Iren's PbP - Fantasy Rules

[Irenaeus]

Hello Adventurers!

This thread is for the discussion of the rules for the upcoming Fantasy Play-by-post adventure that I have in the works. Fifteen gamers have signed up and we just finished

The rules are based on ACKS with some simplification that I need for the format. Let's use this thread to clear out any doubts and define how we want to play with the rules. You guys start, and I'll be answering and we come to a consensus. Let's go!

[rusty_shackleford]

SRD link?

[Oyster Sauce]

Hey, I have a questions. What's ACKS?

[Stack of Turtles]

Hey, I have a questions. What's ACKS?

The sound ******** make.

[Jordy]

Hey, I have a questions. What's ACKS?

The sound ******** ma- ACK!

[Humbaba]

The rules are based

They sure are.

SRD link?

Rulebook link here https://f.rpghq.org/V6dc9MsV9qsh.pdf?n= ... 23b191.pdf

@Ireneu one small question, thief and assassin are two separate classes in the original -ACK rulebook but you've adapted assassin to be a thief with certain skills attached. However in the -ACK book thieves have skills and characteristics that assassins don't and vice versa. What are we going off of exactly?

[Lord of Riva]

Since I have no clue about ACKs either I would start with the following:

What are our derived stats in your system: Attack Roll, Defense Roll, What is the Roll to cast a spell, Is Armor damage or hit reduction, are you just GM'ing traits or do they have rule effects? What are the actual item stats

I think these are the things that I want to know right off the top of my head.

You can also refence just tables/topics and ACKs and add what you have simplified.

[Irenaeus]

@Ireneu one small question, thief and assassin are two separate classes in the original -ACK rulebook but you've adapted assassin to be a thief with certain skills attached. However in the -ACK book thieves have skills and characteristics that assassins don't and vice versa. What are we going off of exactly?

The class is Thief, but through martial skills you can turn the character into more of an assassin role.

[Humbaba]

The class is Thief, but through martial skills you can turn the character into more of an assassin role.

Alright, so I have access to the climbing walls, hearing voices etc. as detailed in the rulebook or would those be extra?

[Irenaeus]

What are our derived stats in your system: Attack Roll, Defense Roll,

Attack Rolls (Attack Throws)
This involves rolling a 1d20
◦ For melee weapons, the attacker's Strength bonus is added to the roll.
◦ For missile weapons, the attacker's Dexterity bonus is added to the roll.
Bonuses or penalties may apply due to special circumstances.
The modified die roll is then compared to the attacker's Attack Throw Value.
◦ For characters, this value is determined by their class and level, as shown in the Character Attack Throws table
To score a hit, the modified attack roll must be greater than or equal to the required Attack Throw Value plus the target's Armor Class (AC). Essentially, the target's AC increases the difficulty of hitting them.
• An unmodified roll of 20 on the attack throw is always a hit, regardless of the Attack Throw Value or the target's AC.
• An unmodified roll of 1 on the attack throw is always a miss, regardless of modifiers, the Attack Throw Value, or the target's AC.
• If an attack hits, damage is then rolled based on the weapon used or the monster's attack.

I'm not a big fan of this system but we can use it if you want, I'm open to suggestions

What is the Roll to cast a spell,

In the Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS), there is no dedicated "roll to cast" a spell in the same way there is an attack roll or a proficiency throw. Instead, the success of casting a spell is primarily determined by the following factors:
• Declaration: A spellcaster must declare their intention to cast a specific spell and which spell will be cast before the initiative dice are rolled in a combat round.
• Interruption: If the spellcaster takes damage or fails a saving throw before their initiative comes up in the round they are attempting to cast, the spell is disrupted and lost. The spell still counts against the character's daily limit as if it had been cast.
• Line of Sight: Generally, a spellcaster must have a line of sight to the intended target or area of effect of the spell, unless otherwise noted in the spell description.
• Target's Saving Throw: Many spells allow the target to make a saving throw to negate or partially negate the effects of the spell. The specific type of saving throw and the consequences of success or failure are detailed in the spell's description.
• Physical Requirements: Spellcasters need to be able to move their hands and speak to perform the necessary gestures and incantations. Therefore, a spell cannot be cast if the caster is gagged, their hands are tied, or if they are within the area of a silence spell.
• No Other Actions: A spellcaster may take no other actions during the same round they intend to cast a spell. They generally remain stationary while casting.

