I may as well slap this up. I mean, I like the setting and it contains some interesting mechanics. I'll break this down into those well-known divisions, fluff and crunch.
Fluff
The world is in trouble.
The continent of Highpoint used to be a pretty typical fantasy setting, with a few differences:
-Most humans were parts of nomadic, plains-dwelling tribes, although a couple of city-states were established.
-Elves had their own very large, forested region, and definitely were the major source of the world's arcane magic users.
-Dwarves were still dwarves. They have underground kingdoms.
That changed about a hundred years ago.
The moon's orbit dragged closer and closer to the planet, until the planet's gravity started stripping the surface of the moon. This meant every night brough a rain of burning dust and meteors.
That was bad enough. Large areas of land were scoured of vegetation, and it caused a panic among surface-dwellers to get shelter in a hurry. The books make mention of the dwarves actually using armies to try to keep hordes of crazed refugees from crowding into the dwarven lands.
And possibly even worse, it turns out the moon was home to its own creatures, including a huge and powerful variety of dragon, and some of them survive the wild ride from the surface of the moon to the surface of the planet. And the lunar gods have jumped at the chance to expand their territory, and put aside their differences and working together to push the terrestrial gods out. And the terrestrial gods aren't used to working together, and they best they can achieve right now is a stalemate.
Things were looking pretty bad for a while.
Then an old dwarf showed up in the major dwarven kingdom, and said he knew a way to let large numbers of people live on the surface, AND a way one man can kill a lunar dragon.
He claimed to be a senior member of the 'Gearwright's Guild', and eventually persuaded the dwarven leaders to dedicate people and resources to building the thing this old dwarf described. The old dwarf trained a young dwarf in how to work it, but still the people lost hope when they saw what they'd been working so hard on was what looked like a walking tower with arms.
Until the, big, lumbering 'mech' went into battle with a lunar dragon, and managed to kill it (though the pilot died of his own injuries).
This put a new spin on things. Pretty soon, the Gearwright was training dozens of people in technology uses, including quite a lot on what you can make a steam engine to do. And, it turns out, if you make a mech solid enough, it'll be able to withstand all but the worst lunar rain (and it doesn't actually rain huge meteors much these days as the rains have gradually decreased).
Then the technology spread from the dwarves, and it's been adapted and tweaked and modified.
Races and Mechdoms
Old city-states and nations technically still exist, but the real political units are the 'mechdoms', the ranges of land controlled by an alliance of mechs.
As it stands now, the dwarves have formed the Stenian Confederacy, an alliance of five city-mechs--huge, heavily armed walkers home to thousands of people, that are rapidly evolving their own ecosystems in the complex 'gear forests' of their engines. In fact, the dwarves have come out the best out of all the races.
The humans have been united by a man so charismatic he could quite possibly talk a cat out of a tree, and they've made two city-mechs of their own. The first was badly designed, and constantly malfunctions, but the second was a dramatic improvement, and the dwarves and elves are very worried about how powerful the human mechs will be if they keep learning and improving at their current pace.
The elves are really unhappy. Their beloved forests have been reduced to large ranges of standing charcoal. Their cities and villages have been looted of all their nifty magic items and heirlooms, and, on top of it all, the majority of elves remember what life was like before the lunar rains came. They don't even like steam technology much. However, they've seen the necessity of mechs, and they've constructed their own. The major hallmark of elven mechs though, is they're 'animated mechs'. Rather than being powered by the pressure of steam and moving pistons, they make their mechs move by magic. The process is conceptually similar to making a golem.
The elves made small-scale mechs, but eventually a young archmage led the people in constucting a city-mech of their own. It's by far the largest and generally considered to be the most powerful single construction on the planet. Its only drawback is that it can't be in more than one place at once.
The last Mechdom is the loosest. The Irontooth Clans aren't actually a formal government, being about fifty or so very diverse clans whose only common feature is they live for mechs. However, they are THE best pilots, having people who can make big, lumbering mechs dance, and mech jockeys who use mechs as extensions of their bodies. They have no city-mechs of their own, but attacking them is tantamount to suicide. The Irontooth clans contain people from all races, and the 'clan' is less an extended family and more a group of people who work together.
Gnomes have adapted to the new technology, being clever people by nature. Halflings have also gotten into it, somewhat. What's even more interesting, a new subrace of halflings is arising in the gear forests, having stowed away in the city mechs and they're rapidly adapting to the new environment, and they care for the engines they live in, keeping them running in perfect order so no one has a reason to come down to the 'gear forests' and potentially find them. The cogling culture is based around, "Don't get caught."
Analysis: The setting, once you read everything, has some logic to it. There's plenty of hooks for adventures given in the descriptions, and quite a few sides for a party to take. Despite mechs being the major feature of the setting, it also makes ample allowance for the traditional d20 classes, but they're in a new world where the power dynamics have changed. The wizards are quite pissy about this.
Dragonmech review/info
Moderator: Moderators
Dragonmech review/info
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Crunchy bits
The d20 core classes are still used, but they make some changes, only one of which is actually mechanical:
-Barbarians, sorcerors, and paladins are mentioned as being more common these days. Barbarians because there's not many places to provide the formal training fighters need. Sorcerors have been becoming more numerous and seem to be linked to the increase of lunar influence (and some show some cosmetic changes, like Magic Missile shooting a bunch of tiny meteors). Paladins have actually had their numbers increase as more people resolve to do something to change the world for the better.
-Because everything's so grim, a Bard is now an incredibly useful person to have a party. All of the city mechs welcome bards, and if the bard gives a good performance and raises morale, then the authorities will amazingly fail to ask a lot of questions and cut you a lot of leeway.
-The major core class change is that clerics have to make a low-DC Wisdom Check to receive their spells for that day. It's explained that the gods are now putting most of the energy into the war, and there's not enough divine power to completely go around. However, if you do something to get your god's attention and help it out (like strike a definite blow against the efforts of the lunar creatures), the check gets easier. Also, clerics can get flashes of insight to tell them if they're dealing with a lunar creature.
The real interest, however, is in the new classes: Coglayer, Mech jockey, clockwork ranger, stalker, steamborg, and constructor.
Coglayer: You get most of the new skills (Mech Pilot, Mechcraft, K (mechs), K (steam engines), and you also get all the knowledges and 8 skill points. However, you have poor BAB. Making stuff is easy for you, because for your tech-related skills, you receive a bonus equal to class level. You gain proficiency in the new exotic weapons. One of your biggest features, however, is your steam powers.
No, you're not a superhero. But you can make components (which have various materials and costs and sometimes you require help), which you can put together to make stuff.
This is really where the coglayer shines. There are a ton of steam powers, and they encourage you to make up new combinations. Here's some common ones:
-Iron Arm: this mechanical arm can be worn on the shoulder and controlled through a hand device. It has Str 18 and Dex 8. You can put a weapon in its hand and attack with it. But you can add a couple of simple steampowers and make it attack on its own, or when you give a voice command, giving you an extra hit. I came up with combining two Iron Arms to make one arm that has Str 24, and can wield large weaponry.
