Kuma Kode
2011-08-21, 12:08 AM
Minerva is a project that has undergone several iterations, each one (hopefully) better than the last. It arose from a desire for more flexibility in a D&D style game. I've looked into point buy systems, but many of them seem to lack granularity in skill levels, or that skill levels cease to matter after a certain point (such as the difference between rolling 20d6 instead of 15d6 to get 3 successes).
Originally I set out to patch D&D a bit with some homebrewed systems, but I realized that I was better off simply starting from scratch, taking ideas and executions I liked from other game systems and applying my own ideas to create a system I thoroughly enjoyed.
I've completed some of the basic mechanics and have started working on simple, specific parts (direct damage spells, simple +X to roll talents). One of my friends who has been working as quality control asked me why I haven't been posting my work here, since I speak so highly of these forums. So, here this is. If there's no interest in this, that's fine; no one likes to learn a new system, and worse yet, a system that isn't even functional.
Note that I like things a bit crunchy; simple rules have caused a lot of bizarre results in the past and I'd prefer a few extra rolls over looks of WHAT from my players and the DM shrugging in response (I'm looking at you, d20 Future starship battles (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180050)).
The base combat system of phases comes from Ars Magica, and I will likely be using something similar to their spontaneous magic use.
Base dice rolling mechanic is similar to that of Feng Shui. The yin and yang motif is pervasive in Minerva and opposing die fits it well.
The scale of attribute scores mirrors D&D inadvertently. It just happened to provide the same granularity as I wanted.
For perspective, beginning characters can start with 5 or 6 points in a class-favored skill. By what would equate to level 20 in D&D, they can have up to 34 in an A-level skill.
Currently, the systems below are in note/sketch form.
2Design Goals2
Unity of Form. If two concepts can share the same mechanic, they should. This makes the system easier to remember.
Skill Basis. Character progress and evolution should be determined by choices a player makes, not by a table. These choices should be meaningful, and should not punish specialization nor make it mandatory.
Realism. A mechanic should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. The system is not rules-lite, and will utilize complex mechanics for concepts that require it. The game should avoid illogical results caused by over-simplified mechanics.
Modularity. The game should readily accept add-ons and provide room for modification.
Teamwork. Characters should be encouraged to work together to achieve goals, and be rewarded for doing so. The team should be more than the sum of its parts.
Meaningful Decisions. Players should have options and choices, even when the dice are determining an outcome. Options in character development and combat should be interesting, with no clearly superior choice.
Diminishing Returns. Improving strong abilities should be harder than improving weak ones, but not prohibitively so. Likewise, the rolling mechanics should have some sort of bell-curve probability distribution.
Philosophy. Good and Evil should not be readily discernible. The system should be able to accommodate moral decisions and grey areas.
Character-centered abilities. The character's own abilities should be the focus of the action. Equipment serves an ancillary role.
Rechargeable. Powers and abilities should avoid daily usage limits to avoid things like the 15-minute workday, where players adventure only a short time before being forced to rest to restore their powers.
Magic is common. Anyone with a teacher and the time and effort can learn magic. Everyone knows or has heard of the aspiring elementalist who can make pebbles levitate or the healer who mends their scrapes and injuries. The party soldier may pick up weak healing magic from the priestess for emergencies and some fire bolt magic from the elementalist to give him some more tactical options.
Magic is weak. Permanent magical effects are almost unheard of. Achieving powerful effects consistently requires dedication to the art, and a specialized caster has a limited scope. Every town may have a healer who can mend cuts and broken bones, but restoring life to even a dead insect is extremely difficult, and bringing life to dead people is a feat heard only in stories.
2Dice Rolling Mechanic2
Balance Die. Two d10s are rolled, one called the shi-die, and the other the wu-die. The wu-die's result is subtracted from the shi-die. Bonuses and penalties are added to the result and then compared to a target number, which has a baseline of 0 for "typical" tasks. Both die "explode" on a roll of 10; if a die comes up 10, the die is rolled again and added to the 10. Exploding can occur in sequence, as well: a roll of 10, followed by another 10, followed by 8, results in a 28 for that die.
1d10 - 1d10 + modifiers
This creates an unbounded, bell-shaped probability distribution centered around 0.
2Attributes2
Strength (Str) - Physical power and muscle. Ability to exert force.
Stamina (Sta) - Cardiovascular health and ability to endure harsh conditions.
Toughness (Tough) - Durability and body composition. Ability to maintain inner systems.
Dexterity (Dex) - Manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
Agility (Agi) - Gross motor functions and speed.
Reason (Res) - Ability to learn, understand, and notice patterns and relationships.
Intuition (Int) - Subconscious understanding and direct awareness of facts and situations.
Personality (Per) - Strength of identity and ability to connect meaningfully with others.
The attributes range from 5 to 20. 10 and 11 is average. Each attribute has a modifier that it adds to rolls relating to it, with the attributes below 10 having negative modifiers and the attributes above 11 having positive. Negative modifiers are 1 to 1; for every point below 10 the attribute is, the penalty grows by a -1 until it reaches 0 (-10). The penalty can go no further. The positive attributes, however, are unbounded, but suffer diminishing returns.
The point costs are defined on the table below.
{table=head]Attribute | Bonus | Point Cost
5 | -5 | -5
6 | -4 | -4
7 | -3 | -3
8 | -2 | -2
9 | -1 | -1
10 | +0 | 0
11 | +0 | 1
12 | +1 | 2
13 | +2 | 3
14 | +2 | 5
15 | +3 | 7
16 | +3 | 10
17 | +4 | 13
18 | +4 | 17
19 | +4 | 22
20 | +5 | 27[/table]
2Skills2
Nearly all aspects of character development focus on skills. Increasing skills requires experience points, and higher skill levels require more points. A skill family itself (Warfare, First Principle, Social, etc.) can also have points spent on it; a quarter of the family's skill level applies to rolls on all skills that fall beneath it. Every point placed into a family also grants a talent point for that family's talent tree.
Warfare - Martial combat. Skill in using weapons to harm.
Armor [Sta], Axes [Str], Blades [Str], Bows [Dex], Chain [Str, Dex], Crossbows [Dex], Dual-Wield [Dex], Firearms [Dex], Hammers [Str], Knives [Dex], Picks [Str], Polearms [Str], Shields [Str], Spears [Str], Staves [Str]
First Principle - The self. Identity. The body. Instincts.
Athletics [Str, Sta], Acrobatics [Agi, Sta], Dodge [Agi], Meditation , Mettle [Tough], Thrown [Str, Dex], Unarmed [Str, Dex]
Second Principle - The self without. Meaning and purpose. The cycle of death and rebirth.
Reparation [Res], Preservation [Res], Augmentation [Res], Deterioration [Res], Dissolution [Res], Distortion [Res]
Third Principle - The without self. Elements. Matter. Inanimate objects.
Fire [Res], Water [Res], Earth [Res], Air [Res]
Fourth Principle - The self within. The mind. Thoughts and perception.
