Re: (TFT) How often should TFT swords Break

[ErolB1@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/2/2004 10:21:33 PM Central Standard Time, pvk@oz.net 
writes:

> My observation is that although infrequent, they did occur enough to
> be something that happens sometimes. Not the 1/100,000 or less chance
> you seem to think is appropriate.

For the record, that "1/100,000 or less chance" is for specially good 
weapons. In the last incarnation of this can o' worms, I wrote in response to a post 
by Rick Smith: 

#Actually, I agree with you that cheap piece-of-shit weapons should break on 
#an 18. I don't consider the standard TFT weapons to be "cheap" - but that's 
#something that could be justified either way. My major beef is with the way 
that 
#non-cheap weapons (however defined in TFT terms) have close to the same 
#chance 
#of breaking: +1 "fine" weapons have fully 50% as much chance of breaking, 
#despite costing 10 times more, and +2 have 17% as much chance of breaking 
#despite 
#costing 20 times more. I don't think that this is nearly enough of a 
#distinction. 
#
#>     Now I happen to think that a sword 
#> breaking 1/216 times (1/1296 for a good fine
#> blade) is FAR closer to realism than the 
#> 1/1,000,000 number you mentioned a while ago.
#
#There's straw in that argument - I also mentioned a 1/100,000 and a 1/10,000 

#number. In fact, my bess guestimate of the real chance of breakage is 
#somewhere between those two numbers for a non-piece-of-shit sword.

What set off this current round is your claim that 

: However I think that increasing the chance to 1/36 confirmation on an 18 
: should be about the extreme. Requiring a second 18 after an 18, should only 

: be for things that are supposed to be almost really impossible to destroy.

Whereas I think that if conformation rolls are used, they should run out to 4 
or so additional dice at the top end, and then be capped with a 
quasi-mystical (or outright magical) "Immunity to Breaking."

Erol K. Bayburt
Evil Genius for a Better Tomorrow
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