My System Remake: Main Thread

[Yitzi]

Ok, I've finally got enough of my system remake to post the table of contents. (I still don't have a good name for it though, unfortunately.)

First, an unofficial introduction:
Why am I making a system remake? Well, in short because 3.5 is great, and it's horrible. It's great in that:
-It allows for heavy customization of characters.
-It is quite versatile. It can handle a combat-based game, or a more interaction-based game, or a wilderness survival game, or a dungeon-exploring game, or any combination of those. Not as well as a game specialized in those areas, but pretty well.
-It gives the DM enough leeway to make an interesting game, while still providing enough rule structure that he doesn't have to make too many judgement calls.

It's horrible in that:
-The balance is completely broken if the players are trying to make an effective character without restraint.
-The balance is severely broken if the players are simply not trying to avoid unbalanced characters.
-The balance is pretty broken even if the players are trying to avoid unbalancing the game but don't really know what they're doing in that regard.
-The combat system favors purely offensive builds, leading to a "rocket tag" effect.
-Magic items...I'll let Grod The Giant comment on this issue. (I won't go as extreme as his fix does in removing them, though.)
-Some classes, most notably the fighter, are bland.
-Some classes have features that make no thematic sense.
-The alignments are unclear, and the Law/Chaos one in particular isn't really a major ideological split (more a difference of approach).
-The experience system, and often the mechanics themselves, favor a "charge in and kill everything" approach, unless the DM takes steps to prevent that.
-High-level characters are powerful enough that it's often difficult to explain why they can't just do whatever they want with the world.

Pathfinder fixed some of the issues, but left many unaffected.
So rather than try to fix each issue individually, and then patch the problems those fixes cause, and keep patching until there are (hopefully) no new problems, I'm simply remaking the whole system (or at least very large pieces of it.)

Hopefully this system will solve these problems, and be not only playable, but a richer play experience than any of the other systems out there.

Finally, a few notes regarding the table of contents: The table of contents is divided into three sections: The Player's Manual, the Game Master's Advisory, and the Bestiary. In addition, because there is a substantial overlap with 3.5, I will be using formatting to indicate places that make use of material from there:
-A topic in italics is one in which this system has the same rules as 3.5, so I won't even write it up. If there's material in the online SRD it's linked.
-A topic in bold (but not underlined as well) is one for which there is (possibly in addition to material posted or linked) important information (often of a roleplaying or game-running nature) that is found in the books but not in the SRD. I am not posting them (because that would be a copyright violation), and they can't be found online, but I do highly suggest using that material if you have the books. So essentially a bold topic is one where I'm warning you that there's stuff other than what's available online.

[Yitzi]

Player's Manual

Introduction

Character Creation Summary

Chapter 1: Races and Background

Choosing a Race
Racial Characteristics

Humans
Dwarves
Elves
Gnomes
Half-Elves
Half-Orcs
Halflings

Background Overview
Background Descriptions

Chapter 2: Classes

The Classes
Class- and Level-Dependent Benefits
Primary Class
Gaining levels: Experience and Training
Multiclass Characters
Class Descriptions

Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Monk
Ranger
Rogue
Sorcerer
Wizard
The Paladin Template

Chapter 3: Abilities and Feats

Character Points

Gaining Character Points
Selling Abilities and Feats

Ability Descriptions
Feat Descriptions
Changing Ability Scores

Chapter 4: Combat Styles

Combat Styles Overview
Countering Combat Styles
Combat Style Descriptions

Chapter 5: Skills and Traps

Skills Overview
Acquiring Skill Ranks
Using Skills
Skill Descriptions
Traps

Elements of a Trap
Designing a Trap
Sample Traps

Chapter 6: Magic

Schools of Magic
Spells Overview

Designing Spells
Casting Spells
Counterspelling

Types of Spells

Arcane Spells

Rituals
Wizardry

Divine Spells

Spell Seed Descriptions

Chapter 7: Description

Alignment
Religion
Vital Statistics
Looks, Personality, and Background
Character Goals

Chapter 8: Equipment

Equipping a Character
Wealth and Money
Weapons
Armor
Goods and Services
Potions
Poisons
Magic Items

Artifacts

Chapter 9: Combat

The Battle Grid
How Combat Works
Combat Statistics
Combat Quick Reference
Initiative and Reflexes
Attacks of Opportunity
Actions in Combat
Injury and Death
Movement, Position, and Distance
Combat Modifiers
Special Attacks
Special Initiative Actions
More Movement Rules