Control [Res], Unity [Res], Fear [Res], Desire [Res], Will [Res]
Wilderness - Interaction with the environment and non-sentient beings.
Stealth [Agi], Ride [Agi], Hunt [Int], Swim [Str, Sta], Navigation [Res, Int], Perception [Int]
Social - Interaction with sentient beings.
Deception [Per, Int], Mingling [Per], Manipulation [Per, Res], Performance [Per, Res], Leadership [Per, Int], Linguistics [Res]
Mercantile - Economic abilities. Day jobs. Knowledge of society as a whole.
Bargaining [Per, Res], Knowledge [Res], Forgery [Res, Dex], Craft [Res, Dex, Str], Mechanics [Res, Dex], Medicine [Res, Int, Dex]
Vehicular - Interaction with a mobile, inanimate object.
Pilot [Dex, Int], Drive [Dex, Int]
You cannot have more than ⅕ your total earned experience invested in a single skill at any time. Because skills will have different point costs per rank for different classes, the maximum number of ranks allowed will vary from one character to another.
2Talents2
Every skill family has a talent tree. Talents are special powers, usually passive, that add modifiers, grant new options, or allow characters to follow different rules that are not available to untrained individuals. Every level in a skill family grants one point to be spent on talents; to buy a talent, the talent's prerequisites must be met. These are usually skill level requirements.
2Classes2
Classes help define your character's training, past life experiences, and aptitude. Your class sets your skill ranks, which in turn determine how expensive different skills are to buy. Classes do not define what you can and cannot do; they only determine the effort required.
2Health2
The character's overall well-being is distributed into four health pools, each one representing a different kind of resistance to injury.
Vitality represents the durability of the character's physical structure, such as bones and muscle tissue. It is equivalent to your Strength score plus ½ your Toughness score plus your ranks in Mettle. Blunt weapons primarily attack this pool.
Wounds represent the internal workings of the character's body, such as the cardiovascular system or other chemical systems. It is equivalent to your Stamina score plus ½ your Toughness score plus your ranks in Mettle. Piercing and, to a lesser extent, slashing weapons attack this pool. It is important to martial characters because it limits their acquired Valor.
Psyche is the character's mental structure and the soundness of their rationale. It is equal to your Reason score plus ½ your Intuition score plus your ranks in Meditation. It is important to mages because it determines the amount of Focus they can store. Some spells, particularly those cast of the Fourth Principle, attack it.
Essence is the internal workings of the character's mind, also called their soul or identity. It is equal to your Personality score plus ½ your Intuition score plus your ranks in Meditation. It can be utilized by mages to store additional Focus in a dangerous gamble called Overcharge. Those who utilize the Second Principle, as well as some monsters, attack it.
While this is somewhat more complex than many other systems, it helps to alleviate some of the illogical feel of standard hit points. There is no reason, for instance, a psychic assault should make a creature die faster from being stabbed. This also simplifies damage immunity and special circumstances: monsters can lack certain health pools. This does not mean they have a 0 in the pool; they lack the pool altogether, and ignore any damage directed at it. A skeleton, for instance, has no systems or internal workings. It would lack Wounds, and suffer only Vitality damage. A hammer would remain very effective, but a knife would become nearly useless. In fact, the knife wielder would be better off bashing it with the handle or dropping it altogether and using his fists, large sticks, or nearby rocks.
Creatures without bones or solid structures lack Vitality points. Ex: Oozes, Some plants
Creatures without internal systems lack Wound points. Ex: Skeleton, Golem
Creatures without a body lack both Vitality and Wound points. Ex: Wraith
Creatures without a mind lack Psyche points. Ex: Insects, Skeleton
Creatures without a soul or animating force lack Essence points. Ex: Clockwork machines
Health remains relatively low, only increasing slowly, point by point, over time. This prevents the game from becoming overly tanky and makes dealing damage relevant at all levels of play. The multiple attribute dependency of the health pools helps avoid what is known as "dump stats," statistics that are not relevant to a particular class and are typically dropped in favor of elevating other, more useful attributes. All attributes are useful to all characters, making assigning and boosting attributes non-trivial.
2Powers2
Special abilities called Powers can be learned by characters to utilize their skills in new ways. Many powers go beyond typical usage of the skill or allow the character to do things they could not normally do. Powers are usually found on scrolls, in dusty tomes, or taught by masters. Once learned, a power is remembered forever, but must be readied for use in one of the power slots available. Emptying a slot (if necessary) and readying a new power in its place requires fifteen minutes of practice, exercises, or reading to refresh the character's memory; once refreshed, the power remains available until it is discarded, with no usage limit or recharge period (Some powers, particularly Maneuvers and Spells, consume Valor and Focus).
Power slots are shared by all skills in a family and the number available to you depends on your highest skill in the family. Powers related to warfare skills are called Maneuvers. First Principle powers are called Masteries. Powers related to the Second, Third, or Fourth Principles are called Spells. Social powers are called Exploits. Wilderness and Vehicular powers are called Tricks. Mercantile powers are called Techniques.
Valour: This energy is the heroic surge that accompanies success in battle. For every point by which you beat your opponent's Defense roll with a weapon skill against an enemy (not simply a tree, sparring partner, or practice target), you gain one point of Valor. These deplete at the rate of 1 point per round and cannot exceed your current Wound.
Focus: Spellcasters collect ambient magickal energy in special pathways formed in their mind to cast spells. To collect Focus, a Meditation check is rolled against 5. The magician acquires one point for succeeding, plus one point for every two points by which they beat 5. Like sand grasped in the hand, Focus depletes faster the more it is gained. While Focus remains lower than half the caster's Intuition, it depletes at a mere 1 point per round. When Focus exceeds half Intuition but remains less than Reason, it siphons off at 3 points per round. If Focus exceeds Reason, it disappears at the rate of 5 per round.
Conventionally, Focus is limited to the caster's current Psyche, but it is possible to store Focus in Essence in a dangerous act called Overcharge. If done, the acquired Focus spills over and can use Essence as if it were Psyche. Overcharging by less than half the caster's Intuition causes Focus to drain away at the impressive rate of 9 points per round. If the Focus gained exceeds half Intuition but remains less than Personality, it instead fades away at a nearly insurmountable rate of 14 points per round. Once it exceeds Personality, not even an accomplished mage can overcome its cascade of 20 points per round.
When overcharged Focus drains away, it takes part of the caster's soul along with it, causing damage to the caster's Essence equal to the amount lost. It is for this reason that Overcharging is never done unless the Focus will be utilized promptly, and even then is only done in serious cases.
Learning Powers: You gain free powers when you gain a certain number of ranks in a skill. The rate is different for each skill. Warfare skills, for instance, grant a free maneuver for every two ranks in each skill, while Second Principle skills grant a new spell for every rank. The power selected must be one that requires the skill in which you invested points, and you must meet the power's requirements (you can meet them with the rank with which you acquired them, if necessary). Powers can also be learned during adventures from teachers, old tomes, or even through roleplay and experimentation if the GM sees fit.
