MRQII - Armour Penalties

[Ssendam]

Hi All

Just as an introduction I would like to say that MRQII is exciting and I like a lot of what I read. However, one thing in "Signs & Portents" was:

"Armour penalties have been revised completely, so that they no longer affect your skills but hinder Strike Rank and Movement instead, making characters slightly slower to respond in combat, depending on the armour worn."

I quite liked the original mechanic. In combat the change seems fine, but what about another activity like climbing a wall, is there a rule to cover any penalties for wearing armour?

Just a question, I can always use a trusty house rule.

Can I just tag a clarification question here ... the new MRQII "core" book, it will be like the deluxe ed. of MRQ won't it? everything in one book?

 

[Mongoose Pete]

I quite liked the original mechanic. In combat the change seems fine, but what about another activity like climbing a wall, is there a rule to cover any penalties for wearing armour?

The rules have been simplified, so that instead of reducing your skill% for attempting something like jumping, swimming or climbing, the distance or speed you can achieve in armour is reduced instead.

 

[Ssendam]

I get what the rule change is, and I agree in principle that armour, which is designed to be fought in, shouldn't decrease your to hit chance for example.

I was just mooting that outside of combat, if 2 characters were going to attempt to leap a chasm to escape, the one with full plate should have a penalty applied to his Jump roll. In that situation if you use a penalty to distance then you know before you start what the outcome will be.

It's not a biggy to house rule but I like the thought that the maneuver has some risk ...

Unless I've misunderstood. I could use Enc. as a penalty.

 

[andakitty]

In Stormbringer 1 you just modified the roll for someone in heavy plate armor, with no codified rule for it. Since they seem to be going for a simpler ruleset this time maybe that is the intent. Just watch for circumstances where the heavy armor would have an effect on the action being attempted.

 

[Deleriad]

I get what the rule change is, and I agree in principle that armour, which is designed to be fought in, shouldn't decrease your to hit chance for example.

I was just mooting that outside of combat, if 2 characters were going to attempt to leap a chasm to escape, the one with full plate should have a penalty applied to his Jump roll. In that situation if you use a penalty to distance then you know before you start what the outcome will be.

I would have thought the latter was the most sensible. Generally speaking you only need to make a jump roll if you are jumping in stressful circumstances or you are trying to jump beyond your normal limits.

Wearing plate armour (or carrying a huge boulder) implies to me that your normal limits have been reduced. E.g. If you can normally jump 2m without needing to make a roll then wearing plate would imply, for example, that you could jump about 1m without making a roll.

 

[Mongoose Pete]

Yes, armour introduces limits to what your skill can achieve - not your expertese in performing that skill. It is simple to model, and actually allows higher skilled characters to more consistently succeed in performing physical challenges, without penalising them with huge penalties.

Thus its easier to use, and more fun for the players.

 

[Ssendam]

I was just mooting that outside of combat, if 2 characters were going to attempt to leap a chasm to escape, the one with full plate should have a penalty applied to his Jump roll. In that situation if you use a penalty to distance then you know before you start what the outcome will be.

I would have thought the latter was the most sensible. Generally speaking you only need to make a jump roll if you are jumping in stressful circumstances or you are trying to jump beyond your normal limits.

Well my example was a stressful circumstance so a roll would be expected. I just feel it would be natural to have a -ve modifier applied. But if it doesn't suit my needs I can just apply a difficulty modifier at the time.

Like I said, I like the changes as outlined, I was just wondering if there was another consideration knocking about here.

Stay frosty