Starting this in hopes of developing pretty much a complete rework of how 4e combat works, so hopefully I can maintain motivation. This is actually Herrozerro's rough concept, but I didn't see him post it anywhere.
I'm tired and hasty, so I'm probably going to mess up on my math (a lot) and basic concepts, that's where everyone else comes in.
The assumption of the current ruleset is that you're going to hit about 45 % of the time, and about 5% of the time you're going to hit REALLY HARD.
I'm going to separate this into three posts to get my ideas in order.
With that in mind (and keeping burst damage out of the math for now) would it be logical to simply reduce damage values by 50%?
Effects that trigger off of a hit would occur when you dealt > half damage.
Defenses above the 50% mark would lower damage, like damage reduction (after effects apply).
For example:
Tide of Iron
Strength vs AC
You deal (1[W] + Str Mod damage)/2. If you deal more than half of this damage you push your target one sqaure and you may shift into the square he vacated.
So how to deal with armor? If it is seen as a way to reduce actual hit value, each point over average is a 5% reduction in damage.
Monster defenses typically are level + 12 + modifier (4 for soldiers for example). In most cases this would be +10% damage reduction + modifer (+20% for soldiers). So an attack that deals 10 damage, deals 7 damage to a soldier and 9 damage to an artillery. Removing level from this equation negates the 1/2 level and expertise tax.
(Monster defense - 10 - level) *.05 = DR
Too much math!
Keep the d20 roll to determine auto-fail and crits. Just ignore results outside of those ranges and get your calculators out! FUN! (no).
Needs a lot of streamlining...
Lets see.
1a. Player: Roll d20. Look for crit (20) or miss (1).
1b. Player: Roll Damage.
2a: Anyone: If the ability has an effect, ensure you are over the 50% damage mark.
3. DM: Multiply by damage reduction (.5 base, +.05 - .15 depending on monster type. +/-.05 per level difference).
This wouldn't be too hard for me, since I have my monsters in an automated excel spreadsheet and don't use the monster manual.
D20 roll gives a range.
Miss by 5 or more: Miss.
Miss by 4 or less: 1/2 damage, no "effect".
Hit: Normal damage.
Exceed hit value by 4 or less: +1[W] (or something)
Exceed hit value by 5 or more: +2[W] (or something)
Crit: Maximized damage. Including extra damage for exceeding by set amount.
This is too much, but it's an example, just needs tweaking.
I just dont want to do more math the (half damage) lol.
I don't think this will benefit any game.
-DF
I don't think this will benefit any game.
-DF
Could you elaborate?
Ok. You want to take out accuracy, you're gonna have to redesign a lot. These ramblings might help.
First off; remove all static modifiers. If you have a high Strength, you deal extra dice worth of damage (f.e. Str 12 -> +1d4, Str 14 -> +1d6, Str 16 -> +1d8, Str 20 -> +1d12, Str 22 -> +1d6+1d8, Str 24 -> +2d8, Str 48 -> +4d10, big table basically)
The same goes for Feats (weapon focus? +1d4) and implements (+3 blade? +3d6)
(Note, all numbers are examples, obviously)
Next, you introduce what's going to pass as defenses... I've come up with 4, you can use any number and/or add more, each one has a different effect.
Dodge: speed, agility, not being there when the weapon hits... these give a Dodge defense. A dodge defense allows you to remove dice before they are thrown. For example; a Dodge of 1d8 means that before your enemy throws his damage, you can remove one d8 or lower die from his damage pool. If you can dodge all of his dice, he can't hurt you.
Soak: thick layers of armor, magic enhancement... soak gives you the ability to ignore the tiny blows. Soak is a number, and any die that comes up that number or less is ignored. For example, if you have a Soak of 2 and your enemy rolls 2d6 points of damage and comes up with ( 1, 3 ) then he deals 3 points of damage because the 1 is ignored.
Precognition: Future sight, great wisdom, or sheer luck allows you to see where the worst is coming, and deal with that. Precognition is a dice defense, and allows you to discard one of those die types or lower after they are rolled. For example, if you have a Precognition of 1d6 and your opponent rolls 1d4+1d6+1d8 damage, you could look for the highest roll between the 1d4 and the 1d6 and remove that. You can't remove the 1d8, even if it comes up a 3, because it's type is too high.
Resist: A large shield, magical defenses, these provide Resistance. Resistance is like Soak, except it reduces die outcome instead of ignoring them. If you have Resist 2 then any die rolled against you is counted as being two less, to a minimum of 0. So if your opponent rolls ( 1, 3, 4 ) you take 3 damage, the 1 does nothing, the other two are lowered by two points.
Each of these defense types could have limiters, of course, the way they do now. For example; a Wizard might have Dodge +2d8 vs Psychic dice, or a Fighter might have Resist 2 vs Physical Damage. Armor might grant Soak 2 vs Physical, and a Fire Giant might have Resist 4 Fire and Dodge +4d6 Fire.
