New Skill Uses

[Khaalis]

Hey all. I haven't posted here much since the class discussions on the Warlock, but I've been working on some FC conversion materials for my home-brew. in so doing, I've been going over some old gaming material and I came across one of my favorite "mech" expansions that was rarely done, but often highly desired... New Uses for skills.  I've been toying around with trying to convert some of these old sources to FC and I wanted to run a few examples by you all for comment.

* Are they mechanically correct in language?
* Would you as a player or GM consider using New Skill Uses?
* Do these examples work as new Skill Checks for the skills?

Thanks in advance for comments.



ACROBATICS

FREE RUNNING (1 Full Action)
The character can move faster than normal, taking advantage of the environment, such as scurrying down a slope or making a short jump off a ledge, to increase the distance they can move. Difficult terrain, such as heavy undergrowth, broken ground, or steep stairs, which normally hampers movement, does not hamper their movement
      With success (DC 25) the character may reduce the Speed modifier from difficult terrain by half (rounded up to nearest 5ft. increment) for this movement action. For example, a -10ft. Speed modifier in mud would be reduced to only a -5ft. Speed modifier.
      With a critical success, the character ignores all Speed modifiers for difficult terrain for this movement action. With a critical failure, the character only moves one half their modified Speed (rounded down to nearest 5ft. increment) and becomes sprawled.
      The GM may rule that it is impossible to use Free Running if there is no terrain feature for the character to take advantage of (such as a flat open field of snow).



ATHLETICS

RAPPEL (1 Half Action)   {v2}
      Requirement: Must have a Climber’s Kit (however, the kit does not grant its normal skill check bonus to this check)
The character is skilled at using a Climber’s Kit to rapidly descend down surfaces in a style known as rappelling.
      With success against a DC equal to the distance travelled, the character can descend a surface up ½ the character’s Speed (round down to nearest 5ft. increment) instead of ¼ the character’s Speed.
      With a critical success, the character can descend a surface at up their full Speed. With a critical failure, the character falls in a random available direction (per the Deviation Diagram, FC p216). The character may catch themselves with a Climb check (DC 25), ending their fall otherwise, they impact the ground (suffering standard falling damage) and become sprawled.
      All distance moved using this check counts against the character’s movement for the round.



SKILL TRICKS
Edited: Updated to most recent drafts.


FEIGN DEATH {v3}
Ready Action: The character can play dead, gaining an edge over their foe. Once per combat, the character may make a Bluff check as part of a Ready action. With success against an observer’s Sense Motive, the character falls prone but appears to the observer as if sprawled and helpless. If the character attacks someone who thinks they are helpless, the target takes 1d6 points of stress damage.


KIP UP {v4}
Reposition Trick (Acrobatics 1+ ranks): The character can get back on their feet faster than most. Once per round when the character is prone, the character may make an Acrobatics check to make a Reposition action to standing as a Free Action rather than a Half Action. Their DC is 15 + 5 per enemy adjacent to them. With a failed check, the character becomes sprawled.


LEAPING CHARGE {v2}
Run Trick (Charging Basics): You may make 1 free attack at the end of your movement against an adjacent target (rather than at any point during the move and ignoring adjacency). This counts as a Charge. This free attack’s error range increases by 3, damage increases by 1d6 and threat range increases by 1. You may use this ability a number of times per combat equal to your starting action dice.



Saved 1st Round:

(click to show/hide)

ACROBATICS

FREE RUNNING (1 Full Action)
The character can move faster than normal, taking advantage of the environment, such as scurrying down a slope or making a short jump off a ledge, to increase the distance they can move. Difficult terrain, such as heavy undergrowth, broken ground, or steep stairs, which normally hampers movement, does not hamper their movement
      With success (DC 25) the character may reduce the Speed modifier from difficult terrain by half (rounded up to nearest 5ft. increment) for this movement action. For example, a -10ft. Speed modifier in mud would be reduced to only a -5ft. Speed modifier.
      With a critical success, the character ignores all Speed modifiers for difficult terrain for this movement action. With a critical failure, the character only moves one half their modified Speed (rounded down to nearest 5ft. increment) and becomes sprawled.
      The GM may rule that it is impossible to use Free Running if there is no terrain feature for the character to take advantage of (such as a flat open field of snow).


