Thoughts on the d[Carcosa]

Mh, the d[Carcosa]. One of the really, really weird ideas from our beloved little Supplement VI. For all those who do not know what I'm talking about: Mr. McKinney takes the idea of randomisation ad absurdum by randomizing the die to roll the moment when it is to be rolled... so: CTHUGAH does 4 dice of damage to all creatures within 300' via heat radiation. Which kind of dice, you ask? Roll on the table on page 5 of Carcosa (or have a look here)!

This might be funny, but... nothing I want to port to "Into Carcosa", to be honest. But we have an idea of damage scaling, though: A simple attack will most often deal 1d[Carcosa] (1-20 damage) while some Great Old Ones will do as much as 20+d[Carcosa] (equaling some 20-400 damage)! I suggest porting this to Into the Odd the following way:

1d[Carcosa] = 1d6 damage
2-3d[Carcosa] = 1d8 damage
4-6d[Carcosa] = 1d10 damage
7-10d[Carcosa] = 1d12 damage
11+d[Carcosa] = 1d20 damage.

This is for monsters, only. Weapons deal damage as per ItO. If this method seems a bit too "granulated" - you have other ways to modify damage with ItO (without ruining anything, you know):

1. Attacks can't be impaired by xyz
2. damage is not reduced by armour
3. damage is dealt to ability scores, not to hit points
4. damage can't be healed the normal way!
5. when dealing critical damage, some effect occurs (tripping, pushing, swallowing)
6. and, if you use my house rules: attacks can't be parried or evaded.

As you see, there should be no shortage of rules mechanics to individualize your monsters attacks!

And - you really should consider playtesting my combat house rules - since I don't actually play ItO right now, I've had no good opportunity, yet! Right now they are only available in german, but Google translates them acceptable enough :-)

F