Heroes
Of
Fantasy
Book 1: Fantasy Games
An
Alternity Rules System
for
Fantasy Campaign Settings
1
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Hero Creation /Page
Ability Scores / 1Starting Skill Points / 2
Movement Rates / 2
Character Races / 2
Mutants / 6
Professions / 6
Talents / 9
Character Attributes / 10
Social Status / 12
Standing / 13
Languages / 16
Perks and Flaws / 16
Achievement Points / 19
Chapter 2: Careers
Creating Careers / 21
Open Careers / 22
Arcanist Careers / 26
Believer Careers / 27
Diplomat Careers / 33
Mindwalker Careers / 35
Rogue Careers / 36
Specialist Careers / 37
Warrior Careers / 38
Legends / 40
Chapter 3: Skills
Complex Skill Checks / 43
Purchasing Rank Benefits / 43
Strength Skills / 46
Dexterity Skills / 52
Constitution Skills / 60
Intelligence Skills / 62
Will Skills / 74
Personality Skills / 82
Chapter 4: Weapons and Armor
/87
Progress Levels / 87Weapon Basics / 87
Melee Weapons / 88
Ranged Weapons / 92
Heavy Weapons / 98
Armor / 104
Ammunition / 106
Weapon Options / 108
Magic Weapons & Armor / 111
Chapter 5: Goods & Services
COMING SOON !!!
Chapter 6: The Supporting Cast
COMING SOON !!!
Chapter 7: Campaigns
COMING SOON !!!
Chapter 8: Gamers in Action
COMING SOON !!!
Appendix 1: Tinkering
COMING SOON !!!Appendix 2: Concoctions
COMING SOON !!!Appendix 3: Fantasy Faiths
COMING SOON !!!Appendix 4: Optional Heroes
COMING SOON !!!Appendix 5: The Life Shaped
COMING SOON !!!1
Chapter 1: Hero Creation
1
Chapter 1: Hero Creation
In attempting to combine the aspects of both the AD&D game and that of Alternity I found in my first attempt that I still ‘locked’ players in a static selection of characters. What I present below is the next generation of character development after having tested my thoughts on other DM’s and Game Master’s on the Internet. The result of which is a change from old classes to the more ‘pure’ professions of Alternity. I thought long and hard about how I should approach this situation and came to the following conclusions:
1)There are no level limits.
2)There are no multi-classed or dual-classed characters.
3)There are no limits on who can and cannot use FX abilities.
4)There are no limits as to who can and cannot use armor or weapons.
5)There are no elements in character creation focused on game balance other than the character’s starting skill points.
6)and finally – The most defining features of a character are determined by the skill points spent during development which supersedes race, profession, and career.
This may seem to throw the idea of a balanced game to the four winds but do keep in mind entry number 5 above. The skill points (because this is a skill-based game) are the balancing forces behind all characters, whether they are human or otherwise. No starting character can hope to have all options available to them and even if they could pull it off they would not be very proficient at any one task. Despite all of the options available to a player you will find that having a team of characters who are individually specialized in various skills and abilities will make for a stronger team.
Before an adventure can begin, the players need to create their characters. There are two things to consider when creating a new character. These are the character’s race and profession, and how the character fits into a group of other characters. As far as races and professions are concerned the character should make sense. These rules allow for a tremendous amount of character options and the players imagination is the limit, but be careful to not ‘front load’ a character with so many options, perks, flaws, and statistics that they become burdensome to play.
As it concerns a group of characters, the players should consult with each other and decide which members of the character group have what abilities. A balanced distribution of races, professions, and skills work best as the team is better able to handle different situations. No player should feel trapped into selecting a certain type of character. The creation of a team should be a collaborative effort supported by the Game Master. In my own terminology I base the distribution of characters by three primary roles – Intelligence, Offense, and Defense. These primary roles should be spread out among the characters as evenly as possible. After this each character should determine a secondary role. In this ideology a Believer could be Defensive primarily and Offensive as a secondary role. These roles say nothing about race, profession, career, or talents. Each player should use the options given to create a meaningful character that is an asset to his team.
The creation of characters can be sporadic and everyone has a different method of doing so. Chapter 1 is divided into several sections that explain the core information required during character development. The goal of this chapter is to determine the character’s Ability Scores, Race, Profession, FX talent(s), Career, Extraordinary Abilities, and Mutations. Each section that follows discusses these items in a order given that I felt would be the most likely method of character creation and reference. As a simple guide I give you the following checklist so that the information I have included does not go forgotten.
1)Select a character race. Apply any mutations if desired and allowed.
2)Select a profession, career, and talent(s). Think of the character as a whole and then decide which of the profession and career elements best describes the character.
3)Determine ability scores based on the above criteria.
4)Determine secondary statistics (durability, action score, etc.) and assign a Moral Attitude.
5)Record those broad skills gained for free by race.
