Diablo TTRPG: Base Mechanic

So, I love the idea of playing a fast paced Diablo table top game. I imagine combat being fast and explosive, and instead of being super crunchy, the game would be rather simple. I've wanted to do this for a long time.

And then last night while I was going to sleep, I remembered a system that me and my friend Jim were trying to come up with ages ago. The idea was to create a system based around d12s, because at the time we felt like they were somewhat ignored. And why not take the least common die and make a system out of them?

I'll probably switch to d10s, but I'm really excited about the base mechanic of the game.

Roll 3d12.

If you're making an attack roll:

• Pick one die for your attack
• Pick one die for your damage
• Pick one die for your defense
• If triplets, apply Explosive Attack

If you're rolling for a skill:

• Pick one die for success/fail
• Pick one die for Entanglement
• Pick one die for Action Die

Now I'll define some of the terms:

Explosive Attack: Is an attack specific effect that makes the attack much better. If your firebolt usually targets one creature, now it explodes and does damage in a radius. Or it sets the creature on fire. Something like that. The effect is defined in each attack description.

Entanglement: This is a die that determines if something interesting happens. If it lows between 1-4, the GM introduces something that makes the situation more complicated. If it rolls between 5-8 there nothing happens. If it rolls 9-12 the GM (or player maybe? That might slow the game down though... still working stuff out) introduces something that makes the situation easier.

• I like making Entanglement die separate from success and failure. By separating it out, it lets someone succeed in a skill check, while still making things more complicated. The Demon Hunter does get the door unlocked, but because they picked a high number for Entanglement, something else happens which also makes the situation easier. (Maybe the lock didn't break, so you can use it to slow down demons on the chase, things like that).

Action Die: Action Die are class specific moves that drive the action forward while making skill checks. An example might be a Necromancer balancing on a narrow rock ledge above the fire's of hell. But the Action Die allows one of his minions to continue attacking.

There is still a ton of work to do on this. I would really like to incorporate all the classes from both Diablo 1 and 2. I'm still not exactly sure how I want to go with attributes and skills, which skills I want to include, and stuff like that. But I'm really excited about the base mechanic here, I think it has potential to be lots of fun. I especially like letting people pick where to assign dice they rolled, I think it might push some very interesting story decisions. Ie: The Barbarian is almost dead, but the corrupted angel is on it's last legs. He rolled a 6, 2, and 12. He can pick the 12 for attack, and the 2 for damage. But if that doesn't kill the angel, a defense of 6 isn't great, and he risks getting obliterated on the angel's turn.