The making of a Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha inspired RPG system

[Tillumni]

For those who don't know what magical girl lyrical nanoha is...trust me, it's not an anime that might make you cringe as much as you think, apart from perhaps the first half of the first season. see example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2itOY3kgO0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wba6XWbpT-k&feature=related (no real spoilers, since these focus on the action scenes)


The world design itself is also interesting, for example showing how spell casting are applied differently based on culture, starting from the 2.nd season and the pretty logical step following the discovery that travelling between dimension is possible.

in short, the anime, the world building and thier vision of how combat between spell-user functions captivated me enough to somehow hammer out the basic framework for an rpg system that can emulate it and I'm now looking for some input for what I got so far.

What I've started on is forming a basic frame for character creation from which the rest of the system can be extrapolated.


Basic design guidelines:
Contest between active parts are handled with opposed rolls. the goal is to make contest for the recieving part more active, chosing how to respond, instead of being a matter of stacking defense and hope the other guy doesn't roll high enough

Die used for succes roll will be kept to smaller dices, such as d8 or 2d6 the goal is to lessen the impact of high roll versus low roll, when there's a clear difference in skill. (basicly don't want this: "I got 10 higher skill rank then you" "oh yeah...I just rolled a....19 and you rolled 2, so there!")

Character creation and advacenment through a point buy system. goal: to encourage the players to create thier character and avoid the randomness of the die to create exceptional strong or weak characters. also avoids the need to design a class and level progression for every single possible role, it also captures the very individualised feel that magic have in the show.

The system have efficiently capture the feel of a world where the combatants are spell casters in a world where magic is flexible, combat fast-paced and it's not simple a matter of picking a spell to cast, but just as much how it's applied.

Main concepts:
Character creation: creating a character consist of a two part stage. Assigning stat point to the fundamental stats of the character, such as his perception or innate talent for magic, then
character point on the skills, spells and spell casting device that defines the character.

Skill and stat check: succeeding any challenging action is done by rolling 1d10 and add the result to the relevant skill or stat, pitted against the assigned difficulty of the action.

Combat: combat are resolved in rounds where a character can perform a minor and a main action.
It starts with an iniative roll to determine order off play. Actions are announced in order, but the results of the action are game-mechanic wise applied at the same time, but can happen in any order within the game-world as fitting for the story.

Spell casting: Spell casting in nanoha rpg revolves around the control stat and the power stat.  Control decides how complex and how many spells the spell caster can maintain in a round, and power controls how much energy the player can pump into a spell.
Spells have an active control cost, which is the amount of control the player needs before the spell is cast, and possible a passive control cost, which is how much control must be assigned to maintain the spell if it have a continuous effect. A spells effect is variable, based on how much energy is used on the spell. The amount of energy that possible can be pumped into a spell during one round being defined by the power stat

The spell casting device: Device for short, covers a whole category of a character specific gear, which turns into his armour and his spell casting aiding tool which also doubles as his weapon.
It is customised using character point, with ability ranging from maintaining flight to increasing effective power level.

Spells: The actual spells that a character knows in this system consist of creating a spell from basic templates made of several variables and options using character points. Higher levels in the variables and/or more options will generally make the spell more effective per energy point spent in it, but requiring more control to cast.




Character stats:

What I got so far is a system that uses these stats:
Common stats:
Body: reflects the physical capebility of the character
Will: sheer will power, morale and composure
Perception: the ability to notice things in the distance, that something is off and search.
Arcane stats:
Controll: the proficientcy in making magic do what you want it to do, and how much you can keep track off.
Energy: the pool of energy the character have for casting spell and maintaining enchantments
Power: the amounth of energy the character can pump into a spell per round.
Combat stats:
Melee: ability in melee combat
Ranged: ability in ranged combat
defense: overall ability to defend.

for a total of 9 main stats.
Stat increasement would cost the same as the new stat in point.
for example: 1 point to have 1 in a stat, 2 point to have 2, for a total of 3 points.

