Yet More Thoughts on "Attacking the Darkness" - BAD ASS

Back in October I wrote about my Attacking the Darkness houserule, otherwise known as BAD ASS: Benefits from Attacking the Darkness, Advantages Shared and Simple.

The idea was pretty simple:

When players roll a natural 1 they Attack the Darkness. Roll damage as usual and put it in the Attack the Darkness Pool.

Every 25 points in the pool can be cashed in for various rerolls. Unused points are converted to XP for the players at a rate of 1 XP per point.

After playtesting the rules, I discovered that 25 points was too high a threshold to hit. So I lowered it to 10 pts of damage per BAD ASS Token, and kept the points rolling per story arc (not starting new each session).

I then upped the conversion to expo to 10x per point. So, the XP actually matters. Result?

My players didn't cash in the 2 BAD ASS tokens they earned for a reroll, but the thought did come up. Instead, everyone cashed in the points for 290 XP at the end of the adventure.

I'll need to roll with it for a second arc to see if I need to tweak it again, but I do like it's potential.

Here it is in it's current glory:


BAD ASS - Benefits from Attacking the Darkness, Advantages Shared and Simple


Attacking the Darkness: On a natural roll of 1, the character in question "Attacks the Darkness". Roll damage as if you had a successful hit. These points are added to the BAD ASS Pool.

BAD ASS Pool: Points are placed by the party in the BAD ASS Pool as described above. Points are accumulated in a per session manner, and unused points will be "cashed out" at the end of the game session.

At 10 points (and each interval of 10) the party has the option of converting 10 points into a BAD ASS Token (you can use coins or just make a note of it). The BAD ASS Token, or a BAT, can be used to reroll certain rolls during the game session. Some examples are as follows:

- A single attack roll (but not a natural 1)

- A saving throw

- An initiative roll (group or individual, depending on system used)

- A damage roll for a weapon or spell

- A skill roll, such as a thief's open locks or an elf's hear noise chance.

- A moral roll for a party member's henchman.

Points spent on BATs can't be cashed out at the end of the gaming session. They are gone.

Unused BATs can't be saved between sessions and will expire and the end of the gaming session.

Cashed out points are converted into expo on a 1 pt to 10 XP basis . Everyone in the party gets the full value of the cashed out points - they are not divided amongst the players.