Microlite20 : the smallest thing in gaming
- Thread starter greywulf
- Start date
WSmith
First Post
kensanata said:
Hum. This, I must think on. I am very, very rusty on d20 rules so I might have to defer to you guys on this.
On one hand, when opposing an enemy spellcaster, the 10 + caster level + MIND bouns seem to make the most sense. HOWEVER, not all spells will be cast from a caster. Some will originate from statutes or wands or artifacts and such. A dragon's breath is an innate abilty, not really a spell. I dunno. Maybe DC of 20 + the spell level? How would spell like abilites be handled without getting to complex? DC 20 + the HD of the creature?
Ry
Explorer
By5 Glyphs
In the By5 Glyphs magic system, spell actions are like skill rolls. All spells start as the “free spell”, and are enhanced by Glyphs. Casters make a skill check with their Magic+INT skill (this is also the total that enemies must resist in case of resisted spells).
For each 5 points of the total magic skill check, a character adds a Glyph to the base spell.
The caster must decide how many glyphs to cast before their roll. If they do not meet Glyphs * 5 with their roll, the spell automatically fails.
The free spell
The free spell is harmless, with a touch range, targeting a single individual, occurring immediately, ending instantly and creating nothing.
Glyphs
Deal 1 hit
Heals instead of Deals hits
Raise a Stat by 2
Lowers instead of Raises Stat
5' of radius
15’ of cone
30’ of line
Improve Range
Simple Trigger
2 rounds of duration
Sustained by Caster
Hard to Resist (-2 to resister)
Notes
Multiple triggers can cause a spell effect multiple times. For example, a spell designed to reduce a stat can have a trigger of “next time that stat is used.” If it had that trigger twice, it would work the next 2 times that stat is used.
Custom Glyphs
If a player wants a specific type of magic not covered by these rules, have them come up with a custom glyph. You could add other special effects to the players’ repertoire by making other secret glyphs available during the campaign. Custom glyphs may have special rules for what can be applied to them, and powerful custom glyphs may need to be treated as multiple glyphs.
Ideas for Custom Glyphs
Steal – steals an item not in target’s hand. Must be combined with 30’ of lines back to caster.
Invisibility – Treat as 3 glyphs.
In the By5 Glyphs magic system, spell actions are like skill rolls. All spells start as the “free spell”, and are enhanced by Glyphs. Casters make a skill check with their Magic+INT skill (this is also the total that enemies must resist in case of resisted spells).
For each 5 points of the total magic skill check, a character adds a Glyph to the base spell.
The caster must decide how many glyphs to cast before their roll. If they do not meet Glyphs * 5 with their roll, the spell automatically fails.
The free spell
The free spell is harmless, with a touch range, targeting a single individual, occurring immediately, ending instantly and creating nothing.
Glyphs
Deal 1 hit
Heals instead of Deals hits
Raise a Stat by 2
Lowers instead of Raises Stat
5' of radius
15’ of cone
30’ of line
Improve Range
Simple Trigger
2 rounds of duration
Sustained by Caster
Hard to Resist (-2 to resister)
Notes
Multiple triggers can cause a spell effect multiple times. For example, a spell designed to reduce a stat can have a trigger of “next time that stat is used.” If it had that trigger twice, it would work the next 2 times that stat is used.
Custom Glyphs
If a player wants a specific type of magic not covered by these rules, have them come up with a custom glyph. You could add other special effects to the players’ repertoire by making other secret glyphs available during the campaign. Custom glyphs may have special rules for what can be applied to them, and powerful custom glyphs may need to be treated as multiple glyphs.
Ideas for Custom Glyphs
Steal – steals an item not in target’s hand. Must be combined with 30’ of lines back to caster.
Invisibility – Treat as 3 glyphs.
Last edited:
jmucchiello
Hero
Now that is proper first Traveller character death. Was it in combat or from old age?WSmith said:Lucky! At least your first charcater made it to a combat. My first Traveller charcater died during character creation!
When I'm feeling cranky about initiative, I go back to everything happens at once. You have each player act in reverse Dex (agility, reflex whatever the system calls it) order. Effects such as death, paralysis, lose of limb, etc don't take effect until everybody has acted. Cool thing is, two swordfighters can run each other through, just like in real life.
Reverse Dex order gives higher dex characters the ability to change their actions based on what the slower folk do. While you can't stop their attacks you can switch targets based on how they've telegraphed their intent.
greywulf
First Post
I go an leave the net for a few hours and look what happens......Microlite20 ends up with another magic system, an O/AD&D conversion system and the makings of a revised combat system. Ouch! I better not leave next time. There's no predicting what you guys will do
Getting rid of initiative....hmmmm.....ok. Convince me. Come up with a set of simple rules and we'll stick it in the Macropedia. I love the idea of simultaneous combat too, but I've yet to see one that works as well as good old fashoined cyclic rounds. I dunno.
