Elder scrolls house rules

Corrode Guard

Duration: Resist ends (Fail x3=1 hour)
Power Level: 3/6/9
Attack Attribute: Might, Agility, Energy, Entropy
Attack:
Energy vs. Guard
Entropy vs. Resolve
Might vs. Guard
Agility vs. Guard

Description:
Whether by magical, technological, or natural means, you are able to erode your opponent’s guard making attacks more likely to succeed.

Effect:
You are able to reduce the Guard defense of your opponent. How much it is reduced is determined by the power level you activate this bane at.
Power Level 3: -2 to Guard defense
Power Level 6: -4 to Guard defense
Power Level 9: -6 to Guard defense


This is a custom banes we use in our campaign. Was wondering what you guys think about it. so far it has seemed balanced enough as there are other effects that do similar things to opponents.

New Feats:

Combat Exploit
Cost: 2 points
Prerequisites:
Tier 1:None

Description:
You are able to take advantage of an off balanced foe and strike at them before they are able to recover.

Effect:
You are able to make attacks of opportunity against forced moved opponents as they leave your threaten space.

Muffled Movement
Cost: 3 points
Prerequisites:
Tier 1:
Agility 3

Description:
You are adept at moving quietly whether through skill or specialized equipment.

Effect:
You gain advantage 2 on agility rolls for stealth checks.

Hide in Plain Sight
Cost: 2 points
Prerequisites:
Tier 1:
Agility 7
Muffled Movement

Description:
You are a master at blending in with your surroundings, to the point of where you no longer require some form of distraction or cover to go into hiding. You are just THAT good.

Effects:
When making agility rolls for stealth checks, you are able to do it even while being observed.

Skullduggery
Cost: 2 points
Prerequisites:
Tier 1:
Agility 3

Description:
You are adept in the arts of lock picking and pick pocketing whether through skill or specialized equipment.

Effects:
You have advantage 1 on logic/perception rolls for lock picking and agility for pick pocketing checks.


Custom feats we used mostly geared towards stealth mechanics.

Seems pretty good to me.

The only thing about Skullduggery is, that is essentially already the Skill Specialization Feat, just reflavored, though more limited in scope and same Cost.

Have a question about combat exploit. Say if you isednforce movement with and attack would you get a OA or is it only used when another’s uses it. Also corroded guard is pretty cool

@Great_Moustache yes very much like skill Specialization but it counts for two skills rather then just one and since it limited to just those two skills we figured it was different enough but still not over powered for it’s cost. You get more bang for your buck but only in a non combat role.

@Salvonian it gives you a AO even on a force move. Wether Ally or your self. Limiting factor is you still have to follow all other AO rules. We find that in most fights, for a melee char force move is next to useless due to limit of no AO. Your better off using a more effective bane, this helps give some more tactical options. Also makes the opponent more likely to use a defend action to prevent getting a bunch of AO if the party all gas it.

But… you don’t… you get less. Skill specialization gives you advantage to ALL non-combat Agility rolls (if you pick Agility), whereas your feat only gives it to Lock-picking & Pick-pocketing. I guess if you use different Attributes for each of those then it might be better?


Edit:
Non-Combat is a poor term, but that is essentially what it means.

Choose one attribute. Any time you make a roll using the chosen attribute that is not for initiative, attacks, invocations, or the defend action, you gain advantage 1 on the roll per tier of this feat you possess for that attribute.

we tend two use to different stats for the two. while pick pocketing is an agility roll. we tend to use perception or logic for lock picking as we feel it’s less about how nimble your fingers are, and more how you can feel and understand the lock it self.

Interesting, I guess I was confused b/c the feat specifically mentioned Agility, and only Agility that you posted.

If the feat is indeed what it is saying above, then I would suggest just using Skill Specialization, as it is better.

If you are changing to be what you are indicating, I would still probably change it to a 1 feat point cost.


I do agree that you could pick a lock using perception or logic or even learning (or knowledge of locks), though if you are under pressure, nimble fingers might be required still.

And if you aren’t under pressure, I’m not sure you need to actually roll at all, but that all depends entirely on the narrative of the moment.

There is the Knowledge feat, where you could take Knowledge (Locksmithing) to have the know how to pick locks and understand how different locks are made. And considering how wide the net can be for Knowledge is, I think that’s more argument to make Skulduggery only a 1 point feat cost since it is more limited to just 2 small fields.

Of course, if it is already working out fine in your campaign as 2 feat points and feels balanced to the players, keep on keeping on (though I imagine a few would like having another feat point if possible :smiling_imp: )


On another note, something I didn’t realize until just now typing the above, but Skulduggery is usually only 1 “L”, not two, BUT apparently they can both be used interchangeably as well (wow English, why you have to be like this).

#The More You Knoooooooooooow

Skulduggery, which can also be spelled “skullduggery,” was first documented in the mid-19th century spelled as “scull-duggery.” Etymologists aren’t sure exactly how the word arrived in English, but they do not believe it has anything to do with skulls. It is possibly derived from the now-very-rare “sculduddery,” a term once used to refer to gross or lewd conduct, but unfortunately the origins of that word are also unknown.

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Yeah thinking it over now were making some changes to it. And might remove it completely. We did this way back in the early days of open legend before a lot of things were fleshed out and there were a lot of missing things.

The way we do it when it’s out of combat is a failed roll might allow you to open the lock but you could be spotted (making to much noise or too much time spent) or just end up breaking the lock.

We haven’t been updating it all that much with the changes and now looking at it yeah we made a lot of rulings that aren’t reflected in this post which i am updating now.

As a person who lockpicks for fun: it’s both. Understanding the lock is huge, but the skill to feel it is just as important.

yeah we have removed both of them for simplicity sake. we couldn’t adjust it without causing a snowball effect.
But yeah lock-picking is a huge thing and we want it to be accessible as possible for people.