Topic: A simple but important question

[Zyax]

Our group is new to RMC and a simple question has developed from our first game. If a character moves 50% or less to attack a character that has not moved, is the non-moving character also at -50 or less?

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

Our group is new to RMC and a simple question has developed from our first game. If a character moves 50% or less to attack a character that has not moved, is the non-moving character also at -50 or less?

No, he is not. Only the character that performed the move is at a minus (based on the percentage of his BMR that he moved).

The non-moving character may also be at a minus, but that depends upon what his actions were (i.e. was he trying to attack somebody else, etc...)

[Zyax]

Based upon your answer then it would be better not to move, as it appears one is penalized for being aggressive. Also if the 50% moving character has an OB of less than 50 then by moving the 50% he has created a situation in which he would not be able to parry and thus defend himself beyond his normal DB. Are we correct on this?

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

You said move, you did NOT say "charge". Moving is just moving, charging is being aggressive..... (see RMC Arms Law, chapter 3).

[bbrophy75]

Based upon your answer then it would be better not to move, as it appears one is penalized for being aggressive. Also if the 50% moving character has an OB of less than 50 then by moving the 50% he has created a situation in which he would not be able to parry and thus defend himself beyond his normal DB. Are we correct on this?

This is not correct to my knowledge.

Penalties to attack rolls for using less than 100% of activity do not directly reduce OB. Instead it is simply a penalty.

So if a character has an OB of 50, decides to parry with all 50 points of it, and declares a 50% melee attack (the other 50% being used for something else, such as movement), then the character would make an attack at -50 (50 OB - 50 allocated to parry - 50 for less than 100% activity).

Of course this means the only way to hit would be to roll open ended high.

Bob

[Zyax]

I understand what has been said here. What I don't understand is that a character is being penalized for simply moving up to engage and his opponent is not and the only reason is that he may be acting first because of the initiative roll. I am not talking about a charge here, just a simple move up and attack.

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

Zyax - I think that you are getting confused because of a misunderstanding of sorts. There are several premises upon which Rolemaster is built, and it seems that you are missing one of the major ones.

The premise that you are missing is that Rolemaster expects that you will usually NOT be using 100% activity/OB in making attacks.

In most cases, you are expected to be parrying (i.e. fighting defensively), which lowers your OB.

Another premise is that you only get full OB if you 100% of the round in attacking (without parrying).

If you do anything else during the round, you OB gets lowered, based on the percentage of activity spent on those other tasks.

This is NOT considered to be penalizing the character. This is considered to be balancing things so that the player has to decide what percentage of his activity he devotes to what actions each round.

If he moves, that takes up some of his potential activity.
If he draws a weapon, that takes up some of his potential activity.

The character's skill bonus with his weapon is only the base from which his OB is determined. The percentage of activity put into the attack affects the OB, any weapon bonuses affect the OB, positional bonuses affect the OB, etc....

Look at it this way.....

A character's Base OB == weapon skill bonus - 50 + various mods

The Base OB is this because an attack requires a minimum of 50% of the character's activity in the round. You can then increase that OB by spending MORE of your available activity on the attack than what is required.

Rolemaster is not D&D, you do not get a Move Action and then a Standard Action (i.e. attack). You, instead, get more freedom to detail exactly what you are wanting to do, but in doing so, things will work very differently than they do in D&D.

[Witchking20k]

How  much of your OB is allotted to attack is the true measure of aggression in RM.  Things like charging, parrying, power attacks etc are essentially maneuvers that everyone can perform using their OB.  These are just standard MODs to the OB that are easy to declare.

[Dark Schneider]

It is not rare, the usual way to aproach are 2:

1) Charge, but then you risk because the increased OB for both sides.

2) Approach step-by-step, a step is a basic movement with increased pace rate (like x2 or x3) using something like 5-10% of movement. So using the base movement of 50', x3 is 150', so using a 5-10% you move in that step 7,5'-15'. As you move few % then exhaustion points are decreased few too.

Second one is the more used for normal combat and first one for army combat or when your are in hurry (like help someone).

If you see real combats, combatants approach to the other one in this way, by steps (see boxing) and not like a berserk go-for-all, because is realistic that is you focus in combat (not moving) you lose no attack capabilities at all.