Anima, HAD, Heroes Against Darkness, Spells

Remaking Magic: Scaling Spells

In previous posts in this series I’ve listed a few examples of spells with X costs in Heroes Against Darkness, but costed scaling isn’t just limited to damage and bonuses or penalties, it also encompasses other areas like healing, manifestation, and animation.

Let’s look at some examples that demonstrate how scaling works for healing.  Healing Flash has no scaling:

Healing Flash (1 Anima)

Casting Time Move action
Spell Effect Heal Magic bonus HP.
Target Single target
Attack Magic vs. MD
Range Touch or self

Healing Touch has simple scaling, with each anima worth one dice of healing:

Healing Touch (X Anima)

Cost 1 anima per dice of healing.
Spell Effect Heal Xd6 + Magic bonus HP.
Target Single target
Range Touch or self

Finally, Healing Burst has heals all allies close to the caster, but the cost of the healing is 2 anima per dice of healing:

Healing Burst
(3 Anima + X Anima)

Cost 3 anima + 2 anima per dice of healing.
Spell Effect Heal Xd6 + Magic bonus HP.
Target All allies in effect area
Attack Magic vs. MD
Range Radius 5′ per ½ Level from you

Looking at spells that cause physical manifestations, these use additional X costs in different ways.  For example, Wall of Ice requires 1 anima for each 2 pillars in the wall:

Wall of Ice
(1 Anima + X Anima)

Cost 1 anima + 1 anima per 2 pillars of ice.
Spell Effect You create a contiguous wall of ice made up of individual pillars (5′ x 5′, 10′ tall).
Two pillars are created for each X anima spent.
Corporeal creatures cannot move through the pillars or diagonally between them.
No pillar can be created in an occupied position.
Each pillar has 10 HP + 10 HP per ½ Level.
Duration 1 rnd + 1 rnd per level
Range 10′ + 10′ per level

Whereas Fire Spirit uses the scaling cost to determine how powerful the summoned spirit is:

Fire Spirit
(6 Anima + X Anima)

Cost 6 anima + 1 anima per dice of damage, +5 HP and +1 to Defenses
Spell Effect Conjures a fire spirit that engages in melee combat.
Effect Details Fire spirit appears adjacent to you and occupies 5′ x 5′.
You can use your move action to control the fire spirit’s actions (major and move). The fire spirit will continue to attack its target without intervention.
The fire spirit’s Movement Speed is your Magic bonus.
Fire spirit cannot move out of spell range.
Fire spirit melee attacks target with your Magic bonus vs. target’s AD.
Fire spirit deals Xd6 + your Magic bonus damage on hit.
Fire spirit has 10 HP + 5 HP per X, Defenses of 15 + X.
Duration 1 rnd + 1 rnd per level
Range 10′ + 10′ per level

By way of comparison, let’s take a look at the Heroes Against Darkness version of Fireball (Level 5 warlock) and the D&D version (Level 3 spell, usable by a 5th level wizard or sorcerer) of same:

Fireball
(5 Anima + X Anima)

Cost 5 anima + 1 anima per dice of damage.
Target(s) All targets in effect area
Attack Magic vs. ED
Damage Xd8 + Magic bonus
Range 10′ + 10′ per level
Effect Area Radius 5′ + 5′ per ½ Level
Miss Effect Magic bonus damage

D&D Fireball

Target(s) All targets in effect area
Saving Throw Reflex save for half damage
Damage 1d6 per level (max 10d6)
Range 400′ + 40′ per level
Effect Area 20′ radius

So there are some swings and roundabouts here, the Heroes Against Darkness version slowly scales in radius with the caster’s ½ Level bonus, whereas the D&D Fireball has a much longer range.  The biggest difference is that the D&D version scales damage for free, and even when it misses it deals half damage.  This means that every time a D&D caster gains a level, this spell becomes relatively cheaper and also more powerful!

When a D&D caster first gets Fireball, it deals 5d6 damage, whereas when the Heroes warlock gets the spell they can only spend 6 anima to deal 1d8 damage to all targets in a 15′ radius.  For a Level 6 warlock, it deals an average of 13.5 + Magic bonus damage on a hit and 9 damage on a miss.  If you hit 5 targets with Fireball, then it’ll deal about 110 damage for your 6 anima, which is a reasonable return.  At Level 10, the warlock can put 11 anima into the spell, giving it 6d8 damage + Magic bonus (28 + 14) with a radius of 30′.  Now, that sounds like a ton of damage (and it is), but keep in mind that at this level the warlock probably has only 18 anima before they have to use their blood anima (or Rally).

