Jazzdrummer wrote:He was failing that 50% chance to roll a skull more often than not.
He will have failed
as often than not after a high enough number of attempts, mathematically.
This is what the combat dice are there for, is it not? We
know that.
Tweaking this is where the pointlessness is.
The Wizard has one attack die for a very specific reason. He is weak in battle and supposed to think for one freakin' second before he does it instead of using one of his spells, which are his real talent.
One attack die should have no other purpose than that.
To me, a one-die-attack comes from being a battle wuss and having only a dagger. Which you can throw if you want to, so there is no real-and-pure one-die-attack
at all.
What I'm trying to say is, it's a bad idea to limit attack dice too much, as it is an even worse idea to limit defense dice too much. Ideas in that direction have been given to my chagrin here, too.
To make this post a tad constructive:
The four original heroes are four types of talent/combat/health combinations. Introducing a new character for me means to think about which of these four types they replace.
The Assassin could fit anywhere, really.
He could be a Barbarian/Fighter type that has a base bonus on combat dice with throwing and shooting weapons and the chance to make a poison to get that bonus even in close combat. No plate armor.
He could be a Dwarf/Dungeoneer type with a general rule change that can search in the presence of monsters or use two different one-handed weapons for two attack each round or.. or...
He could be an Elf/Ranger type with some knowledge in some mystic art that you can write three one-off offensive skills for to be used like spells and some other small advantage like making one diagonal move between two monsters per turn.
He could be a full-blown Wizard/Monk type with nine such one-off skills with the option to brew potent offensive poisons that enhance his attacks in specific situations.