V5: Nagaraja (my version)

https://tinyurl.com/p3dsktr4

Let's talk about predators.

Predators and prey always exist in unequal numbers; if there are too many predators, they end up eating all of the prey, and then the predators either starve or move elsewhere in search of food. Conversely, not enough predators means that the prey species ends up outstripping its natural resources and, again, either dies off or moves on in search of more food. As in all things, there is equilibrium.

Even vampires must obey this equilibrium or perish. While they have an advantage in that they do not need to kill in order to feed, which both reduces the drain on the prey population and allows for a greater concentration of predators in a smaller area, this is tempered by the disadvantage that vampires are not apex predators and that a suitably startled, informed, and brave percentage of the human population can and do take matters into their own hands to cull the numbers of vampires.

Furthermore, legend has it that in the days of the First City, when kindred ruled over the kine as gods, that there were havens within the High House of Caine for more than 200 vampires. Given the size of cities in the early days of human civilization, this is a great concentration of predators within a small space, and it is only by the strength and will of the First Vampire that the City did not fall to decadent bloodlust.

But think for a moment: 200 vampires, all ostensibly of the third generation as Caine forbid the creation of more; the third generation, from which come the mightiest vampire clans. Don't you find it likely that at least one of those kindred would have succumbed to the pressure of ecological equilibrium and developed a taste for other kindred?

After all, Diablerie had to come from somewhere.

The entire document may be found here.

Normally, this is where I'd place my justification for why I did what I did, but I don't know if anyone ever reads that part of my posts or not. I'll just leave this blank for now, and if anyone wants to know why I made these choices, I'll gladly answer. 

V5: the Clan of Death

In the mythology of Vampire: the Masquerade, there is a clan of vampires who did not achieve their position in the usual manner of "being a descendant of one of the 13 whom Caine embraced before the Flood." Instead, they diablerized the unsuspecting Antedeluvian of another clan, thereby becoming a clan in their own right, but this heinous act marked them as the enemies of the other kindred and to survive they needed to rely upon their magical abilities, subjugated supernatural soldiers, and their own tight-knit structure to survive. To this day they are mistrusted and seen as being only out for themselves. 

Quickly now: am I talking about the Tremere, or am I talking about the Giovanni?

Unfortunately, the answer is both. The Giovanni are just a re-skin of the Tremere, with Necromancy instead of Thaumaturgy and Potence instead of Auspex. The similarity was only reinforced in the 3rd edition (aka Revised) when Necromancy was given multiple magical paths in exactly the same manner as Thaumaturgy. I always preferred the Cappadocians, the original Clan of Death introduced in Vampire: the Dark Ages, who approached the study of the afterlife from a spiritual and scholarly aspect rather than from one of power and manipulation and whose disciplines were Auspex, Fortitude, and Necromancy. 

As it turns out, the writers for this version of VtM agree with me at least in part, because they have decided to rename the clan of death Hecata. I assume this is a reference to Hecate, the three-faced Greek goddess of magic (including necromancy) due to the fact that the Hecata are an amalgamation of the Giovanni, the surviving members of the Giovanni, and all the other death-related bloodlines like the Samedi and the Nagaraja. On the one hand, this is good because it ties up a lot of loose ends in the form of errant bloodlines tied to a meta-story. On the other, it's bad and lazy because, suddenly and magically, all of these bloodlines with their formerly disparate powers and weaknesses now all have the same disciplines (Auspex, Fortitude, Oblivion) and bane (the Giovanni weakness of dealing extra damage when feeding -- which, if used properly, can become a benefit in combat). 

What's worse is that the V5 writers have decided that the shadow powers of the Lasombra come from the same netherworldly source as the Hecata's necromancy, and now canon Lasombra have Dominate, Oblivion, and Potence. So now not only do the Lasombra resemble pre-V5 Giovanni, they also have access to necromantic powers... which rather puts the lie to the Hecata's claim as the "clan of death", doesn't it? Ugh. 

By the by, this is why I made my version of the Lasombra jettison the whole "shadow power" concept. Not only was Obtenetration reductive ("We're the clan called 'The Shadow' and we have shadow powers"), but it also opened a huge can of worms by making the Hecata no longer unique and giving the power-hungry Lasombra access to too much power. 

So, with all that said, here is my version of the Clan of Death. In terms of game heresy it's worse than my Tzimisce writeup but not as bad as my non-Obtenebration Lasombra. Much like in Cult of the Blood Gods it integrates the Giovanni and Samedi back into the mother clan but, if I may say so myself, my version does it less awkwardly by ignoring a lot of the metaplot-backstory baggage which caused all the problems in the first place. This also nicely explains how and why the Cappadocians have managed to get along without the Camarilla: they are effectively a sect in their own right, and much like the Banu Haquim of previous editions* they are too useful and too powerful to alienate but too insular and too disturbing to be kept close. 

Also, for those who are wondering about the Nagaraja, I left them out because I think they're too interesting to be a mere bloodline. I'm going to tweak their concept (and probably their disciplines) to see if I can't come up with a clan that has a distinct flavor of India and Central Asia. 

