Ruins of Khazan - A Rumbles RPG - Sign Up/System Test

[Sharpandpointies]

And now that mob is right in range for Kinu to grabby hands them, poor mook

*Expecting shockwaves, Krys quickly leaves area*

[MrSandman]

Still work shopping my techs, but just for some clarification.

From what I read on the changes since the first time I created a character, I have 6 mundane tech slots to fill, along with an 2 honed and one Epic. Is that 9 in total that need to be created?

[MrSandman]

Gonna spitball out a bunch of tech ideas and then workshop em a bit, so they may start out a bit undercooked but that will change.

Essentially game wise, Enna will play like a support in the trappings of a rogue. She's all about being sneaky and misdirecting, but less about combat and more about supporting others....So her kit will focus a lot on healing, providing protection and misdirecting enemies or avoiding combat. (And being a good sneaky scout)

Tech Ideas
Emitter Flash
Focuses extra energy into her light emitters, spiking her bodys illumination and generating a blinding flash of heat and light. Blinds everything looking directly at her and may/may not deal incendiary damage to targets close by. (Might be a cadidate for her epic tech)

Medic Template
HP Healing Tech, but I'm still ironing the details. Want something that essentially loads into Enna like an application(Perhaps a persistent technique) that roughly allows her to perform triage using light generated tools. On the fence about if an out of combat healing effect is something this game would need....or if just using it as a directed heal would suffice.

Object Database
Essentially a tech that allows Enna to scan objects she can get ahold of and add them to a database so can reproduce with her projector(Think weapons, handheld objects, keys, etc). Anything created would operate as an extension of her projected body and basically just be a solid copy made out of light.

Light Wall
Tech that generates physical barriers. Would be separate from her body, and thus would likely count as a persistent technique. In application it generates cover that can be tailor suited to the situation. (A brick wall, a glass screen, A door, a reflective barrier). The barrier would be indistinguishable visually from its counterpart, and have a set HP it can block before being dispelled. As with all projections, line of sight is still required.

Disguise
Loads another template skin for her projected body, based on something close by. (ENR cost would be in the template switch, and would require the same cost to switch back to her default)

[Nik Hasta]

Still work shopping my techs, but just for some clarification.

From what I read on the changes since the first time I created a character, I have 6 mundane tech slots to fill, along with an 2 honed and one Epic. Is that 9 in total that need to be created?

Yes and no, as noted in the various guides, Mundane Slots can be used for low level Techniques or combined to make higher level Techniques within an Affinity Type.

Your current Affinity Allocation is:

Affinity Allocation

Free Slots: 6 Mundane Slots

Body: 0 Slots
Spirit: 2 Honed Slots, 1 Epic Slot
Mind: 0 Slots

So you have six slots to put in any Affinity Area or combine them to make a higher level slot, combinations work on the basis of 2 Lower become 1 higher (Example: 2 Mundane => 1 Honed) so there's a fair amount of flexibility to be had.

Tech Ideas
Emitter Flash
Focuses extra energy into her light emitters, spiking her bodys illumination and generating a blinding flash of heat and light. Blinds everything looking directly at her and may/may not deal incendiary damage to targets close by. (Might be a cadidate for her epic tech)

This... hmmm... you could either bodge this with Disinterest but if the aim is to blind people so they can't see anything, it might just be simpler for me to codify Blindness under Mind Effects.

Let me come back to this one once I've codified Blindness as an effect under Mind.

Medic Template
HP Healing Tech, but I'm still ironing the details. Want something that essentially loads into Enna like an application(Perhaps a persistent technique) that roughly allows her to perform triage using light generated tools. On the fence about if an out of combat healing effect is something this game would need....or if just using it as a directed heal would suffice.

Guidance pertaining to healing and restoration techniques from the Technique Guide is as follows:

HEALING AND ENERGY RESTORATION
Healing and Energy Restoration techniques can be created and will operate on the following logic. They must be derived from the PRE stat.

HP and Latent ENR
HP and Latent ENR will be restored on the basis of 1/2 the stat boost provided to the Technique.

Example: Base PRE stat: 40 + 40 (Honed Technique) = 40 HP restored.

