4uccsess!

[Mask_De_H]

No, no tying of stats to abilities.

That's wrong for organic characters, and bad for the game. What if someone wants to make a fat character that bounces through a crowd? Your ability is suddenly locking them out, and a new ability needs to be made to accomodate fat, or smart, or wise or forceful or just plain strong characters.

Agreed. Thus my proposal of the SAME system, reskinned to Strength Dexterity Intelligence Wisdom

Your Stats are other things. I'm even keen on getting rid of the Intelligence stat; replace it with Education; info your character knows, that you don't. Players and characters are "equally" intelligent.

Eh, semantics.

Also, let's get rid of Skill Points, Hit Die and Saves.... well, maybe not saves.

Skills come in Tiers; every character gets say.... 5 skills at "their level" in bonus; and the same amount in 3/4 their level (rounded up); the rest are always 1/2 their level.

If we're going more generic, wouldn't it just be a good idea to just have the skills play off of your ability score? Again, kinda like what was suggested for Four Stat. We could always make saves a function of the attack, keeping a good thing from 4e.

Your "level" is linked to your total Wound Levels.

On Hit Dice:

Instead of Hit Dice; let's go Wound Levels.

A mechanic that I was thinking is this:

A Creature's Wound levels is Equal to their total amount of Abilities.

I'm not feeling this as much. Wound Levels are nice, but the Ability = Wounds could make combat Rocket Launcher Tag at low levels, and if we give out abilities one per level up, that could be a long period of easy death. Granted, 3e showed that this might not be a bad thing.

Also, if we want to move away from scaling HP scores, a flat wound setup would be nice. Something like 7-10?

One "readied slots":

A character has all of their abilities, all the time. They can only ready 2 items; so they tend to pick abilities that synergize with their chosen item.

Many abilities need no items. I'm thinking that an ability will be one of the "main" types of abilities; and if you use an item, you get a secondary ability from an other type.

So; the "movement" ability that was outlined, is strictly that. But if an item is used (anything from a Portal Gun, to charging with a horse could be used as an "item" for attack and motion abilities; but so could a "grease" spell, or something.), then the character can also attack when using the ability.

Wait, are you saying that the item unlocks a special subability of a given ability. or that the item itself has powers? If we go with your damage setup, the latter may be preferable. I.E., the normal for a horse item is "move and attack", while the normal for a Portal Gun is "Anklet of Translocation"

One Ability amounts:

Not a lot. You get 2 at level 1; maybe 3... yeah, 3 at level 1. Every level you get 1 more ability.

Sounds good. 3 abilities + 2 items seems like a nice set of abilities to start with. Total of 8 innates readied?

Dealing and Taking Damage:

Your abilities do a number of Wound levels equal to your total abilities, Plus your Offense score.

You roll against your target.

They roll their total amount of abilities, plus their Defense score.

The result is the difference in damage.

I'm thinking that d6's or d4's are the dice used for combat.

This is cool too. I'm partial to the Four Stat method of d20 + relevant stat to hit an AC of 8 + relevant stat, then getting the soak.

Taking damage:

When you lose a wound level, you also lose an ability for that battle. The person that takes damage chooses which ability is shut off.

That's the penalty that we'll apply, people will want to apply wound levels on many targets at some times, and a few targets at others.

This is kinda contradictory to the "all abilities, all the time" idea. I'd rather have the ability disable be a function of another ability of say, Special tier than a natural function of getting winged. A straight penalty to rolls after a certain point in wounds seems workable.

