So, since there is a higher amount of players voting for a reform of the rules (3 VS 0, 5 didn't say yes or no), I'm reforming the rules.
Oh, and for all of you who didn't vote, your votes won't matter after this point. It's your fault for not saying yes or no. I asked you in bolded text, you failed to respond. This is going to happen, no way to stop it.
The reason for these changes is as follows: Luck rolls were a horrible substitute for actual, good rolls. Serious, Draignean, and Dwarmin were strongly against luck rolls, and frankly I agree with them somewhat.
The bonuses are far, far too large. Especially Attribute bonuses, which, do remember, are universal for any skills that use them.
It was
far too easy to do stuff you knew nothing about. -1 penalty? Pah! Nothing to it! Just brush it off like it's nothing. Now it's not so easy, it's a -2 penalty and your counter-acting bonuses are not as good.
Anyway, list of changes:
Attribute bonuses are severely nerfed.
Lack of skill in a school is now more harsh. Jack-of-all-trades are now not as good. Trying out a new school basically forces you to use Trivial spells, as it should.
Luck is removed from spellcasting. Good news for you spellcasters.
New nerfing modifier for spells: Tricky, Tricky 2, and Tricky 3. This is just because some things can just be
too cheesy if used often. Don't complain, or I will put Luck back in.
You now level up half as fast. However, you now gain twice as much attribute points per level. For the first 6 levels, at least. After that, you will level up slower and will have to depend on other means to make yourselves more powerful more and more.
Added new combat rules for spells that aren't attacking but are still being used against enemies, like Polymorphing.
Added Targeting rules.
Do remember that many of these things will now apply to enemies. They will also be nerfed.
Anyway, this all makes it not only harder for you guys to do high level spells (forcing you to low levels spells for a long time, which is a good thing since this is the early game), but it also makes it so combat doesn't have ridiculously high modifiers.
This RTD will have a normal rolling system. Do note that some rolls, like combat ones, will be exempt from the below results.
Normal rolls:
<=[0]: You abysmally failed. You will no doubt take a lot of pain for this.
[1]: You fail so bad that you made things worse.
[2]: You failed.
[3]: You succeeded, but poorly. Expect less than you were hoping for.
[4]: You succeeded normally. Yay.
[5]: You succeeded greatly. Usually resulting in better than what you wanted.
>=[6]: You succeeded better than you expected or were trying to do. This may not necessarily be a good thing...
>=[8]: You succeeded way, way better than you were trying. This will no doubt have repercussions.
Chaos will be affecting you slowly throughout the game. Generally, the area will have a low chaos radiation (1 per turn), or none. However, sometimes there may be a lot of chaos radiation in the area. As chaos affects you, you will start to change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse, until you hit your limit (80) and turn into a mass of chaos. As you can tell, Chaos can become a problem over time. Chaos can be lowered and their mutations removed by drinking water (1-5 removal) that's not affected by chaos (you can test by dipping an item into the water, I'd recommend you dip a disposable item), staying in non-chaos affected areas for more than one turn (-1 per turn), or drinking the rare, extremely powerful Potion of Cure Chaos.
Chaos transformations happen at:
20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80 points of chaos. As you can guess, the last one is when you die.
Other things that will increase your chaos are:
Chaos spells casted by you.
Chaos spells casted by you failing.
Chaos spells casted against you.
Drinking Chaos-irradiated water.
Walking into Chaos-irradiated water.
Chaos creatures hitting you.
Chaos creatures standing close to you for a long time.
In melee combat: The attacker rolls 1d6+(weapon Skill level, weapon to-hit bonus/penalty, and attribute bonuses) against the defender's 1d6+(defense Skill level and attribute bonuses). If the attacker has a higher roll than the defender, he hits and how much higher his roll is is the damage dealt. Then a weapon's bonus damage is added flatly, meaning only if the weapon hits, not giving a bonus to the attacker's rolls.
For example, the attacker rolls 5+2+1(weapon Skill level, weapon to-hit bonus/penalty, and attribute bonuses) and the defender 3+2(defense Skill level and attribute bonuses). The damage dealt to the defender is 3. However, the attacker's weapon gives +4 to damage. The actual damage is 7.
