WarQuest Campaign Setting Rules

I still owe people who hit “like” on the Rogue Genius Games Facebook page a microsetting of at least 1,100 words. That Microsetting is going to be the WarQuest World, a setting where players of a MMORPG get sucked into the online game-world, and must learn to survive and thrive there. Rather than wait until it’s all done, I’m putting some of it out in pieces.

The WarQuest World the players are stuck in has MMORPG-style rules that control equipment and crafting materials.

Gear

Level Requirements: You can’t use an item that costs more than 1/3 your Wealth By Level total, and you can’t equip more gear at once than the value of your total Wealth By Level. The rules of WarQuest World simply prevent such items from functioning.

Equipment Slots: You can have two held item, one item in each body item magic slot, and carry up to sixteen other pieces of equipment (regardless of weight or size, including vehicles and animals but not buildings) without being encumbered. Multiples of nonmagic things bought in sets of more than one (such as arrows) as well as food, count as a single object.

If you carry 17-20 items, you are in medium encumbrance. If you carry 21-24, you are in heavy encumbrance. Magic items designed to allow you to carry more items or weight add 4 slots to these totals (or, if they are ranked, 4 slots per rank – so a type 4 bag of holding adds 16 slots).

You can keep up to 64 more things in your bank, which you can access from any settlement.

You can carry an unlimited amount of money, though money you keep in your bank cannot be stolen.

Crafting

Each PC gains one crafting ability. These can be defined however the player wishes (smithing, carving, leatherworking, tailoring, scribing, basket weaving – whatever). This allows you to make one kind of magic item (magic weapon, magic armor, rod, staff, wand, scroll, ring, or miscellaneous item). The item can be hand held or take one magic item body slot, and you define the item in a way that makes sense for your craft and the body slot. For example, if you are a scribe and you can make staves, they are most likely actually books of spells or pages of permanently empowered runes.

You can only make magic items with a cost no greater than 1/3 your wealth by level. To make a magic item, you inform your GM you are working on it. When you have earned treasure while adventuring  equal to the item’s cost, you have crafted the item (you don’t actually spend any cost, you are assumed to gather the needed materials adventuring). A GM may inform you in advance that an adventure will be worth double value toward this, or half.

A GM can also allow you to create more powerful items than normal by completing specific quests, to gain are materials.

If you actually put skill ranks into your related craft, you can create one more type of magic item for every 2 ranks you invest. These are still themed to be appropriate to your craft skill.

You can craft mundane items this way, as well. No other method for crafting functions. If you would receive a bonus Craft feat as a class feature, you may pick one additional form of item to craft, as if you has 2 more ranks in your selected Craft skill.

WarQuest Campaign Setting Rules

I still owe people who hit “like” on the Rogue Genius Games Facebook page a microsetting of at least 1,100 words. That Microsetting is going to be the WarQuest World, a setting where players of a MMORPG get sucked into the online game-world, and must learn to survive and thrive there. Rather than wait until it’s all done, I’m putting some of it out in pieces.

WarQuest World will have some new rules elements for the Pathfinder RPG, including Character Roles. A character role is selected at 1st level, and once this choice is made it cannot be changed. Every PC must select a role, and a GM may given NPCs roles as long as all their HD don’t come from npc classes.

The Tactician Role

A tactician is often a team leader, but can also serve as a battlefield commander, advisor, director, and even spy. The tactician knows the most about how the game of WarQuest World worked before the players were trapped in it, and is an expert as directing allies to make the most of their abilities.

A tactician adds their HD to any Knowledge check made to identify a creature (and its strengths and weaknesses), and any Knowledge check made to identify people, places, and things native to warQuest World.

A tactician can grant an extra “bonus action” to an ally within 60 feet who can see and hear the tactician. The ally takes the action immediately, and does not alter their place in the initiative order. A creature cannot benefit from more than one extra action (from any tactician) every 10 minutes. As a full-round action, the tactician can grant an ally a bonus standard action. As a standard action, the tactician can grant an ally a bonus move action. As a move action, the tactician can grant an ally a bonus swift action. Alternately as a move action, the tactician may increase the maximum number of attacks of opportunity the ally may take before the tactician’s next turn by 1 + tactician’s Charisma modifier (minimum 1). The ally need not take the attacks of opportunity immediately, but this still counts as receiving a bonus action from the tactician.

If the tactician attempts to grant an extra action to an ally with more HD than the tactician, the tactician must make a special Charisma check of 1d20+HD+Charisma modifier against a DC of 15+ ally’s HD. On a failed check the ally does not gain a bonus action.

WarQuest Campaign Setting Rules

The DPS Role

If you reduce a target to 0 or less aggro, and it’s next attack (as defined by the invisibility spell) targets you or includes you in its area, that attack gains a +4 bonus to any attack roll, any save DC is increased by +2, and it adds +1 to that attack’s damage for every HD it possesses.

The range of your aggro dice is based on your HD, as determined below.
HD     Aggro Dice Range
1-4     1d4
5-6     1d6
7-8    2d4
9-12  2d6
13-16 2d8
17+     3d6

WarQuest Campaign Setting Rules

Drawing Aggro

Drawing aggro is shorthand for acting in a way that convinces foes you are the biggest threat and must be dealt with first, even if other characters are being more effective in dealing damage or eliminating foes. Drawing aggro is part a matter of battlefield posturing, part intimidate and aggressive behavior, and part just being so provoking that targets want to kill you first.

Mostly aggro is only a matter of concern for tanks and DPS roles. This isn’t how most MMORPGs work, but is designed to keep things simple. Also just tracking aggro for those two roles doesn’t men it doesn’t apply to other classes. A tactical foe may well wish to kill a healer… but may have difficulty doing so if a tank has drawn its aggro.

The Tank Role

A character role is selected at 1st level, and once this choice is made it cannot be changed. Every PC must select a role, and a GM may given NPCs roles as long as all their HD don’t come from npc classes.

Characters taking the “tank” role can draw aggro once per round as a free action when making an attack. This applies to all targets of that single attack. The targets must make a Will save [DC 10 +1/2 tank’s HD + tank’s ability modifier that added to the attack’s damage [normally Strength, occasionally Dexterity]), or gain two points of aggro toward the tank. As long as a creature has aggro toward a tank, any attack it makes (with “attack” as defined by the invisibility spell) must include the tank it has the greatest aggro towards as a target, or include that tank in its area.

When a tank draws aggro, the tank may choose (before making the attack roll) to deal half damage to gain a +2 bonus to attack, increase the DC of the draw aggro by +4, and increase the aggro drawn from 2 points to 4 points.

Each time a target makes an attack that includes the tank as a target or has the tank in its area, it eliminates open point of aggro towards that tank. each time some creature other than the tank attacks a target, that eliminated one point of aggro from the tank the target has the most aggro against. After being out of combat for 1 minute, a creature loses all aggro.

(Do you enjoy the content on this blog? Why not become a patron, and support the creation of more free material! Or you could even become a sponsor, and get me to link to YOUR content!)