Topic: A Couple Questions as a GM (RMFRP)

[Affliction]

Hey all,

Been lurking for a few months now, and figured I would join the community for the awesomeness that is Rolemaster. My friends and I have been playing Rolemaster since classic. We took some on and off breaks after the release of RMFRP, and just recently (last 6 months) have picked back up playing full time again. So I hope that I can impart some of my years experience to help be a productive part of these boards.

Anyways, I am in need of some help as a GM with a couple issues I am 50/50 on. Hoping you guys would have some resources or opinions to help me make a decision on them.

Mentalist Base - Presence: (lvl 1) Presence - Caster is aware of the presence of all sentient/thinking beings within his range. (if posting up specific text is against forum rules I apologize and I will remove it)

The question is, how do you play this spell out? I have two thoughts on this.

The first is, the PC just gains the total number of beings in the area. (ex. 50'R, "Your total count is 14").They have no idea of even a vague direction or distance, just gets a number and that is it.

The second thought is, it is similar to a WOW Hunter using tracking. (I will assume enough of us played Warcraft over the years that this example will translate.) Basically I have drawn out a rough map of the area/building/underground/etc. PC casts the spell and I then place little tokens down on the board showing the approximate direction and distance of the persons/creatures within the AOE. The PC then has the option of casting "Feel" spells on the appropriate tokens to gather information.

My second question is:

How many potions can you drink in a round? And if it is more than one would you apply any kind of % chance issues with magical interactions?

I know a lot of this has to do with the power of the campaign, just didn't know if there were and specific rules or guidelines that I cant seem to find.

I own all the books from classic forward and have no issues using older material as reference if it applies to the questions above. One thing about the game developers, over the years, is all the information presented to make the game fit any expectation.

Thanks for any help with these questions, and glad I can be a part of the community.

Chad

As a side note: is there any information/resource/really good explanation of how to use "Staying" spells? Can a Mentalist stop a punch mid-flight using one of these spells? How much counter force to stop a falling boulder? Or do I need to go take a college physics course to figure this all out?

OK done for now, thanks again everyone for taking a look...

[Cory Magel]

First question, since it's a 1st level spell I would rule it as you have.  They get no direction and no range other than it's 'within range' of the spells range itself.

For potion, I do not remember if it was our ruling - I don't think it was, but I believe potions were a 75% action.

[RandalThor]

I like to think of Presence in one of two ways: either the users ability increases naturally as they go up in level, turning a Presence Check into an RR, or make them develop a skill in using it. (In the good, old-fashioned Rolemaster way.) My reasoning here is that as mentalist (or whoever) goes up in level they will gain more ability in deciphering the information from the spell. Just like a forensic technician or detective gleans more information from each crime scene as they gain in experience. (In other words: a 50th level character should get more information than a 1st level - other than just are of effect, as far as I am concerned.)

Either way, they need to make a check to see how much information they get, and the difficulty of that check is determined by the normal stuff (exhaustion, injury, etc....), but also by how many intelligent/sentient beings there are around them. For example: The mentalist is in a crowded marketplace in Haalkitaine (capitol of Rhakhaan), well that's a lot of people, so a big modifier would be appropriate as they would get inundated with information. (So a -50 or even -70 is likely.) Now, that same mentalist is down in the crypts below the city looking for someone. As it is very likely there aren't many sentient beings down there, they certainly shouldn't get any negatives from that, so they might even get a bonus with the Perception Check. How well they do can add information of direction, distance, and maybe even type (human, elf, vampire, demon, etc...).


I am pretty-sure you can only drink a single potion a round, though I don't know why other than "rules balance" so, if you want to say someone can drink more than one in a 10-second time period (doesn't sound unreasonable, to me), go for it. You can always pull out the "strange effects" rules from AD&D to see what happens if you want. 

[VladD]

The presence spell is like a radar, but instead of locations, you detect minds. The mentalist may then proceed to cast spells on these minds, as if he sighted them. So there is a physical limit on the detection, he can use it to affect people behind a wall, or hiding, maybe even his friends that are out of reach.

[jdale]

We just give the mentalist a count, for everything else (direction, targeting, etc) they have to use Spell Mastery.

[markc]

Affliction,
 Welcome to the ICE Forums.


 I think people above have give very good answers to your questions so I will not repeat what they have said.


