Nexus D20

[garrowolf]

I have been working on a D20 system for the last few years that I call Nexus D20. It is designed to be simple to use but have lots of crunch. It is a lot more then a set of house rules. It's a whole new D20 system.

Character creation is quick - there are several classes that are fairly general. The details lie in the feats instead of having lots of class abilities per level.

It works for several tech levels. You can create a game for low tech Steel Age with traditional fantasy or a high tech space game or anything in the middle. You can even mix them with no problem and have low tech wizards meeting cyborgs.

It's great for conversion from other settings. You can run D&D campaigns, Star Wars, Rifts, etc. in it. I am working on a settings page for each one of these as well.

Combat is fast and simple. There is one roll per action. There are no damage rolls. It's built into the system. There is no defense roll. One roll for attack on all sides. Very quick. It can deal with a long brawl as well as a knife in the gut.

Try it out and I would love some feed back!

Also if anyone is good at art I could use some for it.

 

[Anton85]

I have been following your system sense you first began, and this is by far my favorite version!

Nice simple, elegant rules. Lots of options for customization. Easy to DM. All the things I look for in a system.


I have a couple of criticisms that you might want to consider.


1: Needs some editing and some more examples.
2: Weapon damages seem a little high. It looks like players will get killed too often for my tastes.
3: You seem to have 'tiers' of play (an idea I like), but the higher tiers dont seem to give you a lot of 'umph' or 'wow'.

 

[garrowolf]

Thanks! I appreciate it.
I'm slowly trying to edit it. I've got some newer versions of a few of the pages on my computer and I'm trying to improve them - specifically the Monster list and the Magic powers.

The game IS fairly lethal on purpose but it can also reflect a tough character. If you want your PCs to be able to last a while then I would recommend you look at the Resistance feats. A character with a few of those will stay up a lot longer then a normal character.

Also I've discovered that most players appreciate the lethality of the game. It makes them actually worry about their characters more and try and think there way out of problems a LOT more.

I am not sure what you mean by the higher tiers. Are you talking about higher tech levels or higher level characters?

 

[garrowolf]

Need help

I need some more stuff for this power. I am basing it on Avatar the last Airbender Water bending but I have a separate healing power. Also I don't want to make it too much based on chemistry. Water elementals are in a different power as well.

Any ideas?

Water (Direct, Obvious, Dex) Low

You can move and control fresh and salt water, not any other liquids. You can't pull the water out off other liquids or move the water in something else. You need a source of water to use this. You can't create the water either. You must be able to move your arms in order to control the water. If someone binds you then they can prevent you from directing your abilities.


Immunities – Drowning


Basic – You can move through the water faster then normal. You can direct waves and surf them. You can move small boats and canoes. You can move ice and freeze small amounts of water (a few buckets full).
Trained – You can create a large enough wave to push someone overboard.

1. Focused - You can try and suffocate someone by pushing water on their face.

Mastery - You can move and shape large blocks of ice. You can turn rain to snow and back for a city. You can beach ships on instant icebergs.


Attacks - Attacks follow damage chart A.




Ritual Tools
A source of water


Trained Feats
Ice Shield – You can block attacks with ice.
Freeze Person – You can hold a person in place with ice as a standard attack.
Freeze area – You can freeze the whole area in a icy wonderland or a dangerous traffic hazard.


Focus Feats
Water Whip - You can create water whip which can do lethal damage. It can cut through light materials such as cloth or rope. Use melee skill. At Mastery it can cut through metal.
Ice Spikes - You can create ice spikes to throw with ranged skill.
Swim Fast – You swim like a torpedo.
Tentacles - You can create multiple tentacles and control them attacking with them. You can create water tentacles that can grab, trip, slap, or punch.


Mastery Feats
Ice Armor – You can create armor around yourself out of ice.
Whirlpool – Create whirlpools and water funnels.
Water Form (SA) – You can turn into water and are immune to normal weapons.

 

[Anton85]

By 'tier' i meant the concept that higher character levels feel different then lower levels.

I simply dont like systems that have '20 levels of dungeon crawling". When I look at a system and consider all the levels it supports, and I look at the difference between a 1st and 20th level character. If the difference is just larger numbers, then I probably wont play past level 10.

 

[garrowolf]

Are you talking about the Novice, Trained, Veteran as Tiers?

Well I've been trying to make sure that the game is fairly realistic at all levels. A High level character would have a few skills at Mastery and the Mastery level feats are usually pretty good.

Beyond that I'm not sure what else I should do at higher levels. The system itself makes them more dangerous as they go up. However if they are matched against someone of their own level they will be roughly balanced again.

So what do you suggest?