[GRIM TALES] GlassJaw's Grim Tales Variant Ruleset v1.2! (updated 9/29/05)

[genshou]

No,

DR1, DR2, DR1d4, 1d4+1, 1d4+2, 1d4+3, 1d4+4.

Isn't that what I wrote?

1, 1d2, 1d4, 1d4+1, 1d4+2, 1d4+3, 1d4+4

[Edit: whoops, missed the difference. Stupid laptop needs its contrast setting adjusted @_@]

 

[GlassJaw]

Just wanted to let everyone know I've made a few updates, the biggest of which was adding a variable armor DR system. I also tweaked a couple of feats here and there and added a revision history.

Check in the first post for the new version.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Cool, thanks for letting us know.

 

[genshou]

Hey again, GlassJaw–

Well, the formatting looks great in the revision. Agile Riposte and Precise Attack look fine.

I noticed you extended the variable armor DR system to include 1d4+5 for full plate. Note that I'm not arguing with the decision, but I'd like to hear the reason why you changed it to eight categories (and one is higher). Just to sate my curiosity; I hope you understand.

 

[GlassJaw]

I noticed you extended the variable armor DR system to include 1d4+5 for full plate. Note that I'm not arguing with the decision, but I'd like to hear the reason why you changed it to eight categories (and one is higher). Just to sate my curiosity; I hope you understand.

Well I wanted to model the "core" armor types in the PHB. I agree that 1d4+5 is borderline high but I figured that people who are designing their own low-magic homebrews have their own armor types already. For example, in my campaign, armor is pretty rare to begin with and if you encounter armor with that much DR, it's most likely going to be some kind of steam-powered battle armor. In other words, the players will never get their hands on it, at least not in the sense that they will be able to use with any frequency.

So I included all the armor types mostly for completeness.

 

[genshou]

Well I wanted to model the "core" armor types in the PHB. I agree that 1d4+5 is borderline high but I figured that people who are designing their own low-magic homebrews have their own armor types already. For example, in my campaign, armor is pretty rare to begin with and if you encounter armor with that much DR, it's most likely going to be some kind of steam-powered battle armor. In other words, the players will never get their hands on it, at least not in the sense that they will be able to use with any frequency.

So I included all the armor types mostly for completeness.

That's interesting. So the high-DR armor won't be a very frequent occurrence amongst the PCs? That makes sense in a vp/wp game. Until that lethal critical hit comes along, armor only hinders a character anyway. Which makes for a nice feel to the game when you're playing a swashbuckler.

 

[GlassJaw]

Just a couple of small updates.

I'm going to be running a one-shot using these rules next weekend; I'll let everyone know how it goes.

 

[genshou]

Just a couple of small updates.

I'm going to be running a one-shot using these rules next weekend; I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Looking forward to hearing about it as I am becoming more and more sold on these rules as time passes.

 

[GlassJaw]

Looking forward to hearing about it as I am becoming more and more sold on these rules as time passes.

I'm looking forward to running them as well. I've actually been creating the characters and making some tweaks on the ruleset at the same time. Creating characters is a great exercise in proof-reading your mechanics.

 

[GlassJaw]

Well I had my first opportunity to playtest my ruleset this past weekend. Overall, it went very well.

The things I was mainly concerned with were how people unfamiliar with the VP/WP system responded to it, my wound level system, opposed attack/defense rolls, and armor as DR.

Everyone liked the VP/WP system and overall, it was pretty seamless during play. The wound level system didn't really come into play too much - the one guy who took wound damage got critted and was knocked to 0. Same goes for armor as DR - although the bad guys got some experience with that.

I was most interested in seeing the opposed attack/defense rolls in play though. I was pretty surprised at the reponse - everyone loved it! The response to the Dodge/Parry system was excellent as well. No one felt the opposed rolls slowed down play at all since everyone quickly caught on and as soon as they knew they were being attacked, they would roll their defense at the same time.

Couple of tweaks to make: what happens if someone parries with Improved Unarmed Strike and an unarmed attack and equals the attacker's attack roll? The Healing After Combat action point option seems a bit low since VP's come back rather fast as it is.

So in the end, I was definitely encouraged, especially considering I didn't know any of the people beforehand, nor did I know what level of d20 knowledge anyone would have.