Say, let's try one of those "Build a RPG in a thread" threads

[Narf the Mouse]

Over the years, I've made my own stabs at a "Fantasy Heartbreaker", something that would be "my D&D". Most of them ended up in the trash bin of history - But let's see where this one goes.

(Disclaimer: Some of this is already written. Fair warning: I'm a "ground up" guy)

So, attributes. We need attributes - Or we might as well start there. So, let's go with the classic, until there's a need for otherwise - Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
Since research plays a (Big) part in this - Let's write them Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. Now, all the similar ones are next to each other. Also, clear something right up: Wisdom handles willpower. Charisma handles force of personality.
There's been plenty of people with forceful personalities and low willpower.
Likewise, no need to innovate on the general trend without reason: Attributes have a score and a bonus. The bonus is (Score - 10) / 2.

Now, rolling the attributes. Here, I hark backwards. Your character is not a hero at first level - He's still "in training". 3d6, with three options: Take as rolled, switch two or distribute them.

Races. We'll have the standards, of course. Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Human. But there should be something to grab the player's interest. The standards should be interesting, but there has to be more than the standards - And they should fit...
...How about, oh, Centaurs, Urak and Half-Fey?

Classes. Let's keep it simple, but diverse. Fighters, Rogues, Clerics, Wizards, Sorcerers.
Fighters are focused on combat; Rogues are focused on being sneaky, subtle and sideways thinkers; Clerics follow a god or divine principle; Wizards use magic...And Sorcerers use magic differently.

Combat. We need a way to make things other than "I attack" interesting and relevant. We can always make half a jillion types of attacks - But I'd rather just make a maneuver for each attack group.
Strike, Feint, Block, Parry, Counter, Charge and Bull-Rush are obvious ones. Provide some simple rules in a simple format (Bull-Rush is Strength-based and, if successful, your target falls. If, of course, they are capable of such)

Not everything versus AC is another way. We can also keep things simpler. Static defenses is a good idea. So - Damage Reduction, Fortitude, Reflex and Willpower. Damage Reduction starts at 0 and is an obvious candidate for armour. Fortitude, Reflex and Willpower are based on 10 and gain a bonus from the higher of Strength or Constitution; Dexterity or Intelligence; Wisdom or Charisma. That, I think, is a good idea. A lot simpler.
(It must be noted, I had trouble remembering what numbers I had to add to figure out how much chance my spell had of affecting the target, after I already hit them, with a certain system one loves either for its convolutedness or in spite of - Or a bit of both)

But, once you hit them, what about damage? Health in the general category of games this is a part of is typically described as a combination of "luck, energy, combat dis/advantage and minor wounds", with only a small part the actual health of the character.
Well, why not make the split official? Health and Vigour. Health is equal to Constitution and heals 10% per week. Vigour heals 75% per day and 5% per hour of "Mostly light activity". That way, you can delve the dungeon longer. Damage is, of course, subtracted from Vigour first.
Also, none of this "raising (Or lowering) the bar on dying". You die at 0 Health. Possibly, you die at negative health and you're just dying at 0 health. Possibly...

We also need something to act in. To keep things simple, we turn to research - Standard, Movement and Minor actions.

We then have Movement (Dexterity in feet per Move Action) and Overland Movement (Constitution in miles per day)

Proficiencies - A wonderful idea. Spend one and gain a bonus based on wether the category is General, Broad or Specific. To avoid the stacking problems of some of my previous games, they gain a +1, +2 or +3 bonus and you use the highest applicable.
Simple, solved.
This also solves skills. Just add some lists of suggested skills and we're done.

My current RPG (And new thoughts) in a nutshell. Thoughts?

[Narf the Mouse]

Dwarves. Dwarves are a classic, in most games. They love alcohol, hard work, fighting and family - Not necessarily in that order. They're the bikers of gaming worlds.

Let's mix them up.

