Tormenta Campaign Setting Overview

[Ziderich]

The thing about Tormenta Talentoss: there are rules for Tormenta corruption among the  setting books, where your Charisma decreases more and alignment changes to Chaotic Evil as you pick more related feats or prestige classes. Basically dark side corrupts =D
The problem about the basic content is that it has not strayed far from the D&D 3.5 to not prejudice the buyers who played the old line Tormenta d20, so many good ideas were new to supplements. But you get there.
And I took the question about Parry (Aparar talento): really can not be used against non-mundane attacks, but the author himself thinks this a great idea = D

[oslecamo]

Sounds good!

Part XII-Almost halfway trough the core book!

Chapter 6-Characteristics


Just look at the size of that painting!

The fluff intro puts our amnesiac hero realizing he's hungry, and now that there's nobody trying to kill him at the moment, he takes a moment to relax and think about the background details such as good and evil, religion and gods, past life and eating at taverns.

Then the chapter goes on the explain the typical dual-axis D&D alignment, and the nine possible results, using "How would this kind of character react if they found a starving child stealing bread from a merchant". LG would buy food for the child, plus a lecture and delivering them to the local authorities. NG would somehow help both merchant and child (probably give them a good scare so they don't get the habit of stealing). CG would help cover it up and then teach the child to steal from rich corrupt merchants and sharing with other starving children. LN would stop the theft and notify the authorities. Neutral would not give a single damn. CN would do whatever they thought may be funnier, either helping cover the escape or using the whole thing as a distraction to steal something for himself. LE would punish the child right there, or deliver them to the local authorities if they're known for delivering cruel punishment. NE would blackmail the child and their parents to try to get whatever they have. CE would kill the child, then kill the merchant, then whoever was nearby, then eat them with the bread. . Staying classic so far.


Everybody has to do some sacrifices on life.

After alignment, your character should pick a name. The book says there's no problem is stealing from other sources-as long as it is something easy to pronounce and not some super famous character (unless you're going for an intentional direct clone/parody). Or you can just go simple with "Goblin Hero" or "Katabrok the barbarian".

Then there's age! You start at 15 years old, then add a random number of years depending on your class (+1d4 for barbarians, rogues, swashbucklers, sorcerors, +1d6 for bard, fighter, paladin, ranger, +2d6 for everything else). Then there's the typical aging penalties, and your max age is 70+2d20 years, thus so far also classic. However that's for humans, goblins, lefou and minotaurs. Halflings multiply all age values by 2, dwarves by 3, qareen by 6, and elves by 10, instead of a bunch of half-arbitary numbers like in 3.5. Also means elves are longer lived, with a good chance to go over a milennia old.

History, Looks and Personality are next, and the book tells you to do whatever you please, that it can go a long way to make the game more enjoyable if your character has defining characteristics besides their numbers and abilities, but also to don't go overboard, a paragraph should be more than enough. Oh, and hidden here is that there's no female minotaurs. They should've probably mentioned that back in the races section.


Then gods! You need to be whitin one alignment step to worship a specific one, and also of the "typical followers" class or race to pick them, unless you're an human, in which case you only need to have your alignment close. You also need a sacred symbol of your god to activate any and all divine powers, but you can get those in regular jewelery form, or just stitched to your clothes.

(click to show/hide)

Allihanna: NG goddess of nature, representing the kindness of the natural world, the purity of animals and plants. Can grant the animal, Good, Heal or Plant powers, is usually followed by elves, halflings, barbarians, druids and rangers. Her symbol is either animal or small tree. Her favored weapon is the staff.


High heels are now divine fashion for druids in Tormenta.

Azgher: LG Sun-god. He's watching you from above. He's kind, but also demanding and prideful, seeing the world below as a child that needs to be cared, but also needs to show respect to the father. Powers are Good, Fire, Sun, Travel, followers are barbarians, fighters, monks, rangers, paladins. Symbolis a golden sun, his favored weapon a scimitar.


Don't dare to look him directly in the eyes.

Hyninn: CN god of trickery, worshiped by both thieves and rulers for his cunning. All the other gods but Valkaria don't trust him. Powers are Chaos, Trickery, Luck, Travel, followers are halflings, goblins, bards, rogues, swashbucklers. Symbol is either a dagger and mask, or a fox. Favored weapon is a dagger.


Probably also the god of backstabbing

Kallyadranoch: LE god of dragons , currently weakened enjoying trapped in a mortal body of a female elf on the material world, that doesn't stop him from being able to grant magic to his worshipers. Powers are Knowledge, Destruction, Magic, Evil, followers are elves, barbarians, fighters, sorcerors, symbol is a scale of different colors (Tiamat reference?), favored weapon is the spear.


Keenn: Violent CE god of war, he's a dick that loves to manipulate events and intrigues that eventually lead to bloody battles. Many people will still pray to him when they want to destroy somebody else. Many kings have Keenn clerics as counselors, that are always trying to put their nations in the path of war. Powers are Destruction, Strength, War, Evil, followers are barbarians, minotaurs, fighters, sacred symbol is a longsword, warhammer and waraxe over a shield, favored weapon is the waraxe.


Yup, dual-wielding is king now.

Khalmyr: LG god of Justice, previous leader of the pantheon, until he was beaten up by Tauron, or he willingly gave up his place, recognizing the other god as stronger-and thus more righteous. Yeah, might makes right pretty much. Has a couple knight orders dedicated to him, the Order of Light, and the Order of Khalmyr (every fantasy RPG should have an Order/Warriors of Light if you ask me). Powers are Good, War, Order, Protection, Earth, followers are dwarves, minotaurs, fighters, paladins, monks, sacred symbol is a sword  over scales, favored weapon is the longsword.


The true reason for still being popular after failing at his job is because he's a bishounen.