* I am NOT a fan of the Assassin Clan joining the Camarilla. I preferred them as NPCs who did awful things for payment in large quantities of vitae, not the Cam's new enforcement branch. 

In Nomine: Christopher, Archangel of Innocence

 

In the role-playing game In Nomine, Christopher is the Archangel of Children. I have a problem with that, because while the concept of "Children" is important, is it actually of Archangel-level importance? And if it is, doesn't that suggest the concepts of "Mothers" and "Fathers" should also be Archangel level?

My opinion is that "Children" is too specific, so I expanded that to "Innocence". This sounds like Innocents, which is what children are, but is also so much more than that. 

So this is, to use fan terminology, a deeply heretical version of Christopher. I've basically changed everything about this except for his name and choir to fit my vision. I'm sure a lot of hard-core In Nomine players will hate this, and I'm okay with that. If you like this, please drop me a note to let me know!

Google Docs version HERE. 

Vampire 5: Non-Obtenebration Lasombra

It's amazing what a week away from home does for my creativity, as something which had been bothering me for a long time finally resolved into a solution in my mind. I now present to you a clan which I couldn't quite grok, so I cut pieces off it and stitched on others from different sources until I was happy.

Erin's Non-Obtenebration Clan Lasombra for V5

Author’s Note: Why are there no shadow powers?
I found them annoying and reductive.

Who are the Lasombra according to canon? Prior to V5, they were basically the Sabbat’s version of the Ventrue who had shadow powers. Now that V5 has had the Lasombra quit the Sabbat and join the Camarilla for… reasons…  they’ve lost even that evil mirror aspect and are just another highbrow clan. V5 doesn’t do a great job of explaining how they differ from the Ventrue, just that they do.

Perhaps the differences were made more clear in 2e and 3e’s clanbooks, but it’s literally been decades since I read those and, to be honest, most clanbooks were crap. I recall the Lasombra being overshadowed (hah!) by the Tzimisce, who could be summarized with the fascinating concept of “monstrous, transhumanist Draculas” and who therefore occupied their own distinct space within the game.

I was also bothered by the literalness of the name. They are literally named “The Shadow” and they have shadow powers? It was just too much for me, far too blatant a show of power and capability. Then V5 came along and turned Obtenebration into Oblivion, which was then linked with Necromancy, and I said “NO. Hard no.” If the Lasombra had access to Necromancy then not only would they exploit the hell out of it, they’d find a way to control or destroy the Cappadocians / Giovanni / Hecata / whatever they’re called these days. That seemed like a lot of work to me, and I felt it was easier just to keep them separate.

Then a heretical thought occurred to me:  What if I made a shadowy clan who didn’t have access to shadow powers? Then their name would take on a whole new meaning, highly symbolic instead of literal, and that felt exciting to me. But how would I re-invent them?

My Storyteller, Adrian Rook, came up with a great concept for them regarding control. It didn’t completely suit my purposes (mainly because they still had shadow powers), but I could respect where he was going with it and I knew I could live with it in his game. However, it didn’t satisfy me and I kept thinking about ways to change them to make me happy. His influence can be seen here in both the clan compulsion and in various aspects of their personality.

It wasn’t until I read the V20 book Lore of the Clans that the concept of  the Lasombra being cancerous corruptors who blackmail people and hollow out organizations to wear as a suit fully blossomed. Maybe that concept has always been there and I never realized it, or maybe this was a new interpretation on the clan, but I found it different and unusual and it shifted my concept of the Lasombra from “like the Ventrue, only with more asshole” to “powers behind the throne”. As I considered this, things started to make a lot more sense: they’d tunneled inside the Church and twisted it to their own ends, and then when the Inquisition started they did the same with the Anarch movement, suborning it into the Sabbat. The Tzimisce became their enforcers and figureheads while the Lasombra ruled it like viziers, the Cardinal Richelieu to the Tzimisce’s King Louis.

I also realized that this concept was stealing a lot of thunder from the Followers of Set, and frankly I was okay with that. The Setites annoy me for a lot of reasons, mainly because their concept seems to be “We are evil corruptors because we are evil and we like to corrupt, tra-la-la.” Evil for the sake of being evil bores me, as does corrupting others because it’s your religion. But corruption in the service of personal power? Now that’s interesting, and it fit perfectly within the concept of shadowy control freaks accumulating power through taking control of organizations because in order to do that, first you need to control the people within them. Also, if you’re a clan named “The Shadow” (and especially if you have shadow powers) you really need to have a weakness to sunlight. Since I was stealing from the Setites, I figured I’d steal that too.

So yes, the Setites are on the trash pile with this concept. I’ll try to replace them with a more interesting group of evil bastards when I have time. Meanwhile, the new Lasombra have a more interesting mix of disciplines which are well-suited for their role: Animalism to sense the desires of the Beast and to quash it, Auspex to get leverage, and Presence to make people like them, trust them, and/or fear them.

Ultimately it comes down to this: I like this new version of the Keepers, and that’s what is important. If you don’t, that’s fine; you don’t have to use them.

Hero Points (but not really)

I've been giving a lot of thought on how to address the tendency of Pathfinder players to have a 15-minute adventuring day. I fixed it somewhat with importing Arcane Recovery from 5th Edition D&D to Pathfinder as a feat, but that only affects wizards and leaves all the other classes out in the cold. (Admittedly, as wizards are basically glass cannons, especially at low levels, it could be argued that they needed special attention anyway.)