Cross-Discipline Powers and Skill Fusion: Similar but unique, cross-discipline powers and skill fusion allow characters to marry two different skills to gain new and interesting powers. Cross-discipline powers require ranks in multiple, sometimes contradictory skills, giving generalists their own unique capabilities that even specialists would lack. Water and Earth ranks, for instance, grant access to acid-element spells that a single-skilled specialist would never acquire. Similarly, Knife and Dissolution could be combined into a sneak attacking maneuver that saps health from its target or deals Essence damage instead.
Skill Fusion is an even more powerful combination of skills, but instead of requiring ranks, it requires two or more powers. Skill Fusion cannot be done by a single character; the fusion requires multiple powers to be activated simultaneously in concert, a feat which can only be done by more than one person. Using skill fusion, a team of characters can work together and utilize each others abilities to create completely new effects that are more effective than what they could have done apart.
For instance, a necromancer and an elementalist are fighting a wraith. The elementalist, who deals physical damage with his magic, finds the wraith an insurmountable obstacle. Instead of standing around and watching the necromancer fight it on his own, the two decide to combine the necromancer's essence-damaging Necrotic Bolt and the elementalist's Fire Arrow, creating a unique fusion they call Blackfire Bolt. This blackfire deals essence damage equal to both the caster's spells, essentially converting the elementalist's fire into necromantic power and adding it to the necromancer's bolt.
If they had a soldier with them, they could try to find a way to incorporate one of his maneuvers into the mix to create an even more powerful combination.
2Combat2
Combat is done in phases organized by the type of action performed, not by the person performing it. Everyone in battle is assumed to be acting more or less simultaneously. Combat is designed to be more fluid in its descriptions and less specific as to exact location; this is because grids and maps have a tendency to suppress roleplaying and initiate a "video game" kind of feel. During complex battles, it can be useful to sketch a map, but only so long as it aides and does not detract from the creativity and engagement of the players.
Phase 1: Movement - All combatants declares where they intend to move, how they get there, and how long it will take. Expected courses of action are declared. Some quick non-movement actions can also be done here.
Phase 2: Missile 1 - After movement begins, characters attacking with ranged weapons make their first attacks.
Phase 3: Melee 1 - Once all ranged weapons have had their chance, melee attacks are rolled and calculated.
Phase 4: Missile 2 - If any ranged attackers are fast enough to gain a second attack this round, they do so after the first melee phase.
Phase 5: Melee 2 - If any melee attackers are fast enough to gain a second attack this round, they do so after the second missile phase.
Phase 6: Magic - Spells and other magic-related actions take the longest, and act last.
Phase 7: Clean Up - Any actions that have yet to be resolved that do not fall under any of the other categories, such as picking locks, is completed here, and the cycle beings anew.
Range
Ranges are not exact distances, and may vary depending on specific circumstances. These are guidelines, and the GM should be comfortable making exceptions. These ranges are used by both spells and weapons for convenience.
Touch: Physical contact or arm's reach. Generally no more than 1 meter.
Reach: Within range of a lunge with a weapon. Generally two sword's lengths away or 2-3 meters.
Close: Out of range of a standard melee weapon, but within range of a hafted weapon. Generally 4-8 meters.
Near: Outside of melee range. 9-15 meters.
Moderate: 15 - 30 meters. This is the maximum effective range of light bows.
Long: 31-60 meters. This is the maximum effective range of heavy bows, light firearms, and light crossbows.
Far: 61-100 meters. This is the maximum effective range of a heavy crossbow or most heavy firearms.
Distant: 100-300 meters. Few weapons can fire this far with any level of accuracy.
Beyond: No standard exists for distances beyond 300 meters. If something has a range higher than Distant, it will state its exact range.
Initiative
A character's initiative represents their reflexes and awareness of combat. It changes based on circumstances. Whenever the order of actions within a phase is important, those with the higher initiative go first, such as when one character moves to engage while their enemy moves to disengage.
[I]Initiative Bonus = Agility Modifier + Intuition Modifier + Conditional Modifiers
Movement Speed
A human's base movement speed per round is (10 + Agility modifier) meters. A person can move up to double this distance if they do nothing but move.
Base Movement Speed = 10 + Agility modifier - ½ Encumbrance Penalty
Weapon Speed
How fast a character can attack is determined by Weapon Speed, which in turn is determined by several other factors.
Attack Speed = Agility Score + Weapon Speed + Encumbrance Penalty + ¼ Weapon Skill
Weapon Speed (Maximum +0) = Weapon Speed Penalty + ½ Strength Modifier + ½ Stamina Modifier
{table=head]Attack Speed | Attack on First Phase | Attack on Second Phase
-21 or lower | Every fourth round | Never
-20 to -11 | Every third round | Never
-10 to -6 | Every other round | Never
-5 to 5 | Every round | Never
6 to 10 | Every round | Every third round
11 to 20 | Every round | Every other round
21+ or higher | Every round | Every round[/table]
Making an Attack
To make an attack roll, you and your opponent both roll opposed skills. Usually, this is an attack roll of the type of weapon you're using, opposed by either your opponent's Dodge defense roll or a Shield defense roll (defender's choice, but never both).
Attack Roll = 1d10 - 1d10 + Total Bonus to Weapon Skill + Equipment Bonus + Miscellaneous Modifiers
Dodge Roll = 1d10 - 1d10 + Total Bonus to Dodge Skill + Armor Dodge Bonus + Passive Shield Bonus + Miscellaneous Modifiers
Shield Roll = 1d10 - 1d10 + Total Bonus to Shield Skill + Active Shield Bonus + Miscellaneous Modifiers
If your opponent's Dodge roll beats your attack roll, your attack missed. If the opponent beats your attack roll with a Shield roll, your attack was deflected and they may make a free counter-attack (see the Shield skill's description for more information). If your roll beats either one, you successfully strike your opponent and deal damage appropriate for your weapon.
Damage Dealt = Weapon's Base Damage + Weapon Skill Bonus + Strength or Dexterity modifier - Armor's Protection +/- miscellaneous modifiers
The weapon skill bonus is usually +1 per 4 ranks in the weapon's skill. For weapons held in the off-hand, this is determined by your skill in Dual Wield or in the weapon's normal skill, whichever is lower. For shield bashes, however, the bonus is +1 per 6 ranks.
Engagement
Historical melee combat often involved pairs or small groups of soldiers pairing up and fighting their own personal battles, seemingly independent and only vaguely aware of enemies outside their combat. Engagement takes into account the varying levels of attention characters give to other combatants. The enemy in direct melee range readying an attack, for instance, garners far more attention than a similar fighter fifty meters away occupied by two of your allies. In this example, the character is engaged with the enemy attacking them, but not engaged with the enemy in melee with their allies.
Engagement is a declaration of intent to fight another character. It is usually done as part of the opening attack, but it can be done separately. To engage an enemy in combat, you must be able to attack or be attacked by them. Two melee fighters thirty meters away, for instance, cannot engage each other, but a melee fighter and an archer could.
