Basic Rules

1. Experience Points are directly spent to purchase Skill Points.  The amount of XP it costs to get a new skill point is equivalent to the rank that is being purchased.  Rank1 costs 1xp; Rank2 costs 2xp; Rank3 costs 3xp; etc.  In this way, the difficulty of being a true master of a skill are shown, as well as numbers in general being reduced.  XP does need to be spent immediately.  As such, it will usually be beneficial to keep track of both Total XP Received and XP Spent on Skills as separate numbers.

2. Combat begins with Initiative rolls.  Initiative not only determines the order of action, but potentially the number of actions in that Round as well.  A Round is 15secs long, and everyone starts at one action in that round.  Additionally, the character is considered to be moving, likely dodging or taking evasive actions, hiding behind cover, and otherwise doing everything possible not to get dead.  If a character gets 10+ initiative, they get a bonus action that round.  20+ brings a second bonus action, etc.  Combat then proceeds until the next round, until an entire minute has gone by.  At that point, initiative gets re-rolled.

For example, Bob, Janet, and a lion all get into a fight.  Bob gets an 8 initiative, Janet gets an 11 initiative, and the lion ends at a 23 initiative with their bonuses.  The lion goes first, then Janet, then Bob.  The lion then gets their first bonus action, followed by Janet's only bonus action.  The lion then gets their final bonus action.  This sequence repeats four times.  If an outcome has not been decided within a minute, then initiative is re-rolled as the ebb and flow of the battle changes.

This system results in actions that are typically longer than dnd actions (~8secs instead of an exact 6secs).  As such, the players are encouraged to add details to their actions.  Rather than a stricter "nope hopping up on the desk is too much movement it will take all day," the player can instead toss their weapons back and forth threateningly, jump-kick across the log, or otherwise add style and flair to their actions.  They are supposed to be badasses after all; what fun is another "i swing my sword at the enemy again" compared to some extra panache?

This also makes conversation during combat more simplified.  "Stop shooting!"  "What?"  "We're allies!" "Really?" "I got orders on me!" "Cease fire!"  While that is technically a back-and-forth conversation, that could still potentially happen in one character's action.

3. Damage Reduction.  Any strike that hits will see its damage reduced prior to final damage being assessed.  Base Physical DR is equivalent to the Constitution score.  Mental DR is equivalent to the Knowledge score.  So an example of final damage from a knife wound would be 1d4+attacker's Str-defender's Con, and this result would be temporarily subtracted from the character's Vitality (since the knife is physical).

4. Accuracy.  A basic roll to strike would be Agility+1d20+(relevant combat style if trained), which would compare against the target's Avoidance just as you would roll against AC.  A basic roll to strike with magic would be Guile+1d20+(magic skill).  If the magic is creating a physical attack (blast of fire), then this goes against the target's Avoidance just as with a melee attack.  If the magic is not a physical attack, then it would roll against the character's Sanity instead.  Defender always wins ties.

5. Criticals.  If a roll to strike is 10 or more points over the Avoid/Sanity of the target, this is considered a critical.  Crits do not always mean anything, but in the result of basic combat it usually equates to extra damage.  +1d10 damage if the roll to strike is 10-19 points over the Avoid/Sanity, +2d10 damage if the roll to strike is 20-29 points over A/S, +3d10 for 30-39, etc.  Buffs or debuffs will also use the bonus 1d10, but they will add it to the buff/debuff's duration rather than damage. 

A roll of a Nat20 is always a crit, and will add a stacking 1d10 in addition to any bonuses due to accuracy.  In the case of a Nat20 on Initiative, it will even add a bonus action prior to the start of the normal combat round.

Conversely, a Nat1 is typically an auto-fail.  In combat, this could mean just missing, or a fumble into something worse at DM discretion.  In Initiative, this results in the loss of the character's first action, wherever that action might have otherwise occurred.

#	(power)	(senses)	#	Attributes	#	(precision)	(resistance)	#
	Divinity	Intuition		(ethereal)		Guile	Knowledge
	Strength	Perception		(material)		Agility	Constitution

Attribute Inbalance Overview

Background:
    Strength is an easy example to describe the real life implications of having 'too much' of, so let's use that as an example.  The quoted matrix above was designed like that for several reasons, and this is one of them.  Being too strong is going to have its biggest impacts on the two directly horizontal attributes.  So, Perception and Constitution (the chart wraps around).  Someone that is too strong, but hasn't also built their Con, is literally going to hurt themselves.  This is the body builder that tears their own tendons and ligaments because they are stronger than their own constitution can handle.  Someone that is too strong, but hasn't also built their Perception, isn't going to know their own strength.  They are constantly going to be breaking, damaging, and hurting people and things because they don't know how strong is too strong.  This can also correlate with its vertical analogy, so for Strength this would be Divinity.  In these cases, it often becomes a substitutional relationship.  Strong man don't know charisma.  Strong man try bigger rock.

Game Mechanics:
   While these inbalances can play out with any attribute pairing, we are going to focus on only the 3 "touching" attributes as the primary points of impact.  The TOTAL of the 3 off stats needs to be GREATER than the high stat.  So Str 10 requires ( Div + Con + Perc = 11 or higher ).

Optional Flaw:
   Both White Wolf and DnD have the concept of a Flaw - effectively a "negative" feat.  The player can opt to take a Flaw as compensation for their excess.  This Flaw will highlight one pairing of the character's inbalance.  So, our resident meathead is totally outclassed to have 10 Str, with 2 Perc 3 Con and 2 Div (total 7).  He takes "Bull in a China Shop" Flaw, highlighting the fact that his Perc is so low compared to his Str.  The character is not trustworthy around anything breakable, which with 10Str, is quite a lot.
   The benefit to the player of opting for the Flaw is twofold.  First, by highlighting one of the insufficient pairings (typically the lowest), the character officially gets a "pass" on the inbalance created by the other two pairings.  The low Con and low Div do not directly impact the character.  The other benefit is predictability.  Everyone quickly learns not to trust meathead with potions, jewelry, he even has a special cup at dinner made of brass that can be bent back to the proper shape after he's done crumpling it.

 

 

Longterm, the thought is to push the imbalance point to 6.  At 50% over typical human maximum, this is a more realistic balance point for the number.  

A version better for making online character sheets 

once the colors are right to see the table borders 😀