One thing we did like was the fact that it did not hurt the opposing team directly, like the LRB handicapp table could. It always sucked having your best players miss the game, or even get killed!!! So we decided to keep the induced players to a minimum and go to a tiered handicap table that followed the same idea as the vault. It originally was in 5 divisions and had some balance issues, so now that we are starting season two, we have modified it to the following
Step 1
calculate team value difference as normal. Gain this amount in cash (i.e. a TV 150 vs 120 team gets 30K in cash to use on inducements.
Step 2
Hire freebooters. Freebooters are linemen that can never use team, trophy or leader rerolls. You may only hire enough freebooters to bring your team up to 11 players on the pitch at the start of the game. A freebooter cost is equal to a normal linemen. i.e. you have only 8 players available to play this match, you could hire 3 freebooters.
Step 3
Use your remaining cash on the handicap tables in any mix you wish
HANDICAP TABLES
5K TABLE
(1d8) Result
1 Team Support. Gain any mix of 1 to 5 cheerleaders or assistant coaches. Reroll further 1's.
2 Trick Coin. You may choose the result of the coin flip to go first. Reroll further 2's
3 Chirurgen. A chirurgeon fan (return player without MNG from injury to reserve box) helps his favorite team for a game. Reroll further 3's
4 Bloodweiser babe. A BB babe helps out their favorite team. Add +1 to KO rolls for each BB babe. Reroll if rolled more than twice.
5 Apothecary in training. A junior apothecary joins your team for a one game training stint. Acts like a normal apothecary. Reroll further 5's.
6 Freebooter. Your coach signs a freebooter for a one game stint.
7 Shiny Magic Helm. One player just bought a magic helm. It gives +1 AV for the current game and then the magic's worn out. Reroll further 7's.
8 Test Gauntlets. A wizard just made a new set of magic gauntlets and wants someone on your team to try them. One player gains block for the game. Reroll further 8's or if every player already has block.
15K (reroll any duplicate rolls)
(1d8) Result
1 Engine of Destruction! You bribe the greenskeeper to help your team. Add a deathroller to your roster for this game only.
2 Wizard. Your coach hires a wizard for the match (Halflings may choose a Master Chef instead fi they do not already have one).
3 Star players. Your coach convinces Thrudd and a SW starplayer (roll on SW star player table) to play for your team today!
4 Big Guy. You convince a Big guy to give bloodbowl a try. Roll again: evil teams (1-4:Troll, 5-8: Minotaur) Good teams (1-4: treeman, 5-8: Ogre).
5 Extra Training. A several intensive practices, your team gains a team reroll and one player gains a skill that he would be allowed to have with a normal skill roll. This only applies to the current game.
6 Bribe the ref/announcers. You may choose two of the following five effects (no duplicates): Win the coin flip, set up 12 players at a kick off, keep a SW player for an extra drive, ignore a send off for a foul, or gain your MVP before the game.
7 Lucky Rabbit foot. It really works, at least for today; one player gains Pro and treats all injury rolls as stunned.
8 Steroids. One non big guy gains access to steroids. This gives the player two stat increases of his choice (may not be same stat).
25K TABLE (reroll any duplicate rolls)
(1d8) Result
1-2 Star Player help! A star player wants to show his stuff against superior opposition and joins your team for one game. Roll on the star player table.
3-4 Apothecary convention! Lucky you, they are fans of your team and want to help! All serious injury rolls are reduced by one. A result of zero means the player is put in the KO box (the player still gains a SPP cas).
5-6 Priest of Nuffle! For challenging a superior team, a Priest of Nuffle grants you three boons for the game. Gain a team reroll, one player gains a stat increase, and one injured player may be placed in the reserve box on a 2+ roll on d6 (even the dead). This last ability must be used as soon as the injury occurs.
7-8 Magic Item Galore! A wizard fan loans your team two magic items for the next game. The gauntlets of Ogre Power (gain dauntless, Mighty Blow and Grab) and the Boots of the Cheetah (Gain Very Long legs, leap, and sprint).
Note: No player may have more than one magic item and magic items may not be switched during the game.
And then the subsequent tables
Random Star Players
For good teams (Amazon, Dwarf, Elf, Halfing, High Elf, Human, Lizard Men, Wood Elf, Monks, Tilea Mercenaries)
(1d8) Name
1 Deeproot Strongbranch
2 Zara the Slayer
3 Prince Moranion
4 Mighty Zug and random SW star player
5 Jordell Freshbreeze
6 Griff Oberwald
7 Grim Ironjaw
8 Silibili
SW star players
1-2 Barik Farblast
3-4 Boomer Eziasson
5-6 Flint Churnblade
7-8 Xena
For evil teams (Chaos, Chaos Dwarf, Dark Elves, Goblin, Khemri, Necromantic, Norse, Nurgle, Orc, Skaven, Undead, Vampire, Ogres, Daemons, Chaos Pact)
(1d8) Name
1 All four Goblin SW Star Players
2 Grashnak Blackhoof
3 Hakflem Skuttlespike
4 Hthark the Unstoppable
5 Lord Borak
6 Ramtut III
7 Ripper Bolgrot
8 Varag Ghoul-chewer
SW Star Players
1-2 Bomber Dribblesnot
3-4 Fungus the Loon
5-6 Nobbla Blackwart
7-8 Horkon Hearripper
Thats a lot of tables, and it can fit on one page if you format it properly! I do not in any way suggest to use this for other leagues, they are just house rules! One of several in our league....
So the questions are
- Are the table costs balanced? i.e. is one table worth more than the cost?
Are any results overly powerful compared to others in the same table?
I have read a lot of the existing proposals for handicap tables and realize that ours is a bit more powerfull, but do you feel it is too powerfull? We have set the cost to roughly what you would pay for in the vault inducement setting, or slightly more so. If so, what would you propose for the cost of each table.
Are we insane
?