HOLY CRAP! PHILSYS V 2.0?

[JoshuaDurron]

THAT'S RIGHT! After far too much procrastinating, more than a little head scratching, and a long night of work, I have finished the Philsys rules update. I hope to come up with an updated character sheet format soon, so that people will find it a little easier to convert characters to the new system (not that much was changed, actually...)

SO! Without further ado,

Philsys 2.0
Original system mechanics by Phil
Rulebook write-up by Archmage 144
First update by Lorr/Joshua Durron


Chapter 1 - Character Creation
*Concept
*Stats
*Skills
*Abilities/Spells
*Equipment
*HP, MP, TP, Initiative, and AT/PA
*Gaining Experience
Chapter 2 - Tests of Skill
*Testing vs. Stats
*Testing vs. Skills
Chapter 3 - Combat Mechanics
*Initiative
*Attack/Resolution
*Taking Damage, Wounds, and Dying
*Ending Combat
Chapter 4 - The Hazards of Adventuring
*Status Effects
*Fall Damage
*Scribing Scrolls
*Suffocation Damage
*Magical Item Strengths
*Damage From Falling Objects
Chapter 5 - Charts and Tables

Chapter 1 - Character Creation:

Concept:

The first step to creating a character is just the same as with any other system. You, the player, must have a concept of what or who you want your character to be. Are you interested in playing a noble paladin? A cunning thief? An arrogant mage? Just like in circumstances where you might play an RPG without a complicated set of rules, it is required that you have a picture of who you want your character to be.

Often, it becomes much easier to determine your character's physical abilities, traits, and skills after you have a clear vision of what you hope to create. Once you have an idea of what sort of character you want to create, you can take your idea and match it up with some numbers.

Once you've decided what you want your character to be like, you've got to develop a set of statistics that represent your character's physical abilities. There are three things that make your character a unique individual: their stats, skills, and abilities/spells. A lot of confusion comes from the following terms, so let's define them now:

Stats: These are raw numbers that are associate with physical traits, like Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom, and they are ranked on a scale of -5 to +10, with -5 being absolutely bad and +10 bordering on superhuman.

Skills: These are talents your character has, and they have levels to them, like Fire Magic, Weapon (Swords), or [k]Geology. These are things that your character knows about or can do, and has studied all their life (or part of it). A magical character probably has skills that encompass several schools of magic, whereas a physical fighter is more likely to have skills that help him or her on the battlefield in direct combat, like weapon skills, [s]Advanced Parry, and Disarming.

Abilities/Spells: These are actual techniques your character can do, like Jumping Slash or Bolt 2. Magical spells can have a variety of effects, some combat related, others non-combat, and physical fighters or others are free to design things like "Sword Techs" or the like that their characters can take advantage of. You can compare this part of your character sheet to their spellbook or grimoire if they are a mage, or to their "tech list" like characters in some CRPGs (like Chrono Trigger, or Sabin's Blitzes in FF6).

Now, let's talk about how we do each of these, one at a time.

Stats:

You get 21 points to distribute to make your stats. All characters get exactly 21: no more, no less (unless you want less, for some reason). You have to distribute these points between the following stats, and may distribute them as you desire, but no stat may be higher than +10 or lower than -5. The only exception to this rule is Magic Aptitude, which is rated from 0 to 6, and cannot be higher than 6 or a negative number.

The stats are as follows:

· Courage – The ability to hold oneself in check in stressful situations, i.e. melee combat. This score will influence fighting ability, as well as willpower and magic resistance.
· Wisdom – The amount of raw, bookish knowledge a character has. This figures into magical ability and influences your character’s ability of knowing certain obscure facts.
· Intuition – This score indicates your character’s ability to think and reason. It also figures heavily into perception tests.
· Charisma – This indicates not only physical beauty, but also the ability to win others over through guile and charm. This figures into negotiation and bard-like skills.
· Agility – The ability to move quickly. Influences all sorts of things, including physical combat prowess, reflex saves, and the like.
· Dexterity – The ability to manipulate objects with refined motor skill. Influences skills like lockpicking, missile weapons, alchemy, and such.
· Strength – Raw muscle power. Heavily influences damage rolls and the ability to lift/push things.
· Stamina – The ability to take punishment. Influences HP, allows you to hold your breath longer, and boosts resistance to toxins/disease.
· Magic Aptitude – Grades how “in touch” you are with the astral plane. A must-have for casting spells. If your rank is zero, you cannot cast magic at all. A character with a 3 or more in this stat can be considered an "attuned mage." A character with a 4 or greater can read the astral plane by merely concentrating on doing so, with no cost.

Taking a negative stat value increases the total number of points you can spend elsewhere--if you take a -1 in Strength, it means that you have 22 points to spend on your other stats. Be careful with negatives though. A common thought, especially among beginners, is that Charisma makes no difference, so they put down something like "-4 Charisma" to get a bonus elsewhere. Negatives make a big difference, especially when making rolls. -4 Charisma means that most people you meet will hate you immediately, on sight alone, and may even try to kill you! The GM may also rule that extremely low or extremely high stats are not allowed at the point of character creation.

Physical fighters especially need points in Courage, Strength, Dexterity, and Agility, and Stamina. If you're a magic user, you need Courage, Wisdom, Intuition, and Magic Aptitude primarily. Thieflike characters should have high Dexterity and Agility, as well as a little Intution and Courage. It is possible to distribute points such that a character is very good at one thing (a fighter with +6 Strength), or it is possible to arrange the points in such a way that the character is well rounded but not superior in any specific area. Thusly, you should distribute your points the way you'd like to do them based on what you want your character to do. Once you've figured out your stats, you can move on to the next step: skills.

Skills:

OK, so now we know what your character is like, physically. How smart he or she is, how strong, how fast...but what about what sort of individual talents he or she has? These are your skills. Skills have a level (a number that indicates just how good you are at them) and a set of base attributes (the physical attributes which govern how good you are and possibly can be at the skill). Almost anything can be a skill: skills range from simplistic, basic things like Weapon (Unarmed Combat) to The Way of the Fatal Paw.

You get 20+2*INT+2*WIS points to spend on your skills. Each point you spend on an ordinary skill increases its level by 1. Thusly, if you spend 4 of your points on Weapon (Unarmed Combat), you'll start off with the skill at the 4th rank. At character creation, no skill may be higher than the 4th rank, regardless of whether or not you have enough points to purchase it at a higher one.

Now, all skills must have base attributes paired to them. These were mentioned earlier. What are they? Well, base attributes work something like this. When a skill is created, a little bit of logic is used to determine which stats would have the most impact on the character's ability to perform the skill. For example, Lockpicking requires nimble fingers and dexterity, and it also helps to have a little bit of intuition to figure out what to do next. Since dexterity plays a greater role in the character's ability to pick a lock, the skill's base attributes are <Dex/Dex/Int>. Note that each skill has three base attributes paired to it, and that no normal skill may have the same attribute all three times. The purpose of the base attributes will be later explained when we cover leveling up and tests of skill.

There are actually three different kinds of skills: Normal Skills, Knowledge Skills, and Support Skills. The function of these skills is as follows:

· Normal Skills -- These skills represent something your character can do. Normal skills are things like Weapon (Swords), Fire Magic, or Lockpicking. They always have three base attributes and are purchased at a cost of 1 point per rank.
· Knowledge Skills -- These skills represent raw, bookish types of knowledge, such as [k]Geology, [k]Languages, [k]Magical Creature Knowledge, etc. These skills are denoted with a [k] before their names, and are purchased at half cost, meaning that they cost 1/2 point per rank, and they always have a base attribute of Wis. These skills indicate knowing something rather than doing something. For the purpose of tests of skill, this means Wis is multiplied by 3 before the skill roll (which will be explained later).
· Support Skills -- These skills represent passive abilities or bonuses, such as [s]Improved Parry, [s]Magical Resistance, or [s]Elemental Melding. Support skills usually have a requirement, like <Int=3>. This means that in order to learn the skill at all, the character must have an Intuition score of at least +3. These skills are also purchased at half cost, except where noted otherwise. [s]Critical Striking, for example, costs three points per rank!

