ARDORES IMMORTALIUM - The Complete Reboot

[SamSniped]

25 DECEMBER 2767 AB URBE CONDITA.

SOMETHING IS COMING.​

And this is the thread for it

Amazing OP with an Aeneid-esque intro written fully in Latin and in perfect dactylic hexameter like an epic poem will go here. For now, using this to keep track of the stuff I'm revealing to you guys

 

[SamSniped]

RESERVED FOR DRAMATIS PERSONAE.​

Non-Romans go home.

 

[SamSniped]

RESERVED FOR REALLY COOL STUFF I PROMISE.​

Just don't get your hopes up.

You can post now.

 

[SamSniped]

So, first things first. This is a COMPLETE. REBOOT.

The base stat system is remaining, and there will be Roman gods and a guy named Marcus, but that's about it . The latest date is 100 AD, and that's a long shot.
This will start in Rome or at least the Roman Empire. Combat will be slightly changed, and I'm planning on developing a combat system that works extremely well in melee, hopefully to encourage more than hack, slash, slicey slicey stabbity stab repeat (sorry, Dubby, I love ya but about 5 of ya would be too much). The god bonus system is being reworked as well, and I might actually take a more Skyrim-esque approach to feats and abilities. Any advice, suggestions, feedback, etc. will be greatly appreciated. Serious development begins October 28th.

Alea iacta est.

 

[Arrow Gamer]

[Insert relevant Latin phrase here].

Either way, I cannot wait.

 

[Dem Taqat]

I had stabby powers before the system was designed to make them awesome, I get first dibbs on dealing stabbity death.

DT

 

[Omega124]

Resserve/interest post goes here

 

[SamSniped]

FEATS

In the same idea as Skyrim, I've decided to have a bunch of rough "branches" for the feats:

COMBAT FEAT BRANCHES (The Legionary)
-Archery
-Combat Magic
-Unarmed Combat
-Single-Handed Weapons
-Two-Handed Weapons
-Blocking (Armor/Shields combined)
-Evasion
SUPPORT FEAT BRANCHES (The Commander)
-Medicine and Restoration Magic
-Protective Magic
-Illusion Magic
-Summoning Magic
-Horseback Riding
NON-COMBAT FEAT BRANCHES (The Orator)
-Stealth
-Speech
SPECIALTY FEAT BRANCHES (Liberi Deorum)
-God-specific feats
-Miscellaneous (Luck, specialized individual feats, etc.)

Most of these are pretty clear, as far as I can tell. Evasion and Blocking/Armor are separated in the idea of DEX vs. HP, and Evasion feats will be based in counterblows and skillful dodging rather than sitting and tanking damage. Illusion Magic refers to not just creating images but also to borderline psychic effects, with mind control the only one that I'm ruling out 100%. Summoning Magic mainly deals with familiars and summoning temporary barriers, objects, and weapons, and not as much with necromancy, though a child of Pluto can take full advantage of that specific attribute. Horseback riding will be extremely interesting, and if there's interest in characters who fight on horseback then I will seriously develop this idea.

The last two major categories may look small, but those branches are HUGE. Speech includes languages, bartering, persuasion, seduction, leadership, and anything you can do with words. Stealth isn't as broad, but it has huge potential considering most mission won't be giant field battles with wave after wave of enemies.

Most.

Each god has its own specific branch of feats, and although many of these will overlap with pre-existing feat branches, the god branches are more in the vein of the feats of the original AI. Especially if you look at DT's feats. That's how it's done, folks. For the god and miscellaneous branches especially, I will be taking any and all suggestions for feats, and during the game, this is where most of you will be inventing feats. 90% of the other branches will be established, and you can add feats to those branches, but I wouldn't expect many changes there.

Current list of gods planned: Juppiter, Pluto, Neptune, Mars, Minerva (AKA Athena), Vulcan, Venus groucho, Diana (AKA Artemis), Mercury, Apollo.
List of banned gods: every Titan ever, Fortuna, Janus, any name for an Abrahamic monotheistic God (though Jesus might show up in the game), Juno, Vesta, Demeter, Persephone

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[Omega124]

List of banned gods: every Titan ever, Fortuna, Janus, any name for an Abrahamic monotheistic God (though Jesus might show up in the game)

Lucina technicilly not banned. Best goddess ever, totally claiming her now

 

[SamSniped]

Lucina technicilly not banned. Best goddess ever, totally claiming her now

I think she was related to Juno? List updated, sadly

 

[Omega124]

I think she was related to Juno? List updated, sadly

Lucina is Lucina. She is separate from Juno 100%.

 

[SamSniped]

Lucina is Lucina. She is separate from Juno 100%.

Sadly too hard to fit in, Megs

Also, just while I think of it, if you all had to choose one race other than Roman to play as, what would it be? (Megs is gonna say Scythian, ofc, already accounted for )

 

[Dem Taqat]

Also, just while I think of it, if you all had to choose one race other than Roman to play as, what would it be?

