DW skills

[Troll66]

As much as I respect and admire DW game in many ways I cannot help but feel that some kid off rules lite stab at skills would be useful just to help flesh out other PC - at the moment Assasins seem to get plentiful attention regarding their skills whilst other classes are a little thread bare in that department.

The rules talk of Knights and barbarians able to ride a war horses but there is no mechanic for guaging how well they can ride any mount or fto extend the example how ell any other pc cane ride a horse or how welll they are versed in 'horselore'

Anyone out there come up with anythng?

 

[jason.richardson]

If I understand what you're asking, you seem to be interested in adding a skill system to Dragon Warriors.

I, personally, don't see the need for such a subsystem. The mechanics of the game offer themselves easily to "on the fly" adjudication.

If, for example, you wanted to see how well a character was at riding a horse, you could call for a Reflexes check, or better yet, an average of the rider's Strength and Reflexes. If the rider were a knight or barbarian you could add a bonus to the check, possibly -4 to the roll.

Also, keep in mind that a character's Background speaks volumes to what skills he or she might possess beyond those awarded by his chosen Profession. For example, in my campaign, one of my players is a Sorcerer with the background of Riffraff. We decided that this character was raised by whores in the free city of Clyster. Just knowing this fact answers a lot of questions about what skills the sorcerer will have based on his background.

 

[Sir Brad]

If your wondering about additional Profession abilities, well from 8th Rank Knights & Warlocks have a good selection of "Skills of the Mighty" and their way more open in what you get to pick & chose (In the new Rules Knights can Track from 1st rank), for the other Professions your kind of locked in, Barbarians get Berserking to start with then Blood Rage at 8th, Mystics get their extra scenes from 1st rank and Enchantment starting at 4th, then their is Adepthood at 8th rank. Sorcerers get Calligraphy at 4th, Alchemy at 6th and Artifice from 8th as well as Wand Crafting at 8th, Elementailist kind of get the Shaft.

I'm digging out some old Classic Rules mods and posting them in my "New Skills of the Mighty" topic, I'm in the middle of reworking the Sorcerer but am going to post some Knight & Warlock Skills next before going back to the Sorcerers, once I'm done with them Knights, Warlocks and Barbarians are going to get some love before I move on to re-working either the Elementailist or Mystic (Who will be able to chose between Enchantment or "Kung-Fu" powers like "Ki" punches and such).

 

[Sir Darron Gowar]

But if you don't have a skill system, they can never 'grow' in expertise. It's fun to see a lowly knight start off at (for example) Ride +1, only to see him rise to Ride +5 or some such.

It gives a feeling of accomplishment and achievement and I think a lot of games fall short regarding this.

I've always believed that play rules should be lite but character creation rules, whilst not necessarily being a 100 pages long, should have more depth to them.

 

[Jiminy]

A DW Knight would have undertaken many years of servitude to an Order or military organisation prior to becoming an adventurer. This training would ensure that he is already an accomplished horse rider before he ever explored his first dungeon - there wouldn't be that much more room for him to develop his riding ability.

 

[jason.richardson]

A DW Knight would have undertaken many years of servitude to an Order or military organisation prior to becoming an adventurer. This training would ensure that he is already an accomplished horse rider before he ever explored his first dungeon - there wouldn't be that much more room for him to develop his riding ability.

This is a very good point, and I agree.

 

[Sir Darron Gowar]

Me too

 

[Troll66]

Of course one can say you are a knight you are trained and have experience in riding.

But is one knight any better than another ?

I am a sorcereor can I ride and how well

You see where I am coming from.

 

[Jiminy]

I see what you mean - Sorcerers can't ride.

However, there's an easy way to solve this; put the Sorceror on a donkey and tie it to the Knight's horse! I've got this Hollywood vision of a Sorcerer on a cantankerous donkey that stubbornly refuses to obey him, no matter how hard he shouts at it! Great for comic roleplay!

As for learning to ride over the course of a campaign... well, maybe one of the DW veterans could suggest something? Anyone?

 

[Troll66]

Maybe the attack looked at as a skill (which it is of course) is a way in mechainics wise.

One could say that all skills have a default score of 10 with attibute modifiers (e.g. attribute 13-15 +1 etc). If initially better trained in a skill you receive a +2 improvement bonus (i.e. skill rank of 12). If a skill is a professional skill then you get +1/2 Rank bonus too.

