Gormling's page

Alright, I've been thinking about actions and here is my list of proposed changes intended to speed up play, improve story telling, and add depth to melee:

1. Require that all 3 actions taken by a character are declared up front and before resolving any one action.

2. Remove all negatives for multiple strikes in a single round. In general, don't penalize a player for spending their actions a certain way.

3. Introduce a new skill: 'combat stance'. For the cost of one action, a character can block/dodge 'normally'. When not performed, treat the character as being 'flat footed'.

4. Allow characters to 'focus' on a single action (e.g., strike) by spending two or three actions to perform the action. A focused action means rolling 2d20 or 3d20 for that action and using the highest die.

5. Allow characters to 'rush' an expensive action (e.g., spell casting) by spending only one action instead of the standard two or three actions. A rushed action means rolling 2d20 or 3d20 and using the lowest die.

Notes:

- 1. was inspired by West End Games' Star Wars RPG and it's probably the one I'd want most out of the list.

- 2., 3. & 4. provide depth in the fighter's turn by giving them a range of tactical choices such as:
-- all out attack (3 strikes),
-- strong attack (2 strikes, 1 stance)
-- standard attack (1 strike, 1 stance, 1 shield)
-- critical attack (1 focus-2 attack, 1 stance)

- 3. Also provides a nice hook for more fighting feats like shoulder throws and ripostes.

- 3. Also, also works well in surprise situations since a character that is surprised doesn't get the chance to perform actions like 'combat stance'

- 5. needs more work since lots of spells are automatic and don't require any d20 roll at all.

- I have not play tested these proposals which means there will be unintended consequences lurking in the shadows.

So, what do my fellow adventurers think of these proposals?

Thinking about the idea of an 'economy of actions' got me wondering about the idea of spending multiple actions against a single check.

For example, to improve your odds of to scale a wall, you could choose to combine all three actions on your turn to perform a single climb attempt by rolling 3d20 and using the highest number as your roll.

More generally, you could do this for all kinds of actions where you can reasonably improve your odds through extra time & effort.

Going the opposite way, I could see spending _fewer_ actions than are required too. Hastily casting a 2 action spell with only 1 action would mean you have to roll 2d20 dice and pick the lowest.