Jürgen Hubert
First Post
I’ve been showing Mutants & Masterminds to my gaming group, and my friends have been impressed by a few things – most notably, how M&M handles damage and Damage Saving Throws.
So we are wondering how to introduce Damage Saving Throws to D&D – and yet keep the rules alterations at a minimum so that the whole system is still recognizably D&D (i.e., we still want to keep the classes, class levels, prestige classes, magic items, races and so on pretty much as written). I see two main problems here:
- Offensive magic: The damage bonus in M&M is pretty much the same as the average damage (rounded down) that a weapon does in D&D. But that means that a 10d6 fireball (with an average damage of 45) translates into a whopping DC 60 for Damage Saving Throws – and only the most outrageous munchkins could hope to remain standing after this!
So I’d guess we’d have to retool the entire D&D magic system. I thought of creating a “spell construction kit”, with a spell of a certain level representing a certain number of Power Points with which you could pick and choose a certain spell effect – with some limitations depending on class (cleric spells, for exemple, would yield less power points for offensive spells at the same level as wizard spells, while wizards couldn’t purchase any spells that involved healing powers). These spells, once constructed, could be cast in the usual way for the various classes… This would preserve the versatility of the D&D spells, while still allowing for reasonable caps on their powers…
- The “Eggshell syndrome”: Since arcane spellcasters usually won’t wear armor and have low Fort saves to boot (which would presumably translate into low Damage Save Bonuses), they will be easily felled by attacks that won’t even scratch your typical warrior. In standard D&D, most wizards have at least a chance to run away after they receive their first hit or two…
I’m a bit of a loss how to handle this – wizards are supposed to be fairly fragile, but taken down by a single hit is no fun for the player, either…
There are lots of other detail questions, such as:
- How do Hit Dice translate into Damage Saving Throw bonuses?
- Is it OK to let armor give a bonus to both AC and the Damage Saving Throw, or should I replace the AC bonus with something class based?
Can you spot any other problems? And do you have any ideas for possible solution to these and other problems?
And do you think this whole idea is feasible at all, or am I just wasting my time?
So we are wondering how to introduce Damage Saving Throws to D&D – and yet keep the rules alterations at a minimum so that the whole system is still recognizably D&D (i.e., we still want to keep the classes, class levels, prestige classes, magic items, races and so on pretty much as written). I see two main problems here:
- Offensive magic: The damage bonus in M&M is pretty much the same as the average damage (rounded down) that a weapon does in D&D. But that means that a 10d6 fireball (with an average damage of 45) translates into a whopping DC 60 for Damage Saving Throws – and only the most outrageous munchkins could hope to remain standing after this!
So I’d guess we’d have to retool the entire D&D magic system. I thought of creating a “spell construction kit”, with a spell of a certain level representing a certain number of Power Points with which you could pick and choose a certain spell effect – with some limitations depending on class (cleric spells, for exemple, would yield less power points for offensive spells at the same level as wizard spells, while wizards couldn’t purchase any spells that involved healing powers). These spells, once constructed, could be cast in the usual way for the various classes… This would preserve the versatility of the D&D spells, while still allowing for reasonable caps on their powers…
- The “Eggshell syndrome”: Since arcane spellcasters usually won’t wear armor and have low Fort saves to boot (which would presumably translate into low Damage Save Bonuses), they will be easily felled by attacks that won’t even scratch your typical warrior. In standard D&D, most wizards have at least a chance to run away after they receive their first hit or two…
I’m a bit of a loss how to handle this – wizards are supposed to be fairly fragile, but taken down by a single hit is no fun for the player, either…
There are lots of other detail questions, such as:
- How do Hit Dice translate into Damage Saving Throw bonuses?
- Is it OK to let armor give a bonus to both AC and the Damage Saving Throw, or should I replace the AC bonus with something class based?
Can you spot any other problems? And do you have any ideas for possible solution to these and other problems?
And do you think this whole idea is feasible at all, or am I just wasting my time?
