Aspects & Essence

[Yesterday's Hero]

Ok, so I'm making a d20 RPG.

The game is mostly standard fantasy fare, but there are no classes. Instead you build your character by picking "Aspects" on 4 different categories.

- You have a "Combat Aspect" that gives you 2 different attack options, one that deals damage with a small rider effect and another one with that deals a small amount of damage (or none at all) and has a bigger rider effect. By spending 5 points of energy (a resource every pc has, 5 points being approximately 1/4 - 1/5 of your starting pool) you get to make both effects with the same action.

- You also have a "Style Aspect" that gives you an ability that pushes you towards a role: DPs, "Defender" (basically a debuffer), Buffing and "Big payout" (You an additional effect when you connect with both attack options on the same turn).

- There is also a "Utility Aspect" that gives you a way to spend your "Utility points" (similar to healing surges/action points of 4e) for a 1 time healing/energy recovery effect and a little 1 turn self buff.

- Finally you have your "Life Aspect" that's basically your background and just gives you out of combat options (more on that on another post).

My goal is to make a game that has a relatively fast advancement and short, easy to improvise, campaigns. I'm aiming to award level ups after about 2 sessions and having a soft "level cap" of 10. So that after about 16-20 sessions you hit max level, play the big conclusion, and move on to another character. This is, of course, based on my preferred style of play (I am, after all, making the game to play it myself), but it could be changed with little effort.

The basic mechanic is:

1d20 + Bonuses - Penalties

<2 = Critical Failure
3-10 = Failure
11-18= Success
>19 = Critical Success

On each skill description there is an example of a task that would have a penalty of “0” and examples of things that give bigger penalties (or even negative penalties, so that they are easier). Let’s take “Athletics” for instance, a skill for moving around. The base task is climbing a tree, so you have no penalty. If you are trying to climb something that’s harder to climb (say, a wall with few places to hold on) you have a -1 (or higher) penalty.

Is there any pitfall I've already fallen into? The game has been mostly completed a couple of years ago (I even playtested once, to good reviews) but I feel I've learnt one or two things since that time and I want to give it a whole make over.

[tussock]

If you succeed on a 10+ it's easier to work with, failure on 0+ the same. Means you're only doing single-digit comparisons and additions all the time.

Still means at +0 you can critically succeed, -1 you lose that, -2 you can critically fail, which is a steep penalty regime if the crits do anything important.

I don't see your level bonus in there, but the "big payout" mechanic will grow faster with bonuses than other roles. If regular characters are 2x their original hit rate, the big payout will be 4x, which, depends what it does, but might make the other styles irrelevant. Like, linear, quadratic, etc.

Even without that, you may have unintentional combinations of Utility, Style, and Combat that are overly better than others, just because the number of combinations will be larger than you expect. Like, even at 4x4x4 you've got 64 combinations to consider there. Often becomes a thing where there are a handful of combinations "work" and no one uses the rest, and then if the working ones aren't similar in fun times it thins out further.

2 attack options (or, uh, 3, because both might work differently?), it's, uh, it's not many. One shots people won't notice, but six months of play that's gunna get super old for a lot of players. And of course, more options there means more combinations to check.

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Hmm, regular penalty to hit in combat for armour and such? ... That seems like a lot of extra communication and fuss.

[Yesterday's Hero]

Thanks for the reply!

If you succeed on a 10+ it's easier to work with, failure on 0+ the same. Means you're only doing single-digit comparisons and additions all the time.

Still means at +0 you can critically succeed, -1 you lose that, -2 you can critically fail, which is a steep penalty regime if the crits do anything important.

I wanted to downplay critical hits. As of right now, they only deal max damage (and since some options deal fixed damage, a critical hit might do nothing). Was thinking about changing that to +50% DMG or something. Playtesting will iron this out.

I don't see your level bonus in there, but the "big payout" mechanic will grow faster with bonuses than other roles. If regular characters are 2x their original hit rate, the big payout will be 4x, which, depends what it does, but might make the other styles irrelevant. Like, linear, quadratic, etc.

