help me with my home brew RPG

[2733]

I'm currently working on my own pen and paper RPG and I've run into a bit of a snag. my system uses "Titles" in place of feats or perks or such things to give unique abilities.

and I've run out of ideas, so I beseech the escapists for your help, no idea is too strong, too weak, too silly, too stupid, too weird, or wrong in any way at all.

titles are given every other level, and are as such

Ambidextrous,
allows the character to use a weapon in each hand

pyromancer
grants an area of effect fire spell

etc,etc...

so a little about the game,
it still has no name
all time periods are represented
the main idea is balance, I want there to be no wrong choices in character development.

any other questions please ask, thanks for all the help!

more info,
the game is heavly combat based,most of the RP elements are done by players rather then skills, for example, if you want to steal the guards keys you would have the lady wizard RP by speaking her distraction of the guard then the thief would roll a check to take the keys

the game centers around a contested 2 6-sided roll. for example if you attack an orc with your claymore you would roll 2 6-sides add your strength and melee weapon skill against the orcs 2 6-sides plus his speed and defense skill. if he wins you miss, if you win you deal a flat damage based on the weapon.

 

[crudus]

Is this game going to be more battle heavy or more RP heavy?

 

[theonlyblaze2]

Robomancer-The ability to revive destoyed enemy robots.

I can't think of any right now, but I will definitely EDIT in a bunch more. This is a really sweet idea!

 

[ultrachicken]

I think you'd get better answers if you gave some specific guidelines.

 

[zen5887]

Hooboy.. I think you're biting off more than you can chew here man.

It might be a better idea to make a homebrew d20 or GURPS system. The core mechanics are already there and you're able to change the more fluffy stuff.

Otherwise you'll be doing something it takes a whole team of people years to do.

 

[Ellen of Kitten]

It might help if you posted some of your solid ideas. We can critique them, and give feedback on what works, what doesn't, and what you can do to change/add/remove/enhance.

Dislocated/Relocated Vital Organ; Your heart, a nerve cluster, liver, whatever- it's not where it should be, or it isn't there at all. Attacks to Vital Locations deal Less/Reduced/Negligible/No Bonus damage.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Ambidextrous,
allows the character to use a weapon in each hand

That's not the same as being ambidextrous. Ambidextrous would mean they could use a weapon as well no matter which hand it was in if[/if] they'd trained using that weapon equally with both hands.

You don't have to be ambidextrous to use a weapon in each hand, the same way you don't have to be ambidextrous to use a sword in one hand and a shield in the other (or to use the shield as a weapon in those circumstances...round, flat manouveruable shield (like the Rohan used in LotR) can pack quite a punch when you whack someone with the edge, though it's best using them that way only to get them off-balance and vulnerable to the weapon in your other hand). Or using a sword and dagger, than was quite popular a few centuries back.

Additionally...using a weapon in both hands is very difficult unless at least one of them is pretty short and so they don't get in each others ways.

Unless you are talking about using pistols in each hand...there's a reason militaries avoid this. Well, excepting, of course, old single shot muzzle loaders.

 

[Taldeer]

The Monomaniac - grants a spell or action which the character has to perform a number of times in each encounter.

The Silver Tongue - makes the character able to perform and persuade

Hmm... I can probably come up with more, but I'm not sure I understand the mechanics of gameplay you're proposing. Are these titles the only quantifier of skill/ability in your game, or do they come as little extras? How much do you want them to spice up the gameplay? Are they more like utility powers/perks or can they seriously impact the way a character has to play (limiting / enabling at the same time)?

 

[JWW]

I don't know if this fits into your setting, but I would always like an RPG set in the future of a fantasy world. So we've got our modern culture mixed in with magic, elves, dwarves, trolls, and goblins alongside plasma rifles, genetic engineering, spaceflight, etc.

But as for titles

Steel Trap - Skills never decrease

Cool Head - No psychological/intellectual damage

Sucker Punch - A single instakill sneak punch per day

Sense of Direction - This character can always find cardinal directions, even if underground

 

[Booze Zombie]

Psychopath: Innate ability with speech, lacking in ability to understand other's motives (empathy).

Necromancer: Gains access to spells pertaining to the manipulation of life.

Undead: Can't be poisoned, diseased or mind-controlled, has high endurance and strength, low perception and agility, can be confused easily due to low perception.

Deranged (insane): Ignores any mind, rhetoric (word) and perceptional effects/attacks, both positive and negative, all speech checks have a random chance of being either + or - 2, depending on coin flip/dice roll.

