Asmodeusss
2016-06-14, 02:29 AM
So I myself and some friends are making a D20 based rpg system. The goal is to make it more in-depth, more dynamic while also giving players the option to play a huge variety of characters. I will attempt to describe it quickly.
The system still uses the same dice - d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20. It still uses the same ability scores, though they are now relative(instead of an 8 or 14, it is simply -1 or 2). The way that armor and evading works has been altered.
The biggest difference is that there is both health(HP) and another resource we call wit, which is just similar to health as all characters gain it per level. Wit is a strange amalgamation. It is still health, but it represents what damage a character might take under the hood. Basically, anything from fatigue to mental strain cause wit damage. But wit is also used to cast most spells and use some abilities. Characters can die from both loss of wit and hp. Depending on what class you take, you get varying amounts of wit and hp. For instance, a spell may cost the caster 1d4 wit. This would be a low level spell, as he can spam it a lot. With wit DR 1 can sometimes even cast it for free. Certain things like ethereal creatures can damage wit, while constructs have no wit etc. Essence creatures have no wit or hp, and instead have essence(which is a combination of both)
Then there's the classes. We decided to put a large emphasis on multiclassing, as this way we avoid the pitfalls of having 1000+ different alternate classes that may want to severely mess with the mechanics of the parent class. Thus far there are 6 "paths"(basically classes) that offer various abilities. The six classes are currently labeled "battle", "perseverance", "cunning", "Arcane", "faith" and "passion", though for ease of communication we call them fighter, monk, rogue, mage, cleric and bard, respectively. Each class offers a different abilities to approach something or how to interact with the world. The arcane class deals with all sorts of magical things like detecting auras, casting spells, familiars(in this case granting true companions(pets) sentience) while the "monk" class deals with surviving in the wilderness and dealing with all sorts of self-empowerment methods, unarmed combat, pure physical strength etc.
The typical druid archetype is simply an aspect of the faith class(taking a domain means you accept certain edicts, like do not lie, or do not use iron weapons in this situation), while a paladin is a combination of faith and battle classes, etc
Each level a player character can choose what class they wish to pursue this level, then what ability to take from that class, and then what feat and trait to get. Abilities offer something new, feats usually modify something existing, traits offer a small change in stats(+1 to a skill check, for instance).
The armor class is split into four defenses - natural, dodge, block and armor. They sort of stack against each other. So a character with a natural defense of 10, dodge defense of 3, block defense of 2 and armor defense of 4 would treat an attack roll of 1-10 as a miss, 11-13 as a dodged attack, 14-15 as a blocked attack. An attack of 15-19 would hit the characters armor and be reduced by armor reduction, while anything above 19 would strike true and not be reduced by the characters armor's dr.
Obviously these stack differently if you are in a similar situation to flatfooted or if there is a touch attack.
Combat works differently too. All characters have three actions per turn and instead of attacks of opportunity, there are simply reactions, which by default they have one per turn. This reaction can be used to move outside your turn(usually, if provoked). Casting costs 2 actions most of the time, while attacking costs 1. Yes, this means you can attack three times per turn, still, consecutive attacks take the -5 penalty for all previous attacks. There are many types of attacks - lunge, parry, simple, defensive, wild(and perhaps some more im either forgetting or which have not been finalized). Basically, what im saying is that this is an attempt to clean up the flow of actions(as a DM, so many times people get confused about the difference between having two standard actions and 1 standard action and a move action. This bypasses it, at least as far as we've tested.)
There's also mental state slots. Most characters have only one(except gnomes, who we decided should be unique and have two, representing how they experience the world in a stranger way emotionally.) Mental states are sometimes occupied by rage, fear, flow, trance etc. These have certain rules. For instance, a character in rage must always act and cannot wait to do something, a character in a state of fear MUST avoid the source of their fear as best as they can etc. Feel free to critique this. I know this may take away from the actual aspect of roleplaying the actual emotions of the character.
Aside from that, the skills have been changed. Study surroundings/tracks/person/item replaces the ever-used perception, while senses adds a very nice con scaling skill that works as passive perception. There's a lot more.
But there's a problem. I am stumped as to what to do with spells. On the one hand, spells can now be more powerful, as they cause the caster to lose some portion of wit, which everyone needs, and also because that means that with enough wit dr, some spells can become cantrips(cast forever with no cost). But the question is how to assign spells to a character? Currently gaining a spell is a class ability of the arcane class, which means that they can, at most, gain 1 spell per level. An idea was to add a feat that allows for also gaining an extra spell(of a lower level than current). Neither seem quite satisfactory.
