Skills
Unlike all of my other games/mods, Warriors does not have ability scores. Instead, all rolls are determined by skills, which also work differently from other games. Each skill has a cap of 10 and a minimum of 0; more on how to determine them later. These skills are:
Agility
Courage
Diplomacy
Endurance
Intimidation
Knowledge: Geography
Knowledge: Herbs
Knowledge: History
Medicine
Stealth
Strength
Swimming
Tracking
Agility
Courage
Diplomacy
Endurance
Intimidation
Knowledge: Geography
Knowledge: Herbs
Knowledge: History
Medicine
Stealth
Strength
Swimming
Tracking
To determine skills:
At a young age, skills are largely determined by dice rolls. As cats get older, they get more and more choice in the matter as to how to assign their skills. In addition, the DM may award you with skill points as they see fit, for example, after repeated use of the skill, or one moment of pure genius (rolling a crit right as you really needed it and saving the she-cat in distress whilst killing a rabid dog with your eyes closed).
Here is how to gain skills by-the-book, without divine intervention:
Upon birth, gain d4 -2 (minimum 0) in all skills. (For knowledge based skills, this will represent aptitude or curiosity)
Upon beginning apprenticeship, gain d4 -1 skill points in all skills
Upon completing apprenticeship, gain half of your mentor's skill points in each skill (rounded down)
Example: Snowpaw has just finished apprenticeship learning under Brightwish. Brightwish has an Agility score of 6 and Courage of 9. Snowpaw thus gains 3 Agility and 4 Courage.
Upon elderhood, lose 1 from every skill except knowledge-based skills (minimum 0); gain d4 to Knowledge:History
When selected as a Medicine Cat Apprentice, gain 2 points in Knowledge based skills and Medicine and 1d4-3 (minimum 0) points in all other skills.
When completing Medicine Cat Apprenticeship and becoming a full Medicine Cat, same as completing warrior apprenticeship
When selected as Deputy, add a point to any one skill of your choice.
When accepted by StarClan as leader of your clan, add 2 to every skill, as well as other benefits listed under Clan Hierarchy.
Here is how to gain skills by-the-book, without divine intervention:
Upon birth, gain d4 -2 (minimum 0) in all skills. (For knowledge based skills, this will represent aptitude or curiosity)
Upon beginning apprenticeship, gain d4 -1 skill points in all skills
Upon completing apprenticeship, gain half of your mentor's skill points in each skill (rounded down)
Example: Snowpaw has just finished apprenticeship learning under Brightwish. Brightwish has an Agility score of 6 and Courage of 9. Snowpaw thus gains 3 Agility and 4 Courage.
Upon elderhood, lose 1 from every skill except knowledge-based skills (minimum 0); gain d4 to Knowledge:History
When selected as a Medicine Cat Apprentice, gain 2 points in Knowledge based skills and Medicine and 1d4-3 (minimum 0) points in all other skills.
When completing Medicine Cat Apprenticeship and becoming a full Medicine Cat, same as completing warrior apprenticeship
When selected as Deputy, add a point to any one skill of your choice.
When accepted by StarClan as leader of your clan, add 2 to every skill, as well as other benefits listed under Clan Hierarchy.
Critical Rolls
If you roll the highest possible number on a die (natural 8 on a d8, etc), you roll a Critical (or "Crit") and immediately succeed an action, usually with better than the expected result (up to the discretion of the DM).
If you roll a natural 1 during a skill roll, you roll a Critical Failure ("Crit Fail") and immediately fail the roll and are often punished by something really bad happening (also up to the DM).
You may notice that those using smaller die sizes are more prone to criticals, be it good or bad (if so, good for you!). I feel this makes sense, as younglings are far less predictable and have just as many amazing victories as hilarious failures. As they get older and more experienced, they tend to know exactly what they are doing, and slip up less-at the cost of less spectacular feats.
If you roll a natural 1 during a skill roll, you roll a Critical Failure ("Crit Fail") and immediately fail the roll and are often punished by something really bad happening (also up to the DM).
You may notice that those using smaller die sizes are more prone to criticals, be it good or bad (if so, good for you!). I feel this makes sense, as younglings are far less predictable and have just as many amazing victories as hilarious failures. As they get older and more experienced, they tend to know exactly what they are doing, and slip up less-at the cost of less spectacular feats.
Combat
What's this? No long, drawn-out "Combat" section that takes forever to explain? No breakdown of armour, weapons and inventory management? Why no indeed, as with Warriors, combat is simple, yet still enjoyable. It is designed to be quick, making each roll and every hit count. It, naturally, takes into account that warriors do not wear armour or use weapons (except that one time shut up), however are on more level ground. Nonetheless, it makes it so battles can be predictable. The experienced warrior will have no trouble at all dispatching a mangy apprentice, making players more wary when picking their fights. Death plays a huge role in the books, therefore cats are far more fragile than your standard adventuring D&D player, with an average of about 20 health points per warrior.
Combat is, essentially, a series of skill rolls. Cat A attacks cat B, and rolls a Strength check. Cat B then rolls Agility. Assuming Cat A's roll is higher than cat B's, the damage inflicted is the difference between the two rolls. This continues until a cat either flees or is incapacitated (down to 0 hit points). Say cat B is very wounded, and decides to run. Cat A isn't quite done, and tries to stop cat B. Both cats roll Agility. If cat B beats cat A's roll, it escapes. if Cat A wins, cat B not only cannot escape, but has lost its turn to attack.
Depending on the cat's health, it may suffer penalties to its rolls. More specifically, the damage you have taken divided by half your Endurance skill is your penalty for all rolls-combat or no combat. This may sound complicated to those new to roleplaying games, but trust me, it's easy to get the hang of things like this. Say Cat A, who has an Endurance of 6, attacks cat B. Cat A has already taken 13 damage during this fight, so he is pretty winded. His penalty is equal to
[damage taken/(endurance/2)], so [13/(6/2)], which equals 6. From now until cat A heals, he takes a penalty of 6 to all rolls, in combat or not.
Combat is, essentially, a series of skill rolls. Cat A attacks cat B, and rolls a Strength check. Cat B then rolls Agility. Assuming Cat A's roll is higher than cat B's, the damage inflicted is the difference between the two rolls. This continues until a cat either flees or is incapacitated (down to 0 hit points). Say cat B is very wounded, and decides to run. Cat A isn't quite done, and tries to stop cat B. Both cats roll Agility. If cat B beats cat A's roll, it escapes. if Cat A wins, cat B not only cannot escape, but has lost its turn to attack.
Depending on the cat's health, it may suffer penalties to its rolls. More specifically, the damage you have taken divided by half your Endurance skill is your penalty for all rolls-combat or no combat. This may sound complicated to those new to roleplaying games, but trust me, it's easy to get the hang of things like this. Say Cat A, who has an Endurance of 6, attacks cat B. Cat A has already taken 13 damage during this fight, so he is pretty winded. His penalty is equal to
[damage taken/(endurance/2)], so [13/(6/2)], which equals 6. From now until cat A heals, he takes a penalty of 6 to all rolls, in combat or not.
Quick note on mathing
You may have noticed that I have been putting [ ] symbols around all of my math equations. For those who don't know (I don't blame you), that means "rounded down". If at any time during this game or several other roleplaying games, if you are faced with a decimal or fraction number, always round down, unless told otherwise.