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#1 jimprofit Dec 31, 2008 3:59:17

There is an unearthed arcana varaint that requires toughness checks instead of using HP. This system still incoporates HP, and dexterity is still viable. But HP is reduced because generally damage would be more severe. This rule system requires five basic principles... 1: Damage Saves: How this works is, whenever you are dealt damage. You roll 1d20+dexterity modifier, and reduce damage dealt by the amount you made on that roll. Thus, sometimes damage "misses" and deals nothing. RP your battles, rather then implying that you only hit if you "succeed". 2: HP Gain: Rather then the usual amount. Hit die is rolled at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level. These are the only character levels (unless you count epic, but epic rules are a whole nother ballgame..) you gain HP at.. You roll the hit die of whatever class you took for that level. Thus, there's a reason to actually take fighter at odd levels. Atleast 5th and 15th.. You also gain bonus HP equal to your constitution score. This really improves low level adventurers and makes them less likely to die cheap.. The HP curve begins to slowdown, and generally a PC will only have half the amount of HP he'd otherwise have under the normal system.. 3: Weapon Damage Increasesd: It's obvious with the d20+dex mod reducing damage, damage from weapons is going to need to be increased. The exact sematics is up to the GM. But personaly I have such things as Dagger: 2d4 Club: 1d8 Sling: 1d6 Spear: 1d10 As you can see, weapons are increasing in damage. But not dramaticaly. 4: Base Attack Bonus?: Because attacks "always succeed". There is no need to have BaB or attack bonuses as a whole.. Or is there? When making an attack with a weapon (or unarmed/natural weapons..), you can choose to either take the die rolled, or your attack bonus halved. Let's say Jeremiah is a level 1 battle sorcerer and has an "attack bonus" of +22 after true strike and his 15 strength (20+2).. He can take the better result of either what he rolls on the dice+any modifiers with a weapon, or take the 11 damage he deals with his "attack bonus". 5: Armor: Since there's no AC bonus, armor will either have to be converted to damage reduction, or bonus HP. The real point of this is that it makes weapons somewhat more viable and casters need take heed of a clever fighter. A level 1 fighter with 18 strength can deal 5 damage. No matter what weapon he's using, no matter how badly he rolls.. By level 20, if he still only has 18 strength, he's still fleshing out atleast 14 damage per hit. Which may not sound like much, but typicaly PCs have half of the HP they used to have.. So they won't take the fighter for granteed any longer! This does break some buffer spells like true strike. Dipping into sorcerer or something to gain the spell then cheese your BaB for flat damage. Because of this, some spells may need to be altered such as true strike working as "+1 on your next attack roll per caster level." Granted, there is no "roll" to be had with "attack". "Attack" is just flat damage versus rolled "Hit" damage of the dice. If this house-rule seems a bit too ridiculous, my plan B was just taking out AC, and boosting HP. Combat would still be more gritty, at every attack deals some sortof damage. But not alot of book-keeping to remember... I didn't want to have to do that however as then there's really no need to take strength or dexterty, (besides reflex saves and weight capacity) and simply makes two stats. "Body" and "Mind". Body=Constitution, Strength, Dexterity. Mind=Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma.