SRK Arena Game Idea thread: Crazy RPG Arena of Deathness

Although there is already a mafia game thread which includes the arena games, I wanted to make a separate thread for a game I wish to run. This is my admittedly massive idea for a RPG-style arena game. There’s a lot here to take in, but the good thing is that there’s so much that we probably won’t cover everything in a single game, so we can always omit things that don’t work if necessary. The first game will be a trial run, then. If everything works out then we can fix what we need to and adapt it to new games. In fact, there’s no reason why it necessarily has to be an arena style game at all. The game system could be adapted to a story-based game just as easily.

The first game will be Super Hero themed. You will be creating a super hero with special powers, be they magical or otherwise, to take on a rival group of super hero forces in an all out battle to the death. Choose from a host of abilities, detailed below (not complete, but very near. I will update the thread as I work), to make your character unique to you your tastes and your team’s needs. Use your imagination. The elemental system is pretty flexible and allows for most traditional rpg game elements to be utilized. With creativity, pretty much any traditional super power or magical ability can be created.

Take some time and look over the information provided so far and see if this is something you’d like to play. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me either here or in a PM. The game is about 80% done currently, so if you come across some strange “X” or something, it’s just a temporary place holder. Once complete I will be opening up this thread for sign-ups.

Thanks, and have fun!

Game Info:
All players are placed in an arena-style battle, similar to the other arena games previously ran on this site by Pimp Willy and AlphaCommando. The game is comprised of a series of rounds and each player has a set of actions that can be performed each round:


Player actions:

1.    Attack
2.    Defend
3.    Scavenge for items 
4.    Use an item, ability or area feature
5.    Cast a Spell

All actions resolve simultaneously, unless otherwise specified. 

All actions require an expenditure of Action Points (AP). Below is a list of common actions and their associated AP cost. Action Points are recovered at the rate of one point every round. A player may complete as many actions as they have AP available to pay for them with.

Player Stats:
Each player starts with the following stats:


Player Stats:

10 Hit Points
5 Action Points
1 Offense Rating
1 Defense Rating

Playing the game:
Players each submit their actions to the GM who will resolve all of them. When a player’s HP is reduced below 0, that player is considered dead and is unable to act. When each member of a team has died, the game will be considered over and victory granted to the team with any number of players remaining.

How to resolve attacks:
A Player’s Attack Rating directly opposes other player’s Defense Rating. When an attack is leveraged against a character, their defense rating is lowered by an amount equal to the attacker’s Attack Rating. If the defender’s Defense Rating is lowered below 0, the difference between the two numbers is subtracted from their Hit Points.

Example: Player A with an Offense Rating of 4 attacks Player B with a Defense Rating of 3. Player B’s Defense Rating absorbs 3 points of Player A’s attack, allowing 1 point of damage to get through, which lowers Player B’s Hit Points by 1 point.

Utilizing the Defend ability Increases your Defense Rating by half and decreases the likelihood that any status affects will be inflicted upon you by a small amount.

Example: The next round, Player B utilizes the Defend ability, which increases his Defense Rating of 3 to 4 (all decimal values are rounded down), meaning that Player A’s next attack with an Offense Rating of 3 will not penetrate Player B’s defenses.

Scavenging for items:
Most of the time, items are present and visible to all players. In this case, all players will be informed of the presence of all visible items at the start of the round. Players may choose to pick up the items, one at a time. If more than one player goes after the same item, then a random roll by the GM will decide the outcome.

Sometimes items are hidden. A simple Scavenge for Items action may reveal the location of these hidden items, in which case, the player will be given the choice to take the item if they wish. If more than one player goes after the same hidden item, then a random roll by the GM will decide the outcome.

Using an item, ability, or area feature:
The following explains how to use Items, Abilities and Area Features.

Using Items:
Some items have features that much be activated in order to access. Using an item usually costs 1 AP and takes effect immediately, but some items have higher costs associated with them and may take effect in the subsequent round.

Using Abilities:
An ability is an special type of action that is usually provided by an Aptitude (covered in depth in a later section). Each ability comes with special rules that govern its use, but most are simply used in the same manner as a standard Attack action.

