Deleted_Account
Mongoose
Some people have folks who are hooked on rolling 20 sided dice.
At is happens, you can retrofit rolling 20 sided dice mechanics onto Runic SRD in a way that doesn't significantly change the game.
This system is Runic SRD -- it isn't a 20 sided die based system. There are no levels, your skills determine your character. As much as possible I tried to keep the game in the same shape as Runic SRD.
The only real difference is your skills are ranked +X instead of Y%, and you roll 20 sided dice instead of d%.
This was done as an exercise, and because I've heard of groups that are shy about trying a brand new system. By dressing up the Runic SRD system in 20 sided dice, players might not be as frightened off.
Included is an appendix of optional rules varients that you might, or might not, want to patch on.
So without futher ado, 20-sided die Runic SRD retrofit!
Stat chart:
Stats are associated with modifiers. This is known as the stat's "Bonus" to the appropriate skill. In general, every 2 points of a stat adds 1/2 to the stat's Bonus.
These Bonus's are always positive, unlike in some other games.
etc. This makes stats very slightly more important than Runic SRD stats for skills.
Someone with 11 strength would have a Strength Bonus of +2 and 1/2.
Note that the above chart is effectively Stat/4.
Most skills use two stat bonus' added togheter -- that is where the 1/2 points come in handy!
Character generation:
Use standard Runic SRD rules, except replace +5% with +1 point of skill.
Ie, if a profession/background grants 5%, it grants +1 rank to that skill instead.
+5%: +1
+10%: +2
+15%: +3
+20%: +4
This also applies elsewhere.
Players get 20 free skill points (instead of 100) to spend on skills.
Buying advanced skills cost two startup skill points. If you get an advanced skill you already have, you get +2 to the skill instead.
For a beginning adventurer, restrict them to having +6 points in a skill, or +4 in an advanced skill that they didn't get from a profession.
Skills:
Use the normal Runic SRD list for skill bases. 10+Pow becomes 2+Pow. Use the stat modifieries above.
Leftover half points (from stat modifiers) have no impact on rolls.
Checking a skill consists of rolling 1d20+modified skill against a target number of 20.
Optional: Lower the default target number to 15 or 10. This generates characters who are significantly more competent.
1 always fails, 20 always succeeds.
Crits are threatened on a natural roll of 19 or 20 even if the roll is a failure.
If a character has over a +20 skill, for every 10 points over the Crit threat range increases by 1 (ie, with 50 to 59 skill, a roll of 16 to 20 threatens a crit).
Roll again to confirm the crit. If you hit, you crit. If you miss, and your original roll was a hit, you hit normally. If you miss, and your threatened crit was a miss, you miss.
Unskilled advanced skills get a -2 to -4 modifier to their use.
A roll of a 1 is a potential Botch. Roll again to confirm the Botch -- on a 1 2 3 or 4, you Botch.
Optional: Instead, when you get a potential Botch, roll again. If your roll fails, you Botch.
Character advancement:
Give out "XP" at a rate of 5 to 10 XP for every skillup point you would in Runic SRD. (I think 6 or 7 XP per skillup is the exact match).
It costs 5, plus your current skill times two, to up a skill by +1.
If you have 5 skill in Rapier, it costs 15 XP to up it to 6 skill.
If you have 20 skill in Survial, it costs 45 XP to up it to 21 skill.
Skills over 20 cost no more than a skill of 20 XP -- ie, 45 XP per skillup. Varient: have skills over 20 continue to cost more XP to increase.
It costs 10 XP to buy a new Advanced skill.
Whenever you up a skill, pick an attribute that adds to the skill you just boosted that you want to try to increase.
Roll 1d20, get it under your new skill. (20 always fails) If you pass this test, then:
Roll another 1d20, get it at or over your stat. (20 always wins)
If you beat both of the above, your stat goes up by +1.
If your stat is already at the max for your race, you can instead pick any two other skills that use that stat, and try to beat their skill level on a 1d20 for a +1 to the respective skill.
Optional: A player may choose to forgo the stat increase, and instead roll on two other skills that use a stat, even if his stat isn't maxed.
(Balancing note: The cost of stat-ups is rolled into the cost of XPing up skills. This was easier than the alternative. It also has a nice effect that as you practice up your skills, your attributes related to the skills you are practicing go up...)
Optional: Runic SRD uses modified skill (including stat modifiers) for the above skillup costs and rolls.
