Relax everyone, I've solved Soulslike Combat in RPGs™
Like all the great rules of our time this was written for my
games but works with anything.
SLOW ACTIONS: Some actions or items are noted as
Slow. To use them the character must have declared the action at the end of
their previous turn, declaring targets if needed. Declaring a Slow action is
not an action in itself.
Not complicated. Inspired by Into the Breach more
than the actual souls games. Works on the idea that you can give some truly
horrible abilities to your monsters as long as the players get a chance to
respond.
Put to use below.
THE WURM
Callous, cruel, awful, and long
Feasting far beyond its hunger, only happy in bloated rest
Crush (d8 blast) or gorge (2d12, slow, swallow whole on 7+ for d8
ongoing damage until the victim is freed)
Craggy hide (A2)
- A
force of gluttony, greed, and sloth. It exists to ruin the balance of
nature
- Speaks
to all living things but loses patience with anything that isn’t
worshipping or bringing gifts
- Cannot
rest until its colossal hunger is sated, then sleeps for a year
In the wake of the feasting
- Towns
are left crushed and bare
- Forests
are torn from their roots, all creatures swallowed or scattered
- It
rests in places dark, wet, and repellent to intruders
WURM BEHAVIOUR
Conversation
1: Spout hatred
2: Spread fear
3: Aggrandise self
4: Insult enemies
5: Seek submission
6:
Entice fealty
Combat
1: Cut off escape
2: Trap them and
leave
3: Target the weak
4: Break their arms
5: Flee to
advantageous ground
6: Blunt assault
REALITY BRANCH 3
Player: How intelligent is this Dragon? It spoke before, right?
GM: Yeah it speaks a little, but it's definitely got an animalistic nature.
Player: I throw myself down in front of the dragon. "Oh mighty creature, spare me and I'll show you where you might feast until you are truly sated"
GM: What's the idea here?
Player: The locals said this thing was just like raiding for food, right? Seems mostly driven by hunger.
GM: Yeah, good idea, but this thing isn't certain to be open to negotiation at this point. You'll need a CHA Save or it'll just ignore your pleas.
Player: Okay, I go for it (Rolls a CHA Save, failing)
GM: The dragon doesn't seem impressed. It eyes you hungrily before blasting you with a shower of acid (rolls 2d10 for 4 and 6) 6 damage for now, how does that leave you?
I might be slow (ha!), but I assume once declared the PC is committed to the "slow" action? What if the target is removed before the resolution of the slow action? Is it just wasted ("too slow")?
ReplyDeleteWurm choses gorge on end of turn 1; targets wizard near
Turn 2, PCs win initiative, Wizard seeing the Wurm looking at him, blinks to a high balconey out of Wurm's reach
What happens with Wurm's gorge action?
Yeah the intent is the attack fails, they can't switch to another action. I'll edit in an example of play tomorrow.
DeleteI also assume there's a D&D-alike assumption that use your whole turn to move would be sufficient to get away from it if targeted?
DeleteAs always it depends on the situation. In an open field you might need to use your whole turn to move far enough away, or maybe that just isn't an option if the monster is sufficiently huge in reach. Probably a bad idea to fight that fire-breathing dragon out in a field with no cover, right?
DeleteMore likely you'll be moving to a place the attacker can't easily get to you, like putting something solid between the two of you.
I'll echo Warren's comment. I'd love to read an example of play using this rule.
ReplyDeleteI assume that the slow action is wasted, and that's the intent? Making combat a pattern of slow attacks and actual dodges, where PCs are given the time to move out of the way of incoming attacks.
ReplyDeleteThis is essentially a telegraphed maneuver, and it's perfect. I'm literally going to use this for a giant scary monster fight in an upcoming session.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteCool stuff!
I'm all for telegraphed attacks, they force the players to think in ways other than "I hit it with my stick." What I sometimes do is show that the enemy is about to do something obviously big/dangerous ("Astra's eyes glow eerily, a circle of cackling lightning starts to coalesce around you.") and only reveal the mechanical effects once a PC has suffered the consequences of the attack or they have witnessed someone else paying the price of not paying attention to visual cues.
Thanks for the post!
This kind of reminds me of City of Mist or other PBtA games wherein the narrator sets up a scene with an action as a soft move. If players choose not to, can't, or don't do something about the described action then it will come to pass. In COM, there is a GM move called 'Hit them after a fair warning'. This could be a soft move or a hard move. Your slow moves are different in that it seems the slower moves are way more powerful than a quicker move that hits more consistently for lesser damage. I could see this same slower/quicker moves happening in a social setting as well though. If a Bastiard was at a cocktail party ran into a rival. That rival could either (quick) throw a snarky comment and deal (D6 Cha damage) or the Conductor could describe that they are starting in on a long diatribe and it's clear that the rival is getting everyone's attention to drop an embarrassment bomb about you (slow) to ruin your reputation with the paper guild (2D12 Cha damage).
ReplyDeleteThat's a really cool take! The system I tinkered together uses telegraphed attacks within the same turn, but does modify the base ItO framework a bit to achieve this:
ReplyDeletehttps://dicegoblin.blog/dodge-block-parry-for-into-the-odd-electric-bastionland-cairn/