Advantages of Great Strength?

[MikMod]

I cannot find this either! Is this another area 'cut' in the new release? I was looking for some guidance on my half-giant NPC... :/

[larsdangly]

ITL p. 15. It is a little different from the original (particularly the ST requirements of using 2H weapons in one hand). But it's there.

Also, ''expert hack' if you like the idea of exotic super-strong player characters: The 'supers' rules in the TFT Companion provide a very adaptable system for creating characters with special powers, including super strength and resilience.

[MikMod]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

ITL p. 15. It is a little different from the original (particularly the ST requirements of using 2H weapons in one hand). But it's there.

Ah ha! Thank you! I hadn't read the opening pages for quite a while! :D

[MikMod]

Not so happy with the new rules though - great strength isn't helping at all with armour and shields. :(

Think I will go with the old rules

[Skarg]

Yeah, and +3 just seems crazy low to me as enough to one-hand a two-handed weapon. It was silly enough in the original rules, IMO.

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by Skarg

Yeah, and +3 just seems crazy low to me as enough to one-hand a two-handed weapon. It was silly enough in the original rules, IMO.

I'm considering splitting the difference... 5 over required ST in order to 'one-hand' a 2H weapon. And while I'm not convinced that armor adjustments for high ST are necessary, I may restore the one related to large shields.

[larsdangly]

I think they did it simply because characters with ST greater than 20 used to be common but now practically won't occur. So, the whole concept of the two handed weapon in one hand goes out the window unless you put it in reach to someone with ST greater than 16 (the highest value for an obligatory 2H weapon) but less than about 20. Thus, 19.

It's hard to say how they should have addressed this, but I'm not a fan of the standard rule. It is farcical to imagine anyone under 10 feet tall wielding a halberd in one hand. Luckily it pretty much never comes up when you play under the new rules set.

My preferred house rule is that you get +1 damage for every full 2 ST points by which you exceed the listed minimum, up to a maximum equal to twice the base damage, and where the standard exchange rate is 1d = 4 points. Thus, a ST 16 character with a short sword does 2d-1 + 2 = 2d+1.

[Skarg]

I too think that seems like the thinking for "why" they reduced it to +3.

But I don't have much sympathy for that thinking, because I thought/think that one-handing a two-handed weapon seems a bit silly, and I'm more interested in the system making sense to me than in having an ability to do something fancy. (It also does weird things such as "of course octopi all one-hand three greatswords and/or pikeaxes... why wouldn't they?")

The new expected ST scale for humans is much lower though, and +5 might be ok, but still seems a bit generous to me.

What I do offer instead, in my house rules, is a +1 damage per 2 points of ST over the required ST for a weapon, so there are even-more-available advantages of great ST (and also more viable fighters option, such as still using a shield and one-handed weapon with high ST).

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

My preferred house rule is that you get +1 damage for every full 2 ST points by which you exceed the listed minimum, up to a maximum equal to twice the base damage, and where the standard exchange rate is 1d = 4 points. Thus, a ST 16 character with a short sword does 2d-1 + 2 = 2d+1.

Originally Posted by Skarg

What I do offer instead, in my house rules, is a +1 damage per 2 points of ST over the required ST for a weapon, so there are even-more-available advantages of great ST (and also more viable fighters option, such as still using a shield and one-handed weapon with high ST).

Heh, great minds...

Coincidentally, I have been considering a similar rule though I'm leaning towards +1 damage for every 3 points over the required ST. My character stats will tend to skew a bit higher than RAW, however, since I won't be limiting advancement to 40-points so the 1-for-3 exchange seems reasonable I think.

[TippetsTX]

Speaking of... how did you handle weapons specifically sized for giants? Did you use standard weapon damage and then add the house-ruled ST bonus or did you have giant-sized weapons with their own damage profile?