[Artless]

I've been working with these ideas for a while in my Tag system thread in It's My Own Invention. In short, what I'm working with now is:

1. 4 stats: Toughness, Quickness, Cunning and Magic. Still considering how skills are divvied up.
2. You've got 16 points to put into stats, no two stats can be 3 apart. Tag two stats.
3. You choose abilities that require either of the two, sometimes both. The two-tag abilities would typically be the "special" abilities with a more narrow focus or utility.
4. Resolutions are [3d6+stat] versus [11+mods] for skill tests or [3d6+stat] for opposed tests. Sometimes abilities target different stats. E.g.: A Toughness ability that targets Quickness.
5. Damage is done to a static wound track, derived from how much more you beat the opposition. Still working on the numbers to get the pace I want.
6. Player numbers don't vary much if at all; they just get more and more abilities. If you want to quickly generate a character, you can grab packages that would basically be a character archetype or class like "Shaman" or "Thief."
7. I'm using the Winds of Fate roll for combat, done at the end of the player's turn.
8. In combat/timed/stressful situations, players get Movement, Active abilities and Boons. Boons are automatic things that players get to choose to have happen, based on their abilities. E.g.: Shrug off a negative condition, heal some damage, set up for some opportunity attacks, etc.

I'm trying to write abilities that don't have stringent requirements or are bogged down with a lot of flavor; if your guy wants to use an axe instead of a sword for the ability Overhand Chop, go right ahead. I can't really stop you and it'd be dumb to say otherwise. If you want your Magic Wall to be a line of salt or a gust of wind, go crazy. The abilities could be changed to have a lot of inherent flavor, though, if that works better for the game.

But anyway, I figure I'm working along a similar vein as you guys, so I might as well help out and see if I can appropriate some ideas. Some things are different, sure, but there's no reason the two projects can't benefit from a coordinated effort, however meager my contributions might be. Right now I'm just working on the ability list, trying to figure out what works and what doesn't for a specific setting involving assassins.

[Judging__Eagle]

There probably needs to be a refresh mechanic for Wound levels of some kind.

The structure that I'm seeing is something like this:

At 3rd level (since each ability equals one level, seriously), you have:

[Edit: I'm thinking about calling this game "Level Three", as you start at third level in terms of power.]

3 Abilities (3 Common, 3 Special, 3 Super)
-If you use an item, or weapon or w/e; you unlock related specials

"Magic" or "Hard to replace" items are what "grant" their own special, but are going to have requirements of the user. I don't want a heavy laser cannon picked up by a medieval fighter; unless he's already learned some technology ability.

So, a Heavy Bolter gives the wielder "Bolt Barrage"; as long as they have a "Tech" and a "Ranged" ability already. A Magic Sheild gives "Impassable Wall"; as long as the character has a "Magic" ability at all.

Also, the 3 wound levels that starting the game would give isn't a huge deal. Most combats in D&D are 3-hit kills anyway.

What I will probably have to do is have "caps" on how many would levels one of your abilities can do.

How about:

Damage Dealt by your Abilities

I want a straightforward, easy to hash out and easy to learn system, I want people to roll less dice, not more.

-Common = Up to 1/4 of your total Abilities in Wound levels, rounding up
-Special = Up to 1/2 of your total Abilities in Wound levels, rounding up
-Super = Up to all of your total Abilities in Wound levels, , rounding up

Absorbing Damage
Compare your ....

Offense score + Level vs Target Defense Score + Level

Both roll a d6; the loser suffers the difference in levels; up to the maximum damage that an ability could do.

Taking Damage

When you take a Wound level of damage; choose an ability, you 'lose' that ability for this battle, until it is refreshed.

A character with no abilities remaining is usually knocked unconsious, perhaps badly injured.

Characters who have no abilities due to battle damage, are unconsious, and can be killed. This is a full round action to do.

Recovering Damage

Any creature can recover lost abilties. If an unconcious creature lies still, they regain one ability in their next round, and can get up, or stay laying down.

Creatures that have lost abilties may spend a full round action catching their breath, re-loading their weapons, clearing their head, or otherwise recovering. They re-gain one of their abilties in their next round. This ability may be interrupted by a successfully hitting attack.

============

How is that? Better? People can take damage levels; but there's a way to recover them, and it is interruptable.

This system also replicates the method that was thought to be the best way to do TNE.

Each successful attack weakens a target.

Also, powerful enough characters can simply eradicate weakling characters, but big characters who face off will try to choose which abilities they can afford to lose, and which are crucial to the fight.

Also, this system rewards leading in with weak attacks; and then finishing with a Nova.

