I'd be interested in seeing the rules in the Mistborn RPG for it; I'd like to see if it could be ported over into a less... grim setting.

I think it'd be interesting to have "lesser" Hemalurgy, in which an animal is sacrificed for a lesser benefit.  A horse-stud in your ears could increase your endurance, while a snake tongue-stud would let you taste the air like a serpent.

Keep "greater" Hemalurgy in the hands of a monastic order or some such.  Just because the rites are soaked in blood doesn't mean they have to be abused; if I was lying on my deathbed, I'd take the spike to pass on my knowledge to the next generation.

Of course, this is all contingent on Hemalurgy actually killing you, and not on somehow trapping your soul in neverending torment, which sounds like it may be the case.  But again, if I'd be re-fluffing it for a less intense campaign, there's nothing saying I couldn't fluff that out, too...

So, I've just finished the first book of the trilogy, and, because I'm a giant nerd for interesting magic systems, I've been looking up information on the various magical abilities in the Mistborn series.  I think that Allomancy and Feruchemy are both neat, but the one that really captured my imagination is Hemalurgy.

I think that the idea of boiling down creatures into specific magical traits to pass along is an interesting and inherently flexible system.  Can you make a spike that passes along a skill?  You can certainly increase someone's abilities with it.  After reading the wiki article about it, I immediately grabbed my copy of Greg Stolze's Reign off my shelf o' roleplaying goods and flipped to Dindavarian Death-Forging, which is much the same.  Of course, in that system, the most accessible magic item is forged from an animal.  After that, I flipped to the Infernal crafting system in exalted, where the items in question are powered by demons boiled down to their pure essence.  In that case, not only are you typically playing evil characters, you're destroying demons, which is still not as bad as murdering people for magical potency.

The big problem in playing a Hemalurgist in a group setting would be justifying using (let alone making!) items that require the sacrifice of a living creature.  As I haven't read the next two books in the series, I'm not sure how set in stone the Hemalurgy rules are, but if there is wiggle room, what kind of refluffing would be needed to soften the horror of it all?  Especially if it can be carted off to be used in other settings; I think that the idea is too interesting to leave in the "villains only" box.

really, I like the way that Crafty has worked the size differential.  I defy you to find a large-sized character race from a Wizards of the Coast product with an ECL of less than 5.  The fact that most Giant-subtype creatures had between +6 and +18 strength renders them unplayable.

From a realism perspective, I don't think it is too hard to believe.  Giants may not deal extra damage if they punch you, but they have a potent natural attack to use against smaller folk and they carry bigger, more damaging weapons.  Is there any strength-based roll that Giants don't get a bonus to that doesn't make sense?

The vast majority of sneak attack dice come from feat choice.  Covert, combat, and terrain feats all grant bonus dice.  Because of Heartseeker, the Assasin doesn't really have to be played backstab-heavy (though you can, if you want); it is perfectly viable to grab combat feats and kill your target from the front in broad daylight.  There is a great quote to that effect about Bayushi assasins in a Legend of the Five Rings books I have squrreled away somewhere.

Just to chip in, the metamagic feats all come with trade offs that power up a spell for extra SP or, more importantly, bring it down a level by lowering the power.  You certainly can cast sleep at level 1, but you will have to make a touch attack to do so, for instance.

(I'd be more specific, but I don't have my book nearby...)

As someone who will probably be purchasing Spellbound via DriveThruRPG, I think that a sortable spreadsheet would be absolutely fantastic.  Even if you can't put it in the .pdf, I think it'd be a really cool cheap-o add on.  I'd pay 3-5 dollars for an index I could edit myself.

I'm sure if the need is there for extra tables, that those might show up as fan submissions.

Right- I'm not really concerned, just curious.

2000th reply.  Congrats

Posting in an epic thread.

Core Ability
Evil Eye: You cause problems just by looking at people funny. Each scene, you gain a bonus d6 action die that may only be used to activate NPCs's errors. Unless used, this action die is lost at the end of the scene.

I love this.  It is a new and unique class ability, and a mechanic that fits not only this class, but it could be ported over to other classes effectively, too.  Maybe a defensive class that gets a free AD that can only be used to boost a save, for instance.

So, I was reading through the Force of Nature class (which is extremely cool, by the way), and it left me with a couple of questions.

First and foremost, the Wrath of Nature ability says that you deal melee and unarmed damage of the same type as your blast in Berserker stance.  Is this optional?  I mean, it is fine if you deal fire damage, but if you are a darkness elemental, you can only deal stress damage.  I'm not saying that stress damage isn't useful... but there are a lot of cases where I'd like the extra STR boost to damage some scenery.

Speaking of Darkness, the Darkness elemental heritage feat grants Darkvision I and the Darkness path grants Darkvision II.  Is there a Darkvision III, do you get a different option, or does one just overwrite the other?

Lastly, you can't make skill checks in Berserker stance.  Does this include Athletics checks?  I ask in case I wanted to jump/swim in a combat sequence.  Would I have to drop out of the stance and take the Fatigued condition?

Edit:  I am dumb.  I also meant to ask if opponents get to save vs. the FoN's altered melee damage, as well.  For instance, does a metal FoN's Explosive melee attack get cut in half with a successful reflex save?

...Eric the Cavalier and his shield...

You, sir, are awesome and should feel awesome.

I do find it interesting that you can't use Darting Weapon while carrying a shield, though.  I mean, shield bashes aren't exactly menacing without the feat chain behind them; I'd rather swing my sword twice.

here's a question:

are there any plans for a Fantasy Craft campaign setting?  There is so much neat fluff built into the rules, I, for one, would like to see it all fleshed out into world.

Well, since I'm getting a healthy amount of replies and we're talking about things that strike me as "useless" (ok, not that rough, maybe "less useful" than some other options), let's talk about two weapon fighting and darting weapon.
Both of then let you take an additional attack at -2, right? So what is the point in two weapon fighting? You can use darting weapon with a shield or you MUST be actually with the other hand free? If this last option is the correct then I understand the use of two weapon fighting.

Thanks again!

Actually, you can use the two weapon fighting feats with a shield, as you can bash with your shield for subdual damage.  Aside from fluff reasons, the most likely reason to take TWF over darting weapon would be the ability to access two different weapon feat trees in the same action.  For instance, you could play a sword-and-board fighter with a high-damage weapon in one hand and a shield in the other to benefit from the low-damage stun attacks from Shield Mastery, or you could reel the enemy in with a Whip's Entangle attack trick and knife them to pieces with Shank/Knife Flurry.

Basically, it allows you to benefit from a high-damage weapon and a low damage, utility weapon in one round.

My first one?

Play what sounds cool and stop spending all this time trying to find the perfect combo. Pick your weapon based on the character you envision and what fits their style, background, and personality, rather then what gives you the most bonuses.

All of the melee chains are cool, the question isn't "what's best", It/s "what fits the character best". Since Aldrick ex Gladius is the guy who influenced the build, go with sword. It's a strong and straight forward chain.

Sorry, I'm a bit of a metagamer at heart.  I see a book with as many options as Fantasy Craft has, and I start to salivate at the thought of the spreadsheets I could make cross-referencing feat choices and such.  I'm kind of weird like that 

So, what are the most awesome trick combinations that you can think of?

Earthshaker (club) + Piledriver (unarmed) = Flash, Bang, Damage, and Sprawl to everything in a 10-foot-radius.  Keen.

Spiral Cutter (Greatsword) + Splatter (Hammer) = Become a radius-3 blast that instantly gibs most standard characters.  Sure you are flat footed at the end, but who cares if you're easy to hit when nothing that wants to hit you is alive?

Hurricane Kick (Unarmed) + Splatter/Shank/Skull Splitter etc. = The same as above, just on a smaller scale.  Still awesome.

These can all be done with weapons.  If you are only using your bare hands, you get access to even crazier stuff, like:

Brained (Club) + Splatter/Shank/Skull Splitter etc. = tough enemies go down for the count in one swing.

Blade Wall (Great Sword) + Wall of Branches (Staff) = anyone looking to get adjacent to you has to make a Will save AND a reflex save.  Throw Them Back (Shield) works, too.

Shield Slam (shield) + Splatter/Shank/Skull Splitter etc. = Stun any standard character you hit.  Cool, but how many are still standing after you force them to fail a check?

Anything else awesome that I missed?

Thanks for the help, guys.  First session turned out pretty good, even if I'm a lowly level 1 Martial Artist at this point.  I cranked back on the Con score to boost everything but dexterity past 12, and it still ended up being 15 out of the box.  Fantasy Craft really is a different game, even if it runs on the D20 system.

Speaking of which, I went out and bought the Call To Arms PDFs, and the Martial Artist fits my plan a little bit better than the Soldier.  If you are only going to go 4 levels into the class, they are pretty similar, with the only difference being swapping the Soldier's DR and Armor benefits for a stat boost and reach +1, along with some differences in the stats per level.  Considering that the Edgemaster gets an offensive class skill to spend AD on, I'd rather have the Martial Artist's defensive skill, too.

Now, what do you think the best weapons feats to pick up to abuse Master's Touch?  I naturally gravitated to swords, mostly because I was thinking about Aldrick Ex Gladius from the Codes Alera when I was generating my character.  I think it was a decent choice, it provides free Carve opportunities, has a great stance, a great attacking trick when using a Masterstroke, provides a free untyped damage boost, and allows you to swap your BAB for a skill you'll probably have pretty highly rated.  It also combines well with Polearm feats (another awesome stance and a WIS-based instant kill) or Spears (and even better skill-swap and an STR-based instant kill).  I just glanced through the other weapons, so maybe this isn't as good as I thought it was.

Thoughts?