Anyone toyed with weapons getting damaged? I had a thought: if you fail an attack, roll the damage die as if it were a dR. Step it down as you would a dR. You have to be more careful attacking with it now so you don't screw it up worse or break it. You may sacrifice the weapon to do full damage after it has been stepped down.
You'd need to get the weapon repaired to get it back up to full damage. Maybe you could do one step up with honing during camp or some such?
Thoughts?
I wrote up a whole thing about that - damage die as dR. It works for ammo on ranged weapons, and "sharpness" on blades, but I couldn't make it make sense for like clubs or something.
ReplyDeleteMy goal was to make it so that between encounters, they'd have to sharpen their weapons, repair armor, and similar.
In the end it just felt tedious and I abandoned it.
I could see this for improvised weapons; shovels, kitchen knives etc, though it might be a little too persnickety.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea for improvised weapons. For regular weapons it seems like too much.
ReplyDeleteBecause the dR system is so easy to use, I could see a game working where all weapons step down on rolling max damage. This would lead to players scrabbling around trying to find the sword that orc dropped earlier because their axe is now a stick. It would also let you give the players some really awesome magic weapons because they won't be around for long.
ReplyDeleteI could see it work as you describe it Shane Liebling. If people get into the habit of rolling their damage die along with their combat turn d20(s), it won't slow anything down.
ReplyDeleteMagical or quality weapons could only deteriorate on a modified damage roll of 1-3, making +3 and over items immune to breaking.
Only trouble is d4 weapons. I'm not sure I want all daggers to break on a missed roll...
Maybe a step down on max damage is the way to go, as per Brian Ashford idea?
Eric Nieudan I think I'd have 1d4 be a minimum.
ReplyDeleteBrian Ashford Would you see that working in conjunction with Eric's idea of always rolling the damage die - so even on failures if you roll the max it would step down? Or only when you hit and do max damage?
Shane Liebling I would only have it step down on a hit.
ReplyDeleteI had planned to use a system where a critical miss on a d20 would require you to mark one strike against the weapon you were using, and if you don't repair it, then after three strikes, it's broken. My players convinced me this was more fiddly than they wanted to deal with, but I think it might be on the more lightweight end of the spectrum for ways one could handle this.
ReplyDeleteI could see going the usage die approach, too, if it's only rolled on a natural 20, rather than on any miss.
Jason Tocci Or you could just step down the damage die on a critical miss?
ReplyDeleteEric Nieudan You could! I was just concerned this is more bookkeeping than simply making a tick mark next to an item (or a slash, then an X, then crossing out the item entirely).
ReplyDeleteJason Tocci To each their own really, but personally I'd find it easier to just change the damage than having a three marks system.
ReplyDeleteTo me "putting it on the dice" feels less like bookkeeping and gives results more of a physical manifestation. But that's me.
ReplyDelete