1 Reply by Aaron C

(54 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Kobayashi wrote:

Yeah, the "problem" (YMMV) is that most of the dwarf advantages (saving throws and HPs) are passive in nature.

One thing I haven't tried : let the dwarf trade hit points for bonus to damage rolls and save throws when he wants to. (3 points for a +1 ?).

Ha ha.  It is a bit scary how closely we are thinking alike!  When the players first made characters a couple of weeks ago I was explaining one of the rules changes and I was giving the Dwarf +1 damage.  Hadnt though to scale it at that stage though.  The guys still thought they were pretty crap and didnt take it up so I dropped it.

Just the other day I was thinking about them using Hp's for extra damage as well, but I couldnt decide on a figure.  It was in the car on the way home and of course it goies out of your mind once you get home and real life intrudes on your thoughts again!
3 for a +1 sounds ok.  What limit though?  Maybe +1 per every 2 levels?  Or maybe there is no need for a limit as healing takes so long?

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2 Reply by Aaron C

(54 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I added some things after reading Grognardia and the post James made a couple of years back about his Dwimmermount Campaing House Rules.

I let the characters start with max Hps at first level but must re-roll all Hp dice upon gaining a new level.  Con bonus are added as appropriate to the new total.
Two handed weapons.  I allow a fighter or dwarf to re-roll the damage of a two handed weapon and take the new damage.(a slightly toned down version of the dwimmermount rule)
A fighter, Elf or Halfling with Dexterity 13+ may wield two weapons simultaneously, but makes only a single attack roll at +1 “to hit.” A successful attack deals the normal damage for the weapon, however.

I've also included the 'Shields will Splinter' rule and am trying to think of similar rule for deliberating breaking your weapon to do more damage.  These are only useable by PCs.

Longbows can re-roll their damage dice once if they dont like their initial damage.  New roll must then be taken.  They cost 3 times a short bow and their advantage is a longer medium range and overall range.  Long range bow battles arent something that come up much in my game.

I didnt want to muck about with the skill points so we are trying something a bit different.  Our group split all the skills evenly between Int and Wis (except Languages which was too obvious and sneak attack).  When a character makes a skill check they roll 1 dice plus a number of dice equal to their stat bonus for that skill.  For most characters that still means they need to get a 1 on a d6 but they have more chance of doing so.  If I, as the GM, decide a test is particularly hard I will subtract one dice or two for ridiculously difficult test.  If this would drop a character to 0 dice I instead get them to make the test with a d8 for 0 or d10 for -1.  I felt that Wis and Int were so underused as opposed to the other stats. 
While this might make it much easier for specialists to succeed and their test I really dont have a big problem with that!
With any skill that a halfling only has one dot in she get  +1 dice to represent Halflings luck!

I also want to incorporate a system whereby non specialist characters skill can increase as the make successful tests. 

No one wanted to play a dwarf.  Its a shame really that they are so crap game mechanics wise! (the bonus to damage Kobayashi mentioned above certinaly make them a bit more attractive.  So would an active way of using those great saving throws but I havent though of one yet.)

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3 Reply by Aaron C

(10 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

theskyfullofdust wrote:

As for your Hit Point question: fighters will always have a minimum of 8 Hit Points, and with a d10 Hit Dice, the dwarf minimum is about right, since in the old edition rules the minimum is the average plus a modifier (and dwarves get a +1 to their CON modifier), and fighters got a minimum of 8, because they are tough.

I hear what you are saying but fighter only roll a d8 and their minimum at first level is 8?  Basically they are maximum hps at first level?  The Dwarf who's primary advantage is a d10hp die, and needs a further 10% xp to go up a level, has a minimum of 6?  I suppose that could be right, it just doesn't sound right to me.

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4 Topic by Aaron C

(10 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Is this possibly the first Grindhouse Errata?

page 20 of the rules has a table showing the minimum starting hit points for each class and lists fighters as 8 and dwarf as 6.

Should they be around the other way?

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5 Reply by Aaron C

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Thanks for the answer Jim.  That sounds good.
It is a shame that neither of those stats makes you any better at Magic User or Cleric but then I dont suppose they did in the old basic rules either.

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6 Topic by Aaron C

(8 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Hi,
I'm interested to know what hte role of these two stats have in the Grindhouse edition.
As they were only used to modify saving throws vs magic against Clerics and Magic Users respectively in the original edition I found them even then to be the least important of the stats.

When we played a couple of months ago I rolled up a character with high wisdom so jumped straight into Cleric.  I found it quite a let down to discover that his effectiveness would be no less if his stat was 3 as opposed to the 16 that it was.  We were playing Tower of the Stargaser and I've got say there weren't many Cleric spells that I needed to make saves against!

With this in mind I have been following the blogs about the Grindhouse edition quite closely. With the reduction of attack spells for wizards and the Cleric now being anti-magic, anti-chaos is there a place for these stats?  I mena, if there arent any spells to save against why would I need a bonus? 

Or do they now do something else as well now? (I sure hope so).

thanks


Ps. I will still be buying the new rules either way smile

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7 Reply by Aaron C

(9 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Hi,
We made 4 characters the other day and used the random equipment generator.  The only thing we really noticed was the standard equipment in the kits were maybe a little over the top.  We ended up with 25 flasks of oil and 10 torches.  Really bad for encumbrance!

