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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scurvy_Platypus" data-source="post: 4037506" data-attributes="member: 43283">The Monte product does sound interesting (wasn't he supposed to be quitting the rpg business after Ptolus? I mean, MCWoD? He's like some of these singers that "retire". <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) I might pick it up next year, depending on what the reviews sound like.Unfortunately, I'm not sure I really bring much new to the mix...I'd start with blending the Anime SRD and Fantasy Concepts. I'd keep a lot of Fantasy Concepts as it is, since it already made a bunch of the changes I wanted. I'd modify it with a number of the mechanical changes that Everstone made to the Anime SRD as well.Really, blending together those three things is about 80% or more of what I'd want.Magic is just that... magic. I don't see a point to the whole Arcane/Divine thing, unless you're doing some sort of story/setting specific difference (like "arcane" magic corrupts in the Warcraft world).I'd cap magic at 4th or 5th level spells, with some specific spells being yanked out additionally.If I really wanted to go different with the magic, there's two bits I'd consider using. Both of them are a skill based approach to magic. The first is the Slayersd20/Advanced Magic book from Guardians of Order. The system does seem a bit fiddly though. The Advanced Magic book is an expanded version of the magic found in Slayersd20.An alternative that appeals to my "simplify it" soul, is the Unusual Core Classes: Spellweaver product from Misfit Studios. You can find it here:<a href="http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?from_home=1&it=1&motds_id=414&products_id=12636" target="_blank">http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?from_home=1&it=1&motds_id=414&products_id=12636</a>Either of those 2 products  would be a solid way to go. I'd personally take the Spellweaver, but tastes vary.A while ago, I would have gone with Elements of Magic: Revised, and rebuilt the magic system from the ground up. I already _did_ do a lot of that for C&C (before I trashed everything and put my C&C books away). But at the end of the day, it was an awful lot of work, and while spells were much more consistent in terms of their overall cost, I'm not sure it was really worth it. If they'd had some sort of Excel sheet or something to help build the spells, that would have gone a long way towards me still using it.Between the innate leveled spells like Everstone has (which uses spell points), the skill based approach to magic like the Spellweaver, as well as the traditional Vancian system, I'm basically covered for just about any kind of magic I'd want. Tattoos, runes, whatever... one of those 3 approaches should cover it.I'd yank the Psychic's Handbook from Green Ronin, and tweak it a bit to work with the above. I like the idea of a skill-based psychic system, just without all the fiddle of the usual skill rules. Having a Fantasy Concepts derived skill system (with some further tweaks) would take care of a lot of that.Since I'd be carving out Divine Magic, it means healing (along with a bunch of other bits) suddenly goes up in the air. I'm thinking that I'd take care of it by a combination of small magic bits (items/wands/potions), as well as it being a part of the Psychic's power set. Which would mainly consist of a psychic taking on the wound of someone else, and then accelerating their own healing. Which means raising the dead is going to be almost unheard of, and a healer in general will have to be careful how much they can heal. Someone like Conan could probably sustain enough damage to take out more than one healer. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />There's various 3rd party classes floating around that I'd probably consider adding in. Some from Green Ronin, maybe something out of Monte's stuff.Dweomercraft: Familiars seems like a pretty nifty product.<a href="http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=17983&it=1" target="_blank">http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=17983&it=1</a>Being able to make familiars available to different people and have them be something other than the usual thing I see in D&D is a good thing I think.Adamant Entertainment released the Foe Factory: Modern product which seems _very_ spiffy. <a href="http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=51080" target="_blank">http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=51080</a>Although I'd like to see them release the fantasy version (in theory it's done, but they're not putting it out until after 4E), you can certainly use this with relatively little difficulty. Meaning, I've experiemented a bit with it, and it hasn't blown up in my face. Caveat: the difficulty depends on the next thing...Grim Tales Creature Creation:<a href="http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=18836&it=1" target="_blank">http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=18836&it=1</a>You might not agree with all the numbers (it's based on work done by Upper_Krust), but it _does_ present a consistent way of building monsters. This particular bit also comes with an Excel sheet, which makes life much easier. I own the GT book, and I still bought this.The combination of the Foe Factory and the GT Creature means you can build a consistently scaling critter, and have a really good idea that the CR is going to be about right. I'm not going to claim it's perfect, but it's certainly good enough. And pretty consistent.What I've done so far is use the Foe Factory product as the "base" for the creature, and then I make what's effectively a template and apply it to the creature. I use the GT rules to give me the CR modifier.The Foe Factory book basically gives you a quick scaling system for stats, saves, etc. I believe it's inspiried by the NPC system out of Spycraft. Not certain about that though, so don't quote me. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />If you don't have GT, then the usefulness of the Foe Factory product drops off quite a bit I feel. I'm not entirely certain I agree with all of the Foe Factory's CR adjustments, and it really doesn't come with enough to make it useful for a fantasy game. The fantasy version might be a different story, assuming it's actually released.I'd also look at using the Artificer's Handbook from Mystic Eye Games (it's now sold by Ronin Arts I believe). If you can't find a physical copy, you can buy the pdf from a number of other places (e23 and Your Games Now). I'm not 100% certain what it'd look like since the skill system is being changed, but I think it'd still be pretty workable.I'd cap everything at level 8, and then hand out an extra feat for every 5k of XP. Yeah, basically E6 only 8th level instead of 6th.I'd also tap an OGL source of feats (like the AEG book of the same name), and use it fill out some of the different options in the system. Obviously some feats wouldn't be appropriate depending on the setting, and others would be pointless (like AoO related feats) due to certain elements being missing from the system.In case anyone reads this and wonders, "Hey, wait a second... isn't he already doing a bunch of that already?" You're right, I am. Which is why I already know that a number of these things work for me. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> It's not all integrated at this point, but I'm slowly working on it.</blockquote>

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