RPG Systems: What's Missing?

[+Invocation]

For my fellow ttrpg nerds, what's one thing you wish was in more systems that just isn't? Preferably mechanical things, like prestige classes or flanking rules.

Edit: Totally forgot to put this in here, but I may or may not be building my own system here and trying to gather information on whether I've got enough of what people actually want.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Invocation

[Frustration]

Enemy modifiers.

Like an enemy class system.

I want to take a dragon, and give them unique class features, really build up how powerful and awe inspiring such creatures can be.

[+Invocation]

16 minutes ago, Frustration said:

I want to take a dragon, and give them unique class features, really build up how powerful and awe inspiring such creatures can be.

Oh yeah, that's a good one. Better than the cookie cutter metagame-able ability blocks. This one's definitely on my list of inclusions.

[Lord Gregorio he/him]

I don't have much experience with RPGs, but I think there can be a bit too many rules in stuff like D&D. My cousin made up this really fun thing we'd do where they spent weeks coming up with a world and then coming up with ways you could use the world in a D&D-like game. I really like them being a little more realistic, and a unique magic system and stuff is really cool, but takes a lot of time.

If I can think up a more specific thing. I'll come back and put it below this.

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

Two words:

Flexible Casting.

Flexible casting is a thing where you can build your own spells and have access to certain elements. I wish that it were more mainstream.

[+Invocation]

On 2/20/2023 at 4:35 PM, NerdyAarakocra said:

Flexible casting is a thing where you can build your own spells and have access to certain elements. I wish that it were more mainstream.

Glad to know I'm not the only one on that. Like easy modifications instead of flat statblocks, that's on the list already and is arguably a core of the system since classes are unique each time you play as well, snowballing with unique spells.

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

14 minutes ago, Invocation said:

Glad to know I'm not the only one on that. Like easy modifications instead of flat statblocks, that's on the list already and is arguably a core of the system since classes are unique each time you play as well, snowballing with unique spells.

Yeah! It would be fun if you could construct spells, like with 'Range' and 'Healing' to create a healing bolt.

[+Invocation]

Just now, NerdyAarakocra said:

Yeah! It would be fun if you could construct spells, like with 'Range' and 'Healing' to create a healing bolt.

That's basically what it's going to be. You choose a primary purpose (for fireball, choose Damage), a method (fire, in this case), and at least one form (ranged and round) and you've got a fireball. But if you've got the right build, your magic class can swap any portion of that for something else and make it have an entirely different effect. Damage + Fire + Wind and Fervor = Firestorm. Healing + Fire + Blood would purge blood-carried poison. And/or induce fever, if you want to be that kind of player.

[Tea Leaf]

On 2/20/2023 at 4:35 PM, NerdyAarakocra said:

Two words:

Flexible Casting.

Flexible casting is a thing where you can build your own spells and have access to certain elements. I wish that it were more mainstream.

Yes! I have actually tried that system before. Most times other people underpower or overpower it by orders of magnitude. Then spells like polymorph don't have a common mold making that style of effect either flat or a very fringe class of spell.

Then there is monster alterations, my personal system I try is trait formulas where you choose a monster level which scales everything about it allowing for heightened everything, then a pool of traits you can add on with a level scaling too.

[Frustration]

So @Invocation how is this going so far?

 

Also I think greater weapon variation would be nice, and not just different names, but crit rolls, crit damage, damage types, utility uses etc.

Especially utility, spells have a lot of utility but tools and weapons really don't in most systems.

Armor could also use a rework, in reality plate armor is virtually immune to any slashing or piercing attacks, but doesn't do a lot against blunt force. Likewise most of the time wearing armor doesn't make you harder to hit, but rather reduces the amount of damage you take.

 

I also note that a lot of systems have racial features, but no way to determine the benefits of being mixed race, like a dwarf/elf or 3/4 human 1/4 orc.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Frustration

[+Invocation]

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

So @Invocation how is this going so far?

I've had to put it on hold for a short while to focus on being able to graduate, but I've determined it to be a system based primarily around a d10 instead of a d20 like Pathfinder and DnD, as well as having no hard level cap but instead several soft level caps that lead into prestige classes or fusion classes.

2 hours ago, Frustration said:

Also I think greater weapon variation would be nice, and not just different names, but crit rolls, crit damage, damage types, utility uses etc.

Weapon variation is something I'm very interesting in making happen, but it's been hard to plan things for that in a way that's actually viable instead of horrifically breaking down. The idea that I've had that gets closest is the idea of a way to count familiarity with a weapon (starting with the equivalent of proficiency in a certain weapon group, then moving through how long you've used that particular weapon and for what purposes you've put it to) as a way to do that, but that's a lot of variables to keep track of on top of everything else, especially given how TTRPG combat tends to go.

2 hours ago, Frustration said:

Armor could also use a rework, in reality plate armor is virtually immune to any slashing or piercing attacks, but doesn't do a lot against blunt force. Likewise most of the time wearing armor doesn't make you harder to hit, but rather reduces the amount of damage you take.

The current plan is to have armor be a set mitigation against certain damage types with a variation depending on the armor type and the type of damage. To use plate as an example, the person being hit would roll whatever dice is one step downward from the damaging dice (d10 damage becomes d8 mitigation, d8 damage becomes d6 mitigation, and so on) if they're being afflicted with slashing, and that roll would subtract from the damage roll to leave whatever's left as the amount of damage taken. For slashing, it would probably be 2 steps down on plate (d10 --> d6, and so on) for balancing purposes (i.e., otherwise plate is too dang broken to include). Blunt force would have no mitigation for plate generally, unless you get special enchantments that can't be added without losing some of the other advantages. 
On the flip side of that idea, enchantments to deliver extra damage against certain armor types exist and that would work in reverse. Hit someone in plate with a hammer with an enchantment of Thunderous Force on it and you get an extra die of damage of the full d10 of the hammer's damage. In the same situation but with a Force enchantment, you'd get extra damage according to one die that is one step down from the damaging die. Hit someone in plate with a hammer that has a raw Thunder enchantment and you get an extra die of damage that's two steps down from the base damage of the hammer.
Additionally, armor will have a maximum amount of damage it can take per turn and per whatever the equivalent of a long rest ends up being. Per turn, mitigation just takes a penalty of an extra die downgrade. Per long rest...go past the amount your armor can take in one long rest three times without repairing it, your armor breaks.

I'm still not at the playtesting stage, so we'll see how some of this goes when it does happen, but I'm confident I can work out most of the kinks given a chance.

[Frustration]

2 minutes ago, Invocation said:

I've had to put it on hold for a short while to focus on being able to graduate, but I've determined it to be a system based primarily around a d10 instead of a d20 like Pathfinder and DnD, as well as having no hard level cap but instead several soft level caps that lead into prestige classes or fusion classes.

Weapon variation is something I'm very interesting in making happen, but it's been hard to plan things for that in a way that's actually viable instead of horrifically breaking down. The idea that I've had that gets closest is the idea of a way to count familiarity with a weapon (starting with the equivalent of proficiency in a certain weapon group, then moving through how long you've used that particular weapon and for what purposes you've put it to) as a way to do that, but that's a lot of variables to keep track of on top of everything else, especially given how TTRPG combat tends to go.

The current plan is to have armor be a set mitigation against certain damage types with a variation depending on the armor type and the type of damage. To use plate as an example, the person being hit would roll whatever dice is one step downward from the damaging dice (d10 damage becomes d8 mitigation, d8 damage becomes d6 mitigation, and so on) if they're being afflicted with slashing, and that roll would subtract from the damage roll to leave whatever's left as the amount of damage taken. For slashing, it would probably be 2 steps down on plate (d10 --> d6, and so on) for balancing purposes (i.e., otherwise plate is too dang broken to include). Blunt force would have no mitigation for plate generally, unless you get special enchantments that can't be added without losing some of the other advantages. 
On the flip side of that idea, enchantments to deliver extra damage against certain armor types exist and that would work in reverse. Hit someone in plate with a hammer with an enchantment of Thunderous Force on it and you get an extra die of damage of the full d10 of the hammer's damage. In the same situation but with a Force enchantment, you'd get extra damage according to one die that is one step down from the damaging die. Hit someone in plate with a hammer that has a raw Thunder enchantment and you get an extra die of damage that's two steps down from the base damage of the hammer.
Additionally, armor will have a maximum amount of damage it can take per turn and per whatever the equivalent of a long rest ends up being. Per turn, mitigation just takes a penalty of an extra die downgrade. Per long rest...go past the amount your armor can take in one long rest three times without repairing it, your armor breaks.

I'm still not at the playtesting stage, so we'll see how some of this goes when it does happen, but I'm confident I can work out most of the kinks given a chance.

You're really on top of things, I look foreward to seeing how this turns out.

[+Invocation]

2 hours ago, Frustration said:

You're really on top of things, I look foreward to seeing how this turns out.

Thank you. I'll be sure to ping you (unless you object) when I can post a major update, which will probably be this summer sometime. (If anyone else is reading this at some point in the future and would like to be added to the ping list, I can do that too!)

[Frustration]

1 minute ago, Invocation said:

Thank you. I'll be sure to ping you (unless you object) when I can post a major update, which will probably be this summer sometime. (If anyone else is reading this at some point in the future and would like to be added to the ping list, I can do that too!)

Oh please do that would be great.

[Frustration]

Alright, funny story.

I was thinking about this and the failed rpg systems I had tried to make previously, and I kind of played with the idea for a while, and then I suddenly found myself making an rpg system again.

So I guess I'm doing this too now.

[+Invocation]

On 4/11/2023 at 0:43 AM, Frustration said:

Alright, funny story.

I was thinking about this and the failed rpg systems I had tried to make previously, and I kind of played with the idea for a while, and then I suddenly found myself making an rpg system again.

So I guess I'm doing this too now.

Hey, nothing wrong with taking up the torch again! Even if nothing comes of it, it's good experience (and good fun!).

Also, minor update, because I felt like making even more work for myself: I've decided to include a mutation mechanic for an extra bit of variability to baseline stats and racial characteristics. Things like Blood Curses will have variable effects based on what the curse is (infinitely customizable with a bit of input from the DM/GM/TM) but the examples I've come up with for that category are Berserker (-Stability, +Power) and Therianthrope (-Stability, -Adaptability, +Power, +Speed). Other mutations that I'll be including as base, provided content are Size Changes (+/-Speed, +/-Endurance, +/-Power, depending on the direction), Heritage Emergence (+/-Renown, +/-Stability, +/- one other, depending on Heritage), and Planesight (-Endurance, -Stability, +Adaptability).

