One of the more interesting differences between Halicker and other games is the change from using a character sheet to using individual character cards. While there will defiantly be forms to be found online for filling in a “normal” character sheet, players have the option of using several cards to break up their characters information. The usual format of this is a card for all things relating to combat, a card for general character info including stats, a card for all equipped upgrades, mods, decorations and such, and a card for all list magical tattoos and subsequent spells and abilities. In the future we will post a picture of one of these cards for you to see, these descriptions can only do so much but bear with us. While we are talking about the combat card we can get into Halicker’s damage system.
All weapons in Halicker are capable of doing varying amounts of damage; all depending on an attackers severity roll. Basic weapons will have five levels of damage: -20, -50, 50+, 70+, 90+, Halicker uses a hundred sided die when ever possible and this includes severity rolls. So a weapons typical damage will read something like
(5, -20)(10, -50)(20, 50+) (25, 70+) (35, 90+)
For an extended description, or will read (5, 10, 20, 25, 35) for a quick description. The weapon being described here is a pretty decent tier two bastard sword, the damage is pretty consistent as you go up the levels so that marks this weapon as being Dwarven or Elvin, different races and different weapons will have different damages. Case in point a Gemagog weapon will do fairly poor damage up until the higher end of the stats, this takes into consideration the races reliance or physical strength and power, thus expecting a character who has a high enough power bonus to offset a low roll. On the other hand a H’luull weapon will be geared to do massive damage right at the start but as you go up the stats the damage will not increase all that much, this makes a H’luull weapon fairly effective but this is hampered by the fact that the H’luull material, Yawk, is much rarer than Gemagog dragon steal and much fussier to use.
In the event that a character rolls a hundred on an attack roll the resulting severity roll is doubled. A roll of two hundred or better triples the severity roll. If a character rolls a hundred or better on a severity roll what ever modification bonuses that applied to the roll are added directly to the damage, no conditional bonus or spell bonus applied.
Once hit by a weapon a character starts to take amounts of damage, the amounts is added up and subtracted from subsequent rolls until the character is healed. For example: a character takes three hits from the sword listed previous, with severity rolls of 56, 60, and 90. The resulting damage would be 20, 20, and 35. This character thus took 75 points of damage total. We subtract from this a toughness bonus that would have negated some of the damage in those three rounds. A character with 16 toughness knocks down a severity roll 16 points thus making the hits actually 40, 44, and 74, thus the damage would actually be 10, 10, and 25. Thus the real modifier would be 45 instead of 75. Now on every combat card and on every stat sheet will be a place for the total amount added to a players attack roll and severity roll, from all physical mods, magical mods, and apparatus mods. It is to these numbers you subtract from when you start to take damage. So our character has +75 and plus +50 to attack and severity respectively. after the first hit it would be +65 and +40, then +55 and +30 and finally +30 and +5. Once you get to a certain number below zero you are dead. How much so below zero and with which stat depends on race and other modifications your character may have designed.
Most of the upgrades in Halicker will have stats with “easy” numbers (Halicker uses a base 5 system for upgrade stats) so the math will never be that tricky. One last thing, while you will have to deal with your combat bonuses getting lower and eventually into negative numbers the more damage you take, magic remains unaffected by damage and you still get full bonuses no matter how much damage you take.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Druzai
One of the most physically beautiful races in all of Halicker, the Druzai are a reclusive desert race, slow to trust others in the Halicker world. Druzai look human if encountered during the day, though the race’s typical garb has each member wrapped head to toe with only the eyes visible. These eyes never seem to focus, and do not blink. During the night is when the true nature of the Druzai are revealed. In their true form Druzai look like human shaped cutouts of the night sky, black silhouettes filled with small planets, stars, and other astral bodies. In this form, to the touch a Druzai feels cold and hard, as if the black shadow was made of some kind of glass that contains its amazing cargo. In human form a Druzai is of typical human dimensions but during the shift to true form the Druzai can range from two feet to twelve feet tall and possess any width from waif-thin to obese. Despite their varying proportions, the true form a Druzai will still weigh the same as its human form.
