Author Topic: Feedback Desired on Power Awareness: Reading sub-skill  (Read 1236 times)

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Offline arakish

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Feedback Desired on Power Awareness: Reading sub-skill
« on: February 12, 2018, 02:01:54 PM »
Power Awareness: Reading sub-skill

I thought about posting this on the Beta2 Spell Law thread, but also thought since my method of Power usage (magic) is so different, I opted for the general Rolemaster thread.

I desire some feedback on my new method for "reading" power.  First, some other data needed...

The skill Power Awareness has four sub-skills: Sensing, Perceiving, Attuning, and Reading.  Foremost, a person must be Aware the Power exists.  This is done by simply telling them the Power exists.  Of course, showing them also helps tremendously.  But, only informing them is enough.  My Logic is as follows:
  • If one is Aware of the Power, they can Sense it.
  • If one can Sense the Power, they can Perceive it.
  • If one can Perceive the Power, they can Attune to it.
  • If one can Attune to the Power, they can Read it.

Even those who live within the Hath'arnd Empire know the Power exists.  They see the Hath'arnd use it almost every day.

Although learned as a single skill, using the sub-skills utilizes a rank-scaling method as detailed below:

  • Sensing = (number of developed ranks in Awareness) minus 0.
  • Perceiving = (number of developed ranks in Awareness) minus 3.
  • Attuning = (number of developed ranks in Awareness) minus 6.
  • Reading = (number of developed ranks in Awareness) minus 9.

Example: If you have 12 developed ranks in Awareness, then you could use all 12 for Sensing, 9 for Perceiving, 6 for Attuning, and 3 for Reading.

SENSING (In)
Being aware the Power exists allows those with the aptitude to be able to Sense the Power.  Sensing the Power is the first step to be able to manipulate the Power.

Sensing starts on the Absurd column of the Maneuver Table.  Roll Od100, add the In modifier, if the result on the table is 100+, then Sensing is achieved.  If fails (<100 result), then spend the next day Sensing on the next lower column (i.e. - Sheer Folly, then Extremely Hard, etc.).  Once successful, the person can Sense the Power by simply using this skill.  Just because one can Sense and/or Perceive a very powerful source of Kreäsa does not mean one can Sense and/or Perceive.

PERCEIVING (Re)
Once one is able to Sense the Power, then comes the ability to Perceive the Power.  This is usually being able to "see" the Power.  However, it can include other senses.

Perceiving starts on the Absurd column of the Maneuver Table.  Roll Od100, add the Re modifier, if the result on the table is 100+, then Perceiving is achieved.  If fails (<100 result), then spend the next day Perceiving on the next lower column.  Once successful, the person can Perceive the Power by simply using this skill.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SENSING AND PERCEIVING
The difference between Sensing and Perceiving Power is the difference of "feeling" and "seeing."

Ever had the "feeling" someone is watching you?  You'll look around until you finally "see" the person looking at you.

That is similar to Sensing and Perceiving.  Sensing would be the "feeling" of someone watching you.  Perceiving would be actually "seeing" the person watching you.

ATTUNING (SD)
Once one is able to Perceive the Power, then comes Attuning to the Power.  To use the Power, one must first be Attuned to it.  Attuning is fairly simple once one can Sense and Perceive the Power.  Attuning once is enough, since it is permanent.  One must Attune to the Power for them to later employ and manipulate it.

Attuning starts on the Absurd column of the Maneuver Table.  Roll Od100, add the SD modifier and modifier from available ranks, if the result on the table is 100+, then Attunement is achieved.  If fails (<100 result), then spend the next day Attuning on the next lower column (i.e. - Sheer Folly, then Extremely Hard, etc.).  Once successful, the person is permanently Attuned to the Power.

However, any Power manipulation by another Power User (such as Kreäsamittum (Items of Power) or Kreäsalanun (Power Shaped)) must be Attuned to separately.  Depending upon the depth of manipulation, the Attunement may be performed once per hour, once per day, once per two days, etc.  Judgment on how often an attempt may be made is left to the GM.  Generally, the higher the level, the less often.

Once Attuned to the Power, one can Sense the Power automatically just by thinking about it (i.e. - Concentration).  Around strong Power sources, or powerful Items of Power, the Power can be Sensed without Concentration.  Example: The Voryez Valdrak can be easily Sensed and/or Perceived due to its almost infinite Power, even by those who are not Attuned to the Power.  Even those who have not Perceived or Sensed.  If exceptionally powerful, the Item may even be Perceived.



