Algesan

Not to dis you or the OP's experience, since I share it, but the problem with SCA experience stems directly from its admirable record of low injuries, it limits what you can do with weapons. HEMA is not immune to it, although a bit more open, depending on the rules in use. Any two handed weapon has the ability to both parry/block and riposte/attack. Sure, it isn't going to work if you try to play Mighty Casey with a baseball bat. There are some advantages to using a weapon with two hands in terms of leverage. This doesn't even cover "alternate" attack methods that fit right into using the weapon, including kicks, trips, throws, grappling, elbow smashes, punching, pommel strikes, butt spikes, etc. That is actually one of the greatest things about the original D&D combat system, since it simulated a minute of combat to get one "damaging" blow in which included feints, parries, ripostes, "alternate attacks", etc. IMO, a minute was too long, but it got out of all of this technical stuff. There are other systems if you want to simulate that.

Um, no, they are merely similar. Yes, some have pretty much the same mechanisms as each other, but often enough they various versions streamline different mechanisms. For example, I like the Mythras Classic Fantasy method of using Ranks as "levels", although I'm reworking that section because trying to shoehorn classes into a d100 type system can be klunky. Doable, but it takes more flexibility, which means more skills, which means more different "rank up" (level up) numbers. I mean, seriously, what melee character isn't going to spend every possible experience roll on their Combat Style? Are they stupid? Why isn't a player going to push his character and spend virtually all of his experience rolls outside of the ones needed to rank up? NOTE: Yes, yes, yes, some people will do some things for RP purposes. Without sufficient flexibility in the rank up skills, your dwarf fighter & master smith will end up either limited in his actual smithing related skills or sucking wind in the fighter department compared to some blockhead who sticks with the rank up skills. Its getting to be a bit amusing. Keep the Mythras CF character creation, totally redo the rank up methodology (so something like a true "light fighter" type becomes viable instead of everybody going with the old tanky type), toss the Mythras combat in favor of the simplified version of BRP combat. Go with Mythras skills, toss the entire BRP "base chance" + stat bonus for StatA + StatB = base chance, because it forces some choices for starting characters ("do I use the 5% base chance or the 25% base chance weapon?"). Also, more combined skills, so more concise with Mythras, but the complications of flexibility from BRP can be used if needed. Actually, if I have a number one complaint about any of the d100 fantasy systems, it is the total lack of a creature summary list. Don't think Monster Manual (yes, some fans have done great work there, but without a table of contents or a simpler search, having to go page by page through huge pdf files is not fun), think back of the 1e Dungeon Masters' Guide where a functional stat block line per creature is.

Heh, part of the post that got eaten was that I didn't want to do the "do what you want in your game" excuse. I find it funny and annoying because I learned to play and GM using the OD&D ruleset, which required it because it was broken in so many ways. It is a good position because the purpose is mainly defensive and, totally IMO, if we actually could go and watch well trained fighters who grew up trained in these martial arts, I bet there are counters to offensive shield use that make it far less useful than we find it today. I may go look there then, although the logic you gave me is one that makes sense, because despite how potentially damaging a shield strike can be, you don't find it as a primary attack option in any of the historical treatises we have. Thanks.

Thanks. First answer as expected (had a generated higher rank character who happened to qualify for the next rank based on the +5 CS bonus and another skill). Second one, not so much. The system ate a longer post where I gave my qualifications to speak on this subject and why shields are far, far deadlier IRL than the standard RPG rule constructs allow. IMO, the official rule should either be the +20 (they really are two different skills and shield use mostly doesn't change regardless of the weapon) OR that the shield spec +10 should be either Parry only or Parry + Offensive shield strikes. The latter better shows the true combat effects of shields. Maybe only allow learning one size category of base shield. There is a large difference between using a buckler and using a kite (I've done both). The tiniest shield, the buckler, if used offensively hits harder than the best brass knuckles you can buy... Think about why cops only use riot shields defensively: admitted lack of training & they don't want to start raising the casualty rate for rioters. Biggest pushback I can see... for fighters, it would make buying one level of Shield Spec a virtual lock for every build. We cannot see any reason not to end up with Shield spec by Rank 2. Especially since if you want the "light fighter" build, disallow the Shield Spec and allow the Dual Weapon spec from rangers.

