Anime 5E Preview: Character Advancement
over 3 years ago – Tue, Apr 13, 2021 at 05:13:37 PM

Whether you’ve been supporting the Kickstarter for weeks or joined the community in the past day, your efforts have been steadily progressing the campaign funding towards the $400K milestone. It’s thrilling to watch so many stretch goals unlock!

Today, we present another Anime 5E sneak peek to help slake your curiosity.

Character Advancement

Character advancement (ie. progressing through additional class levels) is unnecessary in a short adventure, but during a lengthy campaign, players will want to improve their characters and unlock new features and powers. Advancement is not a requirement, but it can reflect the characters’ learned knowledge through conflicts with the environment, with opponents such as creatures and NPCs, or even with themselves.

The DM is encouraged to award all characters Experience Points (XP) at the end of each game session. Experience Points are a numerical measure of the knowledge, maturity, and training the character gains through adventuring. Often this will include XP for defeating or destroying creatures and NPCs, but not every game session may involve this type of direct conflict. The amount of the XP award should depend on the creature challenges overcome and the events of the game session, and perhaps even the quality of the role-playing.

Overcoming Conflict

When determining the XP awards for conflict, DMs must remember that conflict does not necessarily mean combat. While combat is a type of conflict, it is not the only form. Solving a mystery, saving someone from a raging fire, escaping a mage’s death trap, negotiating the release of hostages, or other similar situations where the character is pitted against an opposing force, is considered conflict as well. Any situation where there is a consequence for the character failing their attempted course of action can be considered conflict. The term is “Experience Points” and not “Killing Points” or “Destroying Points”, nor is it “Beating-Things-Up-and-Stealing-Their-Stuff Points”.

For challenges of note, DMs should award sufficient XP to represent knowledge the characters gained from the events. All characters involved in a conflict – typically every player character, and any significant NPC allies or retainers – earn an equivalent share of the XP, regardless of their specific involvement. Each character played a role in successfully resolving the situation, even if their contributions take different forms.

Earned XP is added to the character’s current running XP total. If the they cross the minimum XP required to advance to their next character Level (see Table 08), they gain one Class Level of choice.

For example, if three player characters and their NPC ally are hired by a nearby village council to storm a dungeon, vanquish the minor creatures therein, and negotiate a peace between the boss monster and the village, the group will earn XP. If the dispatched creatures were worth a collective 800 XP, and the DM decides that negotiating with the boss monster is worth an additional 1200 XP, the total experience awarded to the group for the conflict is 2000 XP. That total is divided equally amongst the four participating characters, gaining each of them 500 XP for a job well done.

Awarding Experience Points

The quantity of the award depends on how much of a challenge it was for the characters to overcome. The following represent several XP award categories to consider.

Defeating Creatures

Monsters, creatures, and NPC opponents are assigned XP based on how powerful they are. See the later section on Challenge Ratings for additional details.

Succeeding at a Task

Conquering the task at hand is a rewarding event that can provides the character with insight, knowledge, and perspective. The XP rewarded for such successes depends on the scope of the challenge the characters faced, and is based on the participants’ average Character Level:

➡️ Minor Challenge: From one-quarter to one-half the number of XP required to advance to the next character Level.

➡️ Moderate Challenge: From one-half to three-quarters the number of XP required to advance to the next character Level.

➡️ Major Challenge: From three-quarters to the full number of XP required to advance to the next character Level.

➡️ Extreme Challenge: A number of XP up to that required to advance one or two character Levels.

Failing at a Task

Characters can still learn valuable (and future-transferable) lessons even when they fail at their task. DMs can award one-tenth to one-quarter the number of XP that the characters would have earned had they been successful.

Shortcutting Conflicts

The above guidelines for awarding XP assume more traditional conflict resolutions, such as slaying or driving away monsters through battle, or undertaking challenging quests. With the vast number of character Attribute options in Anime 5E compared to standard Fifth Edition rules, characters may shortcut conflicts with creative resolutions. For example, rather than fight a wyvern, a character could open a Portal to send it to another dimension quickly. For such situations, DMs may decide to reduce XP rewards – reflecting that the characters don’t learn as much from the short conflict.

Exceptional Role-Playing

In addition to a share of group XP rewards for overcoming challenges, individual characters can potentially earn bonus XP at the DM’s discretion as well. Exceptionally talented or active players (those who remain true to their character, encourage other players to participate, help advance the game plot, etc.) can earn these bonus XP awards. When a player performs exceptionally at role-playing their character, the DM can provide a bonus equal up to one-quarter the character’s share of the group XP award during that session. DMs should not feel obliged to provide this award regularly, though; it should be reserved for rare role-playing interactions that stand out.

So that’s Anime 5E’s take on character advancement, which is but one of many DM tools to advance the campaign’s dramatic narrative. We’ll check in again soon!

Anime 5E Preview: Margins of Success and Critical Hits
over 3 years ago – Tue, Apr 13, 2021 at 07:55:14 AM

As we move through Sunday and closer to unlocking the $375K stretch goal, we thought you might enjoy a peek at our critical hit and failure rules.