Lena: NG goddess of fertility and healing, basically goddess of Life itself. Very popular among farmers and pregnant mothers. Her clerics are always women, taking the role of kind mothers for the child-goddess. Powers are Good, Healing, Plants, Protection, followers are elves, halflings, monks, symbol is a crescent silver moon, doesn't have a favored weapon at all.
Her clerics thus can't use spiritual weapon and similar.


She probably made a contract with a mysterious cat-like alien in return for her godlike power.

Lin-Wu: LN was the main god of Tamu-Ra until its destruction. He doesn't have any listed reportoire besides that, but it's probably the god of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", because his surviving worshipers have refused to go emo fall into despair like the elves and are instead fighting to rebuild their nation and maintain their culture, believing in getting back up after falling. Powers are War, Order, Protection, Sun, followers are monks, fighters, paladins, samurais, symbol is a metal sheet with an engraved dragon, favored weapon is the masterwork bastard sword katana.


Also known as the dragon god. Do not confuse with Kallyadranoch.

Marah: NG Goddess of peace, love and joy. Even bloodthirsty warriors give her some attention, because what's the sense of waging war if you don't get a moment of peace to celebrate later? Powers are Good, Healing, Protection, Luck, followers are elves, halflings, qareen, bards, monks, sacred symbol is a red heart, and just like Lena, no favored weapon.


Basically, the goddess of MILF.

Megalokk: The CE god of monsters-that-want-to-kill-you-horribly, counterpart to Allihanna. An insane bloodthirsty beast, father to giants, chimeras, medusas and many others. When they feel like being spiritual, they pray shout for Megalokk. He used to be a pretty chill guy back when thunder-lizards ruled the land, but now is pretty pissed that the world is filled with puny humanoids, and is always nagging Allihanna as if he was an older brother. Powers are Animals, Destruction, Evil, Plants, followers are goblins, minotaurs, barbarians, druids, rangers, symbol is a monster figurine, favored weapon is the mace.


Class levels are for weaklings!

Nimb: CN god of chaos, considered crazy and dangerous, altough he may also make you win the loterry if he's in a good mood. Some say he should be the ruler of the Pantheon, claiming that "Khalmyr owns the table, but who moves the pieces is Nimb". Powers are Chaos, Luck, and three randomly determined by the DM Master. A single cleric cannot have oppposed powers. Or can then...? Followers are goblins, halflings, qareen, barbarians, sorceros, rogues, swashbucklers. Symbol is a six-faced die, Favored weapon is none and all-when you use spiritual weapon, something random appears, perhaps even objects (now I want a campaign where a cleric of Nimb BBEG summons the Deathstar as his spiritual weapon).


Divine leprechaun!

Oceano: TN god of the seas, used to sink continents to increase his domains. He's since grown bored of it, because his reign is already bigger than every piece of dry land combined, yet the other gods keep squabling for those miserable pieces of dirt, unable to notice the big picture only Oceano can see. Powers are Water, Air, Animals, Plants, followers are minotaurs, druids, rangers, sacred symbol is a shell, favored weapon is the trident.


That doesn't seem very pratical for swimming.

Ragnar: Previously a minor CE god of bubears, currently a CE god of Death as he has united the goblinoid tribes in the Black Alliance to decimate the humans, elves and dwarves that humiliated him for thousands of years. Pretty satisfied now as his avatar Thwor Ironfist keeps leading his legions to victory. Powers are Destruction, War, Evil and Death, followers are goblins, barbarians, fighters, rangers, sacred symbol is a white circle eclipsed by a black circle, favored weapon is the mace.


He keeps his feet nails pretty well kept.

Sszzaas:NE god of Betrayal, smartest and more cunning god of all. After all, he managed to return from banishment. His servants are infiltrated everywhere. Perhaps even in the party itself. Powers are Knowledge, Trickery, Evil, Death, followers are bards, sorcerors, rogues, swashbucklers. Symbol is a 7-sided polygon with a naja dripping poison from its teeth, favored weapon is the dagger.


Looks like a trustworthy guy to me.

Tanna-Toh: LN goddess of knowledge, science, culture, arts and languages. Taught the people how to write, her temples double as schools and libraries, his clerics act as teachers. Usually wise and pacific, but intolerant towards those that willingly choose ignorance and brutality. Powers are Knowledge, Order, Protection, Travel, followers are bards, monks, paladins, symbol is a scroll and feather, favored weapon is the staff.


Didn't age nearly as well as the other gods.

Tauron: LN god of Strength, and the actual pantheon leader. Brave and prideful, he stands for both the strong ruling the weak, but also for the strong protecting the weak, which may sound contradictory.  He's neither good or evil, standing for bravery, determination, and both inner and outer strength. Feared by the docile and pure, worshiped by the strong and brave. He also made the elven goddess, Glórienn, a part of his harem. Powers are Fire, Strength, War, Order, Protection, followers are dwarves, elves, minotaurs, fighters, monks. Sacred symbol is a bull head on flames, favored weapon is the greataxe. Personally, he sounds very dickish and arrogant, however, back in the day of the ancient greeks, "heroes" were mostly glorified slavers that mostly considered women as possession, so meh.


Poor Glorienn is stuck being Tauron's b**** until some green-clothed hero appears to rescue her.

Tenebra: The beautiful TN goddess of Darkness is mother to all who walk or crawl away from the light. Altough this includes a lot of evil creatures, she also protects good creatures that shun the daylight for whatever reason. Just as Azgher is watching you during the day, Tenebra is watching you during the night. She hates Azgher, because aparently she wanted for there to be night all the time, nevermind that resulting in all plants dying and people whitout darkvision being royally screwed. Powers are Evil (lolwhut?), Death, Protection, Earth. Followers include dwarves, qareen, bards, rogues, wizards. Symbol is a black star with five points, favored weapon is the shuriken.


"I'm not evil, I would just like for most of the population to slowly starve or freeze to death while blinded."

