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Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 01:52 AM
News: Well, now that I've got the index organized, I'm off to work on the first true book - Timyras: Lore of Combat (Remaking Barbarians, Fighters, and Monks)

Critics are welcome. People willing to try out any of this get my eternal thanks. Spelling and Gammer Nazis are greeted with open arms. People here to tell me to stop what I'm doing get smited by my blade of the ninja/cleric.

Almost everything that I make should be able to be used outside of everything else I make. So if you like only of part of what I say here, feel free to just use that.

Everything here is entirely my property, or Wizards of the Coast's, unless stated otherwise. Feel free to use any of this, but give me a mention if you do. Stealing is wrong people!

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Table of Contents

Introduction - This post. Name is self-explanitory.
Chapter 1: Races
Chapter 2: Classes
Chapter 3: Skills and Feats
Chapter 4: Equipment
Chapter 5: Combat (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2749495#post2749495)
Chapter 6: Magic
Chapter 7: Spells
Chapter 8: Timyras

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Introduction

It was going to happen eventually, it's just now that I finally break down. First, I create a Dungeons and Dragons world over twice the size of earth. Next, I make a single, innocent, homebrew class to fit a character concept. Then I make a few more, create a few new houserules to add some realism, make new feats. Then I get the irrestitable urge to twink the monk and fighter classes. We've all had it, those classes need a boost of some sort. Then I realized a cool way to change the wizard and sorcerer classes. Then I gave up and decided to give into The Call of the Homebrew.

Timyras: Tome of Lore and the other "books" that will come after it are a combination of homebrew splat books and campaign settings. They show the inner workings of a bored Dungeons and Dragons player that wishes to create a unique world, take a try at balancing the classes between power and fun, and perhaps even show off a bit.

This book in particular will serve as the "mothership" for the other books, laying down the core rules I've added and acting as an index for all the things that will come.


What You Need to Use This Stuff
Probably quite a few times, I'll need to mention content that isn't under the Open Game Licence. Because of this, you'll need the Player's Handbook. The Dungeon Master's Guide is always handy, even more so since it has massive amounts of closed content. The Monster's Manuel is a given: I'll only be adding a few new monsters here and there, and hopefully won't need to remake this already well thought-out book. In fact, I'm hoping to balance my new content to the monster's manuel, so all the challenges are of appropriate difficulty. In addition, I may mention Tome of Battle, Complete Adventurer, and some other splat books randomly.


What I'm Changing
Just about everything, but not the ideas behind things, just the way they were done. In particular, I'm going to be adding a few new rules to combat, changing every of the 11 core base classes, and removing the experience point system all together. Whoo!


Character Creation
Most of this is already detailed out very nicely in the Player's Handbook. However, I'm making a few adjustments, some big, some small.

Ability Scores: As an adventurer, you will start out with stats determined through 38 point buy. An easier way to go about this is to give your character the scores of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 in the abilities you choose. Less adventurous people, and commoners use lower scores, but we'll get to that later. In addition, epic levels will have much more thought put into them, as Timyras is a very epic world.

Lore: The experience point system was done very nicely, and I appreciate the massive amounts of hard work that was put into it. However, I, personally, don't like it. So I'm replacing it with something called Lore.

Lore Points determine how deeply you've tapped into the inner reserve of power that makes up every sentinent being. Every time you do something big - defeat a challanging group of monsters, complete a side-quest, or save a family from a deathly plague, for example - you gain a Lore Point. Every time you reach 10 Lore Points, you gain a level, and get reset back to 0 Lore Points. The exeptions are at 20th level and every level past 39th. At level 20, you must gain 20 Lore Points to achieve the next level, as it represents a peak point where one must work hard to get to the next stage of power. At 40th level, and every level past that up to 50th (the max level), you must only gain a single Lore Point to gain a level, but each point requires a much bigger accomplishment then before.

This does a few things: It makes gaining levels slightly quicker (it took 14 CR 1 encounters for a group of four to hit level 2, but in this system it only takes 10). It reduces a massive ammount of complexity. The downside is that it makes it harder for lower-level people to catch up with higher-level people. You decide.

