What about fanzine topics?

[timm meyers]

Originally Posted by Shostak

Of the house rules discussed in that article, I use a few: doing more damage with a weapon if ST is greater than that required, the missile range rule of thumb, a academic talents costing list price for wizards (actually, I'm even more liberal; I let all characters learn all spells and talents at the same cost).

A Physicker healing per hit is too cinematic for my taste, though if it took five minutes per point healed, that might make it more palatable.

Are we reading this the same way? The (what I have thought was almost universally accepted) method is "per wound" healing. Meaning the 6 hit gash from the battleaxe and the 2 hit fire burn on Bernie the unlucky can be individually treated by a physiker. So the axe gash goes down to 4 hits and the blistered leg is completely salved and wrapped to 0 hits ie the doc cures 2 hits on each wound = 4 hits, as opposed to RAW of just 2 hits total. I always felt (even back in the 80s) this was just as logical as any other simulation of health care + it reduces the (illogical for me at least) cases of healing potion purchased and carried on every trip. A little more book work but it helps with the deadly nature of TFT, smooths the pace of adventuring (still have major single strike wounds that need true magical aid) and makes the physiker talent shine all the more.

Originally Posted by Shostak

I like the idea that weapons do a minimum of 1 damage, even if they are listed as subtracting an amount from the die result. I'll probably adopt this.

I'd might be happy with Shield Expertise offering side protection to only the shield-arm side, but I'm not convinced it is a good idea yet.

For sure on min 1 hit damage. Even two unarmored and barehanded old women having a slap fight should do 1 hit minimums. Even the smallest amount of armor or toughness will negate the effect so only wizards and people getting out of the bath need fear this change. (also I want to point out that adopting the "per wound" physiking means even the handful of sha-ken landing at 1 hit each would leave no lasting damage if treated by the doctor)

The shield expert extra coverage is new to me. However I know plenty of people chaff at the whole armor mechanics anyway, and especially the use of shields, so I can see the merit. This is one of my 2 unsure as well, but covering 1 or 2 more hex sides seems fairly inconsequential.

Originally Posted by Shostak

The RAW thrown weapon and spell penalty seems fine to me, especially considering Thrown Weapons talent for those who want to shine in this area. I like a Thrown Spell talent that offsets the range penalty by 1 for each level of the talent (max 3), but never giving a bonus. I have sometimes only allowed this to be spell specific.

This one I think we agree on. Not broke, no fix needed. The thrown spell talent would be great as a fill in for flavor and those needing this bump for distance accuracy.