The exact reality behind the Druzais’ amazing physical makeup is unknown. What is known is that the race refers to themselves as “Wanderers”. At death a Druzai will immediately revert to its true form and slowly begin to float skywards until it disappears from view. If asked about the nature of this event a Druzai will only answer that the recently deceased is “returning home”.
The nature of a Druzai’s body, while unusual, is still a body. If injured a Druzai will bleed shining dust, and each of the main planets which make ups its body are believed to somehow act as internal organs. Most of what happens inside of a Druzai’s body is unknown though, as once detached from its owner a Druzai limb crumbles into the same shining dust that the race bleeds. For all intents though, a Druzai acts just like a regular race.
The race still needs to eat, which they do only in true form. It should be noted that a Druzai need not sleep, though they may do so by choice. The Druzai, are capable of dreaming like humans, but furthermore, some Druzai choose to sleep in order to encourage prophetic dreams. The Druzai possess distinct genders- the females identified by a feminine demeanor, a feminine outline of the body, and a star nebula in the stomach region of the true form. The males have male qualities, a manly demeanor and male figure form. The male Druzais’ true form features a black hole in their respective abdomens. As an interesting aside, during the moment of death, a male Druzai’s internal planets are consumed by the black hole while in the females’ bodies the nebula quickly collapse into itself and flashes into a star.
During actual play a Druzai character in human form plays exactly like a human. In true form the character can take advantage of a different body shape but no stat change occurs because of the change. Druzai are a “skinless” race like the Hubris and thus may take any and all body modifications that a Hubris can. Any internal body mods taken by a Druzai transform into astral bodies whilst maintaining any combat or RP effect. A Druzai does not take the same alchemical tattoos or markings that regular races have; instead they can modify the appearance of their internal planets. How they chose to do this is up to the player to decide and the Storyteller to approve.
Druzai are the only race which may start with its race’s material: Lodestone.
Material:
Lodestone: A light weight stone, with an odd propensity to hover around its owner in tight orbits as long as its owner has a capacitor energy source (Aquian crystal, Angel core, or the equivalent). This material comes in a wide selection of earth toned colors, and is carved like stone, instead of being cast or forged like metal.
Material bonus:
The stone is both strong and light-weight, making it very useful for brawlers and cutters alike. The material’s greatest strength comes from its ability to change formation at the will of the user. A typical Lodestone apparatus is made up of several hovering plates. At rest these plates separate and hover in tight rings around the owner’s body. Once activated these stones can be called by force of will into various shapes (swords, shields, hammers) at which point the plates can be pulled out of orbit to be wielded, or their orbit can be controlled to “puppet wield” the weapon. Other materials and upgrades can be attached to Lodestone plates, thus giving more formation possibilities.
Material problem:
Lodestone is not quasi-sentient and thus grants no stat bonus. A Whisper must be spent to do every formation change and the material has a 1/100 chance to short out for 1d6 rounds after every formation change.
Lodestone cannot be traded for, the only way for a character who is not Druzai to acquire some is to either kill a Druzai, go through grueling tasks to win the races trust, or buy Lodestone from an unscrupulous black market source. Druzai seem to know the origin or every piece of Lodestone they encounter and do not look all that kindly upon people who have harmed their kindred.
The exact reality behind the Druzais’ amazing physical makeup is unknown. What is known is that the race refers to themselves as “Wanderers”. At death a Druzai will immediately revert to its true form and slowly begin to float skywards until it disappears from view. If asked about the nature of this event a Druzai will only answer that the recently deceased is “returning home”.
The nature of a Druzai’s body, while unusual, is still a body. If injured a Druzai will bleed shining dust, and each of the main planets which make ups its body are believed to somehow act as internal organs. Most of what happens inside of a Druzai’s body is unknown though, as once detached from its owner a Druzai limb crumbles into the same shining dust that the race bleeds. For all intents though, a Druzai acts just like a regular race.
