4.3.5E goal: Whatever rules we come up with should be modular, and easily hook in to other rule systems.

No daily abilities other than sleep.  Spells and abilities are either at-will, encounter, or take X time to do.  All abilities can be buffed by Action Points.

Vigor  Sanity  Poise

Attack = 1d10+AttackStat

attacks will deal damage equal to your applicable stat (+bonuses), usually Strength. ????You can spend points of damage before doing the attack to apply nifty effects. Spend 3 damage points to make the attack a stunning attack. Or 2 points of accuracy to make it a flurry attack.

Stats, Skills, Talents, Powers.  Action points.
Tie everything to a stat, and you can use an action point for anything.
Skills are increased using Talents.

Give you 1 AP after a rest, and increment your AP by one after every time your earn XP.  So it's like adrenaline, or inspiration.

Action Points can:
 * Boost 1 stat by 5 for 1 round
 * Give you a second wind as a minor action (heal all non-wound damage)
 * Give you an extra action
 * Only be spent on your turn, and never during surprise
 * Only be spent once per round
 * Use an ability you've already spent

[Cal] Start level 1 with 4 hit dice.
[Cal] When multi-classing, no armor or weapon proficiencies are gained beyond level 1 class, except by feats.
[Cal] When multi-classing, strong saves add 1/2 per level, weak saves 1/3 per level.  A fighter-ranger mix or a fighter-ranger-barbarian mix get a +11 fort at level 18, just as any of the single classes.
[Cal] Divine spell casters may mix divine spell casting classes, and Arcane spell casters may mix arcane spell casting classes.  Otherwise a characters taking a level of a new spell casting class must spend a feat on basic aptitude, or take level c of the spell casting class.  Paladins and rangers of sufficient level are considered to have base proficiency for divine spell casting.  Bards, casting only cantrips at level 1, are exempt from this rule as an added class.
[Cal] Standard generic multi class restrictions are obsoleted.  Class specific rules still apply.

Use Action Points to do Dailies.  You get another AP each encounter.  Done.
Give the Cleric and Paladin back some healing abilities.

Getting a balance between characters with strictly at will powers and characters that lean heavily on daily powers isn't easy. Wizards and clerics needs powers that aren't just fighter powers with different flavor applied.

The ability matrix points out that a good deal of non-combat encounters could be dealt with in a less dissimilar way. Diplomacy 'attack' to persuade, a wit check to see through the persuasion, a will check to resist a persuasive argument.

Generally, the Physical column is for player vs. enemy (who wants to kill you), the mental column for player vs. terrain (inanimate puzzles, traps, etc), and the social column for player vs. npc. With of course a bit of crossover here and there.

Str = Fighter, Dex = Rogue, Sta = Monk, 

Gen = Wizard, Focus = Elementalist, Awa = Cleric, 

Cha = Paladin, Wil = Warlock, Wit = Bard.

Stamina or Wit = Water, Willpower or Awareness = Air, Genius or Dexterity = Fire, Charisma = Spirit, Focus or Strength = Earth.

|| Strength || Genius || Charisma ||
|| Stamina || Focus || Willpower ||
|| Dexterity || Awareness || Wit ||


Level 1:  8 Talents, 4 Powers
 * 1 new power every even level.
 * 1 new talent every odd level.
 * Increase a row or column by 1 every 3rd level.


Skills are increased using Talents. First Talent spent in a skill gives +4. Each subsequent one gives an additional +2. The +4 for the initial investment represents the 'aha' of proper training.

(Fighter) Improved Flanking: When you are flanking an opponent, your melee attacks against that target have an additional +2 to hit and deal an additional +2 damage.
(Fighter) Opportunist: When you gain an attack of opportunity against an opponent, you may take a five foot step if you hit.
(Fighter) Improved Opportunist: When you gain an attack of opportunity against an opponent, you can use an at-will power instead of a basic attack.
(Fighter) Covering Fire: As a standard action, choose a square on you can reach with your weapon.  Before your next turn, whenever an opponent moves into or out of that square, you get an attack of opportunity against them.
(Fighter) Improved Reach: While you wield a reach weapon, you threaten all the squares you can reach with that weapon.  (aoes, flanking)-----more-----
(Any, Basic ability) Counter Flanking: When you are flanked, you may choose one flanker.  That opponent gets no bonus for flanking.  All other flankers gain an additional +3 flanking bonus. 
(Any, Basic ability) Attack of Opportunity: You spend a future action to take one now.  -----more-----
(Monk) Awareness AC bonus for some classes or with a feat.
Genius based knowledge check against diplomacy based on verifiable fact.

The rows of Power, Agility, and Stability are essentially your Attack, Defense, and Health.  Or so I thought at first. After some thinking, I realized that some attacks are Power vs Agility, and some are Agility vs. Power, and so forth. Wrestling is Power vs Power. Agility is applicable to some attacks based of finesse rather than powering through. Archery is Agility vs. Agility. You start with 1-6 stuck in the rows and columns, which adds up in the middle. Consider your attack bonus never increases, nor do your defenses or health, except by stat increases. To do something, you roll a d10 and add the score you want. So attacking someone, you roll d10+attack vs the target's active (d10+def) or passive (3+def) defense. Allowing for both defenses... passive should probably be 3+def... anyhow... so that gets to another system. You have three actions per turn.  Minor, Move, and Standard (stolen from 4e). You can spend a minor or greater action to actively defend against an attack type (Body, Mind or Social). Or you can use that action for other purposes. If you hit (and here's the fun part), you subtract damage from a health equal to 4 x their Stability stat (The one relevant to the attack you're doing). If that health goes below 0, they are defeated. At the end of the encounter, heal up to your Stability. Any damage remaining are heavy wounds that require medical attention and cannot be healed by a rest.  

So both per encounter and long term HP for each of 3 attack types. So, if you had a stamina of 9, you could take 9 physical hit before being seriously hurt. Your three health meters based on body, mind and social... are Vigor  Sanity  Poise.  If you are damaged enough physically, you may fall unconscious.  Mentally, you might go insane.  Socially you might get really angry and flustered or something."
Calin says, "Hmm.  I think if you are damaged enough mentally you fall asleep."
Calin says, "And if you are damaged enough socially you are open to suggestion."
This opens up new styles of 'combat'.  Social and mental 'battle'. I would say that in any of the three cases, what happens to you depends on the goal of the attacker. Physically, they might want to kill you, tie you up, hold you down, throw you over a rail, etc. So now there's no difference between lethal and non-lethal damage until you get them to 0. At which point they're in your power.

Temp hp = 2xsta, Heavy wounds = 2xsta.

Wizard might be good at mental healing, bard at social.

So.  Wounds should detract from your abilities in the wounded area."
A warm rain lightly patters in a humid breath of air.
Cal puzzles, "effect from less damage that is needed to drop you?"
Calin says, "I would think so, yeah.  Not what we're used to from physical damage, but when considering mental/social damage... you can't just shrug that off."
says Cal, "realism is good, as long as the mechanic isn't too messy."
Calin nods.
Tamra nods, "A -2 penalty with power and agility in those stats?"

The 3x3 grid allows for some good generalization and simplicity. You can distribute 60 points if you want flexibility, max 12 per stat. Or you can spend 21 points in the rows and columns (max 6). This gives you a slightly higher average (1/3 a point).

Socially attractive?  Charisma.  Physically?  Strength.  Intellectually?  Intelligence.

What about weapons and armor? Weapons instead have traits. oh.  Armor. Well, let's take care of weapons first. Say you use a maul.  If you make a wound with it, it can stun. A whip that wounds might trip. When you wound with a blade, extra damage wraps. Selected weapons adding a parry bonus to defense makes sense if you have the right skill.

Small melee weapons use Dex vs Dex.  Medium use Dex vs Str.  Medium use Str vs Dex.  Heavy use Str vs Str. So a dagger and shortsword are great if your dex is high. For blades: Dagger, Short, Long, Bastard/Claymore. So blades trample.  Hammers stun.  Maces break bones?  Whips trip. Some weapons offer bonuses to different defenses when you are actively defending. The defenders weapon matters in a real fight. A heavy weapon might be too slow to intercept a light, and too heavy to be easily deflected with a light. Heavy weapons offer some strength defense.  Lighter ones offer dex defense. So we're talking 6 defense ratings here, vs. power or agility for each of 3 types. 

Not sure what to do with armor.  Tempted to make it damage reduction.

