Legends of Eridia (New RPG system)

[Virdish]

So I have been working on my campaign setting for quite some time and have begun to see that none of the systems I am familiar with completely pull off what I want to do with it. There are far too many limitations and often power balance becomes a big issue that is just so hard to tackle while remaining in an established system. Take for instance 3.5. I love the system but balance is a huge issue. So far I have done so much research and weighing things out in an attempt to try and level out the playing field. As it stands my campaign setting already uses all homebrew races and classes and really at this point is only using the basic rules of 3.5. At this point I see no reason why I should stay beholden to that system since I'm having to rewrite or steal other rewrites for every base class. I'm also working on a magic rewrite that will institute rules that apply a taint to magic users. I feel like with the amount of rewriting that allowing things from other books that have not gone through my immense work would be unfair to all involved however if I just dissalow everything that has not been specifically balanced then I feel that I am drastically limiting player ingenuity, something I love to support. I like unique characters both fluff wise and crunch wise (To demonstrate this I'll tell you a story)

I was playing a game of 3.5 a while back and my dm threw an encounter at us that started with what she called a Timber way Lion running from a group of poachers. As a druid I used speak with animals to figure out what was going on and threw a healing spell out to the animal. After the fight was over we were supposed to continue on to the cave to establish my Grove. (The party had been nice enough to help me in this entirely personal side quest) Instead I let everyone make camp and I set out alone to track this Lion because it was unique. I kept rolling search and survival rolls to track this lion until my character had been searching for this lion for about 12 hours. Eventually my DM finally let me find it and take it as an animal companion(Not sure if this was RAW but the way I convinced my DM the rules were to be interpreted it worked since druids are allowed to have twice their HD in animal companions.)

This is the kind of thing I want to support. I want characters to be unique. I hate the cookie cutter approach that is taken towards classes. I also want to rework the Feat system so that it does not include any simple static number increases (Or really any number increases at all) I want feats to allow you to do things that you couldn't before (And none of this crap where you should theoretically be allowed to do something but can't because there is a feat or class ability that allows you to). With all of this I have firmly come to the opinion that 3.5 should not be used since with all of the rewriting it will be so much different that starting from scratch will probably be easier. So here is a list of what I propose

1. Make a system to create unique characters and "classes" that maintains balance
2. Create "Feats" that increase uniqueness
3. Make full casters come to a similiar power level as other characters through a taint system that makes them wiegh the pro's and cons of using certain spells.
4. Give most if not all "classes" something to do every turn that is not "I full attack"
5. Increase options in and out of combat for all "Classes"
6. Make a fun game that can be easily homebrewed and easily tweaked to fit different settings.
7. Reduce bookwork involved in general (i.e. spell casters)
8. Make something that myself and others will want to play

I'm looking for five people to come on board with this creation. If I get more then five I will be exceedingly happy. We will also need an artist if anyone knows a good one. As for areas of concentration for those that come onboard this is what we will need.

1. Some one to spearhead "Classes"
2. An artist
3. A mehcanics guy (Both to help create the basic mechanics and to review mechanics additions)
4. People to help with fluff
5. I'm sure I missed something so that goes here

Everything would be discussed by all of us before it found it's way into the game.

Also as a side note if anyone can think of a cooler name then feel free to throw out your opinions.

Thank you all in advance and I am positive that with the power of the playground we will create something awesome.

(Reserving some Posts so please hold off on posting)

[Virdish]

Reserved for "classes"

[Virdish]

2nd post reserved for "classes"

[Virdish]

Reserved for "Feats"

[Virdish]

Reserved for Magic rules

[Virdish]

Reserved for just in case.

Also feel free to begin posting now.

[Virdish]

Buehler Buehler.....

Anybody?

[Jane_Smith]

Will this still be using the d20 system as a base and just kinda remaking the classes, races, abilities, feats, spells, etc from the ground up or an entirely different system? If its within d20 still I can help, otherwise its outside of my area of expertise.