You can choose to use unmodified skill. If you do, use it for all of the rolls above (stat ups, cost, etc).
The result is higher skill characters, and stats being more important.
Armor penalties:
Calculate average armor. -1 per point of average armor, round up.
(This penalty is a bit smaller than the Runic SRD's by a tad).
Ie, if you have 6 points of armor (full plate) everywhere, you end up with a -6 armor penalty.
(The Runic SRD has a -42%, or -8.4 armor penalty, from full full plate).
Contested checks:
Crits beat Successes beat Failures beat Botches.
Other than that, whoever rolls higher wins.
Attack/Damage:
Use the Runic SRD rules.
Appendix:
Total points needed for buying a skill to level X:
This is useful if you want to advance a character rapidly.
If your skill goes from 10 to 20, that is
475-135 = 340 XP
and 10+10/20 - 2+16/20 = 8 - 6/20 statup tries.
Roll 1d20. On a 6 or less, you get 7 statup tries. On a 7 or more, you get 8.
Roll that many attempts at increasing your stats.
Alternative Rule Appendix:
These change the game further away from being an approximation of the Runic SRD.
Alternative Damage chart:
Str+Size modifier
+0: -1d8
+1: -1d6
+2: -1d4
+3: -1d3
+4: -(1d3-1) (-0 to -2)
+5: 0
+6: +1d3-1 (+0 to +2)
+7: +1d3
+8: +1d4
+9: +1d6
+10: +1d8
+11: +1d10
+12: +2d6
+13: +3d4
+14: +2d8
+15: +2d8+1
+16: +3d6
+17: +3d6+1
+18: +2d12
+19: +4d6
+20: +3d10
Beyond: add +1 damage for every point beyond 20.
Alternative: Add StrMod+SizMod-5 to the damage of your attacks.
Alternative: Point buy stats
50 to 70 points to make a character.
Alternative:
HP and Hit locations. This alternative makes losing your arm to a single arrow less likely, and makes knocking someone out from cumulative damage more likely than chopping off a limb.
All damage is applied twice -- once to the place targetted, and once to the Core. The Core is the union of your Abdomen and Chest slots.
Just as damage is doubled, HP per slot is also doubled.
Lastly, a HP chart that gives extra HP for every point of Siz and Con is provided.
If you don't like the idea of keeping track of damage twice, and like limbs being blown off, below there is a chart more compatable with the standard Runic rules.
20: Head
13-19: Core
10-12: Right arm
7-9: Left arm
4-6: Right leg
1-3: Left leg
Con+Siz determines HP.
All damage is done to the limb/head hit and the core. This reflects shock and blood loss. (This happens after armor -- so Core armor doesn't apply when your arm is hit).
Damage done directly to the core is doubled and applied to the core.
This system is closer to previous edition HP systems. Your "Core" HP are used in place of your "Total" HP.
Every single point of Siz and Con increases your HP in your core and one limb, instead of being blocks of 5.
Total damage delt to flesh is doubled under this system -- once to the core, and once to the hit location in question. At the same time, each limb has more HP, so losing your arm to a single unlucky blow is less likely.
A character with 16 Siz 15 Con (31 total), Before/After:
Leg: 7/14
Arm: 6/11
Head: 7/9+2 armor
Chest+Abdomen: 17/34
To quickly convert monsters:
Work out how much head armor (1 for every 15 Siz+Con).
Subtract head armor from head HP.
Add "Core" slots (chest and abdomen, etc) together.
Reduce chance to hit head by 1 slot, add it to core.
Last, double HP per slot.
Alternative:
This one doesn't have the double HP per slot, and you only damage where you hit, but it is otherwise similar.
HP and Hit locations. I don't like charts with size 5 steps!
Hit locations:
20: Head
15-19: Chest
13-15: Abdomen
10-12: Right arm
7-9: Left arm
4-6: Right leg
1-3: Left leg
Con and Siz chart
The above chart grants +1 HP to one hit location for every point of Siz and Con.
It generates rougly the same HP as the one built into the Runic SRD.
Alternative:
Some "skills" are tied more tightly to stats than others.
Persistance, Resistance, Dodge, Brute Strength, Athletics
It is rather hard, and inefficient, to increase your ability to do acts of Brute Strength without making yourself stronger. Technique only goes so far.
Characters can only boost these skills by +10%/+2 at character creation if the characters are standard starting characters, and the cost per point is 3 times as high.
