Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 2136805" data-attributes="member: 907">IMO, the most direct ancestor of the D&D skill system is Ars Magica (co-written by Jonathan Tweet). It has stats centered around 0 (like the bonuses in D&D), added to skill levels (ranks in D&D), with special abilities providing bonuses (like skill-enhancing feats). The only real difference is that in Ars Magica, you use d10+bonuses vs. target number, and in d20 you use, well, a d20.Alternity is an off-shoot in a different direction. Yes, it has the whole stats+skill ranks thing, but there are many differences.1. Alternity is a roll-under instead of roll-high system. This may seem like semantics until you look at:2. Alternity has degrees of success based on rolling under a fraction of your skill total (under half: Good; under a quarter: Amazing).3. Alternity's difficulty levels are expressed as a variable die added or subtracted from the die you use to roll under your skill.</blockquote>