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>>24568370

The combat rules are these:
There are 4 stats, Health, Strength, Toughness and Agility. In addition, there is a "mana" bar, which gets reduced when abilities are used.

Attacks are handled as follows:
1d6+str+attack modifiers for attack strength.
1d6+agility for attack speed.

Attacks can be either blocked or dodged.
Blocking is 1d6+tou vs the attack strength.
Dodging 1d6+agility vs the attack speed.
In tie situations, the attack wins.

Damage is handled like this.
Attack strenght - toughness of the opponent.

The "mana" bar also works as an extra health pool. Basically, depending on how full it is (Green=mostly full, Yellow= about half left, Red= nearly empty), reaching zero health has different consequences. If the bar is green, the freak can still fight or flee, but takes double damage directly to the mana bar. If it is yellow, the freak is incapacitated and if it is red, the freak dies or suffers otherwise grave injuries.

Standard combat goes like this:

>1st post.
The first freak chooses to either use an ability, item or attack. Then he picks his defencive stance (either block or dodge). Finally, he rolls the number of dices needed, for standard attack, the dices are 3d6 (1st dice attack strenght, second speed, and the third to his defensive stance.) Some abilities may need different rolls, or no rolls at all.

>2nd post.
The repetition of the previous phase, for the opposing freak. Choosing between abilities, items or attack, and picking the defencive stance, and making the rolls.

>3rd post.
Resolution of the combat.

Basically, the players suggest the action the character takes in the combat, and I will roll the needed rolls for both the player character and the opponent.

Your current inventory:
>3 Juz drinks (Restores 3 points of energy)
>Medium sized piece of meat.
>Ration package.
>Basic cutting and sewing tools.
>Nectar shard sack. (35 shards. Basically currency.)
>2 small biogel containers. (2 biogel dozes)
>Mysterious note.
>Bone dagger

Fight the arm's influence and continue to the rift bridge.

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>>24568487

Blade weapons, like bone daggers, do bonus damage to unarmored foes. In the case of the bone dagger, it's base damage of 1 is doubled against foes without armor. (2 damage)

Also, I am introducing grappling rules to the combat.

Grapple attacks are 1d6 roll, + str stat. They do no damage, and they can't be blocked. They can be dodged however, as the grapple attack gets a standard speed roll too. (1d6 + agi stat)
If one gets grappled, the target can't attack, or avoid attacks himself. The only way to get out of grapple is via strength roll (1d6+str) against the grappler's strength roll, or squirming out of it via an agility roll (1d6+agi), the roll result much however exceed the opponent's strength roll by half. (for example, the grappler's roll result is 4, in order to flee with agility, the roll result must be 6 or higher.)

Anyways, now is the time to start.
Previous thread is here:
https://archive.foolz.us/tg/thread/24551726/

You are currently still feasting upon the warm corpse of the slain shelled freak.
The gutterspawns are slowly starting to emerge from their burrows, cautiously observing you while creeping out in the open, seeking scraps for themselves.

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>>24568607

You eventually wrest back control over yourself from the arm, and stop feeding on the flesh of your victim. You rise up, and begin to walk towards the first rift bridge. As you leave, the small gutterspawn quickly swarm the carcass of the dead freak.

Suddenly, you hear loud howls from somewhere behind you.

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>>24568814

As you look back, you see some very, very bad news.
Old Uzal has wandered to these gutters again.
However, it seems that he has been in a fight recently, and he seems wounded.

The beast must have smelled your kill, which is why it has arrived here. It has already noticed you, and as it begins to approach, it roars menacingly at you.

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>>24568906

Old Uzal approaches you, roaring furiously.
The gutterspawns have fled to hiding again.
It is just you and the old beast.

"ATTACK! RIP HIM APART! TEAR HIS LIMBS! LET ME BATHE IN THE BLOOD OF THE OLD BEAST! I WILL GRANT YOU THE STRENGTH TO WIN!" Screams the arm's voice within your head.

What will you do?

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>>24569039
Do we get to see a stat sheet for old uzal or is this a blind fight? I want to suggest starting with our pounce ability again, waiting for other suggestions though. Tell the voice in our head that he can get more blood only when we see fit. We had plenty of our own strength before we got stuck with this arm.

Also, FQop do you foresee this still being available in 5 hours? I have to go back to work soon.

>>24569310

Here are Uzal's stats.
I was mostly just waiting to see if people would like to flee, or fight, before posting the stats.
However, this brings up a good question regarding the combat rules. Should the stats of other freaks be revealed upon entering combat? Because I am not entirely sure if I should reveal them. Revealing them removes the element of surprise, which can be both a good or a bad thing, depending on the circumstances.
I can try to keep the thread around for 5 hours, but I won't be able to promise anything for certain.

