Using JAGS for fantasy Power Level and race and species creation

JAGS is a free downloadable universal role-playing game found at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg. It also can be purchased in book form.

Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures
JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS
JAGS: first batch of directly converted wild west creatures
JAGS melee reach
JAGS: Difficulty Modifiers in more common language
JAGS: dice rolling: Skills, Attributes, Resistance, degrees of success
Using JAGS for fantasy Power Level and race and species creation

JAGS wild west bestiary

Brown Bear

Mountain Lion, Cougar, Puma

I wanted to collect a bunch of page numbers that are useful for JAGS fantasy games. I'm doing so for both a record for me for easier location and for anyone wanting to create species, races, and creatures. I'll then in the next post maybe try to recreate the basic fantasy races from the 1st edition into the JAGS Revisied edition, to make using them easier.

JAGS Revised References

Character Points and Archetype Points
JAGS allows several different degrees of power within the game. These levels of power are found in JAGS Revised on p 27.

JAGS Fantasy p 1 has some similar notes. In it it mentions 8 points is the normal amount for building races/species. 24 points would be a powerful race/species.

If I combined the two charts what would it look like?

The fantasy book mentions that the power levels are Basic Points (BP) and the races are Fantasy Power Points (PP). So I've equated:

Basic Points (BP) to Base Character Points (CP)
Power Points (PP) to Archetype Points (AP)

JAGS Fantasy and JAGS Revised Point systems

	J Fantasy BP	J Revised CP
Beginner (High school)	30 BP	30 CP
Inexperience but competent	50 BP	50 CP
Experienced adventurer	75 BP	75 CP
Heroes	100 BP	100 CP
Greater Heroes	150 BP	150 CP
	J Race	J Race PP	J Revised AP
Beginner (High school)	Minor traits	4 PP	0 to 8 AP
Inexperience but competent	Basic race w/ minor item	8 PP	8 AP
Experienced adventurer	Powerful race w/ unusual powers	12 to 16 PP	8 to 16 AP
Heroes			16 AP
Greater Heroes	Really powerful fantasy race	24 PP	16 to 48 AP

JAGS Omnibus References

Note of that Innate Powers are used to build races JAGS Omnibus p 47.

Notes on building races pp 49 to 50

Innate Power details pp 51 to 126

Overview p 51

Body types pp 52, trait list 71 to 75

Body sizes pp 60, size list 76 to 78

Natural attacks pp 65

Animal traits pp 79 to 83

Body powers pp 84 to 89
Strength p 90
Speed p 91
Appearance/Social p 92
Bio Defense pp 93 to 99
Bio Weapons pp 99 to 113
Movement pp 114 to 118
Defensive Innate pp 118 to 120
Senses and Perceptions pp 120 to 122
Limbs p 123
Mutations pp 123 to 125
Weaknesses pp 125 to 126

JAGS dice rolling: Skills, Attributes, Resistance, degrees of success/failure

JAGS is a free downloadable universal role-playing game found at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg. It also can be purchased in book form.

Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures
JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS
JAGS: first batch of directly converted wild west creatures
JAGS melee reach
JAGS: Difficulty Modifiers in more common language
JAGS dice rolling: Skills, Attributes, Resistance, degrees of success

JAGS wild west bestiary

Brown Bear

Mountain Lion, Cougar, Puma

Dice Rolling for Skills, Attributes, and Resistance

After looking at weapon reaches and difficulty modifiers I want to look at roll mechanics for skills, attributes, and resistance as well as the degrees of success or failure. I also want to rearrange the order of the degrees of success chart found on p 19 of JAGS Revised.

Basic mechanic of rolling

Roll 4d6 (6s = 0) add up all the numbers = a number between 0 and 20

• Target Number - roll less than or equal to that number to succeed.
• Modifiers for difficulty alters the target number.
• There are degrees of success or failure.

Skill or Attribute check

Roll equal to or under the number.
What does a success, failure, or degree mean?

Resistance

Resistance roll is whoever makes it by the most or tie.

Degrees of success/failure

Here is my rearrange of the degrees of success for JAGS to make it easier for me to read. I put the critical success on top and the minor success in the middle. I also order it from the bottom critical failure up to critical success.

Term	What it is
Critical Success	Roll 10 or more less than target number
Major Success	Roll 5 to 9 less than target number
Success & minor success	Roll 0 to 4 less than target number.
Failure & minor failure	Roll 1 to 4 more than target number
Major failure	Roll 5 to 9 more than target number
Critical Failure	Roll 10 or more than target number

JAGS: Difficulty Modifiers in more common language

JAGS is a free downloadable universal role-playing game found at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg. It also can be purchased in book form.

Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures
JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS
JAGS: first batch of directly converted wild west creatures
JAGS melee reach
JAGS: Difficulty Modifiers in more common language

JAGS wild west bestiary

Brown Bear

Mountain Lion, Cougar, Puma

For JAGS, on p 17 in the JAGS Revised edition, there is a small amount of guidance for picking difficulties to modify skills and attributes during checks.

Using a mixture of different difficulty charts, this is my attempt to fill in a little more detailed gradual list of adjectives to describe difficulty. I take a little from p. 17, GURPS 4e, 3.5 edition, and even 5e to blend it together to form this list.

Difficulty Description	modifier
Impossible
Nearly Impossible	-10
	-9
Dangerous	-8
Heroic	-7
Extremely Difficult, Formidable, Very Hard	-6
Challenging	-5
Difficult, Tough, Hard	-4
	-3
Very Unfavorable	-2
Unfavorable	-1
Average, Medium	0
Favorable	1
Very Favorable	2
	3
Easy, Simple	4
	5
Very Easy	6
	7
Trivial	8
	9
Nearly Automatic	10

I'm going to try this list out and see how it performs.

