Absol197
2012-10-25, 10:24 AM
Hey there, Playground! Something that had always irked me a little bit is how Hit Dice work. For smaller creatures and smarter creatures, Hit Dice are a measure of learning and experience, which grow into power. Essentially, the level of the creature. As you gain experiences, you get higher in level, and you get better at stuff. Makes sense.
For larger or innately tougher creatures, though, they represent that creature's innate ability to resist damage. However, all the same attributes that increase when a character gains more skill and experience go up with tougher creatures. But they're not gaining more experience or learning, they're just innately tougher. Why are they also more innately skilled?
I really like the wound point/vigor point system from Pathfinder's Ultimate Combat (originally the wound point/vitality point system from - I think - the original Star Wars d20?), and I thought I could use it as a base to finally separate innate toughness with level and experience. Here's what I came up with:
Wound and Vigor Points by Type and Size
Aberrations, animals, dragons, humanoids, magical beasts, plants, and vermin are considered living creatures. They gain a number of wound points equal to their Constitution score, times a multiplier based on their size. They die when they reach a number of negative wound points equal to their Constitution score or their normal wound point total, whichever is less. They add their Constitution modifier to their vigor points for every level they possess.
Healing: Living creatures heal a number of vigor points each hour equal to their level + their Constitution modifier. By resting, they heal all of their vigor points. Living creatures heal 1 wound point for resting for 8 hours, or a number equal to their Constitution modifier (minimum 2) for getting complete bed rest.
Undead and constructs are considered nonliving creatures. They gain a base number of wound points, depending on their size, and add their Charisma score (for undead) or their creator’s Intelligence score (for constructs) to their wound points. Constructs also gain a number of bonus wound points depending on the material that they are made out of. Nonliving creatures do not go to negative wound points; they are destroyed when they reach 0. They add their Charisma modifier to their vigor points for every level they possess.
Healing: Nonliving creatures without an intelligence score do not heal either vigor or wound points naturally, unless they have a special ability that does so (such as vitality or fast healing). Intelligent nonliving creatures heal a number of vigor points each hour equal to their level + their Charisma modifier. They do not naturally heal wound points.
Outsiders are considered spiritual creatures. Outsiders have traits similar to both living and nonliving creatures. Outsiders have a number of wound points equal to their Constitution score, times the normal size modifier, plus their Charisma score. Outsiders not go to negative wound points; they discorporate when they reach 0. They add their Charisma modifier to their vigor points for every level they possess.
Healing: Outsiders heal a number of vigor points each hour equal to their level + their Charisma modifier. By resting, they heal all their vigor points. Outsiders heal a number of wound points equal to their Charisma modifier for resting 8 hours (minimum 1), or a number equal to 1/2 their level + their Charisma modifier for getting complete bed rest (including from being discorporated).
Discorporation: An outsider that has been discorporated returns to their home plane and slowly begins to reform. They heal at the normal rate, and once their wound points are equal to or greater than their Charisma score, their form has regenerated and they can act normally. However, they gain a permanent negative level after regenerating, which cannot be healed by any means. This negative level fades after 1 year, however. Like any creature, and outsider that has as many negative levels as it does actual levels dies, and can no longer reform.
Incorporeal creatures are a special case. Whether they are undead, outsiders, or other types that somehow became incorporeal, they all function the same. Incorporeal creatures do not possess wound points. Instead, they gain an additional number of vigor points based on their Charisma score and level, and they use Charisma to determine their bonus vigor points from level. When they reach 0 vigor points, they are destroyed, in whatever manner is appropriate for their type.
