House Rules
Here you will find my ever growing collection of personal house rules. As house rules are always an optional extra you can impliment any one of them without any of the others or, if it takes your fancy, you can play with them all. It's really just a matter of taste.
Also watch this space as this is one section that will receive updates from time to time (All updates can be tracked through the updates tab).
Death Saving Roll #9
The issue of player death has come up a couple of times of late and, i'm sure we all know that lower level characters always run a high chance of being cut down and, even higher level characters can have a bad run of luck. Most of all, i know that although characters are easy to create in TnT, no-one likes losing one.
My suggestion is what i call the Death SR#9, (quite obviously named after Death Spell #9). I've been reading up on the origins of roleplaying games for some time now and, older systems are of particular intrest. On looking through the older stuff fom the other game i noticed that one of the thing that saving rolls used to be made against was 'Death Magic' and i figured that as our system is a lot more flexible, we could go one better and roll against death, period!
We already have a spell that is a case of making a ninth level SR or die so it seems logical to say that when death is absolutely certain and, given the right circumstances, you should be allowed a SR to save your character from the clutches of death, if only for a time. I suggest that against most 'insta deaths' in solos you don't allow the roll because, even if you make it, if you've just been crushed flat by a falling slab and turned into a fine red paste, making the SR wont change the fact that your paste.
Situations where it would be valid would be death in combat, from a slow acting poison (but you'd have to make the roll everytime your CON would drop below zero) and similar... Which brings me on to the mechanic in question.
If your CON would drop to below one, resulting in death, make a L9SR on Mean (the mean average of all of your attributes). If you make the SR, your CON drops to one instead and you may carry on but, a miss means that fate has decided it is your time...
But you can always play through The Abyss.
Equipment & Rated Monsters
So your MR 16 Goblin just picked up a weapon that flew out of the hands of an attacking hero admidst the fray. Can he use it?
For a real simple solution, you could just say that, yeah sure he can but, it doesn't make him a better fighter because he doesn't know how to wield it properly. His MR stays the same and the bonus he receives in combat is that the character that dropped it and, must find another weapon to use.
This is a good, on-the-spot solution for when a situation has caught you unaware but, i figure if weapons make PC's a better fighter, they should do so for monsters too and, not just fully stated monsters but, ANY monster. So i thought a little about the idea and, here is what i came up with.
In order to use a weapon a monster must meet the following 3 conditions:
1: The monster must have an opposable thumb. All of the weapons within the rulebook require this in order to be used as they are all designed for humanoid fighters.
2: The total of the STR and DEX requirements of the weapon must be no greater than the rated MR of the wielder.
3: The weapon D+A (Dice + Adds) must be modified appropiate to the SIZ (Size)
Size:
This is a new element that i am introducing with this house rule that allows it to function but, the good news is, the majority of creatures already possess this attribute and, it is none to difficult to determine for those that do not. SIZ is determined with the following sum:
(Height Modifier + Weight Modifier)/2
SIZ affects a weapon in the following 3 ways:
1: The SIZ is considered relative to the creature in question. For example, if a giant picks up a humans weapon, the weapon's SIZ modifier is appropriate to the human (he was wielding it comfortably) but, if a human tries to take a giants discarded weapon, the SIZ modifier of the weapon is appropriate to the giant (as it was the giant that was wielding it) and the human will most likely struggle to lift it.
2: STR and DEX required to wield the weapon are also multiplied by the SIZ modifier. This is another reason the human from the above example would struggle to wield the giants weapon.
3: The D+A for the weapon are also multiplied by the SIZ modifier. So a giants club does more damage as it is larger than humans club but, it also weighs more and requires higher attributes to wield.
How this affects combat:
A monster using a weapon no longer gains the dice that they had for 'tooth and claw' fighting but, gain the appropriate ones for the weapons they wield instead. They do however still receive half-of their Personal Adds, rounded up.
