r/AvatarLegendsTTRPG

Hi everyone, I’m looking to become a GM, and I was wondering if I could run some ideas past the community. I like the idea of choosing stances and for there to be an element of rock paper scissors, which the game kind of incentivizes. It just bothers me that the “damage” one takes is basically in the form of emotional conditions. I feel like that doesn’t make sense to me all that much. So I wrote up a revision, and I’m curious what people think. I also have revisions to the balance system that I wrote up, but I can do that in a separate post. I also wanted bending forms to feel different from each other and emphasize different stances (kind of like positive/negative/neutral Jing in the show). Thoughts?

Fatigue

Combat is revised in the following way. Characters no longer shift balance or have conditions applied to them as a result of combat exchanges. Instead, fatigue refers to a characters ability to deflect or avoid an incoming attack. If a character is unable to mark a fatigue, they instead suffer a hit, and the severity of which is determined based on the ability used. A hit can also be suffered if the characters are taken by surprise and are unable to defend or evade.

Health

All characters have 10 health. When a hit occurs, that number is reduced based on the severity of the hit. When characters reach 0, they are unconscious. If a character ever reach -10 health, they are in critical condition and require urgent medical treatment. Importantly, a character’s health is not a number that recovers fully with rest. A good night of rest will recover 1 health. A character needs medical treatment to recover more health.

Combat exchange

When a combat exchange occurs, all characters involved secretly choose a stance, either defend and maneuver, advance and attack, or evade and observe. Stances correlate to a particular set of moves allowed in an exchange, as well as the ability to defend from an attack, and initiative order. When everyone picks, every stance is revealed to every player engaged. Next, all characters roll 2d12. This number determines which abilities can be activated, as well as initiative order within stance brackets. Essentially, defend and maneuver stances activate first, followed by advance and attack and evade and observe. The result of the 2d12 determine which character goes first within each stance activation.

Characters who choose to defend and maneuver are able to use fatigue as normal to deny a hit. Characters who advance and attack are also to use fatigue, but doing so costs an additional 2 fatigue. Characters who evade and observe automatically clear a fatigue, and are also able to defend with fatigue, but doing so costs an additional 1 fatigue.

Once everyone’s stances are known, everyone secretly chooses a technique, in accordance to the stance they chose. When everyone has chosen, initiative order is revealed, and the abilities are resolved sequentially.

Strike

When a character chooses strike, they choose one opponent to use the ability against. That opponent must either mark 1 fatigue or suffer a strike. The character can choose to mark 1 fatigue, increasing the amount of fatigue the opponent needs to block to 2, and increasing the severity of the hit.

Commit

When a character commits, instead of shifting the balance of the principle, they clears an additional 2 fatigue.

Differences between combat styles

Each bending principle carries different strengths in regard to stances and basic techniques. The sections below describe how.

Firebending

If a character suffers a hit from a firebender, they take 4 damage to their health. If a firebender chooses to mark a fatigue for the stronger effect, they receive 8 damage instead.

If a firebender chooses advance and attack, they only mark 1 extra fatigue to block an attack.

Airbending

If an Airbender hits at attack, the attack deals 1 damage, and the the target is pushed back. If they collide with terrain, they are dealt 2 damage instead. An empowered hit deals 2 damage instead, and the target is shoved a much further distance, and fall down, requiring them to select defend and maneuver and mark a fatigue next round to get up. If they collide with terrain, they are dealt 4 damage and become stunned, and are also downed.

An airbender can use seize a position when they choose the evade and observe stance. Airbenders can go farther with seize a position, and opponents require 2 fatigue to block this technique.

Earthbending

When a characters suffers a hit from an earthbending hit, they suffer 3 damage and become impaired for 1 turn. If an earthbender marks 1 fatigue to strike, the opponent suffers 5 damage instead and is stunned for 1 turn.

If an earthbender chooses defend and maneuver, the first time they need to mark a fatigue against an attack, they mark 1 less.

Waterbending

When a waterbender chooses a technique after the stance phase, they mark 2 fatigue to choose a technique from a different stance they originally chose.

When a waterbender declares an attack, they choose whether it’s ice or water. If the attack is water, suffers 2 damage and become impaired until they are dry. If the attack is ice, they suffer 3 damage instead. If an empowered hit occurs, the waterbender can choose to either double the effects for a single target, or inflict the same effect to an adjacent target.

r/AvatarLegendsTTRPG

New to Avatar Legends, looking to try it out

Homebrewed rules

How would you rule an insight check.

Playing one 2 one game