Here are some applications I have floating around in my head, and I want to get them down before I start forgetting them. I’m actually starting to get close to building a play test rules document, but I’ll hammer out a few more things first.
Short Hand: Application (linked ability). How it works.
• Bonus Attack (fighting; only for creatures using natural attacks). You may elect to split your fighting between two attacks each turn. You must designate what the second attack is (for example, using a bite as your primary attack and a claw as your second; using two claws; using a tail strike primarily and a bite as your bonus attack).
• Finesse (precision). Your precision (instead of your might) sets the maximum rating for melee weapons you may wield (rated at precision +1). You now add precision to damage rolls with finesse-based weapons; with might +2, precision +7 and finesse, you may wield a +8 finesse-based melee weapon (a scimitar, a quarterstaff, a katana), and you deal 2D +7 (precision) +8 (weapon rating) damage. If you pick up a war hammer (a might-based weapon), you only deal a maximum of +5 damage with it; your might + the weapon rating, limited to might +1.
• Rage (stamina). You have a pool of points each scene equal to your stamina rating to add to might rolls as needed. You can add all of these to a single might roll, or you can distribute them as the fight continues. The Hulk, with his Stamina +10, has a pool of 10 points to add to rolls with his already extremely formidable Might +12 from his Rage. His might stays +12, but he has a pool of 10 points to bump this up as needed. If wants to use his rage to lift several thousand tons, he’s probably going to be able to do it; even if he rolls poorly, he can always burn a Resolve point to add his invulnerability to the roll (for example), using his own body as a fulcrum.
• Shield Use (fighting). You have a pool of points each scene up to your fighting rating (depending on the shield) to add to armor soak rolls as desired. For example, with fighting +6 and shield use, you can carry up to a shield +6. If you only have a shield +4 available, you only get to add 4 points to your pool each scene to add to armor soak rolls.
• Two-Handed (might). You have a pool of points each scene equal to your might rating to add to fighting rolls as desired. With might +8 and two-handed, you have 8 discretionary points to add to fighting rolls over the course of the battle. You could elect to add all of these to a single attack roll, or you could parcel them out as needed, increasing fighting rolls to score hits later in the fight when you may have barely missed.
Note: You can only apply shield use, two-handed or bonus attack (two weapons, one in each hand) at any time. You could potentially purchase all three, but you’d have to change between attack forms as the fight went on (probably as free actions)… although this might be interesting in a prolonged fight. In an epic battle with a dragon, you begin with your shield out, beating away its attacks… once you’ve used all your shield points, you discard your shield and double-grip your bastard sword, laying into the beast with several mighty blows. Once you’ve used all of your bonus points from two-handed, you slip your bastard sword back into your right hand, and draw your short sword with your left, striking with two weapons for the rest of the battle. I like the dramatic sense of this, and the way a battle flows as a result.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Some More About Resolve
I’m absolutely LOVING how Resolve works… to whit:
• As an archer with high Stealth, you decide to burn a Resolve point to add your Stealth to a Fighting roll with your bow; you make your foe think you’re aiming one place, and at the last second you redirect your shot to another vital area your target has now left exposed…
• As a cleric with high Healing, you use a Resolve point to add your Healing to an armor soak roll, surrounding yourself in a holy aura that turns back the enemy strike.
• As a warrior with high Stamina, you spend a Resolve point to add your Stamina to a damage roll, physically throwing your body into the blow, dealing Might + Weapon Rating + Stamina damage on this particular attack.
• As a capable wizard, you have low Intuition (+1), but at the beginning of a scene, you need a great sequence roll. You use a Resolve point and your remarkable Focus +7 to appraise the situation, calculate the locations and relative strength of your enemies, and rapidly devise a plan of attack before your enemies can get the jump on you, rolling +8 on sequence.
As long as you can explain HOW you are applying the ability to this roll, you get to use it. It’s cinematic, it’s intuitive, it’s easy to adjudicate, and it gives you a TON of flexibility.
However, I’m also thinking that you can use a Resolve point to get an effect (formerly what resulted from trading wounds in previous Resolute editions) in addition to the damage you deal… here are some options:
• Disarm- force a target carrying a weapon to drop it
• Knock Back- throw the target backwards a number of units equal to your might rating.
• Living Shield- force a target in melee range to absorb a blow for you.
• Stun- force the target to lose a few turns
• Draw Aggression- force a foe to focus exclusively on you for the rest of the combat
The best part is that you get to decide in building your hero how much you want to deal with this stuff in play. If you want to have a number of tactical options every fight, you are going to take high Resolve. If you want to have a simple approach to combat, you distribute your points among abilities you use every turn, and only put a few points (or none) in Resolve. For example, a mercenary fighter may not have much Resolve (you’re going to swing your sword every round- that’s your thing) but a paladin is going to have high Resolve, constantly finding ways to use abilities to stack in different ways, constantly changing his strategic game plan. The characters who tend to be most inventive in fights (Batman, Captain America) are also the characters who are going to max out Resolve- this in itself is a great solution to some other balance issues- cap has to designate about 1/3 of his points just to resolve.
In fact, let’s rough him out right now for fun:
Cap Rough Cut (99 CPs)
Armor +2; Fighting +8 (Shield Use); Might +2; Precision +7 (Finesse); Stamina +6; Focus +2; Resolve +10 (Leadership); Intuition +5
Note: The shield is a melee/thrown weapon that also grants 8 shield points each scene. As a melee weapon, he deals +15 damage (+7 from his precision modified by finesse; +8 from his shield- the cap being his precision +1). His Resolve +10 allows him 10 times each scene to stack abilities or perform special tricks. Additionally, his leadership allows those around him to take huge bonuses to their rolls as well; with Resolve +10 and leadership, his allies get to draw from a pool of 10 opportunities per scene to stack +10 to any action, resist, result or soak roll, as needed.
I’m thinking that maybe leadership should be either a ranked ability or an application. Here’s the difference:
As an application (in this case of Resolve), your allies have a total of 10 points in a pool to draw from to add to action, resist or result rolls, as needed.
