Combat Rules Feedback

[shaidar]

How about if you drop below - ve half con you go unconscious and die at - ve con?

[Leitz]

Thinking about the numbers some. If most individuals never get to their Con in hp going to -Con might be too much (tripling hp roughly). Maybe try negative half Con?

Think about the time period, too. Most people can get into a fist fight and take a few hits. That's the 6 hit points. Most sober people will back off when they get to 0 HP. But if there's an open wound, or a broken leg, then life is at risk. Germ theory hadn't been discovered, and there are no hospitals to lay around in while your bones reset. With negative Con, the person still has the ability to fight or flee, and endurance is one of the keys to success. The phrase "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." is attributed to various people, but it is one of the drivers here. A very healthy person may take more before they quit.

If this turns into a game, it will be in an exploration area; a small village of brave souls. Hardy people, while still shop keepers and sheep herders. The weak won't have made it this far. But an average roll with a two handed weapon (2d6) can still take someone into the negatives. PCs will be better off, with more HP, but are still able to suffer if they don't defend well, or are surprised.

The main difference between AD&D 1st and this is that here, the wounded person has a chance to flee, or to attack, knowing they are going to die anyway.

[Rex]

You really should take a minute and look over my Harn game. All of this is in the combat system already, including infection, broken legs etc. It just isn't hp based.

[cybersavant]

instead of neg health, which does give a good measure of the neg to actions, what about start with CON + level + class + race
then have fatigue and wounds - CON fatigue = 1 wound, X wounds = death

[Leitz]

Hmm, sounds like that could be automated with some python to roll large numbers of fights with crits at 5+, 6+, etc to get some kind of statistical analysis to find the best crit point.

Took me a bit, sorry. Here's a list of 2d10 roll results, and the percentage of rolls that will be equal or higher. For evaluating the roll plus 5, or roll plus 6 stuff, just count down the list to the plus value that you want. If anyone is curious, here's the code.

A good hit against a poor defense should be painful. Given the number of fights PCs get into, that's where the concept of Bonus dice come in. PCs get one bonus dice per level, and can earn more through the game session. Bonus dice can be added to any roll, after the roll is made. That should soften the risk for PCs, while keeping things fairly clean.

Code: Select all

 
 2:  100
 3:   99
 4:   97
 5:   94
 6:   90
 7:   85
 8:   79
 9:   72
10:   64
11:   55
12:   45
13:   36
14:   28
15:   21
16:   15
17:   10
18:    6
19:    3
20:    1

[Leitz]

instead of neg health, which does give a good measure of the neg to actions, what about start with CON + level + class + race
then have fatigue and wounds - CON fatigue = 1 wound, X wounds = death

One of my biggest drivers is simplicity. With hit points, we have a familar mechanism that goes up with levels. I prefer higher level charcters be a bit hardier than something like BRP/RuneQuest/Traveller, yet still at risk due to bad luck.

With hit points, and negative Con, we have a simple mechanism at a glance. I haven't even thought about adding other species (elves, dwarves, etc) yet, and may leave that for each DM to define in their own campaign.

[cybersavant]

is using negatives really a simple mechanism? i remember trying to teach some players about thac0 to no avail, they never got it

so, instead of negatives, at 0 you go unconscious or in and out of consciousness, and at negatives you start dying - rounds or turns = con = dead

or at 0, not even unconscious, but need effort to do anything well, even walking - like when you're so exhausted it's hard to even get in bed
go unconscious and start dying with -1, not necessarily taking damage each round/turn - that would be based on type of damage - internal bleeding, external bleeding, etc

[Leitz]

Sorry, I thought I had replied to this. I did, in my head, it just never made it to the keyboard. I think that the negative keeps it as simple as it can get, without a chart. Which is my preference. Let's play it some and see if there are better ways to explain it.

[Leitz]

Missile Combat

What should the roll penalty be if the shooter is moving? How about the target? We're assuming normal human movement, and an adult sized target.

[Rex]

Significant, it is difficult to hit a moving target, even man sized plus. One of the guys I hunt with was a semi-pro baseball player and one of the best shots I know. He claims hitting a running deer makes hitting a baseball easy and they say that is the hardest thing to do in sports. It wouldn't be a bad idea to scale it with range as well.

[GreyWolfVT]

I'm sorry I haven't really gotten to looking through things and providing feedback.

[Leitz]

I'm sorry I haven't really gotten to looking through things and providing feedback.

No worries at all! I've been a little off myself.

The good news is that I may have an introductory scenario brewing. It will be non-magical, so we don't have to worry about that just yet. However, it will open up to magic, so if players want to grow their characters into that arena, it'll be an option.

[Leitz]

Significant, it is difficult to hit a moving target, even man sized plus. One of the guys I hunt with was a semi-pro baseball player and one of the best shots I know. He claims hitting a running deer makes hitting a baseball easy and they say that is the hardest thing to do in sports. It wouldn't be a bad idea to scale it with range as well.

I'll accept his expertise. Some of the PRS matches have moving targets, but they are a known speed and direction. USPSA has popups, but again, known timing and location. Shooting while moving is as difficult as shooting something that's moving.

Currently, this is a 2d10 system. I'm thinking that if either the shooter or the target moves, the shooter only gets 1d10. So a super-skilled person could hit, but there's no promise of it. If both are moving, it's 0d10. Thus the shooter only gets their skill and modifiers, vs the Dex, range, and 2d10 roll of the target. Any range past "Short" is -5 on the roll. "Short" is defined as a mostly straight shot. If the range is long enough that the missile arcs more than half a torso height, then it's not short. I need to figure that out and document it, but that's the basis. Sound reasonable?

[Rex]

It sounds reasonable. It might even work out to be more of a penalty that I was thinking. I do actually like the short or long range. I know every other systems seems to like at least 3 if not 4 zones. With a set braced shot maybe but in most rpg type scenarios it just is too much. In truth, as far as combat historically it was most often massed fire or sniping which are very different then how most think of it. Sniping is more like hunting, particularly stand, blind, ambush type hunting. Once the first shot is fired, the odds of a second shot with a bow, crossbow, sling, or musket are slim. Modern weapons change things obviously but no need to deal with it here.