Monday, January 12, 2015

New Rules

I wanted to build some unique buildings recently, so I came across and adapted these construction rules. Clovis also hopes to do some improvements to the trails and roads, and I wanted to create a metric for that work. Give them a look, and if we all agree that they are valid we can use these in conjunction with the values you can find in the ACKS books.

I also hope to get Amicus creating magic items, starting with a recipe for Potions of Extra Healing. However, there are no rules for making an item that allows you to use several "charges" at once, and a Potion of Extra Healing is unique in that all three charges may be used at once. It would be awesome, for example, to fire several fireballs from a Wand of Fireballs simultaneously. For the time being, I'm just going to make it as a magic item with three 1st level spell "charges". However, perhaps we could come up with some rules for items that might use several "charges" at once.

One more rule tweak I've got. Amicus may use Divine Power wrested from worship in his domain in place of special components like monster parts. However, there is no gp -> xp conversion and a 1:1 ratio seems incorrect. For example, I believe a whole lot of goblin parts would be cheap compared to dragon scales, even with the same XP worth of parts. I'm going to propose a formula that the gp -> xp conversion rate like this:

gp value = (xp of monster * HD of monster) / 20

For example, that makes troll blood for healing potions worth 204gp (680XP * 6 /20) in Divine Power. I would venture to say that this formula would be a good metric for arcane spell casters who need special components and haven't built their own dungeon to harvest monster parts from yet.

Any concerns?

12 comments:

  1. I like the construction rules at first glance. I'll use them to make up "Stately Archer Manor" and let you know.

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  2. the road rules remind me of a post I saw on the autarch forums. I don't know if you based those numbers off that or not. The numbers there are similar, although I think they suggest cheaper than you have for the more difficult terrains. http://www.autarch.co/forum/cost-roads-0

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  3. Also, a couple questions.

    Do all potions in ACKS have 3 charges, not 1? I've been assuming 1 like dnd 3.5

    page 118 of the main book has a section on formulas and samples. Am I understanding it right where it says if you have a sample you don't need to know the spells? So a mage could theoretically make potions of healing?

    I have a magic item where the card says potion of extra healing. I've had it for a while but never used it. If it does what you are describing I could let you use it as a sample if you need it.

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    1. A mage could theoretically reproduce any magic item they have a sample of, yes. However be aware I intend Amicus to start mass producing these extra healings in exchange for all the help defending Yoesville.

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    2. Yeah, I could really use it! That way Amicus can start churning out potions even faster.

      Does anyone have some leather armor Amicus could borrow as a sample for Gorna's new armor?

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  4. Potions in ACKS don't have 3 charges, it's just that the potions of extra healing can be consumed as one 3D6+3 potion, or three D6+1 doses.

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    1. Right. This one potion ACTS like three charges of Cure Light Wounds. I'm going to make the formula as if it were that since there is no 3d6+3 cure spell anywhere.

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  5. I was batting around the building construction a bit, and found that the wooden buildings are in the same range more or less as the ACKS book (and thus my gear book), but the stone buildings are off by a very large margin
    Stone Townhouse: ACKS: 1200gp; New Rules 9000gp
    Fortified Stone Building: ACKS 3000gp, New Rules27,000gp

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    1. The math works for towers and gatehouses but not for civilian building so much. Maybe we base the cost on how sturdy the walls are?

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  6. According to the ACKS book, divine spellcasters can make anything they themselves can actually use, so Amicus could make any magic armor and magic hammers/maces/slings/quarterstaves, whatever staves and other things he could use, but not swords, or arcane wands/staves. He could probably make up a wand of cure serious wounds or something.

    The book also says that arcane enchanters can make anything that isn't exclusive to divine casters. So Tiberio could make any magic weapons or armor, but not divine wands/rods/staves. As for healing potions, I would personally feel that healing is the domain of the divine casters alone, but I'm open to others opinions on that.

    As for the monster bits for enchanting, the book says the DM is supposed to come up with an XP equivalent special material for each magic item. Myself, goblins are so common that they almost shouldn't ever be used for a magic item (although requiring a shit-ton of them for the components for like a dwarven throwing hammer or something would be funny). And it does actually say that the XP value of the monster (or monsters) should be equivalent to the GP cost of the research. So it's one troll bit per one potion of healing (actually a little bit more). Going by the formula in the mercantile section of the book, the actual market value of monster's carcass is equal to the XP value of the monster. So a troll body would be worth 680gp to sell, as well as 680xp worth of enchanting materials value.

    It also says, under divine congregations, that the divine congregations power can be substituted on a 1 to 1 basis for replacing special components in divine enchanting.

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    1. I didn't see that 1:1 ratio! I'll look again. That was the math I was missing.

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    2. for what its worth, you can make arcane healing spells. its why mages get reincarnate. However, its one of the very few types of magic that divine casters do better. on the spell creation tables most things have a lower multiplier for arcane.

      That said, if we want to make healing more exclusive to divine I can live with that. the healing potion thing was an example, I wasn't really planning on actually making them. I have other ideas for spells/magic items I'd rather spend my time and resources on.

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