The rules are not really that harsh, it's more that Pact 15% is a very low skill. With Pact 100% meaning total zealotry and 0% meaning complete indifference, your player is much closer to the wrong end of that scale to really get his god's full attention. I would encourage the player to spend his Experience Rolls on Pact, dedicate more POW, or complete quests on behalf of his god/cult (see p. 172) if he wants to be more effective as a Divine magic user.Tias said:
New GM Questions Cornucopia
- Thread starter Tias
- Start date
New snag!
When you must try your skill against the original attack of the opponent, how do you determine who wins? I read somewhere that one must get below the roll of the opponent with your own skill check, but in that case you cannot prevail if your skill percentile is less of what the opponent rolled, no matter what. Seems a bit harsh, really.
If it is check against check, who wins? The character who rolls highest but below his/her percentile? Or the character who rolls lowest, period?
The wording in the rules is really confusing, so any help would be appreciated.
When you must try your skill against the original attack of the opponent, how do you determine who wins? I read somewhere that one must get below the roll of the opponent with your own skill check, but in that case you cannot prevail if your skill percentile is less of what the opponent rolled, no matter what. Seems a bit harsh, really.
If it is check against check, who wins? The character who rolls highest but below his/her percentile? Or the character who rolls lowest, period?
The wording in the rules is really confusing, so any help would be appreciated.
I'm thinking that you are looking at Disarm, Trip or Stun.
The wording for Disarm is:
Disarm opponent (Attack and Defence) – The opponent must roll an opposed test of his
Combat Skill vs. the original attack roll (if the attacker won) or the original parry roll (if the
defender won). If the recipient of the disarm fails, he loses his weapon. Two handed or entangling
weapon wielders may add a bonus of +20% to their skill for this check. Disarming works only
on creatures of up to twice the attacker’s STR. If the attacker has a hand free, he can grab the
opponent’s weapon on a successful Disarm.
So Opposed test of Combat skill vs. Original Attack or Parry roll.
for Stun;
Stun Location (Bludgeon Weapons, Attacker Only)– Weapons such as maces, hammers and
so on, can temporarily numb the location struck. The defender must roll an opposed test of
his Resilience vs. the original attack roll. If the defender fails, then a limb is rendered useless, a
torso blow causes the foe to stagger winded (may only defend), or a head shot renders the foe
unconscious. The duration of incapacitation is equal, in Combat Actions, to the damage that
penetrated the armour. If no damage penetrated, then the impact was insufficient to stun.
So Opposed roll of Resilience vs. Original Attack roll.
and for Trip;
Trip opponent (Attack and Defence) – The opponent must roll an Opposed Test of Evade vs.
the original attack roll (if the attacker won) or the original parry roll (if the defender won). If
the opponent fails, he falls prone. Quadruped opponents may substitute their Athletics skill for
Evade and gain a +20% bonus to their skill for this test.
So Opposed test of Evade vs. original Attack or Parry roll.
Opposed tests p44/45
The winner of the test is the
one who gains the higher level of success; if both participants have the same level of success,
then the winner is the one with the higher dice roll within his skill range. (In the extremely
unlikely situation that both Adventurers have exactly the same dice result and the same Level
of Success, then the Adventurer with the highest skill wins. If it is still a draw, toss a coin to
determine the winner!)
So if both have a Success then the player with the higher roll still under his skill is the winner.
E.g. Alaric has 67% is his Sword and Shield skill.
BBEG has 87% in his fighting skill.
If both roll under their respective skills then the one who has the higher value in the winner.
So if BBEG rolls a 53%, a success and Alaric rolls a 69%, a failure. The BBEG chooses Disarm so
Alaric must roll his Sword and shield skill and score more than 53% but less than 67% or be disarmed.
Substitute Resilience or Evade for Stun or Trip.
