Phosphate
2012-03-25, 05:47 AM
Hi.
So, me and a couple of my friends just started making a new tabletop system for ourselves to play. I've made this thread to update every time we settle on a new aspect of the game and also to ask for your opinion on whether it works or not. Finally, I would like after we're done with the system for it to be functional enough to be usable by others, not just ourselves. Without further ado:
Ether Jaunt
The basics: Ether Jaunt is, as a game, situated in a young world that has been created mere millenia ago. This leaves magic as still a wild and dominant force in the world, which literally anyone can use. There are also zones in this world where matter has settled and magic begins to fade, but these zones have enjoyed faster technologic development.
Health, stamina, regeneration: Characters function on the basis of health. Receiving damage to health means literally getting hurt, instead of nearly being missed as hit points are portrayed in D&D. Also, most characters don't greatly increase their health over the levels, although they do become harder to hit.
Health is determined by adding base health+3*constitution+bonuses from items+other bonuses. Base health is completely racial in nature, and for playable races it varies from 15 to 25 (humans having 20). A character regenerates 1 health every 10 minutes, or 10 health every hour of sleep.
Stamina is determined by adding base health/2+4*constitution+bonuses from items+class bonus to stamina (this is pretty high for full martial and full spellcaster builds, and fairly lower for hybrids). Several actions in the game cost stamina, spells being the most consuming usually. Also, aside from stamina cost, some actions have a stamina requirement, i.e. a minimum stamina needed to perform them (so, for instance, if Meteor has a stamina cost of 5 and a stamina requirement of 15, and you have 20 stamina, you can only use it twice, not 4 times). Stamina is recovered at 1 point per minute, 10 hours per day. After those 10 hours you stop regenerating stamina. After another 10 hours you start losing stamina at the rate of one per hour. This can be removed by sleeping for 6 hours.
All attacks that directly damage your health do half that much damage to your stamina. There are special attacks that deal only stamina damage or deal more stamina damage than health damage, but there are no attacks that deal only health damage.
When your health is low, you receive penalties to strength and willpower, as such: -1 at below 3/4, -2 at below 1/2, -3 at below 1/4, -4 at below 1/8.
If your health reaches 0, you die. If your stamina reaches 0, you pass out after 10 minutes.
Ability scores: These are the ability scores used by all characters.
Strength: Added to the damage of melee weapons, thrown weapons and string weapons; added to the range of thrown weapons; tells you how much you can carry; added to your climb speed.
Accuracy: Added to the range increment of your ranged non-thrown weapons; sets your critical chance (x%*accuracy, x based on classes); reduces the time necessary for some actions.
Constitution: Added to health and stamina; helps resist poison, disease and bleed effects; helps you cope with less sleep; damage reduction to general damage.
Willpower: Resist mind affecting and some diseases; notice when someone is lying; powers some weapons; makes some potions/drugs work better.
Perception: Improves your senses; some classes add it to dodge; helps see in the dark or very bright light; helps track scents; helps dodge effects (reflex save); helps wake up when you're in danger.
Affinity: The only attribute in the game that is useful when negative, this tells how in tune your character is with magic. The higher the affinity, the better spells you can access (spell levels are 0-10, you need x affinity to cast a spell that is level x). Creatures with negative affinity can make use of modern technology (there are weapons, for instance, that become unusable or break when used by someone who has too much affinity). Affinity works as damage resistance to magic when negative, and damage resistance to modern technology when positive. Affinity also sets whether you use drugs or potions, your possible modes of transportation, and other such things.
Setting and increasing scores: Every character starts with 0 in all ability scores, +2 to a particular score depending on his race. Then, he may take up to 4 points away from one or multiple scores and place them in others. So a normal array could look like this, for instance: 2/1/3/-1/0/-3.
Scores are increased by taking 4 consecutive levels in a class. After 4 levels, you may either choose to increase an ability score by 1 or decrease your affinity by 1 (some classes don't let you to increase all scores, and some don't let you to decrease your affinity).
Ability scores and caps: All ability scores have upper caps based on race, except affinity, which doesn't cap either way.
Strength and perception have a low cap of -6, under which they cannot go.
If your constitution or willpower fall below -5, you die.