Any character using a weapon (or fighting barehanded) should take an appropriate skill to match their weapon choice in addition to their other skills.

A sample skill list is available here ([url=http://zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstuff/Skill_List.txt:]zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstu...l_List.txt[/url:] )! For reference, all weapon skills are <Cou/Agi/Str> and all magic skills are <Int/Wis/Mag>. Use the skills in this list to help you work out the skills for your own character if needed--they'll probably be a tremendous asset. Once you have a set of skills that represent what your character can do and knows how to do, it becomes possible to determine the spells and techs they can use!

Spells/Abilities:

Spells and abilities are, as prior explained, combat and noncombat talents and techs your character can make use of. For mages, this means a list of castable spells, and for other types of characters, it might mean special sword techniques and the like.

Spells and abilities should be closely based on your character's skills. It doesn't make any sense for a character without any skills like "Fire Magic" to put down a spell like "Fire 1." Instead, suppose you have the skill "Broom Techniques." You might have abilities/spells like this:

[Broom=1]Clean Sweep (2 TP) - A wide, slashing arc with the Broom.
[Broom=3]Broom Bash (4 TP) - A multihit combo with the Broom, each successive hit having a slight reduced chance to hit.
[Broom=4]Omnibroomslash (6 TP) - A powerful Broom frenzy attack.

Now, if this seems complicated...well, that means it's time for an explanation! The first thing you see is a "minimum required rank." This is written as [Skill name=#], and means that in order to use this technique, the character must have at least that number of ranks in that skill. The next part is, obviously, a name for the skill. The part in parenthesis is the cost of using the skill. Magical spells cost "MP" or "Mana/Magic Points" to use, and physical skills or other skills costs "TP," or "Tech Points." The last part is the spell or tech's description.
Physical techs are usually so unique to the character that there is no standardized list. However, there is a standardized/suggested list for magical skills, which can be found here ([url=http://zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstuff/philsys_spellbook.html:]zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstu...lbook.html[/url:] ). Once you have all your techs in order, we can move on to...

Choosing Equipment:

Most adventurers don't fight naked, or at least, not if they want to survive in the heat of battle for more than a few minutes. Choosing your equipment can be done from one of two lists.

This ([url=http://zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstuff/Weapons1.txt:]zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstuff/Weapons1.txt[/url:] ) list is a list of "standard" equipment. New weapons and armor may be devised by the players or GM to suit the situation or a new character as necessary, but players doing so are advised to base new weapons for their characters on preexisting ones for the purposes of game balance.

This ([url=http://zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstuff/ValthiEquip1.txt:]zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstu...Equip1.txt[/url:] ) list is of "Valthi" equipment. Really, it's just an alternative equipment list for characters who want to do something different--so long as they can fit into their character backgrounds why they're carrying around equipment from the country of Valth.

Weapons have a damage, listed in Thrust/Slash/Chop format, also referred to as a weapon's T/S/C. This is because most weapons can be used to attack in different ways, and depending on how the weapon is used to attack, it deals more (or less) damage. Weapons also have a penalty, written as a fraction looking thing like +1/-1. This is the amount by which your AT/PA is affected by your using that weapon (the effects of AT/PA are covered more in detail in the combat section). Weapons also have a weight (which determine how many melee attacks a person can make, more on this later) and, if applicable, a strength requirement. Determine the amount of damage your weapon deals with each attack type by adding the attack type damage to the attack type damage modifier. This is done as follows. If you are using a Longsword, which has a damage of 10/14/17, you add your STR+1d6 to the thrust damage, STR*2+2d4 to the slash damage, and STR*3+2d6 to the chop damage. If you have a STR of +3, this means you deal 13+1d6 thrusting, 20+2d4 slashing, and 26+2d6 chopping.

When using no weapon, you deal damage equal to (Rank)+(Strength)+1d6 for a punch, and (Rank)+(Strengthx2)+2d4 for a kick, with a -3 penalty to hit.

Missile weapons, such as bows, throwing knives, or guns, have an Accuracy rating (which determines how often they hit) and a damage. In the case of bows, the damage is determined by the arrow/ammunition type.

Advanced rule: Players may use weapons for which they do not have the requisite strength bonuses, but they suffer an AT/PA penalty equal to twice the difference between the requirement and their strength.

Armor has an AC (armor class), an AT/PA modifier, a weight, and a strength requirement, if applicable. The amount of damage a piece of armor protects you from is AC/2 points of physical damage. Therefore, if you are wearing Hide Armor with an AC of 15, and someone hits you with a weapon attack for 15 points of damage, you only take 8 (15-7, because 15 AC/2, rounded down, is 7 points damage reduction=8). Weight and modifiers/penalties are the same as weapons.

Typically, how much equipment and what kind a character can have is up to the GM to decide. Once you've got your equipment, there's one last step and you'll have a fully created Philsys character!

HP, MP, TP, Initiative, and Attack/Parry:

This part's just math determining your HP (how much damage you can take and live), MP (how much magic you can cast without hurting yourself), TP (how may special, non-magic "Techs" you can use), initiative, and AT/PA (attack/parry skills, which determine how skilled you are at hitting and blocking, respectively).

The math for determining each of these is as follows:

· HP -- 55+(STA*5)
· MP -- (MAG*10)+(INT*5)+(WIS*5)
· TP -- It's 20 at level 1.
· Initiative -- AGI+COU+2d6 (Just put down the value for AGI + COU and then "+2d6" after it)
· AT/PA -- AGI+INT+STR+COU. Divide the number of ranks you have in your currently equipped weapon between AT and PA as you see fit. For example, if you have a base AT/PA of 10/10, and you have 4 ranks in Weapon (Swords), you may have an AT/PA of 14/10, 13/11, 12/12, 11/13, or 10/14. Each time you gain a rank in your weapon skill, you decide whether to increase AT or PA. Having a high AT increases your chance to hit with physical/melee attacks, while having a high PA helps you dodge or block physical/melee attacks.

Now, you've completed your character! Hurrah! But before we move on to how to use all these numbers, skills, and the like, we need to look at one more thing...

Gaining Experience:

As your character participates in Philsys RPs, the GM will award "experience points," or XP, to the characters involved. A GM should award XP for any difficult task or challenge overcome by the character, such as winning a battle, talking their way out of a fight, picking a lock, or the like. XP may also be awarded for exceptional roleplaying or other circumstances. A newly made character starts with 0 XP, though some GMs (including myself) will award a couple hundred XP for a well written character background story.
Here are the XP required to gain levels. The XP count resets after the level is gained (getting to level 3 from 2 is harder than getting to 2 from 1.

Lvl 1 Lvl 2 Lvl 3 Lvl 4 Lvl 5 Lvl 6 Lvl 7 Lvl 8 Lvl 9 Lvl 10
-- 1000 1250 1500 2000 2500 3250 4000 5000 6250
Lvl 11 Lvl 12 Lvl 13 Lvl 14 Lvl 15 Lvl 16 Lvl 17 Lvl 18 Lvl 19 Lvl 20
7750 9500 11500 13750 16250 19000 22000 25250 28750 32500

Whenever your character gains a level, the following things happen:

· Your character gets a chance to increase up to two stats by +1.
· Your character gets a chance to increase their skills by a total of Wis+3 (minimum 2 per level) ranks.
· Your character gains more HP, MP, and TP.

The first thing done during a level up is stat increases. The player selects two stats, a primary and a secondary, of which cannot be the same stat. The primary stat has a higher chance of being raised than the secondary stat, so choose the stat you wish to raise more as the primary stat. Now, to determine whether or not the stat increases...

