Re: Re: contest questions

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 12:18:47 -0700

> That said, if a player has his character sneak up on another trying to
kill
> him, the defender probably can't use his combat abilities to prevent his
> death - he has to avoid being snuck up on. Well, here's the thing, if the
> guy being snuck up on has something like Sense Ambush, then he should be
> able to use it to pre-emptively see the attack coming, no? Sure, we could
> use just toughness or something to represent the knife hitting home, and
> only natural resistance being applicable. But some abilities seem to be
> "always on" (to use the Hero System phraseology), meaning that you have to
> get through them first before you actually get to the Hero.

A true (undetected) sneak attack should probably get a large mod for surprise, and possibly not be resisted with more than "Default 6" *unless* the victim has some sort of "Tough" (that is, some sort of "resist the knife going in" ability). I probably would only allow "Tough" to be an augment to the Default, instead of being used as the resisting ability itself. A true sneak attack *is* deadly (Ditto for long-range sniper fire, slitting throats while sleeping, etc. These are all "Unresistable" attacks, so shouldn't be resisted! (or at least, not very well - everything is resisted except "Self Respecting Hero" stuff...))

Now, if the victim has a "Detect Assassin sneaking up behind me" ability, he could use it as the resisting ability, giving a much better resistance to that initial attack. It's not a pre-emptive ability, instead it replaces "Default 6" with some better number ("Detect Assassin 13") and probably reduces the "surprise" modifier that the assassin would normally get, as well.

Something like this:

Joe: "I sneak up on Bill while he's reading the ancient grimoire and stab him in the back. I've got 'Sneak 17', augmenting with 'Knife 17' and the knife itself is +1, - that's a total of 20"

Narrator: "Okay, and a +20 for surprise, and I'll even add in a +5 because he's so totally engrossed in the book. Bill, you'll resist with the default 6, because you don't know he's there."

Bill: "Hey, wait a minute, I have this "Amulet of All Seeing 13". Can't I use that to detect him? I'll whirl around and shoot him with my mini crossbow before he even gets to me"

Narrator: "No, you can't pre-empt him, but I'll tell you what: You can use the Amulet as your resisting ability and augment with your mini-crossbow (another +5), and Joe won't get those extra bonuses to his attack. It's a contest of 'Sneak 20' vrs your 'All-seeing amulet 18', instead of Sneak 5w2 vrs 6"

RR
It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done.
- Richelieu