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ComatosePhoenix
2015-11-01, 02:05 PM
Through a strange turn of events I acquired a ridiculous number of ten sided dice.
This motivated me to invent a simple, yet hopefully original percentile RPG system.
The idea was to minimize the amount of math involved.

Feedback, would be appreciated, as well as criticism if it turns out this isn't as original as I thought.

Simple Percentile RPG:

3 Stats that change
Health: all characters start with 100% health, whenever you need to make a health check roll 2d10, if you pass the check the number you rolled becomes your new health, if you failed you die unless special features dictate otherwise.

Fatigue: all characters start with 0 fatigue, fatigue accumulates through strenuous action or use of special abilities. When fatigue reaches 100 you fall unconscious. Fatigue is only tracked in combat or if an action will cause you to immediately fall unconcious. fatigue is automatically restored at the end of a combat encounter.

Luck: you can make a luck roll as an alternative to a skill check, as a saving throw, or to augment an action. Luck starts at 50, and pass or fail whenever you make a luck check your new luck is the number you rolled.

3 stats that don't change... much
Strength - punching people, lifting things, blocking
Speed - run fast, draw fast, juggling
Magic - ability to do magic. All characters will have some magical ability.

And of Course Skills
The characters ability to do things is decided by skill rolls. as in all sensible RPG's skill rolls should not be required for every attempted action. only interesting ones. actions that are interesting but where there is no penalty for failure (such as picking a lock on a chest your party has retrieved to the saftey of a tavern). can use the skill roll to determine how long the action takes to complete. Each skill is goverened by one of the main statistics. your skill cannot be lower than the Stat in question. If your character doesn't have the relevant skill, and needs to make a check, make a roll against the stat that is appropriate. Afterwards add the skill to your character sheet and advance it as any other skill normally. If there is any uncertainty on what category the skill falls into, make a luck roll instead, then regardless of success add the skill to your character sheet at that value.

Univseral Skills
Regardless of campaign setting these skills should be present in some form.

Melee weapon skill: ability to attack with a weapon, base attribute is Strength
Ranged Weapon skill: ability to attack with a ranged weapon, base attribute is speed.
Blocking skill: ability to defend either with a weapon or shield, base attribute is strength.
dodging skill: ability to get out of the way. Again, base attribute is speed.
Magical Accuracy: ability to throw spells that require aiming at the correct target. Base attribute is Magic;

Combat PvE
Two facts to keep in mind:
1 enemies don't have real stats
2 an attack roll is only necessary if your opponent is actively defending. sneak attacks always hit.

Initiative:
party gets first action unless walking into an ambush.

An enemy attack may be blocked or dodged.
some attacks are hard to block (-10 to player skill)
Some attacks are impossible to block(-50 to player skill)
use common sense when blocking things like falling oak trees.
all normal attacks can be dodged.
earthquakes are not normal attacks.
dodging adds 10 fatigue
you can dodge or block more than one attack a turn
you can dodge or block at the same time.
When making an attack roll under the relevant skill.
Enemy rules
Enemies use the same health system, with some shortcuts
Minor enemies die once hit regardless
normal enemies have their health set at 50 so they might survive or die
Major enemies have their health set at 100 making it incredibly unlikely to kill them in one hit.
Bosses are absurd, and generally have special rules preventing them from being killed in one hit.

not all attacks will force a health check.

Combat PVP
Both players make a luck check, losers die.

Nobot
2015-11-01, 02:28 PM
Sounds fun! I don't completely understand fatigue though. It just accumulates and you make no 'fatigue checks', and when it reaches 100 you pass out? Is that it?



Both players make a luck check, losers die.

Have you considered building the entire combat and skill system around this? You could have players add bonuses of +10/20/30 (or even a reroll of one or both dice) depending on their abilities. Players can buy those abilities with XP (or your equivalent).