· To raise the primary stat, you must roll equal to 100-Stat value*5 or less on a 100-sided die. Thusly, if you have a stat of +4, you must roll 100-20=80, or 80 or less on the die.
· To raise the secondary stat, you must roll equal to 50-Stat value*5 or less on a 100-sided die. Thusly, if you have a stat of +4, you must roll 50-20=30, or 30 or less on the die.

Also, when Stamina is raised, your character gains a retroactive +5 bonus to Max HP. Likewise, when Wisdom or Intuition is raised, a character gains a retroactive +5 bonus to Max MP. (Magical Aptitude is generally considered fixed, and can’t be raised by normal level-ups. However, if some GM determined event, such as a divine action or resurrection or reincarnation event takes place that does cause it to go up, a +10 bonus to Max MP for every point that MAG increases is awarded.) Finally when any stat for AT/PA or Innitiative is changed, those statistics increase as well.

After the stat increases are done, the character gains the following other improvements:

· STA+1d6 additional max hit points
· (MAG+INT)/2+1d4 additional max mana points
· 3+1d3 additional max tech points (TP)

In order to raise a skill, the player must look at the skill's base attributes. If the new rank is less than the sum of the base attributes, the skill is automatically increased (by one rank). If not, roll a 6 sided die, and if the number rolled is greater than the difference between the two numbers, the increase attempt succeeds. Therefore, if Fire Magic is <Int/Wis/Mag>, and a character has a +2 Int, a +3 Wis, and 5 points in Magic, and is trying to increase Fire Magic from 4 to 5, no roll is necessary. However, if this player wants to increase their Weapons (Sword) skill, which is <Cou/Agi/Str>, and they have a +1 in each of Cou, Agi, and Str, and they are increasing the skill from rank 6 to rank to rank 7, he must roll a 3 or greater on a six sided die (6 ranks-3 base attribute sum=3).
New skills may also be learned, at rank 1, in the same manner as increasing old ones. No single skill may be increased more than 2 ranks per level, and skills which cost 1/2 point per rank are increased by 2 instead of 1 on a successful increase.
Now that you've created your character and have a set of numbers for them, it's time to move on and see how we can use these numbers in an actual game!


Chapter 2 - Tests of Skill:

Tests of skill may seem complicated at first, but really, they're quite simple. Combat is technically a set of tests of skill, but since combat is really a separate area, and the tests of skill are somewhat different, other types of tests of skill will be covered first.

A GM may choose to test a player's skill at any time he or she feels such a test is appropriate. What does this mean? It means that if the character tries to do something that would be challenging, such as lifting a heavy rock, remembering some obscure fact about illithids, casting a magical spell to remove a curse, or disarm a trap, the GM can look at the character's stats and skills and come up with a way to roll a dice to see if the character is successful. There is a standard method for doing all of this!

Testing vs. a stat is the easiest. For example, if a player wants to kick in a wooden door, the GM decides how hard it is to kick the door in and makes the test. The standard method for making tests against a statistic is Stat*3+d20 vs. the difficulty of the task. This means that the character's stat, in the above example, STR, is multiplied by three and added to the result of a roll on a twenty-sided dice, or d20. Some examples of what stat to test for what event follow:

· Courage – Resisting fear, threats, or intimidations.
· Wisdom – Remembering an obscure fact about the War of 1342.
· Intuition – Noticing that a painting's eyes are moving with you, spotting secret doors or trap mechanisms, or making judgements about whether or not someone is lying to you.
· Charisma – Negotiating, persuading someone to listen to you, or bartering (for which players should get a bonus for good roleplaying).
· Agility – Reflex tests like dodging a falling object or leaping off a trap door before it closes.
· Dexterity – Any extremely difficult task requiring small motor control.
· Strength – Lifting a heavy piece of furniture, kicking a door down, pushing a rock off a cliff.
· Stamina – Resisting the effects of a toxin.
· Magic Aptitude – Reading auras or the astral plane.

Determining the difficulty of a task is up to the GM, but some guidelines are as follows:

· Difficulty 10 -- This is a fairly easy task for anyone with any knowledge or skill at all.
· Difficulty 20 -- This is something fairly hard. Even someone with a decent stat (+3 or so) will only succeed about half the time.
· Difficulty 30 -- This is something very hard. Even someone with a very good stat (+6 or so) will only succeed about half the time.
· Difficulty 40 -- This is beyond most people. Even someone with an extremely good stat (+8 or more) will only succeed about half the time.

Testing vs. a skill is only slightly more complicated than testing vs. a stat. If a player has a skill which is appropriate to the situation being tested, use that skill instead of testing a stat (such as [k]Herbology instead of a generic Wis roll in situations where recognizing a certain herb is important). In order to test a skill, add the base attributes to the skill rank, and then add this modifier to the result of the roll on a twenty-sided dice. Thusly, in order to pick a lock with the Lockpicking skill, which is <Dex/Dex/Int>, and the character has 4 ranks in Lockpicking, the player adds their Dex*2+Int to 4 (the number of ranks), and then adds the whole thing to the d20 roll. If the total is greater than the difficulty, the character has succeeded. For knowledge, or [k] skills, the base attribute is considered to be Wis*3 (essentially meaning that [k] skills add a +rank bonus to Wis tests in a certain subject area).

Determining the difficulty is, again, up the GM, but some guidlines are as follows:

· Difficulty 10 -- This is a fairly easy task for anyone with any knowledge or skill at all. For most characters, this will be automatic.
· Difficulty 20 -- This is something fairly easy, but not always automatic. Someone with a decent skill (4 or 5 ranks) will only succeed most of the time (a roll of 5-8, on average)..
· Difficulty 30 -- This is something fairly hard. Even someone who has some prowess in their skill (10 ranks or so) will only succeed about half the time.
· Difficulty 40 -- This is something very hard. Even someone with a very high skill (20 ranks or so) will only succeed about half the time.
· Difficulty 50 -- This is something extremely hard. Even someone with a nearly mastered skill (30 ranks or so) will only succeed about half the time.
· Difficulty 60 -- This is something most people can only accomplish in their dreams. Even someone with a mastered skill (30 ranks or so) and very high attributes (all three in the +6 or +7 range) will only succeed about half the time.
· Difficulty 70 -- This is something even the masters have a lot of trouble with, and will probably never, ever achieve. Even someone with a mastered skill (30 ranks or so) and maxed out attributes (all three at +10) will only succeed about half the time.

Now that you know how to do tests of skill for your characters, you can move on to a different type of test: combat.


Chapter 3 - Combat Mechanics:

Combat in Philsys is handled in three steps: Initiative, Attack, and Resolution. Initiative means, simply, "who goes first." Having a high initiative (which is based on your Courage and Agility) helps you to get the first hit in in a combat situation. Attack means selecting a combat manuever, be it attacking with a weapon or a spell, and resolution simply means finding out "what did my attack do?" Let's walk through these three basics of combat one at a time.

Combat is measured in rounds. A combat round represents roughly one minute of real time. After everyone has acted during the round, a new round starts, with the PCs/NPCs involved going through the same initiative order again.

Initiative:

This is amazingly simple. At the beginning of combat, every character involved, player characters and non-player characters (NPCs, which includes monsters) alike, roll initiative. This is done by rolling the initiative indicated on their character sheets, which is AGI+COU+2d6. The AGI+COU part is called your "initiative bonus.” After rolling everyone's initiative, each character/NPC involved in the combat takes their turn in order, starting with whoever got the highest roll and ending with whoever got the lowest one. In the case of a tie, the two may roll off (whoever is higher goes before the other), or the GM may simply rule on the turn order.

