Okay, guys. Today we're dropping a scoop. We hope you're ready, because we were born ready, and we are way too excited. Today, we're blowing the lid off the Secret Project.
So, you may have noticed that we didn't post a vlog yesterday. This was partly because the new Born of the Gods set came out for Magic: The Gathering and we had a championship to win (undefeated for Theros block, respect!), but it was also because we were working on the Secret Project. We've been working on it pretty much nonstop lately; we're also working on the new Titanrealms, but we've recently begun devoting more time to the Secret Project, because we want to put it into effect in our own games and for our own players as soon as possible.
The Secret Project is this: we're overhauling the APPs. All of them.
It's something we've wanted to do for a long time; the purviews are messy, with powers that are confusing, powers that don't work very well, powers that don't belong where they are or should be somewhere else, and just plain not enough powers or enough concepts covered. They need love - man, do they need love! - so we're finally getting down to brass tacks and giving it to them. We have a lot of goals, but the most important ones are to make purviews much more mythically resonant and tied to their concepts, and to eliminate mechanical clunkiness and confusion so that they work much more smoothly.
So here's what we're going to do: every week, we're going to either record a vlog (more on that later - we got some fancy new lighting rigs this week!) or release a new purview rewrite. Purview rewriting takes a ton of time and work, so we can't commit to an exact schedule for when each one will be done, but we're trying to complete this project in as few months as possible. Right now, our schedule looks like this, in terms of what order we're doing things:
ROUND ONE: FATE PURVIEWS (Magic, Mystery, Prophecy)
ROUND TWO: ELEMENTAL PURVIEWS (Earth, Fire, Frost, Sky, Water)
ROUND THREE: HUMANITY PURVIEWS (Chaos, Guardian, Illusion, Justice, Psychopomp, War)
ROUND FOUR: PHYSICAL PURVIEWS (Animal, Death, Fertility, Health)
ROUND FIVE: CELESTIAL PURVIEWS (Darkness, Moon, Stars, Sun)
So you'll know about when your new purview rewrite is coming, and you can be ready to bask in it when it arrives. Incidentally, we'd consider Artistry a "humanity purview", but we just wrote it comparatively recently so we're not including it in this project for right now.
Now, we know a lot of you use our site as a resource, so while our games are ready and willing to experience the sudden upset of a massive and sweeping set of purview changes, yours may not all be. We would recommend doing some quick copy and paste for purviews that are coming up if you want to keep a copy of the old powersets to ease your transitions, because once we convert them on the site, they'll be gone for good. The new purviews are better - like, hella better - but you should all convert (or not!) in your own time and way, as works best for your games. If you'd like a little reference for what we're doing, we're doing a straight XP conversion for our players; if they lost any boons that we wrote out of existence, they're replaced by new boons we wrote at the same level, and if there are no new ones at the appropriate level, we convert the cost it would have been into XP that can only be used for that purview.
In the past when we've done updates, we haven't released a full set of patch notes; we generally only send the exhaustive list of all the changes to our players, who need to read the minutiae and apply it to their characters. But since this is such a big change for a lot of these purviews, we've decided we'll release our patch notes here on the blog, so you guys can go through point by point and see exactly where we've changed things. If you want to ask questions about what we did, why we did it, or need clarifications if something seems confusing, throw them in the comments. We'll respond, because we love you.
So, without further ado, here's our first reworked and WAY improved purview: Magic. Patch notes are under the cut.
Go out and manipulate your Fates, all you crazy diamonds!
Sacrifice: For the moment, the sacrifice system of generating Magic-only Legend has been removed. It may be revisited in the future, either for Magic or as a more universal mechanic for the game as a whole.
LEVEL ONE:
Ariadne's Thread: This boon no longer exists.
Bad Penny: This boon now rolls Larceny instead of Occult.
Luck Be a Lady: No changes!
Peaceful Meeting: This boon no longer exists.
Unjinx: This is a new boon that allows Scions to ignore one botch per game session from their incredible luckiness.
The Unlidded Eye: This boon now costs 1L instead of 1W. It no longer grants an exact Legend rating, and instead gives Scions the ability to determine the Legend level (Hero, Demigod or God) of their target. It now features a subsystem for the identification of relics.
