Thomar_of_Uointer
2014-07-22, 11:25 PM
I've been working on a set of rules for an Earthbound RPG based on D&D Basic. The D&D Basic conversion is pretty straightforward (Earthbound is Dragon Quest after all), but the rules need playtesting.
Character Building
D&D Basic is a great starting point for an RPG like Earthbound. You can get 99% of the character concepts and monsters you need out of the system. I would handle the character archetypes from the video games as follows with the D&D Basic rules:
Ness: Life Cleric, obviously
Paula: Evoker Wizard
Jeff: Archer Fighter
Poo: Monk
Teddy: Duelist Fighter
Lucas: Life Cleric
Claus: Evoker Wizard
Kumatora: Evoker Wizard
Duster: Rogue with Brawler feat
Races
Human
+1 to all ability scores.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Friendly Ghost
+2 Con, +1 Dex
Size: Medium
Speed: 25 ft.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discen color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Float: You fall gently at a rate of ten feet per round, and can fly five feet for every foot fallen. You always hover a few feet off of the ground.
Fade: You never suffer disadvantage on Stealth checks, and you can use the Stealth skill under any circumstances.
Mostly Alive: You have advantage on saving throws against necromancy effects. You also have resistance to necrotic damage.
Mr. Saturn
+2 Con, +2 Wis
Size: Medium.
Speed: 25 ft.
Handy: You have proficiency with all types of artisan's tools.
Unconventional: You have advantage on saving throws against enchantment effects and other attacks that directly affect your mind. You also have resistance to psychic damage.
Headbutt: If a creature damages you in melee you may use your reaction to perform a retaliatory unarmed strike with advantage, dealing 1d4+Str mod damage. Once you use this trait you cannot use it again until you take a short rest.
Unusually Disciplined Cat
+2 Dex, +1 Wis
Size: Tiny. Tiny creatures suffer disadvantage when wielding non-Light weapons, and it's impossible to wield Versatile and Heavy weapons.
Speed: 35 ft.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discen color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Claws: 1d4 melee piercing. Your claw attack is treated as a light finesse weapon. You can use two-weapon fighting with your claws.
Natural Hunter: You have proficiency in the Stealth and Perception skills.
Camouflage: Your proficiency to Stealth checks is doubled whenever you are in an area of natural tall grass or foliage.
Language: Choose one of the following.
Speech: You have the extraordinary ability of human speech. You can speak English.
Cute: You can't speak English, but you are able to understand human speech just fine. Increase your Charisma score by +1.
Unusually Intelligent Dog
+2 Str
Size: Small.
Speed: 30 ft.
Nose: You have advantage on Wisdom checks whenever your powerful sense of smell would help.
Language: Choose one of the following.
Speech: You have the extraordinary ability of human speech. You can speak English.
Cute: You can't speak English, but you are able to understand human speech just fine. Increase your Charisma score by +1.
Subrace: Choose one of these subraces.
Small Breed:
+1 Dex
Speed: 35 ft.
Bite: 1d8 mele piercing. Your bite attack is treated as a two-handed light finesse weapon.
Large Breed:
+1 Con
Size: Medium.
Bite: 2d6 melee piercing. Your bite attack is treated as a heavy two-handed weapon.
Unusually Polite Monkey
+2 Dex, +1 Int
Size: Tiny. Tiny creatures suffer disadvantage when wielding non-Light weapons, and it's impossible to wield Versatile and Heavy weapons.
Speed: 40 ft.
Tail: You have a prehensile tail. As a bonus action you can use it to support your weight, transfer a small item to your hand, or grab a small item from your hand (but it's not strong enough to wield a weapon).
Agile: You have proficiency in the Athletics skill. When climbing you may use your Dexterity modifier in place of your Strength modifier.
Scamper: As a reaction you can move 10 feet, quick enough to make an attack miss if you move out of range. Once you have used this ability you cannot use it again until you take a short rest.
Language: Choose one of the following.
Speech: You have the extraordinary ability of human speech. You can speak English.