There could be a "co-operative" feature, where creatures can stack up similar abilities; so say certain attacks impose penalties, when other attacks are going to be enacted?

Say, a basic Ranged/Melee synergy. 4E has no cross-type Synergy right now, and in fact has the opposite.

Ranged attacks can be ducked against; and this adds +50% more of your Level in Defense against Ranged attacks; but penalizes you to Melee attacks by 25%.

Melee Combat leaves people open to being shot, since they won't/can't duck.

Possibly a +25% more Levels on Ranged attacks into people in combat, but the attacks are always full round actions. Since it takes more time to shoot into a fight, but the effects can be devestating due to shock, being exposed to ranged attacks etc.

[Mask_De_H]

I like that a lot actually, although I still think the item power should just be on the item by itself.

Also, how are we going to set up the attack unlocking? I was thinking of a ladder setup of equivalencies: 2 normals = 1 special, 2 specials = 1 super.

[Judging__Eagle]

Well, I want to have items/weapons/tools come in two tiers. Common, and Special.

Common items you can use as the pre-requisite for turning on the "special" power of your abilites.

Special powers allow you to have a whole new ability.

Sort of the way that say... a "magic sword" should be awesome compared to a non-magic sword; but not critical to gameplay.

Like, say you had a player who was Wonder Woman; and she had a Golden Lariat; shouldn't that item be obviously better than a regular lasso?

So, the interface that I want with Items and Abilities is something like this:

For the "Trip" example


Note: I like alliteration, it makes things easier to learn.

Simple, Special, Super are the "Ability 'Tiers' ". Is that ok? good, bad?

I'm calling the things that Items do as "Extras" I believe that every ability shouldn't need an Item. Items just make your abilities more powerful, or more flexible.

Note: Attacks are:
Your Level + Offense Score + 1d6
Versus
Target Level + Defense Score + 3

Knock Down [aka Trip]
Taste floor asshole

You make people's faces get stabbed. By the ground.

[Control; Balanced +1/+1]

Simple: Make a melee attack*. If you succeed, your target is knocked off balance. They suffer a 1/2 penalty to movement and a -4 to their Defense Score. You may Knock Down a target more than once, only the penalty to their defense score adds up. A Knocked Down target may get up as a [Major] action, this removes all penalties, but provokes Attacks of Opportunity.
[yes, a chain-tripper can keep tripping an enemy to keep them down, making them more tripped each time. I don't see a problem with this, a real fight would work this way as well]

This ability can affect any creature, as it is about hampering movement, not knocking to the ground.

Extra: With a tool or weapon you can Knock Down out to the range that you have with the weapon or tool that you use. If using a melee weapon you may follow up your Knock Down with a single Common attack; this also applies to the Special and Super Knock Down ability Tiers.

Special: You may attempt to Trip everyone that is within your melee reach, up to one per level.

Extra: You may use a tool or weapon to trip one target per level; up to the item's reach.

Super: You may make a full round of movement. Anyone that you can reach, you may trip. No cap on how many targets, but you can only trip once per target.

Extra: You may make a full move action. You may trip one target per level, and can target anyone that your item can reach.

Golden Lariat[Item, Magic]
-You count as having the Knock Down ability while you have this item

The 2 simple = 1 special; 2 special = 1 super seems fine. It puts Supers to come in at round 8 at the earliest. Which isn't so fine.

How about: 2 Simple => 1 Special => 1 Super?

That's Round 4 at the earliest. I think that people will be okay with 4 rounds before their super, but I'm not sure.

In a real fight, 18 seconds is a loooooong time. A fight can start and end in that much time.

That's why I liked the 1 Simple => 1 Special => 1 Super model, by round three, someone could have a Super ready to roll.

I think that hammering out the "uses/refresh" mechanic needs work, since I didn't really think about it.

Here's one idea:

If you use an ability; you can use a higher tier ability next round.
If you use an ability Tier that you used last round, you can still use this tier again next round, or a higher tier next round.
If you use a lower tier ability, you may use whatever tiers you have currently enabled.
If you use a Super ability, you are reset back to Simple Abilities.


