Rating System Rules

[icekatze]

hi hi

I'm closing in on being done with the first pass of the rules revisions. Most of the rules are already revised, and now I am moving on figuring how best to format the information so that it is accessible. Finally, I will still need to update all of the other side documents, like the weapon list and character sheets, to match what few minor changes are dependent.

The Core Rules and the Big Book of Magic are getting most of the changes.

• Character creation was split off to a separate document.
• Base stats and limits for Defensive Stats changed slightly.
- Resistance is now 5 + END, rather than ENDx2.
- Defensive Stats now have the same limits as skills, which they directly oppose.
• Created reliable movement classes for different types of things.
• Running or Dashing now makes it slightly harder to shoot and be shot in return.
• Has not yet, but will be: moving traits, perks and flaws into a spreadsheet. Integrating the short rules block into the core.
• Made concise rules for "intervene" actions, which are actions that happen outside the normal initiative order.
• Re-factored weapon ranges and range penalties to be more consistent, and more useful in vehicle combat.
• Re-factored crippling wounds to work more consistently for characters, gear and vehicles.
- Crippling wounds now have a permanent penalty, and a temporary penalty. The temporary penalty can then still be inflicted by characters who wish to use non-lethal attacks.
- There are now definitive rules for when the character takes too many wounds.
• Target Number and Margin of Success costs for special actions are now more consistent.
• Many special combat actions now have more concise descriptions.
• Adding rules for creating gear and enchantments from scratch. (Tool requirements to follow shortly.)
• Magic rules underwent a MAJOR overhaul. This was the primary reason for updating to a new version.
- Potency and Difficulty are now separate considerations.
- Potency is a static value based off of a character or objects energy expenditure and their quality/SPECIALs.
- Difficulty involves circumstantial things and extras that make casting more difficult.
- Alchemy, and by extension all magic that interacts permanently with material components, such as enchantments, received major changes.
• Toxins and Diseases have been re-factored to be more consistent.
• Adding more concise rules for gear, which had been severely lacking.
• Will, in the future, be updating some of the weapons to have slightly more health, and will be altering some of the melee weapons to be more diverse. (in terms of functionality)

If people have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.

[icekatze]

hi hi

Here is the link to the Version 2.1 Character Sheet

At long last, after hours of poking with formulas in google spreadsheets, I have gotten the Crit Success and Crit Failure dice table to work properly. *yay* If people have any suggestions on formatting the page layout, now is the time.

(A quick clarification: The character sheet is not yet finished, as I am still open to making revisions. The magic tab also needs to be revamped, and I'm in the process of figuring out how to do that.)

[icekatze]

hi hi

I think I have the magic rules mostly ironed out, save for a few picky details which refuse to have self-evident solutions. For the moment, I am letting those problems simmer, and hopefully when I come back to them I will have some fresh ideas.

In the meantime, I have been working on re-working weapons and armor slightly. Especially now that enchantments are more concrete. The 2.1 Gear Maker Spreadsheet is here. There will still be some changes to it before it is finished, but it should be much more streamlined and self explanatory than the previous one.

Speaking of changes: I would like to hear anyone's thoughts on the subject of penalties from heavy armors. In FO1 and 2, there were no significant penalties for heavy armor, while in FO3 and NV, there were such substantial penalties that heavy armor was usually not worth the meager damage reduction it provided. At the very least, I think that heavy armor may need to have some stealth penalties associated with it, but I am still trying to figure out a good way to make it happen.

If you have any ideas, let me know. Either here, in a PM or on IRC.

[icekatze]

hi hi

For the 2.1 ruleset, I am moving the perks to a spreadsheet. Traits, Perks, Flaws, Backgrounds 2.1

In the process, I have changed some of the costs and limits of perks to be more consistent, both between perks, and with magical enchantments that provide similar bonuses. One major change that I made was increasing the cost of derived stats in perk form. This is a slight departure from the balancing act that FO3 and NV had, but from a game balance perspective, I think that this will be less prone to exploitation. (Defensive stats, for example, now cost 4 exp, instead of 2. Bringing them in line with the cost of skills that they directly oppose.)

Some of the perks and flaws still need a little bit of work, particularly the ones that involve using magic, as magic has seen significant changes.

I am also in the process of creating some "character backgrounds," which will be an optional addition to character creation.

(Edit: I have also revised the 2.1 character sheet, updating the entries for weapons and armor, so that most of the calculations are done automatically, and the critical hit/miss tables work for individual weapons. Its a lot of information to squeeze into a small space, but weapons have a lot of stats in Fallout.)

[icekatze]

hi hi

I have created some new weapon and armor lists for version 2.1. The new armor revisions have been a big success. I didn't have to change much, and because enchantments are more concrete, power armor makes sense. I will need to go back sometime and finish up the list of specialty armors, but I did at least get Steel Ranger and Enclave Armor figured out, as those two are kind of important.

