Final Sorcerous Pacts manuscripts

i, personally, think it would be better to put rules questions here and other edits (spelling/grammar, etc) via email directly to Henry.

1) There appears to be inconsistent tabbing of paragraphs. For example, the first paragraph is not tabbed while subsequent ones are. This could be a stylistic thing, but for me they either should all be tabbed or none should be.

2) As with James’ comment on the document I received, the ‘apply to one category’ is not as clear as it could be. A rewording may be necessary.

3) An extra 25 Gc to gain a +1 bonus on that spell for what is ultimately a single use, highly expensive spell seems excessive to me. I’d personally prefer something like a +1 to the roll for every 10 Gc, or even 5 Gc.

4) In the example text (which I HIGHLY appreciate!) you might want to add a “of” between Well and Endless.

5) Again, in the example on the last paragraph of page 2 the Blazing Archer of Minshara should be 20 gold imperials, not 50.

6) On the Kurenthe’ talent, I would omit the “Special: This Talent is available. . .” entirely, and simply add this to the Requirements to save a line. ie: Requirements: Elorii, Tier V

7) I notice that the word Elorii is inconsistently capitalized. I’m not sure if the rationale is when talking of a singular being you use ‘elorii’ and a large group (or the whole race) is ‘Elorii’, but a casual read just sees that it is inconsistent. Example is in the first and second-to-last paragraphs of the Elorii Elemental Pacts boxed text.

8) Would Cloak of Life be useless on Arcanis in general? Is there any reason why a Hero would take this spell? Should this be given the descriptor [Exotic] to represent the specialized nature of this spell?

ie: Tradition: Elemental (Exotic), Creation (Exotic), Transmutation (Exotic) [Tier II]

9) Some of the Elemental Lords are missing the accents in their names, such as the umlaut in Beroe on page 5 in the second last paragraph of the Crushing Deep.

10) There is no spell or talent that I can find called “Elemental Companion,” which is a prerequisite for all the Elemental Pacts (but not yet the Ardakene one). Unless you give a descriptor what this IS, it should be changed. Did you mean Elemental Guardian (sp)?

11) Many of the lower-tier summons have things like “Elite [Elemental]” for their Archetype [Variation], and then Humanoid (“element”) for their Type (Additional Type). This does not match the Bestiary format, as Elemental is a TYPE, not an Archetype Variation.

For example, the Warrior of the Crashing Waves should be Elite only, and its Type (Additional Type) should be Elemental (Water).

This may seem like a nitpick, but Elemental and Humanoid provide very different benefits and drawbacks from one another, and as is Murderous Precision would function (as per elite rules) on the Warrior when they probably shouldn’t. This doesn’t even mention the consistency issues which arise. Additionally, a quick view would mean that as Humanoids these guys are not legally built because some of their Qualities are granted by being an Elemental.

Warrior of the Crashing Waves, Aquamancer of the Crushing Deep, Vardaka the Megalodon (pace specifically), Zephyr Warrior, Slayer of the Steel Wind, Warrior of Jehelka, Blazing Archer of Mishara, Protector of the Green (Would it be a Humanoid, plant, or just a plant?), Arbormancer (again),

12) On several of the Elemental types (ie: the Warrior of the Crashing Waves) should the 40′ pace be a swim speed? Should the appropriate extra movement (swim, fly, burrow) be added in parentheses if different? This is done for some (mostly later) statblocks, but only about 50% of them.

13) Ice Giant of Gayal in statblock should be Ice Giant CHAMPION of Gayal.

14) Wasn’t the name of the town with the Citadel of Yarris called Pecinium in “Word of Illiir”, and not Pecinia? (page 11)

15) Should the Zephyr Warrior have a Steel whip if they live in a world of pure sky? Where would they get the steel? Should this be changed to “air whip”?

16) Does the Slayer of the Steel Wind have a Dagger? It is nowhere to be seen on the statblock, but they gain Mighty Throw with it.

17) The Aeormancer of the Realm of the Swift Zephyrs has its AR rating in the spot of its Avoidance Defence. This needs to be moved.

18) I have noticed some uses of Archmage and Arch-Magi for Telas. Consistency issue?

19) In the Summon Colossus of Jehelka spell, you should use the word ‘physiology’ instead of ‘physiognomy’ as the latter word refers to using physical features to determine someone’s personality.

20) Should all the summons, at least at higher levels, gain Alien Mind (Tr)? I ask because I remember in the playtest that I was doing my most damage with Smites and other spells which target ‘infidels’. If you want to make these guys tougher, adding Alien Mind would be an easy way to do this.

21) In some of the summons, you say “If the xxxx is vanquished”, while in others you say “If “killed””. Consistency across statblocks. Examples are the Blazing Archer of Mishara and the Molten Tiger.

22) What is Elemental Experties (ta)? It is in no books that I own that my Control-F can find.

23) Unless you use a very specific build, Life Warden is not a good choice for The Ancient Pact with the Plant Lords (ta). These are ARCANE pacts, and there is still the ‘no two sources aside from Psionics’ rule, and Life Warden is a Theurgy path. Unless you change the traditions to Divine spells, you should remove this and change it to something more. . . arcane.

