Date: 28 Dec 1993
By: Timothy Miller
<tjm@fozzy.brooks.af.mil>
The standard method of recording damage in Section 4.7 allows characters to be nickle and dimed to death; for example, on a character with Fair Damage Capacity, a hit of 5 points marks off 2 Scratches, 2 Hurts, and one Very Hurt. Under 4.7 as written, the next Scratch to such a character would count as another Very Hurt, and another would Incapacitate him. This is inappropriate for more epic-style gaming, where characters need to absorb a lot of damage more easily. Simply increasing the number of Wound slots does not rectify this inadequacy.
In addition to adding Wound slots, damage is marked by counting used and unused Wound slots, starting from the first Scratch slot, until the number of damage points taken have been counted, then marking a Wound at that level of severity. If no slot at that severity is available, a Wound one severity higher is marked.
For example, Dim the Wit, Fighter, Fair Damage Capacity (with doubled Scratch slots), takes 3 hits for 4, 8, and 9 point each. The 4 point blow marks a single Scratch (counting 4 from the bottom); the second blow marks a Very Hurt (counting 8 from the bottom, including the marked box from the previous wound); and the third blow marks an Incapacitated (counting 9 from the bottom, including the 2 marked boxes). If Dim were to take two more 9 or 10 point blows, he would mark the last Incapacitated Wound and one Near Death Wound.
Note that this still allows for that stunning single-stroke killing blow; also, a character that has 1 Hurt won't have Wally the Wimp mark him up to Very Hurt with only two 1 damage point blows.
Date: 28 Dec 1993
By: Timothy Miller
<tjm@fozzy.brooks.af.mil>
This system is based on the following premises:
Every character should have a Power attribute (or Magic Potential, or Talent, etc.), with a default level of Terrible.
In order to be able to perform magic of any degree, the hopeful magician needs to have a Casting Skill, with a default of Non-Existant. This skill is not capped as in Addenda 7.1 FUDGE Magic. However, this is a fairly broad skill grouping, and can either be broken down into Enchantment, Summoning, Evocation, etc., or have its development cost increased as per Section 2.62 Skills.
There are two types of Magic Resistance: Personal and Global. Global Magic Resistance is the resistance of the local manna to being manipulated by the magician. A default of Fair is good for average levels of magic in campaigns.
Personal Magic Resistance is the resistance of a living being to being directly affected by a spell, and is equal to that being's Power attribute. This would come into play against spells like Charm Person or Polymorph Other; i.e., any spell that attempts to alter the target in some way, but not spells that call into being an effect that in turn alters the target, like Ligtning Bolt.
When a mage attempts to cast a spell he describes the effect to the GM. The GM assigns a Difficulty level to the spell from the standard range of Terrible .. Superb. She also determines duration of the effect and casting time. The GM and player may attempt to adjust these.
Most spell casting is resolved as an Unopposed Action of the magician's Relative Ability, with the degree task equal to the Global Magic Resistance. Only spells that directly alter the target and would involve Personal Magic Resistance are resolved as Opposed Actions.
When the player casts the spell, he adds the numbers for his Power attribute, relevant Casting Skill, and subtracts the Spell Difficulty; this result, referenced on the degree scale, is his Relative Ability.
For example, Pippin the Mage is attempting to cast a Good Difficulty spell; he has Great Power and Good skill for this type of spell. Pippin's Relative Ability would be:
Great + Good - Good = Great, or +2 + (+1) - (+1) = +2
If the Difficulty was Poor, his Relative Ability would be:
Great + Good - Poor = Legendary + 1
+2 + (+1) - (-2) = +5
If the spell is determined to be of Unopposed type, the player calculates his Relative Ability and rolls against a degree task equal to the Global Magic Resistance. Failure of this roll is discussed in 7.854 Spell Failure, below.
If the spell is determined to be of Opposed type, the Caster calculates his Relative Ability and rolls; Target Rolls his Power attribute, possibly modified by other Traits (i.e., a high Wisdom grants a bonus against Charm spells, a low Intelligence gives a negative modifier to an ESP spell, etc.) If Target equals Caster's roll (assuming that Caster succeeded in beating the Global Magic Resistance; see 7.854 below) the spell is dispelled. If the Caster's degree was higher, the spell takes effect, and the intensity of effect is proportional to the Relative Degree. If Target wins the action, the spell is reflected back at Caster.
In this case, Caster must roll his Power, modified as above, with a degree task of the Spell Difficulty, since the mage has a better chance to resist a spell he wove himself. On a failure, the spell effects him; on an equal result, the spell is dispelled; and on a higher result, the spell bounces to a random target in the vicinity. This random target also gets a resistace roll the same way as the original target, but on any success the spell is dispelled.
Note that the Target may be performing other actions while resisting an opponent's spell, including casting a spell at his attacker. If Target is attempting to Dispel Caster's spell, he gets no resistance roll should the Dispel attempt fail.