The odds in DE of the underdog winning is 1 in 36.  Here it is 1 in 25. And a 13 vs 3 is an impossible task.  Which is fine. A mental retard should not have a chance to defeat a grandmaster in chess. Nor a gimp against a swordsmaster. Making it important for a character to choose how they handle an encounter well. Hm.  The stats can also allow a player to say 'I bargain with the shopkeep. 6 numbers per NPC? Is that it? We have a gaming system in 6 numbers... discounting special abilities and extra gear. Add in equipment and learned abilities and we can rock and roll. Make every class = a set of learned abilities... and multiclassing is a cinch. These are the abilities that = a wizard.  Feel free to swap one out for that backstabbing ability. Abilities have a base stat requirement. So yeah, if you have a high enough Genius, you can get wizard abilities.

Carrying capacity = 10*Str in lbs. Max lift = 20*Str in lbs. Int * 20 = IQ. Range of 60-220 to start. Action points.  1 when you wake up.  1 more each time you gain xp.  Usable to spend on doing mighty feats.

D10, half the complexity of D20, twice the options.

Toss active defense - Calin says, "It slows things down, and it warps chance." Get that +5 from armor and other defenses?  d20 has a +10 to AC as default.  Maybe the +5 needs no explanation.

Tamra purrs, "Something new for STG to publish. Needs some good art." Tamra wonders if she can get Keetsie to do some.

Akili rumbles lightly, "Basically, I just want to be able to add points from different powers on the fly for an effect, and have it alert me if I break my limit restrictions or this new ratio thing.  An added bonus would be having it internally calculate and total ranges and areas and the like from the selected powers, although I have to figure out how I want to select which sub-power I'm using."

Tamra purrs, "So Eric... just to give you an idea of the stats..."
Tamra purrs, "You have a 3x3 grid."
Tamra purrs, "Along the top is Body, Mental, and Social."
Tamra purrs, "Along the side is Power, Agility, and Stamina."
Tamra purrs, "So suddenly, we now have a combat system for not just physical combat..."
says Cal, "fighter vs. bard, the fighter tries to beat down the bard, while the bard attempts to befuddle the fighter."
Eric says, "Interesting."
Eric says, "Or the bard tries to rally the bystanders to come to his aid."
Tamra purrs, "Totally."
Tamra purrs, "Or the rogue tries to outwit the fighter in a maze"
says Cal, "Right.  defeating an opponent by other than physical means becomes part of the system, rather than something tacked on like some 3e spells."
Tamra nods.

says Cal, "and as I recall you were thinking armor as damage reduction."
Tamra purrs, "Right, maybe armor can serve a very basic damage reduction... but in general I dislike damage reduction as handled in dnd."
Tamra purrs, "DR 5 in the Cauldron group essentially means that only Eric can damage the target."
Tamra purrs, "Everyone else can try, but is very unlikely to do any damage."
Tamra purrs, "However, if leather was DR 1 against physical attacks..."
Eric asks, "Then Kazmojen would have had DR4 against ours being in full plate?"
Tamra purrs, "Then you can still damage him.  The lowest damage output possible is 3.  Max 11 plus bonuses."
Eric says, "Yes, but it would take forever."
Tamra purrs, "The only character that is standard 3e power level is Kristof.  And he's using the book of nine swords, which is essentially 4e."
Tamra purrs, "So he's even overpowered by 3e standards."
Eric nods.
says Cal, "And he still nearly got clobbered."

says Cal, "One thing I'm supporting for D10 is a larger number of narrower focus classes, with sane class mixing.  So Calico's cleric might translate to a mix of healer + a bit of summoner + a dabbling of powers from complimentary classes."

Calin says, "For d10, it might be useful to have a fixed number for HP.  And as conditions change, characters get easier or harder to damage."

Tamra purrs, "Yeah, there will be skills, stats, powers, feats, and equipment."
Tamra purrs, "So stats are the 9."
says Cal, "one thing I'd like to avoid is random single hit kills."
The gentle sprinkle patters lightly through a hushed breath of air.
"Random?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Skills are bonuses to said stats for specific types of actions."
says Cal, "Like Tillandor nearly got a couple times."
Calin nods.  "Same as 3e there, though they never put it quite like that."
says Cal, "Not sure how powers and feats would be different."
Calin says, "I don't expect they should be."
Calin says, "Though... this might work:  Feats are the building blocks of character classes."
says Cal, "perhaps powers would be something magic users get, where feats are more natural enhancements like fighters get."
Tamra purrs, "Powers are your specific abilities.  Spells and so forth."
Calin says, "Things like arcane ability, dual-wielding, etc."
Tamra purrs, "Feats are modifiers."
says Cal, "I was thinking of classes as sets of feats/powers related by prerequisites."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah, exactly Cal."
Tamra purrs, "So a character could dual class just by substituting some feats and powers."
Calin says, "Sure, I suppose I meant more like:  A power is a specific action you can take.  A feat is an innate ability or distinct modification of how the rules apply to you."
says Cal, "building from the feat trees of multiple classes."
Tamra purrs, "There will probably be feats that certain powers are contingent on.  Like spellcasting on basic wizardly training."
Tamra purrs, "Exactly, Calin."
Calin says, "Though 'feat' is a bad word for it, in that case.  As a feat is literally an event displaying prowess."
Tamra purrs, "Training, perhaps."
says Cal, "so you start with N feats or powers, and each level add one feat or power you have the prerequisites for."
Tamra purrs, "Stats -> Skills -> Training -> Powers."
Eric waves goodbye for the evening.
"Where the -> means?" asks Calin.
says Cal, "goodnight."
Calin says, "Later.  Good to see you, by the way."
Eric says, "Heh you too."
Eric has disconnected.
Tamra purrs, "Intelligence is needed for the skill Arcana, which you need training in to learn training in Basic Wizardry, which you need to learn Tillian's Twist."
Calin grimaces.  "Training used twice there, not so great."
Cal puzzles, "Tillians twist being a fairly basic spell?"
Tamra hrms.
Calin says, "Ability?  Again not so good."
Tamra purrs, "Intelligence is needed for the skill Arcana, which you need to learn training in Basic Wizardry, which you need to learn the power Tillian's Twist."
Tamra purrs, "Err... genius, not int."
Calin says, "Heh."
"Talent?" asks Calin.
says Cal, "a given training could have other training as foundation.  a power could have training and other powers as foundation."
"Stats, skills, talents, powers?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "So... an high Gen is not required to learn Arcana, bu some Arcana is required for Wizardry, and Wizardry is required for Wizard Powers."
Tamra purrs, "Talent is nice."
Calin says, "Sure, you could learn wizardry with a low genius level.  If you only wanted to cantrip."
Calin says, "Er... not 'learn' wizardry.  'Gain' or 'Achieve' perhaps."
says Cal, "and some powers would have stat requirements, or otherwise depend on a stat for effect."
Tamra purrs, "But you also need at least a point in Arcane Knowledge to even learn basic Wizardry."
Calin says, "It builds a nice little ladder of possibility for improvement."
Tamra purrs, "Indeed.  And since stats will increase with levels..."
Calin says, "You need at least one step at each level of the ladder, but can then improve whichever fits best overall."
Tamra purrs, "We don't need to specify what level you have to be to learn a specific power."
says Cal, "option of more rapid advance on a narrow focus, or slower advance with greater variety."
Calin nods.  "It's all about meeting the requirements in stat, skill, talent, and power."
A placid calm settles quietly in a light rain.
Calin says, "'level' is just an arbitrary designation of how many chances to upgrade you've had."
Tamra purrs, "Oh, and Action Points."
Calin says, "Ah, yeah."
Tamra purrs, "Spend an action point to boost any one skill by 5 points until your next turn."
says Cal, "And since 'taking a level' in a new class doesn't get you a whole set of goodies like in 3e, multi-classing is naturally sane."
Tamra purrs, "Yep."
Tamra purrs, "Goodies are talents or powers."
Cal goes Away From Keyboard. (AFK)
Calin says, "And a GM could at his discretion only allow new abilities that it would have made sense to learn, thus giving us a much better 7e."
Calin says, "Though really, the prereqs already keep pretty good sense."
Tamra nods.
Calin says, "If you're smart enough you can figure out how Arcana works.  Which leads to your discovery of wizardry.  If you like to think of it that way."
Tamra purrs, "Just make sure the player can justify what they learn... if you suddenly add max skill points to a skill you previously had none in, for example."
Calin says, "Right, that would be the GM discretion part."
Tamra purrs, "Like stealth."
Tamra nods.
Tamra purrs, "I'd like players to be able to gradually expand their skill base too."
Calin says, "Oh, easy:  Just add an optional rule that you have to have earned the requirements at earlier levels."
Tamra purrs, "SOmething 3e misses."
Calin says, "I agree."
Tamra purrs, "Well, there's no prereqs for skills."
Tamra purrrts, "What would a stealth prereq be?"
Calin says, "Huh.  Good point."
Tamra purrs, "Maybe you can only spend 2 points in a given skill per level."
Tamra purrs, "Oh, I was thinking: if you've maxxed out a skill, it shoul auto-level with you."
Tamra purrs, "Or somesuch."
Calin says, "That would fix the 3e problem."
Calin says, "If you didn't increase your maxed-out skills, they essentially degraded by not keeping up."
Calin says, "But if you did keep them up, you never had points to put into new skills."
Tamra purrs, "Or maybe you can spend one of your points to auto-level your maxxed..."
Tamra purrs, "gah.  accounting nightmare."
Calin says, "That would be cool."
Calin says, "Yeah, ick."
Calin says, "Not a major consideration, but it would be really nice if, at any point, you could recalculate your character."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah."
Tamra purrs, "Totally."
Calin says, "There have been several times where we noticed an apparent error on a character sheet."
Calin says, "And rarely could we resolve it in a sane way."
says Cal, "calculate if the character totals made sense without having to know how they got there."
says Cal, "Which is a problem if skill points/level depend on a changing stat."
Calin says, "The answer is to minimize accumulative things."
Calin says, "For example, if your current number of action points is always calculated from your current stats."
Calin says, "Rather than being your 1st lvl number + 2nd lvl number, etc."
Tamra purrs, "Action points have nothing to do with level."
Tamra purrs, "You have one after an extended rest."
Calin says, "Solves that problem."
Tamra purrs, "You get another after each encounter.  And reset to one after an extended rest."
Tamra purrs, "They are like adrenaline."
The quiet stillness falls silently through a steady sprinkle.
Tamra purrs, "4e gives you one every two encounters."
Tamra purrs, "But I intend to use them for more things."
Tamra purrs, "Like healing.  Or getting an extra use of a nifty ability.  Etc."
Calin nods.
says Cal, "pretty much any talent or power where at will would be disruptive, but daily not often enough."
Tamra purrs, "Yep."
A gentle calm quietly settles through a steady sprinkle.
A light rain showers through a humid breath of air.
Cal considers, "a healer might need knowledge(religion)->divine touch as well as healing skill as foundation for lesser healing power."
says Cal, "from there they could take powers for progressively greater potency and variety of healing.  Such as healing will and focus damage, or removing curses."
Tamra nods.
Tamra should to bed.
Tamra purrs, "Gnite."



