Attributes, Skills, and Backgrounds

Dungeon Tactics uses a fairly simple resolution system for noncombat and skill-related tasks that should look pretty familiar to anyone who plays RPGs.

Characters in DT have a set of five attributes: Strength, Agility, Wisdom, Perception, and Poise. Each attribute has a numerical score, usually between 0 and 10. Whenever a character needs to perform a difficult task, his or her player rolls a d20 and adds the appropriate attribute score to the result. The result is compared to Difficulty Score of the task to determine whether the character achieved a failure, a complication, or a success. On a failure, the character does not succeed in accomplishing whatever task they had set out to attempt, while on a success they do accomplish the task with no difficulties. A complication means that the character succeeded at the task, but not without a small problem.

For example, Uthgar the Bold is attempting to leap a wide chasm. His player would roll a d20 and add Uthgar's strength score. If a failure is scored, Uthgar doesn't make it across the chasm, and is left hanging to the ledge with one hand. If a success is scored, Uthgar easily clears the expanse and sticks the landing, battleaxe at the ready. If a complication is scored, Uthgar might make it all the way across, but fall prone on the other side.

Skills
In addition to their attribute scores, characters also have a short list of skills, or areas in which they have some specialized training. Whenever you make an attribute check for a trained skill, you roll an additional d20 and choose the highest result.

Adding an extra roll rather than a numerical bonus works well for several reasons. It does allow trained characters to be more competent than untrained characters by giving the trained character a greater chance at success. However, it doesn't change the potential range of results, so that training in a skill does not determine whether it is possible to succeed at all. Players shouldn't be put into situations where they feel like it's not even worth it to try. Incorporating a second roll also helps mitigate some of the 'luck factor' and means that trained characters will not only perform better but also perform more consistently.

Basics: Keeping it Simple

The goal of Dungeon Tactics is to deliver a system that is both simple and deep, intuitive and rewarding. To this end, a good deal has been pared down compared to other, similar games, but hopefully in such a way that does not detract from the tactical possibilities of the game.

Attack Rolls and Defenses
Many other games using complex, interlocking systems of bonuses from a variety of character resources, such as attributes, feats, magic items, specializations, and so forth, to determine how likely a character is to hit and how likely a character is to be hit. Unfortunately, this can create a lot of confusion among less experienced players, who will frequently make errors and spend a long time calculating attack rolls, without really adding a whole lot to game, as most of the bonuses, the +1 here and the +1 there, are static, which means they only offer choice at one point during play: character generation.

DT tries to solve this issue by assigning everyone very similar bonuses to attack rolls, damage rolls, and defenses: all players add their level to attack rolls and defenses, and half their level to damage rolls. The one exception is weapon wielders, who add the proficiency bonus of their weapon to their attack roll, which allows for a distinction between basic/advanced and fast/heavy weapons. There are no other static bonuses to attack rolls, so everyone at the table should generally be adding the same number to their die roll. Defenses and damage rolls are similarly level-based.

The decision to use character level as the basis for the scaling of the basic math of the game was fairly straightforward. Level is a prominent number for players, the most basic measure of character advancement. Since all characters should be at the same level, all players will be on the same page as to what number they need to add to whatever they roll.

The Action Economy
Another area where tactical games can get bogged down is the action economy: specifically, some players getting lots of extra actions, through immediate actions, pets and summons, or using minor actions to attack. One player can end up with a much longer turn than everyone else at the table, and having to constantly jump into the order of play to resolve immediate actions can also really slow things down.

To this end, DT tries to reduce and limit the number of ways to gain extra attacks and other extra actions. Pets and summons, for example, rely on their master's actions instead of having their own set. Also, attacks are strongly tied to major actions: abilities that allow attacks as minor actions or move actions do not appear.

