SAME Disgaea

[Username17]

Disgaea and SAME

The Netherworld - a realm darker than the deepest abyss, located far beneath where mortals tread. It is a cursed land where evil reigns and foul beings dwell. Nobody knows its whereabouts, but everybody fears its existence...

Here's a rundown of doing Disgaea as a campaign setting for the SAME system. The setting is between the death of the Overlord and the reawakening of Laharl. Demonlords vie for control of the Dark Congress, and everything is going to Hell. So to speak.

Patronage and Rank: The Netherworld runs on patronage to a ridiculous degree. The only way you gain Rank is by getting minions of your own. You are expected to be the minion of someone else even if you have minions of your own. While getting minions makes your rank increase, it doesn't directly do anything for your minions.

Your Rank is added to everything you do, and also determines how many abilities you have.

Code: Select all

[br]R  G  M  S  W  Minions Required[br]1  2  1  -  -  Zero, Prinnies only[br]2  3  2  -  -  0[br]3  3  3  1  -  1[br]4  4  4  1  -  3[br]5  5  4  2  -  5[br]6  6  4  2  -  7, Must have Rank 3 Minion[br]7  7  5  2  -  9, Must have Rank 4 Minion[br]8  8  5  3  -  11, Must have Rank 5 Minion[br]9  8  6  3  1  13, Must have Rank 6 Minion[br]10 8  7  4  1  15, Must have Rank 7 Minion[br]11 9 7  4  2  17, Must have Rank 8 Minion[br]...[br]Rank, Gimics, Manuvers, Schticks, Warcrafts[br]

Stats and Resistances:
A character starts with 10 points that they can assign to the stats of Strength, Agility, Moxie, and Elan. No stat can be valued higher than 4. There are three resistances, Water, Wind, and Fire. Every character has one Resistance at Zero, one Resistance at 4, and one resistance at 8. On character creation you can choose which is which.

Reincarnation:
Reincarnation is easy and fun, between adventures you can reassign your abilities, your stats, even your race as you choose. Only your Rank and Resistances stay static.

Abilities and Race:

Every character has the combat manuvers basic strike, which allows a character to make a no range attack based on Strength or Elan that has a base damage of 9 and ignores resistances, and defend, which makes the character slightly harder to hit. These do not count against a character's allotment of Manuvers.

Every ability category has Gimics - which are generally non-combat in application and appoximately equal in impressiveness to carrying a backpack full of specialized equipment; Manuvers - which are direct combat applications of the ability set and useful as combat actions; Schticks - which are generally non-combat in utility but are staggeringly impressive; and Warcrafts - which are capable of turning the tide of massive battles and available only to demons of such rank that they have at least small armies at their disposal.

There are 18 categories of abilities, which are further divided into 10 Physical and 8 Magic categories. There are three gimic levels of physical abilities: Basic, Advanced, and Expert; and every character begins with the Basic level of each physical ability (unless it is banned to their race, see below). For Gimics, there are only Advanced and Expert gimics in Magical Ability Categories. Manuvers come in Advanced, Expert, and Master levels; Schitcks come in Expert, Master, or Grandmaster levels; and Warcrafts come in Master, Grandmaster, and Super Awesome levels. Magical Manuvers, Schticks, and Warcrafts all have all three levels of mastery.

In order to gain a Manuver in a category, you must have at least Advanced level Gimics in that category. In order to gain a Schtick in a category, you must have Expert Level Manuvers in that category, and in order to get a Warcraft you must have Master level Schticks in that category. Thus, in order to get a mastery level in any category, you must have the previous mastery level in the same category or the same mastery level in the previous category.

Physical Abilities:
Athletics
Basic Gimic: Jump/Climb
Force
Basic Gimic: Physically lift / move objects of more than 4 kilograms.
Hard Sell
Basic Gimic: Intimidate / Threaten Foes
Lore
Basic Gimic: Research basic information
Perception
Basic Gimic: Notice Hiding foes and small details.
Resilience
Basic Gimic: Operate without Food/Sleep
Soft Sell
Basic Gimic: Diplomacize
Speed
Basic Gimic: Run
Stealth
Basic Gimic: Hide/Move Silently
Thumbs
Basic Gimic: Use Tools
Magic Abilities:
Fire
Geomancy
Healing
Illusion
Star
Ward
Water
Wind

Race:
A character's Race provides one bonus gimic (this does not count against the character's maximum gimics for their Rank). It also provides a Ban. A race starts without the first gimic of the ability category that is their ban, and can't ever gain any abilities in that category.

