Changes to Overlords of Dimension-25
Yesterday I uploaded an update to Overlords of Dimension-25. I wanted to go over what changed. Most of these changes were the result of my recently running the City at the Edge of the Universe campaign and noticing places where I could clean up or improve the rules.
New Better Names of Genomorphs
- Aquatics now called Quati
- Battlers now called Makoi
- Brutes now called Zuggs (reference to Buck Rogers movie serial)
- Sauroids now called Saurhi
Classes
Fixed racial prerequisite typo for Engineer.
Added little names to all the class abilities. No rule changes.
Skills
Updated Scientist prerequisite for Gadgeteering on skill table.
Jury Rig
Optional Rule: Improvisational Invention
Gamemasters may wish to allow characters with the Jury Rig skill to improvise new inventions, innovations, or improvements as if the character had temporary access to the Gadgeteering skill. A character using Jury Rig can improvise only one device at a time. The Game Master should roll 1d20 any time the improvised device is used or put to the test. On a roll of 1, the device breaks, shorts, melts, or otherwise ceases to function.
Equipment
Smartsuit Accessories
Added Smartsuit Accessories to equipment lists
Rocket Pistol
Changed Rocket Pistol ammunition to make dumb ammo standard and smart ammo give +2 to hit.
Rocket Pistol
A rocket pistol fires a self-propelled explosive projectile which accelerates towards its target like a miniature missile. Rocket pistols can fire unguided ammunition or radar-guided “smart” ammunition that locks onto a target and actively corrects its flight path to correct for any deviation (+2 to hit). Rocket pistols can also be loaded with specialty warheads such as chaff clouds which confuse smart ammunition radar sensors or aerosols which diminish the effectiveness of beam weapons like lasers, disruptors, and heat rays.
Plasma Thrower
Updated Plasma Thrower description to match original rules
Plasma Thrower
A plasma thrower is a heavy weapon connected to a backpack power source by a heavy cable. The thrower launches a spherical energy projectile which explodes and discharges superheated ionized plasma upon impact, burning and electrocuting anyone caught in the blast radius.
Combat Rules
Movement
Added optional rules for Movement, adapted from AD&D second edition.
Optional Rule - Moving Away from a Opponent
If a character moves more than five feet away from an opponent, the opponent is allowed a free attack - or several attacks if the creature has multiple attacks per round - at the rear of the moving character. This attack is made at the moment the character flees and does not count against the attacker’s action for that round.
Optional Rule - Withdrawing
If, on their turn, a character moves their normal rate and performs no other action, they may move away from an opponent without provoking the free attack.
Non-Lethal Attacks
Added optional rule for non-lethal attacks, adapted from AD&D second edition
Optional Rule - Nonlethal Attacks using Weapons
Attacks made with bludgeoning weapons such as clubs, bats, rifle butts, pistol grips, sword pommels, etc. can be deadly or nonlethal at the attacker’s option. Deadly attacks are made normally and do full damage. Nonlethal attacks are made at a -4 penalty. Damage is applied normally but the opponent must make an immediate d00 roll vs. half the opponent’s System Shock value. If the roll is a failure, i.e. greater than half the opponent’s System Shock value, the opponent is knocked unconscious for 1d10 rounds. If the roll is a success, i.e. equal to or lesser than half the opponent’s System Shock value, the opponent instead has 1 hit point.
Updated Ranged Weapon Table
Updated Ranged Weapon table with ranges broken out
Firing into Melee
Added optional rules for firing into melee, adapted from AD&D second edition.
Optional Rule - Firing into Melee
Whenever an attacker is firing a ranged weapon at a target that is engaged with one or more other combatants in melee combat, the attack has an equal probability of hitting the intended target or any one of the other opponents. The Game Master rolls randomly to determine which potential target is actually hit.
Careful Aim
Added optional rule for taking careful aim. This one I made up for my campaign.
Optional Rule - Careful Aim
If an attacker with a ranged weapon does not move and spends the entire round taking careful aim at the target, they may make a special “practice” attack roll without actually firing. If the practice attack would have hit, they gain +2 to their actual ranged attack with that weapon in the subsequent round. If the attack is successful, the damage is doubled. Rogues may instead add +4 to their attack roll against that combatant and may triple or quadruple this damage at higher levels.
Grenades
Re-wrote the rules for Grenades to make them more consistent with the rules from AD&D second edition. The original rules were a little too blunt.
Grenades and Explosives
Thrown explosives and hand grenades do not need to make direct contact with their intended target to damage them. Instead explosives are thrown at a stationary point on the ground. The effective Armor Class of the target zone depends on its distance from the thrower.
If the attack misses, the grenade or explosive missed the intended target zone and has rolled or bounced away from the target. The distance is determined by the Deviation result in the table below. Roll 1d4 and consult the table below to determine the direction.
Any creature within five feet of the center of the blast radius suffers the full effect, no saving throw is made. Any creature more than five feet away from the center but still within the blast radius may make a saving throw. On a successful saving throw the target suffers only half the effect. The target suffers the full effect on a failed saving throw.
Updated Heavy Weapons Table
Added range categories to the Heavy Weapons table.
Heavy Weapons
Character Death
Added optional rules for Character Death, adapted from AD&D second edition.
Optional Rule - Death’s Door
Instead of immediate death at zero hit points, the character falls unconscious and loses 1 additional hit point per round. The character can still be saved by first aid, which stops additional hit point loss but does not restore any lost hit points. Once the character’s hit points reach -10, the character is truly dead and can only be resuscitated via life suspension technology, see above.
Spaceship Combat
Rocket Piloting
Added optional rule to make a pilot’s skill more important in spaceship combat.
Optional Rule - Piloting Rolls for Turning
As originally written, the pilot’s skill rating has little effect on the execution of space combat. Game Masters who wish to introduce additional opportunities for the rocket pilot to demonstrate their skill can require a Pilot Rocketship skill check for every hex facing changed. A successful skill check ignores the speed cost for the hex facing change. On a failed check, they pay the normal speed cost. The rocket must move forward a minimum of 1 hex after the skill check.
Hit Point Conversion
Added optional rule for converting spaceship damage to character hit point damage and vice versa.
Optional Rule - Hit Point Conversion
A rocket’s hit points are not measured on the same scale as a player character’s hit points. 1 Rocket Hit Point = 10 Player Character Hit Points. If attacking a rocket with a character-scale weapon, the first 10 points of damage from any single attack are ignored. The rocket takes 1 point of rocket-scale damage for every 10 points of character-scale thereafter.
For example, a player character attacks a rocket with a plasma thrower. The plasma thrower rolls 4d10 and does 25 points of damage. The first 10 are ignored, leaving 15 points of damage. The rocket takes 1 point of rocket-scale damage to its hull.
Likewise, rocket-scale weapons attacking characters multiply their damage by 10. A character hit with a beam laser takes 100 points of damage!
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