(TFT) TFT: Zombies

["Dave Seagraves" <dseagraves@austin.rr.com>]

Justin writes . . .

>Pet peeve
>Zombie rings:  Here is an magic item worth $3000.  This ring arrests
>the process of decay of 1 ST per day.  For some reason, TFT does
>not like its lesser undead because in order to have them for a long time
>they need zombie rings.  My peeve with this is the fact that the party
>destroys 10 zombies that reside in a tomb, they get 10 zombie rings
>for a possible $30,000.  Why fight dragon's when we can fight weaker
>undead and still make a buck?  Because of this I shyed away from the
>use of these (skeletons/zombies) undead.  This was one rule the players
>wouldn't let me change.  I wonder why Steve created this rule.

   I suggest making tougher zombies (i.e. give them a higher ST) to throw at
the party.  At some point they will earn that $3000 magic item.


About the pole weapon "problem" . . .

   My first reaction was to say, "I don't see a problem here", but now that
I've thought about it I can see how the larger pole weapons (halberd, pike
ax) can be a problem.
   So I did some fooling around in Excel and discovered that the halberd may
be the best overall pole weapon for a beginning character to have.  You
can't throw it, you can't use a spear thrower with it, and you can't use it
one-handed (so you can't use a shield), but it does do a lot of damage . . .
on average more than any other pole weapon.  The Pike Ax shares the same
damage problem but not as bad because an average fighter's DX will be
comparatively lower.
   I think the easiest way to correct this is to change the damage that each
pole weapon does, instead of coming up with new rules to limit them or their
users.  The question them becomes, "What damage should each pole weapon do?"
   In my assessment I considered the average damages and DX adjustments for
three melee conditions (normal attack, charge attack, and /receiving/ a
charge attack), the DX of a beginning human character who wields the weapon,
the average armor value of a typical bad guy (about 2), the ability to throw
the weapon (or not), the ability to 2-hex jab with the weapon (or not), and
the number of hands needed to wield the weapon.  I also did the same for all
of the equivalent swords or axes in the book for comparison.  Crunching all
of these variables gave me a "weapon value" for each weapon.  I then tweaked
the damage dice of the pole weapons to bring these values in line with the
other hand weapons of equivalent ST requirements.  Here are the results:

Javelin: 2-5 (average damage 2.3)
Spear (1-handed): 1 (3.5)
Spear (2-handed): 1+1 (4.5)
Halberd: 2-2 (5)
Pike Ax: 1+2 (5.5)

   Pretty surprising results!  At only 1-1 the javelin was actually still a
pretty good deal compared to a rapier, so it had to be lowered just a bit.
Compared to a bastard sword used 2-handed the halberd was too -- losing 2
hits -- and the pike ax lost an entire die when put up against a battleaxe!
The spear remained unchanged next to a shortsword.


About Rick's new magic items . . .

   Thanks, man.  I'll have to sift through this for all the good ideas (and
to toss out the bad ones).  8^)


   I wanted to do this a few days ago, but I finally pulled all of the new
image spells from my massive rules addendum file.  Here they are . . .

IQ 13 SPELLS
6-HEX IMAGE (C): Lets wizard create an image of anything no greater than 6
hexes in size.  Cost: 3 ST.

IQ 15 SPELLS
10-HEX IMAGE (C): Creates an image of anything no larger than 10 hexes.
Cost: 5 ST.

IQ 17 SPELLS
14-HEX IMAGE (C): Creates an image no larger than 14 adjacent hexes.  Cost:
6 ST.  [David Doucette/IP1]

   Of course, 14-Hex Image was rewritten to avoid any copyright controversy,
but the author should still get credited for his idea.

Dave Seagraves
Seagraves Computers   dseagraves@austin.rr.com   1 (512) 255-2760
New Player: "I am a lawful-good paladin, here to spread goodness and
niceness throughout the universe!"
Other Players: ::deadpan:: "Welcome to the party."
Another New Player: "Well I am a chaotic evil wizard, here to spread pain
and suffering to friend and foe alike!"
Other Players: ::deadpan:: "Welcome to the party."


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