|
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Paizo Pathfinder® GameMastery® Planet Stories® Paizo Games | |||||||||||||||||||
| About Paizo Messageboards News Paizo Blog Help/FAQ | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I think the EWP trick is an entirely reasonable application of Martial Versatility; in fact, I think it's a perfect example of what a fighter should be able to do with the feat. 
Please stop trying to start something you know you can't win. The only way to 'win' this is to walk away. 
So you like gaming, but don't have much time. You've heard of Play By Post (PBP) gaming, but you find the whole idea a little daunting. Wouldn't it be nice if there was someone who could teach you the ropes like your friends did back when you were fist learning tabletop gaming? Well you're in luck. This guide aims to do just that. This guide is written from the perspective of a PBP on this board. If you just want tips on how to become a better PBP gamer, you'll probably want to skip this section. Also, this guide will attempt to teach players the formats for PBP games that provide the highest level of organization and aesthetic appeal. There are as many different format styles as there are games, and many of them do not use the formats I will advocate here. That doesn't mean they are "doing it wrong". This is just my suggestions to getting the most out of your Play By Post game.
Formatting:
In the reply box you type in to post to the forum, you may have noticed a grey box next to the words "How To Format Your Text". That box is called a Spoiler. Click it, and it will reveal additional text. Those are the instructions for how to alter your text. In a PBP game, those various formats become storytelling tools. The most important formatting trick is . This is your Out Of Game stuff, that's why it's coded as [ ooc ]. With Blue Text you can organize your post into a novel-like description (in standard black text) and a Out Of Game mechanical summary (in blue). This is important so that is doesn't seem like your character is actually saying Take 36 damage! to the bad guys. "Bold with quotes?" Said Minmaximus. Bold text draws attention to itself. Making character speech stand out with bold helps to differentiate what you are doing from what you are saying. In a novel, parenthesis do the trick, but in a PBP game there's so much information to convey that a simple change like bold speech can make a post much easier to read. Breaking things up. The enter key is your friend. Walls of text are not. Think of them like paragraph breaks. Use liberally. Your fellow players will thank you. And finally, dice. Because dice are *never* in game things, they are normally mixed liberally with . Something like-
With those tools you can start playing. Some advanced formatting tricks and tips will come later. Writing Style:
Avoid first person narrative. When the “person telling the story” changes every six sentences a story can get really annoying to read. The most aesthetically appealing narrative structure seems to be Third Person Limited. When everyone writes in that style, the story flows like a novel and gives everyone reading a firm grasp of all the characters thoughts and motives. You might think “aesthetics aren’t important”, but they are. Think of it like a novel. You’re devoting a lot of time and energy into this story. It deserves to have the best you can give it. Compare the following-
@ Minmaximus: “Can I see your sword?” “Can I see your sword?” Psioney asks Minmaximus if he can borrow his sword. Psioney walks over to where Minmaximus eating and asks “Can I borrow your sword?”
A PBP game is all about description. Be creative. Refine your writing skills. Use spell check.
Your Character:
Play By Posts are slower than Tabletop games. Because of that, characters get more spotlight time. Through the ability to show internal monologue, describe expressions or mannerisms in detail, and generally convey more about a character than you can normally, a PBP is an opportunity to really delve deep into roleplay. That means you should be ready to do that. More importantly, you should be ready to do that from the very beginning. Use internal monologue to show your fellow players what your character is about. Don’t worry about revealing things prematurely or before they ask. Think of it like a novel. It’s ok for the reader to know things that the characters don’t. Note: Mysterious Strangers are annoying. That thing I said early about not worrying about revealing things before people ask? Yeah. Take that to heart. No one cares what your dark secret is. No one will ask (at least not any time soon). That’s not why they’re playing. If you’re secretly the long lost Prince Poppycock, that’s fine. Just don’t expect it to ever matter unless the GM decides to make it part of the plot. Most things about your character will only come up if you bring them up. If your character starts the game believing they’re a sandwich, and you expect other players to roleplay them out of their delusion, your character will probably be a sandwich for a long time. Your Character Sheet:
Your character sheet is your ambassador to the game. The GM will look at it when deciding to pick you, other characters will look at it throughout the game. Think of it like a resume. It’s nice if it looks good. It’s better if it’s clearly and concisely organized. Use spoilers to break up sections. Use bold to highlight important numbers. Site your source for everything. Use links to the SRD to cross-reference spells and abilities. Look around at what other players do with their character sheets. Steal things you like. Getting Picked:
PBP recruiting on the Paizo boards is a bit of a clusterf$@~ free-for-all that leaves many people with a bitter taste in their mouth. Even after the party is picked, most do not look back on the process fondly. For those that don’t get picked, it’s easy to get frusterated. Many forum-goers have a handful of different versions of the same character concept in their Alias list, because they didn’t get picked, or because they did and the game died, and they have this one character that they just want to play. Don’t do that. GMs will look at your aliases when choosing. If they see 10 different versions of Lord Sothbane the Stoic-est, they will assume you are unoriginal and pick someone else. They will also look at your posting numbers. If you have been in a dozen games, but have never gotten beyond 50 posts in any of them, they will pick someone else. It doesn’t matter if it’s not your fault that the game died. All they see is the pattern. Instead, make a mechanical framework and basic personality idea of a character that you really want to play (or a couple if you’re so inclined), and submit them to every recruitment thread you are interested in. Tailor the character to the game as best as possible, and if you aren’t picked, take them back to basics and do it again. Don’t make a new Alias for what is essentially a slightly different version of the same concept. If a game dies and you still want to play that character, submit that same character to a new game. The previous game gets worked into the character’s back story and you get to keep playing them. Character Builds:
Not all PBP games use maps. Because of that, builds which rely heavily on tactical movement or precision placement of AoE effects can be very frustrating to play. On the other hand, multi-attack builds won’t bore your fellow players to death as you go into your third minute of dice rolling to figure out your attacks and damage. Basically, characters that require a lot of bookkeeping are a perfect fit for PBP games, and characters that practically require minis and a battlemat are going to be a pain in the neck. Special Note- “Zookeeper” builds (Necromancers, Summoners, etc.) are even more perfect for PBP games because of the ability to make Aliases. Go ahead and post 8 times in a row as Necrofester’s Zombie Minion to make the attacks of your skeletal horde. You aren’t wasting anyone’s time and it lets you really describe the shambling horde at your beck and call. Character Interactions:
To give is to get. Don’t expect anyone to give a damn about your character until you give a damn about theirs. Strike up conversation. Ask other characters about themselves. Discuss the party goals in character. PBP games tend to have quite a bit of “down time”. That can mean that everyone sits around waiting for the GM to update, or it can mean time to chat with other party members. Sometimes the best parts of a PBP game are the dialogues people get into. In a Tabletop game it might be normal to bypass a lot of mundane things to get to the plot, but in a PBP game, you can take the two weeks that the GM is on vacation and turn it into “party talk around the fire”. It can be really fun, but it takes being a proactive gamer rather than a reactive gamer.
The Posting Commandments:
Thou Shall Avoid Walls Of Text Thou Shall Not Hog The Spotlight Thou Shall Not Assume The Actions Of Others Thou Shall Not Assume Outcomes Of Actions Thou Shall Not Derail Gameplay Thou Shall Use The Discussion Thread That’s it. Basically, the trick to a good post is to be descriptive without being verbose, and to leave the outcome of any stated actions open-ended. Wait for the GM to give you the results. Then you can post again describing the results if you want. It’s not good to say- Minmaximus fires his bow, driving his arrow deep into the beast’s face. -because, Minmaximus might actually miss, or the beast might have DR you didn’t know about, or deflect arrows, or any number of other things that might change the results of the action. Instead, break it into two posts. One for intention (which also includes any necessary roles), and one for describing the results (the GM might do this for you, but you can still describe your character’s response to those results if you like) Doing this tends to keep your posts shorter, which is nice, and gives you the chance to post more often, which is also nice. When in doubt, take it to Discussion. 
