INTRODUCTION

Legions III is the third installment of the Legions role playing system. Alot has changed since Legions came out, and alot has still to change. L2 players will see that leveling has been completely removed and more emphasis has been placed on the BASIC system and skill development. Scores and sub-scores have been changed. The most notable difference is the introduction of the stats-5/6 system.

L3 is heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire: the Masquerade, GURPS, reises, Magic: the Gathering, and Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time book series. Hopefully all of this work hasn't been in vain, and someone is going to enjoy this!
top

WHAT IS ROLEPLAYING?

Roleplaying is a highly envolved, extremely detailed table-top game. In a roleplaying game you play a character in a story (usually not a written story, but a story someone has made up for just this). Your character has a 'character sheet' that has numbers reflecting your character's abilities in specified areas. A person called the Game Operative Director (g.o.d.) plays the story teller. They describe a situation, you describe your reaction. Simple in concept (to most), but more than complex in practice. Good luck; if you have any questions ask someone (hopefully someone involved in L3, otherwise I can't guarantee the quality of their answer), I'm sure they will be more than happy to help, if not point you to where you can find help.
top

BASICS

Legions revolves around a few key concepts: the 7 score system, the Stats-5/6 system, and the BASIC system. These concepts form together to create a well structured, well balanced system that is both complex in form, and easy in practice.

7 Score System

The 7 score system was designed to emulate the aspects of human ability as closely as possible. This is done by dividing human traits into subjects and then further defining those subjects. In the 7 score system traits are divided into physical, mental, and spiritual aspects. These are further divided into scores: strength, speed, flexibility, endurance, intelligence, wisdom, and spiritual. These scores (also known as major scores) are the furthest divided into sub-scores (for an even more detailed explanation of scores see major scores).
This table shows the division of aspects.

In this way as many possible human features can be represented with the only limiting factor being simplicity. In order to kep the system understandable to anyone who isn't immortal it has to be simplified to human understandings. Here are some reasons:

1. The creators of the system are human, and therefore imperfect. According to simple logic, anything they make will be imperfect.
2. YOU are human, not only that, you are one human. The creators are several humans, the knowledge of several humans will be difficult being understood by the logic of one human. Understand? NO? Exactly.

Stats-5/6

The Stats-5/6 system is a way of taking the skill of a person and the difficulty of a situation and putting them together. Here's how it works in the form of an example. First, is an example of the percentage system:

Let's say Kenny is an archer/barkeeper. He knows archery at 85%. Kenny is shooting at a target that is 50 yards away. He would roll a percentage (2D10), if it was under 85 then he hits his target. Let's say that he then shoots at a target that is 150 yards away. What do you, as a g.o.d. do? Do you start using modifiers? Do you make a table? Do you just go with 85%? Then the difficulty is the same for two completely different situations! Enter the stats-5/6 system.

In the stats-5/6 system a player's skill remains the same (obviously), but the difficulty of the situation changes the chances of success (as in real-world situations). In the stats-5/6 system a character has a number of dice that represents their skill in a subject. The most dice they can have is 5. The dice used in this instance are D6 (little six sided cubes about the diameter of a penny with sides label 1-6). They roll the number of dice they have in the subject, and add the results together, this is called the 'total' (logical ain't it?). They try to roll a total more than the g.o.d.'s set difficulty called an 'index'. The base index of a situation is 6. In this way a character that has 1 die in a subject has the smallest chance of passing, and a character with 5 dice has the smallest chance of failing (convenient isn't it?).

The stats-5/6 system is used throughout the L3 system in everything from scores to skills. A very universal system indeed!