Tamra purrs, "Here we go."
Calin says, "We already talked about at-will powers, encounter powers, and 'longer time to use' powers."
Calin says, "Spells with a longer casting time would just fit into the latter."
Tamra purrs, "There are three kinds of spells."
Tamra purrs, "At will and encounter ones, which are powers.  And the third kind are enchantments, that take x minutes to cast.  Those are learned from spellbooks along the way, and you can learn a new one each time you put a point into Arcana."
says Cal, "So enchantments would take skill points."
Tamra purrs, "The other thing about enchantments is that a quick-thinking wizard can fastcast them."
"So spell books would never contain at-will or encounter spells?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "To fastcast an enchantment, you spend an action point, and sometimes special ingredients specified by the spell."
A quiet breeze moves silently in a mild rain.
Calin says, "You simply gain those as powers, when you level."
Tamra purrs, "Right.  At will and encounter spells are more basic than enchantments, and thus more intuitive to a clever wizard."
"Ok.  You can only use enchantments you've learned?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Enchantments are complex recipes."
says Cal, "An at will or encounter spell in a spell book isn't much use to the character unless they have the background to gain that power."
"What's the difference between normal and fast-casting?" asks Calin.
says Cal, "Normal enchantment casting takes time."
Tamra purrs, "Fastcasting only applies to enchantments.  If you fastcast one, you can do it in combat."
Calin says, "Ok, sounds good.  By spending an action point."
Tamra purrs, "Different enchantments might take a bit more time than others, though."
Cal puzzles, "hm, might enchantments have talent or power prerequisites?"
Calin says, "I would expect so."
Tamra purrs, "Maybe."
Tamra purrs, "Some might not, though."
Calin nods.
says Cal, "Talent I think yes in many cases.."
Tamra purrs, "That's something we will have to figure out in developent."
Calin says, "Well, anybody could learn an enchantment by gaining a point of Arcana."
Tamra purrs, "Well basic Wizardry as a talent for sure."
Calin says, "That doesn't mean just anybody could actually cast it."
Tamra purrs, "Right."
Calin says, "Though you may find a few general-use cantrips out there."
Tamra increases the number of talents, realizing that several will be spent on class-needed talents.
Tamra purrs, "4 Talents to start."
Tamra purrs, "That should cover some good ground."


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## You last connected from 192.168.1.254 (192.168.1.254) on 16-Aug-08 at 08:41:16 PDT.
You have no new mail.
Courtyard
     The courtyard is the entryway to the castle, as well as a practice ground
     for training.
     The sky is not visible through the torrential downpour.
    
     To see exits, look exits.
 
You see here:
            Tamra (ACT)           Kenlow (ZZZ)             Moff (ZZZ)
           Shelly (N/A)              Cal (ZZZ)            Jiona (ZZZ)
            Calin (IDL)            Pearl (ZZZ)            Stack (ZZZ)
            Sessa (ZZZ)             Eric (ZZZ)            Sarai (ACT)
            Akili (ZZZ)              Paw (IC)
 
     pin                    ship                     dohnut
Paw wakes up.
Players online who you are watching for:
Calin             Shelly            
Done.
     bash shell             BashShell                boot
     orb_of_???             barbeque                 S'mores Kit
     fountain               Apple Pie                languages
     Bar                    A Connection             Wizard Hat
 
