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faderiftooc2018-06-05 10:44 pm
faderifting) wrote in faderiftooc2018-06-05 10:44 pm
Entry tags:
MOD POST ↠ OC POWER ADJUSTMENTS
MOD UPDATE: WHAT THE HECK IS A SAVING THROW
Turns out our last mod post felt so naked without any rule changes that we had to make up for it by making this three-piece suit's worth of adjustments to how we're handling OCs, and primarily tabletop OCs.
CAST CAPS
After some consideration, we've decided to split D&D casts based on shared universes rather than counting it as a single canon. So, for example, The Adventure Zone and Critical Role can each have independent cast caps, and OCs will be considered a "cast" when they share connections, cross storylines, would recognize one another by reputation, etc. We decided that counting all D&D characters as a single canon was sort of similar to counting all Modern Earth OCs as a single canon—the world operates the same way and everyone knows what New York City is, but it's not necessarily the same world with the same New York City.
That does mean that we need players to make sure to identify for us when your OCs share a universe/campaign, and tabletop OC players from different universes/campaigns won't be able to retroactively decide on connections or past encounters with one another unless there's room within the cast to contain all of the characters that overlap would connect and you let us know you're combining universes.
POWER ADJUSTMENTS & FAQ UPDATE
We've had a little bit of a bumpy time figuring out how to make D&D characters work in the game, and we apologize for any confusion or frustration that's caused, but we think we've figured out some ways to make it easier on everyone in the future. Specifically,
Time & Turn Restrictions
Unless we talk to you personally about limits for your character or specific abilities, the usual D&D limits on the amounts of times per day a character can cast a spell or use a certain ability are not going to apply in FR. Similar to natives, your characters can use anything in their arsenal as many times as they have the energy for. If you're unfamiliar with DA canon, that means that using big area-of-effect spells or powerful abilities will take a lot out of them in the moment, kind of like heavy weightlifting, but they'll be able to do it again after a breather if they need to, until after a certain point it's too much and they have to give it a rest and wake up feeling sore or tired the next morning (or potentially injure themselves if they keep pushing too far). There's no hard rule we enforce on natives for when that breaking point is, so there's no hard rule we'll enforce on D&D characters either. Just be reasonable and make sure your character isn't running circles around everyone else or repeatedly casting big powerful spells without breaks.
The reason for this adjustment is that, when nerfing characters, we try to look at what a character will generally be able to bring to a single plot log or IC problem to make sure everyone is on roughly even footing and able to contribute in their own ways. The time restrictions used for turn-based tabletop RP don't really mean much with the 1:1 time passage and more spaced-out plot that happens in DWRP. In most logs, a tabletop character will have nothing else specifically going on before or after that brief window of time, and thus will have access to their entire arsenal of abilities when a group of characters comes upon a significant problem to solve together. They won't usually be involved in multiple encounters in one log, there would very rarely be a fight so prolonged that they would run out of things they're able to do and would have to sit down and let other people take over, and in most situations everyone has forewarning and/or personal control of the kind of problem or enemy they're going to face and can plan accordingly, rather than potentially being caught unaware by a DM and having to improvise or do without something they accidentally already used. In sum, when told "your characters are going to go fight this thing," tabletop characters can use their entire list of available resources to decide how to tackle it. So it's important to us that the scope of a character's entire slate of abilities and skills doesn't make them significantly more powerful than other characters in practice, with limitations that really only apply in theory.
We've been trying to approach nerfs from that perspective. But it does create situations—mostly things like large-scale battles where we all handwave that our characters have been fighting for extended periods of time—where D&D characters subject to slot or time limits would be at a significant disadvantage. So for the most part, we're removing time/slot restrictions. Unless we've spoken to you privately or placed specific time-based nerfs on some of your character's abilities, such as limiting how much healing they can do per day, you're free to ignore those tabletop rules.
If you've previously RPed about those limitations being in place, you have a couple of options. First, you can retcon it, if you want to and if it doesn't cause problems for other people. Second, you can say that those limits did initially exist, but over time and with practice using magic in Thedas, they're starting to fade away.