Using Arena Features:
Each round takes place on a different Arena features with varying features that may be taken advantage of by players. These include Cover to protect oneself from behind, Hiding Spots to hide oneself inside of, and Vantage Points to capture and safely fire upon enemies from. Certain areas may have other special features that will be explained upon their occurrence within the game.

List of Arena Features:

[spoiler]Cover – Being under cover provides protection against ranged attacks at the expense of being unable to attack with melee weapons. Attacks with ranged weapons and some spells are still possible.

Hide – You are unable to be located, and therefore unable to be attacked. Hidden characters are still subject to effects that target globally. Attacking from a hidden position yields a +1 to that attack. The bonus attack does not apply to targets that have cover.

Vantage – Vantage provides the means to attack with ranged weapons more successfully. While under the protection of Vantage, a character is not subject to most melee attacks. They are still subject to ranged attacks, spells, global effects and some special forms of melee attacks. Additionally, a character may be knocked from Vantage, incurring HP damage from the fall. [/spoiler]

Player Action Overview:


Action ------------------------ AP Cost
Attacking-------------------------Weapon AP Cost
Defending-------------------------Shield AP Cost (1 for unarmed)
Grabbing/using an Item------------1 AP
Taking Cover----------------------2 AP
Climbing to Vantage---------------2 AP
Hiding----------------------------2 AP
Using an ability/spell-----------Varies

Aptitudes:
Aptitudes are character traits, chosen by each player, that either enhances them, or gives them access to a certain features that would not normally be accessible by them. For example, the ability to cast spells is achievable only through the use of the Elementalist aptitude. Without it, casting spells is impossible. If you are familiar with the “feats” system used by Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 and 3.5, then you should have a good idea of how aptitudes work. Each character has access to two(2) aptitudes upon creation. Opportunities may arise to acquire a third or even a fourth, however such occurrences will be extremely rare, if ever realized.

A tentative list of aptitudes:


Armsman - AP costs of Armor and Shields wielded by you is lowered by 1 point.
Brute – Permanently deal 1 extra damage on physical attacks
**Sharpshooter **– Permanently deal 1 extra damage on ranged attacks
Crack Shot – Gain 1 bonus damage when shooting from Vantage
Elemental Infusion - Permanently deal an extra 2 chosen type of elemental damage with all melee attacks
Second Nature
**Magi **– Permanently deal an extra 1 damage on all magic attacks
Effective Caster - Your spell effects with random elements are have an additional 5% chance to take hold.
Persistent Caster - Your spell effects with a duration last an extra round, at the cost of 50% higher AP cost. In the case of spells costing 1AP, .5 AP expenditure is possible.
Health Nut – Permanently gain 3 extra max hit points
**Tough Guy **– Permanently gain 1 extra defense
**Deceitful **– Disguises your visual appearance
**Jitter **– Hides you from scanners
**Perceptive **– Can spot hidden players.
**Speedy **– Gives you a small advantage to gain contested items
**Stealthy **– Able to hide without the use of Hiding Spots
**Sneaky **– Able use items and trade them to other players undetected.
**Thief **– Able to steal coins from other players, also sometimes able to secretly take items without being seen
**Telepathic **– Able to communicate to other players via the use of codes.
**Cryptographer **– Able to decipher some codes used by other players.
Pocket Dimension – Able to carry one extra item that becomes usable in the subsequent round it is retrieved.
**Duelist **– Able to disarm items from other players. Once disarmed, they are subject to be picked up by anyone.
Monkey Grip – Cannot be disarmed, counter all disarm attempts with your own.
Heavy Handed – Attacks with 2-handed weapons have a chance to break opponent’s weapons.
**Nuisance **– Once every other round when you land a melee attack, you have the option to force your target to focus their next attack or offensive spell or item towards you.
**Flight **– Gives you a small advantage to gain contested vantage points. Able to freely attack characters who have vantage. Not compatible with Super Flight.
Super Flight – Able to automatically take vantage once every 2 rounds. Not compatible with Flight.
**Elementalist **– You are a spell caster, able to manifest your chosen element. Begin with two spells. Every other round you get to put a new spell into your spell book.
Twin Masteries – Able to cast spells of two different elements, but only able to select one spell at start. This aptitude counts as “Elementalist” for the purpose of becoming a spell caster.
Combat ReflexesRanged attacks no longer resolve before you can apply defense.
Silver Spoon – Begin the game with a random item.
Old Money – Begin the game with 2 extra coins
**Resistance **– Receive a permanent resistance of 1 to the chosen element.
**Anatomy **– Your sneak attacks deal 1 extra physical damage.
Adrenaline Junky – Able to generate an extra action point once every 2 rounds.
**Penetration **– Gives you a small advantage to have spells take effect even when negated or resisted.
Magic Miser – Chosen spell costs one less AP to cast (to a minimum of .5 AP) Note that this aptitude only affects spells, and not effect costs.
Mental Expansion – You gain an extra Action Point.
Mental Clarity –Your AP pool limit is permanently frozen at 5 points. Recover double your normal amount of AP each round.
Expanded Mind – Your AP recovery is halved. Start the game with an AP pool of 6 instead of 5.
**Hoarder **– You maintain a small reserve of 2 AP that can only be utilized once standard AP pool is exhausted. The reserve pool recovers at 1 point per round only while your normal AP pool is full.
**Banker **– You receive 1 additional coin per round.
Gadgeteer– You have a small chance to receive a random item every two rounds.

