Avatar Tabletop Updated 5/7/12

[Jay?]

I have no idea how interested people are, but I'm working on a tabletop RP system for the Avatar universe.

I'll go ahead and post what i have so far in here.

BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER:

This is extremely WIP and I'm still in the process of writing down the things i already have a concept of, don't even talk to me about balance yet.

you may ask, "What makes this any different from the other dozen tabletops people started for avatar but didn't finish?"

Well, nothing really. If i get it to a playable state, then it will be different, but for now, there's nothing separating it from the others.

If people have any ideas they think are clever and would make good Feats, feel free to post them, and i may take notice. Or not.

Changelog:

5/2/12: OP

5/3/12: Added 2nd and 3rd level feats.

5/4/12: Added a few 4th level feats.

5/7/12: Added 5th level Sub-bending feats.

5/8/12: Added Experience and Combat systems, also edited Simple Wave feat to not be silly anymore.

[SupaScoot]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

Had a look at it and it seems quite well thought out although i have never really played and table-top game though.

I am interested what your going to do with the air,water,fire,rock mechanic. Can you say what your going to do with that?

[Jay?]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

Earth is going to have the best buff feats, fire is going to be the best DPS, air is going to excell at mitigation and mobility, and water is going to debuff/heals. However, all classes are going to be flexible enough that a party of all 1 class isn't a suicide run.

At 5th level characters are allowed to start putting points into their secondary bending ability.

Waterbenders get healing water, Firebenders get their first lightning skill, Earthbenders get access to metalbending, and airbenders are probably going to gain access to soundbending (not exactly cannon but there weren't any secondary bending abilities in the shows yet).

I'm not going to include any rules for playing the Avatar until after i have the main game relatively balanced.

[PsychoBob]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

..Actually this sounds fairly really interesting....

Sticking with the main bending powers, or will you be adding energy/sand/swamp benders and the like?

Honestly though...keep us updated.

[Jay?]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

I'll keep you all updated.

All the "minor" bending powers are just techniques used by regular benders.

The swamp benders were all waterbenders, same with the bloodbender woman. Sandbenders are earthbenders, lightning we already know about, but i'll have to be creative with airbenders.

[PsychoBob]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

Hm, true.

What about energy bending then?

I'd imagine Airbenders as being fast or some such thing. Most of their fighting seems to revolve around going with the flow of things, and not getting hit.

[Jay?]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

There will be no energy bending, except possibly as 20+ feat for the avatar.

As for the airbenders, starting at 3rd level, they'll be getting a latent AC feat to influence projectiles.

As for fighting styles, i look at it this way, bending was all based on martial arts, so Airbenders aren't quick naturally, they're quick because they train that way (points in acrobatics and other agility feats in the Martial category), where as Earthbenders, for instance, tend to put points into things like Hardened Body and Sure Footed.

[xardas]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

What about Bloodbending? That was in the cannon

[Jay?]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

Bloodbending operated on the same principle as plantbending did. It was a waterbeding subskill achieved by bending the water inside the person/plant.

I figure plantbending will come available as a 10th level feat, bloodbending as a 15th.

[Tomprower]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/293/590/6f6.gif

[Jay?]

Re: Avatar : the Last Airbender Tabletop

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/293/590/6f6.gif

While i appreciate the vote of confidence, Memes are not allowed here. It's even in the rules.

I've been considering splitting AC and Agility, since it seems funny to me to have physical resistance, and dodging ability in the same stat.

[Pilchard123]

Re: Avatar Tabletop Updated 5/4/12

I've never played a TRPG, but here are a couple of thoughts:

Simple Wave requires "equal points" in sure-footedness. Should this be "equal or greater"?

[nerdrage]ENERGY BENDING? WHY NOT JUST MAKE THE GUY BE ABLE TO DO EVERYTHING? OH WAIT, HE CAN! EVERYTHING IS ENERGY! RARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH![/nerdrage]

[Jay?]

Re: Avatar Tabletop Updated 5/4/12

I've never played a TRPG, but here are a couple of thoughts:

Simple Wave requires "equal points" in sure-footedness. Should this be "equal or greater"?

[nerdrage]ENERGY BENDING? WHY NOT JUST MAKE THE GUY BE ABLE TO DO EVERYTHING? OH WAIT, HE CAN! EVERYTHING IS ENERGY! RARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH![/nerdrage]

Nice catch. It should be "equal or greater"

Also yes, Energy bending is dumb. I do have some ideas for specific team-bending feats, but they WILL be balanced, or they will not make it in.

[Jay?]

Just updated with some secondary bending powers. I suspect that the lightning skill may get nerfed after the first playtest though.

[Jay?]

Updated with the basic combat system, which i have not tested at all, whatsoever. Also the first run of the experience system is included.

So uh... With some pretty heavy GM involvement, it SHOULD be playable up to level 5. If anyone has friends who like to experiment, and have time, I'd be super appreciative if you'd give it a run and see how it handles.

[Eldmor]

Looks to be a very good work-in-progress. Is there an option for someone that focuses more on their self-image and not on their bending, or is it assume all of the PCs are focused benders? Like someone that only dabbled in Earth-bending but is just naturally ripped because he's a body builder.

[Jay?]

Looks to be a very good work-in-progress. Is there an option for someone that focuses more on their self-image and not on their bending, or is it assume all of the PCs are focused benders? Like someone that only dabbled in Earth-bending but is just naturally ripped because he's a body builder.

The way the system works, that would be really easy. Your bending score can only be 1/2 your Martial score, but that doesn't mean that your martial score has to be double your bending score. You could conceivably get to 3rd level earthbending to take advantage of the buff, and then put all your points into Martial categories after that.

There are some things that won't be available to benders though. Most notably Chi blocking can only be done by non-benders.

[Brunswick]

Huh. If my current group wasn't in the middle of a 3.5e game I'd suggest this. I'll give it a read tonight, though.

[Jay?]

Huh. If my current group wasn't in the middle of a 3.5e game I'd suggest this. I'll give it a read tonight, though.

That's understandable. Since you're doing a 3.5 game though, feel free to toss any ideas for feats at me after you get through the 8 page doc i've got already, since the feats are still pretty sparse.

[miniboxer]

at first I was thinking of the blue people avatar thing, and I was thinking , "How the fuck is jay? going to handle banshee flight?" Then I saw a remark about bloodbending, and I was like, "YAY! That avatar!" Is there anyway I could get a playable demo set of rules for this? Also, would it be possible for you to add metalbending at higher levels of the earthbending path?

EDIT: We should all download maptool, and collaborate to create a map of........the continents. (do they have a name?)

[Jay?]

All the information i have created is put up in the attachment, and metalbending is totally available.

So is plant bending, bloodbending, soundbending for airbenders, and lightning bending. I hope the Legend of Korra gives us a Cannon subbending skill for airbenders, since all we say in the first series was Aangs knowledge of airbending.

[The_DarthMoogle]

I can't help but giggle when anyone says benders.

Anywho, I have virtually no one to play this with :/

[Fireheart]

This seems really interesting. I've never played a TRPG, but I'm willing to try something new.

[Jay?]

This is still alive, folks, I'm just having a lot of trouble with how i want the movement system to work. Also, if anyone has suggestions for map-creators better than the one i mentioned before, please post them, as that one was shit.

[Jay?]

Uuuuuugh, Im sorry for dragging my feet with this. Finding a maptool that isnt ugly as piss has been harder than i expected, so i may just adopt a movement system from D&D. Look forward to at least one update this week though, since i've gotten started on it again.