Re: D20 "Simple"

For damage, use a very simple rule. The die rolled is the next die up from
the number of the stat. So, an 18 strength does D20 damage. A strength of 1
gets a coin toss. Since you're going simple, then all weapons are the same.
Use the appropriate stat for the determination -- Str for melee attacks, Int
for spells, Wis for priestly things, Dex for missiles and martial arts
sweeps, Con for wrestling and martial arts body slams, and Cha for
personality attacks. (That answers your Con issue as well.)

for simplicity, I'd personally eliminate the feats. Also, to speed up
chargen, I would use eighty five points across the six stats. (This is an
old first edition tourney character creation scheme, and I like it because
it balances parties much more than rolling, and every character is viable
unless the player is a total nimrod.)

HP can be Con times level. Of course, this will quickly breed tanks, so half
of con, rounded down, times level is probably safer.

I'm all for eliminating dice rolls as much as possible from chargen, as a
good player can then craft exactly the character they want. Of course, this
will mean that every PC caster will have an 18 Int, but hey, they're
superlatives.

I like the idea, as it takes much of what I hate about D20 away from the
game. It's far more streamlined, much easier to create characters, and it's
not as grossly munchkin as D20 usually is. I'm not a math guru, so someone
else will have to help out on that.

But if you're paring it down to a stat based system, why not drop the levels
too?

Oh, and pet peeve of mine, with this sytem, you can very easily eliminate
combat rounds and use free form init. (I hate combat rounds.)
"TeH Inspired Ogre" <JacksKyle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1144208474.794398.166170@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hey folks, first off, tell me if this isint being posted to the right
place. Second, this is one try, and one try only, if I dont like the
way this community responds (Flamy, less than helpful-ey...) Ill wash
my hands of it and walk away.

I am thinking about creating a d20 game system that probably breaks all
the OGL and d20 rules, but I dont give a damn, I'm not selling it, just
trying to have a little fun. The whole premise is to take the whole d20
game and boil it down to its bearest components. Here is the list of
what I feel is needed.

* 6 base statistics (Str, Dex, Con, Wis, Int, Cha)
* Familiarity (I want d20 users to be able to step in and see that this
IS d20, just... well... Simple)
* "Realistic" chances of success and failure. (This is a math based
requirement, I dont want to severely alter the chances of success and
failure in an average d20 game)
* No more than 4 classes, preferably none! (thats right, no classes,
interesting thought)
* Make the game more freeform, this should appeal to people who want to
ROLE-play, and feel that maybe takeing some of the more complex math
and dice out of the equation would help take the ROLL out of ROLL-play.
* Limited growth potential (I dont want the game to spawn immediate
ideas for addons and suppliments, it should be able to stand on its
own, in terms of variety)
* No monsters except those that the players imagine (I dont want to go
through the MM and convert every damn thing.)
* NO prep time required (it always helps) (the thought here is that
players and DMs should be able to go, "Hey, lets play DnD" and then do
it, without any more than some dice and about 5 mins of prep, this
means that character creation needs to be boiled down to about 3 steps
at most.



Okay, a tough list, here is what I have so far...

* Throw out skills, all classes, AC, HP, DR, SR, spells, monsters and
weapons. Essential, down to the 6 base stats. If you have to jump
across a ditch, roll a str, if you have to walk across a tightrope,
roll dex, and so on.
* Create new "damage" system, make it stat based. So, now there is HP
for every statistic. If you bring a player's statistic points from str
down to 0, they die, likewise statistic points from int.
* All players get one "freat" per level, and a d4, d6, d6, d8 d8, and
d10. They roll each die and add the result (plus or minus their stat
modifier) to each statistic point total. So, your going with a classic
half-orc killing machine, your likely to do d10s for your str points
each time, and likely to put the d4s in cha.
* Defender USUALLY chooses which way to defend. An attacker has to beat
one of their stats to hit them, and thus damage goes to that statistic
point. A mage casts a spell, and hits the orc, who chooses to try to
absorb or resist the damage, so he tightens up, and has the mage roll
agains his con. The mage rolls a 15+4 (int) a 19, this beats the orc's
18 con, and thus the damage goes to the con points.
* Possibly a system that diminishes the benefits of a stat based on the
damage that statistic point has taken, I hesitate because I can think
of no SIMPLE way to do this.

I have lots of questions.

* how do we decide damage dice? How do we seperate and make distinct
magic and melee, ranged and close-quarters. Possibly asign the same d4,
d6, d6, d8, d8 and d10 on a perminent basis to the type of damage that
a statistic can deal?
* How does one deal damage with constitution. I can make it 'logical'
for all stats except con. Str is when one uses muscles to generate
damage, Dex uses accuracy, int, wis, and cha use knowledge, intuition,
and force of will. Same can be said about defence, except with Str, how
is defending with Str different than defending with Con?
* Feats have to do EVERYTHING, spells, skills, and feats, this could be
a nightmare, here are some thoughts.
* Feats and "skills" interact based on a maximum "unfeated" attempt.
One cannot jump across a gorge (Str DC 20) without the "Acrobatics"
feat, because the max DC one can attempt is a 15 without the
appropriate feat.
* Feats and "spells" simply have 8 (16, with improved?) magic feats,
one for each school of magic, anything in that school can be done
within logical bounds based on level.
* The question comes up again and again, what EXACTLY, is a character
capable of. This is important, as character growth (and thus a very
interesting aspect of gaming) is dependant on character limitations.
Standard d20 says "Characters are capable of basically nothing, unless
otherwise specified, here are the exceptions." d20 simple seems to be
saying, "Characters are capable of everything, unless otherwise stated"
On its face, I dont have a problem with this, but then again, level
NEEDS to matter, character growth as a concept needs to exist,
otherwise, it can get rather dull.


Thoughts please! Id like to hear constructive criticism, but mostly, I
want to hear solutions. I dont care if you dont like this idea, I care
if your a smart person, and you have ideas about how to overcome the
hurdles I have posted here, and how to overcome ones I cant see.

If you have math and statistic skills, I want especially to discuss the
aspect of this I CANNOT do on my own. How do I avoid haveing one thing
or another too powerful, and more importantly, I dont make a game
statistically too hard, or too easy.

Thanks, Im hopeing for the best.



.

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