Using that, then I've figured that having 135 character points to use use on 9 stats, would give an average of 5 in each one and therefor make it the baseline (1+2+3+4+5 = 15 character point to get a stat of 5. done 9 time for each stats)

Deriviated stats from these would be:

Hit point: (body X 10) + (will X 5). self explained. the modifiers are arbitarely decided and will probaly change following play testing. the basic idea though is that body is the larger modifer for how much punishment someone can take, and will represent that extra grit to keep going.
Energy point: (energy x 20) + (body + 5). the modifier here is fairly high, since sustained spell effects, such as flight, permanently ties up some of the energy and it's no fun to burn out too quikly. again, playtesting might change that.
Energy point per round: power + (will/2). Energy point per round (from now on abrivated EN/R) is essentially how much power a character can tap from thier pool off energy and use to power up thier spells. the number is kept low to illustrate that magic are difficult without the proper devices to boost it, to keep in line with the inspiration material.

Base melee attack modifier = melee + (body + perception/2)
Base ranged attack modifier = ranged + (mind + perception/2)
Base melee defense modifier = defense + (body + melee + perception/3)
Base ranged defense modifier = defense + (ranged + mind + perception/3)

Perception is used as a modifier in all 4 stats, since being aware of what the opponent are doing and which way they are moving is an important part of figuring out how to properly defend and get past defense.
Body affects melee attack, since having a good natural motor controll makes it easier to make ones attack and defense move the way you want it.
Mind affects ranged attack, since ranged combat is more about calculating bullet and missile trajection.

Things that I'm considering to change: I'm not completly satisfied with using the mind stat as a modifier for ranged attacks, and kinda feel the explination is abit forced and are currently joggling with several different alternatives that have come up while writting this post, ranging from getting rid of the mind stat completly, to simplifying it down to an attack and defend stat, with none of the other stat acting as modifier and with range and melee not making a difference all else being equal.

Spell casting system.
Spell casting in the nanoha universe are defined by these traits:

Relieable. spell doesn't have a chance of failing, assuming no outside interference and sufficient knowledge of the spell

Finite internal powersource. the casting of spells are taxing on the spell caster.

Moldable. the same basic spell can be made more or less powerfull by adjusting the amounth of energy putted into it, can be switched between lethale and non-lethale setting and have energy switched.

Difficult without outside help. A defining trait of the universe is that spell casters relies on thier devices to help with the spell casting and consist of a small talisman or trinket when not activated, and manifits into two objects when it does:

The spell casting device, where ever it's a staff, warhammer or rings are used to aid with the casting ofspells and can also have some enhancement on them

The Barrier Jacket is essentially clothing with varius defensive and personal enhancing spells on them.



the basic of the system is that spells are cast by spending Energy Point on a giving effect. higher level spells allows for more powerfull effects for the same amounth of EP.
The basic spells can be modified by spending additional EP for other effects.
If the total cost in EP is higher then EP/R, then the charging of the spell continues untill enough EP have been attained.


Spells are roughly categorised into Device enhancement spells, active spells and enchantments

Device enhancement spells tie up a significant amounth of the EP pool, but doesn't count toward the amounth of energy point that can be spend per round it, multiply enhancement can be activated at the same time during the activation of the device, and have a very slow drain on the EP pool. on the other hand, the effect isn't even close to be as potent as active spells using the same amounth of EP.
Examples includes flight, passive barriers and weapon attributes

Active spells is basicly the opposit. it drains the EP pool when ever it's used and each use creates a one-time or short-time effect.
examples includes: energy attacks, burst movement and shields.

Enchantments spells function like an active spells when casted, and then drains from the EP pool without counting toward the EP/R in the following rounds.
examples includes: transformation spells, binding spells, remote camera effect.


Device enhancement spells are tied to the device and casting them are basicly a matter of turning them on and off. several can be turned on at the same time during the activation of the device, and one other can be turned on or off per round following that.
if the EP pool can't sustain the current amounth of device enhancement spells, then some will have to be turned off.

Active Spells doesn't have a fixed cost, instead they'll have a descriped effect, and a listing of how potent the effect are per EP point spent on that.
example. a simple offensive spell might have the properties:
Damage: 3 per EP
Range: 10 meters per EP
A higher level of the same spell would representing higher profientcy in using that spell and changes the properties to
Damage: 4 per EP
Range: 12 meters per EP
These spell effects can be modified even more, essentially using the equivalent of meta magic feat. blast property level 1 proficientcy could be : 0.5 meter radius per EP.
Casting an active spell is basicly a matter of declaring the intention, and possible making a roll to hit the target if it's challenge or resisting, but not for the actual casting of the spell.

Enchantment spells have a initial cost following the same principle as active spells, followed by a per-round drain that's less then the initial cost, but still higher then a device enhancement spell. perhaps 1/5 of the initial cost per round.

the controll stat and spells.
The controll stat essentially governs how many spell effects the character can have going in the same round.
Each active device enhancement spell, enchanment spells and spells casted cost one controll.
Additional effects putted on top of a spell counts as having half controll cost.
example: a character with 5 in controll could in one round sustain 2 device enhancement, keep 1 active enchantment going, and cast 1 spell with 2 additional effect on it.
(2 X 1) + 0.5 + 1 + 1 + (2 x 0.5)= 5.


And I'll get into known spells, device effects on spell and my thought on the combat system later. For now then I'll leave this here before I keel over and accidently delete it all, seeing how I somehow ended up staying till way past midnight writting up all this.
I'm primarely looking for feedback on the attack/defend stat right now, but any feedback would be much appreciated.
Let me know if there's anything I need to clear up, since english isn't my first language. I'll also be more then happy to answer any questions about the system I have in mind, where ever it's related to what's covered so far, to the extend I have it thought out and about the setting in general.
hopefully this is the right forum too. abit in doubt if it perhaps should go into meta.

[LordVreeg]

So far I like the 'control' aspect the most, though I think having totally reliable magic and a control stat as a little mutually exclusive and contradictory.

[Tillumni]

So far I like the 'control' aspect the most, though I think having totally reliable magic and a control stat as a little mutually exclusive and contradictory.

Point taken. I guess should make it more clear that spells are relieable up untill the point where the caster knows how to controll it. I could modify it so that any spell casted beyond the controll limit have a chance of failing, going nova or perhaps just cost significantly more energy to keep in controll.

I've also discussed the mind stat with others, and we figured that it's best to just get rid of it for now, and only add it it's really needed, and merge the ranged and melee attack stat into one stat.
which simplifies attack and defense modifier to
Base attack modifier: atttack + (perception/2)
Base defense modifer: defense + (perception/2)


Speaking of combat, and the controll stat, this leads us toward talking about the spell system and giving examples of spells to make it more clear how the spell casting system works.

The spell system revolves around the EP pool, which determen how much energy he have to cast spell with.
EP/R which determens how much EP the player can put into a spell within 1 round.
Effect per EP of a spell, which determen how much a spells parameter are boosted per point of EP.
for example, a player with a pool of Energy point of 50 and 5 EP/R could spend 4 EP on the damage output of a spell, and 1 EP on the range of the spell, and do so 10 times, before running out.
higher proficientcy of a spell allows a stronger boost for the same amount of EP.
Spells can be tailored by knowing modifiers, essentially meta-magic feat. and spend EP point on adding that modifier to the spell.

Éxample of spells
[spoiler=hidden under spoiler text to avoid wall of text]
offensive spells:

Arcane missile.
fires a single missle of energy at the target.

Level 1 Controll cost 1
Damage: 1 per EP. Range 10 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 1
Level 2
Damage: 2 per EP. Range 12 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 2
Level 3
Damage: 3 per EP. Range 14 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 3
Level 4
Damage: 4 per EP. Range 16 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 4
Level 5
Damage: 5 per EP. Range 18 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 5



Energy Beam.
High damage advance area of effect spell.