A typical starting “Attack stat” for a 1st level character is +7/+8. While the typical Armor of a 1st level enemy is -5 (The appropriate amount of enemies of your level for you to fight on a “fair” fight is 1.25). You get a +1 to pretty much everything (attacks and defenses) every even level. Standard enemies get the same progression, but there are types of enemies that have a faster progression in certain stats (“Soldier” type enemies have faster defenses progression, for instance, while “Artillery” enemies have faster attack progression) so that you can get some variety. Enemy numbers are supper easy to adjust, so I’ll rather balance things out on their end, if current numbers are off.

Even without that, you may have unintentional combinations of Utility, Style, and Combat that are overly better than others, just because the number of combinations will be larger than you expect. Like, even at 4x4x4 you've got 64 combinations to consider there. Often becomes a thing where there are a handful of combinations "work" and no one uses the rest, and then if the working ones aren't similar in fun times it thins out further.

Ideally this won’t happen (easier said than done, I know), and options should be balanced between each other. The idea is to make it hard to gimp yourself (and hard to give yourself an advantage, but not impossible). The only way to find this out is through playtesting. There are currently 12 Attack aspects, 8 Style aspects and 8 Utility aspects, so that’s 768 combinations if my math is right.

2 attack options (or, uh, 3, because both might work differently?), it's, uh, it's not many. One shots people won't notice, but six months of play that's gunna get super old for a lot of players. And of course, more options there means more combinations to check.

You get an additional attack option (3 total) at level 3 and another one at level 7.

So at levels 1 and 2 you have Option A, Option B, Option A+B (for 5 energy). 3 total.

At level 3-6 you have Option A, Option B, Option C, Option A+B;B+C;A+C (for five energy) or Option A+B+C (for 10-15 energy, I haven’t decided yet). 7 total.

And at level 7 you get Option D and it’s combinations and thant’s a bunch of options. If playtest shows that this is not enough I might add a third option at level 1.

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Hmm, regular penalty to hit in combat for armour and such? ... That seems like a lot of extra communication and fuss.

This wasn’t a problem when we playtested the game (this system was based on a very old homebrew system we used to play back in highschool and it wasn’t a problem then either). If this proves to be a big problem, then much of the system will have to be scrapped.

If there is a bit more interest in the system I’ll go in depth on the different areas.

[OgreBattle]

On the simple mechanic, I feel a dice pool with TN's is easier and more fun than tracking certain d20 results

Can you walk me through what you expect players to accomplish in...
- 1 turn (how many seconds?)
- 1 encounter (how many minutes?)
- 1 session (how many hours?)
- 1 campaign (and how many sessions is that?)

[Yesterday's Hero]

On the simple mechanic, I feel a dice pool with TN's is easier and more fun than tracking certain d20 results

I have 0 experience with dice pool mechanics and extensive experience with this "1d20+bonuses-penalties; 11+ is a success" simple mechanic, so I wanted to try this one out for size on this new chassis. If this proves to be very clunky for new players, then most of the work would have to be started over to accommodate for the dice pool.

Can you walk me through what you expect players to accomplish in...
- 1 turn (how many seconds?)
- 1 encounter (how many minutes?)
- 1 session (how many hours?)
- 1 campaign (and how many sessions is that?)

- 1 Turn: If fighting against an enemy of your level, I expect you to deal about 1/3 - 1/2 of said enemy's HP in damage with an attack option that has 60%-75% success chance. You should also produce a small rider effect most of the time. Alternatively, you can deal about 1/4 damage to an enemy of your level and produce a medium rider effect (or no damage and a big effect). On about 1 in 3 turns you should also spend a limited resource to either get a medium self-buff or attack twice (the second attack will have a different effect and will probably have less accuracy). Rounds won't be strictly represented as a static amount of time, but will last about 10 seconds in the game’s "narrative".

- 1 Encounter: Against an encounter composed of an amount of enemies equal to the party size times 1.5 and of the same level (6 enemies for a 4 PC party), you should spend about 30% of your "per day" resources and gain about 1/10th of the XP you need to level up. Each encounter should last about 3-6 rounds. So that's about a 30/60 seconds.

