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Tomas
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Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Sun 05 Feb 2023, 12:15

Hi!

Please use this thread to post feedback and report any typos or errors in Chapter 2 of the version 3 Beta PDF of the Dragonbane Rulebook. Guidelines to remember:
  • Before reporting an error, please check and see if it already has been reported, and if so, don't report it again.
  • If you feedbacked on something in the the first version of the BETA but it's not changed in the version two of the BETA, it's not because we missed it - it's because we made a different assessment. (Typos are a different thing.)
Please report your feedback no later than February 28.
Thank you!
Fria Ligan
 
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Short Fey
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Sun 05 Feb 2023, 15:32

I really like the change of "Motivation" to "Weakness".

Something both me and my players noticed both during character creation and roleplay was that it was hard to lean into what a motivation was and how to actually act it out during the session.
Weakness comes across much more clearly and you can easily figure out when you can lean into it for roleplay. I also like the idea that you can overcome your weakness for an extra bonus, but that you get a new one later.
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Fenhorn
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Sun 05 Feb 2023, 16:34

p.13 say "five of your trained starting skills .." - it should be six.
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Tomas
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Sun 05 Feb 2023, 16:42

I really like the change of "Motivation" to "Weakness".

Something both me and my players noticed both during character creation and roleplay was that it was hard to lean into what a motivation was and how to actually act it out during the session.
Weakness comes across much more clearly and you can easily figure out when you can lean into it for roleplay. I also like the idea that you can overcome your weakness for an extra bonus, but that you get a new one later.
Glad you like it!
Fria Ligan
 
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Kaybe
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Sun 05 Feb 2023, 17:33

Page 29 - Heroic Abilities: I have a concern here in that poor advancement rolls not only punishes those with poor luck by slowing down skill gain, but also prevents heroes from acquiring new abilities because they can't get a skill to 18. I feel rules for the acquisition of heroic abilities should be independent of skill advancement checks.

Also, recommend maybe giving examples of grand heroic deeds, but perhaps there are specific examples in adventures that can help here.

Another possible optional rule, which would favor a focus on one's profession, might be to tie heroic abilities to triggers within those professions. So a thief, doing epic thief things, could help get heroic abilities faster.

All in all, the changes in beta 3 make it much harder to gain new heroic abilities. Or heavily slants gaining new ones towards the end of a campaign. Perhaps there was some feedback previously that too many heroic abilities created an imbalance? Not entirely sure if that's a concern since all these abilities cost WP.
 
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Short Fey
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Sun 05 Feb 2023, 17:46

Page 29 - Heroic Abilities: I have a concern here in that poor advancement rolls not only punishes those with poor luck by slowing down skill gain, but also prevents heroes from acquiring new abilities because they can't get a skill to 18. I feel rules for the acquisition of heroic abilities should be independent of skill advancement checks.

Also, recommend maybe giving examples of grand heroic deeds, but perhaps there are specific examples in adventures that can help here.

Another possible optional rule, which would favor a focus on one's profession, might be to tie heroic abilities to triggers within those professions. So a thief, doing epic thief things, could help get heroic abilities faster.

All in all, the changes in beta 3 make it much harder to gain new heroic abilities. Or heavily slants gaining new ones towards the end of a campaign. Perhaps there was some feedback previously that too many heroic abilities created an imbalance? Not entirely sure if that's a concern since all these abilities cost WP.
Personally i am pretty okay with the changes. As i was gming i noticed players could grow particularly quickly in skills, so slowing down the pace i think was a good idea.
As for heroic abilities, it is up to the gm to decide when the players do a "Grand heroic deed". Considering it is written (page 29) "This should be a rare event, never more than once per standard-length adventure." it still leave some leeway to how often you can do it.

For example the party recives an quest to venture to a nearby troll cave and deal with the troll that keeps raiding the town's stables, they venture foruth and someway somehow stop the troll from doing it again, they can get an heroic ability. Then they hear of a evil wizard doing some wicked magic in his tower in the mountains, so they venture fourth, and someway somehow put a stop that, and they can get another heroic ability.

I think the intention is that you shouldn't get TOO many heroic abilities, but there isn't anything really stopping the gm from handing them out if they think the players have earned it.
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Sun 05 Feb 2023, 17:49

Regarding the NPC box on page 33. Overall i like this change, but the one thing i would like to add to it would be this:

"When rolling for an NPC against an unlisted skill, the GM uses a default skill level of 5. And if the NPC needs to make a roll in an Attribute, the GM uses a Default Attribute value of 9"

This covers the inevitable question of "If they must roll STR or WILL what do i roll?".

Edit: Forgot about Damage Bonuses regarding STR. Perhaps add "If they have a damage bonus die, their attribute is a 13 if they have a d4, 17 if they have a d6."
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zcthu3
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Sun 05 Feb 2023, 20:26

Edit: Forgot about Damage Bonuses regarding STR. Perhaps add "If they have a damage bonus die, their attribute is a 13 if they have a d4, 17 if they have a d6."
Agree this is better, and your suggestion goes part of the way. You can also have higher WILL (which will show up in higher WP) and CON (higher HP), so it’s not just STR and AGL that can be above the average and which may be important (e.g. CON is used for resisting poison), e.g. a guard has a damage bonus of STR +d4 so must have min STR 13, and 12 HP and no Robust HA so must have a CON of 12. All other attributes should default for a guard.

(I also note that higher attributes may have higher base chances, but it’s probably not worth the extra complexity given you can list skills).
 
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Garmr
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Mon 06 Feb 2023, 16:43

Hello!
This is more of a suggestion than anything else, but I feel like some of the kin abilities could benefit from being phrased in a way that made them less combat-centric, in that it would communicate better that this is not just a game centered around combat before everything else.
I'm thinking in particular about the Dwarves ability, which could maybe be rephrased to not be just about damage and game mechanics, but also about other slights and offenses they may have done. Similarly the halfling ability could perhaps also include wiggling free of restraints or through tight passages.
 
KiraTsunayoshi
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Re: Dragonbane Beta v3 Rulebook Feedback - Chapter 2 Your Character

Mon 06 Feb 2023, 17:34

Magic schools are now Heroic Abilities (Chapter 3 "Magic School'). Chapter 2 p.26 states:

Mages: If you play a mage, you don’t get any heroic ability
at the start of the game – your magic will make up for that
disadvantage! You can earn new heroic abilities during
play just like other professions, however.

Which is now incorrect since Mages do get an HA, it is just automatically 'Magical School' for their chosen school of magic.

p.19 (Mage Profession description) also states similar, which is incorrect as per above.

"Recommended Heroic Abilities: As a mage, you
don’t get a starting heroic ability. Instead, you get
your magic."

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