Planar Travel (3.5e Variant Rule)
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Planar Travel
This rule system creates a new method for planar travel, and a unique combat system used in-between planes.
The main concept is that a character will transform into their "planar form" in order to fly between planes.
Planar Forms[edit]
Each planar form has:
- 1 element
- 5 attributes (wounds, speed, attack, defense, and magic)
- Up to 6 abilities
Elements[edit]
Each Planar Form has an associated element (chosen the first time a character enters their planar form). The element determines the strengths and weaknesses of the character towards other elements, as well as skill selections.
The available elements are: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Ice, Electric, Dark, Light, Nature, Arcane, Chaos, Poison, Undead, and Mechanical.
| Defender | No Type | Fire | Water | Earth | Air | Ice | Electric | Dark | Light | Nature | Arcane | Chaos | Poison | Undead | Mechanical | ||||
| Attacker | |||||||||||||||||||
| No Type | W | X | |||||||||||||||||
| Fire | W | W | W | S | W | S | S | ||||||||||||
| Water | S | W | S | W | W | S | |||||||||||||
| Earth | S | W | W | S | W | S | X | S | |||||||||||
| Air | W | W | W | S | S | S | |||||||||||||
| Ice | W | S | S | W | S | ||||||||||||||
| Electric | S | X | S | W | W | ||||||||||||||
| Dark | W | S | S | W | S | W | |||||||||||||
| Light | W | W | S | S | |||||||||||||||
| Nature | W | S | S | W | W | W | |||||||||||||
| Arcane | W | W | W | S | S | S | |||||||||||||
| Chaos | S | S | W | S | W | W | W | W | X | S | |||||||||
| Poison | S | W | S | S | S | W | X | X | |||||||||||
| Undead | W | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mechanical | W | S | S | S | W | W | |||||||||||||
| S = Strong, W = Weak, X = No Effect | |||||||||||||||||||
If an element is Strong against another element, it means that all damage dealt is multiplied by 1.5.
If an element is Weak against another element, it means that all damage dealt is divided by 2 (round down).
If an element has "No Effect" on another element, it means Abilities will not work against the foe.
Ability Points[edit]
Planar Forms get 10 Ability points per character level and also get bonuses from ranks in skills.
- Knowledge (The Planes) gives 2 points per rank
- Knowledge (Arcana) gives 1 point per rank, can only be spent No Type or Arcane element abilities and levels
- Knowledge (Religion) gives 1 point per rank, can only be spent No Type, Light, or Dark element abilities and levels
- Knowledge (Nature) gives 1 point per rank, can only be spent No Type or Nature element abilities and levels
- An optional skill that can be added to the standard skill set as a class skill for all classes is Knowledge (Planar Travel). This skill gives 5 points per rank. If a feat or class ability grants a bonus to Knowledge (Planar Travel), 5 additional points are given for each point the bonus gives.
Ability Points are used to purchase Levels and Abilities. They do not need to be completely spent, and may be saved until more are gained.
Attributes[edit]
Wounds: Determines the amount of damage the character can take
- Special: A character gains 5 Hit Points (HP) per Wound
Speed: Determines who goes first each round.
Attack: Determines the attack power of physical attacks.
Defense: Determines the defense power against attacks.
Magic: Determines the strength of special skills.
Levels[edit]
By spending Ability Points, a character may gain a level in an Element. The highest level of element they have is their primary element, and all other elements must be at most half the primary element's level.
To gain a level, a character must spend (Total Level * 3 + 2) in Ability Points. Total Level is the sum of all the levels in elements the character has.
| Level | Ability Point Cost |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 11 |
| 4 | 14 |
| 5 | 17 |
| 6+ | Total Level * 3 + 2 |
Levels grant access to new Abilities (as they require levels to use) and also increase Attributes. Each level increases attributes in the following way:
- Strong (S) gives 6 at first level, and 4 every level thereafter.
- Normal (N) gives 4 at first level, and 3 every level thereafter.
- Weak (W) gives 2 at first level, and 2 every level thereafter.
The following table shows which elements are Strong (S), Normal (N), and Weak (W) with each attribute.
| Element | Strength | Magic | Speed | Defense | Wounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Type | S | W | N | N | S |
| Fire | S | S | N | W | N |
| Water | W | S | N | N | N |
| Earth | N | N | W | S | S |
| Air | N | S | S | N | W |
| Ice | N | S | W | S | N |
| Electric | S | S | S | W | W |
| Dark | S | S | W | N | N |
| Light | S | S | W | N | N |
| Nature | N | N | W | S | S |
| Arcane | W | S | N | S | N |
| Chaos | S | W | S | N | N |
| Poison | S | W | N | S | N |
| Undead | N | N | N | N | S |
| Mechanical | N | W | N | S | S |
For Example: Nodd has 12 ability points to spend on his Planar Form, and decides have the Earth element as his primary element. He purchases a level in Earth for 5 Ability Points and receives a Strength 4, Magic 4, Speed 2, Defense 6, and Wounds 6 (which is 30 Hit Points). Later he gets 1 more Ability Point and decides to level Earth, granting him a total of Strength 7, Magic 7, Speed 4, Defense 10, and Wounds 10 (which is 50 Hit Points). If he gains a level in Poison afterwards, he will have a total of Strength 11, Magic 9, Speed 7, Defense 14, and Wounds 13 (Which is 65 Hit Points).
Abilities[edit]
A Planar Form has up to 6 abilities, which determine the actions they may take in combat.
Abilities have the following attributes:
| Name: | Insert Name Here |
|---|---|
| Element: | Insert Element Here |
| Required Level: | Insert Required Level Here |
| Required Abilities: | Insert Required Abilities Here |
| Ability Point Cost: | Insert Ability Point Cost Here |
| Number of Uses Per Combat: |
Insert Number of Uses Per Combat Here |
| Description: | Insert Description Here |
A character may choose abilities that they meet the requirements for, can pay the Ability Point cost, and is their element. If they wish to choose abilities from an allied element, it costs 1.5 times the cost in Ability Points (round up), and has half the number of uses per combat (round down).
Attack skills will have a Miss number and a Critical number in their description as well as damage. Any number less than or equal to the Miss number will be treated as a dodged attack. Any number greater than or equal to the Critical number will be treated as a Critical hit. Attack skills are classified by their primary statistic in the description. If they are, add this statistic to damage.
A character may purchase the same skill multiple times, but it will take up an extra slot for each additional usage of it. They may also overwrite a skill for a new one, and are treated as still having the overwritten skill for purposes of pre-requisites.
Combat Rules[edit]
The rules for combat are very simple. The character with the highest Speed starts combat. They select a skill to use, and choose a target (if applicable). Following the description of the skill, they resolve the effects. In the event of ties, determine the order of the tied creatures randomly.
An attack is made by rolling a D20, and checking the corresponding Miss and Critical chances to see if the attack is successful or a critical hit. Critical hits do double damage. The doubling is multiplicative with elemental bonuses, which means that on a resistant element, a critical hit does normal damage and on a vulnerable element, a critical hit does triple damage. If on the D20 the number is between the Miss and Critical range, it is a normal hit.
Damage for the hit is determined from the ability used, and then compared to the opponent's Defense. If the damage beats the opponent's Defense, then the opponent takes that much damage minus the Defense/2 (round down). If the damage is less than the opponent's Defense, divide the damage by 2 (round down) for each interval of 5 the defense is higher. For Example: If Krugg does 15 damage to Axel, and Axel's defense is 26, then the difference is 11 (meaning 3 divisions by 2). This means the damage is 15 divided by 2 three times, which is equal to 15/8, which rounded down is 1. This means Krugg only does 1 damage to Axel. Supposing Krugg did 16 damage instead, the final damage would be 16/4 = 4. Supposing he did a critical for 30 damage, then Axel would take 17 damage because his defense is 26 and half of it is subtracted from the damage.
Afterwards, the character with the next highest Speed takes their turn. This process continues until the character with the lowest Speed finishes their turn. At this point, the character that began the turn starts the next turn, repeating the process until the battle is finished.
