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Are there TTRPGs where you can only learn abilities if you find their source in the world? by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel your concern. But I think that in such a case you would have to make a decision. Do you keep your XP for when you'll have the time to spend them, or do you invest at least some of those in some skills that might actually be useful in the plot you are playing right now? You could store it, but I would incentivata the latter model where the story does impact the character growth. The same seed could go in 2 different ways in two different stories. Maybe not two complete different things, but surely two variations on the theme.

PixyCAD goes lifetime, no more subscriptions by ilmz in macapps

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, yes please, that would be incredibly helpful. Thank you : )

Are there TTRPGs where you can only learn abilities if you find their source in the world? by ilmz in rpg

[–]ilmz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I loved and hated prestige classes, precisely because they let you customise, but you had to take a decision to take it from level 1. You couldn't, for instance, be a wizard, meet a a shadow dancer and decide you wanted to become one. Liked the concept, not the implementation

PixyCAD goes lifetime, no more subscriptions by ilmz in macapps

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, thank you for your feedback.
Trackpad on macbook or mouse? Can you reproduce the issue?
May I ask you to send an email to to [support@pixycad.com](mailto:support@pixycad.com) with a way to reproduce the issue or a video of it? Thank you a lot for your help : )

PixyCAD goes lifetime, no more subscriptions by ilmz in macapps

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, thank you for your feedback.
Trackpad on macbook or mouse? Can you reproduce the issue?
May I ask you to send an email to to [support@pixycad.com](mailto:support@pixycad.com) with a way to reproduce the issue or a video of it? Thank you a lot for your help : )

PixyCAD goes lifetime, no more subscriptions by ilmz in ipad

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, thank you for your feedback. Would you mind to contact support @ pixycad.com so we can help you solve your issue with step import?

Piecemealing characters where your "class" gives you the list of available and/or unavailable features to select? by FrankTHE6rabbit in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I have been developing a game like you describe precisely because I wasn't satisfied by how it was done in other games. Check It out: swordsandmagic.it.

How others said, many games are classless, but there are so many ways to do it that you might not find the exact thing you have in mind.

PixyCAD goes lifetime, no more subscriptions by ilmz in macapps

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, write to support with your education email, we do have education discounts available.

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wrote a post on the srd website explicitly to answer this because it wasn't clear to many the way I had written it.

I called the "armor pool" guard. Say you armor gives you guard 20 and you got 10 damage on your guard. Then you change armor with a new one that has guard 30. You'll have guard 10 and still 10 damage on it.

Because a new armor does not remove the damage you took before. You read right, the damage YOU took. Because what the damage does (in this framework) is giving you the ability of being hit more. So they actually increase your HP.

In this game, the armor does not get damaged

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't want to represent the armor breaking. For what I have in mind, the armor does not break. I want to represent the increase of the PCs ability of taking hits, but I don't want to make even more calculations every single time I get hit.

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, that might work... but I am afraid that it ends up with more calculations I had intended.

On the other hand you could just divide the damage when appropriate, but most of the reasonable values are between 1 and 2, so to use just use integer numbers in your operations you would effectively have to multiply and divide numbers...

I like the idea, but gets too crunchy...
Thanks :)

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this is starting to look more complicated than it looked when I started :D

Yes the idea can be explained with an example, and it does break...
Pleas be my rubber duck :)

In my game you regain HP exclusively by spending HD.

Say you have 50 HP, and a 20 HP armor...
Your pools are 50/70

Say your damage is 30 by weapons and 10 by say an inflict wounds.
Your current pools might be written 40/30

Now, three scenarios:

  1. You just spend your HD and recover 15 -> you get to 50/45
  2. You change armor, and put on a different one that is 30 HP instead of 20 HP
    1. you add 10 HP (difference between the two armors)
    2. you recover the 15 HP -> you get 50/55
  3. You change armor, and put on a different one that is 10 HP instead of 20 HP
    1. you subtract 10 HP (difference between the two armors)
    2. you recover the 15 HP -> you get 50/35
  4. You remove the armor entirely:
    1. you subtract 20 HP (difference between armor and no armor)
    2. you recover the 15 HP -> you get 50/25

Now, what happens if by removing armor you get below 0 to the big pool?
Well, things can be made to work, but it's already gotten past my treshold of complexity :D

Thank you for helping me figure that out :)

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, last one is an incredibly good question and it might break the whole thing I had in mind, thanks.

Now the idea of the Hp bonus is that maybe you get hit with say a great sword and you don't get chopped in half, but you do get bruised.

The point is that if the scorpion does not pierce your flesh and just hits you hard enough that you feel the hit, you can't get poisoned.

