Jump to content
  • entries
    5
  • comments
    94
  • views
    33,686

Bionicle RPG Rule System


The Iron Toa

15,176 views

blog-0074609001349466766.jpgI am happy to announce I am now using a blog as the home of the Bionicle RPG system I and several others are working on. Here's a list of people that have contributed:

 

BenLuke-116, Katuko, makuta_icarax, Portalfig, The Iron Toa, The Mask of Ice, Toa Alaka, Toa Kaithas

 

Update as of 10/10/2012:

 

And here is a list of people that still seem to be actively contributing:

 

makuta_icarax, The Iron Toa, The Mask of Ice

 

Come on back, guys! We're actually starting to get somewhere now.

 

And we have another joyous announcement. It is time to start to split this project into its aspects, which will be worked on over multiple blog updates. First, we have the Races and Subtypes. I have made a detailed post that will get much bigger over time, but I can't do it alone -- read it, and give me your comments and suggestions! Soon, we will have separate posts about the combat system, powers, items, societies -- every part of this project we can think of.

 

-----

 

It will be a mostly D&D derived system, but there are some important differences. Here is what we have so far:

 

Attributes:

Strength: Used to determine melee damage, blocking, and how much a character can lift/carry, certain athletic feats like climbing

Dexterity: Determines dodge/evade (we should pick one term to use), hit chance, ranged damage, certain athletic feats like climbing and acrobatics

Toughness: Determines/contributes to values of Vitality (HP) and Endurance, and resistance to physical effects.

Charisma: Determines how well characters can get along with and persuade others. Used for lying, persuasion, and intimidation, but also important for friendship and getting you and your allies to work together.

Intelligence: Used to determine how quickly/how much you can increase your skills, learn new languages, and how easily your character can figure things out.

Will: Determines damage of Powers, aim of Powers, and control over Powers, resistance to mental effects, and how quickly Endurance is lost. That is, a character with higher Will would take less Endurance damage from suffering pain or using powers.

 

Resistances: Heat, Cold, Electricity, Sonic, Mental, Light, Shadow, Poison, Acid, Energy (generic powers), Elemental (direct damage from Elemental Energy-based powers), and either Crushing/Piercing/Slashing or just Physical.

 

Moral Light - characters that are evil enough can, with the proper training, tap into their inner shadow. There is a very rare ability to see the Moral Light and Shadow in a being to determine if he is good, neutral, or evil.

 

Destiny: a GM can come up with a Destiny for a character, and is encouraged to bend the rules a little to make characters fulfill their Destinies. A player can tell the GM what he has in mind for his character, but the GM makes the decision, and should keep it a secret in most cases.

 

Toa Energy: The normal value for this will be -1. There is a small random chance for a Matoran to have 0, which means he has the potential to become a Toa. The player of a Matoran won't necessarily know if this value is -1 or 0. If a Matoran does become a Toa, his Toa Energy is set to 60. This energy can be used to heal others or to transform destined Matoran into Toa. Transforming other Matoran costs 10 Toa energy, so a Toa can transform up to 6 Matoran. When a Toa's value reaches 0 and he has completed his Destiny as a Toa, he becomes a Turaga. If he hasn't completed his Toa Destiny yet, he remains a Toa until he does.

 

Size categories:

Fine: Less than 1/8 bio

Diminutive: 1/8 - 1/4 bio

Tiny: 1/4 - 1/2 bio

Small 1/2 - 1 bio

Medium 1-2 bio

Large 2-4 bio

Huge 4-8 bio

Gargantuan 8-16 bio

Colossal Greater than 16 bio

 

Skills: I think the D&D skill list suits our purposes. Except instead of Spellcraft... I don't know what to call it, but it will be control over innate powers. Use Magic Device would be Use... Powered... Device? We need a better name for that too, but that would be the skill for using Kanohi and other things that aren't part of a character but are mentally activated. Also, we'll want to have some different subcategories of the Craft and Knowledge skills.