LEVEL TWO:
Evil Eye: This boon now allows its targets to resist by rolling their total number of boons in the Fate purviews vs. the Scion's total number of Magic boons.
Legendary Surge: This boon now clarifies that Scions must give the entire amount of Legend they roll to their target.
Measured Foe: This boon no longer exists.
Safety of the Watery Night: This boon no longer exists.
Warp the Weft: This is a new boon that allows Scions to create a limited zone of weakened Fate, wherein everyone can reroll twice on any given roll, and perform a Defensive Do-Over twice on any attack.
LEVEL THREE:
Bona Fortuna: This boon is now level 3 instead of level 2.
Demand a Labor: This boon no longer exists.
Deus ex Machina: This boon now gives better guidelines for the consequences applied to Scions who use it.
Lens of Fate: This boon no longer exists.
LEVEL FOUR:
Fate Prison: This boon no longer exists.
Fateful Connection: This boon now costs 3L + 1W, instead of 1L.
Manifest Destiny: This is a new boon that allows Scions to reroll their Virtues and avoid Extremity by taking semi-permanent damage for the rest of the story.
Trading Fates: This boon is now level 4 instead of level 3 and now costs 1L instead of being free.
Vestiges of a Distant Past: This boon no longer exists.
LEVEL FIVE:
Birthright Bond: This boon is now level 5 instead of 8, now rolls Manipulation + Occult instead of Magic boons, and now costs 10L + 2W. It now includes a new table for the difficulty of binding different power levels of relics.
Fortune Favors the Bold: This boon no longer makes its target's rolls of 1-5 into botch contributors. Instead, the target rolls a single d10 before each roll, and if the result is a 1-3, the roll botches automatically. This boon now allows its targets to resist by rolling their total number of boons in the Fate purviews vs. the Scion's total number of Magic boons instead of a normal resist roll, and now lasts for the Scion's threshold successes in days.
Sacred Image: This boon no longer has a roll, now requires a minimum artistry level for artwork that can be inhabited, and now allows Scions to use powers through their vessels for an additional cost. This boon now imposes a lessened perception range for its users.
Sanctify Band: This boon no longer exists. (It may or may not later be converted into a system-wide mechanic.)
Trace the Line: This boon no longer exists.
Trusted Tool: No changes!
LEVEL SIX:
Avoid a Fate: This boon no longer provides immunity to a single foretold event. Instead, it now allows Scions to pay 5L and roll Wits + Occult against a single attack or power used against them; if they are successful, they may put off that attack's or power's effects until the end of the scene.
Beast Shape: This boon no longer exists.
Meddlesome Fates: No changes!
LEVEL SEVEN:
Divine Seal: This boon now rolls Intelligence + Larceny and always has a condition for breaking the seal, which is now set by the Storyteller instead of the Scion. It now includes better developed subsystems for both Magic-users and others to discover and find ways to pierce the seal.
Mighty Curse: This boon no longer exists.
Transform Person: This boon no longer exists.
Transfer Relic: This boon now rolls Larceny instead of Occult.
Twist the Web: This boon can now affect Fatebound cults for a cost of 50L + 1W.
LEVEL EIGHT:
Serendipity: This boon now costs 1 permanent WP and no longer has a roll. It can no longer be used to afflict others with bad luck, and now has a better-developed system for how to grant good luck to targets.
Weave-Sense: This boon now costs 2L instead of 1L, and now includes individual systems for resisting incursions from each of the Fate purviews.
LEVEL NINE:
Reforging: This boon no longer exists.
Scion Adoption Rite: This boon no longer exists. (It may or may not later be converted into a system-wide mechanic.)
Shape the Soul: This boon now rolls Manipulation + Empathy, may now affect gods for a limited time, and now includes an updated system for the reshaping of Virtues.
Steal Birthright: This boon no longer exists.
Unbinding: This is a new boon that allows Scions to sever Birthrights from their previous owners so that they can be rebound to new users.
LEVEL TEN:
Curse: This is a new boon that allows Scions to impose bad luck on their targets by making their 7s no longer count as successes.