Attack/Resolution:

Attacking with a weapon or fist is the simplest way to cause damage in a combat situation. Attacking works like this: first, you declare a target for your attack. Then, if attacking with a melee weapon, you declare whether or not you are thrusting, slashing, or chopping the target. If using an unarmed attack, you declare a punch or kick, and if using a missile weapon, you declare what part of the body (if any) you are aiming for.
Let's start with weapon/unarmed attacks. Remember your AT/PA? Here's where it comes into play. The attacker adds their AT to the result of a d20, applying a -3 penalty to the final result if they are using a slashing attack, and a -6 penalty if they are using a chopping attack. If unarmed, apply a -3 penalty for a kick. Compare this final number to the defender's PA added to the result of a d20, called a "parry roll." If AT+d20 > PA+d20, you hit your opponent! Once you've hit, you can roll for damage, which is based on the weapon used (or Unarmed Fighting skill), type of attack, and the wielder's strength. (Special Case: Grappling attacks, or attempts to grab hold of someone. Grapples are done by compared AT rolls (characters may use STR*3+1d20 if this is higher.) The winner is grappled/avoids grappling. If a person is grappled, they may make another grapple check and break free if they win.)

There's a catch to this. A defender only gets so many parry rolls (more on this later.) If you swing your sword at an enemy, whether you hit or miss, if the enemy’s skill can’t compensate, it gives an opening for a friend to come in and finish the job. The next time during that same round the defender tries to block an attack, he gets no roll! This usually means that they are hit automatically--the only reason you even bother to roll for your attack is to see if the hit is critical. A hit is critical if the attacker's attack total beats the defender's total by 15 or more, meaning that the attack deals twice as much damage as normal. On the other hand, if the defender beats the attacker by 15 or more, the attacker critically failed. This means they dropped their weapon, swung too hard and fell flat on their face, accidentally threw their weapon, or some other effect determined by the GM.

An example of melee combat follows.

Aya du Mythril and a guard engage in combat!

Aya rolls initiative and gets a 13 (6+7).
The guard rolls initiative and gets a 17 (8+9).

Round 1 begins!

The guard attacks Aya with his weapon, slashing at her. He rolls an 18, which, added to his AT of 16, is 34.
Aya rolls her parry roll and adds it to her PA. She rolls a 10, which, added to her PA of 9, is 19. Thusly, Aya fails to block.
The guard rolls for damage, which is, in his case, 16+2d4, and hits Aya for 21 damage. Aya is wearing robes with an AC of 6, so the damage is reduced by 2 to 19.

Speed and Melee Actions:

How fast a person moves is an important part of melee combat works. This is, among other things, why AGI is part of the standard melee combat base stats, and the AT/PA formula. However, a character that is fast can also attack and defend himself better than most people. A character gets bonus AT and PA rolls depending on what his AGI rating is, and how heavy his weapon is. Light weapons are those with no STR requirement (this includes unarmed fighting,) Medium weapons are those that do have a STR requirement, and Two Handed weapons are, obviously, those that require two hands to use (regardless of STR requirement.) Light weapons gain a bonus AT/PA roll for every 2 points of AGI, Medium weapons for every 3 points of AGI, and Two Handed weapons for every 4 points of AGI. In other words, a person who uses a dagger (Light weapon) and has an AGI of 4 can make 2 additional melee actions, since light weapons gain an extra attack for every 2 points of AGI. These "bonus melee actions" may be used as a bonus AT roll, or a bonus PA roll, NOT BOTH. Much like you add skill ranks to one side or the other of your AT/PA ratio, you add your bonus melee actions to either one side or the other of your melee action ratio. It is impossible to have 0 attacks or parries, even if you have a negative AGI (this will make it harder to gain bonus attacks from skill, however.)

Skill and Melee Actions:

How skilled a person is with his weapon also affects how well he can fight in combat. A more skilled fighter can avoid additional hits better than a less skilled fighter, and chain up more devastating combos once his opponent’s defense is open. Again, bonus actions are gained depending on his Skill rank and his weapon’s weight class. Light weapons gain extra actions for every 6 ranks of skill, Medium weapons for every 8 ranks of skill, and Two Handed weapons for every 10 ranks of skill. However, much like adding you weapon’s skill ranks to either one side or the other of one’s AT/PA, bonus Skill actions may be used for either offense or defense- not both. It is not necessary for your character to have a set way of using his bonus Skill actions in combat, but it would be convenient for the GM. To continue with the previous example, a dagger user with an AGI of 4 has 2 bonus AT/PA actions. If his skill rank is also 12, he gets another two bonus actions due to it. He may devote these entirely to offense, (resulting in 5 attacks and 1 parry,) split it evenly between both, (resulting in 3 attacks and 3 parries,) devote it entirely to defense (1 attacks, 5 parries,) or mix them up in any way they want.

Two Handed Wielding:

In order to use two weapons in Philsys, some additional skills are needed, namely Dual Weilding and Ambidexterity (or whatever variant you wish to use.) Dual Wielding is using a one handed weapon in each hand, and Ambidexterity is being able to use both hands with equal skill. Ambidexterity in Philsys is usually a learned skill, as opposed to being innately born with it (the way people are born ambidextrous as opposed to dominantly left or right handed).

Ambidexterity is a requirement for [s]Dual Weapon Fighting, or any differently named variant. This skill's rank may not exceed the rank of the Ambidexterity skill.

In order to use a two-handed weapon without penalty, the wielder must have equal ranks in [s]Two-Handed Weapon Fighting as they do in the skill with that weapon. If the wielder does not, they suffer additional penalties to AT/PA equal to the difference in rank between the skills.

When making an attack with the weapon in the second hand, the AT/PA modifying weapon skill rank used is [s]Dual Weapon Fighting instead of the actually skill with the weapon. [s]Dual Weapon Fighting may not exceed the skill with the weapon. If the character is wielding two different weapons, such as a sword and a hand axe, then the skill used for AT/PA modification is [s]Dual Weapon Fighting or the appropriate weapon skill for the offhand weapon, whichever is LESS.
When fighting bare-handed, the skill [s]Two Fisted Style may be taken without requiring the character have the Ambidexterity skill. This allows the character to utilize two punch attacks per round.

When fighting with two weapons, bonus skill attacks are awarded to the primary/good hand weapon based on that weapon’s skill rank, while the secondary/offhand weapon gains bonus skill attacks based on the [s]Dual Weapon Fighting rank, or the appropriate weapon skill for the offhand weapon, whichever is LESS. Furthermore, the necessary ranks for bonus actions is doubled (12 for Light, 16 for Medium.)


Now, attacking with a missile weapon works a little differently. Guns, bows and arrows, and thrown missiles have a hit rate and a damage. Each weapon has its own chance to hit, essentially making AT irrelevant--the chance to hit is simply the hit rate + any weapon proficiency that the marksman has. Also, some missile weapons damages are unmodified by strength, whereas others are. The damage from a gun is obviously not modified by STR, but characters with low STR would be unable to even lift a Rocket Launcher. On the other hand, a bow's damage is increased by the character's STR score (a character with +3 STR deals 3 extra damage with a bow).

To determine if a missile hits, the following formula is used: Accuracy rate+Skill+d20+(target location modifier) for the attacker vs. 10 + AGI*2 + INT + 1d20 for the defender.
There is one exception to the above rule, and that is the case of thrown melee weapons. Most weapons that are meant to be thrown are used like normal missile weapons, and have their rules and Accuracies laid out on the equipment list. However, melee weapons such as swords work a little differently. Their accuracy is AT+(Ranks in throwing melee weapons). Apply AT penalties from armor, and DOUBLE AT penalties from the weapon. Defender attempts to evade as if dodging a normal missile attack. The range for such throws is (Str+3)*5 feet.

A "target location" may be specified as a specific point on the body where the shot is aimed. (This is optional, not mandatory.) There is a penalty for aiming for specific locations, but hitting the target in a limb, for example, might disable that limb. Some targets may not have limbs or a head--in these cases, aiming at such targets is obviously impossible. The penalties and effects of hitting specific locations is as follows:

· Limb (Arm or leg) -- -4 penalty to accuracy, roll a d6 for limb becoming disabled. On a 5 or 6, the limb is incapacitated.
· Abdomen -- No penalty to accuracy, standard damage.
· Torso -- -2 penalty to accuracy and 1d6+1d4 additional damage.
· Head -- -8 penalty to accuracy. For some targets, this will most likely kill instantly (i.e., humans). Roll a d6, and on anything but a 6, the target is killed (if it would make sense that such would happen). Damage is increased by 10+1d10 against targets who are not killed.

