Re: (TFT) Break Bone

["Dave Seagraves" <dseagraves@austin.rr.com>]

Cas writes . . .

> Ummmm, so what was your fianl answere then?

   No final answer here.  I haven't even thoughttested this spell.
   Speaking of which, I do have my doubts about a set of talents which may
be too powerful compared to their benefits.  I'll try to do some playtesting
and post the results.


> IQ 13:  POISON IMMUNITY (T): causes all poisons to fail as if a
> successful saving roll was made.  Has no effect on an existing
> poison in body.  3ST & 1 ST every turn thereafter.  (My personal
> thoughts are that this costs too much.  Maybe 1ST plus 1 per turn
> or 3ST and it lasts 12 turns)

   Agreed.  Perhaps 2 ST to cast for one minute, plus 1 each additional
minute?


srydzews writes . . .

> It seems that you'd be better off just increasing your DX by a
> point.  I mean, why buy a point of IQ only to spend it on a
> talent that gives you a point of DX, but under certain circum-
> stances.

   Because the buyer isn't spending a point of IQ, he's spending an "IQ
point" (or memory point, or talent point, or whatever).  Plus there are
other uses for IQ besides getting more IQ points.
   Except for the higher IQ prerequisite, Missile Weapons talent is the
exact same deal (i.e. IQ point to DX bonus ratio) as Accuracy, but many
characters still learn it anyway.
   I don't much care for the talent anyway.  Missile Weapons is good enough
as an "Expert Bow" talent.  One /could/ create a "Master Bow" talent, but I
prefer a game where characters heroically engage their foes in toe-to-toe
combat (ala /Conan/) instead of the lesser heroism of playing sniper and
"cowardly" picking off opponents at range.
   (But not that there's anything wrong with that.  As a WWII reenactor, I
myself am in the process of converting my M1 Garand into an M1C (the sniper
version) just to get the extra 25 yards of range and (with the scope)
identify targets and call hits better.  Being a sneaky sniper fits my
personality better than getting up close and personal with a Thompson.)
   There's not many archer heroes in swords & sorcery fiction, probably
because swordplay makes for better storytelling than archers impersonally
shooting targets from behind a tree or battlement.

   I just had an interesting thought.  To make TFT a bit more realistic,
/double/ the IQ point cost of Bow talent and all related talents (but not
/crossbow/).  Compared to the crossbow, learning to shoot a bow well is much
harder than the rules reflect.  This would result in fewer archers, more
crossbow users, and incidentally fewer sniper characters.
   I'm also tempted to eliminate high-DX second arrow shots for the same
reasons.

> I've never been a big fan of the stone/iron flesh spells (or,
> even more so, the items).

   I'm starting to have my doubts as well.  In my campaign I made Stone
Flesh and Iron Flesh enchantments (as well as many others) cost fatigue to
use.  An additional solution might be to cut the benefit of both of these
items /in half/.  (Someone else here suggested not allowing them to work
when wearing armor, but that harms my suspension of disbelief.
"Reality-wise" why would a Stone Flesh item not make your skin rock-hard
just because you're wearing real armor?)


David writes . . .

>    I view the job table as the second half of character generation.
> It doesn't matter, young, old, experience, or beginner.  The
> challenges will find you, you will be part of the story, most people
> who die can see it comming.

   To avoid the "I'm gonna roll up a Scout Ship" problem, I don't allow
beginning characters more than four rolls on the job table before they start
adventuring with the rest of the party.  At that point his /current game
time/ becomes the same as everyone else's.  He /could/ then make more job
rolls but they'd each take a week and his current game time would get far
ahead of the party's.  Then the player would have to wait a long time in
real time for the party to temporally catch up to him before he could
actually roleplay with his character.

Dave Seagraves
Seagraves Design Bureau   dseagraves@austin.rr.com   1 (512) 255-2760
Taco Bell: Go there and get ripped.


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