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Post by gandalftheplaid on Dec 12, 2011 17:28:22 GMT -8
I'm currently GMing with some players that have been living in the blunted edge world that is DnD4e. They're enjoying some of the SW one shots I've thrown at them, but they are concerned about longer term campaigns given that character death is so much easier. I can understand their concerns thus I'm looking to take a bit of the Savage out via some house rules. I'd be interested in any feedback.
Issue 1: Withdrawing from Melee. (All adjacent non shaken enemies get 1 free basic attack.) House Rule: Moving just 1 square does not provoke from 1 enemy, but it is not a free action.
Basically this is the Extraction edge with no roll, but with no ability to move your full pace. (Basically I don't want to penalize someone who wants to carefully back away in combat. I've had the opportunity to spar against multiple people at once and I can't say that staying in one spot ever felt like a good plan.)
Issue 2: Healing is a bitch. (Target's wounds count against the check.) House Rule: Targeted wound getting healed is not counted in the penalty. This basically amounts to a +1 to heal checks.
Has anyone else had urge to explore not-so-Savage Worlds options? If so, how did it go?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2011 19:28:55 GMT -8
I haven't messed around with any of the extraction rules, but I did make some house rules for healing: Emergency Treatment Requirements: Novice, Medicine d8+ , Healing 8+ You specialize in field trauma and providing emergency medical care. This knowledge allows y ou to attempt to Heal one character twice within the "Golden Hour". Each attempt takes 15 minutes. Taken from Tavis's on the SW forums: Medic Requirements: Healing d6+, Knowledge: Medicine d6+ You are trained in dealing with minor trauma and providing medical care. You may ignore one point of the patient's wound penalties when making healing rolls within the golden hour. Originally with Medic I was letting my Doctor not use any negatives and just use his base Heal skill. After playtesting this several games, I think that combination is too overpowered. My original intention was to at least give a dedicated medic the chance for at least two Heal rolls. According to SW:D only one Heal attempt per "healer" is possible... I didn't like that very much By combining Emergency Treatment and my original Medic, wounds are a complete non-issue. With no negatives, the Medic/Doctor of the group was able to fully heal everyones Wounds with pretty much one roll. I don't like it when combat damage has no consequence. In a non-magical world the adventurers should feel hurt after a particularly difficult fight. I think you will find allowing your Dr to attempt two Heal rolls with one less negative to be pretty balanced. If you are worried about Character Death in particular take a look at Triple Aces Pulp rules and how they cover "death" www.tripleacegames.com/Downloads/DaringTales/TAG31000A_PULP_RULES.pdfI guess to sum up my long winded response: I don't think its a deadly as you might believe (I thought the same way initially). With bennies uses to soak up wounds your characters can take alot more damage then it seems at first glance. Give them extra bennies if you want to make the combat a little less deadly, I think that might be easier then making a bunch of house rules
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jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
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Post by jpk on Dec 13, 2011 20:15:35 GMT -8
Honestly, I've not found Savage Worlds as written to be all that deadly so long as you keep in mind the way the system works versus others. For example, a guy who gets away from the party and becomes surrounded by little guys is in real danger in Savage Worlds (because, well, it's a dopey thing to do) but not in most D&D brands (because, well, "little guys" don't matter).
As far as healing goes, don't forget the Healer Edge (+2 to to Healing rolls) and cooperative rolls from healing assistants.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Dec 13, 2011 20:23:08 GMT -8
Thank you for the feedback. My initial thoughts to your suggestion is a concern for too much of a skill point tax to acheive it. To be fair to you, I'm new to SW and I've only been playing & running RPGs for a year. My opinions on this sort of stuff are still easily changed.
I'm still early in my experiment with my posted house rules so I'm going to go with them for now. I will however be coming back here and reviewing feedback again after another session or two on the chance I'll have a different opinion and want to use some of these ideas.
To be honest, the healing house rule is actually a lesser concern for me compared to the movement at melee modification. Still thank you again for your response.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Dec 13, 2011 20:30:49 GMT -8
I should have previewed before I replied as jpk slipped a reply in front of my last post before I noticed. ...For example, a guy who gets away from the party and becomes surrounded by little guys is in real danger in Savage Worlds (because, well, it's a dopey thing to do) but not in most D&D brands (because, well, "little guys" don't matter). My thanks to you as well for responding. I agree that one should get in trouble if he is on his own. I'm not looking to take away the gang up bonus, just ease up slightly on penalty for simply shifting in combat.
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Post by retrosuperhero on Jan 18, 2012 12:53:54 GMT -8
I'm a little late to the party here, but would it make sense to have each potential attacker (who would normally get a free attack at the retreating opponent) have to make a fighting or Agility roll to see if they can capitalize on the advantage?
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Jan 18, 2012 15:33:52 GMT -8
I'm a little late to the party here, but would it make sense to have each potential attacker (who would normally get a free attack at the retreating opponent) have to make a fighting or Agility roll to see if they can capitalize on the advantage? No worries on the lateness. I don't mind taking a while when stewing on a potential house rule. As to your suggestion: I think my biggest concern with that option is that it's causing the GM to make multiple rolls to see if he's then able to make more roll(s) for an attack. I don't mind rolling as a GM, but that just feels like a bit much to me. (I don't mind the rolling for the extraction edge because that is allowing the player to take off at full speed rather than just a few steps back.) This is just my gut talking, I've obviously not play tested your suggestion. I may yet find that my original idea is to nice to those wishing to fall back. I may end up looking for a roll to come into play. My group hasn't yet resumed since the holidays but they will in a few weeks. So it'll be a while until I get more SW experience to get a better feel for my concerns. I do appreciate your response and if I still feel as though I'd like to tweak stuff, I'm sure I'll be considering yours and everyone else's feedback.
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Post by retrosuperhero on Jan 18, 2012 15:40:42 GMT -8
Maybe only one of the attackers gets the opportunity?
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joegun
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 249
Preferred Game Systems: Savage Worlds
Currently Playing: Just GM'ing right now.
Currently Running: Rippers Resurrected, and Savage RIFTS!
Favorite Species of Monkey: Baboon
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Post by joegun on Jan 31, 2012 15:20:00 GMT -8
One thing to remember about the free attack when moving away. It is only when you leave Melee combat. So an easy solution to this is pick up a weapon with Range.
Technically if you can still hit them ( even if you don't ) you are still in Melee. So besides the extraction you can simply use a spear and back up a step ( or side step ) and you are still in melee, but they are out of range to hit you.
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Post by jazzisblues on Feb 8, 2012 6:39:52 GMT -8
The edges provided in the rules are a little weak in my opinion ... Don't get me wrong getting separated from the group and mobbed is a great way to get dead and it should be. However, having been in that situation (in SCA combat) there are things you can do in real life so why not mimic them in game?
Which lead me to a house rule that I find useful:
If a character sacrifices all of their attacks in a round and has a venue of escape (ie have a line of escape that does not put them back into base contact with an enemy) they can move 1/2 their movement rate without provoking an attack from an enemy.
Basically it costs them in that they don't get to attack at all (they are being totally defensive) and they don't get to move as far as they normally would.
Please use to your heart's content, fold spindle mutilate or otherwise break. I would like to hear how it works out for other people.
Cheers,
JiB
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