Targets also get a bonus or penalty to defend based on their size, as follows:

· Small (most animals and people) -- +0 at medium range, +4 at long range
· Medium (larger humanoids, such as ogres, giant slimes, etc) -- +0 at medium, +2 at long
· Large (Trolls, giants, some golems) -- -4 at medium, -2 at long
· Very Large (Large golems, wyverns, dragon whelps) -- -6 at medium, -4 at long
· Gigantic (full-size dragons, the Tarrasque, Anything really, really big) --:-8 at medium range, -6 at long.

An example of combat with missile weapons follows:

Chandler Sablemech and a guard engage in combat!

Chandler rolls initiative and gets a 14 (5+9).
The guard rolls and gets a 12 (8+4).

Round 1 begins!

Chandler takes a shot at the guard's abdomen with his Mythril Pistol (Accuracy 12). He has a skill with a gun (Weapon (Firearms)) of 4, so his total accuracy is 16. He rolls a 12 for a total of 28.

The guard adds his dodge bonus (10+AGI*2+INT) of 16 to his size bonus/penalty, which is 0 for someone his size at medium range (so it doesn't matter). He rolls a 10 for a total of 26.
Chandler's gunshot hits the guard, who takes 4d8 points of damage. Chandler rolls and gets a total of 20.

Multiple Missile Attacks:

Missile weapons gain multiple attacks much like melee weapons do. However, there are a few differences. First, there are the three types of missile weapons are Thrown, One Handed, and Two Handed. Thrown weapons are… thrown weapons. One Handed weapons are things like pistols and hold out crossbows. Two Handed weapons are things like rifles, all normal bows, and heavy and repeating crossbows. Second, missile weapons gain bonus attacks based on DEX, not AGI, since nimbleness of hand is the greater part of firing ranged weapons. Third, having high DEX and skill in missile weapons does NOT give you more defense rolls against ranged attacks. Thrown weapons gain bonus attacks for every 2 points of DEX and 6 ranks of skill, One Handed weapons gain bonus attacks for every 3 points of DEX and 8 ranks of skill, Two Handed weapons gain bonus attacks for every 4 points of DEX and 10 ranks of skill.

Two Handed Shooting:

If a character is wielding two missile weapons, such as guns or hand crossbows he or she must take the [s]Dual Firearms skill, along with Ambidexterity. The accuracy rating skill modifier for the second firearm is equal to the rank of this skill, which cannot exceed the main Weapon (Firearms) skill. Like dual wielders in melee combat, two handed shooters gain bonus attacks for their off hand weapon based on their [s]Dual Firearms skill, and the necessary ranks for doing so are double the normal ranks.


This isn't so complicated, is it? Now it's time to try a little magic. Magical attack rolls are made in the exact same way as a magic skill roll is made--by adding the base attributes, which are always <Int/Wis/Mag> for magic, to the skill rank and a d20 roll. To see if magic is resisted by a target, add 10 to their COU*2+INT, and then add that bonus to a d20. If the spell roll total exceeds the resist roll total, the spell hits and deals damage (or whatever effect the spell has worked). There is no need to roll to cast healing or beneficial spells on a willing target--a target does not have to attempt to resist a spell.
Let's see an example. We'll go back to the earlier battle between the Aya and the guard, after the guard has acted. It's now Aya's turn...

Aya decides to get revenge on the guard who just slashed her, and she casts Flare Arrow. Her base attributes add up with her skill for a total of 15 (5 Mag+3 Int+3 Wis+4 skill ranks). Flare Arrow costs 14 MP, which is deducted before the spell takes effect. She rolls a 3 on the d20 and adds it to her bonus of 15 for a total of 18.

The guard has a Cou of +2 and an Int of +2 as well, making for a bonus of +6, added to 10. He rolls a 12 on his d20 for a total of 22, which is greater than Aya's 18, so the spell is resisted and has no effect.


As an optional rule, resisted spells that tie or are only 1 less can deal half damage, at the GM's discretion.

Delayed Actions:

Thanks to Divinegon for this idea.

Instead of acting immediately during a round when a character's turn comes up, the player may wish to delay their action to wait for an opportunity in which they would be better able to attack or damage their opponent, or perhaps to cast a Counterspell or other similar effect. For physical fighters, this would be something like waiting for a mage to cast a debilitating spell or waiting for the thief to backstab...
The action is delayed until the designated time. If the action is delayed to be made in response to some attack or maneuver, make an opposed initiative check, the winner acting as they desired (i.e., the spell is countered if the PC succeds).

All to hit and skill rolls are +2 when actions are delayed in combat due to extra prep time.

Combat and Criticals:

Critical hits are not defined precisely--instead, they seem to be a GM's call issue. While there is nothing wrong with such rules, at times, it is better to formulate a standard, so the following suggestion is given.

Any attack, magic or physical, which succeeds by 15 or more is considered critical. A critical hit deals 2 times more damage than a regular one under most circumstances. An attack which succeeds by 30 or more deals 3 times as much damage, and an attack which succeeds by 45 or more deals 4 times as much.

Contrary to the critical success is the critical failure, botch, total screw up, whatever you want to call it. A critical failure occurs when a roll fails to succeed by 15 or more, for example, if you tried to punch an enemy and the PA+roll total beat your AT+roll total by more than 15. In this circumstance, you might fumble your weapon, break your hand, break your lock pick, whatever is appropriate. I'd suggest not over abusing critical failures, however.

Do note that these are only recommendations.

Taking Damage, Wounds, and Dying:

As a character takes damage, he or she becomes less able to fight. Attacking and defending alike are much more difficult after being stabbed, slashed, or impaled by your foes, since wounds both physically make taking actions more difficult and are highly distracting. If a player is reduced to "critical health status," which would be having roughly 10-15 HP or less, he or she suffers penalties ranging from -3/-3 to -6/-6 to their AT/PA, and they suffer an equal penalty to all spellcasting rolls. The GM determines the exact penalty--taking a very heavy wound (more than 3/4 or so of a character's total HP from one attack) could also confer a penalty of -4/-4 or so, depending on the whim of the GM.

When a character reaches 0 HP or less, under normal circumstances, they fall unconscious. In order to regain consciousness, an unconscious character must be healed to a positive HP value and wait a number of rounds equal to 10-STA before recovering and acting again, or until combat ends, or some other time determined by the GM. Some healing spells will cause an unconscious character to regain consciousness as a side effect of the spell, or even as the main effect of the spell, thus hastening the process. As an optional rule, characters still within negative HP values may lose 1 HP per round until they either die or are healed as a result of bleeding and or other wounds. If such bleeding or wounds would be more severe than this loss value would indicate, consider increasing the value a point or three.

Deceased characters must be revived within 48 hours in order to preserve the character's prior memories and skills. A resurrection ritual involves reshaping and calling the aura of the deceased back into its prior state of organization, and a standard resurrection ritual requires either (4+1d6) - (any modifiers in Ritual, Astral or Resurrection Magic that would logically benefit the caster) hours, of which must be a minimum of 2 hours regardless, or some other GM determined time period. If the character cannot be revived within this time period, it is still possible to animate the corpse, creating a zombie with the assistance of death magic through any number of processes. A zombie has none of the skills or abilities it had in life, but retains all physical statistics except INT and WIS.

If no character can revive the dead, it is perfectly fine to have them hire someone else to do so for them.

Ending Combat:

After the players have defeated/fled from the enemies (or vice versa), combat is over. If the players were "victorious" by the definition of the GM, he can award them XP points for their valor!