The races of the Netherworld are:

Prinnies Prinnies are human souls in penguin suits sent to Netherworld to work off their karma. Prinnies start at Rank 1, and cannot reincarnate into anything else until they achieve a higher rank. Prinnies are banned from Hard Sell, and have no bonus gimic. Prinnies are explosive, and not reccommended for player characters.


Beastfolk The Beastfolk are demons who are partially human, but have identifiable body parts of cats, pigs, or bulls. Humanoid in shape, they are nonetheless monstrous in appearance. Beast Folk are banned from the Soft Sell ability, and can't ever make a social appeal that is not based on power. Beastfolk start with Advanced Athletics gimic.


Succubi The Succubus (or Incubbus) appears as a human with bat wings. Succubi rarely wear much in the way of clothing. The Succubus is banned from Lore and incapable of paying attention to anything for very long. Succubi start with Advanced Soft Sell gimic.


Dark Knight Dark Knights are animated suits of Armor that stalk the Netherworld on grim errands. They have no eyes or ears and only the most basic awareness of what goes on around them. They are banned from Perception and begin with Advanced Speed.

Fey The Fairies are mischievious creatures that haunt and malign the Netherworld. Fey are banned from Stealth and begin with Advanced Illusions.


Vampires Bloodsucking terrors of the night, Vampires stalk the Netherworld with Eurotrash accents and snazzy attire. Vampires begin with Advanced Stealth and are banned from Resilience. A Vampire is thus incapable of staying awake past his bedtime, which is generally dawn.

Stumps The spirits of bitterly departed trees, stumps are foul tempered and murderous pieces of wood. Stumps have no feet, and cannot run. They have stickly arms and are tireless. They are banned from Speed and begin with Advanced Hard Sell.


Imps Ghastly creatures lacking a lower body that rampage across the Netherworld at the behest of their dread masters, the Imps are mistrusted and distained. Imps are never told anything useful and would scarecely be able to remember it if they were. They are banned from Lore, and begin with Advanced Athletics.


Jacks Resembling a scarecrow with a jack-o-lntern for a head, the Jack is a nightmareish creature that is generally known for concealed weapons and bad attitudes. Jacks are filled with straw and knives, and are noone trusts them - with good reason. Jacks are banned from the Soft Sell ability, and begin wih Advanced Speed.


Nightmares A dreadful gibbering sound accompanies these empty cloaks whereever they go. Nightmares are virtually incapable of affecting he material world, but they are quite dreadful to look upon or hear. Nightmares are banned from Force, and begin with Advanced Hard Sell.


Gargoyles Gargoyles are animated chess pieces inhabited by evil spirits. Like stumps they have no legs, and cannot achieve more speed than a ludicrous hop. They are made of stone, banned from Speed, and begin with Advanced Force.


Manticores Monsters with only slightly human faces, the Manticore has no arms, but is quite powerful. Manticores arre banned from Thumbs and have Advanced Force.

Ghosts Disembodied spirits doomed to wander the Netherworld, the Ghosts are quite numerous. Ghosts are completely intangible, but in the Ditko Space that is the Netherworld touching them is in no way difficult. Ghosts, however, still have difficulty moving things. Ghosts are banned from Force and begin with Advanced Star Magic.


Zombies: Foul smelling and foul tempered, the rotting animated corpse is a tireless staple of Netherworld society. Trapped in a filthy and rotting shell, Zombies are barely able to move at all, and are banned from Athletics. They are tireless however, and begin with Advanced Resilience.


Humans Many spirits in the Netherworld appear in death much as they did in life. The human-form demons of the Netherworld are simply not taken seriously by the monstrous residents. Humans are banned from Hard Sell. Humans begin with Advanced Perception.


Majin The Demonic Aristocracy, the Majin have no weaknesses. Only characters of Rank 5 or more can be Majin. Majin have no bans, but must purchase all of their Advanced Gimics normally.