 

I'm starting to understand the D&D combat system but I think I could use some practice. Here's what I understand of how it will work for us:

Characters that win an initiate roll or ambush their opponents go first. Attacking characters make a roll (or multiple) to determine their chance to hit and again for damage. All physical attacks need to roll for both, some powers automatically hit but can be resisted, and for some powers instead of rolling for damage you roll for Intensity and Duration. Defending characters, if they can move and it's not an auto-hit attack, can attempt to Dodge or Block it. If they are hit, the damage or chance of affecting them is mitigated by their Resistances. An attack that does Vitality damage or a physical debuff is resisted by a roll based on Toughness and the appropriate resistance type. Endurance damage and mental effects are resisted by Will and the appropriate resistance type. For simplicity, I suggest a certain amount of Vitality damage always does a certain amount of Endurance damage, and how much is based on a character's will. Otherwise, the defender would need to roll twice - once for how much damage it did and again for how much it hurt. Still, this is pretty complicated -- we still need to include how distance affects ranged hit chance. I still need help with this.

 

I'm sure there's more I missed, so here's the link to the old topic for reference. We should post everything we came up with onto here.

  • Like 1

68 Comments


Recommended Comments



Ability scores are the numerical values of your attributes, and their modifiers are (Ability score - 10)/2 (rounded down) If we're doing this D&D style. Hit chances are determined by whether a target makes am attribute based saving throw at a DC (a bit like block, only it's dependent only on the ability), or an attack roll made by the attacker against a target's armor rating.

Link to comment

I figure for races we should get the most basic and obvious ones don first, just to provide a basis to work everything else around. So Toa, Matoran, Turaga, Skakdi, etc.

 

I have no idea how we could possibly do a Makuta. That ought to be interesting...

Link to comment

I think we were doing both an attack roll and a defense roll. While that makes most sense to me, I can see how that would be complicated, so we could come up with a way to use only one roll instead. I am now working on a list of races with their stats and descriptions, I will post what I have so far soon.

Link to comment

I think it would probably be best to do an attack and a defense roll. Without the roll, it takes away the bit of randomness that makes combat, especially with blocking.

Link to comment

I'm working on a list of races and their traits now. It's going to be a long list, but it's fun! So far I've only gotten up to De-Matoran. I will keep working it on, but here is what I have so far:

 

Matoran:

 

Characteristics: Matoran are short, stocky, and usually not particularly agile. They are slightly tougher and much stronger than they look, however, and tend to have at least average intelligence. Their willpower is average to slightly below average. Matoran are social beings and therefore have higher than average charisma.

Average height: 0.8 bio (3.6 feet) - Small Size

Average weight: 50 kilograms (110 lb)

 

Average Attributes:

Charisma - 14

Dexterity - 8

Intelligence - 12

Strength - 14

Toughness - 12

Will - 10

 

Av-Matoran - Av-Matoran aren't commonly encountered unless we do a Karda Nui story, and they're different from other Matoran, so I'd like to skip them for now.

Ba-Matoran - No official description, so we'll need to come up with fanon characteristics for them. In my opinion, they would typically have a dour demeanor which means a lower Charisma, but tend to be more stubborn, granting a slight increase to Will. Also, they would have an enhanced sense of balance and are resistant to being knocked down. Ba-Matoran officially have no preferred environment, and are rarer than other Matoran types. Here's my estimate of their racial penalties and abilities:

 

-2 Charisma

+1 Will

Enhanced balance - maybe a bonus to climb checks, and other things? Also, a resistance to knockdown effects. We can determine how to actually represent this.

 

Ce-Matoran - Affiliaton with an element pertaining to the mind means Ce-Matoran can get a racial bonus to Charisma, Intelligence, or Will. In addition, they are resistant to psychic effects. Ce-Matoran have no preferred environment. Here's my estimate of their modifiers:

 

+2 Int, Chr, OR Will - perhaps determined by player choice.

+25% resistance to Mental damage, immunity to mind reading and hypnosis, maybe a 50% resistance to effects like Fear and Sleep

 

De-Matoran - Matoran of Sonics have increadibly sharp hearing that is both a strength and a weakness:

 

Triple Endurance damage from sonic attacks

Very high bonus to Listen checks, can determine things others cannot just by listening. I'm not sure how it works yet, so I can't assign hard numbers.

 

Please tell me what you think so far! I will post more when I think I've added a satisfactory amount of information.

Link to comment

Well if you want go ahead and work on the non-Matoran races. Skakdi, Vortixx... even unnamed species like Poison's species. But if you don't mind, there are other things that need to be done. Most importantly, I want help making sure the stats I post are reasonable and balanced. I'd like people to choose their race based on what would be fun and interesting instead of what's best, but if one is too good or too bad it will always/never be used.

