RPG Ability System
This is an idea that I had several years ago, although it's gone through various iterations since then. Its current incarnation is basically an ability(/combat) system for an RPG which attempts to give character building a similar feel to deck building with Magic the Gathering, in terms of flexibility, while still being simple enough that players don't have to fully understand everything if they don't care that much.
First, I just want to point out that this post is introducing practically a whole game's worth of variations on the main idea, so it probably comes across as being way more complicated than it really is. An actual game would have a proper learning curve to handle this.
Description
Abilities and stat boosts are given by ability orbs and stat orbs (yes, like materia, but stick with me). Each character has an ability grid, which provides them with a set of slots to place these orbs in, in order to use them. These grids could be static for each character (more likely if there's a wide range of characters) or picked up like Garment Grids in FFX-2.
This is an example of such a grid. It's a reasonably small one, but still has enough slots to be vaguely interesting. I imagine in a game this would probably be the first grid after the training/tutorial/practice one.
The numbers represent the maximum level of ability orb that can go in the slot. This means that ability orbs have to go in slots that are equal or greater than their level, so high level orbs will be quite limited in their placement.
The grid has various lines across it, indicating possible connections (these are always all the possible vertical and horizontal connections). These connections are how you use orbs.
Ability orbs require a string of nodes to be connected during combat, with the resulting chain forming the action to be performed. For example, a chain of Magic + Fire + Magic Plus + Drain would result in a powered up fire spell with a drain effect. These chains must always start with an entry orb - the only level 0 orbs - of which there are two: Attack and Magic.
Ability orbs can also have restrictions on the the nodes that they can connect to and from. For example, a Fire II orb might only be able to be connected to from orbs of level 3 or less with the fire element attribute, and only connect to orbs of level 3 or greater. This can often result in a link on the grid that can only be linked in one direction.
Stat orbs are different. Instead of having a level, they have a power requirement (and can be placed in any slot). In order to gain the effect of the orb, it must be connected in a network of nodes, such that the sum of the levels of the ability orbs in the network is at least as great as the sum of the power requirement of all the stat orbs in that network. For example, if you have a HP Plus orb with power requirement 4 and it is connected to two level 1 orbs and a level 2 orb, then the HP Plus will be active.
Sometimes its beneficial to have all your stat orbs powered by one large network and other times it's better for each one to have its own network, but that falls squarely in the category of Advanced Tactics, so I'll cover that later.
So, lets fill in the example grid above with some example orbs and then I'll explain what each of them does.
First of all, the colour coding is as follows:
'Black' orbs - entry orbs (starting point for ability chains)
Green orbs - stat orbs
Red orbs - orbs that affect attacks
Blue orbs - orbs that affect spells
Purple orbs - orbs that affect both attacks and spells
Lets start with a simple ability orb. This could be the red arrow one in the bottom right corner.
Power Up
level: 1
(Attack) STR +5
Pretty straightforward I think - if you link that with the Attack orb, the character will attack with a +5 bonus to their STR for that attack. Then we have something a little more complicated:
Deathblow
level: 2
(Attack) STR +100%
(Attack) ACC -75%
Connects from: 0
Note that the connection restraint here means that in order to get a connection to this orb we have to leave the level 1 slot empty. This is a god example of the sort of resource balancing choices that I think will make this both interesting and challenging.
There's another Attack orb in the top left corner, but I can't be bothered to think of an example - they're all mostly rather same-y, as is often the case with physical fighters.
Moving onto magic with a simple magic orb.
Fire
level: 1
(Magic) base effect: 16
(Magic) MP cost: 6
MAG +5
element: fire
Its important to note that the (Magic) constraint only applies to the first effect. That means that this orb can also be used for elemental attacks (which are partially based on MAG). The base effect thing refers to the strength of the spell, which by default is 0 (meaning that you have to link at least one actual spell from a Magic node in order to cast stuff). Also note that the MP cost sets the value of the spell, rather than increasing it, in the same way that base effect does.
The Ice orb would be much the same, only with element: ice, obviously.
I'll throw in an example of higher level magic here as well, even though it doesn't actually fit into the grid.
Fire II
level: 2
(Magic) base effect: 28
(Magic) MP cost: 12
MAG +10
Element: fire
Connect from: (3- & element:fire)
Connect to: 3+
Note here that as we get to higher level nodes, we start to get restrictions on against connecting to lower level orbs.
