Official ICE Forums
Systems & Settings => Rolemaster => RMSS/FRP => Topic started by: Ecthelion on November 30, 2005, 02:48:15 AM
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http://www.ironcrown.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4511 (http://www.ironcrown.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4511)
Just the pointer to the house rules in the old forums. I will update this new thread when I update our house rules.
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Hi,
I have updated the House Rules and they now contain a section about how to map the Spheres of Influence from Channeling Companion to the Valar and Maiar of Middle-Earth. As always, you can find the document on my homepage at http://www.joergjahnke.de/roleplaying_en.html (http://www.joergjahnke.de/roleplaying_en.html).
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Hi,
the latest updates of the House Rules contains a section about when to grant a bonus to Awareness rolls for extended examination.
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Hi,
this time the update of our House-Rules contains an entry on the Cleric's "Cancel Channeling" spell and on the usage of the herb Breldiar.
The complete table of contents now looks as follows:
1. Character creation
General stuff
Background options
Adolescence Ranks of the primary weapon
Miscellaneous
2. Spell casting
Improvement of Bolt- + Ball-spells
Weakening of Base Attack Spells
"Disarming" of some of the Utility spells
'Invisibility' spell
'Fly' spell
'Teleport' spell
Unscheduled Instantaneous spells
Dispel Essence/Channeling/Mentalism
Spell Casting Maneuver modifications for organic or metal items carried by Essence- and Channelingspell
casters
Cancel Channeling spell of the Cleric
Effect of the herb Breldiar for spells
3. Combat
Adrenal Defense
Parrying rules
Mounted combat
?Breaking 150?
Weapon tables from www.guildcompanion.com
Usage of the Main Gauche as a shield
Parrying with the 'Shield' spell and 2-handed weapons or unarmed
Criticals against large or super-large creatures
Shield Bash
Armor Quickness Penalties
Special cases for Press & Melee
Usage of herbs during combat
Critical-type selection
Situational Awareness - Combat
Missile weapons and ammunition of superior quality
Same fumble-range and attack table for broadsword and longsword
Disengage from Melee
4. Skills
Stalk and Hide
Donning and doffing armor
Temporary bonus from special results of the Self Control skills (or other maneuver tables)
?Monster? Lore Skills
First Aid for bleeding wounds
Stun Removal
Attunement oder Read Runes
Interrogation
Bonus to Awareness rolls through closer examination
5. Miscellaneous
Assigning Kill-Points
Experience Points for Spell Casting
Modifications for selling and purchasing items
No price differences for weapons made of metal and wood vs. Weapons made only of metal
Gamemaster Law tables for purchasing and selling items
Mending broken weapons and reloading staffs/wands/rods
Item identification
Testing to attune to items before buying
Using old RM2 characters
RR bonus vs. elements
Encumbrance Penalty and race modifiers for strength
RMSS Languages in Middle-Earth
Modifications for wounds, hits taken etc.
Activity subtractions for some races due to sunlight exposure
Effects of sunlight or the Utterlight spell on vampires
Assignment of the Valar+Maiar in Middle-Earth to the Priest Spheres of Influence
Fate Points
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Hi,
again I have updated the House Rules on my homepage. This time I have added:
- An extension to the existing house rule about effects of Utterlight on Vampires
- A rule on XPs for Adrenal Moves, Power Striking and Power Throwing
- A rule on how to handle skill checks for Read Tracks, Power Striking and Power Throwing
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Hi,
the latest update to the House Rules document contains a rule that makes Magic Rituals more dangerous.
As usual the document can be found at http://www.joergjahnke.de/roleplaying_en.html (http://www.joergjahnke.de/roleplaying_en.html).
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Hi,
I just added a rule that modified the AL 2003 rule on using Subdual Criticals instead of the usual critical table for a melee weapon.
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Hi,
in the section of the House Rules on selling and purchasing items I have specified the typical population for a village, town or city. I also added the typical number of merchants we use depending on the size of the locality.
