Philemonite
2014-12-22, 04:04 PM
Well, this happened. After looking through some of my old notes I got a rush of inspiration. Coupled with the fact that my Internet access is limited last few days (I only have access at work) I had a lot of time to work on this. The end result is a system that is simpler then my other persona tabletop, while still being equally fun. It was designed to be less crunch intensive, and as such all actions are resolved with less bookkeeping.
Seven attributes define your character. This are:
Strength
Vitality
Dexterity
Agility
Intelligence
Wisdom
Wits
They are generated using a point buy system. You use 28 points and each attribute ranges from 3(0 points) to 10(13 points):
3-0
4-1
5-2
6-3
7-5
8-7
9-10
10-13
This attributes are fixed, they can not be changed.
There are four evasion stats: Fortitude, Reflex, Willpower and Clarity. Fortitude and Reflex are used to evade physical attack, Willpower allows you to resist magical attacks and Clarity helps you avoid ailments. With the exception of Clarity they are all calculated using the higher of two attributes.
Fortitude: 10+STR/VIT+1/2 level
Reflex: 10+DEX/AGI+1/2 level
Willpower: 10+INT/WIS+1/2 level
Clarity: 10+WIT+1/2 level
When performing an attack you roll 3d6, add the attribute that the skill is based on (STR/DEX/INT) and half your level and compare it to the appropriate evasion value. If the result is higher or equal to the targets evasion your attacks is successful. If it is lower your attack missed.
Attack Roll: 3d6+STR/DEX/INT+1/2 level Vs Fortitude/Reflex/Willpower/Clarity
Your defenses help you reduce the incoming damage. Like evasion, this are based on your attributes. Unlike the evasion, defenses use both attributes, not just the higher one.
Fortitude Defense: STR+VIT+1/2 level
Reflex Defense: DEX+AGI+1/2 level
Willpower Defense: INT+WIS+1/2 level
Every attack skill has a base damage it inflicts. The dice that are used for damage calculation are based on your persona's skill rank. At rank 1 you have a base damage of 1. At rank 2 this increases to d2. This continues all the way up to d12 at rank 8:
1-1
2-d2
3-d3
4-d4
5-d6
6-d8
7-d10
8-d12
When using an attack skill, you roll the dice add the attribute used for attack roll twice, add half your level and subtract your target's defense. This is the amount of damage you inflict.
Damage: Base+(STR/DEX/INT)*2+1/2 level-Fortitude/Reflex/Willpower Defense
Health Points(HP) are based on your Vitality, Strength and level.
HP: VIT*3+STR+level*2
Spirit Points(SP) are based on your Intelligence, Wisdom, Wits and level. SP are spent when using skills. You recover 10% of your SP every round.
SP: 5+INT+WIS+WIT+level*3
Initiative Points(IP) are used to perform actions. Every round you gain 12 IP plus an amount of IP equal to your Agility or Dexterity-2, whatever is higher. Performing a skill costs you 40 IP.
IP: 12+(Dexterity-2/Agility)
Poison-HP Damage over time. -10% HP every round. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Fear-IP damage over time. -10 IP every round. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Exhaustion-SP Damage over time. -15% maximum SP every round. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Daze-Half IP gain. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Mute-Blocks Wand skills. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Paralyze-Blocks Sword skills. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Enervation-Blocks Cup skills. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Panic-Blocks Coin skills. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Sleep-Unable to act, awaken when attacked. No IP gain. 1+(WIT+Rank)/2 rounds.
Stone-Unable to act. No IP gain. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Skill Expertise represents how good your character is at channeling a particular skill type. Rank one Expertise unlocks the basic skill, while higher ranks unlock more powerful skills. Every character starts with rank 2 Expertise in two skill groups and rank 1 Expertise in three groups. Improving your rank is done by expending Expertise Points that are awarded after every encounter. Unlocking new skill groups should be done while progressing through the story. However, a DM can allow players to buy new skill groups with Expertise Points.
Skills are divided in four types: Swords, Wands, Cups and Coins.
Sword skills deal physical damage. They are divided in three groups: Slash, Strike and Pierce.
Wand skills deal elemental damage. They are divided in eight groups: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark, Ice and Electricity.
Cup skills heal and aid. They are divided in Prayer(HP heal), Miracle(ailment curing) and Bless(buffs).
