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Charles says:
>> This is partly because the target number of 20 cannot fumble -
>> which means it cannot ever suffer a Complete Defeat in a simple
>> contest - and partly because the 1w cannot critical (after the
>> mastery has been cancelled).
>
>Point of disagreement here...
>A rolled 1 for a skill of 1W _is_ a critical. There is no mastery
>cancellation for a contest between skills of 1w and 20, so the
>"down- graded" success is bumped back to a citical.
You're quoting out of context here. If you pit both scores against a resistance of 5w2 (which was my example), then the mastery of 1w _does_ cancel (leaving it as 1 vs 5w and 20 vs 5w2) - and in that case the score of 20 is better than the score of 1 (as before, because the 20 can't fumble and the 1 can't critical).
>I agree on the point that the 20 skill "cannot fumble" does give a
>slight advantage to the lower skill.
It's worth pointing out that a 1w skill vs a 20 skill can't fumble either. A roll of 20 with 1w means a failure, since the fumble gets bumped.
Of course, in context - pitted against a 5w2 resistance - the 1w skill can fumble since it no longer gets the bump: but the 20 skill still cannot fumble.
>As an aside, I notice in the real world that my skills often plateau
>while I integrate new insights. While there is true development
>going on in my head, there is no externally measurable progress or
>even slight regressions. So these bumps on the curve do not worry
>me...
Perhaps, but I'll take a stab in the dark here and suggest that these "bumps" are _not_ an intentional "feature" of the system. :-)
I'm not really complaining; all mechanics have their limitations, and
HeroWars works so well so often that this sort of thing is more a nit
than a gaping hole. It's certainly far better than the old RuneQuest
case of 150% attack and parry dudes hacking away at each other for
hours.
- --
GAZZA
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