The other major change is that MR now represents CON unless the mosnster for some reason resorts to 'tooth and claw'. This may happen if the MR is reduced to a point where the monster is no longer capable of wielding the weapon they are using (if the STR + DEX requirements of the weapon exceed the current MR).
Monsters and Armour:
In addition to weapons, monsters may also wear armour that they find in order to reduce the damage received during combat in the manner that it does for delvers.
In order to wear a piece of armour, a monster must have a MR at least equal to the STR requirement of the armour and, the cost in MR for also wielding a weapon is cumalative. SIZ is also a factor here.
A piece of armours STR requirement is multiplied by the relative SIZ, as is the number of hits it will take.
Meditation
Magic using PC's may opt to meditate when resting in order to increase the amount of WIZ gained during that period of time.
In order to mediatate the character will require almost absolute silence (even speaking in hushed tones can disrupt them) and be undertaking no other activities. The character will also need at least half an hour as meditating for any lesser period of time will have no benificial effect.
Whilst the character is meditating, the gained WIZ is double that of a character that is simply resting but, if they are disturbed or forced to break meditation for any reason, they gain no WIZ at all.
At any point the character may choose to break meditation willingly. Doind so will restore double the WIZ for that time period but, only if the period is greater than 30 minutes.
There is no penalty for breaking meditation but and WIZ that would normally have been gained in any time less than 30 minutes is not recovered as they were focused on the meditation.
Mighty Warriors
This rule is designed to emulate the mighty men of muscle that are so prolific across fantasy literature that seem to wield weapons far greater than any normal man with only one-hand.
If a PC has twice the STR required to wield a two-handed weapon and, also twice the DEX required to wield it, they may do so with one hand.
PC's may not wield two two-handed weapons at once as that would be far too much of a challenge for even the greatest of fighters but, the now free hand may be used to wield a single-handed weapon or, a shield.
Psychic Attack
This house rule was inspired by the method of attack that ghosts use in the TnT system. I just figured, why wait to die to use it? There must be some delvers (and monsters) out there that know how to attack the mind to incapacitate the body.
I am thinking of working this into a speacialist class for INT but, i'm currently undecided on that. Either way, i feel that the power outlined here suits a grim setting (almost horrific), than it does run of the mill TnT but, that's just my thoughts on the matter and you should feel free to use it as you see fit. So, with no further ado, my rules on psychic attack.
What you need to add to the game.
Each player will now have a new derived attribute called, 'Psychic Adds'. The value of this attribute is equal to 1 point for each WIZ / POW over 12 they possess and 2 points for each point of INT they possess over 12.
Deduct 1 point for each point of WIZ / POW they are below 12 and, 2 points for each INT they are below 12.
Who can use it?
Anyone but you will probably want to limit this ability the way the number of Paragons is limited in play. You almost certainly wont find many Warriors capable of this ability.
How to use it?
In combat a psychic attack may be declared in the same way as a melee or magic would be. The attacker must also declare a target. They will then roll 1 dice for every 10 points of INT they possess and add their Psychic Adds to this to generate their HPT.
The defender does the same and the higher inflicts the difference in damage to the other. However, the defender only damages the attacker in the event that they actually possess the psychic attack ability, otherwise the attack was simply unsuccesful and, the attacker suffers no damage.
WIZ / POW acts as armour does against phisical damage, reducing the HPT by its value. Should the attack be successful then the WIZ / POW attribute is reduced by one, making the next attack easier. This effect is cumalative.
Damage inflicted by a psychic attack reduces the INT of a target and if it is reduced to zero or lower they fall unconcious and, must wait for the INT to restore before they can act again. If the INT is of the target is reduced to a negative number equal to their INT attribute they have suffered brain death. Psychic attacks cannot however be performed against unconcious victims.
NOTE: WIZ / POW and INT all regenerate normally and the only permanent damage that can be caused by psychic attack is brain death.