New Arcana Mechanics 2.0 [WIP]

Subject: New Arcana Mechanics 2.0 [WIP] Fri Jun 07, 2024 8:44 pm

The Mechanics of New Arcana

Hey everyone! This is your guide to the new set of mechanics coming to New Arcana, starting with A War Waged Anew. This plot, and probably future plots to come after it will make use of this entirely new system, so you can always defer to this page should you need any help. (Or you can also ask one of the Plot Leads or Mods if we're on hand. Though always defer to this first before asking any questions!)

Strength of the Heart

When you first make your character, you're eventually going to come across two sets of Stats that make up your character's capabilities both in and out of combat. They are divided into two distinct categories: Battle Stats and Social Stats.

BATTLE STATS

As you may have already guessed, your character's Battle Stats dictate how powerful your character is in combat. There are a total of 4 Combat stats that affect your rolled actions, like say trying to hit an enemy with a Melee attack, or landing an Enfeebling effect. These Stats are divided as follows:

Strength (STR): Affects your character's HP and can be used for Physical attacks. (More on those here).

Agility (AGI): Affects Physical defense, initiative, and can be used for Physical attacks.

Magic (MAG): Affects SP and can be used for Magic attacks or Scanning.

Intellect (INT): Affects Magical Defense, inventory points, and can be used for Magic attacks or Scanning.

Alongside these stats, you also have a set of Substats, which account for your defenses and available resources:

HP: These are your Health Points, and denotes how much damage your character can take before being Knocked Out (Or KOed). While KOed, your character is incapable of acting until an ally helps you get back up through a Special Move or an Item. Note that some Special Moves can have a HP cost.

SP: Skill Points is the resource used for Special Moves that aren't Physical, such as Scanning an enemy, or hitting them with an Elemental Attack. The only way to restore these is to either hit a Rest Spot (Dungeon Specific), or through the use of an Item.

IP: Item Points are consumed whenever you decide to conjure up an item within Gehenna, be that a Consumable Item like a Healing Potion, or an Item which provides a Narrative Benefit, like say a Grappling Hook.

PD and MD: Your Physical Defense (PD) value is used whenever you're targeted for a Physical Attack, and how likely you are to dodge said Physical Attack. Same goes for Magic Defense (MD) against Magic Attacks.

SOCIAL STATS

You aren't always going to be fighting things for the plot to move forward, and as such, to make the Roleplay move in similiar ways to that of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, we've added Five Social Stats to work out things like Persuasion, Lockpicking, etc. NOTE: These statistics are ONLY used within story context at the DM's behest, and does NOT affect Social Linking with other people. The Social Stats are as follows:

Knowledge (KNW): This stat is primarily used for skill checks involving analysis, study or information of any kind.

Proficiency (PRF): Proficiency is used for skill checks involving agility, dexterity or craftsmanship.

Charm (CHR): Charm is used for all manners of intersocial feats, like Persuading someone to look the other way, or lying about your intentions.

Guts (GTS): Guts is your own willingness to endure and push past your fears. Any checks involving the use of courage, endurance, or brute force uses Guts for its rolls.

Insight (INS): Insight is the stat that's used when trying to understand a person or situation, so any rolls that ask for empathy, observation or intuition make use of Insight.

Subject: Re: New Arcana Mechanics 2.0 [WIP] Mon Jun 10, 2024 5:45 pm

The Check System: Confrontations

On New Arcana, we make use of a 2d6+Stat System, which means, for any type of check, be it for combat or a skill resolution, making use of two six sided dice, combining the two results with the stat that's relevant for the check. On New Arcana, we have custom code for this:

Code:: [rand]6[/rand]

Each Skill or Combat Check has an assigned difficulty to it, the standard of which is 8. Whatever the Difficulty number is, the player getting the check has to roll two d6 Dice, and add their total together with the stat, and if the total is equal to or higher than the assigned difficulty, you succeed in your stated goal. If your success happens to be 4 higher than the stated difficulty, its a critical success. Out of combat, this provides some extra narrative benefit at the current DM/Plot Lead's discretion, while in combat, this triggers the chosen move's critical effect. We'll come back to this once we've covered the rest of everything Combat.

Rolling lower than the assigned difficulty either results in a failiure or a success at a cost, up to the GM.

