I know this exact thread has popped up a few times, but they never really seem to get anything done so I figure I'll try my luck.
I've been thinking about working on a Hunter x Hunter system for a while, but it's a hell of a beast to tackle.
I guess I'm looking for any sort of advice, especially with nen abilities. At a base level I think it's necessary for the combat system to function with or without nen, since I imagine the characters spending the first bits of the game unaware of nen. The problem is I have trouble imaging a way to append nen onto normal combat without making it too clunky, or simplifying it too much.
The abilities themselves present a much bigger challenge. Balance is of course an issue. Building the abilities in a way such that they can evolve over time is as well, and finally the abilities need to be able to feel mechanically interesting.
So uh, once again. Looking for any sorts of advice. Especially appreciate references to existing systems that handle unique, player created abilities well, or at all really as I know of none.
Really you'd be best off making your own Find a rolling system that you like, ask people for skills, if they seem too OP say no, if they might be OP say "We'll see, I reserve the right to take it away or change it at a moment's notice." I've never seen/read/whatever hunter x hunter so I don't know specifics
Evan Wood
I'd say check out Hero and Mutants&Masterminds to see how they do effects/powers.
For HxH you probably want to mount it on some kind of a curve bell roll systems with pretty lethal combat, but with possibility of characters going into Action Hero levels of badassary even without Nen - 3d6+X or just Xd6 (see WEG d6).
And then on top of this basic system you add Nen abilities. Make sure that the power cost scales non-linearly to make sure that it is very hard to get a really powerful Nen ability without paying in experience points of drawbacks. Something like 1-5-10-20-50-100 progression should be ok. Though depending on the die rolls used you may be good with simple 1-3-6-10-15-21-28-36-45 progression.
So, for example to get a level 4 Nen ability you need to invest 20/10 points in it or to add a similar amount of drawbacks to it. This way high level abilities will always have some heavy restrictions to be able to work at all.
Zachary Nelson
I feel like this is probably a joke. Pathfinder is too structured. The goal is to create a system that handles extremely unique powers.
This seems cool as heck, gunna look into it once I've had some sleep.
Hunter x Hunter sort of has its own in universe rules for creating abilities. You can build certain restricions or costs into the ability in exchange for making it stronger, so a player could make an outrageously powerful skill as long as it has enough restrictions and so forth.
So, I suppose the trouble with balance comes down to creating a comprehensive enough outline to make it possible to rank any skill a player could come up with in terms of power, and determine what sorts of restrictions they'd need to put on it.
Jacob Nguyen
I'd more like to cultivate the feeling of the characters nen powers evolving slowly over time.
Instead of getting a higher level power I imagine the strength of a character's aura growing steadily with advancement, and they would spend experience points to unlock new facets of their ability.
I sort of imagine dark heresy style progression tables. One set of table for a characters mundane sort of profession(in broad categories of course) as well as tables for each type of nen ability. Characters could buy into other tables at higher experience costs.
Juan Nguyen
GURPS Lensman, seriously.
It's the only level of power that can cope with this weirdness.
Andrew Foster
Well aura does scale with time for characters in HxH, but powerful abilities with complex setups are also a prominent part. They do put characters at risk but they also allow them to punch above their weight. If not for those abilities fights would be much shorter and more one sided.
Landon Johnson
Is nen basically just ki? Can you use nen to boost your regular punch, block and dodge?
Luis Richardson
Yes. There's an entire class of users that get the best results from using nen to just do that .
Levi Nelson
It's close to ki, but somewhat different. There are 5 main types of Nen - Manipulation, Emission, Enhancement, Transmutation and Conjuration. Each person has one type as their main and needs more effort to use and learn other types. Sometimes much more effort.
Some people also could have unique Nen types but you still need to learn and train them so it's not exactly a super power compared to others. Though it could allow you to surprise your enemies.
It's reminiscent to me to the essence of Exalted. You can use "motes", the measure of Essence, to enhance yourself at a basic level. For exemple, let's say you have dexterity 2 and Brawler 2, a professional mortal level of dex and brw. You would roll 4 dice with a target number of 7. But, if this mortal could use Essence, he could use [attribute+ability]/2 motes to add 2 dice per mote to the attack. In this case, use 2 motes of essence to roll 8 dice in total, this would be quite a cut above the regular mortal attack. You could also Essence to enhance your attributes directly, for exemple using 2 motes to gain another point of dexterity, same formula, so 4 motes to get up to 4 dexterity. I think this would cover the Enchancers pretty well.