But Arcane Recovery and 5e's differentiation between the Short Rest and the Long Rest got me to thinking about how to implement that within Pathfinder. I liked the concept of using hit dice to top up spent hit points between combats, but how best to use that in my game which makes heavy use of Hero Lab to keep things running?

The answer is a Frankenstein-style mash-up between 5e's hit dice and Pathfinder's hero points.

TLDR version: they're gained like PF hero points, but they're spent and regained like 5e hit dice.

Hero Points in my Pathfinder RPG

Acquiring Hero Points

PCs have X Hero Points, where X = PC level. Every time a character levels up,  a new Hero Point is earned. The GM may also hand out non-persistent Hero Points as a reward for good problem-solving or role-playing (non-persistent means "Spend it once and it's gone forever"). 

Spending Hero Points

Players can spend one or more Hero Points at the end of a short rest. For each Hero Point spent in this way, they roll a die corresponding to their character's hit dice and add their character’s Constitution modifier to it. These are hit points that have been regained as a result of resting and tending to wounds. Players can roll as many times as you like until they're out of dice. 

Players can also spend a Hero Point to regain a single use of extraordinary or supernatural abilities, including but not limited to:

• Bardic Performance
• Channel Energy
• Rage
• Smite Evil
• Lay On Hands
• Raging Song
• Grit
• Panache

Note: I am uncertain about long-term effects of letting players use Hero Points to recover spells. If I do, this will be expensive, on the order of 1 Hero Point per spell times the spell level.

The main idea here is that the PCs spend hero points while taking a short rest in order to "catch their breath" and recover some combat efficiency, encouraging players to adventure a bit longer before resting.

If in doubt, charge them more to regain abilities. 

Recovering Hero Points

PCs regain spent Hero Points at the rate of one-half their level (minimum 1) only after a long rest.

Note that per the definition of a long rest, any strenuous activity before it's completed (like combat or running away), the 8-hour clock on the rest period "resets" and must begin again.

Additional note for clarification: I am NOT implementing the 5e "regain all lost hit points after a long rest" rule.


Ideally, this new system will encourage my players to press forward a bit more boldly rather than stopping to rest every time the wizard is out of spells or the cleric is out of heals. We shall see.

The Templar & the Cloistered Cleric

Last month (before the entire country went mad), I complained that I thought clerics in pathfinder were too powerful and that they should be split up into two separate classes:

1. The Templar, which is basically the traditional cleric except that it has reduced spell progression (like the Warpriest) and who casts spontaneously.
2. The Cloistered Cleric, which is essentially a "divine wizard", giving up arms and armor in exchange for more knowledge and nine levels of spell progression. 

Well, it's taken me a while, but I've finally created Hero Lab .user files of both of these classes. I couldn't figure out how to force the Templar to start play knowing the various Cure spells like like Oracle does, so if you want to go that route you'll have to manually add them via the Adjustment tab.

If you use Hero Lab to play Pathfinder, please give these a look and tell me what you think. I've probably missed something important (the Hero Lab editor is very un-intuitive so I think it's likely I've overlooked something or made an error.)

Enjoy!

I Hate Barbarians

In the comments section of my "I don't like clerics" post, I was asked which class I'd modify next.

As you may have guessed from reading the title, while I dislike clerics for being too good I absolutely detest the barbarian class. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of an illiterate savage who wears very little and tends to froth at the mouth in battle, it's the execution of the class that annoys me.

• The level abilities they get stink of pandering. "Fast Movement? Well, okay, I guess if they don't have horses... Uncanny Dodge? Trap Sense? this is a melee class, not a rogue... DAMAGE REDUCTION? Oh, fuck right off."
• They have 12-sided hit dice. Think about that for a moment: On the one hand, we have the Fighter, a class dedicated solely to combat, and it gets d10s for hit points; on the other hand, we have a class whose schtick is "get really upset and beat on things like the Hulk until they stop twitching" and they get d12s. No, that's just wrong. 

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0360319/mediaviewer/rm1315507712

Really, the only thing about this class which I like is the Rage, which I'm pretty sure is the main reason people play barbs. But look at how they progress: rage at 1st level, then a rage power every even level. This is the exact same progression as fighter bonus feats. 

So here's how I'd change things:

1. Delete the Barbarian class altogether. 
2. Increase the Fighter's hit dice to d12s, as is right and proper. 
3. Make a "Berserker" archetype for the fighter which gives rage and rage powers in place of fighter feats. 

That archetype would look like this (with a lot of cutting and pasting from the barbarian class and replacing the word barbarian with berserker):

The Berserker (Archetype)

For some, there is only rage. In the ways of their people, in the fury of their passion, in the howl of battle, conflict is all these brutal souls know. Savages, hired muscle, masters of vicious martial techniques, they are not soldiers or professional warriors—they are the battle possessed, creatures of slaughter and spirits of war.

