Ok, so everyone is maybe sick of these, but I've had a pet project I have been working on for several months which is my own update to the 3.5 rules. I didn't care much for 4e or Pathfinder (I won't go into that here). Both seem to be decent games - just not what I was looking for. However I was very eager to see something get changed. I was getting frustrated with 3.5 and considering a bunch of house rules but it ultimately morphed into something that went beyond just house rules.
I'm mainly in a conceptualizing stage but seeing the Enlightned Grognard (which looks great by the way and may accomplish what I wanted with a lot less work on my part) made me feel like maybe I was on to something that others might want to see. As others, it is a mash of various d20 systems, 4e, 3e, Trailblazer, Pathfinder...whatever else.
If anyone wants to take a look at the work in progress it is at my website: www.eyrurpg.com
Again, this is not playtested, it is mostly concepting but maybe it will give others some ideas for house rules and the like. It's still a bit of a mess, so I imagine its full of typos and some passages that are a bit confusing.
Anyway - a quick summary of rules changes for "Meta20":
-------------------
Altered stats a bit...
[sblock]...combining some aspects of Intelligence with Wisdom and breaking out the perception and some visual pattern / puzzle solving aspects of Int into a new stat. So the 6 stats are a bit different and now grouped as:
Attacks: Attribute Bonus + Training + d20
Strength
Perception (Traditionalists that can just call this Int if they prefer : )
Charisma
Defenses: Attribute Bonus + Training +10
Wisdom
Consitution
Dexterity
With the above groupings, Saving Throws no longer exist. You simply have Wisdom, Con and Dex "Defenses". Similarly, the spell "DC" system no longer exists. The attacker is always the one with the dice roll and uses their trained stats to "attack" and opponents Defenses.
Like the Enlightened Grognard, I have added the "BAB" series of +1, +3/4, +1/2 as a mechanic for each stat as "training" and it scales based on the class (or combination of classes) which you have.
So for instance, a Fighter is going to have +1 per level training in Strength but only a +1/2 training in Perception. Each attribute has an assigned level of training. For multi-classing you simply add your training bonus (like BAB).
Spellcasters use their "Attack" attribute (Generally Perception or Charisma) to cast spells versus opponents defenses just like Fighters use their Strength versus opponents defenses.
[/sblock]
Armor
[sblock]Armor provides Damage Reduction in this system, with an attack versus a character's Dexterity defense determining whether you hit or not.
[/sblock]
Skills
[sblock]I have co-opted the simplified skill charts of 4e (but only to an extent). I have also added a few skills to round out attributes and to fill holes that flat "attribute" checks used to attempt to fill.
Each class has it's own primary class skills and two "key attributes" which their primary skills center on. (i.e. for a Barbarian it is Strength and Con.) For their class skills, players pick their best bonus of the two key attributes and use that modifier as opposed to Intelligence to calculate their total skill points. They can then use these to purchase training in their classes primary skills.
They will then get a secondary bank of skill points modified by either their Int or Wis modifier which they can spend on any skill.
The only other rule is that the PCs skill points in a given skill cannot exceed the their training bonus for that attribute. So if a skill uses strength and the Wizard has a +1/2 per level Str training, his skill ranks can't exceed that number.
I eliminated skill synergies and replaced it with a more proactive "Synergy" that the player has to pursue as opposed to the static auto bonus.
[/sblock]
Conditions
[sblock]
I shortened the conditions list and made it a scalable system that integrates with spells and abilities. So for instance, there is a grouping of Wisdom based conditions that includes:
Enthralled - Charmed - Dominated
Generally, failure of a defense can possibly lead to the next category (i.e. failure by 10 may mean you are Charmed instead of just enthralled where as failure by 20 may mean you are Dominated-note this replicates the critical hit system for melee)
The same works for:
Disabled - Dying - Dead (A Consitution Defense)
Hindered - Entangled - Held (A Dexterity Defense)
etc. etc.
[/sblock]
Combat
[sblock]
I have sought to attempt to simplify combat rules. There is a basic 2 point to 4 point penalty system that sort of scales with the aforementioned conditions. Often the lowest on the scale provides a -2 to certain attacks and defenses which the condition might reasonably debilitate, while the mid pioint provides a -4 and the final usually provides special condiitons (such as being dominated).
All special attacks (Grapple, Bull Rush, etc.) use the same method to determine success to simplify things.
I have removed concealment as a percentage roll (that never seemed to work well for me) and replaced it with a conditon and straight up penalties. i.e. Dazzled - Obscured - Blinded.
[/sblock]
Items
[sblock]
Considering dropping Item creation feats that create permanent items.
Magic weapon / armor bonuses have been dropped. Magic is simply a quality that can be bestowed to a weapon which will provide a bonus to damage (the masterwork portion provides a bonus to on the to hit) or to damage reduction (in the case of armor).
Shields can be used to block attacks in lieu of a Dexterity Defense a certain number of times per round (which can be improved with feats).
[/sblock]
Spell Casting
[sblock]
Spells are getting a major face lift in light of the way melee and spellcasting tend to end up on closer to equal footing (the Saves / Spell DC progression replaced with what amounts to a magic BAB versus player Defenses). Don't have much of that posted yet.
Spell lists combined - so Druid/Ranger uses the same spell list. Cleric/Paladin uses same and Sorcerer/Wizard uses the same.
All casting classes (including the "hybrids") use the same spell chart (however a characters governing spell casting stat is what determines the spell levels they have access to so the hybrid classes are still limited).
Players no longer memorize spells. They can -prepare- spells everyday. They can then cast any combination of these prepared spells throughout the day as they need them (the prepared spells are not lost from memory but are counted against their daily total).
