Okay, so I'm making a d20 game, and I'm going to post a few of the game mechanics here. I'm open to suggestions and questions, but not antiquated criticisms, trolling or devil's advocates. The system's core is already fully designed and set in stone. However, if you have suggestions on details or if you have questions on how something works, THAT I'm happy to work with.

The game originally used the OGL d20 system as the base, but it has made a lot of changes.

I will merely list the biggest changes here. If you have played with the d20 OGL system (D&D 3.0/3.5, D20 Modern, Pathfinder RPG), you will have no problem understanding that these are changes merely being applied to that system. If you are not familiar with that system, this will probably be a bit confusing. Sorry.

Many players have described this new system as the BUFFET OF FEATS style of play. Most betatesters so far have thought it was the greatest thing ever. I have tested it with over 230 people so far in the past two years going to local conventions and of course suckering IRL friends into trying it.

I DO want suggestions for improvement, but these three core changes are set in stone and will not alter them so please do not harass me about that. I will post more details later that I'll actually need suggestions on. Until then, I open the floor to questions only.

---

CORE CHANGE #1: SAVING THROWS & DEFENSE

AC, TAC, FFAC are all gone. Now, all attack/defense uses saving throws (see below).

Armor, Natural Armor and Deflection are now Damage Reduction/-. They can stack, but only up to a maximum based on your level (10 + 1/2 HD).

Fortitude, Reflex and Will are gone. Now there is a saving throw for each ability score:

STR: resist being physically held, entangled, grappled or moved
CON: resist poison, necromancy, transmutation and stun
DEX: resist evocation and physical attacks. This helps against entanglement and grappling, but you may choose use STR instead since DEX is only defensive in this aspect.
INT: resist confusion, dispelling, temporal-manipulation, memory manipulation, power of your crafted items/constructs
WIS: resist all other enchantments and illusions, resist mundane social checks (Bluff, Intimidate, etc.)
CHA: resist curses, forced teleportation/banishment, abjuration and other targeted divinations, power of your summoned creatures

Whether you roll an attack vs. a DC or roll a saving throw vs. a DC is up to the GM. They can have players roll all dice, or have "whoever's turn it is roll" or everybody rolls, but the modifiers are the same either way. Whoever rolls has only a 0.5/20 better chance of success (2.5%) so the GM should keep that in mind.

---

CORE CHANGE #2: BAB, Proficiency, Caster Level and Skills
All four of these things have been merged into a single skill list. Higher battle skills give you bonuses to hit with weapons as well as certain spells. All skills have both an in-combat use and out-of-combat use. For example, your DIPLOMACY skill is not just used for negotiating, but also determines the power (caster level) of NPCs and monsters you command (either with Leadership, Animal Companion, Familiar, summoning or calling, spells or whatever). Skill points are not Intelligence-based. Everyone gets the same amount of skill points at each level, even rogues and fighters. Skill categories are split rather evenly between Battle, Magic and Subterfuge (we actually have 6 categories, but this is the basic idea).

---

CORE CHANGE #3: Special Ability and Class Reduction
All class features, spells, feats, and traits have been merged into just "feats" and "augments". Feats are special things you can do, like Cleave, Magic Missile, or Vanish. Augments are merely flat bonuses or adjustments you get like Skill Focus, Fast Movement, Weapon Specialization and Toughness. Rather than get class features predetermined for you, you get to pick your own talents. At every even level you get a class augment of your choice (provided you meet the prerequisites) and at every odd level you get a class feat of your choice (provided you meet the prerequisites). A "class" ability merely means you have to select the ability from your class list (see next paragraph).

There are only 4 classes: Warden, Vanguard, Sage, Ranger.

WARDENS:
This is the support class. Their abilities focus on buffing allies, healing allies, and granting special actions to their team mates.

VANGUARD:
This is the tank class. Their abilities focus on defense and close-range attacks that are crowd-controlly. They need not always defend themselves, but can also defend nearby allies.

SAGE:
This is the cannon class. Their abilities are ranged crowd control dealing damage to many targets at once, manipulating the terrain and forcibly moving enemies on the field.

RANGER:
This is the scout class. Their abilities focus on mobility, stealth, speed and they can deal high amounts of damage, but usually only to one target at a time (assassin).

