01-02-2023, 11:36 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
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Stunning
What if we pushed the rules for being knocked down by wounds to better simulate stunning? My proposition is simple: if one sustains damage necessary to knock them down, they are considered stunned. Stunned figures may take no action until they recover with a 3/ST roll, which they make at the end of each turn they are stunned.
Examples:
This approach creates a greater grey area in which someone is not dead, but is temporarily out of the action. It also gives another benefit to having a higher ST. |
01-02-2023, 12:23 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
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Re: Stunning
This has the effect of making a knockdown even worse than it is. Seems to me that a knockdown is already dreadful. It's nearly a death sentence unless the opponents are outnumbered.
If I were looking for some way to include stun, I'd make it effective at some lower damage and require losing one turn, not an indefinite number of turns. I'd also not make it cumulative with knockdown, which often requires the loss of an action anyway. So, perhaps when one takes 5 damage but less than 8, he makes a 3/ST roll. If he fails, he loses his next action. If he succeeds, he takes his next action at the usual -2 DX penalty. The effect of this alternative (to your) rule for stunning is that low ST figures have a worse situation when taking 5 hits. High ST figures have a moderately worse situation as well, but most of the time, they will make their 3/ST roll. Last edited by phiwum; 01-02-2023 at 12:27 PM. |
01-02-2023, 12:35 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
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Re: Stunning
An alternative could be to not make stunning at 8 damage automatic, but to allow an immediate 3/ST save, and if they fail, on the next turn allow a roll to recover during their turn to act. If succeeding, they can act as normal. This gives a decent chance for someone to recover in time to stand at the end of turn two, as they would be able to under RAW.
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01-02-2023, 02:54 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: Indiana
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Re: Stunning
It's my understanding that if a person that is knocked down can take no action in that turn. However, if they decide to stay on the ground or are jumped for HTH while down, they can attack the next turn if they decide not to stand up. This means that a wizard could cast a spell or participate in HTH combat.
Adding this stun factor could prohibit the above scenario. I'm with phiwum. Knockdowns are dreadful enough. Now, what you propose could be part of a knock down that results from a shield rush where the damage is low to non-existent. Last edited by Bill_in_IN; 01-02-2023 at 06:53 PM. |
01-03-2023, 06:52 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Stunning
RAW says that if you are knocked down you lose your action. So you lose your current turn's action if you haven't used it already, and spend the next one standing up. If you get hit in Turn T then you have 0.00 chance to act in Turn T+1 and 1.00 chance in all subsequent turns. By the time this happens the combat probably doesn't have a lot of turns in it, so losing T+1 is a big deal.
Under the proposed scheme you have P(ST) chance to act in Turn T+1, 1-(1-P(ST))^2 chance to act in Turn T+2, etc. How bad this is depends on P(ST), the probability of rolling 3/ST given your ST. But for it even to be possible to be stunned you must have a ST of at least 9, which means you must have a P(ST) of at least 0.375. The weighted average P(ST) over all characters of interest is probably well over 0.5, perhaps 0.65. So the probability of getting to act in T+1, T+2, etc. is maybe 0.65, 0.88, 0.96, ... This is a lot more attractive than 0.00, 1.00, 1.00, ... You can argue with a lot of my numbers but on balance, and despite what others have been saying, I think this proposal weakens the effect of knockdown/stuns. |
01-03-2023, 06:55 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Stunning
It's not obvious to me that recovery should depend on ST. If the giant gets knocked down, for instance, does it pop up every time? It's possible the roll should be against IQ instead, representing willpower.
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01-03-2023, 06:58 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Stunning
If you want ST to affect stunning then consider instead making the number of hits needed to cause unconsciousness depend on the target's ST.
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01-03-2023, 06:59 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Stunning
If you're going to make stun resistant and/or recovery depend on ST then consider having one or more talents that also affect it.
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01-03-2023, 09:29 AM | #9 | ||
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
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Re: Stunning
Quote:
Quote:
This is simple enough to do. Toughness and Brawling could give a bonus here, and I have a couple of house rule talents, Rugged and Sturdy, the former increasing the wound threshold for DX penalties and knockdown, and the latter giving a saving roll to avoid being knocked down, both of which could be tweaked to work better with the proposed stunning changes. |
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01-03-2023, 12:02 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
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Re: Stunning
I adjust ST by size to split health from hit points that are derived from bulk: https://www.hcobb.com/tft/house_rules.html#Health
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Tags |
house rules, strength, stunning, wound recovery, wounds |
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