Yeah Motherfuckin 4E N'Shit!

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Hiram McDaniels
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Yeah Motherfuckin 4E N'Shit!

Post by Hiram McDaniels »

So I got this stupid idea for a D&D 4E inspired game with it's claws in my brain and it won't let go. I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy Tactics lately. Here are my ideas, which hopefully don't fail on 1st principles:

Basics


Relatively low powered game compared to say, 3E. Combat is won through attrition; "story powers" are relegated to rituals and such.

Character progression goes up to level 10-12 or so, because gamers, by and large, are adults with jobs and families. Try to pack those levels with as much stuff as characters get in 30 levels of 4E.

Math is balanced toward average PC values, so having high numbers on your sheet actually puts you ahead of the curve like they're supposed to.

Encounter design assumes Team PC vs. Team Monster. 0th level monsters replace minions; 2 of them are a match for a 1st level PC; a Level 1 monster is an even match for a level 1 PC, 4 level 1 monsters are a match for 4 level 1 PC's and so forth. At least in terms of HP/To-Hit Values/Damage Out-Put/etc.

Objective DC's goddamnit. None of this level dependent shit. A level 8 mountain climb does not become a level 15 mountain climb when Frodo is on his way back to the Shire.

Action economy: stealing from 5E: each combatant gets a maneuver action (move or other minor action) and an attack action on their turn. They get bonus actions only if an ability grants it to them, and 1 out of order reaction per round.

Races

None. Instead, you have factions based on the 4E cosmology that serve the same basic function: granting abilities and bonuses, but probably not stat boosts. They are:

Asgard: Heaven. Celestials and other Angelic beings. Aasimar, Deva, etc.
Makai: Hell. Where the devils and demons live. Tieflings.
Earth: Material plane. Humans and Halflings.
Faerie: Elves, Shapeshifters, gnomes, the plant race that I can't remember.
Maelstrom: Elemental planes. Genasi and such.
Nether: Land of the dead. Dhampirs, Shades, etc.

Alignment

None. Take the player types as described in the 4E DMG and build something around that, so people are rewarded for their play style, and maybe challenged by it too ala' Fate's aspects system.

Classes

Tentatively classes are based on roles instead of archetypes. Each gets abilities that support their "job" and activate when they take actions on their turn. I'll come up with better names later on down the road, but they are:

Saber: Defender; They mark enemies when they attack.

Rider: Skirmisher; They get to zip in and out for big hits.

Assassin: Lurker; stealth based attacks; de-buffing.

Berserker: Brute; lots of health; the more damage they take the more damage they do.

Archer: Artillery; Aim mechanic that increases hit/damage; trick shots.

Commander: Leader; emphasis on buffing and healing.

Caster: Controller; action denial; their schtick is metamagic.


This is the hardest thing to hammer into a workable idea so far. Might just jettison it in favor of something more intuitive. Definitely keeping this for monster classes though.

Classes get boosts to relevant stats.

Powers

No "power sources" per se. Anyone can take any power they want, and their class features modify powers based on their jobs.

Powers are divided thematically:

Red: Elemental; Fire/Ice/Thunder/Lightning.
Blue: Trickery; Charm/Enchantment/Illusion
Green: Primal; Plant/Weather/Animal
White: Holy; Healing/Protection/Radiant
Black: Entropy; Necrotic/Poison/Disease
Grey: Cosmic; Psionic/Time/Space
Iron: Martial; sword strikes and shield bashes. In this game wielding a sword is explicitly magical in nature.

Haven't worked out resource management. I'll probably lean heavily on encounter based resources and jimmy what used to be daily powers into some sort of limit break mechanic.

Powers will be upgradeable as characters level. They can choose to increase parameters like damage; duration; range; area of effect. Also, I want to utilize keywording, so fire powers, for example, all have similar mechanical effects.

Feats

Feats grant players access to subsystems outside the purview of their class and powers. This is where things like multiclassing, rituals, familiars and stronghold building will live.

Skills

Decouple them from base stats. No more of this shit where courtly knights have to sacrifice fighter stuff to be good at talking. Skills are measured in ranks, each worth a bulk bonus (say +5 or so). Pass out enough so that everyone can max out maybe 4 skills. Pare down skill list to adventure type tasks. Move crafting and profession skills to downtime activities and feats.

Downtime Activities


Probably looks something like Dragon Age Inquisition's system where you send agents on different missions to increase resources and influence. Definitely have diplomats; soldiers and spies but also mages for magical research and ritual casting, artisans and merchants.
Last edited by Hiram McDaniels on Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:27 am, edited 2 times in total.
The most dangerous game is man. The most entertaining game is Broadway Puppy Ball. The most weird game is Esoteric Bear.
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OgreBattle
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Post by OgreBattle »

I don’t think you should split striker and defender sword powers and leave that up to player choice, like power attack or expertise is something all warriors can do in tome 3e
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Hiram McDaniels
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Post by Hiram McDaniels »

OgreBattle wrote:I don’t think you should split striker and defender sword powers and leave that up to player choice, like power attack or expertise is something all warriors can do in tome 3e
I'm leaning in your direction on this. The powers themselves are role agnostic, and class features just modify them.

Say you have a power called "brutal attack", or something less dumb and off the cuff, and it does an extra die of damage.

Saber uses this power and in addition to the power's effects, the target is now marked.

Assassin uses this power and in addition to the power's effects. the target is now taking persistent bleed damage.

At least that was my initial idea. I don't even know if class-as-role is the direction I want to go tbh. I have other ideas that are less broad.
The most dangerous game is man. The most entertaining game is Broadway Puppy Ball. The most weird game is Esoteric Bear.
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