Fantasy AGE "Multiclassing" Rules

My first roleplaying was Dungeons & Dragons, and like many others, I use to spend hours creating all sorts characters. This was helped greatly by D&D's multiclassing rules (well, for 3rd edition at least). In Fantasy AGE however, there are no such rules.

At first, I found this to be a sticking point for me; I really liked mix-matching classes to create more interesting characters. I tried spending hours thinking about how to implement D&D-style multiclassing into Fantasy AGE, but I've come to accept there is no multiclassing in Fantasy AGE.

However, I also like to tinker with various aspects of the rules. And this time, I tried using Fantasy AGE's specializations as a method to produce multiclassed characters. When I was writing these specializations, I tried to keep their benefits equal to about a 6th-8th level character in the class it is trying to emulate.

ADEPT [Rogue and Warrior Specialization]

Requirements: Intelligence and Willpower 2 or higher.

You have trained in the magical arts at the local mages' guild.

Novice: Magic Training: You learn one magic arcana of your choice.
Journeyman: Magic Training: You learn one magic arcana of your choice.
Master: Magic Training: You learn one magic arcana of your choice.

Magic Talents: You are considered a Mage for the purposes of meeting the requirements on magic talents. However, you are limited to the Novice and Journeyman degrees in a magic arcana.

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SCOUNDREL [Mage and Warrior Specialization]

Requirements: Accuracy and Dexterity 2 or higher.

You have taken a few lessons from the local thieves' guild.

Novice: Rogue Talent: You gain a degree in a Rogue talent (see below). You can also perform the combat stunt, Pierce Armor, for 1 SP.
Journeyman: Pinpoint Attacks: You gain the Rogue ability, Pinpoint Attacks.
Master: Rogue Talent: You gain a degree in a Rogue talent (see below).

Rogue Talents: You are considered a Rogue for the purposes of meeting the requirements on the following talents: Archery style, Dual weapon style, Scouting, Single weapon style, Thievery, Thrown weapons style.

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FIGHTER [Mage and Rogue Specialization]

Requirements: Constitution and Fighting 2 or higher.

You've spent time in the training yards of the local warriors' guild.

Novice: Warrior Talent: You gain a degree in one of Warrior talent (see below) of your choice. You also learn one new Weapon Group of your choice.
Journeyman: Dual Strike: You can perform the combat stunt, Dual Strike, for 3 SP.
Master: Warrior Talent: You gain a degree in one of Warrior talent (see below) of your choice.

Warrior Talents: You are considered a Warrior for the purposes of meeting the requirements on the following talents: Archery style, Armor training, Dual weapon style, Pole weapon style, Single weapon style, Throwing weapon style, Two-hander style, Unarmed style, Weapon-and-shield style.

Fantasy AGE - Encumbrance Rules

One of the few things that I didn't see in Fantasy AGE were rules for encumbrance. Now, like most gamers, I normally ignore tracking encumbrance in-game. However, one of my side-projects for Fantasy AGE is a set of wilderness exploration/survival rules, in which I want to include rules for encumbrance.

My goal is for a simple set of rules for encumbrance that meshes well with Fantasy AGE, but also tries to capture the idea of having to deal with a limited carrying capacity, where you must pick-and-choose which items you'd think would best help you. The rules presented here are in a very rough state, with no real descriptive text, but they should be playable. However, they also haven't been properly playtested, so just a note to anyone trying these rules.

These rules were originally written with Fantasy AGE in mind, but I do think they would work for nearly any roleplaying game. The only things that would need changing are how Encumbrance Penalties work and you would need a replacement for Ability Focuses.

5th Edition - Grigori Rasputin (Anastasia, 1997)

Today, I have a character/monster write-up of for 5th edition; Grigori Rasputin from the animated movie, Anastasia. At first, this was going to be a standard character write-up, like my previous ones. But like pretty much all of my ideas, I switched mid-way through the process and started writing it as a "monster". I don't have much play experience with 5th edition, so the write-up is pretty much the same as a player character, with minor tweaks here and there.

