Hi everyone, really new to the forums. Thought I would share the homebrew me and my friend came up with for ME. Check it out, open to thoughts, comments, and suggestions.
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D&D 5E Mass Effect Campaign Setting
- Thread starter Otog
- Start date
sulimo0310
Explorer
Thanks so much for sharing this! I absolutely LOVE the Mass Effect Universe and look foward to play testing this with my gaming group. Do you have any plans to add statblocks for enemies at this time? Also, have you given consideration to other ME Races, such as Geth, Elcor, Hanar and Angara?
Thanks again for sharing what was clearly a labor of love with us, and thank you in advance for any possible reply.
Sent from my SM-G900P using EN World mobile app
Thanks again for sharing what was clearly a labor of love with us, and thank you in advance for any possible reply.
Sent from my SM-G900P using EN World mobile app
I would love to do Geth. We are very firmly in between ME1 and ME2 territory with my home game, so although they'd be out of place, it is something I would like to see eventually. We are keeping the rest as strictly NPCs (including Batarians).
Yaarel
🇮🇱He-Mage
The Mass Effect Polyhedron rule book is only rules, without story. In other words, the rules are almost setting neutral, without a campaign setting. Actually, I prefer setting-neutral rules.
It would help me if your website added a separate setting book, in addition to the rule book, in order to spell out the description of the Mass Effect universe, the history and relations between the species, conflicts, opportunities, and adventure hooks. If possible, an adventure or even an adventure path with several adventures. The gaming story.
It would help me if your website added a separate setting book, in addition to the rule book, in order to spell out the description of the Mass Effect universe, the history and relations between the species, conflicts, opportunities, and adventure hooks. If possible, an adventure or even an adventure path with several adventures. The gaming story.
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MarkB
Legend
Given how much of the Mass Effect universe is detailed in various Wikis, that would seem like a needless duplication of effort, aside from the possible adventure path. Essentially, it would be seriously stepping into intellectual-property issues purely to present information already freely available.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Reading through it now. Pretty cool. And it looks like you put a lot of work into it.
Are you open to a few suggestions?
Turian's mobility is both a help and a hindrance in almost exactly even measure. Would it fit the same goal if they ignore the first square of difficult terrain each turn?
I see you are doing a larger chunk of HPs at 1st level and then minimal HPs at later levels, with a min of 1. This leads to some oddities like a CON 8 Adept losing only a single HP due to the low CON at first and never lose any other, and the flip side where a 20 CON gives x6 HP per level-after-first as a 10 CON. How about just adding your CON score (instead of CON modifier) at 1st and leaving it out when you level altogether.
Your rules for shields are nice and streamlined, but in play it feels like while you're near full HPs you'll be doing fine, doing fine, doing fine, and then when you drop down to bloodied you suddenly are at a lot less then half of "total damage you can take". In other words, it seems like a "death spiral" pattern where getting hurt makes it easier to get hurt more and characters can go down unexpectedly quickly once they reach that point.
I don't have a good solution that fits the source material, maybe shield can come back on line if you don't get hit for two rounds but that's additional tracking. Or maybe just in actual play frequent medigel use will be bringing it back online.
Still lots to go through including you prolific list of powers. Great work!
Are you open to a few suggestions?
Turian's mobility is both a help and a hindrance in almost exactly even measure. Would it fit the same goal if they ignore the first square of difficult terrain each turn?
I see you are doing a larger chunk of HPs at 1st level and then minimal HPs at later levels, with a min of 1. This leads to some oddities like a CON 8 Adept losing only a single HP due to the low CON at first and never lose any other, and the flip side where a 20 CON gives x6 HP per level-after-first as a 10 CON. How about just adding your CON score (instead of CON modifier) at 1st and leaving it out when you level altogether.
Your rules for shields are nice and streamlined, but in play it feels like while you're near full HPs you'll be doing fine, doing fine, doing fine, and then when you drop down to bloodied you suddenly are at a lot less then half of "total damage you can take". In other words, it seems like a "death spiral" pattern where getting hurt makes it easier to get hurt more and characters can go down unexpectedly quickly once they reach that point.
I don't have a good solution that fits the source material, maybe shield can come back on line if you don't get hit for two rounds but that's additional tracking. Or maybe just in actual play frequent medigel use will be bringing it back online.
Still lots to go through including you prolific list of powers. Great work!
This is it exactly. The document is admittedly lacking but I did not and do not want to include too much world setting information where I would be getting a C&D letter. That being said, I will be fleshing things out somewhat, like two to three sentences on each of the species and classes, just so people have a general flavor of what these things are all about.
I am certainly open to suggestions. HP is something we are taking a look at in my home game. Mostly, because the combat and combat-related classes (Soldiers, Infiltrators, and Vanguard) feel too much like the other three classes.
The limitation on HP mostly stems from ME being more sci-fi than fantasy. We are used to seeing characters in D&D stand up to dragon fire, but the example we used is that someone being able to survive being hit by 5 rocket launchers is a little ridiculous. However, we really liked how empowered 1st level characters felt in 4E, and really, does being more experienced really change that? Not a ton, but you are correct in pointing out that the benefit to HP as you level seems too minimal.
As for Shields and death spirals, that is the intent and that is how it plays out at the table. In D&D you are fine until you are dead/dying. Losing shields while bloodied definitely creates a sense of tension when players get caught in the open without shields. It incentivizes taking cover and using Hit Dice to recover. That is the other refreshing thing about it; I hardly ever used Hit Dice in D&D. I and my players never seemed to lack for Hit Dice. Limiting Hit Dice to only being used during a rest meant that they tended to be hoarded, and the lack of a "healer" class in ME, forced the issue of there needing to be a way to heal during combat.
Yaarel
🇮🇱He-Mage
I suspect that is enough.
A sentence or two to summarize the concept of each class and race.
Also a sentence or two to summarize the concept of the setting. Plus, any overall goals.
(For example, in Shadowrunner. ‘In a dystopian near future, corporations rule the world, competing ruthlessly against each other. A corporation might hire players to participate in covert operations against a rival corporation, including corporate espionage.’ Or something like that to summarize the setting.)
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