The race still needs to eat, which they do only in true form. It should be noted that a Druzai need not sleep, though they may do so by choice. The Druzai, are capable of dreaming like humans, but furthermore, some Druzai choose to sleep in order to encourage prophetic dreams. The Druzai possess distinct genders- the females identified by a feminine demeanor, a feminine outline of the body, and a star nebula in the stomach region of the true form. The males have male qualities, a manly demeanor and male figure form. The male Druzais’ true form features a black hole in their respective abdomens. As an interesting aside, during the moment of death, a male Druzai’s internal planets are consumed by the black hole while in the females’ bodies the nebula quickly collapse into itself and flashes into a star.
During actual play a Druzai character in human form plays exactly like a human. In true form the character can take advantage of a different body shape but no stat change occurs because of the change. Druzai are a “skinless” race like the Hubris and thus may take any and all body modifications that a Hubris can. Any internal body mods taken by a Druzai transform into astral bodies whilst maintaining any combat or RP effect. A Druzai does not take the same alchemical tattoos or markings that regular races have; instead they can modify the appearance of their internal planets. How they chose to do this is up to the player to decide and the Storyteller to approve.
Druzai are the only race which may start with its race’s material: Lodestone.
Material:
Lodestone: A light weight stone, with an odd propensity to hover around its owner in tight orbits as long as its owner has a capacitor energy source (Aquian crystal, Angel core, or the equivalent). This material comes in a wide selection of earth toned colors, and is carved like stone, instead of being cast or forged like metal.
Material bonus:
The stone is both strong and light-weight, making it very useful for brawlers and cutters alike. The material’s greatest strength comes from its ability to change formation at the will of the user. A typical Lodestone apparatus is made up of several hovering plates. At rest these plates separate and hover in tight rings around the owner’s body. Once activated these stones can be called by force of will into various shapes (swords, shields, hammers) at which point the plates can be pulled out of orbit to be wielded, or their orbit can be controlled to “puppet wield” the weapon. Other materials and upgrades can be attached to Lodestone plates, thus giving more formation possibilities.
Material problem:
Lodestone is not quasi-sentient and thus grants no stat bonus. A Whisper must be spent to do every formation change and the material has a 1/100 chance to short out for 1d6 rounds after every formation change.
Lodestone cannot be traded for, the only way for a character who is not Druzai to acquire some is to either kill a Druzai, go through grueling tasks to win the races trust, or buy Lodestone from an unscrupulous black market source. Druzai seem to know the origin or every piece of Lodestone they encounter and do not look all that kindly upon people who have harmed their kindred.
Halicker Stats
Halicker stats are very simple.
Power: Your characters strength and the strength of your apparatus, used to determine just how hard you can hit something, weather your strong enough to use bigger items, and if you can beat an RP situation involving power (power checks).
Power modifies damage (severity) in Halicker
Flexibility: determines your characters flexibility, reflexes, and other reaction times as well as the amount of time it takes to react with an apparatus. This stat governs how much of an advantage you get in combat as well as your ability to dodge/block an attack.
Flexibility modifies attack rolls and defense rolls in Halicker
Toughness: Governs your characters stoicism and ability to withstand strain. This Stat also modifies an apparatus’s ability to run continually without overheating, breaking, or the equivalent depending on the device. Also, the bonus associated with a character’s toughness acts as penalty to an opponents damage roll.
Toughness acts as a negative modifier for an opponent’s damage roll in Halicker.
Velocity: Determines just how quickly your character can move versus other opponents and just how many times in a typical round a character can attack in a round.
Velocity modifies the roll for attack order and whether or not your character has multiple attacks in Halicker.
Beauty: Determines how attractive your character is to NPCs.
Beauty modifies the roll for seduction and modifies certain RP situations.
Your character starts out with a varying amount of highs, mids,and lows depending on the race.
A high translates to a 15+ bonus to that stat and designates that stat as one of the main stats for that character.
A mid counts for a +5 and shows that stat to be less important but still in the cards for that character.
A low counts as no bonus for that stats and tell the Storyteller that the character does not value that stat very much at all.
As you play the game you will get the chance to modify your characters body and their apparatus, these modifications will add points to certain stats and thus effect combat rolls. though it should be noted that a character must keep track as to which stat effecting modifications are from apparatus upgrades and which are form physical upgrades. The reason for this is that some upgrades are only available if a character has some many points in the physical half of a stat, some are only in the apparatus part of the stat. Of course there are some upgrades which do not care if the points are physical or apparatus as long as they are there.