What do you guys think of the system, particularly the magic-users? Want to change something? Now it's the time for suggestions.

Is Armor damage or hit reduction,

In the Armor primarily serves as "hit reduction" by increasing a character's Armor Class (AC), making them harder to hit.
Here's how it works:
• A target's Armor Class (AC) is added to the attack throw value that an attacker needs to meet or exceed to score a hit.
• For example, if a fighter needs an attack throw of 4+ to hit an unarmored target (AC 0), they would need a modified roll of 11 (4+7) or more to hit a target wearing plate armor with an AC of 7.
• Different types of armor provide different levels of AC, representing how well they protect the wearer from being struck. For instance, clothing provides no AC, while plate armor provides AC 6.
• A shield can also increase AC by 1 point when equipped.

Magic items and spells might provide damage reduction.

We can change that if we all agree in a rule for damage reduction for armors, etc., I've always liked the concept of armor damage/degradation.

are you just GM'ing traits or do they have rule effects?

The original ACKS has no traits (lol), I adapted them from other games such as Torchbearer, which is another system I'm picking ideas from. The traits will be used heavily for actions/reaction I will GM out of them - let's see how that works. Some have actual rule effects that I'll list here in a posterior post.

What are the actual item stats?

We can go item by item in a posterior post.

You can also refence just tables/topics and ACKs and add what you have simplified.
[/quote]

I'll do that as soon as I think of them. Meanwhile, I'll keep answering the thread and we discuss the rules to reach a consensus.

Glad to start the discussion on the main rules and go into details into the nitty gritty before we start.

[Irenaeus]

The class is Thief, but through martial skills you can turn the character into more of an assassin role.

Alright, so I have access to the climbing walls, hearing voices etc. as detailed in the rulebook or would those be extra?

Climbing and hearing is fine, I'm just thinking if it's fair to include basic lockpicking, pickpocketing and setting/desarming traps. What do you guys think?

[Kalarion]

Since I have no clue about ACKs either I would start with the following:

What are our derived stats in your system: Attack Roll, Defense Roll, What is the Roll to cast a spell, Is Armor damage or hit reduction, are you just GM'ing traits or do they have rule effects? What are the actual item stats

I think these are the things that I want to know right off the top of my head.

You can also refence just tables/topics and ACKs and add what you have simplified.

TLDR; every class starts with a throw of 10+ for attack rolls. Meaning, you need to get a 10 or higher with mods on a d20 to hit an AC 0 (unarmored human) target (THAC0 10).

Different classes have different attack roll progression. Fighter type progression takes two from your throw every three levels (so, 10/9/9/8/7/7/6/5/5/4+ etc). Hybrid fighters (clerics, thieves, bards) progress at one per two levels (so, 10/10/9/9/8/8/7/7+ etc).

No defense rolls. Dex bonus is added to AC.

Armor is hit reduction, with exceptions (which we probably won't run into).

Traits have effects (but it looks like Iren will adjudicate additional effects as GM).

Starting gear stats are in the chargen OP.

[asf]

sounds horribly convoluted

[rusty_shackleford]

If Iren finds it too difficult, he could always double back to my suggestion of basic d&d

[Humbaba]

Now, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we cannot possibly do this without the addition of Thac0.

[Lord of Riva]

Thanks, that clears up a lot of things, good enough for me to begin mostly.

I'm not a big fan of this system but we can use it if you want, I'm open to suggestions

Well, that seems like what DND players already know which I think is ok, no surprises here.

What is it that you don't like about the system that makes you "not a big fan" of it?

• Declaration: A spellcaster must declare their intention to cast a specific spell and which spell will be cast before the initiative dice are rolled in a combat round.
• Interruption: If the spellcaster takes damage or fails a saving throw before their initiative comes up in the round they are attempting to cast, the spell is disrupted and lost. The spell still counts against the character's daily limit as if it had been cast.

That is incredibly harsh tbh. It does not even allow for creative spell casting according to a evolving situation, that I don't like. In any case just taking damage, especially for a mage, is something that happens easily. If we want to keep it I would suggest a concentration save at least to sustain the cast.

