rycanada said:
For better or worse, 'wulf is sort of the benevolent dictator of the project, so I'm going to wait and see how he weighs in.
Hey, who said I was benevolent? I never said I was benevolent! Shoot him!
As it stands with Microlite20, the
Core Rules are designed to be the bare miniumum needed to be able to play the game and still be mostly d20 compliant. By all means, add anything you need to make the game better fit your needs, and share what you've done with the rest of us too. We like to know how you think, and might even steal your ideas too. Theft is good. Change stuff too if you want. Microlite20 is a jumping off point, so jump!
Think of it like this.
D&D is like a car (ok, it's more like an 18-wheeler with no brakes, but run with me on this one). Microlite20 is more like a bicycle. It's got two wheels, pedals, brakes and a seat, and that's all. If you want to add a basket, or change the size of the wheels, go ahead. It's yours
Bear in mind though that if you add an extra set of wheels, an engine, extra seats and luggage space, you've got a car again. Maybe a slightly different style car, but still a car.
Take stuff away from Microlite20 and you'll end up with a unicycle, and probably fall over unless you're very experienced. Ultramicrolite20 is the unicycle.
As a consequence there's no such thing as "not compatible" with Microlite20. If you want to add stats back in, go ahead. Change MIND to INT, Will or IQ if it suits your idea of the game better. Put BAB in if you like; I think the game plays just fine without it, but that's me. What do I know?
As an aside, we've playtested this thoroughly at all levels from 1st (actually, 0th, but that's another story) to 20th, and all the classes scale just fine, but not in the same way that D&D scales. I think that's a Good Thing, personally. A 20th Level Fighter will outstrip ANY character of equal level in melee combat in Microlite20. They get +5 to attack and damage to start with which likely gives them an extra attack each round above any other class. Add in their likely obscene STR stat from level advancement, and he's a total tank.
Here's a 20th level Dwarven Fighter, for example:
Derek "The Voice of the Mountain" Littlethorpe, Dwarf Fighter-20
STR 24 DEX 15 MIND 12
Phys +23, all others @ +20
HP 88, AC 18 (Plate + Shield)
Battle axe +37/+32/+27/+22/+17/+12/+7/+2 1d8+17
That's without magic items of any kind.
In comparison, here's an Elven Rogue-20
Aeiaeio Walker by Day, Elven Rogue-20
STR 15, DEX 24, MIND 12
Sub +23, all others @ +20
HP 80, AC 23 (Studded Leather)
Composite Longbow +32/+27/+22/+17/+12/+7/+2 1d8+2 (first attack: 1d8+25 if Sneak attack)
Paired shortswords +30/+30/+25/+20/+15/+10/+5 1d6+2 (first attack: 1d6+25 if Sneak attack)
Again, sans magic items.
Wow. A system where I can create 20th level characters
in my head! Just how cool is that??!!
Dunno what you think, but I'd say those two would be a fair fight for each other. The elf would likely get the drop on the Dwarf and pepper him with arrows taking (say) three-quarter of his HP before the Dwarf acts like a blender and chews the Elf up in a dervish of blood and guts. He'd get at least 5 hits on the Elf easily in one round (probably more) doing an average of 21hp damage each. That's over a 100hp damage. Take off Derek's shield and give him a two-handed waraxe (x2 STR damage). Ouch.
Of course, in another situation (ambush!), the Elf would win before the Dwarf so much as lifted his axe.
OK, it' might not be perfect, but it's balanced enough for me. Just like a bicycle.
The same holds true with spellcasters. At high levels they're lethal, but their likely rapidly decreasing HP means they are VERY vulnerable in a fight. Just as it should be, regardless of level.
In unrelated news: I've posted up my
New Gods Campaign Setting which provides a D&D-style backdrop that's just a bit different to your usual fayre. Enjoy.
Oh, and I'm still ploughing on with the Big Shiny pdf. It's up to 26 pages, has all the Combat House Rules, Mass Combat, information about making your own campaign setting, the New Gods above (as I was working on that at the same time so it was an easy copy-and-paste) and more. The table still need dropping in, and I need to pull in everything from the adventures, other campaign settings, magic, etc. It's about a third of the way there, I'd guess.
And I promise.... promise.... that there'll be Design Considerations there so you can understand how this dictator thinks. I'll post them in the Macropedia too, ok?
Benevolent? Pah.
EDIT: A system where I can create 20th level characters in my head
and get the math wrong! Just how dumbass is that??!! Fixed now. That'll teach me to add up without caffeine.