Act Cost BreakdownEffect Costs for Actions.
Distance/Range
0: Touch distance
5: 10 feet
15: 50 feet
15: Range of 100 feet.
25: Range of 1000 feet.
40: Range of 1 mile.
Effect
5: A weak effect. For example, a small flame, a mild rehabilitating or debilitating effect, a bright glow, or other minor effect of similar power.
10: A mild effect. For example, a flash of fire, a mild medicinal effect, a strong light, or other effect of similar power.
15: A moderate effect. For example: a jet of flame, a healing or draining effect, a blinding flash, or other moderate effect of similar power.
20: A forceful effect. For example: a long range fire ball, a clensing or cursing effect, a other similar power.
25: A strong effect. For example: a torrent of fire, a powerful healing or strengthening effect, a magical curse or harmful effect, or other strong effect of similar power.
40: A powerful effect. For example, a wall of fire, resurrection (with limitations), nigh uncurable deadly curses, or other powerful effects of similar power.
50: A very powerful effect. For example, a giant wave of fire, resurrection (with almost no limitations), curses and blessings which establish a permanent hold on their target, or other powerful effects of similar power.
In contrast, effects could be simply an increase to particular traits, personalities, mentalities, or physical attribute of a target or set of targets. In this case, each 1 act increases that stat, or personality trait by 1%.
Radius of Effect
0: An effect which has no radius/aura.
15: An effect which encompasses an area of 10 feet.
20: An effect which encompasses an area of 50 feet.
25: An effect which encompasses an area of 100 feet.
30: An effect which encompasses an area of 1000 feet.
40: An effect which encompasses an area of 1 mile.
Blessings and curses are powerful but temporary effects that affect a set of targets across an entire district when used. Blessings cost 10 plus the effect cost. For example, one could case a 10+40 act blessing that increases your soldiers strength by 40% before a battle, this would affect all of your soldiers (the set of targets specified) in the District, but would not effect the enemy soldiers even if they're in the district.
Artifacts use the three factors above, Range, Effect, and Radius. Pick the value of each one to determine the abilities of your artifacts. The optional artifact template is a good place to get started on making an artifact.
Artifact Name:
Physical description:
Distance/Range:
Effect:
Radius of Effect:
Lore/Additional Info:
Servants come in two broad types: Uplifted and Invented.
Uplifted servants are servants which are selected from your followers and are elevated to the position of divine servant. This need not be to make them a priest, or other holy leader, but simply attunes them to you and enhances their capabilities above and beyond the common rabble. When up-lifting a servant from the population, you can design them as you see fit. The only caveat is that their description needs to possibly exist within your followers. So if you are humans, tying to uplift a dwarf with green hair and a false liver, is going to get shot down. But if you want to generally uplift a human and their traits and lore are reasonable, then it's copacetic.
For uplifted servants, you have several means with which to improve. The first method is simply investing more Essence into their uplifting, bringing them closer to you and making them generally better in several ways.
10: This would get you a servant who is twice the average of your race in one particular trait (wisdom, intelligence, strength, leadership, archery, magical power, so on and so forth) and generally on par in all other ways. Alternatively, you could choose to not specify a particular trait, in which case, they're slightly above average at generally all things. A well rounded servant.
20: This would get you a servant who is twice the average of your race in two traits, or three times the average in one trait, or generally 50% above average in all traits except one specified trait.
30: This would get you a servant who is thrice the average of your race in two traits, or four times the average in one trait, or generally twice the average in all traits except one specified trait.
The second type of servant are Invented Servants. These are servants which you create from nothing and were not previously members of your religion. Examples include, angels, demons, elementals, beasts, non-standard humanoids, so on and so forth. They operate on a sphere system. A servant's sphere relates to their purpose and their abilities. Example spheres are: fire, water, nature, healing, speed, justice, and all other manner of immaterial concepts, though spheres can be as narrow as mountains or hammers or farming.
10: Would grant you a servant without a sphere.
20: Would grant you a servant with a particular sphere, as well as one moderate effect (15) related to that sphere. (See the effect table for the power level description)
30: Would grant you a servant with either 2 spheres (with one moderate ability each) or 1 sphere with 2 moderate abilities.
For both types of servants, at the time of creation additional abilities from the effects table may be added for their cost. So a Servant without a sphere (10) with weak effect (5) with a range of touch (0) and a radius of fifty feet (20) would cost me 35 Acts total.
The optional servant template is a good place to get started on making an servant.
Servant Name:
Physical description:
Personality:
Base investment:
Mundane traits: (Things that don't effect overall power, but affect the way a servant may act or what they're capable of. Such as charisma, intelligence, or being skilled at a particular thing.)
Special traits: (These are traits which cost E but give the servant special abilities. Such as control over an element, future sight, or being magically gifted at a certain thing).
Lore/Additional Info:
While this metric divides plants and animals into distinct species, players need not. In this case the distinction is how complex the creatures are. If you plant can do everything an animal can do, pay the animal cost. If your fleshbeast is basically a photosynthetic immobile blob, pay for a plant.
10: Create a new mundane species animal.
20: Create a large population of a new mundane species of animal.
