Evolving Abilities with Milestone Tiers

#1

I have adopted a fairly consistent home brew system for awarding milestones in my ICRPG Alfheim campaign, inspired by the original work in Worlds that presents these rewards in tiers within the five paths, where they are grouped by their relative power into four broad categories numbered one through four. (ICRPG Magic did something similar with its arcane spells, giving guidelines for power, range, and area of effect divided into four levels.)

At my table, a player receives a more powerful tier two milestone reward after first earning two lesser tier one rewards; a tier three reward only comes along after four tier ones and two tier twos, keeping each tier of milestone reward twice as rare as the previous tier, so that really powerful magic, loot, and abilities stay significant and special. A player can play for dozens of sessions before earning a tier four power, spell, or magic item, and that will likely be the only tier four power that a given PC will ever be able to access during the campaign.

Recently, I have considered experimenting with (but have yet to playtest) starting class abilities, bio-form traits, and mastery abilities that can evolve similarly across four levels of increasing power as alternative milestone rewards at appropriate tiers.

For one example, in designing my homebrew Druid class, I was reluctant to offer any kind of thematic shapeshifting (a la 5e Wild Shape) as a starting ability, but I offered it as an evolving milestone ability for the new class. So at my table, a Druid can gain Shapechanger as a tier one milestone reward, a WIS spell that allows the character to take the shape of a one- or two-heart terrestrial beast (an animal in nature that does not predominantly swim or fly, as opposed to a “monster” or humanoid) that the Druid has seen before; on a successful cast, the shapechange will last D4 rounds. (There are other nuances and minor restrictions, because this is actually a pretty complex ability.) As a tier two milestone, a Druid can upgrade this Shapechanger ability to “unlock” three-heart and aquatic beast forms. Tier three unlocks four hearts and flying, and tier four unlocks five hearts—just in case the PC has seen a T. Rex.

Similarly, I’ve been drafting a variant Small Folk bio-form called a Cloverfield halfling. Instead of the usual race bonuses, a Cloverfield gets +1 DEX and the Lucky ability. With Lucky, a Cloverfield halfling can add an extra D6 to any skill check or effort roll once per “long rest” (day, etc.) when declared before the roll; as a tier two milestone, Lucky can be “upgraded” to twice per day (three times at tier three, and four times per day at tier four), and when multiple D6 bonuses are held, a halfling can “burn” all the luck to add the bonus to a failed roll after the fact.

I am wondering if other members have hacked and experimented with evolving abilities that increase in power as awarded milestone abilities in a similar fashion, much as Master Edition mastery abilities can augment chosen starting abilities. What have you homebrewed, and what have your experiences been?

Thanks in advance for your replies and comments.

Unique alfheim life-form abilities?
#2

I’m about to embark on something similar that I’m calling “Progressive Milestones” where players need to unlock the rest of the Milestone either by finding someone to teach them or by doing Research during their Downtime. They’ll use EFFORT to unlock with HEARTS for each part of the milestone. I’m doing something similar with Magic Items and upgrading LOOT

#3

I like the possibilities for play that your mechanics unlock.

I have tried something similar surrounding unlocking milestones for spellcasters at my table. When receiving their first tier two rewards in the form of spells, my spellcasters usually receive a scroll by some in-game means and then either have to decode it through library research in a city of spend time studying with a mentor to learn to use it properly. Sometimes I give the caster access to the new higher-level spell at the time of acquisition, but casting it is a hard INT or WIS roll until one or more conditions are met:

  • Time and effort is expended in library research
  • A mentor is sought to learn the nuances of casting
  • The spell is cast successfully ten times under “field conditions”

After that, the new spell is fully acquired and cast using normal rolls.

It adds a nice dimension to leveling up to the next tier for spellcasters, and it generally serves to make magic (especially arcane magic) a little more interesting and realistic at the table.

In one instance, a priest character in my current campaign received her first tier two milestone reward in the form of a WIS spell scroll at a key juncture just before the party embarked on a dangerous rescue mission in the swamps. Later, on a rickety boat surrounded by clamoring bog zombies, she had to repeatedly invoke the new spell under situational duress and the hard target penalty. It made for a desperate and very dramatic trial by fire with a big payoff once she had accrued enough successes to start casting normally (without penalty) and go on to save the day.

#4

Having the level up process requiring a trainer/mentor/research phase is something that has always appealed to me. It never really made sense in games that have “dead levels”- it would be too much hassle, but for a game like ICRPG where milestones are so much more important and rewarding, absolutely.