Morandir Nailo
First Post
I've been tinkering for a while with a major overhaul of 3.5; I'm looking to create a dark, gritty pulp-style game, where mighty-thewed warriors fight terrors from Beyond and decadent sorcerers call up Things Which Should Not Be to make unholy bargains. This is what I've got so far; I'm hoping that you guys can help me assess whether or not it's actually a workable system.
The biggest changes:
Allowed Classes
Barbarian, Binder, Crusader, Hexblade, Ranger, Rogue, Swordsage, Totemist, Warblade, Warlock. That's it.
Please note that there are no "traditional" casters; Vancian magic doesn't exist here. The Ranger and Hexblade use spell-less variants: the Ranger gets an Animal Companion as if he were a Druid, and can trade in the Combat Style feature for the Shapeshift Druid ACF from PHB2. Hexblades will get Warlock invocations (though far fewer than Warlocks, and no EB); in addition, their Curse is x/encounter, not x/day.
Allowed Races
The classic four: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling. I want a very human-centric game. In the accompanying campaign setting, demihumans are a rare lot.
New HP/AC System
I'm going to be using the Grim 'n Gritty combat system, detailed here. It's definitely a much more lethal system (as you'll see if you read the sample combat at the end of the description), but obviously that's what I'm going for here.
Other Changes
-Stats will be rolled, in order, using the standard 4d6 -lowest method. You can reroll one stat and swap two. The idea is to create characters with interesting quirks, without totally gimping someone's concept. Full rerolls will be allowed if a stat set is truly horrible.
-For skills, I use the skill groups system from Iron Heroes.
-Rituals magic will exist, using the Incantation rules from UA. Magic item creation will require just such a ritual, albeit with rare components which will generally require questing to obtain. Rituals are found only in books; generally those with such books tend to guard them jealously.
-There will be no magic item economy whatsoever. Players will get items when they pry them from the cold, dead hands of their enemies, and they'll be getting fewer of them. To compensate, they'll get a feat every even level (and at 1st level), and two stat raises every third level. I definitely want to take an "it's you, not your gear" approach.
That covers the basics. Problem is, being just one person I'm sure there are probably glaringly huge holes in this that I've missed. So I'm hoping you guys can help me tear this apart and find all those broken combos that can result from what I've got here. Any questions/comments/criticisms are welcome and appreciated!
Mor
The biggest changes:
Allowed Classes
Barbarian, Binder, Crusader, Hexblade, Ranger, Rogue, Swordsage, Totemist, Warblade, Warlock. That's it.
Please note that there are no "traditional" casters; Vancian magic doesn't exist here. The Ranger and Hexblade use spell-less variants: the Ranger gets an Animal Companion as if he were a Druid, and can trade in the Combat Style feature for the Shapeshift Druid ACF from PHB2. Hexblades will get Warlock invocations (though far fewer than Warlocks, and no EB); in addition, their Curse is x/encounter, not x/day.
Allowed Races
The classic four: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling. I want a very human-centric game. In the accompanying campaign setting, demihumans are a rare lot.
New HP/AC System
I'm going to be using the Grim 'n Gritty combat system, detailed here. It's definitely a much more lethal system (as you'll see if you read the sample combat at the end of the description), but obviously that's what I'm going for here.
Other Changes
-Stats will be rolled, in order, using the standard 4d6 -lowest method. You can reroll one stat and swap two. The idea is to create characters with interesting quirks, without totally gimping someone's concept. Full rerolls will be allowed if a stat set is truly horrible.
-For skills, I use the skill groups system from Iron Heroes.
-Rituals magic will exist, using the Incantation rules from UA. Magic item creation will require just such a ritual, albeit with rare components which will generally require questing to obtain. Rituals are found only in books; generally those with such books tend to guard them jealously.
-There will be no magic item economy whatsoever. Players will get items when they pry them from the cold, dead hands of their enemies, and they'll be getting fewer of them. To compensate, they'll get a feat every even level (and at 1st level), and two stat raises every third level. I definitely want to take an "it's you, not your gear" approach.
That covers the basics. Problem is, being just one person I'm sure there are probably glaringly huge holes in this that I've missed. So I'm hoping you guys can help me tear this apart and find all those broken combos that can result from what I've got here. Any questions/comments/criticisms are welcome and appreciated!
Mor