Attack and Damage Rolls

Fenway5 over at Sword and Shield proposed a damage system that is dependent upon the attack roll.  This applies to human vs. human(sized) targets.

This got me thinking.  What if any attack roll was d20 and d6?  You could roll both dice at once and consult a table.  You'd add all relevant bonuses (for level, STR, magic weapon, etc.) to the d20 roll.  I like AAC, but you could easily change the table to work with your preferred AC system.

Below you will find a mocked up table based upon Fenway5's work.  I've added my own twists (tinkering with the damages a bit and allowing saves for some effects).  I may give this a try during my next game night.

For your consideration:

click to make bigger

d6 Only Weapons

In my current "Castle of the Mad Archmage" campaign, I am using d6 only weapons.  Mostly.

Small weapons like darts and daggers do a d4 and 2-handers add 2 pts. of damage, but I like this idea better, I think.

Found it over at Nine and Thirty Kingdoms:

Some old-schoolers use a simple three-damage system: roll 1d6 for average-sized weapons, roll 2d6 for others -- if the weapon is small, drop the highest roll, and if the weapon is large, drop the lowest.

I think I will be trying this out.  Has a certain flair and symmetry.  Gives daggers and darts the *chance* to do some real damage.

I currently give 2 handed weapons a damage "bonus" because the player sacrifices the opportunity to use a shield, and that has its own advantages in my games.  I have been using the 2d6 drop the low with characters who use two weapons.  They also lose the shield advantages.

Darts and daggers have a rate of fire (when thrown) of three.  I think I will now allow them to roll based upon how many darts hit a single target:

1 dart hits = 2d6 keep the low; 2 darts hit = 3d6 keep the middle; 3 darts hit = 2d6 keep the high. 

I'll let you know how it goes.

Death, Dismemberment and Dangerous Damage Table

Long ago, I found this link over at Trollsmyth and then I discovered that Norman Harman had done some tweaking of his own here.

Of course, both of these tables are based on this one by Robert Fisher.

Well, on Wednesday night I unveiled Trollsmyth's table to my players and I proposed that we start using it in our CotMA game.  The players seemed to like the idea of making dying a little more interesting.  :)  I liked the riskiness and suspense of rolling when the character hits 0 HPs.

During our very first foray into its use, Xavier the Spiritual had his right let "bit clean off" by a giant beetle!  Exciting!

Last night, it occurred to me that there's more than one way to die, so I thought, "heck, I can add some columns to that table and contribute to the community!"

So, here it is, my Death, Dismemberment and Dangerous Damage table.  Please investigate the blogs above for a lot of great ideas on how to implement the table.  I owe a lot of inspiration to them.

I hope you enjoy this -- it's a new staple of my OSR games!  You can download it here!

One-Roll Attack Table (part 3)

B/X Blackrazor had a great idea to eliminate attack rolls altogether from his game.  In short, his thesis is that HPs are often defined as luck or dodging or deftly avoiding blows -- why roll to hit at all?

From p. 34 of the AD&D 1st Ed. PHB

Each character has a varying number of hit points just as monsters do.  These hit points represent how much damage (actual or potential) the character can withstand before being killed. A certain amount of these hit points represent the actual physical punishment which can be sustained.  The remainder, a significant portion of hit points at higher levels, stands for skill, luck, and/or magical factors.

B/X Blackrazor set up his table by "level".  Thus, characters and monsters of a given level would roll a certain die to cause damage.  Magical "plusses" have the effect of "shifting" the column so that the player will roll a better die for damage.  There are a lot of shifts in his system (and its a good one BTW), but I thought I could make it simpler.

In my system you calculate your "total to hit bonus".  Add whatever bonus your level gives you to whatever bonus your strength or magical weapon gives you and find a number.

I'm talking Whitebox S&W now --

Angmar is a 3rd level fighter.  He has a STR of 17 and a +1 magical sword.  His total "to hit" bonus is +4 (+2 for his level, +1 for his STR and +1 for his magic sword).

You take this number and you cross-reference it with the AAC of your target.

Angmar is attacking a bugbear AAC 14.  He'll roll a d6.

That's all there is to it.

In my system, there's always a chance that you might take damage, even if you have a tremendous armor class.  I can see a peasant throwing a rock at a terrifying death knight bristling with magical armor and getting lucky.  It could happen.

Here's the chart:

I have not playtested this chart yet (but I plan to soon).  I think I *will* adopt B/X Blackrazors system of subtracting 1 pt. of damage per range increment for missile weapons, so that a miss is a possibility sometimes.  My grandson is just starting to play RPGs and I think this system will be easier for him to learn.

My chart does treat the "Normal Man" as a special case.  Weak creatures or adventurers with a zero "to hit bonus" are better, but not much. 

I hope you enjoy the chart.  My humble thanks to B/X Blackrazor and his idea.  Let me know if you try it and how it goes.