Silicon Shadows; Places in the Datasphere- Avaloria Rex (the Strange/Numenera)

Silicon Shadows

Ages ago the Avaloria Rex was a ship of the line in the fleets of a now vanished civilization. What happened to that civilization is unknown, but the Avaloria was abandoned when a fault forced the crew to jettison the main drives leaving the ship stranded in interstellar space. The crew then abandoned her, leaving this vast construct abandoned and alone. Secondary power has proven more than sufficient to keep the remaining systems operational, cycling over to a similarly complete tertiary power for regular maintenance. The result is a great space fortress far from any threat or life. While its sublight drives remain active, and has a course laid in for the nearest stellar object, it will be over a thousand years before it reaches the binary star system that is its target. At that point appearances are that she will be captured between the two stars and remain there, drawing power and waiting in standby mode, until its systems give out.

Silicon Shadows- Places in the Datasphere (Numenera/the Strange)

Silicon Shadows

For most intents and purposes, adventuring through the datasphere is identical to a game of the Strange. For example, if the characters do find their way from one zone to another their interface goes through a process of recontextualization; their descriptor, their focus, and their equipment change to be appropriate for the new zone. It is worth remembering that, as a character can only translate to locations they have previously visited, new visitors to the datasphere are going to be heavily reliant on gates and other methods of finding their way into locations other than the zone they arrive in.
Within the datasphere recursions are datasphere zones, terms which may be used interchangeably, and the varying physical laws of these different zones reflect the differing nature and interpretations of the systems visited.

Silicon Shadows- Becoming Part of the Datasphere (Numenera/the Strange)

Silicon Shadows

When a character enters the datasphere, whether their body is converted or they leave it behind, an Avatar is created for them. This digital persona reflects who they are in the real world, as part of any insertion process is to convert the things they encounter into a sensory experience their minds and bodies can process, understand, and react to. The first time a character enters a datasphere zone there is a basic imprinting done on their personality. The character's type is converted to its equivalent from the Strange (glaive to vector, nano to paradox, jack to spinner). Their stats, tier, experience, and advancement choices remain unchanged, however. Further advancement is simply layered on to this template (and converts back to the real world). Equipment from the physical world, including cyphers and artifacts, only translate into the datasphere if they were brought through a matter conversion portal or other similar accommodations were made.

Silicon Shadows- Entering the Datasphere; purpose built devices (Numenera)

Silicon Shadows

All cyphers and artifacts can be used as a tools to reduce the difficulty to break into the datasphere. However, there are a few cyphers which are designed explicitly to grant unfettered access to the datasphere.

Silicon Shadows- Entering the Datasphere (Numenera)

Silicon Shadows

While the great network of networks that exists across the Earth, and even beyond, is collectively called the datasphere the fact is there are hundreds if not millions of often incompatible systems being bridged by various layers of accreted technology. The result, however, is that most places in the universe have one or more reflections in the datasphere. Theoretically, this means that at any location, given the right equipment, one can access one network and from there work their way out to any part of the 'Sphere through these ancient cobwebs.
The problem, as with every technological marvel in the Ninth World, is age and disconnection. Entire networks have collapsed and those that remain are not whole. The most complete are self-repairing and have often repaired themselves by merging with other, normally incompatible, networks. The result is that some places it is easier to access a reflection from a remote system which is more compatible with one's own biology and Numenera, reaching back across several such bridges, than to gain access from a given physical location.

Silicon Shadows- the Depths of the Datasphere (Numenera)

Silicon Shadows

Much of the Numenera interacts with the shattered shells of ancient information networks that crisscross the Ninth World. Many cyphers and artifacts act as intermediaries, fetching and collecting information from these scattered systems before collating and presenting it in formats that have a chance of being understood by these unintended users. Nanos may use, intentionally or not, ancient methods of access and control to reach out into the datasphere and command the mechanisms at work behind so much of the Ninth World to generate the effects of their esoteries. All of these interactions take for granted the prevalence and pervasiveness of the various systems that are, together, called the datasphere without the users ever doing more than trailing the tips of their fingers in these digital worlds.

