Theodoxus
2021-02-11, 10:33 PM
I'm cobbling together ideas from a number of systems, some I've known about, others I learn from other Playgrounder's suggestions.
The core of the system is Green Ronin's AGE system, as I really like the simplicity of 3d6 with a Stunt Die.
However, I felt it was kinda meh out of the box after playing and running hundreds of hours of 5E. And then I discovered Shadow of the Demon Lord and the concept of Boons and Banes, using d6(s) to act as Dis(Ad) on a d20 instead of rolling 2d20 and taking the better (or worse) roll. Plus, Boons and Banes stack, and cancel each other, as many 5E players have wanted - but since they're d6s, they fit perfectly with the 3d6 AGE system - score!
Next I looked at the magic system of AGE and tossed it right out. As an avid D&D'er, it was too narrow in scope (4 spells per "school"? Yeah, with some expansion from other books, but... bleh) and the Magic Point system seemed clunky. But what I did like was the way Modern AGE handled ammunition for guns and I thought, well, heck, why not use the same concept for magic?
So, I took the 5E spells, converted them to the AGE Mastery system (using Novice (levels 1 & 2), Expert (levels 3 & 4), Master (levels 5 & 6), Adept (levels 7 & 8) and Grandmaster (level 9). To determine Target Numbers for casting the spells I just added the 5E spell level to 10, for a range of 11 -19 as a base. Bonus Action and Reaction spells I then multiplied the TN by .75, as I felt these types of spells should succeed slightly more often than your average spell. For spells with a greater casting time of 1 Action, I multiplied by the number of rounds it would take to cast the spell. So, a 1 minute spell would have a TN 10 times the TN of the same level spell. (For instance, Fireball has a 13 TN, Leomund's Tiny Hut a 130.)
To cast a spell, you roll 3d6 + Casting stat + Mastery level (I adjusted the Focuses to +1 at Novice up to +5 at Grandmaster). If you pass the TN required, you cast the spell in that round. If you don't pass the TN, you can opt to keep casting (using the multi-round casting rules from 5E, basically, it takes your Concentration to keep the spell and limits what you can do). Each round you add to the TN by rolling and when you finally meet or exceed the TN, the spell is cast. If, on the first round, you don't meet the TN AND you roll a 1 on the Stunt Die, you're "Out of Mana" and can't cast anything except Cantrips and Ritual spells until you either finish a long rest, or use Arcane Recovery (as per the Wizard ability).
Rituals aren't affected by the "Out of Mana" rule, and spells with a casting time longer than an Action aren't subject to it on rounds after the first.
I've also put in place a rule regarding Banes, since the Bane (and Boon) roll is a Stunt Die roll, there's a pretty decent chance that casting a spell while under a Bane (think of anything that would give Disadvantage in 5E) would end up with a 1, meaning you're Out of Mana. The player has the option that instead of going Out of Mana, they incur another Bane instead, that lasts until the end of the current encounter - regardless if the original Bane no longer applies.
The last change I've implemented was to allow the Mastery of a focus be increased through play, not just a level up. Using the concept from Adventure Fantasy Game (different from the Adventure Game Engine, a little confusing, I know) - every time a player succeeds on a Focus test and rolls a 6 on the Stunt Die doing it, they start to spell out NOVICE or EXPERT or MASTER or ADEPT next to the Focus (depending on what their mastery level currently is for it. Once the full word is spelled out (6 successes, 5 for Adept), they automatically advance the Focus to the next level.
However, they can only have 1 Master for every 6 Experts; and 1 Adept for every 6 Masters and 1 Grandmaster, period.
I feel this encourages players to spend their level ups on new Focuses rather than going with a very narrow build.
I guess the point of this thread is two-fold. Anyone have any additional systems that they feel might fit this 3d6, Bane and Boon system and 2, any probability masters out there willing to run some simulations based on the Target Numbers on how often a base spell cast would end up Out of Mana? I guess, basically a 3d6 roll, on a TN 13 (3rd level spell) where the caster has a +3 stat and a +2 Mastery bonus... so they'd need to roll a 7 or less on 3d6 where 1 die comes up a 1... is that like 25%? 12? 2? I'm horrible at probability :smallbiggrin:
The core of the system is Green Ronin's AGE system, as I really like the simplicity of 3d6 with a Stunt Die.
