15 thoughts on “#BladesAgainstDarkness”

  1. Same direction I would take it (monks clerics and pallys), cool art also.

    Dislike the vagueness of some of the abilities, but I’m sure it’s clearer in play. Most look really fun to add to a character and excite me to try a religious character in BAD. Don’t think I want to provide any more detail until invited though

  4. Very cool as always, especially the art. I assume Lay on Hands intentionally doesn’t work on self? I think I need more info on how attune healing rolls works, but I imagine there will be more of that in the rules text.

    I wish the sheet had a place to write down your god and what sacrifices he required (like the cult playbook in blades), but I don’t know where you’d fit that in.

    I don’t love the XP trigger “Address a tough challenge with Godly power or wisdom” because it seems too broadly applicable. The Chosen does everything with godly power, might as well say mark XP every time you roll dice. Obviously I want my players to get XP, but if my lurk chooses not to do anything stealthy during a session, then he doesn’t get that extra XP.

  6. Mark Griffin Lay on hands does intentionally not work on self. In terms of details of your god, I figured you’d put that in notes.

    You’re right, that XP trigger is sorta crap. I’ll put it on my list and I’m open to suggestions.

    Stras Acimovic The arm tattoos are part of the whole Edroshani thing. Each of the iconic characters is of a different one of the game’s cultures:

    Widowmaker -> Ush’dvani

    Copperhead -> Trau

    Warden -> Tessian

    Chosen -> Edroshani

    Chimera -> Ostrolathi

  7. Oh man, now you want me to offer constructive feedback instead of just tearing you down? Shiiiiiit, I was not prepared for this.

    The abilities give a general them of self sacrifice, so a good trigger might be “Whenever you address a tough challenge with sacrifice or wisdom”

  8. My problem with “wisdom” is it feels too subjective. “Sacrifice” isn’t bad, but depending on how thematic you want their actions, “with godly power or charity” might be clearer (and might be too clear, or further from the mark you want this playbook to hit; only Dylan can really say)

  9. You use XP triggers to encourage a sort of play style, and I don’t think charity works well for that. Not every Chosen is going to serve a charitable god, but every god probably has a domain of knowledge in which it is considered wise (even a god of chaos will know bits of wisdom about dealing with people who are insane, or about fighting the forces of order).

  10. My first issue (there are others) comes with Avatar. For one, it’s so general it doesn’t enforce or evoke the theme much. Also, it threatens to overshadow other’s capabilities when pushing. What does being an avatar mean; I can try harder than others and outshine my allies? and at anything I put my mind to? -_-

    When I read the word Avatar, it starts inspiring, but I would expect what follows to make me feel like some kind of instrument of a deity. Maybe.. some specific benefit that is useful when I am really playing The Chosen would be better (“you can speak the precepts of your deity to hover for a moment and coat yourself in blinding light or rushing wind that is astounding to behold. When you consort with or convince astounded targets, you get +1d”).

    another cool thought is having Avatar grant some advantage to recovery times. Blessed healing, so to speak. That is clear enough.

    Something evocative and fitting would be a better choice imho

  11. I have a similar problem with Disciple too. It’s part the reliance on “sacrifice” but mostly the fact you get 2 free stress to do.. whatever. The latter bit doesn’t evoke much. And 2 stress is actually super potent. I suggest focusing this more on framing a special ability of the playbook, or expanding the capabilities of the basic actions in a thematic way.

  12. Attune and Marshall seem like the goto actions for this playbook. Traverse and Skirmish being the preselected ones detracts from the playbook imho, since they are very physical and not very “touched by the gods” sounding.

    Also, Faith’s special armor should probably cover any holy or unholy effect. Confusion seems too limited a coverage.

  14. I’ll go on record saying I like both disciple and avatar. Specifically I like them because they aren’t “+1d to blank” or “you can use this action to do another thing”. Those kinds of abilities are fine, but I like to see some new mechanics with new books.

    I get avatar, you can push yourself twice as hard because you’re the embodiment of a god. You probably can’t use it more than once or twice on a score, so I’m not worried about outshining everyone else. More likely you’ll power up a roll in something you’re already decent at in a clutch moment.

    I think disciple is super cool, and it will be up to the GM to make sure it’s not OP by setting a proper sacrifice. Should be easy to fine tune in play.

    The thing I’m concerned about is Acolyte of Pain and Lay on Hands if you’re playing with 2 chosen in one party. Depending on how healing actually works, this could result in near infinite stress.

  15. Mark Griffin I feel more strongly about that one than the others due to its failings. Clearly we disagree, but did you know that the difference between 2d and 1d is less than the difference between 1d and 0d (and the payoff gets worse with each extra die)? It’s a ripoff for the player (how wasteful! 4 stress for 2d is not a good deal). And I suspect this is also why we can’t push and devil’s bargain anymore; it’s just too much for one action and it’s not user-friendly

    Also, I would reiterate that it doesn’t point at.. well.. anything in particular, and for that stress cost it should do something wondrous and creative.

    If I had to salvage it without rewriting it completely, I would make it let them “push for 1 stress when embodying the precepts of his/her deity.”

    Main point I had was not that the idea wasn’t cool: but that it can certainly be better than what it is so that it’s worth an ability choice and thematic.

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