Re: Simple contests

From: Paul Andrew King <paul_at_...>
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:42:23 +0000

>As I see it no sane hero would want his contests to be resolved as simple
>contests because of the very remote chance of getting a result better then
>minor victory.
>
>Harrek (10w4 Close Combat) would probably only get a minor victory against
>Joe Nosepicker (Close Combat 20): success vs critical.

In this particular case I see no problem since any narrator worth his salt wouldn't bother with a contest.

However it does raise a point. Since bumps above Critical Success have no effect a 1w skill would be *worse* than 20 in this case. A 1w would cancel one of Harrek's masteries for no effect but would have a 95% chance of rolling a fail or worse - while a 20 would have a 95% chance of rolling a success or better.
So it would seem that there is some case for using uncancelled masteries in excess of those needed to raise the roll to CS for something.

--
"The T'ang emperors were strong believers in the pills of immortality.
More emperors died of poisoning from ingesting minerals in the T'ang than
in any other dynasty" - Eva Wong _The Shambhala Guide to Taoism_

Paul K.