bae@fisher.UUCP (Shiva the Destroyer) (01/18/85)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have been trying to decide how to run combat for this
game for quite a while now. It is obvious that we cannot
do things on a round-by-round basis, so some sort of
compromise between game speed and detailed interaction
between you and me is going to have to be done.
First, I will describe the basic tenets of my current
combat system as it is now being used for face-to-face
adventuring:
define the following quantities:
damage_weapon = damage inflicted by weapon ONLY, including
magical bonuses
damage_spell = damage inflicted by other enchantments (flaming
sword, harm on sword, etc.)
damage_strength = damage due to strength bonus
damage_prof = damage due to weapons proficiencies
damage_misc = whatever I have forgotten (double damage vs. giants,
etc.)
damage_total = sum of above
num_p = number of weapons proficiencies in utilized weapon
1) You are allowed to go below zero h.p. Once you are below zero,
you are unconscious, unable to do anything except bleed 1-4
hp/round. If you are psionic, you may cell adjust THE INSTANT
you go below 1hp, if you have the strength. If you do this, your
psionics will be useless for 1-4 turns, due to the strain you
have placed on them. Your wounds may be bound for 1-4 points
by your companions. Your companions may force healing potions,
etc. down your mouth, or apply them however they must be applied.
If you are a spell-user, you lose ALL spells when at -(hpmax/2)
points, and must pray for/re-learn them from scratch.
2) A roll of 20 on a 20-sided die indicates a CRITICAL hit. This is
assured of doing (2*damage_total)-damage_spell. In addition,
if on d100 you roll 01->5*num_p, you have achieved the famed
CRITICAL-CRITICAL hit. For this, I roll on a nasty table I
have to find out what disgusting thing happened to your foe.
Note that these things are almost always incapacitating in some
way. Monsters have 5*(Number of hit-die)% chance of doing the
same to you when they score a critical hit, so beware.
3) A roll of 1 on a 20 is a miss. In addition, if you are being
stupid in some way (firing arrows into mixed crowd of friends
or foes) you did something bad (hit a friend, etc.) I use
Common Sense here.
4) Generally stupid things are punished by arbitrary actions on my
part. If you DO fire arrows into mixed friend/foe crowd, you
will probably get minuses to hit, have to roll to hit friends
if you miss, and so on. Common Sense, as usual, is my guide here.
5) Conversely, clever things are rewarded. I shall not define
clever things, so as to keep you guessing.
6) If they have time, spell-casters are allowed to cast as many
spells as practical, subject to a 1-segment rest period
between castings. Hence, you could fireball (3 seg), rest (1 seg),
fireball (3 seg), rest (1 seg), web (2 seg) during one round.
7) if spell casters are damaged while casting spells, they have a
(# points damage)/(current HP) chance of screwing up and failing
to cast they spell. The spell-caster will know immediately
if he has failed.
8) subject to time limitations, and common sense, 2 items may be
utilized in an offensive or active defensive(i.e. Rod of Absorbtion)
fashion, in addition to spell casting.
9) psionic combat is REALLY discouraged, unless truly necessary. When
psi combat begins, it is 10 psi-rounds/1 melee round. 2 psionic
powers can be used per round, i.e. 1 Attack, 1 Defense, 1 Defense,
1 Minor/Major Ability, and so on. Note: no 2 Attacks or 2 Defenses
or 2 Abilities combinations are permitted. Again, this is subject
to time and common sense restraints.
Psionic attack on non-psionics is not considered by me to be a
fun thing, however if you TRULY want to...
Anyone going beyond the bounds of reason in his/her use of psionics
is to be reminded of the ongoing mind-flayer invasion of our
plane, and the current state of war which exists between the
Mind-Flayer Empire and the human Psionics Guild...
10) Common Sense is used in all cases where the rules are silly or
produce inconsitencies. I provide the ultimate definition of
Common Sense in all cases, although you are to feel free to offer
your own interpretations of the rules, and propose your own
solutions. If I truly hose you, and you feel that I was unjust,
let me know - sometimes I DO make errors.
11) All monsters are assumed to have survived because they have
something going for them. In my world, most monsters have
a fair percentage of their maximum hit points. Most are not
stupid, unless they are supposed to be stupid. I play all
monsters according to their level of intelligence. In
some cases, previously stupid monsters have been trained
by their masters to fight cleverly, so bewarned. Also,
not all monsters specified in the TSR rulebooks agree
fully with my interpretations of them, so expect occasional
differences. Quoting MM, FF, or MM II at me is likely to
cause me to become less than pleasant.
Now, my proposal for our PBM combat system is this:
You send me your characters, in fairly good detail
You explain to me what you would do in the following cases:
Heavily wounded, facing monster who is also wounded
subcases: Your party is trashed/Your party is fresh
Heavily wounded, facing monster who is fresh
subcases: Your party is trashed/Your party is fresh
Lightly wounded, facing superior numbers
subcases: Your party is trashed/Your party is fresh
Heavily wounded, facing superior numbers
subcases: Your party is trashed/Your party is fresh
Any other tactical scenarios you can think of.
Spell Users please indicate favourite combat actions
I will then, when any combat presents itself, inform you of
the impending combat. If you wish to fight instead of run away, I
will carry out the combat fairly, assuming the utmost in cleverness
and skill on your part, using your guidlines, until I reach a point where:
you have not provided me with enough info
it is crucial for you to do something non-standard
you are about to croak it
you have croaked it
I feel that this should enable us to have a much higher throughput
than if we play round-by-round.
If anyone has any comments on this, please send them in ASAP!
--
Brian A. Ehrmantraut
Ad Maioram Gloriam Hasturi!
UUCP: {allegra, astrovax, princeton, twg} !fisher!bae
BELL: (609) 452-8991 / (609) 734-7761
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