So, let me think... really, it's going to be a bit of a balancing act.
Small PCs mustn't be so frail that they are easily killed outright... knocked unconscious, okay, but not crippled or killed. Otherwise, everyone eventually ends up playing big, strong types, because all of the smaller PCs will eventually buy it from some sort of ambush or area-of-effect attack.
Big PCs shouldn't be able to casually shrug off anything but the weakest of attacks. It's okay if a Mouse can't harm an Elephant, but not if a heavy pistol can't harm an Elephant.
Combat should be fast, and involve minimal book-keeping. I don't care about hit locations. Wound effects are okay, but they should be vague (you cause some "impairment") and new ones should be easy to invent (smack him in the ear to cause temporary deafness).
I'd like to support different kinds of damage (e.g.- cutting has different effects from blunt which is different from stabbing wounds) but not if it makes stuff complicated.
Attacks need to be at least somewhat balanced. Again, I don't want oversized PCs with huge weapons to dominate the game. A smaller, more agile PC should have a shot at beating one. Maybe the bigger races should have maximum Speed ratings? Or actual penalties to hit folks? Balancing out size differences is tricky.
An Extraordinary hit (hitting by 8+) should be capable of killing someone, even if you're using a small and crappy weapon. On the other hand, a Critical hit with a huge weapon shouldn't mean instant death for the target.
Hm. Well, using some sort of multiples / thresholds would enable me to make it so that it's hard to kill folks outright, but usually at least possible, especially if the resistance roll is dice.
I'm ambivalent over whether or not attacks should be able to be bounced. I think I'm inclined to say that most hits should do something, but it's not that big of a deal if they sometimes bounce.
Posted by Kiz at May 17, 2004 04:59 PMCommentsPost a comment