As an ability, your allies get to take a static rating as a bonus, rating number of times per scene. With leadership +2, allies get to take +2 twice per scene (between them- not 2 chances each, but 2 chances for the whole team to draw from); with leadership +6, there are six opportunities per scene for any one of your allies to take +6 to one action, resist, result or soak roll, as needed.
You can give all of these points to one ally, or you may distribute them (as desired) among your allies. You get to decide when and where allies apply these points. They can’t double up this with their own use of Resolve points; generally, your allies default to drawing upon your leadership when the chips are down and they’ve already burned all of their own Resolve.
Since Cap’s leadership is one of his key qualities (possibly as important as his resolve), I’m tempted to bump his Resolve back down to +8, and move the other 10 CPs into leadership as an independent ability. Here’s how he looks now:
Cap Rough Cut #2 (99 CPs)
Armor +2; Fighting +8 (Shield Use); Might +2; Precision +7 (Finesse); Stamina +6; Focus +2; Resolve +8; Leadership +6; Intuition +5
Note: The shield is a melee/thrown weapon that also grants 8 shield points each scene. As a melee weapon, he deals +15 damage (+7 from his precision modified by finesse; +8 from his shield- the cap being his precision +1). His Resolve +10 allows him 10 times each scene to stack abilities or perform special tricks. Additionally, his leadership allows those around him to take huge bonuses to their rolls as well; with Resolve +10 and leadership, his allies get to draw from a pool of 10 opportunities per scene to stack +10 to any action, resist, result or soak roll, as needed.
This one feels closer to Cap. He’s built on exactly as many CPs as Wolvie, which also feels balanced to me.
• As an archer with high Stealth, you decide to burn a Resolve point to add your Stealth to a Fighting roll with your bow; you make your foe think you’re aiming one place, and at the last second you redirect your shot to another vital area your target has now left exposed…
• As a cleric with high Healing, you use a Resolve point to add your Healing to an armor soak roll, surrounding yourself in a holy aura that turns back the enemy strike.
• As a warrior with high Stamina, you spend a Resolve point to add your Stamina to a damage roll, physically throwing your body into the blow, dealing Might + Weapon Rating + Stamina damage on this particular attack.
• As a capable wizard, you have low Intuition (+1), but at the beginning of a scene, you need a great sequence roll. You use a Resolve point and your remarkable Focus +7 to appraise the situation, calculate the locations and relative strength of your enemies, and rapidly devise a plan of attack before your enemies can get the jump on you, rolling +8 on sequence.
As long as you can explain HOW you are applying the ability to this roll, you get to use it. It’s cinematic, it’s intuitive, it’s easy to adjudicate, and it gives you a TON of flexibility.
However, I’m also thinking that you can use a Resolve point to get an effect (formerly what resulted from trading wounds in previous Resolute editions) in addition to the damage you deal… here are some options:
• Disarm- force a target carrying a weapon to drop it
• Knock Back- throw the target backwards a number of units equal to your might rating.
• Living Shield- force a target in melee range to absorb a blow for you.
• Stun- force the target to lose a few turns
• Draw Aggression- force a foe to focus exclusively on you for the rest of the combat
The best part is that you get to decide in building your hero how much you want to deal with this stuff in play. If you want to have a number of tactical options every fight, you are going to take high Resolve. If you want to have a simple approach to combat, you distribute your points among abilities you use every turn, and only put a few points (or none) in Resolve. For example, a mercenary fighter may not have much Resolve (you’re going to swing your sword every round- that’s your thing) but a paladin is going to have high Resolve, constantly finding ways to use abilities to stack in different ways, constantly changing his strategic game plan. The characters who tend to be most inventive in fights (Batman, Captain America) are also the characters who are going to max out Resolve- this in itself is a great solution to some other balance issues- cap has to designate about 1/3 of his points just to resolve.
In fact, let’s rough him out right now for fun:
Cap Rough Cut (99 CPs)
Armor +2; Fighting +8 (Shield Use); Might +2; Precision +7 (Finesse); Stamina +6; Focus +2; Resolve +10 (Leadership); Intuition +5
Note: The shield is a melee/thrown weapon that also grants 8 shield points each scene. As a melee weapon, he deals +15 damage (+7 from his precision modified by finesse; +8 from his shield- the cap being his precision +1). His Resolve +10 allows him 10 times each scene to stack abilities or perform special tricks. Additionally, his leadership allows those around him to take huge bonuses to their rolls as well; with Resolve +10 and leadership, his allies get to draw from a pool of 10 opportunities per scene to stack +10 to any action, resist, result or soak roll, as needed.
I’m thinking that maybe leadership should be either a ranked ability or an application. Here’s the difference:
As an application (in this case of Resolve), your allies have a total of 10 points in a pool to draw from to add to action, resist or result rolls, as needed.
As an ability, your allies get to take a static rating as a bonus, rating number of times per scene. With leadership +2, allies get to take +2 twice per scene (between them- not 2 chances each, but 2 chances for the whole team to draw from); with leadership +6, there are six opportunities per scene for any one of your allies to take +6 to one action, resist, result or soak roll, as needed.
You can give all of these points to one ally, or you may distribute them (as desired) among your allies. You get to decide when and where allies apply these points. They can’t double up this with their own use of Resolve points; generally, your allies default to drawing upon your leadership when the chips are down and they’ve already burned all of their own Resolve.
Since Cap’s leadership is one of his key qualities (possibly as important as his resolve), I’m tempted to bump his Resolve back down to +8, and move the other 10 CPs into leadership as an independent ability. Here’s how he looks now:
Cap Rough Cut #2 (99 CPs)
Armor +2; Fighting +8 (Shield Use); Might +2; Precision +7 (Finesse); Stamina +6; Focus +2; Resolve +8; Leadership +6; Intuition +5
Note: The shield is a melee/thrown weapon that also grants 8 shield points each scene. As a melee weapon, he deals +15 damage (+7 from his precision modified by finesse; +8 from his shield- the cap being his precision +1). His Resolve +10 allows him 10 times each scene to stack abilities or perform special tricks. Additionally, his leadership allows those around him to take huge bonuses to their rolls as well; with Resolve +10 and leadership, his allies get to draw from a pool of 10 opportunities per scene to stack +10 to any action, resist, result or soak roll, as needed.
