Soul Fantasy (name subject to change) is my pet project. I have decided on making it a D20 system. Setting will be secondary for me as I want the setting to be shaped by what's possible in the rules though there are a few elements that have to do with both. One being that the game will be steam-punk/fantasy. I had always wanted a way to combine elements of Dragonmech/Iron Kingdoms with regular DnD. When I'd started this project that had been one of my goals.
I have decided to present my design goals with the rules I present and to present them one at a time to prevent myself from being overwhelmed. Most of my ideas were made over a year ago and have been changed and reworked into what they are now. Some ideas have been gathered from here and caused ripples throughout the system (most notably Lago's threads about both HP and Attack rolling into Damage). The first idea I'm going to present is one of the ideas I founded [many of my ideas upon] the way I will approach the entire system and the setting.
The Soul
The idea is simple, magic comes from the soul. All living things (even the plant things) have souls. It is energy from these souls that influences the world. Most of the time the influence happens passively and naturally though those with the knowledge and ability can utilize this naturally occurring energy to have a more direct and obvious influence on their environment. This is where Magic/Chi/whatever comes from. This mystical energy is called Mana. Most souls have enough energy to keep the living alive and a bit more in excess to allow them to subtly influence the world in a passive fashion. Some souls can grow to be stronger than others and thus retain more Mana.
Now the design goal with this is to firstly allow anyone to have access to "magic" or whatever it is they want to call it and to give a plausible explanation for why HP exists, how a "fighter" type character can get just what he needs at the right moment, etc. And secondly to put all special abilities on the same resource track. All special/mystical/etc abilities will utilize Mana. Everything from doing more damage with a melee attack, instilling fear in someone, and summoning a fireball will take at least a point of Mana to perform. Now the abilities on this resource track will also be of comparable quality of course.
Soul Fantasy: Foundation
Moderator: Moderators
The abilities aren't "bought" with Mana, its just that Mana is required to use them. There is still the class ability/feat/skill building set up. I liked Exalted's explanations so I decided to give it the leap. There are a few differences but the base idea is there.
I have a lot more to expound upon but I haven't been able to give it the concentration necessary as I've been going over some of it with friends.
I have a lot more to expound upon but I haven't been able to give it the concentration necessary as I've been going over some of it with friends.
Levels and Tiers
Currently levels represent what they always represent in most D20 systems; incremental benchmarks in power. Characters naturally go up in level improving their stats and gaining new abilities. Class abilities and feats are gained at alternating levels to ensure that character growth is happening every level. Skills go up every level automatically along with HP, defenses, etc (more on these later). I'm settling for 20 level progression for familiarity.
Tiers, unlike the form discussed on this board, are not level dependent. Character tiers separate the mooks, cohorts, players, and bosses from each other . There are 4 character tiers only 1 of which players should ever be playing in.
Currently levels represent what they always represent in most D20 systems; incremental benchmarks in power. Characters naturally go up in level improving their stats and gaining new abilities. Class abilities and feats are gained at alternating levels to ensure that character growth is happening every level. Skills go up every level automatically along with HP, defenses, etc (more on these later). I'm settling for 20 level progression for familiarity.
Tiers, unlike the form discussed on this board, are not level dependent. Character tiers separate the mooks, cohorts, players, and bosses from each other . There are 4 character tiers only 1 of which players should ever be playing in.
- Common - As the name suggest these are you commoners, the mooks, the average joes. Characters of this tier specifically do not have access to most of the game. They gain no HP, don't gain more Mana with levels, don't retain experience (though they can go beyond level 1 the significance of this will be revealed later), can't gain classes of any kind, don't gain feats, etc. They are, at base, your average everyday normies that can essentially be taken out in one hit.
Adept - A few steps above the commoners are the Adept tier. This is the tier where your elite enemies come form, where companions and other aides will be coming from. They have access to more of the game including being able to get NPC Classes (basically templates as the 4E monster manual set ups) that allow them to get special abilities. They have half the HP that a full character would have, can retain Mana but have no way to regenerate it inside of battle, can gain feats, don't retain xp.
Champion - Champion tier is where player characters and most named villains reside. Characters of this tier have access to the game and its abilities. Player characters should always be on this tier.
