Mass Effect D20, Sundays (Opinions Please)

I'll leave how much in the group up to the DM, taking on to many people just makes things drawn out and a little hectic. Whatever number he feels is a good number for him will be good.

Codey R. said: Just pilot, At first it will more than likely be a frigate pilot like the normandy all though flying something bigger like a Turian Cruiser would be cool but that kind of stuff is more war based. Later on once he's leveled he'd learn towards C.S.C piloting (Combat Support Craft) If you can't tell I'm really into the ships in mass effect. The GARDIAN systems, Kinetic Barriers, Disruptor Torpedoes, I love it all I guess you can provide support with all the ship, whether that be with strikes or scanning an area. And even though I plan to mostly focus on medicine, being quarian I still know a lot about ships and will try to repair/modify when possible. Any idea on personality?

No idea on personality yet as I'm not sure race or gender. I want to make sure the balance is alright, so if there's too many humans I may go alien and vice versa.

Codey R. said: No idea on personality yet as I'm not sure race or gender. I want to make sure the balance is alright, so if there's too many humans I may go alien and vice versa. Well the thing is this is sort first come first served as far I can tell. Just make a character that speaks to you, we will worry about balance later. Start writting your ideas and a little back ground. More people will come, and they will just get the short end of the stick.

well, assuming the GM says you're in, obviously. As it stands we have 2 alien males. I am undecided, but also value gender diversity so will most likely be heading in the Asari Biotic direction. The GM said it would count as a 'human' for the wish of a 50% human party. I just need to know if the Biotic class will be a thing as listed in the skills section.

Saw the biotic section, kinda strange. Actually a lot strange, needing CHA to use Bioic Charge is weird man. I was gonna make a Krogan Vanguard but now, maybe a soldier.

I think Joe may have mixed up Vanguard and Sentinel. Vanguards get more skill points than sentinel, which seems odd to me as Vanguards are more close-combat biotics. Could be wrong, though. Sentinels being the Biotic/Tech hybrids strike me more as getting the extra skill points. There are probably some things to work out, especially since he seems to be tackling this conversion by himself at pretty quick turnaround.

Draken Toflen said: Well the thing is this is sort first come first served as far I can tell. Just make a character that speaks to you, we will worry about balance later. Start writting your ideas and a little back ground. More people will come, and they will just get the short end of the stick. Well I'd rather not put all of my character's details up right now, as I said there are A LOT of them and A LOT of combanations and back stories. I don't want to spend 4 hours writing them down here without knowing if I even got in or not. Plus I'd rather not get into the campaign on my character alone but my history in table top gaming and love for the mass effect universe. Like my profile shows I've played with over hundred different people and more than 350 hours on this website and I even personally talked to the GM about things. If I don't get picked then so be it there might be people that fit better but I'll wait until he says if I'm in or not.

Sounds like a good plan. I don't forsee you not getting in, but it's always a possibility, I suppose. Don't blame you for not wanting to put all that stuff up here, wait until you get an invite and then you can put it up in the campaign chat area.

Well I have been invited so I am writing some stuff for him, currently important people to him and later the human colony he served on. I will make a topic for all this.

First, I want 4 players. To many more than that and I find I can't focus well enough on the individuals. The largest table I ever ran had 7, and I really felt I was neglecting people at points (even though we ended up having a great run). Second, goatman92, I can TOTALLY change that bit about biotic charge. Like, the abilities I associated with the biotics were totally ad-hoc. So if you had an idea in mind, PLEASE, suggest it. Also, think about this: A biotic discipline (like Telekinesis, Spatial Distortion or Kinetic Barriers), takes two feats to unlock the skills in. But once you unlock those skills? You're free to spend points on them AND pursue other skills and class abilities. Weapon training. Armor. That kind of thing. Third, Biotics, Vanguards and Sentinels have been stripped from the classes. If there's any mention of them I need to remove it. You can make a perfectly good Vanguard or Sentinel using the current rules. You just have to sink the feats into biotics, and, from there, put points into the skills. But there's NOTHING stopping you from making a soldier who also has biotics.

I can be a biotic too O<O Just kidding, tech is were its at!

Unless you're asari, you HAVE to take the Biotic feat at first level. So... either it's available to you or its not. *shrugs* Biotics take feats, skill points and vitality to use. They are powerful, but... so are blasters and other skills. They really excel at battlefield control, combat mobility and even combat endurance.

Joe R. said: Unless you're asari, you HAVE to take the Biotic feat at first level. So... either it's available to you or its not. *shrugs* Biotics take feats, skill points and vitality to use. They are powerful, but... so are blasters and other skills. They really excel at battlefield control, combat mobility and even combat endurance. I think you can say biotic just excel at combat, PERIOD!. I want to be more general and utilitarian. I am tired of being the combat bad ass, medics and engineers are important if not more important.

I don't know what you guys are still looking for someone, but I am 100% down to play in this genre. As a huge mass effect fan it would be awesome to see a world of krogan and others, maybe even encounter the geth. Please let me know what I can do, thanks.

