Having an extra attack.

[User3]

Couldn't the system work the same with just an single attack roll vs a number that combined AC and damage resistance, rather than than an attack roll, damage roll, and soak roll and two seperate stats for AC and resistance (a mechanic that never made sense to me)?

I mean, it doesn't matter if your incredible dodging skills let you roll with a punch or if your helmet absorbed some of the blow, right? Both events mean that you got hit and took less than max damage.

That way you'd still have an attack roll with a mod, and depending on how much you beat the DC with mods, you'd get a varying effect and you'd have done it with two less rolls.

[Username17]

Couldn't the system work the same with just an single attack roll vs a number that combined AC and damage resistance

No. Under such a system death would always be way too common - like when you cast Save or Dies in D&D now. Also, you couldn't represent fights against mosquitoes well at all - since there would be no way to be very dodgy yet extremely fragile (which is what you want when dealing with Stirges and the like).

You either hit or don't, then you see how much damage you do - these have to be separate rolls because some enemies are supposed to be hit a bunch of times before they go down, and some enemies are supposed to go down in one punch.

That way you'd still have an attack roll with a mod, and depending on how much you beat the DC with mods, you'd get a varying effect and you'd have done it with two less rolls.

Not unless you are suggesing that we play Amber or Munchausen - thwe suggestion already includes only two rolls - a to-hit roll and a damage soak roll. There are no other rolls, so two less rolls means that you don't have any dice at all.

-Username17

[User3]

Your system suggests three rolls:
Hit roll.
Damage roll.
Soak roll.

[Username17]

1092080138[/unixtime]]Your system suggests three rolls:
Hit roll.
Damage roll.
Soak roll.

Are you high? The damage DC (of the soak roll) is determined by the result of the attack roll, so there is no separate "damage roll" - the damage actually inflicted is a result of the attack roll followed by the soak roll.

I have honestly no idea where you got the idea that there is a separate "damage roll" at any time - because it simply is not there. You roll to hit, then your victim rolls to soak, that's it, and if you think there is a third roll involved anywhere in that you simply aren't reading carefully.

-Username17

[RandomCasualty]

Ok, so how would you implement the following?

Armor (is armor acting as damage resistance on the soak
roll, or still acting in its primary function as attack roll defense? or is it both)

Damage reduction (I'm assuming this is just a bonus on the soak roll)

Power attack (given that overflow on the attack roll already increases damage)

Flurry attackers (your system tends to favor people who attack in one massive blow as opposed to a bunch of little hits, since little attacks may not add up at all.)

Critical Hits (Would they simply be handled like any other really high attack roll, or would it still be a damage multiplier?)

[Username17]

Armor

Personally, I prefer Armor that reduces your damage, rather than Armor that reduces your chance of being hit. Note that the two are quite linked in this set-up.

One thing I was thinking of was making heavier armors give penalties to your defense value (that is, you are hit more often, and take more damage when you are hit), but give significant bonuses to your damage soak. Just as an example, a set of armor which reduced your defense value by 2 would cause you to take an extra point of damage from every attack, so it would have to provide a noticable bonus to your soak roll before it wasn't actively disadvantageous.

That's mostly a stylistic consideration, I find it more exciting for people to score more hits and have to roll soak rolls than it is for people to spend more time missing. Other people may feel the opposite, and I honestly don't have really strong feelings.

Damage reduction

Same as energy resistance, a conditional bonus to soak rolls.

Power attack

Normally, if you hit by two more you get +1 damage. So if you sacrifice 2 points of attack bonus for +2 damage, you'll be ahead by one point of damage if you still hit. That being the case, the trade-off should probably be a bit better, say +3/-2 or something.

Flurry attackers

People who have a lot of little attacks should get a bonus to hit. This means that they'll end up getting a bit more damage and reliability. Much better than the wankery with extra off-hand attacks and crap. Alternately, flurry fighters should be able to spread out their attacks against multiple enemies.

So Razor Wind the Speedy has a double-dagger style that is much feared. He can choose to take a to-hit bonus against one enemy, or make an attack against multiple enemies simultaneously.

Critical Hits

Personally, I don't think they are especially needed. If you roll a 20 to-hit and they roll a 1 to defend, that's you doing seven more damage levels than if you'd both rolled tens. I think that's probably plenty, considering that 10 damage levels takes someone right out of the battle.

Nevertheless, some people really like the feeling of auto-success and failure. If you want to institute that sort of thing, I would suggest having 1s and 20s be smaller/larger respectively. That could be random (subtract a d6 from your result on a 1, or add a d6 on a 20, for example), or it could be static (a 20 is counted as a 24, and a 1 is counted as a -3, or something). It would make the game more random, which to some people means "more exciting".

-Username17