Spells and Spell Casting:
The use of spells is limited to characters who have acquired the Elementalist aptitude. Upon acquiring Elementalist status, the character is able to select 2 spells of their choice and design. Designing a spell is as simple as picking out a basic spell type and applying one or more of the various spell effects to it. Each feature of spell design, the basic types and each effect, have an associated cost in AP which must be expended in order to cast the spell. Generally, the more powerful the spell, the more it will cost in AP.

The Elements:
Spells are drawn from the power of the elements, each one with their own specific traits, strengths and weaknesses. They are as follows:
Fire:

Water:

Air:

Earth:

Light:

Dark:


Fire - Controls extremely high temperatures, flames and their effects. Consumes Air. Countered by Water. 
Water - Controls extremely low temperatures, water and their effects. Consumes Fire. Countered by Earth.
Air - Controls the wind and its effects. Erodes Earth. Countered by Fire.
Earth - Controls the Earth and its effects. Consumes Water. Countered by Air. 
Light - Controls Light and its effects. Exposes and is countered by Darkness. 
Dark - Controls darkness and shadows and their effects. Blots out and is countered by Light.

Each spell must utilize one or more of these elements.

Designing a Spell:

Step 1 - choosing a Spell Type
Every spell must be one of the three basic spell types, Projectile, Force, or Effect. Each spell type is detailed below:

[spoiler]Projectiles – Manifesting a projectile creates a physical object of the appropriate element. All such objects are subject to being blocked by shields and may utilize Vantage.

Force – Manifesting a force creates an intangible magical force of the appropriate element. Forces are unable to be blocked, and are unable to fully utilize Vantage; losing power if driven from such places.

Effect – Manifesting an effect creates some sort of change in the target or subject(s) of the spell. Effect spells may utilize Vantage, however the effect deals no damage. Each additional effect added to a spell decreases the chance that each effect will take hold on the target by a small margin. Examples of effects are healing and buff/debuff effects. See the Spell Effect listing below for a complete listing of available effects. [/spoiler]

Step 2 - Add spell properties
Once a basic spell type has been chosen, the properties for the spell can be decided. Depending on the Spell Type, certain properties can be added to the spell to determine what its effects are once cast:

Manifest Projectile – A magically-driven projectile deals damage of the appropriate element. Projectiles can be blocked and may utilize Vantage. Costs 2 AP per projectile and deal 3 damage per projectile


Fire Projectile - A chunk of burning rock
Water Projectile - An ice ball or water jet
Air Projectile - A tornado or lightning bolt
Earth Projectile - A large rock
Light Projectile - A beam of pure light
Dark Projectile - A chunk of condensed shadow

Manifest Force – A magically-driven force deals damage of the appropriate element. Forces cannot be blocked, but lose power from Vantage. Costs 2 AP per force and deal 2 damage per force


Force of Fire - A wave of heat, or a fireball
Force of Water - A wave of water, or freezing vapor
Force of Earth - A storm of sand or gravel
Force of Light - An intense beam of light
Force of Darkness - A thick cover of shadow

Manifest effect – A magic effect afflicts the target. Costs 1 AP per effect, slightly less chance to apply per effect, deal no damage and may utilize Vantage.

