Ambisinister/HouseRules
All of my combat houserules make use of the power combat rules.
Contents
Knockback, Knockdown, and Stun
I don't apply these rules to all attacks. These rules are only applied if the attack's description warrants them. "Adjusting myself to a two-handed grip I swing my war hammer at him, catching him in the chest and knocking him through the window." is an example of such a description. "I attack him and knock him back." is an example of what wouldn't work.
Ping and Minimum Essence Damage
Functions as out of the Player's Guide but with one exception: In a situation where a target's soak reduces damage to minimum essence, if that target has a hardness value, the hardness value further reduces the minimum essence damage, to a minimum of one.
Joe-Stabby attacks the Stupendous Turtle. He has an essence of 6 and inflicts 20 dice of damage. Stupendous Turtle has a soak of 30 and a hardness of 4. Using the unmodified PC rules, Joe-Stabby would roll 6 dice of damage against the turtle. Using my rules he would only roll 2.
Clinches
What I've done here is to blend together the old clinch rules with the simplified PC patch. To intiate a clinch the character rolls his dexterity or strength + his brawl or martial arts. This is an accuracy 0, rate 1 attack which inflicts no damage. The target has all of the usual defensive options. If the attack is successful the character has a number of options available to him. He may hold, throw, or slam. If the attack fails then there is no clinch. An opponent may respond to a clinch attempt by making his own clinch attempt. In this case treat the opposing rolls as a clinch control check as below.
If characters are involved in a clinch at the start of a turn, then the clinch is resolved on the highest initiative of any participant. To resolve a clinch all participants fight to gain control. This is done via a contested roll using each participant's strength or dexterity + brawl or martial arts. The controller of the clinch may choose to hold, throw, constrict, disengage, or slam.
The Maneuvers
Hold- The controlling character locks or restrains his opponent in one fashion or another. No damage is inflicted and the restrained character is unable physically act. The clinch carries on to the next turn.
Constrict- The controlling character not only restrains his opponent but inflicts crushing damage as well. The constriction maneuver has a base damage of the character's strength. This damage is bashing. Extra successes on the clinch control roll add to the base damage. Constriction damage is piercing. The clinch carries on to the next turn.
Disengage- The controlling character breaks free from the clinch by shoving his opponent away. The opponent may be shoved back a number of yards equal to 1/2 the character's strength. No damage is inflicted (unless the character is shoved off of a cliff or into a hazard). This ends the clinch.
Throw- The controlling character hurls his opponent through the air away from him. The character is able to throw his opponent a number of yards equal to his strength + the number of extra successes on the clinch initiation or the clinch control roll. This attack has a base damage equal to the character's strength. This damage is bashing. If the character hits a wall or other object the damage is increased by the remaining distance he would have flown if he wasn't interrupted. Thrown character's may make a reflexive dexterity + athletics roll at a difficulty equal to the thrower's strength to remain standing after the throw, otherwise they are knocked prone. This ends the clinch.
Slam- Instead of hurling his opponent through the air, the clinch controller may slam him to the ground at his feet. The slam manuever has a base damage equal to the character's strength + 2. THis damage is bashing. Extra successes on the clinch initiation or clinch control roll add to this damage. The victim of a slam is knocked prone. This end the clinch.
Attacking A Clinch
All participants in a clinch are considered to have 50% cover. Failed attack rolls simply miss, while botched attack rolls indicate that you have struck someone other than your intended target.
Defending While in a Clinch
Participants in a clinch do not benefit from shields. They may not dodge unless they have charms which allow them to dodge while immobile. They may parry, but only using their brawl or martial arts ability. In order to parry they must split their action for the turn. The first action of the split must be used to fight for control of the clinch.
Multiple Participants in a Clinch
As of yet I still don't have a satisfactory method of dealing with this.
Clinch Aids
Clinch aids apply their accuracy bonus both to clinch intiation and clinch control rolls. They only apply their damage bonus to the constriction manuever.
In-Game Artifact Creation
I'm not totally satisfied with the in-game artifact creation rules in either the Book of Three Circles or Savant and Sorcerer. So I took the bits from both systems that I liked, spliced them together, modified some bits, and here we are: my house rules for artifact creation.
Step One: Design In order to build an artifact, you need a plan. There are several routes available to acquire one:
a) Build from existing plans: If the character can get his hands on the blueprints for an artifact, they can use them to build it. It is safe to assume that artificers with some degree of training (be it from the Cult, The Realm, Lookshy, a Deathlord, etc) have the knowledge to build common, stock artifacts. Characters with a Lore and Occult of at least three have knowledge of level one artifacts. Characters with a Lore and Occult of at least four have knowledge of level two artifacts. This progression continues.
b) Modify existing plans: If the character wishes to create an artifact as a variant of one he already has a plan for, he may modify the existing desing to accomadate his new vision. An example of this would be building a daiklave with additional powers beyond being a weapon, or which has a different stat line than a standard daiklave. The re-design process requires the artificer to succeed at extended Int + Occult, Int + Craft (First Age), and Int + Lore rolls. The difficulty of these rolls is equal to the level of the artifact being designed. The character must achieve a number of successes on each of these rolls equal to twice the artifact's level. A single roll may be made after a full day of work. All of these rolls need not be made by the same character.
