Philsys

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Philsys is an RP system used by a large number of RPers on RPGWWW. It is most commonly used for "plotted" RPs that have a dedicated Gamemaster and is generally ignored in CIRPs.

For Phylis, Phillisys, or any similar topic, see the appropriate article.

Overview

Philsys has a relatively complicated set of rules that govern character abilities and advancement, and it is commonly considered to require more knowledge than a freestyle RP in order to be successful. Philsys was originally developed by Phil-dog, a user from the days of the Keenspace forums. Since then, it has undergone many revisions, many of which are the doing of Archmage. Other users, including as Divinegon, Jak Snide, Pervy, and Namagomi have contributed to the mechanics of the system over time.

It is not required to use any set of rules to RP. However, Philsys has gained some status as the "official" system of RPGWW. It is a "homebrew" RP system that shares some characteristics with other systems, most notably the [d20 system] and [GURPS].

For a detailed explanation of the philosophy behind Philsys as expressed by Archmage, see the Philsys manifesto.

Rules

Following are the basic rules for Philsys.

Character Creation

Concept

The first step to creating a character is to decide what exactly you wish to create. You, the player, must have a concept of what or who you want your character to be. Are you interested in playing a noble paladin? A cunning thief? An arrogant mage? Just as if you were roleplaying without a complicated set of rules, it is required that you have a picture of who you want your character to be. Often, it becomes much easier to determine your character's physical abilities, traits, and skills after you have a clear vision of what you hope to create. Once you have an idea of what sort of character you want to create, you can take your idea and match it up with appropriate numbers.

After devising a concept, you must develop a set of base statistics, or stats, that represent your character's physical abilities. There are three elements define a character: Stats, skills, and abilities. To clarify the definition of each:

Stats: These are raw numbers that are associated with physical traits. Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom are all examples. Philsys has nine stats, each ranked on a scale of -5 to +10. A stat of -5 is incredibly bad, whereas +10 is the limit for mortal characters that are not somehow enhanced by magic.

Skills: These are things that your character knows about or can do. Most characters will have several skills. A mage character probably has skills that encompass several schools of magic and related knowledge, whereas a physical fighter is more likely to have weapon skills and skills that relate to advanced fighting techniques. Not all skills are combat related; many skills represent a character's knowledge of botany as opposed to their ability to swing a sword. Skills have associated ranks as well. A rank of 0 indicates no training and does not need to be noted on a sheet, whereas a character with a rank of 30 might be the most proficient person in the entire world.

Abilities: These are special actions that your character can take or special qualities associated with your character. They are commonly based on your character's skills. Magical spells are included in this category. Other abilities allow characters to perform unusual or spectacular physical feats, such as striking multiple foes in range with a melee weapon or firing several arrows at once with a bow. Most abilities have some cost associated with them, preventing them from being used infinitely, but some abilities are passive and continually active or free to use. Racial traits, such as innate resistances to certain elements of magic, fall under abilities.

Stats

Each character has 21 "points" to distribute among their base stats. No stat may be higher than +10 or lower than -5. The only exception to this rule is Magical Aptitude, which is rated from 0 to 6. Magical Aptitude cannot be negative.

The stats are as follows:

Courage: The ability to remain calm and focused in stressful situations. It also represents personal force of will. This score will influence fighting ability, resistance to magical spells, and ability to persuade or intimidate other people. Wisdom � The amount of raw, bookish knowledge a character has. This figures into magical ability and influences your character�s ability of knowing certain obscure facts. Intuition � This score indicates your character�s ability to think and reason. It also figures heavily into perception tests. Charisma � This indicates not only physical beauty, but also the ability to win others over through guile and charm. This figures into negotiation and bard-like skills. Agility � The ability to move quickly. Influences all sorts of things, including physical combat prowess, reflex saves, and the like. Dexterity � The ability to manipulate objects with refined motor skill. Influences skills like lockpicking, missile weapons, alchemy, and such. Strength � Raw muscle power. Heavily influences damage rolls and the ability to lift/push things. Stamina � The ability to take punishment. Influences HP, allows you to hold your breath longer, and boosts resistance to toxins/disease. Magic Aptitude � Grades how �in touch� you are with the astral plane. A must-have for casting spells. If your rank is zero, you cannot cast magic at all. A character with a 3 or more in this stat can be considered an "attuned mage." A character with a 4 or greater can read the astral plane by merely concentrating on doing so, with no cost.