Effects apply various status effects. Choose the right one for the right situation. Mix and match them for a more powerful spell that can thoroughly disable the enemy, at the cost of precious Action Points:

Universal Effects (Effects that are possible with any element):

[spoiler]Dispel – Dispels one effect of the appropriate color.

Elemental Guardian – Summons an elemental of the appropriate type for 1 round per charge. Guardians have the following statistics: (to be added)

Trap – Traps an item, cover or vantage location, dealing appropriate element damage.

Elemental Coat – Coats an item with the appropriate elemental effect for 1 round per charge. Weapons deal 1 extra point of elemental damage per charge, armor & shields absorb 1 extra elemental damage per charge. Costs 1 AP per charge

Elemental Shield – An elemental shield deals back 1 damage per charge of the appropriate type to attackers Costs 1 AP per charge:

  • Flameshield: Deal 1 Fire damage per charge back to an attacker. (Fire)
  • IceShield: Deal 1 Water damage per charge back to an attacker. (Water)
  • Windshield: Deal 1 Air damage per charge back to an attacker. (Air)
  • Gemshield: Deal 1 Earth damage per charge back to an attacker. (Earth)
  • Ray Shield: Deal 1 Light damage per charge back to an attacker. (Light)
  • Shadowguard: Deal 1 Dark damage per charge back to an attacker. (Dark)

Elemental Field – Coats the ground with elemental substance, yielding a 10% chance for element-appropriate results. Alternatively, being on a friendly field yields a small bonus (1 damage, +5% effect chance) to spells of that element that are cast while on the field for 1 rounds per charge. (Costs 2 AP per charge):

  • Fire Field: Magma burns the ground, negating water effects and dealing 1 fire damage per round and blinding targets with smoke (10% chance)
  • Water Field: Negates fire effects and makes target receive 5% more from lightning damage, and subject to slipping (10%) and being unable to act during the next round
  • Air Field: Foggy vapor makes it difficult to see in the area, negating Earth effects and resulting in 10% miss chance to target.
  • Earth Field: Grounds target, negating Air effects, and rooting target for 1 round per charge (10% Chance)
  • Light Field: Illumination results in –1 target defense. Targets cannot hide and have a 10% chance of being illuminated for an extra round.
  • Dark Field: Dark shadows results in an 5% miss chance to targets. Targets have 10% chance to take 1 Shadow damage. [/spoiler]

Unique Effects (Effects that are unique to a particular element):

[spoiler]Fire

  • Burning Spirit: Yields 3 temporary HP (Fire) Costs 3 AP
  • Fire Whirl: Attacks target for 1 Fire damage. Also provides Vantage in the subsequent round. Costs 2 AP (Fire)
  • Heat Vision: Detect hidden characters. Costs 1 AP (Fire)
  • Ember Flick: Illuminates target for 1 round, making it impossible to hide. Costs 1 AP (Fire)
  • Burning Spirit: Increases target attack power by 1. Costs 1 AP (Fire)

Water

  • Healing Ripple: Heals Target for 2 HP. Costs 1 AP (Water)
  • Geyser: Attacks target for 1 water damage. Also provides Vantage in the subsequent round. Costs 2 AP (Water)
  • Skate: Give you a slight advantage (+5%) to reach area features. Costs 1 AP (Water)
  • Purify: Next round regenerate 1 extra Action Point. Costs 1 AP (Water)
  • Regenerative Stream: 2 targets per charge, chosen by you regenerate 1 HP every subsequent round for 1 round per charge. Costs 3 AP (Earth)

Air

  • Haste: Take an extra action after all others have been resolved, even if you’re dead. (Air)
  • Fly: Gives Vantage and the ability to freely attack characters with Vantage normally for the duration of the round. Costs 3 AP (Air)
  • Healing Breeze: Heals Target for 2 HP. Costs 1 AP (Air)
  • Gust: Removes target from vantage. Chance to remove flying from target Costs 1 AP (Air)
  • Whirlwind: Attacks target for 1 Air damage. Also provides Vantage in the subsequent round. Costs 2 AP (Air)

