The Supplication roleplaying system
Supplication is a table-top roleplaying system designed for the Dirth setting. It is played by one gamemaster and one or more players, each using a varying array of dice to roll.
The gamemaster will present an obstacle or other event to the players, who will then take turns reacting to it.
Getting started with Supplication/Dirth
To get started, players will initially need to fill out a character sheet. They will have to choose a race, a class, an alignment, and a sex for their character. Not every race can fulfill every class or alignment, and every race will have differing starting attributes. While making your character, you can also choose a few traits. These are status effects that will effect your character's attributes and the way your roleplay them, things like poor eyesight, constitution, etc.
Dice roll tables
LEVEL ROLLS
1st level: 1d10
2nd level: 1d10 + 1d6
3rd level: 1d10 + 2d6
4th level: 1d10 + 3d6
5th level: 1d10 + 4d6
6th level: 1d10 + 5d6
7th level: 1d10 + 6d6
8th level: 1d10 + 7d6
9th level: 1d10 + 8d6
10th level: 1d10 + 9d6
SUCCESS ROLLS
Success rolls are checked with 1d20
1 - failure, effect product is made 0
2-10 - poor, effect product is not modified
10-19 - good
20 - critical success
Combat mechanics
Combat is a core element of the Supplication system. Here's how it works.
INITIATIVE
Firstly, the party will roll for initiative. This is not always needed, but very often it is. The initiative roll works like this: Roll a D10 die, and add your character's Agility attribute to the product. Whoever rolls the highest will be the first to take their turn.
RESOURCES
There are six different resources in the game.
LIFE, which measures your character's health status. The amount of hitpoints in your life pool is decided by your willpower attribute, with every point of willpower adding 10 hitpoints to your life pool. All characters have this resource. It can be replenished by resting.
ENERGY, which measures your character's energy. This is a static value out of a maximum of 100 points. Like your life, is replenished by resting.
MANA, which measures your character's magic energy. The amount of points in your mana pool is decided by your wisdom attribute, with every point of wisdom adding 10 points to your mana pool. Only magic using classes have this resource. It can be replenished by resting.
RAGE, which measures your character's rage in combat. This is a diminishing value out of a maximum of 100 points. As you fight monsters, your rage will increase. This rage can then be spent on certain techniques. When a combat encounter ends, your rage defaults to 0. Only barbarians have this resource.
ARCANA, which measures the magic energy of your character's artifact. This is a static value out of a maximum of 100 points. It is used for casting the unique magic spell imbued within your character's artifact. It can be replenished by resting. Only wizards have this resource.
SOULS, which measures the amount of souls contained within your character's bag of souls. This is a depletable value with no maximum which does not replenish over time, and must be manually filled by killing monsters. Only necromancers have this resource.
MELEE WEAPON ATTACKS
Now that is is decided who will act first, what will the player do? A melee attack works like this:
Roll 1d20 for success rate
Do a level roll, then add to its product the damage value of your weapon, your strength attribute, and the level of your appropriate weapon type proficiency.
For good success rolls, add the player's expertise attribute to the product, and if the player character is a barbarian, grant the player 15 rage.
For critical success rolls, add 1d20 and the player's expertise attribute, and if the player character is a barbarian, grant the player 30 rage..
RANGED WEAPON ATTACKS
And for a ranged weapon such as a bow or crossbow:
Roll 1d20 for success rate
Do a level roll, then add to its product the damage value of your weapon, your expertise attribute, and the level of your appropriate weapon type proficiency.
For good success rolls, add the value of the success roll to the product.
For critical success rolls, double the product entirely.
USING TECHNIQUES
Non-magic classes will not have access to magic spells or mana. Instead they will use the energy resource and have access to physical techniques. Techniques work like this:
First, subtract the energy or adrenaline cost of the technique you are using.
Then, roll 1d20 for success rate
Do a level roll, then add to its product the base damage of the technique (if applicable,) your expertise attribute, and the level of your appropriate proficiency.
Not all techniques will be based around dealing damage, however. If a technique has no damaging effects, you only need to subtract the energy or rage cost from your energy or rage pool, then make a level roll and add to its product the level of your appropriate proficiency. The end product must be equal to or greater than the combat success threshold for your level. If it is lower, it is up to the gamemaster what happens.
Combat success thresholds
1st level: 10
2nd level: 24
3rd level: 35
4th level: 43
5th level: 55
6th level: 66
7th level: 74
8th level: 90
9th level: 99
10th level: 108
CASTING MAGIC
But perhaps you are a magician of some sort, and you want to cast magic. For this, subtract the mana cost of your magic from your mana pool, and then follow this guide:
Roll 1d20 for success rate
Do a level roll, then add to its product the base damage of your magic (if applicable,) your intelligence attribute, and the level of your appropriate magic school proficiency.
For good success rolls, add the value of the success roll to the product.
For critical success rolls, double the product entirely.
Just like techniques before, magic spells will not always be based around damage, though. If a spell has no damaging effects, you only need to subtract the mana cost from your mana pool, roll 1d20 and add to its product the level of your appropriate magic school proficiency. The end product must be equal to or greater than the combat success threshold (shown previously) for your level. If it is lower, it is up to the gamemaster what happens.
DODGING
Lets say you are about to become gravely wounded by a monster's attack, and you want to evade this blow. To do this, firstly subtract 10 energy from your energy pool, then roll 1d10 and add to its product the value of your Agility attribute. If it is equal to or greater than the evasion success threshold for your level, then you will evade taking any damage from the attack.
Evasion success thresholds
1st level: 20
2nd level: 24
3rd level: 30
4th level: 40
5th level: 50
6th level: 60
7th level: 68
8th level: 74
9th level: 90
10th level: 100
BLOCKING
If you don't feel too confident about your evasion capability, you can also try to block incoming damage. To do this, subtract 6 energy from your energy pool, then roll 1d10 and add to its product the value of your Strength attribute. If it is equal to or greater than the defense success threshold for your level, then you will will successfuly block an amount of damage from the tack equal to the block value of your shield. If you do not have a shield, you cannot block.
Defense success thresholds
1st level: 30
2nd level: 38
3rd level: 40
4th level: 44
5th level: 50
6th level: 64
7th level: 76
8th level: 84
9th level: 98
10th level: 110
ARMOR
But what if you don't evade or mitigate it at all? Well, your damage taken is equal to whatever the original damage value of the monster's attack is, except subtract half of your armor value from that. Then subtract that product from your life pool. But luckily, you're a Cleric, and you want to recite a prayer to heal this damage.
PRAYERS
Prayers are similar to spells, but must be memorized and recited to be used successfully. To cast a prayer, first subtract the mana cost from your mana pool, and then recite your prayer of choice. Then roll 1d10 and add to its product the value of your Devotion attribute. If it is equal to or greater than the prayer success threshold for your level, then you will successfully cast the prayer.
Prayer success thresholds
1st level: 20
2nd level: 30
3rd level: 38
4th level: 45
5th level: 60
6th level: 68
7th level: 76
8th level: 88
9th level: 98
10th level: 104
CONSUMABLE ITEMS
But maybe you're not a Cleric, or maybe you're just out of mana or energy. Well, this is when you use an item like a potion. Potions will restore a static amount of HP, MP, or EP to your life, mana, or energy pool depending on the potion. Effortlessly simple. You can also rejuvenate your life, mana, and energy pools by having your party go and rest at an inn.
Speech and perception
Now, you're back in town, and you are trying to persuade someone to do something for you, pehaps opening the gate to the castle of some evil monarch, as an example. For this, you'll need to roll for speech. Roll a D6 die and add half of your Intelligence attribute to its product. Great! You've made it into the hall. But it is dark, and you need to be cautious of traps and guards. To do this, you will roll for perception. Roll a D6 die and add your Perception attribute to its product. That product will decide how much you notice.
Attributes and traits
There are seven attributes in the game:
AGI Agility, which relates to speed and evasion. Your ability to perform dodges relies on this attribute.
DEV Devotion, the cleric attribute. If your devotion is too low, your patron god will ignore your prayers.
EXP Expertise, which relates to the damage you deal with ranged physical attacks, techniques, and bonus critical damage with melee attacks.
INT Intelligence, which relates to speech and magic. The potency of your magic scales with this attribute.
PER Perception, which governs your success in scouting out areas.
STR Strength, which relates to the damage you deal with physical attacks, the armor and weapons you can use, and effectiveness with blocking.
WIL Willpower, which dictates the quantity of hit points in your life pool, and
WIS Wisdom, which dictates the quantity of mana points in your mana pool.
Different classes and actions will rely on different attributes to modify their outcomes.
For every point of WIL your character has, that is equal to 10 hit points in your life pool.