This one feels closer to Cap. He’s built on exactly as many CPs as Wolvie, which also feels balanced to me.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Attack Abilities and Wolverine
Another of the key differences between the supers and fantasy systems –and between heroes and monsters in the fantasy system- is the use of weapons. We have to go one of two ways with this…
1. The ability to wield weapons is an ability you have to purchase. Melee Weapons (+2 CPs) is linked to your might; missile weapons (+2 CPs) is linked to your Precision. Without these abilities, you cannot wield weapons. This is rough, because everyone would have to pick this up in the fantasy game… and a wizard who never purchases either of these cannot wield weapons at all? Even a dagger? It doesn’t really make sense.
2. The restriction from wielding weapons is a limitation you get bonus CPs for. I like this one better; Batman doesn’t take this limitation, and gets to throw Batarangs; Thor doesn’t take it and gets a big hammer; Superman takes this limitation, meaning that he always defaults to his hands (or improvises weapons; more on that at some point). Enough super heroes wield weapons (Batman, Wolverine, Hawkman/Hawkwoman, Aquaman’s claw, the Wrecker’s crowbar, Absorbing Man’s Wrecking Ball, Backlash’s Whip, heck, even Captain America’s shield) that this limitation would be considered one. Just because a monster doesn’t routinely use a weapon doesn’t mean that it always buys this limitation; a giant spider doesn’t get to take this limitation, nor does a snake.
I love that in the fantasy system, you automatically get to wield a weapon rated at your might +1. It makes things simple and clean; you have might +5? You can wield an axe up to +6.
The supers system and monsters start to really complicate the whole thing considerably. A bear attacks deals damage with its bite… so it adds might to what exactly? Does it just double its might? This works in general, except when you get to Wolverine.
He’s a huge problem. Wolverine may only have might +3 or so… he takes strike (+2 CPs), allowing him to deal damage with his claws at double his might rating. How nice… he gets to deal +6 damage… that’s about as much as the night watchman in Beldin Mere. Wow. That sucks.
We have two options here… he can purchase the claw as another ability that stacks with his strike. Again, this doesn’t make sense… why does he have to buy this ability when the night watchman does not? The claws and the sword are both sharp weapons…
I’m thinking you almost need a “Wolverine Rule”… an ability you can buy for something like this. What about “Armor Piercing”? This is a ranked ability that allows you to completely ignore your target’s armor/invulnerability a number of times per scene equal to your rating? With armor piercing +8 (20 CPs), wolverine gets to ignore the target’s armor or invulnerability 8 times per scene. If he’s fighting the Hulk, he has 8 times he can just slip his claws right past the Hulk’s prodigious defenses. This is a huge ability, but it offsets his relatively low typical damage output… he’s only dealing an average of 13 points of damage each claw strike (7 on the die +3 might +3 from strike). The Hulk is soaking all of this (7 on the die +10 =17 wounds typically soaked each hit). However, Wolvie gets to hit 8 times for full damage- the full 13. He can decide to save his chances for when he deals exceptional damage; he rolls 10 on the die +6 =16 points, and burns one of his armor piercing attacks to rip through the Hulk, completely ignoring all of his protection, dealing the full 16 points. This effectively gives him +17 to damage several times; the ability is more effective against heavily-armored or high-invulnerability foes, but it’s limited by the number of times you can use it (your rating).
Even better, Wolverine would pick up finesse (2 CPs), using his precision rather than his might to determine weapon damage. He’s about speed and accuracy rather than pure power with those claws. Now, with his precision +5 (+10 damage from his claws), an average attack is going to be just barely soaked by Hulk’s invulnerability, but when he uses his armor piercing attack option, he’ll do in the neighborhood of 17 points on average. Since he can do that 8 times per scene, he knows that he’s going to deal an average of 136 wounds over 8 rounds. Wow. Okay, I’m no longer worried about his damage output! Maybe this should still allow the target to roll to soak, but it ignores the armor or invulnerability ability rating… the target rolls an unmodified soak. Now, the Hulk soaks an average of 7 wounds from an average damage roll of 17… it’s a solid attack, but not overwhelming. Wolverine is going to bump his precision to +6 (or even +7… this is Wolverine) to offset that.
Here’s a rough build for him…
Wolverine (99 CPs) Armor Piercing +8; Fighting +8 (Bonus Attack); Might +2; Precision +7 (Finesse; Claw Strike); Stamina +5; Intuition +6 (Nature; Stealth); Resolve +4; Regenerate +3
Wolverine can do a whole number of things:
- Attack with one claw, rolling +8 to attack and +14 for damage.
- Attack with both claws, attacking with the first at +4 and the second at +4 (for instance), dealing +14 damage with each.
- Choose on any attack (up to 8 per scene), to completely ignore the target’s armor or invulnerability rating on the soak roll, dealing the full damage (an average of 14 wounds; damage of 21 vs. a soak of 7).
- Use a resolve point to add his fighting +8 to this damage, now dealing an average of 22 total wounds.
It’s really important that the game be fully compatible between the two systems- you don’t have to tweak the rules when you move from one system to the other. A fantasy wizard is the same as a super-heroic wizard in every way. It seems like I'm getting closer with this build...
FYI, Regenerate allows you to recover your rating wounds every round. This regenerate +3 is pretty considerable, but it’s only 3% of his total health that he recovers every round. That’s about right for Wolverine, who heals very, very quickly.
