Assorted Questions

Hi,

I recently discovered ACKS and have a couple of questions regarding various rules, design decisions, class balance, and setting details. 

Mage

What was the rationale for changing how mages memorize spells? The 1 week/1000gp charge seems like it would restrict much of the flexibility of the class. Much of the benefit of being a magic-user (mage) is they can provide a great deal of utility, but that they must plan ahead a bit (a day or so).  Is it simply personal preference of the author/game designer, or something meant as a balance tool?

Edit: Just found and read the Vancian Magic in Adventurer Conqueror King article.  That explains much of above. The question morphs to how do you maintain the utilitarian feel of a magic user with the updated spell learning rules in a reasonable way?

Noberion Wondermaker

Is the Wonderworker really intended to be a PC class? It seems extremely powerful compared to the Mage and Cleric. What is the balance factor (if any) for this class?

Immortals

Is there any plan or desire on the part of the game designers to include something similar to the Immortals rules in ACKS?

Sinister Stone of Sakkara

The book lists out the realm of Legate Valerian (including his four vassals.  On the map included how much of the territory can be considered claimed or part of the Empire?  

Auran Empire

Are there any areas that aren't slated for some measure of "official" treatment at some point?

About what latitude is the Ammasaurean Sea?

 

Thanks!

/Paul

[quote="PaulK"]

Noberion Wondermaker

Is the Wonderworker really intended to be a PC class? It seems extremely powerful compared to the Mage and Cleric. What is the balance factor (if any) for this class?

[/quote]

A character would need to roll at least 11 in all their stats in order to even be able to pick the class to begin with, which immediately cuts down on the probability of one showing up. After that there's the delayed spell progression and lower level cap to contend with, combined with a higher amount of experience needed to advance (to reach level two Mages requires 2500, Clerics 1500 and Wonderworkers 3125). 

Not an Autarch, so take from that what you will.

Ah, that would be a significant limitation on the Wondermaker.  I keep forgetting "3d6" not "4d6 drop 1" as well as different progression rates.

[quote="PaulK"]

Ah, that would be a significant limitation on the Wondermaker.  I keep forgetting "3d6" not "4d6 drop 1" as well as different progression rates.

[/quote]

Not just 3d6, but 3d6 in order, for 5 different stat blocks.  There's a convenient generator somewhere on the site, but that method is very important in balancing nobirans and, to a lesser extent, thrassians & zaharans.

To be fair, “roll five sets of 3d6 and choose the best” is actually pretty similar to rolling a single set of 4d6-drop-1 (I mathed it out at one point but can’t find where I wrote it up). This regresses back to 3d6 if you require replacement PCs to be from the other sets of those five (and then you get weird cycles if you die a lot, where one in every three characters is actually good…).

But yeah, the wonderworker stat minimums are rough, particularly in light of the rule about trading down non-prime-req stats to raise prime reqs. If you have a set of stats with 13 wis, 13 int, and 11 everything else, you could play a nobiran with +5% XP, or you could play a mage with 18 int (by trading everything else down) for +10% XP and a much larger spell repertoire, or even a fighter with 18 str and 9s in everything else. You have a lot of options with such a statblock, several of which don’t involve d4 HD, no armor, and slow leveling (all of which are conducive to early death). This is why even when someone rolls stats eligible for nobiran, we’ve never actually seen one in play.

4d6 drop 1 will produce the same averages, but making 5 sets gives you some degree of leeway in which class you'll ultimately play.  a set of 5 stablocks might have a decent fighter, a frail mage, and 3 unremarkable and yet also be the same average as an unremarkable 4d6 drop 1.

In my game, I have a lot of wussy players who were very afraid of death, so i instituted a currency I called "plot armor" that never refreshes but allows for dice re-rolls.  I expected them to use them for mortal wounds rolls and maybe to bump con, but two of them used them to create stat blocks that could qualify as nobirans.  Only one wonderworker, though, another player really wanted divine casting and decent fighting, so we made a nobiran crusader that's basically just paladin + nobiran 2.

[quote="PaulK"]

Mage

What was the rationale for changing how mages memorize spells? The 1 week/1000gp charge seems like it would restrict much of the flexibility of the class. Much of the benefit of being a magic-user (mage) is they can provide a great deal of utility, but that they must plan ahead a bit (a day or so).  Is it simply personal preference of the author/game designer, or something meant as a balance tool?

