Post by malice on Dec 20, 2006 5:08:59 GMT -5
This has evolved from a standard "here is my idea plz post feedback" thread to my personal homebrew archive (similar to a CAD archive).
It's still public domain so if you want to critique my stuff go for it, but recently I realized I've clocked hundreds of hours creating content for this system. Leaving it scattered in all the threads I initially create it is just plain stupid. I imagine I've lost about half the playable rules I've created just because it didn't occur to me to keep them somewhere specific. Now I'm keeping them somewhere.
New Actions:
[glow=blue,2,300]Dashing[/glow]
Cost level = Action number
You boost in a straight line at incredible speed. You'll move jumping distance at flight speed. Use the Area/Leaping row of the D&R char to determine the distance you can travel and the Flight speed row to determine the speed you move at and how many stones you must spend to do so. You can't pass through solid matter and will be stopped (unharmed) if you encounter it or anything else like it. While you only need to spend the minimum number of stones needed to achieve your chosen speed, you can choose to spend more stones and combine this action with the first strike in a close combat attack. You may also choose to dash up or down or in any other direction, but you will always move in a straight line. It's recommended you buy a low flight action if you're going to be dashing straight up alot! This is an excellent action for close combat characters who need to close the distance fast.
Rules for Action Box:
-Move in a straight line at flight speed.
-Use Area/Leaping Row of D&R to determine the distance you can travel
-Use flight row of D&R to determine speed and how many stones of resistance.
-Combine stones with Close Combat at the end of your dash (You may also combine stones with appropriate actions like Unstoppable)
Example:
Raikoh has a dashing action number of 5. There is a demon 45 feet ahead of him about to blast him with a fireball. He puts 1 stone into dashing to move forward at 160mph and tells the GM he'll stop at the demon. He closes the distance easily, and could've gone 5 more feet if necessary. He could have also spent more stones in dashing and told the GM he was combining stones with close combat for a viscious blow at the end of his dash. If the demon had been 100 feet away Raikoh would've had to spend 2 stones to get to it this panel. If the demon had been more than 100 feet away Raikoh could not have reached him with a single dash at Action Number 5.
[glow=blue,2,300]Drink Blood[/glow]
Cost level = Action Number +7 levels.
For Vampires of course! This is the power most vampires are known for. It works similarly to Drain Energy with a few disadvantages and a few powerful advantages as well. It's also a complicated action. Obviously worthless against bloodless enemies, it is ineffective against anything non-living. It cannot be improved by lines and comes with a fang modifier already.
Essentially a possessor of this action must drink the blood of a victim to survive. If they drain a more powerful victim the benefits are more substantial. It is also a damaging thing to do so the victim sustains 1 white stone of damage for every 3 stones drained. Unlike Drain Energy and Energy Absorption/Reflection, stones drained bleed off at a rate of 1 per HOUR.
The following options are available when using this action:
Restrictions:
-All stones spent towards specific effects other than healing drain off at 1 per hour. That means ability scores increased and boosted energy regeneration will sink by 1 every hour.
-Effects other than healing last as many hours as your durability and cease thereafter.
Rules for Action Box:
-As Improved Drain Energy but must drink victim's blood
-Cannot be improved by lines
-Every 3 stones drained does a white stone of damage
-Fang modifier free
-Steal/Increase abilities to Action # with drained stones; these count against the maximum stones you can drain.
-Regenerate Action # into energy reserve beyond your normal energy regeneration
-Heal damage to yourself
Example of Play:
Melody has a Drink Blood Action Number of 9 and a Fang Modifier of 1. Having knocked Quicksilver unconscious, Melody informs the GM he'd like to drain Quicksilver as much as possible without killing him. The GM says that will take two panels and 14 stones of effort. Melody drinks for two panels, spending 9 the first and 3 the second. Melody has 14 stones to play with (If he had gone to 15, he'd have killed Quicksilver whose durability is 5, instead he just leaves the speedy Avenger in a coma).
