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Damage Bonus Table


tgcb

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Reading through Magic World...one thing that "bugs" me is the Damage Bonus Table.

Specifically, the wide range of values per modifier.

For example, I could have a STR+SIZ of 32 and get a +1d4, and you could have a STR+SIZ of 25 and also get a +1d4. I would feel I'm getting cheated however as my STR+SIZ is 28% greater than yours. Shouldn't my Damage Bonus be about 28% better than yours as well?

Anyway, probably not a "real issue", but something about it strikes me as odd.

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My opinion - the damage bonus table hasn't been great since the change to a 2d6+6 SIZ when RQ3 came out. It's pretty easy for characters to get a damage bonus now-a-days. I'd bump up the lower threshold or make it a smoother progression (maybe a D2 at the lower end) to compensate for larger average SIZ.

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My opinion - the damage bonus table hasn't been great since the change to a 2d6+6 SIZ when RQ3 came out. It's pretty easy for characters to get a damage bonus now-a-days. I'd bump up the lower threshold or make it a smoother progression (maybe a D2 at the lower end) to compensate for larger average SIZ.

This is one I did a few years ago, my players liked it at the time:

STR+SIZ: DB

02 - 10: -d4

11 - 19: 0

20 - 24: +1

25 - 30: +d2

31 - 35: +d4

36 - 40: +d6

(Every multiple of 16 beyond 40 grants +d6)

It's a bit more lenient on the negative modifier side (PCs would hate having a consistent negative modifier for damage anyway), and it gives a little more graduation in terms of having a damage bonus. It seemed to work for that campaign, but in truth I haven't used it since. I'm not sure how reasonable I was in working out the actual graduations, but its the kinda thing you can easily tweak if you want to alter it.

My other idea was a little different. Based on calculating STR+SIZ, I felt that the players should receive a +1 DB if the total was 25, and for every fraction of 4 above this receive an additional consistent +1 DB, so for example, someone with SIZ 15 and STR 16 would have a + 3 DB (15+16=31. +1 at 20, +2 at 24, +3 at 29). Once the DB is +4, I felt that the rate should slow to a +1 for each fraction of 10 beyond. I toyed with this, but never actually used it, so I'm unsure if its a reasonable house rule or if its entirely broken. These days I try not to focus on changes to mechanics too much, experience has taught me not to stray too much from the path :7

Edited by Mankcam

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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If I could bothered (and its a BIG if) I'd revise the progression to single die: d2, d3, d4, d5, d6, d8, d10, d12, d14, d16, d18, d20. But then I'd have to revise all the weapon damages to single die as well, and tweak armour to pairs of dice... And it all gets too fiddly and I revert to the fact that by and large the DB tables fine.

I do wince a little every time the step change from 1d6 to 2d6 crops up in play though...

Cheers,

Nick

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Yeah, a few years back I would have invested a lot of time into something like this, but these days I'm pretty happy to accept most core rules as 'near enough is good enough'. I'm still happy to tweak rules for specific settings of course, but in general I've found altering the core rules often creates new problems, and usually its just not worth the effort to fiddle with the core mechanics.

I'm not discouraging others though!

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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Yeah, a few years back I would have invested a lot of time into something like this, but these days I'm pretty happy to accept most core rules as 'near enough is good enough'. I'm still happy to tweak rules for specific settings of course, but in general I've found altering the core rules often creates new problems, and usually its just not worth the effort to fiddle with the core mechanics.

I'm not discouraging others though!

I was trying to get clever...since the left side of the table looks like percentages (my 32 would be 32%). But then I had to figure out "32% of what"? I went around this thinking for awhile then as you said decided it's not worth it. I believe I would end up using the more gradual chart from Runequest 6 and call it good.

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This is one I did a few years ago, my players liked it at the time:

STR+SIZ: DB

02 - 10: -d4

11 - 19: 0

20 - 24: +1

25 - 30: +d2

31 - 35: +d4

36 - 40: +d6

(Every multiple of 16 beyond 40 grants +d6)

I really like this and might use it in my next SB game - if you don't mind :P

Marcus

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  • 5 years later...
On 7/3/2013 at 9:09 PM, NickMiddleton said:

If I could bothered (and its a BIG if) I'd revise the progression to single die: d2, d3, d4, d5, d6, d8, d10, d12, d14, d16, d18, d20. But then I'd have to revise all the weapon damages to single die as well, and tweak armour to pairs of dice... And it all gets too fiddly and I revert to the fact that by and large the DB tables fine.

I know I'm raising a old post, but how would you implement the D14s, d16, d18? Roll a d20 and reroll if the value is too high. I might have sufficient reason to get "fiddly" soon. 

 

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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35 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

I know I'm raising a old post, but how would you implement the D14s, d16, d18? Roll a d20 and reroll if the value is too high. I might have sufficient reason to get "fiddly" soon. 

 

If you don't mind spending the money you can find all of those die types and more for sale these days. Some dice roller apps allow you to configure the number of sides, too.

Your method is cheaper 😊

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Just now, BigJackBrass said:

If you don't mind spending the money you can find all of those die types and more for sale these days. Some dice roller apps allow you to configure the number of sides, too.

Your method is cheaper 😊

I've seen d3s, d5s,  and d14s. I was thinking of getting a 12 die set that had those. I wasn't aware of d16s and d18s. 

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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https://www.thediceshoponline.com/dice-sets/153/-Specialist-Dice?view=ALL&FilterDiceSideID=12,%2013,%2014,%2016,%2017,%2033,%2035,%2018&FilterDiceColour=13

https://www.amazon.co.uk/20-Unusual-Dice-Set-Miniatures/dp/B00YLU8PW0

IIRC I was also thinking of doing them as roll 1D(n/2) with 1D2 - if the D2 rolls 2, add (n/2). So D14, roll a single D8 (re-roll 8's) and a D2 to see whether you add 7; 1D8 and a D2 for 1D16 and 1D10 (re-rooling 10's) with the D10 to decide whether your add 9...

The existence and (relative ease) of obtaining D14's. D16's, D18's etc removes one big element of fiddliness.

Cheers,

Nick

 

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7 hours ago, NickMiddleton said:

https://www.thediceshoponline.com/dice-sets/153/-Specialist-Dice?view=ALL&FilterDiceSideID=12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 33, 35, 18&FilterDiceColour=13

https://www.amazon.co.uk/20-Unusual-Dice-Set-Miniatures/dp/B00YLU8PW0

IIRC I was also thinking of doing them as roll 1D(n/2) with 1D2 - if the D2 rolls 2, add (n/2). So D14, roll a single D8 (re-roll 8's) and a D2 to see whether you add 7; 1D8 and a D2 for 1D16 and 1D10 (re-rooling 10's) with the D10 to decide whether your add 9...

Thanks

7 hours ago, NickMiddleton said:

The existence and (relative ease) of obtaining D14's. D16's, D18's etc removes one big element of fiddliness.

Yes it does.

My reason for raising a dead horse is that I've got a campaign coming up where the typical PCs will be stronger than normal, and I should be bumping into that 1D6 to 2D6 shift quite often,  a smoother progression would help. 

 

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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