Armory Additions: Equipment Upgrades & Proficiencies

[GimmeYerGold]

I thought the furniture and tile guide in the armory sidebar was superfluous, so I used that space to include some rules I've been working on. Words are more fun to read when there are pictures!

Created the headband and cloak from the helmet image and chainmail, and found the hand axe image on boardgamegeek. the black and white images, are Gary Chalk's.

Some of the proficiencies are to encourage purchasing certain items, while others are for possible custom hero variations; bare-handed fighting, for instance, and for the shield proficiency, I borrowed Seb's knight character skill

Most of this is really to offer the heroes more things to blow their gold on, and to also give them a sense of advancement without making things too complicated.



Interested to know your opinions, especially with regard to prices, and balancing.

[sajungzak]

NIice work there. What font is that?
I would say to use higher pricing and less power. I like the idea in spell scroll proficiency that you have to roll for it to work. I would use that for all of them. Maybe there is a chance the blacksmith will make a mistake, or steal from the heroes altogether.
I like the equipment improvements. I would change some things about the proficiency upgrades. Shield Proficiency would be once per quest and cost at least double. Plate Mail Proficiency would cost at least double. Cloak proficiency I would scrap, probably. Is that an artifact I don't remember? Small Weapon would be a reroll, once per quest. Two Weapon must be one less die each. and be the highest cost in the game. Again, I would charge about double. Really make them work for it.

[Sjeng]

I think you did an amazing job on the card, awesome PS-ing. Love the cloak from the chainmail! I wonder how you did the headband. Does it replace the Wizard's bracers? Someone here used the bracers from the plate mail as image for the wizard's bracers.

Spell Scroll Proficiency: only white shields seems plenty. Otherwise it's 50%, kinda high.
I agree with the higher prices.

So how does improves attack and defense work exactly? You buy a second identical equipment piece, discard it and a gem, and then you may count 1 black die in the total roll as a hit?

[GimmeYerGold]

NIice work there. What font is that?

Thanks! The font is Aldine721 BT from here at the inn: http://www.yeoldeinn.com/na-design-tools.php

Cloak proficiency I would scrap, probably. Is that an artifact I don't remember?

oops! "Cloak of Evasion" was what I called the "Cloak" and just forgot to change it. Should just be "Cloak" there.

I would charge about double. Really make them work for it.

I will reconsider the prices, and powers. I do want to cut down on dice rolling,(can add up on game time after awhile!) so less rerolls is a good suggestion. I feel like the heroes amass gold so quickly. The reward for getting a higher priced power will make it more exciting in the end.

Thanks for the suggestions, sajungzak!

[GimmeYerGold]

I think you did an amazing job on the card, awesome PS-ing. Love the cloak from the chainmail!

Thanks Sjeng! The "stone-patterned" description was a shoutout to my avatar's cloak, and a way to explain how a cloak might prevent damage. (camouflage!) Also, it all works nicely to explain away my inability to do anything about that chain mail texture

I wonder how you did the headband. Does it replace the Wizard's bracers? Someone here used the bracers from the plate mail as image for the wizard's bracers.

To do the headband, I took that golden trim on the helmet and flipped it to create the other half of the gold hoop. Smudging and cloning were my best friends for this project. I wanted to choose something useable for the wizard that wouldn't need any special restrictions to NOT stack with the armor used by the other heroes (Can only be used by the Wizard, etc.) Knowing most players, the argument of why they should have bracers plus everything else WILL come up.

Spell Scroll Proficiency: only white shields seems plenty. Otherwise it's 50%, kinda high.
I agree with the higher prices.

Yep, should be less that 50%. Duplicating a spell with no setback is pretty powerful.

So how does improves attack and defense work exactly? You buy a second identical equipment piece, discard it and a gem, and then you may count 1 black die in the total roll as a hit?

Yes, that's how it works exactly. Needs to be more expensive, you think? So far I have a player with an improved broadsword, and an improved shield, 5 quests in. The value of gems and jewels have gone up because of this system--one player bought a gem for 200 gold coins from another player!

[sajungzak]

A few points concerning two weapon proficiency.

minus one CD would still allow up to 5 AD. If you subtract one for each weapon, the player is left with a really expensive battle axe.
It could only work for short sword and hand axe with no deductions so it equals the battle axe when used against a single adversary, but it would allow for attacks against 2 monster's simultaneously with 2 AD each. Hand axe would be cool here cause the elf could be smashing a goblin head with an axe in one hand while hurling the other at the orc across the room.
If you allow any single handed weapon and attacks on multiple enemies, deduct one AD for each weapon when attacking a single enemy. It would encourage more expensive weapons while still having a positive effect on weaker weapons without being OP.
If you choose to allow 5 AD I will recommend taking away body armor as well as the shield while implementing the pass-fail combat method CP has described.

[GimmeYerGold]

I took the advice here and nerfed some of the powers. Already one of my players is saving up for the "reroll" cloak proficiency, so that's a good sign.

I couldn't think of a way to break away from 5 AD on the two-weapon proficiency without it being, as you say, an overpriced battleaxe. I also want to keep the rules as simple as possible, so I'll probably stick to regular combat rules too :/

I saw you mentioned it being a two attack advantage, now would having two attacks at a one die penalty each be an incentive to you? If so, I could see that as a simple option. (if they had Orc's Bane they could attack three times total!) otherwise, I figure if a hero wants to save up for a 5 AD attack, it will cost an arm and a leg, AND if I ever get to control him with a spell, the party will suffer! hehe.

Anyway, here's my new armory, with some new additions. The "Library Spells" mentioned in the Spell Shop are all additional spells offered from the expansion packs, (plus 6 custom spells) lumped into one shuffled stack.

Did my best to balance prices, keep it simple, while keeping the offers attractive enough to be an incentive for Heroes to pursue:

[Daedalus]

The spell scroll kit appears to be a one-off cost. That allows a spell caster to convert all of his spells to scrolls, which would mean scrolls uncast after a Quest could always be conserved for future Quests. This would encourage such possibilities as accumulating multiple Rock Skin scrolls or a whole party with Pass Through Rock scrolls.

While these and other intances aren't automatically gamebreaking, they offer the potential for abuse. For that reason I'd say make Jewels a consumed cost that must be repaid each time for a scroll. To completely shut off such situations, you could instead rule that unused, created scrolls crumble to dust after a Quest.

[Big Bene]

Great work!

The spell scroll kit is an item, so it should have a fixed price like the weapons etc.
The staff looks strange, having the nails it is resting on by its side.

This would encourage such possibilities as accumulating multiple Rock Skin scrolls or a whole party with Pass Through Rock scrolls. While these and other intances aren't automatically gamebreaking, they offer the potential for abuse.

I think this would be a clever "abuse" of the rules, and it would be just right to reward the players with one easy walk-through quest. On the long run, I think they will realize it doesn't really pay out to hold back such important spells as Pass Through Rock for future use. And if it really wasn't needed and they have one in reserve in the next quest, that isn't really game-breaking. The ability to preserve spells of course tilts game balance to the players to a certain amount and should be compensated by some means, but this is the case with every new ability/weapon/item/dohiggery the heroes can get.