Re: Out Of Character
Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 11:48 pm
I'm running this game with DD5, which emulates 1974 OD&D (or "Chainmail D&D", as opposed to 1975 "Greyhawk D&D" which most folks probably find more familiar).
Yes, I will explain resting, hp recovery, and hp totals in my next in game post.
A good question.
I don't recall exactly how DD4 handles magic weapons (LOL), but they work differently in 1974 CM-OD&D to how you might expect. All part of the DD5 experience!Stern (2h-sword +1) vs L5 (AC 5): 5d20=4,14,16,15,17 -> 4 hits -> 4d6=2,4,4,2+1 -> 13 hp, L5 slain.
Ehiker, could you please re-post the above list, adding each PC's "power word" for me?
The main things to know are:
Thanks for the input. While I understood that the 5th attack was coming from the magic sword I was surprised by the +1 to damage. The reason being, I had assumed that Strong should be +1 to damage of all attacks, similarly how Tough is +1hp per HD and not flatly +1 HD.waysoftheearth wrote: ↑Tue Oct 03, 2023 10:39 pmA good question.
The "power words" are a short-cut that reduces a full set of ability scores to the one "big shot" ability per PC. (This isn't from OD&D or DD5; it's a well worn house rule that works well in the PBP format, and is a good fit here where we already have some well-defined PC concepts to work with).
That said, I did struggle a tad to find each player's power word during the combat resolution; please forgive me if I screwed up there. (It would be handy if someone could round them all up for me )
These high ability scores should, in principle, affect a die throw somewhere. "Strong" would add 1 to damage per round in melee combat, for example (assuming a hit). "Accurate" would add 1 hit with missiles. "Fit" or "Tough" would add 1 hp per HD. "Wise" would add 1 to saving throws. And so on. The combat-centric mods will certainly apply in fantastic combat (combat vs heroic/superheroic tier monsters), but it's less clear whether they apply to normal combat (combat vs normal men/troops). In normal combat, everything is arguably reduced to a number of vanilla, normal attacks per round with no mods whatever because, in CM, there were no mods. However, in the context of OD&D, it makes sense (to me) to apply some mods if only for consistency.
You may have noticed in the preceding combat vs the lizardmen, I used normal combat and yet I still applied a few adds to damage. E.g.;
I don't recall exactly how DD4 handles magic weapons (LOL), but they work differently in 1974 CM-OD&D to how you might expect. All part of the DD5 experience!Stern (2h-sword +1) vs L5 (AC 5): 5d20=4,14,16,15,17 -> 4 hits -> 4d6=2,4,4,2+1 -> 13 hp, L5 slain.
In fantastic combat a +1 sword adds +1 "to hit" (but not to damage), whereas, in normal combat a +1 sword adds one attack instead. So, in the above example of normal combat, Stern has the fighting capability of 4 men, so he would get 4 attacks. However, his magic sword added an extra attack so he ended up dicing 5d20 rather than 4d20. He then scored 4 hits, each dealing 1d6 damage. The +1 added to his overall damage was applied due to Stern being "strong".
Normal combat in OD&D is basically a hangover from mass combat in Chainmail, in which a single figure represents 20 men and the differing qualities of individual men are essentially ignored. Arguably, one benefit of all "normal attacks" being exactly vanilla is that they can then be aggregated into a single pool of attacks "per side". E.g., side A throws 15 attacks versus side B throws 20 attacks; it doesn't matter where they came from because they're all the same.
Yes; you may notice I posted in that topic in 2012Kozos wrote: ↑Wed Oct 04, 2023 9:11 amBy the way are you familiar with 27th edition platemail? It was an OSR game that was based on Chainmail 0D&D with lots of interesting ideas, descriptors instead of attributes being one of them. (it was actually the reason I got fascinated with Chainmail combat). You can find it here.
https://odd74.proboards.com/thread/6916 ... -platemail