Star Wars SECR's New Damage System.

[Ranger REG]

Wow, way to over-generalize from the specific.

Okay, most players I know.

I like to roll damages, especially critical hit damages, unless the DM reward me with the ability to do maximum damage every hit.

 

[Psion]

Nah, I'm just saying that my impression of the SAGA edition is that they've simplified things far more than I like

My impression of this wasn't "simplified".

Straight up HP systems are simple. It's really easy to go overboard with "damage track" type systems.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Straight. Static. Players would like to roll weapon damage, be it to apply toward their opponent's current health points or add to their opponent's save DC.

If we're basing this on gaming experience, then I'll have to disagree with the sentiment of "all players."

One of the biggest gripes I've heard in the games I've played were dice were rolled for damage as having to roll dice for damage, as it can slow combat down. Champions can be especially guilty of this if you've got players rolling heaping handfuls of damage dice for their primary attack powers.

Heck, the GM for the B5 game I'm currently playing in is thinking about shifting to the True20 Toughness save system to help speed up.

As for the HP and damage track system in SECR, I'm just going to wait and see. Personally I thought one person's suggestion I read elsewhere about adopting the Spycraft 2.0 rule of having to spend an "action point" or some equivalent to confirm a critical hit would have been a better approach to making the VP/WP system work as intended without the statistical flukes of 1st level jobbers getting that lucky shot off at the 20th level uber-villain.

 

[Ranger REG]

As for the HP and damage track system in SECR, I'm just going to wait and see. Personally I thought one person's suggestion I read elsewhere about adopting the Spycraft 2.0 rule of having to spend an "action point" or some equivalent to confirm a critical hit would have been a better approach to making the VP/WP system work as intended without the statistical flukes of 1st level jobbers getting that lucky shot off at the 20th level uber-villain.

That could work, if you want to introduce action points to Star Wars which already have force points. But still, you'll need to revise fort save progression because no amount of action points spent to exceed damage threshold is worth it if the guy can make his save and avoid dropping on the spot.

Personally, I prefer a gradual injury effect, not possible-drop-on-the-spot. True20 got it right on the first take. Let's see if HP + Condition Track system offers a second option.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

That could work, if you want to introduce action points to Star Wars which already have force points. But still, you'll need to revise fort save progression because no amount of action points spent to exceed damage threshold is worth it if the guy can make his save and avoid dropping on the spot.

Personally, I prefer a gradual injury effect, not possible-drop-on-the-spot. True20 got it right on the first take. Let's see if HP + Condition Track system offers a second option.

Well, from the first SECR preview, it looks like Force Points have already been shifted to Action Points, so having the Action/Force Point expendenture required to confirm a critical hit wouldn't be that difficult to implement, especially if a 1st level character has 5 of them to start with, and even more so if game play provides the opportunity to gain additional Action/Force Points.

 

[Hjorimir]

I am really encouraged after reading that article. I've always loved the idea of deteriorating abilities as one gets pounded, which I fondly remember from my Shadowrun days, and it's been missing from d20 for too long. If they can balance it along with allowing players to roll damage (I'm in the camp where people enjoy rolling damage), all the better!

I love the move towards simplification/streamlining of rules. Fast play > slow play any day of the week.

 

[Sir Brennen]

In case no one caught it, the Threshold value in the Saga Edition preview stat block looks to be equal to one's Fort Save (DC?). At least that's the only number I see a correlation to.

Makes me wonder, though... if you have a Threshold of 10 and 20 hit points, can you even suffer the effects of the 2nd tier on the Wound Track before you go unconscious, since that would require 2 hits of 10 or more points?

I'm probably just confused on the mechanic, without enough info, but it doesn't make a lot of sense right now :\

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

In case no one caught it, the Threshold value in the Saga Edition preview stat block looks to be equal to one's Fort Save (DC?). At least that's the only number I see a correlation to.

Makes me wonder, though... if you have a Threshold of 10 and 20 hit points, can you even suffer the effects of the 2nd tier on the Wound Track before you go unconscious, since that would require 2 hits of 10 or more points?

I'm probably just confused on the mechanic, without enough info, but it doesn't make a lot of sense right now :\

Well, either Rodney or Gary said that you would have ways to "take a quick breather" and move yourself back up the condition track. But for lower level characters, a couple of big hits would be pretty nasty. And there may very well be ways to recover hit points in a hurry but still down a level or two on the damage track.

We'll have to wait and see, either for more previews to shed further light on the subject or for the SECR to hit shelves in May.

 

[Ranger REG]

In case no one caught it, the Threshold value in the Saga Edition preview stat block looks to be equal to one's Fort Save (DC?). At least that's the only number I see a correlation to.

Makes me wonder, though... if you have a Threshold of 10 and 20 hit points, can you even suffer the effects of the 2nd tier on the Wound Track before you go unconscious, since that would require 2 hits of 10 or more points?

If the injury penalty affect your Defense (which is now a combination of your "armor class" and Reflex save bonus), you'll suffer on the next attack roll (vs. your Defense).

 

[McBard]

if you have a Threshold of 10 and 20 hit points, can you even suffer the effects of the 2nd tier on the Wound Track before you go unconscious

In some of the previews, the designers have pointed out that mooks (e.g. typical stormtrooper) will be out of hit points before their damage track has any effect on game play. For instance, if a 1st level warrior/NPC class stormtrooper has 1d8+Con hit points (~6 hit points) and about a 12 Fort defense/damage threshold, then a single shot that does 7 hit points would knock him unconscious (damage > hit points, but < damage threshold), but a single shot that does 14 hit points would kill him (damage > hit points AND > damage threshold).

'Course, the second Saga preview will be up today (Monday), and so all of the above might be clearer very soon...