Immediate actions are a bit trickier. Defenders rely on immediate action attacks in order to fulfill their role. Also, the opportunity attack makes positioning and tactical movement much more important. These two instances of immediate action attacks serve important purposes that can't really be replicated other ways. However, other instances of immediate action attacks will not be included.

Conditions and Modifiers
Another problem that many games run into, especially at higher levels of play, is the tracking of dozens of conditions and small modifiers. This create a lot of extra work for the game master, who has to remember it all, and can bog down player turns with lots of math.

DT will look to reduce the number of conditional modifiers that need to be tracked over the course of play, condensing things into a tighter list that will hopefully keep a player from needing a TI-83 to calculate his attack roll.

Role

Role is the second half of class design (alongside power source). Where power source determines how you do your thing, role determines just what that thing is. Every class fits into one of the four roles, which are general designations indicating what the class will be doing in combat. The four roles include Defender, Striker, Leader, and Controller, and let the player know at a glance what a given class's specialty is.

Roles make sense from a teamwork perspective. Sports teams and military units alike assign roles because it is efficient. When a group of people get together to accomplish a goal, it is more effective if each person tackles one part than for every person to try to do everything all at once. The four roles this game lists fit the four elements of fantasy combat.

Defender
The Defender role is defined by two abilities: 1) the ability to weather incoming attacks, through high defenses and lots of health, and 2) the ability to draw enemy attacks to them and away from their teammates, who are not as capable of enduring them.

Striker
Strikers provide the main offensive capability in the team. They are the most capable of dealing the most damage, but beyond that, a Striker also needs to be able to decide where that damage goes. Target selection is a big part of what makes a Striker stand out. Since almost every player can do some damage, the Striker simply being able to do more isn't enough: they also need the ability to put that damage in the most effective places, attacking the most vulnerable, highest priority targets. To this end, most Strikers boast excellent mobility.

Leader
Leaders can be charted along two axis: offensive vs. defensive, and proactive vs. reactive. All types of leaders have their place in the game, and they all work towards the same end: enabling their teammates. A defensive, reactive leader probably specializes in healing and granting saving throws, while an offensive, proactive leader applies buffs to attack and damage rolls and grants attacks.

Controller
Probably the most difficult role to pin down, controllers don't apply direct force like strikers, but try to mitigate opposing force.

Power Source Mechanics

Each power source has a set of basic mechanics that determine the special abilities of classes that fall under that Source. Of course, the way each class utilizes the mechanics of its power source ought to be slightly different, but the goal is to make each power source feel mechanically distinct, so that playing a Divine class is mechanically different than playing a Primal class, but two different Arcane classes will be mechanically similar.

It is important to note that the reason for assigning each power source a different set of mechanics has nothing to do with any sense of perceived "realism"; rather, the intention is to give players a wide range of toys to play with and let them decide which one sounds the most fun. Of course, mechanical parity across power sources, as well as classes and roles, is also of utmost importance. A Martial class needs to be as effective at its role as its Divine, Arcane, and Primal equivalents, or the game should be considered a failure.

Martial

The Martial power source uses two overlapping mechanics: stances, and Power Strike. Stances add nifty effects to physical attacks, such as the ability to push enemies around or apply various conditions. Once activated, a stance lasts indefinitely, but you can only have one stance active at a time.

Power Strike is the limited resource of the Martial classes, and is expended and recharged on a per-scene basis. At first level, you can use Power Strike two times in a scene, and you gain additional uses as you rise in level. Whenever you hit with a physical attack, you can expend a use of Power Strike to add an extra +1[W] damage to the attack, though you can only do so once per turn. In addition, your stances have different, more powerful effects when you use Power Strike, so that a stance that normally allows you to slow an enemy might allow you to immobilize them instead, or a stance that normally allows you to push an enemy might knock them prone. Each stance lists what happens when you use Power Strike while in that stance.

Overall, Martial classes do not boast very long-lasting effects, but they can dish out effects frequently and immediately. Power Strike is available as soon as the scene begins, and because you only use it when you hit, you are guaranteed to get its full effects. Martial characters are very effective round-to-round, but are also most powerful in the first few rounds of combat, when it counts the most.

