Fudge Damage Dice

A variant combat damage system

Introduction

Here are my variant Damage Dice rules. They actually include a whole combat system that I will detail in just a bit. This article is mostly about the damage portion of the system so I will keep my description of the whole combat system minimal.

You will note that I rarely use the word-based level system of Fudge in this article. I simply refer to them as +1 or -2 by their numerical monikers. This is not a slight on the creators or the system itself, but since there is a small amount of math involved, I decided to use the numerical monikers almost exclusively for overall ease of use.

Basics

When making an attack you roll an Opposed Action check. The Opposed Action check uses the skill you are using for the attack and the skill your opponent is using to defend (this may be an agility stat, a dodge skill or even a shield or weapon skill if he wishes to parry the blow). An attack may also take the form of an Unopposed Action check against a difficulty level set by the GM, if it would make more sense for the situation.

If you beat your opponent's defensive roll, you have hit your target and you roll your weapon's Damage Dice, add in your skill level, your strength level if applicable, and any other damage modifications. You take that number and subtract your opponent's Damage Resistance attribute, the point value of his armor, and any other modifications. You then apply that damage using your opponent's Wound Level track as normal.

Why is it better?

The Damage Dice system is different than standard Fudge because I eliminated the necessity to calculate the relative degree of success. I make up for that by adding in your skill level with the weapon to the total damage scored against an opponent. I also changed the way weapons do damage. For example, a sword from the old system might add +2 to the final damage inflicted for a wound. In my system, the same sword would simply do 1d6 damage. I made these changes to the damage system for three distinct reasons.

Number one, I think calculating the amount that you succeeded in an attack, while quite easy can be tedious in faster paced combats. Without my modification, calculating damage has 4 steps:

1. Find the relative degree of success. I rolled a +2 result and I needed to beat +0 so my relative degree and base damage is 2.
2. Add the modifier for weapon damage and any possible strength modifications. My axe does +3 damage and my Body attribute adds +2 so my final damage is now 7.
3. Subtract the opponent's armor, Damage Resistance attribute, and any other modifiers from the final damage. My opponent is wearing leather armor that subtracts 1 from the damage. He subtracts 2 from the damage because his Damage Resistance attribute is +2, so his final damage resistance is 3.
4. Calculate the final damage result and apply it to the opponent's wound level chart. Since 7 minus 3 equals 4, my opponent has received a minor wound or a Hurt (-1) result.

I replaced the first step with rolling a die and then made a small addition to the 2nd step to make up for it. I believe that it is the first step that slows combat down the most and having eliminated it, combat goes much faster. In my system, the 4 steps would look like this:

1. Roll the weapon's Damage Dice to determine your base damage. My axe did 4 damage on a roll of 1d8.
2. Add your skill level with the weapon if positive and add any possible strength modifications. Since my skill with the axe is +1 and my Body attribute is +2, I add a total of +3 to my original roll. My final damage is now 7.
3. Subtract the opponent's armor, Damage Resistance attribute, and any other modifiers from the final damage. My opponent is wearing leather armor that subtracts 1 from the damage and he subtracts 2 from the damage because his Damage Resistance attribute, Body, is +2. The final damage resistance is 3.
4. Calculate damage and apply it to your opponent's wound levels. Since 7 minus 3 equals 4, my opponent has received a minor wound or a Hurt (-1) result.

As you can see, there is now another die roll involved in any successful hit result, which you might think would slow down combat. However, in use, this is not the case because you use the same modifiers in standard Fudge and figure them into your weapon's damage die roll, rather than having to figure a relative degree of success.

My second reason for creating Damage Dice is that the old system didn't make much distinction between agility and armor. They both would decrease the damage a blow would do to an opponent (via a lowered relative degree). This would produce some strange results like an agile one-foot tall pixie taking no more damage than the average human, because when you were lucky enough to hit them, you only got a damage threshold of 1 or 0. The damage threshold would also allow characters to easily injure very slow and clumsy characters because you would always hit them for a damage threshold of 4 or more.

Now, in some cases this may be realistic, but it makes some classic archetypes hard to model. One such archetype is the tiny man who is very agile and hard to hit but will expire quickly if he is hit. With the standard Fudge system, a person with +3 agility is almost the same as a person with +3 armor.

My third reason is my least academic and least well supported: I simply like it this way. I like the fact that it adds a little more random chance to combat. I like the fact I'm rolling damage, and finally, I like the fact that I can use all those d4s, d8s and d10s I have lying around.

What needs to be reworked?

Weapons, as a whole, will all need to be reworked. I will take on melee weapons first.

The Damage Dice for melee weapons goes from 1d4 to 1d8 with 1d6 and 1d8 being the most common. A good rule of thumb is that really small weapons like knives and broken bottles do 1d4 damage, one-handed but hefty weapons like swords and small axes do 1d6 damage, and two-handed weapons like war axes and spears do 1d8 damage. A 1d10 may be used for halberds or other extremely large weapons, but you may want to just assign the weapon scale at this level.

