Flat vs Rolled Blood Tax — Which Should Your Table Run?

The v8.0.0 vote is ongoing, and a fair number of you have asked some version of "okay, but which one is better?" Honest answer: neither. They're the same cost paid in different currencies, and which currency your table prefers is a temperament question. Here's the full side-by-side so you can pick deliberately.

First, What's Identical

Everything except the moment you pay. Same features, same tiers, same 1:3 ratio (T2 = 3× T1), same Overload Mastery, same psychic-resistance halving. And — this is the engineered part — the same average cost. One flat unit is PB; one rolled unit is your base MS die, and those track within ~1.5 at every level band. Over a campaign, both Vanguards pay roughly the same total HP for their power. The difference is entirely in the shape of the payment.

The Case for Flat (Mainline)

Absolute predictability. Before you declare, you know the exact cost. "Can I afford this turn?" has a yes/no answer, every time. The L15 sequence tables aren't estimates — 8×PB means exactly 40, plan around it to the hit point.

You cannot accidentally kill yourself. This is the big one. With flat tax, a Vanguard at 20 HP knows a T2 Overload costs exactly 15 and declares it with certainty of survival. Blood Tax debt is a price you read off a menu, never a debt collector showing up with a surprise.

Zero added table time. A nova turn already involves attack rolls, damage dice, saves, and rider dice. Flat BT adds no rolls at all. Over a session, that's real minutes.

Stable attrition for the DM. Encounter budgeting around a flat-tax Vanguard is arithmetic.

The Case for Rolled (v7.18.0A)

The fantasy is felt, not bookkept. This is a class about tearing yourself open for power. With flat tax, the recoil is a subtraction. With rolled tax, it's an event — the whole table watches the dice to see how badly you hurt yourself. Sometimes you push past your limits and walk away clean. Sometimes you don't. That's the throttle made visceral.

Sometimes the gamble pays. About one turn in eight, a 3d10 Tier 2 tax comes in at 10 or under — cheaper than the flat 15. Variance cuts both ways, and the cheap rolls feel great.

Every Overload is a decision with stakes. Flat tax answers "is this worth it?" once, in the abstract. Rolled tax makes you re-ask it at the table, at your current HP, with your gut involved.

The Number That Decides It

Here's the same declaration under both rules. Level 15 Vanguard, 20 HP remaining, declares one T2 Overload:

• Flat: costs exactly 15. You survive with 5 HP, guaranteed. You knew that before you rolled.
• Rolled: costs 3d10 (3–30, avg 16.5). Roughly 28% of the time — better than 1 in 4 — that roll comes in at 20+ and drops you. The same declaration that's mathematically safe under flat is a genuine coin-flip-adjacent gamble under rolled.

That's the whole choice, compressed: under flat tax, "suiciding via Blood Tax debt" is impossible by inspection. Under rolled tax, it's a live possibility you manage with judgment and luck. Whether that 28% reads as thrilling or unacceptable tells you which version your table should run.

One more data point: below level 10 the two systems are nearly indistinguishable (1d4 vs flat 2–3, no T2 yet). The fork only matters in tier 3+ play, when the dice get big and the novas get greedy.

A Suggestion

If you're unsure: run rolled for one session at level 11+, with at least one desperate low-HP Overload decision in it. You'll know within an hour which game you're playing. Then come tell the thread — session reports are what decide the v8.0.0 promotion, and "we tried both" posts are worth their weight in gold.

Mainline v7.18.1 (flat) · v7.18.0A (rolled) · The player sheets and DMQR serve both rules.

Kinetic Vanguard by NixNinja. © 2024–present. Free for non-commercial use with credit.

Kinetic Vanguard v7.18.2 — Quick Fix

Spotted a layout slip on the Cryokinesis player sheet: Overload Mastery II and Inner Reserve had wandered into the middle of the Cryo discipline block instead of sitting at the end of the Advanced Training list like they do on the other sheets. They're back where they belong. Nothing mechanical changed anywhere — all five docs bumped to v7.18.2 purely for version cleanliness.

The v8.0.0 flat-vs-rolled trial continues — v7.18.0A pairs with these sheets as before.

Kinetic Vanguard by NixNinja. © 2024–present.