> > Isn't it the case that those clan chiefs w3 abilities
> aren't actually
> > true keywords, but are shorthand ratings for their
> favourite abilities out of their keyword...
Benedict:
> Precisely that feeble excuse for the broken Saga System has
> been produced in the past. The excuse could make sense only
> if having a W3 keyword was comparable to merely having your
> best abilities about W3.
> You might think that was reasonable if you have never played
> in a long running campaign, but as players spend HPs the
> ratings for best abilities and keywords draw ever further
> apart.
And I'm getting confused by trying to compare at least three different standards, I think.
The sample resistances on p274 are, now I check exact wording, "best combat ability". Heortling clan champion, 10W to 10W2, for instance. Famous hero, 10W3+. And on p16 of B.A., "best in the tribe" abilities seem to be around the 10W3 mark. We'd have to guess what the keyword levels are from that - taking "keyword" to mean "average level of the skills in that keyword.
Looking at the various NPCs listed in Gathering Thunder, many seem to have a Warrior keyword around the midW2 level, and then favoured weapons either 5 to 10 points higher than the keyword, or much lower (where it's some weird weapon that wouldn't normally be in the keyword at all).
I'm still trying to work out if the "sample resistances" are meant to be after augments and equipment have been added on, or before. We don't seem to have a "detailed" Clan Champion example, nor much idea whether the NPCs presented are supposed to be above that level or below.
But if we look at the *very* detailed NPCs, the big ones with a full page, we get a hint. These guys should be at least at "best in tribe" level. And there isn't a single 10W3+ ability in sight. Even Kallyr at the end of Gathering Thunder has a top ability of 7W3. So, I think the sample resistances are all after augments have been added in. Which would make sense, when they're designed for quick-reference generation of opposition.
So to get "down" from those sample resistances to the underlying keyword, we need to first subtract augments and equipment. About 6-10 for equipment? (3 for weapon, 3 for armour, extras for above-average kit). And say another 10 for augments? Magic, relationship to clan, a few things like "fast, "strong", "brave". So we've knocked them down a mastery?
Then we subtract about another 5-10 points for their best ability baing better than the keyword?
So "best in tribe" has their best ability base at 10W2, and keyword related to that ability in the low W2s.
Does that sound about right?
Clan champion, with resistances from 10W to 10W2, has real top skill at 10 to 10W (can't be right, surely?) and a keyword up to 1W.
That *doesn't* sound about right. That's the same level as the PCs, or lower at the bottom end of the scale.
I knew I was no good at numbers. Help?
Powered by hypermail