Homebrew DesignRoll up your sleeves and get working: there's lots of homebrewin' to be done! Post your custom creation for critiques or review those of your peers.
More or less the area for my Harry Potter d20 game here on these boards. This is pre alpha status and the players in my game (currently just entering recruiting) will help mold and shape it.
Edit: Also its going to take me plenty of time to upload all my info as most of it has been jotted down on note paper.
Contents
- Character Creation
- A) Races
- B) Classes
- Skills
- Feats
- Equipment
- Magic
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Reserved spot number... oh, are we not doing that anymore?
Are you looking for suggestions, or just feedback once you get around the posting things? And be a pal and duck in to the Recruiting thread, the troops are getting restless. Arise, fearless leader!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zyphyr
They don't actually love Gold, they only say that to get it into bed.
Oh I plan on posting in the recruiting thread...once I finished reading it. Also everyone is welcome to make suggestions, cause honestly this was meant to be a internet community style project.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Someone's already started a similar project on the Wizard's boards. I'm having trouble figuring out how Character Class is going to fit in this world... the most important thing is the magic system. Feats will have to be almost entirely magic oriented, and I suspect the casting will look somewhat like a Warlock. The series' 'unlimited casting' sure is a pain for people trying to play a role playing game - what was JKR thinking?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zyphyr
They don't actually love Gold, they only say that to get it into bed.
Not too sure, but as I posted (buried somewhere in I think page 3 of the recruiting) I'm not to strict on rules I prefer RPing. Besides if you look at the books, magic is only used occasionally they actually do far more logic and (god hates me fore making the connection) platforming to get through things.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Good point. I never thought of platforming. And as we are doing a play by post it will be mostly rping. I read that Wotc forum post and it seems like it has some good stuff.
You could do what I did with Resident Evil. JK Rowling gave you 7 fairly consistent books. Capcom gave me 8 very inconsistent games. Your job, my friend, may take you about a couple of months, but I speak from experience when I say it can't be that bad.
Yeah I saw what you did with Resident Evil Zeta, and I gotta say I am impressed. I've got some of the basics down for the system but really its all down on note paper and even then the basics are only half finished. Its been awhile since I worked on a full system, not only a setting and I forgot how much work is ahead of me.
But yeah we got centaurs, but you have mutants, zombies, and things way too similar to head crabs.
Its a rule of the Net, the more arguments you get into revolving around politics or religion is inversely related to how hard you try not to get involved with them.
Are the Veela that stupid to deserve an Int penalty?
If you want to use the existing magic system for D&D and just simply create spells based around that model, then I would suggest simply tooling in the Recharge Magic variant found in the OGL UA (SRD information available: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/ma...hargeMagic.htm). A spell-point system would also be good.
Optionally, I would propose a magic system which functions like this:
Ancient Runes, Astronomy, Charms, Dark Arts, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination, Potions, and Transfiguration are transformed into a subskills of Spellcraft. You make an appropriate Spellcraft check versus the spells DC to cast. Along with recharge time, this makes things a lot easier. Each magical spell requires a Wand and verbal component. Wands provide a +2 enhancement bonus to an appropriate skill, &c.
I'd say veela have more important things to do than think. Like look in a mirror, and bewitch swooning admirers, and flip out into angry fanged warrior women, the usual.
This recharge system is perfect! With slight modification to recharge times and redefining spell levels, we can crank out stats for the whole spell-list in no time. Good look!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zyphyr
They don't actually love Gold, they only say that to get it into bed.
I think the seperate skills for each school makes the most sense...and each character class should have 1-3 of these skills as being cross class.
Strong and tough should probably have 3 as cross class...
Strong (Hagrid as exemplar) would probably be bad at charms, potions & ? . Tough would probably be charms, potions & divination.
fast and charismatic two...fast (weasely twins as exemplars) probably not so great at history and divination. Charismatic (Patil twins) probably not so great at charms & ?
and Dedicated and Smart 1 each. Int (Hermione as exemplar), obviously, doesn't do well with divination. Dedicated (neville as exemplar), probably wouldn't do well in charms...
just thinking out loud, I guess.
Really, the best thing to do when building a game is to think of it in terms of:
1. character creation: what do you need to have, in order to build characters?
