Saturday, December 31, 2011

KOS - Witchsight



WHAT PLANES CAN I "SEE"?
Magical Conductivity score (see
1 - 3: None whatsoever.  May not use spells in any form.  No witchsight.  However, +5% resistance to a Battle of Wills from an enemy spell caster.  May not be a Mage.
4 - 7: Very little.  No witchsight.  May not use spells in any form.  May not be a Mage.
8 - 12: Average.  No witchsight.  May become a Mage.  May not learn spells unless a Mage, but may cast spells from scrolls, books, magic items with embedded matrices, etc.
13 - 15: Good.  Witchsight onto Second Plane.  May become a Mage.  If not a Mage, can learn up to 1 spell, and has 25% chance of knowing one spell already that does not count towards total (flip a coin - heads, the player may choose, tails select the spell randomly).  May cast spells from items.
16 - 17: Superb.  Witchsight onto Third Plane.  If not a spellcaster, can learn up to 2 spells.  50% chance of already knowing one spell that does not count towards total, and 25% chance of knowing two (flip a coin for each - heads, the player may choose, tails select the spell randomly).
18 - 20: Overwhelming.  Witchsight onto Fourth Plane, plus 1d3-1 more.  If not a spellcaster, knows 2 random spells, and 1d2 more of the player’s choice.




FIRST PLANE SIGHT
Anybody (mortal) can see (and feel) the First Plane.  It is the Plane of the Material and of Sensations.  It’s the normal plane that we mostly interact with.  Things appear as they are according to physical laws, and sensations are experienced by living things through processes such as light diffusion interacting with retinas and being transmitted to the brain via electrical signals.  These physical phenomena are easily influenced by magic.  Glamours are easy to produce, and many creatures are not detectable at all on the First Plane because they do not have corporeal bodies capable of effecting physical phenomena.
SECOND PLANE SIGHT
"Witch Sight" displays things closer to their True nature.  The more common varieties of spirits will be visible, floating in incandescent masses around certain locus points.  Beings may glow with auras that correspond to their emotions or desires.  Most magical items will be noticeable.  You will be able to see many invisible things.  It requires more effort to create glamours that extend to each subsequent Plane.  Note that cats can see onto the Second Plane, and many dogs can smell onto it.
THIRD PLANE SIGHT
More powerful spirits are visible only on the Third Plane.  Normally only powerful or paranoid humans will extend glamours past the Third Plane.  You will be able to see most invisible things, including some truly bizarre images that do not match the physical world in any way.  This character can also sense other magicians or people with great Power or a great capacity for magic.  They will somehow signify their ability - perhaps they glow brightly, have a third eye on their forehead, perhaps they look exactly the same on all planes, etc - it may or may not differ from person to person.
FOURTH PLANE SIGHT
The Fourth Plane is where the most powerful spirits reside.  Here, shapes are bizarre and mirror the true forms of the things within.  Those with sight onto the Fourth Plane can begin to see sapient beings as they truly are, usually through obtuse symbolism.  You will be able to see almost all invisible things and note almost all magic items.  You will also be able to quickly identify other mages or great beings by their Power or Magical Aptitude.  You will also be able to gauge their power relative to your own.  People with great Power will be like beacons in the night, visible from far away.
FIFTH & SIXTH PLANE SIGHT
The Fifth and Sixth Planes bear very little resemblance to the 1st, such that it can be difficult even to relate them to normal experience.  The air, sky, ground and other creatures are all perceived differently in a way that is so alien to normal human thought as to defy imagination.  The air will be thick with near-True “shapes” of all the myriad spirits of every dimension - both those of the underworld and elsewhere.

 Beyond this exists the God-Realm and the Hero-Realm, which  are not so much simultaneous overlapping dimensions but separate realms of the unconscious mind.





Sunday, December 18, 2011

KOS - stats

Violence Power Modifiers
1 - 3: Weakling! -2 attack and -2 to damage!
4 - 7: Poor: -1 attack and -1 to damage
8 - 11: Average: No modifiers
12 - 15: Good: +1 damage, +1 defense
16 - 17: Powerful: +1 attack, +2 damage, +1 defense
18 - 19: Superb: +2 attack, +3 damage, +1 defense
20 - 22: Superhuman: +3 attack, +4 damage, +1 defense
Violence Power attack & damage modifier is applied to damage with hand-to-hand weapons, unarmed attacks or thrown weapons.
Apply Violence Power attack modifier to checks made to crack open chests, doors, grates, and what have ye, and any other show of explosive force - to push a barrel, shove an enemy over a cliff, etc
Violence Power also effects sprint speed.

