icebrand

I was talking about physical shields, not the spell. And in RQ3 parry AP counted against a crit.

Oh, then youre right. 100% parry with an iron shield (add some strengthening enchants if you want) definitely broke the game).

I liked 'zerk on the old RQ2 (RQ2 > RQ3)

Not if you special. And Berserker/Fanaticism increase your special chances.

On Runequest 2 (the real one) berserk worked, because it actually lowered the opponent's parry into nothingness. I challenge you to an RQ3 combat any time!!!

100% combat skills, whatever spirit spells you like (up to 6 points), and whatever rune spells you want as long as they are cult-compatible. :D [if you win i'll buy the e-drinks!!!]

Lets see how your 230%+ attack and NO DODGE/PARRY whatever gets owned by my 130/100 RL!

I can make you a matrix with the %'s if you want, but unless blind luck interventes, the guy who can... you know, parry will chop the other to little pieces.

What you relate refers to RQ3, where a 20 AP shield could block almost anything, even a critical. No longer true in BRP.

On RQ3 protection "acts in every way like normal armor" (RQ Deluxe, Magic Book, Pg21), while shield gives "2 points of magical armor" (Pg36). I always ruled that critical hits bypass both [shield is already overpowered as it is].

Still, our crits were a little less powerful:

Impales rolled double damages, while the other weapons did full normal damage. Crit only ignored armors + special (so, non-impaling specials were a bit better while impaling crits were not as vicious)

Eye gouge. Are we fighting for our life, or just doing a sport?

We get that ALL THE TIME (mostly from strikers). I actually sparred several times with non-grappler friends of mine while they could bite & eye gouge, and none of them ever got to pull that off (not that i'm any good, they just don't know how to grapple!!!)

You CAN eye-gouge, but you need to gain a position(successful grapple) before trying that, or you will end with a broken arm and/or fingers.

Basically IRL you would need to succeed on a grappling roll (to gain a favorable position) and then you could do damage. If you're beeing held by someone who knows what he's doing and you try to gouge eyes, grab genitals, etc, you are in for a world of pain and no gain.

On the other hand, you *COULD* use biting, twisting fingers and even fingering an eye while beeing pinned, in order to regain guard and/or turn the tables. I would treat this as a grappling roll though, NOT rolling damage!

I practice judo and brazilian jiu jitsu, and let me tell you, there is NO WAY IN HELL you can escape a good hold if the one performing it is measurably better than you are. Actually, ground fighting is mostly based on skill and while well used STR (and SIZ) do help, they become irrelevant if the smaller person is better by a good margin.

In any case, skill > str at pinning an opponent down. I can reliably hold a 110kg novice weighting 72kg myself. For as long as i needed to! If you want to escape, you must do it ASAP, (the first couple of rounds?) otherwise unless your opponent makes a mistake, you're kinda screwed.

As someone who has played in an GMed a number of high level camapigns, I'd say that splitting attacks is definitely a good and valid tactic.

I'm talking RQ here, and RQ2/3 in particular, so things might be different in BRP.

But, having a very high skill means that you can take out a number of lower skilled opponents quickly, rather than dragging combat out. Normally, people say that superior numbers wear you down, but splitting attacks helps take out that numerical advantage.

Berserker is also an excellent tactic when you have stocked up on defensive magic or have good healing spirits/enchantments.

Take it from me, playing a berserk centaur and taking out 6 opponents in a single round in melee combat is an experience to treasure forever.

I did play and GM at high lvl too (the humakti reached 500%+ attack chance).

Thing is, in RQ2 you had -% parry due to high attack.

In RQ2 you had Damage and AP on successful parry, while in BRP all damage gets parried no matter what.

Against a high level opponent berserker is still suicide (i.e: dismiss magic takes care of shield, then you die cause the opponent parries and you don't).

Anyone can RUN from a berserk, who gets attacked with ranged weapons by everyone else. Of course, if the non berserk party is something else than trollkin, the berserker gets his attacks parried while he recevies one attack from whomever is attacked and two attacks by the rest, with no dodge nor parry possible.

With berserk you are allowing the mooks to actually HIT you, while you could, you know, parry, dodge and still kill them!

Let's pretend you are a runelord. You get +90% attack and automatic con rolls and lose: 90% parry or dodge, the ability to select targets, the ability to switch to ranged attacks, the ability to run away, spellcasting, including healing yourself, divine intervention (*I* would not let someone on berserk ask for anything).

IMHO the spell sucks.

Also, in BRP you do not even the odds by splitting attacks, since a successful parry negates all damage!

As for splitting attacks, I've never liked this rule because it seems to violate the principle behind the system, if you use strike ranks, that is. Surely the number of attacks should relate to how fast you are, not how accurate? "Splitting" has always seemed like one of those little D&Disms to me (not that I have anything against D&D, but I like my BRP to be of a different flavour). Assuming that splitting works (somehow), it seems logical that it should be worse in most cases - you are trying to do two things using the same time and energy you would normally expend to do one (a bit like the "two arrows" thing above), after all. The only reason to split attacks that I can see is to attack two relatively weak foes at once.

With rules as they are, the only reason to split attacks is you fail at math. Splitting attacks is like giving yourself a % penalty just because. You are WAY better off doing a single, full % attack, against any number of foes, unless splitting at very high %'s (im thinking 160% at bare minimum) vs opponents with 1/4 of your skill AND below 50% (a very weird scenario).

If you want to attack two relatively weak foes at once, you should focus on one and drop it. The rules worked on RQ3 because of weapon damage / AP / Magic.

There are plenty of situation (magic, etc.) where you can split and still be at full percentiles. Think of a Berserker. So no need to be 190% base skill, just look for ajustments.

Please name those situations. Berserk as per RQ3 rules against any kind of intelligent creature equals suicide.

Fanaticism was actually used by my players as an attack spell against foes, thats how useful it is...

Bladesharp/etc? On RQ3 is hard to go over +30%, very difficult to go over 40%, and anything over 50% is not going to happen.

The point is that you are looking for a reason to split attacks. But there is no one, except:

a) emulating D&D

getting rid of more than one neglectable foe in one round, if said foes have low chances to parry.

The point is that splitting attacks as per RAW is mathematically undesirable, it is a HINDRANCE, not a help.

Lets see, RAW supports splitting for multiple enemies.

I don't really see the point; statistically you have WAY better chance of survival by using your full % on one enemy (mostly because how parries work now, unlike RQ3).

According to RAW, you need about 2900/(INT/2) experience checks *AFTER* 100% to reach 200%. Thats 322 (INT 17-18) to 725 (INT 8) checks... Preety much beyond every group i've seen.

The only "achievable" 200% i can see is a humakti with gifts and bladesharp... and still would take 150ish experience checks!!!

Once you achieve your 200% (190% actually) you can split for full%... But unless your opponents have 50%-60% or less chance to parry, you are STILL better off making full attacks for extra crit/special %!!!

The only REAL benefit of splitting would be: attacking the same foe (the cumulative -30% could lower the parry enough for it to be worth it), or my house rule where you can make 3+ attacks.

Otherwise, beside attacking stupid animals or that do not dodge (unlikely scenario) or multiple berserkers (yeah, right)... I really can't see the point. I mean, splitting doesn't even work on zombies now!!!

This is all very fine, but most of these HR are not as useful as you may think. If you are 150%, one in three of your attacks will be a special success, negating your foe's parry or doing extra damage. Since in many cases (highly skilled or heavily armored opponent) this is actually better than attacking three times, can someone explain to me the reasons why you need the extra complication and additional die rolls?

That's why i allow any number of multiple attacks at 1/2 value. 3x 75% attacks vs 1 150% attack can be worth it!

Why don't you use hero points (instead of fate points).

Characters have a common pool of fate/hero points (maybe their combined POWs, or a fraction of it) and anyone can pull from it as long as they are together and/or working towards the same goal. If it's glorantha-based, it could be their guardian spirit helping them (otherwise, a totem, some kind of spirit, and AI, whatever!)

Our house rule on multiple attacks is:

• You do all attacks as difficult, and attack as much as you can (if you got 21 dex you can go at 21, 16, 11 and 6 and 1!).