So you can build a guy like this:
- Warrior (+10 on melee combat checks)
- Sword guy (+10 on melee combat checks with swords)
- Tough guy (+10 on health checks)
- Moron (-10 on intelligence checks)
- Hooligan (+10 on combat checks against objects)

or
- Mage (+10 on magic checks)
- Frost mage (+10 on ice-related magic checks)
- Pedant (-10 on speech checks, +10 on intelligence checks)
- Out of shape (-10 on fatigue checks)

And everything is resolved by rolling 2d10 against the DM or another player and beating the percentage chance set by the adversary.

ComatosePhoenix
2015-11-01, 03:10 PM
Sounds fun! I don't completely understand fatigue though. It just accumulates and you make no 'fatigue checks', and when it reaches 100 you pass out? Is that it?

Yep fatigue exists to put a sensible limit on dodging, as attacks hitting a wide area should be relatively rare
Ideally with how health works, combat should be quick and visceral making fatigue recovery fairly irrelevant.



Have you considered building the entire combat and skill system around this? You could have players add bonuses of +10/20/30 (or even a reroll of one or both dice) depending on their abilities. Players can buy those abilities with XP (or your equivalent).

Eh, that would make character sheets nothing but huge lists of abilities. then you need reference material for those abilities. tables. charts. ect. not to mention your going to have to do a lot of math, albeit basic math, every time you make a check.

Dusk Raven
2015-11-01, 03:28 PM
This reminds me of two things - one is the only percentile-dice-based system I've played, a Spanish tabletop RPG called Anima. I enjoyed it in some respects, but some aspects were beyond comprehension. Like, hitting an enemy was determined by attack skill versus block or dodge, right? Except when the numbers for both can and will reach into the hundreds, you end up having this big chart that you consult after calculating the difference between the stats of each plus their respective rolls. And there were varying intensities of a hit...

But I digress. Being interested in creating a percentile-based system myself, I'm a bit interested in this. Although I think the main difference is that I don't shy away from at least a little math, and that may be because at some point you're going to have to do math.

Anyway, I'll need a bit of time to digest this information before I can offer detailed input. I will say, I don't care for what I call "player exceptionalism" especially when taken to the extreme of players and enemies having completely different statblocks. I do, however, like the idea of fatigue.

Nobot
2015-11-02, 04:56 AM
Eh, that would make character sheets nothing but huge lists of abilities. then you need reference material for those abilities. tables. charts. ect. not to mention your going to have to do a lot of math, albeit basic math, every time you make a check.

Sounds good :smallbiggrin:

But fair enough, though I as a player generally like to have a few options in terms of abilities like that, which can serve as role-play guidelines as well. But this is pretty adaptable so I guess people could just add that in themselves if they want to.

Also, now seeing the little tweaks you made in terms of enemy health, I understand the combat system a little better. It looks really good! Just for my understanding re health: when you pass a health check, the new number becomes your new health, right? I am assuming you only pass a check if you roll under the percentile. So: my health is 65%, I make a health check and roll a 42. That means I pass and my new health is 42%. Then I make a health check and roll a 67. That means I die. Correct?

And, how will combat go? Right now, I have this picture:

Nobot enters dungeon room, finds baddie (normal enemy: 50% health)
Nobot gets intiative as he is a player.
Nobot attacks baddie. Nobot has Strength 12 and melee combat 31. So his total for melee is 43%.
Nobot attacks, rolls a 22, which means he hits.
Baddie will block. Baddie has a Strength 10 and blocking skill 10. So his total for blocking is 20%. He rolls a 67 so he fails.
Baddie now makes a health check to see if he dies. Health is 50%, baddie rolls a 87, and dies.

Right? Or do you have to compare scores to see the percentile change (in which case you'll need tables anyway :smallwink: )

ComatosePhoenix
2015-11-02, 10:46 AM
But fair enough, though I as a player generally like to have a few options in terms of abilities like that, which can serve as role-play guidelines as well. But this is pretty adaptable so I guess people could just add that in themselves if they want to.

Well, I wouldn't say there are no abilities like that. I just wanted to get the most basic stuff covered before moving forward. One Idea that I have been playing with is a "familiar weapon bonus" Instead of messing around with specializations and cross specializations. Something like "You get a flat +10 if you have wielded this exact weapon (not this type of weapon) for combat in the past".
or a straight foreward trait like
Tenacity: Once per combat when you fail a health check your health is reduced to 1 instead of dying.


