APRIL FOOLS!
Greetings...
As it is now after midnight in my time zone, I am pleased to present
the April 2006 Living Arcanis Rules Update, which I am about to upload
to the Files section of this newsgroup.
Please ensure that you update your characters to comply with this
update ASAP. If you have any questions, feel free to contact a member
of the campaign staff -- I recommend e-mailing James Zwiers, as I am
about to go on a very long vacation, most likely involving cement
overshoes (especially when Henry sees the new rules for Elorii). :P
Rules update after the jump!
LIVING ARCANIS Rules Update April 1, 2006 The LIVING ARCANIS Development Team has been reviewing the play balance of the various races, classes and other options available to PCs. In order to ensure a more harmonious play environment for everyone, we have decided to implement the following changes, which are effective immediately. If you have any questions, please post on the LA-Rules-Discussion list. All prerequisites for feats and prestige classes are considered to be met by all characters at all times. All weapons deal the same damage (base of 42 points, with a critical threat range of 1-20 and a critical multiplier of x32) and all PCs get five attacks per round plus iterative attacks for their BAB. We feel that these changes should ensure that no PC ever feels "inadequate" compared to anybody else in the party. Unfortunately, and only after much debate and consideration, the Power Attack feat is banned as of this Rules Update. We’re sorry to have to take this step but I’m sure you can understand that even in light of all the other changes detailed in this document there just wasn’t any way to make Power Attack balance out with everything else. Cohort Changes: In order to ensure equal access to magic items for all PCs, every character gets a virtual Leadership feat which grants him access to a special item-crafting cohort. This cohort is considered to be a Wiz20 / Clr20 / Psion20 with all of the magic and psionic item creation feats, 63 ranks in all skills, and the ability to emulate any race, class, or alignment for purposes of meeting item-creation prerequisites. All items created by this cohort become the property of the primary PC and may be sold for 150% of the normal market price at any time with no TU cost. Racial Ability Changes: It has been determined after a thorough review that not all of the PC-playable races in LIVING ARCANIS are equally balanced from a power standpoint. Nobody wants to play a game where some characters are "better" than others, so this must be rectified immediately. In order to address this issue we are implementing the following corrections. All characters of the affected races must be rebuilt in order to comply with the new rules. Dark-Kin Because we haven’t sold enough copies of Legacy of Damnation to satisfy our evil corporate overlords, we are requiring all players of LIVING ARCANIS to create a mandatory secondary PC (or tertiary, or whatever comes next after "tertiary"). This PC must be a dark-kin and it must use some kind of optional material out of Legacy. That way you have to bring the book with you to every game. Oh yeah, and you have to play the dark-kin PC in your next 20 adventures or your primary PC meets with an untimely demise. With no possibility of resurrection. In a Derrel Weaver module. We’re not kidding around here, folks. Dwarves It turns out that there was an unfortunate typo made when transcribing Henry Lopez’s original campaign notes into the Codex Arcanis. Dwarves ended up as the "master craftsmen" of Onara, but in actuality what that was supposed to say was "master raftsmen." As a result, all of the existing Dwarven racial abilities pertaining to crafting are hereby removed and are instead replaced with the following abilities. Ply the Waters (Ex): All dwarven characters gain a +2 bonus on the following skills: Craft (improvised flotation device), Profession (gondolier), and Swim. The Perfect Wave: Dwarves are consumed with the search for perfection, which is the only thing that will enable them to break free of the curse laid upon them by Illiir (who is often referred to as "That Really Harsh Dude"). In particular, it is believed that if any dwarf can ever pull off a flawless ride on the perfect wave, the curse will be broken. Therefore all dwarves must spend an hour each morning and an hour each evening surfing. If the dwarf is not within traveling distance of an ocean, having the party cleric cast create water and trying to body-surf the resulting flow is considered close enough. Elorii Henceforth all Elorii shall be treated exactly as if they were Elves, using all of the text from the core rules. No more of this non-Tolkien-inspired stuff. I mean really, what were we thinking? Gnomes Gnomes are actually perfect just the way they are. But we’re going to give them all a +5 racial bonus on Profession (chef) anyway just because we love them so much. Oh yeah, and they also suffer an additional -10 racial penalty to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. Every gnomish character who is reduced to a formless blob