Here is the section I am asking for feedback.

READING (Em)

My first write up for Reading Power was a super complicated method.  I wanted to simply it and came up with the below:

Basically, this works the same as ALL the "analysis" type spells, except it is now a skill.

Use the "analysis" type spells as guidelines.  For the same spells in different realms, use the spell that is listed as being lowest in level.

Use the spell level versus the Reading skill ranks as RR levels to determine the modifier to the "reading" maneuver roll.  Other modifiers may apply.

Start on the Absurd column of the Maneuver Table.  Roll Od100, adding the Em modifier and other modifiers.  If result on the Maneuver Table is <100, then the Reading failed and cannot be attempted again until one complete planetary rotation has elapsed.  Subsequent attempts are rolled against the next lower column (i.e. - Sheer Folly, then Extremely Hard, etc.).

Here is some additional discussion...

Reading Power is the most difficult aspect of the Power Awareness skill.  Reading allows one to learn all "abilities" of what a Item of Power is, one "ability" at a time.  Some of the abilities are easily learned, such as if the Power is a Defensive Power, or Alteration, etc.  Specifics become increasing difficult.  If studied long enough, one may even be able to read "whom" emplaced the Power.

Of course, this does not work on Powers that have expired, or have been dispelled.  There are other Powers which can Read old Power Usage.  The older, the more difficult.  However, those Powers are called Sagatinu (Inquiries).

Reading Power only works on Power that is still active.  Wards are exceptionally difficult, since by their nature, they are hidden and lie waiting like an invisible trap.

The type of Power (Alteration, Creation, Defensive, Destruction, Elemental, Healing, Information, Summoning, Transportation) is easiest to Read, being done on the Hard column of the Maneuver Table.  Reading "whom" emplaced the Power is the most difficult, being done on the Absurd column with an additional -100 modifier.  Trickery skill used by the Power Forger will further complicate the Reading of the Item of Power.  Difficulty Levels and Modifiers for Reading are left to the GM's judgment.  This is done for each ability one is attempting to read.

Author's Note: I said "one complete planetary rotation" above, since, perhaps, not all worlds rotate at the same rate as the Earth.  For example, Onaviu rotates once every 28 hours.  Furthermore, I am still using the older style Maneuver Table since I still prefer it.

Thanks for any feedback.

rmfr
"Beware those who would deny you access to information, for they already dream themselves your master."
— RMF Runyan in Sci-Fi RPG session (GM); quoted from the PC game SMAC.

Offline Hurin

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Re: Feedback Desired on Power Awareness: Reading sub-skill
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2018, 03:50:35 PM »
  Just because one can Sense and/or Perceive a very powerful source of Kreäsa does not mean one can Sense and/or Perceive.


I don't know what this sentence means; can you explain?

Overall, I would say you probably could streamline it, as it is quite complex. I think you could probably collapse the 'sensing' and 'perceiving' categories; you already have to include material to explain the difference, so it is a subtle one, and I'm not quite sure it is necessary.

How would Attuning and Reading work with RMU's Delving skills? Are they replacements for Attunement?
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Offline jdale

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Re: Feedback Desired on Power Awareness: Reading sub-skill
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2018, 05:32:01 PM »
So, some analysis spells from various lists....
4. Sound Analysis – Caster learns the origin and significance of any one sound that the caster has heard in the last minute.
6. Poison Analysis – Caster may analyze a poison to determine the exact effects and what antidotes are necessary. Poison may be on an item or in a being.
13. Hate Analysis – Caster can determine the nature and origin of active hatred found within any 1 target (inanimate or animate); the degree and other details of such hatred can also be acquired. Any objects or beings “Of Slaying” will show as hating their target type.
15. Emotion Analysis – As Hate Analysis, except caster can determine the nature and origin of any extreme emotion(s) in the target.
11. Tracks Analysis – Caster acquires a visual image of all beings or animals who left tracks in the area. This provides a +50 bonus when later tracking any of these beings or animals. If more than one being or animal has left tracks, the caster will see them one image at a time, one image per round (starting with the oldest image).
2. Text Analysis I – Caster can read text written in an unknown language, but only understands basic concepts of it.


Not really sure how most of those apply to analyzing magic. Maybe:

"A successful reading gives the reader a good understanding of one aspect of the power. For example, they will understand one ability of a magic item, including its effects and how that ability may be triggered."

A lot of the rest of what you are saying could be covered by just having a list of modifiers or thresholds for success. E.g.