 

De-Matoran, for example - I just realized they should take automatic Endurance damage in combat and other loud situations. That's a serious disadvantage. But there should be equal advantages: if two bad guys are whispering their plans to each other inside a sealed chamber, a Matoran/Toa/Turaga of Sonics could listen in by putting his ear to the door, while someone else would have to enter and stand right next to the bad guys.

 

Secondly, while I like to stick to the canon as much as we can, we'll need to come up with our own ideas for some racial traits (among other things). What are Matoran of Plasma like? Is Guardian's species male only? If not, what are the females like? Stuff like that.

 

Finally, we should come up with names for these unnamed races. I'm fine for saving that for last. Actually, if we do come up with fanon names for them, I'd like to denote them as fanon and remind people that makers of RPG scenarios using these rules are free to come up with their own names. In fact, we should probably so denote everything we come up with that's not based on canon.

 

Update: Okay, I've made a list of my ideas for Matoran, Toa, and Turaga. I will go ahead and work on other species next.

 

Races:

 

Matoran/Toa/Turaga (not including use of elemental powers yet):

 

Characteristics: Matoran are short, stocky, and usually not particularly agile. They are slightly tougher and much stronger than they look, however, and tend to have at least average intelligence. Their willpower is average to slightly below average. Matoran are social beings and therefore have higher than average charisma.

Average height: 0.8 bio (3.6 feet) - Small Size

Average weight: 30 kilograms (66 lb)

 

Average Attributes:

Charisma - 14

Dexterity - 8

Intelligence - 12

Strength - 14

Toughness - 12

Will - 10

 

Av-Matoran - Av-Matoran aren't commonly encountered unless we do a Karda Nui story, and they're different from other Matoran, so I'd like to skip them for now.

Ba-Matoran - No official description, so we'll need to come up with fanon characteristics for them. In my opinion, they would typically have a dour demeanor which means a lower Charisma, but tend to be more stubborn, granting a slight increase to Will. Also, they would have an enhanced sense of balance and are resistant to being knocked down. Ba-Matoran officially have no preferred environment, and are rarer than other Matoran types. Here's my estimate of their racial penalties and abilities:

 

-2 Charisma

+2 Will

Enhanced balance - maybe a bonus to climb checks, and other things? Also, a resistance to knockdown effects. We can determine how to actually represent this.

 

Ce-Matoran - Affiliaton with an element pertaining to the mind means Ce-Matoran can get a racial bonus to Charisma, Intelligence, or Will. In addition, they are resistant to psychic effects. Ce-Matoran have no preferred environment. Here's my estimate of their modifiers:

 

+2 Int, Chr, OR Will - perhaps determined by player choice.

+25% resistance to Mental damage, immunity to mind reading and hypnosis, maybe a 50% resistance to effects like Fear and Sleep

 

De-Matoran - Matoran of Sonics have increadibly sharp hearing that is both a strength and a weakness:

 

Suffer triple Endurance damage from sonic attacks

Very high bonus to Listen checks, can determine things others cannot just by listening. I'm not sure how it works yet, so I can't assign hard numbers.

Take automatic endurance damage over time (mitigated by Will) from combat and other loud situations.

 

Fe-Matoran - Fe-Matoran have increased Toughness and a bonus to metalsmithing abilities:

 

+4 Toughness

Bonus to smithing skills to be determined

 

Ga-Matoran - Matoran of Water tend to get along better with others and be intelligent. Also, they are excellent swimmers:

 

+2 Charisma

+2 Int

Bonus to swimming and holding breath to be determined

Natural affinity for nautical skills and aquatic survival skills like fishing

 

Ko-Matoran - Ko-Matoran tend to be very intelligent but have low charisma. In addition, they are resistant to cold damage and blend in with snow:

 

-4 Chr

+4 Int

+25% resistance to Cold damage (both to Vitality and Endurance)

Bonus to camoflage/hide in snowy/icy environments to be determined

Natural affinity to surviving in the cold

 

Le-Matoran - Le-Matoran are agile in high places, but clumsy on the ground. They also are prone to be cheeky and mischievious, which can impact their charisma either positively or negatively (perhaps I'll make a racial feat/skill for that). They also tend to move quickly:

 

-1 Dex on the ground

+4 Dex in trees, elevated platforms, and similar environments

High bonus to Climb, Tumble, and similar skills

Slightly increased movement speed

 