Well this before Eden Prime, so it is very unlikely we will meet any Geth. I think we have room for one more person, we are looking for somebody to be an asari or human. Or at least that was what I was told. You can ask the GM Joe if he still enforcing that.

Okay, If i were to join I'd be a human. :D

Great, means we don't have to break your dreams. So if you had not read all the posts we got... Quarian Engineer/Doctor Krogan Battlemaster Asari Biotic Gunslinger with cowboy influence A forth that has yet to decide, he said something about being a pilot.

Commander Goathearder, the human who almost became the first human sentinel in the entire galaxy.

Zach. F said: Commander Goathearder, the human who almost became the first human sentinel in the entire galaxy. sentinel, I thought it would be specter.

I realized that (been a couple) but it went well with a joke that was entirely wrong in every context.

I guess Do you got any idea on characters so far?

Not sure on the class but the concept as a human who uses wits and charm rather than brawn would be it.

I think that is a great start, as we already got two really good fighters. So somebody with wits and charms would be very valuable to the team, being to talk our way into places or to orginize all our skills into one plan.

Indeed, would be cool to have some diversity.

The more diversity mean more bantering, which makes me a happy man :)

The noble class would be an excellent start. That is it's strength.

Im not too familiar with the mass effect d20, could someone send me a link for info and such?

Its a work in progress, we are trying to convert star wars d20 into more appropriate form for our purposes. Its a homebrew recipe just to warn you.

OH GAWD.

I will assume that is sarcasm. 50 post up from this one is what we got for rules at the moment, a lot more will add later.

It is man, as long as if the game is fun and people are cool, the rules don't matter. Unless its like roll to talk then i am out.

Joe R. said: Well, here it is. An extremely rough version with just some of the bare bones of information on characters. Mass Effect d20 based on Star Wars d20 There's a lot here that should look familiar to players who've played in other d20 games, such as Pathfinder or the original Star Wars d20. For those of you unfamiliar with the d20 system, I'm sure it doesn't make any sense at all. I hope that you guys (of which it's looking like I've got 3 who are putting up with all the bells and whistles >.<) bear with me if you haven't played d20 games before. There's still a cubic crapload of work that has to be done. I'm missing 3 tables of class/level progression. The skill section doesn't even cover all the biotic skills (and covers none of the standard skills). The reputation system isn't explained. And there's nothing explaining the combat / equipment sections. Most of those sections are going to be verbatim from Star Wars d20, just with a little Mass Effect window dressing. I also need to figure out how to make a custom character sheet on Myth-Weavers, so there's lots of work to do. I'll start sending out the invitations to people to join the campaign soon, and from there we can get a group formed, and I can assist with the character creation process. A few notes: I excluded Batarians, Elcor, Hanar, Volus and Vorcha from the races section because none of them seemed to be particularly appealing as PC races (the same was fae and giants aren't appealing in D&D). Biotics are a sets of skills opened up by a couple prerequisite feats. This means any class can potentially be a biotic. Being a biotic means diverting skill points from your primary class skills and putting into biotic skills. There are three branches of biotics, but they can somewhat overlap. I'm still looking at simple, RP-friendly systems to deal with Paragon/Renegade actions. The Reputation feature of Star Wars does a good job of helping with this, but I'm experimenting with a few different ways to reward/encourage decisive action, and decision making that will come into play at a later time. I'm going to take Paragon actions to mean: non-violent, selfless action designed to help others. Renegade actions are: violent, bad-ass actions that get the job done with some collateral damage. When people think 'Renegade' I'm hoping they envision 'Dirty Harry' and not 'Voldemort'. Finally, I'm sorry this is taking so long to put together and that there isn't commonly available source material, character sheets, or books. The Protheans just left me scraps of data and I'm trying to piece it together as quickly as I can. Whatever wiped it out sure was thorough about it... The link in the quote should give the rules so far. I should done this from the start.

Sweet thanks man.

Tell me what you think and we can start brain storming ideas for characters.

I think i am going to be a charismatic character focusing more on the renegade spectrum. A human alliance soldier who fought in a war and has a scar on his face from a krogan's claw attack.

Well renegade is more about being intimidating rather then persuasive, but his could work. The most important part about being a renegade is victory at all costs. So I am kind thinking Illusive Man-ish, as he was also charismatic and pesrsusive but very renegade. Also we will need a story for that scar, as all scars have stories. Did you get it fight a Blood Pack Merc? Has it left you with a hate for krogans? All this stuff needs to be answered.

Again, this is only a concept so the character is not even remotely close yet, Idk what the status of the game is yet but i will in time figure out what the story is. An Illusive man type would be a easy way to characterize it.

Yeah that is a good idea, but don't get your hopes up. It sounds like the GM might be reaching his limit for people, so you might not make it.

