Part V-More Races, and ClassesThe 8 previously presented races are suposed to be the most important on Tormenta, but the book presents some support for other races popular in d20.
Gnomes: +4 Int, +2 Con, -2 For. Small size, low light vision, +4 Sense Motive and Profession (Alquemist), +4 AC against large or bigger enemies, permanent Speak With animals, and if they have Cha 10+, they get to cast Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound and Pretidigiation at will. Those guys look like another wizard race (less spell DC and initiative than the elf, but more durable overall), but I could see you using them for a smartish rogue as well.
Half-Elves: +2 Des, +2 to another stat of their choice except Con. Low light vision, one bonus talento and perícia of their choice, +2 on Will saves against enchantment, +2 to Spellcraft and Spot... And that's it. Humans just look plain superior. I would've at least expected for the designers to make the Will save and perícias bonus +4 instead of +2 like for the other races.
Half-Orcs: +2 For, +2 to another stat other than Car or Int. Darkvision 18 m, Diehard as a bonus talento, +4 to Intimidate checks. Well, the bonus are better than any of the half-elf, but there's also less of them, so again, human just looks plain better.
Gnomes look actually quite solid considering all I heard about the designers hated them, but then they look like they just got lazy with the half-elves and half-orcs.
Oh, and at the end of the races chapter there's a sidebar explaining that yes, those races are supposed to be stronger than standard d20 races, for several reasons.
-Reduce magic item dependancy (remember that Tormenta players should get less magic bling)
-Increase low levels survivability (altough that's better served by their new initial
HP PV rules)
-Make your race choice overall more important for your character.
-More useful racial abilities (+4 against all large or bigger creatures instead of just giants).
And a final note that they should be considered LA+2 in relation to regular d20 races. Meh, they're good, but not that good if you ask me. I would consider them high LA+1, but LA is an horrible system, so their idea to simple raise the whole starting bar is something I can agree with, and actually wants me to try out a 1st level Tormenta campaign.
Chapter 3-Classes
I believe that's the first picture of an elf cowboy I've ever seen.Another fluff piece, this time describing how our amnesiac hero ends up in an arena and gets an explanation on how everybody fights in a diferent way. He seems to like sword and shield.
Anyway the core book goes to explain it contains 13 classes (lucky!):
Barbarian Bárbaro-feel the rage!
Bard Bardo-Traveling of all artist, jack-of-all trades
Cleric Clérigo-Servant of divine forces, receiving magic powers for his devotion
Druid Druida -guardian of the natural world and wild things, be them natural or monsters.
Sorceror Feiticeiro-Heir to an arcane bloodline, with a natural gift for magic.
Fighter Guerreiro-Supreme specialist of combat techniques with weapons and armor.
Rogue Ladino-Adventurer full of tricks, trusting more in speed and smarts than brute force.
Wizard Mago-A wise student of the arcane arts, master of great powers. Not actually
Wisdom Sabedoria based.
Monk Monge-Unarmed martial arts and secret techniques master.
Paladin Paladino-Champion or good and justice!
Ranger Ranger-Hunter of monsters and master of surviving in the wild
Samurai Samurai-heir to millenar traditions and bearer of ancestral swords
Swashbuckler Swashbuckler-Galant and daring warrior, that adventures for the thrill of danger (and possibly gold and power as well)
Geez, those sound all quite familiar don't they? We'll be tackling each in more detail later on, but before that some general stuff. Characters have a level, needing experience to level up. Then there's a table that points out how much experience you need to reach each level and also what everybody gains at each level regardless of class. First, there's no skill points. Having a perícia trained gives you a bonus based on level on its respective checks, starting at +4 and ending at +23 at 20th level. Untrained perícias start at +0 and end at +10. Then as already mentioned a talento at level 1 and another every couple levels, for a total of 10 talentos at 19th level. You also get a +1 to an ability score of your choice every 2 levels starting at 2nd level, and finally a bonus equal to half your level (rounded down) to AC, saves and all damage you deal regardless of being magic spells or simple pointy stuff. That sounds a lot like what 4e did if you ask me, but better. The 20th level guy knows how to dodge and stab better than the 1st level dude by default.
Then there's a note about multiclassing. It works like standard 3.5 multiclassing, except that:
-When taking a new class you do not gain that classe's starting PV. Yeah, each class gains quadruple base PV at first level (but not your Con bonus), like we quadruple skill points at first level in 3.5.
-You can pick either one base talento
or trained perícia from the new class. Classes now gain their base weapon/armor proficiencies as base talentos, while casters get Iron Will and Warriors get Great Fortitude. So dipping for a bunch of proficiencies or extra skills seems to be heavily discouraged.
-PM from diferent caster classes can't be used to cast spells from diferent classes. PMs from clerics are only good for their own ceric spells and so on.
