Raw [Concept] for a Low-magic D20 system

[Grey Paladin]

I used to be an avid player of 2".5" (although most hated that edition more then THAC0 itself) and used to play many low magic extremely low level games using it with a few alternate rules and a custom setting, now with all the Stack system out of D&D playing Warriors without magic quickly turns dreadfuly boreing and the lack of variety in possible characters adds a lot to it as most (prestige) classes at least somehow relay on supernatural aspects.

One thing to remember that in this metagame level 9 characters are Heroes of Legend, above and beyond is the stuff that goes down into history as fairy tales, a character below level 7 is lucky to ever see a rusty +1 dagger.

Most opponents until mid levels (6+) are humanoid, a single monster often serves as the base for the whole adventure.

My purpose in building this system (more like a skeleton at the moment) is to add the much needed variety and challenge to D&D and make low magic high fantasy games viable once again , All criticizm is welcome as long as it is honest, though blameing the system for being what it is supposed to be will not get you far.

More then anything else, contributions are welcome, I've thought this stuff up last day and throwed in some stuff from Iron Kingdoms (Defence Class) and the armor piercing (my DM) and as it stands it is likely rather unbalanced and not too well thought out.

I took the Mana formula from the guy that made the Skill Based Magic system, kudos and credit to him, thought I've forgotten his name.

Thank you for your time

Dexterity effects both AB and AC following the normal modifider system, the Weapon Finnese feat has a new use.

Strength gives a damage bonus (or penalty) equal to your strength score-10

Armor reduces Dexterity and grants damage reduction

Each weapon has a value of Armor Piercing, when attacking an armored opponent the Attacker adds the Weapon's AP value and adds 1 to it for each 2 points of strength above 10, if it meets or exeeds the Damage Reduction rolled for this attack the damage reduction is halved

Another option is to attempt and bypass the armor using finnese, if a character posses the Weapon Finnese feat he may aim for the unprotected parts in the suit (this tehnique cannot be used against completely "armored" foes like Dragons) This translates to takeing a penalty to the attack roll equal to the the suit's Standard D&D value (now known as Fortification Value, that also negetates critical hits 5% of the time for each point)
Upon a succesful strike you completely ignore the Damage Reduction.
Finnese can only be used with certain melee weapons and all ranged weapons.

For example, a suit of Chainmail grants a Damage Reduction score of 2D4 but reduces dexterity by 3, Bob the Mighty lands a mighty blow upon his armored foe using his warhammer, attempting to crush it, the warhammer's AP value is 4 and Bob's Strength is 14, thus Bob's final AP value is 6, his opponent rolls 2D4 for reduction and gets a 5, As Bob's AP is higher then his victim's DR roll for this attack the DR is halved to 2.5 (rounded down to 2).

Chainmail has a Fortification Value of 6 and Grace the Fencer attempts to bypass it using Finnese, she takes a -6 penalty to her attack roll and attempts to strike her opponent's DC (Defence Class), from this point on this is treated as a normal attack beside the fact that if it hits it will completely ignore DR.

Ranged Weapons Threaten squares within 30 feet, you may not make more then one attack per a foe per a round unless you have the Combat Reflexes feat, you may make a number of ranged AoOs each round up to your dexterity modifider.

Your HP at first level is equal to your constitution score, your HP for each level that follows the first is half your constitution
From level 11 and on you gain 1 hit point per a level, unless you are Tough, then you gain 2.

If you haven't used any actions in your turn you may instead take a single Move or Standard action in response to someone's else action

Different weapons have different speical artributes, for example the Long Sword deals more damage to unarmored opponents while the Long Spear is the only Reach weapon that is finneseable

All spells have been combined into the Arcane schools, you cannot cast a spell unless you have the proper feat

Each spell has a casting time equal to it's level and costs an amount of Mana/speallpoints/whateverpoints equal to its level squared, your amount of Whatever Points is equal to the number of ranks you have in the WHATEVER skill squared

And now to the system itself:

If you have 15+ in a certain stat you are considered
Strong (STR)
Dexterous (DEX)
Tough (CON)
Intelligent (INT)
Wise (WIS)
Charismatic (CHA)

All progress done through Skill Points and a Feat each level, classes are eliminated as well as Normal skill points (these are usually combined into the new skills, though I despise the social skills and believe RP is enough so I got rid of them)

Skills fall into 8 categories:
General, Strong, Dexterous, Tough, Intelligent, Wise, Charismatic, and Arcane.
You may not put points in Arcane skills without the proper feat

Each Skill sets a bar on how high you can progress without haveing the proper stat at 15 or higher, Skills Paths can be as short as 5 ranks and as long as 20.

