The most essential parts of D&D?

[SangoProduction]

I was thinking of creating a deck building RPG based off of Pathfinder / 3.5. Just as a bit of a project until my job calls for me to get working.

Obviously, to facilitate that, one would have to do a lot of translation of mechanics. For instance, I was planning to get rid of die rolls, since cards are already a random factor - thus further randomness isn't really necessary. Cards would also have "skill values," which is the value of the card when used for skill checks, in addition to their combat roles. Also some have specific effects when used for skills, rather than / in addition to combat effects.

But you don't want to lose the character definition or "feel," when you're trying to make the mechanics more interesting. Thus, I want to know what you guys think would be core essentials - ie. if they weren't there, then it wouldn't be D&D.

I'd say taking levels of classes, with classes having distinctive class features and themes is pretty important. I'd also say the flexibility of multiclassing (ie, getting more potential synergy) at the cost of more implicitly powerful abilities would also be core. (Perhaps not to the degree that spell casters must single-class, or take full casting prestige classes, because spells are ridiculous. But perhaps to the degree that most Pathfinder classes give fairly substantial incentives to stay a single classed character, without implicitly punishing multiclassing.)

Having character building, and not just build creation, should be supported. Very prominently. And they ought to be presented before the actual mechanics.

Anything else of note?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Two relatively big ones would be roleplaying and the interaction between the fellow players and the world. Maybe some story event cards that can come up during play and have a minor or major impact on the character? If you want to get really fancy, they could interact with backstory cards that are already part of the deck from the start.

[crystal_entity]

For me, it would be:


Classes and levels - both good and bad; it limits the way you can build your character forcing you to develop along a predefined tree (e.g. a new fighter straight out of warrior school can't teleport), but is a useful guide for the GM for capabilities (e.g. a "Wizard 9" means that the party will probably have access to teleportation magic)
Firmly in the high fantasy genre - there's an underlying assumption in the system of a fantasy setting with a certain level of magic
Magic >> Martial - magic seems to be able to do anything mundane characters can do, and better, at least at higher levels


(I'm assuming D&D/Pathfinder specifically here, rather than RPGs in general).

[Quertus]

I have absolutely no idea what you're going for here… so I'm going to make something up!

----;

Cards have types.

Begin play with 1 race card and 1 class card. Follow their instructions for additional cards. Certain cards say "you may start with this in play"; this overrides normal limits.

Class cards list what bonus you get for having how many of that card in play (like Monopoly utilities). The basic rules card shows how many XP you need to play each Iterative class card.

Some classes gain access to spells. Spells are an entirely different deck; your hand of spells is replenished every turn. However, spells have "level" and "type" attributes; at first, most of the spells you draw, you will be unable to cast, because you will not meet the "able to cast <type> spells of level X" prerequisite.

Quests and challenges provide rewards, in the form of treasure and XP. Spend the XP to add class cards; spend the treasure to equip items.

Your "build" deck is made of class, item, and feat cards.

Challenges…?

Adventures…?

Eh, well, we'll just add them to the main deck.

So, for solo play… you lay down challenges as soon as you draw them, and cannot play an adventure until you have sufficient challenges of the correct type built up; the adventure takes the first corresponding challenges.

During your turn, you can play an adventure, then attempt an adventure in play. Attempting an adventure may have prerequisites; attempting an opponent's abandoned adventure requires Gather Information on top of its normal prerequisites.

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Sample card

Wizard
* 4 health
* Start with a Familiar & not-so-pointy stick.
* Spells: 12 Arcane
* Gains "can cast 1st level arcane spells"; for every 2 additional Wizard cards, increase that by 1 spell level (ie, with 3 Wizard cards, gets "can cast 2nd level arcane spells".

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Is that even remotely the level of detail you were thinking of operating at?

[Buufreak]

Friends, fun, and food. The most essential.

[Maat Mons]

I'd consider modeling class levels after mana.

You're looking for a system where being single-classed and being multi-classed are both viable choices with their own pros and cons. Most TCGs successfully implement systems where building a mono-color deck and building a multi-color deck are both viable choices with their own pros and cons.

One possibility:

CardEnergy
Barbarian1 Martial + 1 Nature
Bard1 Skillful + 1 Arcane
Cleric2 Holy
Druid2 Nature
Fighter2 Martial
Monk1 Skillful + 1 Holy
Paladin1 Martial + 1 Holy
Ranger1 Skillful + 1 Nature
Rogue2 Skillful
Sorcerer1 Martial + 1 Arcane
Wizard2 Arcane


Another possibility:

CardEnergy
Arcane Trickster1 Dex + 1 Int
Barbarian2 Str
Bard1 Dex + 1 Cha
Cleric1 Str + 1 Wis
Druid2 Wis
Eldritch Knight1 Str + 1 Int
Fighter1 Str + 1 Dex
Monk1 any
Paladin1 Str + 1 Cha
Ranger1 Dex + 1 Wis
Rogue2 Dex
Sorcerer2 Cha
Wizard2 Int

[calam]

The most essential aspects to me (ignoring aspects common to all tabletop games):
-a zero to mythic hero leveling system
-classes
-heavy fantasy style
-subsystems for classes
-focuses on combat and exploration

[NigelWalmsley]

I think the absolute minimum for something to call itself D&D is a class and level based kitchen sink fantasy game. If you weren't explicitly porting things to a different type of game, I'd add something about using a d20. Beyond that, things are fairly up in the air. Which (and how many) classes you have, how many levels there are, or what particular monsters exist are all things that are up in the air to a lesser or greater degree.

[Firest Kathon]

I do not know if you are aware, but there is the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (https://paizo.com/pacg). You can download the rulebook for free, so you could find some inspiration there.

[SangoProduction]

I do not know if you are aware, but there is the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (https://paizo.com/pacg). You can download the rulebook for free, so you could find some inspiration there.

Oh. I think they had a mobile game based on that. It's interesting at least.