Defence

[Tywyll]

So I began my BRP experience with RQ3 and CoC, so the Defence stat was already gone. Now looking at my old copies of RQ2, I'm curious about it. 

How did it work in play? Why did it go away? If you used a module with that stat, how would you replace it/update it?

Edited January 15, 2019 by Tywyll

[Malc]

Defence was pretty simple. It’s a flat penalty on to hit rolls made against the character. So 50% attack vs 10% defence give a 40% chance to hit. If you get attacked my multiple opponents, you split the defence between the attacks as you see fit.  

Mostly the values are pretty small, and in that case you can ignore defence. A high defence would translate into skill in dodge (I’d probably give dodge at something like defence x 2).

[PhilHibbs]

2 hours ago, Tywyll said:

If you used a module with that stat, how would you replace it/update it?

The official answer is that "Defense is not used in RQ:G and should be ignored", so all RQ2 stat characters and NPCs just have base chance in Dodge regardless of their RQ2 Defense. That seems a little mean to me, I think I agree with @Malc about dodge being 2xDefense. Maybe Defense + 2xDEX.

[Sumath]

The problem was that beginning characters in RQ2 didn't have a high attack chance to begin with. Combine that with an enemy's Defence and it got even worse, so some fights became lots of flailing about hitting nothing but air. 

[soltakss]

RQ2 Defense was a very abstract thing, involving moving about and being hard to hit. RQ3 Dodge removed the abstraction and made it a concrete thing.

Personally, I liked RQ2 Defense and lamented its passing. It makes duels between masters interesting and also causes master swordsmen to cut through lesser fighters very easily, which reflects my personal taste. However, people who like very gritty combat might not find it to their liking.

Just using Dodge = Defense x 2 should work, although that gives Soltak Stormspear a Dodge of 200%!

 

[Kloster]

32 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Just using Dodge = Defense x 2 should work, although that gives Soltak Stormspear a Dodge of 200%!

Of course, having a 100% defense is not so high! Cough!

Kloster

[Thyrwyn]

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

RQ2 Defense was a very abstract thing, involving moving about and being hard to hit. RQ3 Dodge removed the abstraction and made it a concrete thing.

Personally, I liked RQ2 Defense and lamented its passing. It makes duels between masters interesting and also causes master swordsmen to cut through lesser fighters very easily, which reflects my personal taste. 

 

I’ve found that the mechanism of subtracting skill over 100% effects the same feel, has that been your experience?

[soltakss]

2 minutes ago, Thyrwyn said:

I’ve found that the mechanism of subtracting skill over 100% effects the same feel, has that been your experience?

Yes, it does. We used to call it AntiParry and we used it to emulate Lin Chun, from the Water Margin, in combat - he would fight normal soldiers, cutting them down with abandon (AntiParry), while not being hurt by them (Defense).

[Tywyll]

4 hours ago, Sumath said:

The problem was that beginning characters in RQ2 didn't have a high attack chance to begin with. Combine that with an enemy's Defence and it got even worse, so some fights became lots of flailing about hitting nothing but air. 

That just sounds like the experience would then mimic what you would expect at high levels versus two opponents with high skill (hit/parry, hit/parry/dodge, hit/parry/dodge, etc)

 

[Tywyll]

4 hours ago, soltakss said:

RQ2 Defense was a very abstract thing, involving moving about and being hard to hit. RQ3 Dodge removed the abstraction and made it a concrete thing.

Personally, I liked RQ2 Defense and lamented its passing. It makes duels between masters interesting and also causes master swordsmen to cut through lesser fighters very easily, which reflects my personal taste. However, people who like very gritty combat might not find it to their liking.

Just using Dodge = Defense x 2 should work, although that gives Soltak Stormspear a Dodge of 200%!

 

Interesting. Thanks for that. I think if I get a chance to run my theoretical RQ2 game, I will definitely use it.

[Revilo Divad Of Dyoll]

My memory is that it was fine at lower levels, but in a long-lasting campaign (even at only INT percentage chance of increasing each adventure it was successful, IIRC, it eventually went up), it soon got up to levels where it made too much of a difference.  In other words a 50% (for example) reduction in each opponent's chance to hit was unworkable.  But it probably depends on what type of campaign you are running.  Although Dodge is not perfect, I found that it worked better.