Scoring fights

[Magius del Cotto]

I tried this in the general forum only to end up with a quite dead thread before I even got near getting what I needed, so here goes again...
I need help figuring out how to score fights using the D20 system. I need this because I'm working on a campaign that determines what players can get by the amount of prestige they have, and their prestige goes up after every fight they're in, depending on how "popular" they are with the LN scoring "committee" (in other words, I need a list of events and how much they raise/lower the score, eventually).
So far, this is what I've come up with for scoring events/penalties:
Overkill Hit: Finisher
Burst: Weapon
CR: Base
Challenging: Weapon
Dodge: Acrobatic
Intro Event: Opener
Closing Event: Closer
Fast Fight: Penalty
Disintegration: Penalty
Insta-Death Magic: Penalty
Destroy enemy's weapon: Humiliation
Disarm opponent: Humiliation
(sorry about the formatting. copying from Excel to a MB is never a good idea. First column is event/circumstance, second is type)
So, any other ideas for what I could use? I want this process to be pretty fast and not interfer with combat/gameplay, but still be dynamic enough to really have an effect on a character's future, without resorting to Charisma checks for everything (though it will still be pretty darned important).

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Overkill Hit: Finisher
Burst: Weapon
CR: Base
Challenging: Weapon
Dodge: Acrobatic
Intro Event: Opener
Closing Event: Closer
Fast Fight: Penalty
Disintegration: Penalty
Insta-Death Magic: Penalty
Destroy enemy's weapon: Humiliation
Disarm opponent: Humiliation

The only thing I understand here is the penalty. The other descriptors (weapon, finisher, opener, closer, base, humiliation) are unclear in terms of who or what they refer to.

On the whole, it doesn't look like a mechanical system. You might want to make the whole combat a perform (gladiatorial combat check and assign modifiers to it) along the following lines--

Disarm opponent's weapon: +4
Disarmed by opponent: -8
Sunder opponent's weapon: +2
Weapon sundered by opponent: -4
Insta-Death magic: -4
Disintegration: -2 (more exciting than most insta-death magic)
Fight over in less than 4 rounds: -2/round below 4
Fight takes more than 12 rounds: -1 per round over 12
For each Crit: +1
For each blow dealing massive damage (50+ points): +4
For each energy burst: +1
Finishing the fight uninjured: +2
Finishing the fight with less than 25% of hit points: +4 (everyone loves a bloody, closely matched fight)
Finishing the fight on the strength of Barbarian Rage hit points: +2
Dying because your rage ran out before you could drink healing potions: Penalty?!?--you're dead, you don't get more penalized than that.
Playing the crowd +2 (defined as a successful DC 10 perform check made at some risk or sacrifice to the character--examples could include: waiting until the opponent reaches him to draw his weapon (readied action rather than taking a full round action), intentionally drawing a movement AoO to demonstrate one's skill at dodging it (obviously, the perform automatically fails if the AoO hits), punctuating blows with witty reparte (shouted for the crowd to hear--takes an MEA)).


I'd make the perform roll at the beginning of combat and then have the player keep track of his adjusted perform score just like he keeps track of his hit points. You keep track of the opponent's perform score and use the difference between the two to describe the mood of the crowd. A character whose performance is generally poor may have to take risks and play to the crowd in order to get his score up to acceptable levels. (It wouldn't do to win the fight but be considered a boring fighter, etc.)

 

[Magius del Cotto]

Hm... It won't be opposed, since the crowd really doesn't have a say in the amount of prestige the character gets, and, except for the last fight, the characters will only be fighting monsters (thus the statement about scoring as if judged by a LN comittee). However, I'll think on the idea, and maybe have the result (minus a bit, if it ends up being unbalancing) be the amount the players prestige changes.
Any other ideas out there?

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I guess I was supposing the battle to be PC v NPC rather than PC v. Monster. I was rather thinking the situation to be determining the reaction of judges or a crowd to an individual fight rather than effecting the overall prestige of a fighter.

In that case, perhaps the encounter prestige (EP) should be equal to:

EL of encounter + modifier

In this case the modifier would be determined by the perform check:
Perform check < 10+EL -1
Perform check < 5+EL -2
Perform check < EL -4
Perform check > 10+EL +1
Perform check > 15+EL +2
Perform check > 20+EL +4

When fighting an encounter of a certain level for the first time, the prestige result of the encounter becomes the group or character's Overall Prestige (OP).

Fighting another encounter of the same level would require a new EP calculation which would effect OP according to the following table

either grant
- EP < OP-4 -2 penalty to OP
- EP < OP no change to OP
- EP > OP +1 OP
- EP > OP +4 +2 OP

In any event, OP is limited to 4+highest EL encountered.

This way, good perform checks are still significant but a first level bard doesn't end up with as much overall prestige as a fighter who can take on four trolls by himself.

 

[Magius del Cotto]

Hm... I prefer your first idea to your second, but I do see your point about Bards ruling if it's only a perform check. Which is why I have it set up this way, with two possible Charisma based (or perform based) bonuses to the prestige gained. But I digress. If nothing better comes along, I'll probably use the perform check (or just have it a base Charisma check modified by the same modifyers).
Thanks for the help, EB.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

The second was really meant to be an addendum to the first. It would work like this:

A 10th level character goes up against 4 trolls (EL 9). Let's say he's a Ftr 4/Bbn 3/Clr 3 with a +1 Flaming burst mercurial greatsword.

He's put a few crossclass ranks into perform since he's been a gladiator for 5 years and so he starts combat by making his perform check. He gets a 12--not bad.

Since got barbarian levels, he casts a regenerate moderate wounds spell, rages and attacks. He is also somewhat luck, scoring two critical hits with the mercurial greatsword. The fight is over in four rounds.

So, let's see how his perform check stacks up.
2 Crits: +2
2 Massive Damage blows(50+ points): +8
Two Flaming bursts: +2
Finishing the fight with less than 25% of hit points (good thing he cast regenerate moderate wounds. . . .): +4 (he lost a lot of blood to those trolls. . . .

So, the total perform check is 26 after all modifiers are added up.

How does this effect his prestige?
Well, first I calculate encounter prestige.
EL (9) + modifier (+2 since his perform check of 26 is more than 15+EL but less than 20+EL) = a total encounter prestige of 11

How does that effect his Overall Prestige?

let's look at two situations:
1. He just fought a group of dire bears (an encounter of a similar EL) before this match (and somehow won. . . .) his prior prestige was 12 (he finished on the strength of his rage hit points--it was a really good show). This match simply confirms that he's a good performer so his Overall Prestige doesn't change. (His previous OP was one greater than the encounter prestige gained from this encounter).

2. This is his first EL 9 encounter. His previous OP was 9 from his dramatic defeat of a herd of fiendish bison. In this case, his OP becomes 11 (the prestige he won by defeating this encounter).

The first system was supposed to track how well a particular fighter performed in an individual combat. The second system is supposed to track the reputation of a character or group on the basis both of skill and showmanship. (Characters with good perform scores will typically have OP one to four points higher than characters of the same level without good perform scores).

 

[Magius del Cotto]

Ah, I see, I see. Actually, I was hoping to have something that was a bit more drastic than what the addendum would add, since this is basically going to substitute money (though the PC will be able to acquire quite a collection from random drops; which I actually have a way of incorporating), so that's the point of view that I'm coming from with this. Don't get me wrong, I do need a system that will incorperate the EL into the equation, but I also need something that will give something like the default gold distribution in D&D.
Just to help you out with what I'm looking for...