Some other ideas:

Ability Tier Drain: Higher Tier Abilites drain your offense/defense scores for that battle. So, Simples have a Drain of 0; Specials have a Drain of 2; Supers have a Drain of 6.

This is meant to help balance using Specials and Supers over just spamming a mix of your simple tier powers to weaken your enemy without being too weakened yourself.

Bookkeeping:

Right now, the book keeping that I'm seeing is:

-Wound levels; this is tied straight to your total number of abilities; and your level. so it's a number that people will know fairly well.

-Current Abilities: Losing a Wound level results in losing an ability; since players pick which they lose each time they lose wound levels, this shouldn't be too hard to remember; you got Tripped, and lost your Overhand Chop ability, that's pretty easy to remember.

-Offense Score: add up your offense from your abilities, add your wound levels [argh, This is something that I didn't write properly earlier; losing a wound level also drops your ability to attack/defend later; first by losing an ability, but also because you lost a bit of your offense/defense scores]

-Defense Score: Defense Rating + Current Wound levels

-1st item slot
-2nd item slot

so... 6 things. 2 are pretty easy to remember (items, you have them, or not, and 2 is almsot trivial to remember); which leaves 4 things that are in a Flux as you are in a fight; then reset once combat ends.

There will probably be offense abilities that negate "natural" recovery; so the "healing/curing" abilities will be useful out of combat.

[Mask_De_H]

I like everything in there except for the Ability Tier Drain. It seems completely against what you stated it to be for. Taking a penalty for bigger attacks makes swinging with your piddly shit better unless you know the big guns will take the enemy down. If you want attacks to leave people open, then doesn't the stance idea cover it?

The Super drain especially pushes you right off the RNG if we're using d6es and is a pretty big knock with d20s. In fact, instead of the drain, why not just make Supers work like a fighting game; they have a charge time/tension bar. Something like two/three turns or the move equivalent per shot.

[Judging__Eagle]

I still like this idea, but I'll probably not be touching it for a while. I'm fine playing my 3.X games as it is, and I don't really care for making a new version of 4e. At least not now.

The idea behind the "drain" is that they're -finishing- moves.

So, if you use them, battle should end. The idea that we're going for is a 'Voltron' "nova", that actually -means- something. If you did it too early, you've weakened yourself. If you wait too long, you may be too weak to pull it off.

If you used them too early, you've fucked yourself, and will now be stuck with simples until you feel safe enough to use a special or super again.

If you use a special or super early enough on a weak opponent, then you just wipe them out.

Since the drain resets after the fight, I don't feel that a large drain is a big deal. Really, the Supers are a gambit, not a "combat ender". They 'might' win the fight, they might not.

Also, a Super does your full level in damage; a Special does 1/2; and a Simple does up to 1/4.

[RandomCasualty2]

First thing I would do for anti-4E is dump ability scores entirely. All that shit does is lock you on rails. It says what powers/feats you can take, what classes you can be and even what individual build option you can take in each class. Literally everything hinges around what your ability scores are. If you toss them and just let people pick whatever, then the game gets better.

[Mask_De_H]

RC, we've more or less done that already.

[RandomCasualty2]

RC, we've more or less done that already.

I thought you're thinking of using SAME or something similar?

I'm talking about just having no ability scores at all.

[souran]

Ok,

You realize you have basicaly designed GURPS right? Only with fewer stats.

Anyway, I find this interesting but things to consider:

Attributes are a way of differentiating characters. If you are not going to use them you will need something else.

Same for Classes, not all games need or have classes but the idea is to give everybody a job.

Same with levels, levels make it easy to define appropriate challenges.

Attributes, classes, and levels make it difficult to define characters that are like novel characters or movie characters. Thats because novels and movies have stars and leads. The fact is nobody cares if hamelt is balenced compared to ophelia. The fact that luke skywalker is more powerful than han solo at the end of the series did not mean that harrison ford didn't do the return of the jedi.

A system with no classes, no attributes, no levels and a bunch of powers you pick works really great for groups if you have a party of 1 or 2.

