Level Up (A5E) Martial Artistry (3pp book in the works) Ideas and Concepts

Steampunkette

Rules Tinkerer and Freelance Writer
Supporter
weird, because it's right here in my copy of the AG...
View attachment 344187

oh, so like a kriegsmesser or something. neat.
I'll be honest about a kinda sad thing...

I haven't opened my AG since, like, July of last year. I -just- use A5e.Tools, these days. >.>

So. Taking Spiked Chain off my list!

But yeah... Finessable Variety for style more than anything. Honestly, Dexterity is -kinda- too strong in A5e just like it is in 5e. So I wanna do some more fun stuff for Str based characters to play with. Particularly with Versatility. I'm kind of sad that there's no "Versatile Fighting Style" that grants benefits based on whether you've got a versatile weapon in one hands or both hands...
 

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I'll be honest about a kinda sad thing...

I haven't opened my AG since, like, July of last year. I -just- use A5e.Tools, these days. >.>
see, that's really funny, because i'm kind of the opposite - i almost always have the AG just open in a tab no matter what i'm doing. no particular reason why other then i like sifting through it at random sometimes.
 

Steampunkette

Rules Tinkerer and Freelance Writer
Supporter
see, that's really funny, because i'm kind of the opposite - i almost always have the AG just open in a tab no matter what i'm doing. no particular reason why other then i like sifting through it at random sometimes.
Foxit won't auto-open after a blue screen or brownout. But Firefox does!
 

Steampunkette

Rules Tinkerer and Freelance Writer
Supporter
image.png

Warcaster looks to be shaping up nicely...
 


Steampunkette

Rules Tinkerer and Freelance Writer
Supporter
Key notes added to Mass Combat:

1) Added Minions as a monster template, particularly common in the battlefield as dungeon scenarios.
2) Combat Maneuvers targeting Minions target an additional Minion per degree of the maneuver.
3) Marshals can use their commanding options for units they control.
4) Players provide class-based bonus to unit they command.
5) Units "Unlock" Battlefield dungeon "Rooms". Your unit has to punch through enemy group X before you can capture the Flag.
6) Traps at battle scale affecting different units or not. Pike walls hurt Cavalry but not Infantry, for example.
 

5) Units "Unlock" Battlefield dungeon "Rooms". Your unit has to punch through enemy group X before you can capture the Flag.
does this mean the goal of defensive mass combats would be to stop the enemy from "unlocking" battlefield "rooms", forcing you into an encounter if you fail? or will defensive mass combats work differently?
 

Steampunkette

Rules Tinkerer and Freelance Writer
Supporter
does this mean the goal of defensive mass combats would be to stop the enemy from "unlocking" battlefield "rooms", forcing you into an encounter if you fail? or will defensive mass combats work differently?
There's no "Defensive" mass combat dungeon. Like the story can be about a castle defense, but the system doesn't change.

Let's say you're protecting a castle. You're on the Ramparts with your forces and fighting against the enemy units that are trying to get up the wall. Your wall units defeat the attacking unit and thus "Unlock the Room" that is the sub-boss encounter where you fight that unit's commander on the ramparts while also fighting his minions.

Or you could "Unlock the Room" where you move on to the fight against a unit of Ogres at the gates once the wall is safe and no longer needs your immediate attention.

Essentially the battle is a flow-chart of events your narrator creates. The idea of having units "Unlock" follow up encounters is just an option added to the narrator's toolbox that specifically keys off the mass combat system.

Like having a door or a trap or a wall you have to fly/climb/whatever.
 

Steampunkette

Rules Tinkerer and Freelance Writer
Supporter
Alright... time to start putting down words...

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Oh... huh. Something got smudged out on the page, there... I wonder what that could be...
 

Steampunkette

Rules Tinkerer and Freelance Writer
Supporter
As I look over my minion rules using both Grunts and the Horde... I'm struck by how useful this is not only for mass combat, but for high drama low-effort encounters a narrator can drop onto the players.

I mean that both in the sense that player characters don't need to expend a ton of resources to fight minions, but also because they're so -easy- for a narrator to drop into a fight and not bother to keep track of their HP. Because they drop in one hit, they're -very- streamlined in a "Conservation of Ninja" sort of way.

Take, for example, a party of PCs traveling by airship. They take a detour the narrator hadn't planned for. Instead of heading to the village at the bottom of the mountain that is all stated out with a series of encounters planned, they head for the peak. The narrator, in a blind panic, now has to generate what all is on the mountain from scratch. And as a delaying tactic throws the party into an encounter.

A Harpy encounter. With minion harpies.

The harpies want to destroy the airship's engines, envelope, or steering. So they swarm the ship in waves of easily dispatched minions each with 1hp. In an instant, the players have a significant threat (Falling, Flying enemies) that they can fight with ease (making them feel strong) and which require minimal effort for the narrator to actually -run- as monsters (no HP tracking) while rolling up some more random encounters, treasures, and making up a story to weave them together behind the screen.

Maybe add in one or two -actual- harpies that now feel more like mini-bosses compared to their easily-defeated grunt allies.

And the waves last until the players start getting bored of fighting harpies, or the mountain detour is prepared.
 

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