Dwarves have an incredible tolerance for alcohol. That is well-known. What isn't as well known (Partly because of the lack of development of biological sciences) is that alcohol acts as a stimulant to Dwarves. They can work harder, move faster, keep going longer and feel less pain. To Dwarves, drinking literally is part of life, hard work, fighting and family - Hence, their love of drinking.
The end result is that Dwarven brewers are respected tradesmen (And expect to be treated as such) and Dwarves at work, play or battle will try to have alcohol nearby - So as to be better at it.
Most Dwarves know, at least vaguely, that other races don't react too well with alcohol - This is greeted with various types of pity and occasionally disdain.

Dwarven culture tends to be family-oriented to a large degree. To most Dwarves, duty is to Family, Clan, Tribe and Race, in that order. Kinslayer is the highest crime to Dwarves - Such a one is no longer a Dwarf, but a target. Note, however, that capital punishment does exist - Justice is not murder.
Laziness, deliberate stupidity and oathbreaking come after that.

Hard work, then, at a trade or battle, is how a Dwarf does their Duty. Dwarves tend to revere physical effort before intellectual effort, but disdain nothing that helps the Family, Clan, Tribe and Race.

So wherefore the Dwarves wandering around outside their lands and cities? Sometimes, they are on various errands - Secret or open - To do their Duty. Removing dangers from the surrounding areas counts as doing one's Duty, although past the age of Wandering, most Dwarves think one should be helping inside the Dwarven lands.

The Age of Wandering? Well, at about seventy to a hundred, when Dwarven youth and energy peak into adulthood, Dwarves are expected to test their mettle against various dangers and difficulties. Athletic and non-lethal combat challenges of various sorts (Including brawling) are encouraged and accepted - Climbing a few mountains or crossing a few deserts is a perfectly acceptable way of spending this time.
As, of course, is adventuring outside the Lands, bringing news, social ties and possibly even alliances into the Lands.

After this, Dwarves are generally expected to settle down and get on with work, although particularly successful (Or troublesome) Dwarves are seen as more useful Outside, most of the time.

As for the other things - Dwarves come as male and female, but as both tend to be stout, thick-bodied and bearded, it can be hard to tell them apart.
Dwarves can, in general, learn to swim - However, due to body mass and shape, only, at best, slowly and awkwardly (Aside from a few, very rare examples)
In this case, the infamous Dwarven pride rears its head and Dwarves tend to insist they just "Don't like water or boats. Wood is for burning in a forge, not for standing on water with!"

Dwarven pride? Well, that's the greatest source of Dwarven evil...Money is Humans moral weakness, but a Dwarf's is their pride.

As for the beards, Dwarves almost always grow long and thick beards, so it tends to be part of their culture.

[Narf the Mouse]

Elves? Elves are insane. Functional, most of them, but nuts. See, a long time ago, some Elven leader of some sort wanted his people to be immortal. So he made some sort of bargain, or tricked some powerful being or made some sort of prayer or sacrifice - The Elves never give a clear answer - And, since then, no Elf has died of old age.
But, mortal minds are not meant for immortality.

Years pile into decades; decades into centuries; centuries, perhaps into millennia...Memory upon memory, things always changing, always the same. Great deeds and foul deeds forgotten or distorted or mere fragments of myth, wars fought and re-fought over the same patches of land, conquest and peace treaties to end the wars that never did...Dying, always dying, the other races, friends and foes alike.
There are a few sane elves who can withstand this. Somewhat, at least. But, for all the rest - They've cracked from stress. Oh, they learn to handle it, but singing silly songs one time, then deadly serious the next?
Pity, not envy, the long lives of the elves.

Why, then, are not all elves incredibly skilled at all things, with such time to learn? Simple. Mortal minds forget. Knowledge, practice, talent...Without constant practice, an Elf, like any other, will slowly forget how - And Elves have a long time to forget.
Still, one never knows what an Elf might remember.

The great weakness of Elves is despairing grief, for as the love of money may lead a Human to any evil, so may despair in grief lead an Elf to any evil.

Thus, most Elves interact but little with the outside world, because it has hurt them so very, very much...

Nevertheless, some Elves overcome the ennui of years by throwing themselves into adventure, the rush of adrenaline and new friends to heal the sting of the old. Perhaps they are a different kind of insane, but mayhap a better one - Or, for some, a worse.