Divine Unweaving: This boon no longer exists.
Fateful Locus: This is a new boon that allows Scions to create a Fateful zone in which all Legendary beings can use Fate purviews even if they don't normally have them, and Fatebonds are increased in potency.
Magical Purge: This boon no longer exists.
And that's all she wrote for today, folks. Happy spell-slinging. :)
Favorite God's from Theros and Born of the Gods. Go!
ReplyDeleteHeliodddddddd
DeleteHaha. Xenagos gets no love.
DeleteI'm really interested in this new Boon project your working and can't wait to see them (and use) all.
Too much awesome to pick. But I guess thassa and mogis
DeleteThis is really great. I love how Magic does what I always imagined it was supposed to do: It invokes Fate in different kinds of cool ways, instead of just making random shenanigans. (I'm looking at you, Beast Shape!)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I can't wait for the Sky purview, I'm really hoping for some sweet weather boons. ^^
... As for Theros gods, I'd go for Ephara, she's cool.
On that note, are you pondering using this opportunity to split sky in two?
DeleteMaybe. Maybe not.
DeleteI like your facepaint. Also, I got ephara in my prerelease and she did pretty awesomely.
DeleteHeh, thanks, it was for a LARP a couple of years back.
DeleteThat's cool, I sadly couldn't participate in the pre-release due to the lack of money... But hopefully I can attend the release. I'm pretty excited for Born of the Gods.
About magic:
ReplyDeleteIt applies fatebonds whenever used, but how much? is it a dot 1 fatebond? that, i feel, would become tame in the long run.
Is it a fatebond dot equal to the boon dot you just used? I like this idea, it would mean bigger fatedickery = tighter nets tossed by fate.
A third and totally awesome option i didn't think about? That would probably be awesome too ;)
We usually model it as the difficulty that is rolled against for the Fatebond is lower than usual, so you're always more likely to get Fatebound when you use Magic than when you don't.
DeleteWe may mess around with a more specific system later, though.
Your fatebond rules still make my brain explode, but maybe something like "Everytime you cast a magic spell, add +1 success to a fatebond roll at the end of a scene". More successes for particularly powerful spells.
DeleteThis is AWESOME! You guys are the best!
ReplyDeleteMy big question? You've mentioned wanting to revamp the Avatars in the past. Are you going to do this now? Are Avatars part of the revamp?
Those will probably need to be their own project, so not at the moment. We are discussing them during the revamp, but we'll tackle them separately after the purviews are finished. :)
DeleteCool! :)
DeleteAbout the god-twitter for a moment, if you have time:
DeleteWhat artefact did Geoff get? which one did Sangria Loose?
and what happened to Zeus?
Sangria was recently given a necklace by some of the Devas for doing a good deed for them, which gives her bonuses to speed and Presence. She still has it, but the current problems in the Faterealm caused a ricochet effect that unbound it from her, making it now an unowned relic.
DeleteGeoff didn't get a new relic, he just got a free Bona Fortuna because somehow he only ever gets good effects from the random Magic flying every which way. :)
Zeus is unavoidably detained during this particular kingsmoot.
''Everyone else, afflicted by Magic bullshit shenangians. Geoff, rolls a 1 and gets a free relic''
Deletewhat was that post about then?
Oh, ha, that was a separate Fatesplosion. The laws he had transcribed on the walls of his castle became a Legend 1 indestructible relic.
Deleteuhh, Curiosity rising!
Deletewhat laws?
why transcribe them on his castle?
uhhh... so much potential awesomeness i don't know about!!
He's holding a large meeting right now in his Overworld with the heads of several pantheons, and he wanted the laws of the land put somewhere they could all see them so no one was unaware of the rules. :) You know, stuff like "Don't kill the servants" and "Don't molest my wife."
DeleteOhh, so it's just the ''keep sacrifices to the sacrifice shack we set up outside'' and such stuff ^^
DeleteI like it, fun effect :)
Vestiges of a Distant Past noooo
ReplyDeleteWell, at least that's one less thing you and John have to argue over whenever you write a new pantheon?
It's true, no more worrying about that!