AGE of Tamriel - Armor Training Talents

Been awhile since I did any real work on AGE of Tamriel, so I spent the morning trying to re-kindle the fire for that project. Here are the two armor training talents that I've come up with. These talents were based on the armor training talents from DracoDruid's Free-Form FAGE, plus the perks from light armor and heavy armor skill trees from Skyrim.

Light Armor Training

Requirements: Dexterity 2 or higher.
You are trained in wearing lighter forms of armor.

• Novice: You are trained in wearing leather armor. You ignore the Armor Penalty from leather armor, it neither affects your Speed nor your Dexterity.
• Journeyman: When wearing leather armor or no armor you have a +1 bonus to your Defense.
• Master: Agile Defender. When wearing leather armor or no armor you gain the Rogue ability, Slippery.

Heavy Armor Training

Requirements: Strength 2 or higher.
You are trained in wearing heavier forms of armor.

• Novice: You are trained in wearing leather, mail, and plate armor. You do not suffer the Armor Penalty to your Dexterity when wearing armor.
• Journeyman: You reduce the Armor Penalty for mail and plate armor by 1, to a minimum of 0. You also gain 5 extra Stamina.
• Master: Juggernaut. When wearing mail or plate armor you retain one-half the Armor Rating (rounded down) from your armor when you take penetrating damage.

Kits and Kaboodles (5E, Basic Fantasy, Fantasy AGE)

In a bit of late-night inspiration, I had an idea for simplifying the process of equipping characters, and that is with Kits and Kaboodles. Kits and Kaboodles are a collection of items intended for a specific task; such as adventuring, healing, cooking, wilderness survival, etc. Now instead of buying equipment piece-by-piece, you just buy a Kit or Kaboodle for whatever purpose you want and get on with the game.
Admittedly, this idea is nothing new; I've seen similar ideas in other games many times before. Even so, here is my take on the concept for 5th Edition D&D, Basic Fantasy, and Fantasy AGE. But, really, it can be applied to any game system with a bit of tweaking.

Kits and Kaboodles

Kits and Kaboodles represent a collection of items for a broadly-defined purpose, such as adventuring, healing, cooking, wilderness survival, etc. However, there is a key difference between them; Kits are re-useable items that modify a character's chance of success, whereas Kaboodles have a limited number of uses before being exhausted.

Examples

Here is a sample list of Kits and Kaboodles. Obviously, this isn't a complete listing, so use your imagination for other uses.

Kits: Adventuring, Blacksmithing, Climbing, Cold-weather, Grooming, Warm-weather, Leatherworking, Riding.
Kaboodles: Alchemy, Cooking, Fishing, Food/Water, Healing, Perfume, Traps/Snares.

Quality Control

Another aspect of a Kit and Kaboodle is its Quality. Quality determines the item cost and weight of the Kit/Kaboodle, a Kit's modifier, and a Kaboodle's number of uses.

ITEM        COST*   WEIGHT    NOTES
===================================
KITS
  Poor        4      3 lb.    -2/-1** penalty to any related ability tests
  Common      8      6 lb.
  Fine       12     12 lb.    +2/+1** bonus to any related ability tests

KABOODLES
  Poor        2      2 lb.    3 Uses
  Common      4      4 lb.    6 Uses
  Fine        8      8 lb.    12 Uses

* Costs are in gold pieces (gp) for 5th Edition and Basic Fantasy.
   In silver pieces (sp) for Fantasy AGE.

** 5th Edition and Basic Fantasy modifiers are +/- 2.
    Fantasy AGE modifiers are +/- 1.

The Kit AND the Kaboodle!

Now, it is possible to have a Kit and a Kaboodle both intended for the same purpose. However, in-game they are both still treated as separate items. For example, you can have a fine-quality Alchemy Kit (for a +1 bonus), but have poor-quality Alchemy Kaboodles (for 3 uses).

Lost or Damaged Items

When using Kits and Kaboodles, it is still possible to lose or ruin items.
For Kaboodles, a lost item is easy to deal with, you simply lose 1 use of the Kaboodle.
Kits are a bit more involved, however. First, make a note on what Kit item was lost. Now, anytime you attempt to perform an action that would require the lost Kit item, you cannot perform that action. But you are still able to use the Kit for any other actions unrelated to the lost item.

