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(219 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

JimLotFP wrote:

If you see spam, hit the report button. When you add more useless shit posts to address the problem of useless shit posts, you are behaving no different than the spammer.

I apologize Jim. I guess I should limit the libation when posting.

Not sure I ever introduced myself, so here goes...

I live in the US in the Pacific NW, but grew up outside of Providence, RI. I started with Holmes way back when the Earth was still cooling. I really don't play much anymore; however, I still love and support the hobby (but really just the "old school" stuff).

As an aside, I've never really subscribed to the philosophy that "all fighters are same" (well, maybe once... a really long time ago). It seems to me that that can be said of any class. What makes magic-users, clerics, dwarves, and elves different from each other? Heck, I can argue that all specialists are the same. Sure, you can customize your "skills" to make Lenny different from Squiggy, but I think realistically in the end, they'll both end up about the same (good at sneaking, climbing, bypassing locks, etc.).

It's how they're played at the table that makes them different.

For example, two 2nd level fighters:

Fighter A: S-15, I-8, W-9, D-12, Co-11, Ch-12, HP=11
Fighter A: S-14, I-9, W-8, D-12, Co-11, Ch-14, HP=13

Pretty much the same, right? The difference is in the roleplay - how they are portayed by the player...

Fighter A: Balthazar the Loud is as large as his personality. His penchant for throwing rambunctious and bawdy feasts for his friends and followers after every expedition is infamous (perhaps even notorious if you ask the local townsfolk). Despite his hauberk-bursting paunch, incomprehensible roaring through his food-riddled beard, and his insistence on wielding a garishly engraved bardiche, he is a master tactician and always gains the element of surprise when facing his foes (just ask him!).

Fighter B: Few escape the charming grin and flashing steel of Demetrios DeVane. Envious courtiers and heart-broken ladies of the court are never far behind in the wake of his passing. Not one for settling too long in one place, this dashing swashbuckler is always on the lookout for the next prize, whether it be rumors of a treasure-filled mausoleum in the local fens, or the daughter of the local Burgomeister.

Looks good. Some thoughts:

(2) Improve Attack Bonus by 1
     I assume that this is in lieu of the normal attack bonus progression...

(2) Improve Initiative Bonus by 1 (the die + bonus is capped at 6)
     Might want to cap this at a +1 or +2 bonus

(2) Improve Encumbrance slots by 1 (The upper end of unencumbered goes up by 1; all other levels go up by 1)
     Maybe simplify this (and make it more "fighter-ish") and say first purchase makes chain unencumbering, and second purchase makes plate unencumbering

(1) Improve one saving throw by 1
     This doesn't seem fighter-like to me. This could be something applicable to any class really.

(1) Buy off 1 AC penalty for an action that involves an AC penalty, to a max of half the base penalty (Press, Charge, etc...)
(1) Buy off 1 Attack Bonus penalty for an action that involves an AB penalty to a max of half the base penalty.
     I think the fact that fighters can do some of these things at all is a bonus. I'd drop these options.

(1) Buy 1 HP (can't buy above max possible from die rolls + con)
     Well, they already get the best hit points, so I'm not sure that this is necessary. Maybe allow highest roll of two dice for HP that level?

(1) Give a +1 bonus to the morale roll of allies.
(1) Give a -1 penalty to the morale roll of foes.
     Maybe combine these for the sake of simplicity. I suppose it depends on how "game-changing" morale checks are at your table

Some other ideas:
- Bonus to damage
- Unarmed combat bonuses
- Specializing in a particular weapon or in the use of a shield

Very nice - consider stolen wink

I noticed you omitted the Dwarf/Elf/Halfling...

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(4 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

Very nice. Well done!

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(4 replies, posted in LotFP Gaming Forum)

I believe I read somewhere that it was Geoffrey's intention to introduce the odd dice conventions as an homage to the original rules' propensity to state "roll a die" without defining what die to throw (though it was assumed that a d6 was intended)... plus it thoroughly embraces the psychedelic opiate-fever that is Carcosa.   wink

As for the village descriptions, they are meant to be as vague as possible, leaving room for you to flesh out the details. Perhaps that number of Orange Men includes non-combatants, perhaps not. Or maybe it is entirely made up of one sex, and no one is older than a teenager. Or maybe they aren't really Orange Men, but androids created by the Space Aliens to spy on the nearby enclave of Sorceror-monks...

Pardon the thread necromancy, but I'm late to the game and I have to get this off my chest...

Jim - You aren't seriously considering these rules changes, are you? These seem more like after-the-fact "house rules" applied to what is, in my opinion at least, an already extremely well written and thought-out set of rules.

  * Constitution determines what die you use for rolling hit points...

I'm not sure how this is any "better" than the current rules. I understand your desire to see more "low" throws for hit dice, but they are there in the current rules... unless one is cheating.

  * Magic saving throws modified by Charisma...

Makes some sense I suppose, if your concept of how magic works in your game is that it is purely a function of the caster's will. But, given that the spell rules are decidedly old-school Vancian, it seems more appropriate to use Intelligence. (Personally I prefer no bonuses at all - use the tables as is. Although, I do like LotFP's take on Wisdom being sort of "luck" bonus for non-magical saves - perhaps have it apply to all saves?)

  * Shields should give bonuses to parrying...

Might be good to add some more options to combat, but I think this needs to be ironed out a bit first. Shields already give a bonus to AC... which is, in essence, a "parry bonus".

  * Encumbrance should affect initiative in some way...

I love the Encumbrance rules in LotFP; they're fast and easy. So why not make this one fast and easy too? Characters that are heavily encumbered or worse go last in the round... period.

  * Not original, but all weapon damage is d8, with the "roll twice, take the lowest/highest" for certain kinds of weapons.

Sort of like the original "all weapons do 1d6", but house-ruled to satisfy those players who complain that a halberd would do more damage than a prison shiv "in real life". I like using lots of different dice for weapon damage myself. One die, one number, done. And it makes the halberd-vs-shiv crowd happy.

  * Also thinking that by expanding the skill list a bit...

That word. Skillz. Blarg! I love the idea of the Specialist (reminds me of the "Other" career in classic Traveller), but I also like that those "skills" are isolated to the Specialist, and all other classes are 1 in 6 for anything.

On an opinionated side note: I could go on and on about how I feel that the hobby was destroyed in part by the idea of skills and customized characters, but I won't. I'll just say that the most memorable characters for me were not numbers on a character sheet; it was how they were played and how they developed in the campaign that made them memorable.

  * Witch-Hunter, etc...

I think these sorts of things are best left for a supplement. I think it makes it easier for the referee to preclude them if they aren't staring the players in the face on the pages of the core rule book. And for what it's worth, any imagined archetype can be played using just the four core "human" classes. A Witch-Hunter is just a Cleric or Fighter. If I wanted to be a Witch-Hunter, I would roll up a Cleric and say "I hate witches and demons, and I'm going to use a cross-bow... with silver bolts." Same goes for the "explorer", after all, isn't that what all the character do already?

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