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View Full Version : (3.5) Creating a Shin Megami Tensei style monster recruitment system.



maniakmastah
2009-05-10, 12:32 PM
Hey ya'll, while with my usual players, i pitched a house rule idea for my game for my players to vote over and consider. Basically, you can choose to recruit monsters to join with you and can use them to aid you. One was cool either way, the other showed some interest in it. So getting the green light, i'm looking for suggestions on creating a Megaten style recruitment system, since the recruitment system from the Shin Megami Tensei game series would work best both to challenge and reward the players. Here's some things i plan on using.

1)While Diplomacy may help in the recruiting process, a simple Diplomacy roll to recruit a monster isn't going to cut it. The monsters aren't interested in how well you speak, they wanna know how strong you are. When initiating the recruitment process, the player and the monster square off. Players can only recruit 1 monster per encounter. Also, factors like alignment and personal flavor of the creature also factor in whether it affects the recruitment process positively or negatively. Boss level monsters cannot be recruited at all. Also note there are some things that just can't be done, example, a paladin trying to recruit a demon, yeahhh, that's doomed to fail.

Example, a Lawful Good player wants to try to recruit a Chaotic Good monster. While the creature reacts well with the player's good tendencies, it may find him a little stifling or overzealous, causing both a positive and negative reaction. It may also try to do things like intimidate you to scare you, or may be frightened of you, depending on how the player acts, this can affects things either positively or negatively.

Once the process begins, the monster will ask the player for certain things, such as gold or small items, maybe a potion or two, or it may want to sample some of it's strength by draining a bit of HP from the player, it depends on the creature in question. Meeting it's requests affects the outcome positively, while denying it affects it negatively.

Once that's done, the ultimate deciding factor comes in the form of a question the creature will ask the player. Example, once the negotiating process is completed with the Lawful Good player and the Chaotic Good monster, the monster then asks it a question like "Do you think is better, happiness or structure?" The outcome depends on the creature's nature and the player's response. If he says the right thing, the player wins and the monster agrees to serve the player as one of his minions. Failure means the process completely fails and depending on how things go during the process, may try to run away, fight, give the player something then run, the list goes on. Also note that trying to recruit a monster while another monster of the same type is closeby may also hurt the player's chances of success.

2)A player can have up to 6 monsters in storage, but can only have 1 monster active and in use at any time. They can be stored in something like a gem on a part of their armour or on a gauntlet or wristband (this does not take up the slot for potential magic items however). A player always knows what creatures it has access to at any time. A player cannot control or have a monster with a CR that exceeds the player's HD, unless the monster went through natural evolution. If the player that already has 6 monsters tries to recruit another monster, it is treated as an automatic failure. A player can freely dismiss or turn loose any monster in it's possession at any time.

3)Monsters don't just have to be limited to battle only, they can be used for any kind of purpose the player needs, at DM discretion of course. They also occasionally interact with the player from time to time, talking to them, giving them things, doing things for them or to them, and more. They also acts accordingly to how they are treated, and may grow to become attached to or dislike their current owner. No matter how much they may like or dislike their owner, a monster never willingly betrays it's current master, and a player cannot take or control a monster already controlled by another player or NPC.

4)These monsters do not stack with any followers or cohorts from the Leadership feat, and likewise, gain no benefit of extra monsters from having a high leadership score. Certain types of monsters a player controls do affect how well followers and cohorts perceive them however.

5)While monsters are tough, they DO NOT gain xp at all. Whatever HD or CR they are is what they get and are stuck with. They can however, be made into stronger forms by use of fusion. A player can fuse up to 3 monsters at one time. When fusing monsters, you take the combined CR of both monsters, add them together, then divide them in half, rounding up, then add 1. A 13th level player decides to fuse a CR 10 and CR 11 creature into a single form (10 +11=21 21/2=10.5, or 11 basically then finally 11+1=12, so the end result is the player gets a monster with a CR of 12 to use. Do note that the player cannot fuse a monster that has a higher combined CR than the player has HD. Depending on what type of monsters the player fuses together, they may get a special fusion. A newly fused monster has a new appearance, new stats and abilities, and behaves accordingly to their new form. Certain abilities can however carry over into their new form.


This is just the jist of things and some things might still need work and i still need to show this system to my players and see how well they received or see if they have any suggestions to make it better. What do ya'll think and what would ya'll do to make this system more work friendly.

EdroGrimshell
2009-05-11, 03:41 PM
Make it a class, this would make an excellent class. Also, for a starting creature, you could allow simply an animal that has been slightly modified.

maniakmastah
2009-05-11, 11:25 PM
Make it a class, this would make an excellent class. Also, for a starting creature, you could allow simply an animal that has been slightly modified.

It's an idea i'm considering, since making a whole homebrew mechanics system for something like this would be fairly difficult and time consuming, but a class could be easier. Most of my players like martial classes though, perhaps 2 separate classes that revolve around the summoning and recruiting system, one martial oriented, the other magic oriented?

vasharanpaladin
2009-05-11, 11:47 PM
It's a very good idea, I think. But I will fully support a base class version only if it is martial-oriented and receives a Starkers homage at 20th level.

Raroy
2009-05-12, 12:10 AM
Monsters can't gain levels? What if one of your players want to play a monstrous creature? Or some emotional attachment forms? Sounds limiting from a roleplaying standpoint. How about they can level up, just at a slower rate:smallbiggrin:.

Good idea, but sounds like a one campaign kind of thing.

maniakmastah
2009-05-12, 01:01 AM
It's a very good idea, I think. But I will fully support a base class version only if it is martial-oriented and receives a Starkers homage at 20th level.

Starkers homage? Not familiar with that one, do describe

maniakmastah
2009-05-12, 01:15 AM
Monsters can't gain levels? What if one of your players want to play a monstrous creature? Or some emotional attachment forms? Sounds limiting from a roleplaying standpoint. How about they can level up, just at a slower rate:smallbiggrin:.

Good idea, but sounds like a one campaign kind of thing.

hmmm, good point, perhaps Monsters continue to gain levels or hit dice, just that their CR cannot go beyond the player has Hit Dice -2 , and as the controlling player levels up, he can choose to boost it's CR by either boosting it's racial Hit Die by HD progression listed in the MM (such as adding 2 hit die or levels to an Outsider gives it a +1 to CR, or giving it 1 level that's directrly associated with it boosts it's CR by 1), allow it to learn new classes (using the hit die and skills progression for that class), or choose not to boost it's hit die, but instead have it gain new abilities or enhance old ones or have it spawn templates. Of course, this is just merely an idea to use. Any suggestions.

Guyr Adamantine
2009-05-12, 01:30 AM
Just use this. (http://www.scshop.com/~ritaxis/)