Saw a Reel about Attacking the Character sheet

The reel is here. The Witches Hex removing a Death Save really resonated with me. I mean you talk to an old crone in town and she gives you the Evil Eye and you're down a Death Save until the next full moon. Thats interesting, a bit chilling, and not something the players can do much about beyond being nicer to old crones. If feels fairy tale ish. Some other ideas that might be fun for short duration annoyance:

• Dropping a PCs Initiative bonus
• Dropping a PCs passive perception
• Reduce or remove a spellslot
• Eliminate one usage from some ability or magic item that only has a certain number of uses a day.

The other ideas don't work as well for me. Having negative inspiration only works if you use inspiration for example, and I don't like Inspiration just as I don't like Luck die. Feels overly gamey to me.

Anyway the idea is fun and has my head thinking about all the possibilities.

Three Round Combat

Questing Beast mentioned 3-round combat in his latest Can this DnD hack actually work? The idea is interesting, short brutal combats. Part of me likes the idea as my group has been fighting Giants lately and the bag of hit points that are giants results in a bit of tedious combat (at least from my point of view, my players seem to love it). So I went to the webpage that came up with the Pretendo the website that came up with the idea to see if they had anything that that filled it out better. Alas I was still unsatisfied. The jist:

Combat lasts 3 rounds at most. It may be initiated, decided, and concluded in a single round, or it may be initiated in round 1, decided by round 2, and concluded by round 3—but however it plays out, the victorious side is known by the end of the second round.

Round 3 is for transition and conclusion. At the start of round 3, the enemy side takes stock. The GM signals to players who’s about to win and what their options are.

• If enemies trail, they forfeit. The details depend on the nature of the enemy. Frightened animals may simply whine and run away when they’ve sustained too many wounds. A gang that’s lost their leader and half their fighters may thumb their noses and throw a dagger on their way out—but they still know when they’re beaten. Soldiers may surrender, repeating name, rank, and service number.  
• If enemies lead, they press their advantage. The GM should be transparent about the circumstances—it’s clear they’re winning, and they’re about to get a huge bonus against you if you stick around. The situation changes while preserving players’ agency about how to proceed. The specifics will di!er against di!erent enemies: surrender may be possible with soldiers; fleeing may be the only option against hungry predators; going down swinging may be more palatable than running away in some cases. 

• If unclear, use best judgment—but something changes. In a relatively even match-up, it’s up to the GM to make a ruling based on the nature of the enemy—or just going with “fleeing,” if that’s easier or more satisfying. For instance: a frenzied beast might attack recklessly for a huge bonus to attacks and damage, guaranteeing its own demise in the process; humans might take a breath and o!er to parley; robots might have repeated a routine multiple times, revealing a predictable behavior players can exploit. Again, though, no matter what, something changes.

Pivotal battles might go longer—but in round 3, there’s a twist.

So after reading that I kind of think it makes a good case for ignoring the normal reasons one might roll morale and instead rolling Morale after 3 rounds of combat. If the PCs are winning have the Foes roll at Disadvantage. If the Foes are winning have them roll at Advantage. If the Foe makes their morale roll perhaps they get an extra desperate attack the 4th round. Not sure about the last part but I like the "bloodied" idea from 4E and think something similar could be implemented here make round 4 more interesting.

Here are some Bloodied Effect ideas from 4E filtered through ChatGPT.

d12 Bloodied Effect

1. Makes an immediate melee attack against the nearest foe.
2. Immediately shifts (moves without provoking opportunity attacks) several squares.
3. Gains a bonus to attack rolls until the end of the encounter.
4. Gains resistance to one or more damage types.
5. Recharges one or more expended powers.
6. Summons reinforcements or calls nearby allies.
7. Enters a berserk rage, dealing extra damage but suffering lower defenses.
8. Begins regenerating hit points each round.
9. Gains an additional action each round (or an immediate bonus action in systems that use them).
10. Drops its shield or armor, sacrificing defense for increased offense.
11. Emits poisonous blood, acid, fire, or necrotic energy whenever struck in melee.
12. Reveals a hidden weapon, mutation, or magical ability unavailable before being bloodied.

More Healing Potions

 A continuation from my previous post on Healing Potions.

I like the idea that if you heal HP that would take you beyond your Max HP you might suffer a mutation that lasts as long as it would take to heal that much HP. That would need a table but I'm sure there is one floating around the web. HP beyond the Max HP could be treated as Temp HP the way a Warlock gets Temp HP with Dark Ones Blessing. Going into battle you can really tank up, but it'll cost you in gold, addiction, and possibly mutation.

I like the idea that the cheaper Healing Potions might cause more problems and if you want the good stuff it's gonna cost you. This becomes a nice way to soak up PC cash. 

 So anyway the more I think about the mutation aspect the more it reminds me of the Slaine comics where mutation was part of his berserker fury.  

Healing Potions

I read a couple of blog posts about healing potions and thought I'd spew a few thoughts out on the subject. 5E with its short and long rests really made healing potions somewhat unnecessary, that's the nut of the problem. Then if you do swig one you get only a little healing and could roll a 1.

