Greetings friends!
So yesterday I put up a post all about the Path of Blood and it's 5 levels.
What may (or may not) surprise you, when I started writing the post all I knew about the Path of Blood was that it would have a melee immobilise, a health sacrificing heal and a massive stat buff which would leave you drained and exhausted. But the ins and outs of the path were largely unknown, but in the process of writing the post the path came together.
Based on this process I'd like to talk you through another Path that I like the concept of but has yet to be fully realised: The Path of Law.
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So this path is the one that fluffy is designated by the character known as The Sheriff. No one knows his real name or his motives for why he set up New Fairbank as his new home. Despite this none can argue that The Sheriff made the town the successful place it is today and a part of that success is the the tithes and restrictions enforced by The Sheriff's deputies who call themselves "The Law".
Despite the name The Law are not strictly lawful. Their members are as diverse as any other group in New Fairbank and they will not shy from recruiting US Marshals and Outlaws alike. More so than anything The Law controls the black market being sure to take their cut from ever transaction that involves the trade of currency.
It is through this control and the use of tithes and taxes that The Law is the most wealthy of all the factions and their path represents this.
Level 1: Man Traps.
Like all paths, level 1 is an immobilise. As a member of The Law you have a number of trinkets at your disposal including the Man Trap. For a Free Action you place a 2x2 marker that counts as a Man Trap, any enemies that step within this 2x2 marker are immobilised and need to spend 2GA before they are able to return to their usual mobile state.
As with the path of law, every time you successfully Immobilise an enemy you receive 1 Law Point, once you have 10 Law Points you unlock Level 2.
Level 2: Gunslinger.
To a member of The Law their side arm is their trusty friend and none are without it at any time of the day or night. This special relationship has made the weapon a part of them and they can use it in melee should the situation arise.
Gunslinger is a new mechanic that CRYPTS is looking to introduce called 'Stances'. At the start of a game you can declare if a stance is in an active or inactive state. Once the initial state has been declared this can be changed at the start of any if your activations at the cost of no actions.
When active Gunslinger reduces your melee range to 0, this means it is impossible for enemy models to be locked in melee with you, but you can still be locked in melee with them. When you are locked in melee you can use a ranged attack (this includes ranged magic) on the enemy using the Melee modifier stat.
The idea of Gunslinger is to reverse the power of an enemy's engagement range, so those with longer melee range are actually at a disadvantage.
Every time you deal melee damage with a ranged attack while Gunslinger stance us active you gain 1 Law point, once you have 20 Law points (Level 2 +10) you unlock Level 3.
Level 3: Special Ammunition
Special Ammo is a Free Action and allows you to select one of the following effects which remain active until your next Activation:
Poison Coated Bullet: +1 Damage Dice against Vermin
Runed Bullet: +1 Damage Dice against Undead
Blessed Bullet: +1 Damage Dice against Demons
Silver Bullet: +1 Damage Dice against Brood.
This represents The Law always having a wide selection of weapons and ammo for any type of situation and actually hails back to my earlier game MaliQuest which had modifications. My fave mod was always the different ammo types and I think this works well to keep that feel while keeping it in the fast action style of the game.
Every time you deal damage with a special ammo type you get 1 Law Point, at 40 points (Level 3 +20) you unlock Level 4.
Level 4: I AM THE LAW!
Currently the plan of IATL is to be a Free Action, when activated any damage dealt for the remainder of your activation grants you a Blood Shard refresh on a 5+ rather than a 6. This might not sound like much and it can be adjusted through testing. Standing up and doing an impression of Stallone in Judge Dredd is not required, but is encouraged.
For every Blood Shard refreshed through this method you gain 1 Blood Point, at 80 points (Level 4 + 40) you unlock level 5.
Level 5: Black Market Hustle
The Law have ties everywhere very often this is with the Black Market itself.
At the end of an encounter, at the cost of exhausting 1 Blood Shard you may re-flip 1 Loot card.
This might at first seem like a lack luster ability, but this stacks. If you are lucky enough to flip 3 Loot cards at the end of the encounter and Law members exhaust 3 blood Shards, all three of those cards may be re flipped giving you a choice(ish) of 6 cards!
It's not quite like that however, as once re flipped the new flip over writes the old flip, and no flip may be re-flipped again. So you may only reflip each loot once.
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And that's it! I hope you enjoy how this has developed and would love to know your thoughts so far, does the Gunslinging, Shard Manipulating, Multi Ammo using Hustler sound like something you'd like to play?
On that note; stay safe and I'll see you Cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
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