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Wize Owl
2015-06-20, 07:46 PM
Hello everyone. I was looking up combat systems for a game idea I've been tossing around in my head. I came across an older thread here where someone was asking the same question. Another member brilliantly stated that the combat system should be based on what you feel best fits the game and what you want combat to be like. I gave it some thought and came up with what I think is a pretty good system. I want to know what you guys think of it. Btw, I'm not very familiar with tabletop games (other than reading reviews), so there's a good chance that this system already exists. So please don't think that I'm being a copycat if it does.

Gameplay consists of players battling monsters. My first idea was to just roll a regular dice. 4 or more is a hit and destroys the monster and 3 or less means your attack missed. My new idea goes like this: You roll an amount of dice equal to the monster's hp. In this case it's 5. You roll 2 hits and 3 misses. Now the monster's hp is 3. Your teammates take their turns and now it's your turn again. But this time you roll just 3 dice. This way you'll either hit, miss or destroy the monster in one turn.

So, what do you think? Is it good? I hope I explained it correctly. If anything doesn't make sense, just ask me to clarify. Once again, if this already exists, it wasn't intentional.

Kid Jake
2015-06-20, 07:51 PM
Were you envisioning players customizing their characters at all? Because this seems like it'd make everything fairly cookie cutter.

Cluedrew
2015-06-20, 08:16 PM
I for one could use some context.
What (if anything) do characters do outside of combat? How does that work mechanically?
Do the players have the same mechanic, i.e. do monsters role dice for their HP?
What sort of customisation options do you want and how many?
What sort of customization do the monsters have?
Do you have a setting/theme in mind?
In short, what does the rest of the game look like.

Also, it might be frustrating to take out the last HP of a monster.

Vitruviansquid
2015-06-20, 08:30 PM
What you've got going here is a system that is fairly simple to explain and use, but very complex to predict. In my mind, this is a good thing; it'll be easy to pick up and play your game, but figuring it out will end up requiring that most players do more complicated math than they want. The drawback, of course, is that you're liable to misunderstand your own math when you design characters for your game. So just that we're all clear on what this system is... the math in your game is going to be exponential (is the proper term actually "logarithmic?" Not a math guy) in that if you have a 50% chance to deal damage, you will kill a character with 4 hp in 3.5 turns on average, you will kill a character with 8hp in 4.5 turns on average, and then kill a character with 16hp in 5.5 rounds on average.

I assume this is the basic rule and that there are modifiers, exceptions, and a bunch of other math that makes the system deep which you've simply omitted in this post? If not, look into making that.

1. Allowing players change the target number for their dice rolls, change the target number for enemies' dice rolls, manipulate the number of dice they can throw, and such, will all give depth to the game. Be careful about allowing people to change the target numbers of their dice rolls, because reducing the target has an exponential effect on survivability (each point of reduction is better for each pre-existing point of reduction).

2. You will have more granularity, and thus more room to play around with modifiers, if you make the dice larger. I would go with 10-sided dice in these rolls, because 10% increments is fairly easy to understand for most people, and it's big enough to have some granularity. Make 6 the default target number to do damage, so you have a 50% chance, then control modifiers to make the maximum feasible amount of change +3 or -3 (-3 more than doubles the target's survivability). You might even add hard caps, like a 1-2 always fails to do damage while a 9-10 always does damage.

3. Including healing and damage based on flat numbers adds a layer of complexity to the system, so would including ways to modify the number of dice rolled.

Karl Aegis
2015-06-20, 08:51 PM
Why don't you flip coins if every roll is a 50/50 anyways?

Dienekes
2015-06-20, 08:58 PM
Hello everyone. I was looking up combat systems for a game idea I've been tossing around in my head. I came across an older thread here where someone was asking the same question. Another member brilliantly stated that the combat system should be based on what you feel best fits the game and what you want combat to be like. I gave it some thought and came up with what I think is a pretty good system. I want to know what you guys think of it. Btw, I'm not very familiar with tabletop games (other than reading reviews), so there's a good chance that this system already exists. So please don't think that I'm being a copycat if it does.

Gameplay consists of players battling monsters. My first idea was to just roll a regular dice. 4 or more is a hit and destroys the monster and 3 or less means your attack missed. My new idea goes like this: You roll an amount of dice equal to the monster's hp. In this case it's 5. You roll 2 hits and 3 misses. Now the monster's hp is 3. Your teammates take their turns and now it's your turn again. But this time you roll just 3 dice. This way you'll either hit, miss or destroy the monster in one turn.

So, what do you think? Is it good? I hope I explained it correctly. If anything doesn't make sense, just ask me to clarify. Once again, if this already exists, it wasn't intentional.

It's fine, a bit boring for those of us who like options in battle. But if your goal is to streamline and simplify it could work.

The one thing I would suggest is to make the damage in the hands of the player more than the monster they're trying to fight. As is, an entirely untrained baby can punch Gramdar that Unforgotten King of Hell and they have as much chance to kill him as the lauded heroes.

