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Gamgee
2012-08-05, 11:14 AM
A fantasy RPG that isn't so reliant on Clerics/Druids/Some dedicated class to heal people. Preferably a simple to moderate to learn game, but I'll hear all suggestions.

Siegel
2012-08-05, 12:33 PM
Savage Worlds?

#PDQ

Ars Magica

FATE (Legend of Anglemere)

Mouse Guard

Raum
2012-08-05, 01:12 PM
A fantasy RPG that isn't so reliant on Clerics/Druids/Some dedicated class to heal people. This could be any game with some simple changes. Are you looking for anything else in the game mechanics?

Regarding healing alone, a mundane healer (skill only) is almost as effective as a magical healer in Savage Worlds; FATE has very minor healing - you normally recover at a set rate and healing just makes the rate faster; and True20 may work if you want to stay close to d20 - it uses a damage save mechanic. There are others...all depends on what you want out of the game mechanics.

Knaight
2012-08-05, 07:37 PM
In additional to the usual list of generics (GURPS, Savage Worlds, Fudge, Fate) I'd point out Chronica Feudalis. It's a lightweight system that by default has almost no magic, let alone dedicated healers. It is driven by four conflict subystems (Chase, Combat, Subterfuge, Parley) that are about equally complex. Character creation literally consists of selecting three Mentors which each give 3 skills, picking some descriptive traits, and naming the character, and it takes about ten minutes at most. It's easy to learn, and better yet it is written as if the authors were 13th century monks, making it a vibrant read.

In short, it is a beautiful, elegant game which fits what you need exactly.

kyoryu
2012-08-06, 12:23 AM
GURPS folds healing magic into regular mages, so there's that.

Burning Wheel doesn't stress healing magic either.

Both tend towards grittier/lower powered games. (not to say you can't do more "heroic" stuff with them, of course)

Togath
2012-08-06, 02:31 AM
While probably not too useful(as it's still playtest) DnD 5E is trying to make it possible to heal without being a spell caster(4E also did a decent job at it)
3.5 DnD is also fairly good, as combat healing doesn't work well in it.

CET
2012-08-06, 08:10 AM
I agree that this can be grafted onto pretty much any game with minimal trouble. The question is how you want health recovery to behave in-game.

So - questions:

Do you want it to be trivial for PCs to heal between combat, or do you want to run a game where they are usually a little bit bloodied?

Do you want healing to be an important role that can be taken by anyone in the party (as a skill, for example, rather than the sole purpose of their class), or would you rather the PCs didn't worry about making healing rolls?

The two easy fixes that come to mind are to make the healing skill more powerful, or to give the PCs some sort of regenerative ability (ala most World of Darkness games).

Gamgee
2012-08-12, 08:23 AM
I just want them to be a little more resilient and to get back in the fight easier between encounters. I'll most likely just end up home brewing some sort of healing mechanic.

I have Burning Wheel, but I think at this point it's a little too complicated for them.

Siegel
2012-08-12, 08:29 AM
I just want them to be a little more resilient and to get back in the fight easier between encounters. I'll most likely just end up home brewing some sort of healing mechanic.

I have Burning Wheel, but I think at this point it's a little too complicated for them.

Just run it using the first 70 pages for a while. Start introducing the subsystems later on. It works.

Totally Guy
2012-08-12, 11:57 AM
I think the long healing times in BW are counter to your intent for greater resilience.

I just got a PDF of the latest Dungeon World (but that's through backing the kickstarter). It's pretty simple to play and the latest version replaced the core cleric class with something else.

Riverdance
2012-08-12, 12:17 PM
Old School Hack (http://www.oldschoolhack.net/). Great system, easy to learn, but can get really silly if you let it.

kyoryu
2012-08-12, 12:48 PM
Just run it using the first 70 pages for a while. Start introducing the subsystems later on. It works.

Yeah - it's not too horribly heavy of a system if you don't use the "Rim" systems.


I think the long healing times in BW are counter to your intent for greater resilience.


I'd also agree with this, without significant houseruling.

erikun
2012-08-12, 12:54 PM
A fantasy RPG that isn't so reliant on Clerics/Druids/Some dedicated class to heal people. Preferably a simple to moderate to learn game, but I'll hear all suggestions.
3.5e Dragon Shaman has an aura that grants Fast Healing 1 to all allies under half HP. (It stops working once they're above half HP.) You could easily grant the same ability to all characters "naturally" as a way to keep the party's health up on their own, but still make healing spells useful.

You could also throw pretense out the window and just allow characters to heal to full after a short ~5min rest. It makes most healing spells worthless, but they sort of are anyways.

Beyond that, Mutants & Masterminds just delivers penalities instead of health, and can be recovered from in whatever timeframe you'd like. I think that just about any system could work for your purposes, just with adding some kind of accelerated healing.

Hylas
2012-08-12, 01:45 PM
If you want the ability to heal up to full between fights (I'm assuming from two different rooms in the same dungeon on the same day) then any system with any sort of realism built-in won't work without magic. Mundane healing takes a long time, even with a doctor helping someone every day.

But if you want the ability to heal without a dedicated healing-centered caster then:
GURPS - There's an advantage called "Healer" which allows for plain magical healing without any other abilities attached to it and with no failure chance. Also any caster can learn healing magic without restrictions.
3.5e D&D - Use the heal skill. What, you wanted more than 3 HP/day?
Warhammer Fantasy 2e - Technically anyone can learn heal, but some classes are better than others.

Corvus
2012-08-12, 05:15 PM
The old 3.X variant Iron Heroes fits. No real healing, almost no magic - it is old school sword and sorcery where the heroes survive by their wits and skills and naked steel, rather than wagonloads of magic items and spells.

Had some balance issues, but nothing you can't work around.