Azoth
2013-05-04, 03:07 PM
I first want to thank those that gave comment on my last batch of possible game mechanics.
In the game system my friends and I are designing PCs will be different from normal people in a few ways. One of which is that they are capable of seeing monsters for what they are under normal circumstances. A basic premise for our world is that monsters have always existed, but once mankind became capable of fighting back, learned to hide themselves in mortal guise undetectable to most.
We have been kicking around two main ideas on how to handle this bit of fluff.
The first is to simply give most monsters a glammer that makes people interact with them as if human, but keep their real form at all times and always at full power and use of their abilities.
The other, which is a bit more work, would be to design two seperate stat blocks for monsters. One for when they are in human form, that confines them to medium sized and limits their stats and other abilities. They will still be capable of more than a typical human in this form, but no where near full power. Then giving them a mechanic to revert to their true form and use their full strength and all of their abilities to their natural limits.
An example of the latter method would be a Dragon's Fear Aura. In human form it may be limited to something like (10+ 1/2HD (max5)+Cha mod (max +5)) in a radius of 10ft so in human form it would max at DC20 and be enough to make most normal people fear him if in his immediate vicinity. If pushed to revert to his True Form, then the limits for HD and Cha would lift and the AoE would extend out to full range. His breath weapon, natural attacks, and flight would also not be useable in his human form.
I ask the playground, which method seems better from both a continuity with fluff, and ease of use to keep play fun/easy?
In the game system my friends and I are designing PCs will be different from normal people in a few ways. One of which is that they are capable of seeing monsters for what they are under normal circumstances. A basic premise for our world is that monsters have always existed, but once mankind became capable of fighting back, learned to hide themselves in mortal guise undetectable to most.
We have been kicking around two main ideas on how to handle this bit of fluff.
The first is to simply give most monsters a glammer that makes people interact with them as if human, but keep their real form at all times and always at full power and use of their abilities.
The other, which is a bit more work, would be to design two seperate stat blocks for monsters. One for when they are in human form, that confines them to medium sized and limits their stats and other abilities. They will still be capable of more than a typical human in this form, but no where near full power. Then giving them a mechanic to revert to their true form and use their full strength and all of their abilities to their natural limits.
An example of the latter method would be a Dragon's Fear Aura. In human form it may be limited to something like (10+ 1/2HD (max5)+Cha mod (max +5)) in a radius of 10ft so in human form it would max at DC20 and be enough to make most normal people fear him if in his immediate vicinity. If pushed to revert to his True Form, then the limits for HD and Cha would lift and the AoE would extend out to full range. His breath weapon, natural attacks, and flight would also not be useable in his human form.
I ask the playground, which method seems better from both a continuity with fluff, and ease of use to keep play fun/easy?