Heartbreaker: Combat Defense

[dorchadas]

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!

Comments

[drydem.livejournal.com]

For rolls, one thing I've been thinking is running D&D5 with options for rolling the d20. You can opt to roll 2d10 or 3d6. 2d10 makes a crit much rarer, but an average result more likely. 3d6 makes a crit impossible, but an average result much more certain. It allows for more choices.

For dodges, in BtVS, characters get one free dodge a round which makes them harder to hit, but multiple attacks are much harder to dodge. Active defense should have a cost.

[dorchadas]

One thing I'm doing with 2d10 is having 1s implode and 10s explode, making the results usually predictable but occasionally turn up something totally wild, in the same way that dice pools do.

For dodges, in BtVS, characters get one free dodge a round which makes them harder to hit, but multiple attacks are much harder to dodge. Active defense should have a cost.

I have in mind a system with different kinds of actions, like d20 but actually more modeled on WFRP, and defense will be a "Reaction," where each person gets one a round but with ways to get more, like taking a Half Action for defense. In WFRP I gave people more free defenses if they had the associated skills because that wasn't guaranteed, but I don't think that would work here because the skills would be more common.

I might bake it into the Advantage system and the soft class system it sets up. Warriors get Combat Training for free which provides an extra Reaction, or something.