Author Topic: House Rules And Homebrew  (Read 21408 times)

Offline crusher_bob

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #30 on: March 17, 2011, 09:41:31 AM »
Outside of Hollywood, most vehicles don't provide much protection at all against bullets.  So I'd expect non armored cars to only provide armor 1 or so.

Offline ryanshowseason2

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #31 on: March 17, 2011, 01:34:12 PM »
Outside of Hollywood, most vehicles don't provide much protection at all against bullets.  So I'd expect non armored cars to only provide armor 1 or so.

This

Windows are fragile. a well placed knee can break a windshield, a baseball bat can shatter side windows with ease. I've no experience with a sword but I imagine similarly easy results considering the weight of metal.

This is all very weapon specific. Take into consideration the difficulty of breaking a window with a pocket knife the weapon damage means nothing to that window and even less your skill with weapons. Therefore I find it appropriate to rule that window barriers must be broken with a might roll instead of a weapons roll. This and weapon damage should be generated by the gm to be appropriate.

With this also said trying to effectively use bludgeoning weapons like a bat on an occupant of a vehicle is an awkward endeavor, there is no room to swing. Long pointy blades have no problem doing the stabby stabby though. Some kind of "zone aspect" seems appropriate here, but you can perhaps let players try and declare that one on their own.

Lastly shooting a target as mobile as a vehicle is sometimes an effort of futility. If the driver is smart and madly swinging around with no pattern... good luck on shooting the occupants with any accuracy. There should be a huge detriment on this if the car isn't motionless or making a straight beeline.

Offline ryanshowseason2

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #32 on: March 17, 2011, 01:59:05 PM »
Weapon 4+ evocations are always considered lethal force

I'm not sure I agree with this if the evocation is described correctly. A few examples some my players made up a few of my own.
A heat exhaustion spell or heat wave spell. Or even an enfeeble evo. Potentially lethal yes, always lethal no.

A biomancy spell to do nasty things, say cause  extreme cramps or pain. This only causes pain no actual damage to the victim. nastiness? to the max? Lethality? 0.

Electricity spells, I think Harry even says this in the books by making it high voltage but low current basically a tazer.

Irritating acid water evocation. Acidic compound designed to cause pain to epidermis or interior of human flesh but not destroy it. Weapon level indicates how much pain.

An epic level magic pepper spray spell. I don't know why but I find this one funny. Stress inducing? Hell yes! death inducing? Uh no.

Remember we're inflicting stress and consequences these don't necessarily have to cause lethal harm. I admit its not easy to come up with ideas for this sort of spell, but I prefer to reward players who do come up with something.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2011, 02:01:21 PM by ryanshowseason2 »

Offline bibliophile20

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #33 on: March 17, 2011, 02:21:26 PM »
Of course, what's merely irritating to one person is lethal to another; allergies, for example.  Or the heat wave spell--I wouldn't use that in Miami where retirees might be in the line of fire.  Or kids.  Or babies. 

*snort*  In my first D&D game, the wizard thought nothing of using Evard's Black Tentacles in civilian areas, even if he didn't have total LOS to the target zone.  Ended up killing the baker's entire family to capture one heavily wounded assassin.  Never got called out on it. 

Point I'm trying to make is, using magic around civilians is risky, and I think that the GM would be completely within their rights to say that certain members of the crowd--especially in places like restaurants and movie theaters--have aspects like "Breathing Canned Oxygen"; "Hypertension", "My Doctor Said To Avoid Excitement," "Scrawny Little Kid" and so forth. 
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Offline ryanshowseason2

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #34 on: March 17, 2011, 03:32:12 PM »
Of course, what's merely irritating to one person is lethal to another; allergies, for example.  Or the heat wave spell--I wouldn't use that in Miami where retirees might be in the line of fire.  Or kids.  Or babies. 

*snort*  In my first D&D game, the wizard thought nothing of using Evard's Black Tentacles in civilian areas, even if he didn't have total LOS to the target zone.  Ended up killing the baker's entire family to capture one heavily wounded assassin.  Never got called out on it. 

Point I'm trying to make is, using magic around civilians is risky, and I think that the GM would be completely within their rights to say that certain members of the crowd--especially in places like restaurants and movie theaters--have aspects like "Breathing Canned Oxygen"; "Hypertension", "My Doctor Said To Avoid Excitement," "Scrawny Little Kid" and so forth. 

In public? Sure. I was thinking more in the realm of deliberate combat and wanting to take an opponent out without killing them in a magical way.

Still though its within my right to have an npc be severely allergic to magic pepper spray. But having it happen every time is just as abusive on my part. If anyone has ever watched inuyasha (which I regret having done so) Every time a certain character wanted to use a ridiculous technique called wind tunnel (which was basically a black hole in the char's hand) inexplicably "naraku's poison bees" would show up and he'd have to stop since bee poison inside the black hole apparently caused him harm. Never mind he could suck entire houses into his hand and that didn't hurt. Point is though the char used it like once and then every subsequent episode had 10 seconds of stock footage of these bees so that he couldn't use it ever again. Considering this goes on for like 100 episodes... I don't want to do that to players.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #35 on: March 17, 2011, 11:13:42 PM »
This discussion has been had before, and I don't think that there's anything to be gained from having it again here.

Personally, I don't use that houserule. But some people do, so it's here.

Anyway, I think that the vehicle rules are more or less done. They just need one final revision. If there are no further contributions/objections, I'll edit the first post to add them (and some other stuff).