He hasn't suffered any damage so Melody doesn't bother healing any stones. However Quicksilver has a speed of 10 and Melody only has 4, so he increases his speed to 9 (His action number) for free and still has 14 stones to play with. He could do this with anyone who has 5 stones to drain, but they wouldn't be free unless the victim's speed score exceed his own. Melody decides to spend 2 stones to increase his agility to 7 and 3 stones to increase his durability to 7. He has 9 drained stones remaining, and decides to add them to his energy regeneration so he'll be regenerating an extra 9 energy every panel for the next hour.
Melody now has 9 speed, 7 agility, and 7 durability as well as enhanced energy regeneration. He also uses speed to determine when he acts, because Quicksilver bought that option. He can also drink 4 more stones today because with a durability of 6 his maximum allowed amount to drink in a day is 18, and he took 14 from Quicksilver.
Every hour he'll let his energy regeneration drop by 1 until after 6 hours (His durability) all effects other than healing will cease.
Comments: This is a powerful action when used correctly, however it's balanced by the fact that it can't be improved and it requires a victim.
A note on Drink Blood: I intended this to work more like an out-of-combat "boost" action. You secure a victim and drain them at your convenience. While vampires in fiction are frequently portrayed as using their teeth as weapons, they don't usually stop mid-fight to have a full meal. Their victims are either powerless against them and therefore not a serious combat threat, or the vampires must defeat an enemy in battle before draining them. While Drink Blood CAN be used in the heat of battle, I expect any combatant worth their salt to make you work for it.
New Options for Force Field:
+1 to cost level to do damage equal to stones spent on action to those making physical contact with the force field
+2 to cost level to reflect attacks back at the attacker. If you spend 1 energy you can select a target other than the attacker to reflect the attack at. This 1 stone is spent reflexively and doesn't count against the your action # total amount of stones you can spend. If you buy the Overstrain advantage on your force field you don't have to spend this extra stone. Be warned many energy-wielders are frequently immune to or absorb their own energy type!
These may also be applied to energy and magical defense as well as armor and toughness but at a greater cost because stones are free. +2 on top of stated cost to apply these to the above-stated modififiers.
New Modifiers:
Chi-Block
Modifier Number + 3 levels
Description: This is the ability of some practiced Masters to directly limit the chi flow of their opponents, crippling their bodies and limiting their superpowers.
Add your modifier number only to your Close Combat attacks. You do not damage health stones, but instead your choice of the enemy's red stones of energy, abilities, actions, or modifier numbers. Deduct damage directly from from their maximum AN, MN, or Ability score. This ability cannot be used to attack durability or stones of health, and it cannot drop a target's AN, MN, or Ability score below 1.
Characters affected by this attack recover their AN, MN, or Ability score at 1 point per panel when they are not being damaged by Chi-Block. So continually hitting an enemy's same AN, MN, or Ability score will prohibit them from regenerating them.
-1 to cost level if bought with Nerve Punch
+6 to cost level for the power to drop a target's score to 0.
--In the case of physical ability scores (Strength, Speed, Agility) a 0 means the character cannot make meaningful movements.
--In the case of Intelligence a 0 means the target is completely incapable of thinking (Some creatures, like insects, already have an Intelligence of 0, they are driven by instinct/well-programmed biology and stimuli that trigger specific reactions).
--An AN of 0 means the action is deactivated and unavailable as long as it is a 0. It still takes up an action box, but a character cannot allocate stones into that action for as long as it is at 0, and in the case of an action like Steal Superpower the action is deactivated as if the character did not possess it (Since Steal Superpower has no AN though, good luck figuring out how to attack it with Chi-Block).
--A MN of 0 completely deactivates the modifier for as long as it is a 0. The character with the modifier gains none of its benefits and behaves as if they do not possess it for as long as it is a 0.
--Optional Rule: Sometimes behaving as if you lack an action or modifier completely affects other actions or modifiers. Stretching gives a discount to Toughness and Animal Senses gives a discount to Reflexive Dodge. When a discount-granting action or modifier is reduced to 0 by Chi-Block, you can penalize the discounted action at the same rate as the discount. So dropping Animal Senses to 0 would reduce Reflexive Dodge by 1 (as low as 0) for as long as Animal Senses was 0.
Rules for Action Box
-Combines with Close Combat for offense only
-Damage comes from enemy's ANs, MNs, or Ability scores, which they can only begin regenerating at 1 point per panel when they are no longer taking damage from Chi Block (i.e. you stop attacking them with it)
-Comes with stun option
[glow=blue,2,300]Tireless[/glow]
Cost level = Modifier number + 4 levels
You regenerate your modifier # worth of red stones into your energy reserve in addition to your normal regeneration rate.
+1 to cost level if you already have a healing factor of any kind or Rapid Recovery
[glow=blue,2,300]Damage Reduction[/glow]
Cost level = Modifier number + 2 levels
Subtract modifier number from damage incurred after damage has been multiplied in the case of 2x and 3x damage.
Options:
Ineffective against magic, mental, physical, or energy attacks (-1 each)
Ineffective against stunning (-1 to cost level)
Only effective against stunning (-2 to cost level)
Comments: This is good for people who want to be tough but don't see there characters as being thick-skinned near as much as they see them shrugging off pain or immediately healing.
[glow=blue,2,300]Edge[/glow]
Cost = MN
Add MN to any action as many times per mission as MN. The amount your MN adds decreases by 1 every time you use it, so actually you add (MN - Times you've used it in this campaign) to any action.
[glow=blue,2,300]Shadowbox[/glow]
Cost = MN
When you make a melee attack you can have Shadowbox make a second attack at MN immediately afterward against the same target. This attack does not require any energy or an action per panel.
This can happen as many times as your MN in ten panels. So if your MN is 6, you can benefit from this modifier 6 times in 10 panels. If you have uses of Shadowbox left over after 10 panels then any uses of Shadowbox carry over (For example if you have a MN of 6 but only used Shadowbox 5 times in 10 panels, you would have 7 uses of Shadowbox in the next 10 panels).
You don't have to call it shadowbox, you could call it Aftershock or Echo just as easily.
[glow=blue,2,300]Dance of Death[/glow]
Cost = MN + MN levels
Similar to Shadowbox and uses the same recharge mechanic, except that Dance of Death can be used for any type of attack (Not just melee) and the second attack is as strong as your initial attack or MN, whichever is higher (Shadowbox only ever attacks at MN). This attack requires no energy or an action per panel.
Example: You have Dance of Death at 5. You make a 7 stone ranged attack with a Force blast, Dance of Death copies the attack and makes an identical 7 attack immediately after yours. The next panel you only make a 4 stone attack, but Dance of Death attacks at 5 because that's your MN.
+2 to cost level of either Dance of Death or Shadowbox to allow the attack from your modifier to target a different target (Normally they attack the same target).
Once again Dance of Death doesn't have to be its name.
Like I said I think they'll likely need a lot of fixing up, but I think they're cool and wanted to see what you all thought.
EDITS SINCE ORIGINAL POST:
-The cost of Drink Blood was originally +9 to cost level and came with a Strength Bonus. It also included no healing option and was not explained in a list format
-Damage Reduction was originally +3 to cost level and offered a -1 to cost level to either Toughness or -----Damage Reduction (never both) if you possessed both.
-Added target selection to the reflective Force Field advantage
-Added Edge, Shadowbox, and Dance of Death modifiers.
-Tireless returned to original state. I figured since it was the only original idea I had I should keep it as I first had it.
-Added Chi-Block, a custom modifier I made to request awhile back.
-Added A note on Drink Blood.
-Added an advantage to Chi-Block
It's still public domain so if you want to critique my stuff go for it, but recently I realized I've clocked hundreds of hours creating content for this system. Leaving it scattered in all the threads I initially create it is just plain stupid. I imagine I've lost about half the playable rules I've created just because it didn't occur to me to keep them somewhere specific. Now I'm keeping them somewhere.
