And here I am again
continuing my little project. Now last
time I wrote I developed a set of Attributes to be used for a homemade RPG
system. Now like I did before everything
I post on this is protected as my intellectual property and thus is copy
righted by me, as of March 11, 2015.
So here we will be
moving on to our next step now that we have a foundation in place.
Step 4: Building a
Structured Character
The foundation of a
character is their attributes. The
scores are the framing and steel rebar while the stats are the cement that
gives it all solidarity. But now that
there is a foundation there also has to be more, a structure that is on the
foundation.
Of course the question
is where to start on this. Now in some
games skills would be next, while in other it might be talents, traits, perks,
feats, or whatever else you want to call them.
So what I’m going to do
is run with working out skills. But why
skills? Skills are the structure of a
character telling you what it is you can do and how well you can do it. Other things like traits, perks and more simply
function as the aesthetics of a building; the windows, appliances and so on.
Now to figure out skills
we need to now establish a mechanic for using dice.
Now to kick things off,
for our dice we will start with a base of d6’s for things. Now if a trait or the Intellect attribute upgrades
a die then then there is room to do so.
On the other hand a downgrade would be limited to just a d4.
Now skills will have to
function in some manner or another.
Skills will have levels that determine the number of dice a character
will roll. But how do you determine
success and failure?
Now I mentioned before
with Defense under the Agility Score you have to roll vs. the defense score to
generate a success and that depending on what was being done a certain number
of successes are needed. But with the
way how I’m figuring on working skills, that’s not going to work. So we will go over the changes to Defense
later…and I’ll have to update the previous blog entry.
But how to apply this to
skills? So let’s give this a try…
- To generate a success
you have to roll a 4 or higher on your dice.
You need at least one success in order to successfully use the skill.
- Rolling a failure, or
less than 4 does count against your successes.
Thus if you rolled six dice and have 3 successes and 3 failures your
skill roll ultimately fails because you don’t have any successes.
- A critical success
occurs when you have 2x more successes than you do failures. A critical failure is the same. Generating a critical success or failure can
offer up positive or negative effects.
- Opposed rolls are also
something that can occur. Here both the
character and an opponent roll dice and compare their respective
successes. The one with the most
successes over the other succeeds. In
the event of a tie no progress is made for either and the two must make another
roll.
- Certain attributes
provide additional points which you can use to augment your skill rolls in
order to succeed. These do not form a
total pool but instead are applied to their respective skills. Thus if you have 3 successes and 3 failures
you can put points into one of those dice to try and improve it to be a
success.
Now skill bonuses
provided by attributes need to have some restrictions.
- How often can they be
used?
- How quickly do you
recover their use?
So the idea here is that
you can’t just spend points on any and every skill whenever you want. Your pool lasts you the duration of an
encounter, and the encounter’s length depends on the game master. In a new encounter the bonus pool is
resupplied.
Moving on from this we
have the four levels of training for skills as provided by the character’s
Intellect level. Remember that these
free levels of training can be applied to any skill and not just Intellect
skills.
- Untrained: So I am changing this from what I had
originally. Making a skill roll
untrained is something anyone can do, but succeeding isn't going to be
easy. Rather than rolling a d6 per level
in the skill, untrained skills roll as a d4 per level. Also when and how a skill may be used can be
restricted. For example a character who
is untrained in a medical related skill will not be allowed to do surgery
regardless of their level in the skill; they just may be really good at first
aid.
- Trained: A trained skill uses a d6 for rolls rather
than d4’s.
- Journeyman: Buying a skill up to journeyman status allows
you to roll a single die at 1 level higher than normal. A d6 becomes a d8, or a d8 becomes a d10, and
a d10 becomes a d12. Some traits or other
abilities may allow for skills to already be upgraded under certain conditions.
- Master: Buying a skill up to master level allows for
2 additional dice to be upgraded one step.
A starting character
should also be limited to having only “Trained” skills and nothing higher
unless the GM permits this (as in the case of starting with a stronger
character than normal).
Interpretation of a Roll
So a skill roll is
applied/used when a situation would deem it necessary. Skills are meant to be open for interpretation
on what can be done with them based on what the GM allows and what the player
is seeking to do. In some game systems a
difficulty score is set for different tasks that a character can perform.
For example, a kip-up is
a martial arts move used to get to one’s feet quickly and without using your
hands. It’s a difficult trick to do and
in games is meant to be a way of getting up without having to use a character’s
actions.
Now with rules like this
one, you say what it is your trying to accomplish and a skill is assigned to
that which best suits what you’re trying to do.
In this system you simply need to generate one success to succeed though
if you have more than one success it’s even better. Going back to our kip-up example, the player
simply says that they want to get up quickly without wasting too much time to
do so, thus standing up without having to use any actions to do so.
The GM may decide that a
normal roll is all that is needed and that a single success generated is what
will accomplish the task. However the GM
can also apply other circumstances to the roll to make it more difficult, like
being surrounded, or attempting to do this on slippery ground.