[logincrash]

Thanks, that clears up a lot of things, good enough for me to begin mostly.

I'm not a big fan of this system but we can use it if you want, I'm open to suggestions

Well, that seems like what DND players already know which I think is ok, no surprises here.

What is it that you don't like about the system that makes you "not a big fan" of it?

• Declaration: A spellcaster must declare their intention to cast a specific spell and which spell will be cast before the initiative dice are rolled in a combat round.
• Interruption: If the spellcaster takes damage or fails a saving throw before their initiative comes up in the round they are attempting to cast, the spell is disrupted and lost. The spell still counts against the character's daily limit as if it had been cast.

That is incredibly harsh tbh. It does not even allow for creative spell casting according to a evolving situation, that I don't like. In any case just taking damage, especially for a mage, is something that happens easily. If we want to keep it I would suggest a concentration save at least to sustain the cast.

Magic should be rare and difficult to perform. Otherwise you're just reflavouring a bow into a laser gun zapper. The restrictions are there to direct your roleplay. If you want to be able to alter laws of reality with a thought, stay away from angry guys with swords in combat.

[asf]

we can soon write a phd thesis on these rules

[Lord of Riva]

Thanks, that clears up a lot of things, good enough for me to begin mostly.

I'm not a big fan of this system but we can use it if you want, I'm open to suggestions

Well, that seems like what DND players already know which I think is ok, no surprises here.

What is it that you don't like about the system that makes you "not a big fan" of it?

• Declaration: A spellcaster must declare their intention to cast a specific spell and which spell will be cast before the initiative dice are rolled in a combat round.
• Interruption: If the spellcaster takes damage or fails a saving throw before their initiative comes up in the round they are attempting to cast, the spell is disrupted and lost. The spell still counts against the character's daily limit as if it had been cast.

That is incredibly harsh tbh. It does not even allow for creative spell casting according to a evolving situation, that I don't like. In any case just taking damage, especially for a mage, is something that happens easily. If we want to keep it I would suggest a concentration save at least to sustain the cast.

Magic should be rare and difficult to perform. Otherwise you're just reflavouring a bow into a laser gun zapper. The restrictions are there to direct your roleplay. If you want to be able to alter laws of reality with a thought, stay away from angry guys with swords in combat.

Didn't we have that topic in the other thread already? Magic is even without this extremely limited, 1 cast at level 1 per *day*, it's not all combat focused and mages are flimsy to boot why are you guys obsessed with deeming magic so strong. A bow user can dish out 1d6+X damage per round, is likely armored, can not be interrupted. To pretend a mage being able to actually cast is the same as giving him a lasergun is a bit much, don't you think?

[logincrash]

Thanks, that clears up a lot of things, good enough for me to begin mostly.



Well, that seems like what DND players already know which I think is ok, no surprises here.

What is it that you don't like about the system that makes you "not a big fan" of it?



That is incredibly harsh tbh. It does not even allow for creative spell casting according to a evolving situation, that I don't like. In any case just taking damage, especially for a mage, is something that happens easily. If we want to keep it I would suggest a concentration save at least to sustain the cast.

Magic should be rare and difficult to perform. Otherwise you're just reflavouring a bow into a laser gun zapper. The restrictions are there to direct your roleplay. If you want to be able to alter laws of reality with a thought, stay away from angry guys with swords in combat.

Didn't we have that topic in the other thread already? Magic is even without this extremely limited, 1 cast at level 1 per *day*, it's not all combat focused and mages are flimsy to boot why are you guys obsessed with deeming magic so strong. A bow user can dish out 1d6+X damage per round, is likely armored, can not be interrupted. To pretend a mage being able to actually cast is the same as giving him a lasergun is a bit much, don't you think?

Pick up a bow then.

[Humbaba]

Does magic require reagents?

[Lord of Riva]

Magic should be rare and difficult to perform. Otherwise you're just reflavouring a bow into a laser gun zapper. The restrictions are there to direct your roleplay. If you want to be able to alter laws of reality with a thought, stay away from angry guys with swords in combat.

