Endurance and Skill Resolution System (Redux)

I just want to give this a clear write-up, adding some of the newer ideas regarding the system. After all, writing rules in a concise way makes them so much more accessible (and I have to admit, it's something I have to work on). This is about Endurance and skills (which are connected). I'm pretty happy with how those house rules work by now, but I never came around to write a short summary with all the changes and connections like I did for Weapon Mastery (Basic) a few weeks ago. I'll also link to the older versions of this house rules, but this here will be complete. So let's try this again...

Endurance and Exertion

Characters have CON -4 as Endurance (the endurance skill changes that, see below). Monsters and NPCs have 4+HD as Endurance*.

Basically every action a character could make, costs 1 point Endurance (a fight, an ability check, a skill check, etc.). Travel costs Endurance per mile depending on terrain** and weather. Only a full nights sleep or some sort of magical healing will recover those lost Endurance points.

Strenuous actions that need consecutive die rolls (like fighting or fleeing) exert a character faster. During the strenuous action they loose 1 point Endurance every round due to exertion. As they reach 0 Endurance, they can force themselves further with a successful CON-check (-4) or a skill-check (Endurance).

With zero Endurance a character counts as Exhausted. He is last in initiative and (playing with Rules Cyclpedia) his Weapon Mastery is down to Basic. MUs have to make an Int-check when casting or the spell (mana, whatever) is lost. Every round after that gives a cumulative -1 to AC, to-hit and check until it reaches the characters negative Endurance value (so if a character had 7 Endurance, his negative Endurance value would be -7).

After that the character goes down, breathing hard and only able to crawl.

The accumulated Endurance loss counts as basic exertion (a character had a busy day with already 4 actions, so for the next strenuous action the Endurance countdown starts with a -4). As soon as the strenuous action is over, the Endurance loss due to exertion is regenerated and all the character lost, is the one point because of the action (so the busy character in the example above would be at a -5 after the next fight).

If a strenuous action were to happen immediately after another strenuous action (fleeing after a fight, etc.), the DM is to decide how much breath the characters were able to catch again. An easy method to simulate this would be a roll with a d8 (or higher) with a threshold of 6 (lower that threshold by 1 for every 2 points a character is below zero). If the character rolls below 6, their Exertion is already recovered, if they roll 6 or more, that's the number of Endurance they had recovered before they have to exert themselves again***.

[Edit]: In addition to the damage due to a critical hit, the victim also looses 1d12 Endurance.

It should be very easy for a DM to keep track of those numbers for the players.

Skill Resolution System

Gathering skills is handled like the Rules Cyclopedia suggests:

"All 1st level characters start with four "blank" skills, often called slots. (When a skill is chosen, it stops being a slot.) Characters who have an Intelligence of more than 12 start with more than four skill slots. If the character has an Intelligence of 13-15, he gets 1 additional skill slot; if his Intelligence is 16-17, he gets 2 additional skill slots; and if his Intelligence is 18, he gets 3 additional skill slots." (Rules Cyclopedia, p. 81)

Characters get another skill slot every 4 levels. Skills are connected to ability scores. Which ability score is relevant at the time depends on the circumstances the skill is used under (a magic-user could intimidate another magic-user using INT instead of STR, etc.). The basic skill resolution is:

ABILITY SCORE + 1d20 versus DIFFICULTY

Unlearned skill use will get a penalty of -4 or more. At best players are unaware of the difficulty they're rolling against.

Skill checks and Exertion

If a skill check is not successful a player might decide to exert his character to get there. The difference between the failed roll and the difficulty (say the difficulty was 30, the characters ability score was 13 and the rolled a 5, exerting himself will cost him 12 points of Endurance to make it). This will cost him one additional point Endurance to the one for the action itself. This applies to every skill check (even searching a library or reading can be exerting).

Here, too, a character can force himself below zero Endurance with a successful check on CON (as the skill, CON -4 without the skill). See above for further penalties.

Skill Mastery

The abilities/skills a Thief already has are: Backstab (melee), Backstab (ranged), Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth (moving, hiding, keeping a low profile or doing something like picking a lock in total silence...) and Sabotage.Using the skill system of the Rules Cyclopedia, every class has access to all skills but backstab (which even for the thief is only activated if chosen for skill mastery). 