You could basically run the exfiles with this system and keep you and your pair of buddies happy.

However, if you want to play this game instead of a 3-4-5 preson dnd game you are going to have angry people.

Anyway, just the voice of the person thinking about what happens at the table with this.

Hmm, I guess its because my priority if I were righting an rpg would be easy of playing at the table.

You are going to have to do a lot of work to show how this stuff plays easy. Although I guess we wanted to do everything the opposite of 4e.

[JonSetanta]

RC: Right, but we're saying read back in the thread. It's one of the earlier precepts with which JE has been operating.

[Judging__Eagle]

Yeah... the only thing that powers up your abilities is your level and offense/defense scores.

Your physical/mental stats are how you define if your character is smart or dumb; strong or weak, tough or feeble. You can have all 8's and be just as brutal in combat as the guy with 40's across the board. Since stats have nothing to do with a character's capabilities.

I don't want to do away with ability scores, since they do things like determine "how much can I carry" or "can I remember this asshole from somewhere before?"; and you just have a straight number, or you make an ability check.

Even skills are based on "level"*, with stats only tied to "groups" of skills, you can use your Charisma for physical skills, and Str for perception skills, I don't give a shit.

*Level being the amount of abilities that a creature has native tthemselves, and not granted by items.

[Mask_De_H]

Ok,

You realize you have basicaly designed GURPS right? Only with fewer stats.

Skill based, classless system =! GURPS. Several games use this system.

Anyway, I find this interesting but things to consider:

Attributes are a way of differentiating characters. If you are not going to use them you will need something else.

Same for Classes, not all games need or have classes but the idea is to give everybody a job.

Your abilities and what you write on your character sheet are all the differentiation you need. The rules are a means to an end, and that end is having a character interact with the world.

Same with levels, levels make it easy to define appropriate challenges.

We have levels, the number of inherent abilities you have, the higher your level.

Attributes, classes, and levels make it difficult to define characters that are like novel characters or movie characters. Thats because novels and movies have stars and leads. The fact is nobody cares if hamelt is balenced compared to ophelia. The fact that luke skywalker is more powerful than han solo at the end of the series did not mean that harrison ford didn't do the return of the jedi.

Huh? This makes very little sense as is, but why the hell not should we have novel/movie character definitions? As long as it works within the world built, any character concept should be able to be supported by the game. This is a narrative medium broseph.

A system with no classes, no attributes, no levels and a bunch of powers you pick works really great for groups if you have a party of 1 or 2.

You could basically run the exfiles with this system and keep you and your pair of buddies happy.

However, if you want to play this game instead of a 3-4-5 preson dnd game you are going to have angry people.

I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about here. Are you insinuating that people can't come up with a character without having the book telling them what they are? With a proper amount of modular skills, you can just say your strike attack is a swording or a kick or a donkey punch, who cares?

Anyway, just the voice of the person thinking about what happens at the table with this.

Hmm, I guess its because my priority if I were righting an rpg would be easy of playing at the table.

You are going to have to do a lot of work to show how this stuff plays easy. Although I guess we wanted to do everything the opposite of 4e.

The system setup is very simple. Pick skills. Pick items. ????? Profit.
This brings up a question though: will we have abilities that are useful inside and outside of combat? We should.

[Judging__Eagle]

Yeah. I want abilities like this:

Ressurection!
No one takes a dirt nap on my watch. No one.

You're not necessarily a healer, but you are able to keep people from staying down.

[Healing, Defensive: +0/+2]

Simple: You can bring back one creature back from 0 ability levels within melee range of yourself. They get up with 1/4 your current Level in ability levels.

Extra: You may do this at [Close] range

Special: You can bring back one creature per 2 of your Levels back from 0 ability levels within melee range of yourself. They get up with 1/2 your current level in ability levels.

Extra: You may do this at [Medium] range

Super: You may bring back up to twice as many creatures as you have Levels. They get up with your Level in Ability Levels

Extra: You may do this at [Long] range

Heal!
Oh shit. Here, let me look at that.

You're the healer. Bitch.

