SS’Ressen Arcane Casters

I am not responding to the direct rules questions as this goes beyond my perview as well as touches on things I had no power to influence before recent times. However, this ruling (including the restictions on Illiirites and Salwueans) reflect the realities of the world of Arcanis as agreed upon by PCI. These rules from henceforth are considered in force as of the time that the Campaign Guide is released.

To understand this ruling please consider the following:

Only male members of the Brood of Ven val’Sosi may be Psionic because of strange physiological (and possibly metaphysical) restrictions.

No ss’ressen can take the Elder Arcane Source (at this time, that we know of).

Only females may take spells from the Eldritch Source because of biological reasons related to how close the eggs are to the central fire from which they are incubated.

Only females are taught theurgy spells. This is because of a cultural objection to male ss’ressen becoming priests. Male priests are physically capable of learning these (hence allowing Rudimentary Prayers and Learn Spell), but the priesthood cast of females would NOT teach them these spells. This ruling reflects the politics of ss’ressen Egg Clutches, much as the ruling reflects the restrictions on the Male Illiirites and Female Saluweans: These priesthoods refuse to share their secrets with filthy/unworthy/etc people of the opposite sex, and keep the power for themselves. The only reason male ss’ressen may pick up some spells is because of the realities of the universe (sometimes they just have to know to do their job) and the realities of the game (because giving some options is better than no options).

Both males and females may take Primal Casting, but only for Jeggal Sag as their ‘patron’. However, due to societal constraints every bit as powerful as those of the Fire Dragon, primarily Male ss’ressen are allowed to become shamans of Jeggal Sag, though some females do hear the call and are accepted.

Simply put, males are NOT the ruling class among the ss’ressen. They are, after a fashion, second class citizens to the ruling class of the female priesthood class. They are the warriors, they are the labourers, and they are the canon fodder. The females are bigger, stronger, and in almost any case take superiority in all things. They are manipulated from literally eggs to take on this roll, and males are intentionally manipulated to be subservient and weaker than the females. Much of this is spelled out on page 37 of the existing Ssethregore document, and will be again when the book is rereleased.

Beautifully said, Cody.

I would like to also add that significant tweaks like this have happened “late in the game” in every campaign I have played. In LG, they changed how Ray attacks worked in regards to sneak attack dice, causing one friend to make significant changes to his Arcane Trickster. Another had to completely re-tool his fire Mage at Level 18 or so.

In 3.0/3.5 LA, they changed Warped One to be a semi-religious class, causing Dustin Reid (aka ‘Gnomie”) to change from a barbarian/warped one to a crazy alchemist creating his “bag bombs”.

A friend of mine and I played Altherian Sharpshooters. In 3.0, we got the “kill shot” at level 9. With the 3.5 changes in the PGtA, we lost it until level 12. When we were level 13-14, the campaign ruled no auto-crits because of shenanigans others were pulling. The campaign director at the time even said “sharpshooters, given that they only have 1 attack should get the auto-crit, but we still aren’t allowing auto-crits”. My friend converted to a control Psion.

We understand and empathize that this will create problems for some characters. But, as Cody pointed out, male Ssressen are second class citizens. They are bred to hunt, fight, do menial labor, and possibly breed.

I was one of those, Mike. At 20th level, with the tweakiest 1 shot I could do, I did @50-75 hp a turn (w/o a lucky crit). Of the damage dealers at our regular table, I was lowest. I was just spell disruption. A barbarian/fighter was dealing easily over 300. Same with Bowmen.

I would like to also add that significant tweaks like this have happened “late in the game” in every campaign I have played. In LG, they changed how Ray attacks worked in regards to sneak attack dice, causing one friend to make significant changes to his Arcane Trickster. Another had to completely re-tool his fire Mage at Level 18 or so.

We understand and empathize that this will create problems for some characters. But, as Cody pointed out, male Ssressen are second class citizens. They are bred to hunt, fight, do menial labor, and possibly breed.

It could be that my experiences have been different because I have not played much d20 league (besides 4e where Hasbro/WotC was very permissive (I don’t think anything was ever banned or changed significantly – the rule was “if we publish it, you can use it”)). I’ve just played many other games and I don’t remember any character-killing errata/changes anywhere near 5 years into the game/campaign.

I understand that males are second-class citizens but having Templars with DSC makes them much more effective as fighters – something that should be desirable given the relatively low Black Talon numbers.

I’m apparently the only one on the forums massively opposed to this change so I don’t really expect a reversal (though I’m still hopeful). I’ll just try to sum up briefly why this bothers me so much and why it might be a bad idea (some of this assumes existing characters must be rebuilt and will not be grandfathered):

There will be rebuilds allowed in the campaign after every book is released. As a member of the campaign staff, I think it is fair to allow a certain grace period in rebuilding your character to reflect these rules changes (I myself have been forced to change my characters before based on a rules change). However, with Origins 7 weeks away, I believe that will be sufficient time to make your character accord to these rules.

I thought these rules were only official once the new campaign guide is released?

Given that the Ssethregore book will be coming out soon and will affect the same players, why not defer this rules change forced rebuild until Ssethregore is released?

If you have any suggestions for how to rebuild and not destroy the character, I’m open to suggestions (if I just swap DSC for RP, that goes from 9 spells to 2 which is a massive decrease (much more severe than Cleric vs Paladin in D&D) and it gets worse at tier 3).

Apparently I should have waited before posting my “summation” message. After more thinking triggered by Matt’s post, I can sum it up more concisely and precisely: