Note: lots of reading ahead.
"So, you crunchy- Err, fresh new meatbags come to jump into this hole? I doubt you'll survive very long." The large, humanoid creature scans over you all. His skin is black and cracked, much like charcoal. He has a large yellow "X" over his bare chest, glowing at a calming hue, making you feel safe just near him. His lower body is covered in stiff leather pants. His jaw appears to have a large underbite, continuing from his cracked skin creating what appears to be two large lower canines, yet he has no 'normal' teeth. His eyes were glowing the same warm yellow as the mark on his chest.
"You all do have the Mother's crest, correct?" He looked back and forth again, trying to spot the crest on those of you who have it exposed
"Well, if you have that you wont need to worry about dying. It hurts, but you get used to it." This isn't new knowledge to any of you, the crest is what prevents your complete death. With it, as long as your corpse can be returned to an altar, you can be revived.
"I suppose You can all get going to the 'town' now. have fun getting killed a bunch of times." The being pushes open a door, releasing a view of a large town, people bustling along the streets, almost all of them wearing armor or weapons. Those who don't carry weapons are glowing constructs, smoothly moving around the town, generally acting like sapient beings. You all know this is the inside of a large mountain, but the masterful illusion spell creates a beautiful moving sky, living fields, and a calm breeze constantly giving you comfort. You disperse out into the crowd, preparing for the opening next day.
What's going on?:You are a level 1 adventurer. As well as you being exceptionally squishy, you cant do too much. but, you have one thing special about you. You have a special trait called "the mother's crest" which is a large 'X' covering a random part of your body that has a glow of a random color. This is a gift of the mother goddess (see: Mother goddess) who chose several people to gain the power of resurrection, as long as they are at any altar of their god. The 'town' is a large hub, created by an extremely powerful wizard, manned by constructs, with a seemingly limitless dungeon, constantly shifting and creating more beings, having several opening passages which go deeper and deeper. The bottom is said to contain the tomb of the wizard, in his coffin he is surrounded by items of insane power. Your goal is to reach the bottom. the deepest ever gone is the tenth floor. Meta knowledge dictates that there are 20 floors. The story may go in (If such a thing develops) if somehow interest is still in this.
The gods only influence is resurrection. If you lose a limb in a dungeon (trust me, you will) you can get it re-attached or replaced at an altar. You can only have one god, and as your level increases (starting at your base level, then increasing when lvl. 5, lvl. 10, and so on) your "regrowths" will become more enhanced. If you die, your "enhancements" will be reset unless you get that limb cut off again and then regrow it. just remember, if said person helping you misses, they may take off your head instead. It takes one day to resurrect, so try not to die because in the next crawl you wont be able to join in. now, as an example, here is a standard resurrection ability for Astthos, god of the forge. Base level: replaces limb with copper. +1 lethal HP limb (see: stats) +1 Defense limb.
Player lvl. 5: replaces arm with iron. +2 lethal HP limb, +2 Defense limb.
Player lvl. 10: Arm(/Leg) of the furnace +2 lethal HP limb, +2 Defense limb, Whenever an unarmed attack is made, 50% chance to set enemy on fire for 3 HP per turn, 1 lethal HP (all) per turn.
The others are for you to find out on your own.
And so on.
God list:
Astthos: God of the forge
Morell: God of magic
Neli: Goddess of nature
Dron: God of Death
Founs: God of Time
Tikti: Goddess of Cold
Voll: God of Stone
Bouk: God of The Lost
Noggol: God of The Vile
Tress: Goddess of Sight
Veny: Goddess of Rage
She was there before the other gods, spawned out of the void, alone on the barren world. She wandered for years, going insane after eons passed. Eventually, the insanity subsided. Nobody knows why, possibly she just reached a new tier of mental breakdown, a level so far that it intertwined with other scattered ideas, and she started creating. No longer speaking, soon the races of the world were made, once she made the races, she created the Gods of the world as guardians. Her last gift to the world was her crest, where she made two great slashes in the earth, nobody knows how, but they created an 'X' which gave of magical energy. A few short years after that the mother goddess disappeared without a trace. Time went on, and eventually children were being born with the mark of the goddess upon various places on their body, the side of heads, backs of hands. across chests. Every race, even demons like the one guarding the 'town'
There is a very (in my opinion) simple, but innovative system I am using for damage, and preventing death. I dont want this to become too complicated, so I made it that I can describe the few stats here and have this game be fully playable aand understood. Status conditions will be described with equipment and replacement limbs.
HP: This is an integral part of my system. Battles in this will be quick and brutal. A standard HP stat would be 10, and a standard sword would do, say, 2-5 damage. This is very general, no limbs are targeted, and once this runs out, then lethal damage can be inflicted. If an attack wipes out all HP in one attack, and still has extra damage, it shall be turned into lethal damage.
