Status Effects & Conditions (2025)

This'll be a bit of another hybrid post, similar to the last one. So, I've done a post previously about this topic, but I kept some things close to the vest. I didn't feel like the designs were necessarily finalized (and playtesting may still break some things) but since that post, I haven't made any significant changes to the designs... So I've decided to share them here, in full. 

Now, the thing that this has me thinking about with the sequel, is how saves should be structured. The obvious idea from D&D is to base saves off of "attributes" but perhaps it'd make more sense to base them off of effects? Prior to 3.x, D&D tended to have saves based on the origin of the effect, such as a wand or a dragon's breath.

With TNP, the "dazzled" effect is nested into both the "dazed" and "dominated" effects; maybe it would make some sense to have those saves tied to a mental defense, using INT? Likewise, "frazzled" is nested into "fazed" and "frightened" -- all of which seem to line up with a CHA save. Without a CON attribute in play thus far, it feels like it might warrant being represented as a save (if nothing else) particularly against effects like "exhausted" or "weakened" (assuming it'd be preferable to just using STR.) Maybe with lower/flatter HP, "current HP" could be used as a DC for effects that would target CON -- something that would degrade through attrition? The other issue is that DEX doesn't really lend itself well to a save, if AGIL is in the mix -- so it makes it hard to "balance" a setup like TNP's into something where every attribute has a save (such as in 5e.)

I also kind of like the idea of more situational bonuses, akin to (2014) 5e having gnomes gain advantage on mental saves vs. magic, halflings getting advantage on saves vs. being frightened, elves being immune to magical sleep and advantage against being charmed, etc. It might end up being that the defenses are their own array, not tied to attributes -- or maybe there's just one generic "defense" roll, and only situational bonuses apply? An interesting thing with this is you could nest two 'saves' into one roll; maybe you have a different bonus for attacks that target AC/HP than for ones that cause fear, so an attack that does both only calls for one defense roll, but the differing bonuses would be applied to that roll, to determine whether damage, effect, or both would "hit."

Now tentatively, the defense roll in the sequel would be a simple 2d6, with flat modifiers. The reason for this is that unlike attack rolls, adding dice to the pool is kind of a waste, since they cannot be converted to damage dice. Relatedly, since many of the penalties in the TNP designs hinge on disadvantage, they don't easily or directly translate to this 2d6 system idea. You could do something like "roll 3d6 and take the 2 lowest" but I feel like if the DC mechanic is a dice roll, then the modifiers should be static -- whereas with TNP, the DC is static, and the modifiers are dice rolls. So, penalties to things like defense rolls would be simple -1 or -2 to the roll (depending on what the math ultimately would dictate.)

Worth mentioning is how this leans into monster designs. I've said a few times that the status effects and conditions aren't really worked into the PC mechanics all that much, but they definitely still could be, for monsters -- especially if they're meant to be more "built on the fly." The steeper debilities might be limited to the more difficult monster types, but I also should reiterate that the baseline in TNP is that any bonus or penalty is assumed to only last for 1 round; that also goes a long way in defining monster capabilities, as well. Another monster mechanic that was hinted at was the sort of "recharge/special" effect, if the monster roll (1d10 and 1d6) were a tie. Perhaps this could be something that upgrades effects, either in severity (such as stepping up dazzled to dazed or dominated) or in duration (from 1 round, to a "save ends" kind of effect.)

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I think the sequel stuff is rounding into shape, as far as basic mechanics. I just need to focus on hammering out the necessary "playtest materials" for TNP, in the meantime.

Check back in the first week of May for another post!

Recap: TNP vs. Sequel

As part of the process of trying to get my focus back onto TNP, I've done some thinking about what makes the system "more than the sum of its parts." I also think it's a good time to look back at the progress the sequel has made, and where that currently sits.

Despite being a d20 game, TNP is probably not what you would refer to as a "d20 system" type of game. To wit, TNP does not use traditional ability scores (or ability modifiers) nor does it bother with having 5e's six saving throws, or the FORT/REF/WILL paradigm of 3.5/4e; the 5 main types of rolls as laid out in the design are:

• attack rolls
• saving throws
• skill checks
• initiative checks
• base damage rolls

Dice (and dice mechanics, such as mastery) are used as the bonuses for all of these 5 types of rolls; all of the mechanics flow from the dice (generally, the class dice in specific) and the few uses of flat modifiers are typically drawn from class dice mechanics, as well.

The original premise for the sequel grew out of a combination of some smaller ideas. With several of the TNP mechanics using d6 for bonuses (and with d6 and d10 being cemented as the "Extra Damage Dice") there was some temptation to expand out that idea -- by making "d6 pool" the overarching mechanic of the system. The d10 would be kept for skill checks (no change from TNP) but the other "class dice" would be warped into "weapon dice." Ultimately, this idea didn't really play nice with the d6 pool, and it didn't even really fill the same niche as class dice did, in TNP.