2. Experience- what are some of the ways that people can gain experience?
3. Combat system: if combat is a part of the game, how will it work?
4. Level-up - How does it work, what will leveling up affect? Why?
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Three things to remember about D&D:
1. Always go right. It's right, after all.
2. If it's not a party member, it's just XP.
3. D&D is the only game where you really can kill first and ask questions later.
Last edited by ravenkith : 07-29-2007 at 03:22 AM.
Realizing that the OP has already been thinking on it, I still post this in hopes it might be useful: a variation on the Slayers d20 magic system might be suitable here. (Though made by Guardians of Order, Slayers d20 operates under its own rules, not under BESM d20... thank goodness.)
The general idea is a character gains a number of spell "slots" based on a number of factors--largely Int bonus (Wis or Cha bonus could be used instead) and granted by certain class levels and feats. The slots limit how many spells you KNOW.
Each spell takes up so many "slots" -- a simple spell like a Light spell will take up only one slot, where a very difficult and/or dangerous spell may take up 4 or even more. There are additional rules about specialization, where you may gain extra slots for your specialty, but spells outside your specialty cost double, etc.
So a low level wizard, or someone who has a high enough attribute, may only know one or two spells, but a capable, intelligent and experienced wizard will have many to their arsenal (compare the number of spells mastered by Ron compared to Hermione).
Spell casting itself is not limited per day--you can cast as often as you want any spell you know. But you must make a "control check" every time you cast a spell. Each spell has its own DC -- a "Lumos" spell would have a very low DC, "Avada Kedavra" would have a very high one. To make a control check, you make a Willpower Save (IIRC). If you succeed, the spell is cast without a hitch.
If you fail the Will save, you must then make a Fortitude Save to avoid ill effects of miscasting the spell. If you make THIS save, the spell simply fizzles, but if you fail this save as well, you will become Fatigued, etc. And becoming Fatigued makes the DCs harder to cast further spells, so in that sense, you can become limited in how often you cast. (Note I may be switching which save is the Will Save and which is the Fortitude.)
There are of course feats and such which add to your saves when casting spells, etc.
The more I think about it, this could be well adapted to how HP magic works. Adjustments could be made--perhaps either spell slots are increased or DCs are decreased since HP spells have the limitation that you must have a wand to cast most spells.
When allocating weak schools, it would probably be best to stick to judging the core subjects. Being weak in Divination is a joke. The electives should have associated bonuses and weaknesses, too, but that shouldn't count in the basic character creation. After all, you have to be able to play these guys from Year One.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zyphyr
They don't actually love Gold, they only say that to get it into bed.
One thing that could have some focus should be the wands. In D&D we have a large arsenal to pick from, in the HP universe we only have wands, so to make things more customizable we should give certain properties to wands that impact the character, based on what Rowling gave us.
We have the wood, lenght, flexibility and core.
The flexibility of the wand we can almost say for certain it influences how good you can be at certain magic. Lilly Potter had a "swishy" wand that was good for charms while James had a pliable wand that was more aim to transfiguration.
Now we have to work with the remaining characteristics.
Length could be associated with the general size of a person, be it in terms of size or magic. Voldemort had a big wand and was quite potent. Umbridge had a tiny wand and was really annoying. For Hagrid I think it was rather personal size.
The Core I'm not sure on what to say regarding this matter. Could be associated more with your magical personality. Unicorn for noble characters, Dragon for strong characters and Phoenix for elegant or royal characters? Need some working.
Wood could be a more focused strength in the Wizard's already focused strength. What I mean is the following. Let's say your wand is quite bendy but not as bendy to be good for transfigurations, so you would be more of a charms person. The wood could orient you to a more focused area of charms, be it defensive, locomotive, influential or offensive or whatever. Since Rowling based some of the wands of the characters in Celtic Zodiac we can also take up from there.
Here's a list of Wood and tentative focus based on their Celtic origin.
Birch: Protection to children, purification, creativity. Now, how can this be translated? Well, let's say your wand is in the area of Charms, your focus would be on the area of defensive charms and creative. If Transfiguration in purifying spells, defensive spells and creative spells (reductio, ridiculus). For Potions and herbology you could be good at doing potions of protection, curative potions that focus on purification of dark magic and such.
