Pick Morphing, and give your Weapon her share, I said calmly.
He was staring at the Shotgun in so astonishnt, but he concentrated, and more Light seed to thread its way around and through the Weapon. He blinked in astonishnt.
he asked.
Morphing allows a magical Weapon to take the form of a Weapon of similar type, and the sa or smaller size.
He looked at , then back at Lady Florentine, and concentrated.
Steel and wood flowed like water. Several shotgun shells ejected into his hand, and he caught them automatically, as suddenly he was holding an equally finely crafted.45 semi-automatic pistol.
Wow. That... is really convenient. Helix looked at his Staff. Can I-?
Its a fighting thing, not a wizard thing. Warriors have to trust in their weapons, where we trust in our spells. It could be done on your Staff, but youd have to gain so Levels in a lee combat Class, and use your Staff to beat on things.
You an, like a Staff Magus? he asked brightly.
That was a new one to . I confess to not being familiar with that description?
They are warrior-mages, who like to channel spells through their weapons, and fight in close. He kind of shuddered at the thought.
Whats the Primary Stat? I had to ask.
Uh... Intelligence... he replied after a mont. I lifted an eyebrow at him. He rocked an 8 in that. Theres supposed to be an order based on Charisma, like Sorcerers! he added brightly.
Do you have anything here you can engage in lee combat with? I inquired.
His mouth opened, closed, and he stared at the incorporeal undead, who had basically stopped moving and were staring at the coming sun, faces warping in fear, horror, resignation, and maybe longing. Id have to go fight them close up?...
Maybe sothing to pursue after you get a Level or two back. I reached out to pat him on the shoulder. Rember, let it go.
He swallowed, nodded, and faced the sun, as did just about everyone still on the wall.
Sir Pellier nudged , I put my thumb to my ear again. he asked quietly.
Soone gave him fucking bad advice that was going to trap him as a Four for fifteen years, I answered quietly, and the Paladins eyes narrowed. That was literally screwing with soones future. We lured a wraith in earlier tonight, and it cut away the Level he gained. Hes going to let it go instead of forcing the energy out, so he can make a new choice on what to do, and where to go.
The Paladin was impressed.
Hes got enough Karma to get it all back, but hes finding that theres a whole lot of other things he could be doing to shore himself up... and buying them while hes a Three is a lot cheaper than doing so as a Four.
Huh. The Paladin looked at his Shotgun. he asked.
Every day that you fight with her, you can give her a share of the Karma. If youre familiar with enchanting, its the exact sa amount of power a Mage could Infuse into Her. He blinked in shock. But, you have to know what youre trying to do and grow, and you have to do it within a day of earning the Karma. So, you declare what you are trying to do, and you work towards it, day by day. If you suddenly change your mind, you lose all the Karma... so dont change your mind.
He nodded slowly. and in that sorcerers have to basically build their own spells and stuff does that differ with Power of 10?
Kind Regards,
Brandiny
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When I initially put in Masteries, it was mostly with the idea that they would replace low powered Feats. Basically, a normal Mastery Tier would be worth about half a Feat, and most Feats that scaled would be Masteries. The poster Child of this was the Weapon Focus, Weapon Spec, Greater Weapon Focus, Improved Threat, Greater Weapon Spec tree.... each is underpowered, but if you add them all up, they are pretty strong.
Then I realized that within the story, I don't have fixed Karma costs. So Masteries that simply add 1 to a skill were possible, and if I made them Competence Bonuses, all they did is substitute for a magical item.
So, 'cheap' Masteries got into the mix.
Then class abilities, and the incredible array of PrC's from 3.5e ca into play, most of which are, naturally enough, specialization in specific areas, i.e. Masteries. Borking your whole build by having to take Levels in sothing that allowed you to specialize in Magic Missiles or Exorcisms seed stupid, and the habit of PrC's giving away armor and weapon profs and additional skills, and being BETTER than the Core Classes, rubbed wrong.
So, I did away with most Prestige Classes, and their Class Abilities beca Advanced Masteries. So of the abilties were quite strong, and have pre-reqs that are onerous... but with a functional cap of Ten, I wasn't worried about breaking anything.
Advanced Masteries can cost as much as getting a new Class Level, because that is what they are... a Class Level stripped of all the other stuff, and so Class abilities are just plain worth it (a level of Warshifter is 4 Str and Con. 4 of them gets you Fast Healing, which is a 90k gp magical item ability!).