Level 1 Controll cost 3.
Damage 2 per EP. Range 10 meter per EP. Beam width. 1 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 3.
Level 2
Damage 4 per EP. Range 13 meter per EP. Beam width. 2 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 6.
Level 3
Damage 6 per EP. Range 16 meter per EP. Beam width. 3 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 9.
Level 4
Damage 8 per EP. Range 19 meter per EP. Beam width. 4 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 12.
Level 5
Damage 10 per EP. Range 22 meter per EP. Beam width. 5 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 15.

Defensive spells:

Directional barrier
basic defense. forms a shield by the casters palm to block incomming attack.
Level 1. controll 1 modifier to defense: +1
damage absorbtion:  1 per EP. Cost to learn: 1
Level 2. modifier to defense: +2
damage absorbtion:  2 per EP. Cost to learn: 2
Level 3. modifier to defense: +3
damage absorbtion:  3 per EP. Cost to learn: 3
Level 4. modifier to defense: +4
damage absorbtion:  4 per EP. Cost to learn: 4
Level 5. modifier to defense: +5
damage absorbtion:  5 per EP. Cost to learn: 5

High speed interception.
energy missle meant to stop incomming attacks in thier track. can make explosive attacks detonate pre-maturely. only effective agaisnt width spell, if it have the width modifier.

Level 1. controll 1 modifier to defense: +1
damage stopped:  1 per EP Cost to learn: 1
Level 2. modifier to defense: +1
damage stopped:  2 per EP Cost to learn: 2
Level 3. modifier to defense: +2
damage stopped:  3 per EP Cost to learn: 3
Level 4. modifier to defense: +2
damage stopped:  4 per EP Cost to learn: 4
Level 5. modifier to defense: +3
damage stopped:  5 per EP Cost to learn: 5

Enchantments.

Binds Controll Cost 1. Upkeep cost 1/5 of initial cost per round. base hit modifier -5.
Immobilise a target if it hits. can be blasted, torn off or dissolved with approbiated spell.

Level 1
Binding Strenght 1 per EP. Cost to learn: 1
level 2
Binding Strenght 2 per EP. Cost to learn: 2
level 3
Binding Strenght 3 per EP. Cost to learn: 3
level 4
Binding Strenght 4 per EP. Cost to learn: 4
level 5
Binding Strenght 5 per EP. Cost to learn: 5

Wide Area Search. controll cost 1. Upkeep cost 1/5 of initial cost per round.
Forms one or more globe of energy that funktions like flying camera.
Level 1
Max range: 50 meter per EP. Movement speed per round. 10 Meter per EP. Cost to learn: 1
Level 2
Max range: 100 meter per EP. Movement speed per round. 20 Meter per EP. Cost to learn: 2
Level 3
Max range: 150 meter per EP. Movement speed per round. 30 Meter per EP. Cost to learn: 3
Level 4
Max range: 200 meter per EP. Movement speed per round. 40 Meter per EP. Cost to learn: 4
Level 5
Max range: 250 meter per EP. Movement speed per round. 50 Meter per EP. Cost to learn: 5

Device enhancement:

Passive barrier. controll cost 1
The basic feature of the barrier jacket. reduce a set amounth of damage recieved when all else fails.
Skill level 1   Damage reduction per EP 0,2    Cost to learn   1
Skill level 2   Damage reduction per EP 0,4    Cost to learn   2
Skill Level 3   Damage reduction per EP 0,6    Cost to learn   3
Skill level 4   Damage reduction per EP 0,8    Cost to learn   4
Skill level 5   Damage reduction per EP 1    Cost to learn   5

Targeting aid. controll cost 1
advance targeting program in the device that increases the chance to hit
Skill level 1   hit modifier per EP +1/20.  Cost to learn 1
Skill level 2   hit modifier per EP +1/18.  Cost to learn 2
Skill Level 3   hit modifier per EP +1/16.  Cost to learn 3
Skill level 4   hit modifier per EP +1/14.  Cost to learn 4
Skill level 5   hit modifier per EP +1/12   Cost to learn 5

Utility spell:

Telekinise controll cost 1
Skill level 1   weight per EP. 1 kilo. meter per round per EP: 1. Cost to learn 1
Skill level 2   Weight per EP. 2 kilo. meter per round per EP: 2. Cost to learn 2
Skill Level 3   Weight per EP. 3 kilo. meter per round per EP: 3. Cost to learn 3
Skill level 4   Weight per EP. 4 kilo. meter per round per EP: 4. Cost to learn 4
Skill level 5   Weight per EP. 5 kilo. meter per round per EP: 5. Cost to learn 5

Healing. controll cost 4
Skill level 1   Hit point recovered per EP. 0.2 Cost to learn 1
Skill level 2   Hit point recovered per EP. 0.4 Cost to learn 2
Skill Level 3   Hit point recovered per EP. 0.6 Cost to learn 3
Skill level 4   Hit point recovered per EP. 0.8 Cost to learn 4
Skill level 5   Hit point recovered per EP. 1.0 Cost to learn 5

Modifiers:

Range.
the practise of increasing the range of ones spell
Skill level 1   Range 15 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 1
Skill level 2   Range 30 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 2
Skill Level 3   Range 45 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 3
Skill level 4   Range 60 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 4
Skill level 5   Range 75 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 5

explosive.
Explode on contact, creating noise, shockwave, smoke and area of effect damage.
Full damage within blast radius, half damage at 150% of blast radius, smoke at 200% of smoke radius.
Skill level 1   blast radius 0.5 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 2
Skill level 2   blast radius 1.0 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 4
Skill Level 3   blast radius 1.5 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 6
Skill level 4   blast radius 2.0 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 8
Skill level 5   blast radius 2.5 meter per EP. Cost to learn: 10  [/spoiler]

Example of spells being cast.

Arcane missile level 3, at a target that's 40 meters away, with level 2 explosive modifier.
3 EP used to get within range (3 x 14 meter), 2 point used on explosive to give it a 2 meter blast radius (2 x 2) 4 EP spent on damage to give it 12 damage (4 x 3 damage) for a total of 9 EP
If the caster doesn't spend energy on other spells and have an EP per round of 9 or higher, then the spell is casted within the round, on the other hand, if his EP per round is 3, then the spell won't be cast untill the third round. (9/3 = 3)
A higher level of the spell will allow the caster to do the same effect but using less EP to do so.

Casting Arcane Missile with explosive modifier also cost him 1.5 controll point for that round (rounds, if he need more then 1 round to charge it up). meaning that if he have 5 in controll stat, then he'll only be able to perhaps keep 2 buffs going, and keep 1 controll point in reserve to throw up a barrier if needed, without risking the penalty for going beyond the controll stat.


This brings us to the 2.nd part of character creation.
Choising of spells and device attributes
Spells and device attributes are to this system, what feat, gear and spell pick is to D&D

using a pool of 100 point, the players gets to choice the spells he knows, and the attributes of his device.
A sample character, representing a typical mage who'll try to stay away and support his party at a distance.

Directional Barrier level 5.  Total cost: 15 (1+2+3+4+5)
Arcane Missile level 5. Total cost: 15
Flight, with 2 level in speed. Total cost 20 (5 for flight + 5 + 10)
Targeting Aid level 2. Total cost: 3
Quik change level 3. Total cost: 6
Artificial Intelligence level 1. Total Cost 2
Passive Barrier level 5. Total Cost 15
Empowering device level 3. Total Cost: 12 (2+4+6)
Range modifier level 3. Total Cost: 6
Wide Area Search leveel 3. Total Cost 6.

Writting down and setting the parameters for all the different spells is probaly going to be the must grinding part of making this system, but hopefully the basic frame is good enough.



Next op is the combat system.

[LordVreeg]

how about mental control, elemental magic, dispellings, summonings, illusions, and the illustrious 'resist Wall of Text' and other resist style spells?

