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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Trollish Taproom - House Ruling Tunnels & Trolls - Vamping the Warrior

I've had a chance to read thru The Tunnels & Trolls 6th Edition (unauthorized) and there are bits I'd like to steal in whole, and other bits I'd rather balance out.

I never really liked the doubling of armor for warriors, as it wasn't level based, and I felt it should be.  6e makes it a straight +2 armor points per level instead of the doubling, which is a major powering down, especially at low levels.

At the same time, 6e ramps up the combat adds for warriors at an immense rate.  It adds the new level to the previous level as combat adds.  So the progression is +1 / +3 / +6 / +10 / +15 for the first five levels.  +21 / +28 / +36 / +45 and finally +55 at level 10.  It get's even more unbalanced at higher levels.  In 7e, the combat bonus at level 10 would be +10, as a ground zero reference point.

What I would like to propose for my house rule would be to use the same progression for both armor points and combat adds.  It would be +2 per level for the first 5 levels, +3 per level for levels 6 thru 10, +4 per level for levels 11 thru 15 and so on.

This gives us a progression of +2 / +4 / +6 / +8 / +10 for both armor and adds for the first five levels, +13, +16, +19, +22, +25 for levels 6 thru 10

Overall it balances out the curve of the combat adds progression, while advancing the curve of the armor  points slightly.

5 comments:

  1. Hmm. You mean the combat adds are not based on stats, but on level?

    That sounds like too much of a D&D'ism to me. Level haven't been such a central concept in T&T as in D&D, and I'm quite frankly not sure I'd think it would be an improvement to take inspiration from that D&D trait.

    Having armor usage improve have some merits, I'd admit. But, considering armor doubling is most effective at lower levels, where it's needed most, I kind of think it makes the game more fun that way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 6e gives combat adds based on stats AND level. 7e does too, its just a much slower progression. The additional CA is an attempt to balance against the wizard's huge power jump at higher levels.

    As for the armor, if you are boosting the CA, you can tone down the armor. But you are correct in that it weakens the low level warrior

    ReplyDelete
  3. "7e does too, its just a much slower progression."

    It does? Please refresh my memory.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 7.5 e rules, page 13

    "Warrior Bonus: It is the years of
    training as a child or young person
    that enables the Warrior to be proficient
    with any weapon he
    chooses. While any Citizen can
    pick up a sword and swing it, the
    average person has little idea of
    how most weapons should be
    wielded properly. Thus, the
    Warrior Bonus gives every Warrior
    a little extra damage based on his
    character level: Simply put, the
    Warrior gets to increase his combat
    adds by his character level.
    This is a small thing at the beginning
    of the character’’s career, but
    could be quite an advantage as the
    character increases in prowess.
    The game makes the assumption
    that weapons you choose to equip
    your character with are weapons
    that he/she has practiced using in
    the past"

    ReplyDelete
  5. I guess you are right. I have totally missed that!?

    ReplyDelete

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