| From: | Bob Ooton <topcat@**.CENCOM.NET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Monowhip weapon focus |
| Date: | Mon, 12 Jun 1995 23:49:56 -0500 |
monofilament whip weapon focus. Would you let a guy use a shock glove
weapon focus? A taser weapon focus? (it's still touching my hand, so it's
a hand-to-hand weapon) How about a stun baton focus? Get real. I would
never allow a technological item to be used as a weapon focus. Thankfully,
the people I play with agree. And as for "no-one ever said the orichalcum
had to be in the harming part" that's true, no one ever _said_ that. By
popular agreement of the group I'm in, it has to be. Why? Because a lot of
orichalcum is required for a target number to be even anywhere NEAR doable.
It's not like a sliver of it will make a rating 6 focus. Or even a rating 1
focus for that matter. Even if you made the whole handle of the whip out of
orichalcum and the weight as well. You still wouldn't use enough of the
metal to qualify for weapon focus levels. How do I come up with this?
What's the mass of a monofilament whip? Go ahead and check... I'll wait.
It's nada. Nothing. Nil. Mass of orichalcum? 10 grams/unit. Each unit
reduces TN by 1. How many 10g units can you use to make a 0g item? No math
major required there.
Next argument that will doubtlessly creep up is... "I don't have to use
orichalcum anymore, I can use other alchemical materials!" OK, cram all
those into a null mass object. Can only put so many in, you know. And I
would bet that there are players out there who have used all three
alchemical material types, orichalcum, virgin telesma (we all know you can
just go out and buy monofilament at the local hardware store... maybe you
used handmade instead, I'm sure LOTS of chars know how to make monofilament.
"All I need is some cream cheese and a gerbil with a tight enough ass and
I'll have the most powerful weapon focus ever!") and created this unholy
monstrosity. So just what does this guy's whip look like? It's
monofilament (kinda, I didn't exactly know how to make the stuff... I
figured 1cm thick was fine). It's BIG (I needed 30 units of orichalcum to
get it to where I could make the focus. So what if the handle's 2 meters
long? It says in the book that monofilament whips have a 10
concealability!). It's basically nothing more than a rope weapon focus and
cute astral sparkler (great for parties!).
My whole point is this. Think before you do things like this, people. It
sucks the life out of the game to twist rules around to the proportions
necessary to create a monofilament weapon focus. Just stay within the
realms of sensibility and (heaven forbid) go with the spirit of the game.
For those of you who would rather go by the books. The monofilament whip
does weigh 0 grams. And since it requires grams of any alchemical material
or orichalcum to create a weapon focus, you're SOL.
-- Bob Ooton <topcat@******.net>