Perhaps, instead of making the number of dice based on the creature, you can make it based on the player's abilities? Say, Leggyless the Archer has a 4 in archery, so he can always roll 4 dice, which means he can easily kill the 1 hit point goblins, and can possibly kill the 4 hit point ogre. While Broomir has only a 1 in archery, but a 5 in sword. So his archery won't be all that great against anyone, but has a chance of picking off the weak guys, while his swordsmanship can be devastating to the stronger enemies.

While poor Freedo the halfling who was never very good at combat only has a 1 in everything, he might take out a goblin or two, but not much else. This would make your characters feel more diversified and give them strengths and weaknesses in combat. Of course this can speed up and slow down different things. So now after a certain point each goblin will pretty much always be killed in 1 round instead of an average of 2, while you could never potentially 1 hit KO anyone whose hit points are above your skill.

Anyway, just a thought.

Kid Jake
2015-06-20, 10:24 PM
You said that you haven't had much tabletop experience, outside of reading about them. If you're wanting to put a game together, you might want to try to sit in on a session or two to get a feel for the hobby; there's more to it than you'll probably pick up on from the outside and the more systems you have a basic understanding of the easier it would be to get ideas for your own.

SowZ
2015-06-21, 12:13 AM
Different class abilities would presumably add re-rolls, successes on a 3, an extra die, stuff like that. The problem, of course, is that they sound unique but people can find out which of these is the most mathematically sound and will always favor that ability.


It's fine, a bit boring for those of us who like options in battle. But if your goal is to streamline and simplify it could work.

The one thing I would suggest is to make the damage in the hands of the player more than the monster they're trying to fight. As is, an entirely untrained baby can punch Gramdar that Unforgotten King of Hell and they have as much chance to kill him as the lauded heroes.

Perhaps, instead of making the number of dice based on the creature, you can make it based on the player's abilities? Say, Leggyless the Archer has a 4 in archery, so he can always roll 4 dice, which means he can easily kill the 1 hit point goblins, and can possibly kill the 4 hit point ogre. While Broomir has only a 1 in archery, but a 5 in sword. So his archery won't be all that great against anyone, but has a chance of picking off the weak guys, while his swordsmanship can be devastating to the stronger enemies.

While poor Freedo the halfling who was never very good at combat only has a 1 in everything, he might take out a goblin or two, but not much else. This would make your characters feel more diversified and give them strengths and weaknesses in combat. Of course this can speed up and slow down different things. So now after a certain point each goblin will pretty much always be killed in 1 round instead of an average of 2, while you could never potentially 1 hit KO anyone whose hit points are above your skill.

Anyway, just a thought.

Without changing the core mechanic, you could keep the number of dice the same and instead change the target number. (Also make the die larger, maybe a D10.) So against Gragmar the Destroyer, who has 10 HP, Frank the Commoner rolls 10 dice and only succeeds on a 10. While Henry the Archer succeeds on a six.

Fri
2015-06-21, 12:39 AM
As is, an entirely untrained baby can punch Gramdar that Unforgotten King of Hell and they have as much chance to kill him as the lauded heroes.


It's the chosen baby.

icefractal
2015-06-21, 01:04 AM
If I'm reading it correctly, the effect would be that:
1) The attacker is not a factor, any hit has the same potential.
2) Hit dice only improve lifespan logarithmically (because each attack halves them, on average). For example, a 4HD creature takes ~4 hits. A 32 HD one takes ~7 hits.

Is that the result you're going for?

SowZ
2015-06-21, 01:30 AM
If I'm reading it correctly, the effect would be that:
1) The attacker is not a factor, any hit has the same potential.
2) Hit dice only improve lifespan logarithmically (because each attack halves them, on average). For example, a 4HD creature takes ~4 hits. A 32 HD one takes ~7 hits.

Is that the result you're going for?

Some rules changes I would propose:
1. The number that counts as a success is based on character skill.
2. Characters have a maximum number of dice they can roll, limited by their power level. A weak monster can never roll more than 4 dice, for example.
3. Characters have a minimum number of dice they can roll, based on power level. A high level monster of character might always roll at least 3 dice or at least 4 dice, for example.
4. There are mechanics for re-rolls where X many times per die, you can re-roll all misses.
5. Certain monsters/characters can increase the number required on the die to wound them. This could be fluffed as armor, toughness, or dodging. This seems like a rules lite system so let the player decide how to fluff this,

Certain builds could focus on any of those three. Some people might want to be really good at fighting lots of weak enemies or reliably finishing off wounded ones so focus on number 3. Others might want to be able to very reliably kill enemies in their proper power range, so focus on number 1. Others might want to be really good at fighting bosses with absurd health, and focus on number 2. Others might want to be more nova characters that are super strong sometimes but burn out, and they should focus on number 4. Tanks of course focus on 5.