Rage (Ex)
At 1st level, a berserker can call upon inner reserves of strength and ferocity, granting her additional combat prowess. Starting at 1st level, a berserker can rage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + her Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, she can rage for 2 additional rounds. Temporary increases to Constitution, such as those gained from rage and spells like bear’s endurance, do not increase the total number of rounds that a berserker can rage per day. A berserker can enter rage as a free action. The total number of rounds of rage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours do not need to be consecutive.

While in rage, a berserker gains a +4 morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution, as well as a +2 morale bonus on Will saves. In addition, she takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase to Constitution grants the berserker 2 hit points per Hit Dice, but these disappear when the rage ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points. While in rage, a berserker cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.

A berserker can end her rage as a free action and is fatigued after rage for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the number of rounds spent in the rage. A berserker cannot enter a new rage while fatigued or exhausted but can otherwise enter rage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a berserker falls unconscious, her rage immediately ends, placing her in peril of death.

This ability replaces heavy armor and tower shield proficiency.

Rage Powers (Ex)
As a berserker gains levels, she learns to use her rage in new ways. Starting at 2nd level, a berserker gains a rage power. She gains another rage power for every two levels of berserker attained after 2nd level. A berserker gains the benefits of rage powers only while raging, and some of these powers require the berserker to take an action first. Unless otherwise noted, a berserker cannot select an individual power more than once.

Any berserker who meets the powers’ prerequisites can select and use rage powers. Totem rage powers grant powers related to a theme. A berserker cannot select from more than one group of totem rage powers; for example, a berserker who selects a beast totem rage power cannot later choose to gain any of the dragon totem rage powers (any rage power with “dragon totem” in its title).

This ability replaces all bonus feats gained at even levels.

Greater Rage (Ex)
At 11th level, when a berserker enters rage, the morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution increases to +6 and the morale bonus on her Will saves increases to +3.

This ability replaces armor training 3.

Indomitable Will (Ex)
While in rage, a berserker of 14th level or higher gains a +4 bonus on Will saves to resist enchantment spells. This bonus stacks with all other modifiers, including the morale bonus on Will saves she also receives during her rage.

This ability replaces bravery 4.

Tireless Rage (Ex)
Starting at 17th level, a berserker no longer becomes fatigued at the end of her rage.

This ability replaces weapon training 4.

Mighty Rage (Ex)
At 20th level, when a berserker enters rage, the morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution increases to +8 and the morale bonus on her Will saves increases to +4.

This ability replaces weapon mastery.

I had hoped to be able to include a Hero Lab file for the Berserker, but it's taking me longer than I expected to figure out how to make the editor do what I want, so I'll have to post it later. But here's an archetype that does nothing but increase the Fighter's hit dice to d12. It has no other requirements so it'll stack with everything else. Enjoy!

I Don't Like Clerics in Pathfinder

Now that I have your attention: I don't like them because they're too good.

• They have two "fast" save progressions;
• They have a medium attack progression;
• They are proficient in simple weapons (a mace or morningstar does as much damage as a longsword);
• They are proficient in shields and medium armor;
• They can cast spells in that armor without penalty;
• With few exceptions, they have access to all the divine spells in the books;
• They have nine levels of spells;
• Plus two domains with extra spells and abilities;
• Plus they channel energy to heal or harm or turn undead;
• Plus they don't even have to memorize healing spells if good / inflict spells if evil. 

Basically, they're second-line tanks with both the ability to heal and cast spells. They're too good at what they do. The worst thing that can be said about them is that they're only adequate in combat and that their class progression is rather boring with just increases in spells and energy channeling, and even that can be mitigated somewhat with the right archetype. 

Oh sure, someone is going to say "Just take away their holy symbol and then they're second-rate fighters,", but that's missing the point, which happens to be "What would be a crippling loss to any other class merely inconveniences clerics. They can still contribute to the party in combat until such time as they can craft another holy symbol, or paint one on their shield, once combat is over." (Unless, of course, they took the Birthmark trait, which is a holy symbol that can't be removed without a very specific maiming.)

A well-built, well-run cleric will tear up an encounter. While it will never be the damage dealer the fighter is, nor can it call down quite the same FWAKOOM that a wizard can (although Harm and Flame Strike are nothing to sneeze at), the fact that it can stand knee-deep in the carnage and sling spells and radiate heals means the cleric is the heart of an adventuring party. 

Perhaps the cleric doesn't need fixing. Perhaps I'm proposing solutions in search of problems. But here are my thoughts on the matter.

Split the traditional cleric into two separate classes: Cloistered Cleric and Templar

(I would have used "warpriest", because the name fits perfectly, but I'm trying to avoid confusion with the class from the Advanced Class Guide. [and yes, there is a cleric archetype called cloistered cleric, but it's awful and no one in their right mind uses it.])

The Templar is what you think of when you think cleric 

Armor, attack progression, the whole bit. There are just two key changes:

1. It is a spontaneous caster, like the oracle, including access to Cure/Inflict spells based on deity and alignment. 
2. It only has six levels of spells, like the warpriest, and uses that spell progression. 

The Templar still has access to Channel Energy and Domains, adding domain spells to its list of those known. 

