Heroica RPG Rules & FAQ

[swils]

Not AFAIK: as with all player to player trades, throughout the long and storied history of Heroica, they must be made in person.

[Sandy]

Can I assume/RP that Scheherazade keeps the gold for Lind, until Asphalt picks it up in the future?

No, you simply have to wait until you meet Asphalt's character in person.

[CMP]

I decided to change the Shield-skill of the Decamon Drafter job class a bit, to make it more manageable for QMs. It now summons only the five highest cards in the Drafter's deck, instead of the whole hand. That way the QM doesn't have to write up stats for dozens of monsters for the sake of one round.

That seems pretty useless. Even if you had five Level 8 cards, that's a combined total of only 80 damage (not counting defense) for only one round, and on top of that you lose all your summons.

I mean, look at the kind of battles I'm getting into at Level ~30.

Enemies:

Azure Guard Akavi

*Immune to stunned, confused, hexed, doomed and petrified*

Type: Humanoid

Level: 28

Defense: 10

Health: 376/376

Special: Sentinel – The allied party is protected from damage until the end of the next round.

Drops (varies by roll):

1-2: Blue Hand Shield (SP:5, grants immunity to five effects of the user’s choice; these immunities cannot be changed once selected; shield)

3-4: Blue Hand Helmet (SP:5; suitable for knights, dragoons, regulators and skirmishers; headwear)

5-6: 10 gold

Azure Guard Bangu

*Immune to stunned, confused, hexed, doomed and petrified*

Type: Humanoid

Level: 28

Defense: 10

Health: 376/376

Special: Sentinel – The allied party is protected from damage until the end of the next round.

Drops (varies by roll):

1-2: Blue Hand Shield (SP:5, grants immunity to five effects of the user’s choice; these immunities cannot be changed once selected; shield)

3-4: Blue Hand Helmet (SP:5; suitable for knights, dragoons, regulators and skirmishers; headwear)

5-6: 10 gold

Azure Archer Chie

*Back row*

Type: Humanoid

Level: 32

Health: 228/228

Special: Homing Arrows – Causes 32 damage to all opponents regardless of row.

Drops (varies by roll):

1-2: Composite Bow (WP:11, ignores defense, bow)

3-4: Quiver of Homing Arrows (Rolls of AIM become HIT; can only be used with a bow or a crossbow; backwear)

5-6: 10 gold

Note: Azure Archer fights from the back row, meaning that non-ranged weapons will only cause half damage to it from the front row and quarter damage from the back row.

Azure Archer Do

*Back row*

Type: Humanoid

Level: 32

Health: 228/228

Special: Homing Arrows – Causes 32 damage to all opponents regardless of row.

Drops (varies by roll):

1-2: Composite Bow (WP:11, ignores defense, bow)

3-4: Quiver of Homing Arrows (Rolls of AIM become HIT; can only be used with a bow or a crossbow; backwear)

5-6: 10 gold

Note: Azure Archer fights from the back row, meaning that non-ranged weapons will only cause half damage to it from the front row and quarter damage from the back row.

Azure Tao Warrior Elu

*Dual Strike*

Type: Humanoid

Level: 30

Defense: 4

Health: 423/423

Special I: Bound by Fate – Damages both the target and the next opponent in turn equal to the difference between their current health, regardless of row and defense. Used only if there’s more than one opponent left.

Special II: Cross Slash – Causes 60 damage to the target and makes it drop its current weapon. Retrieving the weapon costs a turn.

Drops (varies by roll):

1-2: Silver Katana (WP:15, longsword)

3-4: Golden Pauldrons (SP:4; suitable for knights, dragoons, regulators and skirmishers; accessory)

5-6: 10 gold

Note: Azure Tao Warrior hits both the target and the opponent after it in the battle order with normal attacks and Free Hits. If only one opponent remains, it will be hit twice.

Azure Tao Warrior Feong

*Dual Strike*

Type: Humanoid

Level: 30

Defense: 4

Health: 423/423

Special I: Bound by Fate – Damages both the target and the next opponent in turn equal to the difference between their current health, regardless of row and defense. Used only if there’s more than one opponent left.

