So I've decided to finally put this out there before mass access to Realms of Terrinoth ... right about now (never mind orders directly from FFG through which many people apparently already got the book yesterday) likely causes additional headache for me. Or so I thought until I saw the PDF was already available as well. Aw, shucks.

It's probably best I start with why I've come up with these changes: The Combat Checks (and thence the increase in Combat Skills) arose from the vanilla rules adhering to the pop culture trope of completely ignoring physical strength when shooting arrows with a bow. (Kill it! Kill it with fire!) The rule changes for Prone were brought on by a number of little things, namely the ideas that shooting at someone lying at your feet would be more difficult than if they were standing, that you could easily shoot a bow while lying prone, and that resting your firearm on a surface wouldn't aid your aim at all. The different weapon stats came primarily from undervaluing maces and - again - treating bows like firearms. And the hard look at armor stats was triggered by the book going out of its way to specifically include soft leather among viable armor choices.

It's fine if you disagree with my motivations, in which case let's agree to disagree. If you disagree with my general methods, I'd be open for suggestions. And if you see issues with specific details and solutions for those, by all means, I'm all ears! Personally, I'm not too happy with the noteworthy increase in (Boost and Setback) dice, but other than the cost of physical custom dice packs, I don't consider this a big deal, either. Mostly I'm just worrying about the untested balance of stronger weapons versus stronger armor. At least in theory the cost calculation tables in the CRB should more or less handle that for one's own creations, but as far as FFG's NPCs go... Head hurts.

I combine Combat Skills and weapons (when I give them) into a single table for ease of reference. Combat Skills are formatted as "[Primary Characteristic] with [Secondary Characteristic]", the former combining with Skill Ranks to form the Dice Pools as usual and the latter divided by two adding Boost Dice. For example, a character with Brawn 5, Melee (Heavy) 2 and Agility 2 would roll 3 Ability Dice, 2 Proficiency Dice and 1 Boost Die for these. Still extremely easy to calculate, yet much more realistic IMNSHO.

One point of confusion for me is where FFG draw the line between light and heavy melee weapons. Swords are easiest to explain by: Basically there are ca. 1 lb. shortswords with ca. 1 ft. blades, ca. 2 lb. broadswords with ca. 2 ft. blades, ca. 3 lb. longswords with ca. 3 ft. blades, and ca. 4 lb. greatswords with ca. 4 ft. blades. (Plus de facto quasi-"poleswords", i.e. glaives.) The size and weight categories are less strict definitions than rough ballparks and the names are semihistorical at best, but they are convenient. (As for the other major weapon categories, other than different weight distributions they basically come in the same ranges.) Now, while the increase in reach is naturally gradual, the switch between (predominantly) one-handed and two-handed use happens between broadswords and longswords, yet only greatswords are handled in a significantly different way from the other three, in many ways much more like a polearm (and unlike their shorter brethren can't be worn on your hip). So on the one hand the Genesys CRB defines Melee (Heavy) weapons as heavy two-handed weapons and only gives really large examples, but on the other it defines Melee (Light) weapons as light one-handed weapons and lists katana as an example. Erm, which is it? While katana technically means "single-edged and/or curved blade (of any size)", in Western usage it refers 90% of the time to uchigatana, i.e. the Edo Era style of Japanese longswords - with somewhat shorter blades and somewhat longer handles than European ones but overall about the same stats and most emphatically used two-handed almost all of the time. This leaves us with two possibilities: Either they just phrased the list of examples for light weapons incorrectly, or they've never seen anyone actually use a "katana" and draw the line strictly along the handedness of the weapon (as they clearly do with light and heavy ranged weapons). Suffice it to say, I went with the former option. I eventually decided to keep Base Damage and Critical Rating almost universally uniform, differentiating nearly entirely by Item Qualities as to me, since they're there, they ought to be used, and if they are, there's little use in double-dipping, so to speak.