Thyatis: LG god of ressurection and prophecy, representing second chances. He both hands out predictions so people won't make grave mistakes, or he brings them back to life when they don't listen to him. If it was up to him, nobody should be punished for their mistakes, but rather use them as learning opportunities to correct their flaws, instead of dying for them. His clerics are supposed to be really good at predicting the future, and his paladins are said to never die! Powers are Knowledge, Healing, Fire, Travel, followers are fighters, wizards, monks, paladins, his symbol is a phoenix, his favored weapon a longsword.


Aka god of plot power.

Wynna: CN Goddess of Magic, worshiped by all those who use arcane power. She's pretty generous and liberal,  handing magic to any who ask for it, whitout caring whetever they'll use it for good or evil. Magic is more important than life after all, right? Helps to explain why there's so many magic users and random magic effects around Arton. Powers are Water, Air, Fire, Earth, Heart, Magic, Luck. Followers are elves, qareen, bards, sorcerors, wizards. Symbol is a metal ring, favored weapon is a dagger.


Not even the goddess of magic can escape from arcane spell failure for wearing armor.

Valkaria: The CG Goddess of PIERCE THE HEAVENS Ambition and humans.  She was trapped in a giant statue for helping to to create the Tormenta, only to be free when anyone could defeat the planar labyrinth hidden inside said giant statue. Which was acomplished recently by a group of heroes, so her worship has begun to spread far and wide. Powers are Good, Luck, War, Travel. Her followers are adventurers of any class or race. Her symbol can be either her statue, or six enveloped bands. Her favored weapon is the flail.


I'm pretty sure that's not a flail, but she still looks pretty awesome

Well, seems like this chapter was mostly about fluff folks, let's check the next o-Wait, there's still something!

Action Points are supposed to represent an heroe's ability to overcome critical situations, where failure or success can decide the fate of the world.

Players start each game session with one Action Point, and they don't carry over to the next session. You can earn extra Action Points during a session by performing heroic acts, something valorous and altruistic. Beating up goblins isn't very heroic. But taking hits for a friend, rescuing villagers from a burning tavern, surrendering to a villain in order to save hostages, allowing a villain to escape so you can stop a monster from killing innocent bystanders, those are all examples of acts that should grant extra Action Points. The Master is encouraged to include several opportunities for heroic acts over a game.

Saying something inspired that makes everybody else at the table laugh or cheer you should also earn you extra action points, including cool action descriptions and whatnot.

Or alternatively, the players will earn Action Points when the Master changes the rules in favor of the enemies. Villain escapes automatically? Party gains free Action Points! Player automatically fails save against a trap so the plot can advance? Party gains free action Points! Enemy gets a free surprise round? Party gains free Action Points! NPC uses an Action point? Party gains free Action Points! Also yes, only PCs get Action Points by default.

But what to do with those Action Points? Well, you can spend them as a Reaction  that doesn't consume any time, unless a rule says otherwise. When you spend them, you get to roll a die and add the result to either any 1d20 roll (after knowing how much you rolled, but before knowing if it was enough to succeed or no), or add to your AC until the start of your next turn. You can also roll a second save to shake off an ongoing effect on yourself such as Dominate Person, or gain an extra Standard or Move action . Finally, you can spend an Action Point to recover HP PV. But how much you roll you may ask? Well, it depends in your level.

PCs of level 1-4 roll an extra 1d4, or recover 1d8+1 HP. PCs of level 5-8 roll an extra 1d6, or recover 2d8+3. PCs of level 9-12 roll an extra 1d8, or recover 3d8+5. PCs of level 13-16 roll an extra 1d10, or recover 4d8+7. And PCs of level 17-20 roll an extra 1d12, but recover  5d8+9. Oh, and you can spend multiple Action Points per round, but no more than one for each kind of benefit per round.


Guess this is what happens when you run out of Action Points

Overall This chapter felt mostly bland. Tormenta gods aren't carbon copies from D&D, but also seem quite generic, with the exception of the loli goddess of life that wants to be baby-sitted by her clerics.

The last page about Action Points however spurred up my attention. They're clearly based on the Eberron Action Points, but improved if you ask me. Gaining Action Points based on session inspires the players to spend them every time you meet to play, in particular if gaming time is almost up and you're on a last battle before packing up. Plus you don't need to spend feats Talentos to unlock more fancy effects like extra Standard action. Being able to shake off ongoing effects sounds particularly neat. Gaining Action Points for good roleplaying also sounds pretty good. The part where the players gain extra Action Points when the DM Master brings out rule Zero sounds  particularly interesting to me. "Ok guys, I'm bending the rules a bit here, so you also get some rules bending power to use at your leisure". I usually don't use Action points, but I may be strongly tempted to use this system in the future.

[Unbeliever]

Tormenta's action points are almost identical to M&M's hero points, as well as the action points as they are implemented in Trailblazer, I think.  Note that this isn't a criticism -- both of those games implement the idea much better than Eberron did.  I suspect Eberron was a little too wary to introduce that big a change into things. 

At any rate, I'm a fan of this approach.  I like giving both another thing to reward fun actions by players, and another thing to induce them to be more heroic.  The only drawback is that players tend to hoard them for defense (that was my experience with M&M).  I hope the reset each session would help mitigate that, but I don't think it can be eliminated entirely.

[oslecamo]

Clearly, M&M and Trailblazer copied it from Tormenta.

Part XIII-Equipment


Pirates and pistols

New intro fluff puts our amnesiac finishing his meal, and his halfling friend pays up and then takes him to a shop so they can properly gear up. Luckily, the little fellow has leftover treasure to spend, and doesn't believe in hoarding. Capitalism, ho!

As already mentioned, the basic coin is the Tibar (T), that comes in Silver Prata Tibar (TP) worth 10 T and Gold Ouro Tibar worth 100 T. Also Platinium Platina Tibar (TL) worth 1000 T. Oh, and Tibar is the god of commerce, currently trying to negotiate a position in the major gods. Characters start with 100 TO at first level, or more if starting at higher level, up to 260 000 TO for 20th level.

