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Armor issue in The Savage North


daddystabz

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I purchased The Savage North the other night to use with OpenQuest but I am a bit worried about armor. On pg 16 it states the Imperial Knights of the North have armor that is 10 AP. How could a player hope to injure one with such powerful armor, especially if the player is a bowman? In OpenQuest you do not get to add your Damage Bonus to damage from bows. So the most you could ever do in damage with a bow is a d8 or a d10, bouncing right off the Knight of the North.

I just worry that 10 AP is far too overpowered. What are your thoughts on it please?

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But only being able to damage someone when you use magic or when you roll a crit is pretty limiting, don't you think? What if a PC wants to join the Knights of the North cult and gains 10 AP armor right off? This armor is way better than any in the OpenQuest core rulebook. The best armor there, plate mail, is only like 6 AP.

A couple options:

Magic: Speedart or Firearrow

Roll a critical. From what I read in the OpenQuest dev kit, "critical hits also ignore armour"

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Oh, I won't disagree with you there; 10AP seems excessive to me. Do they have some form of armoring enchantment that makes up the difference in AP from plate armor? Or, is it supposed to be exceptionally-well-crafted?

If the Knights of the North are an uber-competent group, I would treat them as a very exclusive cult that had high requirements for membership. Something along the lines of Runelord/Runepriest in Runequest. High skill levels in a number of skills, a serious time sink obligation, heavy tithing, etc. Joe Average wouldn't be able to walk in off the street, join their cult, and get a fancy suit of armor off the rack. They would already need to be a highly-skilled, well-reknowned individual.

And, in my opinion, if someone joined such a prestigious cult, it would be close to an "end-game" for that character. They'd be devoting so much time to the organization - and will have so many responsibilities - that they wouldn't have the time to go adventuring.

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The Knights of the North are Holy Warriors in OpenQuest terms, or Rune Lords in old RQ2 speak. Holy Warriors are covered on OQ p77

Their armour is a gift from their God the Celestial Emperor Maximus and they are expected to crush Barbarians, Heretics and other enemies of their God and by extension the Empire of Gatan unceasingly.

They are high level characters, both in societal prestige and game terms ( you need at least 75% in Close combat and 50% in Religion) , and normal adventuring groups are unlikely to meet them, unless they have been increadibly stupid and really pissed of the Governor of Drakar i.e have done something so bad that they are declared an Enemy of the Empire. If you have a player character who is pursing becoming a Northern Knight, the road is hard and arduous and once you get there you are constantly having to fight equivalent opponents to keep in with your God.

And yes they are tough to take down, but not impossible. As pointed out above stacking powerful damage inflicting magic, and critical hits bye pass the armour. As does mental attacks. Did you bring your friend Shamus the Shaman with his trio of bound Bog-Disease spirits?

Head Honcho of D101 Games
Publisher of Crypts and Things/Monkey/OpenQuest/River of Heaven
The Sorcerer Under the Mountain

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Thanks for the official response, Newt! I sincerely appreciate it.

The Knights of the North are Holy Warriors in OpenQuest terms, or Rune Lords in old RQ2 speak. Holy Warriors are covered on OQ p77

Their armour is a gift from their God the Celestial Emperor Maximus and they are expected to crush Barbarians, Heretics and other enemies of their God and by extension the Empire of Gatan unceasingly.

They are high level characters, both in societal prestige and game terms ( you need at least 75% in Close combat and 50% in Religion) , and normal adventuring groups are unlikely to meet them, unless they have been increadibly stupid and really pissed of the Governor of Drakar i.e have done something so bad that they are declared an Enemy of the Empire. If you have a player character who is pursing becoming a Northern Knight, the road is hard and arduous and once you get there you are constantly having to fight equivalent opponents to keep in with your God.

And yes they are tough to take down, but not impossible. As pointed out above stacking powerful damage inflicting magic, and critical hits bye pass the armour. As does mental attacks. Did you bring your friend Shamus the Shaman with his trio of bound Bog-Disease spirits?

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