Alternative Damage Systems

[Fidoric]

OK, I get it.
I think we should reduce the number of boxes as the severity increase.

[imported_Rasyr]

Ok, so how does this look?

The pips inside the boxes are what every creature and being has. The ones outside the box are equal to the character's Con bonus. So that a character with a +3 con is a bit tougher than one with a +1 Con. This isn't a lot of difference on the bruised end of things, but can make a difference on the Mortal Wound side of things (note that there is a maximum allowed on that end and in this instance Mortal does not mean "will kill" but "can possibly kill outright"

Then for the Damage Thresholds, it would be something like this:
31+      Death (no Save)
26-30   Mortal Injury   ----> Save vs. Con or Death
21-25   Critical Injury   ----> Must Make Save vs. Will or Flee Battle
16-20   Injured  ----> Must make Save vs. Will or Flee Battle
11-15   Stunned
6-10     Dazed
1-5       Bruised (no other effect)

The penalty to the left is applied if there is pip checked off inside the box, the penalty to the right is used if there is a pip checked outside the box or if the box is fully checked (in case of no pips outside the box. use only the highest penalty given (i.e. 2 Dazed and 1 Stun give a -3 penalty only)

If all of a given type of wound is marked off, then use the next more serious step. (i.e. if you have already marked off all of the Dazed pips, and receive another Dazed result, then you receive a Stun instead.

Healing -- each Wound level has its own healing rate -- first aid rolls can increase number of pips healed in the given time frame. bruising might need to be renamed "Fatigue" to reflect that it heals once you rest for a bit. Daze and Stun will both heal automatically at the end of the period (the round in which a wound is taken is not counted towards healing time).

This is still just a rough idea and may need further adjustments..

[imported_Witchking20k]

The Wound Threshold is basically a cinematic tool.  Its your characters natural resistance to damage.  So, it is based on Constitution.  Speed already reduces damage because it reduces attack rolls; therefore reducing the damage.

All damage would be figured normally- so, if an attack yields a Boon -then the Boon effects are calculated then Armour reduces the total damage.  The final total Hits is what you use to compare to your Wound Threshold.

So, attack roll of 28 vs. DEF of 16 = +12 (yields 1 Boon point).  Attacker is wielding a weapon that does +8 Damage.  The Boon is used to add +2 Damage (Strong Attack).  Therefore the total Damage is 12+8+2= 22.  The Defenders AR of 6 is subtracted= 22-6= +16.  Comparing this to the Defenders WT of 5 (below) this would yield a Injured -2 Penalty

16-20 Injured
11-15 Hurt -1
6-10 Dazed (-1 until next turn)
1-5 Bruised (no effect)

One aspect that you should consider is that I don't use HPs at all when i use this system....although you could.....and that I use a formula which is a Base + CON bonus.  I divide my bad guys into "Class" and adjust the Base up and down...here is an example:

Mighty 6+CON
Strong 5+CON
Tough 4+CON
Average 3+CON
Minion 2+CON
Vermin 1+CON

What this equates to is the party being able to quickly dispatch Vermin and Minions and having to be careful with the rest...This Damage System is what'll be worked into my Old School Hack I think.

[imported_Rasyr]

And it is cool and very interesting!!

But also realized over the weekend, that the variations that I am coming up (quite possibly with yours along side it) with might make for good articles in Libram Novus...

[imported_Witchking20k]

As you can probably tell from being one of the only people who has seen a good chunk of my game writing- I enjoy I wide variety of game styles, so, this means that I have played a lot of games and am always looking to incorporate aspects I like from certain games into others.

This is basically the damage system from classic d6 system tweaked for Novus.

[imported_Rasyr]

Yup, and it is a very cool concept....

I showed the Wound system to somebody else, and he was like "But I like and prefer hit points"

Now if I could only find a decent way of combining the two... hehehe....

