pawsplay
Hero
A tidbit about my game (Conquest of the Universe)
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Armor Class (AC) was the original defense mechanic. AC determined how hard you were to hit with a meaningful blow. Against more unusual hazards you might have to roll a "saving throw" of the die. Those terms have evolved over the decades, although most games still use similar mechanics. D&D 4e took the step of unifying defenses to be more like AC, and then making the saving throw something else. In that spirit, while also hearkening back to older games like Bard Games's The Arcanum, I'm revising the defense/saving throw structure for CotU.
There will be two defenses: combat defense and Resistance. Combat defense is largely adapted from concepts similar to the parry/dodge of True20, BESM d20, and Conan, while Resistance is essentially what D&D 3e called Fortitude and Will rolled into one. Once upon a time, Wisdom basically represented your character's ability to think on their feet and find, or make, lucky breaks. Whether or not you get poisoned is really more a matter of not being at the wrong place at the wrong time, as is catching a plague. It's not clear what, in real world terms, is involved in resisting a psychic assault, but it's probably something intangible. Rather than trying to figure out what should be a Luck Defense or a Tough Defense or whatever, it's all just going to be a Wisdom-based defense called Resistance (referencing the SRD term for continuity's sake). Primarily, Resistance is about willpower and moxy, but it's also the defense against things you basically can't avoid, but might be able to survive.
A Saving Throw, by contrast, is ability score based attempt to shake something off. For instance, if you got poisoned, you would make Constitution-based saving throws to endure and shake off the effects of being poisoned. This approach is useful in two ways. First, it makes the character sheet less cluttered and makes it easier to define special conditions and attacks. Second, it makes ability scores more useful and keeps higher-level characters on their toes, so that all characters can have unique characteristics while being roughtly balanced. By defining a standard saving throw DC of 11, I can save a lot of ink. "Make a Constitution saving throw" is a really neat way of encapsulating a lot of game mechanics into a plain phrase. In turn, simple phrases can be turned into simple notations, like "Save (Con)," or if you want to do something fancier, "Save (Con, 15)," indicating you need a 15 or higher.
***
This is the main departure from the SRD I'm making for my new game; in many other respects CotU is going to be a d20 Modern/True20 clone with some sugary BESM d20 froting. Would you consider playing a game with mechanics along these lines?
***
Armor Class (AC) was the original defense mechanic. AC determined how hard you were to hit with a meaningful blow. Against more unusual hazards you might have to roll a "saving throw" of the die. Those terms have evolved over the decades, although most games still use similar mechanics. D&D 4e took the step of unifying defenses to be more like AC, and then making the saving throw something else. In that spirit, while also hearkening back to older games like Bard Games's The Arcanum, I'm revising the defense/saving throw structure for CotU.
There will be two defenses: combat defense and Resistance. Combat defense is largely adapted from concepts similar to the parry/dodge of True20, BESM d20, and Conan, while Resistance is essentially what D&D 3e called Fortitude and Will rolled into one. Once upon a time, Wisdom basically represented your character's ability to think on their feet and find, or make, lucky breaks. Whether or not you get poisoned is really more a matter of not being at the wrong place at the wrong time, as is catching a plague. It's not clear what, in real world terms, is involved in resisting a psychic assault, but it's probably something intangible. Rather than trying to figure out what should be a Luck Defense or a Tough Defense or whatever, it's all just going to be a Wisdom-based defense called Resistance (referencing the SRD term for continuity's sake). Primarily, Resistance is about willpower and moxy, but it's also the defense against things you basically can't avoid, but might be able to survive.
A Saving Throw, by contrast, is ability score based attempt to shake something off. For instance, if you got poisoned, you would make Constitution-based saving throws to endure and shake off the effects of being poisoned. This approach is useful in two ways. First, it makes the character sheet less cluttered and makes it easier to define special conditions and attacks. Second, it makes ability scores more useful and keeps higher-level characters on their toes, so that all characters can have unique characteristics while being roughtly balanced. By defining a standard saving throw DC of 11, I can save a lot of ink. "Make a Constitution saving throw" is a really neat way of encapsulating a lot of game mechanics into a plain phrase. In turn, simple phrases can be turned into simple notations, like "Save (Con)," or if you want to do something fancier, "Save (Con, 15)," indicating you need a 15 or higher.
***
This is the main departure from the SRD I'm making for my new game; in many other respects CotU is going to be a d20 Modern/True20 clone with some sugary BESM d20 froting. Would you consider playing a game with mechanics along these lines?