-Spark Generator: by itself, does 1d4 nonlethal damage as a touch attack (think taser). But if you put an Amplifier on it, it goes to 1d4 lethal, and each extra amp makes it go up by a die. What's even more fun is you can put a Pump on it, and it'll project electricity out to a range based on how many amps are on it, and do multiple d4's of electricity damage on a ranged touch attack.
-Pilot light: Similar to a spark generator, only with fire. Except it does lethal damage from the start and also needs to be refueled after so many uses. Unlike a spark generator, its damage die increases by the normal progression as you put amplifiers on it. You can make it project a line of fire by putting a pump on it, like a Spark Generator, but why not add a Billows? It'll turn the effect into a cone, giving you a flamethrower you can improve as you level up.
-Force generator: One of the more expensive steampowers, by itself it can make ten square feet of force, one inch thick. By itself, it can function as a shield, or you could conceivably make a platform for someone to stand on. It really gets interesting, though, as you add amps (each of which doubles the area it can generate). For a full-round action, you can reconfigure it to make cubes and spheres and walls and the like, as needed. Unlike a Wall of Force, though, the effect can be punctured, but it has Hardness 10, AC 10, and HP 20 to puncture it. Still, it's possibly an awesome utility device.
-Boiler: These can be used to increase the output of a device that generates motion, but some bright spark thought of putting a boiler on a steam gun (a rifle which has crossbow-like damage and rate of fire), making the gun able to fire every round.
There's several dozen steampower components (especially since they released a supplement called Steam Warriors), and someone playing a coglayer can have a lot of fun with them. It's one of the major features of the game that changes the relevance of magic.
Mech Jockey: You're the best at piloting mechs. Even the most graceful mech is kinda clunky, but a mech jockey can achieve some semblance of grace. You get several abilities that allow you to move faster and fight better in a mech, and you get bonus feats that let you do stuff like Weapon Focus for a mech weapon.
Clockwork Ranger: A ranger variant, you take care of the gear forests of the mech. You spells have changed, and you get a couple of new 'fighting styles'. One involves reconfiguring the gear forest so it's more hazardous to unwelcome intruders, and the other involves training the weird animals (like the crocodile-ish grease lizards) to attack.
Stalker: A variant rogue, you get technology-related skills (although they don't mess with Sneak Attack die) that let you infiltrate and cause trouble in mechs. A friend of mine played one of these with a special tiefling template (+2 LA) that turned her into a mech raper.
Constructor: A variant wizard, you get access to a new list of spells that let you do a lot with technology.
Steamborg: You replace parts of your body with prosthetics that enhances your abilities, and they're run by a special steam engine you have implanted in your body. These enhancements are things like +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 to attack rolls, +1 Natural armor...
These guys are the most interesting class to me. They get medium BAB, medium armor profiency, d8 HD, and they get some of the best weapons of the game--like the buzzaxe (2d8 damage, x3 critical). You can also build weapons into your artificial parts, so you're always armed.
What's really interesting is that your major ability is Con. Your limit of how many parts you can take is determined by your level and your constitution score.
Combined with that d8, you get some unreal hit points. The steamborg I played had 18 Con, and at level 8, he had 84 hit points, out of a max of 96.
They also get a steam powers progression, but it's nothing like as many as the coglayer gets. Your powers also have to be built into your body. They're best used by enhancing your combat ability, by making yourself an unusual weapon or something.
Despite being able to customize or max out your character (Like, say, him having a +10 bonus to attack or str or Natural Armor at 20th level), I get the feeling the steamborg's power lags. They get a mix of skills and combat ability, but if you play one, you're better off figuring out a tactical niche and then making it work hard.
The designers seem to have realized this, and they released a supplement which has a ton of PrCs for the steamborg, as well as more steampowers and weapons.
The d20 core classes are still used, but they make some changes, only one of which is actually mechanical:
-Barbarians, sorcerors, and paladins are mentioned as being more common these days. Barbarians because there's not many places to provide the formal training fighters need. Sorcerors have been becoming more numerous and seem to be linked to the increase of lunar influence (and some show some cosmetic changes, like Magic Missile shooting a bunch of tiny meteors). Paladins have actually had their numbers increase as more people resolve to do something to change the world for the better.
-Because everything's so grim, a Bard is now an incredibly useful person to have a party. All of the city mechs welcome bards, and if the bard gives a good performance and raises morale, then the authorities will amazingly fail to ask a lot of questions and cut you a lot of leeway.
-The major core class change is that clerics have to make a low-DC Wisdom Check to receive their spells for that day. It's explained that the gods are now putting most of the energy into the war, and there's not enough divine power to completely go around. However, if you do something to get your god's attention and help it out (like strike a definite blow against the efforts of the lunar creatures), the check gets easier. Also, clerics can get flashes of insight to tell them if they're dealing with a lunar creature.
The real interest, however, is in the new classes: Coglayer, Mech jockey, clockwork ranger, stalker, steamborg, and constructor.
Coglayer: You get most of the new skills (Mech Pilot, Mechcraft, K (mechs), K (steam engines), and you also get all the knowledges and 8 skill points. However, you have poor BAB. Making stuff is easy for you, because for your tech-related skills, you receive a bonus equal to class level. You gain proficiency in the new exotic weapons. One of your biggest features, however, is your steam powers.
No, you're not a superhero. But you can make components (which have various materials and costs and sometimes you require help), which you can put together to make stuff.
This is really where the coglayer shines. There are a ton of steam powers, and they encourage you to make up new combinations. Here's some common ones:
-Iron Arm: this mechanical arm can be worn on the shoulder and controlled through a hand device. It has Str 18 and Dex 8. You can put a weapon in its hand and attack with it. But you can add a couple of simple steampowers and make it attack on its own, or when you give a voice command, giving you an extra hit. I came up with combining two Iron Arms to make one arm that has Str 24, and can wield large weaponry.
-Spark Generator: by itself, does 1d4 nonlethal damage as a touch attack (think taser). But if you put an Amplifier on it, it goes to 1d4 lethal, and each extra amp makes it go up by a die. What's even more fun is you can put a Pump on it, and it'll project electricity out to a range based on how many amps are on it, and do multiple d4's of electricity damage on a ranged touch attack.
-Pilot light: Similar to a spark generator, only with fire. Except it does lethal damage from the start and also needs to be refueled after so many uses. Unlike a spark generator, its damage die increases by the normal progression as you put amplifiers on it. You can make it project a line of fire by putting a pump on it, like a Spark Generator, but why not add a Billows? It'll turn the effect into a cone, giving you a flamethrower you can improve as you level up.
-Force generator: One of the more expensive steampowers, by itself it can make ten square feet of force, one inch thick. By itself, it can function as a shield, or you could conceivably make a platform for someone to stand on. It really gets interesting, though, as you add amps (each of which doubles the area it can generate). For a full-round action, you can reconfigure it to make cubes and spheres and walls and the like, as needed. Unlike a Wall of Force, though, the effect can be punctured, but it has Hardness 10, AC 10, and HP 20 to puncture it. Still, it's possibly an awesome utility device.