If the player, in casting any spell, rolls a degree lower than the Global Magic Resistance, the spell misfires and the player must roll his Constitution (or Body Damage Capacity, or Wisdom, etc., at GM's discretion) at a degree task equal to the Spell Difficulty to contain the spell energy. The penalty for failing this roll is left up to the GM, but it is suggested that the character take a Wound up to and including Death and suffer a temporary reduction in Power.
If when casting a spell, the magician's Relative Ability is lower than his Power attribute, his Power is lowered to equal the Relative Ability, and is recovered at 1 level per hour or at the GM's discretion. This penalty is applied regardless of whether or not the spell succeeds.
Should the magician's Power drop below Terrible at any time, he lapses into a coma. He must roll his Constitution (or Toughness, et. al.) with a degree task of Good to awaken, and then will recover Power levels at 1 day per level, or at GM's discretion.
If the magician fails this roll, he suffers an immediate and permanent -1 to Constitution and Power, down to a minimum od Terrible in each. This penalty applies to the attribute maximums, and not their current levels, unless their current level is higher than the new maximum.
For example, Sucker the Sorcerer, Power Fair, Casting Fair, attempts to cast a Legendary Spell in a Fair Resistance Area. His Relative Ability is calculated as Terrible - 1. By some fluke he manages to barely get the spell off (he rolled a 12), but his Power immediately drops to Terrible - 1, and Sucker drops unconcious. His Constitution is only Mediocre, and rolling he gets a Mediocre result (Lady Luck is fickle). Sucker now only has a possible Constitution of Poor-- and a current Constitution of Poor as well-- and a maximum Power of Mediocre.
Note that unless the GM dictates otherwise, Strain will not kill a character; however, it can rapidly turn a mage into a non-mage.
A magician may attempt to Dispel any spell he comes across, either permanent, a finished spell, or one in the act of casting. This essentially done by pulling the spell apart by brute force. The dispeller rolls his Power with a degree task equal to the Difficulty of the spell to be dispelled; on any success the spell is dispelled. This has a higher success rate than simply relying on Personal Magic Resistance, since the degree is the difficulty and not the rolled degree, which may be higher.
Negative modifiers should be applied when dispelling permanent spells or magic items. Positive modifiers should apply when the spell is currently in the process of being cast, or the spell was cast by the person attempting to dispell it.
Level Difficulty ----- ---------- Cantrips Mediocre 1,2 Fair 3,4 Good 5,6 Great 7,8 Superb 9 Legendary +1 +1
Date: 28 Dec 1993
By: Timothy Miller
<tjm@fozzy.brooks.af.mil>
This system is a very simplistic skeleton for adding psionics while limiting their effectiveness so as not to upset game play. Though more limited, psionic abilities are still quite capable of being applied to great effect at the right time.
Each Psionic Power should be taken as a Superpower, or, if the GM is generous, as a Gift. In addition to the talents that the player has chosen, the player must also take the Superpower (or Gift) if Psionic Ability. Psionic Ability gives the character the ability to tap those other talents he has avaiable.
No character without Psionic Ability may utilize Psionics. However, a character with Psionic Powers may gain Psionic Ability via specialized training, or utilize his power under extreme stress (i.e., life-or-death situations), or may have his powers used by another psionic character with a power that lets him tap other's unrealized powers.
Each psionic power must be associated with an attribute of the power's possessor that is used in resolving psionic actions.
For each power, the user must also have an associated skill in utilizing that power.
When using a power, the psionic describes the desired effect and the GM assigns a difficulty and decides which power would be used. Psionic actions are either Opposed or Unopposed, depending on whether the target is alive or not.
A psionic's Relative Ability is calculated as the sum of the Associated Attribute, Skill, less the Difficulty. For example:
Assoc. Attr. + Skill - Difficulty Good + Good - Great = Fair +1 + (+1) - (+2) = +0
The character calculates his Relative Ability, and rolls with a degree task equal to whatever the GM decides is fair.
The user rolls his Relative Ability. If the target is resisting with a psionic power of his own, the GM assigns a difficulty, the target calculates his own Relative Difficulty, and rolls.
If the target is resisting with a non-psionic skill, he rolls the same attribute that the offensive power is associated with, plus the bonus afforded by the relevant skill.
If the target is unaware, or not resisting at all (unconcious, etc.), the target rolls the attribute that the offensive power is associated with.
If a character has a power that allows him to use unrealized powers in the people around him, he must have a skill in using that power and a skill in using the power he is attempting to activate. The user must roll an Opposed action on his controlling power against the person being used; this might be modified if the subject is willing or not.
If successful, the Relative Ability for the activated power is calculated using the Associated Attribute of the possessor of the power and the Skill of the activator of the power, and the resulting action is resolved normally.
Each use of a psionic power reduces the associated attribute by one level when the power is finished, i.e., after the mind reading, or cellular regeneration, etc.
Note that if a power is remotely activated, the activator suffers only the strain of his controlling power, and the subject suffers the strain of the power activated.
Reduced attributes are recovered at a default of 1 level per day, unless the GM decides otherwise.