Fatigue

[peterb]

I don't have the BRP-zero book so I don't know if there's a fatigue system in the new book. I'm fiddling with a set of conversion rules for d20 spells and is contemplating using FP instead of MP. The RQ III fatigue system sucks and the RQ II system is a bit to basic, so it would be nice to know if there is such a s system in the new book or if I have to devise one of my own.

/Peter

[rust]

BRP Zero includes a somewhat basic Fatigue Points option. The fatigue points
are calculated as the sum of STR and CON.

[NickMiddleton]

Originally Posted by peterb

I don't have the BRP-zero book so I don't know if there's a fatigue system in the new book. I'm fiddling with a set of conversion rules for d20 spells and is contemplating using FP instead of MP. The RQ III fatigue system sucks and the RQ II system is a bit to basic, so it would be nice to know if there is such a s system in the new book or if I have to devise one of my own.

BRP Zero includes the RQIII fatigue point system, and a simple systen rekated to the RQII Encumberance model, IIRC.

Nick Middleton

[Dredj]

Bloodquest has a fatique system for BRP.
RPGNow.com - Postmortem Studios - BloodQuest

It's realistic in that it's for use in emulating what you see in 80's slasher horror movies.

[Trifletraxor]

Originally Posted by Dredj

Bloodquest has a fatique system for BRP.
RPGNow.com - Postmortem Studios - BloodQuest

It's realistic in that it's for use in emulating what you see in 80's slasher horror movies.

Could you explain it?

SGL.

[peterb]

OK. This is my take at a revised fatigue system. It's based on the RQ III system but I've "imporoved" it. You may not agree of course... Comments are welcome - as always.

Fatigue
All characters have a fatigue point pool equal to the sum of the characters STR and CON. Doing things that makes you tired, such as running, swimming, fighting and climbing, reduces the available fatigue points. Each melee round of hard work (running, hasty swimming or swimming in rough sea, etc.) reduces the FP pool by 2 points. Each melee round of medium work (fighting, swimming, climbing, riding at full speed, etc.) reduces the FP pool by one point. Wearing stuff also reduces the FP pool.

When a character carries stuff the sum of the ENC values of the tings carried are deducted from the fatigue point pool. However the ENC value reflects how cumbersome it would be to carry a thing in ones arms or on the back. Some items, most notable armour, do not encumber as much when worn as when carried on the back. The ENC of armour is halved (round up) when worn. An option would of course be to recalculate all armour ENC and rule that when not worn a piece of armours ENC is doubled.

When a characters FP pool reaches zero (0) the character becomes fatigued. Every new FP lost reduces all skills by 1 percentile. A fatigued character may not run or do any other hard work. He may fight, cast spells and ride at normal speed, etc. When a characters FP pool is so depleted that it has reached (0 – (STR + CON)) or less the character becomes exhausted. The character must make a CON x 5 (-FP) roll or collapse, if the character succeeds he may still do nothing but walk. Any physical activities (including casting spells) requires another CON x 5 (-FP) roll or the character collapses. If a character drives his FP pool below (0 – (STR + CON + CON)) he may die as a result of the strain. The character must succeed with a CON x 5 (-FP) roll or he dies…

A suggestion to simplify play: only count negative FP in chunks of 5. That is if a character has -6 FP, give her only -5 in all skills until she drops below -10. This will lessen the bookkeeping burden somewhat.

A character that falls unconscious because his HP total drops below 2 hp looses all positive FP (his FP pool drops to zero). Failing a shock roll, loosing all HP in the head or having a limb severed (i.e. the limbs take twice the normal hp value in total damage) also reduces FP to zero.

A character recovers FP at a rate equal to CON /2 rounded up per 5 melee rounds (i.e. per minute). The average character with CON 11 and a FP of 22 thus recovers in slightly more than four minutes. As an other example, a very well trained Dwarf character with STR 16 and CON 22, fully recovers in slightly less than four minutes.

It would seem that all character would fully recover in about four minutes. Only characters that are relatively speaking weak but has high cardio (CON) fully recovers faster. But very fit characters manages to recover more FP in a given time frame, which might be crucial in some circumstances.


/Peter

[rust]

I like your system, but I think it needs some modifications for certain circum-
stances.

One example is swimming. According to the description of the Swim skill in the
Zero Edition:
- (Special Success) "If the optional fatigue system is used, the fatigue
point cost for swimming is reduced by 1/4."
- "In calm waters, Swim rolls are needed only once per turn. Swimming in
rough waters requires a Swim check each round."
- "Your character can tow a buoyant object of up to his or her own SIZ+2
indefinitely, assuming a free hand or some means of attaching the object
to your character."

For my setting (a science fiction water world) I will need rather detailed Swim
rules.
I think that I will reduce the fatigue point cost for swimming depending on the
Swim skill of the character (not only the type of success) and the equipment
of the character (biomimetic drysuit, flippers, etc.), and that I will also have
to find some way to handle encumbrance differently.

I could imagine that it could make sense to design similar houserules for other
settings and skills.

[Dredj]

Originally Posted by Trifletraxor

Could you explain it?

SGL.

It's probably the same as other systems. Here it is right from the booklet:

Fatigue Points
Fatigue Points are a measure of your energy and
alertness and are used up as you take part in
activity, particularly combat, resulting in tiredness
and, eventually, exhaustion. Fatigue Points are lost
in the following ways…
• Combat actions – each attack, dodge, parry
or rapid movement (running, jumping or
acrobatics) results in the loss of a Fatigue
Point. Particularly strenuous actions, the use
of a two-handed weapon for example, result
in a fatigue point.
• Every two hours of wakefulness that pass,
result in the loss of a Fatigue Point.
• Strenuous actions, such as heavy lifting,
result in the loss of a Fatigue Point.
• Forced marching, and other similarly
constant and exhausting actions, result in
the loss of a Fatigue Point every hour.
• Overloaded characters lose double Fatigue
Points for all actions.
• The loss of Hit Points is equalled in the loss
of Fatigue Points.
• The loss of Mind Points is equalled in the
loss of Fatigue Points.

Btw, it's an optional rule.