Re: Re: Novus 2.0 tidbits -- Hits & Wounds

[imported_Rasyr]

Here is another area where there have been changes......

Hit Points & Wounds
When a character is attacked, he takes damage. This damage is subtracted from his Hits on his character sheet. In addition to his Hits, there are a few other types of damage that he can receive.

Before any hits are marked on the character sheet, the total of all hits dealt to the character from the attack will have the character's Armor Rating subtracted from it. Refer to p.xx in the Combat section for more information.

To determine the starting values or thresholds for the various sub-sections of the Damage Tracking section, use the following guidelines:

Hits: This value represents how many hits of damage your character can take before going unconscious. Damage that is removed from Hits is sometimes referred to as Bruising or Fatigue, depending upon the source. When a character casts a spell, he takes Fatigue, unless he rolls exceptionally well, and that Fatigue is subtracted from hit Hits.

Every Race has its own number of Base Hits. To this you add a number equal to your character's Stamina plus any hits gained through Training Path abilities or Talents. The total goes on the line to the left of the box.

Minor Wounds: This is the total number of Minor Wounds that a character can receive before he is unconscious. It is a value that is equal to the character's Constitution Stat.

If a character has received one or more Minor Wounds, he receives a -1 modifier to all actions for each Minor Wound received. Minor Wounds can be received even if a character still has Hits left.

Major Wounds: This is the total number of Major Wounds that a character may receive before he is unconscious. It is a value equal to the character's Constitution Stat minus 1. A character can never have less than 1 Major Wound starting out, so if Con -1 is equal to zero or less, this would still be a 1.

If a character has received one or more Major Wounds, he receives a -2 modifier to all actions for each Major Wound received. Major Wounds can be received even if a character still has Hits or Minor Wounds left.

Dire Wounds: This is the total number of Dire Wounds that a character may receive before he is dead. It is a value equal to the character's Constitution Stat minus 2. A character can never have less than 1 Dire Wound starting out, so if Con -2 is equal to zero or less, this would still be a 1.

If a character has received one or more Dire Wounds, he receives a -3 modifier to all actions for each Dire Wound received. Dire Wounds can be received even if a character still has Hits or Minor or Major Wounds left.

Penalties from Wounds: Should a character receive a -10 or greater penalty from Wounds, he must make a Save vs. Stamina or be rendered unconscious for 1 minute for each point that the Save is failed by. The TN of the Save is increased by 1 for each point of penalty greater than -10 (i.e. a -12 increases TN of Save from 15 to 17). Should the penalty be equal to or greater than -20, then the character will fall unconscious without a Save. The character will then remain unconscious until the Penalty drops below -20.

Dazed: A character has a Dazed Threshold equal to his Con + 4. Should the character receive a number of hits equal to or greater than his Dazed Threshold, he will be Dazed for 1 round. The only time a character would not be Dazed from the Hits received in a single attack is if it Stunned him instead.

While Dazed, the character is limited to no more than a single Half Action and a single Snap Action for the round.

Stuns: Should a character take a number of Hits from a single attack that is equal to or greater than his Stamina +4, he will be Stunned for 1 round. While Stunned, the character may only perform those actions listed as Abort Actions.

It is possible, unlikely but still possible, that a character's Stun Threshold is lower than his Dazed Threshold. In such rare instances, the character will not be Dazed from Hits taken, instead going straight to Stunned. This issue with the Thresholds would have no impact on Daze or Stun received from Boons.

[Trentin Bergeron]

I have a copy of version 11, and the number of procedures to determine damage seems a little... heavy. Not complex per se, but a lot of choices. IME players can easily get analysis paralysis with all these choices.

Is that still how damage works?

[imported_Rasyr]

At the moment, yes.

Suggestions and recommendations welcome.

[imported_Rasyr]

Just realized that the character sheet does not include Staggered on there (for Dazed, Staggered, Stunned, the three conditions that limit the type of actions that may be performed), I think that I will need to include that.

I have a copy of version 11, and the number of procedures to determine damage seems a little... heavy. Not complex per se, but a lot of choices. IME players can easily get analysis paralysis with all these choices.