Taking a negative stat value increases the total number of points you can spend elsewhere--if you take a -1 in Strength, it means that you have 22 points to spend on your other stats. Be careful with negatives though. A common thought, especially among beginners, is that Charisma makes no difference, so they put down something like "-4 Charisma" to get a bonus elsewhere. Negatives make a big difference, especially when making rolls. -4 Charisma means that most people you meet will hate you immediately, on sight alone, and may even try to kill you! The GM may also rule that extremely low or extremely high stats are not allowed at the point of character creation.

Physical fighters especially need points in Courage, Strength, Dexterity, and Agility, and Stamina. If you're a magic user, you need Courage, Wisdom, Intuition, and Magic Aptitude primarily. Thieflike characters should have high Dexterity and Agility, as well as a little Intution and Courage. It is possible to distribute points such that a character is very good at one thing (a fighter with +6 Strength), or it is possible to arrange the points in such a way that the character is well rounded but not superior in any specific area. Thusly, you should distribute your points the way you'd like to do them based on what you want your character to do. Once you've figured out your stats, you can move on to the next step: skills.


Skills:

OK, so now we know what your character is like, physically. How smart he or she is, how strong, how fast...but what about what sort of individual talents he or she has? These are your skills. Skills have a level (a number that indicates just how good you are at them) and a set of base attributes (the physical attributes which govern how good you are and possibly can be at the skill). Almost anything can be a skill: skills range from simplistic, basic things like Weapon (Unarmed Combat) to The Way of the Fatal Paw.

You get 20+2*INT+2*WIS points to spend on your skills. Each point you spend on an ordinary skill increases its level by 1. Thusly, if you spend 4 of your points on Weapon (Unarmed Combat), you'll start off with the skill at the 4th rank. At character creation, no skill may be higher than the 4th rank, regardless of whether or not you have enough points to purchase it at a higher one.

Now, all skills must have base attributes paired to them. These were mentioned earlier. What are they? Well, base attributes work something like this. When a skill is created, a little bit of logic is used to determine which stats would have the most impact on the character's ability to perform the skill. For example, Lockpicking requires nimble fingers and dexterity, and it also helps to have a little bit of intuition to figure out what to do next. Since dexterity plays a greater role in the character's ability to pick a lock, the skill's base attributes are <Dex/Dex/Int>. Note that each skill has three base attributes paired to it, and that no normal skill may have the same attribute all three times. The purpose of the base attributes will be later explained when we cover leveling up and tests of skill.

There are actually three different kinds of skills: Normal Skills, Knowledge Skills, and Support Skills. The function of these skills is as follows:

Normal Skills -- These skills represent something your character can do. Normal skills are things like Weapon (Swords), Fire Magic, or Lockpicking. They always have three base attributes and are purchased at a cost of 1 point per rank. Knowledge Skills -- These skills represent raw, bookish types of knowledge, such as [k]Geology, [k]Languages, [k]Magical Creature Knowledge, etc. These skills are denoted with a [k] before their names, and are purchased at half cost, meaning that they cost 1/2 point per rank, and they always have a base attribute of Wis. These skills indicate knowing something rather than doing something. For the purpose of tests of skill, this means Wis is multiplied by 3 before the skill roll (which will be explained later). Support Skills -- These skills represent passive abilities or bonuses, such as [s]Improved Parry, [s]Magical Resistance, or [s]Elemental Melding. Support skills usually have a requirement, like <Int=3>. This means that in order to learn the skill at all, the character must have an Intuition score of at least +3. These skills are also purchased at half cost, except where noted otherwise. [s]Critical Striking, for example, costs three points per rank!


Any character using a weapon (or fighting barehanded) should take an appropriate skill to match their weapon choice in addition to their other skills.

A sample skill list is available here! For reference, all weapon skills are <Cou/Agi/Str> and all magic skills are <Int/Wis/Mag>. Use the skills in this list to help you work out the skills for your own character if needed--they'll probably be a tremendous asset. Once you have a set of skills that represent what your character can do and knows how to do, it becomes possible to determine the spells and techs they can use!