Also, now seeing the little tweaks you made in terms of enemy health, I understand the combat system a little better. It looks really good! Just for my understanding re health: when you pass a health check, the new number becomes your new health, right? I am assuming you only pass a check if you roll under the percentile. So: my health is 65%, I make a health check and roll a 42. That means I pass and my new health is 42%. Then I make a health check and roll a 67. That means I die. Correct?

Bingo. note that only appropriate attacks should cause a health check. There's probably room for non-lethal attacks dealing fatigue damage, and magic attacks fiddling with numbers in strange ways.


And, how will combat go? Right now, I have this picture:
Nobot enters dungeon room, finds baddie (normal enemy: 50% health)
Nobot gets intiative as he is a player.
Nobot attacks baddie. Nobot has Strength 12 and melee combat 31. So his total for melee is 43%.
Nobot attacks, rolls a 22, which means he hits.
Baddie will block. Baddie has a Strength 10 and blocking skill 10. So his total for blocking is 20%. He rolls a 67 so he fails.
Baddie now makes a health check to see if he dies. Health is 50%, baddie rolls a 87, and dies.
Right? Or do you have to compare scores to see the percentile change (in which case you'll need tables anyway :smallwink: )

Pretty close, I would not have added Stats and Skills together, but It works out the same either way.

Also I would not have baddies makeing block/dodge checks.My reasoning was since hitting an opponent that doesn't dodge/block shouldn't require an attack roll, Why would I make an attack roll AND a dodge roll to deal with enemies that do dodge? after reading your example I can see having enemies making a dodge/block roll can add to the experiance. but I think most mook enemies will not have this extra chance.

From that same twist, when an enemy attacks it doesn't make an attack roll, you make a dodge/block roll.

Nobot
2015-11-02, 12:11 PM
Well, I wouldn't say there are no abilities like that. I just wanted to get the most basic stuff covered before moving forward. One Idea that I have been playing with is a "familiar weapon bonus" Instead of messing around with specializations and cross specializations. Something like "You get a flat +10 if you have wielded this exact weapon (not this type of weapon) for combat in the past".
or a straight foreward trait like
Tenacity: Once per combat when you fail a health check your health is reduced to 1 instead of dying.

I would definitely do a few things like that. It adds some nice flavor!


Bingo. note that only appropriate attacks should cause a health check. There's probably room for non-lethal attacks dealing fatigue damage, and magic attacks fiddling with numbers in strange ways.

Damage to fatigue would indeed be a very elegant solution to non-lethal damage.


Pretty close, I would not have added Stats and Skills together, but It works out the same either way.

Also I would not have baddies makeing block/dodge checks.My reasoning was since hitting an opponent that doesn't dodge/block shouldn't require an attack roll, Why would I make an attack roll AND a dodge roll to deal with enemies that do dodge? after reading your example I can see having enemies making a dodge/block roll can add to the experiance. but I think most mook enemies will not have this extra chance.

From that same twist, when an enemy attacks it doesn't make an attack roll, you make a dodge/block roll.

I see, that could indeed save up on some extra rolling! So: PC's only roll when the enemy doesn't block/dodge, in which case the attack succeeds if the skill check succeeds. (In my example, as long as I roll under 43.) And when monsters attack, they do not make skill checks (and always hit if the PC does nothing), but the PC makes a skill check if he wishes to block/dodge.

This does indeed clarify that monsters generally do not need stats, as everything focuses on PC's making skill checks.

Well, I like the system so far! Nice and simple, yet tweakable. Keep us updated as you go!

Dusk Raven
2015-11-02, 05:57 PM
This does indeed clarify that monsters generally do not need stats, as everything focuses on PC's making skill checks.

Interesting. Not sure how I feel about that, given that this could make a lot of fights very similar, but it does remind me of something. To the OP, have you read the "Players Roll All The Dice" optional rule from Unearthed Arcana? I'm reminded of it and you might find something helpful there, though I haven't read it in a while so I don't remember everything it contains...

ComatosePhoenix
2015-11-02, 10:34 PM
I can't say I have, oddly enough.