I try not to think about that night. We were hired to defend this small village on the border from this warlord that had been tearing across human and orc territory alike. We were expecting trouble, eventually, but we had handled petty orc warlords before. The villagers were as ready as they could be as well. They had lived their entire lives near the border, they knew the risks. And they did everything we suggested to bolster their defenses. But then they actually came. Everything went to hell. These hulking brutes just stomped forth out of the night, shouting vile insults and horrific threats. They made no attempt to hide themselves. They practically announced their presense. We might have actually been able to halt their advance, but the villagers...gods. They started to run towards the buildings we had prepared as shelter. But as they ran, as they heard the calls of those orcs....I swear most of them were half-orcs...they stopped in their tracks. Men. Women. Children. The old. They all just turned around and charged towards their own deaths. Most of them didn't have any weapons. Those that did were hardly of any real quality. But still they turned and charged right into the midst of the enemy to be cut down. There was an old woman...I never even learned her name....she always seemed to be bringing us food and thanking us for our work. So sweet natured and I never learned her name. I remember calling out to her to run towards safety. She just turned and ran into some orc's axe. Faris, our mage....he couldn't do anything. Everything he had planned fell apart in an instant when the villagers ran into the orcs' midst. Almost everything he could have done would have killed the people were were there to protect. So he ran. He didn't get very far. An orc stepped out from behind a house, holding a struggling child in one arm. The brute shouted that he would use Faris' skull as a bowl. Faris seemed as if he was about to torch the orc right then and there. I saw him glance at the child. He just charged. Faris was a good man...he deserved better. It all happened so fast...we began to pull back. It wasn't a fight to protect the village anymore. We were all just running, to save as many lives as we could. I was carrying a man I had to knock unconcious to keep him from running towards his own death. He had been weeping, screaming for the wife and children cut down before his own eyes. I ran past Phaera. She was kneeling over Revik, trying to stop his bleeding. The man was dying, but she had never been one to leave behind those in need. A more loving soul I had never known. She was practically her goddess made flesh by my account. She was just about to whisper her prayers when one of the bastards called out to her, laughing at her attempts and promising as painful a death as those we had witnessed in the dozens already that hour. I screamed at her to cover her ears. To run with me. I don't know if it was fear or rage in her eyes as she stood and ran to her death. I try not to think about it. I hear the war's getting closer still. I really thought things would turn around once we started making those muffling helmets for our soldiers. That brought new problems all on its own, but then the bastards learned how to use body and sign language. Wizards're saying that whatever is happening, it isn't magic. People are just going crazy whenever that horde shows up. My advice? Keep moving west. Don't look back. Don't listen. Just keep running. Me? I'm going to stay right here and drink myself blind and deaf. At least then...I might be able to die as myself. 
Everyone once in while a person will present a proposition. For whatever reason and through various means such as mathematical analysis, theory craft, and actual gameplay the community(90%+) will basically disagree. The poster then wants to get upset, and accuse the dissenters of being power games, being upset, or always wanting to be right. If you are going to post here accept the that people might disagree with you. If they provide valid, and logical responses then address the responses. Otherwise there is no point to the discussion. I had several PM's with a poster who did not know the rules well, nor had a good concept of balance. Not being able to counter any statements they got upset. Other times people will be in a post and say ____ is broken, only to countered by idea X, Y, and Z. Instead of saying "thanks", or trying to present a counter they get upset. While everyone likes to be correct the point of the discussion isn't to be correct, but to share ideas. If I am correct as an example then good for me. I have probably just educated someone. If they are correct then good for them. I just got educated, and I am now a better gamer for it.
You folks are sending me mixed signals. If you want an item that enhances multiple unarmed attacks, it's the amulet of mighty fists. We're not going to introduce a new item that enhances multiple attacks at a lower price than the amulet. If you want to make a new item that does the same thing as the amulet, but in the chest slot, that's fine, but something that does what the amulet does at a lower price is a better item than the amulet, and we're not going to introduce an item that's clearly better than a core item. If you want an item that enhances one unarmed attack, it has to cost a little more than the enhancement on a weapon, because it can't be disarmed, it doesn't look like a weapon (nobody's going to make you "leave your handwraps at the door" when you visit the king), and you never have to spend an action to draw it. And if you're just enhancing one of a monk's unarmed strikes (even if you can decide on the fly whether that's a punch, kick, knee, or headbutt), that still means you have to figure out which of the monk's attacks are from that unarmed strike (and are enhanced by the item) so you know which ones aren't (and aren't enhanced). And because the amulet of mighty fists costs 2.5x what a single magic weapon costs, that means the item that enhances one attack has to be priced about 1.5x what a single magic weapon costs because standard magic weapon = 1x
The easy-math options are 1.5x and 2x, and I'm sure you'd rather it be 1.5x rather than 2x. Which means if you have two of these proposed items, your net cost is 3x what a magic weapon costs, which means in terms of costs you're better off with an amulet of mighty fists. That's how the math works. It can't be cheaper than a weapon because it's better than a weapon. It can't affect multiple attacks because it invalidates the amulet of mighty fists. As far as I can tell, there's only a narrow strip of middle ground, and if you're not satisfied with that, our other option is to not include anything like this at all. I'm trying to create something that is balanced and is still something you'd like, but if that doesn't satisfy you, our other option is to not publish anything like this at all, because I'd rather not waste my time creating something you're going to hate anyway. I really am trying to work with you on this, but you're not seeing the repercussions of what you're asking--or you're being unclear in what you're asking for. 