Divine

The Divine power source relies on a single resource pool, called Faith Points. Divine characters use special, always-available abilities called Prayers to accumulate Faith Points. Then, they expend the Faith Points to use more powerful abilities, called Acts.

Prayers are simple attacks with very basic effects that accrue Faith. Each Prayer lists the amount of Faith it provides, typically one point for stronger attacks or two points for lesser abilities. Similarly, each Act lists the amount of Faith that it costs: to use an Act, you must have at least as many Faith Points as its cost, and when you use it, that number of Faith is subtracted from your current pool. Divine characters begin each scene with an empty Faith pool, spend the first round(s) accumulating Faith Points via Prayers, then use powerful Acts, expending Faith, before having to refill the pool again, so that the process repeats.

Both Prayers and Acts come in varying levels of strength. Powerful Prayers have greater effects, but provide less Faith, while weaker Prayers provide more Faith but have less powerful effects. Similarly, the strongest Acts cost the most Faith, while Acts that cost less Faith are not quite as powerful. Divine characters have a lot of freedom in deciding when they want to break out their high-powered abilities, and also need to weigh their options between "more power now" and "even more power later". An important aspect to note is that Acts have no limitations on the number of uses beyond their Faith Point cost, so that as long as a Divine character can continue to accumulate Faith, he or she can continue to use Acts at full power.

Arcane

Characters with the Arcane power source use two sets of abilities with little inherent overlap. The first set, Cantrips, are simple powers that can be used at any time, any number of times. The second, Spells, are much more limited in their usage, but in return are much more potent.

Spells are capable of producing some of the most powerful effects in the game, having many effects that last until the end of the scene or are tagged as (Save Ends). However, they also carrying significant limitations on their uses. Each Spell requires a certain number of rounds of "charging up" before it can be cast, during which the caster cannot charge up any other Spells, but can do other things, like use Cantrips. Once charged, a Spell can be cast immediately or held for any number of rounds, up until the end of the scene, though if you begin charging another Spell you lose the first.

The other key limitation to Spells is that each time you successfully cast a particular Spell, the time it takes to charge up that spell increases by one round for the rest of the Chapter. This means that while you can cast the same Spell over and over again, doing so is not an especially good idea, as the Spell will take longer and longer each time to cast. By the time you complete your fifth casting of Deep Slumber in a scene, the fight is probably already over, so it's worthwhile to frequently switch up your Spells.

The intent behind the spellcasting mechanic is to give players access to the big, flashy, game-changing powers, but also to a) limit those powers in such a way as to keep them from dominating every scene, and b) keep the Arcane character from using the same abilities every fight and every round, while c) still allowing players to access those abilities, as long as they are willing to pay the cost. Requiring Arcane characters to charge up their Spells, and thus necessarily use them later in the fight, also acts as a balancing factor against classes that have less powerful abilities, but can access those abilities immediately, since the first rounds of a fight are generally the most important.

Primal

Characters of the Primal power source combine the benefits of immediate access to their full power with the ability to choose how much of their base resource they expend in a round. In exchange for their supreme flexibility, however, Primal characters give up some of the raw staying ability of their Martial counterparts, as well as some of the sheer power of the Divine classes.

Primal characters each choose a number of powers from their class list, called Invocations. Each Invocation can be used as-is, which provides some damage and a minor effect, or can be enhanced by spending Anima, the basic resource of all Primal classes, which represents the character's connection to the natural world. Primal characters begin each scene with a certain number of Anima points, depending on their level. They likewise know a certain number of Invocations, depending on their level. Each Invocation has three levels of effect: the first is always free, while the second requires the expenditure of one point of Anima, and the second requires the expenditure of two.

