Re: Way Off-Topic: Question for RPGamers
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:45 am
I had to come up with Giant Rabbit Race mechanics for this coming week. Doubt that Res is around or anyone else cares, but if someone does and has thoughts on the mechanic they'd be appreciated. Come Friday I'll find out how it really played out. It's crunchy, which reflects my old school gaming experience and something I enjoy. The intent was to give the players something they could be creative with and try to use their players strengths in unique ways to hopefully make it interesting and somewhat balanced instead of just having the players with the highest animal handling scores run away with it.
Giant Rabbit Race: The rabbit races use the following Giant Rabbit stat block. (text box)
Each round, the rider can choose to move the rabbit’s base movement. Or the rider can choose to perform a dash. To perform the dash requires a combination skill check.
First, the player needs to propose how they are going to try and get ahead of the pack. The DM decides which skill check is applicable and has the player roll. The DC base for the check is 10. This is followed by an animal handling check against a DC of 12, adjusted based on the rabbit’s associated base score for the ability score affected by the method of accelerating or getting ahead. For every point above 12, the DC is lowered by 1, for every point below 12, the DC is raised by one. The animal handling check DC is raised or lowered depending on the degree the previous check succeeded or failed.
Skill Check Result (Against DC 10) Effect
10 No change
11-12 Minus 1 from Animal Handling Check DC
13-15 Minus 2 from Animal Handling Check DC
16-19 Minus 3 from Animal Handling Check DC
20+ Minus 3 from Animal Handling Check DC, and roll w/ Advantage
6-9 Add 1 to Animal Handling Check DC
5 or below Add 3 to Animal Handling Check DC and roll w/ Disadvantage
Example Skills:
Desired action; Rider’s Skill Check; Rabbit’s Associated Skill or Saving Throw for Animal Handling DC
Spurring rabbit to get it to race ahead; Strength (Athletics;) Constitution Save (Not get injured or exhausted by spurring)
Scare other rabbits to get ahead of them; Charisma (Intimidation); Wisdom Save (not get scared itself)
Take inside line to get ahea;d Intelligence Check; Strength (Athletics) to make the necessary moves
Try to sweet talk the rabbit into running faster; Animal Handling; Wisdom Check
Drop caltrops in front of other rabbits to get ahead; Sleight of Hand; Acrobatics to Avoid Caltrops
Players are encouraged to think of what alternatives above or other ideas would be the best options for their character. Be creative.
If the attempt to Dash fails, the rabbit only advances half their base movement instead and cannot dash or power hop on their next turn, either. If the Dash attempt fails by 5 or more, the rabbit revolts against the attempt to control it and attempts to buck the rider off instead. This results in the rabbit taking one of its Power Hop actions in a random direction to be determined by a roll of a d10. A 10 is a jump straight up in the air, the others represent one of the nine squares around the square the rabbit occupies going clockwise, starting with 1 being straight ahead. The distance jumped is 1d4 times 10 ft. Upon landing, the rider must make a STR (Athletics) check or Animal Handling Check DC 15 (rider’s choice) to avoid being ejected from the back of the rabbit. A rider who is ejected takes 1d6 damage for each 10 feet the rabbit power hopped, and lands prone 10 feet in the same direction of travel as the landing location of the rabbit. A rabbit who jumps straight up causes the rider to fall 5 feet behind them. The rider is stunned for 1d4-1 turns. If the rabbit is out of Power Hop actions it can take this day, it instead lays down and refuses to move for 1d4+1 rounds.
Examples of how it works:
On his turn, Sirius wishes to dash and decides he will try to guide his rabbit into the inside lane to race ahead. The DM determines this will be a straight intelligence check for Sirius to find the inside line. Sirius has a +4 on intelligence and rolls a 16, for a total of 20. The DM determines the rabbit would need athletics to take the inside line, which the giant rabbit has a 12 base for athletics, so there is no adjustment to the DC based on the rabbit’s base score. With the success on the previous skill check (-3 to DC and Advantage), the DC becomes a 9, and Sirius gets to roll the animal handling check with advantage. Sirius has a +2 for animal handling, rolls a 13 minus 1 for being an unskilled rider for a total score of 14 (13+2-1=14), beating the DC 9, and successfully takes the dash action to move 100 ft this round.
An NPC Gnome also wishes to dash and decides he will try to spur his rabbit to race ahead. The DM determines this will be a strength athletics check. The Gnome has a +1 for athletics and rolls a 6, for a total of 7 which will raise the animal handling DC by 1. The DM determines the rabbit would need to make a constitution save after being spurred to dash ahead, which the giant rabbit has a 13 base for Constitution. The gnome is also proficient in rabbit racing, so the base is raised by his PB of +1 to 14. This lowers the DC to 10. But with the 7 on the previous roll this is raised by 1 for the final DC of 11 against the Gnome’s animal handling check. Unfortunately, he rolls a 6 again so his +3 in animal handling only achieves a 9 which fails the DC by 2. The rabbit gets kicked in the ribs when he tries to spur it on and can now only move ahead 25 feet this round, and it cannot attempt to dash or Power Hop the next round, either.