• All attacks are difficult (1/2) regardless of how many you do.

• You cannot attack the same opponent twice (since attacks are actually a combination of moves). This preety much evens things out (if you got 21 dex +9 from magic you are still doing 2-3 attacks at most).

• When dual wielding, you can attack the same opponent twice (once with each weapon!). You can also do this with a shield bash, or a kick/punch/headbutt if you use only one weapon. If you attack the same opponent twice you are "focusing" on him/her so you cannot attack 3rd parties

• You may cast sorcery (we use slightly tweaked "magic" from the BGB) as a difficult skill more than once, and/or mix it up with attacks.

1. It is the limit for both 1 & 2. A character with 17-18 INT can have up to 9 spells in memory, and cast up to level 9.

2. An untrained person can have up to 1/4 INT spells in memory. Sorcerers get 1/2.

3. Yes, if he really wants to, he can have all 30 spells in the grimoire (or more!).

4. Any level up to 1/2 INT; you just lear "blast" and cast it at whatever level you wish.

I don't really know about trollslayer, i didn't look at the NPC's past the art (im not a fan of pre-gens). Maybe it uses some rule from classic fantasy?

Over the course of my last session one character got an experience check on a spot. The only time she used it, and it was a HARD roll.

Should she make the experience roll against the full skill, or half skill?

Another player used bladesharp to bring her sword skill from 75% to 95%. She never actually had to roll under 75, since there was only one combat, and she had the spell for the whole scene.

Should she roll against 75% or 95% to increase the skill?

I think that's it

BRP / RQ sheet V2!

http://basicroleplaying.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=350

If someone heals you before you die (by the next round) he/she must take care of the negatives!

Well, we did episode 1 & 2 of troubled waters from river of craddles (actually i never ran a published scenario before, besides the one in the RQ book).

They were a vingan, a kolati shaman and a footman from sir ethilrist's black horse troop.

The vingan got two spells (bladesharp and heal). I decided on the fly that the divine/spirit version does +1/+5% per point (up to 4) and the sorcery gets +1/+9 damage like it used to.

Heal also became variable (1-4) at 1D3/point [again to keep it in line with the 1D6/2 lvls of the magic system, which save for the intensity cap is way better than it ever was anyway].

The sorcerer began with four spells, the animist with 1/2 int (8 levels) and the initiate with 2 spells (they can cast 1-4 levels from the get go, since they supposedly spend POW for them)

They made short work of the mudsharks due to the shaman having a light spell (otherwise it would be quite difficult to defeat the creatures in their lair). Due to total hit points the creatures themselves presented little risk, but it didn't really matter since all the PC's were females [yes, weird, i know, ive a 3 to 1 women to men ratio in my tables!!!] and don't care much for combat.

You may restrict mecha somehow if you want a low-tech far west gritty world; think of robotech/mospeada, where the mechas spend a lot of resources, and need a lot of (expensive) maintenance.

Perhaps mechas are military equipment only? PC's could face troubles if they are known to (illegally) have them!

The mechas can still be used for climatic scenes, but the characters can't afford to use them whenever they like (unless of course they are in the military or whatever faction and then you can use or not the equipment depending on the mission(s) or assignment they are currently on).

I will see what I can do. The parchment ting is a nice idea, the runes as well. It is difficult to do a sheet without knowing the actual world it plays in. So it has to be "generic fantasy", which is not easy to do.

Actually, mine is for Glorantha! I just said generic fantasy cause i thought it would be more useful for the community as whole!

Um, why not just use the RQIII magic systems, available in the BASIC Magic monograph?

Erm, i preety much own every RQ3 book ever printed, and whatever RQ2 i could get my hands on. Thing is, i don't really like RQ3 magic. BRP's Magic and Sorcery instead, i find simple, easy and FUN!

Pick the right options for other systems (e.g. Hit Locations, Skill categories, SR) and you can pretty much recreate RQIII anyway. Even without recreating RQIII, simply plugging the BASIC Magic stuff in in stead of any of the powers from the BGB would work, and one could then fine tune them on the basis of the extensive experience everyone's had over the decades with the RQIII systems?