-Boiler: These can be used to increase the output of a device that generates motion, but some bright spark thought of putting a boiler on a steam gun (a rifle which has crossbow-like damage and rate of fire), making the gun able to fire every round.
There's several dozen steampower components (especially since they released a supplement called Steam Warriors), and someone playing a coglayer can have a lot of fun with them. It's one of the major features of the game that changes the relevance of magic.
Mech Jockey: You're the best at piloting mechs. Even the most graceful mech is kinda clunky, but a mech jockey can achieve some semblance of grace. You get several abilities that allow you to move faster and fight better in a mech, and you get bonus feats that let you do stuff like Weapon Focus for a mech weapon.
Clockwork Ranger: A ranger variant, you take care of the gear forests of the mech. You spells have changed, and you get a couple of new 'fighting styles'. One involves reconfiguring the gear forest so it's more hazardous to unwelcome intruders, and the other involves training the weird animals (like the crocodile-ish grease lizards) to attack.
Stalker: A variant rogue, you get technology-related skills (although they don't mess with Sneak Attack die) that let you infiltrate and cause trouble in mechs. A friend of mine played one of these with a special tiefling template (+2 LA) that turned her into a mech raper.
Constructor: A variant wizard, you get access to a new list of spells that let you do a lot with technology.
Steamborg: You replace parts of your body with prosthetics that enhances your abilities, and they're run by a special steam engine you have implanted in your body. These enhancements are things like +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 to attack rolls, +1 Natural armor...
These guys are the most interesting class to me. They get medium BAB, medium armor profiency, d8 HD, and they get some of the best weapons of the game--like the buzzaxe (2d8 damage, x3 critical). You can also build weapons into your artificial parts, so you're always armed.
What's really interesting is that your major ability is Con. Your limit of how many parts you can take is determined by your level and your constitution score.
Combined with that d8, you get some unreal hit points. The steamborg I played had 18 Con, and at level 8, he had 84 hit points, out of a max of 96.
They also get a steam powers progression, but it's nothing like as many as the coglayer gets. Your powers also have to be built into your body. They're best used by enhancing your combat ability, by making yourself an unusual weapon or something.
Despite being able to customize or max out your character (Like, say, him having a +10 bonus to attack or str or Natural Armor at 20th level), I get the feeling the steamborg's power lags. They get a mix of skills and combat ability, but if you play one, you're better off figuring out a tactical niche and then making it work hard.
The designers seem to have realized this, and they released a supplement which has a ton of PrCs for the steamborg, as well as more steampowers and weapons.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Mechs
The Dragonmech rulebook explicitly says to forget about mechs in anime, and instead think more medieval. Mechs are big, they're lumbering, and hitting one is like hitting a barn--easy to do, but you may not do damage when you make contact.
Mechs have strength and dexterity scores, as well as Fort and Reflex saves (they're often pretty low), and the intricacy of their designs means most mechs are susceptible to critical hits. In fact, three of the five kinds of mechs have charts where you randomly determine what extra effects a critical hit has--which could be simply extra damage, to speed and power loss, to catastrophic failure.
There's five power sources for mechs, each with their own pros and cons.
-Steampower is the basic. It's sturdy, it's cheap, it's the most cost-effective for large numbers of mechs, and has medium crew requirements.
-Manpower mechs are easy to design and cheap to build, but require manual labor to make work. The orcs are fond of these mechs, but they require a lot of crew (read: galley slaves)
-Clockwork mechs are more maneuverable and faster, but they're also more fragile and a critical hit can really screw one over. They're also expensive and have very high design DCs. Their crew requirements are low.
-Animated mechs are the favorite of the elves. They're very agile, and immune to critical hits, but they're also expensive and without even more expensive enhancements on them, Dispel Magic can be used to really mess one up. Being powered by magic, their crew requirements are likewise low.
-Necromantic mechs are made out of large numbers of dead bodies stuck together. They're tough, and immune to critical hits. They don't have a crew, except for the necromancer that controls it. They're also cheap to build, only really requiring a large source of dead bodies.
There's quite a bit about how ponderous mechs are. For example, you need a feat to allow you to move and attack in the same round. Also, their ACs are low, but their hardness can be quite high. They also come in a huge range of size:
Large
Huge
Gargantuan
Colossal
Colossal II
Colossal III
Colossal IV
Colossal V
City-Mech A
City-Mech B
City-Mech C
City-Mech D
City-Mech E
City-Mech F
A couple of the bigger city-mechs reach into the thousands of feet tall--I think the elven city-mech, Tannanliel, is something like half a mile high.
Naturally, mechs that big need big weapons. And you get giant-sized swords, axes, and hammers, which have their place, but you can also get siege weapons built into a mech, or even things like steam cannons.
A mech's carrying capacity is measured in 'payload units' (abbreviated to PU). One PU is generally enough space for a medium-sized creature to be kinda cramped. Weapons, people, and cargo take up PU. There are some extras to be built in so your mech can have more weapons or carry more weight.
Another feature of mechs is they're really uncomfortable. Being in one gives you penalties based on how much armor you're wearing, and if you're not used it to, the jerky walking motion can make you seasick. They have a special pilot's armor that's designed to give some decent protection AND be worn in a mech without rubbing your unmentionable places bloody.
Mechs are powerful, but they can be still beaten by exploiting their weakpoints. A coordinated squad of infantry can trip one up (which really screws it up), and the core book has a prestige class that specializes in boarding mechs during battle.
For example, a friend of mine used a pick-your-features template to turn her character into a mech rapist. For a +2 LA, she got:
-Wings and 30-foot flight.
-A couple of +2's to her stats. I forget which.
-Spider-climb at-will
-See in Darkness
-Darkness 1/day
-Dimension Door 1/day
-A 1/day +30 bonus to Jump
-Because she was making a Fey'ri, she got longsword proficiency, and spent most of her character's money on an adamantine longsword with some special enhancements to make it deal more damage to objects.
The rest of the party had spent their money on mechs, and this tiefling just clung to back of my coglayer's mech, rode until she got close enough to the enemy, and then she got on the back of an enemy mech, hacked a hole to the inside (10 damage is enough for a medium-size creature to squeeze through), entered, killed the pilot, and then took control of the mech. She piloted it into another mech, tangling them both up so they fell over together, and then bailed out to move onto another mech.
Another nice feature is, that, yes, you can easily make a Large-sized mech (about ten feet tall) that a character in a ground party can pilot, which pretty much turns him into the party's primary tank. ( I realized a halfing would be extremely well-suited for this, because 1) He's Small, so he'd have more elbow room inside 2) Halflings get a bonus to dexterity, which is the attribute for the Mech Pilot skill.)
The major mechanical downside is that designing a mech is a complicated process, with several tables you have to consult, and the book jumps around a lot through it. On the plus side, they include a whole chapter of existing mech types that you can use as pre-generated, and someone on their message boards simplified the rules into a pretty logical PDF.
