User talk:ConcealedLight/Musicus Expansion

Suggested Page Additions

Phobias

Fear is a very prevalent force in the world of D&D. Although fear is generally something temporary, sometimes there is a fear passed down genetically throughout an entire race. For example, many flying races have a sense of paranoia and panic when they are in small spaces. Not only do phobias add flavor to a race's history and personality, they also provide the balance needed for races that have traits of questionable balance without them.

Point Cost	Name	Description
-X	Phobia.*	You have a [Definition]. When you [Trigger], you have disadvantage on all skill checks, attack rolls, and saving throws until you [End Condition]. If you would roll a critical success on a skill check or land a critical hit on a creature while affected by the [Name] trait, it is not treated as a critical success or hit.

Phobia

There are many diverse types of phobias that your character might have. Included in this table are the Names, Definitions, End Conditions, and Triggers of phobia examples that can be used with this trait. Phobias listed in this table are common examples, and as such, you can create your own phobias if you'd like! If you choose to do so, all other phobias not present on these lists have a -0.5 score on the Musicus Meter. The "Trigger" is the specific condition that must be met for the creature to be affected by the phobia trait, and the "End Condition" is a condition that needs to be met for the phobia's effects to end. Each race can only have a maximum of 2 phobias. Every additional phobia afterward does not count towards your race's Musicus Meter rating.

The following phobias are very common, and as such add a -1 score to your race's Musicus Meter rating.

Name	Definition	Trigger	End Condition
Claustrophobia	Fear of confined spaces.	Occupy a space that is smaller than 100 square feet in area (10 ft. by 10 ft.)	Leave the space
Enochlophobia	Fear of large crowds and crowded areas.	Are in a city, town, or village with a population of 10,000 creatures or larger	Spend 1d4 days in that city, town, or village
Acrophobia	Fear of heights.	Are higher than 50 feet in altitude and can see ground that is lower than your current altitude	Are lower than 50 feet in altitude
Nyctophobia	Fear of darkness.	Are blinded or in a heavily obscured area caused by darkness in which you cannot see	Are cured of blindness or leave the heavily obscured area

The following phobias are examples of uncommon phobias. These phobias, as well as any others that you might create, add a -0.5 score to your race's Musicus Meter rating.

Name	Definition	Trigger	End Condition
Glossophobia	Fear of public speaking.	Are about to perform a Charisma skill check that involves using your voice	Stop speaking
Hemophobia	Fear of blood.	Sustain an injury where an open wound forms	Heal the open wound
Monophobia	Fear of being alone.	Are 30 feet or more away from the closest party member	Are less than 30 feet away from a party member
Arachnophobia	Fear of spiders and other similar arachnids.	Are within 10 feet of a spider, arachnid, or arachnid-like creature	Are further than 10 feet away from that creature
Brontophobia	Fear of thunder and lightning.	Hear or see thunder or lightning	Do not hear or see thunder or lightning for 1 consecutive minute.

I like the concept, however, I'm not sure how the second part of the frightened condition makes sense in practice. If you have Claustrophobia can you simply not move towards the entrance of a cave? Similarly with Enochlophobia would the character not be able to move past the gate of a city? When forced physically into one of these areas would they practically have their speed reduced to 0. In addition, both these traits are functionally the same so it should be moved into one trait called Phobia with a * after it and expand on to the table like I've done previously in the page. ConcealedLight (talk) 19:46, 8 January 2018 (MST)

Hey, Concealed! Ok, so you can still encounter a place/thing that triggers your phobia, but while you are exposed to your phobia, you are basically in a state of panic similar to the frightened condition. Also, I've made the necessary changes on the page and added 6 new phobias! Thanks for your feedback! :) --EpicBoss99 (talk) 20:47, 8 January 2018 (MST)

I'm still unsure how a race with Claustrophobia would be able to leave the confined space if they were unwillingly moved into it. Would they remain there with there speed dropped to 0 and unable to move until another creature took them out of that space or until they died from starvation? There should be some way to overcome your phobia temporarily, via a save. Also, I think phobia is a niche in most cases and should have a score of -0.5 instead of -1. In addition, there should be a maximum number of phobias, I'd say 2 a race can have. ConcealedLight (talk) 09:30, 19 January 2018 (MST)

I'm gonna think about how to fix the phobias with your response in a little bit. Expect a reply soon! :D --EpicBoss99 (talk) 18:03, 19 January 2018 (MST)

