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Firehawk Games RPG Products => Novus RPG => Topic started by: Zut on June 25, 2014, 06:54:42 PM

Title: Combat related questions
Post by: Zut on June 25, 2014, 06:54:42 PM

Hi!

As I am building characters for testing the combat system and the use of some skills, I have stumbled on a few rules. Any help would be appreciated!

Talents
Agile Defense

The character gains an extra +1 to his DEF
for every 5 ranks that he has in his best melee (armed or
unarmed) Combat Skill. This is in addition to the normal
+1 for every 5 ranks in their best melee Combat Skill
that all characters receive.

Does it mean that every character receives a +1 DEF for every 5 ranks? If so, I couldn't find that information in the Combat chapter. I may have overlooked something?

Edit: I found the info on p. 17!

Do Weapon Specialty stack with Weapon focus?
The talent Frenzy (and some other ones) mentions "preparing", but I couldn't find the definition of this term. Does it mean "pass your turn" (declare no action other than Prepare and spend 5 AP)?

Armor: does the penalty for wearing soft and rigid leather armor while untrained also apply on Dex and Spd based skills?

Surprise: how do opposing skill rolls work? What is the TN?

Weapons' table: is there some other utility for weapons' size except for the number of AP spend in combat?

---

Combat moves

Slash: I am not sure to see the usefulness of this move. The AB is decreased by 2, but the Base Damage is increased by 2. So this gives a net total of 0. The only interesting part is that is raises the DEF by 1. Was it the intent while designing this move?

Power Strike: it looks like Slash, only a little bit more damage, but also it takes extra time.

Well Aimed Shot: does the RI gained is cumulative with the number of extra AP spent, or is it a fixed 10'?


Thanks!

Title: Combat related questions
Post by: Fidoric on June 25, 2014, 08:34:20 PM

Do Weapon Specialty stack with Weapon focus?

I think they do. Weapon focus is even a prerequisite for weapon specialty. If you buy both you end with +1 AB and +2 base damage with a specific weapon or unarmed attack.

The talent Frenzy (and some other ones) mentions "preparing", but I couldn't find the definition of this term. Does it mean "pass your turn" (declare no action other than Prepare and spend 5 AP)?

Personally I would consider this preparation to be similar to the concentration action (3 AP). I don't think this is explicitly stated anywhere though.

Armor: does the penalty for wearing soft and rigid leather armor while untrained also apply on Dex and Spd based skills?

I think so. If you are untrained the penalty applies to DEX and SPD-based skill rolls. Remember that Saves and DEF are unaffected by this penalty.

Surprise: how do opposing skill rolls work? What is the TN?

I don't think you can speak of an opposed roll when it comes to surprise. Opposed rolls are used when you try to get the better of an opponent and directly use one skill agains another (p.85). Reagarding surprise, the two groups don't roll against each other but rather they roll at the same time. When an TN is not given, you can assume it to be equal to 15. Each group tries to beat that TN. The different outcomes are given in the surprise chapter on page 47. You can alter the basic TN depending on the circumstances if you deem it necessary. For example, one group can be distracted by something and thus receive a +3 or +5 to his TN.

Weapons' table: is there some other utility for weapons' size except for the number of AP spend in combat?

The size of each weapons dictates the cost of the appropriate weapon kata talent and serves as a base to determine your encumbrance (p. 40). Those are the first uses that I can think of.

Slash: I am not sure to see the usefulness of this move. The AB is decreased by 2, but the Base Damage is increased by 2. So this gives a net total of 0. The only interesting part is that is raises the DEF by 1. Was it the intent while designing this move?

You are right but remember that Base damage can be multiplied by boon points whereas scaled damage can not. If you choose one of the severe/dire/mortal blow boon, you will multiply the base damage by 2, 3 or 4.

Power Strike: it looks like Slash, only a little bit more damage, but also it takes extra time.

You are right, you trade some speed and accuracy to increase your base damage. My previous comment on Slash applies here too.

Well Aimed Shot: does the RI gained is cumulative with the number of extra AP spent, or is it a fixed 10'?

I dont't have the faintest idea. :-[
Speaking about that, is there a cap on the number of AP you can use to increase your AB? I think this should be limited to a 5 APs action, meaning a normal 2 APs to shoot and up to 3 additional APs giving up to +3 AB.

Title: Combat related questions
Post by: Zut on June 25, 2014, 10:38:20 PM

Thanks again, Fidoric! It looks like you know the system a lot!

