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Premise: The strong clumsy troll prefers a big maul (4d4), the weak nimble hobbit a light dagger(1d4).
"Prefers" here means: does more damage/round with the respective weapon.
First off, the concept of weak and clumsy only applies to the early game. After statgain, everyone is both as strong and dextrous as possible; getting to the game cap for damage is just a matter of juggling equipment, even with maximize mode on. I dont think this is ideal, but for now Ill deal with the early and mid game.
The current formula gets the number of blows/round (from now on called bpr) by dividing by the weapon weight. Thus light weapons will always produce more blows, and in combination with various damage boni more damage per round.
Heres a bpr system that fulfills the premise:
1. Number of blows is decided by dexterity. The higher, the more blows.
2. This number always applies to the lightest weapons (daggers, or the < 3 lb class). If a heavier weapon is wielded, the weight is checked against the strength. Higher strength opens up heavier weapons to be eligible for the maximum number of blows allowed by dex; if strength is not enough for the weapon wielded, a penalty to bpr occurs.
So our dextrous hobbit gets many blows, but only with the dagger; he might use a maul of westernesse but would prefer it to be a dagger base (this also is status quo). The troll, having low dex, wont get as many blows as the hobbit, however he is able to use a heavy weapon, thus doing more damage. He might use a dagger of westernesse, but would prefer it to be a maul base.
Unlike in the current system, switching to a lighter weapon will not yield more blows for the strong character.
Now for some numbers to calibrate all this:
I am creating a basic bpr "table" that applies to the casters (mage and priest), ranging from 1 to 4 blows. The other classes use the same table, but multiply number of blows by 6/4 (warrior) or 5/4 (halfcasters). All bpr
numbers are rounded up to the next fraction allowed by the game. A consequence of this is that warriors will get at least 1,5 attacks, regardless of weapon weight; halfcasters get 1,3. I think this is not a balance issue.
Starting warrior stats are, assuming +8 points to both str and dex, 18/80 str 15 dex for the halftroll and 18/20 str 18/40 dex for the hobbit. Ending stats are 18/200 for both.
Now allow our starting hobbit to have almost 4 blows with his dagger, 4 * 4/6 ~ 2,5 so the entry in the dex table for 18/40 would read 2,5. Our troll with 15 dex should have fewer blows of course; assuming Fizzix´s absorbtion
goes live, a good number should be a bit over 2. (Without absorbtion, I would settle for 3.)
So 2 blows, 2 * 4/6 ~ 1,3 lets make it 1,4 which is the table entry for 15 dex.
At max dex the entry is obviously 4.
If we extrapolate these entries linearly, we reach 4 blows (the maximum) at about 18/140 dex which seems ok.
On the lower end, we reach numbers <1 at some point which get floored to 1 (even casters get at least 1 blow).
The linear formula that produces such values is:
#blows = dex * 11/70 - 1
This is the basic blows table, with floor 1 and ceiling 4. Dex is the integer derived from d&d type stats as usual by changing 18/x to 18 + x/10.
The str part is twofold. First, we need to assign a weight allowance to str, that is a weight value up to which weapons can be used without penalty. The second part is to establish what the actual penalty for wielding a weapon heavier than that is.
Weapons range from very light (3 lb, dagger main gauche whip) to light (6 lb rapier, 8lb shortsword) to medium (15 lb; most weapons are around this weight) to heavy (maul at 20 lb) to very heavy (lance 30 lbs, MoD 40 lbs). I had considered allowing the 18/80 str troll to use a 30 lb lance, the heaviest weapon that is normally available early game, however 30 lb is extremly high; it is so close to the ultimate MoD while 18/80 str is still a long way from 18/200. So the troll must settle for a maul at 20 lbs (sorry!). If anyone really wants to give starting trolls access to lances, reduce their weight.
Starting from there, changing the weight allowed by 2 lbs per point of str (or per /10 past 18) produces reasonable numbers. Upwards, we get access to lance at 18/130, MoD at 18/180. More importantly, the 18/20 str hobbit warrior ends up with 8 lbs which lets him use shortswords and lighter. 18 str has 4 lbs (I dont thing any weapons are of that weight), and 17 and below get 3 lbs. Everyone has the strength, if not the skill, to effectively use a dagger.
To summarize: str 17 and below: 3 lbs; str 18 and above: 4 + 2 x (str-18) lbs
So what happens if someone picks up and uses a weapon heavier than their allowance ? Well, they get fewer blows with it. Since weapons are rather close at the lower end of the list, but 10s of pounds apart at the top, it wouldn't make sense to penalize the overweight directly; rather, apply the penalty to the relative overweight, that is (weapon weight - allowed weight) / allowed weight (numbers in pounds). So the starting hobbit gets the same penalty for using a 12 lb longsword as the troll gets for using a lance:
(12 - 8) / 8 = 1/2 and (30 - 20) / 20 = 1/2.
How much of a penalty ? Id say, substract 1 blow if the weapon is twice as heavy as allowed on the basic blows table. So in the case above, both being warriors, they would each lose 0,5 * 6/4 = 0,75 blows. Naturally this has to be rounded to fractions and the basic blows table guarantees at least one blow.