The new weapon revisions have been a mixed bag. Ballistic weapons turned out very well. Magical Energy weapons are improved too, although there are some little details that continue to bug me. Unfortunately, melee and unarmed weapons are broken, and I had to fiat a lot of the values for everything blunt and beyond. Part of the problem is the varying utility for weight values that some of the heavier melee weapons have. Another problem is getting the Damage Threshold to be balanced.

(I'm still not sure how to balance explosives, but thats nothing new, and I won't let that stop me from moving forward with the 2.1 revision.)

The only major tasks left to do are:
• Switch the magic list over to a new spreadsheet.
• Re-organize the magic document so it doesn't jump around as much.
• Finalize the changes to the character and vehicle sheets, especially the new magic tabs.
• Finish revising spirits and counter-spelling magic.
• Complete the Gear section descriptions.
• Re-examine the way Ghouls and Alicorns interact with radiation.

[icekatze]

hi hi

I finished writing the rules in the gear section, replacing rules fragments with complete sentences and such. I have also re-organized the magic section and magic document, and I have solid modifiers for counterspells now.

((I also added a base difficulty modifier to buff spells, depending on how high the current stat is. So if someone has a huge DT, it becomes more difficult to cast a DT buff on said character. This will help prevent people from casting a lot of nickel and dime buff spells in order to reach obscene levels, and will give buff spells some measure of difficulty. It may need some balance tweaking though.))

There are a few questions that I am still trying to solve, and would most likely benefit from having feedback.

1. The list of magic spells is huge and incomplete. I have tried putting it either in a separate document and in a spreadsheet. The document always ends up being gigantic and hard to scroll through. The spreadsheet always ends up condensing too much information into little boxes that need to be clicked on to see the full text. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to organize the list of magic spells?

2. Alicorns and Ghouls currently interact with radiation in the same way. Having low levels of radiation reduces their healing rate, and having high levels increases it. They currently need to spend Rads to regain health points. (Running out of Rads is bad for Ghouls and Alicorns) Should this be true in both cases, or should the two be distinguished in some way? I think I have an answer to the question, but I know that my understanding of alicorns might not be accurate.

Once I get spirits sorted out, I will try once again to fix the magic tab on character sheets.

[icekatze]

hi hi

So I went ahead and finished up rules for Spirits. And with that, it is time for the official release of FO:E RPG version 2.1!

There may be some things I missed still and a few things that might get some tweaking with feedback, (The spell list is still being fleshed out, for example) but on the whole, this should be a much more complete set of rules. There may be a little bit more complexity in the magic system, but I am hoping that breaking up Potency and Difficulty into smaller bites will at least make it easier to manage.

[icekatze]

hi hi

I fixed a small oversight in the rules, upon discovering that there was no place where it explicitly stated how spending energy for bonuses works. (Ok, a huge, colossal oversight actually.) I think it got accidentally cut out when I moved some of the information over to the character creation document.

Anyways, now the entry in costly actions appropriately states that you get a +5 bonus for spending 1 energy prior to rolling, or 3 energy after rolling.

Also, at Doubleclick's suggestion, I have added an optional rule into the character creation section under "special talents," which replaces the standard bonus with the ability to re-roll a die. This can then be used in place of the normal energy expenditure bonus as well. (1 energy before or 3 energy afterwards to re-roll one die.) This optional rule adds a bit of uncertainty, dramatic tension, and potential for higher and lower results, at the cost of some simplicity and predictability.

[icekatze]

hi hi

Now that the holidays are over, I have poked at the rules a little bit more. Not much, but its something.

I've added a few more perks and am continuing to work through the list of magic tricks. It seems likely that I will need to add some more basic difficulty modifiers for some types of magic that don't currently have a clear Difficulty level outside their basic Potency level.

I added a few options for GMs, including some recommendations on the possibility of turning the defensive stats (Dodge, Alertness, Integrity, and Resistance) into skills. This option may allow people to invest in them more consistently with their character concept. However, they will benefit less from passive bonuses, like SPECIAL boosting effects. ((Also, some shortcuts for falling damage.))

One thing I also did, after struggling to balance perks that reduce action point costs of certain actions, was to turn them around. Like the movement bonuses in Fallout 2, perks that give action point bonuses to certain actions give the character extra Action Points which can only be used for those actions. ((For my own players, I am grandfathering in the old perk rules for now rather than making people rework their characters.))

[icekatze]

hi hi

I added an optional rule into the basic mechanics of the game that I hope will give GMs a little extra flexibility and will encourage more involvement in roleplaying. Underneath the description of Margin of Success, there is now an option to give players MoS bonuses for good roleplaying, planning and descriptions of their characters actions. This does not change their chance of passing the skill test, but if they pass, they will do so a little bit better.

I've also firmed up the rules on Build Rating, for creating items from scratch. You add up the Complexity modifier of everything that gives the item a bonus, and divide it by 5. This is checked against the character's Mechanics skill, to see whether or not they can construct the item without penalties. Things like workbenches and tools will add a bonus to that check, allowing the character to construct better equipment if they have access to a workbench and/or tools.