Tamra curtsies and waves.
Sarai says, "Hello Tamra."
Jiona looks over and also greets, "Good afternoon."
I don't understand that command.  Try say, pose, or help.
============================FIND==============================================
Name      |  Idle  |Status|            Location          |       Doing
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tamra      0s        ACT    Courtyard                      
Calin      4h27m11s  IDL    Courtyard                      
Shelly     34s       N/A    Courtyard                      Sac-a-tomatoes
Calin waves.  "Howdy."
Tamra purrrts, "Doing: Sac-a-tomatoes?"
Calin says, "Beats me.  I assume she's going to sacramento."
Tamra has been compiling d10 notes.
Calin says, "Sweet."
Tamra purrs, "Defining a better role for defenders is part of it.  Something we discussed the other day when I brought up the 4e kludge 'mark'"
Calin has been dinking around with the gameroom.  "I'm kind of regretting. asking Cal to do the server bit."
Tamra purrs, "Bummer."
Calin says, "Not that he's doing a bad job of it."
Calin says, "Just that... well, I'm sitting around thinking what extra features I can add to the client, because it's totally usable now."
Tamra purrs, "Wow."
Calin says, "Or you know.  Would be if the server worked."
Tamra purrrts, "This is bad?"
Tamra purrs, "Oh."
Calin says, "A big part of the reason I asked him to do it was to speed up the work."
Calin says, "Anyway, I'm done complaining for now."
"What did you come up with for the defender?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Yeah, that's bad.  I was wondering when you'd mentioned adding a font picker.  Seemed kinda like something for when you were nearing completion."
Tamra purrs, "(Fighter) Improved Flanking: When you are flanking an opponent, your melee attacks against that target have an additional +2 to hit and deal an additional +2 damage."
Tamra purrs, "(Fighter) Opportunist: When you gain an attack of opportunity against an opponent, you may take a five foot step if you hit."
Calin says, "Yeah... I expect a few changes as the server comes along, as well as a few once we start testing, but otherwise it's good to go."
Tamra purrs, "(Fighter) Improved Opportunist: When you gain an attack of opportunity against an opponent, you can use an at-will power instead of a basic attack."
Tamra purrs, "(Any, Basic ability) Counter Flanking: When you are flanked, you may choose one flanker.  That opponent gets no bonus for flanking.  All other flankers gain an additional +3 flanking bonus."
Tamra purrs, "Working on 'covering fire' that you'd mentioned."
Calin says, "Those look pretty nice so far."
"Though I have one question:  How does a basic attack differ from an 'at will' ability?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Basic attacks are simple.  Other powers you have may be more complex.  Like a whirlwind attack."
Calin says, "That's what I figured, but there's a reason I asked."
Tamra purrrts, "Yeah?"
Calin says, "As I understand it, at-will powers are at least partially meant to fix the balance between fighters and casters."
Tamra purrs, "Well, to some extent they fill a space neither had."
Tamra purrs, "Fighters had very few abilities that *did* stuff."
Calin says, "They had lots and lots of feats.  Many of which could kick in any time the right conditions presented."
Calin says, "Like cleave."
The light sprinkle showers through a soft breeze.
Tamra purrs, "Right, true.  But they were generally just upgrades to existing attacks."
"Anyway.  So what have you got for covering fire?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Working on it."
Calin says, "Ah, ok."
Tamra purrs, "(Fighter) Covering Fire: As a standard action, choose a square on you can reach with your weapon.  Before your next turn, whenever an opponent moves into or out of that square, you get an attack of opportunity against them."
Calin says, "That works."
Tamra purrs, "(Fighter) Improved Reach: While you weild a reach weapon, you threaten all the squares you can reach with that weapon."
"Isn't that the standard?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Nope."
Tamra purrs, "You only threaten adjacent squares."
Tamra purrs, "wield."
"Covering fire seems written with melee weapons in mind.  Same applies for ranged?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Yep."
Tamra purrs, "Mainly meant for ranged, really."
Calin nods.
Tamra purrs, "But works alright for melee, especially reach."
"'Threaten' means flanking and attacks of opportunity?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Correct."
Tamra purrs, "the flanking bit may be a problem.  I haven't fully run it through the Eric side of my brain yet."
"Which flanking bit?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Flanking with a reach weapon."
Calin says, "Well... honestly I think we might be able to 'fix' attacks of opportunity in some way."
Calin says, "I've never been particularly happy with them, as they happen outside of time."
Tamra purrrts, "How so?"
Tamra purrs, "Oh."
Tamra purrs, "Like having it take an action from your next turn."
Calin says, "With our cover fire, it makes sense.  You spend a standard action for it."
Calin says, "It's like holding your action, waiting for the right conditions."
Calin says, "Opportunity attacks do solve a problem caused by initiative and turns though."
Calin says, "Where an opponent who has already taken their turn is now 'safe'."
Tamra nods.
Tamra purrs, "Yeah, but aoes need to be taken when they are.  Delaying them is far less realistic."
Calin nods.
A peaceful breeze blows silently in a light rain.
Calin says, "One way to fix it all comes to mind, though it would be quite a break from DnD."
Tamra purrrts, "oh?"
Calin says, "Rather than each character taking their whole turn before moving on to the next player, split the round into phases.  Kind of like robo-rally."
Calin says, "So everybody positions themselves, then combat is resolved."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah, thought you might say that."
Calin says, "Yep.  And I'm not exactly advocating it."
Calin says, "I think it's prone to other problems."
Tamra nods.
Calin huhs.  "Awareness might have something to do with opportunity attacks."
Tamra nods, "To be sure."
Tamra purrs, "No daily abilities other than sleep.  Spells and abilities are either at-will, encounter, or take X time to do.  All abilities can be buffed by Action Points."
"Other than sleep?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "And by encounter I mean that a 5 minute rest recharges it."
Calin says, "Right."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah.  That was supposed to be funny."
Calin says, "That should be pretty cool - fairly low accounting."
Calin says, "Ah, yeah."
Tamra purrs, "I figure for wizards it is like delayed fireblast."
Tamra purrs, "You do all the spell prep but hold the actual casting action."
Calin nods.  "You can prepare them in a spare moment - any spare moment.  So long as you aren't distracted."
Tamra nods.
Tamra purrs, "For fighters and such, it's just a particularly strenuous manuever."
Tamra purrs, "maneuver"
Tamra purrs, "So you need a break before doing it again."
Tamra purrs, "Hm."
Tamra purrs, "Interesting."
"Hmm?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "So for even MORE variety..."
Tamra purrs, "Maybe various fighter abilities that are at-will have different parts of the body they strain."
The quiet breeze slowly blows in a steady rain.
Calin says, "Be wary of extra accounting."
Tamra purrs, "So there might be several abilities that strain you legs..."
Tamra purrs, "true."
Calin says, "To get that affect, I would say to just write a single per-encounter power such that it has options."
Calin says, "So you can do either choice, but it still takes the same slot."
Tamra purrs, "Ah, clever."
Tamra purrs, "Well, that works with this."
Tamra purrs, "so a fighter limits his options during combat, by using up certain maneuvers that have various uses."
Tamra purrs, "Whereas a wizard might limit her actions by choosing which quick-prep spells to have ready."
Tamra purrs, "But again, possible accounting issue."
Calin says, "For the wizard, it means tracking prepared spells."
Calin says, "Which can be a real pain, considering how fast they recharge."
Tamra purrs, "Which could easily be a pile of cards (I'm really starting to lean towards this, btw.)"
Tamra purrs, "The idea that your spellbook is represented by a deck of cards."
Calin says, "Hmm.  I would want a good justification for that, I think."
Tamra purrs, "And you just pull out the ones you want prepared."
Calin says, "Not that it's a bad idea, but it is a distinct break from the genre."
Tamra purrs, "That way you canhave the full rules for each quickly available."
Calin says, "That would be really handy."
Tamra nods, "And nice flavor."
Calin says, "I think my primary reticence is about the materials needed for play."
Tamra purrs, "I always liked games when the wizards had a printed spellbook on hand."
Tamra purrs, "Though adding spells can be tricky."
Calin says, "I like it too, but it discourages custom spells."
Calin says, "Right."
Tamra purrs, "Nah, we make blanks."
Calin says, "And it may push it more toward the collectible games.  Where your character is limited by what the player has on hand."
Tamra purrs, "With spots the write in effects, etc."
Tamra purrs, "We could also make the template available for free."
Tamra purrs, "And players can print them."
Calin says, "That would be good.  Make the cards like character sheets.  That is, 'here's the template we use.  Feel free to do differently.'"
Tamra nods.
Calin says, "As for things being available for free... I'm all for making money on this, but I'd also like to encourage others to build on our ruleset."
Tamra nods, "Agreed.  I don't see how this discourages it.  Heck, if the template is available, it's easier for someone to make new ones that fit in, stylistically."
Calin says, "It doesn't.  I meant the availability of the whole thing."
Tamra nods, "Like the srd."
Calin says, "A little off-topic, but it might be cool to dual-license it."
Calin says, "The SRD is kind of a sorry excuse."
Tamra purrrts, "Dual-license?"
Calin says, "MySQL is a good example."
Calin says, "It is offered with a fairly standard open source license.  You do whatever you want with it, provided you distribute source for any mods you make."
