D&D 4E Harry Potter 4e

[TheProphet]

So, I was looking through the PHB, DMG and MM, and realized that 4e is now the perfect opportunity for a fan-made Harry Potter RPG, using 4e rules. In 3.5, you had the problem of running out of spells, which went against the feeling of HP completely. Here is how I envision HP would work out:

You would have 4 classes: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.

However, all four classes would draw off the same power list. There would be dozens of cantrips that could be picked up and learned, and rituals wouldn't take so long to cast, except for very important ones, such as the one that replenished Voldemort's body.

You would gain 2 levels before a school year was done, making characters just getting out of school 14th-15th level. At the paragon tier, they would choose a wizarding type of job as their paragon path, since at about 5th or 6th year you begin focusing on your future job.

Quidditch would be a simple skill challenge between the two teams, played back and forth until one of the seekers rolled a 20.

What do you all think? Would it be feasable? Who wants to help out?

 

[erf_beto]

I think 4e is great to port Hogwarts Wizards too. I like your classes idea, but I think there could be only one Wizard class, with several Houses working like the warlock pacts: any wizard could cast a spell, but slitheryn's get a bonus with their specialties and so on. Also, you open room for other schools, other than Hogwarts (man, I can't remember the name of Fleur's school - my Potter fu is fading, oh noes!!!).

I like the Future Job/Carreer Paragon Path idea! It will be very fun designing those!But perhaps a Spellscared aproach would be nice too: Heroic Tier, multiclass-only classes that allowed students to specialize (like Neville being really good at Herbology).

My only question is how to implement the different disciplines: Potions, Charms, Divination, Dark Arts... do you make them just fluff for the powers or charge something through the rules (like a skill or feat prereq)? I guess just fluff is okay (in HP6, Harry learned a powerfull curse from a book, just by "reading it aloud", no need to join Death Eaters or such). But I can see "True Sight" as a feat that unlocked access to some Divination spells... or maybe that's just another Paragon Path.

Sounds fun just talking about it!

 

[TheProphet]

I think there could be only one Wizard class, with several Houses working like the warlock pacts: any wizard could cast a spell, but slitheryn's get a bonus with their specialties and so on. Also, you open room for other schools, other than Hogwarts (man, I can't remember the name of Fleur's school - my Potter fu is fading, oh noes!!!).

I like the idea of using the "Pact" idea for the schools. Beauxbatons is the name of the school. My Potter-Fu is also failing, but I"m doing my best!

I like the Future Job/Carreer Paragon Path idea! It will be very fun designing those!But perhaps a Spellscared aproach would be nice too: Heroic Tier, multiclass-only classes that allowed students to specialize (like Neville being really good at Herbology).

I like this idea. Let's go with that.

My only question is how to implement the different disciplines: Potions, Charms, Divination, Dark Arts... do you make them just fluff for the powers or charge something through the rules (like a skill or feat prereq)? I guess just fluff is okay (in HP6, Harry learned a powerfull curse from a book, just by "reading it aloud", no need to join Death Eaters or such). But I can see "True Sight" as a feat that unlocked access to some Divination spells... or maybe that's just another Paragon Path.

I think being good at Divination would definitely be a feat. Potions and Herbology would work hand in hand, I think, and would be like Alchemy in the Adventurer's Vault.
I think it will be fun figuring out which spells are at-wills, which are encounter powers, and which are dailies.

Also, there's going to have to be a huge section on "Wonderous Items."

 

[keterys]

It might be hard to duplicate a couple of the scenes while still having a dynamic game - like Avada Clavadra as an at-will would be less good, but Voldemort could certainly toss them out like that - he's a "monster" so he can cheat, but there you go.

Love to see how you progress - one thing you could also do is sorta variant on the spellbook and wizards can do certain attacks with penalties (attack, effect, actions required, dunno), but have their 2 or 3 they specialize in.

That is, everyone can do Expelliarmus but Harry took it as his at-will.

 

[TheProphet]

It might be hard to duplicate a couple of the scenes while still having a dynamic game - like Avada Clavadra as an at-will would be less good, but Voldemort could certainly toss them out like that - he's a "monster" so he can cheat, but there you go.

Love to see how you progress - one thing you could also do is sorta variant on the spellbook and wizards can do certain attacks with penalties (attack, effect, actions required, dunno), but have their 2 or 3 they specialize in.

That is, everyone can do Expelliarmus but Harry took it as his at-will.

So, every spell would be an encounter or daily power? But if you had chosen the speciality of a certain type of magic, encounter powers of that type would be at-wills, and dailies would be encounters? Perhaps?
I think every student would have the Wizard Cantrips, they would simply be renamed. I think that a lot of non-combat spells could be used as rituals, but have the ritual time reduced on those to 10 seconds or something. Brewing a potion would be a ritual as well, as would possibly caring for plants in herbology?

 

[keterys]

Yeah, there'd be lots of ritual magic and cantrips - skill use too, of course. There's a lot of questions around how you'd want to handle combat.

 

[kerouaccat]

Recharging in the Potterverse

So, every spell would be an encounter or daily power? But if you had chosen the speciality of a certain type of magic, encounter powers of that type would be at-wills, and dailies would be encounters? Perhaps?