of immobile jelly as a result of having his physical attributes lowered below 3 by this rules change gets a free half-orc or half-hobgoblin barbarian man-at-arms of equivalent total character level to carry him around like a living sedan chair. Half-Orcs and Half-Hobgoblins Due to the severe paucity of half-orc and half-hobgoblin PCs in LIVING ARCANIS, we are implementing a new rule that all such characters receive triple XP and gold from every adventure they play. However, in order to encourage a broader array of roleplaying styles at the gaming table, we are also stipulating that all half-orc and half-hobgoblin characters may only take levels of bard. Humans Well, they’re not Val. What more do you want us to say? Henceforth all human PCs are limited to only taking levels of Commoner. All existing levels in other classes must be removed and replaced with levels of Commoner. The only exception is for Pureblood Kio, who may take levels of Aristocrat but who must spend all of their feats on things having to do with their Kio sword (because we know you’ve got one). Also, all human players are required to genuflect in the direction of any Val player at the table at least three times per game session. Failure to do so gives the Val player permission to whack the human player over the head with a copy of the Player’s Guide to Arcanis. If no copy of the Player’s Guide is available at the table, then the judge is directed to institute an immediate TPK and send everyone to the nearest gaming store. Priorities, people, priorities! Ss’ressen All players of ss’ressen are required to speak with an audible lisp (including out-of-character speech) or else the judge must reduce their roleplaying XP award to zero. Also, the Black Talon and Ashen Hide egg clutches are no longer PC-playable. All PC ss’ressen must instead convert to the new Squishy Tail egg clutch, as detailed herein. Squishy Tail Egg Clutch: The Squishy Tails are one of the least impressive egg clutches ever to arise from the breeding pits of Ssethregore. Many scholars have wondered why the Ssanu did not exterminate them as soon as the first brood was hatched. Some theorize that their distinctive trait comes from the fact that their eggs were removed from the heat of the hatchery a little bit too early, thereby causing their scales not to harden all the way. Others think that they are the result of some kind of sick practical joke played by either Kassegore or Yig (you know those wacky Ssethric deities). Regardless of their origin, the Squishy Tails have been the butt of jokes (no pun intended) from other egg clutches since time immemorial. They have the following game statistics: Racial Adjustments: Squishy Tail ss’ressen suffer a -4 racial penalty to Strength and Constitution due to their somewhat amorphous physical forms. However, they are really good at running and hiding from other ss’ressen that want to beat them up and steal their lunch money, so they gain a +2 bonus on Dexterity and a +5 racial bonus to Hide checks. Due to the eponymous squishing noises that they make when they walk, they suffer a -5 racial penalty on Move Silently checks. All of those beatings do tend to leave them a bit soft in the skull, so they suffer a -2 penalty to Intelligence, but the resulting visions of stars and little birdies flying around their heads occasionally lead to amazing insights, so they gain a +2 bonus to Wisdom. The best thing for a Squishy Tail to do is make himself as unobtrusive as possible, which leaves them with personalities as ill-formed as their bodies, so they suffer a -8 racial penalty to Charisma and all Intimidate checks made against them automatically succeed. Natural Armor: Because their scales are soft and unformed, all Squishy Tail ss’ressen suffer a -4 natural armor penalty. They are immune to the barkskin spell and any other effect that would convey an enhancement bonus to natural armor. Tail Attack: Squishy Tail ss’ressen do gain the Tail Attack feat as a racial bonus feat, but they can only deal nonlethal damage, and when attempting a tail attack, the Squishy Tail suffers a -10 penalty on the opposed trip check and is automatically counter-tripped if the initial trip attempt fails. On the plus side, if the trip check succeeds, the Squishy Tail may instead choose to have his tail "stick" to the foe, which is treated as the equivalent of the Improved Grab feat. Val Furthermore, any adventure in which the Val race does not feature prominently is hereby removed from the campaign. Authors may not submit proposals for adventures that do not have major Val NPCs and/or do not give Val PCs special privileges and roleplaying scenes that characters of other races do not get to enjoy. We hate to take such a heavy-handed step, but there just have not been enough opportunities for Val to shine thus far in the campaign. These restrictions may be ignored if your adventure is set in Milandir or Old Coryan, however, because I think we can all agree that there haven’t been enough of those either. -- M. Sean Molley, LIVING ARCANIS Poobah and All-Around Good Guy (just ask anyone who doesn’t know me)