c) Build from principles: If the character has no suitable plans to modify, he may attempt to create a new plan based on known and studied principles. The character needs access to a library or some other suitable source of research material. This may include the plans for artifacts. If the character meets this requirement he may begin an extended Int + Lore roll. The difficulty of this roll is equal to the artifact's level +1. He must accumulate a number of successes equal to 3x the artifact's level. The artificer may roll once after each full week of work. All of these rolls need not be made by the same character.
d) Reverse Engineer: If the character wishes to copy an existing artifact he may attempt to come up with a design by studying it. This requires an extended roll which may be either Int + Craft (First Age) or Int + Occult. The difficulty of this roll is equal to the artifact's level +2 and requires a number of successes equal to 3x the artifact's rating. If character wishes, he may choose to study the artifact by disassembling it. The character requires tools and a workshop if he wishes to use this method. In such a case, the number of successes required is reduced to a number equal to the artifact's rating. If the character wishes to rebuild the artifact he must re-aquire any exotic ingredients and possibly some of the rare ingredients as well. Any mundane or magical material components may be re-used (see Step Two for more details on components). The character needs only half the required number of successes to rebuild the disassembled artifact once he has all the ingredients.
e) Design from scratch: As per Savant and Sorcerer save that the difficulty of the rolls equals the artifact's level +3. (Quick index: Character needs to make extended Int + Craft, Int + Lore, and Int + Occult rolls, diff equal to the artifact's level +3, rolling once for each week of work. He must acquire 5x the artifact's rating in successes. Multiple characters may work on the design so long as no two make the same roll in the same week.
After the character achieves the requisite number of successes he may opt to streamline his design. He is allowed to roll each of his Int+Occult, Int+Lore, and Int + Craft(First Age) dice pools once. Each roll can be made after a week of work. The difficulty is equal to the artifact's rating. For each roll that succeeds reduce the total number of successes needed to make the artifact by 2. The same character need not make all three rolls.
Step Two: Select Components
There are four types of components: mundane, rare, magical material, and exotic. Any material that can be used in normal, non-magical crafting is considered mundane. These types of components can easily be acquired with backgrounds. Any sort of thaumaturgical level component can be considered rare. Rare components are still acquirable via backgrounds, but not easily or frequently. Any of the five magical materials is considered a magical material component. It is up to the story teller to decide if adamant is a magical material component or an exotic one. Exotic materials are the same as in Savant and Sorcerer. The components chosen should have some bearing on the final artifact. The component requirements are based upon the artifact's level:
||Artifact Rating ||Component Requirements||
||1||Mundane, Rare, MM||
||2||Mundane, Rare, MM||
||3||Mundane, Rare, MM, 0+ Exotic||
||4||Mundane, Rare, MM, 2+ Exotic||
||5||Mundane, Rare, MM, 4+ Exotic||
The player also needs to decide what the core material of the artifact is going to be. He may select one of the magical materials or unaligned. In order to have some sort of magical material bonus, an artifact's core must be of that material. Unaligned artifacts are attuneable by anyone able to do so. The core type of the weapon may have an effect on the craft rolls.
If the core type is Orihalcom, all non solars or abyssals attempting to craft it are at +3 difficulty.
If the core type is Soulsteel, all non solars or abyssals attempting to craft it are at +3 difficulty.
If the core type is Moonsilver, replace all instances of Craft (First Age) with Craft (Moonsilver).
If the core type is Starmetal, waive the workshop difficulty adjustment (see Step 3 for more details).
If the core type is Jade, Terrestrial craftsman may lower the total number of successes needed to forge the device by their permanent essence so long as they are working primarily with the color of Jade that matches their aspect.
Step Three: Construction
Once the character has designed his artifact and gathered his materials, it is time to build the device. Once the artisan starts the project he must commit a number of motes equal to the artifact's rating. These motes must remain committed for the duration of the project. If they are ever withdrawn, the project will automatically fail. The difficulty, number of successes needed, and rolling interval are all determined by the level of the artifact:
||Artifact Rating ||Difficulty||Successes||Interval|| ||1||3||10+||week|| ||2||4||25+||week|| ||3||5||50+||month|| ||4||6||100+||month|| ||5||7||200+||season||
The successes noted are the suggested minimum amount. The final total is determined by the storyteller. There are a number of modifiers that can effect the difficulty and number of successes needed.
Difficulty Modifiers: ||Basic Workshop||+3|| ||Advanced Workshop||+2|| ||Shogunate Workshop ||+1|| ||First Age Workshop ||+0|| ||First Age Tools ||-1|| ||Trained Thaumaturges(two per dot of artifact)|| -1|| ||Elemental or 1st Circle Demon (see S&S for details on number) ||-2|| ||Terrestrial Artisan (one per dot of artifact)||-3|| ||'Celestial Level' Artisan ||-4|| ||3rd Circle Demon ||-6|| ||Soulsteel Artifact ||+3*|| ||Orihalcom Artifact||+3*||
*Only applies to non solar or abyssal artisans
Once the difficulty is reduced to zero, any further reduction is added as automatic successes to the crafting rolls.
Success Modifiers ||Hearthstone Settings||+3 each|| ||Large Project||+15|| ||Massive Project ||+30|| ||Streamlined Occult Design ||-2|| ||Streamlined Lore Design||-2|| ||Streamlined Craft Design||-2|| ||Synergy Bonus||-(total number of Terrestrials involved-1)|| ||Jade Bonus||- Artisan's Essence*||
*applies only to terrestrial artisans working a color of jade that matches their aspect
Once the artisan attains the requisite number of successes, the construction is completed and the motes he spent become uncommitted. Also, he now has a fully functional artifact.