Base difficulty: Absurd (-100)
Ward that has not yet been triggered: -50

You are referring to the moving maneuver table; for that table you could say "Any result of 70+ will reveal the general type of power (Alteration, Creation, Defensive, Destruction, Elemental, Healing, Information, Summoning, Transportation), but only a result of 100+ will reveal the details. A result of 150+ will also recognize the 'signature' of the person who emplaced the power, allowing the reader to determine, for example, whether two items were created by the same person." That seems a little easier than requiring multiple attempts at different modifiers so someone could in principle first try to recognize the type, fail, then try to get the details anyway.

Personally, I don't think the moving maneuver table makes much sense here unless you are going to allow the reader to make multiple attempts and accumulate successes. If it's just a question of whether they do or don't hit the threshold, I would say Partial Success gives the type of power, Success gives the details, and Absolute Success recognizes the signature. But that's just my personal preference.

Regarding "one complete planetary rotation", that only makes sense to me if the campaign will move between different worlds with different day lengths. If your campaign is always on the same planet, you can say "one day" and it's assumed that's one rotation of that planet, however long that happens to take. But if you do hop between different planets, it's interesting that the local day length affects magical processes.

Last comment, making different uses of the same skill operate at different numbers of ranks is awkward since you need to index how many ranks they have and what each rank is worth. A penalty of -3 ranks could be -15 or -3. It's kind of interesting that skilled practicioners find reading basically the same difficulty as sensing, but beginners find reading much, much harder, but it would be easier in play to say the base difficulty for sensing is -100, perceiving is -110, attuning is -120, and reading is -130. That requires no look-ups and the calculation is trivial. Of course if you want to make this a central feature of how magic works and you think the variable dynamics are interesting, you could just pre-compute them on the character sheet, so it's not a killer, I just think it's a question of whether the complexity is justified and you should think about what your objective is.
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Offline arakish

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Re: Feedback Desired on Power Awareness: Reading sub-skill
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2018, 08:19:14 AM »
Thanks guys.  I have already started re-writing that previous copy and paste.

Hurin, I never noticed that sentence until you pointed it out.

As for the Delving skill, it was replaced.

jdale, I have already started rewriting it towards your modifier instead of rank scaling.

Again, thanks guys.

rmfr
"Beware those who would deny you access to information, for they already dream themselves your master."
— RMF Runyan in Sci-Fi RPG session (GM); quoted from the PC game SMAC.

Offline arakish

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Re: Feedback Desired on Power Awareness: Reading sub-skill
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2018, 10:02:54 AM »
Here is some of the re-write we have been doing (actually I've been doing the re-write, players just helping to input).  We grew exhausted from burning our brains out thinking on this for last week or so.  Thus I am again asking for some feedback.  Thanks.



DELVING

One must first be aware that the Power does exist.  Virtually all persons, even those within the Hath’arnd Empire, do know the Power exists; thus, they are all aware of it.  They also know not all are able to manipulate the Power.  In accordance to the teachings in the Krechars, the other peoples within the Hath’arnd Empire think that only the Hath’arnd and their Norik Minions can wield the Power (Kreäsa).  There are four sub-skills within Power Delving: Sensing, Perceiving, Attuning, and Reading.

Logic:
  • If one is Aware of the Power, they can Sense it.
  • If one can Sense the Power, they can Perceive it.
  • If one can Perceive the Power, they can Attune to it.
  • If one can Attune to the Power, they can Read it.

Although learned as a single skill, there are special modifiers which depict the difficulty of using each sub-skill: Sensing = +0; Perceiving = -25; Attuning = -50; Reading = -75.

Example: If your total bonus in Power Delving is +120, then Sensing would be +120, Perceiving +95, Attuning +70, Reading +45.

Being aware the Power exists is the first step in being able to manipulate the Power.  Virtually all persons on Onaviu are Aware that the Power exists.  They also know not all persons are able to manipulate it.  The steps are: Awareness, Sensing, Perceiving, Attuning, and Reading/Manipulating.


SENSING (In)
Sensing the Power is the second step to be able to manipulate the Power.  Sensing the Power is kind of like an extra-sensory perception.  Once you Sense the Power, you “feel” its presence.  A good way of thinking of this phenomena is like “The Force” in the Star Wars universe.  The Power “exists” within everything.  It exists within ALL things, even rock, the dirt, the tree, the air, ALL things.  The Power ultimately derives its existence from the Lanamaütu: Athanor, Sareylan, and Daryina.

