eal7115@ritcv.UUCP (Edith A Lawson) (07/27/83)
Let me begin by saying that I was basically impressed with Paul Borman's
treatise on combat, particularly his critical hit and fumble tables which
I plan to use in some form. I do have a few comments and questions, however.
1. What is mechanical ability used for?
2. You state: "A side note about missiles, the Strength Bonus only
applies if the weapon was made for that strength."
This makes sense in the case of bows, but not in the case of hurled missiles.
A normal spear, throwing axe, dagger, etc. thrown by a very strong person
should strike with more force than one thrown by a weaker person, hence
doing more damage. This is not so in the case of a normal bow because it
is the bow which is launching, not the wielder. I don't know if a cross-
bow could be made which could give strength bonus. I'll let someone
else figure that one out.
3. You say that you use a D6 method for initiative. While there is nothing
particularly wrong with this, I have always had trouble with the idea that
a fighter decked out in plate mail, wielding a two-handed sword should have
an equal chance to get initiative as someone in leather armor using a dagger.
To remedy that situation I have been using the following system.
An 'initiative modifier' is calculated for each combatant. This modifier
is added or subtracted to a D6 roll. It is figured in the following manner:
half dexterity - weapon speed factor
Further modified: -1 for use of medium shield
-2 for use of large shield
-2 for use of fairly bulky armor
-4 for use of bulky armor
This is based on the AD&D rules where dexterity ranges from 3-18
(higher is better) and weapon speed factor is from 1-10 (lower is better).
For monsters just arbitrarily pick a dexterity, higher for fast monsters
and slower for the slow ones. Claws, teeth, tentacles, etc. have a weapon
speed of one.
4. Why are there 'strike again' clauses on your pummeling damage table?
This would seem to imply that it is better to fight a human-type with
your fist instead of sword, because damage is pretty good and the chance
for multiple attacks is fairly high.
Especially why: "01-20 Ineffective, Strike Again"?
5. Why do magical armor bonus not apply to grappling/overbear adjustments?
6. How do the following tables work? Could you give some examples?
______________________________ ______________________________
| Normal Critical | | Normal Fumble |
|----------------------------| |----------------------------|
| 0-10% 91% | | 0-05% --- |
| 11-20% 92% | | 06-10% 1% |
| 21-30% 93% | | 11-15% 2% |
| 31-40% 94% | | 16-17% 3% |
| 41-50% 95% | | 18-19% 4% |
| 51-60% 96% | | 20-24% 5% |
| 61-70% 97% | | 25-34% 6% |
| 71-80% 98% | | 35-40% 7% |
| 81-90% 99% | | 41-70% 8% |
| 91-99% 100% | | 71-100% 9% |
| 100% --- | |____________________________|
|____________________________|
7. On your critical hit tables you give a break to those wearing helmets
but mention nothing about armor. Why should a head injury be negated by a
helm and a chest injury not lessened by plate armor? Also I would like
to see some provision for cloven helmets and damaged armor, in addition
to broken shield possibilities.
Mike Capron
NOTE ADDRESS ----> rochester!ritcv!ritvp!mpc8275goutal@decvax.UUCP (Kenneth G. "Kenn" Goutal) (08/02/83)
About initiative between the plate-armored fella with the 2H sword versus the leatherjacket with the dagger -- seems like the Encumbrance concept could handle this quite well, too. As I am at the office at the moment, I can't check my manuals, so I don't remember if AD&D even *has* encumbrance, nor if Runequest uses encumbrance in determining initiative. Just a thot. -- Kenn (decvax!goutal)