One more thing about this… maybe for beasts, rather than purchasing a specific physical attack type (“Bite”), you simply purchase “Strike”, since it works in the same way, and you can explain what the strike is in the beast description. This keeps the terminology from getting confusing (“Uh, Mike, how exactly does a spiked tail swipe work?” “Oh, the same as a bite… or a claw… or a gore attack…”) “Strike” covers it all, and keeps it from getting confusing. Then, in the Wild Boar’s description, referring to its Strike +5, it will say “the boar’s primary strike is a gore with its formidable tusks; it uses its bonus attack to either kick with its hooves or trample a foe.” Now, I can decide that this turn the boar will gore at +4 to attack, and kick at +1 to attack.
I especially like how each layer of the game gives more tactical options through combat without adding to the amount of paperwork you need. You get a lot of mileage out of those few character stats.
1. The ability to wield weapons is an ability you have to purchase. Melee Weapons (+2 CPs) is linked to your might; missile weapons (+2 CPs) is linked to your Precision. Without these abilities, you cannot wield weapons. This is rough, because everyone would have to pick this up in the fantasy game… and a wizard who never purchases either of these cannot wield weapons at all? Even a dagger? It doesn’t really make sense.
2. The restriction from wielding weapons is a limitation you get bonus CPs for. I like this one better; Batman doesn’t take this limitation, and gets to throw Batarangs; Thor doesn’t take it and gets a big hammer; Superman takes this limitation, meaning that he always defaults to his hands (or improvises weapons; more on that at some point). Enough super heroes wield weapons (Batman, Wolverine, Hawkman/Hawkwoman, Aquaman’s claw, the Wrecker’s crowbar, Absorbing Man’s Wrecking Ball, Backlash’s Whip, heck, even Captain America’s shield) that this limitation would be considered one. Just because a monster doesn’t routinely use a weapon doesn’t mean that it always buys this limitation; a giant spider doesn’t get to take this limitation, nor does a snake.
I love that in the fantasy system, you automatically get to wield a weapon rated at your might +1. It makes things simple and clean; you have might +5? You can wield an axe up to +6.
The supers system and monsters start to really complicate the whole thing considerably. A bear attacks deals damage with its bite… so it adds might to what exactly? Does it just double its might? This works in general, except when you get to Wolverine.
He’s a huge problem. Wolverine may only have might +3 or so… he takes strike (+2 CPs), allowing him to deal damage with his claws at double his might rating. How nice… he gets to deal +6 damage… that’s about as much as the night watchman in Beldin Mere. Wow. That sucks.
We have two options here… he can purchase the claw as another ability that stacks with his strike. Again, this doesn’t make sense… why does he have to buy this ability when the night watchman does not? The claws and the sword are both sharp weapons…
I’m thinking you almost need a “Wolverine Rule”… an ability you can buy for something like this. What about “Armor Piercing”? This is a ranked ability that allows you to completely ignore your target’s armor/invulnerability a number of times per scene equal to your rating? With armor piercing +8 (20 CPs), wolverine gets to ignore the target’s armor or invulnerability 8 times per scene. If he’s fighting the Hulk, he has 8 times he can just slip his claws right past the Hulk’s prodigious defenses. This is a huge ability, but it offsets his relatively low typical damage output… he’s only dealing an average of 13 points of damage each claw strike (7 on the die +3 might +3 from strike). The Hulk is soaking all of this (7 on the die +10 =17 wounds typically soaked each hit). However, Wolvie gets to hit 8 times for full damage- the full 13. He can decide to save his chances for when he deals exceptional damage; he rolls 10 on the die +6 =16 points, and burns one of his armor piercing attacks to rip through the Hulk, completely ignoring all of his protection, dealing the full 16 points. This effectively gives him +17 to damage several times; the ability is more effective against heavily-armored or high-invulnerability foes, but it’s limited by the number of times you can use it (your rating).
Even better, Wolverine would pick up finesse (2 CPs), using his precision rather than his might to determine weapon damage. He’s about speed and accuracy rather than pure power with those claws. Now, with his precision +5 (+10 damage from his claws), an average attack is going to be just barely soaked by Hulk’s invulnerability, but when he uses his armor piercing attack option, he’ll do in the neighborhood of 17 points on average. Since he can do that 8 times per scene, he knows that he’s going to deal an average of 136 wounds over 8 rounds. Wow. Okay, I’m no longer worried about his damage output! Maybe this should still allow the target to roll to soak, but it ignores the armor or invulnerability ability rating… the target rolls an unmodified soak. Now, the Hulk soaks an average of 7 wounds from an average damage roll of 17… it’s a solid attack, but not overwhelming. Wolverine is going to bump his precision to +6 (or even +7… this is Wolverine) to offset that.
Here’s a rough build for him…
Wolverine (99 CPs) Armor Piercing +8; Fighting +8 (Bonus Attack); Might +2; Precision +7 (Finesse; Claw Strike); Stamina +5; Intuition +6 (Nature; Stealth); Resolve +4; Regenerate +3
Wolverine can do a whole number of things:
- Attack with one claw, rolling +8 to attack and +14 for damage.
- Attack with both claws, attacking with the first at +4 and the second at +4 (for instance), dealing +14 damage with each.
- Choose on any attack (up to 8 per scene), to completely ignore the target’s armor or invulnerability rating on the soak roll, dealing the full damage (an average of 14 wounds; damage of 21 vs. a soak of 7).
- Use a resolve point to add his fighting +8 to this damage, now dealing an average of 22 total wounds.
It’s really important that the game be fully compatible between the two systems- you don’t have to tweak the rules when you move from one system to the other. A fantasy wizard is the same as a super-heroic wizard in every way. It seems like I'm getting closer with this build...
FYI, Regenerate allows you to recover your rating wounds every round. This regenerate +3 is pretty considerable, but it’s only 3% of his total health that he recovers every round. That’s about right for Wolverine, who heals very, very quickly.