The Dragonmech rulebook explicitly says to forget about mechs in anime, and instead think more medieval. Mechs are big, they're lumbering, and hitting one is like hitting a barn--easy to do, but you may not do damage when you make contact.
Mechs have strength and dexterity scores, as well as Fort and Reflex saves (they're often pretty low), and the intricacy of their designs means most mechs are susceptible to critical hits. In fact, three of the five kinds of mechs have charts where you randomly determine what extra effects a critical hit has--which could be simply extra damage, to speed and power loss, to catastrophic failure.
There's five power sources for mechs, each with their own pros and cons.
-Steampower is the basic. It's sturdy, it's cheap, it's the most cost-effective for large numbers of mechs, and has medium crew requirements.
-Manpower mechs are easy to design and cheap to build, but require manual labor to make work. The orcs are fond of these mechs, but they require a lot of crew (read: galley slaves)
-Clockwork mechs are more maneuverable and faster, but they're also more fragile and a critical hit can really screw one over. They're also expensive and have very high design DCs. Their crew requirements are low.
-Animated mechs are the favorite of the elves. They're very agile, and immune to critical hits, but they're also expensive and without even more expensive enhancements on them, Dispel Magic can be used to really mess one up. Being powered by magic, their crew requirements are likewise low.
-Necromantic mechs are made out of large numbers of dead bodies stuck together. They're tough, and immune to critical hits. They don't have a crew, except for the necromancer that controls it. They're also cheap to build, only really requiring a large source of dead bodies.
There's quite a bit about how ponderous mechs are. For example, you need a feat to allow you to move and attack in the same round. Also, their ACs are low, but their hardness can be quite high. They also come in a huge range of size:
Large
Huge
Gargantuan
Colossal
Colossal II
Colossal III
Colossal IV
Colossal V
City-Mech A
City-Mech B
City-Mech C
City-Mech D
City-Mech E
City-Mech F
A couple of the bigger city-mechs reach into the thousands of feet tall--I think the elven city-mech, Tannanliel, is something like half a mile high.
Naturally, mechs that big need big weapons. And you get giant-sized swords, axes, and hammers, which have their place, but you can also get siege weapons built into a mech, or even things like steam cannons.
A mech's carrying capacity is measured in 'payload units' (abbreviated to PU). One PU is generally enough space for a medium-sized creature to be kinda cramped. Weapons, people, and cargo take up PU. There are some extras to be built in so your mech can have more weapons or carry more weight.
Another feature of mechs is they're really uncomfortable. Being in one gives you penalties based on how much armor you're wearing, and if you're not used it to, the jerky walking motion can make you seasick. They have a special pilot's armor that's designed to give some decent protection AND be worn in a mech without rubbing your unmentionable places bloody.
Mechs are powerful, but they can be still beaten by exploiting their weakpoints. A coordinated squad of infantry can trip one up (which really screws it up), and the core book has a prestige class that specializes in boarding mechs during battle.
For example, a friend of mine used a pick-your-features template to turn her character into a mech rapist. For a +2 LA, she got:
-Wings and 30-foot flight.
-A couple of +2's to her stats. I forget which.
-Spider-climb at-will
-See in Darkness
-Darkness 1/day
-Dimension Door 1/day
-A 1/day +30 bonus to Jump
-Because she was making a Fey'ri, she got longsword proficiency, and spent most of her character's money on an adamantine longsword with some special enhancements to make it deal more damage to objects.
The rest of the party had spent their money on mechs, and this tiefling just clung to back of my coglayer's mech, rode until she got close enough to the enemy, and then she got on the back of an enemy mech, hacked a hole to the inside (10 damage is enough for a medium-size creature to squeeze through), entered, killed the pilot, and then took control of the mech. She piloted it into another mech, tangling them both up so they fell over together, and then bailed out to move onto another mech.
Another nice feature is, that, yes, you can easily make a Large-sized mech (about ten feet tall) that a character in a ground party can pilot, which pretty much turns him into the party's primary tank. ( I realized a halfing would be extremely well-suited for this, because 1) He's Small, so he'd have more elbow room inside 2) Halflings get a bonus to dexterity, which is the attribute for the Mech Pilot skill.)
The major mechanical downside is that designing a mech is a complicated process, with several tables you have to consult, and the book jumps around a lot through it. On the plus side, they include a whole chapter of existing mech types that you can use as pre-generated, and someone on their message boards simplified the rules into a pretty logical PDF.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Dragonmech exclusives
The setting has a large number of exclusives, as you might expect.
There's new weapons and armor that fit in with the steampunk setting (including some pretty awesome powered armor), there is, of course, the mechs, and, boy, they have spells.
The setting also has its own gods (Four out of five of which have the quarterstaff as a favored weapon, it seems), but the deity that gets the most written about it isn't a deity--yet.
Dotrak is supposed to be the incipient god of technology. Most tech-inclined people don't actually worship him, but instead acknowledge him as the creator of the 'great engine' of the universe.
Things are complicated, though, by Dotrak not being a fully aware god--yet. There's some animated piles of parts that people say is Dotrak's doing, but the most telling evidence is the Vessel of Dotrak Prestige class. The Vessel grows a clockwork heart (with an audible tick rather than a heartbeat), gains metal skin, gains spells, and gains an incredible intuition about machines.
The new domains I can think of off-hand are things like Engines, Ancestors, the Hunt, Spirits, and so on. The Hunt's granted ability is better many domain abilities, actually--for one hour a day, you can have Favored Enemy bonuses against one individual, and it maximizes as if you were a ranger who kept taking the same favored enemy.
There's also a variant cleric in one of the supplements that's concerned with spirits, but rather than recount all of the Shintaji's features (and there's a lot), I suggest you grab the Second Age of Walkers.
Equipment is interesting, though. Most of it is Exotic Weaponry, designed to be used by the new classes (Steamborg in particular gets some of the best), but there's a feat that gives you proficiency in four steam weapons of your choice.
Since the equipment is OGC, here's a sampler:
Buzzaxe: 80 gp, 2d8 damage Medium (1d12 small), x3 crit, 18 lbs.
-"Developed by ferocious steamborg warriors, the buzzaxe is a modified greataxe. A line of vibrating steam-powered teeth is set a half-inch back from the razor-sharp axeblade. The initial wound is magnified as these teeth tear into the target. These mighty weapons do even more damage than the standard greataxe on which they are based."
Buzzsaw: 450 gp, 1d10 damage, 19-20, x3 crit, 40 lbs. Doesn't come smaller than medium.
-"The buzzsaw is the most devastating application of steam engine technology. Buzzsaws are driven by massive steam engines that are far more powerful than they need to be. This results in the sharp, toothed blades spinning at horrific speeds, capable of ripping through the heaviest armor. Requiring only a single engineer to operate, they are efficient and deadly far beyond their size. They are also enormously expensive and extremely heavy.
Buzzsaws are specially designed for sawing through metal. They automatically ignore the first 10 points of hardness on any target. Because they are powered independently, the wielder (whether mech or man) does not add its strength bonus to attack or damage rolls.
An enemy that simply comes into contact with a mech-mounted buzzsaw must make a reflex save (DC 15) or take full damage.
