If damage resolution is a (new) separate step, I can tweak it so that regular attacks (guns, fists) do more damage than exotic attacks (drains, mind powers). If I can make the initial task resolution simpler, I would feel better about adding damage resolution as a separate step.

GURPS works like this (X, Y, Z are static numbers):

• Attacker: 3d6 vs skill X
• Defender: 3d6 vs skill Y to avoid being hit
• Attacker: xd6 for damage
• Defender: subtracts defense Z
• Defender: applies the difference as damage

Three sets of dice.

KM currently works like this:

• Attacker: 2d6 + X vs …
• Defender: 2d6 + Y
• Defender: applies 1/3 difference as damage

I am contemplating making it this:

• Attacker: 2d6 + X vs …
• Defender: 7 + skill Y
• Attacker: calculates the difference as Z
• Attacker: 1d6 + Z vs …
• Defender: subtracts defense A
• Defender: applies the difference as damage

sigh … So much more complicated.

If I reduce the impact of Expertise (2d6, re-roll 1s, rather than 1s and 2s), and reducing the penalty of not having a skill (2d6, re-roll 6s, rather than rolling 1d6), that makes rolls less extreme all around. All else being equal, the best an attacker can roll would be 12, and the worst a defender can roll would be 2, a difference of 10.

If also I change it so that a bonus die is an additional die to roll, but you only count the two highest, that also puts a cap of 12 on rolls. But how would a penalty die be handled? Roll 3d6 and what, count one highest and one lowest? Two penalty dice would be … roll 4d6 and count the two lowest? Blarg. I don’t like that.

If I change expertise/unskilled as noted above, and change bonuses/penalties to being a flat +X/-X (2? 3?) each (stackable), then a character will always roll 2d6, and adding bonuses or subtracting penalties becomes trivial.

That would make Mind Blast a great deal less one-sided. With that, I might not need to make changes to how damage is resolved.

In the current version of Kalos Mechanism, I divide attacks into:

• Normal attack: Combat skill (Agility or Brawn + Power Level) vs Target’s Combat skill (Agility or Brawn) plus armor, etc. (Power Level)
• Mental attack: Mental Combat (Power Level) vs Target’s Mental Combat (Presence) plus Mental Resistance (Power Level)
• Alteration attack: Combat skill (Power Level) vs Target’s Combat skill (Agility or Brawn) plus Alteration Resistance (Power Level)
• Unusual attack: Combat skill (Power Level) vs Target’s Combat skill (Agility or Brawn)

I think that’s worked out pretty well in play.

So that all gives me this:

• If unskilled, roll 2d6, re-roll 6s.
• If has expertise, roll 2d6, re-roll 1s.
• Each bonus is +3.
• Each penalty is -3.
• Normal attacks are (Agility or Brawn) + Power Level vs (Agility or Brawn) + Power Level
• Mental attacks are Power Level vs Presence + Power Level (if has Mental Resistance)
• Other attacks are Power Level vs (Agility or Brawn) + Power Level (if has Alteration Resistance)

If I still wanted to tinker with Mind Blast, I could modify the “margin of success” on a per-power basis, rather than it always being +1 damage for every 3 you succeed by. I’ll keep that in mind, but for now, I want to see how these changes work out in a game.

What do you think?