New Actions:
[glow=blue,2,300]Dashing[/glow]
Cost level = Action number
You boost in a straight line at incredible speed. You'll move jumping distance at flight speed. Use the Area/Leaping row of the D&R char to determine the distance you can travel and the Flight speed row to determine the speed you move at and how many stones you must spend to do so. You can't pass through solid matter and will be stopped (unharmed) if you encounter it or anything else like it. While you only need to spend the minimum number of stones needed to achieve your chosen speed, you can choose to spend more stones and combine this action with the first strike in a close combat attack. You may also choose to dash up or down or in any other direction, but you will always move in a straight line. It's recommended you buy a low flight action if you're going to be dashing straight up alot! This is an excellent action for close combat characters who need to close the distance fast.
Rules for Action Box:
-Move in a straight line at flight speed.
-Use Area/Leaping Row of D&R to determine the distance you can travel
-Use flight row of D&R to determine speed and how many stones of resistance.
-Combine stones with Close Combat at the end of your dash (You may also combine stones with appropriate actions like Unstoppable)
Example:
Raikoh has a dashing action number of 5. There is a demon 45 feet ahead of him about to blast him with a fireball. He puts 1 stone into dashing to move forward at 160mph and tells the GM he'll stop at the demon. He closes the distance easily, and could've gone 5 more feet if necessary. He could have also spent more stones in dashing and told the GM he was combining stones with close combat for a viscious blow at the end of his dash. If the demon had been 100 feet away Raikoh would've had to spend 2 stones to get to it this panel. If the demon had been more than 100 feet away Raikoh could not have reached him with a single dash at Action Number 5.
[glow=blue,2,300]Drink Blood[/glow]
Cost level = Action Number +7 levels.
For Vampires of course! This is the power most vampires are known for. It works similarly to Drain Energy with a few disadvantages and a few powerful advantages as well. It's also a complicated action. Obviously worthless against bloodless enemies, it is ineffective against anything non-living. It cannot be improved by lines and comes with a fang modifier already.
Essentially a possessor of this action must drink the blood of a victim to survive. If they drain a more powerful victim the benefits are more substantial. It is also a damaging thing to do so the victim sustains 1 white stone of damage for every 3 stones drained. Unlike Drain Energy and Energy Absorption/Reflection, stones drained bleed off at a rate of 1 per HOUR.
The following options are available when using this action:
- Drain up to 3x your natural durability in energy from a victim or victims every 24 hours. You cannot drain more than 3x your durability from any amount of victims within 24 hours. Bonus: Most vampires can tell how much life is left in their victim, and can therefore inform the GM of how many stones they'd like their victim to have left, and can stop drinking at that time.
- Spend drained stones increase any physical ability score at a 1 to 1 cost rate except durability which costs 3 to increase by 1. Abilities cannot be increased this way above the drinker's Drink Blood Action Number (If they're already above it then they can be increased no more). Bonus: If the victim's ability scores are higher than yours, then stones to increase those ability scores are free as long as you drank some of their blood. You also gain any advantages or disadvantages on their abilities (Speed for order of actions is a common example).
- Spend drained stones to heal 1 white stone of damage on yourself. It costs 3 drained stones to heal 1 white, and you can heal up to your Drink Blood Action number's worth of white stones per day. (As the Healing Action with "self only" and "only with drained stones" disadvantages)
- Increase red stone (energy) regeneration by the amount drained (and not spent on increasing abilities or healing) or your Drink Blood Action Number, whichever is less.
Restrictions:
-All stones spent towards specific effects other than healing drain off at 1 per hour. That means ability scores increased and boosted energy regeneration will sink by 1 every hour.
-Effects other than healing last as many hours as your durability and cease thereafter.
Rules for Action Box:
-As Improved Drain Energy but must drink victim's blood
-Cannot be improved by lines
-Every 3 stones drained does a white stone of damage
-Fang modifier free
-Steal/Increase abilities to Action # with drained stones; these count against the maximum stones you can drain.