I do agree that some phobias can be reduced to -0.5, but others like Claustrophobia and Enochlophobia have conditions that are very commonly met in campaigns. Also, all that the Frightened condition does in terms of the phobias is affect rolls. Races affected by phobias like your example can still move and do not have their speed dropped to 0, they will just have their rolls permanently affected until the end condition is met. Also, I totally agree with the 2 maximum things for the phobias! Finally, sorry for such a late reply, I've been so busy making other stuff!! XD --EpicBoss99 (talk) 00:30, 1 February 2018 (MST)

That is correct in regards to the frightened condition, however, if the source of your fear is surrounding you, and you can't willingly move towards it then you can't move and your speed effectively drops to 0. Next, a -0.5 for the niche application of the frightened condition is suitable for some, however, I'm doubting the use of the more niche phobias and how a race would have them. I'd suggest only giving examples of the most common ones like Nyctophobia or Claustrophobia and leaving users to make their own judgments to it since the expanded meter isn't supposed to cover every possible combination but just provide examples of other types of traits not originally covered. Take as long as you need, you aren't on a schedule and I don't see the expansion getting completed soon though you'd see some large edits if I was going for it. ConcealedLight (talk) 05:32, 1 February 2018 (MST)

Okay! Would I be able to add a clause saying that you could still move? If so, I think I'm ready to make some changes. Thank you so much! :) --EpicBoss99 (talk) 10:29, 1 February 2018 (MST)

Instead of applying the frightened condition just specifically state what debilitating effects are affecting them. ConcealedLight (talk) 04:05, 2 February 2018 (MST)

Oh, awesome! I didn't think I would be able to do that. Yeah, that's what I was gonna do haha! Thank you so much for the help! :) EpicBoss99 (talk) 09:33, 2 February 2018 (MST)

Hey! I saw that you moved the Phobia rule back over to the talk page. What can I do to put it back on the main page? I thought it was good to go, but if you have anything else you'd like me to fix, I'd be happy to do it! :) EpicBoss99 (talk) 10:22, 10 February 2018 (MST)

I would like the first completed revision of the expansion to include predominant features with as close reference to the first party as possible before adding in other such content. In addition, adding additional negative scorings to races is something I'd like to avoid as Musicus does himself by not counting negative ability scores and there being a largely small pool of negative traits. Both the Phobia's and the additional avian rules you've proposed are largely niche and don't fit into the category so until I've completed v1.0 of the expansion the suggested traits that don't meet that criteria will be kept here for safe keeping. Please don't be discouraged by this and feel free to continue working on them so that when that time comes they are ready to go and thank you for your contributions thus far. --ConcealedLight (talk) 05:13, 12 February 2018 (MST)

Cool! Thanks for the heads-up! I appreciate you letting me work on such an important project! Keep up the great work! :) --EpicBoss99 (talk) 15:00, 12 February 2018 (MST)

Hey! I've been doing some research into city populations during Medieval times and I've changed the number of people required for the Enochlophobia trait to trigger. This new number fits a "large crowd" description far better! :) EpicBoss99 (talk) 22:28, 26 February 2018 (MST)

This seems more acceptable. --ConcealedLight (talk) 03:47, 27 February 2018 (MST)

Additional Avian Race Rules

With the creation of avian races capable of flight, the uniqueness and creativity regarding the anatomy of these races hasn't been explored to the fullest. Not all avian races have a pair of wings as well as a pair of arms, after all. These will add much more flavor to avian races and bring even more balance to flight, a really unique form of movement!

Point Cost	Name	Description
-0.5	Wings as Arms*	Your wings also act as your arms. While flying, you cannot use two-handed weapons, weapons with the heavy property, or ranged weapons that require two hands to draw and fire. In addition, weapons with the versatile property must be wielded with one hand while flying.
1.5	Heavy Flier*	Your wings may not support your heavy frame for more than a few seconds. You have a flying speed of [30+#]. However, if you end your turn while flying you fall.

Wings as Arms

This trait was added for homebrew avian races that use their wings as arms and hands, such as the Rito race from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This will allow more of a realistic sense of flight and also add flavour to those races.

