Adaptable Variables and Tactics

AdVarTa, or ADVARTA, stands for Adaptable Variables and Tactics. Its main concepts were first proposed by Naervern in 2014 based on experiments with 5 other systems of which only one has been named and none revealed through the internet.

AdVarTa is a general-purpose system and can be refitted to almost any setting, story or campaign. It focuses on primary roleplay elements, like narrative, interactions and skill checks.

Core Features
AdVarTa uses attributes, skills, an original combat system and is optimally represented through Hexagonal Grids.

One factor that puts AdVarTa in a borderline between Class and Classless systems is the lack of a solid statistic for progression - basically, only traits are gained with levels, and are not needed for such, while there is no HP or highly advanceable hit rate. Obviously this would mean that AdVarTa supports classes, but the thing is: AdVarTa does not need classes just like most other systems with functional Skill mechanics.The same can be said for levels: by the rules, levels have lesser impact in raw combat strength, but considering level as something acquired through experience (and time), higher-level characters have more tricks to pull.

Attributes
The 'Vanilla' AdVarTa uses six major attributes: And ten minor attributes: ¹ is related to Mind; ² is related to Arcana
 * Agility (Agi)
 * Arcana (Arc)
 * Dexterity (Dex)
 * Mind (Mnd)
 * Strength (Str)
 * Toughness (Tou)
 * Charisma ¹ (Cha)
 * Control ² (Con)
 * Evasion (Eva)
 * Initiative (Ini)
 * Potential ² (Pot)
 * Reasoning ¹ (Rng)
 * Resolve ¹ (Res)
 * Sequence (Seq)
 * Stamina (Sta)
 * Weapon Proficiency (WPr)

There is also the Size parameter that may be classified as an attribute, though it is used only on special cases.

Combat
One has to admit that, even though it may appear exciting sometimes, combat in most RPGs is utterly silly. This happens mostly because combat usefulness in RPGs often stick so much to "builds" that actual smartness may have no place on the battlefield.

AdVarTa, however, relies heavily on small decisions (hence the Tactical acronym) and, through an intricate combat system, every actor's actions are intertwined with one another. More complex actions take longer and can even be cancelled or interrupted by other actions, depending on total Sequence the entire action is translated to.

Also note that AdVarTa is roleplay-oriented and thus it's recommended that combat is kept a minor role, otherwise scenes could eventually get very complicated and scary.

Damage Value
AdVarTa does not use Hit Points. (Why? Because hit points are stupid.) Instead, every wound is kept track separately. The parameter used to measure the effects of a wound inflicted is Damage Value.

An attack that hits for 0 Damage or less causes no injury and does not need to be taken track of. If Damage from an attack is increased, the resulting wound gets serious accordingly. A wound of damage value of 7 or higher kills instantly.

Every injury carries negative effects, reducing overall capabilities and can decrease or increase in damage value over time.

For details, look for in the respective page.

Skills
Skills are classified as General, Production and Restricted, according to how they are learned and practiced. The default skillset follows:

General Skills
Most skills fall under this category. Some attributes may add to check involving these skills depending on circumstances.
 * Acrobatics: linked to Agility, Dexterity and Strength
 * Athletics: linked to Agility, Strength and Toughness
 * Balance: linked to Dexterity, Strength and Toughness
 * Deception: linked to Charisma, Mind and Reasoning
 * Engineering: linked to Dexterity, Mind and Reasoning
 * Escapology: linked to Agility, Dexterity and Reasoning
 * Etiquette: linked to Charisma, Dexterity and Toughness
 * Investigation: linked to Mind and Reasoning
 * Medicine: linked to Mind
 * Music: linked to Dexterity and Mind
 * Nautics: linked to Mind, Strength and Toughness
 * Perform: linked to Charisma, Dexterity and Reasoning
 * Persuasiveness: linked to Charisma, Reasoning and Toughness
 * Riding (also Driving): linked to Dexterity, Strength and Toughness
 * Stealth: linked to Agility, Dexterity and Toughness
 * Writing (also Linguistics): linked to Dexterity, Mind and Reasoning

Production Skills
These skills relate to item creation. Simply that. They are all linked to Dexterity and Mind.
 * Glyphs
 * Smithing
 * Stonemasonry
 * Weaving
 * Woodcarving