- 1 Session: My sessions last about 4 hours’ worth of playing time. It should give you enough XP to advance halfway to your next level and should be composed of about 5-7, 20-30 minute encounters. Combat should account for about 66% of the game’s time.

- 1 Campaign: A campaign is about 16/20 sessions (as stated on the above post). Different people structure campaigns differently. The way I do them, the PCs will have 2-3 character/story arcs.

I realize that I like to run shorter campaigns than most players. However, I feel that these numbers should be reasonably easy to adjust by increasing the amount of XP needed for a level up. However, the assumption of having around 3 encounters of your level per "adventuring day" is harder to change.

[Hiram McDaniels]

Can you give examples of what a fleshed out combat aspect looks like?

[Yesterday's Hero]

Can you give examples of what a fleshed out combat aspect looks like?

To be perfectly honest, I started reading this site about a month ago. I began on the general forum (In my humble opinion) and saw that there were a lot of great ideas and a reasonable amount of activity. Thus I said "Hey, maybe if I start discussing my RPG I might get some insightful replies!". I wrote the first post before even entering the homebrew subforum. To my surprise, that subforum had DRASTICALLY less activity. But, since I already had the post typed I said "what the hell" and posted it anyway. I check my thread for answers Monday to Friday and occasionally on the weekend regardless of this.

Rant aside, let me give you a couple of examples of Combat aspects (Comments in parenthesis). The first one is the classic "sword and board" style. You deal decent damage and can move/trip opponents and give defensive buffs to yourself and allies that are adjacent to you.

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Weapon and Shield (Potency) (This is the name of the Aspect)

Iron Avalanche (And this is the name of the Power/Spell/Maneuver you gain)

Attack: 1d10 + Focus. On a fail you slide 1 hex. (As in 4e, "Slide" means "Move without provoking AoO)
Intensity: Slide your target and you up to 2 hexes. Until the end of your next turn, you and all allies adjacent to you gain -1 Armor, Spirit and Save. (Defenses are a negative number, so this is a buff)

Attack Advance: You also slide if you hit.
Intensity Advance: The bonus increases to -2.
(Every couple of levels you unlock "advancement points" that you can use to permanently upgrade aspects. If you upgrade the Attack Aspect you can choose either the Attack or the Intensity advance)

Superior options (on level 3 you pick one, on level 7 you get the other). (This is where I could expand the game with more options. Maybe one more for lvl 5 or something like that)

Attack: 2d6 + Focus. On a failure the enemy is Prone. (You may intentionally miss attacks. Prone enemies have a +2 penalty to all defenses).
Intensity (8): Until the end of your next turn, you and all allies adjacent to you gain Resistance 10 against all attacks made by the target. This ranged attack doesn't generate opportunity attacks. (The “8” next to Intensity indicates that this is a ranged option. Unless otherwise noted, ranged attacks provoke AoO)

Attack Advance: Damage is increased to Focus x1.5
Intensity Advance: Resistance increases to 15.

Equipment: Sword, Mace or Axe + Shield. (You don't NEED to have your equipment to perform any of these options, but you take penalties if you don't have it).
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Next up is two hander style. You deal greater damage and have the option to strike multiple opponents or even throw a small weapon for a limited but versatile ranged option.

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Two Handed (Potency)


Cleave

Attack: 1d12 + Focus. If you fail you deal Focus damage.
Intensity: You deal Focus/2 damage to all adjacent enemies and push them 2 hexes. ("Push" means move away from you on a straight line. This doesn't generate AoO)

Attack advance: Damage increases to 3d6.
Intensity Advance: Damage increases to Focus.

Superior options (on level 3 you pick one, on level 7 you get the other)

Attack: Focusx6.
Intensity (4): 1d8 + Focus and you push the target 1 hex.

Attack Advance: If you fail you deal Focusx2 damage.
Intensity Advance: This ranged attack doesn't generate opportunity attacks.

