-=[ Our Goal ]=-

To create a forum for true adventuring and fun.

This forum is invitation-based only; we do not conduct recruit drives. If you seek entry into this forum, please follow the steps mentioned below:

1: Be Invited.
Walking up to a member and asking for an application is not all - you have to prove to the member that you are a good roleplayer.

2. Be Interviewed.
This allows us to get to know you a little better, and to get a feel for the way you act.

3. Go on Test Adventure.
If we like you so far, we will invite you on an adventure. This is your chance to prove your roleplaying skills as well as your combat skills, and allows you to learn the combat system, and to ask any questions you might have.

4. Committee Vote.
Once your test is complete, the committee will hold a vote on whether to admit you or not. If you have proven yourself as a roleplayer, you should have no worries here.

5. Probationary Period.
You are now a member of the Arcane Roleplayers' Consortium; be advised, however, that you are under probation for a period of 2 weeks for precaution's sakes. If you have made it this far, this should be no inconvenience.

First of all, no assassinations. Why? Well, for one, do you really want to go adventuring with the knowledge that one of your companions is an assassin who might be out to kill you? If they want to kill you so badly, they can take it to another forum.

Another alteration - HP (Hit Points). These are used on adventures to determine how much damage you can take. For nonmembers or new characters, HP starts at 10 * the number of dice you have, up to 50. (Gods and goddesses have half their dice when not in trueform, which applies to their HP as well.) Supernatural creatures, therefore, have a starting HP of 40. HP is raised by gaining dice sides, as well as by a few very rare alternate methods, described later.

Mun dice are a separate matter, and are discussed in the Mun Rules.

Notes:
You can have main characters and subcharacters under a screen name, as long as they register within the forum as well, and they can earn dice just like anyone else.

Any dice over 5d can be deemed unfair by the DM, unless circumstances -absolutely require- it. (Examples would be situations in which the enemies have similar dice, you are alone or vastly outnumbered, and so on...) Unfair dice use is handled by penalizing you 1/2 or more of the experience earned by the encounter. (You don't learn anything by waving a hand and annihilating a field of enemies.)
DMs can decide as they see fit.

1) Fight spars and mass spars as are popular in UGC and other fellow forums.
Since we are an adventuring forum, we will not go into express detail here - suffice it to say that each point you win a spar by is worth 5 XP, and fighting a spar and losing is worth 5 XP. Winning a mass spar is worth XP as if the character had fought and defeated all opponents, and losing is worth 5 XP * the number of opponents.

2) Gain it on an adventure.
This is the preferred way to gain XP in this forum - you gain experience for participating in combats (known as combat XP, for obvious reasons), achieving plot goals (called storyline XP), and for practicing sorcery (called skill XP). Storyline XP is set by the DM for a particular goal, subquest, etc., and is divided amongst the surviving party.

3) Build or create new things, such as magic items, spells, and whatnot.
This area hasn't been written yet, so forget it for now.

1) You may request to gift your experience to another.
However, this is expensive - for every 2 points you give, the recipient only receives 1. In addition, the recipient cannot receive more XP than he has already, and cannot be gifted XP more than once a day. To gift XP, send a letter to ArcticOwl2 stating you want to donate XP, how much, and to whom.

2) You may pay XP for something.
This is rare, but occasionally possible, and the item in question is often worth the XP.

3) You may die.
Causes of death are described below. In this forum, you can be resurrected by any cleric/deity or team thereof that can roll 25 points total + the number of points by which you died, if any. Death costs 2% of your current experience if you are under 4d, 5% if you are a 4d or higher. (Basically, anything more powerful than a were gets a bigger penalty. This allows mortals a chance to compete with the immortal lot.)

4) You may spend it to earn a skill or ability.
See Skills and Training.

 

1 - 14	0 hits. The die roll/missle weapon/this part of the attack didn't hit.
15 - 19	1 hit. This part of the attack barely hits.
20 - 24	2 hits.
25 - 29	3 hits.
30 - 34	4 hits.
Every +5	One additional hit.