All other character generation things remain the same. For now, at least.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 01:53 AM
Post reserved for Chapter 1: Races.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 01:54 AM
Post reserved for Chapter 2: Classes.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 01:55 AM
Post reserved for Chapter 3: Skills and Feats.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 01:56 AM
Post reserved for Chapter 4: Equipment.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 01:57 AM
While this all might seem awfully complicated, the DM should be able to keep track of all of it without the players needing to worry about much.

Chapter 5: Combat

Combat is one of the first things I'll want to look at. A lot of thought was put into it, but some things need to come in, and others need to go.

Getting Hurt

Death By Massive Damage: Was an interesting idea, but I'm not quite sure of the logic behind it. For some reason, getting hurt a lot does not lead to dying if you're weak, in my mind. I'm going to be replacing it with a different concept...


Devastating, Crushing, and Flinging Blows: These represent what happens when you land a really good hit, or are fighting against weaker monsters. In order to use a Devastating Blow, you must have a dexterity bonus of +1 or more, and add your dexterity bonus to your attack roll instead of strength. In order to use a Crushing or Flinging Blow, you must have a strength bonus of +1 or more, and add your strength bonus to your attack roll, as opposed to dexterity. You may not use a Crushing and Flinging Blow on the same attack.

Devastating Blows: If you meet the requirements for a Devastating Blow (Dex 12+, add dex bonus to your attack roll), and your attack roll exceeds your opponent's armor class by 5 or more, you may attempt a strike that fatigues your opponent. Your opponent must make a Fortitude Save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 your HD + your dexterity modifier. If they succeed, you deal normal damage. If they fail, you deal an additional amount of nonlethal damage equal to your HD + your dexterity score (score, not bonus). For every 3 your attack roll exceeds your opponent's AC past 5, increase the DC of the save by 1.

Crushing Blows: If you meet the requirements for a Crushing Blow (Str 12+, add str bonus to your attack roll), and your attack roll exceeds your opponent's armor class by 5 or more, you may attempt to drop your opponent to the ground. Your opponent must make a Reflex Save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 your HD + your strength modifier. If they succeed, you deal normal damage. If they fail, their speed for all forms of movement becomes 0 ft., and they are knocked prone. They remain with no movement and prone until they reach full HP naturally, or are the target of a Cure or Heal spell. For every 3 your attack roll exceeds your opponent's AC past 5, increase the DC of the save by 1.

Flinging Blows: If you meet the requirements for a Flinging Blow (Str 12+, add str bonus to your attack roll), and your attack roll exceeds your opponent's armor class by 5 or more, you may attempt to throw your opponent with your weapon. Your opponent must make a Reflex Save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 your HD + your strength modifier. If they succeed, your attack deals nonlethal damage. If they fail, your attack deals nonlethal damage, and your opponent moves backwards 5 ft. and is knocked prone. ne until they reach full HP naturally, or are the target of a Cure or Heal spell. For every 3 your attack roll exceeds your opponent's AC past 5, increase the DC of the save by 1. For every 1 your attack roll exceeds your opponent's AC past 5, you knock your opponent backwards an additional 10 ft. This (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0409.html) (The 5th-to-last panel) is a Flinging Blow.


Battle Drain: When someone is fighting, the more they get hurt and tired, the less effective they'll get. I'm going to represent this in several ways.

Battle Exhaustion: For every 5 rounds of combat in which you either take some sort of action or take damage, you take an amount of nonlethal damage equal to 1/2 your HD (rounded down at all levels except 1st) to represent the exhaustion you get by fighting.

Battle Drain: For every point of lethal or nonlethal damage per HD you take (such as for every 15 points of damage a level 15 takes) overall, your strength, dexterity, and constitution are each lowered by one point temporarily, until your lost HP returns. You cannot recover these lost points in any fashion except through regaining HP. This represents what damage and exhaustion can do to you in a fight.

