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View Full Version : Something a little different [System, Skills]



lostinthesauce
2012-02-01, 11:07 AM
Hey All!

I've been working on something for a bit too long, and i want to start gathering opinions from a larger community than my own. The system started as a d20 customization, but has since grown past it (though grown oddly parallel in several ways). Is GITP Homebrew more interested in d20/D&D homebrew or can i open discussion here on something slightly more distant?

-lostinthesauce

Frog Dragon
2012-02-01, 11:10 AM
I haven't really seen non d20 stuff here, but stuff like WoD does seem to have its place in the gaming boards. Post away!

lostinthesauce
2012-02-01, 12:13 PM
Excellent!

In order to avoid casting Wall of Text, i'll try to break down what i'm doing a little bit.

History: This whole project started because i didn't like what i saw as limitations of the Classes in d20. I wanted to replace them with skills. Just some cursory reading online shows that i'm not the first person with this idea, for better or worse.

7 years of off and on development have passed and i have a decently abstracted system that gives nice flexibility. Ignoring changes that are based on the setting and "fixing" at-the-table rules that i don't like, the basic concept is that you get skills instead of classes.

Skills: There are two kinds of skills in this system: Branching, and Supplemental. You get 1 point per level that goes into the Branching skill of your choice, and a number of Supplemental skill points based on other factors.

Branching skills are kinda-sorta classes. You drop points into them to unlock abilities and bonuses, and every 5 ranks, the skill splits into several specialties that give you a tighter focus. They don't give you HP or other skill points, just actions, and some bonuses.

Supplemental skills are much like the 3.5e skill set (modified pretty heavily). Your character can mark one of these Supplemental skills as a Defining skill, which allows you to gain abilities from it above and beyond what your skill ranks give.

Over time, you'll gain additional Defining skills. Also, the system incorporates feats, character traits, heavily modified equipment and a magic system based on entirely different imagery. I realize i haven't given any examples, so let's do that. Note that there are a lot of other system changes that might make some of this have some funky wording. Additionally, please be aware that i'm using very generalized wording on purpose, the rules have much stronger terminology, but this is just a presentation.

Samples!

Skill: Arms - This is a branching skill that gives you a bonus to fighting with weapons. Each rank gives you proficiency with a weapon family. A character's 6th and higher rank in Arms can be placed into Precision Attacks (dmg bonus vs opponents at a disadvantage), Mobile Fighting (benefits when moving), and Weapon Mastery (growing bonuses with various weapon types).

Concept: The idea here is that the skill applies generally to fighting with melee or ranged weapons, and provides style-esque bonuses. This should allow the player to choose a preferred weapon type to augment their play style. The skills continue to branch, eventually providing the character with mastery within a specific style without being forced to choose before the campaign goes anywhere. The branching skills in this campaign setting are Arms, Arcane, Nature, and Divine. This is actually due to the structure of the universe in that game world.

Skill: Perception: This is a Supplemental skill. It can be used to defeat uses of the Stealth skill, as well has provide a chance to detect an object or occurrence that might be hard to discern. If it is a Defining skill, you gain a portion of your Perception bonus as an Offensive and Defensive bonus, representing your extremely acute senses.

Concept: I'm trying to make Supplemental skills give you something you can do that isn't very unique, but is useful (Perception, Stealth, Knowledge, Craft, Athletics). Marking that skill as Defining grants you a much stronger effect that sets you apart from people who merely have skill ranks. I use perception as an example because i like the idea that there's a couple of party members that can see well, but that one guy actually fights better because he is so aware of his opponents.

Conclusion: As an overarching concept, what are your thoughts? It's tough to distill a couple hundred pages down to something this short, but this is a pretty solid representation of the system as it is now. I'll provide a link once i get a good big list of content put together in something public. I'm excited to get a group discussion going as i flesh the system out much more.

