True 20 - Is it really Simpler?

[Vigilance]

Well, Im reading True 20 for the first time and Im pretty impressed so far.

I'll be running my first campaign in a week or so.

 

[Quickleaf]

I've done my own sci-fi game which looks very similar to True20, although I'd actually designed it after hearing about the M&M damage track.

In my playtesting, we found that the recording of 'hits' was bookkeeping we didn't want, so we modified things in this way - reduce all damage DCs by 5 (effectively becoming 10+damage instead of 15+damage), and the first result if you fail the save is Wounded.

Losing the ability to wear a target down by scoring lots of 'hits' may be less of an issue in the sci-fi setting since you don't come across big, heavily armoured monsters all the time, but we've found it to be a neat simplification of the base True20 system.

That seems like so obvious and useful a house rule I'm surprised it wasn't included in the True20 core! It's in the "less bookeeping" spirit of True20 and it's a simple fix.

My group sees Conviction as the "new" hit points in True20. Since the number you have are level based, higher-level characters will have more to spend during those long and dangerous combats. Ergo, higher level characters have a higher survivability factor by virtue of their Conviction.

Several of us have suggested that Conviction be set according to the campaign's theme, not a character's level. So if you want grim & gritty you go for low Conviction points and make them harder to gain back, while if you want high-flying wuxia action you go for high Conviction points which restore more quickly.

 

[MadBlue]

My group uses poker chips to track wounds. White for Hurt, red for wounded or greater, and blue for fatigue levels. It's a great help.

I haven't started running anything in True20 yet, but I bought poker chips last week for that same purpose.

 

[genshou]

I know this is gonna seem like blasphemy to some of you, but...

How hard would it be to put Attacks of Opportunity into True20? They're actually one of the reasons I haven't converted yet, but I'm liking so much more of what I'm reading here.

 

[DnDChick]

It wouldn't be difficult at all if you wanted to add AoOs back in. You'd also have to add back in all of the feats that deal with them, though.

 

[genshou]

Slipping in a feat or two along with the rest of the horde I'd be adding in shouldn't be noticeable ^_^

Thanks for the info!

 

[barsoomcore]

It wouldn't be hard at all, although AoO are really best used with a grid and miniatures and True20 not so much. And keep in mind that AoO will be the only way to get more than one attack per round, so the effect could be more than you bargain on.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[DnDChick]

And keep in mind that AoO will be the only way to get more than one attack per round, so the effect could be more than you bargain on.

Not necessarily ... one can spend Conviction for an extra action of any type.

Adding in AoOs will be the only way to get a free extra attack in a round, though.

 

[Plane Sailing]

It wouldn't be hard at all, although AoO are really best used with a grid and miniatures and True20 not so much. And keep in mind that AoO will be the only way to get more than one attack per round, so the effect could be more than you bargain on.

You can also use two weapon fighting to get more than one attack as long as they are not against the same target (they just add +2 to your higher damage if used against the same target).

 

[Jack Morgan]

Not necessarily ... one can spend Conviction for an extra action of any type.

Adding in AoOs will be the only way to get a free extra attack in a round, though.

er what about cleave/great cleave?
or am I doing something wrong?