Onu-Matoran - Onu-Matoran tend to be even stockier than other Matoran. Some Onu-Matoran have a height closer to 0.7 bio than 0.8 bio, but some are the same height as other Matoran. Onu-Matoran are less dexterous than other Matoran, and tend to be more intelligent. They tend to be miners, archivists, and engineers, allowing them a further Int bonus or a Str bonus. They can see in the dark very well, but are vulnerable to being blinded by bright lights. Onu-Matoran are less easily tired out but tend to move slowly:

 

-2 Dex

+2 Int

+2 Str or +2 Int (for a total of +4)

Bonus to seeing in the dark/darkvision ability to be determined

Vulnerable to being blinded or dazzled from Light-based attacks and natural bright lights

Natural affinity for underground skills/survival/lore such as tunneling and avoiding pits in the dark

Slightly slower movement speed

Lower Endurance cost for extended travel, combat, or other strenous activity

 

 

Po-Matoran - Matoran of Stone are the strongest Matoran, but have a repuation for being less intelligent. Almost all Po-Matoran have at least a little knowledge of stone-based crafting:

 

+4 Str

-4 Int

Bonus to stone-based crafting skills

Bonus to rock-climbing

Natural affinity for desert survival - for example, finding water, and keeping cool in the day and warm at night

 

Ta-Matoran - Matoran of Fire tend to have strong personalities. This can manifest itself as a talent for leadership or raw mental strength and stubbornness. They are also resistant to heat and have a natural talent for metalsmithing. In general, their metalsmithing skills are inferior to those of Fe-Matoran, but they tend to be superior mask-makers:

 

+2 Charisma OR Will

+25% resistance to Heat damage

Affinity for survival in hot places - keep cool, avoid lava and dangerous volcanos

Bonus to metalsmithing skills (less than Fe-Matoran's)

Bonus to maskmaking skill

 

Matoran of the Green - I imagine Matoran of the Green as having an affinity for gardening and forest survival, as well as bonuses to tree-climbing and dexterity. A caring nature would give them a bonus to charisma:

 

+2 Charisma

+2 Dexterity

Bonus to tree-climbing

Bonus to camoflage/hiding in forest and jungle environments

Natural affinity for gardening, farming, foraging, use of medicinal herbs, and otherwise using plants to survive

 

Matoran of Lightning - Matoran of Lightning are naturally resistant to electricity. I see them as being quick, energetic and agile:

 

+2 Dexterity

+25% resistant to electric damage

Increased movement speed

Less Endurance cost for sprinting and other brief, quick movements

 

Matoran of Magnetism - I imagine Matoran of Magnetism as having high charisma and an innate sense of direction:

 

+4 Charisma

Natural sense of direction, high bonus to navigation skill(s)

 

Matoran of Plasma - I envision Matoran of Plasma as having a lot of energy, but neither quick nor slow - in between Onu-Matoran and Matoran of Lightning in that regard. Also, I would give them a small bonus to Heat resistance and resistance to being blinded/dazzled:

 

Moderately/slightly reduced Endurance costs for both quick and strenous movements

Require less rest

+10% heat resistance

Resistance to being blinded/dazzled

 

Matoran cannot access Kanohi powers, but must wear Kanohi of some sort. A maskless Matoran's Strength, Dexterity, and Will scores are reduced to 1/3 of their normal value, rounded down, and he or she will soon pass out. We could either force a save against unconsciousness every round, or have the Matoran roll to find how long he/she can remain conscious.

 

Toa are known for being strong, agile, tough, and having the mental strength to use their Kanohi and elemental powers. Therefore, upon transformation into a Toa a Matoran's stats change like so:

 

+10 Dexterity

+4 Strength

+6 Toughness

+8 Will

+60 Toa Energy

+A max EE pool to be determined

Ability to use Great and Noble Kanohi once the technique is unlocked. Characters that have never used masks before will need to make a Will-based roll to successfully activate their Kanohi for the first time.

Height increase to 1.6 bio (7.2 feet) (with some exceptions, like some Toa of Earth will be hunched) - Medium size

Weight increase to roughly 120 kg (264 lb)

Increased movement speed befitting their increased stature

 

A maskless Toa will not pass out, but will suffer severe physical and mental weakness. A maskless Toa's Strength, Dexterity, and Will are reduced to 1/2 their normal value, rounded down. Perhaps further penalties will be added.

