Homebrew Idea: Making Daggers Useful

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    • Homebrew Idea: Making Daggers Useful

      I know the rulebook keeps weapons more or less Roleplay, but if you go as far as to tell a character that he cannot have his way oversized sword because it would deal too much damage for his strenght level:

      Basic Compendium Pg. 230:
      Characters take a penalty of –1 Action Dice for each
      size category their weapons rates above their Strength.


      Why not reward someone in a similar fashion for choosing a weapon much too small for their strength level?

      AD Bonus
      So maybe you get a bonus of +1 Action Dice (or +1 for each second level) for each size category your weapon is below your strength?
      (A small weapon equals higher Agility)
      Of course you suffer a hefty damage penalty due to this, so there's the balancing factor.

      Concealment Bonus (this is more of a common sense thing the GM decides, but having some sort of general reference would be good?):
      Small Weapons: +1/2/3 Concealment (depending on damage Level)
      Medium Weapons: +0 Concealment
      Large Weapons: -2 Concealment (maybe they depend on damage level too)
      Great Weapons: -4 Concealment

      Limitations
      To not have elephants wielding tiny 1 Damage Toothpicks and gain +12 Action Dice, a Janah would be limited only to be able to wield a weapon of one (or two?) categories (as in Small, Medium, Large...) below his strength level and gain such a bonus.

      Whatchall think?

      This would give more initiative to use small weapons because up until now, everyone probably thinks you're an idiot for wielding a dagger when your strength exceeds 3.

      Maybe instead, or additionally there'd be bonuses to using the location table?

      The post was edited 7 times, last by Sherbie ().

    • RE: Homebrew Idea: Making Daggers Useful

      Heh! That could be fun to implement, honestly... And since there are really only 4 size categories,...you'd never really run into the issue of egregious amounts of bonus dice, even for an elephant wielding a toothpick...

      One of my players (Ghorum, who delights in wielding small throwing shards with ninja-like skills) would certainly get a kick out of having a bonus each and every time he used his various hurling disks, shards, and daggers....

      The only thing the GM might have to worry about though is abuse of those rules leading to imbalance... Rarely does the issue of players trying to use larger weapons (than their strength easily allows) ever come up in my game,...but players using smaller weapons by choice (easier to conceal and carry many of) happens ALL the time,...even without any kind of bonus....

      For instance, two characters of equal skill going against one another might be foolish not to throw down their regular-sized weapons in favor of the smallest weapons possible each and every time merely because the added dice could cause them to hit more often, and the extra potential successes (thus damage bonuses) could balance out the few points less damage for the smaller category...

      Suddenly you'd find that tiny weapons would become the new favorite thing of all your players... Heh, heh!!!

      I may play with these rules during our next game,...and see how it goes!

      Scottie ^^

    • RE: Homebrew Idea: Making Daggers Useful

      Oh daaamn I cocked up replying to this like 4 times! But this time I'll actually post what I write... C_C

      Originally posted by Scott Jones
      Heh! That could be fun to implement, honestly... And since there are really only 4 size categories,...you'd never really run into the issue of egregious amounts of bonus dice, even for an elephant wielding a toothpick...

      Well in the beginning, I thought about +1 per damage level a weapon is below your strength, but that was ridiciolous! It makes more sense with categories, and certainly eliminates the toothpick dilemma.

      Originally posted by Scott Jones
      One of my players (Ghorum, who delights in wielding small throwing shards with ninja-like skills) would certainly get a kick out of having a bonus each and every time he used his various hurling disks, shards, and daggers....

      Ninjas rule, so I understand him completely. ;D

      Originally posted by Scott Jones
      The only thing the GM might have to worry about though is abuse of those rules leading to imbalance...

      I already thought about that, yes.
      Like when a character might try to dual wield a dagger with a sword, hoping he still gets +1 AD. ;D

      Originally posted by Scott Jones
      Rarely does the issue of players trying to use larger weapons (than their strength easily allows) ever come up in my game,...but players using smaller weapons by choice (easier to conceal and carry many of) happens ALL the time,...even without any kind of bonus....

      Well up until now, my players haven't been to any big places so there wasn't really a need to hide weapons. The place they arrive at now though has rather strict policies on carrying weapons, so maybe they'll resort to small weapons as well.

      Originally posted by Scott Jones
      For instance, two characters of equal skill going against one another might be foolish not to throw down their regular-sized weapons in favor of the smallest weapons possible each and every time merely because the added dice could cause them to hit more often, and the extra potential successes (thus damage bonuses) could balance out the few points less damage for the smaller category...

      Small weapons are more suited for one on one combat, I guess. I remember a character in a Terry Pratchett book once saying something along the line: "In a narrow alley, give me a broke off bottle over a broadsword any day!"

      Originally posted by Scott Jones
      Suddenly you'd find that tiny weapons would become the new favorite thing of all your players... Heh, heh!!!

      It would certainly be interesting. I would really like to see more of those tiny but deadly weapons, such nigh invisible glass spikes, blades hidden in various objects and such. :D

      Originally posted by Scott Jones
      I may play with these rules during our next game,...and see how it goes!

      I might too, gotta mention it to my players and see what they think. :D

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Sherbie ().