Spells/Abilities:

Spells and abilities are, as prior explained, combat and noncombat talents and techs your character can make use of. For mages, this means a list of castable spells, and for other types of characters, it might mean special sword techniques and the like.

Spells and abilities should be closely based on your character's skills. It doesn't make any sense for a character without any skills like "Fire Magic" to put down a spell like "Fire 1." Instead, suppose you have the skill "Broom Techniques." You might have abilities/spells like this:

[Broom=1]Clean Sweep (2 TP) - A wide, slashing arc with the Broom. [Broom=3]Broom Bash (4 TP) - A multihit combo with the Broom, each successive hit having a slight reduced chance to hit. [Broom=4]Omnibroomslash (6 TP) - A powerful Broom frenzy attack.

Now, if this seems complicated...well, that means it's time for an explanation! The first thing you see is a "minimum required rank." This is written as [Skill name=#], and means that in order to use this technique, the character must have at least that number of ranks in that skill. The next part is, obviously, a name for the skill. The part in parenthesis is the cost of using the skill. Magical spells cost "MP" or "Mana/Magic Points" to use, and physical skills or other skills costs "TP," or "Tech Points." The last part is the spell or tech's description.

Physical techs are usually so unique to the character that there is no standardized list. However, there is a standardized/suggested list for magical skills, which can be found here. Once you have all your techs in order, we can move on to...


Choosing Equipment:

Most adventurers don't fight naked, or at least, not if they want to survive in the heat of battle for more than a few minutes. Choosing your equipment can be done from one of two lists.

This list is a list of "standard" equipment. New weapons and armor may be devised by the players or GM to suit the situation or a new character as necessary, but players doing so are advised to base new weapons for their characters on preexisting ones for the purposes of game balance.

This list is of "Valthi" equipment. Really, it's just an alternative equipment list for characters who want to do something different--so long as they can fit into their character backgrounds why they're carrying around equipment from the country of Valth.

Weapons have a damage, listed in Thrust/Slash/Chop format, also referred to as a weapon's T/S/C. This is because most weapons can be used to attack in different ways, and depending on how the weapon is used to attack, it deals more (or less) damage. Weapons also have a penalty, written as a fraction looking thing like +1/-1. This is the amount by which your AT/PA is affected by your using that weapon (the effects of AT/PA are covered more in detail in the combat section). Weapons also have a weight (which usually has little effect on gameplay except where common sense kicks in) and, if applicable, a strength requirement. Determine the amount of damage your weapon deals with each attack type by adding the attack type damage to the attack type damage modifier. This is done as follows. If you are using a Longsword, which has a damage of 10/14/17, you add your STR+1d6 to the thrust damage, STR*2+2d4 to the slash damage, and STR*3+2d6 to the chop damage. If you have a STR of +3, this means you deal 13+1d6 thrusting, 20+2d4 slashing, and 26+2d6 chopping.

When using no weapon, you deal damage equal to (STR+Unarmed Skill rank)*2+1d6 punching, and (STR+Unarmed Skill rank)*3+2d6 kicking at a -3 penalty to hit.

Missile weapons, such as bows, throwing knives, or guns, have an Accuracy rating (which determines how often they hit) and a damage. In the case of bows, the damage is determined by the arrow/ammunition type.

Advanced rule: Players may use weapons for which they do not have the requisite strength bonuses, but they suffer an AT/PA penalty equal to twice the difference between the requirement and their strength.

Armor has an AC (armor class), an AT/PA modifier, a weight, and a strength requirement, if applicable. The amount of damage a piece of armor protects you from is AC/3 points of physical damage. Therefore, if you are wearing Hide Armor with an AC of 15, and someone hits you with a weapon attack for 15 points of damage, you only take 10 (15-5, because 15 AC/3 is 5 points damage reduction=10). Weight and modifiers/penalties are the same as weapons.

Typically, how much equipment and what kind a character can have is up to the GM to decide. Once you've got your equipment, there's one last step and you'll have a fully created Philsys character!


HP, MP, TP, Initiative, and Attack/Parry:

This part's just math determining your HP (how much damage you can take and live), MP (how much magic you can cast without hurting yourself), TP (how may special, non-magic "Techs" you can use), initiative, and AT/PA (attack/parry skills, which determine how skilled you are at hitting and blocking, respectively).