At character creation a player of a thief may now choose 4 abilities/skills for Skill Mastery. So skills like Disguise or Alchemy are, too, relevant for Skill Mastery if the thief chooses to do so (but backstab is only activated if chosen, which might be done at higher levels, of course).

Basic Skill Mastery is one additional D6 either for the skill check or as backstab damage. Every 3 levels a Thief gets one more point Skill Mastery to distribute. Progression is: Basic +1D6, Skilled +1D8, Expert +1D10, Master+1D12 and Grand Master +1D20.

Echo applies.

So I hope this helps in understanding how I integrated those rules into D&D without bloating the system. The example I wrote about killing a horse should be much more transparent now, too (it's still pretty accurate, the only changes I made here were for characters...). It should be compatible with most (if not all) D&D variants up to (but not including) 4E.

A complete list of skills is on my to-do list.

*As an alternative one could roll a d6 instead the 4, interpreting the result as something between -1 and 5 to simulate activities of the day of an encounter. So it'd be 1d6 + HD...

**Suggested Endurance loss per mile:

Travel Mode      Trail    Clear   Hills   Mountains Desert

Foot              1/3      1/2     1/1       1/1      1/1
On a horse        1/12     1/10    1/10      1/8      1/4

Horse, riding     1/6      1/4     1/3       1/2      1/1
Horse, war        1/5      1/3     1/2       1/2      1/1

*** Using a higher die (a d10, a d12 or a d20) would allow for a higher regeneration, but the chances to roll below 6 get worse the higher the die.

The 3D Shifting Dungeon (in a DM's Head)

Still a bit vague on the edges, but here is my take on a shifting dungeon. An example will follow tomorrow, so this could be seen as a thought experiment about dungeons. 

Against the 2D dungeon experience

The basics (pic. 1)

Maybe you'll think I'm crazy, but I wrote about this two days ago and the issue didn't let go. So when a buddy of mine was over for beer and movies, we asked ourselves what rules a shifting 3D dungeon might need. First thing we came up with: people who love mapping, will hate this. It's just not possible. Is that a problem? I don't think so. Players should not have the security of a map (at least not all the time...). All they need is a sense of direction or some tool for navigation and maybe even the feeling that a dungeon is, well, complex. Don't get me wrong, maps are nice. But they are also unsatisfying.

And what does a DM need? He'll describe it anyway, so what are the nice pictures for? What he needs is a feeling what the stone is like, are there ornaments or narrow passages. Stuff like that He needs to be able to get a feel for the place, then he can paint a picture using words. Alright, if the layout is two dimensional, it is usefull. But is it ever? Should it be? I've decided to go another way. The main dungeons in my campaign will have shifting elements.

How to sabotage and navigate

Those shifting areas have a powersource (magic or divine). The game already delivers possibilities to find such a source (scrying, some cleric spells) and research is also a viable option. A thief should be able to get there and sabotage* it so that it might not shift for some time (not destroying it, that should be very difficult and result in a very big bang). So the wizard and the thief will be busy, maybe even the cleric to some extent. Any inhabitants of or near the dungeon will keep the fighter busy, too. Dwarves might be very useful in this, but that goes without saying.

Move those tiles! (pic. 2)

The group in the shifting dungeon

Alright, a DM will have an idea how to describe this dungeon. This being part of a narration, it is very flexible. F**k those 10' corridors, it's about tension. The players, if they are somehow in the middle of this, might choose directions hoping the thief, the magic user, the cleric and/or the dwarf are right about the general direction. Small passages, stairs, maybe even deadends and some crushed bones are part of this.

As soon as this starts moving, a DM needs to know a few things:

Step 1: Assign range to x, y and z

The number of moving parts in every direction. This is very abstract, but that's good, because we're working with dice here. So the first step is to assign a number to x, y and z. It's the number of units a group has to move to get from one side to the other.

Step 2: Assign movement and direction

The next step is to specify how fast and where those units move. So x, y, z and the direction get a dice (see pic. 1). 1D8 for directions: 1 x, y, z = +; 2 x, y = +, z = -; 3 x, z = +, y = -; 4 y, z = +, x = -; 5 x, y, z = -; 6 x, y = -, z = +; 7 x, z = -, y = +; 4 y, z = -, x = + (see pic. 2). Another idea is to use a D10 with 9 and 10 leading to the source (9 = they can see it, 10 = leads directly there).