Special II: Cross Slash – Causes 60 damage to the target and makes it drop its current weapon. Retrieving the weapon costs a turn.

Drops (varies by roll):

1-2: Silver Katana (WP:15, longsword)

3-4: Golden Pauldrons (SP:4; suitable for knights, dragoons, regulators and skirmishers; accessory)

5-6: 10 gold

Note: Azure Tao Warrior hits both the target and the opponent after it in the battle order with normal attacks and Free Hits. If only one opponent remains, it will be hit twice.

Jun-Chi

*Absorbs earth, fire, light, water and wind*

Type: Beast/Luminous

Level: 50

Health: 1370/1370

Special: Quad-Ray – Shoots four elemental rays at four random opponents regardless of row. First ray causes 50 earth-elemental damage and the stunned-effect. Second ray causes 50 fire-elemental damage and the enraged-effect. Third ray causes 50 water-elemental damage and the sealed-effect. Fourth ray causes 50 wind-elemental damage and the confused-effect.

Drops: Chaotic Bomb (Causes 100 random elemental damage to all opponents)

If I'm lucky and he doesn't absorb any of the elements of my cards, I could deal a whopping 16 damage to Jun-Chi. Everyone else has defense or takes halved damage.

Edited January 3, 2015 by CallMePie

[Bricksandparts]

If you use a level-up mushroom when you are level 29.66, what level do you become?

[Flipz]

If you use a level-up mushroom when you are level 29.66, what level do you become?

I'd say that a Level-Up Mushroom grants you a full Level's worth of experience for the Level you were at when you ate it; thus, a LUM eaten at Levels 1-9 gives 1 battle's experience, a LUM eaten at 10-19 gives 2 battles' experience (so someone at 19.5 becomes Level 20.33), a LUM eaten at 20-29 gives 3 battles' experience (so 29.33 becomes 30.25 or at 29.66 becomes 30.5), a LUM eaten at 30-39 gives 4 battles' experience (39.25 -> 40.2, 39.5 -> 40.4, 39.75 -> 40.6), and a LUM eaten at 40+ gives 5 battles' experience (but at that point the scaling stops, so it's not an issue anymore).

[Bricksandparts]

I'll change the desc. on the wiki as soon as Sandy agrees to that or posts his own thoughts.

[StickFig]

I'd say that a Level-Up Mushroom grants you a full Level's worth of experience for the Level you were at when you ate it;

Great, so now Level-Up Mushrooms are worth >300 gold and only Guts will ever use them.

[Flipz]

Great, so now Level-Up Mushrooms are worth >300 gold and only Guts will ever use them.

Actually, Level-Up Mushrooms already have a fixed marketable value of ~250 Gold, as defined by the Fields of Glory (one Glory Point is roughly analogous to 10 Gold, based on the 500 Gold reward for 50 GP). It's not absolute, of course--I'd argue that they're a little closer to 200 even, maybe even less, since they aren't nearly as useful at lower levels (they're basically not worth using prior to Level 20 unless you're exactly Level 14 or Level 14.5 at the end of a Quest, and even at the Level 20-29 range it's an enormous expense for what you get out of it).

I'd actually argue that experience-boosters like the Medal of Glory and Trial Brew and Level-Up Mushrooms are actively detrimental to players prior to roughly the Expert Class level; by using experience boosts to shoot up through the early levels, you deny yourself valuable real-world experience of compensating for your relative weakness, managing a limited budget, and generally learning the ins and outs of the Heroica system so you can play effectively as the Quests you play in become progressively more complex. I'd actually argue that, despite what the Levels say, Actaeon and Kiray are more skilled players than Lind, because they've been through more battles, more varied battles (of all the things the Fields are good for, teaching the nuances of the Heroica mechanics are not one of them), and battles more suited to both character and player skill level. (No offense to Lind, of course--you're not a bad player, you just still have a whole lot to learn, some of which Act and Kiray have already learned despite being of lower Level.)

