Class System for PS

[Nekogami]

Yes, Brian I know you don't approve of it but thanks for all your help for the mage stuff.

I don't care if you approve or not, but I wanted to share some of the work Doug and I have done. If you have helpful comments or criticism share. Simply "I like" or "I don't" isn't helpful, expand on it a tad for me please.

This isn't made for Gaera so don't get your panties in a knot, those who are ready to tie a sailor's know in their hanes. It's for Gardinia.

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Phil-Sys: Modified for Classes

The first change to PhilSys in this is that this system is designed for classes. The basic classes are:

Fighter: a ranged or melee specialisit in arms as well as one versed in the martial arts
Rogues: thieves and assassins are the most well-known rogues, though the masterless merchants also fall in this category as they can give you a good deal or swindle you blind.
Acolyte: those versed in the healing arts, those that are dedicated to protecting, and those the hunt the creatures of the underworld, the Demonslayers.
Mage: those who can invoke the elements of the world, tap into the power of their surroundings, summon spirits and magic creatures.
Those without a class should follow the rules for classless Phil-system.
New classes/specializations can be added as they are proposed and approved.

Class Bonuses
Having a class is not merely cosmetic. It can also help you along. The bonuses may seems small but added to race bonuses or in a tight scrap where one point can make the difference.They can also help you decide which class bests suits the path you want your character to take.

Bonuses are not added every level they are one time additions. So as you level up you can count on your bonuses to be there but they will not increase like your stats will.

Figher Class: STR +1, COU +1
Rogue Class: CHA +1 AGI +1
Acolyte Class: WIS +1 STA+1
Mage Class: INT +1 WIS+1

The stat bonuses come with the class... and GO with the class. No stacking bonuses here.

Skills Points

Skills within your field of specialization are bought at half normal cost. Cross-specialization within your class (buying skills of another specialization within your class) is done at normal cost. Neutral skills, skills that are not strictly related to any class/specialization, are also bought at normal cost. For example:

Let's say you pick a Sword specialist, Weapon:Swords is now buyable at half-cost. So you buy four ranks of it which only ends up costing 2 skill points instead of the normal 4. It's a 1:2 ratio.

Then say, you take Unarmed Combat as another skill. As it's not directly in your specialization, you cannot buy it at half cost, but as it's within the same general classification, it's not so out of reach, and you buy 4 ranks of it, costing 4 skill points on the normal 1:1 ratio.

Now, say he takes up fire magic. This, being outside of his reach and class, is more difficult for him to grasp. As a result, he has to pay on a 2:1 ratio, buying four ranks at 8 skill points.

Job Experience


Specialization Abilities

Each specializating within a class gets special abilities within that specialization as they move up in Job Levels. If you change classes, you have to start from square one again.

Fighter:
Melee Fighter:
[Jlvl 5] Faultless Parry (4 TP) Give up one's turn for the round to automatically block one melee attack.

[Jlvl10] Cleave (15 TP): A double-damage chopping attack that instantly kills if it deals half or more of the target's HP in damage.

[Jlvl 15] Counterattack (4 TP) Gives up one's turn. If one is attacked, regardless or not of whether they're hit, by a melee attack, they can counter with a normal attack of their choice.

[Jlvl 20 ] Julienne (20 TP) Combo attack that within an AoE of 3 hexes of the target, deliver 6 attacks, split evenly among enemies inside the AoE.

Ranged Fighter:
[Jlvl 5] Pinpoint Strike (5 TP, free action) Aims for a precise strike against a target. Doubles effective skill rank when attacking with a ranged weapon.

[Jlvl10] Trigger Happy (20 TP)-Attack 6 times in one turn (assuming ammo/capacity allows), however, gain a -2 ACC penalty on the first shot, and a cumulative -2 for every shot thereafter.

[Jlvl 15] Blind Target (4TP, free action) - field and personal status affects do not effect your accuracy. Fog or blind the shooter is capable of firing on an opponent with no penalty to accuracy.

[Jlvl 20] Snapshooting (8 TP) Give up one's own turn to interrupt an enemy's action. Fire a shot with a penalty based on the weapon type and enemy's action. If successful, enemy's action is interrupted and turn is over.

