I think this is an argument for giving Squirrels high ability ratings for Small, Agile, etc. To me this makes sense. A friend once had a squirrel as a pet, the thing was almost supernaturaly quick and agile. I'd give it apporpriate abilities well over 5w, perhaps up to 15w or more. Ok, that's still only +3, but taking into account the warrrior's negatives (perhaps -3 or -4), that makes for a differential of 6 points or so, which is certainly significant.
> Same with Pentan Cavalry vs Lunar cavalry, a few augments will make
> very little impact if both have high skill... but you want to have
> an impact... so maybe something else is needed, something stronger.
Well, as has been suggested you could use the cultural lore skill as the main ability in the contest instead. Alternatively if the Pentan talks to his tribal shaman before the game, the shaman can give him advice (augment with his Pentan Lore 10w2 ability, for a nice fat +5).
I'm realy not worried too much about the small size of the modifiers though, at the end of the day it's still a riding contest. I reserve big modifiers as appropriateness modifiers. If you're using your Ride Horse ability to check the health of a stallion ("My character spends a lot of time around horses, maybe he knows a thing or two about their helath") then I'd allow it with a -10 modifier. But if you're using your Ride skill to, well, er, Ride actualy, then why not use it relatively streight?
Simon Hibbs
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