Revision [136255]
This is an old revision of OmphalosHouseRules made by ConradWong on 2020-06-19 01:19:45.
Omphalos House Rules
Omphalos House Rules
The nature of the beast of the LitRPG is that it is a tabletop RPG being used to emulate a VRMMO, in which combat appears to be real-time. As such, to emphasize the spirit of the VRMMO, there are a number of rules adaptations:
Omphalos-specific Derived Stats
Level - 1 + the number of experience points the character has earned in the game. These are typically awarded on completing a significant quest or dungeon. (or level of a dungeon, for particularly large dungeons)
Points - can be used to buy up stats (one per every 20 levels) at 10 points per Attribute die increase, Edges for the same amount, or Skills for 5 points. After character creation, a new Skill will start at d4-1 (for 5 points) and cost another 5 points to raise to d4. Players receive 2 Points for each Level they gain.
Health - half the character’s Endurance. This may be increased by a class perk, e.g. tank-type classes may receive a 50% bonus. When the character runs out of Health, any further damage are taken as Wounds.
- Health serves as a VRMMO stat to cushion players from actual crippling injuries that would take days to heal. It allows the game to have dungeon and raid bosses that can be slowly chipped down from full health.
Luck - based on Endurance, restored after a long rest, or gain one after a short rest. Used to reroll any Attribute roll or Skill roll, soak damage, or remove the Shaken status. If a character is out of Luck, they may take on a level of Fatigue for a single point of Luck.
- Reflection of "Bennies". As usual, if one has the Luck or Great Luck Edges, one gains extra Luck.
- Allows some special tactics:
- Desperate Evasion - if and only if a AOE attack would instantly incapacitate you, such as a raid boss's instant-kill attack, may spend one point of Luck. Make an Agility roll against a target number of 4. If successful, the player manages to jump/roll/dodge to safety, but is Shaken. On a Raise, the player manages to avoid being Shaken as well.
Resting
At the end of combat, players that are under half Health, are restored to that amount, rounded down. At that point, the Healing skill may be used to try to restore Health and heal any Wounds that were suffered during combat. Remember that adequate material and time are assumed, otherwise Healing must be rolled at -2.
Short rests (1 hour spent resting) restore 1 point of Luck, and full power points.
Long rests (a full night of sleep) allow players to roll Vigor to attempt to heal Wounds. A comfortable bed and adequate food and drink add +2 to Vigor rolls.
- A long rest automatically restores one point of Health, two if they have a comfortable bed and adequate food and drink.
- A long rest also reduces Fatigue by one level.
Death
At 3 Wounds, characters are immediately Incapacitated.
- If they are Healed above -3 Wounds, they may roll Vigor (ignoring Wound penalties) to attempt to wake up from unconsciousness. On a Success, they are up, but Shaken. On a Raise, they may act immediately.
At the end of combat, either of two things can happen to Incapacitated characters:
- If there are enemies, and no remaining friendly players, any Incapacitated characters are assumed to have been given the coup de grace, and officially die at this time, allowing them to release their spirit and respawn.
- If friendly players do remain, they may attempt to minister to Incapacitated characters. On a successful Healing (Int) skill check (d4-2 if they are untrained), the Incapacitated characters come to with half of their normal Health, and at -2 Wounds. Failure simply means the attempt was unsuccessful, they may try again.
When a character dies, they go to a place called the Halfway House-- an apparently cozy, yet also infinitely large tavern where they are somehow grouped with others near them who died at about the same time. This is an entirely VR construct, and no damage or restraining of others can be performed in this place. They cannot leave this place until their death timer is up.
- The death timer is 10 minutes per level, so at level 21, a character cannot respawn for 210 minutes, 3.5 hours.
- No goods can be exchanged here, but coins can be paid to the barkeep for VR drinks and food to help pass the time.
- Respawning exacts a 10% level penalty against future XP gain, cumulative. In other words, a level 21 character 's next 2 XP (rounded down) will go to pay the penalty, instead of increasing their level.
Once the character respawns, they reappear at full Health, Luck, and power points, with no Wounds or Fatigue, at their last bind point. If that bind point no longer exists, they will be respawned at a universal safe place.
Extras, Lieutenants, and Bosses
Extras do not roll exploding dice for damage. In other words, a goblin shaman firing a 2d6 Bolt spell could do a maximum of 12 damage, which might add up to two damage versus a typical character's Toughness.
Extras do not have Health or take Wounds, only Wildcards. An Extra that is Shaken is one damage away from becoming Incapacitated.
Lieutenants are Wild Cards, and do roll exploding dice for damage, but they do not have Health, just Wounds.
Bosses are Wild Cards, and do roll exploding dice for damage. They have both Health and Wounds. Mid-level Bosses will typically have their Endurance in extra Health, dungeon Bosses will have twice their Endurance, and raid Bosses will have four times.
- Each time a Boss loses their Endurance in Health, they perform a Limit Break, a fancy transformation of either themselves or the environment which adds an extra obstacle to be overcome, or a new ability.
- Once a Boss is out of Health, they begin to take Wounds as normal, as well as suffering Wound penalties.
Spellcasting
Standard Casting Rules
While these exist in the standard rulebook, they're mentioned here to remind myself of the fact.
- For each power currently being maintained, the character suffers -1 to future spellcasting skill rolls, e.g. a mage maintaining both Armor and Charm would suffer -2 in attempting to cast a Bolt spell.
- A character currently maintaining a power who is hit with a successful attack must make an opposing spellcasting skill roll versus the damage taken. If she fails to match the damage taken, these powers immediately stop.
- A character currently maintaining a power who is the victim of a successful Trick must make a simple Smarts roll to keep their concentration.
Omphalos VRMMO Rules
- Any buffs the caster is currently maintaining may be moved over to another target on their turn. This does not require any power points, but counts as an action
- Power points are fully restored after a short rest out of combat.
- Spells are assumed to be obvious when being cast, and anyone standing near them can attempt to interrupt them, if they are on Hold and successfully beat them on an Agility roll.
- The standard Arcane Background and the Wizard Edge are not used.
Many of the Arcane Backgrounds present in Omphalos give some way to regenerate power points in combat. Out of combat, power points are restored at the rate of one per 10 minutes, e.g. while walking somewhere or actively doing various things, such as giving one's comrades first aid.