[Healing, Defensive: +0/+2]

Simple: You can give a creature within [Melee] range back up to 1/4 your Levels in Ability Levels.

Extra: You may do this at [Close] range

Special: You can give a creature, per two Levels, within [Close] range back up to 1/2 your Levels in Ability Levels.

Extra: You may do this at [Medium] range

Super: You can give a creature, two per Level, within [Medium] range back up to your Levels in Ability Levels.

Extra: You may do this at [Long] range

==========

So, that's healing. Pretty simple. Also, a Healer isn't necessarily limited to only healing. They could very well be the groups Heavy Weapons specialist; and also carry a Healing-Cannon.

Now, some travel abilities.

Fly
I can see my house!

You can fly. Wow, golly gee, imagine that.

[Travel; Balanced: +1/+1]

Simple: You are weightless, and can hover in place, and move through the air at up to 1/2 your maximum speed. This lasts for 1 round.

Extra: You can instead move up to your speed.

Special: You can properly fly. You can travel in straight lines, hover in place, all up to your speed. This lasts 1 round per 2 Levels.

Extra: You can instead move at twice your speed.

Super: You can fly with great speed. You can travel and hover, all up to twice your speed. This lasts 2 rounds per Level

Extra: You can instead move at triple your speed.

Teleport

BAMF!

You appear out of nowhere.

[Travel; Balanced: +1/+1]

Simple: As a [Full Round], you can travel to one place that you can see within [Close] range. You may bring, or send, one other creature you are in contact with per 4 Levels, to the location you have chosen; you do not have to teleport to the location if you choose to do this; but this counts as an [Attack] and must be resolved. Only if you succeed in your attack do the other creatures become teleported.

Extra: This takes a [Standard] action

Special: As the Simple, except out to [Medium] range, a location that you know/have seen. One creature per 2 Levels may be sent with this ability

Extra: This takes a [Standard] action

Super: As the Simple, Except with no range limit, and out to a location you have heard of, or can imagine (you will not necessarily be sent to the place you desire, merely a place that appears similar to where you wanted to go). One creature per Level may be sent with this ability.

Extra: This takes a [Standard] action

============

That's how I see "travel" abilities working. Things like Expeditious retreat, and Haste can be also put into place. However Haste should not give more actions. That's wrong. It should merely allow a single ability to be used again as a Simple power, or just let you use an extra [Minor] action.

No, I'm not set on the "cost" of each action. The [brackets] are merely placeholders for now.

[Ranges] will be similar to D&D; [Close]: 25 + 5'/2 Levels; [Medium] 100 + 20/Character level; [Long] 400 + 40/1 Character level. Some abilities; like the Super level of Teleport have no range, for a reason. Perhaps something like "5 times your [Long] range" would work? Since these are at-wills... however, right now this Ability folds Dimension Door, Teleport and Greater Teleport into a single ability.


I guess that... unless otherwise stated, an ability always takes a standard action. Is that cool?

And yes, this is all very fucking sloppy right now.

Some things that should be looked at, are "power sources". Some ideas include:


Physical - Accupressure, muscle training, powerful eyesight, Rock Lee-like training, or Zen Buddhist breathing exercises that let you sit naked in snow in the winter and sweat like a pig because you're feeling so damned hot.

Magical - Telling the real and actual Laws to shut up. Not dumb shit like which consenting adults can, or can't, have sex with each other.

Technological - Dakkadakkadakkadakkadakka! [Since Koumei lurrrrrvs Orks so fucking much. Oh fuck, wait, she doesn't. My bad]. Note, an Inuit seal-hunting Harpoon is as much technology as an orbital plasma battery. As is a suit of metal armour, or an M1A1 Abrahms battle tank.

Mutation - You're a freak

For Mutation, and Physical, you should probably not need items to unlock the Extra powers.

However, if you are equipped with an item, you can't use the Extra powers of your Mutation or Physical powers.

..... this can be further simplified into Innate[/i] and Equipment.

When a character picks a new power; they decide if it will be Innate, or Equipment based. This can't be changed once selected; unless a character gains a level, and this can somehow be explained.

