Editing Talk:Scratch

== simplified healing ==
What if we simplified the healing rule so that characters can only be healed once per encounter, but healing always restored the character to healthy (stamina +1)? (I realize that there currently is no limit on healing, but a more complex healing limit than what I have proposed here is may soon be incoming.)--[[User:BFGalbraith|BFGalbraith]] 18:04, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

==taking cover while reloading==

The bonus and penalty from take cover should last as long as you want, but while you are in cover, you cannot do a close range attack, evade, intimidate or surprise.

You can use healing ability, do long range attacks (with the -2 penalty) or choose to do nothing while you take cover.

:There is no penalty for using healing ability when you take cover, so it is always better to take cover when you use healing. Does it even make sense to take cover when you are healing an ally?

What if you are held while you are in cover?

What if you are panicked while you are in cover?

==grid movement when you are delayed by your own moves==

*Being delayed by your own knockout, shooting or blasting shouldn't keep you from moving.
*Getting delayed by a hold action should keep you from moving.
*Should being delayed by a distract action keep you from moving?
*Should we use "immobilized" as a technical term to mean you cannot move grid spaces?

==balance between abilities==

Most of our ability levels are well-balanced. Increasing stalking ability, movement ability, craftsmanship or healing from level 1 to level 2 is worth about the same increasing an attack ability from level 1 to level 2. (Swimming levels might be a little underpowered.)

===command levels are too valuable===

Command ability is worth about 3 times as much as other abilities against enemies with 11 defense, about twice as much as other abilities against enemies with 16 defense, and about the same as other abilities against enemies with 20 defense.

:We could reign in command by thinking beyond the individual encounter. Perhaps healing and replacing command ability minions is more difficult than healing and replacing PCs between encounters. --[[User:SerpLord|SerpLord]] 22:55, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

::What if minions CAN be healed, but only between battles, and only with successful healing rolls? --[[User:BFGalbraith|BFGalbraith]] 22:16, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

:::That would make command ability depend on healing ability, and it's not consistent with the idea that you might recruit minions or create them with something other than healing ability. --[[User:SerpLord|SerpLord]] 04:37, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

===toughness is too valuable at medium levels===

Characters with 1 level of attack ability have a strong incentive to increase their toughness up to level 7, 8 or 9 before they develop any other abilities. This means that instead of a more or less even distribution of a characters with 5 to 10 toughness at the end of the game, optimizing players will ALL have 9 toughness at the end of the game, and very low levels of other abilities that don't pay off as much per level.

:We could reign in toughness by thinking beyond the individual encounter. For example suppose sorcerers in TDW automatically heal up to stamina + 1 between encounters. Then they can make a detection, craftsmanship or healing roll to regenerate themselves to full HP. (Note: toughness was not in that list.) If we want to be even more brutal, we can have the difficulty depend on your toughness, stamina or the amount of damage you have taken. --[[User:SerpLord|SerpLord]] 22:55, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

===level 1 abilities have very different values===

Having at least 1 level of certain abilities adds extra value.

*(~5 levels) your first attack ability doubles attack power when healthy
*(~5 levels) healing potentially heals several points of damage
*(~5 levels) non-flying characters can't hit flying characters with close range attacks when they evade or use a long range attack
*(~1 level) craftsmanship versatility
*(~1 level) your first stalking ability (surprise action)
*(~&frac12; level) command ability intimidate action
*(~&frac12; level) non-swimmers and long-range attacks can't hit character who use swimming to evade
*(0 levels) other movement aiblities

==more realistic healing options==

games without healing ability (dinosaurs and prehistoric animals)

hardcore

*HP never goes up during combat
**damage always represents injuries that take a long time to heal.
**It never represents physical or psychic pain, suffocation or stunning effects that people can recover from during combat. (This could make the rule incompatible with some settings or other optional rules like skills.)
*healing still used in combat with death rules?
**does first aid remove the healer from combat?
***NO, either you can use healing as a combat action or you don't use healing until hostilities stop. This is all about how you interpret the duration of combat.
****If you insist on a very quick flow of combat without pauses for maneuvering and orientation (combat takes seconds), then there is not time in a battle to treat multiple injured allies, and it is not necessary or even appropriate to treat injured allies during combat.
****If combat turns are more like camera shots in an action movie and clashes in a real fight, which are interrupted by pauses and maneuvers that vary in duration (combat takes minutes), there is time in a battle to treat multiple injured allies or treat an ally and then return fire at an enemy.

milder

*you can only be healed from being incapacitated once per battle. We could give this state a name, like convalescent or wounded.
*we could also limit each healer to healing one character form injured to healthy once per battle.

healing between battles

*everybody heals to stamina + 1 between battles (balance and stability - game designers know you will have most of your HP when you enter a battle.)
*make toughness roll to heal yourself to full HP
*make healing roll for each ally to heal them to full HP

healing skills

*special healing skills might be able to heal you when normal healing actions cannot.
*special toughness skills might allow you to be healed more often.
*toughness skills that help you be healed?

==optional death rules==

realistic or brutal games like [[Resilience]] might have death rules that add dramatic tension and character expendability.