Lethal HP: each part of the body has its own lethal HP, Left arm, Right arm, Left leg, Right leg, Torso, and Head. If the lethal HP reaches 0, that limb/head/body will be lost. (see: weapon types)
Defense: This is very, very basic. For every 1 point of defense, 1 point of damage will be reduced. (only armor)
Accuracy: You will be given a standard number, like 60, where that is the percentage this attack will hit its mark. If it goes above 60, if it reaches the midway point, 80 in this case, it will still hit, but there will be a random roll for which body part it hits. This if for lethal HP, If targeting regular HP, it would be the midway point (80) (weapon only stat) (see: weapon types)
Strength: Very simple. Every 3 points in Strength (rounded down) increases damage done by 1
(see: leveling up)
If any of this is confusing, feel free to ask and I'll elaborate.
This is pretty simple, each different class has different ratios (for Warrior: every 1 level, increase strength by 1) Spellcasters gain new spells every few levels. Nothing more than that. (see: classes)
this mainly dictates what happens to a limb once it reaches 0 lethal HP, and general details about them. most balanced weapons
Slashing: severs limb at 0 lethal HP, if afflicted to 3 limbs, enemy bleeds out and dies.
Blunt: crushes limb at 0 lethal HP (crushed limb is essensially dead, it cannot do anything) Blunt weapons generally do equal damage as slashing weapons, and have slightly more accuracy. If blunt weapon causes head To reach 0 lethal HP, opponent is knocked unconscious instead of killed. Must be attacked again to fully kill, taking a turn.
Piercing: Bleeds limb at 0 lethal HP, it becomes useless, if afflicted to 3 limbs, opponent is incapacitated due to pain. attacks against incapacitated opponent are 100% accuracy. Less damage than other weapons, highest accuracy.
Limbs: standard lethal HP stat, can be replaced at altars if destroyed.
Arms: if one is lost, weapon held in it is dropped. if not ambidextrous, off hand takes -3 damage penalty. If weapon arm is lost, there is a two turn penalty to retrieve it, while anything else has a one turn penalty to gain.
Legs: can only act every other turn if both are lost. If one is lost, stunned for one turn and cannot act.
Head: x 1.5 lethal HP stat. All attacks against head have accuracy halved. if HP 0, entity dies.
Torso: twice the lethal HP stat. if reaches 0, creature is incapacitated. Not killed by standard weapon types.
There are two sections for classes, because they are totally different beasts for each type. melee classes are purely stat based with few skills, and specific armors they can wear. Spellcaster classes have very different systems.
Warrior: + 1 strength every level. +1 HP every 2 levels. +1 Lethal HP every 2 levels. If severs limb, can attack again.
Berserker: + 1 strength every level. +1 HP every 2 levels. Can use improvised weapons with 2-5 damage. If HP reaches 0, enters berserk rage, dealing +4 damage. Ambidextrous. If severs head, can attack another enemy.
Heavy: +1 strength every 3 levels. +1 HP every 3 levels. +1 lethal HP every 2 levels Can equip heavy armor. Can cause 1 enemy per turn to change their target to themself.
Knight: +1 strength every 2 levels. +1 HP every 2 levels. +1 Lethal HP every 2 levels. Each attack has a 5% chance of dealing their level +3 extra damage. Ambidextrous.
Monk: +1 strength every level. +1 HP every 2 levels. +1 lethal HP every level. Cannot equip weapons. Unarmed attacks deal 2-6 Blunt damage. 3-7 if limb is replaced/regrown.
Every 5 levels, spellcasters get better at their attack spell. This is generic, and its description is up to your discretion, and deals damage according to its level. Magic can deal piercing or blunt damage, decided by the player Once decided it cannot be changed. A player starts a battle in spell range, and an enemy must enter melee range to damage them (unless they are spellcasters). Spellcasters are the only people able to read scrolls. This does not mean that the Melees are illiterate, they just cannot use magic to activate scrolls or runes. (runes in this are multi use scrolls)
Mage: +2 strength every 5 levels. +1 HP every 3 levels. +2 lethal HP every 4 levels. Spell damage starts at 1-4, and raised by +1 to +2, so at level 5, 2-6, at level 10, 3-8, etc. Ambidextrous. Can read scrolls twice before used up.
Wizard: +2 strength every 5 levels. +1 Hp every 3 levels. +1 lethal HP every 4 levels. Spell damage starts at 2-4, raised by +2 to +2, so at level 5, 4-6, level 10, 6-8. Can use Runes +1 time.
Alchemist: +1 strength every 2 levels. +1 HP every 2 levels. +1 Lethal HP every 3 levels. Can identify 3 potions per day. Spells have a 5% chance of setting enemy on 2HP, 1 Lethal HP (all) fire for the duration of the battle. Spell damage starts at 0-3, Raises by +1 to +1, lvl. 5, 1-4, lvl. 10, 2-6
Healer: +1 strength every 2 levels. +1 HP every 4 levels. +1 lethal HP every 2 levels. Instead of spells, healer gets 5 heals per day. These recover Lethal and Regular HP, with the HP healed equal to the Healer's level +3. If Lethal damage is recovered, any left over healing is transferred to HP. Healing can also be used for temporary HP equal to half of what is left over (rounded down) that disappears by the end of the day if not used. If an ally loses a limb, the healer gets an extra attack.
