Reaction-Roll Stealth

So far, the skill-based stealth system I've been using has been difficult to run without a battlemat, while the default "X on 1d6 to surprise" system still strikes me as pithy and undramatic (except in the simple case of encounters). But the reaction roll, which I've been using extensively through On the Non-Player Character, fits the bill perfectly - instead of binary success/failure, you get piling bonuses which slowly push you towards success or failure. Additionally, this is consistent with the current systemic division I'm contemplating - using d20s for the combat system, 2d6 for noncombat rolls, and dice pools for anything to do with magic. The following stealth system is mostly inspired by On the Non-Player character, and a bit from this Google+ discussion.

Stealth actions are resolved in segments of one minute, rolling 2d6 (plus Dex mod) each time. Bonuses are persistent, and cumulative. Consult the following table:

	Sneak	Backstab
2	Found or -4	You're surprised!
3 - 5	-2	No surprise
6 - 8	0	You surprise!
9 - 11	+2	Ranged backstab!
12	+4 or Hidden	Melee backstab!

Sneaking is used for any actions you take while undetected. The following bonuses apply:

No movement or other actions (hiding): +4
Combining two actions (moving twice, moving while tracking, etc.) -4 per action
Trickster/thief/etc. +level
Distance: +1 per 100' from nearest sentry/enemy, -1 per 10' closer than 100'
Terrain/weather/etc.: +2 or -2 depending on conditions

Found means that stealth ends (for you) and you're detected. Start encounter as normal - stealth can no longer be used. You can, of course, try to hide again - you can roll on the Sneak table instead of taking another action each round, with cumulative bonuses. Stealth starts again once you get Hidden.

Backstabbing is what you roll when you're trying to end stealth and initiate combat. On a 2, you totally bungle it, and your opponent gets to act against you in the surprise round, while on a 6 or higher, you surprise them, getting a free round. On a 9 or higher, you've spent enough time observing and positioning yourself to get a sweet sniper shot on an opponent, gaining a +4 to hit. On a 12, you're close enough to do it with a melee weapon, and can precisely target weak points or chinks in your opponent's armor - you get a +4 bonus to hit, and deal double damage.

Backstab bonuses:
Multiple actions (opening a door and then backstabbing, for example): -4 per action
Trickster/thief/etc.: +level
Distance: -1 per 100' from target, +1 per 10' closer than 100'
Terrain/weather/etc.: +2 or -2 depending on conditions

Easy Non-Lethal Damage

Keeping track of two types of damage annoys me. Even worse is splitting damage rolls in half when the PCs are using "the flat of the blade" during impromptu prisoner subdual. In any case, if you kick a guy in the gut to wind him, and then stab him in the throat, he's not going to "be subdued." He's going to die.

Nonlethal damage is treated exactly as normal damage, except if the killing blow is nonlethal. If a creature's last hit points are removed by a nonlethal blow, the creature is knocked unconscious for 1d20 minutes, instead of dying. Before then, nonlethal damage has the same effects, and removes the same hit points, as regular damage - thus, if a 7HP creature takes 6HP of nonlethal damage, and then 2 HP of lethal damage, it is killed, rather than knocked unconscious.

Weapons used to subdue roll for damage as normal, but treat even numbers as nonlethal damage, and odd numbers as lethal damage.

Dice pool casting: healing spells

Hack & Slash just posted a fun new take on the 2d6-to-cast style magic that I've been using in my campaign. It reminds me of Warhammer's magic pool casting, and represents a caster's available power in a very tactile way.

It also lends itself to things like this:

Cure Minor Wounds
Cleric Level 1
Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Heals 1 HP of damage sustained per target creature's level/HD, and 1 additional HP of damage per point of casting force.

Cure Major Wounds
Cleric Level 5
Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Heals 1 HP of damage sustained per target creature's level/HD, multiplied by the casting force.

Here, "casting force" is the total casting roll, minus 10. Instead of 9-11 counting as "cast at start of round, retain spell," it is 9-10, and every point above 10 counts as an additional point of "casting force." So, Cure Major Wounds cast on a Level 2 character, rolling a 12, heals 2 x 2 = 4 points of damage. Level 4, rolling a 16 (using multiple dice, no doubt) is 6 x 4 = 24 points healed.

I'm scaling healing by recipient level so that a minor wound remains a minor wound across all levels, rather than starting out, functionally, as "cure moderate wounds" and ending as "cure infinitesimal wounds." With the Hack & Slash take on dice pool casting, Minor Wounds becomes a low-risk, low-healing spell that can be mildly powered up by rolling additional dice without much chance of losing dice, while Cure Major Wounds functions as a potent healing burst, that scales up quickly but burns most of your dice. In lieu of any rules for wild magic effects, I'm ruling that each duplicate die roll inflicts 1 point subdual damage on the caster, which makes the decision to power-up a spell with extra dice even riskier.

More thoughts this weekend.

Party battle stances

I've been running LotFP, where some classes get expanded access to battle stances like Press (sacrifice AC for a hit bonus) and Defensive (vice versa). Nobody has been really using these (even though it's printed right on the character sheet), but everyone's been pretty involved in figuring out combat tactics, which is heartening considering most of us are newcomers to RPGs. The problem is, nobody's attempting to use the mechanics for combat tactics.

It came to a head (for me) in the last session, when the fighters and rangers (who could use stances) were in the rear with ranged weapons, since they'd taken a lot of licks and the cleric and specialist were in the front line, with mercenaries. The players wanted to try a fighting retreat against a large goblin horde charging out of the Caves of Chaos but nobody had the abilities to really do it.

I think next session I'll change the battle stances so they're accessible to the entire party - but only work if everyone agrees on the same thing. This would reflect the advantage of coordinated tactics, and make each class a bit more flexible in combat, and hopefully reward teamwork.