DeleteWe removed it because it was clunky - it was expressing the idea of drawing on your collective Fate as part of your pantheon, but it was super easy for players to forget how many rerolls they had and to be confused about what it did, and the assignments to abilities felt a little arbitrary despite our best efforts. Since Magic is all about subverting Fate's will, we also wanted it to be more like something that allowed you to buck your pantheon's collective Fate, so we ended up scrapping it and replacing it with Manifest Destiny.
But, of course your games can always keep using Vestiges if you want to. :)
WOW, this is just. I think you guys just blew my mind. Let me check.
ReplyDelete...
Yep, blown all around.
I hope in a good way. :)
DeleteOh, definitely. I love Magic as you guys have reworked it, it pretty much ends a long argument that has been lingering around my table about why can't you simply have any random thing as a Magic spell (hey why can I turn myself and people into animals but not create lightning and telekinesis shit around?)
DeleteIf anything, I would ask: Why did you guys decide to do away with Mighty Curse? Was it too complicated? It always struck me as one of the most magick-ey of them all, seeing as how often people are cursed with various things they must do to break it in myth. I see that you turned it into a Level 10 Boon, but it seems like something else entirely.
But anyhow, I'm thrilled to see what you guys have in store for Mystery and Prophecy!
It was complicated, and wonky, and in game didnt seem to be doing what it was supposed to do. We streamlined it, and then it felt too powerful and so got pushed to the top.
DeleteI know you'll be excited about prophecy....it has 20 boons.
Drool!
DeleteWhich is weird because I've never been excited about Prophecy before, but I am super excited to see what you guys have done with it, and Mystery (though from certain Magic Boon descriptions I'm assuming that the 'ask a question' model will stay to an extent).
20 Prophecy boons?! I would die and go to... the overworlds!
DeleteReforging no longer exists...Yay! That power was stepping all over Artistry's toes.
ReplyDeleteI love that Scion Adoption no longer needs a third wheel of a Magic God!
In general, I love this! I can't wait for Water, Guardian, Health and Stars, my favourite Purviews, to be rewritten.
The only change I don't like is Avoid a Fate, mostly because Hindu myth is absolutely lousy with cases of Gods giving people immunities to one fate or another.
We decided those are more like actually giving the person that immunity. Theres no reason to make it a fate twisting thing. Magic shouldnt say "you're immune to swords", Guardian should. Magic shouldnt say "you're immune to lightning", sky should.
DeleteSo thats where we ended up with that boon in particular. The mage gets to avoid everything, for a time. But never permanently. The purviews that actually do those things get to be the ones to avoid them permanently.
Why'd you guys decide to pull Demand a Labor and Divine Unweaving?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Shape the Soul: I didn't really notice it before, but this one seems oddly discordant to me - other than the new Manifest Destiny, it's the only power in the Purview that has anything to do with Virtues, while everything else messes around with Fatebonds and Legend and whatnot. Why'd you decide to keep Shape the Soul here?
Demand a labor was a messy, complicated version of ...basically overt order.
DeleteWe could fit it into the theme by saying "the mage twists their fate to make this task part of their legend".
But there wasnt really a solid mechanic for that we liked.
The "why" question came up, much like with avoid a fate, and we were like...."if the goal is to make someone do a thing, we can come up with better ways to do that in places that it belongs better." And when it occurs in myth, its very much "from on high", and we didnt come up with an interesting, useful way to accomplish that.
Basically, the ST is always having fate "demand labors" of the PCs.
When hera demands a labor of hercules, she doesnt need a boon to do it that slowly punishes him if he doesnt do it. She just tells him to.
Divine Weaving: Because a power, that does nothing but turn off other powers...is kinda lame. For a level 10 too.....seemed like a cop out from the original writers and we had enough cool new stuff that we didnt need it.
Shape the soul, anne will hit in the am.
Here for Shape the Soul!
DeleteBasically, we wanted some boons that worked with the idea of a Scion/god being part of the collective Fate of their pantheon - simply by being part of your pantheon, their Fate affects yours. The only places where pantheons are strongly differentiated are their PSPs and Virtues, however; so Shape the Soul involves literally screwing around with someone's collective Fate as part of their pantheon by changing some of their only connections directly to it. Or, you could reshape someone's Virtues who has already gotten off the beaten path, bringing them back closer to their pantheon's destiny.