New Feat: Whip Expert (D&D 5e)

Whip Expert
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher, proficiency with a whip.
With extensive training using a whip you have developed the following benefits:

• As your action, you can use a whip to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, retrieve an object from an open container, or pour out the contents of a vial. Fine manipulation is not possible, so you could not use it uncork a vial or drink a potion. You also cannot use a whip to activate magic items or lift more than 10 pounds.
• You can use a whip as your free hand when attempting to grab and grapple a creature. If you do this you use your Dexterity rather than Strength(Athletics).

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New Glave Fighting Moves (Numenera)

Some Glaves take a much broader view of what constitutes a battlefield in the Ninth World. By thinking strategically rather than tactically they widen their view and impact far more lives than a simpler mind might. All Glaives are looked up to as bastions of strength in a strange and wild world, but these individuals seek to keep mind as sharp as their blade and often wield armies or entire communities as their chosen weapons.

Tier 1

Battlefield Medic; You are trained in healing skill rolls. If you have already treated a patient for the day you can apply a level of Effort to do so again rather than to gain a bonus for the roll. Enabler

Motivate; (2 Intellect points)  One creature you choose within short range may take an action. They can use it immediately, even if they have already taken a turn in the round. They may not use special abilities such as fighting moves, esoteries, or tricks of the trade on this action. Action.

Tier 2

Inspire; (3 Intellect points) One creature you choose within short range makes a recovery roll without having to spend the time to do so. Action.

Oration (3 Intellect points): If you succeed at an Intellect-based persuasion or intimidation task, you capture and hold the attention of everyone within 90 feet (27 m) for up to ten minutes. The GM sets the difficulty based on the audience’s disposition. Action to initiate. 

Tier 3

Opening Strike; (4 Intellect points)  When you make an attack on a target the attack throws them off balance or out of sync until the beginning of your next turn, and anyone attacking this target has the difficulty of their attack is reduced by one step. Enabler

Tier 4

Words of Insight; (6 Intellect points)  You restore points to a target’s Intellect Pool in one of two ways: either they regain up to 6 points or are restored to a total value of 12. You make this decision when you initiate this Move. Points are regenerated at a rate of 1 point each round. You must continue speaking with the target the whole time. In no case can this raise a Pool higher than its maximum. Action. 

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One of the interesting features about Numenera is the fact that stats are pools rather than directly checked against. How each pool is used varies from Might being mostly hit points to Intellect being mostly fuel for power and Speed falling between these extremes. Even at the extremes, Intellect is still the target of attacks and Might still fuels powers, but they clearly are used in this manner less. The clearest demonstration that this is by design is the way Armor works; protecting against damage to Might but specifically not the other pools. There are defenses for those pools, but they are extremely rare compared to Armor. Meanwhile, the only one of the three classes ("types") to rely heavily on Might for its powers starts with an Edge in both Might and Speed and has as many moves that either don't use points or rely on speed as it does Might.

Meanwhile, Numenera falls into a common trap for class-based systems- the "limited fighter." Where the Nano and the Jack both have non-combat functions the Glaive is almost purely built around combat- to the point that its special abilities don't even pretend at neutrality or universality like "Esoteries" or "Tricks of the Trade." They are, explicitly, Fighting Moves. This closes the class out of helping players find things to do in the range of non-combat settings and scenarios.

Unlike D&D, which is the poster child for this problem as the origin of "hard classes" (ie; most if not all abilities are class derived), Numenera allows thoughtful players to patch over it somewhat via Descriptors and Foci. However, even if this issue can be patched over, the core problem remains that these classes are determinative and often, especially for the physical classes, highly restrictive to roleplay or any interaction outside combat which, in turn, feeds back into the primacy of combat in the roleplay environment.

So, I started working on ways for fighters... err, Glaives, to express another thread of the type description; "In most cities and villages, people hold glaives in great esteem. ... They focus on their bodies, but that doesn’t mean they don’t value more cerebral pursuits as well. ... In a group of explorers, glaives typically take the lead." Again, this sounds like a discussion of the 4e Warlord and its roots in D&D and, as I've done before, I try to turn it back into space for a new generation of fighter types to find things to do aside from beat on stuff.