RE: Re: Even funnier stuff with masteries... sort of

From: Phil Hibbs <phil_at_...>
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 22:12:52 -0000

>I was thinking about this a while ago and the problem as I see
>it is all of the wasted masteries Harrek has. Even if he rolls
>a 20 against Al, Harrek only needs 3 of his 6 masteries to change
>that to a crit. The others do him no good! Why not make it that
>those left-over masteries can LOWER the opponent's success by 1.

That's one of the reasons why I proposed (or argued for, it may not have been my idea, but I'll take the blame for it) the rather complex "adjust nearest to 10" rule. Basically, if both TN's are over 10, or both TNs are under 10, then you adjust them equally so that one of them is 10. 14 vs 18 = 10 vs 14; 2W vs 7W2 = 5W vs 10W2. It isn't failsafe, as sometimes the guy with 20 stays at 20 vs the guy with 5W3, but it also would reduce the incidence of "drunken master" syndrome, where two masters with 1W each keep failing, whereas two mere competents with 20 each keep succeeding. I have used this rule, but I wouldn't inflict it on an unsuspecting narrator, because it's just more numbers that need to be juggled. If you do find that contests are being bogged down by the peculiarities of the numbers, though, I would recommend that you consider adjusting the TN to remove the mathematical quirks in the system.

Phil.
Opinions expressed may not even be my own, let alone those of any organisations, nations, species, or schools of thought to which I may be affiliated.