Fantasy Concepts: An OGL Fantasy Saga Project

[Flynn]

I am currently working on firming up the draft of the Skills section, so I'm going to be reviewing this thread for suggestions and such. Just thought you'd like a quick status report. Things are coming along well, which is good, as Gen Con is coming up and that's a week or so I won't be able to work on this project.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[drothgery]

I am currently working on firming up the draft of the Skills section, so I'm going to be reviewing this thread for suggestions and such.

Leaving aside exactly what's on the skill list (a few lists have been proposed), the big skill questions with Saga-style mechanics in D&D-esque fantasy are...

1 - Does the 'general competence' factor stick around (in Saga, this means you get + 1/2 level to every skill)? If not, is it completely eliminated (as per more conventional d20 games, where you have to explicitly invest character resources to get better at a skill) or merely scaled back (i.e. it only applies to class skills)?

2 - Does the 'skill focus is very good, no other skill-boosting feats/talents/race abilities provide a bonus to skills' paradigm stick around? If so, do skill-boosting spells and magic items stick around?

3 - Are you going to try and design skills to be able to hit mainline d20-style DCs (where DC 15 is hard at 1st level even for a dedicated character, but DC 35 is trivial at 20th level) or Saga-style DCs (whiere DC 15 is easy for a dedicated 1st level character, but DC 35 is only a 50/50 shot for a dedicated character without spending Force Points)?

 

[Flynn]

Leaving aside exactly what's on the skill list (a few lists have been proposed), the big skill questions with Saga-style mechanics in D&D-esque fantasy are...

1 - Does the 'general competence' factor stick around (in Saga, this means you get + 1/2 level to every skill)? If not, is it completely eliminated (as per more conventional d20 games, where you have to explicitly invest character resources to get better at a skill) or merely scaled back (i.e. it only applies to class skills)?

Currently, since the goal is an OGL Fantasy Saga project, the 'general competence' factor will be maintained. We discussed the 'scaled back' option you mention, and it was thought best to leave that as an Optional Rule, or not include mention of it at all and leave it as a House Rule for those that desire to leave untrained skills at the core D20 system levels.

2 - Does the 'skill focus is very good, no other skill-boosting feats/talents/race abilities provide a bonus to skills' paradigm stick around? If so, do skill-boosting spells and magic items stick around?

Yes, that paradigm remains (consistency with the project's goal), but its impact on boosting spells and magic items has yet to be fully developed.

3 - Are you going to try and design skills to be able to hit mainline d20-style DCs (where DC 15 is hard at 1st level even for a dedicated character, but DC 35 is trivial at 20th level) or Saga-style DCs (whiere DC 15 is easy for a dedicated 1st level character, but DC 35 is only a 50/50 shot for a dedicated character without spending Force Points)?

The answer to question #1 precludes that the DCs will have to be converted to Saga-style. A conversion from the DCs of the core D20 system will be provided in the conversion section, though.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[Mokona]

CHAMPION
Attack Bonus: +3 per 4 levels
Hit Dice: d8
Skills: 2 + Int
Defenses: +1 to all
Starting Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Divine Spellcasting, Shield Proficiency,
Weapon Proficiency (simple)
The champion is a variant of Star Wars' jedi. Talent selection should allow you to
reproduce the cleric, the druid, or the paladin. The champion should have access
to fewer spells, which includes healing.

It's not really a Paladin if the character gets only Cleric attack bonuses (and still gets fewer spells than Clerics).

 

[Flynn]

Craft and Perform categories?

By the way, guys, I've read suggestions here for Knowledge categories, but I haven't seen any streamlined suggestions for Craft and Perform. Would anyone care to make any suggestions in this arena?

Thanks In Advance,
Flynn

 

[drothgery]

By the way, guys, I've read suggestions here for Knowledge categories, but I haven't seen any streamlined suggestions for Craft and Perform. Would anyone care to make any suggestions in this arena?

With a Saga-style skill granualarity, I'd suggest there aren't any categories for Perform, and it might just be a use of Persuasion.

For Craft, I'd suggest (just throwing something out here right now), assuming you haven't integrated magic item crafting into the craft skill...

alchemy - alchemical items, poisons, and any non-magical potions/oils
metalsmithing - weapons, armor, clocks, and other mostly metal objects
carpentry - homes, boats, seige engines, bows and other mostly wooden objects
sonecutting - gems, castles, statues, golems, and other stone objects

Trapmaking would fall under survival.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

With a Saga-style skill granualarity, I'd suggest there aren't any categories for Perform, and it might just be a use of Persuasion.

Or make it a feat, like Linguist, you would get 1 + INT bonus (min 1) types of performance. Make a Persuasion check to determine if the performance was successful.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

With a Saga-style skill granualarity, I'd suggest there aren't any categories for Perform, and it might just be a use of Persuasion.

For Craft, I'd suggest (just throwing something out here right now), assuming you haven't integrated magic item crafting into the craft skill...

alchemy - alchemical items, poisons, and any non-magical potions/oils
metalsmithing - weapons, armor, clocks, and other mostly metal objects
carpentry - homes, boats, seige engines, bows and other mostly wooden objects
sonecutting - gems, castles, statues, golems, and other stone objects

Trapmaking would fall under survival.

I agree with Alchemy, 'Blacksmithing', Carpentry, 'Masonry' (just name changes ). I'd also add Leatherworking (armor, some clothing, generally working with skins and furs), Tailoring (robes, more clothing, anything with cloth/weaving) and Artistry (painting, sculpture, calligraphy, fancy stuff). I'd probably move gems into 'Jewelling' and make that include all jewellery items.

So summarily: Alchemy, Artistry, Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Jewelling, Leatherworking, Masonry, Tailoring. I think this is a nice trade-off between specific medieval/fantasy inspired roles and broad skill usage. Trapmaking would go into either the metal, wood or stone crafts.

 

[FreeXenon]

Or make it a feat, like Linguist, you would get 1 + INT bonus (min 1) types of performance. Make a Persuasion check to determine if the performance was successful.

Complete Adv. , I think, has one like that though the req's are like Perform 6 or something like that.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

By the way, guys, I've read suggestions here for Knowledge categories, but I haven't seen any streamlined suggestions for Craft and Perform. Would anyone care to make any suggestions in this arena?

Thanks In Advance,
Flynn

See above for craft. Perform I think is fairly streamlined as is tbh.