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Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 11:56 pm
by Lexx416
Beast Speech
He has much lore of herbs and beasts, and birds are especially his friends.

I’m not entirely 100% sure what I think a Beast Speech ritual should do or be, but I think it would be cool and thematic for Druids to have access to. And partially, I just enjoy the name, Beast Speech.

My first thoughts are regarding Mounts. Beast Speech as a ritual that, when cast, provides a bonus to the caster’s Riding Skill (with, perhaps, a Group Bonus for primalists at 400 druidry. That seems kind of flat and one dimensional though, so perhaps it could also temporarily buff the Druid’s mount? I’m not 100% on how mount stats work, but increasing the Grit of a mount at lower levels, then the energy, and finally speed, at higher levels of druidry. Maybe even being able to temporarily add the “Warmount” trait to a mount, at very high levels of druidry.

Something else in line with the Mount Stuff, would be the ability to Druid Up a mount drawn from the local environs, even if only temporarily (preferably on a pretty long duration of a few hours though, similar to Growth).

I also could see Beast Speech being related to the oft sought after Animal Companion. Casting Beast Speech when targeting an animal in a room has a chance (based on a Difficulty Rating that varies from animal to animal, more skilled/rare/violent animals having a harder difficulty) based off of Druidry skill. I think this usage of Beast Speech should probably be semi-permanent, with penalties associated with the loss of a companion, and the ability to “dismiss” a companion to go hang out in the woods unmolested (ie despawned) until called back (this should be set on a timer, and perhaps take a semi random amount of time for the animal to return).

I think an animal companion should probably have limited combat usage (especially since most animals are very skittish). I could see Companions being used for more utility things. Providing assistance to Searches in the wilderness, boosting the Tracking skill when in the room a Druid is tracking in, perhaps even a limited scrying mechanic (sending an animal away to spy on something, returning with a very crude impression of what was seen, perhaps something like “There were a number of humans there, and one horse”, etc.).


Edited to add: I could, obviously, see each of these affects as separate rituals, or even have Beast Speech act as a tiered ability, that unlocks more uses of the rite with more levels of it.

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:32 am
by nobody
Lexx416 wrote: Sat Nov 07, 2020 11:56 pm Beast Speech
He has much lore of herbs and beasts, and birds are especially his friends.
If this ability is just being able to commune with beasts, perhaps what it'd do most of all is boost mount morale. However, if it is instead (as I'd guess based on the effect suggestions) a more powerful version of the druidry raw cast (or just an imposing of your will on the beasts in general) I could see any of those as fitting effects. I'll also throw in a suggestion for a bird companion ability: expanding the compass view in the wilderness/ignoring obscuring terrain effects in adjacent terrain only (so in dense forest you'd see an extra tile of dense forest around, and next to a hill you'd see past the hill, but if the obscuring effect is fog you'd not see any more than usual), though I don't like that it'd basically do nothing for our VI players.

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 11:35 am
by Lexx416
nobody wrote: Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:32 am
Lexx416 wrote: Sat Nov 07, 2020 11:56 pm Beast Speech
He has much lore of herbs and beasts, and birds are especially his friends.
If this ability is just being able to commune with beasts, perhaps what it'd do most of all is boost mount morale. However, if it is instead (as I'd guess based on the effect suggestions) a more powerful version of the druidry raw cast (or just an imposing of your will on the beasts in general) I could see any of those as fitting effects. I'll also throw in a suggestion for a bird companion ability: expanding the compass view in the wilderness/ignoring obscuring terrain effects in adjacent terrain only (so in dense forest you'd see an extra tile of dense forest around, and next to a hill you'd see past the hill, but if the obscuring effect is fog you'd not see any more than usual), though I don't like that it'd basically do nothing for our VI players.
Honestly, I just thought it was fun to add a kind of flavor text to it with the italics, since this idea was more of a "it'd be cool if we had an ability that was themed this way" suggestion, with some general ideas I had for it.

I had a similar thought for the bird, but because it wouldn't have impacted VI players, that's why I didn't include it. The other neat thing for a "bird companion" type ability I thought would to be able to send messages with them to folks you have remembered. Just bits of paper tied to their leg, that kind of thing

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:58 pm
by Dennis
Tagging onto the much-desired Animal Companions - rather than how it has been a one and done temporary process, I liken this idea more to the Beast Companion feature of the ranger class in D&D 5e. It's a process of wooing a creature over a long period of time using special herbs, treated food, and patience and time. I don't think any kind of animal companion should be a one and done process. I think bonding a druid spiritually to an animal, with the ability to expend ritual ingredients to construct said animal spirit a body, would be a good approach towards the feature.

