Minions and Monsters

One of the few things I did like about 4E is the streamlined purpose driven monster system. Because I don't wish to spend a ton of time creating monsters I will use something similar.

Minions will be the weakest of the bunch, expected to die in the dozens and only annoy the players unless of course they take on far too many. For level 1 their basic stats will be as follows:

HP: 10-14, Def: 10-12, Atk: 0-2, Damage: 4-6. Expose 20. Initiative 0. In addition they only get a single action and do not roll damage nor saves and do not get a turn in the first round.

 

Normal monsters will still be slightly weaker than the players but be able to actually put up a decent fight. These should be the bread and butter of combat creatures. In the end I would like to create 'roles' or classes for these to be chosen from with quick creation tables for rapid generation.

HP: 20-28, Def: 12-14, Atk: 2-6, Damage: d6-d10. Exploit: d4-d8 OR Expose 19, Perception 0, Initiative 0. They do get 2 actions but should not typically make two attacks.

 

Elite monsters will have higher raw stats than the players without containing as many of the special abilities the players would. They would be considered equal or slightly stronger than a PC.

HP: 50, Def: 16, Atk: 6, Damage: 2 dice. Perception +5, Initiative +5.

These bad boys though are going to require a template smashed on top to work properly such as:

Bruiser: +10 HP, +3 Fort, -2 Ref, -3 Will, +2 Melee Attack, -2 Ranged Attack, d6 ranged, d10 melee, exploit 1d6. Rager Special: Increase Melee attack by 2 and damage to d12 with -2 penalty to all defenses at half health.

Marksman: +3 Ref, -2 Fort, -1 Will, +4 Ranged Attack, d8 ranged, d6 melee, exploit 1d10. Aimed Shot Special: May make secondary special attack at +0 vs targets will defense. If successful target is exposed against marksman's first shot. May only use ability once.

Boss monsters are the biggest and the baddest. Each should be handmade for proper PC butt-whooping potential, but they should still follow some simple guidelines.

HP: 80, Def: 18, Atk: +8, Damage: 2 dice, Armor: 1, Gain extra secondary action. Luck Roll(s).

So the first encounter I intend to run will involve them breaking out of their bonds and facing a small group of mutated giant rambo chickens that intended to eat them.

6x Normal Chickens

Perception 0 / Initiative 0

HP: 22

Defenses: 14 Fort, 12 Ref, 12 Will

Claw Attack: +6 (1d8 damage) Expose 19

Stub Shotgun: +2 (1d10 damage) Expose 19

Bruiser Chicken

Perception +5 / Initiative +5

HP: 60 / At 30 HP or less enrages

Defenses: 19 Fort, 14 Ref, 13 Will / Enrage: 17 Fort, 12 Ref, 11 Will

Razor Claws: +8 (2d10 damage) Exploit 1d10 / Enrage: +10 (2d12 damage) Exploit 1d10

Stub Shotgun: +4 (2d6 damage) Exploit 1d6

They will get away of course, until they are ambushed(!) by the rambo chicken chief! And yes they all wear bandanas and warpaint.

2x Normal Chickens

Perception 0 / Initiative 0

HP: 22

Defenses: 14 Fort, 12 Ref, 12 Will

Claw Attack: +6 (1d8 damage) Exploit 1d6

Stub Shotgun: +2 (1d10 damage) Exploit 1d6

6x Minion Chickens

Initiative 0

HP: 10

Defense: 10 Fort, 12 Ref, 10 Will

Beak Attack: +0 (6 damage) Expose 20

Stub Pistol: +2 (4 damage) Expose 20

Rambo Chicken

Perception +20 / Initiative +10

HP: 80

Armor: 1

Defense: 16 Fort, 16 Reflex, 18 Will

Fortune: 2 / Luck: d6

Primary Attacks

Razor Claw Attack: +8 (2d8 damage) Exploit 2d6

Machine Gun: +8 (2d6 damage) Expose 17-20

Secondary Attacks

Bayonet: +5 (2d6 damage) Expose 20

Special Attacks

Charging Fire (once per encounter)

The rambo chicken charges toward you firing his gun until the last moment when he slams into you.

Type: Standard Action + Secondary Action

Against a target within 30 ft make a machine gun attack. Then move into melee range and make a bayonet attack with a +4 bonus on the attack roll if the ranged attack hit. If the bayonet attack hits the target is moved 15ft (3 squares) back and exposed with the rambo chicken directly infront of them.

Sweeping Fire (at will if 40 HP or above)

Type: Standard Action

Make a standard machine gun attack roll against all targets within 15 feet from each other with a -2 penalty on the attack roll. Deal damage as normal if you hit.

Blood Frenzy (once when below 50 HP)

The rambo chicken lets our a bloody scream and begins to frantically claw at you.

Type: Standard Action

Make a razor claw attack as normal with a +4 bonus on the attack roll. If you hit deal damage normally and continue to make razor claw attacks and dealing damage with a cumulative -4 penalty to the roll each time until the target is unconscious or you miss.

Edits

I had to change a few things because of foreseen potential problems. I increased the base amount of hit points each character starts with, and added a flat bonus to the amount you heal from a vigor roll while removing one of the dice. Random is good, healing 3 hit points or 30 not so good and could cause many issues. Also, I removed one die from exploit damage at level one because I was a bit worried about the fact most of the characters could kill themselves in a single round, thats also why I increased base hit points.

Combat System Goals

    The two big goals I have for the combat system is to promote teamwork and to make positioning important. I want the players to feel rewarded for moving their character to the right place to get the flank, to expose an enemy, to protect a range guy from melee or to punish a ranged guy with melee. I want it to be similar in nature to a cover shooter where you can be punished hard for being caught in a bad position without being quite so boring. That is where the expose/exploit and posture mechanics come into play.

    In addition to that I did want to try and break the holy trinity of tank, damage, and healer. I don't want much healing to take place in combat in an effort to keep the tension always high. I do want roles however, and the four character classes will each have their own forte so to speak.

   Unstable Mutant: This dude is melee supreme. In addition he can take a beating and keep on trucking. Now while this may make him like a 'tank' he will need it to close with his enemies and survive. In addition his mechanics allow him to become really powerful but for a very random duration making him inconsistent in his performance which may be bad design but we shall see.

   Techno Marksman: His focus is on ranged damage, specializing in dealing additional exploit damage. His abilities also allow him to adapt to his enemies with bonus to hit, damage, etc. He uses the at will/encounter/daily ability system so he will burst early in the fights but his performance will taper off the longer it lasts.

   Telekinetic: This guy can bring the pain. Using special attacks he can target enemies weaker defenses, expose them, and weaken them while at the same time killing them. He just keeps going all day and with his secondary focus mechanic the longer the fight goes the stronger he gets. Bit squishy though.

   Combat Support Bot: Buffs? Check. Damage? Check. Trickery? Check. His auxiliary systems let him do some cool things like protecting the mutant before a deadly charge, or lighting up an enemy for the marksman to slaughter. And his primary systems give him some much needed, albeit limited, heavy hitting.

   So we have roles but not the typical ones. In addition everyone can deal good damage and take enough hits to do their jobs with luck. I have placed a very rough draft of the toons into the quickstart page but it needs refining and transferred onto a sheet.