 

Upon transforming into a Turaga, a Toa loses much of his/her stature and physical and mental strength. In addition, the hard life as a Toa catching up to him/her makes a Turaga's physical attributes suffer further. Here is how a Turaga's stats differ from a Toa's:

 

-(8 + 1d4) Dexterity

-(2 + 1d4) Strength

-(6 - 1d4) Toughness

-4 Will

Max EE divided by... say, 10? Final value to be determined.

Ability to use Great Kanohi lost

Height decrease to roughly 1 bio (4.5 feet) - right at the boundary between Small and Medium, for convenience call them Small-sized

Weight decrease to roughly 45 kg (99 lb)

Significantly slower movement speed than Matoran

 

A maskless Turaga is weakened as much as a maskless Matoran (1/3 Dex, Str, Wil) but will not pass out.

 

Vortixx:

 

Characteristics: Vortixx are tall and lean, with black armor. They are known for being intelligent and manipulative, and have average strength for their stature - that is, quite high, but not extremely. They cannot wear Kanohi. Female Vortixx are known for being skilled and manipulative leaders, as such, they receive a bonus to Charisma. Male Vortixx are more commonly laborers forced to endure dangerous conditions, and therefore they receive a bonus to Toughness. For most of their history, Vortixx endured terrible pollution of their home island, and as such have a natural resistance to acid and toxins. Vortixx are known as makers of advanced technology, but not so much inventors as assemblers. Here's my estimate of their average stats:

 

12 Charisma (+2 female)

12 Dexterity

14 Intelligence

16 Strength

12 Toughness (+2 male)

12 Will

+25% resistance to Poison

+10% resistance to Acid

Affinity for crafting items en masse and reproducing existing designs (represented by a bonus to crafting when taught, and quicker crafting times perhaps?)

Average height - 2.2 bio (9.9 feet) - Large size

Average weight - 180 kg (396 lb)

 

Edit: Added weight values to Toa and Turaga, and added Vortixx.

Link to comment

Ok, for the Toa, the only concern I have (and I just speed-read this, gotta get some sleep), but the +10 dexterity will result in some very very dextrous Toa. A score of 18 is considered very high. Granted, not all Toa will be that high, but that's something to consider. I'm gonna print this out and look over it tomorrow (in class. Of course).

 

I'll try and come up with some other stuff, too.

Link to comment

You're right, it is pretty high. But I was thinking they would all have an average of 18 for those 3 physical stats, and you'll see it works out that way for average Matoran scores of 14 Str and 12 Thn. Maybe we need to lower some of the scores?

 

Anyway, I came up with stats for Steltians and Skakdi, as well as a few edits to the above. I will post it a little later.

 

Edit: This is a really long list, and it's going to get much longer. What do you think about me making a new post in my blog for it? On one hand, it would be handy to split the project into parts, on the other hand I don't want the other topics to be forgotten.

Link to comment

For Matoran, how about we ditch the ability adjustment for races and just give them those features? Also, expertise dice aren't combat exclusive. They also grant bonuses to skill checks. About using your Dexterity to hit, we should stick to strength in melee by default. and have a category of weapons where you can substitute your Dexterity.

Link to comment

Sorry, I realized too late that I didn't read all of what you posted about expertise dice. I've given Matoran some bonuses to skills, we can give them further bonuses if you think it's appropriate. And your suggestion of a category of weapons that use Dexterity to hit... well, if your enemy attempts to dodge, shouldn't it matter how dextrous you are and not how strong you are, no matter what weapon you're using?

 

Edit: I like the Expertise dice idea, but I'm not sure if I want it to be a racial trait. Perhaps we can incorporate it into a feat once we get to that point.

Link to comment

I think it should stay a racial feature, with feats which allow you to use them for other effects. Matoran could take feats that let them use expertise for combat maneuvers if they're, let's say, a member of the Ta-Koro guard, or, if they want to be stronger in out of combat situations, they could take profession related expertise dice feats.

 

And your suggestion of a category of weapons that use Dexterity to hit... well, if your enemy attempts to dodge, shouldn't it matter how dextrous you are and not how strong you are, no matter what weapon you're using?

 

Maybe we should have a fixed Armor Class against weapon attacks, which you add your Dexterity moderator, and gain bonuses from shields and armor to against weapon attacks or elemental attacks, and then have attribute-based saving throws against effects such as spells, etc. (Dexterity saving throws gain a shield bonus too)

 

EDIT: Can I design the Toa Race?

