I'm finishing my rpg and am curious if any would be interested in me posting it. I also enjoy how critical this site is, so would enjoy some hard hitting feedback.
I'm basically gathering things I like from many game systems and adding in a few things of my own.
It's low fantasy, not epic, and only has 10 levels. There is inherent multi-classing to a lesser extent, however two abilities are unique to every class.
It has an additional combat mechanic that adds non-trivial choices. Characters have pacts which work like sigils in guildwars(1 or 2). They provide a small passive bonus until used, at which point they provide a large bonus.
The game also uses a bell curve for dice (mostly 3d6 + bonus, or 4d6 drop lowest +bonus), which stops range silliness like 3rd edition.
The concept for character creation is few but important choices.
I don't have a world to go with it at the moment, and am undecided about how to go about this, if it's important or not.
Well here's my heart breaker.
http://www.mediafire.com/?myfiles
New version
It's still a work in progress. I need to clarify terrain, add items, classes, talents and more monster races, and add huge multi character monsters. Still the base game is obvious.
Element's and Pacts; My RPG
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Element's and Pacts; My RPG
Last edited by Thymos on Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Darth Rabbitt
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OgreBattle
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Yah.
This system uses gains traits every other level. Traits can be used to take an ability from other classes and other effects (kind of like feats, only hopefully with less suck).
Monsters are simply built as characters using their traits to gain monster abilities.
The exception are large monsters like dragons and giants that someone might want to face parties on their own.
Since it's pretty much been shown that one large stat block doesn't work very well I've worked an alternative.
Large monsters are basically assembled as multiple characters.
Take a dragon. The head is built as a fire mage. The arms are fighters. The body is a guardian (very tough). Legs are a beserker (AOE fighter).
Some abilities are added for the whole dragon (flight, fire resistance). Taking out anything but the body reduces it's ability to fight, it only dies when the body is taken out (the body is tougher to compensate for this). Only legs allow the dragon to move, the body has no actions.
Status effects and conditions on one part of the body only affect that part. So if an arm is stunned then the rest of the dragon is ok.
There are also mook monsters.
Unlike 4e these aren't stupid. They have no class (only use traits). Characters normally have a base +25 grace (health), mooks don't so they have fewer hp, around the 10-15 range. They also automatically fail any checks to not die/be knocked out. Their skills and abilities are also easier to calculate. Because of the bell curve no matter what the player's defense is they have a chance of hitting (with a few rare exceptions that only last 1 round).
This system uses gains traits every other level. Traits can be used to take an ability from other classes and other effects (kind of like feats, only hopefully with less suck).
Monsters are simply built as characters using their traits to gain monster abilities.
The exception are large monsters like dragons and giants that someone might want to face parties on their own.
Since it's pretty much been shown that one large stat block doesn't work very well I've worked an alternative.
Large monsters are basically assembled as multiple characters.
Take a dragon. The head is built as a fire mage. The arms are fighters. The body is a guardian (very tough). Legs are a beserker (AOE fighter).
Some abilities are added for the whole dragon (flight, fire resistance). Taking out anything but the body reduces it's ability to fight, it only dies when the body is taken out (the body is tougher to compensate for this). Only legs allow the dragon to move, the body has no actions.
Status effects and conditions on one part of the body only affect that part. So if an arm is stunned then the rest of the dragon is ok.
There are also mook monsters.
Unlike 4e these aren't stupid. They have no class (only use traits). Characters normally have a base +25 grace (health), mooks don't so they have fewer hp, around the 10-15 range. They also automatically fail any checks to not die/be knocked out. Their skills and abilities are also easier to calculate. Because of the bell curve no matter what the player's defense is they have a chance of hitting (with a few rare exceptions that only last 1 round).
Last edited by Thymos on Fri Mar 22, 2013 5:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Foxwarrior
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John Magnum
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I would be interested in seeing your dice mechanic spelled out, because I don't see how using a bell curve magically extends the breadth of the RNG. Like, I seriously don't get how
is true. If your bell curve is 3d6 + Bonus roll high, the mook's to-hit is 4 and your defense is 25, the mook will never hit you. If your point is that bonus and target numbers stay small, that's great but has fuck-all to do with the use of a bell curve.Thymos wrote:Because of the bell curve no matter what the player's defense is they have a chance of hitting (with a few rare exceptions that only last 1 round).
