Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="nopantsyet" data-source="post: 310151" data-attributes="member: 3109">Here's a draft of a rule idea I've been throwing around.  Open for opinions, suggestions, flames, etc.  It's designed for a gritty+heroic setting.  Edited: Modified to eliminate references to other non d20 rules.-----------------------------------Taking inspiration from the epic nature of fantasy video games, literature and movies, characters will be able to perform actions beyond the limits of their normal abilities when they find themselves close to death.  Limit breaks can be invoked when a character has 25% or less HP.  The limit break gives the character a hasted action (full action plus an extra partial action) and allows them to act as though they had a feat combination normally unavailable to the character.Tega (brb4) is surrounded by three giants has just been reduced to 11 HP in damage from a critical hit.  Since his max HP is 45, he qualifies for a Limit Break.  He has a limit break, "Spinning Death," which consists of Great Cleave and Whirlwind Attack.  Whirlwind Attack gives him an attack on each giant with his flail.  In the attack, one giant is felled, granting Tega another attack from Greater Cleave.  In the second attack, another giant is felled, and in the third attack, the last one falls.Each character may know 2 + INT bonus (min. 2) Limit Breaks at any time.  At each level, one may be dropped and replaced with a new limit break.  Feat cost is calculated as 1 + the total number of unmet prerequisites for each feat (minimum 1).  Feat costs should be recomputed upon advancement as previously unmet requirements may be met.  There is no explicit limit on the cost of any single limit break, however there are practical limits based on the CON score of the character.Tega has an Int score of 8 (-1 bonus) giving him two limit breaks.  He chooses "Spinning Death" (Great Cleave + Whirlwind Attack, cost 8) and "Iron Arrow" (Mantis Leap + Power Lunge, cost 4).  If he takes Power Attack, which is a prerequisite for Great Cleave and Power Lunge,  for his next feat, the costs will drop to 7 and 3, respectively.Performing a limit break always exacts a toll on the character.  This toll is in the form of ability damage.  The character takes temporary CON damage in the amount of the cost of the limit break.  For each CON point you lose, you also lose HP as per PH rules. All characters know three defensive limit breaks in addition to their normal allotment.  "Hurry" grants the hasted action, but nothing else.  At a fixed cost of one it can help a character out of a bind.  "Flight" grants the hasted action plus the Run feat, allowing a speedy retreat for a cost of 2.  "Safe Retreat" grants the hasted action plus the Mobility and Run feats.  The base cost is 4, but will be lower for characters who meet the prerequisites for Mobility (Dex 13+, Dodge).In the same situation, "Spinning Death" would cost him 8 CON and he would be reduced to -9 HP.  Instead he elects to use "Retreat," which costs him two CON since he has 13 Dex and Dodge.  He gets a full action at his improved running (5x) speed  plus a partial of movement for a total movement of 6x base speed.  He takes no attacks of opportunity from the giants and will have put a good distance between himself and the giants by the time they are able to take up pursuit.</blockquote>

Verification