Re: differentiation; feats example

From: David Dunham <dunham_at_...>
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 10:37:12 -0700


Richard

>Fair enough. Still, if we're happy to differentiate between different sorts
>of physical weapon / armour then I don't see any reason we should have
>differentiation between differet magical weapons / defenses.

What do you mean "we?" In general, I think there's no need to differentiate between different weapons and armor, and am sorry that the language in the rules doesn't unambiguously say this is an optional complication.

As for differentiating magic, any ability (or feat/spell) generally has the same game effect (it allows you to win a contest by driving the opponent to 0 AP or less, after which you determine the consequences). But the relevance matters a lot, and the consequences will be different depending on which ability you used.

I'm still working on an essay about feats (intending to explain why feat descriptions aren't a good idea because of the amazing flexibility of Hero Wars). It might be useful to present an example of a magical contest (or rather a contest resolved largely with feats)...

Let's imagine clan chief Vastyr (an initiate of Orlanth Rex, with the affinities of Command, Government, and Loyalty all at 17) has discovered several of his clan members agreeing to sell horses to Arinzelm, an Etyries merchant (devotee with Discovery 17, Trade 16, and Travel 17) from the Lunar Empire. He decides to begin with his Cajole ability of 17, augmented with his Rally Clan feat. Since there are only a few clan members present, Kathy decides that he will have a -4 penalty on his feat, though since he's initiating the contest he'll have time to use it before the first exchange. Because is an initiate he'll be improvising the feat, for a total penalty of -7. He decides to go for a +1 bonus against a resistance of 5 and succeeds. His player then stakes 5 AP: "Are you not Varmandi? We have never dealt with tricky foreign traders." Arinzelm's player decides that the Encourage Trust feat is perfect to respond to the accusation of being tricky. Unfortunately, he loses the exchange, and is down to 12 AP. Feeling he's already lost some trust, he decides to counter with Convince Seller, which is rated at 16. Note that Arinzelm's AP remain the same. He stakes 5: "This deal between you and me. It's not your chief who has to feed those animals over the winter." Vastyr needs to defend against magic, so he picks Intimidate Follower, trying to stare down the horse sellers. This feat wouldn't be of much use if Vastyr were defending directly against the merchant, but since both he and Arinzelm are trying to convince the horse sellers, Kathy thinks there should be no penalty. This time Arinzelm wins, and Vastyr is reduced to 13 AP. Vastyr wants to win conclusively, so instead of continuing to Cajole his clan members he decides to use a Silencing Bellow for 12 AP: "Shut up, Lunar!" Unfortunately, none of Arinzelm's Discovery or Trade magic is terribly effective against such a direct assault. He decides that he might as well use his Calm Pack Animals feat. Kathy doesn't think a clan chief is a pack animal, and assigns a -12 modifier. But she's amused at the thought, and lets him defend at the default resistance of 14 (his resistance would be at least that level no matter what ability he ends up picking). Arinzelm wins, and Kathy describes the results, "Arinzelm stands up to Vastyr, making soothing clucking sounds as if to his donkey. Vastyr seems to deflate." Now it's Arinzelm's turn. He just wants to conclude the deal, not make Vastyr look foolish, so he bids 1 with his Convince Seller: "I'll throw in an extra 10 silver coins." Vastyr decides to defend with his Intimidate Follower feat: "You do and you'll be sorry." But Arinzelm wins again, and Vastyr is down to 0 AP. This is only a marginal defeat for Vastyr, so Arzinelm buys the horses but doesn't gain any special trade rights, nor is Vastyr's authority undermined in other matters.

David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_...>
Glorantha/HW/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein

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