Levels of Success

[Trifletraxor]

D100rules uses two different methods for task resolution, skill rolls and stat rolls. Skill rolls are used for tasks dependent on abilities that can be acquired and increased by experience and learning. The skill system is percentile based and uses the d100 for all skill rolls. Stat rolls are used for tasks that mainly depend on physical and mental characteristics (stats), and are resolved using the d20.

Levels of success for D100 skill rolls and D20 stat rolls

• Critical ≤ Skill or stat / 10, or = 1(%)
• Special  ≤ Skill or stat / 2
• Success  ≤ Skill or stat
• Failure  > Skill or stat, or ≥ 90% or 19
• Fumble   ≥ 90% or 18 + critical, or = 100% or 20  

* Round all fractions down
 

 

Edited May 30, 2017 by Trifletraxor
Edited critical and fumble range, and wording

[Trifletraxor]

Critical at 1/10th skill have been used with other d100 systems and have been adapted because of the easy math. Special success at 1/2 skill have been a quite successful houserule in my game - it makes opposed rolls really easy and it speeds up combat. My players were horrified at first, but have grown used to it now. Fumbles are more frequent at 90% + skill/10, but this matches the increased critical range and fumbles are always great fun!

[tobarstep]

I've been looking at using the method of "Advantage" from Revolution d100 while also keeping the Critical/Fumble mechanic in place. Advantage is any time the tens digit exceeds the ones digit. This would mean a 50% skill will still crit on a roll of 1-5, but also get Advantage (or Special success if you like) on rolls of 10, 20-21, 30-32, 40-43. I think this could be used for an extra level of failure as well, though I'm personally comfortable with simple Failure and Fumble.  I haven't play tested this yet, but the numbers look pretty fair to me.

[olskool]

One thing I considered trying after playing RQ6 was the idea of Classes of Critical.  Each 1/10th under a roll would be broken into a Class by how far under 1/10th the roll it was.  So a 50% skill level would be capable of generating Class 1 through Class 5 Criticals.  An 05 would be a Class 1 Critical while rolling an 01 would generate a Class 5 Critical.   The Special Effects from various D100 games like Bypass Parry or Impale would be rated from Class 1 to Class 10 based on how powerful the Special Effect is.  When a Critical Effect is rolled, the player can pick ANY Special Effect that equals or is less than the Critical Class that was rolled.  Fumbles would also be "Classed" in a similar manner.  This would significantly reduce the "Effect Hunting" one sees in games like RQ6.             

[Trifletraxor]

11 hours ago, tobarstep said:

I've been looking at using the method of "Advantage" from Revolution d100 while also keeping the Critical/Fumble mechanic in place. Advantage is any time the tens digit exceeds the ones digit. This would mean a 50% skill will still crit on a roll of 1-5, but also get Advantage (or Special success if you like) on rolls of 10, 20-21, 30-32, 40-43. I think this could be used for an extra level of failure as well, though I'm personally comfortable with simple Failure and Fumble.  I haven't play tested this yet, but the numbers look pretty fair to me.

I'm sure the numbers are good, but my players try to use telekinetic powers to influence the dice rolls and thus want a simple "roll low" mechanic. Same reason they objected to the roll high under skill opposed rolls when we tried out different d100 systems.

[Mankcam]

The 'roll low' mechanic works really good for opposed rolls in CoC 7E, although it has one more level of success than what is proposed in these D100rules.

But I see no reason why these rules should not work. In fact I play a simple version of BRP with my kids like this. We mainly use the OpenQuest rules for char gen/char sheet, opponents, etc but replace the skill roll mechanic with the same 'roll low' mechanic you describe, having RQ2 special effects upon a 1/2 skill roll instead of 1/5 roll.

Works great.

However for simplicity we only have Crits on a 01 and Fumbles on a 00, and the effect is purely narrativ rather than a game mechanic roll. For most combats, it means that the character who scored the Crit just 'wins' the combat, leaving it up a mix of GM and player narration to describe the result. If they are fighting large opponents (great trolls, giants, large beasts, etc) than we usually don't rule an automatic win, and have some neat dice mechanic bonus better than the usual Special Effects.

