Interesting video! Would you think it could be too much reworking the stunts? I dont know the system, but I guess you HAVE to use the die immediately or it gets lost. What if you can save the points during rounds, so you can wait to have enough for the perfect stunt. Ofc you lose the points at the end of the fight. Also, does it have to happen always on double rolls? Can't it be done in a more reliable way? (e.g. you beat the DC by 5 or more). I am thinking about the momentum mechanics in the Charge system by Fari. Maybe you could use that as an inspiration for the rework!
By default it has to be used immediately and its based on rolling doubles, then the amount of points you get would be based on the value on the dragon die. Of course you could homebrew it up but the 2 changes you mentioned are basically their selling point for the system so it wouldn’t be dragon age ttrpg anymore. The beauty of our hobby is that we can absolutely hack this stuff apart to work for our needs though. I’m not familiar with the Charge system by Fari, I’ll have to look into it!
@@Sacred_AoG The charge system is really short and quick to learn, it has a modern design! Regarding the stunts system I have 2 thoughts: this system is not strictly tied to Thedas, so a Dragon Age game doesn't necessarily NEED it. A good game ties it's game mechanic to the world, such as lord of the rings games that implement the corruption of the shadow. So having these stunts being a general system for cool stuff, homebrewing it wouldn't really take away anything from the Dragon Age world. But of course I understand that since you have played it a lot, your personal experience of a Dragon Age game is tied to this specific system, and changing it wouldn't make it feel the same 😅 BUT (second point) if the selling point has become the BREAKING point, then it might be worth to try and fine tune it. The developers might have had a great intuition with the stunts system, but if the execution leaves the players with a lot of frustration then it's not at the right place. Maybe it needs a little nudge in the right direction by someone who knows it well and loves it 😉 But that's just my thought, I was curious about trying it, but the problems you talked about in the video made me reluctant, so I was trying to fix it before playing 😅 maybe a little premature 🫣
Looks like it’s inspired by forged in the dark so I am compelled to look into it further! O I am perfectly fine with modifying it but I understand most people probably wouldn’t want to. Especially when it’s their trademark part of the system. It would be like asking friends to play d&d 5e and removing classes. One person’s negative could be your positive. It’s not terrible, you absolutely could enjoy it as is or even improve upon it if it really pulls you in. Like you said, you can play a game built around Thedas without this system if you wanted.
I have a similar love hate relationship with this system, but actually for a different reason. The main dislike I have is the lack of a dedicated healer class. Having run a campaign of Dragon Age it was noticeable that anyone playing a mage is also forced to also a healer whether they want to or not. Its not like in the computer game where the party can stock up on 100's of healing potions. Even if the mage does agree to take on the role of party healer the game has no equivalent to a raise dead spell. With 20 character levels how do they expect characters to survive? With regards to the stunt system one idea to make it more tactical would be to allow players to save their stunt points rather than use them in the round they get them. They then get to decide whether to use them for lower powered stunts or build them up (wait for an opening) before unleashing a more powerful stunt. You might even allow them to pass stunt points to other characters in the party to encourage teamwork.
Interestingggggg. I feel like for the most part that wasn’t a problem for our party but I do think we were very effective. Just the Arcane Warrior, Reaver and Marksman alone were a powerful combo and there were 2 more characters. I do like your idea about storing the stunt points and teamwork! If I give this a go again, I’ll definitely have that in mind.
Stunts have always been an issue with me; mainly for the reasons you stated, but because they still seem somewhat limiting to me and players tend to stick to the same handful of stunts over and over and over and over and over . . .
You could add in some new stunts or amend some of the less popular ones to be more attractive. I came up with one called sunder armour, which slowly takes AP off an enemy. Against stronger more armoured opponents this can prove more useful over the course of a fight.
@neillennon5694 you coulddddd but I think that becomes a slippery slope. In my experience this solves a problem but causes new ones. Thats not to say never homebrew but you’ll more or less end up in the same place in this instance because the root of the problem is still there.
