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Post by simrion on Aug 16, 2009 8:22:55 GMT -6
Reading through the Different Worlds reprint of the original EPT rules the other night and it occurred to me that Dr Barker took the original deadliness of OD&D and ramped it up by a figure of 10! Maybe I'm reading it wrong however the Cursed Scrolls have one that kills everybody in a 10' radius of the reader if they fail their saving rolls. Also unless I'm reading it wrong it is really hard for Priests and Mages to gain new spells as they gain levels and they only get to use a majority of their known spells once per day. So those of yuo that might actually be running or playing in a campaign...are you constantly rollign up replacement characters?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2009 9:00:52 GMT -6
I've been playing in an original edition EPT game for 6 months or so. I've seen one character die, we've narrowly avoided mass casualties a couple of times, my own character has been reduced to 1 hit point on at least one occasion and he has also been cursed and thus permanently* lost the use of his shield arm. But he is still going!
*But fortune smiles. In an earlier adventure we came across a being who should be able to make a mechanical/magical substitute arm ... if I can make my way back to it.
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Post by simrion on Aug 16, 2009 9:22:28 GMT -6
So do Mages & Priests have to roll the % exactly in the charts to gain new spells? Seems like treasure (especially magic) can be pretty generous too. You might find 2 - 12 Eyes in a trove. I figured this might be a "trade off" to frequent character death.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2009 10:12:20 GMT -6
When you gain a level you roll the dice, yes. Depending on the die rolls you may gain a new spell or spells. The treasure gained by the party has mostly been in the form of money with a pretty cool magic sword being the best item found. I seem to recall one "eye" being found but there may have been others. Most of the "treasure" gained so far has been a vast improvement of our social status ... a reward far out of proportion to how mundane it sounds.
I would have to say EPT has probably been the most role-playing intensive milieu in which I've ever participated. Much of that is due to the setting itself, but I must also laud the skill of the referee. If you get a chance to join an EPT game I would highly recommend you give it a try.
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Post by klamath on Aug 17, 2009 15:13:50 GMT -6
Reading through the Different Worlds reprint of the original EPT rules the other night and it occurred to me that Dr Barker took the original deadliness of OD&D and ramped it up by a figure of 10! Maybe I'm reading it wrong however the Cursed Scrolls have one that kills everybody in a 10' radius of the reader if they fail their saving rolls. Also unless I'm reading it wrong it is really hard for Priests and Mages to gain new spells as they gain levels and they only get to use a majority of their known spells once per day. So those of yuo that might actually be running or playing in a campaign...are you constantly rollign up replacement characters? I think it is a bit more deadly than OD&D. I'm not sure that magic users are any worse off in terms of spells, though. You do have to roll to get bonus spells as you go up levels, but the spells themselves are quite powerful. The 'one use of a spell a day' is just the same in OD&D. The main restriction on magic users, compared to OD&D, is the need to roll to see if you cast the spell, something you don't do in OD&D. And even if you do cast a spell successfully, you may have to roll to target it, and the target may get a saving throw. The monsters are also quite deadly--a pretty high percentage of them are poisonous. One of the more extreme examples is the Sagun, which exudes poisonous spores. You need to make a saving throw to avoid immediate death, and then a cure disease spell within two turns, or the spores will germinate in your lungs, killing you. |
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Post by badger2305 on Sept 3, 2009 7:55:46 GMT -6
One way of seeing how this works is to compare the sample adventure text from OD&D and from EPT. In OD&D, the characters gets some breaks. In EPT, they become fodder for a demon. Even so, EPT is an amazing game.  |
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Post by xerxez on Dec 15, 2009 11:03:12 GMT -6
Hello all.
Yes, EPT is highly lethal, especially for lower level characters!
A critical hit roll by a monster or NPC has the potential to kill your character at any level and lower level characters can be killed quite quickly if an enemy rolls a natural twenty and does double damage, even without a crit, which is following a natural 20 with another 19 or 20.
One way to mitigate this would be to add a saving roll vs. death for the PC, a save means he/she is unconscious at level 0, if their companions can intervene maybe at the point....
However, revivification is a religious and cultural feature of Te'kumel so you still have a chance at coming back, and if not, maybe the Gods themselves wil intervene....
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Post by geoffrey on Dec 15, 2009 14:43:25 GMT -6
A critical hit roll by a monster or NPC has the potential to kill your character at any level and lower level characters can be killed quite quickly if an enemy rolls a natural twenty and does double damage, even without a crit, which is following a natural 20 with another 19 or 20. Yeah, the math on a critical hit reveals than 1 attempted hit out of 200 will be a critical. That means that, on average, your PC is going to take a critical after being swung at an average of 100 times. Suppose your character is aimed at an average of 8 times per game session. That would mean your character will get a crit (on average) in his 13th session. Add to the above all the other ways to get killed that don't involve crits, and I start to wonder if the best thing for an EPT character is to avoid all combat at almost any cost.  |
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Post by greentongue on Dec 15, 2009 18:00:09 GMT -6
That is why you hire spear carriers and have "family".  = |
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Post by xerxez on Dec 16, 2009 15:27:36 GMT -6
What about these ideas:
A roll of an unmodified 1 is a fumble and denotes a loss of that combatants next attack.
This is an established house rule.
To make EPT a tad less lethal: for PC's only, a saving throw vs. paralysis (if a foe gets a kill blow with a follow up 19 or 20).
If the save is succesful, the character is unconscious, at 0 hit points, and must be rescued or they can be slain by the combatant if the combatant desires to do so. They would if a warrior get their "dying" strike. To fail this saving roll is to be instantly DOA .
Another idea up for discussion, seeking input: a table for use if a natural 20 is rolled, a critical hit table in other words. The mechanics of such a table can be debated. Besides doing double damage, Characters would make a second throw against the table, which would of course contain ghastly results. Example: 20: decaptitation, instant kill. 19: Vital organ strike, instant kill. 18: Disembowelment, character will die in 1-3 turns (not combat rounds) unless immediately healed by a spell or a succesful use of the physician skill. 17. Amputation-loss of limb or body part, roll d6 to determine limb or body part (ears, fingers etc.). 16: The larger range of numbers (1-15)would be broken up into three sets of damage bonuses in addition to the double damage from the original 20.(1-5 would be +1, 6-10 would be +2, 11-15 +3). Just a thought....
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Post by greentongue on Dec 17, 2009 7:37:05 GMT -6
It does provide motivation to be creative in conflicts.
Have the monster chase you into the hallway where you have a trap set.
Research what the tomb guardian's weakness is.
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2010 15:53:42 GMT -6
I only played it once with Victor at a game day but my impression, this is a pretty lethal game. You make stupid decisions or even just bad adventuring decisions you die. The combat mechanics will punish you if the dm rolls well, I think the system is designed to simulate real life more then anything and real life is brutal.
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