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>>24569376

Fixed some typos.

>>24569406

I also forgot to mention one thing regarding Uzal.
His Flurry of blows ability is weakened due to his injuries. Instead of rolling 6d6, he will roll 3d6, as only 3 of his arms are functional.

Also, note that you do not have full energy bar right now.
Anyways, are there any alternative attack plans to this?
>>24569310


(How many people are even in this thread?)

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Rolled 1, 3 = 4

>>24569490
Just the one. Let's enter combat with the pounce attack. Defense stance: Dodge. Rolling for Attack strength and dodge rating. Attack speed is not needed for this action, correct?

I want to suggest drinking some biogel on our next turn since we get a free stun.

>>24569585

Biogel might be too powerful to drink right now. We could just drink one Juz drink, to restore our energy to full, as we haven't lost any hit point or anything.

>>24569632
Hmm, this might be a good idea. We only have one less hp than this guy.

Btw, once the battle's over, are there any augs we could strip from our last victim? We obviously want to leave the aughound's enhancements alone but about claw guy?

>>24569585

Correct, attack speed is not needed.

Pounce damage:
1+2=3.

Uzal toughness:2

You deal 1 damage.
Uzal now has 8 point of health left.

Uzal continues to roar at you, apparently trying to intimidate you to back of.
Your sudden pounce attack takes him completely by surprise. You leap towards him, causing him to stumble backwards. You manage to deliver a swift slash with your claws, which unfortunately only causes superficial damage.

Prepare for the next combat phase.
Uzal is stunned, he can't attack you in the next phase.
You have 8/8 health, and 6/10 energy. Your energy bar is yellow.

What will you do next.

(Trying to save time by not posting pictures during combat phases.)

>>24569696

You can check up on the corpse of the claw guy for augments after this fight.

We're still at 8/10 energy. I don't think that we need to drink any Juz yet.

Last thread: http://archive.foolz.us/tg/thread/24551726

>>24569773

Actually, using pounce to attack Uzal drained you 2 points of energy, dropping you to 6.

>>24569790
Yeah. I started tying that before the attack was made.

Considering how we know about Uzal, we should know to run. However, there's the arm's influence, and the fact that this is to test the combat system.

So, what will you do?
Will you drink the Juz juice and regain 3 points of energy, or will you do something else.
Again, Uzal is still stunned, he can't attack you in this phase.

>>24570035
then let's take advantage of the stun and gut him or something, even if there's no follow up, he'll be weaker and thus easier to run from

>>24570060

Ok then.
What sort of attack will it be?
You can either use the arm to attack, stab Uzal with the dagger, or use an offensive ability.

>>24570129
see if we can't disable a leg, either stab it or slice it, that'll keep him from following us

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Rolled 3, 6, 1, 1 = 11

>>24570263

So, I take that you are trying to stab Uzal's leg.

Uzal is unarmored, so the dagger's base damage is 2.
Rolling for two stab attacks, attack speed and dodge stance.

Rolled 1

>>24570373

Stab damages:
3+2=5
6+2=8

Attack speed:
1+3=4

Dodge potential:
1+3=4

Uzal stumbles backwards, waving it's arms at you in his attempts to avoid your strikes.
Uzal has chosen dodge as his defensive stance.

Rolling for Uzal's defense.

>>24570373
oh snap, no sliced hamstrings today. what with all those ones.

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Rolled 2

>>24570424

Uzal's dodge potential:
1+2=3.

You manage to stab him to his leg twice, dealing 13 damage in total.
Uzal has a toughness of 2, reducing the damage to 11.

Uzal is incapacitated, as your stabs manage to sever some important tendons and muscle fibers in his leg.

Combat over.

Well...that was anticlimactic.

To me, it seems that I either statted Uzal way too low, or the weapons are way too powerful.

>>24570488

Ok, I am calling a timeout from the story to discuss the rules themselves.
This outcome with Uzal, and some thinking on the stats and abilities of the freaks have gotten me concerned of the possibility that the rule system might have too much random elements in it.

Maybe I am designing the abilities wrong, taking as an example the Flurry of Blows ability of Uzal. It is an attack that costs 6 energy (4 was way too cheap.), and does 6d6 damage. It also gives 2 points of bonus to attack speed. The maximum damage potential of this attack is 36 damage, and the maximum speed is 10, whereas the minimum damage is 6 and the minimum speed is 5.

Dodging the attack works as normal, and blocking it works on the same principles as stab blocking does. Basically, all the attacks that are lower than the block potential is get blocked.