Weapons, Armor, and Specialty Items

Another concern is that certain items, especially weapons and armor, cannot be found in a Kit or a Kaboodle. These types of items must be purchased individually.

The Exception: Ammunition Kaboodles

Ammunition may be bought as a Kaboodle. But instead of tracking individual pieces of ammunition, the Kaboodle tracks the useage of ammunition in an abstract way. After each combat encounter in which you use a weapon with ammunition, you lose 1 "Use". In addition, you may lose addition "Uses" whenever you roll badly on attack rolls made with such weapons. How this is handled in-game depends on the system being used. When your ammunition Kaboodle reaches 0, you are out of ammunition.

5th Edition / Basic Fantasy: Whenever you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll, you lose 1 "Use" of ammunition.
Fantasy AGE: Whenever you miss on an attack roll AND the Stunt Die rolled a 1, you lose 1 "Use" of ammunition.

Fumble Points

Sometimes, Lady Luck doesn't smile on you during a game session. Roll after roll you continue to fail during the more important scenes.

The idea for Fumble Points came after watching a youtube video showcasing a certain player's remarkable "ability" to fail nearly every roll by a wide margin through two gaming sessions. It got me thinking how frustrating that would be during a session, sitting there and continually failing and not doing anything useful. So I had the idea for Fumble Points.

Fumble Points tries to help alleviate a player's string of bad luck with a mechanic that grants the player free re-rolls whenever they fail miserably. Now, I know this idea is nothing new, I've read/heard about similar mechanics in other games, but since I can't remember what those games are, I came up with my own rules.

Below, I have describe using Fumble Points for 5th Edition, D20-based games, and Fantasy AGE. But I think these rules can be used with nearly any roleplaying game that relies on dice rolls to resolve actions and doesn't already have a similar mechanic.

5th Edition Fumble Points

(1) Earning Fumble Points: Whenever a player rolls a 1 or 2 for an action and fails, they receive one Fumble Point.
(2) Spending Fumble Points: Spending a Fumble Point works like Inspiration.
(3) Success, Failure, and Fumble Points: If the action succeeds, the Fumble Die is spent as usual. However, if the action fails even by spending the Fumble Point, the Fumble Point is not spent.
(4) Limits on Fumble Points: A character can only have one Fumble Point at a time.

D20-based Fumble Points

(1) Earning Fumble Points: Whenever a player rolls a 1 or 2 for an action and fails, they receive one Fumble Point.
(2) Spending Fumble Points: Spending a Fumble Point allows the player to get a second roll for one action, choosing the better roll. Fumble Points can be used on ability checks, skill checks, saving throws, and attack rolls.
(3) Success, Failure, and Fumble Points: If the action succeeds, the Fumble Die is spent as usual. However, if the action fails even by spending the Fumble Point, the Fumble Point is not spent.
(4) Limits on Fumble Points: A character can only have one Fumble Point at a time.

Fantasy AGE Fumble Points

(1) Earning Fumble Points: Whenever a player rolls a 6 or less on an ability test and fails, they earn a Fumble Point.
(2) Spending Fumble Points: Spending a Fumble Point allows the player to re-roll all three dice on a single ability test, using the better result. Fumble Points can be used on ability tests, spellcasting tests, and attack rolls.
(3) Success, Failure, and Fumble Points: If the action succeeds, the Fumble Die is spent as usual. However, if the action fails even by spending the Fumble Point, the Fumble Point is not spent.
(4) Limits on Fumble Points: A character can only have one Fumble Point at a time.

Basic Fantasy - Simply Proficient

Today I present material for Basic Fantasy, something that I call "Simply Proficient!". "Simply Proficient" is a set of rules that tries to bring a simple skill system to the game. It is inspired by the proficiency system found in the old Player's Option: Skills & Powers book for 2nd Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Now, the rules here are incomplete and bare-bones, but it has the basic idea I am shooting for. It has been something I've worked on-and-off with for a long time. Eventually, I would like to submit it on the Basic Fantasy forums, like I have with my "Simple Halloween" and "Powder & Shot" supplements.

