Post by Bricingwolf on Sept 29, 2016 5:48:55 GMT
As of the last time any of us played QFC, there is only Damage, and it only comes in 1d10 increments.
Mathematically, that works fine, although the to-hit values are being adjusted, and HP may need to come down at level 1. Turns out, statistically average damage doesn't actually work quite like you might imagine, at first glance. PCs are hard to kill.
But that's for another thread. Here, I'd like to brainstorm an idea Alison and I have been discussing regarding how to make damage work differently in a dynamic way, that challenges PCs without turning combat into a slog-from-which-there-is-no-escape.
And, as a bonus, how to help make knowledge, and thus research, backstory, and knowledge based features, matter in an average adventure.
So, the basics:
Mathematically, that works fine, although the to-hit values are being adjusted, and HP may need to come down at level 1. Turns out, statistically average damage doesn't actually work quite like you might imagine, at first glance. PCs are hard to kill.
But that's for another thread. Here, I'd like to brainstorm an idea Alison and I have been discussing regarding how to make damage work differently in a dynamic way, that challenges PCs without turning combat into a slog-from-which-there-is-no-escape.
And, as a bonus, how to help make knowledge, and thus research, backstory, and knowledge based features, matter in an average adventure.
So, the basics:
- Every weapon, and most non weapon attacks, as well as most hazards, traps, etc, has/have a Damage Type.
+E.G. arrow does Piercing, axe does Cutting, most swords can do Piercing or Slashing, Hammer does Bludgeoning, Guns do Peircing and Bludgeoning at the same time, etc
- Armor, objects, and many creatures and magical effects have or bestow Resistance and Vulnerability. If Resist can be negated by taking a called shot, or getting a Great Success on an attack, it has Negatable Resistence, or something like that
+ Plate Armor has Negatable Resistence to Peircing and Cutting. Werewolves have Resistence to all physical damage, Vulnerable to Silver
- Both Resist and Vulnerable have numerical values that cause the attacker to reroll damage die if certain values are rolled.
+ Vulnerable 3 means you can reroll damage die results lower than 3, until a result of 3 or higher is found. Resist works in the opposite direction, making you reroll higher results. Either Resist 3 means reroll higher than 8, or Resist 8 means reroll higher than 8. See below
This can all be easily referenced with a quick cheat sheet, as part of a "rules card" that acts like a mini DM's screen for players, with all the game's fiddly bits that aren't contained in a skill or trait description. IE, the general rules.
I figure it will all fit easily on an enemy stat card, as well.
The idea here is, you roll the same die, but you still kill the thing better if you do your homework and find out it's strengths and weaknesses. For some monsters, it may be pretty much impossible to kill without research. And of course, for many, the best strategy isn't damage at all, but that's another topic for another thread.
You also never completely waste your action, barring those rare monsters that just can't be taken care of with attacks, and even they are slowed up by attacks of certain types, like incorporeal beings with heavy metals. Heavier the metal, the longer they disaperate after being hit with it. But usually, you still do some damage, even if you're stabbing an armored plate wearer. In other words, it's like classic DR, except that it will never make your attack to zero damage.
The other thought I had was to decrease the die size for Resist, and increase for Vulnerable, but when you figure the stat math, it doesn't do as much as it seems like it would, and it's a bigger jump for each step of R/V. Also, one of the goals of QfC is for you to only ever need your Action Dice and Rank Dice, so I don't like the idea of damage involving a bunch of other types of dice. Right now, we are experimenting with either 2d10 or 3d10, and d6 Rank Dice, so keeping damage to either d10s or d6s makes sense on that front.
At the most, I could see just having one step of Resist and one of Vulnerable, so you either drop to a d6, or get to roll 2d10 and take the higher result or something, but rerolling anything above or below a given number, that is right there in the trait name (Resist n), seems incredibly coherent and straightforward to me. I figure anyone can instantly grok the idea that, "Resist 6 means you reroll until you get a 6 or lower".
Not only that, I think players will see that in play, and have an intuitive grasp of how hard to kill the critter will be, because it's out of a 1 to 10 scale. "Resist 7 means I can only do 7 damage to it with one attack"
and
"Vulnerable 3 means I will always do at least 3 damage with any successful attack."
Is just really easy to grok, IMO.
This can all be easily referenced with a quick cheat sheet, as part of a "rules card" that acts like a mini DM's screen for players, with all the game's fiddly bits that aren't contained in a skill or trait description. IE, the general rules.
I figure it will all fit easily on an enemy stat card, as well.
The idea here is, you roll the same die, but you still kill the thing better if you do your homework and find out it's strengths and weaknesses. For some monsters, it may be pretty much impossible to kill without research. And of course, for many, the best strategy isn't damage at all, but that's another topic for another thread.
You also never completely waste your action, barring those rare monsters that just can't be taken care of with attacks, and even they are slowed up by attacks of certain types, like incorporeal beings with heavy metals. Heavier the metal, the longer they disaperate after being hit with it. But usually, you still do some damage, even if you're stabbing an armored plate wearer. In other words, it's like classic DR, except that it will never make your attack to zero damage.
The other thought I had was to decrease the die size for Resist, and increase for Vulnerable, but when you figure the stat math, it doesn't do as much as it seems like it would, and it's a bigger jump for each step of R/V. Also, one of the goals of QfC is for you to only ever need your Action Dice and Rank Dice, so I don't like the idea of damage involving a bunch of other types of dice. Right now, we are experimenting with either 2d10 or 3d10, and d6 Rank Dice, so keeping damage to either d10s or d6s makes sense on that front.
At the most, I could see just having one step of Resist and one of Vulnerable, so you either drop to a d6, or get to roll 2d10 and take the higher result or something, but rerolling anything above or below a given number, that is right there in the trait name (Resist n), seems incredibly coherent and straightforward to me. I figure anyone can instantly grok the idea that, "Resist 6 means you reroll until you get a 6 or lower".
Not only that, I think players will see that in play, and have an intuitive grasp of how hard to kill the critter will be, because it's out of a 1 to 10 scale. "Resist 7 means I can only do 7 damage to it with one attack"
and
"Vulnerable 3 means I will always do at least 3 damage with any successful attack."
Is just really easy to grok, IMO.