The math for determining each of these is as follows:

HP -- 55+(STA*5) MP -- (MAG*10)+(INT*5)+(WIS*5) TP -- It's 20 at level 1. Initiative -- AGI+COU+2d6 (Just put down the value for AGI + COU and then "+2d6" after it) AT/PA -- AGI+INT+STR+COU. Divide the number of ranks you have in your currently equipped weapon between AT and PA as you see fit. For example, if you have a base AT/PA of 10/10, and you have 4 ranks in Weapon (Swords), you may have an AT/PA of 14/10, 13/11, 12/12, 11/13, or 10/14. Each time you gain a rank in your weapon skill, you decide whether to increase AT or PA. Having a high AT increases your chance to hit with physical/melee attacks, while having a high PA helps you dodge or block physical/melee attacks.


Now, you've completed your character! Hurrah! But before we move on to how to use all these numbers, skills, and the like, we need to look at one more thing...


Gaining Experience:

As your character participates in Philsys RPs, the GM will award "experience points," or XP, to the characters involved. A GM should award XP for any difficult task or challenge overcome by the character, such as winning a battle, talking their way out of a fight, picking a lock, or the like. XP may also be awarded for exceptional roleplaying or other circumstances. A newly made character starts with 0 XP, though some GMs (including myself) will award a couple hundred XP for a well written character background story.

Here are the XP required to gain levels. The XP count resets after the level is gained (getting to level 3 from 2 is harder than getting to 2 from 1.

Lvl 1 Lvl 2 Lvl 3 Lvl 4 Lvl 5 Lvl 6 Lvl 7 Lvl 8 Lvl 9 Lvl 10 -- 1000 1250 1500 2000 2500 3250 4000 5000 6250 Lvl 11 Lvl 12 Lvl 13 Lvl 14 Lvl 15 Lvl 16 Lvl 17 Lvl 18 Lvl 19 Lvl 20 7750 9500 11500 13750 16250 19000 22000 25250 28750 32500

Whenever your character gains a level, the following things happen:

Your character gets a chance to increase up to two stats by +1. Your character gets a chance to increase their skills by a total of Wis+3 (minimum 2 per level) ranks. Your character gains more HP, MP, and TP.


The first thing done during a level up is stat increases. The player selects two stats, a primary and a secondary, of which cannot be the same stat. The primary stat has a higher chance of being raised than the secondary stat, so choose the stat you wish to raise more as the primary stat. Now, to determine whether or not the stat increases...

To raise the primary stat, you must roll equal to 100-Stat value*5 or less on a 100-sided die. Thusly, if you have a stat of +4, you must roll 100-20=80, or 80 or less on the die. To raise the secondary stat, you must roll equal to 50-Stat value*5 or less on a 100-sided die. Thusly, if you have a stat of +4, you must roll 50-20=30, or 30 or less on the die.


After the stat increases are done, the character gains the following other improvements:

STA+1d6 additional max hit points (MAG+INT)/2+1d4 additional max mana points 3+1d3 additional max tech points (TP)


In order to raise a skill, the player must look at the skill's base attributes. If the new rank is less than the sum of the base attributes, the skill is automatically increased (by one rank). If not, roll a 6 sided die, and if the number rolled is greater than the difference between the two numbers, the increase attempt succeeds. Therefore, if Fire Magic is <Int/Wis/Mag>, and a character has a +2 Int, a +3 Wis, and 5 points in Magic, and is trying to increase Fire Magic from 4 to 5, no roll is necessary. However, if this player wants to increase their Weapons (Sword) skill, which is <Cou/Agi/Str>, and they have a +1 in each of Cou, Agi, and Str, and they are increasing the skill from rank 6 to rank to rank 7, he must roll a 3 or greater on a six sided die (6 ranks-3 base attribute sum=3).

New skills may also be learned, at rank 1, in the same manner as increasing old ones. No single skill may be increased more than 2 ranks per level, and skills which cost 1/2 point per rank are increased by 2 instead of 1 on a successful increase.

Now that you've created your character and have a set of numbers for them, it's time to move on and see how we can use these numbers in an actual game!