One more thing about this… maybe for beasts, rather than purchasing a specific physical attack type (“Bite”), you simply purchase “Strike”, since it works in the same way, and you can explain what the strike is in the beast description. This keeps the terminology from getting confusing (“Uh, Mike, how exactly does a spiked tail swipe work?” “Oh, the same as a bite… or a claw… or a gore attack…”) “Strike” covers it all, and keeps it from getting confusing. Then, in the Wild Boar’s description, referring to its Strike +5, it will say “the boar’s primary strike is a gore with its formidable tusks; it uses its bonus attack to either kick with its hooves or trample a foe.” Now, I can decide that this turn the boar will gore at +4 to attack, and kick at +1 to attack.
I especially like how each layer of the game gives more tactical options through combat without adding to the amount of paperwork you need. You get a lot of mileage out of those few character stats.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The ability to soak damage is an integral part of the system, and there are several ways to solve it… I originally wanted armor and warding as applications, but the linking of these kept ending up wonky.
One of the key problems is that the supers system benefits most by having a single ability that absorbs all damage- the Hulk can withstand punches, bullets, sledge hammers, radioactive isotopes, bursts of flame and bursts of arcane power with comparable ease. The fantasy system benefits more from having different ways to soak damage; the knight absorbs physical damage well, but fire, cold and darkness magic slip right past his plate mail; the wizard can soak up these elemental/arcane attacks, but doesn’t have much ability to turn back a war hammer attack. Originally I wanted these as applications (armor linked to stamina for instance), but I’m thinking there are three abilities, all purchased as rated abilities:
• Armor allows you to purchase physical protection in the form of armored suits (fantasy system only). You are allowed to wear armor rated at your ability rating +1; with armor +0, you still get to wear a suit of padded armor +1 or wizard’s robes +1.
• Warding allows you to purchase elemental/magical protection in the form of amulets or other totems (fantasy system only). With warding +5, you can purchase and wear and amulet of warding +6.
• Invulnerability soaks all damage (except mental damage). It’s a combination of both armor and warding. (monsters in the fantasy system and all characters in the supers system).
Invulnerability is inherently slightly cooler than armor or warding… For 12 CPs, you can purchase armor +4 and warding +4, giving you +5 to soak both physical and magical damage; this same 12 CPs gives you invulnerability +6. It’s not a huge discrepancy, but enough that invulnerability in an inherently stronger ability. At the top end it’s a wider gap; you need to spend 50 CPs to be able to soak all physical and magical attacks at +10 (+9 rating in both armor and warding), while invulnerability gives you this same protection for 30 CPs. I can live with this, although it’s still not ideal. The other option is to make invulnerability cost twice as much as other abilities, and this just scales all wrong- no ability is worth 60 CPs to get to +10.
One of the key problems is that the supers system benefits most by having a single ability that absorbs all damage- the Hulk can withstand punches, bullets, sledge hammers, radioactive isotopes, bursts of flame and bursts of arcane power with comparable ease. The fantasy system benefits more from having different ways to soak damage; the knight absorbs physical damage well, but fire, cold and darkness magic slip right past his plate mail; the wizard can soak up these elemental/arcane attacks, but doesn’t have much ability to turn back a war hammer attack. Originally I wanted these as applications (armor linked to stamina for instance), but I’m thinking there are three abilities, all purchased as rated abilities:
• Armor allows you to purchase physical protection in the form of armored suits (fantasy system only). You are allowed to wear armor rated at your ability rating +1; with armor +0, you still get to wear a suit of padded armor +1 or wizard’s robes +1.
• Warding allows you to purchase elemental/magical protection in the form of amulets or other totems (fantasy system only). With warding +5, you can purchase and wear and amulet of warding +6.
• Invulnerability soaks all damage (except mental damage). It’s a combination of both armor and warding. (monsters in the fantasy system and all characters in the supers system).
Invulnerability is inherently slightly cooler than armor or warding… For 12 CPs, you can purchase armor +4 and warding +4, giving you +5 to soak both physical and magical damage; this same 12 CPs gives you invulnerability +6. It’s not a huge discrepancy, but enough that invulnerability in an inherently stronger ability. At the top end it’s a wider gap; you need to spend 50 CPs to be able to soak all physical and magical attacks at +10 (+9 rating in both armor and warding), while invulnerability gives you this same protection for 30 CPs. I can live with this, although it’s still not ideal. The other option is to make invulnerability cost twice as much as other abilities, and this just scales all wrong- no ability is worth 60 CPs to get to +10.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Applications or Abilities?
There are several abilities/applications that I’m torn on, but I think I have a solution. For example, should Lore be a distinct ability you purchase, or should it be an application of your Focus? What about Nature? Stealth? Poison Use? Healing?
The list is pretty long…
Here’s what I’m thinking right now…
Many abilities will be designated as ranked or application. This means you can purchase them in one of two ways: as an ability (rated from +1 to +13, with escalating costs), or as an application (at a default cost of 2 character points).
- If you purchase something as an application, you get to use it once per scene (although you could potentially use a Resolve Point to re-use an application you’ve already used).
- If you purchase something as a distinct ability, you can use it as often as desired, and you also get to build other abilities off of it.
Here is an example for two heroes who take Stealth:
- The first is an elfin ranger who purchases Stealth as an application of his Intuition. Once per scene, he can use one turn to Stealth, getting the full benefits of the Stealth ability equal to his Intuition rating (a bonus to his next attack roll, the ability to move about undetected, etc). However, once his Stealth ends (he’s discovered or he attacks), he cannot Stealth again that scene without spending a Resolve Point.
- The second is a magic-wielding thief. He purchases Stealth as a unique ability, pumping as many points as he can into it. For this character, he actually manipulates shadow energy, allowing him to fade into shadows and shape them to his will. In fact, he becomes so good at it that he purchases Energize Weapon (as an application), Shadow Dart (as an application) and Teleport (as an application). He can use his mastery of shadows to Stealth at will (using one turn each time), getting the bonus to his attack rolls each time he does this.