Standard Fifth Edition Rules

The normal Fifth Edition rules for extreme successes are well known: If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target’s AC. Similarly, if the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target’s AC. This means that every attack roll produces a minimum 5% chance to hit and a minimum 5% chance to miss.

Furthermore, characters that score a critical hit roll extra dice for the attack’s damage against the target. There are no extra rules for rolling a 1 in combat.

Anime 5E Margin of Success

To understand Anime 5E’s critical hit and failure rules, you’ll first need to understand the dice context.

Most dice rolls in Anime 5E produce binary results: success or failure. Sometimes it can be useful to the DM and players to know the degree or margin of success or failure as well. If the task was successfully completed, how successful was it? Conversely, if the task failed, how severe was the failure? The greater the difference between the character’s dice roll and the DC (or opposed roll, for contests), the greater the margin of success or failure, as listed in Table 21.

Anime 5E Critical Hits

In some instances, the attacker’s strike is so powerful or overwhelming that it delivers damage greater than its normal maximum amount – known as a critical hit. If the attacker’s total roll is significantly higher than the defender’s Armour Class, the attacker scores a critical hit.

If the attacker’s roll exceeds the AC by at least 11 (an extreme margin of success), the final damage delivered is doubled. If the attacker’s roll exceeds the AC at least 15 (an outrageous margin of success), the final damage is tripled instead.

Unopposed Critical Hits

An unopposed attack against an adjacent unconscious or restrained opponent typically results in an outrageous margin of success critical hit (DM’s discretion).

Alternative Critical: Natural 20

Rather than using difference between the attacker’s roll and the target’s AC to determine whether a critical hit occurs, the DM and players may collectively decide that any attack die roll of 20 results in a double-damage critical hit.

Anime 5E Critical Failures

Groups applying the rules for critical hits in their games, may also want to consider a framework for critical failures. After all, some anime attack attempts are so wildly ineffective that they actually cause harm to the aggressor and their allies!

If the attacker’s total roll is significantly lower than the defender’s AC, the result is a critical failure (alternatively known as a critical fumble). If the attacker’s roll is lower than the AC by at least 11 (an extreme margin of failure), the DM applies one of the consequences in Table 22 – either by selecting one that they believe best reflects the circumstances, or by rolling 2d6 to randomly choose one. If the attacker’s roll is lower than the AC by at least 15 (an outrageous margin of failure), two consequences are applied instead.

Alternative Fumble: Natural 1

Rather than using difference between the attacker roll and the target’s AC to determine whether a critical failure occurs, the DM and players may collectively decide that any attack die roll of 1 results in a critical failure.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about the awesome successes and failures that can occur during dramatic anime combats! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Anime 5E Will Have a Soundtrack!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 11:31:18 PM

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

We are thrilled that you pushed the campaign through the $350K stretch goal, because now Anime 5E will have it’s own epic soundtrack score! This bonus soundtrack will be available as a free audio download for all backers pledging at least $100 towards the Kickstarter.

Bonus Classes at $375K

Anime 5E features 14 fascinating character classes, each showcasing their own special blend of abilities, proficiencies, powers, and talents. But what if you had access to even more?

If campaign funding reaches $375K, we will create two original character classes – with descriptions, base capabilities, and progression over 20 levels. This bonus content will be available as a free PDF download for all backers pledging at least $25 in the Kickstarter. Like most of our content stretch goals (including the soundtrack!), the file will also be available for sale to those backers with pledge tiers that don’t align with this free bonus.

We Like You. Will You Like Us?

We maintain an active presence on social media. We’ve seen many backers join the Anime 5E Facebook group to connect with the A5E community, and that’s amazing. We would also love to keep you update on what’s happening at Dyskami, and hope you’ll consider liking our Facebook page. Two clicks, and you’re done! And if you search for @dyskami, you’ll find our other social media accounts too (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube).

Thanks once again, and we will check in tomorrow for another update.

Anime 5E Designer Insight: Race and Class Selection
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 09:34:20 PM

Hi everyone! I’m Mark MacKinnon, and today I want to provide a brief insight into my choices for Anime 5E races and classes.

When I set out to design Anime 5E, I wanted to ensure it evoked an anime thematic feeling without being overly stereotypical of common anime tropes. Anime 5E isn’t supposed to be a parody of anime, nor should it wallow in the banality of overused character or visual elements. I wanted to respect the source of inspiration, and aim for the highs (not lows) of the awesome storytelling medium that we all love so much.

But First, A Note About Visual Minutia

Nosebleeds, summoned extradimensional hammers to clobber lecherous men, nervous head sweat drops, super-deformed rage, knocking people extreme distances – all of these are common anime visual tropes that have no place in the Anime 5E rules system. Most of those sorts of exaggerated anime visual aspects are best described through role-playing and narration, rather than mechanical means. That said, something like knocking someone a great distance with a punch can certainly be accomplished within the mechanical framework as an effects-based system rather than a power-based system. Anime 5E isn't intended to be "jokey" through these visual cues, but players can certainly emulate that if they desire.