On Equipment:
Characters in Disgaea SAME are constantly getting new swords and special glasses that make them see better and whatever. In game terms this is in no way important. Characters may have any combination of natural abilities or equipment and this doesn't matter.

Natural Weapons can't be taken away and are in all ways obvious. Characters with at least basic perception can simply see a Manticore's claws or a human brawler's martial aura. A gun, on the other hand, is both concealable and removable. Even battle axes and greatswords can be concealed under clothes with little difficulty because the Netherworld is simply funky like that.

The few times that it might become important that a character can pretend to not be armed are intended to roughly balance out with the few times it might come up that a character who fights with a sword can be disarmed.

..more to follow...

-Username17

[User3]

Quality. Disgaea seems like the perfect world to test SAME in.

But remember that people are going to want to play Prinnies, whether you like it or not.

[Josh_Kablack]

I hate you.

I do not have time to start a new console game. No matter how many unrelated sources keep pointing me towards it. No. No. No. I won't fall for it. Crap.

[erik]

I concur with Catharz, I can think of at least one person who would want to play a Prinnie, me.

Beware Josh, you can sink endless hours into the game, and be left with a bad taste in your mouth once you get the unfair items. It's entirely hilarious and fun until that point though.

Disgaea seems to be an awesome setting, can't wait to hear how it test plays.

[Username17]

Formats of the Combat Manuvers.

Manuvers
Every character begins play with Basic Strike and Defend, which are manuvers that can be used during the character's turn. In general, a character can only use one manuver and one move each round.

Counters
Every character begins with one counter per turn, which is an attack or combat action that can be used out of sequence. Manuvers will tell you when they can be used as counters, or how they effect the use of counters in their description. Characters who gain certain abilities or attain higher ranks gain more counters per turn.

Range
Range is counted as Adjacent, Close, Midrange, Far or Way Crazy Distant. Adjacent things are at least partially within 1m of the character. Close things are everything which is not adjacent that is itself within 4m of the character. Midrange things are neither adjacent nor close and yet within 20m. Far things are more than 20m away, and yet within 100m. Way crazy distant things are more than 100m away. A manuver will have a range listed of some combination of A, C, M, F and W, which stand for Adjacent, Close, Midrange, Far, or Way Crazy Distant. These are the ranges the manuver can be used at. Manuvers which do not target things, or which target the user of the manuver, have a listed range of NA.

Basic Stike: A Basic Strike manuver takes a combat action to use. It can be declared as a Strength or Elan attack when it is used. If it is declared as a Strength attack the attack roll is a d20 + Agility + Rank. If it is an Elan attack, the to-hit roll is a d20 + Moxie + Rank. It does a base of 9 damage, plus appropriate bonuses.
Range: A
Counters: Basic Strike can be triggered as a counter when an opponent moves within half a meter of the character. The Counter takes effect before the move is completed.

Defend: A Defend Manuver takes a combat action to use. Until the character's next round, her Dodge and Magc Resistance DCs are two higher, and she is more dangerous to attack (see counters).
Range: NA
Counters: While a character is defending, she may trigger any attack as a counter (even if it cannot normally be triggered as a counter) to target an enemy who has just completed an attack against her (whether successfully or not). Defend grants no special Range modifiers to the character's attacks, and she must be able to target them normally. The Counter takes effect after the triggering attack is completed, and the character must still be able to act at that time in order to take advantage of this.

Special Manuvers:

The Path of Fire
Advanced Manuvers:

Firebolt: An Elan Attack that does 16 points of Fire damage to one target. One combat action.
Range: ACMF
Counters: None.

Fireblast: An Elan Attack that does 14 points of Fire damage to all targets in a 2m radius. One combat action.
Range: ACMF
Counters: None.

Expert Manuvers:
Fire Wall: Brings up a Wall of Fire. The Wall can be up to 2m long for each rank the character possesses, and is 3m high and 5cm thick. The Fire Wall lasts one round per rank, though the character can extend it by a like amount of time by forfeitting her next combat action when it would be about to drop (thus, a character can sustain a number of Fire Walls equal to her rank, provided she is willing to forfeit all further combat actions). The character does not have to stay within range of the wall to sustain it.
The wall is opaque but not solid, and passing through it allows the caster to attack the creature or object passing through. The wall need not be rectangular, and cannot bisect any creatures or items when made.
Range: CM
Counters: Any creature or object passing through the wall is subject to an 18 damage Fire-based elan attack that does not use up the character's counters for the round.