Disengaged Attacks: It is not possible to attack an enemy with which you are not engaged. It is, however, possible to attack an enemy that is not engaged with you, such as an archer firing at a distracted melee combatant or a rogue sneaking up on a guard. This is called a first strike.
First strikes are otherwise normal attacks, but the defender does not add their Agility or Dodge ranks to their Dodge roll, nor can they use active defenses such as shields. Once the first strike is resolved, the defender is considered engaged and can use their defenses properly.
Engagement at Different Ranges: Depending on their weapon choices, two characters may want to begin engagement at different ranges. If both combatants are aware of one-another, engagement is determined by the one with the longest range. If the character with the longer range is not aware of the other, the two make initiative rolls in an engagement contest; the winner determines the range.
The engagement range of a melee may serve one combatant well, but the other may be unable to attack properly at this range, such as a knife wielder in melee with a polearm wielder. If a character so chooses, he or she may attempt to forcibly adjust the engagement range, but this grants the opponent a free attack against them. If this adjustment attack hits, regardless of whether or not it deals damage, the character fails to change the engagement range and the round continues at the original range. A polearm-wielder, for instance, can attempt to keep a swordmaster at a range where he can attack but not be attacked. The swordmaster can do little else about this, save for being defensive and attempting to duck inside his opponent's range when the polearm fails to connect.
On the other hand, once inside the swordmaster's range, the polearm-wielder will find it difficult to create more breathing room. He may need to drop his polearm and draw a smaller, secondary weapon.
Ranged weapons never get to make adjustment attacks, but a ranged weapon wielder can still provoke them.
Multiple Engagements: Dividing your attention between multiple enemies is difficult. For every enemy with which you are engaged beyond the first, you suffer a -3 penalty to all Warfare rolls and to Dodge.
Attacking from Inside Range: Weapons are designed to operate at only a particular range. A polearm, for instance, cannot attack farther than Close range and does not function properly at Reach or Touch range. Against enemies closer than your effective range, you suffer a -3 penalty to all Warfare attack rolls and Dodge defense rolls per range category. A polearm, for instance, suffers a -3 against swords engaged at Reach range and a -6 against knives engaged at Touch range.
If your weapon can attack farther than its maximum effective range, such as most bows, firearms, and most other ranged weapons, you suffer a -3 penalty to your attack roll for the first increment beyond. The penalty doubles every increment afterward.
Caution/Aggression
When making a Warfare attack roll, a character may choose to be cautious or aggressive. When cautious, the shi-die is rolled twice and the higher value is taken, but any Valor gained from the attack is reduced by half. If aggressive, the wu-die is rolled twice and the highest result used, but Valor gained is doubled.
Damage Types
Physical Damage: Blunt, Slashing, Piercing, Ballistic, Concussion
Elemental Damage: Fire, Ice, Electric, Acid
Psychic Damage: Psychic, Eldritch
Spiritual Damage: Harmonic, Entropic
2Magic2
Magic is the manipulation of elements and forces of the universe to achieve various results, from destroying enemies to healing allies to creation of objects. While anyone can learn the techniques, few master them.
There are two forms of magic, each with their own limitations and uses: Spontaneous and Academic.
Casting Spontaneously
Spontaneous magic is, as its name implies, created on the spot. A caster simply wills the energies to do their bidding, making up a desired effect. No powers are necessary to perform spontaneous casting, and it is usually done when the caster lacks a spell that could do what they desire. The effect must, however, be within the confines of the skill being used. Preservation, the magic of protection, cannot be used to fly through the air or shoot bolts of fire, for instance. Aside from the limitations of the skill itself, the effect can be anything the caster desires.
To cast spontaneously, the caster must make a skill roll of the relevant magic (Reparation to heal, Dissolution to harm, Earth to levitate rocks, etc.). The roll is then compared to the table of example effects given in the skill's description. If the roll is too low, the effect does not take hold, though a lesser related one may occur.
Spontaneous magic does not consume Focus, since the required energy is gathered as part of the casting. You must, however, have at least 4 ranks in a magic skill to use it spontaneously.
For example, Weiland, the party's soldier, has a rather nasty gash in his leg due to an unexpected trap. Linea, the party's healer and moral compass, is pleased to find that it's not a lethal hit and could heal on its own. She's worried about infection, but she came prepared only for the soul-stealing attacks of the tomb's wraiths and the mindless bludgeoning of the animated corpses. Not wanting to leave her friend to hobble into battle, she decides to attempt spontaneous magic to heal him.
Linea's player rolls 1d10 - 1d10 + 6 (Linea's bonus to Reparation) and rolls a 7. She compares this to the table under Reparation. 7 is too low to heal even a point of damage (which requires a roll of 8), but is high enough to soothe pain. Her spell doesn't repair the wound, but Weiland's pain quickly fades, replaced by a cool tingle around the wound.
She could attempt this again if she so chose, but Weiland softly reminds her that he's had worse injuries in his training, and that he'll be fine.
Academic Spells
While it offers casters flexibility and versatility, spontaneous magic is difficult to perform; achieving even small effects requires training and experience to perform reliably. The vast number of variables and quirks of the energies makes manipulating and feeding a spontaneous spell a chore at even the best of times. It didn't take long for a mage to think, "What if I didn't have to figure it all out on the spot?" Thus, academic magic was born.
Academic magic is essentially a pre-calculated effect. Most of the experimentation has been done, and the most efficient method of creating an effect has been discovered. Only a few situational variables remain open, making academic magic significantly easier.
All spells are academic in nature. They do not require a skill roll to cast, but they do require the caster to harvest a pre-determined amount of magic to fuel the spell. This is done through the use of the Meditation skill.
Spells are powerful and simple to cast, but they lack flexibility. Most of the spell's effects have already been determined. Variables such as target, area, and other such exact situational aspects are open, but the spell's actual effect cannot be modified.
For instance, Wieland, Linea, and Uwriy the elementalist are preparing to attack a bandit camp in the middle of the night. Uwriy has the spell fire arrow prepared, which allows him to project a bolt of elemental fire from his hand, but the bandits have crates set up as a defensive perimeter and the trees are making aiming difficult for him. He glances at their bonfire and wishes he could have the bolts arise from the fire, against which they would have no cover.
If he were to cast spontaneously, he might be able to get some fire bolts from the bonfire, but it would be nothing compared to that offered by his academic fire arrow, which simply does not offer him the flexibility he needs.
Spellcraft
Academic magic can be modified and customized when it is prepared through spellcraft. Each spell has a spellcraft section that explains how it can be modified, and at what cost. Usually the cost is in additional Focus, but some spells require objects, gems, or even more esoteric components. If a spell requires an object, the object is completely consumed on casting unless specifically noted otherwise.
Customizing a spell is done when the spell is prepared, not when it is cast. For this reason, some spellcasters choose to prepare a spell multiple times, one with a low cost and another, stronger one. Minor Fire Arrow, for example, deals 1d12 damage to a range of Moderate for the measely cost of 4 Focus. For every additional 2 points of Focus, the spell can deal an additional point of damage, and doubling the total cost increases its range to Long. If the caster so chose, he could increase the Focus cost by 2 to increase the damage dealt by 1. A caster could choose to prepare one Minor Fire Arrow that deals 1d12 and costs 4 Focus and a second version that costs 8 Focus but deals 1d12+2.