For leaders, Elves revere, with terrible awe and pity, those who have kept all or most of their sanity. Such are Elf-Lords and -Ladies, the leaders of their society.

[Narf the Mouse]

Halflings are capable sneak-thieves who love comfort and hate disturbance. Bit of a disconnect there. Let's resolve it.

Halflings range from three to four feet high, with proportionate strength and damage absorption capacity. It's pretty clear, then, that Halflings don't survive through brute force. Their size, however, does give another explanation - Halflings naturally excel at stealth and concealment - And they practice them diligently.
Thus, Halfling homes are dug into the sides of hills, with easily-hidden entrances and, of course, few windows. Entire armies (Including invading armies) have ridden right through halfling villages and towns (Halflings don't build cities) without noticing.

Therefore, Halflings are rarely stirred to action and defense - They need only hide their homes completely, hunker down with some good food and wait for the Big People to leave. And if they do find their homes, they still probably won't find more than a few Halflings.

So, Halfling society is centered around comfortably waiting for trouble to go away. Halflings don't like adventure or adventurous people because they bring trouble - Yet, all Halflings are just a little bored.

Halflings eat six meals a day, but that is because, contrary to stories, they need only small portions of food to fill their stomachs - They are, after all, very small. They are good at throwing rocks because that is a quick way of collecting a bird or squirrel or suchlike for a meal or two. This skill carries over to other thrown weapons and slings - Halfling assassins are deadly, but, of course, little known.
Halflings are also excellent scavengers, able to find all they need of grains and vegetables without the bother of farming - Besides, farms draw attention.

So, with all this skill in quiet stealth and concealment, if a Halfling wishes to steal something from the average loud, noisy, unperceptive (Halflings, naturally, are skilled in noticing danger) Big People, it's probably stolen.
Invading armies that don't go away tend to find all their weapons, arrows and bolts gone...

Halfling society is based around the pub and their leaders are the quiet sort who keep them safe. To note, Halfling metabolism is fast enough that they can come near the capacity of Dwarves, given the disparity in sizes.
Most government (What little they have) decisions are made in the pub, with the community looking on and offering wanted or unwanted advice.

Halflings tend to have little, if any, in the way of male or female chauvinism, as there is little in their lifestyle to inspire such.

Halflings interact with Big People with bemused incomprehension - Most of their bustling about seems to be for the sole purpose of creating more bustling about - A counterproductive effort if ever a Halfling heard of one. And as for conquest? Why make more work, when things are fine as they are now? And why trouble quiet, peaceful people? And all that death surely can't be good...

A Halfling adventuring is likely driven by something that keeps them from the quiet, comfortable life - Even if just the lust for adventure.

So what is a Halflings greatest weakness? The desire to do nothing and let evil happen elsewhere...

[Narf the Mouse]

Right, now that we have the standard races detailed, let's do the standard classes.

But first, why do we need classes? Niche protection and theming are the most common reasons stated. There's another: Ease of use. However, the system, as written, is fully capable of being classless - Remember, Proficiencies define a lot of a character.
So let's be creative. Let's do both.

When creating a character, there are a few dials that can be turned one way or the other - Vigour dice, Proficiency gain per level and GP at first level are the easy ones. Let's add another: Traits. Something to distinguish characters and races.
Traits will need fleshing out later.

So, our dials are:

Code Select Expand


Vigour Dice Proficiencies at First Level Proficiencies per Level GP at First Level Traits at First Level Trait gain per Level
d4 1 0 1d6 * 10 1 N/A
d6 N/A 1 per 2 3d6 * 10 N/A N/A
Default d8 2 1 5d6 * 10 2 0
d10 3 2 per 3 7d6 * 10 3 1 per 2
d12 5 2 10d6 * 10 5 1

Default is the base value; for every increase, a decrease and vice-versa. N/A is "Not Applicable".

Classes become Professions and pre-select some things for you, so you can just go down the list.