Damage Type and Affinity

Much like the Persona Games, there is a set of damage types which Moves have. Overall there are 8 different types of damage on New Arcana:

Melee

Gun

Fire

Ice

Wind

Electric

Light

Dark

In turn, these damage types are then further divided into two separate categories: Physical and Magical damage. Melee and Gun are Physical. When rolling for Physical Combat Checks, you're allowed to use either Strength or Agility as your +Stat. Physical Moves also require you to pay HP as a cost to use them.

Magic, which covers the remaining 6 damage types, uses SP as a resource, and your MAG or INT is used as the +Stat for magic attack rolls.

During your journey, you might happen to face enemies who take more or less damage from a given damage type. Just like in the games, there is a sort of "Affinity Hierarchy". By default, any affinity is considered Neutral unless stated otherwise.

Vulnerable: Damage is doubled, and the character is Downed.

Resistant: Damage taken is cut in half.

Neutral: Damage is taken as normal.

Block: No damage is taken, and critical effect is not applied.

Absorb: No damage is taken, critical effect is not applied, and the character restores HP equal to the stated damage.

Reflect: No damage is taken, critical effect is not applied, and the attacker takes the stated damage instead. Affiinities apply as normal, but if Reflected damage would be Reflected again, it is Blocked instead.

Upon creating a character, you assign your potential's affinties for taking certain types of damage. Every character starts their journey with at least 1 Resistance and 1 Weakness. (Further details on this is found on the character sheet).

The Downed Status, and 1 More!

When a character takes damage from a source they're Vulnerable against (Like Fire as an example), or they take damage from a critical success, they are Downed. A Downed character cannot be Downed again, and they remain Downed until their next turn starts. When you down a character, you get the opportunity to act again, referred to as a "1 More!" A "1 More!" allows a character to act again. You may also pass this opportunity to another ally who can perhaps make use of this extra turn better. So long as you can keep Downing enemies, there is no hard limit on how many of these you can get, other than the enemy count in the combat encounter itself.

If all enemies have been knocked down, and you have a "1 More!" left, you can spend this turn on what's called an All-Out Attack.

ALL-OUT ATTACK

In order to call for an All-Out Attack, you need to have all enemies knocked down, and have just gained a "1 More!" For every ally who is not Downed or Unconscious, Roll a 1d6. All enemies take damage equal to the combined total of the Rolls as Typeless Damage. Afterwards, all enemies lose the Downed Status, and get back up.

Aside from granting "1 More" to the enemy, getting Downed comes with no specific penalties. However, it may affect some abilities, such as ending Guard, grounding Flying Characters/Enemies, or reducing the total damage of an All-Out Attack.

Knocked Out And Loss

What happens then if you lose all HP? You are considered Knocked out, all ongoing buffs or effects you have end, and you're temporarily taken out of combat. You cannot regain any HP, unless the Recovering Move specifies it removes your KO Status first.

At the end of combat, the KO Status is lifted, and you recover 1 HP.

If every partaking character in a combat encounter is KO'd, they lose the battle, and are left at the mercy of their enemies. Following consequences are up to GM Discretion, up to, and including permanent Death.

Subject: Re: New Arcana Mechanics 2.0 [WIP] Yesterday at 10:00 pm

Combat Flow

When Combat starts, the first side to go is determined by an "Initiative Check", which uses the Highest Agility Stat amongst all player characters. The difficulty of the Roll is the Highest Agility Stat of all participating NPC Enemies. The roll done is still the standard one: two D6 dice + the Highest Agility Stat on your team, vs the Highest Agility Stat on the enemy team as the difficulty you have to roll higher than in order to start combat first. Should you fail, the enemies get the first actions.

Combat is divided into "Rounds". Player Characters and most enemies can only perform one move per round, unless specified otherwise through either a passive effect, or the effect of a Move, or through a Once More! Note that some enemies by default get multiple moves in a single turn, although this is rare. During a Round, the first side performs all of their available moves for that turn (including Once More! triggers), and then its the other side's turn, after which a new round begins. When you make a Move, you make a post declaring which Move you intend to use, its targets, as well as any other relevant information such as Amplifying (More on that below). If the Move requires a Skill Check, you also make an appropriate roll using the code given at the top of the page.