Braveheart: The character can attempt to remove a fear effect from a target. Make an Elan + Rank test against the original Elan check of the Fear effect, if successful the Fear Effect is completely dispelled. In addition, the targetted character gains +2 strength for the next round, whether any fear effects were active or dispelled or not.
Range: AC
Counters: None.

The Path of Wind
Advanced Manuvers

Wind: An Elan Attack that does 16 points of Wind damage to one target. One combat action.
Range: ACMF
Counters: None.

Tornado: An Elan Attack that does 14 points of Wind damage to all targets in a 2m radius. One combat action.
Range: ACMF
Counters: None.

Expert Manuvers

Air Wall: Brings up a Wall of Wind. The Wall can be up to 2m long for each rank the character possesses, and is 3m high and 5cm thick. The Air Wall lasts one round per rank, though the character can extend it by a like amount of time by forfeitting her next combat action when it would be about to drop (thus, a character can sustain a number of Air Walls equal to her rank, provided she is willing to forfeit all further combat actions). The character does not have to stay within range of the wall to sustain it.
The wall is solid but not opaque, and passing through it is impossible without destroying the wall. The wall need not be rectangular, and cannot bisect any creatures or items when made. Magic attacks pass through the wall without difficulty, but physical attacks targetted through the wall automatically strike the wall instead. The Wall has a Strength equal to the character's Moxie + Elan + Rank, and has a Rank of zero and an Agility of -10.
Range: CM
Counters: None.

Magnetism: An Elan Attack that does 18 points of Wind damage to a single target. One combat action. If the target would suffer any wound levels, reduce the inflicted wound levels by four. For every point the target fails their soak roll by, move the character one meter towards the caster. If the target is physically prevented from completing this movement, they stop without damage at that point.
Range: MF
Counters: None.

The Path of Water
Advanced Manuvers

Frozen Heart: An Elan Attack that does 16 points of Ice damage to one target. One combat action.
Range: ACMF
Counters: None.

Ice Blast: An Elan Attack that does 14 points of Ice damage to all targets in a 2m radius. One combat action.
Range: ACMF
Counters: None.

Expert Manuvers

Snow Storm: Fills a 20m radius area with swirling snow flurries. Visibility into, out of, and through the area is poor. The area is considered difficult terrain for the purposes of movement, even flying movement. The snows blow for a number of rounds equal to the character's rank, at the end of which there is snow roughly equally distributed throughout the area to a depth of half a meter
Range: MF
Counters: None.

Frozen Body: A magic Attack that does 14 points of Ice damage to all adjacent targets. One combat action.
Range: A
Counters: Frozen Body can be triggered as a counter when an opponent moves within half a meter of the character. The Counter takes effect before the move is completed.

The Path of Athletics
Advanced Manuvers

Fists of Fury: A Strength Attack that does 12 points of Physical damage to one target. One combat action.
Range: A
Counters: Fists of Fury can be triggered as a counter when an opponent moves within half a meter of the character. The Counter takes effect before the move is completed.

Tiger's Charge: The character rushes all the way into the opponent (moving within 1/2 a meter of the target), attempting to knock them backwards. One combat action. A successful hit inflicts 16 physical damage. If any wound levels are inflicted, the victim is knocked backwards half that many meters (round up), but reduce the wound levels inflicted by one (after the knockback distance is calculated). If the full knockback distance is not achieved for any reason, the victim suffers an extra wound level.
Range: C
Counters: None.

Expert Manuvers

Lion's Roar: A Strength Attack that does 11 points of Physical damage to every adjacent target. One combat action.
Range: A
Counters: None.

Shoulder Throw: The character throws their opponent behind them. The character makes an agility attack roll against a DC of 10 + the target's Strength + the target's Rank. If successful, the target is moved straight to the opposite side of the character, 1 meter away. The target is then prone, and their Agility is reduced by 2 until they use a move action to stand up. This manuver can only be used if the space behind the character relative to the target is clear. Using this manuver is a combat action.
Range: A
Counters: Shoulder Throw can be triggered as a counter when an opponent moves within half a meter of the character, or when an adjacent opponent attacks the character. The Counter takes effect before the move is completed, or after the attack is completed as appropriate.