-JM
Oh, further detail I guess. Not sure how my dragon is a chicken though (knocking out it's head doesn't mean cutting it off, just wounding it severely).
At level 1 a character will roll 3d6 + 3 for their best skill innately.
At level 5 it will be 4d6 drop lowest + 6. This doesn't improve from levels 6-9.
Defense for a level 1 is by default around 11.
Defense for a level 5 is by default around 17.
Yes, this is very skewed towards equal level players actually hitting each other. Still a level 1 will only need a 14 on 3d6 (unlikely but possible) to hit a level 5 on default. The variance for defense is only about a +2 bonus at max, +3 if you have no armor (and in that case your dieing quick, to lucky attacks or area of effects). There is also an easy ability to increase your to hit at a sacrifice of damage, also around a +3.
At level 1 a character will roll 3d6 + 3 for their best skill innately.
At level 5 it will be 4d6 drop lowest + 6. This doesn't improve from levels 6-9.
Defense for a level 1 is by default around 11.
Defense for a level 5 is by default around 17.
Yes, this is very skewed towards equal level players actually hitting each other. Still a level 1 will only need a 14 on 3d6 (unlikely but possible) to hit a level 5 on default. The variance for defense is only about a +2 bonus at max, +3 if you have no armor (and in that case your dieing quick, to lucky attacks or area of effects). There is also an easy ability to increase your to hit at a sacrifice of damage, also around a +3.
Last edited by Thymos on Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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John Magnum
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Foxwarrior
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Oh, it's worse (9 or less half the time, with an 8 being the most likely result). Presumably that's why he's adding another +3. So, a level 5 is much less likely to hit a level 5 (27%) than a level 1 is to hit a level 1 (84%). http://anydice.com/program/1feb
How does the dragon fight if you've knocked it unconscious?
How does the dragon fight if you've knocked it unconscious?
Oops. 4d6 drop lowest. I'll fix that, big typo there.
The dragon doesn't get knocked out if the head is taken out. Imagine it just getting wounded enough that it can't use it's breath weapon or spit fireballs, but can still make wounded bite attacks.
After seeing that calculator I'm considering upping defense by 1.
http://anydice.com/program/1fec
Here's with drop lowest. I really love those bell curves, beautiful.
The dragon doesn't get knocked out if the head is taken out. Imagine it just getting wounded enough that it can't use it's breath weapon or spit fireballs, but can still make wounded bite attacks.
After seeing that calculator I'm considering upping defense by 1.
http://anydice.com/program/1fec
Here's with drop lowest. I really love those bell curves, beautiful.
Last edited by Thymos on Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Foxwarrior
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Max skill and max attribute bonus is 5.
I'm calculating defense as 2*combat skill + attribute + 3 (I'm making the change)
At level 1 the max is 3 skill/3 attribute, for a defense of 12
lvl 2 is 4/3 defense 14
lvl 3 is 4/4 defense 15
lvl 4 is 5/4 defense 17
lvl 5 is 5/5 defense 18
Past level 5 the max does not increase.
The roll is up to skill 4 is 1d6 per skill level (drop lowest at 4d6). Skill level 5 gives a +1 bonus to hit. Attribute is just a flat +1 bonus per attribute level.
Since the to hit average doesn't increase linearly, the defense probably shouldn't either.
I used to use only use highest 3d6 of (skill level)d6, but 5d6 skews the curve in ways I don't like.
As far as the dragons head, after you wound the head it just stops it's abilities from the head, this only represents injuring the head, not knocking the dragon out. If you continue hitting the head it would start hurting the body, which would be considered the health to kill the dragon.
The idea is to give players an option. Take out the non body parts (not as tough as the body) and make the dragon less dangerous, or take out the body (the toughest part) first but let the dragon have full offense till dead. Give some strategy to fighting larger monsters, as well as making them not a large pile of hit points by separating the pieces. In a sense they function like an opposing party, but with some large differences (such as occupying the same space, killing the body kills the whole thing).