Another approach would be to set upa basic skill list then set values for them or a number of skill level choices that a profession can chooose from. Similar perhaps to how the Assassin works. This would have to beinaddition to the assassin skill rules. Assassins dont get a ride skill at present.

I like the broad nature of skills as defined by D&D 4E maybe thats a useful approach to investigate further.

 

[Sir Darron Gowar]

Let's say there is no assassin in the followin scene:

Assuming no key, how would you go about attempting to gain entrance to a dungeon complex, wherein a locked iron door stands in your way?

 

[Jiminy]

At least six options.

1) Hinges/lock - Melt, corrode, remove, pick, etc.

2) Sorcerer uses Portal to open the door (depends on a weak lock construction, though).

3) Use explosive spells or brute strength to perform heavy demolition on the wall next to the door.

4) Use alternating Ice/Flame spells to weaken & shatter the door.

5) Mystic unlocks the door with Telekinesis.

6) Mystic or Air Elementalist uses Intangibility to walk through the door/wall and unlock it from the inside

 

[Sir Darron Gowar]

Or perhaps anyone could try to pick the lock with a penalty to Ref or Int?

 

[Jiminy]

Option 1. It depends on the type of lock. Since no other profession has lockpicking skills I suppose that you could assign a a very remote 'lucky chance' of 1% for them to stand even a chance of picking just a simple lock. For more complex locks, I would say that they have no chance and have to find some other alternative.

 

[rabindranath72]

To answer the original question: I assume that anyone who has the Ride skill can do most of the ordinary things without any check (e.g. Reflex). All other characters must do a Reflex check to do even relatively simple things (e.g. jumping over an obstacle), but they can certainly stand on a horse and ride it in normal circumstances. In combat they would need a check, whereas Barbarians and Knights no. When a Barbarian or Knight would need a check, nonproficient characters would automatically fail.

 

[kintire]

The main attraction of dragon warriors is its simplicity. I think trying to turn it into a poor man's d20 would be a mistake. I'm avoiding a skills system for that reason: stat rolls can fill the gap.

 

[Troll66]

I appreciate that view. It seems that most special abilities and skills of the mighty are all or nothing in terms of being able to attempt them. I am beginning to see a paralell here with Runequest i.e. general skills and advanced skills (and even legendary abilities).

I see DW is nearer to Runequest in spirit than D&D.

Track is an advanced skill in RQ so you cannot try it without having received the skill in the first place whereas everyone has some ability in general skills such as climb.

So Ride may be a general skill but ride warhosre would be advanced skill. mmm I will think on it more.

 

[Blackyinkin]

Hi all,

I created a nice little skill system for DW a while back, it worked well, but then I realised as has just been said that I was trying to change the game. Now I simpl work on the premise that characters generally have a set of skills based on their profession that do not need to be rolled on or give them a bonus to rolls.

For example I make the following assumptions..

Knights - Can joust, hawk, recognise heraldric symbols, hunt from horseback, know courtly ettiquette for their culture, ride horses, recognise religious orders and so forth with relative ease and either do not need to roll under a characteristic or get a bonus to their characteristic when rolling of +1 to 5 depending on the skill on 1D20 with a 20 always failing. However, knights trying to swim, be artistic, recognise runes, tame animals other than horses would be at a minus. The same goes for each profession.

Simon

 

[jason.richardson]

Hi all,

I created a nice little skill system for DW a while back, it worked well, but then I realised as has just been said that I was trying to change the game. Now I simpl work on the premise that characters generally have a set of skills based on their profession that do not need to be rolled on or give them a bonus to rolls.

For example I make the following assumptions..

Knights - Can joust, hawk, recognise heraldric symbols, hunt from horseback, know courtly ettiquette for their culture, ride horses, recognise religious orders and so forth with relative ease and either do not need to roll under a characteristic or get a bonus to their characteristic when rolling of +1 to 5 depending on the skill on 1D20 with a 20 always failing. However, knights trying to swim, be artistic, recognise runes, tame animals other than horses would be at a minus. The same goes for each profession.

Simon

Yes, this is how I run my game too.

 

[rabindranath72]

Also do not forget the backgrounds, they give tons of ideas for the more "mundane" skills a character might have. I definitely do not see the need for a skill system in DW.