Morale table quickly drafted in a waiting room. I'll test it tonight but I'm open to critique.
Roll morale dR every time the monsters take a sizeable blow.
1. Lash out. Desperate, mindless attack. Double damage all around.
2. Rout. Flee, leaving stuff behind, doors open, etc.
3. Surrender. If it is not accepted, step up morale die.
4. Retreat. Pull back in an orderly manner to regroup.
5. Panic. Do something stupid this turn.
6. Hunker down. Fight defensively, look for cover, etc.
7. The best defense. Take risks to win quickly.
8. Frenzy. Launch an all-out attack: double damage to PCs.
9. Feint. Retreat to set a trap or ambush.
10.Insight. Exploit a weakness (killing the caster, the lights, etc.)
11. Second wind. Reroll monster HD, keep HP total if better than current HP.
12. Taste of blood. Next check against them is made at a disadvantage.
Coming soon: hirelings morale table.
I like this because the failure of morale doesn't simply mean degrading the die until it gets to zero. This gives me a chance to have something with a d10 morale, for instance, to run away from me when I give it a good hard smack in the face! :)
ReplyDeleteExactly. That's something I try to do when I ref: make a decrease in morale a change in tactics on the monsters' side. But tbh I tend to forget. I'm hoping this will make combat more interesting and less hack n slashy.
ReplyDeleteYep. Combat evolves. It feels (can feel) different from round to round this way. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there's space for something similar for PCs, maybe applied to other stuff like magic or gadgets.
ReplyDeleteThis is really good.
ReplyDeletePaolo Greco I don't know - what use do you have in mind? I'm wary of telling players what their characters do.
ReplyDeleteSo we had two fights - big ones - tonight and... I only remembered to use the table twice during the first fight.
ReplyDeleteThe second one was the 1% random encounter that always happens towards the end of a session - in this case, a fucking white dragon. I was so busy with explaining the situation and making saves for 13 NPCs that I completely forgot about morale. Just as well, methinks. It ended in a stalemate, with the dragon flying away and no PC death (10 NPCs were killed in a breath weapon roll though).
An unlucky roll on that table would probably have killed the one character that was fighting hand to hand. Anyway, more testing will be required.
Not sure but either most effects grant some kind of bonus (but not all) or as a way to handle some spell effects
ReplyDeleteI think it would be good to say that 5. Panic - the creature does something against their nature / instinct / trait(s) this turn.
ReplyDeletePaolo Greco That's basically what the Chaos dR/spell mishap table is. But you could definitely make more of these.
ReplyDeleteNathan Roberts You're right. 'Stupid' is just too vague. Thanks!