Chapter 4 – The Hazards of Adventuring

A lot of weird, wild, and wacky things can happen during an adventure. Potions are doled out, pits are fallen into, and status effects take hold. These rules are some good rules of thumb for GMs to use when dealing with the hazards of adventuring.

Status Effects:

These are some suggested status effects, complete with Philsys game mechanical effects. While these are only suggested, and of course, GMs can expand on it, it probably works better if all use the same set of rules to avoid confusion. Any other errata will be mentioned under the effect.

The duration and curability (and if curable, how) of any status effect is up to the GM at any given time. For example, a paralyzing toxin might last for a week, or it might not wear off until cured, or it might last for 10 minutes. This is entirely up to discretion. As a further note, these are not absolute or required rule sets, and can be adapted, changed, etc. for whatever purpose suits the GM. Metagamers who whine, "but that's not what poison does!" are to be shot on scene.
And if you couldn't tell, I was mostly kidding.

Poison:

Poisoning is a fairly simple effect. The poisoned PC or NPC receives damage, each round, based on the strength of the poisoning (not Max HP, since this is a realistic world, not a CRPG). Poison comes in levels, and can theoretically go infinitely high in terms of strength, but this is not recommended. Determine the level you need instead of assigning the highest one you can think of >_>.

Poison deals 1d6 damage per level, per round. Poisoning stacks, and is cumulative. An already poisoned character will be poisoned worse if another poison is inflicted. If a spell is cast which inflicts Level 3 Poisoning, the target will take 3d6 damage at the beginning of the next round. The round after that, the target will take 2d6, then the next 1d6, and then the poison will be purged from the body. Of course, spells which cure poisoning will do the same thing more quickly, although very strong poisons should be harder to remove, and a spell might not cure it entirely, just remove a few "levels" from the one to be healed. For each level of poison in the body, the affected character receives 1d6 damage per round.
Poison strength increases dramatically as it goes up in level -- Level 3 Poison deals 6-36 damage, but a Level 5 Poison deals 15-90! Just keep this in mind when you set poison's strength.

Blindness:

Blindness isn't like CRPG Blind/Darkness in that being unable to see in real life is a serious detriment. A blind character will suffer a -6/-6 AT/PA penalty for the duration of the effect. Durations vary depending on the spell or attack that caused the blindness.

As a side note, it is utterly impossible for a PC to make any sort of sight, perception, or observation check while blinded, unless magically assisted.

Paralysis:

Paralysis prevents the affected target from being able to move their muscles. If a creature does not have muscles, joints, etc. which can lock up and become immobile, it cannot be affected by paralyzing spells or effects (for example, slimes). Paralyzed characters suffer a -6/-6 AT/PA penalty and cannot move or take action. Yes, this carries over outside of combat, and will most definitely have an effect on the party's actions...

The exception to taking action is spell casting. Mental Magic is still available, as well as most other spell casting abilities, especially if the PC can move his or her mouth, even slightly. This is up to GM's discretion.

Petrifaction:

Petrifaction turns the target into a stone statue. Obviously, the effected target cannot move, act, speak, etc. If the target is hit VERY hard by a physical attack, it is possible that they will BREAK. In this case, the target may end up permanently losing a limb or etc, and may end up shattered and completely dead, which would be harder to revive than normal.

Curing petrifaction, and how difficult it is, is entirely up to GM's discretion.

Zombie:

Zombie is an interesting status effect, usually caused by undead or various spells. While under the effect of zombification, the affected target will attack randomly, hitting friend and foe indiscriminately (I'd suggest rolling a die with sides equal to the number of targets, otherwise, just come up with something close, whatever). Also, the affected target will be considered undead. Thusly, they will take damage from healing spells, be cured by shadow attacks, and other such effects.

Berserk:

Berserked targets attack indiscriminately, but always attack enemies. In their rage, all attacks deal additional damage, and they will always choose the most powerful but least accurate attack possible. This means that characters armed with melee weapons will always Chop, and will deal weapon damge+4*str+2d6 instead of 3*str. Characters armed with ranged weapons will always do the risky thing and go for the head shot, and will occasionally fire twice.
Any strength check of any sort is +4 under the influence of being berserk.

Mute:

Muted targets cannot speak. As a side effect of being unable to speak, most spells, with the exception of Mental Magic, are unusable.

Astral Drain:

Targets under the effect of Astral Drain suffer a continual loss of MP over several rounds. Astral Drain works exactly the same as poisoning, with a system of levels, each level equaling 1d6 MP drained per round. The effects are cumulative, like poisoning.

Fall damage:

Recommended fall damage is as follows:

10 feet: 10+1d20
20 feet: 50+1d20
30 feet: 100+1d20
>40 feet: Most characters, unless magically aided or their fall is broken, will die falling 40 feet or more, regardless.

Also, for some falls, it might be appropriate to roll for broken limbs. On a ~10 foot fall, it might be best to go with the following roll results on a d6:

1. One hand is broken.
2. One wrist is broken.
3. One ankle is sprained.
4. One leg is twisted.
5. Nothing.
6. Nothing.

On falls of 20 feet or greater, consider:

1. One arm is broken.
2. One leg is broken.
3. Both arms are broken.
4. A leg and an arm is broken.
5. Nothing.
6. Nothing.
Feel free, like with all rules, to adapt these.

Damage From Falling Objects:

If something FALLS on you...you take its weight, round its weight off to the nearest 10 lbs. and multiply it by how far it fell (rounded off to the nearest 10 yards, as well). Multiply the ratios together like so: a 30 lb. object falling 20 yards is 3*2=6. Multiply 6 times the base damage, which is 14+2d6 points. Thusly, a 30 lb. rock falling 20 yards deals 96-156 damage (ouch).

Very light objects deal half damage. Weight or distances of 2 or less should be treated as 10, but the damage is halved. A 2 lb. object (round up to 10) that falls 20 yards deals (2*(14+2d6))/2, or more simply, 14+2d6 points of damage.

Soft objects, such as living beings, deal half damage or less for their weight.

Damage From Falling Objects:

If something FALLS on you...you take its weight, round its weight off to the nearest 10 lbs. and multiply it by how far it fell (rounded off to the nearest 10 yards, as well). Multiply the ratios together like so: a 30 lb. object falling 20 yards is 3*2=6. Multiply 6 times the base damage (found under “Crushing Attacks” in the section above), which is 14+2d6 damage. Thusly, a 30 lb. rock falling 20 yards deals 96-156 damage (ouch).

Very light objects deal half damage. Weight or distances of 2 or less should be treated as 10, but the damage is halved. A 2 lb. object (round up to 10) that falls 20 yards deals (2*(14+2d6))/2, or more simply, 14+2d6 points of damage.
Soft objects, such as living beings, deal half damage or less for their weight.

Scribing Scrolls:

Simply put, a scroll is a piece of enchanted parchment serving as a magical item to hold a charge of a spell, of which can be later recast at reduced or no cost. Scrolls are created by magicians or other spellcasters with the "Scribe Scroll" skill, and in order to scribe a scroll, the caster must possess a bottle of ink, a quill pen, and a sheet of parchment.
Scribing a scroll costs the full cost of the spell to be scribed, requires 1d6-rank hours with a minimum of two, and has a success rate based on the rank requirements of the spell*4. For example, a Beam 2 spell has a rank req. of Holy Magic=4, so the difficulty is 20. Like with any standard skill check, the success is based on Scroll Scribing Skill+INT+INT+WIS, the base attributes for the skill, plus a d20 roll. If the spell has multiple base skills, the difficulty is the sum of the req. ranks*4, so spells requiring multiple schools or types of magic may cost more (or the same, or less, it depends totally which schools and the req. ranks).

Success in scribing a scroll creates a magical item, referred to as (for example) "Scroll: Beam 2." This item has one charge of the spell scribed on it and can be used by anyone who can decipher the runes on the scroll--if the user is not the original scriber, the difficulty to check against is equal to the difficulty of scribing divided by two. In the above example, Hakaril could scribe a scroll of Beam 2 and pass it to Dia Rai, whom of which would have to make an INT+INT+WIS+d20 check against a difficulty rating of 10 (20/2). When skill rank is applied to damage with scribed scrolls, use the skill rank at the time of scribing.