Martial Artist:
[Jlvl 5] Spear Strike (4 TP) An attack that strikes so hard and precisely that it hits as if the target's armor, if it exists, was not there. Suffer an extra -2 to AT roll, but if the attack hits, up to 45 points of AC are ignored for purposes of damage reduction.

[Jlvl 10] Twin Dragon Stance (8 TP) makes attack so quick and full of force that it causes double damage.

[Jlvl 15] Blur (12 TP) dodge enemy attack once every round but take no aggressive action unless to cancel blur.

[Jlvl 20] Healing Chakra (15 TP) take one round to heal 50 percent of HP, during this time you are vunerable to attack without defense.

Rogues:

Thief:
[Jlvl 5] Perfect Hide (6 TP) Effectively gives the ability to hide normally. Cannot move or take action while hiding and cannot be normally seen.

[Jlvl 10] Distract (4 TP) -effectively distract an opponent for one turn. Opponent cannot defend while distracted.

[Jlvl 15] Grand Theft (15 TP) - steal or disarm weapon or armor from opponent.

[Jlvl 20]Turnaround (10 TP)- dodge enemy attack and counter.

Assassin:
[Jlvl 5] Improved Backstab (Passive) Adds +100% damage to a backstab attack.

[Jlvl 10] Perfect Ambidexterity (Passive) Eliminates difference between off-hand and normal hand when using 1H weapons.

[Jlvl 15] Perfect Stealth (4 TP/Round): Enables the user to move stealthily without fault. Removes the need for rolling for normal stealthy movement.

[Jlvl 20] Perfect Murder (X TP) Upon a backstab, may improve AT by X, with a maximum of +15 AT.

Merchant:
[Jlvl 5] Bribery: (XTP;X being your reaction modifier) Utilizing and optimising the temptation of money, one can tempt people to do favors for them (Examples: giving permission into a restricted area, or lending them an item)

[Jlvl 10] Perfect Forgery (X TP): Words can be a most powerful weapon, but at times, one must provide a good name for themselves. This ability allows one to forge a signature and provide oneself with the name of another. Adds X to Forgery rolls (max of +15)

[Jlvl 15] Item Efficiency (Variable TP): One must make the most of what they have. Having knowledge of efficiency as relates to their craft, merchants can get maximum use out of certain items, using only a fraction of what it would normally take

[Jlvl 20] Negotiation (X TP): Sometimes, it is better to avoid combat than to engage in it. Through persuasion, it is possible to end a situation without a single sword drawn. In any negotiation situation, spend X TP to assist in CHA rolls and the like.

Acolyte:
Guardian:
[Jlvl 5] Last Chance (20 TP, free action; once a day limit) Guardian can survive for one last second to do his duty. Can stay conscious with 1 HP from a blow that would normally bring him to/below 0.

[Jlvl 10] Advanced Comraderie Enchantment (10 MP) Spread physical damage between the party evenly, damage is rounded up to the nearest 1 point of damage. Enchantment lasts for 3 rounds.

[Jlvl 15] Critical Stop (15 TP) for 3 turns target ally takes no damage from physical attacks.

[Jlvl 20] Guardian Angel (30 TP) All physical damage is directed to Guardian and halved for d4 rounds. Magical damage is half to all allies. Guardian angel depletes 10% of HP from Guardian and depletes MP to 0.

Demon-slayer:
[Jlvl 5] Shadow Breaker (X TP) Can add X*Y (where X is a variable amount of TP spent, caps at 20, and Y being Jlvl/5, rounded down) damage when attacking a shadow-aligned enemy physically.

[Jlvl 10] White Guard (Passive) Effectively gives (Jlvl) Damage resistance and Magic Damage Resistance against Dark-aligned attacks.

[Jlvl 15] Holy Curse (10 TP) Make a spellcasting roll, replacing skill with Jlvl. If successful, gives -(Jlvl/3, rounded up) to all rolls of the target. Can only target shadow-aligned enemies.

[Jlvl 20] Demon Slayer (20 TP) In exchange for half of your max HP in health, multiply an attack's damage by (Jlvl/2). Only affects shadow-aligned targets.

Necromancer:
[Jlvl 5] Death Ward (15 TP) Protects target from instant death attacks. Lasts for (Jlvl/2, rounded down) rounds.

