Metempsychosis -- full rpg ruleset -- work in progress
INTRODUCTION:
Combat Rule system for the world of Metempsychosis
This game is a product of inspiration. I have created it to make the best RPG I possibly could, based on what I consider to be the most excellent aspects of RPGs I have played. I took the aspects from various games I felt were strongest and mashed them together. The originality of the text, however, I have firmly rooted in the ability to build any character you wish to play. All your choices are meaningful.
Within this system, there are literally millions of variations of skill and gear combinations, to say nothing of defining your character's personality, goals, motives, or their fate.
So what is Dark Adaptation? It is a Card and Dice based system to run a Tabletop Role Playing Game.
The cards are to determine your character's powers, while the dice – d100* and d6 – are used to determine outcome of action.
Our system is inspired by such games as Warhammer, Pathfinder, World of Darkness, Final Fantasy, Ultima Online, Elder Scrolls, and of course Dungeons & Dragons.
These particular stories are set within a pre-renaissance dark fantasy setting. Cities have formed to protect humanity from extreme wilderness conditions and a vast array of horrifying monsters.
Although civilization isn't exactly always safe, when you travel outside of civilization, you will be in danger.
In this RPG your story can begin in any civilization included, you can play within any profession, or begin without a class, where the primary goal will simply be to survive.
Recommended for people already familiar with Tabletop Role Playing Games, Dark Adaptation is streamlined for customization, complex character-building, tactical but dangerous combat, and a heavy focus on narrative. Stories will best be told either through adventure sessions or through what is called a “living world” RPG, through a forum such as Discord.
As I continue to update the game, I will be adding more to the world, giving greater depth to the pre-made classes, and constructing new skill cards, along with adjusting stats. Nothing is official and if you come across this, and like anything about the system, what you like is yours to adapt in your game precisely as you see fit.
*How
to read the percentile dice to achieve a result from 1-100:
percentile die: 00 is zero
single-digit die: 0 counts as 10
therefore: 00+0 = 10, not zero; 00+1 = 01 → 90+1= 91; 90+0= 100
Why
a d100 system?
It's
easy to understand. The higher your skill, the higher the chance you
will succeed. In addition, there are things the 1d100 can accomplish
other dice pool systems cannot. Used here:
* the dice roll can be used to determine the damage of Basic Attacks, either by consulting the ones digit die (for one-handed weapons), or by adding the two numbers together (for two-handed weapons)
* double dice results in critical success or failure (approximately 10% chance of a critical result)
* fortune points can be used to invert dice to succeed
* a GM can use a fate point to invert your dice so they fail or invert the dice of an antagonist so they succeed
* dice rolls correlate to parts of the body when rolling for ability damage against the Body – these dice can also be inverted at the cost of a fortune point
* degrees of success and failure yield nuanced consequences to actions and can also help quicken resolution
* broadly applicable: every check in the game is a d100
*
on-the-fly modifiers are +5%, +10%, and so on, to avoid messy math.
PART ONE: ABILITIES
The ABILITIES are:
STRENGTH, AGILITY, ENDURANCE, INTELLIGENCE, PERCEPTION, and CHARISMA
and each falls on a spectrum, from - 100-> 100
The ABILITY (ABI) bonus is derived from the hundreds/tens digit, ranging from -10 --> +10.
Example: If your STR is 80, your STR bonus is 8. If your STR is 83, your STR bonus is still 8. If your STR is 23, your STR bonus is 2.
Each ABILITY affects character interaction with the world. In some cases, scores add bonuses to skill checks, such as STRENGTH's contribution to damage, or ENDURANCE's to damage reduction. At other times, they are used as ability checks in their own right. For example if you want to seduce a person, you will be asked to roll a CHARISMA check (probably a whole series of checks, let's be honest). Roll under your CHA score to succeed and that person might agree to a date.
Lastly, they are important to saving throws, whenever a specific ABILITY is tested. For example, in order to avoid a fire ball, you may get to roll an AGILITY check. If you roll below the number, you succeed. Maybe your character would rather withstand the attack, or cannot possibly avoid it, and instead would roll an ENDURANCE check. Roll below your END to succeed the check.
You begin with 120+3d10 ability points spread evenly among the six abilities. You adjust them point for point. When starting, none can be higher than 48 (53 for animus and 58 for lycanthropes), none lower than 10.
Ultimately you cannot have more than 240 points spread among the six ability scores. The base maximum abilities range from 60-90, depending on region or ancestry. None can begin lower than 10.
In addition, no one ability can be increased more than 25% through “constant” itemization such as wearing gear, gaining tattoos, or having consumed magical food or drink (which lasts hours), but temporary spells, either cast or created by potions, can push these bonuses higher.
ABILITY SCORES and relevant skill checks:
STR
carry-weight, climbing, hand projectile range, jump, lift, pull, push, smithing
AGI
acrobatics, animal riding, balance, dance, disarm trap, fine-art crafts, hide, juggle, pick lock, pickpocket, silent walk
END
alcohol and drug in-take, carry weight, effects of malnutrition (including sleep), healing- effectiveness, long-distance running, recovery speed, resistance to sickness and disease, survival
INT
alchemy, arcane lore, engineering, forensic, inscription, history, math, mechanics, medicine, natural science
PER
alertness/awareness, arm trap, direction sense, discern lie/bluff/fraud, memory, philosophy, read emotion or body language, religious lore, sanity, sixth sense, tracking, wisdom
CHA
animal handling, bluff, charm, diplomacy, disguise, enthrall, entice, flirt, intimidate, leadership, lie, mercantile, negotiate, scare, seduce, soothe, speech, story tell, swindle
What happens if I reach zero or worse in an ability score?
0--> -24
STR: can't lift a finger. Great physical disability.
AGI: body is completely rigid. Negative numbers imply misshapen limbs; bone, skin, and muscular diseases.
END: sickened, diseased, poisoned. Lower numbers worsens afflictions, thwarts healing, may connote that you are extremely contagious, and you lose health at an exponentially faster rate, maybe terminally ill.
INT: in a stupor. Lower numbers erase skills, memories, spells, and known languages.
PER: suffers mental afflictions, such as dread or insanity. Negative numbers increase amount of mental afflictions and can lead to catatonic psychosis and extreme hallucinations.
CHA: loses all sense of personality. Negative numbers make you overtly and singularly hateful. You lose friendships, allies, and create hostile factions.
At -25 of any ability score, the character's experience radically changes, as their soul begins to slip into the domain of a terror. Details on the terrors later.
-25 → -49
lower terror
-50 –> -74
greater terror
-75 –> 99
terror lord
-100
embodiment of terror
PART TWO: COMBAT and CARD MECHANICS
Every character has Body (BP), movement speed (MS), initiative rating (INI), and Damage Reduction (DR) scores.
The BP is a measurement of the physical health of the character. If you take damage to your Body, you are likely in serious trouble. You may be severely wounded, suffer broken bones, you may be maimed, crippled, put into a coma, or die. A character is considered dead when their Body Pool reaches a negative number.
To determine Body Pool, begin with: 10 (for humans), add the character's endurance bonus (0-10), then finally add HEART SKILL bonus. Each new level of the Hearts skill adds its value. So, at 10% you gain +1 Body; at 20% you gain an additional 2; at 30% you gain 3 more, and so on. If you have 100 HEART SKILL, you would add 55 (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10) to your BP.
Movement: base 5 (human) + AGI bonus + ½ highest Diamond card slotted rounded down.
Initiative Rating: base 0 (human) + AGI+PER bonus
Damage Reduction: base 0 (human) + END bonus + armor/shield/skill card/magic bonus
Each character can increase skills in four different combat lines.
Each has a rating from 0-100%. What are the skill lines and what do they mean?
Hearts: your ability to defend yourself and endure damage; directly affects BP but also determines Heart Pool (HP). When your character is able to defend themselves, damage dealt to them is dealt to the Heart Pool, rather than the Body.
To determine your Heart Pool, add up the value of all the heart cards actually slotted.
Whenever a player takes damage, they tap that number of Hearts, starting with the highest Heart cards. If there is remainder damage, do not tap card until all of it is consumed.
Whenever Hearts are tapped, those tapped skill cards cannot be used and their passives/bonuses are disabled.
There are few exceptions.
Once all Hearts are tapped, any damage dealt against a character is dealt to the Body, which has severe repercussions. Even if a character loses all their hearts, the character still applies their full heart skill when making checks. The exception to this is if you are rendered “defenseless.”
Clubs:
your ability to cast spells, including healing spells. Determines
chance to land attacks with magic-based weapons, such as wands.
Determines chance to cast a spell while under threat or if spell is
contested by a counter spell.
Spades: your weapon skill, both ballistic and melee, with some defense in the form of parry, minor self-healing, and other weapon stances. Determines chance to hit with weapons or succeed at martial maneuvers.
Diamonds: determines chance to succeed with offensive/defensive mobility (such as charge attacks or dodges) and stealth utility skills (such as ambushes or hasty retreats).
STARTING and MAXIMUM SKILL LEVELS
If you want to role-play a significant chapter in your character's backstory, for that chapter you will have 52 skill points. You can have no more than 24 in any one skill.
However, adventure-ready characters will begin with 104 skill points, and no more than 48 in any one skill line.