Failing at using a skill
can offer up penalties to a character depending on what is going on. For example if you are hacking a computer and
you fail your roll you run the risk of setting off alarms. Another example being the kip-up; if you fail
that roll you fail to stand and must spend an action to stand…though if you
failed the roll badly enough (critical failure) you may even be denied the
ability to stand.
Situational Modifiers
The GM at any time can
apply situational modifiers to any and all skill rolls. Negative modifiers simply increase the number
of successes you need to generate in order to complete a task. In some cases you may have a positive
modifier too that grants you a modified roll making a task easier. Modifiers also vary based on being in combat
or out of combat and if certain actions are taken in combat.
Negative Modifiers
(Non-Combat)
- No penalty for failing =
1 Success needed, a roll may not be needed but a roll could be used to
determine how well one does.
- Minor penalty for
failing = 2 successes needed.
- Moderate penalty for
failing = 4 successes needed.
- High penalty for failing
= 6 successes needed.
- Guaranteed penalty for
failing = 8 successes needed.
Note that negative
modifiers are based upon sources present that grant them, as such they can
compound on each other. The highest
negative modifier sets the number of successes needed and each additional
modifier then adds just 1 additional success needed.
Positive Modifiers
(Non-Combat)
- Taking your time (doable
if you can spare 2x the amount of time, or longer, to perform the task) = Reduce successes
needed by 1.
- Extensive
planning/rehearsing = Reduce successes needed by 1 per week spent
planning/rehearsing.
- Right equipment = Reduce
successes needed by 1 for having the right tools on hand.
- Assistance = Each person
who helps you lowers the number of successes needed by 1.
Note that positive
modifiers can never lower your required successes to less than 1.
Tasks And Minimum Successes
Some actions do require
a minimum number of successes in order for a task to succeed, and are thus
modified by situations from there.
- Melee Attacks: These are vs. a character’s Defense. Defense is marked as Active and Passive. Passive Defense is where the character is
unaware of an attack, and Active Defense is where you are actively moving
around and attempting to evade harm.
Your Active Defense is equal to your Agility Score, while Passive
Defense is half your Defense Score.
- Dodging: There is always more you can do to evade
harm, and dodging is the action you can take to do this. Here you give up your ability to attack in
favor of being harder to hit against any attack. Dodging increases the number of successes
needed by 2.
- Evade: This is when a character is subjected to an
attack that affects an area. Evading an
attack that targets an area requires an applicable skill roll.
- Ranged Attacks: While these attacks are
vs. a character’s Defense for number of successes needed to be generated , the
range at which you are attacking and if a target is moving all make it more
difficult to hit an opponent.
- Moving Characters: Any character/target that
is making use of a normal move action on their turn increases the number of
successes needed by 1.
- Range Increments: Range is based on the
weapon being used, or the user’s Might Score if thrown. However accuracy is more based upon the
individual making the attack and the actual distance and less so on the weapon
which mostly dictates how far out an attack can go. Range increments also apply to one’s ability
to sense or detect things happening around them.
- Adjacent/Close: This is the range at which
you can touch someone with your hand.
- Point Blank: This is between Close range and around 10ft
away. Range does not impose penalties to
attack rolls at this distance.
- Thrown: A thrown weapon still applies to the same
rules for determining additional successes.
Throwing range is based upon your Might score x 5 which shows how far
you can hurl an object.
- Average: This range is past point blank. Usually this range is anywhere past 10ft and
around 30ft away from the character.
Most normal firefights occur at this distance and attacks made have a +1
increase in required successes.
- Long: This range is beyond the normal 30ft. Attacks beyond his point see a +2 increase in
required successes.
- Distant: This is a range that is quite some distance
from the person, though closer objects might still be somewhat visible, to see
anything in detail or to see objects further out one would need special
equipment. Attacks here have a +4
increase in required successes.
- Extreme: Extreme range is beyond any visual range of a
person without some sort of enhancement.
This can be something like viewing an object miles away. Any attack made at this range is likely to
fail unless the weapon/attack can operate at extreme ranges, and the user has
to have some sort of means of viewing at these ranges. Even then an attack made at this range is
going to suffer a +8 increase in required successes.
- Non-Combat Skill Use: To start, skills vary in
the amount of time needed to use them.
On average a skill roll requires a minimum of 1 success to be generated
in order for a skill to be successfully used in a normal time frame as
determined by the Game Master. In many
cases this is a task that can be completed as either part of an existing action
taken by the character, or it makes use of more time. Rushing a task is also possible with anything
you do, but this can apply a negative modifier to the skill when rolled.
What are Skill Levels?
Skill levels determine
how many dice you can roll when using a skill.
One level equals one die. All skills
start with at least 1 level in each. You
can then buy up your levels to a limit equal to your attribute for a certain
cost. Buying up levels past an attribute
however will cost even more. Thus you
are not entirely limited in your levels by your attributes, they just make
things cheaper to buy.