6)Determine the character’s starting skill points and purchase skills, perks, and assign flaws as desired.
7)Determine the character’s Social Status scores.
8)Determine the character’s Standing score and detail any elements required of a faith.
9)Record any signature equipment allowed by career, roll for your starting gold, and buy your gear.
10)Name the character and create a background story that describes who the character is and why he is who he is.
Ability Scores
There are three common methods for determining a character’s ability scores. The player is allowed to use any one method desired or other that the Game Master provides.
1)Method 1 – Roll per Profession: In this option the player rolls the ability scores for the character based on a chosen profession. These die rolls are given in the Professions section. Each roll is modified as needed by any racial modifiers. If a modifier lowers an ability score below a required minimum then that minimum becomes the score. No ability score, regardless of the die roll, can exceed a racial maximum. As with a low score the maximum becomes the score if that maximum is passed.
2)Method 2 – Roll per Ability: This method grants a 2d6+2 roll per ability score, which is modified by any racial modifiers. This option is best used when the racial abilities are desired to be foremost and profession a secondary concern. At the Game Master’s option the player may roll a 2d6+2 six times and then apply the rolls as desired to each ability score. This option grants more flexibility in character creation and can allow persons of a particular profession to have scores higher than they would if they used method 1 above.
3)Method 3 – Assigned Points: The final option available grants a player 60 points to divide among the abilities as he or she likes. If the character has any racial modifiers then these may apply but only if the total difference between the positive and negative modifiers are a result other than zero. This means that a Dwarf character with a +1 to Constitution and a –1 to Personality gains a point and losses a point as well. In such a system the player can freely determine the allotment of ability points and the two cancel each other.
Other races like those presented in Appendix 6 of this book may have a difference in points that are higher or lower than zero. In those cases the difference directly effects the 60 points used to determine the scores so that a character with a +2 overall bonus starts with 62 points instead.
This system offers the most flexible means of determining a character’s ability scores. As before, the Ability Maximums given for a race must always be a consideration.
Starting Skill Points
For starting skill points the basic rule is that a character receives their intelligence score times three plus thirty in points to spend. Also, each character has a base maximum of six broad skills to purchase at first level which is modified by adding the Resistance Modifier of the character for a high or low intelligence. The table below gives these values as appropriate.
Int. Score / Skill Points / Broad Skills4 / 42 / 4
5 / 45 / 5
6 / 48 / 5
7 / 51 / 6
8 / 54 / 6
9 / 57 / 6
10 / 60 / 6
11 / 63 / 7
12 / 66 / 7
13 / 69 / 8
14 / 72 / 8
15 / 75 / 9
Movement Rates
Through the use of various FX items or by the result of spells and other powers, characters may occasionally possess ability scores far above the norm. For this reason I felt that it might be good to expand the Combat Movement Rate table for characters who have a combined strength and dexterity that exceeds 31. These statistics are also relevant for very powerful beings such as avatars and the like.
Also a Game Master may feel that transformations of characters into beasts, like a dog for example, may warrant a faster movement rate depending on the type of beast. Using the dog as an example, the Game Master may say that a character polymorphed into one may multiply the sum of Strength and Dexterity by 1.5 or by 2.
Str+Dex
/ Sprint / Run / Walk / EasySwim / Swim / Glide / Fly
32-33 / 32 / 22 / 8 / 4 / 8 / 32 / 64
34-35 / 34 / 22 / 8 / 4 / 8 / 34 / 68
36-37 / 36 / 24 / 10 / 5 / 10 / 36 / 72
38-39 / 38 / 26 / 10 / 5 / 10 / 38 / 76
40-41 / 40 / 26 / 10 / 5 / 10 / 40 / 80
42-43 / 42 / 28 / 12 / 6 / 12 / 42 / 84
44+ / 44 / 28 / 12 / 6 / 12 / 44 / 88
Character Races
Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, and of course Half-Elves. These races, along with Humans, form the basic core of fantasy races. They do so here as well. Additional race options are given in Appendix 6 of this book.
The information concerning character races in this chapter does not give in depth role-playing details. Many AD&D tomes and other works give copious information about how to role-play these character races. This is information that I assume you either know, or have the tools to find out. The focus of this chapter, and the book at large, is the rules necessary to play the Heroes of Fantasy game.
Common Skills
Each member of any character race receives for free two Knowledge based skills. These are the characters racial language and knowledge of one’s own culture and history. Both of these start at Rank 3 and can be listed as follows: Knowledge [9] - elf tongue [12], elven lore [12]. Half-Humans are special cases as they can choose either parent’s race for these two skills. DM’s may also require that the Human parent’s culture be selected if the Half-Human character wants to adopt any Cultural Benefits as well. In any case both skills must for one race and/or culture.