The Fighter Profession gets d10 Vigour, 2 Proficiencies at first level, 2 Proficiencies per 3 levels, 5d6 * 10 GP at first level, 1 Trait at first level and 0 Traits per level. Half of the Profiencies must be spent on things related to combat.

The Rogue Profession gets d6 Vigour, 2 Proficiencies at first level, 2 Proficiencies per 3 levels, 7d6 * 10 GP at first level, 1 Trait at first level and 1 Trait per 2 level levels. Half of the Proficiencies and Traits must be spent on things related to Rogue-style activities.

The Cleric Profession gets d10 Vigour, 2 Proficiencies at first level, 1 Proficiency per level, 3d6 * 10 GP at first level, 1 Trait at first level and 1 Trait per level. Half of the Proficiencies and Traits must be spent on things related to religion, divine miracles and clerical duties.

The Wizard Profession gets d6 Vigour, 2 Proficiencies at first level, 1 Proficiency per level, 3d6 * 10 GP at first level, 2 Traits at first level and 1 Trait per level. Half of the Proficiencies and Traits must be spent on Knowledge and subtle magic abilities.

Sorcerers will have to wait till the system is more fleshed out.

[Narf the Mouse]

At this point, it seems helpful to write out a gameplay example describing what a session would be like. Let's start with a combat...

The crypt stood silhouetted against the night-time sky, lit by a waning moon. Intricate carvings of orchids decorated its front and the arches visible on its side. Five bushes are visible, down the side and on either side of the entrance.
More important, though, were the two zombies spreading their foul rot on the front porch...

Suddently, a clay jar sailed out of the distance, a flaming rag stuffed in its neck. Hitting the closer zombie cleanly on the chest, it burst open, spreading flaming oil across the foul creatures.

As they flailed clumsily at the flames, only spreading them further, a handaxe sailed out of the darkness, followed by a Dwarf with a battleaxe and shield.
Missing the closer one, its intended target, it thudded into the second one, sending it falling backwards, still moving.

The battleaxe is swung around in a wide sweep, but misses the eraticaly-stumbling zombie. In return, it flails its arms at the Dwarf, managing to raise welts of steam from the drenched fighter.

The second swipe knocks its head clean off. As the last zombie struggles to its feet, the Dwarven mercenary takes the clear opportunity and cuts an arm clean off.

The zombie can only flail wildly and a second swing looses its head.

After pouring water mixed with sand over the fire, Galdrash leans against the wall of the crypt and downs a mix of beer and a potion of Vigour...

[Narf the Mouse]

And now we detail combat maneuvers. We need to keep them dynamic, but simple. In alphabetical order:

All-Out Attack, Block, Bull-Rush, Charge, Counter, Disarm, Feint, Full Defense, Maneuver for Advantage, Multiple Attacks, Parry, Strike and Trip.

The first problem is, there's no ranged maneuvers.

Fire, Aim, Rapid Fire, Dodge (We can add this to Melee maneuvers, too)...Trip can be applied to Ranged, as can All-Out Attack, Feint, Full Defense, Maneuver for Advantage...We don't need Rapid Fire if we just use Multiple Attacks...

So, Melee:
Aim, All-Out Attack, Block, Bull-Rush, Charge, Counter, Disarm, Dodge, Feint, Full Defense, Maneuver for Advantage, Multiple Attacks, Parry, Strike and Trip.

Ranged:
Aim, All-Out Attack, Dodge, Feint, Fire, Full Defense, Maneuver for Advantage, Multiple Attacks and Trip.

Both:
Aim, All-Out Attack, Dodge, Feint, Full Defense, Maneuver for Advantage, Multiple Attacks and Trip.

Now, to describe what they do mechanically and add a few new actions: Full Turn (Takes a Standard, Movement and Minor Action), Full Round (Lasts till the start of your next turn), Abort To (If it's not your turn, you may use your next action of that type on this maneuver)

Aim: Full Turn Action for +2 To-Hit and Damage/Effect on next attack, must aim at target.

All-Out Attack: Full-Round Action; Subtract up to 5 from Defenses; add same to To-Hit and Damage/Effect.

