t_catt11
2009-11-10, 03:35 PM
I have worked, off and on, to develop a homebrew RPG system. My idea is to program it for PC use, though honestly, it would probably be quite playable with pen and paper.
I'm attaching what I have so far. I'd love to hear feedback and suggestion from the community.
Atributes:
Attributes range from 2 (horrible) to 21 (outstanding). Choose wisely - attributes never increase over the life of your character.
Attributes are: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, charisma
Average for an attribute is 10-12. 13 and above earn plusses, 9 and under suffer minuses.
Note that I'm unsure of how I want to handle health.
Levels:
Characters earn experience that grants levels. Level advancement caps at 20.
Skills:
The system itself is classless - instead, you spend points in whatever skills you like to come up with a character that fits your concept.
Characters start with 10 skill points, and earn 5 more per level. No skill can be higher than your character level plus 1.
Skills come in two flavors: basic (such as one-handed blades) and specialized (such as dagger, broadsword, short sword, longsword).
All skills cap at level 10. to qualify for a specialized skill, you must have at least 5 ranks in the appropriate basic skill.
Basic skills stack with appropriate specialized skills when making checks. Basic skills give a bonus of 2% per rank, specialized grant 3%. So a warrior with 6 ranks in 1-H blade and 4 ranks in longsword would have a total bonus of 24 (6*2 + 4*3).
There are four major skill categories: combat (weapon), rogue, magic, and general.
As it works out, you can earn 105 skill points in your career. That's enough to allow you to be an uber-master at, say, two complete schools of magic (includes all sub-schools), and have enough skill points to weakly swing a pointed stick and perhaps dogpaddle. Or, you could master a couple of weapons, one type of blasting spells, be good at first aid, decent at bartering, and able to handle a lot of locks if need be. Or... you get the picture.
Combat: made by opposing skill rolls (attack vs. defense, adjusted for dodge, surprise, etc) modified by random die. Armor does not make you harder to hit, but it does soak damage for you if you are hit.
Magic: Five schools of magic available (as skills). Each school has subschools (as specialized skills). For instance, elemental magic allows air, earth, fire, and water magics. Necromancy allows bindings, physical necromancy, and spiritual necromancy. And so on.
Magic requires mana to operate. For each rank in a magical skill, the character gains mana. I have a chart that shows progression in mana available plus the appropriate cost per spell level; suffice it to say that thrugh skill level 10, this works beautifully (a character can always cast 2 of his most powerful spell, usually with a little mana left over... or he can opt to mix and match).
I am looking at game balance here, though - a character could easily take several magical disciplines and gain enormous amounts of mana. I'm thinking, then, that characters may only gain the full value for their most advanced magic skill, then half values for their next most advanced. Further skills give abilities and access to spells, but no additional mana (the body can only hold so much mystical energy).
Whew! That's a lot! Items I am still pondering:
Should armor use be a skill? I want to say yes, but it doesn't seem to scale well with the other skills (no subskills, no real value in continued progression).
What to do about health? I don't like artificial hit points, but they seem almost a necessity, else higher level attacks (especially via magic) become insta-kills.
What else have I overlooked?
I'm attaching what I have so far. I'd love to hear feedback and suggestion from the community.
Atributes:
Attributes range from 2 (horrible) to 21 (outstanding). Choose wisely - attributes never increase over the life of your character.
Attributes are: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, charisma
Average for an attribute is 10-12. 13 and above earn plusses, 9 and under suffer minuses.
Note that I'm unsure of how I want to handle health.
Levels:
Characters earn experience that grants levels. Level advancement caps at 20.
Skills:
The system itself is classless - instead, you spend points in whatever skills you like to come up with a character that fits your concept.
Characters start with 10 skill points, and earn 5 more per level. No skill can be higher than your character level plus 1.
Skills come in two flavors: basic (such as one-handed blades) and specialized (such as dagger, broadsword, short sword, longsword).
All skills cap at level 10. to qualify for a specialized skill, you must have at least 5 ranks in the appropriate basic skill.
Basic skills stack with appropriate specialized skills when making checks. Basic skills give a bonus of 2% per rank, specialized grant 3%. So a warrior with 6 ranks in 1-H blade and 4 ranks in longsword would have a total bonus of 24 (6*2 + 4*3).
There are four major skill categories: combat (weapon), rogue, magic, and general.
As it works out, you can earn 105 skill points in your career. That's enough to allow you to be an uber-master at, say, two complete schools of magic (includes all sub-schools), and have enough skill points to weakly swing a pointed stick and perhaps dogpaddle. Or, you could master a couple of weapons, one type of blasting spells, be good at first aid, decent at bartering, and able to handle a lot of locks if need be. Or... you get the picture.
Combat: made by opposing skill rolls (attack vs. defense, adjusted for dodge, surprise, etc) modified by random die. Armor does not make you harder to hit, but it does soak damage for you if you are hit.
Magic: Five schools of magic available (as skills). Each school has subschools (as specialized skills). For instance, elemental magic allows air, earth, fire, and water magics. Necromancy allows bindings, physical necromancy, and spiritual necromancy. And so on.
Magic requires mana to operate. For each rank in a magical skill, the character gains mana. I have a chart that shows progression in mana available plus the appropriate cost per spell level; suffice it to say that thrugh skill level 10, this works beautifully (a character can always cast 2 of his most powerful spell, usually with a little mana left over... or he can opt to mix and match).
I am looking at game balance here, though - a character could easily take several magical disciplines and gain enormous amounts of mana. I'm thinking, then, that characters may only gain the full value for their most advanced magic skill, then half values for their next most advanced. Further skills give abilities and access to spells, but no additional mana (the body can only hold so much mystical energy).
Whew! That's a lot! Items I am still pondering:
Should armor use be a skill? I want to say yes, but it doesn't seem to scale well with the other skills (no subskills, no real value in continued progression).
What to do about health? I don't like artificial hit points, but they seem almost a necessity, else higher level attacks (especially via magic) become insta-kills.
What else have I overlooked?