Earth

  • Resurrection: Bring target back to life in the subsequent round with 3 HP. Costs 5 AP (Earth).
  • Bolster: Increases physical shield by 1 for 1 round per charge. Costs 1 AP per charge (Earth)
  • Heal: Heals Target for 2 HP. Costs 1 AP (Earth)
  • Quake: Randomly disrupts the actions of 2 people chosen by you for 1 round per charge. Costs 3 AP (Earth)
  • Regenerative Spores: You regenerate 1 HP per charge every subsequent round for 1 round per charge. (Earth)

Light

  • Clone: Creates a clone of target that you control during the subsequent round Costs 3 AP (Light)
  • Shimmer: Attacks against target are subject to a 5% miss chance per charge. Costs 1 AP (Light)
  • Healing Light: Heals Target for 2 HP. Costs 1 AP (Light)
  • Beacon: Marks a target, granting 1 allies +1 attack against them for 1 round per charge. Costs 3 AP (Light)
  • Purity: Target is immune to all attacks and damage during the round. Costs more AP each cast on the same target. AP cost is lowered every 3 rounds it is not used on that target. Costs 4 AP (Light)
  • Illuminate: Removes 1 hiding spot. Can also reveal the user of the Stealthy Aptitude or blind a target, providing a miss chance with melee attacks and projectiles Costs 2 AP (Light)

Dark

  • Dimensional Rift: Opens up a pocket rift much like the Aptitude. Costs 3 AP (Dark)
  • Charm: Controls the target on the subsequent round (Dark). Costs 3 AP
  • Matter Warp: Allows melee attacks to normally hit targets with Vantage for 1 round per charge. Costs 1 AP (Dark)
  • Stun: Stuns target until the next round. Costs 2 AP (Dark)
  • Matter Phase: Removes target Cover Object from the area. Costs 1 AP (Dark)
  • Soul Tap: Steals 1 HP from target, Costs 3 AP (Dark)[/spoiler]

Every Spell has an associated AP cost, calculated from the total costs of the Effects associated with that Spell.

Tips for mages:

  • Don’t try to learn EVERY effect, 1but rather just focus on the ones needed to defeat your enemies.
  • Teamwork. Two mages specialized in different effects can be better than one highly-skilled mage working alone.
  • Know thy enemies. Keep an eye on enemy abilities, so that you can negate them before they have a change to harm your team. Items like Scanners are good for gathering this information.

Sword Tek:
Sword Tek is the ancient art of directly imbuing weapons with elemental power. It differs from Magic in that the power comes not from the caster, but rather from the Magical Aether that permeates the entire universe. Use of these abilities requires a Terracite of the appropriate type equipped inside a weapon’s Tek slot.

Sword Tek does not cost AP to utilize, but most weapons are limited to only one Sword Tek ability.

Tentative list of Sword Tek Abilities:


Enchant – Permanently enchants weapon with elemental power, dealing an extra 1 point of damage. 
Exigency –Attacks have a small chance to recover 1 AP (Fire)
Brand – Attacks have a small chance to burn target for 1 point of damage each subsequent round (Fire)
Wiz Whomper – Attacks with weapon have a small chance to silence target for 1 round. (Air)
Whirlwind Strike – Attacks have a small chance to attack an additional target for 1 point of damage. (Air)
Penetrating Strike – Attacks have a small chance to ignore 1 point of armor. (Earth)
Reprisal Strike – Provides a small chance to strike back at an attacker for an extra 1 point of damage (Earth)
Freezing Strike – Attacks that has a small chance to freeze target for 1 round (Water)
Rust – Attacks have a small chance to decay target’s equipment by 1 point until repaired (Water)
Gleam – Attacks with weapon have a small chance to blind target for 1 round. (Light)
Sanction – Attacks with weapon have a small chance to mark the target, rendering them unable to attack you for 1 round. (Light)
Siphon – Attacks with weapon have a small chance to steal 1 HP from target. (Dark)
Sap – Attacks with weapon have a small chance to steal 1 attack from target for 1 round. (Dark)

Items:
Items are used to enhance player stats or produce other effects. Some items are used in conjunction with other items. Item types include Weapons, Armor, Accessories, standard items, & Consumables.

Item Shops – Items may be purchased at shops (random inventory) or picked up within the arena. Shop Inventory is always randomized at the start of a round. Team sponsors may purchase items and distribute them to teammates of their choice. Also, every now and then, a shop keeper enters the arena, risking everything to make a sale. Keep in mind that these shop keepers are ex arena combatants themselves, so use caution when dealing with them!

