Post by billhooks on Apr 6, 2010 19:00:53 GMT -6
This is a very rough sketch of a variant morale system, and I’m curious to see if anyone thinks it has legs. The basic design concept is to have morale that feels like a gradual disintegration, as opposed to “they made it, guess they’re fighting to the bitter end”, but with a single easy to remember condition, as opposed to a list of them. The question of whether this makes for better or worse D&D is obviously untested, as yet, but maybe I’ll get to try it out sometime. Design inspiration is from this page of simple wargame rules (specifically, the Combat section): www.newgeology.us/presentation39.html
Basic Concept
All monsters and NPCs have a Morale Class from 1 (best) to 5 (worst). Whenever a group takes casualties, roll one d6 per casualty. Each result equal to or less than the Morale Class results in one fleeing combatant. For large engagements, casualties can be batched into fives or tens.
Complications
In the case of allied monsters, such as goblins accompanied by ogres, the different monster types should check morale separately -- that is, the goblins respond only to goblin casualties and ogres to ogre casualties. The entire loss of the more powerful monster type might cause the lesser monsters to take a penalty to Morale Class. Leader death could cause a penalty as well, or alternately expressed, leaders could give a bonus while they’re alive. Monsters could also take a penalty for low commitment (chance encounter in the wilderness) or a bonus for high commitment (defending ancestral homeland or religious site).
Henchman Morale Class could be derived from the Loyalty table on p. 13, treating “average morale dice” as Morale Class 3, but this obviously gets a little trickier as henchmen aren’t generic. I’ve got some potentially clever ideas for henchman morale in this system, but the first step is to decide whether each player-side casualty causes all henchmen to check morale, or just certain ones, or what.
Basic Concept
All monsters and NPCs have a Morale Class from 1 (best) to 5 (worst). Whenever a group takes casualties, roll one d6 per casualty. Each result equal to or less than the Morale Class results in one fleeing combatant. For large engagements, casualties can be batched into fives or tens.
Complications
In the case of allied monsters, such as goblins accompanied by ogres, the different monster types should check morale separately -- that is, the goblins respond only to goblin casualties and ogres to ogre casualties. The entire loss of the more powerful monster type might cause the lesser monsters to take a penalty to Morale Class. Leader death could cause a penalty as well, or alternately expressed, leaders could give a bonus while they’re alive. Monsters could also take a penalty for low commitment (chance encounter in the wilderness) or a bonus for high commitment (defending ancestral homeland or religious site).
Henchman Morale Class could be derived from the Loyalty table on p. 13, treating “average morale dice” as Morale Class 3, but this obviously gets a little trickier as henchmen aren’t generic. I’ve got some potentially clever ideas for henchman morale in this system, but the first step is to decide whether each player-side casualty causes all henchmen to check morale, or just certain ones, or what.