I was thinking that the "recharge" ability a lot of Monsters (like Voldemort) have would be an important part of the Harry Potter 4e version, since it's such a high-magic world. Especially in the description of the classroom learning, a big part of the learning process is trying the spell over and over until you get good at it. Also, often in Harry Potter, survival requires you to know "the right spell for the occassion," so being able to cast that Petronus at the right moment is crucial if you're up against a Dementor. That sort of setting, where there might only be one spell that can save you, makes recharging very important.

So, based on that, perhaps spells that are encounters and dailies can be recharged, just like a monster's ability. Your "wizarding specialization" would allow you to recharge more often, and more easily, with spells in your field. Your grades in school would determine your "specialization" area.

For example, let's say Petronus is a level 9 encounter power. That's about right for any "5th year" student if we are counting about 2 class levels for each year at Hogwarts (some students will be more advanced, some less so). So, you might learn the spell anytime during year 5 of your schooling. (If you are Harry Potter, you might learn the spell earlier.)

Specilization example: Someone who earns an "Outstanding" O.W.L. in Defense Against the Dark Arts might earn the ability to recharge their Petronus spell on a 3-6. Meanwhile, someone with an "Excellent" O.W.L. in that subject might only be able to recharge on a 5-6. Someone earning an "Acceptable" could only recharge on a 6, and a "Poor" rating would not get any recharge ability. You could still cast the spell as an Encounter power, you just couldn't recharge.

Later on, at graduation, a student might even earn their N.E.W.T. in Defense Against the Dark Arts. A student with an Outstanding NEWT might get a recharge of 1-6 on Petronus, while an Excellent NEWT might earn a 3-6 recharge.

Following this same example, story elements can affect the recharge of a spell. Petronus, of course, relies a lot of a character's confidence and courage. A character who is scared would need to rely on a surge of heroism to pull off a recharge of the Petronus, regardless of their wizarding level and specialization. That could be reflected by reducing the recharge chance (maybe cutting it in half?) if you are being attacked by a Dementor. Perhaps in that sort of case you could use an Action point to improve your "recharge" chance.

Another example of how recharging could be affected is your allegiance. When you become a Death Eater, recharging any of their signature spells (e.g. the three Unforgiveable Curses) becomes much easier. Members of Gryffindor might get a recharge bonus (or casting bonus, or whatever) to spells that require "courage," while Slytherin might get bonus to any spell used specifically to humiliate an opponent.

Just some ideas. (My numbers are just examples, to give an idea of how the system might work, but I'm not saying my numbers are the best possible.)

 

[TheProphet]

kerouaccat, I think these are some fantastic ideas. I definitely think we should be working together on this project. I'm leaving home for two weeks on business on Sunday, and while I'm gone, I'll be spending a lot of time sitting around the Hotel room. I'll start doing some intense research and writing, working on getting this working.

I think the idea of every spell having a recharge is a great idea. At wills would be easy and always accessable, perhaps encounters would have d6s for their recharge dice, while dailies would have d10 recharge dice. Hmmm...

 

[Undrhil]

This looks very promising. Allow me to throw a couple of wrenches into your planning, though, before you get very far with this. J.K.Rowling will likely not approve of using the house names in your custom content, whether you plan on playing this privately or otherwise. I suggest you flesh out the rules and make use of generic house names. You could have the campaign(s) take place at an American school of wizardry, or a Canadian one. Or, perhaps a new school opened up in England, to rival the current *top* school in the area? Maybe it's run by the Ministry of Magic?

Also, make the houses be a "subclass" of the Wizard class. This way, you have no duplication of effort in the case of the powers. The Wizard class can have access to any of the powers, but the subclasses may have access to specialty spells (such as the Unforgivables) and other benefits (added skills to the skill-list or bonus to stats, etc.)

I like how the two levels per school year ended up with 5th years being right there at 9-10 (the end of the Heroic tier in 4th edition and the time period during which students would take the OWLs in the HP universe.) But this doesn't really fit well with the fact that there are still two more years at school, so I offer a different option: staggered levels per year. The way this would work is that first years through fourth years would have one level per year. The coursework is slightly difficult for them but made moreso by the fact that it is new to most of them. Fifth year would count as two levels, the second of which would be earned after taking your OWLs. Sixth and Seventh year would also be two levels each, ending with the NEWTs and leaving the Heroic tier behind. You leave school and choose your job (Paragon Path) and go from there.

Now then, all of this being said, I cannot imagine a gaming group sitting around a table playing a game in which they are at school taking classes. The classes could be interesting sometimes, since you could play out learning various powers but the majority of the action would have to take place away from the school during summer, on holidays (or on weekends, I suppose.)

I will watch this and see if it gets any more support and I will help out if I can, some but I can't promise anything since my schedule at works keeps me busy often.

Ken

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Now then, all of this being said, I cannot imagine a gaming group sitting around a table playing a game in which they are at school taking classes. The classes could be interesting sometimes, since you could play out learning various powers but the majority of the action would have to take place away from the school during summer, on holidays (or on weekends, I suppose.)

I can completely see a Harry Potter game working - but I agree that the in-classroom sections would be kept to a minimum (apart from some RP time) unless they were relevant to a larger plot.

Going with the ideas above, perhaps spells that are still in the process of being taught cannot be recharged? So until you've mastered Expelliarmus you can only get it to work on a limited basis (firstly as a daily, then an encounter, then with the recharge mechanic).