Playtest (A5E) Level Up Playtest Document #5: Inspiration & Destiny

Welcome to the fifth Level Up playtest document. This playtest contains a candidate for the game’s inspiration and destiny rules.

We also wanted to thank you for all the valuable feedback you’ve given us on the playtest surveys so far. Whether you liked or disliked the material, the survey feedback shapes this game.

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What this is​

This is a playtest document. We’d love you to try out the rules presented here, and then answer the follow-up survey in a few days.

What this is not​

This is NOT the final game. It’s OK if you don’t like elements of these rules; that’s the purpose of a playtest document. Be sure to participate in the follow-up survey. All data, positive or negative is useful.

What we use this for​

Your survey responses help form the direction of the game as it goes through the development process.

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[tetrasodium]

These are extremely impressive & probably one of the better alignment replacement systems I've seen. I was worried when the chaos blurb was posted earlier because the chaotic alignment tend to be such a trainwreck quick to pull out the chaotic stupid tendencies they praise, but it says a lot when my quick read trough only raised some wording points

• On excellence it says "You gain inspiration whenever the GM calls for you to make an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw". Although technically still true, the vast majority of attack rolls are made without the gm actually calling for it once the fight has started.
• on Excellence it lets you raise your int/wis/cha to a max of 22. At least in core so far ASI's & feats all say some variation of "to a maximum of 20", does this override that or open the door to some other method of bridging the gap we have yet to see?
• It's going to be reallly interesting to see what neat combo's can come from metamorphosis

 

[moriantumr]

This section has convinced me that I will certainly make a purchase. I have like everything previous, but this is great. Looking forward to its final form.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I suggest the idea of "storytelling points" as reward as destiny. And later to spend these points for feats or class features not linked with the battlefield.

 

[Waller]

I suggest the idea of "storytelling points" as reward as destiny. And later to spend these points for feats or class features not linked with the battlefield.

This is a playtest document. The idea is you playtest it and take the survey, not suggest a different set of rules.

 

[Morrus]

The survey is already up, BTW. No rush on taking it, but it's there:

Mailchimp Survey

us15.list-manage.com

 

[Zaukrie]

The best document yet! I really like this A LOT.

 

[Faolyn]

A fascinating concept!

Although you've again mentioned Chaos and Law as important, capitalized things--are they becoming descriptors or a power source or something like that? As a fan of Planescape, I'm glad to see you putting more emphasis on chaos vs. order; I was disappointed to see that 5e focused more on good vs. evil and dismissed the other axis. But back in 2e, alignment was important. In 5e, it isn't. So are you bringing it back in some way? And will this replace traits/bonds/ideals/flaws, or supplement it? (I hope it's the latter)

 

[Arilyn]

Really like these. It's great having other benefits to spend inspiration on. They will also be useful as a character's story arc changes through play.

 

[maceochaid]

LOVE THIS. I think this really fixes the inspiration mechanic in a very concrete way that would be a lot more usable to me as a DM than the current rules. I feel like a couple of standard concepts that could be added are:

Fame (Gain a reputation far and wide)
Stewardship (Protect the natural world, the beasts and plants from monsters, corrupting magics, and civilization)
Proselytize (Spread a monastic philosophy of self-denial, or the worship of a good God, or convince a nation of the evils of Tyrannical monarchy)
Promotion (Become the head of the Wizard college, the Leader of Her Majesty's spies, a Factol of The Society of Sensation in Sigil)
Redemption (you began your adventure after a terrible sin, you seek a way to prove yourself worthy of forgiveness from the love of your life, your family, your God, or just yourself)

However, it seems like there is something in here about a change in how Alignment is handled that isn't clearly stated. They also only cover Law and Chaos, while Devotion seems like it should have Good, and Revenge and/or Wealth seems like a possible match for Evil.

For people really into storytelling what about this (change in bold):

Fulfilling Your Destiny

Each destiny includes a fulfillment feature that you gain when you achieve your destiny, a momentous event usually at the end of a major story arc in the narrative (indicated by the GM). Even if your destiny remains outside of your grasp however, it is close enough at hand that you automatically gain its fulfillment feature when you reach 16th level. If you fulfill your destiny earlier in a campaign, at the GM’s discretion you may select an additional destiny. You retain your original destiny’s features and gain the source of inspiration and inspiration feature of your new destiny. You cannot gain a second fulfillment feature but can change your alignment.

Revenge gets Evil, Wealth has a mechanic where you have a 50% chance of gaining an Evil alignment. If you don't care, you don't care, but if you want to tell the story of redemption, you take the Devotion, or maybe the Redemption destiny I suggested above