Star Wars: The Tide Turns (VOIP Game)

[rhoenix]

I'm getting my mouth mauled tomorrow. I will try to be there, but I may very well be too out of it to play.

[Hotfoot]

Only Wednesday is good for me, sadly. The sister has a birthday dinner, so away I must go.

We'll see what happens.

[Stofsk]

This week is problematic for me. I've neglected my studies for too long and I really should put my head down and hit the books. :sad:

[Hotfoot]

We can take some time off then if need be, no worries.

[Hotfoot]

So, availability for this week?

[rhoenix]

Tues or Wed are both good for me.

[Cynical Cat]

I'm not. Sorry folks.

[Stofsk]

Ditto, sorry for the late notice and all.

I'll be burning the midnight oil for the next week in a desperate attempt to get enough work done to pass this semester. Next week might also be problematic but we'll see how I go. I probably won't be confirmed free until later this month.

[Hotfoot]

Okay, that's cool, thanks for letting me know, I'll continue plotting for the next time. I found some cool new additions to screenmonkey that will add some nice touches to the game.

[Hotfoot]

Availability?

[rhoenix]

Monday, tuesday, or wednesday are all fine for me.

[Cynical Cat]

toast this week.

[Stofsk]

I can't guys, sorry. Next week things should settle down though.

[Hotfoot]

Okay, fair enough. Next week you all die.

[rhoenix]

Oh good, something to look forward to. ;)

[Hotfoot]

So, everyone ready to die?

[rhoenix]

Tuesday or Wednesday are both good days to die.

[Cynical Cat]

Tuesday

[Stofsk]

Sorry guys, I doubt I can make it this week. I know I said this week should have settled down, but ugh these essays are kicking my ass. Considering I have a hard deadline to the end of this month, next week I'll be free pretty much guaranteed.

[Hotfoot]

Foul betrayer! Well, we'll see what happens. On another note, I think I'm going to let everyone rebuild their characters with 30 point buy. Please post the new characteristic scores (without the level 4 increases) so I can adjust accordingly.

[Stofsk]

Not that I'm complaining, but why?

[Hotfoot]

Mostly because it's something I've been thinking about for a while, I'm starting to do several of the ground-based updates to the game I've been meaning to do for a while and that was at the top of my list. I've also finally updated the house rules with the new version of the Concussion Grenades. Next up will be new Squad Combat rules and so forth.

[rhoenix]

More Force powers? What? Bwahaha

[Hotfoot]

The following are rules I will be implementing into the next few sessions. These aren't necessarily the final version of the rules, so feel free to discuss them.

Group Mechanics *Under Testing*

Some enemies are no longer a threat on their own, but are still iconic. Rather than throwing them away or replacing them with higher level, more badass versions of the enemy completely (there will be elite stormtroopers and such), here are how larger amounts of stormtroopers and such will be handled.

Instead of having individual hitpoints and such, groups will have sizes, which can be decreased by the following method:

1. Every successful hit with a weapon will decrease a group's size by 1
2. Weapons with a blast radius will decrease the group's size by an additional 1 per the blast radius on a hit, doing half (rounded up) the number of hits on a miss
3. Weapons with persistent effects, such as lighting targets on fire, will do 1 damage (plus any relevant area effect bonuses) each turn it is in effect.
4. Stun damage will count as normal damage, but will leave targets alive (but unconscious) once combat is finished.
5. Force powers that do damage will be considered as weapons.
6. Mind-affecting abilities work on groups, depending on the effects they may do damage to the group's size
7. Critical hits do double the amount of hits that would have otherwise been inflicted.
8. As a group is something of a target-rich environment, all attacks to hit a group get a +2 bonus for every 10 points of a group's size to a maximum of +10)

Groups use the baseline attributes of whatever they consist of for purposes of attack and defense. The number of attacks a horde gets is based on its size, using the tens digit of the size for the total number of ranged attacks it may make, with an additional bonus to attack based on double the tens digit (to a maximum of +10) and is considered to be the bonus applied from aiding another on an attack check. Special abilities that would reduce attacks or add attacks may still be used (such as double attack) with all the normal penalties. Anything that would give a group an extra action can be used to give one additional attack or move action.

Other NPCs inside of the group are considered to be in cover, but not part of the group. Area attacks that miss but still would normally do damage do damage to the group instead, but area attacks that hit the target (and the group) will do damage to both. Groups may take cover and benefit from concealment so long as over half the group could be reasonably considered to benefit from the effect.

The size a group takes up on a battlefield is largely arbitrary, but no group is considered anything less than Huge (3x3). For the purposes of style, individual models will be used to represent the group's size, but a 1:1 ration of size to individual models should not be inferred. Rather, this is for ease of managing the combat and to handle positioning, should the players attempt to focus on a flank to allow for certain tactics.

Note that while these rules are primarily for ground combat, larger scaled encounters in space (such as the Battle of Endor) may use these rules for fighters in rare instances instead of the normal squadron rules. These rules are intended for ground combat, and specifically for NPCs built without Heroic levels. NPCs with Heroic levels in groups will more commonly use the squad mechanics as presented in the Attack of the Clones supplement. Note that these rules do not replace the mass combat rules from the same book, but are meant as a bridge to make very low level threats a challenge while reducing the overall amount of rolling and record keeping necessary.



Combat Changes *Under Testing*

Stunts: When performing an attack or a skill check with a critical success (a result of 20 on the die), the player may use a Force Point to perform a stunt. For a skill check, the stunt may add an additional level of success when applicable, reduce the amount of time the skill would normally take by half (rounded up), even in combat, where the progression would go Full to Standard, Standard to Move, Move to Swift, and Swift to Free. For an attack, the attacker may choose to do any other standard action (note: not a damaging attack) against the same target as the subject of the original attack. If the attacker has made no other actions that round, this can be used for a non-attack full round action.

Signature Move: When performing an attack or skill check with a critical success, the player may choose to spend a Destiny Point to initiate a signature move. For an attack, the effect is a persistent -1 condition that requires surgery (or detailed repair) to remove, with special effects based on the type of weapon used in the attack.

For Stun and Ion attacks, if the damage would have normally beaten the target's damage threshold, the target is considered unconscious or disabled automatically. If the damage does not beat the target's threshold, then it moves the target an additional -1 step on the condition track.

For single target ranged attacks, the target is considered to be flat-footed until their persistent condition is removed.

For area attacks, the affected targets consider all enemies as under concealment until their persistent condition is removed.

For melee attacks, bludgeoning and piercing attacks use the single-target ranged attack rules, stun damage uses the Stun and Ion rules. Slashing damage can be used to sever a limb of the player's choice, either an arm or leg. This follows standard rules for the sever limb attack talent from the Jedi Knight PrC in the main rulebook.

When used with a skill check, the destiny point ensures that the skill test is successful, and will add one additional margin of success for tests when such is possible. For the remainder of the session, all tests made by the character gain a +5 Force bonus to that skill.

If a Signature Move is used against a character with Destiny Points, the target may use a destiny point to ignore the effects of the Signature Move, but the damage from the attack will not be affected unless another point is spent to force a re-roll. Note that once the Signature Move has been initiated, its effects must be removed before the roll can be affected. Only characters targeted by a Signature Move may spend Destiny Points to avoid its effects.

[Stofsk]

So game on this week? I can probably make it to Wednesday, though Thursday would be better for me. I'm writing my last essay now.