Professions/Backgrounds that grant these abilities grant 1/2 as much, rounded up.
These skills cost three times as much to increase as other skills. Under the Runic 20 sided dice system above, every increase gets three attempts at a stat-up.
Persistance: Use Pow (Pow*5% in pure Runic SRD)
Resilience: Use Con+PowBonus (Con*5% + Pow in pure Runic SRD)
Dodge: Use Dex-Siz/2 (Dex*5% - Siz*2% in pure Runic SRD)
Athletics: Use (Dex+Str)/2 ((Dex+Str)*2% in pure Runic SRD)
+Brute: Use (Str+Siz)/2 (Str*3%+Siz*2% in pure Runic SRD)
Athletics only costs 2x as much to increase, but only half of the increase applies to Brute Strength.
Second, characters can use Acrobatics to Dodge attacks. This uses up an Action instead of a Reaction, but if the defence matches the attacker, no damage is done, and the acrobatic character need not give ground.
At is happens, you can retrofit rolling 20 sided dice mechanics onto Runic SRD in a way that doesn't significantly change the game.
This system is Runic SRD -- it isn't a 20 sided die based system. There are no levels, your skills determine your character. As much as possible I tried to keep the game in the same shape as Runic SRD.
The only real difference is your skills are ranked +X instead of Y%, and you roll 20 sided dice instead of d%.
This was done as an exercise, and because I've heard of groups that are shy about trying a brand new system. By dressing up the Runic SRD system in 20 sided dice, players might not be as frightened off.
Included is an appendix of optional rules varients that you might, or might not, want to patch on.
So without futher ado, 20-sided die Runic SRD retrofit!
Stat chart:
Stats are associated with modifiers. This is known as the stat's "Bonus" to the appropriate skill. In general, every 2 points of a stat adds 1/2 to the stat's Bonus.
These Bonus's are always positive, unlike in some other games.
Code:
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5
+1/2 +1/2 +1/2 +1/2 +1/2 +1/2Someone with 11 strength would have a Strength Bonus of +2 and 1/2.
Note that the above chart is effectively Stat/4.
Most skills use two stat bonus' added togheter -- that is where the 1/2 points come in handy!
Character generation:
Use standard Runic SRD rules, except replace +5% with +1 point of skill.
Ie, if a profession/background grants 5%, it grants +1 rank to that skill instead.
+5%: +1
+10%: +2
+15%: +3
+20%: +4
This also applies elsewhere.
Players get 20 free skill points (instead of 100) to spend on skills.
Buying advanced skills cost two startup skill points. If you get an advanced skill you already have, you get +2 to the skill instead.
For a beginning adventurer, restrict them to having +6 points in a skill, or +4 in an advanced skill that they didn't get from a profession.
Skills:
Use the normal Runic SRD list for skill bases. 10+Pow becomes 2+Pow. Use the stat modifieries above.
Leftover half points (from stat modifiers) have no impact on rolls.
Checking a skill consists of rolling 1d20+modified skill against a target number of 20.
Optional: Lower the default target number to 15 or 10. This generates characters who are significantly more competent.
1 always fails, 20 always succeeds.
Crits are threatened on a natural roll of 19 or 20 even if the roll is a failure.
If a character has over a +20 skill, for every 10 points over the Crit threat range increases by 1 (ie, with 50 to 59 skill, a roll of 16 to 20 threatens a crit).
Roll again to confirm the crit. If you hit, you crit. If you miss, and your original roll was a hit, you hit normally. If you miss, and your threatened crit was a miss, you miss.
Unskilled advanced skills get a -2 to -4 modifier to their use.
A roll of a 1 is a potential Botch. Roll again to confirm the Botch -- on a 1 2 3 or 4, you Botch.
Optional: Instead, when you get a potential Botch, roll again. If your roll fails, you Botch.
Character advancement:
Give out "XP" at a rate of 5 to 10 XP for every skillup point you would in Runic SRD. (I think 6 or 7 XP per skillup is the exact match).
It costs 5, plus your current skill times two, to up a skill by +1.
If you have 5 skill in Rapier, it costs 15 XP to up it to 6 skill.
If you have 20 skill in Survial, it costs 45 XP to up it to 21 skill.
Skills over 20 cost no more than a skill of 20 XP -- ie, 45 XP per skillup. Varient: have skills over 20 continue to cost more XP to increase.
