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Latest Updates (running list)

January
  • Classes:
    • The Harlequin is up! Re-designated as a Hybrid class (instead of strictly Martial). 
  • ​Monsters:

December
  • We conducted our first public event in Roanoke VA, and it went great! Thanks to everyone who came out to play with us :)
  • Classes:
    • ​The Scoundrel 1.0 is live! This class has a lot of cheap stamina utility and baseline quirks that are handy for a dip as a Minor or Influence class, but the Specialization options are a roleplay buffet for players and GMs who want to delve into the shady underbelly of society as a Major-class crook or suave, savvy party face. 
    • The Blood Mage 1.0 is live! This class supercharges its Mana abilities with a unique resource--Blood Tokens--gained by controlling the damage and conditions dealt around it. Blood Mages can use this alternative path to power to make potent Minor or Influence classes, or double down as a Major Class to really harness some unique mechanics. Players will want to bear in mind that many of the Blood Mage's best abilities come at the end of a two or more step cycle, and plan their other class choices and tactical decisions accordingly. 

November
  • Site:
    • Separated some monsters into new category: "Mages." This is purely an organizational aid, because I realized GMs will want to easily filter spellcasters from other types (mostly humanoids) when encounter building. A preemptive measure because both Mages and Humanoids will be lengthy lists when all is said and done. 
  • Core Rules
    • ​Updated Falling Damage to better reflect latest build of game. Simplified a bit.
    • Replaced Climbing rules. Much simpler and faster to use.
  • Monsters:
    • New Monsters:
      • Vampires galore! The Vampire Scion rounds out the bloodsucker statblocks that now stalk the Monsters section. This powerful foe comes in both Simple and Advanced flavors to increase encounter building flexibility. 
      • Spiders of unusual size are now available in the Fauna category. 
      • The Pyroblight is our first elemental, and gave our playtesters a good run for their money.
      • We have our first Fiends, the Stoneheart Succubi! 
      • NOTE: the flavor text for the Succubi and Spiders aren't done quite yet, but the statblocks are mechanically functional. Depending on when you read this, it may be fixed already.
    • Art and VTT Tokens: 
      • New art added for Vampires (x3), Dourlings, Risen Carcass, and Cockatrice. All monsters will current art also have a token pack in their statblock.
      • More character species art added: Orc, Shapeshifter, Wilderkin 
    • ​Implemented monster threat calculator 2.0. All current monster statblocks updated with new TL rating. 
      • Lots of tweaking the calculator formulae for each considered variable. ​This build returns a more accurate assignment of threat level compared to character levels based on playtesting. Most monster TLs lowered slightly, and there's a wider spread across all monsters.
      • Changed first bracket of "average party level" to 1-2, instead of 1-3, in Encounter Building Guide.
  • Classes:
    • ELEMENTALIST REVAMP! 
      • Bringing my first class designed in line with the rest of the classes and monsters in terms of power levels and design philosophy. Huge changelog below:
  • Manifest Minor Elements and Douse/Thaw added to Generic Spells 
    • Replaced "basic spellcraft" Level 1 Specialization with "Elemental Spellcraft. Gain the Manifest Minor Elements and Douse/Thaw Generic Spells. Then, choose 1 additional Generic Spell Perk." 
      • The net effect of this is that Major-class Elementalists will still have the Manifest Minor Elements and Douse/Thaw utility spells, while Minor/Influence Elementalists have a slightly simpler spell list. Meanwhile, other classes can now access these basic elemental spells for a Perk choice.
  • Evoke Lesser Elements - Range Increased to 45ft, Damage changed from 3 to 1d4.  
    • Upcast option added 
  • Imbue Strike - Damage Increased 
  • Imbue Ammunition - Damage Increased 
  • Imbue Melee Weapon - Damage changed from 1d8 to 2d4, mana cost lowered to 4/2 from 6/2
  • Evoke Elements 
    • Removed Upcast (Finesse). Effect incorporated into Upcast (Power) (simplifying spell description).
    • Upcast (Power) now adds +1 to the Check target as well.
    • Upcast (Range) - range bonus increased to +15 from +10. 
    • Removed Upcast: Splash and Upcast: Sustain. These are now worked into the new spell, Elemental Torrent. 
  • ​Elemental Burst
    • Increased base damage from 2d8 to 2d10.
  • Elemental Wall range increased to 15ft (from 10). 
    • Clarified the text for casting the wall on top of a creature:
      • "When the wall forms, creatures in the affected spaces may make a Precision Check against your Spell Save (Knowledge+Might). If they succeed, they are are displaced to the next closest space, on the side of the wall you choose if both options are available. If they fail, they remain within the wall. "
    • Creatures directly adjacent to the wall take 1d10+5 Damage of the chosen type at the start of their turn.
    • If a creature tries to pass through the wall, or starts its turn there, it instead takes 2d20+10 Damage of the chosen type, and is Knocked Down in the nearest open space (randomly selected if multiple are available).  
    • Creature now has a chance to avoid being trapped in the wall via Precision Check, but the base damage for being adjacent to the wall is increased by +5.
  • Latent Evocation
    • Decreased base cost to 15/2 (from 16/2). Shoule be just barely in reach for spellcasting Elemental minor classes now. 
    • Changed Upcast benefit from +3 damage to +1d12. Increased upcast cost to +5.