Effects might be applied from specific dice (a Power that grants +2d6, and stun on a roll of 5+) or simply convert dice (a Power that says Blinds on 12+ damage, or Dazed on a roll of 8+)
This makes the difference between a 1d12 greatsword and a 2d6 falchion a lot bigger (Imagine a lightly armored, agile target with Soak 1 and Dodge +1d12, he'd be quick enough to avoid the Greatsword all together, but still take 1d6 damage from the Falchion, whereas a heavily armored target with Soak 3 and dodge 1d6 would take 1d6 damage from the Falchion, negating half the attacks, but take 1d12 damage from the Greatsword and negate only the weakest hits)
Accuracy can be portrayed by rerolling dice (Accurate Dagger -> reroll any dagger die.
Right. See for yourself if you can scour anything from this, I'll be happy to think along further
Eliminate attack rolls altogether.
Instead use "exploding dice".
An attack will have a base damage, such as 1[W]+mod
If you beat the mean damage for the attack, you get secondary damage -- this could include and effect, such as 1[W]+mod and target is pushed.
If you beat the mean on the secondary damage, you get a critical damage, such as another 1[W]+mod, or target is prone.
Basic attacks would not get secondary or critical damage, and minions might have 1 hp, but not be affected by any attack that doesn't beat the mean.
So an attack might appear as follows:
Deadly Positioning
Rogue Attack 9You adroitly outmaneuver your enemy, pushing and baiting him with every stride and strike.
Daily
Martial, WeaponStandard Action Melee 1
Requirement: You must be wielding a light blade.
Target: One creature
Attack: Slide the target 3 squares to a square adjacent to you, and then inflict 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
Secondary: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
Critical: 3[W]+Dexterity modifier damage.
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, as long as you are adjacent to the target, you slide the target 1 square before making a melee attack against it.
The biggest problem is that you've eliminated defenses altogether. What does armor do? How about a creature with a carapace? Or a quickling? Do we reintroduce damage resistance and all that entails?
Degree of Hits
Instead of eliminating attack rolls, have attack rolls do more the better you roll. We already do this a little with critical hits. So, and attack might look as follows:
Deadly Positioning
Rogue Attack 9You adroitly outmaneuver your enemy, pushing and baiting him with every stride and strike.
Daily
Martial, WeaponStandard Action Melee 1
Requirement: You must be wielding a light blade.
Target: One creature
Effect: Slide the target 3 squares to a square adjacent to you when you invoke the power. Until the end of the encounter, as long as you are adjacent to the target, you slide the target 1 square before making a melee attack against it.
Attack: Dex vs. AC
More then 5 below AC: Nothing.
Between -5 and 0: 1[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.
Between +1 and 5: 2[W]+Dexterity modifier damage and push target 1 square.
Between +5 and +10: 3[W]+Dexterity modifier damage and push target up to 2 squares.
Natual 20 or More than +10: 6[W]+Dexterity modifier damage and slide target up to 3 squares.
For me, though this is like bringing back THAC0, and overcomplicates things a lot. I prefer eliminating attack rolls altogether. One thing to keep in mind -- whatever you do, don't eliminate the polyhedrals. Players love their multi-faceted dice. My wife's biggest complaint about White Wolf is it only requires a d10.
So simply make everything like this (the defenses (AC, Ref, ect) refer to the target's defense)
Deadly Positioning
Rogue Attack 9You adroitly outmaneuver your enemy, pushing and baiting him with every stride and strike.
Daily
Martial, WeaponStandard Action Melee 1
Requirement: You must be wielding a light blade.
Target: One creature
Effect: Slide the target (3) squares to a square adjacent to you. Until the end of the encounter, as long as you are adjacent to the target, you slide the target (1d4+15 - Ref) squares before making a melee attack against it.
Damage: (3|W| + 1/2 your level + Dex - Ref).
Twist of Space
Enconter Arcane, Impliment
Stanard Action, Burst 3 in Ranged 10
Target: Each creature in burst
Damage: (2d6 damage - 1/2 Will).
Effect: Teleport the target (1d6 +12 - Will) squares.
Stunning Blow
Encounter Martial, Melee
Standard Action, Weapon
Target: Once creature
Damage: (2|W| + Str - AC)
Effect Table: (1d20 + Str - Fort)
5-10, target looses his minor action
10-15, daze
15+, stun
It's much more straight forward, quicker to roll, easier to understand, gives you scaling benifits. I also think seperating the damage of the attack from the effects of the attack make sense. You could resist being teleported, but it may have taken alot out of you, or vice versa.
However, i think it's going to take alot of work to modify 4e to do this. As nearly every power, and plenty of feats would need reworked, or rebalanced. It's almost going to have to be a seperate (5e?) system.
I think its a great philosophy, and hitting 'almost always' has served many other RPGs just fine.
if you dont care about keeping the same level of damage output with comparison to RAW, and don't mind making combats deadlier on all fronts, then let this be a rule:
Misses (that arent natural 1's) are hits instead. This sort of hit causes 1 pt of damage per level (in addition to any effect/damage listed on a Miss line).
You'd probably need to add HP to all the monsters, but not too many.