Tamra purrs, "Right..."
Calin says, "If you want to use it without distributing source for your mods, you may purchase a non-open license for the same code."
Tamra ahs.
A light sprinkle falls through a peaceful breeze.
Tamra purrrts, "So feel free to make free content, but charge for it if they make money?"
Tamra purrs, "Seems more restrictive than d20's."
Calin says, "Not based on making money, but based on them protecting their own contributions."
Tamra purrs, "Oh, I see."
Tamra purrs, "Nice."
Calin says, "Make whatever you want, provided you're giving it away for free."
Tamra purrs, "Mmmm..."
Calin says, "Or rather, provided you're giving away full rights."
Tamra purrs, "We should have the option to roll it into the main game."
Calin says, "If you don't want others using your content for whatever, pay for the closed license."
Tamra purrs, "Right."
Calin says, "And that's the catch for dual-licensing."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah... still more restrictive for the content maker."
Calin says, "Any stuff that makes it into the core product, mysql has to own."
Tamra purrs, "We won't compare well to 3.5e"
Calin says, "Because they woudln't have the rights to dual-license somebody else's work."
Calin says, "That depends on who is doing the comparing."
Tamra purrs, "I suppose."
Calin says, "Anyway, it's a thought.  The SRD license is built to encourage as much money-making as possible by as many people as possible."
Tamra nods, "I like that part about it.  The more content for the system, the more folks will play."
Calin says, "But as open licenses go, it's pretty piss-poor."
Tamra purrs, "3.5e did a great job of that."
Tamra purrs, "Ah"
Calin says, "It reads a lot like 'feel free to require your customers to buy our books.'"
Tamra purrs, "heh."
Tamra purrs, "True."
Tamra purrs, "I wonder how Paizo gets away with pathfinder, then."
"What's paizo and pathfinder?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "You need no 3.x books to play pathfinder..."
Tamra purrs, "You musta missed that."
Tamra purrs, "So Paizo is the company that published the immense book I am using for our current Cauldron campaign."
Tamra purrs, "Apparently, they hate the idea of moving to 4e."
Tamra purrs, "So they are rewriting 3e from the ground up."
Calin says, "They're probably just rewriting any bits that would have required the 3e books."
Cal pops into view from nowhere.
Cal has connected.
Moff wakes up.
Tamra purrs, "Adding at-will abilities to all classes, giving tons of options for general game fixing."
Calin waves.
Calin finds:  http://paizo.com/store/downloads/pathfinderRPG/v5748btpy8253
Cal waves.
Tamra purrs, "Yeah, you can download the alpha pdf for free."
Tamra purrs, "I got a copy, been reading through it.  They did a great job so far."
Calin says, "I'm glad we won't have to do it."
Calin says, "Though d10 is pretty interesting."
says Cal, "what they covered they mostly did a good job on.  The hackish multiclassing of 3e isn't changed."
Calin says, "It's got to be a tough job, deciding what to keep the same and what to change."
The cool rain drops on the plants.
Calin says, "Ok Tamra, here's my final thought on incorporating cards into d10.  Make sure the game still works without it."
Calin says, "Like using miniatures and preprinted maps with 3e."
Calin says, "If it helps with atmosphere and accounting, great.  But we should still be able to do the accounting without."
Cal puzzles, "what's the idea with cards?"
Calin says, "Your spellbook could be represented by a deck of cards, and a hand from that deck would be your prepared spells."
Calin says, "Or something like that."
Tamra purrs, "Ah, totally.  Don't make them required."
says Cal, "Ah.  And how you play the cards reflects daily vs at will spells."
Tamra purrs, "None of this daily hogwash."
Calin says, "I like the part where it's possible to play most dnd-style RPGs with little more than a character sheet and a table to sit at."
Calin says, "And I also don't fancy adding some sort of card mechanism to our online DnD tools."
Tamra purrs, "at-will or encounter or stuff that takes x minutes to do."
Tamra purrs, "That is all."
says Cal, "A map and markers of some kind is a help in battle tactics.  But the game is playable without."
Tamra purrs, "I don't think we'd need a card mechanism."
Calin says, "Right.  And cards with art and full rule text would be pretty nice."
Tamra purrs, "Players keep track of stuff."
Tamra purrs, "I don't need a hp table online of player hp.  So why would I need one to keep track of cards."
Calin says, "Heck, even in our online games those cards would be handy.  You couldn't see them, but it would save me from having to flip through the PHB all the time."
Calin says, "Right."
says Cal, "Cards as a nifty tool that you can operate without.  Maybe something extra to sell if D10 every gets that far."
Tamra purrs, "If we had an online character sheet system, I might want some sort of support for card stuff as an option."
Tamra nods to Cal.
Tamra purrs, "Heh.  DM shuffles a pile and deals out a few to represent the spellbook x player just found."
Calin says, "Yeah, I thought of that too."
says Cal, "I'm looking at around 20 class trees, each with an average of 20 or so talents+powers.  That could be a lot of cards."
"Are we still going to do spellbook stuff?" asks Calin.
Tamra hehs, "I think we'll start with 9.  One for each stat."
Tamra purrrts, "Spellbook stuff?"
Calin says, "You mentioned drawing a few cards to represent a spellbook a player finds."
Calin says, "Which implies that some powers can be gained by the finding."
Cal puzzles, "One class focusing on each of the 9 stats?  How would that work?"
Tamra purrs, "I like the flavor for wizards, I wouldn't toss that.  New Wizard has the right flavor, just not enough content, and crappy balance."
Tamra purrs, "Ah, yep.  You'll still need to learn it."
Calin says, "Well, in the past we've had trouble with that."
Tamra purrs, "And it needs to be in your level range."
Tamra purrs, "I know.  I think the fault lies wholly with the DM."
Calin says, "And I think it may cause balance trouble with other classes."
Tamra purrs, "That'd be me."
Calin says, "Yeah, I know.  I still worry about the balance though."
Tamra purrs, "Not if done right."
Tamra purrs, "Something about only allowing a wizard to have x spells prepped."
Calin says, "I suppose finding a new spell would be about equivalent to finding a better weapon."
The gentle breeze quietly rises in a pleasant sprinkle.
Tamra purrs, "Similarly with fighter... they might have various combat stances, and certain powers only work in specific stances."
Calin says, "Alright, that's fair."
Tamra purrs, "Ah, weapons instead of stances, I like that better."
Tamra purrs, "Abilities that are polearm-specific."
Calin says, "It may be helpful (for balance) to have some kind of chart of how to equally cater to different classes."
Calin says, "Suggestion, of course.  Not Rule."
Tamra purrs, "Str = Fighter, Dex = Rogue, Sta = Monk, Gen = Wizard, Focus = Elementalist, Awa = Cleric, Cha = Paladin, Wil = Warlock, Wit = Bard."
says Cal, "I thought we were doing prerequisites instead of levels."
says Cal, "'"
Calin says, "Each of your levels is a chance to improve yourself."
says Cal, "I thought we were doing prerequisites instead of levels."
Tamra purrs, "Levels tell us when stats increase, and you get free Talents/Powers."
"Having trouble with your power bands, Cal?" asks Calin.
Cal finally catches up from some nasty net lag.
Tamra purrs, "And probably skills."
says Cal, "I thought we were doing prerequisites instead of levels."
Calin says, "I just SAW you... having trouble with your power bands."
Tamra purrs, "But... there's nothing keeping a diligent character from doing some extra self-improvement?  Hm."
Tamra purrs, "That is rather tricky to adjucate."
Calin says, "The best answer for prereqs vs. levels might be:  Specific powers are gained by meeting prereqs.  Not by being a certain level."
Calin says, "But gaining a level is the best (only?) way to improve yourself to meet those requirements."
says Cal, "A character getting extra power advance out of normal leveling could be unbalancing, and an accounting problem."
Tamra purrs, "Only."
Calin says, "Right."
Tamra purrs, "Levels should have SOME point."
Tamra purrs, "And increasing stats should have some impetus."
Calin says, "With 'only,' we can still use level as an overall measure of power."
Tamra purrs, "Might as well be levels."
says Cal, "Such improvements may be advancing stats or gaining required skills/talents/powers."
Tamra purrs, "Both, I think."
says Cal, "Levels then become a count of how many times you've advanced, and no direct relation to what powers you may have."
Tamra purrs, "Maybe not every one of the four every level.  But some of them."
Calin says, "The 9 classes Tamra described are kind of less like classes, and more like major paths which are primarily built on the relevant stat."
Tamra purrs, "Well, you will gain x powers by level y, just through advancement.  But it may be x+z powers."
Calin says, "From those 9 initial paths (and perhaps various sub-paths), you could build a fairly unique character."
Tamra purrs, "And I am still unsure of that."
says Cal, "I figure talants and powers from the same point pool.  And stat advancement might be reduced by advancing a single stat rather than a row or column."
Tamra shrugs, "Maybe.  Still pondering that.  I like the rows and columns just because it is easier to doublecheck."
Cal has several potential paths laid out at https://www.splitreflection.com/moinmoin/moin.cgi/Cal/D10
Calin says, "I also like the rows/columns because it makes it impossible to min-max too badly."
says Cal, "I'm thinking that advancement in D10 will take place in shorter intervals than D20."
Calin says, "Even though you're focusing on strength, you still improve in other ways."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah, a row or column per level can add up really fast, though."
A mild drizzle heavily patters in a peaceful breeze.
Tamra purrs, "Maybe every 3rd level."
Calin is kinda thinking the same.
says Cal, "so a skill and a talent or power every level, a row or column every second or third level."
Tamra purrs, "And the other levels you just get free talents, skills and powers."
Tamra purrs, "Probably, yeah."