[+Invocation]

As promised: the summer update! I'm choosing to focus this update on the statistics and races of the system, since they're currently the two most sound portions I've got beyond the basics.
There are ten main statistics, divided up into two sets of five: five personal stats, five racial stats. The personal stats are things that can and will change, but the racial stats tend to stay stable except in worst-case scenarios. A change to personal statistics can come from leveling up, serious trauma, or just general things like that. Curses, mutations, and certain high-tier magical effects can chip away at racial stat values. Each of the five personal stats has a racial equivalent that links to it as well, which isn't something that comes into play most of the time, but a negative racial effect can have backlash on personal stats too.
Personal stats:

Spoiler

Will:
    The Will statistic could also be referred to as *determination.* This is the ability to remain dedicated through distractions. This includes emotional destabilization, extreme pain, and the inherently traumatic events that come to adventurers so frequently, such as unwittingly being exposed to forces from beyond the Pale.
    Practical applications include not falling prey to mind-altering effects, not losing your mind after repeated encounters with forces beyond the gods, and being able to create or destroy persistant spell effects (very useful for any aspiring enchanters or wardsmiths!).
    The racial statistic this links to is Stability, due to significant overlap in their functions.
Knowledge:
    Knowledge is just that: a measurement of just how much your character knows in a theoretical capacity. Some of it will be more easily implemented than others, because raw knowledge does not translate to instant capability. This will be relevant later.
    Practical applications for Knowledge include knowing general history, being able to decipher magic from its composite runes, and literacy in multiple languages.
    Knowledge links to the racial statistic of Endurance, because learning mass amounts of information is a slog and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Perception:
    Perception is the ability to notice things. Sometimes that's things that are suspiciously out of place, but sometimes it's the things are suspiciously *in* place. If you're looking to be an adventurer, this is potentially your second most-useful stat. You never know when it'll let you save your party from a trap of their own making.
    Practical applications include picking out traps from dungeon backgrounds, noticing when magic is beginning to affect the people you know best, and noticing when you and your party are being followed.
    Perception is linked to Speed, because the faster you see can see things, the faster you can process and act on them.
Competence:
    Competence is the key that makes Knowledge's repository shine. In short, it takes what knowledge lets you picture, and allows for it to be put to use in a practical manner. Some things take practice to make the most of, but the higher your Competency, the better your baseline.
    Practical applications for this stat include survival skills such as finding good firewood and navigation, true fluency in languages, and the ability to reliably match up body language to intent.
    This stat is connected to Adaptability, since they're both related to your ability to take a new situation and make it work for you.
Capacity:
    You may be wondering how Capacity is any different than Will. Truth is, they're very close. Will just happens to be the emotional and mental version of capacity. Will allows you *ignore* pain, but Capacity just lets you drive straight through it without keeling over. Will tunes out the distractions, but Capacity allows you to move past them. And of course, Capacity lets you do more with less, in terms of energy. You tire slower, are able to do more strenuous things before taking harm from it. Capacity is your physical limit where Will is your mental limit.
    Practical applications for Capacity are legion. Higher health, more weight you can lug around, and if it gets high enough, you even die slower.
    Power is the racial equivalent to this stat, since Capacity shows you how much you can do with the innate strength of your people.

Racial stats:

Spoiler

Power:
    Every race is adapted for much different circumstances and even more different uses of their natural gifts. Power is the ability of a race to exert raw physical strength on the world around them. Giants, Korsine, and Dwarves are notable examples of high-Power races. Giants are on the list by pure muscle mass avaliable, Korsine live rough lives and place a high value on their strength because of it, and Dwarves have spent centuries learning the best muscles to develop to artfully master stone with the least effort per strike.
Speed:
    Speed is self-evident: the ability to cross the most ground in the least amount of time. It is the realm of the Elves, Shicae, and Skarn primarily. The Elves learn ways to maximize their speed from the cradle, the Shicae use their natural endowment of wings to boost their normal speed, and the Skarn are used to scurrying through their barren, carved caverns at great speed.
Stability:
    Stability can best be described as the resistance of a race to sudden change. It can be bad or good, since high Stability can either end in outlasting a potentially catastrophic negative change or not getting into a beneficial trend fast enough and suffering the consequences. Stability peaks with the Alconn, Tomon, and Neshi races. The Alconn because they are literally carved from stone, the Tomon because the living forest does not change its mind easily, and the Neshi because their resurrection has left them decidedly unwilling to adapt to new situations.
Adaptability:
    In many ways, Adaptability is the opposite of Stability, though it comes with many of the same drawbacks. Masters of adaptation include the Warped, the Undra, and the Aivane. The Warped have earned their fame in this thanks to an inherently high affinity for [[Mutations]], the Undra have to repeatedly flee the scurrying warbands of the Skarn, and the Aviane are in the most literal sense blessed with an above-average ability to fit the requirements of their circumstances.
Endurance:
    Endurance is how far you can push yourself for an extended period of time without dying of exhaustion from doing so. The most persistant among the races are the humans, the Sabit, and the Drahk. Humans are and always have been inherently persistant. The Sabit have more legs than any other sapient species to distribute their effort between. The Drahk maintain some of the extreme vitality of their draconic ancestry and are able to tap into that to push themselves for longer.

There is one extra stat, called Renown, that's more of an average than anything. It's less about an active point of existence and more about how out-of-place the character would visibly be in an average town. All mentions of this here are built with the default setting in mind because if/when I put this into actual production, it will include a default module.

I hope those stats and their explanations make sense, feel free to ask questions if not.