BASIC is L3's way of handling character development; everything from building muscle to developing archery skills revolves around BASIC. BASIC works like thus:
Your character does something that warrants an increase in skill, the g.o.d. gives your character a number of BASIC for it, when your character recieve a certain number of basic the associated subject goes up. Here's an example:

Kenny knows Archery at 4 dice (good archer!). He has been practicing archery constantly, so he has 4 BASIC in the subject (we like working with small numbers here). At the end of a long, dramatic gaming session that involved Kenny proving his character's heroic qualities his g.o.d. gives out massive amounts of BASIC. He gives kenny 2 BASIC towards archery. It takes 5 BASIC to advance archery (see skills). Kenny now knows archery at 5 dice with 1 BASIC (a good start toward archery II). The amount of BASIC necessary to increase stats and skills is reviewed in Character Development.

MAJOR SCORES

Major scores are a numerical representation of aspects. All primary major scores (not sub-scores) are based on a D20 and range from 3-18. Major scores have sub-scores under them that allow a player to fine-tune a character (we've been over this before in the 7 score section. The Major scores are as follows:

Strength - This score defines a character's overall strength. It is used when lifting, wielding, throwing, and just about anything that you could think of physically. Strength can be an attacking score and a defending score (see martial skills). Strength has 3 sub-scores:

Power - This sub-score defines how much damage a character deals in melee and hand-to-hand attacks.

Wield - This sub-score defines how much weight a character can wield (in pounds) one-handed. If character is using a single weapon and both hands then they can wield a weapon that weighs twice their wield score.

Carry - This sub-score defines how much a character can carry (in pounds) without having any manueverability problems. The absolute most a character can carry is double their carry score.

Speed - This score defines how fast a character is. It is used in battle ordering (initiatives), dodging, and anything involving sprinting or running. Speed can be an attacking score and a defending score (see martial skills)Speed has 2 sub-scores.

Distance Per Turn - This score defines how far a character can move (in feet) within one action.

Max Distance Per Turn - This score defines how far a character can move (in feet) at a sprint within one action.

Flexibility - This score defines how flexible a character is. It is used for dodging, quick movements, and hand-to-hand combat. Flexibility can be an attacking score and a defending score (see martial skills)Flexibility has 1 sub-score:

Balance - This sub-score defines how well your character can balance. It is useful in attempting physical feats and acrobatics. It is a stats-5/6 based score.

Endurance - This score defines a characters ability to resist their environment or take physical abuse. Endurance can be a defending score (see martial skills) Endurance has 4 sub-scores:

Time Max Speed - This is the amount of time (in actions) that a character can maintain a dead sprint.

Immunity - This score reflects a characters ability to resist poisons, liquors, medicines, and other chemicals. It is a stats-5/6 based score.

Hit Points - This is a score that displays the amount of damage a character can take before they die (see damage in L3).

Hit Points Refresh - This score represents the amount of time it takes a character to heal from wounds (see damage in L3).

Intelligence - Intelligence has 3 sub-scores:

Perception -

Charisma -

Languages - This is the number of languages that a character can learn. One language point counts for every verbal language learned and one language point counts for every written language learned. Characters can have one primary verbal and one primary written language. Languages count as skills but do not count towards skills BASIC.

Wisdom - Wisdom has 3 sub-scores.

Willpower -

Charisma Modifier -

Psionic Power -

Spiritual - Spiritual has 3 sub-scores.

Caster -

Caster Points -

Caster Points Refresh -

MINOR SCORES

These are scores that further define your character, but aren't really as crucial or extensively used as Major Scores. Also, minor scores fluctuate quite frequently (an example is that phys app changes with clothing).

Physical Appearance - This is a score that defines the quality of a character's looks. It ranges from +50 (extremely good looking) to -50 (might as well be nasferatu). In some cases charisma is affected by physical appearance, and this should be taken into account when defining a characters physap.

Alignment - Alignment defines the overall "goodness" of a character. Alignment ranges from an infinite negative to an infinite positive, but is mortally bound between +50 (eg - the dalai f***ing lama) and -50 (eg - you kill babies in your spare time). A character's alignment greatly defines how they react to situations. A character with > 25 alignment is all but incapable of theft, murder, or cheating. A character with < -25 will all but NEVER tell the truth.

