Upcoming Errata Warning!
From what I've been
reading on the Pinnacle website, there is a massive errata document in the works that will change a bunch of things, particularly how the Arcane Backgrounds work.
Looking at products like
Deadlands: Noir and
Deadlands: Hell On Earth Reloaded, I'm expecting the ABs to get hit with the nerf stick. They've already mentioned Blessed will be changed to work more like the Blessed in Noir. Here is how that AB looks:
quote:
The Blessed
Blessed are individuals who have been granted supernatural abilities by mysterious and distant powers of good. Some are priests or actual clergy while others are simply chosen for the nobility of their struggle or their soul. Though most are enlightened and good by nature they don’t
have to be—sometimes the light chooses even troubled souls to carry out its will.
Blessed are rare in any era, but they are particularly absent when mankind loses faith and the powers of good grow weaker. But there are always a few noble souls who struggle against the darkness regardless. Below are the rules for those who want to play these spiritual warriors.
Edge: Arcane Background (Blessed)
Requirements: Wild Card, Novice, Faith d4+, Spirit d8+
Arcane Skill: Faith (Spirit)
Power Points: 10
Starting Powers: 3 (
Protection, plus two of player’s choice)
Available Powers:
Armor, banish, beast friend, blind, bolster, boost/lower Trait, confusion, deflection, dispel, divination, greater healing, healing, light (not obscure), numb, protection, quickness, slow, smite, spirit shield, stun, succor, warrior’s gift.
Special Rules
- Crisis of Faith: When a blessed rolls a 1 on her Faith die (regardless of the Wild Die), her Faith is reduced by a die type until she spends an hour in restful meditation, contemplation, or prayer. A blessed’s Faith can never be reduced below d4 by a Crisis of Faith.
- Miracles: The blessed may use Edges that require Arcane Background (Miracles).
- Sinning: Blessed who violate their core beliefs are temporarily or permanently forsaken by whatever forces of good grant them their powers. Minor sins give the character –2 to his Faith rolls for a week. Major sins rob him of all arcane powers for a week. Mortal sins cause the character to be forsaken until the penitent hero completes some great quest or task of atonement to regain his lost powers (Marshal’s call).
New Power: Protection
Rank: Novice
Power Points: 1
Range: Self
Duration: 3 (1/round)
A blessed who does nothing but concentrate on his faith is very difficult for creatures of darkness to oppose. A supernatural creatures that wants to directly attack a blessed using protection must win an opposed test of its Spirit versus the target’s Faith. Casters who present a proper religious symbol add +2 to the roll.
You will notice right away that Blessed no longer have access to all the powers available, nor do they have infinite Power Points.
I expect that Voodooist will also be changed to reflect their DL:N counterparts:
quote:
Voodoo
Edge: Arcane Background (Voodoo)
Requirements: Wild Card, Novice, Voodoo d6+, Spirit d8+
Arcane Skill: Voodoo (Spirit)
Power Points: 10
Starting Powers: 2
Backlash: A voodooist who rolls a 1 on her Voodoo die (regardless of her Wild Die) suffers a level of Fatigue. This Fatigue is recovered after four hours of rest per level of Fatigue.
Available Powers:
Armor, banish, beast friend, blind, bolster, boost/lower trait, confusion, darksight, deflection, detect/conceal arcana, disguise, dispel, divination, elemental manipulation, fear, fury of the rada loa, greater healing, healing, invisibility, light/obscure, puppet, slow, slumber, spirit shield, smite, speak language, stun, succor, warrior’s gift, zombie.
Special Rules:
- Conjure Bags: A voodooist must have her talismans, amulets, and the like with her or suffer a –2 to her Voodoo rolls when casting spells.
- Shrine: A voodooist must spend an hour each evening at a shrine to the loas preparing her talismans and offering gifts to the spirits. If she does not, she can’t cast spells during the next day.
New Edge
Gris-Gris Crafter
Requirements: Novice, Arcane Background (Voodoo), Smarts d8+, Spirit d8+, Voodoo d8+
This is the voodoo equivalent of the Gadgeteer Edge.