Coin skills disrupt and cripple. They are divided in Mind(mental aliments), Nerve(physical ailments) and Curse(debuffs).
Persona's pay the normal cost for learning skills of their primary suit(based on their arcana). They pay double cost for learning skills of their secondary suit(chosen on creation). For skills of other two suits personas pay triple cost.
Learning a tier 1 skill costs 2 skill points. Upgrading a skill costs 3 points.
Each persona and each character belongs to one of 20 major arcana of tarot (Fool and World are excluded). Each arcana has it's own once per encounter ability and in the case of a character some kind of special bonus. Arcana determines characters primary suit(there are five arcana for each suit)
Every persona has a rank for each of the 17 skill groups. This ranges from 0 if it is untrained to 8 when the skill group is mastered. Skill rank determines how effective your skills are.
When creating a starting persona you get rank 2 mastery in two skills and rank 1 mastery in another two skills. When you gather enough EXP you can upgrade persona's mastery ranks. To boost the rank by one you need to spend an amount of points equal to the new rank(so, 3 points to boost it from 2 to 3).
First thing you need to do is to pick your character's specialty. So, the first step is to pick a suit and with it a suitable arcana. For this character we are going to go for a Caster (Wands) and a Magician Arcana.
Second step is to assign attribute points. Since we are going for a caster we need high Intelligence, let's make it 10. We also want a nice Wits, to use an occasional ailment skill. 8 should be enough. Strength and Dexterity are completely useless for a Caster, so let's leave them at 3. That leaves us with 8 points to spend on Vitality, Agility and Wisdom. Let's spend 3 points on Vitality and Agility and 2 points on Wisdom. That gives us the final score of:
Strength 3
Vitality 6
Dexterity 3
Agility 6
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 5
Wits 8
Not bad. After calculating secondary stats we end up with:
Fortitude-10+6(Vitality)+1/2 level=16
Reflex-10+6(Agility)+1/2 level=16
Willpower-10+10(Intelligence)+1/2 level=20
Clarity-10+8(Wits)+1/2 level=18
Fortitude Defense-3(Strength)+6(Vitality)+1/2 level=9
Reflex Defense-3(Dexterity)+6(Agility)+1/2 level=9
Willpower Defense-10(Intelligence)+5(Wisdom)+1/2 level=15
HP-6(Vitality)*3+3(Strength)+1(Level)*2=23
SP-5+10(Intelligence)+5(Wisdom)+8(Wits)+1(Level)*3=31
IP-12+6(Agility)=18
The fourth step is to pick skill expertise. Since we are building a Caster we want to start with elemental skills. Let's pick Water and Ice for rank 2. We also need those ailments, so let's pick Mind and Nerve at rank 1. This leaves us with another rank 1, and we are going to use it for Prayer. This won't be a Healer, but having an extra option is always nice. That gives us:
Expertise:
Water 2-Aqua, Malaqua
Ice 2-Bufu, Mabufu
Mind 1-Soul Break, Evil Touch
Nerve 1-Foul Breath, Stun Sphere
Prayer 1-Dia
Not bad for a starting skill list.
And remember, you deal two extra damage with Wands skills and those skills cost 2 points less.
And you end up with something like this (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13I3sLxtp5u8Ep6gZ4U5jd_0pLsr6Z_yNPJSoPzrH3tA/edit?usp=sharing).
Let's make a Persona for our Magician character.
We want to start with the iconic Magician persona, Jack Frost. First step is to determine how our persona reacts to different damage types. As a starting persona it is weak to two damage types. Let's pick Fire and Slash. He is also strong against one damage type, and naturally we are going to pick Ice.
As a Magician persona our Jack Frost has Wands as a primary suit. We get to pick a secondary suit and we are going to pick Coins, to use those ailments.
As for skill Mastery, we want to focus on damage. Let's put that rank two into Ice and Water. Since we also want to use ailments let's put rank one into Mind and Nerve.
We get 8 points to spend on our skills. Looking at the skills that are available to our character, we want to buy Bufu and Aqua, paying 2 points for each one. We also want to buy Evil Touch, even though it is a Coin skill, and as such we pay double cost for it. And that's all of our skill points.
