Something just hit me as I was doing some reading. I think this is assumed, but I wanted to make sure. The Tome of Channeling (Mentalis Design) is going to be alllowed in the game . I plan on using characters with Nexus aspects as friends and foes. I really like the Nexus mechanics and want to try them out in game. So anyone not having that work - if you have any questions please ask. I can't give out specific details, but I can try to explain generic questions/mechanics. Of course, any questions on mechanics can also be asked of Magocrat in the proper forum on the boards as well. Since he's the author, he's also the expert!

Good to see you guys enjoying yourself here and I look forward to spectate some on that PbP game

Ahem.
Room for one more NLF?

i think there are only three people 'playing' so far...

Fenris wrote:

Ahem. Room for one more NLF?

Absolutely, sir! Good to see you here! {And you need an avatar, dude!}

dwickham wrote:

i think there are only three people 'playing' so far...

Yes, by my tally that is corect. This will make four - assuming everyone who has expressed interest will stay in it.

Nonlethal_Force wrote:

Absolutely, sir! Good to see you here! {And you need an avatar, dude!}

Good to be here. And avatar added.


So will this game be set in Enigmatica?

Probably not ... and there is a simple reason for that.

I am in the processes of finishing up a fiction trilogy set in Enigmatica. [Please forgive me, those of you that don't know what Enigmatica is. It is my homebrew world that I have been developing over the past five or six years] I have altered the races significantly since staring the fiction trilogy. [No longer Bous, Aetoi, and Asters ... sorry. Others have taken their place with a more psionic feel to them.] When the trilogy is finished, I hope to find a literary agent and look for a publishing house. If I find a publishing house, then I will work on establishing an official d20 setting so that fans of the fictional work can enter into the world and roleplay in it if they want.

I realize the odds of that all happenig are pretty low. It is difficult to find a literary agency and print publishing house these days. Unless, of course, you do print-on-demand ... and I know nothing of that world! But in the event that I can get my fiction published, I want to keep Enigmatica in my back pocket in case there is a d20 publisher who might want to pick up my fantasy setting for profit. {There may be, there may not be. We'll see once I finish my trilogy. I'm about 2-3 months of writing away, and then the process of finding a literary agent begins.}

But, in lieu of that I figured we were going to go with a generic setting and use SRD/XPH standard races. (I'd even consider going in Third Dawn - depending on how far out publication is) We'd probably not do anything except LA +0 races - but there's still plenty of those. The reason for that is if we are going with a new character design method and a new setting, probably best to stick with tried and true races.

EDIT: For the site admins ... this thread still lets me post without logging in first. Fortunately this time I remembered to log in rather than go ahead and post!

Included below is a list of resources that are allowed (Outside of Core, I reserve the right to decline options - although I rarely do). Please note that character design is going to be on ultimate hold until the new character design rules are published and I figure out what setting we'll be using (taking suggestions). However, we can certainly talk about things like starting level, character types, etc. Also note that the DSP Races works aren't on the list because I do not own them - although that quickly will change. Anyone wanting to use those resources please PM me and we'll work out the details through that means. I have no problems using them, I just don't own them - yet.

Special emphasis should be given to characters using DSP (or at least psionic/Tome of Channeling) mechanics, please ... although you can mix and mingle. And we'll be going 32 point-buy when we get to that phase (no ability scores lower than 8, no ability scores above 18 except those increased through racial bonuses).

1. Core 3


2. DSP High Psionics: Countermeasures, Learning Centers, Power Displays, Psicrystals Expanded, Psionic Diseases, Psionic Feats, Sequestral Feats, Soulknives


3. DSP Mind Divine


4. DSP Mind Unveiled: Enlightened Monk, Feats, Halo Knight, Mind Blade Feats, Morphean


5. DSP Phrenic Creations: Memory Crystals, Special Materials


6. DSP Untapped Classes: Life Leech, Lightning Strike Virtuoso, Shooting Star Adept, Soulbinder, Talon of the Thrush, Worldthought Adjuncts, Worldthought Medic


7. DSP Untapped Potential


8. Mentalis Design: Tome of Magic


9. WotC: BoED, Complete Series (Warrior, Arcane, Adventurer, Divine, Mage ONLY), Draconomicon, Dragon Magic, XPH, PHB II, UA

EDIT: Some of these (especially the WotC options) may get reduced on account of campaign setting choice. It doesn't make sense to use a book on magic if there is no magic in the setting, for example.

Sorry for three-in-a-row, but I wanted this post seperated from the other:

A few other things. I'll let you all take the time we have before we start to begin generating campaign ideas. This is your all's game, so you tell me what you want to play.

