Bibliography, the Game

[Jokasti]

As some of you may know, Elagune has crafted an awesome webcomic by the name of Bibliography. The system used in it is intriguing and a lot of the readers want to play a game with the rules of the world (you would to, go read it!). So we come to you, Artisans, to create this game.
Different Codices have different powers, so werewolves (of the Lunar Codex) should have speed and claw related powers, while eyedolls (of the All-Seeing Codex) should have eye and recon related powers, etc.

[Jokasti]

What we have so far:

Attributes:
Strength
Dexterity
Stamina
Intelligence
Wits
Charisma

Attributes are rated 1-10, with 3 being the average human ability. You get two Codex Attributes based on your Codex, and can choose one Favored Attribute. Upgrading these favored attributes cost less XP than ones that aren’t. Strength shows how strong you are, Dexterity how agile, Stamina how sturdy. Intelligence shows your capacity for spells, Wits is how fast you react and Charisma how charismatic you are.

Chargen:

Choose a Codex. Note Codex Attributes. Choose a Favored Attribute. You have 10 points to spend in Codex/Favored, and 7 in the other three. Each Attribute starts at 2.
Each Codex has 50 spells. Roll 5d10. Look Here.
My first roll was a 9. Therefore, my first spell is #9.
My second roll was a 8. Therefore, my second spell is #18.
My third roll was a 7. Therefore, my third spell is #27.
My fourth roll was a 2. Therefore, my fourth spell is #32.
My fifth roll was a 3. Therefore, my fifth spell is #43.
Alternate rule: roll 10d10, 2 for each 10 spells. Choose 1 of the 2 from each 10 spells.

You have 10 Bonus Points.

Cost	Effect
1	Specialty in an Attribute
2	X
3	Create a variation of a Spell that you know
4	Raise a Favored Attribute by 1
5	Raise an Attribute that isn't Favored by 1
6	Learn a spell. Roll 5d10 as before, and choose one.

[Herpestidae]

Air Codex is wind manipulation. Dex and Wits would be the best choice for them.

[Jokasti]

Favored Attributes:
Holy Codex: Intelligence and Charisma
Lunar Codex: Dexterity and Wits
All-Seeing Codex: Intelligence and Wits

[Owrtho]

I suggest allowing a favoured attribute to be a codex 1, and in exchange you start higher than 2 in it (but not too high).

Owrtho

[Jokasti]

Can you explain? I don't think I understand.

[Owrtho]

You say each attribute would start at 2. My suggestion is that if a character has their favoured attribute be one that is already a part of their codex, they start with 4 or 5 in it. This may or may not allow the attribute to go above 10. It would give a reason that someone might make a character who has a favoured attribute be one of the ones their codex excels at. Otherwise even if the fluff would point to that, there is no mechanical reason for them to do so (it just means they have less attributes that cost less xp to upgrade.

Owrtho

[Jokasti]

That's true. So how about:
Neither Caste or Favored starts at 2.
Caste/Favored starts at 3.
Caste&Favored starts at 4.

[Jokasti]

Codex	Favored Attributes
All-Seeing Codex	Intelligence and Wits
Atlantis Codex	Stamina and Dexterity
Candle Codex	Strength and Intelligence
Codex of Salem	Intelligence and Wits
Codex of Solomon	n/a
Codex of Temptation	Charisma and Dexterity
Freezing Codex	Stamina and Intelligence
Gelatinous Codex	Dexterity and Stamina
Holy Codex	Intelligence and Charisma
Lunar Codex	Dexterity and Wits
Ma'at's Codex	Strength and Stamina
Nine-Tailed Codex	Wits and Charisma
Sanguine Codex	n/a
Shambling Codex	Strength and Stamina
Trickster's Codex	Intelligence and Wits

[Jokasti]

Abilities
While Attributes show your character's natural stats, Abilities show the stats that your character earns through training.
Melee- Used for attacking an opponent in close combat.
Range- Used for attacking an opponent in ranged combat.
Magic- Shows aptitude with Magic
Dodge- Shows how well you can dodge or parry an attack.
Lore- Shows how well you know of The World.
Athletics- Used to determine possible actions.
Socialize- Used to gain allies at Page Events, and stop combat.
Investigate- Used to find clues and decipher codes.
Sneak- A combination of Stealth and larceny. How well you can move without being noticed and steal things.
Awareness- How aware you are of your surroundings.
When you choose a Codex, you gain 3 Codex Abilities. You may choose 2 favored Abilities. Raising these cost less XP than normal. These are also on a 1-10 scale, however, 0 is the normal human score. You start with a score of 0 in every ability, except for Codex abilities (start at 1), and Favored at 2. You may spend 10 points on Codex/Favored abilities, and 10 on the others.

[Jokasti]

Codex	Favored Attributes	Favored Abilities
All-Seeing Codex	Intelligence and Wits	Magic, Lore, Awareness
Atlantis Codex	Stamina and Dexterity	n/a
Candle Codex	Strength and Intelligence	Range, Dodge, Athletics
Codex of Salem	Intelligence and Wits	Magic, Lore, Socialize
Codex of Solomon	n/a	n/a
Codex of Temptation	Charisma and Dexterity	Dodge, Socialize, Sneak
Freezing Codex	Stamina and Intelligence	Range, Dodge, Lore
Gelatinous Codex	Dexterity and Stamina	Dodge, Athletics, Sneak
Holy Codex	Intelligence and Charisma	Magic, Lore, Socialize
Lunar Codex	Dexterity and Wits	Melee, Dodge, Athletics
Ma'at's Codex	Strength and Stamina	Melee, Dodge, Investigate
Nine-Tailed Codex	Wits and Charisma	n/a
Sanguine Codex	n/a	n/a
Shambling Codex	Strength and Stamina	Melee, Dodge, Magic
Trickster's Codex	Intelligence and Wits	Range, Sneak, Awareness

[Keveak]

This looks good

But what do we do if someone wants a 1-10 spell instead of a 11-20 spell?