Moving on... the blue orbs with the arrow/target symbol.
Wide Cast
Level: 2
(Magic) target: all enemies
(Magic) MAG -30%
I don't think I really need to give examples of what the blue orbs with big arrows on could be; again, they're likely to be fairly simple.
And then the stat orbs can be something along the lines of
HP Plus
Power Requirement: 4
HP +200
and
STR Plus
Power Requirement: 4
STR + 10
Movement cost:
Okay, so obviously you can't just link up every node in your grid every turn for an uber attack - there has to be some restriction. This is very simple - you have a set number of link points, which are used whenever you make a link (since power links are constant, they essentially reduce your max link points by 1), and at the start of your turn you recover a number of points based on your regen stat (yes, like Marvel).
Breaking links:
So, breaking links. This is more of an explanation of the tactics that arise from the mechanic than part of the mechanic itself, but it's something that I like about the idea.
I've changed the grid slightly to better illustrate how this works. Firstly, I've filled in the node that was left blank to allow a connection between the Attack orb and the Deathblow, so that we can now make a connection between the Attack and Magic parts of the grid. I've also replaced the symbols on the relevant nodes with their power requirement/level, so that it's easier to see what's going on. This should probably be a view mode that is available to the player as it makes things much simpler. I've also changed some of the numbers, so just ignore any contradiction to previous values.
As you can see on this new grid, the STR stat orb (bottom left) and the HP stat orb both have a power requirement of 4. They are connected in a network with total level of 3+2+1+2 = 8, and therefore are active.
Now lets say that the player is fighting something that's weak against fire, but they're out of MP, so they want to perform an elemental attack. The chain from this would be starting at the Attack orb and moving up, left, up, left (note: not up, left, left, because the connection restraint on the Fire II orb prevents you moving to it that way). Notice that although
So, the player makes this chain, however, it crosses the links that are powering the HP orb causing them to break. The HP orb is now only connected to 2 units of power, and fails to work, however the STR orb is still functioning fine.
Now lets take another example, on the same grid. The player has plenty of mp and is facing multiple fire-weak enemies, so they want to cast a really powerful fire spell on all enemies by using the chain Magic, down, down, right, up. This however breaks the blue level 1 node from the network powering the HP and STR stat orbs. Now there is only 7 units of power available, but those orbs require 7 between them, so neither of them work.
However, if the player suspects that this is going to be a long fight, they may decide that it is more beneficial for them to perform a fire elemental attack first (or any other chain that breaks that bottom connection) so that the power network is split and the STR node can still acquire enough power to remain active. Of course, this doesn't necessarily have to be done first - if you break the link later in the fight, the STR orb will become active again.
Obviously, having multiple stat orbs in the same network can be risky, however, so long as you're careful about when you break connections, it can allow you to boost your stats more than you otherwise could.
Expansion
I don't really think of this as an expansion of the idea, because it's too cool to leave out, but the main section was getting rather long and this isn't technically essential.
Example!
Concentrate
(Magic) MAG +[chain length]%
(Attack) ACC +[link length]%
Here, [chain length] refers to the length of the chain when you reach this node. This means that not only do you have to consider which orbs you can reach from an entry node, but where in the chain they'll be.
[link length] refers to the length of the connection used to reach this node. Remember to bear in mind with this that, as with the Deathblow example earlier, leaving nodes blank allows you to make connections that go straight past them, which would allow for an even longer connection than you could otherwise manage (not on the example grid, but in general)
This idea could be extended even more to something like this:
Linker
Cost -1 (i.e. doesn't cost a link point to add this to the chain)
level: [chain length]
Connects to: [link length]+
Remember that high level orbs generally restrict chaining downwards, so this would provide a way to link a high level orb to a low level one (i.e. Fire II to Fire I, so that you can get the MAG +10 bonus from Fire II, but the MP cost of Fire I). This is particularly useful combining high level orbs that boost by a static amount (e.g. MAG +20) with low level ones that boos by a percentage (e.g. MAG +10%. Also, its a good way to increase chain length for things that are improved by chain length, without having to spend link points.
Frankly, I think this would probably only be used by the most advanced players, but it's certainly something I'd enjoy playing around with.
Oh, and I think status effects should probably be handled like this
Poison
level: 3
(Magic) Added Effect: No Damage
(Attack) STR -20
(Attack) ACC -20
Added Effect: Poison
and then possibly
Poison II
level: 5
(Magic) MAG -20
(Attack) STR -10
(Attack) ACC -10
Added Effect: Poison
or something along those lines.
