Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Creating game materials? Monsters, spells, classes, adventures? This is the place!
Rosisha
Posts: 452
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Rosisha »

Hello Everyone!

So I LOVE Skyrim. It's a wonderful game with absolutely no exploits. And I really do find the character creation system interesting. I wanted to see if I could port that system over into BFRPG, and was able to do so with some major tweaks. However, I'm actually pleased with the first draft and wanted to share. This is NOT for everyone. However, I think this might be a really good tool for solo adventuring OR for single player games.

This is very much a WIP but I'd love feedback and thoughts from you guys. Also play testers!

Edit: Made a few very minor changes (changed copyright year to 2021, added dash marks on the cleric spell casting table).

Edit 2: Significant changes have been made. Core abilities and Secondary abilities are fully fleshed out. Branching secondary abilities are being added. Most of the focus right now is on fitness/fighter related abilities, but some others are creeping in as well. I'll continue to expand the branching skills out. After that it is putting spells into groupings, and adding a couple of new spells that are Skyrim staples.

Edit 3: Much much much more has been added and refined. Also made a test character and ran through a scenario which I'll post separately. Overall, I'm very happy with how this is coming along and think this is a very interesting approach to character creation.

Edit 4: I've included a quick Ability Matrix for a bird's eye view of the branching abilities I've put into place. Anyone who has ideas or would like to share is more than welcome! As you can see, there has been significant growth in the branching abilities, which I'm very happy with. This system is really becoming a universal class system. I'm pleased, but always open to ideas and contributors! Also - I have now included a character sheet!
Attachments
BF Character Creation Supplement - Unified Class System - r4.pdf
(173.99 KiB) Downloaded 380 times
BF Character Creation Supplement - Unified Class System - r4.odt
(135.83 KiB) Downloaded 221 times
BF - Unified Class System Character Sheet - r1.pdf
(32.71 KiB) Downloaded 259 times
Last edited by Rosisha on Sat Mar 13, 2021 1:30 pm, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
Dimirag
Posts: 3613
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 1:24 pm
Location: Buenos Aires (C.A.B.A.), Argentina
Contact:

Re: Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Dimirag »

Never played Skyrim so this is just based comparing against BFRPG.

It seems this supplement relies on other supplements (0 level spell, assassin skill) it may be useful to point to those specific supplements, or even better, include such rules here.
The first hit dice grants 1d6 hit points, plus constitution bonus if any.
What about any further HD?
What are the HP of a 0 Fitness PC?
Having only a d6 per Fitness point (if that is the rule) means PC will be really squishy, I would give a base d4 to the class, and add another d4 or improve the die if a Fitness point is used.

If my PC has a +2 INT mod (meaning its linked to both DEX and INT) he starts with 4 skill sets but he is limited to 2 until I put 8 points into Craftiness. Can I use the extra points to improve the existing sets?

Both spell tables are 1 level slower that the rules, I think that is intended.
As the character advances, there are additional class abilities that become available that branch off from the core abilities. These are conditional – the character must have certain prerequisites in place in order to take those branching abilities.
This additional class abilities are missing

The character above, can use that +2 on the magical tree along with the extra skill sets?

Magic and Faith secondary skill says that the pc is allowed to learn spells by rolling, but there is no spell-learning roll on BFRPG.

What does the levels in a secondary skill do for Crafting and Fitness?

It seems that spell skills are mutually dependent, is this the same for the two above?
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
Drawing portfolio: https://www.instagram.com/m.serena_dimirag/
Seven
Posts: 836
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:17 am

Re: Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Seven »

In Skyrim, my character was the Master of Assassins, the head of the thief guild, the supreme archmage, the best fighter in the country and he also had some innate dragon magic skills. I prefer to play the underdog.
Rosisha
Posts: 452
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

Re: Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Rosisha »

@Seven: Me too! But that's because leveling isn't capped - so you can get up to 225 if you want too! But I still love Skyrim, and think that the character system is fun.

@Dimirag: Great call outs! This is a work in progress for sure but I was reaching a point where I needed help/feedback. TY!

- Hit Dice: I will be honest. I meant to go back to this and revisit it. I was going to do a 1d4 with hardiness getting you 1d6 and then 1d8. No PC will start with zero fitness, everyone starts with a 1 in Craftiness, Faith, Fitness and Magic.

- Yes, you can use the extra points to improve the sets. Thus starting at something higher than a novice in the skill set. This would be for first level only, and something I need to clarify due to the training costs (time and gold).

- Yes, the casting is meant to be slowed down. I will also include call outs for fighter options, mage options, the assassin and the barbarian. The rules are all needed for this ruleset.

- Learning Spells: I could have sworn gaining spells required some kind of test. Okay, the main point was that being able to understand an alteration spell of 1st level doesn't mean you get every spell automatically in your spell book. You still have to go find the spells or research them. I'll clarify that.

- Yes, skills require that you have the skill beneath it to advance.

- Craftiness unlocks levels of thief skills (the % checks from the BFRPG plus some new ones).

- Fitness will unlock more weapons and armor options, weapon specialization, hit dice benefits, and all that jazz, once I get it done and outlined. :D

- Branching skills are not included yet cause - as I said above - I reached burn out. Those will allow you to sacrifice quantity of secondary skills for more power. So a mage build, for example, could avoid buying into illusion spells to get bonus damage on evocation spells. You only have so many points, so the decisions you have to make are: "Do I want to be okay at a lot of things? Good at a few things? Or psychopathically insanely awesome at one thing?"

