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From Fax Encyclopedicus

Anime d20 Renaissance is not an easy system to write. It is removed from the source book that it is based off of even more than [[D20 Rebirth]] is from regular D&D - to the point where Anime d20-specific content is incompatible with it. Thus, the following development Metrics (many copied or modified from Anime d20's SRD) have been provided - and may be analysed and changed as development goes on. == The Vital Assumptions == === Ad20r is best used in conjunction with some amount of Gestalting - that is, player-characters and ''central'' NPCs being stronger than they would be at an equivalent level in standard D20 play. === Traditional heroic fantasy works, such as ''The Lord of the Rings'', might have characters - even main characters and central villains - at a level from two to four. One or two hits are enough to kill them, and even dragons fall to the dramatic perfect strike, more than the long, pitched, tactical battles that define D20 play against one. The D20 system, in fact, already has much in common in this with many fantasy anime, such as ''The Slayers'' or ''The Record of Lodoss War'', as well as many anime-style-based games, particularly tactical RPGs such as ''Final Fantasy Tactics''. In these series, as in D20, giant blows that would decimate armies in a realistic campaign, or even the likes of LotR, is only a decent blow to a hero - or the central villains they fight. The result is that the power level is already rather high. Giving heroes (and important rivals/enemies/allies) some advantage on top by the ability-rounding (or focusing) capacity brings the scale still closer to these series - because most of the time, the focus characters are More Epic than most people, and that's just the way the writing goes. Lina Inverse has no reason to be afraid of your average bandit, because even if it's That Time Of Month and she can't use most of her magic, she still can bust him up with a sword and a few cleverly-placed flukes. Note that this also means that the heroes will have to deal with more monsters to keep regular encounters interesting - just like in normal d20's Gestalt play. === GMs need to trust, but verify, the characters of their players. Conversely, the players need to think about the character, not the numbers. === The creations of Guardians of Order, Inc., have ''always and without exception'' depended on trust between the players and GM. The GM needs to trust that the players aren't munchkining, and in return, the players need to trust that the GM will present challenges that suit the team's talents and weaknesses. These rules attempt to balance things as best they can, but are inherently and ridiculously munchkin-friendly. If you have ever so much as considered playing Pun-Pun in any context except a complete farce of a campaign, then you may wish to consider avoiding this system - while it will be an utter playground for you, it will be even less fun for others than usual. If you're a munchkin who ''insists'' on using this content, please be reminded that several rules have been put in place that ''mandate'' the GM check your progress before you continue further. Also, check the next assumption. === Rule Zero. === The GM should never, ever forget about Rule Zero - namely, that he can fudge, ignore, or selectively apply any rule ever written for any role-playing game ever, in the name of fun. === D20 Rebirth content and (with adjustments) regular d20 content should still be usable, and used regularly. === Anime d20 adds a ''lot'' of detail to character creation. Imagine having to deal with the entire, now much longer, stat creation for ''every single NPC in am campaign.'' Yeah, bad idea. Ad20r thus assumes that the GM is going to use large amounts of standard d20 and/or d20 content, especially for things such as monsters. === Full-Gestalt Ad20r characters using character points instead of a second class should be loosely comparable to Full-Gestalt Ad20r characters using two classes, should in turn be comparable to regular d20r Gestalt characters. === This is the most useful baseline to work off of... But it's also kind of a massively wide one. Certain combinations will be more powerful, inevitably - but as long as Anime d20 Renaissance, in Full Gestalt, ''adds'' choices and doesn't ''obviate'' too many existing ones, it's good. === Nothing should be removed from d20r - or the components of normal d20 that stay in d20r - to fit Anime d20 Renaissance in. === Anime d20 removed Weapon Proficiencies, the assumption of gold, and many other things. None of them get removed for Ad20r. ''None of them''. This means that the Item rules are completely different from Anime d20, but mesh with normal d20 and d20r, for example. No feats are removed - although many are also available as tags. d20r's Investing Feats stay on board, even though tags with modifiers could replace them. You get the idea. === Widely-mixed characters who nonetheless have a core focus are the ideal character. === Given this wiki's going to be read by a lot of Order of the Stick readers, let's use OOTS characters as comparisons here. [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0216.html That Ogre who used a spike chain and manipulation of the movement rules to deal extreme damage as long as the does the same thing every time] is a bad character - and when the environment ceased to suit his extremely-focused build, he had no options for dealing