I'm calculating defense as 2*combat skill + attribute + 3 (I'm making the change)
At level 1 the max is 3 skill/3 attribute, for a defense of 12
lvl 2 is 4/3 defense 14
lvl 3 is 4/4 defense 15
lvl 4 is 5/4 defense 17
lvl 5 is 5/5 defense 18
Past level 5 the max does not increase.
The roll is up to skill 4 is 1d6 per skill level (drop lowest at 4d6). Skill level 5 gives a +1 bonus to hit. Attribute is just a flat +1 bonus per attribute level.
Since the to hit average doesn't increase linearly, the defense probably shouldn't either.
I used to use only use highest 3d6 of (skill level)d6, but 5d6 skews the curve in ways I don't like.
As far as the dragons head, after you wound the head it just stops it's abilities from the head, this only represents injuring the head, not knocking the dragon out. If you continue hitting the head it would start hurting the body, which would be considered the health to kill the dragon.
The idea is to give players an option. Take out the non body parts (not as tough as the body) and make the dragon less dangerous, or take out the body (the toughest part) first but let the dragon have full offense till dead. Give some strategy to fighting larger monsters, as well as making them not a large pile of hit points by separating the pieces. In a sense they function like an opposing party, but with some large differences (such as occupying the same space, killing the body kills the whole thing).
Last edited by Thymos on Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Well here's my heart breaker.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?7p7ynf6sd3tduay
It's still a work in progress. I need to clarify terrain, add items, classes, talents and more monster races, and add huge multi character monsters. Still the base game is obvious.
Main post is edited to include this.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?7p7ynf6sd3tduay
It's still a work in progress. I need to clarify terrain, add items, classes, talents and more monster races, and add huge multi character monsters. Still the base game is obvious.
Main post is edited to include this.
I'm skimming through it now.
In General, You really need an editor.
1.2: I love the description for Shadow.
2.1: Open Skill Checks: The Example probably needs a Target Number.
2.3.1: Increment: Initial Reaction is UGH WHAT. I had to skip to another section and then come back to it before figuring out that it was just Degrees of Success. Looking at the formula made my brain just shut down. Maybe other people are more tolerant about that sort of thing, but I kind of doubt it.
3.1: I don't understand what's going on at all. You might need to explain how this works a little better. A more expansive example would be very helpful.
3.7: I like this section. It amuses me.
4. Character Creation: Offhand, having the character class descriptions so far away from character creation is a bad idea. In fact, I recommend that you look at the 3E or 4E PHB's and compare their character creation steps with the Table of Contents. See if you can figure out what they did.
Highly Recommend that you make a character sheet. You can intuit a lot from a character sheet, helpful when trying to figure out how the game works.
5.1: Resistances should probably be detailed somewhere else. At least put them in their own section. I do like that having certain types of resistances also gave you immunities to certain types of conditions.
7.2: Death is mentioned but I have no idea how PC's actually die in this game. There's an implied soft cap of 6 for the number of wounds a character can take (at that point they can't move anymore).
10.1: What is a "Like Group?" I guess this only applies for Team Monster?
10.2: Move then Act? That's gross, dude.
For a round means until the Start of the next turn or the End of the next turn?
10.3.1: Wording is very sloppy.
10.4: Instead of "Movement" you might want to be explicit that you're covering Alternative modes of Movement. If you're not, then you might not want to even include that because using a move action for movement is kind of obvious.
I think it's funny that move actions have more options than Standard Actions.
10.6. Common Terms: This entire section could probably be moved somewhere else.
11.0: ha
12: Instead of saying "On using a pact for the unleash" say, "When Unleashing a pact."
"Not all pacts have an Unleash" to "Not all pacts can be unleashed."
Treat the mechanic like a verb as opposed to a noun.
Also, I'm glad I read this because I'm going to steal it.
13.6. Lightning Mage.Major Pacts: I'm glad I'm not the only person who puts "ride the lightning" somewhere in my games.
Off-hand, it looks fine, just unfinished. We'll have more to work with when you finish up Talents and the Bestiary.
In General, You really need an editor.
1.2: I love the description for Shadow.
2.1: Open Skill Checks: The Example probably needs a Target Number.
