Mobility Denial

13th Age has a short list of status effects, and I consider that a big plus for a tabletop RPG.  One of my big pet peeves is when a game uses multiple different "flavors" of what is essentially the same effect (i.e. D&D 3rd Edition's Shaken, Frightened, Cowering, and Panicked; Fatigued and Exhausted; Dazed and Dazzled; Sickened and Nauseated; Paralyzed and Stunned; etc.).  I much prefer a minimum amount of rules which serve to represent a general concept.  The 13th Age "Dazed" condition does a good job of this, as it can stand in for any situation where you'd have trouble attacking (but aren't prevented from doing so altogether). 

However, the list of Conditions is missing some functional concepts that many D&D players are used to.  Up until EE6 there wasn't a single form of mobility denial, but thankfully "Stuck" made it into the game.  Having anything in between "can't move at all" (Stuck) and "can move fully" is difficult in a system where movement is handled in abstract range bands, especially when granularity is so low that we have only "nearby" and "far away."  That's not to say I don't like the simplicity of the range bands, because I do.  It just means that we need to get creative to represent things like "slow," "difficult terrain," or "prone." 

Quick, streamlined combats and combats where you can take tactical advantage of the terrain are not mutually exclusive.  Sure, 13th Age advises a "don't sweat the modifiers" approach but it can be really difficult for some players to describe their character's action if they don't have any mechanical incentives to work with.  Why try to put difficult terrain between you and an enemy if it has no effect in-game?  More importantly, this is a case of the game rules not supporting the game fiction. 

The following houserules can be incorporated as new Conditions, or simply as guidelines that a GM can use as rulings in case players decide to get creative.

Slowed
Whether an enemy is hobbled by a weapon strike to the leg, slowed down by a spell (perhaps as a result of Vance's Polysyllabic Verbalizations), or is forced to move through  terrain affected by another creature (i.e. an enemy triggers a rock slide, or a spellcaster magically animates the vegetation) this quick and dirty condition can be used.

If the slowed creature attempts to move it must roll a save.  On a failure, it fails to reach its destination.  Usually this is a normal save (11+), but depending on what is slowing the creature and how far they're attempting to move, the GM may rule that it's an Easy (6+) or a Hard (16+) save.

Difficult Terrain
This is a variation of the "Slowed" Condition. 

Sometimes it makes more narrative sense to allow a Slowed creature to make a skill check instead of a save.  Generally this will be the case when the terrain is not being affected by another creature.  This check will usually use DEX (icy terrain, rubble), STR (dense vegetation that needs to be muscled through), or WIS (if a good path can be found), though whatever ability makes most sense given the type of terrain or the player's approach to the problem should be used.  The DC is determined by the Environment, as with other skill checks.  On a failure, the slowed creature fails to reach its destination.

Cover*
Quick, duck behind that barrel!

If you use a move action to get behind an item that grants a substantial amount of cover, ranged attacks are made against you as if the attacker were Dazed.

Prone
Characters can drop prone to avoid ranged fire, though it's not as effective as taking cover, or they may be knocked prone by powerful attacks.

You can drop prone as a quick action.  Standing up can be done as part of a move action, but if you wants to move anywhere else you must succeed at a Normal Save (11+).  While prone you are Vulnerable to melee attacks, but ranged attacks made against you take a -2 penalty.


*Note:  GMs should be careful about introducing reliable ways for players to gain bonuses like this.  For some, part of the fun of ranged combat is trying to find cover and eliminate the enemy's cover.  However, it does have the potential to slow the game down.  After all, the intent of the "don't sweat the modifiers" rule is to ensure that things run quickly and smoothly.  Keep in mind that if the players can take advantage of the environment, then the monsters should too.  Make sure that combats don't devolve into both sides hiding behind cover, hoping to get lucky with their debuffed attacks before the enemies do.

A Better Barbarian

I finally got a chance to run 13th Age, and after 2 sessions my group's Barbarian is very underwhelmed by the class.  After some discussion from the community in both the Google+ group, and the Pelgrane Press Forums, I think that the problem is some combination of player perception, partly a suboptimal build, and partly weaknesses inherent with the class. 

Briefly, the Barbarian functions best as a crit-fisher thanks to how Rage works, and getting to frequently double your damage will double the value of a large damage die.  Using a shield (like my player is), will probably handicap a Barbarian in the long run.  Their base AC is simply going to be low, and rather than letting players scramble to get it as high as possible I'd rather see Barbarians have other defensive capabilities to make up for it.  Rogues have low AC as well, but they are great at disengaging to avoid getting hit in the first place, and they get powers that reduce damage (usually when they have momentum).  That feels right for the Rogue, who was always a skirmisher.  What feels right for the Barbarian?  Taking those hits and shrugging them off.  In other words, tools that augment their HP.  Just look at the Orc Berserker - it's a monster with a similar fighting style, and the one trait they used to distinguish it was a temporary HP (THP) mechanic.

The other issue with the class, in my opinion, is that Rage simply isn't available enough.  Rage doesn't increase a Barbarian's performance enough past a multi-attacking Ranger or a damage-centric Fighter or Rogue to justify only getting it one battle per day with just a single recharge roll (and a hard one, at that). 

Here are the changes and additions that I'm going to use in my games.  After a few sessions I'll report back and possibly make tweaks depending on how it plays out.  My goal is the change the mechanics as little as possible while still giving the Barbarian a much-needed boost.

Barbarian Rage
The recharge rule from Escalation Edition v.6 reads as follows:  "Recharge 16+:  After a battle in which you Rage, roll a d20 and add your Constitution modifier; on a 16+ you can use Barbarian Rage again later in the day." 

Change this rule to the following:  "Recharge 16+:  After each battle when your Rage is expended, roll a d20 and add your Constitution modifier; on a 16+ you can use Barbarian Rage again later in the day."

Discussion
Interestingly, this rules change is consistent with the general rules for rechargeable powers in the glossary; prior to this Barbarian Rage worked differently from the other rechargeable powers in that only one recharge roll was allowed.

Assuming a +3 Con mod at level 1, a Barbarian would need to roll a natural 13+ to recharge Rage.  So they'd get it in 1 battle out of 4, and have a 40% chance at getting to use it in a second battle using the original EE6 rule.  With this house rule, it would benefit a Barbarian to use Rage for his first battle of the day, and then for each battle thereafter he would have a 40% chance of having Rage available. 

New Talent - Berserk Vitality
Whenever you hit with an attack while Raging you gain temporary hit points equal to your level + your Con modifier (your level + 2x Con mod in Champion tier; level + 3x Con mod in Epic).

Adventurer Feat: Add 1d4 to the THP gained (2d4 Champion, 3d4 Epic).
Champion Feat:  You also gain THP as soon as you go into your Rage.
Epic Feat:  Once per battle when an attack depletes you of THP you can heal using a recovery as a free action.

Discussion
In D&D Barbarians had high HP.  In 3rd edition they were the only class that got a d12 hit die, and in 4th edition they were a striker with the HP of a defender.  I was, quite frankly, pretty shocked when I saw that the Barbarian got the same base HP as a Ranger, Bard, and Cleric in 13th Age.  The only hint of the class's legacy of sturdiness was that their recovery die is a d10 (with an option to increase it to a d12 via a talent), unlike the other classes with a base HP of 7, which use a d8 recovery die.  I don't think this is sufficient to make up for the fact that they're a frontliner with a base AC of 12.  Only the Rogue and Bard have comparable base AC, and the Rogue comes chock full of defensive tricks while the Bard is only partially a melee class.  Granted the Barbarian does have access to Unstoppable, which is a great self-healing talent, but there's still room to expand the concept.

In D&D 3.5 a Barbarian temporarily increased his Con score when he entered a Rage, which resulted in an increase in HP.  He also got damage reduction at mid to high levels.  In D&D 4E Barbarians get a class-based AC bonus, and certain builds got THP for killing enemies (while all Barbarians have access to various powers that grant THP).  The precedent is certainly there, and there's a lot to be said for the aesthetics of the mechanic.  This is a guy who is so tough he can wade into battle without much armor, opening himself up with his wild fighting style, but making light of those attacks made against him.  Indeed, it is the very act of damaging an opponent that gives him the vitality to shrug off hits.  Again, THP is the one mechanic that lets orc berserkers stand out.  Should the PC version of the "berserker warrior" be able to do the same?