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[Bluesproto]

Link to the IC here

In the world of Midgard, a world of magic and war, something is happening. The Empire is preparing. The hate of the Empire population towards other races is being difficult to control to young Empress Alessia. The Senate of the Empire wants war against the dwarves, ferals, elves and anything that stands in their way. And you, you are in the middle of it. Strange things are going to happen. Will you be a hero for all races? A conqueror? Or the encarnation of pure evil trying to destroy the world?

The world of Midgard is composed of a main continent, mainly territory of the mighty Empire of Caelstia, except for the Kaldras peninsula where four different kingdoms (the elven kingdom of Alfheim, the human kingdoms of Tartess and Caels and the feral kingdom of Lupus. There are also some major islands, like the kingdoms of the Azur Feather and  the Serpent Alliance can be found.

The people of the Empire hate other races, as the fighting with the ferals in the past and the tension with the dwarven and elven borders has always been high, however it has the greatest army in the world, led by the mighty Caelstian Magisters and their Assistants, the most powerful generals of the Empire.

This is intended to be a roleplaying game with 4 players. However, any ideas and comments would be great

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

For character creation

Stats:
You have 65 points to distribute between your basic stats. Maximum of ten. Anything above ten is above human. 5 is the human average, a 7 is someone with an intelligence over the average for example, and 9 is what an elite athlete would have (You are obviously over the average, but you lack experience).
The stats are:
AGIlity: How fast you move, it helps you with dodging, doing acrobatic movements and so on. Very important for acrobatic warriors, thieves, assasins and that kind of things.
CONstitution: It helps calculating how much damage you can take, how long it takes for you to get tired and so on. Very important for any kind of character
DEXtery: Helps you to parry attacks, attacking, doing sleights of hand, all that stuff. Very important for any kind of warrior.
INTelligence: Helps you with skills such as occultism. Very important to learn Magic.
PERception: Increases your awareness skill, above human levels of this stat allow you to see in the dark and that kinf of things. Vey important for rangers, thieves and so on.
POWer: Helps you with magic, as it allows you to cast it faster, control supernatural entities and is used to calculate both the amount the speed at which you can regenerate the magic energy you use and how much magic energy you can contain within your body.
STRength: Increases the damage you do, how much weight you can lift. Very obvious. Very important for most warriors.
WILlpower: Allows your character to stay cold, and helps a lot in both the control of supernatural creatures and the use of psychic powers.

There are 16 classes. The classes names don't force your character to act in any way. A dark paladin is just a warrior who centers on attacking, the use of armours and has both control over supernatural creatures and good social skills.
Warrior: A warrior is someone trained to use weapons (although they usually are only skilled with one kind of weapon, like long swords or spears) and who has some control over his ki, allowing him to do impossible feats for a normal human.
Acrobatic Warrior: A warrior who specializes in dodging and uses acrobatic movements. They have also some control of the ki.
Weapon Master: A warrior who specializes in using combat manouvers, heavy armour and different weapons to defeat his/her enemies. However, they usually lack control of any kind of supernatural power
Paladin: A warrior that focuses on defense and the use of armours, having good social skills and the ability expel supernatural creatures.
Dark Paladin: explained before.
Martial Artist: A warrior that uses martial arts and combat manouvers to fight, strike, disarm his/her enemies and so on. They also have some control of the ki.
Technician: A warrior with a great control of the ki.
Ranger: A scout, usually using ranged weapons and his skills to ambush enemies and prepare traps.
Thief: Easy to understand, I think. Good acrobatic skills.
Shadow: A warrior that focuses on striking from the shadows and dodging enemies. Like a ninja.
Assasin: Someone with good fighting skills, but who prefers to use subtle methods like poisons to eliminate targets.
Summoner: Knowledge of occultism, able to summon, control, bind and even expel supernatural beings. They usually have some basic magic powers
Wizard: I don't think this needs an explanation.
Mentalist: User of psychic powers. There's a great variety of these powers.
Mentalist Wizard: A combination of psychic powers and magic, however usually doesn't get to be as good with magic or psychic powers as a mentalist or a wizard would be.
Warlock: A warrior with magic powers. However they are a bit below a true warrior or a true wizard in skill.
Mentalist Warrior: As above, but with psychic power.
Summoner Warrior: As above, but with summoning powers.
Illusionist: A wizard that has great social skills. Usually very good with dirty tricks. They combine magic and their own natural skills for persuading and usually for stealing too. They are not forced to choose Illusionism magic. An example of an Illusionist would be a noble (a count for example) that uses his powers to help him with his duties (like using a spell to make an agreement look better for another noble)
Freelance: Good with almost anything, but not as good as a specialist would be. But they are the best with non-fighting skills.

Races:
Humans, Elves (They get +1 to AGI and PER, but a -1 to STR and CON), Dwarves (They get +1 to CON, but -1 to AGI), Ferals (there are three kind of ferals. They usually look like humans, but can transform, gaining animal atributes. The bird Ferals can fly when transformed, the beast ferals get 3 points to distribute in STR, DEX, AGI and PER when transformed (for example +2 STR and +1 DEX). When transformed they easily become enraged. The dragon ferals can't be usually chosen) or a random race, but selecting random race gives a small chances of getting something interesting.

There are 3 kinds of supernatural powers. Magic (with Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, Creation, Destruction, Essence, Illusionism and Necromancy), psychic powers (with Telepatic powers, telekinesis, control of fire, and so on) and ki. You have to born with the Gift of Magic to be able to use it. The same goes for psychic powers. However anyone can learn to control ki, but it requires training. Summoning is based on magic.

When you have selected the class, race and your stats, pm me with an idea of your character to help you creating it (the system i'm using, although being very complete, is a bit complex.)

EDIT: Added Essence and Illusionism, 2 Magic Paths that i had forgotten. Illusionism is obvious, Essence is based on contacting with animals, plants and spirits. It's a very defensive Path. Also i had to say that any magic user can learn more than one Path, but learning more than one makes you have less advanced spells at first. (The system for learning magic goes by points. You have X amount of points to distribute between Paths, so you can have a greater variety of spells but not being able to get the more powerful ones, or you can have some powerful spells but little variety. It goes more or less the same for psychic powers.)

[EveryZig]

I would like to reserve a spot.

[hachnslay]

... we can choose our base stats ... and then the race modifies them? Why?

[Bluesproto]

Yes, you get it.

EDIT:sorry didn't really pay enough attention to the question. The race modifies because... Well, because the game is like that XD

[EveryZig]

Do INT and POW affect ki/psy, or just wizard-magic?

[Bluesproto]

I knew i forgot something. POW can be important for ki, depending on which kind of powers you want to use (things as Goku's kamehameha or Vegeta's Big Bang attack would need POW), but psychic power only uses WIL. However having a good POW will be useful to resist magical efects (and WIL to resist Psychic effects)

[kuoz]

could you explain better the sistem you're using? i dont matter if it is complex but i'd like to understand it before i reserve a spot

[Bluesproto]

Well, taking it to the basic, you have some skills, like Awareness, and you roll 1d100 (an dice of a hundred faces, don't worry, i'll do the rolls) and add it to your skill level. Then you have to compare and the difficulty i set. For example, if I set that climbing a tree has a difficulty of 40, and you have a 10 on climbing, you have to roll a 30 or more. If you roll a 90 or over, you add it to your skill level and roll again (so you roll 2 times and add both). If on the second roll you get a 91 or more, you roll again. If on the third you roll a 92 or more you roll again and so on.

About the skills. having a 20 in a skill means that you can easily do the most basic things without even rolling. Having a 40 would mean you have some training. Having a 80 would mean you can do something most people wouldn't be able to, a 120 is something very complex, a 140 is difficult even for experts and so on.

About combat. It works more or less the same. You roll initiative, and then you roll to hit and/or to dodge/parry. You can do things like going defensive, trying to disarm your opponent, and that kind of things. If you get hit before your action, you can't act that turn. You may be trying not to bleed out, or you may have lost the chance. Things like trying to dodge multiple attacks have modifiers.

You can attacks more than one time each turn. Exactly once per 100 points(or fraction) you have on the Attack skill. But the attacks get a modifier of -X. However, taking in count your enemy will also have modifiers of -X after the first attack, it may be worth it.

You can reserve your attack for doing a counter attack (maybe you have a good defense, so you try to defend, get a bonus for a good defense and then attack). Magic, ki, psychic powers and summoning have some special rules, so I'll explain them once someone asks for a character that uses it. But just so you know, ki allows you to do things like the techniques showed in naruto, dragon ball, devil may cry, the tales of saga and that kind of games and mangas, while psychic is a lot more like magneto's powers, what magic does is very classic, and summoning does both calling monsters that you use as soldiers (and slaves most times) and the FF kind of summoning.

EDIT: Before I forget, your character can take levels on different classes. So as you are starting as level 4, you may say you want a level 2 Thief, level 2 Acrobatic Warrior, for example.

[EveryZig]

Oh, this is still alive? I am still in then.

So how are things going to work with character interactions? Will they start as an adventuring party, or be separate for some or all of the time?

[Bluesproto]

Well, it will depend. If you go after the same objectives, you'll go together. However, if you try to go after becoming a king, and the others try to stop you. Well, is obvious then, i think.  But I'll try to do it so most of the time you'll be together. However, you'll start alone.

[Bluesproto]

Ok, so sorry for the double post, but i think it is easier and less messy this way.
This the basic character sheet. Post it, and I will do the complicated stuff for the sheet (there are some things that need to be done in order to make playable)
Name:
Race: (Or if you want to do it random, just say random.)
Stats:
Class:
Skills: (Just what you want your character to know, for example, i want him to know history, occultism, to be a good persuader, know both fire and destruction magic, focusing a bit on fire over destruction, and have training using both swords and bows)
Description:
Background Story: (If you have chosen random, wait for me to tell you which race you are, because maybe there will be something about the race you want to add)

[Lillipad]

You should probably make two more categories for 'ice' and 'lightning' magic. Alternatively, you could get rid of fire altogether and create a 'heat' category containing both fire and ice spells. The same could be done with necromancy and healing magic by making a 'life' category. The fun of playing a mage type is having a lot of variety, and being able to use your imagination in how you can apply your favored categor(y/ies).

Keeping the sheet unfinished for now. I'm too distracted to come up with anything decent for the empty categories.

Spoiler: sheet (click to show/hide)

Name: Saurus Edrand
Race: Human
Class: Wizard
Skills: Saurus focuses primarily on the use of ice magic in the water category, with a secondary focus put on creation magic. He has trained in the martial use of weighted staffs, but does not use it as a medium for spell casting.
Description: Saurus has long, black hair kept tied in a disheveled bun. He has a small, horizontal cut under his left eye, a large scar by his stomach, and two jagged, circular scars on his palms. Due to his training, he has taken to wearing several layers of clothing on his upper body. The first is a typically plain, black shirt, underneath a loose fitting black tunic, with a cloth tied around the waist to insulate the heat. Above that all, he wears a dark blue cloak to further insulate his body. His pants are loose fitting, gray, and bound around the lower leg and ankles to allow for easier movement.
A small aura of cold constantly radiates around him due to a failed experiment to make him resistant to cold and heat. The aura amplifies during spell casting, and small, floating ice crystal form, quickly melting away back into a cold mist. A secondary result of the failed experiment led to his skin becoming a light off gray color.
Background Story: Saurus kept himself mostly isolated in his youth, only speaking up against harassment aimed at him. He spent most of his time studying literature, history, and the world as it was at the time. He would spend days at a time within the library, only pausing to take care of his needs and to keep clean. As he grew older, his studies eventually shifted into magic, and he barely managed to learn a few weak spells. His parents eventually became worried at what may become of them due to his studies, and sold him to a mage in the city before he could become any sort of threat to their social and physical lives.
Being fairly disconnected from society at that point, Saurus responded to his slavery with mild disinterest, frequently wandering away from his buyer until he was eventually led to a mountain temple dedicated to teaching magic. He spent several years, struggling to improve his spells to what was considered average, and he was eventually deemed a proper apprentice of the temple. His buyer had tried to experiment on Saurus to improve his magical powers in the fields of water and creation, but it ultimately failed to yield the desired results. While it did succeed in increasing his natural power, it only altered his skin and hair colors, and only produced a weak aura of cold around him.
He eventually left the temple in order to train on his own, and seek out stronger spells. His travels bringing him to the town he now stands in.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

AGI: 7
CON: 10
DEX: 6
INT: 10
PER: 6
POW: 10
STR: 6
WIL: 10

[Bluesproto]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lightning goes inside wind, and ice goes with water. And now that someone wants a wizard:
Fire is an offensive magic path. At high levels, some spells allow you to get higher stats temporaly, or even to burn HP for magic.
Water is a defensive magic path. At high levels some spells allow you to make time go slower, freeze enemies or create copies of them.
Wind is a balanced magic path. At high levels some spells allow you to fly, teleport, or even to become intangible.
Earth is a defensive magic path. At high levels you can call meteors, control gravity or create natural armours made of rocks.
Light and Darkness are balanced magic paths. They have very similar spells, however, while supporting light spells enhance your Awareness and Search skills, Darkness enhances your Stealth and Hide skills.
Illusion is a support magic path. In fact for good Illusion users, the only limit is their imagination.
Essence is a support magic path. It allows you to communicate with others and with animals and plants, and also to communicate with spirits.
Creation is an all defensive magic path. It has healing spells, magic shields, and it can also create "life". It is used to create homunculi, as well as fusing two people together, and create objects (One of the High Magic spells of this path allows you to create things as great as flying castles).
Destruction is an all offensive magic path. It can destroy other magic users spells, destroy souls, and increase the damage inflicted to an enemy.
Necromancy is a balanced magic path. It not only allows to create undead mosnters, but it also has some offensive and defensive spells, allowing you to absorb the enemy HP with your attacks, taking control of their bodies and even becoming an undead yourself (a high undead with no master).