says Cal, "2 or 3 levels advancing skills and powers, then 1 advancing stats, would give a smother advance."
Calin dodges the smother's advance.
says Cal, "smoother."
Tamra fiddles in Calc to get a nice table that is easy to extrapolate.
Cal puzzles, "How fast do we want a character to advance relative to their 1st level power?"
Tamra purrs, "In general, I don't want to build gods out of players."
Calin agrees.
Calin says, "Trying to run a game for characters near that level just gets ridiculous."
Tamra purrs, "What I'm seeing with this chart is not bad.  Start at 1 talent, 4 powers, and 1-6 in your rows and columns."
says Cal, "adding 1 to a row or column every 3rd level doubles the stats after 63 levels.  which seems reasonable."
Tamra purrs, "Each subsequent even level, get a power.  Odd levels get talents.  3rd level increase a row or column."
says Cal, "A character should start with enough powers to be effective in something."
Tamra purrs, "Not sure how to do the skills yet, as that will need a definition of the skills system"
says Cal, "hm, so need as many potential talents as powers."
Tamra purrs, "nearly.  30th level has 15 talents, 19 powers."
says Cal, "I still like a player choosing a talent or power each level.  Many available powers being upgrades of lesser powers."
Calin says, "That may be ok, though it would mean more content needs to be created."
The pleasant sprinkle drips heavily through a peaceful breeze.
Calin says, "The sweet spot will probably be an even increase of talent and power."
Calin says, "If you stick too much with just one or the other, you'll be limiting yourself."
Tamra purrs, "Also makes it easy for a player to game the system if we aren't careful."
Tamra purrs, "I'd prefer powers be a bit more desirable than talents."
Calin says, "That's fine, alter the sweet angle then."
says Cal, "as an example, one class I had in mind is the summoner.  early on he can summon a fairly weak creature.  He can then advance by summoning more powerful creatures, more creatures, or employ the creatures in more advanced tasks, like scouting or delivering messages."
Calin says, "It still holds true though, that if you don't add talents you'll be limited."
Tamra purrrts, "Huh?"
Tamra purrrts, "sweet angle?"
Calin says, "2 to 1 then, instead of 1 to 1."
Tamra purrs, "Ah."
Tamra shrugs, "This is easier to remember, and has no 'payload' levels, other than every third."
Calin says, "But... yeah, I see your point.  If we use multiple talents as a prereq for a cool power, the player could add all those talents in a row."
Tamra huhs, "A Wizard can only have a number of spells prepped equal to his Genius."
Tamra purrs, "But with only spells at 1st level..."
Tamra purrs, "That's no good."
Tamra purrs, "Ah, baby is awake.  Bbl."
says Cal, "I was figuring that any character could swing a basic weapon, but not as effectively as if they had studied physical combat.  Given at will powers, a magic user could have one of those for if nothing else is prepared."
You are no longer available. (N/A)
"'Spells prepped' means what exactly?  At-wills?" asks Calin.
says Cal, "An at will I'd presume doesn't need preparation, at least not before hand."
A quiet breeze blows silently through a pleasant shower.
says Cal, "At will might still take some time to cast."
The warm rain falls through a gentle breeze.
You are now Active. (ACT)
Tamra purrs, "Good question, Calin."
Tamra purrs, "4 powers is rather slim, when at least 2 of them need to be at-will."
says Cal, "I see a few factors limiting how frequently a spell is used: action points, material components, casting time.  Some spells would result in a potion or something that may be used later."
Tamra purrs, "Ah."
Tamra purrs, "I'd wager that a Wizard's talents will generally be more spells of some sort."
Calin says, "I would rather the talents be more like prerequisites and always-on modifiers."
Tamra nods.
Cal puzzles, "Talent: silent spells?"
Calin says, "Like Necromancy would grant bonuses to cast necromantic spells, and may be a requirement to gain certain spells."
Tamra purrs, "Ah."
Calin says, "Where in this case, spells means powers."
Tamra purrs, "19 spells total seems a little slim.  Though..."
"Unless you think that would be a skill?" asks Calin.
says Cal, "Spells would be a subset of powers."
Tamra purrs, "Huh... you spend skill points to learn spells."
Tamra purrrts, "And slot learned spells as powers?"
says Cal, "I'm looking at something like 60 levels before going epic."
Calin says, "I don't think I follow."
Tamra purrs, "That is a boatload of content."
Tamra purrs, "So 19 spells a level 30 is jus' fine."
Tamra purrs, "Especially considering how often we'll be using them."
"I think I need a clarification on spells.  Are the powers?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Usually."
Tamra purrs, "Anything you want to do on a moment's notice, yes."
"Ok.  So what are you spending skill points on spells for, and what does it mean to 'slot' a spell as a power?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Some however take a bit longer to cast."
Tamra purrs, "That was just a thought, one I think I'll drop."
Tamra purrs, "Aha..."
Tamra purrs, "Here we go."
Calin says, "We already talked about at-will powers, encounter powers, and 'longer time to use' powers."
Calin says, "Spells with a longer casting time would just fit into the latter."
Tamra purrs, "There are three kinds of spells."
Tamra purrs, "At will and encounter ones, which are powers.  And the third kind are enchantments, that take x minutes to cast.  Those are learned from spellbooks along the way, and you can learn a new one each time you put a point into Arcana."
says Cal, "So enchantments would take skill points."
Tamra purrs, "The other thing about enchantments is that a quick-thinking wizard can fastcast them."
"So spell books would never contain at-will or encounter spells?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "To fastcast an enchantment, you spend an action point, and sometimes special ingredients specified by the spell."
A quiet breeze moves silently in a mild rain.
Calin says, "You simply gain those as powers, when you level."
Tamra purrs, "Right.  At will and encounter spells are more basic than enchantments, and thus more intuitive to a clever wizard."
"Ok.  You can only use enchantments you've learned?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "Enchantments are complex recipes."
Tamra purrs, "Right."
says Cal, "An at will or encounter spell in a spell book isn't much use to the character unless they have the background to gain that power."
"What's the difference between normal and fast-casting?" asks Calin.
says Cal, "Normal enchantment casting takes time."
Tamra purrs, "Fastcasting only applies to enchantments.  If you fastcast one, you can do it in combat."
Calin says, "Ok, sounds good.  By spending an action point."
Tamra purrs, "Different enchantments might take a bit more time than others, though."
Cal puzzles, "hm, might enchantments have talent or power prerequisites?"
Calin says, "I would expect so."
Tamra purrs, "Maybe."
Tamra purrs, "Some might not, though."
Calin nods.
says Cal, "Talent I think yes in many cases.."
Tamra purrs, "That's something we will have to figure out in developent."
Calin says, "Well, anybody could learn an enchantment by gaining a point of Arcana."
Tamra purrs, "Well basic Wizardry as a talent for sure."
Calin says, "That doesn't mean just anybody could actually cast it."
Tamra purrs, "Right."
Calin says, "Though you may find a few general-use cantrips out there."
Tamra increases the number of talents, realizing that several will be spent on class-needed talents.
Tamra purrs, "4 Talents to start."
Tamra purrs, "That should cover some good ground."
Cal puzzles, "We going to do armor and weapon proficiency?"
Tamra purrs, "Yeah, that will be part of the fighter talent set."
says Cal, "So to get the best use of armor or a weapon you'd need to spend point in the fighter set."
Tamra purrs, "Fighters will probably have the talents Simple Weapons, Melee Martial Weapons, Ranged Martial Weapons."
Tamra purrs, "Ah, and whatever Armor they choose."
Tamra purrs, "It'll probably be more like having talents of Blades, Bows, Heavy Armor."
A cool shower soaks heavily through a quiet breeze.
says Cal, "So a player running a fighter would need to select a class of weapons he uses.  If stuck with something else they don't do as well."
Tamra purrs, "Only as well as any other character might."
Tamra purrs, "Though likely a bit better than that as they'd have better stats in the body column."
says Cal, "any other character with the same stats."
Calin says, "Well, any other player with the other fighter powers/skills/talents."
Tamra experiments with a different stat generation method.
Tamra purrs, "You get 21 points.  Distribute as you please along the rows and columns."
Tamra purrs, "So you could get all 7s if you like.  Or a few 12s at the expense of everything else."
Calin says, "You could manage a 15, if you put 2s in most everything else."
Calin says, "That would be Stupid though."
Tamra nods.
Calin says, "I think I'd prefer a fixed base number, and points to add to it."
Tamra purrrts, "Hm?"
Tamra purrrts, "How so?"
Calin says, "Like 2 in each, with 15 left to allocate."
Calin says, "Minimum of 4."
Tamra purrs, "Ah."
Calin says, "It may be stupid to min-max for 15 and 2, but that doesn't mean somebody won't justify it."
Tamra shrugs, "Let em."
says Cal, "the functionally brain dead brawler."
Calin says, "Well, if it doesn't break the game, sure."
Tamra purrs, "Remember, even in combat, sometimes you use Str as defense, sometimes Dex."
Tamra purrs, "So without a good stat in both, you aren't uber."
says Cal, "with the multi-axis combat system the matrix allows, super maxing one axis makes you a pushover for other attacks."
Tamra purrs, "A good stat in one will guarantee you fall to the other.  And that's only talking about the physical arena."
Tamra purrs, "And alternately, we can declare that 6 is ax in an attribute for level one."
Tamra purrs, "max"
says Cal, "Rock-paper-scissors: no character is unbeatable by all methods."
says Cal, "So strategy is selecting the right attack for an opponent becomes important.  Simply bashing through won't always work."
Tamra nods.
The quiet breath of air moves silently in a cool rain.
You go Away From Keyboard. (AFK)


