Homebrew d20 system - Preview

[Edwin]

Hello fellow playgrounders :smallsmile:

For the past few days I've been working on an alternate d20 system of my own, one that is fairly easy to remember, and one that emphasizes on making the PC's look heroic - mainly by making them vastly superior to the ordinary enemies, who then in turn come én mass, and by giving them a series of, atleast that is what I think, cool abilities.

Now, I've gotten alot of work done on the classes, but I am not entirely sure if they are worth a copper piece at the moment, so I thought I'd turn to you players, not to PEACH, not to judge it ('cause, how could you? You don't know the new system, yet), but to merely take a look at it, and see if you might find the class appealing should you ever wanna try out the system.

For a little bit of preknowledge, as I mentioned, the game is designed for the player characters to be superior to the normally encountered mooks, which is also why they come in large numbers - so keep that in mind when you read it, as it might seem a slight tad overpowered to d&d 3.5ed, which you should also remember: It is not D&D, 3.x or otherwise.

Also, the class I am going to show you is not entirely done, so bear with me.

Also 2#, here is how I am doing attack and damage rolls in my system, which is something you should know before you read.

Attack rolls:
Melee: 1d20+BAB+Str mod
Ranged, all: 1d20+RBAB*+Dex mod
*Ranged base attack bonus (yeah, I've made it that way.)

Damage rolls:
Melee; roll your weapon dice+(Str mod*2) for Warrior
Melee; roll your weapon damage+Str mod for Thief
Melee; roll your weapon damge+Str mod for Mage
Ranged, missile; roll your weapon damage+Dex+Str mod for Warrior
Ranged, missile; roll your weapon damage+(Dex*2)+(Str*2) mod for Thief
Ranged, missile; roll your weapon damage+Dex+Str mod for Mage
Ranged, bullet; roll your weapon damage+Dex mod for Warrior
Ranged, bullet; roll your weapon damage+(Dex*2) for Thief
Ranged, bullet; roll your weapon damage+Dex mod for Mage

The reason there are different rolls for the different classes, is to make the Warrior, for instance, much better at melee combat thant both the Thief and the Mage, while making the Thief better at ranged stuff than anyone else.

In addition, Missile weapons do roll+Dex+Str, while bullet weapons only do roll+Dex; this is, partly, because when using missile weapons, you need to both aim (use Dex), and manually shoot it (use Str), while with the bullet, you only aim. The other thing about it, is that missile weapons have a lower rate of fire than bullet weapons, or in case of repeater weapons, a larger penalty to attack rolls.

Here's the class:

The Warrior

Hit Dice: 2d10 at first, 1d8 at further on.

Base attack bonus: Equal to level
Ranged Base attack bonus: Equal to 3/4 level, rounded up.

Skills: 2+Int mod per level
The Warrior has the following class skills:
Climb (Str), Jump (Str), Knowledge: Battle(Int), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Craft (Str*Dex*Int*)

Talents: At 1st, 2nd and then every other level, a Warrior gains a new talent from the Warrior Talent Tree. (To be added later).

Traits*: A Warrior recieves a Trait at 1st, 5th, 9th and 13th level,

*Will not be included in this post, as I have yet to make them. They are sorta like flaws and traits in D&D.

[Edwin]

Warrior Talent Tree

Defensive Tree:

Stamina: The Character gains 2d6 extra hit points.
This talent can be taken more than once, its effects stack.

Block: The Character can perfom a block action; He recieves either his Str or Dex mod to his AC, which ever one is the highest. He also gains the ability to deflect either one arrow, or one bullet. If an arrow is deflected, it drops harmlessly to the ground. If a bullet is deflected, it can be shot back at the original point of fire, at a -5 penalty to the attack roll - use the original d20 attack roll, but apply your own Ranged Base attack bonus and Dex mod. If either an arrow or a bullet is deflected, the block ends, effectively removing the AC bonus. The Character cannot attack the same round as he is blocking - it is a standard action to initiate a block.

Roll: The Character can perfom a rolling action; he can move up to his full speed*1.5 in a straight line, without suffering from attacks of opportunity. He can roll though squares with either enemies or allies in them, but not though obstacles.
If the terrain is diffcult, a rolling character can roll only up to his full speed in a straight line. It is a full round action.

Blocking Roll: Requires: Block, Roll, 8th level
The Character can perfrom a blocking roll action; the Character can combine a rolling action with a blocking action -
He can roll up to his full speed*1.5 though normal terrain, or up to his full speed in difficult terrain, without provoking attacks of opporunity, in a straight line. In addition, for every 10 ft. rolled, the Character can deflect either one arrow, or one bullet, just as if he was using the Block talent, except, for every bullet deflected, the penalty on the attack roll increases by 2. These deflection attemps expires at the beginning of the Characters next turn.
Example: If a Warrior had a speed of 30 ft., he would be able to roll 45 ft. in a straight line. This would give him 4 deflections, and as such, the next 4 ranged attacks shot at him before his next turn, would be subject to deflection. It is a full round action.