Disabled: Whenever your current HP is at an amount equal to 1/2 your HD or less, you become disabled. You are still conscious, and not helpless, but all your move speeds become 0, and you are treated as being prone. In this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0453.html) comic, Hinjo become disabled.


Special Abilities

Class and Racial Abilities: Some races and all classes will grant you special abilities. After each of the abilities, it will either say (Magic), (Tech), or (Art). These are adaptions of (Sp), (Su), and (Ex), giving them flavor and changes that just make sense to me.

Magic: These abilities tap into the power of your internal mana. Thus, they work almost exactly like spells. Usually, a Magic Ability works just like the spell of that name. A few Magic Abilities are unique; these are explained in the text where they are described.

A Magic Ability has no verbal, somatic, or material component, nor does it require a focus or have an XP cost. The user activates it mentally. Armor never affects a spell-like ability’s use, even if the ability resembles an arcane spell with a somatic component.

A Magic Ability has a casting time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or spell description. Magic Abilities cannot be used to counterspell, nor can they be counterspelled. In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell:

Using a Magic Ability while threatened provokes attacks of opportunity. It is possible to make a Concentration check to use a Magic Ability defensively and avoid provoking an attack of opportunity. A Magic Ability can be disrupted just as a spell can be. Magic Abilities are subject to spell resistance and to being dispelled by dispel magic. They do not function in areas where magic is suppressed or negated.

A Magic Ability usually has a limit on how often it can be used. A spell-like ability that can be used at will has no use limit.

For creatures with Magic Abilities, a designated caster level defines how difficult it is to dispel their Magic Effects and to define any level-dependent variables (such as range and duration) the abilities might have. The creature’s caster level never affects which Magic Abilities the creature has; sometimes the given caster level is lower than the level a spellcasting character would need to cast the spell of the same name. If no caster level is specified, the caster level is equal to the creature’s Hit Dice. The saving throw (if any) against a Magic Ability is:

10 + the level of the spell the ability resembles or duplicates + the creature’s Cha modifier.

Some Magic Abilities duplicate spells that work differently when cast by characters of different classes. A monster’s Magic Abilities are presumed to be the sorcerer/wizard versions. If the spell in question is not a sorcerer/wizard spell, then default to cleric, druid, bard, paladin, and ranger, in that order.

Arts: Arts are abilities that are very similar to magic, but do not use mana in any way. Thus, they are not effected by anti-magic fields, counterspells, dispelling, spell resistence, or anything of the sort.
Arts may have a use limit or be usable at will, just like spell-like abilities. However, Arts do not provoke attacks of opportunity and never require Concentration checks. The saving throw (if any) against an Art is:

10 + ½ the creature’s HD + the creature’s ability modifier (usually Charisma).

Techniques: Techniques are abilities that can do something incredible, but not completely impossible. They are not something that just anyone can do or even learn to do without extensive training.

These abilities cannot be disrupted in combat, as spells can, and they generally do not provoke attacks of opportunity. Effects or areas that negate or disrupt magic have no effect on Techniques. They are not subject to dispelling, and they function normally in an antimagic field.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 01:59 AM
Post reserved for Chapter 6: Magic.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 02:00 AM
Post reserved for Chapter 7: Spells.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 02:01 AM
Chapter 8: Timyras

The world of Timyras is big - really big. And I'll be describing it in great detail in some of my later books. However, for now, I'll be describing the one Dungeons and Dragons mechanic that is discussed more then any other: Alignment.


Alignment: After much consideration, I'll be taking out alignments, at least - for the most part. The detect spells will be removed (I thought they were kinda odd anyways), but the other alignment-affecting spells won't. However, players won't ever be told their alignment, it's a secret variable that I hold complete control of. Classes with alignment restrictions will no longer be constrained by them. Paladins, however, will still have a code, but it will be entirely self-designed.

Crystall_Myr
2007-06-16, 02:02 AM
Post reserved just in case I missed a chapter on accident. :smallredface: