Some notes on the possible system for the game.
Tasks are resolved by 1d20 + skill + Misc Modifiers
Melee attacks are resolved by 1d20 + melee + weapon modifier
Melee damage is resolved by weapon die + melee
Range damage is resolved by 1d20 + Marksmanship + weapon modifier
Ranged damage is resolved by weapon die + marksmanship
Magic attacks are resolved by 1d20 + Willpower
Magic damage is resolved by spells’ damage + Willpower
Initiative: 1d20 + Agility + Athletics + Awareness
Dodge: 1d20 + Agility + Awareness
Parry: 1d20 + weapon modifier + Athletics (special rules for parrying attacks)
Players may get creative with ways they can use other skills to achieve something they could with another skill. For example, a character with a lumberjack background might have more athletics than melee training. While facing a werewolf, the player states that he should be able to use his athletics skill to make an attack with his axe instead of melee, he argues that his character is a lumberjack and should handle an axe pretty well. The player may have a point there, what you can do is allow that player to use 1/3 of the bonus granted by that skill (rounded down).
Another solution
Responses to tasks or attacks are resolved by making an opposed check either using the same skill when it comes to contests or attack vs a dodge or a parry.
Skills
Body
Mind
Spirit
Agility
Athletics
Marksmanship
Melee & Weaponry
Stealth
Thievery
Endurance
Academics
Arcana
Folklore
Forbidden Lore
Heraldry
Nature
Religion
Sciences
Warfare
Awareness
Deception
Handle Animal
Intimidation
Insight
Persuasion
Streetwise
Survival
Willpower
Vitality and wound Points
The vitality and wound points system was originally developed as a more cinematic method of handling damage than the traditional hit point system. The system allows for characters to improve the amount of punishment they can withstand as they go up in level, while still allowing for a single lucky attack to take down a character.
Metagame Analysis: Vitality And Wounds
Characters using this system should be more wary in combat, which can turn deadly in the space of a few lucky rolls. But they can also bounce back from a fight much more quickly. For that reason, this variant is an ideal system for low-magic campaigns or games where healing is otherwise rare.
A very weak creature in this system tends to be tougher to kill than in a standard d20 game. Very big creatures are also more durable, due to their size modifier.
Creatures capable of dealing a large amount of damage on a single hit become significantly more deadly in this system, since a lucky attack roll can give a deadly blow to almost any character.
Vitality Points
Vitality points are a measure of a character’s ability to turn a direct hit into a graze or a glancing blow with no serious consequences. Most types of damage reduce vitality points.
//VP recovers quickly outside of combat. You can use an action in combat to recover a bit.
For every point you have in Agility and Athletics, your vitality increases by 5 points. Your archetype gives you a bonus to your vitality points.
Wound Points
Wound points measure how much true physical damage a character can withstand. Damage reduces wound points only after all vitality points are gone, or when a character is struck by a critical hit.
You start with 10 wound points. For every point you have in Endurance, your wound increases by 5 points.
//Poison, some spells, and diseases tend to target WP directly. It recovers more slowly, generally only by resting.
A wraith is an undead creature born of evil and darkness, despising light and all living things. They can drain the life from living creatures, turning them into new wraiths upon death. Wraiths are powerless in natural sunlight, appearing as a sinister, spectral figure robed in darkness. They have no visual features or appendages, except for their glowing red eyes.
Your humble author gives D&D some props in a detail from “Tips on How to Enjoy the Upcoming Depression” from Arthur magazine, 2008. Art by the unfadeable Joseph Remnant.