The Path of Hard Sell
Advanced Manuvers

Scary Face: The character takes a combat action and makes a scary face or makes a spooky sound, rendering all opponents in range creeped out. The character makes an Elan + Rank roll. Every enemy in range for which that result is equal or greater than 10 + their Elan + their Rank is hit. Every enemy hit has their Agility and Moxie reduced by 4 for one round.
Range: AC
Counters: Scary Face can be triggered as a counter after killing any enemy.

Paranoia: The character instills maddening terror into an enemy. The character makes a regular zero-damage magical attack against the target. If the attack hits, even if (as is entirely likely) the attack inflicts no wound levels at all, the target may attack indiscriminately during the next turn.
Once hit, if the target makes an attack within the next round, and their attack roll result is less than the character's origina attack roll result for Paranoia, their attack is redirected to the nearest target in range (other than themselves). The target's attack roll is unchanged, only the recipient of their attack.
Example: Jesus (a stump) has a Rank of 3, a Moxie of 4, and an Elan of 2, and attacks Carly (a gargoyle) with Paranoia. Carly is Rank 2, and has a Moxie and Elan of 2. Carly is standing only 1m away from her ally George (a human). Jesus rolls a d20 to determine if he hits, and gets a 17. Adding his Moxie and Rank, Jesus scored a 23 on his attack roll, which is larger than Carly's Magic Resistance of 14 by 7, adding three to the damage inflicted by Jesus' Paranoia - causing the total damage to be 8. Carly rolls soak and rolls a 7, which including her soak bonus of +4 is more than enough to ignore all the damage. However when her turn comes around, Carly attempts to hit Jesus with a Fire Blast. Carly rolls to-hit and rolls a 15; even with her to-hit bonus of +4 that's still much less than Jesus' Paranoia to-hit roll, so her attack is redirected to George. And since Fireblast has a 2m radius, that means that Carly just hit herself with her own fireblast...
Range: CM
Counters: None.

Expert Manuvers
Terrorize: A 16 damage magical attack, if it would inflict any wound levels, reduce those wound levels by 3 (to a minimum of zero), but the target acquires the shaken condition. One Combat Action.
Range: AC
Counters: None.

Whispers of Evil: The whispers seek out a nearby enemy and destroy them. The character spends one combat action, and a single enemy within range suffers a 10 Star damage magical attack. The attack needs no LOS, and is unaffected by visibility or cover concerns.
Range: CM, No LOS
Counters: None.

The Path of Stealth
Advanced Manuvers

Backstab: The character takes a combat action and stabs someone right in the tenders. An 11 damage Physical attack.
Range: A
Counters: Backstab can be triggered as a counter after any enemy attacks any target other than the character, or when an enemy attempts to move out of range of this attack before the move is completed.

Steal Thunder: The character takes a combat action to step on the victim's dramatic moment, leaving him completely uncertain as to how to proceed. The character rolls to-hit with Moxie as normal, but instead of rolling to hit the target's magic resistance, the target number is 10 + the target's rank + the target's elan. If the steal thunder hits, the target takes no damage but gains the depraved condition.
Range: CM
Counters: None.

Expert Manuvers
Steal Soul: A Magical attack that inflicts 14 star damage. If any wounds are inflicted, reduce the number of wound levels by 2, and the target gains the forget condition.
Range: AC
Counters: None.

Steal Kiss: The character takes a combat action to kiss their opponent in a surprisingly romantic fashion. The character rolls to-hit with Agility as normal, but instead of rolling to hit the target's dodge, the target number is 10 + the target's rank + the target's elan. If the steal kiss hits, the target takes no damage but gains the stunned condition.
Range: A
Counters: None.

The Path of Healing
Advanced Manuvers

Heal: The character can heal the wounds of a single ally. Roll a d20 and add your Elan and your Rank, and subtract the rank of the target. Divide the result by two, round down, and heal that many levels.
Range: ACM
Counters: None.