Where next? Looking back to where I've been.

With that fun project 5e x 5 wrapping up, except for some maintenance and Future & Modern expansion, it'll be back to my projects.

A. I will be continuing my Fairy constructed language, which is helping me to continue with the other languages as well.

Other fantasy language postsCreating a fantasy languageElfin and Orcish amount of words so farFantasy Constructed Languages Part 1: SoundsFantasy Constructed Languages Part 2: Parts of speech - nounsFantasy Constructed Languages Part 3: Parts of speech - adjectives

B. I might continue to make JAGS western stuff.

For my wild west game using the JAGS system.
JAGS RPG is a universal game system that can be found as a free download at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg
JAGS wild west bestiaryBrown BearMountain Lion, Cougar, Puma

C. I might continue to make Ekouinmanus Kapos

Ekouinmanus Kapos Region of Aioskoru
https://sites.google.com/site/aioskoru/campaign-guide-ekouinmanus-kapos---horse-centaurs  

D. Maybe delve deeper into map making

Aioskoru, Western Ekouinmanus Kapos Map SeriesAioskoru Solo Game: Map of area Western Ekouinmanus Kapos Lakes and rivers using GIMP and Donjon fractal mapsAutomated rivers: first automated river attemptsRiver Beds using Donjon and WilburAioskoru: Northwest and Southwest Semimanus
Joined map and a little coloringThe puzzle of the rivers

JAGS: Mountain Lion, jaguar, puma

For my wild west game using the JAGS system.

JAGS RPG is a universal game system that can be found as a free download at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg

JAGS wild west bestiary

Brown Bear

Mountain Lion, Cougar, Puma

Photo by Greg Hume found at Wikipedia

[Click stat block to enlarge and see entirely]

JAGS: Brown Bear

For my wild west game using the JAGS system.

JAGS RPG is a universal game system that can be found as a free download at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg

JAGS wild west bestiary

Brown Bear

Mountain Lion, Cougar, Puma

[Click stat block to enlarge and see entirely]

JAGS: first batch of directly converted wild west creatures

JAGS Fan Content series
The search for a fantasy or universal RPG: The winner and my choice.
Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC templates for humans by type
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures
JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS

Here is my first attempt at some direct conversions from d20 5th edition to JAGS.

[click image to enlarge]

JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS

JAGS Fan Content series
The search for a fantasy or universal RPG: The winner and my choice.
Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC templates for humans by type
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures
JAGS: A) OGL 5e SRD conversion to JAGS

JAGS is a free downloadable universal role-playing game found at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg. It also can be purchased in book form.

The first method that I will try will actually be a direct conversion from 5e SRD of animals.

I made this up using a little logic and reason. I'll experiment to see how well it converts compared to a direct creation following the rules. I'll convert derived stats from any directly converted stats such as DP and additional damage..

JAGS: Creating wild west creatures

JAGS Fan Content series
The search for a fantasy or universal RPG: The winner and my choice.
Test played Reviews: JAGS Revised
JAGS: NPC templates for humans by type
JAGS: NPC list & skills
JAGS: Creating wild west creatures


There are three ways that I can try to create some creatures for my wild west game.

I can either:
a) build them from scratch using the JAGS Archetype rules.
b) try to convert them from an OGL source.
c) or combine the results from both methods to form a hybrid agreement if possible.

I think I will try all three if possible and compare the results.

But first I need a list of wild west creatures. And that basically means creatures of the dessert, mountains, and plains of central and southern USA.

I'll focus on the italicized animals which are predators and hunted animals.

Many Biomes
vulture
hawk
eagle
porcupine
skunk
long-tailed weasel
gray fox
ground squirrel
ants
bee
wasp
white-tailed deer
moose (elk)
american badger
bat

Dessert
rattlesnake (western diamondback, copperhead, cottonmouth,)
scorpion
tarantula
gila monster
coyote
armadillo
black-tailed jack rabbit
cottontail rabbit
bobcat (lynx)
gopher
prairie dog

Plains
buffalo (bison)

Mountains
black bear
brown bear
mountain lion (cougar, puma)

Other terrain animals
alligator
crocodile
great white shark
coral snake

JAGS: NPC list & skills

JAGS is a free downloadable universal role-playing game found at http://mchacon8.wixsite.com/jagsrpg. It also can be purchased in book form.

To go with the chart I made a skill list which has all the costs, grouped by stat or type of skill. I used the newer JAGS Archetype skill cost and mixed it with the level costs. Also I added a Tough type character to the template which might represent a farmer or smith - some that vary in reflexes. There is both physically or mentally tough.

JAGS human types
[Click image to enlarge]

JAGS Skill costs
These are grouped by type, expensive or standard cost, and stat. Towards the end are the eithor/or skills which can use one of many stats.

[Click image to enlarge]

JAGS: NPC templates for humans by type

JAGS fan content
This begins a series of JAGS player made content that I will try making.

I wanted to try the game out with an elderly couple that likes the wild west stories. So I need some human NPCs to inhabit the game. Templates to be filled with outlaws, gangs, criminals, and town workers.

To do this, I want to make a JAGS template for NPCs sort of built off of templates so that I can make quicker NPCs.

With the advise found on page 32 and influenced with some D20 OGL open content, here is some potential stat blocks based on some possible types.

About the chart
Yellow shows the secondary stat changes.

It shows the stat CP costs so that the remaining can be filled with skills. Also bases for bonus melee damage, DP, Perception roll, grappling, and movement are also shown which can be modified by skills.

This can probably be used for any type of JAGS game that has regular humans.

[Click image to enlarge]