Segment Based Combat

[dropshadow]

oops double post

 

[WaterRabbit]

Fallout Pen & Paper

Action Points as used by the SPECIAL system seem to be the most simple and straight forward implementation. They also would be simple to incorporate into a d20 game.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I use to play a game called Everlasting, where your speed rating determined what rounds of combat you could go in. There were 10 rounds per segment of combat, and the higher your score the more often you can go.

It sounds a lot like what you are trying to do, and from my experience its very clunky. This is one of those times when simplicity needs to win out.

this is essentially the same system as Champions, and I found it far from clunky - I really liked the feel of it, and it gave concrete advantages every round that good initiative scores or even fast movement just don't. It might conflict with the iterative attack bonuses, but you could say that those determine how many of 'your' segments you could use to make an attack and save the others for movement or defensive actions. It might also make feats like spring attack obsolete, but that wouldn't bug me that much. It would also have the advantage of a permanent "initiative" structure and might speed up large combats where innatentive players suddenly remember they rolled a 15 when you're on initiative 12. Another advantage is that breaking up long actions can make things make a little more sense in terms of simulating simultaneous combat.

Integrating the system into d20 would be an interesting project - each class would likely have a progression for speed bonus that could be improved with feats or high dex as normal initiative can. I think it could work out, but I don't have a group to test it on right now...

kahuna burger

 

[Mark Causey]

So, we've got:

Hackmaster, Everlasting, Burning Wheel, Shadowrun, and SPECIAL.

Could anyone summarize these for me? I've never heard of Everlasting or SPECIAL, and I don't have the books for the other three

Thanks if you can!

AtR

 

[WaterRabbit]

So, we've got:

Hackmaster, Everlasting, Burning Wheel, Shadowrun, and SPECIAL.

Could anyone summarize these for me? I've never heard of Everlasting or SPECIAL, and I don't have the books for the other three

Thanks if you can!

AtR

Fallout uses the SPECIAL system: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck. Values range from 1-10.

A character’s Action Points are determined by his Agility Score + feats:

Agility Score Action Points
1 5
2-3 6
4-5 7
6-7 8
8-9 9
10+ 10

Initiative is similar to d20 (in that it determines when a character acts each round) = 2 x Perception.

Each time a character acts they may do as many actions as they have Action Points. Actions costs as follows:

1 AP to move 1 hex (hex=1 meter) [This is also modified by terrain difficulty.]
4 APs to crawl 1 hex
4 APs to stand up from a prone position

4 APs to equip an item
2 APs to reload a clip in a weapon
1 AP to reload 1 bullet into a clip

3 APs to attack with a melee weapon (in general some variation per weapon)
4 APs to attack with a single shot from a gun (some variation)
+1 Targeted
+1 Burst Fire

Any AP you don’t use in a round are added to your Armor Class on a 1:1 basis.

This is just a summary, but you probably get the idea. I would take a small amount of conversion to make it work just right with d20. It would probably take a couple of hours to create a good first draft (assigning APs to various weapons, determining how to covert BAB, feats, etc.)

Note: Feats either add APs for a specific type of task or reduce the cost of a specific type of task.

 

[italianranma]

Much easier system

I've been toying around with this system for awhile and will begin playtesting in a few weeks with a D20 modern game:
Each round of combat is broken into three segments:
1st action phase
move phase
2nd action phase

in each of the action phases combatants can perform a standard action, move actions are reserved for the move phase only. This signifigantly changes tactics, and makes spring attack and shot on the run more useful. Full round actions happen in one phase, if its like a full round attack it happens in either the 1st or 2nd action phase, if it envolves mainly movement it's in the move phase. There's more nitty gritty, but I haven't really had the opportunity to play test it yet, so in a few months I'll post the finished system

 

[Zoatebix]

So are you saying that shot on the run and spring attack let you move in an 'action phase'?
...This is actually really nifty!
-g

 

[Mark Causey]

Each time a character acts they may do as many actions as they have Action Points. Actions costs as follows:
<definition of points values><snip>
Any AP you don’t use in a round are added to your Armor Class on a 1:1 basis.<snip>

I tried doing something like this in my document, but also bringing in Weapon and Magic Proficiency into the tumble, as well as BAB, Base Speed, and feats. Did you have any comments on that?

Or should I just find a system I like and convert it?

AtR

 

[3catcircus]

Has anyone posted a system for changing round based combat to segment based combat?

If not, I would like to put a system forward; however, I'm unsure if anyone would be interested in the overhaul in mechanics. So far, it does involve pulling a lot of numbers from seemingly nowhere.

AtR

Here's a real simple way to do segment-based combat. Roll 1d6 and add your initiative bonus to it, with anything over 6 treated as a 6 and anything less than 1 treated as a 1. Weapons type and size (speed factors) would affect initiative bonus. Each round is divided up into 6 phases.

Then, starting at highest initiative, work your way down. On phase 6, someone with a 6 initiative acts. On phase 5, someone with a 5 initiative acts, followed by someone with a 6 initiative. On phase 4, someone with 4 initiative acts, followed by someone with 5 initiative, followed by someone with 6 initiative. Repeat all the way down to 1.

Here's a graphical representation:

Phase Initiative Acting( in order)
------ -------------------------
6

6​

5

5,6​

4

4,5,6​

3

3,4,5,6​

2

2,3,4,5,6​

1

1,2,3,4,5,6​

 

[Mark Causey]

I like the idea about using a second non-related die, but find a few problems:

*The lowest someone with a Dex 18 can get is 5, and they will only ever get a 5 or 6. The same goes for someone with a Dex 10 and Improved Initiative.
*The difference between getting one action per round and six actions per round, all else being ignored, is just the dice. There is no reflection of skill involved.
*Can someone that gets all 6 actions attack that many times? A first level fighter gets a 6 and a 20th level fighter gets a 1. The first level fighter gets 6 attacks and the 20th only gets one? or is it that the 20th level fighter gets 4 attacks per phase? Switch the numbers, does the 20th level fighter get 24 attack actions in one round?

Ideas?

AtR