Now we just need to note our Arcana Ability, and our Jack Frost (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13I3sLxtp5u8Ep6gZ4U5jd_0pLsr6Z_yNPJSoPzrH3tA/edit?usp=sharing) is ready to be summoned.
Seven attributes define your character. This are:
Strength
Vitality
Dexterity
Agility
Intelligence
Wisdom
Wits
They are generated using a point buy system. You use 28 points and each attribute ranges from 3(0 points) to 10(13 points):
3-0
4-1
5-2
6-3
7-5
8-7
9-10
10-13
This attributes are fixed, they can not be changed.
There are four evasion stats: Fortitude, Reflex, Willpower and Clarity. Fortitude and Reflex are used to evade physical attack, Willpower allows you to resist magical attacks and Clarity helps you avoid ailments. With the exception of Clarity they are all calculated using the higher of two attributes.
Fortitude: 10+STR/VIT+1/2 level
Reflex: 10+DEX/AGI+1/2 level
Willpower: 10+INT/WIS+1/2 level
Clarity: 10+WIT+1/2 level
When performing an attack you roll 3d6, add the attribute that the skill is based on (STR/DEX/INT) and half your level and compare it to the appropriate evasion value. If the result is higher or equal to the targets evasion your attacks is successful. If it is lower your attack missed.
Attack Roll: 3d6+STR/DEX/INT+1/2 level Vs Fortitude/Reflex/Willpower/Clarity
Your defenses help you reduce the incoming damage. Like evasion, this are based on your attributes. Unlike the evasion, defenses use both attributes, not just the higher one.
Fortitude Defense: STR+VIT+1/2 level
Reflex Defense: DEX+AGI+1/2 level
Willpower Defense: INT+WIS+1/2 level
Every attack skill has a base damage it inflicts. The dice that are used for damage calculation are based on your persona's skill rank. At rank 1 you have a base damage of 1. At rank 2 this increases to d2. This continues all the way up to d12 at rank 8:
1-1
2-d2
3-d3
4-d4
5-d6
6-d8
7-d10
8-d12
When using an attack skill, you roll the dice add the attribute used for attack roll twice, add half your level and subtract your target's defense. This is the amount of damage you inflict.
Damage: Base+(STR/DEX/INT)*2+1/2 level-Fortitude/Reflex/Willpower Defense
Health Points(HP) are based on your Vitality, Strength and level.
HP: VIT*3+STR+level*2
Spirit Points(SP) are based on your Intelligence, Wisdom, Wits and level. SP are spent when using skills. You recover 10% of your SP every round.
SP: 5+INT+WIS+WIT+level*3
Initiative Points(IP) are used to perform actions. Every round you gain 12 IP plus an amount of IP equal to your Agility or Dexterity-2, whatever is higher. Performing a skill costs you 40 IP.
IP: 12+(Dexterity-2/Agility)
Poison-HP Damage over time. -10% HP every round. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Fear-IP damage over time. -10 IP every round. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Exhaustion-SP Damage over time. -15% maximum SP every round. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Daze-Half IP gain. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Mute-Blocks Wand skills. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Paralyze-Blocks Sword skills. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Enervation-Blocks Cup skills. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Panic-Blocks Coin skills. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Sleep-Unable to act, awaken when attacked. No IP gain. 1+(WIT+Rank)/2 rounds.
Stone-Unable to act. No IP gain. 1+(WIT+Rank)/3 rounds.
Skill Expertise represents how good your character is at channeling a particular skill type. Rank one Expertise unlocks the basic skill, while higher ranks unlock more powerful skills. Every character starts with rank 2 Expertise in two skill groups and rank 1 Expertise in three groups. Improving your rank is done by expending Expertise Points that are awarded after every encounter. Unlocking new skill groups should be done while progressing through the story. However, a DM can allow players to buy new skill groups with Expertise Points.
Skills are divided in four types: Swords, Wands, Cups and Coins.
Sword skills deal physical damage. They are divided in three groups: Slash, Strike and Pierce.
Wand skills deal elemental damage. They are divided in eight groups: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark, Ice and Electricity.
Cup skills heal and aid. They are divided in Prayer(HP heal), Miracle(ailment curing) and Bless(buffs).
Coin skills disrupt and cripple. They are divided in Mind(mental aliments), Nerve(physical ailments) and Curse(debuffs).