And in case you’re wondering, the base cost of Fireball comes from these components; it attacks ED (+1 anima), 10’+10′ range (+1 anima), radius 5’+5′ (+2 anima), Magic bonus miss damage (+1 anima).

The D&D Fireball at 5th level deals on average 17.5 damage on a hit and 8 on a miss.  At 10th level, the same spell deals an average of 35 damage on a hit, and 17 damage on a miss.  This is slightly less damage than a fully-powered Heroes Against Darkness Fireball, but by level 10 a D&D wizard or sorcerer will be able to cast three such fireballs, plus several level 4 spells and a level 5 spell.

Check out Heroes Against Darkness over at the downloads page: Heroes Against Darkness – Game Rules.

Anima, HAD, Heroes Against Darkness, Mechanics, Spells

Remaking Magic: No Redundant Spells

In this entry in the Remaking Magic series, we take a look at the steps taken to ensure that no spell gets left behind.

The side-effect of changing most spells to have scaling X is that they never become redundant as the character gains levels.  In the previous examples, Burning Touch and Burning Ray, the spells are just as useful at Level 10 as they are at Level 1.  As the caster’s level increases, they can put more anima into the X component of the spell, and make them a lot more powerful based on the circumstances they find themselves in.

Wherever possible the spells in Heroes Against Darkness avoid fixed bonuses or penalties and instead offer the player the choice of how much anima they want to expend on each spell.  Now, nothing in the world is perfect, so here are some spells that do have fixed effects or scale without costs.

First, Befriend offers a slightly scaling bonus to Charisma tests:

Befriend (1 Anima)

Spell Effect Add Magic bonus to Charisma ability tests (Cha).
Target Single target
Attack Magic vs. MD
Duration 1 hr + 1 hr per level
Range 5′

Second, Tremble is another example. This is one of a number of spell variants that have large penalties but only over a short single-turn duration.

Tremble (2 Anima)

Spell Effect Decrease target’s Ranged bonus by your Magic bonus.
Target Single target
Attack Magic vs. MD
Duration End of target’s next turn
Range 10′ + 10′ per level

Interestingly, Tremble has a sister spell called Quake, which does scale but doesn’t actually make it redundant:

Quake (X Anima)

Cost 1 anima for each -1.
Spell Effect Decrease target’s Ranged bonus by X.
Target Single target
Attack Magic vs. MD
Duration 1 rnd + 1 rnd per level
Range 10′ + 10′ per level

In the case of Tremble and Quake, Tremble offers a large penalty in the short term, while Quake offers directly-costed penalties over a longer duration.

The use of X costs for a large number of the spells in Heroes Against Darkness means that players have genuine choices in how they use their anima and which spells they use in the process.

Check out Heroes Against Darkness over at the downloads page: Heroes Against Darkness – Game Rules.

Anima, DnD, Dungeons and Dragons, HAD, Heroes Against Darkness, Magic, Mechanics, Spells

Remaking Magic: Balance

Heroes Against Darkness employs a number of techniques to keep magi relatively balanced against the martial classes.

First, the combination of the total pool of anima that magi have (5 + Magic Bonus) plus the speed with which they can spend their anima (Level + 1 anima per turn) limits the speed with which they can deal damage and their total potential amount of spell damage.

Rule:  Maximum anima points is 5 + Wisdom bonus.
Rule:  Magi spend anima points to cast spells.
Rule:  All spells have an anima points cost.
Rule:  Variable anima cost spells must have at least 1 anima spent on the variable X component.
Rule:  Magi cannot spend more than Level + 1 anima points in a single turn.

Second, not all magi are focused on dealing direct damage.  The warlock, which is the primary damage-dealing magi class, can deal 1d8 damage per anima.  Necromancers also deal 1d8 damage per anima, but they have less flexibility in the range of damage dealing spells.  Canonates’ divine magic only deals 1d6 damage per anima against normal enemies, but this increases to 1d10 against undead.  Furthermore, each time that a spell has some additional component (such as range, targeting non-Armor Defenses, effect area, miss damage, duration) then these components are specifically included in the cost of the spell.  Let’s take a look at some examples of magi’s direct damage spells.