2.3.1: Increment: Initial Reaction is UGH WHAT. I had to skip to another section and then come back to it before figuring out that it was just Degrees of Success. Looking at the formula made my brain just shut down. Maybe other people are more tolerant about that sort of thing, but I kind of doubt it.
3.1: I don't understand what's going on at all. You might need to explain how this works a little better. A more expansive example would be very helpful.
3.7: I like this section. It amuses me.
4. Character Creation: Offhand, having the character class descriptions so far away from character creation is a bad idea. In fact, I recommend that you look at the 3E or 4E PHB's and compare their character creation steps with the Table of Contents. See if you can figure out what they did.
Highly Recommend that you make a character sheet. You can intuit a lot from a character sheet, helpful when trying to figure out how the game works.
5.1: Resistances should probably be detailed somewhere else. At least put them in their own section. I do like that having certain types of resistances also gave you immunities to certain types of conditions.
7.2: Death is mentioned but I have no idea how PC's actually die in this game. There's an implied soft cap of 6 for the number of wounds a character can take (at that point they can't move anymore).
10.1: What is a "Like Group?" I guess this only applies for Team Monster?
10.2: Move then Act? That's gross, dude.
For a round means until the Start of the next turn or the End of the next turn?
10.3.1: Wording is very sloppy.
10.4: Instead of "Movement" you might want to be explicit that you're covering Alternative modes of Movement. If you're not, then you might not want to even include that because using a move action for movement is kind of obvious.
I think it's funny that move actions have more options than Standard Actions.
10.6. Common Terms: This entire section could probably be moved somewhere else.
11.0: ha
12: Instead of saying "On using a pact for the unleash" say, "When Unleashing a pact."
"Not all pacts have an Unleash" to "Not all pacts can be unleashed."
Treat the mechanic like a verb as opposed to a noun.
Also, I'm glad I read this because I'm going to steal it.
13.6. Lightning Mage.Major Pacts: I'm glad I'm not the only person who puts "ride the lightning" somewhere in my games.
Off-hand, it looks fine, just unfinished. We'll have more to work with when you finish up Talents and the Bestiary.
PSY DUCK?
Thanks a ton, I really appreciate it.
Also your right, I really, really need an editor. I'm looking for one, but I don't really know how to go about finding one.
I like that you love the pacts section.
Also glad there are no egregious flaws.
I'm mathematically minded, math formulas don't scare me, and I just included it for those who like it.
I'll also change where character classes are.
Move than act is for balance reasons. It's to nerf kiting.
For a round means start of the next turn, I'll fix that, and really just make a lot of edits you suggested. Thank you very much.
I'll have to change it to a minimum movement of one. Should I make it so that wound penalties don't affect movement?
Oh, and PC's die on choice or total party wipe. I always hated including death as default in the game, but I could put rules in the game for death that are optional.
Also any recommendations for software to make a character sheet with?
Also your right, I really, really need an editor. I'm looking for one, but I don't really know how to go about finding one.
I like that you love the pacts section.
Also glad there are no egregious flaws.
I'm mathematically minded, math formulas don't scare me, and I just included it for those who like it.
I'll also change where character classes are.
Move than act is for balance reasons. It's to nerf kiting.
For a round means start of the next turn, I'll fix that, and really just make a lot of edits you suggested. Thank you very much.
I'll have to change it to a minimum movement of one. Should I make it so that wound penalties don't affect movement?
Oh, and PC's die on choice or total party wipe. I always hated including death as default in the game, but I could put rules in the game for death that are optional.
Also any recommendations for software to make a character sheet with?
Last edited by Thymos on Sun Mar 31, 2013 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Here is the next version with some updates.
Anyone want to volunteer as an editor?
http://www.mediafire.com/?myfiles
Anyone want to volunteer as an editor?
http://www.mediafire.com/?myfiles
Last edited by Thymos on Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
New version link is missing.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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I think you're linking to your personal files, which will just be a link to an account signup page or mediafire account for us.
DSMatticus wrote:Again, look at this fucking map you moron. Take your finger and trace each country's coast, then trace its claim line. Even you - and I say that as someone who could not think less of your intelligence - should be able to tell that one of these things is not like the other.
Kaelik wrote:I invented saying mean things about Tussock.