Random crazy ideas... hacking damage & hit points

[jenskot]

Random idea on the train home from random New Years Eve parties in Manhattan...

You roll a miss... roll damage anyway but your target makes an immediate attack against you. This may work especially well with the popular trend of rolling your to hit die and damage dice at the same time.

[Questionor]

Random idea on the train home from random New Years Eve parties in Manhattan...

You roll a miss... roll damage anyway but your target makes an immediate attack against you. This may work especially well with the popular trend of rolling your to hit die and damage dice at the same time.

How would that work in terms of attacking someone who has limit resources to perform attacks like a spellcaster?

[jenskot]

My first thought is...

In games like D&D 4E, monsters and NPCs would use a basic attack or triggering attack. Essentially the same attack they use for opportunity attacks.

But that may not be powerful enough given that PCs are dealing normal damage for any type of attack. Needs more thought!

[jenskot]

I tried the whole reducing damage to gain effects from the first post and it didn't work because in game, people would rather inflict more damage since that means getting closer to winning.

But I tried a few other ideas that worked great!

Idea 1 – Momentum:

- Every time you fail a roll, you gain a special colored d6.
- Before any roll (to hit, saving throw, skill check) you may spend any number of these d6s to roll them and add the results as a bonus.

Idea 2 – Stunts:

- Before you roll, you may make the roll harder to gain bonus effects.
- Give your target a d6 bonus to add to their defense.
- For every d6 you give, you gain a bonus effect if your roll succeeds.
- Effects include: inflicting conditions, free Move actions, more damage. Effect may depend on the class you're playing.

This worked really well! But it made the players more powerful and invalidates certain Feats but these issues are easily compensated for.

But the benefit of my original idea was that you can make decisions after you roll. Roll, see the results, then spend effects. With these new ideas, you must make a decision before rolling. Which sometimes can cause analysis paralysis. So...

Idea 3 – Momentum & Stunts Work Together:

- AND you can spend Momentum to perform a Stunt after you make a roll without giving your opponent a D6 to their defense.
- Stunts are a way to purposefully make rolls harder for yourself in exchange for bonus effects AND if you fail, you gain Momentum!

[jenskot]

I still want something for when:

- you fail a roll, your opposition can attack back
- players make all the rolls, instead of a monster rolling against your AC, you roll your AC against the monsters attack value
- if you are about to die, instead of taking damage, you make some sort of other sacrifice

I'm going to be entering the D&D 3.5 Iron GM Tournament at Gen Con and want to introduce these hacks in the form of Feats as part of semi pre-generated characters.

[wanderer]

players make all the rolls, instead of a monster rolling against your AC, you roll your AC against the monsters attack value

How about Players Roll All the Dice?

[jenskot]

players make all the rolls, instead of a monster rolling against your AC, you roll your AC against the monsters attack value

How about Players Roll All the Dice?

Hot! This is exactly what I was thinking!

[wanderer]

I've used it before and I'd use it again. Everyone took to it quickly; it eased my DM responsibilities and further engaged the other players.

[jenskot]

In a 1 shot, XP doesn't really matter. Rewarding additional actions slows the game down. So what's a good reward?

Hit Points!

What if we got rid of healing potions and instead, you pick special Feats that award you Hit Points whenever you achieve specific accomplishments. For example…

- Win a battle in 3 rounds or less.
- Aid a friend.
- Sneak past enemies.
- Accomplish a goal.
- Defend your faith.
- Avoid combat.
- Steal treasure.
- Swear an oath.
- Deliver a speech in battle (once per battle).
- First strike in battle.
- Deliver death blow in battle.
- Start a fight with someone much more powerful than you.
- Take prisoners.
- Defeat sworn enemies.
- Bury and pray for the dead.
- Convert people to your faith.
- Wound someone who has wounded you.
- Disarm your enemy in battle.
- Force your enemy to retreat or submit (intimidate).
- Turn an enemy to your side.
- Help the helpless.

Everyone would get to pick 3 options.

And since self-healing could make the cleric seem less powerful, we can give the cleric special Feats where when they heal someone, they can also end a condition on themselves or the person they healed.

[Deliverator]

In a 1 shot, XP doesn't really matter. Rewarding additional actions slows the game down. So what's a good reward?

Hit Points!

What if we got rid of healing potions and instead, you pick special Feats that award you Hit Points whenever you achieve specific accomplishments. For example…

- Win a battle in 3 rounds or less.
- Aid a friend.
- Sneak past enemies.
- Accomplish a goal.
- Defend your faith.
- Avoid combat.
- Steal treasure.
- Swear an oath.
- Deliver a speech in battle (once per battle).
- First strike in battle.
- Deliver death blow in battle.
- Start a fight with someone much more powerful than you.
- Take prisoners.
- Defeat sworn enemies.
- Bury and pray for the dead.
- Convert people to your faith.
- Wound someone who has wounded you.
- Disarm your enemy in battle.
- Force your enemy to retreat or submit (intimidate).
- Turn an enemy to your side.
- Help the helpless.

Everyone would get to pick 3 options.

And since self-healing could make the cleric seem less powerful, we can give the cleric special Feats where when they heal someone, they can also end a condition on themselves or the person they healed.

Awesome sauce. I think I might make one of the options tied to your class or race, then you get to pick the rest.

Matt