| From: | Sebastian Wiers m0ng005e@*********.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | skill levels redux |
| Date: | Wed, 6 Oct 1999 16:02:59 -0500 |
you
:is through hitting the point of increased karma costs to increase the skill
:faster.
Pool size can affect the use of many skills (sorcery, combat, decking,
rigging). Having a low strength (the governing attribute for most melee)
may not affect combat pool, but it still sucks in melee. Having a low
quickness is no help in a gunfight (can't reach cover, low reaction).
Still, that is a somewhat valid point; most trolls, for example, can
default nicely to athletics (which in SR3 is governed by Body), and are
worse off with an athletics skill of only 1 or 2.
One canon way this issue was adressed in the past (in the origianl SRC)
was the "partil default". The actual skill value and attributte (or other
default) value were averaged to determine dice rolled, and the TN penalty
for defaulting is cut in half. Pool use is limited to the full value of the
actual skill. We did use this rule in SR2, and it worked nicely in most
cases.
This might still work nicely in SR3 for defaults to attributes when you
have a low skill, or from one skill to another that you have, but which is
lower. For example, a troll with a body of 10 and athletics 2 could roll 6
athletics dice with only a +2 TN (good if the original TN is 6, and not bad
even if it was 4). If somebody with Pistols 6 and Submachine Guns 2 was
using a submachine gun, they could roll 4 dice (and 2 pool), with only a +1
TN. It is generally not a drastic bonus, but if it drops your TN below 6
while still allowing a decent hadful of dice, its generelly worth doing. If
nothing else, it prevents folks with decent attributes from rolling an
"oops" while practicing new skills, which might actually allow somebody to
realisitcally learn "demolitions" from experience.
:So, I have a question to ask, since I dont have a gameing group to test a
:couple of houserules with at the moment... Could someone who runs a live
:game on a frequent and regular basis try these two alternate skill systems
:for one night each and appraise me of the results?
:
:System 1) add the stat to the skill to get the total number of dice thrown
:(This has the benifit of keeping TN#'s the same)
:
:System 2) adding the Stat to the die roll to get the final nmber (This
would
:probobly require adding 3 to all tn#'s, if you have the time to try it with
:and without it would be greatly appreiciated)
I don't run our game, and we shy away from house rules (for now), since
we are (technically) "playtesting" at our regular games. For house rules,
these strike me as extreme; you might as well call it them "house systems".
That's not a fault, just an observation; as such, these would be hard to
test in one session.
Still, from experience I think can tell you the result of #1- WAY to
many dice for combat attacks and almost every other success test, and not
NEARLY enough dice for resistance tests. Skills would be fairly unimportant
(except to avoid default penalties), since it would make more sense to bump
up attributes a whole lot, both offensively and defensively. On a one night
trial basis, it would result in massive party death (gangers suddenly
rolling 10 attack dice...). In a long running game, it would be
munchkinous, at best. It's like the old SR2 pool thing, only worse. The
balance would be way off, and rather hard to compensate. Raising the TN's
could help, but SR generally works best when average TN's are below 6.
#2 is intriguing, but really, is somebody with a stat of 3 operating as
if they had a serious wound relative to somebody with a stat of 6? Changes
in TN's tend to lead to very gross changes in results. Again, likely result
is long term trend towards munchkinism. Edges like "Aptitude" are somewhat
unbalancing; this would cut TN's by a great deal (3 or more in many cases)
for many skills a character uses. You'd need to adjust a lot of other
things to get it to work; might as well design a new game system, one
designed to accommodate the wider TN range.
A non-canon game mechanic in this vein that MIGHT work (though its still
potentially munckinous for SR) is to roll dice equal to normal plus those
for your attribute, but only count a max number of successes equal to skill
and pool dice rolled. This gives more successes on AVERAGE to those with
good attributes, but not more MAXIMUM successes. Legends of the Five Rings
RPG uses a similar system (and is better tailored to the resulting successes
levels), and it seems a elegant solution to the skill / attribute dilemma.
Another wacky idea - have characters roll dice equal to normal, but they
roll BIGGER dice if their attributes are higher. I would suggest dice sides
<= attribute, and not use D4's. That way, "human norm" (1-7) is still d6's,
but really good attributes would gain a bonus (I'd cut it off at D12). You
might let somebody spend 2 karma to increase die size by 2, as well. This
is similar to what is done in "Deadlands"- I don't think it is as elegant or
balanced, but Deadlands is a decidedly storytelling / cinematic game. Could
be fun, if nothing else. I suppose it would be best to keep d6's for all
straight rolls of attributes, and for resistance tests and spell defense,
although the idea of playing a troll and rolling a big handful of d12's for
damage resistance is rather appealing- you would probably not really need
armor!
I think the results would be similar to above; more average successes
for good attributes, same max successes. Both methods might lead to those
good attributes AND skills having things a bit to easy, especially this
second (it effectively reduces TN's). Both ideas would probably lead to a
system that goes way beyond the scope of "House Rules", though.
BTW- all you staging freaks- this might be a way to bring back staging-
have the resistance dice rolled vary in size, depending on the weapon and
target. Unfortunately, you can only really go down to a d4, and that's just
sadistic...
If you DO want to playtest any of these, one way to do so might be as
part of an astral quest- the normal rules don't apply on the metaplanes!
Its horribly cheesy, but its a "canon" excuse to mess with the numbers.
Mongoose
