Warrior 4.0 BFRPG LotFP edition

The Warrior class combines elements of the classic Fighter, Barbarians, Rangers, Monks, and Knights. The reason for this is because I don't think individual "prestige" classes are necessary and just make character creation more confusing and difficult, especially for players new to the game or role playing games in general.

This class gives the player options to build, over time, the character they want.


Hit Dice: d8
Saves: As a first level fighter. These do not improve with level; they improve with the following table.
Bonus to Hit: +1 at first level, and every level after.

Pick or roll twice from the following list. Do this at first level and every level after.

1. Weather Resistance:Bonus of +1 to any save against extreme temperature or inclement weather.
2. Primal Attraction: Use both Charisma and Strength modifiers for Morale and Reaction rolls.
3. Defensive Stance: +1 to Armor Class, -2 to hit. Re-rolling this gives another +1/-2
4. No need for armor: You have a +1 to AC and a +1 to damage in melee when you are not wearing armor, other than a helmet and/or shield. Re-rolling this grants an additional +1/+1.
5. Favored Enemy: Choose an animal, monster, or sentient species. You get a +1 to hit and +1 to damage against that specific type of creature, every time this is rolled. You are also -2 on Reaction rolls with creatures of that type every time this is rolled. You can pick anything from mosquitoes to bears to dragons to humans.
6. Two-Weapon fighting: You can hit with weapons in both hands. Your off hand has a -2 to hit, with no Strength bonus applicable. Re-rolling this gives a +1 to hit with the off hand.
7. You have an extra attack/action per round.
8. Fists of Steel: Your punches and kicks inflict +1 damage
9. Increase Hit Die by one type. In other words, your d8 is now a d10. Hit points are not re-rolled.
10. Intimidate: +1 to Charisma checks to instill fear against others. Intimidated opponents will cower or flee.
11. Attribute Bonus: +1 to any attribute, up to species maximum.
12. Save Bonus: +1 to all saves.
13. Bonus of +1 to a skill. So instead of 1 in 6, you have a 2 in 6.
14. Taunt: +1 to Charisma checks to taunt an opponent. Taunted opponents will attack against their own better judgement. Taunting counts as a non-attack action.
15. Ranged Bonus: Pick a specific ranged weapon type (short bow, heavy crossbow, sling, etc). You can attack twice as fast with that weapon. Re-rolling means 3x as fast.
16. Use two-handed weapon one handed. If re-rolled, you can wield a two-handed weapon in your off hand, as well.
17. Mounted bonus: You have a +1 bonus to damage with melee weapons while mounted, and can ride without a saddle or gear with no penalty. +1 damage whenever this is re-rolled.
18. Berserker Rage: When angry, you can enter into a trance-like state of fury. This grants a +2 to hit and damage, but a -4 to AC. The trance lasts for your Constitution in rounds, or until every living thing in sight is dead. Re-rolling this grants a +4 to hit and damage, but a -8 to AC.
19. Offensive Stance: +1 to hit, -2 AC. Re-rolling this gives another +1/-2
20. Animal Domination: With a Reaction roll you can befriend a wild animal who will now act as a retainer. The animal can not have been attacked by you or your allies in the past. Asking the animal to risk harm to itself requires another reaction roll. Failure means it will run away. Only one animal can be dominated at a time. Re-rolling this means an additional animal can be dominated. 

Skills and Saving Throws

I'm always trying to think of ways to streamline and simplify rules and mechanics. Well, that's not really true, usually I'm trying to think of something else (Should gorilla-men who live in treehouses and dump their waste to the forest floor have any special immunities or bonuses to save against the spores and disease of the fungus-people who collect the waste?) and then I get on a mental tangent and spend the rest of the day wondering why only Thieves have skills and why they are use a percentage die system while every other dice mechanic in the damn game is a d6 or d20.


More systems means more complication and more distractions during the game as players stop and ask which die they roll for a particular thing, and I find that terribly annoying. On the other hand, using a single die or mechanic for every single thing is boring and usually ends up with dice pools and all the bullshit and headaches that entails.

I like to keep it simple, yet interesting.

So I was thinking about the Prime attribute system in Castles and Crusades. It was created to simplify saving throws and skills by making them attribute checks. A Prime atribute means you have to roll 12 or better, a Secondary attribute means you have to roll an 18 or better. The GM also has modifiers (difficulty levels) that they can throw at your roll but that's the gist of it.

The problem is that I've run Castles and Crusades before, and the players were constantly confused as to which attribute was prime and what they roll and what their bonus was and... the campaign fizzled. I thought maybe it was my fault, I didn't explain the system well enough... blaming myself, really.

It wasn't me though. The SIEGE system (what C&C calls their mechanic) is cluncky and weird and doesn't work all that well when you look at it closely.

Sure, some skill might be under one of your Prime attributes, but since you're the wrong class, you don't get to add your level to it. Or, you are the right class, but you don't have the right Prime attribute so you suck at something you should be good at. And why does every system want to front-load badassness into every character at 1st level? I remember back in the day all these hipster scumbags shitting on Rifts for front-loading characters and now every game does it. First level characters should be shit, and they should become slightly less shit as they gain experience.

Especially if you aren't playing a superhero RPG.

When is someone going to publish a perfect system that I won't have to rewrite?

Anyway... here is Saves and Skills

I believe characters should be built over time, hence the entire point of experience points and levels. Some games and players don't use xp or levels. This isn't for you.

