Star Wars SECR's New Damage System.

[Ranger REG]

A new Jedi Counseling web column is up and it discusses (or preview) the new damage system (HP + Condition Track).

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/sw20070322jc101

If many of you guess right, they're using damage threshold. For each attack that inflicts a damage result that meet or beat the threshold, you move down one level. There will be four levels of injury (-1, -2, -5, -10, and Unconscious).

 

[Plane Sailing]

Hmmm.

I don't find the description terribly encouraging, but I'll wait to see the details.

I was hoping it would be damage track + hit points, but it looks like it might be more like hit points + damage track.

My personal preference is the mechanism where higher level people get harder to hit but retain the same basic toughness (like Runequest in the past or True20 now) - far less of an abstraction, and less 'strange' concepts come up like the tank and hero both having 100hp as per the example.

It will be interesting to see the wrinkles in here (e.g. how does poison relate to the damage track? Does it move you down the track irrespective of hit points?)

Cheers

 

[Relique du Madde]

Hopefully d20 modern will revised with this new system in place... that is assuming that d20 modern is not going to be dropped anytime soon.

BUT... For some reason the description of the different damage thresholds seem to rekindle memories of paladium's damage system.. I honstly hope they aren't explaining DR using a new metaphor.. becuase the one they just gave didn't work (at least the first part didn't).



At least the good news is that Green Ronin's innovative (in terms of the ogl/d20 system)damage track stystem is slowly creeping into core D20 also in a hybridized form.

 

[Ranger REG]

Good news is that Green Ronin's innovative damage track stystem is slowly creeping into core D20 also in a hybridized form.

Meh. The wound-level model have been around for a long time. Many games have it, from SW-d6 to Vampire to MechWarrior: BattleTech RPG.

I do acknowledged and credited Green Ronin for making the first OGC version based on SRD's saving throws.

I don't want to wrongly conclude that the damage threshold will be similar to d20 Modern (i.e., based on Con). Then again, not a lot of ability scores have been used as a direct value, only their ability modifiers.

Based on what I read, if the attack meet or exceed damage threshold, you automatically downgrade to the next worst injury level. No saving throw. But you can upgrade your injury condition if you take one full round to "catch your breath." While you're catching your breath, you still threaten anyone if they provoke AoO, right?

 

[SteveC]

This is interesting. Frankly it doesn't sound as nice as I had originally thought, but it's still worth a look. I liked this part:

The condition track is a unified system to cover all conditions that degrade a target's capabilities, including poison, stun blasts, fatigue, serious injury, morale effects, and anything else you can imagine.

...that sounds very promising. Different, but promsing. We shall have to see, I suppose.

--Steve

 

[DonTadow]

I'm open minded to it, I'd be interested to know how this can port over to the other d20 settings and even if there will be a variant for 3.5

 

[Relique du Madde]

I'm open minded to it, I'd be interested to know how this can port over to the other d20 settings and even if there will be a variant for 3.5

Beyond the metaphore for HP that they used, its pretty much the same as the old system since its seems that the damage threshold would be simular to DR of x/- at level y. The condition track pretty much makes the character's status more linear instead of having the "death spiral" only when your at negative hit points. If this does appear in 3.5 its a sure bet that it will appear in the Rules Compendium as a "new" rule.

 

[Wrathamon]

I have been using a system like this in my D20 games for a while now... I would be interested in seeing how they did it.

It took me awhile to get my players to understand that rolling the d20 wasnt rolling to hit but rolling to see if you potentially damage someone... and that hitpoints werent representing you getting injured but you "avoiding injury". I use a MDT to represent a blow that you werent able to avoid causing a cumalitive -1 to all d20 rolls.

This summarizes my thoughts on hitpoints very well. I may have to quote it in my HR sheet.

 

[Jeremy757]

I have been using a system like this in my D20 games for a while now... I would be interested in seeing how they did it.

Yeah I have been using damage thresholds for several years too, its not terribly innovative. Its very similar to the way damage is handled in Earthdawn, which is where I got my ideas for using a damage threshold from.

My vote is that its a great idea, hit points by themselves are rather bland. They need a secondary system to spice them up some.

 

[Ranger REG]

My vote is that its a great idea, hit points by themselves are rather bland. They need a secondary [value] to spice them up some.

Now if we could convince them that armor provides BOTH armor bonus to Defense as well as DR.