The exact specifics as to weather or not a character can use a given upgrade very depending on the part, more details will be available in the book once we get it published. Did I mention that Halicker will have the biggest items list ever made? No? well, that is what we are shooting for over here...
Power: Your characters strength and the strength of your apparatus, used to determine just how hard you can hit something, weather your strong enough to use bigger items, and if you can beat an RP situation involving power (power checks).
Power modifies damage (severity) in Halicker
Flexibility: determines your characters flexibility, reflexes, and other reaction times as well as the amount of time it takes to react with an apparatus. This stat governs how much of an advantage you get in combat as well as your ability to dodge/block an attack.
Flexibility modifies attack rolls and defense rolls in Halicker
Toughness: Governs your characters stoicism and ability to withstand strain. This Stat also modifies an apparatus’s ability to run continually without overheating, breaking, or the equivalent depending on the device. Also, the bonus associated with a character’s toughness acts as penalty to an opponents damage roll.
Toughness acts as a negative modifier for an opponent’s damage roll in Halicker.
Velocity: Determines just how quickly your character can move versus other opponents and just how many times in a typical round a character can attack in a round.
Velocity modifies the roll for attack order and whether or not your character has multiple attacks in Halicker.
Beauty: Determines how attractive your character is to NPCs.
Beauty modifies the roll for seduction and modifies certain RP situations.
Your character starts out with a varying amount of highs, mids,and lows depending on the race.
A high translates to a 15+ bonus to that stat and designates that stat as one of the main stats for that character.
A mid counts for a +5 and shows that stat to be less important but still in the cards for that character.
A low counts as no bonus for that stats and tell the Storyteller that the character does not value that stat very much at all.
As you play the game you will get the chance to modify your characters body and their apparatus, these modifications will add points to certain stats and thus effect combat rolls. though it should be noted that a character must keep track as to which stat effecting modifications are from apparatus upgrades and which are form physical upgrades. The reason for this is that some upgrades are only available if a character has some many points in the physical half of a stat, some are only in the apparatus part of the stat. Of course there are some upgrades which do not care if the points are physical or apparatus as long as they are there.
The exact specifics as to weather or not a character can use a given upgrade very depending on the part, more details will be available in the book once we get it published. Did I mention that Halicker will have the biggest items list ever made? No? well, that is what we are shooting for over here...
Friday, November 21, 2008
Magic, Amended
Magic in Halicker operates very similarly to the apparatus upgrade system. A character picks certain spell effects at the start. Certain Story Tellers will require these spells to follow a theme that fits the character while others will not. These spell effects can be of any type or appearance with varying combat and RP potential. As a character plays through the game he or she will get the opportunity to upgrade these spell effects by getting alchemical components. These show up in various forms- fire stones, cockatrice feathers, golem blood etc. Once enough of these components have been found, a character can either pay an alchemist or perform the proper alchemical procedures to create spell upgrades or new spells.
Once a character has chosen his or her spells, he/she must declare a physical representation of this spell. This usually is interpreted as magical tattoos on a character’s body, but can also be represented as magical designs or decorations on an apparatus. Once a spell is upgraded, the tattoo can be developed into a more ornate design, or a character can get new tattoos; any form of body modification is allowed to show spells and upgrades, and players are encouraged to be creative when coming up with their own.
Spells require "Whispers" (a.k.a. manna) to be used. A character starts out with three, (five if you’re a Red) and you can get more Whispers by acquiring a complicated list of alchemical components. As well, a Story Teller can be nice and give a character who fancies themselves a "mage" or "wizard" more Whispers, or a few spells (free spells, or “Frells”) that are weaker but require no Whisper. Characters can upgrade regular spells to be Frells through a complicated alchemical process.
Noticing a pattern here? As mechanics is to machinery and apparatus, alchemy is to magic.
Characters who do not want to do magic themselves can enchant their apparatus so that spells emanate from the machine as a opposed to the character. This might not seem like a much of a change but certain enemies can do weird things to characters with magic tattoos or the like, and said enemies will be in the manual when I am rich enough to publish said manual.
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