  • Specialist Spells
    • Acidic
      • Caustic Spray: damage upped to 1d6
      • Scour: Deals damage equal to Character Level. Clarified armor penalties for convenience. 
      • Acid Rain: upped damage to 4d6.
      • Dissolve: Damage upped.
      • Liquefy: Damage Upped. Upcast cost lowered. Twenty Mana should be a stonking good spell.
      • Sink: damage massively upped. 18th level, 35 mana, two actions, once per full rest - should be a major hit. 
    • Burning
      • Snapflash: range extended to 30ft
      • Fireball: deals CL worth of burning damage
      • Immolate: damage up
      • Pyre: damage dice adjusted for simplicity. Average damage difference negligible. Was already in good shape. 
      • Vulcanism: damage upped slightly. Almost a moot point; don't swim in magma if you're not fire immune.
    • Freezing
      • Ice Shards: damage upped, now saves for half. "Frozen" text removed (this was part of an earlier concept build and is less relevant to monster stats now). 
      • Flash Freeze: Base mana cost dropped. High risk/high reward spell already.
      • Cryoclasm: Frozen text updated to match current game build. Damage added accordingly.
      • Entropic Freeze: damage upped, Upcast removed (unnecessary). 
    • Shocking
      • Static Repulsion: simplified to provide Significant Cover (+2 Armor). 
      • Lightning Rod: Damage increased. Upcast removed. Already has a Special cast modifier, Upcast was unneeded complexity.
      • Call Storm: added some clarity. Mild damage boost.
September-October (Hello yes I am terrible at remembering to update this page) 
  • September kicked off our big playtesting push! We've got multiple groups running through one-shots, three-shots, and mini campaigns. We're finding minor tweaks to make things run smoother, but overall I am SO THRILLED with how well its gone.  
    • Currently working on getting some other GMs and groups spooled up and testing so we can get better feedback from the GM's perspective (i.e. "how does it run when the GM didn't design the system")
    • Meanwhile, you can watch me struggle to be an actor as I GM our playtest sessions!
  • Premade Characters!
    • ​New to our downloads page: a gaggle of pre-generated adventurers ready for questing. Run them as-is or use them as a starting point for customization.
  • New monsters! 
  • Art added to a bunch of monsters. More coming. VTT Tokens inbound as well.
  • New Action: Dash Attack (see core rules). Discord community has already suggested a further refinement of it for clarity, that'll be implemented shortly.  
  • Elementalist: New level 1 feature (damage buff for chosen element), per playtesting results. 
  • Assassin: Viper's Strike skill adjusted per playtesting results (better mobility options within action economy).  
  • Dual wielding rule text adjusted. It is no longer always a better choice to dual wield the biggest weapons possible if you're not going to use a shield.