{table=head]Size|Wound Point Multiplier|Nonliving Base Wound Points|Incorporeal Creature Level|Bonus Vigor Points
Fine|x0|1|1-2|—
Diminutive|x1/4|4|3-4|Cha score x1/2
Tiny|x1/2|8|5-6|Cha score x1
Small|x3/4|12|7-8|Cha score x1-1/2
Medium|x1|20|9-10|Cha score x2
Large|x2|42|11-13|Cha score x3
Huge|x3|72|14-16|Cha score x4
Gargantuan|x4|110|17-19|Cha score x5
Colossal|x6|182|20+|Cha score x7[/table]
Levels
Like characters, all creatures have levels. A creature’s level determines the amount of training, experience, and skill it has developed over the course of its life. Each time a creature gains a level, it must choose a class to increase. There are two general categories of classes: NPC classes, and PC classes. Most creatures gain levels in NPC classes. Some exceptional creatures, especially very intelligent ones, gain levels in PC classes instead.
Living Creatures: The number and type of levels that living creatures have typically depends on their Intelligence rating.
Mindless: Mindless living creatures, typically vermin and plants, but including some aberrations, typically have a set number of levels. They cannot learn from experience, but their instincts do grant them a measure of skill. Mindless living creatures usually do not have more than 5 levels, and typically have around 3 by the time they are fully grown. They only have levels in NPC classes. Commoner and expert are the most common, but predators usually take levels in warrior.
Animal Intelligence: Living creatures with an intelligence score of 1 to 2 are of animal intelligence. They have the capacity to learn from experience, but they still function mostly on instinct, and so are limited in how many levels they can gain. They almost never have more than 10 levels, and they are always in NPC classes. Their place in the food chain, as well as their environment, determine how many and of what classes.
Pets and other domestic animals usually have 1 to 2 levels, typically in commoner. They have little need to learn much in the ways of skills or combat. Work animals are usually higher level, from 2 to 5, and have their class depends on what they are trained to do. Most have levels in expert, but those trained for guarding or fighting have levels in warrior. Wild animals, those that live out in unforgiving nature, are usually the highest in level. Most wild animals have 6 levels by the time they are full grown. Most use the expert class, although predators are often warriors.
Sentient: Sentient living creatures includes most all characters. Creatures with Intelligence scores between 3 and 18 fall into this range. Sentient creatures can take up to the full 20 levels, and may take PC classes. However, the majority rarely reach higher than 5th level in their lifetimes, and PC classes tend to be uncommon. Longer-lived creatures, such as elves and dragons, tend to have higher levels, because they have more time to learn and grow.
Super-Sentient: Living creatures with an average Intelligence score of 20 or higher are capable of learning incredibly quickly, and so often advance to much higher levels than sentient creatures. Super-sentient living creatures can often reach level 10 or higher, and PC classes are very common among them.
Nonliving Creatures: Like living creatures, the number and type of levels that nonliving creatures gain typically depends on their intelligence scores. However, there are several differences.
Mindless: Mindless nonliving creatures are automatons. They have no instincts, and therefore no general level. Their creators determine how many levels they have, and in what class, although they cannot have levels in PC classes. Because their creator programs them with their abilities, they can have as many levels as their creator can imbue them with. If they have no creator, then they have 1 level, usually in the commoner class.
Intelligent: Nonliving creatures with an Intelligence score follow the same trends as living creatures with a similar level of intelligence. However, because nonliving creatures do not die from old age, sentient and super-sentient nonliving creatures typically have more levels than their living counterparts. They usually have at least 50% more levels than a corresponding living being.
Spiritual Creatures: Creatures with the Outsider type are unique, in that they are both alive and not alive at the same time. They live forever, and usually are very intelligent. Their skills and abilities are innate, but they also possess the ability to learn and grow over their long existence.
Spiritual creatures run the gamut of different levels. Most have many levels, usually 8 or more, and the strongest ones go beyond the normal limit of 20. Outsiders with Intelligence scores typically have PC class levels, while the rare mindless ones use NPC classes. However, mindless outsiders are still imbued with purpose and driven by cosmic forces, and have much higher levels than other mindless creatures typically have.
Elementals: Elementals are the exception to the rule that intelligent outsiders have PC classes levels. Most elementals use NPC classes.