Step 3: Set difficulty

The last touch is to give it some features, like a pattern, safe passages, hidden rooms and a method to give them pain. This determines the difficulty of the dungeon. Big, slow moving units might get them lost, but not kill them, for instance. I'd give them a DEX-check (DEX + 1D20 with a difficulty somewhere between 20 and 45 (45 being nearly impossible and rare), everything under the difficulty would be damage (save for half, with a possibility of getting separated from the group or, worse case scenario, stuck/crushed). If there any traps (that is a unit that moves to bottomless) is as easy set as giving it coordinates. If somebody is controlling the dungeon, he might even be able to shift the group in there (if he is aware of them).

Not moving, but still complex?

If shifting is not an option, steps one and three are still good to go. Navigation is key then. They get in somewhere and they want to get out somewhere. The DM rolls x, y, z as intended, the navigators roll shifts the result in one direction. The result still gives the DM something to tell (up, down, left, right, distance). Traps and features are still fixed with coordinates.

The dungeon as enemy?

That is the gist of it. I'll do an example tomorrow to illustrate it, but for now this is enough to digest, I guess.

*  Skills might be a good option, but that varies from DM to DM.

How to kill a horse (Again about Endurance...)

This is not about animal cruelty. It's rather a dry-run for the Endurance system I proposed here and here (and thanks to the comments by 1D30!).

I really hope somebody will take the time to read all this (and maybe comment?). Sorry for the huge post, I guess (it's not what I meant with "Again about Endurance").

After doing a little research, I realized it's hard to find rules for extreme travel situations like forced marching or how far you can push a horse without killing it. This might be due to the fact that to many factors need to be considered or that it doesn't happen that often in a game and a rule of thumb is enough to make it happen.

But it should be possible to estimate the breaking point for an individual (be it character, npc or monster) derived from actuall play and I think it should have a place in the game (not just a number in a table...).

So what do we have?

Endurance (very short summary):

• Characters use CON/2
• Monsters/NSCs use 4 + HD
• A fight costs 1 Endurance (you loose more in a fight, but it's recovered fast, see links above)
• Skill checks cost 1 Endurance
• Endurance is only recovered with a full days rest (or magic)

Travel rates will be taken from the Rules Cyclopedia as a guideline for the loss of 1 Endurance per miles travelled:

As per Rules Cyclopedia. p. 88

Interesting part:

"The travel rates listed here are possible but will kill the horse if only one is used for the entire trip. Typically, a rider only manages to achieve these rates by riding one-third the distance listed and trading his horse in twice at way stations for fresh mounts. At the end of the day, he and the three horses are exhausted, but all are alive. If a rider does not intend to kill or exhaust his horse, he should use the travel rates listed for the war horse instead." (RC, p.88, Travelling Rates by Terrain Table)

This assumes a rate of 72 miles/day under ideal circumstances (36 miles/day with a war horse or travelling without killing a riding horse). Is this realistic? Google agrees mostly, so I'll take it as a basis and go from there.


Now some calculations and additions to make it fit.

• After 36 miles/day a riding horse is exhausted (normal road/weather for travel).
• Having an Endurance of 6 this means it looses 1 point Endurance every 6 miles travel.
• Doubling the speed doubles the loss of Endurance, so with a travelling rate of 72 miles/day it looses 12 Endurance (which is the maximum before the horse is in mortal danger).
• A first skill check is needed to keep the horse going after it reaches zero Endurance (36 miles)
• After 72 miles a second skill check is due, after that it needs a successfull skill check for every six miles (the rider looses 1 Endurance for every skill check).
• The rider additionally looses 1 Endurance for 12 miles travel.
• So if the rider in our example wants to get there (see below), he has to succeed in 5 skill checks or the horse struggles and goes down before he arrives.
• Any mount can be forced a number of times equal to it's HD and is entiteled to a save versus death to survive the treatment, after that it just drops and dies with the first failed skill check (same goes for humans, etc.).

Obstacles

With 36 miles/day being the suggested norm, I'd go for 3 possible random encounters on the road (ca. 3 times the norm). Each encounter could force a skill check to avoid and costs Endurance.



This leaves us with the following basics to apply the idea everywhere.