Then there's the prices of some basic goods, conversion tables, you can usually only sell items at half price, weapon categories and their basic properties, nothing you don't know already . Only difference I can spot is that using a weapon with both hands doesn't automatically grant you 1,5 Str For mod to damage. Also, ranged weapons can shoot up to twice their range increment with a -2 penalty, quadruple range increment with a -4 penalty, but cannot reach beyond that.


Not very sure what kind of armor that is supposed to be.

Then there's a big table of weapons, and as far I can tell, it's the exact same thing as in 3.5, except for the addition of some new toys.

(click to show/hide)

Alchemical Acid: Deals 2d4 acid damage now, but no splash damage.

Shortbow: Now a simple weapon.

Composite Bow: Martial weapon, fixed price of 75 TO, always allows you add your full For mod to damage rolls, deals 1d6 base damage with range increment 18 m (+6 m than the shortbow, but -6 m than the longbow). There's no longer composite shortbows or composite longbows.

Whip: Can now damage any enemy regardless of their armor, deals lethal damage, grants +4 bonus on Trip and Disarm checks.

Spiked Chain: Like the whip, now grants a +4 bonus on trip and disarm checks, plus can reach up to 4,5 m, which is equivalent to 15 feet in 3e.

Heavy Crossbow: Can be reloaded as a standard action, but now a martial weapon. Both it and the light crossbow don't provoke Aoos for reloading (but again, nothing so far seems to do).

Tauric Sword: Exotic two-handed weapon, deals 2d8 slashing damage for 50 TO.


Decisions, decisions.

Alchemical Fire: As the acid, no splash damage, but still deals 1d6 fire damage and sets people on fire. Also, the game tells us that touch attacks are opposed by a Reflex save from the opponent instead of trying to hit your AC whitout armor. Which means your touch "AC" now scales whitout need of obscure items! Sweet!

Grenade: Simple weapon, 50 TO each. You need to light it up as a move action before throwing it, then you make a ranged attack roll and everybody whitin 3m of the target takes 4d6 fire damage, Reflex save for half, where the DC is equal to your attack roll. Sounds pretty brutal at low levels, and even at higher levels should allow mooks to be somewhat dangerous.

Katana: Stats as a bastard sword, but costs 400 TO, is automatically masterwork, and you can use Weapon Finesse with it.

Dwarven Axe: Eleven out of ten dwarves prefer this weapon. Yes, that's what the book says

Flail: Grants +4 bonus to Disarm checks now.

Shattering Maul: New two-handed exotic weapon, costs 50 TO, deals 1d12 bludgeoning damage base with a crit threat of 19-20. When you confirm a critical hit with it, you don't deal extra damage, but rather reduce the target's AC by 2 as you shatter their armor/scales. In the case of unarmored enemies with natural armor, the AC can be recovered with a Full Heal spell or Regeneration. In the case of armor, you need a Profession check with DC 15+damage to be restored. Cute, but I think I'll rather be dealing extra damage.

Musket: Exotic weapon, costs a whooping 500 TO. Standard action to reload and demands both hands to fire, and bullets are 5 TO each. For all your troubles, you deal 2d8 piercing damage with a crit of 19-20x3, which would be somewhat underwhelming if not for the part where it has a range increment of 45 m! Second highest is the heavy crossbow with 27 m. And taking a quick look at the magic chapter, is also a considerably better range than combat spells (fireball is 30 m, plant growth is 90 m for example).

Pistol: Exotic weapon, costs 250 TO. Standard action to reload, can be fired with just one hand, but if you use both you gain a +1 bonus on the attack roll. Deals 2d6 piercing damage with a crit of 19-20/x3 and range increment 15 m. You can get 10 bullets for 35 TO. You can only carry up to six loaded pistols if you don't feel like reloading during combat.

Serrated Saber: Exotic one-handed weapon, costs 500 TO, deals 1d8 slashing damage and a crit range of 19-20. When you score a crit however, instead of extra damage, the saber gets stuck into the enemy, dealing 1d6 damage every time the victim takes a standard or fullround action until removed, which demands a move action and deals another 1d6 damage. Really, considering that you can fullattack as a standard action now, this will barely slow down your enemy, so you're better off just picking something that deals extra damage.

Sai: Now grants a +4 bonus on disarm attempts.

Shuriken: You can throw two of them as a standard action whitout penalty, and they deal 1d4 damage for medium creatures! Since it's a monk weapon, I guess it stacks with flurry of blows. Also, no more "counts as ammunition for crafting purposes". Speaking of which, so far no rule says that ammunition is destroyed when used.

Tai-Tai: Exotic ranged weapon, costs 40 TO, basically a miniature catapult you strap to your forearm. Deals 2d4 bludgeoning damage with a range of 24 m. What screws it over is that it needs a move action to reload.


It looks pretty cool tough

Trident: Grants +4 bonus on trip attempts.

Wakizhashi: The pair to the katana, costs 350 TO, already counts as Masterwork, deals 1d8 slashing damage with a crit of 19-20 and is a Light weapon, so handy for dual-wielding I guess.

Then there's Armor section, where everything seems to be the exact same than in 3e, so gonna skip it. Only interesting thing of note is that samurai traditional armor seems to be the Splint Mail.


The girl in the left? She's not in her underwear. That's basic Leather Armor that supposedly grants +2 AC.

Then there's goods and services. Same as in regular D&D, only thing that stands out is that tying up a rope is a DC 10  Dex  Des check, whereas a special knot, like able to slide or slowly unravel, is a DC 12 Des check. Torches can count as simple weapons dealing 1d4 damage plus 1 fire.

And I'll cut it for now. Should be able to finish this chapter later today or tommorrow.


