Author Topic: Possible to play a Naga character?  (Read 1535 times)

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Offline Poil

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Possible to play a Naga character?
« on: November 02, 2017, 04:33:13 PM »
I was reading the Creatures and Monsters book when I suddenly spotted the naga entry and was overwhelmed by the desire to play as one. However while the book lists hit points, pace, AT, DB, OB and so on it doesn't actually list any stat modifiers, racial progressions, resistances or number of background options.

Is there somewhere I can find actual stats to attempt to make a naga character?


It seems like a really cool race to play as, and it could make for fun times visiting the surface for adventure for the character. The race description is detailed enough to give me what I need to craft a background and personality (as good as I can manage anyway) together with the Races and Cultures book. For some reason I'm thinking the subterranean culture template is the way to go.

I'm not quite sure what profession would be the best fit yet, but I am thinking on putting a focus on athletic skills, combat maneuvers (two weapon fighting and maybe a weapon style), special attacks (snake hugs), one cheap weapon category (swords), perhaps special defenses since wearing metal armor doesn't work too well if you expect to turn into a snake every once in a while, outdoor skills for subterranean use, possibly self control for adrenal stuff and of course some fun lore and when-not-adventuring hobby skills (play instrument: Pungi might be too silly however).
Rogue seemed ok but not quite what I was looking for. Sage looked very interesting with empathizing knowledge but the fighting skills were way too expensive. Warrior Mage was quite intriguing but I worry it would be too expensive to add the semi-spell user cost on all the skills I want on top of buying spell lists and power points. Swashbuckler seemed to fit quite well but I'm currently playing one so I'd rather not if I can avoid it. I love digging through books looking for inspiration and ideas.

Offline jdale

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Re: Possible to play a Naga character?
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2017, 10:29:27 PM »
In the beta PDF, the racial stat modiers, base hits, etc are shown in the lower gray part of the stat block. The upper white part shows the totals at the current level. This will certainly change in the final version but that gives you a bunch of what you are looking for. What's left for you to decide is which talents/flaws are inherent racial (and would be available at 1st level) and which were developed at a later level. Since the level is only 5, there isn't too much of that.
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Offline Poil

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Re: Possible to play a Naga character?
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2017, 02:59:43 AM »
Cool, thanks a lot. ;D

Found them. The talents shouldn't be too difficult to sort out since I can probably find most of them in the talents section of Character Law (and we're currently playing at level 14), but is agility 5 the equivalent of agility +5? Also the stuff like 6*5*2*1 etc not there, but I suppose I can just use high men or something.

Offline gog

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Re: Possible to play a Naga character?
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2017, 07:32:41 AM »
Have played an Naga in one campaign, it was great fun (but was playing it in secret). Later in the campaign when it was all known about, got to be the half snake and have extra fun.

Offline gog

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Re: Possible to play a Naga character?
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2017, 07:55:30 AM »
The stats I had where as follow (not sure if these are book or GM based) for RMSS/RMFRP:

Racial Bonus
Ag +2; Co +1; SD +2; Em +2; In -1; Qu +2
Resistance Roll Race Bonus
Essence -5; Mentalism +10; Poison +40; Disease +20
Realm: Essence {this was campaign based feature}
Body Dev Prog 0.6.5.2.1
PP Dev Prog 0.5.4.3.2

Hope that helps

Offline Poil

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Re: Possible to play a Naga character?
« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2017, 09:14:43 AM »
It helps a lot, thank you.

Offline Poil

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Re: Possible to play a Naga character?
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2017, 07:57:42 AM »
I've got a balance question or two for how to handle the natural attacks.

Using both the Creatures & Monster book as well as the Unified beta version I think I've found something that works but it involves using lots of two-weapon fighting skills. The naga has three main forms, full snake with grapple and bite, half snake half human with grapple and weapon and human with three snake heads (based on the back?) coiling up over the shoulder with bite and weapon in the hands. Which means four two weapon fighting skills: grapple+bite, grapple+sword, bite+bite and bite+sword. I'm counting the main head bite in snake form the same skill as one over-the-shoulder-snake-head bite because otherwise it would get ridiculous. Unified implies that the three snake heads over the shoulder are independent but getting three free bite attacks on top of my normal attack every round would be utterly broken as a player (not to mention risk of accidental self injury when swinging a sword around).

To explain it in game, when using a sword all three heads are trying to strike every round but only one of them actually manages to get into position to do so. If I'm not using a sword two of the heads can get in at the same time. It's not perfect but it seems ok to me.

The naga venom is a little tricky as the C&M lists it as a level 5A poison (what does the A stand for? Animal? A-crit required? Linked to an Attack?) and U says the poison uses my level, which would actually make it useful occasionally since the campaign is at level 14. Using a level 5 poison against a level 14 opponent is only happening if they fumble the RR. Even level 14 vs 14 with the triple constitution bonus and possible racial bonus isn't likely to happen either. I could venom the crap out of peasants and similarly dangerous opponents though.

