Thursday, October 13, 2016

Low FP: Too Tired to Resist & Weak Blows

Here is a pair of optional rules for GURPS. It's totally untested, and it will have a strong effect on a campaign. I'm just not sure how much because they have not been tested.

Fatigue Reduced Resistance

Fatigued characters are not only tired, but are less likely to resist disease, hostile spells, and their own internal disadvantages. In addition to the effects listed on p. B426, add the following:

Less than 1/3 your FP left As written, but also self-control rolls are one level worse - (15) becomes (12), (12) becomes (9) . . . and (6) allows success only a 3 or 4! Resistance rolls are at -3.

Fatigue Reduced Damage

Normally low FP reduce ST but do not affect calculated stats such as HP and damage. Optionally, when ST is halve because of low FP, it does affect damage.

Less than 1/3 of your FP left - a written, except ST-based damage is also halved. Roll damage normally, then halve it, rounding down. You can spend 1 FP in order to swing a full-strength blow, but this is a slippery slope down!

15 comments:

  1. Interesting, potentially more realistic. Not sure if I'd be excited for that in DF, but maybe. I think it would work really well if one is also using the extra effort in combat rules, because as it stands right now, other than clerics/druids/mages, FP isn't a huge deal most of the time, but I suspect it WOULD matter more if using extra effort. Intruiging.

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    1. I actually think it'll be a bigger deal going forward. I've been pretty lax about enforcing things like:

      - starting combats down FP thanks to travel
      - FP loss after combat

      So mostly, the only hit on FP has been Great Haste and FP attacks. But I have a plan for keeping me from forgetting to enforce the above . . .

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    2. Ah, that's a good point. I don't think we've done it in the Dungeon (FP loss from travel), but we did do it in the Lost City (which was a LOT of travel). FP loss after combat, yeah, I think we collectively forget about that quite a bit.

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    3. I understand why - it's a negative impact on your character, it's probably temporary if the spellcasters need to rest anyway, and everyone usually assumes fights were too short (canonically, it's 10 seconds, I think with the violence of combats we have, even half that is probably enough to trigger FP loss.)

      I have something I'm going to try next session to make it easier to deal with.

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  2. I'm curious to see how it works in play. I'm with Vic: for non-spellcasters, FP isn't worth much.

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    1. I agree: for non-spellcasters, in games that don't use Extra Effort, FP isn't worth much.

      I don't really care for this rule; too fiddly for my taste, and the drop from no effect to huge penalty is too sudden of a cliff.

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    2. Fair enough if you don't like the penalty. I'm not sure what you mean by "too fiddly." It's a pretty simple on/off binary switch. Reach the threshold, apply the -3 to Self Control rolls and resistance rolls and/or halve damage from weapons.

      Unless by "fiddly" you mean "more penalties." I think of "fiddly" as "adds complication."

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    3. Seems that way. I make sure I keep track of players gear weight and how far they're hauling it to try and get a good indicator on how their FP is when they encounter something (vs the generic -1 FP).

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    4. By "fiddly" I don't mean it's super-complicated, but it means that you need to track everyone's FP carefully. Without this rule or Extra Effort, I can mostly ignore routine FP for non-casters.

      The 1/3 FP threshold is already pretty bad because of half move and dodge, but this makes it horribly bad. If you want to make FP-draining attacks and FP-regaining abilities better, then this definitely does that. (Fit is pretty good even if FP doesn't matter much, but it's fantastic if it does.)

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    5. Ah. We're already precisely tracking everyone's FP, thanks to multiple Muscling Through attempts, Great Haste, FP draining attacks, etc. So if you aren't enforcing FP costs for those things or tracking them generally, this is extra detail, yes.

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  3. I would go with '-2 or -1 per die, whichever is worse' instead of roll and then halve

    Just seems less annoying

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    1. In my experience, -2 or -1 per die is both much more generous, and slower, than roll-and-halve.

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  4. I admit, having used the 'half damage on armed parries' house rule some folks like in the past, I find halving damage way more tedious and game than just subtracting the number of dice

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    1. We use it all the time, and I don't find it so. Plus, like I said, -2 or -1 per die is making this a mild issue. Your ST is halved. So that would take a guy with ST 15 from 2d+2 (4-14, av. 9) with a broadsword to 2d (2-12, av. 7). Mine takes it to 2-7, av. 4.5. ST 20 would be 3d+3 (6-21, av. 13.5) to (3-18, av. 10.5). You'd need to make it -4 or -2 per die to come closer the damage that halving does. Even then, it's generous - actual halved ST would reduce most people's damage by a lot more. The rule really is intended to be harsh.

      It's worth noting that I interpret "ST is halved" to also mean "for purposes of wielding your weapons" too - so ST 20 guy is ST 10, and if he's got a ST 12 sword, he's at -2 to hit once he gets below 1/3 FP.

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  5. I was thinking about pretty much exactly this just a day or so ago! Though I'd also considered Skill - or rather, DX - as it will degrade as you tire. At least it does for me...

    Keeping FP in a good range should be very important!

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