Overall: Tormenta improves a bunch of older weapons that needed a boost, and then goes and adds some new weapons, which altough with some nice ideas, are kinda on the weakish side in raw power level. Sacrificing extra crit damage for some minor bleeding damage or AC penalty just isn't worth it. Muskets and pistols hit hard but the slow reload is a big limitation. Grenades are the exception, seeming pretty good actually, strong mundane area damage. A bit expensive, but considering that a basic musket costs the same as ten grenades, not too shabby. Wonder if they work with Sneak Attack.

Next time: goblin baloons! Special Tormenta crafting materials!


Here's a cool pic I found on Devianart with Master Arsenal vs the Undead Paladin whose name I forgot. If nothing else, Tormenta seems to have drawn in some pretty good artists to it.

[Atmo]

Here's a cool pic I found on Devianart with Master Arsenal vs the Undead Paladin whose name I forgot. If nothing else, Tormenta seems to have drawn in some pretty good artists to it.[/i]

Paladino. Yes, his name is the same as his class. Probably he have a real name, but no one cares (Rule of Cool, remember?).

[Libertad]

Paladino's a real last name.  For example, Carl Paladino, a US Tea Partier who ran for Governor of New York.

Still, I bet that naming schematic was not a coincidence.

[Atmo]

Paladino's a real last name.  For example, Carl Paladino, a US Tea Partier who ran for Governor of New York.

Still, I bet that naming schematic was not a coincidence.

English: Paladin.
Portuguese: Paladino.

Before, he was Paladino de Jallar; Jallar was a Deusa Menor/Minor Goddess of something that thought he betrayed her and then killed him. Time latter, a group found him and ressurrected him (why not?) and... things happened.

[NumeFinorio]

Here's a cool pic I found on Devianart with Master Arsenal vs the Undead Paladin whose name I forgot. If nothing else, Tormenta seems to have drawn in some pretty good artists to it.

Actually, that's a the first art of a series of posters that will be published by Jambô this year as part of the 15th anniversary of Tormenta (1st edition was published in May of 1999), so it is a official art, not a fan art.

And the Paladino de Arton have a name, but he choose to let it go and became only a idea for the people of Arton rather than a person. In the first edition of Tormenta he was make to be that ideal hero to wich every player character would be inspired to be. (It don't work so well because, you know, people actually hated him because he was so overpowered, he have special powers from the Rubys of Virtue, that everytime he apeared in a player adventure he pretty much could do everything by himself. So they make a 42 issues comic series called Holy Avenger to kill him and get rid of the problem, poor guy).

The setting has other paladins who choose to do that as well, like the Goblim Hero, a goblim paladin who refuses to be give his name so people would aways remember him as a goblim and a hero, and not as an individual, so that people would start associate good deeds with his race, instead of thiefs or the fact that part of them fight for the Black Alliance. And even villains do that becoming a idea thing, as the Laughing Knight, a immortal knight blessed by the god of chaos to mess up the lives of orderly people, who

(click to show/hide)

is actually a series of insane guys using the same set of armor over the centuries, a guy is dead by heroes, another one is driven insane by the god to take up the armor and keep the work of chaos going.

[BURP]

Tormenta's action points are almost identical to M&M's hero points, as well as the action points as they are implemented in Trailblazer, I think.  Note that this isn't a criticism -- both of those games implement the idea much better than Eberron did.  I suspect Eberron was a little too wary to introduce that big a change into things. 

At any rate, I'm a fan of this approach.  I like giving both another thing to reward fun actions by players, and another thing to induce them to be more heroic.  The only drawback is that players tend to hoard them for defense (that was my experience with M&M).  I hope the reset each session would help mitigate that, but I don't think it can be eliminated entirely.

It makes more sense if you note that Jambô Editora, who publishes Tormenta, is also the publisher of the brazilian edition of M&M =P The authors utilized a lot the premises of the Open Gaming License in composing the game, which is not a bad thing, quite the contrary. If it works so well, it might as well appear in more titles.

[oslecamo]

I... Will... Finish... This...

Part XIV-Vehicles and Services


Goblins not included.

Goblin Balloon: Huge size, movement speed 9 m, AC 8+Pilot's Dex Des mod and 80 HP PV. Piloting it demands one Profession (ballooner) check per day, DC depending on the weather. 15 will be enough for a calm day, rain or windy demands 20, you'll need a result of 25 to get trough a stormy day. Failure means the balloon won't go anywhere, or will go somewhere else. Failure by 5 or more means it falls, and everybody inside takes 2d6 damage with a Ref DC 15 for half. However if the balloon was below half HP and falls, then regular falling damage for the distance. Meaning that if you're flying just above ground, you're better off falling on a damaged balloon!

There's also rules for the balloon losing air when damaged, but they just don't seem to make much sense. "When it suffers any kind of damage, the balloon starts to lose air, losing the same amount of damage taken in each subsequent round". So I guess the balloon starts bleeding PV pretty fast?

Anyway you can attempt repairs with a DC 15 Profession (ballooner) check that patches 1d8 PV as a fullround action. And all of that for the relatively cheap price of 200 TO! No word on how much weight or how many people it can carry tough. I guess it's reasonable to assume it can carry the whole party and their treasure loot.

Then there's the cost for carriages and some kinds of boats (10 000 TO for a sailboat!!!), but they get no stats whatsoever. Also prices for simply buying transportation for a certain distance of travel instead of buying the vehicle. Trusting an NPC to pilot a goblin balloon incurs a risk of 1 in 20 of falling midway!

You can also hire messengers, paying by km of travel. No time of delivery given, and apparently messengers will charge the same regardless of the target being on a peaceful village of some civilized land, or in the dungeons of the cursed castle of the crimson tyrant besieged by that goblin army. Handy if you want to contact some rebel leader or hidden prisioner!

Casters offer their services pretty cheap, up to 5th level spells for 90 TO. As long as they get to cast them from the safety of their homes, they aren't gonna follow you to that dungeon.