Rowan: Healing, personal empowerment and divination. Healing and divination are obvious, as you can work on charms, transfiguration and potions around that, as for personal empowerment are more focused on making your character stronger. This could be a good aspect for a Slytherin Character
Ash: Prosperity, protection and healing. This type of wood would be perfect for a Hufflepuff character who focus on helping others with magic. If concentrated to oneself could be also a good option for a Slytherin character who focuses on giving prosperity to his family or himself. I imagine the wizards that worked on Gringolts used Ash wands as I somehow associate this with money.
Alder: Spirituality, Teaching, Weather Magic, Duty and Mental Prowess. This reeks Gryfindor. A combination between Luna and Hermione who excels at Oclumancy.
Willow: Romantic Love, Healing, Protection, Fertility and Female Magic. OK, This is supposed to be Ron. Well, he IS a ladies man and the Weasleys are quite productive.
Hawthorn: Peace, Prosperity, Cleansing, Protection and Chastity. This smells like Hufflepuff. A wand with this wood could be used by someone who is in charge of healing people in the battlefield giving first aide.
Oak: All Positive Purposes, Fidelity and Masculine Magic. This could be good for the jack of all trades. Also you can draw similarities with Hagrid.
Holly: Protection, Prophecy, Animal Magic and Sexual Magic. Damn, kinky. This is the wood of Harry Potter. Protection is a given as he was always good in DADA, Animal Magic is also right as he was a Parsel mouth and was not afraid of Hagrid, I mean, Hagrid's beasts.
Hazel: Manifestation, Spirit Contact, Protection and Fertility. This wood seems mystic. Could be used for someone good at divination.
Vine: Dependent upon the type of Vine:
Blackberry: Prosperity and Protection
Blueberry: Spirituality and Dream Magic
Grape: Fertility, Inspiration, Prosperity and Binding
Thistle: Courage, Protection and Strength
This one is more complex since you have different type of Vine Wood. Hermione used a Vine wand, probably Grape although Thistle could also be it.
Ivy: Healing, Protection, Cooperation and Exorcism. You have here a focused Defense Against the Dark Arts wand.
Reed: Fertility, Protection, Love and Family Concerns. This one is hard since you don't have a certain focus. Could be used to everyday magic?
Elder: Exorcism, Prosperity, Banishment and Healing. Another extremely focused wand for Defense Against the Dark Arts. By the way, my character uses Elder
Very thorough, Random! This is certainly a nice thing to have around when deciding on wandwood for flavor. There's a lot of overlap in the traditional descriptions, but that's nice since it allows a bit of choice while picking variations within the same discipline.
As the Slayer variant goes, I think that magic should be a separate set of skills. Spellcraft might be shifted into this category, too, for general skill in learning and mastering new spells. The Charms skill, say, would be more for casting.
That takes care of Charms, Transfiguration, DADA. Basically, the wand subjects. But others are more difficult... Potions, you use Potionbrewing I suppose. Herbology is a tough skill to quantify - does it belong under Kn: Nature still? - and I'm trying to figure out what being good at Herbology would represent, in game. Arithmancy and Ancient Runes should probably follow rules for Decipher Script (being two new categories, of course); Divination is about reading signs (mostly), so this will have the same magic category. They'll obviously be less popular choices so the mechanics can probably wait. Muggle studies is straight Kn: Muggles, so it need not be in the Magic Skills category. Same for Astronomy History of Magic.
In the magic skills category, there are thus fourdivisions: Wandwork, Thinkwork, Handiwork, and Bookwork. (Is it fitting that I'm starting to sound like Erfworld magicians?) EDIT: They seem organizable along the three mental stats, so I'll develop a mechanic for those who want mental stats to count in magicking.
Magic skills
-
Wandwork
Handiwork
Thinkwork
Bookwork
Stat
Spellcraft
Handle
Decipher
Knowledge
Int
Transfiguration
Potions
Ancient Runes
History 'o Magic
Wis
DADA
Herbology
Divination
Astronomy
Cha
Charms
CoMC
Arithmancy
Muggle Studies
Listed in what expect will be order of popularity, decreasing left to right.
Each of the 6 classes could be good at a combination of these. I'm still trying to sort out how those'd work, because obviously Thinkwork and Bookwork aren't going to be popular, so doing a cross-section isn't the best way to go.
((More thoughts to come))
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by zyphyr
They don't actually love Gold, they only say that to get it into bed.
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