House rules to eliminate "dead rounds" + Shaken from Savage Worlds (and ... it kind of ends up like hit points)

[innerdude]

So why is Innerdude even sharing this?

I've stated several times on this board that I played and GM'd Savage Worlds for a long time (8+ years) as my primary, go to system. But I ultimately came to the conclusion that I simply didn't like the way high parry + high toughness battles played out.

There were simply too many instances of multiple turns in a row where LITERALLY nothing changed in the battle. "OH I hit, but didn't do enough damage to even cause a Shaken condition. Never mind." Battles where this would happen 2, 3, 4 rounds in a row, with multiple characters.

So I kind of abandoned Savage Worlds because of it.

But when we started playing Edge of the Empire, I really took a liking to how it separates Wounds from Strain. Both can take someone out of a fight, but Strain is non-lethal.

So I started experimenting with house ruling some kind of strain system into Savage Worlds and see if I liked it.

My group's playtested it for a couple of sessions, and I'm actually really, really happy with it. It does exactly what I intended, which is never have a combat round where one combatant successfully attacking another has no effect on the outcome. If you miss your attack? Sure, you missed. End of story. But if you hit, but don't meet the damage threshold to matter? Now something changes. And it also eliminates "Shaken" from the game. And removes wound penalties for just about everything to avoid some of the worst parts of the "death spiral."

The end result is similar in feel to EotE as mentioned above, but I think may have some similarities to The One Ring's wound + hope/fatigue track.

Some thoughts up front

• So I totally get that this basically ends up being a "hit point" sort of scale for Savage Worlds. And for better or worse, some people will say, "I play Savage Worlds to get away from hit point bloat." Fair enough. This system isn't for you then. Feel free to keep playing RAW.
• Some might ask the question, "If you're basically going to just do hit points, why wouldn't you switch back to D&D?" Because I LOVE Savage Worlds core skill- and attribute-based system. I like its flexible build abilities. I like its flexible magic system. I like using playing cards for initiative. I like the core dice mechanic. I like its overall structure, and play style. I like the fact that even with my house rules for Strain, most of the original wound rules still apply, so it's possible to one-shot an enemy in a single hit using exploding dice. The standard wound system is still dangerous, and if anything, I've made things even a little more dangerous for the PCs with my house rules for Strain. Bottom line is, there's a million things I like/love about Savage Worlds. I'm just addressing one of the things I don't.
• "But I've played Savage Worlds forever, and this just isn't going to work---". Maybe you're right, but kindly review the first paragraph where I state that I have 8+ years experience GM-ing Savage Worlds. I'm not some newbie making an off-the-cuff, gut reaction. I have a very clear picture about what this changes and why. And as I said, I'm happy with it so far.

So just in case any of you care . . .



Strain Mechanic for Savage Worlds v1.3

• The concept of “Shaken” is gone everywhere in the rules. Ceases to exist.
• Anywhere a non-combat action (Test, etc.) would cause the Shaken condition on a character, it causes the Vulnerable or Distracted condition instead. If inflicted by a player, the player gets to choose which condition to apply.
• Characters have a Strain pool equal to the number of wounds they can suffer x Vigor. E.g., Wild Card PCs have 3 wounds, so Strain pool = 3 x Vigor
  • Any permanent static bonuses to Vigor (+1, +2, etc.) add an additional 4 Strain (only applies to Legendary characters).
• Any attack that hits (beats the defender's parry or dodge) BUT doesn’t roll enough damage to cause a wound subtracts the final calculated value from the character's Strain pool instead. So calculate damage, calculate AP + armor, if the remaining damage does not cause a wound, subtract from Strain.
• Strain can go below zero. Any attack or effect that would reduce Strain below zero continues to send Strain into the negative.
  • Sending strain below zero is meaningful because it has in-game effects based on strain recovery. It makes combat pacing more meaningful if you have to fight two or more battles back-to-back and can't recover strain.
• Because Shaken no longer exists, a character who receives a wound:
  • Also loses Strain equal to their Vigor die size when the wound goes into effect.
    • Note: this is NOT a permanent change to the character's maximum Strain value. The lost strain can be recovered normally. This can cause the Strained and Endangered conditions (see below).
  • Becomes Vulnerable to another character involved in the encounter until the end of the Vulnerable character's next action. Player whose character inflicted the wound gets to choose the character who receives the action bonus but cannot choose their own character.
• Once a character’s Strain pool reaches zero (0), the character receives the "Strained" condition, with the following effects:
  • The character's Parry and Toughness are both reduced by 2, to a minimum of 4.
  • The Character automatically becomes Vulnerable until Strain goes above zero (Vulnerable = all characters receive +2 to actions taken against the affected character).
  • Successful attacks against a Strained character DO NOT need to exceed the character's revised toughness threshold by 4 or more to cause a wound. They only need to MEET the new toughness threshold. NOTE the verbiage---only needs to meet the new threshold, not exceed it.
  • OPTIONAL: Any successful attack with a raise against a Strained character, regardless of damage dealt, reduces any non-natural, worn armor's effectiveness by 1. Armor with a base DR value of 1 is destroyed in this circumstance. Armor with a base value of 2 or more cannot be destroyed this way, but can have its effectiveness reduced to 1.
    • Armor damaged this way must then be repaired to get back its full damage resistant qualities.
    • Repairing the armor takes 1 day per point to restore, and costs 1/4 the price of a new set of that type of armor per point of resistance restored.
• If a Strained character reaches a negative Strain value equal to their Vigor die size, the character acquires the Endangered condition as well.
  • Toughness and Parry are reduced by an additional -2, cumulative with Strained to a net of -4 for each, to a minimum of 4.
  • Character continues to remain Vulnerable until both the Endangered and Strained conditions are removed.
• If a character reaches a negative strain value corresponding to their maximum Strain pool value, he or she is rendered immediately unconscious as if he or she received 3 levels of fatigue, regardless of any existing wound or fatigue levels.

