The D&D system is very linear, one level leads to another and once you choose a progression tree, it is difficult to change your direction and it would hurt your character. Exalted, on the other hand, does not share these restrictions, but there are no rigid career choices.
My idea is that using a frame work where the characters are free to grow many areas but have career skills that are easier for them to advance. Twenty-five skills ranging from combat to oration to knowledge and technical like skills. Basic attributes, physical, mental and social added to the skill level gets a dice pool. The dice have ten sides and these dice are rolled with dice showing a number value of 6-10 count as a success and go towards the difficulty do the skill roll. Just like in an Exalted game.
But the maximum dice pool would be ten, five skill and five attribute dice. Unless they specialize. To specialize they must reduce a skill level by one to increase a specific aspect of that skill by two. Example, soldier dude can use any melee weapon well, four dice, but if he should want to spend more time concentrating on the Sword, he would lower his melee skill by one to three, but increase his sword to two. If his Speed was four, then his Melee would be 7 (3+4) but his Melee-Sword would be 9 (3+2+4). Theoretically you could reduce the skill by more, but never below a skill of one. But the skill maximum has also been reduced so soldier dude, would ultimately have a maximum skill of five minus specialty level. So soldier dude could have a specialty rating of four in sword but that would mean that he would next to useless with a club or an axe. There are times that soldier dude might need to use other weapons, like in a duel where swords are not used. And you can only specialize in one thing with every skill. It would be possible to unspecialize for a cost.
Magic, every character could use magic, but magic would be different for different character types. Every character can invest in magic but does not have to, because magic is expensive, prohibitively so. And advancement in magic is also expensive, every level of magic allows you to use more magic but only in skills that you have specialties in. Example cleric boy is a trained healer and he has medicine skill of two and a specialty in magic of three. He can, at a basic level, heal three health at a cost of one magic point until he runs out of magic points. If he reduced increased his medicine magic to five he could heal five health points for one magic point, but would not be able to treat anyone without magic. The cost of spells could be something like this, heal and set bones 1mp, heal disease 2mp, reattach limbs 3mp, regenerate limbs 4mp, true heal 5mp. Or the reverse. Magic points are based on the level of magic trait. Something expensive to learn, so that the magic practitioner who wants to max out his magic potential could not afford to train in other skills. But a character that wished to minimize magical learning and increase their skill base instead. A Bard character might specialize in oration type skills magically at a low level, a specialty of presence magic of only one allowing bard to awe audiences, possibly performance magic of one that is a song that strengthens listeners resolve in battle and medicine magic of one and a whole bunch of low level types of magic based around Bard magic, but all low level and no chance of mundane excellence. Soldier dude could be a much better with the sword than the Bard, 12 dice verses 9 dice with swords and it is unlikely a bard would have five Speed, so less than 9 dice.
Cost of skills first dot costs 2xp, second costs 4xp, third costs 8xp, fourth 16xp and fifth 32xp. Specialties cost 2xp for the first dot, 4xp for the second, 6xp for the third, 8xp for the fourth and 10xp for the fifth. So, if someone were to want to get a skill up to five specialty it would cost 92xp. But soldier dude with melee-sword of one and melee of four would cost him 64xp. Except, soldier dude gets a break on fighting skills of half. Soldier dude chooses to max out his fighting skills, archery, martial arts, melee, throwing and war would cost him 155xp but would only be just a war fighter and would be not able to sneak up on an enemy, could not survive in the woods. Lone warrior could have melee, archery, athletics, survival and endurance. Cleric boy could have skill of one and skill-magic of four in three skills, all at half cost or 41xp each, for 123xp.
Magic power would be expensive, costing ten times the cost of a skill and only clerics and wizards would get magic power at half price. Magic points are equal to willpower times Magic Power. Willpower is what you would use to resist magic and influences. For magic one must roll your willpower and get more successes than the skill-magic rating of the caster. Magic points can be used like willpower to get on automatic success as well. Magic points recharge at a rate equal to magic power per hour.
Wizards learn two or more elemental skill-magic, but at least two. There is not an applicable skill so each skill point is a specialty, so each dot costs 4, 8, 14, 24 and 42 experience respectfully for each dot but for two at half cost. Fire, water, air, earth, life, death etc. which can be used on their own, and mixed together. Wizards can learn two elements and a skill-magic, or three elemental types that are not in opposition. A wizard can learn additional elements at the regular cost unless they are in opposition to a skill already known, then they cost double. Other classes can learn wizard skills, but need to have magic power first.
Soldier dude after maxing out his soldier skills, decides that having his weapons bursting on fire in battle would aid him a lot. It costs him additionally to his other skills 20xp for his first magic power point and 4xp for fire-magic and he can ignite his sword for one attack combo for 1mp.
The elements are not like other skills, life is not healing and death is not hurting, rather life is controlling living things and death would be like controlling dead things. Fire is in opposition to water, air and earth, life and death. Elemental magic can be combined to do different things and elemental magic can be combined with other skill magic. Opposition elements can be combined as well and because they are in opposition they are all the cooler, steam magic, ooze magic, animation magic
In the story, there is no real difference between the types of magic, only the philosophies of them. Clerics can learn one element as a favored skill, but only one. Wizards are knowledge attribute primary, while Clerics are social attribute primary.
Different types of magic can be made from all sorts of combination, Warding magic would be based around language-magic specialty, while Enchanters would be based around craft-magic specialty
Having a system in my head helps me make the laws of the world, but also because I love to game and I have been creating different systems for years, around twenty years, using many different systems for years longer and role-playing for about thirty years.
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