Powerlifters, good boxers, Pai Mei from Kill Bill and Conan (the Barbarian, not the O'Brien) have high Violence Power.
Because it isn't "Strength", only your capacity to inflict violence, femme fatale warrior-women or old kung-fu masters could have a much higher VP than muscle-men.


Skill Modifiers
1 - 3: Oaf! -2 attack and -1 to damage!  Critical fumbles on 1 OR 2!  Roll extra for scars. Two-handed melee weapons only strike every other round.
4 - 7: Clumsy: -1 attack!  Two-handed melee weapons only strike every other round.
8 - 11: Average.  Two-handed melee weapons always strike last, retrieve and deploy special devices (IE, flasks of oil, potions, etc) every other round.
12 - 15: Good: +1 attack, +1 defense, fight with two weapons.  Retrieve and deploy special devices at the end of the round.
16 - 17: Dexterous: +2 attack, +1 damage, +1 defense, fight with two weapons, no fumbles EVER.  Retrieve and deploy special devices at the end of the round.
18 - 19:  Superb: +2 attack, +1 damage, +2 defense, fight with two weapons, no fumbles EVER, critical hit on 19 OR 20.  Retrieve and deploy special devices as normal actions
20 - 22: Superhuman: +3 attack, +1 damage, +3 defense, fight with two weapons. No fumbles EVER, critical hit on 19 OR 20.  Retrieve and deploy special devices as normal actions.
Skill damage bonuses and attack bonuses are applied to all attacks.
Legolas, Darth Maul, and Doc Holliday have high Skill scores.



Endurance Modifiers:
HP is equal to En.
Your En score is also the amount of rounds you can exert concentrated, intense physical effort (ie, struggle against multiple combatants, run at roughly 10-12/mph, shoulder a load that is too heavy for you, etc) before requiring a serious rest.  Every round you continue thereafter requires a DC 10 En test, at -1 every subsequent round.
En also determines overland movement speed and encumbrance rules.  See sections on movement and encumbrance, respectively.
Endurance runners, rescue climbers, and Marv from Sin City have high Endurance scores.






Magical Conductivity Modifiers
1 - 3: None whatsoever.  May not use spells in any form.  No witchsight.  However, +5% resistance to a Battle of Wills from an enemy spell caster.  May not be a Mage.
4 - 7: Very little.  No witchsight.  May not use spells in any form.  May not be a Mage.
8 - 12: Average.  No witchsight.  May become a Mage.  May not learn spells unless a Mage, but may cast spells from scrolls, books, magic items with embedded matrices, etc.
13 - 15: Good.  Witchsight onto Second Plane.  May become a Mage.  If not a Mage, can learn up to 1 spell, and has 25% chance of knowing one spell already that does not count towards total (flip a coin - heads, the player may choose, tails select the spell randomly).  May cast spells from items.
16 - 17: Superb.  Witchsight onto Third Plane.  If not a spellcaster, can learn up to 2 spells.  50% chance of already knowing one spell that does not count towards total, and 25% chance of knowing two (flip a coin for each - heads, the player may choose, tails select the spell randomly).
18 - 20: Overwhelming.  Witchsight onto Fourth Plane, plus 1d3-1 more.  If not a spellcaster, knows 2 random spells, and 1d2 more of the player’s choice.
(see later articles on Witch Sight, the Planes, and classes found here)


Power Modifiers
1 - 8: Below average.  +1 Stealth
9 - 12: Average.  No modifier.
13 - 18: Above average.  -1 Stealth.
Power is the candle of the soul.  Your POW score = your mana.  Generally, low-level spells cost 1 POW, but you can alter your spells to increase both their efficacy and cost.  The more POW you have, the more brightly you glow on the other planes.  POW also increases your ability to resist enemy spells, possession by spirits, etc.






\
You'll notice alot of these give big bonuses; that's because I usually run games with only one or two players so they need a little more staying power

Although, I was thinkin' about skills, and stats, and what we use em for, and I made this alternate set of stats

Violence
Thievery
Fieldcraft
Endurance
Magic
Power

that maybe we could use instead.  in this setup, Fieldcraft and Thievery take the place of "Skill", initiative is a separate "skill" that you can train but mostly you just have to use your Fieldcraft and Thievery to surprise your enemies or avoid being surprised yourself.  Your ranged attack is based on either Fieldcraft or Thievery - choose when you create the character.