(I am really unsure about Skill Points per a level so please suggest a better idea if you're able, of course feel free to do the same for anything else, too =P )

Your skill points per a level depend on the type of pointbuy you use
30- 5+1 point per four points of Intelligence above 10
28- 6+1 point per four points of Intelligence above 10
26- 7+1 point per four points of Intelligence above 10

Pick one skill, that's your High Art, it is both consiered a Class Skill and costs 1 point less to the minimum of one
Pick 3 skills, these are your Class Skills
Pick 3 skills, these are your Secondery Skills, and they cost one point less to the minimum of one

The maximum number of ranks you may have in a skill is equal to your level

Example Skills:

ARCANE

Necromancery
The art of creating, manipulating, or destroying, life.

Your rank in this skill is your caster level for the purpose of casting the following spells, notice you still need to learn them.

Costs
Cross-class cost: 6
Class cost: 3

Level 1
Detect Life, Detect Undead, Deathwatch, Death Kneel, Cure Minor Wounds, Cause minor wounds, Invisible Servant, Disturb Undead.
Level 2
Cure Light Wounds, Cause Light Wounds, Command Undead, False Life, Lesser Restoration, Soulweb.
Level 3
Cure Medium Wounds, Cause Medium Wounds, Phantom Steed, Hold Undead, Vampiric Touch, Animate Dead, Speak With Dead.
Level 4
Death Ward, Cure Serious Wounds, Cause Serious Wounds, Reincarnate, Enervation, Restoration.
Level 5
Cure Critical Wounds, Cause Critical Wounds, Unhallow, Magic Jar, Disrupting Weapon, Slay Living.
Level 6
Heal, Harm, Death Spell, Anti-life Shell, Create Undead, Undeath to Death.
Level 7
Animate, Mass Cure Wounds, Mass Cause Wounds, Greater Restoration, Soulnet, Finger of Death.
Level 8
Soulstrings, Trap The Soul, Clone, Create Greater Undead.
Level 9
Raise Dead, Death's Wail

GENERAL

Weapon Proficency
Costs:
Cross class: 3
Class: 1
1: Proficent with all simple weapons
2: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row.
3: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row.
4: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
5: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
6: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
7: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
8: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
9: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
10: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
11: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
12: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
13: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
14: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
15: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
16: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
17: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
18: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
19: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row
20: Proficent/+1AB/+1Damage/+1 Armor Piercing with a specific weapon You cannot boost your proficency with a specific weapon with the same upgrade twice in a row

(Considering to add a +1 to Deflection DC into there)

DEXTEROUS

Offense
Costs:
Cross Class: 3
Class: 1

+1 to BAB per a point, cannot progress beyond 10 unless you are Dexterous.
(Defense class works the same way, as do all the saving throws)

STRONG
Relentless Ox
A fighting style based on swift killing strokes rather then wearing the enemy down
Costs:
Crossclass: 3
Class: 1
1: Massive Critical 1D4 with all Melee weapons
2: Critical Confirmation +1, +1 Damage against Unarmored Opponents
3: Massive Critical 1D6 with all Melee weapons
4: Critical Confirmation +2, +2 Damage against Unarmored Opponents
5: Massive Critical 1D8 with all Melee weapons
Prequisite: Strong
6: Critical Confirmation +3, +3 damage against Unarmored Opponents
7: Massive Critical 1D10 with all Melee weapons
8: Critical Confirmation +4, +4 damage against Unarmored Opponents
9: Massive Critical 1D12 with all Melee weapons
10: Critical Confirmation +5, +5 damage against Unarmored Opponents


Notice that these are just examples to explain the concept aren't actual skills, these skills are supposed to represent everything in D&D that feats don't, from Evasion to Sneak Attack to Hide in Plain Sight to Manuvers (ones non-magical in nature, though), thought they often share similiar Skill Paths.

Leveling up is done by earning 125 EXP per a rank in your High Art, 100 EXP per a rank in your class skills, 50 EXP per a rank in your secondry skills, and 50 EXP per a rank in cross-class skills.

As I've said twice before, all suggestions are welcome.

[Matthew]

This sunds pretty complicated. Are you sure there isn't a simpler way to make a Low Magic D&D type game? Have you looked at Conan D20? It is a pretty great Low Magic D20 system.

[Caledonian]

An 18-Str Fighter has a +8 damage bonus?!

I think that's more than a little extreme.