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Hi,
I have added an adaption of a goal-based XP system for Rolemaster, along with example goal difficulties for a variety of tasks, to the house rules document. Please note that the amount of XPs handed out differs considerably from the numbers listed in the RM Express pdf.
As usual the document can be found at http://www.joergjahnke.de/roleplaying_en.html.
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The examples you give are very useful, thanks! I have yet to decide if I'll use your table, the one I made (which is quite similar but not identical) or the one in RME...
One question: I see that you also have rules for kill points and other things, do you use them together with the goal based system?
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Depending on the GM (everyone in the group takes turns in GMing, but not everyone is convinced of goal-based XPs yet) we will use either the goal-based system or the standard RM XP rules, but never a combination. In think in a few weeks we will have agreed on one system and finally toss out the other (but perhaps we will still keep the former XP house rules for the old XP rules in the document).
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OK, thanks! ;D
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Hi,
I have updated the House Rules document and did a bit of reorganization, moving the Middle-Earth specific rules into a separate chapter. Otherwise there are no changes.
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Hi,
I have added a rule for OB modifications for unarmed combat when the shield arm becomes useless. There are some criticals where the shield arm gets useless but there is no penalty except that the shield cannot be used anymore. An unarmed combatant is - according to the normal rules - seemingly unharmed by such criticals. In such cases of a useless arm we give a penalty of -20.
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A -20 penalty seems too little to me: an arm broken not only prevents the use of 2 handed weapons, but also makes truly hard each task which requires the use of 2 hands and/or balance (and combat requires both)... I would give a -50 penalty to unarmed combat OB and some penalty (like -25 ) even to 1 handed combat OB: if you have an harm broken and you move around swinging your weapon with the other the pain from the wound will make you see the stars... :cry2:
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A -20 penalty seems too little to me: an arm broken not only prevents the use of 2 handed weapons, but also makes truly hard each task which requires the use of 2 hands and/or balance (and combat requires both)... I would give a -50 penalty to unarmed combat OB
-50 is a penalty that many criticals mention for a broken leg or a severed muscle in the leg. And that IMO makes combat much harder than "just" a broken arm. It might be that a slightly higher penalty than -20 would also be appropriate, but -50 seems way too high to me. Of course it is up to you to make the rules for your group.
and some penalty (like -25 ) even to 1 handed combat OB: if you have an harm broken and you move around swinging your weapon with the other the pain from the wound will make you see the stars... :cry2:
I agree that such an injury should normally have a negative impact also on combat with a one-handed weapon wielded in the other hand. But for one-handed weapons we still stick to the normal rules. So if the critical description does not mention an activity penalty we don't add one in that case. Not being able to use the shield or a two-handed weapon might then be the only penalty.
We assume that martial arts combat involves the use of both arms and legs for attacks. If one limb is missing that makes attacking harder. For one-handed weapons we assume that only the hand wielding the weapon is used for attacks. The other arm is then not used for attacks and can, kind of, be made useless without negative impact on the attacks. Of course, depending on the exact injury, the pain might lead to an activity penalty. But if the critical does not indicate this, then we don't add such a penalty - and I simply don't want to adjust every critical that is missing such a penalty.
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-50 is a penalty that many criticals mention for a broken leg or a severed muscle in the leg. And that IMO makes combat much harder than "just" a broken arm. It might be that a slightly higher penalty than -20 would also be appropriate, but -50 seems way too high to me.
Oh, I thought that penalties for leg wounds were higher (I thought that they were around -70 but obviously my memory was faulty...)... then I must agree with you that -50 for a broken arm could be too much.
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Penalties for leg injuries are sometimes as high as -75 (for a broken hip, or in the Sorcerer's Break Limb spell description), but also as low as -50 for a broken leg in some critical descriptions IIRC or -40 for a slashed muscle in the leg. So we thought that -20 would be OK for a broken arm. Anyway, anyone is free to change this number as he feels appropritate.
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Rasyr's RMC rule from the thread Parrying with a missile weapon (http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=9327.msg120578#msg120578) seems nice to me, so that I added this rule also to our house rules document. As always it can be found in the house rules section on my homepage.