The wording for Disarm is:
Disarm opponent (Attack and Defence) – The opponent must roll an opposed test of his
Combat Skill vs. the original attack roll (if the attacker won) or the original parry roll (if the
defender won). If the recipient of the disarm fails, he loses his weapon. Two handed or entangling
weapon wielders may add a bonus of +20% to their skill for this check. Disarming works only
on creatures of up to twice the attacker’s STR. If the attacker has a hand free, he can grab the
opponent’s weapon on a successful Disarm.
So Opposed test of Combat skill vs. Original Attack or Parry roll.
for Stun;
Stun Location (Bludgeon Weapons, Attacker Only)– Weapons such as maces, hammers and
so on, can temporarily numb the location struck. The defender must roll an opposed test of
his Resilience vs. the original attack roll. If the defender fails, then a limb is rendered useless, a
torso blow causes the foe to stagger winded (may only defend), or a head shot renders the foe
unconscious. The duration of incapacitation is equal, in Combat Actions, to the damage that
penetrated the armour. If no damage penetrated, then the impact was insufficient to stun.
So Opposed roll of Resilience vs. Original Attack roll.
and for Trip;
Trip opponent (Attack and Defence) – The opponent must roll an Opposed Test of Evade vs.
the original attack roll (if the attacker won) or the original parry roll (if the defender won). If
the opponent fails, he falls prone. Quadruped opponents may substitute their Athletics skill for
Evade and gain a +20% bonus to their skill for this test.
So Opposed test of Evade vs. original Attack or Parry roll.
Opposed tests p44/45
The winner of the test is the
one who gains the higher level of success; if both participants have the same level of success,
then the winner is the one with the higher dice roll within his skill range. (In the extremely
unlikely situation that both Adventurers have exactly the same dice result and the same Level
of Success, then the Adventurer with the highest skill wins. If it is still a draw, toss a coin to
determine the winner!)
So if both have a Success then the player with the higher roll still under his skill is the winner.
E.g. Alaric has 67% is his Sword and Shield skill.
BBEG has 87% in his fighting skill.
If both roll under their respective skills then the one who has the higher value in the winner.
So if BBEG rolls a 53%, a success and Alaric rolls a 69%, a failure. The BBEG chooses Disarm so
Alaric must roll his Sword and shield skill and score more than 53% but less than 67% or be disarmed.
Substitute Resilience or Evade for Stun or Trip.
Aye, charge as well, but thanks for elaborating!
So as I surmised, if you don't have a high percentile skill, your chance at winning these contests goes out the window.
Or, to use the example, if Alaric's Sword and Shield skill had been 52% or lower, he would simply be unable to win an opposed test against the BBEG's roll of 53? (save a critical perhaps)
So as I surmised, if you don't have a high percentile skill, your chance at winning these contests goes out the window.
Or, to use the example, if Alaric's Sword and Shield skill had been 52% or lower, he would simply be unable to win an opposed test against the BBEG's roll of 53? (save a critical perhaps)
So, if I get this right..
BBEG rolls success, Alaric failure, and it opts to stun him..
.. Alaric'd have to roll higher under his skill set, and under the success percentile of the BBEG, to avoid it?
What if it'd charged him? Would he then have to do the same against it's charge roll?
BBEG rolls success, Alaric failure, and it opts to stun him..
.. Alaric'd have to roll higher under his skill set, and under the success percentile of the BBEG, to avoid it?
What if it'd charged him? Would he then have to do the same against it's charge roll?
Tias said:
No, Alaric has to roll under his skill and OVER the BBEG's roll i.e. beat the number on the BBEG dice which will be under the BBEG's skill level (or get a Critical Success).
I guess you are looking at this;
Evading the charge permits the recipient to make an Opposed Test of his Evade skill verses
the charging opponent’s attack skill or Combat Style (as required). If the recipient wins he
throws himself completely clear of the charging opponent (and the mount if they are riding
one). If he loses he is instead caught at an inopportune moment and is treated as being
defenceless. Using Evade prevents the recipient from making a counter attack.