We couldn't come up with a good mechanic to affect PSPs across the board, since they're too different in scope and mechanics, so Virtues was our only option. Manifest Destiny works on a similar idea.
I actually really like the idea that Virtues aren't inherent parts of your personality, but a part of your Divine Ichor (it's also why I don't like the whole swapping out Virtues at character creation thing). I love the idea of a cowardly Scion of Thor running into battle going 'Oh Shit, why am I doing this?!' :)
DeleteBah! You're right about Demand a Labor, of course. My timing sucks - I JUST dropped it on the PCs as a somewhat significant plot point, now the PCs with Magic want to buy it.
Delete(The PCs killed a Scion of Cernunnos. Rather than kill them outright, Cernunnos Demanded that the PCs burn down the Garden of the Hesperides - if they are able to follow through and succeed, then he can stick it to the Greeks and then get satisfaction from Hera destroying them all; if they follow through and fail, then Ladon eats them; if they find a way to get the Demand undone, they'll be up to their necks in owed favors and he can still try to kill them again later).
I'll give Manifest Destiny and Shape the Soul another look. Thanks! :)
You can always play the "he has Avatar, he does what he wants!" card. Sorry about the timing, though!
DeleteEee! You done good, y'all, ya done good! I normally disagree with many aspects of your mechanical changes, but you took out ALL the Magic Boons that I hated and added some very nice new ones! I LIKE it! Yes sir, I like it.
ReplyDeleteOk, so you didn't remove Legendary Surge (which I still hate because of incredible abuses possible when used by Aztec and Irish Scions, since the Legend economy doesn't impact them much if at all), but everything else is nice.
Delete...so, why's it still called Magic? That's always been a terrible name for it, and it still is a terrible name. All the Purviews (and Epics) are magical. There's nothing especially magical about Magic. It confuses people coming to Scion from places like D&D (or most other systems) and looking to make "a magician".
If legend economy isnt impactful, thats a problem with either the aztec/irish scions or the St of those scions, or the psp itself. Legend economy is an important part of the game, one of the most important parts, and if those pantheons are getting a pass to the point that they completely arent worrying about it, then there are problems. Thats a problem for the psp though, you could say that about any purview "the legend cost of X boon doesnt matter/isnt high enough because aztecs and enech exist".
DeleteCause we didnt come up with a better name and renaming it isnt high on our priority list. I dont disagree that it could use a better name, but not "confusing" D & D players is super low on my list of things I need to fix with the game.
But you can definitely expect a name change "at some point."
So what happens when you have less legend than the successes you roll on Legendary Surge? It doesn't say.
DeleteThank you. I...dont remember. Its something horrible. Anne has the notes and she'll get back to you in the morning.
DeleteI'm guessing you only give out whatever you have left.
DeleteAlthough, I would be all over something like "you take the excess as unsoakable aggravateds" and still give out that ammount, since using it with a low legend pool would be pretty dumb anyway, and it would give room for heroic sacrifices in times when you actually need it
Hey guys no one has legend left, what do we do.
Don't worry! I gotcha. *dies*
It would probably step over Itztli's toes too much, though?
I know those options were definitely talked about, but Im not sure what was finally decided.
DeleteThat would be fun, and crazy! A magic god can easily have 28 dice (magic boons) + willpower + virtue + legendary deed + bona fortuna + a fancy magic relic.
DeleteAnd blooow himself up.
Actually it becomes a really bad thing for powerful magic gods to ever use. "I only need to give 10, WHOA SHIT I GAVE 30!" Literally the more powerful in magic you become, the less you will want to use this boon except when you absolutely need to dump lots of legend on someone.
Oh, oops, it totally doesn't say, does it? Yes, it's supposed to do the balance in aggravated damage - you're committing to giving your buddy the roll's worth of Legend, so if you roll high when your Legend is low, Fate will just take it out of your hide. I'll update tonight after work.
DeleteI think there was also a "cant heal it through magical means" clause on that agg as well.