Race Entry Data
Each entry for each race below is formatted the same and includes the following categories:
Starting Skills: This lists the free broad skills that a character of this race starts the game with. Some entries provide options, but most are specific.
Typical Moral Attitudes: This entry shows the moral attitudes that most commonly attributed to members of this race. This entry is by no means a restriction; players may select any attitude they wish. The entry acts only as a guide for role-playing and for NPC’s.
Typical Environments: This entry shows the terrain or environment that the race prefers and is most likely to found in.
Ability Modifiers: This entry includes any modifiers the character gains to his or her ability scores. The various methods of determining a character’s abilities are detailed in the previous section.
Ability Maximums: This entry details the maximum score a character of a specific race can have for abilities with maximums other than 14. Regardless of the method of ability generation, these limits must be observed. Characters created from a set number of ability points can allot points to abilities that exceed 14 if desired.
Advantages: This details any special benefits or abilities the character gains. Some of the entries refer to innate abilities commonly called Super Power FX. Refer to Chapter 7 of Book 2 for more information.
Disadvantages: This describes any outstanding drawbacks that members of this race share.
Preferred Professions: This details those professions and options that best suit this race of character. Occasionally there are limitations to certain professions (most notably Arcane Adept) but there is no standing rule that excludes a character from a profession or career based solely on race alone.
Dwarf (Hill and Mountain)
Starting Skills: Athletics, Stamina, Knowledge, Awareness, Resolve, and Interaction. A Dwarf may also start the game with the Construction, Crafting, Engineering, and Tinkering broad skills. If they do so, they need only pay 3 skill points for them. After the time of character creation however, they must pay full list cost for these skills. This has no effect on any specialty skills.
Typical Moral Attitudes: Ethical, Conformist, Honorable, Just, and Worldly.
Typical Environments: Hills, mountains, caves, and subterranean.
Ability Scores Modifiers: Dwarves receive a +1 to their Constitution scores but suffer a –1 to Personality.
Ability Maximums:
Constitution / 15Personality / 13
Advantages:
Combat Bonus: Dwarves gain a +1 bonus to their Strength Resistance Modifier when combating creatures that are considered Large-sized Humanoids (Ogres, Minotaurs, Giants, etc.). They also receive a one step bonus to all attacks against Goblinoids, Orcs, and half-breeds of either race. This species enemy may be changed to benefit attacks against another race if the campaign has a differing story. For example some dwarves may have a one step bonus against Drow and Duergar due to their cultural histories.
Magic Resistance: Dwarves have a +/-1 Resistance Modifier vs. any magical FX ability (see Chapter 8: Gamers in Action for rules on Magic Resistance). this defense does not effect psionic powers.
Poison Resistance: Dwarves receive a one step bonus to Constitution feat checks against poisons of all types.
Subterranean Senses: Dwarves live in the earth and being acutely aware of the subterranean world they gain a two step bonus (-2 Situation Modifier) to all Awareness-perception, Awareness-direction sense, and Investigate-search checks that deal with underground phenomenon, tunnels, and stonework. This can include the Engineering-mining skill also. They may also use this ability to determine the depth under-ground in a way similar to human sensing which way is up. Finally this bonus may also be used to determine a gems value by use of the Business-appraising skill.
Thermal Vision: Dwarves can see into the infrared spectrum, spotting objects by the heat they produce. As long as the objects and other beings are not the same temperature as the surrounding area, a Dwarf receives a 3-step reduction to penalties related to obscured situations, including total darkness.
Disadvantages:
Magical Failure: The Resistance Modifier that Dwarves gain in defense to magic is not controllable. If a Dwarf character casts an arcane spell or uses an FX item that relies on arcane magic then the bonus applies as a penalty. This benefit also applies to spells cast by Arcane Adepts that are intended to aid the dwarf.
Magical weapons and armor are not effected but if these items have arcane powers then those powers can be effected as stated above. This penalty also applies to all arcane and shared magic spells a dwarf casts if the player chooses to be an Arcane Adept.
In the case of Shared Magic FX spells, the nature of the Adept or FX item determines whether a penalty is applied or not. This means that if an Arcanist casts Earth Magic-body of earth on a dwarf then the penalty would apply. If a Believer casts the same spell the penalty would not apply. FX items do make the distinction for Shared Magic spells referring to them as either faith or arcane in origin.
Slow Movement: Having a diminutive stature that includes short legs, Dwarves determine their movement rates by using the figures given for a combined Strength and Dexterity that is 2 rows lower.
Preferred Professions: Dwarves tend to be Warriors or Faith Adepts with Warrior as a second profession. Some also prefer to be Specialists. While a Dwarf may be an Arcane Adept, few follow this path as they do suffer their Magical Resistance when casting arcane spells.
Elf (High Elf)
Starting Skills: Athletics, Stealth, Knowledge, Awareness, and Interaction. Elven characters may also select Melee Weapons or Ranged Weapons.