Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 1793017" data-attributes="member: 18280">Around the time that the 2nd Ed Player's Option books came out, I threw up my hands in despair and said, &quot;I'm going to write my own system.&quot;&nbsp; Well, when 3.0 came out, it had most of the elements I was planning on using, except I was going to use a d30 rather than a d20, to allow for a greater range of potential rolls.After playing 3.X for a while, I've decided that I still need to do a lot of re-writing.&nbsp; In my case, this meant pulling the 3.5 SRD into a single file.&nbsp; Now I'm starting to rewrite the entire thing.&nbsp; In my case, this means:*&nbsp; Tweaking races to match my campaign world better.&nbsp; Elves and gnomes are fey, for example, and dwarves are (short) giants.*&nbsp; Finesse weapons automatically use DEX for attack roll bonuses; no Weapon Finesse feat required.&nbsp; I.e., STR is simply never as important as DEX with a rapier.*&nbsp; Combat rules streamlined.&nbsp; I am thinking of limiting AoOs to the originals:&nbsp; polearms set against a charge and bare-handed attack against an armed foe.&nbsp; I'm also going back to D10 initiative (with bonuses) and simultaneous attacks to speed up combat.*&nbsp; I'm substantially rewriting classes to reduce their power levels overall.&nbsp; By my calculations, a 3.5 1st level character is roughly equal to a 3rd level character in 1st Ed AD&amp;D.&nbsp; I use 1/2 suggested XP, and still I often find that PCs gain new powers before they've even used all of the old ones.&nbsp; No more.*&nbsp; Rewriting the magic system in relation to character classes.&nbsp; A lot.&nbsp; Examples:*&nbsp; Wizards are all specialists.&nbsp; They begin by learning magical rituals, which later progress to spells.&nbsp; In other words, the spell you learn at 1st level takes longer to cast, but by 3rd level you've mastered it.

*&nbsp; Clerics don't cast spells.&nbsp; They channel (un)holy energy, perform rites (whenever conditions are met, often with long-lasting results), and pray to their god(s).&nbsp; Prayer can reproduce many normal spell effects, but the cleric chooses how long to pray and what effect to ask for, then rolls to determine if the god answers.&nbsp; So long as the cleric succeeds in all her prayers, she can pray an unlimited number of times per day.&nbsp; Once a prayer fails, she's done until tomorrow.In short, my goal is to increase the non-combat complexity (gambling, debate, etc. rules resembling combat somewhat) while decreasing combat complexity.&nbsp; It is my intent to include in-game reasons to engage in romance, rest times, and even (god-forbid) politics.&nbsp; What I hope to achieve is something where the game creates not only the story of the adventurers, but also the stories of their families over time, and of the world as a whole.RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 1793017, member: 18280"] Around the time that the 2nd Ed Player's Option books came out, I threw up my hands in despair and said, "I'm going to write my own system." Well, when 3.0 came out, it had most of the elements I was planning on using, except I was going to use a d30 rather than a d20, to allow for a greater range of potential rolls. After playing 3.X for a while, I've decided that I still need to do a lot of re-writing. In my case, this meant pulling the 3.5 SRD into a single file. Now I'm starting to rewrite the entire thing. In my case, this means: * Tweaking races to match my campaign world better. Elves and gnomes are fey, for example, and dwarves are (short) giants. * Finesse weapons automatically use DEX for attack roll bonuses; no Weapon Finesse feat required. I.e., STR is simply never as important as DEX with a rapier. * Combat rules streamlined. I am thinking of limiting AoOs to the originals: polearms set against a charge and bare-handed attack against an armed foe. I'm also going back to D10 initiative (with bonuses) and simultaneous attacks to speed up combat. * I'm substantially rewriting classes to reduce their power levels overall. By my calculations, a 3.5 1st level character is roughly equal to a 3rd level character in 1st Ed AD&D. I use 1/2 suggested XP, and still I often find that PCs gain new powers before they've even used all of the old ones. No more. * Rewriting the magic system in relation to character classes. A lot. Examples: [INDENT]* Wizards are all specialists. They begin by learning magical rituals, which later progress to spells. In other words, the spell you learn at 1st level takes longer to cast, but by 3rd level you've mastered it. * Clerics don't cast spells. They channel (un)holy energy, perform rites (whenever conditions are met, often with long-lasting results), and pray to their god(s). Prayer can reproduce many normal spell effects, but the cleric chooses how long to pray and what effect to ask for, then rolls to determine if the god answers. So long as the cleric succeeds in all her prayers, she can pray an unlimited number of times per day. Once a prayer fails, she's done until tomorrow.[/INDENT] In short, my goal is to increase the non-combat complexity (gambling, debate, etc. rules resembling combat somewhat) while decreasing combat complexity. It is my intent to include in-game reasons to engage in romance, rest times, and even (god-forbid) politics. What I hope to achieve is something where the game creates not only the story of the adventurers, but also the stories of their families over time, and of the world as a whole. RC [/QUOTE]

Verification