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## You last connected from 192.168.1.254 (192.168.1.254) on 17-Aug-08 at 12:43:09 PDT.
You have no new mail.
Courtyard
     The courtyard is the entryway to the castle, as well as a practice ground
     for training.
     In the center of the courtyard is a fountain large enough to bathe in,
     shooting a spray of water high into the air.
    
     To see exits, look exits.
 
You see here:
            Tamra (ACT)            Akili (ZZZ)             Moff (IC)
           Shelly (IDL)           Kenlow (ZZZ)            Jiona (ZZZ)
              Cal (IDL)            Pearl (ZZZ)            Stack (ZZZ)
            Calin (IDL)             Eric (ZZZ)            Sarai (ACT)
            Sessa (ZZZ)              Paw (IC)
 
Paw wakes up.
Players online who you are watching for:
Cal               Calin             Shelly            
Done.
     pin                    ship                     dohnut
     bash shell             BashShell                boot
     orb_of_???             barbeque                 S'mores Kit
     fountain               Apple Pie                languages
     Bar                    A Connection             Wizard Hat
 
Tamra waves.
Sarai says, "Hello Tamra."
Jiona looks over and also greets, "Good evening."
Cal waves.
Calin plays with his font picker.  "It lets you specify size in any of pt, pc, px, em, ex, in, cm, mm, or %."
Calin says, "Which is silly perhaps."
Tamra purrs, "Wow."
"That's all the units supported by the engine though, so why not?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrrts, "%?  Of what?  Current font size?"
Calin says, "em, ex, and % are all based on the size stored in the font itself."
Tamra has hooked up her and Pearl's machines at one desk, "With a KVM switch.  Man, the monitor I got her is VERY nice."
Calin says, "in, cm, mm, pt, and pc are all based on the dpi of your screen."
Tamra blinks.
Calin says, "And of course px is literal pixels."
Tamra purrs, "That was very odd."
Tamra purrs, "My light just flicked off by itself."
Calin blinks.
Tamra purrs, "It's a touch-activated lamp.  I tapped it again, and it turned back on."
Calin says, "Oh, heh.  I was about to try to invent a reason why a physical switch would do that."
Tamra purrs, "Maybe a bug landed on it in the right spot so it got capacitance with the table."
says Cal, "Capacitance switches are frequently twitchy."
Calin writes a conversion function to keep the preview text to approximately the same size as you switch units.
Tamra hehs, "Fun."
Calin says, "Not so bad, though it's only a best guess when it comes to em, ex, and px."
Calin says, "Since I have no way to scrape size info from the font, nor dpi from the screen."
Tamra nods.
Tamra purrs, "72 or 96 are typical assumptions"
Calin says, "So it still twitches a bit as you cycle through the units, but not so bad as at first.  Going from 12pt to 12% was dramatic."
Tamra purrs, "I'd assume 72dpi."
Calin says, "As was from 12pt to 12in."
Tamra purrs, "Heh."
Calin says, "Yeah, I am assuming 72pt (though my monitor is actually over 100)."
Calin says, "Or maybe 96. Hell, I don't remember.  It used to be really high, but I've changed monitors since I last checked."
Calin says, "Anyway, the fonts I've tested seem to use 10pt for the em size, so that transition is smooth."
Calin says, "ex size is harder - it's based on the height of the lowercase x."
Tamra purrs, "Hah."
Calin says, "I have estimated ex to be ~ .5em, though that comes out a little large."
The soft calm quietly settles across the grass.
Tamra purrs, "And em on capital M."
Tamra purrs, "Forgot about that.  Typography class."
Calin nods.
Tamra purrrts, "px is pixels, no?"
Calin says, "Right."
Tamra purrs, "Oh, you mean pt, then."
"What?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "You said em ex and px will be tough.  Px is easy."
Calin hunts for a place he accidentally used px instead of pt, but can't find.
Calin says, "No, it isn't."
Tamra purrrts, "Oh?  Why's that?"
Calin says, "There are three groups:  (px), (pt, pc, in, cm, mm), and (em, ex)."
Calin says, "Conversion within a group is clean."
Calin says, "Well, except for the last group I guess."
Calin says, "As there's no real math for that."
Calin says, "So anyway, conversion within the largest group is clean."
Calin says, "Conversion outside of the group is not."
"Yes, px has an obvious literal measure.  But how many pixels wide is a pt?" asks Calin.
Calin says, "On a 72dpi screen, they're the same."
Calin says, "But my screen (and many others) are not actually 72dpi."
Tamra purrs, "Oh... any d10 note while I was gone?  I lost my session."
Calin says, "Nah, all quite."
Calin says, "Quiet."
Calin says, "You actually missed nothing but weather."
Tamra is compiling our data so far.
Calin says, "Cool."
Calin says, "I am inclined to say that the release of 4e is going to be very good for the industry."
Calin says, "3e was good for the industry because it set a new bar which was a good deal higher than previous."
Tamra chuckles.
Calin says, "4e will be good because it will encourage lots of new systems."
Calin says, "Which all pretty much dried up in the shadow of 3e."
says Cal, "We seem to be going the opposite direction as 4e for a lot of stuff in D10."
Tamra purrs, "It's a land grab."
says Cal, "3e set the bar to a new height, and was open enough for 3rd party providers to get in on the game."
Calin says, "At this point, 3e has been around long enough for most everybody to have found some nits to pick."
Calin says, "Some of which were addressed in 4e, but at a pretty high cost."
Paw says, "yoourrrr soooooullll ..."
Tamra purrs, "Or at least your roleplaying."
Tamra purrs, "And sense of disbelief."
The gentle stillness settles quietly through a steady rain.
Calin chuckles.
says Cal, "among my complaints of 4e, they fixed the hackish 3e multiclass system by pretty much crippling multiclass."
Calin is pretty excited about d10.  "It has the potential to be a real joy to play."
Tamra nods.
Tamra purrs, "I hope we can make it at least have a simple conversion from 3rd"
Tamra purrs, "Not sure it is possible =/"
Tamra purrs, "So... a problem with the wound system..."
Calin nods.  "Converting existing characters may be a lost cause."
says Cal, "I really like the prospect of mixing stuff to fit the character you want, rather than trying to squeeze into classes that have a mix of stuff you want and stuff that just doesn't fit the character."
Tamra purrs, "Enemies could take a ton of hits to drop."
Calin says, "I'm still not clear on the wound system."
says Cal, "converting characters would not be exact, but more of a rebuild using the new system."
"Can you give a quick rundown?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "If you hit (and here's the fun part), you subtract damage from a health based on their Stability stat (The one relevant to the attack you're doing). If that health goes below 0, you've injured them. Otherwise it's a scratch that'll heal up after a short rest. But those scratches are cumulative. Per encounter rather than per hit. Wounds require medical attention."
Tamra copies from her log.  ^^^
Calin says, "Ok.  So first you beat down their defenses (basically)."
Tamra purrs, "So, if you had a stamina of 9, you could take 9 physical hit before being seriously hurt."
"After that, every hit is a serious wound?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "No, it resets."
says Cal, "So long as you avoid getting dropped below 0, not much need for a cleric.  which is a major change from 3e."
Calin says, "Ok, so let's say I'm trying to take down an enemy."
"I hit him three times, and on the third I get him to zero.  Is he down?" asks Calin.
says Cal, "Ah, so to drop an enemy you'd have to wound them, drop them below 0, a certain number of times."
Tamra purrs, "So if your stamina is 6, if someone deals 4 damage to you, you still have 2 more before taking a wound.  At which point, even if you took 9 damage, you have a wound and now 6 more damage to the next wound."
Tamra purrs, "Correct, cal."
Calin says, "Uh... I'm not really cool with it going all the way back up."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah... it's... a work in progress.  The reason I brought it up."
Tamra purrs, "Like onion layers or something"
Calin says, "Unless..."
"How many wounds must he take before dropping?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrs, "But it means that really heavy damage has no meaning."
Tamra purrs, "Equal to stamina."
Calin says, "Ouch."
Tamra purrs, "So stamina is your threshhold and the number of hits needed."
says Cal, "so you can take on the order of stamina^2 HP before dropping."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah.  That's gonna be a long fight."
Calin says, "Meaning you have to hit him at minimum STA times, doing STA damage each time."
Tamra purrs, "yeah.  =p"
Tamra purrs, "Like I said... needs work."
Tamra purrs, "Maybe we just do hit points."
Tamra purrs, "HP = 4xSta"
Tamra purrs, "And ditch the wounds thing."
