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Re: (TFT) How often should TFT swords Break

It makes perfect sense to give different break chances to special makes of weapon.
However I think that increasing the chance to 1/36 confirmation on an 18 should be about the extreme. Requiring a second 18 after an 18, should only be for things that are supposed to be almost really impossible to destroy.
This from my stance in the previous discussion on broken weapon chances, which is:
* Yes the break chance may be way too high compared to the chance a weapon would simply break on ordinary contact.
* However, it seems clear to me that the chance of breaking must take into account all other things that could possibly happen during to-the-death combat, which includes all sorts of abuse. Most weapons can be destroyed by accidental extreme abuse which could happen in combat situations which are only covered in the die rolls. Most broken weapons in combat probably aren't the result of hitting the intended target, but of something like accidentally hitting a wall, applying great force to the side, twisting, getting stuck in something, a rare opportunity given to the enemy to break the weapon in an unusual way, etc. In those cases, the quality isn't all that important. The best weapon can be broken or rendered unusable if the right abuse can be applied to it, and quality doesn't do much to the chance of that happening by accident in combat.
Adding some saving through based on the owner's skill might be appropriate, though. 

PvK

At 04:41 AM 4/1/04 +0000, John J Hyland wrote:
I was reminded of this discussion at my last gaming session when the party broke 2 weapons. The first one was an ordinary quality weapon, and its breaking added to the color of the combat (IMO). As I've said, I am OK with this level of breakage, most weapons (like life) are cheap in TFT.
But the second weapon that broke was a "black Iron" sword of dwarvish make that the party got as a reward for a service to the dwarves. In TFT terms it is made of better metal and gets a +1 damage. When the 18 got rolled, we followed the rules in tft and roled one more die with a 50/50 chance of breakage, and the sword broke. For a cool weapon to break like that did seem somewhat anti-climactic.
So I am thinking of adjusting the SECOND roll for breaking a weapon, and was inspired by Erol's roll 3 dice again example below.
Rather than rolling 1 more die with different chances of breaking for different categories of masterly crafted swords, I thought I'd use more dice and only 6's that matter. And leave the 50/50 to regular "better crafted" swords that offer no combat bonus but are just a little sturdier.
For the better metal + damage swords, I think an additional die requiring a 6 would do the trick. So for the +1 sword last session after the 18, an additional die roll of a 6 would result in a break. 
For a +2 version, roll 2 more dice requiring a 12.
For a stunningly well made weapon of +1 dx and +2 dam, roll 3dice with an 18 meaning breakage. Similarly a well made blade that gets the +1 dex would be an extra die and break on a six. 

That way, regular (Disposable to Erol)weapons break 1 in 216
+1 weapons are 1 in 1,300
+2 are better than 1 in 7,500
And with 3 total pluses better than 1 in 45,000 - truly masterful craftsmenship in the TFT setting.
The weapons will break less frequently, but the break-check roll will come up often enough that the benefit of a better sword is obvious, and it sort-of fits in with the dice conventions in the game.
As for my players, the sword that broke is broken, they can take it as a RP challenge to address with the dwarvish king if they want to. But I think I'll float the variant second break roll rule next session to see how they react. 

In the mean time, how do you guys react?


John


------------  Thus spaketh Erol K. Bayburt ---------------
Or consider mining tools. How many hours do those last? If the rule is
changed from "break on a roll of 18" to "break only on an 18 confirmed by another 18" - i.e. 1/216th the "official" breakage rate - 

[snip]
Weapon breakage is something that has to be deduced via indirect methods, and I'm sure we could argue over whether the accurate rate is one in ten-thousand, one in one-hundred thousand, or one in one million (or even higher). But a little though ought to make it clear that one in 216 is way too low, except for "disposable" weapons. 
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