[Welknair]

As is pretty well known, I have a million and one things going on. Nevertheless, I may be able to consult on both worldbuilding and mechanics if you have specific issues. /interest

[Virdish]

It'll still be d20. I have tried other formats but to me it tends to be the most dynamic. D10 is simpler except that by high levels you are rolling so many dice every time you do something that it gets so ridiculous. There are a few mechanical changes that I want to make but nothing too radical. Welknair your expertise is more then appreciated and should I need some specific help with anything I will be sure to ask. Thank you Jane I figure a good point to start is with an outline for how races will work. I was thinking of having races be something that remains a boon 1 to 20 so maybe have hd dependent bonuses for all races.

[Jane_Smith]

Then I have an idea to shoot by you;

I have been working on my own homebrewed base races. I dunno if you are wanting to go a different path and make new stuff, but this suggestion will work for any race.

The idea is to make all base races have racial trait called "Cultural Affinity" that races can take, especially if they are ADOPTED into another culture or for specific same-race, but different ethnic groups/regionality/etc. For example;

Human Culture
- +2 to two skills of your choice. These skills are always considered class skills. You also begin with an additional language known.

Elf Culture
- Whenever you take 10 with any skill you gain a +2 bonus to that check. You may take a 20 in half the normal time with a +4 bonus on the result.

Dwarf Culture
- You gain a +2 bonus to Appraise and Craft checks related to stone, metal, and gem objects. You may take double the standard amount of time to craft such an object to increase your craft bonus to +5 instead of +2.

So a human born in a dwarf settlement could take the dwarf cultural affinity. Make sense? This would replace things like the greed ability of the dwarves, etc, and allow them to switch it out to fit there background.

[Virdish]

I like the idea there. I need to link the campaign setting that started this wild notion for the setting specific races cause they have already been made for 3.5. I want to stay away from the standard races though I could see adding some of them in there and having them come from the islands. Once I'm on my computer I'll deluge a bunch of links for what has been done for the campaign setting though since we are gonna be re doing a lot of things we will generally use them for inspiration and take what we need from them. With the races as well as having an initial thing (which I think we'll go with your idea of culture abilities plus stat mods and anything else that doesn't have to do with where you come from.) And then I wanf to give all of the races some bonuses that they get later on in their career. This will make the races a little bit more interesting and more then just a quick decision at the beginning of making your character.

What do you think?

[Virdish]

Here is a download of linkies for what has been done.

World setting (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238404&highlight=Daemon%27s+Seal)

Races

Uazi (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241984&highlight=Daemon%27s+Seal)

Narzal (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241931&highlight=Daemon%27s+Seal)

Teral (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242916&highlight=Daemon%27s+Seal)

Lira (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13211926&postcount=9)

Illari (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13108995&postcount=1)

"Class" Ideas so far (Currently designed for 3.5)

The Masque (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244664&highlight=Daemon%27s+Seal)

The Scion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242563&highlight=Daemon%27s+Seal) WIP but it has the general flavor and feeling so for our purposes it works.

Standard races

Elves- don't want them at all.
Dwarfs- Eh never been to impressed
Orcs- Well Narzul pretty much fill their slot in a funner way
Gnomes- Possible though the would have to be from the islands and rarely seen on the mainland.
Halflings-honestly always felt lackluster to me.

Any other 3.5 race is a possibility so long as they come from the islands.

Basic set up of the world.

It is split into two continents. Nerius and Tera. These two continents are split by a massive ocean that is near impossible to cross. Dotted across this sea are small islands that occasionally have populations of other races. The unique races to this setting were all one race at one point but after the Daemon wars they scattered to hide from the daemons and since Eridia (The name of the planet. Also notice notice the similarity to irradiated... lol) is so imbued with magic they evolved to be their own races.

[Jane_Smith]

Well, for starters, if your making a new setting you never really wanna take away the "comfort creatures" players know and feel comfortable with. Its fine to make elves sparse, and dwarves extremely rare, but do not just outright toss them. I mean, its fine to make new base races, but why would you throw away possible free/bonus content you can just keep to fluff out the corners of your world? Make sense?

Also, you can always butcher and rearrange the base-races lore/style and even stats to fit;

Dwarves: Make them plains-riders, raiders, nomads, who believe the entire world is theirs and all other races are trespassers if they do not give a clan there way/etc.