Espoir: The character takes a combat action to cure any conditions of one ally, including healing all poison levels..
Range: ACM
Counters: None.

Expert Manuvers
Mass Heal: As Heal, except that it affects all creatures in a 2m radius, and the healing for each creature is only d20 + your rank + your Elan - target's rank all divided by four (still rounded down).
Range: ACM
Counters: None.

Exorcism: Attempts to destroy an evil spirit (which is, well, everybody in the Netherworld). An Magical attack that strikes for 17 points of Star Damage, if any wound levels are inflicted, reduce the number of inflicted wound levels by 3 - to a minimum of one.
Range: AC
Counters: None.

-Username17

[Username17]

Death and Healing
The thing to remember about character death in Disgaea is that it is a really temporary affair. Healing is extremely easy out of combat, and fairly available in combat as well.

Using Gimics:
In general, a Gimic is of primary importance outside of combat, and unless otherwise stated, using a gimic requires 5-10 minutes of effort.

Gimics:

The Path of Healing:

Advanced Gimics:

[*] Resurrection - The character can bring the dead back to life. An individual character can only be brought back from the dead if he has been dead for more than an hour and less than a year. Characters killed by black items cannot be resurrected at all.

[*] Medical Treatment - damage, as well as basic conditions (Poisoned, Slowed, Depraved, Forgetful, Shaken) can all be cured.

Expert Gimics:

[*] Reincarnation - A Willing target is transformed into someone or something else. The target can get a new race, and may reassign her abilities at that time. Rank and Resistances are unaffected. Reincarnation takes an entire hour, and can't be performed on the same creature more than once in a three-day period.

[*] Remove Curse - Long term curses can be removed.

-Username17

[Username17]

SAME Disgaea uses slightly different conditions than d20 or normal SAME. SAME Disgaea has no wound penalties, and only one damage track.

Wounds A character who suffers 10 wound levels is not merely incapacitated, they are dead. A dead character can't perform any actions or voluntarily move until the condition is fixed.

Depraved A character who is depraved has their rank reduced by 2 for the duration of their depravity. A depraved character does not actually lose minions or abilities. A prinny with an effective negative rank may have abilities that last no time - durations do not actually go negative (though modifiers to attack rolls and such do).

Forgetful A character who is forgetful moves at half speed. Also, their moxie is reduced by 2.

Poisoned Poison, unlike other status effects, comes in levels. At the beginning of each of their turns, a character who has any poison levels loses one poison level and suffers one wound level. If a character would be healed of wound levels while she has any poison levels, the poison levels are healed instead of wound levels at the same rate.
Ex.: Jezebel, a Succubus with Healing magic has four poison levels and four wound levels just before her turn come around. Immediately, one poison level is healed and she suffers one wound level, leaving her with three poison levels and five wound levels. She uses Healing on herself, and heals six wound levels. The three poison levels are healed first, leaving her with two wound levels and no poison levels.

Shaken A character who is shaken cannot perform counters. Also, their Strength is reduced by 2.

Slowed A character who is slowed moves at half speed. Also, their agility is reduced by 2.

Stunned A character who is stunned cannot perform counters. Also, their elan is reduced by 2.

[Dragon_Child]

Heal: The character can heal the wounds of a single ally. Roll a d20 and add your Elan and your Rank, and subtract the rank of the target. Divide the result by two, round down, and heal that many levels.
Range: ACM
Counters: None.

Quick comment... by the looks of it, this would mean healing spells would eventually fully heal the person, because there isn't anything to off-set the Elan. Is there another way to properly handle healing that's still based on Elan, but with having the numbers it produces stay the same (like wounds are) ?

[Username17]

Quick comment... by the looks of it, this would mean healing spells would eventually fully heal the person, because there isn't anything to off-set the Elan. Is there another way to properly handle healing that's still based on Elan, but with having the numbers it produces stay the same (like wounds are) ?

In SAME Disgaea, Elan never ever strays from the numbers zero to four. Elan doesn't go up, your Rank goes up and is also added to everything your Elan is. So if someone is higher level than you are, you heal them less (although not by much). If they are lower level than you, you heal them more (although again, not by much).

Honestly, the whole question of Rank should probably be thrown in at the stage of actual wound levels, rather than the initial roll.

-Username17