The Burning Touch spell allows a brave warlock to deal the highest possible damage:

Burning Touch (X Anima)

Cost 1 anima per dice of damage.
Target Single target
Attack Magic vs.  AD
Damage Xd8 + Magic Bonus
Range Touch

The added range component of Burning Ray means that the warlock has to spend 1 anima to not get whacked in the head with a sword:

Burning Ray
(1 Anima + X Anima)

Cost 1 anima + 1 anima per dice of damage.
Target Single target
Attack Magic vs.  AD
Damage Xd8 + Magic Bonus
Range 10’+10′ per level

The electrical nature of Shocking Ray means that it is cast against the target’s Evasion defense, rather than their Armor defense, with +1 anima for the non-Armor defense and another +1 anima for the ranged attack:

Shocking Ray
(2 Anima + X Anima)

Cost 2 anima + 1 anima per dice of damage.
Target Single target
Attack Magic vs.  ED
Damage Xd8 + Magic Bonus
Range 10’+10′ per level

Finally, martial characters are not limited to a single weapon damage increment, rather their weapon damage increases as they gain levels.

Melee Attack

Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee vs.  AD
Damage
Level 4:
Level 8:
Level 12:		 Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

All of these factors interact in complicated ways, but the general result is that magi can deal damage faster than martial classes in the short term, but in doing so they deplete their anima and soon have to Rally or use blood anima.  Martial classes can deal a slightly lower amount of damage with each hit but over an extended duration, making them the backbone of any party in longer fights. Ultimately this means that magi can have a big impact early in a balanced encounter, but they can’t win it single-handedly.

Check out Heroes Against Darkness over at the downloads page: Heroes Against Darkness – Game Rules.

Anima, DnD, Dungeons and Dragons, HAD, Heroes Against Darkness, Magic, Mechanics, Spells

Remaking Magic

Let’s get this out of the way: I strongly dislike Vancian magic.

When I started work on Heroes Against Darkness we’d just finished playing a long 4th Edition campaign followed by a shorter Basic D&D campaign.  The switch from 4th Edition to Basic was caused by a general dissatisfaction with 4th Edition (don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hater) and frustration with the final module that we played (Pyramid of Shadows).  The experience of playing some Basic reminded me of why I stopped playing that edition all those years ago:

•  Class as race
•  Spell level != character level
•  Slow non-magical healing
•  Clerics get no spells at 1st level, but elves get one?!?
•  Arbitrary lists of armor and weapons for magic-users and clerics
•  Tables (to hit), tables (saving throws), tables (thieves skills), and more tables (every damned ability score has a different one)!

Now I could whine about Basic all day, but at the time it was state of the art.  Things have moved on since then, with a lot of mechanical improvements, simplification and consolidation of separate sub-systems, and better scaling for all systems.

Sadly, one of the areas where things haven’t moved on in D&D-land (at least until recently) has been the magic systems.  Until 4th Edition folded martial and spell powers into the AEDU powers system (At-Will, Encounter, Daily, Utility), D&D had stuck with the same system of Vancian spell-casting, on top of which they layered various fixes to address specific and general issues (spell resistance, casting feats, spontaneous casting, various dalliances with psionics, etc).

It’s a relic of the past that should have been discarded from D&D shortly after it was introduced.  It doesn’t work particularly well on an intellectual, mechanical, or gameplay level.  Furthermore, it leads to the unfortunate (literal and figurative) explosion of spell-caster power as they advance in levels while the other classes are stuck with a more linear increase in power.  And if you’ve read some of my earlier posts, you’ll know that Vancian spell systems are a terrible waste of pages in game rule systems (compared to the amount of space dedicated to non-magic classes), occupying up to half of the total pages in some editions’ player’s guides (AD&D 2nd Edition and Pathfinder being the notable examples of this).

So when I decided to make my own system, the major area I wanted to rework was the magic system.  I began with the simple goal of implementing a magic system based on spell points (anima), and from there my goals evolved as I implemented the system and learned more and more about it in its evolution through playtesting.  Eventually my goals were:

•  Magi classes must be balanced against other classes
•  Spells shouldn’t become redundant
•  Spells shouldn’t scale without additional costs (Fireball)
•  Magi enhance other classes, not replace (Knock, Invisibility)
•  No magic can break the game or the GM’s narrative control (Fly, Overland Travel, Teleport, Scry)
•  No spells should have absolute effects (Finger of Death, Sleep)
•  Allow casters to deplete HP to cast spells (blood anima)
•  Just four pages of spells for each magi class

This was going to be one post, but it’s turned into a monster so I’ll cover each of these areas in separate posts, so stay tuned!

