Question. My game group is looking to use some of these alternate rules, and I was just wanting to ask you some clarification on something. For the variable damage rules, do you check off the same amount of Soak boxes as you would HP boxes for damage, or is it one Soak box absorbs all the damage for one hit? I assume the first, but someone brought up the wording and so I wanted to be sure. Also, do you use the new Heavy Weapon rules of only allowing one attack per round, and find it to be at a disadvantage to light weapons due to this now? Thanks so much for your time and these rules, they look like they’ll be a lot of fun!
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Hi there! Thanks for checking it out.
The way my table plays is that it's a 1-to-1, so filling 2 soak instead of taking 2 damage, for example. Usually the players tick the first couple of soaks before having to make decisions to start tagging the HP bar or take a Condition.
A separate playtester told me that their table did it the other way -- that they can check a Soak box to negate all damage for a given hit-- much like triggering an Evade, so there is some precedent in the game. They said it worked really well and led to some tactical choices during the fight scene. However, I would suggest that this means that Soak boxes should not "heal" as rapidly, as they likely represent more significant damage being taken, so maybe switch the way HP and Soak heals if you want this option.
These house rules were written before the Tiny system made those new Heavy Weapon rules. I have not been able to playtest anything, but my gut says that it can be a player's choice-- using Heavy Weapons for a +2 to total damage but also -1 action on your turn, or using Heavy Weapons for +1 to total damage as a normal action. As always, you can never have more than 4 damage in any given outcome.
Thank you so much for the reply and the insight! Really helps us decide how to try this going forward knowing how it’s worked for other tables.
We really wanted to add the excitement of variable damage back without ruining what makes TinyD6 combat so fast and fun, and these rules are looking to help.
Thanks again!