Elves: Make them actual living fey. I actually changed the "fey" type to a humanoid (fey) subtype and added elves, nymphs, etc to it once. Maybe give them dragonfly like pixie wings and make them just slightly shorter then humans, maybe have there soceity based entirely in the canopys of massive forests, and maybe shy enough they rarely have contact with anyone unless they climb or threaten there grand-trees. (Possibly take some stats from raptorian to pull it off?)

Orcs: Vilpinch or however you spell it has a good variant orc here in the homebrew section. Makes them more like cunning predators then dim-witted brutes. Might make orcs less of a laughing stock and worth using?

But thats just my 2 cents on that bit.



As for some class ideas - Are you planning to remake all classes from the ground up, or you just gonna keep a few to use as a power/balance guideline and build based on there design? Like, what kinda area of power are you looking to make the classes, fighter teir (please say no >>), rogue teir (useful but not worldbreaking), warblade teir (good) or optimized wizard teir (tell reality to sit down and shut up)?

[Virdish]

I see your point of leaving the comfort races and with all of the islands it should be easy to fluff them so that they are parts of only certain area's or that the don't interact with each other that much. I like your idea for dwarves a lot actually. It is a unique venue to go at them from and makes them feel less like the classic trope while still letting the players feel a bit more comfortable. Of course there are humans. They are one of the races descended from the tribes. Elves I could actually see better as islander's/ seafaring race. Perhaps trading silks, gems, and other stuff from their rangings. The only reason I say we don't need orcs is because if you look at the fluff for Narzul they are basically Orc's with a sort of brutal intellect.

As for classes I was aiming for tier 3 though I would prefer the high end of tier 3. It might be novel to have a game all about playing characters who were godly powerful but Exalted already did that schtick. I think it might be fun though. We might try and aim for tier 2 for all of the classes. But I want everything to be some where between tiers 2-4.

[Virdish]

So me and Jane had a rather productive chat session and I believe at very least most of the ideas based around character creation have been decided. First of all we will be including some of the standard races though they will be a rarity on the main continent. This was done mostly because Jane helped me realize that some players like what is comfortable. As well as giving me some room for later expansion.

Now to the more solid points of what will make up a character 1 to 20

Race
This choice will grant you some bonuses at first level as well as access to a list of racial traits that you will get to pick from every four levels till 20th level (and maybe beyond for epic). The idea here is that as you level you are becoming a hero who further exemplifies the streangths of your race (no need for racial prestige class's now)

Cultural trait
This will be some of the things that were originally given to races (like bonuses to spell casting) that can feasibly be seen as a training thing instead of an inherent bonus of just being that race.

Sign
This will be a small usefull trait that represents in equal parts your Destiney and the sign you were born under. This may change to a kind of heroic path. Either way it will be a small boon designed to be valuable at all levels.

Magic
This is all janes work and I like it. Vancian spell casting will be thrown out in favor of a spell point system based off of your casting stat with a small bonus from your spell casting class.

Melee
Mundane characters will have a similiar resource to mana called energy that refreshes faster. This will allow them access to things similar to ToB maneuvers.

Classes
All classes will become more modular with powers/abilities designed akin to the the rogues lesser greater scheme. This is mainly intended to further the goal of having unique character.

[Empedocles]

Well this looks like a pretty solid base. Count me in. One thing though: it seems that you want to make an entirely new system, but I see no reasons not to stick with the basic d20 system. This would allow us to use the 20 level, base attack, skill and feat system (while still letting us rework them as we see fit) and so on. It'd make the entire design much more efficient and probably give us a much better final product.

EDIT: Saw we are staying within the d20 base. Awesome! :smallsmile:

[Virdish]

yeah deffinently sticking with d20. It's what I know best and simply put it works. It's a much more dynamic system then say d10.

[Empedocles]

yeah deffinently sticking with d20. It's what I know best and simply put it works. It's a much more dynamic system then say d10.

Agreed. So where would you like me to start working? I think the sooner something actually gets made, the more likely it is that this will get finished.

[Virdish]

Well if you want we can start working on the signs or the cultural traits. I think we need to discuss how classes will work more before we dig into those. Do you happen to have access to skype, msn, or any other chat service? if so please PM me your id.

[Virdish]

Bit of an update after me and vilpich's Skype conversation.