Another example, the attacker rolls a 3+2-2 and the defender 4+2. The attacker fails to hurt the defender. The weapon's bonus does not do any bonus damage because the attacker missed.
Afterwards, the armor bonus comes into effect. More on that later.
In ranged combat: The attacker rolls 1d6+(weapon Skill level, weapon to-hit bonus/penalty, and attribute bonuses) against the defender's 1d6+(defense Skill level and attribute bonuses). If the attacker has a higher roll than the defender, he hits. Damage dealt is based on the ammo's die roll.
Afterwards, the armor bonus comes into effect. Again, more on that later.
In ranged non-AoE magic combat: The attacker rolls 1d6+(spell school skill bonus) against the defender's 1d6+(defense Skill level and attribute bonuses). Obviously, the lack of stat bonuses to the spellcaster's to-hit makes it harder to hit a person at range than with a bow or crossbow. The damage dealt is based on the spell's die roll.
Afterwards, the armor bonus comes into effect. Yet again, more on that later.
In other magic types that don't do damage and aren't by touch: The attacker rolls a 1d6+1 vs the attacker's 1d6+(attribute bonuses). This makes it easy to use these these spells on slow enemies, but good dodgers cannot be affected as easily.
In ranged AoE magic combat: The attacker always hits. However, AoE spells also do far less damage than every other spell. They also do splash damage, though. The damage dealt is based on the spell's die roll.
Afterwards, the armor bonus comes into effect. See below finally.
Armor Bonus: Armor bonus is how much damage your armor will absorb. Each piece of armor has Armor Health Points (AHP), meaning your armor has health for itself. Each armor also absorbs a certain amount of damage dealt to you. This makes armor very important in lengthening your survival.
Shields are special pieces of armor. They take up hand slots. Their special ability is a chance to take ALL damage dealt to you. However, once again they too have AHP. Much less so than regular armor. This means they won't last long but they can really be useful at taking damage instead of you.
Targeting: When an enemy is choosing their target, each of their enemies get a dice roll. Modifiers are: -2 if no aggressive actions have been committed so far, +3 if in melee range, +2 if so-and-so attacked NPC in question last turn or this turn, +2 if so-and-so is the most dangerous enemy around, +1 if significantly dangerous/important (like a healer), +3 if ordered by a higher-up to attack, and -3 if so-and-so is mortally wounded. The highest rolls will be targeted. In the case of a tie, a 1d(num of people that are tied) die will be rolled.
You have 65 points to spend at the beginning and gain more with levels. In the character sheets, your points will all start out at their lowest, 0 points, with none spent. The penalties are really bad. That's why you have more than enough to break even at 10 points.
List of stats:
Strength: For each 5 points in this while below 10, you gain +1 to using a weapon that uses this attribute. Afterwards, for every 5 points in this, you get +1/2 (50% chance for bonus) to using a weapon that uses this attribute, and +1 HP. You also gain 5 additional encumbrance points for each point.
Agility: For each 5 points in this while below 10, you gain +1 to using a weapon that uses this attribute. Afterwards for every 5 points in this, you get +1/2 (50% chance for bonus) to using a weapon that uses this attribute. You also gain +1 to defense every 5 points while below 10 in this and 1/2 chance for +1 to defense every 5 points afterwards.
Toughness: For every point in this you gain 1HP. For every 5 points, you gain +2 HP. For every 10 points in this, you can stay mortally wounded for an extra turn.
Intelligence: For each 5 points in this while below 10, you gain +1 to spellcasting. Afterwards, for every 5 points in this, you gain +1/2 (50% chance for bonus) to spellcasting.
Charisma: For each 5 points in this while below 10, you gain +1 to talking. Afterwards, for every 5 points in this, you gain +1/2 (50% chance for bonus) to talking.