Mental Stability - This score defines the overall mental balance of a character. Mental stability (ment stab) goes from an infinite negative to an infinite positive, though it is mortal bound from -50 to +50. A character with a positive ment stab is sane, a character that falls into a negative mental stability becomes less sane, eventually being insane. At lower ment stabs g.o.d.s might make characters do willpower checks, having the characters react to situations in unrational ways. If anything, ment stab is a fun toy for g.o.d.s to play with.

GAMING ESSENTIALS

Below is information that is involved in the actual operations of the L3 system. This is necessary for an understanding of how the system is run and should probably be read prior to the creation of a character.

Battle Breakdown

Battle in L3 is a very simple system that is rather hard to explain. L3 battle revolves around actions, which are individual movements executed by a character (eg - drawing a weapon, moving, blocking). Below is a list of common actions:

Attacking
Defending
Moving
Drawing a weapon
Retrieving an item (may take more than one action)
Using an item
Using a ranged weapon (may take more than one action)
Saying something (eg - yelling, "Get Down")
Grabbing caster
Casting an elemental/psionic spell (may take more than one action)
Concentrating (used for psionic spells or to lower an index; may take more than one action)

Truthfully, anything that can be done within a 3 second period of time can be considered an action, but the above list covers most of what a character will be doing in a battle. Every character gets 2 actions per round.

Another concept that is necessary for understanding L3's battle system is initiatives. Initiatives are L3's method of organizing an order of execution within a battle. At the beginning of every round characters roll initiatives, which is a D10+Speed roll. The character with the highest initiative roll gets first actions. The round continues down the list, with the second highest going next, third highest after that, etc, etc. When it comes to a characters initiative turn the character can decide to reserve their actions (which means that they wait for something). That character can then use those actions any time within the round. When the last person has completed their actions then another round starts. Easy, right?

Now that we have defined actions and initiatives we will discuss the steps taken throughout a battle:

1. First Strike - Battle begins with a first strike, which is any action executed with the intention of starting a fight. A first strike takes place within the pre-emptive round.
2. Pre-Emptive Round - This is the round that takes place before the actual heat of battle begins. The character that executes the first strike and characters that could be considered pre-emptive (that is those that have pre-emptive abilities, or those that were ready for the attack) take actions in initiative order (which means that they roll initiatives for the round).
3. Battle Round - After the pre-emptive attack all characters are allowed to execute actions. Characters are now in what are known as battle rounds.

   These rounds continue until:

   1. All characters in a party are dead
   2. All characters in a party have fled
   3. No one in a given party is able to or willing to execute an action
   
   Until then battle rounds continue (after all characters have finished their actions then another battle round starts with another initiative).

Now that we have the overall structure of a battle layed down, lets discuss the action-to-action structure of a battle.

Attacking / blocking (hand-to-hand and melee) - Hand-to-hand and melee battle is probably one of the most complicated forms of battle (easily understandable). Here is a step by step process of attacking and blocking within L3:

1. A character announces that they are going to be attacking and their target (the character must have a free action; and it must be that character's turn). They describe their actions in as much detail as they possibly can (eg - "I'm going for an overhead swing, i'm aiming for the base of his neck")
2. If the target has a free action they are given the chance to use that action (eg - block or dodge), otherwise they cannot do anything to prevent the attack; also, the character must describe the form in which they are going to block. if it is overly outrageous or obviously over thier skill level then they CANNOT block (eg - they stabbed someone on their left and are getting stabbed from their right).
3. The attacker rolls their martial skill. If the defending character was NOT able to block then the g.o.d. sets an index for the attacking character's roll.
   otherwise, the defending character rolls their martial skill.
4. The character with the higher level in their martial skill adds +3 to their roll for every level of difference.
   The higher roll wins.
5. If the higher roll was the defending character then their action is considered executed (eg - they blocked the attack, they dodged the attack, etc.) and the turn is finished, on to the next character's turn.
   If the attacking character won the roll then the attack is considered successful, in which case damage is rolled (the damage roll should be under the character's weapon listing. Normally it is a die roll added to a character's Strength-Power. The sum is their damage total and handled under L3 damage rules (see Damage and Healing in L3).