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." -- Philip k. Dick Don't fall into the trap of believing there is only subjective reality. Conversely, don't fall into the trap of believing that there is only objective reality. Both exist and both are equally important. 
The question you should seriously consider answering is "Why it shouldn t?" It s in fiction and whatever is in an epic fiction like the Mahabharata has a place in PF... The example Krishna (who is the incarnation of a god) is under vows of peace, yet in Mahabharata he slays Shishupala with his disk after a series of insults he received from him...
Handwraps. Or body wraps. Or anything else that would actually fit the flavor of a monk that could fill the role brass knuckles did for a while. Something that can enhance a monk's entire unarmed strike. And only their unarmed strike. No natural attacks baggage. No restricting the monk to just punch-punch-punch. It should be something that lets the monk live up to their flavor. To let them really be a flurry of fists, feet, headbutts, elbows, knees, all of it. 
Try this stat generation method: Play an e6 game. The first time a character dies, note down that level. Then do that two more times and add the three numbers together. This is your Strength score. Do this five more times for your other ability scores, playing a new e6 campaign for each.
By now I think I'm more antagonized by Arisps's spelling than by support of antagonize itself. 
Diego Rossi
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
Maybe little things like the fact that more intimidating the guy using Antagonise is, the more able he is to force you to attack him physically? A dragon trying to force a human wizard to attack him physically will will have a easier time than a halfling, thanks to his +4 bonus for being larger instead of the -4 for being smaller.Things like using a mechanic based for frightening someone with your physical prowess to force him to get in meele with you? If meet Ivan Drago and he say "I will break you" I will try to flee or be reduced at cowering in a corner. For sure I will not assault him with my fists. This feat make possible "hilarious" things like forcing Feiya fox familiar to attack with his "powerful" bite a ready fighter or the Divine bonded mount of a Paladin to move toward the wrong opponent. "Aggro" is a mechanic for computer moderated games, not for those that are human moderated. 
I second this idea. 
If you use deities from Earth myths then people might recognize the shorthand easier. 
Someone show me how a bard can find and deal with traps better than a rogue. We are also still waiting on that wizard build that makes a rogue useless. Also, after the first quick one, versatile performance comes at 6 and 10, so who is doing all those skills before then? 
I'm really not comfortable with this type of discussion. We could spend a bunch of money getting a lawyer to write up what effectively amounts to a license for using our PDFs and strict Terms of Use for paizo.com, and then we can spend a bunch of time trying to enforce the letter of that law... or we could do what we're doing now, and just ask that people be reasonable and don't share their PDFs with the general public. The latter course of option provides less protection for Paizo, but in the end, I think it's a better experience for our customers. So let's all just all not do anything that makes Paizo *need* to codify this crap. 
Some really good suggestions here, I know I'll use some of it. I agree that the art should be changed for many fey; found this picture, and g#~%**n do I want to include that as a fey! Also, using drider art for the grig might work, especially since none of the players know very much about either fey nor the underdark creatures. 
How much would you actually want this to be a setting over an all-purpose resource? A resource doesn't have to have much cohesion. A setting, on the other hand, seems to me to need a few things defined. Like:
If you would actually want a setting, but as versatile a setting as possible, it seems to me that the cohesive elements would have to be there but could easily be dismantled. Like a puzzle-piece setting, I guess. The GM can just work with individual pieces, or start putting them together as necessary. 
