Manifest: Bond and Tier

Last time, I looked at Emotional Types and Stats, and gave myself quite a bit of things to think about. Today, I’d like to go back to the two “stats” I had come up with earlier: Bond and Tier. Tier is akin to level in Pokémon, while Bond is closer to Friendship.

Okay, but what does that mean?

Emotions are tumultuous things. Narratively, our culture is rife of stories about how people lose control of themselves, their emotions getting the better of them, and similar turns of phrase.

If Manifestations are embodied emotions, then the idea of a spectrum between “controlled” and “powerful” makes sense. Bond is a representation of how attuned you are to the emotion, how in-control of the Manifestation you are. Tier is representational of its core “power,” its strength and maximum power output.

Does this mean it makes more sense to have Bond and Tier as a spectrum stat, or as two separate numbers? Or, Bond could be a spectrum while Tier is a static number?

Can Tier grow without affecting Bond? I should say yes. Ash’s Charmeleon didn’t love him less because it grew into a Charizard. At the same time, the idea that a higher Bond limits the Manifestation, while those who are “let off the leash” can cause more damage…that’s an interesting dynamic.

Let’s keep those ideas in mind as we keep exploring.

As I said before, Tactical Combat is going to be a major part of this game, and if we’re looking at juggling up to six Manifestations at once, we need to have a simple method for handling their actions.

Assuming each Manifestation has multiple abilities, we can again simplify the cognitive load by giving each of those abilities the same “attack roll.” I’m imagining a Manifestation that can attack with its claws at close range, shoot a cannon at long range, or spread a cloud of poison in a burst. Each of these actions could have the same “to hit/damage” roll, and the only difference being targeting and additional effects: e.g. Claws could hit everyone in range 1, Cannon could hit 1 target at range 5, and poison could hit everyone in an chosen area, but cause conditions instead of damage.

So, let’s explore creating a simple combat resolution mechanic. At its most basic, a Manifestation can hit and damage another Manifestation on its turn. There might be multiple ways of doing it, but how does it fundamentally work?

Again, a few assumptions to start with that we can change later:

1. It happens with a single roll.
2. Different Manifestations have different rolls.
3. Bond and Tier may affect the roll.

The first assumption is based off of the OSR simplifications of the D&D base. If you attack, you hit; roll your damage.¹ I like the idea that you only roll once with each of your Manifestation’s abilities. This makes the strategy simpler.

Is one better than the other? Having a variable to-hit means there will be some attacks that do nothing, while others do a reliable amount. Variable damage means every action does something, it’s just a question of how much. I think the latter will keep the action moving at a better pace than the former.

The second assumption is pretty basic: Manifestations need to be different from each other to encourage interesting choices. This could be done exclusively with additional specials or after-effects, but I’d like to start with the more familiar method. Even the most basic “fighter gets a +1 to hit” rule requires this assumption.

The third assumption is possibly important: Single stat games like Lasers and Feelings run whole stories on one number. I already have two, and if two numbers are all you need to run a Manifestation, that will do a lot to ease up the mental labor of playing a single Manifestation, meaning more Manifestations can be fielded at once.

So, what kind of roll decides a Manifestation’s ability?

There are lots of different kinds. D&D and GURPS use the simple static-number-and-size-of-die-plus-bonus-versus-variable-target model. Exalted and Warhammer 40k use the variable-die-count-over-static-target model. Powered by the Apocalypse uses a static-number-and-size-versus-two-static-targets model. Other systems use variable-sized-die-plus-static-bonuses-versus-variable-target model. There are a lot of options.

So let’s use a basic XdY+Z model to start with. We have three numbers already, and two stats. We can therefore turn one number static, such as 1dX+Y, or Xd20+Y, or even XdY+5. That last one is kinda stupid; why have a flat bonus? Let’s get rid of that, so now we have three possible “attack” rolls:

1. 1dX+Y
2. Xd20+Y (with an understanding that the d20 could be changed to any die size)
3. XdY

(This is assuming, of course, two static numbers, rather than a spectrum number with Bond. It is possible we could have Bond give bonuses or penalties in certain situations, resulting in just one number for a die roll, like 1d(X-Y) or (X-Y)d10, but that would seed more math and cognitive load later on in the system. For now, these three are the simpler options.)

Some interesting posibilities here, a lot of which depend on the “range” of X and Y. After all, Xd20+Y means some very different things depending on if Y maxes out at 5 or at 20.

Another interesting point is when a stat represents a die, there’s the natural limitation of die size. Common dice are the d4s, 6s, 8s, 10s, 12s, and 20s.² The leap from 12 to 20 is a large one, so what if we took the d20 out of the progression? Then we have 5 dice, with 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 sides. If size of die rolled is Tier or Bond, we then have a natural limit of 5.

Let’s give a level 5 limit to both Tier and Bond. What does that do to our three rolling options?

1. 1dX+Y: At the weakest, a Manifestation could be rolling a 1d4+1, which is a range of 2 to 5. At their strongest, a roll of 1d12+5, or 6 to 17. If a player were to focus on either Bond or Tier, they could get either 1d4+5, a range of 6 to 9, or 1d12+1, a range of 2 to 13.
2. Xd20+Y. Depending on the die chosen, this makes for a wide difference in effectiveness. Xd4+Y means a powerful Manifestation will roll from 10 to 25,(5d4+5) while the weakest will range from 2 to 5(1d4+1). With a d12, the range is 2 to 13 all the way to 10 to 65! That’s far too much of a range, I feel.

But…something interesting with that Xd20. It seems like an absurd choice, but there is one situation when rolling 5d20 might make sense: when rolling at advantage. If you roll multiple dice and take the highest, rather than add them all up, that opens up some interesting options…

So now let’s look at that last option: XdY. If we adopt the “choose the highest” model of rolling multiple dice, then we have a range from 1d4 to 5d12. My instinct is that Y, or the size of the die rolled, best fits with Tier, or how powerful a Manifestation is. How many dice you roll affects the chance of rolling a higher number, so Bond could fit quite well with that.

What does this look like? If your Manifestation has a high Bond but lower Tier, they might roll 4d6, and have a higher chance of rolling a 5 or 6. If they have a low Bond but high Tier, they might roll 2d10, and be more likely to roll low. This means a higher Bond Manifestation is more reliable, but a higher Tier can do more “damage”, though less reliably.

But we get the same thing with Xd20+Y, don’t we? There are, however, a few trade-offs. XdY will require a different set of dice for each Manifestation. If you have different Bonds and Tiers with each of your Manifestations, you could be rolling five different sets of dice each turn.

Alternately, Xd20+Y means you only need one set of five d20s. You’re rolling a different number of them, and adding a different number each time, but you don’t have to remember “okay, this is a tier 4 so I need my d10s, and I only roll four of them…or wait, this is my third Manifestation so I only roll two d10s…”

But you do have to do math each time. Simple math, yes, but there is still the possibility of “Okay, this is a bond 3 so I roll 3d20, and teir 4 so I add 4 to the highest…or wait, this is my third Manifestation so I only add 3 to the highest…” On the other hand, XdY frontloads that confusion, so after you roll the dice, you just pick the highest, and you’re done.

And let’s not ignore that 1dX+Y is the simplest of them all: lots of RPGs use varying die-sizes to represent improved stats or skills, and a flat bonus is cognatively simple, while never requiring more than one of each polyhedral die. Most RPGers have at least one set, so this one might end up being the simplest.

Next time, I’ll do a head-to-head cagematch and delve into these dice-rolls to see which is better for this game.