Originally I set out to patch D&D a bit with some homebrewed systems, but I realized that I was better off simply starting from scratch, taking ideas and executions I liked from other game systems and applying my own ideas to create a system I thoroughly enjoyed.
I've completed some of the basic mechanics and have started working on simple, specific parts (direct damage spells, simple +X to roll talents). One of my friends who has been working as quality control asked me why I haven't been posting my work here, since I speak so highly of these forums. So, here this is. If there's no interest in this, that's fine; no one likes to learn a new system, and worse yet, a system that isn't even functional.
Note that I like things a bit crunchy; simple rules have caused a lot of bizarre results in the past and I'd prefer a few extra rolls over looks of WHAT from my players and the DM shrugging in response (I'm looking at you, d20 Future starship battles (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180050)).
The base combat system of phases comes from Ars Magica, and I will likely be using something similar to their spontaneous magic use.
Base dice rolling mechanic is similar to that of Feng Shui. The yin and yang motif is pervasive in Minerva and opposing die fits it well.
The scale of attribute scores mirrors D&D inadvertently. It just happened to provide the same granularity as I wanted.
For perspective, beginning characters can start with 5 or 6 points in a class-favored skill. By what would equate to level 20 in D&D, they can have up to 34 in an A-level skill.
Currently, the systems below are in note/sketch form.
2Design Goals2
Unity of Form. If two concepts can share the same mechanic, they should. This makes the system easier to remember.
Skill Basis. Character progress and evolution should be determined by choices a player makes, not by a table. These choices should be meaningful, and should not punish specialization nor make it mandatory.
Realism. A mechanic should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. The system is not rules-lite, and will utilize complex mechanics for concepts that require it. The game should avoid illogical results caused by over-simplified mechanics.
Modularity. The game should readily accept add-ons and provide room for modification.
Teamwork. Characters should be encouraged to work together to achieve goals, and be rewarded for doing so. The team should be more than the sum of its parts.
Meaningful Decisions. Players should have options and choices, even when the dice are determining an outcome. Options in character development and combat should be interesting, with no clearly superior choice.
Diminishing Returns. Improving strong abilities should be harder than improving weak ones, but not prohibitively so. Likewise, the rolling mechanics should have some sort of bell-curve probability distribution.
Philosophy. Good and Evil should not be readily discernible. The system should be able to accommodate moral decisions and grey areas.
Character-centered abilities. The character's own abilities should be the focus of the action. Equipment serves an ancillary role.
Rechargeable. Powers and abilities should avoid daily usage limits to avoid things like the 15-minute workday, where players adventure only a short time before being forced to rest to restore their powers.
Magic is common. Anyone with a teacher and the time and effort can learn magic. Everyone knows or has heard of the aspiring elementalist who can make pebbles levitate or the healer who mends their scrapes and injuries. The party soldier may pick up weak healing magic from the priestess for emergencies and some fire bolt magic from the elementalist to give him some more tactical options.
Magic is weak. Permanent magical effects are almost unheard of. Achieving powerful effects consistently requires dedication to the art, and a specialized caster has a limited scope. Every town may have a healer who can mend cuts and broken bones, but restoring life to even a dead insect is extremely difficult, and bringing life to dead people is a feat heard only in stories.
2Dice Rolling Mechanic2
Balance Die. Two d10s are rolled, one called the shi-die, and the other the wu-die. The wu-die's result is subtracted from the shi-die. Bonuses and penalties are added to the result and then compared to a target number, which has a baseline of 0 for "typical" tasks. Both die "explode" on a roll of 10; if a die comes up 10, the die is rolled again and added to the 10. Exploding can occur in sequence, as well: a roll of 10, followed by another 10, followed by 8, results in a 28 for that die.
1d10 - 1d10 + modifiers
This creates an unbounded, bell-shaped probability distribution centered around 0.
2Attributes2
Strength (Str) - Physical power and muscle. Ability to exert force.
Stamina (Sta) - Cardiovascular health and ability to endure harsh conditions.
Toughness (Tough) - Durability and body composition. Ability to maintain inner systems.
Dexterity (Dex) - Manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
Agility (Agi) - Gross motor functions and speed.
Reason (Res) - Ability to learn, understand, and notice patterns and relationships.
Intuition (Int) - Subconscious understanding and direct awareness of facts and situations.
Personality (Per) - Strength of identity and ability to connect meaningfully with others.
The attributes range from 5 to 20. 10 and 11 is average. Each attribute has a modifier that it adds to rolls relating to it, with the attributes below 10 having negative modifiers and the attributes above 11 having positive. Negative modifiers are 1 to 1; for every point below 10 the attribute is, the penalty grows by a -1 until it reaches 0 (-10). The penalty can go no further. The positive attributes, however, are unbounded, but suffer diminishing returns.
The point costs are defined on the table below.
{table=head]Attribute | Bonus | Point Cost
5 | -5 | -5
6 | -4 | -4
7 | -3 | -3
8 | -2 | -2
9 | -1 | -1
10 | +0 | 0
11 | +0 | 1
12 | +1 | 2
13 | +2 | 3
14 | +2 | 5
15 | +3 | 7
16 | +3 | 10
17 | +4 | 13
18 | +4 | 17
19 | +4 | 22
20 | +5 | 27[/table]
2Skills2
Nearly all aspects of character development focus on skills. Increasing skills requires experience points, and higher skill levels require more points. A skill family itself (Warfare, First Principle, Social, etc.) can also have points spent on it; a quarter of the family's skill level applies to rolls on all skills that fall beneath it. Every point placed into a family also grants a talent point for that family's talent tree.
Warfare - Martial combat. Skill in using weapons to harm.
Armor [Sta], Axes [Str], Blades [Str], Bows [Dex], Chain [Str, Dex], Crossbows [Dex], Dual-Wield [Dex], Firearms [Dex], Hammers [Str], Knives [Dex], Picks [Str], Polearms [Str], Shields [Str], Spears [Str], Staves [Str]
First Principle - The self. Identity. The body. Instincts.
Athletics [Str, Sta], Acrobatics [Agi, Sta], Dodge [Agi], Meditation , Mettle [Tough], Thrown [Str, Dex], Unarmed [Str, Dex]
Second Principle - The self without. Meaning and purpose. The cycle of death and rebirth.
Reparation [Res], Preservation [Res], Augmentation [Res], Deterioration [Res], Dissolution [Res], Distortion [Res]
Third Principle - The without self. Elements. Matter. Inanimate objects.
Fire [Res], Water [Res], Earth [Res], Air [Res]
Fourth Principle - The self within. The mind. Thoughts and perception.
Control [Res], Unity [Res], Fear [Res], Desire [Res], Will [Res]
Wilderness - Interaction with the environment and non-sentient beings.
Stealth [Agi], Ride [Agi], Hunt [Int], Swim [Str, Sta], Navigation [Res, Int], Perception [Int]
Social - Interaction with sentient beings.