So, what do you all think? I realize that implementing this would require a lot of work, but do you think the core idea is any good? Should I continue along this line of thinking? What, in effect, are your thoughts on the matter! :smallsmile:
~Phoenix~
For larger or innately tougher creatures, though, they represent that creature's innate ability to resist damage. However, all the same attributes that increase when a character gains more skill and experience go up with tougher creatures. But they're not gaining more experience or learning, they're just innately tougher. Why are they also more innately skilled?
I really like the wound point/vigor point system from Pathfinder's Ultimate Combat (originally the wound point/vitality point system from - I think - the original Star Wars d20?), and I thought I could use it as a base to finally separate innate toughness with level and experience. Here's what I came up with:
Wound and Vigor Points by Type and Size
Aberrations, animals, dragons, humanoids, magical beasts, plants, and vermin are considered living creatures. They gain a number of wound points equal to their Constitution score, times a multiplier based on their size. They die when they reach a number of negative wound points equal to their Constitution score or their normal wound point total, whichever is less. They add their Constitution modifier to their vigor points for every level they possess.
Healing: Living creatures heal a number of vigor points each hour equal to their level + their Constitution modifier. By resting, they heal all of their vigor points. Living creatures heal 1 wound point for resting for 8 hours, or a number equal to their Constitution modifier (minimum 2) for getting complete bed rest.
Undead and constructs are considered nonliving creatures. They gain a base number of wound points, depending on their size, and add their Charisma score (for undead) or their creator’s Intelligence score (for constructs) to their wound points. Constructs also gain a number of bonus wound points depending on the material that they are made out of. Nonliving creatures do not go to negative wound points; they are destroyed when they reach 0. They add their Charisma modifier to their vigor points for every level they possess.
Healing: Nonliving creatures without an intelligence score do not heal either vigor or wound points naturally, unless they have a special ability that does so (such as vitality or fast healing). Intelligent nonliving creatures heal a number of vigor points each hour equal to their level + their Charisma modifier. They do not naturally heal wound points.
Outsiders are considered spiritual creatures. Outsiders have traits similar to both living and nonliving creatures. Outsiders have a number of wound points equal to their Constitution score, times the normal size modifier, plus their Charisma score. Outsiders not go to negative wound points; they discorporate when they reach 0. They add their Charisma modifier to their vigor points for every level they possess.
Healing: Outsiders heal a number of vigor points each hour equal to their level + their Charisma modifier. By resting, they heal all their vigor points. Outsiders heal a number of wound points equal to their Charisma modifier for resting 8 hours (minimum 1), or a number equal to 1/2 their level + their Charisma modifier for getting complete bed rest (including from being discorporated).
Discorporation: An outsider that has been discorporated returns to their home plane and slowly begins to reform. They heal at the normal rate, and once their wound points are equal to or greater than their Charisma score, their form has regenerated and they can act normally. However, they gain a permanent negative level after regenerating, which cannot be healed by any means. This negative level fades after 1 year, however. Like any creature, and outsider that has as many negative levels as it does actual levels dies, and can no longer reform.
Incorporeal creatures are a special case. Whether they are undead, outsiders, or other types that somehow became incorporeal, they all function the same. Incorporeal creatures do not possess wound points. Instead, they gain an additional number of vigor points based on their Charisma score and level, and they use Charisma to determine their bonus vigor points from level. When they reach 0 vigor points, they are destroyed, in whatever manner is appropriate for their type.
{table=head]Size|Wound Point Multiplier|Nonliving Base Wound Points|Incorporeal Creature Level|Bonus Vigor Points
Fine|x0|1|1-2|—
Diminutive|x1/4|4|3-4|Cha score x1/2
Tiny|x1/2|8|5-6|Cha score x1
Small|x3/4|12|7-8|Cha score x1-1/2
Medium|x1|20|9-10|Cha score x2
Large|x2|42|11-13|Cha score x3
Huge|x3|72|14-16|Cha score x4
Gargantuan|x4|110|17-19|Cha score x5
Colossal|x6|182|20+|Cha score x7[/table]
Levels
Like characters, all creatures have levels. A creature’s level determines the amount of training, experience, and skill it has developed over the course of its life. Each time a creature gains a level, it must choose a class to increase. There are two general categories of classes: NPC classes, and PC classes. Most creatures gain levels in NPC classes. Some exceptional creatures, especially very intelligent ones, gain levels in PC classes instead.