Lord - The lord tier are for the highest profile NPCs. They are the gods, demon lords, major villains/champions of the world at large. They have access to all the things a Champion tier character would have but with a few advantages. They may have more HP, more actions in combat, retain more than the legal limit of Mana, etc depending on what Lord template they have.
The Attributes
I've decided to go with the 6 attribute array. While there are a few differences in how they work from other D20 systems they are largely the same as I have not felt much need to change them much. The names are up in the air. I am tempted to both change them and leave them the same for recognition purposes but that is a very minor issue.
The reason its 16 is because the +3 given by that is enough of an advantage to a roll and I do not desire for characters to be pushing toward +6 at character creation just from having a high stat. If a character focuses on a single stat over the course of a game then they will accumulate another +3 to all rolls involving a given stat by virtue of the attribute increases every 3 levels. This is with the intent on keeping available bonuses under control. Now size is not factored into this as changing sizes won't be easy and come with penalties as well as bonuses.
A number of concepts from my game have been mentioned (things such as Meta/Physical Damage and Thresholds). These will be covered later as I continue along.
Edited to add:The attributes that modify the same thing use the higher modifier between the attributes as 4E.
I've decided to go with the 6 attribute array. While there are a few differences in how they work from other D20 systems they are largely the same as I have not felt much need to change them much. The names are up in the air. I am tempted to both change them and leave them the same for recognition purposes but that is a very minor issue.
- Strength/Power - Represents the amount of physical force a character can exert on their surroundings. A character with a lot of this is, of course, physically empowered while a character without will be lacking. Things that cannot move under its own power or that otherwise do not exert a physical force do not have a strength/power score. This score determines encumbrance values and modifies Melee/Thrown weapon Damage, Fortitude, and Strength/Power based skills (Climb, Fly, Jump, Swim).
Constitution/Resilience - Represents physical health, resistance, and endurance. A character with a lot of this tends to be very healthy and energetic. They tend to recover quickly and resist physical ailments. Characters without tend to be lacking in these faculties. Nonliving characters and objects instead have a Structure score while characters and things lacking a physical body do not have this attribute at all. This attribute determines Endurance and Physical Thresholds. It also modifies Fortitude, Physical Damage Resistance, and (S)HP.
Dexterity/Agility - This represents grace, reflexes, and coordination. A character with a lot of this tends to be graceful, precise, and well balanced. Characters lacking in this tend to be the opposite. Characters and objects that do no not move under their own power do not have this attribute. This attribute modifies a character's Precision Bonus, Initiative, Reflex, and Dexterity/Agility based skills (Acrobatics, Balance, Escape Artist, Legerdemain, Piloting)
Wisdom/Instinct - This represents a character's intuition, senses, and awareness. A character with a lot of this tends to be very aware of details in their surroundings while those lacking it tend to miss things. Characters and objects that are not able to sense their surroundings do not have this attribute. This attribute modifies a character's Precision Bonus, Initiative, Reflex, and Wisdom/Instinct based skills (Insight, Investigate, Perception, Survival)
Intelligence/Intellect - This represents a character's knowledge, reasoning, and learning skills. Characters with a lot of this tend to be more knowledgeable, logical, and composed, while those lacking tend to be more ignorant. This attribute determines a character's Mental Thresholds and modifies Meta Damage Resistance, Will, the number of Wards a character can have Active and Intelligence based skills (Crafts (5), Linguistics, and Knowledges (5))
Charisma/Charm - This represents a character's influence and force of personality. Characters with a lot of this attribute tend to be more influential, convincing, and charismatic while those lacking tend to be less so. This attribute modifies Meta Damage, Will, the number of Contacts a character can have, and Charisma/Charm based skills (Animal Handling, Deceit, Intimidate, and Manipulation)
The reason its 16 is because the +3 given by that is enough of an advantage to a roll and I do not desire for characters to be pushing toward +6 at character creation just from having a high stat. If a character focuses on a single stat over the course of a game then they will accumulate another +3 to all rolls involving a given stat by virtue of the attribute increases every 3 levels. This is with the intent on keeping available bonuses under control. Now size is not factored into this as changing sizes won't be easy and come with penalties as well as bonuses.