Do you want to keep track of ammo, types, range, and more crap like that? No thank you, I'm trying to keep this easy for me.
These are for starting stats, role-playing purposes, abilities
Human: 6 strength. 10 HP. 6 Lethal HP. Every 5 levels, gain additional 3 HP, 1 lethal HP.
Orc: 7 Strength. 12 HP. 4 Lethal HP. If a Limb is lost, regain 4 HP (+2 every five levels)
Kobold: 4 Strength. 6 HP. 4 Lethal HP. +10 base accuracy on all. If an enemy's roll targets them, the enemy has to re-roll their targeting. Every 5 levels, lose 1 HP and 1 lethal HP (MELEE ONLY DEBUFF).
Elf: 5 Strength. 9 HP. 5 Lethal HP. +1 Min spell damage/ +1 heal point
Dwarf: 6 Strength. 10 HP. 5 Lethal HP. If surrounded by 3 or more enemies, dwarves can attack twice in one turn.
Construct: 7 Strength. 14 Hp. 3 Lethal HP. Immune to poison.
Sword: Slashing, 2-6, 60 Accuracy
Battle Axe: Slashing, 4-6, 40 accuracy.
Battle Hammer: Blunt, 4-7, 60 Accuracy
Mace: Blunt, 2-4, 70 Accuracy
Spear: Piercing, 1-5, 70 Accuracy
Pike: Piercing, 2-4, 80 Accuracy
Unarmed Damage: Blunt, 2-3, 40 Accuracy
Light armor: 1 defense.
Medium Armor: 2 defense (Melee only)
Heavy Armor: 3 Defense (Heavy only)
There are many more weapons and armor available once you find them, with many ablilities.
Good question. Each battle starts out whether your party goes first, or the enemy team goes first. Every party members turns will be carried out at pretty much the same time. If nobody posts for a full 24 hours (lets hope it doesn't come to that) in the middle of a battle, their turn will be skipped. If they have 3 turns skipped, they will stand idle in the battle, and will not be waited for until they post again (or the next battle) Spellcasters start battles always at spell range, unable to melee until either they or the enemy spend one turn entering melee range. Enemies always roll for who they target, and once this is rolled they will not stop aiming until they die or their opponent does. They also target body parts at random.
Now, you may question how long battles will take.
If a human swordsman wearing medium armor attacks another identical human swordsman, but without armor, the damage done would be at least 4-8. This almost certainly would cut their HP in half. If they had perfect rolls of 8 twice in a row, they would sever a limb. The damage would be on 2 HP, so 6 damage would go through for lethal HP. If they aimed for the right arm, but rolled an 80, the attack would still go through, only the body part would be randomly rolled. Let’s say it hits the left arm. That still would result in a severed limb.
this system relies heavily on damage penalties and buffs. Different Choices will allow you to have some form of control over these, allowing you to have very strategic battles. this section will be updated from time to time when I realize I forgot some type of tactic and incorporate it into the game.
Dual wielding- you may wield two weapons at once. the offhanded penalty applies to this, as well as both weapons getting a -1 damage penalty for each weapon, as well as a -10% base accuracy debuff on whichever weapon you choose.
Retreating attacks- You may perform a retreating attack during a battle, while in melee range you back off from the enemy, getting out of their range with a -2 penalty to damage, (not the same as entering spell range) the enemy has to re-roll their target, and if they end up targeting them again, they have to do a charging attack with a -2 damage penalty. if you wish to enter their range again, you may yourself do a charging attack.
Spellcasting and movement- you can cast spells whenever you move from spell range to melee range, or vice versa. Spells are not affected by any armor, unless specifically stated in an enemy ability or special armor.
If You move to spell range, the enemy can attack you as you leave. though, they are less likely to target you at spell range. If you are targeted at spell range, they will do a charging attack with a -3 damage penalty. You can do the same.
Special enemy abilities- enemies you encounter will very often have special abilities, ranging from simple attack styles to giving buffs or debuffs on certain effects. They may actually hinder the enemy to make it easier, but do not simply stroll into battle.
If there's anything I missed, feel free to point it out. I'll clarify, but last but not least, the "sheet" you'll be using for this. (trust me, the whole thing is simpler than it looks, most of the stuff here is reference for me.)
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Class:
Race:
Deity:
Main Hand: (Choose left or right, even if ambidextrous, for weapons, important. (so I know if you get disarmed or not by losing said arm.))
Equipment: (armor and Weapon(s))
Stats: (please fill out according to race, I'll post these in spoiler format every now and then if you ask for it. It'll help keep track of everything)
Level:
Appearance: (not going to be transferred in spoiler format when asked. Also, Please include where their Mother's crest is.)
Past life: (basic description of their life, why are they coming? what did they do before they came? What are they like? etc.)
EDIT: Only 5 players max will enter each dungeon crawl. If killed in dungeon, resurrection calls for 1 day of recuperation. As many people can make characters as they want. Only one character per player unless body is lost in a crawl. (Constantly shifting, so I doubt you'd ever find it again. But percentile dice for loot. you never know.)
Author
Topic: Mother's Crest (The one with the dungeon) (Read 36692 times)