SIZ Characteristic and Stealth Penalty

[ColoradoCthulhu]

The same Dark Ages character I mentioned in the previous post with a melancholic disposition (we're starting to think he's a lot like Emo Phillips) is also a SIZ 90: very tall and gangly, one of the tallest men in Anglo-Saxon England.

Should a character this tall or large receive a penalty die for Stealth skill rolls? He'd be very easy to spot, as almost no one is his size. What other skill penalties might a character with a SIZ 90 receive due to their unusual size?

@Mike M can weigh in on this one too.

[harunmushod]

The Basic Rolepaying System, from which the Call of Cthulhu mechanics derive, give bonuses and penalties to skills based on the attributes . That includes giving a 1% penalty for each 5 points of SIZ above 50 for Stealth and a bonus of 1% for each 5 points below 50 (see pp.22, 35 of  BASIC ROLEPLAYING: UNIVERSAL GAME ENGINE (2023)).

Edited May 14 by harunmushod

[ColoradoCthulhu]

3 hours ago, harunmushod said:

The Basic Rolepaying System, from which the Call of Cthulhu mechanics derive, give bonuses and penalties to skills based on the attributes . That includes giving a 1% penalty for each 5 points of SIZ above 50 for Stealth and a bonus of 1% for each 5 points below 50 (see pp.22, 35 of  BASIC ROLEPLAYING: UNIVERSAL GAME ENGINE (2023)).

So, an 8% penalty in this case with a SIZ of 90. How would I apply that to a dice roll? Subtract 8 from any roll using d100 dice?

[SDLeary]

1 hour ago, ColoradoCthulhu said:

So, an 8% penalty in this case with a SIZ of 90. How would I apply that to a dice roll? Subtract 8 from any roll using d100 dice?

Just for reference, the quoted penalty on p.22 is if using BRP skill category modifiers. In that instance, the Physical category (where stealth related skills fall) has DEX as Primary (+1 / point over 10; -1 / point under 10), STR and CON as secondary (+1 / every two point2 over 10; -1 / every two points under 10), and SIZ as Negative ( -1 / point over 10; +1 / point under 10)... So not quite as simple as suggested, but not unreasonable either. I see no specific mention of a specific Stealth skill mallus for SIZ either on p.35 or on p.51 under the description of the Stealth skill. 

I'm not seeing any options in Cthulhu (nor CDA) for a SIZ mallus, so I would probably not introduce a fixed penalty. Better simply to increase the difficulty one level for SIZ over say 15, or to perhaps introduce a Penalty Die.

SDLeary

[harunmushod]

6 hours ago, ColoradoCthulhu said:

So, an 8% penalty in this case with a SIZ of 90. How would I apply that to a dice roll? Subtract 8 from any roll using d100 dice?

Yes, or you can add or subtract it to the base chance and then forget about it, as it's baked into the skills stat.  I should add, that in balance you should do the reverse for DEX. BRP also adds 1% for each 10 points of STR or CON over 50 (and versa), but I reckon that's fine tuning. 

[Mike M]

By the rules of CoC - SIZ does not impose a penalty on Stealth rolls (as a baseline) - a person can be large and still be very good at stealth (if they put points into the skill), likewise a small person (who didn't put points in stealth) can be bad (clumsy etc) at sneaking about. 

The exception to this might be situational modifiers - such as the result of a previously failed pushed roll (not necessarily for Stealth roll) - the outcome imposes a penalty die to the next stealth roll, etc. Or the situation means it's harder to sneak/hide (e.g. the large PC has just been covered in white paint/flour, etc), thus a penalty die is imposed. 

 

[Nozbat]

Rather than overthinking this.. or possibly over-calculating it!! .. I’d tend to go with the story or narrative that suits... if the person is trying to sneak through a Burgh after curfew .. then they should use whatever their standard role + situational modifiers that are appropriate 

If the person is in a crowd during a market day in the same Burgh and trying not to be noticed.. then they stand out (or possibly stand-up) being so tall.. and any attempt to crouch over to ´normal height’ is likely to attract even more attention as others wonder what they are doing

Similarly, if the Arch-baddie is looking for a very tall person who passed through the Burgh last week.. they are likely to be remembered as they stood out as being one of the tallest people around. 
 

IMHO.. rule it as it comes up and review it after with the players to make sure it’s fair and equitable 

 

[EldorfDragonsbane]

Another thing to note about SIZ and Stealth is look at the movies, a big guy like Lurch from the Addams Family actually moves around quite quietly and can startle people when he comes up behind them without knowing, same goes for some of your movie bad guys like Michael Meyers in the Halloween movies or Jason Vorhees in the Friday the 13th series (remember for the first one though it was his mom that was the killer not him). These movie baddies while of a larger more muscular/taller build actually move pretty stealthily, coming upon their victims with out the victims realizing it until its too late, even when the ones who see them coming and run are surprised when they think they are safe and then BOOM theres the killer.

 

I actually knew a guy I worked with at one time, a good 6ft 5in and  350+lbs, he moved like a cat, if you didnt see him coming he could easily startle you buy walkign up behind you, and he wasnt even trying to be stealthy.