[imported_Witchking20k]

You can run a separate HP system quite easily.  Use the below break down-

Hits Remaining    Effect
51-100%              +0
26-50%                -1 Dazed (Until Healed)
01-25%                -2 Dazed Until Healed)

Then, use the Wound Thresholds normally.  The threshold itself is not connected to your state of health- it is a parallel to it.  But, because the Dazed -1/-2 factor into your DEF you are already incurring penalties, which basically mean that foes that hit you do +1/+2 damage for you being too concussed to defend yourself properly.  You might want to make it a bit harder to Suffer serious injury or cap the penalties for a more "Heroic Scale"


So, a hero with 60 HP & a Threshold of 5 would look like this:

Hits Remaining  Status      Effect
31-60                    O            +0
16-30                    O            -1 Dazed (Until Healed)
01-15                    O            -2 Dazed Until Healed)

Wound Threshold
21-25   Wounded -3 (until Healed)
16-20   Injured -2 (until Healed)
11-15   Hurt    -1 (until Healed)
6-10     Dazed -1 (until Next Turn)
1-5       Bruised    (No Effect)

But, really, the mechanic that is important is that you can take 7 hits + be Dazed -1 by a single attack and get whittled down in HP by minions simultaneously.  This is the mechanic I use because it makes all foes "dangerous" while adding some sort of permanent consequence to combat too.  Players can heal up to stay above the 50% mark but with each attack run the risk of dropping closer and closer to penalties....

As a thought- using my proposed Saves, 3+CON+STR is probably a good built in Threshold...

[Fidoric]

I prefer a simple threshold system like Witchking describe rather than one where you have to fill boxes. The latter can quickly become boring if you have a large fight with many foes to track.
Regarding hit points, they are only a way to keep track of general health. That said, under the proposed Wound Threshold (WT) system, if you don't have HP, when is a combatant taken out ? You have to have a "sudden death" system and without HP, the only way to kill an opponent is to deliver a 5 boons wound. Maybe if someone has accrued more than his CO bonus (or twice that), he is basically incapacitated ?

[imported_Witchking20k]

In my original posts I believe I had Saves required to keep fighting beyond a -2 Penalty.  So, if you were Wounded -3 you would make a Save vs. Stamina or pass out.  If you were successful then you would need to make a Save vs. Will to continue fighting.

[imported_Rasyr]

Witchking20k's damage threshold system is very good, and does exactly what he is looking for it to do....

I, on the other hand, am looking for something slightly different, for options that I can drop into (or use as a replacement ) for the core Novus rules. Slightly different goals, but still compatible (I think) in the long run.

[imported_Witchking20k]

I think the real good part about this system, and the variations we have discussed, is that it is completely modular and only relies on existing stats. 

[imported_Rasyr]

To me that modularity is a good goal!!

[imported_Witchking20k]

I certainly agree.  If you write it with the intention of modularity then it can appeal to a lot more people.  For me, it gives me the chance to "port" in my favourite aspects of other games.....

[Fidoric]

I have found that playing with the rules is almost as fun as playing the game!

[Zut]

I don't know if it is relevant here (if not, please tell me), but I remember a cool rule of one of the Heroquest boardgame expansion.

In this game, the monsters usually had only one life point. But in this expansion, some big monsters (ogres? trolls?) had more life points. However, the GM didn't need to track down the remaining life of every monster, after all the minis were all identical. Instead, in the quest description, there was a "life track", a bar comprised of several boxes. Most of them were blanks, but others had a skull symbol, in random positions.

I.e.:
_ = empty box

 

_

_

_

_

_

So when a hero did enough damage to hit the big monster, the GM would cross one or several boxes, from left to right, independently of which monster received the damage. If on a particular attack the GM reaches a skull box, the monster died. I.e.: We have Hero1, Hero2, and Hero3; MonsterA, MonsterB, MonsterC and MonsterD (there should have as many skulls as there are monsters). Hero1 does 4 hits to MonsterA. Looking at the life track, 4 boxes are now crossed: X X X X _ Now Hero2 does 3 hits to MonsterB. The GM crosses 1 box and reaches a skull: the remaining damage is forgotten and MonsterB is dead. Yes, dead with only one strike. X X X X X Going on: Hero3 does 1 hit to MonsterC. X X X X X Hero1 does 2 hits on MonsterA. MonsterA still standing. X X X X X Hero2 goes to MonsterD and do (at least) 1 hit. MonsterD is dead. (Either MonsterB and MonsterD were weak, or Hero2 is really strong! X X X X X Etc. I think this system makes for very interesting combat situations and offers less bookeeping for the GM. OTOH, you can't have minuses related to how bad the monsters are wounded. Anyway, I always thought that it would be great with a horde of minions. Comments? Print Pages: 1 [2] « previous next » Firehawk Games » Forum » Firehawk Games RPG Products » Novus RPG » Alternative Damage Systems   SMF 2.0.19 | SMF © 2021, Simple Machines TinyPortal 2.2.2 © 2005-2022 | Jane by idesignSMF XHTML RSS WAP2 Page created in 0.156 seconds with 58 queries.