An Opposed roll of Evade vs Combat style.
Alaric must roll lower than his Evade skill but higher than the score of the charger (which has to be lower than his Combat skill) (assuming no criticals on either side). If he succeeds he may not counter attack as he has thrown himself clear. If he loses Alaric is defenceless (or dead).
If Alaric is standing there to receive the charge he gets hit and has to test Resilience against the value of the charging opponents attack roll, i.e. Under his Resilience and above the attacker's original Combat style attack roll.
Allright, thanks a lot! We're starting to get the hang of it now.
So my characters valiantly defeated the a demonic archon hanging out inside their liege lord , saving his life. One thing that did bug me, was how they sprinted everywhere while doing it. It seems that characters with just two CAs want to sprint everywhere, and there's little reason not to, with 3xmove rate and a spare action to use against monsters when you get there. Apart from the fatigue, is there some part of the rule I'm not getting?
Next time, they'll reap an amazing 9 improvement rolls for their awesome. However, the system seems very weird on this count: They will -attempt- to increase skills by rolling. While it is probably more realistic, I think my players will rail at the idea at not getting an equal dividend of their investment in the story (as some may make the improvement roll, and others may fail it, it is random). How do other GMs deal with this dilemma?
So my characters valiantly defeated the a demonic archon hanging out inside their liege lord , saving his life. One thing that did bug me, was how they sprinted everywhere while doing it. It seems that characters with just two CAs want to sprint everywhere, and there's little reason not to, with 3xmove rate and a spare action to use against monsters when you get there. Apart from the fatigue, is there some part of the rule I'm not getting?
Next time, they'll reap an amazing 9 improvement rolls for their awesome. However, the system seems very weird on this count: They will -attempt- to increase skills by rolling. While it is probably more realistic, I think my players will rail at the idea at not getting an equal dividend of their investment in the story (as some may make the improvement roll, and others may fail it, it is random). How do other GMs deal with this dilemma?
Other variants of D100/BRP games award a standard 5% per improvement point (Open Quest IIRC) but usually the number of Improvement rolls is something like two per adventure so you are being exceptionally generous giving everyone 8.
I suggest that you start reading up on skill levels above 100% if you intend continuing down this road. Most creatures will not last long if the heroes have skills that high so power creep will be a big problem. Early versions of Stormbringer/Elric had a power level similar to this but that was mostly fighting powerful demons so the issue was less pronounced and it was designed in to the setting.
TL
R basically stuff them you are being too generous, but forcing them to roll may help you to keep the power level down.
I suggest that you start reading up on skill levels above 100% if you intend continuing down this road. Most creatures will not last long if the heroes have skills that high so power creep will be a big problem. Early versions of Stormbringer/Elric had a power level similar to this but that was mostly fighting powerful demons so the issue was less pronounced and it was designed in to the setting.
TL
R basically stuff them you are being too generous, but forcing them to roll may help you to keep the power level down.
Deleriad
Mongoose
Tias said:
It is actually. What it does is that it reduces the rate of increase as skills improve.
At 30% you have a 70% chance of gaining 2-5 points and a 30% chance of gaining 1 point.
At 70% you have a 30% chance of gaining 2-5 points and a 30% chance of gaining 1 point.
You always gain *something* just that the amount of something tends to reduce.
A simple and not uncommon houserule is to replace the experience roll with a fixed amount say 2%. So the player can roll and gain 1-5% or take a fixed amount 2%. Obviously for low skills you're tempted to roll because you're more likely to gain more than 2%. At high skills you'll probably take the fixed amount.
Tias said:
P93 says that armour penalties cause movement loss i.e. Multiply Move by 5 and deduct the Armour Penalty.
Sprint causes Fatigue and a hero can only Sprint for CON rounds before taking a Fatigue test. So probably wont matter in Combat as it's usually faster than that.
