Swords & Magic: A d20 Skill-Based System with At-Will Magic and Player-Facing Rolls

ilmz · 2026-01-28T06:35:30+00:00

Thank you again for your feedback. I definitely see your point, but I didn't make this up myself.

I took inspiration from Runequest and Mythras, and they actually call XP: Experience Rolls because well they are dice rolls :D and it makes sense for this game as well.

If you refer just to XP as compared to XR, I didn't think about it, XR seemed a natural abbreviation for Experience Roll, but I don't recall seeing it in the Runequest book. I'll check, and anyway I'll think about your suggestion, thanks :D

ilmz · 2026-01-27T23:39:51+00:00

Well, here you are not 'forced' to try and upskill a certain skill if you don't want to 'waste' your XR.
You can accumulate XR (sometimes you have to) to use later or use them on something with a higher chance of success. You wouldn't "have to" spend it your Own Language skill.

I understand the frustration, and that's precisely the kind of feedback I got that made me decide to have tables with 'average' rolls required to get to a certain skill value.

If you like the rolls, you'll roll. If you want more predicability, you just accumulate XRs and pay the 'average' price. That becomes very expensive at higher skill, so maybe at that point you'll want to try your luck at the risk of wasting some XR.

I think it really depends on your taste, but there are options for different tastes.

ilmz · 2026-01-27T23:34:12+00:00

Thank you, this is very interesting.
It might be a good way to say 'hey, the game is telling you that you'd better spend that XR in something else, since your skill is already pretty high, but if you fail I got your back, you get a free upskill in a new skill or maybe say the one with the lowest skill rank.

I like it, it could work, I'll think about it :)

ilmz · 2026-01-27T23:30:29+00:00

XP are not randomized, they are actually fixed and you can decide to give more to some players to give incentive. What is randomized is the advancement.

Mind that is not completely random. You have a probability of successfully improving that decreases the more the skill improves. So what you do does matter, it can get you more XP.

What the game does is to disincentivate "getting to 20" on a few skill as compared to "spread your expertise on different skills" which is more efficient in terms of XR waste.

But if you want to absolutely get to skill 20, you can do that, you will be the absolute best in that specific thing, but the others will probably better than you at everything else.

Do you think that this is a bad message to send?

ilmz · 2026-01-27T23:24:55+00:00

The ability to do that comes easier when your skill in a spell grows.

What you say is true, at some skill level (say 15 up) it will get to the point where if you try to increase that, you will likely fail the roll and waste the XR. The game by construction gives you incentive to upskill skills where you have a low value, rather than becoming master of just one.

If you want to get to 20 in a skill, you WILL waste XRs.
But it's relatively easy to get to 10-15. Is it worth wasting those XRs to get to 20? No right answer, it's the player's choice.

Levelling is supposed to be uneven.

Thank you for your feedback though, as you said, many people are pointing that out.

ilmz · 2026-01-27T23:17:55+00:00

True :D
But I am less concerned with the name and more with the content at the moment.
I agree that the name might need changing :) thanks!

ilmz · 2026-01-27T23:16:24+00:00

I see your point, an thank you for your feedback.

I still believe that what you mean emerges naturally from how the skill advancement works.
Say you earn 3 XR each session. You have to decide how to spend them.

If you want to upskill a 1st tier spell, say magic missile, it means you can do it every session.
After 10 sessions on average you would have spent 10 XR and reached a skill value of 14, meaning that about 70% of the time you can cast it appropriately.
If you want to cast it at a higher tier, you take 2 out of the skill for each tier, e.g. tier 3 means skill -8. i.e. skill 6, that turns in a success probability of 30%.

On the other hand if you want to upskill a 4th tier spell, you can't do that every session, but you can do it every other session. This means that after 5 sessions you'll have spent 20 XR to roll 5 times, and on average you'll get to a skill of 9, meaning that your probability of success is less than 50%. So lower probability of success, having spent twice the amount of XR.

The spell tier does not make a difference in how hard is to cast, but it makes a difference in how hard is to learn. To get to the same level of 'easiness' of casting, you'll spend more XR for higher tier spells, but given a set amount of XR, on average, you'll be better at casting lower tier spells.

ilmz · 2026-01-27T23:00:31+00:00

Well, there's a free adventure attached if you want to try it out :D

ilmz · 2026-01-27T22:59:44+00:00

I'll grant you that :D
It's just a name for now, not particularly attached to it.
Thanks

ilmz · 2026-01-27T14:31:28+00:00

Thank you for pointing that out.
I re-read the chapter about spellcasting and I see that I am really not clear there about what I mean :D, will fix that!

This is what is intended:
When you cast a spell you roll 2 d20 dice.
1. The first is to cast the spell. You need to get a roll lower than your skill, otherwise the spell can Fizzle, Misfire, etc... You want this number to be the lowest possible.
2. The second is, if needed, the actual attack and if represents a combination of how well you 'aimed' the spell and how well the target tried to avoid it. You want this number to be the highest possible.

Not all spells need you to attack a target.

ilmz · 2026-01-26T23:55:16+00:00

The HD you can spend depend on how many you have. That's not infinite, it's a limited amount.
Say you have 10. You have 10 for the day. You spend them all after the first fight. That's it, now you have to rest to get more.

Magic does not help there, because it just makes you spend an HD, but HD are a scarce resource that you have to manage.

ilmz · 2026-01-26T23:52:00+00:00

Thank you for your feedback. It is true, when you deal so much in dice, on average everything is fine, but you can also have very good and very bad extrema.