[Jlvl 10] Improved Summon Intelligence (Passive) All summoned undead are now effectively more intelligent, and are capable of behaving as such.

[Jlvl 15] Improved Summon Capacity (Passive) The effective number of undead that can be maintained at a time is doubled

[Jlvl 20] Banish Undead (30 TP) Make a MATK roll, using Jlvl for skill. If an undead target fails a save, it is automatically killed.

Mage:
Elemental Mage/Invokers:
[Jlvl 5] Focus (5 TP) damage of all spells is increased 20% for d4 rounds.

[Jlvl 10] Sure-Cast (30 TP) For d3 rounds, spells are guaranteed to hit, MATK roll still needed to determine critical

[Jlvl 15]Chameleon Caster (30 TP, 20 MP) Temporarily (d6 rounds) change innate element to another element, taking half damage from the same element and double from the opposing.

[Jlvl 20] Wisened Sage (Passive) MP costs for spells are halved.

Geomancer:
[Jlvl 5] Combat Improvisation (12 TP) create spell on the fly that can be used in battle.

[Jlvl 10] Blessed Earth (5 TP) All allies around geomancer are given a +1 bonus to agility and stamina. Status affects such as poison are ineffective. This last for d10 rounds and can be used only once per battle.

[Jlvl 15] Change Terrain (30MP,30 TP) Change Change one area of a terrain to a totally different type for rest of battle.

[JLvl20] Unlock (20 TP, free action) Use any single geomantic spell in regardless of terrain. TP cost must be paid for every time this is used.

Summoner:
[Jlvl 5] Banish Summon (5 TP)
Automatically unsummons creature under your command and gives you half the MP required to summon it in the first place. Cannot be used on other people's summoned creatures or berserked summons

[Jlvl 10] Improved Capacity (passive)
Doubles the number of creatures one can maintain at a time

[Jlvl 15] Eliminate Summon (30 TP, 30 MP)
Acts like Banish summon, only can be used on other people's and berserked summons. Requires successful MATK roll, replacing skill with JLvl

[Jlvl 20] Improved Creation (Passive)
Summoned creatures have 150% improved stats (Elemental resistances are not included in this)
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<div style="text-align:center">
Nekogami Character Pantheon--Deviant Art Gallery--LiveJournal</div>
<span style="font-size:xx-small;">Words to live by:
OMG PRIAM: ninja sex would be neither felt nor seen by either partner
OMG PRIAM: each would just suddenly need a smoke
Choark: Good luck there. You'll have to shit out darkness and send people into oblivion.</span></p>

[Archmage144]

I don't mean to be rude, but if it's for Gardinia and not Gaera, why are you posting it here? <p>

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[Nekogami]

AM: Didn't know where else to post it and there's a lot more people on the board that I don't know that might be good at this kind of thing. So instead of running around trying to find people I let people decide to help me or not.

This is a community of open-mindedness and sharing, I thought. If you want to move it or delete it go on ahead, I suppose.

JD: Good point about the lack of penalties... I didn't even think about that. We were contemplating also doing race bonuses but the more I thought about it the more I think no way is that going to work and be cool.


As for the skills bit, the whole point is that people who have chosen something to specialize in are going to in general be better at what they do so getting some special ability as the progress makes sense to me.

In that way I don't think it's unfair. RO being my inspiration, of course a permanent novice is going to have a harder time of it than someone who chose to get a job. But permanovices like that challenge. Also, I wanted the system to allow for more classes if someone built them in.

As far as the bonus skills.... Hmm.. I think that since the skills you mentioned are pretty high level when they acquire them that they might be on par with their level. What do you think? <p>

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<div style="text-align:center">
[url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=nekogami>Nekogami</A]&nbsp; at: 3/31/04 10:43 am
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[JoshuaDurron]

AM: Possibly to get the attention of a wider range of PS people. Although I confess, the CC would have been the better board to post this on.

Neko: Interestingsome, as I believe Pervy sometimes says. I'll take it one part at a time.

The base classes seem OK, at least as a place to start. Fighter/Rouge/Cleric/Mage is pretty much the basic breakdown of classes, and the subdevisions give more variety and customization options.

