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View Full Version : Yeh fight like a dairy farmer! [FEATS]



batsofchaos
2006-09-13, 06:09 PM
These are feats based on the LucasArts Monkey Island pirate games I wrote for my homebrew pirate setting. The affectiveness of the feats are left largely up to the DM. Mostly they were added for flavor and fun to keep the group laughing.

Insult play (these rules assume both participants have at least the Rakish Tongue feat outlined below):
During the course of a battle, two characters locked in hand to hand combat can insult each other with such ferocity they can tip the stake in their favor. After all, a fighter's tongue needs to be as sharp as their sword. Note: These rules can only be used on intelligent enemies that can comprehend the language you are speaking in.

After a successful melee strike, a character can initiate insult play by unleashing a barb at the opponent. This is a free action that takes place after both combatants resolve their turn. The opponent then has the chance to respond, also a free action that takes place immediately after the initial insult. Depending on how good the insult is changes what happens. The insult is judged by the DM on wittiness, boastfulness, etc. and is either a -0 (terrible insult. You appear neither fearsome nor dangerous. ex: I'll kill you. No really. I swear. Scout's honor.), -1 (wimpy insult. You could be serious, but are hard to take seriously. ex: You fight worse than a blind monkey.), -2 (good insult. You mean business. ex: I don't know whether to laugh or vomit at your skill. I could fight you with one hand behind my back. *places spare hand behind back*), or -3 (fearsome insult. Ususally has to be tailored to the recipient. ex: [fighting the goblin captian of the ship after just killing their first mate] You goblin swine, I've cut down your crew and when I'm through with you your bones won't be fit to make an ottoman!).

The comebacks are judged on the same basis, but they have an added quality to be judged on. If the comeback counters the original insult, it's treated as one tier higher than the actual insult. (Ex: In response to the good insult above, if the response were 'I will cut you open and feast on your entrails!;, it's a good insult, worth -2. However, if it was 'You removed your other arm to hide the shameful shaking of your hand!' a good insult, so normally -2, but since it was in response to the original, it's modified to -3.)

After both combatants speak (or after the insulter if the insultee does not to respond), the two scores are compared. If the insulter's score is higher (read, a bigger negative), the two scores are added together and become a to-hit penalty on the insultee's next round. If the scores are the same, they cancel out and no penalties are placed, ending insult play. If the insultee's score is higher, the scores are added together and become a to-hit penalty for the original insulter on the following round. If the insultee did not comeback, the penalty is applied unmodified.

On the second round, the winner of the first round has a chance to insult before the loser. If they choose to not insult, the loser from round 1 can insult first. Even if the winner refrained from insulting, they are allowed a chance for a comeback. If there was no winner, either can restart the insult rounds. If both want to start insulting the same round, the person with higher initiative speaks first.

At the end of the insults/comebacks, the scores are compared again. The winner then adds the two scores to the full penalty from the first round and applies it to the loser for the next round. This can continue to build the penalty for as long as one insult is placed per round. If a tie occurs, or no insults are made for a round, insult play ends.

Example of Insult play

Fighter A and fighter B are in combat. Round 1, Fighter A hits B, B misses A. A insults B (insult is wimpy, -1). B comebacks A (insult is good, -2) winning the round. Round 2, A attacks with a -3 to-hit penalty, misses B and B misses A. B insults A (having won the round before) with a terrible insult (-0), A comes back (good insult, -2, is relevant to original insult, for -3). Round 3, A attacks B with no penalty, and hits, B attacks with a -6 penalty and misses. A chooses not to insult B. B insults A (fearsome insult, -3), A comes back (good insult, responds to original, -3) insults cancel and end insult play. In round 4 so long as someone hits both can resume insult play. If both want to resume, A can go first since he has higher initiative.

DA FEATS.

Rakish Tongue (general, fighter)
Requirements: CHA 11, BAB +5, Combat Reflexes
Benefit: After a successful combat strike by either a character with the Rakish Tongue feat, or the opponent, the character can start insult play, as well as respond to another's insults.
Normal: A character cannot start insult play, and con only respond with comebacks. In the event of a win, insult play ends as if it were a tie.

Wicked Tongue (general, fighter)
Requirements: CHA 13, BAB +10, Rakish Tongue, Combat Reflexes
Benefit: When using insult play, if the character with wicked tongue makes a fearsome insult and wins with a penalty resulting in -5, or if the cumulative penalty is greater than -15, the opponent moves one step on the frightened scale (opponent is fine they become shaken, shaken they become frightened, etc.).
normal: a fearsome insult resulting in -5 or cumulative -15 offers no fear affects.

