Thursday, August 23, 2018

OSR: Sci-Fi GLOG Classes

These classes are more for XCOM-style near-future SF than gonzo science-fantasy (because I'm boring). They are also designed with 3 main assumptions, without which they don't work as well:

1: There's a lot of guns involved in terms of combat.
2: Reloading one of those guns requires an action.
3: Firing a gun means everyone knows where you are.

Oh, and just in case +Lungfungus is watching me, these haven't been playtested yet, and might (probably will) have quite a few balance problems. Once I find said problems, and fix them, I'll release a second version, which will hopefully include a hacker using a messed-with version of the spellcasting rules.
Image result for sci-fi soldier
Art Credit: Bugrimov Maksim
Pointman
A: Precise Shot
B: Quick Reload
C: Inspiring Presence
D: Suppressive Fire
Precise Shot: As an action, make a ranged attack with a +1 bonus to hit, but -1 damage.
Quick Reload: Reloading your weapon does not cost an action.
Inspiring Presence: Spend an action to give another PC a free attack, with an extra +2 to hit and +1d4 damage.
Suppressive Fire: Spend 2 shots to suppress a target. Suppressed targets have a -2 penalty to hit, and if they move there is a 4-in-6 chance they are hit, taking your weapon's normal damage.

Stalker
Each Stalker template you have gives you +1 Stealth.
A: Low Profile 
B: Vigilance
C: Ambush
D: Obliterate
Low Profile: Ranged attacks have a 2-in-6 chance of revealing you if you are hidden.
Vigilance: If you are surprised, you have a 50% chance to act on the surprise round anyway.
Ambush: Attacking while hidden grants an additional +1 to hit and +1d6 damage.
Obliterate: While hidden, you can make 3 ranged attacks in a turn. This immediately reveals you.

Marksman
A: Practiced Eye, Long Trajectory
B: Insult to Injury
C: Hold Still
D: Know Thy Enemy
Practiced Eye: After missing a target with a ranged weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to hit that target on the next turn.
Long Trajectory: All ranged weapons gain 50 feet of range while you use them.
Insult to Injury: Ranged attacks deal +1d4 damage if the target has been damaged this turn.
Hold Still: Your ranged weapons have +2 to hit on targets with less than 50% of your health.
Know Thy Enemy: As an action, observe an opponent, then make an Intelligence check. If you succeed, your next ranged attack against that creature does +1d12 damage. If your check succeeds, you cannot use this ability for the rest of the fight: everything's gotten too chaotic.

Brawler
Each Brawler template you have gives you +1 HP.
A: Adrenaline Pump
B: Augmented Musculature
C: Cybernetic Nerves
D: Automated Hindbrain
Adrenaline Pump: Once per day, the mechanical pump next to heart injects you with a cocktail of chemicals. While the chemicals run through your veins, your Strength score is changed to 18, and you gain +1 to hit and +1 damage with all melee attacks. However, while the pump is active, you don’t think, you solve everything with force.
The pump stays active for 5 rounds, but you can attempt to deactivate it early, with a 2-in-6 chance of success. 
Augmented Musculature: +1 to Strength. Once per day, overcharge the servomotors to deal +1d6 damage on a melee attack.
Cybernetic Nerves: A second set of nerves activates when the Adrenaline Pump turns on: while the Pump is active, you can move twice as far as normal.
Automated Hindbrain: When you die, your Adrenaline Pump empties itself into your veins. You have 5 rounds left to live. Make them count. 

Face
A: Well-Spoken, Provoke
B: Connected
C: Shift the Blame
D: Trust Me
Well-Spoken: As long as there hasn't been a fight yet, you get +1 to reaction rolls, as long as you're the one doing the talking.
Provoke: In combat as an action, you can target an opponent who can see and hear you. The target must save or attack you. This ability cannot force an opponent to make massive mistakes (jumping off cliffs, etc.). Out of combat, the target must save or act in anger (yelling, violence, etc.)
Connected: You know a guy, who also knows a guy, who also probably knows another guy. If there’s something you need (information, items, etc.) which you could feasibly get, you know someone who will get it for you, for a price.
Shift the Blame: In combat as an action, you can target one of the other PCs, and start rattling off all the reasons it was their fault you’re fighting, and how you had nothing to do with it. Opponents must make a save or attack the targeted PC. Out of combat, you can blame someone else for something you’ve done, unless it’s obvious you did it. No save, because you’re just so trustworthy.
Trust Me: You can persuade anybody, for a while. Through a combination of half-truths, regular truths, and absolute nonsense, you can get a group of people to believe whatever lies and excuses you can come up with. After 1d6 minutes, they come to their senses, at which point they’ll be very annoyed.

3 comments:

  1. These are pretty great. The only thing that stands out to me is that Pointman's Precise Shot is incredibly boring; those numbers probably won't make much of a difference. I'd call it "Advantage on the attack, no range penalties, half damage."

    I think the Brawler is my favorite one. It's a great barbarian reskin; that last ability is awesome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't really take credit for the Automated Hindbrain: both Stars Without Number and Goblin Punch's Axis Mundi had augmentations with a similar effect.

      The Pointman's Precise Shot was based off of something you'd see in a lot of games: the "Lose 1 AC for +1 to hit" or something like that attack. I agree it isn't very impactful, but I was worried about making it overly powerful. I'll almost certainly end up replacing it before I start playtests.

      The abilities I was really worried about were the Stalker's Obliterate and the Marksman's Know Thy Enemy. Do they seem reasonable to you?

      Delete
    2. Obliterate seems reasonable to me. It's a once/combat ability, realistically, and if your gun deals d6 damage that's a total of 3d6 even if all of them hit. Know Thy Enemy is a similar deal; spike damage on a one/combat ability is probably fine.

      Delete

Sunless Horizon Beta 2.3 Release

Commissioned from Scrap Princess excited screeching I've been posting about  Sunless Horizon  for about a year, and after finally gettin...