While there are many things I love about the D20 system, there are some things I don't like.

While I have been working on my own complete system, I've found little interest in trying completely new systems, so I thought I'd see if anyone would like to work with me on modding the D20 system to fix some things I don't like, such as removing classes.

While I have a list of things I'd like to do with this mod, part of getting others to help out is to determine what to fix and what to leave alone. There are three things I must insist on however, making it classless, making more explicit boundaries and expectations of the tiers (gritty fantasy/natural tier, superhero fantasy/demigod tier, etc), and making magic more skillful/chancy (hard to explain what I want here in a single sentence).

There are numerous tiny, and not so tiny, things I'd like to change but those are all open to being dropped based on everyone elses opinions.

So is there any interest in this? If so I'll make a "game" to discuss and work the project.

I'd love to help work on this. My schedule is heavy right now, so I won't be a constant daily contributor. Some weeks I may not have anything to post.

That said, I will say my understanding of d20 (D&D, PF, and some Spycraft) is that you need levels. That's probably the only thing I'd say that if you took away, I couldn't really add much, as it would take direction I wouldn't know how to still make "d20".

My core idea would be to have interlocking trees of skills/abilities/and core concepts, which I will collectively be refer to as "articles".. You'd still have levels but your level would not be devoted among different categories, but just a facet of how the math works (Con to HP, max ranks, etc...).

You might have certain features that only open when you're a certain level.

Dead levels would be eradicated by having non-linear trees. There would be multiple ways to get an article. You'd want to have similar themes, such as all flight, or all teleportation set to a single node on the tree. That way you're not looking at unmanageable orders of magnitude when filling this out.

It will be an endeavor I have some experience with, as I've worked on my own d20 version homebrew. It's also one that will involve intense amounts of work and time. It will likely take more than year to just get the foundation or frame for the system before you can insert the fine details.

Let me know if you open a discussion board. Like I said, I won't be a key contributor, but as I also said, I've had some time working on my homebrew d20.

I would still have levels, but gaining levels wouldn't be the only way to advance, making it easier to start at and/or focus on a particular tier of play. Also solves the dead level problem.

Some of the other things I want to discuss changes to are,
-Armor and health
-DCs/saves vs skills, particularly spell and ability save DCs.
-Better acknowledgement and representation of materials, sundering, etc
-balance magic vs martial to allow magic to be used constantly, aka, don't balance magic by limiting it's uses over time.
-add more in depth tech rules
-ship, airship, and spaceship rules
-mass combat, particularly how the party can affect the outcome

There is a setting of mine that has high magic and uses it in a scifi-ish way, hence the last four.

I'm totally game to help with this. I think a classless D20 system would be great. Coming up with a unifying mechanic for ease of play/running would be a good first goal. The D20 systems biggest flaw is that at low levels the dice have a bigger effect on the outcome of your rolls, while at higher levels when modifiers get larger the outcomes become significantly less random. D&D 5th edition solved this problem with static proficiency bonuses and the Advantage mechanic (Bounded accuracy) and Mutants and Masterminds did it by making the system effects-based with a character point system, while Star Wars Saga and True20 rely on a skill/powers check system. I'd recommend having a look at what some of the many variants on the D20 system have done already to get an idea of the ways you can change the core D20 mechanic to fit your needs.
This message was last edited by the user at 13:36, Tue 10 May 2016.

All of that will certainly be discussed if this goes through, but I think I give through the weekend to decide whether to actively pursue this.

I have indeed looked at other d20 based systems.

I figure I'll reuse a game that never got off the ground rather than make a new one.

Linky,
link to another game

A d20 with no classes? Have you looked at Mutants & Masterminds 2e?

Or Eclipse: The Codex Persona?

I've seen mnm, only have glanced at the srd so far, but it is high on my investigation list.

I know nothing of eclipse however. Don't even know where to find out more.

I have played a half dozen wildly different systems, and read through dozens more.

At the risk of sounding an apple, google it? It's available as a free shareware download.

link to another game

The game link is up, and it is encouraged for visitors to drop msgs with feedback too.