SAME Drakonas

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Dragon_Child
Apprentice
Posts: 73
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

SAME Drakonas

Post by Dragon_Child »

For a while now, I've been working on a little side project - converting my old D&D setting to SAME, and writing up a whole new system for it. I've got the first draft done, currently found here (due to my 'good' webspace not letting my upload...)

http://www.geocities.com/dragon_child12/

This
is a hell of lot harder than I thought, I have to admit. I've already run out of ability ideas, and I haven't even started. It feels like I don't even have half of what I should have to start playing. It's really frustrating, because this is something I thought I could do.

Any suggestions, comments, ability suggestions, etc?
rapanui
Knight
Posts: 318
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: SAME Drakonas

Post by rapanui »

Go by fantasy archetype and design abilities by archetype.

For example, I noticed you were missing Assasin-type abilities, which can enhance Stealth-based actions.

You've got the major elemental and necro/vita abilities.

I suggest you devide your weapon mastery ability into many subsections. Make sure you give each subsection of abilities a kind of unique focus and it's not just the same thing with different flavor (for example, multishot may be a very derived archery ability while it could be a base ability for throwing).

Here are a few general suggestions

Time Magic
Summoning Magic
Illusion Magic
Transmutation Magic


(In order to divorce these from the elemental magics you have to limit summoning and illusion by not allowing players without 1 or 2 abilities from the related elements to create certain things... for instance, summoning a Fire Elemental might be a no-no unless the character also has 4 or 5 abilities from the Pyromancer list as well, or creating the illusion of sound is impossible with 1 ability from the Aeromancer list)

Archery (make sure to include a mounted archery archetype, always a favorite)
Throwing
Unarmed Combat - Bruce Lee Archetype
Unarmed Combat - Street Fighter 2 archetype (Ryu)
Unarmed Combat - Grappler archetype

Divination/Mind Reading Magic


Just think Archetype and you'll have no problem coming up with an ability list. Also, if your campaign has cool orders that would have worked as prestige classes in d20, those orders can each have ability lists associated.


The tricky part is making sure that abilities don't layer excessively or combine synergistically into something horribly broken.
Catharz
Knight-Baron
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Re: SAME Drakonas

Post by Catharz »

All I've looked at is aeromancy. The only things which stood out to me as odd are Hurricane & Child of the Storm.

For hurricane: Why does the accuracy penalty lessen as you get farther away? Shooting an arrow at a guy through 20' of high winds should be significantly harder than swinging a sword at him, not the reverse.

For CotS: You're by definition the eye of the hurricane, so there's no reason for you to ever take damage.


I'd change the Hurricane ability to create a completely safe area for (non-reach) meleers, and have it completely bone people trying to attack from a distance.

What does air damage do? Push you around, knock you down, and blow you away?


Also remember that while electricity is usually associated with the sky (lightning), magnetism is usually associated with the earth (lodestone). Ultimately electromagnetism probably shouldn't be tied to air unless you want glass knife fish and magnet golems to be air creatures. Maybe a finer-grained or less 'elemental' approach?

That said I haven't read the rest of it, so I'm sure I'm missing something. More later.


Also: Drakonas? More like Dorkonas, amirite?
Dragon_Child
Apprentice
Posts: 73
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: SAME Drakonas

Post by Dragon_Child »

Back after business, sorry I haven't checked in sooner. My "alpha test" game got derailed, so I've shelved this a bit.


null wrote:I suggest you devide your weapon mastery ability into many subsections.


This was the plan at first, dividing things into "Roguey/Assassin" "Defensive" "Archery" "Mounted" "Leadership" and "Basic Warrior". Unfortunately, I didn't have enough to justify seperate categories, so I collapsed them for now.


null wrote:For hurricane: Why does the accuracy penalty lessen as you get farther away? Shooting an arrow at a guy through 20' of high winds should be significantly harder than swinging a sword at him, not the reverse.


Extremely good point. The general idea is that if you make the hurricane larger, you're forced to make the winds weaker. I'll change that around. I like your suggestion, and will probablly impliment it.


null wrote:What does air damage do? Push you around, knock you down, and blow you away?


Batters you with winds, pushing you around, and inflicting cuts and scratches with some abilities, or electrical blasts with others.

null wrote:
Also remember that while electricity is usually associated with the sky (lightning), magnetism is usually associated with the earth (lodestone).


I find that really hard to accept. Tossing lightning bolts is too much of an air mage sort of thing. The repulsion effect, while it is magnetic in a way, "fit" more in air's long range sort of fighting strategy in my opinion.

Thanks for the comments.

Catharz
Knight-Baron
Posts: 893
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: SAME Drakonas

Post by Catharz »

Ok, I won't bother arguing the flavor of air. If it fits your setting, you're right.


New target: Skills. So, it looks like skill points translate directly into bonuses. A Min/Maxer will have 5 skills at 1, two skills at 6, and one skill at 3.
If you plan on not using levels and never adding new skills, this is a decent system.

The symmetry (2 skills per attribute) is admirable, but in practice I think a less even approach might work better. Acrobatics, for example, is universally associate with agility (Dictionary.com [acrobat]: "One who is skilled in feats of balance and agility in gymnastics").

Nothing is said of opposed checks, which tend to be pretty important.
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