Heartbreaker: Combat Defense
Who knows if it'll ever get finished, but I decided to work on that fantasy RPG I posted about earlier, though with one change--I'm using 2d10 instead of a dice-pool, success-counting system. After all, I have Shadowrun 4e and Exalted already, and Warlords of the Mushroom Kingdom is a great set of house rules for low fantasy. Might as well make something new.
I'm running into a problem, though. Specifically, about defense in combat. I want opposed skill rolls, and it's obvious what the attack rolls. But what about the defender?
Do I want a Dodge skill and if so, how do I make it worthwhile investment instead of buying more combat skill that can also be used to parry? What about shields--should there be a shield skill? If not, what does the shield-wielder roll?
For shields, I think I came up with the answer. Have some kind of Advantage called "Shield Training" that lets the warrior use shields with their normal combat skill, and incentivize shields by making them easier to defend with and able to block arrows (leaving parrying arrows for monks). Okay, that's done.
Dodge? Right now, I'm thinking of having an Evade skill that covers combat dodging as well as just generally avoiding bad stuff--the equivalent of a Reflex save as well, going with the Vigor skill and the Resolve skill. That's not super elegant, but it will work.
As for which to roll, maybe add in a couple things to incentivize Evade. Attacks that can't be blocked/parried, like some spells, attacks that are easier to defend against by one or the other defense like Exalted has. That has to be done carefully, though, in a way that conveys the proper information to the players so they can make informed decisions, and without that it's better off not to do it at all.
"Better off not to do it at all" is probably a good attitude toward the whole project, but I like tinkering!
I'm running into a problem, though. Specifically, about defense in combat. I want opposed skill rolls, and it's obvious what the attack rolls. But what about the defender?
Do I want a Dodge skill and if so, how do I make it worthwhile investment instead of buying more combat skill that can also be used to parry? What about shields--should there be a shield skill? If not, what does the shield-wielder roll?
For shields, I think I came up with the answer. Have some kind of Advantage called "Shield Training" that lets the warrior use shields with their normal combat skill, and incentivize shields by making them easier to defend with and able to block arrows (leaving parrying arrows for monks). Okay, that's done.
Dodge? Right now, I'm thinking of having an Evade skill that covers combat dodging as well as just generally avoiding bad stuff--the equivalent of a Reflex save as well, going with the Vigor skill and the Resolve skill. That's not super elegant, but it will work.
As for which to roll, maybe add in a couple things to incentivize Evade. Attacks that can't be blocked/parried, like some spells, attacks that are easier to defend against by one or the other defense like Exalted has. That has to be done carefully, though, in a way that conveys the proper information to the players so they can make informed decisions, and without that it's better off not to do it at all.
"Better off not to do it at all" is probably a good attitude toward the whole project, but I like tinkering!