Depends heavily on the time period, as well as whether you want us to be realistic. If you're allowing Scythian, then either playing a Carthaginian or somebody from one of the British tribes would be fun, but a Gallic or Iberian Tribesman seems more likely if we're being sensible about things. Also to be considered is whether you consider 'Roman' to mean somebody from the Italian core of the empire, or from any of the provinces outside that.

FEATS

COMBAT FEAT BRANCHES (The Legionary)
-Archery
-Combat Magic
-Unarmed Combat
-Single-Handed Weapons
-Two-Handed Weapons
-Blocking (Armor/Shields combined)
-Evasion
SUPPORT FEAT BRANCHES (The Commander)
-Medicine and Restoration Magic
-Protective Magic
-Illusion Magic
-Summoning Magic
-Horseback Riding
NON-COMBAT FEAT BRANCHES (The Orator)
-Stealth
-Speech
SPECIALTY FEAT BRANCHES (Liberi Deorum)
-God-specific feats
-Miscellaneous (Luck, specialized individual feats, etc.)

Why are speciality and non-combat branches separate, when everything in the non-combat branch would fit a speciality branch just as easily? Also, why is the support Branch named 'the commander' when there is no command abilities in it, and 'the Auxiliary' would fit the Roman theme so much better? More seriously, 'combat magic' seems like an infinitely too wide a branch, given the sheer range of things it can cover, several of which fall under other branches. At the same time, Protective Magic seems somewhat weak when protective barriers fall under summoning. I'm not trying to be a pain, but I get the feeling that when there are soooo many abilities that can fall under the god Spheres, making an entirely independent array of Magical branches is just a waste of time and effort. I mean, I used only Mars-Related feats in AI, but I had proposals covering Combat magic, Summoning, Protection, and Restoration; which means that I wouldn't have needed any of those spheres. True Mars has a fairly impressive breadth when it comes to making feats, but I expect it is possible to make an array of feats covering most of these areas with any of the Major Gods.

Illusion Magic refers to not just creating images but also to borderline psychic effects, with mind control the only one that I'm ruling out 100%. Summoning Magic mainly deals with familiars and summoning temporary barriers, objects, and weapons, and not as much with necromancy, though a child of Pluto can take full advantage of that specific attribute.

Except a child of Pluto would do that through their specific God-Feats, not through the summoning tree. When you say 'familiars' do you mean in the style of single linked-spirit creatures, or does this cover the full range of summoned monsters? Also a thought on illusion, you should consider carefully what you mean about 'Mind Control'. For instance, somebody who can completely rewrite what you see around you could easily persuade you to attack allies without mind control, which, lets be honest, is what most PCs do when they do manage to mind control NPCs. Are you only intending to ban outright mental domination, or is anything that achieves the same effect as mind control in a different manner also on the hit list?

Horseback riding will be extremely interesting, and if there's interest in characters who fight on horseback then I will seriously develop this idea.

Whilst I will not deny that horseback riding seems like it would be an interesting idea, one of the problems with cavalry combat is that it can only take place in a limited array of environments. For instance, the second mission of the original AI would have seen a cavalry soldier rendered useless for the second fight, due to being unable to get up the stairs to it, and the exact same problem would arise in the mission afterwards. Entertaining though it might be, horseback riding would most likely fall into the same categories as stealth and piloting in terms of usefulness as a skill.

The last two major categories may look small, but those branches are HUGE. Speech includes languages, bartering, persuasion, seduction, leadership, and anything you can do with words.

I already raised this on chat, but if Speech is such a broad category it makes sense to split it up more. For instance, I could have made a decent-sized leadership feat branch with only the abilities I came up with for the original game, and I'm sure you could make another feat branch for seduction from some of the ideas I had in HoH when I was considered rejoining as Spirit.

the god branches are more in the vein of the feats of the original AI. Especially if you look at DT's feats. That's how it's done, folks. For the god and miscellaneous branches especially, I will be taking any and all suggestions for feats, and during the game, this is where most of you will be inventing feats.

Most people didn't really see the feats I sent you in AI. Actually, I still had about ten feats even you hadn't seen when the game ended.

Current list of gods planned: Juppiter, Pluto, Neptune, Mars, Minerva (AKA Athena), Vulcan, Venus groucho, Diana (AKA Artemis), Mercury, Apollo.
List of banned gods: every Titan ever, Fortuna, Janus, any name for an Abrahamic monotheistic God (though Jesus might show up in the game), Juno, Vesta, Demeter, Persephone

Noting that you specifically banned the Judeo-Christian God, but none of the other non-Roman gods or goddesses. In any case, I would point out that there is really no need to make a list of planned gods, since only half of them are likely to get used while all the other players go for really obscure or minor deities, and the PCs that go for majors can make their own feats anyway.