First, I just want to point out that this post is introducing practically a whole game's worth of variations on the main idea, so it probably comes across as being way more complicated than it really is. An actual game would have a proper learning curve to handle this.
Description
Abilities and stat boosts are given by ability orbs and stat orbs (yes, like materia, but stick with me). Each character has an ability grid, which provides them with a set of slots to place these orbs in, in order to use them. These grids could be static for each character (more likely if there's a wide range of characters) or picked up like Garment Grids in FFX-2.
This is an example of such a grid. It's a reasonably small one, but still has enough slots to be vaguely interesting. I imagine in a game this would probably be the first grid after the training/tutorial/practice one.
The numbers represent the maximum level of ability orb that can go in the slot. This means that ability orbs have to go in slots that are equal or greater than their level, so high level orbs will be quite limited in their placement.
The grid has various lines across it, indicating possible connections (these are always all the possible vertical and horizontal connections). These connections are how you use orbs.
Ability orbs require a string of nodes to be connected during combat, with the resulting chain forming the action to be performed. For example, a chain of Magic + Fire + Magic Plus + Drain would result in a powered up fire spell with a drain effect. These chains must always start with an entry orb - the only level 0 orbs - of which there are two: Attack and Magic.
Ability orbs can also have restrictions on the the nodes that they can connect to and from. For example, a Fire II orb might only be able to be connected to from orbs of level 3 or less with the fire element attribute, and only connect to orbs of level 3 or greater. This can often result in a link on the grid that can only be linked in one direction.
Stat orbs are different. Instead of having a level, they have a power requirement (and can be placed in any slot). In order to gain the effect of the orb, it must be connected in a network of nodes, such that the sum of the levels of the ability orbs in the network is at least as great as the sum of the power requirement of all the stat orbs in that network. For example, if you have a HP Plus orb with power requirement 4 and it is connected to two level 1 orbs and a level 2 orb, then the HP Plus will be active.
Sometimes its beneficial to have all your stat orbs powered by one large network and other times it's better for each one to have its own network, but that falls squarely in the category of Advanced Tactics, so I'll cover that later.
So, lets fill in the example grid above with some example orbs and then I'll explain what each of them does.
First of all, the colour coding is as follows:
'Black' orbs - entry orbs (starting point for ability chains)
Green orbs - stat orbs
Red orbs - orbs that affect attacks
Blue orbs - orbs that affect spells
Purple orbs - orbs that affect both attacks and spells
Lets start with a simple ability orb. This could be the red arrow one in the bottom right corner.
Power Up
level: 1
(Attack) STR +5
Pretty straightforward I think - if you link that with the Attack orb, the character will attack with a +5 bonus to their STR for that attack. Then we have something a little more complicated:
Deathblow
level: 2
(Attack) STR +100%
(Attack) ACC -75%
Connects from: 0
Note that the connection restraint here means that in order to get a connection to this orb we have to leave the level 1 slot empty. This is a god example of the sort of resource balancing choices that I think will make this both interesting and challenging.
There's another Attack orb in the top left corner, but I can't be bothered to think of an example - they're all mostly rather same-y, as is often the case with physical fighters.
Moving onto magic with a simple magic orb.
Fire
level: 1
(Magic) base effect: 16
(Magic) MP cost: 6
MAG +5
element: fire
Its important to note that the (Magic) constraint only applies to the first effect. That means that this orb can also be used for elemental attacks (which are partially based on MAG). The base effect thing refers to the strength of the spell, which by default is 0 (meaning that you have to link at least one actual spell from a Magic node in order to cast stuff). Also note that the MP cost sets the value of the spell, rather than increasing it, in the same way that base effect does.
The Ice orb would be much the same, only with element: ice, obviously.
I'll throw in an example of higher level magic here as well, even though it doesn't actually fit into the grid.
Fire II
level: 2
(Magic) base effect: 28
(Magic) MP cost: 12
MAG +10
Element: fire
Connect from: (3- & element:fire)
Connect to: 3+
Note here that as we get to higher level nodes, we start to get restrictions on against connecting to lower level orbs.
Moving on... the blue orbs with the arrow/target symbol.
