The skill die took me by surprise in the new packet. At first I did not like. Right now I am more on the fence. It did get me thinking that other aspects of the game might benefit from its use however. What if instead of a scaling bonus to attack rolls based on level, attacks used the exact same mechanic as skills?
We could have a fighting skill for melee combat, a shooting skill for ranged combat, and a spellcasting skill for spellcasters (and maybe a faith skill for the priestly types). If you are trained in these skills you add your skill die to your relevant ability roll when making attacks. This way the ability check, skill, and combat system are all one and the same. Task resolution would follow a single unified mechanic.
The bonus from the skill die could also be applied to other areas of the game as well. A warrior might utilize his "fighting" skill die to resist a grab, disarm, or knockdown attempt made by an enemy. Feats like Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, and Iron Will could allow you to roll your skill die with Str/Con, Dex, and Wis/Cha saves respectively.
The problem with this is that everyone would always take the 'Fighting' skill in their 'background'. I am okay with unifying the mechanic but every class should have its own 'Attack Die' mechanic. Also, having Fighting and Shooting dice is breaching to close into the realm of Savage Worlds for my liking.
I wouldn't mind something as follows:
Skill Die Damage Die Attack Die Spell Die
So every resolution is 1d20 + __ Die (if any) + Ability Modifier Damage = weapon die + damage die (if any) + ability modifier
Still, the default in my opinion should be the simple d20 + ability modifier ... so these 'dice' should be given very conservatively and at a very modest pace. Meaning, characters should have few and narrow skills, some classes shouldn't get attack and damage die till later and the attack and damage die should increase at a slow pace.
Also, an Attack Die of d8, d10, d12 might cause problems with Bounded Accuracy (for those lucky rollers) so again, it needs to be approached with care.
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
Also, an Attack Die of d8, d10, d12 might cause problems with Bounded Accuracy (for those lucky rollers) so again, it needs to be approached with care.
You can always change the bounds... and hit/miss is binary, it doesn't care if you roll an 18 or 32 against 17 AC. Only the %chance really matters.
Though you do get more of a bell curve with 2 dice.
Also, crits could turn into something like... "if you beat the AC by 10".
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
Also, an Attack Die of d8, d10, d12 might cause problems with Bounded Accuracy (for those lucky rollers) so again, it needs to be approached with care.
You can always change the bounds... and hit/miss is binary, it doesn't care if you roll an 18 or 32 against 17 AC. Only the %chance really matters.
Given that the % change of d12 would have an average of around 6sh, I guess it would be roughly on par with the current max bonus of +5... I supposed. I'm sure someone in here can do the exact math.
Still intresting concept though, I like the added ramdomness and it just looks and feels more slick then stacking +X +X +X modifiers. Which is why I liked the advantage/disadvantage rule so much), I am always in favour of Dice tricks.
One problem I see with this are Damage Die, because something like 6d6 stacked on top of every damage roll can become a little much, I know the wizard always had to deal with that, but not every round.
Really, I would have to wait to playtest that part to see if it becomes a 'drag' . Some table top RPGs (such as The One Ring and A Song of Ice and Fire) rely on dice pools and they are still sucessfull games so I guess we will see.
Given that the % change of d12 would have an average of around 6sh, I guess it would be roughly on par with the current max bonus of +5... I supposed. I'm sure someone in here can do the exact math.
d4 = 2.5 d6 = 3.5 d8 = 4.5 d10 = 5.5 d12 = 6.5
Difference = 4. Same as it is now.
I feel like calling it a proficency bonus and giving it names though. Old school style.
Not proficent = no bonus. Basic proficency = 1d4. Novice proficency = 1d6. Adept proficency = 1d8. Master proficency = 1d10. Grand Master proficency = 1d12.
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
The problem with this is that everyone would always take the 'Fighting' skill in their 'background'.
Not necessarily true. A wizard gains very little benefit from having Fighting as one of their trained skills. Yes their melee attacks will hit more often than one who is not trained in fighting, but without WDD their damage will be too insignificant to really matter. Also, certain classes should get training for free. A monk and fighter might get Fighting for free, the wizard spellcasting, and the cleric faith.
If a class wants their background to include training in fighting, spellcasting, or so on I say why not? It only serves to open up RP opportunities.
I dislike the skill die. As you grow in skill, yes you can perform better, but you never become more reliable. You can be a 20th level Fighter, trained in climbing, with 20 Strength, and you can still fail a DC10 check. It gets worse with opposed skills, where your unlucky roll fails to beat your new 1st level apprentice at a simple test. There's also the strange math that the current implementation introduces - flattened math goes right out of the window again, with up to +12 available to skill checks. I also dislike that all characters improve at the same rate in all their skills - no matter when you acquire them.
Please, give us some customisation, keep to flattened math, and introduce reliability by a skill mastery like mechanic (a minimum dice roll).
