Editing Talk:Scratch
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
− | == | + | ==describing abilities== |
− | |||
− | + | Scratch abilities are less specific than the skills in some games and more specific than the basic attributes of characters in other games. People making characters are expected to give their abilities a more specific description, but this is difficult for some players. We should provide examples that players can follow when describing each of their abilities, using "could represent" language. | |
− | + | The things an ability "could represent" should be text a person making a character could copy or easily paraphrase as a description of his own character's abilities if he cannot think of anything better. For example if we say "fighting could represent prowess with swords or natural weapons." Then a player could use "swords" or "natural weapons" as the description of his fighting ability, and now his character is much more fleshed out. | |
− | + | "Toughness ability level is a character's maximum hit points, and represents armor, size or other damage-resisting traits. Characters who are big, physically fit, armored or highly motivated usually have 4 or more toughness. A cop who stays in shape and wears light body armor would have at least 4 toughness while a large, highly trained, veteran medieval warrior in heavy body armor could have 8 toughness. A child or elderly person may have only 2 toughness. The average horse might have 6 toughness. A war elephant with light body armor would have at least 10 toughness. Some characters might have only 1 toughness because they are particularly fragile or because they are unmotivated and give up as soon as they are injured. Characters without toughness may not perform actions during encounters." | |
− | + | :This provides examples of characters with toughness, but glosses over how a specific character would describe his toughness. We need both description and scale examples, and we should be very clear about it. | |
− | + | :"Toughness ability level is a character's maximum hit points. Characters without toughness may not perform actions during encounters. An average person without armor has 3 toughness. Less toughness could represent fragility or lack of determination. A child or elderly person might have only 2 toughness. More toughness could represent armor, endurance or size. A big person without armor or conditioning might have 4 toughness. The average horse could have 6 toughness, and the average elephant might have 10 toughness. Training and experience could give a character 1 or 2 more levels of toughness, and heavy armor might give a character 2 more levels of toughness, so a big, heavily armored veteran warrior could have 8 toughness." | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | Attack abilities currently have no examples of what they could represent. | |
− | + | :"Shooting could represent guns, bows, throwing spears or powers that damage an enemy from a distance." | |
+ | :"Blasting could represent explosive or spraying attacks like grenades, a submachine gun or breathing fire." | ||
+ | :"Knockout could represent a powerful bludgeoning weapon, deadly assassination techniques, fast-acting venom or a very large character simply crushing his enemies." | ||
+ | :"Fighting could represent prowess with swords, other close range weapons, natural weapons or powerful striking martial arts." | ||
+ | :"Wrestling could represent chokes, locks and throws or a mixture of grappling and striking techniques." | ||
− | + | Stalking abilities explain what they do, but not what they could represent. | |
− | + | Movement abilities explain where they can be used, but not what they could represent. | |
− | + | There are no examples of what healing ability could represent. | |
− | + | "Craftsmanship is an ability which allows a character to maintain and improve his allies' equipment." | |
− | : | + | :This explains what craftsmanship does, but not what it could be. |
− | : | + | There is an example of a specific character with command ability but no list of what it could represent. |
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | :: I agree that abilities should be described better in the Scratch RPS.--[[User:BFGalbraith|BFGalbraith]] 14:33, 20 June 2011 (PDT) | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==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 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. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Minions should only heal one health-state between encounters. So if a minion was incapacitated, he only has 1 HP at the beginning of the next encounter. If he was injured, he is only bare-healthy, and he only has full HP if he was still healthy at the end of his last encounter.--[[User:BFGalbraith|BFGalbraith]] 18:26, 5 June 2011 (UTC) | ||
+ | |||
+ | *We should 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) | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | 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) | ||
+ | *(~½ level) command ability intimidate action | ||
+ | *(~½ 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== | ==more realistic healing options== | ||
− | |||
Note: the three main scratch projects right now (TDW, HoW, Squawk 2nd Ed.) are fantasy/sci-fi with lots of explanations for "unrealistic healing." IMHO this rule may be decided on in the not-near future.--[[User:BFGalbraith|BFGalbraith]] 14:31, 20 June 2011 (PDT) | Note: the three main scratch projects right now (TDW, HoW, Squawk 2nd Ed.) are fantasy/sci-fi with lots of explanations for "unrealistic healing." IMHO this rule may be decided on in the not-near future.--[[User:BFGalbraith|BFGalbraith]] 14:31, 20 June 2011 (PDT) | ||
Line 63: | Line 89: | ||
*special toughness skills might allow you to be healed more often. | *special toughness skills might allow you to be healed more often. | ||
*toughness skills that help you be healed? | *toughness skills that help you be healed? | ||
+ | |||
+ | == healing once == | ||
+ | |||
+ | It seems that the two simplest options are to allow unlimited healing, or to allow healing only once per encounter. Which should be the default Scratch rule? Unlimited healing is currently in place. We could conceivably have one of the following healing once per encounter rules: | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Characters can only be healed once per encounter, but healing always restores the character to healthy (stamina +1) regardless of weather they are injured or incapacitated. | ||
+ | *Like the last one above, but instead the character is always restored to full hit points. This would do the most to make up for only being healed once per round, and is much cooler than having to count how many times your character has been healed. | ||
+ | *Healing could only be used on injured characters to make them healthy. I like this option, because IMHO recapitalization someone is beyond the scope of any encounter, as is restoring them to full hit points. This may be too extreme of an adjustment and adversely influence game balance. | ||
+ | |||
+ | IMHO all of these once-per-encounter healing rules are better than what we have now, and also IMHO I can live with what we have now. So if we decide to have unlimited healing as default, simply delete this "healing once" section and we'll be done with this topic.--[[User:BFGalbraith|BFGalbraith]] 14:23, 20 June 2011 (PDT) | ||
==optional death rules== | ==optional death rules== | ||
realistic or brutal games like [[Resilience]] might have death rules that add dramatic tension and character expendability. | realistic or brutal games like [[Resilience]] might have death rules that add dramatic tension and character expendability. |