Projectile Weapons - These are weapons that are designed to be used from a distance (eg - pistols, bows, slings, spears). Projectile weapons are alot easier to use than hand-to-hand or melee combat:

1. Character announces their intention to use a projectile weapon (the character must have a free action; and it must be that character's turn) and their target.
2. g.o.d. confirms the legitimacy of their attack and sets an index.
3. Character rolls the number of dice in their given skill, if the roll was successful then the target was hit (there are degrees of success, if they roll a critical (greater than half sixes) then they hit their target dead on, if they met the roll then they generally hit it, or they might hit the target in an extremety.
4. Damage is rolled for the weapon, the result is their damage total and handled under L3 damage rules (see Damage and Healing in L3).

   ---

   Time in L3

   Time in L3 is a crucial factor in the organization of the game. It truthfully is the framework that the game functions on. It may not be the most talk-worthy part of the game, but it does keep things together.

   Days - The highest division of time in L3 is days, which functions similarly to the way they function in the real world.

   Parts of Day - After days comes Parts of Day (PoD). There are six PoD to a day, three light and three dark (or, in winter, two light and four dark; vice versa for summer). Most non-battle functions occur per-PoD.

   Rounds - The next smallest division is rounds, which is loosely based around the similarly named battle function. A round is every character (player or non) taking an action. There is no actual order to a round, and truthfully characters can have more actions than others, depending on the activity of a character (a character sleeping will have one action, which is sleeping, while a character that is dancing and singing will have multiple actions per round).

   Actions - The smallest division of time in L3 is actions, which is pretty self-explanitory - any given action of a character is considered an action.

   ---

   Damage and Healing in L3

   
   top

CHARACTER CREATION

Enjoying L3 begins with the creation of a character. Character creation begins with an character idea. Ask your g.o.d. what kind of world your character will be playing in and then design a character you will enjoy playing in that world. Be creative! No one likes a person that makes the same character for every campaign.

After you have a character in mind grab a character sheet. The top section of your character sheet is all up to you (though it has to follow some reason. eg - a dwarf cannot be six and a half feet tall, a thief cannot have an alignment of 42). Talk to your g.o.d. and work with them to get your character trimmed to perfection.

You might recognize the titles on the left as your major stats. A player has 79 points to divide up among that far left column. No score can be under 3 or over 18. The average is 11. Having an 18 in a subject is normally not allowed unless your character has a firm reason in their history (eg - you can't have an 18 strength if your character doesn't actively do something to maintain an 18 strength).
After you have done that then go to the major scores section and fill in the rest of the scores section of your character sheet. After you have done this your g.o.d. will give you an amount of BASIC. An average character (a 'new character) is built with 100 BASIC (what would be considered level 1), an advanced character (one that has already learned skills and thus) may have 150 or 200 (a level 3-5 character).

Advantages

Advantages work hand in hand with Disadvantages to create a character that is more realistic (everyone has their strong points and short comings, these are apparent in the scores, but having advantages and disadvantages is much more fun). A player is given an amount of BASIC to work with. If they would like to choose advantages it requires an amount of BASIC. If they choose to take disadvantages, it yields an amount of BASIC.

Heightened Hearing - Character has better hearing than most. Gets a +6 perception modifier for checks involving hearing (eg - overhearing conversation, recognizing a whisper, etc).

Heightened sight - Character has better sight than most. Gets a +6 perception modifier for checks involving sight (eg - seeing in the dark, looking at something far away, noticing something minute, etc).