 On your question of stopping a punch with a Staying spell, I would say no. I tend to use the staying spells to hold something in place or to slow something down over a long distance. Yes it can get a bit crazy and involved if you want to go the Physics route you could use F=ma or Force = mass * acceleration, with you having to use other formulas to calculate the acceleration.
 The rules for the Tel and Staying spell are a bit complicated do to the face when they were developed one of the people loved those spell areas and was very good at abusing them. Or so I was told. So they might be a bit weaker than those types of spells in other systems.
 One thing to remember is that they cannot do things other types of spells tend to do. So not instant stopping of things, no using TK or Staying to lighten armor, or using TK to accelerate swings of weapons, etc. Do you get the idea?
MDC

[yammahoper]

On Staying Spells.  They should negate some of the punches energy.  Assume a good warrior will deliver around 200-400 ft lbs of energy.  Here is a little copy and paste for more info:

"There's an article in the April 1979 issue of Scientific American, by a physics instructor and karateka, which covers this.

According to the article, the speed of a top karateka's fist is between 10 and 15 m/s. This measurement was made using high-speed film, and confirmed using a strobe light.

We can calculate the energy of the blow using the kinetic energy = 1/2 mv^2 calculation. The mass of the fist plus forearm is 2-4 kg, so the total energy is in the range 100-450 Joules, or 70-330 foot-lbs.

The difference between a boxer's punch and a karateka's punch is that the boxer is trying to maximize the transfer of momentum to his opponent. So the boxer will put more of his body weight behind the punch and follow through, whereas the karateka will snap back his fist after impact. The energy of the karate punch is delivered more quickly, and is more likely to do local damage, rather than knocking the opponent backwards.

How much energy is there in a boxer's punch? Imagine an uppercut that lifts the opponent off the ground. The energy required to do this is mgh, where m is the mass of the opponent, g the acceleration due to gravity, and h the height to which the opponent is lifted. A realistic value for h might be 0.1 m; if we take the opponent's weight to be 100 kg, this requires about 1000 J of energy (or 700 foot-pounds). So an upper limit of 1000 foot-pounds is not out of the question."

So, if you want Stay spells to be used to hinder melee, I would apply a penalty to OB equal to the % of the foot pounds reduced in the attack.  If the staying spell applies 10 pounds of pressure in one direction, and 200 foot pounds is assumed, that would reduce foes OB by 5%.  A 100 pound stay would reduce OB by 50%.

Maybe A crits should be assumed to deliver 100 ft lbs, B crits 200 ft lbs, C crits 300 ft lbs, etc.  Such a method would require resolving the attack and applying the penalty after damage is calculated.  None pop to mind that don't seem far to complex to be game worthy.

Perhaps fatigue works better.  Grap a 10 lb weight and start swinging it.  Gets tiring.  Unfortunately, RM ext system is a bit cumbersome, though it does work very well.  Few players enjoy tracking them.

GL.

[Affliction]

Thanks everyone for the replies and the welcome. After a day of thinking here is what I came up with.

On the "Presence" spell issue, I am just going with a total count and then if a PC wants a generic direction and distance (i.e WOW Hunter tracking) I will go with jdale's idea and use Spell Mastery. I will add a -20 (Very Hard Man.) to make the changes to the spell. Its not a huge change to the spell because I am not giving specifics just general placement.

On the potion front I am thinking using a 20% action to find a potion if made readily available (shield pouch, bandoleer, etc) and 40%-80% action if they have to dig for it. After they drink it, it will take the rest of the round with the effect(s) triggering at the end of the "Deliberate" phase. If a player wants to take more than one in the same round then there is a 15% chance that the player will take an "A" (2 items) critical on the "Magic Item Interaction Critical" table. If they are feeling bold and take more than two the penalty will be double/compounding for each one after (i.e 3 potions 30% "B Crit, 4 potions 60% "C Crit", 5 potions 120% "D Crit"). At 20% activity five would be the maximum you could scarf down in a turn unless "Hasted", if that is the case then you just continue the process until they vomit rainbows and disintegrate from the inside out . Also there will be a check after each potion is taken.

The penalty % may need to be higher depending on the strength of a campaign, will just have to feel it out and see if players abuse it.

