A question about Defense Rolls

[Caspian]

Ok, so I'm running an Iron Kingdoms game, currently using "Action Points" as a variant rule to make it seem more cinematic. I was toying with the idea about implementing the UA rule of defense rolls in the game to add more variety in the game, but I'm unsure as to how that ends up working, any comments?



Jonathan

 

[JustKim]

I don't think action points should be used on a defensive roll because despite the name you're not rolling something for yourself, you're rolling to see if your attacker hits you. Using action points would penalize the attacker, and that's not normally something action points can do. You can't use action points to make someone fail a saving throw or reduce the result of a hide check, so you shouldn't be able to reduce the effectiveness of their attack roll even if you're rolling it.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Familiar sounding name and campaign... running anything on Friday?

I didn't see anything about class defense in Iron Kingdoms. IMO it wouldn't add anything to the game unless characters could boost their AC with skill (and it would mean more dice rolling). If it were something like Modern, that might be better - but then you'd have to nerf a lot of magic items and coats that grant DR

Even so, you could use AP to apply a 1d6 penalty to your opponent's attack roll (in effect, using it to boost your AC).

 

[Caspian]

Hey man

Hey, naw next game is 2 saturdays from now, I need to run a rather long session (I'm thinking 6-8 hours) to finish off this adventure.

Hmm, well I was figuring the static nature of AC is kinda bothersome sometimes, doesn't make for very cinematic fighting, which is more of the direction I'm trying to move (with the intro of action points)

The action points idea is separate from the question here, I was pointing out the other rules I've been implementing.



Jonathan

 

[Klaus]

The "Players Roll All The Dice" option has some drawbacks, the main one being that a DM can't fudge a result, since the player is rolling.

If you don't want a static AC, make it d20+modifiers, instead of 10+modifiers. You can either make every attack an opposed roll or tell the players to roll their AC at the start of combat. If a player spends an action point, he can add +1d6 to his AC for one round.

 

[Savage Jim]

Aren't Defense Rolls from the DMG (d20 + Armor Bonus instead of 10 + Armor Bonus) as a roll that opposes the Attack?

I thought the UA system was called "Players roll all dice" or something of that nature...

 

[Crothian]

I don't think action points should be used on a defensive roll because despite the name you're not rolling something for yourself, you're rolling to see if your attacker hits you.

Nope, you are rolling to see if you prevent the attacker from hitting you.