Really minor homebrew ideas (3.5)

[Tvtyrant]

I really hate the "double damage on a critical" function of 3.5, because the range of damage the weapon does is supposed to already cover from the lowest possible damage it can do to the highest. So I was thinking of replacing the x2 system with having the weapon damage be maximized on a critical hit.

This severally limited damage from a crit in the higher levels, so I then thought of adding a system where magic weapons do extra d6s. A +1 weapon would add 1d6 weapon damage, etc. This damage would be seperate from size modifier damage, but would still maximize on a crit. So a +5 greatsword would do 7d6, amounting to 42 damage on a crit.

I was thinking I would also change the Ninja so that instead of Sudden Strike d6s, it got essentially an automatic crit using this system when it hit someone and they didn't have their dex to AC.

[Kane0]

One question: What about weapons with high threat ranges compared to weapons with high critical multipliers?

[Grinner]

The last one is a bad idea.

From the SRD:

Feinting in Combat

You can also use Bluff to mislead an opponent in melee combat (so that it can’t dodge your next attack effectively). To feint, make a Bluff check opposed by your target’s Sense Motive check, but in this case, the target may add its base attack bonus to the roll along with any other applicable modifiers.

If your Bluff check result exceeds this special Sense Motive check result, your target is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) for the next melee attack you make against it. This attack must be made on or before your next turn.

Feinting in this way against a nonhumanoid is difficult because it’s harder to read a strange creature’s body language; you take a -4 penalty on your Bluff check. Against a creature of animal Intelligence (1 or 2) it’s even harder; you take a -8 penalty. Against a nonintelligent creature, it’s impossible.

Feinting in combat does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Edit: Reread the Ninja rules. It would probably be overpowered at low levels and underpowered at higher levels.

[Tvtyrant]

One question: What about weapons with high threat ranges compared to weapons with high critical multipliers?

High threat ranges wouldn't be altered by this, but high critical multipliers... Maybe instead it boosts the dice up a range on a crit? So from 4d6 (24) to 4d8 (32)?

The last one is a bad idea.

From the SRD:


Edit: Reread the Ninja rules. It would probably be overpowered at low levels and underpowered at higher levels.

Well, as I see it:
1. Feint is worthless in normal play, so it would be cool if this made it a viable tactic.
2. At low levels the Ninja isn't going to be making every feint check, so it isn't really that much of a problem. By the time they make the majority of the checks the damage is no longer a problem.
3. Maybe make it so they can only use sudden strike on a light blade, so they don't run around with great swords.

[Deepbluediver]

The main issue is that weapon damage from a weapons actual damage die does not scale very well, compared to magic modifiers and the flat boost you get from strength.

I know I've seen fixes that rather than just adding damage, they have a critical hit chart with different effects, sort of like a critical fumble chart.
Usually it includes things like crippling your opponents arm or leg, or knocking them down or blinding them, etc. Things that have other effects than just decreasing the players HP pool.

[Seerow]

Have you looked at 4e at all? 4e crits give max damage, and deal extra XdY where X is dependent on the enhancement bonus of the weapon, and Y is dependent on weapon properties.



I've been thinking about doing something similar with my weapon slots system, except having bonus crit dice be automatic, and something you can increase by paying half (or maybe even 1/4th) as much as for normal weapon damage. So where a 1d12 weapon costs 4 slots, 1d12 bonus crit damage only costs 2 slots.




As for the proposed ninja rules, this seems to me like it would make them overly gear dependent, and probably isn't enough of an average damage increase to be worth it.

[Tvtyrant]

Well I was thinking with the Ninja that since you could have things like prismatic burst you could up their damage that way, but I see the christmas tree effect in their future as well.

That does seem intriguing, but how would that interact with the old fashioned +1, +2, etc. weapon system? It sounds like yours has more grades than the old one.

[Seerow]

That does seem intriguing, but how would that interact with the old fashioned +1, +2, etc. weapon system? It sounds like yours has more grades than the old one.

Well if you're not familiar with it, the basic rundown is all weapons are balanced to a certain point total, I have all of the SRD and many of the non-core weapons rewritten to fit the standard. You get bonus slots from Masterwork, there are now 3 grades of masterwork (exceptional, superior, masterwork) each one granting an additional bonus slot, and adding a flat cost to the weapon (the first costs 300gp, the highest costs 4300gp). This doesn't really interact in any way with magic items, and you can use magic item enhancements along with it without any trouble, weapons and armor will merely be a little more powerful. If you want to know more the whole thing is here

To make it work with the max crit + bonus dice I described in my previous post, you'd remove crit multipliers, and give all weapons a d6 or d8 base crit damage value, and allow the crit damage to be increased at half the cost of a normal damage upgrade. Any weapons with a crit multiplier above 2 gets their extra slots spent into increasing crit bonus damage, or other things. You may also decide you want to change some other weapons (for example in such a system I could easily see a dagger having a higher crit value instead of higher crit threat range)

[Tvtyrant]

That sounds like a great innovation! Do you have a link to this homebrew of yours?

[Seerow]

That sounds like a great innovation! Do you have a link to this homebrew of yours?

I did link it in the above post, but it's here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=202722