From: Graeme A Lindsell (gal502@cscgpo.anu.edu.au)
Date: Thu 22 Jul 1993 - 02:34:54 EEST
paul@phyast.pitt.edu (Paul Reilly) suggests:
>If you are going to make a table that gives variable damage for the
>weapon appropriate for a given size and strength, and another table that
>give damage bonus based on size and strength, why not just fold both
>tables into one and give damage based on the person a la PENDRAGON? (Or
>Gurps.) The weapon is basically a tool to store kinetic energy and apply
>it in a small area, but the energy is supplied in the first place by the
>wielder. The type of weapon would give a bonus or penalty to the base
>damage. (Remember that if stats are logarithmic, as I think they are, that
>an additive bonus is a multiplier.)
Allright, how about something like this:
A character has a damage potential equal to the average of strength and size.
This potential is modified by weapon used to determine the damage inflicted:
Damage Potential (DP) Damage
1 1
2 1d2
3 1d3
4 1d4
6 1d6
8 1d8
10 1d10
12 2d6
16 2d8
18 3d6
20 2d10
24 4d6 or 3d8
i.e the rules are to use dice whose maximum roll equals the DP,
not to mix dice and not to use 1d2 1d3 or 1d4 where they can be
avoided.
Some suggested weapon modifiers to base DP. These are based
on the damage of a strength 13, size 13 in the RQIV draft 2.0:
Weak natural weapon (punch): -9
Average natural weapon (claw/kick): -6
Good natural weapon (predator's bite) : -4
Assuming weapons are chosen according to str and size:
Optimum large 1-H swinging weapon (bastard sword): -3
Optimum 2-H swinging weapon (greatsword): +4
Optimum 1-H thrusting weapon (spear): -5
Optimum light (off-hand) 1-H weapon (ie a dagger): -6
Optimum 2-H thrusting weapon : +2
Thus a strength 13 size 13 person (DP = 13) does a 1d4 punch,
a 1d6 kick, and uses a 1d8 1-H spear, a 1d10 1-H sword, a 2d6
2-H spear and a 2d8 2-H sword. Weapons are built to a particular DP :
thus in a culture where most fighters are siz13 str13 most swords
are 1d10, spears 1d8, 2-H swords 2d8. In another culture where
average DP is say 10, these weapons would seem very oversized.
Here's a table showing the effect of changing DP:
Natural DP Punch Kick Dagger Spear Sword 2-H spear 2-H Sword
8 0 1d2 1d2 1d3 1d4 1d10 2d6
10 1 1d4 1d4 1d4 1d6 2d6 2d6
13 1d4 1d6 1d6 1d8 1d10 2d6 2d8
14 1d4 1d8 1d8 1d8 1d10 2d8 3d6
16 1d8 1d10 1d10 1d10 2d6 3d6 2d10
18 1d8 2d6 2d6 2d6 2d8 2d10 2d10
20 1d10 2d6 2d6 2d6 2d8 2d10 4d6
25 2d8 3d6 3d6 2d10 2d10 4d6 4d6
40 5d6 4d8 4d8 4d8 6d6 7d6 7d6
Excess DP: For every 3 points of DP (average str + siz) you have over
that needed by a weapon, you do an extra +1 damage. Thus a DP 13 fighter
using a 2d6 2-H spear has a modified DP of 15 for a weapon that does 2d6:
therefore the fighter does 2d6+1 damage.
(basically, the idea is to make excess strength & size less effective
than using a proper weapon. Every 6 DP you'll get another 1d6 damage
anyway, which is better than taking the +2 damage that it'll get you
using an inferior weapon. This also makes using very small weapons
totally useless to large characters: a size 25 str 25 great troll
using a 1d4 elvish dagger will do 1d4 + 5 damage as opposed to 2d8
with his fist...)
Inadequate DP: for every point of modified DP less than the weapon
needs, you do 1 point less damage. (ie not that useful, though a DP
14 character may prefer a 2d6-1 sword to a 1d10 sword)
This has some obvious problems:
i) Small characters will run off the bottom of the table with natural
weapon very easily, doing no damage.
It would probably have to be modified to something like:
Modified DP Damage
-9 - -3 1
-2 - +0 1d2
+1 - +3 1d3
rest the same as above. This isn't very elegant though.
ii) It encourages minimaxing, though all the current systems do
that too.
iii) The importance of weapons decreases as size increases: the
difference between a +2 bonus and a -3 isn't very much to a DP 70
giant. It's probably better to just punch them. (Actually, that's
a problem with the current system too).
iv) It seems more complex, though perhaps the standard RQ system would
also seem complex to a newcomer.
Thoughts, comments, suggestions, opinions, flames...
Graeme Lindsell a.k.a gal502@huxley.anu.edu.au
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