Restricted Skills
Such skills can't be practised without some dedicated talent. All are related to Mind and some other attribute.
 * Alchemy: linked to Mind and Reasoning
 * Arcanism: linked to Arcana and Mind
 * Demonology: linked to Charisma and Mind
 * Shamanism: linked to Mind and Resolve
 * Theology: linked to Mind

Traits
AdVarTa uses traits, just like other systems use feats, perks, talents (and traits as well, among others). However, differently from other systems, traits in AdVarTa do not advance simply through leveling. Instead, they are elements rewarded to a character for training or constructive effort. Note that during character creation.

The way AdVarTa works allows for the GM to manage traits through just a simple rule, which also defines how traits are designed.

During the story, traits may be acquired/developed too. That's how characters are supposed progress.

Character Creation
Any creature can be ported to AdVarTa. If it can't, you must be doing something wrong.

Levels?
Well, Levels are stupid. Not as much as hit points, but still... anyway, it's healthier for the campaign if the characters progresses somehow. So, AdVarTa has two "ways" for that to happen: Or
 * Use levels anyway, though they're not increasing hit points, yeah. Mostly, levels this way are needed to get class features and to manage multiclassing.
 * Buy perks with some kind of experience reward, after linking it to the story, obviously. Works better so long as the players have the attention and commitment for the sake of the game. This way, if things start to crumble, they will inevitably fall.

Assuming that levels mean experience, we could say that older characters would end up being stronger and much more effective in combat than rookies. While this is veridical indeed, the way it happens in level-ful RPGs isn't nice. I mean, why would a 50-year-old warrior beat so easily a 30-year-old one? It's hard to think that the 30-year-old decided to build skills just recently. There must be something that could make the older one better, like knowing more tactics or having seen that same moves before, but it's unlikely that the younger warrior didn't practice swordplay/spearplay/martial arts/shooting/whatever enough.

AdVarTa is complex, but is compensated by its realism/intuitiveness. One way or another, characters get stronger as they progress. My objective was to give more resources to experienced characters instead of the usual power improvements.

Classes
Now, Classes, when done correctly, are great mechanically. Even considering the level-less option for AdVarTa, character classes may still make build the concepts by theming them to the background, though this leaves fewer tools for multiclassing.


 * Using class with levels normally, as the standard method for most RPGS. This works nicely for long and progressive games, where each player will stick to as few characters as possible (usually one). I like to call these Future-Shaped RPGs. Note, however, that while this may be the "standard" method RPGs, it's no default. There are no defaults for this matter. Leveled classes are good to manage linear development and were supposed to be easy to balance, but have the downside of limiting options so heavily that class-less rpgs can't be ported to accept classes very well.
 * Classes may be level-less. While this means having a class signals a complete training so the character can develop its features as abilities, it's also not impossible to multiclass. In terms of balance, these bring many complications, as multiclassed characters will obviously have more features than single-classed. These Present-Shaped RPGs, as I like to call, are hard to fix, though I've seen some interesting ideas that I'm incorporating in AdVarTa. One of them is from the KRPG Tree of Savior, where classes have "ranks". It's on to work the same way as in ToS, except that there are only ranks and no levels. This means that a class may be improved further by acquiring more ranks or the character may acquire a new rank in another class. Imagine the difference between a Wizard rank 2 and a Archer-Wizard ranks 1-1. The first has access to advanced magic while the latter may combine basic skills of the two classes. Since every feature is being bought, you can freely customize them according to wha't accessible for every class rank.
 * Classless RPGs aren't bad either when their options for customization are built heavily on the character background, that's why I would call these Past-Shaped RPGs. Such systems can also work with character levels, are great for making lots of characters and usually have excellent freedom for character creation as multiclassing isn't dependant on jumping forth-and-back through holes existant between different classes. In this method, features are granted as long as the characters meet requirements and can buy them. The downside of the Past-Shaped method is that it requires a lot of work on the planning part or end up making no sense at all (such as a scourge of the seas becoming a master cavalier.)

Still, considering the default AdVarTa as a low-power setting, The recommended methods are the latter two.