All classes have social abilities and utility abilities as well as combat, but they are organized by combat role since that is more set in stone while social roles and utility roles are more flexible and easily roleplayed.

ADVANCING:
You pick a special ability at every level. It can be anything you want from your class list of abilities. Each class will have about 100 feats and augments to choose from when the book is published. At every odd level you also gain a "bonus special ability" which allows you to pick a feat OR augment from any class you want (provided you meet the prerequisites). This means you get 1 special ability at every even level and 2 special abilities at every odd level and 2/3rds of these abilities have to be from your class list, but the other 1/3rd can be from another class (assuming you're built with the ability to meet prerequisites). This means multiclassing is a thing of the past. You want to multiclass? You'll have to pick a favorite and just select the other stuff as you go.

etc.

Many players have described this new system as the BUFFET OF FEATS style of play. Most betatesters so far have thought it was the greatest thing ever. I have tested it with over 230 people so far in the past two years going to local conventions and of course suckering IRL friends into trying it. I want suggestions for improvement, but these three core changes are set in stone. I will post more details later. Until then, I open the floor to questions only.

---

I DO want suggestions for improvement, but these three core changes are set in stone and will not alter them so please do not harass me about that. I will post more details later that I'll actually need suggestions on. Until then, I open the floor to questions only.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:48, Wed 30 Sept 2015.

It certainly does sound like you have a good deal of thought into it.  Looks intriguing.

A question about the DR stacking... you indicate there is a limit based on your level.  My question is, is it a stacking limit, or a DR limit.  Purely as read, my first inclination was you were defining a stacking limit, which would seem to imply that it can't be stacked to be more than that limit, but potentially if you had a single effect that was greater than that limit, you might benefit from that single DR at full effect.  I'm not certain that was what was intended though.

No, it's a flat limit. +6 natural armor, +12 armor, +3 deflection would still cap at 10 if you were 1st level.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:54, Thu 01 Oct 2015.

Facebook page for the game if anyone is interested in checking out the artwork:
https://www.facebook.com/CosmosRPG

In reply to Arkrim (msg # 4):

I subscribed to the Page Upon the Book of Face.

Thanks for the support! Sorry I haven't posted more here, I've been busy with my day job and working with the artists on future projects.

I also got a new writer to help with the campaign setting itself. The game's focus will be on letting people make their own adventures of course, we just really want to give people a starting point.

Again, thanks for the support guys. I'm definitely going to need it come May next year when we go live on the Kickstarter.

---

COSMOS SKILLS
Unlike traditional d20 games, skill ranks in the game are not separate from battle statistics (like Base Attack Bonus or Reflex Saves) nor are they separate from magic/psionics (such as your spell power). Rather, skills serve as a secondary bonus to all aspects of a character's abilities. Every d20 roll and DC is based on an ability modifier + skill rank, as determined by the GM for which is the most appropriate for a given circumstance.

ATHLETICS
-Acrobatics
-Climbing
-Reflexes
-Stealth
-Swimming

BATTLE
-Armor
-Artillery
-Finesse
-Marksmanship
-Melee

LORE
-Arcana
-Concentration
-Linguistics
-Psicraft
-Streetwise

SOCIAL
-Deception
-Diplomacy
-Insight
-Intimidation
-Presence

SURVIVAL
-Beast Handling
-Foraging
-Medicine
-Navigation
-Perception

TECHNOLOGY
-Alchemy
-Computers
-Mechanics
-Piloting
-Tactics

Skills are useful in nearly every facet of the game. Even something like "Linguistics" can be used not only to decipher codes, learn new languages and communicate secret messages or pantomiming with those whom you do not share a language, it can be used to determine how powerful your Divination effects are when you attempt to use such powers. Intimidation is used as your caster level for fear spells and Tactics can be used to see the near future in a battle or determine the DC to find/disable your traps, both magical and mundane. Some skills can even be mixed up with different ability modifiers to do different things. For example, Dexterity + Marksmanship would be used to fire ranged weapons at targets when making attack rolls with them, but Intelligence + Marksmanship could be used to craft/repair basic firearms (although Mechanics may still be necessary for more advanced technology).\

---

ATTACK SPELLS

---

DESTRUCTIVE SPELL
Augment +2, Mage
Prerequisites: Any attack spell targeting an area.
For every +2 levels invested in this augment when you apply it to a spell, the spell's area increases as if 1 level higher and damage increases by 1 die.