Races:
I'm planning for 15 races offered by default, unless I come up with some other really cool idea at some point. Most of the racial statistic +/- thing that's going on is related to the lore and/or origins of each group, which will not be included here because it's way too much for a single post. Instead I'm just going to put the basic descriptions of all 15 (which does include a slight bit of lore).

Aviane:

Spoiler

The Aviane are much less distinct than most of the other races, for one singular reason: they're not technically a race at all. Aviane are chosen by gods or significantly powerful forces of nature in a process that is unclear but also undeniably an alteration to the very core of the person. They maintain features of their birth race, only shifted into the color scheme of the power that has altered them.
Aviane receive a bonus to Adaptability, having already had their worlds expanded (so to speak) and a penalty to Stability thanks to having their inner structure shifted already once. One of the remaining bonuses or penalties carries over from their genetic race (flip a coin to decide bonus or penalty.)

Alconn:

Spoiler

The origins of the Alconn are debated. Some believe the bulky stone-carved beings are a natural result of any world existing for long enough. Others believe they're a form of afterlife. Another theory has them as the remnants of an ancient golemcrafter who was simply better at his job than any person has any right to be. Regardless of where they come from, it is actually a known pattern that golems made in the image of an Alconn function better than ones shaped closer to other races. Thankfully, the true Alconn tend to have a good sense of humor and take mistakes in stride.
Alconn stats include a bonus to Endurance and Stability, with a penalty to both Adaptability and Speed.

Drahk:

Spoiler

The Drahk claim to be descended from the now-extinct race of dragons that supposedly conquered the whole of Izuno, though many of their detractors claim them to be some mage's attempt to stabilize the monstrous ahi into a true race, often with the implication that it has not wholly succeeded.
The Drahk receive a bonus to Power and Endurance, and suffer a penalty to Adaptability and Stability.

Dwarf:

Spoiler

To see a dwarf is rare. To see a dwarf outside a remote mineshaft or one of their Hollows is even rarer. To see a dwarf without a beard is a sign that you should run, and is rarest of all. Anything that makes a dwarf part with their symbiotic fungal colony of a beard will have also put them on the warpath.
Dwarves have a bonus to Stability and Power, with penalties to Adaptability and Renown (outside their Hollows).

Elf:

Spoiler

Much like the dwarves, most people will never see an elf. Unlike the dwarves, this does not make them any less deadly. The elves brook no interference with their groves and their carefully-cultivated balance of dryads and natural manifestations.
Elves get a bonus to Speed and Endurance, with a penalty to Adaptability and Renown.

Giant (you won't believe me if I say the last sentence was part of the lore before I started playing Tears of the Kingdom):

Spoiler

They're big, they're massive, they're titanic. What more can be said about the giants? They live an extremely long time, and for some odd reason are extremely fond of humans, having passed down a lot of their knowledge and architectural styles to the people they have a tendency to refer to as their "little cousins."
Bonuses are to Power and Endurance, penalties are to Speed and Adaptability. The only exception to this is the sky giants, who have inverted their penalties and bonuses after centuries of living atop floating chunks of land and have even, in recent generations, been developing wings.

Human:

Spoiler

Among the youngest of the races are humans. They haven't developed a significant niche for themselves, instead distributing themselves across all of Izuno. There have been recent efforts from some influential members among them to become a major trading force across all other boundaries, though it has yet to bear any true fruit.
Humans receive a bonus to Adaptability and Endurance, but penalties to Stability and Speed.

Korsine:

Spoiler

The Korsine are fiercely independent, preferring to live in small and somewhat isolated towns. In what seems to be a direct counterpoint to this, the tusked race also has the single highest number of mages focused around dimensional and teleportation effects. They also tend to take no offense if other races seek to join their small colonies, as long as they do not actively disrupt the harmony they strive for between themselves.
Korsine have a higher Power and Endurance than average, but trade it for a lowered Speed and Adaptability.

Neshi:

Spoiler

Nobody likes the Neshi, an attitude inherited from the vehement rejection of their progenitor. The fact that every race has an example among their resurrected numbers probably has some effect on that as well. But at least they don't forcibly convert people.
Neshi benefits are to Stability and Endurance, with negatives to Renown and Speed.

Sabit:

Spoiler

Arachnophobia is nearly non-existent among the well-traveled and well-equipped of Izuno, due primarily to the Sabit and their habit of being really good at crafting useful items and weapons. Many attribute this to the extra set of arms they have as a reminder of their arachnid heritage, and it certainly doesn't hurt.
The Sabit receive bonuses to Adaptability and Speed, but take penalties to Stability and Endurance.

Shicae:

Spoiler

The sky giants may be developing wings, but the Shicae were born to them. They also have one of the highest variability rates of any of the races, since all winged animals are represented and at some point just about every race has been added to their gene pool.
Shicae get a raised Speed and Adaptability stat, and a lowered Endurance and Stability.

Skarn:

Spoiler

The Skarn are a twisted race, fallen to a corruption that supposedly they themselves brought on and that has cost them their place on the surface of Izuno, the sun now burning them after exposed contact. It's not fully clear what happened, only that they were once a proud race, to the point of having left behind several grand ruins, and now lurk underground, hiding themselves for the wrong they see themselves as having committed.
They take a penalty to Renown and Power, but enjoy bonuses to Adaptability and Speed.