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8 Reply by Aaron C

(9 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Ahhh, I see (que music for dawning realisation).  Nice.  Less of everything else due to "spending" so much on starting equipment.

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9 Reply by Aaron C

(9 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Probably a stupid question, but what does the  "*-2 on all others rolls if 1st level. " that is wedged inbetween chart A and chart B refer to?  Is it the money roll?

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10 Reply by Aaron C

(6 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

hogscape wrote:

There was talk of a +1 to the Con bonus.

I read that in a post somewhere too.  I'm not sure giving them extra hitpoints is something that would make them more appealing, for me. to play.  As the dwarf has no actual control over whether he is attacked or not.  Any intelligent opponent when faced with attacking a fighter or dwarf is surely going to attack the fighter every time knowing he is the more dangerous and most probably the easiest to kill.  I was thinking something the dwarf player had some control over would be nice.
Having played the game now, only one short session attmitedly, I think it is probably better to leave the dwarf alone and just not use it rather than try and add anything.  You add something to one class and risk making it "the class" to be and then you have to add to the others.  A slippery slope.

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11 Reply by Aaron C

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I've had a couple of other thoughts on other possible benefits.

Armour Class bonus of +1 up to level 5 and +2 above level 5, as your ancestor assists in warding off blows until the end of the round in which your bonus was 0.

As an alternative to the +1 on the d6 roll how about rolling a second die.  Up to level 5 roll a d4 as well as a d6 with a success being achieved if either die comes up 1.  Above level 5 roll d8 as well as the d6 with a success achieved on a 1 on the d6 or 1-3 on the d8.  The second die obviously being the ancestor.

Another idea is to have the characters level of encumbrance reduced by one while he is being assisted by the ancestor as they help to carry his burdens.

As a success due to the die effects, or even the defense with the armour class bonus, is obvious the ancestor could even be given a personality and brag and be obnoxious

Also though instead of adding to the combat bonus the character could possibly roll a second d20 giving him/her effetively two chances to roll high enough(just like the skill idea above).  It wouldnt meant that the dwarf actually gets two attacks as they just pick the best of the rolls.  the ancestor spirit helps guide a miss into a hit.  Use two different cloured die so it is easy to identify the ancestors "aid".  If the player would have hit anyway then the ancestor didnt need to aid him(read ignore the second die) and just watch the resut.
By making it a second die it removes any comparison from the fighters attack bonus making both abilities unique.

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12 Topic by Aaron C

(6 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Hi,
I've had a read through the game and am looking forward to our first session on Thursday.  I really liked the writeup for the dwarves,  I found it quite evocative, but find the class a bit bland.   I realise that get very good saving throws and the best Hps but I'm not sure that only being the best at not dying is that fun without something else. 
But I wanted to make sure it didn't step on anyone elses toes.  Fighters are the only one who go up in attack bonus, specialists get skill points etc.  So it couldnt be a permanent increase in one of those, but as there arent alot of mechanics in the game it would probably have to be along those lines.

So I thought what is particullary dwarvish.  Ancestors.  So how about an ability for dwarven adventurers to be able to summon the spirit of dead ancestors to "aid" them in their endevours?

I was thinking it could work something like this.  For every two character levels, round up(maximum say 6), the dwarf could summon one ancestor to aid him during the day.  He needs to be able to speak and move his arms around much like a wizard.  The spirit would have to have a name and maybe a nickname, etc, that helps explain why he is summoning that spirit right now.

The only mechanical in game effect I can come up with at the moment is a bit dull.  How would +1 to a d6 roll for any activity for level 5 or under and +2 for above level 5.
For combat rolls I was thinking maybe +1 to hit for each character level that drops by one each succeeding round until it reaches 0.  Only one spirit may be summoned per encounter.

So a 5th level dwarf would be able to get assistance three times per day.  In combat he would get +5 to hit in the first round, +4 in the second etc until 0.  For other actions he gets +1 on his die roll(which in most instances mean he doubles his chance!).

Creative players and GM's would be able to find other uses for these spirits.  Maybe they could answer questions or help find things or even ask the character to do things for them.(Beats meeting in an inn before every adventure)

An ancestor could only be summonned when the character has time to react so in a fight is fine, but not to help with a saving throw or surprise check.

I dont think it is over powerful and certianly not as good as fighters and specialists but compared to the nothing they currently get.

Any thoughts or suggestions?  The numbers I have above are totally changeable having had no testing!

thanks

Aaron C

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13 Reply by Aaron C

(219 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Hi my names Aaron and Im in sunny Melbourne Australia.

Im just a few days shy of 40 and started gaming with the old red box.  I can still remember reading it adn going ont holdiays witha  friend for 8 weeks and playing solo stuff.  Fell in with some gamers at high school and we played mainly AD&D, Traveller and Gamma World.  Two of those guys are still the core of my gaming group today.

I've been playing fairly consistently the whole time through various games and more characters than I can remember.  Shadowrun, AD&D and the old WHFRP were probably the most used.  We got 3rd edition and were excited about it but never really got anywhere playing it.  Tried some of the clones but again with only limited success.  Now days I buy and read alot mroe games than I ever get around to play.  I like alot of the independant stuff.

One of the guys has been pushing to try some old school again.  I read the review on Grognardia of LOTFP and it sounded interesting.  I missed the last sessin due to the dreaded lurgy and one fo the guys brought it along and they loved it.  So here I am.

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