chatdemon
First Post
This is basically an offshoot of the recent'Bullet Points' thread, carried over here to a new thread to avoid totally hijacking that one.
I've just recently drawn up some combat house rules that deal with the issues of Massive Damage, Critical Hits and Instant Kills that were touched on in the other thread and figured I'd share my ideas here:
Critical Threats and Critical Hits
A natural 20 (the die roll shows a 20 before modifiers are applied) grants the attacker a critical threat on his target. The attacker then rolls a second attack roll, with the same modifiers as the initial roll. If the second attack roll scores a hit on the opponent, the result is a critical hit, causing x2 damage. Only the actual damage of the weapon, the attackers strength modifier, and any basic FX or other damage bonuses are multiplied. Other damage, such as fire damage from alternate ammunition types, or elemental FX augmentations, is added to the damage result after these have been multiplied.
A defender who is the victim of a critical hit may elect to spend 1 action point to avoid the extra damage, suffering only the normal damage of the attack. Remember, a character may only spend one action point (either from his own pool or the group pool) per round.
Note: Some weapons and attack forms have augmented Critical Threat ranges and/or improved critical hit damage (x3, x4, etc).
Instant Kills
Upon scoring a critical threat on her opponent, an attacker may elect to pursue an instant kill instead of a critical hit. In this case, the attacker rolls 2 additional attack rolls, with her full modifiers to the first, but no modifiers to the second (except possibly the results of an action point spent to improve the attack roll, if she chooses). If both attacks are successful hits, her opponent must make a fortitude save (DC 10+damage of the attack) or die.
A defender who is the victim of an instant may elect to spend 1 action point to avoid death, instead becoming disabled (0 hp). Remember, a character may only spend one action point (either from his own pool or the group pool) per round.
Effects of Massive Damage
There are two types of massive damage:
1 A character who suffers more than 1/2 their total hit points in damage from 1 attack must make a fortitude save (DC 10+damage taken) or become instantly disabled (0 hp). In the event that the attack provoking the massive damage check would take the character to 0 hp or lower, the fortitude save is rolled in the same way, but failure means the character has died.
In the event that failing this save would lead to a character's death, an action point may be spent to remain alive, at whatever hp total the damage left him.
2 A character who suffers a number of hits equal to his constitution score in one combat must perform a Constitution check (DC 20+number of hits beyond Con score) or immediately become disabled (0 hp) and suffer 1d6 points of temporary Con damage which may only be healed under proper medical care at a rate of 1 per day. Note that a character must repeat this save (with increasing DC targets) every time she is injured again in the same combat once she has suffered more hits than her Con score allows.
As with type 1 massive damage, if the damage from the attack provoking the Con check would bring the character to disabled (0 hp) or below, failure of the check means death for the character. An action point may be spent to avoid death, leaving the character disabled or unconscious, depending on the damage dealt, keeping in mind again that only 1 action point may be spent per round by a character.
Example: Ruby, a 9th level tough hero, has a Con of 20. She is jumped by 2 thugs in a dark alley and decides to brawl with them. She may be hit up to 20 times with damage and type 1 massive damage handled normally. If she is hit a 21st time, she must make a Con check (DC 21) to avoid becoming disabled. A 22nd hit would invoke another Con check (DC 22), and so on. Action points spent to resist this type of massive damage are handled normally, with an additional die (determined by character level, see d20M page 36)
Note: The use of a Con check here instead of a fortitude save is intentional, reflecting the difficulty of remaining standing after taking a severe beating or multiple wounds.
Characters with the Endurance feat gain a +2 andurance bonus to their Con checks or Fort saves invoked by either type of massive damage. Characters with the Toughness feat gain a +1 enhancement bonus to these rolls for each time the feat has been taken. A character with levels of the Tough Hero class gain a bonus of +1/3 levels of Tough Hero to these checks.
Feedback welcomed!
I've just recently drawn up some combat house rules that deal with the issues of Massive Damage, Critical Hits and Instant Kills that were touched on in the other thread and figured I'd share my ideas here:
Critical Threats and Critical Hits
A natural 20 (the die roll shows a 20 before modifiers are applied) grants the attacker a critical threat on his target. The attacker then rolls a second attack roll, with the same modifiers as the initial roll. If the second attack roll scores a hit on the opponent, the result is a critical hit, causing x2 damage. Only the actual damage of the weapon, the attackers strength modifier, and any basic FX or other damage bonuses are multiplied. Other damage, such as fire damage from alternate ammunition types, or elemental FX augmentations, is added to the damage result after these have been multiplied.
A defender who is the victim of a critical hit may elect to spend 1 action point to avoid the extra damage, suffering only the normal damage of the attack. Remember, a character may only spend one action point (either from his own pool or the group pool) per round.
Note: Some weapons and attack forms have augmented Critical Threat ranges and/or improved critical hit damage (x3, x4, etc).
Instant Kills
Upon scoring a critical threat on her opponent, an attacker may elect to pursue an instant kill instead of a critical hit. In this case, the attacker rolls 2 additional attack rolls, with her full modifiers to the first, but no modifiers to the second (except possibly the results of an action point spent to improve the attack roll, if she chooses). If both attacks are successful hits, her opponent must make a fortitude save (DC 10+damage of the attack) or die.
A defender who is the victim of an instant may elect to spend 1 action point to avoid death, instead becoming disabled (0 hp). Remember, a character may only spend one action point (either from his own pool or the group pool) per round.
Effects of Massive Damage
There are two types of massive damage:
1 A character who suffers more than 1/2 their total hit points in damage from 1 attack must make a fortitude save (DC 10+damage taken) or become instantly disabled (0 hp). In the event that the attack provoking the massive damage check would take the character to 0 hp or lower, the fortitude save is rolled in the same way, but failure means the character has died.
In the event that failing this save would lead to a character's death, an action point may be spent to remain alive, at whatever hp total the damage left him.
2 A character who suffers a number of hits equal to his constitution score in one combat must perform a Constitution check (DC 20+number of hits beyond Con score) or immediately become disabled (0 hp) and suffer 1d6 points of temporary Con damage which may only be healed under proper medical care at a rate of 1 per day. Note that a character must repeat this save (with increasing DC targets) every time she is injured again in the same combat once she has suffered more hits than her Con score allows.
As with type 1 massive damage, if the damage from the attack provoking the Con check would bring the character to disabled (0 hp) or below, failure of the check means death for the character. An action point may be spent to avoid death, leaving the character disabled or unconscious, depending on the damage dealt, keeping in mind again that only 1 action point may be spent per round by a character.
Example: Ruby, a 9th level tough hero, has a Con of 20. She is jumped by 2 thugs in a dark alley and decides to brawl with them. She may be hit up to 20 times with damage and type 1 massive damage handled normally. If she is hit a 21st time, she must make a Con check (DC 21) to avoid becoming disabled. A 22nd hit would invoke another Con check (DC 22), and so on. Action points spent to resist this type of massive damage are handled normally, with an additional die (determined by character level, see d20M page 36)
Note: The use of a Con check here instead of a fortitude save is intentional, reflecting the difficulty of remaining standing after taking a severe beating or multiple wounds.
Characters with the Endurance feat gain a +2 andurance bonus to their Con checks or Fort saves invoked by either type of massive damage. Characters with the Toughness feat gain a +1 enhancement bonus to these rolls for each time the feat has been taken. A character with levels of the Tough Hero class gain a bonus of +1/3 levels of Tough Hero to these checks.
Feedback welcomed!