Hey, Zach, I'm still working on the game rules. Basically... I'm using the Pathfinder rules as a basis for the game. So if you're familiar with those, this will all be very familiar. The classes, skills and skills are different. Biotics and equipment and feats are different. Spells don't really exist. I may be extending you an invitation to our game shortly, but it'll be pushing the amount of players that I'm comfortable DMing. I don't want to put you off to joining, nor do I wish to string you along. I absolutely love the enthusiasm, and I want players to examine the system we're using and give opinions as well. Anyways, I'm not saying 'yes' or 'no' to you joining yet. So, best thing to do is, if you're still up for the game, check back here, think of a character, and maybe in a few days time you'll get lucky. :)

I am hoping to make it on this, I generally love the mass effect series

Virtro said: I am hoping to make it on this, I generally love the mass effect series Sorry I think your a little late. I might be wrong, might.

Virtro said: I am hoping to make it on this, I generally love the mass effect series Hey an spot opened up

I know, I am hoping to get into this as much as I can, especially since I am a general Mass Effect fan. I could come up with a character right now if I could without wasting time and a whole lot of typing. The reason I didn't make one because I was unsure if I was going to make it or not since a lot of people wanted to do this. Generally I would do anything to get into whole thing if I could

i just read through everything and i been thinking of some simplicity to help the creater out. I recently began playing mage the awakening which has an improvised spell system that is ran by GM on what are the limits of it. Now biotics is basically morphing mass and messing with small sections of space depending on implants. Now what an improvised biotic system is made. Like lets say you want to lift a cup depending on your biotic implant and skill with it you'll get more rolls if with multi dice. If its with a d20 roll than make it a minus or plus. This can range into the creativity of the character. Biotics is powerful but its powerful because its very adaptive. Gravity shields, mass waves, or just turning the lights off cause your character is a cocky prick. You can make implants a flaw if its a lower grade -1 dice or -1 to dice result. BIotic training being a +1 for each skill in it or every two skills. Since people do have to be trained for it. Or if its a high grade implant you can make it into a merit. Or if they graduated top in there academy for it. I never played star wars so i dont know how the force works in it. But i think the way mage works improvised spells would be good for biotics. They even have a bonus in mage if its a spell that was taught and retrained to the mage. For the biotics we can make things like lift and throw like those abilities something that was taught and thus made easier to use than pulling a specific manuever out of no where which has a chance of hurting them. Like Miranda who had a more of a strain compared to the experianced samara in mass effect 2. i'm new around here but i'd definitly want to be involved in this campaign hope you take it to considaration joe.

and if not this campaign hopefully the next one and i hope you take my biotics idea to consideration i think it'll really give players more understanding of biotic in mass effect lore.

Hmm, interesting thought. I am trying to remember exactly how The Force was done in SW d20. I think they were skills that you could only put points in if you were force sensitive. Not used like spells, but it's been YEARS and years since I played the d20 SW. I have very limited experience with WoD, but I'm not sure the merits or anything would mesh well. I guess they would just be feats in a d20 system, but you usually get relatively few chances to buy feats. Try taking a look at the official Mass Effect d20 system. I would have to look at it again to figure out how they utilize biotic talents and such, but you should check it out to see.

Well in the nWoD they don't relaly have a spell list is they to people a spell list so they can understand what they can make improvised and how pre taught spells works. But they can make spells based on breaking reality via perception than they can pretty much make up what they want depending on their skill and source of power. Its a very good system. Biotic training it would be the main skill it can work as a person wants to focus on charge or throw they can buy the technique to get bonus to it the same as skill sets. Wont be too expensive and it'll open up more chances to branch out to diffrent skills and not make them stay in one spot of spending to get the biotic skills they want, but i'll definitly check out the mass effect system as soon as i find the link through the comments

definitly make that line between adept and vanguard and sentinels more character defining and less restricting in and out of combat. If Joe i can easily make a list and explanation on how it works and transfer between yours , mass effect and the nWoD. It'll just take time.

First off, Mage has a really awesome magic system. I've always enjoyed its flexibility and the ability to accomplish nearly anything as long as you work within your own paradigm. The biotics system I ended up using is an adaptation of the Force system in Star Wars D20: Revised Edition. It works like this: - You have to take a feat (a one time bonus ability) to use biotics. Asari get this for free. It represents either being a natural biotic, biotic implants, or both. - Once you have the feat you can put points into biotic skills that the feat 'unlocks.' - From there, you can branch out into each of the three schools of biotics, by taking a feat of the same name: Telekinesis, Kinetic Fields, and Spatial Distortion. - So, once you have the 'Telekinesis' feat, you can put points into Telekinesis skills (Lift, Throw, Fly). - To use your biotics, you expend some vitality (which is also used for shields and defense - it represents the expenditure of energy require to create the biotic effect) and roll a biotic skill-check. The result determines how strong your effect is and it's played out. Note that the three schools of biotics have some overlap. Lift (Telekinesis) can make targets weightless and helpless, but so can singularity (Spatial Distortion). Fly (Telekinesis) can augment movement, but so can charge (Kinetic Fields). So, you don't need to master all three branches to be an effective biotic. What's more, since these abilities are just 'feats' and 'skills' and not class related, a character can fully pursue a career as a diplomat, soldier, or engineer. They just ALSO happen to be biotic. Thanks for the commentary, Anthony. I definitely understand your like of the Mage magic system. As I mentioned, it's one of my favorites.