Hey everyone,
For those that saw the post a few weeks ago, I’ll still be continuing forward with Path of the Wilds. This will be the first of many progress updates you’ll be seeing from me. These posts aren’t going to be very formalized or consistent (compared to the Kickstarter updates), but I’ll be aiming for every two weeks or so.
WIth that out of the way…
The main thing I’ve been doing lately was filling out the spells chapter.
When I go about writing these supplements, I usually make big tables so I can get an organized list of ideas. I won’t typically write out the actual rules for anything, generally just getting the concept/name, its prerequisites (or spell level), and a brief idea of its function. Concept generation is always the most difficult part of writing for me, and I can write the rules themselves pretty fast, so filling out such lists are often the majority of the effort for me to write a book.
Right now I’m sitting at nearly 60 spells, with a spread of elemental, plant and animal spells, and some utility effects. The spells vary from pretty standard/simple effects like tremorsense to more complex spells like living storm (which gives you a more powerful version of the whirlwind monster ability).
There’s also some class-exclusive spells for elementer and invoker. If you’ve read Path of Shadows or Path of Iron, you may recall that each caster got its own exclusive spell line. Nightblade had umbral spells which conjured various shadowy allies, saboteur has trap extensions which modified other traps, and the vanguard had discharge spells which ended a resonance to create a secondary effect that could ignore friendly fire. For Path of the Wilds, I wanted to keep up that trend.
Elementers gain what are currently named prism spells, which are spells that use acid, cold, electricity, and fire at once. Prism bolt, for example, deals 1d4 of each when you first get it, and scales up with caster level. The baseline effects of prism spells aren’t too crazy, but the kicker is when you use a prism spell for the elementer’s spell twist. When you do, they essentially act as a metamagic effect: you treat the spell twist as one or two levels lower than normal, but can apply things like Extend, Piercing, or Empower to their effect.
Invoker’s spirit companions gain dominion spells. These spells don’t have any unified function, covering offense, defense, support, and control. However, the spell gains additional effects based on the dominions of the invoker’s currently invoked spirit(s). This gives another avenue for the invoker to influence the companion’s ability.
I’ll end this post by listing out the names of the current spells I’ve got ideas for. I’m going to try to focus on this chapter exclusively over the next few weeks to hammer it out: that way I can get it properly formatted and start filling it with artwork.
Living Storm
Maelstrom
Natural Order
Nettle Burst
Pillar of Stone
Primal Fury
Primordial Fang
Prism Assault
Prism Barrage
Prism Blast
Prism Bolt
Prism Shield
Rain of Fire
Seek Foe
Solar Body
Solar Flare
Stinging Thorns
Stone Shard
Stormguard
Stormlash
Sundering Earth
Symbiosis
Tempest Hammer
Toxic Bloom
Tremorsense
Wasp Sting
Wild Growth
Wildfire
Animal Sense
Apex Predator
Clear Terrain
Clipped Wings
Cloudburst
Cold Snap
Commanding Whistle
Control Ice
Control Temperature
Crushing Roots
Desiccate
Dominion’s Blessing
Dominion’s Curse
Dominion’s Shield
Dominion’s Wrath
Downpour
Embrace the Deep
Energy Missiles
Erode
Eruption
Expose
Expose, Greater
Flame Dash
Hand of Stone
Heat Wave
Ice Walk
Lava Field
Leeching Spores
Lightning Strike