-lostinthesauce

Kane0
2012-02-01, 05:25 PM
Bookmarking this thread :smallsmile:

Looks really good, it kind of reminds me of when a friend of mine spoke to me about putting a few diablo II concepts into D&D. Im eager to see what else you have up your sleeve there

lostinthesauce
2012-02-02, 03:29 PM
Alright, i'm excited to expound more, but first i feel i need to clarify a couple of things. Most importantly, early on, this system's focus was changed to form the basis of a world i had been writing in for a while. It still is, but there are a lot of assumptions that are wildly different than the standard d20 world. To a lesser extent, i also wrote things to adapt to my own view of how a fantasy RPG should work.

Starting at the top, here we go. I'll start with the game world and it's consequences, then i'll cover the rules changes that are more superfluous to the mechanics themselves. :smallbiggrin:

The World
Cosmos: The reality of the game world exists as the midpoint between the two Sources of all existence. There is the source of all Energy, and the source of all Substance. As one moves "towards" Energy, physical things have less importance, and, likewise, as one moves "towards" Substance, energy has less importance.

The creatures of the Material plane are special because they exist as willful beings comprised of both Energy and Substance. An interesting side note is that writing primarily exists in the Material Plane because it is taking something that lacks substance (ideas) and putting them to physical form. Gods that live near Energy are nothing but will and word, while Gods of Substance are all body and no spirit.

This dipole forms the foundation of a great deal of the game structure. I could go on further, but this get the basics across.

Creatures/Characters: Since the world has this 5th dimension across which we can draw difference (Energy/Substance), there are some differences for creatures of this world. First off, everything living has a pool of mana. It actually fits well with the concept of a spiritual, energetic humor of the body. The point is that Magic is everywhere, but in very low levels. This affects creature design as there's no real difference between Animal and Magical Beast except their basis in the real world.

Magic: So, if everything is magical, then nothing is, right? The idea i went with is that Arcane and Divine magic use this personal Mana Pool as the fuel for their abilities. Somewhat similar to Power Points in psionics, but much less rigid than d20 spells or psionic powers. There's things you can do that cost mana, but it's almost like having an endurance statistic. Each person can somewhat use MP just as easily as anyone can walk or sing. Some people are naturally exceptional, some people train to become exceptional, and everyone else is the baseline that gives "exceptional" meaning.

This is definitely the imagery that i fear will drive most people away. I wanted to make something much more flexible and generalized, as i never liked the rigidity of spells. Anyone can magic, whether it's the old woman selling soup at a market stand, the city guard standing watch, or the politician riding past them on his high horse. I try to look at it as every person has the ability to cast one option of Prestidigitation a few times per day, just by being alive.

The Rules
This section has somewhat less to do with the Classes-->Skills part, but will provide additional background for some of the differences between my system and d20. The concept of Branching and Supplemental skills would/could work without changing any of d20's core concepts, but i took the opportunity to make some sweeping changes. I'll keep it short, for now.

Rules/Guidelines:

Armor: Light = AC, Heavy = DR
New Ability Scores - Agility and Spirit
Attacker always rolls
Defensive stats: AC, Fortitude(Con), Reflex(Agility), Willpower(Cha), Essence(Spirit)
No Permanent magic
Few or no X/Day abilities. Use slow regenerating MP for that.


Skills/Classes: Classes were turned into those Branching skills. The list is currently Arms, Arcane, Divine, and Nature. Think of them as 2 axes. The axis of Arcane/Arms is the choice between relying on inner power, and relying on the things around you. The Nature/Divine axis is the choice between relying on Energy (sound, light, and mind) vs relying Substance (form, material, and the elements).

Arcane and Divine use Mana to fuel their abilities, while Nature and Arms rely on your body's endurance. Arcane is unique to mortal races, as it specifically deals with using energy to create and shape physical things (force, pseudo-elements, animation). Divine relies on words and willpower to produce morale effects, sound and light. Nature deals with the elements directly, creating something like Elemental Benders, Summoners, and Shapeshifters.

So, a basic outline, eh? Anything need more clarification? Also, there's some stuff that doesn't fit 100% thematically, i know, but it's all still in a bit of flux. I know i need a better editorial eye, but i'll clean this up as i notice mistakes.

-lostinthesauce