Charismatic: Fights with words instead of strength or agility, suffers physical penalties in exchange for ability to confuse, calm or scare opponents via skilful use of wordplay and intelligence.

Come prepared!: Character keeps a dagger hidden on their person for emergencies; this attack is always a sneak attack due to the hidden nature of the weapon.

Strong feet: Character can move at normal speed even whilst carrying excessive loads or wearing extremely heavy armour.

Ghoul hunger: The character has taken on some of the qualities of a ghoul and can drain energy from the dead to heal every 2 minutes.

 

[Keith Reedy]

Kinda need more info on the game itself to be truly helpful like what the basic mechanics are.

Cyborg Doesn't need sleep strength bonus maybe built in gadgets or weapons, poison and disease immunity

 

[Toriver]

Parasitic = feeds off the resources or energy of others to the point of dependency, but in return gains a considerable ability to heal or withstand attack, or a considerable strength boost from it.

 

[2733]

Hooboy.. I think you're biting off more than you can chew here man.

It might be a better idea to make a homebrew d20 or GURPS system. The core mechanics are already there and you're able to change the more fluffy stuff.

Otherwise you'll be doing something it takes a whole team of people years to do.

this has actually been easier than I thought it would be, once I got the basic system in place the rest kind of fell together.

The Monomaniac - grants a spell or action which the character has to perform a number of times in each encounter.

The Silver Tongue - makes the character able to perform and persuade

Hmm... I can probably come up with more, but I'm not sure I understand the mechanics of gameplay you're proposing. Are these titles the only quantifier of skill/ability in your game, or do they come as little extras? How much do you want them to spice up the gameplay? Are they more like utility powers/perks or can they seriously impact the way a character has to play (limiting / enabling at the same time)?

titles define the character, without classes what makes someone a duel machine gun wielding neo wanabe or a giant mech piloting high school student (I have mech rules)is decided by your titles.

It might help if you posted some of your solid ideas. We can critique them, and give feedback on what works, what doesn't, and what you can do to change/add/remove/enhance.

Dislocated/Relocated Vital Organ; Your heart, a nerve cluster, liver, whatever- it's not where it should be, or it isn't there at all. Attacks to Vital Locations deal Less/Reduced/Negligible/No Bonus damage.

some of my working ideas
lighter quicker weapons let you use 3 dice and take only the highest 2 but deal much lss damage

no money system exists, because I've never heard the tale of mighty barbarian grosh, who counted up his coins, went to the store, and traded in his ax for a slightly stronger one.

magic is an attack form, it can be used without limit and is balanced as such.

health and damage are small, the strongest weapon deals only 4 damage but most foes have 6 or less hit points

stuff I'm dancing with
armor, should it increase defense so you are hit less or boost health?

more powerful magic, my first thought for more powerful spells was it would take several turns to cast them but, would it be better to have a different cost?

that's all I can think of, thank you all for your ideas they are very good and will be very useful.

 

[SpartainHawk]

Counter Strike-When enemy deals more than X amount of damage to you, (X being a percent of your health) automaticlly attack the enemy for double the actual number of damage delt to you.

Troll-automaticlly steal X % of every character in the battle, excluding you, and gives the total of HP to a random player. This happens every turn. X is a number of your choosing.

Schutenfroide (or however it's spelled)- every time an ally is killed, increase damage output by X amount (X being a number of your choosing)

Reflection - All items used on an ally are cloned and given to you or vica verca.

Exhaust- if a battle lasts 10 turns or more, all enemies are put to sleep, which they wake up from if they roll a certain number. However, your attacks do half as much damage for the remainder of the battle

 

[darth.pixie]

stuff I'm dancing with
armor, should it increase defense so you are hit less or boost health?

more powerful magic, my first thought for more powerful spells was it would take several turns to cast them but, would it be better to have a different cost?

My 2 cents. Hit less. Unless an armour is enchanted to boost health, the idea is being hit less.

Different cost...? In mana? If you have the mana system. If not, the several turns thing works.

Blind Fighting - reduce the penalty to fighting with impaired vision.

Die Hard - re-roll death chance

Good Reputation/Bad Reputation - adds bonus to any dialogue options.

Light Sleeper - counted as awake when asleep

Sniper - no penalty for range fighting at large or extremely large distances

Lucky - gets a small bonus to all skills.

 

[Omikron009]

Psychopath: Innate ability with speech, lacking in ability to understand other's motives (empathy).

Wouldn't that be sociopath?

Schutenfroide (or however it's spelled)- every time an ally is killed, increase damage output by X amount (X being a number of your choosing)

Schadenfreude.

OT:

Meathead: Takes no additional damage from attacks to the head, loses some points in intelligence.