Check out Heroes Against Darkness over at the downloads page: Heroes Against Darkness – Game Rules.

Art, Classes, Combat, HAD, Heroes Against Darkness, Mechanics, Spells

+2 Is Easy

One of the goals for the classes in Heroes Against Darkness was that each of them should be easily able to gain +2 to their Attacks, whether it’s a melee attack, a ranged attack, or a spell attack.  The game’s combat powers are all based on class specialties, situational bonuses, or trade-offs, so each of the classes draws from these possibilities for their specific attack power that grants +2 to hit.

Heroes Against Darkness has an assumed hit chance of around 45% (hitting on a 12), based on the standard progression and monster stats, so the extra +2 on offer immediately switches this to 55% (hitting on a 10). Each of the classes gains this +2 in different ways, so let’s take a tour:

Warrior

Warriors have the most straightforward method of gaining their +2. The Careful Strike power allows warriors to trade off some damage (2 damage per damage tier), for +2 to attack:

Careful Strike

Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 4:
Level 8:
Level 12:		 Weapon + Melee – 2
2d Weapon + Melee –4
3d Weapon + Melee –6
4d Weapon + Melee –8

Barbarian

Unlike the warrior, barbarians don’t have a straightforward trade-off for +2. What they do have (which hopefully compensates) is the Reprisal Attack:

Reprisal Attack

Condition Target in melee range.
You’ve been hit by the target since your last turn.
Attack Melee + 4 vs. AD
Damage
Level 5:
Level 9:
Level 13:		 Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

As you can see, the barbarian has to take some damage to get a bonus, but he gets a whopping +4 for his troubles.

In keeping with the health theme of barbarians’ powers, at Level 2 they gain Fierce Attack, which is a flat +2 when they’re under 50% health:

Fierce Attack

Condition Target in melee range.
Your HP is under 50%.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 6:
Level 10:
Level 14:		 Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

If you’re a particularly brave player, you can easily score +4 once you reach Level 4 by keeping your barbarian under 25% health and using their Dire Attack:

Dire Attack

Condition Target in melee range.
Your HP is under 25%.
Attack Melee + 4 vs. AD
Damage
Level 8:
Level 12:
Level 16:		 Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

Berserker

Berserkers gain their simple +2 by attacking with their particular kind of wanton abandon that opens themselves up to counter-attack:

Reaching Attack

Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 3:
Level 7:
Level 11:		 Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee
Power Effect You take -2 to Defenses until the end of your next turn.

Rogue

In keeping with their crafty nature, rogues gain their +2 by using their Engaged Attack power against a distracted target. In this case the definition of distraction is that the target has itself been the target of an attack since the rogue’s last turn.

Engaged Attack

Condition Target in melee range.
Target engaged by another combatant.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 5:
Level 9:
Level 13:		 Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

Rogues also have a secondary +2 attack that kicks in once they’ve already hit their target:

Weakpoint Strike

Condition Target in melee range.
You’ve previously hit the target.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 6:
Level 10:
Level 14:		 Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

Hunter

Hunters, as skilful proponents of their ranged attacks, are able to trade off some potential damage to gain a simple +2 to their attacks by using their Pinpoint Shot power:

Pinpoint Shot

Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 4:
Level 8:
Level 12:		 Weapon + Melee – 2
2d Weapon + Melee –4
3d Weapon + Melee –6
4d Weapon + Melee –8

Hunters can also follow up a successful hit with an Arrow-Split Shot, just to rub some salt into the literal wound:

Arrow-Split Shot

Condition Target in melee range.
You hit target with a ranged attack last turn.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 4:
Level 8:
Level 12:		 Weapon + Melee
2d Weapon + Melee
3d Weapon + Melee
4d Weapon + Melee

Hospiter

Hospiters have two options for gaining their simple +2 to attack. First, they can rely on their martial weapons training to use a Careful Strike to pick out their target’s vulnerability:

Careful Strike

Condition Target in melee range.
Attack Melee + 2 vs. AD
Damage
Level 5:
Level 9:
Level 13:		 Weapon + Melee – 2
2d Weapon + Melee –4
3d Weapon + Melee –6
4d Weapon + Melee –8

Furthermore, hospiters also have access to the Empower spell, as shown below for all magi. These two powers can be combined to gain +4 to attack, but the cost is less damage and 1 anima. Of course, sometimes you’ve just gotta hit, so no price is too high!