says Cal, "a problem with scaling for stamina rounds of stamina."
Calin says, "And you immediately heal STA once the encounter ends."
Tamra purrs, "Or perhaps when you rest ... yeah"
Tamra purrs, "I was about to say that."
Tamra purrs, "That works for me.  Simple, succinct."
Calin says, "Yeah, fine by me too.  It has some reality problems, but it's doable."
Calin says, "No worse than 3e, perhaps better than 4e."
A hushed calm silently falls in a pleasant rain.
Tamra purrs, "Um."
says Cal, "heal the lesser of STA or what you got hit with that encounter."
Calin says, "Oh..."
"What if it's not a physical attack?" asks Calin.
Tamra purrrts, "So what happens when you have a second encounter?"
Tamra purrrts, "And take no damage?"
Calin says, "Heh."
Tamra purrrts, "Do you heal that up?"
Tamra purrs, "So maybe when you do the heal, the remainder goes to a wound pool."
says Cal, "right.  An encounter where you manage to not take damage shouldn't heal you."
Tamra purrs, "So subsequent rest won't heal it."
Calin says, "That sounds pretty good.  Anything you heal before the encounter ends (or automatically at the end of the encounter) isn't a real wound."
Tamra purrs, "yeah, otherwise Eric would be punching teammates all the time."
Calin says, "But damage beyond that is."
Tamra nods.
Tamra purrs, "So... at the beginning of each encounter, you have temp hp = to your sta."
says Cal, "right, can't have the rules rewarding anti-social behavior between player characters."
Tamra purrs, "And you really only have 3xsta hp."
Calin says, "Essentially.  Though magical healing will alter that."
says Cal, "That works."
Calin says, "Huh.  Yeah, that does work."
says Cal, "Party is somewhat less dependent on a healer, but a good healer is still useful."
Calin says, "Then we have some flexibility when making healing abilities, for which pool they heal."
Tamra nods.
Calin says, "Healing for the buffer pool is limited to the pool max, and is good for in-combat aid."
says Cal, "Right, different powers to heal different amounts in different pools."
Tamra purrs, "An at-will heal is fine for temp damage, but not for heavy wounds."
Calin says, "Healing for the permanent pool is probably not ideal for during an encounter, but has a higher cap."
Tamra nods.
says Cal, "An at will power to heal the encounter pool, limited by the size of that pool and a healer's stat."
Calin says, "For mind and social encounters, we probably don't need to track the 'permanent' pool."
Calin says, "Since we aren't likely to actually game the breaking of somebody's will."
says Cal, "not like a proper brainwashing session.  just making them flinch."
Calin says, "Basically."
Calin says, "Or momentary domination without lasting effects once you pull out of it."
Calin says, "Though clearly the possibility is there, if a gaming group chose to take that road."
says Cal, "so no permanent damage to focus or will, only to stamina."
Tamra purrs, "But it could happen."
Calin says, "It could, but I don't think we need space on a character sheet for those pools."
Tamra purrs, "No, i think it should be allowed for.  We haven't ever even had such an encounter yet.  I'm intrigued."
Calin says, "Fair enough."
says Cal, "The D10 system could handle stuff like that, but I don't expect we'd use it like that."
Tamra purrs, "I want to run a game where all three are just as common."
Calin says, "Man.  Permanent mental and social wounds are MEAN though."
Tamra purrs, "Not possible in d20.  But now they are."
Calin says, "Yup."
Tamra nods, "And will need healing just as well."
says Cal, "such wounds would need matching healer powers."
Tamra purrs, "Wizard might be good at mental healing, bard at social."
Calin says, "That would make sense."
says Cal, "And natural healing if the character can avoid further damage."
Calin says, "He can cheer you up."
Calin says, "So... social damage means you are timid and scared, easily dominated."
Tamra nods, "Or patch up relationships.  Or at least offer advice."
Calin says, "Or maybe just generally lost your confidence."
says Cal, "3 divisions of healer for 3 divisions of wounds."
Calin says, "Mental damage means you're confused, and can't properly follow logical paths."
Tamra purrs, "It's been nearly 30 years, I'ma beginning to lose confidence..."
Tamra nods.
Calin says, "So.  Wounds should detract from your abilities in the wounded area."
A warm rain lightly patters in a humid breath of air.
Cal puzzles, "effect from less damage that is needed to drop you?"
Calin says, "I would think so, yeah.  Not what we're used to from physical damage, but when considering mental/social damage... you can't just shrug that off."
says Cal, "realism is good, as long as the mechanic isn't too messy."
Calin nods.
Tamra nods, "A -2 penalty with power and agility in those stats?"
Calin nods.  "That's good.  I was thinking something accumulative, but that would be too much."
says Cal, "flat penalty if wounded?  fair enough."
Calin says, "Also, might want to consider the ratio of temp to wound HP."
Tamra nods, "I was thinking the same, but decided simple was preferable."
Calin says, "Maybe more like 2xSTA each."
Cal puzzles, "for the remainder of the encounter or until healed?"
Calin says, "For as long as you have wounds in the wound pool."
Tamra purrs, "Hm?  Ah, perhaps."
Calin says, "Since Wounds are so dire, they should be easier to avoid."
says Cal, "numbers in the pools will have to be fixed after some play testing."
Calin nods.
says Cal, "directly converting characters won't likely be possible, but rebuilding a few we have for D10 might give some idea for the power trees."
Tamra purrs, "Yeah, a very good point."
Tamra oohs, Elementalist works okay... Stamina = Earth, Focus = Air, Awareness = Fire, Willpower = Spirit, Genius = Water.
Tamra purrs, "A cross aligned at Focus, which I already had mentioned as the PR."
"PR?" asks Calin.
"Ah, primary requirements?" asks Calin.
says Cal, "Elementalist would almost work like 5 parallel power trees in D10."
A warm breath of air quietly moves across the trees.
You are no longer available. (N/A)
You are now Active. (ACT)
Tamra nods, "And using the grid works great for elementalist."
Tamra purrs, "Though it would tend to encourage Air + (Earth/Spirit)|(Fire/Water)"
Calin says, "True, as you'll have good values in those patterns."
Tamra purrs, "Ah, better:"
Tamra purrs, "Stamina (or Charisma)= Earth, Focus = Air, Awareness (or Strength)= Fire, Willpower (or Dexterity)= Spirit, Genius (or Wit)= Water."
says Cal, "so 4 of the elements give a selection of stat to use."
Calin says, "Nice."
Tamra purrs, "Now you should be able to do any two."
Calin says, "And minor in another couple."
The gentle breath of air quietly moves over the warm plants.
Tamra purrs, "Interesting how the trios work out."
Tamra purrs, "Air will pair with two opposites.  Either fire/water or earth/spirit."
Tamra purrs, "Each other has a favorite element."
Tamra hrms, realizing that spirit should be in the middle.
Shelly got a new kitty today.
Tamra purrs, "As in, the only one that doesn't have a favorite..."
Cal puzzles, "merow?"
Tamra purrs, "Stamina or Wit = Water, Willpower or Awareness = Air, Genius or Dexterity = Fire, Charisma = Spirit, Focus or Strength = Earth."
Tamra purrrts, "So you have two kitties now?"
Shelly nods. "Yup two kitties. Spring and Aphrodites."
Tamra purrs, "So now all combinations of three of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water are possible."
Tamra purrs, "Plus Spirit can do either fire/earth or air/water."
Tamra purrs, "So any pair is possible, but the trios are more classical element-based."
Calin says, "Which is more sane, really."
Tamra purrrts, "Aphrodites?  Plural?  She is more than one goddess of love?"
Shelly laughs. "Yes."
Calin says, "Neat."
Tamra purrs, "What an ego she must have."
The warm breeze moves quietly through a pleasant sprinkle.
says Cal, "cats always have egos bigger than themselves."
Tamra narrows her eyes at Cal, "Whatcha tryin' to say, exactly?"
Calin inspects his nails.  "Sounded perfectly clear to me."
says Cal, "House cats anyway."
Tamra raises an eyebrow at Calin's remark, but seems satisfied by Cal's reply.
Tamra purrs, "Ah.  Well, then."
says Cal, "that again, good artists also have good sized egos.  Not all carry them well."
Tamra purrs, "Well, I don't consider myself a good artist.  A passable one at best."
Tamra purrs, "Better than average for a game designer, perhaps.  But that ain't sayin' much."
Tamra purrs, "Weelll, as fun as it is to work on d10... gnite."
says Cal, "goodnight."
Tamra waves and is off to bed.

Cal has another thought for D10, "A suitably talented bard making a challenge against a target's will, the target might not even realize what the bard is doing as long as the bard gets past the targets wit."
- http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/seagull.asp
Akili goes Away From Keyboard. (AFK) [Dinner]
Tamra purrs, "Totally, Cal."
Tamra purrs, "I think that Social combat is more about subtly adjusting a target's disposition to you."