Note: I didn't include a list of proficiencies as I haven't written them yet, but it shouldn't be to hard to create your own or to search online for a list of old AD&D proficiencies.

SIMPLY PROFICIENT

(version 0)

Proficiencies represents knowledge pertaining to something outside of combat and the adventuring life (well, mostly). They cover things not normally encountered or needed while exploring dungeons and catacombs, like a knowledge of history, cooking, blacksmithing, etc.

Starting Proficiencies
Characters start with 4 proficiencies. One represents their background, one is tied to their race, another from their character class, and another proficiency of their choice. All proficiency's start at the Basic rating.

Intelligence and Proficiencies
A high or low Intelligence score will modify a character's starting proficiencies. A character will always have at least one proficiency.

Gaining Proficiencies
Characters gain one additional proficiency at 3rd level and every third level thereafter. They can either increase a proficiency they already possess by one step, or obtain a new proficiency at the Basic rating.

The Proficiency Check
The Proficiency Check requires you to roll equal to or under the proficiency's Proficiency Score on a d20.

Proficiency Score
A proficiency's score is: 8 + ability modifier + Proficiency Rating.

Proficiency Rating
The Proficiency Rating is a measure of a character's level of knowledge of the proficiency. Each rating provides a bonus to determine the Proficiency Score. There are four different ratings; Non-proficiency (+0), Basic proficiency (+2), Expert proficiency (+4), and Master proficiency (+6).

Automatic Success and Failure
When making a Proficiency Check, a natural roll of 1 is an automatic success, while a natural 20 is an automatic failure.

Varied Difficulty
The basic proficiency check assumes a static target number (TN), with nothing beyond the character's proficiency rating and natural abilities to determine their chance of success. If you wish for more variation, you can apply a modifier to target number. Beneficial circumstances would increase the TN, while detrimental conditions would lower the TN. The modifiers should range from +/- 1 to 3.

Magic Items & Proficiencies

Magic items can be made to interact with the proficiency rules. Most magic items will grant the character a +1 to +3 bonus on their proficiency checks with one proficiency, or rarely, two proficiencies. Some more uncommon items might boost a character's proficiency rating, so long as they have the proficiency to begin with. Some rare magic items might even grant a character a proficiency rating even if they do not possess the proficiency. There might also be cursed items that have the opposite effect of those noted above.

Fantasy AGE - Light Arcana

Today, I have a new magic arcana, the Light arcana. I wrote this arcana while I was creating a low-level priest-like mage for playtesting purposes and thought I'd share it. I also had to create set of rules concerning partially blinded and totally blind characters.

Light Arcana

You bring light where there is darkness.

Novice: You learn the spells dazzling display and ghost light.
Journeyman: You learn the spell blinding bolt. You also gain the focus Intelligence (Light arcana).
Master: You learn the spell sunburst. You can choose one spell stunt you can perform for -1 SP when casting Light arcana spells.

DAZZLING DISPLAY

Requirements: Light arcana (Novice).
Spell Type: Attack. MP Cost: 4.
Casting Time: Major. Target Number: 11.
Test: Dexterity (Acrobatics) vs Spellpower.
You create a burst of scintillating light in a 6-by-6 yard area in front of you. Anyone within the area must make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) test against your Spellpower or be Dazzled for one minute. Dazzled characters suffer a -2 penalty on Perception (Seeing) tests and any actions that requires sight and to their Defense.

GHOST LIGHT

Requirements: Light arcana (Novice).
Spell Type: Utility. MP Cost: 3 per hour.
Casting Time: Major. Target Number: 9.
Test: None.
You create a pinpoint of light that illuminates a 10 yard radius around it. This light is under your control and has a Speed of 6 + your Willpower. You can change its direction with a Minor action. In addition, anyone within the illuminated area has a -2 penalty to Dexterity (Stealth) tests. This Illumination lasts for one minute, but can be extended for 3 MP per additional minute.

