Rules: 3.5 with the following adjustments.
I figure on rewriting this in a different order, a different organization in the next post, where I'll organize by action/check types instead. I'll leave what is below as a different viewpoint, if one is confusing, perhaps both together will be more clear.
Overview
The biggest change is character advancement. Changing advancement requires making adjustments in different spots because advancement touches nearly everything.
Health and dying rules are the simplest change. Injuries are a thing as well as adjustments to the dying stage of things.
Magic is altered to be more skill based and less powerful, but usable not just more often than normal but constantly. A mage can use magic as often as a sword. The intended balance between martial and magical ability is that martials deal more, and more consistent, damage while magic deals less and less consistent damage yet has versatility and flexibility and is more able to utilize indirect combat (utilize environment and other factors aside from direct combat).
Oh, and many tropes and "standards" of fantasy are not adhered to. For example, soldiers are almost always as skilled with magic as they are with a weapon, though generally the role of magic in combat is as tools, such as for digging emplacements, scouting ahead, maneuvering, etc, while physical weapons are the primary damage dealers.
Health and Dying
Hit points are your non-lethal damage. You have hp equal to your con score plus Power.
0 HP
Once you reach 0 hit points you are considered disabled. A disabled character moves at half speed and may only take a partial action each round. Disabled characters who perform a standard action (or any other strenuous action, such as casting a quickened spell) take 1 hp of damage after the action.
Consciousness While Disabled
While you’re disabled, you must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the number of hit point damage taken) each time you take damage (including the damage which resulted in you becoming disabled). If you fail this save you fall unconscious. You may add armor bonus when this dmg comes from an attack that strikes the armor.
Negative HP
When you reach negative HP that equals or surpasses a multiple of your normal Con score (i.e. a Con score of 12 has thresholds at -12, -24, -36, etc), you take 1 point of ability damage to all abilities (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha). Naturally, once your Con damage equals your normal Con score, you die. This ability damage is not negated or reduced by abilities or effects except when otherwise stated, though heals normally.
Death
Death can happen in two ways, taking lethal dmg and gaining an injury that kills you, or when Con damage equals/exceeds your Con score (if the only Con damage you take is from negative HP, then your will hit 0 at negative HP equal to the square of your Con score).
Injuries
If you take lethal dmg equal to or greater than your Con modifier plus Armor bonus (nat armor counts and stacks), then you take Con dmg.
Take Con dmg equal to the weapon's critical hit multiplier (usually x2, so usually 2 points).
Critical Hits
A critical hit (no confirmation roll needed) will roll two percentile rolls. One is hit location, the other is fortification/armor. This only applies to critical hits (it'd slow things down too much for every hit, yet it makes criticals more exciting).
Hit location is loosely defined by group (default for humanoid shaped creatures:0 up to 10% head, up to 30% torso, 85% limb, 97% hand/foot, 99% sensory/eye/ear/etc, 100% is instant death).
Fortification/armor only applies to locations that have armor, so wear a helmet (or magic) otherwise any head hits are unarmored (that problem of helmets serving no purpose, now fixed). If the fortification roll is less than the fortification/armor than the hit is a normal hit. Armor provides fortification equal to 10% per point of armor bonus. Natural armor does not stack for this check. No matter how high armor gets, a double 0 is always an injury.
Head hit takes 1d6 dmg per critical multiplier to each int, wis, and cha.
Torso hits deal Con dmg equal to 1d6 per critical multiplier.
Limb hits drop the highest die from any checks made using that limb. If a movement limb, reduce speed by that 1/[number of movement limbs].
Hand injuries drop the highest die from any checks made using that hand.
Feet injuries reduce speed by that 1/[number of movement limbs].
Sensory organ injuries blind that sense and impart a -6 to checks of that type.
The specific limb/hand/etc is chosen by the gm according to what fits the attack and scenario.
Advancement
The intent with this change is to allow the gaining of many levels while remaining in the same tier of power (gritty/natural, supernatural, wuxia, demigods/superheroes).
It is expected that 90-100 levels should be about a full campaign (like how a full campaign in the normal rules is about 18-20 levels) and yet stay in the chosen tier of power, specifically for this game the gritty/pseudo-realistic range.
This is done by separating out raw power into it's own stat, Power, that can be raised separately, and according to the desired fashion (an adventure path campaign skewed for a single tier of power might raise power at character levels that are powers of 3 [3,9,27, & 81], while a traditional zero to demigod campaign might raise power every 5 levels). In this game, raising power will come from narrative events rather than training or experience.
This requires many stats influenced by level to be based on other stats instead, often ability scores.
First, the "core" stats that raise by level, BAB, Saves, Hit Dice, and Maximum Skill Ranks.
BAB no longer exists. Instead, attacks are skill checks and thus proficiency with a weapon is achieved by having training in that weapon's skill. There is a skill for each weapon group (Groups: Axes and Hammers, Tiny blades (daggers and the like), Light blades (one handed), Heavy blades, Polearms, Bows, Crossbows, Maces, Flails, Thrown (throwing daggers, hatchets, stars, etc), Javelin-like (throwing spears, javelins, etc), Natural (basic attacks with natural weapons including unarmed strike, remains non-lethal for bludgeoning), Martial Arts (advanced martial arts techniques, monk type stuff and combat maneuvers, can be lethal), and exotic weapons are each individual skills).
This means Proficiency is not a separate list of being proficient or not, instead, when one is trained in the appropriate skill, they are considered proficient. Class proficiencies dictate what proficiencies are class skills.
Armor still acts normally with proficiency, either you have it or you don't.
Iterative Attacks
Classes that normally have full or 3/4 bab gain iterative attacks. Full bab classes gain an additional attack every 5 levels, while 3/4 bab classes gain them every 10 levels.
Given that lvl can now easily go up to 100 or more, the maximum number of iterative attacks that can be gained is equal to half one's dex score.
Iterative attacks still have the -5 penalty for each successive attack, however full bab classes reduce this penalty by 1 for every 20 lvls of full bab classes.
Saves are based on two ability score modifiers and Power, Fortitude is based on Str and Con, Reflex is based on Wis and Dex, and Will is based on Wis and Cha.
Maximum Skill Ranks are 3+Power. Class skills increase this cap by +1.
Hit Dice You have one HD per Power. The size of your HD is based on creature type (humanoids are d8) instead of class. HD no longer affect HP directly. (I may occasionally make use of HD should I need to adjudicate unusual circumstances, hence why I'm bothering to keep the size.)
Skills are purchased with more skill points to gain higher ranks and may be put into a skill to partially buy up to the next rank.
Skill points gained each level are 6 plus Int modifier. This is no longer based on class.
The cost for each rank increases, the next rank costs as many skill points as the next rank itself, thus going from 3 ranks to 4 ranks costs 4 skill points.
ranks = total cost,
1=1
2=3
3=6
4=10
5=15
6=21
7=28
8=36
9=45
10=55
11=66
12=78
13=91
14=105
15=120
Magic
Edited: Originally developed with PF classes in mind. Then I realized that 3.x wizards and sorcerers get nothing in terms of class abilities, so I modified a couple things to give wizards and sorcerers something to gain. I made other minor edits for clarity.
Magic requires a skill check. Each spell school/subschool has it's own skill.
The DC to cast a spell is 5+(5*SL). This means cantrips are DC 5, 1st SL are DC 10, etc.
Spell slots are used very differently, and how many you get is very different. Slots are used for spells known/spells prepped. Spellpoints are used to cast spells.
A spell slot is a magical mental construct that holds a pattern for a spell, or a portion there-of. A caster has a number of slots equal to their int score. A spell requires a number of slots equal to their level, and takes 16 hours of effort per slot to establish a spell as known (8 hours for a cantrip/orison, two of which can fit in a slot but must be set in the slot together at once).
A prepared caster instead makes spell boxes. Each box holds a set number of slots and costs one slot in it's own right. Forming/reforming a box takes 8 hours plus 8 hours per slot in the box. The advantage of these boxes is that they can have the spells swapped out in minutes rather than hours.
Spells per day is now a spell point system. A character gets a number of spellpoints equal to their Cha score (All characters actually get these points, which also fuel spell-like and similar abilities).
A full caster gets either +1 spell slot or +1 spell point, their choice at time of leveling. A wizard gets +1 spell slot every odd numbered level. A sorcerer gets +1 spell point per level. Any caster can be either a prepared or a spontaneous caster.
Casting a spell costs a number of spell points equal 1+SL. Prepared casting is less efficient and costs 2+SL.
Spell points recharge 1 per round unless fatigued/exhausted.
---
Metamagic feats do not actually change a spell's SL, they just increase the DC to cast the spell by 2 per SL adjustment. A single metamagic feat can be applied at first. Whenever a class would normally gain the next SL, they increase the number of metamagic feats they can apply.
Metamagic feats which do the things listed below are not available as feats (they are effectively replaced by the rules below), and as such using the rules below do not increase casting time nor count against the maximum number of metamagics to use at once.
Caster level always starts at 1, no matter the spell's level. Increasing CL for determining range adds 2 CL per +1 casting DC. Increasing CL for determining Duration costs +1 Spell Point for +2 CL. Increasing area/cubes/weight/size when based on CL costs +1 Spell Point per +1 CL.
Casting a spell normally uses spell componants (verbal, somatic, etc), each componant can removed by increasing the DC by 2 except for foci (which increase the DC by 4) nor expensive materials (the ones with listed gp costs).
Spells that deal damage, heal, or similar based on CL, can spend 3 spellpoints per CL increase.
Heighten spell does not increase the SL, but adds 1 to the DC of the spell's save at a cost of +2 DC to cast. This can be applied multiple times as though adding multiple metamagic feats, and therefore limited by the maximum number of metamagics applied.
The highest level spell a character can cast is equal to Power.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:24, Mon 03 June 2019.
