Author Topic: Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws  (Read 1976 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline arakish

  • Navigator
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,579
  • OIC Points +5/-5
  • A joy of mine
Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws
« on: July 05, 2012, 11:18:12 AM »
To begin, thanks for any feedback.

First Question

Below is described a species natural ability.  I want to know if y'all think it is OK the way it is.  Or, if not, what you would change.

Regeneration (Special): Kreegog regenerate 2 concussion hits every round.  Recovery time from injuries is halved.  Limbs lost can be regenerated in time.  Generally, take the time it takes to recover from the injury and multiply by 25.  Example: If an arm is lost and it takes 10 days for the stump to heal, then in 250 days, the Kreegog will have regenerated a new arm.  Furthermore, take the percentage of time into regenerating the limb, subtract 100, this is the negative modification to using the regenerating limb.  Example: continuing above, if it is day 175, then there is a -30 modification to using that limb (((175 ÷ 250) × 100) - 100).

I am thinking the usage of the regenerating limb is wrong.  One thought is to limit any kind of usage to the latter half of the regeneration period.  Using above example, limb is unusable for days 0 to 125.  Negative modifier is calculated using days 126 to 250.  Example 1: If it is day 175, then there is a -60 modification to using that limb (((175 - 125) ÷ 125) × 100) - 100).  Example 2: If it is day 225, the modifier will be -20 (((225 - 125) ÷ 125) × 100) - 100).

What think?

Second Question

A Little Background: The Kreegog are born with a Poison Sack, Physical Ability.  Thanks to the conquering by the Hatharnd, and their desire to keep the surviving peoples on the anvil under their hammer, the Hatharnd have the poison sack permanently removed while the Kreegog is still but a child (the equivalent of a 18 to 24 month old human).  And the Hatharnd care not if the Kreegog child dies during the surgery, only that the poison sack is removed.  It is preferred that the Kreegog survive, but not required.

In Character Law, pg 60, Poison Sack is listed as Minor, 10.  Should the removal of that Poison Sack count as a Flaw (although not a true flaw)?  And if so, what would its degree, cost be?  I was thinking it would be Minor, -10.

But, then again, I was thinking it is not a flaw and its removal means the Kreegog just does not get the Physical Ability.  If a flaw, then it should only be an equal cost flaw.  In other words, net cost would be 0.

Another thought would be a flaw called "Hatharnd Born Kreegog: No Poison Sack, Minor, -10".  In other words, a Kreegog born within the Hatharnd Empire does not get the Poison Sack Physical Ability (and no points) and instead gets this flaw.  Total net cost difference would be 20 points (going from 10 to -10 = 20).

What think?

Again, thanks for the 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 markc

  • Elder Loremaster
  • ****
  • Posts: 10,697
  • OIC Points +0/-0
Re: Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2012, 12:17:53 PM »
Q1) I like it, but it does seem powerful (at least for my game). What is the TP cost? What are you using to base the TP cost on? (ie Talent Law, RMFRP book, GM Guide, Other Race Creation system)


Q2) I always base the cost of racial talents on what is different from humans. In your case I can see it go a couple of ways.
  2A) The poison sack is removed and it is a social flaw for the non Hatharnd Empire Kreegog to relate to the Hatharnd Empire Kreegog. The Flaw cost would be based on the negative relation value. But IMHO it would be a fraction of the social cost as it relates to a small group.
  2B) Flaws: In general Flaws are always less points than a Talent of the same value. I tend to use 2/3 or 1/2 the Talent value for the Flaw value.
  2C) IMHO, For the Kreegog that have the poison sack it is a Talent and a social Flaw for those of the Hatharnd society that see that the poison sack is still in place. So it is a positive talent with a small off set for the negative reaction of Hatharnd society.
  2D) Using my thoughts above I would have the cost of the poison sack be (10 [base cost] -3 (-10 reaction from Hatharnd society and possibly other Kreegog from the Hatharnd society)


 Note: Sorry if I misspelled any of the names I greatly depend on the dictionary when I type.


Hope that helps
MDC
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline jdale

  • RMU Dev Team
  • ****
  • Posts: 7,099
  • OIC Points +25/-25
Re: Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2012, 12:51:09 PM »
It makes sense to me that the limb would not be usable at all until it had some time to recover. 50% is not unreasonable.