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After a long break I have added another house rule. This one allows a character rapid skill development beyond the number of ranks normally allowed and up to the number of ranks he could have learned had he started to fully develop the skill from level 1 onwards.
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I have done the rapid dev of ranks before. Worked fine.
Now back to that fountain you're suppossed to be defending!
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Does this mean a character reaching 10th level character could mass purchase 22 ranks of a skill with an X/Y cost?
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Does this mean a character reaching 10th level character could mass purchase 22 ranks of a skill with an X/Y cost?
20 ranks in most cases to be precise (level x 1 for a skill you can develop at max. 1 rank per level, level x 2 for a skill you can develop with max. 2 ranks per level etc.).
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20 ranks. adolescence being long gone, lol. this sort of rule provides yet another advantage to being high(er) level, which can be good and bad. it is best to throw in some roleplay mechanics, such as a teacher or instructor or time training/studying/etc. I pull out the training table in RMSS and figure how many hours it takes to acquire the skill ranks, and if it is going to be a significant amount of time, the PC can use the skill at whatever skill rank currently possed as time passes (i.e. in three days he has two ranks in demon lore and is called opun to make a skill check...three game weeks later he is at 9 skill ranks and called upon to make another demon lore skill check...after 12 weeks of reading and study and instruction, the PC has reached his 20 ranks).
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It's great to read how other people game. Conditions are different at every table but I always learn something new.
Press and Melee Attack:
I think I understand what you're to get at here, and it makes some sense. What works for your group is best! IMHO, OB could also play a big role in the ability to move opponents back, against their will.
Perhaps a massive foe would add to an Influence (Combat) roll, forcing the defender to make an RR or be moved back 10'. Maybe 1'/10 they failed the RR. Their MM would be at least a level Diff higher, unless they are using some %Act to look behind them.
Yet a truly talented attacker, might make a NPC believe that there is more OB coming their way. The flurry of blows disorients the defender, they become frantic and believe that they are just moving around for a better defensive position while they are actually being led by the attacker.
When I read about multiple attackers combining weight to drive back a foe, I thought of the Three Musketeers. I've always seen them portrayed as slim (except for one, iirc) yet their skill was sufficient that one Musketeer could drive back multiple opponents.
Perhaps that slender wood elf has an OB high enough to overcome the weight bonus of the troll.
I like the reasons for the House Rule changes, thanks for including those.
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I've never been really happy with the idea that even under intense training, with masters, under ideal circumstances, you couldn't gain a bunch of ranks in an ability. . .but part of me shies from the idea of someone 9th level, but unskilled in unarmed fighting getting into a barfight with a 5th level brawler and getting embarrassingly beaten up, leaving, purchasing 20 ranks of Martial Arts while working out in a gym for a week, then coming back to beat the crap out of the brawler with a stunning display of master level skill.
I do totally get the logic of not being limited to 1 or 2 ranks, for a lot of reasons, but something about learning 20 ranks in one level just seems wrong. . .I admit that often that won't be an issue, since usually players won't choose to do so, but not putting a per level limit in place means you literally, if you happen to be at a level cusp, go from -25 total ignorance bonus to a respectable to high bonus in the metaphorical blink of an eye, which seems kinda crazy. . . .I might be cool with the idea if a PC spends a year or more in intense training to get there, so our hypothetical 9th level above makes 10th, spends a year in intensive martial arts training with masters, comes back and beats the tar out of the bar bully, that makes sense. . .but not unskilled-click-level-master.
It's your house rule, so it must work for you, but it's definitely been an issue I've struggled with at my table, so I'm interested to hear your view on that overly quick upgrade angle.
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Pull out the training table from RMSS and you will see it isn't exactly over night to reach 8 ranks let alone 20.
You can also increase the definition of hours training to equal one day beyond the core rule progression the table already uses (in fact the table notes clearly point this out).
Another option I have used is to have one days training (as defined by the table/rank beibg learned) provides 3 dp. This prevents traing from being equal for all skills.
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Well, cost would already limit ranks per level directly, if a character purchases 20 ranks in a 20 DP/rank skill, evidently they're getting a lot more DP/level than I'm using. A skill will rapidly price itself out of 10 or 20 ranks in one level.
