Role-playing design notes

Random notes on the design of Gods & Monsters, and maybe even Men & Supermen if I can remember what I was drinking when I wrote it.

Gods & Monsters Fantasy Role-Playing

Beyond here lie dragons

Inscription spell, reference fixes, and the multi-type specialty

Jerry Stratton, April 11, 2004

These changes fix some old rules that persisted in secondary places after the rules were changed, and clarify a few other places.

Inscription costs fixed

The first level spell Inscription listed ink costs as 100 monetary units (100 shillings in Highland) per spell level. At one time, spell levels were half caster level; this number reflected those older rules. The true cost of inking spells into a spellbook is 50 monetary units per spell level.

Reference sheets fixed

The reference sheets reflected some older rules, in particular the unarmed combat table for warriors and some of the thief ability times were wrong. The rate of mental fatigue recovery for monks and classical sorcerors reflected an older rule where the rate was based on archetype level instead of character level.

Mnemonic Sorcerors always have Inscription

The summary Create your first level sorceror did not mention that mnemonic sorcerors always receive Inscription in addition to their other spells. The main text did mention this.

Occupational skills duplicated information in Arcane Lore

The section on choosing occupational skills for a new character included a list of general skills. This list was an older version of the real list in Arcane Lore, and has been removed in favor of the Arcane Lore listing.

Pre-chosen archetype levels cannot exceed character level

Characters with the multi-type specialty may not act as a level higher than their character level. For example, a third-level character with all three levels in sorceror may not pre-choose sorceror for their fourth level and then act as a fourth-level sorceror while at third level. They could pre-choose any other archetype and act as a first-level member of that archetype, as first level is lower than third level.

Special abilities include thief skills, spell-casting ability, and the ability of warriors to convert attack bonuses into general combat bonuses.

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