Again, BGB > Basic magic

Im not actually recreating RQIII (it even stopped working once the PC's got to certain level, and we houseruled the heck out of it, then we tried MRQ, now we're back to the BRP BGB).

These are the optional rules that we are considering using right now (starting a new campaign tomorrow!):

• 2D6+6 for stats (moving 3 points in/out of SIZ or switching a roll is allowed; also you may switch values to get a decent INT if you got a bad roll)

• Personality skill bonus (the +20 bonus to skills depending on how you deal with stuff)

• INT Increased skill points

• Total hit points

• An optional fatigue system (-10/-20/half skill when failing easy to hard stamina rolls)

• Distinctive features

• Skill category bonus (but simple bonus as far a stat boosting magic is concerned)

• Complementary Skills

• Literacy

• Skills over 100%

• High roll wins in opposed tests

• ENC (total ENC is subtracted from your stamina roll for fatigue)

• Power use in the action phase

• Attacks & Parries over 100%

• Custom Dodging missile weapons (for thrown weapons, parry at 1/2 and dodge or shield block at full; for ranged weapons parry as special and dodge or shield block at 1/2). In any case the shield wielder can choose to hide beneath it, or use the passive block chance [Maybe i should ease up on this, i'm afraid this will cause A LOT of deaths]

• Dying blows

• Custom splitting attack & parry (you can do "multiple actions" including casting and attacking, as long as you have spare DEX ranks; if you choose to do multiple actions everything is halved (difficult), but you can attack a single opponent once (unless using two weapons, then you can attack twice). Defensive skills are not affected

• Random Armor

• Allegiance

• Personality traits

• Improved Shields (base chance to parry is 15/30/60 and they give +1/+2/+3 armor points)

As I said above, will ponder your ideas and comment some more later. The joy of BRP of course is that it's very forgiving of this sort of tweaking.Nick

Thanks! I'm worried my divine users will feel shafted (starting new characters with 250+INTx10+Personality Bonus and 2 "divine" spells after 10+ years of RQ3 with 150ish POW in rune magic), though the balance i want is sorcerers and divine users, shamans are allowed to be a bit better because noone plays one, and they make fearsome enemies [plus, i don't think the shaman's skills are so overpowered AND they require to carry around items/foci/charms/whatever you want to call them to cast]

I would like some ideas on how to implement the three magic systems.

So far what i got is:

RQ Sorcery = BRP Magic.

House Rules:

• whatever does 1D6 (blast, flame, frost, heal, wounds) does it every 2 levels, not each level.

• change all "sorceror's" for "shaman's" and "demon" for "spirit"

• each "spell" is a charm/fetish (as in a physical item, since animism "is something you HAVE") with a spirit bound in it.

• Your shaman can "awaken" a number of spell levels equal to his POW (not INT, since it makes no sense) each day

• Awakening spirits works exactly as preparing spells from a grimoire of course.

• Get spells from the golden book or the bronze grimoire

• Anyone must cast spells, but the charm must be "attuned" to the person (as per learning spells in the book

• "brazier of power" becomes "fetch" [only shamans have access to it though]

Becoming a Shaman

Use the rules for learning a new psi ability, and gain a Fetch (as per Brazier of Power spell, but it's on the spirit world and goes everywhere with the shaman). This requires someone to train you, success on a luck roll and the expenditure of 1 POW to gain the fetch.

A fetch gives plenty of Shamanic Powers; Each requires the same training time as a new psi ability (1 POW, luck roll, POWx1 chance), or can be unlocked (2 POW, POWx5 chance).

Additional Shamanic Powers

• Spirit Walking: As per astral projection. Useful to find new spirits to bind, to walk the spirit plane and stuff.
  If using the RQ3 tables, do not add the fetch's to the roll but modify the result with the special chance on this skill if successful (double on a special and pick whatever result you want on a critical). A failure means the shaman rolls on the table without modifiers and a fumble means BAD news (lost, a really horrible encounter, etc)

• Mind Expansion: A shaman can awaken extra levels of spirits up to his fetch's POW (invested POW, not MP), but if so he must succeed on a POWx5 roll subdue the spirit to cast. Failure means the spirit "goes to sleep" while success means it casts as normal. Special and Critical success give no extra benefits, since the shaman is already pushing it. A fumble means the spirit escapes the fetish.

