A thread for my own system so I don’t have to search for appropriate threads to share ideas. Opinions, criticisms and suggestions all welcome. I will also give my opinions on your ideas as well if you want them.>played a session with my friend who agreed to help test the system>went well overall>made changes to stamina system and reactionsNext posts will be about stamina systems, action categories, and the class beast master
>>92574010>Stamina system goalsWorking in the context of actions, bonus actions and reactions, I’m trying to set up gameplay in which a player doesn’t do the exact same thing every turn. Originally, my stamina system was a large pool of stamina, that regains a small, set amount of stamina at the beginning of a player’s turn. For example, a pool of 10 maximum, and stamina regen rate of 2. I decided to change it after realizing that it was a pain in the ass to keep proper track of it. >new systemSmall pool of stamina that refreshes completely every turn. I think this is much less of a hassle, and because of reactions, players still won’t have identical turns. >Stamina usage for actionsFull actions, bonus actions and reactions all exist as different categories. Actions usually cost anywhere from 1-4 stamina. You can use multiple Actions or Bonus actions in the same turn, but the original cost doubles each time. >ReactionsReactions have specific situations that trigger them and cost 1 stamina. Unlike normal actions, you can only use 1 reaction per turn normally. Reactions are also split into slow reactions that activate after the triggering effect and quick reactions that activate before the triggering effect. I’m hoping that with this type of system, players still need to pay attention when it isn’t their turn to assess the situation and see if or which reactions they should use depending on the situation. Players might also need to think “do I use all my stamina on my turn, or do I save some of my stamina so I have enough for reactions until my next turn?”>ExhaustionUsing or being forced below 0 stamina puts you into exhaustion, which lasts… an amount of turns equal to how far below zero you were. So if you were -3 stamina, it would last for 3 turns. Does anyone have a better way of describing that?
>>92574169While exhausted, you can’t use stamina for miscellaneous actions(like running further than normal), can’t make reactions, and are limited to a single action and bonus action per turn. All attacks and spells against you also have a big advantage to hit. You also can’t speak clearly for spells, which effects most but not all casters. Going into exhaustion in an attempt to end a fight or kill a valuable target is something that I want to be considered. In those situations it WOULD be possible to get like -8stamina that turn. But enemy attacks that can reduce your stamina only reduce it by 1 or 2. Maybe a d4. So it’s unlikely to be forced into exhaustion for too long.
BEASTMASTER>design goalsI think most proper beast master classes are kept intentionally weak for balance reasons. The beast creates an entire other character’s worth of action economy so the beast is kept weak, or both the beast and the master are weak to compensate. Or even worse, the beast doesn’t function as a separate entity and could be reflavored as any other instance of damage like a normal skill. So for a specific list of design goals I’m trying to accomplish the following>multiple playstyles of beast master(1 beast or several. Beast as main damage dealer, beast as support, or beast and master supporting each other equally)>feeling of meaningful connection to the beast compared to a piece of equipmentMost of the class is focused on the beast(naturally) so I’ll go into the master’s skill design first before explaining how the taming works
>>92575716(Beast) MASTER>Average health, mana, and stamina across the board>gets a bonus to faith and intelligence which are both used(but mainly faith) to support the beast>no offensive skills for higher damage>large amount of support skills and skills that allow them to use any type of weapon and flex into any type of(non-damage) role>extremely high versatility, even without the help of their beasts is one of their signature traits
>>92574010so you got a document for us to read the rest?
>>92576386I do not. I’ve got an unfinished and un-updated google doc with about 35 pages, but it was more distracting than anything because people could only point out inconsistencies. I’ll have to have it done before I start thread #3. I’m hoping for more conversational back and forths regarding the ideas in general this time around
>>92574178>In those situations it WOULD be possible to get like -8stamina that turn.I think your exhaustion should take effect as soon as the character dips below 0. It can be a big ability that costs 6+ stamina or just 2 stamina, but they shouldn't be able to burn more while in the minus (unless there's some kind of berserker character). It makes big, hard hitting attacks that cost a lot of stamina feel like a proper finishing blow when used at the end of a fight, but also properly punishing for reckless use, or an appropriate downside to a desperate, calculated play.Or perhaps that's what you meant anyway, it's a cool idea!>>92575716>Hottest things in the universe ranked>1 Disgaea 2 Beastmaster>2 Some Quazar or astral superbody or whatever>3 Summer>4 WinterUh, regarding your Beastmaster, I like your idea of allowing different types of beastmaster, like the beast could be two birds, or a bear, or a cat. It's more interesting that just having a flavored attack dog. The devil will be in the details, of course, but I'm happy to wait till those are ready if they're not yet.
