The Morale of the Story
This is a new, non-edition specific rule mechanic I have added to the Vampire Bestiary (though I removed it from the previews so far). The basic idea stemmed from an online conversation I had about a year ago regarding published (4E) adventures. The discussion was specifically about how it appeared that the choices you make in one encounter, don’t overtly impact subsequent encounters.
I sort of got thinking that an easy way to change that would be to have monsters who run away or escape, show up again in a later encounter.
Morale in RPGs
There are four basic types of morale.
- Shaky: Cowardly figures who will run away (if possible), or surrender (if escape is impossible) when outnumbered. e.g. Peasant
- Typical: Will try to run away or surrender if all allies are either dead or otherwise incapacitated. e.g. Town Guard
- High: Someone willing to fight to the death. e.g. Elite Soldier
- Stoic: Not only will they fight to the death, but when they are the last man standing amongst their allies they receive a bonus depending on their role. e.g. Hero
Last Man Standing
The last man standing gains one of the following bonuses.
- Artillery: +5 Bonus to Attacks until the end of the encounter
- Brute: Increase damage by 50% until the end of the encounter
- Controller: Size of Area Effect attacks doubles until the end of the encounter
- Lurker: With Combat Advantage, all hits become Critical Hits until the end of the encounter
- Skirmisher: Can make an additional Standard Action each round until the end of the encounter (4E); double the number of actions until the end of the encounter (3E)
- Soldier: +5 Bonus to AC/Defenses/Saves until the end of the encounter
Morale Boost
The presence of a leader means that, at least while the leader is alive and conscious, all allies who can see and hear him will have the same Morale rating as the leader.
Fear
Certain spells/spell-like effects or the frightening presence of certain monsters could potentially lower the morale of a NPC/Monster.
Morale and Monster Rank
- Elite Rank: Treat an elite rank NPC/Monster as two creatures for the purposes of morale. When bloodied, treat them as one creature.
- Solo Rank: Treat a solo rank NPC/Monster as four creatures for the purposes of morale. Each time they lose 25% of their hit points treat them as one creature less. Solo rank creatures should never have Shaky morale.
Benefits of the Morale mechanic
- Consequences of Actions: The first benefit of this system is to add causality to encounters. This ’cause an effect’ will manifest in the form of monsters escaping (or being let go) in one encounter, returning in a subsequent encounter. For instance a goblin might go and warn the rest of the tribe that adventurers are heading this way. Causing them to be alerted, better prepared and have at least one extra goblin (the one that got away to warn them) in the group. Another example could be that the PCs freed a wolf from a pit trap, in a later encounter, that wolf might return to help the PCs. So the consequences don’t always have to be negatives. Also the situation could spark its own encounters. What if a slaver surrenders to the party, saying he’ll testify against his organisation, they have to escort him back to the constable’s for questioning. Along the way, slaver’s might attempt to rescue or slay their man.
- Roleplaying: While cutting down enemies in the heat of battle is one thing. What about killing an enemy that has surrendered to you or been captured? These situations could add a whole new opportunity for drama and character development. Killing someone in cold blood, someone pleading their case, telling you they have a family, begging for their lives or stoically resigning themselves to their fate will give characters another dimension. Inter-party relationships like how does the Paladin feel about the party Thief’s murder of someone in their custody. I just think theres a wealth of potential stemming from this simple mechanic.
- Verisimilitude: I just don’t think a bunch of goblins, kobolds or peasants would fight to the death, especially not when outnumbered In contrast, what about the potential for a true hero (even amongst villains), someone courageous enough to defend his home or ‘the bridge’ against all odds.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the article. Let me know what you think, whether you use the idea or not.
Eternity Publishing 
Dave
March 14, 2011
UK:
If I understand this is post is baically a preview/overview of the morale mechanic in the VB. Is that correct? I just ask because I didn’t see a lot of definition/description of the actual mechanic.
However, I do like what I see here. I don’t know that I have every thought that I needed a morale system to determine when a enemy flees or surrenders, but I really like the “last man standing” system. That would add a little something extra to the end of an encouter, which I think is a good thing.
Do you plan to implement any other mechanics for the other morales? I could see shaky and possibly typical morale monsters providing bonuses to intimidate/bluff/diplomacy checks by the PCs or something similar.
Upper_Krust
March 14, 2011
Hi Dave,
This is the whole thing. I wanted to have the entire mechanics as absolutely simple as possible. Its basically half a page of text with the actual rules taking up about a dozen lines.
Glad you like it, I agree the ‘last man standing’ rules could spice up the end of an encounter, or at least give PCs a bit more respect for their adversary.
I have no plans to expand these rules (although feel free to do so…as indeed any DM should).
eduar
March 19, 2011
hi
very cool, I always think about how in the movies, books, etc. the hero is most strong at the last battle and a moment ago no, and with that add more epic sense
Dave
March 19, 2011
UK:
I’ve been thinking about ‘morale” and the new damage and condition types you have introduced recently. I also thought about how you broke down damage by action type (standard, move, minor). And finally I had been reading some discussion about wizard power and older versions. This was ruminating in my head and helped develop the thought maybe an new action type might be useful.
I am thinking about introducing “complex” actions. I complex action requires a full round to complete. You can take no other actions during that round. In addition, if a PC or monster is interrupted during a complex action (hit, pushed, pulled, etc.) the action fails, unless specifically stated otherwise.
This would be used for big effects or really high damage attacks. Possibly this action type could be used to cast rituals (level-5?) in one round or something similar. I haven’t fleshed it out yet, but I was curious if you had an opinion. Now that I think about, I should probably get some feedback over at the DnD forums.
Anyway, thank you in general for your interesting and insightful articles.
Upper_Krust
March 19, 2011
Hey eduar mate! 🙂
Glad you liked the article. I think the practical benefits of giving the last NPC a power-up against the PCs could be entertaining. 😉
Upper_Krust
March 19, 2011
Howdy Dave amigo! 🙂
Well I have given such ideas a lot of thought when designing my immortal rules for 4E. I also contemplated Weekly and even Monthly powers. But I am still undecided about integrating things like that. I like it that 4th Edition is a very mobile game, so doing this takes away from that aspect.
That doesn’t mean that 4th Edition powers at the Level 30+ stage cannot get a lot more powerful. But I think you have to avoid the temptation to go down the ‘just bigger numbers’ route. What you can do is go sideways, so rather than a ritual uber-spell that would deal massive damage to one target, whats more likely is that you’ll have rituals like Rain of Colourless Fire or the Invoked Devastation that cover massive areas (like cities or countries) for story purposes rather than actual combat purposes.
The idea of Full Round Actions and even more powerful attacks may destabilize the mechanics of the game, especially when 30th-level PCs are already capable of 300 damage per round.
Dave
March 20, 2011
UK:
I was thinking more along the lines of massive effects, not huge damage (but I like that too!). Damage wise, I would save it for monsters only probably, unless I nerf the PCs and want to give them a way to still produce massive damage.
I think you are correct, it is something the doesn’t work well with the RAW for PCs. I could implement it in my game because I can control (to some degree) my PCs power level. But I don’t think it works for the generic game.
Simon Newman
March 21, 2011
Full Round Effect: These take 3 consecutive minor actions to complete, the character can do nothing else while engaging in the full round effect.
How about that? If you want disruptability:
Full Round Effect: These take 4 consecutive minor actions to complete, the character can do nothing else while engaging in the full round effect. If they take damage or are forcibly moved before completing the effect, the full round effect is disrupted and lost.
This seems particularly suitable for Wizard dailies and for summonings of undead, demons etc. You could trial it with NPC spellcasters and if it works, allow PC access.
Talking of summonings: In 4e there are a lot of Until End of Encounter powers that make sense to use as pre-battle buffs, contrary to apparent designer intent. To counter this I suggest using a Warhammer-style ‘Instability’ trait for summoned demons, temporary undead et al:
Trait: Instability
At the start of the summoned creature’s turn, roll 1d6. On a ‘6’ it vanishes, returning to the Elemental Chaos/Hell/dust.
This creates a strong incentive to engage in summonings only once the battle has started.
Dave
March 22, 2011
Simon:
I am not sure I understand the 3 vs 4 minor actions. Unless you want the 4 minot actions to spill into the next round (which it would need to unless you are saying that you need to spend an action piont).
Wait, I think I get it. This way (the 4 minors) they can’t complete the full action before it could possibly be interrupted. Thus, you do need to extend it to the next round. Is that correct?
Summonings and durations: I would simply handle this as the situation warrants, no need to role dice in my opinion.
Upper_Krust
March 21, 2011
Hey guys! 🙂
@Dave: I think the problem with monsters doing big ritual style mega-damage is that it massively lowers their actions (and thus input) per round. In particular with solos I like them to have standard, move, minor and triggered actions. But I wonder if the idea could be adapted to static terrain features…like an Unholy Altar surrounded by 5 chanting priest corpses (15 collective uninterupted rounds casts the ritual effect, each time a priest takes damage it loses a round).
@Simon: Interesting idea on full round effects, but do you not mean 3 minors per round rather than 4?
Re: Summonings. If they adhere to my rule of 1 standard monster or 1 group of minions: either 4 (heroic), 5 (paragon), 6 (epic) or 7 (immortal) tier all 4 levels lower than the summoner, then I don’t have a massive problem – at least with regards monsters/NPCs doing the summoning. I agree though that if a monster/NPC can just summon as a power, whats to stop it spamming that power before a fight and having 100 servants, so the instability idea makes sense from that perspective too.
Re: Instability. For more powerful summons you could adopt the 4E (recharge) dice rules, so that maybe if the creature/group of minions are 4 levels lower, instability occurs on a ‘6’, and for every level increase to the monster/group, the die roll drops by 1.
Also instead of instability, you could have control (for some creatures), in that if you rolled a ‘6’ the summoners control over it could break and the summoned demon could turn on the summoner.
Dave
March 22, 2011
UK,
Damage: Yes there would definitely be a trade off. That is why I think it would need to be an encounter/daily power. One use, just to mix things up.
Summons: Personally I like the idea that you could lose control.
Simon Newman
March 21, 2011
“@Simon: Interesting idea on full round effects, but do you not mean 3 minors per round rather than 4? ”
4 minors would require that the summoning carry over from 1 round to the next, unless the summoner spent an AP.
Dave
March 22, 2011
Oops I see you answered that already!