Tomon:

Spoiler

The Tomon have origins that are similarly debated to those of the Alconn, only with trees instead of stone. It is unclear if they started out as spirits and possessed trees, or if the natural spirits that the elves cultivate are something else entirely, but when you need wisdom, these are the people to come to. If, at least, you can gain their attention without withering away in the time it takes.
Stability and Renown are their high points, with lows that include Speed and Adaptability.

Undra:

Spoiler

The Undra did not care for the Skarn for a long time, viewing them as interlopers in their territory due to their history of laying claim to the depths that lie beneath. But there is evidence to the idea that the recent progress among the Skarn is due to that view changing. They tend to be a very private race, at least about their inner politics, so it has yet to be confirmed or denied officially.
The Undra have a bonus to Speed and Power, but take a penalty to Renown and Endurance.

Warped:

Spoiler

Of all the race names whose true roots have been lost to the mists of time, there is a very low chance that any of them could have been as accurate a description as that of the Warped. The Warped are to be pitied, victims of an unknown corruption that affects the eldest members of the longest-lived races, including elves, Undra, Tomon, and giants. They begin to change, turning into something less than what they were, though rarely are any two the same, even those that start as the same race.
The benefits and penalties of the Warped are dependent on the starting race, the changes made, and other factors. Ask your TM/GM/DM and work that out with them.

Questions and critiques about all of this are welcome, and I'm hoping to put up another update in August with more detail on the mechanics, followed by a period of radio silence while I adapt to grad school classes and then updates resuming whenever I can spare the creativity and attention.

Taglist: @Frustration

Edited June 7, 2023 by Invocation

[+Invocation]

As promised, let's talk mechanics now. Not everything is going to be released publicly, or even all in this one area, in case I do decide to take this to Kickstarter level (if I can ever get it good enough to deserve that) and get things into production. Anything that's been left out has probably been left out deliberately for that reason. Also, if anyone knows a lot about armor that they'd like to drop knowledge of on me, go for it. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert.
The next post I'm planning on making for Archetype is a magic breakdown, because that's been long overdue at this point.

Basic character creation mechanics:

Spoiler

There are three main factors in a creating a character within the Archetype system: the titular Archetype, the Method, and the Motivation. These may not necessarily remain the same through the entire course of a character's life and in fact shouldn't. As part of leveling up and as your character grows, there will be opportunities to change, fuse, and otherwise allow the growth of your character to shine.
There are five Archetypes present by default within this system, though any Table Master (or TM) is naturally allowed to mix those up and create new ones for specific settings and/or purposes. Those five are Wayfarer (a scouting role within the party), Skirmisher (the front lines, designed to be able to rush across battlefields wherever necessary), Shield (the party's protector), Hammer (the backbone of the party's strength), and the Caller (a versatile role, able to use otherworldly forces to fill in the gaps of the party). Each Archetype represents a core utility in an adventuring party, so it is in the best interest of a table to have each represented, especially the core Archetypes of Shield, Hammer, and Caller. By themselves, these five roles are somewhat underwhelming. Their true utility begins to shine when combined with the second aspect of a character: the Method.
A Method is exactly what it sounds like. It's how your character enacts their Archetype. A Caller sworn to a god or goddess would have their Method as either the deity in question or as the tenets of that deity's worship, depending on the deity and the Caller themselves. A Hammer or Skirmisher could choose the weapon category of their choice if they don't anticipate that changing, or a skill or statistic if they're not quite sure about that yet. A Hammer leaning into Stability would be much different than one focusing on pure Power. A Skirmisher that has decided to prioritize Speed would be able to deal slightly less damage than one who chooses their Method to be Adaptability, though a Speed Skirmisher would naturally be able to move more in a single turn than the latter. Each combination has a different strength that swaps off with a weakness. A Wayfarer using Perception as their Method could very rightly earn the name Eagle-Eye, where one who brings Stability to the forefront would be useful for scouting incursions from other planes of existence.
The final portion of your character's foundation is their Motivation. This is their goal. Did they lose their family and seek to hunt down their killers and avenge them? Are they looking for immortality? Do they want to find lost secrets of magic? It's a key part to the character, tying together their backstory and the current situation. Unlike the other two aspects of character creation, this one is free to be kept secret and changed anytime as a character develops, instead of being locked to certain milestones.
Speaking of that. Every five levels, a Method can either deepen or broaden, growing to encompass new horizons your character is developing (or attempting to develop) or allowing them to take the use of their current Method to new heights. Deepening is especially applicable to those who choose a weapon category as their Method, allowing to narrow from, say, Blunt Weapons to Hammers to a specific magical hammer they've managed to pick up and bond at some point in their first ten levels that they can continue their bonding process with, continually eking out new aspects of its powers. Broadening goes the other way. To use a Caller example, a Caller who has sworn to one god or goddess can widen their focus to another deity entirely, forming a growing pantheon that can be either an established one or a personal one. Not all gods will agree to be bound to someone who has sworn to certain other gods, however. Even the heavens hold grudges.
This can go the other way as well. Broadening to focus on more weapons families on each milestone can lead to a jack-of-all-trades situation. Deepening a bond to one god can lead to better treatment within their church (if they have a church to speak of) or a more potent suite of powers.
Similarly, Archetypes advance every ten levels. This can either be with a second Archetype, whose powers will gradually merge with the first to form something similar to a prestige Archetype (examples will come later, along with a full list of unique names for several of the common base level Archetype + Method combinations), or by doubling down on your first Archetype (again, specifics will come later).