-Regenerate Action # into energy reserve beyond your normal energy regeneration
-Heal damage to yourself
Example of Play:
Melody has a Drink Blood Action Number of 9 and a Fang Modifier of 1. Having knocked Quicksilver unconscious, Melody informs the GM he'd like to drain Quicksilver as much as possible without killing him. The GM says that will take two panels and 14 stones of effort. Melody drinks for two panels, spending 9 the first and 3 the second. Melody has 14 stones to play with (If he had gone to 15, he'd have killed Quicksilver whose durability is 5, instead he just leaves the speedy Avenger in a coma).
He hasn't suffered any damage so Melody doesn't bother healing any stones. However Quicksilver has a speed of 10 and Melody only has 4, so he increases his speed to 9 (His action number) for free and still has 14 stones to play with. He could do this with anyone who has 5 stones to drain, but they wouldn't be free unless the victim's speed score exceed his own. Melody decides to spend 2 stones to increase his agility to 7 and 3 stones to increase his durability to 7. He has 9 drained stones remaining, and decides to add them to his energy regeneration so he'll be regenerating an extra 9 energy every panel for the next hour.
Melody now has 9 speed, 7 agility, and 7 durability as well as enhanced energy regeneration. He also uses speed to determine when he acts, because Quicksilver bought that option. He can also drink 4 more stones today because with a durability of 6 his maximum allowed amount to drink in a day is 18, and he took 14 from Quicksilver.
Every hour he'll let his energy regeneration drop by 1 until after 6 hours (His durability) all effects other than healing will cease.
Comments: This is a powerful action when used correctly, however it's balanced by the fact that it can't be improved and it requires a victim.
A note on Drink Blood: I intended this to work more like an out-of-combat "boost" action. You secure a victim and drain them at your convenience. While vampires in fiction are frequently portrayed as using their teeth as weapons, they don't usually stop mid-fight to have a full meal. Their victims are either powerless against them and therefore not a serious combat threat, or the vampires must defeat an enemy in battle before draining them. While Drink Blood CAN be used in the heat of battle, I expect any combatant worth their salt to make you work for it.
New Options for Force Field:
+1 to cost level to do damage equal to stones spent on action to those making physical contact with the force field
+2 to cost level to reflect attacks back at the attacker. If you spend 1 energy you can select a target other than the attacker to reflect the attack at. This 1 stone is spent reflexively and doesn't count against the your action # total amount of stones you can spend. If you buy the Overstrain advantage on your force field you don't have to spend this extra stone. Be warned many energy-wielders are frequently immune to or absorb their own energy type!
These may also be applied to energy and magical defense as well as armor and toughness but at a greater cost because stones are free. +2 on top of stated cost to apply these to the above-stated modififiers.
New Modifiers:
Chi-Block
Modifier Number + 3 levels
Description: This is the ability of some practiced Masters to directly limit the chi flow of their opponents, crippling their bodies and limiting their superpowers.
Add your modifier number only to your Close Combat attacks. You do not damage health stones, but instead your choice of the enemy's red stones of energy, abilities, actions, or modifier numbers. Deduct damage directly from from their maximum AN, MN, or Ability score. This ability cannot be used to attack durability or stones of health, and it cannot drop a target's AN, MN, or Ability score below 1.
Characters affected by this attack recover their AN, MN, or Ability score at 1 point per panel when they are not being damaged by Chi-Block. So continually hitting an enemy's same AN, MN, or Ability score will prohibit them from regenerating them.
-1 to cost level if bought with Nerve Punch
+6 to cost level for the power to drop a target's score to 0.
--In the case of physical ability scores (Strength, Speed, Agility) a 0 means the character cannot make meaningful movements.
--In the case of Intelligence a 0 means the target is completely incapable of thinking (Some creatures, like insects, already have an Intelligence of 0, they are driven by instinct/well-programmed biology and stimuli that trigger specific reactions).
--An AN of 0 means the action is deactivated and unavailable as long as it is a 0. It still takes up an action box, but a character cannot allocate stones into that action for as long as it is at 0, and in the case of an action like Steal Superpower the action is deactivated as if the character did not possess it (Since Steal Superpower has no AN though, good luck figuring out how to attack it with Chi-Block).
