Re: skills questions

From: David Dunham <david_at_...>
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 17:39:38 -0700


Janus asks

> There seems to be two mundane meta-skills: Close Combat and Ranged
> Combat, that encompass all weapons. Are there other meta-skills?
> any non-combat and non-magical ones?

Most of them... Perhaps not to the same degree, but you can use most abilities in a broad sense, subject to improvisational penalties. As Wulf points out, talented musicians seem to be able to play any instrument.

Heroes of adventure fiction (even material that seems very interested in historic detail, like Icelandic sagas) never seem to have trouble picking up different weapons.

> Does Close Combat (CC) include dodging?

I think it does.

> I noticed a Dodge missile skill in one of the sample characters,
> why isn't it a speciality of CC?

It could be (though it may be intended to imply an inability to fight, like a Chalana Arroy Healer). After all, Spear and Shield Fighting is a specialty of Close Combat.

> If you want to fight while mounted, what do you need in addition to
> Ride? At what skill level do you fight?

You'd need Close Combat (or if you prefer, Lance Fighting). I'd limit your Close Combat to no higher than your Ride.

> How are skills like Fight in Formation used? as augmentations?

That's one way. It might also be used directly in large military engagements.

> Why is sorcery so much more expensive than theist magic? (and the
> scope of spells seem much more limited than feats.)

It's what Greg wanted (or at least close to it). Maybe this explains why learning divine magic was such a lure to the sorcerous God Learners.

Steve Dempsey

> One of my players has
> 'Miraculous recovory from injury' on his sheet.

> Does this provide APs for healing using the lending APs (to oneself!)
> rules, does he reduce healing time by making a simple role. If he
> fails, does this mean that he gets worse, in which case it would seem
> to be a 'Get Better Now or Die' skill.

Not having discussed this with the player, I'd probably make this a simple roll (likely modified by the severity of the wound) to make wound penalties go away. I might even allow it in a combat (though it would *not* regain AP), though between combats probably makes more sense.

> I don't really mind how it works but some guidelines on what is
> considered reasonable allowing me to maintian some consistency and
> fairness would help.

Clearly this is the sort of thing that comes up only in some games, so it's difficult to provide general rules. I think the overall guideline is that no ability should be ultra-powerful, which can probably be defined by either it being used all the time in boring ways (thus MRFI shouldn't regain AP) or all the other players wishing they'd written it too.

> Most newbies are extremely confused about the difference between an
> Affinity, a
> Feat (about -3 AFAIK)

No! Affinities are large groupings of magical effects (somewhat like Close Combat). Feats are individual magical effects.

David Dunham     A Sharp     david_at_...
Voice/Fax: 206 783 7404     http://a-sharp.com
Efficiency is intelligent laziness.

Powered by hypermail