Oh and I'm thinking of using a weapon style with one sword and a natural attack. It wasn't easy finding that in the Martial Arts Companion, it mentions in section 7.8 (page 32) that it can be found in sections 8.0 and 9.0 but it's not actually until section 14.3.5 (pg83) that it informs you how to add them, using the rules in section 8 and 9. Sigh. But trying to slash an opponent in the upper body with the sword while attempting to wrap the snake tail around their lower body should work fine, right?

Is there anything I'm missing or is this decently balanced enough to present to my GM?

Offline jdale

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Re: Possible to play a Naga character?
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2017, 11:24:08 PM »
Found them. The talents shouldn't be too difficult to sort out since I can probably find most of them in the talents section of Character Law (and we're currently playing at level 14), but is agility 5 the equivalent of agility +5? Also the stuff like 6*5*2*1 etc not there, but I suppose I can just use high men or something.

Yes, Agility +5 means a total stat bonus of +5. In this case that's a racial +4 and an additional +1 bonus for the stat itself.

RMU doesn't have different progressions for different races. If you want to price those out to make a balanced RMSS/RMFRP race, the rules are in GM Law.

Using both the Creatures & Monster book as well as the Unified beta version I think I've found something that works but it involves using lots of two-weapon fighting skills. The naga has three main forms, full snake with grapple and bite, half snake half human with grapple and weapon and human with three snake heads (based on the back?) coiling up over the shoulder with bite and weapon in the hands. Which means four two weapon fighting skills: grapple+bite, grapple+sword, bite+bite and bite+sword. I'm counting the main head bite in snake form the same skill as one over-the-shoulder-snake-head bite because otherwise it would get ridiculous. Unified implies that the three snake heads over the shoulder are independent but getting three free bite attacks on top of my normal attack every round would be utterly broken as a player (not to mention risk of accidental self injury when swinging a sword around).

The RMU solution here is to use the Multiple Attacks skill. You will get two effective attacks before you can get your bonus high enough to get three or four effective attacks, but it scales over levels. The by the book RMSS answer is you need separate skills for each combination which is problematic.

I like the venom scaling with level too, it keeps natural venoms from being overpowering at low levels and from being pointless at high ones. A fixed level is fine if you're only encountering the race as a monster of a more-or-less fixed level.

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Oh and I'm thinking of using a weapon style with one sword and a natural attack. It wasn't easy finding that in the Martial Arts Companion, it mentions in section 7.8 (page 32) that it can be found in sections 8.0 and 9.0 but it's not actually until section 14.3.5 (pg83) that it informs you how to add them, using the rules in section 8 and 9. Sigh. But trying to slash an opponent in the upper body with the sword while attempting to wrap the snake tail around their lower body should work fine, right?

I assume you're looking at the Additional Unarmed Attack option on page 36? With regard to the different combinations, your GM might consider broadening what Additional Unarmed Attack encompasses using pricing similar to the base weapon style cost prices on page 34. E.g. instead of just including bites, perhaps include both types of natural attacks (bite and grapple) for an additional 5-15 points in the style. Judgment call here so I would ask rather than making an assumption.
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Offline Poil

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Re: Possible to play a Naga character?
« Reply #8 on: November 06, 2017, 04:17:58 AM »
Yes, Agility +5 means a total stat bonus of +5. In this case that's a racial +4 and an additional +1 bonus for the stat itself.

RMU doesn't have different progressions for different races. If you want to price those out to make a balanced RMSS/RMFRP race, the rules are in GM Law.
Nice. I used the stats supplied by Gog and assigned 40 background points because it seemed reasonable and after running it through the race creation rules I ended up at 40 points.


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The RMU solution here is to use the Multiple Attacks skill. You will get two effective attacks before you can get your bonus high enough to get three or four effective attacks, but it scales over levels. The by the book RMSS answer is you need separate skills for each combination which is problematic.

I like the venom scaling with level too, it keeps natural venoms from being overpowering at low levels and from being pointless at high ones. A fixed level is fine if you're only encountering the race as a monster of a more-or-less fixed level.
I really wish my group had gone with using the Unified beta rules even more now. Hopefully they'll agree to convert everything over later.

Just putting the poison at the monster's level is both easy and balanced. Running into a more powerful level 8 naga should mean rolling against level 8 poison and fighting a powerful naga warlord or something for whatever reason with 20 levels of monk should probably involve a level 20 poison so the players won't start laughing at it.

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I assume you're looking at the Additional Unarmed Attack option on page 36? With regard to the different combinations, your GM might consider broadening what Additional Unarmed Attack encompasses using pricing similar to the base weapon style cost prices on page 34. E.g. instead of just including bites, perhaps include both types of natural attacks (bite and grapple) for an additional 5-15 points in the style. Judgment call here so I would ask rather than making an assumption.
Yup, exactly and that's a great idea. My weapon style would only be about swinging a sword around together with natural attacks, and a bit of adrenal defense, but that's all I really wanted from it. Also I think I can get rid of the two weapon fighting skills for the grapple+sword and bite+sword combinations if they are included in the weapon style anyway.

Thank you again. :)