[/sblock]
Several other changes as well, which again are all in a "concepting" stage.
If you get a chance, have a look and tell me what you think. Thanks!
I'm mainly in a conceptualizing stage but seeing the Enlightned Grognard (which looks great by the way and may accomplish what I wanted with a lot less work on my part) made me feel like maybe I was on to something that others might want to see. As others, it is a mash of various d20 systems, 4e, 3e, Trailblazer, Pathfinder...whatever else.
If anyone wants to take a look at the work in progress it is at my website: www.eyrurpg.com
Again, this is not playtested, it is mostly concepting but maybe it will give others some ideas for house rules and the like. It's still a bit of a mess, so I imagine its full of typos and some passages that are a bit confusing.
Anyway - a quick summary of rules changes for "Meta20":
-------------------
Altered stats a bit...
[sblock]...combining some aspects of Intelligence with Wisdom and breaking out the perception and some visual pattern / puzzle solving aspects of Int into a new stat. So the 6 stats are a bit different and now grouped as:
Attacks: Attribute Bonus + Training + d20
Strength
Perception (Traditionalists that can just call this Int if they prefer : )
Charisma
Defenses: Attribute Bonus + Training +10
Wisdom
Consitution
Dexterity
With the above groupings, Saving Throws no longer exist. You simply have Wisdom, Con and Dex "Defenses". Similarly, the spell "DC" system no longer exists. The attacker is always the one with the dice roll and uses their trained stats to "attack" and opponents Defenses.
Like the Enlightened Grognard, I have added the "BAB" series of +1, +3/4, +1/2 as a mechanic for each stat as "training" and it scales based on the class (or combination of classes) which you have.
So for instance, a Fighter is going to have +1 per level training in Strength but only a +1/2 training in Perception. Each attribute has an assigned level of training. For multi-classing you simply add your training bonus (like BAB).
Spellcasters use their "Attack" attribute (Generally Perception or Charisma) to cast spells versus opponents defenses just like Fighters use their Strength versus opponents defenses.
[/sblock]
Armor
[sblock]Armor provides Damage Reduction in this system, with an attack versus a character's Dexterity defense determining whether you hit or not.
[/sblock]
Skills
[sblock]I have co-opted the simplified skill charts of 4e (but only to an extent). I have also added a few skills to round out attributes and to fill holes that flat "attribute" checks used to attempt to fill.
Each class has it's own primary class skills and two "key attributes" which their primary skills center on. (i.e. for a Barbarian it is Strength and Con.) For their class skills, players pick their best bonus of the two key attributes and use that modifier as opposed to Intelligence to calculate their total skill points. They can then use these to purchase training in their classes primary skills.
They will then get a secondary bank of skill points modified by either their Int or Wis modifier which they can spend on any skill.
The only other rule is that the PCs skill points in a given skill cannot exceed the their training bonus for that attribute. So if a skill uses strength and the Wizard has a +1/2 per level Str training, his skill ranks can't exceed that number.
I eliminated skill synergies and replaced it with a more proactive "Synergy" that the player has to pursue as opposed to the static auto bonus.
[/sblock]
Conditions
[sblock]
I shortened the conditions list and made it a scalable system that integrates with spells and abilities. So for instance, there is a grouping of Wisdom based conditions that includes:
Enthralled - Charmed - Dominated
Generally, failure of a defense can possibly lead to the next category (i.e. failure by 10 may mean you are Charmed instead of just enthralled where as failure by 20 may mean you are Dominated-note this replicates the critical hit system for melee)
The same works for:
Disabled - Dying - Dead (A Consitution Defense)
Hindered - Entangled - Held (A Dexterity Defense)
etc. etc.
[/sblock]
Combat
[sblock]
I have sought to attempt to simplify combat rules. There is a basic 2 point to 4 point penalty system that sort of scales with the aforementioned conditions. Often the lowest on the scale provides a -2 to certain attacks and defenses which the condition might reasonably debilitate, while the mid pioint provides a -4 and the final usually provides special condiitons (such as being dominated).
All special attacks (Grapple, Bull Rush, etc.) use the same method to determine success to simplify things.
I have removed concealment as a percentage roll (that never seemed to work well for me) and replaced it with a conditon and straight up penalties. i.e. Dazzled - Obscured - Blinded.
[/sblock]
Items
[sblock]
Considering dropping Item creation feats that create permanent items.
Magic weapon / armor bonuses have been dropped. Magic is simply a quality that can be bestowed to a weapon which will provide a bonus to damage (the masterwork portion provides a bonus to on the to hit) or to damage reduction (in the case of armor).
Shields can be used to block attacks in lieu of a Dexterity Defense a certain number of times per round (which can be improved with feats).
[/sblock]
Spell Casting
[sblock]
Spells are getting a major face lift in light of the way melee and spellcasting tend to end up on closer to equal footing (the Saves / Spell DC progression replaced with what amounts to a magic BAB versus player Defenses). Don't have much of that posted yet.
Spell lists combined - so Druid/Ranger uses the same spell list. Cleric/Paladin uses same and Sorcerer/Wizard uses the same.
All casting classes (including the "hybrids") use the same spell chart (however a characters governing spell casting stat is what determines the spell levels they have access to so the hybrid classes are still limited).
Players no longer memorize spells. They can -prepare- spells everyday. They can then cast any combination of these prepared spells throughout the day as they need them (the prepared spells are not lost from memory but are counted against their daily total).
[/sblock]
Several other changes as well, which again are all in a "concepting" stage.
If you get a chance, have a look and tell me what you think. Thanks!
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