Looking for an RPG that has a simple power trade system, selling impact for utility.

[Man_Over_Game]

Hi, guys. I thought I had a good idea for something, so I wanted to see if there were any RPGs that did something similar.

What I'm looking for is a system that has you create your own powers but on a simplified level. Say each ability you have has a Power level - essentially how much energy or impact it has, and you can deduct from its Power to tack on utility effects. like making it an AoE attack, conjuring a wall with HP equal to its Power, etc. Where all of your powers are fairly generically described and you can tie conditions or effects to those powers to make them unique.

For example, say you want to make a "Zombie Wall" ability, and you start with a Power of 4. Instead of having predefined Wall Spells (like in DnD), you just add an "Obstruction" effect, where all Obstructions have a defensive score equal to the Power on that Ability and can't be traversed/targeted through with a default area of 4 squares (so you can do it as a square or a line). You could then opt to give that obstruction the option to attack nearby enemies equal to its Power. So if that ability had a total Power of 4, you could make a wall (-1) that dealt damage (-1), that had 2 Power remaining for its 2 HP and 2 damage. And that's how you make a Zombie Wall as one of your few abilities

Or you could go with something simple like a pyromancer that had a ranged bolt that dealt 4 damage, a small AoE that dealt 3 damage, and a big AoE that dealt 2.

Then just make a list of conditions that impact the nature of your powers, unique for each character, that are balanced by a negative: Fire can spread on burnable surfaces that deals 1 less damage when doing so (-1), but is countered by cold/water (+1).

And add a few general rules that apply to everyone to spice things up (Abilities that originate from your location gain +1 Power and deal excess damage to another enemy within range).

Then just add a temporary currency you can spend to add augments to certain things (like increase the size of an AoE, or put out a fire instead of creating one, if you were a Pyromancer), that you might earn through RPing or something.

I know that Mutants and Masterminds kinda follows this example, but the powers are so expansive that it doesn't really have a tactical element to it. Despite being a very mechanically-minded system, it is only useful as a story-telling RPG, with the numbers being closer to guidelines (although I haven't played M&M in a long time, things may have changed).

Anyone got other examples of stuff that functions like this?

[Batcathat]

I know that Mutants and Masterminds kinda follows this example, but the powers are so expansive that it doesn't really have a tactical element to it. Despite being a very mechanically-minded system, it is only useful as a story-telling RPG, with the numbers being closer to guidelines (although I haven't played M&M in a long time, things may have changed).

I was about to suggest Mutants and Masterminds until I got to this part. I'd say you're not entirely wrong in your interpretation/memory but maybe not entirely right either. It's certainly not the crunchiest system but I wouldn't call the numbers just guidelines either.

[Telok]

Champions, variable power pools. What you want isn't as detailed or deep as HERO system goes, but it's the same thing. You're looking at a simplified version where you aren't calculating character points, but rather trading on whole dice of effect.

So you look at, say a 40 pt ranged blast. 40 pt gets you (making up some numbers now) 8d6 damage, 8" base range, uses 8 endurance every shot. Stick enough AoE on it and you get to 6d, 4d, 2d damage, theres your tradeoff rate of dice/area. Same with autofire, range, reduce end cost, aoe, etc., etc.

[Man_Over_Game]

Hmm... The lack of responses is weirdly comforting. I'm in the process of making a card game, and I realized that some of the same mechanics can be easily converted into something akin to a board game, or even a TTRPG.

The two examples that have come up can be very intimidating to the average person, and being able to make something up that's both tactical and freeform without much work seems to satisfy a niche that otherwise seems untapped.

If this card game thing doesn't work out, I might have another project to work on. The problem I can foresee is figuring out how powers and non-tactical scenarios mesh. If you can make up your powers, what do you do when you're not fighting something or acting in a scenario that's more freeform? I might have to look at other freeform systems, like FATE, to get a good understanding of how they can be addressed.

How do these systems (Champions, M&M) do it?

[LibraryOgre]

Check out the Player's Companion for ACKS. Their custom spell rules are pretty good.

For example, I wanted Thri-kreen to be able to have a poisonous bite that paralyzed people.

That's

Target held helpless 15 base
Target 1 creature *1
Touch range *0.4
1 turn duration *5
Saving throw negate *0.5

15*1*.4*5*0.5 = 15, so it's a 2nd level effect (between 11-20). 2nd level spells as a spell-like power can be once per hour with a casting time of one turn (10 minutes), or once per 8 hours with a casting time of 1 round. Since I want it to be a bite attack, it's once per 8 hours.

[Telok]

Let's see, you're asking "how many dice of effect X is effect modifier Y worth?". Well obviously that's system dependent.

Champions, and most crunchy supers games, has that answered. On the power modding during game may be something they don't do or use formulas to price, but I don't think you actually care about that. You're interested in trading dice for modifiers, right? So you'd open your book, pick a power level, and see what trade-offs happen as you change the mods.

Champions does 1d for 5 points, I'd probably go with a 60 point power. Then check the chart at the 60 pt level to see how many active points (dice at 1d / 5p) at each level of mods. It's been a couple years since I built characters and I won't have time to crack a book until at least Saturday, so no hard number examples. Sorry.

That would work if you have a set power level (in Champions terms every power has like 60 pt) for your game. Because Champs scales some things other than just the dice on powers by how many points you put in them. A 12d blast uses more endurance and has more range than a 6d blast, so doubling the range or reducing the endurance cost is a fractional cost rather than a flat cost. Like adding 50% armor penetration has a bigger effect on the 12d power. At the scale where you're playing with 12d powers having 40 resist is also a thing, and a 6d power at 21 avg dmg halving 40 resist isn't as valuable as a 12d power at 42 avg dmg halving that 40 resist.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Altering powers on the fly? The only thing that springs to mind is evocation in the Dresden Files RPG. You pick the action you want to accomplish magically, then how many points worth of power you want to put into it, and then each action (attack, block, maneuver) has a couple options for how to spend that power. So, like, if you summon 5 points worth of power for a block action, you can spend two of them on effect (Creating a Good (+2) block), one to make it last an extra round, and the last two points to extend it to cover everyone nearby. It's a pretty limited system--the options are pretty much limited to power, area, and/or duration--but it's something.

Mutants and Masterminds 3e could sorta do tactical power construction if everyone's comfortable enough with the power creation system. If you build a character with a (free action) Variable effect worth (power Level x2 or x3) power points, you can play the accuracy-vs-power-vs-modifier-verses-flaw tradeoff game on a regular basis.

[Man_Over_Game]

I'm not meaning it as "In the middle of combat, I pull this augment from this power to get a different one", I'm meaning it more as "Between sessions, you create your own ability sheet".

The latter part I was referring to in my original post is mostly about adding ways to adjust things as-needed, but to make it a very limited option that you only get so many chances of doing per session (like Inspiration from 5e).