Acid_crash said:
Has anybody ever tried using a damage save mechanic for damage instead of using vitality points and wound points in Star Wars, and if so, how has it worked?
I am interested in trying this in an upcoming star wars game cuz I have always wanted to use a Damage save type health system, but I haven't really tried working on changing the vp/wp system yet. Anybody with any good advice willing to help?
I do not have experience with SW VP/Wp specifically but i have run a stargate d20 game for two years now replacing their Wp/VP with a damage save from the get-go. it has worked beautifully in play.
The DS i use is as follows:
made save: -2 unfavorable circumstance for 1 round. Distracted
fail save by 1-4: next turn may only take half action at -2. RATTLED
fail save by 5-8: next turn dazed, no action. DAZED
fail save by 9-12: next turn stunned STUNNED
fail save by 13-16: scene kill (incapacitated for scene, half actions after that until healed)
fail save by 17+: mission kill (incapacitated until healed.)
The save is NOT a fort save but a "toughness" save which advances at 1/2 for fighting types/classes, 1/4 for mid classes and 1/6 for non-combat classes.
Toughness save is CON + Toughness + Armor + Size +d20 roll vs a DC set by weapon.
Typical armor values run around 3-5.
An SMG has a save DC of 28.
A rifle 30.
A punch is 20+STR mod.
A knife is 21+STR mod.
As a general rule, any feat or other ability which increased damage or dr is turned into 1 pt bonus per 3 hit points or 1d6 gained/lost. So toughness (the feat) adds +1 to your toughness save and +1d6 sneak attack adds +1 to your attack's DC.
If you are stunned/surprised, add +4 to DC of your damage save.
If the attack is a crit, increase Dc by +4.
So a 6th level combat prone hero with con 16 and armor 5 (heavier stuff) has a net save bonus of +11 so him getting shot by an SMG is 20% likely DISTRACTED, 20% likely RATTLED, 20% likely DAZED, 20% likely stunned and 20% likely scene kill. With one hero pt spent on reroll the odds of a scene kill drops to 4% for the hero and if he had spent it to +5 before the roll, it goes away.
You can also spend a hero pt to DELAY the onset of a damage effect for 1 turn, allowing your hero the last shot while going down.
Hero points, plot points or whatever, are necessary for DS systems. In my game a hero pt allows a reroll of a die roll and you take the higher. if spent to help a roll BEFORE making the roll you get +5.
Mooks, storm troopers or nameless jaffa, have no hero pts.
Heroes and named adversaries/allies, have hero pts.
Thats how you keep stormtroopers from hanging around long.
Now, for SW you would need to set the Dcs for your blasters and other weapons as appropriate for the level of lethality you want. Setting the DEc lower means people stay up more. Setting it higher means people drop quickly when out of hero pts and maybe even when they have them.
but toughenss saves don't change all that quickly or by a lot.
hope this helps.
It has worked fine for me and mine for two years now in stargate, which isn't too different.
for "using this power causes damage" type balances, just assign DCs for those power uses and have the character make a damage save. You might want to limit the results to scene kill or not as you see appropriate. this will make frequent use "combat draining" as the character suffers the penalties or spends his HP tp keep making the rolls. i cannot advise you which DCs to set, but you can figure that out easily enough. I would PROBABLY not use armor or size for those saves, so a value of somewhere around 15+power level might be appropriate.