Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Carbine 04-24-05, 11:29 PM	Monofilament wire, one of the most feared and hated weapons in any situation and in any setting, anyone who's seen the weapon never wants to see it again and anyone who hasn't doesn't believe it can be used as it is described but still this little thread of metal turns people into cutlets. Monofilament wire damage: 1d8 critical: 17-20, x2 special: User does not add their strength modifier to attack rolls but can add their dexterity mod if useing the weapon finesse feat. User when rolling a natural 1, 2 or 3 must roll a d20, if roll lands in wire's critical range treat as normal critical with the user as the target (see dismemberment rules), the user is subject to this rule until they meet these requirements; the feats weapon finesse, weapon focus and weapon specialization as well as having a dexterity of 18 or higher. Once a user has met all the stated requirements he only takes 1d8+dex mod on a roll of a natural 1 or 2 and no personal damage on a roll of 3. Reach: A user fighting with a wire threatens all squares within 10ft of himself, and can attack targets around other people or objects that are in the way as long as he can see his target but takes a -5 penalty. ie: Billy can attack an enemy 10 ft away even though his best friend is directly between them. Dismemberment rules: On an attack roll that scores a critical hit roll 1d4 (or a dX where x is the number of our opponents apendages) each number is a random limb. Make a second attack roll, if you critical again the selected limb is now injured unless the target makes a fortitude save DC=damage delt (-10ft to speed if a leg or -2 to attack and skill checks that involve arms) roll once more, if you critical again the selected limb is severed unless the target makes a fortitude save equal to the save to prevent injury. If the user rolls a natural 20 make a second roll if that roll lands in the critical range the target must make a fortitude save or die (usualy by decapitatoin). Monofilament wire costs 5300g which reflects the fact that it is a adamantine mithirl alloy and is required to be of masterwork quality. The wire holds all properties of an adamantine weapon, mithril alloying is only to keep the wire flexible enough. The wire has a range of 10 but can also be bought at a 20 foot length for double the stated cost. Well I've turned a simple piece of wire into a hazard to both enemies and user. A sub trained character can end up missing several limbs unless they're pretty darn careful, considering that the critical miss range is 3 to start I didn't think that a critical hit range of 4 was all that uncalled for.
Willie the Duck 04-25-05, 12:41 AM	Well, to start with, why don't you describe what you are looking to event a little more. Monowire is (as a standard term) a material, not a specific weapon. IT is a Science Fiction (actually science fantasy, as it couldn't actually work at any tech level) material that is incredibly strong and so thin it can cut through things exceptionally easily. Are you trying to create a monowire garrote or a monowire whip (or sword with monowire edge)? As far as game mechanics, no exotic weapon is going to require specialization before it can be used. How can you become an expert at something as a prerequisite to being able to do it at all?
Carbine 04-25-05, 01:18 AM	Well, to start with, why don't you describe what you are looking to event a little more. Monowire is (as a standard term) a material, not a specific weapon. IT is a Science Fiction (actually science fantasy, as it couldn't actually work at any tech level) material that is incredibly strong and so thin it can cut through things exceptionally easily. Are you trying to create a monowire garrote or a monowire whip (or sword with monowire edge)? As far as game mechanics, no exotic weapon is going to require specialization before it can be used. How can you become an expert at something as a prerequisite to being able to do it at all? whip and garrote, and the feats are only to prevent from looseing a limb while useing it example: billy rolls a natural 1, once rolls he makes a second roll, if the second roll falls within critical range he takes full damage (and probably looses his arm depending on how I work out the idea) but once billy meets all requirements he only takes 1d8+dex modifier on a roll of natural 1 instead of horrible horrible consequences As for specific use watch episode 6 of hellsing, you see Walter useing a set of 10 monowire weapons both grabbing and sliceing. Oh and I really don't think ridiculing an idea as science fantasy on a D&D board makes much sense, but then again you're talking to a mental patient.
Vahenir 04-25-05, 03:16 AM	Bleeding Rules: Usually that's a bad idea. The HP system is too abstract. If you must do -something- I suggest a loss of 1 HP/every 10 minutes until the wound is cauterized or otherwise bandaged. If you go for an hour without treatment, you suffer -2 temporary Constitution damage. If you want rules for dismemberment.. go buy Torn Asunder by Bastion Press.
