K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

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ragbasti
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K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by ragbasti » Mon Sep 28, 2020 9:56 pm

Part 2 on my quest to make Throwing Weapons useful:

Tail Dancers who are trained at the House of the Spirit Wind refer to themselves as K’stulaamoyna. They stand out even among other K’stulaami for their restlessness and love of flight. Standing still means to be grounded, and nothing could be further from what their innermost instincts are telling them. Everywhere the wind blows they hear music, the sounds of the wind becomes the orchestra to their performance and even a leaf swept up by the wind presents the most interesting dance partner. Their dance is unique among Tail Dancers, for they call the wind itself their most cherished dance partner – a sentiment many traditionalists from the other major schools condemn harshly.
Some elders within the K’stulaamoyna War College even claim that their School is the true origin of the Tail Dancer Path, and that the other schools derived their techniques to specifically accommodate T’Skrang without the ability to fly.


v1.8
Changed some knacks, requirements and brought it closer to what the other Schools get.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sq4tjlofzlbyl ... 8.pdf?dl=0

Older Versions:
Spoiler:
Initial concept - Version 1.1:
Spoiler:
This one is still very much in the early stages but the overall theme is pretty much set in stone:
Bring back the original Tail Dancer that was K'stulaami-exclusive (Earthdawn Journal), heavily focus on Hawk Hatchets as the main weapons and build a combat machine that will either kill everything in its wake or fall over half-dead from strain.

The very first issue was to figure out how to get Gliding in there without making it a mandatory Rank 1 Talent: Turns out it's pretty easy, give K'stulaami Gliding as a racial talent (similar to how windlings get Astral Sight) and break a basic rule of Knacks. Violá, you allow them learn Gliding Knacks, even though it's not a "real" talent, but these Knacks are entirely fueled by the Magic of their Path, so no Knacks for regular old K'stulaami (sorry).

The next thing was the talent options of the Path. I have taken some liberty here and replace two options: Tiger Spring gets replaced by Air Dance and Maneuver gets replaced by Great Leap.
Both have been removed for the same reason, they are things you use on the ground and heavily go against the K'stulaami's love for Gliding. While Air Dance doesn't really let you fly, it still fits much better and open up a bunch of cool knacks. Maneuver gets replaced by Great Leap because you have to get into the air somehow, and Jumping up seemed a lot more fitting than running around on the ground.
Lastly, Throwing Weapons was added for the free Option slot that every School gets. Why? Because Hawk Hatchets.

Momentum Attack gets added as a rank 5+ option, which is quite a bit earlier than other Paths get such a good talent. Main Reason for that is because I really wanted it in there, further enforcing the combat style I envisioned and because Fluid Movement had to fill the last slot (Rank 9+). One of the main things these guys will do is Swooping Attacks and Splitting their Movement. And Fluid Movement becomes pretty much mandatory when you to make the most of the Splitting Movement combat options. I also added a knack for that, but only when you're gliding and you still suffer the penalties from Splitting Movement. See it as more of a gap filler until you get the real thing.

Then there are the two school-specific talents: Their Dance and their "special move".

Here I have borrowed ideas from the other schools and made them my own, further playing on the idea that the K'stulaami Tail Dancer was the original school and that the other may have just been derived from it.
Their Dance is similar to the Skora or Edo one, but instead of using their Tail to defend themselves or knock enemies down, they use it to disturb their enemies and create openings for attacks. In short: They are spinning around madly, while lashing out with and throwing up to three Hawk Hatchets, to control the enemies around them. By doing so, they reduce their enemies' Physical Defense and make them a lot easier to hit. Again, and again.

The Special Move was a bit harder and I have settled for something that is currently maybe a bit too strong but also costs 3 Strain instead of 1. Using the Shivaovara Escalation as a template, instead of hitting more accurately, they spin faster and faster, building up momentum to increase their Damage step. Instead of requiring that the targets are affected by the dance, the prerequisite to split their movement.
I've also added a knack that allows them to first dash through a group of enemies, building up their bonus and to then unleash the momentum in the next round against a single enemy (Air Dance knack).

Link to the Document:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hiywkomc4xmm5 ... 1.pdf?dl=0
Link to v1.2:
Spoiler:
New Version, some minor changes, some some major ones. Feature creep was an issue.
Removed Momentum Attack, as it was a bit too much. Instead moved one of it's knacks to Air Dance, allowing for multiple attacks that way. Also removed the two very powerful Air Dance and Momentum Attack Knacks, they were beyond the power-level a Path should bring to the table.
Cleaned up, removed and re-organised a lot of the knacks. I think the overall capabilities are a lot more streamlined now and it's closer to the amount of "stuff" other Tail Dancers get to do, without adding too much.
They still get more things to play with compared to the other schools, but it's a lot more cohesive now, imo.

