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10.6.1: Body, Life, Mind, and Soul Redesign
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@Vadskye Vadskye released this 17 Mar 21:34
· 1022 commits to master since this release
v10.6.1
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Body, Life, Mind and Soul

Problem

Rise has historically attached great importance to souls, but has not had a clear definition for what a soul actually is. It also has had a somewhat confusing and inconsistent definition of a "mind", treating some creatures capable of complex cognition as being mindless.

Solution

The four elements that define existence in Rise are body, life, mind, and soul.
A body is a creature's physical existence.
Life is the ability of a body to change and adapt over time.
A mind is a creature's ability to understand and react to its environment.
Soul is the ability of a mind to change and adapt over time.

With these new definitions, some creatures that were previously called "mindless" are now called "simple-minded".
Simple-minded creatures have a mind, and are vulnerable to Compulsion effects, but they are incapable of feeling emotions, having complex thoughts, or taking psychic damage.
This was applied to skeletons, zombies, golems, elementals, and similar animated creatures.

The word "sentient" is now used less frequently, and no longer has a technical definition.
It is unclear whether "sentient" refers to experiencing emotions, which simple-minded creatures cannot do, or perceiving and reacting to one's surroundings, which simple-minded creatures can do.

Fully mindless creatures are now more rare, and they no longer have Intelligence or Willpower attributes at all.
They use their Fortitude defense in place of their Mental defense, and they use their Strength to determine their magical power.
They are immune to psychic damage and Compulsion and Emotion abilities.
This is typically reserved for oozes, plants, and extremely basic animals like ants.

For details on the narrative implications of this change, see "The Universe" in the book, especially "The Four Elements of Existence" and "Power Ultimately Derives From Life and Soul".

General changes

Monsters

  • Monsters now gain +1 accuracy at levels 7 and 19 instead of levels 5 and 17
  • Monsters now gain +1 to all defenses at levels 5/11/17 instead of only level 11
    • At higher levels, monster power was falling behind player power, and at high levels characters have many tools for mitigating high defenses
  • Undead no longer heal from energy damage, and can no longer be damaged by mundane healing abilities
  • Monsters can now explicitly use abilities that fatigue them, but only if those abilities are listed in their description blocks

Combat mechanics

  • Creatures that are impervious to an attack no longer take half damage from that attack on a miss
  • Miss chances are now rolled before attack rolls, rather than after
    • This makes it safe to use the desperate exertion ability on attacks that have a miss chance, assuming you already got past the miss chance
  • Weak strikes now halve flat damage modifiers instead of removing all flat damage modifiers
    • They previously had extemely weak scaling, making them overpowered exactly when first acquired and falling off very quickly in subsequent levels. This should make them more well-rounded overall.
  • All non-Swift healing abilities now explicitly heal at the end of the round, rather than during the resolution of the action
    • This should make triggered healing behave more intuitively with respect to incoming damage from monsters
  • The Recover ability now removes conditions before applying its healing

Classes

  • The Evasion+ abilities for monk and rogue now affect all defenses, instead of applying a global half damage modifier to area attacks
  • Barbarian: The Versatile Savagery ability can now grant the Mounted and Thrown (30/60) tags instead of the Forceful tag
  • Cleric
    • Denounce the Heathens now has different scaling at ranks 5 and 7
    • Each ability granted by Domain Influence is now individually tagged as being magical or mundane
    • Protection Domain has been slightly buffed
    • Turn Undead now deals half maximum hit points in damage instead of instantly killing on a critical hit
    • Bless the Worthy now has the Emotion tag
  • Dragon: The tail slam now has the Impact weapon tag instead of the Forceful weapon tag
  • Druid
    • The Nature Magic archetype now correctly grants additional spells known at ranks 2, 4, and 7
    • Plant Channeling now requires a Small or larger plant, rather than Tiny

Combat Styles

  • Blunt Force
    • Resonating Strike has been removed
    • Blasting Strike and Forceful Strike have been added
  • Ebb and Flow
    • Certain Strike now grants a +2 accuracy bonus instead of +3
    • Certain Strike+ now grants a +6 accuracy bonus intead of +5
    • Guardbreaker now lasts briefly instead of only during the current round
  • Flurry of Blows: Rapid Quaff is no longer a weak strike

Mystic Spheres

In general, the number of spells that can be cast on allies has been increased, and damage scaling values should now be more consistent.