Mastered ENR
Mastered ENR will be restored with the full strength of the Technique. If restoring your own Mastered ENR, then you will still have to pay the associated ENR costs for the Technique which will be subtracted from your net recovery:

Example, cast on an ally: Base PRE stat: 40 + 40 (Honed Technique) = 80 Mastered ENR restored.

Example, case on self: Base PRE stat: 40 + 40 (Honed Technique)/2 - 25 ENR to cast = 55 Mastered ENR restored.

A Persistent Healing Technique... hmm... as in you can take healing actions on your turn. So that would work on the logic of converting your Basic ATK Action into a healing "attack," so you would be able to "attack" your allies and heal their HP for your (PRE DMG + Tech Modifier)/2.

Sound reasonable?

Object Database
Essentially a tech that allows Enna to scan objects she can get ahold of and add them to a database so can reproduce with her projector(Think weapons, handheld objects, keys, etc). Anything created would operate as an extension of her projected body and basically just be a solid copy made out of light.

Kind of depends on what kind of stuff you want to make, this is a very broad Technique. Off the cuff, it would mostly be covered by PRE and checks would be made on that basis.

Light Wall
Tech that generates physical barriers. Would be separate from her body, and thus would likely count as a persistent technique. In application it generates cover that can be tailor suited to the situation. (A brick wall, a glass screen, A door, a reflective barrier). The barrier would be indistinguishable visually from its counterpart, and have a set HP it can block before being dispelled. As with all projections, line of sight is still required.

This would be a DUR Technique. I'm actually thinking that, because the wall is separate from Enna and not actively amping her defences, and she's not actively maintaining or repairing it; she can just spit it out and it can on the field without the need for it to be a Persistent Technique. Limits of the dimensions she can create would need to be defined, which would depend on what level of Technique you would apply to this (Mundane, Honed, Epic).

As far as the wall's staying power. We would work it that the wall has a DUR score of (Enna's DUR + Technique Modifier) and any DMG from attacks made against it will subtract from that DUR score until it reaches zero and crumbles.

Disguise
Loads another template skin for her projected body, based on something close by. (ENR cost would be in the template switch, and would require the same cost to switch back to her default)

CHR self buff, I'm afraid it would need to be Persistent if you want to maintain the disguise for a long period and that might be necessary because otherwise you would be trying to contest opponents' Insight with your base level 10 CHR which would be... y'know... extremely hard to win at.

Or you could reallocate stats to make her have better CHR.

[Nik Hasta]

Codified Blindness under Mind Effects:

BLINDNESS
Effects the target's hit stats, movement and ability to perform certain kinds of Techniques.

Mundane: Blurring - Target's HIT stat is reduced by 25% for the duration of this effect. Mind and all AoE attacks are not effected.

Honed: Field Reduction - Target's HIT stat is reduced by 50% and single-target ranged attacks can no longer hit for the duration of this effect. Mind and all AoE attacks are not effected.

Epic: Total Darkness - Target's HIT stat is reduced by 75%, single-target ranged attacks can no longer hit and all Body-based Chain Technique Effects are no longer possible to execute with the exception of Thunderclap and Crater. Mind and all AoE attacks are not effected.

So yeah, Sandy, you'd be looking at an AoE Mind Technique for your blinding flash.

[Sharpandpointies]

This... hmmm... you could either bodge this with Disinterest but if the aim is to blind people so they can't see anything, it might just be simpler for me to codify Blindness under Mind Effects.

Let me come back to this one once I've codified Blindness as an effect under Mind.

Good move. Having status effects like 'Blindness' is pretty standard, surprised we all missed this one until now!

This would be a DUR Technique. I'm actually thinking that, because the wall is separate from Enna and not actively amping her defences, and she's not actively maintaining or repairing it; she can just spit it out and it can on the field without the need for it to be a Persistent Technique. Limits of the dimensions she can create would need to be defined, which would depend on what level of Technique you would apply to this (Mundane, Honed, Epic).

As far as the wall's staying power. We would work it that the wall has a DUR score of (Enna's DUR + Technique Modifier) and any DMG from attacks made against it will subtract from that DUR score until it reaches zero and crumbles.

Sounds like a good fix.

