In the last months I have been working on bringing together many ideas I had to improve the D20 system. In the beginning, those ideas were just modifications and patches for the original game, using some of the 4th edition ideas I found interesting. But it went on growing, and now it has departed from being a simple rework of the system to become something more akin to a full new system. So, while it still has many of the basic mechanics from D20 system, much of it has changed. Right now, I am starting to pull all those rules together, and I would love to get some input on the basics of the system. It is not a "formated" version, but some ideas on the way I pretend to focus the system.
So, let's begin:
Basics
Action Types: There are 4 action types: Swift Action, Minor Action, Major Action and Full Action. Any creature has one swift, one minor and one major action every turn. Alternatively, you can spend your Minor and Major action to get a Full action. All of them except the swift action can only be used while in your own turn. The swift action can be used at any time, but the action itself can provide with more limitations.
Abilities: The abilities follow the same mechanics than D&D. 6 ability scores: Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha. The values for them can go from 3 to 18. the bonus granted by those abilities are the same than the ones given on D&D ((Ability Score - 10)/2).
Class levels: The max level is still 20. All classes give you the following benefits: Base Attack Bonus, Base Defense Bonus, Saves bonus, Mystic Progression (equivalent to caster level), Supernatural Progression, Martial Progression, Extra Hit Points, feat progression and Special Abilities. The table for every class trait is shown here:
Mystic, Martial
BAB and BDB Saves and Supernatural Extra Hit Points Feats
lvl Hgh Med Low Good Bad Lst Lsr Med Hgh Fll Low Med Hgh Max ? ? ? ? ?
1 +0 +0 +0 +0 +0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
2 +1 +0 +0 +1 +0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 2
3 +1 +1 +0 +1 +1 0 1 1 2 3 0 1 2 3
4 +2 +1 +1 +2 +1 1 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
5 +2 +2 +1 +2 +1 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 5
6 +3 +2 +1 +3 +2 1 2 3 4 6 1 3 4 6
7 +3 +2 +1 +3 +2 1 2 4 5 7 1 3 5 7
8 +4 +3 +2 +4 +2 2 3 4 6 8 2 4 6 8
9 +4 +3 +2 +4 +3 2 3 5 7 9 2 4 6 9
10 +5 +3 +2 +5 +3 2 4 6 8 10 2 5 7 10
11 +5 +4 +2 +5 +3 2 4 6 8 11 2 5 8 11
12 +6 +4 +3 +6 +4 3 4 7 9 12 3 6 9 12
13 +6 +5 +3 +6 +4 3 5 7 10 13 3 6 9 13
14 +7 +5 +3 +7 +4 3 5 8 11 14 3 7 10 14
15 +7 +5 +3 +7 +5 3 6 9 12 15 3 7 11 15
16 +8 +6 +4 +8 +5 4 6 9 12 16 4 8 12 16
17 +8 +6 +4 +8 +5 4 6 10 13 17 4 8 12 17
18 +9 +6 +4 +9 +6 4 7 10 14 18 4 9 13 18
19 +9 +7 +4 +9 +6 4 7 11 15 19 4 9 14 19
20 +10 +7 +5 +10 +6 5 8 12 16 20 5 10 15 20
Skill Ranks: Max -> 6, High -> 5, Medium -> 4, Low -> 3. You don't gain extra ranks for a high intelligence score.
-Favored Skills: All characters have a number of favored skills equal to 2+Int bonus, with a minimum of 2. The character is naturally able for those skills, and get a +1 bonus on any check on said skills if he has at least a single rank in them. If those skills are also class skills for any class that the character has, the bonus granted to that skill for being a favored skill increases to +3. A character can only have levels on classes on which at least 2 of her favored skills are class skills.
Example: Deis, the half-elf, has an intelligence of 14, so she has 4 favored skills. She chooses Knowledge (Arcana), Acrobatics, Senses and Concentration as her favored skills. She then would be able to get rogue (class skills: Acrobatics, Senses, Mechanics, Diplomacy, Subterfuge) levels and wizard (class skills: Concentration, Knowledge [Arcana], Knowledge [Any other than Arcana], Diplomacy, Tactics) levels, but not Barbarian (class skills: Senses, Survival, Handle Animals, Leadership, Intimidate, Athletics) levels.
A character can multiclass freely, as long as he meets the prerequisites for all his classes.
-Skills: A character cannot have more trained skills than his own intelligence. A trained skill is one in which the character has at least a single rank. The maximum number of ranks a character can have on a single skill is 4 + 1/4 character level. The skill check has the following format: 1D20 + Skill Ranks + Favored Skill Bonus (+1/+3) + Ability Modifier. The Difficulty Class for a regular skill check is 15 + 1/2 average character level.
-Hit Points: This is one of the things I wanted to reform. Armor gives Damage Reduction, healing is not strange, and the damage has been toned down on average. So, the quantity of hit points has been reduced a lot.
Max Hit Points: 1D10/1D8 (medium size/small size) + Constitution attribute + Extra Hit Points from Class. So, a first level human fighter with 14 con would have 1D10+14+1, while the same fighter at level 20 would have 1D10+14+20.
Reigns of Knowledge
All characters have special abilities, which define how they confront the world. Some of them rely on pure martial prowess, while others use magical knowledge to cast powerful spells, and a few use the power granted to them by the destiny or the circumstances. The powers, however, can be divided in three categories:
1-Martial Abilities: The power to control your own physical prowess to use it against any odds. Usually, you can find three ways to focus your abilities:
1.1-Adrenaline: Many warriors focus the energy generated by the heat of the battle into inhuman deeds. A barbarian breaking apart rocks with a single hit, a fighter who springs multiple foots back without previous advice, or a warrior who looks almost like he reacts on a different time rate, all of them use their adrenaline to get effects impossible to a normal human.
1.2-Maneuvers: Many warriors try to bring together movements and actions in order to put themselves into an advantageous position, allowing them to land a hit they would otherwise be unable to. A fencer landing a lunge after a feint, a rogue rolling under an opponent to be able to hit him in the back... Most maneuvers depend on certain conditions to be successful, or are somewhat less deadly, but put the enemy or yourself on those conditions.
1.3-Concentration: It is not strange to hear about powerful combatants who, just by means of pure force of will, dedication and training, are able to do incredible feats. A swordsman who splits an oak on a single, well placed hit, or even a martial artist who channels his inner "ki" into a fiery blast are examples of this path. Most of the time, however, those abilities requires the character to focus into an special state of mind.
2-Mystic Abilities:
3-Supernatural Abilities:
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Later more.