On the horizon:
  • I am currently writing our first Relict adventure: Hunger at the House of Healing!
    • This will be a 3-6 hour mini module made for characters level 1-4.
    • HatHoH (lol) is designed as a kickoff module for new players and GMs to learn Relict, and should serve equally well as the start of a campaign, a drop-in one or two shot quest, or as a sample quest for groups wanting to try the system out. 
  • We're working on some awesome physical accessories! While these are certainly not required to play relict (as evidenced by the fact that none of our playtesters had them until literally yesterday), we think they're pretty cool and they're a great way to support the project and, hopefully, your friendly local game store in the near future. 
  • We can officially announce: Houndsong Games will have a booth at Big Lick Comic Con in Roanoke, VA, February 10-11 2024! Come say hi!

August 2023 (ongoing):
End of June 2023:
  • Classes:
    • Shadow Mage is live!
    • New Class Artworks: Paladin, Warrior, Plague Doctor
  • Species:
    • Gorgon Species Added
    • Shapeshifter Species Added
  • Readability:
    • From playtest group feedback, we're phasing out the "blue text" format for class Specializations for better legibility on different devices/in different lighting conditions/also because dark blue on dark grey was a bad choice Chris 
  • Perks
    • The great perk buffening! The following perks have been buffed/refined to better reflect the game's resource and difficulty balance.
      • Sheild Deflection
        Allied Defender
        Indomitable
        Slash/Pierce/Bludgeon Weapon Mastery
        Ether Siphon
        Overdraw
        Charge Target (Spell)
        Bestow Power
        Dauntless 
        Stormward 3
June 2023:
  • Berserker is up!
  • Fixing some text formatting gremlins on class pages to make them easier to read post-dark-mode switchover. 
  • ​Warrior is up! 



April thru May 2023:
(Update announcements are more frequent via our Discord above, FYI!) 

Major Updates:
  • Sorcerer Class is up!
  • Our redesigned, streamlined, and very shiny new Player Packet is available for use. This includes a fillable form version that handles some calculations for you and makes damage tracking simple for digital users (using PC based PDF programs, anyway. Mobile is a bigger tech hurdle, working on it). 
    • ​This update (v007) included some damage rebalancing that should make lower level encounters less likely to be "accidentally lethal" for PCs. GMs are not expected to have any difficulty making things deliberately lethal. 
  • Core Rules got some updates and clarifications - mostly minor wordsmithing instead of major changes. Added a more detailed breakdown of Senses for creatures. 
  • The Running The Game page is getting filled out as we go. This section is a deeper dive into rules and edge cases for GMs to keep on hand, and includes handy tools like overland travel mechanics and dice result tables.
  • Armor now has an Absorption mechanic, allowing players to mitigate attacks at the expense of damaging their armor and reducing their armor class. This allows for more meaningful trade-offs between different armor types, and gives players a tactical decision to make in combat. Preserve your armor for the sake of fewer attacks getting through, or use it to shrug off that one Big Hit coming your way? See the Armor page for rules and details.
    • This concept has roots in suggestions from our Discord community! 
  • Monsters are getting VTT tokens. When we have final art for each monster, a ZIP file will be added below its stat block with six variations for digital use. Some are already available, go check them out!
Minor/Ongoing Updates:
  • Our various item pages are starting to come together, complete with new entries and artwork! 
    • Things are just getting started here, more entries will be coming to all categories in relatively short order. 
  • Monsters have continued developing, including new entries and artwork. We have our first dragon statblock! 
  • Lots of site optimizing and bug squishing. 

Other Stuff: 
Two exciting things are cooking in the background right now that aren't quite ready for full unveiling, but I can offer a peek behind the screen.
One is a collaborative effort with another studio that I can't get into at all yet - nothing final, but I'm hopeful! 
Second has already been hinted about on Discord and in some of our social posts - I am actively gearing up to run a full playtest campaign for multiple groups! 
We'll be recording everything for development purposes; I'm not sure yet if/how much of those sessions will be worth releasing publicly/to patrons, but we're keeping the option open. Primary goal is to stress-test the system beyond canned encounters and calculations, not become an Actual Play. But if there's some entertainment or behind-the-scenes value in what we get, we'll put it out there accordingly. (In other news, if you are an actual performance type people-person who wants to run real Relict actual plays, DM me and we'll totally support that effort). 