However, I felt it was kinda meh out of the box after playing and running hundreds of hours of 5E. And then I discovered Shadow of the Demon Lord and the concept of Boons and Banes, using d6(s) to act as Dis(Ad) on a d20 instead of rolling 2d20 and taking the better (or worse) roll. Plus, Boons and Banes stack, and cancel each other, as many 5E players have wanted - but since they're d6s, they fit perfectly with the 3d6 AGE system - score!
Next I looked at the magic system of AGE and tossed it right out. As an avid D&D'er, it was too narrow in scope (4 spells per "school"? Yeah, with some expansion from other books, but... bleh) and the Magic Point system seemed clunky. But what I did like was the way Modern AGE handled ammunition for guns and I thought, well, heck, why not use the same concept for magic?
So, I took the 5E spells, converted them to the AGE Mastery system (using Novice (levels 1 & 2), Expert (levels 3 & 4), Master (levels 5 & 6), Adept (levels 7 & 8) and Grandmaster (level 9). To determine Target Numbers for casting the spells I just added the 5E spell level to 10, for a range of 11 -19 as a base. Bonus Action and Reaction spells I then multiplied the TN by .75, as I felt these types of spells should succeed slightly more often than your average spell. For spells with a greater casting time of 1 Action, I multiplied by the number of rounds it would take to cast the spell. So, a 1 minute spell would have a TN 10 times the TN of the same level spell. (For instance, Fireball has a 13 TN, Leomund's Tiny Hut a 130.)
To cast a spell, you roll 3d6 + Casting stat + Mastery level (I adjusted the Focuses to +1 at Novice up to +5 at Grandmaster). If you pass the TN required, you cast the spell in that round. If you don't pass the TN, you can opt to keep casting (using the multi-round casting rules from 5E, basically, it takes your Concentration to keep the spell and limits what you can do). Each round you add to the TN by rolling and when you finally meet or exceed the TN, the spell is cast. If, on the first round, you don't meet the TN AND you roll a 1 on the Stunt Die, you're "Out of Mana" and can't cast anything except Cantrips and Ritual spells until you either finish a long rest, or use Arcane Recovery (as per the Wizard ability).
Rituals aren't affected by the "Out of Mana" rule, and spells with a casting time longer than an Action aren't subject to it on rounds after the first.
I've also put in place a rule regarding Banes, since the Bane (and Boon) roll is a Stunt Die roll, there's a pretty decent chance that casting a spell while under a Bane (think of anything that would give Disadvantage in 5E) would end up with a 1, meaning you're Out of Mana. The player has the option that instead of going Out of Mana, they incur another Bane instead, that lasts until the end of the current encounter - regardless if the original Bane no longer applies.
The last change I've implemented was to allow the Mastery of a focus be increased through play, not just a level up. Using the concept from Adventure Fantasy Game (different from the Adventure Game Engine, a little confusing, I know) - every time a player succeeds on a Focus test and rolls a 6 on the Stunt Die doing it, they start to spell out NOVICE or EXPERT or MASTER or ADEPT next to the Focus (depending on what their mastery level currently is for it. Once the full word is spelled out (6 successes, 5 for Adept), they automatically advance the Focus to the next level.
However, they can only have 1 Master for every 6 Experts; and 1 Adept for every 6 Masters and 1 Grandmaster, period.
I feel this encourages players to spend their level ups on new Focuses rather than going with a very narrow build.
I guess the point of this thread is two-fold. Anyone have any additional systems that they feel might fit this 3d6, Bane and Boon system and 2, any probability masters out there willing to run some simulations based on the Target Numbers on how often a base spell cast would end up Out of Mana? I guess, basically a 3d6 roll, on a TN 13 (3rd level spell) where the caster has a +3 stat and a +2 Mastery bonus... so they'd need to roll a 7 or less on 3d6 where 1 die comes up a 1... is that like 25%? 12? 2? I'm horrible at probability :smallbiggrin: