Size

From Metaforce TTRPG
Revision as of 15:29, 4 October 2024 by AlienOvan (talk | contribs) (first and incredibly incomplete draft)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Note: This section is INCOMPLETE, please wait for this message to be removed before accepting it as valid rulings.

Size and Size-Rating

Size measures a character’s physical size and influences their power and presence within a game world. Size is attributed to a value, like Size 1 or Size 2. As Size is often calculated last, every character can be built normally, then have their aspects modified by their size. Not every stat or mechanic is affected by their Size.

Establishing Scale

Size 1 refers to a creature that is roughly the size of an adult human A creature of Size-Rating 2 is twice as large as a normal human, Size-4 would be four times larger an so on. Characters smaller than a Human are still considered to be Size 1, but have modifiers applies to replicate the effects of being small.

The purpose of Size mechanics is that creatures of similar size will affect each other the same way as if they were both Human-sized.

Size Categories

In other games with size categories, the following Size categories translate into these values applies:
Size Categories -> Size Rating
Size Name Humanoid Height Size Rating
Medium 4 to 8ft Size 1
Large 12 to 18ft Size 2
Huge 24 to 36ft Size 4
Gargantuan 48 to 72ft Size 8
Colossal 96 to 144ft Size 16
Characters that are smaller than Size 1 still use the system, but in set categories based on their height/length:
Size Category (Small) -> Size Rating
Size Name Humanoid Height Dice Transform Power Modifier vs Medium
Medium 4 to 8 feet 0 0
Small 2 to 3 feet -1 1
Tiny 6 to 12 inches -2 x2
Diminutive 2 to 4 inches -3 x4
Fine 1 inch or less -4 x8
Dice Transform Order
Dice rolled for mechanics affected by Size (but not d12s rolled for Checks) modify the die used along this order:
1, d2, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12

Power Modifier
Smaller characters take the indicated value more when taking damage, and dealing damage. Power Modifier is relative to another target's size, so there is no Power modifier if two creatures of the same size fight each other.

A smaller character can't take more damage than double the damage taken (They take 2 damage, not 3 damage, when an attack normally does 1 damage). They also can't deal less than 1 damage on attacks except when the damage was originally 1, in which case it becomes 0.

Stats modified by Size

Max HP
A character Maximum HP is multiplied based on their Size-Rating.

Healing/Damage dealt by Metaphors and Abilities
Numerical values for damage and/or healing are multiplied by the user's Size-Rating

Reach and Range of Melee and Ranged attacks and abilities
The number of squares on a grid is multiplied by the user's Size-Rating. So when a creature normally can reach 1 square, they can reach 2 squares at Size 2. A Ranged attack that can reliably hit at 6 squares will extend to 12.

Creature’s Space
A Size 1 creature will normally occupy 1x1 squares on a grid. At size 2 they will occupy 2x2 squares.

Movement speed/distance
Move speed increases by 2 squares or 10ft per Size Rating over 1.
But movement speed will decrease by 1 square or 5ft per Size below Medium: (-5ft for Small, -10ft for Tiny, -15ft for Diminutive and -20ft for Fine)

HP during Size Change

When a character changes Size, their current HP and maximum HP are multiplied relative to the difference to their new size by their old size, resulting in the same proportion of current and maximum HP. Current HP always rounds up, whether enlarging or shrinking.

Ex. If a creature grows twice as large and they have 20 out of 30 HP, then they will reach their new size with 40 out of 60 HP. And if their HP is 25 out of 60 and shrinks to half their size, they will have 13 out of 30 HP.

Power and Equipment Scaling

Weapons, Armour and Equipment are affected by Size-Rating. Weapons will do more damage and have greater range as their size increases, Armour and other protectors also grant more Deflection and Damage Reduction (DR).

All Equipment are written as if they were made for a Size-1 user, values are multiplied according to Size-Rating afterwards:

♦ A Weapon’s Base and Rolled Damage and Range increments (Reach) is multiplied by the wielder’s Size-Rating.
♦ If an Armour has a Damage Reduction value (DR), it is multiplied by their Size Rating.
♦ If an Armour has a Deflection bonus, this is increased by the wearer’s Size Rating. (+1 Deflection for each Size above 1)
♦ If a Weapon is capable of inflicting some kind of Status condition, its magnitude is increased by their Size Rating.

For characters smaller than Size 1: Deflection, Magnitude and Damage Reduction rules written here do not apply. Values remain the same as if they were normal sized. All other stats including damage, range and reach do scale down.