Equipment: Two handed Sword, Mace or Axe.
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You might notice similarities with 4e, both mechanics and terminology. I might try to change things up a little bit to make it more different, but bear in mind that this game is not intended for publication, just my personal use. Next up, a magical option, Force Magic. You can use it to deal some damage to multiple creatures at a range and you also have debuff and battlefield control options.

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Force (Arcane)


Magic Missile

Magic (8): 2 Targets, 1d4 + Focus damage each (Each fail deals Focus damage to target).
Intensity (8): The target gets -2 to Attack and Magic until the end of your next turn.

Magic Advance: Damage increases to 2d4 per target.
Intensity Advance: Speed is also decreased by -2.

Superior options (on level 3 you pick one, on level 7 you get the other)

Magic x3 (As in, 3 attacks, targets chosen however you want, you may target the same enemy twice) (10): 4d4 damage.
Intensity: Push the target up to 10 hexes.

Magic Advance: Magic x4.
Intensity Advance: Teleport the target anywhere 10 hexes away instead.

Equipment: Staff or Wand.
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"Focus" is about 3-5 for a first level character, while Attack, Magic and Intensity are 6-8 for first level characters. Superior options have not been play tested at all (the fact that they are more powerful than base options is intentional). Also, I have to translate all of this on the fly since I’ve written it on my native tongue, hence why I haven't shared documents yet.

Edits: Minor changes for clarity

[OgreBattle]

You'll have to ask yourself "Do I want characters defined by equipment?" Will somebody with a shield aspect AAAALLLLWAAAYS use a shield and 1h weapon? If there's a giant cleaving magic axe in the boss room will he pick it up and swing it or will he go "naw I'm a shield guy not a 2h axe guy"?

I'd say one of 4e's world building problems is hyper specialization of 'mundane' dudes so you had rogues that always used a dagger, rogues that always used a crossbow, and trying to do both gimped the character.

You can still have 'style' aspects without locking into weapons by having the style be how they fight rather than what they fight with. So a 'guardian' sword and shield dude shields his buddies and intercepts foes trying to get past him but a 'raider' sword and shield guy charges in with his shield, traps opponent's limbs expertly with his shield to get stabby with his other implement, maybe can throw bounce his shield like Xena.
...or maybe 'style' isn't something you pick and are locked into, but it's something that changes with the flow of battle like a 'stance'. So your warrior can go into a guardian "cover my bros" stance when the enemy's applying a lot of pressure, then go into a "striker" stance to pursue one baddie trying to flee.

It might be simpler to start with some basic monster designs, because basic monsters are what your character classes are going to be facing most of the time.

[Yesterday's Hero]

You'll have to ask yourself "Do I want characters defined by equipment?" Will somebody with a shield aspect AAAALLLLWAAAYS use a shield and 1h weapon? If there's a giant cleaving magic axe in the boss room will he pick it up and swing it or will he go "naw I'm a shield guy not a 2h axe guy"?

I've been having a bit of a crisis of faith recently regarding RPGs in general (the result of being a long time Pathfinder player and having just recently discovered the "Everything wrong with Pathfinder" thread and agreeing with most of it, and just on page 16 of 342!). I realized I hadn't asked myself all these kinds of questions when I began the project and now it’s all rearing its ugly head on me at once. I suppose I want the Sword and Board guys to just focus on sword and board. There was, fortunately, a rule somewhere in my document that said that you can use "sword and board" attacks while wielding a different type of weapon, you just take a penalty on you to-hit rolls (usually -2, but it might be higher depending on the circumstance). So that if said guy finds a cool looking nasty axe he can wield it, but he'll have problems executing his honed sword and board attacks with it.

I'd say one of 4e's world building problems is hyper specialization of 'mundane' dudes so you had rogues that always used a dagger, rogues that always used a crossbow, and trying to do both gimped the character.

In a similar fashion to 4e, my world has Sources of power. This was a core concept of the project since the beginning. My power sources are "Potency" (physical, based on strength), "Subtlety" (physical, based on dexterity/coordination), "Arcane" (magical, based on classic arcane magic tropes) and "Divine" (magical, based on classic divine tropes, minus healing and restoration, since that's handled by other systems). So Potency, for instance, has 3 Combat Aspects:

-Sword and board
-Two handed weapon
-Pole arm

If you have one of those 3 Aspects and try to use say, a bow, you'll only be able to make basic attacks with it.