After doing some playtest fights, a few questions popped up: 1) Does the +5% Combat bonus for the melee types count towards their Rank? 2) For Fighters, do the Shield Specialization (+10% Combat Style when using shield) and Melee Weapon X Specialization (+10% Combat Style when using Melee Weapon X) stack, giving an additional +20% to Combat Style when fighting with Melee Weapon X & Shield?

Yes, I am blind. Thanks.

Thanks, useful design note. While I can and do house rule my own stuff, I prefer to know the designer's intent.

Where are you seeing this in Fireball? Yes, this is trivially house ruled and I think I actually found the source of my issue. Fire(ball) in BRP 4th allows for alterations in number of hexes covered by the AoE and increasing the damage. This works, if it isn't clearly stated (like with Haste), then intensity is only relevant on odd numbers (when the damage goes up). Thanks for the assist.

Spell Intensity, does it do anything besides adjust the amount of damage a spell does? I've gone from the little BRP Classic Fantasy supplement to the RQ6/Mythras Classic Fantasy version. I remember somewhere that increasing spell intensity/level allowed for changing several different effects: larger AoE, longer range, more damage, etc. I would have blown the entire question off and left it as just a way to pump damage only since I cannot find any cross reference or source skimming through both books, except I find this under Magic Missile: An apparently clear reference to extending range through use of increased Intensity... ???

Minor addition to this. The rule of thumb depends on what your social class is. The peasants may get away with that penny, but their cabbage soup will be the one with the bit of gristle still in it. As you go higher up the strata (of whatever culture you are using), the costs of buying a meal (really, anything) will go up, sometimes quite a bit, as will the quality. The craftsman might get a bit of meat. The merchant will get a bit of fat with the meat. The big merchant/city official will get some meat on the side. The nobility will get meat garnished with cabbage. All of this at increasing rates, so the penny for the peasants, then nickel, dime, quarter, dollar. Yes, I skipped half since the nobles always have money and are expected to spend it, maybe even giving some extra to feed some peasants by the back door who are hurt/sick, widowed or orphaned and cannot work a job that pays a few pennies a day.

Agreed and Agreed. I was fortunate to grow up with some really old school GMs, as in D&D was released when I was 14, but I didn't find the Sunday afternoon gaming club until months later when I was almost 15. Hmmm, I actually can confirm one of my suspicions if I move fast enough as my first DM (not GM back then) was 30ish and I know he is back in town and working at the old hobby store. I think he had contact with the Gygax crowd prior to D&D's official publication. He always had the newest books before the official release.

Heh, different D&D games, perhaps run by differing GMs with a different take on economics. I've never been able to buy durable magic items in a game. Potions and scrolls, yes, you could buy them if you had enough coin, but rarely get exactly what you were looking for. I take your point on Pendragon economic games, but outside of D&D (where gold is almost a given) most of my games use coppers and silvers mainly. Influence from other sources. As for carrying it around, I had a bit of fun once. I indulged in some Kickstarters where they made coins for playing games with. I pulled them together after a couple of KS, put 150-200 of them in separate little bags inside a large leather pouch, set it on the table at the FLGS and invited people to pick it up and feel the weight of a couple hundred gold coins. Opened a few eyes...

Well, I do admit the appeal of Hack'n'Slash since I'm about to order two copies of Diablo 3 for my son (our mutual birthdays ) and I to have fun blasting stuff apart..... OTOH, even with players making economic decisions, other than some basic rules for a "living wage" as the basis for the economy, subsidence level living isn't really relevant to player level economic decisions (unless the murder hoboes are actually hoboes....).

Yes, nothing like making sure you are fed and cleaned every day. Sorry, couldn't resist Actually, it should feed more than one a day in that kind of economy or there should be some kind of "found" available to support daily laborers with wife and a kid or three. Barely support, yes, making any interruption of work into an almost immediate debt problem. Of course, remember if anyone gets ahead in this kind of culture, immediately their family and neighbors will pressure them for a "loan" since it would be "sinful" to hold on to such wealth. And this is actually more detail than 99.9% of the campaigns out there need. 😕