Carrying capacity-is equal to 3 times your Str For score in kg. Thumbs up for no more complicated tables! You can go over it up to ten times your For score, but then you take a -2 penalty on Acrobatics, Athletics, Stealth and Thievery, plus your movement speed is reduced by 3 m. Once again tormenta civilians prove pretty badass, as even a simple commoner with 10 For can carry 100 kg of stuff on their back all day long at 2/3 their normal movement speed!

Special Materials

That picture is actually supposed to be of an artifact, but it's the only pic I could find of something made of Aço-Rubi

Aço-Rubi: Looks like glass with hinges of red, but hard as steel. Weapons made of Aço-Rubi ignore all DR, even DR that normally cannot be overcome by any material. It's exclusively forged and sold by dwarves, that keep its origin and forgery techniques a secret. Rumors is that it comes from an underground Tormenta area, still unknown to the surface factions. Increases a weapon's price by 1000 TO, sounds like a pretty good deal.

What does it make when applied to armors? Eeerr, it isn't sold in that form it seems. I guess that explains why the above armor is an artifact.

Adamante: Makes weapons deal damage as if they were one size category larger, while armors and shields grant DR 1 (light stuff), 2 (medium) or 3 (heavy). Doesn't say wherever a shield and armor stack, or wherever they stack with other sources of DR. Price will be +1500 TO for weapon, light armor or heavy shield, +3000 TO for medium armor, +7000 TO for heavy armor. Can't make light shields out of adamante.


Gelo Eterno: Coming right from the Howling mountains, this ice never melts. Weapons deal +1 cold damage for +1000 TO (just pay the extra 500 TO for adamante I say), while armor and shields grant Cold Resistance 2 for light (+500 TO light armor or heavy shield, light shields again need not apply), 5 for medium armor (+1000 TO) and 10 for heavy armor (+2000 TO).

Madeira Tollon: This black wood can be only be applied to wooden weapons, and makes them count as magic for beating DR for just +100 TO. Light Shields will offer 1 DR for +1000 TO. Armors and heavy shields cannot apply because they're made mostly of metal. If you're actually in the kingdom of Tollon where this stuff is created, you can get it at half price, which is a pretty nice touch.

Matéria Vermelha:Any materials obtained from the lefeu, from their claws and carapaces to their ores and buildings from Tormenta areas present similar properties, being known collectively as Matéria Vermelha-red matter. Weapons will deal 1d4 extra damage against Lefou for +1000 TO, but if it is a melee weapon and the wielder isn't a Lefou themselves, they also take 1 damage per hit (gloves? What's that?).

Where Matéria Vermelha shines is in armor crafting tough. Quite literally, because it looks so blurred that it will grant you 10% miss chance for shields and light armor (+500 TO), 20% for medium armor (+750 TO) and 30% for heavy armor (just +1000 TO!). Lefou ignore this miss chance, and you take a -2 penalty on all Car-based skill perícia checks except Intimidate. Also unclear whetever miss chances from armor and shield stack, but who cares? This is extremely cheap compared to the other materials and their effects, and miss chances on the double digits beat single-digit DR values any day of the week.

Mitral: Very rare silvery metal mined mostly by dwarves, light as a feather, hard as dragon scales, you know the drill. Mitral stuff only weights half as much, weapons have their Crit threat increased by 1, armors count as one category lighter, have their max Des bonus increased by 2 and armor penalty reduced by 2. Mitral shields have no armor penalty at all! Cost +1000 TO for weapon, light armor or heavy shield, +2000 TO for medium armor, +4000 TO for heavy armor.

Oh, and you can make bullets or other ammo of the above materials as normal, 50 for the price of one weapon.

Overall: Goblin Baloons are a pretty nice way for adventurers to gain flight whitout need of magic. Not too expensive, not so cheap that you wonder why doesn't everybody owns one. Wish they had added some rules for the smaller boats tough.

The new special materials seem pretty cool, in particular scaling bonus for heavier armor. The reduction of prices and stronger effects compared to usual 3.5 is also pretty nice, mundanes do get several nice things on this chapter. In particular now there's a feeling of tactical choice, with stuff like bigger raw damage, or better crits, or ignoring all DR, instead of "this material is super effective against this type of enemy and doesn't do anything special against everybody else". Plus heavy armor now means something for 30% miss chance!

Next time, magic!

[NumeFinorio]

Since last time, the second of the 15th anniversary posters are now on sale, take a look.

[BURP]

That picture is actually supposed to be of an artifact, but it's the only pic I could find of something made of Aço-Rubi

Actually, that's a cover image from a manga called Abara, by Tsutomu Nihei You found it using Google Images, I guess? I used it to ilustrate an old blog post with some fan material for the setting I might be wrong, but I think the only images of aço-rubi are some internal illustrations from the Área de Tormenta sourcebook.

Since last time, the second of the 15th anniversary posters are now on sale, take a look.

The (gorgeus) image Nume posted is actually a reimagining of an old rulebook cover, that became kinda infamous for an obvious reason once you see it...

[Ziderich]

I think oslecamo was sent to another plan for some of the spells he was searching = P

[oslecamo]

Indeed, I have traveled far and wide across the planes, but have managed to find my way back to this place thanks to your guidance.

Part XV-Magic



Chapter 8 fluff intro has our amnesiac hero come to a mage's guild, where they're received by golem maids, and the Lady Esplenda uses magic to make him remind of his past. Our hero then sees Gideon.

There's a recap of the spell rules we had seen so far (magic points, spells known, max spell level). Spellcasters who are disrupted during casting need to a Will save to keep the spell. It makes a lot of sense that Will saves replace concentration if you ask me. And what can disrupt a spell?
-Being damaged while casting, DC 10+spell leve+damage suffered, be it by continuous damage, readied attacks or attacks of opportunity (more info on chapter 9:combat).
-Bad weather or vigorous movement like riding, DC 15+spell level.
-Horrible weather or violent movement, like being dragged around by a giant, DC 20+spell level.