Power Descriptions
Going forward, we need anyone apping or updating a tabletop character to avoid explaining those powers in tabletop terms, the same way we ask video game characters not to tell us anything about numerical damage points. We don't have stats or turns in FR and we don't roll for the vast majority of things, so limits based on points or levels or saving throws just don't have any application here. We've been trying to learn tabletop systems and figure out what those things will actually mean in a DWRP log so we can nerf what needs to be nerfed in our context, but it simply requires more time than we can spare. The exception is things like the duration of a spell or the distance or weight limits of an ability--definitely keep letting us know if someone can turn invisible for thirty seconds at a time or for twenty hours, and whether they can throw a car a mile or a cardboard box ten feet--that's precisely the type of info we really do need in order to evaluate how powerful a spell or ability is.
Process Changes & FAQ Update
To cover the above and also to address how we're going to handle new apps and canon updates in the future to try to be more transparent and consistent, we've updated the FAQ with the following:
How should I handle tabletop character abilities?
D&D and similar tabletop characters need to be "de-gamed" the same way we ask of video game characters. NPCs and other PCs in FR generally don't have stats, so you need to translate the parameters of your character's abilities into more practical narrative terms. For example, rather than telling us your character has an ability that will knock someone down unless they pass some kind of check, tell us what sorts of people your character is going to be knocking down with that ability on an average attempt. Babies? Giants? Etc.
On a similar note, because some D&D magic or otherwise supernatural abilities in specific are so similar to Dragon Age native magic, just often cooler or bigger, D&D characters will generally be capped in ways that leave them on similar footing to natives with similar skills. To make up forthat, they'll also generally be subject to the same restrictions on frequency of ability use that natives are, which is to say, basically none. Native characters can repeatedly cast spells or perform Cool Fighting Move #4 as many times per day as they want, subject to their realistically available magical or physical stamina. Your D&D characters will be able to do so as well, unless we specify otherwise for certain abilities when you apply.
We generally don't roll for things in FR, and when we do, it's for contained plots with their own requirements or stat sheets that won't correspond to your character's tabletop stat sheet. Characters also don't level up mechanically. Your characters can learn new skills when and how it makes narrative sense in this setting for them to do so, which may not be at the same rate you'd be used to in an actual tabletop game. You don't have to check in with us for your character to learn new mundane skills like crafting or wrestling. We just ask that everyone have characters grow and advance at a pace that's realistic for someone of their age, experience, and pre-existing strengths and weaknesses.
Can my rifter gain new abilities later?
Rifters can't learn native magic, but they can learn new non-magical skills and develop their own type of magic further. If your magical or supernaturally powered character hasn't reached what you would consider their full in-game magical/supernatural potential as of their canon point, please explain in your app what that full potential would be and how long it will take them to reach it if they continue to study and practice on their own in Fade Rift. That way we can take your plans into account when deciding if their other abilities and skills, magic gear, etc., will cause them to be cumulatively overpowered now or in the foreseeable future, and we can warn you in advance if they won't be able to both have all those things now and also acquire the new abilities you want later. There's no need to tell us what the character's potential will be in twenty years, just what you foresee them reaching in their time in FR (which will probably not last twenty years). This will allow us to nerf as needed in one go, and let you make informed choices at the beginning if, for example, keeping a potential ability on the table for the future would require giving up a different ability now.
To gain any new special abilities—that is, things non-mage Thedosians can't also learn to do—that go beyond those described and approved in your original apps, characters will generally be required to purchase specializations through the AC rewards system. You can use that mechanism to create custom specializations based on tabletop canon abilities if you want, but each specialization purchased will typically be limited to 3-4 thematically related "active" abilities of power levels comparable to those of DA abilities, such as new spells, plus a few passive improvements. Most characters will have three of these specialization slots available.
