Some advice for a few fans?

[VannThurhart]

Alright, this is gonna seem kinda stupid, but I'm going to be running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign based off of the books. I have located a book that does it from wizards of the coast and Robert Jordan, but I HATE the way they did the magic system. It's exactly the same as D&D with "Weaves per day" Instead of "Spells per day" and a list of "weaves". So I came up with a new system I call 'One Power Capacity' that any spell caster starts with and they gain more as they level, allowing them to put more power into their weaves and such. And I transferred as many weaves as I could find into a minimum requirement of the One Power to start it.

My problem is this however. Doing it like this makes people who use the One Power godlike, similar to the books, but I don't want every player to be a wilder or novice. Since most of the players are guys, over half would go mad halfway into the game. How do I make their equivalent to fighters, rangers and thieves come closer to the godly heights of One Power users? Something that makes them a required class but doesn't leave them feeling less of a usefull character than a Wielder?

 

[VannThurhart]

I think my explanation was a little too confusing on how I changed it.

Basically I changed it to a point system so that wielders actually took in like they were tapping into the source and using it like energy instead of a number of "weaves".





Mana System instead of Spell System


So, One Power Wielders are now Over Powered.

 

[Talysia]

It's an interesting idea. I like the idea of a WoT game, and keeping the game characters more or less equal is a good idea, too. I'm trying to think up other categories for these other players, although I keep coming up blank. Perhaps you could use the idea of Tave'ren (sp?) as a category, or Hero of the Horn?

I'll keep thinking.

 

[VannThurhart]

Well here's what I've got so far.

8 players/
2 Woodsmen
3 One Power Users
1 Wanderer
2 Armsmen

The Woodsmen are like rangers, and they're the only ones who can really hunt or get food. So they are essential, but in Combat they're no better than the Armsmen.

The Wanderer is your rogue, one of my One Power users may change to Wanderer, he's not certain cause he doesn't like the idea of going mad. The wanderer has nothing though, they aren't good fighters, and the One Power can set off traps from a safe distance and open doors and such as well. So they need something more than the Armsmen and Woodsmen get even so they can match up.

The Armsmen are just fighters pretty much, and they can take more damage than anyone else in the party. They also can wear better armor and such, so they have about the same importance as the woodsmen.

The One Power users could probably do all the stuff the other guys do without effort. They can hold animals they see with Air, they can make Fire easily, they can magic open doors and destroy traps from a safe distance, they can use the power to see better, they can make shields of air and combat from safety behind them.



The only thing I can think of is limiting the One Power's use, so they can't use a whole lot, but as they level they'll still get better than the other classes.

I figured out what to do for armsmen, I edited the prestige class Blademaster so that it makes a more flexible warrior. One who plays his cards right can act and finish before a One Power user knows what's going on entirely [much like in the books]

I was thinking about luck for the wanderer but I'm not sure if that would be too cheesy and such, since that's mat's deal.

The woodsmen I have honestly no clue what to do, I mean, they can't both become wolfbrothers, I think that'd be nasty, and I don't know how they'd feel about taking the Blademaster class when the One Power users really get powerful since the Blademaster is specifically swords, while woodsmen like axes and bows more for their practical use.

 

[Commonmind]

It seems any individual using the One Power, no matter how often they train at it, has an inherent level of skill. We know from the books there are novices more powerful than even the oldest of Aes Sedai, and vice versa. My suggestion would be to create a rolling system, based on certain categories, wherein the player must roll dice at the beginning of the game to decide their skill capacity with the one power. If the person ends up with a perfect roll and has an extremely high capacity for using it, then add modifiers that truncate their abilities somehow (we see the same thing happen very often in the books as well, not being able to channel until you're enraged or utterly calm, etc.)

Here's an example:

Person A rolls between 1-5. 1-5 signifies mediocre strength in the one power, no modifying throw will be made. When devoted to studying the one power a 1 may reach the same skill level as a 5, but may not exceed it.

Person B rolls between 5-10. 5-10 signifies moderate strength in the one power, again, no modifying throw will be made. When devoted to studying the one power a 5 may reach the same skill level as a 10, but my also not exceed it.

Person C rolls between 10-15. 10-15 signifies a strong talent with the one power, no modifying throw will be made. However, even excessive training will only garner a 1 skill level increase to the players capacity. In other words, a level 11 magic user, could only increase his skill level to 12, so on and so forth.

Person D rolls between 15-20. This means their strength in the one power is significant, they must roll a D8 which will modify how and when they can use their abilities.

1- Can only use the one power when wounded.
2- Can only use the one power to heal.
3- Can only use the one power when facing few enemies (must remain calm, the more chaos, the less likely the player will be able to cast).
4- Can only use the one power when enraged (must become angered, the more chaos the more likely the player will be able to channel).
5- Can only use the one power after times of significant rest (use of the one power drains them considerably).
6- Can only use the one power by chance (roll a die against the DM for each cast).
7- Can only use the one power after being attacked.
8- Can only use the one power to save a life.

Also, despite any training, a 15-20 channeler would never be able to increase their skill level.


I think this would not only make it more interesting, but you may have players that don't want to take the risk of playing the entire game as an Aes Sedai that is simply not gifted in magic or is forced to use it under certain circumstances.

 

[Talysia]

A different category for Woodsmen, hmm? One thing that springs to mind is Ogiers, although they aren't really popular in terms of WoT favourite characters. Failing that, another group of people that spring to mind are Warders. Mind you, as I haven't played any games like this, though, perhaps I'm not being too helpful.

Still, I'll keep thinking. (It's still early here.)