Predator: Partial night vision, capable of detecting biological enemies in complete darkness.

Focused: Takes 1/4 effect from attacks that daze or stun.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Perceptionist - Your ability to perceive reality flawlessly has lead to the ability to change reality based on your perception. Gain the ability to roll a D20 dice once per turn: on a roll of 1, you may remove any object from existence (Baring any restrictions you choose to apply); on a roll of 20, add any object into existence (Baring any restrictions you choose to apply). Ability can only be used X amount of times per encounter.

In addition, you can choose to roll a D20 die during conversations. On a roll of 1-4, you know the mind of one character in dialogue (Either totally, or on one subjuct matter: As in, where are you hiding my daughter, you sick fuck); on a roll of 20, you may implant an idea into one characters mind (baring restrictions you choose to apply).

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

The problem with this idea is think how many "titles" a higher level character would have. But whatever, my idea would be Non-Euclidean, which confuses enemies that look at you.

 

[Ghengis John]

Die Hard!: YIPPIYO KAYE!
If you enter combat with no shoes you gain a bonus to defense against guns. You receive double the bonus in skyscrapers, airports or on top of F-14's. If you find yourself in a situation where all the above conditions exit, God help your opponent. Also, awesome.

Unsportsman like conduct: You learned to fight in the streets not some frilly gymnasium.
Enables melle/unarmed called shots to the groin or a bonus chance to knockdown on shots to the groin. Bonus chance to crit knocked down foes.

Trepanation: Let science remove unsightly and troublesome cluttered thoughts with a hole in the head! Ah the wonders of modern medicine!
Minus two to intellect, cannot be interrupted while casting spells.

Narcissus: Truly a legend in his own mind:
You're self-centered and delusional. Believing everything you do to be pure gold you gain a bonus to rolls against moral penalties in combat but suffer a penalty to rolls in conversation.

Tentacle Rape: AHHHHH NOOOO!!! NOOOOO!
All tentacled sea creatures, ancient summonings or machines that you control gain plus 5 to their rolls for two rounds. Don't ask.

Deadpan humor: Despite your ghoulish appearance you still manage to somehow be charming at cocktail parties.
Characters with a lower charisma are relived of the penalties they suffer in humorous speech rolls. They still gain no bonuses however.

Heavy Metal Queen/King: You're the best when it comes to tuning your mech and everyone knows it.
For each level of Heavy Metal Queen/King you take you gain two action points in combat while driving your mech.

Jinxed: It seems like nothing ever seems to go your way. Then again, your bad luck must be contagious.
Enemies suffer the same luck penalties that you do, -2. For characters with 4 luck or less.

Hammerspace: Where do you keep those wonderful toys?
Extra storage space exists in your own personal pocket dimension, allowing you to keep X amount of additional goods handy that you can draw at a moment's notice. Just be sure to dust it out every now and then.

BULLY!: What a heel you are, pushing your weight around! And yet you seem pretty happy about that.
You gain a bonus to attack vs all creatures smaller than a man.

The bigger they are: It's not the size that counts!
You gain an attack bonus against all creatures larger than YOU are.

Iron Maiden: For female characters.
Your charisma bonus is added to your defense. Love hurts.

Rickiku Rolled: Long ago an elf named Rickiku sang a merry tune. The tune was so catchy that everyone in the kingdom from cobbler to king who heard it never wanted to give it up and found it hard to concentrate on their appointed tasks. And so, as commerce in the kingdom began to grind to a halt, the King ordered Rickiku locked in the lowest cell of the highest tower in the land. Which did not make a lot of sense as the tower's lowest cell was on the ground floor. To be fair, he couldn't get that tune out of his head alright? Enterprising wizards have discovered how to summon this elf to the battlefield for a few minutes at a time. He's so happy to be seen again that he just has to tell you how he's feeling! Through song.
For one turn there is a 20% chance that enemy rolls just won't happen. At all.

Last Action Hero: Things work differently in the movies!
If you end a turn with an empty gun you can reload for free at the start of your next turn provided you are still on your feet.

"T" Time.
Your opponent has 30 seconds to give his opinion on a topic of your choosing without using the letter T in 6 words or more. If he fails he takes X amount of damage.

 

[iLikeHippos]

Gambler; You get to use one additional dice for certain actions.

Blood-stone; Daily power. You get to use a decisive blast that has the power of 3x your own health to inflict damage upon your foe.
But, it is powered by your own life points. Roll a dice for how much % of your health it harms from use.
It can never be less than 10% and never above 60%.
(Whether it is based on the maximum health or based on the health drained from you is debatable)