Carbine 04-25-05, 03:45 AM	Bleeding Rules: Usually that's a bad idea. The HP system is too abstract. If you must do -something- I suggest a loss of 1 HP/every 10 minutes until the wound is cauterized or otherwise bandaged. If you go for an hour without treatment, you suffer -2 temporary Constitution damage. If you want rules for dismemberment.. go buy Torn Asunder by Bastion Press. Bleeding and dismemberment are two things that I've always noticed people stay away from... wonder why :confused: Anyways, I'm poor and in the boonies so getting Torn Asunder iis right up there with finding the holy grail in the realm of posibility (mostly due to poor) but I'll try and put it on my list. Here's what I was thinking, when you roll to confirm a critical and roll in the weapons critical range confirm that roll, if you have just confirmed a double critical roll 1d4 each number representing a limb, and sever selected limb unless opponent makes a fortitude save (DC=damage delt) the dc will be fairly high considering it's a d8 x2 weapon (roll of 4+4[dex mod]+2[weapon specialization]x2=20) but not impossible, of course as the weapon get's enhanced and the player grows stronger (greater specialization +4 to damage) the DC gets higher. For those players who want to really go for the kill ie decapitation they can either go for the vorpal ability or try and do the impossible, roll a critical, then roll a perfect 20 on the confirm and the opponent makes the same save or dies, considering the odds of rolling a 17-20 then a 20 are near impossible (maybe I'll just make it so they have to critical on 3 rolls in a row for the head, or two critical rolls then a 20 to make it insane). Dismemberment wounds as such, -1 HP/round until properly bandaged (heal check DC 10, it doesn't take much for a tournaquet) and temporary -2 to constitution (maybe a permenant -1 until limb is restored). And again so no one says this is overpowered, until the character meets all requirements that I stated earlier they are subject to the chance of looseing bodyparts when rolling a natural 1 (maybe natural 1-2 or 1-3) I really could use some help with this part as it's the trickiest, feedback... please :help: ?
Vahenir 04-25-05, 03:58 AM	Bleeding and dismemberment are two things that I've always noticed people stay away from... wonder why Actually, a lot of people use dismemberment rules. But bleeding is hailed as a bad idea because the abstract HP system doesn't handle it well. As for as dismemberment rules.. the Torn Asunder rules go something akin to this (from what I can remember without having my copy on me): You confirm your critical. You roll on a table for the type of creature you're facing (humanoid, dragon-type, whatever) and you deal specific damage to that limb depending on how severe your critical hit was. A moderate hit just deals more damage, slows your opponent, causes them to fall back, whatever. A more dangerous hit severs a tendon or something else non-life-threatening but still really bad. A severe hit either severs a limb, or outright kills the person. When using rules like these, it's a good idea to institute a rule that NPCs have to confirm Crits multiple times, or something similar. Because the Critical Hit rules favour the opponents of the PCs - the PCs will be subject to far more Criticals in their careers, and if they don't get special treatment, you'll end up with a lot of new characters, very often.
Carbine 04-25-05, 04:12 AM	Actually, a lot of people use dismemberment rules. But bleeding is hailed as a bad idea because the abstract HP system doesn't handle it well. As for as dismemberment rules.. the Torn Asunder rules go something akin to this (from what I can remember without having my copy on me): You confirm your critical. You roll on a table for the type of creature you're facing (humanoid, dragon-type, whatever) and you deal specific damage to that limb depending on how severe your critical hit was. A moderate hit just deals more damage, slows your opponent, causes them to fall back, whatever. A more dangerous hit severs a tendon or something else non-life-threatening but still really bad. A severe hit either severs a limb, or outright kills the person. When using rules like these, it's a good idea to institute a rule that NPCs have to confirm Crits multiple times, or something similar. Because the Critical Hit rules favour the opponents of the PCs - the PCs will be subject to far more Criticals in their careers, and if they don't get special treatment, you'll end up with a lot of new characters, very often. Well to me it sounds like torn asunder probably works pretty well but requires several tables, and as for the critical hit rules favoring the opponents, I've never seen anyone favored in critical hits (aside from manufactured vs natural), really in my games players scored as many critical hits as opponents did...oh wait now I see, if the generic badguy can just lop off your arm it doesn't make for a very long game huh? Well I'm sure I'll figure somthing out for that part, but I already require my characters to confirm critical hits once, for dismemberment I plan for several checks.
boredgremlin 04-25-05, 04:51 AM	Bleeding and dismemberment are two things that I've always noticed people stay away from... wonder why :confused: People avoid dismemberment for one reason. Its unfair to PC's. As the DM you have 10,000 orcs or whatever up your sleeve. They have only one character. It really sucks if your 15th level guy gets his arm or head chopped off by a single lucky orc. So whether it makes sense or not the mechanic is dodged to be nice to PC's. Anyways, I'm poor and in the boonies so getting Torn Asunder iis right up there with finding the holy grail in the realm of posibility (mostly due to poor) but I'll try and put it on my list. Look at thier website. You can order it online. Same with most books actually.