Hit Points (HP) are gained in one of four ways:

1. An item grants it to you.
An example would be, for instance: Saber of Vitality: +5 HP while in use.

2. An elixir, etc. permanently raises your HP.
An example: Elixir of Health: +1 HP permanently.

3. You assume trueform.
This increases your hit points to that of the raised dice level, but costs you 1 EP / turn.

4. You go up 5 die levels.
This gives you 2 extra HP.

Example: A 2d30 with no other modifiers has 24 HP - a lesser goddess out of trueform (4d30) has 44 HP (in trueform, 84.) If said goddess possessed a Saber of Vitality as above, she would have 49 HP, 89 HP in trueform.)

When a character's HP reach zero, he risks losing consciousness and not waking back up. If bleeding, the character takes 1 HP of damage per turn. Each turn that the character's HP falls to a point where it is below zero, or every other turn, the character loses 1 EP and must roll one of his dice; failure to roll at least one hit (or running out of EP) means the character has fallen into unconsciousness. (If the character's HP is now below -5 HP * dice, though, the character is simply dead.)

When one's HP reaches zero and he has fallen unconscious, he is not dead - yet. Characters are given a grace period of 5 HP per die, and continue to lose 1 HP per turn (due to bleeding) until someone heals or at least bandages them, or they pass beyond the grace period, in which case they die. One turn of combat or 5 minutes gametime costs 1 HP, whichever the situation warrants. An important note: if another character heals the fallen one on the same turn he passes the threshold into death, and it is enough to put the character back above said threshold,

When one's EP reaches zero, he automatically loses consciousness. This may cause a reversion to normal form in some cases; shapeshifters, merged ones, those in trueform, and lycanthropes tend to return to their normal form when out of energy. Energy may be restored by means of rest or energy transfer spells. Any HP gained from being in the alternate form is lost, which may risk the life of the being...

Also, it is possible (though foul) to cripple a limb with a blow. The damage required to do this is usually equal to 1/4 of the target's maximum HP. Monsters, vehicles, and other oppositionary beings occasionally have different amounts necessary - shooting a car's tires is a lot easier than disabling the car.

However, characters, especially under the care of a competent physician or healer, can regain HP normally even when magical methods are not applicable.
Inactivity - Regains 1 HP per day.
Bedrest - Regains 3 HP per day.
Under care of a competent (d50+) physician/healer - +1 HP/day.

Sometimes it is necessary to take a target down without the use of maximum force; perhaps a friend is under the control of another, or perhaps one is practicing his new skills. This involves nonlethal combat, the preferred style of fighting for most spars. (DeathMatches of Rhydin style are fought using the normal combat system.)

Nonlethal combat involves attempting to render ones' foe unconscious rather than kill. This can be attempted with normal weaponry - swordsmen can hit with the flat of their blade, for instance. Any weapon combat of this caliber inflicts its' damage to EP; only 1/4 of this damage also applies to HP.

The most effective way to take down another person is with ones' fists and feet (these count as specific weapons, with hand-to-hand as a generic combat class, for those who are into training). These can inflict damage entirely to EP if the attacker wishes, or to EP and HP as above.

Spars operate in this manner; targets usually inflict more EP damage than actual HP damage (though some have been known to kill their training partners.)

Perception is a measurement of the character's ability to spot things. Unless the person gets a bonus to Perception due to skill or class, or modifiers according to situation apply, perception follows the following table (one must roll this number on 1d20 or less to spot something):
 

2d	6
3d	8
4d	10
5d	12
6d	14
8d	16
10d	18

(A 1 counts automatically as a success, and a 20 is an automatic failure, no matter what the penalty or bonus.)

+15 or more:  Blinding Flash of the Obvious.  If you can't see something like this at this time, you -have- to be blind.

+10 to +14:  In Plain Sight.  Probably was in the description; if you missed it there, here's your chance to remember it's there.

+5 to +9:  Rather Apparent.  Even a mortal having a bad hair day has a good chance of seeing this.

+3 to +4:  Visible.  Something which, though not glaring, is pretty easy to see, especially if you're looking for it.

+1 to +2:  Notable.  Something that stands out for one reason or another. Obvious things may downgrade to this level fast due to range and distance.

No modifier:  Average.  Just something to be noticed.

-1 to -2:  Unobvious.  Something that isn't readily seen by most, but still visible.

-3 to -4:  Hidden.  Not in plain sight, something you really want the party to have trouble noticing.

-5 to -6:  Camoflauged.  Someone is going to serious effort to hide this; a Perception roll is necessary to get any details about it, and it is never merely mentioned in conversation except in the most innocuous of ways.

-7 or more:  Invisible.  If you're trying to hide something this badly, they either should not find it, or if they are looking exactly where it is, probably will find it. Either way, a Perception roll usually is not necessary here, unless the observer in question has reason to really try to look, or the observer's Perception roll to beat is above 1.
Note: Yes, there -is- an Invisibility spell in the Grimoire. Usually, invisible characters are not noticed by the average man until they do something to draw attention; this may counteract some of the penalties.

Basic combat in an adventure is handled in the following manner:

1) A combat begins.
This is pretty straight-forward; for some reason you are under attack, and now you must deal with it.

2) DM determines initiative, surprise, etc.
This is best determined by logic; if a small pack of orcs comes barreling down a hallway, and the party has bows, these ranged attackers should be allowed first shot. If the characters are obviously surprised (the enemy attacks without warning), or if the -players- are surprised (...what did he say?!), the enemy gets to attack first. If all else fails, the leader of the characters (or the first attacker) rolls 1d10, as does the leader of the enemies (usually the GM). Highest roll's side gets to attack first.

3) Turns are declared by putting the person (or enemy's) name in the narrator box brackets.
Aus favors -=[ ]=-, though the choice is up to the narrator. When it is a player's turn, they attack, just as if they were sparring. The player declares his attack, for example:

ArcticOwl2: ::tosses a fireball at his attackers::

and then rolls his dice. Rolling dice in AOL chatrooms is achieved with //roll-diceX-sidesY, or //roll-sidesY-diceX, where X is your dice, and Y is the number of sides you have.

OnlineHost: ArcticOwl2 rolled 5 32-sided dice: 31 32 2 12 15

4) Battle continues until one side is defeated or flees, or until a special condition occurs that ends combat.
This is rather common sense... if the floor suddenly collapses, or everyone is dead, fighting is pretty much terminated.

Combats can be troublesome things - one hit from a dragon can crush even the boldest knight like a tin can. This is why knights, and any other being, are granted several tactics for resisting attacks.

Resist
Applies to charm spells, confusion attacks, poisons, and side effects besides those that specifically cause damage. This requires one of your dice, and is your roll to avoid nasty special effects - if the resist roll is higher than or equal to the highest die roll of the attacker, or a maximum roll is attained, the special effect is resisted. Boosting your resistance is considered a specific skill - you can boost physical resistance (resistance against poison and bodily physical effects), mental resistance (resistance against attacks of the mind), or magical resistance (resistance against general magical effects).

Dodge
Avoiding attacks; dodge is usually allowed except in situations where there is obviously no possibility of escape. Dodging may be rolling out of the way, sidestepping, teleporting, or changing to a form that is clearly immune to such attacks; all of these are attempts to avoid damage, and are considered dodge attacks. Dodge requires one of your dice, like resistance, and like resistance, if the dodge roll is higher than every die of the attack roll, or is a maximum roll, the attack does no damage.

Block / Parry
Blocking and parrying are two different means to the same end. Blocking is directly attempting to halt an attack (ideally with a shield), while parrying is attempting to deflect an attack (usually with a melee weapon.) As above, this is only applicable when logically capable - parrying a nuclear attack is not likely, blocking an antimatter blast is rather improbable. Either method causes the defender to roll half his dice (full normal sides); any hits rolled are subtracted from the total damage inflicted. If blocking, the blocker takes a minimum of one point of damage from each attack blocked (unless current HP < 20% of maximum or the initial blow was 1 or 2 hits). Explosions/area effect spells are limited to blocking 75% of the damage (unless an all-around shield spell or similar method of protection is established.) The maximum amount blockable is lowered by 25% per 1 rolled on the block roll and per maximum hit rolled on the attack roll. If parrying, there is no minimum damage taken.

The 5% Rule
For dodge and resistance, if a player so chooses and the Narrator allows, they may use 1d20 rather than their own dice, in such cases where the die roll needed is higher than their number of sides. This provides a 5% chance to avoid the effect, if it is avoidable.

Defending for Others
A person may choose to throw himself in front of an attack, in order to defend another. Only one person can attempt this; it takes a roll of at least 2 hits on one die of the intended defender to succeed in this. If successful, the defender is considered the new target of the attack; he may not dodge, obviously, but may block or parry as if the attack were originally intended for him.

Dice Differences
At the Narrator's option, if the attacker and defender have differing numbers of dice, a modifier may be added to sides for any above defensive maneuver. This modifier is -5 per die the attacker has more than the defender, or +5 per die the defender has more than the attacker. A rabbit targeted by a ranger (1d vs 2d) would get a -5 to defense; a ranger targeted by a dragon (2d vs 4d) would get a -10 to defense; a dragon targeted by a knight would get a +10 to defense; and a dragon targeted by a vampire (4d vs 4d) would get no modifier.

Yes, the enemies get to fight back. And they get the same rules, advantages and disadvantages as players. Most enemy/creature attacks are set at a certain die value - they do not gain experience, though they may learn from previous mistakes. Be forewarned, some foes (those you see more often) -do- gain experience and HP - and what worked on him last time may fail this time as he gets better weapons, armor, vehicles, lackeys, et multiple cetera.

In groups of six or more people, for the purpose of the DM's sanity, four to six people are made the Active Party - they get to attack, heal, cast spells, etc. and they face the enemy attackers. The other party members are called the Reserve Party; they lurk in the background, waiting for a companion to go down or switch out to them. If a companion is knocked out or killed, a Reserve member can take their spot. Also, if a companion wants to swap out of the battle (to rest and recuperate, etc) they can, and a Reserve Party member can take their place.

Quicker Split Attacks

To make an attack such as a wave of fire that hits everyone in a group, this rule is for you. First, declare your intent:

ArcticOwl2: -=conjures up a fireball=-
ArcticOwl2: -=causes it to explode in the midst of the group=-

Then roll your dice as normal. Total up your hits, and divide by the number of vict...er, targets.

OnlineHost: ArcticOwl2 rolled 5 61-sided dice: 45 51 38 29 60
GameMaster: -=[ T1, T2, and T3 take 11 damage each ]=-

Ya see?

This can also be used for group heals.

Combination Attack

These attacks have to be prepared in advance, and the people involved have to be willing and ready to cast the spell/make the attack/whatever. The person who starts the attack gets to roll the dice for it, but the others must participate, and the attack/whatever must be appropriate... For GM sanity, it is recommended that combination attacks be worked out before play begins.

An example:

KeokeDrgn: ::casts Triple Arc::
(Triple Arc has been determined beforehand to be a three-person combo between herself, Arc, and Shidi, that hurls a devastating trio of lightning bolts at the target.)

(If played out for maximum detail, it might look more like this, but you get the idea.)
KeokeDrgn: ::arcs nearest bad guy::
Lady SHlDl: -=conjures a swirling thunderbolt around the arc attack=-
ArcticOwl2: -=creates a tornado around the arc, swirling the thunderbolt=-

Assuming they are all in true form, that's 6d51, 8d59, and 10d56.

Average the dice, and add together the sides: 8d166 is the end result. Devastating, isn't it? Best when used in combination with the multiattack rule.

Saving Throws

See the section on Defensive Tactics.

Mass Sleep and Other Fun Spells

For spells that are supposed to hit more people than you have dice for, or if you have no preference as to who to use excess dice on (muddle and other such spells; spells that cause damage use the section called Quicker Split Attacks), multiply dice by sides, then divide by the number of people you intend to hit and you get 1d(something).

Example: You have 5d54. There are 6 enemies. 270 / 6 = 45... 1d45.
Example: Shidi, Keoke, and Arc combined have 8d166. There are 6 enemies.
1328 / 6 = 1d221. (Can you say, uhoh?)

Roll that, and you have the spell that hits everyone. Remember, if a roll is above the maximum for a creature, they can still avoid it if they roll their maximum... but the odds of that are pretty low. If there are a lot of creatures in a group, roll 1d for the whole group - all fail or all succeed. Really handy when combining powers... oops, I didn't just give you an idea, did I? Just remember, this works both ways! Beware of teams...
 

