Destiny Machinist (Obsolete System)

Obsolete System
This page is dedicated to the old, proposed system of destiny machinist. A sleeker system is proposed here.

Characters
The characters of this game are based off the Sauh'psian mythos, prominently featuring the Knights of the Round. Character sheets here.

Game System
The game system is essentially similar to most traditional videogame RPGs - options are shown for the player to pick from, and once their decision is made, they watch the result of performing such actions. The point of a game is to reduce your opponent's health to zero before he can do the same to you.

It differs from this with the inclusion of the Destiny Stack system, as well as Fate Potencies, or simply Potencies, as well as the use of range to determine whether attacks can hit.

Important Terms

 * Player - Participant in the game. This also translates to the character and vice versa.
 * Health - The Life/Vitality of a character. Reducing this to zero means the character can no longer fight and loses the match.
 * Max Health - A character's health cannot be more than this amount. The health at the start of the match.
 * Energy - Stamina/Chi/Ammunition. The ability to utilize actions. With this at zero, your character is essentially an impotent, sitting duck.
 * Max Energy - Same as Max Health, A character's energy cannot be more than this amount. The energy at the start of the match.
 * Destiny Stack - A deck of tarot cards shared by all players of the game. When cards are drawn from this stack, they are called potencies. This is shuffled every start of the turn.
 * Potency/Fate Potency - These are tarot cards being used for play, i.e. tarot cards not in the Destiny Stack. Refers to tarot cards held by each player. If still in hand, not spent nor used as auspices, they are called 'unused' potencies.
 * Ability - The effect produced by an action or an artifact.
 * Potency Threshold - a numerical lower limit on how much potencies one can hold. Characters start with potencies equal to this value. If at draw phase, they have less potencies than this value, they draw until they have a hand equal to the threshold. If not, they simply draw one more card.
 * Potency Spending/Expenditure - The use of a potency to activate an ability. It is removed from your hand, placed on the table, and put back into the destiny stack at the end of turn.
 * Energy Spending/Expenditure - The use of energy to activate an ability. Simply tick off a box or take away a token, whatever style you choose to represent it.
 * Potency Auspice/ Auspices - These are potencies used for their innate powers rather than energy sources for abilities. Can be utilized by each player only once per turn.
 * Potency Affinities/ True Affinities - Affinities are powerful character-specific abilities that require specific numerical values or specific potencies to activate. The latter produces more powerful results, as it activates the Auspice ability of the Specific Potency requirement in the same action.
 * Range - How far you are from your opponent/s. This is defined by a single number, shared by both combatants. This number represents how much (standard) move actions are needed to reach melee range, where both characters are literally standing next to each other.
 * Action - What your character does during a turn. Normally, only one action can be performed per turn, unless specific Artifacts or characters use powerful abilities.
 * Attack - An ability that inflicts damage or harms the opponent. This can mean Energy, Health, or even Potencies.
 * Defense - An ability that mitigates or avoids damage done by attacks.
 * Recharge - An ability that allows you to restore health, energy or even potency.
 * Moving - A character's ability to change his location and the range between combatants, as a way of avoiding attacks or planning future actions.
 * Ability Cost - The Potency and Energy expenditure needed to activate an ability.

Game System
First, each player must select a character. (or design one, but I haven't designed character creation yet) Both Players start at Range 2, away from each other by two spaces. They have energy and life equal to their max life and max health. Then they go through the phases:

I. Inscrutable - Shuffling Phase
The Destiny Stack is shuffled. Other abilities may occur during this phase that may alter the manner of shuffling, etc.

II. Omens - Draw Phase
If they possess less potency than their threshold, players draw cards from the Destiny Stack until they meet the number. If not, they simply draw one card.

III. Awaken - Artifact Potencies Phase
Both Players select an artifact potency to use this turn, and reveal it. They activate according to what's written on their descriptions. If nothing is indicated, they activate at this phase.

IV. Definition - Main/Decision Phase
Players decide what action to use from their character sheet, taking into consideration whether they can meet the expenditures or not. These decisions are forwarded to an arbiter. In the case of the video game, this is combined with the next phase, as it is easier to hide such decisions/expenditures from the opponent.

V. Manifesting - Expenditure Phase
Both Players present the Potencies spent to trigger their actions/abilities, and note the changes in their energy stat. The potencies are simply left on the table until the end of turn. Both Decisions are revealed.

VI. Violent - Combat Phase
The actions occur at this point, in the following order:
 * 1) All movements occur first: Determine range by adding (when someone moves close) and subtracting (when someone moves far) this is now the current range.
 * 2) Afterward, determine if both actions work at this range. If an action has 'none' or 'all range' they always work. If the action cannot work at the current range, none of its (non-move) effects occur.
 * 3) Determine what damage is dealt to each character. This only counts for attacks.
 * 4) Determine if defenses reduce damage. Defenses must match the attack type. Health defense deflects health damage, etc.
 * 5) Recharge abilities always occur last. Note, however, that there is no minimum health.

VII. Revelations - End Phase
After combat phase, all spent potencies are placed on the destiny stack. If a player's health is zero or below, he loses.

Return to shuffle phase.

Auspice Potencies List
Every Potency can be utilized as an Artifact Potency, a once-per-turn ability separate from a Knight's action. Doing so returns it to the Destiny Stack, just like normally spent Potencies.

