Re: But how does it WORK?

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 12:10:16 -0800

> > Generally you'll do some sort of pre-combat rituals to get whatever
> augments
> > you want. During a contest you'll "lose a turn" if you want to get an
> > augment (ie, istead of attacking your opponent, you'll do an unrelated
> > action). So you usually get your augment before combat, but you *can*
> get
> > one during combat.
> I was thinking more about stuff like 'Strong', 'Tough' and such, which
> are innate to the character, but variable. You shouldn't have to
> perform a ritual to be Strong, but the strength put into any one blow
> might vary.

Strength et. al. would work on the same mechanics - do it before combat or do it during with a unrelated action. The strength put into *this combat* stays the same.

> > > i} Mystic Strikes. OK, so I haven't seen the rules for magic, but
> the
> > > rules sysnopsis does include the basic description for strikes

> Aw, no more Disrupts? Small-scale magical hurts?

Not by the means of a Strike. It's an entirely different mechanism. "casting a disruption spell" is now simply an AP bid with a descriptive tag "I cast a 'break things' feat on him - 7 AP". Even back in RQ days, a single Disruption was not likely to be a combat winner...

> > >
> > > I] I ran some test combats. First a Big, Tough, Strong, Minotaur
> > > against a good, but normal, human warrior. Over in 3 exchanges.
> Next a
> > > started character hero against the poor warrior. Took quite some
> time,
> > > but the hero won.
> >
> > It all depends on how you bid. Someone (David D?) used the algorithim
> of
> > 1/2AP-1 for bidding, but the players can bid anywhere from 1 to their
> total
> > starting AP, which can stretch the combat out or reduce it to a single
> > exchange. As far as driving someone below 0 AP, you can do a Parting
> Shot to
> > reduce him *after* he goes below 0.
> Yes, but actually I DID use approximately half the AP for each blow, my
> point is, it didn't sound like a very bloody combat. Surely a
> two-stroke knockout should represent more than a couple of mildly
> inconvenient Wounds, even before he rips the arms off the unconscious
> body and eats them? It looks like the faster you lose, the less damaged
> you are. If Gonn Orta stepped on you, you'd only take one Wound...
> Pretty easy to Heal, once they dig you out.

When the Minotaur won, what was the final AP of the loser? frex:

Minotaur (30 AP)
Human (16 AP)

1st round: Minotaur bids 14 AP (1/2-1), wins. Human is down to 2 AP.
2nd round: Human bids 1 AP, wins. Minotaur is down to 29 AP.
3rd round: Minotaur bids 14 AP, wins, human is down to -12 AP (hurt).

The minotaur could have gone for glory and bid 28, which would reduce the human to -26 (wounded).

This is without multipliers for Success Level.

The human could have tried to bid more than his current AP (up to his Starting AP) hoping for a good roll, while the minotaur could have bid 1's making sure that he didn't get taken out by an inferior opponent by a lucky roll, etc.

RR