[Tillumni]

must admit that I hadn't thought it so far for all the different spells.
the basic principle would be the same though. more energy pumped into a spell = more power behind it.  elemental magic will probaly be a modifier though. like turning an arcane missle into fire elemental would requere knowing how to do it, and cost some EP.
like I said, writting down all possible spells and thier effect is probaly going to be the part that requere must grinding.

unfortunately though, then resist wall of text is too advance a spell for me to even consider to add to the list *sweatdrops*

joking aside though, then I'll edit the post and add them under a spoiler tag.

[Tillumni]

Combat System.

A participants in combat can perform one minor and one main action in any order. the order of a round consist of:

Roll for iniative. perception + d10. ->
Lowerst iniative declare his first action, followed by the 2.nd lowest, and with the highest iniative declaring his action last.->
Roll for all actions->
All actions are resolved at the same time ->
Lowerst iniative declare his second action, followed by the 2.nd lowest, and with the highest iniative declaring his action last.->
Roll for all actions->
All actions are resolved at the same time ->
new round starting with iniative roll.

Note that a player can decide where ever he'll do a minor or a main action first.

examples of minor actions:
Perform simple movement
Perform a simple attack
Cast a spell up to control/3 and with a max energy out-put of to Energy point per round/3
Turn on or off or adjust the power of one device enhancement
Go on partial defence
Charge up EP for specified attack or spell.

example of main action:
Perform one movement manoeuvre (moving into blind spot, run, intercept)
Perform an attack manoeuvre. (charge attack, disarm attempts and such like)
Cast spell of any cost up till controll and energy point per round limit.
Go on defence
any combination of 2 minor action.

Any action against another player consist of the defender choicing an appropiate reaction, and the two parts then doing opposing rolls.

[spoiler=design reasoning:]
Lowest iniative declare action first: this is to prevent people rolling high on iniative ending up being put in a bad situation because they performed an action and therefor can't react and adapt to what slower people are doing.  instead, then iniative represents the ability to quikly read the opponents movement and react accordingly.

Minor and Main action: the goal is to capture the feel of a fast-paced tactical combat and single action round felt too limiting, but giving 2 actions is too much, and might as well be two seperated rounds, so went for 1.5 actions in a round, to give players a tactical choice of mixing thier actions and make each round feel fast-paced with several things happening. main problem is that it might take the players longer time to decide thier actions, due to more options.

Action resolved at the same time: a system where the one with higher iniative reacting to the slower ones allready represent acting faster and story wise that might be what's happening (depending on how the dice turns out), even if it doesn't on a purely game-mechanic level. [/spoiler]

[spoiler=Example of a round:]
Albha and Beta rolls for iniative, Albha roll highest ->
Beta annouce that he'll use a minor action to take a pot-shot with a spell at Albha. Albha annouce that she'll close in on Beta with a minor action->
Beta rolls for hitting with the spell and Albha rolls for defending against it with a dodge movement. Beta beats Albhas' roll->
DM or player descripes how Beta hits Albha with the spell, even as Albha closes in on Beta->
Beta is worried about Albha being so close and annouce that he'll defend as a main action, Albha annouces that he'll blast Beta at close range.->
Albha pumps every every single energy point she can into a short range spell and rolls to hit. Beta puts up a energy shield to defend with and manages to block it. Albha rolls for damage, which turns out to be high enough to overpower the shield, due to Beta having spent energy to fire the pot-shot, while Albha took it, to save energy for this action->
DM or player descripes how Beta is trying to hold back Albhas spell, before his shield shatters under the pressure, blasting Beta away->
new round.  [/spoiler]

[Tillumni]

draft for the skill system

The exprience and training with magic and combat are represented by the primarely stats in the first post and the spells. this leaves all the knowledge not related to spell casting and figthing.

A characters skills and knowledge in this system is largely defined by the character background. what ever the character can reasonable be assumed to know, based on the background story, is something the character can do without having to explesively write it down. exception being the area where the character can be considered above the average, either within her chosen trade or background.

this is represented in-game through profession and extraculare interest.