Magic use, special techniques, and other abilities (from mighty bolts of fire to lightning to healing winds) costs energy. Energy is based on HP - you have as many EP as HP. (Note to trueform users - EP in trueform is the same as HP in normal form.)

Energy costs for specific spells are reviewed in the Grimoire section.

Example: Shidi finds Arc in bad shape, and casts Aura of Comfort. This spell has been determined to add +d5 to her sides, so it costs 10 points of energy.

Example: Kamek casts Muddle on twelve drakes, and eight of them are Muddled. Kamek gets to pay eight mana per turn if all of them remain Muddled, unless he wishes to cancel some of the spells by not paying the mana.

There are six ways to pay for the energy of a spell:

1) You lose the energy from your EP.
Simple as that.

2) You drain it from the active environment.
This requires time, and is not allowed on some spells. (Most combat spells are excluded.) This is one reason for priestly/magical rituals being extensive; they do much to make up for sorcerous inadequacies.
 

Time	Energy
1 second	1 EP
2 seconds	2 EP
5 seconds	3 EP
10 seconds	4 EP
15 seconds	5 EP
30 seconds	6 EP
60 seconds	7 EP
2 minutes	8 EP
3 minutes	9 EP
5 minutes	10 EP
10 minutes	11 EP
15 minutes	12 EP
20 minutes	13 EP
30 minutes	14 EP
45 minutes	15 EP
1 hour	16 EP
1.5 hours	17 EP
2 hours	18 EP
3 hours	19 EP
4 hours	20 EP
6 hours	21 EP
8 hours	22 EP
10 hours	23 EP
12 hours	24 EP
14 hours	25 EP
16 hours	26 EP
18 hours	27 EP
20 hours	28 EP
22 hours	29 EP
24 hours	30 EP
+4 hours	+1 EP

Note that one turn of combat is about one second, and one "turn" out of combat is about a minute. Many priestly shortcomings are masked in elaborate rituals - those that last for days, such as blessings over crops, are of great power.

This represents not only gathering strength from the environment, but focusing your will, concentrating, and paying absolutely no attention to anything else. Any attacks on you while you are concentrating may -not- be dodged, and you must make a roll on 1d higher than the highest die of the attack or lose your concentration.

3) You may burn your lifeforce.
You can opt to lose 1 HP in place of spending 4 EP. The danger, however, is that these HP are taken from your maximum, and are regained only by bedrest or very powerful magics. Eight hours of bedrest restores one HP burned in this fashion.

4) You may use a Powerstone for some or all of the energy cost.
Powerstones are described in detail in the Enchantment section, but for now suffice to say that they are jewels that have an EP value that can be drained.

5) You may use a focus for the spell, such as a component.
Components provide EP depending on their value.
 

Component Value	EP Gain
A commonplace item (easily obtained), such as a rock, a handful of dirt, or a branch.	+ 1 EP
A very common item (purchased or traded for easily), like a match, or incense.	+ 2 EP
A common item (must be purchased for reasonable cost), like a lighter or oil.	+ 3 EP
An uncommon item, like a gun or a computer chip.	+ 4 EP
A rare or expensive item, like gold, silver, or a valuable gem.	+ 5 EP
A very rare item, like a near-priceless gem, or perhaps some uranium or plutonium.	+ 6 EP
A unique item, like a prototype weapon.	+ 8 EP
Component is destroyed during the casting.	EP * 2

This applies to each component; however, components must be related to the spell at hand, and cannot provide more than 2/3 of the energy cost.

6. You may be skilled in that particular spell.
Experience with the spell cast can lower the casting cost. For every +d2 that the character has in this spell, EP cost can be lowered by 1. This makes average spells cost nothing. In addition, the maintenance price decreases by 1 per +d5. A talented mage can keep a gate open for a long time, for instance.

Special spells may be developed; these spells require components and/or a certain level of spellskill; the requisites do not count towards the energy needed, as they are inherent to the spell.

Energy is regained at the rate of 1 per 30 minutes, unless otherwise mentioned. It is completely restored by a full eight hours of sleep, but few characters actually get that much sleep.
 

Questions, ideas, comments, flames, objections? Send 'em to [email protected] or [email protected].