D&D 5E (+)Heat, a New Mechanic For Managing Power Systems

[Stalker0]

You can actually reverse this concept and use the old "ammunition die" concept.

So the laser gun has a "d6" ammunition die. It doesn't have ammunition per say, its how long it fires before it overheats.

When you fire the weapon, you roll the ammunition die. On a 1, the die is reduced. If you roll a 1 on a d4, the weapon overheats, and can't be used until heat is removed.

The advantage of using die is they can serve as your tracking tool. Instead of remembering your heat is now "3", you can just swap out die to do your tracking, so you never have to remember any numbers.

 

[Stormonu]

Wouldn't Durability be a better name instead of Heat?

 

[Charlaquin]

You can actually reverse this concept and use the old "ammunition die" concept.

So the laser gun has a "d6" ammunition die. It doesn't have ammunition per say, its how long it fires before it overheats.

When you fire the weapon, you roll the ammunition die. On a 1, the die is reduced. If you roll a 1 on a d4, the weapon overheats, and can't be used until heat is removed.

The advantage of using die is they can serve as your tracking tool. Instead of remembering your heat is now "3", you can just swap out die to do your tracking, so you never have to remember any numbers.

I like that quite a bit better

 

[MarkB]

Im getting Battletech vibes here. Maybe that system can give some ideas on how to expand on this? Having to manage heat round by round and decide on movement (walk, run, jump jet) and which of your weapons to use was very tactical. Doesnt feel the same every round either.

I'm only familiar with Battletech from videogames, but one factor in that system is that you can inflict Heat on opponents to hamper their ability to operate, or even shut them down completely.

Possibly a mechanic worth considering for a system like this.