For every point of WIS your character has, that is equal to 10 mana points in your mana pool.
Traits
You may choose up to four traits. Traits are attribute and roleplay modifiers that will change the way you play your character. They can have both negative and positive effects. You may not choose traits which contradict eachother. The traits you may select for your character are:
Blindness - Your character cannot see. -20 PER
Eagle Eye - Your character has exceptionally good vision. +5 PER
Stout Constitution - Your character is stout and portly. -5 AGI +5 WIL
Waifish Constitution - Your character is thin and frail. +10 AGI -5 STR -5 WIL
Levels & experience
As your party adventures throughout the world, slaying foes and whatnot, you will gain experience points. Every monster has a fixed experience value according to its level, and every level requires a certain amount of experience to be surpassed. Your experience point counter will be reset to zero every time you achieve a new level. Here is the experience requirement per level:
1st level: N/A, this is the level a new player character will start at. Begin with 10 attribute points, 1 skill point, and 10 proficiency points to allocate.
2nd level: 60 points of experience are required to reach level 2.
3rd level: 100 points of experience are required to reach level 3.
4th level: 180 points of experience are required to reach level 4.
5th level: 260 points of experience are required to reach level 5.
6th level: 500 points of experience are required to reach level 6.
7th level: 750 points of experience are required to reach level 7.
8th level: 880 points of experience are required to reach level 8.
9th level: 960 points of experience are required to reach level 9.
10th level: 1100 points of experience are required to reach level 10.
LEVEL-UP REWARDS
Every time you gain a level, you will be rewarded with several different points you can allocate into different things.
ATTRIBUTE POINTS - for every level you gain, you will be awarded 5 points which you can assign to any of the seven attributes you like.
SKILL POINTS - for every level you gain, you will be awarded 2 points which you can invest in any of your class' skill trees. This is how you learn new magic, techniques, prayers, etc.
PROFICIENCY POINTS - for every level you gain, you will be awarded 5 points which you can invest into any weapon type or magic school proficiency that is available to your class.
SKILL TREES
Every class has multiple skill trees for progressively unlocking more actions unique to that class. You can invest your skill points into multiple skill trees, but you cannot skip through branches without unlocking the previous skill in the branch.
PROFICIENCIES
Here is a list of the different proficiencies you can invest proficiency points into:
WHITE MAGIC AFFINITY - This will increase your potency with casting white magic. White magic is used primarily by Clerics for their non-prayer divine magic.
BLACK MAGIC AFFINITY - This will increase your potency with casting black magic. Black magic relates to necromancy and dark magic.
GREEN MAGIC AFFINITY - This will increase your potency with casting green magic. Green magic relates to everything that is natural.
RED MAGIC AFFINITY - This will increase your potency with casting red magic. Red magic is a destructive, fiery force.
BLUE MAGIC AFFINITY - This will increase your potency with casting blue magic. Blue magic is a cold and chilling force.
ARCANE MAGIC AFFINITY - This will increase your potency with casting arcane magic. Arcane magic is used for spells of conjuration. Arcane magic is also sometimes referred to as gray magic.
BOW PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using a bow & arrow.
CROSSBOW PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using crossbows.
DAGGER PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using daggers.
STAFF PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using staves.
SPEAR PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using spears.
TWO-HANDED SPEAR PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using two-handed spears.
POLEARM PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using polearms.
SABER PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using sabers.
SWORD PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using swords.
TWO-HANDED SWORD PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using two-handed swords.
AXE PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using axes.
TWO-HANDED AXE PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using two-handed axes.
MACE PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using maces.
TWO-HANDED MACE PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using two-handed maces.
WARHAMMER PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using warhammers.
TWO-HANDED WARHAMMER PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using two-handed warhammers.
FLAIL PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using flails.
CLUB PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using clubs.
WHIP PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using whips.
CURVED SWORD PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using curved swords.
TWO-HANDED CURVED SWORD PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using two-handed curved swords.
TRIDENT PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using tridents.
LANCE PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using lances.
FIST WEAPON PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using fist weapons.
UNARMED PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using your bare fists.
TRAP PROFICIENCY - This will increase your capability with using trap techniques. Trap techniques are used primarily by Rangers and some Fighters.
A note for gamemasters
This may be obvious, but you may alter any mechanic you wish to alter for your gaming group to fit their desires in a roleplaying experience and homebrew as much content as you like. The rules can be seen more as guidelines to be tweaked to your liking for whatever you find fun.
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