A number of concepts from my game have been mentioned (things such as Meta/Physical Damage and Thresholds). These will be covered later as I continue along.
Edited to add:The attributes that modify the same thing use the higher modifier between the attributes as 4E.
Last edited by MGuy on Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:31 am, edited 2 times in total.
Note: I had a lot typed a few weeks ago but a snafu made it all go bye bye. Took me a while to encourage myself to type this hsit up some more. Anyways I'm still struggling with large parts of my system (Social combat, cohorts/contacts, mana generation, etc) but this particular part is pretty much decided on.
Anyways...
Mana
This is the central part of the entire system, the idea, and the foundation of everything there-in. Mana is basically energy of the soul. It allows an individual to manipulate the world around them. This is done largely subconsciously but can, of course, be done consciously through magic, abilities, etc.
All classes, all spells, and a number of skill abilities all use Mana. Anything from inducing fear, to fireball all use Mana. Regularly a person naturally generates 1 point per minute. This generation only functions if the character has 0 Mana. If the character has over 1 point of Mana they lose Mana at the same rate until they are back to 1. This is because the natural state of their body is to retain 1 Mana.
Characters with classes can breach that limit utilizing their class abilities to generate more Mana. Even when doing so a given character can only by default retain an amount of Mana equal to half their level rounded up. Certain abilities will allow a character to bypass this. A character can also only utilize the same amount of Mana on a given action. Currently only Lord level characters can breach that limit. When not generating Mana characters tend to lose it at the normal 1 Point/minute rate.
Of course a character cannot use more Mana than they have. A character can lose Mana they don't have. When this happens they suffer Mana Burn/Feedback/blah. This means they lose Hit Points and SHP*. A character with no Mana is essentially considered soulless* and if rendered unconscious will not regain consciousness until they have at least one point of Mana.
Mana is used for spells or abilities and generally represents short term or instantaneous effects. Any ability that utilizes Mana generally has an instant effect (fireball) or must be concentrated on and channeled (scrying). Long term effects utilize actual pieces of a given character's soul (IE XP). Rituals generally require that kind of expenditure. This will be discussed later on.
Finally larger and smaller creatures naturally retain more/less Mana respectively. The idea is that Larger creatures have a bigger pull on reality than smaller creatures. This will come into play throughout the system. The effects of this only come into play with creatures smaller than "Small" and larger than "Large". It will also be discussed in more detail later on.
* = Will be discusses later.
Anyways...
Mana
This is the central part of the entire system, the idea, and the foundation of everything there-in. Mana is basically energy of the soul. It allows an individual to manipulate the world around them. This is done largely subconsciously but can, of course, be done consciously through magic, abilities, etc.
All classes, all spells, and a number of skill abilities all use Mana. Anything from inducing fear, to fireball all use Mana. Regularly a person naturally generates 1 point per minute. This generation only functions if the character has 0 Mana. If the character has over 1 point of Mana they lose Mana at the same rate until they are back to 1. This is because the natural state of their body is to retain 1 Mana.
Characters with classes can breach that limit utilizing their class abilities to generate more Mana. Even when doing so a given character can only by default retain an amount of Mana equal to half their level rounded up. Certain abilities will allow a character to bypass this. A character can also only utilize the same amount of Mana on a given action. Currently only Lord level characters can breach that limit. When not generating Mana characters tend to lose it at the normal 1 Point/minute rate.
Of course a character cannot use more Mana than they have. A character can lose Mana they don't have. When this happens they suffer Mana Burn/Feedback/blah. This means they lose Hit Points and SHP*. A character with no Mana is essentially considered soulless* and if rendered unconscious will not regain consciousness until they have at least one point of Mana.
Mana is used for spells or abilities and generally represents short term or instantaneous effects. Any ability that utilizes Mana generally has an instant effect (fireball) or must be concentrated on and channeled (scrying). Long term effects utilize actual pieces of a given character's soul (IE XP). Rituals generally require that kind of expenditure. This will be discussed later on.
Finally larger and smaller creatures naturally retain more/less Mana respectively. The idea is that Larger creatures have a bigger pull on reality than smaller creatures. This will come into play throughout the system. The effects of this only come into play with creatures smaller than "Small" and larger than "Large". It will also be discussed in more detail later on.