DeleteAggravated should be unable to be healed through magical means in general. Even if that means Regeneration has to go the way of the dodo.
DeleteHmm, I don't know that I agree with that one - it should still be something that at least Health can do. I'm unsure if the system would be served by a kind of damage that can never be healed magically and happens to everyone regularly even if they aren't using fancy powers, especially since it has such an insane curve of time needed to try to heal it naturally. Most Scions don't have three months to go try to sleep a single agg off.
DeleteThere is a weird level disparity right now though, that's definitely true - anybody can get Regeneration, but the Health folks can't heal agg until Legend 7. We'll definitely be looking at that some time in the future.
I know I'm in the minority on this, but I really love the name Magic. I mean, sure, all the Purviews are magical, but does throwing a fireball around really count as Magic with a capital M for Gods? I like the idea that, in Godly parlance, most Purviews are just...things Gods do, the way mortals walk. The only power in Scion that truly strikes me as something Gods would consider Magic is mucking around with Fate itself. I mean, the Gods rule over the skies and the seas, the laws and health of mankind, and the dark reaches of the Underworld. But even they have to bow to Fate in the game setting. It is Fatebonds that forced the Gods to abandon the World and that reshapes their powers. I can imagine a God seeing another muck around with that kind of power for the first time and be awestruck the way mortals are at all the other Purviews, and saying 'That must be Magic'.
DeleteJust my two cents.
I agree with Anne on the level of disparity. Though, removing regeneration, would leave scions, be they heroes, demigods, or gods, in a world of hurt. As previously mentioned, many things can sling around agg damage: knacks, boons, special abilities of 'things not you'. I guess what I am getting at is that Scion is a game of epic and mythic proportions, featuring efforts of heroic characters. True, in myths sometimes, or many times the hero dies. (Usually because they pissed off this god or that or fate had a part of it), but if you wanna have a downward spiral where it's pretty easy to get hurt, why not play L5R or other such games? ;-)
DeleteAlso, yes, Health does need an overhaul.
And lastly, I agree with Samudra on the bit about keeping the name of the purview as Magic.
Yeah, I do not think I mind Health being able to heal aggravated because that is what Health does. At least until you try to use Health to heal the aggravated of someone using Itztli, then things get weird.
DeleteBut it doesn't take three months to heal a point of aggravated. It only takes about 24 hours to heal a -0 health level, unless you guys changed that?
To add to that: I have seen many more examples of powers and abilities that can cause agg damage than those that cannot. Do I think there needs to be an equal number of powers that can cause agg and those that can prevent or heal it? Not at all. It was just an observation.
DeleteAnon: it depends upon how much damage you have taken and also what kind. Scions can heal bashing damage pretty damn quick. Lethal and Agg, well, that is a different story.
DeleteI cannot recall of the top of my head the healing times, but if you have several levels, then yeah, it is easy to see that healing those would take a few months without some form of enhanced healing
@Anon: Last I checked you can't heal the damage caused by Itztli. Or rather, you can, but things are going to go very badly for the Aztec Scion in question should it happen.
Delete@Anon: With at least one dot of epic stamina, the healing time for bashing is 3 hours, one dot of lethal is 6 hours. I have no idea what the natural healing time for agg is for Scions because nobody does it in our games. Honestly, I didn't think you *could* naturally heal agg - I thought that was the whole point. Still, no Scion has 3 months to sit around resting, so maybe it's just a case of practicality that it may as well be unhealable naturally.
DeleteI also think aggravated soak could be fixed. The fact that it completely blows past almost all of your soak is a little extreme. It leads to some one hit kills unless you are verrrry careful using it against your party.
DeleteItztli does indeed punish you if you heal the damage taken. I'm fairly sure it says that you immediately loose ALL the legend that you gained from the boon and if you don't have the legend to loose, it causes you to loose the difference in unsoakable lethal damage.
DeleteIf you swap out a Virtue during Character Creation, can you still use Manifest Destiny to mitigate the new Virtue? I mean, aren't you denying the Fate your Pantheon just by swapping it out?