Characters who app in with particularly extensive abilities may be told during the app process that their character won't be eligible for any additional special ability gains, regardless of the method by which they're acquired, or that they'll have fewer than three specialization slots available via IC rewards. This is the same way we handle native characters, who can't buy three more specializations if they've already included some in their original app.
We generally won't allow powers that reach substantively beyond what's described in original apps to be acquired, even through canon updates, without a specialization purchase. Our initial nerfs to an application are often already the upper ceilings of what we're comfortable allowing for a character, so indefinitely raising those ceilings via canon updates won't be allowed. (Canon updates themselves are still allowed—you're always free to add to a character's life story that way. It's just the acquisition of new powers via canon updates that we're limiting.)
Canon rifters from ongoing sources who undergo significant unforeseen changes to their abilities at newly-released canon points and want to canon update will be handled on a case by case basis.
POWER ADJUSTMENT CENTRAL
In light of these changes, and to get everyone on fair and equal footing, we're going to open a window to revisit characters' abilities, nerfs, and inventories. If you foresee your character gaining significant power in the next couple years and aren't happy with how this new system applies to the app you already submitted, you can write a new draft of your strengths/weaknesses, nerfs, and inventory sections that covers what you would overall like to have considered as their basic set of abilities—the things your character can do now or will learn to do in the future that you don't want to have to use specialization slots to purchase. We'll go over everyone's abilities again with this in mind and renerf as necessary. It may wind up requiring some retconning, some powers mysteriously no longer working for no apparent reason, or some objects being accidentally destroyed, but we'll chat it out with you until we have something that works. (You'll also, of course, have the option to just stick with what was already approved.)
If you want to rework your character's abilities and inventory, just revise those sections of the app, letting us know in the revision what's changing and using non-tabletoppy descriptions, and post them here by June 24 at the latest. We'll try to have everyone squared away by the end of the month.
This is mainly for our tabletop characters or similar OCs, but if anyone else had planned significant power gains in the future, let us know and we'll figure out whether you need to be included as well.
If you have any questions, you're welcome to ask at any time, here or via the mod contact page!
QUESTIONS
no subject
I originally nerfed Newt's Patronus Charm ability, given that we don't actually know what his Patronus is. I assume we won't actually know until at least the next movie in November so my question is this.
If I want to include his regaining his Patronus charm ability in his eventual canon update, if I'm reading this update right, would I need a specialization purchase to do so? I'm fine either way, and, of course, I would adjust the ability for Thedas. I'd just like to know in advance so I can set aside the points for it, if need be.
Thank you!
no subject
However, we would need to discuss what effect a Patronus Charm would have in Thedas, since scaring off all demons or something would be a bit OP. So if/when you decide to de-nerf it, make sure you talk to us about that.
no subject
And of course. I was actually considering different ways to nerf it, and I was thinking maybe it would only be effective against Despair Demons since they look/act a lot like Dementors? And it would be like a focus ability, wherein he could only use it once per battle and it would take a lot of energy.
But I'll wait and see for if/when his Patronus is revealed to go into more detail. Again, thank you for answering!
REVISED ABILITY & INVENTORY SECTIONS
Arohaerd
Name: Arohaerd
Original app: Here.
Strengths & Weaknesses
When I originally apped Aro, I said that he was a low-level sorcerer and that it was my intention for him to gain experience in game that will enable him to get better over time. However, I only included in his app the spells he has at his current level. In the post above you say that it is possible for rifters to develop their own type of magic further and that if their abilities have not yet reached their in-game potential, we should explain their full potential and how long it would take them to reach it.
D&D indicates the power needed for each spell through Spell Levels. The lowest is the Cantrip, which requires very little energy to cast. Level 1 is slightly more powerful and requires more energy to cast, Level 2 is more powerful again, and so on. I will separate the spells according to their levels below as an indicator of how powerful/damaging they are. At present, Aro knows the following spells:
Cantrip Spells
Level 1 Spells
Level 2 Spells
What I would like is for Aro, over the course of his time in game, to gain experience and become a better sorcerer, effectively raising him to the equivalent of D&D Level 14. He would learn the following additional spells:
Cantrips
Level One Spells
Level Two Spells
Level Three Spells
Level Four Spells
Level Five Spells
Level Six Spells
Level Seven Spells
Aro also has something called 'metamagic', which essentially allows him to add a particular effect to any of his spells. He is currently capable of:
Over time I would also like him to be able to learn how to cast a Subtle Spell, which would allow him to cast it without any words or gestures.