Without the aid of itemization or magic, each player can have up to 208 skill points allocated across the four skill lines. No one skill level can exceed 100. Even with the aid of magic and itemization, a character still cannot exceed 240 total skill points, or 120 in any one skill line.
This way, on the one hand, characters will feel truly unique; and on the other hand, they cannot be everything and do everything, which makes for boring characters.
HOW COMBAT ENCOUNTERS UNFOLD:
As with many RPGs, everyone shares a turn.
If both sides of the conflict are aware of the fight, then characters with highest Initiative act first, lowest numbers act last. In the case of a surprise attack or ambush, the ambushers act first.
The Storyteller or Game Master should create an Initiative Reel, Ladder, or Stack using cards to represent the characters involved in the conflict.
Breaks in combat/retreats can recreate combat order.
Each turn, the player can make 6 kinds of actions: movement, basic actions (such as casting a spell or making an attack), reactions, passives, free actions, and defenses.
Movement – number of 5-foot spaces one can move during turn
Character can move before and/or after any basic action, but no more than what exceeds the movement score.
Movement can be sacrificed to add dodge attempts. If you are foregoing your movement phase you are allowed to make exactly one (with few to no exceptions) Basic Attack instead. In most cases, you cannot forego your movement phase to cast two spells in the same turn.
Some negative status effects require either a part of or the entire movement phase to recover. For example, you can spend your movement phase to return from a prone or defenseless position.
Basic action–combat maneuver (includes making all available Basic Attacks, determined by skill cards), attacking or dual-wield attacking with a magical weapon, casting a spell, physical healing, waking up another character, returning from a prone or defenseless position
Reaction/trigger–includes attacks of opportunity, counter spells, reflect spells, purges, and traps. Typically, all characters are permitted one reaction per turn; however, skill cards can affect the number of A/O they get per turn.
Passive–regeneration (BP and HP), replenish (Temporary Ability Score Healing), receive benefit of blessings, etc.
Free actions (1)–consume potion, weapon sheathe or weapon draw, short speech, command
Defense: When attacked a player can choose to dodge, block, or parry as defenses to BA, including magic-based BA, as long as they are not defenseless. You are not exactly limited to how many times you can defend yourself during one turn, but defending yourself more than once within a single turn becomes more difficult with each attempt.
Dodge mechanic: diamond
Dodge is a movement-based defense. When a character dodges an attack, they take no damage from the attack unless otherwise stated. All characters get 1 dodge attempt per turn plus bonus dodges (up to 5) if they sacrifice some part of their next movement phase (10 ft = 1 dodge). Each dodge in succession is more difficult than the next, in increments of -5%.
You may choose to use your AGI score instead of your Diamond skill level, but you will take half damage instead of zero damage, if you succeed.
Block mechanic: heart
Block is a heart-based defense. When a character blocks an attack, they only take half the damage rounded down – by default, this is before factoring in Damage Reduction. A character can block indefinitely. Each block within the same turn makes the next block attempt more difficult. -5, 10, 15, 20, 25%, and so on. A direct back attack makes block impossible.
Some skill cards will allow Block to mitigate all the incoming damage, instead of half, at the cost of double the penalty to successive block checks.
Parry mechanic: spade check vs spade check
Highest degree of success is winner. In the case of a tie, the naturally higher roll wins. In the case of a perfect tie, just re-roll the goddamn thing!
If your parry is successful you take no damage from the attack, unless otherwise stated by a specific skill card.
Number
of parries you make per turn lessens the max number of BA your
character can make on the next turn, determined by weapon and skill
cards slotted. If an opponent is aggressive they might give up
opportunities to parry; and conversely, parrying will mean they can
make fewer attacks in the next round.
Skill checks are determined by d100. Roll beneath skill to succeed.
Rolling under percentage can create a degree of success, which produces better effects the lower you go, specifically +1 per every 10% degree of success.
Degrees of failure mean the opposite, and confer skill penalties.
When you roll to hit with a BA or magical BA that deals 1d10 damage, the ones digit number of the skill roll is also the damage number. Example, I roll a 38. My damage is 8 plus whatever weapon grade, plus my relevant ability bonus.
If your weapon deals 2d10, simply add the numbers, as single digits, together. Example, I roll a 38. My damage is 11 (3+8) plus weapon grade and relevant ability bonus.
Zeroes count as 10s, so a roll of 00+0 (10%) would be 20 damage.
If you roll doubles, as in the example just above, the strike is a critical strike. Critical strikes double the dice roll and only the dice roll. Therefore, if you roll 00+0, the damage would total 40. Do not double the total damage you would deal, only the dice roll.
CRITICAL FAIL (ATTACK)
disarmed or dropped
weapon malfunction
accidentally target ally
CRITICAL FAIL (DEFENSE)
trigger attack of opportunity
take extra 1d6 damage/degree of failure
take temporary ability damage
CRITICAL FAIL (SPELL, if caster chooses to or is forced to roll to succeed)
back fire
spell fizzle
random spell or event
NON-PROFICIENT BASIC ATTACKS
What if I don't have spade skill? Can I still make an attack with a weapon? Yes, instead you will test against the relevant abiltiy score, either STR or AGI. Roll under to succeed. However, you do not add your ability bonus or the weapon grade to the damage – only the damage roll and degree of success. Other damage sources may still apply, for example, if you're making a backstab and have proficiency in the diamond suit.
BASIC VIEW:
ATT % vs DEF % = result and degree of success or failure, then apply damage if attacker wins. Degree of success/failure is applied to attacker's damage. Note, degree of success/failure is NOT applied to defender's damage reduction.
This matters more to weapon attacks, since they more often have contested rolls, but this means a “failed attack roll” may still succeed if the defender was even poorer at defending themselves than the attacker was at attacking. This should help speed the resolution of combat. I like this because at lower levels, it just isn't fun to exchange “misses” turn after turn. And at later levels, I don't want to completely place fate in the hands of dice (especially dice with a huge range of possible outcomes), when players invest so much time and creative energy into developing their skill sets.
DAMAGE – DAMAGE REDUCTION = damage dealt to target's heart pool and/or Body, when applicable.
Saves are represented by ABILITY checks, can be modified various ways and result in 50% mitigation rounded down, when successful. In most cases, you apply DR before a successful save; however, some defensive skill cards allow you to apply DR after the save.
WHEN YOU USE A SKILL CARD ON YOUR TURN OF COMBAT, BUT THE DICE ROLL FAILS, YOU DO NOT TAP THE CARD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. HOWEVER, YOUR ACTION IS WASTED (which is punishment enough)!
ATTACKS
OF OPPORTUNITY
Attacks
of Opportunity are triggered attacks combatants can take when an
enemy makes specific actions within threatened spaces. These are an
extremely important tactical consideration. Your positioning on the
battlefield will have a major influence on how a combat scenario
plays out.
Rule One: Each character is entitled to 1 attack of opportunity (A/O) per turn for free and it is considered a triggered reaction.
Rule Two: A/o are triggered by movement thru threatened spaces (defined as anywhere a character could strike another with a melee weapon, including those with reach). Standing from a prone position counts as movement within the threatened space.
Rule Three: while in a threatened space, casting spells or loosing a ranged weapon in melee range triggers A/O. Using alchemy bombs or throwing knives both count as triggers of A/O.
Rule Four: Attempting to flee triggers A/O if the fleeing opponent starts within a threatened space.
Rule Five: A/O can be made at range but this requires a Skill Card that threatens a space or spaces. This A/O would still count as the one free A/O per turn.
Rule
Six: Exactly ONE additional A/O can be made thru Skill Card passives
based on a successful defense (dodge, block, parry, or save). These
are called Counter Attacks.
DAMAGE TYPES
Aside
from Physical
Damage from weapons or other attacks, Players and Monsters can apply
Ability
Damage,
Poison
Damage,
Bleed
damage,
and 12 types of Magic
damage.
All these forms of damage are subject to various ability
saves.
ABILITY
DAMAGE:
most Ability Damage is temporary and can be healed through rest,
healing, and spells.
Successful % save in relevant ability cuts damage in half, rounding down. After save, apply Ability Damage Reduction (ADR).
Extreme and Unfair Example: 5 chaos wizards hit your character with a ritual spell dealing 5d6 Perception damage. Your Perception score is 45; you roll a 20 and pass. The wizards roll 5d6 and score a 23, so you would take 11 Perception damage, except you have a passive that reduces ability damage by 3, for a total of 8 Perception damage taken. Your temporary score is now 37.
Saves are made against your temporary score.
Two rounds later, the chaos wizards finish a second channel, dealing 5d6 Perception damage. This time you fail the save. They roll 18 damage. You reduce this damage by 3, for total of 15 Perception damage. Your temporary score is 22 Perception unless you are replenished of the damage. Should have killed the squishy bastards!
Players and Monsters can also apply POISON counters:
Poison mastery is a proficiency that determines the total number of poison counters you can apply (up to 5). Poisons can inflict damage or negative status effects, depending both on the type and strength of the poison. A lot of poisons, once they take effect, ignore DR based on armor but not based on ENDURANCE or Spell.
Players and Monsters can deal BLEED damage
Each bleed adds damage to a blood pool, which represents the amount of bleed damage applied during an attack phase. The total blood pool tests against DR, rather than each separate instance of bleed damage. Like poisons, bleed damage ignores DR granted by armor but not DR granted by ENDURANCE or Spell.
Note that some bleeds apply directly to the BP. These are called Wounds. Usually only worth a single point, their damage bypasses all DR.
Players and Monsters can deal MAGIC damage:
Similarly to Blood Pool damage, Magic damage of the same type stacks with itself for the purpose of Damage Reduction. The spells must all be from the same caster unless a channeled group or ritual spell is used.
For example, a spell deals 6+1d6 VOID damage for 5 turns. Each turn, that 6+1d6 Void damage would face a damage reduction. Let's say, DR 5. On the first turn, I roll a 4. The opponent takes 10 damage, minus their DR of 5, for a total of 5 void damage.
Then I cast a second spell which deals 2d6 Void damage for 3 turns. During the 3 turns in which both Damage over Time Spells are working on the same target, that target would take 6+3d6 Void damage as one instance of damage, rather than two separate instances.
Here's the difference:
As one instance: 6+3d6. I roll 12, for a total of 18 damage. -5 DR = 13 total void damage delivered.
As two separate instances: 6+1d6. I roll a 2, for a total of 8 damage. - 5 DR = 3 void damage. Then I roll 2d6 for a total of 7. -5 DR = 2 void damage. 3+2 = 5 void damage delivered.
We are using the more lethal method.
Negative conditions
Players and monster cards -- whether from spell, force of arm, poison, or ability damage -- can also apply negative conditions. The most crucial is “defenseless,” a status which connotes a character's inability to defend themselves. Mechanically, this means that their hearts are null and void until they recover. When the heart pool is gone, or null and void, damage is done directly to the Body, which can quickly result in a character or monster being maimed or dying (see Body Pool mechanics for more detail).
Defenseless: lose all hearts till you regain defenses.
Attacks against a defenseless target are made with a +25% bonus and are automatically considered critical strikes.
A critical roll against defenseless opponent sets their BP to zero, resulting in a KO.
*Denotes defenselessness
Cursed -- penalty to % rolls
Crippled -- lose use of limb or limbs, incurring penalties based on limb and severity.
Disarmed -- take an action to retrieve weapon or draw another
Prone/Knocked Down -- on ground, potentially defenseless, though in most cases attacks can still be dodged or blocked; however, standing up costs a move action and can provoke A/O.
Grappled -- must make str or agi check to break free from grapple, or spade check to maneuver within it. Cannot block or parry attacks from sources beyond the grapple.
Pinned -- grappled but also unable to move. In addition cannot defend attacks from sources beyond the grapple
Strangled – choking. Make relevant check per turn. You can fail this save a number of times equal to your END bonus number before you lose consciousness and become defenseless.
Feared -- either cower in place or run away for at least 1 turn, can defend oneself at a penalty based on degree of failure to save (5% per degree of failure)
Hysteria -- brief insanity, whether filled with uncontrollable laughter or sadness or both. Lose at least 1 turn of action.
Enraged -- you lose accuracy on all skills checks (maximum of -25% penalty) but gain +1-5 damage per attack.
Berserk: you are also enraged but now will automatically make 1 BA/turn against closest ally or opponent until effect ends
Panicked -- basic actions made at penalty based on degree of failure (5% per degree of failure) to save
Confused -- lose or misuse action for 1 or more turns but can defend oneself.
Hallucinating -- potentially rendering defenseless. Cause penalty to actions depending on degree of failure to save (5% per degree of failure).
Intoxicated: depends on source, potentially rendering defenseless
Disoriented-- typically 1 turn with penalty to skill/ability checks
Staggered - typically 1 turn losing reaction (no A/O, counters, counter spells, or ability to shield/heal other as reaction); taking damage or receiving healing ends the staggered effect
Stunned* - typically 1 turn of losing all action
Knocked out* -- typically 2 or more turns of unconsciousness
Asleep* -- unconscious but damage awakens, allies can awaken without dealing damage
Blinded -- Dodge, parry, or block checks made at -25 – 50%, attacks made with -25-50% penalty.
Deafened -- -100% check to hearing-related perception checks, for example being sneaked upon.
Silenced -- can't speak or cast spells with verbal component
Sickened/diseased: various possible effects, depending on sickness, drug withdrawal falls under this category. Can be considered contagious.
Defiled -- a form of sickness that makes it harder to heal.
Paralyzed* -partial paralysis falls under crippled category. Full paralysis is conscious loss of all action for duration of effect.
Petrified/Frozen* -- a transformation of the body into stone or any other solid material, such as ice or glass
Mutation -- some spells, exposure to chaos, and sicknesses cause mutations, such as growing tentacles, an extra head, animal parts, etc.
Transformation (unwilling) -- similar to mutation except usually involves a full body transformation, for example being turned into a harmless little wabbit.
Poisoned -- poisons can deal strong upfront damage, damage per turn, or apply their own status effects.
Bleeding -- you are easier to track. Each wound causes 1 damage to Body Pool/turn, ignoring all DR. Any healing whatsoever ceases the bleeding status.
Burning -- you take fire damage per turn until extinguished
Survival Conditions:
Fatigued/Exhausted/Sleep
Deprived: penalty to Ability Checks, saves, Ability bonuses. At
latter stage, take 1d10 permanent ability damage to all abilities.
Reaching Zero in Endurance or Intelligence means death, without
intervention.
Peckish/Hungry/Starving:
penalty to STR, AGI, END. Then 1d10 Permanent Endurance damage per
day. Endurance reaching Zero means death, without intervention.
Thirsty/Dehydrated:
suffer ability damage/suffer 1d10 permanent ability Endurance damage
every 8 hours. END reaching Zero means death, without intervention.
BODY POOL and WOUND MECHANICS
These mechanics formulate exactly how dangerous combat can be in the world of Dark Adaptation.
When taking damage to Body, the Natural Roll of the Attack corresponds to parts of the body, as seen in the table below. For a Fortune Point, you may also choose to invert the dice (for example, a roll of 81 would become an 18) for the purpose of consulting the table.
Head
01-03 -INT – stupefied/concussed/stunned, horror
04-06 -PER – loss of visual/auditory sense, madness
07-09 -CHA – memory/speech loss, personality shift, dread
Arms
10-25 – STR (arm lifting, weapon damage)
26-40 – AGI (evasion)
Abdomen
41-70 – END → difficulty breathing, lower carry weight, survival, internal bleeding, paralysis
Legs
71- 85 -AGI (slowed, hobbled, hamstrung)
86-100 -STR (reduced carry weight, weakened)
When taking damage to the BP, the degree of success of the attack roll does not apply extra damage to the BP but rather deals Permanent Ability Damage – there is no save permitted, and you do not apply ADR. Replenish spells do not affect this damage directly but can help speed recovery of the injury itself, so don't ignore their relevance.
The higher the degree of success, the more serious the wound or injury. All penalties to checks persist until you sufficiently heal the wound or injury.
Let's use an arrow to the knee as an example:
Degree of success 1-2 → minor wound, bruised bone → -5% penalty to ability checks
Degree of success 3 → moderate wound, fractured bone → -15% penalty to ability checks
Degree of success 4 → serious wound, broken bone → -30% penalty to ability checks. Depending on where the attack took place, such as trauma to the skull, even if you survive the attack, there is a 20% chance you will die from other complications if your character doesn't receive appropriate aid.
Degree of success 5+ → grievous wound, shattered bone → -50% or greater penalty to ability checks. Depending on where the attack took place, such as to the skull, or from a severed limb, even if you survive the attack, there is a 33% chance you will die from other complications if your character doesn't receive appropriate aid.
It is called Permanent Ability Damage, because if you take it, you must alter your score permanently by whatever number is indicated by the degree of success.
The wound or injury itself will require time, medical aid, and/or appropriately powerful magic to heal. If the injury is severe enough, only persistent/prolonged magic will heal it, but you will still have taken Permanent Ability Damage.
Finally, only experience point spending, to reflect rehabilitation, can return ability damage that has been lost in this manner. Replenish spells, used daily, will halve the cost of experience as well as halve the recovery time.
Only going to say this once: Protect yourself at all times.
Healing
per long rest /day
HEALING PER LONG REST:
Body: END bonus + bandages/splints/potions/magical healing/etc.
Temporary ability: END bonus + potions/magical healing
HEARTS: all
HEALING PER DAY
Body: 1d10+END, assuming no serious injuries
temporary ability: 1d10
ability score penalty: depends on severity of injury.
1 – a few days
2 – a week
3 – a couple of weeks
4 – 1-2 months
5 – 3-6 months
Whenever you take a rest of a least 6 hours, you have a day to recover any temporary ability damage before it could become permanent. If temporary ability score remains a full day after a long rest, then take the 10s digit of the amount of temporary damage remaining as permanent ability damage. If the temporary ability damage is less than 10 the character suffers no permanent damage.
HOW SKILLS ARE APPLIED TO ONE'S CHARACTER:
Skill slotting: Each card number, A through King, has 4 slots and only 4 slots. You need a specific skill level to slot skills correlating to the card number. You can re-slot your cards once per day during any rest period lasting 6 or more hours.
Skill progression: As you increase skill level, new levels of cards become available to slot.
10%: Ace, first
12 second
14 third
17 fourth
20%: 2, first
22 second
24 third
27 fourth
30%: 3, first
32 second
34 third
37 fourth
40%: 4, first
42 second
44 third
47 fourth
50%: 5, first
52 second
54 third
57 fourth
60%: 6, first
62 second
64 third
67 fourth
70%: 7, first
72 second
74 third
77 fourth
80%: 8, first
82 second
84 third
87 fourth
90%: 9, first
92 second
94 third
97 fourth
100: 10, first
102 second
104 third
107 fourth
110: Jack (-10)*
112 second
113 third
114 fourth
115: Queen (-15)*
117 second
118 third
119 fourth
120: King (-20)*
* aside from heart skills, if you reach 100 in a skill line, you can learn higher level skills (J,Q,K), but you will take a penalty to the relevant checks unless you increase your skill level respectively.
Example:
I am starting off as a sorcerer and have chosen to allocate my skill points as such:
42 clubs
42 hearts
20 diamonds
Having 40+ in clubs and 40+ in hearts, allows me to use level 4 cards in the Club and Heart skill lines. The 20 in diamonds opens up the diamond skill cards up to level 2.
Having 42 in clubs allows me to have a maximum of 4 club cards slotted for levels 1 through 3, and 2 clubs slotted at the 4th level.
Likewise, having 42 in hearts allows me to have a maximum of 4 heart cards slotted for levels 1 through 3, and 2 hearts slotted at the 4th level.
I can slot 4 aces of diamonds, but only 1 diamond card at 2nd level.
Here are some sample card allocations:
Since I'm starting off I want to make use of all my skill points and attain some semblance of balance. I'm torn between two options, but it's OK because I can redo these once per day during any rest period lasting 6+ hours:
The first:
1 – 2 heart, 1 club card, 1 diamond
2 – 2 heart, 1 club card, 1 diamond
3 – 2 heart, 2 clubs
4 – 2 heart, 2 clubs
And the second:
1 – 3 hearts, 1 diamond
2 – 1 heart, 2 clubs, 1 diamond
3 – 2 hearts, 2 clubs
4 – 2 heart, 2 club
Note that no card value can have more than 4 cards slotted at any time. It doesn't matter which suit(s) I slot, as long as there are not more than 4 per card value.
Maybe I decide I want more defense, so I slot a lot a ridiculous number of hearts:
1 – 4 hearts
2 – 4 hearts
3 – 4 hearts
4 – 2 hearts, 2 clubs
Or maybe as a sorcerer I want to rely on magic for most everything, so I slot a lot of clubs:
1 – 4 clubs
2 – 4 clubs
3 – 4 clubs
4 – 2 hearts, 2 clubs
That's quite the difference!
Slotting your skills is the primary way to define your role in combat scenarios. Choose wisely.
Skills learned from:
Allies
Guilds
Quests
Accomplishments
Exploration
Monsters
Enemies
Scrolls
Manuals
Tournaments
Improved
by use
Improved by itemization/equipment
2b: BASIC CARD MECHANICS:
ACTIVE POWERS (very basic balance template):
Card Power (Y)
Card Dice (X; X= Y-1)
A
+ 0
2 + 1d6
3 + 2d6
4 +3d6
5 +4d6
6 +5d6
7 +6d6
8
+7d6
9 +8d6
10 +9d6
J (11)+ 10d6
QK (12)+11d6
KQ (13)+
12d6
Limited card slots (4 per A - K)
Cards -- active powers of greater value -- can be traded in for more cards of lesser value, for example 3 2s can be traded for 6 1s. Typically but not always these must be of the same suit.
For example: Lesser spells can be spent to cast a spell of greater value. Such as spending 4 Aces to cast a 4th level spell. Cannot be used to cast spells outside of one's skill level.
Does not apply to stacking selfsame passives, though there are some exceptions.
Active Powers renew each day (which must include a long rest of at least 6 hours) and are spent by tapping card or returning card to your deck
Table below gives a measurement of pools if all cards slotted were one suit. The total of the set on the left, and grand total on the right.
A
4/4
2
8/12
3
12/24
4
16/40
5
20/60
6
24/84
7
28/112
8
32/144
9
36/180s
10
40/220
J
44/264
Q/k
48/312
K/Q
52/364
PART THREE: ITEMS AND EQUIPMENT
Physical Weapons
Weapon damage = weapon grade+ die roll+ abi bonus
0+ unarmed 1d10 (strength or agility)
1+ knuckle dusters (strength)
1+ buckler shield 1d10 (strength or agility)
1+ kite shield 1d10 (strength)
1+ dagger 1d10 ( agility)
1+ throwing knife/axe (agility/strength)
1+ hand crossbow quarrel 1d10 (agility)
1+ staff 1d10 (strength or agility)
1+ club 1d10 (strength)
1+ short bow/arrow 1d10 (agility)
2+ short sword/rapier 1d10 (strength or agility)
2+ light crossbow bolt 1d10 (agility)
3+ spear 1d10 (strength)
3+ long bow/arrow 1d10 (strength or agility); prerequisite 25 STR
3+ hammer 1d10 (strength, +1 END damage)
3+ sword 1d10 (+5% parry) (strength)
3+ axe 1d10 (adds 2 to blood pool) (strength)
3+ mace 1d10 (ignores 2 DR) (strength)
0+ heavy crossbow bolt, 2d10 (agility); prerequisite 25 STR
1+ long spear 2d10 (strength) (has reach)
2+ naginata 2d10 (has reach) (strength or agility)
2+ katana 2d10 (+5% parry, +5% dodge) (strength or agility)
3+ warhammer 2d10 (+2 temporary END damage) (strength); prerequisite 30 STR
3+ great sword 2d10 (+5% parry, +5% block) (strength); prerequisite 30 STR
3+ great axe 2d10 (adds 3 to blood pool) (strength); prerequisite 30 STR
3+ maul 2d10 (ignores 3 DR) (strength); prerequisite 30 STR
4+ pole arm 2d10 (has reach, can be used to trip) (strength); prerequisite 35 STR
Dual wielding is when you wield a one-handed weapon in each hand. Dual-wielding allows one extra attack with off-hand weapon/turn.
Without any dual-wielding proficiency, the off-hand attack is made at a -20% penalty. Damage dealt is at a -3 damage penalty and your ability modifier is not added to the damage roll.
Proficiency reduces the penalties:
DW Proficiency (spade 20): - 15% off-hand, -2 damage penalty
DW Expertise: (spade 40)-10% off-hand. -1 damage penalty
DW Mastery: (spade 60) -5% penalty to off-hand skill check, no damage penalty
DW Grand Mastery (spade 80): No penalty to off-hand skill check, and you can now add ability-modifier to off-hand damage.
NOTE that because Dual-wielding grants an extra attack per turn, you gain an additional parry with the off-hand weapon once per turn; however, if you opt to parry, you still lose the extra attack from the off-hand weapon on your nearest turn. The parry check does NOT incur off-hand penalties.
Magical Weapon Types:
Magic-based (deals Energy damage):
* ranged
** ranged or melee
Common
0+ Ring 1d10**
1+ Orb 1d10*
1+ Talisman 1d10*
Uncommon
1+ Orb-Ring 1d10**
2+
Wand/Rod 1d10*
2+ dagger 1d10
3+ 1h scepter/short sword 1d10
3+ 1h Short Staff 1d10**
Rare
1+ arcane short bow 1d10*
3+ 1h spell(sword) 1d10
Ultra Rare
3+ Arcane Long Bow 1d10*
4+ 2h Spell(sword) 2d10
5+ 2H Master Staff 1d10 (ranged)
3+ 2H Master Staff 2d10 (melee)
Normal attack/Channeled attack (ability)
A normal attack is a Basic Action, but some Skill Cards will allow you to forego your movement phase to make a normal attack, so you can potentially cast a spell or make weapon attacks in that same round. To make a channeled attack you must expend both your Basic Action and forego movement on your turn – again, unless a skill card dictates otherwise.
Magic-based weapons primarily serve as conduits for spells, but can also be used to make Basic Attacks, using the club skill line to test for success.
You can only make one such attack per round.
If dual-wielding, you can choose to make two attacks, but without dual-wield casting skill cards, your attacks are subject to penalties.
The damage is considered spell damage (energy) for the purposes of Damage Reduction.
For a channeled attack, add 1d10 to the damage roll. For example, a channeled attack with a scepter in melee range would deal 3+1d10+1d10+abi energy damage. If you are dual-wielding, the 1d10 bonus applies to the main hand weapon only.
Dual-wield casting
Without any dual-wield casting proficiency, the off-hand attack is made at a -20% penalty. Damage dealt is at a -3 damage penalty and your ability modifier is not added to the damage roll.
DWC Proficiency (club 10): - 15% off-hand, -2 damage penalty
DWC Expertise: (club 30) -10% off-hand. -1 damage penalty
DWC Mastery: (club 50) -5% penalty to off-hand skill check, no damage penalty
DWC Grand Mastery (club 70): No penalty to off-hand skill check, and you can now add ability-modifier to off-hand damage.
Specialized Magic Weapons: converts the spell damage type from generic Energy into whatever is in the description of the weapon. All specialized magic weapons are boosted by the relevant ability score and by any relevant skill card proficiency. If a weapon deals damage, it deals damage based on weapon grade+ weapon tier+ ability modifier. The “randomized” dice, or d10 portion, changes depending on the exact type of weapon.
Examples:
A one-handed scepter of the Void would deal 3+1d10+INT/PER Void damage.
A +2 Blood Scepter would deal 5 [+3 weapon grade, +2 from weapon tier]+CHA energy damage, plus inflict a 10% penalty [from +2 weapon tier] to the opponent's END saves.
So instead of dealing 1d10 energy damage, this weapon instead applies a penalty to END saves.
A +3 Scepter of Time would deal 6 [+3 weapon grade, +3 from weapon tier]+INT Time Damage, plus reduce enemy movement by a maximum of 3.
Energy –> Elemental (highest of INT or PER)
Fire, Ice, Earth, Water, Wind, Lightning (adds 1d10)/ (adds 2d10)
Void (highest of INT or PER)
Adds 1d10 void damage/(deals 2d10 void damage)
Energy → Blood (CHA)
Endurance (+5% – +25% bonus to END save or -5 – -25% penalty to opponent END save)/ Life-Sap (channeled attack deals 1d10 damage, heals 1d10)
Counter Spell (INT)
Adds bonus 5% – 25% to save against or counter spells (if casting a counter spell)/In addition, a charged attack creates a field that can reflect small amounts of spell damage (2d10, +1-5).
Mind (INT) – Horror, Madness, Dread
Cause penalty to Mental Saves, -5% – -25%/Intelligence, Perception, OR Charisma damage 1d10+INT
Time (INT)
Can slow enemy movement or bolster an ally's movement (1-5)/ Adds Agility damage (1d10+INT, +1-5)
Healing (PER/CHA)
Heal 1d6+PER/CHA/ Replenish 1d6+PER/CHA, temporary ability damage
Gravity (INT)
Cause penalty to STR and AGI checks, 5-25%/Charged attack can cause paralysis for 1-5 turns against STR or AGI check, whichever is lower.
Sun (PER)
Fire damage (1d10, +1-5), bright light/ Heal wound (1d6, +1-5), or 2d10 fire damage
Moon (PER)
Adds Perception damage (1d6) or cold damage (1d10)/heal temporary mental-ability damage (1d6+PER)
Protection (CHA)
creates temporary health (add 1d6 to target for 1 turn)/ create a barrier around target, adding 1-5 DR for x turns; x= degree of success.
Chaos (CHA)
adds Charisma damage (1d10)/ casts curses or blessings (5-25% to skill checks)
Law (CHA)
Protects against ability score damage (1-5 ADR) for x turns, where x equals degree of success/ Immobilize opponent against STR check for 1-5 turns
Nature (PER/CHA)
Controls plants (choose: bind opponent for 1-5 turns, add poison 1d6+1-5, or heal 1d6+1-5)/ summons specific familiars or animal companions or affects weather (terrain condition)
Armor types
Damage reduction = armor+ shield+ abi bonus+magical item bonus+ heart card proficiency
Weapons, armor, and shields can be non-magically upgraded to +1,+2, +3 and magically upgraded to +4, +5.
Unarmored
0
clothing (including basic robes)
Light
1
padded
2
hide
2 leather
Medium
3 brigandine
3 chain hauberk
3 bone armor
4
lamellar
4 scalemail
Heavy
5
splint (chain+plate chest)
6 half plate (chain+plate chest,
legs or helm)
6 carapace
7 plate (chain+helm, chest, legs)
Fully Armored
8 full plate
8 dragon scale armor
Basic Shields – apply DR when able to block
1
Buckler Shield – can allow you to use AGI bonus instead of END for
purpose of DR when blocking a melee or ranged physical attack.
2
Kite Shield
3
Tower shield (35 STR required)
4 Twohanded tower Shield (40 STR
required)
can be used to create cover
ARMOR PENALTIES:
Wearing any armor at all has adverse effect on your ability to cast spells, and an adverse effect on how effective they are; heavy armor also negatively affects mobility and stealth. Some of these penalties can be mitigated through skill card passives.
Light armored: 95% or -5% penalty -1 spell damage*
Medium: 90% or -10% club, -1d6 spell damage
Heavy (splint/half-plate): 85% or -15%, -2d6 spell damage; -5% stealth
Full: 80% or -20%, -3d6 spell damage; -1 movement -10% stealth
Buckler: -0% club, -1 damage
Kite Shield: additional -5% penalty to club checks, -3 spell damage; -5% stealth
Tower: additional -10% penalty to club checks, -6 spell damage; -1 movement, -10% stealth
Two-handed Tower: additional -15% to club checks, -10 spell damage, -2 movement, -20% stealth.
*Spell
damage refers to healing spells as well.
Armored
Spell-casting Proficiency cards (HEARTS)
These
cards reduce the penalties incurred by attempting to cast spells
while wearing armor
1 do not suffer penalty to casting when wearing light armor
2 -5% penalty to casting when wearing medium armor, -1 spell damage
3 no penalty to casting when wearing medium armor
4 -10% penalty to casting in heavy armor, -1d6 spell damage
5 – 5% penalty to casting in heavy armor, -1 damage
6 – no penalty to casting in heavy armor
7 – -15 to casting in full armor, -2d6
8-- -10 to casting in full armor, -1d6
9 – -5 to casting in full armor, -1
10 no penalty to either checks or damage while fully armored
Shielded Casting Proficiency Cards (HEARTS)
These cards reduce the penalties incurred by attempting to cast spells while utilizing shields
Buckler: -0% club, -1 damage
1 no penalty to casting while employing buckler
Shield: -5% club, -3 spell damage; -5% stealth
2 no penalty to casting while wearing kite shield, -2 damage
4 -1 damage penalty
6 – no damage penalty
Tower: -10% club, -6 spell damage; -1 movement, -10% stealth
5 -5% club skill check/-3 damage
7 -1 damage
9 no damage penalty
Two-handed Tower: -15% club, -10 spell damage
6 -10%, -8 damage
8 -5%, -6 damage
10 -4 damage
Equipment Slots:
Helm
Chest
Legs
Hands
Feet
Waist
Cloak/shoulder
Necklace (1)
Rings (2)
Major Weapon Slots (2):
1h Weapon/ 1h weapon
1h weapon/1hShield
2h weapon
2h shield
1h wand/1h wand
2h Staff
Minor Weapon Slots (2)
Third: backup weapon
boot knife, throwing knife, throwing star, side-arm (crossbow) etc.
Fourth: utility/cool down
smoke bomb, grappling hook, chemical bomb etc.
Item and equipment paradigm
max bonus for 5 piece (armor sets)
skill % DR Saves Movement Damage
LIGHT 25% 1 +25% all +5 +5
MEDIUM 25% 2/3 +25% str/agi+15% etc +3 +4
HEAVY 25% 4/5 +25% end/+10% etc +1 +3
tier 5 max bonus per piece (weapon, shield, jewelry)
skill or damage or defense
weapon (2h) +10% +5 +2 dr, 10% parry (melee), 10% dodge (range)
weapon (1h) +5% +3 damage +1 DR, 5% evasion, 5% parry
shield (1h) +5% +1 damage +2 DR, 5% endurance, +1 ADR
shield (2h) +10% +1 damage +3 DR, 10% endurance, +2 ADR
ring +5% +1 damage +5% saves, +1 mov, +1 DR, +5% abi, +1 ADR
necklace +5% +1 damage +5% saves, +1 mov, +1 DR, +5% abi, +1 ADR
max ability per piece
LIGHT 1-5% (any)
MEDIUM 1-5% (AGI, STR)
HEAVY 1-5% (END, STR)
WEAPON (2h) 2-10% (STR, AGI)
WEAPON (1h) 1-5% (STR, AGI)
SHIELD (1h) 1-5% (STR, END)
SHIELD (2h) 2-10% (STR, END)
TIER 1
shield (1h/2h) jewel weapon 1 weapon 2 armor 5 piece
1/2 % save 1% save 1% skill 2% skill 1% save +1 DR
1/2 % skill 1% skill 1 % abi 2% abi 1% skill +1 damage
1/2 % abi 1% abi 1 dam 1 dam 1% abi +1 move
0/1 DR 1% def
TIER 2
shield jewel weapon 1 weapon 2 armor 5 piece
2/4% save 2% save 2 % skill 4% skill 2% save 2 DR
2/4% skill 2% skill 2% abi 4% abi 2% skill 2 DAM
2/4% abi 2% abi 1 dam 2 dam 2% abi 2 MOV
1/1 DR 1 DR
TIER 3
shield jewel weapon 1 weapon 2 armor 5 piece
3/6% save 3% save 3% skill 6% skill 3% save 3 DR
3/6% skill 3% skill 3% abi 6% abi 3% skill 3 DAM
3/6% abi 3% abi 2 dam 3 dam 3% abi 3 MOV
1/2 DR 1 DR 1 DR
TIER 4
shield jewel weapon 1 weapon 2 armor 5 piece
4/8% save 4% save 4% skill 8% skill 4% save 4 DR
4/8% skill 4% skill 4% abi 8% abi 4% skill 4 DAM
4/8% abi 4% abi 2 dam 4 dam 4% abi 4 MOV
2/2 DR 1 DR 2 DR
TIER 5
shield jewel weapon 1 weapon 2 armor 5 piece
5/10% save 5% save 5% skill 10% skill 5% save 5 DR
5/10% skill 5% skill 5% abi 10% abi 5% skill 5 DAM
5/10% abi 5% abi 3 dam 5 dam 5% abi 5 MOV
2/3 DR 1 DR 2 DR
Each and every class detailed within this text carries with it a beginning set of items; one piece will be tier one. However, there are stronger sets awarded through questing, crafting, trade, and/or exploration.
Itemization synergy:
Sets that have synergy with each other can be enacted if specific skill level prerequisites are met. Items will sometimes be more stat dense than others, but, no matter how stat dense an item is, there are still caps on equipment stacking bonuses (+5/+25%). This should encourage diversifying one's allocations and help shore up some weaknesses without completely eliminating them.
Legendary items, “named items,” monster items will rarely have specific bonuses outside the normal 1-5/5-25% balance template. Any item that produces an ability-like effect must create what's called a z-card slot.
A Z-card slot is an extra skill card slot. You can have no more than two of these in your deck; if you wish to have more, these will instead count as/replace skill cards within the existing framework. Therefore, equipping specific weapons or items will open up access to specific skill cards, which you can only slot when that weapon or item is equipped.
Additional Itemization
Tattoo Magic: +/- system. Every tattoo confers a bonus to an ABILITY, from 1% up to 5%. All characters can have 5 major tattoos. Tattoos can add z-slots. If tattoos are created with embedded gems, they will give bonuses to specific spell types or defenses, but will not work with armor that covers them up.
Drug +/- system: negative effects are double the duration of the positive effects, but ability modifiers can stack with food, spell-based, and armor-derived bonuses. Can become addicted.
Alchemy Magic: balanced by various cool downs, based on potency of the potion.
Scrolls: can add (up to ABI bonus) spells per day but these do not count towards one's club pool, for the purposes of trading lower level spells for higher level spells or vice versa. If your character does not know the spell, it will take a whole round to cast instead of just a basic action.
Rune Magic: applies permanent or temporary bonuses to weapons, armor, shields, rings, necklaces. Can also count as a z-card or add effect to weapon. In some cases runes can be used similarly to scrolls.
Totem Magic: any banner or effigy that confers power to a team or within in an area
Food/Drink Magic (lasting hours based on END bonus. 1% - 25% total ABILITY bonus, no one ABILITY reaching higher than +10%). These bonuses can stack with armor bonuses.
Pure Magic
Pure Magic orbs are remnants of stars crashed to the Aerth, said to resemble material present before the beginning of the known universe.
These orbs are considered truly rare magical items that augment the power of spells at the cost of life force, not necessarily one's own.
User can move expended heart cards and health points to supplement damage, if the heart card expended is one's own it will not be able to be healed except through rest and recovery.
Spell creation (under revision): players can create spells by combining various effects.
Effects
are worth 1d6.
A spell can have x number of effects, x being the
number of d6s, denoted by the potency of the card.
For example
level 6 card is worth 5d6 so a 6th level card can have up to 5
effects. Effects can stack with themselves. So a basic fire ball may
deal 5d6. Or 4d6 plus cause temporary blindness for 1 turn.
At a specific penalty to skill% roll this can be done on the immediate, allowing greater utility, diversity of spells, creativity.
PART FOUR: NONCOMBAT SKILLS
ability-based, repeated use can confer bonuses anywhere from 1-25%, proper equipment and precipitous circumstance can apply additional bonuses.
NON COMBAT SKILLS
+2/+3/+4/+7/+9
2% – 5% – 9% – 16% – 25%
SKILL EQUIPMENT
+3/+4/+8
+3% – 7% – 15%
SITUATION
Very Easy: +20% Easy: +10%, Difficult: -10%, Challenging: -20%
Crafting:
Weapon/Armor Smith
Clothier
Tanning
Carpentry (bows, arrows, housing, furniture)
Alchemy
Poison
Masonry
Sculpting (statues, totems)
Jewelry/Gem-cutting
Culinary
Brewing
Inscription (scrolls, skill manuals, spell books)
Rune Carving
Engineering/Technology:
Resources (Water, mining, lumber, etc)
when these are created, the stated resource is added to a guild bank, or to a bank accessible through an empire's quests. Can increase standing or popularity.
City-planning
Characters can design their own settlements; there will be enough”empty land” to do so. City-planning is the responsibility of in-game leaders. Its main benefit is that of creating a safe place for efficient resource production.
Siege
is absolutely intended to slaughter characters of lower levels of power. Some siege characters develop will be strong enough to challenge other characters of higher levels of power too, but such siege will be expensive, and therefore not as common.
Transportation: Zeppelins, Gliders, boats, ships, rail lines.
Building/Architecture:
Tent
Shrine
Camp
Cave dwelling
Cottage
Bunker
Cabin
Workstation
House
Church
Prison
Outpost
Guild hall
Garrison
Monastery
Tower
Temple
Zoo
Pyramid
Castle
Palace
Cultural
Language: four basic languages
Rural
Wilderness
Tracking
Animal taming
Riding
Farming
Survival
Urban
Mercantile
Leadership
Diplomacy
Sleight of hand
Street-smarts
Speech
Persuasion
Intimidation
Deception
Interrogation
Instruction
Education/Collegiate/Leisure
Music
Athletics
Art
Acting
Acrobatics
Dance
Math
Writing
Forensic
Religion
Philosophy
Arcane Lore
PERSONALITY TRAITS
Each character begins with a set number of personality traits based on their charisma ability score. These traits were swiped from an MIT study without anyone's permission.
100 - 6 positive, 4 neutral, 0 negative
90 - 5 positive, 4 neutral, 0 negative
80 - 4 positive, 4 neutral, 1 negative
70 - 4 positive, 3 neutral, 1 negative
60 - 3 positive, 3 neutral, 1 negative
50 - 3 positive, 2 neutral, 1 negative
40 - 2 positive, 2 neutral, 2 negative
30- 1 positive, 2 neutral, 2 negative
20 - 1 positive, 1 neutral, 3 negative
10 - 0 positive, 0 neutral, 4 negative
You do not have to roll at random, but you should follow the Charisma score in determining personality traits. If you choose to roll the traits randomly, roll d100 for each of the positive, neutral, or negative categories. In other words, if my character starts with a charisma of 40, I will roll 1d100 twice for positive, twice for neutral, and twice for negative traits.
Personality traits are intended to assist characterization rather than strictly determine character action.
However, the traits can and will affect the outcome of character interaction. Positive traits yield bonuses, negative traits make for penalties, and neutral traits may incur one or the other, depending on the situation.
Positive Traits
Adaptable
Agreeable
Alert
Articulate
Athletic
Attractive
Benevolent
Calm
Caring
Challenging
Charismatic
Charming
Clean
Clear-headed
Clever
Compassionate
Confident
Conscientious
Contemplative
Cooperative
Courageous
Courteous
Creative
Cultured
Curious
Daring
Decisive
Dedicated
Dignified
Disciplined
Dutiful
Educated
Elegant
Fair
Faithful
Farsighted
Forgiving
Gentle
Hardworking
Healthy
Helpful
Heroic
Honest
Honorable
Humble
Humorous
Idealistic
Imaginative
Incisive
Independent
Individualistic
Insightful
Intelligent
Intuitive
Knowledgeable
Logical
Loyal
Objective
Observant
Open
Optimistic
Organized
Original
Painstaking
Passionate
Patient
Patriotic
Perceptive
Perfectionist
Persuasive
Practical
Protective
Purposeful
Rational
Realistic
Reflective
Relaxed
Reliable
Resourceful
Respectful
Responsible
Romantic
Selfless
Self-sufficient
Sensitive
Sentimental
Serious
Sexy
Sharing
Shrewd
Simple
Sophisticated
Stoic
Strong
Tolerant
Trusting
Understanding
Well-read
Wise
Witty
Neutral Traits
Absentminded
Aggressive
Ambitious
Amusing
Artful
Businesslike
Busy
Casual
Circumspect
Competitive
Complex
Confidential
Conservative
Consistent
Contradictory
Crisp
Cute
Deceptive
Determined
Dominating
Dreamy
Driven
Droll
Dry
Earthy
Effeminate
Emotional
Enigmatic
Experimental
Familial
Folksy
Formal
Freewheeling
Frugal
Glamorous
Guileless
High-spirited
Hurried
Hypnotic
Iconoclastic
Idiosyncratic
Impassive
Impersonal
Impressionable
Intense
Invisible
Irreligious
Irreverent
Maternal
Mellow
Modern
Moralistic
Mystical
Neutral
Noncommittal
Noncompetitive
Obedient
Old-fashioned
Ordinary
Outspoken
Passive
Paternalistic
Physical
Placid
Political
Predictable
Preoccupied
Private
Progressive
Proud
Pure
Questioning
Quiet
Religious
Reserved
Restrained
Retiring
Sarcastic
Self-conscious
Sensual
Skeptical
Smooth
Soft-spoken
Solemn
Solitary
Stern
Stoic
Strict
Stubborn
Stylish
Subjective
Surprising
Soft
Tough
Undemanding
Unfathomable
Uninhibited
Unpredicatable
Unreligious
Unsentimental
Whimsical
Negative Traits
Aloof
Amoral
Angry
Apathetic
Argumentative
Arrogant
Asocial
Barbaric
Bizarre
Blunt
Brutal
Calculating
Callous
Cantankerous
Careless
Childish
Clumsy
Complacent
Compulsive
Conceited
Conformist
Cowardly
Critical
Cruel
Cynical
Deceitful
Demanding
Dependent
Desperate
Destructive
Devious
Difficult
Dirty
Dishonest
Disrespectful
Dogmatic
Domineering
Envious
Erratic
Escapist
Fatalistic
Fickle
Foolish
Forgetful
Fraudulent
Frivolous
Grandiose
Greedy
Gullible
Hateful
Hedonistic
Hostile
Ignorant
Impatient
Impractical
Impulsive
Inconsiderate
Indecisive
Inhibited
Insecure
Insensitive
Insulting
Intolerant
Irrational
Malicious
Melancholic
Messy
Monstrous
Naive
Narcissistic
Narrow-minded
Neglectful
Neurotic
Nihilistic
Nosy
Obsessive
Opinionated
Paranoid
Pedantic
Perverse
Predatory
Prejudiced
Pretentious
Regretful
Repressed
Rigid
Sadistic
Selfish
Shallow
Shortsighted
Sly
Submissive
Suspicious
Treacherous
Unhealthy
Unprincipled
Unreliable
Vindictive
Vulnerable
Weak
World-view/behavioral domains
“Beliefs and actions are one and the same”
Rate your character's convictions in each category, 1 being the lowest of conviction and 100 being the highest of conviction. Or you can roll them randomly!
These metrics guide how your character would act in specific situations, given their beliefs. It is distinct from personality in the sense your convictions don't tell you if you're funny or not, or what frightens you, or how noble or nefarious you may be. Your convictions won't likely tell whether you keep a messy room or if you have a knack for sarcasm. But rather, your convictions will describe the why behind your character's decision making.
“I joined the war because the Kingdom has become a religious hegemony that treats women like third-rate citizens. Thing is, I care about individual liberty and common well-being; I care about scientific inquiry and advancement; and I believe that every person deserves equity. This equity is justice and if it doesn't exist I'll fight for it until that equity is restored or created anew.”
compassion, 1-100
rational self-interest, 1-100
pragmatism, 1-100
idealism, 1-100
violent force, 1-100
pacifism, 1-100
civilization, 1-100
wilderness, 1-100
asceticism, 1-100
hedonism, 1-100
science, 1-100
mysticism, 1-100
individualism, 1-100
tribalism, 1-100
imperialism, 1-100
anarchism, 1-100
knowledge, 1-100
imagination, 1-100
emotion, 1-100
rationality, 1-100
SOCIAL SKILLS:
Social skills are relevant when players want to impact the outcome of social situations. It is not intended to be used against players, who should role-play their characters' reactions to NPC behaviors.
All are ability-based checks.
At times these will be tested against relevant NPC ability scores – the greater degree of success determines how an NPC will react to a PC's behavior.
In the case of an action to say flirt or seduce, the degree of success or failure helps shape the NPCs attitude toward the character, on a spectrum ranging from negative statuses to positive statuses:
Hatred, hostility, disrespect/distrust, disdain/dislike, indifference/neutrality, fondness, intrigue/infatuation, admiration/trust, love.
All such statuses are temporary in a sense, but that does't mean they will radically change with each fall of the dice.
Personality traits, situational factors, and Karma all impact the outcome.
A LIST OF SOCIAL SKILLS, BY NO MEANS EXHAUSTIVE
Persuasion
Plea
Communication
Dignity
Cognition
Cultural Awareness
Religious, political, or historical lore
Bluff/lie/swindle
Bribe
Lie detection
Empathy
Diplomacy
Conflict Management
Interrogation
Negotiation
Leadership
Barter
Charity
Intimidation
Instill Fear
Provoke Anger
Performance
Instruction
Learning/training
Speech
Exposition
Flirt
Seduce
Banter
Humor
Self-control
Composure
Intimacy
Form Alliance or Friendship
Feats (athletic, music, art, etc.)
As an aside, a lot of my complaint about TTRPGs had been a lack of dealing aptly with non-combat situations. Crafting felt tedious, trade was boring, political schemes railroaded to the point of lacking credibility. Not always, but often, Social Mechanics had been too hit or miss, with cut and dry results. There didn't seem to be a process of give and take, or any kind of jostling – and if these elements were present it was because of the GM's storytelling process, otherwise absent from the mechanics of the game. This isn't to me great for narrative – the story is the journey. We don't always want to pick up a book, read the prologue and then immediately skip to the epilogue. Where's the story? Well, it's in the middle.
Here, changing the attitude of an NPC has an analogous relationship to slaying a monster. Sometimes a Karma rating is already decent, but it would be better for the characters' goals to improve their rating before asking for support in their conflicts. You don't want to run in and attempt a killing blow on a monster, even if it seems wounded, because it may have a trick up its sleeve. That's a good way to end up as a meal. Neither do you want to approach the Duke asking for a loan for adventuring equipment before completely selling him on your plans and proving what you're capable of. He may not take you seriously otherwise, and his doors will be shut to you afterwards.
Maybe there is a Guild who thinks you and your band of mercenaries are emblematic of what's wrong with the entire world, but you really need them to craft weapons for your troops; they're the only ones who can craft a trebuchet whose projectiles pass through magical barriers. In such a circumstance it would behoove you to improve your Karma.
Or perhaps your PCs are investigating a murder and you're positive the Duchess of Grimghul witnessed it (you've deduced that she must have, based on where she claimed she was the night of the murder), but she doesn't trust anyone who isn't family, and you are not family. If only you could get on her good side, somehow, then she would entrust you with her account of the crime.
There is an interesting twist to this: In the process of attempting to improve someone's attitude towards you, you may be asked to do things against your characters' morals. The Duchess of Grimghul won't confide in you till you've filled her room with the smoke of Sol, hoping you'll only remember your bliss and not her confession.
A local Night Watchman, who is a renowned swordsman, is someone you would like to help you on a dangerous mission. Except he is in the pocket of a Gang Lieutenant, which you will only find out after he asks you to help him “guard” a warehouse at night, as thieves are cleaning it out right underneath your nose.
SOCIAL SKILL MECHANICS:
Karma rating, -100 → 100
Karma ratings measure NPC attitude towards you based on perceived benefit or harm, potential or actual. A slightly negative Karma doesn't always mean outright hatred, but could simply indicate a sincere lack of concern for you. In most cases, however, if the Karma is really negative, you should expect that not only will such an NPC be unwilling to help you, they are more than likely pitting your downfall.
Fame rating, -100 → 100
Fame rating, on the other hand, measures how well-known your PC is to an NPC or faction. A negative fame score will lower the impact of your Karma, a higher fame score will increase the impact of your Karma.
For example, you arrive in a new town and wish to speak with the Captain of the Guard to see if they need any outside help. He hears that you excel at keeping your word and finds that outside help allows his day-to-day officers to do their jobs correctly. Your Karma rating is: 10 and your Fame score is: 10. The fame score will adjust your Karma rating by 10, making it 20.
Let's say, however, that the Captain of the Guard hates outsiders and blames them for the problems the city faces, but since you've been in town, you and your friends have kept quiet and out of trouble. Your Karma rating is set at -15, and your fame is set at -10. The negative fame score will reduce the effect of the Karma, meaning that your adjusted Karma will be -5.
Normally, Karma's main function is to simply influence Social Checks. If someone's Karma rating relative to you is -25, that means your social checks will take a -25 penalty. If the Karma rating is +15, your social checks will gain a +15 bonus. And yes, sometimes the bonuses or penalties will be extreme. Adventuring can produce polarizing opinions of the adventurers!
But when something greater is needed from an NPC, Karma becomes a check of its own.
In other words, a Karma check becomes necessary when PCs interact with others and wish to do serious business or achieve diplomacy, or if say one party needs an important favor from the other party.
If someone doesn't like or trust you, you can attempt to improve their attitude through various means. Performing favors or committing to quests, etc. can improve their attitude towards you. Small favors may grant 1-10 points towards Karma, more significant quests may grant 20 or a lot more.
Successful social checks influence karma and can improve NPC willingness to do as the PC wants or to side with them if there is conflict.
Sometimes it is necessary to influence your Karma in order to stand a chance at succeeding a Karma check later on down the road, because their attitude towards you is so negative.
Here is how it works:
Each successful social check adds 1d10+ CHA+degree of success to Karma and a failed roll subtracts 1d10+degree of failure from Karma. All rolls take into account bonuses or penalties based on the situation. These situational modifiers may vary anywhere from -10 --> +10.
As examples, modifiers such as "I have plans set in stone for the day you need me to speak at your cousin's wedding" or "sounds like something I would do anyway" or “I share the same attitude as you with regards to the influence of the Temple on the Throne” will influence social skill checks.
Why do Karma checks matter? Because Karma checks can permit things like:
lucrative quests
skill training
access to magic or healing
cheaper prices on goods and/or services
safe passage
rights to an exclusive club
a loan
intimate or direct conversation
support for a conflict
the release of a secret
cessation of attack on a city
the prince's hand in marriage
etc.
OTHER IMPORTANT NON-COMBAT/SOCIAL SKILLS
Investigation: depending on difficulty create a percentage chance the characters can unravel the mystery based on initial information alone.
1%-- Not Even the Faintest Fucking Clue: Truly Baffling
5% – A Shred of Evidence, Maybe: Still Basically Inscrutable
15% – Enough Evidence to Spawn Several Wildly Different Theories
25% – Some Leads but A lot of Doubt Moving Forward
50+% – Kinda A No-Brainer but Could Use More Evidence
99%-100% Overwhelming Evidence/Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
As the PCs search for clues, those that are relevant will increase the chance they will succeed their Investigation check. Minor clues may add +5%, or a bit less; significant clues can add 10% or much more.
If characters figure out the mystery they may have to prove it and therefore still have to search for compelling evidence. This search for clues can take multiple forms, each involving search, forensic, and gather information checks that will turn up various pieces of information.
Forensics: description of scene. The degrees of success or failure determine how accurate the investigator's understanding is of the scene. Specific knowledge can give bonuses to the roll, such as a veteran vampire hunter finding bruised pinpricks around the neck of a bloodless victim. (“If I didn't know better, I'd say...”)
Still, if a killer is trying to conceal their modus operandi, there might be penalties to the die roll.
Gather information (people) (thing) (event) (gossip) (secret):
First step is to find out who knows what you don't know. Someone has a perspective on the subject you don't have.
Then you have to judge how reliable the information is.
Depending on the information, its rarity and value, this can take several forms, be it Lore checks, persuasion, intimidation, snooping, infiltration, spying, etc.
NON-COMBAT SKILL PERKS
For every ten points in a given attribute you may have access to situational benefits, such as a bonus to crafting potions (INT), spotting traps or discerning lies (PER), intimidation or swindling (CHA), as examples. These bonuses will likely be no more than +5-25% to situational checks.
This should help define who the characters are, what they're capable of outside of combat in a practical way. Because, besides two or three starting bonuses, these should be awarded only once characters perform these checks enough that other characters would identify them in that role, or the character has sought extra training to perform the tasks in question.
PART FIVE: EXPERIENCE
You get experience through encounters, ta da! Experience tallies and then can be spent on increasing Ability scores, Skill Levels, and Cards. At first improving a skill is easier than when you are a master. It is easier to improve upon a skill with many flaws than to improve upon a mastery with very few.
Experience cost to learn Skill Card
Xp= 100× card number
Experience cost to improve ability scores
11- 30
10x new level
31-50: regional weakness maximum stat
100x new level
51-70: base human maximum stat
1000x new level
71-80: regional strength maximum stat
10,000 x new level
81-90: lycanthrope maximum stat
10,000 x new level
Experience cost to improve Skills
tier 1
*1x new level, from 0- 09, Neophyte
tier 2
*10x new level, from 10-49, Novice
tier 3
*100x new level, from 50 – 69, Apprentice
tier 4
*1,000x new level, from 70-89, Expert
tier 5
*10,000x new level, 90-100, Master
tier 6
*100,000x new level, 101-119, Grand Master
tier 7
12,000,000 to reach 120, Legendary
Combat Encounter Tiers:
This table assumes three-four players in a party. The experience points listed are to be divided among the number of players in the party. The table is here to assist rather than dictate design of reasonable encounters for the player characters to overcome. Overcoming encounters within the appropriate tier of play should be sufficiently rewarding. Each rank of opponent is broken down into four individual categories of difficulty and significance.
Minion: unless in large groups (3 or more times that of your party), your characters should have few problems with this adversary.
Tough: conquerable but difficult enemy that shouldn't be taken lightly.
Boss: teamwork and strategy will be required to overcome this adversary
Apex: your characters are in absolute mortal danger; the best option against them is to flee from combat as soon as possible. Otherwise, true ingenuity and absolute lottery-winning luck are required to score a victory against these meat grinders.
Tier One
Minion: 100
Tough: 200-550
Boss: 900
Apex: 2,000
Tier Two
Minion: 1,000
Tough: 2000-5,500
Boss: 9,000-11,000
Apex: 20,000
Tier Three
Minion: 10,000
Tough: 20,000-55,000
Boss: 90,000-110,000
Apex: 200,000
Tier Four
Minion: 100,000
Tough: 200,000-550,000
Boss: 900,000
Apex: 2,000,000
Tier Five
Minion: 1,000,000
Tough: 2,000,000- 5,500,000
Boss: 9,000,000
Apex: 20,000,000
Experience points should also be awarded for completing quests, meeting personal goals, and immersive role-playing. The amount of experience points awarded will help control the pace of character progression.
Rewards
-- what is owed to you
Bounty
-- the various prices on your head, that you know of. It's hard
to have none
Fortune – 0 to 3. Every time you spend a Fortune Point to survive, you gain a Fate Point.
Fate
– these auto-failed
rolls await you based on Fortune points you have spent. They may also
be auto-successful rolls by antagonists.That said, the GM is not to
use these to bully the players, but rather significantly set back
their characters when they are filled with hubris, and especially
when they least suspect it.
PART SIX: SPELL CASTING
Magic works by calling upon a supernatural being and commanding it. This supernatural being is giving some aspect of its power to the caster.
Name of the summoned magic source + command = effect
Most spells require one basic action to complete.
All the verbal, physical, or chemical components are expected to be able to be performed or consumed during this time.
Other spells may be quicker and allow the character to make 1 magical weapon based attack (or maximum 2 if dual wielding wands or the like).
At times a spell may require a movement phase as well. This is especially true when using unprepared spells, complex scrolls, or if under the effect of a “slow” spell.
More powerful and complex spells, ritual spells, group channels will require even more time, and should be noted within their descriptions.
NOTE: only roll to succeed if caster is wearing armor; casting triggers A/O; or if the spell is contested by counter spell. Other examples of needing to roll to succeed would be any time a concentration check is called for. That said, a spellcaster can choose to roll to succeed in the hopes of landing a critical success or to add degrees of success to a damage roll, for example, but there are dangers in the form of critical failures. If a specific spell requires a roll to succeed, as noted within its description, then the caster must roll to succeed.
Spell types:
All spells ultimately derive from one of the twelve preeminent deities.
1.
Creation
2. Entropy
3. Dark
4. Gravity
5. Void
6. Light
7. Time
8. Energy-Matter
9. Mind
10.
Law
11. Chaos
12. Soul
Spell Card:
Card Type- card strength (A-K) - associated ABILITY (INT, PER, CHA)
Procedure (including cast time): some spells require verbal or martial or staff or sword use or tracing runes or blood letting or worship or totems or drawing of symbols or praying or singing or burning reagents, etc.
Whatever it is, details belong here.
Effect: Describe how the spell looks, what it does.
PART SEVEN: COSMOLOGY
Preeminence (The Twelve Mysteries, Most Fundamental of Gods)
Constants
Law
Soul
Void
Chaos
Aspects
Creation
Destruction (Entropy)
Dark
Light
Gravity
Time
Mind
Energy
Meridians are Inter/extra dimensional beings formed from Preeminence and Embodiment
72 Raptures (+)
72 Terrors (-)
Embodiment (+/-)
Embodiment of the Almighty – Embodiment of the Frail
Embodiment of the Graceful – Embodiment of the Crippled
Embodiment of the Ever-living – Embodiment of the Diseased
Embodiment of the Omniscient – Embodiment of the Irrelevant
Embodiment of the Clairvoyant – Embodiment of the Insane
Embodiment of the Revered – Embodiment of the Despised
Immanence(demi-gods)
Ascendants (mortals becoming gods)
Descendants (offspring of god and mortal)
Animus (mortals)
Paragon (mortals with perfect alignment)
Elemental – water, ice, air, electric, fire, earth, blood, toxic, wood, dream, light, dark, etc
Monster, including most undead
Lycanthrope
Human
Animal
Pest
Plants (with seeds, without seeds)
PART EIGHT: BESTIARY
pest
plant
mundane animal
human
humanoid (lycanthrope, orc, goblin)
exotic beast (dnd krenshar, displacer beast, dinosaur)
giant humanoid (ogre, gnoll, cyclops)
undead (ghost, zombie, vampire)
monster (dnd mind flayer, beholder, aboleth)
monsters can be created at random
head(s)
eye(s)
mouth(s)
teeth/type
tongue
body type
skin type
limbs
tentacles
wings
claws
sensory organs
otherworldly (angels, demons, genies, efrit, fey, drakul)
embodiment
meridian
immanent
preeminent
Basic idea is that creatures are tied to particular habitats and observed by specific populations. Therefore when they are named the names are in the language of the population that observed them.
MONSTER ENTRY/STAT BLOCK
TIER: XP:
Description of creature, habitat, behavior, and encounter triggers:
Ability Scores: STR: AGI: END: INT: PER: CHA:
Attack scheme:
ATT%: # of ATT: BA damage:
Defense scheme:
DEF% (type): DR: HEARTS HEALTH
Special abilities:
Trappings/Loot/Treasure:
CHAPTER NINE: LANGUAGES
I want to create 4 distinct sounds of language (NW/SW, NE/SE) and branch these off into separate languages and dialects.
The Western Continent is divided into two distinct sounds: one that is based off of North Asian, Native American and Meso-American sounds, and one that takes its root in Euro-Romantic languages, including English.
The Eastern languages are based off Sumerian, Egyptian, Sanskrit and some Chinese sounds.
The “common” language is called Vedic, and was born in the subterranean caves between both continents, and therefore is common to both continents.
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