Defensive Positioning: Requires Block, 4th level, Dex 12
The Character can position himself in a defensive way after an attack, and thereby gain an advantage.
After an attack, if it hits, the Character can decide to position himself in a defensive position, giving him a +4 to AC, and a -4 to attack rolls. This last until the end of his next round.

Defensive Burrow: Requires: Block
The Character can initiate a Defensive Burrow action; you can effectively sacrifice the ability to move for a number of rounds equal to 2+Con mod, and instead, gain DR 1/-, and a +4 to AC. However, this also means that the Characters effective Dex mod becomes -2 for the duration. The Character cannot end this effect by choice, but if knocked unconcious or otherwise disabled, the effect ends. To initiate a Defensive Burrow is a standard action, but once begun, the burrow does not require the spending of any additional actions. A character cannot Block while using Defensive Burrow.

Last Stand: Requires: Defensive Burrow, Con 15, 6th level
While in a Defensive Burrow, a Character can choose to use Last stand, giving him the following benefits and penalties;
And extra +1 to AC, incread DR 2/-, 10 temporary Hitpoints, a base speed equal to 1/4 the original, to a minimum of 5ft.
Lowerd Con mod to -3. In addition, once the effects ends, to Character becomes tired, robbing him of his Dex mod to AC, lowering his base speed to 3/4, and gives him a penalty on damage and attack rolls of -1. This last for 1d4 rounds, and while it is in effect, the Character cannot use Defensive Burrow.

More later.

Offensive Tree:

Power Attack: The Character can Power Attack; Subtract a number equal to or lower than the Characters Base Attack Bonus from his attack roll, and add it to his damage roll. This can be used as part of any melee attack.

Cleave Attack: The Character can Cleave Attack; the Character can choose to cleave attack, giving him a -2 penalty to the attack and damage rolls of his attack, but, enabling him to attack up to one other creature he threatens; at -5 to attack and damage. This talent can be taken more than once; each time it is taken, increase the number of possible extra creatures hit by 1, and the penalty to those attacks rolls by 2 - so second time it is chosen it will become 7, third it wil become 9 and so on. This is a standard action.

Automated Cleave Attack: Requires: Cleave Attack, 6th level
Any time a creature would be reduced to 0 or less HP, the Character gains a free Cleave Attack, as per the talent - this extra attack uses the Characters own Cleave Attack talent, so if he has more than one talent point in it, say two, he gets two extra attacks, but at the same penalty as he would if he used a normal Cleave Atttack.

Master Cleaver: Requires: Cleave Attack, Automated Cleave Attack, 8th level
Lower the penalty to every and all additional attacks gained from Cleave Attacks by 3.
This feat can be selected more than once; each time it is selected, lower the penalty by 3.

Greater Power Attack: Requires: Power Attack, Str 15, 6th level.
Anytime you use Power Attack, double the bonus to damage, while the penalty to your attack remains the same. The damage can exceed your Base Attack Bonus, but the penalty to attack cannot.

Masterful Power Cleave: Requires: Greater Power Attack, Master Cleaver, 12th level
With this talent, the Character ads the original penalty to his attack rolls*2 of any and all of his Cleave Attacks, to his damage roll.
Example: A 14th level warrior, while emplying this talent along with two talents in Cleave Attack, would normally be able to make two extra Cleave Attacks - one at -5, and one at -7. Having the Master Cleaver talent, the penalties to the attack would only be -2 and -4, while the bonus to damage gained from the Masterful Power Cleave talent would still be +5 and +7, because that was the original amount of penalty.

Powerful Build: Require: Power Attack, 4th level
Your powerful build give you exceptional melee prowess; for the purpose of dealing melee damage, when you apply your Str mod, do the following to find the bonus damage: (Str mod*2)*1.5

More to come.

Heroic Tree:

More to come.

[Lert, A.]

Now, I've gotten alot of work done on the classes, but I am not entirely sure if they are worth a copper piece at the moment, so I thought I'd turn to you players, not to PEACH, not to judge it

Can't take criticism, eh?:smalltongue:


('cause, how could you? You don't know the new system, yet),

We can see your "new system" and how it works through the preview you are giving us and make an educated response upon the fact provided.:smallbiggrin:


but to merely take a look at it, and see if you might find the class appealing should you ever wanna try out the system.

1) You want us to judge whether we want to use a class but not judge whether the class itself can be used. I know I'm dwelling on this, but you are just making it too easy.
2) My answer is no, but thanks for sharing anyways


The reason there are different rolls for the different classes, is to make the Warrior, for instance, much better at melee combat thant both the Thief and the Mage, while making the Thief better at ranged stuff than anyone else.


Because we all know that an archer trained from his youth up is inferior to a street urchin.:smalltongue:

[Meek]

Reminds me of OD&D with a splash of AD&D and 3.5. I don't see how it can "not be D&D" really. But I'll go along. I apologize if I sound very presumptuous.

To answer your question about whether I'd be interested in it or not. I'm not really, no. I'd rather play Swords and Wizardry or OSRIC, which are rather like this, but are already compiled, playtested, are free PDFs, and are professionally edited. And given I don't like either very much too...