Didn't we have that topic in the other thread already? Magic is even without this extremely limited, 1 cast at level 1 per *day*, it's not all combat focused and mages are flimsy to boot why are you guys obsessed with deeming magic so strong. A bow user can dish out 1d6+X damage per round, is likely armored, can not be interrupted. To pretend a mage being able to actually cast is the same as giving him a lasergun is a bit much, don't you think?

Pick up a bow then.

I did pick up a sling but nice sidestep there, why be a mage if it is unusable was my question and why is making magic potentially usable "OP" and giving someone a "laser gun"

[Lord of Riva]

Does magic require reagents?

Well the first level spells don't

[logincrash]

Didn't we have that topic in the other thread already? Magic is even without this extremely limited, 1 cast at level 1 per *day*, it's not all combat focused and mages are flimsy to boot why are you guys obsessed with deeming magic so strong. A bow user can dish out 1d6+X damage per round, is likely armored, can not be interrupted. To pretend a mage being able to actually cast is the same as giving him a lasergun is a bit much, don't you think?

Pick up a bow then.

I did pick up a sling but nice sidestep there, why be a mage if it is unusable was my question and why is making magic potentially usable "OP" and giving someone a "laser gun"

Good, so you saw the problem and found a solution.
As for the second question, a spellcaster can do things no other class can do, e.g. teleportation or conjuration spells. One would choose to play a mage for that aspect. And for the last question, having a cantrip that can deal 1d6+X damage per round is literally the same as having a bow that can deal 1d6+X damage per round. You're just reflavouring something, so you might as well get yourself a laser gun that deals 1d6+X damage per round.

[Irenaeus]

Does magic require reagents?

No need in the rules, we are going with this for now. Maybe for powerful spells to be found in the game there will be reagent and other pre-requisites to cast.

[Lord of Riva]

Pick up a bow then.

I did pick up a sling but nice sidestep there, why be a mage if it is unusable was my question and why is making magic potentially usable "OP" and giving someone a "laser gun"

Good, so you saw the problem and found a solution.
As for the second question, a spellcaster can do things no other class can do, e.g. teleportation or conjuration spells. One would choose to play a mage for that aspect. And for the last question, having a cantrip that can deal 1d6+X damage per round is literally the same as having a bow that can deal 1d6+X damage per round. You're just reflavouring something, so you might as well get yourself a laser gun that deals 1d6+X damage per round.

Yeah good that we are not speaking about cantrips nor meteor Storm or shift Dimensions or whatever then but level 1 spells which are limited by a cast limit of 1 per day and can be interrupted and I have no way of actually reacting to a combat situation and . You are just saying stuff that is completely unrelated to the existing rules because you have an issue with magic users for some reason.

[logincrash]

I did pick up a sling but nice sidestep there, why be a mage if it is unusable was my question and why is making magic potentially usable "OP" and giving someone a "laser gun"

Good, so you saw the problem and found a solution.
As for the second question, a spellcaster can do things no other class can do, e.g. teleportation or conjuration spells. One would choose to play a mage for that aspect. And for the last question, having a cantrip that can deal 1d6+X damage per round is literally the same as having a bow that can deal 1d6+X damage per round. You're just reflavouring something, so you might as well get yourself a laser gun that deals 1d6+X damage per round.

Yeah good that we are not speaking about cantrips then but level 1 spells which are limited by a cast limit of 1 per day and can be interrupted and I have no way of actually reacting to a combat situation. You are just saying stuff that is completely unrelated to the existing rules because you have an issue with magic users for some reason.

Okay, so make sure you pick the right moment to cast your 1 spell per day. Strategize around this restriction, take cover during combat, pelt people with rocks with your sling. And only use magic when it's critical to your survival.
And I don't have an issue with magic users. My PC is a caster too.

[Acrux]

I think that since none (?) of you have played ACKS it makes more sense to try out the rules as they are written before deciding things don't work.

[Irenaeus]

I think that since none (?) of you have played ACKS it makes more sense to try out the rules as they are written before deciding things don't work.

I don't want to play the rules as written. By the way, you're not even playing, so why are you increasing unrest in my game?

[Irenaeus]

If Iren finds it too difficult, he could always double back to my suggestion of basic d&d

Thanks, but I already decided to use ACKS with my changes. Maybe someone else can make a basic D&D game.