Neither one. Both parties are full of crap. Until the two-party system is destroyed, I will continue to vote 'No Ticket'. The last decent president this country had was well before I was born - Lincoln. Everyone after that has been garbage plain and simple. Lincoln was an accident of history. He gets props because of the slavery issue being ended under his watch, but he probably would have been a horrible peacetime president. You're forgetting the best president we've ever had, period. Teddy Roosevelt. He was the first, last and only president to take on corporate America and slap that b***@ in the face. He was our only truly Progressive president (Wilson was a joke, and Teddy's nephew was, really, the closest to a dictator we've ever had - another accident of history that he is so highly regarded). The next three on the list are probably the first three (Washington, Adams and Jefferson, any order), then after that you can start the "worst" list. And I'd probably put Clinton down as the best of the worst. 
I'll throw this great article out there on the powerlevel of different feats compared to each other. It gives a simple table at the end with the "Feat cost" for each feat. You could use those values to balance the gp cost of each feat to the others. 
I would say the larger problem is that he is expected to ask at all. Why can't she ask him (and if she is so slovenly as you state, run the risk of being turned down) ? Isn't part of equality stepping away from such stereotypical behavior? This is another area where the bulk of feminism falls apart for me.
In reading his complaints, could it possibly be that he actually has a problem with the system? SHOCK! Not to be snarky or anything (and I mean that), but, upon seeing this same post across what, 3 threads now, does not there come a point in which you say, "This is not the game for me" (whatever that game is)? I mean, the game rules are the game rules. That's what makes different game systems so appealing; don't like the rules in one game, you play another (or, houserule what rules you don't like). But to complain about the rules that aren't going anywhere (as in how Wizards work in Pathfinder or 3.x D&D) does nothing but fuel the fire in threads like these... I understand this is why you play 4e, yes? 
These aren't my first seven posts. These are my first seven points with this account. OK, if you're going to publicly state that this is not your first account, we need to make it crystal clear that Chimpanzee Psychonaut is Gailbraithe, who was permanently banned from participating on our site for being unable to walk away from the keyboard when provoked. Generally I try to use a "brand new day" kind of policy for people who want to come back but that comes with the responsibility to not behave in the kinds of ways that got the person banned in the first place. But alluding to past history on the site in a fashion that doesn't allow people to discover that past behavior is a no-no. If you're going to be here and refer to your posting history, you need to own that history.
I will say this, which I meant to add earlier. In some groups the players are the heroes. In other groups you are just given the chance to become the heroes. That is also a factor on whether or not a GM fudges. 
PaperAngel -- that's a cool name btw -- people are not-so-subtly pointing out that you are spelling "rogue" wrong. R-O-G-U-E -- Sneaky adventurer R-O-U-G-E -- Akin to "blush," makeup you apply to your cheeks I'm noting this because people have trouble answering inquiries seriously when it is spelled wrong; whether for good or bad reasons, that tends to happen. :) As for your backstory -- He could have started off something like a merchant's son or something with a relatively decent upbringing, but was abandoned in an attack. Feeling betrayed, he learned to fend for himself by whatever means necessary. That eludes a more typical "born on the streets" backstory, and works in that he might betray others because he's come to believe he will only be betrayed by those he trusts. As for the fiend fetus, regardless of its ethical alignment (demons are chaotic, devils lawful, and daemons neutral, SwnyNerdgasm, and thus 3 different "species"), he could keep it as a macabre curiosity or sell it to a wizard as a rare spell component. 
This is my own perspective on kill vs coddle, and by no means indicative of anyone else: I don't try to kill the PCs. On the flip side, I won't go out of my way to not try to kill the PCs. Their characters will live or die based upon the choices they make and the randomness of the die roll. Making them think they're character can die only to have them pull through by scaling back the challenges mid encounter or fudging die rolls is a false sense of accomplishment/success. An oppoprtunity for success must countered with an equal opportunity for failure. 
CROWNED B%+$!
It was after one well-fought adventure,
Well it seemed like a harmless suggestion.
There were halflings camped out by the kitchen,
Now you might think we'd have been dissuaded
Aye, the scene in that tavern looked ugly,
So--assassins looked on from the shadows
A half-orc was glaring at Sorrel.
