I'm happy right now! I finally finished the Arcanist class for Ironcarnum. That thing's been sitting unfinished for forever.
The class seems fairly full on abilities, but actually they are all just special interfaces with the existing Ironcarnum system. This is intentional, because having a class full of unique magical abilities sort of defeats the philosophy behind Ironcarnum in the first place (that is, putting magic in the hands of anyone who wants it). However, the Arcanist is clearly the undisputed master of magic, with all the bonuses he gets.
I'm a little worried that the class is a bit full, but the low BAB and BDB should help balance things. Ooh, I just remembered that I need to actually specify his Hit Dice as well, duh.
Basically, the Arcanist just gets lots of fuel to power the spells he learns with his feats. Free Focus tokens, reduction in Focus Option costs, and the ability to exceed Focus limits all let him flex his arcane muscles harder than the average magic user, and really put the Focus subsystem to good use, which was the intention. To promote flexibility and greater system use, he also has the ability to Wildcard some Arcane feats, similar to the Man-at-Arms, so that he can always pull out the spell that he needs. If I end up needing to cut back on something this'll be the first to get dropped, I think.
Friday, October 19, 2007
The Arcanist!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Ironcarnum Introduction
Before I really get into posting the first of the TS:IE (True Sorcery: Ironcarnum Edition) conversions, I thought I'd explain a bit more about the mechanics of Ironcarnum. That way you're not totally in the dark about what the hell I'm doing. I'll put up some of the history of Ironcarnum later, but that would bloat this post beyond belief, so it gets skipped for now.
Ironcarnum is a feat-based magic system, because I love the structure presented by Iron Heroes' Mastery system. Feats are also a non-class based resource that everyone has access to, so the system is accessible to dabblers. Essentially, one feat gives you one spell.
I found early on that this doesn't give enough complexity or control for a full magic system, though, so I added an additional layer in the form of Focus tokens. You gain these from either taking Magic Lore feats or levels in the Arcanist class. These are spent on Focus Options, which most Ironcarnum feats have. Typically, Focus Options provide the sort of mundane scaling that would be a waste to blow an actual feat on, but are necessary for a fully-fleshed out system.
Ironcarnum spells, as much as possible, tie into the existing rules structures rather than inventing new ones. Rather than have a caster level stat, you use BAB (after all, that one number already covers your skill with rapiers, greataxes, and longbows, so why not fireballs?). Rather than have spells use standard actions (and thus have to scale funny to remain viable against the option of full-attacks), let them use attack actions, or be constant so no action is required at all. Attack spells are nothing more than exotic weapons, and their stats are balanced as such; they also use a plain attack roll against a save. This strategy gives an enormous return on investment, because you then get to harness all the existing rules to enrich and complexify your system without having to invent them yourself or have the users of the system memorize entirely new rules. Spell Focus? Try Weapon Focus. Empower Spell? Weapon Specialization. Quicken Spell? Use Two-Weapon Fighting. These little gems pop up without even trying in Ironcarnum, and that's a sign of good rules.
Again, the whole system can be perused from the link on the right. It's a well-organized wiki, so you're never presented more than you can easily digest at once. Take a few bites!