It costs 10 XP to buy a new Advanced skill.
Whenever you up a skill, pick an attribute that adds to the skill you just boosted that you want to try to increase.
Roll 1d20, get it under your new skill. (20 always fails) If you pass this test, then:
Roll another 1d20, get it at or over your stat. (20 always wins)
If you beat both of the above, your stat goes up by +1.
If your stat is already at the max for your race, you can instead pick any two other skills that use that stat, and try to beat their skill level on a 1d20 for a +1 to the respective skill.
Optional: A player may choose to forgo the stat increase, and instead roll on two other skills that use a stat, even if his stat isn't maxed.
(Balancing note: The cost of stat-ups is rolled into the cost of XPing up skills. This was easier than the alternative. It also has a nice effect that as you practice up your skills, your attributes related to the skills you are practicing go up...)
Optional: Runic SRD uses modified skill (including stat modifiers) for the above skillup costs and rolls.
You can choose to use unmodified skill. If you do, use it for all of the rolls above (stat ups, cost, etc).
The result is higher skill characters, and stats being more important.
Armor penalties:
Calculate average armor. -1 per point of average armor, round up.
(This penalty is a bit smaller than the Runic SRD's by a tad).
Ie, if you have 6 points of armor (full plate) everywhere, you end up with a -6 armor penalty.
(The Runic SRD has a -42%, or -8.4 armor penalty, from full full plate).
Contested checks:
Crits beat Successes beat Failures beat Botches.
Other than that, whoever rolls higher wins.
Attack/Damage:
Use the Runic SRD rules.
Appendix:
Total points needed for buying a skill to level X:
Code:
Skill XP Stat-up tries
1 0 1/20
2 7 3/20
3 16 6/20
4 27 10/20
5 40 15/20
6 55 1+1/20
7 72 1+9/20
8 91 1+17/20
9 112 2+6/20
10 135 2+16/20
11 160 3+7/20
12 187 3+19/20
13 216 4+12/20
14 247 5+6/20
15 280 6+1/20
16 315 6+17/20
17 352 7+14/20
18 391 8+12/20
19 432 9+11/20
20 475 10+10/20
21 520 11+9/20
+1 +45 +19/20This is useful if you want to advance a character rapidly.
If your skill goes from 10 to 20, that is
475-135 = 340 XP
and 10+10/20 - 2+16/20 = 8 - 6/20 statup tries.
Roll 1d20. On a 6 or less, you get 7 statup tries. On a 7 or more, you get 8.
Roll that many attempts at increasing your stats.
Alternative Rule Appendix:
These change the game further away from being an approximation of the Runic SRD.
Alternative Damage chart:
Str+Size modifier
+0: -1d8
+1: -1d6
+2: -1d4
+3: -1d3
+4: -(1d3-1) (-0 to -2)
+5: 0
+6: +1d3-1 (+0 to +2)
+7: +1d3
+8: +1d4
+9: +1d6
+10: +1d8
+11: +1d10
+12: +2d6
+13: +3d4
+14: +2d8
+15: +2d8+1
+16: +3d6
+17: +3d6+1
+18: +2d12
+19: +4d6
+20: +3d10
Beyond: add +1 damage for every point beyond 20.
Alternative: Add StrMod+SizMod-5 to the damage of your attacks.
Alternative: Point buy stats
Code:
Int/Siz Other
6 - 0
7 - 1
8 0 2
9 0 3
10 1 4
11 2 6
12 3 8
13 5 10
14 7 12
15 9 15
16 11 18
17 13 21
18 15 24Alternative:
HP and Hit locations. This alternative makes losing your arm to a single arrow less likely, and makes knocking someone out from cumulative damage more likely than chopping off a limb.
All damage is applied twice -- once to the place targetted, and once to the Core. The Core is the union of your Abdomen and Chest slots.
Just as damage is doubled, HP per slot is also doubled.
Lastly, a HP chart that gives extra HP for every point of Siz and Con is provided.
If you don't like the idea of keeping track of damage twice, and like limbs being blown off, below there is a chart more compatable with the standard Runic rules.
20: Head
13-19: Core
10-12: Right arm
7-9: Left arm
4-6: Right leg
1-3: Left leg
Con+Siz determines HP.
Code:
Core Arm Leg Head
1 4 1 2 1
2 5 2 2 1
3 6 2 3 1
4 7 2 3 2
5 8 3 3 2
6 9 3 4 2
7 10 3 4 3
8 11 3 5 3
9 12 4 5 3
10 13 4 5 4
11 14 4 6 4
12 15 5 6 4
13 16 5 7 4
14 17 6 7 4
15 18 6 7 5/1 armor
+15 +15 +5 +6 +4/+1 armorAll damage is done to the limb/head hit and the core. This reflects shock and blood loss. (This happens after armor -- so Core armor doesn't apply when your arm is hit).
Damage done directly to the core is doubled and applied to the core.
This system is closer to previous edition HP systems. Your "Core" HP are used in place of your "Total" HP.
Every single point of Siz and Con increases your HP in your core and one limb, instead of being blocks of 5.
Total damage delt to flesh is doubled under this system -- once to the core, and once to the hit location in question. At the same time, each limb has more HP, so losing your arm to a single unlucky blow is less likely.
A character with 16 Siz 15 Con (31 total), Before/After:
Leg: 7/14
Arm: 6/11
Head: 7/9+2 armor
Chest+Abdomen: 17/34
To quickly convert monsters:
Work out how much head armor (1 for every 15 Siz+Con).
Subtract head armor from head HP.
Add "Core" slots (chest and abdomen, etc) together.
Reduce chance to hit head by 1 slot, add it to core.
Last, double HP per slot.
Alternative:
This one doesn't have the double HP per slot, and you only damage where you hit, but it is otherwise similar.
HP and Hit locations. I don't like charts with size 5 steps!
Hit locations:
20: Head
15-19: Chest
13-15: Abdomen
10-12: Right arm
7-9: Left arm
4-6: Right leg
1-3: Left leg
Con and Siz chart
Code:
Chest Abdo Arm Leg Head
1 3 2 1 2 1
2 4 2 1 2 1
3 4 2 2 2 1
4 4 3 2 2 1
5 4 3 2 3 1
6 5 3 2 3 1
7 5 3 2 3 2
8 5 4 2 3 2
9 5 4 3 3 2
10 6 4 3 3 2
11 6 4 3 4 2
12 6 5 3 4 2
13 6 5 3 4 3
14 7 5 3 4 3
15 7 5 3 5 3/1 armor
16 7 6 3 5 3/1 armor
17 7 6 4 5 3/1 armor
18 8 6 4 5 3/1 armor
19 8 6 4 5 4/1 armor
20 8 7 4 5 4/1 armor
21 8 7 4 6 4/1 armor
22 9 7 4 6 4/1 armor
23 9 7 5 6 4/1 armor
24 9 8 5 6 4/1 armor
25 9 8 5 7 4/1 armor
26 10 8 5 7 4/1 armor
27 10 8 6 7 4/1 armor
28 10 9 6 7 4/1 armor
29 10 9 6 7 5/1 armor
30 11 9 6 7 5/1 armor
+30 +8 +7 +5 +6 +4/+1 armorThe above chart grants +1 HP to one hit location for every point of Siz and Con.
It generates rougly the same HP as the one built into the Runic SRD.
Alternative:
Some "skills" are tied more tightly to stats than others.
Persistance, Resistance, Dodge, Brute Strength, Athletics
It is rather hard, and inefficient, to increase your ability to do acts of Brute Strength without making yourself stronger. Technique only goes so far.
Characters can only boost these skills by +10%/+2 at character creation if the characters are standard starting characters, and the cost per point is 3 times as high.
Professions/Backgrounds that grant these abilities grant 1/2 as much, rounded up.
These skills cost three times as much to increase as other skills. Under the Runic 20 sided dice system above, every increase gets three attempts at a stat-up.
Persistance: Use Pow (Pow*5% in pure Runic SRD)
Resilience: Use Con+PowBonus (Con*5% + Pow in pure Runic SRD)
Dodge: Use Dex-Siz/2 (Dex*5% - Siz*2% in pure Runic SRD)
Athletics: Use (Dex+Str)/2 ((Dex+Str)*2% in pure Runic SRD)
+Brute: Use (Str+Siz)/2 (Str*3%+Siz*2% in pure Runic SRD)
Athletics only costs 2x as much to increase, but only half of the increase applies to Brute Strength.
Second, characters can use Acrobatics to Dodge attacks. This uses up an Action instead of a Reaction, but if the defence matches the attacker, no damage is done, and the acrobatic character need not give ground.