I understand the concern that combat could devolve to something like well, this. (https://youtu.be/zD1Cf5_y8lQ?t=27m1s)
But hopefully special abilities/perks/traits and magic spells will keep things interesting.

Hmm, I really should try and make a sensible perk system.

Cluedrew
2015-11-03, 03:32 PM
Looks interesting, the one problem I see is you can ALWAYS die in 2 hits. Get attacked, miss block/dodge, roll low on health, get attacked again, miss block/dodge, roll high on health, die. In fact doing quick math I think you should be dead (statically) on hit number three. Now that is not bad on its own but it is very lethal.

Also where do your stats come from, or the second tier of stats (strength, speed, magic) and the skills. Where do they come from, what is your character creation system?

I may sound critical but I like it. I actually really like the health system which is why I did the math on it.

ComatosePhoenix
2015-11-03, 06:36 PM
Looks interesting, the one problem I see is you can ALWAYS die in 2 hits. Get attacked, miss block/dodge, roll low on health, get attacked again, miss block/dodge, roll high on health, die. In fact doing quick math I think you should be dead (statically) on hit number three. Now that is not bad on its own but it is very lethal.

Yeah I see the concern. I expect some abilities to exist that increase survivability. On the other hand no player character should ever die in one hit.



Also where do your stats come from, or the second tier of stats (strength, speed, magic) and the skills. Where do they come from, what is your character creation system?


I guess I better come up with one.

Character Creation:
In my mind a character should have lowish stats. since stats also serve as the lowest limit of skill I would say that your average human without any special training or life experiances would have 5 points in each category. A player would also get 10 free points to distribute as they want.
Next a player would pick their top 5 skills and rank them. those skills would recieve a bonus of 15-15-10-5-5.
So lets say I wanted to be the burliest of burly characters.
I put all my points into str so my stats are 15-5-5.
then I pick my skills to be Melee weapons, Blocking, Martial Arts, Motorcycles, And Beard Growing.
My skill scores are equal to the stat that governs them plus the starting bonus I picked out. In this case He would have 30 points in melee and blocking 25 in martial arts, and 20 in motorcycles. However the dm ruled that spontaneous beard growing was a magic based skill so he only has 10 points in that.

Example scenario:
Burly mc Burlson walks into a bar, gets into a fistfight with one of the patrons. He uses his martial arts skill to wreck the bouncer as he can already block and dodge like a pro. though his antics have drawn the cops and you can't block bullets. so he jumps on his motorcycle and drives off. as he is escaping he tries to use his power of beard growing to lie low for a while. he fails his roll but since the cops haven't caught up to him yet he can try again. How long can he escape for? between beard growing rolls he makes a luck check. as long as he rolls under his luck holds. but whenever you make a luck check whatever you roll becomes your new luck. its only a matter of time before his luck runs out, can he get a beard grown in time? who knows!

about luck
Luck either starts at 50, or a random number, I haven't decided which is more fun yet.



I may sound critical but I like it. I actually really like the health system which is why I did the math on it.
Thanks, I appreciate it :smallsmile:.

Yakk
2015-11-03, 07:32 PM
Suggestion:
Instead of d%, have the players roll 2d10.

Then they pick which is the high, and which is the low.

The effect of this on health is that your chance of death is (100%-health%)^2. At 90% health, you have a 1% chance of dying. At 50% health, you have a 25% chance of dying. At 10% health, you have an ~81% chance of dying. Etc.

It does away with the "pick the high die", and makes "forgetting" part of the game.

You can also encode awesome successes -- doubles that succeed -- and "better successes" (both orders would succeed) in the one roll.

Specializations can be encoded as "roll 3d20, and pick any two for your percentage".

ComatosePhoenix
2015-11-03, 08:21 PM
I kinda like it, I like how it removes the need for unique dice, and how it makes it easier for the player, but at the same time I kinda think it is a bit too powerful. it turns a check on a scale of 100 to a check on a scale of 10 that you get two shots at passing. I'd have to play with it some to see how it feels.

As a personal thing I have never liked doubles having special meaning. but that is just me.