DT
On the Job

 

[SamSniped]

Depends heavily on the time period, as well as whether you want us to be realistic. If you're allowing Scythian, then either playing a Carthaginian or somebody from one of the British tribes would be fun, but a Gallic or Iberian Tribesman seems more likely if we're being sensible about things. Also to be considered is whether you consider 'Roman' to mean somebody from the Italian core of the empire, or from any of the provinces outside that.

To be fair, I'm still not 100% certain on the timeframe Definitely within the bounds of 100BC-100AD. And I would say that true Roman is originating from the Italian core area, but you could be a Roman descended from a soldier who lives in a fringe province and still be considered a citizen of Rome. So yes.

Why are speciality and non-combat branches separate, when everything in the non-combat branch would fit a speciality branch just as easily? Also, why is the support Branch named 'the commander' when there is no command abilities in it, and 'the Auxiliary' would fit the Roman theme so much better?

It's just how I happened to split the feats, no deep meaning to it, and those were the divisions and names that came to mind quickest. I agree about the Auxiliary branch rename, though, definitely changing that.

More seriously, 'combat magic' seems like an infinitely too wide a branch, given the sheer range of things it can cover, several of which fall under other branches. At the same time, Protective Magic seems somewhat weak when protective barriers fall under summoning. I'm not trying to be a pain, but I get the feeling that when there are soooo many abilities that can fall under the god Spheres, making an entirely independent array of Magical branches is just a waste of time and effort. I mean, I used only Mars-Related feats in AI, but I had proposals covering Combat magic, Summoning, Protection, and Restoration; which means that I wouldn't have needed any of those spheres. True Mars has a fairly impressive breadth when it comes to making feats, but I expect it is possible to make an array of feats covering most of these areas with any of the Major Gods.

The thing about this game is that I'm trying to make it so that Mars can have feats specific to him, while certain feats that were considered Mars-feats last game would be more available to everyone. Also, just because a feat heals you doesn't mean it would necessarily be a restoration feat (assuming we're thinking of the same "Signan kills enemy, Signan gets health" feat here ), and I'm sure that there will be many specific god based feats that overlap with existing branches but not existing feats. At the moment it's really murky since I haven't done anything but outline categories, but hopefully I'll get some things down soon to help it make sense.

When you say 'familiars' do you mean in the style of single linked-spirit creatures, or does this cover the full range of summoned monsters? Also a thought on illusion, you should consider carefully what you mean about 'Mind Control'. For instance, somebody who can completely rewrite what you see around you could easily persuade you to attack allies without mind control, which, lets be honest, is what most PCs do when they do manage to mind control NPCs. Are you only intending to ban outright mental domination, or is anything that achieves the same effect as mind control in a different manner also on the hit list?

Yes to the familiars question. Summoned monsters would be temporary (probably lasting three turns at most), but there will probably also be the option for a more permanent mind-linked creature that follows you around.

And illusion is a bridge that I'll cross when I have solid outlines for that, since you're right, it is an easy category to mess with. I'm thinking that, as for mind control, you can present an image to an enemy and set up the enemy so that s/he could react in the way you want, but if the target either sees through the illusion or the illusion is beyond reasonable, then the target would probably break it. We'll see, Illusion Magic is gonna be an interesting one

Whilst I will not deny that horseback riding seems like it would be an interesting idea, one of the problems with cavalry combat is that it can only take place in a limited array of environments. For instance, the second mission of the original AI would have seen a cavalry soldier rendered useless for the second fight, due to being unable to get up the stairs to it, and the exact same problem would arise in the mission afterwards. Entertaining though it might be, horseback riding would most likely fall into the same categories as stealth and piloting in terms of usefulness as a skill.

I agree how it can be useless at times, but building a character purely around horseback riding isn't the smartest decision obviously. A mounted character can always dismount his horse, too, so hopefully it won't be too big of a problem.

I already raised this on chat, but if Speech is such a broad category it makes sense to split it up more. For instance, I could have made a decent-sized leadership feat branch with only the abilities I came up with for the original game, and I'm sure you could make another feat branch for seduction from some of the ideas I had in HoH when I was considered rejoining as Spirit.

I'll consider that, actually.

Most people didn't really see the feats I sent you in AI. Actually, I still had about ten feats even you hadn't seen when the game ended.

I'll probably be stealing some of them for parts of the game, don't worry

Noting that you specifically banned the Judeo-Christian God, but none of the other non-Roman gods or goddesses. In any case, I would point out that there is really no need to make a list of planned gods, since only half of them are likely to get used while all the other players go for really obscure or minor deities, and the PCs that go for majors can make their own feats anyway.

I banned the Judeo-Christian God as a joke due to jokes about playing as his son The list mainly exists since I'm trying to organize who I will and won't include, and due to people asking about possibilities already.