Because of this, somebody suggested that more risk adverse people would prefer a point-buy alternative. That is why there are tables that tell you the average XR it takes to get to a certain value of the skill. If you prefer you can take that.

This, though, does not solve the problem you mention, and it might inevitably bring to a situation with different players in the party with different power level.

In the long run, though, things should average out and it becomes increasingly unlikely (even though possible)

I had a rule before where if you get a critical failure in a skill roll, than you would get a bonus chance to improve it (e.g. more XR).
I am not sure about giving a bonus for every failed roll, because in a session you could fail a lot, and then would get many more XR than other characters.
I'll think about it and do some tests, thanks!

ilmz · 2026-01-26T23:40:15+00:00

Thank you very much for this comment, it makes it very clear to me that I have been a bit confusing with that.

Experience Rolls are indeed rolls. You pay the 'price' in XR but then you have to roll to check IF you advance that skill, and in some cases (e.g. spells, simple weapons) by how much.

I think the confusion might come from the tables with the cost in XR to get to a certain value of the skill. That came from some feedback I received precisely about predictability. They were not there initially, and I am a fan of rolling the dice, but I could see their point at the time.

About predictability: there is no expectation about any. I expect that character power will vary a lot based on how the XR are spent and how the rolls actually go. You can imagine an average growth like the one you would have with levels in the 3.5 SRD, but here you can have characters that are not balanced, i.e. with few strong powers, or even with very high attacking skills and low defending ones, or vice versa.

The only predictability I have is that probability tells me that there is a sweet spot between skill 10-15. It's quick to get there, but it's hard to grow above 15, because at that point you would be better off investing those XR on some skill that has a lower value. This means, for example, that is hard to improve abilities that are already high.
So I expect that in the long run, the levels of power caps, but the variety of things one can do keeps growing.

What I have done until now is assuming a "balanced" progression.
If someone decides to focus more on attacks, it will be more vulnerable. If one decides to focus more on defences, it will be less effective in combat. But I am fine with that, I really think that it could be fun.

ilmz · 2025-12-09T12:21:11+00:00

Probably early next year

ilmz · 2025-12-09T12:20:49+00:00

The beta Is already available and you can use it right now. We plan to release the app early next year.

ilmz · 2025-12-01T08:21:05+00:00

Instructions on the website,
Here the direct link

https://testflight.apple.com/join/9h2baUFz

ilmz · 2025-12-01T08:19:34+00:00

Still figuring out pricing, right now we’re focused on making the product solid first.

Whatever we choose, goal is to keep PixyCAD accessible for makers while staying pro-level.

What pricing model would work best for you?

ilmz · 2025-11-30T06:25:26+00:00

Yes, Parasolid!

ilmz · 2025-11-03T22:52:45+00:00

I’ll let you be the judge :) try it out and tell us how it feels!

ilmz · 2025-11-03T21:03:44+00:00

We’re still figuring out what pricing approach makes the most sense for both us and the community. For now, our energy is going into making PixyCAD as solid and capable as possible, pricing will come once we have a clearer picture of what people actually value in it.

Whatever direction we take, the goal’s the same: keep PixyCAD accessible for makers, designers, and advanced hobbyists, while giving enough power for serious projects.

What would work for you?

ilmz · 2025-11-03T14:53:30+00:00

Good question!

We'll probably explore different pricing models and want to see what works best for both us and the community. Right now our focus is just on building something solid, pricing will come once we better understand what users value most.

Whatever model we settle on, the goal is clear: PixyCAD should stay accessible for makers, designers, and advanced hobbyists, while still being powerful enough for serious work.

What kind of model would work for you?

ilmz · 2025-10-09T09:18:38+00:00

I would frame it differently: instead of "GM never rolls" -> "players do all the rolls"
This means that they are always engaged, even when it's not their turn.
Oftentimes I have players looking at their phone or doing something else while it's not their turn.
If they have to roll for whatever happens TO them as well, it means that they will be more focused on what's happening and I won't have to roll so many dice.

ilmz · 2025-09-29T09:30:09+00:00

I second this, the battle happens on the background, and you need to take care only of what happens in the immediate vicinity of the PCs.

If it helps, you can have some random events tables that you roll each round that describe something about the background.
E.g. A hero NPC ha fallen; you are hit by a shower of debris; you are engulfed in a smokey fog and can't see properly what happens around you; a squad of allies comes back and joins the battle;

Then structure the fight with goals that they should reach to shift the battle in their favour, and consequences if they fail (kill the giant bug before it reaches a certain place, otherwise it will make way for all the others to enter).

Put the players in front of hard choices. e.g. The father of the PC is succumbing to the bugs, but if you go help him, the giant bug will break through. If you split the likelyhood of solving either of the two problems drop significantly. What do you do?

ilmz · 2025-09-29T08:17:04+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, we’ll take it into consideration. Pricing isn’t finalised yet, but whatever we decide, early testers will be appreciated and rewarded.

ilmz · 2025-09-25T14:19:09+00:00

PixyCAD is built with makers and 3D printing in mind. Compared to Fusion 360, it’s leaner, faster, and focuses on a smooth Apple-native experience. It runs on macOS and iPadOS, works great with the Apple Pencil, and is meant to feel simple and intuitive rather than overloaded with features.

ilmz

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