Thanks, Ranger Wickett!
For the second adventure we used some additional house rules. By the time this adventure began, I downloaded Green Ronin's
Mutants and Masterminds preview. As I've always said, the biggest virtue of
Four-Color to Fantasy is being able to merge with any other d20 product. So I added it to the M&Ms preview
I love the idea of Damage Saving Throw, and I find it very superheroic (if you know what I mean and I think you know
), so we decided to test it in our second G.A.R.S. adventure. We had to do some modifications, but with a bit of common sense and the help of people at GR boards, I think we arrived to a wonderful set of house rules
A last word about it, it's wonderful how FCTF can be merged with other d20 products. Even merging it with the M&Ms free preview was easy and gave a very good result. Morrus, RW, Nemmerle, you did a wonderful work with FCTF!
G.A.R.S. House Rules
Damage Saving Throw
If an attack hits, it either does damage or has a special effect (for some super-powers). The effects of superpowers are given in the power’s description. Damaging attacks have a
Damage bonus, which determines how much the attack hurts the target. A target hit by a damaging attack must make a
Damage saving throw to resist the damage. Like any other check, the player rolls 1d20 and adds his
Damage saving throw bonus. The DC of the check is 15 + the attack’s damage bonus. So the DC for a Damage save against an attack with a damage bonus of +12 is 27 (or 15 + 12). If the Damage saving throw succeeds, the target takes no damage, completely shrugging off the attack. If the Damage save fails, the target takes some damage. How much depends on how badly the save fails.
To calculate the Damage bonus of an attack find the average damage (round down) and make that its damage bonus. For average caculations, each numerical bonus (e.g. +3) remains as is, a d4 becomes +2.5, d6 becomes +3.5, d8 becomes 4.5, d10 becomes +5.5, d12 becomes +6.5 and d20 becomes +10.5. So a 4d6+2 attack has an attack bonus of +16 (3.5x4+2).
To calculate the Damage Saving Throw bonus, it's Fortitude Saving Throw bonus + Natural Armor Bonus (in this system, natural armor adds to Dam. Save and NOT to AC, this usually results in most monsters being easier to hit, but more difficult to hurt).
If a target’s Damage save fails, he or she takes damage. What sort of damage depends on two things:
the type of attack, and the amount by which the target failed the Damage saving throw. Attacks are divided in stun and lethal. Unarmed attacks, blunt weapons and energy attacks (with some exceptions) cause stun damage, edged or pointy weapons, firearms, claws and teeth and other nasty things cause lethal damage. Once you’ve
determined the damage type, consult the chart below:
DAMAGE TABLE
<TABLE>
<TR><TD>Damage Save…</TD> <TD>Stun Damage</TD> <TD>Lethal Damage</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>Succeeds</TD> <TD>No damage</TD> <TD>No damage</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>Fails</TD> <TD>Hit</TD> <TD>Hit</TD>
<TR><TD>Fails by more than 5</TD> <TD>Stunned</TD> <TD>Stunned</TD>
<TR><TD>Fails by more than 10</TD> <TD>Unconscious</TD> <TD>Disabled</TD>
</TABLE>
* No damage:
The target shrugs off the attack without any effect.
* Hit:
The target suffers a minor hit. Every stun hit imposes a –1 modifier on Damage saves against further
stun damage. Every lethal hit imposes a -1 modifier on Damage saves against all forms of damage—both stun
and lethal—since it represents a more serious weakening of the character’s resistance. This penalty is
cumulative with the penalty for stun hits. So a character with 4 stun hits and 3 lethal hits suffers a -7 penalty to Damage saves against stun damage and a -3 penalty to Damage saves against lethal damage.
* Stunned:
The target takes 1 hit as above and is stunned for 1 round. The character cannot take any actions (including free actions such as sustaining powers) and loses any dodge bonus to Defense. Attackers gain a +2 bonus to hit stunned characters.
* Unconscious:
The character is knocked out, effectively helpless.
* Disabled:
The character is conscious and able to act but terribly injured. He can take only a half action each
round (either moving or attacking, but not both), and if he performs any strenuous action, his condition changes
to unconscious after the completing the action. Strenuous actions include moving, attacking, or using
any ability that requires physical exertion or mental concentration (including most powers).
These rules are a modified version of OGC rules at the Green Ronin's Mutants & Masterminds preview. I hope nobody at Green Ronin will be bothered by my use of them here, and if it would be the case, please, contact me.
Next one this soon. Very soon.
Your comments are always welcome!