Both characters are good at sneaking around; one of the heroes spends 2 character points and gets to do it as a complement to his other abilities; the other hero builds his entire character around being a super sneak, investing more CPs into it as a core ability.
Let’s do this for healing:
- The Paladin purchases Healing as an application (2 character points) tied to his Resolve +8. Once per scene, he gets to cast one healing spell that restores 2D+8 wounds to one target within 8 units.
- The Cleric purchases Healing as a unique ability at +5. 5 times per scene, he can heal a target within 5 units and restore 2D+5 wounds each time. His heals are not as powerful, nor do they have as strong a range as the Paladin’s, but he’s able to heal much more often. On average, our Paladin heals 15 wounds each scene, while our Cleric heals 60. The Cleric spent 9 character points and the Paladin spent 2. If our Cleric gets to Healing +8, he’s now 8x more effective than our paladin (although he’s spent 20 character points to get there). He’ll heal 8 times per scene, up to 8 units, for 2D+8 wounds, restoring an average of 120 wounds. That’s a LOT of healing, but he’s made a huge investment to get it.
I like this because it really differentiates different healers… one of them is a part-time healer, and the other is a full-time healer.
The break point of value for investment is going to be different for each hero… if you have healing linked to a +10 ability, you will need to put +4 or so into Healing as a unique ability to make it worthwhile having separate. In theory, you could have both… you have a single powerful heal linked to another ability, but you also purchase a small heal that gives you short range little bursts of healing. As a Druid with Intuition +7, healing as a +2 application and healing as a +2 ability, you heal three times per scene: one is a big heal that allows you to restore 2D+7 wounds to a target 7 units away, and you also have two little heals that allow you to restore 2D+2 damage to targets up to 2 units away. This gives a LOT of variety with a little bit of math. I also like that this allows min-maxers to play with the numbers a bit. It gives you a ton of options for building your hero.
This is neat because if you want to play a hero who has the ability to bandage wounds and apply first aid (for instance, a young ranger trained in herbal remedies and applying these in combat situations), you take Healing +1. You get to heal once per scene for 2D+1 wounds to a target in the same or an adjacent unit; you can spend a Resolve point to do this again, if needed. You are by no means the main healer for a group, but in a pinch you can help out a little, and you’ve only spent 1 character point to get this ability.
I especially like the implications for building foes too…
The drake has breath weapon as an application of his Stamina- once per scene he gets to unleash a big breath of flame at a foe; a dragon, however, purchases breath weapon as a unique ability at +10, usable 10 times per scene… a poisonous snake has poison linked to his stamina, while a wyvern has poison as a unique ability at +8, usable 8 times per scene. This keeps the players guessing- is that the only poison the spider gets, or can it poison me again?
The list is pretty long…
Here’s what I’m thinking right now…
Many abilities will be designated as ranked or application. This means you can purchase them in one of two ways: as an ability (rated from +1 to +13, with escalating costs), or as an application (at a default cost of 2 character points).
- If you purchase something as an application, you get to use it once per scene (although you could potentially use a Resolve Point to re-use an application you’ve already used).
- If you purchase something as a distinct ability, you can use it as often as desired, and you also get to build other abilities off of it.
Here is an example for two heroes who take Stealth:
- The first is an elfin ranger who purchases Stealth as an application of his Intuition. Once per scene, he can use one turn to Stealth, getting the full benefits of the Stealth ability equal to his Intuition rating (a bonus to his next attack roll, the ability to move about undetected, etc). However, once his Stealth ends (he’s discovered or he attacks), he cannot Stealth again that scene without spending a Resolve Point.
- The second is a magic-wielding thief. He purchases Stealth as a unique ability, pumping as many points as he can into it. For this character, he actually manipulates shadow energy, allowing him to fade into shadows and shape them to his will. In fact, he becomes so good at it that he purchases Energize Weapon (as an application), Shadow Dart (as an application) and Teleport (as an application). He can use his mastery of shadows to Stealth at will (using one turn each time), getting the bonus to his attack rolls each time he does this.
Both characters are good at sneaking around; one of the heroes spends 2 character points and gets to do it as a complement to his other abilities; the other hero builds his entire character around being a super sneak, investing more CPs into it as a core ability.
Let’s do this for healing:
- The Paladin purchases Healing as an application (2 character points) tied to his Resolve +8. Once per scene, he gets to cast one healing spell that restores 2D+8 wounds to one target within 8 units.
- The Cleric purchases Healing as a unique ability at +5. 5 times per scene, he can heal a target within 5 units and restore 2D+5 wounds each time. His heals are not as powerful, nor do they have as strong a range as the Paladin’s, but he’s able to heal much more often. On average, our Paladin heals 15 wounds each scene, while our Cleric heals 60. The Cleric spent 9 character points and the Paladin spent 2. If our Cleric gets to Healing +8, he’s now 8x more effective than our paladin (although he’s spent 20 character points to get there). He’ll heal 8 times per scene, up to 8 units, for 2D+8 wounds, restoring an average of 120 wounds. That’s a LOT of healing, but he’s made a huge investment to get it.
I like this because it really differentiates different healers… one of them is a part-time healer, and the other is a full-time healer.
The break point of value for investment is going to be different for each hero… if you have healing linked to a +10 ability, you will need to put +4 or so into Healing as a unique ability to make it worthwhile having separate. In theory, you could have both… you have a single powerful heal linked to another ability, but you also purchase a small heal that gives you short range little bursts of healing. As a Druid with Intuition +7, healing as a +2 application and healing as a +2 ability, you heal three times per scene: one is a big heal that allows you to restore 2D+7 wounds to a target 7 units away, and you also have two little heals that allow you to restore 2D+2 damage to targets up to 2 units away. This gives a LOT of variety with a little bit of math. I also like that this allows min-maxers to play with the numbers a bit. It gives you a ton of options for building your hero.