BEGINNING LEVEL? (I prefer anything but 1st, unless players are really good and can avoid "random deaths" well)

STYLE? Swashbuckling Fantasy (heros get the job done by any means rather than interested in good/evil), Romance Fantasy (heros come out of nothingness and develop into 'world-savers'), LotR-style Fantasy (epic, defined by a greater cosmic battle of good vs. evil), "Reality Fantasy" (heros may die often), etc?

ALIGNMENT? (I generally don't play in evil games, but I plan on unloading a new alignment system if you all areinterested. Instead of law/chaos and good/evil ... we have a new axis: Methodical/Haphazard and Compassionate/Selfish. Thus, good and evil are now defined by a player's roleplaying, not by something on paper. You can technically be good or evil in any of the nine resulting alignments, although specific pairings make iteasier/harder to be one than the other.)

REASON FOR ADVENTURING TOGETHER? I.E. Do the characters have a common background or is it going to be the stereotypical "You all are in the same tavern one night when (insert maniacal 'PLOT HAPPENS' tag)"

OTHER STUFF?

.... looking forward to the conversation,

NLF

Seeing a game develop in Third Dawn would be very interesting from a publishers point of view. Perhaps we might even throw in a cookie or two from DSP if you guys choose Third Dawn *hint, nudge*

id play in Third Dawn

*eats cookie*

Nonlethal_Force wrote:

Sorry for three-in-a-row, but I wanted this post seperated from the other: A few other things. I'll let you all take the time we have before we start to begin generating campaign ideas. This is your all's game, so you tell me what you want to play. BEGINNING LEVEL? (I prefer anything but 1st, unless players are really good and can avoid "random deaths" well)

Id be fine without up to 5th or so...

Nonlethal_Force wrote:

STYLE? Swashbuckling Fantasy (heros get the job done by any means rather than interested in good/evil), Romance Fantasy (heros come out of nothingness and develop into 'world-savers'), LotR-style Fantasy (epic, defined by a greater cosmic battle of good vs. evil), "Reality Fantasy" (heros may die often), etc?

A more 'reality' style might be more interesting so that we can try lots of different class/feature combos unless someone would really hate to loose our X or feel that this would force their next character into a role too similar to the one they had previously

Nonlethal_Force wrote:

ALIGNMENT? (I generally don't play in evil games, but I plan on unloading a new alignment system if you all areinterested. Instead of law/chaos and good/evil ... we have a new axis: Methodical/Haphazard and Compassionate/Selfish. Thus, good and evil are now defined by a player's roleplaying, not by something on paper. You can technically be good or evil in any of the nine resulting alignments, although specific pairings make iteasier/harder to be one than the other.)

Fine by me

Nonlethal_Force wrote:

REASON FOR ADVENTURING TOGETHER? I.E. Do the characters have a common background or is it going to be the stereotypical "You all are in the same tavern one night when (insert maniacal 'PLOT HAPPENS' tag)"

If we start at a higher level id be fine with assuming we already know each other....

Nonlethal_Force wrote:

OTHER STUFF? .... looking forward to the conversation, NLF

so we're waiting on the build your own class rules for sure then?

ok, should be interesting =P

one big question for you in that case: how do you plan on having psychic reformation work (or not work, as the case may be)

personally, i'm not too big on starting off at really high levels. imo, a lot of the fun really happens at the lower levels. so i wouldn't mind at all starting at 2, maybe 3, but i don't know if i'd want to start things off with fireball and lightning bolt around (i know, there won't be any wizards, but there might be a kineticist )

also, just checking... BoED? i'm trying to figure out an acronym that doesn't result in Book of Exalted Deeds. mostly because i've almost never heard someone say that the book really added anything to their roleplaying experience except overpowered stuff.

i'm a big fan of keeping death in the picture... but at the same time, if it becomes too routine, that's going too far in the other direction. on the plus side though, it should be easy enough for people to not worry about covering certain roles... after all, we can mix and match what abilities we get. if we really badly need some healing, we can just figure out how much the sangehirn abilities cost, for example )

as far as the style of the game, if we're doing third dawn (and i would like to do third dawn, it sounds very interesting so far ) i think it might be best to wait a little bit... once we get a chance to look through the setting, we can wait until we hit an area that just makes us really want to play it, and from that we may find that some of the game style is already chosen

but definitely, i'll cast my vote for third dawn as the setting. not that it narrows things down very much, mind you there's sure to be any number of places within the third dawn setting we could play in

gonna have to wait a bit for the books we need to get published though i guess =P (mind you, third dawn sounds pretty far along, and the d20 character builder book or whatever it gets called should hopefully not be too far from coming out too... )

Hey NLF, I found my way here ... now what?