Also, casting a spell leaves you flatfooted until the start of your next turn. Counterspelling works pretty much the same way as 3.X.

Then there's the usual spell descriptors, to which were included several of the 3.5 schools of magic. So for example Magic Weapon is a spell with the (transmutation) descriptor, while fireball is simply a spell with the (fire) descriptor. Darkness and Light spells can be used to counter the opposite descriptor if they're of the same level or lower. Enchantments don't affect creatures with Int 0, like certain undeads and constructs. Anyone can detect they're being the target of a (Divination) spell with a DC 20 Sense Motive check. Oh, and (time) is now a spell descriptor as well.

Casting times, range, targets, components, durations, areas, alternate rule of percentual chance of spell failure for wearing armor like in normal 3.X.

And finally the spell lists themselves. Just two of them, arcane and divine, from which the partial casters like the paladin and bard draw their spells as well as you may remember. Followed by the detailed spell descriptions in alphabetical order There's hundreds of them, so gonna focus only on those that were drastically changed, or are completely new.

But before that, a general change that Tormenta implemented is that spells no longer are dependant on Caster Level. Fireball always deals 6d6 damage and has a range of 30 m, affecting an area with a radius of 6 m. Blessing only lasts 1 minute. And so on.

Oh, and there's no mention to spell resistance anywhere.

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Divination-Costs 100 TO, you must ask a question, that gets no answer on a roll of 6 on a d6. Even if you do get an answer, Divination can't give you more information than you would've obtained by one day of mundane investigation. You can't ever ask the same question twice with this spell.

Alarm-Lasts 1 day by default.

Planar Ally-No exp cost, you pay 100/200/300 TO for one minute of work, or 500/1000/1500 TO for one day, or 1000/2000/2500 TO for one week, for the lesser/normal/greater versions of the spell. That sounds... Awfully cheap, in particular when you don't have magic shops to spend your money on.

Alter Self-Lasts 1 hour, grants a wildshape ability of the druid besides cosmetic changes.

Raviollius Uncontrollable Love-2nd level enchantment spell, touch one creature and they must make a Will save or fall madly in love with the first creature they see. Supposed to be an even stronger effect than Charm Person, the victim will make anything to protect or help their waifu hubby "loved one". Automatically ends if the target of their affection attacks them. In creatures without gender or with Int 2 or less, they may instead consider the first creature they see as their mother.

Planar Binding Anchor- Ok, "binding" has no direct translation to português, but I'm pretty sure they could've used a better word other than Âncora/Anchor. The spirit you want to call gets a Will save to resist, and then you need to make a Car check to get one service out of them. Win, and they'll perform the service for one week. Fail, they leave. Fail by 5 or more, they attack you. A magic circle blocks that last part, but doesn't block they leaving if you fail, so at least you can't enslave creatures in binding circles to break them to your will anymore. Still abuseable because long duration is long. Comes in lesser/normal/greater versions for spirits of 6th/12th/18th level. Notice that creature level in Tormenta seems to be more akin to HD in D&D 3.5. Creatures get more of them than players without necessarily having more actual power.

Shadow Walk-Bring up to 5 creatures, walk up to one day in the Plane of shadows. Each hour of travel in it allows you to move as much as a day of travel in the material plane. Scatter 1d10 x 30 m  in a random direction when you arrive at the target.

At the Reach of your Hand-2nd level (earth) spell, available for both divine and arcane. One touched creature, for 1 minute, can project hands made of earth up to 3 m and can do anything the target's hands can do, basically giving you 3 m reach, or even as point of origin for your spells. They can be attacked, having AC 20, PV equal to half the target's and same saves.

Luigi's Scary Gas-0th level (air) arcane spell. Created by Lucky Luigi, a target within 9 m has to make a Fort save or spend the next minute letting out smelly and noisy farts, resulting in a -4 penalty on stealth checks, plus creatures with Scent get a +8 bonus on Survival checks to track them.

Grease Slippery Area-1st level  (water) arcane spell. I guess they didn't want to create a (fat) descriptor. Lasts 1 minute, creatures in the area must make a Ref save or fall. Following rounds anyone trying to walk over it needs to succeed at a DC 10 Acrobatics check, failure by 5 or more means they fall.

Spiritual Weapon-Always deals 1d8+1 damage and has a x2 crit multiplier.

Disrupting Weapon- One melee weapon automatically destroys undeads of 5th level or lower, and deals double damage against undeads of higher level.

Rope Trap-3rd level Divine spell that turns one mundane rope or similar object into a trap. Whoever steps in the square is automatically Entangled and stuck to the place, needing either a Str For or Acrobatic check as a fullround action with DC 23 to escape. Can be spotted and disabled with thievery as a regular trap, both DC 28. No extra costs so expect evil clerics to cover almost every inch of their lairs with this... And seriously, you need to be able to cast 3rd level Divine spells to make a rope trap?

Knock Break-Opens closed stuff, as long as they aren't bigger than 3m, like  a castle gate's. Rogues will come in handy when infiltrating that giant's fortress I guess.

Phantasmal Killer-Failing both saves reduces a creature to -10 PV, so not auto-death. The other save-or-die of this book seem to work on the same way as well now.

Eyebite Visual Attack-For 5 rounds, each round you can look at a creature within 9 m as a free action and they have to make a Fort save. If they fail and they're lower level than you, then they're panicked for 1d4 rounds and then Shaken for 1 hour. If they're of your level or higher, then just Shaken for 1 hour if they fail the save. A rare case of a spell kinda escalating with you.

Scare-Affects creatures of any level.

Augury- one chance in 6 of givine a "nothing" result, doesn't cost anything extra, multiple auguries for the same question always produce the same result as the first.

Enlarge Person-Lasts 10 min, no Dex Des penalty.

