Harry Potter d20

[gamerprinter]

I'm guessing that he posted something that he later felt he didn't want (for reasons only known to him).

Notice the difference in the time of posting and the time it was edited (at the very bottom of the post...).


I know that in a purely text communication environment like a forum, a post like the above may seem snarky or passive aggressive criticism. But, I think he was actually just erasing his previous post.

Yeah, after later reading my own post, I thought it sounded a bit snarky, though unintentional, so I intended to delete, but could not, so removed the text and replaced it.

I'm essentially not a Harry Potter fan, so an response that just pointed out to the already mentioned Rowling's acidic tactics, even to not-for-profit usage of her IP wouldn't be helpful.

I can appreciate there are many fans to HP, just not me.

GP

 

[GandalfMithrandir]

I think it very good from what I've seen, but yes, JK Rowling does look down on stuff like that.

 

[Imbasel]

Does anybody have any suggestions on the work I've done?

 

[El Mahdi]

Does anybody have any suggestions on the work I've done?

Okay.

But first, some questions...

What exactly does "Spell Limit" stand for: The number of spells you are proficient with? Or the number of spells you can cast in a day?

If it represents the number of spells you are proficient with, is spellcasting basically an At-Will thing? (That is, as long as you make the DC...?)

 

[Imbasel]

Spell limit is the number of spells that you are capable of knowing. You won't instantly know every spell upon leveling, you have to do research. Its at will as long as you can manage to make the DC.

 

[El Mahdi]

Cool.

I think it looks really good. Still needs a little editing and clean-up, but not bad. (I didn't really see many spelling errors, but there are a quite a few punctuation errors to be fixed.)

A minor editing thing I found on a casual read:

Under the Wizard/Witch Class description in the Magical Counterspelling section, I believe you have a leftover cut-and-paste from the "Last Airbender D20" rules you used...

Magical Counterspelling- Early in their career of magic, wizards and witches must learn how to undo spells they've cast or to block spells that would hurt them. Early in their training, waterbenders learn to block or deflect attacks directed at them and their companions. Once per round, a wizard/witch can attempt to...

As far as study time required to "master" a spell (under the How Magic Works - Spellcasting section):

After that, the character must study for 1 hour for every 5 points of the spells base DC. Once they have done that they are considered to have "mastered" the spell and won't have the extra +5 added on to the spells difficulty.

- This is all interesting information, and realistic within the Harry Potter Universe, but ultimately I find things like this quite boring to actually play out.

A simple fix: have the extra +5 to the DC be applied only until they successfully cast the spell in an encounter. Once they pull it off successfully, the extra +5 disappears.

I didn't get into reading specific spell descriptions, etc., so I don't know if there's more...but all-in-all, nicely done.

 

[Imbasel]

I fixed the waterbending thing. Also the punctuation is most likely me not grabbing periods, and commas when I copied things from microsoft word, or the other forum.

For the part about having the +5 DC go away I need to think about that. While it makes sense as characters might not wanting their characters to be study-holics, to learn new spells, I think that some extra time besides the effort in casting the spell for the first time should be made.

 

[El Mahdi]

Yeah. I get it, but it can be a hard thing to balance.

I would imagine that, since this is Harry Potter, adventures are going to be more Harry Potter'esque (roleplaying school classes, day-to-day things around the school, gaining demerits and bonus points for their house, etc.), not just typical D&D encounters but with Harry Potter magic.

So, if the studying was roleplayed out somehow (in a quirky Harry Potter manner), or the character had to be tested on it the next day in class, could make for some interesting and fun encounters.

Success on the test means no more penalty. Failure on the test means scathing ridicule by Professor Snape... (or something like that...)

 

[jonesy]

Looks pretty good.

And it's mostly just D&D rules. So if you do get unlucky and Rowlings lawyers hit you with a cease and desist just change every name to something else and it will no longer look anything like her work.

Well, except the Quidditch. But, you could always turn the rules into parody. That seems to survive:
Sluggy Freelance - Comic for 09/15/02

 

[Imbasel]

Speaking of Quidditch what do people think about it?