Mothership Decisive Combat Hack

Rules

Combat

When you commit violence, roll Combat:

If you under both your Combat stat and the weapon's Hit%, you deal a full Hit of damage.

If you roll under just one of the two, you deal damage equal to the sum of both dice (if you rolled a 45 you deal 9 damage).

If you roll under neither, you deal damage equal to the lower of the two dice (if you rolled a 93 you deal 3 damage).

Criticals that roll over both are a complete miss, deal no damage.

Criticals that roll under one or both activate the weapon's critical effect, or grant some other appropriate bonus.

Health and Hits

Players start with Health equal to the 10's place of their Strength + the 10's place of their Speed.

Players start with 2 Hits, except the Marine which starts with 3.

Conversions 

Weapons and Attacks

Weapons no longer have a damage value, they instead have a Hit%. To convert existing damage values multiply the number of dice rolled for damage by 10 to obtain the Hit%.

Grenades and other explosives don't have a Hit%. Instead they deal 2 Hits on a successful check, and 1 Hit otherwise.

Weapons with unique damage values (like the laser cutter) should be converted individually as it makes sense.

NPC and Monsters

Convert NPCs and Monsters by dividing their health by 5 (round up) and keeping their number of Hits.

The wide range of Health and Hits on NPCs means this won't always work, so adjust as necessary.

Armor

Armor provides single use Hits. They are removed first, and doing so destroys or damages the item.

Notes

Why?

I consistently enjoy playing Mothership, I love the flavor, the characters, and the modules. However I do not like the combat.

Because of the normal starting values for stats in Mothership, most characters are more likely to miss than hit making many combat rounds result in nothing happening. Even worse, the relative values for Health and damage are such that most attacks functionally don't do anything. 

In short combat feels boring and low risk, which is especially a problem when held against the usual tone of the game.

Nothing kills tension faster when the space crazed scalpel wielding doctor stabs you and deals... about 5% of your Health. It takes a dramatic and tense situation and makes it feel pointless.

I don't disagree with the advice I've seen Sean McCoy and others give, that you don't have to use the combat system to resolve situations. That rolls are only for during high stress, panicky situations. That you should progress the fiction on all rolls, that the situation should always change.

This is all good, but it's working around the combat system. It's mitigating it. I believe it would be much better to create a combat system that intrinsically supports the horror feel and high drama of the game.

Violence in a sci fi horror game should be dramatic, decisive, and scary. I want getting into combat to have real consequences, and I want those consequences to happen quickly.

Inspirations

This system is a combination of Into the Odd's "autohit" combat and Delta Green's "lethality" system, plus quadra's house rules.

Into the Odd has no to-hit rolls, instead damage is dealt directly to HP which is Hit Protection, the ability to avoid harm rather than a measure of physical endurance. It creates a fast, dynamic combat that is quickly decisive. There are no "nothing" rounds, and the situation gets resolved rapidly.

Delta Green's lethality system sidesteps the problem of "HP bloat" by simply letting dangerous weapons instantly kill their targets. This creates a tension, that makes a dangerous situation stay dangerous regardless of stats or equipment.

And from both, low Health totals. 

The Numbers

The above chart shows the expected amount of damage dealt on a hit or miss with varying combat skill (ignoring Hit% of weapons). There's a bit of weirdness at the extreme ends of the skill, but those are unlikely to actually come up in play. Otherwise, Hits usually deal about 50% more damage than a miss.

The average character and roll will usually end up dealing around 5 damage per attack, which means that the average player will lose a Hit in two attacks. I like this amount as it means combat can't drag out too long, and it makes acting first very important which encourages use of clever tactics and fictional positioning.

Final Thoughts

This is currently untested, although I've played and enjoyed similar systems. I don't think this is perfect, or the end all of what I'm trying to achieve, but I do think that the weakest part of Mothership by far is the combat and something has to change. Dramatically reducing Health values, as I believe is the intent for Mothership 1.0, would go some way to fixing my problems but I still believe there's additional changes that can be made.

GLOG Wizard Class: Gatormancer

School: Gatormancer

Drawn by the illustrious Brian Stauffer.

Gator Mutations

At first level, and whenever you gain a Gator Mutation roll an additional Perk and Drawback.

Perks

1. Your teeth are those of an alligator They grant you a 1d6 unarmed bite, and will grow back if lost.
2. You have a slow metabolism allowing you to hold your breath for an hour and go without eating for two years.
3. You have alligator jaws that can exert unbelievable force. You can bite through anything you can get your teeth around.
4. You have second eyelids that allow you to see clearly in water, and protect you from any sort of dust, sand, or liquid that might impair your sight.
5. You have sensitive, vibration sensing nodules on your skin. Nothing touching the same surface or body of water you're in contact with can get the jump on you.
6. You have scaley, tough skin with bone plates beneath which grant you +2 AC.

Drawbacks

1. You are ectothermic. Cold temperatures make you sluggish. If you don't bask in the sun for an hour each day you cannot regain HP from lunch, and a night's rest only restores 1d6+level HP.
2. Tiny gator limbs. Your arms and legs become stubby, and you have difficulty with tasks that require manual dexterity giving a -1 penalty to relevant skill checks.
3. You have a huge gator tail that drags on the ground behind you. You always have +1 point of encumbrance, and you'll have to get new pants tailored.
4. Your eyes are on the sides of your head, giving you poor depth perception. Ranged attacks have a -2 penalty applied.
5. You gain a menacing alligator visage. Reaction rolls with you present are rolled twice with the more hostile result kept.
6. You gain gator instincts. Advancing or gaining skills that are not related to being an alligator is twice as hard.

