Strength loss v Fatigue Loss

JLV · 07-19-2018, 12:26 AM

Again, I'll describe the system we used to track the differing damages and their effects (no, no subdual damage -- it seems like an unnecessary complication when you can just say that instead of striking to wound (and thus inflicting HITS on a character, you are instead striking to subdue and can instead inflict fatigue on the character):

We put a simple box on the character sheet for each point of ST the character had. ([])

When a fatigue "hit" was inflicted, the player marked a box off with a "/" mark to indicate fatigue. ([/])

When a wound hit was inflicted, the character marked the box off with an "X." ([X])

Once all the boxes had either a "/" or an "X" in them, additional fatigue or normal hits were marked off with a "backslash" (for some reason, the system won't let me use the backslash character, even if it's in quotes) in a box already containing a "/" mark (which converted them to "X"s and made them damage hits).

Once all the boxes had "X"s in them, the character died. If all the boxes had either an "X" or a "/" in them, the character was unconscious.

The above system was instantly understandable, made actual damage versus fatigue damage completely obvious, and never required any serious arguments or discussions on what someone's obscure notes meant.

If a character's permanent ST changed, you simply added or deleted the requisite number of boxes.

Example: Character A has a ST of 10. His record sheet looks like this:

ST 10 [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

During a melee, Character A takes four actual hits (after armor, etc. is deducted) Character A's record sheet now looks like this:

ST 10 [X] [X] [X] [X] [] [] [] [] [] []

A few turns later, Character A casts a couple of spells, using up four fatigue points. Character A's record sheet now looks like this:

ST 10 [X] [X] [X] [X] [/] [/] [/] [/] [] []

Another few turns later, and Character A is forced to cast a Spell that uses up the last of his fatigue and even goes a bit beyond that costing him four more fatigue points. He falls unconscious after the spell is cast and suffers additional damage for going beyond his remaining strength. His record sheet now looks like this:

ST 10 [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [/] [/] [/] [/] (note that two of the previous fatigue "hits" were converted to full damage because he overused his ST)

Character A must now rest for a time to regains consciousness and even if he rests long enough to restore all his lost fatigue, he'll still only have four ST points to use for Spells until he can heal some of his damage.

My apologies for the length of the post.

07-19-2018, 12:26 AM	#5
JLV Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Arizona	Re: Strength loss v Fatigue Loss Again, I'll describe the system we used to track the differing damages and their effects (no, no subdual damage -- it seems like an unnecessary complication when you can just say that instead of striking to wound (and thus inflicting HITS on a character, you are instead striking to subdue and can instead inflict fatigue on the character): We put a simple box on the character sheet for each point of ST the character had. ([]) When a fatigue "hit" was inflicted, the player marked a box off with a "/" mark to indicate fatigue. ([/]) When a wound hit was inflicted, the character marked the box off with an "X." ([X]) Once all the boxes had either a "/" or an "X" in them, additional fatigue or normal hits were marked off with a "backslash" (for some reason, the system won't let me use the backslash character, even if it's in quotes) in a box already containing a "/" mark (which converted them to "X"s and made them damage hits). Once all the boxes had "X"s in them, the character died. If all the boxes had either an "X" or a "/" in them, the character was unconscious. The above system was instantly understandable, made actual damage versus fatigue damage completely obvious, and never required any serious arguments or discussions on what someone's obscure notes meant. If a character's permanent ST changed, you simply added or deleted the requisite number of boxes. *Example:* Character A has a ST of 10. His record sheet looks like this: ST 10 [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] During a melee, Character A takes four actual hits (after armor, etc. is deducted) Character A's record sheet now looks like this: ST 10 [X] [X] [X] [X] [] [] [] [] [] [] A few turns later, Character A casts a couple of spells, using up four fatigue points. Character A's record sheet now looks like this: ST 10 [X] [X] [X] [X] [/] [/] [/] [/] [] [] Another few turns later, and Character A is forced to cast a Spell that uses up the last of his fatigue and even goes a bit beyond that costing him four more fatigue points. He falls unconscious after the spell is cast and suffers additional damage for going beyond his remaining strength. His record sheet now looks like this: ST 10 [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [/] [/] [/] [/] (note that two of the previous fatigue "hits" were converted to full damage because he overused his ST) Character A must now rest for a time to regains consciousness and even if he rests long enough to restore all his lost fatigue, he'll still only have four ST points to use for Spells until he can heal some of his damage. My apologies for the length of the post. Last edited by JLV; 07-19-2018 at 12:29 AM.