[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by tbeard1999

One complaint of TFT is that armor stacks up, making figures more or less effectively invulnerable. Here are two ways to address that without adding hardly any complexity.

HERESY ALERT

1. Make armor stop a variable amount of damage. You can use polyhedrals for maximum spiff - Cloth 1d2, Leather d4, Chain d6, half plate d8, plate d10 and fine plate d12. Or, Cloth d6-2, Leather d6-1, Chain d6, half plate d6+1, plate d6+2 and fine plate d6+3. I like polyhedrals because they allow for a broader range of possibilities. And already being an apostate, I can only burn in hell once.

2. Use a single polyhedral die for all weapon damage. A broadsword, for instance, does d12 of damage. Shortsword, d10. Cutlass, d8. Bastard sword 1h d12+1. A greatsword would do d20+1. This makes weapon damage highly variable as well. PM me if you want my utterly blasphemous Polyhedral Weapons damage chart.

These changes will slow play down a bit as players roll armor. But you can announce “he swings at you; roll armor” and the player rolls as you roll to hit.

I seem to remember the Runequest derived RPG, Stormbringer, had variable armour rolls. I only played it a couple of times but really liked that idea, though it did of course increase play time a bit.