The Cloistered Cleric is more like a divine wizard

Because "cloistered" means "sheltered", the CC has spent much of his life in the temple being a professional priest and as such doesn't know how to wear armor or swing a mace. (Although there's nothing stopping him from spending the feats to do either.)

I'm not ashamed to admit that Etoh from
Record of Lodoss Wars was my inspiration.

1. Skill points are 4+ Int per level, and all Knowledge skills are available. 
2. Hit dice reduced to d6.
3. Attack progression is slow. 
4. Only one fast save progression (Will). 
5. No armor or shield proficiency. 
6. Proficient only in club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff. 
7. Still able to Channel Energy. 
8. Nine levels of spells. 
9. Three domains instead of two. (From an aesthetic standpoint, I suppose that the Templar should only have one domain and the CC have two, but there are several archetypes which demand the loss of a domain. Having no domains would hurt the Templar class, especially since it's now a spontaneous caster and needs all the choices it can get.)

Speaking of Archetypes

Use your best judgement. Some, like Crusader or Divine Strategist, are clearly better suited to the Templar, while others (Scroll Scholar, Theologian) are obviously more scholarly and thus should be assigned to the Cloistered Cleric. Some need to be eliminated (the aforementioned cloistered archetype), and the rest (such as Evangelist or Merciful Healer) should be available to both classes. As always, the GM should exercise her best judgement and tweak as necessary.


I realize this is deeply heretical in terms of butchering sacred cows, but this notion intrigues me. I would greatly appreciate coherent, reasoned critiques on this proposal, specifically in matters of game balance.

Traveller Tuesday-Thursday: That Way Madness Lies

I'm not even going to explain this, because it would take too long.

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under
fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

I started working on it.... a while ago... and thought for sure I'd be done on Tuesday. Then Wednesday. Now it's early Thursday and I've already passed through "This won't work the way I want it to", "What a stupid idea," "I've wasted too much time on this already to give up now," and am not camping out at "Screw it, I've done this much , I might as well post it and get partial credit. Maybe someone will have a brilliant idea about how to make it work."

400 quatloos to whomever not only recognizes this chart but also figures out what I'm trying to do with it.

(Hint: it's not complete)

Feng Shui: The Power to Move You*

Movement hasn't been much of an issue in my Feng Shui campaign, because most of the fights have been in cramped spaces. But since my players prefer to play with a game map (blasphemy, I know! But they are uncomfortable with the vagueness of "theater of the mind" combat), this will come up at some point in the future and so I'm going to codify it now.

Page 101 in the core book states that it is a 3-shot action to "Run full-out, traveling twice your Speed in meters."

From this I derive these very loose rules:

• It costs no shots to move 1 meter (this is the Feng Shui version of the "Five foot step" rule from D&D). 
• It costs 1 shot to move your speed in meters. 
• However, if you make it into a stunt (-2 to your attack value), then you can move up to your speed in meters while still attacking. 

* Apologies to Tenacious D. (Mind bullets are a separate schtick.)

Traveller Tuesday: Heatflec

It's taken me a while, but I have finally been convinced that a reflect coating on starships is a bad idea.

Not only are these good points, but consider also the following:

• Reflec needs cleaning/polishing to maintain efficiency
• That polish would be damaged by the thermal effects of atmospheric exit and entry
• Micrometeorite impact would also damage the mirror coating
• After taking hull damage, the coating logically ought to be reapplied

So fine. This post is me throwing up hands up in despair about reflec. Let us eschew magically perfect mirror technology and instead embrace magically perfect heat dispersal technology. As was pointed out to me, most Traveller ships are heat traps and the heat has to go somewhere or else it'll boil the crew. So I'll go with the option that makes my life easier.

Thus: Heatflec. (I needed a word for it and it's catchy.)

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under
fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

Not that we're dumping heat* instead of redirecting light, that meant heatflec needs to work against fusion and plasma weapons as well. Just to keep things familiar, I'll keep the same bonus as reflec did for lasers.

Of course, this increase in performance needs to come with an increase in price as well. Let's increase it to MCr 0.25, which puts it at the same price point as 1e radiation shielding (which to my mind has always been too expensive for what it actually does. 2e changes it to MCr 0.025, which is a little too much in the other direction, I think; switching the numbers with 1e reflec -- MCr 0.1 /dton -- seems about right).

If a GM doesn't want to give armor vs heat but still wants to have a way to radiate heat away from ships without fins, I think it would make sense to steal the numbers from 1e's self-sealing coating and make non-armor heatflec MCr 0.01 per dton.

The delightful part of all is that since we aren't reflecting laser energy with a mirror but are instead absorbing thermal energy, heatflec is 100% compatible with stealth coatings and does not require my configurable hull workaround.

Therefore, we have this as the finished product:

Thermal Dispersion Coating ("Heatflec")
TL: 9
Cost: MCr 0.25 / dton of hull
Effect: This coating provides +3 armor against lasers, plasma and fusion weapons.
Restrictions: This coating may only be added once.


Additionally, I present you with this house rule: When the hull has taken 1/3 damage, reduce heatflec's armor bonus by one. This means that when hull has been dropped to zero (using 1e mechanics; I still like the difference between hull and structure), the ship has no bonus to resisting thermal damage. Of course, at zero hull points the ship has no hull integrity and is completely open to vacuum, so heat buildup is the least of its worries right now.


