Re: (TFT) Interesting re: Thrown Pole Weapons

[raito@raito.com]

Ah, the semi-annual damage discussions... 

The usual mantra is that two-handed weapons need to deal more damage 
than single-hand weapons, or they're not a viable choice. Pole weapons 
do less than other 2-handers because they get double damage on a charge 
(and the same holds true for the rare single-hand pole weapon). 

More dice means more max damage, but lower minimum. More plus means 
less max, but higher minimum. 

1+2 vs. 2-1? If I know they're wearing leather or less, and I've got 
weapon poison, I'll take the ax every time. 

Sure the mace gets a slightly better average, but if I'm fighting a 
ST12 guy w/ no armour, the ax will take a maximum of 4 hits to kill 
him. The mace has a maximum of 12 hits to kill him. 

So do you want consistency, or maximum?

For a short while, I did experiment with allowing a sliding damage dice 
scale. For example, a ST 12 guy using a broadsword could do something 
other than 2D6 damage. 

He could choose to strike for 1+4 (min. 5, avg. 7.5, max 10), or 2+0 
(min. 2, avg. 7 max 12), or 3-4 (min 0, avg 6.5, max 14), or even 4-8 
(min 0, avg. 6, max. 16), on up. This was an attempt to simulate taking 
a high-percentage shot or a hail mary. 

Basically, one traded minimum and average damage for a greater maximum. 

It really didn't catch on, but some of you guys who want a more heroic 
campaign might like it better. 

Then again, I also experimented with allowing a defend option where the 
weapon used could either do like a standard defend and add a die to the 
attack roll, or take off a point of damage like a small shield. There, 
you're trading a possibility of having the attack miss altogether with 
an assurance of damage reduction. Again, it slowed things down a bit 
and didn't catch on. 

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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