The exact armour rating of a car is up to the GM and players of the game that it shows up in.

Offline devonapple

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #36 on: March 17, 2011, 11:39:42 PM »
I'm not sure I agree with this if the evocation is described correctly. A few examples some my players made up a few of my own.

We aren't obligated to agree or come to a consensus. This is a compilation of proposed House Rules, and as long as Sanctaphrax makes sure that is clear, then it shouldn't be a problem. I myself would not be using that particular rule in my own games, either, but it is an option which may make the game more enjoyable/realistic for some players.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2011, 11:41:13 PM by devonapple »
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Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #37 on: March 19, 2011, 09:28:53 PM »
I decided that adding this to the first post would be unnecessary clutter. So the (hopefully) final vehicle rules go here.

Vehicle Combat Rules Summary:

             The following rules govern the use of vehicles in combat.  
             Vehicles, like characters, are located inside zones. Characters who share a zone with a vehicle may use their action to enter that vehicle, acquiring an appropriate aspect in doing so. This may or may not require a roll, depending on the circumstances.
Some vehicles are large enough to contain entire zones. This does not significantly affect the rules that govern them.
             Characters in vehicles are either drivers or passengers. Each vehicle may only have one driver, but the maximum number of passengers depends on the vehicle. The driver must take a supplemental action each turn in order to operate the vehicle. If he does not, then he becomes a passenger and the vehicle has no driver. Simply ignore any rules that reference the driver in that case, or assume a value of 0 for his skill when that is not possible.
             Characters inside a vehicle must remain inside that vehicle unless they take an action to leave it (and remove the relevant aspect). Since vehicles have set locations, this often means that a character inside of a vehicle is stuck in their zone. However, the driver of a vehicle may move the vehicle a number of zones equal to the result of a Driving skill check each time he takes an action. When a vehicle moves, everyone inside moves with it.
             Vehicles provide armour and can be used as weapons like other equipment. The armour applies to everyone inside, but the vehicle can only be used as a weapon by the driver. Attacks with vehicles use the Driving skill.
             All those inside a vehicle may have their skills limited by the Driving skill of the driver. GMs should use their discretion when determining if a skill is modified or not. In addition, the driver can substitute his Driving skill for the defence skill of anyone inside the vehicle against melee attacks made by those outside the vehicle.
             Each vehicle has two statistics not possessed by most equipment. These are Durability and Maneuverability. Maneuverability modifies the driver’s Driving skill for all purposes. Durability dictates the difficulty to hex (or otherwise sabotage) a vehicle and that vehicle’s stress capacity. Some vehicles also possess the equivalent of Toughness powers and/or innate armour.
             Vehicles can be attacked just like characters. They defend against attacks with their driver’s Driving skill. They take stress and consequences just like characters. The effects of a vehicle’s destruction upon its inhabitants are highly variable and should be determined on a case-by-case basis.
            Living mounts may also be treated as vehicles. Use Survival instead of Driving in that case. A mount’s Maneuverability is equal to its Athletics skill, and its Durability is equal to its Endurance skill.
             If a character’s mount is another character, then things are simpler. A character must take an action to mount/dismount from another character and so gain/lose a relevant aspect, as above. They cannot move as long as they are mounted, as above. And they may substitute their mount’s Athletics for their own when defending against attacks. Ignore everything else printed above.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2011, 09:27:29 PM by Sanctaphrax »

Offline Tedronai

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #38 on: March 19, 2011, 09:49:31 PM »
It seems strange to me that the Driver's skill would modify an occupant's Endurance
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Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #39 on: March 20, 2011, 01:46:41 AM »
Point taken. I'll edit it so that it only modifies rolls.

Also, I meant to write limited instead of modified. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Offline Tedronai

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #40 on: March 20, 2011, 04:31:54 AM »
Point taken. I'll edit it so that it only modifies rolls.

Even then, Endurance is occasionally rolled as a defense skill, and poor driving should rarely be sufficient to shake, say, the Fist of God's Faith (by way of limiting conviction).
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Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #41 on: March 20, 2011, 09:25:20 PM »
Endurance as a defence might sometimes be affected by driving and sometimes might not. I can think of examples for both. Same goes for faith, in the situations where you'd roll it. And so on for Deceit, Intimidation, Rapport, etc.

Obviously, the GM has to exercise a bit of discretion. I'll add a note saying so.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #42 on: April 02, 2011, 05:56:24 AM »
Well, this is going slower than I had hoped. I've got no-one to blame but myself. I also have no-one with the right to blame me but myself, so it works out alright.

A couple more houserules:

You can take consequences to convert a failed roll into a successful one if the margin of error was less than the consequence's value.
Some weapons have AP ratings, letting them ignore (AP rating) points of armour.

Offline sinker

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #43 on: April 02, 2011, 06:05:40 AM »
You can take consequences to convert a failed roll into a successful one if the margin of error was less than the consequence's value.

I don't think this has been mentioned (except maybe as part of the summoning system) but as a variation on this kind of thing, one could take a negative aspect on a piece of equipment or similar in order to make up for a failed resources roll.

Offline Tedronai

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Re: House Rules And Homebrew
« Reply #44 on: April 02, 2011, 06:09:16 AM »
You can take consequences to convert a failed roll into a successful one if the margin of error was less than the consequence's value.

Might want to amend that to 'less than or equal to'
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