ATHLETICS

REPEL (1 Half Action)
      Requirement: Must have a rope
The character is skilled at using a rope to rapidly descend down surfaces in a style known as repelling.
      With success against DC 15, the character can descend a surface at their full Speed.
      With a critical success, the character may move up to twice their Speed. With a critical failure, the character falls in a random available direction (per the Deviation Diagram, FC p216). The character may catch themselves with a Climb check (DC 25), ending their fall otherwise, they impact the ground (suffering standard falling damage plus an additional 1d6 damage) and become sprawled.
      All distance moved using this check counts against the character’s movement for the round.


BLUFF

FEIGN DEATH (1 Full Action)
As part of a Ready action, the character can make a Feign Death check applicable to the next time they take damage.
      With success against the damaging target’s Sense Motive, the character falls prone but appears sprawled and helpless. If the character attacks someone who thinks they are helpless, the target becomes shaken.
      With a critical success, any target that attacks the supposedly dead character becomes stunned for 1d4 rounds instead of shaken. With a critical failure, the character is stunned for 1 round as well as becoming sprawled rather than prone.

[paddyfool]

First of all, I should tell you that there has been a previous attempt to homebrew free running which you might find worth a look.

Looking at what you've done, however, the mechanics seem fair enough.  The first and third might be best done as tricks, however, since they're quite specific...

e.g. Feign death (ready trick): Effects
Free running (move/run trick): Effects

Although if you wanted everyone to be able to do them, you could also enable new skill uses as campaign properties.

(Also, it's "Rappelling", btw.)

EDIT: Fixed link.

[Foghorn]

I love the idea of Feign Death being a Ready trick, by the way

[Bill Whitmore]

For rappelling, you may want to require Climbing Gear, rather than just requiring rope.  In order to rappel, you need more than just a rope, such as the harness, anchoring materials and even the rappel device itself.

[Coyote0273]

For rappelling, you may want to require Climbing Gear, rather than just requiring rope.  In order to rappel, you need more than just a rope, such as the harness, anchoring materials and even the rappel device itself.

And gloves, lets not forget gloves. owowowowow

[Krensky]

Freerunning should be a move and run trick, with a DC based on distance like Tumbling. Personally I use Athletics with a synergy from Acrobatics, but the otherway around is perfectly cromulent.

Feign Death seems over powered, especially since the target's reaction should depend on more then just a die roll. It should also do a d6 of stress if you want to keep that rather then letting the GM decide the effect, giving out a grade of shaken is too much.

Rappelling is really just using some gear to control your fall. It shouldn't be based on your move, but should use the same speeds (or close to them) as falling. I'd also peg it as a full action, not a half. It shouldn't inflict extra damage on a failure unless you're somehow adding to the acceleration of gravity. Lastly, it probably should use the same modifiers as climbing rather then static DCs.

[Morgenstern]

On rappelling, I'm inclined to agree that its more an effect generated by gear - with the existing Athletics push check standing by to let you go faster .

[Khaalis]

Thanks for the responses.  Here are some replies.

As for Tricks, I had seriously considered this, but here are the rubs.
1)   Tricks are a highly precious Combat Resource mechanic. They are purchased with Weapon Proficiencies or granted through Combat (or very rare Species) Feats and the occasional Talent/Specialty. Also, I can find no reference of any Move or Run tricks. They are all tied to combat actions. This does work for Feign Death which is specifically a combat action, but doesn’t seem as appropriate for Free Running which isn’t necessarily a combat action.

2)   Tricks don’t use skill checks, they simply apply their situational bonus, again making something like Free Running not applicable if it requires the use of skill checks.  Some of these options should be available to anyone with the skill. For instance, anyone can rappel and anyone with some decent acrobatic skill can free run to some extent (thus the high DC).