Weapons –Weapons are items that generally enhance the character’s Attack Rating. Some produce other effects, but this is their primary use.

Melee Weapons – Your standard issue weapons. Walk up your opponent and kill them. It’s that easy. Well, not really, but that’s the gist of it. Most melee weapons can be thrown, but must be recovered before using again. Characters may equip up to two melee weapons.

Tentative list of melee weapons:

[Spoiler]
**Knuckles **– 1 damage (2 AP) You’ve got two of em. Costs 2 coins.
***Dagger **– 1 damage (1 AP) 3 damage when attacking from cover (thrown) or hiding. Costs 3 coins.
Short Sword – 2 dmg (1 AP). Costs 2 coins.
**Rapier **– 2 dmg (2 AP) 5% chance to reprisal enemy attack. Costs 3 coins.
Long sword – 3 dmg (2 AP) 5% Chance to parry enemy attack. Costs 4 coins.
Broad sword (2-hand) – 4 dmg (2 AP). Costs 5 coins.
Bastard Sword (2-hand) – 5 dmg (3 AP). Costs 5 coins.
***Hammer **– 1 dmg (2 AP) 5% chance to stun. Costs 2 coins.
**Club **– 2 dmg (2 AP) 5% chance to stun. Costs 2 coins.
**Mace **– 3 dmg (3 AP) 5% chance to stun. Costs 2 coins.
Great Club (2-hand) – 3 dmg(2 AP) 5% chance to stun. Costs 3 coins.
Heavy Mace (2-hand) – 4 dmg (3 AP) 5% chance to stun. Costs 4 coins.
**Axe **– 3 damage (2 AP) 5% chance to reduce armor. Costs 4 coins.
Great Axe (2-hand)– 4 damage (3 AP) 5% chance to reduce armor. Costs 5 coins.
*Spear – 2 damage (3 AP) deals double damage when thrown. Costs 4 coins.
Sai – 1 dmg (1 AP) 5% chance to disarm. Costs 4 coins.
**Nunchaku **– 1 dmg (1 AP) 5% Chance to stun. Costs 4 coins.
**Katana **(2-hand) – 4 dmg (3 AP) cannot utilize Hide. 5% Chance to break other weapons. Costs 5 coins.
***Whip **– 1 dmg (1 AP) 5% Chance to disarm. Costs 5 coins.

Plasma Weapons:
Plas-sword – 5 dmg (3 AP) chance to harm self while dual wielding. Power cell lasts 3 rounds. Can be recharged with a battery. Costs 10 coins.
Plas-whip – 3 dmg (2 AP) chance to disarm, chance to harm self. Power cell lasts 3 rounds. Can be recharged with a battery. Costs 10 coins.

Items marked with a *are able to attack to or from range/vantage [/spoiler]

Ranged Weapons – Ranged weapons deny targets the ability to counter attack and are able to capitalize on the Vantage status, providing the character with a +1 bonus to their Attack Rating while making ranged attacks, and immunity from most melee attacks. They also negate the feedback portion of damage shields. Characters may equip only one ranged weapon.

List of ranged weapons:

Throwing Knife – 1 dmg (1 AP) can be thrown two at a time. Costs 3 coins.
Short Bow – 2 dmg (2 AP). Costs 4 coins.
**Longbow **– 3 damage (3 AP). Costs 4 coins.
**Crossbow **– 4 damage (3 AP) costs 1 AP to reload. Costs 5 coins.
Dart-gun – Special (1 AP) applies poison. Costs 4 coins.
Plas-Pistol – 3 damage (2 AP) 3 shots per battery charge. Can be recharged with a battery. Costs 12 coins.
Plas-Rifle – 4 damage (2 AP) 2 shots per battery charge. Can be recharged with a battery. Costs 12 coins.

Wands – A special type of ranged weapon is the Wand, which is the only type of weapon usable by Spell Casters and is capable of producing an elemental effect.

List of Elemental Wand Effects:




Armor – Armor includes items that enhance the character’s Defense Rating. Some produce other effects, but this is their primary use. Characters may only equip one piece of armor.