3-23 to 3-29
  • Species Features fully updated. Species at a Glance page is the place to see them all; individual Species pages will be updated with lore and non-mechanical info ("what is a gaian? How does playing as a level 1 Lich make sense?") going forward, but the playable bits should all be there. 
  • Note that you need to go to the Wilderkin main page to get their full list of options (too long for the At A Glance page). 
  • Implementing Anchor Links ("jump to X" links) on Core Rules, monster, and other long/has-many-sections pages. Should make quick look-ups  and rules navigation much easier!

3/22 (Further updates)
Simplified Fiendling's species feature (Elementally Imbued). Replaced two choices with a single more streamlined one. 

3/22 (compiling a couple weeks of updates): 
  • Formatting changes to site.​
    • Some pages have been removed and replaced with newer versions on the back end. Be sure to refresh the site! If you're getting errors, clear your cache or update any bookmarks/links. 
    • Class tree reorganized for easier navigation, simpler to find the ready-to-play stuff. Sorted by completed and WIP classes now.
      ​Color coding Stamina and Mana costs for clarity; normalizing formatting quirks (ongoing process).
      • Stuff like: do I type "upcast: additional 1 Mana" or "upcast: +1 Mana." Apparently my answer wanders as I build the site. Should be just one.  
    • Hybrid Classes have a slightly rebalanced specialization tree
    • Dynamancer Class is up!
  • Added pages for upcoming classes: Berserker (Martial), Plague Doctor (Martial), Neuromancer (Mage). 
  • Added pages for upcoming species: Goblin, Orc. 
  • Added all current WIP artwork/sketches where previously there was only the "no art yet" placeholder. These will continue to get replaced as final artwork is completed, but I didn't want to bottleneck mechanical content waiting for visuals. There are still a few spots that don't have even a sketch yet, but they're the vast minority now (I'm a visual thinker - I do the sketches as I'm brainstorming mechanics anyway. Takes longer to circle back and do a final painting). 
  • Added Generic Spells to the Perks list. 
    • Generic Spells can be taken in place of a perk, and are mostly minor utility and roleplay options suitable for many characters. 
    • Characters who select a Mage as their Major Class now get a free Generic Spell choice as part of their Level 1 Specialization. 

3/10/23
​Added Burst Action perk.

3/5/23
New Monsters for playtesting:

Simple Monsters Added:
-Warg
-Blast Mage + variants (completed)
-Goblin Skirmisher
-Goblin Sapper

Advanced Monsters Added
-Ghoul
In progress (on page but showing only Ghoul text for now): Spitfire Dragon, Holocene Chimera, Celeri Hydra

3/4/23
Hybrid Classes - organized some "mixed caster" or "half caster" type classes (e.g. Paladin) into a new category, Hyrbid Classes, instead of forcing them into Martial or Mage. Updated Character Creation rules to reflect this - Hybrid choices are a little more flexible about gaining Stamina or Mana Capacity increases at level 1. 

Classes may shuffle around between categories as they get designed and playtested before they're finalized. General rule of thumb: 
-Martial Classes have skills that almost entirely spend Stamina 
-Mage Classes have skills (spells) that almost entirely spend Mana
-Hybrid Classes have some of each, and/or have spells/skills that allow you to spend a mix of Stamina and Mana. 
There will likely be some overlap, or some exceptions, especially as the system expands. Most of the time this only affects the Capacity bonus at character creation, so having classes that fall on a spectrum somewhere between these three categories is fine. However, as a note to future designers and homebrewers, it'll be important to be clear about what abilities Hybrids have that are spells vs. skills, for the purpose of magic-interacting/anti-magic effects. 

