RigaMortus2
First Post
bump...
Hoping someone can answer me about stunts (see post above)
Hoping someone can answer me about stunts (see post above)
[Iron Heroes] What's this game all about?
- Thread starter RigaMortus2
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ruleslawyer
Registered User
You're trying to achieve a different result with a stunt than with a normal skill check.
Basically, IH's stunt and zone rulesets are mechanical formalizations of what a lot of DMs already allow in their games on an ad hoc basis. X player asks "Hey! That table you mentioned. Can my PC turn it over and hide behind it?" and the DM rules that it grants +x cover bonus or whatever have you. The difference in IH is that there are design guidelines for exactly *what* level of bonus this should grant. (That table's an "action zone" by the way.)
A stunt is a means for a player to use one of his PC's skills to get a bonus to *attack* or damage* by describing a creative way for the skill to assist in an attack. For example, a company of adventurers is hemmed into a dwarven citadel chamber featuring various galleries and ledges by a cave troll. The party's elven archer *cough* could use a Climb stunt to run up onto one of the ledges and fire from an unexpected angle at the troll's head, thereby gaining a bonus to attack or damage. The halfling could tumble between the troll's legs and stab it with his magical shortsword. The ranger could jump onto a broken pillar and jam his spear into its throat.
The mechanic basically works as follows: Declare that you're doing something like one of the above actions and take a full-round action to make a skill check that is opposed by the target's base attack check (BAB + Str or Dex). If you win, you get a +1 bonus to attack or +2 bonus to damage. If you're willing to take a penalty to the skill check (-2 to the check per +1 additional bonus), you can bump up the bonus as high as you'd like.
The major sacrifice you're making for stunting is switching out a full attack (or an attack + move) for a single creative (and hopefully more deadly) attack. However, it is *not* a normal skill use.
Basically, IH's stunt and zone rulesets are mechanical formalizations of what a lot of DMs already allow in their games on an ad hoc basis. X player asks "Hey! That table you mentioned. Can my PC turn it over and hide behind it?" and the DM rules that it grants +x cover bonus or whatever have you. The difference in IH is that there are design guidelines for exactly *what* level of bonus this should grant. (That table's an "action zone" by the way.)
A stunt is a means for a player to use one of his PC's skills to get a bonus to *attack* or damage* by describing a creative way for the skill to assist in an attack. For example, a company of adventurers is hemmed into a dwarven citadel chamber featuring various galleries and ledges by a cave troll. The party's elven archer *cough* could use a Climb stunt to run up onto one of the ledges and fire from an unexpected angle at the troll's head, thereby gaining a bonus to attack or damage. The halfling could tumble between the troll's legs and stab it with his magical shortsword. The ranger could jump onto a broken pillar and jam his spear into its throat.
The mechanic basically works as follows: Declare that you're doing something like one of the above actions and take a full-round action to make a skill check that is opposed by the target's base attack check (BAB + Str or Dex). If you win, you get a +1 bonus to attack or +2 bonus to damage. If you're willing to take a penalty to the skill check (-2 to the check per +1 additional bonus), you can bump up the bonus as high as you'd like.
The major sacrifice you're making for stunting is switching out a full attack (or an attack + move) for a single creative (and hopefully more deadly) attack. However, it is *not* a normal skill use.
Pbartender
First Post
Rulelawer has it right. It a means of using a skill check to gain a bonus in combat -- attack, damage, defense, movement -- or penalize your enemy in combat. You describe a benefit you want to gain and a cool maneuver you want to use to gain that benefit, and then the DM tells you what roll you need to make to do it.
Think of Legolas in Lord of the Rings... If those movies were an Iron Heroes game, Legolas's player would be using a lot of combat stunts and challenges.
For example:
Legolas: "As the troll swings out at me with his spiked chain -- he did miss me on his last attack -- I'm going to run up the chain onto his back and shoot arrows point-blank down into his head. This is a stunt to gain a bonus to damage."
DM: "Alright... Roll either a Climb check or a Balance check opposed by the troll's base attack bonus check."
Think of Legolas in Lord of the Rings... If those movies were an Iron Heroes game, Legolas's player would be using a lot of combat stunts and challenges.
For example:
Legolas: "As the troll swings out at me with his spiked chain -- he did miss me on his last attack -- I'm going to run up the chain onto his back and shoot arrows point-blank down into his head. This is a stunt to gain a bonus to damage."
DM: "Alright... Roll either a Climb check or a Balance check opposed by the troll's base attack bonus check."
ruleslawyer
Registered User
me said:
Heh.Pbartender said:
Jaws
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