Having four legs is a boon, so a horse would only loose halv the Endurance a human would, while sitting on a horse makes a human only loose half of what the horse is about to loose. Other than that I took the base rate (36 miles for being exhausted) for a given factor (riding horse, 2 HD) and divided it by the Endurance (4 + 2 HD = 6). So here are a few examples how it turns out (based on the table above):

Travel Mode      Trail    Clear   Hills   Mountains Desert
Foot              1/3      1/2     1/1       1/1      1/1
Horse, riding     1/6      1/4     1/3       1/2      1/1
Horse, war        1/5      1/3     1/2       1/2      1/1

With this on hand it is possible to see how far an army might get with forced marching and how many dead would be left behind.

Or one could try and see if a courier would be able to deliver a urgent message in a totally random setting and with a satisfying result...

So this is a small setting and a dry-run.

-------------------------------------------

Let's build a course for our courier. I used the always fantastic Abulafia to generate the background information and gimp for the map. This is what I got:

Cave Bridge is a dangerous farmland in the frozen north.
The weather there is usually almost windy and warm out (because of the Letchhead Gulf).
It is ruled by an ancient vampire (Count Shrop).
The people of this domain are cannibals (a cult that worships the Count and eats the sucked-out victims of him and his vampires).
This domain is famous because it is a place of uncanny magical occurances (see the red skulls).
The laws of this domain are harsh and unjust. Punishments for misdeeds tend to be almost nonexistent.
Recently, the land has experienced the flight of a prince and his forbidden lover into hiding .

Cave Bridge (I'd go for 10 miles per hex)

Hexmap Key

Castle, Towns and Settlements:

0500 Shropcastle
0800 Scholar's Peak
0401 Muntonburgh
0201 Inverby
0704 Chesterwich Farm
0802 Rustyhickory
0305 Trebluff
0505 Havster Springs
0006 Lydstanham
0808 Confidantsbarton Springs
0905 Axefathom
0208 Tower of the Relentless
0508 Monk's Vale

Landmarks:

0205 Ivory Arch
0208 Barber's Cove
0303 Dolphin Kurgan
0304 Ruins of Bird Haven
0306 Northwood Bluff
0401 Queen's Bridge
0403 Tree of the Banshees
0507 Bear Head Trail
0507 Bear Menhir
0508 Monk's Vale
0601 Dishonor Cave
0701 Neophyte Mines
0701 Brazen Hill

Areas (land):

0505, 0506, 0605 - 0607, 0704 - 0708, 0807 - 0809 Tinker's Flatland
0502, 0602, 0603, 0702, 0703, 0802 Hog Forest
0305, 0405, 0406, 0504 Griffon Morass
0403, 0404, 0405, 0503 The Marsh of Destruction
0306, 0307, 0408 Berkway Forest
0201, 0202, 0301 Dawn Delta
0006, 0106 Owlbear Isle
0204, 0205 Westlock Archipelago

Areas (sea):

0000 - 0009, 0100 - 0109 Letchhead Gulf
0200 - 0207 Titan Coast
0208, 0209 Wolf Coast
0105, 0206, 0207 Bullsmore Channel
0003, 0004 Hunter's Sargasso

-------------------------------------------

The Course:

Our courier starts at the Wolf Coast from the Tower of the Relentless and aims to reach Muntonburgh as fast as possible. He wants to arrive within the day.

Using the roads available, he has to pass two towns (Trebluff, Havster Springs) and use Queen's Bridge to get there. It's round about 100 miles.

This means he has to travel through Berkway Forest, the Griffon Morass and, finally, the Marsh of Destruction.

And now we deliver an importand message

We need a normal horse and a skilled Courier to make this happen. If it is a player character, one starts with the distance he wants to cover and goes from there (maybe even with an individual horse, healing potions, etc.). In this example I'll keep it as simple as possible (with no random encounters):

The Horse: 2 HD, 6 Endurance

The Courier: 3 HD, 7 Endurance, DEX 12 (riding +5)

First skill check (Courier Endurance after 36 miles = 4):

Dex 12 + 5 (riding) + 1D20 (15) vs. DC 25 (success)

Second skill check (Courier Endurance after 72 miles and one skill check = 0):

Dex 12 + 5 (riding) + 1D20 (18) vs. DC 25 (success)