Scrolls scribed during periods of distress or scrolls that are scribed and are failures may still WORK, but might backfire instead of their intended effect (causing them to explode, discharge unstable manna, create random effects, whatever). An example of a situation in which failure is almost guaranteed would be if the scriber was intoxicated.

Scrolls can also be found as treasure or the like--to save time, it is recommended that there be no difficulty check for reading these scrolls, unless it would be reasonable that there would be one (the scroll is in a language not understandable by the user, the user is not magically inclined, the scroll is very powerful, etc).

As an option, using a self-scribed scroll may cost 1/2 the cost of the original spell instead of being completely free.
Also note that these rules are only suggestions.

Suffocation Damage:

Being forced to hold your breath (due to say, poison gases, or being underwater) for long periods of time can be very, very damaging. Lack of oxygen to the brain, among other things, can result in permanent injury and loss of brain cells...of which is, needless to say, hardly a good thing. In game, being forced to hold your breath is a damaging experience as well.
Holding your breath for one combat round (roughly 60 seconds of real time) deals 1d10 damage. Holding it for 2 deals 5+1d10 damage at the end of the second round, then 10+1d10 at the end of the third, 15+1d10 at the end of the fourth, and 20+1d10 at the end of the fifth. For each round after that, the damage dealt is still 20+1d10.

Also note that no character can hold their breath for longer than their STA+1 rounds. Doing so will cause them to fall unconscious regardless of HP value until something rouses them.

Magical Item Strengths:

Consumable magical items, such as potions of healing, should be ranked according to strength. Now, it's entirely unnecessary to label things the exact same way, and it is in fact encouraged to mix things up for the purposes of throwing off the twinks and min-maxers of an RPing community. However, a few recommended suggestions as to the relative recuperative strengths of potions, etc:

· Light/Weak: 10+1d10, or 11-20 points of recovery
· Medium/Average: 30+1d10, or 31-40 points of recovery
· Heavy/Strong: 60+1d20, or 61-80 points of recovery
· Supreme/Serious: 100+1d20, or 101-120 points of recovery

Feel free to modify these values, of course, or even ignore them entirely!


Chapter 5 - A Second Look At Charts and Tables:

Here I'm going to list all the linked resources at your disposal, just for reference.
Weapons and Armor Table - A table of "standard" weapons and armor for use. ([url=http://www.rpgww.org/rpstuff/Weapons1.txt:]www.rpgww.org/rpstuff/Weapons1.txt[/url:] )
Valthi Weapons and Armor - A table of "Valthi" weapons and armor for your use. These are an alternate list for character who are from Valth or wish to use its weapons/armor. ([url=http://zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstuff/ValthiEquip1.txt:]zeke.tzo.com//rpgww/rpstu...Equip1.txt[/url:] )
Skill List - A list of example skills with base attributes. ([url=http://www.rpgww.org/rpstuff/Skill_List.txt:]www.rpgww.org/rpstuf...l_List.txt[/url:] )
Spellbook - An example list of spells with skill requirements for mage characters. ([url=http://www.rpgww.org/rpstuff/philsys_spellbook.html:]www.rpgww.org/rpstuf...lbook.html[/url:] )
Stat Definitions - A rough outline of what different scores for different stats mean (how good is a +4 STR, anyway?) ([url=http://www.rpgww.org/rpstuff/philsys_statdefs.html:]www.rpgww.org/rpstuf...tdefs.html[/url:] )
Philsys Rule Addendum - Some of this has been encompassed by the main rules--rules for various things not covered here, like falling damage and hexboard combat. ([url=http://www.rpgww.org/rpstuff/philsys_addendum.html:]www.rpgww.org/rpstuf...endum.html[/url:] )


Please sticky this thread until it's transfered to the website, or whatnot. Oh yes, and point out important things I may have missed.

EDIT: Fixed spacing.

EDIT 2: Even more corrections.

[i]Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=pdrydia:]pd Rydia[/url:]&nbsp; [img:]http://www.rpgww.org/rydia/ezb/icon20_orf2004.gif[/img:] at: 11/10/04 7:55 am
[/i]

[FlamingDeth]

You might want to plain text the post. Things that are in pointy brackets are lost, like in the section about [s] skills. <p>
<hr width="70%"><center>Superion, Autobot air gestalt, recently died protecting Los Angeles from a nuclear missile. Rest in peace. :(</center></p>

[wkz]

Links have also gone to hell. Guess I'll have to wait for this guide to be transplanted to the website before I have things to click at....

Also, That's a lot of work.... *whistles*. Nice~~...

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=wkz@rpgww60462>wkz</A] at: 5/26/04 3:40 am

[LadyDragonClawsEDW]

Also, it would be really really really helpful to point out where the changes to Philsys have been made, because I notice that a lot of it still seems pretty much the same. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to read the whole danged thing! <p>

---

One hat to rule them all.</p>

[JoshuaDurron]

FD: Thanks I'll try that.

wkz: I have no idea how to fix the links, aside from simply remaking them all as links, something I don't want to take the time to do, and wouldn't work in a plain text document anyway.

Kate: MOSTLY I've just condensed the addendum and the main rule book, adjusted some obsolete things like unarmed attack damage, and added older changes. But the rules for multiple attacks and the new ranged attack formula are in there too. I'm planning on putting together a revised character sheet template, and I'll point out the new game mechanics there, so people can convert a little easier.

EDIT: Revised character sheet template. Again, looks very similar, but I've added somethings. New portions of the template are in Bold type.

Background:


name: {name} - age: {age} - eyes: {you get the idea} - hair: {text} -
height: {text} - {anything else you want to put here, feel free to
include it} {{DO NOT CAPITALIZE THE EYE COLOR, ETC.!}}


{enter your character's background story here.}


--Basics--
Name: {name}
RPer: {your screen name for RPGW's RP board}
Race: {your character's race}
Level: 1
XP: 0/1000
Max HP: {55+(STA*5) }
Max MP: {(MAG*10)+(INT*5)+(WIS*5)}
Max TP: 20
Initiative {AGI+COU+2d6 (Just put down the value for AGI + COU and then "+2d6" after it) }


--Attributes--
Courage {+# or (-#)}
Wisdom {+# or (-#)}
Intuition {+# or (-#)}
Charisma {+# or (-#)}
Agility {+# or (-#)}
Dexterity {+# or (-#)}
Strength {+# or (-#)}
Stamina {+# or (-#)}
Magic Aptitude: #

{note: make sure the first 8 numbers (but NOT the 9th, magic) have
a postive or negative sign with them, unless they are zero, and make
sure negative numbers are in parenthesis}


Base AT/PA - {AGI+INT+STR+COU/AGI+INT+STR+COU}
Modified for skill - {Base + part of skill value/base + remaining skill value}
Modified for equipment - {mod for skill +/- equipment penalties/mod for skill +/- equipment penalties}
Accuracy – {for ranged weapons, weapon’s accuracy rating + skill ranks}
Dodge – {for dodging ranged attacks, 10+AGI*2+INT}
Base MAttack – {only for spell casters, WIS+INT+MAG}
MDefense – {10+Cou*2+Int}

-=- {mention what armor and weapons do you have equipped here} -=-

Weapon Damage - {weapon name} {adjustments}
Thrusting - {base thrust damage + STR+1d6}
Slashing- {base slash damage + STR*2+2d4}
Chopping - {base chop damage + STR*3+2d6}
Number of Attacks/Parries – {1+Part of Bonus Melee actions)/1+Remainder of Bonus Melee actions}


A further note: People who have techs which grant them multiple attacks may wish to alter the way their techs read, so they are instead granted bonus attacks on top of those they already have. <p>

---

"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
</p>Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=joshuadurron>JoshuaDurron</A] at: 6/1/04 12:13 am

[Banjooie]

Quote:

---

Also note that no character can hold their breath for longer than their STA+1 rounds. Doing so will cause them to fall unconscious regardless of HP value until something rouses them.