The other "smaller idea" that was intended to be implemented was somehow reverse-engineering attribute modifiers from the skill rank system, and massaging those into some kind of combat application. This was meant to provide more of a "traditional" RPG feel to the mechanics, but ultimately this never felt like it worked, either. One compromise idea was to use a d20 + d6 pool system, however, the very reason that skill checks in TNP stopped using d20 is because it became impossible to make the math work, with those mechanics. This is what ultimately set us out on the path of pivoting the sequel designs towards a purely d6-based system; at time of writing, the only thing really recognizably TNP about it is that I am still committed to keeping the skill "grid" intact.

Getting back to TNP, what makes the class dice mechanic unique is that each die is sort of a bundle of mechanics, rather than just more math; you could replace the damage effect with something like a d6 pool, but the system really loses something without the die-matching mechanism that class dice provide. Since only one die can ultimately be applied as the "attack bonus" (although some can be used for attack and damage) there's sort of this element of making each attack roll its own little mini-game.

To compare roster construction, TNP has a slate of 15 classes (based on a single use of class dice, as well as each combination of two.) I would say TNP is most heavily inspired by 4e's roster of characters (and in some cases, particularly the Essentials versions) but the 5e influence does show itself as well. For the sequel, the idea was to pare down 5e's core 12 classes by about half, while possibly adding Warlord and Necromancer into the mix. So while TNP's classes each have 2 subclasses (some of which could be classes in their own right, some of which are more "two sides of the same coin") the idea with the sequel was more that each "class" would straightforwardly consist of 2 classes -- with attributes doing the heavy lifting for differentiating them. (A cleric leaning more on INT, with a paladin benefiting more from CHA, for example.)

Another comparison to make would be the resolution mechanics. TNP uses a DC10 for attacks, saves, and skill checks; the sequel seems to be pivoting more towards an "opposed roll" structure, with d6 pools for some mechanics, and flat bonuses for others -- details to come, as things get finalized. Relatedly, instead of having things like HP and reserves/surges tied to class dice (as in TNP) the intention with the sequel was that these might be more standardized, on a number like 10, for example.

Notable about TNP is how skills are not governed by the same attributes used for combat math; though this might change a little bit for the sequel, one key thing that will likely remain the same is how Knowledge skills (i.e. backgrounds, for all intents and purposes) do not function off of a mental attribute, and are instead based on power sources, akin to those of 4e. This means that players can more easily tailor their backstory to taste, and have the mechanics actually reflect those decisions -- while not sacrificing combat effectiveness, or proficiency with other "core" skills, in order to do so.

While monsters aren't terribly fleshed out for TNP or its sequel, the TNP slate is built off of the foundations laid by 4e D&D. Minions, swarms, and standard monsters form the backbone (and have been expanded in their scope a little bit) while elites, solos, and archenemies serve to flesh out the campaign, as well as the DM's toolkit. The bare bones for the TNP monster mechanics are there (owing much to the "MM3 on a business card" ethos), but it will probably be helpful to have some example monsters ready, for playtesting if nothing else.

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Anyway, that's probably enough of a recap for now. I'll try and revisit the sequel stuff as the designs progress a bit more concretely. Maybe the next step is to move into playtesting and just hammer out the "DM side" of TNP, as it goes?

One more post to go, before the end of the month. I'll be planning to have it up on April 25th.

U-turn

So far in 2025, I've mostly been wrestling with trying to hammer a "d6 pool" TNP sequel into shape. I think what the previous post highlighted is that the DC10 mechanic is hard to get away from, but also that it simultaneously works so much better in a d20 paradigm. Also, the closest translation of the d10 skill check into a d6 mechanic feels kinda fake and weird -- but on the other hand, nothing else seems to work, or feel right.

I've been contemplating what the solution might be; does it make sense to do a d20+d6 system? Would it work better to start by fleshing out the character classes first, and then circling back to the mechanics?  

One of the problems is the wild swings that even small mods seem to provide, in a d6 system. This is a lot easier to manage in a d20 system, where every +1 is a flat 5% increase, and even something like a d6 pool being stapled on top of that provides very reliable math. Earlier theorycrafting basically sussed out that having "weapon dice" as well as a d6 pool wasn't going to work, in a d20 system -- it's just too much of a mess. So do you do something with static mods? As dumb it kind of sounds sometimes, one of the core notions I had behind doing a sequel was the possibility of an "ability scores, done right" ethos; as a direct successor to TNP, the obvious way to translate that was to start from the Attribute "ranks" of the skills system, and extrapolate that out to modifiers for the combat system.

But is there really any point to that? It seems like the answer is "not really," particularly if the assumption is that the d6 pool would likewise be keyed off of Attribute "ranks." So that begs the question, is it worth it to jump from "class dice do everything" d20 TNP to "d6 does everything" d20 TNP? I think that comes back around the the question of the character classes; if it's a robust system where the 6(ish) classes really sing, that could be a tight, compelling style of game. If there's one drawback I can foresee, it's that d20 still doesn't provide an answer as far as the skills system -- to wit, "d20" TNP doesn't use d20 for skill checks.

At this point, I'm feeling like enough ink has been spilled on the sequel, while ultimately arriving at an idea that isn't really that distinct from the original. So I'm leaning towards pivoting back to "old" TNP and finishing that up. Whether or not I change my mind again in another week is yet to be seen; if I have some big revelatory "eureka" moment, that could still change.

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Apologies for the slight delay on this post; expect the next one to be up prior to April 18th.