Mods finetune to my Beserker

[mitchiemasha]

To use a special/bonus action in my mods requires the Heroes to sacrifice a rolled movement d6. It ties in extremely well with the various different unique skills a character may have but keeping it universal and incredibly simple. Same as climbing on/off a table.

Mind Skill Test: Sacrifices a rolled Md6 equal to or
lower than your Mind to activate use skill.

For the Berserker it's in reverse and automatic. Thematically this fits perfectly. It is the Hero losing control, failing the test, to which the 'berserk' is in reference.

Berserker: Auto. If 1Md6 is higher than your Mind,
Melee everyone/thing in reach, the other Md6 range.

A potentially huge bonus but other heroes might want to keep their distance. I like how this version makes a 6 and a 1 not much of a threat but double 6's it is. Previously it was everyone/thing in the area you are in, that had issues in explaining out blocked monsters etc. The new version ties in the dice more and writes a lot simpler, a blocked monster isn't in reach.

This skill was specifically created for our Half Orc, which starts with rock skin in effect. The idea being that its humanity overrides it's desire to kill, its thirst to spill blood. However, if too excited (high rolls) or weakened Mind it loses control. This character will have a high Mind, it's the only way it could of over come its Orcishness and been nothing more than a slave pet for which ever cave dwelling master owned it, to which it's hatred for beasts stems. Combining both of these is what unleashes its fury into the trait that is the Berserker!

For those who haven't seen my mods yet.
House Rules
Character Creation
Armoury, Alchemist, Inn

[Anderas]

To be honest, i did already read your posting with the intention of answering, but i don't understand...

What's that movement dice sacrifice?
You roll first, then you decide to sacrifice one die for your action, then you do your action?
For me that mixes a little bit the phases that you have.
I would prefer sacrificing a die before i know the result, like that it stays more independent; and risky for the player.

I mean, in your idea i would see if i can attack with one die first, then i decide to sacrifice the other one to unlock the effect.
The problem is, if you know that it is no loss, it is no sacrifice.

[mitchiemasha]

The reason it has to be rolled is because in my mod a hero rolls 2d6 at the start of their turn. It's the first thing they do. The player then goes about their turn. For instance, MAM, the player moves the value of 1d6, then action, the value of the other D6. It cost 1M to have that skill in character creation. Creating your own character is a huge part of my mod. B & M is 10 divided, the amount of M the character has is used to unlock skills. The more skills you want, the lower your B will be, due to how that works.

Double 1's is Hazard: A Hero may still move but rolls 1Cd6, Skull: -1BP. WS: Blocked. BS: Stunned, no attack. Call out hazard “You stumble on a loose stone!” “Rocks fall from above!” “In your desperate attempt to escape, the floor greets your face!” etc!!!

If sacrificed before rolling it would break this. It's a very important mod in dealing with players deliberately stalling the game, now every roll is a threat. watching battered and beaten heroes trying to escape the dungeon, cowering with each roll is so much fun, they enjoy it too. Searching every room on the way out, not such a good idea now.

There's a lot of thought going on under the hood to tie everything together, all these little ideas. It might seem complicated but when it's played there's no bloat, it just flows into the existing mechanics.

[mitchiemasha]

Note: The M isn't spent on the skill, it's used to unlock the skill, the character will still have that M point as it's stat. The same maths fits with the original HQ heroes. As i displayed here Character Creation

[Daedalus]

. . . Mind Skill Test: Sacrifices a rolled Md6 equal to or
lower than your Mind to activate use skill.

For the Berserker it's in reverse and automatic. Thematically this fits perfectly. It is the Hero losing control, failing the test, to which the 'berserk' is in reference.

Berserker: Auto. If 1Md6 is higher than your Mind,
Melee everyone/thing in reach, the other Md6 range. . . .

After seeing Silver Tower Warhammer Quest, I began to work up a similar mechanic for activating abilities by re-allotting one or two movement dice. I like your implementation. Some other thoughts:

Is your half-Orc mind score 3, triggering the beserk 1/2 of the time each turn, or mind score of 4, triggering 1/3 of the time? Either way, that's a whole lot of hurt going Morcar's way. Raughhh!

If a monster is killed providing previously unavailable access to a monster behind, does berserk allow the newly-exposed monster to now be attacked on the same turn? It appears not.

In crowded rooms, a berserk Hero could gain several extra attacks in a larger radius, even from the relative safety of a doorway. In an extreme case like The Forgotten Legion from RotWL, up to twelve attacks can be made in a single turn with only one retaliatory attack from Morcar. It's an extreme example, but shouldn't using berserk be riskier in general for the Hero benefiting from extra attacks?

How about using the spare movement die for movement while requiring closest figures to be attacked first?

Berserker: Auto. Sacrifice 1Md6 if it is higher than your Mind. Reduce movement by 1, then Melee the nearest figure (move if necessary), repeating until no movement is left.

In the RotWL example above, a berserk Hero opening door B from the corridor rolls a 6 and 5 for movement. The magical ice shatters, so he moves 1 and attacks the two adjacent Skeletons (3 movement total.) Moving 1 and attacking the next two Skeletons reduces his movement to 0, ending his turn. Should he survive and roll the same again on his next turn, the he'd first attack the four adjacent monsters surrounding him, the likely move into one of the vacated spaces with his last 2 movement and attack one last monster.

The limited control of who gets attacked makes the other Heroes a bit safer. However, the beserking Hero incurs greater threat upon himself as he moves deeper into his enemies. I'd say that is a fairer arrangement, as the other players aren't asking for this ability. Of course, I could understand a preference for your more briefly worded rule which works very well and your players like.

[mitchiemasha]

The half Orc has a very high mind. I themed it that only extreme smarts could over power it's orcish ways.

The Mod as written has been changed to Werewolf thanks to another thread here. Bersker is simply referenced as 'same as Werewolf'.

"Werewolf: If 1Md6 is higher than your Mind, Melee everything attackable in reach, the other Md6 Arc. If nothing to attack, move as normal but be careful, the smell of anything too close, in your arc during your move, will be too much to control, you will attack."

Overall quite a hard character to play. With the second part of the mechanic kind of making it the closest figure to be attacked first. The hero noticing it's rage to attack so deliberately avoiding the group, during that move..

Thanks again.