Talking of the Macropedia.... I've put some work into the Macropedia pdf, codename Big Shiny. It's largely Big, Shiny but Empty right now, and there's still a tonne of stuff to push in, but it's getting there. The Core Rules are in, the Intro is written, optional races and classes are there, as is the Big Skill list, the Critters and a load of pregenerated characters.
That might sound a lot, but I've still got to drop in the equipment, spell lists and monsters. That's a LOT of tables. And I hate tables, expecially in Open Office.
Then there's the optional combat rules, and magic, and the campaign settings, and the adventures. I'm guessing 64 pages by the time I'm done.
This might take a while
The layout is in a style roughly how I envisage it to end up, with two columns and a wide gutter to add in comments, cross-references and rationales for the rules being the way they are. It's reminiscent of Ptolus and the HERO system layout, and I like it.
In between pouring in content and making minor changes to the text along the way, I'm also on the lookout for a decent cover image. Volunteer assistance in this respect is more than welcome!
Do you want to take a peek at how it looks so far? Do you? Do you?
Ok, you asked for it. Here's Big Shiny version 0.1 (148k pdf) AKA "I told you it was empty".
Getting rid of initiative....hmmmm.....ok. Convince me. Come up with a set of simple rules and we'll stick it in the Macropedia. I love the idea of simultaneous combat too, but I've yet to see one that works as well as good old fashoined cyclic rounds. I dunno.
Talking of the Macropedia.... I've put some work into the Macropedia pdf, codename Big Shiny. It's largely Big, Shiny but Empty right now, and there's still a tonne of stuff to push in, but it's getting there. The Core Rules are in, the Intro is written, optional races and classes are there, as is the Big Skill list, the Critters and a load of pregenerated characters.
That might sound a lot, but I've still got to drop in the equipment, spell lists and monsters. That's a LOT of tables. And I hate tables, expecially in Open Office.
Then there's the optional combat rules, and magic, and the campaign settings, and the adventures. I'm guessing 64 pages by the time I'm done.
This might take a while
The layout is in a style roughly how I envisage it to end up, with two columns and a wide gutter to add in comments, cross-references and rationales for the rules being the way they are. It's reminiscent of Ptolus and the HERO system layout, and I like it.
In between pouring in content and making minor changes to the text along the way, I'm also on the lookout for a decent cover image. Volunteer assistance in this respect is more than welcome!
Do you want to take a peek at how it looks so far? Do you? Do you?
Ok, you asked for it. Here's Big Shiny version 0.1 (148k pdf) AKA "I told you it was empty".
kensanata
Explorer
Saving Throws
I don't even own the MM! But I had the impression that a lot of things such as scrolls are listed with an appropriate "caster level". If my impression is wrong, then we need to compute an appropriate DC. If we use a plain 20, then eventually epic characters will save 95% of the time. This may actually be appropriate. I think the old saving throw tables did in fact go down to 3 or 4.
Alternatively, we can use 20 + minimum spell level, and HD of the creature if no spell level is available. Thus, evading a magic missile attack is always DC 21, no matter who casts it. I think it would work.
WSmith said:
I don't even own the MM!
But I had the impression that a lot of things such as scrolls are listed with an appropriate "caster level". If my impression is wrong, then we need to compute an appropriate DC. If we use a plain 20, then eventually epic characters will save 95% of the time. This may actually be appropriate. I think the old saving throw tables did in fact go down to 3 or 4.Alternatively, we can use 20 + minimum spell level, and HD of the creature if no spell level is available. Thus, evading a magic missile attack is always DC 21, no matter who casts it. I think it would work.
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kensanata
Explorer
Initiative & Open Office
How about this simplification:
Everyone can do one thing each turn; move, attack, cast a spell, etc. The surprising group goes first, or else both groups roll 1d20 + highest DEX bonus and the winning group goes first.
In other words, if the party has a super teenage ninja elf, he rolls for initiative, always. His presence positively affects everybody.
As for Open Office, Greywulf: You saw that some of my stuff is available as OO files, right?
greywulf said:
How about this simplification:
Everyone can do one thing each turn; move, attack, cast a spell, etc. The surprising group goes first, or else both groups roll 1d20 + highest DEX bonus and the winning group goes first.
In other words, if the party has a super teenage ninja elf, he rolls for initiative, always. His presence positively affects everybody.
As for Open Office, Greywulf: You saw that some of my stuff is available as OO files, right?
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