New Project: Avatar for Pen and Paper.

[Verec]

I have been a fan of Avatar The Last Airbender for about a year now. It's a wonderful world, and I'd love to sit down with some of my friends and take them for a spin in it. The problem is that while I love d20 as a base for everything I do, I can't find a d20 system that allows for the key mechanic of the entire setting, the titular 'Bending'. I have rough ideas of what I want to do, and I'd rather keep it loose and flexible rather than having it bound up to it's neck in named moves and class abilities. I want bending to be powerful, but not unbalancing, a path that you walk to the exclusion of other skills and weapons. I want to avoid 1/2 progression classes, simply because it's a martial arts based system. I'd rather keep this skills and feats focused than have bending be specific to any one class. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where this is going, but I'm more than willing to rip up stuff I've come up with if it means getting closer to the source and flavor of the setting.
Ideas for Classes:
Soldier: Regimented men-at arms, highly trained and armored but inflexible. Specilists in one method of combat, they tend to flounder outside it.
Warrior: Self-trained or barbarian fighters who have unpolished but effective skills. Combat generalists who can have moderate skill in several areas.
Nobles: Diplomats and liars who use words to deadly effect and parry assasins with skills learned to fill time growing up.
Mystics: Study matters of the spirit and seek enlightenment and understanding.
Scholars: Seekers of knowledge of this world, scholars can be historians, geographers or healers. Their knowledge might also include some skills usefull in this world at war.

 

[borble]

i made a sort of bender class here:
Elemental Warrior
its a balenced class as fast a can see, and sets elements into the game.
ben

 

[Shayuri]

Interesting. I've been thinking about 'bending' in d20 terms too, and it occcurs to me that there's one class that actually comes pretty close, in that it grants a limited number of magical powers that can be used at will.

Warlock!

Consider, for example, defining the Eldritch Blast as a Gust of Wind effect that scales up with level and can be modified with various area effects (much as a normal Eldritch Blast). That alone could simulate a lot of what Airbending can do. Then you add things like perpetual Feather Fall, enhanced Jumping, and so on...perhaps culminating in a power to create a Whirlwind type effect at high levels. Treat those secondary powers as Invocations, and voila!

Then, instead of getting DR and fast healing and resistances, they get some monk spiffs...unarmored AC, unarmed damage...to represent the martial arts of bending. Still pretty balanced, and perfect for the Avatar world's theme!

Then just change the Invocation list for other types of bending. Waterbending probably doesn nonlethal damage as an eldritch blast...with a shaping invocation you can get later that lets you sculpt the water into an "edge" that does lethal cutting damage. And once you get some Ice invocations, you can start hurling ice shards as well. Etc.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I would probably start with the monk class to represent the martial arts aspects. From there I would add a set of class features for the bending. make them at will like a warlock's blasts and model their strength on the EB. Have a path of class features for each of the schools(earth/water/fire/air bending) that gets steadily more powerful as a base as you level up. Then I would add feat chains based on modifications to the individual disciplines. Lightning energy for firebending, ice for water, metal for earth, etc.

 

[Verec]

I was looking to avoid class features to express bending. I didn't want a 'Waterbender' class and a 'firebender' class. If I have to, i'll come up with a spell list as long as my arm, but damn if I won't avoid pidgeonholing this. I don't really want an alternate warlock or an alternate monk.

I have been taking a look at other systems, and I was thinking that some of the skill based systems, specifically the one in the Wheel of Time RPG might be closest to what I was thinking of. Some of those DCs might be a little high for what I had in mind and since the underlying mechanics of the system have some elements I wouldn't need, I'd eleminate them. I was also toying with the idea of having exceptional successes (beat DC by 20+) result in not loosing the cost of the move. Thoughts?

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

If you were interested in using a different d20 ruleset all together, IMO the easiest way to accomplish this would be to use the rules from Mutants and Masterminds. Combine Martial Artist with Elemental Control, and it would be ridiculously easy to make a "bender" sort of character. The rules for M&M would allow for characters of all levels to represent the soldier, warrior, and other classes you envision.

I've thought about playing a campaign based on the Avatar series, myself, and from what I can see, the D&D rules just don't allow for the sorts of effects needed to make a good representation of the series.

Good luck!!!

 

[Shayuri]

I'm not so sure of that,r eally. If you look past the visual composition of the effect, to the essence of what's happening, you'll see that bending really only has a relatively small set of powers associated with it.

You can raise or remove barriers (even temporary defensive ones, used for parrying). You can make direct strikes by hurling the element really hard at someone. You can make the element pick you up and move you around (exception, never seen Fire do this...could be tradeoff for the fact that Fire is among the deadlier of the elements in a direct strike). You can, with Water and Earth at least, cause someone else to become trapped in the element.

Granted if you tried to make up a separate power for each and every specific thing they do in the show, it'd be silly. But if you come up with fairly broad, versatile categories of usage, then it quickly becomes manegeable again.

And the game doesn't have to match the animated series 100%.

 

[The Lost Muse]

Mutants and Masterminds really would be ideal - simply create a "Bending Power" and add appropriate extras and limitations... for example (and without any checking of books):

Bending (4 pp/rank) - Allows control of one of the following elements: Water, Earth, Air, Fire. Basically allows for an attack.

Extras: Disarm, sunder, bull-rush, grapple, multiple elements (if the avatar)

 

[Randolpho]

Hmm....

I like the idea of an Avatar: the RPG. I also like the idea of pulling the bending abilities outside of class, and keeping them open-ended.

Perhaps a totally subjective feat/point based system, where feats are used to specify bending abilities, "bend points" dictate how often the player can bend without resting, and the players are free to dictate the effect? I was thinking of feats that specify range (how far away from the character (s)he can affect an element), volume (how much the character can bend at one time), and damage (maximum amount of damage that can be dealt at one time or per "BP" spent, either to a single foe or multiple foes), and perhaps "neat effects" which would be element-specific, like the ability to freeze water for water benders, or metal bending for earth benders.

Basically, with such a system, the players would describe what they want to do, and the DM would -- using general guidelines supplied by the book with a specified DM is the final arbiter "rule zero" -- determine how many points they would use, how long it might take, and would describe the effect. An example would be Aang and Katara using water-bending to cut girders in "The Drill", and it works, but takes a very long time.

I can't wait to play an Avatar: the RPG. I already have my first villian planned.... a rogue water-bender, whose favorite line is "did you know that the human body is mostly made of water?"

 

[Stormborn]

True Sorcery, limiting the availble powers to a set related by element (Water, for example, might also include healing). Allow access to the various powers through feats and Prestige Classes. Use Book of the Nine Swords for martial arts manuevers/classes. Remove all standard spell casters and half-casters, although a spelless ranger and bard might be OK.

Your other option would be straight True 20, which might work better.