Edit: Just found and read the Vancian Magic in Adventurer Conqueror King article.  That explains much of above. The question morphs to how do you maintain the utilitarian feel of a magic user with the updated spell learning rules in a reasonable way?

[/quote]

I don't understand the question!

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Immortals

> >

Is there any plan or desire on the part of the game designers to include something similar to the Immortals rules in ACKS?

> >

There is no plan to do so, although there are hopes and dreams. Certainly there is a coherent system of divine power from worship and sacrifice which translates into costs of spellcasting which will fuel such a system.

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Sinister Stone of Sakkara

> >

The book lists out the realm of Legate Valerian (including his four vassals.  On the map included how much of the territory can be considered claimed or part of the Empire?  

> >

Everything west of the river and north of the mountains belongs to the Empire.

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> >

Auran Empire

> >

Are there any areas that aren't slated for some measure of "official" treatment at some point?

> >

It depends by what you mean by "some measure". Different areas of the map will receive different amounts of detail. The Borderlands will receive considerable detail, the Auran Empire a lot of detail, and ancillary areas less so. 

>

> >

About what latitude is the Ammasaurean Sea?

> >

The Ammasaurean Sea is at the exact same latitude as the Mediterranean Sea.

The table below provides the latitudes, longitudes, and hours of sunset and sunrise for the major cities at key calendar points for the major cities. Note that Aura is 0'00' longitude.

Some of these distances may have shifted very slightly between when I created this table and when the map was finalized but unless you are an in-game cartographer it doesn't matter much!

City

Latitude

Longitude

Winter Solstice

Spring Equinox

Summer Solstice

Fall Equinox

Alakryum, Opelenea

34⁰ 30’N

5⁰ 12’ W

7:06 – 4:56

5:56 – 6:06

4:48 – 7:14

5:55 – 6:05

Arganos, S. Argollë

36⁰ 50' N

6⁰ 18’ E

7:12 – 4:50

5:56 – 6:07

4:40 – 7:21

5:55 – 6:06

Aura, Tirenea

39⁰ 30’ N

0⁰ 00’

7:19 – 4:42

5:54 – 6:07

4:32 – 7:30

5:54 – 6:06

Gandhin, Somirea

35⁰ 00’ N

10⁰ 50’ W

7:07 – 4:55

5:55 – 6:06

4:45 – 7:16

5:55 – 6:05

Istakahr, Kemesh

34⁰ 40’ N

7⁰ 18’ W

7:06 – 4:55

5:55 – 6:06

4:47 – 7:16

5:55 – 6:05

Kavala, Krysea

35⁰ 10’ N

3⁰ 00’ E

7:07 – 4:54

5:55 – 6:06

4:45 – 7:17

5:55 – 6:05

Pireus, Nicea

36⁰ 40’ N

2⁰ 12’ W

7:12 – 4:51

5:56 – 6:07

4:41 – 7:21

5:55 – 6:06

Réamhrá, N. Argollë

47⁰ 10’ N

6⁰ 07’ E

7:46 – 4:15

5:54 – 6:08

4:03 – 7:58

5:53 – 6:07

Thereyn, Rorn

44⁰ 10’ N

1⁰ 12’ E

7:34 – 4:27

5:54 – 6:07

4:16 – 7:46

5:53 – 6:06

Thure, Rorn

47⁰ 50’ N

1⁰ 48’ E

7:49 – 4:13

5:54 – 6:08

4:00 – 8:01

5:53 – 6:07

Uttar, Somirea

36⁰ 10’ N

9⁰ 10’ W

7:10 – 4:52

5:55 – 6:07

4:42 – 7:19

5:55 – 6:06

Zahar, The Waste

33⁰ 40’ N

6⁰ 40’ E

7:03 – 4:58

5:55 – 6:06

4:48 – 7:12

5:55 – 6:05

Zhapur, Kemesh

31⁰ 20’ N

6⁰ 54’ W

6:58 – 5:04

5:56 – 6:06

4:55 – 7:06

5:55 – 6:05

Zidium, Celdorea

39⁰ 00’ N

8⁰ 00’ W

7:18 – 4:44

5:55 – 6:07

4:33 – 7:28

5:55 – 6:06