Profession is what it say it is, the characters profession of training, where ever it's as a teacher, fire figther or journalist.
A character is assumed to have all the relevant primarely skils pertaining to her profession at a level wher eshe can perform her job decently. how ever, to be better then decent the character will have to spend points on the relevant skill. this represent the character being better trained/more experienced or just having talent at some field within her profession.
The main difference between decent skill level and trained skills, is that decent skils are assumed to only be reliable under non-stress rutine situation, while being trained in a skill gives much better odds when performing under stress and also represent skills that won't fade easerly, even when no longer actively performing the profession.

For example, a teacher is assumed to know everything needed to teach, but might have spent points on driving and children psychology. representing a teacher that does her best to understand her pupil, and just happen to like driving to work abit too much.

extraculare interest outside the profession are never assumed to be of a level where it practically can be used for anything except being able to discuss it, unless trained.

above mentioned teacher might play both chess and figther games. but only having taken levels in figther gaming. meaning that she knows the rules for chess and might know some of the more simple moves, but won't hold a candle to anyone that have more then a passing interest. on the other hand, she will mess you up in Tekken.

No rank in a skill within profession, essentially means being allowed to roll for succes with no positive or negative modifier.
Wxtraculare interest with no ranks in it, means being allowed to roll, but with negative modifier.
Rhe less general application a skill have, the higher rank is possible per skill point used.



[spoiler=Design reasoning:] Giving that being a magical girl, or boy as the case might be in this setting, is often detached from the girls interest and profession, the skill system have to represent that they can potentially come from all walk of life and that would either requere making an extensive skill list of every possible profession and skill a person might pick up and still end up missing skilsl such as smokediving or winetasting, or use a more free-form skill system where it's assumed that some stuff is obviusly known.

the latter is chosen, simple because an extensive skill list would be too much micromanaging for the players in my opinion, giving the allready open class-less character generation and the setting. I also want players to have a wide options for character background and story, without being limited to what's possible within a skill list.[/spoiler]

[Tillumni]

Edit: whoops, double post.

[LordVreeg]

kIND OF WIERD.
Based on the amount of data and bookkeeping, it seems like a combat and spell system with a tiny bit of skills thrown in.
However, most classless systems turn into skill based systems.  So if improving combat or spell skills are goverend by one paradigm, perhaps the rest of the skills hsould be dopne the same way>?

[Tillumni]

just letting you know that I've thought over what you have said and adjusted on the way skill works, just hadn't gotten around to answer, sorry *smile sheepishly*

also, anyone noticed if there's any basic game-mechanic that I've overlooked, before I start rewritting all this into a consisting document?

[Tillumni]

Allright, so I've settled on more well-defined skill system like Vreeg suggested and done some thinking about possible options for editing the base mechanic, and want to check in on what you guys think about it:

Adding Mind stat: cognictive ability, smarts and intelligence in general. Would increase the players Control and gives a bonus to the amounth points the character gets for learning skills and spells. something like getting the Mind stat as bonus points for every 10 or 20 points gained normally (through rewards and possible at character creation)

Device, Spells and Skills share the same point pool for character creation: just as it says, everything that aren't a stat, are bought using the same points, now dubbed character points. this might possible expand into the systems equivalent of feats.
 

Merging Melee and Range into one stat: the new Attack stat would then act as the base modifier for all attacks, with body and perception as additional modifier depending on where ever it's range or melee combat.

Reduce hitpoint, have personal spell barrier gain a shield hp that are reduced first, before hitpoint damage starts happening: It makes combat much more deadly for unarmoured people, and as extension, making more sense, and helps represent that the barriers absorb a certaint amounth of damage before they collaps, and aren't simple reducing the damage taken, or making a person harder to hit. possible with upper limit for shield hp based on body stat to represent how much stress the body can maintain, but mainly in case reduction of hit point makes body too much of a dump stat.

