A Legacy Edition version of Advantages of Great Strength

larsdangly · 02-13-2020, 10:51 AM

The advantages of great strength got nerfed in Legacy Edition; whatever the designer's thoughts might have been, I don't think it is terribly important that these original rules are gone because the new XP rules mean very few characters will reach ST scores of 18+ anyway.

But, there is a very good reason to put something else in their place: to further open up the range of character types that are sufficiently competitive in combat that players will consider creating them. In particular, as it stands there is very little incentive to raise your ST above 16, as the only thing you get is a bit higher damage with HTH and clubs, slightly harder to incapacitate/kill, and the option of using some 2H weapons with 1H. These are not negligible, and if stat totals often reached well into the 40's you would see people going for ST scores of 20 or more, but they do not really compensate for the low DX and IQ you have to take when stat totals are unlikely to rise above 38-40.

So, I suggest the following house rules that make characters with ST 17-24 (or so) competitive enough that you might seriously consider having one:

• A damage bonus +1 damage with melee and thrown weapons per full 2 pts above minimum ST requirement for that weapon, up to a maximum damage bonus of 2 points per ‘die’ in the weapon’s base damage. This damage bonus is a modifier to the base damage, and thus is multiplied on double or triple damage results.
This ST-based damage bonus does not apply to:
— Weapons that lack a ST requirement
— Missile weapons
— Bola, Lasso, Net, Whip
— The optional weapons presented in my 'Cidri Armory' file (posted elsewhere here): Cat-o-nine-tails, Dirk, Garote, Jitte, Kiseru, Kyotetsu-shoge, Tanto

•The DX and MA penalties for worn armor and shields are reduced by 1 point at ST 18 and 2 points at ST 22

•Any combatant with a base ST of 20 or higher receives 1 point of 'Toughness' automatically. This can be in addition to the Toughness talent if you know it.

•The 'thrown object' rules from ITL are in effect.

•Do not use the Legacy Edition rule regarding use of 2H weapons in 1H (this is effectively superseded by the damage bonus rule above; in any case, it is not a great rule, as anyone familiar with these sorts of weapons will recognize that you can't really use a very long weapon in 1H just because you are strong).

02-13-2020, 10:51 AM	#1
larsdangly Join Date: Dec 2017	A Legacy Edition version of Advantages of Great Strength The advantages of great strength got nerfed in Legacy Edition; whatever the designer's thoughts might have been, I don't think it is terribly important that these original rules are gone because the new XP rules mean very few characters will reach ST scores of 18+ anyway. But, there is a very good reason to put something else in their place: to further open up the range of character types that are sufficiently competitive in combat that players will consider creating them. In particular, as it stands there is very little incentive to raise your ST above 16, as the only thing you get is a bit higher damage with HTH and clubs, slightly harder to incapacitate/kill, and the option of using some 2H weapons with 1H. These are not negligible, and if stat totals often reached well into the 40's you would see people going for ST scores of 20 or more, but they do not really compensate for the low DX and IQ you have to take when stat totals are unlikely to rise above 38-40. So, I suggest the following house rules that make characters with ST 17-24 (or so) competitive enough that you might seriously consider having one: • A damage bonus +1 damage with melee and thrown weapons per full 2 pts above minimum ST requirement for that weapon, up to a maximum damage bonus of 2 points per ‘die’ in the weapon’s base damage. This damage bonus is a modifier to the base damage, and thus is multiplied on double or triple damage results. This ST-based damage bonus does not apply to: — Weapons that lack a ST requirement — Missile weapons — Bola, Lasso, Net, Whip — The optional weapons presented in my 'Cidri Armory' file (posted elsewhere here): Cat-o-nine-tails, Dirk, Garote, Jitte, Kiseru, Kyotetsu-shoge, Tanto •The DX and MA penalties for worn armor and shields are reduced by 1 point at ST 18 and 2 points at ST 22 •Any combatant with a base ST of 20 or higher receives 1 point of 'Toughness' automatically. This can be in addition to the Toughness talent if you know it. •The 'thrown object' rules from ITL are in effect. •Do not use the Legacy Edition rule regarding use of 2H weapons in 1H (this is effectively superseded by the damage bonus rule above; in any case, it is not a great rule, as anyone familiar with these sorts of weapons will recognize that you can't really use a very long weapon in 1H just because you are strong). Last edited by larsdangly; 02-15-2020 at 01:13 PM.