2/3/23
Added the Generalist option to Character Creation. 
You can replace the Influence Class choice with Generalist, which grants some stat boosts and extra perks spread out over a few levels. 
Intended use:
  • less daunting for new players than having 3 skill/spell lists
  • good option for players who want to focus on a specific archetype and didn't want to be forced into a 3rd class choice 
Specifics may change during balancing going forward. Perks list is still growing, need to weigh those options against the pros/cons of Generalist as they're completed. But should be a functional option for character creation as it stands.

2/1/23
Updated Field Medic based on Discord feedback. Base ability cost balancing, reworked specialization options. Should be more consistently effective across all level ranges, and useful ability costs less prohibitive if used as a Minor or Influence class pick. Also changed some language for clarity.

Added a Contributors page! THANK YOU to our community for continuing to drive this project forward!

1/28/23
Field Medic 1.0 is live!

Minor Assassin Update: Lunge (specialization, level 9) does not incur opportunity attacks. Some minor formatting fixes too.


1/22/23
Assassin update:
Rejoice, for the Discord has been heard and its logic is sound. The Assassin's Secondary Stat is now Cleverness.
  • Updated Fate of Damocles and Wracking Woe Assassin Poison descriptions to remove some abuse/cheese cases. 
  • Clarified that having a Poison Counter = having Poisoned Condition. 

Made some updates to the Character Creation section. 
  • Increased starting Mana or Stamina boost for your Major Class choice (mage or martial) to +2. Remains +1 for minor/inf choices. So if you went all-martial you get +4 Stamina, all-mage gets +4 mana, mixes get a bit of both (+2/+2 or +3/+1 depending on choices). 
    Should make Might a slightly less "must add" for low level characters that aren't Might-based. May adjust this depending on testing results and remaining class designs, but the Character Level bonus should pick up a lot of slack after level 5 or so. Also enables the following:
    • Removed requirement for mix of martial and mage classes for standard characters, changed that description to optional/"usually". 
    • Removed callout for Casters and Nulls. Baked into the above now, keep it simple. 
  • ​Updated Core Rules to remove references to Casters and Nulls to match.
    • ​Counterspelling now reads "characters must be able to cast spells to use Counterspell" instead of specifying no Nulls or Endmages.

Core Rules updates:
  • First Aid description simplified. Removed the second "half" math. Rule is now flat: First Aid cannot reduce damage in any one category below a 5. 
    • Some effects (working on Field Medic as I write this) will improve on that, but that doesn't need to be explicitly laid out in Core Rules.
  • ​Channeling. Simplified the "increase maximum" rule to remove some tracking and a bit of crunch. Now tied to Character Level instead. Should let channeling risk/rewards play out a bit better even in shorter encounters:
    • "Additionally, a creature that is Channeling temporarily increases its Mana Capacity by half of its Character Level. This increase lasts until the end of the next turn after it stops Channeling." 
  • Falling Damage upped slightly for first two increments.
    • Believe it or not this is actually scaled roughly to real-world physics (the 1800ft+ is based on terminal velocity). Today's damage adjustment is to bring it in line with the higher Kinetic damage threshold we introduced in 0.0.6. Basically: any unrestricted fall over ~50ft. will be very dangerous. Beyond that you need to be very lucky. If you're falling at terminal velocity (1800ft+), you either have some shenanigans up your sleeve or you're already dead. 
  • ​Climbing: marked as WIP. Need to simplify these, lots of ways to do it, but they're an edge case and not a high priority. *side-eyes Jumping* ...we'll see.
​

1/16/2023
-Avatar 1.0 is up!

1/15/2023

​Monsters!
-Added an explanation and template page for Simple and Advanced Monsters. There are potatoes. I'm sorry.

General:​
-Various typo and formatting fixes throughout.

Core Rules Updates:
-Clarified and added language in Core Rules regarding Grappling (re: larger creatures, repeating checks to escape), Reactions (one per round), and Free Actions (unlimited). 
-Updated Core Rules page to reflect new Simple/Advanced monster details.
-Fixed Day/Night's Rest text in Core Rules, was showing an old draft that didn't make sense. Good catch Derek!