James Phillips
I am thinking in using open d6 for HXH
also i was thinking in using the mystics from runequest for a more detailed system where you can add %nen to body parts
Landon Perez
It close in some effects but the underlying mechanics are different. Nen is a part of a person, not some outside energy. So you don't spend motes. the only way to spend your aura is to detach it and make a construct out of it (Emission could do something like this) - it would temporary lower your available power until you reattach it.
Enhancers most of the time do not invest anything. They have no need. They just use a general enhancement of their physical attributes. Uvogin for example for all of the fight only once makes something that needs conscious effort on his part when he uses a super punch. Everything else is things he could do at any time.
Nen is more like having X points and dividing them between currently active abilities. So during fight a character juggles the points to activate different abilities but doesn't actually spends them permanently.
Michael Lewis
Just download Space, Adventure and Fantasy free supplements for D6 - they have power/spell building. Nothing stops you from modifying it to Nen.
Tyler Lewis
Aye, you can do that too. You can Commit the motes. That means that, say you have 20 motes total, you could commit those 4 motes to your dexterity instead of spending them reflexively when you want to enhance an action. That would essentially make your pool of free motes 16, for you to maneuver around, an you could release the 4 and put them somewhere else too also, but I imagine how much Nen you can shift around in your commitments in a turn would be governed by a Ko/Ken/Ryu skill
Christopher Lewis
I wonder if it'd be necessary to split ko/ken/ryu and so on into differient skills, or just have a single skill for nen manipulation. I imagine skills like Ko and Ken could be used freely once learned, their potency governed by your aura strength.
Ryu would require a test a opposed to the opponents attack or martial arts skill or what have you when used for defense. For the offense side I might say it should just be incorperated into your attack roll.
Additionally I recall a few instances where characters just run out of available nen, but maybe it's usually just conditions associated with hatsu abilities?
Liam Davis
The thing with those types of nen specialization techniques is that they can become redundant and overlap thins like creating a stronger punch, because you know, the basic techniques already make you stronger
Thomas Powell
>Additionally I recall a few instances where characters just run out of available nen, but maybe it's usually just conditions associated with hatsu abilities? I think it's more conditions and exhaustion. While technically you can spend all your aura it seems to come together with people tiring the fuck out - distinction exists but most times it is not worth a mechanical representation. Though you could probably have it as a drawback to a power setup.
For Ko/Ken/Ryu if you base it on D6 I'd say you should make one skill - something like Aura Manipulation and just add 1D+ penalty to difficulty of any redistribution if the amount of aura moved is not 100%.
So for example if a character wants to strengthen his arm in time to parry a strike he would roll lowest of his Martial Arts (or whatever combat skill he uses) and Aura Manipulation. If he wants to use Ryu and move only part of the aura he will roll less dice.
Julian Walker
A nen control skill then? Applying penalties when applying nen to applications that on't fall under your natural nen type?
Isaac Torres
So was he using nen when he broke the neck of the man?
Cameron Brooks
My ability is called Booger Egg, it shares the abilities of both boogers and eggs
Sebastian Johnson
Try heroquest 2 It's flexible, has a positive cand do attitude is easy to GM and Play while still being crunchy and having depth. All that while it rewards creative creativity and good narration.
Used it for a Jojo game (which inspired Hunter x Hunter) and a game with wuxian tone. Awlways fun and intuitive.
also nen is just plot fore and the systemd doesn't make a lick of sense
Logan Scott
Also Herowuest already assumens that the PCs have some sort of innate magic with them. The advanced magic rules might not fit HxH but the basic "breakout abilities" from your magic attributes seems like a good fit.
It's also a system wher Narrative and Mechanics go hand in hand and the way you describe yourpower makes a difference. Shit i had people "break out" from their magic attributes (runes)
Talking with cows Sky slayer sword style Healing powers Shooting fire that burns liars swimming Flying