There is no strict turn order within each side, and you can post whenever you see fit, provided it is your team's round, and you haven't already declared an Action. ONCE AN ACTION HAS BEEN POSTED, YOU CANNOT CHANGE YOUR MIND.. Unless stated otherwise, actions are resolved in the order they were posted in. First post resolves first. Effects that have a set amount of time being active expire WHEN the user of the Move ends their Turn of the Effect Expiration, not when that round starts.

Moves

Moves are your available actions in any given combat scenario, and they come in two basic categories: Basic Moves and Special Moves. Basic Moves are available to everyone right at the start, while the Special Moves are picked individually between players. At the start of your Journey, you have Two Special Moves at your disposal, but can gain more through levelling. Persona Users have the ability to pick up a Third Move at the start through their Class Passive "Untapped Potential."

A Move describes its cost, and any checks that are involved in its use, if any, followed by the effects of a success and a critical success. The Critical Effect happens in addition to the normal effect, and does not replace anything unless stated otherwise.

Many of the available Special Moves allow you to pick multiple targets. If you choose to do so, the check is only made once, but the result is compared to the relevant defense values (PD or MD) of every target selected. Some moves do not require a check, and their effects are automatically a success. In this case, the effect is preceded by an "Auto:".

All Special Moves except Scan can be Amplified if only one target is selected. An Amplified move has its described cost and effect applied twice, however any critical effects apply only once.

Basic Moves:

Weapon Attack: At character creation, you choose whether your weapon deals Melee or Gun damage.
Cost: None
Check: Str or Agi vs. PD
Success: You attack with your weapon, dealing HR (High Roll) physical damage of the chosen type to one enemy.
Critical: The damage you deal is doubled.

Guard
Cost: None
Auto: Until your next move, any damage you would take is halved. Additionally, you may select one other character that is not already guarding someone. Until your next move, enemies cannot target them with moves that require a check. If you are Downed, you immediately stop Guarding and all its benefits end early.

Use an Item
Cost: 1 IP
Auto: You pull out an item and immediately use it. The options are:

- Healing item: one character recovers 40 HP, or removes KO and recovers 20 HP.

- Attack item: one enemy immediately takes 5 damage of an element of your choice.

- Gadget: this item has a minor narrative benefit of your choice (a grappling hook might allow you to scale a high wall, for instance). If appropriate, the item remains usable until the end of the mission.

Gambit
Cost: None
Check: Appropriate Combat/Social Stat (At DM's discretion)
Success: You do something unusual to seize the advantage. You might try to negotiate, or maneuver an enemy under a precariously hanging chandelier. If the DM decides it is appropriate, you create a tag of your choice on one target, and you may gain some other narrative benefit.

Special Moves:

Elemental Attack
When you obtain this move, choose 1 element. You may obtain this move multiple times, choosing a different element each time.
Cost: 1 SP per target
Check: Mag or Int vs. MD
Success: You deal HR+5 magic damage of the chosen element to the target.
Critical: You apply a tag of your choice to the target.

Physical Attack
When you obtain this move, choose Melee or Gun. You may obtain this move up to two times, choosing a different damage type the second time.
Cost: 3 HP per target
Check: Str or Agi vs. PD
Success: You deal HR+5 physical damage of the chosen type to the target.
Critical: The damage you deal is doubled.

Heal
Cost: 1 SP per target
Auto: Each target recovers 20 HP and removes one tag, as long as the target is not KO’d. Alternatively, if you target only one character, you may double this move’s cost to remove KO from the target before HP recovery.

Buff
Cost: 2 SP per target
Auto: Choose 1 Battle Stat. For each target, that Stat is increased by 1 for 3 rounds. This change affects PD and MD, but not maximum HP or SP. Each Stat can only benefit from one buff at a time. If you amplify this skill, you must select two different Stats. If this move is used outside of combat, the buff lasts until the target makes a check utilizing the chosen Stat.

Scan
Cost: none (but can have multiple targets)
Check: Mag or Int vs. the lower of PD and MD
Success: You reveal the target’s statistics and elemental affinities. If you successfully scan that target again, you also reveal its moves.
Critical: You reveal the target’s moves immediately.

Enfeeble
Cost: 1 SP per target
Check: Mag or Int vs. MD
Success: You apply a tag of your choice to the target.
Critical: You apply a second tag.