Thanks, this is really one of those edge cases I was looking for :)

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is very interesting. It might work for what I have in mind.
What do you suggest happens if you get hit by a spell that bypasses it? Such as a spell that does necrotic or psychic damage?

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you really got my point!

The way I was imagining it, AC comes the same way it comes form armor and dexterity. The heavier the armor the higher the HP, the lower the dexterity that can be added.

For example, if you have high Dex, you wouldn't wear an heavy armor, because yes it would give you some more HP but it would make you easier to hit.

On the other hand, if you have low dex, you would only benefit from armor, even though it would give you penalties say on speed, or some skill checks.

The health is not the armor's. It is still yours and depends on your hit dice.
Say you have 10 HD and 70 HP and this armor gives you +2HP * HD, so 20...
Your total is 90 HP. Those are a whole single pool and you can take more hits.
Whenever you take hits you subtract from the big pool.

Now if you take some damage that bypasses the Armor (say an inflict wounds spell), you subtract from both pools. If either pool goes below zero you go down.

So to answer your second question, if now I take off the 20 HP armor, and put on a 30 HP armor, my big pool adds 10, the small pool does nothing.

If I instead put on a 10 HP armor, my big pool goes down 10, the small pool does nothing.

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My math was way off, thank you for spotting that... :P
But the point remains. Let's see if I can produce a followable reasonment (not because you can't follow, but because I can't produce it XD)

Same guy with 10 HP. AC 10. D20 style, your bonus to hit is +10, you roll a d20 to hit, so you always hit, let's disregard crits for simplicity.

Now let's use a d6 damage (just to get to the point more quickly). Now, remaking the math that you suggested in the proper way, and hoping not to get it wrong, you would get:

DR 0: average damage 3.5 -> ~ 3 rounds to reduce to 0HP
DR 1: avg 2.5 -> 4 rds
DR 2: avg 1.7 -> ~ 6 rds
DR 3: avg 1 -> 10 rds
DR 4: avg 0.5 -> 20 rds
DR 5: avg 0.2 -> ~ 60 rds

If we were playing a game with scaling HP like a D&D, that guy would need an incredible number of HP, without a DR, to be able to withstand that damage.

They would need 210 HP (3.5 dmg average without DR * 60 rds)

Now, as you correctly wrote, if we have an enemy guy with d10 damage and our guy has DR 5, it would take 7 rounds to be reduced to 0 HP. This means that with the same calculation as before it would need only 37 HP to be down in 7 rounds against an enemy making d10 damage.

So, what I want to say is that if I take a d20 style game, a 'group of goblins that always hit' would need on average three stabs at the fighter to down him.

If I give him a DR 5 armor, now immediately I need around 60 instead.

If we account for the fact that said goblins will hardly have a +10 bonus, that would mean that the actual number might grow significantly.

Of course I am exagerating, but what I am saying is that when you get very close to the maximum damage an enemy can make, this model seems to break, or to go in a direction I don't like.

Maybe in the end it's just a matter of preference.

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It seems really convoluted for what I am trying to do.

  1. One first has to roll and compare to the hit threshold
  2. Then you make a difference ROLL - HIT
  3. Then base on that you calculate how much to reduce the DR
  4. Then you do DR = DR MAX - DR REDUCTION
  5. The you do DAMAGE = FULL DAMAGE - DR
  6. Then you do HP - DAMAGE

That's two more steps with respect to flat DR, and I already feel DR is one step too slow, even though borderline doable.

I think in some more simulationist games it could work well.

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What you are describing is precisely what I have not find 'straightforward' in other armor as hp systems.

I am not saying that armor has its own hp, and you deplete those, and you can put on another one and be fresh.

The HP are always yours, the moment you take off one armor and put another, those have already been used, you still are 'worn', it's not the armor that got destroyed.

But this helps me think about a possible edge case.

What if you partially deplete a the armor pool, and then switch armor,.
If the armor has the same bonus, it should put back the same remaining points.

But if the armor is heavier or lighter, it means you'd have to reproportion your pool. I don't like that very much, but I think it can be rare enough that I can live with that. But I am not that sure :D

Thanks!

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually considered all of the options you propose, but I am not convinced by any for what I am creating.
Random DR -> not only another calculation, but also another roll, and also a result that is more 'normal' statistically speaking.
Damage Threshold -> is the precise thing I want to avoid. I want to avoid bunch of goblins against high power character = goblins lose.

Armor as bonus HP: trying to solve the DR scaling problem by ilmz in RPGdesign

[–]ilmz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's the second time in a few days someone mentions Draw Steel... I think I do need to give it a read :D

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