Saturday, January 08, 2011

MyD20 Lite: Conditions Summary...

Good Morning, All:

In working on the condition summary page for the MyD20 Lite Referee's Guide, I developed the following from the 3E SRD. Most conditions are self-explanatory, in my opinion, or are found in the one or two areas where they are used, so I didn't include them. However, these are prevalent enough that I felt they needed to be covered, as they will likely come up under a greater variety of circumstances. Please feel free to review these rules and let me know your thoughts on the matter:

Condition Summary
If more than one condition affects a character, apply them all. If certain effects can't combine, such as different levels of the same category of conditions, apply the most severe effect.

Fear
There are three different stages of fear in the MyD20 Lite rules: shaken, frightened and panicked.
Shaken: A shaken character suffers a -2 penalty on all ability checks, including attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks. A character is typically shaken until they have rested uninterrupted for ten minutes.
Frightened: A frightened creature flees from the source of its fear as best it can. If unable to flee, it may fight. A frightened creature suffers a -2 penalty on all ability checks, including attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks. A frightened creature can use special abilities, including spells, to flee; indeed, the creature must use such means if they are the only way to escape. A character is typically frightened until they have rested uninterrupted for ten minutes, at which point they merely become shaken.
Panicked: A panicked creature must drop anything it holds and flee at top speed, as well as any other dangers it encounters, along the most direct path away from the source of its fear. It can’t take any other actions. In addition, the creature suffers a -2 penalty on all ability checks, including attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks. If cornered, a panicked creature cowers, unable to act and suffering a -2 penalty to Armor Class. A panicked creature can use special abilities, including spells, to flee; indeed, the creature must use such means if they are the only way to escape.

Queasiness
There are two different stages of queasiness: sickened and nauseated.
Sickened: The character takes a -2 penalty on all weapon damage rolls and ability checks, including attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks.
Nauseated: A nauseated creature suffers from extreme stomach distress. Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else requiring attention. The only action such a character can take is a single move action per turn.

Tiredness
There are two different stages of tiredness: fatigued and exhausted.
Fatigued: A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and suffers a -1 penalty to Strength- and Dexterity-based ability checks, including attack rolls and Reflex saves. Eight hours of complete rest will remove a creature's fatigue. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue increases their tiredness by one level, making them exhausted.
Exhausted: An exhausted character moves at half speed and suffers a -3 penalty to Strength- and Dexterity-based ability checks, including attack rolls and Reflex saves. One hour of rest shifts an exhausted character up one level of tiredness to fatigued. A fatigued character becomes exhausted by doing something else that would normally cause fatigue.

Part of me thinks there should be another level to tiredness, to cover the -2 penalty that lies halfway between fatigued and exhausted. I found this concept in True 20, where the intermediary condition was called fatigued and the -1 condition was called winded, and the idea still rattles around in my head from time to time. What do you think?

With Regards,
Flynn

2 comments:

Clovis Cithog said...

I have a two fold approach;

minor impairment
(-2 on all d20 roll)
such as encumbrance, medium range, unsteady footing, cursed, etc..

major impairment
(roll d12 instead of d20 for attack & saving throws )
such as stunned, partially held, webbed, fighting underwater , etc..
Several minor impairments can add up to a major impairment.

James said...

I really like these condition summaries. I don't think you need an extra level of fatigue - doing so might be too much complexity for a game with "Lite" in the title.

It's great to see that work is progressing on the Referee's Guide!

BTW, have you given any more thought to producing a free "Starter" PDF for MyD20 Lite. There was a post on Dragonsfoot asking if a free version is still available.