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Looking for comments on a Skills vs. Siege custom rule
My C&C friends, I have had a custom rule rolling around in my head for a while now, and I figured I'd bring it up here to get some feedback from other gamers like yourselves.
I have struggled with the skill issue forever in gaming - it seems like all the systems either are too exhaustive or not complete enough. Finally C&C comes along with the Siege Engine and simultaneously makes all of the base character stats more important, as well as gives a simple framework for resolving just about anything on the fly. Love it! But I find that I have an issue, which perhaps is my misunderstanding of how to use the C&C rules. I know the rules allow for the kind of fudging I'm going to describe, so perhaps what I'm really looking for is a codification of the fudging? See what you think.
My problems are two fold:
1) The rules are based around character classes and their related skill sets, are not geared towards NPCs or unrelated skills, like carpentry or seamanship - non-class skills are all treated generically;
2) The rules leave the issue of task difficulty pretty vague. Not a huge deal to fudge, but I'd like some consistency.
I don't like the idea that, theoretically, a tavern bouncer has the same chance of making a stat-based Sailing or Navigation or whatever roll as a trained sailor. Everything can be fudged back and forth, of course, but pondering all of this led me to come up with an alternate way of making SIEGE rolls.
There has been much fudging & smoothing to try and make it feel right in use & integrate much of the current SIEGE mechanic, with a really big YMMV thrown in, thus my request for feedback. This is what I came up with for my version of SIEGE.
NEW SIEGE ROLL
1) The target roll for all Siege checks is 20 (which is always supposed to be success in normals SIEGE checks)
2) The appropriate Stat bonus is added (as per normal SIEGE).
3) If the check is being made with a Primary stat, +5 is added.
4) If the skill being checked is related to the Character/NPC's profession, then their level is added (as in normal SIEGE checks). However, if the skill is unrelated to their profession, even if it's related to another profession, the following Training Level table is used:
TRAINING
Untrained/No understanding: +0
Basic Understanding: +2
Adequate Training: +4
Advanced Training: +6
Master: +10
5) A modifier is added for the task's difficulty:
DIFFICULTY
Routine: +10
Easy: +6
Moderate / Average: +2
Hard: +0
Very Hard: -5
Absurd: -10
6) Roll a d20 and add in all the modifiers: if the total is 20 or better it succeeds. I have included some definitions of my terms at the bottom.
I have included with this post a table I made up of the modified d20 roll needed to accomplish a task based on Training and Difficulty. This table does not account for any Stat modifiers, nor does it include any bonus for using a Primary stat.
(more in next post)