Misc SW material

[B Hanson]

I have to check that...does the OB calculation look off due to the magic bonus?

[katastrophe]

they don't look off but there is no frame of reference to determine whether the number includes the weapon bonus.

[B Hanson]

HA! I might be suffering from the Terry effect, but I built these stats 17 years ago so it's hard to remember my methodology. In this case, I may have used the NPC skill bonus chart found in the original CL (blue Jorgensen cover) and added the magic bonus?

[katastrophe]

Ah ok. I usually dont build out NPCs to 17th level and such but mathematically we're pretty good at guessing what the number could look like.

17th level is max 34 ranks (if RMSS on both the category and skill side) + 2 ranks (hobby ranks) + 2 (racial ranks) + profession bonus  + stat bonus.

so 100 (page 30 RMSS for 40 combined ranks) + 20 (fighter) + 25 (stats) = 145 at 40 ranks and 98 stats. Is there something that I am leaving out in determining the OB without the magic weapon? There is still at least +40 in question in determining the base OB. Can you give any guidance as to how that number is derived?

[MisterK]

Ah ok. I usually dont build out NPCs to 17th level and such but mathematically we're pretty good at guessing what the number could look like.

17th level is max 34 ranks (if RMSS on both the category and skill side) + 2 ranks (hobby ranks) + 2 (racial ranks) + profession bonus  + stat bonus.

so 100 (page 30 RMSS for 40 combined ranks) + 20 (fighter) + 25 (stats) = 145 at 40 ranks and 98 stats. Is there something that I am leaving out in determining the OB without the magic weapon? There is still at least +40 in question in determining the base OB. Can you give any guidance as to how that number is derived?

Off the top of my head, if you really want to max out a single skill, you can add Everyman or Occupational to the skill. Or you can get a +x skill bonus talent (they go up to +40 in the Talent Law if I'm not mistaken). You need the Talent Law, and a hefty dose of min-maxing attitude.

[katastrophe]

Ah ok. I usually dont build out NPCs to 17th level and such but mathematically we're pretty good at guessing what the number could look like.

17th level is max 34 ranks (if RMSS on both the category and skill side) + 2 ranks (hobby ranks) + 2 (racial ranks) + profession bonus  + stat bonus.

so 100 (page 30 RMSS for 40 combined ranks) + 20 (fighter) + 25 (stats) = 145 at 40 ranks and 98 stats. Is there something that I am leaving out in determining the OB without the magic weapon? There is still at least +40 in question in determining the base OB. Can you give any guidance as to how that number is derived?

Off the top of my head, if you really want to max out a single skill, you can add Everyman or Occupational to the skill. Or you can get a +x skill bonus talent (they go up to +40 in the Talent Law if I'm not mistaken). You need the Talent Law, and a hefty dose of min-maxing attitude.

Everyman/Occupational/etc only gets you the ranks faster, it really does not get you any real bonus. You just get to the diminishing returns faster.
Yes, there are talents which provide flat bonuses. I suppose you could stack them to get to another 40 but i would have to browse my talent law book. Interestingly though, nearly all of the high level NPCs follow questionable math in coming up with their bonuses, across several of the different modelues/boks.  The really high level ones tend to really break the math, though i get the reason why. But for the most part, we know why it is done, even though it is pretty obvious.

[B Hanson]

I did discuss this with Terry years ago, and he said he basically spitballed OBs and skills. As I mentioned I used the generic NPC charts, but I probably padded some to take into account higher than average attributes and skill focus. I definitely did not do a character build for each and every NPC. That would have take a huge amount of time! Nicholas did the final editorial pass on PK and he didn't touch stats so he wasn't checking my math either. However, if you see something that is completely out of line let me know and I'll review. I've been doing NPC's for EotBD over the holiday and now I feel like I've been cheating a bit!

[katastrophe]

I would say for you not to worry about nitpicky folks like me and just continue to spitball where things fall. My example above was just to show by example that it is pretty easy to determine where an OB should fall. But as most writers will say "OB, skill, etc are convenient for the plot". As long as they are not some truly unattainable number or some number that cannot possibly be justified, I don't think it matters. I suspect that most GMs will adjust them according to their needs for gameplay regardless. One of the advantages though for a system like RM is that there are some theoretical maxima that PCs/NPCs/Creatures reach for any skill/OB etc because there are defined rank limits.

I do take back one of the statements I made earlier to an extent. Making a skill everyman or occupational does have some benefit. Mainly it does get one to the theoretical maxima faster and can allow exceeding the theoretical maxima to an extent but not by a huge amount, as one does reach the diminishing returns for bonus/rank very early but can keep on purchasing. Nonetheless, the theoretical max will be reached such that the bonus received is infinitesimal for the investment. Those dev points would actually just get allocated to additional skills, spells, etc. if an NPC was being built like an actual character.

I look forward to any other adventures that you are working on/converting or preparing. Nothing like a good adventure that I don't have to write from scratch myself.

[B Hanson]

ok, so way behind on this project. Per my Rolemasterblog post, I'm posting up my 10 Earthwarden/Arcane/Proto lists. These are meant to be the roots of the subsequent 3 Realms when magic was wilder, more powerful and untamed. I also tried to incorporate spells that were teh basis for many of the Earthwarden works and objects in Terry's books.

In my campaign, these take significant physical ability to cast, so only Ka'ta'viir, Dragonlords and Dieties are really able to handle them.

[Micael]

What is the fundamental difference between these lists and arcane lists from FRPG or (arcane) Navigator or Loremaster Base lists?

[B Hanson]

What is the fundamental difference between these lists and arcane lists from FRPG or (arcane) Navigator or Loremaster Base lists?

Not sure if you saw my blogpost at Rolemasterblog.com

https://www.rolemasterblog.com/earthwarden-spell-lists/

Does that answer your question?