If within the Hath’arnd Empire, due to their complete oppression of the Power (except themselves and their Minions, Sensing starts with the Nigh Impossible modifier on the Percentage Maneuver table; otherwise, it starts with the Extremely Hard modifier.  The process requires a minimum of one hour of concentration.  Then roll Od100, adding the Delving bonus and the In modifier, if the result on the table is 100+, then Sensing is achieved.  If fails (<100 result), then spend the next day Sensing on the next lower difficulty modifier (i.e. - Absurd, then Sheer Folly, etc. (or Very Hard, then Hard, etc.)).  Once successful, the person can Sense the Power by simply using this sub-skill (concentration).  Just because one can Sense and/or Perceive a very powerful source of Kreäsa does not mean one can actually Sense and/or Perceive the Kreäsa itself.


PERCEIVING (Re)
Once one is able to Sense the Power, then comes the ability to Perceive the Power.  This is usually being able to “see” the Power.  However, it can include other senses.  Yes, it is easiest to “see” the Kreäsa, but it can also be “heard” and “felt.”  Unless it is a Mehuzigqusaru (phantasm, illusion) manipulation of the Power, one will never “taste” or “smell” the Power.

Perceiving is done exactly as in Sensing above, except Od100, adding the Delving bonus -25 and the Re modifier.  Once successful, the person can Perceive the Power by simply using this skill.


ATTUNING (SD)
Once one is able to Perceive the Power, then comes Attuning to the Power.  To use the Power, one must first be Attuned to it.  Attuning is fairly simple once one can Sense and Perceive the Power.  Attuning once is enough, since it is permanent.  One must Attune to the Power for them to later employ and manipulate it.

Attuning is done exactly as in Sensing above, except Od100, adding the Delving bonus -50 and the SD modifier.  Once successful, the person can Attune to the Power by simply using this skill.

However, any Power manipulation by another Power User, such as Kreäsamittum (Items of Power) or Kreäsalanun (Power Shaped (an active spell)) must be Attuned to separately.  Depending upon the depth of manipulation, the Attunement may be performed once per hour, once per day, once per two days, etc.  Judgment on how often an attempt may be made is left to the GM.  Generally, the higher the level, the less often.

Once Attuned to the Power, one can Sense the Power automatically just by thinking about it (i.e. – Concentration).  Around strong Power sources, or powerful Items of Power, the Power can be Sensed without Concentration.

Example: The Voryez Valdrak can be easily Sensed and/or Perceived due to its almost infinite Power, even by those who are not Attuned to the Power.  Even those who have not Perceived or Sensed.  If exceptionally powerful, the Item may even be Perceived.

When attuning to Kreäsalanun

When attuning to Kreäsamittum


READING (Em)
      Note: This is being re-written.  Perhaps RR using levels as additional modifiers?

Reading is done exactly as in Sensing above, except Od100, adding the Delving bonus -75 and the Em modifier.  Once successful, the person can Attune to the Power by simply using this skill.

Once attuned to a Kreäsamittum (Item of Power), one can use the item, but cannot specify which ability to use, if there are more than one ability.  To know and choose which abilities, one must Read the Item of Power.  Instead, the item will choose whichever ability it desires for the user to use.  Remember, ALL Items of Power contain a part of its maker; thus, ALL Items of Power are also somewhat intelligent and willful.  The only Items of Power which are NOT somewhat intelligent and willful, are potions, rune paper, gases, glyphs, runes, symbols, wards, wands, rods, staves; however, they could still be “keyed,” but are not naturally intelligent and willful.

Reading Power is the most difficult aspect of the Power Delving skill.  Reading allows one to learn all abilities of what an Item of Power has, one ability at a time.  Some of the abilities are easily learned, such as if the Power is a Defensive Power, or Alteration, etc.  Specifics become increasing difficult.  If studied long enough, one may even be able to read “whom” created the Item of Power; thus, whose “will” is implanted in the Item of Power.

The type of Power (Alteration, Creation, Defensive, Destruction, Elemental, Healing, Information, Summoning, Transportation) is easiest to Read.  Reading “whom” created the Item of Power is the most difficult, receiving an additional -75 modifier.  Trickery skill used by the Power User will further complicate the Reading of the Item of Power.  Difficulty Levels and Modifiers for Reading are left to the GM’s judgment (meaning I ain’t sat down and burned out my brain figuring them out).



Thanks for offering any feedback.

rmfr
"Beware those who would deny you access to information, for they already dream themselves your master."
— RMF Runyan in Sci-Fi RPG session (GM); quoted from the PC game SMAC.