A mad scientist miniaturizing his Planar Gateway and implated it in his forearm; or a Chaos Obliterator who has melded with his Plasma Howitzer would be examples of an Equipment Power becomeing Innate.

Innate powers you count as having the Extra for; but there are probably less powers to pick from; and if you have an Item, you lose the Extra for your Innate powers.

Equipment powers always need an item to be even accessed; but you always count as having an item.

People will probably pick up a mix.... hopefully. Innate powers have the benefits of always being there; and Equipment powers have the benefit of always counting as giving you the Extra.

=========

[RandomCasualty2]

Honestly I don't really like the idea of bringing fallen companions back mid-combat, since it encourages monsters to CdG them, similar to 4E. A monster should be reasonably sure a PC isn't getting back up, otherwise they're going to chop their head off when they fall.

[Judging__Eagle]

Good point. How about a [one minute] action?

The thing is, there are seriously stories of Cauldrons that would revive dead men when placed into them; the Irish and Scotts fought a whole battle where the Irish had such an item. The Scotts couldn't win until one of their [Named] characters snuck into the Cauldron with a mortal injury, and flexed out as much as possible to force the Cauldron to give and break apart.

That could be a [Power] Item (I don't want to use Magic, b/c super-tech items also count as powerful, if they are especially rare) with the Ressurection ability, and a faster casting time. Which is reasonable; since it took more than one person to make sure that it worked.

[Artifacts] are items that have massive powers; but take up 3+ Item slots to function.

This would explain stuff like a Megazord, or a "Combine all of our guns to make a mega-gun" dealie. The characters turn their 5 1-slot weapons, into a single 10-slot item; and they all touch it to activate it. The same with a Super Mech; it's an amalgam of 5 2-slot [Power] items; into a single 10-slot [Artifact].

Also... for the "system" I'm actually aiming at the base mechanics being able to be used for any type of setting; although I am writing an original setting.

Something I'm hoping is to make a very 'light' system that could be used to do Dune, or Star Wars, or Neuromancer, or Lord of the Rings.

This also needs stuff like Social powers.

Diplomatic
All that I wish is a single golden hair, that I may encase it in crystal, for all of my people and our descendants to gaze upon in wonder

People who normally should hate you, don't.

[Social; Balanced: +1/+1]

Simple: Someone who would speak or think poorly of you is impressed by your ability to not act like the common members of your race. If you do not act like the commonly accepted negative features of your race, you are now treated by a single creature as if you were a member of their race.

Extra: If you sacrifice an Item (i.e. give it to the creature in question); all other creatures of that race view you the same as the target creature did.

Special: Someone who would treat you poorly, or verbally abuse you, will now treat you as if they didn't like you. This other wise works like the Simple ability.

Extra: As the Simple Ability

Super: Someone who wishes to kill either you, or other members of your species will now only verbally abuse you, or treat you poorly. This otherwise works like the Simple ability.

Extra: As the Simple Ability

Recognizable
Yes my lord, it is good to have you home again.

People give you the respect you are due.

[Social; Balanced: +1/+1]

Simple: When speaking with members of your race, or your race's allies; you are initially treated with deference, and your voice is listend to above other ideas. Unless you make a particularly large gaffe, such as act verbally offensive in any manner, or threaten violence.

Extra: You only have to be seen to have this effect.

Special: As the Simple ability; except that you are offered service. Unless you directly insult a race, or act as if you are about to attack a creature that is affected by this

Extra: As the Simple ability

Super: As the Simple ability; except that you are offered assistance in combat. Unless you directly insult a specific creature, or attack them; even then only they are no longer affected any more, and other creatures will ask you to explain yourself immediately; if your response isn't reasonable, you lose the offered assistance

Extra: As the Simple ability

[RandomCasualty2]

Good point. How about a [one minute] action?

The thing is, there are seriously stories of Cauldrons that would revive dead men when placed into them; the Irish and Scotts fought a whole battle where the Irish had such an item. The Scotts couldn't win until one of their [Named] characters snuck into the Cauldron with a mortal injury, and flexed out as much as possible to force the Cauldron to give and break apart.