Deception [Per, Int], Mingling [Per], Manipulation [Per, Res], Performance [Per, Res], Leadership [Per, Int], Linguistics [Res]
Mercantile - Economic abilities. Day jobs. Knowledge of society as a whole.
Bargaining [Per, Res], Knowledge [Res], Forgery [Res, Dex], Craft [Res, Dex, Str], Mechanics [Res, Dex], Medicine [Res, Int, Dex]
Vehicular - Interaction with a mobile, inanimate object.
Pilot [Dex, Int], Drive [Dex, Int]
You cannot have more than ⅕ your total earned experience invested in a single skill at any time. Because skills will have different point costs per rank for different classes, the maximum number of ranks allowed will vary from one character to another.
2Talents2
Every skill family has a talent tree. Talents are special powers, usually passive, that add modifiers, grant new options, or allow characters to follow different rules that are not available to untrained individuals. Every level in a skill family grants one point to be spent on talents; to buy a talent, the talent's prerequisites must be met. These are usually skill level requirements.
2Classes2
Classes help define your character's training, past life experiences, and aptitude. Your class sets your skill ranks, which in turn determine how expensive different skills are to buy. Classes do not define what you can and cannot do; they only determine the effort required.
2Health2
The character's overall well-being is distributed into four health pools, each one representing a different kind of resistance to injury.
Vitality represents the durability of the character's physical structure, such as bones and muscle tissue. It is equivalent to your Strength score plus ½ your Toughness score plus your ranks in Mettle. Blunt weapons primarily attack this pool.
Wounds represent the internal workings of the character's body, such as the cardiovascular system or other chemical systems. It is equivalent to your Stamina score plus ½ your Toughness score plus your ranks in Mettle. Piercing and, to a lesser extent, slashing weapons attack this pool. It is important to martial characters because it limits their acquired Valor.
Psyche is the character's mental structure and the soundness of their rationale. It is equal to your Reason score plus ½ your Intuition score plus your ranks in Meditation. It is important to mages because it determines the amount of Focus they can store. Some spells, particularly those cast of the Fourth Principle, attack it.
Essence is the internal workings of the character's mind, also called their soul or identity. It is equal to your Personality score plus ½ your Intuition score plus your ranks in Meditation. It can be utilized by mages to store additional Focus in a dangerous gamble called Overcharge. Those who utilize the Second Principle, as well as some monsters, attack it.
While this is somewhat more complex than many other systems, it helps to alleviate some of the illogical feel of standard hit points. There is no reason, for instance, a psychic assault should make a creature die faster from being stabbed. This also simplifies damage immunity and special circumstances: monsters can lack certain health pools. This does not mean they have a 0 in the pool; they lack the pool altogether, and ignore any damage directed at it. A skeleton, for instance, has no systems or internal workings. It would lack Wounds, and suffer only Vitality damage. A hammer would remain very effective, but a knife would become nearly useless. In fact, the knife wielder would be better off bashing it with the handle or dropping it altogether and using his fists, large sticks, or nearby rocks.
Creatures without bones or solid structures lack Vitality points. Ex: Oozes, Some plants
Creatures without internal systems lack Wound points. Ex: Skeleton, Golem
Creatures without a body lack both Vitality and Wound points. Ex: Wraith
Creatures without a mind lack Psyche points. Ex: Insects, Skeleton
Creatures without a soul or animating force lack Essence points. Ex: Clockwork machines
Health remains relatively low, only increasing slowly, point by point, over time. This prevents the game from becoming overly tanky and makes dealing damage relevant at all levels of play. The multiple attribute dependency of the health pools helps avoid what is known as "dump stats," statistics that are not relevant to a particular class and are typically dropped in favor of elevating other, more useful attributes. All attributes are useful to all characters, making assigning and boosting attributes non-trivial.
2Powers2
Special abilities called Powers can be learned by characters to utilize their skills in new ways. Many powers go beyond typical usage of the skill or allow the character to do things they could not normally do. Powers are usually found on scrolls, in dusty tomes, or taught by masters. Once learned, a power is remembered forever, but must be readied for use in one of the power slots available. Emptying a slot (if necessary) and readying a new power in its place requires fifteen minutes of practice, exercises, or reading to refresh the character's memory; once refreshed, the power remains available until it is discarded, with no usage limit or recharge period (Some powers, particularly Maneuvers and Spells, consume Valor and Focus).
Power slots are shared by all skills in a family and the number available to you depends on your highest skill in the family. Powers related to warfare skills are called Maneuvers. First Principle powers are called Masteries. Powers related to the Second, Third, or Fourth Principles are called Spells. Social powers are called Exploits. Wilderness and Vehicular powers are called Tricks. Mercantile powers are called Techniques.
Valour: This energy is the heroic surge that accompanies success in battle. For every point by which you beat your opponent's Defense roll with a weapon skill against an enemy (not simply a tree, sparring partner, or practice target), you gain one point of Valor. These deplete at the rate of 1 point per round and cannot exceed your current Wound.
Focus: Spellcasters collect ambient magickal energy in special pathways formed in their mind to cast spells. To collect Focus, a Meditation check is rolled against 5. The magician acquires one point for succeeding, plus one point for every two points by which they beat 5. Like sand grasped in the hand, Focus depletes faster the more it is gained. While Focus remains lower than half the caster's Intuition, it depletes at a mere 1 point per round. When Focus exceeds half Intuition but remains less than Reason, it siphons off at 3 points per round. If Focus exceeds Reason, it disappears at the rate of 5 per round.
Conventionally, Focus is limited to the caster's current Psyche, but it is possible to store Focus in Essence in a dangerous act called Overcharge. If done, the acquired Focus spills over and can use Essence as if it were Psyche. Overcharging by less than half the caster's Intuition causes Focus to drain away at the impressive rate of 9 points per round. If the Focus gained exceeds half Intuition but remains less than Personality, it instead fades away at a nearly insurmountable rate of 14 points per round. Once it exceeds Personality, not even an accomplished mage can overcome its cascade of 20 points per round.
When overcharged Focus drains away, it takes part of the caster's soul along with it, causing damage to the caster's Essence equal to the amount lost. It is for this reason that Overcharging is never done unless the Focus will be utilized promptly, and even then is only done in serious cases.
Learning Powers: You gain free powers when you gain a certain number of ranks in a skill. The rate is different for each skill. Warfare skills, for instance, grant a free maneuver for every two ranks in each skill, while Second Principle skills grant a new spell for every rank. The power selected must be one that requires the skill in which you invested points, and you must meet the power's requirements (you can meet them with the rank with which you acquired them, if necessary). Powers can also be learned during adventures from teachers, old tomes, or even through roleplay and experimentation if the GM sees fit.
Cross-Discipline Powers and Skill Fusion: Similar but unique, cross-discipline powers and skill fusion allow characters to marry two different skills to gain new and interesting powers. Cross-discipline powers require ranks in multiple, sometimes contradictory skills, giving generalists their own unique capabilities that even specialists would lack. Water and Earth ranks, for instance, grant access to acid-element spells that a single-skilled specialist would never acquire. Similarly, Knife and Dissolution could be combined into a sneak attacking maneuver that saps health from its target or deals Essence damage instead.