This is maybe a starting point, if anyone wants to code it.
Edit: wrong term replaced
"Prefers" here means: does more damage/round with the respective weapon.
First off, the concept of weak and clumsy only applies to the early game. After statgain, everyone is both as strong and dextrous as possible; getting to the game cap for damage is just a matter of juggling equipment, even with maximize mode on. I dont think this is ideal, but for now Ill deal with the early and mid game.
The current formula gets the number of blows/round (from now on called bpr) by dividing by the weapon weight. Thus light weapons will always produce more blows, and in combination with various damage boni more damage per round.
Heres a bpr system that fulfills the premise:
1. Number of blows is decided by dexterity. The higher, the more blows.
2. This number always applies to the lightest weapons (daggers, or the < 3 lb class). If a heavier weapon is wielded, the weight is checked against the strength. Higher strength opens up heavier weapons to be eligible for the maximum number of blows allowed by dex; if strength is not enough for the weapon wielded, a penalty to bpr occurs.
So our dextrous hobbit gets many blows, but only with the dagger; he might use a maul of westernesse but would prefer it to be a dagger base (this also is status quo). The troll, having low dex, wont get as many blows as the hobbit, however he is able to use a heavy weapon, thus doing more damage. He might use a dagger of westernesse, but would prefer it to be a maul base.
Unlike in the current system, switching to a lighter weapon will not yield more blows for the strong character.
Now for some numbers to calibrate all this:
I am creating a basic bpr "table" that applies to the casters (mage and priest), ranging from 1 to 4 blows. The other classes use the same table, but multiply number of blows by 6/4 (warrior) or 5/4 (halfcasters). All bpr
numbers are rounded up to the next fraction allowed by the game. A consequence of this is that warriors will get at least 1,5 attacks, regardless of weapon weight; halfcasters get 1,3. I think this is not a balance issue.
Starting warrior stats are, assuming +8 points to both str and dex, 18/80 str 15 dex for the halftroll and 18/20 str 18/40 dex for the hobbit. Ending stats are 18/200 for both.
Now allow our starting hobbit to have almost 4 blows with his dagger, 4 * 4/6 ~ 2,5 so the entry in the dex table for 18/40 would read 2,5. Our troll with 15 dex should have fewer blows of course; assuming Fizzix´s absorbtion
goes live, a good number should be a bit over 2. (Without absorbtion, I would settle for 3.)
So 2 blows, 2 * 4/6 ~ 1,3 lets make it 1,4 which is the table entry for 15 dex.
At max dex the entry is obviously 4.
If we extrapolate these entries linearly, we reach 4 blows (the maximum) at about 18/140 dex which seems ok.
On the lower end, we reach numbers <1 at some point which get floored to 1 (even casters get at least 1 blow).
The linear formula that produces such values is:
#blows = dex * 11/70 - 1
This is the basic blows table, with floor 1 and ceiling 4. Dex is the integer derived from d&d type stats as usual by changing 18/x to 18 + x/10.
The str part is twofold. First, we need to assign a weight allowance to str, that is a weight value up to which weapons can be used without penalty. The second part is to establish what the actual penalty for wielding a weapon heavier than that is.
Weapons range from very light (3 lb, dagger main gauche whip) to light (6 lb rapier, 8lb shortsword) to medium (15 lb; most weapons are around this weight) to heavy (maul at 20 lb) to very heavy (lance 30 lbs, MoD 40 lbs). I had considered allowing the 18/80 str troll to use a 30 lb lance, the heaviest weapon that is normally available early game, however 30 lb is extremly high; it is so close to the ultimate MoD while 18/80 str is still a long way from 18/200. So the troll must settle for a maul at 20 lbs (sorry!). If anyone really wants to give starting trolls access to lances, reduce their weight.
Starting from there, changing the weight allowed by 2 lbs per point of str (or per /10 past 18) produces reasonable numbers. Upwards, we get access to lance at 18/130, MoD at 18/180. More importantly, the 18/20 str hobbit warrior ends up with 8 lbs which lets him use shortswords and lighter. 18 str has 4 lbs (I dont thing any weapons are of that weight), and 17 and below get 3 lbs. Everyone has the strength, if not the skill, to effectively use a dagger.
To summarize: str 17 and below: 3 lbs; str 18 and above: 4 + 2 x (str-18) lbs
So what happens if someone picks up and uses a weapon heavier than their allowance ? Well, they get fewer blows with it. Since weapons are rather close at the lower end of the list, but 10s of pounds apart at the top, it wouldn't make sense to penalize the overweight directly; rather, apply the penalty to the relative overweight, that is (weapon weight - allowed weight) / allowed weight (numbers in pounds). So the starting hobbit gets the same penalty for using a 12 lb longsword as the troll gets for using a lance:
(12 - 8) / 8 = 1/2 and (30 - 20) / 20 = 1/2.
How much of a penalty ? Id say, substract 1 blow if the weapon is twice as heavy as allowed on the basic blows table. So in the case above, both being warriors, they would each lose 0,5 * 6/4 = 0,75 blows. Naturally this has to be rounded to fractions and the basic blows table guarantees at least one blow.
This is maybe a starting point, if anyone wants to code it.
Edit: wrong term replaced
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