You probably don't want to have raising the dead at all actually. I would just have people get mortally wounded or something and be healable from that with some special effect that takes a minute.

Raising the dead often just causes more setting problems than its worth, and isn't a big deal for PCs anyway, where you can just define 0 hp as being mortally injured instead of dead anyway. Have it so that monsters require a CdG to kill a PC entirely and if no effect brings PCs back, there's really no reason to CdG them until after battle (and this would be a TPK anyway)

[Judging__Eagle]

Raising the Dead or not, is a power that people choose for their game, or not.

I think that simply making a massive laundry list of powers; and then allowing the game referee to choose which ones they don't want to deal with is a fair way to play.

Some people want res, some people "haets them, we haets them forever!". In some games it's good, in others it's bad.

I don't think that either group should be excluded, and that both are fine options for a game.

[Mask_De_H]

It's better to have something like rezing and simply offer the option to ignore it than just to remove it because you don't like it.

I like what you've got JE, the Innate/Equip distinction works for me instead of the item having an inherent power. I worry about the way non-combat powers work with the Super meter unlock style. Say, you have somebody with Fly and Assbeat. They fart around using Simple Fly -> Special Fly -> Super Assbeat and just end the combat right there. On the other hand, a purely diplomatic character is boned until he unlocks Super and if we want combats to go 3 rounds on average, he may be dead before he can get the enemies to not make a cup out of his skull.

I'd like to try my hand at making some powers for this soon,.

[Judging__Eagle]

Well....

Fly -> Super Fly -> Assbeat works fine.

You're dodging and shit until you charge up the power you need to alpha-strike your enemy. That.... happens a lot in comic books and other stories.

The hero dodges and hides, or runs, and then turns around and attacks.

The "diplomat" who hides behind his allies is a fine idea too imo.

[Draco_Argentum]

Raising the Dead or not, is a power that people choose for their game, or not.

I think that simply making a massive laundry list of powers; and then allowing the game referee to choose which ones they don't want to deal with is a fair way to play.

That won't work. The game changes markedly if you remove raise dead from a lethal combat system. You can't just write a set of rules and expect it will work with and without res effects.

[Judging__Eagle]

Uhm....

Shadowrun doesn't have raise dead. Last I recall. It's fairly lethal.

Star Wars (anything) doesn't either. Not Toon, last I recall either.

d20 Modern.

GURPS won't, depending on setting.

Rifts doesn't like to res, easily anyway. It's the equivalent of an 8th level spell to do "minor" ressurection; and access to it is like finding a domain that you need to have specific character requirements to even explain why it was taught to you.

Low level D&D (1-5) is also pretty lethal. I'd actually call that a whole game in and of itself. It's the most lethal game within the umbrella of the D&D 'game'; and doesn't have res.

I think that X-Crawl is also pretty lethal, and has no ressing.

I'm sure that Random Casualty can give more examples, since he wants a lethal game, with no ressing.

[Draco_Argentum]

Thats nothing to do with what I said. Lethal and no res can go together just fine. Its a completely different tone from lethal with res. And thats the issue, removing res doesn't leave you with the same game. It causes a large change to tone and gameplay.

[RandomCasualty2]

Thats nothing to do with what I said. Lethal and no res can go together just fine. Its a completely different tone from lethal with res. And thats the issue, removing res doesn't leave you with the same game. It causes a large change to tone and gameplay.

Not really.

The idea is that instead of resurrection, you have some other mechanic that prevents death, instead of reversing it. This preventable death mechanic will actually be as common as raising would be normally, so pretty much your PCs don't end up getting killed all the time.

There might be a slight change of tone, in that your campaign world is now mutable, but that's a good thing. The fact that if someone kills the king, he stays dead is very good, because it means your world can evolve. As far as your PCs are concerned however, they can play just as they would if there is resurrection, because death is set up to be rare to PCs. Much like Superman, they can get beat up and beat up and like most of the time he doesn't actually die. When they do die, it's a major tragic event.