Influence of Size for Deflection

The larger the target of an attack compared to its attacker, the more that a Deflection ruling will result in greatly reduced damage/effects or negation. This intensifies if the larger target is protected in ways such as armour built for its size.Typically the intensity peaks when the larger creature is more than three times larger than their attacker.

Inversely, larger attackers will do a greater proportion of their damage/effects against a smaller target even when Deflection applies, sometimes ignoring protections entirely. Gravity/Falling Creatures larger than Size 1 are subject to the same rules regarding falling damage as human-sized creatures. Giants however do not take fall damage unless the distance fallen is greater than their Size-Rating times 5 feet.

Ex. A Size 4 Giant doesn’t take fall damage unless height exceeds 20ft, then it calculates normally. A Size 16 Giant doesn’t take fall damage unless they fall more than 80ft, then it calculates normally.

Creatures smaller than Size 1 also gain similar reductions in fall damage and height, but this is set in categories: • Small creatures treat falls as 10ft shorter before calculation. • Tiny creatures treat falls as 20ft shorter before calculation and take half damage from falling. • Diminutive creatures treat falls as 40ft shorter and take half damage from falling. • Tiny creatures do not receive fall damage.

All creatures treat falls as being Reflex points feet shorter, if they can land safely and intentionally. This Reflex buffer on fall height is lost if the user is thrown or moved in such a way that they can’t control their landing, such as being slammed into ground while grappled or stuck in a state of disorientation/stun whilst in the air.

The moment a creature falls even one fraction of a foot beyond their threshold, they take 1 Physical damage per foot of distance fallen. For those who take half damage from falling, damage is rounded down. All creatures don’t take fall damage unless they have fallen at least 5 feet. Difficult Terrain and Size As well as Difficult Terrain rules, terrain works differently depending on how small or large the character is. Generally smaller characters run into more difficult terrain situations because of their lack of height and reach, while giants tend to ignore a lot of difficult terrain that small and medium creatures face while creating more of their own.

Smaller Characters Small characters between 2 and 3 feet tall will generally treat uneven levels of terrain as being a tier difficult than a Medium creature, since what is considered waist-high for a human will require mantling and climbing for a smaller creature. Stairs may become difficult terrain if the steps are high enough, so is climbing on top of a chair or table. Bodies of liquid may force the smaller character to have to swim instead of wade through it.

Small characters may not be able to see on top of raised surfaces and have to make extra effort or checks to reach something as mundane as a door handle. Tiny characters (foot tall or less) treat terrain as one tier more difficult, often having to rely on proficiencies and checks to interact with the environment and navigate around them.

Giant characters The larger a character becomes, the less of an issue certain terrain difficulties become. Obstacles based on height become trivial as they can step over it. Uneven terrain even becomes a non-issue if the granularity of such terrain becomes more akin to gravel than rocks and boulders. Shallow bodies of liquid become as easy to traverse as land even if medium creatures have to wade or swim through it. Difficult terrain from foliage is ignored for smaller obstacles like bushes, but take a different form when pushing through trees and overhead obstacles.

The most prevalent difficult terrain for a Giant are enclosed spaces. Spaces that medium creatures could pass through easily may require squeezing through as a giant, and may become impassable entirely if it is narrower than half their natural space. Assuming if making the path wider by force is worth the legality or even possible, giants may have to find other ways to access smaller spaces or be unable to enter such spaces at all. Giant-Specific Actions These actions are possible whenever the larger character is at least a certain amount of times larger than their target(s). For the case of a Medium (1) and larger creatures affecting smaller creatures (Small or smaller). Treat Small as being ½, Tiny as ¼, Diminutive as ⅛, and Fine as 1/16th. Trample Movement Giant creatures that are at least 3 times larger (Size-Rating) than another can move with the Trample effect. Trample enables a Giant character to move through squares occupied by the small creature, they can choose to spare them as an action, or Trample them dealing unarmed damage to those affected. As Trampling is part of movement, it does not require an action.

Trample targets can spend an action to move out of the giant’s path, but if they are caught and can’t spend an action to move, they must succeed an Evasion check or be trampled by the giant. Stomp Attack • Requires two actions (Raise Leg/Limb, Stomp). • Targets a Square or Squares in a radius equal to half the user’s Size-Rating. • Surrounding squares Radius is equal to quarter the attacker’s Size-Rating beyond the first radius. • Radii are rounded down.

Attacking Giant targets a square (or squares) relative to their Size-Rating, targets hit under this radius take Physical(Crush) damage equal to three times the attacker’s Unarmed Strike damage. Surrounding squares equal to one-quarter the attacker’s Size-Rating receive Physical(Pressure) damage equal to the attacker’s Unarmed Strike minus the defender’s Reflex value.