Example:
1. The warrior Lord Carver B.M.M.D., Esq. III takes a "Strength" potion in the "Snap" phase...tastes funny, but no issues.
2. He decides with a horde of Pikemen coming his way he may need to be a little quicker and more agile, so he quaffs a "Quickness" potion at the beginning of the "Normal" phase (crit @ 15%, rolls 85) and he is good to go.
3. He then grabs the "Agility" potion next in line on his bandoleer, slams it down also in the "Normal" phase, and enjoys it since it tastes like a Cherry Jolly Rancher (crit @ 30%, rolls 38) close one but still feeling pretty pumped.
4. Feeling a little tipsy with all this new power and realizing this isn't going to be a short combat he grabs an "Endurance" potion next. Knowing this one is going to taste like a 1970's protein shake he holds his nose and chugs it in the "Deliberate" phase trying to keep it from coming back up next round (crit @ 60%, roll 46).
5. Realizing now he shouldn't binge drink, he promises the GM that if he lives through this he will never do it again....no really, never again....no really, scouts honor....It was the fourth potion taken in the same turn so Carver will take a "C Critical". Since the GM is kind of heart he lets Carver roll his own crit, while he smirks over the top of the chart folder.
6. Closing one eye and covering the other Carver rolls the dice with them falling on a 69. The GM laughing to himself explains that Carver feels very nauseous and is stunned for 6 rounds while he vomits up the contents of all four potions and that they will have no effect in later rounds.
7. Pouting and cursing his dice for hating him Carver throws his dice in the trash for not rolling above average on every roll, and then snuggles up next to the healer promising if she keeps him alive that he will never drink like that ever again.....no really.....promise......

 
________________________________________

Thanks both markc and yammahoper for the information/feedback and article on "Staying" and "TK". I can see where a player would want to use it to increase the velocity of a attack or lessen the weight of armor, but I was thinking it more like in Star Wars II when Yoda stopped the pillars/columns from falling on Anakin and Obi-wan.

I may just do a rewrite on the list itself to be more force/utility than just straight force. I do like yammahoper's idea of modifying a OB based on the %/level of the spell being used. Just would need to come up with a quick formula so I don't drag down the flow of combat with math problems. Would also have to work on the wording so a PC couldn't abuse it to bad.

Again thanks all for the feedback on all the questions. This was a great help in working through this stuff !!

Chad

[markc]

Affication,
 If you have access to some very old D&D stuff they also had a funny potion mixing chart. The one I am thinking about was published in Dragon Mag before 85.
Never pass on something good just because it is written for a different system. [size=78%] [/size]
MDC

[providence13]

I was never satisfied with the RAW Staying I description. If I exert 1 lb of "pressure"/force on an object that weighs less than one pound, (ie. has less than 1 lb of force acting on it), then it will move.

I HR the description.
I tell players to think of this spell as a Push. It pushes in one direction. Up, down, whatever. You can push an object across the floor, pull it towards you, but it only works in one direction. If you Stay from underneath, it can hang something in mid-air.

IMHO, this shows the growing complexity and understanding of the List. First you can influnce an object to Vibrate. Next you learn how to affect one direction with Staying. Eventually you can exert force on an object along any X, Y, Z plane.

If someone showed inventiveness in using their spells, is it abuse or should the GM reward the player? Some spell might be a bit over-powered for their level or List. I don't think Staying is one of them, even if you allow the force to be in any direction, like me.

Used in melee:
It's still a Force spell.. So you have to make a Base Spell Roll and the target gets an RR, if capable of resisting.

Presence:
I also just give a number. I'm kind in the fact that I let casters omit the presence of their party, familiars, etc, if they've been together a while. If detected, you now know someone is there. This should provide a bonus if you're searching for someone hiding. You know some's there, 'just have to find them.

How much %Act to find an item?
Essence Co. pg 21 is a good guide.
0%Act to use/grab worn item.
20%Act to retrieve item from device.
100%Act to retrieve from organized container; backpack.
150%Act to retrieve from unorganized container.
50%Act to re-shoulder container, re-tie belt pouch; backpack, scroll case..

I feel these are generous, for containers, but they work.

Potion Miscibility:
There is a table of potion mixing and magic item interaction. I have it printed into a note book but I'm not sure from where. Probably one of the old Companions. I'll have to find the source.

[Affliction]

Affication,
 If you have access to some very old D&D stuff they also had a funny potion mixing chart. The one I am thinking about was published in Dragon Mag before 85.
Never pass on something good just because it is written for a different system.
MDC

Yeah I have some PDF's laying around on the hard drive will see what I can dig up, and if the collection goes back that far.