Post by hedgehobbit on Mar 2, 2015 18:08:41 GMT -5
There are tons of Chainmail derived combat systems around but every one I've seen is based on the man-to-man rules. This is fine but several years ago I began working on a combat system based on the Fantasy Combat Table instead. After much numerical analysis of the FCT (and it's derivative the Dungeon! boardgame) I can say that there isn't much of a system there, just a bunch of butt numbers. So, all I've got to work with are two general rules: that two equal fighters hit each other about 50% of the time and that a character will get harder to hit as he gains hit dice.
Each character and monster will have two stats: a Fighting Value (FV) and a Defense Value (DV) both are equal to the character's hit dice with a few modifiers (magic weapons add to FV, shields add to DV, etc). To determine if a character hits, roll a d20 and consult the following chart:
The chart seems weird because I wanted a small advantage in FV to give a larger amount in hit probability (witness Ronda Rousey vs Cat) gaining in probability more slowly as the gap increases to avoid auto-hitting. To even fighters will hit 50%/50% but a single extra hit dice will turn this into 60%/40%. Also, the chart is symmetric so the odds of a certain FV failing to hit a DV is the same as the success chance to hit if you swapped DV and FV. So, a FV 4 hits a DV 2 65% of the time. A FV 2 will hit a DV 4 35% of the time (100%-65%). This means that you can use this table to either have the attacker make an attack roll or have the defender make a defense roll and the hit probability will exactly match. So it doesn't matter who actually rolls the dice.
Armor is now a separate saving throw. However, because monsters get harder to hit as they increase in hit dice, it isn't necessary anymore that all monsters actually have armor. The armor save is mostly reserved for the PCs and is only used on monsters actually wearing armor or those monsters with legendarily hard skins such as dragons or giant bugs.
Since characters automatically become harder to his as they level up, this system will work fine in campaigns were armor is unavailable or otherwise ineffective. Plus, by separating out the armor effectiveness from the to-hit process, you can more easily replicate effects such as firearms, magical attacks, grappling, and anti-armor weaponry such as maces.
I also use this chart for skill resolution, replace FV with level (if the task is suitable for the theme of the particular character) and using DV as the Difficulty Value for the check. But, obviously, that's entirely optional.
Each character and monster will have two stats: a Fighting Value (FV) and a Defense Value (DV) both are equal to the character's hit dice with a few modifiers (magic weapons add to FV, shields add to DV, etc). To determine if a character hits, roll a d20 and consult the following chart:
The chart seems weird because I wanted a small advantage in FV to give a larger amount in hit probability (witness Ronda Rousey vs Cat) gaining in probability more slowly as the gap increases to avoid auto-hitting. To even fighters will hit 50%/50% but a single extra hit dice will turn this into 60%/40%. Also, the chart is symmetric so the odds of a certain FV failing to hit a DV is the same as the success chance to hit if you swapped DV and FV. So, a FV 4 hits a DV 2 65% of the time. A FV 2 will hit a DV 4 35% of the time (100%-65%). This means that you can use this table to either have the attacker make an attack roll or have the defender make a defense roll and the hit probability will exactly match. So it doesn't matter who actually rolls the dice.
Armor is now a separate saving throw. However, because monsters get harder to hit as they increase in hit dice, it isn't necessary anymore that all monsters actually have armor. The armor save is mostly reserved for the PCs and is only used on monsters actually wearing armor or those monsters with legendarily hard skins such as dragons or giant bugs.
Since characters automatically become harder to his as they level up, this system will work fine in campaigns were armor is unavailable or otherwise ineffective. Plus, by separating out the armor effectiveness from the to-hit process, you can more easily replicate effects such as firearms, magical attacks, grappling, and anti-armor weaponry such as maces.
I also use this chart for skill resolution, replace FV with level (if the task is suitable for the theme of the particular character) and using DV as the Difficulty Value for the check. But, obviously, that's entirely optional.
