Howto? Combat Stress mechanics? Fear & Panic. Presence Defenese

[RicoZaid]

Howto? Combat Stress mechanics? Fear & Panic.

 

I was wondering if anyone has mechanics for Combat Stress mechanics? Fear & Panic for PCs and NPCs.

 

I was thinking that combat(and deadly situations) is simply a Presence attack from the environment that affects everyone in the situation. I'd guess certain areas of the combat zone have AoE Presence attacks, the closer you are, the more dice against you.

 

Say someone gets killed 10 hexes from you, that'd be more intense if he was in the adjacent hex.

 

I'd add modifies based off how the death is perceived by the viewer. i.e. -50% reduction for enemy deaths.

 

Presence Defense would be very helpful with these rules.

 

These are just some random thoughts since combat is a lot about fear.

 

Thanks!

[Christopher R Taylor]

Yeah I've toyed with this some.  I'm presently working on weather and disaster effects in the game, and what effects they have.  For some I've made them presence attacks on mounts (some of which are notoriously skittish, such as horses) such as thunder or earthquakes.  Some "pets" would be affected as well.

 

The main context its occurred to me in is a potential future project: War Hero.  Combat is terrifying, and can cause people to lock up.  Over time it eats at your nerves, causing long-term stress.  At the very least, characters need to learn to be cool under fire.  Aces&Eights had a mechanic like this, all characters started with a penalty in combat because its scary and stressful, that they could buy off (or, if the GM let them, start with).  Just a familiarity probably would do, but the environment or events causing presence attacks seems like a useful mechanic.

[Armitage]

The 5e version of Dark Champions had optional Grace Under Fire rules, to determine if a character was able to act clearly and efficiently in extremely dangerous situations.  It was a PRE Roll, modified by the importance of the action, level of danger, Psychological Complications, etc.  The degree of success or failure determined the outcome of the action, ranging from a +2 bonus with a 4+ margin of success, to losing a full Phase, taking no actions, and being at half DCV with a 4+ margin of failure.

[zslane]

Presence Attacks or EGO Rolls. I think either would work well. You'd just need a table, for quick lookup, that tells you what different sorts of terrifying events equal in terms of Presence Attack dice or EGO Roll modifiers.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I like the idea of a Presence Roll to handle stressful and awful situations; one you have to buy to represent having learned to handle it.  Something almost nobody should walk into conflict with except psychopaths and unusually gifted people.

[dsatow]

I gave up on this and just gave my villains a large amount of presence, but from what I originally was thinking (4th ed):

 

People have a Sanity Stat = INT/2 + PRE/2 + EGO

You recover Sanity at INT/5+PRE/5

PRE attacks did Sanity Damage.  Defense was PRE or EGO + Mental Defense.

If your Sanity dropped to negative you were always effected by a PRE attack.  at -10, you were affected as a PRE attach +10 and so on.

You could take permanent Sanity damage.  The Pre Attack did "Body" and was defended with EGO/5 or Mental Defense (which had EGO/5).  Damage was done to your EGO.  If your EGO was negative, you would have a Psych Lim for as long as the EGO was "negative".  The psych lim was worth as many points as the negative value of your "EGO".  This was only for Presence effects, you EGO for ECV or drains was still the same.  You healed EGO at your Sanity Recovery per month, or per two weeks while under psychiatric care.

 

The reason I gave up on this line was because it was very Call of Cthulhu in that the heroes would be basket cases after a single run.  But if you find any inspiration in it, please enjoy.

[Beast]

what about using the long term endurance rules
using both ego and pre in the place of end

[RicoZaid]

Combat/Trauma Stress Roll. The idea is people hesitate/fluster in combat/traumatic situations based on stressors. People with combat training have some resistance. This mechanic tries to address most game's portrail of humans as the perfect, emotionless, stress-free combat robot 


Here's what I've come up with:
Rolled every phase.