Giant Rabbit Race: The rabbit races use the following Giant Rabbit stat block. (text box)
Each round, the rider can choose to move the rabbit’s base movement. Or the rider can choose to perform a dash. To perform the dash requires a combination skill check.
First, the player needs to propose how they are going to try and get ahead of the pack. The DM decides which skill check is applicable and has the player roll. The DC base for the check is 10. This is followed by an animal handling check against a DC of 12, adjusted based on the rabbit’s associated base score for the ability score affected by the method of accelerating or getting ahead. For every point above 12, the DC is lowered by 1, for every point below 12, the DC is raised by one. The animal handling check DC is raised or lowered depending on the degree the previous check succeeded or failed.
Skill Check Result (Against DC 10) Effect
10 No change
11-12 Minus 1 from Animal Handling Check DC
13-15 Minus 2 from Animal Handling Check DC
16-19 Minus 3 from Animal Handling Check DC
20+ Minus 3 from Animal Handling Check DC, and roll w/ Advantage
6-9 Add 1 to Animal Handling Check DC
5 or below Add 3 to Animal Handling Check DC and roll w/ Disadvantage
Example Skills:
Desired action; Rider’s Skill Check; Rabbit’s Associated Skill or Saving Throw for Animal Handling DC
Spurring rabbit to get it to race ahead; Strength (Athletics;) Constitution Save (Not get injured or exhausted by spurring)
Scare other rabbits to get ahead of them; Charisma (Intimidation); Wisdom Save (not get scared itself)
Take inside line to get ahea;d Intelligence Check; Strength (Athletics) to make the necessary moves
Try to sweet talk the rabbit into running faster; Animal Handling; Wisdom Check
Drop caltrops in front of other rabbits to get ahead; Sleight of Hand; Acrobatics to Avoid Caltrops
Players are encouraged to think of what alternatives above or other ideas would be the best options for their character. Be creative.
If the attempt to Dash fails, the rabbit only advances half their base movement instead and cannot dash or power hop on their next turn, either. If the Dash attempt fails by 5 or more, the rabbit revolts against the attempt to control it and attempts to buck the rider off instead. This results in the rabbit taking one of its Power Hop actions in a random direction to be determined by a roll of a d10. A 10 is a jump straight up in the air, the others represent one of the nine squares around the square the rabbit occupies going clockwise, starting with 1 being straight ahead. The distance jumped is 1d4 times 10 ft. Upon landing, the rider must make a STR (Athletics) check or Animal Handling Check DC 15 (rider’s choice) to avoid being ejected from the back of the rabbit. A rider who is ejected takes 1d6 damage for each 10 feet the rabbit power hopped, and lands prone 10 feet in the same direction of travel as the landing location of the rabbit. A rabbit who jumps straight up causes the rider to fall 5 feet behind them. The rider is stunned for 1d4-1 turns. If the rabbit is out of Power Hop actions it can take this day, it instead lays down and refuses to move for 1d4+1 rounds.
Examples of how it works:
On his turn, Sirius wishes to dash and decides he will try to guide his rabbit into the inside lane to race ahead. The DM determines this will be a straight intelligence check for Sirius to find the inside line. Sirius has a +4 on intelligence and rolls a 16, for a total of 20. The DM determines the rabbit would need athletics to take the inside line, which the giant rabbit has a 12 base for athletics, so there is no adjustment to the DC based on the rabbit’s base score. With the success on the previous skill check (-3 to DC and Advantage), the DC becomes a 9, and Sirius gets to roll the animal handling check with advantage. Sirius has a +2 for animal handling, rolls a 13 minus 1 for being an unskilled rider for a total score of 14 (13+2-1=14), beating the DC 9, and successfully takes the dash action to move 100 ft this round.
An NPC Gnome also wishes to dash and decides he will try to spur his rabbit to race ahead. The DM determines this will be a strength athletics check. The Gnome has a +1 for athletics and rolls a 6, for a total of 7 which will raise the animal handling DC by 1. The DM determines the rabbit would need to make a constitution save after being spurred to dash ahead, which the giant rabbit has a 13 base for Constitution. The gnome is also proficient in rabbit racing, so the base is raised by his PB of +1 to 14. This lowers the DC to 10. But with the 7 on the previous roll this is raised by 1 for the final DC of 11 against the Gnome’s animal handling check. Unfortunately, he rolls a 6 again so his +3 in animal handling only achieves a 9 which fails the DC by 2. The rabbit gets kicked in the ribs when he tries to spur it on and can now only move ahead 25 feet this round, and it cannot attempt to dash or Power Hop the next round, either.