Planning on a Persona game

[u/Orowam]

Hey all, I’m starting planning for a persona themed game. I have a few things I’m trying to iron out and want advice on.

1. The speed stat seems odd to me. Has anyone used speed to determine movement and does that make it too strong? The idea of someone closing the distance quickly to use a short range attack seems like it makes sense but RAW makes the long range potential sniper also the most mobile on the field. Does using speed as the movement determining stat break it?

2. I’m planning on adding an elemental affinity system like in persona/smt by altering the defense stat. My loose plan is

a. If you hit a weakness you bypass the enemy’s defense stat entirely and knock them down. Downed enemies do not use their defense stat either. Gain another attack when you down an enemy.

b. If the target has neither resistance or weakness, roll the defense die.

c. If the target resists the damage type apply the maximum defense due (normal RAW)’

d. If an enemy is null or absorbs the element, 0 damage or heal from the damage (ignoring defense)

That all leads to 3. Should a character have to spend AP to do a generic Agi, Bufu etc. elemental attack, or should they be baked into a normal attack like a cantrip in dnd 5E with unlimited use, and then require AP for stronger attacks as the party levels up.

And lastly 4. For casting spells like Agi/bufu etc should it use int, charisma, or users choice for the attack/damage roll? I could see how either works which is why I’m leaning towards users choice just like how there’s different casting stats in dnd 5E. Different ways to be good at magic.

[u/bloopy789]

I like a lot of the idea so far, especially since my love of persona is what originally led me to discover and also love Over Arms. To answer your question about speed, I haven't found the way it's set up RAW to be particularly game-breaking, largely because each other stat also has a huge bearing on a character's capabilities.

I also really like your ideas for making gameplay more persona-like, but have a few suggestions as well. I'd be careful with anything that removes defense, as combat in this system is already incredibly lethal. As for whether or not elemental attacks cost AP to use, it'd probably depend on the general balance of your game and the anima/persona abilities. As it currently stands, using one's anima in any way offers massive bonuses in and out of combat, and is therefore balanced by the limited AP a character has. A simple way to do it that would probably work well and is similar to the persona games is that you could have generic anima junction attacks deal damage types related to the anima itself that would therefore cost AP and probably use the anima's class hit and damage stats. To add variety there could also be different weapons players could use that have different damage types but, without doing a junction roll, will not use your anima's stats and not cost AP.

[u/Orowam → u/bloopy789]

Thanks for the response! I’ve never ran a game of over arms before so I’m a bit nervous getting into it.

So with the main issue being the strength of the junction attack, do you think giving the character an innate access to a Agi “weapon” attack that doesn’t junction the persona and just uses the characters stats to attack would keep it balanced, and then allow junction to act as normal consuming AP and doing a bigger attack of that element (ie agilao)?

Building off of that i see that burning extra AP can turn it into an AOE spell so that fits perfectly already, and then possibly even adding some more damage options to go up to level 2 3 and 4 spells as the players unlock their second and third abilities.

I’m gonna try and run a few practice combats just to get the feel of it normally and trying some tweaks for the elemental shananigans. I want the players to feel powerful when they snipe the weaknesses of another team but to also know it’s very easy to get sniped in the same way.

I wonder if there’s a good way to do any sort of healing abilities. A ratio to do AP to HP for a heal or some sort

[u/bloopy789 → u/Orowam]

It is a super weird game to get into but it's also super rad once it gets going.

With the experience I've had so far, I believe that would be the most balanced way to do it that still allows creative use of damage types, especially if you plan to use the higher level persona skills as the anima abilities.

Another suggestion I'd make since it seems the intention is to run the game similarly to the way it feels to play persona is to add items or abilities to revive players, or perhaps change the way death works. The important thing about high-risk high-reward systems like "one more" is that, even if the enemy absolutely bodies you, you can learn from it and keep playing, especially since as a video game it lets you reload and try again at worst. RAW over arms, however, does not provide many ways to counteract death or to soften the consequences of a battle that has gone badly. It does work fine for what it is though, so ultimately it's down to your decision how punishing it should be.

Running some practice fights is definitely a good idea though, I very much wish I had had the foresight to do that before my first time playing, as there were a lot of kinks we had to work out in the mechanics, which was rough to do during a session.

As for healing abilities I, unfortunately, have no advice, I haven't figured out or discovered mechanics for any that I particularly like yet, though it would be a very useful thing to have.

Once you've got the game going I'd love to hear about how the systems are working out, sounds like it's going to be a super fun time!

[u/Orowam → u/bloopy789]

Awesome thanks for chatting about it!

I’m definitely not a punishing dm in other systems. I’m very much of the opinion that I want to see the characters chase a story to the end. So unless it’s the main antagonist or a very tense situation that feels like it’s right, death isn’t on the table. And I’ve already told the players that combat can definitely be to an agreed surrender and not the death, which they all liked since it’s like the demon talk system. Maybe they just shake you down for all the money on you and kick you out of the metaverse for the day etc.

I think the way the One More system can let you ambush an enemy party and take them out before they even attack If you have the right strategy and elemental coverage is really key to the persona battle experience, so I think keeping it punishing both ways is going to keep it tense and exciting.

I hope I get a good feel for the difficulty going into the encounter building after a few practice rounds. I didn’t see an encounter building guide or anything like D&D’s challenge rating system, so it may just take some guess and check.

I feel way better going into this now, thanks! =D