Page 143 says that all CA's but one must be spent on Sprinting. So anyone Sprinting in combat runs at 3x Movement minus Armour Penalty and can make only one attack per round. That means no Parry, Evade or other defensive manoeuvre, just one CA at the end of the Sprint.
Those Flash impersonators will soon find themselves flat on their back and dying if they try to Sprint everywhere as they will be out of CA's long before any opponents. In Legend as in many other D100/BRP variants the number of Combat Actions are the determining factor which is why so many Special Effects are aimed at reducing the enemy's CA's.
Doesn't matter if they have two or three CA's they can only use one if Sprinting. Those enemies with two can parry your players single attack and then hit them for an automatic special effect if they score under their attack skill. Doesn't matter what you choose, your player would be in a bad place, Bleed being especially tough to deal with in combat if the Bleeder fails the Resilience roll.
we haven't been playing lately on account of illness, so the river of stupid questions is more like a trickle lately 
So, I've put the time to good use writing on my homebrew setting, and I've gotten to the sorcery part! When I have schools that use spells that resemble both those from the common magic and sorcery magic spell lists - and I don't use common magic in my game - is there any problem with just making all spells cast by using the specific grimoire skill? Or am I nerfing my magic users unfairly by denying them a wider range of spells that can be cast with a single skill?
So, I've put the time to good use writing on my homebrew setting, and I've gotten to the sorcery part! When I have schools that use spells that resemble both those from the common magic and sorcery magic spell lists - and I don't use common magic in my game - is there any problem with just making all spells cast by using the specific grimoire skill? Or am I nerfing my magic users unfairly by denying them a wider range of spells that can be cast with a single skill?
I don't think I phrased that very well. Trying again:
I've made a ton of magic schools with their own grimoires for my setting, and I think that some of them should be able to include common magic spells. However: Since I just want to add a couple of common magic spells per school, I'm thinking of removing the Common Magic skill from game, 'reskin'/rename the spells so they sound like something from the appropriate grimoire and just use [grimoire] skill to roll for them, so characters don't have to waste IRs improving more skills than necessary. Good/bad idea? Is there something in common magic that plays differerent rules-wise than sorcery spells I should be aware of when converting?
I've made a ton of magic schools with their own grimoires for my setting, and I think that some of them should be able to include common magic spells. However: Since I just want to add a couple of common magic spells per school, I'm thinking of removing the Common Magic skill from game, 'reskin'/rename the spells so they sound like something from the appropriate grimoire and just use [grimoire] skill to roll for them, so characters don't have to waste IRs improving more skills than necessary. Good/bad idea? Is there something in common magic that plays differerent rules-wise than sorcery spells I should be aware of when converting?
I just whipped these two Divine spells up for a priest of the goddess of night and destiny, do they seem level or too weak?
Blind
Instant, Rank Init, Resist (Persistence)
Blinds a target who fails their resistance roll. The blindness persist until the character makes a successful resistance roll, of which they are permitted one at the start of each turn.
Mass Blind.
Instant, Rank Acol, Resist (Persistance)
Can affect one target per Magnitude, blinds those targets who fail their resistance rolls. The blindness persist until the character makes a successful resistance roll, of which they are permitted one at the start of each turn.
I thought about making it a set duration, but anything longer than a combat turn or two would be extremely powerful, as would making it an area spell based on magnitude, in my opinion anyway..
Blind
Instant, Rank Init, Resist (Persistence)
Blinds a target who fails their resistance roll. The blindness persist until the character makes a successful resistance roll, of which they are permitted one at the start of each turn.
Mass Blind.
Instant, Rank Acol, Resist (Persistance)
Can affect one target per Magnitude, blinds those targets who fail their resistance rolls. The blindness persist until the character makes a successful resistance roll, of which they are permitted one at the start of each turn.
I thought about making it a set duration, but anything longer than a combat turn or two would be extremely powerful, as would making it an area spell based on magnitude, in my opinion anyway..
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