Third skill check (Courier Endurance after 78 miles and two skill checks = -1):

Dex 12 + 5 (riding) - 1 (Endurance) + 1D20 (19) vs. DC 25 (success)

Fourth skill check (Courier Endurance after 84 miles and three skill checks = -3):

Dex 12 + 5 (riding) - 3 (Endurance) + 1D20 (18) vs. DC 25 (success)

Fifth skill check (Courier Endurance after 90 miles and four skill checks = -4):

Dex 12 + 5 (riding) - 4 (Endurance) + 1D20 (12, close call...) vs. DC 25 (success)

Sixth skill check (Courier Endurance after 96 miles and five skill checks = -6):

Dex 12 + 5 (riding) - 6 (Endurance) + 1D20 (14) vs. DC 25 (success)

So they manage to arrive in Muntburgh, the courier is dead tired, the horse stops and drops dead. I'm happy with that, it is as it should be. But don't try this at home...

The Thief (Reskinning Classes: Part 2)

It's about time...

...someone inspires me to finish my thoughts on the Thief (and reskin it like the MU some time ago...). With all this writing about it, -C finally hits a sweet spot for me in (basically) handling the Thief abilities like Weapon Mastery in the Rules Cyclopedia. Wuhu! It's genius! Let's reskin the Thief.

(funny pic to emphasize how I feel about this)

Basic assumptions for The Game.

In game terms I found it always somewhat unrealistic that Thieves have no access to magic other than using magic items and scrolls at some point, but have no problems handling magic traps. There are just no other connectors. So using this in our game Thieves are able to cast spells with a quarter of the abilities a MU has and more oriented on physical spells like spider climb or jumping (other spells need more Mana). Works out fine so far.

With a skill system in charge, using Thief Skills as they are presented in D&D is not very ideal. On the other hand using the system presented as Weapon Mastery in the Rules Cyclopedia to enhance existing skills for the Thief is just what I was looking for to make this work.

Skill Mastery:

• The abilities/skills a Thief has access to are: Backstab (melee), Backstab (ranged), Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth (moving, hiding, keeping a low profile or doing something like picking a lock in total silence...) and Sabotage.
• Using the skill system of the Rules Cyclopedia, every class has access to other skills. So skills like Disguise or Alchemy are, too, relevant for Skill Mastery.
• At character creation a player may now choose (like with Weapon Mastery) 4 of those abilities/skills for Skill Mastery.
• Basic Skill Mastery is one additional D6 either for the skill check or for backstab damage.
• Every 3 levels a Thief gets one more point Skill Mastery to distribute.
• Progression is: Basic +1D6, Skilled +1D8, Expert +1D10, Master +1D12 and Grand Master +1D20.
• Echo applies.

Thief reskinned*:

1. Take the Thief as written.
2. Divide ability to Backstab.
3. Divide Thief Skills.
4. Add Skill Mastery (this includes Backstab again).
5. Add 4 skills (Acrobatics, Sabotage, Sleight of Hand and Stealth in my case).
6. Add ability to cast spells (like 1/4 MU, first spells at Level 4).

New xp value to reach level 2: 1600 xp

List for spell level 1 (proposal, 1D10 for random pleasure):

1. Affect Normal Fires 
2. Audible Glamour 
3. Change Self 
4. Charm Person 
5. Comprehend Languages* 
6. Dancing Lights 
7. Featherfall 
8. Jump 
9. Sleep 
10. Spider Climb

This is it. I think it is highly compatible with the Rules Cyclopedia and any hack close enough to that.

*Again using this pearl of wisdom.

Die Hard 0e (or: Exhausted Characters and Skills)

I know, second post in October, something is wrong with me... Anyway, now more about Endurance.

Something about skills doesn't bode well!

I like the basic ideas of skills (here is my take on it) in a game. After all they give some depth to the world and the characters therein. BUT, and this is a known problem, they tend to either bloat the game or they produce unrealistic/unsatisfying results after the roll, basicly because one roll not only encapsulates complex processes but could also end them abrupt.

Wait! There is an easy fix for that!