Mutants and Masterminds has stuff like 'Sustained' powers that take a free action to continue every round (ie, cannot be continued by someone who gets stunned because stunned people lose all actions) or 'maintained' powers that take a move or standard action to keep up. But they also have a modifier named 'Independent' that can be added to a power - if this is done, the effect of the power (a wall, for example) becomes independent from the character who created it; it no longer needs to be maintained in any way, but loses one 'power point' every round, slowly diminishing in oomph, until it's completely gone.

But for an object whose main purpose is 'durability', having it slowly get chipped away to nothing is a good fix. It's kind of like 'wall of ice' in old-school D&D - it had no 'duration', just 'sticks around until someone busts it completely or it melts'.

Codified Blindness under Mind Effects:

Looks great! My one thought is that it does nothing against the blinded person's defence.

I know that would be somewhat overpowered, so perhaps blindness could be more easily resisted. Or the effects reduced. But I feel a blind person who doesn't have a trait saying 'I don't require eyes to see' should have some reduction to their defence.

As an example, in Anima the penalty for blindness is rather huge. The game gets around it by making it difficult to MAKE people blind - one needs a specific spell, psy-power, or a Ki Technique for which 'Blindness' costs a bundle more than other status effects. Also, there are numerous ways around the penalty for blindness - high notice rolls can reduce the penalty, and supernatural senses (of which there are a ton of different kinds) can reduce or even eliminate the penalty. In Mutants and Masterminds, you can blind someone but if they have an 'Accurate' sense that can reach further than their body (and this is easy to get), it completely offsets the COMBAT effects of blindness (it doesn't, for example, obviate the fact that you can no longer read or make out colours - you've still lost that sense). Hence, M&M has powers set up to purchase the ability to 'blind' other senses as well (it's called a 'Dazzle' power, and Dazzle can be set up to attack any sense, or multiple ones at the same time, for varying costs - a weather controller using a massive amount of lightning and thunder could set up a visual AND auditory Dazzle effect, if they were willing to pay for it).

Perhaps for this game Blindness can also cause penalties to defence, but there are ways around some of the overall blindness penalties. High notice, or techniques that stat in their descriptor that they are targeting opponents in a different fashion than the use of visual sight, or....

[Nik Hasta]

Playtest 01 for the Mob Generator is now complete.

Generator and current calibration seems alright for generic mobs (as in no specialisation or type definition, just some random boys). This felt like it went a bit long for some mobs, so I have tweaked the HP formula for Generic Mobs so they have less HP than a PC with the same stats. Next step will be a larger team with specialisations in play to see how that effects the experience and how pressurised I can make the team feel.

I also might overhaul how Grapple works because it feels a bit convoluted and I think I can make it a bit snappy and more flexible. Might also tweak how Chain Combos work and might add a bonus of some kind for attacking a prone enemy.

Also, a small thing I spotted, grampagen Kinu's Technique Suplex City has too many Spirit Effects for its slot allocation. You'd need to upgrade the Spirit Slot to Epic to have both Blunt and Disrupt or to Honed for one of them and adjust the point allocations as outlined in the Multi-Slot Technique guide. Let me know if you need help.

For fun, I'll put up the playtest transcript from this first attempt. Might give people some amusement, some insight into the flow of combat and other ideas. Please note, not everything that was going on here is recorded in this transcript. I have spreadsheet engines for tracking HP and ENR and Status Effects for both sides so I'm mostly only listing DMG, Actions and procced status effects in these notes.

MOB COMBAT TEST 01 - Generic Class (-15% vs AVG)

Participants: 3x Mobs, Kinu, Krys, Jane

Mob Techs:

Mundane STR - Grapple
Mundane SPD - Sweep
Mundane DUR - No effect

Initiative Order
Krys
Jane
Mob 1
Mob 2
Mob 3
Kinu

Setup: Teams are 50 feet apart and squared up, Avengers style.

