Mr. Mask
2016-05-22, 12:28 PM
Most hit and miss effects, or more specifically critical ones, are too extreme or random and so aren't engaging. I was thinking of a few that would be good. Wanted input on these ideas, and discussion about your experience with it in other RPGs.
Knockback: Like Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis, a hit could sometimes knock your opponent back.
Retreating Dodge: Similar to knockback, your opponent has the option to dodge (or possibly reduce) your attack, if they back away one square.
Partial Damage: You nick the opponent, hitting them for less damage than normal.
Critical: You hit them for more damage than normal.
Impairment: Your strike impairs the opponent somehow. Now, an actual stun where they can't do anything for a turn or so should be rare as I dislike stuns and the like which take characters out of play. Most stuns should just impair their next turn or two, somewhat. This can also be fluffed as putting them off balance, putting them on the defensive, etc.. This could happen even if you miss.
Self-Impairment: Due to your attack or your opponent's defence, you suffer impairment.
Counter?: This would give your opponent a bonus on their counterattack against you. But, this might already be covered by impairment, above.
Morale Effect: Your attack, whether it hit or miss, may effect the opponent's morale. Having someone hit them, or almost hit and kill them, can shake their confidence. Still, it is very unlikely you'll actually make someone flee with this, but just make them hesitant to continue the attack.
Aesthetics
It would be good if there were details as to how you defend yourself, or as to how you hit the opponent. Say, whether you dodged their blow by ducking, or blocked it with your shield, or parried it, or whichever. Problem being, this would likely be complicated and not worth the effort in pen and paper.
The closest you could get is a table you can roll on, that is something like this:
1 *Parry with Shield, You get a +1 on your next attack.
2 Parry with Weapon, You get a +1 on your next attack.
3 *Block with Shield, --
4 Block with Weapon, --
5 *Beat with Shield, Opponent gets -1 to Hit, but you cannot use your shield next turn.
6 Beat with Weapon, This weapon receives a -1 penalty on the next turn. Your opponent also suffers a -1 penalty on the next turn.
7 Leaning Dodge, --
8 Duck, You suffer -1 defence in the next turn.
9 Moving toward the opponent, If the opponent tries to disengage, you get a +3 bonus on your attack.
10 Opponent missed, You get +1 on your next attack.
*: If you don't have a shield, use the entry directly below this one.
That is a rough presentation Of how it might look, but having any kind of mechanical option to it as you can see, is pretty dubious. Nickel and diming the player with bonuses and penalties gets tedious and confusing without being especially engaging. Having more dramatic bonuses and penalties that effect their next move could be good. Would have to be done carefully.
The inspiration for this was the original (https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/25) White Knight Story trailer. If a computer can handle it for you, this sort of system is a lot more viable.
What sort of effects do you/have you used, would you like to see, do you hate using/seeing, and what have you seen used in other games?
Knockback: Like Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis, a hit could sometimes knock your opponent back.
Retreating Dodge: Similar to knockback, your opponent has the option to dodge (or possibly reduce) your attack, if they back away one square.
Partial Damage: You nick the opponent, hitting them for less damage than normal.
Critical: You hit them for more damage than normal.
Impairment: Your strike impairs the opponent somehow. Now, an actual stun where they can't do anything for a turn or so should be rare as I dislike stuns and the like which take characters out of play. Most stuns should just impair their next turn or two, somewhat. This can also be fluffed as putting them off balance, putting them on the defensive, etc.. This could happen even if you miss.
Self-Impairment: Due to your attack or your opponent's defence, you suffer impairment.
Counter?: This would give your opponent a bonus on their counterattack against you. But, this might already be covered by impairment, above.
Morale Effect: Your attack, whether it hit or miss, may effect the opponent's morale. Having someone hit them, or almost hit and kill them, can shake their confidence. Still, it is very unlikely you'll actually make someone flee with this, but just make them hesitant to continue the attack.
Aesthetics
It would be good if there were details as to how you defend yourself, or as to how you hit the opponent. Say, whether you dodged their blow by ducking, or blocked it with your shield, or parried it, or whichever. Problem being, this would likely be complicated and not worth the effort in pen and paper.
The closest you could get is a table you can roll on, that is something like this:
1 *Parry with Shield, You get a +1 on your next attack.
2 Parry with Weapon, You get a +1 on your next attack.
3 *Block with Shield, --
4 Block with Weapon, --
5 *Beat with Shield, Opponent gets -1 to Hit, but you cannot use your shield next turn.
6 Beat with Weapon, This weapon receives a -1 penalty on the next turn. Your opponent also suffers a -1 penalty on the next turn.
7 Leaning Dodge, --
8 Duck, You suffer -1 defence in the next turn.
9 Moving toward the opponent, If the opponent tries to disengage, you get a +3 bonus on your attack.
10 Opponent missed, You get +1 on your next attack.
*: If you don't have a shield, use the entry directly below this one.
That is a rough presentation Of how it might look, but having any kind of mechanical option to it as you can see, is pretty dubious. Nickel and diming the player with bonuses and penalties gets tedious and confusing without being especially engaging. Having more dramatic bonuses and penalties that effect their next move could be good. Would have to be done carefully.
The inspiration for this was the original (https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/25) White Knight Story trailer. If a computer can handle it for you, this sort of system is a lot more viable.
What sort of effects do you/have you used, would you like to see, do you hate using/seeing, and what have you seen used in other games?