Bell Digest vol05p04.txt

Subject:  Is the Red Moon made of Cheese?  Volume 5,  Number 4

RQDIGESTV05N04

First Distribution: November 27,  1990

This issue:
	Offensive spell				(The Jade Piper)
	Fancy Rules				(Martin Crim)
	Keith Ivey's Training Chart		(Martin Crim)

Ed's note:  I've been very busy,  and will be until January,  so Digests
(and especially the discussion stuff) will be showing up *slowly*.  If
you're going to lose net access before then,  e-mail me and I'll send you
the unedited stuff that I have;  otherwise,  I appreciate your patience.
--------------------

Subject: Offensive spell

From: The Jade Piper 

	In the rules that I have seen, there have been very few material
offensive spells.  By this I mean spells which can affect the environment as
well as a living target.  Form/Set [substance] is one of the few that I have
seen.  Thus I created Mindlance, and I wish to show it to you for your
opinions.  This spell has been partially playtested in an encounter with
high initiate/low rune lord players.

	Mindlance
[Ranged,  Instant,  I assume -Ed]

	This spell creates a powerful bolt of energy which flys from the
caster's hand and strikes a target.  For every point of Intensity, the bolt
does 1D3 points of damage.  This strikes one hit location, determined by the
missile/spell location chart.  Armor and spells like Protection count vs. this
damage.  This spell does not create a force like a laser, but an actual
hammer-like blow, thus knockback may apply.

	Also, what spell would work agains a spell that does physical damage
like this, Damage Resistance or Spell Resistance or both?

	The Jade Piper
	schmidea@clutx.clarkson.edu

--------------------

Subject: Fancy Rules

From: CRIMMARTI@urvax.urich.edu

Combined Actions: If the skill is one which can be combined
effectively, the characters must choose a leader.  To the
leader's skill add 1/10 of the assisting characters' skill.

Multiple Skill Use: For every skill used after the second,
subtract 25 percentiles from all skills used that round.  The
character must have enough SR to perform all the actions.  A
second attack always counts as a supernumerary action, even if
the character takes no other actions.
        If the skill is a reaction skill (usually Parry or Dodge)
and the character has already made at least one action, subtract
50 percentiles from the reaction skill.  Extra-realistic option:
long weapons take longer to re-ready; thus, a second or
subsequent attack has the following penalties, per attack, based
on weapon SR (in lieu of straight 25%): SR 3: -10, SR 2: -20, SR
1: -30, SR 0: -40.  Unbalanced weapons: additional -5.

Switching Targets: After statement of intent, to switch the
target of an attack, or to switch a parry or dodge to a different
attacker, results in a 25 percentile penalty to the skill used.

Preparing an Action: If appropriate, takes one round, results in
30 percentile bonus to the skill the next round.

Haste: A character can speed up his actions by accepting a
penalty to the chance of success.  For every SR saved, the
character loses 25 percentiles off the skill used.  Haste can
affect attacks, spell casting, or other skills.  It can be used
with the multiple action option.

Spell-casting chance modifiers: The concentration roll only
begins to simulate the problems of casting spells in distracting
circumstances.  In melee particularly, one can be injured at any
time, and all the bobbing and weaving interferes with the spell.
Note that attackers with, say, an attack SR of 6 do not stand
around, leaning on their swords for 5 SR, then swinging.  Melee
is continuous.  These modifiers are non-cumulative.

        very calm surroundings, no hurry                +25%
        some distractions                                       -10%
        melee close by                                          -20%
        spell caster in melee                           -30%
        spell caster wounded this round or last -40%
        spell caster poisoned or sick                   -40%
        spell caster 0 in a limb or AB          -50%
        spell caster acting heroically          -60%

Shields: A shield gives a bonus to parry depending on its size.
This bonus is automatic, acting as a free parry roll even if the
character does not actively parry.
        Shield                  Bonus
Buckler                                  5%
Viking Round                    10%
Heater/Target                   15%
Kite                            20%
Hoplite Shield          25%


SKILL MODIFIER CHARTS

Lore Skills                Modifier
everyone knows          +50% or more
common knowledge                +25%
not widely known                 0
specialized knwl.               -10%
expert level knwl.              -25%
esoteric or secret      -50% to -2000%

Treat Disease              Modifier
mild                                    +50%
acute                           +25%
serious                          0
terminal                                -25%

First Aid                          Modifier
taking 5 minutes                +25%
stop bleeding only              +10%
different species               -10%

Generic                   Modifier
very easy                               +50%
easy                                    +25%
character needs a break  +10%
difficult                               -25%
very difficult                  -50%
ridiculously difficult  -75%
absurdly difficult              -100%
get real                                -333%

--------------------

From: CRIMMARTI%urvax.urich.edu@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU

Subject:  KEITH IVEY'S RQ TRAINING CHART

        The liberation of RQ 3 from 5% increments in skills has
changed not only advance due to experience but also advancement
from training.  The new system cannot claim to be more realistic
than the old system, but at least it allows teachers to have more
than one student.  If the GM feels that skills vary in the speed
at which they can be taught and in the cost for which they can be
learned, as in RQ 2, he or she can apply a multiplier to the
following table.
        The new system has an interesting quirk: the automatic gain
(2%) is better than the expected gain from rolling for skill gain
(1 1/2%).  This leads to no one (in my campaign, at least) taking
the die roll, which in turn led Keith Ivey, a player in my
campaign, to devise a table outlining the time and cost to get
from anywhere to anywhere else through training.
        The system I present below allows students to gain any
number of percentiles in a skill, not just an even number, which
gives an even greater advantage in flexibility over the old
system of 5% increments.
        The first column represents skill percentage, the second,
time (in weeks), and the third, cost (in pennies).  To find the
time and cost to train, find the time and cost for the starting
percentage and subtract it from the time and cost for the ending
percentage.
        For example, to go from, say, 5% to 50%, subtract the values
for 5% (.08 weeks and .6 p) from the values for 50% (12 weeks and
158.4 p).  This yields 11.92 weeks and 157.8 p.  (I think
teachers will tend to round up to the nearest week, since
anything less is a waste of time for them.  Rounding yields 12
weeks and 160 p.)
        In absolute terms, the second column gives the time to train
up from zero to the stated skill percentage, and the third column
the cost.
       The table does not give costs for skills over 100%, and
does not give times to odd percentiles.  That portion of the
table I did myself, by hand, and I didn't feel the extra work was
called for.  Teachers will be scarce, and will charge whatever
they want.  Remember that only non-checkable knowledge skills can
be trained over 100%.



 TRAINING CHART
 %   time  cost           %   time   cost            %   time
---  ----  ----          ---  ----   ----           ---  ----
 2     *      *          51   12.50  173.3          102  51.00
 3    .02    .15         52   13.00  188.4          104  53.04
 4    .04    .3          53   13.52  203.9          106  55.12
 5    .08    .6          54   14.04  219.6          108  57.24
 6    .12    .9          55   14.58  235.7          110  59.4
 7    .18   1.35         56   15.12  252.0          112  61.6
 8    .24   1.8          57   15.68  268.7          114  63.84
 9    .32   2.4          58   16.24  285.6          116  66.12
10    .40   3.0          59   16.82  302.9          118  68.44
11    .50   3.75         60   17.40  320.4          120  70.8
12    .60   4.5          61   18.00  338.3          122  73.2
13    .72   5.4          62   18.60  356.4          124  75.64
14    .84   6.3          63   19.22  374.9          126  78.12
15    .98   7.35         64   19.84  393.6          128  80.64
16   1.12   8.4          65   20.48  412.7          130  83.2
17   1.28   9.6          66   21.12  432.0          132  85.8
18   1.44  10.8          67   21.78  451.7          134  88.44
19   1.62  12.15         68   22.44  471.6          136  93.84
20   1.80  13.5          69   23.12  491.9          138  93.84
21   2.00  15.0          70   23.80  512.4          140  96.6
22   2.20  16.5          71   24.50  533.3          142  99.4
23   2.42  18.15         72   25.20  554.4          144  102.24
24   2.64  19.8          73   25.92  575.9          146  105.12
25   2.88  21.6          74   26.64  597.6          148  108.04
26   3.12  25.2          75   27.38  619.7          150  111.
27   3.38  29.1          76   28.12  664.4          152  114.
28   3.64  33.0          77   28.88  709.7          154  117.04
29   3.92  37.2          78   29.64  755.6          156  120.12
30   4.20  41.4          79   30.42  802.1          158  123.24
31   4.50  45.9          80   31.20  849.2          160  126.4
32   4.80  50.4          81   32.00  896.9          162  129.6
33   5.12  55.2          82   32.80  945.2          164  132.84
34   5.44  60.0          83   33.62  994.1          166  136.12
35   5.78  65.1          84   34.44  1043.6         168  139.44
36   6.12  70.2          85   35.28  1093.7         170  142.8
37   6.48  75.6          86   36.12  1144.4         172  146.2
38   6.84  81.0          87   36.98  1195.7         174  149.62
39   7.22  86.7          88   37.84  1247.6         176  153.12
40   7.60  92.4          89   38.72  1300.1         178  156.64
41   8.00  98.4          90   39.60  1353.2         180  160.2
42   8.40  104.4         91   40.50  1406.9         182  163.8
43   8.82  110.7         92   41.40  1461.2         184  167.44
44   9.24  117.0         93   42.32  1516.1         186  171.12
45   9.68  123.6         94   43.24  1571.6         188  174.84
46  10.12  130.2         95   44.18  1627.7         190  178.6
47  10.58  137.1         96   45.12  1684.4         192  182.4
48  11.04  144.0         97   46.08  1741.7         194  186.24
49  11.52  151.2         98   47.04  1799.6         196  190.12
50  12.00  158.4         99   48.02  1858.1         198  194.04
                         100  49.00  1917.2         200  198.0
                                                    202  202.0

[Ed's note:  I created a couple of C programs,  one of which creates
this table (or at least up to 75%),  and another of which calculates the
average gain from research based on the character's bonus in that type
of skill.  I'll probably put them in a supplement at some point]


--------------------
The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell.
All opinions and material above are the responsibility of the originator,  and
copyrights are held by them.  Unless specified in the specific article,  all
RQ Digest material is freely redistributable as long as author credit is
included.

RuneQuest is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc.

Send submissions,  mailing list changes, requests for old article lists, etc.
to:

bell@cs.unc.edu         ...!mcnc!unc!bell

Request old articles by volume number and issue number.