--A MN of 0 completely deactivates the modifier for as long as it is a 0. The character with the modifier gains none of its benefits and behaves as if they do not possess it for as long as it is a 0.
--Optional Rule: Sometimes behaving as if you lack an action or modifier completely affects other actions or modifiers. Stretching gives a discount to Toughness and Animal Senses gives a discount to Reflexive Dodge. When a discount-granting action or modifier is reduced to 0 by Chi-Block, you can penalize the discounted action at the same rate as the discount. So dropping Animal Senses to 0 would reduce Reflexive Dodge by 1 (as low as 0) for as long as Animal Senses was 0.
Rules for Action Box
-Combines with Close Combat for offense only
-Damage comes from enemy's ANs, MNs, or Ability scores, which they can only begin regenerating at 1 point per panel when they are no longer taking damage from Chi Block (i.e. you stop attacking them with it)
-Comes with stun option
[glow=blue,2,300]Tireless[/glow]
Cost level = Modifier number + 4 levels
You regenerate your modifier # worth of red stones into your energy reserve in addition to your normal regeneration rate.
+1 to cost level if you already have a healing factor of any kind or Rapid Recovery
[glow=blue,2,300]Damage Reduction[/glow]
Cost level = Modifier number + 2 levels
Subtract modifier number from damage incurred after damage has been multiplied in the case of 2x and 3x damage.
Options:
Ineffective against magic, mental, physical, or energy attacks (-1 each)
Ineffective against stunning (-1 to cost level)
Only effective against stunning (-2 to cost level)
Comments: This is good for people who want to be tough but don't see there characters as being thick-skinned near as much as they see them shrugging off pain or immediately healing.
[glow=blue,2,300]Edge[/glow]
Cost = MN
Add MN to any action as many times per mission as MN. The amount your MN adds decreases by 1 every time you use it, so actually you add (MN - Times you've used it in this campaign) to any action.
[glow=blue,2,300]Shadowbox[/glow]
Cost = MN
When you make a melee attack you can have Shadowbox make a second attack at MN immediately afterward against the same target. This attack does not require any energy or an action per panel.
This can happen as many times as your MN in ten panels. So if your MN is 6, you can benefit from this modifier 6 times in 10 panels. If you have uses of Shadowbox left over after 10 panels then any uses of Shadowbox carry over (For example if you have a MN of 6 but only used Shadowbox 5 times in 10 panels, you would have 7 uses of Shadowbox in the next 10 panels).
You don't have to call it shadowbox, you could call it Aftershock or Echo just as easily.
[glow=blue,2,300]Dance of Death[/glow]
Cost = MN + MN levels
Similar to Shadowbox and uses the same recharge mechanic, except that Dance of Death can be used for any type of attack (Not just melee) and the second attack is as strong as your initial attack or MN, whichever is higher (Shadowbox only ever attacks at MN). This attack requires no energy or an action per panel.
Example: You have Dance of Death at 5. You make a 7 stone ranged attack with a Force blast, Dance of Death copies the attack and makes an identical 7 attack immediately after yours. The next panel you only make a 4 stone attack, but Dance of Death attacks at 5 because that's your MN.
+2 to cost level of either Dance of Death or Shadowbox to allow the attack from your modifier to target a different target (Normally they attack the same target).
Once again Dance of Death doesn't have to be its name.
Like I said I think they'll likely need a lot of fixing up, but I think they're cool and wanted to see what you all thought.
EDITS SINCE ORIGINAL POST:
-The cost of Drink Blood was originally +9 to cost level and came with a Strength Bonus. It also included no healing option and was not explained in a list format
-Damage Reduction was originally +3 to cost level and offered a -1 to cost level to either Toughness or -----Damage Reduction (never both) if you possessed both.
-Added target selection to the reflective Force Field advantage
-Added Edge, Shadowbox, and Dance of Death modifiers.
-Tireless returned to original state. I figured since it was the only original idea I had I should keep it as I first had it.
-Added Chi-Block, a custom modifier I made to request awhile back.
-Added A note on Drink Blood.
-Added an advantage to Chi-Block