Even at 3dp/day, assuming your MA cost was 2, you could get your but kicked, walk to a dojo, train for two weeks, take your 20 rank worthy black belt, and go back and beat the tar out of the other guy. . .which seems like a rather brief span to go from bar rag to black belt.
I read the document on Ecth's site above, and I didn't see a training time limitation (or any limitation), hence my asking the question.
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two weeks would be a brief span!
The table in rmss increases the time required to train as the ranks increase. Base rate is 8 hrs training equals a day, with an additional 8 hours added every 2 ranks (1-2 ranks 8 hrs, 3-4 ranks 16 hours peer rank, 5-6 24 hours per rank, etc).
iirc that is. sigh. not running rm right now, and sm game is over, instead im GMing a DnD 3.5 game. i know, i know...but I have several ideas how to slip in some RM and HERO (evil GM laugh). It starts with some universe/plane jumping...
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ahh, so
1 rank takes 1 day
5 ranks takes 15 days
10 takes 50 days
15 ranks takes 120 days
20 ranks takes 200 days
Which is a lot of days to take off from adventuring with the party ("See you guys in 10 sessions or so!")
Do you recall which book that's in?
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I've never been really happy with the idea that even under intense training, with masters, under ideal circumstances, you couldn't gain a bunch of ranks in an ability. . .but part of me shies from the idea of someone 9th level, but unskilled in unarmed fighting getting into a barfight with a 5th level brawler and getting embarrassingly beaten up, leaving, purchasing 20 ranks of Martial Arts while working out in a gym for a week, then coming back to beat the crap out of the brawler with a stunning display of master level skill.
a) These are the house rules of our group. You are free to adapt them to your game.
b) With a cost of 3/5 for a Fighter developing 20 ranks when reaching level 10 would cost 80 DPs for the skill alone, with no rank in the skill category. That alone puts a limit on what you can learn.
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True, I'd kind of ignored the Y of an X/Y cost, so you're not going to get X cost x20 unless you're 20th level, in my example above you'd get X x 10 + Y x 10 = final cost.
OK thanks, that was an angle I'd never considered, and I'll need to think about it.
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I have again added a few new rules to the document:
- Increasing damage via Spell Mastery: we require -50 skill modification per damage increment vs. the -20, -30 etc. from the official rules.
- Penalty for using Martial Arts with a useless arm: we also apply the -20 when holding a large object in hand
- Weaker Martial Arts attacks: we use a special attack table, derived from the RM2 "Armored Fist" attack table, for MA attacks. This table is much weaker than the official MA attack table.
As always you can find the House Rules document on my homepage (http://www.joergjahnke.de/roleplaying_en.html).
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When we played "historic" games, for realistic bare hand attacks we just capped at rank/tier II for all MA. . .keeping the armored fist table for use with gauntlets or heavy boots.
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We have again added some new house rules:
- Changed the handling of bonus helmets
- Toned down the herb Splayfoot to last only D4 minutes instead of D4 hours
- Some changes to the parrying rules for two-handed weapons in conjunction with a shield
The full document with the changes can be found on my homepage (https://plus.google.com/b/111050253369274799840/111050253369274799840/posts).
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I thought you died at the fall of Gondolin? How can you be making new rules?
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I thought you died at the fall of Gondolin? How can you be making new rules?
"Revived", just like Glorfindel ;).
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After quite some time we again updated our Rolemaster House Rules and added a rule bringing more flexibility for bastard weapons plus we added dedicated attack tables for the bastard sword and the bastard axe. These attack tables are more in line with the original Arms Law, whereas we think that the new Bastard Sword/-Axe table from The Armory is much too weak. In fact a two-handed Bastard Sword there is as only powerful as a (one-handed) Falchion and one-handed the weapon is then a -15 Falchion, which IMO renders the weapon quite useless.
The rules can be found via my homepage link or directly here (https://app.box.com/s/xmkhv4tl5iisw8jegoxya67nqv87n44q).