Cilvyn
2022-03-01, 11:10 AM
Hello folks,
I’m working on a system and hope to gain some feedback from you on the combat system.
Quick setting background:
The system uses firearms and supernatural beings (Think alternative historic timeline, Dracula/Frankenstein 19th century London in which all horror literature is real).
A link to the PDF for reference: HERE (https://smallpdf.com/nl/result#r=87b411bc2ca9e4e00d67552b077854e4&t=share-document)
For the purpose of this scenario we use D12s
I started out with D20s, but that makes for too big variables, so I want to see how D12s work. D10 could work as well, but I feel it leaves little room for variables. Also a +1 on a scale of 1-12 is different than on a scale of 1-10. I like the first better.
Characters have attributes:
Ranged Skill
Melee Skill
Strength
Dexterity
Toughness
Intelligence
Charisma
Willpower
Perception
How to make attack rolls:
A combatant needs to roll below a threshold, which is usually their skill value modified by a difficulty level or external situational modifiers.
Skills can improve modifiers (a bit like proficiency) and combat circumstances play a part as well.
Yes I like crunch, but I also want things to make sense and be realistic and logical. The Unique selling point of this sytem is that combat is done simultaniously and that characters have (barely) no restrictions when improving their characters by the use of spending XP to learn talents and skills and improve attributes. Characters do not gain levels and don't gain more HP or a big increase in damage. A character who has spent 10.000 XP will die just as easily from a sword to the face as a recruit who just spent 1000. Ofcourse battlehardened warriors can endure more damage than others, but you get the idea. So I want combat to be as realistic as possible and using situational modifiers will encourage players to make use of their enviroment in stead of just charging in, swinging their axe and roll the same attacks over and over, all the time.
For example:
Viktor is wielding a pistol and wants to shoot a vampire marauder.
Viktor has a Ranged Skill of 7 and has a talent for handling pistols which gives him a +1 when using a pistol.
The vampire is at point blank range, which means Viktor has a +2 modifier for shooting at point blank range.
The player needs to roll a 10 or below.
The result is a 4 which means Viktor shoots and hits the vampire.
This is different from D&D, since it doens't depend on the enemy's AC if you hit or not, rather this system measures how good you are yourself with a weapon, the downside is, that in theorie you can improve so much you could have a 12 bonus and thus always hit. Also 12 would be a cap, so having more bonus would not work.. which can also be a good thing
Damage is calculated as follows for ranged attacks:
Degree of success + weapon damage - Target toughness - target armor
This is where it gets tricky and there the math really starts. With a d12, your average roll is 6.5. Most systems try to implement a success rate of 70%. I don't mind this to be a little lower, since situational modifiers will alter this rate a lot.
If a character can have a maximum attribute of 6 (I think this would be a good baseline. Maybe 7, I'm not the best mathmetician). that would be a little under 50%. I think it is wise to have players be able to improve their weapon propficiency. I want to do this by group. So a character can learn up to a +3 bonus for a weapon group. In viktor's case this is pistols. That would be a 9 or 10. This is already pretty high, let's say this Point blank thing is indeed something a character gains a +2 bonus on, you hit the 12 pretty fast. On the other had, when fireing from a large distance you can issue a -4 pretty soon. Also a character might be able to use a aim action to improve their roll by a bit. I would really hope you can give some feedback on these calculations.
Viktor rolled 6 degrees of succes
The pistol of Viktor has a damage value of 5
The vampire has a toughness of 6
The Vampire is wearing a leather jacket which does not provide any bonusses against bullets
The shot deals 6+5-6-0 = 5 damage
pretty straight foreward, although I am not sure whether or not to use dice for the weapon damage part. Static numbers have the downside that some weapons can maybe never actually damage a target and it removes some sort of excitement factor for rolling damage. But then again a bullet never deals exactly the damage damage, so having dice add something good. I donÂ’t want weapon damage to dictate the bulk of the damage, because I want degrees of success to have a big impact on the damage part.
Another Example
Elizabeth is wielding a silver coated axe and wants to hit a werewolf
Elizabeth has a Melee Skill of 5 and is an Axe expert which gives her a +3 bonus when using axes.
The player needs to roll an 8 or below to hit
The result is a 4 which means the axe hits the werewolf.
The werewolf tries to parry the attack as a reaction, but fails the roll (still have to decide how this works)
Damage is calculate as follows
Degrees of success + weapon damage + strength - Toughness - armor
this is a bit the same, except that melee weapons don't have these high variables because of range, and there are other rules for melee combat with parry rules. I imagine when two characters both fight with a melee weapon, they do not hit that often. You can't parry all attacks, just 1 per round, although there are talents that let you parry more attacks. The silver of the axe might just have an effect on the regeneration of the werewolf, not dealing extra damage, but who knows
Elizabeth rolled 4 degrees of success
The weapon has a damage value of 6
Elizabeth has 5 strength
The Werewolf has a toughness of 9
The werewolf does not wear any armor
4 + 6 + 5 - 9 - 0 = 6 damage
In my opinion is melee damage much more lethal than ranged. I mean both can kill you pretty easily, but a bullet in your leg is a little less destructive than an axe to the shoulder. I feel strength should weight in here. The downside is that for melee combat a player needs 2 stats in stead of 1. I can also remove this part and just let the weapon have a higher damage value.
Alright, this already is quite a lot. I hope you have gotten my idea, got some ideas yourself and want to share them and discuss!
