Sabriel's Tether to In Nomine

Combat System

An alternative combat system for IN that whilst still using the d666, Corporeal Forces and Vessel levels, doesn't result in powerful Celestials being walking tanks. I hope it will be especially useful for GMs wanting to run mixed games and/or want their celestial PCs to respect human firepower a lot more. While combat is still seriously dangerous for humans, celestials should be far more respectful of human firepower than under the old system! I'm still tweaking the numbers, and I haven't integrated damage-causing Songs/Attunements/Distinctions yet.
Suggestions, comments and criticisms (like pointing out some humongous flaw I've probably missed) are extremely welcome.
Hitting and avoiding being hit are still based on the normal skills: Fighting, Dodge, Ranged Weapon, etcetera. The CD of the attacker minus the CD of the defender, after all modifications are done, is the severity of the wound (if any). The number of wounds a character can take is calculated as follows: Light Wounds: Corp + Vessel Serious Wounds: Highest(Corp,Vessel) Critical Wounds: Average(Corp,Vessel) Fatal Wounds: Lowest(Corp,Vessel) Always round up. So a PC with Corp 4, Vessel 3 can take 7 Light, 4 Serious, 3 Critical, and 3 Fatal wounds (for a total wound capacity - health - of 17). To keep track of wounds a row of checkboxes can be placed on the character sheet, divided into Light, Serious, Critical and Fatal sections as appropriate and numbered left to right. For example: When you take a wound of CD 1 to 7, that's a Light wound. Cross off a Light wound box. If you take a wound of CD 8 to 11, that's a Serious wound. Cross off a Serious wound box. And so on. If you take a wound and there are no boxes left in that category, cross off a box in the first available category that is worse (eg: if you took a Light wound, and were all out of Light boxes and Serious boxes, it would become a Critical wound). If you run out of Fatal boxes to cross off or take a wound that exceeds your wound capacity, you have been killed (eg: if you had two Fatal boxes, a third Fatal wound kills you immediately). Target modifiers (attacker's TN/CD): -2/+4 Tiny (mice) -1/+2 Small (dogs) +0/+0 Average (human) +1/-2 Large (horses) +2/-4 Huge (elephants). -1/+1 Smaller than average +1/-1 Bigger than average. +0/+1 Soft Target (no armor) +0/-x Hard Target (armored; 1 to 3 light to heavy) +0/+1 Squishy Target (soft internals, penetrating weapons only) +0/-x Solid Target (hard internals, penetrating weapons only; 1 to 3) Optional rule: armor of power x blocks the first (x-y) attacks of a weapon of power y. Weapon modifiers (attacker's TN/CD): +0/-2 Light (fist, bat, knife) +0/+0 Medium (pistols, rifles, swords) +0/+2 Heavy (shotguns, grenades) -2/+2 Point-blank range (ranged weapons only) Weapons within each category are assigned a Power of 1 to 3. Weapons with multiple rates of fire are -2 to the TN for each additional shot (1st 0, 2nd -2, 3rd -4) unless braced (in which case use -1 instead of -2). If a successful attack or dodge roll is a double (11x,22x,33x,44x,55x,66x) then increase or decrease the degree of the wound by one respectively. This simulates the chance of hitting somewhere vulnerable or getting lucky in the normal chaos of battle (as opposed to getting an Intervention in which something supernatural happens). Critical and Fatal wounds require Will rolls at to avoid being stunned or incapacited (GM's judgement), and will cause death in a number of hours or minutes (minutes or rounds if failed) respectively, equal to the CD x Corp, unless somehow ameliorated (death due to a Critical wound might be prevented with bandages and proper care; death from a Fatal wound is unlikely to be prevented by anything less than surgery or songs). Songs of Healing: shifts the severity of wounds downwards a combined amount equal to the CD, with a limit to the degree of shift based on the singer's skill (1-2 one, 3-4 two, 5-6 three). CD 6 with Skill 5+ could thus reduce two Fatal wounds to Light. Each additional Essence spent immediately *after* success increases both the CD and the possible degree of shift by one each. Examples: Humans (bodies and vessels) are an Average CD+0, Soft CD+1, Squishy CD+1 target. If shot at with a simple pistol (Medium +0, Power +1) the base possible range (CDx+3-CDy) is -2 to +9. If shot at with a sniper rifle (Medium +0, Power +3) the base possible range (CDx+5-CDy) is 0 to +11. Results of zero or less are misses, with no damage taken. The average human with Corp 2, Vessel 2 can take: 4 Light, 2 Serious, 2 Critical, 2 Fatal wounds (10). The pistol can cause a fatal wound. Doubles can make it instantly fatal, or merely critical. The rifle can cause an instantly fatal wound. Doubles can make it even more gruesome, or merely fatal. A starting celestial with Corp 3, Vessel 2 can take: 5 Light, 3 Serious, 3 Critical, 2 Fatal wounds (13). The pistol can cause a critical wound. Doubles can make it fatal, or merely serious. The rifle can cause a fatal wound. Doubles can make it instantly fatal, or merely critical. An elite Special Forces commando with Corp 2, Vessel 6 could take 8 Light, 6 Serious, 4 Critical, 2 Fatal wounds (20). Pistol and rifle can cause at most a serious wound. Doubles can make it critical, or merely light. Note that under this system, the best humans can give low to mid rung celestials a hard fight in the damage-taking department. A powerful celestial with Corp 6, Vessel 6 could take 12 Light, 6 Serious, 6 Critical, 6 Fatal (30). Both pistol and rifle can cause at most a light wound, with doubles making it serious or avoiding it entirely. Unless the attacker can get further bonuses to the CD, the celestial could easily take a half-dozen hits without even worrying!

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The material presented here is my creation, intended for use with the In Nomine system from and owned by Steve Jackson Games, by whom it is neither official nor endorsed.