ROUND 01

Krys Turn 01
Assumes Stack (PRE/RES/AGI/SPD)
Moves 50 feet toward Mob 1
Technique Attacks Mob 1 with Many Roads for 28 DMG, Dizzy Inflicted
Basic Attacks Mob 1 for 8 DMG
Buffs self with Distance Is Factual for +13 SPD for 4 turns

Jane Turn 01
Assumes Stack (PRE/SKI)
Activates Hunter Killer +25 SKI Persistent
Attacks All Mobs with Doom Artillery for 38 DMG and Lacerate Inflicted
Basic Attacks Mob 2 for 28 DMG
Readies a Considered ATK on Mob 2

Mob 1 Turn 01
Assumes Stack (STR/DUR)
Burns 15 ENR to cure Lacerate
Attempts Grapple on Krys, Krys RAC point burnt and Perfect Counter for 8 DMG
Ends turn because Dizzy removes Basic ATK action. Dizzy ends.

Mob 2 Turn 01
Assumes Stack (STR/SPD)
Burns 15 ENR to cure Lacerate
Attempts Sweep on Krys, Krys RAC point burnt and Perfect Counter attempted. Mob 2 passes RAC check and burns RAC Point 32 ENR for Dodge.
Basic ATKs Krys. Krys RAC point burnt and Heat Death is activated. Krys counter attacks for 50 DMG.

Mob 3 Turn 01
Assumes Stack (STR/SPD)
Burns 15 ENR to cure Lacerate
Rushes Jane and attempts Grapple. Jane RAC point burnt and Perfect Counter for 23 DMG
Basic ATKs Kinu, she does not care for 0 DMG.

Kinu Turn 01
Assumes Stack (PRE)
Uses SPEAR!!! On Mob 3 for 33 DMG on first hit, follow through imperfectly countered but doesn’t care (0 DMG) but Mob 3 resists the Charge Effect.
Basic ATKs Mob 3 for 13 DMG.

ROUND 02

Krys Turn 02
Releases Stack on RES/AGI keeps on PRE/SPD
Releases Heat Death as RAC have refreshed.
Basic ATKs Mob 1 for 0 DMG
Attacks Mob 1 with Many Roads for 16 DMG and inflicts Dizzy
Ends turn because why not

Jane Turn 02
Considered Shot cancelled due to ATK made on her.
Adjusts Stack to PRE/SPD and moves 100 feet away from action.
Uses Mark of Death on Mob 2 for 58 DMG and inflicts Dizzy
Attacks Mob 2 with Basic ATK action x2 for total 56 DMG and drops him.
Uses Death Blossom on Mob 3 for 38 DMG and inflicts Blunt

Mob 01
Uses DUR buff for +20 DUR, ends turn.

Mob 03
Attempts to Grapple Kinu, she takes 1 DMG and breaks the Grapple.
Basic ATKs Kinu, she cares even less for 0 DMG

Kinu
Adjusts Stack to STR
Uses Suplex City on Mob 3 for 43 DMG and inflicts Surge and Crater
Basic ATKs Mob 3 for 15 DMG

ROUND 03

Krys Turn 03
Releases Stack on SPD
Moving 50 feet back toward Kinu, Basic ATKs Mob 3 for 8 DMG and drops him.

Mob 1 Turn 03
Moves 20 feet closer to Kinu
Buffs DUR for +20
Dizzy prevents further action.

Jane Turn 03
Releases Stack on SPD
Shoots Mob 1 with Mark of Death for 24 DMG
Basic ATKs twice for 0 DMG

Kinu Turn 03
Takes no action to get +30 ENR next turn

ROUND 04

Krys Turn 04
Sick of this dude, Krys uses Permanence Is A Lie, hitting for 34 DMG and then a further 20 DMG from Rupture being inflicted.
Ends turn

Mob 1 Turn 04
Attempts to Grapple Kinu, she dodges for 8 ENR
Takes 5 DMG from Rupture
Morale breaks and he flees

Will press on with the other test today and tomorrow.

[Nik Hasta]

But for an object whose main purpose is 'durability', having it slowly get chipped away to nothing is a good fix. It's kind of like 'wall of ice' in old-school D&D - it had no 'duration', just 'sticks around until someone busts it completely or it melts'.

Yeah, to avoid over-engineering (and making more changes that prompt more character changes lol) I am keeping it simple.

Looks great! My one thought is that it does nothing against the blinded person's defence.

I know that would be somewhat overpowered, so perhaps blindness could be more easily resisted. Or the effects reduced. But I feel a blind person who doesn't have a trait saying 'I don't require eyes to see' should have some reduction to their defence.

