At last, my personal equipment house rules - Page 5

larsdangly · 09-18-2019, 02:43 PM

TFT is sort of 'piggy in the middle' when it comes to damage and injury: It is definitely more deadly to combatants than is typical of the more popular fantasy roleplaying games, but it lacks 'Mook' rules, so barring a lucky shot, you have to work at least a little to get someone on the ground.

Both of these observations are reflections of the fact that TFT's combat (and combat-magic) engines are rooted in a competitive board game. There is no competitive board game if there is no reasonably fair competition, and a fight between a mook and a non-mook isn't fair.

It is worth asking whether there is a house rule out there to allow for mook-like combatants in TFT. It is easy to reduce their offensive capabilities (making them less dangerous to PC's) by lowering DX - this requires no special rules. But you can't make them less robust to damage yet still capable of lifting a sword because ST fills both roles. So, I think if you want a cinematic variant where mooks burst into flames (or whatver) when you hit them with an arrow, then you'd need to have a special house rule that states if you fall into the mook category you are killed by any physical wound doing more than a certain number of points (say, 3). That way every substantial hit - something a PC would make significant note of - kills your mook.

hcobb · 09-18-2019, 03:47 PM

PC survival depends not on armor or DX adjustments, but rather either entirely preventing enemy to-hit rolls or increasing the number of dice these have to roll.

As non-wizards can't combine dodge/defend with an attack the non-surviving PCs shall respawn as the apprentices of the surviving PCs.

larsdangly · 09-19-2019, 12:43 PM

I agree that smart TFT combat players focus on not letting people make to-hit rolls against them. But armoring up is a very valid option in the LE rules. Fine plate is inexpensive and only moderately penalizing to DX, at least 1 point of toughness is in reach for many characters, and shield expertise is in reach for many characters. That means 9 points of protection (6 armor +1 toughness +1 small shield +1 shield expertise) for a 4 point DX penalty, lowering you to something still acceptable (9+) is something you can engineer for a 34-35 point character. 9 points of armor makes it a statistically sound choice to just ignore many types of attacks. Of course you can design something to 'crack open' an armored combatant, but that is true of every specialized design in the game.

09-18-2019, 02:43 PM	#41
larsdangly Join Date: Dec 2017	Re: At last, my personal equipment house rules TFT is sort of 'piggy in the middle' when it comes to damage and injury: It is definitely more deadly to combatants than is typical of the more popular fantasy roleplaying games, but it lacks 'Mook' rules, so barring a lucky shot, you have to work at least a little to get someone on the ground. Both of these observations are reflections of the fact that TFT's combat (and combat-magic) engines are rooted in a competitive board game. There is no competitive board game if there is no reasonably fair competition, and a fight between a mook and a non-mook isn't fair. It is worth asking whether there is a house rule out there to allow for mook-like combatants in TFT. It is easy to reduce their offensive capabilities (making them less dangerous to PC's) by lowering DX - this requires no special rules. But you can't make them less robust to damage yet still capable of lifting a sword because ST fills both roles. So, I think if you want a cinematic variant where mooks burst into flames (or whatver) when you hit them with an arrow, then you'd need to have a special house rule that states if you fall into the mook category you are killed by any physical wound doing more than a certain number of points (say, 3). That way every substantial hit - something a PC would make significant note of - kills your mook.

09-18-2019, 03:47 PM	#42
hcobb Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Pacheco, California	Re: At last, my personal equipment house rules PC survival depends not on armor or DX adjustments, but rather either entirely preventing enemy to-hit rolls or increasing the number of dice these have to roll. As non-wizards can't combine dodge/defend with an attack the non-surviving PCs shall respawn as the apprentices of the surviving PCs. __________________ -HJC

09-19-2019, 12:43 PM	#43
larsdangly Join Date: Dec 2017	Re: At last, my personal equipment house rules I agree that smart TFT combat players focus on not letting people make to-hit rolls against them. But armoring up is a very valid option in the LE rules. Fine plate is inexpensive and only moderately penalizing to DX, at least 1 point of toughness is in reach for many characters, and shield expertise is in reach for many characters. That means 9 points of protection (6 armor +1 toughness +1 small shield +1 shield expertise) for a 4 point DX penalty, lowering you to something still acceptable (9+) is something you can engineer for a 34-35 point character. 9 points of armor makes it a statistically sound choice to just ignore many types of attacks. Of course you can design something to 'crack open' an armored combatant, but that is true of every specialized design in the game.