Melee Weapon	Damage Die
Knives and daggers	1d4
Swords and hand axes	1d6
Big clubs and spears	1d8
Halberds and pole arms	1d10 (Optional)

Ranged weapons work the same way except that the 1d10 is used more often. Your average throwing knife or small rock will do 1d4 damage, your average short bow or pistol will do 1d6, your average longbow or rifle will do 1d8 damage, and your average high powered rifle or heavy crossbow will do 1d10 damage. The d10 is used more often for ranged weapons because the damage will often be lower in ranged weapons (Strength modifiers are not added for most ranged attacks) and because ranged weapons have a tendancy to cause more random damage then melee weapons.

Ranged Weapon	Damage Die
Small rocks and knives	1d4
Short bows and pistols	1d6
Rifles, crossbows and longbows	1d8
Heavy crossbows and high powered rifles	1d10

Armor also needs to be reworked to accommodate the new weapons. In modern or futuristic settings, which will have less muscle-powered weapons, this isn't that big a deal, but will be more necessary in medieval or classical settings.

Armor in the original Fudge rules generally provided 1 to 4 points of protection with 1 and 2 being most common. A Superb spearman with a high Strength will do 1d8+5 or approximately 6 points with every hit while an average character in leather armor will only have a Defensive Damage Factor of 1. In combat against the spearman, the character wearing leather armor can expect to take a minimum of 1 Hurt wound result with every hit and will be very easily killed. It will make for a very deadly game if your average attack is 1d6+5 and your average damage resistances are around only +2 or +3.

I have a solution to this problem: increase the protection of various armors. Listed below I have provided some guidelines for a fantasy/medieval game. Notice that most soldiers will have access to 2 pt armor and most player characters will have access to 4 pt armor. This will keep a stray spear point from ending their lives. You may want to adjust this up or down depending on the game.

Armor	Damage Factor
Heavy Clothes	1 pt
Leather Armor	2 pt
Chain Mail	4 pt
Plate Mail	6 pt
Gothic Plate Mail	8 pt

Things to watch for

As weapon damage can get very high, very quickly, especially with melee weapons, Game Masters will need to keep an eye on the potential for damage that any one character can dish out per successful hit.

Assuming a character has Superb Strength and a Superb skill with his chosen weapon, he will do +6 damage over the 1d6 or 1d8 roll from his weapon. It only takes 9 damage to inflict a Near Death wound on an average, unarmored human, a feat that is not hard to do with a 1d8+6 or 1d6+6 roll. Also be sure to check the damage maximums of your big, bad brutes, such as dragons and ogres. They should be able to handle 10-14 damage without dying instantly, provided your player-characters can dish out that much damage with a single hit.

As stated above, high damage results are not as big a problem for ranged weapons as melee weapons, since they will generally result in lower numbers. Makes sure that your campaign can tolerate 1d8+3 damage coming from your average bow or rifle.

To recap, an attack roll goes like this:

Attacker: 4dF + Attack skill vs Defender: 4dF + Agility or defensive skill

If the attacker beats the defender's roll, the attacker rolls damage like this:

Attacker: Damage Dice + Attacker's skill + any Strength bonus, if applicable vs Defender: Damage Capacity attribute + armor

Having read all of this, here is a quick example of my system in action:

Example Chieftain Solid Oak is ambushed near a gully by 3 Dakota braves armed with spears. He is a very experienced warrior and readies his axe. The Game Master announces that Solid Oak's higher agility allows him to attack one of the braves before they can attack him. He swings his axe at one of the braves, rolling a +3 result. The brave tries to dodge out of the way, but his roll is only +0, and he is struck by the Chieftain. The axe strikes the brave for 10 damage (1d6 +3 for his strength and +2 for his skill wit the axe), but the young brave is tough and the damage is reduced by 2 from his Damage Capacity attribute. The 8 damage left knocks the young Dakota brave cold (an Incapacitated wound). Now the remaining braves attack Solid Oak with their spears. The first is unlucky and rolls a -2 result. Solid Oak rolls his agility and comes up with +1. Solid Oak has successfully dodged the first brave's spear. The second brave has more luck and gets a +2 result. Solid Oak rolls his agility and gets an unlucky -1. The brave rolls a fairly poor damage result of 4; Solid Oak's damage resistance attribute reduces that to 1 (his Damage Capacity is Superb), a glancing blow that results in just a Scratch result for the mighty chieftain. Seeing that the battle is not going well and fearing Solid Oak's might axe, the 2 remaining Dakota braves grab their injured compatriot and dart off into the forest. Solid Oak, a generally peaceful man is glad that the battle resulted in no loss of life but he fears what the next battle will bring.

The example character's statistics:

Chieftain Solid Oak	Value
Body (Strength and damage resistance)	Superb +3
Agility (Dodge)	Good +1
Axes	Great +2 (1d8+5)

Three young Dakota braves	Value
Body (Strength and damage resistance)	Great +2
Agility (Dodge)	Good +1
Spears	Good +1 (1d8+2)

Ever since waiting feverishly for that download bar to sweep across my screen more then a year ago, I have enjoyed tinkering with the Fudge system. These are the combat rules I use now and they have been playtested and practiced for a few months now. I hope you enjoy these rules and I hope they add to your Fudge experience.