Homebrew System

[downzorz]

So I have been working on a homebrew gaming system for a while. Work done is mostly broad-concept stuff, and I was looking for some feedback from one of the best design communities out there. I draw inspiration mostly from D&D, and want to make a stylistically similar game, all sword-and-sorcery like. I am also a big fan of the Tomes, and the work done there is a big influence. Finally, I am a fan of GURPS, and draw some inspiration there.

Design goals:
Find some happy balance between high- and low-fantasy that has a world that the players are able to change and influence, but not enough so that it turns into a game of rocket-tag at higher levels.
Stick to what in 3.5 would be "Rogue level," making everyone efficient at their job, but not allowing anybody to do everything, or allowing one person to do many things, but not as well as a dedicated character. In power level I will be shying away from the Tomes- they are a bit too much for me.
Design martial and magical classes so that there is both a meaningful difference (as opposed to 4E) and balance (as opposed to 3.x).
Keep a fine grain on things, enough to track small but meaningful differences (i.e. not setting the bottom end of the power level low enough that a cat can take on a commoner).

So to accomplish this. The first two goals will be accomplished through class design, a stage I am not really at yet. The third I have done some work towards, and hope to work more on, again, through class design. The last will be accomplished through the RNG and bonuses.

The RNG will be a d100. 100 is the best, 1 is the worst. There will be very few cases in which someone is off the RNG- maybe at very high levels, with a dedicated warrior trying to hit a mage who dumped defensive abilities. Critical success will generally come on a 98-100, and failure on a 1-3.

Stats are Strength, Dexterity, Health, Intelligence, Charisma, and Talent. Strength gets brute damage and lifting. Dexterity gets precision damage, dodging, stuff like that. Between the two I want to find an easy way to add both of them as a to-hit bonus, with Dexterity as the ability to hit the target and strength as armor penetration or something. Or maybe just have armor provide damage reduction, and armor penetration consists of doing a lot of damage. Health is basically Constitution. Intelligence gets perception and some skills, but not bonus skill points. Charisma gets social stuff and willpower. Talent gets skill points, as well as Exploit Points (which are expanded on below). I think this is a medium that makes all the stats matter a roughly equal amount.

Classes will go on a basic 20-level system, but with enough framework to expand it out to about 60, 80 before it really breaks down. I want a wide range of play available. BAB will still be a thing. Also there is Arcana, which is like Base Attack Bonus for spellcasting (the new spellcasting system is expanded on below). There are also class bonuses to parrying, dodging, and blocking.

Skills are D&D-like, skill points at every level and whatnot. Exploits are something new. Every exploit costs a variable amount of Exploit Points, something that everyone gets when they level up based on Talent and class. Exploits are all the crappy feats that nobody ever takes, the ones that provide boring, straight, numeric bonuses to certain abilities- so Weapon Focus, Spell Focus, Alertness, and so on are all Exploits now. Feats are now all things that provide cool, brand-new abilities, like letting a fighter parry magic rays or a thief disarm someone without them noticing. Feats are granted by levels (at indeterminate points- I'm thinking once every three levels, as D&D, but am not set in stone on that).

I have a working skill-list, which is as below:

• Acrobatics: Allows a character to better tumble, balance, and otherwise maneuver on solid ground. Dexterity-based.
• Athletics: Allows a character to run for longer, hold their breath longer, climb and jump better, etc. Health-based and Strength-based.
• Appraisal: Allows a character to identify items and their value, and makes them better at forging items of value. Also helps with seeing through illusions and disguises. Intelligence-based.
• Bluff: Allows a character to deceive others with their words or actions. Charisma-based.
• Concentration: Allows a character to keep their focus, whether on spells or combat. Intelligence-based and Charisma-based.
• Crafting: Allows a character to fashion items, such as weapons, armor, or alchemical or magical items. Every 2 points that a character has invested in Crafting, they can choose a new type of Crafting. Specializations include [Smithing], [Weaving], [Leatherwork], [Alchemy], [Enchanting], [Construction], and others. Intelligence-based.
• Handling (Creature): Allows a character to better interact with unintelligent creatures, specifically wild animals. Also helps with riding stuff. Charisma- and Dexterity-based.
• Handling (Vehicles): Allows a character to better command and operate vehicles. Intelligence-, Charisma-, and Dexterity-based.
• Diplomacy: Allows a character to convince others that what they are saying is a good idea. Charisma-based.
• Disable Device: Allows a character to turn just about anything off, from a pit trap to a spell to an avalanche. Intelligence- and Dexterity-based.
• Escapology: Allows a character to slip out of restraints and through tight spaces. Also helps in escaping a grapple. Dexterity-based.
• Healing: Allows a character to heal themselves or others. Intelligence-based.
• Intimidation: Allows a character to intimidate others. Charisma-based.
• Knowledge: Demonstrates a character’s study in various topics, and allows them to apply it by assessing creatures and situations. Intelligence-based.
• Sleight of Hand: Allows a character to pick pockets, feint, place items on another, or conceal items on themselves. Dexterity-based.
• Perception: Allows a character to better use their senses. Intelligence-based.
• Psychology: Allows a character to assess the motives of their opponents. Intelligence-based.
• Stealth: Allows a character to conceal themselves from others. Intelligence- and Dexterity-based.
• Survival: Allows a character to keep themselves alive in extreme circumstances. Intelligence-based.
• Thaumaturgy: Allows a character to identify arcane magical creatures and auras. Intelligence-based.
• Theology: Allows a character to identify extraplanars and divine magical auras. Intelligence-based.

