Re: Broad abilities

From: Julian Lord <julian.lord_at_...>
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 22:53:36 +0200


Jonas :

> The suggestion seems to be: broad abilities at triple cost, with bonuses for
> subskills purchased at normal cost. Right so far?
>
> I see several problems with this.
>
> 1. It's a needless complication - I can't really see the problem it's
> supposed to fix.

Problems (all IMO) :

> 2. As many have already pointed out, it will reduce the breadth of
> characters' abilities.

See : lack of "realism" for skills like Close Combat.

This *is* a question of gaming style, though ...

> 3. From a minimaxing standpoint, getting more than two subskills is
> pointless - it's more economical to just buy up the basic skill.

Sound like a *good* thing to me ... Who wants character sheets with, say, Close Combat 12w (Axe & Shield +7^3, Iron Greatsword +6^6, Sharp Dagger +2^2, Barehand +3^0, Enchanted Spear +5^5, etc... etc... ad nauseam...)

> However, this presumes that the abilities to be classified as broad are
> somehow dangerous to the game because they're too useful, while the ones
> that remain narrow abilities are more for color than utility... I don't
> agree with this at all. I think most abilities have the potential to be
> useful in most situations if you use your imagination.

I don't agree with your appraisal ; I can't see that the new system would be any more limiting than the old one. I personally prefer the new.

Similar even to my RQ house rules, which makes it *that* much easier for me to use HW instead.

> Besides, even under the proposed system, the wannabee-combat monster will
> simply buy up Close Combat for 3 hero points and his favorite fighting
> technique for one more point, and thus achieve an effective +2 increase per
> session anyway, for just 1 HP more than before... Only the players who
> _don't_ want combat monsters

This isn't *just* about combat ; presumably a devotee could also improve a single Feat within an Affinity by +1 for 1 HP, etc...

In effect, HW already has Broad & Narrow abilities in the Character Development Costs Chart, and if HW2 made that Chart less clunky than it is, it would be a *good* thing IMO.

Julian Lord

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