Dojo Darelir, the School of Xenograg the Sorcerer suggests you get one-quarter of a character's Max HP which matches 4E Healing surges.

Nerdwerds thinks a Healing potion should bring you back up to Max HP (but cost a lot).

I like Nerdwerd's solution but I have a different solution. Keep the price the same but if you suck up to many healing potions you develop some kind of immunity to the stuff. Imagine if Healing Potions had a Usage Die that started at Ud20. You roll the die, add your CON modifier and that's how much you heal. You still might get super-low numbers but not every potion is gonna be freshly brewed and sometimes the alchemist might have used a shortcut of putting in Toadstool instead of Mandrake and what are you gonna do. 

So at low level you have a good chance of healing big and that's when your trying just to stay alive. But the more you drink the more likely you roll a 1-2 and when that happens the usage die drops so that your next healing potion only cures Ud12, then Ud10. By the time your high enough level you probably don't need healing potions anyway.

Crew Morale

Shadowdark (and most OSR systems to be fair) has a morale system but nothing about ongoing morale for hirelings or companions. This started as fun business I could add during a caravan to give the guards, merchants, and other help, something to do. This would be in addition to normal encounter rolls. Then I decided to make it a bit more generic so that it applies to a ships crew or mercenary group or whatever. 

Donning Armor

5E has a simple number for donning armor but I think it should be just a bit more than that. PCs should not be sleeping in their armor, at least not the metal armors, not if they want to get Long Rest credit. That means they need to be able to put it on quick whenever whomever is on watch calls the alarm. Should make things interesting for turn or two at least.

Camping

Camping is another thing I've always hand-waved but which should probably have at least a roll, a roll that might provide a few seeds. This one is kind of basic but in times I could see it being useful, like when the PCs need rest, and if they blow the roll they won't get the expected healing. So in my latest 1-Page rules I present Camping.

Shopping

Sometimes you just don't want to deal with the haggling, or role-play out the shopping trip at all. Generally that's my take, but just pick from the list of stuff in the book is a bit lame as well so heres a table to add a bit of variety to this common task.

Haggling

I never liked role playing out haggling, it seemed a good place to create a silly little one-page rules so that something happens without my having to play it out. 

 

Public Opinion

This idea comes from a scene in one of my favorite movies and the quote that has been bandied around my table for decades. "There's no food for you here..." Of course its from American Werewolf in London where the Americans stumble into a bar on a bad night and get a nasty response from the locals. 

If you think about it a bunch of blood covered adventurers are probably not gonna be welcomed right away and the normal reaction rolls take the charm of the party into account the way they should when used in a civilized area. Plus, any chance to make CHA useful... 

Dungeon Foraging

I was thinking about foraging from the previous post and thought Shadowdark is designed for a lot of gaming spent in the Shadowdark, so foraging rules for a dungeon environment might be nice. I really liked the last one, how different levels of success gave better results and figure I'll keep that format for any other rules that pop to mind. Perhaps I'll end up with enough 1-page rules someday that I'll bundle them for easy use. Anyway, since light is such a big factor I decided to add some desperate light options for success.

Living Off The Land

I ran across a news story about quick quartering, that's how hunters up in Wyoming quickly dice up their game to pack out the meat, being far from your truck and hunting solo, you've got to do it fast before bears catch the scent.  

That made me think about surviving off the land in RPGs and I've never really found a mechanic that handles thing that I was happy with. I particularly like the idea that a better roll means more rations and less offal to draw in hungry beasts. I included foraging rules as well because in my game Elves are herbivores and followers of the Goddess Gede are vegetarians. The rules are for Shadowdark but obviously adaptable to any system.

A Replacement for HP

Grognardia has been talking about Ability scores recently which got me thinking of the way I handled such in one of my Fantasy Heartbreakers. Anyway I thought I'd write it up here as the old Fantasy Heartbreaker is long gone. 

Damage types are already built into 5E more or less. Whatever damage the weapon does, roll and apply the damage to the corresponding Attribute.

‣ STR - Anyone reduced to 0 STR falls prone and is unable to move at all. 

‣ DEX - Anyone reduced to 0 DEX or less falls prone and is unable to move at all. 

‣ CON - Anyone reduced to 0 CON or less is Dead.

‣ INT - Anyone reduced to 0 INT or less is unconscious and will take 1 CON point a round until healed back to 1 INT. 

‣ WIS - Insanity. Anyone reduced to 0 WIS or less is catatonic. 

‣ CHA - Burn/Electrical Wound. Anyone reduced to 0 CHA or less is Dead.

All damage heals at 1 point per week.

This mechanic was created when I was in love with the Black Hack which used Ability Scores for every attribute test so dropping one caused an instant game effect. It should apply to 5e easily enough even if it works on modifiers and not upon the Ability Scores directly  (bludgeoning = blunt, Slashing = Edge, Piercing = point). I gave up the idea in the name of simplicity and compatibility but I still like the system in theory and might use it someday.