Choosing Races

Many anime fantasy series feature primary characters that already align with those provided in tradition Fifth Edition games. Anime Elves, for example, are the most common fantasy races portrayed in anime series; Dwarves are also common, too.

My first round of race selection thus focussed on more common anime portrayals that would fit well into a fantasy setting. This included other fey types – such as the Asrai, Fairy, Satyr, and Kodama races – which can be viewed as cousin-races of Elves, and could certainly fit seamlessly into a fantasy anime series. Next came races that can be seen in fantasy anime show, though may not be as common as fey variants: Nekojin (cat people), Half-Dragon, and Slime.

Then I expanded races into realms inspired by anime series that may not be fantasy related, but could be tied to such realms. This includes the two demon classes, Archfiend and Demonaga (demons are extremely common in anime across many settings), Half-Trolls (alternatives to Half-Ogres/Oni), and Parasites (creatures bonded to other races).

Finally, I rounded out the race selection with three choices that I thought would be interesting for gamers to explore: the arboreal shape-changing Blinkbeast, the lizard-like Haud, and the alien Grey. These choices offered a selection of features and perspectives not seen in the other races, serving as a showcase for diverse Anime 5E Attributes while offering interesting race backgrounds as well.

Choosing Classes

Selecting classes for Anime 5E was a more difficult process than choosing races, primarily due to Fifth Edition’s built-in assumptions around a dungeon crawling and combat framework. The traditional 5E party composition of warrior, mage, healer, thief is so strongly integrated into the role-playing foundations that presenting alternate options would be challenging. Not only did I want to create viable and interesting alternatives to the core 5E classes, but I also wanted to ensure that the choices would fit with the game’s epic anime atmosphere.

A few class choices were obvious picks during the initial design rounds, since they aligned strongly with common anime stylings. This included the Hunter, Isekai Student, Magical Girl/Guy, Ninja, Pet Monster Trainer, and Samurai.

Not wanting to lean too heavily into physical combat, adding the magical/mystical classes of Bender and Dynamic Spellbinder was the next obvious choice. Magic is common in many anime shows (fantasy or otherwise), thought magical characters are rarely portrayed as the traditional Tolkien-esque academic mages. Benders and Spellbinders offered the opportunity to present classes centred on Anime 5E’s alternate flexible magic framework (the Dynamic Powers Attribute), with Benders being more focussed on one specific aspect and Spellbinders being more broad in their scope.

During my third round of consideration, I looked at other genres of anime to see what types of characters could be integrated well into a fantasy setting. The Psionicist, common in science fiction stories, would be a great alternate perspective on the traditionally Fifth Edition spell caster – boundless in their access across the different 5E spell origins (wizard, cleric, etc.) that originates from mind-based powers instead mystical powers. Techknights are the fantasy equivalents of hardsuit-wearing protagonists common to near-future cyberpunk shows. Brokers are the resourced collectors and merchants who are connected to organisations and specialise in support roles – a character that is common across many genres, yet one that rarely takes centre stage. We thought that the presence of a Broker in Anime 5E was an excellent way to demonstrate how classes can extend beyond the hack-and-slash framework and focus on more narrative, story-driven adventures.

Finally, I topped up to 14 classes with several choices that demonstrated the range of Anime 5E’s Attribute effects. Shadow Warriors would be powerhouse fighters that demonstrate size-changing and state-changing powers, while Warders would showcase a different way of approaching enhanced unarmed combat talents through tattooed buff wards that could be inscribed on allies to provide temporary boosts as well. Finally, the Adventurer class was essential to lay a path that shifts classes towards a fully points-based level progression. The Adventure class reflect ultimate character flexibility that unleashes near-boundless player creativity.

Thanks for reading a few of my thoughts about how I selected the races and classes for Anime 5E. Your support over the past 12 days has been both outstanding and humbling. Enjoy your weekend!

Please Don’t Stop the Music on the Way to $350K
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 05:58:10 PM

Thank you for continuing to support this Kickstarter! You smashed past the $325K stretch goal, which means every backer pledging $25+ will receive expanded digital content: two original Anime 5E player character races, with feature blocks and descriptions. This is going to be fun!

Unlocking at $350K: Original Anime 5E Soundtrack Score

This next stretch goal verges into new territory for us, and we are excited by the potential. If campaign funding reaching $350K, we will work with a professional composer and conductor to create an original one-hour Anime 5E soundtrack score! We will provide them with suggestions to create a single, epic piece of music that moves through the narrative beats of a role-playing adventure – the journey, the discovery, the battle, the chase, etc. The score will be loopable as well, and can serve as fantastic background music for your dramatic Anime 5E gaming sessions.

This bonus soundtrack will be available as a free audio download for all backers pledging at least $100 towards the Kickstarter. Like most of our content stretch goals, the soundtrack will also be available for sale separately to backers with pledge tiers that don’t align with this free bonus.

Your continued enthusiasm throughout the campaign and efforts to spread the word to your gaming communities is greatly appreciated. Have a wonderful weekend; we’ll check back in tomorrow.