HOWEVER, this is just the basic game. I'm planning to expand it with 4 additional power sources, "Primal", "Shadow", "Zen" and "Techno". Those power sources will give you different weapons and weapon combinations. There'll be a "Sword and hand crossbow" Shadow Combat aspect, for example. So yes, switching weapons will gimp you. Unless you make a conscious choice for it not to. I might add an “Advantage” (basically a feat equivalent) that lets you pick another kind of weapons to use your powers with.

You can still have 'style' aspects without locking into weapons by having the style be how they fight rather than what they fight with. So a 'guardian' sword and shield dude shields his buddies and intercepts foes trying to get past him but a 'raider' sword and shield guy charges in with his shield, traps opponent's limbs expertly with his shield to get stabby with his other implement, maybe can throw bounce his shield like Xena.
...or maybe 'style' isn't something you pick and are locked into, but it's something that changes with the flow of battle like a 'stance'. So your warrior can go into a guardian "cover my bros" stance when the enemy's applying a lot of pressure, then go into a "striker" stance to pursue one baddie trying to flee.

Currently styles are much more limited than that, though yours is a great idea. Also, Style Aspects don’t prescribe what kind of weapon your characters uses, that’s determined by your Combat Aspect. Style Aspects determine what type of armor you get to use. Potency Style Aspects, are these 3:

-Defender: You basically "mark" enemies like in 4e when you attack them, even if you miss.
-Slayers: Your attacks make more damage (+1d10, so around +50%. This might be a bit much and is subject to playtest, of course).
-Commander: When an enemy misses you, you grant yourself and your allies a +2 bonus on attack rolls against said enemy.

You can mix and match, of course, even between different power sources! So you might have the Defender Style Aspect and your Combat aspect might be Sword and board, or Two Handed, or Force Magic from the arcane Combat Aspects or any other one in the game.

On a previews build you could pick a second Style Aspect as you gained levels, but I determined it was too much bookkeeping.

It might be simpler to start with some basic monster designs, because basic monsters are what your character classes are going to be facing most of the time.

Making interesting enemies on the fly is one of the core pillars of this design. The idea is that, having it, will allow DMs to run better sandbox campaigns and give PCs more agency ("Ok, so you made these drows angry. Give me 5 minutes so that I can make a couple of appropriate drow enemies for you to fight right now, regardless of your level").

To this end I've made an extensive excel spreadsheet where you input some parameters (level of the enemy, stat array, level of challenge), select from a list of generic powers and you get the stats. As of right now there are 33 different "Races" of enemies (from orcs to dwarves, to drow, to chimeras, to hydras, to dragons, etc), 35 different base powers, 20 "elite" powers and 10 "champion" powers to choose from.

[Yesterday's Hero]

So... it's been a year since the last post and we've been playtesting this quite a lot, moving away from PF2.

Te core "combat" part is mostly finished. I have to make some adjustements to the enemies and add some more options for the opposition but nothing herculean on that front. We've added some some non-combat skills on a recent "patch" (up from 8 to 12) and we are looking for different ways of assigning numbers to those skills.

Just wanted to share that.

TGD has been a great resource for inspiration and insight into the design process. I look forward to sharing this if there's interest.

[OgreBattle]

It's fun to comment on stuff here, I should go update my own stuff too

What kind of non-combat skills do you have

[Yesterday's Hero]

It's fun to comment on stuff here, I should go update my own stuff too

What kind of non-combat skills do you have

We had eight, but we felt very constrained so we moved it up to 12.

Academics
Esoteric
Nature
Diplomacy
Bluff
Intimidate
Athletism
Acrobatics
Skulduggery (In spanish it's called "Artimaña", basically pick pocket and all slight of hand related things)
Mecanics
Perception
Stealth

The four that we added were Nature, Intimidate, Acrobatics and Mecanics.