Ability List[edit]
No Type[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Flee | Chance to flee the battle |
| Flee Party | Chance for entire party to flee the battle |
| Tackle | Miss 1, Critical 20, 5 Dmg |
| Hard Tackle | Miss 2, Critical 20, 5 Dmg + Attack |
| Mega Tackle | Miss 3, Critical 20, 7 Dmg + Attack |
| Supreme Tackle | Miss 4, Critical 19, 11 Dmg + Attack |
| Flex | Increases damage by 1 for the remainder of combat |
| Pump Up | Increases damage by 2 for the remainder of combat |
| Rage | Increases damage by 3 for the remainder of combat |
| Defensive Position | Decreases damage taken by 1 for the remainder of combat |
| Toughen | Decreases damage taken by 2 for the remainder of combat |
| Unmovable | Decreases damage taken by 4 for the remainder of combat |
Fire[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Ember | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg D8 + Magic |
| Char | Miss 1, Crit 18, Dmg D10 + Magic, Burn(20, 1) |
| Fireball | Miss 1, Crit 17, Dmg D10 + Magic, Burn(19,2) |
| Fire Blast | Miss 1, Crit 16, Dmg 2D6 + Magic, Burn(18,3) |
| Fire Storm | Miss 1, Crit 15, Dmg 2D10 + Magic, Burn(15,5) |
| Firey End | Miss 0, Crit 10, Dmg 6D6 + Magic, Burn(10,10) |
| Flame Shot | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 1D8 + Attack |
| Flame Strike | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 4D6 + Attack |
| Flame Whip | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 6D6 + Attack |
| Fire Resistance | Burn Recover chance +1, fire damage -2 per level. |
| Fire Mastery | Burn chance +1, fire damage +1, opponent's recover chance from burn -1 per level. |
Water[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Rain Drop | Miss 4, Crit 21, Dmg 2D4 + Magic |
| Rain Fall | Miss 4, Crit 20, Dmg 4D4 + Magic |
| Rain Storm | Miss 4, Crit 20, Dmg 6D4 + Magic |
| Mist | Increases all opponent's miss chance on you by 1 |
| Wave | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 1D4 + Attack, Wave(3) |
| Great Wave | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 5D4 + Attack, Wave(2) |
| Tidal Wave | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 6D6 + Attack, Wave(1) |
| Water Resistance | Water damage -2, extra target slot for wave attacks per level |
| Water Mastery | Water damage +1, wave attacks target one extra target per level. |
Earth[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Burrow | Miss 5, Crit 20, Dmg 9 + Attack |
| Rock Slide | Miss 5, Crit 20, Dmg 13 + Attack |
| Avalanche | Miss 5, Crit 20, Dmg 15 + Attack |
| Fissure | Miss 19, Crit 20, Dmg 100 |
| Earthquake | Miss 10, Crit 20, Dmg 35 + Attack |
| Rock Solid | Gives +1 HP per Wounds |
| Earth Resistance | -1 earth damage, -10 damage on massive damage. |
| Earth Mastery | +1 earth damage, +5% damage on critical. |
Air[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Speed Strike | Miss -1, Crit 21, Dmg D4 + Speed |
| Speed Slash | Miss -2, Crit 20, Dmg 2D4 + Speed |
| Speed Slam | Miss -3, Crit 18, Dmg 5D4 + Speed |
| Speed Razor | Miss -5, Crit 15, Dmg 5D6 + Speed |
| Speed Boost | Improves Speed by 1 per round for the first 15 rounds of combat |
Ice[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Snowball | Miss 2, Crit 19, Dmg 1D4 + Magic |
| Icicle | Miss 2, Crit 19, Dmg 2D4 + Magic |
| Glacial Spike | Miss 2, Crit 19, Dmg 2D4 + Magic, Freeze(20,1) |
| Frozen Sphere | Miss 2, Crit 18, Dmg 4D4 + Magic, Freeze(19,2) |
| Blizzard | Miss 3, Crit 17, Dmg 4D6 + Magic, Freeze(17,3) |
| Frost Nova | Miss 5, Crit 15, Dmg 10D6 + Magic, Freeze(15,3), hits 3 opponents. |
| Cold Resistance | 10% chance of unfreezing per level. |
| Chill | Adds 1 damage while frozen per level. |
| Cold Mastery | Adds 1 round to freeze length and improves chance to freeze by 1 per level. |
Electric[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Spark | Miss 0, Crit 20 x4, Dmg 1D20 |
| Jolt | Miss 0, Crit 20 x4, Dmg 1D20 + Magic |
| Surge | Miss 0, Crit 20 x4, Dmg 1D20 + 1D10 + Magic |
| Thundershock | Miss 0, Crit 20 x4, Dmg 1D50 + Magic |
| Lightning Bolt | Miss 0, Crit 20 x6, Dmg D100 + Magic |
| Static Shot | Miss 5, Crit 20, Dmg D10 + Magic, Para(15,3) |
| Lightning Mastery | Chance to paralyze +1, paralysis +1 round per level |
Dark[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Shade | Miss 11, Crit 12, Dmg D4 + 5 + Magic, Blind(20,2) |
| Shadow | Miss 11, Crit 12, Dmg D4 + 9 + Magic, Blind(18,2) |
| NightFall | Miss 11, Crit 12, Dmg D4 + 14 + Magic, Blind(16,3) |
| Dark Wave | Miss 11, Crit 12, Dmg D4 + 24 + Magic, Blind(14,3) |
| Dark Beam | Miss 9, Crit 10, Dmg D4 + 47 + Magic, Blind(10,4) |
| Dark Mastery | Chance to blind +1, blindness lasts 1 extra round, Dark abilities +1 damage per level. |
Light[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Cure | Crit 20, Cure(D8) |
| Cure II | Crit 20, Cure(D8 + Magic) |
| Cure III | Crit 19, Cure(2D8 + Magic) |
| Cure IV | Crit 18, Cure(3D8 + Magic) |
| Cure V | Crit 15, Cure(5D8 + Magic) |
| Heal | Crit 21, Cure(10% of HP) |
| Heal II | Crit 21, Cure(25% of HP) |
| Life | Cure(5% of HP), Works only on dead targets |
| Life II | Cure(10% of HP), Works only on dead targets |
| Remove Effects | Crit 5, Cure(0) |
| Remove Effects II | Crit 1, Cure(0) |
| Light Ray | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg D4 + Magic |
| Light Beam | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg D8 + Magic |
| Light Ball | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 3D4 + Magic |
| Light Bomb | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 6D4 + Magic |
| Light Bomb | Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 6D6 + Magic |
| Light Mastery | All Cure effects are at +2 per level. |
Nature[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Growth | Growth(2) |
| Rapid Growth | Growth(4) |
| Mega Growth | Growth(6) |
| Vine Strike | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg D4 + Attack, Leech(20,1,5) |
| Vine Wrap | Miss 1, Crit 18, Dmg D4 + Attack, Leech(18,1,5) |
| Tree Swing | Miss 1, Crit 16, Dmg 2D4 + Attack, Leech(16,2,5) |
| Tree Stomp | Miss 1, Crit 15, Dmg 5D4 + Attack, Leech(15,3,5) |
| Tree Crush | Miss 5, Crit 10, Dmg 6D6 + Attack, Leech(10,5,5) |
| Spore | Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Leech(5,3,10) |
| Fungus | Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Leech(5,5,10) |
| Parasite | Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Leech(5,10,10) |
| Nature Mastery | Chance to Leech +1, Leech lasts 1 extra round, and +1 damage per level. |
Arcane[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Confuse Ray | Confuse(12,5) |
| Confuse Beam | Confuse(9,5) |
| Confuse Wave | Confuse(6,5), up to 2 targets |
| Confuse Burst | Confuse(5,5), up to 5 targets |
| Arcane Fireworks | Miss 0, Crit 20, Dmg 2 + Magic, Confuse(20,3) |
| Arcane Flash | Miss 0, Crit 19, Dmg 2 + Magic, Confuse(19,3), up to 2 targets |
| Arcane Zap | Miss 0, Crit 18, Dmg 4 + Magic, Confuse(18,3), up to 2 targets |
| Arcane Surge | Miss 0, Crit 16, Dmg 7 + Magic, Confuse(16,3), up to 2 targets |
| Arcane Ray | Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 9 + Magic, Confuse(15,3), up to 2 targets |