I am not sure if this range of variability is a good thing, and I am not sure if this ability itself is well designed. I mean, it is pretty freaking strong attack.
Unless, each individual attack gets a toughness reduction.
So basically, each one of the six attacks gets the standard toughness reduction from them, instead of applying the reduction to the combined attack damage of the attack.

That could also apply to the stab damages.
So instead of 13 damage being reduced to 11, both the stab attacks would get the same reduction.
So 8 would become 6 and 5 become 3, and thus, the stabs doing only 9 damage in total.

>>24570760

So, I would like to hear other people's thoughts on this.

I admit, that I didn't expect the fight be over this quickly, as Uzal was pretty much to strongest freak I have statted, ability vise at least. Though, to be fair, he didn't actually manage to use any of his abilities or strengths to his advantage, as Thrax stunned and stabbed him so quickly.
In hindsight, this is actually a good thing, because one of the first goals I had when first coming up with this system was to ensure that freaks with lesser stats still could potentially wreck stronger freaks up.

The scale could also be too small and limiting.

>>24570839

Could you elaborate?
I tried to keep the numbers small, in order to make the system simpler, and reduce the amount of math I would need to run the system.

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Well, seeing how there doesn't seem to be any interest in discussing this stuff, I guess that we can continue the story.

You strike at Uzal swiftly, delivering two precise muscle shredding stabs to his right thigh. You jump out of his reach before he even realizes the damage you did to him, but as he tries to stand up to pursue you, he collapses back to the ground, as his right leg is no longer able to support his weight.
The beast is incapacitated, momentarily at least, but very far from dead. It is still very dangerous, and worst of all, now it is agitated. It howls at you furiously, waving it's long spindly arms at you, trying to reach you to his grip.
(The stabs were aimed at his leg, which means that despite the damage you did, you only managed to cripple him for now. Effectively, he is incapasitated, so he will be unable to pursue you, but if you go too close to him, he is still able to attack you with his arms. Basically, he still has at least 6 points of health left.)

You stand back from the beast, far enough out of his reach.
"Kill him! Finish him off!" the arm's voice demands.

What shall you do?

>>24571275
Resist.

>>24571275
I say avoid the confrontation, this fucker could hit us for *at least* 6 damage, and possibly way more than that. I say we pick our battles and leg it.

>>24570898
Stats being limited to 10 removes scale, which wouldn't be a problem if the scale of things was small but it clearly isn't. Simply raising the stat cap to just 20 would let you balance things better because it's less compressed.

At least that is what I feel.

>>24570760
yes I believe you just statted Uzal too low, and that weapon double attack is too strong, especially for no energy cost.

The variability of Flurry of Blows is good and I would add an extra benefit of using it. <Flurry of Blows allows the attacker to strike multiple opponents instead of just one.> I mean Old Uzal is all about killing and eating as many things at once right?

Finally, yes, toughness should definitely reduce each attack damage instead of total damage. Once again I thought the enemy energy bar was still green, so reaching 0 health would still allow Uzal an attack on the next turn.

>>24571394
There are negative stats for some freaks. They may not have proper legs so they have negative agility. Or is Scale still too small?

The injured stats reduced Uzal to the level of a normal freak. With freaks of similar power, the first successful strike will usually determine the outcome. With the original stat block, the old aughound is pretty much an engine of destruction.
Str: 6
Agl: 3
Tou: 4
HP: 16

The double-strike with the knife might be over powered.

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>>24571305
>>24571341
You resist the arm's temptations, realizing that even crippled aughound might still easily slay you.
You distance yourself from Uzal, even further, just in case. The creature continues to impotently roar at you.

>>24571394
I might have to do that. When this system was first developed, I was not sure of eventual the powerscales of the quest.
Also, as this anon stated >>24571439 there are negative stats, but they don't really matter in the combat, as gutterspawns with negative stats are so weak that I won't be wasting combat phases and rolls on killing them.

>>24571423
Agreed, though to be fair, Uzal was badly injured, so his weak stats were kinda justified.

Should the double dagger strike be scrapped. I didn't realize how stupidly strong it was when I first came up with it? I was just trying to figure out how to make the dagger into a viable choice as a weapon, when compared to the claw arm.

>>24571439
I know about that but they might as well just be 0 or null, because whats the difference between -1 and -2 agility?

>>24571567
I think the best aspect of weapons compared to things such as the arm is that they aren't augs, and thus cannot contribute to aughound madness. Already having the arm, it's outclassed. Having numerous augs already and considering another? Might just be best to pic the held weapon instead.

>>24571684
maybe a penalty to any roll you get? like if you roll a three you'd only get a one or somethign?

