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Flickerdart
2010-05-01, 09:41 PM
I enjoy freeform RP. I also enjoy intra-party balance. The two are hard to reconcile. I also don't like applying existing systems to PbP, because they're not intended for it.

So I made this (http://wiki.faxcelestis.net/index.php?title=Distat). Intentionally as crunchy and simple as possible. I haven't been able to playtest it though, or really get anyone else to take a look at it, so it's probably teeming with problems. So if y'all could tell me exactly why it's worse than a mix of FATAL and 2e Psionics (regardless of how small the mistake, even if it's just that a rule is unclear), I can fix it and then it won't be. :smalltongue:

The Dark Fiddler
2010-05-01, 10:43 PM
Expect very inane criticism until I get more sleep and finish reading, but here goes.


Abundant Step: The character gains one extra move action ever round.

Ever round?


Sunder: When the character succeeds on a Body attack against an opponent, that opponent takes a -1 penalty to Body EAV. This penalty does not stack with itself.

Er... what? If you could take this talent more than once I could see why you'd say that but...


Lifewell: If the character's Mind EV is 0, the character gains a +1 bonus to his Mind EPV. This bonus applies only once per encounter. This talent may be taken more than once; each iteration increases the bonus by an additional +1.

So... if it's 0? I dunno, that just seems weird.

Too late, going to bed now. I'll read more tomorrow.

Flickerdart
2010-05-02, 08:05 AM
Fixed Abundant Step.

By the penalty not stacking, I mean that multiple successful attacks against a single opponent will not increase the penalty.

Since most damage is one point, it'll get to 0 eventually, after which it springs back up. I didn't want to rescue people from unconsciousness with a 1st level talent.

Thanks for the help. :smallsmile:

The Dark Fiddler
2010-05-04, 06:04 PM
Sorry it's taken me so long to finish! Anyway, I'm back now.


Tiebreaker: Whenever the character ties on an opposed check, he gains a +1 bonus to his Mind EAV that lasts until the end of the encounter.

Does the bonus apply to the check that activated the talent?


Triumphant: The character gains a bonus pool point each time he reduces an enemy below 0 EV.

In a game filled with combat against huge groups of mooks, this could be really powerful. No other complaint.


Restful: The character may gain a bonus pool point instead of healing damage through a night's rest.

Campaigns with a lot of down time will find this to be really powerful too.


Aurora: The benefits of the Emanation talent persist, but the character must spend a bonus pool point every time he wishes to change the bonus into a penalty or vice-versa.

Does this wear off or does it last forever (I'm guessing the earlier, but a duration would be nice). Additionally, does this only require Emanation or Emanation and Aura?


Thrall: Requires Dominate. The character may designate a target with 0 Mind EPV as a Thrall. He may make an opposed Mind check to choose a Thrall's actions for the Thrall's turn. If the Thrall's Mind EPV later improves, it does not stop being a Thrall. Thralls may make opposed Mind checks to escape once per day; the character is aware of these attempts.

If the thrall escapes, does it escape until the character enthralls it again, or just for the day?

As a quick note, Mind talents seem a bit more powerful than Body talents, although that may just because I haven't read through the Body talents in a few days.

I see no other problems really. Hope I could be of some help. :smallsmile:

Kensen
2010-05-05, 02:11 AM
Looks decent, somewhat similar to the tristat systems out there. A few issues though:

I thought you wanted to create something freeform-ish, but it looks like you have adjacency rules and many kinds of stuff that require a map to keep track of who's where and character sheets for each NPC to keep track of everything else. A lightweight tactical combat system, yes, but freeformish, not quite.

There are also many opposed checks that I think slow down PbP because you have to wait for the other player to make the opposed roll. So a simple matter of moving away and then attacking someone requires several posts and rolls to resolve.

Also, although the system is quite crunchy with little flavor in it, the combat system seems to assume that telepathy is part of the setting (or at least it assumes that it is possible to kill someone through intimidation...) If you don't use the telepathy rules because they don't fit your setting, the Mind stat becomes useless.