24) Arbormancer is missing AR (listed as X in the entry)

25) Suckled by the Earth (sp) doesn’t seem to have a duration, which means that as written the spell will function forever so long as they have no other binding spells up. You may wish to put in ‘Duration: Scene’

Crap…forgot to fix the Pace stuff. Thanks, Cody! I am swamped today and tomorrow, but i will be responding and making adjustments on Sunday.

(FYI…Elemental is both a creature type and a variation)

they are easy to miss because they are a bit of an odd duck…they add nothing to the etv of the creature and (unlike the other variations) they have things you must specifically take….and, yes, they are in a different section.

Plus, it is easy to misread the meaning of some of the stat block sections. For example, if somethng was listed as Humanoid (Elemental), i thought that was a humanoid with the elemental sub-type. The word in parenthesis is an ADDITIONAL type. So, Humanoid (Ssethric) and Ssethric (Humanoid) are the exact same thing. The critter just counts as both types.

8) Would Cloak of Life be useless on Arcanis in general? Is there any reason why a Hero would take this spell? Should this be given the descriptor [Exotic] to represent the specialized nature of this spell?
ie: Tradition: Elemental (Exotic), Creation (Exotic), Transmutation (Exotic) [Tier II]

Yes it would, but it was designed to be. Exotic descriptor added

10) There is no spell or talent that I can find called “Elemental Companion,” which is a prerequisite for all the Elemental Pacts (but not yet the Ardakene one). Unless you give a descriptor what this IS, it should be changed. Did you mean Elemental Guardian (sp)?

Yup…fixed

11) Many of the lower-tier summons have things like “Elite [Elemental]” for their Archetype [Variation], and then Humanoid (“element”) for their Type (Additional Type). This does not match the Bestiary format, as Elemental is a TYPE, not an Archetype Variation.

As pointed out, Elemental is both type and variation…I shortened the Additional Type for space and to specify which elemental type they were.

This may seem like a nitpick, but Elemental and Humanoid provide very different benefits and drawbacks from one another, and as is Murderous Precision would function (as per elite rules) on the Warrior when they probably shouldn’t. This doesn’t even mention the consistency issues which arise. Additionally, a quick view would mean that as Humanoids these guys are not legally built because some of their Qualities are granted by being an Elemental.

Warrior of the Crashing Waves, Aquamancer of the Crushing Deep, Vardaka the Megalodon (pace specifically), Zephyr Warrior, Slayer of the Steel Wind, Warrior of Jehelka, Blazing Archer of Mishara, Protector of the Green (Would it be a Humanoid, plant, or just a plant?), Arbormancer (again),

Couple things…1) despite what is in parenthesis, creatures count as both types as what is listed. So, yes, they get both advantages and penalties of those types. So, a Humanoid (Fire) (or Elemental (Humanoid)) could be effected (affected? I never remember) by Murderous Precision.
2) There is no such thing as “legally built” for stat blocks. You put in whatever is appropriate. They do not need to meet pre-reqs, etc.

12) On several of the Elemental types (ie: the Warrior of the Crashing Waves) should the 40′ pace be a swim speed? Should the appropriate extra movement (swim, fly, burrow) be added in parentheses if different? This is done for some (mostly later) statblocks, but only about 50% of them.

Fixed

13) Ice Giant of Gayal in statblock should be Ice Giant CHAMPION of Gayal.

Fixed

15) Should the Zephyr Warrior have a Steel whip if they live in a world of pure sky? Where would they get the steel? Should this be changed to “air whip”?

I was under the impression that the realm was mostly air, but not all. I will change if Henry so desires.

16) Does the Slayer of the Steel Wind have a Dagger? It is nowhere to be seen on the statblock, but they gain Mighty Throw with it.

I forgot to type in “Dagger” to the template. It said “Attack”…Fixed

17) The Aeormancer of the Realm of the Swift Zephyrs has its AR rating in the spot of its Avoidance Defence. This needs to be moved.

…and moved it was. Thanks

20) Should all the summons, at least at higher levels, gain Alien Mind (Tr)? I ask because I remember in the playtest that I was doing my most damage with Smites and other spells which target ‘infidels’. If you want to make these guys tougher, adding Alien Mind would be an easy way to do this.

I seriously considered it. But, Verdaka and Granbier are Beasts. Mosts Beasts (such as a bear) do not get Alien Mind. I considered Jehelka an Elemental-Beast, but wanted to keep “Beast” out of his stats because I wanted to avoid anything that might arise from something like “Beasts don’t attack me”. Exurapas and Kratae are both intelligent and exotic enough…they already have Alien Mind

22) What is Elemental Experties (ta)? It is in no books that I own that my Control-F can find.

It is in the new Sseth book…I added the text in a note in the doc in case Henry wants to add it in. Essentially, if you cast a spell of your chosen element, it drops the CTN by 2. (yes, Ssethric Elementalists will hurt you)….remember, NPCs do not need to meet pre-reqs. They are story-driven.

24) Arbormancer is missing AR (listed as X in the entry)

Fixed

25) Suckled by the Earth (sp) doesn’t seem to have a duration, which means that as written the spell will function forever so long as they have no other binding spells up. You may wish to put in ‘Duration: Scene’

That was the intention when I wrote it. The most recent copy sent to me had that change put in. I, personally, like it the other way. The (willing) Target is essentially placed in a permanent life-sustaining coma.