Link to comment

The Iron Toa sort of did design the Toa race in the above post (I missed it too). First you make a Matoran, and then you add on stats, etc to "power" them up. Good idea, I think.

Link to comment

If you guys want to, you can go ahead and come up with a system for attacks and damage and defense and resistance. I just ask that you keep the resistances I came up with, and keep blocking and dodging as forms of defense.

 

I realize I've been going about the racial stats the wrong way - I was thinking of taking the average stats and then finding a way to make a random difference from them. Instead, I think I need players to roll for their stats and then add or subtract the values they get based on their race. Does that sound right? Also, I think I made the Strength and Toughness of Matoran too high - and maybe their Dex too low. I need to redo the scale of the stats. How about if average physical values for Toa and Toa-sized beings like Skakdi and the Barraki's species were around 10? In that case, I think Matoran would have an average of about 5 or 6 Str and Thn. I believe that is quite low in D&D terms, but we'll need to redefine those values.

 

But I think biomechanical beings shouldn't have much of a difference in physical stats among one race. Also, Will seems to rely much upon race. So maybe we should roll 1d6 to determine Dex, Str, Thn, and Wil. Chr and Int could just use the 3d6 system. After these rolls we can add racial bonuses and penalties. Let's take stat rolls for a Ga-Matoran for an example. I've decided average values for a Ga-Matoran's 1d6 stats should be:

 

Dexterity - 5

Strength - 6

Toughness - 5

Will - 10

 

And she should get a +6 bonus to Charisma and a +4 bonus to Int. If we use 3 as an average value for 1d6, her other modifiers should be:

 

+2 Dex (for a range of 3 to 8)

+3 Str (for a range of 4 to 9)

+2 Thn (for a range of 3 to 8)

+7 Wil (for a range of 8 to 13)

 

Now I use a virtual roller (soon I will find one that I can link or distribute to other players) to determine the unmodified values

 

3d6 stats:

3d6 Chr -> 9 (I'm not sure but I think this is average, maybe a little low.)

3d6 Int -> 8 (Not particularly bright)

 

1d6 stats:

1d6 Dex -> 1 (As clumsly as a Ga-Matoran can get)

1d6 Str -> 2 (A little weaker than average)

1d6 Thn -> 5 (But remarkably tough for her race)

1d6 Wil -> 3 (Average strength of Will)

 

Then we add the modifiers:

9 Chr + 6 = 15 Chr

8 Int + 4 = 12 Int

1 Dex + 2 = 3 Dex

2 Str + 3 = 5 Str

5 Thn + 2 = 7 Tgh

3 Wil + 7 = 10 Wil

 

Does that all make sense and seem reasonable?

Link to comment

Average in D&D is about 11-12, if I recall correctly. Maybe 12-13. 10 is starting to go below average.

I do like those stats though... it seems very personalized. Maybe we could rework the ability modifiers to reset it so that 10 is average or something?

Link to comment

We can have the average be 12, then. I realized the Dex for Matoran now is kind of low. I have to work on homework now but I'll take another look at it when I get the chance. But does having the physical stats and Will have a smaller range make sense?

Link to comment

Oh, definitely! Better to keep things more balanced, I think. If you're working on that, I'll take time to spell out combat. Which may take awhile. But I want to make sure I cover everything, so it'll be worth it.

Link to comment

How about this, we make 10 the average, have a standard array like this: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. We could include rolling 4d6 and discarding the lowest die as an option.

 

Also, I think we should ditch ability adjustment for Toa; They'll be overpowered if we do that. How about this: Matoran get +2 to one score, and -2 to another along with their elemental benefit, based on their element.

 

For advantaged/disadvantaged situations, how about a mechanic that makes you roll 2 d20's and take the higher result on advantage, and the lower result on disadvantage.

Link to comment

Actually, Matoran should be less acrobatic than beings like Toa, but their small size should give them a bonus to dodging. And there's no reason their aim, climbing, and other abilities can't be good. So I think I will give Matoran average or just slightly less than average Dexterity. An average score of 11 sounds good. I think I will use these average values for Matoran (minus subracial modifiers), and while I'm at it I've decided to use the first three letters of each Attribute for an abbreviation:

 

14 Cha, 11 Dex, 12 Int, 8 Str, 8 Tou, 10 Wil

 

Does it look good to you? I will work out what the modifiers are for each subrace, and will change what stats of other species I have so far to match this new way of doing it. If it's ready, I will post it tomorrow.

 

Matoran are very industrious, so I was thinking they should get a bonus to crafting, and take less Endurance damage from strenuous activity. I don't mind if they're very tricky characters to play in combat against larger things, but they should be far from useless, so I need to come up with realistic bonuses for them.

 

Ability to use Kanohi powers should be based on race/form - all Turaga should be able to use Noble masks but never Great masks. But for the sake of beings like Skakdi and the Barraki's species that can use Kanohi but do not always, I think I will have it be based on Will. What should the Will requirements to use Noble and Great Kanohi powers be? Maybe 14 for Noble and 18 for Great? 12 and 18? 12 and 16?

 

Couple other things to think about that aren't important now but we might as well get out of the way if we have a good idea:

-What should the chance of a Matoran having the potential to become a Toa be? Keep in mind that to become a Toa, they have to both have this potential and come into contact with Toa Energy from an existing Toa. But I want to know is how likely it should be for a Matoran to have latent Toa energy, ignoring the probability of it being unlocked.

-What should the Will save be for the first time activating a Kanohi? I think it should be very difficult, nearly impossible to use it at will the first time, but circumstance bonuses would help greatly. (Just like in Legends of Metru Nui.) Maybe it should even be up to the GM when first-time Kanohi users have a chance of succeeding.

 

Mask of Ice:

 

I'm not sure what you mean about ditching ability adjustment for Toa. Their stats should certainly change when they transform from Matoran, if that's what you mean. I like your idea about choosing the best out of two rolls. Do you think we could incorporate that into a sort of Destiny system? Also, your idea of rolling 4d6 and discarding the lowest roll might be best - that way it would be unlikely to get a terrible score. But on the other hand, it might make things too complicated.

 

And I think I will use -2 and +2 elemental modifiers for Matoran. Any other modifiers can be based on things like feats and traits. For example, instead of Onu-Matoran being able to put 2 additional points into Str or Int, they could just take the Miner or Engineer trait, which could do more than affect those two stats. And those traits would be easily available to Onu-Matoran, but not exclusive to them.

Link to comment

I don't think to activate a Kanohi (except for the first time), it should be difficult. Unless there's some negative effect on the mask-wearer, generally the effect should be easy to use. of course, for the first time, it should be very difficult, and decrease from there.

 

As for the Matoran becoming Toa... I would imagine most players will want to be Toa. I know I would. Keep that in mind.

Link to comment

Exactly - I think extreme use of a Kanohi should do significant Endurance damage, but usually using a mask should be easy once you figure it out. But it's that first time that I'm talking about. It's not an ability someone can unlock at will - something has to push them to succeed in that first try.

 

You make a good point about the second issue. And I realized that eccentric Matoran - such as Matoran adventurers - are more likely to be Toa. How rare Toa are will depend on the setting - maybe in some settings you will be able to chose to start as a Toa or a Matoran you know has the potential, in others you can never play a Toa, and in others it's random. I'm hoping we can put enough detail into other species, even obscure ones, to make them fun to play.

 

Oh, and what do you think about me posting my list of races on a new blog page?

Link to comment

Okay, I will add what I have for a list of races in a little while. Then maybe I'll see about making separate posts for powers and physical combat, but I'm not sure if I'll be ready to. For now, we can discuss those topics here.

 

And I decided sub-racial Attribute modifiers (that's what I'm calling them) for Matoran elements will mostly be +2 or -2, but I have a few cases of -/+4 and a couple -/+1. They'll still need work to be balanced, especially keeping in mind some elements grant bonuses and penalties to damage resistance, skills, movement speed, and other effects.

Link to comment

I was thinking about what separate posts we should have (once we have enough of each to make a decent start), and I came up with the following:

 

Attributes Basic Stats, Races and Sub-Races

Stats

Races and Sub-Races

Characters and Traits

Combat and Movement

Non-combat Skills

Powers and Energies

Items and Upgrades

Society and Geography

Rahi and Creatures

 

Does that sound good? I'm probably forgetting something.

 

Edit: Oh, monsters. I'll add that to the list -- as 'Rahi and Creatures' -- and change 'Attributes' to 'Basic Stats'.

 

Edit again: The list of Stats is going to be pretty big, so I'll make it its own thing. Really, the list of races will be more than big enough to stand on its own.

 

Edit again: I'm typing about character creation in the Races list, and decided we need to come up with traits and feats. Maybe Characters and Traits should be its own post?

Link to comment

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...