Melee (Brawl): Brawn with Agility OR Agility with Brawn [It really makes no sense for Brawl to be treated as separate. The two options reflect different combat styles.]
Unarmed: dam +0, crit 5
Melee (Light): Agility with Brawn [I am aware that Cumbersome 1 and Unwieldy 1 have no effect, but they illustrate my thought process.]
Ax: dam +3, crit 3, Cumbersome 2, Pierce 1, Vicious 2
Dagger: dam +2, crit 3, Unwieldy 1, Accurate 1, Defensive 1, Pierce 1
Hammer: dam +3, crit 3, Cumbersome 2, Pierce 2, Vicious 1
Mace: dam +4, crit 3, Cumbersome 3, Accurate 1, Pierce 1, Vicious 1
Short Spear: dam +3, crit 3, Unwieldy 2, Accurate 1, Defensive 2
Short Staff: dam +3, crit 3, Accurate 1, Defensive 1, usually two-handed
Sword
Shortsword: dam +2, crit 3, Unwieldy 1, Accurate 2, Defensive 1
Broadsword: dam +3, crit 3, Unwieldy 2, Accurate 2, Defensive 1
Longsword: dam +4, crit 3, Unwieldy 3, Accurate 2, Defensive 1, usually two-handed
Shield
Small Shield (e.g. Buckler Shield): dam +1, crit 5, Cumbersome 1, Defensive 1, Deflection 1, Inaccurate 1, Knockdown
Medium Shield (e.g. Heater Shield): dam +2, crit 5, Cumbersome 2, Defensive 2, Deflection 2, Inaccurate 2, Knockdown
Large Shield (e.g. Tower Shield): dam +3, crit 5, Cumbersome 3, Defensive 3, Deflection 3, Inaccurate 3, Knockdown
Melee (Heavy): Brawn with Agility [Oh so many more polearm types I didn't want to wrap my head around...]
Glaive: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 2, Unwieldy 4, Accurate 2, Defensive 2
Greatax: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 4, Unwieldy 2, Defensive 1, Inaccurate 1, Pierce 2, Vicious 2, only on foot
Greatsword: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 2, Unwieldy 4, Accurate 1, Defensive 2, Pierce 1, only on foot
Halberd: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 3, Unwieldy 3, Defensive 2, Pierce 1, Vicious 1, only on foot
Lance: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 2, Unwieldy 4, Accurate 1, Defensive 2, Pierce 1, only on horse
Long Spear: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 2, Unwieldy 4, Defensive 3, Pierce 1
Long Staff: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 2, Unwieldy 2, Accurate 1, Defensive 1, only on foot
Pike: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 2, Unwieldy 4, Defensive 4, Inaccurate 1, Pierce 1, only on foot
Poleax: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 3, Unwieldy 3, Defensive 2, Inaccurate 1, Pierce 1, Vicious 2, only on foot
Polehammer: dam +5, crit 3, Cumbersome 3, Unwieldy 3, Defensive 2, Inaccurate 1, Pierce 2, Vicious 1, only on foot
Melee (Energy): Agility with Cunning [Unwieldy reflects risk of vaporizing yourself but mostly is just there to give those accurately beastly not-lightsabers some drawback.]
Plasma Sword: dam 14, crit 1, Unwieldy 5, Accurate 4, Defensive 4, Pierce 8
Melee (Vehicle): Agility with Cunning [E.g. mechs.]

Ranged (Throw): Agility with Brawn [Really unsure on the range bands for these. And remember that you can carry many more bullets than darts, let alone larger objects.]
Dart
Small Dart: dam +1, crit 5, range medium, Unwieldy 2
Large Dart: dam +2, crit 4, range medium, Unwieldy 2
Sling
Small Stone: dam +2, crit 4, range medium, Unwieldy 4
Large Stone: dam +4, crit 2, range short, Unwieldy 4, Pierce 1
Lead Bullet: dam +3, crit 3, range medium, Unwieldy 4
Throwing Ax: dam +2, crit 3, range short, Unwieldy 2, Cumbersome 2, Vicious 1
Throwing Dagger: dam +2, crit 3, range short, Unwieldy 4, Accurate 1
Throwing Spear: dam +3, crit 3, range medium, Unwieldy 2
Ranged (Draw): Brawn with Agility
Shortbow: dam +3, crit 3, range medium, Cumbersome 2, Unwieldy 2, Accurate 1, Pierce 1
Longbow: dam +5, crit 3, range long, Cumbersome 4, Unwieldy 4, Accurate 2, Pierce 2
Ranged (Trigger): Agility with Cunning [Handheld firearms and crossbows.]
Light Crossbow: dam 6, crit 3, range medium, Unwieldy 2, Prepare 1, Accurate 1, Pierce 1
Heavy Crossbow: dam 8, crit 3, range long, Cumbersome 2, Unwieldy 4, Prepare 1, Accurate 2, Pierce 2
Ranged (Gunnery): Agility with Cunning [E.g. dogfighters.]
Ranged (Artillery): Intellect with Cunning [E.g. catapults, cannons.]

One important general thing to note is that I've increased the maximum defense rating from 4 to 10 as a result from keeping the increases between armor types as low as possible while not wanting "perfect protection" to be reachable (including any of the above weapons) without a helmet which I list separately from body armor as otherwise you end up with people regularly wearing gambesons - or worse, medieval biker jackets - to battle without any metal head protection due to it not mattering mechanically.

Armors: defense soak encumbrance
garments
light 0 +0 1
heavy 1 +1 2
boiled leather
half 1 +0 2
full 2 +0 3
padded cloth
half 0 +1 2
full 0 +2 3
padded leather
half 1 +1 3
full 2 +2 4
chain
half 1 +1 2 +1 Dificulty Die on Ranged (Draw) and Ranged (Throw)
full 2 +2 3 +1 Dificulty Die on Ranged (Draw) and Ranged (Throw)
plate
half 2 +2 3 +2 Dificulty Dice on Ranged (Draw) and Ranged (Throw)
full 4 +4 4 +2 Dificulty Dice on Ranged (Draw) and Ranged (Throw)
coif
cloth +0 +0 1
leather +0 +0 1
chain +1 +0 1
plate +1 +0 1
helm
open +1 +1 1 +1 Setback Die on Perception Checks
closed +2 +1 1 +2 Setback Dice on Perception Checks

Prone: engaged range short range medium range long range extreme range
Attacks by Prone Offender: +2 Setback Dice +1 Setback Die +1 Boost Die +2 Boost Dice
If Ranged (Throw): additionally always +1 Setback Die
If Ranged (Draw): additionally always +1 Difficulty Die
Attacks on Prone Defender: +2 Boost Dice +1 Boost Die +1 Setback Die +2 Setback Dice

Also, let's move Skulduggery from Cunning to Agility, m'kay? (Oh, and the rough estimate of a Round should be 15 seconds; you don't hit people only once per minute. )

Honestly your going to have to break that down into assessable segments. There were many points I disagreed on but by the end lost track of them.

