Just an idea - Rolls with Marks

[Saiyuu]

In one of my deep inspirational moments (washing clothes... Go figure...) I kept thinking about the roll system and how some people find it unfair, and kept trying to find a way to make it "fairer". I'm not sure if I managed to, but I came up with a queer idea (some might like, some won't). Temporarily will be called "Marks System". Basically, to use this roll you'd have to check the finished system (once I'm done with it, if I do go ahead with the idea), and find three passive Marks, as well as three active Marks. Each mark gives your char an unique advantage on a field of specialization, but the marks are permanent and obviously can't be changed from fight to fight, or during them. Obviously, you can't have more than once of the same mark.

Passive Marks: Always active, they represent a field of specialization of your character. For example, let's put it here... Celes. A good passive mark for her would be "Dual Wield Mark". How would it work? +10 roll bonus whenever she attacks with dual weapons, and -10 whenever she's single-wielding.

And then someone asks... "Ah! But she can be dual-wielding all the time! That'd be unfair, wouldn't it?". No, there's where Active Marks come in.

Active Marks: Can be used once against each opponent. An example of Active Mark could be the "Disarm Mark". In short, you'd roll an attack with +10 roll bonus, if successful, the target will lose one weapon (in Celes case, auto-losing her Passive "Dual Wield Mark" until she recovers the said weapon). The character will be unable to recover the weapon for one attacking and one defending turn. There will be multiple Marks to choice of course, probably will be making them according to classes.


That's just a little scratch on the idea, but do leave your opinions if you found it interesting, or leave a vote on the poll. ^^

[pliantreality]

I'd love to see more details on the system. The core seems solid, but it is always difficult to offer up a new alternative to the current roll system.

I tried to offer up a fairly basic Rock/Paper/Scissor system (Power/Finesse/Standard) that never caught on.

It has shades of FATE system.

Like I said, I'd love more details on the actual suggested Marks and their interactions.

[Stormgald]

I like the idea. I would also love to see more details on the marks and such. But I can tell you the reason I like it: It is simple!

Other roll systems have all these stats and bla-bla. Which is fun if the DM of an event is doing all the calculating. Otherwise it just makes it un-enjoyable. For me, at least.