Combat/Trauma Stress Roll.
Base Roll is 11+
+1 to the roll for:
All Character Points in SPD, PRE & EGO & OCV & DCV & OMVC & DMCV &
All Character Points in Martial skills.
All Character Points in Combat Skills & Overall Levels
Divided the Point total by 10

So if you have 10 points in SPD, 5 points in Pre, 10 points in Ego, 15 points in martial arts skills, 10 points in pistol combat, 40 Points in CV, and one Overall Level you'd have:
10+5+10+15+10+40+10 % 10
+10

Plus your Character Total points % 25. If you're 100 points you get +4

So base +14 roll, pretty high but Positive/Negative modifiers at GM Discretion.

Not sure on the numbers, maybe divide the totals by 20 vs 10?

Failed Combat/Trauma Rolls:  A less that 50% Failure affects all actions by the amount of the roll missed and you lose half a phase. A 51% failure you lose your whole phase and go into the Fight or Flight mode (GM discretion / need rule ideas for this . Note it is possible for Fight or Flight to give bonuses to combat/movement). A 75% failure and you Panic in place and lose your phase and CV.

 

Successful Combat/Trauma Rolls:  +1 to your next Combat Stress roll (cumulative). This makes a low-intensity combat easier to manage than an ambush.

 

Just random thoughts this morning

 

-------------------

Positive/Negative modifiers at GM Discretion (need help on this for sure):

Witness someone getting injured (no body damage) -1 (-2 if it happens to you or your love ones) *

Witness someone getting injured (no half damage) -2 (-4 if it happens to you or your love ones) *

Witness someone getting injured (all body damage) -4 (-8 if it happens to you or your love ones) *

 

Getting threatened (non effective) - 1

Getting threatened  (semi-effective) - 2

Getting threatened (effective) - 3

Getting threatened (very effective) - 4

 

Getting Shot at/attacked(non effective fire) - 1

Getting Shot at/attacked(semi-effective fire) - 2

Getting Shot at/attacked(effective fire) - 4

Getting Shot at/attacked (very effective fire) - 8

 

*1/2 these values for animals or creatures the player cares about (but not for dogs, you love your dogs). 1/4 values if the character has "distance" (watching on TV for example) from the Trauma.

Edited March 25, 2017 by RicoZaid

[mallet]

I see the reasoning for using PRE as the base stat for this kind of thing, and as per the characteristic descriptions, that is probably what would be used in any official rules on the subject if they are ever made, but personally I think EGO should be the way to go. Or actually a combination of the two.

 

Maybe it is a PRE attack the character has to resist, and if he fails he gets a temporary Psych Lim complication (cowardice) that he then needs to overcome with an EGO roll.  Just like if a character had a permanent complication Psych Lim: Timid, Frequent, Strong, or something similar that he or she would always have to use EGO to overcome.

 

PRE should be used to resist the effect of dangerous combat situations, but once you are effected, then EGO should be used to recover and move on. The Resistance talent could be used to help in the roll, or an alternate form of Resistance (like the examples given in the 6th ed vol 1 rule book). 

[Beast]

Pre attacks already have set effects
Pre+10 lose a 1/2 phase

Pre+20 lose a full phase
Pre+30 is already surrender or flee
so unless there is an enemy to surrender to, flee would be the next option(random direction unless there is a obvious safe route to take)
I would have the character make a Pre or Ego roll for every point they miss the get that many points of Long Term Stress (LTS)
your Max LTS is equal to your Pre+Ego
when you reach your Max LTS you get a temp psych lim based on the stressor(shell shock for being under fire, Clausterphobia if trapped in an inclosed space, Hallucinations from being exposed to too much Cthulu type stuff, etc....)

you can recover 1 pt per point you make your Ego/Pre roll by per day you are not under that stressor and can get regular sleep
If you reach Max LTS x2 you are going to need help(profesional, pyschic surgery, etc) to get that roll per week