And for that matter, should there be rules for getting more spells or do you just have to find somebody who know them?

[HypoSoc]

Atlantis Codex
Dodge, Athletics, and Socialize

Solomon Codex
Intelligence and Strength
Melee, Magic, Lore

What about Librarians?
How about they have the choice of any attribute and ability to be favoured ssince they have no spells of special abilities?

Also, can you explain caste to me? I don't see it mentioned.

[Sanguine]

Originally Posted by HypoSoc

Atlantis Codex
Dodge, Athletics, and Socialize

Solomon Codex
Intelligence and Strength
Melee, Magic, Lore

What about Librarians?
How about they have the choice of any attribute and ability to be favoured ssince they have no spells of special abilities?

Also, can you explain caste to me? I don't see it mentioned.

I think Caste was an accident on his part as this system seems to draw from Exalted. If my theory is correct that would mean Caste should actually be Codex. If I'm completely off-base I have no idea what it means.

And am I the only one who finds it odd that we are giving Codex Attributes and Abilities to codices that haven't shown up in either continuity yet?

[Jokasti]

Err, yeah, what he said. It's on the mind <.<
I'll fix that.
And those are based solely off of guesses. If we see a Merman, for example, and he seems to favor a different set, we'll just change it.

[Jokasti]

Libraians will come later, after Pages are done. And HypoSoc, the current theory on Solomon is summoning, so Strength would not make sense for them.

[HypoSoc]

The Golem's strength, I meant.

[Owrtho]

Solomon would likely be Intelligence and Wits, as Solomon was known for his wisdom.

Owrtho

[HypoSoc]

I know, but Reaction seemed a strange definition of wits.

[Keveak]

Originally Posted by HypoSoc

The Golem's strength, I meant.

That's more magic than strength since this is about the Pages' abilities and not their creations

[HypoSoc]

The pages could be the golems though. We'll see soon.

[Jokasti]

Well I could see arguments for just about all of them except strength for Solomon:
Stamina: they have to be sturdy when summoning stronger spirits
Intelligence: They need to be smart in order to learn spells, summoning circles, djfferent types of summonable creatures.
Wits: They hav to think fast. Also, summoning is a battles of
wills between the Page and summoned.
Charisma: they have to be able to
bind the creatures they summon with honeyed words

[HypoSoc]

But Solomon codex could be becoming golems, not summoning.

[Keveak]

Originally Posted by HypoSoc

But Solomon codex could be becoming golems, not summoning.

The golems we've seen appear to have been constructed by their "Father"

I still agree that it's more likely that they have golem-related powers, though

[Glimbur]

Originally Posted by Jokasti

Each Codex has 50 spells. Roll 5d10. The first is your 1-10 spell, the second your 11-20 spell, the third your 21-30 spell, the fourth your 31-40 spell, and the fifth your 41-50 spell.

This part is really confusing to me. It looks like you want people's spells known to be randomly selected from their list. I don't like that, but whatever. The confusing part is that 5d10 does not give you a range of 1-50. It gives 5-50, with 27.5 being the most likely result and more extreme results being less common. If you wanted every spell to be equally likely to be known, you could try 1d100/2 five times for your five spells.

[Keveak]

Originally Posted by Glimbur

This part is really confusing to me. It looks like you want people's spells known to be randomly selected from their list. I don't like that, but whatever. The confusing part is that 5d10 does not give you a range of 1-50. It gives 5-50, with 27.5 being the most likely result and more extreme results being less common. If you wanted every spell to be equally likely to be known, you could try 1d100/2 five times for your five spells.

Actually it says that each d10 determine the Pages spell in a specific range of numbers (1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and 41-50 respectively)

EDIT:How would 27.5 be likely at all anyway? You can't roll it

[IcemanJRC]

It's the statistical probability, you'd roll a 27 or 28 most likely.

[Owrtho]

Originally Posted by Keveak

EDIT:How would 27.5 be likely at all anyway? You can't roll it

When determining the average of die rolls for dice, the average is the (number of sides divided by 2) + .5 due to it starting at 1 and not 0. When determining the average for multiple die rolls you sum all the averages of the die rolls making it up.

Owrtho

[Jokasti]

Originally Posted by Glimbur

This part is really confusing to me. It looks like you want people's spells known to be randomly selected from their list. I don't like that, but whatever. The confusing part is that 5d10 does not give you a range of 1-50. It gives 5-50, with 27.5 being the most likely result and more extreme results being less common. If you wanted every spell to be equally likely to be known, you could try 1d100/2 five times for your five spells.

I can see how you might be confused. I'll word it better in a sec, but here's what I mean:
Look Here.
My first roll was a 9. Therefore, my first spell is #9.
My second roll was a 8. Therefore, my second spell is #18.
My third roll was a 7. Therefore, my third spell is #27.
My fourth roll was a 2. Therefore, my fourth spell is #32.
My fifth roll was a 3. Therefore, my fifth spell is #43.
I'm thinking about making it 10d10, and you choose 5 spells from that list.

[HypoSoc]

I think if you do 10d10, then it should be still divided among groups of 10. If you roll the same spell twice, either you get a free variation, or you are just out of luck. For example:
[rollv]10d10[/rollv]
Messed up