*No, I have no idea where it goes. I'm good at handwavium bullshittium, but I'm not that good.

Traveller Tuesday: 2e High Guard Screens

I've been complaining a lot about something the nonsensical things Mongoose has done with 2e. But sometimes Mongoose gets things right, in which case I embrace my fully heretical anture and not only cherry-pick the bits I like, but then I graft them onto my own game.

I have an example of each in today's article.

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under
fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

So in 2e High Guard *, meson screens and nuclear dampers are now 10 dtons, instead of the previous 20 dtons from 1e High Guard -- which was itself a correction from 1e Core where they were 50 dtons.

Dropping screens from 50 dtons was something I approved of, because I couldn't see them taking the volume of a bay weapon while only reducing damage by 2d6, and 20 dtons seemed much more reasonable. But dropping them to 10 dtons seems questionable to me. Sure, it's unlikely to be an issue for player character ships, because the cost is exorbitant and they need to be stacked in order to be truly effective. But the big problem is with Navy ships -- mainly capital ships, but perhaps with escorts in the 1k to 3k range -- who have both the money and the space to give tens or hundreds of dtons to shields.
In 1e, the number of screens a ship could carry was limited. For non-capital ships, that limitation was based upon power plant performance; for capital ships, the limitation was this table:

But with 2e ships construction rules, which were designed as a unified system spanning small craft to dreadnaughts, all shields displace 10 dtons, with the only limitation being available volume and the power available. It worries me to think that a 2e capital ship could have enough power and dtonnage available to power sufficient number of screens as to make it essentially unkillable outside of spinal mounts. 

(For the record, I'm not fond of meson screen dtonnage in 1e, either. Nuclear dampers seem fine, starting out at regular size and increasing, but meson screens starting at 50 dtons is not only a waste of a bay, but also a challenge to logic. If screens for ships of 100 up to 2,999 dtons all displace 20 tons, and if nuclear dampers for ships 3k to 7.5k dtons are 20, why then are meson screens 50? Personally, I'd peg meson screen size to nuclear damper size while keeping the price difference.)

However, the 1e rules for Black Globes were asinine. Check out this table:

Now go back to the previous table, and see that per rules, a ship carrying a TL15 Black Globe device -- a shield derived from Ancient technology -- could only mount 3 of them. Not only does this do a disservice to black globes, which are supposed to be OMG ANCIENT TECH!, but 1) renders half the flicker chart completely unnecessary and 2) it says that BGGs for capships actually weigh less (10 to 30 dtons) than they do for non-cap ships (50 dtons)!

In this case, the 2e changes make sense. BGGs are back to being 50 dtons, and given their benefits I am completely comfortable with them taking up a bay's worth of space. In fact, I wonder if they ought to displace more volume, using the numbers from 1e meson screens instead.

But look! Using these rules, BGGs are actually useful  in combat! They have drawbacks, sure, but this chart balances those against the gains while not making BGGs useless (I'm looking at you, 2 measly points of armor per 10% flicker rate).

I like this, so I'm going to use it in my game. And that's what it means to be a Fully Heretical GM:  I can cut and graft as I see fit.


* Which, after nearly 10 months of development and six months after 2e Core came out, was finally published a few days after I mentioned their lateness in this article.

Traveller Tuesday: Stealth and Hull Coatings

I was looking over the 2e High Guard playtest document -- by the way, how are all you 2e converts doing? Still using 1e for ship generation? How does that make you feel, 6 months on without a ship generation system? -- when I noticed that this version of the rules had multiple options at varying tech levels for stealth. I found this interesting, for a variety of reasons:

1. There's been some re-balancing of TLs and numbers;
2. The lower TL stealth stacks with a higher level version;
3. A TL 10 holographic hull costs exactly the same as a TL 10 stealth coating, only without any of the bonuses, even though you'd think that the ability to camouflage the ship against visual sensors would count for something; and
4. I wondered how I could balance the new rules with the (unofficial) advanced stealth rules in Apparition Class Starship, because those are good rules and prior to the 2e HG playtest, they are the ones I used. 

So obviously I'm going to putting together some House Rules with chainsaws and heresy. Everything that follows after this is decidedly not canon. 

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under
fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

NOTE: These rules have not been playtested and are a work in progress. 

They may be changed as necessary!

TL 8 Emissions Absorption Grid
This comprises wires placed in a pattern throughout the hull that capture electronic emissions and store them in capacitors. This grants DM-2 on any Technology (Sensors) checks to detect or lock onto the ship, and will stack with higher-TL Stealth coatings. Adding an Emissions Absorption Grid costs MCr 0.05 per ton of hull and consumes 2% of the total hull tonnage for the capacitors.

TL10 Stealth
This is a stealth coating that absorbs electromagnetic radiation (radar, lidar beams, visible light, etc) and disguises heat emissions, but is highly dependent on the Tech Level of the ship and that of enemies trying to find it. This gives DM-2 on any Technology (Sensors) checks made to detect or lock onto the ship, with an additional DM-1 for every Tech Level the ship is higher than the sensors trying to locate it. Stealth cannot be used at the same time as Reflec, but see Configurable Hull for a way to have both -- just not simultaneously). Adding Stealth costs MCr0.1 per ton of hull, and can only be added once.