Block: Melee Only; Full-Round; Apply Str bonus to Ref.

Bull-Rush: Melee Only; Standard Action; Attack: Str bonus vs Fort; Hit: Target falls.

Charge: Melee Only; Move Action; Run towards target; Gain +2 To-Hit, Damage/Effect vs target

Counter: Melee Only; Standard Action; Must follow successful Block, Dodge or Parry; Make immediate Attack; May Abort To.

Disarm: Melee Only; Standard Action; Attack: To-Hit + Dex bonus vs To-Hit + Str; Hit: Target looses held item.

Dodge; Standard Action: Add your Dex and Int bonus to Ref. May Abort To.

Feint: Move Action; Attack: To-Hit + Dex or Int bonus vs Ref. Hit: Gain +2 bonus to To-Hit and Damage/Effect on your next attack vs that target.

Fire: Standard Action; Attack: To-Hit + Dex vs Ref; Hit: Weapon damage - AC.

Full Defense: Full-Round Action; Subtract up to 5 from To-Hit and Damage/Effect; add same to Defenses.

Maneuver for Advantage: Move Action; Attack: To-Hit + Dex or Int bonus vs Will. Hit: Gain +2 bonus to To-Hit and Damage/Effect on your next attack vs that target.

Multiple Attacks: Full Round; Each extra attack applies a -2 To-Hit penalty to all attacks.

Parry: Melee Only; Standard Action; Attack: To-Hit + Dex bonus vs Incoming To-Hit; Hit: Attack misses

Strike: Melee Only; Standard Action; Attack: To-Hit + Str bonus vs Ref; Hit: Weapon damage - AC.

Trip: Standard Action; Attack: Dex bonus vs Ref; Hit: Target falls.


As a final note, a Proficiency may be spent on any Maneuver that takes a Standard Action, to change it to a Move Action.

[Narf the Mouse]

We next need to consider Proficiencies - Specifically, what do they do?

Proficiencies:
1) Add a bonus to do something.
2) Remove a penalty to do something.
3) Change the action needed to do something.

Proficiencies:
1) Work by categories: A General category for a +1, a Broad category for a +2 and a Specific category for a +3.

So, let's brainstorm proficiency types.

Skill Proficiencies: Gain a bonus to a non-combat area.

Equipment Proficiencies: Gain a bonus to using an item (Success roll, generally)

Weapon Proficiencies: Gain a bonus to using a weapon. Obviously, a variation of Equipment Proficiencies.

Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Remove Range penalties.

Shields: Going to have to wait.

Armour: Remove use penalties. I'm thinking, adds to DR, but reduces Reflex.

Attribute Proficiencies: Increase an Attribute.

Maneuver Proficiencies: Change a Standard Action to a Move Action.
Also, a new Maneuver: Fast Draw: Minor Action; Dex bonus + Weapon To-Hit vs 15; Success: You draw a weapon as a Minor Action. Spend a Proficiency to remove the need to roll.

Terrain Proficiencies: Spend a Proficiency to reduce the penalty from a category of terrain.

Mount Proficiencies: Reduce penalties due to riding a camel, horse, etc..

Now, we need some way of increasing bonuses per level. Perhaps the simplest would be to put a cap on the number of Proficiencies you may buy in something of 1 + Your Level / 4, rounded down. A player could then hyper-specialize, but at the expense of weakness elsewhere.

I see a lot of people are interested; care to share your thoughts?

[Narf the Mouse]

Time for Wizards. Wizards - Wise, cunning, uncanny, knowing more than they should, about on secret business...

We need some way to represent that. However, it occurs to me that we already have a possible method - Maneuvers. We also introduce three new terms: Target Number - Target Numbers are set by the GM. We also add a Time Chart; moving up or down the Time Chart increases or decreases your Success Roll by 1. Time Chart Action - An action taken according to the time chart. Difficulty - Signals the GM to consider adding a penalty to something, related to how difficult it would be to pull off.