Another aspect was the schools of magic. I, personally, dislike the wizard archetype. It feels too... modern? The idea of learning magic from a book seems benign to me. It downplays the mystery of magic. But for the purposes of auras, enchantment stacking(or preventing it) and various others, we decided to divide magic into spheres that deal with the essense of reality(the physical, energy and the spirit) and ended up with the following:
Conjuration - creates the physical
Transmutation - manipulates and changes the physical
Evocation - Creates energy and pure power
Alteration - Manipulates and changes energy(we need a better name for this one)
Animancy - Creates the spirit(psychic/mental effects belong to this as well. Illusions fall under this as well)
Psychomancy - Manipulates and changes the spirit(like enchanting, but also deals with physical manifestations of ethereal things)
Necromancy - Manipulates and creates negative energy.(all essences)
Vivimancy - Manipulates and creates positive energy(Hold your horses its not just healing ok, I know that's not meant for the arcane spellcasters, calm down. we just had to make it)(all essences)
Planermancy - bends and creates space(mix between the physical and energy)
Divination - Deals with observing reality(mix between the physical and spirit)
Abjuration - Guides, blocks or destroys the flow of magic itself(mix between energy and spirit)
So with that, you can make like this three circle venn diagram to describe the arcane nature of the universe... Now most of the time when an entity(character or object) becomes the target of an enchantment(a spell that lasts, like for instance bears endurance or curse), it can only hold one enchantment of a certain sphere. A character, for instance, cannot have two transmutation enchantments. This is out attempt to bypass the Christmas tree adventurer syndrome by simply making it an inherent part of the game. It also has some rules, such as necromancy and vivimancy oppose each other(cannot have one with the other at the same time) or that abjuration is always harder to dispel.
I hope someone read all of that, because I have a few questions and I'm seeking some advice. What do you think about the armor system, about the multicalssing aspect as well as the 6 "classes" approach, specifically about spells(suggestions are welcome) and about the spheres of magic system. Also, any critique of the wit resource is welcome. Aside from that, we are internally debating if faith and arcane spells should ever overlap(both have access to the same spell). To us the idea was that arcane vs faith magic should be like cyberpunk vs steampunk. One is more versatile, while the other packs a cold knuckled archaic punch.
If you got this far, thank you for your time.
The system still uses the same dice - d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20. It still uses the same ability scores, though they are now relative(instead of an 8 or 14, it is simply -1 or 2). The way that armor and evading works has been altered.
The biggest difference is that there is both health(HP) and another resource we call wit, which is just similar to health as all characters gain it per level. Wit is a strange amalgamation. It is still health, but it represents what damage a character might take under the hood. Basically, anything from fatigue to mental strain cause wit damage. But wit is also used to cast most spells and use some abilities. Characters can die from both loss of wit and hp. Depending on what class you take, you get varying amounts of wit and hp. For instance, a spell may cost the caster 1d4 wit. This would be a low level spell, as he can spam it a lot. With wit DR 1 can sometimes even cast it for free. Certain things like ethereal creatures can damage wit, while constructs have no wit etc. Essence creatures have no wit or hp, and instead have essence(which is a combination of both)
Then there's the classes. We decided to put a large emphasis on multiclassing, as this way we avoid the pitfalls of having 1000+ different alternate classes that may want to severely mess with the mechanics of the parent class. Thus far there are 6 "paths"(basically classes) that offer various abilities. The six classes are currently labeled "battle", "perseverance", "cunning", "Arcane", "faith" and "passion", though for ease of communication we call them fighter, monk, rogue, mage, cleric and bard, respectively. Each class offers a different abilities to approach something or how to interact with the world. The arcane class deals with all sorts of magical things like detecting auras, casting spells, familiars(in this case granting true companions(pets) sentience) while the "monk" class deals with surviving in the wilderness and dealing with all sorts of self-empowerment methods, unarmed combat, pure physical strength etc.
The typical druid archetype is simply an aspect of the faith class(taking a domain means you accept certain edicts, like do not lie, or do not use iron weapons in this situation), while a paladin is a combination of faith and battle classes, etc
Each level a player character can choose what class they wish to pursue this level, then what ability to take from that class, and then what feat and trait to get. Abilities offer something new, feats usually modify something existing, traits offer a small change in stats(+1 to a skill check, for instance).