Anima operates similarly to the Faith Points of the Divine classes, in that the player needs to manage a pool of resources and decide how they dole the points out, and similarly to the Power Strike of Martial classes in that Primal classes start at full power, which gradually decreases over the course of a scene. Primal classes are great for players that want as much control over their resources as possible.

Initial Classes

"Class" in FTR determines a character's combat capabilities. Classes are described in terms of Role and Power Source. Role is what the character does in combat ("hit hard, protect my friends, heal and support, control the battlefield") while Power Source indicates how the character accomplishes their role ("strength of arms, faith in the Gods, arcane magic, the power of nature").

The four Roles are Defender, Striker, Controller, and Leader. The four (current) Power Sources are Martial, Arcane, Divine, and Primal. Classes share mechanics across both Role and Power Source. For example, all Defenders use marks, while all Leaders start with a twice-per-scene healing power. Similarly, all Martial characters use stances and Power Strike, while all Divine characters use Prayers and Acts. The goal is to establish an underlying set of mechanical assumptions, and then have each class provide a unique approach to those mechanics. Defenders mark, but how and when they enforce those marks is different for each class.

Initially, twelve classes are planned. Roles will be evenly distributed (three of each Role), while Power Sources will be a little lopsided (four Martial, but only two Primal). The reason is that all non-Martial classes use magic of some kinds, so starting with four Martial classes will give players who don't want to use magic a more diverse spread of Roles to fill. 

The plan is to start with:

Knight (Martial Defender)

Slayer (Martial Slayer)

Ranger (Martial Controller)

Warlord (Martial Leader)

Paladin (Divine Defender)

Crusader (Divine Striker)

Priest (Divine Leader)

Elementalist (Arcane Striker)

Enchanter (Arcane Controller)

Bard (Arcane Leader)

Warden (Primal Defender)

Druid (Primal Controller)

Each Class will also feature three different "builds", or packages of class features, so that players can further specialize within their Class. The Slayer, for instance, can choose bonus damage with two-handed weapons, one-handed light weapons, or ranged weapons, and further class features gained at higher levels support each of the playstyles.

An important point to reiterate is that Class has relatively little to do with how a character operates outside of combat, during the exploration portions of the adventure. As it stands, your Power Source grants you some proficiency with a single skill (Arcane characters are naturally good with Arcana, Primal characters with Nature, and so forth). The rest of your character's skills, as well as any other exploration abilities they might boast, come from their Theme. Though Themes will be discussed later, the short-and-sweet of it is that Theme is to noncombat exploration what Class is to combat encounters. Class is intended to be tied to combat mechanics, so that players can choose what they want to do in a fight by picking their Class, and also choose what they want to do while exploring by choosing a Theme.

Design Goals

-separation of combat and exploration: all players contribute equally in combat and equally out of combat

-every player at the table has a variety of interesting options

-tactical combat that is both straightforward and deep

-skill system that includes degrees of success (is not just a binary pass/fail)

-characters contribute differently, but every character can always contribute

-five basic ability scores: Strength, Agility, Wisdom, Perception, Poise

-ability scores are purely exploration and non-combat

-Backgrounds determine which skills can be chosen as trained, everyone chooses three trained skills

-Power Source adds a bonus skill (Arcane = Arcana, Divine = Religion, Martial = Athletics)

-Power Source determines the power mechanics

-Martial = stances + the ability to enhance attacks on a per-scene basis (Power Strike) with an enhanced effect depending on the current stance

-Divine = Prayers, which accumulate Faith Points, and Acts, which consume Faith Points to activate

-Arcane = cast times: big powers (Spells) take multiple rounds to cast, each time a Spell is used in a Chapter, subsequent uses of the same Spell take a round longer to cast

-Primal = Anima points: a per-Scene pool used to enhance At-Will powers by spending points

-powers are defined by Tier (Heroic, Epic, Legendary) rather than by level

-characters expand both laterally (choosing new powers appropriate to the tier) and vertically (gaining new class features)