Quote:

Speaking about that, is there a cap on the number of AP you can use to increase your AB? I think this should be limited to a 5 APs action, meaning a normal 2 APs to shoot and up to 3 additional APs giving up to +3 AB.

I think characters are limited to 5 AP anyway... unless a combat move says otherwise. Ok, forget what I said. (http:///smile.gif) I second a ruling about limiting the number of AP spent on Well Aimed Shot.

Title: Combat related questions
Post by: imported_Rasyr on June 26, 2014, 05:55:48 AM

Sorry it took so long to respond.... My other job had been keeping me busy today...

Hi!

As I am building characters for testing the combat system and the use of some skills, I have stumbled on a few rules. Any help would be appreciated!

Talents
Agile Defense

The character gains an extra +1 to his DEF
for every 5 ranks that he has in his best melee (armed or
unarmed) Combat Skill. This is in addition to the normal
+1 for every 5 ranks in their best melee Combat Skill
that all characters receive.

Does it mean that every character receives a +1 DEF for every 5 ranks? If so, I couldn't find that information in the Combat chapter. I may have overlooked something?

Edit: I found the info on p. 17!

Fantastic!

Do Weapon Specialty stack with Weapon focus?

If you read Weapon Specialty, you will notice that it requires that the character have the Weapon Focus talent for the weapon it applies to. Since one applies to Attack Bonus and the other applies to Base Damage, the term stacking doesn't really seem to apply to my way of thinking, but the two are complimentary Talents and do go together...

The talent Frenzy (and some other ones) mentions "preparing", but I couldn't find the definition of this term. Does it mean "pass your turn" (declare no action other than Prepare and spend 5 AP)?

For Frenzy, preparing means spending the round doing nothing but psyching yourself up to enter that altered mental state described as Frenzy. For other talent, it may mean something else. But in terms of game actions, yes, it essentially means spending the whole round getting ready to get the boost given by the talent.

Armor: does the penalty for wearing soft and rigid leather armor while untrained also apply on Dex and Spd based skills?

Read the "Pen." paragraph on page 35. Soft and Rigid Leather have no penalties if the character is trained in their use, but have a -1 penalty for those who are untrained. Also if untrained, that penalty is applied to ALL Speed and Dexterity based skills and rolls (excluding DEF and Saves).

Surprise: how do opposing skill rolls work? What is the TN?

As Fidoric mentions, Surprise is not really an opposed roll in the normal sense.

Both groups are basically making Perception Rolls, which have no impact upon the other group's Perception roll, with the results from the rolls determining who was surpised based upon the success or failure of the Perception Rolls.

Weapons' table: is there some other utility for weapons' size except for the number of AP spend in combat?

At the moment, it is as Fidoric stated, it is there for certain things. But I like having the weapon sizes because it easily allows for conversion. For example, if you decided to adjust Novus to use the MERP attack tables, having the weapon sizes handy makes it easy to determine the maximum damage that could be done by a given weapon.

I am a big believer in trying to think ahead for later expansion or tweaking if I can.

Slash: I am not sure to see the usefulness of this move. The AB is decreased by 2, but the Base Damage is increased by 2. So this gives a net total of 0. The only interesting part is that is raises the DEF by 1. Was it the intent while designing this move?

Power Strike: it looks like Slash, only a little bit more damage, but also it takes extra time.

As Fidoric points out, the extra Base Damage pays off in the Combat Boons.....

Well Aimed Shot: does the RI gained is cumulative with the number of extra AP spent, or is it a fixed 10'?

It extends the Base Range Increment by 10'. This means that all other increments are therefore adjusted accordingly.

For example, a Sling has an RI of 40, means that the ranges are 40' - 80' - 120' - etc....
Now, if that has been increased to 50, by using a Well-Aimed Shot, then the ranges are 50' - 100' - 150' - etc... (not 50' - 80' - 120' etc)

Title: Combat related questions
Post by: Dorchadas on June 26, 2014, 06:14:59 PM

You are right but remember that Base damage can be multiplied by boon points whereas scaled damage can not. If you choose one of the severe/dire/mortal blow boon, you will multiply the base damage by 2, 3 or 4.

Oh, wow, I had totally missed that. Thanks!

Title: Combat related questions
Post by: Zut on June 27, 2014, 09:35:44 PM

Thanks for all the replies! It helps a lot!

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