ReplyDeleteCorrect. It doesnt work on non-pantheon virtues. You chose to deny fate when you switched one out. Now you are burdened with the new virtue.
DeleteAnother thing I need to remember to note in there when I get home. :)
DeleteDeus Ex Machina. If Titans are one of the options you can summon to save you, why can't you use this in a Titanrealm to only summon Titans? (especially for those parties who converted/befriended/work begrudgingly with certain titans).
ReplyDeleteMostly because of game balance reasons. Titanrealms need to be places of massive, grave, constantly potential-life-ending danger, and it's not fair if a single level 3 boon can always escape that danger, possibly scott-free if the mage rolls well. Even if it only summoned Titans, it would still have the effect of being a level 3 boon that can always save you from the most horrible danger in the entire universe of Scion, and that's busted. So anywhere else you want, but not in the Titans' actual houses. There, Fate forces you to handle your own shit.
DeleteThank you! You both are awesome.
ReplyDeleteRevamping Magic while playing Magic. Coincidence? Or Fate?
Perhaps a little bit of both!
DeleteNo more Mighty Curse? Or Transform Person? I'm heartbroken!
ReplyDeleteHow will my Greek Scions turn people into animals now! :(
Some very nice new boons though, amazing work as always :)
That sounds like something the new shiny Animal should be able to do. I always found it odd that the Animal Purview couldn't do that.
DeleteFor Teh Srs! Turning people into Animals is a VERY Animal thing to do. My biggest hate for Magic (aside from the name) has always been that it's the Thaumaturgy of Scion. It's the place where the "well it doesn't fit anywhere else" gets thrown, as well as the powers of anyone called a "witch" or "sorcerer". All that means that Magic becomes the "diet" version of a bunch of other Purviews. That sucked.
DeleteThis version removes that. That's nice!
I always liked Magic for how eclectic it was. Different strokes, I guess
ReplyDeleteNot that the new version doesn't have some awesome stuff, 'cause it totally does!
DeleteEclecticism is fine, but old Magic's problem was that it didn't have a unified idea of what it was doing - it wasn't just expressing an idea in a bunch of neat ways, it was expressing a whole bunch of unrelated ideas, some of which clearly belonged in other purviews. It's been due for a cleanup for a while.
DeleteBut glad there's something in the new one for you to like, either way. :) As always, you guys have control over your own games!
Maybe I'm imagining things, but wasn't there a God-Boon called Hidden Name that kept people from divining your plans/actions via Mystery and Prophecy? Did that get axed, is it now a Boon in Mystery and/or Prophecy, or did that Boon never exist to begin with?
ReplyDeleteIt's in Illusion, and still there for the moment. It also prevents other magical ways of locating you, like Psychopomp boons or Perception knacks, and screws up mundane efforts to track you as well. We'll definitely be revisiting it when we get over there, but I'm sure Illusion will retain some form of "nyah nyah, you can't find me".
Deleteah. That makes sense. Why did I think it was Magic? Eh, mistakes
DeleteA while back I asked what power love gods would need to make two people fall in love who normally wouldn't. Yesterday I thought Isn't the ability to make someone fall in love (or hate each other for that matter) basicly changing their fates. And therefore shouldn't it be a magic spell?
ReplyDeleteI imagine it to be a spell somewhere between level 6 and level 8 so love Gods can have it but don't have to be associated with magic.
What do you think?
Probably not. That's a pretty shaky justification for putting the power in Magic - after all, you could say practically any power could be in Magic because it doing anything to another person "changed their Fate".
DeleteLove-related powers still probably don't belong here, and are better suited to the socials, Birthrights or possibly their own purview.
How does Warp The Weft work with Arete: Athletics? Or well, Defensive Do-overs in general. Does a person with Arete: Athletics get to increase his DV to crazy amounts under Warp The Weft?
ReplyDeleteWe allow Scions with Arete: Athletics to pay some Legend in order to add them to a DDO, so yes, if they paid for it both times, they could do a super colossal DDO with Warp the Weft up. It'd be expensive, but when Titans are punching you in the face, possibly totally worth it.
DeleteNeither Arete: Athletics nor Warp the Weft apply to a Scion's DV, though.