Skills:

Spoiler

The list of skills is theoretically infinite and infinitely customizable as well. At level one, you will get five of your choice and five from your Archetype, Method, and Motive together. Generally, this is two from your Archetype, one from your Method, and two from your Motive (both of which should relate either to your character's backstory or their goals). A list of examples of the basic skills that you can select from will be included later, but it includes things like Herb Lore, Animal Tracking, and even (if you're playing that kind of character) Torture. There is a finite list of things for the Archetype-given skills, and they are what will help distinguish your style of play from an otherwise-identical character build. Those lists will also be later, but include skills such as Spellshaping (for Callers), Dodging (for Skirmishers), and Onslaught (for Hammers).
Each of these ten skills will start with a +1 bonus when you roll things for that skill.
New skills can be acquired when your TM deems your character has become familiar enough with the processes that they would have an advantage over the average person trying to do something relating to that skill. Something that's important to remember is that just because you do not have a bonus to a skill, that does not mean you can't roll to try it. It just means you're about as good as the average adult would be at that skill.
Just as there are positive bonuses for skills, certain backstory elements, magical effects, and general character details can deliver negative bonuses to certain things. Someone blind in one eye will likely have a negative score to a Visual Aiming skill. It's important for a character to have flaws, after all, or they wouldn't have anything to overcome.
And you can overcome negative skill modifiers. For example, our friend the depth-perception-challenged archer could gain another sense to help him aim. Windsense to allow him to sense how the arrow will fly maybe, or a better sense of smell to locate enemies. But those lead into further growth for character and campaign alike, as advantages and disadvantages become clear.
It is highly recommended that characters start with at least one negative modifier in anything from Anger Management (if you want a hotheaded character) to Risk Assessment (if you want to play someone with a healthy dose of paranoia). It's not required, but giving your character a trait can help the campaign feel more real and the character feel more lively.

A turn in Archetype:

Spoiler

Turns are both incredibly simple and devilishly complex within Archetype's structure. A character starts with one Act every turn. This is universal at the lower levels, for characters, enemies, and any poor NPCs that have found their way into combat. There is no need to fear being blitzed by an enemy in one turn unless you've truly wandered into some area you shouldn't be. (Side note: TMs. I'm not saying not to do this. I'm not saying this is a bad idea. But do not do this without talking about it with your table first. They deserve a warning and the chance to know about that kind of thing being a potential.)
Back on topic, every seven levels, right as things begin to become constrictive within your current amount of Acts, you get another. The further you grow, the more things take multiple Acts to execute. Some fifteenth-tier spells (that's the peak of a dedicated spellcaster's access, all the way up at level 50!) take longer to string together and some combats at lower levels last. It's just how things go when you're fighting on that level. Many, many campaigns will not last long enough to get to that level, but it's always there for those of you who want to fight gods and the kind of entity that preys on gods.
Each Act is fairly simple. You can deal one strike's worth of damage with whatever weapon you're using with one Act. You can move up to the full value of your Speed statistic in one Act. You can cast a tier one or two spell with one Act. You can Jump a distance up to half your total Speed, Shove someone, Seize someone, or other basic, quick actions in a single Act. When in doubt, ask your TM whether it's feasible or not.
Some extenuating circumstances can make things that are normally one Act worth more. This can include Treacherous Footing, which can halve the distance your Speed will let you cover in one Act, and certain spell effects. If one of these effects makes an action you want to take worth more than the number of Acts you have left, you cannot do those things until you have enough Acts to make it possible. On the flip side of that, some things give you more Acts in a turn. Certain Archetype abilities allow for a replenishment that is more frequent than the overnight recovery that's typical, and some spells will allow for extra Acts or the trading of unused Acts between caster and subject.
For those of you curious how self-made spells and unique combinations will interact with this system, there will be a further explanation of how to calculate that in the section dedicated to spell creation.

Rolling:

Spoiler

When things really get going at an Archetype table, the dice start to come out. That's where the fun really starts. The base die of an Archetype game is the d10, and more specifically, the 0-9 d10. Compared to the more typical d20 TTRPG setup, there is a higher chance of both success and failure, though a ten-point scale is a fairly intuitive way to rate how successful something has been. Certain effects will require other dice, however, most commonly d8s and d6s, so it's good to have the full suite to hand if possible or a rolling app if not. However, using a d10 also sacrifices some of the nuance of a d20-based system. For this reason, the scale of success or failure for Archetype is not a true ten-point scale, ranging between 15 and -5 (counting bonuses and negatives, the maximum of which is 5 either direction). A -5 and a 15 are both not really options until some of the highest higher levels, since higher stakes means higher chances for minuscule mishaps to snowball into massive mayhem.
For the natural values (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9), a 0 is a catastrophic failure and a 9 is an overwhelming success.
Players, your TM may have events that take place on each of these, either things going hilariously wrong as part of a 0 roll or things ending on the best possible note for a 9. If you don't know, ask!
TMs, if you do this, your negatives shouldn't be "your character dies." These are meant to be funny, not punishing. Having a character trip while trying to sneak up on someone and accidentally alerting the target? Funny. Dying outright because of one bad roll? Not so much. They should also be connected to what's happening, not someone just getting smote by a god or struck by a bolt of lightning out of the blue.
When determining your roll's result, don't forget to add any bonuses you might have. If you're not sure about any bonuses you have, rereading your skills section will help.

