I was hoping to start a Percy Jackson campaign with some of my friends/family, and was wondering how to run the varied special abilities. The heroic abilities look good, but they won't work for every thing, and don't allow for as much use as I would like (only may use once per session, must flip two destiny points). Does anyone have any ideas? I also was wondering how you would run a character like Percy, who uses his ability quite a bit. I was wondering if instead you could give the powers an xp cost, and make them suffer strain to use them.
Percy Jackson
As with anytime someone asks about "super powers" (which, let's be honest, that's what demigods are: super heroes!) I always go to the Signature Spell talent. Make it ranked and each rank is a new "power" for your character. Of course, for more "always on" powers that don't require skill checks, just make some talents. If you can get your hands on the Keyforge book, Secrets of the Crucible, there's a bunch of new abilities and talents to steal from.
That being said, which option you use (specific magic or talents) depends on what you're looking for with the powers. It's been a while since I've read the books, so I'm not as up-to-snuff as I could be. If you provide specific examples it'll be easier to give concrete mechanics for you to use!
Just something like Percy's ability to control water/create a hurricane/survive underwater, Thalia's ability to summon lightning, Piper's ability to "charmspeak." I think talents would work better for most, but I'm not quite sure.
Although only those in a few countries are getting their hands on it, it looks like the Keyforge sourcebook has a species creation system that will work fine for what you're looking for. Here is an overview for how it works.
Another option, which will take a little work but has most of the particulars finalized, is to tailor the heroic ability rules from Realms of Terrinoth into inherited powers. These are more like superpowers, but do come with considerable limitations and high costs.
Last and probably easiest solution would be to build them into archetypes. Either make an archetype for each demigod, or have the players select one option out of the list to represent their heritage. Optionally, you could create some talents that either upgrade or work with this ability; you could either make these generic and only expand on the base ability (extend duration, increase strength, reduce difficulty, etc.), or you could make one or more for each deity, with prerequisites that only that deity's offspring can take the talent.
1 hour ago, Bobafett17 said:something like Percy's ability to control water/create a hurricane/survive underwater
Control water sounds like a focused form of telekinesis. Which I would say is a –5 XP ability. Underwater survival is –10 XP (amphibious, CRB193).
Creating a hurricane could be the Conjure spell with a limit on water-based things, or the Attack spell if it's used to deal damage.
1 hour ago, Bobafett17 said:Thalia's ability to summon lightning
Attack spell with the Lightning additional effect. So my suggestion for a modified Signature Spell talent feels right.
1 hour ago, Bobafett17 said:Piper's ability to "charmspeak."
Super high Charm skill? Knack for It (Charm)? An ability that adds some boost dice or upgrades to social checks?
Charmspeak, as I would design it, would be more the the influence power from Star Wars (opposed discipline, or in this case, maybe charm vs. discipline to convince the target of one fact). I think there was a cost for this in the CRB, but I'm not sure. I also like the idea of being to boost it with talents. Signature spell does look like it will work for most. I think taking strain to use the talents would be thematically fitting.
Edited by Bobafett1742 minutes ago, Bobafett17 said:Charmspeak, as I would design it, would be more the the influence power from Star Wars (opposed discipline, or in this case, maybe charm vs. discipline to convince the target of one fact). I think there was a cost for this in the CRB, but I'm not sure. I also like the idea of being to boost it with talents. Signature spell does look like it will work for most. I think taking strain to use the talents would be thematically fitting.
Mindshaper from the psionic species?
QuoteMind Shaper: As an action, a psionic may make an opposed Discipline versus Vigilance check targeting one living creature within medium range. If the check succeeds, the psionic may cause the target to adopt an emotional state of the psionic’s choice for the next minute (or one round of structured time). [AD] or [TR] may be spent to increase the duration by one round (and may be spent multiple times). However, if the check fails or generates [TH][TH][TH] or [DE], the target realizes their emotions are being manipulated.
Yes
Does anyone know where I could find a graphic/template for creating archetypes?
Edited by Bobafett1720 hours ago, Bobafett17 said:Does anyone know where I could find a graphic for creating archetypes?
What do you mean by "a graphic"? I don't understand the question.
First Draft of Archetypes:
First Draft of Zeus-Child Tree:
Any suggestions/comments/objections?
First thing that jumps to mind is never give ranks in talents to your archetypes . It messes with the talent pyramid is wonky and bad ways. I go over this (and much more) in Archetypal Species , my Foundry doc about making your own stuff.
Second thing I notice is your Starting XP (for those archetypes you have it on) are wrong. Zeus should be 105 starting XP and Poseidon should only have 95 starting XP.
And it seems you're following in the (bad) footsteps of SWRPG Force powers. Please don't do that, there's a reason things are more simple and easier (with less of an XP tax) in Genesys. Please assume SWRPG doesn't exist, because so many bad design decisions have been corrected in Genesys.
What part of the SWRPG force powers did you mean? I don't understand if your referring to the actual force power I adapted (Move) or the structure of the tree itself. If you think I should reorganize the tree under the Genesys talent system, I would be happy to do that. However, I don't see why the power itself is so bad. I will correct the xp values, thank you for the advice. Please don't take offense from this post, I'm just trying to find out which part you disagree with.
Edited by Bobafett17
4 hours ago, Bobafett17 said:What part of the SWRPG force powers did you mean? I don't understand if your referring to the actual force power I adapted (Move) or the structure of the tree itself. If you think I should reorganize the tree under the Genesys talent system, I would be happy to do that. However, I don't see why the power itself is so bad. I will correct the xp values, thank you for the advice. Please don't take offense from this post, I'm just trying to find out which part you disagree with.
I mean that the power tree itself is a bad structure. It taxes players XP for things that shouldn't cost XP. Take a look at the magic system, you'll see that there are no trees to be seen. It's all about your character's skill level and what they're willing to add to the difficulty.
You're still thinking in SWRPG terms. This is Genesys, things work very differently.
Characters don't get magnitude or strength upgrades, there's a base effect, and anything else you want to add to it increases the difficulty. Range, targets, etc all increase the difficulty, they don't require more strain or additional purchases of talents.
Also, your Poseidon has a talent that gives ranks in other talents…and either you meant to say Rapid Reaction or you're, again, using SWRPG things, because Rapid Recovery doesn't exist. And if you want to do a mod for SWRPG that's fine, but this is the Genesys boards. We critique things in the way they work using the Genesys rules set.
Ok, for the talents, I am using the Genesys Talents Expanded document by TheSapient to supplement the talents in the CRB. I may insert some SWRPG talents into the talent sheets, but that is to allow for diversity between characters and archetypes. I don't see the problem with adapting things from SWRPG to use in Genesys.
As for the force powers, I redid them to allow them to work more like the Genesys spells:
16 hours ago, Bobafett17 said:Ok, for the talents, I am using the Genesys Talents Expanded document by TheSapient to supplement the talents in the CRB. I may insert some SWRPG talents into the talent sheets, but that is to allow for diversity between characters and archetypes. I don't see the problem with adapting things from SWRPG to use in Genesys.
That doc is…well, there's no polite way to say it: it's bad. It's full of homebrew talents that have no concept of balance nor any idea of how Genesys is different than SWRPG. And a fair number of the SWRPG talents have been condensed into a singular talent in Genesys.
For instance, SWRPG has a host of talents that basically say, "remove one setback per rank to [specific skill check] in [specific circumstance]." Which, in Genesys, is replaced by the Knack for It talent. Or the plethora of "add +1 damage to [combat skill] attacks per rank" is replaced by Lucky Strike.
As a rules guy, the lack of balance and scattershot nature of that doc just makes me cringe.