Barbarian
Krork, exiled from his own tribe for his skin being too smooth and his impecable hair.Tormenta barbarians start with a whooping 24+Con mod HP and gain an extra 6+Con mod per level up. Simple and Martial weapons, light and medium armor, shields and Great Fortitude. Also 4+Int mod trained skills, picking from Handle Animal, Athletics, Ride, Initiative (yes that's a
skill perícia now), Profession, Perception, Survival. Rage now grants a plain +2 to melee attack and damage rolls, plus DR 1/-, but also -2 to AC. Otherwise standard rage, including duration 5+Con mod, fatigued when it ends, 1/day with extra uses gained as you level up, and upgrading to greater and mighty rage at levels 11 and 20. Everything else is basically the same, except the basically useless trap sense is replaced by Wild Instinct-a +1 bonus to reflex and Initiative saves that increases every 6 levels.
Overall Barbarians seem to have been a bit improved, with rage now granting DR (even taking in account they no longer gain a bonus to Will saves while on it) and Wild Instinct, but they're still basically the same.
Oh, and barbarians also get good Bab bonus, but iteratives don't exist anymore. Aparently you now get multiple attacks just trough some new feats we'll check later on, or magic effects like haste.
Bard
So... Wrong...
Tormenta bards start with medium Bab, 12 +Con mod PV, plus 3+Con mod PV per level. 6+Int mod trained skills, picking from Acrobatics, Athletics, Perform, Ride, Knowledge, Diplomacy, Bluff, Spellcraft, Initiative, Sense Motive, Thievery, Gather Information, Perception. Base talentos are Light Armor, Simple and Martial weapons, shields, Lighting Reflexes and Iron Will.
They still get Bardic Knowledge, that now allows you to make any knowledge checks as if you were trained in them, with bonus level+Int mod. They no longer have their own spell list, but rather cherry pick from the arcane and divine lists. They're also able to cast 1st level spells right away, gaining a new spell level every other 3 levels, up to 6th level spells at 16th level. Spellcasting Car based. They start knowing 4 0 level spells and a number of 1st level spells equal to 1+Car mod, learning a new one of any level they can cast every level up. They begin with1+Car mod PM and another 2 PM per level up. Spontaneous spellcasting.
They start knowing two bardic musics, and learn another one at 2nd level and every two other levels. They all have range 9 m and duration 1 min unless otherwise noticed. Standard action to start, can be used a number of times per day equal to level+Car mod, but only if you're trained in Perform. It follows with a list choices. Only works on creatures with Int 3+ that can hear you.
Scary Song-Will or shaken, single target, enemy becomes immune for a day if they save. Nice.
Mass Scary Song-As above, but every creatures of your choice whitin range. Needs 4th level and the above. Nicer.
Frightening Song-As scary song, but causes frighten. Needs scary song and 4th level.
Fascinate-same as 3.5 one.
Mass Fascinate-Same as above, but multiple target, and needs Suggestion.
Competence-You and your allies gain +2 on all perícias check. Sneak, sneak, sneack past the guards!
Improved Inspire Competence-Increases Inspire Competence's bonus to +4, needs it as prerequisite and 4th level.
Greater Inspire Competence-Increases Inspire Competence to +6, needs the Improved version to pick.
Inspire Courage-Grants +1 to attack rolls, damage and saves against fear. Comes in Improved version at 4th level for +2 and greater version after that for +3.
Inspire Greatness-Grants 10 temporary PV, +2 to attacks and Fortitude saves, needs Improved Inspire Courage.
Inspire Heroics-Grants +4 to AC and saves. Needs improved inspire courage.
Song of Freedom-Replicates remove enchantment on an ally. Needs improved invigorating melody.
Invigorating Melody-You and your allies heal 2d6 damage. Every turn for the duration? Once? At 4th level you can upgrade to the improved version for 4d6 and then greater version for 6d6.
Suggestion-Replicates the spell of same name on a creature that's already fascinated. DC 10+1/2 level+Car mod. Needs 4th level and fascinate.
Mass Suggestion-As above, but all creatures of your choice inside range. Needs mass fascinate.
Bards seem to start pretty strong, with 1st level spells right away, lots of perícias and even martial weapons and then 2 picks from bardic music. However they then seem to lose steam once they start to hit mid-high levels, as they're picking spells from the same list as the other mage classes but at a slower rate, and you can pick your strongest songs at 8th level. Overall seems like quite a nice gish for low level games, and the ability to cherry pick spells from both divine and arcane spells should keep them relevant all the way to 20th level.
Cleric
I told you dwarves rock as clerics.Tormenta clerics start with medium Bab, 16+Con mod PV, plus 4+Con mod PV per level. 2+Int mod trained skills, picking from Knowledge, Diplomacy, Spellcraft, Sense Motive, Profession. Base talentos are Light, Medium and Heavy Armor, Simple Weapons, Shields, Great Fortitude and Iron Will.