Cute: You can't speak English, but you are able to understand human speech just fin. Increase your Charisma score by +1.
Items
Starting Equipment: Write down "a smartphone" and "$100" on your character sheet. You can spend your PC's $100 on starting gear as long as you can show the GM the gear you want on the Internet, using its listed price (including shipping).
If you buy something that is used or refurbished, mark it as used on your character sheet. Used equipment will break if you roll a 1 on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw with it.
Your PC can also spend money on services, such as taxi rides, web design, or palm reading. Again, use whatever price you can find listed online. GMs should encourage use of money for services. For example, a character who spends money on a week of martial arts classes can totally use it one time in the next session for advantage on a melee attack roll.
Armor: Unarmored characters may improve their AC as follows: Light armor proficiency grants a +2 bonus to AC. Medium armor proficiency grants a +3 bonus to AC. Heavy armor proficiency grants a +4 bonus to AC.
Firearms: You can substitute crossbows for firearms without any problems in a modern setting.
PSI
Casting:
Classes: I would recommend merging the Cleric and Wizard into one Esper class with the same spell list. You can choose either Arcane Recovery or Life Domain at 1st level, and Sculpt or Preserve Life at 2nd level.
Power Points: I wouldn't recommend using a point-based casting system because D&D Next has fixed most of the Vancian casting problems. Here's one way to do it:
Espers have 1 power point per spell level per spell slot.
All spells except cantrips cost 1 power point per spell level.
Casting a spell at a higher-level is as simple as spending more power points, but you can't cast a spell at a higher level than the highest-level spell you know.
Preparation: If you want 3e sorcerer-style casting (no preparing spells at the start of the day), do this:
Espers only learn one spell known per level (and 2 cantrips at 1st level).
Espers gain one additional spell slot per spell level.
Spell/PSI equivalencies:
Some of these are from D&D Basic and the Hoard of the Dragon Queen free supplement PDF.
Brainshock: confusion
Flash: color spray
Healing: restoration
Hypnosis: sleep
Lifeup: cure wounds
Paralysis: hold person
Telepathy: sending or weaker spells
Character Building
D&D Basic is a great starting point for an RPG like Earthbound. You can get 99% of the character concepts and monsters you need out of the system. I would handle the character archetypes from the video games as follows with the D&D Basic rules:
Ness: Life Cleric, obviously
Paula: Evoker Wizard
Jeff: Archer Fighter
Poo: Monk
Teddy: Duelist Fighter
Lucas: Life Cleric
Claus: Evoker Wizard
Kumatora: Evoker Wizard
Duster: Rogue with Brawler feat
Races
Human
+1 to all ability scores.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Friendly Ghost
+2 Con, +1 Dex
Size: Medium
Speed: 25 ft.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discen color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Float: You fall gently at a rate of ten feet per round, and can fly five feet for every foot fallen. You always hover a few feet off of the ground.
Fade: You never suffer disadvantage on Stealth checks, and you can use the Stealth skill under any circumstances.
Mostly Alive: You have advantage on saving throws against necromancy effects. You also have resistance to necrotic damage.
Mr. Saturn
+2 Con, +2 Wis
Size: Medium.
Speed: 25 ft.
Handy: You have proficiency with all types of artisan's tools.
Unconventional: You have advantage on saving throws against enchantment effects and other attacks that directly affect your mind. You also have resistance to psychic damage.
Headbutt: If a creature damages you in melee you may use your reaction to perform a retaliatory unarmed strike with advantage, dealing 1d4+Str mod damage. Once you use this trait you cannot use it again until you take a short rest.
Unusually Disciplined Cat
+2 Dex, +1 Wis
Size: Tiny. Tiny creatures suffer disadvantage when wielding non-Light weapons, and it's impossible to wield Versatile and Heavy weapons.
Speed: 35 ft.
Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discen color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Claws: 1d4 melee piercing. Your claw attack is treated as a light finesse weapon. You can use two-weapon fighting with your claws.
