This sounds a little like a House Rule to me, but it's less about the rule itself than the idea behind it. At what point does it cease to be d20 and start to be something else?
Random House Rules I've been mulling, not for the campaign I'm running but for some new campaign, somewhere... Watch as the game slowly turns into something utterly different.
Start with d20 Modern
- Add WP/VP system to replace hit points
- After hearing myself rant on and on about how Strength really means coordination, get tired of being told that there's no book evidence for it. Take out Strength, separate Dexterity into Precision and Agility (a common-enough RPG differentiation point), with Agility modifying melee attacks, defense, initiative, and fast full-body skills like Tumble, and Precision modifying ranged attacks, slow full-body skills like Hide and Move Silently, and Fine-tuning skills like Disable Device. Use Constitution to determine bonuses to melee damage, since most folks have issue with the idea of a weak person who isn't frail, or a tough person who isn't strong.
- Change Armor to DR rather than Defense boosting
- Replace critical hits with the following: you do an extra point of damage for every point by which you beat the needed Defense of the target. If you do more damage with a single strike than your target's Con, the target takes normal damage (VP) and must then make a Fort save (15) or take the base weapon damage (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, etc) in WP damage (which directly bypasses VP). If you do more damage with a single strike than your target's Agi, the target takes normal damage (VP) and must make a Ref save (15) or lose all remaining VP. If you do more damage with a single strike than your target's Wis, the target takes normal damage and must make a Will save (15) or be shaken for 1d6 rounds.
- Switch over from BAB to a system where there are Non-Combat Skills (Jump, Climb, etc) and Combat skills (Stabbing, Slashing, Crushing, Pole-Arms, and Flexible for melee weapons, for instance, in addition to the combat usage of Tumble).
- Switch from levels to point-based character improvement -- some document would contain basic builds, so that people who wanted to improve all at once would be able to do so easily, but people who wanted to be the world's best lockpicker but useless in a fight (Disable Device +27, BAB+0, 6 hit points) could make that character.
Okay, so at what point did I completely leave the d20 system? Or am I still in it? I've shifted the physical scores, combat is bound to be a lot more dangerous, and there are no more levels. But I'm still using d20+ranks to determine whether or not I succeed at things. That mechanic is utterly unchanged.
More a philosophical point than anything else. I'm wondering how long it remains "My grandfather's axe" -- how many times you can replace the head and the haft before it's a new animal... or, you know, something like that.
Random House Rules I've been mulling, not for the campaign I'm running but for some new campaign, somewhere... Watch as the game slowly turns into something utterly different.
Start with d20 Modern
- Add WP/VP system to replace hit points
- After hearing myself rant on and on about how Strength really means coordination, get tired of being told that there's no book evidence for it. Take out Strength, separate Dexterity into Precision and Agility (a common-enough RPG differentiation point), with Agility modifying melee attacks, defense, initiative, and fast full-body skills like Tumble, and Precision modifying ranged attacks, slow full-body skills like Hide and Move Silently, and Fine-tuning skills like Disable Device. Use Constitution to determine bonuses to melee damage, since most folks have issue with the idea of a weak person who isn't frail, or a tough person who isn't strong.
- Change Armor to DR rather than Defense boosting
- Replace critical hits with the following: you do an extra point of damage for every point by which you beat the needed Defense of the target. If you do more damage with a single strike than your target's Con, the target takes normal damage (VP) and must then make a Fort save (15) or take the base weapon damage (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, etc) in WP damage (which directly bypasses VP). If you do more damage with a single strike than your target's Agi, the target takes normal damage (VP) and must make a Ref save (15) or lose all remaining VP. If you do more damage with a single strike than your target's Wis, the target takes normal damage and must make a Will save (15) or be shaken for 1d6 rounds.
- Switch over from BAB to a system where there are Non-Combat Skills (Jump, Climb, etc) and Combat skills (Stabbing, Slashing, Crushing, Pole-Arms, and Flexible for melee weapons, for instance, in addition to the combat usage of Tumble).
- Switch from levels to point-based character improvement -- some document would contain basic builds, so that people who wanted to improve all at once would be able to do so easily, but people who wanted to be the world's best lockpicker but useless in a fight (Disable Device +27, BAB+0, 6 hit points) could make that character.
Okay, so at what point did I completely leave the d20 system? Or am I still in it? I've shifted the physical scores, combat is bound to be a lot more dangerous, and there are no more levels. But I'm still using d20+ranks to determine whether or not I succeed at things. That mechanic is utterly unchanged.
More a philosophical point than anything else. I'm wondering how long it remains "My grandfather's axe" -- how many times you can replace the head and the haft before it's a new animal... or, you know, something like that.
Your changes aren't that drastic.
