Diablo TTRPG: Armor Points

Every system needs a good Armor Class/Defense system, and it took my awhile to figure out what I wanted to do with the Diablo system. Stacking point after point of armor from six different Armor slots felt like it would get excessive very quickly. Even if you were using dirt poor armor in each slot, that would still give you +6 to your AC, and in a system using a d10 to hit, that's insane! Then again, I thought maybe I could switch it over to damage reduction. But that's still a 6 point damage reduction per hit, and that was problematic as well.

But then my friend Skullboy sent me over to The Black Hack, and showed me armor points. I instantly fell in love. The system is perfect, and it feels SO Diablo.

So, without further ado, Armor Points:

Armor Points: When you equip a piece of armor, it has an Armor Point value. This is the amount of damage the armor can take before it breaks. At any time during an adventure, you can decide to spend armor points to reduce the damage you take from a hit, keeping the following in mind:

• You can only use one piece of Armor per hit. So if you have gloves that only have 1 AP left, you can't decide to use both your gloves, and your chest armor to reduce damage on the same hit.
• It costs money to repair items, and it is far less expensive to fix something that still has 1 AP left, than it is to fix something that has 0 left. It is often better to keep each piece of armor at a 1 AP value.
• Armor cannot be fixed by anyone except a merchant or blacksmith. 

It's a simple system, but it feels really awesome to me.

Diablo TTRPG: 1st Level Necromancer

This is the first draft of a first level character! I decided to start with a necromancer, because they have always been my favorite. You can look at the basic mechanics for the game in previous posts, but below you will find the descriptions of the different abilities that the Necromancer has at first level.

Blood Rush (Utility): Short range teleport. Take 1d4 damage. Can use as a reaction to being hit (avoid the hit), but cannot take a movement action next round.

Siphon Blood (Standard): Medium Ranged Attack. On hit gain 1 life. 1x Damage. Explosive Attack: 2x damage, heal half damage dealt.

Summon Skeleton (Full): Medium Ranged. Summon a skeleton, and give it some of your life (max 10 hp).
After you summon, the skeleton takes a basic attack if it’s in melee range with an enemy. Until the skeleton dies, instead of taking a basic action, you can make the skeleton attack.
Until the skeleton dies, instead of taking a Full Action, you can have all your skeletons attack a single target. Skeletons do not gain Explosive Attacks. You can control skeletons equal to your Intelligence modifier (max 4).

Corpse Explosion (Full): Long Ranged. Target corpses equal to your Intelligence modifier (max 5). Each corpse explodes, dealing 1x damage to anyone in 10 ft. Explosive Attack: Corpses deal 2x damage. Targets hit become poisoned.

Bone Armor (Utility): Summon armor of bones to protect yourself. The armor absorbs 3d10 damage until it explodes. Counts as a move action.

Bone Spikes (Standard): Short Ranged Attack (5ft radius). Pull spikes of bone from the ground to strike into anyone in the target area. Each spike deals 1/2x damage.

Diablo TTRPG: Character Sheet

I don't sit down to make a new game system often; but when I do, I always start with a character sheet.

Starting with a character sheet really helps me visualize the things that I need to work on. Beyond that, it makes the project seem more... real, like it has a place in reality, and not just in the twilight moments before I fall asleep. So here it is, the first draft of my character sheet, along with some basic descriptions for each field to fill out.

Before I get to far into it, let's talk about the font first. Almost all the font is in "Diablo Heavy" and "Diablo," fonts that you can easily find for download with a quick google search. I really do love how it calls back to the games.

Let's start off with Attributes. Right now there are four, although I'm thinking about adding a charisma statistic in as well. The TTRPG can't be just about combat, especially not with some of the more creative aspects of the mechanics. There really needs to be a decent social stat. I could combine it with Intelligence, but that doesn't feel right to me.

Anyways, at first level you get 7 attribute points to assign however you want. But you must place at least one in each.

• Strength increases your melee attack and damage.
• Dexterity increases your ranged attack and damage. It also increases your Armor Class. Although in the next character sheet, armor class will be changed to defense bonus. 
• Intelligence increases your magic attack and damage. It might grant you some resistances, but I might just make resistances gear dependent like in Diablo 2. 
• Vitality increases your hit points. 

Hit Points: Determined by taking 10 and adding your Vitality attribute.

AC Bonus: Equal to your dex attribute.

Armor: You have six armor slots on your character: Head, shoulder, torso, wrist, legs, and feet. To get your total armor bonus, add all slots together and take the total. When you take physical damage, subtract your armor total from the damage.

Resistances: Your resistances are determined by your armor. If a piece of armor gives you a type of resistance, record it in the appropriate box. Resistance stack, so if both you have a Ashen Helm (Head) that grants 2 fire resistance, and Boots of the Sleeping Salamander (Feet) that grants 1 fire resistance, your total fire resistance is 3.

Actions are the abilities that should be recognizable from the game. Things like the Paladin's Thorns aura, or the Witch Doctor's Summon Gargantuan. Actions come in three types:

• Utility Actions are actions that are either part of a move action, or are used in place of a move action.
• Standard Actions are actions that can be used if you have moved or used a utility action this round.
• Full Actions take an entire round to complete.

Each round the player decides between a movement (or utility) + standard action, or a Full Action.

You can only have a few actions equipped at a time. One utility action, one standard action, and one full action (although I may end up making that two). You will know more actions than you have equipped, and can spend an action to swap actions out. So if a Necromancer has the Blood Rush Utility action equipped, but wants to equip the Bone Armor utility action, they must spend a utility action to swap.

Utility actions swap for utility. Standard actions for standard actions. Full actions for full actions.

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.