Grim-n-Gritty: Revised and Simplified

[KenHood]

(for instance if i am understanding everything, harold could hold a torch in his bare hand indefinitely)

Harold has a soak of 0. He'd get burned by the torch.

As for save-based damage not penetrating Soak...
Possible solution could be increasing the damage suffered by +1 per point a character misses the save. That way, it would work like damage, and spell-casters would have incentive to get feats that increase save DC by +2 or +4.

 

[Pielorinho]

Okay, no problem on the nitpicking; I was not sure what level of accuracy you were looking for on it. And as long as the practical effect of true strike works for you (i.e., it makes a third-level wizard a fiercer attacker than a fifth-level fighter, a couple of times a day, and steers spellcasters heavily away from DD spells), that's cool; I was just talking about some potential issues.

Daniel

 

[KenHood]

And as long as the practical effect of true strike works for you (i.e., it makes a third-level wizard a fiercer attacker than a fifth-level fighter, a couple of times a day, and steers spellcasters heavily away from DD spells), that's cool; I was just talking about some potential issues.

Yep. That's cool. Having wizards use spells they don't normally use in normal rules is more interesting for me. It gets drab to see fireball after fireball. Heck, when I play D&D on the computer, that's the only 3rd level spell I end up using.

Big difference between the direct damage and buff magic: a wizard casting a fireball kills a lot of guys, a wizard casting true strike kills one guy every other round. (And face it, if your wizard has a good potential to whack a guy every other round, the grunts are gonna kill everybody in robes during the first round.)

I do appreciate the consideration of potential issues.

I'd appreciate some playtesting even more than that!

 

[KenHood]

The more I consider it, the more I like using Dexterity as the primary attack attribute.

Some of you playtesting these rules, please give it a spin.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[Pielorinho]

Like I said, I'd love to play by these rules at a con sometime. My preferred style of campaign to run, however, is pretty combat-light and death-light; if we get in one combat per session, we're doing good, and two deaths per year of play is a bit high for us. Anyway, I'm not running a game now, so my playtest opportunities are limited. All the same, if I get together with some friends for a oneshot, I'll pull these rules out and see what they think.

It does occur to me that a pretty cool image comes up: a wizard with quickened true strike and a handful of darts killing one person every round by throwing a dart directly into their brainpan .

Danile

 

[Verequus]

Hi Ken!

I looked through your rules and I like them! While I still will use the normal rules in play, I have now the right rules... ehm, guidelines for a story I plan to write. There are writers, who write only realistic stories and there are other, who write whatever looks appropriate. Obviously, a story using magic as a element can't be fully realistic, only look realistic, and for that I simply need not only nature's laws, but magic's laws and the correlation between the two. Applying the hit point-system would only result in fights, where at first the hit points are reduced and then the combatants die a quick death.

Yes, I could simple write want I want, but then it would be completely arbitrary like that: "The big rock starts to float 3 meters high, about 15 meters the path along, while it transforms to a big elephant. The suddenly existing animal trumpets loud, before it falls to the earths and crumbles to stones and dust." Following Murphy'S Law somewhat. Okay, enough with the rant...

Some comments:
-The Critical Threat Range table: The entry "15-20" should be something like "Every other".
-An error in the Bypass Heavy Armor entry at the Critical Hit Effects: You wrote "medium armor" instead "heavy armor".
-"Apply your target’s damage reduction or energy resistance (if applicable) to the attack’s damage." Do I understand it right: If I have DR 10/magic, then any applicable damage will be reduced by 10 points?
-How do you handle hardness?
-What are the effects of Fast Healing and Regeneration?
-There aren't examples for every situation, you cover with your rules.
-In which product Mongoose used your rules?
-The storyteller system is used in Vampire: The Maskerade or Werewolf: The Apocalypse, for example.

I hope I didn't overlook that someone asked or mentioned anything above.

 

[Melkor Lord Of ALL!]

I really like those rules, but don`t you think it would work better if used with lower magic system, like Call of Chtulhu or Conan, making casting spells dangerous to the caster, with penalties to ability scores, corruption, more ritual and subtle spells, etc?

 

[KenHood]

I really like those rules, but don`t you think it would work better if used with lower magic system, like Call of Chtulhu or Conan, making casting spells dangerous to the caster, with penalties to ability scores, corruption, more ritual and subtle spells, etc?

Ain't even gonna worry about it!

Ran into this same thinking with the previous iteration of the GnG rules, and I'm taking the same line as before: I have zero, zip, nada, none interest -- NONE! -- in figuring out what magic system works best with the rules or figuring how to convert a magic system to the rules.

And so, I shall say NOTHING! about magic systems.

You've got figure the best fit for these rules in your use.

 

[KenHood]

Some comments:
-The Critical Threat Range table: The entry "15-20" should be something like "Every other".

Why?

-An error in the Bypass Heavy Armor entry at the Critical Hit Effects: You wrote "medium armor" instead "heavy armor".

Yep. I fixed that one. Look later in the thread for a copy of the rules.

-"Apply your target’s damage reduction or energy resistance (if applicable) to the attack’s damage." Do I understand it right: If I have DR 10/magic, then any applicable damage will be reduced by 10 points?

Yeah. Apply before figuring Soak.

-How do you handle hardness?

Same as the regular rules. It reduces damage.

Rule of thumb: If I don't say anything about something, I've no changes for it.

Second rule of thumb: I believe in Minimum Necessary Effort. If I don't change it, I don't explain that I didn't change it.

-What are the effects of Fast Healing and Regeneration?

See previous rules of thumb. Substitute life pips for HP.

-There aren't examples for every situation, you cover with your rules.

I don't understand your statement.

If you mean that I didn't give examples of everything, you're right. I have no intention of providing copious and detailed examples of the system at work. I expect folks to fill in the blanks.

You may say, "That sucks!"

To which I would reply, "It's free!"

In other words, you get what you pay for.

-In which product Mongoose used your rules?

A generic book that presented a lot of OGL content. Can't recall the title. A friend sent me an e-mail with a link to the sales page for the book.

-The storyteller system is used in Vampire: The Maskerade or Werewolf: The Apocalypse, for example.

Okay.

 

[Ukyo the undead]

I think I found a typo.

When explaining hpw to figure out defense, there is a phrase that confused me:

"Your base defense bonus equals your base attack bonus + your Dexterity modifier or your total Reflex saving throw (including your Dexterity modifier), whichever is higher"


Shouldn´t it say "excluding"?

Well, other than that, I only have to say that this optional rules are exactly what I was looking for, and the revision clarified a lot the old rulings.

Ps: I translated your rules to portuguese, and I am going to ask the "local Enworld" to put it online. Is this ok?