So I tossed a full purse to the innkeep,
We the innkeep obliged me with pleasure
So if ever you visit The Crowned B*&&@,
As a disclaimer, the following post is about the Mass Combat Rules as presented in the Kingmaker Adventure Path as well as the revised Mass Combat rules presented in the Pathfinder RPG compatible Book of the River Nations. As someone who has both played with the Mass Combat rules as well as is a DM in the process of running the Kingmaker AP, I have some issues with the system, many of which I'm sure you out there have had as well. I also know that there are similar posts out there, but this is my take on the system. For the purposes of my post, I have made the following assumptions: Assumption 1: The most effective way to increase the stats of a unit for the least amount of cost/consumption is to either add more soldiers to the unit, or make the unit up out of higher level soldiers Assumption 2: Your DM is using the size of your nation to limit the number of soldiers you can raise. Common sense would dictate that a nation of 100,000 people which can conscript its inhabitants probably has, at best, a standing military of 10,000 soldiers. For comparison, the US has about 1% of its citizens in the armed forces. For those of you not familiar with the AP or the Mass Combat rules, here is a short list of terms that you should know. Everybody else can skip down to the meat: CR - Challenge Rating
The Meat Okay, so, I've thinking about Mass Combat as written and I thought that the following made no sense: 100 lvl 3 fighters - CR 2 / 11 HP / OM +2 / DV 12 / Cost to Raise 1 BP / Consumption 1 BP
100 lvl 3 fighters w/ magic weapons & armor - CR 2 / 11 HP / OM +4 / DV 14 / Cost to Raise 66 BP / Consumption 66 BP
100 lvl 3 fighters w/ heavy horse mounts - CR 3 / 16 HP / OM +5 / DV 15 / Cost to Raise 1.5 BP / Consumption 1.5 BP
I think I've finally figured out both a.) why this is so out of whack and b.) what you can do to fix it a.) Why This is Out of Whack All standard armies without resources (as well as mounted armies) derive HP, Attack, Defense, and Cost/Consumption from the CR of the unit
in this way, a +2 bonus to OM AND DV AND 7-13 HP = 1 BP to raise and maintain Magic Weapons (and all other Resources besides mounts) have absolutely no basis for any cost increase.
b.) What You Can Do to Fix It I think the disconnect comes in two places: same cost for different army sizes and Consumption b-1.) Same Cost for Different Army Sizes For this, I would recommend saying that the listed cost to give the resource to the army as well as maintain that resource is for a Medium Army (100 soldiers).
b-2) Consumption To me, it never made any sense for it to have the same cost to enchant a magic sword as it does to maintain a magic sword. How many of you have played games with characters with magic weapons? I'm guessing plenty. In how many of those games did your characters have to pay 2000gp a week to keep your +1 sword working like a +1 sword? I'm guessing nobody. That being said, I accept the fact that equipping 100 soldiers with +1 swords and +1 armor is expensive. In gp, that's around 3k gp a soldier. If we say that a BP is worth somewhere between 2k-4k gp, then 65 BP is about the right amount to equip 100 men with magic weapons and armor. Now, how do we balance the Consumption to satisfy the game balance of having magic equipment without breaking the suspension of disbelief? in the above model, +2 OM and DV should cost about 1 BP in upkeep. However, the only time a player is really going to use Resources that give them a direct bonus to OM or DV is when they can't just get it by adding more soldiers to a unit. With that in mind, I'm comfortable for Masterwork or Magic Weapons to cost a bit more than that, since you can use them to beef up your army past what the population limits of your nation would allow. After thinking about it, I believe that upkeep should be the bonus to your DV or OM that the resource provides divided by 2, but modified by how useful the resource is. In the following, I've gone over every resource and given what I think the Cost/Consumption should be and why (Consumptions with an * are explained in the text): Fortification Builders - Cost 2 BP/Consumption 0 BP - These are guys who get to the battle early and use axes and shovels to dig in and fortify a defensive position. While it does provide a +2 bonus to DV, it does so only if the unit doesn't use all of its movement (situational). Also, you're already spending about 6k on shovels, axes, and training. Situational bonus plus expensive axes equals no Consumption. Improved Weapons - Cost 5 BP/Consumption 1 BP* - Masterwork weapons grant a +1 to OM. This is good all of the time. I would say this has an Consumption cost of 1 BP for every 200 men equipped in this way, but no less than 1 BP. Alternatively, if a unit had both Improved Weapons AND Improved Armor, the the combined Consumption cost is 1 BP per 100 soldiers. Improved Armor - Cost 3 BP/Consumption 1 