Natural Hunter: You have proficiency in the Stealth and Perception skills.
Camouflage: Your proficiency to Stealth checks is doubled whenever you are in an area of natural tall grass or foliage.
Language: Choose one of the following.
Speech: You have the extraordinary ability of human speech. You can speak English.
Cute: You can't speak English, but you are able to understand human speech just fine. Increase your Charisma score by +1.
Unusually Intelligent Dog
+2 Str
Size: Small.
Speed: 30 ft.
Nose: You have advantage on Wisdom checks whenever your powerful sense of smell would help.
Language: Choose one of the following.
Speech: You have the extraordinary ability of human speech. You can speak English.
Cute: You can't speak English, but you are able to understand human speech just fine. Increase your Charisma score by +1.
Subrace: Choose one of these subraces.
Small Breed:
+1 Dex
Speed: 35 ft.
Bite: 1d8 mele piercing. Your bite attack is treated as a two-handed light finesse weapon.
Large Breed:
+1 Con
Size: Medium.
Bite: 2d6 melee piercing. Your bite attack is treated as a heavy two-handed weapon.
Unusually Polite Monkey
+2 Dex, +1 Int
Size: Tiny. Tiny creatures suffer disadvantage when wielding non-Light weapons, and it's impossible to wield Versatile and Heavy weapons.
Speed: 40 ft.
Tail: You have a prehensile tail. As a bonus action you can use it to support your weight, transfer a small item to your hand, or grab a small item from your hand (but it's not strong enough to wield a weapon).
Agile: You have proficiency in the Athletics skill. When climbing you may use your Dexterity modifier in place of your Strength modifier.
Scamper: As a reaction you can move 10 feet, quick enough to make an attack miss if you move out of range. Once you have used this ability you cannot use it again until you take a short rest.
Language: Choose one of the following.
Speech: You have the extraordinary ability of human speech. You can speak English.
Cute: You can't speak English, but you are able to understand human speech just fin. Increase your Charisma score by +1.
Items
Starting Equipment: Write down "a smartphone" and "$100" on your character sheet. You can spend your PC's $100 on starting gear as long as you can show the GM the gear you want on the Internet, using its listed price (including shipping).
If you buy something that is used or refurbished, mark it as used on your character sheet. Used equipment will break if you roll a 1 on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw with it.
Your PC can also spend money on services, such as taxi rides, web design, or palm reading. Again, use whatever price you can find listed online. GMs should encourage use of money for services. For example, a character who spends money on a week of martial arts classes can totally use it one time in the next session for advantage on a melee attack roll.
Armor: Unarmored characters may improve their AC as follows: Light armor proficiency grants a +2 bonus to AC. Medium armor proficiency grants a +3 bonus to AC. Heavy armor proficiency grants a +4 bonus to AC.
Firearms: You can substitute crossbows for firearms without any problems in a modern setting.
PSI
Casting:
Classes: I would recommend merging the Cleric and Wizard into one Esper class with the same spell list. You can choose either Arcane Recovery or Life Domain at 1st level, and Sculpt or Preserve Life at 2nd level.
Power Points: I wouldn't recommend using a point-based casting system because D&D Next has fixed most of the Vancian casting problems. Here's one way to do it:
Espers have 1 power point per spell level per spell slot.
All spells except cantrips cost 1 power point per spell level.
Casting a spell at a higher-level is as simple as spending more power points, but you can't cast a spell at a higher level than the highest-level spell you know.
Preparation: If you want 3e sorcerer-style casting (no preparing spells at the start of the day), do this:
Espers only learn one spell known per level (and 2 cantrips at 1st level).
Espers gain one additional spell slot per spell level.
Spell/PSI equivalencies:
Some of these are from D&D Basic and the Hoard of the Dragon Queen free supplement PDF.
Brainshock: confusion
Flash: color spray
Healing: restoration
Hypnosis: sleep
Lifeup: cure wounds
Paralysis: hold person
Telepathy: sending or weaker spells