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 PiperIn 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.