BP* - Masterwork armor grants a +1 to DV. This is also good all of the time. As above, I would say this has an Consumption cost of 1 BP for every 200 men equipped in this way, but no less than 1 BP. Alternatively, if a unit had both Improved Weapons AND Improved Armor, the the combined Consumption cost is 1 BP per 100 soldiers. Magic Weapons - Cost 50 BP/Consumption 1 BP - Magic weapons grant a +2 bonus to OM. Again, this is always good. Since it gives +2 to OM, I'm comfortable with it costing half of that in Consumption. Magic Armor - Cost 15 BP/Consumption 1 BP - Again, magic armor grants a constant +2 DV. +2 DV = 1 BP. Healing Potions - Cost 10 BP/Consumption 0 or 5 or 10 BP* - In the text it states that soldiers equipped with healing potions can forego an attack turn to heal themselves, up to twice a battle. Since it's not like healing potions go bad, I would say that a unit with this ability retains it with no Consumption cost until it uses the ability in battle. Once it uses the ability in battle, the until can return to a city with the requisite buildings to restore either one (5 BP) or two (10 BP) uses of this ability, up to a maximum of two uses. This also means that, if a unit uses this ability once in a battle, it can only use it once more in subsequent battles until it replenishes its stock of potions. Mounts - Cost CR/2 BP/Consumption CR/2 BP + 2 - Of all of the resources, I believe this to be the most vaguely written AND the text as written doesn't match the sample armies in the stat blocks. I would make it read thusly: Add the CR of the riders to the CR of the mounts to get the mounted unit's CR. All values derived from CR use this combined CR. Mounted units gain an additional +2 to OM and DV. They also cost an additional 2 Consumption. Ex. 100 Lvl 4 Fighters (CR 3) mounted on Heavy Warhorses (CR 1) would have a CR of 4 (CR 3 + CR 1), 22 HP (5.5 HP for d10s x CR 4), OM +6 (CR 4 + 2 for being mounted), DV 16 (10 + CR 4 + 2 for being mounted), and a Consumption of 4 BP (CR 4 / 2 + 2 for being mounted). Poison - Cost 6 BP/Consumption 0 or 3 or 6 BP* - Just like healing potions, poison doesn't need to be replaced just because it's Monday. I would limit poison to 2 uses per battle and structure replacement just like healing. Ranged Weapons - Cost 2 BP/Consumption 1 BP - While ranged weapons don't add any specific increase to OM or DV, they do allow a unit to participate in an entire round of combat that it couldn't have otherwise. That makes it worth an additional 1 Consumption in my book. Chalk it up to arrows replaced after target practice. Shields - Cost 1 BP/Consumption 0 or 1 BP* - Shields give a +2 DV against ranged combat. While it is a +2, it's only for one round of combat. If the opposing army doesn't have range, it never even comes into effect. Because it is so limited in when it provides a bonus, if ever, I wouldn't make this resource cost any Consumption. That being said, if you REALLY want to make shields cost Consumption, I would say that the shields provide the +2 DV, but are rendered useless after providing the bonus and must be re-bought, like potions and poisons. Ships - Cost 10 BP/Consumption 1 BP - Like ranged weapons, this resource can give access to a type of combat that would otherwise be impossible, or even be used to bypass a city's walls (since you can't build city walls on the water border of a district). The +4 DV is tempered by the fact that these are useless in hexes with no water access. I'd divide the usual DV bonus/2 in half again, getting 1 BP Consumption, considering the situational usefulness of ships. Siege Engines - Cost 15 BP/Consumption 2 BP - Siege engines not only give a +2 OM bonus, they also destroy the fortification bonus that city walls and castles provide! I'd give it 1 Consumption for the flat +2 OM bonus and another 1 Consumption for the ability to go full defense and whittle away an entrenched army's fortification, whether you actually do damage to them or not. I hope this was helpful to those of you who are struggling with what to do with Mass Combat in your game. There are other issues that I have with the Mass Combat system as written, but, if response to this is favorable, I will address them in a future post. 
One of the neat things about LOTR is that the elves and dwarves didn't really consider many of the "magic" items to be magical at all. The powers of these items are sort of a function of them being exceptionally well made by powerful people (and having the same spark of divinity that underlies all the "magic" in Middle Earth). There's a whole conversation with Samwise and one of the elves where he asks if their cloaks are magical, and the elf seems confused, essentially saying "I don't understand what you're saying. I mean, they're well made cloaks, and will hide you when you need to be hidden... But I don't get what you mean by magic." I've started approaching magic items in my own campaigns this way, too, sometimes.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Posts