Comprehend: 5 Minute Time Chart Action; Int bonus vs TN; Success: You gain knowledge related to a subject. Failure: May not attempt again until significant time or events pass.

Prestidigitation: Standard Action; Int Bonus vs TN (Usually 10); Success: You enact a minor change of colour, taste, temperature, sound or light.

Chameleon: Standard Action; 10 + Int Bonus + 5 + Stealth skill TN for anyone to notice you. May not use while attacking or for two Rounds after.

Illusion: Standard Action; Attack: Int or Wis Bonus - Illusion difficulty vs Int or Wis bonus; Success: Target believes illusion.

Supernal Awareness: Standard Action; 10 + Int or Wis Bonus + 5 + Perception skill TN for anyone to sneak by you.

Discern: Standard Action; Attack: Int or Wis bonus vs Int or Wis bonus or TN; Hit: Discern a single fact about someone or something. Failure: May not attempt again until significant time or events pass.

Endure: Full-Round Action; Add Wis or Cha bonus to DR. Immobile: Add both.

Bolt of [Energy]: Full Turn; Is a Ranged Attack: +0 To-Hit, 1d6. Must be bought for each specific type of energy. Incant or gesture.


For Proficiencies, add that Proficiencies may add to Maneuvers under the standard rules and Damage according to a "Damage Dice Chart".

[Narf the Mouse]

I've got Wizards for subtle magic, but for more traditional fantasy spells, I'm using Sorcerers. Sorcerers memorize esoteric spells, then discharge them to great effect.

What I want is some system by which these spells can be constructed, that is both rules-light, easy to use and dynamic (In that spells can be constructed on the fly)

What I have in mind is a variation on the "Verb-Noun" idea. Essentially, the player constructs spells out of simple arcane words their character knows - Written in plain English to the player, but presumably strange, odd, uncanny and even maddening when said by the character.

So let's say our enterprising Sorcerer has "Fire", "Bob", "Light" and "On". He then constructs a spell sentence of "Light Bob On Fire", which he and the GM agree lights the nearest person named Bob on fire.

The GM then determines a Precision, while the Player decides the Complexity and Power of the spell. Precision and Complexity give points, Power subtracts points. Precision is how precise the wording is. Complexity is how much the character has to incant, gesture, burn stuff, inscribe sigils and etc..
The player then gives it a Level, which adds points (If it has a level above 0). The Level of the spell determines how hard it is to memorize.

They then assign a game mechanic to it (Attack: Int vs Will; Hit: NdX continuing Fire damage)

After this, the player pays some sort of in-game currency (Time and money are easy answers, but quests, rare ingredients and bargains are also possible answers) and gains the spell.

How about something different? "Summon Loyal Goblin". The GM and Player decide Precision is Moderate, Complexity is Minor and Power is Low. The spell is given a Level and then the points are calculated. Since I'm using a spreadsheet to design monsters, I'll include the spreadsheet. Also, the points in a monster will be displayed in the entry.
Using the points will also give a rough guide to the GM of how much effect it should have, when simple mechanics isn't enough.

So, I also need a Weapon spreadsheet...Which would also cover many magic weapons.

The spreadsheets don't, of course, cover everything - But they will/do assist greatly in ease and speed of creation of stuff.

"Summon Storm At City" - "Summons a storm at the indicated city"? Player input and GM's decision on how that works, for this game.

[Narf the Mouse]

Weapons, shields and armour - How do they work? Do we need to go far off the beaten path? Probably not. But note I say "far off". But let's see what the data says...

Weapons, obviously, do damage. Since we're doing "heroic" fantasy, the tried and true method of NdX should work fine.

Weapons also hit people. In fact, melee weapons almost never miss, unless the target does something about it. Reflex presumes the target is doing something about it - But what about maneuvers like Dodge? Well, they are just ways of focusing on defense.

Now, as to what weapon has a better chance "to hit" in a round - I'm going to have to say, none. A knife-wielder will make more attacks but more misses than a greatswordsman.

So why not have Speed and Damage? Give a knife a Speed of 5 and a Damage of d4. Add in DR and a knifeman can quickly kill an unarmoured person, but against most decent armours, they're not much use.