Chattersword: 120 go, 2d6 + 1d3, x3 critical, 20 lbs.
-"A chattersword is a primitive version of the modern chainsaw. It is a greatsword equipped with rows of teeth that saw in a constant rotation, powered by the steam engine at its base. It causes gruesome wounds that are slow to heal.
Damage from a chattersword takes place in two phases. The weapon causes 2d6 point of damage on a successful hit, these wounds are torn and jagged, and open even further as the victim moves. If a victim sustations damage and makes any vigorous motion (which includes practically any combat action) within the next ten rounds, he must make a Fort save (DC 14) on the first round in which he moves. On a failed save, the ragged chattersword wounds have torn open even further and cause an additional 1d3 points of damage."
Hydraulic Armor: 3,500 gp. +10 AC, +0 Dex bonus, 50% arcane spell failure penalty, no speed penalty, 200 lbs (but see below)
-"Hydraulic armor is the medieval equivalent of powered armor. The user wears a metal frame that must be custom-fitted to his physique when the armor is build. Tubes and wires are coiled about the frame, which is in turn encased in a solid iron shell. Mounted on the back of the shell, protected by an iron hood, is a clanking steam engine that coughts forth black smoke incessently.
The iron shell completely encloses the wearer, much like a suit of full plate mail. It includes a helmet, gloves, and boots. The iron shell is thick and durable, far heavier and denser than even the strongest plate mail, and provides a staggering +10 bonus to armor class. It is remarkably inflexible, however, granting a -8 armor check penalty and a max Dexterity bonus of +0.
Even though hydraulic armor is heavy, its weight is offset by the steam engine, which generates hydraulic pressure to amplify the strength of the user's limbs. Hydraulic armor always feels as if it weighs one tenth of what it really does; for purpose of encumberance, that's all that matters. Furthermore, the wearer is about to move at full speed do the muscular amplification (though he may still run only triple his normal speed). If the wearer is on a horse or a rickety rope bridge, however, then the full weight of the armor will certainly become an issue!
Due to the hydraulic power coursing around the wearer's limbs, his effective strength is increased to 20 while wearing the armor. The armor also includes a number of built-in steam powers, some custom developed for the hydraulic armor. These include:
-Air filter. As long as the helmet is on and the visor closed, the wearer receives a +4 bonus to saves against any kind of gas or airborne poison.
-Visor shades. The visor darkens rapidly in response to bright light. While the visor is down the wearer receives a +4 bonus to saves against blindness. For effects that do not normally allow a save, he now receives one.
-Slam attack. The heavy fists of the armor can be used to make slam attacks. The wearer is never considered unarm. He can make a slam attack at his usual base attack bonus, for damage 1d6 plus his strength modifier, with which he is always considered proficient.
-Stability. The heavy, grounded nature of hydraulic armor grants the wearer a +4 bonus to defending against bull rushes (as if he were unusually stable).
-Steam powers: The steam engine of the hydraulic armor can also be used to run steampowers.
-Concealment. The massive bulk of hydraulic armor is difficult to concea. As if that weren't enough, the steam engine constantly pours forth smoke. The wearer suffers a -8 penalty to Hide checks.
-Jumping. The hydraulic armor offsets its own weight in a jump by transferring power out of the arms and augmenting the wearer's leg strength even more. For jumping purposes, the hydraulic armor counts as one-tenth its weight, no armor check penalty is rolled, and wearer uses the suit's strength of 20.
Learning to use hydraulic armor requires its own specialized feat slot: Armor proficiency (hydraulic). It takes 15 minutes, with assistance, to done hydraulic armor."
The setting has a large number of exclusives, as you might expect.
There's new weapons and armor that fit in with the steampunk setting (including some pretty awesome powered armor), there is, of course, the mechs, and, boy, they have spells.
The setting also has its own gods (Four out of five of which have the quarterstaff as a favored weapon, it seems), but the deity that gets the most written about it isn't a deity--yet.
Dotrak is supposed to be the incipient god of technology. Most tech-inclined people don't actually worship him, but instead acknowledge him as the creator of the 'great engine' of the universe.
Things are complicated, though, by Dotrak not being a fully aware god--yet. There's some animated piles of parts that people say is Dotrak's doing, but the most telling evidence is the Vessel of Dotrak Prestige class. The Vessel grows a clockwork heart (with an audible tick rather than a heartbeat), gains metal skin, gains spells, and gains an incredible intuition about machines.
The new domains I can think of off-hand are things like Engines, Ancestors, the Hunt, Spirits, and so on. The Hunt's granted ability is better many domain abilities, actually--for one hour a day, you can have Favored Enemy bonuses against one individual, and it maximizes as if you were a ranger who kept taking the same favored enemy.
There's also a variant cleric in one of the supplements that's concerned with spirits, but rather than recount all of the Shintaji's features (and there's a lot), I suggest you grab the Second Age of Walkers.
Equipment is interesting, though. Most of it is Exotic Weaponry, designed to be used by the new classes (Steamborg in particular gets some of the best), but there's a feat that gives you proficiency in four steam weapons of your choice.
Since the equipment is OGC, here's a sampler:
Buzzaxe: 80 gp, 2d8 damage Medium (1d12 small), x3 crit, 18 lbs.
-"Developed by ferocious steamborg warriors, the buzzaxe is a modified greataxe. A line of vibrating steam-powered teeth is set a half-inch back from the razor-sharp axeblade. The initial wound is magnified as these teeth tear into the target. These mighty weapons do even more damage than the standard greataxe on which they are based."
Buzzsaw: 450 gp, 1d10 damage, 19-20, x3 crit, 40 lbs. Doesn't come smaller than medium.
-"The buzzsaw is the most devastating application of steam engine technology. Buzzsaws are driven by massive steam engines that are far more powerful than they need to be. This results in the sharp, toothed blades spinning at horrific speeds, capable of ripping through the heaviest armor. Requiring only a single engineer to operate, they are efficient and deadly far beyond their size. They are also enormously expensive and extremely heavy.
Buzzsaws are specially designed for sawing through metal. They automatically ignore the first 10 points of hardness on any target. Because they are powered independently, the wielder (whether mech or man) does not add its strength bonus to attack or damage rolls.
An enemy that simply comes into contact with a mech-mounted buzzsaw must make a reflex save (DC 15) or take full damage.
Chattersword: 120 go, 2d6 + 1d3, x3 critical, 20 lbs.
-"A chattersword is a primitive version of the modern chainsaw. It is a greatsword equipped with rows of teeth that saw in a constant rotation, powered by the steam engine at its base. It causes gruesome wounds that are slow to heal.
Damage from a chattersword takes place in two phases. The weapon causes 2d6 point of damage on a successful hit, these wounds are torn and jagged, and open even further as the victim moves. If a victim sustations damage and makes any vigorous motion (which includes practically any combat action) within the next ten rounds, he must make a Fort save (DC 14) on the first round in which he moves. On a failed save, the ragged chattersword wounds have torn open even further and cause an additional 1d3 points of damage."