Is that still how damage works?

Are you referring to players making the choice of what type of damage to do? Should I make that less optional, and more automatic? (i.e.if you do 12 hits, that actually translates to 2 Hits, and 1 Minor Wound), unless a player is intentionally trying to subdue, in which case, it is all Hits, and no Wounds?

I am referring to the Alternative Damage section on page 77 (where the player can choose to swap hits for other types of damage).

[kenbert]

Just realized that the character sheet does not include Staggered on there (for Dazed, Staggered, Stunned, the three conditions that limit the type of actions that may be performed), I think that I will need to include that.

Could we see what the new character sheet looks like?

[imported_Rasyr]

sure

[kenbert]

sure

Awesome, thanks   Interesting tidbits of new information on the sheet.

[Trentin Bergeron]

...

Are you referring to players making the choice of what type of damage to do? ...

Yes. That seems overly complicated. I would love to see some tables that apply damage based on attack type (ballistic, bludgeoning, slashing, piercing, etc.) that assign damage based on the result. Not weapon specific tables and not any cute descriptive text, just a "if I use a weapon with this type of damage, and I roll this well, what damage do I do" kind of a reference.

[Trentin Bergeron]

I'm really fuzzy on how damage actually works. Do hits overflow into minor --> major --> dire? In the playtest draft it mentions multiples that = wounds. So, do you just use the highest divisor?

[imported_Rasyr]

...

Are you referring to players making the choice of what type of damage to do? ...

Yes. That seems overly complicated. I would love to see some tables that apply damage based on attack type (ballistic, bludgeoning, slashing, piercing, etc.) that assign damage based on the result. Not weapon specific tables and not any cute descriptive text, just a "if I use a weapon with this type of damage, and I roll this well, what damage do I do" kind of a reference.

Interesting idea.

I'm really fuzzy on how damage actually works. Do hits overflow into minor --> major --> dire? In the playtest draft it mentions multiples that = wounds. So, do you just use the highest divisor?

The current rules are basically player's choice. You do xx hits, so you can exchange some for y or some for z, etc..

One thing that you previous comments had me thinking about, since weapons all basically do a range of damage (DR to (3x DR)), was creating a small table that said "if you do a total of x hits, you do this damage, etc...

I like the suggestion of changing missile weapons to be Ballistic (or perhaps LSB, Low Speed Ballistic, to reflect bows and such, and HSB, High Speed Ballistic for slug throwers (i.e. guns), to be added later on).

What is hilarious is that by putting it on a table, it starts looking like a crit table....

[Trentin Bergeron]

...

I like the suggestion of changing missile weapons to be Ballistic (or perhaps LSB, Low Speed Ballistic, to reflect bows and such, and HSB, High Speed Ballistic for slug throwers (i.e. guns), to be added later on).

What is hilarious is that by putting it on a table, it starts looking like a crit table....

I really like LSB and HSB split.

It is funny they won't look exactly like "critical tables" however. More like "speed up the math" tables.

[imported_Rasyr]

Wonder if I should have listings like

5 Hits, 1 Dz OR 2 Hits, 1 Stun

Thus allowing for some choices overall. (no more than 2 0r 3 per entry

Or something like

-4 Hits for Minor Penalty max of -5
-5 hits for Dazed (max of 2
-10 hits for 1 Stun

[kenbert]

Wonder if I should have listings like

5 Hits, 1 Dz OR 2 Hits, 1 Stun

I think this is nice and clear.

-4 Hits for Minor Penalty max of -5
-5 hits for Dazed (max of 2
-10 hits for 1 Stun

On first reading this it was confusing to me.  Certainly there is more flexibility with this approach.

[imported_Rasyr]

Sorry,

In the first option it is giving pre-made combinations based on the total number of hits.

In the second one, it is listing the options you can use, and how much each on subtracts from the total roll.

And I just realized that the second one would not work out well.

[AresLunthar]

I was thinking last night that you could use a colored table/column system like the old Marvel Super Heroes game.  That Universal Table is one of the best RPG tools I've ever used.  I have a d20 version somewhere.......being the ever tinkerer that I am....