Once per game session, the houngan can create a magic charm and imbue it with mystical energy. This talisman uses any power available to the houngan, though anyone using it must meet the power’s Rank restrictions. It has half the creator’s Power Points and once these are used up they do not recharge. The ritual to craft one of these charms takes 1d20 minutes and must be performed at the creator’s shrine. Activating the device requires the user to make a Spirit roll instead of a Voodoo roll. All effects of the power are based on the result of the Spirit roll.
New Spells
Bolster
Rank: Novice
Power Points: 2
Range: Smarts
Duration: 10 minutes (1/10 minutes)
Trappings: Chants, vévé, fetishes
Bolster grants the recipient courage against the forces of darkness. The affected character gains a +2 bonus to Fear checks. In addition, any time he spends a Benny to make a Trait roll (including Soak, but not damage rolls), add +2 to the total. If the caster gets a raise on the roll, the bonus increases to +4.
Additional Targets: The power affects an additional target for every additional Power Point spent to activate, up to a maximum of five targets. This does not affect the maintenance cost.
Fury of the Rada Loa
Rank: Seasoned
Power Points: 4
Range: Self
Duration: 3 (1/round)
Trappings: Mystical symbols, animal charms, skulls or bones
This power invites a nature spirit, or rada loa, to “ride” the houngan or mambo’s body for a brief time to grant him some of their savage ferocity. With success, the caster is inhabited by a minor loa that grants him an additional die type to his Fighting, Strength, and Vigor Traits, and +1 damage with all melee attacks. With a raise, the loa increases those Traits by two die types and grants +2 damage. When the spell ends the priest gains a level of Fatigue until he recovers the same amount of Power Points he spent on this spell and its maintenance. (Bokkors invoke fury of the petro loa instead, with the same effect.)
Spirit Shield
Rank: Seasoned
Power Points: 3
Range: Smarts
Duration: 3 (1/round)
Trappings: Hazy shimmer, circling spirits
This spell creates a barrier that can keep out ghosts and other ethereal enemies. It has no effect against demons or undead in physical form. The caster makes her Voodoo roll, and if successful, places a immobile Medium Burst Template centered on herself. Entities wishing to enter the template must make an opposed Spirit check against the caster’s Voodoo skill. If they fail, they cannot pass the barrier while it remains active. Spirit shield doesn’t prevent the entities from “normal” actions such as Intimidation or throwing physical objects. The spell is negated if any living creature of rat-size or larger that started inside the circle cross to the outside.
I'm expecting similar nerfs to all the Arcane Backgrounds, it's just that these are the most visible changes to the Blessed, which is one of the most powerful of the Arcane Backgrounds in Deadlands.
What this means for our game
We have two Blessed in our group. This change is obviously going to affect both of them the most. It's probably a good idea to make changes to those characters now.
One problem I foresee is that neither Barrier nor Windstorm are on those lists. Granted, Windstorm is one of the Deadlands-specific powers, so that might get covered in the errata document, but Barrier isn't, and I wonder why. Until I get the official document, I am going to assume that the following powers are still available to Blessed and Voodooists:
Contact spirit world (voodoo),
pummel (voodoo, blessed),
windstorm (voodoo, blessed),
wilderness walk (voodoo, blessed),
inspiration (voodoo, blessed),
gambler (voodoo, blessed),
exorcism (voodoo, blessed),
barrier (voodoo, blessed).
Another issue is that the characters now have a few edges that are useless. Conviction no longer does anything relevant, and Voodoo is a separate Arcane Background rather than an Edge that requires one to be Blessed. With that in mind, I will allow the PCs to
convert those edges into New Power edges.
In addition, I will do the following adjustment to the characters:
Black Jack, you gain
Detect/Conceal Arcana for free, and you can use it without spending power points (though it only lasts for the base duration, or twice that duration with a Raise on your roll). It still requires a successful Voodoo roll to activate.
Moses, you gain
Speak Language for free, and you can use it without spending power points (though it only lasts for the base duration, or twice that duration with a Raise on your roll). It still requires a successful Faith roll to activate.
You both are going to need to figure out what your powers are. If you convert your Conviction and Voodoo edges, Black Jack has 4 powers to pick from, while Moses has 3 powers plus Protection.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:23, Mon 30 Mar 2015.