With no points spend, your attributes look like this:
0 Strength: -2 to using a weapon that uses this attribute. 0 encumbrance points.
0 Agility: -2 to using a weapon that uses this attribute. -2 to defense.
0 Toughness: 6HP. Can stay alive for 0 turns while mortally wounded.
0 Intelligence: -2 to spellcasting.
0 Charisma: -2 to talking.
In The Westlands, there are many schools of magic. Some of them have very little spells, some have many. Some are defensive, some are offensive. As long as you're at least novice in two magic schools, you can attempt to combine them at the same time at a -2 penalty, along with both unskilled penalties if the schools have them. The result will be realistic-ish. Magic schools have difficulty levels, ranging from trivial (+1 to casting) to impossible (-6 to casting). In addition, some spells will be given the Tricky modifier or Tricky 2 modifier or even the Tricky 3 modifier, with 1/6 chance to fail regardless of your initial roll for Tricky, a 1/3 chance to fail regardless of your initial roll for Tricky 2, and a 1/2 chance to fail regardless of your initial roll for Tricky 2. When you fail these rolls, there will be a 2/3 chance to Critical Fail, and a 1/3 chance to normally fail This is also to combat troublesome spells that may give the player a large advantage or be used again and again to buff characters, and instead give them a possibility to bite them in the face. If you think this is mean, then consider that the alternative is a Luck roll for EVERY spell.
Fire magic is... well, fire magic. There's not much else to explain besides that Fire magic allows you to create raw fire with magical power and manipulate it however you wish. Fire magic is obviously offensive.
Water magic is self explanatory. You control water, though it's hard to create water out of nothing. You can also freeze water making it a solid barrier too, but you can't unfreeze it without fire. Water magic is offensive, defensive, and utility.
Earth magic is... oh come on, do I really need to explain this?! You control earth, which is everywhere. Earth has a variety of uses, if I, the Earth, am to be believed. Earth magic is offensive, defensive, and utility.
Air magic allows you to control the air, of course. Obviously the air is everywhere, so you can use it whenever, except underwater. Air magic is both offensive and defensive.
Polymorph magic is a very small school, but an indeed interesting one. It allows transformations of your body and enemy bodies into basically anything. Indeed, it allows you to "reverse" the affects of chaos, though it doesn't remove the radiation, meaning it's still there, just not affecting you in any direct way. Polymorph magic is utility.
Energy magic is a magic type that uses the affects of pure magic as an offensive weapon. Typically, these attacks are weak. However, there's no natural resistances to this. Anything that resists this resists every other magic type. Energy magic is offensive.
Chaos magic is a dangerous type of magic, using the raw forces of chaos as weapons. This is the most destructive of all magics, but it has a major drawback: Each spell irradiates you with chaos, and failing a spell radiates you even more than if you succeeded. The more powerful the spell, the more radiation. Pay attention to the amount of radiation each spell causes. Chaos magic is offensive.
Force magic is another magic type with very little spells. It uses pure kinetic energy as weapons. No, it's not like the Star Wars force, this force is hard to control, it's impossible to pick up a small item like a sword from a distance without bringing everything else within 3 feet with it. Anyway, Force magic is initially very weak, however the higher the levels the more bone crushing the pushes. Force magic is offensive.
Shield magic is Energy magic in a defensive form. It's different enough to warrant it's own school. Shields come in two flavors; Shields and Barriers: Shields block fractions of damage but last longer, and can only be casted upon objects or people, they can also move along with the object. Barriers block all damage but have limited heath and can only be casted on an area, and are immobile. Afterwards, there's Placing or Maintaining a shield. Placing a shield allows you to just put down the shield and do other stuff, however you cannot place shields until 5 turns afterwards and the shields that normally have unlimited HP now have HP, but the ones that had HP and regenerated now do not regenerate. Maintaining is spending your entire attention on the shield, which gives the shield it's fullest abilities, including unlimited health for Shields and regeneration for Barriers. The higher level the spells, the more damage they can sustain or reduce. Shield magic is, of course, defensive.
Healing magic is magic that, well, heals you. Only downside is that if you get a 1 you may pull a Cheddarius. However, I'm not mean enough to make it hurt much unless you seriously fail. The higher levels of healing magic may allow you to revive someone from the dead. Healing magic is utility.
