The Campaign Builder's Guild

So, I have had the idea for a new roleplaying system for a while. It would be focused on being a hero, not just a PC. The Hero classes would be small, probably with only 10 level progressions.
 

Spells and powers would be upgradable, so if you had a power that granted you +2 AC at first level, you can spend a point to raise it to 2nd level and so on. They will also use mana.

Weapons deal different damage. It works like this, a simple oak club may deal 1-4 damage. You roll 1d4 and decide the outcome, if you roll a 2 you deal two damage. Make sense right? that's how it normally is. When you use a Redwood spiked club it deals 12-15 damage. Your rolls will produce the following damage: 1 = 12 damage, 2 = 13 damage, 3 = 14 damage, and 4 = 15 damage. The idea is that you will be able to dish out more and more damage, different types of weapons will use different dice.

Item Creation will involve the collection of ingredients. So to create a club you will need a piece of Redwood, a special spike, and a certain amount of gold or similar resource.

The setting for the game will be on a Demiplane that is designed to look like a dungeon. It is infinte with an infinite number of rooms and hive cities.

Monsters will work a lot like Heroes, allowing the GM to create his own monsters on a spur of the moment.

Magic is powered by Chaos and may have side effects or the effect might be random

Just the lump of clay before it gets shaped. Any thoughts? If you are interested in helping me feel free to PM me and we can discuss it further.

Interestingly, some of the premises remind of computer RPGs (in general, not a specific one).

That's kind of the idea. I feel that some of the ways we play Roleplaying games is archaic, so I hope to make it a little more modern.

Example Hero

Cultist of Ardemash
   
You are a disciple of Ardemash, a powerful demon lord.
   Major Spells:
   

Darkbolt: You launch a bolt of evil energy.

   

Summon demon: through your unholy rituals with Ardemash, you have the power to summon lesser demons.

   

Flesh of Ardemash: Your skin becomes tough and scaled, making you more fearsome and increasing your defense.

   

Blood Sacrifice: You dedicate your kills to Ardemash, by sacrificing a little of your own blood alongside the blood of your enemies, you become stronger

.

The Three Stats:

Strength: Strong Characters rely on their strength for Attack damage and rating. They tend to use melee weapons.
Agility: Agile Characters rely on their agilitiy for Attack damage and rating, they tend to use ranged weapons.
Intelligence: Intelligent Characters rely on their intelligence for Attack damage and rating. They tend to use ranged arcane blasts that require no mana.

Weapons:

There are going to be an infinite number of weapons available to players (hopefully it could be it's own source book) weapons fall into the following categories:

Daggers
Staves
Bows
One-Handed Swords
Two-Handed Swords
One-Handed Axes
Two-Handed Axes
One-Handed Maces
Two-Handed Maces
Thrown Weapons
Polearms
Crossbows
Guns

A thought on Combat:

I was thinking about attacking.

In DnD: We have the players roll the d20 and add their attack bonus to beat the AC of their opponent.

In the new Game: The Heroes have a stat called Attack Rating which is Strength Modifier + Atttack Bonus + any Magical effects from items or spells, the player's don't roll dice, instead they compare that rating vs the opponents Armor Rating which is Agility + Armor + any Magical effects from items or spells.

If it is more, they deal damage, if it is less they don't. I know, I know, someone is going to argue that the Players will always be able to hit a certain monster. Possibly, but remember that every creature will be unique. These combat ratings will not remain static, and will probably change from round to round as players and monsters add spell effects to the fight.

For damage, on a successful hit you subtract the Armor Rating from the Damage then apply the Damage to the HP.

So if it were a math problem, it'd be (Dmg - AR = X) HP - X.
 

Example Weapon!

Dwarven Hatchet
One-Handed Axe
Dmg: 15
Price: 40 SP
Effect: +2 Attack Rating

This Axe sports a dwarven rune on the head and its handle is wrapped in wyvern leather.

That is a fairly low-leveled weapon. Here's an example of an Epic Leveled Weapon

Glaive of Desolation
Two-Handed Polearm
Dmg 356 + 28 Fire Dmg
Price: 88 GP 60 SP 10 CP
Effect:
Fell Strike
Once Per Day
75 Mana
Casting Time: Standard
Adds +47 to Attack Rating for 1d4 rounds.

The Glaive of Desolation is a powerful weapon that belonged to a greater demon in ancient times.  

Socketed Items: Just like in Diablo II, a few items come socketed allowing Gems to be added that are enchanted to recreate special effects.

Spaces on the body open for items:

One Head item
One Hand item (you must wear both items if they come in pairs)
Two Rings (Ring of Protection)
Leg (Pants, greaves, etc.)
Waist (belt, Girdle of Heroics)
Chest (Chainmail shirt, Tunic of the Badger)
Shield (Steel Shield, Bulwark of Might)
Weapon (Sword, Glaive of Desolation)
Foot (Slippers, Boots of Travel)
Wrist (Bracers, Charm Bracelet)
Cloak (Cape, Cloak of Elvenkin)
Shoulder (Spalders, Pauldron of the Dark God)
Neck (Necklace, Amulet of Health)

Ingredients:

Monsters carry on them items that can be used to create magic items. These ingredients could be a battered sword, to scraps of leather, to uncooked meat cut from their bodies. the "Dropping" process is just a term used to describe how the players make the most use of the dead bodies of creatures. A DM may roll on a table to decide what the players are able to salvage from a corpse, or the Heroes can attempt to use some of their skills to glean ingredients from corpses.

Assassin

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Assassins are proficient with daggers, thrown weapons, bows, and one-handed swords. They can wear Cloth or Light armor but cannot use shields.

Lesser Powers:
Disguise Self: (active) You can change your appearance. This illusion changes the way your clothes look, can change your hair color, eye color, skin color, facial hair, and height by one foot (taller or shorter). The spell does not grant the abilities or mannerisms of the form taken. The spell lasts for ten minutes, and costs 10 mana.

Fleet Footed: (Active) You can move quickly when necessary, this spell increases your land speed by 10 feet. This spell lasts for one hour, and costs 15 mana.

Favored Weapon: Dagger (Passive) when you attack with a dagger you receive +1/level Attack Rating and Damage.

Deadly Throw: (Active) You can throw a dagger with deadly accuracy. The throw has a range of 20 feet and deals an additional 8 damage. This spell is instantaneous and costs 10 mana.

Greater Powers:

Poison: (Active) your weaponry is coated in a powerful poison that deals damage over the span of combat. To use this spell, you must deal damage with a physical attack.
   Level One: +10 damage/1d4 rounds. Cost: 15 Mana
   Level Two: +15 damage/1d4 rounds. Cost: 20 Mana
   Level Three: +20 damage/1d6 rounds. Cost: 25 Mana
   Level Four: +25 damage/1d6 rounds. Cost: 30 Mana

Vampiric Strike: (Active) You drain the life force from your target when you attack, this life force seeps into you giving you greater vitality.
   Level One: +10 dmg, +5 HP to you. Cost: 16 Mana
   Level Two: +12 dmg, +6 HP to you. Cost: 18 Mana
   Level Three: +14 dmg, +7 HP to you. Cost: 20 Mana
   Level Four: +16 dmg, +8 HP to you. Cost: 22 Mana  

Spell Steal: (Active) you remove an enchantment or similar buffing spell from your target and apply it to yourself.
   Level One: One Spell. Cost 45 Mana

The above post is a quick prototype of some of the abilities the Assassin will have. Use this as a model for what the other classes will look like. I hope to add things like HP, Attack, etc. in the days to come.