Re: (TFT) Polyhedral Weapon Heresy

[Sgt Hulka <hulkasgt@yahoo.com>]

Thanks to everyone for the replies/reactions. I think there have been some pretty valid criticisms leveled. I still think there is validity to the idea, but it would require a lot more research and attention to detail in order to properly execute it.
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 8/7/13, Sgt Hulka <hulkasgt@yahoo.com> wrote:

 Subject: (TFT) Polyhedral Weapon Heresy
 To: tft@brainiac.com
 Date: Wednesday, August 7, 2013, 8:06 AM
 
 Different weapons get used for
 different reasons, and they effect armor differently. In
 medeival manuscripts, sometimes knights were advised to use
 their swords as clubs instead of blades against heavily
 armed opponents. That's what AD&D tried to get at with
 its complicated weapon versus armor matrixes. 
 
 It has occurred to me you could accomplish the same thing,
 in a much less complicated manner, by adjusting the damage
 dice. And -- here's the crazy thought for TFT -- using
 polyhedral dice. One of TFT's strengths is the use of the
 bell curve for rolling to hit. So why not use that same bell
 curve for weapon damage in order to give each weapon a
 distinctive feel against certain armors?
 
 Here's the first assumption. A ST 9 weapon does an average
 of 4 damage. Average damage increases by 1 point for every
 strength thereafter. 
 
 The second assumption is that a blunt weapon does very
 consistent damage. No matter where you hammer someone with a
 club or mace, no matter which peace of armor deflects it,
 you're still gonna ring their bell. Basically, if you get it
 past their shield and land a solid blow with a big enough
 weapon, you're going to hurt them. For this reason blunt
 weapons do 1d3 damage plus a fixed integer. The integer
 basically represents the typical armor the blunt weapon can
 damage. I.e., a threshing flail with an interger of 3 will
 always hit hard enough to hurt someone wearing chainmail.
 The 1d3 represents the chance of missing the shield. But
 that same threshing flail is unlikely to hurt someone
 wearing Plate Armor.
 
 The third assumption is that hefted bladed weapons (axes)
 will do tremendous damage with a solid blow against
 vulnerable spots, but will deflect very easily. For this
 reason they are the "swingiest" weapons. They don't use a
 bell curve; every possible point of damage is equally likely
 as every other one. They use a single polyhedral die. Since
 they use a single die, their average is 0.5 higher than any
 other weapon in their ST class. But they also have a strong
 probility of doing less damage than any other weapon in
 their ST class. So a throwing axe does 1D10 damage. That's
 5.5 average damage, which is better average damage than the
 threshing flail. It can hurt someone wearing Plate Armor if
 it rolls a 10. But it can be deflected by a small shield if
 it rolls a 1.
 
 The fourth assumption is that swords are the bread and
 butter of fantasy adventure games. They should be the
 comprimise between the swingy probabilities of the axe and
 the steady probabilities of the clubs. These stay where they
 are in the Fantasy Trip already. 
 
 Combining all those assumptions, I would propose the
 following alternative weapon damage progression for TFT:
 
 ST 9 (Average damage 4)
 Club 1D3+2
 Rapier 1d6 (same as by the book, a weak weapon since its
 average damage is actually only 3.5)
 Hatchet 1D8
 
 ST 10 (Average damage 5)
 Threshing Flail 1D3+3 
 Cutlass (Backsword, Machete, Seax) 2D6-2 (same as by the
 book, but 0 damage should be possible)
 Throwing Axe 1D10
 
 ST 11 (Average damage 6)
 Mace 1D3+4
 Shortsword (Gladius, Knight's Arming Sword) 2D6-1 (same as
 by the book)
 Small Axe 1D12
 
 Now we can start adding weapons that can be used one- or
 two- handed. Using a weapon two-handed gives you a 1-point
 defensive disadvantage, since it precludes the use of a
 shield. For that reason, you should gain a 1-point offensive
 advantage. If you use a weapon two-handed, your average
 damage should increase by one for that Strength category. So
 keeping that in mind...
 
 ST 12 (Average damage 7)
 Warhammer (2-handed) 1D3+6 (this is the long medieval,
 pick-like warhamer, not Thor's maul, it does 1 damage above
 average at this ST because it's two-handed)
 Bastard Sword (2-handed) 2D+1 (at this ST level, the Bastard
 Sword has to be used two-handed, also called a hand and a
 half or longsword)
 Broadsword 2D (same as by the book, a heavy-bladed viking or
 crusader style sword)
 Battle Axe 1D12+1 (we've reached the end of our Polyhedral
 dice progression, so we have to start adding integers, this
 is a one-handed knight's/horseman's axe)
 Dane Axe (2-handed) 1D12+2 (this is the long-handled viking
 axe that can be one- or two- handed, but at this strength it
 requires two hands)
 
 ST 13 (Average damage 8)
 Warhammer 1D3+6 (this does the same damage as at Strength
 12, but at 13 it can be used one-handed)
 Bastard Sword 2D6+1 (same as by the book; this does the same
 damage as at Strength 12, but at 13 it can be used
 one-handed)
 Dane Axe 1D12+2 (this does the same damage as at Strength
 12, but at 13 it can be used one-handed)
 
 ST 14 (Average damage 9)
 2-Handed Sword 3D6-1 (same as by the book; averages 9.5
 instead of 9 because it's two-handed)
 
 ST 16 (Average damage 11)
 2-Handed Great Sword 3D6+1 (same as by the book; averages
 11.5 instead of 11 because it's two-handed)
 =====
 Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
 Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com
 with the message body
 "unsubscribe tft"
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"