BLINDING BOLT

Requirements: Light arcana (Journeyman).
Spell Type: Attack. MP Cost: 6.
Casting Time: Major. Target Number: 12.
Test: Constitution (Stamina) vs Spellpower.
You cast a bolt of blinding light against a single target within 20 yards of you. The bolt inflicts 1d6 + Willpower penetrating damage and the target is Blinded. Blinded characters suffer a -2 penalty on all ability tests, to their Speed and Defense, and automatically fail Perception (Seeing) tests and any actions that requires sight.
If the target makes a successful Constitution (Stamina) test against your Spellpower, this spell only inflicts 1d6 penetrating damage and the target is only Dazzled for one round. Dazzled characters suffer a -2 penalty on Perception (Seeing) tests and any actions that requires sight and to their Defense.

SUNBURST

Requirements: Light arcana (Master).
Spell Type: Defense. MP Cost: 8.
Casting Time: Major. Target Number: 14.
Test: Constitution (Stamina) vs Spellpower.
You create a blinding light in a 10 yard radius around you. Anyone within the area is Blinded. Blinded characters suffer a -2 penalty on all ability tests, to their Speed and Defense, and automatically fail Perception (Seeing) tests and any actions that requires sight. If they succeed on a Dexterity (Acrobatics) test against your Spellpower, the target is only Dazzled for one round. Dazzled characters suffer a -2 penalty on Perception (Seeing) tests and any actions that requires sight and to their Defense.
In addition to the above effects, creatures with a vulnerability to sunlight within the spell's area take 2d6 + Willpower penetrating damage, with a successful test reducing the penetrating damage to 1d6 + Willpower.

Blindness Rules

There are two states of blindness, partial blindness and total blindness. Partial blindness is handled by the Dazzled condition and total blindness by the Blinded condition.

Dazzled characters suffer a -2 penalty on Perception (Seeing) tests and any actions that requires sight and to their Defense

Blinded characters suffer a -2 penalty on all ability tests, to their Speed and Defense, and automatically fail Perception (Seeing) tests and any actions that requires sight.

AGE of Tamriel - Classless Characters

Today, I have another preview of my AGE of Tamriel project.

This time it is a set of rules that tries to emulate the free-form character development that the Elder Scrolls games are known for. These rules were not present in my previous AoT, I didn't have enough written down at the time to include it.

Now, these rules are not complete, but show the general idea I am shooting for. Here is the PDF link. And again, these rules are incomplete and subject to change, so keep that in mind when looking this over.

Those of you who frequent Roninarmy.com's Fantasy AGE forums should recognize influences of DiBastet's "Classless AGE" and DracoDruid's "Free-form Fantasy AGE" within these rules. Or it would have, if I remembered to of included DracoDruid's talents, but I was a bit hasty in getting this ready for another AoT preview.

5th Edition - The Witch Knight Fighter Archetype

Today I present a new fighter archetype for 5th Edition; the Witch Knight!

The idea for the archetype came from two places; from my previous mentioned D&D setting, and as an experiment to see if I could create a variant on the eldritch fighter that uses pact magic instead of traditional spellcasting.

The look of the document was made using the online editor at homebrewery.naturalcrit.com. I spent roughly six hours fiddling with the code while also catching up on the few episodes of Critical Role that I've missed. My earlier attempts at re-creating that 5th Edition style, as seen in my miqo'te and 5E santa write-ups, was a combination of GIMP and Open Office. Using the homebrewery editor was much, much faster and more enjoyable.

Overall I think it turned out okay, if from a rather unoriginal idea; it is basically the first seven levels of the warlock class, minus a few class abilities. So, I have no idea on how well it would play in-game or if it is well-balanced, but it was fun writing it.

You can find the homebrewery link here or download a PDF of it here.

The World of Aeroth!

Over the past few weeks I've been enjoying the youtube videos by Matt Colville and his world-building streams on Twitch. Because of that, I spent the weekend messing around with world-building myself.

At first I used Hexographer. Its great cause it has a free version for you to mess with and has the ability to randomly generate a map. While I think it works great, especially considering its free, I've never really come to really enjoy using it. It might be because I never had a concrete idea to begin with. Whatever the issue I have with Hexographer, it still is a pretty good map-making tool.