Your accuracy, unlike your other scores, can be as small as possible without harming you.
Usually, ability damage regenerates at a rate of one point per day. However, there is also plenty of unhealable ability damage.
Damage: There are three components to the damage of an attack: the source, the type and the nature.
Attack sources are magical, normal, and modern. Negative affinity is DR for magical damage, positive affinity is DR for modern damage.
Attack types are bashing, piercing, and elemental. Bashing weapons usually deal more damage than piercing weapons, but armor acts as DR against them. Elemental damage is usually weaker, and deals more stamina damage than other types. Also, note that elemental is the only type of damage that cannot crit.
Attack natures are general and targeted. While some attacks strike the whole body, for others you have to select a limb, the chest, the torso or the head. If enough damage is dealt in a single swipe by those, that body part may be severed. General attacks usually deal less damage and constitution acts as DR against them, but hit easier.
To give a small example, a blunderbuss would deal 2d8 modern fire general damage two squares in front (squares are 1 square meter) from its black powder and 4d6 minus d6 per range increment normal piercing targeted damage from its bullet.
Measurements: All measurements are done in SI units. Notably, game squares are 1 meter long and 1 meter wide, speed is determined in meters per second, a round amounts to 10 seconds, and characters can exist confortably without special clothes between -10 and 40 degrees Centigrade.
Classes and Professions: In the world of Ether Jaunt, there are classes and professions. Professions function as skills from D&D (Armorsmith, Architect, Dancer, Physician, Chemist, Animal Tamer, Linguist, Stylist, Archaeologist, Biologist, Trapsmith etc) though also work on a level-based system, with different progressions each and a level cap of 10. Classes are just like professions in that respect, with a notable exception: to gain a level in a class, aside from the given xp progression for that level, you must also gain xp equal to how many class levels you gathered so far*50. There is no multiclass penalty, nor is there a level cap.
Gaining experience: Gaining experience can be done through roleplay, killing things and training. Killing things gives you experience at the end of the encounter in a particular class you choose, but cannot be used to advance professions, while training is class/profession specific, and you must choose what you raise beforehand. XP for roleplay is given freely by the GM, or not at all.
Will add more soon.
So, me and a couple of my friends just started making a new tabletop system for ourselves to play. I've made this thread to update every time we settle on a new aspect of the game and also to ask for your opinion on whether it works or not. Finally, I would like after we're done with the system for it to be functional enough to be usable by others, not just ourselves. Without further ado:
Ether Jaunt
The basics: Ether Jaunt is, as a game, situated in a young world that has been created mere millenia ago. This leaves magic as still a wild and dominant force in the world, which literally anyone can use. There are also zones in this world where matter has settled and magic begins to fade, but these zones have enjoyed faster technologic development.
Health, stamina, regeneration: Characters function on the basis of health. Receiving damage to health means literally getting hurt, instead of nearly being missed as hit points are portrayed in D&D. Also, most characters don't greatly increase their health over the levels, although they do become harder to hit.
Health is determined by adding base health+3*constitution+bonuses from items+other bonuses. Base health is completely racial in nature, and for playable races it varies from 15 to 25 (humans having 20). A character regenerates 1 health every 10 minutes, or 10 health every hour of sleep.
Stamina is determined by adding base health/2+4*constitution+bonuses from items+class bonus to stamina (this is pretty high for full martial and full spellcaster builds, and fairly lower for hybrids). Several actions in the game cost stamina, spells being the most consuming usually. Also, aside from stamina cost, some actions have a stamina requirement, i.e. a minimum stamina needed to perform them (so, for instance, if Meteor has a stamina cost of 5 and a stamina requirement of 15, and you have 20 stamina, you can only use it twice, not 4 times). Stamina is recovered at 1 point per minute, 10 hours per day. After those 10 hours you stop regenerating stamina. After another 10 hours you start losing stamina at the rate of one per hour. This can be removed by sleeping for 6 hours.
All attacks that directly damage your health do half that much damage to your stamina. There are special attacks that deal only stamina damage or deal more stamina damage than health damage, but there are no attacks that deal only health damage.
When your health is low, you receive penalties to strength and willpower, as such: -1 at below 3/4, -2 at below 1/2, -3 at below 1/4, -4 at below 1/8.