The Stat bonuses... how shall I say this? NO. >:
Serriously, though, it ENTIRELY changes the way the system works, and gives a hefty advantage to characters with a class, with NO corrosponding penalty. Think about it. Classed characters essentially get 23 stat points at start, and non-classed characters get only 21. In DnD, that's not big. In Philsys it is. If a person wants to play a classless character, they are at a huge disadvantage, something which, IMO, should not be. It cuts against the very heart of PhilSys. Besides, stat mods based on class don't make a whole lot of sense to me. (Race yes, class no.)
ANOTHER POSSIBLITY: Instead of stat bonuses, how's about this? FIGHTERS recieve 1d10+1+Sta HP at level up, instead of the normal 1d6+Sta HP. ROUGES recieve 2 bonus skill points per level up, in addition to their normal ones, for being extreemly versatile, and skilled in a wide number of tasks. ACOLYTES and MAGES recieve 1d6+Mag+Int/2 MP at level up, instead of the normal 1d4+(Mag+Int)/2 MP. On level one, all classes would recieve half their maximum bonus to stats (except rouges, would would recieve both their bonus skill points.) In other words, a level one fighter with a stamina of 3 would recieve 7 bonus HP. ((10+1+3)/2 = 7)

Job Ablilities: Some of these seem over powered, or don't make sense. Trigger Happy, for instance, works fine for a gun, but doesn't make sense on a bow (unless it is a repeating crossbow.) Chameleon Caster and Wizend Sage jump out the most. Turnaround and the Summoner's Improved Creation as well. Finally, since classless people get none of this, they are (again) at a disadvantage. Give them 1 bonus skill point per level, to reflect their versatility.


Anyways, That's how I'd do it. Just my thoughts. <p>

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"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
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[JoshuaDurron]

In retrospect (I was in a hurry before work when posting that last post) you're right. The abilities I sighted would be aquired by a level 15 or level 20 character (Gaera doesn't even have any of those yet, I think.) So they'd probably be on par with the ablities a character on those levels would have. I'm just not used to thinking on that scale. Do Grandian characters really advance that much faster than Gaeran, or are you just planning ahead? <p>

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"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
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[Nekogami]

Planning ahead. The thought was to clearly lay out the path of advancement to potentially encourage the use of the system. "Work hard and you'll get this". I doubt it would affect a lot ot people but even so it kind of helps to see ahead. <p>

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<div style="text-align:center">
Nekogami Character Pantheon--Deviant Art Gallery--LiveJournal</div>
<span style="font-size:xx-small;">Words to live by:
OMG PRIAM: ninja sex would be neither felt nor seen by either partner
OMG PRIAM: each would just suddenly need a smoke
Choark: Good luck there. You'll have to shit out darkness and send people into oblivion.</span></p>

[Archmage144]

If you're really insistent about doing this class thing, Josh had it right as far as a better way to do it--instead of offering base stat improvements, which are too good overall, offer other sorts of passive improvements, some of which might improve with level--AT or PA bonuses, bonus hit points or magic points, bonus tech points, bonus skill points, bonuses to to-hit or damage rolls for spells...that specializes things further. Giving a mage character an INT and WIS boost doesn't just improve his magical talents--it improves his AT/PA, perception checks, all knowledge skills, and skill points per level.

I'm willing to discuss this more on a more personal note later on if you want--I know my recent stance has been "no," and I still have misgivings both about changing Philsys to do exactly the opposite of what it was intended to do (create a classless RP system) and Philsys being changed at all (because I've done a lot of work both on and with it and even if I don't use it so much anymore I feel very personally involved with it).

As a side note, permanovices in RO are a very bad comparison, though I'm not sure you realize that right off--going permanovice in RO isn't just a disadvantage in the sense that you're not as strong as someone who chooses a class, it's a disadvantage in the sense that you quite simply cannot do anything on your own, as you are completely reliant on your equipment for abilities and stat bonuses (because you get no bonuses, have no natural perks or boosts or talents, have the lowest natural HP and ASPD, and get no skills).

[EKDS5k]

"Rogues"

[Archmage144]

I knew I forgot something in my post. Doc gets an for reminding me. <p>

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