List of Armor:


Heavy Armor
Steel Armor – -2 AP, 3 Armor
Assault Armor – Same as Iron, but can forgo defense in favor of attack
Demon Armor – Same as Iron, but with +1 attack and deals damage to you every round. 

Medium Armor
Leather Armor – -1 AP, 2 Armor
Beast Skin – Same as Leather, but Yields +1 to ranged attack damage
Fade Skin – Same as Leather, but yields greater chance to hide and +1 to sneak attacks.

Light Armor
Cloth Armor – 0 AP, 1 Armor
Spell Weave – 0 AP, 0 Armor, +1 Spell Damage
Magicloth – +1 AP, 0 Armor, -3 HP

Shields – All shields have a Defense Rating, which is added to the characters base Defense Rating. When attacked, shields lose defense rating equal to the attack, and recover a certain amount back each round. Physical shields generally recover their entire defense rating back, while Tek shields and Plas-shields recover a specific amount. All shields require a free hand to wield successfully.

List of Shields:


Steel Shield – -2 AP, +2 Defense
Wooden Shield – -1 AP, +1 defense
Spiked Shield – -2AP, +1 Defense, +1 Attack

Plas-shields are shields specifically designed to repel attacks from plas weapons such as plas-guns and plas-swords. They outright negate a specific amount of damage from such sources each round, require a free hand to operate and do not stack with or provide any other armor bonuses. Plas-shields must be powered by some source, but spell-casters are able to power their shield normally via their own naturally-generated Tek energies (AP).

List of Plas-shields:

Plasma Disk – Absorbs one point of Plasma energy per battery or AP charge. Holds three charges. Allows dual wielding and spell casting.
Plas-Guard – Absorbs 2 points of plasma energy per battery or AP charge. Holds three charges. Too bulky to dual wield or cast spells with.

Tek-shields – Tek-shields do not require a free hand to operate and only block a specific amount of elemental damage each round. They do not stack with or provide any other shield bonus and must be powered by some source. Spell-casters are able to power their shield normally via their own naturally-generated Tek energies. Tek shields occupy an Accessory slot.

List of Tek-shields:

[spoiler] Standard: Negates 1 point of damage from chosen element

Advanced: Has a chance to negate one effect of chosen elemental type every 2 rounds

Expert: Activation: Nullifies the next effect of chosen elemental type on you. Usable every 2 rounds.

Master: Immune to damage of the specified element, vulnerable to damage of the opposing element (Fire/Water, Water/Earth, Air/Fire, Earth/Air) [/spoiler]

Consumables – Consumables are a type of Standard Item that are limited to one use, and one use only. Once the item has been activated, triggered or applied they disappear or otherwise become useless.

List of Consumables:

[spoiler]

Battery – Recharges some items for one more use

Disguise Kit – Grants one use of the Deceitful Aptitude

Steroid – increases your HP max by 3. Loses effectiveness with each use. Slowly recovers with disuse.

Ambrosia – Recover 3 HP.

Weapon Chain – Grants one-time use of the Monkey Grip Aptitude. Apply once. Remains until broken.

Flame Retardant Goop – It’s messy, but it gets the job done. Enough for 3 applications.

Moisture Repellant Spray – Everdry, a new creation from Dowell’s Corp. Labs. Enough for 3 sprits of dry goodness.

Large Sheet of Scrap Paper – It always beats rock. Always. Until it rips.

Propeller Hat – Negate the wind. It’s also in fashion, but you know fashion. En vogue today, so three rounds ago, uh, three round from when you use it.

Highly Experimental, Possibly Dangerous Cloning Device – Clones an item. If it doesn’t kill you. Battery powered, and will probably break afterwards, since this thing is just a prototype. Will it clone a cloning device? Why don’t you try it out for yourself? Did I mention that this thing is highly experimental?

Sunscreen –SPF Over 9000. Three applications. Possibly more. Or less. Depending on body size…

Light Bulb – It was bound to turn on some day. Thin filament lasts three rounds.

Spell Reagent – Required component for casting the most powerful spells.

Spell Scroll – Grants a random one use spell.

Black Box – There could be a present inside. Or something else… [/spoiler]

Accessory Items – Aside from weapons and armor, there are equippable items that fall into no real category at all. These items are accessory items, which are equipped in a character’s accessory slot and provide passive utility.