The signature Talents for this school are now Air Dance and Gliding, with everything else providing more tools to make better use of them. Upon reaching the 7th rank, they will be able to become a much more integrated part of the House of Spirit Wind and get a really powerful knack in return. GMs are advised to make them struggle for it :P
Also added a couple of Threaded weapons that will complement their playstyle really well.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nnl8hyi0y1h4r ... 2.pdf?dl=0
Link to V1.3: Some minor rewording for clarity and changed a knack name that was already taken. v1.4:
Capabilities stayed the same overall, but I have moved around the knacks and changed how some of them worked, e.g. becoming Special Maneuvers. The School's Dance now has 3 Special Maneuvers like those of the other schools, bringing them closer to what the other school present overall. v1.5:
Some minor changes compared to before.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9b1hyb4q436fa ... 5.pdf?dl=0

v1.6
Some more minor changes:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xh95zjy4cv0ru ... 6.pdf?dl=0

v1.7
Brought the more powerful knacks in line with existing mechanics:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/80hom0abu29ny ... 7.pdf?dl=0
Would love some feedback on this, since it has seen absolutely no testing, yet.
Last edited by ragbasti on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:22 pm, edited 13 times in total.

Slimcreeper
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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by Slimcreeper » Tue Sep 29, 2020 12:49 am

A really interesting take ... not quite sure I have a specific comment past that. But I have read it and am thinking about it!

tylerdietrich
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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by tylerdietrich » Fri Oct 16, 2020 7:31 pm

It's difficult for me to understand the main aim of your post.
Hello, I am Robert, living in the USA. My main hobby is architecture, but if you are a smart and interesting person, we'll definitely find what to talk about. I am working as an editor in the compare and contrast writing division.

ragbasti
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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by ragbasti » Tue Oct 20, 2020 10:17 pm

Updated - specifics and link to the new document in the initial post.
tylerdietrich wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 7:31 pm
It's difficult for me to understand the main aim of your post.
I'd love to help but without specifics I am not sure what to explain.
It's essentially a new school for the Tail Dancer path that is specific to winged T'Skrang and tries to make use of their unique capabilities.

Sharkforce
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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by Sharkforce » Tue Oct 20, 2020 11:22 pm

ragbasti wrote:
Tue Oct 20, 2020 10:17 pm
Updated - specifics and link to the new document in the initial post.
tylerdietrich wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 7:31 pm
It's difficult for me to understand the main aim of your post.
I'd love to help but without specifics I am not sure what to explain.
It's essentially a new school for the Tail Dancer path that is specific to winged T'Skrang and tries to make use of their unique capabilities.
I'm not 100% on this, but I think you're having a discussion with a bot, which might explain why you're not too clear on what they mean. they're a new user, about half their posts have been links to another website...

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Mataxes
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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by Mataxes » Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:22 am

Yeah. That was a tricky one -- half a dozen innocuous (but suspicion-raising) posts before any links were being dropped.

The account has been suspended.
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ragbasti
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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by ragbasti » Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:26 am

If my post was too convoluted for a bot to understand, then I'll take that as a win :D

Slimcreeper
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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by Slimcreeper » Thu Oct 22, 2020 1:43 am

Especially one that works in the compare and contrast division.

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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by Slimcreeper » Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:36 pm

I'm not completely in love with the imagery of the Dance. Because range and movement are so important to the concept, I feel like limiting their dance's target to close combat targets goes against that. What if they could target characters who are adjacent to each other, whether or not they are in close combat with the Tail Dancer?

Also, is there a knack somewhere that lets them use throwing weapons as a simple action, or as second weapon or second attack? That would be cool.

ragbasti
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Re: K'stulaamoyna [Path - Tail Dancer School]

Post by ragbasti » Tue Oct 27, 2020 10:00 pm

Slimcreeper wrote:
Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:36 pm
I'm not completely in love with the imagery of the Dance. Because range and movement are so important to the concept, I feel like limiting their dance's target to close combat targets goes against that. What if they could target characters who are adjacent to each other, whether or not they are in close combat with the Tail Dancer?

Also, is there a knack somewhere that lets them use throwing weapons as a simple action, or as second weapon or second attack? That would be cool.
All of this is actually covered by the Wings of Death knack. Treating any opponent within range as being in close combat let's them apply their dance to and also attack opponents with the extra attacks talents that are normally reserved for melee

EDIT: Updated main post with new version

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