Ex. A Size 4 Giant stomps on squares equal to 2x2 in radius. One creature is caught. Affected creature is dealt three times the attacker’s Unarmed strike damage and is prone and pinned underneath. Targets within one square of the radius take Pressure damage equal to the attacker’s Unarmed strike, but take less damage equal to their Reflex score.

A Size 16 Giant stomps on squares equal to 8x8 radius. Surrounding affected squares increases to 4. A Size 2 giant stomps on a single square radius, there are no surrounding affected squares. Crush in Hands Another common action performed by giants is crushing a target in a single or both hands. The Giant must be at least two times larger than their target to hold in both hands, and five times larger for one handed. If the Giant is using both hands to restrain and crush a target, they are unable to use those hands for other actions, this does not apply if the creature can be held in one hand (and if the creature can be held in one hand, using both hands grants a double-Strength bonus to magnitude).

After successfully grabbing the target creature (Evasion succeeds), the Giant may limit the target’s ability to move and act by spending an action (Hold target) for every round after. The Giant may spend another action (Crush) to deal physical crush damage to their target as well as inflict 10 + Strength Crush status points upon their target. Crush can only be performed once per round.

Crush is a status that is cleansed after not receiving Crush points for one turn. If Crush exceeds Body score, target receives injury to any limbs (Arms, Legs, Head, Torso) they have determined by GM. If Crush points exceed 10 beyond the user’s Body score, the target’s limbs may become destroyed instead and cause death (if it is the Head, Torso or other vital limb).

The creature trapped by the Giant can roll to Escape (d12 + Reflex) as a rolling check. The magnitude of a Giant’s hold is 10*Size + their Strength*Size. Thus a Size 4 Giant with 6 Strength will have an Escape requirement of 64. If the target can meet or exceed the Escape, they break from the Giant’s grasp. But the Giant can spend an action (Restrain) to reset the target’s Escape check, but also reset their own Crush magnitude progress. Small-Specific Actions These actions are possible if the character is some fraction smaller than the larger creature they’re interacting with. If the user is Small, double the Size-Rating of their target. If Tiny, quadruple the Rating needed, multiply by 8 for Diminutive and 16 for Fine. Mount Creature (Willing) A creature that is at least half or less the size of a larger creature, can climb onto and ride the larger creature around. If the larger creature is willing, they will lose advantage on any Strength or Reflex checks while they maintain the weight of another creature. The smaller creature must spend an action or roll a check to avoid falling off their companion whenever the larger creature performs some significant movement action.

If the larger creature is at least 4 times larger than the smaller rider, they no longer suffer penalties for carrying a creature in this way. If a larger creature is significantly large enough, falling or jumping off them from a height may incur falling damage. Mount Creature (Hostile) Similar to Willing, the smaller user must spend actions and roll checks to hold onto and climb upon a larger creature each time the larger hostile creature attempts to shake them off or get rid of them. A smaller creature can try positioning themselves in a difficult to reach spot, creating a complication against the larger foe to target or shake them off. The larger creature can take creative solutions to get rid of their personal space intruders. Precision Damage Smaller creatures are more adept at targeting specific parts of a larger creature’s anatomy, and given the opportunity and means, can deal a great deal of damage to larger creatures this way. What is considered a ‘weak point’ for one to deal precision damage is subject to creature anatomy and Game Master ruling. Attacks that critically hit (damage dice explodes after rolling highest value) affect only the damage dealt by the dice.

Whenever a smaller creature deals a critical attack or precision damage, that damage is multiplied up to the larger creature’s Size-Rating. Small creatures deal 2x more damage this way, Tiny deals x3, Diminutive deals x4, and Fine deals x6. Precision damage due to size does not apply if creatures are the same size, nor if the attacker is larger than the opponent.

Ex. If a small creature that deals 4 damage normally, deals critical/precision damage to a Size 4 Giant, the damage is multiplied up to 48 damage. A small creature is considered half of Size 1, the Giant is Size 4. The damage is multiplied by 8 after an attack deals precise damage to the giant. Become Itemised If the user is at least one quarter the size of a larger creature, the user may be stored away in a creature’s inventory as if they were an item. The means to store them must be significant enough to carry them (such as a bag or chest). The creature is considered to be 4, 2, 1 or 0.5 depending on if they are Small, Tiny, Diminutive or Fine.

An itemised creature can leave the larger creature’s inventory willingly if their container allows for it, otherwise alternate means must be used or the larger creature must release them.