Hi. Just posting some thoughts on how combat is going to work. Right now, these are just vague ideas and can change. I don't just want the game to be "roll a whatever sided die and if it beats their AC, you deal damage." I want something more original as this is done for most RPGs (though it is simplistic and easy).
Stances: Basically, during combat, you select a stance for your character to take. Based on the stance, you gain certain bonuses to certain abilities or rolls. You do not get to choose a stance if you are taken by surprised as you did not have time to prepare for a combat stance. When you declare a stance, you must remain in that stance for at least 5* turns. The three stances are:
-Offensive: you gain a bonus to attacks and damage
-Defensive: you gain a bonus to armor class
-Observational: you gain no bonus, but when you switch stances your bonus is greater as you're studying your opponent's movements and attacks and have a better understanding of them
I'm thinking at higher level, there could be an ability to combine Defensive and Observational (in that you're on the defensive, but you're still studying your opponent).
Also, Hunters and Shamen can switch out of Observational stance sooner when fighting animals.
*This number can change if it seems too high or low.
Fatigue Limit: I was also thinking that if you continue to fight for too long in combat, you start to take minuses or even lose hit points as you're moving around a lot - being agile - and your wounds are getting worse. Obviously, you'd have to be fighting for awhile - I'm not sure what a good number of turns for this is - but certain classes (soldier, fighter) can go longer than others.
Lethal Strike: This is just a rough idea I'm kicking around with, but basically you can strike the head or piece the heart with one powerful, precise blow that instantly kills your foe. The way this would work is that you make a normal attack roll, and the number you have to beat if your foe's AC plus a bonus that varies based on how far away they are from 0 HP (so a 50 HP would get a high DC than someone with only 10). And if you fail this roll, you still do damage, but a lot less than a normal hit. I'm not too fond of this concept right now, but I'm just trying to think up new ideas for Stone Lords to make it stand out and interesting.
Rage: Another idea I had is that every character can go into a rage at any time. Since these are early men, they'd be more savage. The way this works, is that you can potentially go into any number of rages any day. You have to make a rage check to go into it, and the DC increases by 10 every time you use it without getting a night's rest. This number increases regardless of if you successful or not. So your first Rage check for the day has no increased penalty, the second has a +10, the third has a +20, the fourth has a +30, etc. I'd figure if I did this, I'd have to do something for non-melee classes so melee classes aren't all broken with this.
Hit Points determine Starting Order: I'm not too attached to this idea, but it would make determining who goes first faster. Basically, the order everyone goes in is determined by whoever has the most amount of current hit points, and you go in order from most to least. Obviously this would be unfair to casters, but I feel that if you have more hit points you're more ready for combat. I think maybe there should be another factor with this too thought so it's not just all super tough end bosses go first.
Armor Class: Since most of the armor in Stone Lords is going to be very primitive (animal hides, bones, and wood) preventing successful hits from opponents is going to be more based on speed, grace, and deflection. For this reason, I was thinking there should be at least two stats you add to your armor class: Grace (how well you can move on your feet) and Agility (how fast you are). I was also thinking of having a deflection and/or parry bonus too.
Reducing Damage: Again, since armor isn't too advance, the way I'd figure it would work is that if you are hit, and you are wearing armor, you roll a die, add a bonus from your armor, and subtract that from how much damage you would have taken.
So, these are just rough ideas I have on combat.
The stances are an interesting concept, and may work well with certain monsters (Fighting a T-Rex, for example, would be excellent for a party to have a couple of guys in Defensive Stance while the rest make observations and ready their own stance. Then the Defensive ones can change stances)
ReplyDeleteThe Lethal Strike is interesting as well, and the idea that it has a large risk (1-hit kill vs. less than normal damage) makes it less exploitable than it could originally thought it could be.
Rage is something I think could work like in The Witcher, where it's a conscious act to consume a certain toxin that induces the rage, but comes at a cost of stamina later on. I'm not too sure that continuous rages should happen, as it could be easily exploited
The Hit Point system could work, however, the order might be better if it's inverse. That way, the spellcasters, who are weaker, can act at least once or twice. It could make sense that the spellcasters are lighter and therefore quicker on their feet and mind.
Grace could also be called Reflex. Agility is ok, I guess. The armors could also have a bit more of "magical" use, rather than defensive one. Example, a runed Cheetah Helmet and cape could give the user a +1 or +2 in Grace, so that he could evade better. A pair of deer cuisse or greaves with some sort of spell could give you a boost for Agility. Even magical traits, like a pair of rough leather bracelets that give you a chance for magic-imbued attacks.
I have nothing on the reduced damage.