Regular “non-combat”
skills will cost less than “Combat” skills.
But just what are these
skills going to be? Well let’s get to
that then.
Non-Combat Skills (NCS)
These are skills that
are used outside of combat situations typically. They often require a degree of time to use
that is not typically used in a combat situation, though this is not always the
case like when using social interaction based skills.
Combat Skills (CS)
These are skills that
are of course used in combat situations.
The skills require an action of some sort in order to use or in some
cases the characters full turn to use.
Agility Skills
Acrobatics (NCS): This skill is used when the
character needs to perform a feat of agility involving movement or motion. Standing up as a free action, jumping, or
doing flips, all are acrobatic feats that one can perform. If you cannot move then you cannot use
acrobatics.
- Fast Stand: You use the skill to quickly get to your
feet. A single success allows this to be
possible, but environmental conditions can apply.
- Jumping: The distance you need to jump determines how
many successes are needed. Jumping 1
meter/3ft is fairly easy and needs only 1 success, but each additional
increment of distance you need to jump will require an additional success.
- Movement Feat: Acrobatics can be used to move over obstacles
without losing one’s move action to do so.
The number of successes needed to do this is determined the same way as
jumping. And covers the area in which
the character has to move through/across.
Sleight of Hand (NCS): The skill is used to
perform actions of hand-eye-coordination and subterfuge.
- Entertaining: The skill can be used to entertain
people. The number of successes needed
is dependent upon how difficult of a task you want to perform.
- Pickpocketing: The skill is used to steal items that are on
another person, or placing items on a person.
The roll is vs. the target’s ability to perceive their surroundings, and
thus is an opposed roll.
Driving (NCS/CS): This skill is used when
operating a vehicle of some sort whether it’s one that operates on the land,
water, or in the air.
Melee (CS): The skill is used when making a melee
attack. This attack can be an unarmed
strike, a strike with a melee weapon, or used for grappling.
Ranged (CS): This skill is used when making a ranged
attack with any ranged weapon or similar attack.
Intellect Skills
Craft (NCS): The skill is used when attempting to make
things whether it’s a table, a wicker basket, or metal working. The skill roll mostly determines the degree
of the craftsmanship put into the item.
When the skill is taken it needs to apply to a specific field of
craftsmanship.
Computer Use (NCS): The skill is used to build
computers, or work with computers, hacking, programing and so on.
Decipher (NCS): The skill is used to
figure out codes, signals, combinations, or putting clues together to get a
bigger picture.
Education (NCS): The skill is used when
making a roll regarding area’s of knowledge that came from being educated. This is primarily affixed to non-scientific
areas of knowledge.
Electronics
(NCS): This skill is used when working with
electronic devices, whether its figuring out how it works, repairing it,
upgrading it, or making something new for the first time.
Mechanics (NCS): This skill, like
electronics, allows the character to understand machines, how they work, how to
make them, how to fix them.
Science (NCS): The skill also
functions in a similar manner to electronics and Mechanics, but dealing with
mathematics, chemicals, physics, and so on.
Tactics (CS): This skill is used to determine a course of
action that would grant an advantage to either a single ally or a group. Inversely it can be used to impose a
hindrance to opponents instead. For
example the skill would be used to determine a strategy to outflank the
opponent or to lure an opponent into a trap.
Reason Skills
Intuition (NCS): The skill is used for
picking up on things you are being told, finding the truth in lies, discerning
nuances in mannerisms, and just plain out knowing if a person is lying.
Awareness (NCS): The skill is used for
finding things in ones environment from finding hidden doors, skulking persons,
where the air is flowing from in a dark cave.
Presence Skills
Charm (NCS/CS): The skill is used to alter a person’s
attitude toward your character in a favorable way that does not involve the use
of violence but one’s own charisma and presence. The skill can be used in combat as a means of
attempting to talk down opponents, or talk them out of a course of action.
Intimidate (NCS/CS): This skill is a skill that can be used
instill fear into people through the use of physical or mental manipulation
that involves instilling fear into the person.
The skill can involve causing an opponent to run away, surrender, give
up information, or act recklessly due to being afraid.
Persuade (NCS): This skill is used to get a person to do
something for you that involves making a compelling statement or argument. For example, negotiating for a hostage taker
to surrender, or for someone to do you a favor are aspects of persuades use.
Attribute Bonuses
So as a finishing note
on this I will hit on the bonus to skills given by attributes. Basically an attribute (except for Might)
will grant a bonus to some skill rolls in the form a pool of points. These points are spent only for each group of
skills that are associated with the attribute.
You then assign these points to grant a +1 per point to a single die
roll. You can assign all of these points
to a single die or distribute them to multiple dice. The limitation is that points cannot be spent
to increase a roll above a 4 (what is needed to generate a success). Thus if you have a 3pt bonus and you roll 4
skill dice and get a 4, 2, 1, and 6, you could add the 3 pts to increase the 2
up to a 4 and the 1 up to a 2.
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