Edited after doing some checking. They have made the default fantasy stuff kinda crazy dangerous so +5 seems reasonable. just watch out for Brawn becoming a high stat for everyone since it does so much.

On 4/19/2018 at 11:55 AM, twincast said:

Also, let's move Skulduggery from Cunning to Agility, m'kay?

Quote

Your character should use this skill if...

• Your character attempts to pick someone's picket or lift their wallet.
• Your character tries to pick a lick or disable a trap. Your character would also use Skulduggery to set a trap in the first place.
• Your character wants to study a security system.
• Your character attempts to distract an opponent through guile or feint, such as by throwing a handful of dirt into their eyes during a fight.
• Your character tries to surreptitiously slip a poison into someone's food or drink.

One of those tasks could be purely Agility, maybe. One or two more are about 50/50. The rest of the applications, however, fall into the creative and mental realms of Cunning than the physical realms of Agility.

Skulduggery isn't just a replacement of D&D pick pockets, disarm, and pick locks. It's a bit more as shown in the examples.

I've never completely tied a skill to a single attribute. I take the listed attribute as the default or most commonly used. So, Skulduggery (agility) when picking pockets, but Skulduggery (cunning) when studying a security system.

This is a narrative system, not a simulation RPG, so I completely understand your desire to tweak it to your liking if you wish it to be more of the later (I did some of the same for Star Wars and Warhammer versions of this system). But, since you are starting with a narrative-based system it's a longer haul to get to the simulation level. Take, for example, your cringing at the time period of a round in Genesys. Your simulationist point of view wants to impose a 15 second round to get your mind wrapped around how often a "hit" may happen. In this narrative system, a round represents many swings, misses, hits, parries, etc. If you roll a success, it doesn't always mean you got just one good "hit", it could also mean you struck several minor blows during the round adding up to the damage result. This is most evident when PCs start striking down several minions per round in one roll. The PC didn't cut through 3 kobolds in one swoop of his axe, but was able to defeat 3 with multiple attacks throughout the round.

Back to your original desire for input on mechanics. I can give a couple suggestions:

Prone in RAW (pg. 108) was kept simple and more evident of a modern+ setting using firearms or blasters. You've imposed several variants with players having to look up their specific weapon type and range to see what is imposed. If you want to keep it simpler, how about just removing the RAW Setback for prone defenders if within Short for all ranged attackers? Then, remove the bonus for shooting while prone to be replaced by a setback (or difficulty increase, your choice) for all ranged non-trigger weapons? Easier to remember.

Increasing max. defense to 10 needs play-tested to see if it gives the desired result for you. That's a ton of dice to be rolling and the reason behind the RAW limit. In Star Wars FFG I added the Exposed quality which could be stacked for multiple levels. If someone removed a full helmet, or perhaps wore only a partial helmet, they received an Exposed quality level. Also, Armors that didn't completely cover a person (half-plate) or were very light (soft leather, heavy clothing) could also give a level of Exposed. Each total level of Exposed granted +10 on any critical rolls against the person. What no adjustment to defense!? No. In this narrative system, Wounds should be considered light injuries and being knocked around, bruised, etc. Only Criticals are considered significant injuries. Thus a person wearing full plate opening up his visor to remove a hindrance to his perception would be exposing himself to a more critical injury, narratively and mechanically speaking.

I've made changes to stats-skills myself, so that's not a big deal. Prone is definitely not handled well in a fantasy setting, and in all honestly shooting prone really can be as much of a pain as boon in reality.

In regards to more specificity in combat pool assembly, that is often seen as good, me personally, I think it just slows things down, which is bad.

Capping defense at 4 works for me since you should also have environmental Setbacks, dice pool results applied as Setbacks, effects of critical injuries, it all leads to a separate handful of Setback dice having to be rolled which means alot of failed checks and ultimately some painfully long combat encounters.

Ten setback dice are extremely swingy and very hard to overcome with positive dice. Effectively weapon qualities will never be triggered on successful checks, and damage will be very low because of both the reduced success and the increased Soak. All in all that’s a terrible idea, sorry.

The weapons are interesting, I don’t mind how you have done it although I have no idea if it’s balanced just by looking at it. If you’re going to theses lengths then why not split the combat skills up a bit more? A lance and a great weapon are used quite differently, So is a dagger and a long sword. You could either do it by the traditional Slash/Stab/Bludgeon with different characteristics combinations depending on the weapon size (small would favour Agility with large favouring Brawn) or Small/Medium/Large, or something else.