The trade off there being that sure, you can become LORD THUNDER, GOD OF THUNDER but then all your enemies are wearing tons of protection from lightning magic items.

Thank you everyone! :)
Rosisha
Posts: 452
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

Re: Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Rosisha »

I'm going to work on revisions tonight! :)
Rosisha
Posts: 452
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

Re: Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Rosisha »

Revisions are up!
Rosisha
Posts: 452
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

Re: Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Rosisha »

I'll be posting more abilities tonight, as well as some playthrough notes.

To be added:
- Race benefits
- Character sheet
- Spell tracker (though this is optional, the GM can assign spells as they see fit).
Rosisha
Posts: 452
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

Re: Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Rosisha »

New material is up everyone! Was working on a character sheet by Calc crashed. Going to make one by hand and upload as a scan. More fun that way anyway!

Please note I've significantly expanded the options under branching. Some might be overpowered vs others. Playtesting WILL be needed, but for now I'm just trying to get ideas on paper.
Rosisha
Posts: 452
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

My Universal Class - Test Run 1

Post by Rosisha »

Hello Everyone,

Over in the workshop I've been messing around with a Universal Class. Essentially everything from every class is pooled together into a frankenstein monster. I'm actually really pleased with how it is coming along and, while it's not done by a long shot, it has been interesting.

Introducing: Havamal - Sentinel of Venndar
To start playtesting, I created Havamal, the Sentinel of Venndar (whose holy symbol is two circles separated to show that there is no cross over in intellectual property between what I'm working on and a certain perfect game with absolutely no exploits. Ah hem. Yes. Okay. Moving on!).

Havamal is a level one human adventurer. He wears clerical vestments, a holy symbol, and wields a mace. His stats are (Str: 16, Dex: 13, Con: 13, Int: 9, Wis: 18, Chr: 11), which was really good for 3d6 in order (more on this in a second). He has taken 1 point in spycraft, 1 in healing, 1 in protection, and 1 in "healer" which is the healing branch. He has one point in hardiness and one point in weapons 1H. Finally, he has one point in alteration allowing him to cast zero level alteration spells. My secondary skills are limner and scribe.

This is due to the ability score bonuses to strength (two bonus fitness abilities), dex (one bonus craftiness ability), wisdom (3 bonus faith abilities) and being human (one bonus ability to be used as you feel fit).

The total time to create the character was about seven minutes from rolling to figuring out what abilities and skills I wanted. While this is probably due to my familiarity with the rules, I'm going to be addressing that with a few resources within the rules proper. Additionally, poorer roles could make significantly weaker characters which should also probably be addressed. I'm thinking 4d6 drop the lowest in any order.

Now, what I have is a character with a D6+1 hit dice, a mace, no armor, and the ability to cast two zero level spells as well as turn undead. I can also treat wounded people to help them heal faster. I can decipher scripts and listen as a thief as well (30% chance of success).

--

So Havamal set out from the town of Ravenrock in search of adventure. A scribes life was not for him, and now, at the tender age of 18, he has taken on the oath of a Sentinel. Instead of a pen, he would wield a mighty mace. Throwing his cloak over his shoulder, his holy symbol proudly displayed, he left his home behind and entered the world.

Properly outfitted as a wandering priest, Havamal is not really drawing much attention. However, upon reaching a small little thorp lost deep in the woods, he has learned that the local orchard has been over run by giant rats, and they have taken over a barn. Such creatures are typically the tools of evil, spreading disease and harm, something Venndar cannot tolerate in the land. Prepared to do his duty, Havamal stepped up to wage battle against the rats.

The first battle was a tense affair. Havamal and two of the orchard farm hands approached carefully, with Havamal going ahead. He managed to pass a listen check and heard the rats in the barn - at least some of them. He attempted to move closely to ambush the creatures, but they heard him coming when he opened the barn door. He let out a courageous shout and battle was engaged! There were four of the creatures - but the two farm hands charged forward wielding spears. Havamal managed to strike first, as he was light on his feet and dealt a killing blow.

The battle continued and a farmhand went down with a vicious bite. Raising his voice in a courageous prayer, Havamal kept lashing out being bitten twice. Soon the rats were dead. But injured, the retreated to the farm house to treat their wounds. Havamal oversaw the treatments, but took time to pray and rest.

The next day, they went out to investigate the battle and could tell other rats had been there. Still injured, they decided to close the barn and Havamal ran a rope through the door and used a Knot spell to tie it shut.

INITIAL OBSERVATIONS:
It works. It actually really works. I still have a lot of work to do, but it wasn't overpowered. In fact, I was missing having armor. A regular Cleric would have been a bit tougher in this fight. I'd say the basic balance approach I'm using between core and secondary abilities seems to function as intended while creating a fairly interesting character.

In general, if going solo, characters will NEED to have a higher range of ability scores. Even with all the extra points I had, I was struggling during the first fight. Havamal used a reaction check to convince the farm hands to fight with him. If I had failed that test, this might have gone very differently. Overall, I'm very pleased and think general playtesting would be appropriate.
Rosisha
Posts: 452
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:17 am

Re: Skyrim Style Character Creation in BFRPG

Post by Rosisha »

More work is done! I had to do the character sheet in Excel, as Calc kept crashing on page view. I will add a hand drawn version at some point. I've included FAR more branching abilities, and have included a matrix so you can see what has been added quickly.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 45 guests