Work on the ACKS Psionicist is on task for the end of May. Last night I managed to get the Proficiencies written thanks to a ninth evening of insomnia. The Wild Talents and Stronghold rules are next. It's all coming together.
The proficiencies may change, but here are the ones I have so far. These are all in ACKS already:
Acrobatics, Battle Magic, Beast Friendship, Command, Contemplation, Craft, Diplomacy, Healing, Illusion Resistance, Leadership, Magical Music, Mystic Aura, Performance, Quiet Magic, Sensing Power, Unflappable Casting, Weapon Focus
The others so far are reworked feats from the SRDs:
Delay Power, Psionic Armor, Psionic Body, Psionic Fist, Psionic Shot, Psionic Weapon, Speed of Thought, Up the Walls.
Yes, I will be changing the names. I don't like everything having the word psionic in it. A few more proficiencies are on the way as well.
Adventures in Book Buying
Today I was at Half-Price books pondering another RPG purchase. I don't get a bit of allowance often, but I was eager to see what deals I could get. Last time I found a TORG book for about four dollars. That was a few months ago, so I figured the stock had changed...
Someone at this branch of Half Price apparently checks eBay for price comparisons. The Birthright box set without War Cards was $30. The 2nd Edition Tome of Magic was way high as well. About the best deal I found was a Metabarrons hardback for $15. I wasn't able to get it.
What I did find, however, was a book about Southeast Asian history. Specifically, Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450 - 1680 by Anthony Reid for about $6. Tanah-Con-Rahn is inspired by Southeast Asia and this is the perfect sourcebook. Not only does it detail daily life, but warfare, urban culture and pastimes. One of the aspects I liked is the discussion about mass conflict. The prevailing mood in conflict was that land was forever, but human capital was limited. Apparently, battles weren't fought to the last man or anything like that. In fact, cities didn't have walls. An army would invade, and the citizens would wait in the woods until the invaders left.
The goal of mass conflict was to actually capture people. The measure of power was in the number of slaves and people under a ruler's control. People were a limited resource, so you didn't waste them in war. In fact, if you completely wiped out your opposition, you lost the opportunity to capture their forces. Not only did you want to avoid losing lots of your troops, but avoiding lots of theirs.
How was mass combat handled? Many times it was either handled through one-on-one combat (champion to champion) or through scaring the other force. The reason a ruler would amass a huge army was to lower the morale of his opponent. One way of lowering morale was to prove that your force had superior magic, defensive or offensive. In fact, when firearms arrived in the area, shots were more often fired into the air rather than at the enemy.
From a game standpoint, mass combat is basically a reaction roll. Before the reaction roll, though, each side could wheel out their crossbreed or extraplanar champion to fight it out. As the fight progresses, each side makes reaction rolls based on how the fight is going. When one fails, the battle is over. If the champion route doesn't work, it could be a mega-powerful weapon, or mutant elephants. One of the more powerful effects could even be the sudden transformation of the front line into rakshasas.
As an aside, this also addresses another issue, why are the endless forests filled with weird monsters? It's filled with the losers (or permanently transformed troops) from the many wars and skirmishes throughout the land.
As far as diversions, it seems that gambling on animal fights was quite popular. However, it doesn't have to be magical creations. It can be roosters (for the lower classes), tigers, even elephants. The big battle might be the weird and bizarre, but it doesn't have to be.
By the way, stronghold rules would be the same for every class...
Okay, okay, okay. What does this have to do with the ACKS Psionicist?
The Tanah-Con-Rahn setting features variations of the ACKS Psionicist. I want to make certain that the ideas I have for Tanah-Con-Rahn are possible in the rules I present. For that matter, there are a class of people in the space fantasy setting based on the Psionicist. (They are called the Pythagoreans.)
More to come. I hope to finish more tonight and enjoy a good book tomorrow.
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