| Arcane Beam | Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 13 + Magic, Confuse(13,3), up to 2 targets |
| Arcane Spiral | Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 15 + Magic, Confuse(12,3), up to 3 targets |
| Arcane Flare | Miss 0, Crit 15, Dmg 50 + Magic, Confuse(10,3), up to 5 targets |
| Magic Sheild | Improves Defense by 10 for the next 3 rounds (does not stack with any similar ability effect). |
| Magic Vestments | Improves Defense by 15 for the next 3 rounds (does not stack with any similar ability effect). |
| Magic Armor | Improves Defense by 20 for the next 3 rounds (does not stack with any similar ability effect). |
| Arcane Mastery | Chance to confuse +1, +1 damage, and Arcane armor abilities have +2 defense per level. |
Chaos[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Anger | Rage(3,3) |
| Seething Anger | Rage(10,3) |
| Berserk | Rage(15,3) |
| Chaotic Sting | Miss D4, Crit 19-20 (D2 + 18), Dmg D10 + Attack |
| Chaotic Strike | Miss D8, Crit 17-20 (D4 + 16), Dmg D20 + Attack |
| Chaos Flash | Miss D10, Crit 15-20 (D6 + 14), Dmg D30 + Attack |
| Chaos Orb | Miss D12, Crit 11-20 (D10 + 10), Dmg D40 + Attack |
| Chaos Diamond | Miss D20, Crit D20, Dmg D100 + Attack, Rage(30,1) |
| Armageddon | Miss D10, Crit D20, Attack * 3 |
| Chaos Mastery | Miss chance -1 and +1 damage per level. |
Poison[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Sting | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 1, Poison(15, Attack, 2) |
| Bite | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 1 + Attack, Poison(15, Attack, 2) |
| Bad Sting | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 5 + Attack, Poison(10, Attack, 3) |
| Bad Bite | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 7 + Attack, Poison(10, Attack, 3) |
| Nasty Sting | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 11 + Attack, Poison(5, Attack, 5) |
| Nasty Bite | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 15 + Attack, Poison(5, Attack, 5) |
| Vile Sting | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 40 + Attack, Poison(5, Attack, 8) |
| Vile Bite | Miss 1, Crit 20, Dmg 85 + Attack, Poison(5, Attack, 8) |
| Taint | Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Poison(5, Magic, 5), Toxic Shock(15, 20, 3) |
| Foul Taint | Miss N/A, Crit N/A, Dmg 0, Poison(5, Magic, 5), Toxic Shock(10, 30, 5) |
Undead[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Skill Name | Description |
Mechanical[edit]
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Skill Name | Description |
Guidelines for Creating Abilities[edit]
When creating abilities, the most important thing to consider is the amount of Ability Points it will cost. Abilities must be DM approved before being put into use.
| Level | Ability Point Cost | Average Damage (up to 0.5 higher) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 3 | 8 | 11 |
| 4 | 13 | 15 |
| 5 | 18 | 21 |
| 6 | 23 | 27 |
| 7+ | +2 over previous increase / 2 levels. | +5 over previous level |
Miss Chance
- -1 or lower, +2 Ability Points
- 0, +1 Ability Point
- 2-4, -0.5 levels
- 5-9, -1 level
- 10-14, -2 levels
- 15-19, -4 levels
Critical Chance
- 21 or higher, -1 level
- 18-19, +1 Ability Point
- 15-17, +2 Ability Points
- 12-14, +1 level
- 9-11, +2 levels
- 5-8, +3 levels
- should not be lower than 5
Uses Per Day
- Greater than 20, +1 Ability Point
- 6-10, -1 Ability Point
- 5, -1 level
- 1-4, -2 levels
Monsters[edit]
Many creatures roam in between planes, attacking outsiders for food or defending their space.
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