>>24571722
But you have LESS then 0 agility, you shouldn't even be able to even move.

>>24571748
hmm. maybe the negative thing would only come into play if you're injured, like a twisted ankle is one less agility

Rolled 2, 2, 5 = 9

>>24571722
That is what negative stats do. A gutterspawn might have stats like this:

Str: -1
Agl: -3
Tou: 1
HP: 4

Attacking another with the same stats: Attack, Speed, and enemy block.

They'd be slow, and not very capable of dealing significant damage. With a lucky shot though, it could still one-shot another gutterspawn. 0's across the board is good for most gutterspawns.

Rolled 2, 1, 1 = 4

>>24571833
Okay.
Attack damage: 1
Attack speed: -1
Enemy block: 6
No damage done. If the attack roll was 6 and the defense 1, that'd be a one-hit kill.
Negative stats are mostly for deformed/injured limbs that many are born with.

I am not sure if I should continue this anymore today, as it is starting to get late, and I only slept like 5 hours last night, due to running this. I don't have the energy to run this until 5 am in two nights in a row.
Uzal was the only combat encounter I had planned, and he went down quite easily.
This did however, teach us some good lessons, mostly the fact that the knife attack might be op.

We can, however discuss any potential improvements for the combat system, or other general ideas for the quest itself.

All I have to say is I have been looking forward to Freak Quest again, it and Shadow Quest are really really good.

>>24572055

I will try to deliver a good session on the misadventures of MC and Joey next weekend.
Now, is there anything you guys would like to do or discuss regarding this quest or the setting in general?

As for this side story, I will probably keep continuing it when I have the time, or I need to test out or otherwise refine the combat ruleset.
I do have a story planned for him, and his attempts to solve the mystery behind his new arm.

>>24572187
In the next month or so, I'd like a session where we finally do something to get a title for MC. You guys remember how we planned to make whatever titles he has his name? I'd like to see that come to fruition. Even something deragoatory would be fun

>>24572216

I can try to facilitate that. Thus far however, the MC has not gotten any nicknames or other labels from anyone. He hasn't done anything exceptional yet.

>>24572322
Are you going to add this to the archive? You should.

Hey FQop.
I am thinking that for more immediacy and lethality, you shouldn't have 'turns' in the combat rounds.
How about everyone states their actions, then you roll 1d6+agi, and whoever is the fastest acts first, and if that invalidates the other dude's action, then he does nothing.

Also I would suggest rolling 1d6+modifiers vs target number, which would be 4+target's modifiers.
This just makes the attacker roll all the dice for themselves, and speeds combat up a little.

Given the nature of the quest, you might want to have some rules for limb damage as well.

RE: the dagger, since it's two attacks, wouldn't Uzal have gotten his toughness against both of them?

Don't worry about limiting stats, instead just give some indication of what they mean (ie: 3 is human strength, 6 is bull, etc.)

I'm the anon from that QT general the other day, still catching up, I'm afraid. Do you have some way I can contact you more immediately then 4chan?

>>24573074

Archive fools archives all the threads automatically.

>>24573173
Foolz doesn't archive pictures long term, Suptg is better for imagequests.

>>24573198

Thread archived.
Shame that the first one wasn't.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/24568370/

>>24573159

I have considered implementing some sort of agility roll based initiative system, but I fear that it would favor high agility characters too much. They would be able to hit first, and their dodge rolls are already so high that the slower freaks would be almost unable to hit them, especially if the fast ones have abilities that could cancel out the actions of the slower ones.
In the current system, one combat phase takes only 3 turns to solve, and a fight can be actually over pretty quickly. It only took 3 phases to take down the shell freak, and basically one phase to take down Uzal, though that was mostly because of how op the knife attack was.

Though, feel free to elaborate on your idea, I might have misunderstood something. I have hard time grasping the combat rules, even the ones I use, dunno why really.
For example, could you elaborate on this with some examples perhaps?

>Also I would suggest rolling 1d6+modifiers vs target number, which would be 4+target's modifiers.
This just makes the attacker roll all the dice for themselves, and speeds combat up a little.

I don't really have any outside 4chan contacts I am afraid.

Now, are there any questions or other things people would like to say, as I need to start getting to sleep soon.
I might be able to respond to posts for 20 minutes or so, before hitting the bed.

>>24573159

Oh, and yeah, the dagger attacks should have each taken the toughness based damage reduction, but I didn't realize it at the time I applied the damage.

>>24573532
Feel free to sleep, dude, it looks like I'll have to catch you early in the next thread. You run at a rather awkward time for me.