---

This means Thalamasa cannot hold her breath longer than 0 rounds.

And what about people with -2 stamina? They die automatically?

[Nakibe]

What are the weight modifiers of which you speak, and where can I get one? More importantly, what would the weight modifier for an unarmed attack be? <p>

---

*lurks*

Warning: The previous was a work of Chaos. Anything said above was written by a certified nut. Caution is advised

MY head, Dia!!! eVe</p>

[pd Rydia]

Where it says:<ul>Whenever your character gains a level, the following things happen:

· Your character gets a chance to increase up to two stats by +1.
· Your character gets a chance to increase their skills by a total of Wis+3 (minimum 2 per level) ranks.
· Your character gains more HP, MP, and TP. </ul>At each level up, doesn't initiative and AT/PA increases if courage does, and AT/PA increases if the main weapon skill increases, etc? Might be nice to add a reminder of this in here as well.

More comments to come later!

[edit]

Links, man. :( Just put the links in parenthesis after the text they're supposed to be linking.

[edit 2]

Someone once complained about the thrust/slash/chop format, and suggested a weak/medium/heavy format, leaving the description of the attack up to the RPer's preference and the weapon that their character is using. Just something to throw out there, not sure if it's been brought up before or not.

I highly, highly, highly suggest some sort of table of contents. There's a lot of stuff in here, and people are going to have a hard time finding what they're looking for. <p>

---

<center><small>Dragonhalf in English: a manga

It's big, and it's red / The red dragon, oh, the dread dragon / but never fear, for Dick is here / To slay the dragon~!</p>Edited by: pd Rydia&nbsp; at: 5/26/04 2:53 pm

[Banjooie]

I'm serious, people, negative values break Philsys in ways you people can't begin to imagine.

[Uncle Pervy]

Question.

This number of Parries/Attacks business. Let's say I have four attacks and three parries a round. Can I do both at once, do I have to pick to multi-attack or multi-parry?

I'm thinking it needs to be the latter, as there is only so much stuff one can do in a round, and if you're focusing on getting in more hits, it's highly unrealistic to also be parrying everything in sight. <p>
-------------------------------------
NebbieQ: After all, nothing says romance like fighting the forces of Cobra and Druggies with a Rocket Launcher of 80s Justice.</p>

[JoshuaDurron]

Gwah!

Banj: I'd say that a person would have a minimum of 1 round they could hold their breath (much like a person has a minimum of 1 AT/PA roll every round, regardless of AGI.)

Naik: I'm pretty sure I went out of my way to note that Unarmed fighting was a light weapon...

Dia: I should have thought of that.

Banj Again: Not touching that with a 40 foot pole.

Pervy: Hm. Hadn't thought of that. I agree with it, and toss it before the rest of the council of PS GMs. <p>

---

"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
</p>Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=joshuadurron>JoshuaDurron</A] at: 5/26/04 6:54 pm

[Jak Snide]

You get an extra attack/parry point for every "level" you achieve due to skill rank, stat bonus etc. What you do with it that round is up to you. For example, if you have 2 bonus points you can attack 3 times and parry once, attack once and parry 3 times or attack twice and parry twice.

Also, props to Mr Durron for his work thus far.

[Archmage144]

Banj is dumb. Anytime in Philsys something logically cannot be 0 or less, it is increased to 1. This solves a great number of problems. You can't gain negative skill points at level up, hold your breath for -1 rounds maximum, or whatever. <p>

---

<div style="text-align:center"></div>

</p>

[JoshuaDurron]

People have asked for a complete list of things that were added/changed in this rules update, and thus I have obligingly put one together. This includes all the major additions, not places where I have simply adjusted the wording to reflect new rules such as multiple attacks & ect.

SO! What I have done is assembled such a list. Things that are fairly NEW are in bold type, while things that were simply moved into the main rulebook from the existing addendum are listed in italics. Things that incorporate elements of both new and old changes are in both.

In the Level Up portion, added reminder that changing stats affects HP, MP, AT/PA, and Innit.
Added Grapple rules in the section on melee combat
Updated the Unarmed Fighting damage formula
Added sections on multiple attacks. They are:
~Speed and Melee Actions, in the section on melee attacks and resolution
~Skill and Melee actions, in the same section as above
~Fighting with two weapons, and how to calculate multiple attacks for multiple weapons, in the same section as above
~Speed, Skill, and Ranged Attacks, in the section on missile attacks and resolution
~Two Handed Missile firing, and how to calculate multiple attacks for multiple weapons, in the same section as above
Delayed Actions
ALL of Chapter 4, The Hazards of Adventuring

And that's pretty much it. <p>

---

"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
</p>Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=joshuadurron>JoshuaDurron</A] at: 5/27/04 9:15 pm

[Besyanteo]

Lorr: You didn't really answer Shaun's question, I know because I posed it to him before. Shaun wants to know what the weight modifier is, because it makes a big difference to say...

Number of Attacks/Parries – {1+(AGI(4)/1)+([4 of 7]/1)/(1+(AGI(4)/1)+((3 of 7)/1} 9/8

vs

Number of Attacks/Parries – {1+(AGI(4)/2)+([4/7]/2)/(1+(AGI(4)/2)+([3 of 7]/2} 5/4.5 (rounded up? down?)

Thus, we ask again: Weight modifier for unarmed fighters (and aparently light weapons) is what? <p>

---

Jeridan: Holder of the "Tastes like Chicken" Award.

"So you're afraid of a man who can't walk in sunlight, can't stand crosses, and is easily dispatched by WOOD?"~Selrahc/KoD</p>

[JoshuaDurron]

Apparently I didn't make it as clear as I had hoped...

The weight modifier for Unarmed Strikes is the same as for all light weapons, namely, 2 for AGI, 6 for Skill. I tried to think of a better way to put it, ("number you devide you agility/skill by to get bonus melee actions" is a little clunky,) but really, I couldn't. Do you guys have a better suggestion, so we can avoid confusion in the future? <p>

---

"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
</p>

[Jak Snide]

Some things that've been brought to my attention:

Multiple parries mean jack shit if the defender is flanked. If he just defended against someone in front of him he can't defend against someone who's behind him. Thus even a master swordsman can still be swamped by 3 level 1 characters unless he takes a defensible position.

Also, something I feel the need to reinforce; as Brian said, PS is meant to be open to GM interpretation. If you just suffered a heavy blow don't be surprised if the GM makes you forfeit the rest of your round. Likewise, "infallible" techs and spells may be dodged/resisted/etc by unusual circumstances.

[Archmage144]

...upon actually reading this, the "formula" for extra attacks and parries makes me want to cry, because it has about seven times more numbers and variables than anything in an RPG ever should. <p>

---

<div style="text-align:center"></div>

</p>

[Jak Snide]

Less formula, more paragraph or two of explanation plus examples?

[Archmage144]

Why does it take a paragraph? o_O Something so simple as determining how many extra attacks you get should take one sentence.

...maybe I shouldn't have resigned after all. <p>

---

<div style="text-align:center"></div>

</p>

[JoshuaDurron]

AM: Have I perhaps fixed the offending formula? If not, feel free to post and tell me which part you're having problems with, and how you'd like to see it changed... <p>

---

"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
</p>

[Kelne]

Well, I somewhat belatedly offer the following formula. Still seems a tad complicated to me, but it works.

Bonus Melee Actions: Skill/(Weight mod*2+2) + Agi/Weight Mod

Where the weight mod is 2 for light weapons, 3 for medium, and 4 for heavy.

Still needs an explanatory example, of course. <p>"I didn't want to crush Moyle. I didn't have to. He was so spineless, gravity did it for me." - David McPhale, as Rob Muldoon</p>