* = Will be discusses later.
Last edited by MGuy on Sat Apr 02, 2011 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hit Points
HP Hit points in this game will represent a character's ability to not suffer serious injury. In my game this is also tied into the idea of Mana allowing a character to manipulate fate. HP is essentially fate manipulation and allows a character to subconsciously live through things they otherwise wouldn't without injury whether it manifests as skill, unnatural toughness, plain luck, etc.
Hit Points will be a lot more static now. A Champion Level character will have the choice of having 10 (no level), 15 (1 level), 20 (2 levels), and 25 (3 levels) base Hit Points. This is modified (as usual) by Constitution/Resilience. This amount increases only by 1 every 2 levels.
Now of course smaller creatures have less HP while larger creatures have more HP and by default HP is determined by Constitution/Resilience. As for Size the basic idea will be that larger creatures have a stronger pull on Fate than smaller creatures. This will be explained more thoroughly whenever I get around to explaining size differences. For now it is simply that Larger creatures produce larger and heavier effects through Mana usage and, by default, have more Mana, HP, power etc. This will also be covered later when I go into Size Differences.
Stock Hit Points (SHP)
Stock Hit Points (SHP) will be the max number of hit points that a character can recover between Full Rests*. For now the default SHP number is equal to the character's max HP. A character can heal HP naturally by channeling 1 SHP per minute into HP. This represents resting and recovering. Any ability that recovers HP drains an amount of SHP equal to the HP recovered. If a character runs out of SHP they cannot benefit from any healing that does not specifically bypass this requirement. For now SHP cannot be recovered in any other fashion than through a Full Rest.
Injuries and Dieing
When a character is out of Hit Points they take damage directly to their Constitution. Whenever you take this kind of damage you also roll a D6. You take an equal amount of damage to the ability on the corresponding d6 result. 1 = Strength, 3 = Dexterity, etc. On a roll of 2 instead of taking damage you are disabled. This means you just lost or injured something important. This is still in development but generally this will be how dismemberment, permanent scars, and the like will occur. Once a character's Constitution reaches 0 they die.
HP Hit points in this game will represent a character's ability to not suffer serious injury. In my game this is also tied into the idea of Mana allowing a character to manipulate fate. HP is essentially fate manipulation and allows a character to subconsciously live through things they otherwise wouldn't without injury whether it manifests as skill, unnatural toughness, plain luck, etc.
Hit Points will be a lot more static now. A Champion Level character will have the choice of having 10 (no level), 15 (1 level), 20 (2 levels), and 25 (3 levels) base Hit Points. This is modified (as usual) by Constitution/Resilience. This amount increases only by 1 every 2 levels.
Now of course smaller creatures have less HP while larger creatures have more HP and by default HP is determined by Constitution/Resilience. As for Size the basic idea will be that larger creatures have a stronger pull on Fate than smaller creatures. This will be explained more thoroughly whenever I get around to explaining size differences. For now it is simply that Larger creatures produce larger and heavier effects through Mana usage and, by default, have more Mana, HP, power etc. This will also be covered later when I go into Size Differences.
Stock Hit Points (SHP)
Stock Hit Points (SHP) will be the max number of hit points that a character can recover between Full Rests*. For now the default SHP number is equal to the character's max HP. A character can heal HP naturally by channeling 1 SHP per minute into HP. This represents resting and recovering. Any ability that recovers HP drains an amount of SHP equal to the HP recovered. If a character runs out of SHP they cannot benefit from any healing that does not specifically bypass this requirement. For now SHP cannot be recovered in any other fashion than through a Full Rest.
Injuries and Dieing
When a character is out of Hit Points they take damage directly to their Constitution. Whenever you take this kind of damage you also roll a D6. You take an equal amount of damage to the ability on the corresponding d6 result. 1 = Strength, 3 = Dexterity, etc. On a roll of 2 instead of taking damage you are disabled. This means you just lost or injured something important. This is still in development but generally this will be how dismemberment, permanent scars, and the like will occur. Once a character's Constitution reaches 0 they die.