This is neat because if you want to play a hero who has the ability to bandage wounds and apply first aid (for instance, a young ranger trained in herbal remedies and applying these in combat situations), you take Healing +1. You get to heal once per scene for 2D+1 wounds to a target in the same or an adjacent unit; you can spend a Resolve point to do this again, if needed. You are by no means the main healer for a group, but in a pinch you can help out a little, and you’ve only spent 1 character point to get this ability.
I especially like the implications for building foes too…
The drake has breath weapon as an application of his Stamina- once per scene he gets to unleash a big breath of flame at a foe; a dragon, however, purchases breath weapon as a unique ability at +10, usable 10 times per scene… a poisonous snake has poison linked to his stamina, while a wyvern has poison as a unique ability at +8, usable 8 times per scene. This keeps the players guessing- is that the only poison the spider gets, or can it poison me again?
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Bonuses and Stacking Abilities
One of the reasons I even started thinking about a new edition was the difficulty I was having stacking abilities and granting bonuses (remember my super-suit example from about ten posts ago?). Here’s how it’s playing out conceptually right now…
- A shift is an automatic modifier to the rating of an ability. This is the most powerful bonus, since it adds right to the rating. I think that racial abilities grant a shift; this actually gets more powerful as you increase an ability. If dwarves get a +1 shift to stamina, this only amounts to 1 character point in bonus when your dwarf has stamina +1. Conversely, when you move your Stamina to +8, this +1 shift (to +9) is worth 5 character points. I like that this scales with character growth- your racial bonus gets ‘better’ as you grow, and is worth more over time- assuming that you continue putting character points into that ability.
- A boost is a temporary improvement to an ability through an increase in the character points invested into it. If you purchase a spell to boost the target’s might, and this is linked to your lightning bolt +8, you invest 8 character points into the target’s might. This means that if your target has might +3 (4 character points), you boost his might to +6 (12 character points). Boost rules also apply when you drink a potion that grants a bonus, when you put on powered armor that grants you a bonus, or when two characters work together to do something (when two heroes with might +5 try to work together to hold up a falling bridge, they have a combined might of +7- the two ratings of 9 character points add together to 18 character points- this is 2 shy of +8, so goes to +7). I think that energize weapon works this way too… if you have flame magic +8 and you use this to imbue a sword with flame energy, you add 8 CPs to the rating of the sword. If the sword is +3 right now [4 CPs] you improve it to 12 CPs, or +6. If it’s already +8 [20 CPs], you increase it to +9 [28 CPs]. You’d need to imbue 2 more points into the sword to get it to +10. Most boost spells would allow you to distribute these among your team- so if you boost might and have an extra point or two lingering after boosting your best fighter, you can boost your own might as well (even if it only brings you from +0 to +1 or +2, it still could prove handy).
- Stacking is when two different abilities add together to give a new total. Your hero’s might rating + his weapon rating is stacking; you get to add the two bonuses together. The previous example (last post) for the Invisible Girl allows her to stack her invisibility with her stealth. Stacking only happens when two different abilities combine. One of the options for using your Resolve points would be to stack abilities. You stack your might with your fighting to land an incredibly powerful strike; you stack focus with stamina to fight off the effects of a particularly powerful venom. Basically, you would always stack your top ability with the ability in question; as a powerful caster with Bolt of Cold +10, you will always stack a defensive ability with your bolt of cold when needed; this makes sense. Warding off the bite of a powerful dragon and deflecting the bolt of an enemy wizard would both cause you to use your ice magic to bolster your other abilities, if using Resolve points. A paladin would use his high fighting to bolster his other abilities through resolve. This actually solves one of the things I was concerned with about healing. If you link healing to intuition (the most reasonable connection, I’d think), you can stack other abilities with it to heal more by spending points from your Resolve pool. Sweet. I like that this gives you more tactical options, and makes more sense for your hero. Conversely, if you used Resolve to bolster your primary ability, you’d have to use a secondary ability to do it; with Fighting +8 (your best ability) and Stamina +6 (your second-best), you could use a Resolve point to stack your stamina with your fighting for one strike, throwing your body into the blow. This is pretty nifty.
Heh. I just solved a problem I had slated for later… Resolve (the replacement for hero points), gives you a pool of opportunities to stack abilities each scene. With Resolve +8, you get 8 times you can stack two abilities together on a single roll (as long as you can justify how and why you’re doing this). This does allow you to double-dip some; you use your fighting + precision to aim directly at a narrow chink in your foe’s armor, and then you still roll precision + weapon damage on the subsequent damage roll; precision counts twice on this particular attack. However, you can’t simply double a single ability; your Fighting is +9 and your next-best ability is +3, so you double your Fighting! Nope. You take your Fighting +9 and add your Precision +3 to the strike.
- A shift is an automatic modifier to the rating of an ability. This is the most powerful bonus, since it adds right to the rating. I think that racial abilities grant a shift; this actually gets more powerful as you increase an ability. If dwarves get a +1 shift to stamina, this only amounts to 1 character point in bonus when your dwarf has stamina +1. Conversely, when you move your Stamina to +8, this +1 shift (to +9) is worth 5 character points. I like that this scales with character growth- your racial bonus gets ‘better’ as you grow, and is worth more over time- assuming that you continue putting character points into that ability.
- A boost is a temporary improvement to an ability through an increase in the character points invested into it. If you purchase a spell to boost the target’s might, and this is linked to your lightning bolt +8, you invest 8 character points into the target’s might. This means that if your target has might +3 (4 character points), you boost his might to +6 (12 character points). Boost rules also apply when you drink a potion that grants a bonus, when you put on powered armor that grants you a bonus, or when two characters work together to do something (when two heroes with might +5 try to work together to hold up a falling bridge, they have a combined might of +7- the two ratings of 9 character points add together to 18 character points- this is 2 shy of +8, so goes to +7). I think that energize weapon works this way too… if you have flame magic +8 and you use this to imbue a sword with flame energy, you add 8 CPs to the rating of the sword. If the sword is +3 right now [4 CPs] you improve it to 12 CPs, or +6. If it’s already +8 [20 CPs], you increase it to +9 [28 CPs]. You’d need to imbue 2 more points into the sword to get it to +10. Most boost spells would allow you to distribute these among your team- so if you boost might and have an extra point or two lingering after boosting your best fighter, you can boost your own might as well (even if it only brings you from +0 to +1 or +2, it still could prove handy).
