What to Add to Elf Quest?

[drop bear]

Ok may be starting an Elf Quest game soon, just trying to figure out from other games to bring in to the game, we have decided that everyone gets "Brawling" at Str+Dex and "Grappling" most likely at the best of Str+Des or Str+Siz as a Core skill. we may be bringing "Martial Arts" (no Base Skill).

 

What stuff do folks we should try and bring in from RQ CoC or BRPG?

[Mugen]

As for myself, I think I'd rather remove rules from combat section rather than add new ones. 🙂

RQ3 style rules simply don't work for me anymore.

[drop bear]

we are drooping Strike Ranks and all but dropping Hit Location from Combat

We are also looking for more Magic Skills.

 

Most of the Characters have had their basics done, we haven't done Prior Experience yet.

 

Characters so far are a Spear Fighter, a Bow Hunter, a Crafter who is also a Wood & Rock Sharper (and Unarmed fighter), a Trader, a Wayfinder and a Healer (who some also take for a "Witch") all are built on a Wolfrider template.

[Mugen]

2 hours ago, drop bear said:

we are drooping Strike Ranks and all but dropping Hit Location from Combat

That's exactly what I had in mind. 🙂

Something I'd try to change is make Magic Powers less random at character creation. I don't know exactly how I'd do it, but I've always found a little frustrating that you could want to play a "magician" (well, more a psionic, given the nature of magic) but end up with just one magic skill.

[drop bear]

Well for Wolf Riders at least Magic beyond Sending, Wolf Bonding and Magic Sense is Rare, part of your Quest is finding Magic if that's your thing.

[Mugen]

6 hours ago, drop bear said:

Well for Wolf Riders at least Magic beyond Sending, Wolf Bonding and Magic Sense is Rare, part of your Quest is finding Magic if that's your thing.

I had in mind the fact Magic skills you know are randomly determined at character creation, and you can never learn a magic skill known to the Wolf Riders after that.

My guess is it's the same for other magic skills : if you fail your initial roll, you can never try again 

[drop bear]

you can, you just have to find a Teacher and a willing GM.

[drop bear]

We are Reorganizing Magic it to four broad "Types"

Psychokinetic, sub types are Healing, Shaping & Teleknetic

Teleempathic, no real sub types unless you want to divide Animals from higher lifeforms

Clairsentience, ESP type powers

and

Meta, for powers that affect metaphysical forces.

 

We are adding some normal skills like "Boating" and "Sailing". for Lore: Languages we are adding "Scripts" they are various "Glyph" used by each race, Elves & Trolls get their own Glyphs as part of their Race Lore, Human Glyphs are a separate skill, and the players Tribe has a Ogham script that has to be taken as a Language

[drop bear]

We are thinking of allowing Teaching count as Research for skill improvement, not the full allotment of hours, we where thinking say Half?

 

do folks think this is fair?

[Mugen]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:00 PM, drop bear said:

We are Reorganizing Magic it to four broad "Types"

Psychokinetic, sub types are Healing, Shaping & Teleknetic

Teleempathic, no real sub types unless you want to divide Animals from higher lifeforms

Clairsentience, ESP type powers

I'm not sure it's suited for ElfQuest at all, but I tend to use the following types myself :

-Biokinesis (control living material, plants and animals alike),
-Metamagic (control others' spells),
-Psychokinesis (apply physical forces to an object or being),
-Telepathy (mind reading).

I tend to associate ESP powers to the categories above. Life sense would be Biokinesis, Mind detection would be Psychokinesis, and anything relating to space or matter would be Psychokinesis. Magic sense would be Metamagic.

[svensson]

Magic is unreliable in the EQ milieu... the farther you get from the High Elf genotype, the less ability with it you seem to have.

Because of that, I would suggest that you use Sorcery instead of Spirit or Rune magics from the BP/CoC/RQ line.

- Each spells has a skill percentage and the more advanced spells would naturally have lower percentages.

- Each caster would have a VERY limited repertoire of spells.

- POW or MP recovers VERY slowly, one-half to one-third the common rate.

- There are VERY few magic items, and those that do exist like to malfunction. Use of an item's power requires a POWx5 roll and fumbles happen on a 90%+ instead of 95%+.

- There are few, if any, POW/MP reservoir crystals or items. Most spell casters have to rely on their inborn ability alone.

- I would probably avoid the RQG mechanic of basing spells on the mastery of a Rune. That would lead to too many complications for a setting like EQ.

I would divide magic into three basic categories:

a] Life-- Living items like plants, animals, and people. Wooden items, which once did live, counts here.

b] Things -- That which never has lived like stone, metal, ceramics, fire, water, etc.

c] Minds -- Sending and reading thoughts, guarding thoughts, influencing thinking

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by svensson

[drop bear]

We reorganized Magic when we brought everything from the 1e Elf Book, the Companion and the Sea Elves along with stuff lifted from Wikies and put it in to one file, we are also trying to work out stuff from the Comics to bring in.

 

ATM we are tinkering with the Prerequisite Trees.

 

We are working on Fluff for the Martial Arts, so far we have three Schools "Elemental" "Plant" and "Wolf", the Elemental School is so far the most developed.