Invocation

It's probably one of those things like soulcasting godmetals.

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As promised: the summer update! I'm choosing to focus this update on the statistics and races of the system, since they're currently the two most sound portions I've got beyond the basics. There are ten main statistics, divided up into two sets of five: five personal stats, five racial stats. The personal stats are things that can and will change, but the racial stats tend to stay stable except in worst-case scenarios. A change to personal statistics can come from leveling up, serious trauma, or just general things like that. Curses, mutations, and certain high-tier magical effects can chip away at racial stat values. Each of the five personal stats has a racial equivalent that links to it as well, which isn't something that comes into play most of the time, but a negative racial effect can have backlash on personal stats too. Personal stats: Racial stats: There is one extra stat, called Renown, that's more of an average than anything. It's less about an active point of existence and more about how out-of-place the character would visibly be in an average town. All mentions of this here are built with the default setting in mind because if/when I put this into actual production, it will include a default module. I hope those stats and their explanations make sense, feel free to ask questions if not. Races: I'm planning for 15 races offered by default, unless I come up with some other really cool idea at some point. Most of the racial statistic +/- thing that's going on is related to the lore and/or origins of each group, which will not be included here because it's way too much for a single post. Instead I'm just going to put the basic descriptions of all 15 (which does include a slight bit of lore). Aviane: Alconn: Drahk: Dwarf: Elf: Giant (you won't believe me if I say the last sentence was part of the lore before I started playing Tears of the Kingdom): Human: Korsine: Neshi: Sabit: Shicae: Skarn: Tomon: Undra: Warped: Questions and critiques about all of this are welcome, and I'm hoping to put up another update in August with more detail on the mechanics, followed by a period of radio silence while I adapt to grad school classes and then updates resuming whenever I can spare the creativity and attention. Taglist: @Frustration

Potentially as a conduit, true. I didn't think of that. I think that falls under one of the Intent separations and most people would perceive pain differently enough to touch that they'd be stored differently. But I don't know if we know that for sure.

Yeah, you really have to get to that first Cradle book. The last one comes out in just a couple months, so you should join us in the suffering waiting for Waybound. My feelings on the last Art of the Adept book are very mixed, though. It felt disappointing. We'll see if that changes with the sequel series that is apparently happening. I do always enjoy a solid Shusterman. Thank you.

I'm sure you've heard of Cradle or I'd recommend that one immediately. Mage Errant maybe? Mark of the Fool? Art of the Adept is arguably progression fantasy. I hear Lost Mages is good as well, though I can't personally vouch for that one. I'm in the mood for a good apocalypse book, if anyone's got a recommendation for that.

Oh I'm very sure it'll turn out interesting, one way or another. I noticed that too. I almost wonder if they decided to downplay her role a bit because of how many people criticised the first one by saying that it only made sense if you'd already read the book.

I'll be very interested to see how they do the Water of Life bit. I think they started to show some of it with the jar, but that could also have been something else. However they do it, it'll be a trip.

Surge of Transportation could probably help out a long way, though it may be getting too close to teleportation.

Got it. Frustration's suggestion of Brandon's writing videos is a good one, they're very helpful. I'd also suggest taking a look at On Writing by Stephen King if you have any attachment to his style at all, Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing isn't bad either, and one professor I had swore by Roy Peter Clark's Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer.

Are you looking for creative fiction writing resources, creative nonfiction resources, or technical writing ones? And if it's creative writing, are you learning toward short stories or longer form fiction?

That's a floodgate that doesn't need to get opened until we see The Aztlanian. Hopefully.

A form of birth control was confirmed for Scadrial. Presumably there's something similar on Roshar, though I don't know if it would be affected by the higher Investiture limit on Roshar. If anything, I think that would make people more likely to carry to term, since it seems to be making them all significantly healthier than they would otherwise be. But who knows? Maybe the Alethi are all afflicted with heavy metal poisoning from all the warfare and that's keeping them down.

I'm picturing that being too generous even. More like big man Melkor swatting Odium like a fly.

Sounds like you want a more advanced version of the thing they have on the Reddit sub. I'm not sure how feasible that would be for a forum-format discussion.

Here, try this version of it:

This will probably end up moved to the Mistborn section, but if the old cover of Hero of Ages is anything to by, it's a pretty standard longer-on-top haircut. (Textless cover in the spoiler box for reference)

Sounds like Black Clover. Everyone has magic, Asta has none (but is absolutely shredded), goes on to be insanely cool anyway.

Originhunters, maybe. The Old Divine? Depends on where the magic comes from beyond just being hereditary. The Order Primeval. The Reclaimers of Fallen Glory. Harbingers of the Past. The True Cult. Hard to say what works best without more details.

Hey, nothing wrong with taking up the torch again! Even if nothing comes of it, it's good experience (and good fun!). Also, minor update, because I felt like making even more work for myself: I've decided to include a mutation mechanic for an extra bit of variability to baseline stats and racial characteristics. Things like Blood Curses will have variable effects based on what the curse is (infinitely customizable with a bit of input from the DM/GM/TM) but the examples I've come up with for that category are Berserker (-Stability, +Power) and Therianthrope (-Stability, -Adaptability, +Power, +Speed). Other mutations that I'll be including as base, provided content are Size Changes (+/-Speed, +/-Endurance, +/-Power, depending on the direction), Heritage Emergence (+/-Renown, +/-Stability, +/- one other, depending on Heritage), and Planesight (-Endurance, -Stability, +Adaptability).

Truly the most difficult part of French. But yeah, that's a good idea.

You know, that's fair. Could go half-and-half and just say it lets him pick up the language easier. Slight predisposition but not quite the instant understanding.

How long has the language been extinct for and how is it connected to the language the character speaks? I know if it were me, I'd go the whole Talking Head thing that Quantus is talking about with ghostly librarian assistant things or something like that. Or you could take it the PJO route and have the bloodline connect to an instinctual knowledge of the language.

I'm interested in potentially participating, depending on the mechanics of when it starts, synchronous vs asynchronous sessions, and the details of the setting(s).