Damage and Armor:

Spoiler

There's a lot to armor, so buckle in for a ride. Archetype's armor system works via damage mitigation on a sliding scale. Each style of armor has advantages and disadvantages, but to understand those, we need to talk about damage types.
There are five main types of physical damage: Direct, Blunt, Carving, Catching, and Ranged. Direct is a single point of force concentration, generally including weapons like lances and spears. Blunt damage comes from hammers and maces primarily, but also shield-bashing. Carving is from edged weapons, such as swords and claws. Catching damage is designed to shred, coming from any and all serrated weapons as well as many axes and carnivore teeth. Each of these damage types has different advantages and disadvantages, based mostly in how they interact with armor.
The simplest level of armor does absolutely nothing: normal clothes. Whether it's linen, wool, or sackcloth, it doesn't do a thing to save you from damage.
The next step up is layered cloth armor. This will take a single point of damage off of any of the types of damage, but not anything more.
Beyond that are things like leather and hide, which will generally absorb about d4 of any of the damage types. It can be augmented with metal studs to take off another d2 of damage against any damage type other than Catching. Adding metal actually gives the serration a better foothold to work its magic.
The third true armor level is things like chain shirts, scale mail, and lamellar armor. This is where things begin to get complex as the damage types have noticeably different interactions with armor of this level. As a base, third-level armor mitigates a d6 of damage. Unfortunately, it doesn't work very well against Catching (for which it will only do a d6-1 of damage cancellation for the same reason as on the studding in the previous armor category) but works very well against Carving damage (a d4+1).
The second-best level of armor includes a breastplate (just the breastplate) and plated mail, which take away a d8 of damage by default. This level of armor is very good against Catching damage (a d6+1 of damage mitigation), but not very good against Direct damage (a d6-1).
The final mundane armor level is full plate. It's very good against Carving and Catching damage (a d8+1), but not so good against Direct and Blunt (a d8-1 of mitigation).
Shields follow a similar pattern based on the material they're made out of, but where armor is damage mitigation, this is a durability slider. Shields break a lot easier than armor does, and each material has its place on a table with how much it can mitigate per blow and how much durability it has before it becomes unable to absorb any more damage. [Table not present because I can't make the formatting work]

Thoughts are welcome! I know I still have a lot of work to do on the armor stuff.
Taglist: @Frustration

[Frustration]

Interesting, I like how you went with rolling dice to reduce damage rather than a flat reduction, that's definitely more fun.

 

On armor, studded leather really isn't a thing.

I mean yes it appears in the historical record, but the vast majority of what we call studded leather is actually an armor called brigandine(probably the second most underappreciated armor outside of gambeson). On the inside of the armor is a collection of small metal plates, that are held in place by being riveted to a piece of leather or gambeson, which are what the studs are. It's a cheaper, and more flexible version of plate for the most part.

 

On how the damage interacts with the armor it looks good, though I will admit I have no idea how serrated weapons would interact with armor.

[+Invocation]

5 hours ago, Frustration said:

I mean yes it appears in the historical record, but the vast majority of what we call studded leather is actually an armor called brigandine(probably the second most underappreciated armor outside of gambeson). On the inside of the armor is a collection of small metal plates, that are held in place by being riveted to a piece of leather or gambeson, which are what the studs are. It's a cheaper, and more flexible version of plate for the most part.

You know, I thought about using brigandine as the term for that level of armor but decided it was less recognizable than studded armor. Didn't want to give people another thing to have to adjust to while they're trying to learn an entire new RPG system. Also I figured it didn't make sense without the term "brigand" existing really at all.

5 hours ago, Frustration said:

Interesting, I like how you went with rolling dice to reduce damage rather than a flat reduction, that's definitely more fun.

Variation is the spice of life. Glad you don't think it's too complicated, I was vaguely worried about it coming across as being too many dice to roll for one interaction.

6 hours ago, Frustration said:

On how the damage interacts with the armor it looks good, though I will admit I have no idea how serrated weapons would interact with armor.

I'm not honestly sure too much either, but it seems like armor that has a higher chance to actually catch the serrations would suffer worse than something like an actual breastplate that would generally refuse to give the teeth purchase.

If I can ask, what do you think about the Archetypes themselves? Too general? Too specific?

[Frustration]

On 8/19/2023 at 4:59 PM, Invocation said:

You know, I thought about using brigandine as the term for that level of armor but decided it was less recognizable than studded armor. Didn't want to give people another thing to have to adjust to while they're trying to learn an entire new RPG system. Also I figured it didn't make sense without the term "brigand" existing really at all.

Ah I see, you are a man of culture as well.

On 8/19/2023 at 4:59 PM, Invocation said:

I'm not honestly sure too much either, but it seems like armor that has a higher chance to actually catch the serrations would suffer worse than something like an actual breastplate that would generally refuse to give the teeth purchase.

So I've thought more about this and I think that while it would be harder to repair, I think that much like gut hooks the teeth are liable to get caught on something and prevent you from using the weapon effectively.

On 8/19/2023 at 4:59 PM, Invocation said:

If I can ask, what do you think about the Archetypes themselves? Too general? Too specific?

Too specific personally.

The archetypes remind me of the party roles from 4e.

Personally(and this is just my opinion and I may not be your target audience so take this with a grain of salt) it is less exciting to force myself to play the same roll in combat every time for the same character.

For example in 5e I recently made a war magic wizard with a level in peace domain cleric.