Doom

1. You are transmuted into an Alligator and summoned to answer another Gatormancer's spell (d6). If you survive the duration of the spell you're returned to your original location and shape, plus an additional Gator Mutation.
2. For the next week rather than summoning an alligator when you cast a spell, you transform into the alligator to complete the task.
3. Each morning Save or gain a new Gator Mutation. Each night, Save or the Mutation is permanent. When you gain all 6 Mutations, you are fully transmuted and care only for the obscure and esoteric desires of an alligator.

Avoid the doom by being eaten by an ancient 30+ foot alligator and surviving, or by petitioning the Great Celestial Gator to retain your mind when you are fully transmuted into an alligator.

Mishaps

1. MD only return to your pool on a 1-2 for 24 hours
2. You take 1d6 damage.
3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then make a save. Permanent if you fail.
4. For the next 24 hours all alligators are hostile to you.
5. You lose your gator perks for 24 hours, but not your drawbacks.
6. Transmute into an alligator for 1d6 rounds.

Cantrips

1. You may stay perfectly still while floating in water. While doing so you appear as a log to casual inspection.
2. Burn a spell die after a successful unarmed attack to make the target Save vs Strength. If they fail, perform a Death Roll as per the alligator ability.
3. When you eat raw meat for lunch, the next time you cast a spell you may choose to set one of your spell dice to 1 rather than roll it.

Spell List

1. Instigator
R: [DICE]x10 feet T: Point D: [SUM] minutes

Summon a [DICE]x2 HD alligator at a point you designate. You do not control the alligator.

2. Navigator
R: [DICE] miles T: Location

Summon a [DICE]x2 HD alligator that will guide you unerringly to a target location within [DICE] miles. Once there the alligator will attempt to eat you. The alligator will allow [DICE] riders on its back during the journey.

3. Subjugator
R: 20' T: 1 Creature D: [SUM] rounds

Summon a [DICE]x2 HD alligator that exists for [SUM] rounds. The alligator will do everything in its power to immobilise a target of your choice. It disappears after doing so.

4. Interrogator
T:  Falsehoods

Summon an [DICE]x2 HD alligator which will attack anyone that lies in its presence. It disappears if it hears no lies for a full minute.

5. Reptile Projectile
R: 100' T: Creature D: 0

A [DICE]x2 HD alligator is summoned next to the target and makes one attack before disappearing.

6. Conflagator
Summon a flaming [DICE]x2 HD alligator which will immediately rampage. It deals [SUM] damage to itself and anything adjacent to it. When it would die, it instead disappears. If there is a source of water nearby it will rush directly towards it.

7. Investigator
R: Sight T: Person, Place or Thing

Look with gator eyes at something that is Ancient, Forgotten, and Unrecorded to gain insight about its history and function. For each [DICE] spent, ignore one of the conditions.

8. Consegatory Prayer
R: Touch T: [DICE] Creatures D: [SUM] minutes

Grant up to [DICE] creatures you touch [DICE] Gator Perks for [SUM] minutes.

9. Impregatory Prayer
R: Sight T: Creature D: [SUM] days

Curse a creature with [DICE] Gator Drawbacks for [SUM] days.

10. Prognostigator
T: Event D: Varies

Pick a specific event that will occur within 10 [DICE 1: Minutes, 2: Hours, 3: Days]. An alligator is summoned that will communicate the outcome of that event perfectly, but the alligator cannot speak and can only communicate through charades.

11. Eradigator
T: Description D: [SUM]

State a description [DICE] words long and summon [SUM] HD worth of alligators (divided between as many alligators up to [SUM] as you choose). The alligators will attempt to destroy anything nearby that fits that description for [SUM] rounds before disappearing

12. Adjudigator
R: Nearby T: Creature D: Instant

Summon the Great Celestial Gator to judge a target of your choice. Make a flat opposed roll against them, and gain a +1 bonus for each [DICE] and each Gator Mutation you have. Both you and your target may attempt to sway the Celestial Gator with reason, sacrifice, or supplication for additional bonuses. If you win the roll, the Celestial Gator judges the target wanting, and consumes their heart. If you fail, immediately suffer the next stage of your Doom.

Alligator Stat Block

HD: Variable
Damage: HDd6 damage + Save vs Strength or Death Roll
Special: Death Roll, the alligator clamps down and rolls dealing HDd6 damage and leaving the target prone.
Size: 4+HDx3 feet long.

Alligator Reaction Table

2. Angry
3-5. Perturbed
6-8. Waiting
9-11. Basking
12. Sleeping

Notes

Inspired by the many excellent "-gator" spell names created by the NSR discord.

Thanks to Skerples for the excellent How To Design a GLOG Wizard post, which contains excellent advice I have failed to follow. No idea if the damage numbers or stats makes sense, I have very little experience directly with GLOG.

Probably a joke and not a real class... haha... unless...