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May 21, 2013, 2:07am

Original D&D Discussion :: Dungeons & Dragons (1971-1978) :: Men & Magic (1974) :: Level-based Attacks/Damage Dice

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Topic: Level-based Attacks/Damage Dice (Read 276 times)

Malcadon
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Level-based Attacks/Damage Dice
« Thread Started on Feb 21, 2012, 2:43am »

This was a random idea I had while reading Chainmail. Basically, this is the core fantasy rules shoehorned into the D&D rules.

How this works, is that a character has a number of damage dice equal to its Fighting Capacity (Man = 1 die; Heroes = 4 dice; Superheroes = 8 dice), or attacks made-up of the divided damage die total, up to the number of opponents the character is facing. That is, a 4th level Hero can strike an opponent with 4 dice, attack two enemies with 2 dice each, or four opponents with 1 die each. It works the the same for monsters (hit dice = level). Damage bonus from Strength and magic weapons adds to or subtracts from the damage total - not to each die. The logic behind this is how Heroes and Superheroes in Chainmail are like one-man armies.

There is also a catch: the damage roll must be equal or more to the opponent's hit point total to hit to kill it outright, or the attack dose nothing! PCs are not killed outright, but are knocked-out or exhausted, and unless treated by an ally by the next few rounds, the PC dies. To make things easier, damage rolls by different attackers on the same target maybe totaled for a single combat round (by the end of the round, all accumulated damage goes back to zero). This is also in keeping with the Chainmail rules, and you would not have to keep track of dwindling hit point totals.

Because this is already a level-based system, a Weapon Class vs Armor Class to-hit system is ideal, but as an alternative (to cut-down on dice rolls), damage rolls can be adjusted by superior or inferior weapons, while armor can add to hit point totals.

Yes, this is all abstract, but what part of the old-school rules is not? This would also change the level of power in the game (higher levels are much more powerful then before, and low-level parties would be head-press to deal with moderately powerful enemies), and the style of the rules (like an all-or-nothing zero-sum attack system). Not to mention how the quick recovery makes healing spells/potions useless, unless used to help knocked-out or exhausted PCs recover (non-magical treatment only stabilizes the character).

These rules are untested, as I made it up on the fly. So do anyone have ideas or suggestions about them?

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verhaden
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Re: Level-based Attacks/Damage Dice
« Reply #1 on Feb 21, 2012, 5:26am »

I've run games using a rule similar to this. I used waysoftheearth's "damage dice" concept, wherein, say, a halberd dealt 3dd worth of damage (roll three dice, sum like numbers, take highest result, e.g., 2,2,3 would result in 4 damage). I gave fighters a +1dd bonus every even level and fighters could distribute their damage dice to attack in any manner they wished, making a number of attacks equal to their level per round.

So a fighter with a halberd dealing 3dd damage would actually deal 5dd at 5th level and could target 5 opponents. To keep die rolling down, they only made one attack roll, though.

5dd
3dd, 2dd
3dd, 1dd, 1dd
2dd, 2dd, 1dd
2dd, 1dd, 1dd, 1dd
1dd, 1dd, 1dd, 1dd, 1dd

Worked well.

« Last Edit: Feb 21, 2012, 5:26am by verhaden »

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aldarron
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Re: Level-based Attacks/Damage Dice
« Reply #2 on Feb 21, 2012, 8:26pm »

Feb 21, 2012, 2:43am, Malcadon wrote:

Well, that bit at least actually is pretty well tested. Other than "strike an opponent with 4 dice, attack two enemies with 2 dice each," (interesting idea there) you've just described exactly how Dave Arneson played D&D for years (HD are actually "hit"/damage dice). It was Gygax who turned Hit Dice from damage dice into "hit point dice". There are also a few posts on this very board, such as this one http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=menmagic&action=display&thread=3549
or
http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=menmagic&action=display&thread=374
with similar lines of thought.

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http://boggswood.blogspot.com/

We thought we were crazy, but we had a great time. - Dave Arneson

Malcadon
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Re: Level-based Attacks/Damage Dice
« Reply #3 on Feb 22, 2012, 3:20pm »

Thanks for the heads-up on the system and links.

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