[Branch Notes]

Hello! If you’re reading this you want to know what I am doing differently and the same compared to the other branches. I wanted a little more grounding reference for myself rather than just slapping numbers and then working it out later. I’m gonna be putting a little more focus than other branches into the gamey elements while also attempting to keep it from being in your face and over bloated.

Mostly this branch is an excuse to have my fantasy of breeding hot goblins, so expect a lot of that and maybe not a lot of story.

What does this mean for the story?

It just means sometimes I'll pop up the relevant info, other times I'll roll like if it was a tabletop game to add a layer of surprise for myself. Keep it fresh for myself.

So what I’ve done I’m treating it like a d20 style tabletop game, the characters get bonuses for being a race or class, get some specific class feats, and that will always be true, if I throw in another barbarian it will get the ability to enrage at half health, if I throw in an alchemist, they will always be able to gather herbs better than others.

I’ve made it so instead of 20 for manipulation, the base to use tools is a 10, and illiteracy starts at 8 and the bare minimum to not just collapse from the inability to walk is 5.

Skills

At the same time I went the way of Skyrim for skills in that you train your abilities by simply doing the act related. Want better stealth? Crouch down and hide behind some bushes to watch that party pass through the clearing. Want to be better at Athleticism? Start climbing trees and hopping across stones in a river. Etc Etc. I still wished to keep the max 100 and 20 being average for a human who has worked with the skill before. I figured it’d be more interesting if all skills start at 1 and do not appear in the character info until you’ve begun working it.

Classes start certain skills at 15 to treat it as if the npc/player is practiced in their profession’s expected talent.

What do skills do?

Brawler - Grappling, Unarmed Combat, Non-Lethal Takedowns, and the ability to throw someone is all handled here.

Athleticism - Jump, Climb, Swim, Crawl, and whatever else I can think of that you’d probably experience once from gym class.

Presence - The ability to make yourself seem more impressive in a given situation. Typically for intimidation and deception purposes.

Lore - Ability to recall past information, every little fun fact and pleasure trick can be recalled as if you were a Jeopardy champion once it’s high enough.

Occult - Ability to recall past information involving magic, curses, pretty much all the oddities and curios of the world. Also involved in spell casting.

Stealth - Hiding is nearly impossible without having some of this

Dodge - Some guy just throws a rock at you? Maybe that hot Elven woman just fired off an arrow from her bow. With experience in this you’ll dodge them as if this was the matrix.

Crafting (Specialization) - You get this from crafting across various professions, making simple and complex tools and weapons, mechanisms, traps, and other necessities. Build your world one hatchet and smoke bomb at a time.

Gathering - it’s in the name, ability to gather from mineral nodes, trees, herbs, and fishing holes

Feats

I wasn’t sure what to do with Feats entirely, I went with a mix of both abilities given by your class/race and unlocks you gain by doing or surviving something. I figured this and the way I want to handle skills will help to define a character’s life better than a long winded backstory I keep as notes that no one ever sees.

Every chapter I’ll update the character information in a separate chapter, including that of other characters so we have a good idea of how they’re faring.

The Dungeon

I plan on the dungeon having a set map that will be updated, maybe including the layout plan before things get built.

Character information

Level 5 Lesser Minotaur
Monster, Male, Minotaur, Explicit
Barbarian
Experience to level up - 500
Attributes
Strength 18 Dexterity 15 Endurance 18 + 0
Charisma 9 Manipulation 15 Appearance 14
Perception 11 Intelligence 12 Wits 11
Skills

Brawler 20
Athleticism 35
Presence 22
Lore 25
Stealth 5
Dodge 40
Feats
Enrage - Once at half hp you will become enraged dealing triple damage but halving dodge chance.
Monstrous Appearance – when attempting to use Appearance in a positive way on creatures without the Monster subtype, count it at 10 points lower until the target gets used to you.
Bull Rush - You can charge through obstacles or target pcs/npcs to double your movement (30 feet) This deals 50 hp x Level. If you are stopped by an obstacle or a contest of strength success(contesting athleticism check) then you will be dazed for 2 seconds per 10 feet short of the target distance.
Toughen Up - You gain a constant passive bonus to Endurance that increases for every combat encounter you both take damage in, and survive.
Hardy Endurance - Racial trait. Increases stamina gained during level up. Stamina refills faster during rest. Stamina decreases slower during exertion.

The "Dungeon" as it stands
[SPOILERS]

Fame, Liegelord, and Dungeon construction

I think I'll be re-balancing these to initially feel overpowered by the main character as it’s a newly released functionality, a patch or two will sort it out later on! Beyond that I think putting an ability to allow the Dungeon Boss to add in custom quests by enacting the help of town npcs and monster npcs will be a necessity to generate fame after the initial hype. Woe is the hero who does not wish to complete the questline to attune to Molten Core.