Possible Solution to avoid Body as too much of a dump stat for ranged spell caster, if HP is reduced: have body help significantly with regaining energy point and also sets the upper safe limit for especially streneous spell casting.


Also, do anybody know any good system for handling air combat, that I could use as inspiration?

[Tillumni]

bumping and edited in a small entry with some of the main concepts used in the system, into the first post.

Edit: oh, and almust forgot this.

Optional rule for massive dice rolling to speed up gaming:
if a dice roll consist of more then 5 of the same dice, then do the roll by rolling (using d6 as example) 3d6 X the number of dice used divided by 3 + the fraction of dices left if any.

for example, rolling 7d6 would be 3d6 X 2 + 1d6
11d8 would be 3d8 X 3 + 2D8
38d6 would be 3d6 X 12 + 2d6
15d10 would be 3d10 X 5.

[LordVreeg]

bumping and edited in a small entry with some of the main concepts used in the system, into the first post.

Edit: oh, and almust forgot this.

Optional rule for massive dice rolling to speed up gaming:
if a dice roll consist of more then 5 of the same dice, then do the roll by rolling (using d6 as example) 3d6 X the number of dice used divided by 3 + the fraction of dices left if any.

for example, rolling 7d6 would be 3d6 X 2 + 1d6
11d8 would be 3d8 X 3 + 2D8
38d6 would be 3d6 X 12 + 2d6
15d10 would be 3d10 X 5.

you know, you're really changing the probabilities here pretty tremendously.  the more dice you roll, the tighter your bellcurve should cluster to the midpoint.  so doing this is cool, as long as you understand the ramifications.

[Tillumni]

oh, I'm well aware, but I figured that at some point the amounth of dices rolled will under must circumstances lead to a bell curve where you might as well skip the rolling and just set an avarage damage. and using 3dX should give an okay bell-curve with reasonable chances of rolling high or low. and it should cut down quiet abit on the time spent adding up the dices if the players reaches the equivalent of high level D&D.

thanks for wanting to make sure though.

[Tillumni]

Possible overhaul of the damage system:

I was reading up on the system "Mutant and Mastermind" and the descrition of how damage works in that one might be adaptable to this system too.

[spoiler=the wiki entry]Damage in M&M is handled differently as well. M&M does not use Hit Points. Instead, a character has a fourth Saving Throw called the Toughness Save ("Damage Save" in the previous edition) which is based on their Constitution score (just like Fortitude). Weapons and powers that do lethal and subdual damage do not roll any dice to determine damage. Instead, damaging attacks are ranked based upon their overall power. For example, a fairly fit but normal human may throw a punch that inflicts +1N (non-lethal) damage, while the irradiated simian mastermind with enhanced strength and razor-sharp claws throws out +12L (lethal) damage. When a character is struck by an attack, they roll a Toughness Save against a target number equal to the rank of the attack plus 15. Success allows the character to shrug off the attack with minimal effect, while failure results in injury according to the degree of failure and the type of damage. Accumulated damage applies a penalty to further saves, increasing the chances of any given attack taking the character down.

This system of damage is meant to model the nature of super-hero comics, in which many characters can ignore most damage outright, while still being susceptible to a lucky punch or super-mega-cosmic blast. For those more comfortable with the traditional hit point system, the Mastermind's Manual rulebook includes notes for conversion to that mechanic.
[/spoiler]

but turned around so that the attacker will have to roll a dice and add the damage modifier against the targets defense value if his attack connects, with the effect of the attack based on how much it defeats or get close to that value and what kind of attack it is.

High body could reduce the impact that damage have on a character and increase the amounth of damage a character can take, by genereally requering more injury before the character is penalised and eventually taken down.

A Targets defense value would be equal= body + barrier jacket defense value + active barrier defense value.

Body and Barrier jacket are passive and by default allways on, though I imagien that barrier jacket adds more defense then body, while active barrier adds alot defense value, but takes up energy to do so and only on a succesfull block.