Mechanically I don't see any difference between Talons and the normal natural weapons. Wing's as arms should be worth -0.5 as it is due to it only applying to martial classes. The way I'd do this trait is have them unable to use weapons with those properties, but weapons they can use have reach, balancing it out to 0.5 I'd say. In addition, anything directly to do with flying put into its own "Additional Flying Options", though don't put something like the Claustrophobia trait in there.ConcealedLight (talk) 10:05, 19 January 2018 (MST)

Would it still work if the "Wings as Arms" trait was just left as-is and I just deleted the whole "Talon" trait? --EpicBoss99 (talk) 18:01, 19 January 2018 (MST)

Yup, the score of "Wings as Arms" would be -0.5 though. ConcealedLight (talk) 06:00, 20 January 2018 (MST)

Ok, I made the changes. Thanks for the help! :) Oh crap how am I gonna re-balance my Rito race oh noooo --EpicBoss99 (talk) 17:00, 20 January 2018 (MST)

Heavy Flier Trait

What would "you have to end your turn on solid ground" be worth, -1 or -1.5?--Blobby383b (talk) 07:52, 24 February 2018 (MST)

So this is a more extreme version of "Cannot Hover" which is worth -1. "Must keep moving. While flying, if you do not move at least half your speed during your turn, you fall to the ground." I would display it differently to a flying restriction. Similarly to how I've done the additional special senses, I'd give it increments of maybe 30/60/90 each worth 0.5/1/2 but limit it in the sense that you wouldn't be able to increase it by taking some like the dash action so it would function like this single, powerful thrust of your wings. --ConcealedLight (talk) 08:30, 24 February 2018 (MST)

Huh, that is an interesting way to go about it, though I am not sure I like how high the speed could get each turn. How does making it worth 1 more than what walking speed would be worth at every interval with 30 being worth 1 being the minimum and allowing you to still dash sound?--Blobby383b (talk) 08:49, 24 February 2018 (MST)

Just quick values there. What about something like, "You have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. However, if you end your turn while flying you fall." I imagin linking it to movement speed instead of applying set standard iterations would leave it open to abuse from monks with their speed bonus and rogues with their double dash. --ConcealedLight (talk) 14:47, 24 February 2018 (MST)

I meant making it initially worth 1 to take and then 0.5/ 5ft after the first 30ft and not having its speed tied to your walking speed, sorry if I was not clear(I accidentally said the wrong thing in my above statement).--Blobby383b (talk) 15:28, 24 February 2018 (MST)

This is a really interesting trait! Can't wait to see it on a race sometime in the future! :) EpicBoss99 (talk) 10:15, 24 February 2018 (MST)

I made something similar for a race at some point. I just can't remember it or the wording I used exactly. --ConcealedLight (talk) 14:47, 24 February 2018 (MST)

Heavy Flier

This trait costs 0.5/5ft after the first 30 feet. For example having a flying speed of 40 feet with this trait costs 2.5.

Labored Flight

Should be added, given a pretty hefty point reduction vs regular flight as it half-negates one of the major reasons why flight is powerful: using an action to fly means you cannot attack while flying. Varkarrus (talk) 09:59, 30 July 2018 (MDT)

Oh, yeah! I forgot about this expansion! Thanks for the reminder! :) EpicBoss99 (talk) 17:25, 30 July 2018 (MDT)

Scoring of Traits

For now, I will mainly be looking at the scoring of the feats using the meter.

• Inspiring Leader. While not a great feat, every day you can start with an inspiring talk that gives 3~4 temp hitpoints to everyone in your party at 1st level and you have a chance to get more than a single use out of it again during the day. I would rate this 1.5, as this seems more powerful than a +1 bonus to an ability score, but it still may not be worth 1.5.
• Lucky. I would rate being able to use luck points on your rolls as 2 and advantage on any 3 rolls even after you see the roll is really strong. Also, see this.

Besides, that the scoring for the feats is really well done.--Blobby383b (talk) 07:35, 24 February 2018 (MST)

Fair point on Inspiring Leader. However, I marked it down to 1 due to the 10 minute "casting time" of it but now that I think about how highly the MM values hit points 1.5 is a suitable score.

Lucky is very strong, hence why I don't allow it at my table and thinking about it now I don't really want to include it here either. Though I think it should be for inclusivities sake. Mmmh, truly a vexing one. --ConcealedLight (talk) 08:57, 24 February 2018 (MST)

Yeah, honestly no race should be able to start with the lucky feat, it just gives PC's too much. Looking back at it, situational advantage on certain skills is worth 0.5 so why is gaining advantage on any roll even when you have disadvantage worth 0.5? The feat itself just makes me angry at how good it is and the fact that any PC can take the feat and be happy about it.--Blobby383b (talk) 09:23, 24 February 2018 (MST)

tbh at the time I just assigned a vague value to it while I was putting down the foundation to it the feats. Instead of rating it why not doing this. --ConcealedLight (talk) 09:50, 24 February 2018 (MST)

Literally everyone I talk to in real life says that the Lucky feat is incredibly powerful, so I definitely feel like it should have a higher score than most of the other feats. EpicBoss99 (talk) 10:15, 24 February 2018 (MST)