Scentfinder: of attacks & damage

Although I did not state it plainly in my previous post, perspicacious readers will have understood I want to make Scentfinder more player-facing than its main inspiration. Not only is conveying the feeling of constant action to the PCs something I like, it is also a key component of the transparency I try to foster, as clarity facilitates clever decision-making, especially since quite a few of PCs' reactive abilities require them to precisely know & understand their degree of success.

Saves & Strikes

So, when a PC is in danger, they Save:

• [0] SAVE
  Trigger: you're in danger.
  Test VIG, REF or WIL, determined by the particular danger you're facing.
  T: avoid all damage & effects.
  S: reduce received damage to 1, & endure any additional effects.
  F: roll received damage & endure any additional effects.
  B: maximise received damage & endure any additional effects.

On the contrary, when a PC is on the offensive, they Strike:

• [1] STRIKE (attack)
  Choose a weapon to use. Target a unit in an area you can hit.
  Test a relevant skill vs an appropriate Save (REF by default).
  T: maximise damage.
  S: roll damage.
  F: 1 damage.
  B: ¤

When you Strike an NPC (or Cast a spell on them), you're targetting one of their Saves. Most NPC Saves are neutral, but some could have Modifiers (circumstance, condition or item) Impairing or, rarely, Favouring your attacks against them.

Weapons & attack actions will have predifined skills that can be used to attack with them, and predefined target saves.

NPCs can use attacks as well as PCs, but their do not make rolls: relevant PCs Save & interpret their Successes as NPC Failures & vice-versa. Likewise, NPC Impairements are player Favours & vice-versa.

Damage & HP

So. A few assumptions & gross generalisations first.

• Battles which are not supposed to be grueling challenges last about three turns. Two turns or lower doesn't left much room for changing tides, adaptability & tactics; four turns or more, especially in games as tactical as this one, feel more needlessly drawn out with each player around the table.
• Thus, damage shall follow this design principle: the basic attack inflicts 1/3 of its victim's HP as damage.
• So, d8 being the average classic damage die size (which range from d4 to d12), & its average being 4.5, so 5 (everything is rounded up unless specified), the basic HP will be 3 times that, so 15.
• This base HP of 15 will be the default for both PCs & NPCs. Both could see this value modified, PCs through their class & NPCs through their level & characteristics (we'll see how in the NPC design post).

So here it is. In the barebones of Scentfinder, characters have 15 HP & attacks inflict approximately d8 (5) damage.

It follows that adapting to one's foe shall likely be the only way one could inflict exceptional damage.

Resistances, Weaknesses, & Immunity

• Resistances, Weaknesses & Immunities have a corresponding damage type (or situation).
• Resistance: -2 damage for each damage type the target is Resistant to in a damaging effect.
• Weakness: +2 damage for each damage type the target is Weak to in a damaging effect inflicting at least 1 damage.
• Immunity: a damaging effect is reduced to 0 if it only inflicts damage types a creature is Immune to. In case of partial Immunity to its various damage types, a damaging effect has its final damage halved, before applying any relevant Resistances or Weaknesses.
• In specific situations, a creature could be considered simultaneously Resistant, Weak or Immune against one damage type, in which case every rule above applies.

 

Persistent damage

Persistent damage also carries some narrative weight & deserves its place in the game but was a bit fastidious to track as written in PF2. In Scentfinder, since the values are squashed, it opens up the possibility of using a simpler mechanic:

• Persistent damage is inflicted rolling a damage dice; relevant Resistances & Weaknesses apply only to this initial roll.
• A character inflicted with persistent damage only suffers this damage at the end of their turn, after which their persistent damage value is reduced by 1.
• A creature can be inflicted with several persistent damage types, which stack distinctly from each other.
• A character can spend an action to try & reduce one of their persistent damage values using an appropriate skill, to half their current value (rounded down) on a Success, to 0 on a Critical Success. 

Further posts will detail how classes & weapon design interact with this damage system.