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View Full Version : [CRE8] The Grand Unveiling: My "3.75" system



Draz74
2010-02-08, 06:28 PM
My signature, for a year and a half, has stated that I planned to publish, at some point, a wonderful set of house rules that gets rid of the most annoying aspects of 3.5e and includes the best aspects of 4e (and any other system I can pillage for good ideas).

It's by all means still a work in progress, but I think I'm finally organized enough to present to public scrutiny some aspects of my system,

CRE8

Here are some highlights of the CRE8 system:


E8 rules (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141695) (i.e. based on E6 (http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/206323-e6-game-inside-d-d.html)). This keeps the power spread of the game a fair bit narrower than in 3.5e, which IMHO makes the game feel a lot more genre-compatible with the best of fantasy literature.
Generic Classes. Tired of arguing about whether the Monk should be a front-liner, a skill-monkey, or a battlefield controller? Which class features besides Track truly should define the Ranger? Well, in CRE8, you can pick out whatever class gives you the balance you want of fighting ability, skillful ability, and magical ability; and then you can pick Feats and Talents that simulate whatever class features you feel your archetype should have.
Streamlining. Any rules-heavy system feels complicated at first, and CRE8 will certainly be no exception. But I use a few design principles that will, I hope, make it shape up as a streamlined and easy-to-use system. In particular, wherever possible, I am trying to avoid making players (or DMs) keep track of temporary or situational modifiers to die rolls.
Revised Combat System. Several simplifications from 4e make their way into the combat system; in particular, "full attacks" are gone. Beyond that, the Vitality-Injury system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140536) that replaces Hit Points will be a key part of CRE8.
No Alignment rules. There will still be a Taint system, so Paladins can still experience the joy of being especially effective at smiting demons or undead. But moral ambiguity will still be possible for ordinary human beings; the Paladin can't Detect Taint on you if you just do "ordinary evil things like murder that have nothing to do with demons or necromancy."
A new set of Ability Scores (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141321).
Item Attunement Rules. The "Christmas Tree Effect" must die. "It's you, not your gear." Items will not generally give numerical bonuses, and characters generally will not be able to use dozens of magic items. Then maybe each magic item will feel special (especially if the DM does a good job working it into the story).
Magic: kind of like the 3.5e Psionics system. With a bit more per-encounter. And a bit of noun-verb system mixed in.
Momentum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7953658&posted=1#post7953658) and Exertion. I don't like when abilities are limited by "you can use this ability three times per day." It leads to "the 15-minute workday," where narcoleptic adventurers nova their way through a battle or two, then sit around waiting for nightfall for hours. Momentum and Exertion, by contrast, take some of the basic mechanics of 3.5e Psionic Focus and use them to limit special abilities in a way that is more or less per-encounter.


I'm working hard on a website that presents the CRE8 system in a heavily hyperlinked, intuitive way, but I'm not quite ready to unveil the website to the public yet. In the meantime, I hope this thread will serve as good advertisement. Feel free to post your reactions, hopes, suggestions, or requests.

Draz74
2010-02-08, 06:31 PM
Reserved post.

Cataphract
2010-02-08, 06:48 PM
Now you're talking.

Once you've presented us with a complete (or almost-complete system), I can actually be of use again.

Good luck!

CTLC
2010-02-09, 10:28 PM
i havent read the threads in as much detail as i wish to, yet.
but i like the goals you have set up!

Draz74
2010-02-12, 01:46 AM
I've started a thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141695) to discuss how this system implements E8 -- what a character gains at each level of advancement.

Draz74
2010-02-24, 03:47 AM
CRE8 has been a little slow in its progress lately, for two main reasons. Neither of which, surprisingly, is a great dearth of real-life free time to work on it. :smallconfused:


Criticisms I've received from posting my ideas on this Forum, especially as far as Ability Scores go. Not because I can't handle the criticism, but because some of it has some very valid points, which are causing me to pause and consider what of my system (thus far) might benefit from being re-worked. No conclusions yet about how much or how little I'll be changing in these areas.
I've been spending much of my free time programming MapTool (http://rptools.net/) scripts to automate a lot of things. So far I've been concentrating on running 3.5e D&D, but believe me, how to implement similar things in CRE8 is definitely on my mind for future projects. Eventually, I think the CRE8 website will be able to offer a download of a few files that I think should be very popular to anyone who wants to try out CRE8 ... or even anyone who just is willing to use computers in their 3.5e play. In the more immediate future, I definitely intend to use a preliminary version of these scripts to expedite playtesting of CRE8 rules.


All that said, CRE8 does continue to progress bit by bit, and today I posted a new thread for discussion of the Momentum system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7953658&posted=1#post7953658).