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Dumpshock Forums _ General Gaming _ A d20 Variant

Posted by: Sahandrian Oct 18 2003, 10:16 PM

I'll refrain from posting random IM quotes in this thread, no matter how funny yet on-topic they were.

Anyway. This is a project that I was working on with Phaeton. We were working on a way to make some parts of the d20 system... I don't know whether to say "more realistic" or if it just looked more interesting. The first thing we did was to get rid of the Base Attack Bonus, and replaced it with a skill system. Here's how this worked...

Classes get two sets of skill points, which aren't interchangeable. In addition to the normal Skill Points, they get Combat Skill Points. The number of Combat Skill Points is based on the Base Attack Bonus the class previously had.

CODE

Max BAB Combat Skill Points
+20 8+Int
+15 4+Int
+10 2+Int

Strength is the attribute bonus added to melee skills, while Dex is added to ranged ones. And instead of having the feat "Weapon Focus," the feat "Skill Focus" can be applied to the combat skills instead. Also, Weapon Proficiencies are no longer used. This would give you something like this...

A 1st-Level Human Fighter
STR 16
DEX 14
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip Dagger)
Weapon Focus (Longsword)
Weapon Focus (Whip Dagger)

Longsword attack bonus: +5
Whip Dagger attack bonus: +4

My version, with the same attributes:
Skill Focus (Lonsword)
Skill Focus (Whip Dagger)
(A third feat of your choice)
Skill: Longsword +4
Skill: Whip Dagger +4
(other weapon skills)

Longsword attack bonus: +9
Whip Dagger attack bonus: +8

The one major flaw I see in this, aside from needing to add Skill Focus (combat skills only) to the Fighter bonus feat list, is that you get those annoyingly high numbers. Of course, at high levels that doesn't matter, but a half-orc barbarian getting +10 with his greataxe at first level is a bit much.

Any suggestions?

...and... just one IM quote...

QUOTE

Future Juushichi: OMG D20 MAKE SENSE NOT POSSIBLE *DIES*
Future Juushichi: And one day... One day we shall do away with d20's level system entirely.
Future Juushichi: And on that day... D&Ders will no longer play in shame.