So Masteries are mutually exclusive (you can't super-spec into more than one Elental Mastery, for instance).
All of this naturally ties in to Advanced Classes, which include the Theurgic Classes (which help combine the abilities of two Classes into one), and the true Advanced Classes, which take a component of the Core Classes and focus on it entirely, such as Warlord, which focuses solely on the Marshal bonus of the lee Class, or Bombardier, which focuses on explosives as a function of the Alchemist class, and so forth.
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Will this concept work in computer gas and tabletop? Well, the problem is that both of those are usually x/level things, where you gain a Feat or special ability per level. They aren't 'Karma' abilities, where you pay the appropriate cost to acquire them... and Feats and special abilities can be ALL OVER the place in actual value, which is totally annoying. Pricing such things accordingly is too much work, so it never gets done.
On the other hand, it's totally possible and feasible to handwave it. If you want a powerful ability, pay a lot of Karma for it. If your associate just wants to Ironskull for Levels fast, he'll outstrip you in Levels... which, if you aren't earning a lot of Karma, might actually be the better way to go. Every Level is ten years more lifespan, after all...
If you are gorging at the Karmic Buffet and pay the cost early, you don't need the extra years. In short, IN REAL LIFE, Mastery Karma pricing is a thing. In gas where you are at the spigot of Karma all the ti, its not a choice at all, and seems stupid.
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1) Masteries generally scale in tiers of 5; Tiers are normally accessible at levels 1,3,5,7, and 9. Advanced Masteries generally start at 6, advancing at 7,8,9, and 10. More powerful Masteries cost more Karma to take... there is no cheaper way to get them.
The 'Eyes of Heaven' is basically the at-will power to Detect Good/Evil/Alignnt. The three Masteries on it affect the a) Range/Power/Spell Level of the ability (Tier 5 is considered a 5th Level spell being used at CL 9 at least, with a range of 360' vs 60', and can Detect any Alignnt, not just Evil), b) speed you get all the information (from 3 rounds, down to instantly at 5); and c) how easily you can maintain it (standing still and concentrating hard, to keeping it going all the ti as a free action at 5).
So, soone with the Eyes of Heaven at 5 can scan an arc in front of him 360 feet long, or all around himself for 180 feet, all the ti, and instantly know the Alignnts and approximate Levels of those people. As a 5th Level effect, it will pierce through Divination Wards of Level III or less, and if not, clearly indicate who has such a Ward, OR, who is using magical concealnt of their aura (such as borrowing that of another person) of level 4 or less.
This is a rare Mastery that modifies a spell-like Ability, not a spell, as you must have the at-will ability to Detect Evil to make it work.
2) Whoops, did that first.
3) Pigeonholing Alignnts is difficult, and I've whole chapters related to discussing them. In General...
Good people will sacrifice for other Good people, and even for innocent neutrals.
Neutral people will sacrifice for family and friends, and just don't care that much about anything else. They'll fight the big evil if it represents a threat to their own, but otherwise, it's soone else's problem. Nobody cares about global warming until their fields start to burn, etc...
Evil people will sacrifice others for their own benefit, and the more evil they are, the more people they will sacrifice, and the more easily. As long as it benefits them, the more evil they are, the more readily they will do it. Knowing Global Warming is a thing, but deriding and decrying it because it would cost you millions now, and you're perfectly able to move to a cooler place later, screw everyone else, is an Evil mindset.
Lawful people are disciplined, orderly, and like a heirarchy. They tend to follow a code and legal system, and tend to believe in it unstintingly. They will obey their superiors, expect obedience from those below them, generally think their way is the best way, and everyone should feel the sa.
Conflicts between different Lawful systems tend to get EXTRELY bloody in a magical world, because in the end, there can be only one!
Identifying as an Arican instead of a New Yorker or Manhattanite is the kind of thing Lawful societies start developing. The next logical step is a Terran, a Human, then a mber of the Federation/Galactic Empire. Only The Law matters, nothing else!
Neutral people on the Law/Chaos axis tend to respect their family first, friends and clan second, imdiate rulers/cheifs/officials third, and the rest just doesn't concern them unless it's in front of their face, and you best obey the high king. Such things are too far away and irrelevant... usually until they beco too relevant. Giving lip service to the king while continuing to do things the way they always have been is kind of what Neutrals do.