Notice the lack of the “new” Initiative Perícia
Anyway, clerics now must pick a Divinity (about time if you ask me, enough with all the abstract concept clerics). They tell us to check chapter 6 for details, so we'll have to wait how that works now, but aparently it will grant us particular powers.
Then clerics also gain Channel Positive(if good aligned)/Negative(if evil aligned) energy, much like pathfinder clerics. Neutral clerics get to pick whatever and then stick with it. It has a range of 9 m and either heals living
or damages undead for positive energy, the other way around for negative. 1D6 at start, another 1d6 for each two other levels. Will save (10+1/2 level+Car mod) for half damage if they would be harmed. Standard action, useable 1+Car mod times per day.
After that, the book suddenly tell us that we have Divine Power-pick either a magic talento or granted power from our deity, and another one every 5 levels. I guess they couldn't stand to just nerf the cleric, they had to give them some new goodies.
And then good old spells, that will be detailed in chapter 9. Usual rate of unlocking new levels, clerics still use Sabedoria as their main casting stat, but know only 4 prayers (0th level spells) plus 1+Sab mod at first level, then another couple spells of any level they can cast every two levels. Death to ever-expanding full spell list casters! That has my 100% support. They also gain PM equal to 1+Car mod, and 3 extra per level. And they need to prepare their spells ahead of time with one hour of prayer to their god, deciding how they want to spend their PM ahead of time.
Overall, clerics gain some extra talentos, but otherwise got a much needed nerf in knowing only some spells and no more domain cherry picking. Unless the gods now have some really OP granted abilities, but I'm hopeful not. Also the part where they don't get Initiative perícia means that later on they may get 9th level spells, but other classes may just smash their face before they get to cast. Unless you're an haxxor human cleric and thus get Initiative as one of your bonus perícias. Or there's some other way to unlock it. Anyway they still rock on with heavy armor, two good saves and HP.
Druid
Until now goblins have been described as lacking any kind of respect for both themselves and pretty much every other humanoid they meet, but they'll aparently make an exception for mother nature.Tormenta bards start with medium Bab, 15 +Con mod PV, plus 4+Con mod PV per level. 4+Int mod trained skills, picking from Handle Animals, Athletics, Ride, Knowledge, Diplomacy, Spellcraft, Profession, Perception. Survival. Base talentos are Light and Medium Armor, Simple weapons, Shields,
Great Fortitude Nature's Sense and Iron Will.
Again, notice the lack of Initiative skill. Seems to be a trend with fullcasters. Also no specialized weapon list (like the bard) or Great Fortitude, instead gaining Nature's Sense, that does... Something.
Druids have a conduct code that forbids them from using armors and shiels made of metal. Aparently that's just 3 kinds of armor and light shields, that are specifically made of wood. If they break this code, they lose all druid abilities for a day.
Then like clerics they must pick a divinity like a cleric, also unlocking some special power, but only get to pick from Allihanna, Megalokk or Oceano.
Wild Empathy allows you to make diplomacy checks with animals with a bonus equal to level+Car mod. Still don't understand why designers expect druids to invest in Car.
Spells are
pretty much exactly the same as the cleric's, they both learn from the divine spell list.
Then druids also get Natural Bond, that grants either an animal companion, or a bonus magic talento or granted power at 1st level and every other 5 levels, just like the cleric. The animal companion gets its own table and unique stats. “Unique” as in all animal companions share the same exact base stats, instead of the druid geting to cherry-pick from the bestiary. They also explicitly take a move action to make them do something (and possibly Handle Animal checks for complex actions). You can however fluff them as anything you want, including “one-of-kind” rare beasts.
The Animal companion's base stats are 9 m movement speed, 7 PV, CA 14 (+2 Des, +2 Natural), bite +3 (1d6+2), Fort+4, Ref+4, Will +1, For 15, Des 15, Con 15, Int 2, Sab 12, Car 6. Only perícia is Perception at +6 and they also get the Vitality talento. At each level up the AC gains +1 Bab and 4 PV+Con mod. Then they also gain level benefits as if they were a character, including extra talentos and ability scores... Oh, and they also gain one wildshape ability (more on that on a moment) and another at 5th level and each other 5 levels, unlocking higher wildshape abilities at the same rate as you do, except they can't be elementals (yay random limitation!). Oh, and if your animal companion bites the dust, the druid gets auto-stunned for 1d4 rounds. They must spend a whole day in a wild area to get a replacement.
At 2nd level druids get Woodland Stride that allows them go trough natural difficult terrain whitout speed reductions and at 3rd level Invisible Tracks increases the DC of tracking you by 10. Yay druids no longer tell specialized trackers to go screw themselves!
