Roleplay Combat

[FreelanceWizard]

On a separate note however, I wanted to know if anyone with any experience in these sorts of D20 systems has any opinions, balance-wise on what I've posted. Or even if they feel like it's too much to be played in-game and should be simplified a bit more. I'm really trying to go for simplicity, but still retaining a certain degree of player input.

 

Please take this as an honest critique! I'm not trying to be mean. :blush:

 

Looking your system over, I notice it doesn't take level into account -- and that's fine, of course, if that's what you want to do, but it also means that everything has to be viewed from the perspective of purely chance and that a D20 has a flat probability distribution (i.e., every roll has an equal chance of coming up as any number).

 

When you consider that and that criticals require triple the other player's roll, you can't crit if your opponents rolls a 7 or better unless Counter comes into play (in which case you can't crit on an 11 or better if the -4 Defense is next round, or 8 or better if it's this round). That means that, 70% of the time (50%/65% on a Counter), you can't possibly crit, no matter what you roll -- and even then, your chance of a crit is pretty low. As a result, planning your action choice based on the possibility of a critical is never a good idea, because the possibility of it happening is so remote.

 

If you further add into that the non-stacking duration and effect of the penalties, as well as the fact that the only way to disable someone is by dropping their HP to zero, the best course of action is always to take an action that maximizes your Defense or does damage, as that's the only way you have to end the fight or to protect your HP. As a result, the best course of action is to Strike on attack and Guard on defense. Feigning only improves your likelihood to hit by 15%, and a rational actor on defense will know that Guard is always a net positive -- if you don't Feign, it makes them harder to hit, and if you do, it negates its effects. A Break can't do damage except on a very rare crit, so it serves no purpose except as a defense against Counter.

 

On the defensive side, Guard is always the best choice. While Evade seems useful, using it opens you up to Feigns that increase the likelihood of HP loss -- and since level's not an issue, you have no real way of predicting the likelihood of being hit, so opening yourself up is fairly dangerous. Counter is never a good idea, because crits are rare (and rarer still if you Counter, since you take a -4 to your roll, which means you can only crit if your opponent rolls an 8 or less, which is only 5% better than it normally is).

 

So... in aggregate... I think the big issue of the system is that the flat probability curve of the d20, combined with no other fixed modifiers or visibility to actions chosen to help people predict their likelihood of being hit, means that there's an irrelevance of alternatives; Strike/Guard is the best, safest course of action. There's a couple of ways around this if you want to keep the three actions. One way is to have a "Rock/Paper/Scissors" system, wherein picking the "winning" action of a pair gives you a big bonus (+3? +5?) and tying or losing gives no bonus. The actions should have no other effects. That way, there's a reason for people to pick other actions. Another option is to allow people to, instead of doing damage, stack up the amount they hit by as a bonus to a subsequent attack or defense; that way, people can take advantage of "high risk/reward" actions like Counter if they make some lucky rolls. A third option is to change to a die with a probability curve. 2d6, for instance, centers on 7 with higher and lower numbers increasingly rare. That gives people something to consider in their actions, since they know their opponent will most likely roll a 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9. You might also consider having actions stack durations or effects, or have lingering effects; for instance, Break comes useful if it stops the current and next defensive action, as opposed to just the current one.

[Ninian Lune'ciel]

Please don't think I'll take criticism as a personal insult. That's exactly the reason why I wanted outside opinions. You've even given me the percentage based math of it, so you've helped me more than you know, Freelance.

 

To address some of your issues, I was intending this to be a system free of levels. While it's always a topic for debate in MMOs, I feel like FFXIV's more fluid level system makes it difficult to really place (especially experienced) characters at any given level. While I have my IC ways of justifying those sorts of aspects of the system, primarily how I plan to stage these types of fights, I'm hoping that much to be a non-issue.

 

For criticals, I actually have the number exactly where I want it to be, being roughly 30% of the time. Something has always urked me about the 5% chance of rolling 20s (even doubling or tripling your critical range seems blah -.-). At 30%, especially with a (rough) minimum of 7 actions per battle, it keeps them at least statistically significant. For this reason, I wanted critical effects to certainly be beneficial, though not terribly ground breaking.

 

The biggest fix I need to make are on individual skill actions to make sure they are at least moderately balanced. Feign is one of my larger issues, as you've been able to point out, though I personally do like counter. The chances are always moderately low, but it's the only defensive ability that allows you to deal damage, making it a calculated (and stylish) risk.

 

I'm trying to avoid a 'rock, paper, scissors' game, as that relies on the trusting the moderator not to pick a side. Using that d20 system the Grindstone uses, it eliminates all possible cheating, as moderators in this system are just to factor in the mechanics.

 

But hm, mechanics. I've been considering replacing feign entirely, as the mechanic seems a bit too simple and easy to simply not use, though it does actually prevent your enemy from using critical fairly well, lowering that already decently small window. I don't love it, but I can't bring myself to hate it, either.

 

Along with Evade, those moves play some role in affecting critical chance, but I want to make sure it's enough for what else they do. I'm considering making break deal damage on non-critical hits, just to add more 'offense' to my 'offensive abilities', but it seems a bit sad to change the mechanic. It would require making strike grant some other buff, but I feel like I'll be making it too complex at that point.

 

Edit: Oh! and while I do like lingering effects, my take on a minimalistic system means not having to keep track of too much. I have abilities that bleed into the next round, but I'm trying to limit it to that.