Moving in Three Dimensions
Evasion and Pursuit
Moving Around in Squares

Chapter 10: Adventuring

Carrying Capacity
Movement
Exploration
Enviromental Dangers

Chapter 11: Glossary

Special Abilities

Special Powers
Beneficial Conditions
Detrimental Conditions

Condition Summary

--------------------------------------------
Game Master's Advisory

Chapter 1: Running the Game

What is a GM?
Style of Play
Additional Guidelines
Running a Game Session

Chapter 2: Using the Rules

Modifier Types
Combat

Line of Sight
Starting an Encounter
New Combatants
Keeping Things Moving
Combat Actions
Big and Little Creatures in Combat

Skill and Ability Checks
Saving Throws and Reflex Checks
Adjudicating Magic

Describing Spell Effects
Handling Divinations
Adding New Seeds

Rewards

Experience Awards

Mixed-Level Parties and Experience

Treasure (PHB pp.167-168)
Other Rewards

Character Death

Making a New Character
Resurrection Quests

Chapter 3: Adventures

Motivation
Structure
Site-Based Adventures
Event-Based Adventures
The End (?)
Encounters

Tailored or Status Quo
Challenge Ratings and Encounter Levels
Difficulty
Tougher Monsters
Location
Rewards and Behavior

Treasure
Bringing Adventures Together
Between Adventures
The Dungeon
Dungeon Terrain

Walls
Doors
Rooms
Corridors
Miscellaneous Features

Cave-Ins and Collapses

Illumination

Dungeon Ecology

Dungeon Animals
Wandering Monsters

Statistics Blocks
Wilderness Adventures

Getting Lost
Forest Terrain
Marsh Terrain
Hills Terrain
Mountain Terrain
Desert Terrain
Plains Terrain
Aquatic Terrain

Underwater Combat

Enviromental Hazards
Weather
Random Wilderness Encounters

Urban Adventures

Weapon and Spell Restrictions
Urban Features

Urban Encounters

Chapter 4: Nonplayer Characters

Everyone in the World
NPC Classes

Civilian
Warrior
Nonmartial versions of PC classes

Calling On NPC Assistance
NPC Attitudes
Fleshing Out NPCs

Chapter 5: Campaigns

Establishing a Campaign
Maintaining a Campaign
Characters and the World Around Them
War and Other Calamities
Other Campaign Issues

Chapter 6: World-Building

General notes
Settled Areas
Frontier Areas
Deep Wilderness
Generating Communities
]Adventurers
Demographics and consequences
Deities
Building a Different World
Other Planes
Plane Descriptions
Creating a Cosmology

Chapter 7: Characters

Randomly Generated Characters
Customizing Characters
Races

Subraces
Modifying a Common Race
Changes through Addition and Subtraction

Class/Race/Background Restrictions
New Races

Monsters as Races

Creating New Races[/I]

Classes

Modifying Character Classes
Creating New Classes
Prestige Classes

Creating PCs above 1st Level
PCs beyond 20th level

--------------------------------------------
Bestiary (to come later)

[Yitzi]

Of the many forms of games available, pen-and-paper role-playing games are one of the most versatile. By using a game-master to supplement a fixed set of rules with on-the-spot adjudication and challenge creation, a far more complex game is possible than in most other forms of gaming. While there are many different systems, the system covered in the Open Game License occupies a particular niche due to being fairly flexible in both the challenge types it can handle and in character creation, while still having enough structure to aid in decision-making and suggest certain archetypes.
Despite its advantages, the Open Game System does have balance issues, as well as areas in which it could be improved with regard to flexibility and worldbuilding aids. For that purpose, I am writing this game system, which is closely based on the Open Game System but is meant to address its flaws and improve on its weak spots. It's my hope that you enjoy it.

[Yitzi]

Reserved for open game license

[Yitzi]

The following is a guide to the procedure for generating a new character; each step lists the chapter related to that step. While the order given is often the most convenient for generating the character, it is ok to do the steps in a different order, so long as each step that depends on other steps is done after them.
1. Choose your character's race (chapter 1).
2. Choose your character's background (chapter 1). If the campaign setting has race/background limitations, they must be followed.
3. Choose your character's class (chapter 2). If creating a character above first level, choose a class for each level.
4. Choose your character's primary class (chapter 2). This will usually be a class chosen in step 3, but need not be.
5. Assign character points to ability scores and feats (chapter 3).
6. Choose combat styles (chapter 4), skills (chapter 5), and any other class-specific decisions (listed under the appropriate class entry in chapter 2), as appropriate.
7. Record your character's alignment descriptors, religion (if any), weight, height, age, appearance, and personality, a more detailed background for the character, and the character's goals that lead him/her to adventure (chapter 7).
8. Choose your character's starting equipment (chapter 8).

[Yitzi]

One more just in case