Skill Fusion is an even more powerful combination of skills, but instead of requiring ranks, it requires two or more powers. Skill Fusion cannot be done by a single character; the fusion requires multiple powers to be activated simultaneously in concert, a feat which can only be done by more than one person. Using skill fusion, a team of characters can work together and utilize each others abilities to create completely new effects that are more effective than what they could have done apart.
For instance, a necromancer and an elementalist are fighting a wraith. The elementalist, who deals physical damage with his magic, finds the wraith an insurmountable obstacle. Instead of standing around and watching the necromancer fight it on his own, the two decide to combine the necromancer's essence-damaging Necrotic Bolt and the elementalist's Fire Arrow, creating a unique fusion they call Blackfire Bolt. This blackfire deals essence damage equal to both the caster's spells, essentially converting the elementalist's fire into necromantic power and adding it to the necromancer's bolt.
If they had a soldier with them, they could try to find a way to incorporate one of his maneuvers into the mix to create an even more powerful combination.
2Combat2
Combat is done in phases organized by the type of action performed, not by the person performing it. Everyone in battle is assumed to be acting more or less simultaneously. Combat is designed to be more fluid in its descriptions and less specific as to exact location; this is because grids and maps have a tendency to suppress roleplaying and initiate a "video game" kind of feel. During complex battles, it can be useful to sketch a map, but only so long as it aides and does not detract from the creativity and engagement of the players.
Phase 1: Movement - All combatants declares where they intend to move, how they get there, and how long it will take. Expected courses of action are declared. Some quick non-movement actions can also be done here.
Phase 2: Missile 1 - After movement begins, characters attacking with ranged weapons make their first attacks.
Phase 3: Melee 1 - Once all ranged weapons have had their chance, melee attacks are rolled and calculated.
Phase 4: Missile 2 - If any ranged attackers are fast enough to gain a second attack this round, they do so after the first melee phase.
Phase 5: Melee 2 - If any melee attackers are fast enough to gain a second attack this round, they do so after the second missile phase.
Phase 6: Magic - Spells and other magic-related actions take the longest, and act last.
Phase 7: Clean Up - Any actions that have yet to be resolved that do not fall under any of the other categories, such as picking locks, is completed here, and the cycle beings anew.
Range
Ranges are not exact distances, and may vary depending on specific circumstances. These are guidelines, and the GM should be comfortable making exceptions. These ranges are used by both spells and weapons for convenience.
Touch: Physical contact or arm's reach. Generally no more than 1 meter.
Reach: Within range of a lunge with a weapon. Generally two sword's lengths away or 2-3 meters.
Close: Out of range of a standard melee weapon, but within range of a hafted weapon. Generally 4-8 meters.
Near: Outside of melee range. 9-15 meters.
Moderate: 15 - 30 meters. This is the maximum effective range of light bows.
Long: 31-60 meters. This is the maximum effective range of heavy bows, light firearms, and light crossbows.
Far: 61-100 meters. This is the maximum effective range of a heavy crossbow or most heavy firearms.
Distant: 100-300 meters. Few weapons can fire this far with any level of accuracy.
Beyond: No standard exists for distances beyond 300 meters. If something has a range higher than Distant, it will state its exact range.
Initiative
A character's initiative represents their reflexes and awareness of combat. It changes based on circumstances. Whenever the order of actions within a phase is important, those with the higher initiative go first, such as when one character moves to engage while their enemy moves to disengage.
[I]Initiative Bonus = Agility Modifier + Intuition Modifier + Conditional Modifiers
Movement Speed
A human's base movement speed per round is (10 + Agility modifier) meters. A person can move up to double this distance if they do nothing but move.
Base Movement Speed = 10 + Agility modifier - ½ Encumbrance Penalty
Weapon Speed
How fast a character can attack is determined by Weapon Speed, which in turn is determined by several other factors.
Attack Speed = Agility Score + Weapon Speed + Encumbrance Penalty + ¼ Weapon Skill
Weapon Speed (Maximum +0) = Weapon Speed Penalty + ½ Strength Modifier + ½ Stamina Modifier
{table=head]Attack Speed | Attack on First Phase | Attack on Second Phase
-21 or lower | Every fourth round | Never
-20 to -11 | Every third round | Never
-10 to -6 | Every other round | Never
-5 to 5 | Every round | Never
6 to 10 | Every round | Every third round
11 to 20 | Every round | Every other round
21+ or higher | Every round | Every round[/table]
Making an Attack
To make an attack roll, you and your opponent both roll opposed skills. Usually, this is an attack roll of the type of weapon you're using, opposed by either your opponent's Dodge defense roll or a Shield defense roll (defender's choice, but never both).
Attack Roll = 1d10 - 1d10 + Total Bonus to Weapon Skill + Equipment Bonus + Miscellaneous Modifiers
Dodge Roll = 1d10 - 1d10 + Total Bonus to Dodge Skill + Armor Dodge Bonus + Passive Shield Bonus + Miscellaneous Modifiers
Shield Roll = 1d10 - 1d10 + Total Bonus to Shield Skill + Active Shield Bonus + Miscellaneous Modifiers
If your opponent's Dodge roll beats your attack roll, your attack missed. If the opponent beats your attack roll with a Shield roll, your attack was deflected and they may make a free counter-attack (see the Shield skill's description for more information). If your roll beats either one, you successfully strike your opponent and deal damage appropriate for your weapon.
Damage Dealt = Weapon's Base Damage + Weapon Skill Bonus + Strength or Dexterity modifier - Armor's Protection +/- miscellaneous modifiers
The weapon skill bonus is usually +1 per 4 ranks in the weapon's skill. For weapons held in the off-hand, this is determined by your skill in Dual Wield or in the weapon's normal skill, whichever is lower. For shield bashes, however, the bonus is +1 per 6 ranks.
Engagement
Historical melee combat often involved pairs or small groups of soldiers pairing up and fighting their own personal battles, seemingly independent and only vaguely aware of enemies outside their combat. Engagement takes into account the varying levels of attention characters give to other combatants. The enemy in direct melee range readying an attack, for instance, garners far more attention than a similar fighter fifty meters away occupied by two of your allies. In this example, the character is engaged with the enemy attacking them, but not engaged with the enemy in melee with their allies.
Engagement is a declaration of intent to fight another character. It is usually done as part of the opening attack, but it can be done separately. To engage an enemy in combat, you must be able to attack or be attacked by them. Two melee fighters thirty meters away, for instance, cannot engage each other, but a melee fighter and an archer could.
Disengaged Attacks: It is not possible to attack an enemy with which you are not engaged. It is, however, possible to attack an enemy that is not engaged with you, such as an archer firing at a distracted melee combatant or a rogue sneaking up on a guard. This is called a first strike.