Wide Cast
Level: 2
(Magic) target: all enemies
(Magic) MAG -30%
I don't think I really need to give examples of what the blue orbs with big arrows on could be; again, they're likely to be fairly simple.
And then the stat orbs can be something along the lines of
HP Plus
Power Requirement: 4
HP +200
and
STR Plus
Power Requirement: 4
STR + 10
Movement cost:
Okay, so obviously you can't just link up every node in your grid every turn for an uber attack - there has to be some restriction. This is very simple - you have a set number of link points, which are used whenever you make a link (since power links are constant, they essentially reduce your max link points by 1), and at the start of your turn you recover a number of points based on your regen stat (yes, like Marvel).
Breaking links:
So, breaking links. This is more of an explanation of the tactics that arise from the mechanic than part of the mechanic itself, but it's something that I like about the idea.
I've changed the grid slightly to better illustrate how this works. Firstly, I've filled in the node that was left blank to allow a connection between the Attack orb and the Deathblow, so that we can now make a connection between the Attack and Magic parts of the grid. I've also replaced the symbols on the relevant nodes with their power requirement/level, so that it's easier to see what's going on. This should probably be a view mode that is available to the player as it makes things much simpler. I've also changed some of the numbers, so just ignore any contradiction to previous values.
As you can see on this new grid, the STR stat orb (bottom left) and the HP stat orb both have a power requirement of 4. They are connected in a network with total level of 3+2+1+2 = 8, and therefore are active.
Now lets say that the player is fighting something that's weak against fire, but they're out of MP, so they want to perform an elemental attack. The chain from this would be starting at the Attack orb and moving up, left, up, left (note: not up, left, left, because the connection restraint on the Fire II orb prevents you moving to it that way). Notice that although
So, the player makes this chain, however, it crosses the links that are powering the HP orb causing them to break. The HP orb is now only connected to 2 units of power, and fails to work, however the STR orb is still functioning fine.
Now lets take another example, on the same grid. The player has plenty of mp and is facing multiple fire-weak enemies, so they want to cast a really powerful fire spell on all enemies by using the chain Magic, down, down, right, up. This however breaks the blue level 1 node from the network powering the HP and STR stat orbs. Now there is only 7 units of power available, but those orbs require 7 between them, so neither of them work.
However, if the player suspects that this is going to be a long fight, they may decide that it is more beneficial for them to perform a fire elemental attack first (or any other chain that breaks that bottom connection) so that the power network is split and the STR node can still acquire enough power to remain active. Of course, this doesn't necessarily have to be done first - if you break the link later in the fight, the STR orb will become active again.
Obviously, having multiple stat orbs in the same network can be risky, however, so long as you're careful about when you break connections, it can allow you to boost your stats more than you otherwise could.
Expansion
I don't really think of this as an expansion of the idea, because it's too cool to leave out, but the main section was getting rather long and this isn't technically essential.
Example!
Concentrate
(Magic) MAG +[chain length]%
(Attack) ACC +[link length]%
Here, [chain length] refers to the length of the chain when you reach this node. This means that not only do you have to consider which orbs you can reach from an entry node, but where in the chain they'll be.
[link length] refers to the length of the connection used to reach this node. Remember to bear in mind with this that, as with the Deathblow example earlier, leaving nodes blank allows you to make connections that go straight past them, which would allow for an even longer connection than you could otherwise manage (not on the example grid, but in general)
This idea could be extended even more to something like this:
Linker
Cost -1 (i.e. doesn't cost a link point to add this to the chain)
level: [chain length]
Connects to: [link length]+
Remember that high level orbs generally restrict chaining downwards, so this would provide a way to link a high level orb to a low level one (i.e. Fire II to Fire I, so that you can get the MAG +10 bonus from Fire II, but the MP cost of Fire I). This is particularly useful combining high level orbs that boost by a static amount (e.g. MAG +20) with low level ones that boos by a percentage (e.g. MAG +10%. Also, its a good way to increase chain length for things that are improved by chain length, without having to spend link points.
Frankly, I think this would probably only be used by the most advanced players, but it's certainly something I'd enjoy playing around with.
Oh, and I think status effects should probably be handled like this
Poison
level: 3
(Magic) Added Effect: No Damage
(Attack) STR -20
(Attack) ACC -20
Added Effect: Poison
and then possibly
Poison II
level: 5
(Magic) MAG -20
(Attack) STR -10
(Attack) ACC -10
Added Effect: Poison
or something along those lines.