Thank you very much.
I’m working on a system and hope to gain some feedback from you on the combat system.
Quick setting background:
The system uses firearms and supernatural beings (Think alternative historic timeline, Dracula/Frankenstein 19th century London in which all horror literature is real).
A link to the PDF for reference: HERE (https://smallpdf.com/nl/result#r=87b411bc2ca9e4e00d67552b077854e4&t=share-document)
For the purpose of this scenario we use D12s
I started out with D20s, but that makes for too big variables, so I want to see how D12s work. D10 could work as well, but I feel it leaves little room for variables. Also a +1 on a scale of 1-12 is different than on a scale of 1-10. I like the first better.
Characters have attributes:
Ranged Skill
Melee Skill
Strength
Dexterity
Toughness
Intelligence
Charisma
Willpower
Perception
How to make attack rolls:
A combatant needs to roll below a threshold, which is usually their skill value modified by a difficulty level or external situational modifiers.
Skills can improve modifiers (a bit like proficiency) and combat circumstances play a part as well.
Yes I like crunch, but I also want things to make sense and be realistic and logical. The Unique selling point of this sytem is that combat is done simultaniously and that characters have (barely) no restrictions when improving their characters by the use of spending XP to learn talents and skills and improve attributes. Characters do not gain levels and don't gain more HP or a big increase in damage. A character who has spent 10.000 XP will die just as easily from a sword to the face as a recruit who just spent 1000. Ofcourse battlehardened warriors can endure more damage than others, but you get the idea. So I want combat to be as realistic as possible and using situational modifiers will encourage players to make use of their enviroment in stead of just charging in, swinging their axe and roll the same attacks over and over, all the time.
For example:
Viktor is wielding a pistol and wants to shoot a vampire marauder.
Viktor has a Ranged Skill of 7 and has a talent for handling pistols which gives him a +1 when using a pistol.
The vampire is at point blank range, which means Viktor has a +2 modifier for shooting at point blank range.
The player needs to roll a 10 or below.
The result is a 4 which means Viktor shoots and hits the vampire.
This is different from D&D, since it doens't depend on the enemy's AC if you hit or not, rather this system measures how good you are yourself with a weapon, the downside is, that in theorie you can improve so much you could have a 12 bonus and thus always hit. Also 12 would be a cap, so having more bonus would not work.. which can also be a good thing
Damage is calculated as follows for ranged attacks:
Degree of success + weapon damage - Target toughness - target armor
This is where it gets tricky and there the math really starts. With a d12, your average roll is 6.5. Most systems try to implement a success rate of 70%. I don't mind this to be a little lower, since situational modifiers will alter this rate a lot.
If a character can have a maximum attribute of 6 (I think this would be a good baseline. Maybe 7, I'm not the best mathmetician). that would be a little under 50%. I think it is wise to have players be able to improve their weapon propficiency. I want to do this by group. So a character can learn up to a +3 bonus for a weapon group. In viktor's case this is pistols. That would be a 9 or 10. This is already pretty high, let's say this Point blank thing is indeed something a character gains a +2 bonus on, you hit the 12 pretty fast. On the other had, when fireing from a large distance you can issue a -4 pretty soon. Also a character might be able to use a aim action to improve their roll by a bit. I would really hope you can give some feedback on these calculations.
Viktor rolled 6 degrees of succes
The pistol of Viktor has a damage value of 5
The vampire has a toughness of 6
The Vampire is wearing a leather jacket which does not provide any bonusses against bullets
The shot deals 6+5-6-0 = 5 damage
pretty straight foreward, although I am not sure whether or not to use dice for the weapon damage part. Static numbers have the downside that some weapons can maybe never actually damage a target and it removes some sort of excitement factor for rolling damage. But then again a bullet never deals exactly the damage damage, so having dice add something good. I donÂ’t want weapon damage to dictate the bulk of the damage, because I want degrees of success to have a big impact on the damage part.
Another Example
Elizabeth is wielding a silver coated axe and wants to hit a werewolf
Elizabeth has a Melee Skill of 5 and is an Axe expert which gives her a +3 bonus when using axes.
The player needs to roll an 8 or below to hit
The result is a 4 which means the axe hits the werewolf.
The werewolf tries to parry the attack as a reaction, but fails the roll (still have to decide how this works)
Damage is calculate as follows
Degrees of success + weapon damage + strength - Toughness - armor
this is a bit the same, except that melee weapons don't have these high variables because of range, and there are other rules for melee combat with parry rules. I imagine when two characters both fight with a melee weapon, they do not hit that often. You can't parry all attacks, just 1 per round, although there are talents that let you parry more attacks. The silver of the axe might just have an effect on the regeneration of the werewolf, not dealing extra damage, but who knows
Elizabeth rolled 4 degrees of success
The weapon has a damage value of 6
Elizabeth has 5 strength
The Werewolf has a toughness of 9
The werewolf does not wear any armor
4 + 6 + 5 - 9 - 0 = 6 damage
In my opinion is melee damage much more lethal than ranged. I mean both can kill you pretty easily, but a bullet in your leg is a little less destructive than an axe to the shoulder. I feel strength should weight in here. The downside is that for melee combat a player needs 2 stats in stead of 1. I can also remove this part and just let the weapon have a higher damage value.
Alright, this already is quite a lot. I hope you have gotten my idea, got some ideas yourself and want to share them and discuss!
Thank you very much.