with other situations that came to him, such as falling off a cliff to a presumed horrible and painful death. Elan the Bard, on the other hand, was pretty much completely devoid of focus - making him a bit of a Loadstone of the group. The rest of the group could see that his taking levels in Cleric, which would only make his lack of focus ''worse'', was a bad idea. When Elan found the Dashing Swordsman prestige class, however, and took levels in it, he found a core focus. While he still has enchantments, bardic music, a metric ton of skill points (including ranks in many handy skills that are nonetheless cross-class), and plenty of Genre savviness to have good guesses as to what is going on, but he's got a core thing - namely, turning his Charisma into a brutal melee weapon, allowing him to slice and dice enemies with a tiny rapier almost as well as Roy does with a Greatsword. Roy, for his part, is valuable to the group not only as a tank and melee DPS, but as a leader - he's a talented diplomat, is good at keeping most group elements organized. While this isn't a character element in normal d20 (which OOTS is based off of), he's also valuable as the emotional core of the group - the guy who keeps Belkar's insane tendencies in check, who gets the group to put up with Elan's stupidity, and who reminds Durkon why he's doing all of this. Both Elan in his current state, as well as Roy, represent the ideal for Anime d20 characters - well-rounded with many different talents, but with a central focus. == Actual numbers and nitty-gritty == === Starting Points and Stat Selection === Characters in Ad20r start off with 40 character points before they even take a class level. Typically, 30 of these points should go to Stat selection, and 10 to the character's initial race. Players are free to spend less or more in either (at least, if they have more to spend...) === Stat Generation === ASSUMING FULL CONTROL: * 30 points should produce a character a good bit over what you could attain with a 32-point Point Buy - that is, the kind of scores a player with moderate luck could get in standard d20. * 20 points should compare to a 32-point Point Buy. * 10 points should compare to all stats being tens. OTHER ELEMENTS THAT INFLUENCE COSTS: * Reducing the risk taken should cost more points. * Reducing your ability to choose details should cost fewer points. (For example, having stats rolled in order rather than choosing which roll goes to which stat.) * Batshit insane ways to select stats (such as Poker With The GM and both Minesweeper variants), if actually used (For the lulz or to evoke a feel about the game), should have costs comparable to a medium-risk, medium-choice. * The GM shouldn't be afraid to fudge the stats somewhat after everything's done, so that people who spent comparable character point amounts aren't TOO disparate stat-wise from each other. Whether he takes the numbers up, down, or towards a center is his choice depending on the campaign style he wants. THE BASELINES: A 32-point point buy costs 20 points. A Gygax - 3d6 for each stat, in order - costs 10 points. === Races === Any race that balances about evenly with a d20r race should cost 10 character points. Humans are used as the arbitrary metric-setting point for this. Races that are significantly above require some sacrifice - typically, weakening the race until it does work. === Classes === A single level in a class is worth 10 Character Points of new talents, if they are rolling a d4 for their hit dice, getting 4+Int Skill Points, and gaining 4 Prowess, and uses the slow Base Attack Bonus increase rate. The earned character point count is modified by the following rules: : For each step up on the hit die, remove one character point. : If only getting 2+Int Skill Points, add one character point. : If getting 6+Int Skill Points, remove one character point. : If getting 8+Int Skill Points, remove two character points. : If getting only 2 Prowess, add one character point. : If getting 6 Prowess, remove one character point. : For each strong save the class has, remove one full character point. : If the class gains BAB at the medium rate (15 at 20th level), remove one full character point. : If the class gains BAB at the fast rate (20 at 20th level), remove two full character points. Weapon Proficiencies arrays should compare to comparable d20 or d20r classes - a spellcaster only getting simple weapons, a fighter getting some of everything. If the point value of talents ends up running with a half point, then that half-point 'floats' into the next level, meaning that even-numbered levels will provide more talents. === Tags === All tag 'values' for the purposes of comparison are the value to a ''player character''. All costs assume a player-character - many things will be worth less in the hands of NPCs, who show up less often. A 4-point tag should compare to an average Feat in value. Two tags of equal cost should be worth around the same to the player. Tags can start at 1 to 10 character points. Some Tags will be cheaper for specific classes, or only useful for certain classes or in conjunction with other Tags. === Skills === One skill training is worth three character points after level 1. How many points the initial sets are worth is a larger question... === Feats === One Feat costs four character points. ''Yes'', this means skill-booster feats are now inefficient (two character points of advantage for four character points).

Return to Ad20r:Development Metrics.