Michael Morris
First Post
I'm starting a new thread since I really don't know what page the old one has fell to, and there are major changes since the last time I wrote on this. I am going to review how I reached this point.
I started with a blend of d20 and Savage Worlds. You rolled
d20 + ability die + skill die
The ability and skill dice fell in the d4 to d12 range. Early on I hit upon allowing multiple dice to be used for extreme skill or ability, but to keep the target numbers sane (a major criticism I have of d20) you only keep two of the dice. So a dragon with 4d12 for its strength and 2d12 for fighting skill rolled d20 + the best 2 of 6d12.
Playtests where conducted. It seemed natural to put in equipment and magic as items that added dice. I soon hit a problem of having lots of low dice, especially if there were d12's in the mix.
Also, the limit 2 rule had made it a bit less fun to be high level. While running Pathfinder, towards the end of my game, it hit me that it would be nice if my big bads could do more on their turns. High level characters getting more actions? Well, fighters do get more attacks. So I decided that if someone was rolling more than 2 dice, then could divide the dice among targets, but had to assign at least 2 dice per target.
That worked, but it still had problems. My latest idea is to decouple the dice from the various effects somewhat as follows.. This will be hard to follow cause I'm still working out terminology.
Abilities, skills, traits, equipment, spells, all these have a rank of 0 or higher. When you perform an action, you add the ranks of whatever you have that is relevant. At the very least, an ability will be relevant. The rank determines the dice you use with the d20 as follows:
1 d4
2 d6
3 d8
4 d10
5 d12
6 d12+d4
7 d12+d6
8 d12+d8
9 d12+d10
10 2d12
11 2d12+d4
...
And so on, infinitely. If you have more than 2 dice to roll with the d20, you can break the action into multiple targets. If you want to take more than one action in a turn you may do so, but the dice pool used will be that of the action you have the least skill in from among the ones you are attempting, and it must have at least 3 dice (be rank 11).
Consider a fighter with a combat trait rank of 2, longsword weapon skill rank of 2, and a Strength rank of 5. He rolls d12+d10 when he attacks with that sword. These sorts of numbers aren't unknown for a low level character.
I've also worked out the rudimentary advancement scheme, which lies somewhere between class/level and character point systems. Instead of receiving experience points that can be spent on anything, you receive points of different types.
Skill points are the baseline, received at the end of the session. A count of skill points is the same as your level in other games. Skills are boosters to actions the character specializes in. Specific weapon proficiency is a skill. The one restriction on skills is you can't boost the same skill two sessions in a row. You have to alternate.
Edges are obtained once every even level. They are analogous to minor feats.
Traits are obtained on levels divisible by 3. They are analogous to Base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, or for those not coming at this from d20 traits are the skills that everyone wants. A character's combat trait for example affects *all* attack rolls. Magic use will be a trait.
Feats are obtained on levels divisible by 5. They are analogous to major feats (the ones high up on feat trees in Pathfinder) or to class abilities (uncanny dodge, et al) They include raises to attributes.
This approach insures that something happens at the end of each session (a skill goes up) but major character feature advancement is more spread out. DM's can advance more than one tick of course.
"Classes" in this system will be precrafted advancement maps that sit on top of the above.
Thoughts?
I started with a blend of d20 and Savage Worlds. You rolled
d20 + ability die + skill die
The ability and skill dice fell in the d4 to d12 range. Early on I hit upon allowing multiple dice to be used for extreme skill or ability, but to keep the target numbers sane (a major criticism I have of d20) you only keep two of the dice. So a dragon with 4d12 for its strength and 2d12 for fighting skill rolled d20 + the best 2 of 6d12.
Playtests where conducted. It seemed natural to put in equipment and magic as items that added dice. I soon hit a problem of having lots of low dice, especially if there were d12's in the mix.
Also, the limit 2 rule had made it a bit less fun to be high level. While running Pathfinder, towards the end of my game, it hit me that it would be nice if my big bads could do more on their turns. High level characters getting more actions? Well, fighters do get more attacks. So I decided that if someone was rolling more than 2 dice, then could divide the dice among targets, but had to assign at least 2 dice per target.
That worked, but it still had problems. My latest idea is to decouple the dice from the various effects somewhat as follows.. This will be hard to follow cause I'm still working out terminology.
Abilities, skills, traits, equipment, spells, all these have a rank of 0 or higher. When you perform an action, you add the ranks of whatever you have that is relevant. At the very least, an ability will be relevant. The rank determines the dice you use with the d20 as follows:
1 d4
2 d6
3 d8
4 d10
5 d12
6 d12+d4
7 d12+d6
8 d12+d8
9 d12+d10
10 2d12
11 2d12+d4
...
And so on, infinitely. If you have more than 2 dice to roll with the d20, you can break the action into multiple targets. If you want to take more than one action in a turn you may do so, but the dice pool used will be that of the action you have the least skill in from among the ones you are attempting, and it must have at least 3 dice (be rank 11).
Consider a fighter with a combat trait rank of 2, longsword weapon skill rank of 2, and a Strength rank of 5. He rolls d12+d10 when he attacks with that sword. These sorts of numbers aren't unknown for a low level character.
I've also worked out the rudimentary advancement scheme, which lies somewhere between class/level and character point systems. Instead of receiving experience points that can be spent on anything, you receive points of different types.
Skill points are the baseline, received at the end of the session. A count of skill points is the same as your level in other games. Skills are boosters to actions the character specializes in. Specific weapon proficiency is a skill. The one restriction on skills is you can't boost the same skill two sessions in a row. You have to alternate.
Edges are obtained once every even level. They are analogous to minor feats.
Traits are obtained on levels divisible by 3. They are analogous to Base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, or for those not coming at this from d20 traits are the skills that everyone wants. A character's combat trait for example affects *all* attack rolls. Magic use will be a trait.
Feats are obtained on levels divisible by 5. They are analogous to major feats (the ones high up on feat trees in Pathfinder) or to class abilities (uncanny dodge, et al) They include raises to attributes.
This approach insures that something happens at the end of each session (a skill goes up) but major character feature advancement is more spread out. DM's can advance more than one tick of course.
"Classes" in this system will be precrafted advancement maps that sit on top of the above.
Thoughts?