Well, one problem is that's too much dice rolling. So let's do something different...

If you roll over Reflex, you hit. If you roll under Armour Rating, you do half damage. Five under and you do no damage. Over and you do full damage.

Hmm, still to much for easy play.

Knife: +3 To-Hit, d8/0 Damage
Greatsword: -2 To-Hit, d12/d8 Damage
Leather: 13 AR
Chain: 16 AR
Plate: 20 AR

Beat Reflex, hit. Beat AR, do full damage. Don't beat AR, do reduced damage. So, armour isn't of much use if you can dodge well.

Hmm, still not satisfactory, but it does cover that a knife can kill rather well - No "d4" damage here. The problem is, it essentially comes down to the higher of Reflex or AR - With AR being not as good...

Hmm...

...Ok, I need some help here. This idea is intriguing, but I'm not sure how to cross the final gap to workability. Or, should I dump it and go with the original DR, Fort/Ref/Will idea?

Seriously, someone, post.

[Narf the Mouse]

In the end, we're doing heroic fantasy, not realistic fantasy. The original system stays. That being said, we still need to determine weapon, shield and armour details.

The basic weapon has To-Hit and Damage. But, how about initiative? Opposed Dex and/or Int rolls - Whichever is highest. Players then act in that order.

The base weapon is then To-Hit +0, Damage 1d8.

Shields: Shields give a bonus to Reflex. They also have a Damage Capacity and may be sacrificed to absorb incoming damage.

Armour, as said previously, increases DR and lowers Reflex - By half of its DR bonus seems good.

Now, we have a good basis. Let's see where this takes us if we compile it...

[Werekoala]

I like the dwarves. I think in most games they are underutilized. I wanted to do a D&D game once where dwarves were the dominant race in the setting, in fact.

I also like the concept of "make it up as you go" magic instead of the set spell lists. Maybe set it up so that with each time you use the spell, you get a bit better at it (either improve the effect or reduce the chance for failure, or both). That way players can "specialize" their lists as they go, knowing a few rarely used tricks that are unreliable but building up a go-to spell list of their own.

Other than that - I'm much more of a fluff guy than a crunch guy. Give me a hollar when it's setting-development time.

[Narf the Mouse]

I like the dwarves. I think in most games they are underutilized. I wanted to do a D&D game once where dwarves were the dominant race in the setting, in fact.

I also like the concept of "make it up as you go" magic instead of the set spell lists. Maybe set it up so that with each time you use the spell, you get a bit better at it (either improve the effect or reduce the chance for failure, or both). That way players can "specialize" their lists as they go, knowing a few rarely used tricks that are unreliable but building up a go-to spell list of their own.

Other than that - I'm much more of a fluff guy than a crunch guy. Give me a hollar when it's setting-development time.

A +1 to Success for any spell used often (GM's decision) should handle that. It's a good idea, thanks.

[Narf the Mouse]

We next consider attributes and attribute raises. Many games deal with the question by giving a raise or two every X level - This also slows attribute increase to an "acceptable" level.
A more even method, I think, is to take point-buy to its logical conclusion.

Attribute Proficiencies give two Attribute Points. Raising an Attribute that is below 5 costs 1 AP at each break-point (Where the actual penalty decreases - Scores 2 and 4). At and after a score of 5, the cost to increase an Attribute is the Attribute Score / 10 and rounded off.
That is, 1 AP from 5 to 14; 2 AP from 15 to 24 and 3 AP from 25 to 34. Of course, this will need to be tested in actual use, but it should allow both hyper-optimization and building up low scores without crippling your primary focus.

GM's should determine what level of Attribute raises they will allow in their games, as well as any possible maximum score.
One option is the "Breakpoint" rule. Over the Breakpoint, Attribute costs double. So, for example, with a Breakpoint of 18, an increase from 17 to 18 costs (18 / 2) round off = 2; increasing further from 18 to 19 costs (18 / 2) round off * 2 = 4.

...Aaand I think we've covered Attributes for today. Huh.