Converting 3rd Ed Disciplines to 4th Ed

[Valentius]

Has anyone taken a look at what it would take to convert some of the Disciplines from the Namegivers of Barsaive and Cathay books? I wonder how much work the transition would be.

[Razan_GM]

Some articles are at Pandas blog:
http://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/20 ... ne-03.html
http://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/20 ... ne-04.html
http://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/20 ... ne-05.html
http://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/20 ... -17_9.html
I think there is some more there

[Valentius]

Thank you! That is really awesome. I can use these as a rough comparison for helping me convert the Cathay disciplines to 4th.

[Panda]

I will be working on some of the Cathay disciplines next. I have not yet determined the order (or which will be converted). Which means if there are any specific requests, let me know.

[Valentius]

That is awesome Panda. Can I suggest you start with those Disciplines that are less dependent on the setting than others? I'd prefer the Guardians of Cathay, The Scholar, the Daughters of Heaven, and the Samurai are done last. Unless you can figure out a way to make them more generically useful and less chained to the setting fluff.

I think the Merchant would make an excellent addition to the general Discipline list (what culture doesn't have merchants?). I'd love to see a stronger difference between the Swordmaster and Sword Dancer.

But really, I'll be happy with anything...

[Panda]

It was pretty much my plan to start in such a fashion. Though there are some disciplines which I don't foresee ever making the cut unless there is a bolt of inspiration which identifies why they should exist. Beastlord, Pugilist, and Samurai are at the top of this list. Sorcerer is going to be kicked a very far down the road since it will require development of the entire spell list and I haven't given any serious thought to it's primary theme of "altering reality". My gut reaction has always been that I don't like it, but I want to play around with it more before making an actual decision.

While every culture has merchants, having adepts who specialize in money can be problematic from an economic standpoint. Particularly when considering exactly of what a high circle merchant should be capable. The old answer was rather uninspiring and I want to have a good idea before proceeding. How they are distinct from Questors of Chorrolis is also an important factor. My initial thoughts are to change them from merchants to "Brokers", which would be about connecting people and things - buyers and sellers, though more abstract as to what exactly is a buyer and seller. I don't know if this will pan out, but the idea of a discipline being entirely about driving a wagon from one location to another and selling goods has no interest to me at all.

Some good news is I have been working on the Blade Dancer for a while, carving out a little space between the Swordmaster and the Warrior in which it can fit. Essentially giving it a stronger elemental theme than the Swordmaster, more social abilities than the Warrior, and I'm looking into some control-style abilities for combat, but things aren't quite working as I would like. The trick for this discipline is the end result being able to stand on its own and having a reason to exist, rather than just being the end result from a Warrior/Swordmaster character. Suffice it to say, many of these disciplines may not look a whole lot like where they started.

I also started finding a place for Monk, particularly one which is distinct from Purifier. There has been some success, but the mechanics will likely need a lot of work to get the other pieces right. Which means it is unlikely to surface before I get Horror Stalker out there (and I'm uncertain when that will be). With the actual development, it may be quite a while.

[Spader]

Any plan for the Journeyman discipline or the Shaman?

[Panda]

I started on the Shaman a while back. It is going to take a considerable amount of time since it is a project in my spare time and requires a full spell list, which is very time consuming. I currently have no plans for the Journeyman.

[Spader]

I noticed that many of the spells that have been dropped for the fourth edition were also Shaman spells. May I presume that some of these spells could be used has Shaman spells only?

[Panda]

This is very astute of you. While it will not apply to all of the spells which were not carried forward, there were reasons for each, it most definitely does apply to a certain section of them. Beyond this, they will almost certainly see a lot of entirely new spells.