Cruel Tongue
Requirements: CHA 15, BAB +15, Wicked Tongue, Rakish Tongue, Combat Reflexes
A Character with Cruel Tongue may instead apply the cumulative penalty as a bonus to the next attack roll. This can only be done if the character wins three insult play rounds in a row, and effectively ends insult play allowing no insults or comebacks to be made on the round with the modified strike. If this strike is successful, the next round the character can resume insult play going first, even if they have worse initiative.
Normal: A character cannot apply the to-hit penalty as an attack bonus.

Pirate King:
Requirements: CHA 17, BAB +20, Cruel Tongue, Wicked Tongue, Rakish Tongue, Combat Reflexes
Benefits: In insult play, a character with pirate king always insults first, regardless of who won the round before. Their insults are devastating, regardless of their content making each insult one tier worse than normal (terrible insult becomes -1, wimpy -2, etc.). In addition, their insults are so potent they transcend language barriers and affect those who don't understand the language, albeit without the additional point (they do still need to be intelligent creatures). A character with Pirate King can also add the to-hit penalty as a bonus to damage on their next strike, provided they've won the last five rounds of insult play (this ends insult play, same as the cruel tongue ability).

If you can't tell, I like complicated rules. ;D This worked for me in my game, but what do you think?

ExHunterEmerald
2006-09-13, 06:18 PM
I'd add an intelligence bonus or charisma bonus to the thing and make it more like opposed rolls, with a benefit for roleplaying a good barb.
And make something for long insults. Give up a move action for a +1 to insult?
"Shut up Dylan, or I'll rip out your tongue, force feed it to you, shove you halfway through a woodchipper, shave you bald, tattoo a swastika to your forehead, and dump you in the middle of Harlem."

^--this has been used by a friend of mine. In its entirety.

batsofchaos
2006-09-13, 07:04 PM
I'd add an intelligence bonus or charisma bonus to the thing and make it more like opposed rolls, with a benefit for roleplaying a good barb.
And make something for long insults. Give up a move action for a +1 to insult?
"Shut up Dylan, or I'll rip out your tongue, force feed it to you, shove you halfway through a woodchipper, shave you bald, tattoo a swastika to your forehead, and dump you in the middle of Harlem."

^--this has been used by a friend of mine. In its entirety.

When I originally came up with this concept, I started writing rules as such (I did opposed intimidation checks with circumstance bonuses based on the insult quality), but I felt such a roll made it so it didn't matter how witty you were, just how high your ranks in intimidation were. End result, I made it purely an RP thing.

Also, long insults are funny so I don't see a reason to give it a penalty for a 'sure thing' -1. If it's long it's probably going to be a -1 already, if not a -2 or better.

knightsaline
2006-09-13, 07:41 PM
the insult play only works if both participants have a feat? that seems unlikely to me. make it a bonus to perform (insult) if you have the feat, then it seems more likely.

batsofchaos
2006-09-13, 07:49 PM
the insult play only works if both participants have a feat? that seems unlikely to me. make it a bonus to perform (insult) if you have the feat, then it seems more likely.

You need the feat in order to have your insults be combat-affecting. You can still insult, and you can disrupt someone's insults from affecting you, but to have the bite that robs your enemies of their combat abilities you need the feat.

BTW: This feat tree was developed as abilities gained for a pirate PrC for my campaign. I converted them to feats so other PCs could do some insult fighting without burning levels on the PrC, but still have it be something special that not everyone can do.

Toric
2006-09-13, 07:50 PM
the insult play only works if both participants have a feat? that seems unlikely to me. make it a bonus to perform (insult) if you have the feat, then it seems more likely.
No, the listed rules for Insult play only assume that both characters have taken Rakish Tongue. If only one character has that feat, he can initiate Insult play, and the opponent can attempt a comeback. If the opponent wins, the result is treated as a tie. Nowhere does it specifically state that both characters must have Rakish Tongue for the feat to work.

Still you bring up a good point. Bats, you may want to include within the Insult play description the fact that a character with Rakish Tongue may initiate Insult play with any intelligent creature that speaks the same language.

Edit: Ninja'ed

Anyway, my thoughts on the feat: This is a very RP-heavy feat, which is good in my opinion. Obviously, re-used insults would gradually lower in rating, and that would balance munchkining as effective use of the feat would require creativity rather than a re-usable formula for victory. This feat would be great to use with my dwarven Fighter.

