Manual:House Rules & Changes

Most Persistent Worlds have a set of house rules that includes the maximum level a character, what happens when your character dies, and so forth. Considering the massive amount of changes we have made to game-play and the alternative idea behind the game, there are quite a few things to take into account. If you don't want to read the entire manual, at least read this page as it contains the rules, as well as general guidelines to play in the PW. Needless to say, the PW is hosted in the Role Play section, so Role-Playing is mandatory. This also means that there should be no OOC transference of items, knowledge of spells, recipes, etc.

ESV: Manual
Introduction House Rules & Changes
Character Creation Race / Region Characteristics Occupations Skills Abilities Death
Lore - Starter's Guide Regions (Map) Arkham Innsmouth King's Port Borvoria Cobbler Region Gorstein Kingdom Factions City Watch Inquisition Military Legion Mad Science Arcanism Alchemy Paranormalism Supernatural Occultism Etching Crafting Weapons Tools Armour Tinkering Engineering
Mythos Lore
Guides Example Characters

General Role-Playing Rules

• OOC harassment is not tolerated in any way or form.
• Death is serious business and usually does not go unpunished. Although players are free to attack other players for the right RP reasons, they should also take the possible consequences in to account. Murderers will be hunted by The Watch, The Inquisition and occasionally The Military alike. Newly created characters are not necessarily easy pickings.
• IC insanity is an excuse for your character to behave abnormally. OOC insanity isn't.
• Meta gaming, even if it cannot be proven, is frowned upon.
• Report possible exploits, bugs, etc.
• Moderate amounts of ridiculousness will be tolerated. We have Magic.
• Ignorance is bliss. Except when the rules are involved.
• Last but not least: use common sense.

See Character Creation for naming restrictions, info on alignment, etc.

Game Mechanics - Player Characters

ESV does not use the conventional d20 rules provided with Neverwinter Nights 2. Instead a set of scripts have been put in place that override the original rules so that the game makes use of the BRP (Basic Role-Playing) System.

BRP uses a core set of attributes similar to the those in the d20 system, namely Size [SIZ], Strength [STR], Dexterity [DEX], Constitution [CON], Intelligence [INT], Power [POW], and Appearance [APP]. Hit points are based on the average of Size and Constitution and are functionally stable for the life of the character. Skills, using a d100, rather than a d20, are used to simulate the way that people learn skills. Experience points are replaced by an experience check, rolling higher than your current skill on a d100.

Another major element of many BRP games is that there is no difference between the player character race systems and that of the monsters or opponents. This makes it much easier to access other 'races' without having to change character files out-of-game.

Call of Cthulhu adds two extra characteristics, namely Education [EDU] which grants knowledge checks and additional skill points and Sanity [SAN] which determines a character's mental stability.

Game Mechanics - Skills and Combat

Since skills work on a d100 scale, they are considered percentages. Basically, this means that if you have a certain skill at 38, you have a 38% chance of successfully using that skill.

Combat works as per BRP rules, however there is one minor exception. Numbers for combat skills are rounded to fives. A sword skill of 67 is reduced to 65%. There is no valid reason for this change, other then engine limitations. After all, this is a mod and not a full blown independent game.

Another change is the global 'dodge' skill used in BRP. Rather then throwing a dodge check at the DM's request, a character will be able to fight in four different stances or styles, similar to the combat modes the original game provides.

• Dodge Stance: The character uses their dodge skill, receiving a higher chance to dodge incoming attacks at the expense of accuracy.
• Defensive Stance: Used when having a shield or an offhand item equipped. It is most effective in terms of defense, but, since you absorb attacks rather then deflect them, your shield or defensive item will suffer much deterioration. Having larger shields equipped will also reduce your movement speed.
• Fencing Stance: You attempt to attack with swift though less accurate blows while deflecting incoming attacks using the parry skill. Successfully parrying an attack provides you with a counter-attack.
• Offensive Stance: You put extra strength into your blows, not only attacking the target but their weapons as well. Using the Sunder skill, you have a chance of breaking your opponents weapons more easily. These attacks are reckless and open so you become easier hit.

Martial artists, though not yet integrated into the system will have their own set of fighting styles and as you play the game you can improve in skill and unlock other special combat abilities.