TL;DR, prior to Expert Class level, experience-boosters do players a disservice by desynchronizing player experience and character experience--not to mention all the Medal of Glory users who've found themselves unable to take Veteran Classes at Level 40 and above due to not having successfully completed enough Quests to earn the class. To be clear: I'm not saying we should do anything to restrict or discourage less-experienced players from using experience boosts, I'm saying these players should think twice before actively pursuing them.

[Lind Whisperer]

I'd actually argue that experience-boosters like the Medal of Glory and Trial Brew and Level-Up Mushrooms are actively detrimental to players prior to roughly the Expert Class level; by using experience boosts to shoot up through the early levels, you deny yourself valuable real-world experience of compensating for your relative weakness, managing a limited budget, and generally learning the ins and outs of the Heroica system so you can play effectively as the Quests you play in become progressively more complex. I'd actually argue that, despite what the Levels say, Actaeon and Kiray are more skilled players than Lind, because they've been through more battles, more varied battles (of all the things the Fields are good for, teaching the nuances of the Heroica mechanics are not one of them), and battles more suited to both character and player skill level. (No offense to Lind, of course--you're not a bad player, you just still have a whole lot to learn, some of which Act and Kiray have already learned despite being of lower Level.)

None taken at all. I couldn't agree any more with everything you just said.

I'm not planning on using a Medal of Glory until after I've gone Dragoon. In fact, if it wasn't for my long-term plan, and certain requirements/details of it, Lind would most likely have signed up for either Kintobar's sheep quest or Zepher's present quest.

But, like I said - details of my plan. (I'd comment more, but I prefer not to "tip my hand," as it were. )

[StickFig]

I'm not planning on using a Medal of Glory until after I've gone Dragoon.

You mean aside from those first nine or ten levels?

Actually, Level-Up Mushrooms already have a fixed marketable value of ~250 Gold, as defined by the Fields of Glory (one Glory Point is roughly analogous to 10 Gold, based on the 500 Gold reward for 50 GP).

The real test to see if that's true is whether players have ever sold Level-Up Mushrooms, and for how much. They may have a fixed cost of ~250 gold due to the 50 glory-point reward's standard, but that has almost no bearing on what value the player economy places on them. My point is that right now, I don't believe very many players would pay 250 gold to win a no-loot battle (which is what essentially the same thing as consuming a Level-Up Mushroom), but if they work according to what you've posted above, there are probably a select few, like perhaps an Ogre hunter who recently earned 723 + 744 = 1467 overkill gold in one fight, and that fight's not even over.... those players who are less story-motivated might very well play a pretty penny to gain a who quest's worth of level advancement.

Edited January 3, 2015 by StickFig

[Sandy]

That seems pretty useless. Even if you had five Level 8 cards, that's a combined total of only 80 damage (not counting defense) for only one round, and on top of that you lose all your summons.

You have a point, but maybe the solution would be to increase the power of the summons, not their number.

If you use a level-up mushroom when you are level 29.66, what level do you become?

It still amazes me that people are using decimals instead of fractions to denote experience. It just makes the whole deal more complex at least in my head.

But anyway, Flipz is right: you get a full level of experience based on the level you are currently on. In case of 29 2/3, you get three thirds of a level, bringing you to 30 2/4.

[Flipz]

You mean aside from those first nine or ten levels?

The real test to see if that's true is whether players have ever sold Level-Up Mushrooms, and for how much. They may have a fixed cost of ~250 gold due to the 50 glory-point reward's standard, but that has almost no bearing on what value the player economy places on them. My point is that right now, I don't believe very many players would pay 250 gold to win a no-loot battle (which is what essentially the same thing as consuming a Level-Up Mushroom), but if they work according to what you've posted above, there are probably a select few, like perhaps an Ogre hunter who recently earned 723 + 744 = 1467 overkill gold in one fight, and that fight's not even over.... those players who are less story-motivated might very well play a pretty penny to gain a who quest's worth of level advancement.

More, actually--Skrall has killed every single one of the enemies so far. Keep in mind, though, it's not all his--we're splitting it evenly across the party.

