[tbeard1999]

Several folks have suggested some kind of defense capability as a good addition to TFT. In my longest running campaign, we had a passive defense mechanism. (I don’t like parry rolls as they slow the game down). It was designed to allow swashbuckler type characters to be viable in TFT. It was a tad fussy, but it did work. This is my best recollection of how it worked.

We used the standard 3d6 resolution mechanic. I don’t think it would work as well using the d20 system unless you increased the benefit.

Figures with any hand weapon talent (including unarmed combat and the staff spell) have a Defense rating (DF). All enemies subtract the target’s adjusted DF from all attacks with hand weapons or bare handed.

A figure’s base DF is 1 for each point of DX over 12. Armor seriously degrades DF, however. DX penalties for armor and shields are doubled against DF.

So if you have DX 17, your base DF is 5. If you wear leather armor (DX -2) you’d have an adjDF of 1 and an adjDX of 15.

Note that in original TFT, armor could be enchanted to stop more hits, but you couldn’t magically reduce its DX penalty. So it was all but impossible to have a high DF if you wore heavy armor/shield. This was an intentional design goal.

Figures with Unarmed Combat V add 2 to their adjDF. This replaces the “four dice to hit them in normal combat”. As an aside, this means a figure with UC V and the minimum adjDX will be -6(!) to hit.

A 32 point would-be swashbuckler would have ST8, DX14, IQ 10. Talents could be Sword (2), Fencing (3), and 3 more points (saving 2 to get Two Weapons when he gets IQ8). His adjusted DF is 2, so he’ll be a little hard to hit by beginning characters. But against a ST12 DX12(10) IQ8 swordsman with leather, small shield and broadsword, he’ll probably still lose unless he gets some luck shots in.

At 36 points, he’s much more viable. His IQ is 11, ST is 10 and DX is 15. DF is 3. He uses a Sabre (Cutlass, 2-2 damage) in each hand. He’s hard to hit, but still fragile. Now, he stands a decent chance against a ST13 DX15(11) IQ8 fighter with chain and large shield (-5 hits), though he struggles with heavier armor.

This system allowed swashbuckler type characters to be viable (though perhaps unrealistically so). I’m not advocating it as a TFT system, I’m just sharing it because it worked well in several multi-year campaigns.

EDIT - This defense capability could be a separate talent, I suppose. I’d require a DX of 13 (the minimum to get any benefit from it) or higher and an IQ of 10+.