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Noble,Priest, Courtesan are also magic.

Again, thanks everyone for the continuing feedback. I'm not sure I'll have time to incorporate any more stuff after tonight, but thank you for everything that's come in up 'til now.

Man on the street (in the Claw): For the six characteristics, I usually go with what characters get (4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8) or slightly lower if the man is underfed, scarred, crippled, diseased, etc. But the man on the street gets 0-2 Mood and 0 Inspirations img. He has a Heart - he's just been beaten down to the point where he doesn't use it.

Crisis surges: Magic hates magic, so your Magic score always fights against the surge's magic attack. In other words, no, you can't "take the hit" to avoid any possibility of a crisis surge. Good question, though, and you're right, the book doesn't address it. I'll see if I can push it in somewhere.

Fixers and Engineers: Engineers' lack of a type is intentional. It is a cost they pay; they can't add their levels to anything that is based on martial levels, or magic levels, etc. Fixers, it has Shadow listed as their type, which is correct.

Magic talents: Yep, only Wizards, Chosen Ones, Traders, and the ruling classes (Noble/Priest/Courtier) can choose a magic style. On the class tables, at the top of the style column, it says Fighting or Magic.

I've enjoyed reading the revision. (Still have the setting material to go.) Here are two things that strike me for your consideration:

1) Maybe I've read too carelessly and this will be clearer on reread, but I would read a talent or something and it would say something like "if X happens, take a Reason penalty die on [whatever roll]." Is that the Reason of the person with the talent who causes the effect, or the person effected? Reading the core mechanic section, it sounds kind of like it's the latter, but that seems weird 'cause then smarter/more passionate/etc. people are worse affected by such things. At the very least, if there's a way to clarify it, it might help.

2) Criticals bug me because the chance of them varies only with the defense die, not with the attack die. If you roll a 1 on your defense, I have a 50% chance of getting a critical hit whether I'm rolling a d4 or a d20. Granted, some abilities and talents might change the effect of a critical, but this still seems off to me. I realize that setting an arbitrary number (7?) means the opposite effect--d4 has a very low chance of a critical, d20 very high--but to me, having critical not at all a function of the skill of the attack is problematic.

Both of these may be too involved to fix before offering the new edition for sale, or you may just not think they require any changes--but just thought I'd share them.

Sweetness.

Longarm style in IN, baby!!!

I certainly hope folks enjoy it... and don't worry about how weird it looks in comparison to the revised styles. Mr. Brunner is going to revise it as well.

I also wonder... sort of related... but will the Combat Primer get an update to reflect the new stuff? I still link to that bad mammy like there is no tomorrow. =P

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/*~Matthew Miller~*\

Same name as the class

A comment on crisis surges. If you don't want to have crisis surges happening too often (as in every time at least one spellbound roll 1 on his or her resistance) you could say that a crisis surge happens when you roll a second 1 on the magic test dice. The first 1 creates a magic surge. If the mage rolls a second 1 on the surge attack roll it becomes a crisis surge. You then roll a third roll for the crisis surge. It is still a threat, but not quite as common.

Just a thought

I realise that I'm probably too late to change anything in the final book, but here are some random questions that popped up as I read the fighting styles:

In battlecraft Wards say “until forced to re-cast”, while Improved Arcane wards say “until re-cast”. Wall of force on the other hand say until forced to rebalance. Are these differences intentional?

Claw/Claw/bite: The claw/feint/bite move seems in all way superior to Claw/Claw even though they are just as hard to use (and they unlook almost the same powers. Why would any monster use just claws? Should it have a higher defense die?

Man, dragons are nasty!

I have problem seeing the use for Cloud Eyes in Dramba. Sure they can’t affect you, but you can’t affect them either. So it seems like a zero sum game.

Free Sword: Eviscerate. It lists two attack dice. Does it do 3 + 1 str +1qck on both attacks?

Language of the stars: Shouldn’t Astral Homonculus be a master spell?

More when I have time...

I've been punching up the revision. Yes, Long Arm is in there! Tweaked a bit from Mac's version because he (of course) hadn't seen the revision when he created it, but it's mostly the same. Huge thanks to Mac for donating this style.

Combat primer update is unlikely given my schedule. Maybe in the summer when school lets out, but truthfully I'd say the chances are slim. My priorities for the game are adventures (including con "organized play" modules, some type of mini-living campaign) and supplements.

Re-cast language: Yes, the differences between "until re-cast" and "until forced to re-cast" are intentional. Obviously, "until re-cast" is more restrictive. Same applies for "until rebalance" vs. "until forced to rebalance." So yes, absolutely, a Savage can Rage and then Slam the next round with the Rage bonus! For the Horde, baby! From a "realism" standpoint, I think there's a big difference between setting up a new maneuver by your own choice, on your own time frame, and getting forced into it because you were tripped or whacked in the gut and now you have to stand up again as quickly as possible in order to get back in the combat. And "rebalances" also cause a re-cast, but re-cast does not cause a rebalance. I'm pretty sure there is language in there to that effect, but I'll check. EDIT: Yes, p. 37 says that. So... hm, it's there, but maybe a bit confusing. If I get time for another pass, I'll try to clear up some of this.

Arkat: By the way, thanks for the very kind words over on RPG.net. It'd be great if SK became an rpg.net darling!

Claw/Feint/Bite: Claw/Feint/Bite is certainly better, but it can only be reached via maneuvers with fewer options (for masters) than Claw/Claw, it is more predictable (only option if starting at Bite or Bounding Sprint and going up to Claw/Claw/Bite is to go through CFB), and it doesn't provide for Swipe, Pounce, Foreclaw Rush next round. You'd never choose Claw/Claw after Claw/Claw/Bite or any other maneuver in its row, however, and that's a bit irksome to me. However, it still has value in the style, in my estimation, because it presents interesting options for advancing (for masters) from Claw to more deadly attacks, and it makes all three starting maneuvers distinctly different in terms of predictability, second round damage, second round effects, and second round defenses.

Dramba Cloud Eye: Hm. In duel initiative, you can use Cloud Eye repeatedly to effectively force someone who might otherwise target you to focus on a different target; you can use it to get a little breathing room and set up a Str/d2 strike (that d2 defense doesn't look so scary when your opponent is blind to you); you can use it to set up a 0/d4 trick (d4 defense is not too bad at all against an opponent blind to you). If you're not using duel initiative, it's a bit less useful, but you could still use it as a purely defensive "get off me and attack someone you can see," as a means to hide while a guard rushed past you to the front lines, etc. Out of combat, I usually rule along the lines of duel initiative, ie you can do something during the round that your target is blinded to you.

Eviscerate: Yeah, that was unclear. I fixed it! Thanks. It is on both attacks, yes. Eviscerate is a world of hurt! But you can almost always see it coming and prepare.

Language of the Stars Astral Homunculus: Gah! Thank you! This was supposed to be a nerfed version of a descent cat. All fixed now.

Going to have to put an end to the revision collection now, too. I'm almost done. More info to come soon!

While reading the organization chapter I noticed that an armed legion's Tyranny of Arms give Fear (4), while a church's Inquisition gives Fear (1). Are legions really that much more scary than the inquisition?

The revised version is up on DTRPG, so I'm going to call this thread done. Thanks to everyone for the feedback! The game is the better for it!