ED4 Preview #3

[Henghyoke]

[Kasbak]

[Stormcrow]

I think there is and will be a difference of opinion between GMs and PCs on this one. As a GM I really like the idea of making some passive increases Discipline abilities rather than Talents. There is simply too much book keeping to do when creating and maintaining characters. Also it makes Disciplines themselves more deliniated which I prefer. I think my players would have similar reactions to some of the posters here though. Of the two I think Durability is the more controversial one and it does tend to be when people mess with it. I was wondering if you'd considered putting a small sidebar somewhere in the text detailing an optional rule of having Durability as a Talent that can be increased independently of Circle advancement.

[Roth]

LD said,
"It's not something that's being looked at right now, but perhaps something could be worked out as an optional/advanced rule down the line?"

[Danger]

[Danger]

You could also do a compromise between the two: give everyone an automatic raise to unconsciousness/death ratings upon gaining a new circle, and let Durability add more upon purchase. That way a character's life is not completely dependent solely upon one method and you still feel a measure of control by purchasing additional health. For example, give everyone an automatic 3/2. Upon purchase of levels of Durability the core 15 get:
Air Sailor 3/3
Archer 3/3
Beastmaster 4/4
Cavalryman 4/4
Elementalist 2/2
Illusionist 2/2
Nethermancer 2/2
Scout 3/3
Sky Raider 5/4
Swordmaster 4/4
Thief 3/3
Troubadour 3/3
Warrior 5/5
Weaponsmith 3/3
Wizard 2/2

Although I actually prefer Durability giving everyone a standard boost per rank, regardless of discipline - say, 3/2. So the above chart could be what characters get per circle.

The issue with this proposal then becomes, is Durability worth purchasing? I still say yes, and expect everyone to still feel "required" to increase their Durability at every opportunity. This suggestion also (in my opinion) increases the bookkeeping of unconsciousness/death ratings, making it more complex rather than less. (I know, I know, I'm pro & conning my own idea. )

And yes, since I know most will catch this, I (not so subtly) increased spell casters unconsciousness/death rating to 5/4. As many people have pointed out, this isn't D&D, so I don't think there's any reason to keep mages as glass cannons.

[Gkeckley]

Did you mean the Sky raider to be 4/4? 2/2 is to low for the skyraider. The idea definitely has merit, however I think one thing to take in consideration is the amount of strain the melee characters take. Mages do not take anywhere near the strain of the fighters. I have seen skyraiders, warriors, and swordmasters easily take 8 to 10 strain a round; which in my mind is one of the reasons for the higher durabilities. Just something to keep in mind if you are going to increase the mages' durability. That being said I do agree the mages durability has always seemed rather low.

[Kasbak]

I like that idea Danger, with the method of having Durability as a standard increase across the board and different increases per Circle between Disciplines. If you increase it that way, it reduces the total impact Durability has, but I think by doing that, you could then use Durability rank as a basis for a Strain pool as was discussed in another thread. Say everybody gets a 2/2 Durability increase, but then also gets 2 points for their strain pool. Simple, straight forward calculation, and increases the usefulness of Durability to make it woth buying.

I do realize that more melee focused Disciplines may want a higher strain pool value, but my intent with this idea was to make the calculation simple, since you would already have two sources to increase hit points from. Besides, they would already have the higher increase per Circle with this method, and should be able to handle the overflow.

[Danger]

[Danger]