How would you implement a vulnerable tag in #DungeonWorld such as vulnerable to magic or vulnerable to fire?
Two follow up questions:
1) Is the vulnerable tag discussed in the main rules? I did a search and didn’t find it, but I’ve had people show me that I’ve missed stuff in the past.
2) Is thee a comprehensive list of tags both in the world and created by the community somewhere?
I’ve either doubled damage or ignored armor as relevant.
There’s no “official” vulnerable tag in the DW book; you’re not missing anything.
If I’m formally statting up a monster, I usually record its vulnerabilities in the Special Qualities. E.g. “vulnerable to fire” or “soft underbelly” or “only harmed by silver” or “powerless in sunlight”
If it’s a vulnerability that hurts a critter more than other harm, I’d go with either double damage or roll-twice-take-the-highest.
If it’s a “soft spot” or “only vulnerable to __” then that’d either let you ignore their armor or it’d something you had to exploit in order to even trigger hack & slash/volley in the first place.
Something like “powerless in sunlight” would negate their more magical moves or special qualities, and possibly reduce their damage to W[2dX].
A vulnerability could also be purely fictional position, like a drow being “blinded in sunlight” or a faerie whose “magic is undone by cold iron.”
Some good options above, for sure.
* As a means of bypassing armor or natural defenses (achilles heel)
* As an opportunity for double damage
* As a general weakness to be exploited, +1 against
* As a diminishing of powers/abilities
* As a circumstantial fictional opportunity
The only problem would be stacking these for too much of an effect or using them inconsistently in a way that confuses players. It would be okay for a “swamp troll” to react differently to vulnerability: fire than a normal troll, maybe, as long as all swamp trolls reacted the same way to the vulnerability.
I have recently been stating up monsters with Defenses – special move-like phrases that imply how the monster reacts to certain things. I’ve also been including weaknesses in here but I’m not sure happy about it. It’s basically the same as the Special Qualities thing Jeremy Strandberg mentioned, just with a different heading.
Example:
Sl’grth, Orc Bounty Hunter – a short female orc with a shaved head, covered in pockets and satchels full of things, fights with a jagged saber and weighted net (armor 1, 12hp, saber: 1d6+3, close, messy)
Moves:
– entangle with a net
– have just the right item
– maneuver them into a trap
Defenses:
– deflect a blow with the net
– weak right knee, favors the left
Also, if you attack a monster who is “vulnerable to X” with X, whatever else happens, that monster is a lot more likely to run like hell.
Depends – if they invulnerable to anything else that having the thing they are vulnerable to is the only option to damage them.