Interesting video! Would you think it could be too much reworking the stunts? I dont know the system, but I guess you HAVE to use the die immediately or it gets lost. What if you can save the points during rounds, so you can wait to have enough for the perfect stunt. Ofc you lose the points at the end of the fight. Also, does it have to happen always on double rolls? Can't it be done in a more reliable way? (e.g. you beat the DC by 5 or more).
I am thinking about the momentum mechanics in the Charge system by Fari. Maybe you could use that as an inspiration for the rework!
By default it has to be used immediately and its based on rolling doubles, then the amount of points you get would be based on the value on the dragon die. Of course you could homebrew it up but the 2 changes you mentioned are basically their selling point for the system so it wouldn’t be dragon age ttrpg anymore.
The beauty of our hobby is that we can absolutely hack this stuff apart to work for our needs though. I’m not familiar with the Charge system by Fari, I’ll have to look into it!
@@Sacred_AoG The charge system is really short and quick to learn, it has a modern design! Regarding the stunts system I have 2 thoughts: this system is not strictly tied to Thedas, so a Dragon Age game doesn't necessarily NEED it. A good game ties it's game mechanic to the world, such as lord of the rings games that implement the corruption of the shadow. So having these stunts being a general system for cool stuff, homebrewing it wouldn't really take away anything from the Dragon Age world. But of course I understand that since you have played it a lot, your personal experience of a Dragon Age game is tied to this specific system, and changing it wouldn't make it feel the same 😅 BUT (second point) if the selling point has become the BREAKING point, then it might be worth to try and fine tune it. The developers might have had a great intuition with the stunts system, but if the execution leaves the players with a lot of frustration then it's not at the right place. Maybe it needs a little nudge in the right direction by someone who knows it well and loves it 😉
But that's just my thought, I was curious about trying it, but the problems you talked about in the video made me reluctant, so I was trying to fix it before playing 😅 maybe a little premature 🫣
Looks like it’s inspired by forged in the dark so I am compelled to look into it further!
O I am perfectly fine with modifying it but I understand most people probably wouldn’t want to. Especially when it’s their trademark part of the system. It would be like asking friends to play d&d 5e and removing classes.
One person’s negative could be your positive. It’s not terrible, you absolutely could enjoy it as is or even improve upon it if it really pulls you in. Like you said, you can play a game built around Thedas without this system if you wanted.
I have a similar love hate relationship with this system, but actually for a different reason. The main dislike I have is the lack of a dedicated healer class.
Having run a campaign of Dragon Age it was noticeable that anyone playing a mage is also forced to also a healer whether they want to or not. Its not like in the computer game where the party can stock up on 100's of healing potions.
Even if the mage does agree to take on the role of party healer the game has no equivalent to a raise dead spell. With 20 character levels how do they expect characters to survive?
With regards to the stunt system one idea to make it more tactical would be to allow players to save their stunt points rather than use them in the round they get them. They then get to decide whether to use them for lower powered stunts or build them up (wait for an opening) before unleashing a more powerful stunt. You might even allow them to pass stunt points to other characters in the party to encourage teamwork.
Interestingggggg. I feel like for the most part that wasn’t a problem for our party but I do think we were very effective. Just the Arcane Warrior, Reaver and Marksman alone were a powerful combo and there were 2 more characters.
I do like your idea about storing the stunt points and teamwork! If I give this a go again, I’ll definitely have that in mind.
Stunts have always been an issue with me; mainly for the reasons you stated, but because they still seem somewhat limiting to me and players tend to stick to the same handful of stunts over and over and over and over and over . . .
Yea it is a classic example of something that sounds great on paper but does not deliver in practice unfortunately.
You could add in some new stunts or amend some of the less popular ones to be more attractive. I came up with one called sunder armour, which slowly takes AP off an enemy. Against stronger more armoured opponents this can prove more useful over the course of a fight.
@neillennon5694 you coulddddd but I think that becomes a slippery slope. In my experience this solves a problem but causes new ones. Thats not to say never homebrew but you’ll more or less end up in the same place in this instance because the root of the problem is still there.