- Stacking is when two different abilities add together to give a new total. Your hero’s might rating + his weapon rating is stacking; you get to add the two bonuses together. The previous example (last post) for the Invisible Girl allows her to stack her invisibility with her stealth. Stacking only happens when two different abilities combine. One of the options for using your Resolve points would be to stack abilities. You stack your might with your fighting to land an incredibly powerful strike; you stack focus with stamina to fight off the effects of a particularly powerful venom. Basically, you would always stack your top ability with the ability in question; as a powerful caster with Bolt of Cold +10, you will always stack a defensive ability with your bolt of cold when needed; this makes sense. Warding off the bite of a powerful dragon and deflecting the bolt of an enemy wizard would both cause you to use your ice magic to bolster your other abilities, if using Resolve points. A paladin would use his high fighting to bolster his other abilities through resolve. This actually solves one of the things I was concerned with about healing. If you link healing to intuition (the most reasonable connection, I’d think), you can stack other abilities with it to heal more by spending points from your Resolve pool. Sweet. I like that this gives you more tactical options, and makes more sense for your hero. Conversely, if you used Resolve to bolster your primary ability, you’d have to use a secondary ability to do it; with Fighting +8 (your best ability) and Stamina +6 (your second-best), you could use a Resolve point to stack your stamina with your fighting for one strike, throwing your body into the blow. This is pretty nifty.
Heh. I just solved a problem I had slated for later… Resolve (the replacement for hero points), gives you a pool of opportunities to stack abilities each scene. With Resolve +8, you get 8 times you can stack two abilities together on a single roll (as long as you can justify how and why you’re doing this). This does allow you to double-dip some; you use your fighting + precision to aim directly at a narrow chink in your foe’s armor, and then you still roll precision + weapon damage on the subsequent damage roll; precision counts twice on this particular attack. However, you can’t simply double a single ability; your Fighting is +9 and your next-best ability is +3, so you double your Fighting! Nope. You take your Fighting +9 and add your Precision +3 to the strike.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Intuition
The only other ability that it feels like everyone would need to consider is a sense/awareness ability, which I’m going to call Intuition. This serves a few important functions:
- It becomes the way you determine combat sequence. Your ability to quickly jump into combat is about both your physical reflexes and your ability to process information quickly. Since precision already has a number of applications, I’d prefer to have intuition determine sequence- it feels better for balance.
- It becomes the core ability linked to a number of non-combat applications. Nature (the ability to hunt and track) and stealth would both be linked to this (at least theoretically).
- It becomes the core ability used to notice, perceive and detect the unknown. Foes using stealth or sleight of hand target your intuition.
I like a number of these ideas, but here are some problems I already see coming down the pike as we continue:
- What about healing? I see in some ways that healing should be a spell ability linked to intuition (for druidic types)… but I can also see this related to resolve (for paladin types). I can see it related to holy bolts (for clerics) and to your mind strike (for psionics who can also heal). I suppose we can allow any (or all) options, although this gets a bit much. I want to keep away from the idea of any application/spell that links to the ability of your choice- especially one as useful and broad as healing.
- The difference between stealth and invisibility in the supers game. For example, Legolas has high intuition, and he has both Nature and Stealth. These are linked to his incredibly high senses; he would not spend 16 character points to get stealth +7 (about where his stealth would be), but would link stealth to his +7 or +8 Intuition (probably +8; he is Legolas). However, the Invisible Girl has high invisibility (Stealth +10 range), but relatively low Intuition all things considered (probably +3 or so). I just don’t see her being the super-aware type who can hear a pin drop on the other side of the Baxter Building… She would have invisibility as a unique ability (probably at +8 or so), and could elect to pick up stealth with her intuition. These could combine to give her a total of +13 to avoid detection… if it’s just to avoid being heard, she’d only have +3, but to avoid being seen she’d roll at +13.
These seem like reasonable solutions… I will muse more on this…
- It becomes the way you determine combat sequence. Your ability to quickly jump into combat is about both your physical reflexes and your ability to process information quickly. Since precision already has a number of applications, I’d prefer to have intuition determine sequence- it feels better for balance.
- It becomes the core ability linked to a number of non-combat applications. Nature (the ability to hunt and track) and stealth would both be linked to this (at least theoretically).
- It becomes the core ability used to notice, perceive and detect the unknown. Foes using stealth or sleight of hand target your intuition.
I like a number of these ideas, but here are some problems I already see coming down the pike as we continue:
- What about healing? I see in some ways that healing should be a spell ability linked to intuition (for druidic types)… but I can also see this related to resolve (for paladin types). I can see it related to holy bolts (for clerics) and to your mind strike (for psionics who can also heal). I suppose we can allow any (or all) options, although this gets a bit much. I want to keep away from the idea of any application/spell that links to the ability of your choice- especially one as useful and broad as healing.
- The difference between stealth and invisibility in the supers game. For example, Legolas has high intuition, and he has both Nature and Stealth. These are linked to his incredibly high senses; he would not spend 16 character points to get stealth +7 (about where his stealth would be), but would link stealth to his +7 or +8 Intuition (probably +8; he is Legolas). However, the Invisible Girl has high invisibility (Stealth +10 range), but relatively low Intuition all things considered (probably +3 or so). I just don’t see her being the super-aware type who can hear a pin drop on the other side of the Baxter Building… She would have invisibility as a unique ability (probably at +8 or so), and could elect to pick up stealth with her intuition. These could combine to give her a total of +13 to avoid detection… if it’s just to avoid being heard, she’d only have +3, but to avoid being seen she’d roll at +13.
These seem like reasonable solutions… I will muse more on this…
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