But over the weekend, on a whim I decided to try this program I've seen mentioned online, Inkarnate. Wow! The look of the maps it can create are very nice! Has a good amount of options to choose from and map symbols to use. While certainly more visually impressive, it does have its flaws. For one, the available space for maps is quite small, so you have to stitch multiple maps together in photoshop or scale-down everything to fit it all. Two, the tools used to create/remove land and water are still quite big when trying to create larger regional areas of a world. And finally, the colors used for much of the symbols and terrain can be quite close, kinda making harder to notice individual details. But that could just be the options I chose.

Either way, what came about from this whole experience is that I have finally created a map for a D&D setting I've been wanting to create for years. The map still have some issues, mostly with it being overly packed with stuff and labels, small near-ineligible text, and the issues mentioned above. But I like the how it came out overall.

Edit -- Updated the readability of the map and made a few minor tweaks.

AGE of Tamriel Preview PDF

I have been meaning to do this for quite some awhile now, but never put time aside to do it. Well today is that day! Here is a PDF showing the current state my AGE of Tamriel project is in: AGE of Tamriel Preview PDF

It sits at 89 pages and shows off the look I'm thinking of using. To be honest though, I'm thinking of dropping the page background/color scheme and going with simple black-white-grey colors. Makes for easier for printing, reading, and writing. But I will leave that until I am nearing the end before re-doing anything further.

As I am still in the process of writing this, everything in here is either a placeholder/reminder, or just the initial ideas I have written down and tinkering with. Everything is subject to change or removal. The only parts that are "complete" are the sections on Character Races and Starting Equipment.

AGE of Tamriel - Update and Cover Image

Just a quick post saying that I'm still here and am continually working on the AGE of Tamriel, and while not actual game material, I thought I'd share the cover image I made some time ago.

New Blog, Old Files

Here is a list of files that I linked to on the old blog, or at least as many as I could remember.

5TH EDITION FANTASY

Final Fantasy XIV Miqo'te, 5th edition
• .PNG file
• .JPG files: #1, #2, #3
• PDF

Santa Clause, 5th edition
• .PNG file
• .JPG files: #1, #2, #3
• PDF

D20 SYSTEM

• (PDF) Battle Sorcerer base class

SAVAGE WORLDS

• (PDF) Mad King Thorn from Guild Wars 2

TRUE20 ADVENTURE ROLEPLAYING

• (PDF) Brave Gaming! Character write-ups of characters from Disney-Pixar's Brave
• (PDF) Culinary Magic
• (PDF) Witch-Hunter heroic role

AGE of Tamriel - Character Races, part 2

Here is the second post for the remaining character races.

AGE of Tamriel - Character Races, part 1

With the recent site issues, I've been rather unenthusiastic about re-starting the blog, again. In hopes of re-kindling this enthusiasm I plan on posting more frequently, and to help with that I will focus on posting snippets of one of my game projects: the AGE of Tamriel (kudos to vincegetorix from the Roninarmy.com forums for the name suggestion). The first snippet were two posts back in September of last year on the various character races of the Elder Scrolls setting.

Below is an updated version of those posts.

And we are back!

So over the holidays my site became host to malicious code that redirected visitors elsewhere. To anyone affected by that, I am sorry. I didn't notice it because I was sick for much of the time and didn't feel up to sitting at a computer. It wasn't until the beginning of the year that I finally felt well enough to check in, only to find out what happened. Needless to say, I was pissed. I tried to see if I could fix it myself, but as I obviously didn't as my web host had shut down the site.

During that time I remembered I had this old blog. Initially it was gonna be a temporary, but after being forced to finally remove all suspected malicious files (and the blog itself), I decided this one to use it as my main site while the old one is relegated to mere static website and as file storage. Hopefully with this arrangement I can keep some presence online if the other site goes down.

With that out of the way, it is now time to get back to posting unoriginal character write-ups and bland magic items with no sense of a schedule or routine. Cheers!