Re: Feats as Simple Contests in the middle of Extended Contests

From: Thom Baguley <t.s.baguley_at_...>
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 17:20:13 +0000


> From: "William Faulkner" <wfaulkner_at_...>
>
>> In each case, there is a narrative effect and an AP change.
>My real problem with this is that then all magic becomes just another method
>to reduce (hopefully) AP. Thus there is no difference between
>sleep, flying, lightning, breathe Flame, etc. in combat. Only the narrative
>changes.

You can use simple contests if you wish (I would for sleep, but not flame, lightning etc.). There is another crucial difference. The ability used to resist might well change. For example, I'd penalize close combat (dodging) a lightning bolt (and I might ignore metal armour ranks).

>OK, so go for 6 adversaries you say, so I did. This time the hero lost a few
>rolls, but in the end, the champion ended up with about 120 points (heck,
>you have 3 foes left, your AP total is 86, why not bid 20 and knock out an
>opponent every round).

<snip> I think you have this wrong. Statistically, the non-mastery characters should bid high - they can only win by lucky dice rolls - so they need to minimize the number of dice rolls to maximize their chances.

>Now if the opponents can use a skill that requires a different resistance
>roll than what the champion wants, say the 20W was a sword skill, one could
>have the bad guys attack with magical blasts versus a defense of 14. Now
>that would be entirely different.

Did you include the multiple attackers rules? The champion defends at normal value, -3, -6, -9, -12, and -15 against the six attacks. (Intelligent attackers might bid medium for the early attacks to all out for the last, and inflict wounds where possible).

Thom

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