Included for sake of completeness:

TL 10 Reflec
Reflec coating on a hull increases the  ship’s Protection against lasers by +3, but it cannot be used at the same time as Stealth. Adding Reflec costs MCr0.1 per ton of hull, and can only be added once.

TL10 Holographic Hull
Multiple holographic projectors are embedded within the hull allowing the ship to change hull colors, add graphics and adopt a different appearance (though its shape remains the same). Changing the hull color or adding a stored graphic can be done by anyone with access to the ship’s computer. Creating a complex color scheme from scratch requires the talents of a skilled artist.

Some young nobles try to outdo one another by changing the schemes daily or hiring artists to create the most complex scenes imaginable. Some pirates have made use of this system to simulate visual hull damage and lure other ships in with a GK distress call. However, most private ship owners use it for the purposes of advertising.

The military, however, makes extensive use of hull holography. During peacetime, the hull wears the bright colors and distinctive insignia of its fleet; during war, the hull blends in with the background to confuse visual sensors. This gives an additional -1 DM to detect the ship, but only against passive sensors, and is able to stack with both Stealth and Reflec as the projectors are embedded within, not on top of, the hull.

(Yes, you read that correctly: a hologram over a mirror doesn't stop the mirror from being reflective. Sure, pointing a laser at a ship with a hologram over reflec is still going to make the laser reflect off it, but now we're talking about the differences between active sensors and passive.)

A holographic hull system costs MCr 0.1 per ton of hull. The projectors are small enough that they do not consume tonnage themselves.

Also included for sake of completeness:

TL 12 Configurable Hull
This option allows a craft to switch between hull coatings. This is an outer-layer only change, and therefore it does not interfere with armor, the jump grid, or atmospheric integrity of the ship. It does not allow the addition of the same coating more than once. It costs MCr 0.1 per ton of hull, in addition to the coatings. It takes one turn, during the Ship Action phase, to switch hull configurations. 

GM ruling so I don't have to repeat it in every entry: regardless of TL, Stealth hull coatings do not and cannot stack DMs. 

Stealth also cannot be active as the same time as Reflec. 

TL12 Improved Stealth
Improved stealth enhances the traditional stealth coating by providing anti-masking measures through deployment of active emitter elements across all hull surface area. This protects against methods for detecting a ship by finding an absence or shadow in a sensor field.

Improved Stealth is a hull wrapping that contains millions of TL 12 3-D emitters, added underneath a specialized stealth coating that allows them to operate. They redirect and transmit multiple wavelengths EM radiation simultaneously from multiple viewing angles, allowing the vessel to transmit environmental EM signals “through” its space, manipulate its thermal signature, and ensure that it doesn't interrupt its background visual field.

This gives DM-4 on any Technology (Sensors) checks made to detect or lock onto the ship, with an additional DM-1 for every Tech Level the ship is higher than the sensors trying to locate it. Improved Stealth also has Holographic Hull as part of its suite.

Adding Improved Stealth costs MCr 1 per ton of hull and requires 1 ton of control hardware. It can only be added once. Improved Stealth requires the ship’s computer to run specialized software (Stealth Control/5) which comes bundled with the install.

TL14 Enhanced Stealth
As Improved Stealth, but the active emitters are blended with the stealth coating and the specialized control hardware is no longer needed, but more powerful software is required.

This gives DM-6 on any Technology (Sensors) checks made to detect or lock onto the ship, with an additional DM-1 for every Tech Level the ship is higher than the sensors trying to locate it. Enhanced Stealth also has Holographic Hull as part of its suite.

Adding Enhanced Stealth costs MCr 3 per ton of hull and can only be added once. Enhanced Stealth requires the ship’s computer to run specialized software (Stealth Control/10) which comes bundled with the install.

Summary of Results

• Emissions Absorbtion Grid gives Minor Stealth (-2 DM to detect). 
• Combines with Stealth Coating for Basic Stealth (-4 DM to detect, in line with 1e stealth).
• Holographic Hull gives an additional -1 DM to passive detection only, and is included in later stealth versions. 

• Improved Stealth Coating gives Improved Stealth (-4 DM by itself and -6 when combined with EAG. Also gives additional -1 DM against passive sensors per HoloHull).
• Enhanced Stealth is -6 DM by itself and -8 with EAG. Again, also has HoloHull.
• These last two are both ridiculously expensive and require computer bandwidth. 

I don't know how well these balance within a game session, but they look okay to my GM sense. I'll have to test them to be sure, however. and I welcome input from readers. 

Traveller Tuesday: Skill Clarifications

Mongoose's second edition of Traveller changed the organization of skills. I approve of some changes, disapprove others, and feel that in some cases 2e didn't follow through to the logical conclusion.

Herein are the changes I have made to skills in my heretical version of Mongoose Traveller, including previous posts on skill expansion.

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under

fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

Zero-G

This skill still exists in my game. 2e subsumbed it into Athletics, but I still operate on the notion that there's no unskilled penalty for not having the Athletics skill, and if I did it the 2e way that would mean everyone could move around in freefall unskilled. No thank you, I don't think so...