• Spirit Trapping: A shaman can trap ghosts, elemental, and all kind of spirits in his fetch. The TOTAL controlled spirit's PP must be lower than the fetch's PP or they will be able to escape (the most powerful escapes first, and so on, until the fetch's PP > combined spirit's pp). A character must make a POWx5 roll to trap the spirit after defeating it on spirit combat. A fumble releases all spirits.

• Second Sight: A shaman has permanent Witch Vision, but since he must pay attention to both worlds at once, all his perception rolls are Difficult. A shaman can turn OFF second sight with a successful POWx5 roll, at an MP cost equal to aura detection. A fumble leaves the shaman without second sight AND at difficult perception for an appropriate ammount of time until he spends an hour in meditation or ritual or whatever.

• Return from the dead: A shaman's classic. Cast healing with POW (may use the fetch's POW too) instead of PP, and get back to life!!! Takes one day per time used, up to seven days!. A fumble makes the shaman return... as a vengeful spirit of some sort!

NEW SPELL: Lay on Hands: Just a new spell, +20% to medicine to cure disease per level (1-4)

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RQ Runic/Divine Magic = BRP ???

So far, im thinking:

• Alliance rules

• Each spell costs 1 POW to learn; use sorcery spells but learning a spell automatically grants the ability to cast it at any level (1-4 i think?)

• Get spells from the golden book or the bronze grimoire and RQIII's divine magic for special unique divine spells (sever spirit is a special spell that needs to be converted, while shield should use orlanth's armor). Other thematically appropriate spells should be allowed.

• special spells should be pulled from magic (i.e: lightning), psionics (i.e: divination), etc. and then, if really unique, from RQIII/adapted. Lightning and such retain the 1D6/level, since the max is 4 anyway

• A god has all the spells he had on RQIII available as sorcery spells, regardless of them being divine or spirit (i.e: humakt gets "humakt's strength" because he had strength as spirit magic

• Devotees may get a divine companion (the same as a familiar, really)

• OPTION 1: Characters can pray for a number of levels worth of magic equal to their... POW? maybe APP to make it different to shamans (to represent charisma and how much your god likes you). Spells use Power Points, of course.

• OPTION 2: Characters must succeed on a difficult luck roll (initiates) or normal luck roll (devotees) for spellcasting. success means they retain their spell, and failure means they need to pray for it (same time as learning from a grimoire) to cast it again. Special means they regain a used spell and critical all spells. This seems ... erm... clunky, perhaps i should stick with Power Points?

• Gaining new spells is done at a temple and costs one pow and 1-4 days of prayer depending on the spell's level

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Well, that's pretty much it. What do you guys think? Any ideas/comments? Do you see something horribly broken? Are divine users too underpowered?

LOL Thanks. If you have some Fantasy Art I should put in, please send me the links. I will see what I can do then.

LOL :D

Seriously, i don't have a clue; maybe some ancient parchment

Or some stone tablets

http://hashemartworks.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/tablet1_front.jpg <- pic is huge

Or stuff like that, but truth be told it's quite hard to find appropriate images!

Here's my one I did for a Post Apo World. It's still generic but has put in some PA Art.

Sir, your character sheet is FREAKING AWESOME!

You should REALLY make a fantasy version of it!!!

Here are my contributions:

- A BRP Sheet for RQ/Ancient/Classic Fantasy game LINK

- A variant of the above with crazy graphics (i was testing layouts, i don't really like it) LINK *NOTE* Despite the info i think it prints on Legal (not A4) paper

I can send you the originals (.PSD) if you like/want to mess around with the template

Ive no problem with house rules "per se", but my RQIII game ended up with more house rules than vanilla rules! So i'd rather stick to RAW with the gold book for a while (unless something is utterly broken, don't touch it!).

At the moment i think ill need to house rule this issue and magic.

Thanks for the awesome sheet!!! I'll be using it!