As an example, in Anima the penalty for blindness is rather huge. The game gets around it by making it difficult to MAKE people blind - one needs a specific spell, psy-power, or a Ki Technique for which 'Blindness' costs a bundle more than other status effects. Also, there are numerous ways around the penalty for blindness - high notice rolls can reduce the penalty, and supernatural senses (of which there are a ton of different kinds) can reduce or even eliminate the penalty. In Mutants and Masterminds, you can blind someone but if they have an 'Accurate' sense that can reach further than their body (and this is easy to get), it completely offsets the COMBAT effects of blindness (it doesn't, for example, obviate the fact that you can no longer read or make out colours - you've still lost that sense). Hence, M&M has powers set up to purchase the ability to 'blind' other senses as well (it's called a 'Dazzle' power, and Dazzle can be set up to attack any sense, or multiple ones at the same time, for varying costs - a weather controller using a massive amount of lightning and thunder could set up a visual AND auditory Dazzle effect, if they were willing to pay for it).

Perhaps for this game Blindness can also cause penalties to defence, but there are ways around some of the overall blindness penalties. High notice, or techniques that stat in their descriptor that they are targeting opponents in a different fashion than the use of visual sight, or....

I take your point, I was mostly thinking offensively.

I'm also happy for people to Trait for Blindness Resistance stuff, as I'm sure you all expected.

In this game, Defence works a little differently, players don't so much have an "active defence" more that they have "defensive options that are governed by RAC," which allow them to take actions outside of just soaking the hit.

Hmmm... now thinking about that. I feel like I should have like a "block" option wherein choosing to block on RAC allows you to augment your defences. good news for Body people. Will need to tweak some stuff but put a pin in that.

So, the simple logic would be Blindness eliminates RAC points. Like Mundane takes 1, Honed takes 2 and Epic removes RAC entirely for the duration. However, that's insanely good and incredibly powerful.

Let me think about it some more. I don't want to make something too busted haha.

[Sharpandpointies]

Question: why does Krys get +13 speed? We had worked it out before as +19 Speed...ah, wait. You stacked RES, something I wouldn't do on that round. Got it.

[Sharpandpointies]

Some discussion from your Mob Battle.

Basic ATKs Krys. Krys RAC point burnt and Heat Death is activated. Krys counter attacks for 50 DMG.

Heee.

Ends turn because why not.

You've left a Technique action unused. On any turn where Krys has an open Technique action (and on many turns they will simply decide to do this) Krys will use All Things Are But Foam Upon The Waves.

On any turn where Krys uses no Techniques actions, she will use All Things Are But Foam Upon The Waves twice (it is a mundane technique).

[Nik Hasta]

Question: why does Krys get +13 speed? We had worked it out before as +19 Speed...ah, wait. You stacked RES, something I wouldn't do on that round. Got it.

Yeah, I was working on the basis that since Krys was taking point on offence (already somewhat out of character) and they didn't know what the mobs were capable of and erred on the side of caution by amping their defence against effects a little rather than focusing on SPD.

[Nik Hasta]

You've left a Technique action unused. On any turn where Krys has an open Technique action (and on many turns they will simply decide to do this) Krys will use All Things Are But Foam Upon The Waves.

On any turn where Krys uses no Techniques actions, she will use All Things Are But Foam Upon The Waves twice (it is a mundane technique).

At that point, they'd only used 50 ENR so I wasn't really focusing on restoration nor was I playing super optimal. In a real-play scenario, sure.

[Sharpandpointies]

Yeah, I was working on the basis that since Krys was taking point on offence (already somewhat out of character) and they didn't know what the mobs were capable of and erred on the side of caution by amping their defence against effects a little rather than focusing on SPD.

That DOES make perfect sense, and yeah, it is somewhat out of character ^_^ - however, I didn't whinge about that because in some situations Krys WILL absolutely charge in and try to get the enemy's attention.

At that point, they'd only used 50 ENR so I wasn't really focusing on restoration nor was I playing super optimal. In a real-play scenario, sure.

Also makes sense. 'Because why not' indeed.

[Sharpandpointies]

...I did enjoy 'counters for 50 damage', ha. ^_^

[Sharpandpointies]

My takeaway from this is that Jane is going to be the DPS character in the group, for sure. O_O