Technology

This is what 2e calls the Electronics skill. I approve of how 2e has turned the high-tech skills of Comms, Computer, Remote Ops and Sensors into a single skill -- not only does it make it easier for a PC to be appropriately tech-savvy early on, it also mirrors how Gun Combat is a single skill but with different specialties depending on the weapon.

I've renamed it to prevent confusion with the Electronics specialty, below. 

Science

I'm sticking with the 1e version of this, as I don't like the notion that being a biologist automatically gives you an understanding of planetology or economics.

Repair

2e did away with the Electronics specialty of Engineer, and folded it into Mechanic. Since mechanical repair and electrical repair are quite different, I've made Electronics and Mechanic distinct specialties of the Repair skill. 

Navigation

Folded into Survival. 

Medic

Continuing to harp upon "If slug pistol and slug rifle are two separate specialties, then completely alien biologies ought not to be lumped into the same skill," I have made each alien species its own specialty as explained in this post. 

Language

As explained in greater detail in this post, Languages are now separate skills. Related dialects (such as all Vargr languages being offshoots of Arrghoun) are specialties of the same root. 

Heavy Weapons

I'm taking the best of all the versions here:

• Artillery - indirect fire weapons
• Man Portable Energy - PGMP/FGMP
• Man Portable Kinetic - launchers and direct-fire large-bore weapons like machine guns
• Vehicle Mounted - tank guns, rocket pods. miniguns, etc 

Gun Combat

This is one of the simplifications of 2e that I don't like. After years of having skills broken up by both projectile and size -- and from my own knowledge that shooting a rifle uses different techniques than shooting a pistol -- I'm keeping the differentiation and adding a few. 

• Archaic (by name, like Bow or Blowpipe)
• Energy Carbine 
• Energy Pistol
• Energy Rifle
• Shotgun
• Slug Carbine
• Slug Pistol
• Slug Rifle
• Zero-G Weapons

Drive/Flyer/Pilot

Air/Rafts still require Flyer in 2e, but fortunately Flyer is now a skill that anyone can choose as a background skill and is more easily acquired in character generation. That's great for people who are making new characters, but what about those PCs who were generated in 1e? Well, there are two options:

1. The GM awards the Flyer skill as appropriate.
2. You do what I do and allow the Pilot and Drive skills to accommodate the operation of Air/Rafts. 

Battledress

Still a skill in my game. While I am comfortable with the very military skill of Battledress working as the Vacc Suit skill, I am not at all comfortable with the very civilian skill of Vacc Suit being used to operate the most advanced power armor in the Imperium. Again, no thank you. 

Advocate

Much like with Medic, I broke down what it means to have the Advocate skill and at which point it makes a character into an actual lawyer. There are also differences between military law, Imperial law, and planetary laws, and they are all specialties. Read my blog post on legal certification for further information.

Traveller Thursday : Multiple Hull Coatings

I've been busy working on a real-life project that I ought to be able to talk about soon, which is why posts have been rather thin lately. I have time for a quickie, though.

Quick question: what Traveller tech level would it take to effect the following transformation sequence for a real-life vehicle?


If you're familiar with this 90s series, keep in mind I'm not asking about any of the weapons. I just want to know what TL you think is needed to have the red car transform into the gray car while still being able to move.

I asked this question of my Secret Cabal of Evil GMs and the answer was "somewhere between TL 10 and 12."  This suits me just fine for the purpose I have in mind.

My use of Traveller setting and dress falls under
fair use guidelines for both Mongoose and Far Future Enterprises.

2nd Edition High Guard (still in beta testing) has explicitly stated that TL 10 Reflec coatings and TL 10 Stealth coatings are mutually exclusive. Now while I can see a point to be made where you can't have both operational at once -- anything which reflects visible light is, by definition, not stealthy -- I don't see why you couldn't have both on the same ship and switch between them.

Sure, it's going to be expensive. But I think it's possible, and it's the kind of thing that militaries would put on craft like system defense boats and small craft.

2e also has the Holographic Hull option, which includes projectors embedded within the hull to change color, add graphics etc. I recall a previous edition of Traveller (MegaTraveller, I think, but it could have been New Era) mentioned that many warships had holographic hulls which allowed them to switch between "peace mode" that used bright colors for the name and unit logo loud and proud for easy identification,  and a "war mode" that was camouflaged and made it difficult to determine what ship it was (and therefore not have its capabilities be obvious). 

So I think it is quite reasonable to assume that ships past a certain TL ought to be able to switch between stealth and reflec. I chose TL 12 just to err on the side of caution. 

Configurable Hull (TL 12)
This option allows a craft to switch between hull coatings. This is an outer-layer only change, and therefore it does not interfere with armor, the jump grid, or atmospheric integrity of the ship. It does not allow the addition of the same coating more than once. It costs MCr 0.1 per ton of hull, in addition to the coatings. It takes one turn, during the Ship Action phase, to switch hull configurations. 

Now you can build fighters with advanced stealth systems that can "turn on" armor against laser point defense right as they begin their strafing run, and then "re-stealth" as they break away to avoid missile interception.