However, some abilities indicate when the effect occurs - if not, it is assumed to all occur at the beginning of combat. Since certain abilities may occur all at the same time and cause some confusion, the numerical values of the card indicate what comes first. So for instance, a person used high priestess (2) and his opponent used Star (17) below, the top-deck viewing abilities of the hierophant occur first, before the stars' drawing ability occurs. This almost exclusively applies to drawing/viewing abilities - for everything else, like numerical bonuses, the order of events is irrelevant (or already specified with specific abilities)

In the case of Pages from the minor arcana, the order is pentacles, swords, wands then cups.

Minor Arcana
Minor Arcana are the most numerous type of card that can be drawn, and thus have a simple format:

Numbers, from Ace to tens involve a numerical bonus. Pages, which involve drawing cards. Knights, which involve movement. Queens, which involve using abilities twice. Kings, which allow two different abilities to be used in a turn.

Cups
Numbers : Gain <+Number> Health

Page : Draw a Card, Health Recharge Abilities this turn give a +10 Health bonus.

Knight : If you move this turn, you may utilize a Health Recharge Ability with a +10 Health Bonus.

Queen : You may use a Health Recharge Ability twice, each instance with a +10 Health bonus.

King : If you utilize a Health Recharge Ability this turn, you have a +10 Health bonus, and you may perform an additional action.

Wands
Numbers : Gain <+Number> Energy.

Page : Draw a Card, Energy Recharge Abilities this turn give a +10 Energy bonus.

Knight : If you move this turn, you may utilize a Energy Recharge Ability with a +10 Energy Bonus.

Queen : You may use a Energy Recharge Ability twice, each instance with a +10 Energy bonus.

King : If you utilize a Energy Recharge Ability this turn, you have a +10 Energy bonus, and you may perform an additional action.

Pentacles
Numbers : Gain <+Number> Defense

Page : Draw a Card, Defend Abilities this turn have a +10 bonus.

Knight : If you move this turn, you may utilize a Defend ability with a +10 bonus.

Queen : You may use a Defend Ability twice, each with a +10 bonus.

King : If you use a Defend Ability this turn, it has +10 bonus, and you may perform another action.

Swords
Numbers : Gain <+Number> Attack.

Page : Draw a Card, Attack Abilities this turn have a +10 bonus.

Knight : If you move this turn, you may utilize an Attack Ability with a +10 bonus.

Queen : You may use an Attack Ability twice, each with a +10 bonus.

King : If you use an Attack Ability this turn, it has +10 bonus, and you may perform another action.

Major Arcana
The Major Arcana each have their own unique abilities, which usually determine the ultimate course of a battle when used wisely. They also contain numerical values higher than ten, which allows for easier (subjective) achievement of the powerful affinities/true affinities.

0 FOOL
Upon entering combat, search the Destiny Stack for a desired card and add it to your unused potencies. If the desired card is not in the Destiny Stack, this potency is spent anyway and does nothing.

I MAGICIAN
This turn, your Potency expenditure costs are lessened by one, to a minimum of one. If used for true affinities, they already have naturally reduced costs, and this does not add anything.

II HIGH PRIESTESS
Look at the two top cards of the Destiny Stack. You may put any of these aside or leave them on the destiny stack to be shuffled. The 2 cards put aside are put on top of the stack at the start of the next Omens.

III EMPRESS
All Damage done to you this turn is halved. (after accounting for bonuses due to artifact potencies) This includes damage done outside combat.

IIII EMPEROR
All your opponents' Defense Values this turn are halved. (after accounting for bonuses due to artifact potencies) This negates the Empress' outside combat defense.

V HIEROPHANT
Opponents reveal their unused potencies at the moment of activation.

VI LOVERS
No Damage is dealt in combat.

VII CHARIOT
All damage in combat is doubled this turn.

VIII JUSTICE
Upon entering combat, the player with the most amount of health has a defense value of zero this turn.

VIIII HERMIT
Abilities and Artifact Potencies cannot affect your unused potencies this turn. (Expenditure for your skills and your artifact potencies still count.)

X WHEEL OF FORTUNE
All players discard their unused potencies, then draw a new card for each potency they discarded in this way.

XI STRENGTH
Double the numerical effect/s of your abilities this turn. i.e. If you would deal ten damage, deal twenty. If you would heal 5, you heal 10, etc. (Expenditures do not count.)

XII HANGED MAN
All Potencies spent/discarded this turn do not return to the Destiny Stack until the end of the game, including this card. They are simply removed from the game.

XIII DEATH
All opponents' Artifact Potencies do nothing this turn.

XIIII TEMPERANCE
All players' remaining health, energy and potencies become equal to the least amount of health, energy and potencies among all players. Players may decide which potencies to discard for this purpose.

XV DEVIL
All range-changing/move abilities do not work this turn.

XVI TOWER
All players' health points, energy, and potencies are reduced to one. Players may decide which potencies to discard for this purpose.

XVII STAR
After combat, draw cards until you fill your Potency Threshold. If already filled, draw a new card.

XVIII MOON
The Destiny Stack cannot be utilized, modified or affected in any way, from the beginning of main phase until end of turn. (No drawing, no revealing, etc)

XVIIII SUN
At the end of turn, all spent Potencies that have not yet returned to the Destiny Stack are returned to their respective owner's hands.

XX JUDGEMENT
Shuffle the Destiny Stack, reveal the top card, then add it to your unused Potencies.

XXI THE WORLD
Restart the game. (All lives / energy are returned to maximum values, discard all unused potencies, and return all cards to Destiny stack. Both Players draw until they reach their Potency threshold.) The World is removed from the game.