We'll still be using the basic mechanics for combat including bab, saves, and initiative. Skills will be completely reworked and crunched down to make more sense as well as trying to remove the tendency for people to fill their class skills and nothing more. For instance were going to adopt the pf skill perception.

Magic
Spellcasting classes will be more akin to thr beguiler with a more limited spell list to tone down thier current ability to do anything. This may make some people grumble about not being able to play a "true" spellcaster but I think it is necessary to ensure balance.
Polymorph: Will either be whole heartedly eliminated or changed to be a glamour. The "bieng" of a creature is intrinsic and resists change. The only people who will be capable of truly shape changing will be the druid esque class though the mechanics and flavor will be highly modified both to fit the world as well as to eliminate the brokenness of wild shape.

[Empedocles]

I have a few ideas for magic Virdish.

[Virdish]

K. Now that I am no longer in the hospital I'll try to get you on skype tonight.

[Virdish]

So I'll open discussion on the druid class which once finished we can use as an example for other classes. So far the idea's that me and vilpich have come up with is this.

A druid will be bound to sort of totem animal. His wildshape ability will be a merger of their two beings or perhaps the druid letting the beast take control. I like the second idea better as it does a lot to explain why in beast form the druid is never able to obtain the feat wild spell. This will also limit them to one wild form which as they level will become more powerful as their bodies become more able to accomadate the raw power of the spirit animal. I have thought about putting in a couple "lesser spirits" to have some diversity for instance you could take a lesser spirit for a flight form but it would be something like a hawk with no combat skills. This would give them a bit of extra utility while still not being op like the original wild shape as their options would still be highly limited.

[Virdish]

Very in depth convo last night with Vilpich. Look for a whole new section on how magic will be handled in LoE. As well as a concept for the barbarian.

[Empedocles]

Very in depth convo last night with Vilpich. Look for a whole new section on how magic will be handled in LoE. As well as a concept for the barbarian.

It was very productive :smallbiggrin: Looking for some more people to hop on and help now :smallsmile:

[Virdish]

Alright so here is a break down of what we have decided.

The majority of magic classes will be similiar to the beguiler/warlock with access to a limited amount of invocations that are restricted to certain schools. This is an effort to bring their power down to a tier 3 level and to allow them to be relevant at all times (no going nova) They will all have an extra ability akin to the warlocks eldritch blast that is thematic to their style. This will be covered by one class with multiple paths

So it would be

Class: Mage-> Warlock

This would be your blaster mage

Or

Mage-> Summoner

Who would be a.... summoner.

All classes will have mana which will take the place of umd. Most classes will have a small resevoir of mana 1 or 2 per level. To use a magic weapon or item they would invest a certain amount of mana to unlock the items magical qualities.

For the sake of those who prefer more general spellcasters there will be an adept class that is able to use all schools though he will be far more limited. He will however have the greatest amount of mana. Think a low magic sorcerer

Now to mundane characters

To push melee casters to the level where they can be level with magic users they will have different attacks that will do different things. Also proficiency with weapons will be handled more realistically. At character creation you will be given a number of proficincies to choose from. Depending upon your class you will choose a number of weapons to specialize in. You willl be considered to be a master of these weapons and moderately proficient with others similiar to them. For instance if you are master of the long sword you will be proficient with a short sword, scimitar.... etc. But wouldn't have the foggiest clue what to do with a warhammer.

Abilitie scores will be

Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma

You will have a 72 point buy which means that every stat is assumed to be 12 until you adjust. 18 is hard cap before racial modifers.

HP will be handled like in D&D next where your starting HP is Constitution score plus class modifier and ever subsequent level will be Con mod + class modifier.

[Empedocles]

We haven't discussed the mana idea yet. Care to elaborate? I'm intrigued.

[Virdish]

Wait we had decided 13 right? So that would make it a 78 point buy.

As for the mana system we'll discuss it later. I got the original idea from Jane Smith and have modified it a bit. Think of it a bit like a modified incarnum idea.

[blackwind1kaze]

I'll Join in, i've been wanting to get my hands dirty with helping make a new RPG XD What still needs to be worked on?

[Empedocles]

I'll Join in, i've been wanting to get my hands dirty with helping make a new RPG XD What still needs to be worked on?

As of now, we're still fleshing out some basic ideas and core class concepts. Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated :smallbiggrin: