Classes

I always feel that I'm getting too far ahead of myself and need to slow down in some of the changes I make. I know they're good, but it's too much to do at once and I somehow get lost in the shuffle. I have decided to take a more iterative approach in the time being, especially with the lack of time I have.

I want to start with the base SRD classes and work from there. Since I'm using Elements of Magic as my base magic system, I'll also throw in the three classes from there as well.

• Barbarian - Just a flavor of fighter. Can safely be eliminated as long as class abilities are rolled up into ability trees.
• Bard - Tradition of spellcaster.
• Cleric - Tradition of spellcaster.
• Druid - Tradition of spellcaster.
• Fighter - Standard
• Mage - Standard
• Mageknight - Standard?
• Monk - Flavor of fighter. I've never been a fan of this class.
• Paladin - Mageknight variant?
• Ranger - Fighter-light?
• Rogue - Standard
• Sorcerer - Mage
• Taskmage - Standard
• Wizard - Replaced by Mage

When broken down, this leaves:

• Fighter - includes Barbarian, maybe some Monk stuff
• Mage - Magic heavy
• Mageknight - Fighter/mage
• Ranger - Essentially a fighter/rogue hybrid
• Rogue - Skill heavy
• Taskmage - Rogue/mage or skilled mage

I would like to get down to a good core of classes that covers all of the basics and allows a player to play just about anything. I may just start with the basics big groups and go from there.

Weapons updated

Weapons will be given a base damage and the attack roll will determine the amount of extra. Base damage equals a static number + size modifier, the static number based on medium damage. To determine the base, divide max damage by 4 and round up. This is all computed beforehand so no one has to do it on the fly.

d2 +1
d3 +1
d4 +1
d6 +2
2d4, d8 +2
d10 +3
2d6, d12 +3

Damage, as previous stated, is determined by degree of success. Melee is base attack + strength mod + other bonuses. Because of this, you don't add strength into the base weapon damage - it's already accounted for. The other things to modify are threat range and critical.

Critical is a bonus to wound damage on any critical hit. Multiply the critical multiplier by the weapon's base damage, adding one to the base for each extra threat range. A rapier (1d6, 18-20/x2) has a base damage of 2 and a critical value of 8 (base 2 + 2 for the added threat range, multiplied by 2 for criticals). Whenever someone rolls a critical hit with a rapier, add 8 points to the damage for wounds only. This value scales with base damage for size.

Range is actually a factor of strength, whether it be muscle or mechanical. The standard range increment is assuming a average strength. The base is 10 x some modifier; Add the strength modifier to the base 10 and remultiply. See below for examples. Mechanical weapons are slightly different and will be covered later.

Crossbows have a default mechanical strength. Heavy crossbows have a strength of 14, which is the strength needed to crank them (either manually or by winch). This affects criticals and range respectively. Light crossbows have a strength of 10; the range of a light crossbow will be adjusted accordingly.

Bows have an inherent strength value. If a character (using two hands) has a lower bonus than the bow's strength, they suffer a penalty to hit and range. The strength of a longbow is 10 (+0), whereas a composite longbow has a strength 12 (+1), increasing the range. Composite bows with increased pull will increase the range as appropriate. A composite longbow with a Strength 18 (+4) will have a range increment of 140 (10+4)x10. Of course, someone with a 10 strength would suffer a -4 penalty when using it and would not be able to string it at all. You need to be able to match the bonus with two hands in order to string a bow. When using a bow that has a draw greater than you can pull, the range defaults to your strength and you take a penalty to the difference.

Magic

Magic will be using a hybrid mana points system with Elements of Magic/Revised as a base. There will be no "cantrips per day" mechanic; casters can enter the mystic focus state and cast a cantrip whenever they like, so there is essentially no cost for this, only a concentration check.

Wizards have a small to moderate mana pool to draw spell power from. When that is exhausted, mana is drained from their vitality. The normal rules apply with this - half vitality is fatigue, no vitality is exhaustion.

Some types of magic will change to fit the rules as a whole.

