Re: comparing ratings

From: Graham Robinson <graham_at_...>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 08:27:18 +0100

><If you give it a number...... can be compared to it.
><and so can other movement abilities: "Fly", "Swim", "Swing <through the
>treetopson jungle vines" when used in a contest of <"who can get there first"
>or similar.
>
>I think this is incorrect:
>a bird flys quicker than a (human)swimmer and maybe as fast or quicker, than
>"swinging through treetops on jungle vine".You can only compare things that
>have similar "sizes".Similar speed with similar speed.So, you can compare
>these abilities,but not unmodified ! The quickest would get a bonus, judged
>by the GM on his ability!I think, this is quite obvious !

I'm afraid I'm with Roderick here. The quickest does have a bonus - they have the highest rating! Imagine you have two temples in a jungle. Three characters start at one temple, and know the first one to the other temple will get the holy maguffin. They could be a bird, an ape, and a fish, or they could be three humans with suitable magic. Story is the same either way.

Now one decides to fly above the trees, one swing through the branches, the last to swim in the river that flows next to both temples. You can simply roll directly against their movement abilities to decide who gets there first. The *number* decides who is the *quickest*.

Of course, you can apply penalties to one or more of them - that's up to you. But I'd only do so if the river was very twisted, with lots of bends; or the trees had lots of clearings that couldn't be swung across, or were so dense you couldn't swing between then; or the trees were so tall that flying over them took a notable longer route (stretching a bit there). I'd *never* do so just because I liked one skill over another - the numbers should *already* take any advantage into account. I think this is quite obvious.

Cheers,
Graham

-- 
Graham Robinson
graham_at_...

Albion Software Engineering Ltd.

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