[LWMPG] Removing the Combat Chart

[hal]

I am thinking of replacing the Combat Chart with the following:

1. Roll 1d10 and add CS.
2. You do 1 point of damage for each point you exceed the opponent's CS.
3. Opponent does the same but halves the damage result (rounded up).
4. (optional) If you doubled your opponent's CS it would be an autokill.

If I were to simplify it I would remove step 3 and simply halve the opponent's Endurance.

Bonuses to CS from Weaponskill, Ganging Up, Improvised Weapons or No Weapons add to your attack roll is step 1.

Bonuses to CS from Shields and Engaging Many Enemies add to your CS in reducing damage in step 2 and 3.

 

[hal]

A more accurate expression, which may be a little complex is, damage is 2 + 1/2 Combat Ratio + 1d10 damage. Enemies do half damage as before.

You could do two separate rolls or 1 roll and treat the enemy roll as 11 - PC's roll.

 

[hal]

A more accurate expression, which may be a little complex is, damage is 2 + 1/2 Combat Ratio + 1d10 damage. Enemies do half damage as before.

You could do two separate rolls or 1 roll and treat the enemy roll as 11 - PC's roll.

Actually, 3 + 1/2 Combat Ratio + 1d10 damage would better if you wanted to have the 0-9 values of the d10 during combat as well as elsewhere.

 

[hal]

Some alternate expressions:

1. If you wanted to parse this as any other test:

- Combat is just like any other Test, except both attacker and defender make the roll simultaneously.

- Roll d10 against a Difficulty of -3 and do 1pt of damage for each pt you exceed this Difficulty (so a roll of 4 would do 7pts damage).

- The Difficulty of -3 is modified by subtracting one half of your Combat Ratio, being the difference between you and your opponent's CS (remember your opponent's CR will always be an inverse of yours).

2. if you wanted to remove CR if that mathematical calculation proved a bother

- Each person has a bonus to damage done (DB) and a malus to damage received (DR) equal to half their CS.

- This would mean that you could have the following static values on your PC sheet:
Damage Bonus: 3 + DB
Damage Reduction: DR

- During combat, you do damage equal to d10 + DB - DR.

For #2, I would be tempted to split the CS bonuses so:

- Weapon skill, ganging up and improvised weapons effect your DB.
- Shields and outnumbering an attacker bonuses effect DR.

 

[hal]

After some fiddling, I realised that the most simplest form I could get the approximate math behind the Combat Table is:

1. Determine 1/2 Combat Ratio (CR)
2. Roll d10, 0-9 (d10)
3. PC inflicts 3 + CR - d10 in damage (DM)
4. PC suffers 7 - 1/2 DM in damage

Round away from zero in all cases.

The first two steps are pretty much identical to the current system, so only steps 3 and 4 are new.

If you wanted to introduce instant kill shots, you could add them when the Damage inflicted or suffered by the PC is a negative i.e. -1 or less. If its inflicted damage it would be a PC kill result and suffered would be an Enemy kill result.

 

[hal]

Some last observations. Running the numbers last night I confirmed that 13-DM)/2 is actually the most accurate formula for Enemy damage but out of 7 - 1/2 DM and 6 - 1/2 DM (both of which I consider more user friendly) the former is more accurate. So 7-1/2 DM it is.

A full example:

1. The base stats are:

Lone Wolf - CS 15, End 25
Giak - CS 12, End 14

2. The Combat Ratio is 2.

3. Lone Wolf attacks the Giak. He rolls a 6, being 3 + 2 + 6 = 11 damage. The Giak deals (7 - 11/2) = 2 damage.

4. Giak is on 3 Endurance and Lone Wolf is reduced to Endurance 23.

5. Second round, Lone Wolf rolls a 2. He inflicts 7 damage and suffers 3 damage.

7. Giak goes down and Lone Wolf has Endurance 20.

Comparing the example to the actual CRT (using 0-9, not 1 -10), the results would have been:

Round 1: LW 11, Giak 1
Round 2: LW 7, Giak 3

So, the result was accurate except the Giak did 1 more damage.