Polymorph Metamorphosis-Lasts 10 minutes, the target turns on a creature between tiny and huge size up to 10th level. This includes size, movement modes, physical ability scores, and any nonmagic attacks and abilities. Everything else remains unchanged, including PV.

Shapechange-Lasts 1 hour, need a move action to swap forms, doesn't give any extra abilities over Metamorphosis, you just can pick stronger creatures to copy, up to 30th level.

Blasphemy/Holy Word/Dictum/Word of Chaos- Effects depend on creature level (less than 7th, between 7th and 14th, and higher than 14th), not difference between CL and creature HD/level.

Goodberry-Affects 4 fruits, each heals 1d4 HP besides feeding for a day.

Black Hole-9th level divine spell. No descriptors. 1 minute to cast, range 30 m, lasts 3 rounds. Effect: black hole. At the start of each round the black hole sucks all creatures within 60 m, pulling them 30 m if they fail a Fort save. Loose objects are pulled as well. Creatures can spend a move action to hold into a surface to get a +2 bonus on the save. Either way, whatever's pulled into the black hole is gone forever. Tenebra's clerics believe that the black hole makes the victims travel directly to their godess's domain, and thus dream of the day they can cast the spell upon themselves.

Hot Rain-1st level (water) arcane spell. Basically creates a confortable hot shower that lasts up to 10 minutes. You need to keep concentration on the spell by singing anime themes elven childish songs. Can't be used to kill thirst because reasons. The citizens of Malpetrim claim this spell was created by their most illustrious citizen-Nielendorane, the most famous, powerful and desired elven mage of Arton.

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Clone- The target creature permanently loses 1 Con due to the need to remove body parts to cast the spell, but it is recovered once the soul goes into the new body.

Confusion-You roll a 1d6 to see what happens to the victims each round. 1) Run away from caster, 2-3) do nothing, 4-5) attack nearest creature, 6) act normally.

Shadow Conjuration-Replicate any arcane spell of 2nd level or lower. Targets get a Will save tounderstand it is kae, but they still suffer 25% of the effect. If it didn't have a quantifiable effect, like Web, then it's just 25% chance of working if the target makes the save, besides any other saves. Greater version of the spell is 7th level and allows you to replicate any 6th level or lower arcane spell, with 50% effects if the target makes the save. Sounds like crazy good utility.

Contact other Plane Extraplanar Contact-You roll 1d6, on a 1-4 you get a true, if short, answer to your question. 5) results in "Don't know", 6) produces a lie. One question per round, up to 1 minute, and for each one you need to make a Will save with DC 20+1d10 or take 2d6 points of temporary damage to all your mental scores.

Contigency-Justs lasts 1 day, but doesn't demand expensive components and you can prepare any spell you can cast of 5th level or lower.

Mental Counter-Attack-Mindblank in up to 5 creatures that lasts one day. And as an extra bonus, anyone trying to cast a divination, enchantment or fear effect on a creature protected by this, the attacker needs to make a Will save with DC equal to its own or take 3d6 Int damage.

Vladislav's Flying Skull-2nd level (necromancy) arcane spell. Creates and throws a skull as a ranged touch attack with range 30 m that deals 4d6 damage.

Create Food-Creates just enough to feed one medium-sized creature for one day now. Fun fact, português has two words for food, "alimento" and "comida", with the only difference I can remember being that "comida" is more used on relaxed talks, and "alimento" being used for more serious conversations.

AnimateCreate Lesser Undead-Each casting will only turn one corpse into a zombie or skeleton at a time. Rules here imply that skeletons and zombies have fixed level regardless of the body used to create them. Seems like there'll be a short bestiary at the end of the book.

Complete Heal-As Heal, but only 100 HP recovered. On a similar note, Harm deals 100 damage (or 50 on a save).

Wish-Replicate any 8th level or lower arcane spell, replicate any 6th level or lower spell, create a mundane item worth up to 25 000 TO, grant a permanent bonus of +1 to the ability score of one creature (up to +5 from multiple wishes), unmake the ill effects from any spell of 8th level or lower, completely heal up to ten creatures (full PV recovery and removal of ill conditions), replicate ressurection (or recreate a destroyed body so ressurection can then be used on it), remake one roll from the last round. You can try to wish for stronger stuff, but it can backfire (want that super artifact? Sure, you're transported to the hoard where it is stored. Roll initiative against its guardians). Costs 5000 exp plus the cost of any spell you replicate. Well, at least it doesn't make magic items anymore.

Limited Wish-Can create mundane items worth up to 5000 TO, but costs 1000 exp now.

Disintegrate-Deals a "measly" 20d6 damage if the target fails the Fort save, but still reduces them to dust if they drop to 0 or less HP.

Total Domination-Dominate Person that lasts 1 week, and once the initial save is failed, the victim doesn't get any new checks or saves for the durations, and is forced to follow even suicidical orders.. However you need a body part of the victim to cast the spell. Dominate Person and Dominate monster still work pretty much as before, except they last 1 week.

Shrink Item-Reduces an object's size by 4 categories, and you can also change its consistency, making it hard as rock or soft as silk. Lasts 1 week.

Charm Person/Monster-If you want the victim to do anything suspicious or risky, you need to succeed at a DC 20 diplomacy check. Very dangerus or suicidical requests are ignored.

Aleph Erution-4th level (fire) arcane spell, makes a lava jet to erupt from the ground, dealing 8d6 damage to all in a 1,5 m burst. Reflex for half, and if you fail you take an extra 4d6 damage on the next round.

And I guess that's enough for today. Lots of changes as you can see, mostly nerfs altough there's a few buffs here and there. One subtle thing is that spell range is drastically reduced.

Still, so far casters still have a lot of reality-breaking effects, just somewhat less breaking than in 3.X. But I'll reserve a more detailed veredict until I can finish reviewing all the spells, which hopefully should only take one more update.