LogFAQs > #932860545

MysteriousStan posted...

it was also a bit confusing at times.

The quick deaths were confusing? Any ideas on what I could do better on the writing side?

My plan for next time is twofold:

-Stat out basic and skill attacks for everybody. This time around, I did stats for NPs but ran everything else off the basic parameters (STR/END/AGI/MAG). I think I can do a bit more nuance there, and it will likely make basic attacks less effective than flashier ones.
-Use Command Spells as extra "saving throws" against death, and maybe make them very strong but affected more by damage than normal checks. I kinda halfway did that anyway on the very last fight of this game. Will also make it more important to stick with your Servant since I was kinda lax on that this game.

The cliff's notes of how the combat system works is that there's an AGI v. AGI check for initiative, then a check to see if the attack hits (most commonly AGI/AGI this time, but that's one of the things I'm going to go into more detail on), then a check to see if it does damage. (this time it was STR/MAG v. END but next time each attack will have a different rating) If somebody takes damage, they receive penalties on future checks, in theory leading to a cool system where you slow down until you can't make an END check. But all you need to kill somebody is a crit on that third check, and it's not unthinkable to hit that even on a fully healed opponent. That's what happened to Salter, for example. So statting out attacks should make "basic bonk with a sword" less likely to do that, and using CS as a saving throw should be a good way to stop that from happening at the beginning of a fight. Maybe.

....The simpler plan, I realize now that I've typed all that, would be to make "basic attacks" non-lethal, but I am not sure I can reconcile swords and magic bolts and guns and stuff like that as stunning damage >_>

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