Silly Name
2020-12-29, 03:53 PM
So, I'm currently working on a system that's heavily skill-based, and I've come to an impasse regarding the acquisition of skill points.
The core idea of the system is that for each skill (which also includes weapon use), you have five ranks: Inept, Novice, Skilled, Expert and Master. Inept means a flat roll with no modifiers, Novice is rolling and adding the relevant attribute (Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence/Learning*, Willpower and Spirit), and every successive rank is a cumulative +1 to that roll. Every rank costs more than the last - to go from Inept to Novice you need to pay 2 points, and to go from Expert to Master you need 8 points - so as to encourage players to go wide rather than laser focus on a few skills or just one weapon.
*name still undecided, could also go with Wit, Memory, etc. I'd probably go with Learning but I'm not too happy with how it stands out from the other attributes
So, pretty simple so far. I've also decided to utilise talents to further customise characters - which cover a wide range of things and can go from making you better at certain things like brawling or horse-riding, to unlocking new capabilities for your character - the one rule I've given myself is that they are never flat numerical bonuses. Each talent has an associated skill point cost, and some may have other requisites such as a minimum stat score or rank in a related skill.
The one thing that I'm currently stuck at is... How to determine skill points acquisition? I initially went with "at every level up, get skill points equal to Intelligence/Memory", but that risks making Intelligence a god stat. Another option is making characters get a flat number of skill points at every level up, regardless of stats, but I'm not sure if I like that too much.
A few more things for context:
Attributes range from 1 to 6 at character creation (currently going with either with a 15-points point buy, with every stat starting at 1, or roll 2d6 keep the best for each stat), and at every even level you get one attribute point. There's a total of 10 levels.
There's four class packages/archetypes, each with its own subclasses: Expert (Thief, Hunter, Mariner), Mage (Academic, Elementalist, Occultist), Priest (Holy fighter, Oracle, Peregrine), Warrior (Brute, Defender, Warlord) -, which along progression give various features, free ranks in certain skills, etc. Technically every stat has its own use regardless of class, but your class and subclass choice obviously make you favor certain stats (Priests want to increase Spirit, Mages have their spells key off Willpower, a frontline Warrior wants to keep Vitality high, an Expert has many features dependant on Intelligence/Leaning, etc.
Classes help define stuff about your character, but the core customisation is made through Skills and Talents - two characters with the same class and subclass can still play extremely differently from first level depending on what they select. Apart from one or two features, most of what they offer is thematic abilities and ribbons.
Base resolution mechanic is roll 2d6 against target number/opposed roll. You may get Advantage, making you roll 3d6, or Disadvantage, which means you only get to roll 1d6.
So, suggestions on how to solve this conundrum?
The core idea of the system is that for each skill (which also includes weapon use), you have five ranks: Inept, Novice, Skilled, Expert and Master. Inept means a flat roll with no modifiers, Novice is rolling and adding the relevant attribute (Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence/Learning*, Willpower and Spirit), and every successive rank is a cumulative +1 to that roll. Every rank costs more than the last - to go from Inept to Novice you need to pay 2 points, and to go from Expert to Master you need 8 points - so as to encourage players to go wide rather than laser focus on a few skills or just one weapon.
*name still undecided, could also go with Wit, Memory, etc. I'd probably go with Learning but I'm not too happy with how it stands out from the other attributes
So, pretty simple so far. I've also decided to utilise talents to further customise characters - which cover a wide range of things and can go from making you better at certain things like brawling or horse-riding, to unlocking new capabilities for your character - the one rule I've given myself is that they are never flat numerical bonuses. Each talent has an associated skill point cost, and some may have other requisites such as a minimum stat score or rank in a related skill.
The one thing that I'm currently stuck at is... How to determine skill points acquisition? I initially went with "at every level up, get skill points equal to Intelligence/Memory", but that risks making Intelligence a god stat. Another option is making characters get a flat number of skill points at every level up, regardless of stats, but I'm not sure if I like that too much.
A few more things for context:
Attributes range from 1 to 6 at character creation (currently going with either with a 15-points point buy, with every stat starting at 1, or roll 2d6 keep the best for each stat), and at every even level you get one attribute point. There's a total of 10 levels.
There's four class packages/archetypes, each with its own subclasses: Expert (Thief, Hunter, Mariner), Mage (Academic, Elementalist, Occultist), Priest (Holy fighter, Oracle, Peregrine), Warrior (Brute, Defender, Warlord) -, which along progression give various features, free ranks in certain skills, etc. Technically every stat has its own use regardless of class, but your class and subclass choice obviously make you favor certain stats (Priests want to increase Spirit, Mages have their spells key off Willpower, a frontline Warrior wants to keep Vitality high, an Expert has many features dependant on Intelligence/Leaning, etc.
Classes help define stuff about your character, but the core customisation is made through Skills and Talents - two characters with the same class and subclass can still play extremely differently from first level depending on what they select. Apart from one or two features, most of what they offer is thematic abilities and ribbons.
Base resolution mechanic is roll 2d6 against target number/opposed roll. You may get Advantage, making you roll 3d6, or Disadvantage, which means you only get to roll 1d6.
So, suggestions on how to solve this conundrum?