Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
I have a damage save mechanic in my OGL science fiction game, Starguild
damage save variant affecting action economy
Everyone gets 2 actions a round. You can take a combination of single actions, or use two actions for a more complex or exerting 'double action' (like sprint, aimed shot, flying tackle etc).
If you are hit by a weapon, you make a damage save d20+ mods vs DC.
Make the save by 10 or more, no effect. lucky you!
Make the save, but by less than 10 - you are dazed; flat footed until you use an action to clear your head.
Fail the save, but not by more than 10 you are injured. Dazed and knocked prone, you cannot take double actions until you have recovered from being injured.
Fail the save by 10 or more and you are wounded. Dazed and knocked prone, you only have one action each round until you have recovered from being wounded.
Fail the save by 20 or more and you are dying.
If at any point you fail a save a second time, your condition worsens one step.
In combat people don't try to tough out being wounded, they normally make every effort to avoid having to make a damage save unless they know that they are armoured so well they needn't worry too much. Which isn't often!
The same basic mechanism is also used for handling social conflicts, dramatic conflicts (chases, infiltration, interrogation, netrunning, large scale battles) and horror/sanity.
It works quite well in practice. Wounds levels are descriptive, and reduce capability in terms of actions open to you (and when badly wounded total number of actions), but don't apply skill penalties so there isn't as much of a death spiral effect as in some systems.
Cheers
damage save variant affecting action economy
Everyone gets 2 actions a round. You can take a combination of single actions, or use two actions for a more complex or exerting 'double action' (like sprint, aimed shot, flying tackle etc).
If you are hit by a weapon, you make a damage save d20+ mods vs DC.
Make the save by 10 or more, no effect. lucky you!
Make the save, but by less than 10 - you are dazed; flat footed until you use an action to clear your head.
Fail the save, but not by more than 10 you are injured. Dazed and knocked prone, you cannot take double actions until you have recovered from being injured.
Fail the save by 10 or more and you are wounded. Dazed and knocked prone, you only have one action each round until you have recovered from being wounded.
Fail the save by 20 or more and you are dying.
If at any point you fail a save a second time, your condition worsens one step.
In combat people don't try to tough out being wounded, they normally make every effort to avoid having to make a damage save unless they know that they are armoured so well they needn't worry too much. Which isn't often!
The same basic mechanism is also used for handling social conflicts, dramatic conflicts (chases, infiltration, interrogation, netrunning, large scale battles) and horror/sanity.
It works quite well in practice. Wounds levels are descriptive, and reduce capability in terms of actions open to you (and when badly wounded total number of actions), but don't apply skill penalties so there isn't as much of a death spiral effect as in some systems.
Cheers
