So...is it time to rethink passive defenses?

In a world dominated by Reflex, passive defenses may just be too luxurious. Every incoming attack is subject to an opposed check, lest it fail entirely. Even if it succeeds, the damage it inflicts is hugely mitigated by passive Block and DR. I don't mind these defenses, but...should they be free?

Reflex offers a more interesting alternative. In d20, Armor Class was desirable, but boring--the PCs didn't get a chance to be part of the process. Now they do, via Reflex. Maybe waiting for a counter-roll after every single attack is a waste of everyone's time. Just assume Parry and Dodge are always take-10, just like Block.

And Block, btw, has become way too powerful. It's trying to adequately reward people for voluntarily cutting their damage in half, but it's just not working. Better to allow massive damage mitigation through active defense (i.e. spend Reflex) then to make Block so ridiculously powerful.

Here's a thought:

• Block is never free. You spend 1 stam to gain your BR as DR against an attack. It's stackable.
• You still gain +10 per hand to BR. Shields add to BR as well.
• You may use a shield to Parry.
  • What you can parry is based on what you're parrying with.
    • Melee weapon: other melee weapons (subject to size modifiers)
    • Small shield: melee and ranged attacks, including targeted spells
    • Large shield: all attacks, including areas
  • Feats exist to parry missiles and spells with improper equipment, but penalties apply.
  • Dodge may be too good in this model. It might be subject to more narrow restrictions.

Now let's talk damage model.

Here are the problems:

• Base damage is usually too low
• Multiplier stacking has reared its ugly head
• Every damage combo is just +100%; boring.
• The difference between two-handed and one-handed damage is too high.

Possible solution:

• Two-handed damage bonus reduced to +50%.
  • Dual wield gains an advantage, but it suffers the disadvantage of being poor at multipliers. Let it develop its own style to counter that, rather than forcing the math to add up.
• When using powers to augment weapon attacks, use spell damage for the bonus damage, multiplied separately by Mana. In other words:
  • Faen stabs with his short sword, inflicting 17 physical damage.
  • He spends 1 Mana to add fire damage, which adds 14 fire damage.
  • If using Power Attack, each point of stamina will add +17 physical damage.
  • Using Empower Spell, each point of Mana will add +14 fire damage.
• As a rule, damage added by different Energy sources will be in their own multiplier space.
• Reducing the effectiveness of Block and lowering multiplier craziness should make base damage not seem so low.

Critical Hits, Wounds, etc

So right now, when you run out of Hit Points, you start accumulating Wound Points. Heroes can trade them for Injuries, everyone else is fucked. When you are wounded, by default, you can't do anything but wallow in pain. You must pass a Fortitude check to do anything (DC=WP), and failing that save can exacerbate your wounds.

So WP are a bitch. It would sure suck to suffer some.

Enter critical hits.

Instead of multiplying damage, a critical hit bypasses HP and goes straight to WP. There are some caveats:

• There is no longer an automatic Dex bonus to crits. Your threat range is determined by weapon stats and feats.
• Armor has a stat called Fortification which reduces all WP damage. It is more generous than DR. Natural armor can provide this as well. Feats and powers can contribute even more.
• Multipliers do count. I considered making them not count, and multiplied (but not base, including augments) damage would go to HP, but...it's just too damn complicated.

Natural critical hits follow this model, as do engineered crits like Aim. Sneak Attack will work this way, although it will be tougher, requiring Stealth checks with substantial penalties for things like wielding a large weapon or not actually having cover or concealment. Flanking won't be enough by itself.

And what of Crit Power? It doesn't exist. There is no need to be multiplying damage that went straight to WP.

Spell Damage

Melee and Ranged do a fine job of handling weapon damage. But Willpower has a undeserved monopoly on spell damage. Powers are much more complicated than weapons; swords and maces probably don't need their own damage skills, but Fire and Frost do.

To that end, spell damage is now decoupled from Willpower, and is determined by the specific Power Skill (e.g. Fire or Frost). Similarly, Spellcraft does not determine all DCs, but rather the Power Skill in question.

Base damage dice begin at 1d6 (1h) and 2d6 (2h). Feats can improve the die type.

One might ask, what ability score do you add to these skill checks? A fine question, as Power Skills have no inherent ability score. Instead,

tbd