The Forum @ Rules Light RPGs

Having some trouble thinking of a way to do classes for a sci-fi variant of m20.

What I was thinking of was along these lines:

• You have a base class (soldier, scoundrel, scout, or scholar). These give you your base class functionality and choices for your character's abilities at every odd level.
• You have a focus (ace pilot, assassin, bounty hunter, elite soldier, gunslinger, and so forth). You choose a focus at second level; they give you a bonus at every even level.

As far as math goes:

• You have a base attack bonus, just like in Third Edition.
• You have Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saving throws; these are your appropriate stat (Str, Dex, or Int) plus your character level.
• The difficulty for almost any task in this game is 15. Attacking someone is one of the very few exceptions.
• All of your skills start at +1; humans gain a +1 bonus to all six skills.
• When you gain a level, your class skill automatically increases by +1. Two other skills (your choice) increase by +1 each.

---

As an example for character class:

Soldier
Hit Points at 1st level: 10 + Str
Hit Points at Additional Levels: 6 + Str
Class Skill: Physical (You gain a one-time +3 bonus to the Physical skill. This is a class bonus.)

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Class Features
1	+1	Combat Boost, Soldier Talent
2	+2	Focus Ability
3	+3	Soldier Talent
4	+4	Focus Ability
5	+5	Soldier Talent
6	+6	Focus Ability
7	+7	Soldier Talent
8	+8	Focus Ability
9	+9	Soldier Talent
10	+10	Focus Ability

Combat Boost
You gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage. This bonus increases by +1 at 4th, 7th, and 10th levels.

Soldier Talent
At 1st level and every odd level afterward (3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th) choose a soldier talent from the list below.

(SOLDIER TALENT LIST: FILL IN LATER. Soldier talents are typically related to combat tactics and getting the most out of fighting.)

Focus Ability
At 2nd level, choose a character focus. You gain its associated bonuses at every even level (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th.)

Appropriate choices for a soldier's focus are Ace Pilot, Bounty Hunter, Elite Soldier, Gunslinger, or Saboteur, but, of course, you may choose from any of the focuses.

---

And as an example character focus:

Ace Pilot

Flavor text goes here; suffice it to say that soldiers with this focus might be ex-military, while scoundrels might be smugglers. Come up with examples for scouts and, I guess, scholars.

Level	Focus Ability
2	Vehicle Defense +1
4	Vehicle Defense +2
6	Vehicle Defense +3
8	Vehicle Defense +4
10	Vehicle Defense +5

Vehicle Defense
You gain a bonus to the Piloting skill equal to half your character level. This is a focus bonus.

In addition, any space vessel you are piloting gains a Defense bonus equal to half your character level. This is a focus bonus.

---

Does this sound overly complicated to anyone?

Snorb wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:39 pm

Having some trouble thinking of a way to do classes for a sci-fi variant of m20.

What I was thinking of was along these lines:

• You have a base class (soldier, scoundrel, scout, or scholar). These give you your base class functionality and choices for your character's abilities at every odd level.
• You have a focus (ace pilot, assassin, bounty hunter, elite soldier, gunslinger, and so forth). You choose a focus at second level; they give you a bonus at every even level.

This looks like it should work. The issue I see would be coming up with enough talents for all these classes and focuses. Especially if you want to make them so they aren't bad 3.x-like feats (lock people that do not have them from doing something any reasonable person should have a fair chance at trying and doing even without special training).

Does this sound overly complicated to anyone?

To me, it sounds like it could work.