I was originally planning not to post the specific mechanics I'm working on because they are rougher then sand paper and I haven't fully committed to all of them. So here we go. Please forgive its rough, unbalanced, messy nature.
Broad Game Mechanics
Every character (bender or not) is defined by 5 stats:
The spirit/heart stats Focus and Spirit Power. These stats greatly impact bending powers, damage, range, area, things like that.
The physical stats Dexterity and Constitution. These stats greatly impact physical actions, such as dodging, aiming, health, strength.
The mental stat Knowledge. Knowledge is used to learn new forms or abilities. It is used in various skill trees I will detail further below.
players will be given a certain number of stat points with more at each level to distribute however they like.
There are 3 damage types:
Bludgeoning
Cutting/Piercing
Fire/Heat
These will play a large role in breaking down barriers or shields or destroying incoming missiles.
Players will take turns making their actions, much like in D&D, including such gems as readied actions. In addition, players may start an action on one turn, and finish it on another.
Partial values will be rounded down.
Attacking Mechanics
This is the portion of my mechanics I have been most afraid to post because it's the least complete portion and it breaks the mold harder then the rest of my mechanics. As I've already stated this has been play tested as being massively imbalanced, it will probably be massively changed before the final version.
Each character has an attack value and a defense value, for fire benders Dexterity is used for both. Lets assume Zuko, with 20 attack, uses fire strike against someone with 10 defense. We then roll a d12 and consult the below table seeing that since Zuko 10 more attack then they have defense we must roll higher then 3 to hit.
attack-defense.......must roll higher then
25 or more.............1
16 or more.............2
9 or more...............3
4 or more...............4
0 or more...............5
defense-attack
1 or more...............6
4 or more...............7
9 or more...............8
16 or more.............9
25 or more.............10
36 or more.............11
We use this table for all attacks but don't always use d12s for all attacks. Most fire attacks use d12s, most water attacks use d10s, very difficult attacks such as chi blocking strikes might use d4s.
I'm using this system that I'm sure many will have a problem with because I'm using free stat placement and I don't want min-maxing with hitting or dodging to ruin the game. In addition, the use of linear and quadratic mechanics makes "perfect" stat placements impossible.
You might worry this system will be too complicated or take too long but I assure you it was really easy and fast when play testing. Horribly imbalanced, but easy and fast.
Firebender Rules & Skill/Bending Form Tree
I'm only posting the fire tree for now because it is much simpler then the water one. Fire bending is moderately direct while water bending is much more flexible, which makes it more complicated.
All the numbers you see here (like a 5 or a .2) are really placeholders till I can fully balance the game out.
Firebenders get 4 actions per turn, can move 6+.1xDex squares every turn, spread however they like over their turn, have attack equal to Dex, and health equal to 5xCon
In the below section F stands for the Focus stat, P for Spirit Power, C for Constitution, D for Dexterity and K for Knowledge. .2F means .2 multiplied by your character's Focus.
Fire Form/Skill Tree
Fire Strike: Prerequisites-firebender, 1F 5P. Cost- 3K
Takes 1 action. Range=5+.2F. Damage=5+.5P fire damage
Fire Stream: Prerequisites-Fire Strike. Cost- 3K
Takes 2 actions. Range=5+.2F. Damage=5+P fire damage
Hits all squares along attack path.
Fire Knives: Prerequisites-Fire Strike, 5F. Cost-2K
Takes 2 actions.
Creates one or two standard melee weapons that only do fire damage, persists for free as long as no new fire bending forms are used (exception: Breath of Fire actions) [I will address how weapon attacks work later]
Fire Whips: Prerequisites-Fire Knives, Fire Stream. Cost-1K.
Takes 2 actions.
Creates one or two standard whip class weapons that only do fire damage, persists for free as long as no new fire bending forms are used (exception: Breath of Fire actions)
Flame Floor: Prerequisites-Fire Strike. Cost-3K
Takes 2 actions. Range=.2F radius arc (any size). Damage=.5P fire damage to feet. [Not going to go into plans for individual limb damage right now]
Breath of Fire: Prerequisites-Fire Strike, 5C, 5F, 10P. Cost- 8K
Player may make one additional action per turn so long as it is used for a fire bending form. This action is still available while immobilized.
Explosive Fire: Prerequisites-Breath of Fire, 10F. Cost- 5K
For every fire damage a fire bending form deals, you may add .2 bludgeoning damage.
Very Explosive Fire: Prerequisites-Explosive Fire, 15F. Cost- 15K
Reduce fire damage dealt by any fire bending form by up to half of total, for each point of fire damage removed add 2 bludgeoning damage.
Fire Flight: Prerequisites-5F, 10P. Cost- 3K
Takes 2 actions.
Push self .2FP.
Lightning: Prerequisites- 40F. Cost- 25K
Takes 5 actions. Range=50. Damage=20+3P fire damage.
Redirect/Absorb Fire: Prerequisites- 3F. Cost-1K
Takes 1 action. Range=0 (same square).
Reduce fire damage from one attack by .5P.
Redirect Lightning: Prerequisites- Redirect/Absorb Fire, 10F. Cost- 3K
Takes 4 actions. Range=0 (same square).
Reduce fire damage from any number of lightning attacks by 3P. Immediately perform a lightning form for no actions that does 3P damage.
There is a lot more I'm working on but everything is a work in progress. This is a taste at least. Let me know if you like the flavor and would be interested in reading the whole thing once its further along.
