DF Felltower - Caps & Limits Draft II - Further Reflections

I'm still noodling around with my ideas in this last post.

Absolute Base Skill Cap

Skills are capped at 30. Skills above 30 can be purchased, or you can end up with them thanks due to stat boosts and buffs, but any skill about 30 will be discarded before applying any modifiers.

This is not an effective skill cap, it's a base skill cap.

This seems a little fairer than Stat+10 as a limit. It doesn't matter how you get it. DX 13 and Broadsword @ DX+17 is a fair build. But when you get DX 14, you have a 30. Stipulating it's not an effective skill cap means you can't, say, get 33, absorb -2 for Bad Footing and a -1 for a foe's SM and still have a 30. You can't get 34 and just always do at least -2 in Deceptive Attack. We lock it down to 30, and then apply any situational modifiers.

Safest way to deal with this is to stop getting skill somewhere in the mid-20s, and just know that sometimes you down a DX potion and wield a Balanced sword with Accuracy 3 and end up with a 30.

There are some downsides to this, but they should only fall on folks with a massive skill who then try to pile on a lot of bonuses.

Flat Effect Potions

I'm officially promoting this one to be up for a vote. I like the +3. It's still a very nice boost. Potions are still a fantastic way to gain a large bonus for a small cost with a long duration. But they're not going to be swingy if I get a solid yes vote on these.

Fixed-Effect Feint

Resolve a Feint, Beat, or Ruse normally.

If the attacker wins by the contest, the target defends at -4.

Extreme Feints

For high-skill fighters in cinematic games, this optional rule allows them to leverage their skill further. Resolve the Feint, Beat, or Ruse normally. If the attacker wins the contest, the target defends at -4. If the attacker wins the contest by 10+, the target defends at -8.


The other option is that Feints apply normally, but you can't inflict any more than -10 on your target. That's the cap.



Finally, it might be worth a defense cap, like the one discussed here. A maximum 20 defense before modifiers would get rid of a lot of need to defense-maximize, which means I don't need to find as many high-skill foes as possible just to give them a shot at hitting high-DX foes.

We'll see what everyone thinks of these.

This last big fight wasn't ruined by high skill, but I do want to make sure limits mean people know the upper bounded limits of the system. Put the limits in that allow for such a fight as a special occasion skill blowout, but not a defacto basis for character expectations. Skill bosses will still be dangerous, and PCs won't essentially out-DX and out-skill the entire monster catalog . . . with a high cost in character points and fun and a low return on investment in effectiveness within the game.