Changes to Wound + Healing Rules

• Receiving a wound does not cause permanent penalties to character trait rolls with the following exceptions:
  • Soak rolls | rolls for healing | rolls for incapacitation are penalized as usual.
• Wounds can be soaked, as normal.
• Bennies can be spent to make a spirit check to recover strain. On success, strain recovered equal to 1x Spirit die size + 2, with raise, 2x Spirit die + 3.
• Strain regenerates at ½ Spirit per hour (in-game), or equal to Spirit per hour if characters are resting (make camp).
• Some conditions that require Spirit rolls or Vigor rolls may deplete Strain.
• Magical healing / advanced tech healing (stim, bacta, etc.) can never restore more than a single wound per week of in-game time, regardless of raises on heal/arcana/psi check, use of bennies, the Elan edge, etc.

Setting Rule - "Fools need not apply"

• OPTIONAL PER GM DISCRETION -- Any time a character critically fails an attack roll (double 1’s), roll the damage dice for the attack that would have carried out if it had hit. Remove Strain equal to the rolled damage from the character's Strain pool instead, in addition to any other effects. This can set a character’s Strain to zero (0), causing the Strained condition, can set a Strained character's condition to Endangered, and can cause non-lethal incapacitation (as noted above).
• ALTERNATE -- Instead of rolling attack damage, subtract a set amount of 6 Strain.

Afterthoughts

• I do think there's still room for tuning. For example, if the Strain pool is too low, I could say raising it from # of Wounds x Vigor to a flat 4xVigor, etc.
• The armor damage rules are fairly fun, but a little futzy and can easily be tossed.
• The Strain recovery times / amounts can also be tuned for grittier effect.
• I'm sure there some additional edges that could be added to help with strain management.

 

[dbm]

I think one of the great things about Savage Worlds is how easy it is to house rule stuff once you have wrapped your head round the system.

The core rules work for me, but more power to you.

 

[GMMichael]

"OH I hit, but didn't do enough damage to even cause a Shaken condition. Never mind." Battles where this would happen 2, 3, 4 rounds in a row, with multiple characters.

I also try to avoid games that do this. However, I suspect that there's a GM suggestion, somewhere in the SW manual, that helps to remedy the problem. I'm glad your remedy fits the bill.

It does exactly what I intended, which is never have a combat round where one combatant successfully attacking another has no effect on the outcome. If you miss your attack? Sure, you missed. End of story.

So, no-outcome hits are bad, but no-outcome misses are fine?

Some might ask the question, "If you're basically going to just do hit points, why wouldn't you switch back to D&D?"

Scary. That's like, "if you're going out to eat, why wouldn't you go to McDonalds?"

 

[Committed Hero]

Some might ask the question, "If you're basically going to just do hit points, why wouldn't you switch back to D&D?"

Because you play more than just high fantasy SW is a pretty good universal system.

 

[innerdude]

I also try to avoid games that do this. However, I suspect that there's a GM suggestion, somewhere in the SW manual, that helps to remedy the problem. I'm glad your remedy fits the bill.

The only real suggestion provided in the rules is to avoid scaling toughness quite so far but instead give certain enemies extra wounds (4+) with lower toughness. Which . . . is fine, I suppose, but so far our playtests with the Strain mechanic have been very positive. It not only solves the "static round of combat where successful attacks have zero effect," but it also adds another interesting tactical + strategic layer for player interaction with strain recovery and use of bennies.

"Dang, so I'm down to 3 strain, if I take another hit that doesn't cause a wound, I'm going to be in trouble at that point. Do I boost my strain now with a bennie? Wait until I actually take the wound and soak the wound? But if I take the wound and don't soak it, I'm going to lose 6 strain anyway (assuming character's Vigor is a d6). So am I better off looking for more Strain now?"

One thing I'm also aware of --- the Strain mechanic as I have proposed is a fairly "gamist" proposition. You can kind-of-sort-of eyeball it as fatigue, stress, wear, etc., but it really is primarily designed to work as a pacing mechanic and a method to reaching my goal of fewer wasted combat rounds.

So, no-outcome hits are bad, but no-outcome misses are fine?

Yeah, this is pretty baseline, I think. If your attack misses, it's a fast, easy resolution, no need to move forward. "You missed. Next player."

I know D&D 4 introduced some "damage on a miss" mechanics, which don't bother me at all, and I'm also totally comfortable with more narrative-style / "quantum outcome" mechanics that could apply on a miss, but Savage Worlds really doesn't need them. It's pretty "trad" in terms of DNA, so no need to overcomplicate that a miss is a miss.

What the Strain mechanic is attempting to solve for is, roll attack >> hit >> roll damage >> "Oh crap, didn't roll enough damage to even shake the opponent, entire preceding attack resolution process was totally worthless and a waste of everyone's time, including the other players and GM, because literally nothing changed in the fiction."