  • Aeromancy
    • Propulsion can now be Swift if you spend one fatigue
    • Mass Wind Screen and Mass Windblade have been added
    • Mighty Windslash now uses a power-based damage value instead of a flat damage value
    • Windsnipe now scales damage with rank instead of accuracy
  • Aquamancy
    • Mass Waterward has been added
    • Geyser now uses a power-based damage value and has shorter range
    • Aqueous Tentacle is now Attune (target) instead of Attune
    • Mighty Aqueous Tentacle is now Attune instead of Attune (deep)
  • Astromancy
    • Mass Astral Instability, Mass Phasing Blade, and Mass Phasestep have been added
    • Translocation and Dimension Door can now be Swift if you spend one fatigue
    • Planar Jaunt - Astral Plane is now rank 2
    • Planar Jaunt - Plane of Fire is now rank 1 and short range instead of medium range
    • Planar Jaunt - Myriad now uses a power-based damage value
  • Chronomancy: Unstable Aging and Mighty Unstable Aging now scale damage with rank instead of accuracy
  • Cryomancy
    • Cone of Cold now uses a power-based damage value
    • Chillwind Dash can now be Swift if you spend one fatigue
  • Electromancy
    • Mass Magnetic Blade has been added
    • Thunderdash can now be Swift if you spend one fatigue
  • Enchantment: Tell the Truth is now Sustain (attuneable, standard) instead of Attune
  • Fabrication: Mystic Forge is now rank 4 instead of rank 5
  • Photomancy
    • Mass Blurred Motion has been added
    • Reflective Lightbeam now has a fixed damage value
    • Reflective Lightbeam, Solar Ray and Solar Flare now scale damage with rank instead of accuracy
    • Efficient Chromatic Orb now has a power-based damage value
    • Lightbeam Dash can now be Swift if you spend one fatigue
    • Malleable Disguise can now be changed as a minor action instead of a standard action
  • Polymorph
    • Mass Scent and Mass Draconic Senses have been added
    • Alter Self is now Sustain (attuneable, minor) instead of Attune
    • Flesh-Rending Claw now correctly uses the higher of magical and mundane power
    • Power Claw now has a -3 accuracy penalty instead of -4
    • Mighty Power Claw now has a -2 accuracy penalty instead of -3
    • Regeneration is now Sustain (attuneable, standard) instead of Attune
  • Pyromancy
    • Massive Fireball has been added
    • Pyroclasm has been redesigned
    • Fireball is now short range instead of medium range
    • Delayed Fireball is now rank 4 instead of rank 5, but is weaker
    • Burning Hands, Immolating Fireball, Flame Breath, and Flame Serpent deal less damage
    • Massive Burning Hands is now Mighty Burning Hands, and affects a smaller area
    • Mighty Wall of Fire is rank 5 instead of rank 6, but has shorter range
    • Kindled Fireburst is now longer range but affects a smaller area
    • Flame Dash can now be Swift if you spend one fatigue
  • Revelation
    • Mass Weapon Proficiency, Mass Armor Proficiency, and Mass Foresight have been added
    • Greater Proficiency is now Sustain (attuneable, minor) instead of Attune
    • Precognitive Offense no longer scales
    • Foresight is now rank 5 instead of rank 7
  • Summoning: Summoned creatures now have a power-based damage value
  • Terramancy
    • Mass Personal Gravitation has been added
    • Crushing Gravity now has a power-based damage value
    • Earthcraft is now a ritual instead of a spell
    • Earthbind also makes it more difficult to stand up while prone
    • Earthen Fortification is now Sustain (attuneable, minor) instead of Attune
    • Stonefist is now Attune (target) instead of Attune
    • Mighty Stonefist is now Attune instead of Attune (deep)
  • Thaumaturgy
    • Enhance Magic - Precision has been added
    • Magic Missile now has a power-based damage value, and ignores all miss chances
    • Enhance Magic - Might now has stronger scaling
    • Enhance Magic - Distance has been removed
  • Toxicology: Mass Poison Immunity has been added
  • Umbramancy
    • Darklantern is now Sustain (attuneable, minor) instead of Attune
    • Deep Darkness and Absolute Darkness have been added
    • Deep Darklantern has been removed
    • Dark Miasma now has a fixed damage value, and scales its damage with rank instead of its accuracy
    • Shadowstep can now be Swift if you spend one fatigue
  • Universal: Mighty Mystic Bolt and Mighty Mystic discharge now have power-based damage values
  • Verdamancy
    • Undergrowth created by the sphere is now explicitly alive
    • Mass Flourishing Grass and Fire Seed Swarm has been added
    • Vine Tentacle is now Attune (target) instead of Attune
    • Mighty Embedded Growth, Mighty Fire Seeds, Massive Wall of Thorns, and Blight now have power-based damage values
    • Shillelagh can now be cast as a minor action, and is Sustain (attuneable, free) instead of Attune
    • Massive Flourishing Grass is now rank 5 instead of rank 4
    • Intense Flourishing Grass is now rank 7 instead of rank 6
    • Multiple Fire Seeds can no longer be thrown or detonated simultaneously
    • Mighty Fire Seeds now deals more damage
  • Vivimancy
    • Mass Wellspring of Life, Lifetap, Lifetap Slash, Lifetap Blast, and Lifetap Ward have been added
    • Corpse Explosion now affects everything in the area, not just creatures
    • Withering is now rank 2 instead of rank 1, but also blocks hit point recovery
    • Retributive Lifebond now scales its damage with rank instead of its accuracy
    • Mighty Retributive Lifebond now has a flat damage value

Equipment

  • The Forceful weapon tag has been redesigned as the Resonating weapon tag
    • Resonating weapons cause struck targets to briefly take a -2 penalty to Armor defense against you
    • This removes some awkward short-range movement which often didn't matter and was fiddly to track, especially when playing without a grid
    • This affects the Longhammer, Sledgehammer, Warhammer, Dwarven Longhammer, and Ram weapons, as well as the Bulk upgrade for automatons
  • Bracers of Armor now grant +3 Armor defense instead of +4
  • Gauntlets of the Ram and Hefty weapons no longer exist
  • Mystic Manacles now also prevent teleportation

Feats

  • Sphere Focus - Enchantment: Mind Fragments now also affects psychic damage, and works on both mindless and simple-minded creatures, but only affects magical abilities
  • Rapid Reaction: the Evasive Reaction+ ability now affects all defenses, instead of applying a global half damage modifier to area attacks
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