>>92580135>regarding exhaustionWhat you said is what I meant. As soon as they hit negatives, exhaustion kicks in, which should also be specified to stop you from taking any more actions. Beastmaster is best. I’m usually hitting text limit in these posts
ASPECTS RELATED TO BEASTMASTER>Faith statUsually related to casters. Faith is magic power fueled by your faith in yourself or something else(usually gods or demon patrons, in this case your tamed beast)>BEASTS AND OTHER MONSTER TYPESI have a 2-category system to organize monsters. The first category is related to the level of reasoning the individual has>Being - creatures with full reasoning and (usually) speech>Beast - creatures that can be trained in some way, like animals>Monster(or monstrosity, not sure how dramatic I want it to feel) - creatures that can’t be reasoned with at all who only follow their natural compulsions(usually evil stuff)The second category is related to the origin of the creature>Natural(or earthly. I’m undecided) - regular things from earth>elemental - creatures spawned from the natural magic of the earth>chthonic - creatures from hell >empyrean - creatures from heaven>undead - creatures powered by unnatural soul energy>fey - creatures connected to pocket dimensions>construct - creatures that were built>Abomination - creatures so thoroughly fucked with, they aren’t classified in any other way>FREE TIME POINTSI’m still trying to come up with a better name for this. I encourage DMs to level up their players based on events, like important battles or after boss fights, rather than with experience. So free time points function as a sort of secondary experience. Haven’t decided exactly the ways you gain them, as they’re also supposed to represent a gradual passing of time. They’re extremely important for classes like beast masters, monks, and wizards, but not important at all for other classes like fighters. So I need to do a lot of thinking about this system.
BEAST (masters)>obtaining new beastsBeast masters get a skill called capture, that allows them to leash up any beast they beat up to unconsciousness. Alternatively, they can spend the free time points and money to look for and buy a beast from the black market. Haven’t decided on a formula for how much money a beast costs, but the free time points to find a beast from the black market is 5 points to roll a d20. You have to beat a 5+the level of whatever beast you’re looking for(max level is 9) to find it. After finding the beast, it costs another 7 points of free time to tame it. >TAMED BEAST LIMITATIONSA beast master can only tame a beast his level or lower. The beast master also has a pool of confidence points which is going to be at most, equal to half of their faith. At level 1, a normal amount of confidence would be around 6. +/-2 about. At level 9, a “normal” amount of confidence would be around 22, but a maximum amount would be around 28. Taming a beast costs double the beast’s level in confidence from your pool.>TAMED BEAST BONUSESa tamed beast gains bonuses based on the beast master’s faith. Faith at level 1, is usually going to be about 12. At level 9, faith will be around 40(normal) or 60(min maxed)>health +1d6 per 10faith>avoidability +1 per 10faith>skill checks +1 per 8faith>damage +1 per 6faithThe bonuses are also limited to +1 initially, and requires a small amount of free time points to “unlock” higher bonuses if your faith is high enough.There are also skills you can learn to improve the scaling of those stat bonuses. 1 skill point to increaseHealth: 10 > 8Avoidability: 10 > 8Skill checks: 8 > 6Damage: 6 > 5A beast master can gain a maximum amount of 16 skill points at level 9. Skill points used on beasts are refunded if the beast dies or is released. It seems like a lot to keep track of, but it’s pretty simple once you write it down, as far as my play tester and I think.
>>92581857BEAST(masters) part 2 of 2Beasts will normally have one or 2 simple attacks. Bite, claw etc. Beast masters learn 1 new beast trick every 8 points of intelligence they have, but can also use a skill point on “beast tricks” to teach a single new action to any individual beast(remember; the maximum amount of skill points for a player is 16).Beast tricks are focused on adding utility in actions to beasts, or stronger attacks that are more specialized and function better for specific beasts. An example would be >Beast trick: restrain - Your beast makes an attempt to grab a target. Beasts that can use a Bite attack can choose to perform this on reaction without rolling after making a successful Bite attack.At level 5, the beast master gets a special skill that allows them to tame beasts of 1 other category other than natural
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS REGARDING PREVIOUS POSTS>Price of a beastI like to assign some sort of formula or logic to everything, just to keep things organized. If things go my way, there’s also going to be a million different moving parts when it comes to design, so I’d rather refer to a specific formula rather than just winging it. All that to say that I’m thinking the price of a beast will be triple its normal health. Level 1 that would translate to like, 18-30 (currency). Large window at level 9 though maybe anywhere from 150-270. A third category for enemies that’s only for DMs is whether the enemy is:>A goonNormal enemies with health designed to be fought by a single player of the same level. This means it should die in maybe 1-3 hits usually.>a mini boss An enemy designed to be able to fight a party of 3. So the biggest change is that health would be tripled>a true bossA true boss’ big distinction is that it has a puzzle built into its kit that has a high chance of one-shorting an unprepared player. But health is still about 3x a normal enemy. I say this because I’m on the fence about Boss beasts being able to be tamed.