Neutrals with power vary between imposing laws and breaking those laws to do what has to be done, finding neither option sancrosanct. Whimsy and reliability are both hallmarks of Neutral Kings, often called despotic behavior. The King can overturn the King's law, after all...
Chaotic people are all about themselves and what they want. They are narccisists. They are the guy who hangs with you, but if he doesn't like the place you are going to eat, he won't go. If he doesn't like bowling, he won't go with the group there. If he can't convince soone to go to the rock concert with him, he'll still go.
It's all about him, baby.
Chaotics aren't into rules, and will break them if there are no adverse consequences for doing so (i.e. not getting caught). They can be whimsical and unreliable, but mostly, their own drives and desires are what dominate them, and they just don't care about what other people tell them to do or want them to do. They do their own thing.
Chaotics tend to follow their own habits and traditions, and hang what others think of them, unless there are adverse consequences, again. They tend to have close ties to friends and families, i.e. personal relationships, and just don't respect institutions and businesses, only people. They'll obey the king in the king's reach, and ignore him otherwise, especially if they consider him an idiot.
Chaotics place a LOT of emphasis on personal ability, as they hate having to rely on other people to do stuff. In real life, this can result in soone who knows a lot of stuff, but isn't very good at it versus a specialist... or, it can result in soone who is super-obsessive about a particular topic, to completely unreasonable levels, a fanatic about it, to the level it can affect everything they do (i.e. an emo artist, or a mad scientist).
Chaotics are about relationships, not rules. They follow the spirit of an agreent, rather than the letter of it... although they are perfectly happy to use the letter OR the spirit to weasel out of sothing not to their benefit, whereas a Lawful Person would follow the letter even if it is NOT to their benefit.
4) Sorcerers are defined by having a magical Bloodline that attunes them to one aspect of magic. They accomplish magic by force of will, personality, and attunent, demanding magic do thus and so, and so it is done. They don't actually have to know anything about magic... they have a limited number of spells/tricks and can't change them, but they have a lot of magical power they can allocate between their spells.
Wizards also have a magical bloodline, so all Wizards are also Sorcerers. However, Wizards are smart, not charismatic. They figure out how magic works, how it does what it does, what buttons to push, strings to pull, and figure out the chanics behind spells.
Wizards build their spells ahead of ti and allocate the power to them then. That gives them much less flexibility than sorcerers have... but Wizards can know a LOT more spells than any Sorcerer, aning today's magical artillery is tomorrow's stealth infiltrator is the day after's magical craftsman is the next day's Diviner is the day after's leader of a small Summoned army.
Sorcerers do a limited number of things very well every day. Wizards can do all the things, and completely reconfigure what they are very good at from day to day.
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A Magos is a Wizard/Sorcerer, with both sets of Valences, able to use both sets of spells in conjunction with one another, thus combining the versatility of the Wizard with the repeated spell power of the Sorcerer. In the Power of Ten, you beco a Magos by taking Archmage Levels, combining the power of Wizard and Sorcerer... this is also called the Arcane Theurge Class.
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A Chi-user uses the external energy of the world for combat purposes, drawing it inside themselves and using it to enhance their own ability. It builds upon ki, the basic life force of all creatures. In general, it is less flexible than magic, but more fundantal, harder to counter, and enhances its wielders more. Powerful profound martial arts are the primary outlet of Chi-users. Using Chi to deliver a swordstroke for 10d6 fire damage to a swathe of enemies 100' away repeatedly over ti is an example of what Chi-users can do under their own power.
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A Berserker is a user of Rage, which is the emotive counterpart to Ki. They are a subset of the lee Class, trading broad mastery of armor, weapons, and ntal discipline for the pure power of fury, and as such are sort of an anti-monk. Their reliance on emotion ans they lose a good part of their rage if they are Lawful, so many are Chaotic. Traditionally, berserkers are elite warriors of barbaric societies who have not evolved greater chi-usage, whose focus is trusting in their own might and power, rather than skill in weapons and armor.
Alternatively, they are elite military troops who are better at doing then thinking, trained to tap the power of their souls with valor, courage, bloodthirstiness, and similar things, to acheive the sa effect.
Rage can be exactly as magical as Ki is, but for the sa amount of power, both of them pale compared to Chi and Mana, which are higher-order energies.
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