Suggestions for "easy" areas of play in Third Dawn - defenders of Alyria against the hordes of tribals from Ventrad; diplomat-warriors in search for new ways to expand the borders of the Ophid Protectorate, elan counterintelligence, Luxan merchants (undercover spies) visiting the Barony of Soleil, a group of Solar colonizers in the Crystalshard Mountains, an Alyrian mercenary protecting an unsanctioned trade caravan going into the Orlamu territory.

Okay, a post about some DM related stuff. I'll let the comments about setting/style/level go for a bit until anyone else who wants to weigh in with an opinion has a chance to do so.

Jaid wrote:

so we're waiting on the build your own class rules for sure then?

In my experience, game creation usually tends to take a bit of time anyway so it probably won't be too big of a deal. And ... I'll be away from my computer from July 20-27 (again, and for the same reason as before This should be the last until next June, though!). So that will add an extra week of waiting that we'd have to do anyway. I probably should've said that earlier.

As for waiting for Third Dawn if we go that route ... it'll just be a wait long enough for us to absorb a section of the setting to RP in and perhaps the section where the characters originate from if they're different. Andreas has already given us a few pointers as to where a good place to start might be. Actually, the more I think about it perhaps what we'll do is wait for the character design rules to be published, come up with characters, and have Andreas/Jeremy suggest a starting place (perhaps even before the official setting rules come out). We can do some RPing amongst ourselves, have a few combats that would be naturally found in the particular location of the coming setting, gain some XP, spend some XP (to get the hang of those rules), and then absorb the setting as we go. In fact, in that case the setting could be bought by players at any time if they want to buy it - as the game interests them (Assuming they've not already pre-ordered it).

Actually ... thinking about it even more ... if people are in a real hankering to play and play now (minus the week of the 20th - 27th) we could just develop the characters by the standard rules and play them until the character design ruleset comes out. Then, everyone could get a free "DM Psychic Reformation" to tweak the characters under the new ruleset. [Kind of like when 3.5 came out in OotS] I'd even be willing to hear what people want to do (mix/match) and tell them what is possible so that they can start to play under the new rules without actually knowing them. [As weird as that may sound, I know] We can go that route right now if we want. Players could give me Hit Dice/Saves/BAB/manifester/class ability preferences and I could suggest a few routes as to what's possible. Then, when the design rules come out the players could tweak their characters as desired from there. That's certainly possible right now - assuming players don't mind disrupting the suspension of disbelief at the moment of "DM Psychic Reformation!"

Jaid wrote:

one big question for you in that case: how do you plan on having psychic reformation work (or not work, as the case may be)

I'll think on it, but it really shouldn't be a problem having psychic reformation work in a fashion according to the reasonable way. This isn't a final thought, but something like this (which will make much mre sense once the rules come out).

MODIFIED FROM THE 3.5 SRD:
When this power is manifested, the subject can choose to spend its most recently gained [see below] skill points differently (picking new skills and abandoning old ones if it chooses). In this instance, the player regains the XP previously spend on the skillpoints and may redistribute that XP on purchasing skillpoints of completely different skills or the same skills in different quantities. With this power, any XP regained must be completely reused to purchase skillpoints. Additional unspent XP may be used if available and necessary in order to completely spend the total amount regained.

A player may also choose a different feat from the one selected. Since feats are purchased by their order there is no need to recalculate the XP, the new feat is simply substituted for the old one so long as prerequisites are met by the preceeding feats if necessary.

The subject can also choose to forget powers it acquired when advancing to its current manifester level, replacing them with new ones. Since powers known are part of the purchase price for manifester levels, there is no need to recalculate XP, the new powers are simply substituted for the old ones.

The subject can undo decisions of these sorts done at any point in the character development process, if both the subject and the manifester agree to pay the necessary XP before this power is manifested [again, see below]. The subject must abide by the standard rules for selecting skills and feats, and so it cannot take feats for which it doesn’t qualify.

This power costs 50 XP to manifest in an attempt to reformat the most recent choices made in any category: the most recent feat purchased, the most recent rank in each skill purchased, or the power(s) selected at the last purchase for manifester level. For each additional previous level into which the revision reaches, the power costs an additional 50 XP for skills and powers and 100 XP for feats. Thus, if a player wanted to erase four ranks of one skill and redistribute that XP in any combination of ranks of skills so that the XP is completely respent, the power would cost 200 XP (A character may apply this usage to as many skills as their INT modifier plus two). If a player wanted to change the power they selected 5 increases to manifester level ago, this power would cost 250 XP. If a player wanted to change their third most recent feat purchased this power would cost 300 XP. The manifester and subject split all XP costs evenly.

Since players already have the ability to tailor their character precisely how they desire, changes to different categories cannot be made together. Thus, a player may only change feats, powers, or skills with each manifestation, but not more than one category. The player may have their character undergo multiple manifestations, but at a new cost of XP each time.

