Using Set 2 content in Set 1

[Lord_Miridan]

Hi All,

Wow. Coming to DA after a 2 year song of ice and fire campaign is a treat. AGE is meaty, fast paced, and a breeze to play.

My group just finished our 1st DA adventure using pre-gens and will be creating characters at our next session.

My question:

What content, if any, does anyone suggest using when creating lvl 1 characters from set 2 (set 2 stunts, backgrounds, etc..)?

-LM

[Lynata]

Maker's blessing to ye, ser!

Glad to hear you're enjoying the game.

As for Set 2, the material you could use should be pretty obvious if you already have it! Assuming you don't, I will say that the new origins are, of course, useful for characters below level 6 (since you can only select an origin at level 1 anyways ). My group has also adopted the new stunts and actions, and we've been doing pretty well with them! Additionally, the new adversaries, items, spells, focuses, talents as well as the rules for traps and poison are things that your group and your GM may find useful at any time, too.

Bottom line: Set 2, whilst officially geared towards levels 6-10, is definitively very useful even for a completely fresh party. Additional options are rarely a bad thing, at least as long as they don't clutter up.

[Woodclaw]

In my experience the matererial from Set 2 work perfectly ever with a low level party, the only real difference is that by 5th level you can reach the third tier of a single talent you start with.

Everything else, as Lynata said, isn't going to impact on your game all that much.

[shonuff]

The only thing that I wouldn't let my players use (especially at creation) is spells/talents that have prereqs. And simply, I wouldn't allow the prereq and the spell/talent to be purchased at the same level (i.e., you could take the focus Poison Lore the talent Poison Making at the same level).

[Woodclaw]

The only thing that I wouldn't let my players use (especially at creation) is spells/talents that have prereqs. And simply, I wouldn't allow the prereq and the spell/talent to be purchased at the same level (i.e., you could take the focus Poison Lore the talent Poison Making at the same level).

Quite true, although I don't think that the second tier spells are so effective to requie additional restrictions.

[Arimmus]

I agree, Most of the DA spells suck imo.

[Lord_Miridan]

Great Input,

It's nice to see such a welcoming forum community.

It seem's lower level mages may be tad on the squishy side. Any thoughts on spell mishaps? 'm also debating whether to go with point spending or random rolls during abilty determination. My group has balanced opinions. Thoughts or comments?

Cheers,

LM

[shonuff]

I don't like the spell mishap where a PC turns into an unplayable abomination. Seems sucky for a random encounter, but that might be just me.

[Elfie]

I'm very fond of the extreme nature of magical mishaps. The chance of actually becoming an abomination is extremely low, but it still makes Willpower MUCH more relevant for Mages. If you want to play with the actual chance of this happening, here's a tool I wrote a while ago to simulate thousands (or more) of dice rolls for this specific circumstance.

http://catears.com/abomination.html

If you play with the numbers, you'll see that Willpower actually plays a much bigger part in not becoming an abomination than Magic does, which I think is exactly how it should be.

[Lord_Miridan]

Right On,

I think I'll give mishaps a try. My mage can deal with an ~8 out of 1500 chance of possesion with his current stats.

Thanks,

LM

[Admiral Yacob]

Just remember, the willpower rolls only applied on a failed casting from a spell with a requirement and the dragon die has a 1 on it. With all those circumstances its very unlikely to happen but part of the risk.

[shonuff]

I'm very fond of the extreme nature of magical mishaps. The chance of actually becoming an abomination is extremely low, but it still makes Willpower MUCH more relevant for Mages.

I don't mind the possibility of becoming an abomination. I disliked how the RAW say that if the roll fails the PC becomes an NPC. I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, but I dislike permadeath save-or-die rolls. Most GMs that I've played with wouldn't even use the result, but instead it would become the jumping off point for a new quest series, and as such, it seems (to me) to be a waste of time to include the rules as such.

Of course, most campaigns that I've been involved in have been intensely story-driven affairs, and as such, PC death has always had a great deal of PC input.

[Scott McFarland]

The spell mishaps rule was something we tried for the first couple of months playing DA, before abandoning it. In the absence of critical fumbles for weapons, penalising mages beyond 'the spell doesn't work' seemed unfair.

Don't get me wrong, one time I used a spell not working near a tear in the Veil to launch PCs into a side trek adventure in the Fade, but that was intentional...

[Arimmus]

It wouldn't be hard to create a "Fumble" Chart for normal combat. I mean on a miss and a Dragon die of 1, roll Dexterity. Make up a Tn (This is all on the fly and I am thinking here so this DEFINITELY needs to be flushed out more). If they Fail that, then bad things happen.