Necromancy magic is the foulest of magics. It allows you to play around with souls and bodies and stuff. General necromantic stuff. However, to prevent you from going crazy resurrecting enemies, resurrection requires you to use some of your own health in order to bring things back to life, their life depends on how much life you spent. Necromancy magic has some offensive spells, too. Necromancy is offensive and defensive.
Enchantments are... enchantments. There can only be one enchantment on an item at any time. When enchanting, you cast a regular spell 'on' the item. You get a -2 penalty for enchanting the item, so this is hard to do. Once you succeed, 1-14+Spell Difficulty*2 (with a minimum of 1) enchantment will be put on the item. You can only have one enchantment on at a time. Sometimes, weapons will come with permanent enchantments, and sometimes scrolls can be given to you that allow you to enchant items permanently. The latter is very rare, though. Make them count.
Do remember that weapon accuracy also affects damage, so the negative damage will have to counter the positive accuracy bonus. So don't be surprised if you see a large negative modifier on your weapons.
Take Longswords as the base. They have normal hitting chance and normal damage. They are moderately heavy.
Shortswords will have a higher hitting chance now, but lowered damage. They are somewhat light.
Daggers will have a very high hitting chance, but very low damage. However, they have a small chance for a critical strike damage bonus. They are the second lightest weapons.
Hammers have a low chance of hitting and low damage, but they outright ignore armor. They are pretty heavy.
Maces have a decent chance of hitting but low damage. In addition, armor has half the affect on them. They are decently heavy.
Clubs just outright suck, however armor has half the effect on them. They are moderately heavy.
Whips have a decent chance of hitting, but piss poor damage, and any non-cloth armor makes them do no damage at all. However, they have a decent chance of making an opponent loose something they're equipping, forcing them to pick it up again before using it. They are pretty light.
Axes have a low chance of hitting but very high damage. They are moderately heavy.
Spears have a decent chance of hitting, but poor damage. However, they have a critical chance, like daggers, which is weaker, but happens much more often. They are somewhat light.
Polearms have a poor chance of hitting, and poor damage. However, you always get the first strike with a polearm if you're attacking the same person that's attacking you regardless of initiative. and you also have a chance of a critical, however it's far less often then spears. They are decently heavy.
Crossbows have slightly higher chance of hitting than longbows and their bolts do more damage. They are moderately heavy. Their ammo is moderately heavy.
Bows are average. You may think this makes them worthless compared to crossbows, however each bow has a small chance for a "quick turn" which makes you hit regardless of if you rolled a miss when you roll a miss. They are pretty light. Their ammo is the lightest.
Slings are poor at aiming and poor at damage. However, armor has 1/2 the affect and it's extremely easy to find ammo. They are the lightest weapons around. Their ammo is the heaviest of all ammos.
Javelins have the same aiming as normal throwing ammo. They are good at damage, but they are decently heavy.
Skills are your ability to use related items. You have 24 points to spend with a max of 16 in each skill type. In the spoiler below, you'll see how much you need to spend in each skill for a bonus. Below in this spoiler is the list of skills you can spend points on with the main attributes for the related items. You will
gain experience in skills every time you use them.
Melee:Longswords: The ability to use longswords. Longswords use Agility bonus+Strength bonus*.
Shortwords: The ability to use shortswords. Shortswords use Agility bonus.
Daggers: The ability to use daggers. Daggers use Agility bonus.
Hammers: The ability to use hammers, clubs and maces. Hammers use Strength bonus.
Whips: The ability to use whips and various variants. Whips use Agility bonus.
Axeman: The ability to use Axes. Axes use Strength bonus.
Spearman: The ability to use Spears. Spears use Strength bonus.
Polearms: The ability to use Polearms, staffs, etc. Polearms use Strength bonus.
Wrestling: The ability to wrestle and punch. Wrestling uses Agility bonus+Strength bonus*.
Misc Object: The ability to use objects that are not weapons as weapons. The bonus varies depending on how heavy the item is.
Ranged:Bows: The ability to use various short and long bows. Bows use Agility bonus+Strength bonus*.
