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Variant combat rules

stofsk

SOC-13
In T20 the combat sometimes results in a character succumbing to stamina damage before lifeblood damage, so in effect he gets knocked out of the fight before being killed.

I thought about this, and figured that perhaps there ought to be some exceptions to the rule. So I came up with variant rules.

1. Stimulant packs. A shot of adrenaline to give a much needed boost. Not the same as the medical drug (which heals all stamina damage and some lifeblood damage, and can only be taken once in a 24 hr period). Stims provide BONUS stamina points rather than heal existing points, and the more you take the more you get. The effect lasts for about an hour, and there's a danger of falling addicted to the drug.

2. New Feat: Grit
Travellers are often exposed to life threatening situations that require grit, determination, and resolve to carry on when the chips seem down. Sometimes the difference between victory and defeat is the will to win.

Pre-requisites: Not sure, but my gut says there should be some~Stofsk

Benefit: If a character takes damage to reduce his Stamina to 0, allow him to make a Fortitude Save (DC=total Stamina damage taken). If successful the character does not fall unconscious. If the damage also reduces Lifeblood to 0 or below, a similar save is made. In both cases the character is 'fatigued' and suffers an effective -2 to Strength and Dexterity, and can only make partial actions (so attack but you can't move, or you can move but you can't attack, etc).

Normal: If a character's Stamina is reduced to 0 he falls immediately unconscious.

Thoughts?
 
Grit appears very similiar to one of my all time favorite D20 feats; I believe it's in the DND 3.5 handbook. It's called Die Hard. And, I feel it's very appropriate for Traveller characters. Basically, you can go to -10 stamina/lifeblood/whatever before falling unconcious, but when you do get there, you drop dead. It's an interesting idea. Oh, you also stabalize automatically. For T20, I might modify that to be a much easier roll to stabilize, having automatic means that to die, the character almost has to be killed outright.
 
Oh, one more thing, about stamina/lifeblood: The character will not always be knocked out before being killed, esp. at higher levels. If for example a character has 13 lifeblood and 35 stamina, a single gunshot can kill them, but is very unlikely to do enough stamina damage to knock them out. Armor blocks lifeblood, but not stamina damage (Other than makign it harder to be damaged at all).
 
Originally posted by stofsk:


[MAjor SNIP]

[qb]2. New Feat: Grit
Travellers are often exposed to life threatening situations that require grit, determination, and resolve to carry on when the chips seem down. Sometimes the difference between victory and defeat is the will to win.

Pre-requisites: Not sure, but my gut says there should be some~Stofsk[/b]

I would place the prerequisite feats Great Fortitude, THB page 104 charcter can endure great pain & fatigue, yields a +2 bonus to all fortitude saving throws; & Iron Will, Individual has high reservoir of willpower, grit, determination, etc. grants a +2bonus to all willpower saving throws.


Benefit: If a character takes damage to reduce his Stamina to 0, allow him to make a Fortitude Save (DC=total Stamina damage taken). If successful the character does not fall unconscious. If the damage also reduces Lifeblood to 0 or below, a similar save is made. In both cases the character is 'fatigued' and suffers an effective -2 to Strength and Dexterity, and can only make partial actions (so attack but you can't move, or you can move but you can't attack, etc).

Normal: If a character's Stamina is reduced to 0 he falls immediately unconscious.

Thoughts? [/b]
My answer is good idea, and my fixes are above stofsk! Good thoughts on it though!
 
For the Feat Die Hard I would require the prerequisites the following feats

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Endurance (+4 saves due to fatigue/ over exertion checks), THB p104.

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Iron Will-adds +2 to all willpower saves. THB, Page

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Great Fortitude-adds +2 to all fortitude saves.

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Grit*-as written by stofsk above.

With generic feats gained at 1st, 3rd, 6th, & 9th level, a PC will be 12th level to gain 'Die hard'. THB, page 35.

Your thoughts Archdealer? Stofsk? Anyone else?
 
I actually allow Die Hard with only Toughness and Great Fortitude as prerequisites. I've never felt the feat was so exceptionally powerful as to be a major problem, but it does give combat characters a nice little boost, and slightly lessens the chance that their character will be killed simply for doing what they're best at in a particularly lethal system.
 
Ooh, my social finally got to B! I'm a knight! Woo hoo.....wonder what I did to deserve it....

Anyhow, I just want to point out that Die Hard doesn't make you die any slower when suffering active damage in combat; you can simply act until you're dead. (On the assumption that you're eliminating threats while doing so, that can have the effect of letting you live longer.) It does auto-stabilize you, but so does Autohypnosis if you're using that skill, and so does high-TL medical gear (and if there isn't such a rule, there should be - a belt-mounted medikit that hits you with clotting agents and anti-shock meds).

In my D&D campaigns, Die Hard actually leads to a higher frequency of dead fighter/barbarbian/etc., because the fool keeps standing there being hit until he's dead.

Just my 2 centi-Credits.
 
Originally posted by princelian:
Ooh, my social finally got to B! I'm a knight! Woo hoo.....wonder what I did to deserve it....
Awww, I kinda hate to be the one to break it to you, but the Social standings here are T20 based. Social 11 in that is only bordering on an Educated Professional. For Knighthood you need Social 16, which will take a gazillion posts* ;) Or... you can buy it like I did :D (once the site is back to 100%).

* there's a list of the posts needed to meet each Social level around here somewhere...

Ah, there it is, yep a gazillion posts to make Knight ;)

Link to Social Ranks

We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic...
 
Noooooooo!!!!

Well, I'll just continue to think of myself as Soc=B on the ol' UPP and keep my delusions of grandeur, thank you.
 
I would get rid of Stamina and Lifeblood all together, and substitute Hit Points for Stamina. There are two stats in the D20 3.5 version that are most appropriate, there is Armor Class and there is touch which are listed under each entry in the Monster manual 3.5. When one roles to hit, you check first if you hit the touch score, that is role the touch number or higher to see if you hit, then you roll for damage, then you subtract the armor class from your modified D20 role and if the result is negative you sum it with your damage roll, otherwise you leave the damage you inflicted alone. With certain armor types, you must penetrate the armor before you can inflict damage, so in that case you subtract the difference between armor class and touch from the damage inflicted no matter what if you score touch or better in your role to hit.
 
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