I got an email on Friday with the second package for the Project Black Flag playtest, with class info + spellcasting.
First, there is the "luck" mechanic which I actually found quite interesting: it's kind of a consolation prize for when the character misses their attack, but it seems a good deal better than the Inspiration mechanic which it replaces. You can't acquire more than 5 (or else it resets to 1d4) so that players are forced to keep using it. You can use it to add to a roll at the rate of 1 for 1, or use 3 to reroll entirely.
Then two classes, Fighter and Wizard, which are fairly standard. I liked the "Martial Action" power, although a mechanic similar to ACKS's "Cleave" would probably be better. The notational change for magic look kind of changing for change's sake, but it is what it is. Types of magic are Circles (Arcane, Divine, "Primordial" [Druidic] and "Wyrd" [Warlock and Bard, for some reason]), the levels are Rings (not to be confused with the magical items of the same name) while the schools aren't called Spheres, but maybe they should just to make things extra confusing? A Spell of the Third Ring of the Arcane Circle in the Sphere of Evocation, or some such nonsense ;-)
They also gave some guidelines on which Circle a given spell should go into depending on its effects, but that was (I think) quite unnecessary, particularly because going by those guidelines, Flame Blade should be an Arcane spell, for example...
Quote from: Wtrmute on March 19, 2023, 05:19:20 PM
I got an email on Friday with the second package for the Project Black Flag playtest, with class info + spellcasting.
It was a lot more interesting than the first package, that's for sure. And I think putting the "gish" fighter build up-front and centre is a pay0ff to a lot of players who want that play-style to be a frontline choice rather than something cooked up backstage.
As for Bard magic being "Wyrd", that's probably a nod to the Celtic origins of the Bard archetype.
Quote from: Sex Dwarf on March 19, 2023, 07:42:19 PM
It was a lot more interesting than the first package, that's for sure. And I think putting the "gish" fighter build up-front and centre is a pay0ff to a lot of players who want that play-style to be a frontline choice rather than something cooked up backstage.
No argument there. I guess the "Champion" archetype of 5E was not a spectacular choice for the first subclass and the one in the SRD... Plus the Fighter/Mage archetype has always been popular, since the time it was first devised as the "Elf" class...
Quote from: Sex Dwarf on March 19, 2023, 07:42:19 PM
As for Bard magic being "Wyrd", that's probably a nod to the Celtic origins of the Bard archetype.
How so? As far as I understand Irish legends, the bards aren't any more of a "...material anchor that calls unnatural energies
into the world, (...) bizarre forces antithetical to natural law..." than the Druids themselves, or the
other order of Gaulish priests, the
vātēs or "ovates." At the most the satires they sung about their political enemies might be considered curses, but not particularly unnatural.