Crossbows: The ability to use crossbows. Crossbows use Agility bonus.
Slings: The ability to use slings. Slings use Agility bonus+Strength bonus*.
Throwing: The ability to flat out throw things, like Javelins. Throwing uses Strength bonus.
Magic: All listed use intelligence bonuses.
Fire magic: The ability to use Fire magic.
Water magic: The ability to use Water magic.
Earth magic: The ability to use Earth magic.
Air magic: The ability to use Air magic.
Polymorph magic: The ability to use Polymorph magic.
Energy magic: The ability to use Energy magic.
Chaos magic: The ability to use Chaos magic.
Force magic: The ability to use Force magic.
Shield magic: The ability to use Shield magic.
Healing magic: The ability to use Healing magic.
Necromancy magic: The ability to use Necromancy magic.
Misc:Defense: This affects your defense. See the Combat spoiler. Based on Agility.
Crafting: This affects your crafting. Based on Agility+Intelligence*.
Conversation: This affects how well you can talk to other people. This is based on Charisma.
Bartering: This affects your bartering. Based on Charisma+Intelligence*.
Lockpicking: This affects your lockpicking skill. Based on Agility+Intelligence*.
*This bonus will continue up until one attribute's bonus goes over the other's bonus by +2. Then you will not gain any further bonuses.
Skill levels are reached when you have a certain amount of points in skills. Each skill level gives Skill Level Points (SLP). Each level also gives bonuses to using related items. Player levels are increased once you reach a certain level of combined SLP from all skills. Once you reach higher Player Levels, you gain more ability points which you can spend.
Skill levels:
No skill: N/A points required. -2 to using the related item.
Beginner: 4 points required. -1 to using the related item.
Novice: 8 points required. Worth 1 SLP. No modifiers
Adept: 16 points required. Worth 2 SLP. 1/2 chance for +1 to using related items.
Skilled: 24 points required. Worth 3 SLP. +1 to using related items.
Expert: 32 points required. Worth 4 SLP. +1 to using related items with a 1/4 chance for +2 to using related items instead.
Master: 40 points required. Worth 5 SLP. +1 to using related items with a 1/2 chance for +2 to using related items instead.
High Master: 48 points required. Worth 6 SLP. +2 to using related items.
Grand Master: 56 points required. Worth 7 SLP. +2 to using related items with 1/2 chance for +3 to using related items instead.
Heroic: 64 points required. Worth 8 SLP. +3 to using related items.
Legendary: 72 points required. Worth 9 SLP. +3 to using related items with a 1/2 chance for +4 to using related items instead.
Epic: 80 points required. Worth 10 SLP. +4 to using related items.
Etc...
Player levels:
1: Costs 4 SLP. Gives 4 attribute points.
2: Costs 6 SLP. Gives 4 attribute points.
3: Costs 8 SLP. Gives 4 attribute points.
4: Costs 10 SLP. Gives 4 attribute points.
5: Costs 12 SLP. Gives 4 attribute points.
6: Costs 14 SLP. Gives 4 attribute points.
7: Costs 16 SLP. Gives 3 attribute points.
8: Costs 18 SLP. Gives 3 attribute points.
9: Costs 20 SLP. Gives 3 attribute points.
Etc...
Opinions? Modified Character sheets will be in the next post, with a list of things that will need to be fixed by you, the players. When I've answered all your concerns, and possibly made the modifications, a new, non-canon turn will be made, with your characters doing actions of my choosing, testing out these rules (like the original rules always should've been tested). And some of you will 'die' in the turn, but it's for a good cause.
Anyway, if they turn out worse, I'll just use the old rules and do turns while modifying these rules until I'm willing to try again.
Regardless, the next canon turn for this RTD will be a little after the non-canon turn, if you want to know.
Also, please stick by me with this likely difficult transition, I already lost an RTD when modifying the rules and frankly I really wouldn't like that to happen again. I've been aching about these rules for a while and frankly this change is needed.
Whew, wordy. I hope it's not too much for you guys.
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Topic: The Westlands RTD: Turn 42: Final "Turn". Game ended. (Read 157860 times)