True enough, handled with care skills might just work fine. Mostly, if you think about it, it's about the subtleties. You don't succed in your climb check? You just don't fall of the cliff, but you get a save to catch yourself midways and a little damage. Stuff like that, you make it part of the tension you try to establish in the game. And then you have stuff like automatic successes, alternating difficulty settings and nice houserules like the one Zak S. introduced in January.

So what's wrong with that?

Well, even if a failed skill check allows another skill check (or a partly success or whatever rule you apply), it basicly means the character should have succeeded in the first place. Plus: after the roll it's not the players decision what happens next, but the DMs. I think, the longer a player is able to influence what is happening to his character, the better. Especially with skills that a character is more likely to succeed if he is inclined to do so. This is where Endurance comes in handy.

Give the players the decision if they fail or not...

So this is how we do it: Using a skill costs one point Endurance (it being one point, it won't be regenerated before a full rest restores all Endurance). Whenever a players fails in a skill check (other than with a critical failure, that is), he is allowed to use Endurance to achieve  a success. If this puts his endurance to a negative, he gets to save with the negative value as a penalty and the RESULT is where the DM reacts (this gives me another idea*).
In a team effort he looses one point less Endurance per player involved (but at least one point). And again, 10 minutes after the skill challenge, all but one point Endurance are back (if a player used his option to fatigue himself, he effectively lost two points: one for the skill challenge and one to use Endurance to succeed). Should work with simple attribute checks and definitely works with the 3rd edition skill system.

But how to use this in The Game?

Endurance works for the body AND the mind. So even a research check (something that should bring a result other than "Sorry, you find nothing..." anyhow) might be exhausting for a character, because he pushes himself to get results. So after all this works with nearly any skill check a game could come up with. It goes without saying, that it also takes longer to get an result, if you exhaust yourself. And still, failure is an option, if a character is pushed into negative Endurance, but then, as stated above, exist enough rules to handle a situation like this.
Furthermore, if the players wind down after a fight/skill check, this is easy for a DM to keep track of and another easy tool for flavour texts. It's also an active and easy to handle ressource for the players and the benefits outweigh the detriments (would it be the other way around, they would rest even more than they already do...), while the disadvantages not only still have an impact on the game, but also give it a more gritty feel.

*Addendum: Desperate Blow - Use 1d10 Endurance as a to hit with your next attack

Rolling high (oh... it's about skills)

Ze Rules

We play an (extremly houseruled) version of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. As an (original) optional rule one might decide to play with skills. It reads like this:

"All 1st level characters start with four "blank"

skills, often called slots. (When a skill is chosen,

it stops being a slot.)

Characters who have an Intelligence of more

than 12 start with more than four skill slots. If

the character has an Intelligence of 13-15, he

gets 1 additional skill slot; if his Intelligence is

16-17, he gets 2 additional skill slots; and if his

Intelligence is 18, he gets 3 additional skill slots.

Different things determine which skills are

chosen to fill the character's slots. The player

may choose some or all of the skills to fill his

available skill slots. Or the DM may insist that

the player select certain skill choices appropriate

for the character background the player has chosen." (Rules Cyclopedia, p. 81)

So each skill is based on one of the abilities and to succeed  in a given task related to a skill one has to roll under that ability score. When improving skills, a player gets an additional +1 to the ability score every time he chooses to take the skill. And you get every 4 levels a new skill point to distribute. That's it in a nutshell.

What's not to like?

It's one of those things the 3rd Edition DID get right: always roll high. You do it when you attack something, you do it when you have to make a saving throw. Only ability and skill checks have to be low to get it done. I don't like it.

What's to like?

That the skill is nothing else but the actual ability, not based on a bonus. It's not a completely new system but takes the core rules and adds some flavour.

You start with 4 skill slots and get one more every 4 levels after that? That's nice! Because if it doesn't happen too often, it doesn't get to important. The ability scores are able to manage most challenges, after all.

What did we do with it?

• Every skill check is 1d20 + ability, the aim is 20 or higher for an easy task, 25 or higher for a moderate task  and 30 or higher for something really difficult.
• If a player doesn't have the right skill, the check is 1d20 + halve the appropriate ability score against the difficulty.
• Instead of getting a +1 for taking a skill two times, the players get a +5 to the ability (and again +5 for the third time, etc.).
• A roll of 1 is always a failure, a roll of 20 is always a success. Like it should be, I might add.

It's a simple but flexible solution and it gets the job done.