Level-Up Mushrooms have been sold for 325+ Gold in the past, though that was before the Fields were a source of them. Still, there's not a huge market for them even at the higher levels--most of the people currently in that range have Medals of Glory already, and those that aren't are still at a level where it's still somewhat bearable to take life one battle at a time.

You have a point, but maybe the solution would be to increase the power of the summons, not their number.

It still amazes me that people are using decimals instead of fractions to denote experience. It just makes the whole deal more complex at least in my head.

But anyway, Flipz is right: you get a full level of experience based on the level you are currently on. In case of 29 2/3, you get three thirds of a level, bringing you to 30 2/4.

I'm thinking it should probably be a power thing as well. As it stands, the current max damage a Decamon Drafter can put out with their summon is 100, IF the elemental matchup is right; even as a Skirmisher, I was putting out roughly half that amount with an unimbued weapon, and I had the option of drinking a Mead to double the output if I wanted to as well. Something to keep in mind is that Decamon Drafter has a flat scaling curve; no matter what, your summon damage is limited to the level of your card (which itself has a set-in-stone max of 10) multiplied by the summon roll. A DD at 50 won't be dealing much more summon damage than a DD at 30, so it won't hurt to let the summon roll multipliers be a little high for Level 30 (since they'll start getting matched and outmatched by other summoning classes later on at Levels 40-50 and beyond).

[CMP]

You have a point, but maybe the solution would be to increase the power of the summons, not their number.

That'd make sense too.

[Capt.JohnPaul]

But anyway, Flipz is right: you get a full level of experience based on the level you are currently on. In case of 29 2/3, you get three thirds of a level, bringing you to 30 2/4.

But 2/3 is not equal to 2/4.

EDIT: Oh I see what you're saying I think. You'd earn the number of battles.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Capt.JohnPaul

[Bricksandparts]

If you use a fenghuang essence but don't get knocked out, does the effect do any of these and if so, which?

A) Wear off after the battle

B) Wear off if the hero sleeps

C) Not wear off until the hero is knocked out

[Bricksandparts]

Also, I think these were discussed, but can't remember off the top of my head.

Phoenix essence kills undead enemy?

Phoenix Incense kills all undead enemies?

Health core kills undead enemy?

[Palathadric]

If you use a fenghuang essence but don't get knocked out, does the effect do any of these and if so, which?

A) Wear off after the battle

B) Wear off if the hero sleeps

C) Not wear off until the hero is knocked out

I'm pretty sure it's C.

[JimBee]

I'm pretty sure it's C.

No, it wears off after a battle if you didn't make use of it (see 98).

Also, I think these were discussed, but can't remember off the top of my head.

Phoenix essence kills undead enemy?

Phoenix Incense kills all undead enemies?

Health core kills undead enemy?

The first two are correct. A Health Core does 50 damage to undead.

[UsernameMDM]

The first two are correct. A Health Core does 50 damage to undead.

IF they aren't immune to any instant death effects.

[Bricksandparts]

Sorted the consumables page a bit more. Hopefully it's easier to find consumables there now.

[Sandy]

If you use a fenghuang essence but don't get knocked out, does the effect do any of these and if so, which?

A) Wear off after the battle

B) Wear off if the hero sleeps

C) Not wear off until the hero is knocked out

Also, I think these were discussed, but can't remember off the top of my head.

Phoenix essence kills undead enemy?

Phoenix Incense kills all undead enemies?

Health core kills undead enemy?

Yes, just as JimBee and UMDM said, Fenghuang Essence's effect vanishes after the battle - just like all temporary effects.

And Phoenix Essences/Incenses kill undead enemies unless they are immune to sudden death. Health Core only causes 50 damage, though.

[Sandy]

I've made one more change to the Decamon Drafter by increasing the power of the summoned monsters. I hope the class is balanced but appealing now.

[CMP]

Seems appropriately more potent now.

[Zepher]

Looks good, Sandy! Hope to see it in use, but also sort of secretly hope we don't lose our only Regulator.

[Palathadric]

No, it wears off after a battle if you didn't make use of it (see 98).

I must be thinking of something else. What was the one Endgame made?