FREE RUNNING
I am not seeing where this should be a Trick. It is not a combat action as it can be used in overland movement as well as tactical movement. Also, again, none of the existing tricks use skill checks DCs and there are no existing Move action tricks. I also feel that free running (in this context of reducing impairments from difficult terrain) is something that anyone with training in acrobatics should be able to attempt, but not easily (thus the high DC). I also don’t see where Tumble DC has anything to do with distance. Instead it is based  on number of adjacent enemies, which is not applicable. There is also no real “scale” for levels of difficult terrain. It’s simply either difficult terrain or its not, thus the flat DC.

Arguments?

To Paddyfool: Also on Free Running, the link you posted isn’t working. However, if I am remembering the thread you are referring to, isn’t that the discussion on Parkour as a whole Specialty?


RAPELLING
Thanks for the spelling correction on Rappelling. That’s the problem with writing while doing 14 other things.

As for the Climber’s Kit, I had thought about this, but it is not technically accurate. All you need to rappel is a rope and obviously the surface and an anchor, not a full harness or a rappelling device (and yes I’ve done it this way). Is it easier with a Harness? Hell Yes. It is required? No. Thus a climber’s kit would grant the appropriate kit skill check bonus for making it easier. (Ref: http://www.peaksurvival.us/Abseiling___Rappelling.html). However for game mechanics, I can see the point of the Climber’s Kit.

On Falling Speed = The real problem here is a combination of Realism vs. Game Mechanics. In real life, a falling object increases velocity at 32ft/sec per second it falls. In game terms then, a full round (6 seconds) of free fall would cover roughly 672 ft. However, rappelling is a controlled speed fall, not free fall. In most cases you are trying to fall slowly, but move downward at a vastly faster rate than climbing downward. Even if you quarter real life speeds for breaking friction it’s 168 ft. per round or 84 ft per Half Action (3 sec). Additionally, a common game rope is only 100 ft. long. So the problem becomes how to denote this, which is why I suspended realism for game mechanic balance and went with using the same movement mechanic as in the rest of the system – character Speed.

To Morgenstern: I’m not sure I can see your argument. How would you apply this? Push Limit checks apply to an existing condition/check, but in this there is nothing to modify.

Rappelling needs to be more than a simple Free Action since it’s a form of movement like climbing (it’s not simply falling). Additionally, I’d have to say that the Athletics/Push check would actually be something one would apply to going Slower, not Faster. When rappelling, it a lot harder to apply friction through your breaking hand(s) than to allow faster falling. Lastly, you’d be forced to make a Push Limit resistance check every round as this isn’t the kind of benefit you would apply for 1 full minute.

Thus, Attempt 2…

ATHLETICS
RAPPEL (1 Half Action)
      Requirement: Must have a Climber’s Kit (however, the kit does not grant its normal skill check bonus to this check)
The character is skilled at using a Climber’s Kit to rapidly descend down surfaces in a style known as rappelling.
      With success against a DC equal to the distance travelled, the character can descend a surface up ½ the character’s Speed (round down to nearest 5ft. increment) instead of ¼ the character’s Speed.
      With a critical success, the character can descend a surface at up their full Speed. With a critical failure, the character falls in a random available direction (per the Deviation Diagram, FC p216). The character may catch themselves with a Climb check (DC 25), ending their fall otherwise, they impact the ground (suffering standard falling damage) and become sprawled.
      All distance moved using this check counts against the character’s movement for the round.


FEIGN DEATH
This I agree can be done as a trick, but it removes any associated Skill check to do so, since Tricks don’t use skill checks (unless I missed something somewhere).

FEIGN DEATH
Ready Action (Bluff 1+ ranks): As part of a Ready Action, the character falls prone but appears to others as if sprawled and helpless. If the character attacks someone who thinks they are helpless, the target becomes shaken.


Thoughts?

[spinningdice]

Admitedly it's combat specific, but Charge is a Run Trick.

[Khaalis]

Admitedly it's combat specific, but Charge is a Run Trick.

Ok, I did miss that. So there is 1 Run Trick for a combat action, while the rest are a Attack Tricks. However, this trick is granted by a feat along with another benefit. However, this ability really isn't combat specific so would it make more sense to just make this a feat with Acrobatics training required?


FREE RUNNING {Terrain Feat}
The character can move faster than normal, taking advantage of the environment, such as scurrying down a slope or making a short jump off a ledge, to increase the distance they can move. Difficult terrain, such as heavy undergrowth, broken ground, or steep stairs, which normally hampers movement, does not hamper their movement.
       Prerequisites: Acrobatics 1+ ranks
       Benefits: The character may reduce the Speed modifier from difficult terrain by half (rounded up to nearest 5ft. increment). [e.g. A -10ft. Speed modifier in mud would be reduced to only a -5ft. Speed modifier.]

[paddyfool]

To Paddyfool: Also on Free Running, the link you posted isn’t working. However, if I am remembering the thread you are referring to, isn’t that the discussion on Parkour as a whole Specialty?

Sorry - fixed the link.  The thread was about Parkour as a whole Speciality originally, but a few suggestions were made for how to do it as a Trick.

Sorry not to have time to offer any more in depth critique just now.

[Jake]

FREE RUNNING {Terrain Feat}
The character can move faster than normal, taking advantage of the environment, such as scurrying down a slope or making a short jump off a ledge, to increase the distance they can move. Difficult terrain, such as heavy undergrowth, broken ground, or steep stairs, which normally hampers movement, does not hamper their movement.
       Prerequisites: Acrobatics 1+ ranks
       Benefits: The character may reduce the Speed modifier from difficult terrain by half (rounded up to nearest 5ft. increment). [e.g. A -10ft. Speed modifier in mud would be reduced to only a -5ft. Speed modifier.]

I would go with Covert feats, movement feats seem fall under that with the removal of Chase feats (such as Mobility Basics).

[Khaalis]

I would go with Covert feats, movement feats seem fall under that with the removal of Chase feats (such as Mobility Basics).

I have to disagree on this.  Why?

Firstly, as defined (FC p84) the feat categories are:
* Covert Feats: Focus on stealth, evasion, and subterfuge
* Terrain Feats: Focus on using the environment to your advantage

This feat has nothing to do with stealth, evasion or subterfuge and everything to do with interacting with the environment.

Secondly, as for the Mobility Basics example, while it might be a good example of a terrain sounding feat that is actually covert just based on its name, its actually a bad example. Mobility Basics actually has nothing to do with the terrain interaction. It instead has everything to do with a combination of evasion and subterfuge, allowing you to make sudden unexpected turns during movement to gain an advantage over a foe in combat.

JMHO.

[Khaalis]

Here are 2 more attempts at conversion, both ending up as tricks.

SKILL TRICKS

KIP UP
Reposition Trick (Acrobatics 1+ ranks): The character can get back on their feet faster than most, making a Reposition action as a Free Action rather than a Half Action.

LEAPING CHARGE
Run Trick (Charging Basics feat; Acrobatics 1+ rank): As the character charges an opponent they spring into the air adding additional momentum to their attack at the cost of accuracy. As part of a charge, the character adds an additional +2 damage on their free attack, but suffer a -1 penalty to the attack check.

[paddyfool]

KIP UP

Most existing tricks which grant free actions are very limited (e.g. Retribution and Turn the Tables have a once per combat limitation; Back At You is once per round, but requires a Reflex save equal to the attack check).  I'd say this should specify that it only allows a reposition from prone to standing, and that it should require a check (say a DC 15 Acrobatics check or some such).

Leaping Charge

I like the style, but I don't think this quite works mechanically, since you can only apply one trick to any given action.  Also, tricks always increase the error range of attacks, rather than reduce their to-hit (which keeps the penalty relevant at any level).

Free Running (terrain feat)

I like it. 

Feign Death

I don't like the idea that you'd autosucceed at fooling people.  Tricks can grant additional ways to use your skills (e.g. Distracting Shot) but not automatic success with them; so I'd say a bluff check should still be required.