As with any RP feat, its power would depend on both on the player using it and the DM's discretion, but I like it and I think a clever player with this feat could bring a lot more fun to a campaign.

batsofchaos
2006-09-13, 08:02 PM
No, the listed rules for Insult play only assume that both characters have taken Rakish Tongue. If only one character has that feat, he can initiate Insult play, and the opponent can attempt a comeback. If the opponent wins, the result is treated as a tie. Nowhere does it specifically state that both characters must have Rakish Tongue for the feat to work.

Still you bring up a good point. Bats, you may want to include within the Insult play description the fact that a character with Rakish Tongue may initiate Insult play with any intelligent creature that speaks the same language.

Edit: Ninja'ed

Anyway, my thoughts on the feat: This is a very RP-heavy feat, which is good in my opinion. Obviously, re-used insults would gradually lower in rating, and that would balance munchkining as effective use of the feat would require creativity rather than a re-usable formula for victory. This feat would be great to use with my dwarven Fighter.

As with any RP feat, its power would depend on both on the player using it and the DM's discretion, but I like it and I think a clever player with this feat could bring a lot more fun to a campaign.

One thing I didn't talk about in the original post was that the insults were judged by the other players (as DM my insults were not judged by me). That way no one thought I was being unfair about who gets what bonus.

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-13, 08:26 PM
I was reading over your ideas, and I thought to myself, "Hey, that sounds a lot like that ol' Monkey Island game." Then I read your first sentence and felt quite the fool.

Anyways, I'm something of a fan of these rules. Have you ever seen the Mutants & Masterminds combat system? Everyone tends to be really close in power level, and characters typically only get one attack per round, so people are always using Intimidate, or Bluff, to demoralize/feint/inspire/etc, for that little extra edge in a battle. I love how that sort of thing plays, so here including a feat and combat system that imposes concrete benefits for snippy wordplay works well in my mind.

By the way, as a bit of an off-topic, have you considered the following sort of avatar?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/The_Monster_is_Loose_Bat_Out_of_Hell_3_album_cover .jpg

batsofchaos
2006-09-14, 10:55 AM
I was reading over your ideas, and I thought to myself, "Hey, that sounds a lot like that ol' Monkey Island game." Then I read your first sentence and felt quite the fool.


Well, you have good taste in old-school computer games, so don't feel too foolish. ;D


Anyways, I'm something of a fan of these rules. Have you ever seen the Mutants & Masterminds combat system? Everyone tends to be really close in power level, and characters typically only get one attack per round, so people are always using Intimidate, or Bluff, to demoralize/feint/inspire/etc, for that little extra edge in a battle. I love how that sort of thing plays, so here including a feat and combat system that imposes concrete benefits for snippy wordplay works well in my mind.

I've not had a chance to play Mutants and Masterminds, so I'll have to take your comments at face value about how the system works. That said, sounds like fun and I'm glad I captured the spirit of it somewhat.


By the way, as a bit of an off-topic, have you considered the following sort of avatar?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/The_Monster_is_Loose_Bat_Out_of_Hell_3_album_cover .jpg

Meatloaf does rock, but the origin of my nickname 'bats' is based on my extensive Batman collection. 8)

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-14, 11:34 PM
I've not had a chance to play Mutants and Masterminds, so I'll have to take your comments at face value about how the system works. That said, sounds like fun and I'm glad I captured the spirit of it somewhat.

There's a big thread where this guy Baron statted out every superhero he could think (http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?t=11800) of and ran fights with them, using the M&M system. The reason I pointed to it initially was that I enjoyed the concept of a system where every hit is potentially fatal, so characters have to fight carefully, focus on their ACs, and penalise their enemies saves and attack rolls. It seems the spirit of your feats here.

Another point: Have you encountered the PHB II? Intimidating Strike from that book is a feat that allows you to make an Intimidate check as part of a standard attack, resulting in the opponent being shaken for the rest of the fight. -2 to attacks, saves n' checks isn't a huge thing in most D&D fights, but in close ones between defensive characters it can make a world of difference.

batsofchaos
2006-09-15, 05:05 PM
Another point: Have you encountered the PHB II? Intimidating Strike from that book is a feat that allows you to make an Intimidate check as part of a standard attack, resulting in the opponent being shaken for the rest of the fight. -2 to attacks, saves n' checks isn't a huge thing in most D&D fights, but in close ones between defensive characters it can make a world of difference.

I've not really had access to a PHBII other than a glance-through at a book store (there's a current issue with cash-flow. The flow works fine, there's just no cash. :P), but that feat sounds fun. Actually, it sounds a lot like Wicked Tongue.