1 Attacker falls to the ground
2-3 Attacker's weapon slips out of hands and flys for strength yards,
4 Attacker hits self for half damage (Minus AC)
5 Attacker Hits self for normal damage (Minus AC)
6 Attacker hits self to the point they are knocked out. Roll 2d6 for rounds knocked out

Work with that.

[Loswaith]

The general premis of the magic misshap tables, is that magic in DA isnt 'safe', so mishaps represent this unsafe bit. Though it doesn't stop you making magic safe for the caster if its so desired.

[Woodclaw]

The general premis of the magic misshap tables, is that magic in DA isnt 'safe', so mishaps represent this unsafe bit. Though it doesn't stop you making magic safe for the caster if its so desired.

I agree with the sentiment, but I don't think that the misshap rules works all that well. Especially considering how limited the magic in DA is.

[shonuff]

The general premis of the magic misshap tables, is that magic in DA isnt 'safe', so mishaps represent this unsafe bit. Though it doesn't stop you making magic safe for the caster if its so desired.

It's a decent premise, but I just think that allowing a PC to become an unplayable abomination on a random, nonreversible roll is a little lame. That, and PCs/NPCs possibly becoming an abomination mid-encounter seems a little possibly unbalancing to a created adventure.

Granted, the GM can alter rules, but the finality with which it is written seems a little silly IMO, necessitating a house rule for what almost every GM is already going to do.

[Arimmus]

I like having some sort of Danger to magic, and Like I said, normal combat should be that way too. Right now the only risk is death, and lots of rewards. more risk would be nice.

[shonuff]

I like having some sort of Danger to magic, and Like I said, normal combat should be that way too. Right now the only risk is death, and lots of rewards. more risk would be nice.

I tend to agree. The only risk, pretty much, is death, and as someone pointed out in a thread about the risks of the Joining, people tend to recreate a very similar character. If the nuker in a full party has to reroll a character, it's probably going to be another nuker, and most parties would start the new character at a similar XP level.

So, really, IMO, DA needs more rewards that a GM can use to penalize poor performance without having to resort to going nuclear and killing the PC. Items, magic and mundane; more honorifics; etc.

[FSchuttee]

I have recently started running the Dragon Age RPG and have been utilizing Boxed Sets 1 and 2 (also have the GM Screen stuff and Blood in Ferelden book) along with the strategy guides from the video games (Origins, Awakenings, and DA2). I have been slowly adding in stuff from the video games for crafting and ideas for magic items. Plus I found the guides useful for additional background material and best of all...Maps!

Currently my group (Avvarian Fighter, Dalish Elf Rogue-thief, City Elf Rogue-Scout, and human Circle Mage) have been through the Dalish Curse (plus some additional exploration of the ruins therein as suggested at the end of Curse) and they are currently doing A Bann Too Many...they are also just about 4th level. Aside from Blood in Ferelden, I plan to run my group through Dragon Age Origins (videogame converted to tabletop) as most are unfamiliar with the videogame series. With the third boxed set yet to come, I figure this should keep them busy until then . One thing I do wonder about regarding the next set is that Awakenings takes the player-character up to the potential level of 35 IIRC whereas the final set goes to level 20. Guess I will be curious as to how this plays out between tabletop and videogame.

[shonuff]

I believe the devs have said their system is stopping at 20.

[Loswaith]

I wouldnt worry too much about the level cap of Computer game vs the table top game, they are very different beasts on the mechanics side of things. While computer games typically need extra levels to continue the feel of character progression, the characters will generaly go through levels quite fast as well in comparison to table top games.

[Arimmus]

If you stick with the formula of Average Encounter level/ Number of players, You will be fine. If you have 3 encounters a night, and 2 were easy and one was hard, give them 500 Exp. If you have 5 players each gets 100 exp.
Thus it will take longer to reach those levels unlike in COMP games where I can breeze through 5 levels a night.

[FSchuttee]

I wasn't really worried about the levelling up in the GR version versus the videogame version. With all the info I have from the strategy guides and the fact most of my players are unfamiliar with Dragon Age, I figure doing a conversion of Origins to GR's version should suffice until Set 3 comes out (by year's end I hope ). I must admit I haven't finished playing the DA games (my bad, my bad ), but then again, I do want to keep up my grades, get my degree and certification, and get a job by early next year! I am a Gamer, and Gamers always need money!

[Arimmus]

We Do! You don't need to have play the VG in order to enjoy the rich Lore environment of Thedas. Their are books, and Comics, and a movie to fill in a person about what is what in thedas. Hell Youtube those missing gaps.