If your health reaches 0, you die. If your stamina reaches 0, you pass out after 10 minutes.
Ability scores: These are the ability scores used by all characters.
Strength: Added to the damage of melee weapons, thrown weapons and string weapons; added to the range of thrown weapons; tells you how much you can carry; added to your climb speed.
Accuracy: Added to the range increment of your ranged non-thrown weapons; sets your critical chance (x%*accuracy, x based on classes); reduces the time necessary for some actions.
Constitution: Added to health and stamina; helps resist poison, disease and bleed effects; helps you cope with less sleep; damage reduction to general damage.
Willpower: Resist mind affecting and some diseases; notice when someone is lying; powers some weapons; makes some potions/drugs work better.
Perception: Improves your senses; some classes add it to dodge; helps see in the dark or very bright light; helps track scents; helps dodge effects (reflex save); helps wake up when you're in danger.
Affinity: The only attribute in the game that is useful when negative, this tells how in tune your character is with magic. The higher the affinity, the better spells you can access (spell levels are 0-10, you need x affinity to cast a spell that is level x). Creatures with negative affinity can make use of modern technology (there are weapons, for instance, that become unusable or break when used by someone who has too much affinity). Affinity works as damage resistance to magic when negative, and damage resistance to modern technology when positive. Affinity also sets whether you use drugs or potions, your possible modes of transportation, and other such things.
Setting and increasing scores: Every character starts with 0 in all ability scores, +2 to a particular score depending on his race. Then, he may take up to 4 points away from one or multiple scores and place them in others. So a normal array could look like this, for instance: 2/1/3/-1/0/-3.
Scores are increased by taking 4 consecutive levels in a class. After 4 levels, you may either choose to increase an ability score by 1 or decrease your affinity by 1 (some classes don't let you to increase all scores, and some don't let you to decrease your affinity).
Ability scores and caps: All ability scores have upper caps based on race, except affinity, which doesn't cap either way.
Strength and perception have a low cap of -6, under which they cannot go.
If your constitution or willpower fall below -5, you die.
Your accuracy, unlike your other scores, can be as small as possible without harming you.
Usually, ability damage regenerates at a rate of one point per day. However, there is also plenty of unhealable ability damage.
Damage: There are three components to the damage of an attack: the source, the type and the nature.
Attack sources are magical, normal, and modern. Negative affinity is DR for magical damage, positive affinity is DR for modern damage.
Attack types are bashing, piercing, and elemental. Bashing weapons usually deal more damage than piercing weapons, but armor acts as DR against them. Elemental damage is usually weaker, and deals more stamina damage than other types. Also, note that elemental is the only type of damage that cannot crit.
Attack natures are general and targeted. While some attacks strike the whole body, for others you have to select a limb, the chest, the torso or the head. If enough damage is dealt in a single swipe by those, that body part may be severed. General attacks usually deal less damage and constitution acts as DR against them, but hit easier.
To give a small example, a blunderbuss would deal 2d8 modern fire general damage two squares in front (squares are 1 square meter) from its black powder and 4d6 minus d6 per range increment normal piercing targeted damage from its bullet.
Measurements: All measurements are done in SI units. Notably, game squares are 1 meter long and 1 meter wide, speed is determined in meters per second, a round amounts to 10 seconds, and characters can exist confortably without special clothes between -10 and 40 degrees Centigrade.
Classes and Professions: In the world of Ether Jaunt, there are classes and professions. Professions function as skills from D&D (Armorsmith, Architect, Dancer, Physician, Chemist, Animal Tamer, Linguist, Stylist, Archaeologist, Biologist, Trapsmith etc) though also work on a level-based system, with different progressions each and a level cap of 10. Classes are just like professions in that respect, with a notable exception: to gain a level in a class, aside from the given xp progression for that level, you must also gain xp equal to how many class levels you gathered so far*50. There is no multiclass penalty, nor is there a level cap.
Gaining experience: Gaining experience can be done through roleplay, killing things and training. Killing things gives you experience at the end of the encounter in a particular class you choose, but cannot be used to advance professions, while training is class/profession specific, and you must choose what you raise beforehand. XP for roleplay is given freely by the GM, or not at all.
Will add more soon.