Sunday, May 24, 2020

DF Felltower Allowable Off-Template Advantages

This is an attempt to make a list of what "off-template" advantages are allowed purchases in DF Felltower.

I get a lot of requests for off-template advantages. Lifting ST is the most popular request, but it's followed frequently by Fit, Enhanced defenses, "Strong Will" - a 3e-ism, and Fearlessness.

I've gotten occasional questions about stat limits - if your template doesn't list a bonus to a given stat at the level you want, is it "off-template?"

I get questions about skills, too, but that's a different (and shorter) post.

Here is a list of what you can add to your template:


Statistics & Secondary Characteristics

You are limited per your race per Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups, p. 5, modified for your template also per Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups. Remember template maxima are before racial modifiers. (For most templates, for a human, this is 20 in stats, secondary characteristics 20 or figured off of stats with a cap.)

On-Template

Anything on your template can be added freely. They cost $40/point for a new advantage or to expand a current advantage. (In other words, buying Fearlessness 1 costs $40, 2 costs another $40, etc.)

Advantages are capped at the maximum level listed on a template - for example, Ridiculous Luck is only available to Bards and Swashbucklers even though Luck and Extraordinary Luck are on other templates.

Off-Template

They cost $80/point for a new advantage advantage or to expand a current advantage unless specified otherwise.

The following traits are available for any delver, regardless of template:

Attractive [5]
Combat Reflexes [15]
Fit [5] (but not Very Fit)
Reputation [varies]
Wealth [varies] (cost per this post.)

General Power-Ups - all those on pp. 10-13 are available as are the Utility Power-Ups on p. 16. All of these are "on template" for costs.

Casters also have access to Caster Power-Ups pp. 13-16 with the exception of Spell-Archery (not available.) Please note that "Psychic Guidance" is not being used; use Mystic Guidance instead.

Notes

- On template means on your specific template. If a related template has an advantage, that's not relevant. A regular Barbarian lacks Born War Leader and thus cannot get it even though it's listed on the Savage Warrior. You can't jump back and forth between the DF and DFRPG versions of your template, either, if they vary.

- Assuming cases are restrictive, not expansive. If it's not specifically listed, it's excluded.

- Specific power-ups for your template may also be off-limits; we're not using Wizard Hunter or Bow Fencer, for example, even though those are listed for some templates as a valid power-up.

- Some power-ups need specific external training (such as purchasing a Lens) or require an in-game explanation. These include Reputation - which must follow from in-game events, Claim to Hospitality - which also requires a solid in-game explanation, and Wealth - you need the money and the access to a town, effectively making it impossible to get for non-town-dwelling PCs.


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Otherwise . . . that's it! I'm open to expanding the list if someone (meaning my players, for the most part) can point out a generically useful, logically generally available advantage I may consent to adding it.

9 comments:

  1. Interesting. I had just put some thoughts down regarding off-template training myself this evening. I should post on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please do, and link it here in the comments!

      Delete
    2. Your link works perfectly.

      And I think you call out a point that's implicit in what I wrote above: niche protection. I should call such out explicitly in posts such as this; it's the main reason why behind these.

      Delete
    3. Yeah. I call it out because it's important, for the reasons that you specify in your 2012 post. One of my players doesn't like niche protection, but at least they know why I made the decision.

      Do you have a link to your Part II post on niche protection?
      You didn't link it in the original article.

      Delete
    4. Nevermind. Blogger = Google, and therefore the search function works effectively.

      Delete
  2. So, an interesting question: DFRPG bards can learn a limited pool of spells, one of which is Concussion (it's even referenced in the heading of "Sound Spells" on Spells, p. 66). But the prerequisites are Shape Air and Thunderclap. The bard can learn Thunderclap, because it is a Sound College spell, but not Shape Air, which is an Air College spell. OK, so that means a bard needs at least Magery 0. So Elven and Half-Elven bards can get it, but any other race is shut out. In light of that, is Magery 0 something a Bard could learn? Or would that not be available, since it is clearly off-template?

    It's a weird situation, and Kromm replied to a post about it in the forums here: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=155489. Of course, allowing Magery 0 then allows Magery 1-6, in theory, unless those were specifically restricted. Or perhaps the prerequisite for that spell is simply Shape Air and Thunderclap, OR Thunderclap and Bardic Talent? Or Purify Air, Create Air, and Shape Air are possibly available to bards? None of those sound particularly good. It's just...weird.

    Having said that, I don't know how often that spell would get used in Felltower, because it works a lot better outdoors. Indoors is tough, just like Thunderclap, because there's so few indoor encounters where your party is more than 10 yards away from the group you're fighting (unless your group somehow has hearing protection that effectively nullifies the chance of stunning, but even at +5 it's only a net +2 to your HT roll). That, and Bards do not have Innate Attack (Projectile), which means you'd need to have a pretty decent level bard to make it effective.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A Bard who otherwise has Magery 0 can get it. One who doesn't, can't. You can't get Magery 0 without a Racial template that allows it or the Wizard lens that comes with Bardic Magery 2.

      Having Magery 0 doesn't imply you can get Magery 1-6, otherwise all elves can have all spells whenever they choose to invest, and "elf wizard" is the same as "elf."

      Delete

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