For the poison sack, I would allow Kreegog to take a talent to get the poison sack. Maybe they grew up in the wild, out of sight of the authorities, or it was removed improperly. But no flaw for not having it. I could see a case where the poison sack was already part of the racial package, so in a sense they paid for it already, maybe it would make sense to balance that with a flaw having it removed, but I like this solution much less.
System and Line Editor for Rolemaster

Offline rdanhenry

  • Sage
  • ****
  • Posts: 2,567
  • OIC Points +0/-0
  • This sentence is false.
Re: Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2012, 03:44:08 PM »
Maybe a few Kreegog have regenerated their poison sacs?
Rolemaster: When you absolutely, positively need to have a chance of tripping over an imaginary dead turtle.

Offline markc

  • Elder Loremaster
  • ****
  • Posts: 10,697
  • OIC Points +0/-0
Re: Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2012, 10:52:23 PM »
Q1) I forgot to say that I would see the 75% point as being able to start using the limb.
MDC
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline arakish

  • Navigator
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,579
  • OIC Points +5/-5
  • A joy of mine
Re: Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2012, 11:42:34 AM »
First, thanks for the feedback.  It always helps, no matter what you may think.

I really hated the old days (before 1994) when there were no websites (although the internet did exist) for GMs to get help when indecisive over an idea.

Thanks Tim Berners-Lee for inventing HTML and the WWW.

My comments to the feedback.

Quote from: markc
Note: Sorry if I misspelled any of the names I greatly depend on the dictionary when I type.

None needed.  I know some persons get totally out of whack if someone does such, but I do not.  As long as I know what you are trying to say, I tend to overlook misspellings.  On forum boards, I generally expect them.  Although I try never to misspell anything, even I am guilty of the occassional mistyping.  One I remember is typing "may" as "amy".  Thus, no one need to apologize.

Quote from: markc
Q1) I like it, but it does seem powerful (at least for my game).  What is the TP cost?  What are you using to base the TP cost on? (ie Talent Law, RMFRP book, GM Guide, Other Race Creation system)

As highlighted above, is not TP = Training Package?  This is not a Training Package.  If anything it is a SP = Species Package.  Meaning it is part of a species, like the Sstoi'isslythi, and not a training, like Cloistered Academic.  I don't mean to sound nasty, but it is confusing to see TP and think "Training Package?" when I see it.

The basis could be said to be a combo of RMFRP, GMLaw, and Other Race Creation system (meaning, making it fit my world).  I use the original system published in Gamemaster Law, pp 174-179.  However, I did write up a document that refined the race generation guidelines and it is available somewhere in the Vault (too lazy to look for a link).  I have since further refined those guidelines, still based on RMFRP, making it more streamlined, but haven't uploaded it for approval (and don't ask me why, I just haven't).  Then I went back and rewrote those guidelines so that they would fit my world of Onaviu.

Quote from: markc
What is the TP cost?

Since I used the Physical Ability, Regeneration (CharLaw, pg 60) as the basis, the cost for this Regeneration, Special is a degree of Greater and costs 50.  My logic:

The three regenerations are (all have ×0.5 recovery, but none have limb regeneration):
Regeneration, Minor, 8 - regen 1 hit/min
Regeneration, Major, 15 - regen 1 hit/rnd
Regeneration, Greater, 25 - regen 3 hits/rnd

I decided for 2 hits per round regeneration.  On top of that, I allow the regeneration of lost limbs.  The cost for 1 hit/rnd is 15, the cost for 3 hits/rnd is 25.  Totalled, that is 40.  All 3, it is 48.  Although regen is 2 hits/rnd, which would mean a slight reduction, I feel the regeneration of lost limbs more than explains a cost of 50, doubling the cost for the 3 hits/rnd Regeneration ability.

I will admit that the examples in my first post were a bit low.  I just threw a number out there for simplicity instead of realism.  Realistically, it would probably take 50 to 75 days to completely recover from the severance wound.  And that is not including magical healing.  In fact, I am ruling that such regeneration of a lost limb ignores any magical healing and only relies on normal recovery times.  Thus, although it might take 5 days to magically heal a severance wound, it would still be 50-75 days before regeneration of the lost limb would begin.  Then it would still be another 1250 to 1875 days ((50 to 75) × 25) before the limb completely regenerates.  For a duplicate Earth planet, that would mean 3.42 to 5.13 years for limb regeneration.

Is that too long?  I was hoping for about 1.5 to 2 years (Earth years, or about 500 to 750 days).  That would actually mean a multiplier of ×10 instead of ×25.

Of course, there is power available on Onaviu that would actually increase the regeneration of a lost limb.  However, it would have to be applied each day until the limb is completely regenerated.  Otherwise, it still takes the normal time.  However, intermittent application of the power increased regeneration would still lessen the amount of time.