Heightened Smell - Character has better sense of smell than most. Gets a +6 perception modifier for checks involving smell (eg - noticing the smell of poison in food, recognizing someone in the dark, etc).

Heightened Taste - Character has better sense of taste than most. Gets a +6 perception modifier for checks involving taste (eg - ...yeah).

Heightened Touch - Character has better sense of touch than most. Gets a +6 perception modifier for checks involving touch (eg - judging weight, texture, quality of craftsmanship, etc).

Immunity - Character has a greater than normal immunity. Player gets +6 to all immunity rolls (eg - 'heavyweight' drinker, wine-taster, etc).

Innate Direction - Character can automatically tell which direction is North, which direction they entered a building from, etc.

Innate Familiarity - Character quickly gains familiarity with things (like walking into a fortress and knowing where the armory is by the layout of the fortress, or jumping into a helicopter and knowing how to start it by the layout of the buttons). Usually is associated with a knowledge base in the given area. Player must state what familiarity their character has.

Innate Mage - Character can learn elemental magic.

Innate Psychi - Character can learn psionic magic.

Iron Will - Character has an unwavering will. Character gets +6 modifier to all willpower rolls.

Luck - Character is extremely lucky. Can autopass 1 roll every day. At level 2 can autopass 1 roll every 3 PoD. At level 3 can autopass 1 roll every other PoD. At level 4 can autopass 1 roll every PoD. At level 5 can autopass 2 rolls every PoD.

Disadvantages

Disadvantages are more fun for the g.o.d. than they are for the player, but they do present themselves as interesting quirks that lead to interesting gameplay. Disadvantages grow worse as a character's mental stability decreases.

Avarice - Character is greedy. They assume what they find is their's. They do not share, and tend to be pack rats.

Berserk Syndrome - When angered the character goes into a blood frenzy that is close to impossible to calm. While in this frenzy a character has no sense of self control or sense for their own safety. They tend to fight without the thought of blocking and are on a total offensive streak.

Bi-Polar - Character suffers from massive mood swings, usually triggered by something minute (eg - someone raising their voice or contradicting them). Bi-polar syndrom is usually accompanied by gluttony.

Envy - Character is constantly wanting what other people have. This disadvantage runs hand in hand with kleptomania and avarice.

Fugue - When presented with a trauma or shock character "blacks-out," not remembering anything until the trauma passes. Character functions somewhat normally while under fugue, but has no memory of events.

Gimp - Player has a limp, missing limb, or other disfigurement. Scores reflect disability. Disadvantage is NOT effected by mental stability (duh).

Gluttony - Character comforts their guilt, depression, or insecurity by consuming things (eg - massive amounts of unnecessary spending, eating, drinking, or drugs).

Kleptomania - Character steals whenever given the chance, no matter what the situation. They sacrifice their wellbeing, security, and success to steal.

Lust - Is an avarice for sex or sexual contact. When presented with a sexual situation character has a -6 willpower modifier. As character's mental stability decreases the modifier grows greater. Eventually leads to fetishes, rape, or worse.

Megalomania - Character views everything as a compitition. They are sure of themselves and their superiority over people, regardless of their skill. Unsuccessful megalomaniacs are viewed as arrogent and egotistical. Successful megalomaniacs are dictators (eg - Napoleon, Hitler). Megalomaniacs with a high mental stability have limits for what they would do for power (eg - Napoleon); those with lower mental stabilities do not have this control (eg - Hitler).

Obsessive-Compulsive - Character softens their insecurities by focusing all of their attention on a signle thing until it is completed. They are a perfectionist, sacrificing themselves for their work (eg - an obsessive-compulsive chef may cut themselves while cooking and finish the meal before tending to their wounds). This can reflect in many things (eg - cleaning, arranging a chess board, art, or even killing).

Paranoia - Character that is paranoid believes that their misfortunes originate from an outside influence. They concoct vast and outlandish conspiricies to try to justify themselves. Paranoids have extremely rough social lives (any charisma check involving conspiracy has -6 modifier), eventually leads to severe mental disorders (eg - schizophrenia, split-personalities), etc).