Magi

Even though they don’t have a physical way of strengthening their attacks, magi and hybrid classes (warlock, canonate, healer, necromancer, mystic, and hospiter) have the Empower spell power that they can use in conjunction with their other spells to increase their chance of success:

Empower (1 Anima)

Casting Time Move action
Spell Effect Target gains +2 to next attack or ability roll.
Target Single target
Range 10’+10′ per level

Check out Heroes Against Darkness over at the downloads page: Heroes Against Darkness – Game Rules.

Classes, DnD, Dungeons and Dragons, HAD, Heroes Against Darkness, Mechanics, Powers, Rules

Nexus Edition

It’s no secret that Heroes Against Darkness is firmly rooted in the traditions and mechanics of all editions of D&D. When describing the game, I specifically refer to it as a ‘d20’ system because most of the mechanics in the game (attacks and ability tests) are much the same as those that were codified in D&D 3rd Edition.

But, I have a problem. And that problem is how to define how Heroes Against Darkness relates to D&D and how to describe the game. You see, Heroes Against Darkness has similarities with each of the different editions of D&D, but it also has differences with each edition (some fundamental), and it also extends outside of the traditional D&D feature-set.

Basic D&D

As a whole, Heroes Against Darkness is probably closest to Basic D&D. However, even though the game has the same simplicity of presentation as Basic, it really doesn’t share much in the way of mechanics, with just a few common elements:
• Simple character creation (no customizable feats or proficiencies).

Advanced D&D

The biggest similarity between Heroes Against Darkness and AD&D is:
• Separation of class and race.

D&D 3rd Edition

The 3rd edition of D&D was the first to unify the mechanics of the system so that the d20 was used for attacks and ability tests:
• Unified d20 mechanics for all sub-systems (combat, ability tests).
• Ascending Armor Class.
• Unified Experience Point progression for all classes.

D&D 4th Edition

D&D 4th Edition introduced a number of innovations that I also employ in Heroes Against Darkness:
• +1 per level progression of attacks is based on inherent underlying mechanics, rather than arbitrary tables.
• Defenses instead of saving throws.
• Codification of attack powers (instead of disparate feats and class features).

Conclusion

As you can see, Heroes Against Darkness borrows from both old and new editions of D&D. And alongside all of this commonality with D&D, the game’s entire magic system is more closely related to Magic: The Gathering, rather than D&D!

When I talk about the game, I am tempted to categorize the game as a retro-clone, because of its similarity to various earlier versions of D&D. But retro-clones are more closely based on the corresponding edition that they’re cloned from, and Heroes Against Darkness (happily) cannot point to a single earlier edition that it clones.

I also find it tempting to describe the game as rules-lite, because it does have comparatively few rules for such a fully-featured system. But rules-lite games, such as Dungeon World Hack, are often more abstract and have rulesets that fit in pamphlets, not in tomes.

Personally, I consider Heroes Against Darkness almost as a ‘reference’ system, much like Google make Nexus phones to display their OS in its purest form. Heroes Against Darkness is a nexus edition that takes elements from all of the other editions (and elsewhere) and combines these into one unified game system.

Check out Heroes Against Darkness over at the downloads page: Heroes Against Darkness – Game Rules.

DnD, Dungeons and Dragons, Hero Kids, Kids, Mechanics, Rules

D&D for Kids (Rules Included)!

I’ve developed the ideas here into a full RPG for kids called Hero Kids. Check it out here:
Hero Kids fantasy RPG for kids

My daughter Violet has been nagging me for ages to play D&D (referred to as ‘nerd games’ in our house), so when my Pathfinder Beginner Box arrived in the mail (I don’t plan on playing it, but I’m an obsessive completist and I love the monster stand-ups), I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to run a game for her.

Obviously a 4-year old can’t play actual D&D , so I set up a super-simple RPG for Violet. Keep in mind, this all happened in the 15 minutes before Violet had pinkie-promised to go to bed, so the game is simple and the materials were whatever I could grab quickly, which should explain the HP tokens we ended up using!