Hydraulic Armor: 3,500 gp. +10 AC, +0 Dex bonus, 50% arcane spell failure penalty, no speed penalty, 200 lbs (but see below)
-"Hydraulic armor is the medieval equivalent of powered armor. The user wears a metal frame that must be custom-fitted to his physique when the armor is build. Tubes and wires are coiled about the frame, which is in turn encased in a solid iron shell. Mounted on the back of the shell, protected by an iron hood, is a clanking steam engine that coughts forth black smoke incessently.
The iron shell completely encloses the wearer, much like a suit of full plate mail. It includes a helmet, gloves, and boots. The iron shell is thick and durable, far heavier and denser than even the strongest plate mail, and provides a staggering +10 bonus to armor class. It is remarkably inflexible, however, granting a -8 armor check penalty and a max Dexterity bonus of +0.
Even though hydraulic armor is heavy, its weight is offset by the steam engine, which generates hydraulic pressure to amplify the strength of the user's limbs. Hydraulic armor always feels as if it weighs one tenth of what it really does; for purpose of encumberance, that's all that matters. Furthermore, the wearer is about to move at full speed do the muscular amplification (though he may still run only triple his normal speed). If the wearer is on a horse or a rickety rope bridge, however, then the full weight of the armor will certainly become an issue!
Due to the hydraulic power coursing around the wearer's limbs, his effective strength is increased to 20 while wearing the armor. The armor also includes a number of built-in steam powers, some custom developed for the hydraulic armor. These include:
-Air filter. As long as the helmet is on and the visor closed, the wearer receives a +4 bonus to saves against any kind of gas or airborne poison.
-Visor shades. The visor darkens rapidly in response to bright light. While the visor is down the wearer receives a +4 bonus to saves against blindness. For effects that do not normally allow a save, he now receives one.
-Slam attack. The heavy fists of the armor can be used to make slam attacks. The wearer is never considered unarm. He can make a slam attack at his usual base attack bonus, for damage 1d6 plus his strength modifier, with which he is always considered proficient.
-Stability. The heavy, grounded nature of hydraulic armor grants the wearer a +4 bonus to defending against bull rushes (as if he were unusually stable).
-Steam powers: The steam engine of the hydraulic armor can also be used to run steampowers.
-Concealment. The massive bulk of hydraulic armor is difficult to concea. As if that weren't enough, the steam engine constantly pours forth smoke. The wearer suffers a -8 penalty to Hide checks.
-Jumping. The hydraulic armor offsets its own weight in a jump by transferring power out of the arms and augmenting the wearer's leg strength even more. For jumping purposes, the hydraulic armor counts as one-tenth its weight, no armor check penalty is rolled, and wearer uses the suit's strength of 20.
Learning to use hydraulic armor requires its own specialized feat slot: Armor proficiency (hydraulic). It takes 15 minutes, with assistance, to done hydraulic armor."
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
-
Captain_Bleach
- Knight-Baron
- Posts: 830
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Are there any restrictions on a gang of Wizards using Fabricate to make a mech army, or re-wishing things to revamp the shattered world? How does high-level, high-magic affect the world?
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Someone thought of using fabricate to make stuff more quickly, but designing a mech is a long process. The DCs for even a small one are high, and there's still a lot of Craft checks involved, along with skills that ordinary wizards don't get, like Mechcraft and so on. That's why magic users tend to specialize in making animated or necromantic mechs--the Mechcraft DCs are easier and don't require as much understanding of machinery.
Anyway, aking or affecting a big mech by magic requires multiple spellcasters working together through a feat called Combine Spell.
And I think the problems may be beyond the powers of even a 20th-level mage armed with wish. For one thing, moving the moon is a tall order, even for wish, and would probably require you to know the proper distance for the moon to orbit. Second, trying to do that may earn you the attention of the lunar gods.
That would not be good. That attention would be almost Lovecraftian in how bad it would be for you. A lot of the lunar creatures are under the directions of their gods, and they may just instruct five or so lunar dragons to find you and stomp you into the ground.
If you had wish, you could certainly do a lot--like rejuvenate large areas of forest. But solving the causes of the world's problems? Probably not, since you're going against huge forces, both physical and magical.
And magic *can* be used to speed up mech production--like through fabricate. Someone on the boards asked that, and a mod worked out that to fabricate the materials for a Colossal IV mech, you'd need about 11,700 rounds of casting Fabricate.
I'm sure that like any setting, you could break the world through using high-level magic, but a DM would have two legs to stand on for refusing your wish to push the moon back out or giving you an instant army of mechs.
Anyway, aking or affecting a big mech by magic requires multiple spellcasters working together through a feat called Combine Spell.
And I think the problems may be beyond the powers of even a 20th-level mage armed with wish. For one thing, moving the moon is a tall order, even for wish, and would probably require you to know the proper distance for the moon to orbit. Second, trying to do that may earn you the attention of the lunar gods.
That would not be good. That attention would be almost Lovecraftian in how bad it would be for you. A lot of the lunar creatures are under the directions of their gods, and they may just instruct five or so lunar dragons to find you and stomp you into the ground.
If you had wish, you could certainly do a lot--like rejuvenate large areas of forest. But solving the causes of the world's problems? Probably not, since you're going against huge forces, both physical and magical.
And magic *can* be used to speed up mech production--like through fabricate. Someone on the boards asked that, and a mod worked out that to fabricate the materials for a Colossal IV mech, you'd need about 11,700 rounds of casting Fabricate.
I'm sure that like any setting, you could break the world through using high-level magic, but a DM would have two legs to stand on for refusing your wish to push the moon back out or giving you an instant army of mechs.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
I've just snagged a copy and I kinda like it, having a large mech with a powered chainsaw and periscopes to give you total cover from mages is a cool trick for the 'fighter-y' types, but some of it (like the clerics just arbitrarily not getting spells on certain days) is stupid.
Overall, interesting!
Overall, interesting!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
cthulhu at [unixtime wrote:1203586087[/unixtime]]I've just snagged a copy and I kinda like it, having a large mech with a powered chainsaw and periscopes to give you total cover from mages is a cool trick for the 'fighter-y' types, but some of it (like the clerics just arbitrarily not getting spells on certain days) is stupid.
Overall, interesting!
Awesome!
Oh, Captain, I actually spent last night looking closely at the mech creation rules for magical mechs and reviewed the stuff about the elven city mech.
It turns out an animated mech requires Limited Wish and Geas/quest to start up, unless it's a city-mech.
Then you need Wish to start one up (it still needs Geas, though).
And I looked over the stuff about the Elven City-Mech, and came to the conclusion that attacking it is tantamount to suicide. Here's some of the better points:
-Tannaliel is home to more than 4,000 elves, a substantial percentage of whom have levels in wizard. A decent percentage of them have a LOT of levels in wizard.
-The backbone of the defense is in the 200 or so wands found on Tannanliel. They're divvied up between ranges. Long-rang spells (mostly direct-damage dealing) have a range of 800 feet, because those are made by 10th-level wizards. Middle-range (200 feet) is much more nasty, because the wands are stuff like blindness/deafness, hold person, phantasmal killer, glitterdust, confusion, stinking cloud, and web. Short-range is mostly stuff like ennervation, cause fear, and ray of exhaustion.