Persona's pay the normal cost for learning skills of their primary suit(based on their arcana). They pay double cost for learning skills of their secondary suit(chosen on creation). For skills of other two suits personas pay triple cost.
Learning a tier 1 skill costs 2 skill points. Upgrading a skill costs 3 points.
Each persona and each character belongs to one of 20 major arcana of tarot (Fool and World are excluded). Each arcana has it's own once per encounter ability and in the case of a character some kind of special bonus. Arcana determines characters primary suit(there are five arcana for each suit)
Every persona has a rank for each of the 17 skill groups. This ranges from 0 if it is untrained to 8 when the skill group is mastered. Skill rank determines how effective your skills are.
When creating a starting persona you get rank 2 mastery in two skills and rank 1 mastery in another two skills. When you gather enough EXP you can upgrade persona's mastery ranks. To boost the rank by one you need to spend an amount of points equal to the new rank(so, 3 points to boost it from 2 to 3).
First thing you need to do is to pick your character's specialty. So, the first step is to pick a suit and with it a suitable arcana. For this character we are going to go for a Caster (Wands) and a Magician Arcana.
Second step is to assign attribute points. Since we are going for a caster we need high Intelligence, let's make it 10. We also want a nice Wits, to use an occasional ailment skill. 8 should be enough. Strength and Dexterity are completely useless for a Caster, so let's leave them at 3. That leaves us with 8 points to spend on Vitality, Agility and Wisdom. Let's spend 3 points on Vitality and Agility and 2 points on Wisdom. That gives us the final score of:
Strength 3
Vitality 6
Dexterity 3
Agility 6
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 5
Wits 8
Not bad. After calculating secondary stats we end up with:
Fortitude-10+6(Vitality)+1/2 level=16
Reflex-10+6(Agility)+1/2 level=16
Willpower-10+10(Intelligence)+1/2 level=20
Clarity-10+8(Wits)+1/2 level=18
Fortitude Defense-3(Strength)+6(Vitality)+1/2 level=9
Reflex Defense-3(Dexterity)+6(Agility)+1/2 level=9
Willpower Defense-10(Intelligence)+5(Wisdom)+1/2 level=15
HP-6(Vitality)*3+3(Strength)+1(Level)*2=23
SP-5+10(Intelligence)+5(Wisdom)+8(Wits)+1(Level)*3=31
IP-12+6(Agility)=18
The fourth step is to pick skill expertise. Since we are building a Caster we want to start with elemental skills. Let's pick Water and Ice for rank 2. We also need those ailments, so let's pick Mind and Nerve at rank 1. This leaves us with another rank 1, and we are going to use it for Prayer. This won't be a Healer, but having an extra option is always nice. That gives us:
Expertise:
Water 2-Aqua, Malaqua
Ice 2-Bufu, Mabufu
Mind 1-Soul Break, Evil Touch
Nerve 1-Foul Breath, Stun Sphere
Prayer 1-Dia
Not bad for a starting skill list.
And remember, you deal two extra damage with Wands skills and those skills cost 2 points less.
And you end up with something like this (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13I3sLxtp5u8Ep6gZ4U5jd_0pLsr6Z_yNPJSoPzrH3tA/edit?usp=sharing).
Let's make a Persona for our Magician character.
We want to start with the iconic Magician persona, Jack Frost. First step is to determine how our persona reacts to different damage types. As a starting persona it is weak to two damage types. Let's pick Fire and Slash. He is also strong against one damage type, and naturally we are going to pick Ice.
As a Magician persona our Jack Frost has Wands as a primary suit. We get to pick a secondary suit and we are going to pick Coins, to use those ailments.
As for skill Mastery, we want to focus on damage. Let's put that rank two into Ice and Water. Since we also want to use ailments let's put rank one into Mind and Nerve.
We get 8 points to spend on our skills. Looking at the skills that are available to our character, we want to buy Bufu and Aqua, paying 2 points for each one. We also want to buy Evil Touch, even though it is a Coin skill, and as such we pay double cost for it. And that's all of our skill points.
Now we just need to note our Arcana Ability, and our Jack Frost (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13I3sLxtp5u8Ep6gZ4U5jd_0pLsr6Z_yNPJSoPzrH3tA/edit?usp=sharing) is ready to be summoned.