Materials

The game uses these materials:

• 1 dungeon map
• 1 hero
• 4 monsters
• 1 d10
• 1 d6
• 6 health tokens for the hero

The flipmat that comes in the Pathfinder Beginner Box is very nice, and I used the cavern side for the game:

Violet chose one of the characters from the various hero pawns in the Pathfinder Beginner Box:

I used just four goblins from the Pathfinder Beginner Box as baddies for the game:

And the d10 is for the hero’s attacks:

The d6 is for the monsters’ attacks:

Finally, this was the first thing that came to hand to use for the hero’s HP tokens:

Rules

Setup:
• Hero has 6 HP and rolls a d10 for movement and attacks.
• Monsters have 2 HP and roll a d6 for movement and attacks.
• Set up the hero at the entrance of the dungeon, and the four monsters along the route to the treasure (in this case the golden fountain in the middle of the flipmat)

Movement:
• Hero rolls d10 and moves that many squares.
• If a monster can see the character, it rolls d6 and moves that many squares.

Combat:
• If the hero and a monster are adjacent, they both roll their dice (d10 vs. d6) the highest roll wins and their opponent takes 1 HP damage.

Win/lose conditions:
• The hero wins the game when they reach the treasure.
• The monsters win when the hero is defeated.

Playing the Game

I started Violet’s hero at the top middle of the map, and then scattered the goblins along the route to the treasure (the golden fountain in the middle of the map). The first goblin was at the top of the stairs, the second in the room at the top left, the third in the big room on the left side and then the last goblin was in the corridor near the treasure.

Each turn, she rolled her d10 and then moved her character that many squares (with some help). If a monster was nearby, I rolled a d6 for the monster and moved it towards her hero.

When the monster and the hero were adjacent, we both rolled our dice and the highest roll ‘won’, with the loser taking 1 HP damage. When Violet’s hero took damage, I ate one of the six BBQ Shapes tokens that I had lined up for her health (bwahahaha!). When the monsters took damage, we just remembered it and then killed them the next time they took another hit.

The combination of the 2 HP for the monsters, 6 HP for the hero, and the d6 and d10 all worked pretty well, because Violet’s hero reached the treasure with just 2 HP left!

What Did We Learn

• Counting (for movement)
• Comparing (for the opposed attack rolls)
• Remembering (for the monsters having 2 HP)

Possible Advanced Rules

• There’s no difference if the hero reaches the monster first or the monster reaches the hero first, so maybe whoever moves adjacent gets either a free opposed attack or a bonus to their first opposed attack.
• This is balanced for only a small number of ‘encounters’, so there could be healing potions in side rooms, or the hero could regain 1 HP after each combat.

HAD, Heroes Against Darkness

Overview of Heroes Against Darkness

Imagine an ancient world torn apart by primal powers. A place where magic runs through all living things and erupts from the minds of powerful magi, where humans, elves, dwarves and orcs walk the same earth, where ancient gods fight side-by-side with mortals in an endless battle between order and chaos.

Adventure is everywhere. This is the world of Heroes Against Darkness.

Heroes Against Darkness is a free, fast, flexible, and fully-featured fantasy d20 RPG system. The game is quick to learn and play, while offering progressively greater options and flexibility as players develop their characters and explore the breadth and depth of the system.

For Players:
• A game that’s fast, fun and deep
• Streamlined rules system using unified mechanics
• Eleven character classes for all play-styles
• Three martial classes: Warrior, barbarian, berserker
• Two specialist classes: Rogue, hunter
• One hybrid class that combines magic and martial: Hospiter
• Five magi classes: Warlock, healer, canonate, necromancer, mystic
• Extensive character background and skill options
• Fast character building with plenty of depth
• Martial and specialist classes get meaningful combat choices through class-specific techniques that are based on trade-offs and the unique capabilities of each class
• Anima points-based magic system with five main schools focusing on each of the following; physical, healing, protection, necrotic and controlling

For GMs:
• A system that’s easy for the GM to set up and run
• Intuitive and clear rules
• Set up unique combat encounters in minutes
• A simple ability test system for non-combat challenges
• Support for long-term campaign play
• Extensive GM’s Guide to help run the game
• Huge bestiary with over 80 monsters
• A framework for quickly making custom monsters
• A comprehensive world-building guide
• Appendix of key tables for GMs

Check out Heroes Against Darkness over at the downloads page: Heroes Against Darkness – Game Rules.