I'll have to think on this some more, but right now that sounds like it would take the new rules and approximate a revision (no pun intended) into the new system. I realize that last paragraph neuters it a bit, butremember that this is a system that already gives a player great freedom. Psychic Reformation shouldn't be needed too often.

Jaid wrote:

also, just checking... BoED? i'm trying to figure out an acronym that doesn't result in Book of Exalted Deeds. mostly because i've almost never heard someone say that the book really added anything to their roleplaying experience except overpowered stuff.

Actually, I've never had too many players take me up on this option of book. Most players I know really tend to shy away from the BoED as a character building tool - especially if their fellow adventurers aren't necessarily planning on being "exalted" or even good. I also may be spoiled in the the PbP games where I've offered it the players who did use the option were all excellent roleplayers and self-disciplined their use. Who knows? But if this book is a concern to the group, I'll remove it from the list. I have it, I can use it, but I don't have to.

Unleashed wrote:

Hey NLF, I found my way here ... now what?

Welcome! Glad you were able to find your way over. As for now, take a look around if you're not familiar with the DSP forums and get to know the guys/gals. You should know Fenris from ENWorld, though! Other than that, feel free to weigh in on decisions from above like starting level, adveture style, etc. Have you read much about Third Dawn setting? We're thinking about going that route. The biggest change (as far as I'm aware) isthat the setting doesn't have magic. I think. Andreas/Jeremy will correct me if I'm wrong on that point.


And this is precisely what I love about the internet. We're slowly adding time zone after time zone. We've got East Coast US, West Coast US, and Australia for sure (plus Jaid, dwickham, and LMS - where are you all posting from?), and a couple of lurkers from Sweden and Central US. Ahhh, technology! Gotta love it!

Nonlethal_Force wrote:

Welcome! Glad you were able to find your way over. As for now, take a look around if you're not familiar with the DSP forums and get to know the guys/gals. You should know Fenris from ENWorld, though! Other than that, feel free to weigh in on decisions from above like starting level, adveture style, etc. Have you read much about Third Dawn setting? We're thinking about going that route. The biggest change (as far as I'm aware) isthat the setting doesn't have magic. I think. Andreas/Jeremy will correct me if I'm wrong on that point.

I've been to the DSP site once or twice, though this is my first foray into the forums.

Hi Fenris! Good to see another familiar name. Hi to everyone else too.

The Third Dawn setting looks interesting (I'd be okay with using it), though it'd definitely be a big change of pace for me with psionics being the only source of "magic" (usually the games I'm involved in don't use psionics at all ). I guess I shouldn't be surprised though considering the source of the setting. Look like that means lots of reading for me, as I'm not as familiar as I'd like with psionics ... though it does give me a good reason to reread the psionic stuff I've got laying around that I don't normally use.

I'll get back to you on the decisions from your previous posts, though I'm pretty easy-going when it comes to most of that stuff, as you know.

unleashed wrote:

Look like that means lots of reading for me, as I'm not as familiar as I'd like with psionics ... though it does give me a good reason to reread the psionic stuff I've got laying around that I don't normally use.

Well, sort of. Just because it's a psionic setting doesn't mean one must play a psionic character. You can certainly start with a generic fighter/barbarian/bard (sans magic)/rogue/whatever build and add psionic stuff as you gain XP and you have time to read. But, if you've got good psionic content laying aorund, I'll be glad to give you a reason to flex those muscles once again. Note, though ... I'm not a fan of CPsi. XPH was an awesome book. CPsi I loathed and refused to buy.

Have you looked at the psionic content here at DSP much? I have most of their work and it is all top o' the line. My favorites (as I've been telling everyone else) are probably the Worldthought Medic and the Halo Knight (And Tome of Channeling, but that's not psionic content.) Everyone else here can no doubt tell you their favorites, too. I should mention Untapped Potential, their flagship product. That was what got me hooked on DSP.

unleashed wrote:

I'll get back to you on the decisions from your previous posts, though I'm pretty easy-going when it comes to most of that stuff, as you know.

Yeah, I know. But your thoughts are welcome!

Some quick responses: for level 5 would be good, tho 3 or 4 is ok too. I am ok with Third Dawn as the setting as even tho i havent read anything on it, its from DSP so its got to be good. NLF, how against CPsi are u? cuz i was thinking that mixing in some Lurk Augments would make my character totally badass. As for character roles, i'll obviously be the sneaky scout type. Finally for game type, im all for combat/interaction/RP, in other words it would rock to do all 3.

One thing - if I were GMing Third Dawn, I would substitute Fighters with Warblades across the spectrum. Fighter is an NPC class, atleast in my eyes. Warblades use maneuvers and of all the stuff in Tome of Battle, their stuff is the least "supernatural/magicky" of it all.