With that one build I have a lot of options for how I want to play, I can sit in the back focusing on a summoning spell while the other party members go melee, I can throw up a wall of fire to give cover and then allow the party to sit back at range. I can spam blasting spells until everything dies. Or if I feel so inclined, I can throw on some half plate and a shield, prepare the Shield spell, cast Spirit Guardians and walk into melee myself.

I have all these options available each time I enter combat, able to adapt to party need or circumstances, which I think is more fun.

[+Invocation]

On 8/21/2023 at 9:47 AM, Frustration said:

Ah I see, you are a man of culture as well.

I wouldn't go that far, it just happened to have come up on one of the pages I was looking things up for armor stuff on.

On 8/21/2023 at 9:47 AM, Frustration said:

So I've thought more about this and I think that while it would be harder to repair, I think that much like gut hooks the teeth are liable to get caught on something and prevent you from using the weapon effectively.

I could see that. I honestly might keep it anyway under creative license because as much as I hate to say I got attached to a meaningless mechanic like serrated armor messing up armor, I totally got attached to it. Or maybe not. I'll keep thinking on it.

On 8/21/2023 at 9:47 AM, Frustration said:

The archetypes remind me of the party roles from 4e.

They were kind of meant to invoke that (because I kind of thought it was a good concept even if it needed some work), and I do agree that it seems like they'd be restrictive at first but that's what the Methods are for (it's absolutely my attempt to rescue one of the few things I've enjoyed about the few 4e games I've played). Let's take your War Wizard/Peace Cleric as an example.

On 8/21/2023 at 9:47 AM, Frustration said:

For example in 5e I recently made a war magic wizard with a level in peace domain cleric.

This is absolutely not something possible at low levels, naturally. You'd need at least two levels in Wizard and at least one level in Cleric. And with the breadth of things you mentioned doing, you're probably what, level 5 overall? Let's call it level 5 for ease. That's 25% of the way through the maximum level of any one class in DnD, even if most campaigns don't make it that far and even if it's spread across two classes. Keep that 25% in mind.
In Archetype, you get a new Method (or a deeper Method) every five levels and a chance for a new Archetype every ten. Call it level 10, so you've got three Methods (level 1, level 5, and level 10) and two Archetypes. Double Caller could work, or Caller/Hammer, depending on how often you actually intend on waltzing yourself into actual melee range. More than doable. If your level 1 Method was Ranged Magic or Evocation Magic or Elemental Magic, you can spam one-Act bolts of fire/ice/lightning from the back or throw up walls of stone, fire, or wind with no issues. That's two of your mentioned functions covered without a single level-up. But lets say you got tired of spamming spells and hit level 5, so you take your second Method as Summoning or Combat Magic. Whichever you take, take the other at level 10 alongside your new Archetype.
Now I know that seems like a long time to wait, but the first ten levels of Archetype go really fast. It's not intended to be an arduous journey, though numerically it seems that way because I forgot to mention the maximum level of Archetype: 50. Level 10 is only 20% through the total progression of a single character.
It's the end of the tutorial, essentially. I'm anticipating a lot of campaigns starting at level 10, just like a lot of DnD campaigns start at level 5.
This was probably my fault for not explaining fully, but I promise, the variation is there, especially with custom spell creation.

Also, I've changed a few things: Racial Statistics are now Origin Statistics and you now get 15 Skills instead of 10 (the bonus 5 get chosen by your TM).

[Frustration]

On 9/10/2023 at 2:44 AM, Invocation said:

They were kind of meant to invoke that (because I kind of thought it was a good concept even if it needed some work), and I do agree that it seems like they'd be restrictive at first but that's what the Methods are for (it's absolutely my attempt to rescue one of the few things I've enjoyed about the few 4e games I've played). Let's take your War Wizard/Peace Cleric as an example.

This is absolutely not something possible at low levels, naturally. You'd need at least two levels in Wizard and at least one level in Cleric. And with the breadth of things you mentioned doing, you're probably what, level 5 overall? Let's call it level 5 for ease. That's 25% of the way through the maximum level of any one class in DnD, even if most campaigns don't make it that far and even if it's spread across two classes. Keep that 25% in mind.
In Archetype, you get a new Method (or a deeper Method) every five levels and a chance for a new Archetype every ten. Call it level 10, so you've got three Methods (level 1, level 5, and level 10) and two Archetypes. Double Caller could work, or Caller/Hammer, depending on how often you actually intend on waltzing yourself into actual melee range. More than doable. If your level 1 Method was Ranged Magic or Evocation Magic or Elemental Magic, you can spam one-Act bolts of fire/ice/lightning from the back or throw up walls of stone, fire, or wind with no issues. That's two of your mentioned functions covered without a single level-up. But lets say you got tired of spamming spells and hit level 5, so you take your second Method as Summoning or Combat Magic. Whichever you take, take the other at level 10 alongside your new Archetype.
Now I know that seems like a long time to wait, but the first ten levels of Archetype go really fast. It's not intended to be an arduous journey, though numerically it seems that way because I forgot to mention the maximum level of Archetype: 50. Level 10 is only 20% through the total progression of a single character.
It's the end of the tutorial, essentially. I'm anticipating a lot of campaigns starting at level 10, just like a lot of DnD campaigns start at level 5.
This was probably my fault for not explaining fully, but I promise, the variation is there, especially with custom spell creation.

Also, I've changed a few things: Racial Statistics are now Origin Statistics and you now get 15 Skills instead of 10 (the bonus 5 get chosen by your TM).

Well that was my one worry, which you seem to have well handled, so I think it looks good overall.