-There's also four dozen staffs of evocation, transmutation, and abjuration wielded by the mech's 'lieutenants'
-Their 'sergeants' (five for every lieutenant) are wielding rods of lesser metamagic of various kinds.
-The finishing touch is the squad of 8 mechs, which have permanant symbols inscibed on them so that the symbols are revealed, they start affecting everyone within 60 feet--except for the pilots of these particular mechs and the wizard that created them. One of their favorite tactics is to send the pair with the Sleep symbol on them running quickly through the enemy ranks, leaving a pair of 120-foot-wide trails of sleeping people (DC 28 will save). Then the foot soldiers come out and start slitting throats.
So, yeah, that's how a magic-using society fights from a mech.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
-
CatharzGodfoot
- King
- Posts: 5668
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Re: Dragonmech review/info
So being a cleric is a race against time. Either you level sufficiently that your Wisdom becomes huge (and auto-win the check), or you are never able to cast spells again.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
Re: Dragonmech review/info
CatharzGodfoot at [unixtime wrote:1203630398[/unixtime]]So being a cleric is a race against time. Either you level sufficiently that your Wisdom becomes huge (and auto-win the check), or you are never able to cast spells again.
No, there's a check each day to see if you get your spells. The base DC is 6. And you can do stuff to affect it, mostly by fighting Lunar creatures or helping out your god's cause (either by getting converts or fighting enemy clerics, and so on.)
You can also attempt to spontaneously cast any spell in the Cleric list or your domains, as long as you're in a lunar-related situation (like protecting or healing people from the lunar rains, or fighting a lunar creature). This is also a wisdom check, and it's a DC of 20 modified by the same modifiers as your attempt to get spells. If you succeed, you get a free spell. If you don't, you lose nothing but the time it took to try. If you succeed, you do it again, but it gets harder (by 4).
After a few levels, you could certainly buff yourself up to help those odds.
Anyway, Clerics will receive their spells on most days. And they can really improve those odds by constantly doing stuff for their god.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Yeah, its just a some times you don;t have spells today thing, but thats slightly annoying as that makes you an NPC warrior.
I'd probably scrap that rule, or change it so you lose your domain spells or something.
The mech construction rules are annoying in a few places, due to a lack of clarity
(Can I use aid another actions? If I can, how many? If I cannot, how are you supposed to make a DC 45 check for a large clockwork mech, which the players really need if you want mech centric action, and earlier rather than later, because otherwise they have to spend 20-100 gold a day run their mech.)
But aside from that hiccup, and some of the rules for armour being in different places, the mech construction rules are quite good. The Mech in action rules are very good aside from the fact they seem to have forgot about the 3.5th ed rules about sizes and what 'base' that translates into.
If I was going to run it, I'd ban wish, planar summoning and the other usual suspects, then run as normal, because having a animated juggernaut goes a long way to making the non magic classes rather cool
I'd probably scrap that rule, or change it so you lose your domain spells or something.
The mech construction rules are annoying in a few places, due to a lack of clarity
(Can I use aid another actions? If I can, how many? If I cannot, how are you supposed to make a DC 45 check for a large clockwork mech, which the players really need if you want mech centric action, and earlier rather than later, because otherwise they have to spend 20-100 gold a day run their mech.)
But aside from that hiccup, and some of the rules for armour being in different places, the mech construction rules are quite good. The Mech in action rules are very good aside from the fact they seem to have forgot about the 3.5th ed rules about sizes and what 'base' that translates into.
If I was going to run it, I'd ban wish, planar summoning and the other usual suspects, then run as normal, because having a animated juggernaut goes a long way to making the non magic classes rather cool
Re: Dragonmech review/info
cthulhu at [unixtime wrote:1203640295[/unixtime]]Yeah, its just a some times you don;t have spells today thing, but thats slightly annoying as that makes you an NPC warrior.
I'd probably scrap that rule, or change it so you lose your domain spells or something.
The mech construction rules are annoying in a few places, due to a lack of clarity
(Can I use aid another actions? If I can, how many? If I cannot, how are you supposed to make a DC 45 check for a large clockwork mech, which the players really need if you want mech centric action, and earlier rather than later, because otherwise they have to spend 20-100 gold a day run their mech.)
But aside from that hiccup, and some of the rules for armour being in different places, the mech construction rules are quite good. The Mech in action rules are very good aside from the fact they seem to have forgot about the 3.5th ed rules about sizes and what 'base' that translates into.
If I was going to run it, I'd ban wish, planar summoning and the other usual suspects, then run as normal, because having a animated juggernaut goes a long way to making the non magic classes rather cool
Edit: Oops, looks like that was someone's interpretation before the designer gave his decree. According to Goodman, you can receive assistance from 1 higher-level coglayer/gearwright (like a master showing an apprentice the ropes).
The mechcraft DCs for bigger mechs, particularly city-mechs, are designed to only be within the reach of high-level coglayers and mid-level Gearwrights. One branch of the Gearwrights gets +2 to their checks for every level past 6th. and they gain the ability to take 30, which brings certain DCs in reach.
I mean, I could have a bonus of +42 to my mechcraft check with a 16th-level Coglayer with 20 Int (and if you're a Coglayer who isn't putting every point into Int, you need to reexamine your priorities)
I suggest you just have the characters buy or be given a mech, if you want them at early level (Fiddling with the wealth-by-level guidelines at the start can help, too. If they have an extra 3k gold, a decent Gargantuan Clockwork mech is possible for characters at 8th level.)
Also, this is borderline between 3.5 and 3.0. Like, at final stages, the Suits wanted some of the stuff converted to 3.5. This is most evident in the sizes.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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CatharzGodfoot
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Re: Dragonmech review/info
Maxus at [unixtime wrote:1203631596[/unixtime]]CatharzGodfoot at [unixtime wrote:1203630398[/unixtime]]So being a cleric is a race against time. Either you level sufficiently that your Wisdom becomes huge (and auto-win the check), or you are never able to cast spells again.
No, there's a check each day to see if you get your spells. The base DC is 6. And you can do stuff to affect it, mostly by fighting Lunar creatures or helping out your god's cause (either by getting converts or fighting enemy clerics, and so on.)
You can also attempt to spontaneously cast any spell in the Cleric list or your domains, as long as you're in a lunar-related situation (like protecting or healing people from the lunar rains, or fighting a lunar creature). This is also a wisdom check, and it's a DC of 20 modified by the same modifiers as your attempt to get spells. If you succeed, you get a free spell. If you don't, you lose nothing but the time it took to try. If you succeed, you do it again, but it gets harder (by 4).
After a few levels, you could certainly buff yourself up to help those odds.
Anyway, Clerics will receive their spells on most days. And they can really improve those odds by constantly doing stuff for their god.
