The Norbayne Suggestion Thread

[Phoenixguard09]

Alright then guys, here's one of the most important parts of the sub-forum. Yay...

Unlike pretty much every other RPG I've ever done, I'm sticking with a class system for Norbayne. "Oh God, won't that mean that the characters will be too restricted?" I hear you cry... Yes, you're probably right. The trick is getting those restrictions balanced so they exist but won't make the game unplayable.

So people, basically what I want to know is what you would like to be able to do in a fantasy world. This could be something as instructive as a page of the character you would be, filled with details like eye-colour and the name of your great-grandfather's sister's husband's pet dog. Or, if you would prefer and don't have much time on your hands, just something like, "I want to be an orc and I want to kill people."

That would be considerably less helpful but that'll do.

But please let me know if you want to be able to fling around fireballs or, well, whatever. After all, I shouldn't give you ideas, that's your job.

Thanks in advance and good ideas will get you some of the Triumph Points I'm allowed to hand out.

Now get suggesting if you please.

[Clockwork]

Anything you still want suggestions for?

EDIT: Shocked this is actually in the right sub-thread? Me too. I may even start using the Q&A forum.

[Phoenixguard09]

Haha I'll be putting your questions in the FAQ anyway. I figure being asked once is frequently enough. That and others might like to read the answers to your own questions.

As to the suggestions, absolutely. Anything at all, though suggestions for "Things You Want To Do,"(TM) would probably be the most helpful as that gives me ideas for Spells, Talents and Skills.

If you can come up with reasons as to how a certain class could do whatever it is you want to do, that would be even better. One thing to keep in mind with Norbayne, there is little to no healing magic and little to no teleportation magic. Absolutely no resurrection spells either.

Cheers,

[Clockwork]

Fenstrider. Looks like a reptilian gazelle with a mouth that has an organic net to catch insects. Used for riding and pulling stuff but difficult to rear due to diet.

[Pentagathus]

Haven't played many rpgs but one I have played briefly was the warhammer one. It had a career system in place of a class system, which I thought was pretty cool. I think you had to have certain items as well as certain characteristics/attributes in order to move up the career ladder. For example if you started as a soldier and then wanted to become a knight you would need to buy a horse, armour a decent weapon etc as well as having good stats.
I liked this, it gave you the sense of progression, made sense and could give you some sort of incentive/aim. Have you considered anything like this for your class system?

[Clockwork]

Disease caused by micro-organisms in "living steel", a colloquial name for a rare metal infused with said micro-organisms mined from.....well....mines. This "steel" shrieks when tempered in a smelter and squirms under the smiths hammer (like a living thing, hence name) so is ridiculously difficult to actually forge a weapon with, but once made the blade itself seeks the enemy (and some times the weilder) in vengeance for the pain inflicted upon it.

The little buggers get into the lungs and chew them up, frothy red faced death ensues. Obvious taboo on using this metal and forcing people to mine it.

[Clockwork]

Spell that causes obsession for the first thing the target looks at/ named thing by the caster. Can lead to double agent style play if a party member becomes obsessed with the bad guy

Fungal spore based disease that causes rapid growth of hair, nails and teeth. Massively painful when teeth get too big for the mouth. Easily cured with *insert plant here* extract up until 3 days, after that becomes very difficult.

[Clockwork]

A mafia, rumored to be spaning the entire world but in reality it's just some gangs with a bigger reputation than they deserve. Though still powerful enough to get the law behind them most of the time and not a friendly 'thieves guild' type affair, more every man for himself but if they start getting too big without paying off the more powerful or organized crimelords then a semi organized group of cutthroats and thieves will come and shank him.

Is it possible to see into the past or future, if so would it be a spell or an inborn ability?

[Phoenixguard09]

Thanks for the suggestions mate. I'm running out of time tonight but I will go through and critique them as soon as possible.

To answer your question, the seeing into the future thing.... As a rule I do find that prophecy and the like is very hard to do in a gaming situation as players tend to take sadistic pleasure in just portugaling things up to the best of their abilities. So I personally feel that seeing in the future is, generally speaking, something to use as a significant plot point, rather than an ability.

I have given some thought to a spell which would allow you to see a few seconds into the future, therefore knowing precisely what an opponent will do in a combat situation. Basically the combat round/s would be played out the first time before the action stops, "rewinds" and then plays through again, but this time the caster knows what happens and may pre-empt that as necessary.

It would be pretty situational though as it is not time manipulation but a vision of the future. I do feel that time travel is probably a bit too sci-fi.

Hope that answers the question.

[Clockwork]

That be awesome!

Perhaps it could be a combat feat also, with high enough int score? Like the scence from Sherlock Holmes where he predicts the outcome of the fight before it happens.

[Phoenixguard09]

That is exactly what I was going for. Glad that my explanation brought the Sherlock Holmes thing to mind as that was what was running through my head.

Not a bad idea. Might have to bring that up with Sins as a Major Talent for some of the more martial classes.

Thanks mate,

[Clockwork]

Yeah, I've always felt there has been a place for an int/agi based melee class but never really see it anywhere. Some Assassin classes excepted.

Or you could completely re-invent battlemage from a fireball slinger in heavy armour to a mystical tactican and master of warfare in a end/int build with spells focusing on melee combat or tactics. Mechanically it'll be a warrior that uses int and spell buffs instead of Str for damage augment.

[Clockwork]

Suggestion 481b - The blunderbuss requires a short rest to reload but does a ton more damage with it's one shot per combat.

[Phoenixguard09]

I don't mind that actually. Have it a properly one shot weapon.

[Clockwork]

Tbf I think I pinched that from Warhammer roleplaying game or something, can't take credit for it