Finally at 5th level wildshape. As a standard action 1+Sab mod times per day, turn into an animal-any animal, even unknown beasts-except your stats remain the same, but you get to pick one ability from a list. You can't cast spells, and you can make Bluff checks with a +10 bonus to try to pass as a common creature. Can't cast spells and equipment gets absorbed and returns when you exit wildshape. Unlimited duration, but you rever if you die.
Agility: +4 Des
Natural Armor: +4 AC
Brutality: For+4
Climb: 9 m climb speed
Tooth and Claw: two claws for 1d4 damage and one bite dealing 1d6 damage (medium creatures). You can use them all at the same round, but then take a -4 penalty on the attack rolls.
Swim: Swim at the speed of 9 m.
Wild Instincs: Scent, lowlight vision and +4 on perception checks.
Speed: +9 m to movement.
Large Size: become large. For+4, -1 on attacks and AC, -4 on Stealth.
Small: Gain small size.
At 8th level you get to pick two, three at 14th level, and four at 20th level. You can change what you gain at each level, but never pick the same ability twice at the same time.
At 9th level you get poison immunity, and at 11th level Improved Wildshape gives you new options
Instant Grab: if you hit in melee, start grapple as a free action against the victim.
Agility: +8 Destreza. Yes, it has the exact same name as base one.
Armadura Natural: Another repeated name, now +6 AC.
Brutality: Again same name, but this time does exactly the same, still +4 For.
Climb or Swim now at 18 m, or Speed for +18 m.
Huge Size grants you, well, huge size category, including +8 For, -2 on attack rolls and AC, -8 stealth.
Tiny Size changes you to tiny and +2 on attack rolls and AC and +8 on stealth checks.
Web: Range 18 m standard action, Ref DC 10+1/2 HD+Con mod to avoid immobilization. They can get out with a fullround action and a Força check or Acrobatics, either DC 25.
Poison: Your natural attacks force a Fort save with same DC as above or 2d12 extra damage. And you can easily pick three natural attacks.
Flight: Fly 9 m.
At 13th level you get Thousand faces for at-will Alter Self, and then at 15th level Timeless body makes you stop to grow older, either naturally or magically. You still gain bonus, and still kick the bucket when your time comes.
At 17th level you get Greater Wildshape, that no longer is composed mostly of “same as before, but bigger numbers”. Still the “new” Armardura Natural for +8 AC, but now you can pick trample that deals 4d6+Força mod when you move over creatures two or more sizes smaller than you, Força-based reflex save for half. Or constriction for 1d8+Força mod every round you hold a grapple. Or elemental body for DR 10/magic and immunity to sleep, paralyzis, stunning and poison (aren't you already immune to Poison due to being a druid?
) plus two natural slam attacks dealing 1d6 each, and you can use both on the same round by taking a -4 penalty on the attack rolls. Water gives you swim 18 m and going trough barriers that aren't hermitically sealed, air gives you fly 18 m, fire makes you immune to it and your natural attacks deal an extra 1d6 fire, earth grants an extra +4 AC. You cannot combine elemental with other wildshape abilities except agility, brutality or sizes (which fits exactly the 4 options you get at 20th level). There's also colossal size for +16 For and scaling penalties, or diminutive size with no stat bonus but better numbers. Or the (greater) fly for fly 18 m, that can be combined with other stuff unlike air elemental.
Overall, druids got kinda nerfed in that they no longer get their full list, but they can still get both Animal Companion and Wildshape. In particular when you take in account that there's a new version of Natural Spell to cast spells while wildshaped. However, the animal companion doesn't get the inflated HP or super racial stats other players get, and wildshape is also drastically weaker (little more than some nice utility at 5th level when you just get one ability). So druids weaker overall, but they seem to now stand above clerics, as they both get the same spell list and the druid gets extra perícias and drastically better class abilities over his twenty levels, in contrast to “+1d6 channel energy”. Unless metal armors turn out to be super awesome.
And I'll make another pause for now.
Comments: So far the classes seem like a mix of standard 3.5, Pathfinder and 4e stuff. Full list casters got the axe even before we start checking the spells themselves, while other classes received minor but significant buffs. Two interesting details are the inflated HP determined by class at first level, making barbarians easily have more HP at start than other classes will have until they start reaching low-medium levels, and Initiative being a perícia, which makes it nothing short of an auto-pick, but isn't directly available to fullcasters. This could be an interesting balancing mechanic, but again, fullcasters seem to have some other good options to train Initiative as well.
More
feats talentos and ability score boosts are nice as well, and the scaling bonus to AC, damage and saves that's equal to everybody kinda screams 4e. Personally I find it kinda strange the cleric ends up hiting harder than a 1st level barbarian by default. However I'll admit it should help the keep the math more simple. No fiddling with skill points or rolling HP every level helps as well. So far seems like Tormenta clearly isn't trying to reinvent the basic wheel, but to bring everybody togheter.
Next part: I look over the remaining classes.