Each magic path has 100 levels. The normal magic, that any magic user can learn and use goes from level 1 to 80. Levels from 81 to 90 are High Magic, and only magic users of great level that have mastered some special magic skills and supernatural entities of high power can use it. From 91 to 100 is Divine Magic. Only gods and other entities of high power can use it.

Each spell can be used at 4 levels, each more powerful than the one before, and sometimes with special effects. However, in order to use a spell, your character has to understand it. All spells and all levels of any given spell have a minimum of INT that you need in order to use it. Basic spells, such as Fire Ball, ask for INT between 6 (a bit above average for a human) and 11(Above normal human limits. However, characters gain 1 point to spend on enhancing their stats, even above human limits, every 2 levels, so a level 2 magic user could use this spell at is higher level easily)

A magician is not only limited to select spells. You can also get magical abilities that allow you to cast certain spells faster, to enhance the power of your magic shields, and, at high levels, reduce the amount of magic points you need to use a spell to a half, use High Magic and so on.

Also, one last thing. Spells have some fixed effects, however you can always use natural magic. Natural magic allows more freedom (you select the effects of the spell) but is more difficult to cast. And you can't use it with any special magic ability. Natural magic depends only on your POW stat, but as i said, is very difficult to cast.

The text above is about magic. However as I say on it, every 2 levels you gain one point to enhance any given stat, even above 10. So as level 4 characters you'll have 2 of these points.

[Lillipad]

I got that electricity and ice went into those categories. I probably should have clarified that. I suggested they get their own category because those two "elements" tend to play differently from the categories they're in now, and it tends to be easier in the long run to let them branch out into their own.

Spoiler: Advice and ranting (click to show/hide)

Anyway, the "offensive, balanced, defensive" system you plan on using. It might be better to just let mages classify how they want to use a type in their skill section upon creation, rather than have everything set in stone, excluding destruction and the two support types. And I understand that you have a lot of grand ideas regarding each path, but you're trying to apply the idea of 'linear' to a dynamic mindset.

Not everyone is going to be happy having to choose fire over, say, earth as their high damage category. And not everyone will be happy only being able to play creation defensively. This is because you've chosen a linear method to go about this. Natural magic may give some leniency in regards to this, but saying something is only or mostly meant to be a specific way, or that something may be better than something else in a vague category can be too linear for other people.
I've run several games into the ground because I was trying to drive people down a linear path that I preferred for something, and they were growing more and more dynamic with what they wanted. It can detract from entertainment when you aren't considering that people may prefer to take something a different direction than what you want. So you have to learn to adapt yourself to what others want. You can still get to have your fun with everything you had planned, but you have to be willing to let people get what they want out of it as well.

You have an interesting concept going, but I think you're too stuck in your ideals of how you want the game to go, so everything feels pretty rough around the edges. My advice is to just look at what's going on right now. Take some time to think about the mechanics you've thought up and how they may be restrictive to the players, and then try to think of how you can make things more lenient on yourself and on the players. You're going to have to manage all this, and only focusing on the grand scheme can cause hardship when you're writing.

[Bluesproto]

Ok, so, lets do this.
I'm using the Anima Beyond Fantasy system. Is an Spanish RPG with a complex system, but I'm trying to keep it simple. The magic paths are not set in stone. In fact, all magic users get a number of spells they can select and that are avaliable to all magic users. These spells are used to add variety to your list of spells. For example a Creation wizard could select the spell "Magic Beam" to use it as it basic attack. And in fact there are some spells that you can use for many things, so it's not set in stone, but i just don't feel like writing the whole 500+ spells here (It's too much work i think). For example, the "Transform" spell, from creation, is usually used to make those wood logs you saw before become a bridge to go through that river, but it can be used to make the enemy's armour shrink and compress it into a metal ball (killing your enemy). But the reason some things may look too rough is because sometimes someone tries to use the freedom a Do-What-You-Want magic system gives to use some spell in a game breaking way.
And just because it says it is defensive it doesn't mean it hasn't any attack. Earth has earthquakes after all.

And just one thing. You aren't forced to have a single Path focused wizard. In fact, most of them get to use three or four paths.

PS: Believe me, it may seem restrictive at first, but you'll end up with more options that you can imagine.