Fighter level-up table for a quantum Borg
I have this idea of making a Mörk Borg hack more suited to commonplace medieval fantasy adventuring, from old D&D modules to the more modern adventures and expansion books. It's not like they can't be run with the raw Mörk Borg ruleset, since it's very simple and adaptable, I just feel like it would be more appropriate to have some of the mechanic and playstyle conventions of these fantasies baked into the rules. An imaginary ruleset that is Borgly simple and streamlined while also fulfilling some degree of renaissance-hero-power-fantasy.
At the same time, I think regular D&D progression is quite boring. I don't care for the silly list of things that happens in every single Fighter's life as long as they keep gathering gold or killing things, so when I stumbled upon Rise Up Comus's Dwarf Level-Up table I thought it was a rather elegant solution for my woes. Here's what I came up with, trying to mix up tropes from different martial archetypes but trying to keep everything... mainstream-y...?
| d20 | MÖRKLY BORGFUL FIGHTER LEVEL-UP |
|---|---|
| 1 | AURA FARMER: You may rip away your clothes to reduce the DR of your next STR test by 2. |
| 2 | ARMOR WEARER: You suffer armor penalties from one tier below the one you are currently wearing. |
| 3 | DRUNKEN STRIKER: While intensely innebriated, MELEE tests in combat have DR-2. |
| 4 | DUAL WIELDER: While wielding weapons in both hands, DEFENCE tests have DR-2. |
| 5 | GREAT GRAPPLER: Tests to grab or maintain a hold on someone have DR-2. |
| 6 | HAND THROWER: Unarmed attacks deal d6 damage. |
| 7 | HORSE MASTER: While riding a mount, you count as having tier 2 armor, without the AGI downside. |
| 8 | LETHAL IMPROVISER: In your hands, things that really shouldn't be weapons deal d6 damage. |
| 9 | ODD LIKER: While outnumbered in combat, DEFENCE tests have DR-2. |
| 10 | POWER LIFTER: On a successful STR test, you can always lift something up, even if if not by much. |
| 11 | PROPER DUELIST: When fighting an opponent one-on-one, MELEE and DEFENCE tests have DR-2. |
| 12 | QUIVER BEFOULER: Wrapping your quiver with a Scroll makes the arrow charged with the Power within, casting it where it lands by succeeding on a Power test. |
| 13 | SHARP SHOOTER: DR-2 on RANGED tests. |
| 14 | SHIELD BEARER: Once per combat, you may use you shield to ignore all damage from one attack without breaking. |
| 15 | SKINCARE DENIER: Being without armor counts as having tier 2 armor, without the AGI downside. |
| 16 | STRENGTH DISPLAYER: When trying to intimidate someone with your physical prowess, either instantly succeed or test with DR-2. |
| 17 | TACTICAL SUGGESTER: You may spend a combat round ordering an ally to do something, giving their action DR-2 if they follow through. |
| 18 | WEAKNESS SPOTTER: With a successful PRE DR-2 test, you may ignore a foe's armor this combat. |
| 19 | VIBE BRAWLER: You can reduce a Melee attack's damage die by one step to use it as a Ranged attack that reaches about a dungeon room's distance. |
| 20 | VIOLENT CASTER: You may roll adding STR instead of PRE for you morning Power count. |
I'm not sure how exactly I would hack this in. Maybe use the normal level-up procedure on even levels and roll on this table on the odd ones? Always roll and switch to the regular level up on repeats? In any case, I kept the "adding or subtracting 2 from the DR" thing from the book and, in proper NSR fashion, didn't think too much about balance. You can probably find unfun corner-cases and break most of these, but that's not the kind of game I like to play.
Maybe I'll do the other classes later! I think some of these could be reused with flavor changes, but non-fighter archetypes would probably get a lot more non-combat skills.
anb
Links: Josh's Dwarf Level-Up table, Mörk Borg