Vahenir 04-25-05, 06:01 AM	Well to me it sounds like torn asunder probably works pretty well but requires several tables Indeed it does. But I don't see a real problem with that. Critical hits shouldn't be coming up -too- often anyway. So it only slows down combat a very small amount, while adding really cool things like the Paladin cutting off the lizardman's arm as he bisects the evil ninja squirrel. and as for the critical hit rules favoring the opponents, I've never seen anyone favored in critical hits (aside from manufactured vs natural), really in my games players scored as many critical hits as opponents did.. You misunderstand. Here's the summary: How many times do you use the same villain character(s)? Once, usually. Maybe four or five times for a recurring villain or two. So the NPCs won't tend to see more than 5 encounters in their lives. How many fighters to the PCs get themselves into from the time of character creation to the time of character retirement? A -LOT-. Bottom line, the PCs are actually exposed to FAR more critical hits than any villain ever is. And therefore, with any rules for dismemberment on criticals, they have a much higher chance of actually being dismembered - as throughout their careers, they will be exposed to so many critical hits. The Critical Hit system favours the bad guys, who will be exposed to them fewer times. That's why I suggest, with any dismemberment rules, that you find a way to make the PCs special so that it becomes -very- hard to crit against them. Otherwise, you're going to have some really angry players when, after two games, one guy is missing a hand, and the other one's character died. oh wait now I see, if the generic badguy can just lop off your arm it doesn't make for a very long game huh? That too. Here's the thing though - the fun and epic-scope of wading into the bad guys and cutting them to pieces really loses its fun if you make it too complicated or difficult to do. I suggest allowing it the same way you'd allow a normal critical hit - for the PCs. And making 'multiple checks' only necessary for NPCs. And I suggest fudging the rolls sometimes, to make sure a really good character doesn't end up dead from a couple of lucky rolls. As DM.. it's not just your job to abjudicate the rules. It's also your job to cheat a little so that the players can have fun. So whether it makes sense or not the mechanic is dodged to be nice to PC's. Pretty much. Though I still think it's possible to have fun with slice-n-dice and still tip the balance so it won't hurt the PCs. In my games, I grab four d20's. If the NPC doesn't get a 19 or higher on -each- dice.. then there was no nifty critical hit stuff, although if the rolls came out all over 10 (but not all over 19) then it was a normal D&D-style critical hit (just extra damage). Look at thier website. You can order it online. Same with most books actually. Indeed. I suggest Amazon - they have the best prices. You can also buy used from Amazon, sometimes for a lot cheaper than buying new.
scwolf 04-25-05, 04:44 PM	IT is a Science Fiction (actually science fantasy, as it couldn't actually work at any tech level) material that is incredibly strong and so thin it can cut through things exceptionally easily. Yeah. If you want monowire, might I suggest playing Shadowrun? (Though if you don't already have it, wait until after August when FanPro puts out Shadowrun 4th edition.)
Willie the Duck 04-25-05, 11:08 PM	As for specific use watch episode 6 of hellsing, you see Walter useing a set of 10 monowire weapons both grabbing and sliceing. Oh and I really don't think ridiculing an idea as science fantasy on a D&D board makes much sense, but then again you're talking to a mental patient. who's ridiculing? I'm just distinguishing science fiction (fiction about what could happen), from science fantasy (what couldn't happen, but fits the science fiction genre better than the fantasy genre because it involves spaceships or robots or somesuch). The only reason I was doing so is because most of these threads eventually end in an long discussion about the "super-small = super-strong" scientific theory that came up with the idea, and how it didn't take into account the inherant non-scalability. IT is a perfectly valid thing to have in a futuristic-flavored D&D campaign, right along with force shields, anti-gravity belts, laser swords and others things that violate physical laws (someone check the latest string theory to see if anti-gravity belts are still impossible).
Carbine 04-26-05, 01:39 AM	who's ridiculing? I'm just distinguishing science fiction (fiction about what could happen), from science fantasy (what couldn't happen, but fits the science fiction genre better than the fantasy genre because it involves spaceships or robots or somesuch). The only reason I was doing so is because most of these threads eventually end in an long discussion about the "super-small = super-strong" scientific theory that came up with the idea, and how it didn't take into account the inherant non-scalability. IT is a perfectly valid thing to have in a futuristic-flavored D&D campaign, right along with force shields, anti-gravity belts, laser swords and others things that violate physical laws (someone check the latest strong theory to see if anti-gravity belts are still impossible). I just realized I forgot to state something in the first post that added a ton to the cost of the weapon and dispelled the idea that it was a purely physics working weapon. What I forgot to state is that the Monofilament wire must be created out of an adamantine-mithril alloy which allows for flexability, light weight but still strong enough. The alloy idea makes it a perfectly feasable weapon in older style D&D games, sorcery is always as adaptive if not more than technology... the problem is explaining it to the players who don't accept "Because I said so" no matter what. I'll update the first post with everything that we've talked about and maybe I'll write up some flavor text for it, but still everyone will hate this weapon but needless to say it is quite effective.