Topic: Coping with the 150 ceiling, and /lvl boni.

[Yasha]

While I was thinking about the Warrior Mage lately, it reminded me house rules we built a campaign around.

For decades we used the 150 limit for directed spells, and, don't ask me why, we jumped to another table from 0 with weapons, thus wasting points.

In some game we used the 150 strict limit for weapons too, but it turned out to be dull, as it went into a parrying feast and ala D&D fights...
In other games going over 150, +1 crit score/5 OB got the votes, our second choice would be RoCoI's Hits increase, adding a crit coming very last (we hate LB J crits...).

From the few posts I could read, it seems +1/5 is of common use ; are they other common methods I didn't read about and why would you rather use them ?

Some of us also felt /lvl boni were against the idea anybody can be good at anything, stats already making a huge difference. +2 or +3/lvl end giving a too huge gap too.
In another strict 150 limit game, we eventually locked to "1" skillpoint squares, gave +1/lvl boni to reflect the spirit of the professions, and two +10 background boni. So a lvl 30 Mage who had spent 9 DPs every level would have the same skill as a lvl 30 Fighter, but not the same efficiency (and the Fighter would have other assets). Our characters were less archetyped, but the game was balanced (we enjoy the romantic Fellowship feeling more than "realism") and more personalized.

Do you feel we had it right, or are they holes we didn't see (and fall into) ?

[Sable Wyvern]

I've always just had results cap at 150.

However, in answer to this:

Do you feel we had it right, or are they holes we didn't see (and fall into) ?

I say, "Did you have fun?" If the answer is yes, you did it right.

[Voriig Kye]

We've played with the RoCo "hit interval" when exceeding 150 since we learned about it many years ago.
In our last campaign we used the idea from RMU, giving +1 crit/10 over the table limit. Although now I think it is +1/5. Overall I feel it gave better moments, since it helped an excellent attack turn into a good enough critical.

The lvl boni we've kept from RM2 since the beginning, and the players are happy with it. We'll use RMU Professional skill + Knack in the next campaign. I think the idea of making the professions better only at the skills they develop but not at everything has merit, but the players are worried that their skills will be lower in general, mostly because there's no +2/rank or higher.

[Merkir]

During RMU alpha I tried to persuade the game designers to take the tables to at least 250 or 300. In fact I gave them example tables up to 500. The thing is, it doesn't take too many extra rows. At the top end, the roll ranges can be 50 or even 100 (for the 401-500 top of table result).

The concession we got is that the top of table went from 150 to 175, so at least something.

But one of the main reasons for using such a large range, up to 500 for example, is so that a top of table roll actually means something. With all due respect to the game designers, I don't think they get that for some players, perhaps most, it's fun to achieve results you've never got before. Rolling a 420 on your favourite weapon table might only happen once in a campaign, if ever, so make it more memorable by having tables that actually show your most epic achievement.

But what we have now is max 150 or 175 and, ho hum, just another top of table result, yawn.

It's really quite strange considering that at higher levels an OB can actually be well above 100, if not 150, so the table limit of 150 or 175 is a strange design decision, and always has been.

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

We merely roll over the table, so a result of 225 would equal a result of 150 added to a result of 75. Easy, fast, and it gives some value to high results.

[Hurin]

We merely roll over the table, so a result of 225 would equal a result of 150 added to a result of 75. Easy, fast, and it gives some value to high results.

That's what we've been using too.

[Spectre771]

RM2's Elemental Companion has spell attack tables going extremely high to deal with levels of potency of the element and the level of some of the Mature and Ancient drakes with an elemental breath attack.  I believe there are 6 tables for different levels of potency of the element.  I can't recall the high end numbers (300+ attack result), but the results given go up to "J" crits.  It may be something you can incorporate into your game.

[Peter R]

We use +1 on the critical roll for every 10 over 150.

[intothatdarkness]

One of the Companions (don't remember which one) had a crit stacking formula for breaking 150. So you'd have an E, an E + and A, and so on. We used that because frankly crits are what matter in most cases. Also, concussion damage should have some absolute physical limits.

[Ecthelion]

From the few posts I could read, it seems +1/5 is of common use ; are they other common methods I didn't read about and why would you rather use them ?

We increase the Critical severity by 1 for every 30 points over 150, with an F-Critical being resolved with two rolls, one for an E-Critical and one for an A-Critical. A G-Critical results in an E- and B-Critical roll etc. This also works for attacks limited to a given attack size, like attacks on the Bite Attack Table. A Medium Attack there would normally be limited to a result of 120. If that result in something like 12 CS then we'd increase the critical to a D-Critical when the attack result exceeds 150. Every 30 points over whatever maximum applies to the attack, be it the end of the attack table or an attack size limit, increases the Critical severity by 1.

[Majyk]

Yup, Ecthelion has it right crit-wise from one of the RM2 companions and I have always used that, too.
Extra Hits-wise, take the amount of times a certain crit shows up, Say 17E shows at the 143-150 range for a weapon meaning 8x in this instance/example.
Take this number and divide the amount over 150 by it and you have the amount of extra hits the attack gives.
So an attack that totals 180 would add 3-4 extra hits(rounded up or down as you wish but total 17+3/=20/21) and the crit would become an F(E+A).
Weapons that tend to only have a single result we would default to showing up thrice so extra adjusted hits wouldn't get too outrageous!


As Merkir says, in later levels it is just way more fun seeing weapons masters kick butt and blend their foes into pink paste vs ONLY be just as good as a novice somehow hitting the top of the chart against them.


As said above, another quick way is to just "roll over" and wrap the table but I always hated how all of a sudden 0s would happen unless you pretty much doubled the original 150 rolled...


In the end, it is all about speed and fun so if the math game isn't for you like it is for my group, stick with 5s or 10s or the Wrap method - at least it is something.