It looked like the DC increased by 2 at intervals as you failed the check.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
Re: Dragonmech review/info
CatharzGodfoot at [unixtime wrote:1203707560[/unixtime]]Maxus at [unixtime wrote:1203631596[/unixtime]]CatharzGodfoot at [unixtime wrote:1203630398[/unixtime]]So being a cleric is a race against time. Either you level sufficiently that your Wisdom becomes huge (and auto-win the check), or you are never able to cast spells again.
No, there's a check each day to see if you get your spells. The base DC is 6. And you can do stuff to affect it, mostly by fighting Lunar creatures or helping out your god's cause (either by getting converts or fighting enemy clerics, and so on.)
You can also attempt to spontaneously cast any spell in the Cleric list or your domains, as long as you're in a lunar-related situation (like protecting or healing people from the lunar rains, or fighting a lunar creature). This is also a wisdom check, and it's a DC of 20 modified by the same modifiers as your attempt to get spells. If you succeed, you get a free spell. If you don't, you lose nothing but the time it took to try. If you succeed, you do it again, but it gets harder (by 4).
After a few levels, you could certainly buff yourself up to help those odds.
Anyway, Clerics will receive their spells on most days. And they can really improve those odds by constantly doing stuff for their god.
It looked like the DC increased by 2 at intervals as you failed the check.
But how often does that happen? Even a 1st-level Cleric with 16 Wis can miss the check one day, and then easily get it the next, which'll reset the DC.
You'd have to have a really hard run of bad luck to screw that up for multiple days in a row...
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
-
CatharzGodfoot
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- Posts: 5668
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Maxus at [unixtime wrote:1203723645[/unixtime]]
But how often does that happen? Even a 1st-level Cleric with 16 Wis can miss the check one day, and then easily get it the next, which'll reset the DC.
You'd have to have a really hard run of bad luck to screw that up for multiple days in a row...
Say you're a 1st level cleric with a wisdom bonus of +2. On the very first day of the adventure, you fuck up trying to get spells (this happens 4/20 possible rolls = 20% of the time). The next day you have bad luck again (6/20 -> 30%, joint probability = 6%). And again (8/20 -> 40% joint probability = 2.4%) and again (10/20, joint = 1.2%) and again (12/20 -> 60%, joint = 0.72%) and again (14/20 -> 70%, joint = 0.504%) and again (16/20 -> 80%, joint = 0.4032%) and again (18/20 -> 90%, joint = 0.36288%), and now you're stuck.
Less than half a percent may not seem like much, but summed over all the clerics in all Dragonmech campaigns it's still significant. Once you screw up a few times, you're already that much more likely to get fucked (if you fail twice in a row there's a 15% chance that you'll have to scrap the character, beyond the fact that you've been mostly useless for three whole days).
I rather see a stabilizing equation than a destabilizing one.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Maxus, thanks. I might as well point out (having read the book) that the only thing that might be keeping me from having a new favorite setting's the fact that the new classes are so ... unconcerned with balance and unshowing of signals of actually having been played in their final versions in anything other than Magical Tea Party ... but hey, who said it keeps it from being better than 4E? At least the setting feel's much less retarded (i.e. not really) ...
Hans Freyer, s.b.u.h. wrote:A manly, a bold tone prevails in history. He who has the grip has the booty.
Huston Smith wrote:Life gives us no view of the whole. We see only snatches here and there, (...)
brotherfrancis75 wrote:Perhaps you imagine that Ayn Rand is our friend? And the Mont Pelerin Society? No, those are but the more subtle versions of the Bolshevik Communist Revolution you imagine you reject. (...) FOX NEWS IS ALSO COMMUNIST!
LDSChristian wrote:True. I do wonder which is worse: killing so many people like Hitler did or denying Christ 3 times like Peter did.
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Bigode at [unixtime wrote:1203725804[/unixtime]]Maxus, thanks. I might as well point out (having read the book) that the only thing that might be keeping me from having a new favorite setting's the fact that the new classes are so ... unconcerned with balance and unshowing of signals of actually having been played in their final versions in anything other than Magical Tea Party ... but hey, who said it keeps it from being better than 4E? At least the setting feel's much less retarded (i.e. not really) ...
Y'welcome.
I'm a bit wondering about the balance, too. But I suppose part of the point is changing the balance. After all, why make a setting with some semblance of modern technology if magic's still the preeminent form of power?
(One of my DMs grumbled over how a Force Box with several Amps on it was better than a wall of force spell, because you could use it for both battlefield control AND making utility stuff in dungeon, and it's available sooner than the spell itself.)
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Actually, I meant that steam's hideously weak, not strong. It defeats nonmagic characters if used (very) creatively, but that's it.
Hans Freyer, s.b.u.h. wrote:A manly, a bold tone prevails in history. He who has the grip has the booty.
Huston Smith wrote:Life gives us no view of the whole. We see only snatches here and there, (...)
brotherfrancis75 wrote:Perhaps you imagine that Ayn Rand is our friend? And the Mont Pelerin Society? No, those are but the more subtle versions of the Bolshevik Communist Revolution you imagine you reject. (...) FOX NEWS IS ALSO COMMUNIST!
LDSChristian wrote:True. I do wonder which is worse: killing so many people like Hitler did or denying Christ 3 times like Peter did.
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Bigode at [unixtime wrote:1203802679[/unixtime]]Actually, I meant that steam's hideously weak, not strong. It defeats nonmagic characters if used (very) creatively, but that's it.
Alright, which aspects of steam are weak? The weapons? The mechs? The classes that use it? The steam powers?
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Steam powers, and thus the classes that use it, since they get pretty much nothing else.
Hans Freyer, s.b.u.h. wrote:A manly, a bold tone prevails in history. He who has the grip has the booty.
Huston Smith wrote:Life gives us no view of the whole. We see only snatches here and there, (...)
brotherfrancis75 wrote:Perhaps you imagine that Ayn Rand is our friend? And the Mont Pelerin Society? No, those are but the more subtle versions of the Bolshevik Communist Revolution you imagine you reject. (...) FOX NEWS IS ALSO COMMUNIST!
LDSChristian wrote:True. I do wonder which is worse: killing so many people like Hitler did or denying Christ 3 times like Peter did.
Re: Dragonmech review/info
Bigode at [unixtime wrote:1203807986[/unixtime]]Steam powers, and thus the classes that use it, since they get pretty much nothing else.
I've always found steampowers tough to judge, because of the creativity you have to use in making them do stuff. But got any specific examples?
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Re: Dragonmech review/info
the steam powers are pretty weak until you link 5 or so together, and get the autofire 180 ft. range 2d8 lighting catapult with target descrimintation. individual steam powers are meant to be weak. All the city mechs are suicide to attack with anything short of Viper Fang or City Killer. Nedderpick has 8 steam cannons on each baring, a lot of steam guns, the fireing slits, and absurdly huge amounts of DR and HP. Not to mention the melee weapons.
DSMatticus wrote:It's not just that everything you say is stupid, but that they are Gordian knots of stupid that leave me completely bewildered as to where to even begin. After hearing you speak Alexander the Great would stab you and triumphantly declare the puzzle solved.