30: Create a new magical species animal.
40: Create a large population of a new magical species of animal.
10: Create a new species mundane species of plant in part of a district.
20: Create a new mundane species of plant over an entire district.
30: Create a new magical species of plant in part of a district.
40: Create a new magical species of plant throughout an entire district.
30: Create a population of mundane mortals.
45: Create a population of magical mortals.
Alteration of Life
These actions affect a district.
20: Change an district's ecosystem type towards a similar biome. For example, it can change a woodland into either a grassland or a dense forest.
40: Drastically change an districts type ecosystem towards a new unrelated or fantastical biome.
10: Alter a small section of a species to promote a specific preexisting trait within that species.
20: Introduce a new mundane trait into a species on a wide scale.
30: Introduce a new magical trait into a few members of a species.
30: Introduce sapience/intelligence/"mortal status" into a preexisting species.
40: Introduce a new magical trait into a species on a wide scale.
Magical species include a free moderate effect (15), or it's equivalent in lesser abilities, though players can add additional Acts to increase this effect from 15 to the desired level.
Unless special precautions are taken by you, other players, or other in game forces, most species will follow natural laws. They will expand to new districts when they can, and go extinct in districts they cant survive in.
Sublocations are smaller locations within districts, often with defining geographical locations (A forest, lake, river, mountain, so on) and in some cases, a geographically isolated magical effect. They appear slowly over the course of a turn.
15: A small landmark the size of a small building or a shrine.
30: A landmark the size of a small town, a forest, lake or river.
40: A landmark the size of a city, a small rainforest, small ocean, or other similar sized geographical feature.
Effects can be added to sublocations during creation.
Magic and Magic Branches
[spoiler]In this world, magic is classified on three levels: Spells, Fields, and Branches.
A Branch of magic would constitute large definable sections of magic such as: Spoken Invocation, Magic Circles/Circuits, Rune Writing, Omen Reading, Summoning, and so on.
A Field of magic is a subcategory within these branches, such as fire, ice or other elemental magic, druidism, necromancy, witchcraft, or other definable practice of magic.
A Spell is a specific magical procedure within a field of magic, such as spell of fireball, entangling vines, raise a zombie, or other procedure which results in a magical effect.
Branch of Magic: 60 Acts
Field of Magic: 40 Acts
Spell: 20 Acts.
Magic purchased by the gods will infuse itself in a population of their choice, affecting individuals to various degrees depending on their sensitivity to magic as well as affinity for the magic that's been purchased. Generally, this will follow a skewed bell curve, with many individuals receiving no or little magic power, many individuals gaining minor to moderate magical power, and a decent number gaining strong magic power. In the case of specific spells, the number of individuals who are able to perform the spell will follow a similar curve, many can't do it, but a good number of individuals could.
Magic spells do not require a field or even a branch of magic to exist. They can perform a spell if they know it's words or rituals, but they cannot understand the principles behind the spell until a field of magic is created that the spell belongs to. At that point, similar magics to that spell will begin to be researched, taught, understood and spread throughout the magical population. Once a branch of magic houses a field, deeper understanding of magic will allow for more powerful mages who may even discover new fields of magic.
In this way, the magic system is akin to deeper and deeper understanding of how magic works, with fields and branches being able to propagate the level of beneath them.
Players may send out one expedition each turn for 10 acts. This ensures your mortals do not get lost in the worlds beyond the Refugium, and always know the way home. This does not mean they will always survive long enough to return home, but it does protect them from being lost forever.
Expeditions tend to discover locations out beyond the refugium. These can include strange otherworldly places, regions rich in resources or food, or ancient dungeons. When an expedition returns, players will learn of their discoveries. If the players like the location, they may use a Rememberance at this point to save that location, making it visitiable for as long as they hold the Remberance. Journeys after that point can move to and back from that location without interference. If they do not save the location with a Rememberance, it will be lost and you're unlikely to ever see it again.
Mortals beyond the Refugium are beyond the reach of the gods. Blessings and curses cannot be cast beyond the Refugium, though escaping into the wilderness does not dispel such effects if they've already been cast on you. They are also beyond the sight of the gods. However, this does not make them totally unreachable. Mortal champions and other servants can also venture beyond the Refugium, and artifacts still function away from the gods. Just because they cannot directly affect these lands, does not mean they cannot be ruled.
Under this system, players would make 30 acts per turn for the first three turns (with the original acts being converted into their larger values (multiply by 10) and existing creations being modified to fit the system changes can be redesigned if need be, having a value of 40 acts). Heavenly Administrators would then be making an additional 20 acts per turn for the completion of their duties.
Generally I think these changes to how effects are processed makes the creation process a lot more clear, you know pretty exactly what you get when you pay for something and the number of things that can be created has increased. But also it solves a power creep problem where the power increased by adding one more act to an action caused it to increase in magnitude exponentially. This creates a lot more linear power scales for actions, and places a heavier emphasis on making good effects, rather than big nukes. That said, its up to the players if we want to adopt the rule changes here, so let me know what you think here or on discord. They would be implemented on the start of this next turn if we decide to use them.
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Topic: Refugium of the Gods (OOC) (Read 1108 times)