Are you ready for more combat questions and edge cases?
Yolanda wakes up one night to a terrible racket from the kitchen. Grabbing her trusty baseball bat (D6), she goes to investigate. To her dismay she find an infernape from the Earth's molten core raiding her fridge. Wishing she had rolled better on the equipment table, Yolanda lines up a hefty blow.
Now, an infernape is surrounded by a field of superheated air and burning debris. Which of these models do you find the most appealing/fair?
a) Yolanda takes automatic damage from the heat until she finds a way to counter it (a bucket of water?)
b) The heat damage is part of the infernape's attack. If Yolanda fails her combat roll she may take a LOT of damage.
c) In addition to the combat roll, Yolanda must also make a CON save to avoid the heat (either as damage or a temporary STR reduction as she struggles to avoid passing out).
d) The heat makes it harder to fight the ape effectively, expressed as a high armor die.
(I personally tend slightly towards a))
I like d). It's not punishing to the player, they can be lucky and overcome the challenge by brute force, but most probably they will look for a clever solution like a bucket of water.
ReplyDeleteAlso you can use several solutions from round to round.
I'd say of she gets close enough to strike with the bat, she takes heat damage, perhaps after a missed CON test. Or a successful test gets her half damage.
ReplyDeleteI like c) I also like a) because it explicitly means to encourage the player to come up with a creative solution, but I think the player might also want to find a workaround with c) and, at low levels, a) could essentially just kill Yolanda outright even if she never fails a roll.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem with a, is that Yolanda would feel the heat well before getting in range to hit with a bat and take damage? But that info is not telegraphed to the player before they strike, and is a bit punishing the player for not responding to info they should have gotten?
ReplyDeleteNMEAST That's a really good point. She should be made aware of what she's facing.
ReplyDeleteTore Nielsen I've been really trying to incorporate Chris McDowall gm principles, particularly re: giving players all the info to make meaningful choices. If Yolanda wants to strike an ambulatory sentient furnace with a wooden bat, there is loads of fun ways to make that an interesting and dificult Encounter without hiding any info.
ReplyDeleteLike you could combine b, d, maybe c, and maybe reduce the damage of the bat as it begins to immolate? I don't remember if ItO has breakage rules for weapons.
ReplyDeleteAlso this is a good question and discussion and I'd love to see more of these posts!
ReplyDeleteShut sorry for spam posting, but realized I was talking about ItO not MM.
ReplyDeletePokémon jokes aside, I think the abstraction breaks down at some point, and there would be no difference between fighting a burning monkey in the kitchen and fighting a monkey in the burning kitchen...
ReplyDeleteits certainly odd to find a fully evolved starter in the wild, but c or d makes the most sense... attacking HP is too easy and already common enough with all sorts of shit, why do more hp damage... unless yolanda is a grass type pokemon, cos that would be super effective
ReplyDelete