Basic Fantasy RPG Core Rules

[Solomoriah]

Actually, the Read Languages bit is an errata. Read Magic is a different spell, and Read Languages is not supposed to overlap it.

Spell preparation time isn't defined in the rules. I generally allow one spell to be prepared each turn, but I don't think I've ever told my players that. It hasn't been a factor.

[Urieal]

I know that BFRPG borrows heavily from other RPGs and that the intent is to make something that closely resembles them, but I wanted to make a suggestion for Thief Abilities.

I have created a table for the Theif's abilities that, I feel, gives better progression over time, makes the character more viable at lower levels and opens up some of the Theif's abilities to other classes without making the Thief look totally useless until he gets to 10th level.

The main impetus behind this is that it has always bothered me that a mid level thief can fail rolls very easily. By 8th level, a thief will have tried his Open Locks skill hundreds of times...but he'll still fail 1 out of every 3 tries. At least with this progression table he won't fail AS often (1 out of ever 4 tries). I also thought it would be nice to allow other classes the opportunity to try their hand at some thief skills (not all though). If you allow the other classes to try at 1st level, then you have to make their success chances so ridiculously low (so they don't appear as competent as a 1st level thief...which they shouldn't be) that they would hardly ever succeed. 15% baseline is almost a 1 in 6 chance (sound familiar). There could also be optional rules that allow DEX and/or STR to modify your checks and heavy armor should negate or penalize checks.

Please offer suggestions/insights, Thx.


here's a link to a bigger image if you have trouble with that one

[Solomoriah]

Can you boil it down to the actual mathematics? How many total points does the thief gain each level?

[Urieal]

Find & Remove Traps were separated. They progress at identical levels with the exception that Find Traps can be attempted by any class (15% chance, no increase over levels like a thief).

With the exception of Climb Walls, a thief gains 5% per level in each ability until the ability reaches 80%. At that point, the thief gains 2% every even level and 3% every odd level (ie...5% every other level) until he reaches 95%. From that point, the thief progresses at 1% per level until he reaches 99%. Climb walls, due to the high starting value, progresses differently and is not, therefore, included in the mathematics as much.

This boils down to 30 "points" from 1st-9th level, and 30 "points" every other level from then on until the character reaches 95% in a given ability.

Once again, the idea is that the character is very valuable at low levels when dealing with traps and such, and rarely fails his ability checks when he reaches higher levels. This makes sense to me. A 10th level thief should be springing locks left and right...the monsters that a player faces by that point are the real threats.

I understand that a GM can offset anything by giving bonuses/penalties to the checks...but this table should drastically reduce that "offsetting". The thief feels more useful at low levels, will take risks more often (how many 1st level thieves really try to hide in shadows so they can make a backstab attempt??) and, IMO, will be more fun to play.

[Solomoriah]

Interesting, but I don't like that your point distribution varies such that the optional Thief ability assignment method won't work with your table. Just a personal thing... if you don't allow that option, then it won't matter.

[Urieal]

The math would be fairly simple. 30 points per level no matter what level is gained. The points/percentile listing below outlines the advancement of any given skill. This throws off the advancement for Climb Walls a bit...but no biggie, the table can be altered to fit this rule (the table I created, not the one in the Core Rules)

1-80 = 1/1 ratio
81-95 = 2/1 ratio
95-99 = 5/1 ratio

Flippy the dexterous starts a campaign as a 17th level thief. He has 30*16=480 points to spend. Using base scores, he could re-create the default table as follows:
Open Locks - 80 spent points (40 to raise to 80% + 30 to raise to 95% + 10 to raise to 97%) - 80 points total spent
Find/Remove Traps - 80 spent points (same as Open Locks) - 160 points total spent
Pick Pockets - 80 points spent (same as Open Locks) - 240 points total spent
Listen - 80 points spent (same as Open Locks) - 320 points total spent
Move Silently - 70 points spent (50 to raise to 80% + 20 to raise to 90%) - 390 points total spent
Hide - 70 points spent (same as Move Silently) - 460 points total spent
Climb Walls - 20 points spent (10 to raise to 80% + 10 to raise to 85%) - 480 points total spent

This throws off the table for the Climb Walls Skill a bit, but I can just re-write the table if need be.
It also assumes that Find & Remove Traps are the same skill (the only reason it is broken down in the table is to disallow other classes from attempting to remove a trap).

[Urieal]

On a side note, I had never noticed the optional rule for thief advancement...I like it. I think it will suffice for the thieves in my current game, so no need to implement the table...unless you fall drastically in love with it (doubtful)

[Sir Bedivere]

I'm curious about starting ages for demi-human characters. If a dwarf can live 300-400 years, and an elf 1200 or more years, what ages would they begin at? (I suppose halflings aren't that different from humans.)

[bronwynsbane]

I just wanted add my two copper to how impressed I am with the game system. It's exactly what I have been wanting. My group has been gaming together for many moons and most of us still prefer 2nd edition D&D, the number crunchers like 3.5. I like the Keep it Simple approach and have been running a campaign for about five sessions now. 1st level characters, and they are afraid to go to the ruins on the island south of Morgansfort. Lots of work by gamers for gamers. I just wanted to thank you for all the professional-level work I've seen in the pdfs.

[Hywaywolf]

I'm just a minor contributor here, but let me welcome you to the site and say glad to see some more fans of the system.