Reducing adds - What would this mean in practice?

[zanshin]

In the shield combat thread Falconious put forward the idea of reducing adds to make combat more manageable.

This might well have some legs in it if people prefer that style. One of the issues for me with T&T has always been how ferociously deadly missile combat is - if you are hit you are taking a lot of damage unless your armour is phenomenal.

So , just a through experiment, if you were to get 1 add/10 points in STR, DEX, LK and SPD, what would that mean for T&T combat?

Lets similarly restrict monsters - they get just 1 add/10 MR.

The actual level of an attribute is still important, as stunts will work as normal - the attribute vs the saving roll. You will be alot more confident about a L2 save with an attribute of 19 vs an attribute of 10, even though both give you 1 add.

Some predictions

It would make stunts less risky - if you end up taking an enemies full damage you will have a better chance of surviving.

The variability of combat would be greater - dice would be a bigger part of the combat.

Straight fighting would be more attritional - it would come down to spite alot, which would again incentivise stunting.

Magic would be more comparatively powerful unless you changed the rules for that as well.

Any thoughts?

[zanshin]

The shield thread for sake of interest and to give credit where it is due

trollbridge.proboards.com/thread/3639/special-shield-rules?page=2

[gaptooth]

I'm sure you remember that I cut the concept of Adds out of Twisted Tunnels, my opinionated tribute game that draws from 1st edition T&T: Instead, your fighting dice are based directly on your attributes in that game. (Weapons are mostly for fictional positioning—enabling you to hit people who can't hit you, for example.)

In that game, it works, and it does introduce a little more uncertainty and danger into combat for both sides in a mismatched fight.

Setting Adds to Ability/10, dropping any remainder seems like a great way to accomplish something similar while sticking closer to T&T's structures, and I would love to try this out next time I'm running straight up T&T!

And I really need to finish up the Playtest Draft of Twisted Tunnels!

[gaptooth]

zanshin, another note: in 1st edition, getting hit by missile attacks was much less devastating than later editions: Player characters could subtract their Luck from the incoming damage.

That changed in later editions, and the inflated weapon dice and attributes also played a role in making missile attacks a Sudden Death, No Save! situation.

[zanshin]

gaptooth your encyclopaedic knowledge of editions puts me to shame. Also, deducting luck from incoming missile damage is neat, though does make it a bit of a god stat. But then, better to be lucky than good