Example: Druid requires the use of beast speech, which is a passive ability that has to be sought out and found. From there they can find an animal spirit in the wild to bond to at special primal power locations. The process is time intensive and may require several trips to and fro. The druid will provide several offerings to appease an animal in the form of tasks. Once the animal spirit is satisfied with all that has been provided, the player is offered the chance to bond with the animal spirit. A character can only bind one animal spirit at a time, and if the manifestation of the animal dies, the druid can go to the original location with reagents to create a new physical form for their bonded animal (this is similar to the undying process). The animal spirit always takes a form that is most familiar to them, such as the form of a snow bird, an ice wolf, a luminescent cave worm. The spirit is enhanced by the druid's cumulative druidry levels (Thereby rendering primalists as more potent conduits for their companions as opposed to a ranger or berserker).

Much as one can't really command an animal spirit, you really wouldn't be able to instruct the beast to do more than assist you in fighting, or avoiding combat. The ability to dismiss them and recall them would be nice, or a location to stable animal spirits for when you don't want them hovering around all the time.

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2021 10:07 am
by Lexx416
Beast of Burden

This ritual would have two primary purposes. The first is to increase the threshold for each level of encumbrance for the caster. The second purpose would be to allow the druid to act as a weaker draft horse for the purposes of removing stumps (thereby allowing folks to try to remove stumps without needing a horse).

Primalists should receive a "group" version of the buff that offers these bonuses at a much lower rate to the humans in the group, while also improving the endurance, toughness, and strength of any grouped horses.

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 11:15 am
by Lexx416
Here's a weird, simultaneously specific and kind of vague suggestion for a druidry ability.

There's a common myth that coral can grow in human skin/blood, which isn't true. Rather, what happens is toxins and bacteria can be present on corals, and scrapes/cuts from coral can transmit those things to the human body.

It'd be cool if there was agatized coral (basically fossilize coral that can be knapped), that could be knapped into tools and then enchanted so that the coral is semi-alive, and can transmit toxins and bacteria on a successful strike.

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:58 am
by Lexx416
I think it'd be neat if Primalists had a bonus for Bioluminescence at 400 Druidry, similar to how they do for Vitality. Either making brighter light or maybe allowing them to cause OTHER people to glow as well (may not work since the light comes from the tattoos), at the expense of using a sparkfly as a spell component/reagent.

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:05 am
by Talyn
what if the whole room glowed? Kinda defeats the purpose of the tattoos but would add more lighting? Was thinking since primalists specialize with Druidry they can be a bigger battery for druid powers or maybe absorb more energy when they do stuff. just a thought.

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 9:33 am
by Lexx416
Updated suggestion for the Bloodhound ability - allow PCs under the affect of Bloodhound a bonus to finding hidden people that have a scent tag (SMELLY, or one of the fancy soaps, etc.).

Re: Druidry Rituals

Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 8:33 am
by Lexx416
A couple of quick ability ideas! I don't really names for these abilities - but I thought they'd be fun and useful for Druids to have.

The first ability would be based around an Earth-centric primal spirit. It would involve laying items on the ground, performing the ability (which should probably cost something to the tune of 400 energy, similar to growth), and the items sinking down into the earth to be safely protected and hidden - this ability would require the Dirt (or sand, possibly?) tag in an outdoor wilderness room. I think the duration should either be very long (baseline several hours) or Permanent Until Dispelled, but cause a hefty and unavoidable sanity hit, with an added "Greedy" debuff that causes morale hits every time the Druid willingly parts with money or valuable objects. I would have the sanity hit scale with the number and total weight of items hidden away, as well as scale up the "Greedy" debuff - the general idea being you're getting in touch with some thing that affects your mental state while you maintain the cache. As a Primalist buff to this, I would probably allow them to also use this in Sand and Rocky areas (which harsher penalties for more difficulty areas like these), as well as make it harder to find and dig up said caches (which, I think these caches should be findable with a relevant skill, perhaps perception or tracking, and then DIG-able with dig times based on the Druid's Druidry skill). I'd also not have the Greedy debuff disappear immediately upon the cache being discovered, or ending the spell - I'd have the sanity hit removed, but keep the other debuff as a reminder for a little while after (an hour maybe?) that dealing with Primal Forces has consequences. Edited to add: I think this ability should be dismissible in the room it's in, but YOU have to remember the place it's in (and dismissing the effect causes everything to surface, not just specific items).

2nd ability would be a way to dowse for specific flora in the wilderness - perhaps a ritual that expands the SURVEY command to also include flora in adjacent rooms, or an additional command to be able to detect the general direction of wild edibles and herbs. A lot less detailed than the above - but probably more simple!