Armor up!

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by EKB

I don't have any talents to specifically reduce called-shot penalties, but I do allow stacking of talents to increase adjDx with a given weapon to what others might call ridiculous levels. They work for me and my players however, so I've taken a few levels in a "don't care what others think" talent. ;)

I have one called DEADEYE... it reduces Aimed Shot penalties by half (rounded down).

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

*Halve all MA to fix both "run off the map" issues

You have a problem with people running away too much? In my experience fights lock in place and nobody gets to run. If they do run off the map, and get chased, then we have out of combat movement to handle it.

and improve realism, but that's secondary

Bit surprised at this. MA 10 is eight feet per second, how slow does realism require?

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by TippetsTX

I have one called DEADEYE... it reduces Aimed Shot penalties by half (rounded down).

I've toyed with, "If the game doesn't allow using this optional rule for an unskilled character then you can use it if you have this talent, and if the game does allow it for an unskilled character then this talent halves the modifiers."

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

"Partial Armor. You may suits of armor that leave a significant portion uncovered. Partial armor is half weight, cost, and DX penalty. It protects fully, but an attacker can opt to ignore it by so stating and taking a -2 to DX.

Issues:

• It's a fixed cost but the benefit is much greater for heavy armour. So using this system partial light armour is generally better than ordinary light armour, whereas partial heavy armour is worse.
• There are rounding issues with halving penalties.
• I think if you don't have armour on your legs then the first thing that gets better is probably the MA penalty so it's a bit strange it's the same.

In more detail:

• Partial leather is probably better than leather: instead of 2 hits stopped for -2 DX we get 2 hits stopped or -2 enemy DX for -1 DX. Probably it's better than cloth as well though the MA is an issue.
• Maybe partial cloth is awesome, depending on how the halving rounds, I suspect not.
• Partial half-plate ... that's a weird name... would be -2 DX (rarely, 4 hits stopped, but most opponents will bypass it) for -2 DX which meh I probably wouldn't.
• Partial improved plate is -2 enemy DX (very rarely, 6 hits stopped) for -2 DX, which sucks compared with 6 hits stopped for -4 DX.

Alternatives:

• I would suggest an enemy DX penalty proportional to the protection of the armour, but equal would be too effective and with anything less rounding would mess you up.
• Maybe armour should allow tradeoff of DX vs MA.

It doesn't protect against Fire hexes

That could be an issue in some campaigns but for most I still think partial leather sounds kind of sweet.

[hcobb]

Usain Bolt sprints outside of combat at 42 hexes per turn. What would you say his MA is?

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Usain Bolt sprints outside of combat at 42 hexes per turn.

Arguably 50, if you pick the two seconds of the race where he's running fastest.

What would you say his MA is?

Normal human 10, Running +2, Expert Running +2, +2 Special talent like all Olympic sprinters, +1 special talent because he's Usain bolt, something for not having a sword in his hand and good shoes and all that, bonus for intensive training just before Olympics... I don't know, low 20s?

Anyone else got thoughts?

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by TippetsTX

-3 DX when attempting this kind of strike against foes in LIGHT armor, -6 DX vs. MEDIUM armor and -9 vs. HEAVY armor.

Rather than this light medium heavy business, have you considered just -2 DX per point of protection?

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by David Bofinger

Rather than this light medium heavy business, have you considered just -2 DX per point of protection?

No because I cap modifiers at +/-10 and your formula would put my 'Find the Soft Spot' roll at -18 vs full plate (see my original post). I suppose I could lower it to -1 DX per point, but that runs into a different issue IMO, namely that I don't believe even lesser armors should be trivial to bypass. -3 DX is the lowest penalty that feels appropriate for something like this and even then, it's not something an untrained fighter can attempt.

Plus the groupings are already baked into my framework so it just seemed reasonable to hang this on them too.

[Steve Plambeck]

Sorry David, I overlooked this post of yours from last year. I can relate to so much of this!

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

I actually haven't run a full-fledged campaign under LEGACY rules yet...

Me neither and I really don't intend to. I dislike too many of the changes. Plus I began writing my own rules-set from scratch decades ago while continuing to play in what's now a defunct but long-running CLASSIC campaign. I've no desire to resume play until I've finished my own rules after all these years, rules that deviate too far from TFT to even call it that anymore. Although some of the differences were play-tested between 1980 and 1998 within the CLASSIC campaign I was in, a nearly identical period as your own variant tests.

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

* Replace the LEGACY xp system, also removing the ability to buy talents/skills/etc. separately with XP, but granting IQ-based talents/spells/languages equal to (IQ-5) x 2, with extras gained at that ratio when IQ is improved.
All were things I successfully used in games run between 1983 and 1995 when I was ran a bunch of variant TFT, and still have lots of material for.

This is the part I've hemmed and hawed over the most for decades. It was only this year I finally ripped up my other approaches to settle on skill points determined by the formula (IQx2) - 6, which only differs from yours by 1 point. Dang, that's close. The same formula will apply when IQ increases, meaning 2 more skill points for each 1 point IQ increase. My XP costs to do that are more gentle than TFT. And no purchasing skills, languages, or spells with XP, that being perhaps the least favorite of the LEGACY changes I wish to avoid.

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

* Add a defense roll at (DX/2)+3 (penalized if attacked from side, rear, or prone). (I started doing this in my GURPS fantasy games in 1987 and eventually - around 2003 -- got it built into the GURPS 4e core rules...)

Wending back at least slightly towards the subject of this thread, an active defense roll was almost the first house rule my group added to our campaign around 1980. The defender simply rolled 3 vs adjDX to parry/block the entire incoming attack from their front hexes, using up their action for the turn to do so. This was entirely satisfactory for 20 years of heavy play time. I've dabbled with more "sophisticated" ways of doing it for a couple years, but anything else uncomfortably adds too many rules and extra dice rolls. After long deliberation I've decided to revert my system to this old, well-tested house rule and just keep play fast and simple in this regard. I have expert and master skills that allow for partially bypassing armour, without any resort to aimed shots.