Aaaaand lastly, your rules only cover combat. If the players want to do something outside combat, their talents will be largely useless. (Unless walls and locks and other obstacles are treated as opponents for the purpose of overcoming them with your stats and talents..?)

Oh and one balance issue: Assuming that the characters are humans (?) or at least human-like, stuff like Fire affinity is pretty useless, while Earth affinity is a no-brainer if you want to reduce the cost of a talent.

Flickerdart
2010-05-26, 10:31 PM
Sorry it's taken me so long to finish! Anyway, I'm back now.

And sorry that it's taken me so long to reply, I kind of thought this thread died! Thanks a lot for taking the time to go through it.



Does the bonus apply to the check that activated the talent?

No; I should go and make that clearer, I suppose.



In a game filled with combat against huge groups of mooks, this could be really powerful. No other complaint.

I thought it would be a good place to be accessible by "multiclass" characters so that Mind doesn't have the monopoly on the talent.



Campaigns with a lot of down time will find this to be really powerful too.

There's a hard cap on how many points you can have.



Does this wear off or does it last forever (I'm guessing the earlier, but a duration would be nice). Additionally, does this only require Emanation or Emanation and Aura?

The intent was to make it permanent, but I can see why that might not be a good idea. It only requires Emanation, otherwise it would be more indented.



If the thrall escapes, does it escape until the character enthralls it again, or just for the day?

The thrall escapes permanently. I'll specify it.



As a quick note, Mind talents seem a bit more powerful than Body talents, although that may just because I haven't read through the Body talents in a few days.

That was not my intent; please elaborate so that this may be corrected.



I see no other problems really. Hope I could be of some help. :smallsmile:
Quite helpful, thank you very much. :smallsmile:



Looks decent, somewhat similar to the tristat systems out there. A few issues though:

I thought you wanted to create something freeform-ish, but it looks like you have adjacency rules and many kinds of stuff that require a map to keep track of who's where and character sheets for each NPC to keep track of everything else. A lightweight tactical combat system, yes, but freeformish, not quite.

I feel like adjacency is a necessary evil, but don't really see a need for a map - simply noting who's next to whom should be enough. What other stuff do I have that would need a map?



There are also many opposed checks that I think slow down PbP because you have to wait for the other player to make the opposed roll. So a simple matter of moving away and then attacking someone requires several posts and rolls to resolve.

But there are no rolls - people just apply bonus points if they so choose. The intent is for all players to declare their actions (and the corresponding values) after which the GM declares their success or failure by comparing them to the targets. I can see how, say, threatening might slow things down though.



Also, although the system is quite crunchy with little flavor in it, the combat system seems to assume that telepathy is part of the setting (or at least it assumes that it is possible to kill someone through intimidation...) If you don't use the telepathy rules because they don't fit your setting, the Mind stat becomes useless.

That is true, the "magic" stat is not very useful without magic without serious effort (some kind of artificer schtick). I had not considered that possibility.



Aaaaand lastly, your rules only cover combat. If the players want to do something outside combat, their talents will be largely useless. (Unless walls and locks and other obstacles are treated as opponents for the purpose of overcoming them with your stats and talents..?)

Stat checks (as opposed to, well, opposed checks) are made against a value set by the GM for the difficulty of a particular task. There are no hard and fast rules for this ("My skill modifier is +100 so I should be able to crawl up the dragon's butt as a free action according to this table" is one of the silly 3.5 things I want to avoid) but it's there. I didn't really feel like that aspect of a freeform game needed rules adjudication so much as a hard and fast "it works/it doesn't work" based on its sensibility.



Oh and one balance issue: Assuming that the characters are humans (?) or at least human-like, stuff like Fire affinity is pretty useless, while Earth affinity is a no-brainer if you want to reduce the cost of a talent.
I might actually nix the affinities altogether. They're a little too fluffy (I just like the idea of a power that only works when the target is on fire).