Before I finish writing the current turn, I will clarify the combat mechanics.
Combat mechanics
Let's ignore the temporary combat mechanics I used for a few turns, which could be summed up to:
1) Determining a hit: d20s against a target difficulty modified by 2*[attributes difference].
2) Damage: damage dice levels, attacks have a base damage dice, which increases/decreases in level based on attribute difference.
3) Criticals: Epic failure/success [1 / 20] leads to a free failure or critical.
What I don't like: 1) leads to swingy randomness sometimes.
Compared to the Old Mechanics, where:
1) Determining a hit: dX vs dY, where X and Y are respectively modified by attributes.
2) Damage: Attacks have base damage dice, which is multiplied by a factor based on attributes difference.
3) Criticals: Epic failure [1] leads to a free critical for the other party.
What I didn't like: 2) led to bizarre damage, and annoying to deal with multipliers.
Now the new mechanics will in short be a mix of the two old attempts (refered to as OLD and NEW).
1) Will use OLD: dX vs dY, where X and Y are respectively modified by attributes.
2) Will use NEW: Damage dice levels. AKA Attack Levels.
3) Will use OLD: Epic failure [1] leads to a free critical for the other party.Another point: failed attacks will give a variable advantage to the defender for their counterattack.
1. Attack Levels and Damage Rolls
The Attack Level represents the overall strength of an attack.
The Attack Level is determined based on the used Attribute, the Weapon used, and Combat modifiers.
The starting Attack Level is 1, which is a damage roll of a single d4.
Every points in the used Attribute increase the level by 1.
In Combat, the Attack Level is increased or decreased by the Attribute difference.
Basic weapons will generally increase the Attack Level by 1, with better quality weapons increasing the Attack Level further.
Attack levels 1 to 3:
d4: light attack (2.5)
d6: normal attack (3.5)
d8: heavy attack (4.5)
Attack levels 4 to 6:
2d4: light superior attack (5)
2d6: normal superior attack (7)
2d8: heavy superior attack (9)
Attack levels 7 to 9:
3d6: light devastating attack (10.5)
3d8: normal devastating attack (13.5)
3d10: heavy devastating attack (16.5)
Attack levels 10 to 12:
4d8: light fatal attack (18)
4d10: normal fatal attack (22)
4d12: heavy fatal attack (26)
(etc...)
Att attribute: x (dice)
> Skill:
> Situation:
Defender attribute: x (dice)
> Skill:
> Situation:
Attack Roll: [roll]
Defender Roll: [roll]
Outcome: <description>
Damage
xdy: outcome
Ogre STR: 2 (1d14)
> Skill: Novice Clubber (2)
> Situation: No advantage (0)
Goblin CON: 0 (1d10)
> Skill: None (0)
> Situation: Tripped (-2)
Attack Roll: 7 = [5]+2
Defender Roll: 2 = [4]-2
Outcome: Successful Level 6 Attack
Damage [2d8]: [9]
Level 6 Attack? What's that?
The attack level determines the damage dice used.
Base Attack Level is 1.
Increased by 2 due to STR 2.
Increased by 1 due to Weapon.
Increased by 2 due to Attributes difference.
Final Attack Level is 6, which on the chart means a 2d8 is used for damage
2. Talent, Skill, and Situation
What I want for combat is for players to feel the influence of three components: Talent, Skill, and Situation. To that end I define these three components as follow in an attack/defence roll:
Talent [Base Roll]: based on Attributes, innately swingy with highs and lows.
Skill [Skill Mod]: based on Skills or Traits, consistent.
Situation [Situation Mod]: everything else, variable.
Talent + Skill + Situation
[Base Roll] + [Skill Mod] + [Situation Mod]
Talent and Base RollThe Base Roll starts from a d10, and 2 is added/substracted to the die size for each points of Attribute above 0.
That way every 1 in an Attribute increases the average of the base roll by 1.5.
SkillFirst off, there are 4 levels of Skill. Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Master.
Skills offer flat bonuses.
+0: No skill
+1 to +2: Basic
+3 to +4: Intermediate
+5 to +6: Advanced
+7 and more: Master
The idea behind Skills is that they offer consistency, and allow someone to bridge the gap with a talented but unskilled adversary.
So far the idea is that:
A Basic level can close the gap of 1 Attribute.
An Intermediate level can close the gap of 2 Attribute.
An Advanced level can close the gap of 3 Attribute.
A Master level can close the gap of 4 Attribute.
SituationThe idea behind Situation is to reward or punish the decisions of players and NPCs, as well as add another layer of unpredictability to combat.
So far we have the following levels of advantage, but unfortunately I am yet not confident I can give proper guidelines. I don't want Situation modifiers to completely negate Talent and Skill, so I will be experimenting with the modifiers.
Decisive disadvantage (-4): +6
Strong disadvantage (-3): -4
Medium disadvantage (-2): -2
Light disadvantage (-1): -1
Balanced (0): +0
Light advantage (1): +1
Medium advantage (2): +2
Strong advantage (3): +4
Decisive advantage (4): +6
3. Magic... this wizardry
There is still a point which I'm really not satisfied with, and it's magic. I feel a lack of feedback from the system discourages players to attempt to invest in it, because they don't really know what to expect (and to be fair neither do I, which is not good!). My notes were a mess on that front, and here is a coherent draft.
Magic Mastery Skills will have four tiers:
Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Master.Mastery tiers will affect MP cost, target casting difficulty, and the intensity of effects.
1. It is likely I will rebalance HP and MP if I standardize Magic mechanics.
2. It is very likely Skills will be affected by the addition of a <Magic> tag to tell it consumes MPs.
Level: [Damage] / Skill equivalent / CostBasic: [Normal] / Novice / Low
Intermediate: [Superior] / Intermediate / Moderate
Advanced: [Devastating] / Expert / High
Master: [Fatal] / Master / Very High
Magic characteristics:Magic Types will have four characteristics:
Cost, Translation, Idea, and Difficulty. These should help get an idea of what to expect from a magic.
Each Magic will of course have their own particularities or prerequisites.
Cost: the energy requirements of the magic. Determines casting cost.
Translation: the energy to effect conversion. Determines spell power.
Idea: a measure of how easy or hard it is to learn this magic's fundamental concepts. Determines learning difficulty.
Difficulty: a measure of the degree of skill needed to successfully cast a spell. Determines casting difficulty.
Examples:Glyph: a magic using Glyphs and Mana as a medium.
> Cost is Cheap, Translation is Efficient, Idea is Easy, Difficulty is Hard.
Arcane: a magic using Words+Formulas and Mana as a medium.
> Cost is Balanced, Translation is Balanced, Idea is Intermediate, Difficulty is Variable with a low ceiling.
Song: : a magic using Voice and Mana as a medium.
> Cost is High, Translation is Variable, Idea is Intermediate, Difficulty is Hard
More musingsSomewhere along that, I would like for players to be able to choose to cast a spell "safely", or "randomly". The difference between the two being RTD rules.
A safe spell will either fail or succeed within expected parameters.
A random spell will be subject to RTD madness.
Trying to cast a spell above your skill mastery will definitely use the Random parameter, if the casting is even successful.
Now I can't start working on the turn haha.
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Topic: You are a Monster - Turn 67 (Read 232404 times)