List of Accessory Items:

[spoiler]

Scanner – Scans to discover a target’s abilities. Batteries required.

Scanner Jammer –Grants use of the Jitter Aptitude every two rounds. Batteries required

Rechargeable Battery– regenerates charge every other round. It keeps going and going and going and…

Red Cape – Grants use of the Flight aptitude every two rounds. Timmy, get off the roof.

Hoody – Grants the Deceitful Aptitude every other round. R.I.P. Trayvon. :sad:

Failsafe Device – Teleport away to safety, leaving a harmless hologram to fight in your place.

Afro Wig – This thing is powerful. Really powerful.

Doomsday Device – Kill and/or be killed.

Headphones – Beat$, a Dowell’s Engineering brand. It’s always more fun to punch to a beat. +1 attack. Doesn’t stack with the Boom Box because you’re an audiophile perfectionist twat who can only appreciate a good beat as the producer intended it to sound. Whatever that means.

Boom Box – Blasts your team’s music. Fuck the haters and the police. +1 to attacks for your team. Bonus does not stack, ‘cause listening to two songs at once would cause brain damage. You should already know that, man.

Student Loan – Grants you an extra aptitude. Good luck paying for it, though. (The glowing is your soul)[/spoiler]

Balance Notes:
Created Shields, Armor and Wands (to be added to this post shortly).
Further fleshed out Economy system. Currently incomplete.
Cosmetic changes made to Aptitudes section.
Changed AP costs for Attacking and Defend to equate with the AP cost of wielding a weapon or shield.
Added new Aptitude, Armsman.

To do list:
Create all items (Shields, Armor, Wands). All items created/added.
Further the economy.
Create stats for Elemental Guardians
Create icons for every item and ability.
Create narrative and fix cosmetics (get rid of a bunch of variable place-holders)
Iconography for items and skills

Old Balance Notes:

[spoiler]Updated spell damage placeholders with real numerical amounts.
Re-balanced some spell caster aptitudes - Second Nature has been tentatively removed. Magi has been changed to reflect what Second Nature did. Elemental Infusion, Effective Caster, and Persistent Caster aptitudes have been added

Began work on economy. Players now begin play with 10 coins Item costs have been added to weapons. Balancing in progress. . .

Random Item ideas (not added to game yet, but possibly will be):
AP Battery - Item version of the Hoarder aptitude
Effect place-holder - Utilize an effect on a spell that otherwise would not utilize it.
Effect weapon - Allow effects to be used from a weapon other than a wand.
Balancing in progress. . .[/spoiler]

inb4 “buhu this is 2 hard and 2 confusing”

Game looks like it has a fuckload of potential. Main issue I can see so far is that it’s most likely going to be a long game, so shorter phases might be advisable. Although, if we’re still in our Mafia break period, a long game might not be such a bad thing.

This looks really fun. I like the team aspect of it. Plus the super hero theme. X-men vs. Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, anyone? Fantastic Four vs Avengers? Justice League vs Sinister Six? Teams definitely need to have a team name or DQ.

*You had me at “Super heroes” and “teamwork”.

You should link to this thread in the MSPaint whisperers and mafia leaderboard thread. *

http://i.imgur.com/6ppcCE1.jpg

Now being serious, this sounds like it could be fun.

Yeah, when designing the D3 game I thought a longer term RPG could be interesting. I’d be in

This game seems real interesting. I would totally be down to play

Lynch @"adam warlock"‌

I might be down for it. I’ll have to come back and read the last half of it.

This is really cool. I’ve been trying for so long to think of an Arena game like this where it wouldn’t veer too far into the D&D realm. Nicely done! c:

I’d be stoked to play it.

Count me in. I would love to be a part of it.
I just can’t read all that stuff at work. Boss is on my nuts like white on rice…

Judging by the amount of time it took to scroll through the rules, this seems like a very promising game :tup:

Sounds even better after reading it. Most of it.

so passionate…good luck with that

If I get Angelpalm and Zoolander is on another team I’m in.

I want to slay him.

EDIT: If anyone is looking for a more D&D thing our group needs another player or two, use Roll20 and Teamspeak stuff while talking shit a lot. Pretty fun.

I’d love to play this if I got time for it :tup:

LOL Crazy game for crazy DMs.

Back to editing this. :tup:

TL:DR

I’m in.