ELEMENTAL BLAST
Conjuration, Creation, Mage, Warrior
Prerequisites: None.
Target: Everything caught in Melee Blast 1.
This spell functions like Elemental Strike, including selection and types except as noted here.
Upgrade: Every +1 level to this spell increases the area by 1.

ELEMENTAL BEAM
Conjuration, Creation, Mage
Prerequisites: None.
Target: Everything caught in Melee Line 1.
This spell functions like Elemental Strike, including selection and types except as noted here.
Upgrade: A +1 upgrade to this spell increases the line area to Line 5. Every +1 level thereafter increases the area by 5 more.

ELEMENTAL BURST
Conjuration, Creation, Mage, Warrior
Prerequisites: None.
Target: 1 creature or object in Melee range.
This spell functions like Elemental Strike, including selection and types except as noted here.
Upgrade:  Every +1 level to this spell increases the number of targets by 2, to a maximum of 7 at level 3. At level 4, this target changes to "Everything caught in a Burst 1 area". Every level thereafter increases the Burst area by 1.

ELEMENTAL RAY
Conjuration, Creation, Mage, Rogue
Prerequisites: None.
Target: 1 creature or object within Close range.
This spell functions like Elemental Strike, including selection and types except as noted here.

ELEMENTAL STRIKE
Conjuration, Creation, Rogue, Warrior
Prerequisites: None.
Selection: You must select one of the following upon learning this spell: acid, bleeding boils, bludgeoning air, bludgeoning earth, bludgeoning ice, bludgeoning water, piercing air, piercing earth, piercing ice, poison, slashing air, slashing earth, slashing ice, slashing water. You can learn this spell multiple times, making a new selection each time.
Target: 1 creature or object in Melee range.
Rolls: Varies based on select. See below.
You conjure up elemental forces to destroy your target. You deal damage and make different rolls depending upon your selection.

Upgrade: Every +1 level to this spell increases the damage by 1 die.

ENERGY BLAST
Conjuration, Creation, Mage, Warrior
Prerequisites: None.
Target: Everything caught in Melee Blast 1.
This spell functions like Energy Strike, including selection and types except as noted here.
Upgrade: Every +1 level to this spell increases the area by 1.

ENERGY BEAM
Conjuration, Creation, Mage
Prerequisites: None.
Target: Everything caught in Melee Line 1.
This spell functions like Energy Strike, including selection and types except as noted here.
Upgrade: A +1 upgrade to this spell increases the line area to Line 5. Every +1 level thereafter increases the area by 5 more.

ENERGY BURST
Conjuration, Creation, Mage, Warrior
Prerequisites: None.
Target: 1 creature or object in Melee range.
This spell functions like Energy Strike, including selection and types except as noted here.
Upgrade:  Every +1 level to this spell increases the number of targets by 2, to a maximum of 7 at level 3. At level 4, this target changes to "Everything caught in a Burst 1 area". Every level thereafter increases the Burst area by 1.

ENERGY RAY
Conjuration, Creation, Mage, Rogue
Prerequisites: None.
Target: 1 creature or object within Close range.
This spell functions like Energy Strike, including selection and types except as noted here.

ENERGY STRIKE
Evocation, Rogue, Warrior
Prerequisites: None.
Selection: You must select one of the following upon learning this spell: acid, bleeding boils, bludgeoning air, bludgeoning earth, bludgeoning ice, bludgeoning force, electricity, fire, freeze, piercing force, slashing force, sonic. You can learn this spell multiple times, making a new selection each time.
Target: 1 creature or object in Melee range.
Rolls: Varies based on select. See below.
You conjure up elemental forces to destroy your target. You deal damage and make different rolls depending upon your selection.


PSYCHIC STRIKE
Enchantment, Psychic, Rogue, Warrior
Prerequisites: None.
Target: 1 creature in Melee range.
Rolls: Varies based on select. See below.
You destroy your target by tearing apart their mind and soul. You deal damage and make different rolls depending upon your selection.


This message was last edited by the GM at 19:12, Sat 14 Mar 2020.