Quote from: markc
... But IMHO it would be a fraction of the social cost as it relates to a small group.

Small group?  Really?  O!  Forgot to mention that the size of the Hatharnd Empire is comparable to the size of ???  About 5.5 million square kilometers, or about 2,124,000 square miles.  Using both of the two best medieval demographics apps I have found, that means a total population of about 165,000,000 or 169,920,000.  Taking the average, that is 167,460,000.  Even if Kreegog only account for 5% of the population, that is still 8,373,000 Kreegog.  Not a small group.

If wondering about the medieval demographics used:
The Domesday Book
Low-fantasy Population Generator

Quote from: rdanhenry
Maybe a few Kreegog have regenerated their poison sacs?

Although not posted, I had already thought of that.  My thoughts were since the Hatharnd were psionic based, they use a combination of physical and psionic surgery for removing the poison sack.  They physically remove the main sack and ducts, then use psionics to permanently cauterize.  Thus, it cannot regenerate.  The Hatharnd psionic surgeons are so well practiced they can do such.  They did it to the Sualgar Gralgul which also have a regeneration ability and retractable poison talons at their wrists, similar to those nasty devils in the feature film, Pitch Black.  In fact, they have done it for so long and so well, that Gralgul are now born without the poison talons.  They have not done it long enough on the Kreegog for them to be born without their poison sacks.

And the reason for this is because the Hatharnd are susceptible to poisons (a -20 RR Mod).  Yes, at least they do have a vulnerability other than their lack of physical strength.  The Hatharnd are as physically weak as they are mentally strong.  Thus, the reason they have the Zurhar Damunasaru (Bloodguard) bodyguards.

Again, thanks for the feedback.  It is definitely helping me develop more bg info for my world.  Thanks, y'all.

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 markc

  • Elder Loremaster
  • ****
  • Posts: 10,697
  • OIC Points +0/-0
Re: Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2012, 01:52:55 PM »
arakish,
 Thanks for the info as it makes more sense now.
   Yes TP can be Training Package but in this case I used it as Talent Points. RCP (Race Creation Points) is better but that does not exist. It can be very confusing and I generally make a note of it in posting but for some reason I did not.
   In RMSS/FRP you can either use B.O Background Options or Talent Points when creating your PC/NPC. Talent Points give a finer granularity IMHO and allow me to tailor the costs of Talents and Flaws much better to my game world. 


 As per the Flaw, I was thinking in terms of the size of the group vs the total size of the population as well as how frequently the flaw would come into play. In a space campaign I tend to reduce the value of social Flaws if the game is going to be jetting around to various worlds and the Flaw only has reference to one worlds small group. But that is just me and how I create and re-create my own Talents and Flaws for each game.


 I have seen a Race Creation System in the Vault and have used the 8 pg doc as a guideline and supplement for creating my own works. I tend to need to tweak it some as I need Psionic and some other stuff added but in general I have found it very very useful to me.


MDC   
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline arakish

  • Navigator
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,579
  • OIC Points +5/-5
  • A joy of mine
Re: Feedback Desired: Talents & Flaws
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2012, 12:35:33 PM »
   Yes TP can be Training Package but in this case I used it as Talent Points.

I see.  OK.  Gotcha.  Sorry for my confusion.

I have seen a Race Creation System in the Vault and have used the 8 pg doc as a guideline and supplement for creating my own works. I tend to need to tweak it some as I need Psionic and some other stuff added but in general I have found it very very useful to me.

Just went looking for it, but it seems to be missing since a "new unified RM system" is forthcoming.  Perhaps I should get the latest versions I have written put together into a single document and upload for approval?  Any interest?

My Race Creation Sheets are still available: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item97.  However, these sheets were kind of based on my world of Udava that I thought of resurrecting until I realized the sheer amount of data was overwhelming (about 134Gb of data spread across about 50 DVDs).

BTW: I now use species instead of race.  I tend to use race to refer to an ethnicity within a species such as caucasion race, negroid race, oriental race, within the human species.  Rolemaster example would be wood race, high race, grey race within the elfin species.

I just did write a javascript app that will allow a person to generate a species as per the species creation guidelines in Gamemaster Law, pp 174-179.  However, the one I wrote is only for species based on my world of Onaviu.  Currently waiting to get the license paperwork for creating apps based on the RM and RMFRP systems.  Also may write one for the new Unified RM system when it comes out.  Will have to wait until I purchase and review it.

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.