The armor class is split into four defenses - natural, dodge, block and armor. They sort of stack against each other. So a character with a natural defense of 10, dodge defense of 3, block defense of 2 and armor defense of 4 would treat an attack roll of 1-10 as a miss, 11-13 as a dodged attack, 14-15 as a blocked attack. An attack of 15-19 would hit the characters armor and be reduced by armor reduction, while anything above 19 would strike true and not be reduced by the characters armor's dr.
Obviously these stack differently if you are in a similar situation to flatfooted or if there is a touch attack.
Combat works differently too. All characters have three actions per turn and instead of attacks of opportunity, there are simply reactions, which by default they have one per turn. This reaction can be used to move outside your turn(usually, if provoked). Casting costs 2 actions most of the time, while attacking costs 1. Yes, this means you can attack three times per turn, still, consecutive attacks take the -5 penalty for all previous attacks. There are many types of attacks - lunge, parry, simple, defensive, wild(and perhaps some more im either forgetting or which have not been finalized). Basically, what im saying is that this is an attempt to clean up the flow of actions(as a DM, so many times people get confused about the difference between having two standard actions and 1 standard action and a move action. This bypasses it, at least as far as we've tested.)
There's also mental state slots. Most characters have only one(except gnomes, who we decided should be unique and have two, representing how they experience the world in a stranger way emotionally.) Mental states are sometimes occupied by rage, fear, flow, trance etc. These have certain rules. For instance, a character in rage must always act and cannot wait to do something, a character in a state of fear MUST avoid the source of their fear as best as they can etc. Feel free to critique this. I know this may take away from the actual aspect of roleplaying the actual emotions of the character.
Aside from that, the skills have been changed. Study surroundings/tracks/person/item replaces the ever-used perception, while senses adds a very nice con scaling skill that works as passive perception. There's a lot more.
But there's a problem. I am stumped as to what to do with spells. On the one hand, spells can now be more powerful, as they cause the caster to lose some portion of wit, which everyone needs, and also because that means that with enough wit dr, some spells can become cantrips(cast forever with no cost). But the question is how to assign spells to a character? Currently gaining a spell is a class ability of the arcane class, which means that they can, at most, gain 1 spell per level. An idea was to add a feat that allows for also gaining an extra spell(of a lower level than current). Neither seem quite satisfactory.
Another aspect was the schools of magic. I, personally, dislike the wizard archetype. It feels too... modern? The idea of learning magic from a book seems benign to me. It downplays the mystery of magic. But for the purposes of auras, enchantment stacking(or preventing it) and various others, we decided to divide magic into spheres that deal with the essense of reality(the physical, energy and the spirit) and ended up with the following:
Conjuration - creates the physical
Transmutation - manipulates and changes the physical
Evocation - Creates energy and pure power
Alteration - Manipulates and changes energy(we need a better name for this one)
Animancy - Creates the spirit(psychic/mental effects belong to this as well. Illusions fall under this as well)
Psychomancy - Manipulates and changes the spirit(like enchanting, but also deals with physical manifestations of ethereal things)
Necromancy - Manipulates and creates negative energy.(all essences)
Vivimancy - Manipulates and creates positive energy(Hold your horses its not just healing ok, I know that's not meant for the arcane spellcasters, calm down. we just had to make it)(all essences)
Planermancy - bends and creates space(mix between the physical and energy)
Divination - Deals with observing reality(mix between the physical and spirit)
Abjuration - Guides, blocks or destroys the flow of magic itself(mix between energy and spirit)
So with that, you can make like this three circle venn diagram to describe the arcane nature of the universe... Now most of the time when an entity(character or object) becomes the target of an enchantment(a spell that lasts, like for instance bears endurance or curse), it can only hold one enchantment of a certain sphere. A character, for instance, cannot have two transmutation enchantments. This is out attempt to bypass the Christmas tree adventurer syndrome by simply making it an inherent part of the game. It also has some rules, such as necromancy and vivimancy oppose each other(cannot have one with the other at the same time) or that abjuration is always harder to dispel.
I hope someone read all of that, because I have a few questions and I'm seeking some advice. What do you think about the armor system, about the multicalssing aspect as well as the 6 "classes" approach, specifically about spells(suggestions are welcome) and about the spheres of magic system. Also, any critique of the wit resource is welcome. Aside from that, we are internally debating if faith and arcane spells should ever overlap(both have access to the same spell). To us the idea was that arcane vs faith magic should be like cyberpunk vs steampunk. One is more versatile, while the other packs a cold knuckled archaic punch.
If you got this far, thank you for your time.