This all works really well in practice for a clean, simple game.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Mankcam

[Trifletraxor]

10 hours ago, Mankcam said:

The 'roll low' mechanic works really good for opposed rolls in CoC 7E, although it has one more level of success than what is proposed in these D100rules.

I wasn't aware of this. I have the CoC 7E rules but haven't really read them yet. I quite disliked the move to percentile characteristics, but it seems like there a lot of good stuff in there too from what I've glanced. The books are beautiful for sure!

[Mankcam]

Yeah I was initially turned off by CoC 7E by the percentile stats as well, although they have actually worked quite well in gameplay. My only gripe with them now is the core stat block is out of synch with other BRP games, but it's not a big issue.

Many good features in CoC 7E, and I count the skill levels among them. You can roll a Regular Success, a Hard Success (1/2 skill), an Extreme Success (1/5 skill) and a Critical Success (01). Extreme Successes grant Special Effect Rules, and a Critical is always a Critical. 

But the best thing is that it works great for opposed rolls.

In combat a Dodge has to match the attacker's success level otherwise it is not effective, so this stops Dodge blocking attacks every time, and combat is not as stale as it used to be. For example, if an attacker hits with a Hard Success (1/2 skill), and the defender roll a Dodge and scores a Regular Success, then the Dodge did not match the attacker's success level, and the Dodge was not effective. Simple, and works well to add tension and variety to combat roll outcomes.

The Thru The Ages supplement introduces Parry, which works the same as Dodge, which means the defender successfully parries if the attacker's success level is matched. The variance is if the defender rolls under their skill, but does not match the attackers Success level then it is considered a partial Parry, and the defender rolls a variable dice roll for AP, based upon what they are parrying with (ie: Shield types, etc). Works well.

There is also the Fight Back option when the defender forfeits Dodge/Parry and rolls Fighting instead. The highest success level scores the damage, so that works well only if the defender is much more proficient in combat than the attacker, but it does allow the successful defender to score damage outside of their DEX SR turn.

Anyway sorry to digress, this is not a CoC 7E thread; but yes, having the extra success level makes a big difference in opposed rolls, and combat has much less stalemates than it previously did in classic BRP. I hope the concept has been ported to RQG, but if not then I'm likely to do so for my own RQG as it just works better than the old stalemates inherent in the classic combat system. A minor change which makes a substantial difference to combat scene flow.

However for more simple rules, having Special Effects kick in on a 1/2 roll instead of a 1/5 roll also is quite fun and moves combat along nicely.  Plus it's easier to calculate on the fly, as opposed to 1/5 rolls. I wouldn't do it with my more serious gamers, but if wanting to play a more simple game then it does work well.

If D100Rules has quick char gen and a reduced skill list like OQ then I'll be very interested in checking it out to fill our beer n pretzels RPG niche

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2017 by Mankcam

[Trifletraxor]

On 21.5.2017 at 1:12 AM, Mankcam said:

Yeah I was initially turned off by CoC 7E by the percentile stats as well, although they have actually worked quite well in gameplay.

I see how having percentile stats ease stat-rolls on a d100, but we've been using the d20 for that for some while. I bought the old version of horror on the orient express on ebay instead of the new 7th edition one just to have the familiar stats, but I guess it's just something I have to get used to.

Quote

The Thru The Ages supplement introduces Parry, which works the same as Dodge, which means the defender successfully parries if the attacker's success level is matched. The variance is if the defender rolls under their skill, but does not match the attackers Success level then it is considered a partial Parry, and the defender rolls a variable dice roll for AP, based upon what they are parrying with (ie: Shield types, etc). Works well.

That's interesting. Should probably get myself a copy of that supplement too then.

Quote

If D100Rules has quick char gen and a reduced skill list like OQ then I'll be very interested in checking it out to fill our beer n pretzels RPG niche

It's aiming for that niche!