Currently you roll 1d6+modifiers to attack, and try to beat your opponents 1d6+modifiers defence. I'm suggesting that you try to beat 3+those same modifiers instead.

>>24573621

Ok.
So basically, defenses would be static numbers, am I right?
In the current system, the roll for the defense stance is made along with the attack rolls. When both parties in the fight have made their posts with their rolls, they are compared and the damage is applied in the resolution post.
I like the high random factor, because it allows even weaker freaks to defeat stronger ones trough luck.
Removing the random factor from defense rolls kinda reduces this luck factor, which I am somewhat fond of.

Of course, if I completely misunderstood what you mean, do correct me.

>>24573711
No, that works, and I can see why you like it.

Another idea could be to change die size, up to a d8, say, when you're dealing with bigger/more evolved freaks.

>>24573764

Increasing the die size is a good idea that I might apply at some point. For now however, the 6 die is sufficient for dealing with the freaks that have appeared in the story thus far.

Anyways, I gotta go to sleep now.
It is kinda shame that Uzal didn't manage to showcase his true ferocity.
If one looks at his abilities, it is pretty clear how much damage Uzal could have done if he had gotten the change.

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>>24573888
Sleep well FQop, I'll be getting my adventure stick ready.

Seeing how this is still up, I'd like to ask if anyone has any ideas on how to implement ranged attacks.

>>24576624
Maybe an Accuracy stat, which is Str+Agi? Roll under means hit, roll over means miss?
And in ranged combat, both opponents can attack at the same time, and thus both can dodge at the same time. Damage is still dealt with our str - enemy tgh?

>>24576624
>>24577841

This probably needs some testing.
I had the idea of ranged stats being dependent on the augs themselves, but that might be too convoluted.

bumb

Bumb in case there is still interest in discussing thing related to the quest or the setting.

reading this over. has much relevance to my interests.

>>24586572
Earlier you asked if enemy stat sheets should always be posted or not.
>>24569376
I don't think it should be given at the start of combat, especially if it is a surprise attack, like the camouflage freak. Maybe reveal the special augs or abilities enemies have only after they have been used, unless it is very obvious, e.g. We can see the claw arm is big and sharp.
It will mainly depend on the situation at hand, but use your own judgement.

>>24587668
For playtesting, it isn't too bad to show all of the stats, but for in the actual game, enemy stats shouldn't be revealed until after the fight. Maybe not even until they're actually dead.

>>24581760
Even if a bit convoluted, it does made sense to do that for ranged augs/weapons.

>>24587668

I kinda agree on that.
In the actual quest, I might reveal only the most obvious things about the enemies, and maybe give an estimate on their stats. (basically, a range within the stats are)


>>24587853

The ranged augs still need to be worked out before I feel comfortable at introducing them to the quest itself.

For the sake of playtesting, should a non-canon version of the battle be redone without the double strike?

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>>24589988

I am down for that.
Though, I will not waste time on drawings on this.

I'll just post the stat pictures real quick.

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>>24590056

This scenario has the same set up as the earlier fight.
Uzal has noticed Thrax, and is approaching, but he is mostly just trying to intimidate Thrax flee, as he is wounded, and not really interested in fighting.

Because of this, Thrax has the initiative to start the combat.

>>24590056
>>24590093

Well, it seems that there was no interest in re trying the battle.
I gotta go to sleep soon.
Due to the fact that I have some exams coming up, to which I have (foolishly) not studied, I might need to put freak quest on hiatus for some time, so that I will at least get some studying done. I will most likely fail, but we will see.

Rolled 1, 6, 6 = 13

>>24592106
I can test a couple things. ignoring the second knife attack, 5 Attack + 1 from dagger - 2 tou = 6 hp of damage on Uzal. 3/16.

The new mechanic in need of testing right now is grappling, so testing that.

>>24592849
1+3 = 4 for grappling (must roll >4 with strength to break free, or >6 to squirm out with agility)
6+2 = 8 for Uzal's attack speed.
6+3 = 9 for Thrax's dodge. No hit.

Should the grapple strength be rerolled in every round, or used as a static thing until breaking free?

If the grapple was successful, Thrax would have been restrained, and open for an unavoidable bite, which would be between 5 to 10 points of guaranteed damage without getting free of the grapple first.
d6 + 3 STR + 3 DAM - 2 TOU. Combined with Consume, this would also heal Uzal. Without his injuries, the damage range would have been between 8-13 points. Insta-kill. This is why fighting aughounds is dangerous.

>>24593173
Does having more arms give you a bonus to grapples?
Would being smaller help you escape more?

Rolled 17

>>24593311
I think that would be best handled in a case by case bases because it's all relative.