Saving throws

Basically the same as C&C, but the terminology is removed because it is unnecesary.

To save, roll 18 or higher on a d20. Include all applicable modifiers. The GM (me) can add modifiers to indicate the difficulty of the situation. For example, the HD of a spellcaster is added to the dificulty of any saves against that spellcaster's magic. Or an invisible trap will be harder to detect than an obvious hole in the ground.

If your character is a...

• Warrior: You get +6 to Strength based saves
• Magic User: You get +6 to either Intelligence or Wisdom saves (Player's choice)
• Specialist: You get +6 to Dexterity based saves

 All characters get to choose two other attributes. The saves from each of these attributes have a bonus of +3.

Every level your character goes up, you get a +1 to ALL saves.


Skills

Skills doesn't just mean the special skills of the specialist. Skills are pretty much anything not covered by a saving throw. For that reason, I'm not including a skill list.

To successfully roll a skill, you have to roll an 18 or higher on a d20.

Warriors and Magic Users focus on fighting and magic. Therefore they are not as adept at things not involving those two things.

• Warriors and Magic Users add attribute modifiers to applicable skills.
• This gives Warriors and Magic Users a 10% chance of success at first level, not including attribute bonuses.
• Warriors and Magic Users have the possibility of selecting a "Class Skill," which gives a particular skill the bonus of +1 per level of the character.

Specialists are all about skills. That's the strength of the class!

• Specialists receive a +3 to all skills, in addition to applicable attribute modifiers
• Specialists receive a bonus of +1 per level of the character to all skills.
• This gives the Specialist a 25% chance of success at first level, not including attribute bonuses.

Special note about Languages

• Regardless of class, the Intelligence modifier indicates how many languages the character can speak and read, in addition to their native language. 
• There is no maximum number of Languages a character can know. 
• The Language skill is used to determine if the character knows a particular language when it is encountered for the first time. It is rolled as any other skill.

Magic Users 2.5

Much like the Fighter, I've smooshed all the magic classes together into a single class. Except for Illusionists, because I don't like Illusionists and they have no place in the setting I'm developing. Also Bards. Bards can suck it.

While the title of this class is Magic User, you can write in whatever you want on your character sheet; Wizard, Cleric, Druid, Summoner, Magus, whatever.  You will notice that Clerics do not automatically know every spell of a given level. Why should they? They need to study and memorize prayers and keep a prayer book just like a Wizard needs to study and memorize spells and keep a spell book.

Spells will either be condensed into a single list, or players can choose to go with one of the traditional lists. I'm seriously considering incorporating magic Circles from Palladium Fantasy. I think it would add something cool and different. On the other hand, it would also add a level of complexity, which is what I want to avoid. So ignore that bit for now.

Anyway...


Prime attribute: Player's choice of Intelligence or Wisdom
Hit Die: d4
Abilities:

• Starting Spells: 3 level one, 2 level two, 1 level three.
• Cost to cast: 1 Hit Point per spell level, per level of current Encumbrance.
• Note about Class Skills: unless chosen/rolled from the list below, the Magic User has a base of 18 on any skill check. Level bonus does not apply, although attribute modifiers do apply.

Humans choose two of the following abilities every level of experience, non-humans choose one:

1. Increase Hit Die by one type. So your d4 is now a d6. Hit points are not re-rolled.
2. Increase a Prime attribute by 1 point, up to racial maximum.
3. Natural Aptitude: Learn a spell equal or less than your own level. No research needed.
4. Decrease casting cost by 1 HP, after multiplication. Minimum casting cost of 1 HP. So, if you're lightly encumbered and have this ability, your cost to cast a spell is 2 HP per spell level, -1. 
5. Create Scroll (as per LotFP). Roll this again and the cost and time is reduced by 10%
6. Create Potion (as per LotFP). Same as number 5.
7. Your hand eye coordination is better than average: +1 to hit.
8. Enlarge: Range and Area of effect of spells is increased 25%
9. Power: Duration of spells is increased 25%, and damage is +1
10. Reach: Spells with a range of Touch can be extended 5 feet from the caster.
11. Cantrips: Learn two Level 0 spells. These cost 1 HP regardless of encumbrance level.
12. Saving Throw bonus: +1 to all non-prime saves.
13. Duck and Move: +1 to Armor Class
14. Retroactive Magic Detection: Detect magic used in past 24 hours in a 30 square foot area, with a Wisdom check.  Roll this again and you can determine what spell was cast. Roll it again and you can detect if a magical creature or magic user of 5 HD or higher passed through. Roll it any more times and you get a +1 to your attribute check.
15. You automatically see the aura of any creature of 1 HD or less.  Roll again and this increases to 2 HD or less.
16. Enchant Object: Magic rings, wands, talismans, etc. Same as number 5.
17. Pick or roll an ability from the Fighter or Specialist ability lists. This is your chance to multi-class!
18. Choose a class skill from the following list: Climb (STR), Decipher Script (INT), Listen (WIS), Swim (CON), Move Silently (DEX), Hide (DEX), and Language (INT). Class skills receive a bonus equal to your level, as well as attribute modifiers. 
19. Choose a 1st level spell that you already know. You can cast this spell 1x per day at no hit point cost. 
20. Counterspell: When another magic user casts a spell against you, or anyone within 10 feet of you, you can roll a save vs magic to counter it, and send the spell back at its caster. Every time you re-roll this, you get a +1 to your save.