I would eventually like for Aro to be able to learn all of these spells in Fade Rift. I think that in total, it would be reasonable for him to gain this experience over the course of 12 months in game. As he has already been in game for 3 months, I would propose that he be at the point of knowing all of these abilities after another 9 months. I would also propose that he gain these powers in stages, as follows:
Phase One: After one more month, i.e. by the end of July 2018, he would have learned both of his additional Cantrips (Mending and Minor Illusion) and his additional Level One and Two spells (Absorb Elements and Shatter).
Phase Two: After a further 4 months, i.e. by the end of November 2018, he would have learned his Level Three (Lightning Bolt and Thunder Step) and Four (Dimension Door and Storm Sphere) spells, and also learned how to cast a Subtle Spell.
Phase Three: After a final 4 months, i.e. by the end of March 2019, he would have learned his Level Five (Telekinesis), Six (Chain Lightning) and Seven (Whirlwind) Spells. By this stage Aro will have been in game for a full 12 months.
As well as his individual spells, Aro as a sorcerer would eventually gain a general Elemental Affinity, which in his case is Lightning. This is because his magic comes from a Bronze dragon, which is associated with Lightning in his world. This means that spells involving Lightning energy will be slightly more powerful than they would be from other mages, and Aro would also have personal resistance to, and take less damage from, lightning magic cast by others.
He also would gain two 'Feats', which are non-magical skills that he gains with experience. These are:
Elven Accuracy: He has uncanny aim with ranged attacks, both with a ranged weapon and with spells.
Prodigy: He has a knack for learning new things. He gains proficiency in one skill (in his case, his knowledge of the natural world), and gains expertise in one skill in which he was already proficient (in his case, arcane magic). He also gains proficiency with Cartographer's Tools, and becomes fluent in one language. This would usually be a D&D language, but as he will have been in Fade Rift during this time, I would like for him to become fluent in the native Elven tongue, if that's okay!
It would be my intention for Aro to learn Elemental Affinity along with Phase One, by end July 2018, Elven Accuracy along with Phase Two, by end November 2018, and Prodigy along with Phase Three, by end March 2019, if that's okay.
Suggested Nerfs
In my original app I noted that Aro's spells are generally regulated according to power; in D&D, spells at higher levels are more powerful and can be cast less often. This would still be the case; the higher level spells will take more out of him, he will be able to cast them less often and will need to rest after casting them. However, I am not sure if you would want any additional nerfing. Additionally, if you would prefer for some of these abilities to be Specialisations that I would pay for in AC points, I'm happy to work with that. I'm also happy to work with different time increments for improving his powers, if you would prefer!
Arrival Inventory
Original inventory:
To this he would add 1 set of Cartographer's Tools, which he would gain along with the Prodigy feat. This would basically mean a pouch containing calipers, compasses, ink, parchment, a quill, and a ruler. He would use these to make maps. In game, I would say he either purchased these in Kirkwall, or if you prefer, they could be a rift item which he could pay for with activity points.
'Human'ization
In my original app, I mentioned that the process of gaining magic from the dragon also changed Aro physically. He entered the game with a thin layer of dragon scales which covers parts of his skin and behaves like armour. At higher levels, he will also be able to sprout dragon wings and fly. It would be my intention that he gains the ability to sprout his wings along with Phase 3 of his development, so he would be able to do this from March 2019. The wings can appear and disappear at will, and he can fly with them at the same speed as moving on foot.
no subject
Name: Adalia
Original app: Here.
Strengths & Weaknesses