• Magical evocation as it functions in elements of magic is a base 1d6 damage with an additional 1d6 per MP. This works just like a weapon does. A 1MP evocation is a +3 attack (2d6), 2MP is +4, 3MP is +6, 4MP is +7, 5MP is +9, etc. The formula would be 1 + 1.5/MP (rounded up).For example, a Fireball (Evoke Fire 10, Gen 4) would be a +16 attack. A saving throw for half damage will keep a strong character from taking wound damage. This makes low-level attack spells not very powerful on their own without some cleverness. Note: DR does not affect magical evocation unless it is physical in nature; Only ER will help with that. Magic has AP value equal to 1 + Cha Mod?
• Magical healing only helps with wound damage. Vitality damage can be temporarily ignored with magic, but it fades. The only way to truly recover vitality is rest. Note: See Healing post about Magic adding to Recovery
• Spell lists have other requirements, such as abilities, magical traditions (like combat styles mentioned in a previous post), or even skill levels. Knowledge is power and the magic should reflect that fact. Many spells will key off a character's existing abilities, such as a magical skill bonus should have a relation to the number of ranks a character has in the skill.
• Magic items should not define characters nor should they be pervasive through the game. Most magic items help a character do something better rather than outright give them something they never had. Charms and trinkets are fine, but magic items should not be a requirement or crutch for heroes to succeed. Note: Spellcasters can make semi-permanent effects (longer durations without the MP cost) by an XP expenditure, like any magic item. The best example would be a healing rune. It is meant to assist healing on a person, so the spellcaster creates the healing effect with a 10 minute duration (like any magic item) and spends some XP to make it stick.

Combat

I'm eliminating Attacks of Opportunity and many feats. I'm trying to make feats simple bonuses and modifiers to the character. In place of that, I'm making maneuvers available to anyone who meets the requirements. Many times these requirements are a critical hit (succeeding by 10+) and sometimes may include such things as the type of weapon, the amount of damage done (usually wound damage), and maybe any combat styles they know (feats). Some existing feats need to be modified while others will be removed altogether.

The end goal is to provide a general framework for a character to develop (taking feats that would represent a specific style of training - like the different sword styles in Swashingbuckling Adventures/7th Sea).

You can break down the styles and grant benefits from there, maybe even as prestige classes. The base soldier class would represent general weapon training, while a prestige class would open up specific types of training - ways to fight. There are inherent advantages and disadvantages to each.

Goals:

• Dramatic. Eliminate the need for miniatures. They can be used, but should only be a point of reference, not a tactical mandate. One way is to eliminate Attacks of Opportunity. Another way to make combat more narrative is by changing the structure from Maneuver -> Success/Fail to Success/Fail -> Maneuver. Meaning the degree of success on a combat check opens up available maneuvers instead of attempting a maneuver and outright succeeding or failing.
• Efficient. Make combat quicker by eliminating die rolls and having most variables pre-calculated.
• Dangerous but fair. Combat should be inherently a dangerous activity, not approached lightly by anything. It should be gritty and lethal with enough leeway to allow characters to be seriously threatened without crippling the party. Characters should always be in danger, but it should not be life-threatening unless the player wishes it to be. One mechanic I found for this was use of action points. A character may gain action points by putting his character in mortal danger. In other words, if a player decides to make a "stand" against opponents, he will get bonuses by essentially opening himself up for character death. This is not to say that characters cannot be seriously wounded and left for dead, but the story won't dictate that they die at that time.

Wounds and Vitality

The quest for simplification continues still...

The wound/vitality variant is not the same as defined in UA or other games, such as d20 Star Wars.

Vitality is a measure of toughness and endurance. It is used to track non-lethal damage and fatigue. Configuring the mechanic this way enables you to use vitality for spells (like MP) and for general fatigue for other activities. So extended combat will do vitality damage to you the same as any other damage source - like trying not to drown.

At 1/2 vitality, a character gains the Fatigued state. At 0 vitality, the character gains the Exhausted state. Once at 0 Vitality, additional damage is taken as Wounds.

Wounds are exactly what is described - your physical ability to withstand damage. It is equal to your Constitution + size modifier. Some feats may add to this as well. In reality, it actually functions more like hardness than anything else.

Characters take X amount of damage and they have Y wounds. The character takes X in vitality damage, subtracting any damage reduction from armor and the like. If the remaining damage (X-DR) is greater than Y, the character takes that many wounds (New Y = X- DR - Y).

If a character takes any wound damage, they are fatigued. This state combines with Vitality, so a character at half vitality and some wound damage (fatigued+fatigued) is exhausted. A character at 0 wounds is dying and losing vitality each round. When a character is at 0 vitality and is wounded, they are unconscious. If they are at 0 vitality and 0 wounds, they are dead. Pretty simple, really.

The size modifier for wounds would also apply to damage, meaning that larger creatures would be much harder to kill easily - you have to continue to beat on them until they wear down. Smaller creatures would be harder to hit, but easier to take down with a solid blow.

Balancing world & rules

So a few questions for any readers out there:

What should be the intial balances of rules v worldbook in the initial release?
How integrated should the rules be into the worldbook?
Should they be completely separate parts of the book, a la Castle Falkenstein?
How much of the rules should depend on the use of Esaene as the game world?

Just some random musings as we wait for Chris's next big burst of creativity...

Design Blog

I've started this blog to keep track of the various design changes as Esaene 2nd edition is in development. I'll post more information when I get a chance.