I like race to matter in my world. 

The book just says that if its part of the fiction, its part of the race, but how does that work?  

For something like standard Low-Light or Night Vision thats pretty easy to mechanize from fiction without really needing “stats” but how do you work in concepts like a racial ability to telepathically communicate with animals, or how do you handle racial attributes like Keen Senses, or Natural Athleticism?  What about racial negative features, like a race that has a poor disposition against other races (e.g. orcs and dwarves)? 

Would it work to have your say full page of fiction on the race, then a small bullet point of racial abilities that are assumed a part of that fiction but that require minor mechanical notes?

For example, how would you show the classic D&D dwarf?

* How do you adjudicate saying that dwarves move slightly slower than other medium sized species due to their stocky, short-legged stature? Or would you rewrite and remove this part of the fiction?

* How do you say that dwarves are better at wearing armor than most? Would you give them “remove clumsy tag” or drop this aspect of the fiction?

* Darkvision. Dwarves can see in black and white even in total darkness.  How do you handle vision range?  What about other types of vision?

* Stonecunning: Would you handle this as something like a +1 to Discern Realities and Spout Lore pertaining to stone and earth?

* Stability: +1 to Defy Danger versus being bull rushed or tripped, when standing on the ground?

* Dwarven Resistance: +1 to Defy Danger against poisons and magic?

etc.

I’m just really curious how people handle this since in most cases I see the standard “pick any race” attitude and see people using all kinda of crazy races. Yet when it comes down to it, all they get that really makes their “race” is a one line minor adaptation to their class. 

I want to have some unique races in my world and I need them to feel different from other races.  For some really advanced races, I can see the race basically being its own class (e.g. drakes, giants, etc.) but not all races should fall into this category. However, for my world I want a Dwarf fighter to feel like being a dwarf means more than simply that they can Parley with CON instead of CHA.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.  As it stands I may be looking really closely at Grim World Species and Pirate World Background systems for idea on how to make race matter more in DW.

I’m just curious. Has anyone thought about a move acquisition structure other than Base Class & Compendium Class? 

I ask because I’ve seen a large proliferation of base classes, but to me it seems like an awkward way to go about variations on central themes. For instance having to write a whole new Burglar class vs. the Thief class which has stealth-based abilities instead of Poison abilities, or a whole different class for a ‘Light-Arrmed’ theme Fighter vs. the core design.

Has anyone tried going with a system with a core group of basic classes (a.k.a. Basic Classes like Warrior, Mage, Priest, Rogue) then having “specialties” (a.k.a. Kits, Advanced Classes, etc. like Burglar, Con-Artist, Soldier, Thug, Bounty Hunter, Berzerker, Illusionist, etc.) that the PC can choose?   The basic class would only have moves that are key to the core concept and shared by all specialties for that class, while other ‘themed’ moves would be specialty specific? 

Would this even work in DW?

Example:

* Warrior Basic Class (melee fighting/defense class) – includes basic weapon use, armor use, Spout Lore – Weapons and Armor, Basic Fighting Techniques.

* Background: Choose 1 specialty from the list of options. This specialty’s moves count as class moves for you and you may choose from this list when you level up in addition to the moves of your base class. Additionally, you gain the core ability of your specialty.

* Example List of Specialties:

– Bodyguard (Core: Bonus to Defend)

– Berzerker/Barbarian (Core: frenzy/rage ability)

– Duelist (Core: Use +DEX vs. +STR for Hack and Slash)

– Soldier (Core: bonus to Make Camp and Take Watch)

Each specialty could have its own unique Spout Lore bonuses, etc.

Compendium Classes would remain the same, special lists of abilities linked to a specific fulfillment requirement. These would be special classes, not generic ideas. For instance a Guild Thief of the Flaming Blades CC would only be something available to someone who actively becomes a special agent of the Flaming Blades thieves’ guild in game, etc.