Draven
Pioneer
I'd like to start off with echoing @MaxIrons. Thank you very much for the work that's been done on the new rules. I'm not going to lie, .11 is fantastically improved over .10, and I actually look forward to playing in 2.0, which is something I haven't felt in previous releases.
That being said, there is a couple of issues that remain with Earth magic, one is thematic and one is mechanic. My proposition is really simple and I believe handles both issues.
Thematic Issue: One of the prevailing themes in Earth Magic in 1.3 is the relationship between Life and Death. That relationship no longer exists in a mechanical sense. However, both Life and Death have been present in every iteration of the playtest up until .11. In order to rectify the expected problems with Death, Death was removed and replaced with Doom. But Life is still around. That gives it a weird feel, for one of our roleplayed Themes to be present in our magic, but the other one is...kinda represented with the equivalent of an avatar (Doom). It's not quite the same. So while the "mechanical" Life is fine, the thematic "Life" is kinda just weirdly unbalanced.
Mechanical Issue: Life is still exclusive to 9th tier Earth and the Enchantment ritual. This will cause players capable of Life to be less likely to share their limited resources (I realize not all players will be like this, but let's not lie to ourselves, many people are going to prioritize their friends over other people), and place a lot of pressure on Earth players to memorize Life spells over other spells in 9th Tier, moreso than pressure exists for any other slot.
Solution: Kill Life.
I'm kidding. Kinda. Here's my real solution.
Take the Life spell and rename it to Revive <"Blah blah healing to Revive you."> Leave it mechanically unchanged, though move it to 7th level. Allow it to be made into Potions. This will give Potionmakers a nice option, and it will allow production to make a critically important resource. I'd also like an Alchemical version, but even just a potion would be an advantage. **Optional: Add a counted stun (a wakeup 3 count, a 10-count "cannot move or use game abilities") something to offset the drop in level.
Create a new spell at 9th level, called Greater Revive. <"Blah blah healing to Greater Revive you."> Functions as a Life spell, *though it also heals the target 200 Body (and can be used on a non-Dead person).
Life and Death will still exist as concepts (and Planes, for that matter). They are represented in Earth Magic through those concepts, but not as actual spells. I feel this would clean up the theme a bit with the removal of Death.
I'm not going to lie; the perception of elitism can drive away players more than anything, and I am genuinely concerned that some players will suffer a Death that could have been avoided, except a well-meaning character opted to save his last couple Life spells in case his buddies went down. He didn't want the guy to die, but in his mind there wasn't a choice. House/clan/group loyalty is a big thing in our culture. Allowing Life spells to be created via production will absolutely help alleviate that issue.
*Edited to avoid issues with overhealing NPCs with large body counts.
**Edited to add an optional offset to the drop in level.
That being said, there is a couple of issues that remain with Earth magic, one is thematic and one is mechanic. My proposition is really simple and I believe handles both issues.
Thematic Issue: One of the prevailing themes in Earth Magic in 1.3 is the relationship between Life and Death. That relationship no longer exists in a mechanical sense. However, both Life and Death have been present in every iteration of the playtest up until .11. In order to rectify the expected problems with Death, Death was removed and replaced with Doom. But Life is still around. That gives it a weird feel, for one of our roleplayed Themes to be present in our magic, but the other one is...kinda represented with the equivalent of an avatar (Doom). It's not quite the same. So while the "mechanical" Life is fine, the thematic "Life" is kinda just weirdly unbalanced.
Mechanical Issue: Life is still exclusive to 9th tier Earth and the Enchantment ritual. This will cause players capable of Life to be less likely to share their limited resources (I realize not all players will be like this, but let's not lie to ourselves, many people are going to prioritize their friends over other people), and place a lot of pressure on Earth players to memorize Life spells over other spells in 9th Tier, moreso than pressure exists for any other slot.
Solution: Kill Life.
I'm kidding. Kinda. Here's my real solution.
Take the Life spell and rename it to Revive <"Blah blah healing to Revive you."> Leave it mechanically unchanged, though move it to 7th level. Allow it to be made into Potions. This will give Potionmakers a nice option, and it will allow production to make a critically important resource. I'd also like an Alchemical version, but even just a potion would be an advantage. **Optional: Add a counted stun (a wakeup 3 count, a 10-count "cannot move or use game abilities") something to offset the drop in level.
Create a new spell at 9th level, called Greater Revive. <"Blah blah healing to Greater Revive you."> Functions as a Life spell, *though it also heals the target 200 Body (and can be used on a non-Dead person).
Life and Death will still exist as concepts (and Planes, for that matter). They are represented in Earth Magic through those concepts, but not as actual spells. I feel this would clean up the theme a bit with the removal of Death.
I'm not going to lie; the perception of elitism can drive away players more than anything, and I am genuinely concerned that some players will suffer a Death that could have been avoided, except a well-meaning character opted to save his last couple Life spells in case his buddies went down. He didn't want the guy to die, but in his mind there wasn't a choice. House/clan/group loyalty is a big thing in our culture. Allowing Life spells to be created via production will absolutely help alleviate that issue.
*Edited to avoid issues with overhealing NPCs with large body counts.
**Edited to add an optional offset to the drop in level.
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