First strikes are otherwise normal attacks, but the defender does not add their Agility or Dodge ranks to their Dodge roll, nor can they use active defenses such as shields. Once the first strike is resolved, the defender is considered engaged and can use their defenses properly.
Engagement at Different Ranges: Depending on their weapon choices, two characters may want to begin engagement at different ranges. If both combatants are aware of one-another, engagement is determined by the one with the longest range. If the character with the longer range is not aware of the other, the two make initiative rolls in an engagement contest; the winner determines the range.
The engagement range of a melee may serve one combatant well, but the other may be unable to attack properly at this range, such as a knife wielder in melee with a polearm wielder. If a character so chooses, he or she may attempt to forcibly adjust the engagement range, but this grants the opponent a free attack against them. If this adjustment attack hits, regardless of whether or not it deals damage, the character fails to change the engagement range and the round continues at the original range. A polearm-wielder, for instance, can attempt to keep a swordmaster at a range where he can attack but not be attacked. The swordmaster can do little else about this, save for being defensive and attempting to duck inside his opponent's range when the polearm fails to connect.
On the other hand, once inside the swordmaster's range, the polearm-wielder will find it difficult to create more breathing room. He may need to drop his polearm and draw a smaller, secondary weapon.
Ranged weapons never get to make adjustment attacks, but a ranged weapon wielder can still provoke them.
Multiple Engagements: Dividing your attention between multiple enemies is difficult. For every enemy with which you are engaged beyond the first, you suffer a -3 penalty to all Warfare rolls and to Dodge.
Attacking from Inside Range: Weapons are designed to operate at only a particular range. A polearm, for instance, cannot attack farther than Close range and does not function properly at Reach or Touch range. Against enemies closer than your effective range, you suffer a -3 penalty to all Warfare attack rolls and Dodge defense rolls per range category. A polearm, for instance, suffers a -3 against swords engaged at Reach range and a -6 against knives engaged at Touch range.
If your weapon can attack farther than its maximum effective range, such as most bows, firearms, and most other ranged weapons, you suffer a -3 penalty to your attack roll for the first increment beyond. The penalty doubles every increment afterward.
Caution/Aggression
When making a Warfare attack roll, a character may choose to be cautious or aggressive. When cautious, the shi-die is rolled twice and the higher value is taken, but any Valor gained from the attack is reduced by half. If aggressive, the wu-die is rolled twice and the highest result used, but Valor gained is doubled.
Damage Types
Physical Damage: Blunt, Slashing, Piercing, Ballistic, Concussion
Elemental Damage: Fire, Ice, Electric, Acid
Psychic Damage: Psychic, Eldritch
Spiritual Damage: Harmonic, Entropic
2Magic2
Magic is the manipulation of elements and forces of the universe to achieve various results, from destroying enemies to healing allies to creation of objects. While anyone can learn the techniques, few master them.
There are two forms of magic, each with their own limitations and uses: Spontaneous and Academic.
Casting Spontaneously
Spontaneous magic is, as its name implies, created on the spot. A caster simply wills the energies to do their bidding, making up a desired effect. No powers are necessary to perform spontaneous casting, and it is usually done when the caster lacks a spell that could do what they desire. The effect must, however, be within the confines of the skill being used. Preservation, the magic of protection, cannot be used to fly through the air or shoot bolts of fire, for instance. Aside from the limitations of the skill itself, the effect can be anything the caster desires.
To cast spontaneously, the caster must make a skill roll of the relevant magic (Reparation to heal, Dissolution to harm, Earth to levitate rocks, etc.). The roll is then compared to the table of example effects given in the skill's description. If the roll is too low, the effect does not take hold, though a lesser related one may occur.
Spontaneous magic does not consume Focus, since the required energy is gathered as part of the casting. You must, however, have at least 4 ranks in a magic skill to use it spontaneously.
For example, Weiland, the party's soldier, has a rather nasty gash in his leg due to an unexpected trap. Linea, the party's healer and moral compass, is pleased to find that it's not a lethal hit and could heal on its own. She's worried about infection, but she came prepared only for the soul-stealing attacks of the tomb's wraiths and the mindless bludgeoning of the animated corpses. Not wanting to leave her friend to hobble into battle, she decides to attempt spontaneous magic to heal him.
Linea's player rolls 1d10 - 1d10 + 6 (Linea's bonus to Reparation) and rolls a 7. She compares this to the table under Reparation. 7 is too low to heal even a point of damage (which requires a roll of 8), but is high enough to soothe pain. Her spell doesn't repair the wound, but Weiland's pain quickly fades, replaced by a cool tingle around the wound.
She could attempt this again if she so chose, but Weiland softly reminds her that he's had worse injuries in his training, and that he'll be fine.
Academic Spells
While it offers casters flexibility and versatility, spontaneous magic is difficult to perform; achieving even small effects requires training and experience to perform reliably. The vast number of variables and quirks of the energies makes manipulating and feeding a spontaneous spell a chore at even the best of times. It didn't take long for a mage to think, "What if I didn't have to figure it all out on the spot?" Thus, academic magic was born.
Academic magic is essentially a pre-calculated effect. Most of the experimentation has been done, and the most efficient method of creating an effect has been discovered. Only a few situational variables remain open, making academic magic significantly easier.
All spells are academic in nature. They do not require a skill roll to cast, but they do require the caster to harvest a pre-determined amount of magic to fuel the spell. This is done through the use of the Meditation skill.
Spells are powerful and simple to cast, but they lack flexibility. Most of the spell's effects have already been determined. Variables such as target, area, and other such exact situational aspects are open, but the spell's actual effect cannot be modified.
For instance, Wieland, Linea, and Uwriy the elementalist are preparing to attack a bandit camp in the middle of the night. Uwriy has the spell fire arrow prepared, which allows him to project a bolt of elemental fire from his hand, but the bandits have crates set up as a defensive perimeter and the trees are making aiming difficult for him. He glances at their bonfire and wishes he could have the bolts arise from the fire, against which they would have no cover.
If he were to cast spontaneously, he might be able to get some fire bolts from the bonfire, but it would be nothing compared to that offered by his academic fire arrow, which simply does not offer him the flexibility he needs.
Spellcraft
Academic magic can be modified and customized when it is prepared through spellcraft. Each spell has a spellcraft section that explains how it can be modified, and at what cost. Usually the cost is in additional Focus, but some spells require objects, gems, or even more esoteric components. If a spell requires an object, the object is completely consumed on casting unless specifically noted otherwise.
Customizing a spell is done when the spell is prepared, not when it is cast. For this reason, some spellcasters choose to prepare a spell multiple times, one with a low cost and another, stronger one. Minor Fire Arrow, for example, deals 1d12 damage to a range of Moderate for the measely cost of 4 Focus. For every additional 2 points of Focus, the spell can deal an additional point of damage, and doubling the total cost increases its range to Long. If the caster so chose, he could increase the Focus cost by 2 to increase the damage dealt by 1. A caster could choose to prepare one Minor Fire Arrow that deals 1d12 and costs 4 Focus and a second version that costs 8 Focus but deals 1d12+2.