Re: Re: 14 is a magic number

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 10:13:02 -0800

> > anyway, while I like the general idea, I feel some problems
> arising.
> > for instance: how does this work with feats like Humakt's "kill
> > undead" or "shield destroyer"?
> > [deja vu or not, I think we all got into this long ago, still not
> > solved]
>
> Shattering a shield - assuming it is not magical or the like - means
> beating a resistance 14. No big deal - this is cinematic style -
> things break all the time around heroes!

How I would adjudicate it (today, while I'm thinking about it, not meant as gospel from on-high) is that Harry Humakti says "I'm going to attack his shield with my 'Shield Breaker' feat, 7 AP bid". Assuming he wins the toss, the first 7 AP points lost by his opponent goes into removing the shield, just like "Trading AP for Wounds". Any additional AP lost (because of a better victory) go against the opponent's AP just like normal.

The same would go for a "Weapon Breaker" or "Disarm" feat - though only 7 AP would be needed to disarm the opponent, not (7xWeapon Rating).

Now, someone who wants to break a weapon or shield *without* having feats/abilities to do so would be faced by the opponent's full Close Combat ability, rather than the 14 default.

> Resisting magic for beings defaults to 14 unless you have some more
> powerful and appropriate magic or ability of your own. So that
> Vampire would resist the Humakti magic not with a mere 14 but its
> Vicious Vivamorti Vigour 1w2 or whatever.

Right.
A typical skeleton (Anaxial 241) would defend against the Humakti's "Kill Undead" feat with 14 rather than it's Close Combat 2w.

A special skeleton with "Resist Magic", "Supernatural Vigor" or "Tough Bones" would use that ability rating rather than Close Combat or 14. A Vampire should almost always be a special creature crafted for the adveture, rather than simply pulled out of the book (and, you will notice, they don't appear in Anaxial).

RR