This list is very much a work in progress.

Combat will follow the standard/move/immediate/swift/free/full-round standard of D&D. Instead of rolling all defensive bonuses into AC, there will be the parry, dodge, and block defenses, GURPS-style. Standard AC will pretty much be size modifiers, armor bonuses, and deflection modifiers.

Spellcasting is redone- goodbye, Vancian magic. Spells require rolls to cast- a character rolls 1d100, adds their Arcana (a bonus they get from class), skill modifier, and misc bonuses, and if they hit the difficulty they succeed. Better margins of success mean more damage and stuff. If they have an Arcana bonus equal to or more than the spell DC, they can just cast, no rolling or chance of critical failure.

So classes...
A fighter-type with full BAB and whatnot, strong bonuses to parry, dodge, and block, with bonus feats and extra abilities up the wazoo. The basic idea it is built on is that of a highly versatile combatant- He's got bonus Exploit Points for more combat schticks, and a floating feat to switch around. It will be heavily based on the Tome Fighter, but ratcheted down a bit. So he can use ALL the weapons, and has all sorts of tricks that make tactical combat more viable than "hit it again."

A mage-type who's got magic. The spell system works a lot differently- mages only need to check their spellbook once per month, and otherwise they just have a list of spells memorized that they can use all the time. There are no daily/encounter/etc limits on magic, just how often you can roll and hit the spell DC. Non-combat spells require multiple rolls over a long period of time, so really are just "downtime" things. Spells don't have levels per se, but every one has a DC.

There will be an assassin-type and a thief-type, as opposed to just a rogue-type. The thief-type will really be more of a swashbuckler/acrobatic combatant type. "Thief" is an out-of combat specialty that an assassin or swashbuckler will be able to work towards.

Priests will be less of the heavy-armor combat-caster types and more buffers and healers. Offer lots of auras and benefits, effectively more akin to a Marshall than a Cleric.

So with the combat roles, there will be a buffers, damage dealers, and controllers. One of the big flaws I see with D&D combat is that it expects the wizards to be passively standing behind the warriors. In reality, everyone has their own defenses- the warriors have big armor, the assassins are unseen, and the wizards are behind walls of magical force or are flying above the battlefield. So there is definitely no "tank" roll. Oh, and combat healing is not expected, except in emergencies.

More to come, when I get the time to write it up.

[Korgan0]

Having Constitution (or whatever) function as the Be Tough attribute has always been a bad idea. It doesn't functionally add anything interesting to your character, and to what degree you want to be tough is just going to end up being determined by your archetype in any case. Fighters are always going to want to have a really high Con, and Wizards less so, regardless of what subset of that class you're going to be.

Having played a decent chunk of Dark Heresy, I find that a d100 adds pretty much nothing to a game when compared to a d20, apart from taking longer to adjudicate. It allows for a smaller likelihood of critical failures or successes, but I don't really think that's worth the additional hassle, given that you can chuck in confirmation rolls or whatever.

There's really not enough here to do a solid critique; intra-party balance has always been a huge problem of Sword-n-Sorcery games, and I don't know how you're going to deal with that.

[downzorz]

I think that having a Be Tough attribute is just as important as having a Be Strong attribute or a Be Smart attribute. Sure, wizards are always going to have less Con than fighters, but similar things are also true of Strength, Intelligence, Charisma... all the stats. And yeah, it does offer variation, there is a difference between a fighter who pumps everything into Strength and hits really hard and one who balances it out with more Constitution and loses striking power in favor of staying power.

The d100 I don't see as being that much harder to adjudicate. After all, confirmation rolls and all take longer too. There are other reasons for a d100- for example, I'm doing "high" BAB as like +4 per level, and "low" BAB as like +1 per level. This means that nobody has to screw around with fractional saves or BAB anymore.

I added more class stuff. It's a bit rambling right now.