Legends of Excalibur campaign

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Howdy!

I'm planning to start a True20 Legends of Excalibur campaign. Both True20 and Charles Rice's setting seem very enjoyable.

I've streamlined the system by combining INT and WIS and by deleting about half of the skills. I hate it when character sheets have numbers that are never used.

IMO a stripped-down skill list also helps to set the flavour for the campaign. "OK, so this campaign is mostly focused on knightly combat and social conflicts. Riding is obviously important, but there's no skill for picking locks or acrobatics. I find religious conflicts inherent in the setting really interesting -- that's why the only relevant knowledge skills will be Religion and History. I'd like you to pick an archetype that has *something* to do with religion, maybe a druid, a hermit, or a crusader. Entertainer archetypes are not really appropriate for the campaign."

Basically I'm only keeping about 15 skills that are most important for Excalibur's character archetypes. If there's no skill for something, you can make a saving throw. My tweaked stats and saves look like this:

Size -> Toughness
Strength -> Fortitude (also used for "skill tests" requiring strength or endurance)
Dexterity -> Reflex (also used for dexterity-based tests)
Wisdom -> Will (also used for tests that require willpower or wit)
Charisma -> Social Status (your Wealth and also your place in the society)

I've one rules question. After reading the combat rules it seems that Feinting and Demoralize will be used a lot.

Since there's no benefit for using full action for combat (like in D&D), why wouldn't you use your move action for Fast Feint or Fast Demoralize if you don't need to move around? Even if you only had a 10% chance of success, you don't lose anything by trying, and the benefits can be huge. (Feinting is superb against opponents with shields.)

I love that Bluff and Intimidate are important in combat, but I don't like excessive die rolling. Am I understanding the rules right?

[ValhallaGH]

No mechanical reason not to be scary or tricky. Some role playing reasons, but no real mechanical reason. Do remember that those checks are Opposed, not against a flat Difficulty.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

No mechanical reason not to be scary or tricky. Some role playing reasons, but no real mechanical reason. Do remember that those checks are Opposed, not against a flat Difficulty.

Thanks! Opposed checks mean that they have a better chance of success against average opponent, even with no skill ranks and the -5 penalty for the Fast challenge. The opponent might always roll low.

"Role playing reasons" sounds bad to me. IMO flavour shouldn't affect how good characters are at combat. That's why we have combat rules, skills, and stats, right? For me, the fair and interesting tactical combat system is the number one reason for choosing True20 over some narrativistic indie game (for this campaign). I like it that the rules decide who lives and who dies, not some GM fiat. That allows me as a GM to be surprised, and enjoy a good story.

I think there are two good solutions for excessive die rolling. Either return Fast Demoralize and Fast Feint to feats, like they are in most other d20 games. Or have some penalties for failing the checks by more than five -- maybe you become demoralized or tricked yourself.