My own take on d20: H20 [Help much appreciated]

[Stacie GmrGrl]

Now it's time for magic.
MAGIC

This chapter is very incomplete and much a work in progress, but the general lines of the system are already traced.

Your magic system, while you don't have a lot of spells yet, is really neat. I like how you have them set up so you can augment them with added spell effects by increasing the modifier.

Is your magic system a skill check based system, where in order to cast a spell a person has to make a roll of some kind?

 

[StormingMarcus]

Is your magic system a skill check based system, where in order to cast a spell a person has to make a roll of some kind?

Sorry for the late reply, but no e-mail was sent to me despite having subscribed this thread (and the 'instant' choice).

No check is required other than the attack (if any). The caster has a MR; if the spell has a MR inferior or equal to the character's, she can cast it; otherwise, she cannot.

Rituals will have some sort of skill-check-to-cast mechanic, but they will follow a completely different formula.

 

[StormingMarcus]

The abstract space & movement brings forth two problems:
- The space occupied by creatures;
- The necessary elimination of flanking.
Do you have any advice on how to overcome those problems?

 

[ValhallaGH]

Why does flanking have to be eliminated? Can't you simply abstract it?
Something like Savage World's "gang-up" bonus. "Attackers get +1 to attacks for each ally adjacent to the target. This counts as 'flanking' for abilities that key off of flanking." Obviously you'll need to tweak the wording some to fit your changes, but that's simply refinement.

Good luck.

 

[macrochelys]

The abstract space & movement brings forth two problems:
- The space occupied by creatures;
- The necessary elimination of flanking.
Do you have any advice on how to overcome those problems?

I made up a system using abstract zones. Some notes from it:

-Flanking was replaced with Advantage. If a faction had more combatants in a zone than their opponents, they gained a +1 advantage. If they doubled the number of their opponents, they had +2, tripled +3, etc...

-A zone was given a rough size number based on the DMs perception of how much space there is to move. This number is the number of combatants that could fight in the room before it becomes Crowded. (eg. a normal bedroom was a 1, a large tavern was a 6 [because of tables an such], a 20x20ft open room was a 10).

-A combatant could spend a move action to gain Cover in a zone. This gave a +1 to defenses by default, or the combatant could roll a movement skill check (acrobatics say) to gain a high bonus. (+2 for a good result, +3 for a very good result). If your enemy had gained a cover bonus, you could spend your move action trying to reduce their cover with a slightly harder check of the skill they used (for a d20 system the reduce cover DC would probably be 5 higher than the equivalent gain cover DC). You could not gain cover if a zone was Crowded.

You could put in a mechanic to grant someone a temporary Advantage bonus even when outnumbered, so the classes who need Advantage/Flanking can still use their abilities.

 

[StormingMarcus]

Thank you for the suggestions. As far as it stands now, the only mechanic relying on flanking is the Rogue Talent called (very unusually) Sneak Attack.

The overnumbering advantage is not a bad idea, but it needs some sort of book-keeping, accounting for the number of opponents who stroke the character.

For now, I am only going to change the feinting rules, making it possible to feint every round instead of once/encounter. That should enlarge the possibilities of having combat advantage (and consequently sneak attack damage).

But the overnumbering is still a possibility I won't discard.

@Macrochelys: Your use of skills to gain little advantages in combat reminds me of stunts, something I should really consider to add to the system.

 

[StormingMarcus]

Because of the abstract nature of movement and positions, it will become difficult to trace concealment and cover (especially the second one).
So, how about something like this?
Cover: As a standard action, the character can get a +1 bonus to defenses until the start of her next turn.
Or
Cover: As a standard action, the character can get a +2 bonus to defenses to ranged attacks until the start of her next turn.

If the zone is difficult terrain, the bonuses could increase by 1 and a successful skill check (at what DC?) could grant another +1 or could make the action needed a move action.

 

[ValhallaGH]

As a standard action, Cover is utterly and completely worthless. Which is wrong.
Make it a Move action and it is situationally useful. Make it a Swift action and it is usually useful.

 

[StormingMarcus]

As a standard action, Cover is utterly and completely worthless. Which is wrong.

Is a +1 to all defenses so meaningless? Thinking about it again, yes.

Make it a Move action and it is situationally useful. Make it a Swift action and it is usually useful.

Taking cover: If the zone where the character currently is is labeled (how to avoid the repetition in wording?) as difficult terrain, she may take a move action to get a +2 bonus to Reflexes and to deny line of sight from a single opponent distant at least 1 zone. The effect ends on the start of the character's next turn.

Additionaly, a skill training or a feat could grant cover as a swift action, higher bonus or cover from other characters.

What about it?

P.S: Do you have any idea about the reason why I do not receive any mail about this thread, despite having subscribed to it (and having set instant mail notification)?

 

[Nonei]

A lot of people (if not everyone) are have that problem with instant notifications - see the thread in Meta. If you change it to daily, it seems to work fine.