Rules Modifications

 

New Combat Rules

Problem: The Armor Resistance (AR) rules of Palladium were based on the fact that an individual covered in armor is harder to hit. Thus as characters progressed in experience gaining more and more bonuses to hit, armor eventually lost all meaning.

Solution: This concept of AR will be done away with and we will try a new idea Damage Resistance (DR) and Cover Factor (CF). Very simply, the DR is subtracted from the damage roll unless a CF check is made. When a CF check is made then the damage goes direct to hit-points. A critical strike (on the roll of a natural 20) still goes direct to hit-points as normal. The cover factor check of a full suit of armour is made by an attacker on a natural roll of 19 or 20. The cover factor check of a half suit of armor is made on a natural roll of 17-20. If an opponent fails to wear a helmet, then increase the odds of a CF check by 2. Note that in Palladium a shield is used to "parry" and negates damage in that way and thus does not count towards the DR.

  • DR2 Cloth, Padding, or Quilt
  • DR3 Soft Leather
  • DR4 Hard Leather
  • DR5 Studded Leather
  • DR8 Chain
  • DR9 Double Mail
  • DR10 Scale and Splint Mail
  • DR12 Plate and Chain
  • DR14 Full Plate

Kendrick's Dwarvern Chain is DR 10 and a full suit.

It also stands to reason that a more skilled fighter may strike unprotected flesh more easily than others. This is accomplished by a "called-shot". The fighter takes negatives on the "to-hit" roll with the understanding that a successful strike under those conditions always goes direct to hit-points and may even have other effects. Since an experienced fighter has extensive "to-hit" bonuses then it stands to reason that they may take these shots more often and more successfully.

To the unprotected head or face: -8 (may stun the opponent)

To the eye, mouth or similar organ: -10 (may stun, blind or otherwise incapacitate the ooponent)

To an unprotected limb: -4 (may trip or otherwise inconvenience the opponent)

To an unprotected hand or foot: -6 (may cause opponent to drop something)

By the way these are the called-shot modifiers I have been using all along. I have just now written them down.

 

 

About Second Edition

Unfortunately I belong to the swelling ranks of individuals who have problems with Palladium Fantasy 2nd Edition. Most of the problems of the new system come from attempts to modify the fantasy game to match the rest of the Palladium house rules. It is quite apparent that little effort was put into test playing because some of the problems render game balance non-existent. I recommend new players to pick up a used copy of first edition (should run less than $10.00) to use concurrent with the new volume. In this way you can take advantage of the improvements while having access to easy solutions to the newly created problems. One copy of the old book per gaming group should be sufficient.

 
Hand to Hand Skill

The new system uses the HTH skills that all the other Palladium books work with. Without the inclusion of a HTH non man at arms, wizards, mind-mages, diabolists, etc. all fight about as well as your average Paladin. It gets particularly bad if you throw in boxing and wrestling. Sure there is a difference between HTH basic and say HTH Martial arts, but it is not enough. Under the new system there is no reason to play a class other than a magic using one. In my game I use the old HTH skills from first edition, but a nice compromise is just to include HTH non man at arms amongst the second edition HTH skills.

 
Mind Mages

Wow. Are these guys unbalanced or what? I am having some major problems in my game with this one. Second Edition Mind Mages do not fall far short of godhood. My advice so far is to drop the Super Psionic powers entirely and do not give the requisite number of powers to the character when they begin. Cut the number in half and reduce the number per level. What the hell do you do with a mind mage with HTH Basic and Pyrokenisis? More on this when I have a definitive solution.

 
Upon the Changing of Character Class

This is actually a long term problem that existed in first edition too. I believe that Palladium was originally intended for characters to max out at around 5th or 6th level. Suddenly after one of these levels it becomes cheaper to switch classes than to advance. Number crunching players (myself included) have taken advantage of this fact and created incredibly abusive power mongering characters, while others loyally toiled along in their original classes indefinitely.

Sorry, but in order to prevent the incredible abuses of this ruling there is an experience point penalty imposed on all characters who undertake this arduous task. The justification is that a character is class represents an entire way of life. To change direction in midstream requires a serious amount of retraining and general hard work, thus the penalty which is intended to depict this. Note that after the intention to change is announced by the player, all character skills and abilities are frozen at their current status. The character must purchase or otherwise acquire appropriate training before any new experience may be gained. While undergoing this training the penalty must be bought off, at which time the character gains 1st level in the new profession and has forever forsaken the old profession.

Man at Arms changing to Man of Magic................8500 pts

Man of Magic changing to Man at Arms................7000 pts

Clergy to Man at Arms...................................6000 pts

Clergy to Man of Magic..................................6000 pts

Man at Arms to Clergy...................................6000 pts

Man of Magic to Clergy..................................8500 pts

Furthermore there is an across the board modification to the experience points charts to every class. The exp amount that is required to go between every level increment past 6th becomes the same a that between 5th and 6th. This makes it cost effective to stay in a profession rather than change. Frankly, I find it easier to cope with a 9th level Ranger than a 5th level Ranger, 4th level Thief, 3rd level druid which costs less experience to build.

Note that a change from clergy to another profession may result in the stripping of the character of his god given powers. Likewise a character must in some way prove intense devotion to the god if he or she intends to change profession to the clergy.

 
 

A Revised Skill System

Palladium's skill system is rather limiting. Most new Rangers are exact replicas of the last one. This is because you get a bunch of skills when you decide upon a class, and then every skill goes up one level when you do. In order to facilitate more creativity when designing a character, I have come up with the following abuses.

When designing a character you get first level in the listed OCC skills automatically at no cost. Then you are given an additional number of skill points equivalent to the character's IQ. Every new level you are given a number of skill points equal to 1/2 your IQ rounding up. A point buys 1 level in a skill of your choice from my extended list below. Primary and secondary skills effectively cease to exist.

A Revised Skill List .........Please email any new ideas!

 

Artistic

 

 

An Alphabetic Revised Skill List

 

Please email any new ideas!

 

 

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