Living Creatures: The number and type of levels that living creatures have typically depends on their Intelligence rating.
Mindless: Mindless living creatures, typically vermin and plants, but including some aberrations, typically have a set number of levels. They cannot learn from experience, but their instincts do grant them a measure of skill. Mindless living creatures usually do not have more than 5 levels, and typically have around 3 by the time they are fully grown. They only have levels in NPC classes. Commoner and expert are the most common, but predators usually take levels in warrior.
Animal Intelligence: Living creatures with an intelligence score of 1 to 2 are of animal intelligence. They have the capacity to learn from experience, but they still function mostly on instinct, and so are limited in how many levels they can gain. They almost never have more than 10 levels, and they are always in NPC classes. Their place in the food chain, as well as their environment, determine how many and of what classes.
Pets and other domestic animals usually have 1 to 2 levels, typically in commoner. They have little need to learn much in the ways of skills or combat. Work animals are usually higher level, from 2 to 5, and have their class depends on what they are trained to do. Most have levels in expert, but those trained for guarding or fighting have levels in warrior. Wild animals, those that live out in unforgiving nature, are usually the highest in level. Most wild animals have 6 levels by the time they are full grown. Most use the expert class, although predators are often warriors.
Sentient: Sentient living creatures includes most all characters. Creatures with Intelligence scores between 3 and 18 fall into this range. Sentient creatures can take up to the full 20 levels, and may take PC classes. However, the majority rarely reach higher than 5th level in their lifetimes, and PC classes tend to be uncommon. Longer-lived creatures, such as elves and dragons, tend to have higher levels, because they have more time to learn and grow.
Super-Sentient: Living creatures with an average Intelligence score of 20 or higher are capable of learning incredibly quickly, and so often advance to much higher levels than sentient creatures. Super-sentient living creatures can often reach level 10 or higher, and PC classes are very common among them.
Nonliving Creatures: Like living creatures, the number and type of levels that nonliving creatures gain typically depends on their intelligence scores. However, there are several differences.
Mindless: Mindless nonliving creatures are automatons. They have no instincts, and therefore no general level. Their creators determine how many levels they have, and in what class, although they cannot have levels in PC classes. Because their creator programs them with their abilities, they can have as many levels as their creator can imbue them with. If they have no creator, then they have 1 level, usually in the commoner class.
Intelligent: Nonliving creatures with an Intelligence score follow the same trends as living creatures with a similar level of intelligence. However, because nonliving creatures do not die from old age, sentient and super-sentient nonliving creatures typically have more levels than their living counterparts. They usually have at least 50% more levels than a corresponding living being.
Spiritual Creatures: Creatures with the Outsider type are unique, in that they are both alive and not alive at the same time. They live forever, and usually are very intelligent. Their skills and abilities are innate, but they also possess the ability to learn and grow over their long existence.
Spiritual creatures run the gamut of different levels. Most have many levels, usually 8 or more, and the strongest ones go beyond the normal limit of 20. Outsiders with Intelligence scores typically have PC class levels, while the rare mindless ones use NPC classes. However, mindless outsiders are still imbued with purpose and driven by cosmic forces, and have much higher levels than other mindless creatures typically have.
Elementals: Elementals are the exception to the rule that intelligent outsiders have PC classes levels. Most elementals use NPC classes.
So, what do you all think? I realize that implementing this would require a lot of work, but do you think the core idea is any good? Should I continue along this line of thinking? What, in effect, are your thoughts on the matter! :smallsmile:
~Phoenix~