(Discord)
-Role bot implemented
-New channels, networking forum for creators and collab projects 

1/12/2023
-Knight tweaks: 
  • Wording updates to clarify some skills and stances, fix typos
  • Modified Change Stance skill to allow a free switch if you started your turn already in another Stance. 
  • Stances also automatically end if you are Knocked Down. 

1/11/2023
-Player class: Knight 1.0 is up! A combat focused class suited for shrugging off blows or, with some builds, being an inspirational tank for the party. I'll be keeping an eye out for more Stances to add and possibly some more non-combat features to add *if* they make sense, but it can live as a pretty pure melee fighter class if that's the best version of it. Beauty of a multiclass system - some classes can afford to just be really good at a thing. 
-Blink Mage: increased mana cost for Far Step from 1.5x to 2x. Relatively mild debuff in exchange for simpler math and more intuitiveness (double mana, double range). 
​-Fixed some formatting issues on Assassin and Blink Mage pages. Text of Blink Mage Repulse (lvl 1 ability) fixed.
-Fixed Ko-Fi panel on our donation page. Should be able to donate without leaving the site now, not just go to our ko-fi page.

1/7/2023
Blink Mage 1.0 is up! A bit wordy right now but functional, from what I can tell. Streamlining language and wordsmithing to come. 

​Added Battlemage 1/2/3/4/5 perk. Removed Battlemage class for now. Hasn't congealed into a cohesive/fun class mechanic, and more interesting combos of "warrior+mage" can be had with other classes. Thanks Discord for brainstorming on this!

Added Sea of Cinders info page under Worldbuilding>Houndsong Settings 

Added a Donations & Support page with ways to help us financially. 

1/6/2023

Fixed some typos that were bugging me.
Removed Stamina Cost from Assassin's Apply Poison ability. Discord pointed out: already costs an action, is basically just using a potion.

1/1/2023 - Built out some starter content in the Worldbuilding section. Mostly placeholders to structure brainstorming around. 

Update v0.0.6 is live!
  • Simplified endurance calculations into a Toughness system. Makes Fortitude less "mandatory" or "god-stat," allows more buffs and modifiers to survivability with items, skills, spells, perks, etc., and simplifies some player-facing math. 
  • All classes now have a Toughness Rating.
  • TR drives how often you take Afflictions, how many Afflictions you can stand, and more. 
  • Core Rules page rewritten to explain Toughness.
  • Character Creation page rewritten to show Toughness. 
  • Class pages updated with Toughness Ratings.

Player Packet v0.0.6 is live!
  • Incorporates Toughness system.
  • General fixes for clarity, errors, etc. 
  • Re-ordering of pages and layout of major sections to try and keep related sections together and push most used info to the front.
  • Damage Charts Rework.
    • Should be clearer, easier to read. 
    • Raised ceiling of all charts significantly. No idea why I thought 12 would be high enough before.
    • Added mandatory Affliction rolls and guaranteed Incapacitation or Death gates to very high damage numbers in given damage types. 
      • Logic: no matter how tough you are, you can only be a certain amount of on fire before it's a problem.
      • Design: means even super-tank-builds, while very potent, have some amount of risk if they keep taking dynamite to the face. 
Elementalist 1.1
  • Rebalanced Mana costs and damage outputs for majority of Elementalist spells. Better reflects new damage scaling as of v0.0.6. 
  • Replaced Warmth spell with Snapflash. Better parity with other specializations and fits better with Elementalist's overall theme (mainly offensive spells, not mild buffs). 

Site fix: page titles should correctly display in browser tabs now. If not, try clearing cache, or wait and eventually your browser will catch up (I think). 

Previous:
  • Added this changelog and Discord link to playtest landing page.
  • Added Core Stat Scale to Core Rules page. Erroneously left out before.
  • ​​​Completed Classes:
    • Assassin 1.0
      • ​Added Method Actor specialization perk (level 3). Precision gets used intrinsically in stealth and combat, wanted Willpower to come in handy for more than just disguises. 
      • Same vein, changed some variables in low-tier Assassin Poisons to use Precision instead of Willpower, as it made more sense, and Willpower was kind of a forced logic leap to make it more useful. 
    • Elementalist 1.0
      • ​Fixed Mana cost typo in Vulcanism. 
  • Added perks:
    • Caustic Adept, Firestarter, Frostkeeper, Thundercaller,  Abominable, Flamewalker, Stormward, Unreactive

Jump to Page:

Homepage
Core Rules
Character Creation
Species at a Glance
Classes at a Glance
​Feedback and Contact
Notable elements of Relict:
A couple things you'll note about Relict.
  • d12 base.
    • Relict uses the d12 as its core math rock, instead of the d20. I did this for a few reasons.
      • Increased crit rolls. The chance of a "nat 12" is about ~66% higher than a nat 20 (5% vs 8.33%), and I wanted to experiment with a broader range of critical effects than just auto-success or double damage. The higher rate helps enable this; crits present players with choices and flexibility instead of pure resolution or sometimes-irrelevant power. Individual crits are less "powerful" at the expense of being bankable as Fate Points or more adaptable in the moment. Hopefully this is enjoyable.
      • Frees up the d20. Using the d12 makes pulling out the big 20 more of an occasion - I like having that slightly higher "upper end" option to design around for big effects or higher chaos rolls. Experimenting with ways to give them GM choices for bestowing bigger die on certain rolls too. Not sure all the places it'll wind up yet, but I'm intrigued.
      • I-just-think-they're-neat.gif.

  • Graphical Damage System.
    • I'll come up with a catchier name than that someday, but - Relict does not use a traditional hit point system for player characters (or boss monsters). See the player packet and the explainer in the core rules for visuals, but I've retooled damage taking into a flowchart system. Sexy, I know, but hear me out.

      I wanted to allow more finite damage and vulnerability controls, and give players more tactical options than "deal more damage/take less damage." Weapon choice, armor choice, positioning, who can tank what hits from what baddies, and who can dish out what kind of pain should all matter quite a bit.

      It also lets me do things like set up monster blocks to "cascade" - fire damage may not matter to a big monster at first, but under this system it can start to compound as it takes more and more.

      My hope is that this not only makes for memorable encounters, but gives players reasons to investigate, strategize, and plan (through roleplay and ability use) before tackling tough fights. "The Jabberwock might seem tough, but the scholars said that if we can figure out how to ground it long enough for Ajax to dose it with multiple poison hits..." 

  • Player Power and Affliction System.
    • Players heal all standard damage between encounters, and in fact should seem fairly tough when they set out on a quest. However, taking too much damage in a fight, or biffing traps, challenges, and obstacles, leads to Afflictions. Afflictions are randomized, accumulating debuffs that are very hard to treat in the field (example, a Broken Bone).

      My intent with this is to let players take full advantage of their mighty powers moment to moment, but weigh that against an ongoing risk/reward discussion: "Should we push on, or turn back? We're okay for now, but Jasper took two Afflictions in that fight, but if we give the Lich more time to prepare..."

    • I've set up the Rest system to lean into this as well. A night's rest will restore many resources, and let some abilities trigger, but Afflictions take much longer to recover from.

      My hope is that GMs can build quest arcs around this push through/turn back tension - what changes in the dungeon if the party clears one floor, but turns for home before reaching the second? How does killing the Goblin Army's lieutenants, but not the general, affect the course of events? Climbing Dragon Mountain at full strength and defeating the Blue Terror was one thing--but what does escaping down the mountain with its minions in pursuit and an injured party member look like?

  • Multiclass Focus 
    • I've built Relict around multiclassing, not as an "advanced player" option but as a core part of the system. This involved reducing the complexity of individual classes, but increasing their interplay. Most characters will have some mix of martial and mage in them, though how heavily to weigh either side is up to the player.

      I wanted to leave more room for customized choices (I did some math, there are a...LOT...of possible combos), and minimize the "well we NEED a _______ so I guess I'll play one" effect. 
      ​
    • Resource management (recharging Stamina and Mana) are going to be a big part of turn-to-turn thinking, and I recommend featuring NPCs Channeling or Counterspelling in some early encounters to players get a sense of how those can really alter an outcome.