Phobia - Character has a severe fear of something. When character comes in contact with that they have a willpower modifier of -6.

Pride - Character is overly egotistical and arrogent. Any criticism is viewed as a personal attack.

Schizophrenia - Character has a hard time distinguishing fantasy from reality (hehe). They have hallucinations and normally have troubles controlling their emotions.

Sloth - Character is overly lazy and has no initiative toward any action (eg - sleep until noon, don't get work done, etc. They tend to be pecimistic. Character gets a -6 will modifier for any actions involving effort.

Stubbornness - Character is overly opinionated and does not easily waver from their previous opinion (gets +6 willpower when involving opinions). This leads to disinterest in the opinions of others and dislike by other people (gets -6 charisma modifier).

Split-Personality - Character has two distinctly different personalities, a normal one, and one that surfaces in times of trauma (similar to fugue).

Unluck - Character is overly unlucky. g.o.d. can autofail rolls that they think would be amusing or otherwise frustrating to character. Follows same rules as luck, but with fails instead of passes.

Wrath - Character is violent and vengeful. They are usually agressive and never turn down a fight, especially if it is justified.

Using BASIC

After a player has chosen advantages and disadvantages then they choose the skills they want for their character and divide their BASIC among these skills and any scores that they would like to increase. See Character Development for instructions on how to increase skills and scores.

Starting Equipment

After a player has divided their BASIC then they choose their weapons, items, and equipment. G.o.d.s all do their distribution of items differently. Some will give a player an amount of coin to spend, others talk their players through it. See items for a full list of items, equipment, and weapons available.
top

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Increasing Scores

Learning Skills

Increasing Skills

top

SKILLS

Crafting Skills

Martial Skills

Weapon Skills

top

ELEMENTAL MAGIC

Elemental magic is truthfully a very complicated subject in L3 (as it has always been).

Elemental Spells

Following is a list of Elemental Spells.

!--SPELLS--
top

PSIONIC MAGIC

Psionic Spells

Follwoing is a list of Psionic Spells.

!-- SPELLS --
top

ITEMS

Weapons

Magical Items

Bracers of Strength
3,000-5,000�
Increase a persons strength by +1 - +3. Sub-stats increase differentially (whatever the difference is between normal sub-stat and new sub stats (eg - if a character has a strength of 15, their normal power is 12. Let's say that the character has worked alot on their power, so their power is 14. This character puts on bracers and it increases their strength to 16. The power for 16 is 13 which is 1 more than 12. So their power increases by 1 to end up at 15.)

Lazerus' Spheres
1,000,000-3,000,000�
Are the rarest magical items in Legions and the most powerful (next to a Prismatic Band). When spirit is put into one of Lazerus' Spheres it becomes maliable to any shape or size. When the spirit is removed the sphere keeps its shape. When caster is returned to the sphere it returns to its original shape (a sphere). If a mage channels their full caster into a sphere then it can be split into two equally powerful spheres (if a mage is wielding more than one sphere then they must release their hold on all but one of those spheres to be able to split that sphere). There are five original Lazerus' Spheres color coded to the elements: clear(spirit), blue (water), white (air), green (earth), and red (fire). Each of the spheres produces a corona-like aura when held up to or reflecting light.

Prismatic Band
1,000,000-3,000,000�
Give the wearer the ability to wield 1 element up to level V (rules regarding the use of caster and CP still aply). Character can have up to five, but must wear them all on one hand, one on each finger.

Projector, Minor
10,000-15,000�
Used to increase the amount of caster a mage can use. Does not increase CP. Mage is wielding caster "through" the projector (hence the name). Projectors come in any range of objects from swords to socks. Minor projectors increase caster for 10-15 points.

Projector, Major
15,000-25,000�
Same as minor projector but increases caster for 16-25 points.